Chapter 6 (Patreon)

“I can assure you that I have not read your mind,” Treekipp said huffily.  “It is strictly against the Treaty of Rigel to make any mental contact with a potential client except to learn their language.  I could have my charter revoked.”

“Calm down,” Maddox admonished the excitable squirrel.  “I guess it was just an unlikely coincidence.  Now, if you could give us some recommended suggestions as to what we should be buying, I’d be grateful.”

“Of course!”  Treekipp immediately switched back to its usual cheery self the moment the discussion turned to money.  “Although there are uncountable options available to you valued customers, it seems like Mr. Maddox only has 10 EXP from killing one shade while Mr. Bruce only has 20 EXP from killing two shades.  If you could give me a moment~”

It whistled a little song to itself, oddly reminiscent of the number that had played when the tiny creature was summoned in a cloud of smoke back in the portal room.

“Because I am a generous program,” Treekipp began, “I will throw in a pattern for a Heads Up Display with any purchase.”

“Of course,” it continued conspiratorially, “you practically need a HUD to use any abilities you might buy.  It only takes one EXP to activate, but it’s pretty much a necessity if you want to survive.”

“Okay,” Bruce replied, “you give us the operating system for free before taking us to the cleaners on the software.  So far things make sense.”

Treekipp cocked its head to the side, ruminating over Bruce’s words before nodding vigorously and squeaking out a response.

“Other than the implication that the prices I will be charging are unfair, this analogy makes sense.  As for your other options, there is a beginner’s pack for three EXP that has a pattern for enhancements to Body, Agility, and Will as well as the ability Accelerated Healing.  Accelerated Healing depends upon the Body attribute, but it would allow Mr. Maddox to recover from the damage dealt to him by the shade if given enough time.”

Bruce nodded, filing away a number of things the squirrel was saying so that he could ask it questions later.  There was plenty he didn’t understand, but it seemed wiser to let it finish its pitch before interrupting the fuzzy huckster.

“I also have the patterns for a number of melee weapons,” Treekipp continued, undeterred by the lack of comprehension in the human’s eyes.  “If you’d prefer to fight at range, the Bolt ability is fairly affordable even if it is taxing upon a traveler's Will.”

“Okay,” Bruce replied.  “Slowly now, what did all of that mean and are there interdependencies?  I could practically hear you capitalizing Body, Agility, and Will so I’m assuming they’re supposed to mean something.  Remember, neither of us have any idea what you’re talking about.  The least you can do is actually give us enough information to actually make an informed decision.”

“But of course!”  Treekipp said excitedly. “I would never want you to be so upset with your purchases that you would request a refund.  Body, Agility, and Will are the base attributes.  As you have inferred, that means they are important and serve as the basis for the more esoteric skills.  Body is primarily a measure of how many hits a person can take as well as how heavy their melee attacks are.  Agility governs speed, coordination and movement.  Finally, Will is a measure of how much raw psychic energy you can store and use.  As for abilities, other than weapon patterns which develop independently, all patterns rely on an associated attribute.”

It clapped its tiny paws together, bobbing its head in a clumsy approximation of a human nod as it kept rambling.

“Take Bolt for example.  Like most ‘external’ abilities that impact the outside world, it relies upon Will.  That means an individual with a higher Will attribute will deal more damage and fire more shots before having to catch their breath and let their reserves recharge.”

“What about weapon patterns?” Bruce asked.  “You brought those up as something separate.  How do they work?”

“Very well, thank you,” the squirrel chuckled to itself, either not noticing or not caring that neither of the humans were joining it.  “Just a little vendor joke there.  Anyway, weapon patterns create constructs by tempering psychic energy into a familiar shape.  We use the phrase weapon pattern, but really they can be any tool.  Swords, shields, ropes, all of it is considered a weapon pattern.  As for improving them?  Well you either need a path or upgraded patterns to do that, just like any other ability.”

“So,” Bruce said, cocking  his head to the side as he made eye contact with Maddox.  “What do you think?  Ready to go shopping or do you have some questions of your own?”

“Yeah,” Maddox replied thoughtfully.  “One question.”

Bruce paused to wait for him.  The other man let the moment draw out until the silence and tension began to grow thick in the air.

“Treekip,” he continued.  “You said that you didn’t want us to ask for refunds, but you never said what would happen if we actually did ask for refunds.  So how about it, would we get our EXP back?”

“Absolutely not,” the squirrel chattered back indignantly.  “I only sell the highest quality wares.  Each and every pattern and path is proprietary and approved by experts at the highest level.  It is not my responsibility if you use them poorly and die.  No refunds.”

“That’s what I thought,” Maddox said with a chuckle.  “How about you give me that beginner’s package and the Bolt ability you were talking about.  If Bruce has twice the EXP I do, he’ll probably need some time to do some more thinking about his purchases.  Me?  I don’t have enough money to get anything fancy.

“Three EXP for the Beginner set and two for Bolt.”  Once again the mercurial little squirrel was all chitter and cheer.  “Please confirm transaction before continuing.”

Maddox just shrugged helplessly.

“Confirm.”  As soon as the word left his lips, Treekipp scurried off of his shoulder and down his right arm before biting him on the wrist.

He yelped, shaking his hand but unable to dislodge Treekipp.  It scurried back up his body before perching on his shoulder once again.  About halfway up Maddox’s arm, the man stopped yelling and trying to fling his passenger off.  Instead, his eyes went unfocused for a second or two before a goofy grin spread across his face.

“Bruce, you have to try this heads up display thing.  I swear it's like being in a video game.  Stats, unused patterns, and available EXP, they’re all just written in the corners of my vision.  It’s like the entire thing was laid out for a dummy to use.”

“Hell,” he continued, face brightening.  “Even I can figure it out.”

Bruce nodded slowly, mouth moving silently as he tried to sound out his ideas.  If Maddox was using Bolt, they’d probably need someone to get up close and personal with the shades.  It sounded like a boost to his basic abilities was necessary as was a weapon.

He paused for a second, reaching up to touch where his shoulder still ached from the punch he had taken.  It wasn’t bruised, but that didn’t stop his muscles from burning and screaming every time he tried to use it.  Healing and a shield were needed too, especially if he was going to be holding the monsters back while Maddox shot them from afar.

“How much EXP will it take to activate the enhancements and abilities you brought up earlier?”  He asked Treekipp.  “It doesn’t do me much good to spend all of my money buying things only to not have enough power to use them.”

“Heads up display is one, each attribute is two, basic weapon patterns are three, as are Bolt and Accelerated Healing,” the squirrel chirped happily from atop Maddox’s shoulder.  “Of course, if you wish to activate an upgrade to your attributes or weapon patterns, the price grows significantly.  As a general rule, activating a new tier involves squaring the EXP price of the previous tier.”

“Yep,” Maddox cut in.  “After my purchases I only had enough to activate a point of Will and Bolt.  Can’t even fix my arm yet, but check this out.”

He raised his right hand, extending his thumb and pointer finger in the shape of an L as he pointed his index finger at a nearby wall.  He grinned.

“Pow.”  Accompanying the word was a flash of whitish blue light as a ball of light erupted from Maddox’s finger and zipped across the corridor, splashing into the gray barrier with a crackle and a flash of sparks.

The attack didn’t leave a mark on the wall, but Bruce could smell burning ozone.  He wasn’t sure how much damage it had dealt, but the attack was impressive enough in appearance that it probably would at least stagger a shade.

But it came at a cost.  One bolt and Maddox was breathing heavily again, like he’d just run a hundred yard dash.  It might be because of his fairly low attributes, but Bruce doubted that his companion would be able to attack more than two or three times in a row.

“Weapon patterns are two to purchase, three to activate, right?” He asked slowly, drawing an excited nod from the bright green ball of fluff perched on his team leader’s shoulders.

“Okay,” Bruce said, taking a deep breath to steel himself before spending everything he had earned in the life or death struggle with the shades.  “I’d like to purchase the beginner package along with a weapon pattern for a warhammer and shield.”

“Really?”  Maddox cut in, a smile on his face as he regained his breath.  “A hammer?  I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that your plan is to just beat the alien horrors to death.  It fits with your character.”

“Three EXP for the beginner-” Treekipp began only for Bruce to interrupt him.

“And what is that supposed to mean, oh dear team leader?  If I recall correctly, I have seen you in no less than three bar fights gleefully beating the ever-loving snot out of other security guards.”

“Ah,” Maddox replied, waving a single finger at him.  “But that’s the thing.  I’ve never gotten caught because I’m sneaky.  I am just complimenting your forthright nature.  You’re a far braver man than I am.”

“Come on,” Bruce groaned.  “It only happened once and I didn’t recognize Diana Aldridge from behind when I complimented how her ass looked in her jeans.  The bar was dark and-”

“AHEM.”  The sound of a tiny green throat being cleared interrupted their argument.

Bruce looked at Treekipp only to wilt under the small squirrel’s acidic glare.

“As I was saying,” it continued sternly.  “That will be three EXP for the beginner’s package and two EXP for each of the weapon patterns for a total of seven EXP.  Please extend your arm and confirm your transaction before continuing.”

He grimaced slightly, offering his arm to the ball of cut-throat fluff as he replied.  “Confirm.”

It leapt from Maddox’s shoulder, sailing through the air with its arms and legs extended until it landed on Bruce’s bicep.  He could field its tiny claws tickling his skin as it scurried down his forearm and paused over his wrist for a second before sinking its teeth into him.

For a second, it hurt.  Bruce had been through a lot more pain in the past, after all, the squirrel’s teeth had nothing on gunshots or stab wounds.  That said, the bite wound smarted a lot more than it had any right to given the diminutive size of the alien program’s teeth.

Then, he felt colder, like some of his body heat had been sapped away only to be replaced with a flurry of images and concepts that seemed to implant themselves deep in his head as beads of light.  Slowly, one of them began to pulse.  Bruce concentrated on it, trying to figure out what exactly he was looking at only for the ball of light to explode

A tsunami of sound and pictures overwhelmed him for a moment only to quickly fade leaving a small amount of text overlaid on his vision.  In the upper right corner, written in light blue was his current blood pressure, heart rate, and core temperature as well as a bar that stated “EXP 12.”  In the bottom center were the words BODY, AGILITY, and WILL, all with the number one below them.

Finally his gaze turned to the bottom right where a number of phrases were listed under the heading ‘Dormant Patterns.’  Bruce quickly read through them, nodding to himself.  Phase Hammer I, Phase Shield I, Accelerated Healing, Augmented Body I, Augmented Agility I, and Augmented Will I.  All of his purchases were there, listed next to the EXP cost to activate them.

He glanced over all of them before making his selection.  The hammer and shield cost him six total.  As for the beginner’s pack, everything cost two EXP.  Given that Bruce only had six left, he’d have to make a choice from the four remaining items.

Ultimately, he’d need to wait to enhance his Will.  The way Treekipp had described it, Will was mostly used for external attack and abilities, something he wasn’t really using at the moment.  The ache in his shoulder and the twinge in his leg on the other hand were very real and impeding some of his range of motion.

A final check of his HUD brought a tight smile to Bruce’s face.  Accelerated Healing had appeared under his body attribute, and Bruce could already feel it working.  The rest of attributes reflected their increases and it might have been his imagination, but he felt more substantial and light on his feet simultaneously, like he had gone up a weight class but could walk a tightrope at the same time.

Bruce’s thoughts were interrupted by a bloodcurdling howl.  He jerked upward, frowning at where the hallway of the labyrinth ran back in the general direction of the portal.  Distantly, he thought he heard the sound of fabric running over stone or metal that he associated with the shades.

“Oops,” Treekipp said apologetically even though its tiny face was covered with glee.  “I forgot to tell you that activating new patterns sets off a psychic flare.  Sensitive creatures can detect when you initialize them.  I guess that includes the shades.  Oh well, no choice now but for you to kill more monsters and earn EXP that you will have nowhere to spend but my humble store.”

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