We’d talked about our morning routine and Big Mike and Consuelo were all for it, planning on joining us. They didn’t know it yet but I was planning on getting their daughters involved. Nobody gets to sit out the apocalypse. We set aside the Teepee for the family, I pulled out my little tent and gave it to the girls. Big Mike didn’t like taking the teepee, but he had kids and kids trump feelings any day.

I planned on just meditating through the night. I wondered if I could get one of the anti-insect spells that I named earlier. ‘First, acquire the new spells from Big Mike and Consuelo,’ I thought. ‘Burst of Citronella, Minor Poison Cloud, Harden Skin, Gust of Wind, Campfire Haven? How hard could it be?’

We explained how to share spells and abilities and Big Mike and Consuela sent over their four spells that we didn’t have, and we sent over all of the spells that we had gathered.

Spells

Sonic Boom

Rank: Bronze

Elemental Sphere: Air

Casting Time: 2 seconds (last attack per round)

Somatic: Opening and closing your hand rapidly in the direction of the target

Verbal: Boom

Range: 4 meters + 1 per level

Damage: 3 - 18 (+1 per stage)

Cool Down: none

Duration: Permanent

Spell Resistance: Resist

MP: 10

Once cast, a boom almost always hits. A new boom is gained at every rank. It shoots out in a right circular conical shape from the caster to the limits of the range. Anyone in direct line from the caster within the cone is struck. However, it can be blocked by covering from the boom.

Level 1, (2/25)

Grease Rank: Bronze

Elemental Sphere: Earth

Casting Time: 1 second

Somatic: Pointing at target followed by a wiping motion of your hand, palm down.

Verbal: blowing through your lips making a breathy sound

Range: 10 meters + 5 per level

Damage: Possible falling damage & stun, otherwise just possible loss of mobility in a 3-meter diameter circle (+1 meter per rank) where directed by the caster.

Cool Down: none

Duration: 1-10 rounds (2-20 secs)

Spell Resistance: Resist

MP: 10

Grease creates an area covered with an extremely slick, flammable coating. If lit on fire is may do 2-20 points of damage to beings/objects within its radius per round. Each rank it gets one meter bigger, is harder to escape, lasts longer and is slightly more flammable.

Level 1, (2/25) Mend

Rank: Bronze

Elemental Sphere: Light

Casting Time: 1 second

Somatic: Touching/Pointing at target

Verbal: Mend

Range: touch + 2 meters per rank after first

Damage: 0

Cool Down: none

Duration: Permanent

Spell Resistance: Resist

MP: 10

Mend repairs a tear, cut, abrasion or other damage to any non-living object. The damage repaired can be no greater than ¼ meter squared in area at first rank. Each rank adds an additional ¼ meter squared of area. Partial repairs are possible.

Level 1, (2/25) Acid Splash

Rank: Bronze

Elemental Sphere: Water

Casting Time: 2 seconds

Somatic: Pointing at target

Verbal: Popping sound made with the casters lips

Range: 10 meters + 5 per level

Damage: 3 -18 (+1 per stage)

Cool Down: none

Duration: Permanent

Spell Resistance: Resist

MP: 10

Shoots a ball of acid at target. A new ball of acid is gained at every rank.

At later ranks, multiple targets are possible. In addition, if blocked, there is a chance of a secondary splash doing minor damage to the target.

Level 1, (2/25)

We set watch schedules between Big Mike, myself, Janet and Tanya. We left Consuelo out since she was staying in the tent with the girls. This time I was the last watch, with Tanya and Janet on second and third. We’d decided that it was too much trouble to break out the squirrel meat and cook up dinner, so we broke out Sustenance potions and passed them to the family. We compared cooking ranks and levels and, unsurprisingly Big Mike’s was highest; but Consuelo’s was only a rank behind him.

Big Mike Smith, Cooking Skill - Rank: Iron, Level 8 (5896/6400)

Consuelo Smith, Cooking Skill - Rank: Copper, Level 9 (9730/10000)

It was funny, but I guess due to the fact that everybody cooks, the only prerequisite to getting the cooking skill was to think about what level of cooking skill you had. I mean, Janet, Tanya and I had been able to get our cooking skills without touching a pan.

Unlike shields which after three fights in which I used my shield, I still hadn’t received the skill.

I wondered if there were global skills, not class-based, just native to the human condition. Farting, Pooping, Washing Hair, Breathing. Maybe cooking fell into that category but at a high enough level that it required tracking. Yoga breathing? Hmm.

I wonder if sex is a skill? Kissing? Cuddling? Making out? I thought about sex, all my past experiences, about Jessica, my last experience. I wondered if getting caught in the act gave extra points or took off points? Maybe it gave points to another skill, Exhibitionism? Naturalism? But despite my efforts, I didn’t get the category to appear. Then after I thought about it some more, I started to consciously not think about it. I’m mean, a God, judging our performance. It’s enough to make me stay celibate. ‘Monsoon, you didn’t bring her to climax, I’m going to have to give you only two points for that effort and frankly, I’m being generous.’ Yeah, no I’m not thinking about sex anymore. I’m not sure I could handle a blue screen evaluation.

It had been another beautiful 70-degree day, but the night was a little colder. It felt like it had started to drop down into the low 60’s. I hoped that this didn’t mean we were drifting into winter. I hung out next to the fire and thought about magic and Qi. I think it was fairly clear that an Alchemist was a Qi driven class as opposed to a mana driven one like Mage. At least the way that Consuelo received it. I wasn’t sure that there couldn’t be a mana driven version as well. Same results, different tools, different abilities, and skills.

I liked that the ability that she gained was Qi ability. I made a mental note to have her share the screen description of the ability with me. Who knows, maybe I can get abilities in the same way that I got spells? Maybe we all can? Talk about a low-leveled, but op group. It seemed clear to me that we needed to level our spells and abilities up. That big vulture left because it was easier to grab the food and leave than fight us. It wasn’t afraid, we didn’t drive it off, it just got what it wanted and then left. I needed to get stronger, we needed to get stronger. We needed to be able to kill stuff.

I thought also about the next day. If we were going to go into Maxes, we were going to have to bring the kids along with us. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be safe outdoors. Leave them with their mom while we take their dad inside? What chance would Consuelo have against a Level 18 vulture alone? Wow, bringing the kids along on a raid just like taking them to the store with you because you can’t leave them at home alone. I hated to do it, but we needed everyone to get stronger fast.

It also seemed clear that the kids’ hit points and mana points were unnaturally low. I figured that it probably had to do with their lack of class. Or maybe they didn’t get the same stats as an adult? Did they get kid’s stats? They seemed smart enough to me, pretty normal if you asked me. Although, Almada’s constitution and charisma were low, really low. But Big Mike’s and Consuelo’s hit points had shot up when they got a class, maybe even more than could be explained by their stat increases. I’d need to think about this, maybe, although I hated to do it, get their stat scores and see if I could figure out some algorithm that would tell me how their mana, qi, stamina, and health were calculated. Because if the dip in the mana or health was based on their being classless, training wouldn’t do much to help them now, not until they turned 13.

I wondered also if they could learn spells or abilities. I thought they probably could because I learned a spell before I got a class. The same with abilities. Tomorrow I decided to talk with Big Mike and Consuelo about teaching their kids Force Bolt. They needed something to help them survive. Maybe come up with a grabbag of spells that they could learn and use. So, try to teach them:

Create Water Force Bolt Mend Light Heal Light and Jade Lotus Touch

I hope that feedback or mana burn isn’t a thing! I’d hate to subject these little girls to such a thing. I wasn’t sure if there was a limit to spells or abilities that the classless could learn, so prioritize the spells. Maybe, Force Bolt, Light Heal, Light, Create Water, Mend and Jade Lotus Touch.

‘Enough,’ I finally told my racing mind. ‘Learn the spells, then try to learn the Qi ability, then practice the spells, then figure out the best way to assign skill points.

I started on the meditation process of learning spells and in about an hour, I’d learned all four spells. I practiced the mend spell on the broken arrows and shield and it worked! I also used the spell on my leather armor which was starting to get pretty raggedy. The shield was in the worst shape and required more than one cast on the spell to repair it.

After I finished the repairs, I gave both the shield and the sword to Big Mike. He had the skills to use them properly. It just made sense, especially if he was going to be our main tank. I’d be the off tank while the girls would be our back line. Besides, I still had a machete. When I gave it to him, he paused for a second looking over the shield.

“You make this?” he asked.

“Yes,” I responded. “It’s not the greatest shield ever, but it kept the rats and squirrels off me. Well, sometimes it did.”

At his questioning look, I said, “I think you need a skill to really use weapons effectively. And I don’t have it. And I’m pretty sure that shields is a skill that none of my classes support either. So I’ve got to pick it up on my own. Which I’m thinking is a lot harder than gaining a skill your class supports, you follow?”

He nodded his head and then said, “Make sense, I guess. If any of this makes sense.” He was still on watch, so we cut the conversation short so he could get back to it.

I added more wood to the fire to help keep the bugs down and started to practice my spells then. I had 285 mana points and a mana regen rate of about 7 per minute. I figured that I was capable of casting Force Bolt about 30 times a minute and would be regenerating the mana as I went. So, given my mana pool that meant I could cast it about 28 times before I ran out of mana and had to meditate to get my mana back. And with my meditation skill I could regenerate my mana fully in about 23 minutes, so that meant in the, I pause to take a quick look at the clock to determine the time, 7 hours and 15 minutes until I have to take over the watch, that I can cast the spell about 542 times. Which would take me up to the sixth level of the spell - one level below Late Stage - which would give me 3550 experience points which would take me right into, oh wait, two classes so, 1775 experience points which would still leave me at level ten.

So, I started. I lay on my back and stared at the moon and started casting the spell like crazy.

It was a little mind-numbing

After my 7th cast, I got a level up notification for the spell. I ran out of mana about my 21st cast after that so I stopped to meditate. 23 minutes later, I started again, 28 casts later I ran out of mana. Again. Less than a minute.

‘Yea me,’ I thought and started meditating.

Another 28 casts, another 23 minutes of meditation.

Another 28 casts, another 23 minutes of meditation.

Another 28 casts, another 23 minutes of meditation.

Another 28 casts, another 23 minutes of meditation.

For some reason, I have this song I’d listened to, Soldier by Fleurie running through my head, but not the whole song, just the line, ‘soldier keep on marching on’ playing in my head like a soundtrack. Good song, but god this was killing me!

Another 28 casts, another 23 minutes of meditation.

Another 28 casts, I stopped to meditate again.

This went on all night until thank god, it’s finally time for me to take over the watch. At least my Force bolt spell leveled up nicely. Somewhere in the casting spree, I got several notifications telling me that my Force Bolt spell was now at level 6. I now could cast 3 force bolts at once, each doing 1-6 points of damage + 5. Sweet! The force bolts were a faintly glowing blue. I had to admit they were beautiful against the night sky and the moons.

I’m wondering if I found a kind of cheat. The imu when he was explaining how skill points were used said, “Peak stage, at level 9 adds 2,500 points per skill point.” He didn’t say what would happen to the extra points. Either They can be jerks and stop the points at the next level at 2 or they can allow the points to roll over. If so, that means I’ve got a free experience train. Because 2,500 level points takes you right up to Level 7 where you get to add 1,000 level points per skill point. Spend six skill points and you’re at 8,999. Add some time for casting the spell and meditation and spend one more skill point and you’re back where you started, only 23,150 experience points richer. Anything to stop the grind.

Fall on your knees mortals. Fear the wrath of the Master Bolter! Hmm! May need to work on that title a bit.