“A-hem. No roughhousing in the hotel, young ragamuffins.”

Pablo, Arturo the thin guy, and a few of the other kids visibly jump out of their metal fold-up chairs. I stare at the room’s back corner and make out Alfred the penguin butler blending his glow into the cool blue shadows with his little tuxedo. His beak opens to reveal sharp teeth. Those weren’t there when we last talked. I hear a few gulps and cautiously walk towards Alfred. Alfred seems less uptight today. Maybe the teeth are making things easier for him. Or maybe it’s the new equipment.

I wave and say, “You’re looking… sharp, Alfred.”

“I’m happy someone noticed! This new cravat is silk. Tara also saw fit to upgrade me. It’s made my job much easier.”

“Glad to hear it. Any chance you can show me how to use one of the new rechargers?”

“Of course, young master. Your first badge acts like a wireless battery. However, plugging the badge into a power source takes less time and is more efficient. Your badge will mold around most power cords. But our specialized rechargers are better! Simply place it onto one of these receptacles, and it will wirelessly charge your Rayment as well.”

“Convenient. I thought the badge was just for Driger,” I say as I place my badge in the black box which slowly closes to encase Driger’s badge.

“This information was covered in multiple briefings. However, as new Tamers do keep appearing, I have taken it upon myself to create a manual which will work with Tamers’ tablets or HUDs. It also has an audio narration for those who can’t or won’t read. Would you like to download it?”

“How long does it take to recharge my Rayment?”

“Approximately thirty minutes,” Alfred replies. Better than my long vigil sitting and recharging as Juan raced after Driger last night.

I have nothing better to do than level up or stare at other people as I wait. I pour essence into my Rayment’s Speed stat. I wonder if it will feel like I’m seventy percent faster or something? I bet the math is wild.

I can’t test it until I’m recharged. Time to catch up on Terra Tamers. And stop feeling left behind. It’s not the same game as Lee’s old version, and I hope it won’t change as often. I nod to Alfred, “Sure, Alfred, I’d appreciate a copy.” I hold up my cracked tablet and the penguin butler sniffs pompously. Then he bends down and bites down on my hand and tablet.

“Hey!” I shout at the plump bird and lash out at Alfred with my other hand simultaneously. I wasn’t trained to sit still and let something bite me. Alfred stays stuck to my hand like a leech. I realize there’s no pain a moment later.

Alfred’s voice sounds normal but it’s coming from the space above his head, “Quiet, young master. I need to concentrate to get the transfer to work. A punch to the cranium is quite disruptive to the process and rude to boot!” I uneasily watch the sharp teeth sink into my tablet and some blue sparks pass from Alfred’s new teeth to my tablet. The teeth which should be puncturing my wrist aren’t making a scratch on me. I guess they really are illusions. Or only solidify as Alfred directs.

The tablet lights up with a file transfer image of a pixel art Alfred dragging a giant book to a folder. I’ve never seen an image like it on the tablet’s operating system before. I think Alfred just hacked my tablet. Then a ding sounds from Alfred and the tablet. The beak releases my hand and the tablet.

“All done, young master. Perhaps I can convince you to turn in this old tablet for a new one?” Alfred glances down at with distaste.

“No, thanks, Alfred. I’ve carried this thing around most of my life. It’d feel wrong to have it replaced until it doesn’t work anymore.”

Alfred mutters, “I could arrange that,” before returning quietly to the corner. “Let me know if you need anything else, young master.”

“A little warning before you bite me next time would be wonderful, Alfred!” The penguin harumphs and I take it as agreement. I hope.

I spend the next twenty-five or so minutes scanning the Terra Tamers manual and ignoring Pablo and his cronies’ scattered insults. I really hope Juan can use these thirty minutes to get ahead.

As I read, I’m starting to recall some of my conversations with Lee about his game. Lee’s obsessions could grind on and on. Days. Weeks. Meaning I stopped memorizing the mechanics of his meandering ideas behind the old Terra Tamers and just worked with him on refining his current obsession. I mostly waited for when he’d give me an idea for something to draw. Driger was one of my favorite designs. I’m a little less proud of Driger’s design now that it keeps trying to kill me every time I see it. Maybe smaller teeth would have been better?

I still remember the first tidbits, like the lore behind the game. Probably because Lee kept changing the mechanics every month. It’s hard to keep track of every little change. But the story has stuck.

The mad Titaness Gaia brought monstrous Terrors to life across the earth, and humans discovered the ability to tame these creatures. They then work together to seal Gaia into a deep slumber beneath the world. In her slumber, nightmares are called forth to destroy the survivors and traitors. The scars of conflict have forever changed the world. A world now known as Terra.

It’s clear where Lee got some of his ideas. Greek mythology mixed with reality.

I focus on the more important section of the manual to me. The game mechanics. There are sections containing things like capturing Terrors, Terror maturation, essence points, equipping skills and abilities, elements, designing new game content, naming conventions for new Terror species, the game’s ecosystem, and forming parties.

A few things catch my attention.

Essence points are like experience points in other games. Only, in Terra Tamers, the Terrors are downloading energy and memory fragments of opponents they attack. The cores Terrors drop are full of essence. Essence can be spent to grant Terrors better stats, skill mastery, and maturity or raw power and better utility in the world. One example given is an Adult Driger being used as a flying courier by its Tamer. Not my cup of tea, but somebody who doesn’t want to fight all the time could make good money as a courier.

Tamer Rayments also contain essence. Rayments can lose essence from combat. On the other hand, Rayments can be filled with more essence to increase a Tamer’s stats, but they do have limits based on their original core. This incentivizes Players to find new Rayments or upgrade their current one. Tara plans to tie essence values to Crypticks, meaning Tamers will literally lose money when defeated and gain it with victory.

I can’t fathom how Tara linked essence data fragments to Sojourn’s Crypticks, Sojourn’s digital currency. By playing Terra Tamers, players are essentially mining digital currency from the world and each other. Some of these essence fragments are lost to the ether during combat or are consumed for power as the Terror grows. This creates a limiting effect on the supply of Crypticks. Not to mention the drawback of powering up is the increased cost of maintaining a stronger Rayment and Terrors. The game becomes its own economic system. One where dedicated Players, or Tamers, are rewarded for spending time on farming resources.

Tamers will literally need to feed the beast. Only the best or most determined will be able to afford the highest levels of power. The whole system seems like it will work best if Tara introduces a farmable resource for the players since combat won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. Crypticks in Sojourn try to be linked directly with foundational resources in the city like cement, rubber, copper, and other commodities. I hope Terra Tamers doesn’t ruffle any feathers with our economists. Or the Triad.

I glance briefly at Driger’s status screen and see the rebellious furball has somehow assigned his own stats. They follow his growths near perfectly, but with more essence dumped into Mind than I would’ve guessed. My eyebrows rise as I see how much he grew from our reckless fight. Maybe there’s an option to manually take over his stats, but I leave him alone. His plans seem fine. For now. I turn to my own status screen and decide to dump some of the essence I’ve made from defeating Pablo and company into my Rayment’s offensive stats. I realize I’m mostly following Driger’s blueprint of speed and power. As the irony hits me, I still decide to increase my Rayment’s essence capacity, or HP, a smidgeon by bumping up my Brawn. It also makes me hit harder.

I could dive in and fine-tune my Brawn stat to focus on offensive power or deflect incoming damage. But why sweat the small stuff when the automatic leveling will ensure I have balanced upgrades. Theoretically, I’ll have an easier time adjusting to my Rayment’s changes by having the system balance everything. I haven’t had a problem so far, it’s been like putting on a suit of armor that improves everything I do, but why risk disaster when this has worked?

With my chores done, I look back into the manual. Forming parties seems easy since the game classifies me as an emancipated minor. Minors can’t normally form a party unless a guardian allows it. Essence points can be shared equally by party members or set to a different fraction by the party leader. You can leave a party at any time. Apparently, Tara plans to log any threats or abuse of parties to penalize bad actors. I’m not sure how to feel about the security feature. I’m glad Lee would be protected from jerks.

A weird morsel of information makes its way into my brain from my idle scrolling of the section for designing new game content. An example image shows a cartoon Tara using Holos as the basis for a Terror.

I scan the room with my peripheral vision. I wait until Pablo and his cohort leave. They try to kick a chair ‘accidentally’ at me, but Alfred blurs and catches it in his teeth and flipper hands. Then I look around to make sure no one else can hear what I’m about to ask.

I ask, “Alfred, will defeating Holos give essence points?”