Chapter 21

Neither one of them woke up after an hour had passed. Lucas set the robots to guarding the door to the house, so he could rest during this time. After an hour, he decided he would load up the pups in the wagon and send them back to Rose.

“Rose, I need some assistance,” Lucas called over his Comlink. “Both of my team members are down. We cleared out a wolves den. I have metal and future minions I can send to you. I’d prefer to send the minions first because the metal can wait… We’ve got a rusted F150 and a decently large plated statue. Might be limestone underneath, maybe some other filler material, but it is copper coated.

“I need the robots to help me protect the location we are staying while I wait for them to wake up, but I can send the miners back unguarded. I can literally see The Commons still through the trees. You were right. This is going to take days.”

Glad to see that you realized I was right. I will pass on the sentiments to Sarah. You are close enough that I feel comfortable sending out a few more of my robotic fighters to guard the caravan home. They will be there in around 10 minutes. I actually sent them after you shortly after the EXP stopped coming in and you hadn’t reported in yet.

“It’s good to know you care, Rose,” said Lucas tenderly.

Of course, I care you nitwit. I… would miss you if you were gone, replied Rose. Only just barely stopping herself before she could admit that she loved Lucas.

If she were able, to be honest with herself, which is something she could not do, then she would admit that she loved Lucas before he even came out of the tank. She logically knew that it probably started as a sort of Trauma bonding as all of the other people around them died, but she didn’t care about that. Lucas seemed to care about her as a person genuinely, and that was enough for her.

Anyway, send the minions back first. I will have the robots try and drag the F150 back if it still rolls.

“The rubber rotted away on the tires, but the rims look OK. You might get lucky. Probably want to instruct the robots to either break or disconnect the transmission. Not sure how you would put a car from 214 years ago into neutral...” trailed off Lucas.

I’ll figure it out. In the meantime, I need some feedback. I got 433 EXP points from this battle. Very few came from the robots, a few came from Brandy, but most came from Ralph and you. I can unlock sub-dungeons or teleports, but not both. I need more EXP to get both. I can buy the prerequisite for both and end up at 300 EXP spent. If I also pick up the Tier 1 in the Dungeon Master tree, it will more than pay for itself after another battle this size. Unless the mine is empty, it’s probably a good buy. What do you think?

“Can you even use sub-dungeons without teleports?” asked Lucas

Anywhere that I don’t have too much light speed lag, yes. That’s not something that the system can bend. I could still establish a dungeon in the mine and be able to see and communicate with anyone in both locations. Teleporting would give me instant utility inside the dungeon, and we could establish a creche for young squirrels, and soon wolves as well, to prevent their slaughter if anyone attacks.

“My suggestion then is to do the sub-dungeons with the prerequisites as well as picking up the EXP boost. If you don’t get enough in the Mine, Sarah said U.S. 31 was very dangerous. I’ll go take out a few monsters over there.”

Before Rose could respond to Lucas, a loud, and slightly high pitched, groaning sound came from behind Lucas, where he had laid Brandy and Ralph down to rest.

Lucas quickly turned around and checked on both Brandy and Ralph. As he was checking, Brandy’s eyes fluttered open.

“Lucas…” Brandy said weakly.

“I’m here, Brandy,” replied Lucas. “You saved him. Ralph’s still alive.”

“Good,” replied Brandy. “I need a huge favor. I passed out because I exhausted my Mana and tapped into my own energy. I’m a light affinity user. I will regenerate my mana much faster if I am in the light. I don’t need to be naked, as long as I can sit in the sun. It will help.”

Thinking about it for a moment, Lucas responded. “I don’t want to leave you outside. It’s much easier to protect the house. How about we take you upstairs by an empty window. As you feel better, you can strip articles of clothing and expose more skin to the sun.”

“Thanks’ Lucas. I think that will work. Have we looted the boss yet?” asked Brandy.

“Not yet. I didn’t want to loot the boss without you two awake,” replied Lucas.

“Well I’m awake now too, so go loot that dang wolf. If I ever get a bite taken out of me like that again, it will be too soon,” said Ralph.

“RALPH,” shouted out Brandy as she crawled over to him, unable to yet stand. “I am so very, very sorry.”

“Just don’t do it again, OK?” replied Ralph.

“I promise to wait until you’ve hit the monster before I start trying to heal you.”

“Good girl,” said Ralph as he drifted off again.

Lucas quickly went around looting all the wolves. He ended up with a loot bag for each of the wolves, plus about 150 gold in total. As Lucas went to loot the Matriarch, the body flashed, and in addition to the loot bag, three additional bags had been dropped. Inspecting them, the first was labeled as “Only openable by Brandy Glass.” Each of the three teammates had a bag like that.

Loading all of the light bags into his bag, Lucas headed upstairs. Handing the resting individuals a bag each, Lucas said, “I think we’ve each got a piece of loot. We each have a bag that is bound to us.”

Setting down the bags that belong to Brandy and Ralph in front of them, Lucas opened his bag. Out plopped a rare item.

Equipment

Spell Book

Rare

Durability

90/90

This spellbook improves your ability to discover new spells.

+2 intellect

+2 damage to damaging spells

Looking at the spellbook before he picked it up, Lucas exclaimed. “What the heck. This is a physics Textbook.” Opening the textbook to the page where a student would write their name, “This was MY physics textbook. How did the system even get this!”

Brandy responded, “The system works in mysterious ways.”

Rose jumped in I’m guessing that it isn’t actually your physics textbook, just a something close enough that you can’t tell the difference. The nanobots interface with your brain, so I can’t see a reason that they couldn’t pull out what you remember about an item to recreate it.

Stunned, Lucas says “You... make a good point. Either way, this pushes me down the path of the Magus as opposed to the Rogue. I didn’t even stab anything that fight.”

I’d expect that is why the system gave you Magus loot. If you want Rogue loot, fight like a Rogue.

“You make another good point. But I do so much more damage, and am so much more effective as a Magus,” replied Lucas. “I just want to be able to sneak up on people and shout ‘Boo!”

As everyone laughed, Rose responded. I think that means you made your decision then. You are a master of magic as opposed to a master of the blade. To again borrow some terms from RPG’s of our time, the level of skill required to be a mage is a lot lower comparatively. You are an extremely tanky mage thanks to your high endurance, but still a mage.

Sighing, Lucas said, “I guess that makes sense. Especially for me. Remind me when I get back to The Commons to drop the Rogue profession.”

You can still keep the profession, Lucas, it just won’t be as beneficial as something that fits more with a Magus. What that profession might be, I don’t know, but I am sure we can ask around and find something if you want.

“Spellblade. Drop Rogue and pick up Spellblade. You are totally a magic-user, and to be a rogue instead of a Spellblade wastes half of your skills,” said Brandy. “I even know a Spellblade trainer who lost their village to a monster attack who might be interested in relocating. Spellblades are magic-using assassins specializing in close up magic. ”

“I will… consider it. Thanks, Brandy, Thanks, Rose,” said Lucas. “In other news, what did you get?”

“I’m not exactly sure. Here, let me share the item details. Do you know what an Over-the-Shoulder Boulder-Holder is?” asked Brandy

Equipment

Over the shoulder boulder-holder

Unique

Durability

90/90

Over-the-Shoulder Boulder-Holder.

Improves Light Affinity Cultivation when Equipped

+1 Charisma

Automagically exactly sized upon equip

+2 Endurance

Binds when Equipped

Instantly both Lucas and Rose broke out laughing. “It’s a named bra,” said Lucas as he laughed. “I think the system is messing with you because you weren’t wearing any clothing for most of the kills. It’s pretty darn funny though.”

What do you mean she wasn’t wearing clothes for most of the fight said Rose gravelly.

In an attempt to calm Rose down, Lucas quickly replied, “The fight started as an ambush before she could put back on her combat armor after cultivating light affinity.”

And why did she need to re-equip her combat armor after affinity cultivation?

Sighing, Brandy responded, “Because I was trying to get Lucas to notice me. Cultivating with as few pieces of clothing on as possible is extremely beneficial to the rate of cultivation. I thought I could put those two things together and maybe get noticed.”

“I noticed you,” said Ralph quietly.

“That you did. But you noticed me when we were both slaves, and I guess I haven’t really put it together yet in my head that I am not Lucas's slave anymore. I don’t have to bend to his will. I don’t have to buy myself better treatment,” said Brandy sadly.

As long as you live and work within The Commons, you never have to worry about that sort of thing again. I will never allow something like that to happen within my walls, promised Rose poignantly.

That being said. Please keep your clothes on around Lucas, said Rose sternly.

“I will... try to do so in the future,” replied Brandy. Turning to Ralph, “You on the other hand,” Brandy teased. “Anyway, what did you get.”

As Ralph opened the bag, a loud clang could be heard. “I apparently received a shield. A very nice, fully metal shield. Wider than the wooden one I’ve got. Not much heavier too. The system must have put a featherweight enchantment on it. It will be good for bashing and hopefully stopping me from getting bit.”

Equipment

Kite Shield

Rare

Durability

120/120

This shield is in excellent condition. It is designed to defend against all things. Including Wolves

+40 Armor

+1 Endurance

+10% Block Chance

Lucas, the Robots have been waiting outside a few minutes. Are you ready to head out?

“Everybody ready?” asked Lucas. When nobody responded he followed up with “Ok, well let's head out then. Rose, please escort your new puppies back to the base. They can join your kitties. Hopefully, they all play nice together.”

Oh, they will, threatened Rose. I will send the robots cart back with the warrior bots. The copper and the baby wolves don’t weigh enough to slow them down much. They should be able to catch back up to you and the miner bots pretty quickly.

“Let us know over the earpiece when they are getting close,” replied Lucas, and with that, The Warrior bots sped off with the cart. Far faster than a human could walk.

“Lucas, why didn’t we toss the miner bots into the cart and have the warrior bots pull them?” asked Ralph.

“That is an excellent question, that I cannot answer,” said Lucas. “Regardless, we may as well start walking.