Devin was anxious to get to back to work and forget about his temper tantrum. He was still far behind the others in his tasks.

  “You should have woken me earlier,” he said.

  “You were so tired you had a fatigue debuff,” Casey said. “You’re doing things no untrained Silver should be doing, and we can’t have you passing out when the battle starts.”

  “Not to mention any potential damage to your Reservoirs from pushing yourself too hard yesterday,” Milo said.

  “I’ll get some sort of warning before I break anything, right?” Devin said.

  Milo sighed. “You’ll get informed when it breaks, not before. The fact you would even say something so stupid tells me you’re not ready to tinker with your innate powers. This world doesn’t come with instruction books and warning labels, and the binding arbitration here is a million times more brutal than any on Earth. If you keep treating literal gods like your personal computer, you are going to die.”

  Devin shrugged. “I’ll try to be careful, but if something needs doing, I’m going to do it. You can’t go around worrying about consequences all the time.”

  Milo sniffed. “Consider yourself warned, then.”

  Devin hid a smile. He knew he shouldn’t mess with Milo about things like this, but he made it too easy.

  “Would you like my report on High General Dimitri while you wait on your shovel, or would you prefer to spend the time shooting yourself in the foot?” Milo said.

  “I don’t have any guns, so I guess I’ll have to settle for the report.”

  “Understand that I had to glean everything through magical means, so it’s far from complete. Dimitri has been working for the Patriarch for at least half a century. His title is High General, but he doesn’t do much actual commanding. He leads his own elite unit of four or five Knights. They deal with any major issues that crop up. Like most of the Patriarch’s knights, he’s cunning and cruel - but he’s not as much of a hothead as most of them, and he has a decent grasp of strategic thinking. He is a dangerous opponent.”

  “Did you find anything we can use against him?” Devin said. “Any weaknesses?”

  “One of the knights in his group, Sir Efrem, is known for frequenting prostitutes, and he talks when he’s drinking. I was able to access some of the gossip between the Knight’s ladies of the night. Efrem hates Dimitri. Dimitri keeps a lieutenant named Gao as a bodyguard. Efrem also despises Gao, but he’s afraid of him because Gao has a special champion class that makes him terrifying in single combat.”

  “So, one of the knights hates Dimitri and his bodyguard, and the bodyguard is some kind of scary elite duelist,” Devin said. “But we don’t know Efrem or Dimitri’s classes.”

  “Correct, though it’s likely Dimitri has some form of leadership class. Generally, they come with bonuses to their followers, communications abilities - things that make it worth people’s while to follow them, kind of like you.”

  Devin considered. “All right. Thanks, Milo. I think I can do something with this information.”

  “I exist to serve,” Milo said. “Now if we’re done, I’m going to keep first watch on the hill. Casey will brew, Grigor will build and forge, Asha will work on traps, and Devin …”

  “And Devin will dig himself a great big hole,” Grigor said. He handed Devin an enhanced shovel. “I don’t want to rush you, but I’m almost done with the cabin. I need you to finish the pit as soon as you can.”

  Devin’s groan was twice as long this time.

  ?

  Devin dug until noon when they broke for lunch. He stomped over to join the others.

  “How is it possible that yesterday I got two Endurance points in an hour and none in an entire morning of digging?” Devin said. “I thought I had this system figured out.”

  “That was your mistake,” Asha said. “Never try to outguess the gods.”

  “As we all saw this morning,” Grigor muttered. Asha shot him a glare.

  “There has to be a system!” Devin said.

  “There is,” Milo said. “You’re just not smart enough to understand it.”

  “We’ll see about that,” Devin said. He spent the rest of the meal glaring at his food.

  Once they’d eaten, Casey returned to potions, Asha took hill watch, and Milo went into the woods to do a ‘mapping project,’ whatever that meant.

  “Do you mind taking a break from digging to give me a hand?” Grigor said.

  “You had me at ‘take a break from digging,” Devin said. He followed Grigor into the cabin.

  All but one wall was finished. Grigor hadn’t bothered with a floor. Instead, he’d dug a tunnel angling down into the pit and set up a pulley system.

  Devin climbed into the tunnel, which was too small for Grigor, and threaded the rope through, then tried to help him attach it to the pully system. The work required expertise, not strength, and Devin felt like he had ten thumbs compared to Grigor. Once they had the rope in place, Grigor added more pullies until he was satisfied that the unenhanced rope would handle all the weight.

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  "You make all this look so easy,” Devin said. He pictured Grigor building a ballista with one hand while fighting off a pack of attackers with the other.

  “I was good with my hands before you enhanced me,” Grigor said. “Unusually so. Sometimes people thought I was enhanced.” He grinned and held his hands up. “Now, well, it’s just not fair, is it?”

  “But my Attributes are all higher than yours! It doesn’t seem like you should be this much better.”

  Grigor shrugged. “You’re asking the wrong person. Talk to Milo.”

  Devin checked to see where Milo was. The Guide was about a half a kilometer to the northeast and moving slowly. Devin saw the small ‘A’ above Milo’s icon on the Automap and opened it.

  Achievement Unlocked! Advanced Cartography – Milo drew a mental map of a large portion of the forest. His mind palace is beautiful and he’s the king of all the nerds.

  Reward: Milo’s Boost ‘Add On - ‘Automap’ was upgraded to ‘Add On – Interactive Automap.’ Devin’s Automap has been upgraded to allow any party member to label locations and objects with unique descriptors. Up to 1,000 unique custom labels may be applied. These labels and tags will be displayed above the landmarks in real-time.

  Grats! This is a Rare Boost!

  “Nice!” Devin said. Then he remembered he still hadn’t gotten an Achievement for digging, and his mood soured again. He let out a dramatic sigh, grabbed his shovel and hopped back into the hole.

  ?

  It was late afternoon by the time Devin finished the main pit. Despite his best efforts, he hadn’t been able to stay ahead of Grigor. For the last couple of hours, the blacksmith had been working in the pit alongside him. Grigor built several support beams that met in the middle with a sort of keystone beam that ran in a ridge along the top. The keystone beam was attached to the ropes and pulleys so that if someone on the other end of the rope pulled hard enough, the keystone beam would lift away, and all the other beams would crash down.

  “Do you have trapmaking?” Devin said.

  Grigor wiped his forehead. “No. Why?”

  “Just curious,” Devin said. “Asha and I were discussing the difference between trapmaking and carpentry.”

  “Ah, yes,” Grigor said. “The debate that’s plagued philosophers for centuries.”

  Devin rolled his eyes, but he didn’t argue. For all he knew, if he kept talking he might convince the AI that Grigor shouldn’t be able to build the pit and the whole thing would fall down. He hopped out and walked around the pit three times to see if there was anything else that needed to be done. He couldn’t think of a thing.

  Achievement Unlocked – Gopher, Gopher. Man, oh, man. You’ve moved a lot of dirt around. More than most people do in a lifetime. We understand and appreciate your feedback about how unfair it is that you haven’t earned a digging ability. Earned. Interesting word. Anyway, this aspect of reality is currently working as intended. Thanks for playing!

  Reward: You receive 10 Fundamental Forces shards.

  “Wow, man, that’s really, really awesome!” Devin said. He tried not to sound sarcastic as he pumped his fist and did a Snoopy dance. If the AI wanted him to suck up, he could do that.

  At long last, they were done setting up. Asha and Casey went to work making the cabin look less like an obvious trap. Casey mixed paint as Asha painted the walls with brushes made from pine needles.

  Devin was skeptical that a paint job would do anything but make it more obvious they’d been there. His doubts fled as soon as he saw the results. Asha’s weathering and camouflage looked so realistic that even with enhanced senses, Devin was fooled. The parts that were covered with canvas blended right in. Even knowing where his hidey-hole was, Devin had to get close to see the difference.

  He moved over to watch Asha work. She had a spot of paint on her face and her hair was a mess. She looked stunning.

  “That’s incredible,” Devin said. He took a few steps to look from another angle.

  “There’s more to traps than spikes and ropes,” Asha said as she added a few finishing touches.

  “So I see,” Devin said. “How is it so realistic?”

  “We took advantage of a confluence of Boosts to gain the maximum effectiveness,” Milo said.

  “A confluence?” Devin said.

  “Asha, would you show him what we did?” Milo said.

  “Sure,” Asha said. She sent her activity log to Devin’s interface.

  Asha activated the Boost ‘Nature’s Blend.’ Swaps any modified primary Attribute for a modified Secondary Attribute for up to 1 hour. Does not function in combat.

  Asha has swapped Endurance for Concentration. Endurance is now 7. Concentration is now 49.

  Asha activated the Boost ‘Mind of the Forest.’ Provides a +5 bonus to any mental Attribute for 1 hour. Does not function in combat.

  Asha has increased Creativity by +5 (28 to 33).

  Asha activated the Boost ‘Skill of the Ancients.’

  Asha has received a temporary +20 bonus to the ability ‘Painting’ (Creativity, Deftness and Concentration), increasing this ability to 38 for 1 hour. Does not function in combat.

  Devin whistled. “Nice. I didn’t know Skills can stack.”

  “Some of them,” Milo said. “All of those Boosts are non-combat Skills. They’re much more versatile.”

  “So how much of this is Asha’s talent and how much is magical?” Devin said.

  “Nothing an enhanced does can be separated from their enhancement,” Milo said. “We aren’t good at everything, but we’re better at everything we’re good at. When it comes to enhanced, the boundaries between normal and magical are blurred. Keep that in mind or you’ll underestimate our enemies.”

  “Noted,” Devin said. He wished he’d been talented at more things before he got enhanced.

  An achievement window popped up above Asha. Devin opened it.

  Achievement Unlocked – Confluence! On the advice of your Guide, Asha combined three Skills into one amazing outcome! You go, girl!

  Warning: There’s a creeper watching you paint.

  Reward: You receive 3 Elemental shards.

  Devin groaned, then he stopped.

  “Milo?” he said.

  “Yes, Devin?”

  “Did you see what just happened?”

  “Do you mean the gods calling you a ‘creeper?’”

  “Not that. Asha didn’t get that Achievement when she did the stuff that earned it. She got it when you told me about it.”

  “And?”

  “I mean, aren’t you Mister Logical? I’d think that this kind of weird cause-effect thing would bother you.”

  “Many things bother me. I try to focus on the ones trying to kill me.”

  “Aren’t you at least curious about why?”

  “Just because I don’t talk at length about something doesn’t mean I’m not curious about it,” Milo said. “I’m sorry you don’t possess the capability for quiet wonder, but that’s not my fault.”

  Devin opened his mouth then shut it. He looked at the others. Grigor looked curious, Casey looked sympathetic, and Asha looked … amused? Definitely amused.

  Achievement Unlocked – Big Brother is Watching! There are a lot of mysteries about Senarci, aren’t there? So far, you’ve been smart enough to keep any weird theories to yourself. Mostly. That’s good! You never know which all-powerful vengeful thing is watching, or how they might react to you running your mouth about things you know very little about. Remember what happened to Galileo? Did you know he was friends with the Pope? Just something to keep in mind.

  Reward: The knowledge that even your own thoughts aren’t private. This achievement is private, and I’d suggest you keep it that way. The ‘reward’ for the next Achievement in this chain is probably something you don’t want.

  This is a hidden Achievement and will not appear on your Character Sheet! You’re welcome.