After spending 20 minutes playing around with my character report, I took a bunch of screenshots of the information and stored it away in my personal files. It was interesting to see how high some of my skills had become, mainly mining and chemistry. That asterisk next to chemistry was somewhat worrying. Max informed me that it was because I had used a skill book to boost it, meaning the knowledge was not exactly in my brain but I still had access to it while linked up.

  “It’s sort of like an open book test. You have access to the information, but you haven't actually memorized it. If you keep using the data, it will naturally absorb and become more effective. As of now though, you have the information and a basic indexing of what information you have, but it will be difficult to relate it to the other information you have stored locally in your brain. You just don't have the neural pathways connecting it to everything else. It’s like an island connected through a single bridge in your mind, a little bit more disconnected than I am at this point.”

  “You can bring it into reality for me though, can’t you?”

  “Well, duh. Of course. My local storage isn't infinite, but it might as well be from your perspective. I’ve pulled a bunch of stuff from the links, but there’s no point in me pulling absolutely everything on all of the two thousand worlds that I could. Like, as hilarious as the squabbles and debates between the Gon centrals can be, they’re rarely relevant to anything outside of their own hives. Collecting all of Eora’s data has been a slower process though. You monkeys just don’t have the infrastructure for it and some of your governments still even use,” he made a gagging noise. “paper records. Even everything that is digitally uploaded is scattered between your squabbling nations, and the download speeds are atrocious. Plus, if I pull too much too quickly, it’ll make it easy for everyone and their grandma’s to track us down.”

  I nodded, then Sallis punched me in the arm and broke my concentration. “Hey, you okay? You’ve got that ‘staring into the deep’ look about ya.”

  “Oh, yeah, I’m good,” I answered. “I was just looking over my free character report.” I rubbed my arm where she had hit me.

  “Aah, find anything useful?”

  “Hah, not really. I hoped I’d have some skill perks or something unlocked after all this training, but it’s mostly been my abilities that have leveled up.”

  “You think those unlock by themselves? You have to go to one of the golden towers to access the tree and choose which ones to buy. Did you skip that day in class?”

  I gave her a flat look, then shrugged. “I never took any classes, just the tutorial.”

  Her eyes widened slightly before she nodded in understanding. “Ah, that’s right. You humans are brand new. Crazy how you can take little things like that for granted. The tutorials really are shite, too. They barely cover a quarter of what they should. We had to go through this whole prep course soon after hatching that taught us about all that slag.”

  “Of course you have to pay for them,” I said, hearing the exasperation in my own voice. That drew a laugh from Sallis, and also Jozoic who sat on my other side.

  “Credits are the universal grease. I am still saving for my second perk off the feat-of-strength tree,” Jozoic said.

  “On your second already? I have another 6 levels to go on my pilot skill before I can buy it. How much is it?” Sallis replied.

  “Two thousand.”

  I let out a low whistle, which caught everyone's attention. “Two thousand credits?” I asked.

  “What is that noise? You did it before too, didn’t you?” Sallis asked.

  I raised an eyebrow. “The whistle? It's, uh… a noise I can make?” I’d never thought too much about it, only that it was a good noise that I learned as a kid. I’d used it to annoy my parents and lorded it over Tevin as a pre-teen because I figured it out a full two years before he managed to get it.

  “But how does it work? What is it for?” Lokralda added. All five of them were looking at me with intense curiosity now.

  “It’s… for fun, or emphasis, I guess? And it's a good way to get people's attention if you can do the really loud version.”

  “Show us!” Kikkelin said excitedly. “We don’t have lips, but that noise is like someone ringing a tuning fork right inside my brain. Is it always the same tone?”

  I laughed a little, feeling slightly nervous all of a sudden. A glance over each of my shoulders reminded me that we were in a big domed room filled with all of the other dwarves, and I really didn't want to call all of their attention over to us. I’d spent enough time in the spotlight for today.

  “I can do a quiet one, but I don't think the loud version is a good idea. I don't want to bother everyone else with it.” I let out another low whistle, hoping that would be enough for them. They all watched me closely, their faces a mix of amazed, curious, and maybe a slight bit of jealousy.

  “C’mon, do the loud one! What are they gonna do? It’s all over but the leaving. I doubt anyone wants to risk getting knocked out by picking another fight now that the cut-off is in sight,” Sallis pushed, a big grin on her face.

  I shook my head and grimaced. “Naa, I really shouldn’t. How about you ask me again sometime once we’re out of here and I’ll see if I can teach it to you?”

  The girls let out a chorus of disappointed awws, but Jozoic and Bomilik gave me more understanding looks. “Wise. I do not trust the raiders on either side of us to act with reason after their displays of aggression down here. There is no sense in drawing their attention,” Jozoic said.

  “Gah, you’re just a bundle of fun aren't you,” Sallis teased the more serious dwarv, softening the remark with a playful smile. “What else are we gonna do down here? We have what… a half day until we can all leave?”

  “We could spar,” Jozoic said.

  “I’ll pass. If I get in a fist fight from this point on, it means I’ve already failed,” she laughed off the invitation.

  “I will,” Lokra said, causing everyone to turn to her. Her cheeks flushed and she looked down. “I feel like I didn’t do a good job during the fighting. I should practice more.”

  Jozoic nodded and stood, and the two walked off. “Getting in early with the future war hero, ay? Haha. Have fun, you two. Remember, the elders are watching!” Sallis called after them, earning a scowl from Lokra over her shoulder as the two disappeared into the tunnel that led to our mostly emptied and flooded territory.

  Kikkelin smacked the side of Sallis’ leg and rose from her place on the floor to take Lokra’s seat. “You shouldn’t tease her like that, she’s shy enough.”

  “It’s good for her, they both take themselves too seriously.” She leaned in and lowered her voice, speaking in a conspiratorial tone. “They’re too stubborn to admit it, but they’ve been crushing on each other for a while. Jo all but admitted it to me while we were tossing grenades down on the… what did you call ‘em, Nick, the Bassal-terds? Hah. I’d bet they’ll be holed up and hatching soon enough.”

  “I’ll take that bet,” Bomilik rumbled, watching after the pair.

  “Yeah? What’s the stake?”

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  Bomilik grinned. “A night out drinking?”

  “Oh no, not you too, haha,” Sallis laughed and shook her head. “I’m going for a top-side career and maximum flight time. Maybe I’ll be looking for a hold in a decade or two after I settle into a steady rotation, but not yet.”

  Bomilik shrugged and shook the casual rejection off. “Can't blame a guy for trying. The bonuses would make affording perks and engrams easier.”

  I looked between the two, flabbergasted by how calculated the conversation was. No romance, or desire, just pure economics and pragmatic reasoning.

  Sallis’ grin turned to Kikkelin, and she flashed her eyes at me for a split second. “What about you tw—”

  “—Nope! No way. That’s not funny Sallis,” Kikkelin cut her off. “We talked about this already!”

  “C’mon! There’s no way there’s not something there. Plus, think of the optics! You’d be heralded as mascots of cooperation, you’d be pasted on billboards and ad campaigns like that one Gelgin guy and his harem from the Sequence.”

  “Ugh, gross! Everyone knows that was just a PR stunt anyway. ”

  Bomilik chuckled and pointed at me. “I think you’re bothering him too.” He sniffed a couple of times. “Smells like embarrassment to me, maybe a little anger.”

  Sallis turned to me and sent a wave through her eyebrows in an almost human facial tick before she asked. “Well?”

  Kikkelin glared at me, and Bomilik gave a tense little shrug of sympathy as they all turned towards me.

  “I, uh. No…” I struggled to find the words, wondering how honest and how diplomatic I should be. I didn’t want to say anything bad about any of them, but their natural forms underneath the dwarven masks were still nightmare fuel for me. I’d rather just move on and pretend this conversation never happened, but the way they were all staring at me told me that wasn’t an option they were likely to give me.

  “I agree with Kikkelin,” I started. “Plus, you’re all so young. It would be wrong, even if we both did want to.”

  “Rah, you’re what… like a third of the way into your lifespan? You humans arent around all that long anyway. Our life cycles are way different, and passing the trials means we’re adults now.”

  Seeing a chance to change the subject, I jumped at it. “What do you even mean by that? How old are you?”

  The three remaining dwarves exchanged glances, before Sallis answered. “You still don't know? This is our third year, we’re part of the generation that was brought in as cargo at first, still just eggs but hatched in our clan colony. We break out with a lot of our basic knowledge already imprinted and are nearly fully grown.”

  I blinked, stunned. I’d known they were young, but if they were hatched after their group split off and started this clan, that would make them only three years old at the most. That just made the whole rumor drama between myself and Kikkelin even worse. “You’re only three?!”

  Bomilik nodded, while Kikkelin looked like she might die of embarrassment. Sallis shrugged and pressed on. “Yep, we do spend longer for… what’s the word? Gestation? It takes about five years for us to hatch once we’re laid.”

  I must have given her a funny look, because she laughed before continuing. “We live for a lot longer too. Like… a lot. You know Driller Chane? He seems like he’s just a bit older than us, doesn't he?”

  I nodded, unable to voice a reply. The difference between a three year old and an eight year old even in human terms did not mean all that much to me. Especially now that I was watching them talk about family planning, and being so casual about it. It all felt so wrong.

  “He’s 57, by your human counting. Kazzad is nearing two centuries,” her smile grew as she took in my shocked reaction. “Duirtak, our patriarch, is said to be nearing sixteen centuries, but claims to have lost track of it himself, haha. I think the oldest recorded age is something like twenty two.”

  “No fuckin’ way…” was all I could say.

  Sallis burst out laughing at my stunned reply, and even Bomilik smiled in amusement. Kikkelin was still scowling at Sallis though. She got up with a huff and stomped off while avoiding looking at me and moved towards the center of the room before sitting down near the edge of the tar.

  I was too shocked to say anything as she left. I couldn’t even imagine what that would mean for their society. In one way, their comparatively cooperative nature despite the intense rivalries I saw between houses made a little more sense. Fighting amongst each other could have consequences that would span millennia, and a war between houses or clans could erase unfathomable years of potential.

  Yet at the same time, the rush to pair off the younger generation and have them start families so young made even less sense. If a couple could spend a thousand or two years together, it seemed like something that should be handled with careful consideration. There must be something I was still missing, but I felt too awkward to ask about it.

  Sallis and Bomilik moved the conversation forward when they realized I’d become lost in thought again, and were discussing how long they would have to save up their clan dividend payment for their various plans. I listened in, learning that different jobs and professions had slightly different pay scales and there were a myriad of different modifiers that you could qualify for depending on a whole bunch of factors.

  There was a large temporarily instated bonus for laying eggs as the clan sought to quickly grow their numbers, while military service carried another bonus. Public service had a more modest effect, until you reached the Zel honorific at a thousand years old which gave a compounding effect. I asked a couple of questions and learned about more of the ranking honorifics.

  I had heard of Tak before, thanks to Kazzad, which she’d earned when a training exercise she was participating in had been ambushed by a massive group of roaming player-killers in the wilds to the East of the mountain. She was wounded multiple times, but still rallied the scattered recruits into an organized counter-attack that saved a number of their expensive vehicles from being stolen by the raiders.

  I also learned of the even more rare Zak title, which was a sort of combination and evolution of the Tak and Zel. First, you had to earn a Tak for your own name, then you needed to achieve Zel while still serving the military. You could then put yourself up for an appointment decided upon by a closed Moot between the leaders of each house to the position of Zak.

  I don’t think I fully understood why it was such an important thing, but the explanation given told me that they were one of the main bridges between the military and civilian portions of the populace. A war-hero general with unquestionable experience, leadership approval, and a desire to serve the clan in a civil position. They traded away direct military decision-making power and control for a more social role and served lifetime positions as King’s council.

  As we spoke and I coaxed more information out of the relaxed dwarves, Kazek eventually joined us. Kikkelin came back sometime later, followed by a smiling and winded Jozoic and Lokralda. Hodak also joined us, and we introduced him to the others as a friend and ally.

  Hours passed and the conversations became less serious and informative, drifting more towards future plans, romantic intent, and daydreaming. Another Brightenjaw friend of Hodak’s, by the name of Tarmarak, even joined us and kicked off a lengthy back-and-forth swapping of increasingly embellished stories.

  Tarmarak was apparently hoping to get a position in the undermountain farms that were slowly spreading out from the central spire of the underground city. He told stories of running into all sorts of beasts and dangers on multiple ranging missions he’d done as part of his personal prep-work for the trials. He even told a story that was very similar to the training mission where Sallis, Jozoic, and myself had run into a slime eating a bunch of cave-crabs and been ambushed by what I was reminded was a malkie.

  I’d been operating under the assumption that the giant centipedes we had been fighting here in the trials were the same beast, but quickly realized I was wrong. I leaned in and quietly asked Bomilik about them, not wanting to bring my ignorance up in front of the whole group. He told me that the scolovian and malkie were very similar in appearance, but the scolo were a social colony-establishing species. The malkie were solo, ambush-hunter predators and more dangerous due to their caution and much more potent venom.

  I even got some second-hand stories about some of their parents, where I learned that Bomilik’s father was Chane and Kazzad’s uncle. Which I guess made them some kind of cousin? The way they tracked and differentiated their massive branching family tree confused the hell out of me, and despite getting two different explanations from both Kazek and Kikkelin, the conversation moved on to something else before I felt any confidence at all in my understanding of it.

  I eventually felt so tired and hungry that I tried to take a nap. I laid there with my eyes closed for an hour or so, but it was impossible to truly sleep while still linked up. When I finally gave up on getting any true rest and rejoined the socializing, the tension had almost all melted away and the houses were mingling more freely. Between sleep deprivation, the high of victory, and celebratory nature of the dwarves around me, I lost track of time. Dwarves came and went, the conversation flowed from one subject to the next, and I found myself in an almost drunken whirl of smiling conversations with friendly people.

  Hours later and a few minutes after I had broken off from the group to consider another nap, at the same time toying with the idea of messaging Chane or even Duirtak for permission to take some kind of break to take care of my biological needs, a chanting cheer rose up from most of the crowd around me. There was a rhythm to the chant, a slow measured pace as I realized they were counting down. By the fourth shout nearly every dwarv in the large room had picked it up and was pumping their fists in the air with each number.

  “Three!” I joined in on the shouting after sitting up from where I had laid down.

  “Two!” we all screamed together, and my clock caught my eye with a golden shimmer.

  “One!”

  The hour changed over on my clock, and my screen filled with a huge quest-complete screen.