The City: PuzzleLocked Book 1

Alastair simply nodded, but Flor said, “I’m fine with explaining everything, but won’t this take days? Is your memory cube up to the task?”

“Don’t doubt my cube. I’ve used it for years without a mishap.”

“What if we just don’t come back? In the morning, or ever?” Alastair asked.

Leaning back into her chair, Mida said, “I probably have notes enough that I don’t need you to make Scribe four, so the door is right there. But, by your admission, you’re stuck in this world. Sure, don’t come back. Continue to scrape by on luck and happenstance. If you come back in that door tomorrow or a week from now, it means about nothing to me, because I’m not persistent. But you’ll have spent however much time trying to figure out what I’m offering you for your knowledge. So, sure. Go ahead. The door is right there.”

“I…it was just a question.”

Flor fortunately didn’t prod him.

“So, should I attempt to acquire more cats for you?”

Alastair remained silent, but Flor nodded yes, and then said, “You asked earlier about the cats we’ve pet and the things we’ve unlocked. Do you want to do that next?”

“Since I’ve already sent a few scribes out to find more cats for you, yes. I would appreciate finding the schedule of your abilities. Do you have sufficient recall to write it out?”

Flor said, “I’ll certainly try.” She gently placed Sage in her lap, who accepted without much difficulty. Then Flor took paper and a pen and drew columns with the headers ‘cats’ and ‘abilities.’

Trying to be helpful, Alastair added, “There is a new interface that lists the cat names. Do you want me to read them to you?” Flor nodded, so Alastair pulled up the list and read the names slowly for her to transcribe.

“I don’t remember a couple of these cats, so they were probably before we got our daemons. Alastair, can you read out the abilities next?”

“It doesn’t translate that way.”

Flor looked, then said, “We know there was ‘Daemon,’ ‘Maps,’ and ‘Interface Two’ most recently.” She looked at the two lists, then to Alastair. “Help me match which cat we got which upgrade, please. Daemon was after Narcisse. I remember because that was the first time I remember dying here.”

“We got ‘Displays’ after you chased those two cats by the river.”

“That was…let me double check.” Flor looked at her interface, “You forgot to tell me about the unnamed daughter.”

“Sorry. She wasn’t named, so I guess I overlooked it.”

“You’re so thoughtless right now. Pay better attention, Alastair!”

“I said sorry. We got the maps after we got the town map from Andile.”

“Uh, yeah. That was after our money-making adventure. So…” she looked at her list, “…that must have been that pompous cat. Lady.”

“And that leads to today’s progress. There were four?”

“I got my notification after I petted Peanuts!. So, thirteen cats, at least four upgrades. What do you make of it, Mida?”

Mida put down her notes to look at the paper Flor handed her. As she considered it, there was a knock at the office door. “Come in!”

A scribe 0 came in. He had a flea-bitten cat reluctantly held in his arms. The cat was snoozing peacefully, blissfully aware that it was no longer in the deep damp outdoors. “I brought a cat?”

Flor stood, still holding Sage, and petted the poor thing.

Congratulations! You have pet a cat!

You have met Yevgeniya Nika. {Cat 014. It’s possible that Yevgeniya Nika started life as a Russian Blue, but that a harsh life has made it near impossible to tell if that is true or not.}

Flor said, “Well, I pet another cat. No new abilities, though.”

“Looking at your table, I have a theory on how your skills progress. But, please, I don’t want fleas in my office. Please take that cat away.”

The scribe turned to walk out. Alastair had a thought that might make up for some of his recent blunders. “Do you know a veterinarian that can clean up and comfort that cat?”

Mida looked with sympathy in her eyes. “I know what you mean. Healers for animals don’t exist here, though. However, I can order Scribe Zero to clean it up and take care of it. Would you like me to do so?”

Alastair huffed. “I’m not trying to create a menagerie. But, yeah, please at least take care of that cat. At least maybe clean it up and let it enjoy the peaceful university grounds?”

Mida nodded and the scribe left, Yevgeniya Nika in hand.

Flor reached down. “That’s nice of you, Al. Maybe the real you is still in that shell.”

Mida cleared her throat. “So, your table…the advancements become less frequent with each achievement. I expect it will take you more cats to reach your next upgrade. You listed thirteen, so maybe it’ll take another thirteen to get your next goal.”

Wanting to impress Mida, Alastair suggested, “It’s likely to top out somewhere, though, right? There are only a certain number of cats in West Shilgrave? But it’s not like we become god-tier if we pet every cat on the island?”

Mida’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t understand. What is god-tier?”

Flor jumped in to prevent Alastair from over-elaborating, “Overpowered, simply. As in, easily destroy monsters and take zero damage from attacks and stuff like that.”

“Oh, no. I don’t think that is likely with petting cats,” Mida said. “Unless petting cats pluses up your attributes.”