13 Elder T's Basement

"Six." Theresa of the Dancing Leaf reported. "Six new students have officially quit. I have forwarded their letters to you. The rest are between levels 3 to 5."

On the other side of a comms projection, Headmaster Stephen lowered his head. "Tell me about them."

"Of the remaining eight, the best two are Melinda Ambers and Oren Yatis. They are both rapidly approaching Level 6. Melinda is brilliant, quick thinking and highly adaptive. Oren is just plain hardworking and thoughtful. Both of them figure things out very quickly and work very efficiently.

"Laila Siune and Na'Sar are somewhere in the middle of Level 5. Laila still has some trouble walking on dry land, and Na'Sar seems more interested in other peoples' business than his own, but they still manage to keep up a good pace. Kalen Gales and Kenneth Wilds, on the other hand, appear to have more trouble with missions. They're both in the early stages of Level 5. Kalen tries a bit too hard; haste makes waste, in his case. In Kenneth's case, he's not really trying. He's a more laid-back sort.

"Then, there's the last two. Cody Rivers and Riki Fyres are still at Level 3." Theresa grimaced. "I understand that Cody's slowed down to help Riki all day, but Riki himself has been causing no ends of trouble. He alone has destroyed more of the village than all the other new students combined!"

An alert flashed. Theresa glanced at it. "Speaking of Cody and Riki, they've just arrived. I suspect they're finally about to do the advancement mission to Level 4."

"Understood. Keep me informed."

"Yes, Headmaster." Theresa ended the call.

She went to the door, opened it, and gave the two boys outside as big a smile as she could manage under the circumstances. "Hello, boys. What brings you to my door today?"

"Hello, Elder T. We're here to do the rat-proofing mission." Cody said.

Theresa eyed him cautiously. Cody was carrying a cat. Isn't that the village stray…?

"This way." Theresa didn't object. She simply brought them to her basement.

Cody's solution to the rat problem was obvious and simple; get the cat on the job. Upon leaving the cat there, they left the basement, and Theresa ran the simulation.

Days Without Rats Stealing Food: 11.

"11 days?" Theresa blinked. "Why not more?"

The simulation showed up. There was the cat, catching rats left and right for a week… and then the second week, the rats stopped showing up. Four days into the second week, the cat got bored and sneaked out of the basement. When the cat was away, the rats came out to play. That was the end of the simulation.

"11 points. You pass." Theresa told Cody. "That's 11 credits for you. Congratulations on reaching Level 4."

"Great! Thank you, Elder T!" Cody said jubilantly.

"Your turn, Riki." Theresa turned to him, opening the door to the basement again and entering it.

The basement had been reset, rats and all.

"Eh? Don't I get the same credits too?" Riki stared.

"That was Cody's work, not yours. You need your own solution." Theresa told him.

"Uh…" Riki looked at Cody.

Cody looked back at Riki. "Maybe you can find the cat again?"

"It's gone." Riki pointed out. "It's not even in the basement any more. It's like… POOF, gone!"

"Then what are you going to do?" Cody asked.

"Uh… I'll figure something out." Riki said, and entered the basement.

While Riki was standing around in the basement scratching his head, Theresa turned to Cody. "How are you doing, Cody?"

"I'm fine. Some of the missions are tricky, but there always seems to be a better way to do things. I just have to figure them out."

"That's true." Theresa nodded sagely. "You should hurry up and get to Level 5 quickly. That's when you face the first major hurdle, but that's also when you get access to Feats. You could get a lot of credits quickly if you can manage a Feat."

"What are Feats?" Cody asked.

Elder T cleared her throat. "They are especially difficult challenges to show off your more distinctive abilities. Computer, reveal available Feats for Cody Rivers upon reaching Level 5."

A glowing orb in the air replied. "Available Feats are as follows; Write an S-Grade Intel Report on the Official History of the Galactic North Frontier. Calculate the currently Most Profitable Trading Route for Nova Gems within the GNF using common UIF ships. Assemble a fully functional Cargo Hauler from Scrap yard materials. Bench-press the Elder's Son's Skybike unassisted. Catch a Rainbow Rabbit on a 100m dash Rabbit Race. Climb 250m on the Tree Climbing Assessment…"

"That one!" Cody leapt for it. Among all the Feats listed so far, tree-climbing was the only one he felt he could accomplish.

"Give him a Nav Beacon for the Assessment Site." Theresa requested.

"Done." Orb replied.

Then the basement exploded.

***

BOOM!

Cody was knocked clear off his feet before he even realized what was happening. Even Elder T was thrown sideways, and stumbled a while before regaining her footing. "Riki!? What have you done? What have you DONE?!"

Smoke and flames leaked out from Elder T's basement. Even her house was starting to catch fire.

"My house!" Elder T yelped in protest.

Staring in a daze as the whole building caught fire, Cody found himself asking aloud, "How did that happen…?"

"Flour." Orb said, as if that explained everything.

"Riki… Riki!" Cody gasped. "RIKI! Are you all right?!"

"Riki Fyres has died and Respawned back at his Personal Space." Orb informed Cody.

"Oh. So that's what happens when you die."

"That, and the village security rating takes a penalty." Orb said. "Along with Riki himself."

Cody wasn't entirely sure what that meant, but basically, Riki was fine, right? He died, but he Respawned. Wasn't that better than hobbling around in pain like Oren?

Meanwhile, Elder T's entire house was on fire, and there were NPC villagers running around trying to put it out, but it looked like a lost cause from the very start.

"Well, I better go see if he's okay." Cody got up.

"That won't be possible." Elder T said. "One of the death penalties is that he won't be able to leave his Personal Space for three hours. Seeing as the sun would set before that time ends, he may as well log off for the night."

"Oh." Cody paused. "Orb? How much time do I have left today, if I want to save an hour's use?"

"One and a half hours." Orb answered.

"What are the Level 4 missions?"

Orb gave him a list.

- Calculate the current location of Little B's Driftwood Castle (15cr). [Details]

- Grow bean sprouts for 1 week. Credits awarded according to score. [Details]

- Supply the warehouse with a 100g bar of Industrial Grade Copper. [Details]

- ERROR: Required Structure Destroyed. Currently Unavailable. [Details]

- Assist Warehouse Renovation. Credits awarded according to score. Bonus Credits Available. [Details]

- Advancement: Help guard the food stores for 1 hour. Credits awarded according to score. [Details]

"Food stores?" Cody blinked.

"There." Elder T pointed. "You'll have to watch out for mutated rats, though. They're bigger than the ones here, and they're a whole lot fiercer."

"Well, I do have an hour." Cody decided. "And I have a fishing rod."

Riki had left it outside the basement when he went in, thus it had survived his demise.

"Good luck." Elder T said, and left him to it.