The World Which Is

Chapter 17

Well, there'll be lunch.

* * * * *

Lunch comes and goes without Dad showing up.

I'm tempted to call him. Base has a communication system within his walls. It actually reaches as far as his influence, but he doesn't advertise that because he doesn't want the mayor to think Base can solve all his problems.

Communication is a big problem for Court.

He won't be able to establish contact with Toronto until he reaches the City level, and he's a ways away from that. Right now, caravans like Chuck's are how we get mail. Not that there's a lot of that, as far as I know. The group that founded Court came from all over the place with Grandpa Louis and Base. He and my Dad lived on the other side of the continent when the system arrived, with Grandpa Louis' husband.

I didn't get to meet Grandpa Chris, but I heard stories of him and the farm Dad grew up on with his brother. Uncle Mark left Court a few years after I was born, but he dropped by a time or two. He and Dad don't get along, but neither will tell me why.

After Lunch, I tidy up the house. It's not large, since it's just me and dad. My room, his, his workroom, the living room, the kitchen and his and my bathroom.

We could have as large of a house as we want without it taking anymore space outside as this one does, and I sort of remember it having more rooms, back before mom died.

With the tidying done, I sit at my desk and write a cleaner plan for my build.

My big problem is leveling. Without being able to do the class quests, which would...

System Query: Quest Line, Explorer; Ruin Discovery

The explorer is driven to find what the past contained, and is rewarded for discovering ruins

System Query: Quest line, Explorer; Finding Caches

Ruins contain the secrets to the past, and an explorer seeks them out, and is rewarded for it

System Query: Quest line, Explorer; Research

The past isn't always contained within ruins. Sometimes, it is contained within tomes, and researching them will be rewarding for the explorer

System Query: Quest line, Explorer; Creature fights

The Explorer doesn't only learn by peering over tomes and dusting off ruins, they also learn by pitting themselves against the creatures of the world

Four quest lines? That's good.

Well, for an actual explorer.

Class quest grand ability points every half plus and minus quest completed...I think.

Query, how many quests do I need to complete for each line to get an ability point? Limit it to the first six points for each line.

System Query: Class Quests Ability Point Rewards, Explorer

Ruin Discovery: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11

Finding Caches: 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24

Research: 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24

Creature Fights: 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24

Every other quest for the ruin, every fourth for the others. That's an indication of the last three being simpler to complete.

Maybe there's someway I can get the research one? I think some of the older folks have old books. If I can, that could speed up getting to the good combat abilities. Otherwise I'm going to have to rely on leveling, and that's going to mean experience from protecting the town and from doing fetch quests for the people in it.

That's... not going to be fun. And that's not even taking into account how my dad's going to do everything he can to keep me from being a guard.

There is a lot of competition for fetch quests since it's the easier way to get experience at low level, and being related to the Commander isn't going to help me. The fetch board is run by Court, not Base. The Mayor even made sure it was established on the fourth ring, well outside of Base's influence, to ensure he couldn't manipulate it.

The Mayor's not the most trusting person.

Hopefully, Dad will have calmed down from me telling him about my class by the time he lifts my punishment.

Like he's ever going to lift it when he finds out.

* * * * *

I am almost tempted to reach in and get something that looks edible out of the cupboard instead of offering this for dinner.

I mean, it's not ruined, but I left it in the oven too long, and the cheese's more burned than not.

Maybe lasagna's too complicated for my skill level.

When dad sits and looks at it, he cracks a smile. "This smells good," he says, then starts eating.

It tastes better than it looks at least.

"I talked with Silvia," he says, while I'm still trying to start the conversation. "She said that Hubert, Miss Lancaster, and Mister Charles are the only ones who currently have space for another farmer. Summer's not the best season to start working on a farm, you know."

I'm imagining the tone of reproach. Dad's not like that, even when he's angry, which he doesn't sound right now, so... "yeah, About that, Dad."

"Don't worry, Dennis. I sent a letter to them explaining your situation and my requirements. I'm sure they'll reply within a day or two, then we can arrange for them to come here so I can meet them and decide the best fit."

"That's not—"

"Dennis, you got yourself into this situation," he says sharply. "You can very well have the patience to let me ensure you have the best teacher and someone who can protect you."

I stifle the sigh and look at my plate. "What if I'd rather be a guard?" Let's ease into it.

"That's out of the question. There's nothing in your class that will help that. You're a farmer, Dennis. You're going to have to learn to accept that."

"I'm not—"

"That is enough."

"Fine," I snap and stand.

"Where are you going?"

"To my room."

* * * * *

I listen to the soft music, eyes closed. Mozart, Base told me, is who wrote this, way, way before the system, like before there was even electricity, or cars, or steam engines. This is a recording of an orchestra playing Mozart's music century after his death. That's how important his music was, Base told me.

I just like it. I like a lot of the music Base has.

One of the thing he and Grandpa Louis did in the early days of the system was collect as many of the recordings as they could. It's not as much as they would have liked. A lot of it was kept digitally then, and when the computers stopped working, that all went away.

They stopped at every record store they came across on the trek back to Calgary, every library, and collected every disk they found. Base can play those, even record them. He says that he works a lot like the computers did when they existed, except they couldn't just make stuff appear or play with the proportions of spaces. So he has a copy of every piece of music they found for me to listen to. And if someone outside his walls wants to listen to one of them, he will make them a disk and a player for it.

It only plays for a few hours. Even Base has limits when he makes something that's taken outside his influence, like how much power he can put in something. He can power everything here, but they'd need transmission lines to distribute it to the rest of the town, and at his current level, he can't generate the kind of power Court needs without bringing in a lot of material we don't have.

The knock is soft. Not how Base knocks.

My dad opens the door and looks in. "You have a visitor." He steps aside, and Josie walks in. "I'm leaving the door open," he says, before walking away.