Chapter Four – What Gods Can’t Fix

Francis looked at me with a surprised expression.

“But not all the time!” I insisted, dreading the idea of losing the chance to ever eat Steak-and-Broccoli again. “I want to be a Jellyfae when I want but be able to turn back to how I am now. Like a Druid!”

His expression faded into a reassuring smile. “Gell. For once, I think I can help you. It might take a few days, but that, at least, shouldn’t be too hard. I’ll make it a racial ability.”

“Like my shocker!?” I exclaimed.

“Hopefully,” he replied with an optimistic enthusaism. “I also think I’m probably going to have to work with creating a Jellyfae race anyway. There’ve been almost as many emails about that as there have been worried complaints!”

“Eee mails?” I asked, questioningly.

He laughed. “Go on, go on. If we spend much more time talking I’ll end up explaining things all day. Learn some stuff on your own. Become a builder if you want. There are a lot more foods out there than pie worth trying. I’ve bumped your funds up to 5 silver so you should have enough to get started. Oh, and here!”

He proffered a strange looking whistle and handed it to me casually. “You can use that to call me or whichever of us mods or developers are assigned to you if you’re in a pinch. Just blow the whistle.”

“In a pinch?” Why did he insist on using these strange phrases? How would you get into a pinch? Wasn’t that just when you squeezed something?

“Oh for the love of… use it if you’re in trouble, Gell. Now, the players are about to be allowed back in. You should hopefully be able to meet some of your friends again soon, and I’ll reach out to you when I have something on your ability to return to your original form. Okay?”

I smiled. “Thanks, Francis.”

“You’re welcome. Now, I’ve got to get back and start building your old body. I’ll have to reconstruct it from historical archives… I think if I…” the man began to ramble to himself as he disappeared, already lost in thought.

I turned around, feeling lighthearted and ready to face a new world. A world I couldn’t change, lest I risk wrecking it. A dead world, but one I was confined to.

I hoped Amy and Iron logged in soon. Bellcandy and Dull Beauty too. It had been a long time since I’d seen either of them.

I approached the countertop feeling a bit more confident this time around. Nadia Venks, the assistant builder to the person I assumed was the guildmaster, stood alone behind the counter. The guildmaster was also alone but I expected that would change as adventurers began to enter the world.

“Hello again, Nadia,” I said sadly. The woman was a lean, fit human. She had a few tattoos on completely bare arms that showed off her toned muscles. She looked well accustomed to swinging a hammer of her own, and I wondered if she might prefer to be out building rather than doing… whatever it was she did here. “I’d like to become a builder?”

Sure enough she responded with the same rote words that I’d skipped last time. On a whim, I decided to let the scene play out.

“Ohh! A new builder to be are we? That’s great! We always need new tradesmen and you look like you might have the chops to become one of the best! Here you go. There’s a small fee for your first hammer and saw but after that you’ll be a member of the Builder’s gui–!”

“Nadia! What are you doing? Haven’t I told you that we’ve got new orders from the King? No foreigners are allowed in without a proof of competency trial,” exclaimed the irate guildmaster Hammond, before looking to me. “I doubt this one’s got what it takes. Adventurers. Fickle to the last. Give them a shiny and they’ll be off long before finishing anything like what we make here.”

Hammond was a tall, thin man with white whiskers and white hair. His eyes were small and beady and he had a look that implied he’d once been much larger than his now lanky frame. He glared down at Nadia and I with anger and annoyance.

“Uhh. I’m… sorry Miss Gell. He’s right. I forgot. You can still join the guild but you’ll need to build some items for us before you’ll be formally inducted. Are you still interested?”

The world greyed out, leaving an NPC box that I’d seen once before.

“Get Started as a Builder! Initial Membership fee and your first hammer!”

“Pay 1 Silver” and “Not Right Now” were both there again but this time I could actually accept and pay the Silver if I wanted to. Had I skipped this before? Had I just jumped right passed Hammond’s anger to get to this point?

Did Hammond treat everyone this way? I supposed he did. It was his Instinct.

I accepted and a fanfare of trumpets burst from nowhere hurting my ears a little. I winced and jumped at the burst of lights that exploded around my feet as a great big title fell down in front of my eyes. “New Job Acquired: Builder!”

“But… didn’t they just say I couldn’t be a builder until I proved myself?” I thought, annoyed.

“Alright, Gell! Here’s your first request. Build six blank signs, repair one road, or build one wall. Do any one of those and after that we can formally induct you. You’ll also get a nice reward for your effort!” Nadia said excitedly.

A reward?

A little bit of excitement crept into me. I liked getting rewards. Repairing a building? My own dungeon home? Or a road to take people from one place to another? Building signs sounded… downright dumb by comparison. Why would I build signs when I could fix a place?!

That sounded amazing!

“A-alright! I’ll do it!” I exclaimed before turning to Hammond. “I’ll be back before you know it!”

His eyes softened a little. “Sorry for the attitude, Adventurer. We’ve had a lot of ruffians just claiming to be builders and getting away with all kinds of thefts and vandalism using our writs lately. Builders are allowed just about anywhere, you see. Everyplace needs a builder’s touch sooner or later.”

“Ohh,” I replied. That did explain a lot. I’d be mad if people were using my profession as a way to steal things too.

“Here you go, Gell! Take these! They’ll help with your initiation!” Nadia said brightly.

I accepted the offerings shown from the NPC Box and was granted a few new notifications.

Received: 6 Common Lumber

Received: 1000 Common Nails

Received: 6 Common Cement Mix

Icons representing these items with numbers in the side were visible in the NPC box, and I knew I could find the new items in my inventory.

“You can use these materials to create any of the requests, though many more items can be used to raise the quality of the things you build. The items will be expended upon repairing or building the creation you decide to build, and remember, there is always a chance of failure! If you fail, you will lose the materials used, so be careful!” Nadia said, reminding me a lot of Reldin at the adventurer’s guild. Had all of these NPCs been given the same personality?

Still, building sounded fun and challenging, and I thought I might enjoy repairing things. It would be nice to fix things rather than shock or kill them.

Another NPC box appeared suddenly, this one imparting still more information.

“Builders work differently from most other professions. Builders can, at will, repair any deteriorating structure if they have the expertise and supplies to do so. If they have better supplies they can even improve structures as they do so. Each structure has a repair cost in the form of materials and the crown pays builders to repair these deteriorating structures. Builders of a certain level will be able to make their own buildings and even entire towns if they are skilled enough. High level builders can even craft monuments to give permanent stat boosts to players they are built for! So pick up your hammer, builder! Your adventure awaits!”

“Woooow,” I breathed. This profession seemed so much more fun than just a carpenter. I could build pieces of the world! I could be my own developer!

Still, it was strange to me. If the developers like Francis and Donna built this whole world, why did they need builders to constantly fix things?

I shrugged, chalking it up to another thing I just didn’t understand yet. Perhaps buildings were just things gods couldn’t fix.