I reincarnated in game

12 The Village

Up to this point, Judi had wandered around in the fourth level land, being quite indifferent to every one.  She was initially attracted to Hugh because she had witnessed him use wood magic; something she had rarely seen since arriving on this level.  She had also been touched by the scene where Hugh had held his mother’s urn so tenderly.  He was definitely an interesting and compassionate person; a person she would like to have as a friend.

Hugh and Judi walked in relative silence and soon found themselves back in the village.  As they approached, Morris came out to meet them.  “Ah, I see that you met up with the wanderer … did you find what you were looking for?” Morris inquired.

“Yes! I did; with a little help from her.”  He pointed to Judi. “Thank you for asking.”

“You are fortunate that the wanderer brought you here … other villages don’t take kindly to strangers; your fate there would have been far different.  Here, in Zerrot, we decided, as a group, to band together to try to make the best out of a bad situation.”  Morris said.  “You can stay in my workshop up the hill.  We can give you some blankets and stuff to make it more comfortable.  I’m sure that the Mrs. wouldn’t mind you joining us for meals … What do you think?  Would you like to stick around here, and be our guest for a while?” Morris asked, with a smile that only a kindly, old man can give.

Hugh listened to Morris’s invitation; he could certainly agree that he was fortunate to have fallen close to this place.  It sounded much friendlier than the other alternatives that Morris spoke of, and it was infinitely better than landing in the abyss!

“It is very kind of you to offer me a place to stay.  I appreciate it more than you can know,” Hugh said.  “I would be more than happy to help you in any way I can to repay you for your kindness.”

Turning to Judi, he said, “I guess I owe you more than I realized … first, you saved my life, and second, you brought me to a place where strangers are accepted.  If there is anything I can do to repay you, please let me know.”

“I will be going on a scavenger run tomorrow; would you like to join me?” Judi surprised herself with how quickly she responded and how much she hoped he would accept her offer.  “It is pretty much what we do here.  You might even find some stuff you can use up the hill.”

Hugh readily agreed to join Judi at sunrise the following morning.  Together they set out towards the trash piles at the outskirts of town.  While they sifted through the mounds of material, Judi gave him tips on what they should look for; top of the list was anything to do with crystals because they could be used as power sources.  Second to that, anything that could be used for building materials, fuel or stuff that could easily be repurposed should be picked up.

“How was it that you came here to Fourth Level, Judi?” Hugh ventured to ask.

“I… I… Something happened.  I don’t want to go into it all right now, but I came here by choice,” Judi responded.

“Oh, OK.”  Based on her hesitation, Hugh sensed that this may be a touchy subject and didn’t want to push her.

“I have always liked to make useful gadgets and tools out of odds and ends … maybe I could invent something to help us find things that we need,” stated Hugh. 

“That would be great,” replied Judi.  “I have some books on magic machinery that you might find interesting.  I could lend them to you.”

“OK.  Sounds like a plan,” Hugh replied.

At the end of the day, Judi declared the outing was a success as they looked over their collection of small crystals, metal scraps and bars, wooden boards and bits and pieces of fine material.

On their return, Hugh stopped at Judi’s home to borrow the books she had offered.  Over the next few days, he read as much as he could.  He was anxious to be able to make some novel gadgets that would be useful for the community.

He selected a couple of metal bars, one of which was hollow.  He bent the hollow bar into a circle and attached the solid metal bar to it to form a handle.  Hugh then pulled out the prism which he still had in his pocket, and used it to infuse magic into several small crystals from the scavenger run he had been on with Judi.  These crystals were inserted into the hollow circle.  

Hugh carried his new tool over to some of the other scrap materials that they had picked up; waving it back and forth.  The crystals in the hollow bar resonated whenever he moved it over any of the crystals hidden in the pile of scrap … “It works!  We now have a crystal detector!”  He couldn’t wait to show Judi and Morris!  From that point on, every trip to the trash piles resulted in a much higher success rate in unearthing crystals which they used to make additional detectors.

Each time that Hugh came down the hill to Morris’s place, he would look at the community garden and almost feel sorry for the plants that struggled to grow in the hard, dry soil.  He decided on a plan to resolve the problem.

Using a large sheet of thin metal, with a highly reflective surface, Hugh formed an inverted cone to capture the rays of energy from the sun.  The conical shape focused the energy through a small hole at the bottom.  Armed with a pail of water, and using a large crystal which had been located with their new detectors, Hugh infused the magic element of water into it.  The crystal was then suspended at the bottom of the cone to catch the concentrated rays of the sun.  A framework was constructed to hold the cone and crystal over a large reservoir.  Now, whenever the sun shone, the energy was captured by the cone and focused to shine through the crystal where the magic would convert the energy into water, creating a renewable, and perpetual, water supply to keep the reservoir full.  The villagers were very excited about this new resource and set about building troughs to water the animals and funnel water to the community garden. 

Given the success of the water supply configuration, Hugh constructed a second cone assembly.  He infused the crystal with the magic element of air and secured the contraption to a metal framework which spanned the community garden.  Thin pipes funnelled air into the soil, aerating it; the lighter soil enabled a higher yield on their crops.

From his building projects, Hugh gained experience points that were added to his xp bar, moving him closer to gaining an attribute point.  He continued to read books which he borrowed from Judi and others in the neighbourhood.  One that he was particularly intrigued with was all about magic machinery.  Absorbing all this new information moved Hugh up to Level Two.

One day, Hugh had come across a small wild animal which had been caught in a cage by one of the villagers.  It had snarled and roared at him as he approached.  Always thinking ahead, Hugh used one of his crystals to record those frightful growls. 

Hugh decided to use his earned attribute point, along with some elemental magic, and create a distraction device which would come in handy if he needed to get out of a sticky situation.  He used the crystal with the recorded growls and then used the magic element of air to amplify the sound.  The result was a very menacing roar which sounded like it came from a much larger, ferocious beast.  He copied the amplified growl into several more crystals.  In the end, he had a supply of crystals which he would be able to use to create a distraction if he got in trouble.  “If only I had some of these when I encountered the Dire Beast in the mountain cave, I could have made him think there was a larger beast behind him; it would have made my getaway a lot easier!”

Hugh was happy that he had been able to repay the kindness of the villagers by creating the novel gadgets.  He was starting to feel a little restless and in need of a quest.  He recalled that his mother had lived on Fourth Level before going to Valari.  He thought it would be fitting to return her ashes to the place where she had been born.

“How long you have been here?” Hugh asked Judi, on one of their scavenging trips.

“I have been living here for a few years now,” she volunteered, “Why do you ask?”

“I was wondering if you might have a map of this level.”

“I do; it’s in my home.  What is it you are looking for?” she questioned, as she tugged on a scrap of metal.

“It’s kind of personal … I just wanted to see if I could locate a specific, small village,” Hugh responded, helping her to pull the piece of scrap free from where it had been lodged. 

“OK … we can stop in at my place when we get back to town.”

When they got to Judi’s house, she showed Hugh a map of Fourth Level Land which she had drawn based on her extensive travel over every aspect of it.  He studied it for a few moments, and then said, “Here, this is it.  Riah.  This is where I need to go.”  Hugh pointed to a place on the map which was approximately a hundred miles away from the village they were in.

“Why there?” Judi asked.

Hugh responded, simply, “I just have to go there.  I will leave at first light.”

Judi didn’t know what to say.  He sounded so adamant about going, she knew there was no point in arguing.  “I will come with you; the roads are dangerous … It’s not safe to travel alone.”

At first light, Hugh and Judi packed enough food and water for the journey ahead.  Just before they were about to leave, Judy disappeared for a few moments.  She went over to a small case with a brass latch.  She hesitated; then with a small sigh, opened the case and retrieved the intricately carved bow and quiver of arrows that lay within.  She tucked these items under her travelling cloak and then turned to pick up a grey blanket which had something wrapped inside it.  Returning to where Hugh was waiting, she said, “You’re going to need this.”  She folded back the cover, revealing a short sword, complete with a belt and scabbard.  “Do you know how to use one of these?”

“Oh, yeah,” Hugh replied, with a smile on his face; he reminisced briefly about the last battle he had in Ether Sword, where he had eliminated the bandits.  He recognized that a real-life encounter would have so much more on the line, but he had confidence that he could wield the sword with skill.”

Together, Hugh and Judi set off from Zerrot on their way to the village of Riah.