Guardians Academy

That night, Mom woke up again. Having already saved an hour's use earlier, Cody leapt right back into the Sphere and linked up with her Virtual World.

"Mom!" Cody ran over and grabbed her around the waist.

Mom hugged him. She felt warm, and her clothes were silky smooth, except for that zipper part which dug into his rib, but that wasn't important. The important thing was, she was here, wherever or whatever 'here' was, and Cody could hug her as if for real.

She also smelled like… "Cinnamon?"

"I just had a couple of those for dinner." Mom mentioned. "Want one?"

"Sure!"

Cody sat down to tea at a newly-conjured Victorian picnic bench next to Mom, with scones, cinnamon rolls, sponge cakes and cookies on the table. Mom had a fresh pot of tea appear, poured him a cup with added milk and honey, then they sat down to munch and chatter about the day.

Cody told her all about his time at the Academy Online, everything from the entrance exam all the way to Riki blowing up the bas.e.m.e.nt.

Mom laughed. "Oh, dear, Riki does sound like a handful! But he seems like a loyal friend, someone who'd put himself between you and harm's way so that you could get away. Don't ever mistreat him, Cody. For all his clumsiness, a friend who would do that for you is precious."

"Yes, mom."

"So what happened after the bas.e.m.e.nt?"

"Nothing much. I stood guard over a food store and chased rats away with a stick for an hour." Cody shrugged. "That got me to level 5."

Casiphia popped in about that point.

"Cass! You're late!" Cody said. "Want a scone?"

"No, thanks. But those cinnamon rolls look good." Casiphia hugged mom, and sat down on her other side.

"How was your day?" Mom asked.

"Same old. The ship's almost done. We just need a few more parts."

"You're building a ship?!" Cody stared.

"A virtual one, yes. It's part of the Academy Online too. You'll get there, eventually." Casiphia assured him. "It started with the chassis of a UIF Do-It-Yourself transport shuttle, but we're modifying it with all sorts of different components and gear. It's going to be a versatile Drone Ops Corvette by the time we're done."

"You can do that?" Cody stared.

"Everybody does that with the DIY kits. Most people just put in massage chairs or luxury items of some sort. We just put in a launch bay and Drone facilities. And leather seats. Among other things."

"Just what level are you at now?"

"Me? 95."

Cody choked on his milk tea.

"And I'm at Level 51." Cyril added, popping up behind them. "Hi, Mom."

He went over to hug her in turn. Then, he sat across from them on the bench and poured himself some black tea. "So what are you guys talking about?"

"The Academy Online." Mom mentioned. "What have you been up to, there?"

"Hunting Legacies. I've found yours, but I still haven't found Dad's." Cyril said.

"Mom and Dad have legacies in the Academy?" Cody stared.

"Oh, that's right! I need to put another one in for Cody." Mom snapped her fingers. "It won't be long before he reaches Level 10."

"But… but I thought Legacies were left behind by old students." Cody said.

"Mostly, yes, but I was a student of your Headmaster before he ever started the Academy, way back when he was just a wandering teacher." Mom explained. "As long as I follow the guidelines, he lets me put in legacies. There are others in my generation with similar access. In fact, my open invite to visit the Academy Online in virtual reality is still valid. I visited Cass and Cyril once or twice, before. I'll come see you during your first Open Festival. How about that?"

"Open Festival? What's that?"

"You'll find out at Level 6." Cyril advised him. "When they ask you to help organize it."

Finally, Dad arrived. Cody had an hour of picnic with his family before his usage time ran out, and then he logged out and had real dinner with Vera and Cindy. Cass and Cyril joined them partway through, but Dad stayed online with Mom even after everyone finished dinner and went their separate ways.

***

That night, again, he dreamed.

The Dark One was wandering about in the universe, searching, roving hungrily, endlessly.

Cody tiptoed past him and found himself upon the beach next to Ghost Girl.

For some reason, she was chasing rats around with a stick. "Shoo! SHOO!"

"Hi, Ghost Girl." Cody waved.

As soon as he appeared, all the rats fled. Ghost Girl dropped the stick; it disappeared into thin air as she waved back. "Hi, Ghost Boy."

"What are you doing?" Cody asked.

"I'm doing the same mission over and over again to earn credits." She explained. "So that I can afford classes."

"We can do that?" Cody asked.

But of course they could. That was why older students were still turning in berries.

Speaking of which, the entire beach had turned into a berry garden now, and both Ghost-girl and Cody were going around with baskets trying to fill them up with hundreds of kg so that they could turn them all in for credits…

He dreamed.

***

When he woke up, Cody said, "I can re-do the missions! The lower level stuff might give less credits, but if I can finish them quicker, in the same amount of time, I might actually be able to earn more!"

That rat-chasing mission, for example, the one to guard the food stores. It was basically a flat rate of 15 credits per hour. There was another Level 4 mission which required growing bean sprouts for a week, also for 15 credits. Between the two, it was easy to see which one earned more credits.

But wait. Growing bean sprouts need not actually take that much time. He only needed to plant them, nature would do the rest. They would basically grow by themselves, needing very little work from him.

"Maybe I should just plant bean sprouts while doing other missions." Cody mused. "But the idea should still be the same right? I can just choose the missions which give me the most credits over time and do them over and over again."

***

He asked Orb about it when he logged in after breakfast that day.

"Certainly." Orb agreed. "That would be efficient."

"What are the Level 5 missions?" Cody asked. "I have access to them since finishing the Food Guard mission yesterday, right?"

Orb supplied him a list.

- Draw a map of the village to a scale of 1m = 1cm (23 cr). [Details]

- Cook a dinner with a balanced diet for Farmer Jon (23 cr). [Details]

- Retrieve a precious stone from the mines. Credits awarded according to value. [Details]

- Fetch Easthill daughter to and from school (23 cr). [Details]

- Repair Doghouse. Credits awarded according to score. [Details]

- Advancement: Earn a minimum of 300 credits in total. [Details]

"Three hundred credits?!" Cody burst out. "No wonder everybody is stuck at Level 5!"

He tapped the 'details' of that advancement mission and read it. "So… it only counts the credits I earn, and ignores how much I spend? That makes things easier."

Missions like those are why people would buy finished goods to turn in for missions. They'd make a loss in credits overall, but their total earnings still acc.u.mulated. The important thing was, they saved a lot of time.

Another note in the details: Credits earned from selling things to other students did not count. In other words, if Cody sold his shoe to Specs for 1000 credits and bought it back for the same price, 'earning' that 1000 credits would not count into his total acc.u.mulations.

So. What was he to do?

"How long would it take me to draw that map…?" Cody wondered. "I'd have to explore the village, measure everything… it could take me all day, maybe more than one day. What about cooking dinner? I'm not a good cook, and I'll need to learn a lot, so… two hours? Three? Then there's the mines… Oren and Kenneth did that one yesterday, they had to fight a whole lot of moles and a monkey. I'd have to find a partner and go all the way out there… three hours, at least, maybe four or five. I'm also not very good at carpentry, so repairing the doghouse is going to be way too troublesome. In other words… I'm left with fetching the Easthill Daughter to and from school. That doesn't sound too difficult. Unless…"

Cody hesitated. What if he had to fight monkeys off to protect the girl on the way to school? Where was 'school' anyway? Was it outside the village? Would he need a partner?

He asked Orb.

"No. The school is on the west side of the village, but remains inside village boundaries." Orb supplied.

"What time do I need to be there to pick her up?" Cody asked.

"She needs to leave home at sunrise."

Cody gulped. He glanced about. "Whoops. Too late. Two hours too late."

"You can apply for the mission and schedule it for tomorrow." Orb supplied.

"Uh… yeah, we'll see what time I get on tomorrow." Cody wasn't quite ready to commit to waking up that early for 23 credits.

So… it looks like it was back to chasing rats away with a stick. It might be boring, but it was likely the fastest way he could earn credits. Doing so for maybe eight hours would mean… 120 credits in one day without even having to leave the village. Right now, that seemed like a lot.

But first. "Orb? Where's the Assessment Site for Tree Climbing?"