Continue Online (Book 1, Memories) (39 page)

The
[Messenger's Pet]
hissed when Awesome Jr. got too close, which
was awesome. I chuckled and gave the tiny guy a stroke, which set him
to purring again. He calmed down and dove into the remains of his
cupcake.

“
Wait
until you try cookies,” I whispered quietly. I saw one ear perk
forward almost like a cat's before it settled back down.

“
That’s
so…”

“
Awesome.”
I nodded and cut off the new player.

“
What’s
its name?”

“
His
name and I don’t know. Would you like to try and find a name
for him?” I watched the box bleep into existence in front of
Awesome Jr. He laughed like a child and shook his head.

“
My
naming sense is a little bit lacking. I’d better not.”
His finger jabbed at the floating system message. Quest offered and
firmly rejected.

“
Oh
well. So far the little guy hasn’t liked any name given to him,
so, it’ll have to wait.” I said.

“
That’s
an interesting quest.” The young man said. My response was to
give an old man half-smile that seemed more tired than amused.

“
This
place is full of interesting things. How did you like the tour?”
Carver cared about what happened to players. He treated players the
way they treated him. My points were slowly changing for the better
today.

“
I
saw a lot of places. A lot of people were super friendly when I said
I was doing an errand for you. One lady, she said to call her Peg,
she was confused and said you could have asked her yourself.”

I
smiled. I’d been dealing with Peg nearly an hour ago at this
point. Carver's pace was intensely slow compared to most other
people, even after the pleasant workout. Awesome Jr. must have run
into her most recently. Then the little
[Messenger's Pet]
had
somehow sensed cupcakes and flown this way.

“
Probably,”
I admitted. There was no telling how the wide-hipped, angry woman was
fairing now. Her name eluded me, along with many of the other new
players.

Maybe
I’d start noting them down in my ARC’s journal too. So I
had something to refer back to. A long list of people I’d avoid
playing the game with given a choice. They’d all be out having
their first adventures while I was stuck in a starting town.

“
Decided
on what to do with yourself?”

“
I
thought about going back to Peg.” Awesome Jr. waved a tired arm
around and boxes shifted about his screen. He was looking for
something in his wall of information.

“
She’d
make a man out of you.” With more than one meaning if he did
well enough on the training side. Her background description had been
rather blunt in possible outcomes. But hey, who was I to argue? This
game did require all Travelers to be of legal age. Bet he’d be
absolutely hooked on playing then.

Thankfully
I didn’t look for that sort of thing. The brothel area was
eye-catching, however.

“
Would
she?” Then he shook his head and had the decency to look mildly
red faced. “No, I need to learn a weapon. Not sure what,
though.”

“
Partial
to a two-hander myself.” Points! Precious quest progression
points were worth throwing nonsense out there. “Though, don’t
assume you’re locked in. The world's large, you may change your
style later on.”

“
Oh?
That’s good. I was worried that I’d be forced to choose a
class or something.” He waved all the windows away and laid
back completely.

“
No.
Your world has classes, we’re a bit more realistic, and
Travelers are fortunate, you have many options available if you can
find them.”

“
That’s
what you’re here for, right?”

I
smirked.

“
I’m
here to get Travelers started, that’s all. Where you choose to
start is up to you.”

“
It’s
too much!”

“
You
read any books in your world?”

“
Yeah,
sure, a lot. My ARC has a ton of books, and the Internet, my dad’s
library is huge. He’s been collecting since I was little.”
Awesome Jr. rambled on for too long. I took out another acorn for the
[Messenger's
Pet]
and
threw it. The little guy looked uninterested after his cupcake
conquest.

“
Do
some research on the paradox of choice, and paralysis of analysis.”
According to one of Carver's many information pop-up boxes, this was
a good strategy for the younger, far too clever people.

“
What?
Why would you know concepts from our world.” Awesome Jr. looked
surprised. Or I assumed it was surprised, his face was almost as
fuzzy as everything else. One day I'd see this world without feeling
as if I was underwater.

“
I’ve
talked to a lot of people over the years, a lot of Travelers who had
no idea what they wanted or how to get it. It might help you to sit
down and think about it.”

“
Huh.
Okay. I’ll do that now, I have homework anyway.”

I
nodded. Moments later Awesome Jr. vanished in a swoosh of light.
Eventually, I’d discovered autopilot wasn’t available to
most new players. Awesome Jr. couldn’t leave his game avatar
doing some random project.

Another
acorn failed to garner a reaction. I threw the fifth one right at the
[Messenger's
Pet]
and
all it did was grump and dive into Carver's hood. I hummed while
debating how much time there was left tonight.

Curse
this blurry vision. Decent eyesight would allow me to see into the
baker's building to see how things were going. Was that Pie Master
jumping up and down while waving? I squinted and grumbled to myself
while balancing on the cane. This body's hearing was extremely bad
unless someone was right next to me.

“
Hey!
Mister C! I made cookies!”

“
Huh?”

“
Cookies!
I showed Ladette how to make them. My skill's not high enough, but
she’s a pro. Want to try one?” Pie Master was running
over with a metal sheet. Carver's eyes and ears may be second rate,
but his nose was working well enough to pick up that scent.

“
Raisins?”
I asked.

“
No.
They’re called Almanuts. Wait. You know what raisins are?”
I tried not to let my old body cringe at giving away non-local
knowledge. Sure enough, the few points I’d gained with Awesome
Jr. were already gone.

“
That
was what the other Traveler told me about.”

“
Well,
you’re in luck! These are pretty good. A hint of sweetness to
go with the fresh gooey insides, the outside is so crisp it’ll
melt in your mouth.” He looked surprised at a pop-up box near
his face. Looks like his words had garnered skill bonuses of some
sort. From this angle, the box was impossible to see clearly but it
was likely something to help convince people to try whatever he was
peddling.

I
tried one and almost died in happiness. Real world consumables had
been off my personal plate for a long time. Most income went to
supporting family in a steadily downhill job market.

“
This
is forking delicious.” Those weren’t my exact words, but
the cookie made it hard to enunciate. Even grumpy Old Man Carver
would give credit where it was due.

“
I
know! I’d eat one myself, but I’m trying to teach them
proper sanitation of the food. It’s not terrible back there,
but it’s not exactly four-star.”

I
tried to give my best confused look and shrugged. Another cookie went
onto my plate, and part of one went to the now curious
[Messenger's
Pet]
.

“
Hey,
should he eat those?”

I
shrugged.

“
I
know dogs get sick from chocolate, he’s not like, a dog, or
allergic, is he?”

“
Not
so far.”

“
Okay.
I’d hate to kill such a cutie.” Pie Master was busy
making gooey eyes at the tiny dragon. “Whose a cute little
guy.” And true to form, the
[Messenger's
Pet]
was
in love with anyone who provided food.

“
How
many can you make?”

“
For
you? I’m sure we can whip together another few batches quick,
I’ll even work in a discount.”

“A
discount?”

“
I’ll
ask Ladette.” Pie Master found almost everything outrageously
amusing. “It’s her store.”

“
You
do that.” My fingers waved him off while munching a cookie.

The
[Messenger's Pet]
was busy searching for crumbs. Nothing lined
the path between here and the bakery. He settled for diving into
Carver's robe and licking around. At that moment, I really did feel
like an old man with an overactive lap puppy. That had wings and
breathed fire occasionally. Typically old people pets also failed to
follow orders. That was the problem! It wasn’t me being unable
to give orders, no, it was me being an old man! The
[Messenger's
Pet]
would rue the day once I had my real in-game avatar.

That
pleasant thought kept me going through the cookie purchase. Ladette
had gouged me out of far too much of Carver's money, even with a
‘discount’. She claimed exclusive access to new goods.
According to what little I’d read of Pie Master’s window
he was going to get kickbacks similar to what I’d received for
my Casino idea pitched to the Voice.

I
left the player and baker clicking their heels and shouting about a
new product. They’d probably be at it until the sun went down
and, knowing player mentality, Pie Master would keep on baking
through the night in order to get more skill ups and other recipes
out into the public. Voices, cookies in the morning sounded good too.
It was all digital, what would William Carver care? None! The proof
was in my progress bar’s lack of excitement over the exchange.

Of
course, here I was two weeks into Carver's life and I still hadn’t
figured out where all his money came from. Nothing he owned popped
into existence like it did for other players. My vague assumption had
been that Carver had turned into an NPC somewhere along the line.

Such
thoughts kept me distracted during the amble to Mylia’s
orphanage. Which, according to the map, was actually called
[Haven
Valley]
’s orphanage. Not Mylia’s. There were a few
notes about the kids in Carver’s map notes, but the journals
had been mostly useless regarding this town. What exactly did William
Carver tell to these little children?