Chapter 9: The Engineer

Hugh pondered that for a moment, then cautiously asked, "Hey, is the stuff about Earth being in trouble actually real? I'm not going to spend a hundred years in here, stumble over a big bad boss and beat him, then wake up to find only a few hours have passed. Will I?"

"It's real," Dex said calmly. "Time in Thrive moves at the same speed as the real world. They tried to find a way to make it move faster so they could have more time to find a solution, but the human mind breaks down at higher processing speeds. When we get to Nexus, you'll be able to access the Net and confirm it for yourself. If that's not enough proof for you, then I don't know what to tell you. It's too late for you to wake up and check that way."

"Okay," Hugh replied easily. "I believe you. I thought it was real from the start, but I just wanted to ask at least once before I got my hopes up."

"Your hopes?" Dex repeated, raising one of his perfectly arched eyebrows. Hugh avoided meeting his gaze, knowing he'd only get distracted or tongue-tied if he did. Dex was far too handsome. Hugh already guessed it'd be an ongoing struggle to keep his wits with such eye-candy around.

"This is one of my biggest fantasies," Hugh said, waving his hand to encompass the camp and the wider world beyond. "Leaving the real world behind and living in a game. I never imagined it could actually happen, but here we are."

"Here we are," Dex agreed with his trademark smile blossoming again. "You know, I think the two of us are going to get along wonderfully."

"That's one of my hopes, too," Hugh replied as he fought a blush. He turned his attention back to the Book of Life, flipping back to the Table of Contents to see what came next—his Engineer.

The page for his Engineer provided another character creation screen, except this one seemed to be animal based instead of human. He had nearly a hundred options ranging from ants to elephants. Dex whistled in appreciation as he looked over Hugh's shoulder. "Nice," he said. "How did you manage to get so many animals unlocked this early?"

He didn't really have to think about it since he recognized everything on the list. "I went to the zoo with my Handiscanner in the real world. They had a promotional day last week where you could scan animals for free in the petting park and you could pay the trainers to scan the caged animals for you. Not a whole lot of people went, but now I'm glad I did."

"Your NPCs are going to love you to death once you get your hands on the Genesis Spear," Dex replied. "Hell, I'm going to love you, too. There's enough animals listed here I'll be level fifty in no time."

Hugh tucked his chin against his chest to hide a pleased smile and said, "We should focus on my Engineer. Is there anything I should know before I make him?"

In answer, Dex turned in place and reached into the treasure chest, pulling out a smoke filled sphere the size of an apple. "This is an Engineer egg. The illusion you build can be seen inside while you work. When you're done, just crack the egg and he'll pop out fully formed like I did. He'll have an AI like me, too, but it won't be as advanced and he'll start out small. He'll grow as he levels up. You can buy growth limiters in Nexus to keep him at a specific size, but otherwise he could grow into a mythical beast capable of demolishing a house with one swipe of his paw or hoof or whatever."

Hugh nodded in understanding, recalling several leaked beta images of a giant robotic spider building a skyscraper. It made a lot more sense now he had a reference point. The only part he didn't understand was, "How does a horse act as an Engineer? I'm not saying I'm going to pick a horse, but how would that work? Horses don't have hands."

Dex chuckled. "They're cyborgs. No matter what animal you pick, it'll have a way to complete tasks. Go through the character builder and you'll understand."

Hugh did and it quickly became clear what Dex meant. The creation screen didn't just want him to pick an animal and paint its fur. He also had to choose between an assortment of cybernetic implants, each with their own style options.

He took his time, changing out animals to see how the options differed, but they stayed remarkably consistent. Hands, paws, hooves, or fins—no matter what kind of creature he picked, it's limbs were multi-tools capable of becoming anything from drill bits to jackhammers. The fewer hands it had, the more prehensile cybernetic implants it was given so everyone had the same eight limbs in total.

Once he realized it really didn't matter what he picked, Hugh ran through his list of animals and started discarding them one at a time.

"Fox, bird, bear or elephant. Wolves are too much like dogs for me to be comfortable."

"Not a dog person?" Dex asked curiously.

"They're okay, but the big ones slobber," Hugh replied. "I should probably take bear and elephant off the list, too. The baby ones they had at the zoo were cute, but I don't know if I want either one stomping around when it gets bigger."

"You can always change it later. There's a place in Nexus where you can go to have your Engineer's core transferred to a new egg. Doing so won't hurt him or cause him to lose any levels."

"In that case, I should definitely go with a bird so it can do scouting for us. That would be more useful right now than a powerhouse. What do you think? Raven, falcon, or eagle? Actually, never mind. We should go with an eagle. Their wingspans are bigger and I watched a video once where one carried off an entire goat. As much as I want an Engineer built for scouting and hunting right now, I shouldn't forget its main function is building. Bigger wings should make carrying lumber easier."

"There's something else you should consider," Dex said as he reached into the treasure chest and pulled out a wooden egg with a wind-up key. "This is the Task Bot you received for buying the Guild package. Once you've created your Engineer, you'll be able to customize his helper. You start with one, but they multiply as your Engineer levels up for a total of five. Each one can be given a different duty assignment—building maintenance, land surveying, census taker, announcer, or city defender. If you set a Task Bot to land surveying, his AI will be a lot better equipped to do scouting for you."

That gave Hugh a whole new perspective on what he wanted. He completely discarded the idea of a bird for his Engineer and ran through the creation system, building himself a fox Engineer with black fur and black implants. For the lighting scheme, he went with a malicious dark purple.

Tilting the book toward Dex, he asked, "How about this?"

Dex ignored the book and picked up the glass Engineer egg. Inside, the smoke had coalesced to show the fox Hugh had crafted. A single black metal plate covered the ridge of his pointed nose and the dome of his head. The rest of his head and body, all the way down to his knees, was covered in black fur. Because its forelegs were robotic, its paws had a hand-like quality to them, almost as if he were part rat instead of primarily canine. Six cybernetic tails arched out of its backside, glowing with a spiral of dull purple light. The same light radiated from each of the Engineer's joints, painting his fur with faint highlights.

"Why a fox?" Dex asked as he handed the globe to Hugh so he could take a closer look. "I thought you didn't want a dog?"

"I've never really thought of foxes as dogs. They don't slobber. And foxes are good because they're small and built for speed. That's the opposite of me. I'm big and clunky in comparison, and I know it's best to have a have a well-rounded team. That's RPG 101."

"Gotcha," Dex replied. "Then, if you're ready, go ahead and break the egg open."