ca-book Chapter 103: Tempo
Chapter 103: Tempo
“No. Tulland, come up here. To where everyone can see you.” White pointed at another much more visible table near the center back of the room. “We’ll need to ask you questions as this goes on.”
“Ah. Right.” Tulland nodded. “Right now? Because…”
“No, not yet. We were just about to recap what we’ve been able to learn, since coming here. Potter, could you do the honors on that?”
Another man near the front nodded and stood. He was wearing a long, dark-colored robe that didn’t correspond cleanly to any of the classes Tulland knew about. Licht took a seat next to Tulland, responding to his generally confused look by giving up information.
“He’s a battle re
“I don’t expect you do,” Necia said. “But if you really don’t, then you are a step ahead of me, and I have things to learn from you.”
“She’s not wrong.” Potter looked thoughtful. “At least with more arcane classes, practicing with other classes sometimes offers progress that would be hard to achieve otherwise.”
“Any skilled class does.” Licht held up his crossbow. “I’d be willing to share what I know, if others also contribute.”
“I’m not much of a teacher.” The fist man tapped his weapons on the table. “Or a learner. More of a natural talent.”
“Then just hit me.” Necia smiled. “All of you can hit me. I’m guessing learning to block the best any of you can throw will be the best lessons I can get.”
“Only one problem, really,” a lanky, rapier-wielding man at the back said. “Every day we spend in this place costs. I have four or five days of food, then maybe one or two before I start spending my experience on staying fed.”
“Oh?” Necia asked with a smile. Tulland realized, with a shock, what Necia had done. They needed food now. Not that they hadn’t before, but they suddenly needed it more than anyone had expected they would, and were expecting pain to get it. She smiled and laughed as she pointed her thumb back his way. “Just ask Tulland. He’ll feed you.”
“It’s not just me. Even if he has some extra, there are lots of us,” the rapier man protested.
“Like I said, just ask Tulland. Tell them, White.”
“It’s true. Something I had planned on bringing up later. Tulland Lowstreet is a farmer. A living, breathing farmer.”
“What?” The fist man looked perplexed and glanced at Tulland, then back at White. “Someone who worked as a farmer before or an actual Farmer?”
“Farmer. Capital F. With a shovel and everything. Tulland, how long until you get actual food out of that soil we broke for you?”
“End of the day?” Tulland scrunched his eyebrows. “Maybe a bit sooner if I time out my enhancements right. You need it sooner?”
“No, that will be fine.” White laughed. “Tulland can feed all of us. Not only that, I’m guessing he can grow an excess so we can carry food with us into the floors themselves. I’ve been living on the stuff for a month now. There’s nothing wrong with what he grows.”
“It’s going to make a difference,” Potter said. “The Infinite doesn’t let systems bring much information back after the tenth floor. Right now, we know more than anyone else who has ever tackled these floors. And with Tulland growing our food, we’ll keep more of that growth.”
The room was filled with thoughtful, silent faces now.
“With Tulland, we can wait two weeks,” Potter said. “Or as long as The Infinite will let us wait. We’ll get as strong as we can.”
White stood up, smiling, and picked back up his weapons as he moved towards the door.
“Well, that’s enough of that, then. Unless anyone else has anything to say, I’m going to go get ready to set some records.”