“So you see what I mean about the net itself being different?” the quartermaster was saying. “It’s a completely – ah, got everything ironed out, there, Station Manager?”

  The boys (and Sadie) looked up from whatever the quartermaster had been showing them at the counter (nets, presumably?) and Danielle found herself the center of attention. “Are you OK?” Ezra asked. “Zephyr said they took you somewhere to get a medical exam.”

  “Well, I’m sick with mana pox,” Danielle said, “but I’m healthy enough to do some urgent work, so the deal I made regarding that is a go.”

  “Urgent work?” Gideon asked. “What work could possibly be important enough to justify making you do it while you’re sick?”

  “Well, um,” Danielle looked around. There were a number of people walking around, but none of them were Sent, or even Insiders she didn’t think; everyone was in uniform, either Ranger brown or Sending Authority green. “All right, you’re all officially party members now, so I can make this an official party secret – uh, right fellow council members?”

  “It already is a party secret, so yes,” Sadie said.

  “Everyone’s System information that they haven’t revealed for themselves already or given permission to reveal is a party secret,” Heather added.

  “In short: yes, this is a party secret,” Akari agreed. “If you tell us stuff about your Systems, that will be a party secret too.”

  “Right. So here’s a big one,” Danielle said, twisting her hands nervously around her staff. “I’m a Skill Sharer.”

  The boys reacted with gasps and widened eyes, except Gideon, who slapped his head and exclaimed, “Oh, of course.”

  “How is that an of course?” Tom asked. “That’s unbelievable!”

  “More or less unbelievable than the above-level Skill?” Jordan asked ironically.

  “It’s ‘of course,’ because she was telling some Healers she got paid in Skill tokens for doing some kind of work. What work do you get paid that much for? I’ll tell you what kind – making more Skill tokens!” Gideon exclaimed.

  “Technically, I’m pretty sure I said ‘I got paid’ and ‘I have these Skill tokens,’ not ‘I got paid in Skill tokens;’ but either way everyone realized that I was getting some ludicrous mana rolling in if I had Skill tokens to – talk about,” Danielle said, eyeing Agent Bea.

  “You’ve been giving things away already, haven’t you,” Agent Bea said. “Do you have no sense of self-preservation?”

  “I had the feeling that the camp was going to need more Healing than a bunch of level 1 Healers could provide without some help, and you never told me it was illegal to give people gifts before today!” Danielle objected hotly. “Anyway, I at least asked them to keep it quiet, so it shouldn’t get out of hand. Also they all think I bought them, and while thinking I’m stupid rich isn’t necessarily safe either, it’s also not necessarily the same as realizing I could make a lot more of those tokens.”

  “So, wait, if giving tokens away is illegal, what’s going on with these extra tokens this guy was asking us to pick?” Ezra asked, gesturing to the quartermaster.

  “They said they wanted all the rest of my mana for today, and I told them I was going to take care of my hunting party regardless, so either they could let me buy some extra tokens for you, or I would be making them and they’d just have to accept those mana points being unavailable.”

  “You’re buying us Skill tokens?” Tom asked. “Just like that?”

  “They were saying that too many people are taking Boost Recovery, which can do as much harm as good, and not nearly enough people were taking the other things, which the camp needs bunches of as a community. They need me to make more Boost Recovery tokens, because they’re running out too fast; but I want to make sure that our party first, and our town eventually, have enough of the other things to handle other diseases when they come at us. Tom, Jordan, Zephyr, did any of you not choose Boost Recovery for your first token tonight?”

  “Of course I took Boost Recovery. The Rangers were talking about the room taking care of each other, but when have my roommates ever done anything like that?” Zephyr asked.

  “My roommates are barely taking care of themselves,” Jordan said. “We all took Boost Recovery. None of us is any kind of Healer anyway.”

  “I thought I was going to be alone – the Ranger that gave me the spiel admitted I might need it, in that case,” Tom said.

  “I took it too,” Gideon admitted. “I have one of those risk factors. Uh, are you seriously all promising to keep all of each others’ system info a secret?”

  Everyone nodded or said “yeah,” or “for sure” or something to that effect. Gideon took a moment to steel himself, then said, “I have a mana Trait. It makes it so I make more mana than a normal person of my level, and my mana pool is even bigger. I suspect that means I also put off more environmental mana than a normal kid my age, so I really don’t want it getting around.”

  “Is it Trait: Mana Improvement?” Danielle asked. “I’ve heard our Sending has more people with that trait than – what was it, Agent? More than any other class year in the history of Firmitatem?”

  “Correct,” Agent Bea said. “And yes, it’s part of the problem that ended up with your class in the schools having mana issues, but only part of it – more a symptom than a cause, really.”

  “Oh. You’ve all heard of it,” Gideon said, taken aback. “I didn’t know it was that common?”

  “It’s not common, but it’s decidedly less uncommon in this Sending than in the wider population,” Agent Bea said.

  “I have it too,” Danielle said.

  Jordan raised a hand. “And me. That’s what I was saying on the way home, earlier.”

  “You were? How’d I miss that?” Gideon asked.

  Ezra chuckled. “He said it while you were hanging back from everyone dithering about whether to tell,” he said.

  Gideon sighed. “Oh. That makes sense. So wait – there’s three of us in the party with it, then?”

  “No comment,” Danielle said. “The point here is that you four all had darn good reasons to choose Boost Recovery, but now we’ve got at least five Boost Recoveries in the group (including mine) and if I didn’t do something about it, no more than a couple Sterilize Object Skills; but sterilizing things is super useful – it stops rot and stink, makes dishes and tools safe to use with food, and is a critical step in doing first aid.

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  “On top of that, the whole town is short of Healers and Medics, and yeah, our party has one of each so we’re already spoiled, but what if you guys wanted to help other people? Or what if we just split up now that we’re a kind of big party, and you end up in the half without Heather in it? A few healing or medical Skills could be a real survival boost long-term, and the Skills they’re offering could be your key to unlocking the Skill Trees. Our charter says I will make reasonable efforts to protect your lives and health, and given my abilities and resources, the most reasonable thing I can do right now is make sure you have access to the tools that you can use to improve your own abilities to stay alive and healthy.”

  “Nine Skill tokens is still a lot of money,” Tom said, his face troubled.

  Zephyr laughed. “Compared to what the rest of us have, sure; but is it a lot compared to what they’ll pay her for making twenty or forty Skill tokens? You heard her, she made them do it by threatening to make those tokens for us herself. No wonder she felt like she could lend me 25 mana – if I don’t pay it back, she can just go sell some Rangers a token or five and get twenty-five hundred mana in its place!”

  “You still have to pay me back, Zephyr,” Danielle said. “I’m not going to hand out stuff like this all the time; it’s just that an epidemic is kind of an emergency, and between your roommate issue and the whole town just preparing really badly, I’m in emergency mode.”

  “She usually shares Skills with us the hard way,” Akari said. “Like she helped me unlock the Bodygaurd class, but not by giving me Skill tokens, it was all by training with me.”

  “She was helping people train for Identify Plant at the campout,” Zephyr said. “She made an impression with that, after Brooke was being so rude, but she still took Birch seriously when he asked to join the plant stuff. Not to mention how she helped me and Robin and everyone at that fire work out how to unlock elevated shaping classes.”

  “Right – that kind of Skill help you get for free as part of being in the party,” Danielle said. “I think I mentioned at the campfire how we train each other in the skills and Skills we each have that the others don’t; like Cassy knows how to use a sling, and she’s been teaching the rest of us girls. Heather and Akari came up with the training method that helped me unlock Identify Plant. Sadie made our drying frames, which are probably helping us unlock ‘dehydrate food’ or something. Zephyr, you even gave me a critical piece of the puzzle to unlock Fire Writing, yourself.”

  “Wait, you did?” Zephyr asked.

  “Oh – yeah. I don’t know if I’m ever going to advance it, but I unlocked it,” Danielle said. “And I actually took the Light Shaper Class, but you are not allowed to go bragging about that to Systemists, no matter how much you want to rub something in their faces. Party secret!”

  Zephyr looked ever so slightly stunned, but Agent Bea took that as an opportunity to break in with, “Now that we’ve gotten all that out of the way, can you all please select your tokens and go get in line at the Dome? Danielle needs to get started on the Healer’s requirements, and then she’ll be doing the same.”

  “Why does she need to go to the Dome?” Ezra asked.

  “I can’t make a Skill token until I advance the Skill into my own System,” Danielle said. “I have to take a Boost Recovery token to the Access Point so I can make more Boost Recovery tokens. Also, if I’m going to provide discount Sterilize Object tokens for the catalog – and I am, because the rest of the Sending needs them too – I have to take Sterilize Object before the Un-Fair, and so on.”

  “I thought Skill Sharers usually worked with other people’s Skills?” Zephyr asked

  “Maybe the Inside ones, but that requires a higher level than one,” Danielle said. “I’m not there yet.”

  Agent Bea laughed. “Lucky for us you’re a Skill collector for the record books,” she said. “Discuss it later though, Flo’s almost back. Everyone get in line for your tokens, please.”

  Danielle’s roommates all held up paired tokens. “We got them while you were doing the med check,” Sadie said.

  “Me too,” Zephyr said, holding up a Local Antihistamine token.

  “I decided on Sterilize Object for my extra,” Ezra said, holding up two tokens; his first had apparently been Local Antihistamine.

  “Me too,” Tom chimed in. “But, um, no offense to you or these guys, but I’m keeping my Boost Recovery. I’m still the only official resident of my room, so they won’t always be right there.”

  “Let’s do something about that for now, though,” Agent Bea said. She pulled out her data pad again and pulled up a document, then said, “I am offering Sent Zephyr McPherson and sent Jordan Hind full non-exclusive entry rights to room 1019 (Building 1, the Rooms at Camp Constanza) contingent upon the avowed and signed permission of current resident Tom Wilberson. This contract shall last until the last day of this month, being the month of June, 2237. No storage units are included in this contract. Resident Wilberson, do you consent to this contract?”

  “Uh, I guess?” Tom said. Then, catching a prompt from the quartermaster, he replied more certainly, “Yes. I consent.”

  “Mr. McPherson, Mr. Hind, do you consent to this contract?” Agent Bea asked.

  “Yes, I consent,” Zephyr said.

  “Sure. I mean, yes,” Jordan agreed. “Thanks again, Tom. Seriously.”

  “Excellent. As the senior representative of the Sending Authority in this territory, I declare this contract sealed.” Agent Bea held out her hand and used a Skill. Danielle’s new sense interpreted it as a feeling of gathering together, and then a small scroll appeared, as it had at the end of the town council meeting. “Sign here,” she said, unrolling it on the quartermaster’s counter. The silver-haired man promptly produced a pen for them to borrow, and all three boys signed, followed by Agent Bea. “Excellent. I’ll go adjust the door tags as soon as you’re in line.”

  “I can see them to the line,” Ranger Flo said, walking up with a tray containing four paper bags and a cafeteria salad in a clear plastic clamshell container. “I’ll put them in the clinic patient line, where people will wonder less about why they aren’t with their rooms. If you can discreetly deliver Miss Stellana’s second token, she can stay with her room.”

  “That’s an acceptable plan. Quartermaster, we’re removing Detect Internal Temperature from Miss Falconer’s set and replacing it with Spear Apprentice and a crafting Skill – Wood Carving or another tier 1 option of her choice. She’s also buying two from the Ranger side – Falconry Apprentice and (sigh) Manadepth Perception. Oh, and pull a standard token strongbox and a cooling thermos bottle for her,” Agent Bea directed.

  “Can she afford four extra tokens?” the quartermaster asked.

  “She’s about to make a hundred stinking Boost Recovery tokens for us, she can afford whatever she wants. The trick is not to sell anything she’ll regret later,” Agent Bea said dryly. “Those two enhanced items are both things she’ll start using tonight, so I’m confident she won’t have buyer’s regret.”

  “And the Manadepth Perception?” he asked.

  “We’re giving her the ‘new Skills equal to production and then half again’ treatment, like the VIP she is. Fortunately, she’s already done most of the work for us on that. If you object to the specific selection, well, take it up with the Healers, they offered it,” Agent Bea said. “I need to take a Local Antihistamine to building six. Please get her moving, we’re burning daylight, and people are waiting on the tokens.”

  “Um, he said four tokens, but the Rangers said six?” Danielle half observed, half asked.

  “That right. It’s Spear Apprentice, Wood Carving (or whatever), Falconry Apprentice, Manadepth Perception, and we said you were taking one from your own unlocked Skills, that’s – no that’s still only five. Blast. Uh, what else might we have for unlocking new Skill trees, quartermaster?” Agent Bea asked.

  “Depends on what she’s got, obviously,” the man said.

  “Um, I’ve got some stuff from Logistics, Study, and Stealth from school; Sword, Staff, and Bow, from phys. ed; then there's Medic, and Light Shaping, and I just unlocked Element Manipulation and Leadership - oh, and I have the Observation skill tree from the Dome, haven't taken much from there,” Danielle listed.

  “Why are you worried about unlocking more Skill Trees again?” the quartermaster asked. Technically he was interrupting, but Danielle had paused to figure out what she hadn’t listed yet, so perhaps he didn’t realize that.

  “Who’s worried? I’m a collector, I just want access to stuff. Especially crafting, though, that seems crucially practical right now,” Danielle said. The quartermaster shook his head and retreated into the room behind his counter, which Danielle saw was lined with shelves and bins. Ranger Flo handed out bags to Danielle and her roommates, then gave Danielle the salad box and a plastic fork. “These need to be recycled in the building, please,” she told Danielle. “Go ahead and eat while he’s getting your tokens together.”

  Danielle got the chicken strips out of the paper bag. There were dried apple rings, crackers and peanut butter, and yet another juice box as well, but she rolled the bag shut over them and stashed it in her satchel. “Wouldn’t it be better for me to eat the salad slowly, in between bites of cheese?” she asked.

  Ranger Flo shook her head. “I understand why you’d think so, but I’ll give you something else for that. This is to make sure you have a healthy foundation before you start cramming in pool foods.”

  https://www.patreon.com/c/NarrowRuled

  https://discord.gg/u5dtzpShv2