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  Weapon Craft – Spear- Basic Level 9 of 10

  Weapon Craft - Staff - Basic Level 6 of 10

  Weapon Craft - Longbow - Basic Level 8 of 10

  Climbing – Basic Level 5 of 10

  Stealth - Basic Level 6 of 10

  Create Spell - Basic Level 5 of 10

  Spellcasting: Basic Level 8 of 10

  Create Rune: Basic Level 7 of 10

  Language: Common

  > Stats spells

  Level One x5

  ● Golden Bolt

  ● Minor Healing

  ● Light the Way

  ● Disguise Self

  ● Feather Falling

  Level Two x4

  ● Identify Item

  ● Shadow Servant

  ● Enlarge Person

  ● Flaming Discs of Lava

  Level Three x3

  ● Fire Lance

  ● Lightning Bolt

  ● Lesser Healing

  Level Four x1

  ● Improved Healing

  ● Lesser Ice Spirits

  I wouldn’t receive level five spells until I reached level ten Valkyrie Skyrider. The highest I would be able to create would be level ten spells as a level twenty character. Creating my own spells had been amazingly satisfying even if I had constraints placed on the ability. I would do things a bit different if I could go back and do it over again, but overall I was pleased with my results despite the gamemaster AI tricking me.

  Somehow, I had made it through ten years of the twenty year penalty the game had given me without dying or getting into too much trouble. Building my village into a city of ten thousand people had offered some sense of distraction, but I liked to remind myself of the gamemaster AI running the super-realistic simulation.

  I saw Julian and Keith walking toward the tower. The two of them had become valuable over the years. Acting as my two most trusted generals, they took care of the military side of things, at least the day to day. I still made the big decisions. As they got closer, I turned and went down to the first floor. They greeted me with serious expressions on their faces as I reached the bottom of the stairs. I stopped in front of them, waiting for them to speak.

  “Well?” I asked. “What is it?”

  “The Quest Giver still eludes us,” Keith said.

  Julian frowned and lowered his head.

  “That’s fine,” I said. “The way you two walked over, I thought another battle had flared up somewhere on the island.”

  “No, we’re secure but still in a stalemate,” Julian said.

  “Is there something you two wanted?” I asked.

  “No, Chief Piper,” Julian said. “That is to say…”

  “Yes,” Keith continued. “There is something we’d like to say.”

  I nodded, no idea of what it might be.

  “Happy birthday, Chief!” they both exclaimed.

  I smiled, not surprised they’d remembered. What did throw me for a loop was the fact they had planned something.

  “Come with us,” Julian said. “The city is waiting for you.”

  “I hope you didn’t waste a lot of time on me,” I said. “We’ve got so much more to do. Our city can’t ever stop growing or Charlotte will have a leg up on us.”

  Julian and Keith walked toward the door of the tower, waving me on. I sighed and followed them toward the center of the city. The grand green space I’d planned had become the focal point of our society learning how to do with diminished natural resources available. I saw a few citizens peeking out of windows as we passed their residences.

  We approached a band of commercial buildings which employed the workers living in various neighborhood grids. I smelled fresh bread, chicken, and fish as we kept going. Past the markets, we passed a block of tall concrete buildings where we flexed our industrial might. Thick clouds of smoke billowed into the air. We quickly get out of the zone.

  A vast of people were crowded into the green, open spaces in the center of the city. Few of them noticed me and started murmuring to each other. The news spread like a wildfire, causing waves of people to turn and stare at me as I approached. A woman with a drum started a chant as I got even closer. Everyone around her joined in.

  They sung of my conquests, praising me and lifting my spirits. Over time, I had come to accept my life inside the Tower of Gates and tried to keep myself happy. Good emotions washed over me as I proudly strode through the crowd. As I reached the center of the park, I noticed an immense sculpture or something covered by a burlap tarp. Oh my.

  “You’re going to love it!” Julian exclaimed, wringing his hands together.

  I smiled and nodded politely as we stopped near the hidden object. Using a megaphone our inventors had come up with, Keith quieted down the crowd.

  “Welcome!” he said, his voice amplified. “You lucky few will be the first to see the wondrous addition to our city. As many of you know, Chief Piper has grown our simple village into a powerful force known among all the scattered islands. We owe our lives to her, and this statue is meant to commemorate her for all time.”

  Julian whispered, “Now?”

  “Yes, now!” Keith hissed.

  The crowd laughed as Julian pulled a rope. My eyes widened as the tarp fell to the ground. A twenty-foot bronze statue of me with my spear, longbow, and staff stood, staring off into the distance. How did they construct this? I wondered as I marveled at the feat. The citizens in attendance went wild, cheering and singing. A band began playing a lively tune.

  “What do you think?” Keith asked in a serious tone.

  “Love it,” I said, still smiling.

  Julian clapped, excitement dripping off his face.

  “How did you sculpt it?” I asked.

  Keith beamed and said, “We made a breakthrough in metallurgy.”

  “This could set us ahead of Charlotte,” I said.

  Keith nodded. “We’ve got a good chance.”

  “Amazing,” I said. “We’ve come so far in the last ten years.”

  “The statue is to show off our new technology and to improve the morale for the city, but we wanted to show you how much we appreciate you,” Keith said.

  “It means a lot,” I said, still smiling.

  “We broke into the wine storage for the celebration tonight,” Julian said. “You don’t mind, do you? We thought the city deserved some down time.”

  I wondered briefly if I’d given them too much autonomy. The extra morale bonus would be nice as we ramped up production on our fishing fleet.

  “Good idea,” I said. “You two keep things under control. I’m heading back to my house.”

  “What? No,” Keith said. “You have to stay and drink with us.”

  I shook my head and said, “No, it’s been a long day. We’ll talk more tomorrow.”

  “You’re not mad, are you?” Julian asked.

  I hated when he doubted himself.

  “No, of course not,” I said. “Thanks for the statue.”

  “I told you we should’ve made her a temple,” Keith snapped.

  “You two need to get along. I’ll see you two in the morning, bright and early.”

  The celebratory mood had spread quickly through the crowd as I walked away from the imposing statue in the middle of the park. My house stood on the northern end of the green space, offering me some of the best views in the city. Looking out my bedroom and seeing the enormous back of my statue would be interesting.

  My smile stuck as I worked my way through the crowd. After getting stopped a few times by already intoxicated citizens letting loose, I slipped behind a tree and cast my disguise spell. The appearance of an older woman with modest clothes made it easy to reach my home on the far side of the park. I dispelled the magic as I approached.

  “Just me,” I said, raising a hand as two guards stepped in middle of the path.

  They stepped aside when they noticed me. I opened my steel gate then walked down the cobblestone path to my house. The best architects in the city had
designed the space with plenty of input from me. I loved having a place to retreat and be myself. Life as Chief Piper the Valkyrie Skyrider wasn’t horrible, but it could get boring.

  Even though I’d escaped being an NPC—thanks to Charlotte—the penalty level didn’t have many opportunities to advance my characters. That’s why I’d spent so much time building a city. I opened my front door then went inside, closing it behind me. After retrieving a bottle of wine and a glass from the kitchen, I made my way upstairs.

  On the second floor, beside my comfortable sleeping quarters, an open space with numerous maps on the walls took up most of the area. I walked over to a current map of our island. Ten years of quick advancement had left the entire landmass stripped of most natural resources. Our city and Charlotte’s took up most of the space.

  A barely two-mile wide strip of barren land between our two cities barely supported any life, but the land would still be useful. We had been growing up for a few years, and I wanted to also expand outward. The barren land could be turned fertile once again with all the new technologies we’d been learning. If only Charlotte would agree.

  I took a side step down the wall and looked over another map showing all the known islands in the area. The cluster contained at least a dozen land masses of our size or larger. How big was the entire penalty level? I wondered. With the war against Charlotte taking up most of my time, we had only been able to explore a few of the nearby islands.

  Some rumors put the total number of islands in thousands, but I had my doubts. If I could convince Charlotte to work with me, it would be easy to establish our dominance over the entire level, the complete cluster of islands. Ruling over such a vast empire would be better than the constant back and forth with Charlotte. One of us needed to establish dominance.

  Trading with the dozen known islands had helped considerably once we went through most of the natural resources on our own. Many neighboring tribes brought us all the natural resources we needed in exchange for our manufactured goods. The system was surprisingly sustainable—except for Charlotte messing things up. She needed to step down.

  I turned and walked to a comfortable recliner in the corner. As I settled into the cushioned leather, I closed my eyes and tried to summon an image of Eric or Josh. I couldn’t even remember Bernard clearly. How much time had passed for them? The question had crossed my mind more than once since respawning in the game. Would I be twenty years older in my mind when I met them again? How would that time change me?

  A knock at the door brought me out of my thoughts.

  “Piper! Open up!” Keith yelled.

  “Come in, it’s not locked,” I replied.

  My most trusted general burst in, fear in his eyes.

  “Charlotte’s back, and she’s brought an army,” he said.

  I took a deep breath, ready to battle my spider foe once again.

  Chapter 11

  The Spider Offspring

  Sarah

  “She’s brought the sinful seven with her,” Keith said.

  “Have they breached the walls?” I asked, standing and grabbing my weapons.

  “No,” he said. “They’re assembled outside the walls. It looks like all of them.”

  “We’ve got this,” I said, slinging my bow over my shoulder. “Don’t worry.”

  He smiled weakly, but I could tell something frightened him. As my most trusted warrior, it didn’t bode well. I grabbed my spear and headed out the front door. Keith followed behind me as I walked around the back of my house. The brand new War Academy had only been finished a week, but it served as our new central command for all our armed forces.

  “I think it’s an all-out attack,” Keith said as we walked.

  “Why aren’t the bells ringing?” I asked.

  “I wanted to tell you first,” he said. “Julian should be…”

  He stopped talking as bells from all four corners of the city rang. The ringing sound would assemble all of our main and auxiliary forces. If Charlotte wanted a fight, I planned on giving her one she would remember the rest of her miserable life. When we reached the War Academy, I rushed inside. Several other commanders had already gathered.

  “Status update,” I said, walking toward a long table in the main room.

  I stopped in front of a detailed map of the island with markers for groups of units.

  “She’s brought everything we know about and more,” Keith said.

  He pointed toward some new unit markers carved from wood.

  “What are those?” I asked.

  “Armored attack turtles,” Keith said.

  “Uh huh…” I said, wishing we had some.

  “They look tough, but they’re likely slow.” Keith turned to a nearby shaman. “Any new news? What’s the current situation in front of the city?”

  “Nothing new to report,” the shaman said.

  We used their telepathy to report back and forth during battles. It made commanding all our forces easier from a central location. The shaman placed a hand on his bald head, closing his eyes. I watched him, wondering if he had more recent news.

  “Charlotte is proceeding with an attack,” he said. “The turtles appear to have something strapped to their backs. Most of the rest of her forces are sticking back. All of our warriors are behind the walls, waiting for further instructions.”

  Explosive turtles? I wondered. While sadistic (for the turtles), I wouldn’t put the plan past her. That meant she had jumped ahead with chemistry, leaving me in the dust. With gunpowder, she would be able to easily get through my thickest walls and defenses.

  “We need to stop those turtles before they reach the wall,” I said, realizing how ridiculous I sounded. “They’re our number one priority. Start chucking boulders with the catapults. Now!”

  The shaman flinched but kept his hand on the top of his head. I turned to Keith as he leaned over the table with the battle map.

  “What are you thinking?” I asked.

  He took a deep breath.

  “I don’t think the turtles are the biggest problem,” he said.

  Explaining the invention of gunpowder to him would take too long, so I gave him the tried and true, “Trust me. It’s our priority.”

  Over the years, I’d improved the lives of my citizens so much they all trusted me completely. Many, including Keith, would happily lay down their lives for me. I could make decisions that affected all of them on my own without a lot of input. While I listened to many opinions before making decisions, I’d been playing strategy games for a while.

  “The archers are raining down death on the turtles, but they’re still advancing,” the shaman said. “Should ground troops go out?”

  “Yes,” I said. “Those turtles can’t get to the walls.”

  I glanced down at the map as helpers updated the marker positions.

  “This is too slow,” I said. “Keith, come with me to the north tower. Where’s Julian?”

  “He’s already in the north tower,” Keith said.

  I left the War Academy and headed north. Throngs of young children peeked out from behind curtains in their homes as I walked toward the north tower. It would offer me the best views of the battlefield. With luck, I’d be able to cast spells to help my troops on the front lines. Charlotte had to be taught a lesson.

  An explosion outside the city walls caught my attention. I glanced from the smoke cloud rising into the air back to Keith. He frowned.

  “I bet it was a turtle,” I said. “We need to take the rest of them out.”

  “On it,” he said then jogged toward the gate near the north tower.

  I continued forward as a brigade of soldiers poured out onto the battlefield. The noise from the battle diminished as I went inside the tower. Reaching the very top floor, I went to the edge facing the battlefield just as another turtle exploded. Several of my men screamed as the rest of the slow-moving bombs crawled forward.

  10 Citizens have died.

  You have 9,875 citizens.


  Every time the notification popped up, I cringed. The loss of life wasn’t major in the grand scheme of things, but I cared about all my citizens. We’d come so far in ten short years. I didn’t want to lose anyone, but we had to fight to protect what was ours. Scanning the battlefield, I saw seven of the smaller spiders but no sign of Charlotte. Had she stayed home?

  Another two explosions rocked the ground below. I lost another half-dozen soldiers to the blast as the weaponized turtles advanced. Frustrated, I cast seven Fire Lances, sending them to separate turtles. They exploded before reaching the wall, but I lost another twenty-fou r soldiers on the front lines. I had over three hundred mana remaining to do more damage.

  Three of the seven spider siblings charged forward with dozens of armed men behind them. As they ran toward the line of exploded turtles, I turned to the shaman who had followed me into the tower and gave him instructions for the rest of my army. The gates opened a minute later, and four dozen of my highest trained troops rushed out, weapons drawn.

  Our iron weapons proved superior to the bronze swords carried by Charlotte’s army. Why hadn’t she improved her metallurgy? I pushed the thought aside as my men pushed their way forward, heading for the three spider generals out front. The other four stood on a hill a half mile away from the main battle. As my soldiers reached the three spiders, they cast.

  32 Citizens have died.

  You have 9,813 citizens.

  A rage burned inside me as I saw my elite soldiers fall to the spiders’ magic. I needed to teach them a lesson while also inciting fear in them. After sending a message to Keith, telling him to release more soldiers to back me up, I cast Feather Falling. I leaped over the edge of the tower and gently fell to the ground. While descending, I cast Enlarge on myself with 50 mana.

  You grow 5x bigger!

  You have [284/479] mana remaining.

  Warning: 5x Enlarge has consequences!

  I would worry about them later. Suddenly nearly thirty feet tall, I towered over everything nearby. As the three forward spiders scrambled to cast spells, I lifted my right foot and brought it down, stomping one dead. Its screams filled the air as I raised my massive foot for another attack. Both spiders got off a stink spell, but at my height, I didn’t have to worry about it.