Dylan opened up his power tab and created the cloud machine.

Cloud Cover Machine

This device (made by the brilliant Dr. Zlo) creates fluffy white clouds that mask the giant city of Skyline by stealing from the clouds around it and storing it for later.

Cotton (1 bag)

Gin (1 bottle)

Ashes (1 urn)

Computer (5)

Funnel (3)

Blanket (1)

Sciencium (10 g)

Once his power finished, he wrote out the list of materials for Jack to see.

“That’s easy enough. Let’s buy the stuff and get started,” she said.

Dylan opened his menu and found the new faction tab. The new tutorial appeared in front of him, but he ignored it. He remembered the last tutorial Vert put him through. It would be easier to search through the lists himself. After a bit of searching, he found the tab for purchasing items and opened it.

He added all the materials to his cart and confirmed his delivery. The system walked him through the delivery process, asking for a location. Dylan opened the dropdown list and noticed a problem.

“Uh-oh.”

“What’s up?” Jack said.

“Deliveries go to locations now, right?”

“Yeah, that’s right,” Jack said. Her brow furrowed in concern, “What’s wrong?”

“It’s not counting Skyline as a location.”

“Sh*t,” Jack cursed. “That means we have to buy materials on the ground. Dang, that makes us vulnerable.”

“It’s not a bad idea for a villain plot,” Dylan mused. “Players can try to cut off our supply lines and make us dead in the water.”

“You mean the air.”

Dylan waved a hand, “You knew what I meant. But that would mean we risk losing Skyline.”

“We’ll have to think up a trump card or something. And who knows, maybe it gets fixed. I’m sure there are plenty of crafting players out there who built their own bases.”

“Well, who knows?” Dylan replied. “But we should tell the others about this.”

“For sure. After we test out your minion’s ability.”

Dylan raised an eyebrow, “Isn’t this more important.”

“Look, if you had a piece of equipment laying around and not using its full potential, you would be looking to optimize it too.”

“I don’t know. I’m more in the if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it pool.”

Jack sighed, “Of course you are. Figures. Well, think of it this way. If Cass here can make unlimited alcohol, you could make him a flamethrower or something. Heck, alcohol and sugar are useful in a lot of things.”

Dylan looked over to Cass, who was still preparing the drink Jack had ordered earlier. Right now, he was pureeing the various fruits into a slurry while straining a different batch of liquid. Both hands moved independently, like a drummer keeping two separate beats.

“You really think he’s got something special?” Dylan asked.

Jack shrugged, “He might, he might not. But I don’t like to leave questions unanswered.”

Dylan chuckled, “Yeah. I noticed that.”

Jack smirked, “Like you can say anything. Everything you do here is tinted with that Vaudeville act of a character.”

Dylan clutched an imaginary arrow that pierced his heart, “You wound me! Forsooth, my villainous persona is reduced to a mere Vaudeville act. I bite my thumb at you, ma’am.”

“How in the world are you an architect with so much drama?”

“It’s a recent addition,” Dylan said. “Dr. Zlo brought out a side of me I didn’t know I had.”

“That’s for sure.” Jack looked pensive for a second, then looked back to Dylan. “Would you be interested in doing some tabletop roleplaying at some point? I’ve been looking to get a group together for a while, but could never find enough people interested.”

Dylan thought about it. In the past, he’d refused games like this because of his history at the game club. All the issues surfaced in his head again, how the game master forced players to play their way, how players would fight each other for the best loot, and plenty more horror stories. But Dylan couldn’t see anyone acting like that here.

“Sure,” he answered.

Jack pumped a fist, “H*ll yeah. Finally, someone to play the heal bot.”

Dylan frowned, and Jack laughed at him. “I’m only joking. Play whatever you want, just know that I don’t pull punches when I run games.”

“You don’t seem like the type of person that does that.”

“D*mn straight. Now,” Jack turned to Cass, “are you done with my drink yet?”

“Gonna need a few more minutes,” Cass answered. The butler was currently shaking various mixes together in cocktail jars.

“That’s okay,” Jack said, walking over to the bar and jumping onto the stool. “I’ve got time.”

“I guess I’ll message Dextra while we wait,” Dylan said.

“Good plan,” Jack said. “Then you and me are going to figure out how many drinks Cass can make. And then, we’re going to find something that abuses that.”

Dylan shook his head as he opened his messages. Jack definitely had a one-track mind.

_____________________

Down on the resource hill, the name Merla came up with for the rocky hill under Skyline, Dextra and Rampart had finished their simple fortress and were debating about where to place defenses. Merla still lounged in the outpost above, practicing magic. She was trying to ingrain the quicker casts into her muscle memory so she could snap them off without thinking.

Riptide and Sweet Dream were looking at the beginnings of a mine. NPCs in hardhats milled about, yelling orders as they excavated the area. Oro and Titan had joined up with the lumberjacks, who apparently liked comparing strength through arm wrestling. So far, Titan had won every bout.

Shizuka was somewhere in the trees, her figure appearing every few minutes to drop off random things she had found. One such item was a drop called living earth. Upon inspecting it, Dextra realized it came from the giant mud monster they fought earlier. The brown dirt shifted in Dextra’s hands, covering the player’s palms in slick mud. Hints of black sludge leaked from the thing, and Dextra wondered if the material was useful in some way.

Dextra’s messages highlighted. Dr. Zlo had discovered an issue with the new delivery system. Any materials they bought could only go to the locations they had bought with currency. That changed things.

“Rampart?” Dextra said.

“What’s up?” the monk replied.

“Dr. Zlo just messaged. He says we can’t directly deliver materials to Skyline. The game doesn’t count it as a location.”

“Tsk.” rampart said. “That changes things a bit. We might need a second teleporter for materials.”

“Aw man, did I just hear we need to do more work?” Shizuka complained. The ninja appeared in a puff of smoke behind Rampart. “I’m already getting bored sitting around here. There’s only so many times I can punt squirrels for enjoyment.”

“We’ll get started on the alien assault soon,” Rampart said. “Since the early waves are easy, we can nab all the weapons and use them to equip the mercenaries. We’ll send any Alienite we find to Zlo.”

“How soon is soon?” Shizuka questioned.

“Five minutes? Once the mine completes we can start.”

“I’ll be back in five minutes,” Shizuka said. “If we’re not starting by that time, I’ll leave some clones and be on my merry way.”

“Now, Shizuka,” Dextra said. “I know you’re getting stir crazy, but let’s not forget why we’re here.”

The ninja rolled her eyes, “Yeah, I know. We need Phlebotinium and stuff.”

“As long as you understand.”

“See you in five.” Shizuka made a hand sign and disappeared in a flash.

Rampart turned back to Dextra, “So, let’s go over our options for defenses again.”

Dextra nodded and opened up the locations tab one more time. “Most defenses are separated into traps, personnel, and ranged. Traps can range from simple spike pits to more advanced explosives. Personnel opens up the tab for recruiting NPCs but takes us straight to the mercenaries. Finally, ranged options are static emplacements and require someone to handle the weapon. They range from live ammunition to lasers and can have artillery options as well.”

“The first waves shouldn’t have any walkers,” Rampart said. “So we won’t need something like artillery just yet. Traps are out as well, except maybe something like a moat around our base.”

“I believe their ray guns will eat through our flimsy walls,” Dextra said.

“Which is why the actual defense is the mound of dirt. Sandbags stop almost everything, so why wouldn’t a mound of dirt do the same?”

“You have a point.”

“Since the mounds aren’t the most stable of areas, we should be looking to build portable weapons that have a setup time. Is there anything like that?”

Dextra scrolled through the list of options. “I don’t see anything.”

“Okay,” Rampart said, biting his thumb in concentration. “What if we built a few more outposts and gave them snipers? No, the treeline is too think for an effective range.”

“What if we made chokepoints?” Dextra said.

Rampart nodded at the suggestion, “Yeah. I like that. We build the spike traps around the fort but leave a few places open. We stick the guns in the firing line and mow down the Quli. It’ll take a bit more work, but we already have the basic structure down.”

Dextra closed the menu. “Let’s call the others back over and finish this up. I’m loathe to say it, but I agree with Shizuka. We’re spending too much time preparing in this wilderness. I would like to get back to my comfortable office chair.”

“Honestly, I could do stuff like this all day.”

“And that’s why you’re our resident project manager,” Dextra said.

“Spoken like a true CEO,” Rampart countered.

Smiling, the two went to grab the others and finish up the last of their work. Skyline needed its Alienite and it was time to get it.