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Cowboys and Wizards

S01E04 - Cold Spring

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With a tug of the reins, Horse and I headed south to Wendleton road.

My Transit Map showed a dirt track labeled “Old Fort Galos Road” that lead 5 miles south to Wendleton road, and then I could head west to Wendleton itself which would have been Carson city in my world. There were no details on the city, but Fort Galos had (ruins) in the information screen. I wondered what had happened here and why it wasn’t rebuilt.

I nudged Horse into a trot as the trees closed in around us and the trail sloped slightly downwards. Old wagon ruts in the packed soil of the trail where grass hadn’t reclaimed the area. This wasn’t anything like the Nevada I’d grown up in, not outside of a national park anyway, there were tons of huge pine trees and plenty of underbrush here. A mile later the trees thinned out and opened into the arid landscape with which I was familiar. Tough yellow grass and hardy brush grew as far as the eye could see, with occasional clusters of trees breaking the monotony. A small spring emerged from between two waist-high boulders about 100 yards from the tree line and formed a pool of clear water before overflowing and meandering alongside the trail. Bonus camping gear was included with the purchase of Horse but no supplies, and I suddenly grew quite thirsty at the thought of being on a 30 mile ride in the summer heat with no water.

A glance at my ever-present and slightly annoying Heads-Up-Display told me that it was currently 17:30, I had 2 bars on the 8E network, and my battery had dropped 90/2500. I’m guessing Battery is how tired I am and it’ll recharge while I sleep. I hope it recharges while I sleep. Where the hell would I even plug myself in to recharge?

I guided Horse up to the pool and dismounted. Reaching into the saddlebags caused an Inventory screen to pop up. Looks like Horse comes equipped with 20 slots for stashing gear. Selecting a canteen from the saddlebag inventory, I filled it with cold spring water and splashed some on my face while Horse slurped loudly. Does a summoned mount even need to eat and drink? I probed through the PSY bond with the question and a sense of eating apples came back to me. I’m going to take that as a yes.

A loud rustling in the brush made my heart skip a beat. Quickdraw activated and my pistol was snapped out of the holster in a blur. Moments later, a jackrabbit the size of a bulldog emerged with his nose twitching, then stood on his hind legs to watch me. Jesus Christ, the thing was huge. An absolute unit of a rabbit with teeth the size of my thumb.

I considered what I was about to do, conflicted with the knowledge of knowing how to spit roast a rabbit over a campfire despite never having done it before. The runestones under my palm tingled as I mentally selected Mana shot and squeezed the trigger. The gun jerked in my hand with a loud crack as a fist-sized blue ball of energy exploded from it and smashed into the jackrabbit. The animal went flying ass-over-ears back into the brush and I waited for a few seconds, listening.

Easing around the pool I poked through the brush and spotted my prey twitching on the ground, stunned and struggling to get up. I put a stone bullet through its head with another loud report from my pistol, flinching as blood and brains scattered across the dirt. Part of me was disgusted by my first experience with real-life gore, but that part was an echo overwritten by the experiences that had downloaded into my brain. I was a cowboy now, and hunting and preparing wild game were included in the package. The fact that my mind had been tinkered with bothered me on some visceral level, but I was still me, right? I felt the same, mostly. I think I’m me therefore I am me, right?

I ejected the spent shells and pocketed them, noticing that the silvery runes that once lined the brass had been tarnished black. Reloading from my belt, I holstered my pistol and turned my attention back to examining what was probably going to be dinner. The mana shot had broken several of the rabbit’s ribs and a leg. I made a mental note that while it was less lethal than stone bullet, a head shot at close range would probably kill someone. At best it would probably feel like getting kicked in the face by a mule.

I’d never killed anything before, nor had I dressed and skinned anything either, but my Cowboy profession included field dressing game, so I was confident I could manage the task.

*Ding*

Another pop-up ad appeared at the bottom of my vision and enlarged when I concentrated on it.

-=-

“Why get your hands dirty when you can use Disassembly?

With the Disassembly skill, you can render any corpse into valuable parts in moments! Disassembly yields more meat, more magical components, and more mana stones with greater quality! When it comes to looting corpses, Disassembly is the best!

NOTE: Disassembly is part of the Psychic Skill pack [learn more?]”

Cost: 50 Silver

Memory: 20

Requirements: Battery

In-App Purchases: None.

-=-

The mini-movie included with the ad showed me holding my hands over the rabbit and it vanishing into blue sparks, leaving behind meat, hide, and a tiny red stone. This world had some seriously convenient aspects despite the bullshit pay-to-win pop-up ads.

I mentally selected the [learn more?] button to learn about Psychics. No point in buying one skill if there’s a deal on the entire lot.

-=-=-

- Psychic Skill Pack -

Unlock amazing mental powers with the Psychic Ability!

A Psychic doesn’t require a Mana Service Provider to use their abilities!

Psychics use Battery power instead of Mana for skills and abilities!

Battery power recharges while resting or sleeping!

Unlike the Mage Class that has to buy or craft spells, all Psychic abilities are innate and can be self-learned or taught by another Psychic!

Includes Aura Manipulation: Use your aura to access all Psychic skills.

Includes Auric Sight: See the energy that surrounds all living things.

Includes Dreamworld access.

Includes Empathy: Sense the emotional state of other living creatures.

Includes Mind Over Matter: Convert Battery into physical strength.

Includes Regeneration: Use Battery to repair damage to your body.

Bonus! Disassembly included! Loot corpses with style!

Bonus! Mental Fortitude included! Defend against mental conditions like Stun!

Cost: 3 Gold

Memory: 120

Requirements: Battery

In-App Purchases: 30 silver - 1 gold.

-=-=-

No MSP required? Uses Battery instead of Mana? Recharges itself? What’s not to like about this? But… 3 gold? What’s the value of money in this world? Is that a lot or a little? The gold coins are about the size of a quarter, so.. 2.5g of gold? Plus any other metals used to alloy, so what’s the value of 2.5g of gold back home? One ounce has twenty-something grams, but a troy ounce is bigger, so 30g per troy ounce? Gold is like $2000 per ounce now, so open Calc and… $166 if that coin is 100% gold. Which it probably isn’t. I’ll assume $150 of metal. Damn. Psychic powers for $450 is a great deal.

-=-

Downloading: … 25…50…75…88… Mana: 228/600

Installing: …25…50…75…100… Inventory: 8/290

Converting Mana to Battery. 1600+600

Battery: 264/3100

-=-

Now I have 50 silver and 290 inventory slots.

My heart hammered in my chest like it was going to explode and my body flushed with fever. A strange prickling sensation started between my eyes, growing in intensity until it felt like someone was trying to bore a hole through my forehead. The sensations vanished after a minute and I opened my eyes to a completely new world.

I could see the life around me. The golden glow surrounding healthy plants, the damaged or diseased leaves on the plants, the bright sparks of insects and tiny creatures as they scurried about. The effect seemed to be limited to about 30 feet or so. I glanced at Horse and discovered that he was lifeless as a brick, except for a bright spark in his chest and a thin silver thread that ran from it to my navel. It sort of made sense I suppose? Horse was a summoned mount, a creature created by mana. Which was Battery power now, I suppose. I really need to discover more about how this world works and just how much of a freak of nature I really am.

The corpse of the jackrabbit by my feet was leaking green-gold sparks that vanished into the aether. I placed my hands over the corpse and mentally activated Disassembly.

- Disassembly: Convert [All / Standard / Valuable / Itemised]

I didn’t expect to have a choice. Selecting All, I watched as the corpse exploded into a million motes of light and vanish into my palms, leaving behind a pile of meat, guts, hide, and a tiny mana stone. I totally didn’t expect a pile of guts. All means all after all and I have no one to blame but myself.

- Converting acquired Mana to Battery power: +10

- Battery: 244/1600

Well, well, well. There’s another unexpected bonus. I can recharge myself like a frigging vampire. I placed the meat and hide into Inventory and examined the tiny mana stone. It was a dull green chip, about the size of my little fingernail. Dropping it into inventory I opened the description.

- Tiny green mana stone (100mp)

Crystallised mana that accumulates in all life forms. Green stones are useful in Illusion. Used for spells, enchantments, and potions. Can be used in an Expansion slot to increase Mana capacity.

- Use for Expansion [Y/N]?

I selected Y and popped open the System.

-=-

HumanOS

Version: 24.9

Model: Vincent J. Carter

Serial: 434-34-4334

Battery: 2300 (1600+600+100)

Memory: 290 (1600)

Mana: 0 (600)

Expansion: Tiny green mana stone (100)

-=-

Nice. Maybe I can get my hands on a gargantuan mana stone with a million mana one day.

There was no chance I was going to make it to Wendleton before nightfall and this spring was a perfect location for camping. I scraped out a fire pit and surrounded it with stones, then gathered up some firewood. Cowboy instinct allowed me to locate some dried “Yellow sagebrush” which would help flavour the rabbit when I cooked it.

The camping gear in Horse’s Inventory was as basic as it got. Two heavy waxed tarps, 50’ of rope, 100’ of twine, a thick wool blanket, a cast iron dutch oven, two skewers, a tin plate, tin cup, steel cutlery with deer antler handles, a flint striking tool, a small box of spices, a tin coffee pot, a pound of coffee, 30’ of fishing line, 5 fish hooks, a box of matches, and wonder of wonders — a genuine multi-purpose steel entrenching tool; a tactical shovel with serrated edge that was useful for digging foxholes to cover your ass and latrines to empty your ass. Also useful for pounding stakes, chopping down small trees, pick-axing stubborn rocks, or swinging at an enemy when you’re out of ammo.

I dug a small hole a respectable distance away from my campsite and buried the rabbit guts, reminding myself to choose one of the other options next time. Then I cleared out a spot between two large bushes and dropped a tarp on the ground, spreading the other one over the bushes to create a makeshift tent to keep the morning dew off. Whittling a dozen pegs from the surrounding bushes, I tied and staked the tarp to prevent it from blowing away.

It was late afternoon and still hot as blazes, but I started a small fire anyway because I was looking forward to some spit-roasted rabbit. White smoke rose into the clear blue sky and the air was soon filled with the savoury smell of rabbit.

I pulled the rusty knife from inventory and spent a few minutes honing it against one of the boulders, knocking off the majority of the rust and returning something of an edge to it. There was good metal under the rust and some oil and a whetstone would probably make it serviceable again. I’d pick up a better sheath in town, or a better knife depending on the price.

Howls in the distance caught my attention. I looked up from the knife to see a wild-eyed woman fly up the trail on a horse screaming at me. Time seemed to slow a bit as adrenaline flowed my system in shock at this unexpected company. Blonde hair streamed past her shoulders revealing a sharply curved ear pierced with three silver rings.

At this moment, I’m thinking that she would probably be kinda cute if she didn’t look terrified. And that ear? Straight outta some fantasy book. I’d bet my gun she was an Elf.

“TY TUNTU VEMUS!” she screamed, thundering past me.

What the hell? What was that all about?

A pack of wolves came howling up the trail after her.

-= NOTES =-

[CAST]

Vincent J. Carter

Horse

[PLACES]

Wendleton road

Old Fort Galos road

Fort Galos

Wendleton

Nevada

Carson city

Trailside spring

[PEOPLE]

Delilah Silverwood

[OTHERS]

-=- PERSONAL -=-

[[ Next chappie Wed 16Dec20 ]]