Chapter 17

Backstaging

“Sorry I cut the interview short,” The Screen Queen said, “but that was too good a note to end on to pass up.”

Kate was just glad it was over, and Dave didn’t mind at all. I think I got all that needed to be said out there, or at least most of it. Looking at the screens showing Kate and Dave I was dreading what they would ask, they both knew I hadn’t been asking NPCs a damn thing. How the hell do you explain time travel and not sound insane, and how do I explain that the game is real?

Well, at least I had until we met up in-game to figure it out.

Dave said his goodbyes and his screen went dark. Delilah asked if we wouldn’t mind answering some of her questions about the game since she was planning to make a character. Kate bowed out of that, citing having to get home. Wish I could have done that. As the self-proclaimed AoA teacher I was somewhat stuck, give possibly life-saving advice and put up with more questions, or feel responsible if the overly shiny woman dies. It was an obvious choice. I asked for a minute to see Katenip off, though.

Leaving the room, I found Kate just finalizing her Autocab pickup in the hallway. “-nut Street in Brookline. Thanks.” Some people preferred talking to the Taxi App. Personally, I liked to type in the address I was going to instead, but whatever.

“Hey Kate, you did a great job in the interview. I think it went fine, well aside from that one part….”

She groaned after hanging up her cell, “My parents are going to freak when they see that, and Mark will never let me live it down.” She nodded as if confirming a fundamental truth of the universe, “Big brothers suck.”

I cracked up at that, I couldn’t help it. She started as if she had forgotten I was even there for a moment. “Um, I didn’t mean it. I mean, I love my brother, usually, but he’s just so, so, Mark-ish?” She was babbling again, trying to dig herself out of her embarrassment wasn’t going well.

As amusing as it was, I cut her some slack. “Sounds like Mark isn’t really that bad, just a typical big brother. Cheer up though, you have your new celebrity status to lord over him. If you make a streamer account and some videos you could even make some money. It’s what I am doing to pay my rent these days.”

“Wow, really? Did you record the dungeon? What sort of vids have you posted?”

“The dungeon was my first stream, actually; you can’t do livestreams yet so it's just a recording. I mostly did instructional vids.” I saw the alert for her cab flashing on her phone. I smirked, “You know Mark sounds interesting, you should get him to play with us. I bet he has so many interesting stories to share.” She squeaked, looked at her phone, and bolted for her cab.

I returned to the interview room and pulled out my chair to sit down again. I noticed some fresh hairline cracks in it. Those certainly weren’t there before the interview…. I stared at my hand. Could some strength or mana have passed over so early?

Settling in my spot, I turned my attention to Delilah’s screen. “Sorry about that, I would feel like a shit adult if I didn’t make sure she had an autocab home, and a shitty friend if I didn’t say goodbye.”

She looked up from the screens her desk had been projecting, “Oh, it’s no problem, Mr. Lazarus. I understand completely.”

“Now that we aren’t live you can just call me Laz or Jack, either is fine. So, what questions did you have for me?”

“First of all, hun, from one performer to another, well done, Mr. Lazarus. I couldn’t tell what you wanted to keep hidden, but your acting was plain to a professional like me. I don’t even care about what you’re hiding. The interview went swimmingly. I do hope we can do it again sometime. Maybe I can follow through on that promise to give you a platform to talk to the world then. Or we could just spend some time together the old-fashioned way.” She winked at me…

Delilah was both the same and so very different without an audience. It sort of impressed me, to be honest. Still, no way was I taking her up on her second offer, the first one though. That was another story.

“Alright, I’ll do another interview; we should wait a week at least, though. Pacing is important, right? Anyway, were you serious about making a character? If so, I’m probably the best person to talk to, wish it wasn’t true, but it is.”

I wish SnakeEyes were here; the bastard was a savant with classes. That always struck me as funny because he would pick his own classes by rolling his damn dice. The ‘scholar’ of the guild wouldn’t have been a bad choice either, BlindBeholder may have been sadistic, but he knew his shit.

“I made it a condition for doing the interview for MythArc that they give me a setup. So I was indeed serious about that hun. I don’t know enough to know what I want, but I do know I am not the warrior type. I mean, could you see me running around with a great big sword in this dress?” She pauses and gives me a slight leer and grin, “Oh, I bet you can, can’t you?”

I decided to ignore her and treat this as a professional Class Consult. Those became a thing, years from now, where high-level players would interview someone while looking through their own unlocked classes, eventually being able to tell the client what to do to get a class that seemed suited for them. Survivors of the wars that retired or couldn’t keep up sometimes took up that job. The rest of us sometimes did it on a lark.

“Well, if you don’t want close combat then that leaves either a ranged weapon, like a bow or magic of some sort. I am guessing magic is more your style.”

“Yes, I do see myself as the caster type, I mean it is in the name, news-caster. Obviously, I was born for the role.”

Right… “So, do you have an interest in any type of magic in particular? Also, what are your skills, interests, and hobbies? Those can be folded into a class that suits you if you want.”

“Well, I like the dual nature of light and dark, so maybe something like that for the magic? For skills, well, I went to school as a journalist with a minor in drama, and now am obviously a media personality. I did a bit of radio work a few years ago before I got my big break in gaming news. My interests are fashion, gaming, news, astronomy, and of course, I love celebrity gossip, especially when I’m in it.”

I mentally add ‘loves the limelight’ to that list. “Well dual magics isn’t that hard, just become a priest and a cultist and learn both light and dark magics. If you wanted something more elemental or arcane, you would go with the mage guild. With your interests, I would focus on professions first though. Eavesdropping and then gossiping should get you the Snoop and Gossip professions. Reporting on things you’ve learned to others in a standard reporter style should net you Reporter. It might be tricky though since there aren’t any cameras. You might find it easier to do while turning on your stream recording feature since they haven’t enabled livestreams yet.”

I could see her taking notes on her holodesk. At least she was taking this seriously.

“I could see you forming your future classes off a reporting or fashion base. For fashion or celebrity type classes you will need to start with Model an easy to acquire profession if you just make sure your character is attractive and ask for a modeling job in a clothing shop. Get that up to level 10 or so and you shouldn’t need to worry about it again. If you find a clothing maker, you can offer to wear their clothes with a shop name or logo and get continuous Model EXP while walking around town and doing other things.”

“Oh, that is a neat exploit Laz, but why do I need all these professions? I thought you just needed one or two to mix with a class to get something interesting.”

“That’s partly right, but the reason for these is actually to unlock better professions to make a class out of. Snoop and Reporter should net you Investigative Reporter once you get both to at least level 5 or 10. If you do some street performing, you should be able to get Entertainer unlocked as well as a profession for whatever skill you use in your performance. A high enough Reporter level and something like a 10 in Entertainer should unlock Broadcaster or News Anchor or something of that ilk. Whatever the unlock is, it should form a solid base for a class dealing with news, multi-targeting, or target chaining.”

“Those do sound useful. I assume I would then pair them with a combat class to make a mage class that can clear large amounts of low-level mobs?”

Delilah was quick on the uptake; I would give her that. She wasn’t seeing the big picture, though. “Something like that, but if you add Model to the Fashionista profession you will likely get in the course of leveling up Model, you should get Fashion Icon or Supermodel. Those can lead to charm, beguilement, celebrity, and clothes-based classes. Those types are often underrated, but having them unlocked in the future might be very useful.”

She paused in her note-taking, “I can see how that could be useful, so the profession unlocking is about establishing a solid base for the future? So that I don’t eventually encounter a situation where I need a specific one to advance my class the way I want and don’t have it.”

“Exactly. Once you get Reporter and Model, you can probably do the unlock quests for Cultist and Priest. Those should benefit you the most, I would recommend learning healing magic, as well as either light or holy magics from the priests. That should give you a decent start. From the cultists, you should learn dark magic and curse theory, possibly status effect theory as well. The end goal here would be to make a class that lets you inflict magic, good or bad, with your words alone. After all, that’s your greatest strength as a reporter, is it not?”

“My, my, Lazarus, you really do have this system figured out, don’t you. I doubt you learned all this just from talking with NPCs, but you can keep your secrets for now. It will give me an excuse to investigate you more, maybe meet up in person even. I do have to say my mouth is one of my greatest features.” She wore an innocent smile; it was clearly an act.

Damn, I can’t tell if her flirting is part of her act or just who she is. Only thing I’m pretty sure of is that she isn’t serious. I’m still the unfit guy I was at 25. No way she could actually be interested, right? I shake my head a bit to clear it. Can’t get distracted by the pretty reporter, I have a goal here, educate the world the best I can, and keep an ear out for anything ‘extraordinary’ happening in the real world. Maybe she can help with that?

“That’s what you need to get started. You could of course get a spyglass and study the stars to get the Astronomer or Stargazer profession if you want to add it in to your classes later. Personally, I would do all the class unlock quests and see what your options are before choosing a class. Make sure to read the descriptions of each class before picking one as well. The highest stats aren’t always the best pick.”

Hopefully, that will net her Class Act. If she finds a ‘hidden’ class with my advice, she might be more inclined to help me out. “I have a favor to ask Ms. Sky, if you hear about anything… unusual or spooky, through your contacts, especially anything in my area, I would appreciate it if you let me know.”

I bring up links to my info packets and a guest link into my stream account on my desk. After adding my contact information, I sent it over to hers. “I just sent you some stuff to read and look at, if you have more questions my info is there. Don’t hesitate to call.”

She visibly transferred all her files to a Datcube, “Oh, don’t worry Mr. Sanson, I will. I should get started on those professions. Who knows, maybe I’ll get a subclass like Lingerie Model instead.” She purred. With a last wink, she left the room.

Thank god, I was so not used to talking with normal people anymore. Looking back at it, I took over that conversation. Oops. That’s why I only talked with the Protectors towards the end. I was too fucking awful at communication these days. Might have been the couple years of isolated training in the wilds, or maybe it was just the fact that everyone, but the Protectors and my enemies, was so damn deferential in the end I couldn’t have a decent conversation with them. Being a famous war hero sucked ass, being the lone survivor of a battle that claimed the lives of twelve of the strongest warriors humanity had was so much worse.