Chapter 1-43: Second Times Around (1/2)
“Shard of-? Ringlord? Aelryinth?” he tripped out, eyes falling to my hand. “Is that a working Ring?” He stared despite himself.
“Yes.” I narrowed my eyes. “And I know the ‘real’ Briggs from the game, who looks very similar to you. Do you know where his/your sister was attending college?”
His mouth opened and worked a moment. “No...” he admitted.
“Were you born with full knowledge of Briggs from the game?” I further pressed.
“Yes.” His massive hands crackled on the hilt of his Hammer. “I had to earn the Karma, however. Never knew why I couldn’t remember anything but the game... So, there’s another Briggs out there?”
I nodded slowly. “The original player. He got the same imprint that you did, plus some fake Karma he had to replace with the real stuff. Got turned into a big violet-eyed hulking Ancient Source, just like you, too.”
He glanced sharply at me again, and there was a wave and surge of odd purity around us, making Sleipner neigh sharply in surprise, and Fred’s Pacts all flared up in reaction.
“Damn. I suddenly feel like I have no secrets to hide.” He had a weird expression on his face.
“Secrets, hell. I’ve got Commander Briggs of Redshore here!” I held up my small fist, and despite himself, he smirked and gave me a friendly tap back. “Master Fred, remember how I told you about Forsaken?” He nodded slowly. “Meet Commander Briggs, the most powerful Source in the game and back home. What you just felt was his Sun and Will, the aura of pure mana he generates around himself.
“The original is one of the strongest men alive, one of the most obdurate tanks around... and most famous smiths, too. This Briggs seems to have inherited the exact same game knowledge that the Briggs I know of did.”
Master Fred made an interested face. SOME SORT OF DIVINE GAME AT WORK?, he hazarded without judgment.
“That would be my guess. Any other Power of Ten gamers around, Commander?” I asked.
“Not that I know of, although I didn’t really go looking. I kind of figured that if I got a little famous, just the name and who I was would drag them in.” Not a bad way of going about it. “Of course, if what happened to me happened to others, they could be anywhere on the planet, and simply never heard of me.”
I had to agree with that, especially with the Haze here. Really, how had the gods done anything here? If Mithar or a divine entity was behind it... impossible. They wouldn’t even know this world existed. So how had he come here?
Was anyone else copied in like him? They had an internet... they could have found him, at least, with ease. Type in Commander Briggs, Ancient, Hammer, Smith, and there was little doubt they would have found him quickly...
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We rolled up to the Temple, and Briggs quickly sent a lay follower off for Luminous Porthier. He brought us to a spacious meeting room that actually had a floating morphable Disk that could hold his weight in full armor.
“Master Fred, could you do a few internet searches for us?” I asked, and he popped out his Vaccine calmly. “Mulcaster, Wizard, Spells.”
He typed in the terms to Libram, and shook his head after thumbing through the results. “Argos, Eternal Helm, Sorcerer.” Nothing. “Justin Songblade, Paladin.” Nope. I tapped my fingers, looked at Briggs. “Sama Rantha, Sword Tremble.”
All three of us heard the ping, and despite himself, Briggs leaned in to look. “Sama’s here?” he asked, shocked.
I reflected what he would know of her, and what I knew of them back home. Sama and Briggs, sitting in a tree... Nah, leave that for later surprises.
Master Fred handed his phone over to me first, and I reviewed the entry.
It was her entry in the mercenary registration database. Name Sama Rantha, height almost six feet, face scarred with the Hag Curse, long blond hair and killer blue eyes, a mean look on her face, and a side note that she was an extremely dangerous swordswoman with highly developed resistance to magic.
There was a string of reviews available and ratings for objectives completed. Noted that she mostly did self-directed jobs, but was available for hire if the money was right.
I handed it to Briggs. “I don’t understand most of the references.”
To my surprise, he spread his massive hands, now gauntlet-free, and refused it. “Me and electronics have a hate-hate relationship, to my dismay.”
“You’re carrying an automatic shotgun,” I had to point out. Well, it was more a portable cannon...
“Which I made myself, and even bought the Gunsmithing Ranks to do so. But anytime I try to purchase something for electronics and computers, I get a whole load of nowhere.”
Gunsmithing was effectively a specific application of ironsmithing and alchemical knowledge. Totally believable that he could take it, even if he was laboring under the same restrictions as I was.
Aelryinth hadn’t had Weaponsmithing, only Whitesmithing for Rings. Wonderful. Why didn’t they make guns from bone or wood or something...
SAMA RANTHA? THE SAMA RANTHA? Master Fred had an odd look in his eyes, which was saying something with his weird eyes, and tapped quickly, setting it on the table.