Play 2 Wage: Linked

The skill books, which were rather small and bound between plain bronze cover boards with thick crunchy paper, answered a lot of my initial questions about how I was supposed to make this work. I read through them while sitting against the wall of the training room for the last few hours before our first “Instruction”.

They were labeled with a specific reading order. The first of which was “Confounding Compounds”. Simply reading the books was an experience unlike anything I’d ever known was even possible. The text was utterly and compulsively captivating, and seared itself into my memory as quickly as it pulled my eyes along the lines. I was so engrossed that the whole building could have collapsed or caught on fire as I read, and I don’t think I would have noticed or been able to pull my eyes from the page.

Max got a kick out of the books too. While he had access to an absolute pile of knowledge through his general perusal of the internet and the games own system files, there were still some holes in his repertoire, especially for complex and specific industry details.

“Confounding Compounds” was a chemistry primer that gave me an uncannily clear memory of the base elements and the many combinations of them. “Crafting with Chemicals” got into the ash and slag of the details on how to apply that knowledge to making and breaking stuff. The crafting book went into more detail on the common reactions and solutions the Zk’Aek used for their excavations, the processes of how to soak various ores in specific baths to release the desired material, and most importantly how they made their armor plating.

The plates turned out to be more of a composite than a true crystalline metal, and I had no frame of reference to realize just how crazy their ability to manufacture the stuff was. I still don’t fully understand why it works, only how to make it work. The only way I can explain it is that they put down a carefully controlled and patterned three dimensional lattice of materials, mostly argon of all things, in layers only a single molecule thick at a time. They had discovered a process that allowed them to force the normally unreactive noble gas to bond with itself into an ultra dense and sturdy metal.

They used a series of huge specialized machines to grow the plating, which I was given limited access to under the supervision of Kazzad and Relik. They taught me that each House had their own secret pattern base, which was further tweaked by individual would-be armorsmiths. All in a constant effort to evolve, perfect, and push their signature technology further and further.

The last book they gave me, “Common Core Crafting Mats” listed out the recipes, blueprints, and specifications for a few thousand different secondary crafting components from Trash to Rare grade. It had a huge list of different gem-cut geometries and the effects they would give, plans for small and powerful motors from various alien factions, and batteries using anything from lead and acid all the way up to radioactive decay.

Each book took exactly one game hour to read, and the rest of the young dwarves went back to their training or play and left me alone as I read through them.

After I had read through the books and played around with my gauntlets a little more, I locked in a few presets that would let me eat away at most of the commonly worked stone and metal types. In the process, I learned that the bronze colored metal that they used quite commonly was in fact a bronze alloy, aluminum silicon bronze to be exact.

I had to end my experiments with a splash of neutralizer, and avoid the fumes like my life depended on it. Plus I couldn’t just slurp up the compound and recycle the unused catalyst like the rest of my Row, although if I’m being honest, that did not bother me one bit.

The fumes coming off of my experiments led to another discovery, on top of causing Max to fly into a frenzy of warnings and complaints about me trying to kill us by huffing toxic vapors. They showed me just how extremely well the place was ventilated. All of the noxious smoke from the reactions I tested simply wafted upwards and away and never had a chance to spread much through the room.

Evidently a society that uses pheromones and chemicals as often as the dwarves value smooth and predictable airflow, and go to great lengths to ensure it. To me, the dwarves and the whole place still constantly and intensely smelled in all sorts of different ways: alluring, off putting, and interesting all at the same time.

I finished the books just in time for my first training session with everyone. Chane came sweeping back into the room and everyone lined up. Being the new guy, I guessed incorrectly that I would be at the end of the line furthest from the door.

Turns out I was supposed to be the closest to the door, which earned me some light-hearted ribbing as I walked to my proper place, which also turned out to be their primary form of disciplinary action. The walk of shame. The offender would be made to walk down the formation and everyone would jeer and deride you for your mistake.

Since it was my first day and walking down the row was the way to correct the mistake, it was nothing too bad and we got right into the training session. I was given one of their huge armor plate shields and a heavy staff-like weapon that I was unsure of the use of, and Chane drilled us on moving in concert with one another.

We marched around as a block, or one big line, or pairs, or rows of four. We struggled when we were ordered to split into two groups and circle each other while maintaining formation, and my group lost the challenge when I tripped over the dwarven lass next to me and threw off the rest of the shield wall.

Kikkelin, daughter of Johkaht, was the previous occupier of the “needs the most instruction” position in our formation, and was at my side for the whole session. She struck me as the youngest of the whole group, because she had no whiskers on her chin or cheeks at all and happened to be the most obviously feminine of the Row. She had a curvy frame and wore a human music band’s t-shirt under a gambeson made of straps that held a few bits of incomplete armor around her arms and shoulders. I noticed the humans in the graphic on her shirt, but didn’t recognize the band and struggled to read the name through the messy font they had chosen to write it in.

The fumble earned us each our own walk of shame. Kikkelin went first and I was caught off guard by some of the comments yelled out by the other Row members.

“Keep yer focus, Lin!”

“Aye, quit ogglin’ the new leaf-eater and hold yer place!”

“Ya’v done this drill a hundred times, get it together!”

When my turn came, the jeers were a bit more constructive with one notable exception from the dwarf I had met earlier named Korfook. The one with a shoulder length mass of brown dreaded hair.

“You need to brace your shield on your shoulder, and keep your elbow in!”

“Yer standing too tall! Ye’ll have to learn to adapt!”

“We’ll never get a proper cloud shield going with you unless you form up, Kaninak!”

“Maybe focus more on where yer steppin’ and less on watchin’ Lin's thorax, and we’d be on to the next exercise, human.”

We lined back up, and I got a hostile look from Korfook. He was the one who had, unfairly in my eyes, accused me of staring. Kikkelin and I spent the rest of the time avoiding eye contact and there was a whole new awkward feeling radiating from the girl.

“You said this wouldn't be like highschool, Max.” I grumbled to myself as I rushed forward and crashed my shield into another dwarv’s, this one named Sallis.

Chane continued to put us through exercise after exercise, formations followed by sparring, and then conditioning to our heavy shields and staffs. All occasionally interrupted by a disciplinary walk down the line.

I was unused to spending so much time holding my arms up in the manner many of the formations called for. My shoulders and back screamed by the end of the 10 long hours, despite the strength I had already developed by swinging a sledge and hauling rocks for a number of years.

During a short break, I asked Chane about the usefulness of the staff they had given me, and found out that the staves were inert versions of the energy weapons that the dwarven military used to power their plasma shield technique. The bristling staves, poking out like the spears of hoplites, charged the cloud of gas they would collectively build up above and before the formation. Then they would guide and form the cloud with startlingly fast fans of their shields, or breaths from their powerful lungs.

Luckily for me, we did not attempt to actually do any of the advanced gas tactics that first day. We just hammered on the basics for the session and I was grateful when Chane finally called a halt and reminded everyone to meet for the next one at the same time tomorrow.

When Driller Chane finished running us through the drills of the day, most of the group quickly unequipped the piecemeal bits of armor they wore. We all stowed our shields and inert staves in a closet that blended in so well with the wall that I hadn't even noticed it until the boisterous Bomilik had opened it at the end of the day.

Chane walked out of the room straight away, and was quickly followed by the majority of the other dwarves. I stood around for a bit, considering wandering the House Galidurn grounds, or just portaling back to the hub to meet up with Tevin and then back to reality to enjoy my swanky new apartment.

The dwarv lass Sallis approached and interrupted me as I was weighing my options.

“Ay, Kaninak. Even if ye’ stomp around like’n a giant, I hear ye at least can handle yer acceleration forces. I am Sallis, Daughter of Krarnin, n’ me father says yer alright.”

I blinked at the dwarv girl, and shook myself from my thoughts. “Oh, yeah. Krarnin…” I racked my brain, and remembered that was the name Chane had used for the pilot of The Hearthbound. “That’s me. I’ll get better about the stompy bit, promise. Your father is the pilot?”

She let out a chuckle and stood a little taller, a note of pride in her voice. “Of course! The best of our House, and the whole Clan.”

I nodded, “He certainly got us here quickly, it was a ride I’ll never forget.” I added truthfully, even if my memory of it was partially tinged with crushing force and shock. “So, do you… have any advice for the shield?” I added, unsure of what else to say in the face of her boast.

“Eh, nothing the Row hasn't already told ya. Formations aren’t my strongest either, ye’ll get used to ‘em though. The trials are just to prove yer foundation, the real fun stuff happens after ye specialize.”

That spiked my curiosity, and had me wondering about what specializations they might have and what that might look like. Like a secondary school, similar to the guild academies that Tevin and Rin had attended?

“How do you get into a specialization around here anyways? Do you pay, or promise service?” I asked, hesitant to offer up that much of a commitment, and doubtful I could afford the steep prices of any worthwhile education.

“Nah, haha. It’s merit and sponsor based. Just give what you wanna do yer all, if’n yer good enough one of the older dwarves will take ye on as a sponsor.”

I was surprised and relieved, I couldn't imagine not paying for training from an expert. “It’s just free? What stops people from learning the skill, and then just leaving and stealing the business of their master?”

“Bah. Everyone stays within the House, so what’s it matter if’n a journeyman opens business next to ‘is masters? It means we get two shops, and two places to train future sponsors. Most stay anyway, even once you can stand on your own there is still much to learn from elder experience. Some feel the need to forge their own way though, and sometimes that leads to greatness, so we let ‘em try.”

I noticed her accent was very light when she made the longer statement, and two more dwarves approached us.

One, a brown haired and purple eyed dwarv named Lurbolg, the only dwarv I’d seen so far who kept a relaxed little smile on his face more often than not, broke into the conversation to add to her statement before I could reply.

“We play the game differently than your old Faction, Kaninak. If no one has yet told you, we run as one. While we may bicker between houses, our goals and efforts are shared. There’s no need to worry about stealing business, all business is clan business, it just means we can do more.”

That was indeed new information to me, and a totally foreign idea. I thought hard for a moment, Max once again chuckling in the background and eventually settled on a question. “So how do you buy anything? Can you just get whatever you need from the clan?”

All three of the dwarves laughed, and Sallis answered through the mirth, “Oh, we still pay and get paid, hah. It’s all by results though, hourly work is outlawed, ‘n we use our own currency in ta underhome. The Clan leadership handles the Link credits, ‘n gives out ‘n equal allowance of ‘em, to all of us.”

We chatted for a while longer, and they informed me about a few more quirks of their self-sufficient economy. Namely about their currency which translated as, I kid you not, Glitter. They were pea sized gems of various colors, and I was warned to avoid the matte silvery-gray cubes. They were one of the higher denominations, worth 6000 of the least valuable, and were made from refined uranium. They were given a protective coating that shields the radiation, but it was known to break and malfunction and cause issues with their machines. The dwarves were somehow unaffected by the radiation themselves, it was a rushed solution when they had agreed to let some humans join with the clan.

I agreed to stay away from the possibly radioactive pellets, and the conversation turned to joking and boasting between the three, leaving me a bit lost because I had no idea what they were referencing or why “slippin’ a chase down n’ eleven seventy” was something to brag about.

After excusing myself from the conversation, I walked to the other side of the room and decided to just portal back home for the night.

Tevin answered almost instantly when I messaged him.

Kaninak: I’m heading to the hub, you still around?

ShadowS: Yup, I’m at the range with some new toys. Got new plates too, you should come through

Kaninak: Alright, this isn't some mil-range where I’ll be surrounded by grunts though is it?

ShadowS: Nah, not officially anyway. This one's private. I got you something too, here’s the coords