Chương 12: Keep pulling that cord, Sisyphus!

>>We need to talk about that timer, George. George check the time before the trial. 04: 01: 17 The time was clicking down fast, even though George was producing more clicks than ever. >> You are averaging around 600 clicks per minute with your (OK… I'll say it) good idea to make a clicker machine. If you keep that up, your next level is going to come in twenty minutes. George tightened the bindings on his clicker machine and kept pulling on the cord.

>>But that doesn't seem to be enough to make the timer slow down anymore. >>So we need to grind as many levels as we can before the trial begins. At this pace, you should be able to get another five or six levels before the trial starts. >>I can also tell you that you have nearly reached 100, 000 clicks, and you'll cross that threshold pretty soon. >>So keep pulling that cord, Sisyphus! George's trike device rattled itself apart from time to time, but it seemed to be happening less.

Just like Nod said, his next level came in twenty minutes, and another one within an hour after that. Nod kept quiet for the most part, saying that he was "working on a project." Level 11 and level 12 brought him to ten gold and three skill points. Just as he was looking over the store and wondering what to buy, Nod broke his silence. >>Got me an idea, boss. >>Remember when I said, "Don't buy continuous store access because you're getting levels fast anyway"?

I think that is good advice as long as you are able to sit in here alone and click to your heart's content. But I think we're about to have company and your quality time with the Click-A-Palooza is about to be severely reduced. >>So why don't you buy the continuous store access and then don't buy anything else for a while. You can bank your gold and then spend it during the trial when you know what might actually be helpful.

"Maybe. I was starting to think it was time to buy Basic Store Upgrade. For the same reason," George said. >>True. But you still wouldn't know what would be helpful during the trial. I think you should just bank it and get Basic Store Upgrade once you see what this trial is all about. George selected Continuous Store Access. When the skill menu appeared, Nod chimed in with advice. >>Skills on the other hand I think you should buy now. Train them up as you click.

"Any recommendations?" >>Yes, your spidery sommelier does have a recommendation or two. Thanks for asking. >>Don't worry about saving for the second level of bind or draw. I have a suspicion you've almost hit the upgrade threshold on those anyway. >>As far as what to buy now… you've got expand, so you could go for reduce and collect the set. I actually think you might be onto something about the usefulness of those two in combination, especially since the total mass seems to grow or shrink along with the size.

I think it will be a while before you can carry a tank around in your pocket, but, you know… dream big.

"I still need to figure out how to make a weapon if this trial is going to be what you think it is going to be. So which upgrade gets us further down that road? Draw and bind aren't going to cut it." >>All of these are going to be pretty weaksauce at first.

"I need a way to make a knife. Or some kind of a trap," George said. >>You're going to buy all of these basic skills soon anyway. So just pick one and get back to clicking. We'll work on the weapon stuff as we go. George selected reduce and received a notification. Skill Selected: Reduce. Purchased Upgrade User Interface: Continuous Store Access. A new button appeared in his vision that said Store.

George clicked on it, and sure enough, the store options popped up and disappeared when he dismissed them with another thought. The click counter read 98, 679 and in a few minutes the 100, 000-click achievement arrived. New Milestone Achievement: You've reached 100, 000. Bonus unlocked: +15 gold. >>Convenient timing. That's 19 gold total, Scrooge McDuck. >>Now back to clicking!

ALL CAPS said the timer accelerates the closer it gets to zero, so unless you can speed up that click rate, we're about to watch that trial timer start dropping faster. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. George fell into a rhythm over the next few hours, pulling the trike clicker while refreshing bind on the joints every few minutes. Nod tracked his pace at a steady 600 clicks per minute.

With his free hand, he threw a battery across the room and practiced using draw to bring it back. At first it only rolled sullenly to his feet, just like the button had, but soon it returned faster—tumbling end over end to tap his foot. He layered in the other skills as they came off cooldown. expand made the battery heavier in his palm. reduce shrank it again. He cycled the two over and over as he kept clicking. About an hour in, something changed.

When he called the battery back, it lifted off the ground and bounced off his knee. He threw it again. It rose to his waist. Again. It flew straight into his hand. A notification appeared as he caught it. Skill Upgrade Unlocked: Draw 2 Choose your upgrade path: • Increase distance of draw • Increase strength of draw • Increase speed of draw George smiled and raised his fist in the air in celebration.

"Did you see that?" >>What? Oh yeah. Thought that might happen. Cool. Busy now. Need to focus. George thought about it for a minute and then chose to increase the strength of draw. Skill Selected: Draw 2—Increase Strength of draw George threw the battery out again and cast draw. The battery lifted off the ground and flew toward his hand as if someone had given it a gentle underhand toss. George tossed it out but used draw before it landed.

It obediently reversed direction and returned to him without ever touching the ground. He caught it and smiled. It wasn't long before his bind skill hit the same upgrade threshold. Skill Upgrade Unlocked: Bind 2 Choose your upgrade path: • Bind two objects • Increase strength of bind • Increase duration of bind Right now he could use bind to stick one thing to another thing but he couldn't cast it on two things and make them stick to each other. Maybe that first option would change that.

It seemed like the strength and duration of the skill was increasing naturally with use anyway. He picked the first option. Skill Selected: Bind 2—Bind two objects George snapped one of the batteries off the trike wheel and tossed them both away. He cast bind on them both as they flew through the air and they clicked together just like magnets.

He went back to his routine of using the machine to click the button and practicing his skills, only now he threw two batteries across the room, made them click together, and used draw to summon them back to his hand. After about an hour of this he could drop the batteries and snatch them back out of the air like they were a yo-yo. He tossed one battery to each side of the cradle and tried to bind them together but they didn't budge.

He had to first draw one toward the other before they could come in range of his newly improved bind skill. He kept grinding through his routine for clicking and practicing his skills for about another hour until Nod interrupted him. >>OK. Project finished. >>Getting continuous store access gave me some ideas. Open your Status window. George clicked Status and his status window popped up. Status Name: George Race: Human Gold: 19 Skill Points: 5 Current Average Click Speed: 589 clicks per minute.

Level: 12 Time Until Next Level: 00: 19: 56 Skills: • Draw 2: 3% • Bind 2: 1% • Expand: 27% • Reduce: 6%"Was this your project?" George asked. Part of it. We're going to need to plan our upgrades, and timing's going to matter. Now you can see how close your skills are to leveling. Those numbers are estimates—I'll refine them as we go. Each skill will scale differently. Early levels come fast, but later you'll either grind for days or pay in gold. >>This whole game runs on numbers—they're just hidden.

Unless you've got a brain spider keeping track. You're welcome. >>OK. This is the fun one. Watch this. George saw two scribbled dots and a curved line appear in his vision as though someone was drawing them with a pencil. >>Pretty neat, huh? It's a smiley!

"Now you can graffiti my vision," George said.

"How does this help us?" >>Are you kidding me? This is going to be so much fun. And I'm just getting started. Wait until I put some emojis together!

"Werewolves, Nod." >> ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ >>This is going to help us. Trust me. Plus, if we meet any jerks out there, I can draw mustaches on them. >>But, once again, I would also like it stated for the record: you are no fun. ¬_¬ >>On to the next order of business. We still need to find a way to automate clicking that button. I'm picturing pulleys, levers, balls rolling down chutes… you know, Rube Goldberg style. Think you can pull that off?

"You're the AI." >>You are the one with two hands. I've only got one.

"More of that brain parasite humor?" >>Yes. Thanks. Be sure to tip your waitress. I'll be here all night. >>… malevolently brooding inside your skull and messing with your neurochemistry while you sleep. Heh heh heh. In the end, he got another three levels before the trial started. Levels 13, 14, and 15 brought him another six gold. George had been buying an amenity with each level since the price remained at one gold, and he figured he needed all the help he could get. Five levels had brought five new amenities.

He was now the owner of a new house key, a pack of playing cards, a gold ring, a marble, and a ball of twine. He bought the house key for the metal in hopes of expanding it and finding some way to alter it some day. As soon as he got the gold ring, he started using expand on it in order to make a second wheel for the click machine although he didn't know how to build it into the device with the materials he had yet. He'd managed to make it big enough to fit two fingers through.

When the fifteenth level came he once again had enough skill points to buy another skill.

"Any thoughts?" George asked. >>I'll take 'Kill Enemy' for 100, Alex.

"I don't think they have given us that option, Nod." >>Then, whatever. George checked the time left until the trial. 00: 6: 43 The timer really had accelerated in the last few hours. Even with his higher click rate, the seconds blurred as they ticked down.

"My thoughts exactly," George said. He selected bore and received a notification. Skill Selected: Bore. 00: 04: 56 >>You got this, George.

"Sure. Piece of cake," George said. >>That bravado would be more convincing if I couldn't feel your heart rate.

"Maybe it'll be a juggling contest. I should be able to handle that now." >>Or a contest for Most Improved Supporting Actor in a B Movie. >>George. Whatever is about to happen, you need to be ready to do what needs to be done. If you have to run, then run. If you have to fight, then fight. If you have to kill, then kill. Got it? They got the notification and the trial began.