Gestation by John Gold (love books to read .txt) 📗

gifted children, and the case we brought earned us some money from the government and a big discount on the building. Your name won’t be anywhere near the list of managers at the new orphanage. We should be fine for people, and we can get to work hiring them as soon as the money arrives. We’ll need a list of promising children to include your protégé in, and there are just two questions. First is the money—seven million credits. I realize that’s a lot of money, and I know you’ll need time to pull it together. Second is the list of kids. We’ll get access to it as soon as we have the building and equipment.”

“Got it. You’ll have the money in three months, and I want everything else taken care of by then. It needs to be wrapped up within two weeks of when you get it. That includes the list of kids. We’ll talk over it separately as soon as we have the building.”

“Okay, that works.”

“How many kids will the orphanage hold?”

“Fifty. That’s the minimum according to local law.”

“Who will be the director, and how much will running the place cost?”

“My brother Carl will be the director. He has the right experience and qualifications. It will be around fifty thousand a month, including both the administrative side and the personnel. Everything above that will be approved separately, and I’ll be working as consultant and accountant.”

“Okay, that’s good on my end. I have to go, so I’ll see you.”

“Goodbye, Mr. Bork.”

I’d like to take care of myself, but I’m going to have to do that as someone else in order to avoid attracting Malcolm and Carl’s attention. I’ll add myself to the main list of orphans.

Being an adult is hard! You can’t forget the gestures, the body language, the intonation, the way you talk. I spent a whole week practicing debates to put myself in the right frame of mind. Now, there’s the test at the education center, Eliza and Vaalsie…all at the worst time possible. Malcolm is a smart guy. He wants to find his place at the feeding trough and live off the orphanage, though I need him for now so I can get out of the pickle I’m in.

There shouldn’t be any problem with the money, since I can pull it out of the game at a rate of two to one. That is, one gold coin is worth half a credit. Project Chrysalis is only too happy to have money brought into it and doesn’t offer information about the financial operations run by the players to third parties. Lunar keeps a close eye on the in-game economy and attempts to launder money.

I figure that I was able to earn two hundred and fifty thousand gold in the game, or a hundred and twenty-five thousand credits, so I need to boost my income twenty times over to make sure I have the amount Malcolm needs. And I won’t get that just by farming.

The most money the game has ever seen came from a dragon killed in a raid by two thousand people. Everything they got came to about seven million gold. Looks like there are going to be two fewer dragons in the world. The only thing I have to figure out is how to kill something one thousand and two hundred levels above me, not to mention all the resistance to damage they have.

∞ ∞ ∞

Anji was able to get out of the full test, though even the data they got showed that the boy was well past the basic education level. It wasn’t even that unexpected that he wouldn’t finish the tests.

The ability to sense strong electromagnetic fields was already proven, of course, but using it deliberately? Anji hadn’t just figured out what was going on with the test; he knew who was behind the mirror, too.

Vaalsie cursed for a while, getting out the anger he felt towards the boy for cutting the tests short. The less-than-intelligent supervisor had no idea what had happened, or that there was a genius under his guardianship. The next thing to figure out was why Anji was hiding his remarkable intellect and what the boy was after. The incident with the suspension spoke to the fact that Ganet didn’t do anything without a reason. He could wait years for the right moment, and then use the ace he’d had up his sleeve the whole time.

He definitely wasn’t going to be making contact.

∞ ∞ ∞

The smell of the sea and fish, the cries of the seagulls, and Bor’s voice muttering under his breath whirl around me as I lie on my stomach. The master is giving me the first tattoo on my back. The aroma of his tobacco reminds me of father, all the times when he sat out on the porch with a pipe between his teeth.

What can you do with six kilograms of blood malachite? I used it to create a mix of malachite and my own blood, and that was what the tattoo master used as the base for the ink. Blood magic and a little alchemy got me a solution for everything I need. Now, the recoil from using the “scroll” will be suppressed by my body. The experience I had making potions in Hell told me that malachite is similar to blood on its own, dissolving well into boiling liquid. That’s nothing compared to the strength it gains, however. I’m a mage by knowledge and skill if not by class. Cool!

“It’s done!”

Tattoo received: Dragon breath spell seal

Effect: When activated, lets you use the dragon breath spell. The damage the spell does is determined by your Intellect and Fire Magic skills, and you will take 5% of the damage the spell does when using it.

Mana cost: 900

Tattoo effect:

Intellect: +5%

Wisdom: +5%

Morale: +5%

Additional effect from the ink:

+610 mana reserve, is not destroyed when used

“Well, what do you think?”

Bor looks as happy as a clam. He charged me a thousand gold for each tattoo—a premium, but one I was willing