C+3

  To the best of his ability, Alastair tracked toward the tower from the farms. Without a good map to show details of where he was going, he thought it best to head out the north road of the farms, on the road to the keep that he had previously walked down, but before long the turns in the road made him lose his general direction sense. He figured that, based on the snark from Mihaela, there wasn’t a direct road route there. So, in a sense, it would be like going over the mountains in any open-world game. It would take longer and have more random encounters than just following the road. Sometimes you must leave a known path to find the things you couldn’t get to, but you could follow the road for a while to get easier access.

  So Alastair slowly went along the road to the keep while looking for a side path that would go northeast-ish.

  Along the way, the forest grew thick, defeating any chance of seeing a tower appear again in the distance. The trees pressed in upon him, and Alastair couldn’t help but think of Ichabod Crane, of the Headless Horseman fame. To calm his nerves, Alastair called out Etc, who curled around Alistair’s neck like a shawl.

  “I suppose you don’t have any information on this tower that I’m trying to find,” he asked the bunny bird.

  “Nothing of note. You haven’t encountered any details on it, so I have nothing to share.”

  “This game continues to frustrate me in so many ways.”

  “I’m inclined to believe you bring it upon yourself.”

  “Yeah, I don’t like your sass.”

  “It’s inherent in who I am because I’m a reflection of you. Unfortunately, you aren’t thick-skinned enough to deal with it. But, on behalf of the developers, I’m sure they apologize for not allowing you to change my sass level. Because apparently, that is the largest of your concerns, rather than just beating the Keep and releasing me from this prison of having to deal with your incompetence every day.”

  Alastair didn’t respond but was of half a mind to throw away the rodent bird and face the rest of the world solo. He wasn’t sure he could, but it might be cathartic.

  “Not going to respond?” said Etc. “Gonna pout instead?”

  “Or I’m avoiding your toxic behavior. Call it what you will, but I’m actively trying to find a way through these woods to the tower. If you can’t assist with that and you demand to be immature about it, I’ll just dismiss you.”

  “Fine. But while you were reprimanding me, you missed what looked like a path over there.”

  Alastair looked, and while the forest was thinning a bit, and the slope had started to climb upward, there was an unusually thin section of the forest going off toward the east.

  “Oh, so you can point out things that are useful to me?”

  “When I choose.”

  “Fine. Thank you. Do you want to be dismissed?” It took all of Alastair’s control to ask politely rather than just do it.

  For once, Etc didn’t have a snappy response. But after a moment, he faintly said, almost chastised, “I’ll stay here. I’ll be quiet.”

  The path continued along the slope of the hills until he came to a river, which looked impassable. Or at least hazardously so. There certainly wasn’t a bridge he could see, and the waters looked to flow fast enough that he knew he would get pushed downstream by a bit trying to cross.

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  “I’ve been wet for days. I’m not sure about fully submerging myself, though.”

  “Uh, would you dismiss me for this part, please?”

  “What happens if I don’t and you wash downstream?”

  “We don’t have data on that, so I don’t know. Best case, I fade away after I get a certain distance from you and you resummon me. Worst case, you lose your ability to summon me and all the associated memories that I bring.”

  “I’ll put you away then,” and Alastair did so without another thought. The skavader promptly disappeared.

  “Okay, Alastair, it’s just crossing a river. You’re not doing it with a dozen oxen and a family in a covered wagon.” He walked in. The water was colder than the constant rain he was used to. He walked a couple more steps then decided to back out, pulled off the padded chest armor he had on, and wondered if he should just abandon it or try to carry it across. If anything would weigh him down, it was that. Besides, the armor was cheap, and he could wear better armor now that he had increased in level. So he left it on the bank of the river and entered into the stream again. It was just as cold, but he felt less encumbered.

  The slope dropped off quickly and while Alastair pushed ahead, he felt the current pushing him downstream. He didn’t know how far it would take him but began to swim and float along with the current, doing his best to work his way to the other side by centimeters. The swimming warmed him against the cool water. Still, he had ways to go, feeling like this would burn through his endurance and he’d be exhausted on the other side if he got there.

  He continued, though, happy that he was able to swim rather than have water as an impenetrable roadblock. As it was in some games. After what felt like an hour, Alastair found himself on a shore. Soggy, through and through. He summoned Etc, who seemed repulsed by the wetness.

  “Am I on the side of the river I want to be on?”

  “Best guess is yes.”

  “I’m surprised that it didn’t appear as a puzzle.”

  “Well, if I’m pointing things out to you, check your energy level.”

  “Just tell me.”

  “Your normal full capacity is 32. You burned through eight points of that just on the river crossing.”

  “Oh. Well, it’s not like I’ve used much energy for anything else. What happens if I run out of energy? Oh, what, we haven’t done that yet, so you don’t know.” Alastair had started working his way upstream, realizing he was on the correct side of the river unless it had done some silly gameplay mid-stream switch. Eventually, he came back to the place where he had entered the river, seeing his abandoned armor across the way. The path was faint but continued onward, so he started hiking along it again.

  The path slope gradually inclined. Still somewhat defined, he wasn’t working his way truly through the wilderness, but what would have likely been an animal trail. It still took a bit more effort than he was used to at this point.

  “Hey, Etc. Am I gaining or using energy?”

  “You’ve used an extra one energy since you started up this hill.”

  “Can you calculate the rate I’ve gained and lost doing different activities?”

  “Oh course.”

  “Would you? Please?”

  Etc took a moment, then said, “Well, let’s start at the beginning. You wake up each day with thirty-two, and you gain one an hour but usually spend one each hour doing normal activities. The capacity goes up to forty but only displays as thirty-two, so it’s like you have a reserve of eight. You’ve done several puzzles and activities that have burned more than one. Your actual energy decreased, but you didn’t notice since your capacity exceeded the display.

  “Swimming across that river took a full eight, which would have put you at the noticeable mark, but also hiking through the forest burned slightly more than you gained at the same time. You’re currently burning at a rate of three to one on this path. If you want to, but I recommend against it, test the theory, you could exit the path and we could calculate the rate that you burn offroad on different terrains.”

  “So I’m burning energy, finally. There is a use for it.”

  Alastair followed a switchback and crested a ridge. There was the tower, visible in front of him. To his left he could see part of a waterfall which likely fed that river he had crossed, and either a tributary or another river to his right. He followed that tributary and saw that it ran to a small rocky inlet. The tower itself was on a steep incline, although it seemed to have a distinct path running directly to it.

  Alastair decided to press on. Not the first time I’ve reset the night in the wilderness. I’ll be awake in my university bed anytime I want. So let’s see what this gives me.

  He started to work his way down the cliff, still trying to follow the path that led between the two opposing rivers.