And then it was over.
The backlash, mild as it actually was, of that feeling of power leaving so quickly sucked. Like the greatest candy ever taken from your six year old self, only magnified tenfold.
Or when that last second three ruined my seven leg parlay. $9K down the drain from a fadeaway by a two-star freshman center.
"Ha, I know that face. I recognize it myself from any Tier-up; even sometimes breaking through on the sub-Tiers. You'll be chasing that high for a long, long time." Stannis looked wistful but I was suddenly worried.
I tried hard drugs. Once. And that was two times too many. I did not want to be 'chasing a high'. Nothing good that way came. Gambling isn’t the same.
It was at a party in college and a girl I really liked asked if I wanted to do cocaine and pointed to a man wreathed in darkness in the corner. When a beautiful girl in a short dress and plunging neckline grabbed my arm and asked my hardly-been-kissed college-aged dork self, and with a pout no less, I wasn't really sure if my squeaked affirmative or my wallet came out faster. It wasn't a fully themed wallet but it did have a Triforce pin I tried to show her.
Melissa simply wanted me to buy her the drugs and quickly ran off, literally sticking her tongue in the mouth of a guy while holding up two of the three small bags I just bought. The dealer, who I actually thought looked like the most non-descript person in the world up close, had regaled me with rather boring tales for the rest of the night after heavily encouraging me to do a few lines off a rather disgusting mirror.
Being highly energized and hearing boring stories all while getting over lusty heartbreak led to a terrible night. And I later found out from my 'cool friend' I was ripped off. $200 extra down the drain.
Bringing myself back to the present, I looked up from my literal navel gazing expectantly. Prior to the infusion, I 'signed' eight different documents, using my blood as I didn't have essence control yet to form a signature, in 27 different places over ten minutes. They just cut open my palm and collected it in a bowl so I wouldn't have to keep pricking my finger. A little machine spread some green light over the cut and it mostly healed immediately.
Gross but effective.
The essence technician who injected me with a series of serums and cut open my hand didn't even really look at me the entire time.
"So… what did I unlock?" I asked hesitantly. Hoping for infinite no-cost fireballs or laser eyes but willing to settle for anything cool, the technician looked confused.
"Only the Ignition was paid for. You need to pay another 50 gold for the actual readout. I do see here that your Cap needs review though. Iveta!" she bellowed towards the back, then went back to staring into space and ignoring Stannis and me. Presumably doing some work – or watching entertainment – in her AAI. Either that or she's mindful AF.
An enormous woman bedecked in a robe of shifting colors poked a sleepy head out of a back wall – not through a door but presumably an illusion of a wall – and looked around. In a deep voice, she asked, "Yeah, what the jeb— oh, we have actual clients. Strange for a
"Yeah, that weird one needs a verification of non-danger," said the technician pointing at me, not even bothering to look anywhere but space.
Weird? I had been polite and quiet!
"Huh, okay. Well, give me access," Iveta said, looking at me and blinking.
Turning to Stannis with a clearly bewildered face, the guard thankfully stepped forward in my stead. "Uh, he doesn't have an AAI chip. Did none of the pile o' paperwork he just signed really not have a release form?"
The technician didn't even respond and Iveta shook her head. "If I could see it, I would see it. You, give me permission."
I wanted to assert myself but now that I was actually Tier 1, I felt the power difference even between Stannis and Iveta. She was a monster, and a grumpy-seeming one at that.
Consultant survival tip #97: Do not piss off the sleepy monster. Many execs have checked out – either on your specific project/area or in general – but still retain a significant amount of power. Do not encourage them to use it against you. But also, do not look like a spineless bug. If you do either, bully mode will engage and you will be squished like said bug.
Maybe squished is more literal that I want it to be right now.
"Miss Iveta," I stepped forward, injecting the power I’d just awakened into my voice, "please explain how to do that and why and then I will review."
Instead, Stannis stepped up. "He is, let's say, new in town, and isn't aware of his rights – or lack thereof – as a non-noble." Turning to me, he said, "We need to ensure your Innate Capability isn't dangerous, one way or another. You can either comply and Iveta here will give you a guarantee backed by her AAI that she won't share the information or you can go the hard way. That will go on record as you not complying and anyone above certain levels in the Kingdom will have access to view your Capability anyway." He didn't even look sheepish, just like this was completely normal.
Iveta slid another form my way, injecting her own essence into the paper. I felt the utter sturdiness, like a mountain that somehow decided to loom over me, from that small amount of her power. After reviewing the form for another minute and asking a few clarifying questions, I realized it was essentially comply or be imprisoned until I complied by force anyway.
The local powers here suck. Might have to look at changing that? It was more of a stray thought but it made me realize I was sick of my old life of simply protecting a mediocre status quo. Maybe it was the new power flowing through me that was affecting my judgment but I was actually energized at the idea of taking more of my own destiny into my hands.
Still, realizing that I'd be squandering more of my opportunity to advance now if I didn't share my Capability, I silently entered my essence into the form, glad I was done using my blood.
I’m not actually squeamish but using my own blood to sign things is a LOT.
Iveta nodded and turned, pushing the paper into a machine. Lights and noises flashed. I wasn't sure if it was for show or not. If it was just to make it more dramatic, it worked. After 15 seconds, she turned back with a look of what I guessed was a combination of greed, malice, and envy.
I'd seen that look on plenty of people's faces when they heard the sacred words: I have budget.
"Confirmed, not dangerous," Iveta said, returning her gaze to Stannis and then spinning, going back through the illusory wall. I could barely hear what she whispered to herself, "Lucky little," and then something that sounded like 'sodas'.
"So, are you still going to be a cheapskate and not learn what your talent is?" the receptionist asked, continuing to stare off into space.
I turned to Stannis for silent advice. He looked somewhat torn but shook his head. That is what I was hoping honestly, meaning I could discover it another way rather than spend over an entire month's salary of a town's guard on a single question. Giving up two thirds of my available capital didn't feel like a great trade if I could avoid it.
We left quickly.
"That felt like I was missing some key context," I said as we headed down the street, still earning the occasional stare, glare, or temper flare.
"Yeah, so as Myriam noted, we can't have people walking around with dangerous Caps – that's what we usually call Innate Capabilities – without knowing about them. Some people are exempt – because of course the powerful are – but especially with you and the Cornelius," he cut off suddenly as it looked like he was in actual physical pain.
He took several seconds before continuing, "Basically, you were Ignited the safe way and that comes with benefits and drawbacks. At least it was safe. You'll learn more from your cultivation guide that they are providing for free. I'm sure it's a good one!" He paused a second to stare off into space and looked a little disgusted.
I went to ask another question but was headed off with Stannis loudly cutting in, "So, off to Alena's to get your tablet. She might have some fighting gear too. She's great and has these little snacks…" he trailed off wistfully.
***
"Okay, used tablet you are right, that should be between four and five gold if it's in good shape but I will say, they are pretty useless as is. Stannis said you're getting an AAI chip but really, even with connecting to that, a tablet can’t do much. You'll need software to go on top of that."
Oh great, software subscriptions. What is this world's version of Adobe? I JUST WANT TO BUY ONCE!
The affable Alena had been chatting with us for the last few minutes about what I'd need to survive outside the city walls. She gave some great advice and was debating with Stannis about what I'd need and why and kept calling Stannis 'city boy'. Apparently, she was a traveling merchant for over two decades before settling down in Zalano about three years ago. She was a fount of knowledge.
I’d shared my idea of possibly starting a trading company, hoping she wouldn’t see me as competition but on the contrary, she seemed extremely enthused by the idea. I did refuse the exclusive contract she offered, though I realized too late it was a joke one when I got to the part about hand feeding her fruit for every piece of merchandise exchanged.
"You'll need Planet Web access too for many reasons. Including being able to download entertainment." Turning to Stannis she excitedly asked, "Did you see the latest episode of The Wandering Lotus?! More like The Wandering Lustus, am I right? I bet you and Katrin were enthralled, like I was."
A throaty guffaw – including a donkey bray – emerged from the small but sturdy woman as she threw Stannis a cheeky wink. “Aldona won’t stop talking about it, even got the outfit and everything!”
Smiling at me, she said, "Sorry dear, off on a tangent; so you will need Web access to get updated information, stay in touch with people, certify any AAI guarantees, contact appraisers or merchants, report bandits or other troublemakers, and so much more. Let's get down and dirty on what software I use for my shop and why and I'll go over what's available. I'll even point you to a few places you might be able to get a 'gently used' copy of the software on the cheap or free. Just make sure to turn off your Web access when you are using it."
I looked to Stannis, presumably someone that enforced the laws of the land, to make sure my new best friend wouldn't be getting in trouble. He just gave a weird gesture with his pinky – two quick thrusts – that the translation spell helpfully indicated was a thumbs up.
***
15 minutes later and eight and a half gold lighter, I felt like I had a good grasp on what I needed, at least information flow wise. Alena didn't have any good weapons or armor but she indicated two shops she trusted to a reasonable degree and had brought in recent weapon and armor shipments and put out a few feelers on my behalf.
As we left Alena’s, I turned to Stannis. "Wow, an actual training module for the AAI, that's pretty cool. I guess I will probably need to learn to fight to actually survive out there?"
"Yeah, sorry kid but things are especially bad in the area to the east. I know Miklos, my fellow guard you saw earlier that got you some clothes, his brother is in a village <20 miles> that way. You should head in that general direction, whether to that village or not, to at least get close to the null essence zone. That should be just on the edge.
“With your Tier 1.0 strength, that should only be <90 minutes> of running at a reasonable pace. Your AAI will give you general direction so you shouldn't get too lost. The cheap map you bought plus brief uses of Planet Web access to triangulate should keep you mostly on track.
“Let's head to that shop with the weapons and armor Alena recommended and we can get you some good starting gear. Wait, what did you actually do on your home planet? How did you fight?"
I grimaced. How did someone explain business operations consulting to people who had no real context for accounts receivable days, value stream mapping, or conference calls that only worked half the time? Where the concept of FP&A – Financial planning and analysis – was probably beyond all but the largest merchant companies. Number 4. Keep it simple stupid.
"So, there are very big companies on my planet with thousands to 10s to 100s of thousands of employees. When you get that large, even to just a few hundred employees honestly, you start to do things very inefficiently. Some things, that doesn't matter to the success of your business, but some it really does. So I would work with those companies to find, assess, and then try to fix those inefficiencies.
"That could be in how they did their accounting or forecasting or actual physical handling of goods. Basically, you find the friction and decide if it is good friction – like teams competing for funding – or bad friction – like teams that can't work together because their software doesn't actually work together or they don't speak a common language – either business language or actual language. The most common problems are— err, were— in how companies communicate with their customers or potential customers through to actually collecting money from them.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
"I can go deeper but I'd really rather focus on getting gear to keep me alive and we can talk about that through AAI messages later?" I realized a little too late I was getting excited about talking about my business operations – AKA BizOps – work instead of my top short-term focus areas.
Remember: Maslow's hierarchy of needs; I don't even have food and shelter really secured; then I can go for safety which here includes actual weapons and armor. At best, BizOps falls in belonging, third from bottom on the pyramid.
Find a place to start to build and learn without a major risk of an insta-squish by a powerful angry cultivator. Or beast.
This village, Velez, sounds good; it seems like I've got enough money for a bit, now I need the other side of safety with weapons and armor.
And spells!
"Stannis, just to be clear, what is the general cost of living outside the city? If I am talking room and board, including meals, how much will that run me? I want to gear up and maybe even get a spell or two depending on pricing but I can't exactly start budgeting for everything without, you know, accounting for food and housing."
"Uh, it's been a while since I was out there and I was training with the guard so everything was actually covered; but probably ten silver a day should get you a reasonable room and keep you well-fed. Don't forget to budget for emergency healing, that can be pricey.”
He nodded as if that was something he knew first hand. “If you can get your hands on a good healing potion, that’s best as healing after the fact is damn expensive. Though you can usually take it on loan if you sign on with one of the merchant delver groups. There's the Adventurers Guild of course but you need to have access to a major city and, after today, you won't." He looked at me apologetically but I knew it wasn't his choice.
"And money works how? Ten silvers to a gold and ten coppers to a silver? What is above gold?" I really didn't want to get caught with my pants down, especially if I was starting off in a good spot financially like Myriam and Stannis indicated.
"100 copper to the silver – though most aren’t really using anything below a ten-copper piece –, 100 silver to the gold; there is platinum above that but most people use rift stones if possible instead. Those fluctuate in value but anything above mundane and Tier 1 goods is going to be priced in them.
"There are three kinds: qi stones – which have stored energy that we can use to power things like the beastless carriages you've seen on the main thoroughfare streets; essence stones – which can be used to power things as well but are much better for leveling up someone's cores, gear, or spells; and mana stones – which can be used to recharge your personal mana pool. Or I guess for power too but that would be almost as wasteful as using essence stones.
"Mana stones are extremely helpful in a delve or a fight but kind of useless outside of that. They are also the most common drop of the three from a rift or dungeon so they are usually valued at around 5 gold for a Tier 1 and then generally about two to two and half times more valuable for every Tier jump, at least through Tier 5. It’s very rare to see things past Tier 5, especially in the Kingdom.
“Qi stones are all dependent on the amount of qi in them as they are all the same other than capacity. And I guess the extremely rare rechargeable ones. A qi stone from a Tier 1 rift usually has 75-125 capacity and you get about 10 silver per capacity point. Post Tier 1, I honestly don't know how it scales. Essence stones, no idea, don't deal in them and there is lots of restricted information there."
"Okay, that is extremely helpful, thank you." Rule 63. "And how much are spells? And how much is a Bag of Holding? What would you spend on in my place? My main goal is to learn about this world and grow but not try to 'challenge the heavens' on day one. I want to be safe but probably don't need the best gear beyond what will get me through relatively safe delves. There are differences in rifts and how safe they are, right?"
Consultant survival tip #63: Always thank your information sources, whether they were actually helpful or not. You never know when they might be helpful in the future. Make sure to let someone know when they actually were especially helpful.
Holding up my hand and taking a breath, I slowed down. "Again, I don't want to wash away the gratitude I feel for your help. Without it, I would probably be dead in the next week or so based on my experiences thus far." I gingerly kneaded at my shoulder where the hipposaur had only landed a glancing blow. "One question at a time, sorry. Can we actually grab some food and a seat? I know we don't have all the time in the world but I could use five minutes off my feet."
Stannis directed us to a food cart and I paid. 1.3 silvers total. It was some kind of meat on a stick and tasted delicious so I decided better than to ask questions as to what kind of meat. Who was I to be weirded out by food? I'd eaten scorpions. And spiders.
On purpose, not just in my sleep.
***
Ten minutes later, I looked down at the bulleted list on my tablet – which was taken via dictation and Stannis pretended not to notice a few notes – of my crucial questions:
NOTES APP:
1) Cost of spells: significantly varies but Tier 1.0 spells usually 10 gold for simple utility spells to 100 for stronger combat spells. Flying spells far harder to find/buy. Stannis adamant about not buying any spells yet – dig deeper.
2) Bag of Holding: called spatial storage (boo), could be bag, ring, necklace, etc. Wildly varies in price due to features like stasis, long-term stability, toughness to hits, cold enchantments, capacity, compartments, etc. For enough to store a hipposaur – actually called alabaster moderate horror of charging – with good stasis and internal cleaning enchantments to deal with the blood, 100-150 gold used and 250 new. Used is a bit of a crap shoot and hard to find. For a ring of cheap materials but good storage that could store about 350 cubic feet/30 cubic meters, probably 75 new and 25-50 used. But is all over the place.
3) Rifts and delves: incomplete information? Yes, lots of difference in difficulty, even within the same Tier. Look for Tier 1.0 rifts well past my own Tier 1.0 status if possible. Look out for dungeons – rifts that have broken into the real world and have a core; rifts are often guarded and there are fees to enter; try to join a delve team; might be different with null zone? – check allocation bracelets (?) to make sure I’m not getting screwed out of essence.
4) Tiers: Tiers are broken into 10 sub-segments, X.0-X.9; essence required for each subsegment above the previous in Tier is about 33% higher. So 1.9->2.0 takes slightly more than 13x the amount of essence of 1.0->1.1. And 1.1->1.2 is 1.33 compared to 1 for 1.0->1.1. Don't use lower-Tier essence unless you can perfectly compress it; something about essence and Tiers and spell leveling but Stannis cut off again – dig deeper?
5) Cores: important but some restricted information. Not overly important for Tier 1, especially 1.0. ‘Just allocate 70/30 to physical and magical.’ Dig deeper.
I offered to return the sticks of the meat skewers and added another quick note when out of hearing range: Stannis keeps getting interrupted answering questions. Actual physical shock? What the
Seriously spell? I can't even use it to add a swear word to my own tablet? Nerd!
"Thank you again, this is wonderful. I continue to owe you. When I'm famous, I'll make sure to pay you back," I noted, laughing. I wiped my hands on the underside of the tunic, then remembered it wasn't mine and gave Stannis my best sheepish look.
He shrugged and then led us down the street. We ducked into the shop Alena said recently acquired some gear, entering through a beaded curtain. It gave the shop a strange feel based on my experiences.
Beaded curtains mean hippies not swords.
"Welcome, welcome, how may this humble servant… err, serve you today?" a rather rotund man wearing a jaunty nearly cowboy hat with a ridiculous number of very tacky rings, per my assessment at least, asked as he greeted us with a hand gesture I was getting used to. It was close to a wave but more of a fluttering of fingers from one side to the other.
His outfit was all flowing robes of white but it clearly had a lot of stains, especially under his chin and where his hands would rest.
"Seriously? That's how you greet customers?!" said an irate woman's voice from the back. I thought someone would come out to replace him but the shopkeeper didn't even look phased.
Stannis slapped me on the back and said, "Just had his Core ignited! He needs a full set of weapons and armor. Alena recommended ya so make sure to throw her a little thank you. If you get any Wandering Lotus merch, I think she'd love that," he finished with a laugh.
"Yes, yes, honored customer, it would be an… honor to help you not only thrive but survive in your growth journey of… the fighting." More muttering erupted from the back.
Finally dropping some of the act seeing it wasn't landing, the man said far more abruptly, "We just got in a shipment combined of confiscated bandit goods – don't worry, they've been thoroughly cleaned and checked for curses – and also the goods from the merchant they stole from. We are selling on consignment until the merchant can pick up what's left.”
He gestured around to the rather haphazard displays of gear. “So, what do you want?"
I hadn't actually gotten specific with more than 'sword and board', so I realized this was probably a mistake. "Uh, to be honest, I'm not sure. I want a sword and shield combo but…" I looked to Stannis, helplessly.
Shit, I am so used to being able to follow a guide or get some info on good combinations from a game. But this is literally life-or-death level decisions. And Stannis indicated my cultivation guide was hot garbage anyway.
Stannis held up a hand. "I forgot, you didn't fight much on your home planet, right?" The vendor perked up but Stannis ignored it.
I mean, I had those six lessons of some kind of martial arts when I was 12 from 'Sensei Brad' at the mall… but that was almost 20 years ago and I think he got investigated by the news for being a fraud of some kind. Not relevant brain!
"Consider me a complete noob," I responded. The spell must not have worked correctly because he tilted his head again.
I started to explain further but he held up his hand.
"I got the context. Well, I think we could outfit you with something generic but I have a better idea. It's a consulting session and it will cost ya. And we only have a bit left on this spell.” He looked off into the distance for a second.
“My good friend in town has some time open on the calendar – I just pinged them – and they can take you. We just need to bring a few of those skewers, ha! One gold for the session, which is a massive discount, let me tell you! Plus enough skewers to feed… 12, ha! What do you say?"
Thinking it over a second, I went through my usual BS meter:
First, I honestly trusted Stannis. He could be trying to rip me off but one gold was a ridiculous amount to rip me off for. If he’d said 10, I probably still would have trusted him.
Second, I really did need help.
I would love to be a mage, only slinging spells from the safety of the backline, but that doesn’t seem like a plausible situation. Too many weird warnings from Stannis before he went silent on that too.
Is spell stuff also forbidden knowledge seemingly backed by a spiritual shock collar?
Focus.
This seems like a good deal. I could already be out of money if Stannis didn't help me out.
Consultant survival tip #2: Not everyone is out to get you. Find your allies. Trust those allies; of course, verify where you can but you can't do it all yourself. If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.
"Yes, that sounds great." I turned back to the shopkeeper.
"We'll be back. Probably.”
At his non-plussed look, I gave him a small smile. I didn’t give a crap right there about making nice.
“Do you have any spatial items or can you get any in the next hour or so? If yes, we’ll definitely be back."
Couldn't forget that Bag of Holding after all.
He rolled his eyes but nodded.
***
We had to get creative in getting the skewers to the meeting spot as Stannis didn't want to use his own spatial item. It didn't have the moderately common feature of a small bubble around each item so the skewers would have gotten the tangy sauce everywhere and made the meat essentially inedible at the same time. After procuring a cheap bolt of some butcher paper from down the street, we were on our way.
I estimated we had somewhere between 30 and 45 minutes left on the translation spell so I tried to hurry Stannis along a bit faster. I didn't think we'd be able to translate through the AAI well enough for me to ask good questions based on his descriptions of how AAI-based translations worked if you didn’t have that language pack but he didn’t have much experience specifically with off-world languages.
We grabbed a ride on a horseless carriage and hopped off about two miles down the road. Jumping off a moving vehicle traveling about 25 mph (40 km/h) was nothing to my new body.
As we entered the rather ornate building, I was stunned by the beautiful interior. Rich dark wood and leather seating with hundreds to likely thousands of books. It was like the private library of my dreams. There were reading nooks and tables strewn about in a way that looked haphazard but felt extremely intentional in how inviting it made the place feel.
Even more stunning was the person waiting for us.
She was attractive but what was more stop-and-stare inducing was she was dressed essentially like a 1970s pimp. Being a native of Chicago, I was more than familiar with The Player's Ball but it was still rather hilarious to see the style here, especially with someone also carrying a rapier at each side instead of a cane.
She possibly mistook my mirthful smile as flirting as she called out for the ten or so people in the entry area to hear, "Now, now Stannis. I said you were too old for me but this is too far the opposite direction. Sorry boy— wait, Cornelius? Stannis what in the absolute
I caught at least something that sounded like ‘jebbie’ in there. New swear word acquired?
"Settle down Li-li, it's not him. This is Terry. He's new. As in today. We have your meat— NOT LIKE THAT WOMAN," he roared as she started to giggle. "We have the skewers you demanded, now let's find someplace more private— I'm warning you, not a word… do you have a meeting room we can head to and discuss? I would like Terry to see many more sunrises if possible."
What the
Still giggling, which set the little fuzzballs hanging off her fluffy hat in motion, she waved an arm and turned. Five other people followed along from those in the atrium. It worried me slightly but everyone felt vastly more powerful so again, if they wanted me dead, I'd probably already be so.
Priority change to get far more powerful. Bumping to short-term goal. I was always vaguely afraid of guns on Earth, especially in certain parts of Chicago, but this feels scarier. Like a naked weapon at my throat even from people just smiling at me.
The feeling slowly faded as each seemed to notice my clear lack of comfort.
The Pimptress, as I was calling her in my head, led us into a room with a large conference table – similar in style if vastly superior in quality to the one from the guard station. Plopping down in a chair and throwing her bright red boots onto the table, she turned to me. "Okay, I've got a whole crew here to answer your questions. And handle your… meat."
She threw a suggestive wink at Stannis and started cackling again.
The five others didn't even give their names, just a brief description of how they fought – essentially what I'd call a generic fighter or warrior, a ranged/archer specialist, an assassin/rogue type focused on fast in-and-out strikes, a brawler/pugilist type, and a more heavily armored knight. They grabbed two skewers each. I was slightly confused why – and heavily disappointed – there were no mages.
Am I really destined to suffer to not shoot laser beams from my eyes? Absolute
Liene grabbed six skewers and began merrily ripping meat off, making an absolute mess that somehow didn't reach her garments. Little flecks of meat piled around the base of her chair. "Heh, checking out the goods, huh?”
I went to correct her but she just laughed and continued. “Yeah, great enchantment on these, never make a mess. Well, on me at least. Anyway, I really want to hear your story but know we're under a time crunch. Let's get to it!" she said through a mouthful of meat.
I slid the gold coin across the table and let my questions rip.
***
NOTES APP – new entry, provided while on the horseless carriage
Day 1 Needs and Goals
Current wealth:
~65 gold – ~10 spent on tablet, software + Internet, training, and food
~49 gold in play, 16 reserved (6 for lodgings, 10 for general supplies and equipment beyond weapons and armor)
Immediate Needs – INs:
1) get information to be able to survive next month – social and safety from monsters
2) keep enough money to be safe for one month, hopefully two – 6 gold reserved – 10 silver per day for 60 days
3) acquire equipment and supplies to survive trip from city to one of the surrounding villages – 10 gold reserved
4) choose direction – likely east – and village to aim for; get introduction or letter giving safe passage?
5) healing potion?
Short-term Goals – STGs:
0) Bag of Holding!
0.1) get to a safe level of power to not be squishable at all times
1) get equipped well enough to get to village and begin actually cultivating
2) begin training to be able to reach at least Tier 2 in the next year – good pace is said to be two thirds of a year
3) do NOT hurt long-term cultivation; play it safe rather than do irreversible damage
4) figure out this Cornelius BS
Long-term Goals – LTGs:
1) understand spells and why everyone seems to say they are dangerous
2) begin finding market inefficiencies, start Galactic Trade Federation Empire 2.0
3) decide on long-term fighting style or find ways to cultivate that exclude fighting
4) find a girlfriend/partner. Whatever they call them here.