System Architect

Over the next week-and-a-half—while waiting for the next semester to begin—I used Search to poke around the system a bit. I didn’t have any pressure on me to do work for school or anything else, so I figured that would be a good use of my free time.

I discovered several negative and positive options that did not have any requirements insofar as other features were concerned. Though some of them looked like things I would want to do, I ultimately held off of picking any of them. I’m not sure if it was fear or just uncertainty, but I didn’t want to make such a big decision without more consideration. I could always buy them—but once bought I couldn’t undo that choice.

Feature: Double Human Experience

Prerequisites: N/A

Unlock Personal Use: N/A

Unlock For Universal Use: 1,000,000 Exp

Description: Killing humans give twice as much experience

Feature: No Human Experience

Prerequisites: N/A

Unlock Personal Use: N/A

Unlock For Universal Use: -250,000 Exp

Description: Killing humans gives no experience

Feature: Monster Strength I

Prerequisites: N/A

Unlock Personal Use: N/A

Unlock For Universal Use: -124,100 Exp

Description: Increases the monster level by 1

Feature: Dungeons I

Prerequisites: N/A

Unlock Personal Use: N/A

Unlock For Universal Use: 10,000,000 Exp

Description: Confines monsters to dungeons

Feature: Dungeon Breaks I

Prerequisites: Dungeons I

Unlock Personal Use: N/A

Unlock For Universal Use: -5,000,000 Exp

Description: Allows monsters to break from dungeons

Feature: Apocalypse Countdown I

Prerequisites: N/A

Unlock Personal Use: N/A

Unlock For Universal Use: -1,000,000 Exp

Description: Permanently reduces the amount of time before the apocalypse by 1 year

Feature: Technological Ban I

Prerequisites: N/A

Unlock Personal Use: N/A

Unlock For Universal Use: -1,000,000 Exp

Description: Permanently disables all technology that relies upon electricity to function

Feature: Weapons Ban I

Prerequisites: N/A

Unlock Personal Use: N/A

Unlock For Universal Use: -1,000,000 Exp

Description: Permanently disables all weapons that rely on chemical reactions to function

I did get a chance to talk to Elizabeth about the next project before school started up again. She suggested making stuffed toys to donate to charity. There were always small bits of fabric left over that couldn’t be sold by the store or that were left over from other projects. I would be able to use those to make another child happy.

I started that same day. Elizabeth had me sew together a simple shape—a triangle—until both pieces were nearly sewn together. Then I had to turn the thing inside out before stuffing It with bits of cotton or polyester or whatever other puffy material was available. Finally, I had to carefully sew the final few stitches a special way so that the seam was hidden inside. What I had created was deemed passable by Elizabeth, so I planned on making something more difficult the next time the group met.

School started up again. This meant I had to go through the same rigmarole with the professors. There was one that was the same as the previous semester—so that one went well—and most of the others accepted me easily enough. There was always that one. A quick call to the office of the Dean sorted it out, but it was an annoyance that had me apprehensive every time I went to a new class for the first time. That it was the very first class I’d walked into for the semester didn’t help.

At the end of the first day of classes, I got an email from the Dean asking for me to meet him the next day. He said in the email that he’d heard good news from one of his contacts at a university. I hoped he was right. Before I could meet him, I had another sewing meet up to attend.

While waiting for Grandpa Milton to pick me up from school at the end of the day—they did so whenever Dad had to work late during the week he had me—I finally decided that I would take the No Human Experience feature. I had kept it in reserve in case I wanted to use a system of punishment for murderers but ultimately decided that the lack of incentive—experience—to kill someone would be sufficient to dissuade someone for most reasons. The other reasons—jilted lover, the thrill, fight for power—would never go away and messing with the experience gain wouldn’t fix them.

Feature Unlocked: No Human Experience

Current Exp: 310,755

Feature Unlocked: Quests I

Current Exp: 210,755

Feature Unlocked: Quests Refresh I

Current Exp: 185,755

Feature Unlocked: Free Quests Refresh I

Current Exp: 85,755

I played with my newfound questing powers. I was only able to refresh the quests governed by Quests I—the daily and weekly ones. I’d finished a couple throughout the day and was able to refresh them to new choices. I couldn’t reroll them once refreshed, but it would give me a good opportunity to run multiple quests a day. If I had a lot of time—and I got lucky—I could gain triple or more the usual amount of experience for that day.

Dad picked me up from his parents’ place after dinner and brought me to the meet up. As he usually did, he went to a restaurant nearby to have dinner while I worked on my projects. Elizabeth jumped up to greet me when I walked into the room.

“So what shape am I going to make today?” I asked.

“You’re going to make a bear!” she said excitedly.

“But won’t that be kinda hard?”

“Well, yes… but that’s what you’ll be donating! Maybe when you finish, you can make some really tiny clothes for the bear?”

“Maybe? I’ll just start with the bear. What do I need to do?”

“Well…”

Elizabeth explained the process. It was basically the same as it had been for the triangle except for the more complicated shape.

I started by cutting out two identical bear shapes with a little extra fabric to account for the seams. Then I placed one atop the other with the inside facing out and pinned the two pieces together. I used wax to visualize where to put the seam. Then it was time to sew.

With the bear being stuffed eventually, I had to use a strong stitch. Each stitch was as small as I could make them within reason. It took time, but the final product would be better for it. When I made it back around to the head, I turned the bear right side out.

The stuffing process was a bit trickier with the bear than it had been with the triangle—there were a bunch of long and narrow bits that needed stuffing. Once I finished stuffing the bear, I sealed the last bit of the head with more stitching.

I thought I was done at that point, but Elizabeth suggested I make some tweaks. At each major joint—like where the legs met the torso—I sewed a line to compress the stuffing and allow the bear a slight range of motion. I did the same to the hands but instead of for ease of bending, I did so to give the appearance of hands.

There were other small details as well—like the face—that I needed to complete before Elizabeth declared that the bear was done. I got a good amount of experience for the effort. I handed the bear to her when it was time to go home. There was a collection box in the corner for donating. Everyone made items to donate from time to time. The box would be closed up and donated as soon as it was filled. My first bear found its new home in the donation box.

Thursday afternoon, I walked into the Dean’s office with Grandpa Joe. As much as Grandpa Milton would have been a good companion, I still wasn’t sure of bringing him into the know. At least Grandpa Joe knew how to keep a secret—which is why I trusted him to help me with these kinds of things.

After a brief wait, we were let in to see the Dean. He had a warm expression and shook my hand when I entered his office. Grandpa Joe and I sat down in front of the Dean’s desk, I waited nervously for him to begin speaking.

“So, Eddy,” he said, “I’ve heard back from my friend Connor. He said that there shouldn’t be any issues with getting you into the university and getting you a full ride given your circumstances. Their endowment can certainly handle it.”

He laughed.

“So that’s it then?” I asked.

“Well, mostly.”

I gave him a quizzical look.

“If it were just the acceptance,” he said putting his hands up, “I would have sent the instructions to you by email. No, Connor wants to meet with you first. I know that’s going to be difficult with how much work is involved day-to-day in school. That said, he would probably be available when you have your break after midterms.”

“Ok,” I said. “That should be possible, right Grandpa Joe?”

“I’ll have to ask your Mom—and I might have to go with you—but I don’t see why not.”

“Awesome.”

“There’s one other thing,” the Dean coughed. “You’ll need to apply to the college as a transfer. That won’t be too difficult on your part. I’ll email you the forms you need. I have directed the office to send a copy of your transcript to me. When you’re done with the forms, send them my way. I’ll pass everything along to Connor.”

I nodded.

“Is there anything else?” I asked.

“That’s all. Do you have any questions?”

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “I do want to thank you for this.”

“Oh, it’s nothing,” the Dean said. “This is the sort of thing I took this job to do. I don’t always get to help students as much as I want to, but you stand out even more than most.”

“Thanks.”

I shook the Dean’s hand again on the way out. I sighed, the nerves exiting my body with each breath.

“That went well,” I said to Grandpa Joe.

“You did good, kid,” he said.

When I got home that night, I checked my email and saw the forms from the Dean. I called Mom and told her the news. She was over the moon and congratulated me. Dad’s reaction was more subdued. He fist-bumped me and told me good job. I hadn’t really expected more than that from him, but it did hurt a bit to not see him as excited as Mom was.

That weekend, it snowed a lot. It got going Friday afternoon and didn’t let up until mid-day on Saturday. I struggled to clear Dad’s driveway and walkway but managed eventually with Dad’s help.

We went from trailer to trailer to help dig people—and their cars—out from under all the white stuff. It was a ton of tiring effort, but we got it done in the end. That the snow was fluffy was my only saving grace. That allowed me to move more of it without feeling like I might break something—the shovel or maybe even my arms!

We didn’t always get paid for the work—something Dad claimed built character. I called it bullshit. It was my money and I wanted it now! I did get some experience—from the money we did get. Dad gave me half the money even though I’d only done a quarter of the work. At least he got that part right.