The Hunter's Guide to Monsters

Eli took up the unboxed headset.

It was one of the enhanced MarkVIIIs. The labels remained the original, not changed to the fake Premium ones.

"Are you alright with using this?" He hefted the headset. "I don't have to go to the company, so I can show you around the site."

"We used old MarkVIIs in school with virtual modelers. I'm familiar with the basics of a GT headset."

"Good. We'll be a while, so you're using the bio-cradle. Come on." Eli wasn't about to let the pregnant girl use the less comfortable option..

He exchanged the headsets, his Lazybones for the modified MarkVIII.  "I'm giving this headset access to my work account, so one moment."

"You sure you won't get in trouble for this?"

"No, RSI has a pretty robust company network. There's access accommodation for an assistant, even for a lowly tour coordinator like me."

It was parsecs better than the system at his old company.

He straightened, waving her to the bio-cradle. "Your ID will be logged in company files, though. Does your school allow that?"

"It's fine. I'm rated for internship."

Many schools didn't allow work-study arrangements, preferring to lower or waive tuition for students so they could keep focus on study. And some schools only gave permission for internships to students who have proven they were able to handle a fuller schedule.

Eli interned at sister company of the one he eventually worked in.

"All good?"

Bel nodded, settling into the reclined seat of the cradle. "Yeah."

The headset lowered over her temples.

"Alright then." He checked the temperature again, and the apartment stats. There was a notification that his grocery delivery would be scheduled for later this afternoon.

He acknowledged, then adjusted his Lazybones headset, lay down on the bed.

He entered the virtual workspace.

The project program was already open, so it shunted them directly into the Crescent Firebloom Monastery.

Eli glanced at his new assistant.

Hah. He wanted to laugh.

Others would be marveling at the view. The girl's attention was entirely caught by the stone of the pillars of the elevated balcony they spawned in. She ran awed fingers over the ancient construction.

"So real…" he heard her murmur, nearly starry-eyed.

Eli let her and the pillar have their moment.

He tapped his holo-bracelet and studied the traffic model Bel had put together. He ported the data to the program.

Instantly, generic avatars appeared and started to populate the monastery.

Monks, tourists, tour guides, random characters.

Bel walked up beside him, looking around. "The place is bigger than I thought."

"Big enough for 10,000 people looking for solitude and meditation," Eli agreed.

"Not quite, I think." She pointed. "It's the reason for the numerous small gardens within gardens, and the shape of the architecture. It's pretty broad theory, but there are examples in the books that say a layout like this prevents people from feeling crowded."

Bel looked up, squinted. "Are people supposed to climb up to those?"

A handful of small islands floating in the sky blocked out some of the sunlight, the visible structures on some of them casting interesting shadows on the land beneath.

"There are flying monsters used as transportation. And skills that allow players to jump that far."

"A fantasy world," she murmured to herself.

"Looks too real?"

"No, thank god."

Eli smiled wryly. Even at a realism percentage of 95%, the floating temple islands were too fantastical, huh.

"Shall we start?"

"Yeah, let's go. Are those people from your modeler program?" She started down the stairs, paused. Placed her hand on her inflated belly. "My body feels lighter here."

"It's an avatar body – the initial form is approximated from the bio-cradle data scan. You can adjust your virtual form if you want."

She was silent for a moment. Then shook her head. "No. This is fine."

Her hands started moving.

Eli knew she was setting up notifications and pinned status indicators. Medical data, he assumed, so he walked down the stairs before her.

She caught up and they walked around, listened to the simulated tour guide monks, watched the flow and ebb of people from noted points of interest.

Circling the central area of the monastery, they ended up at a tower window high above, watching people move below.

"It's too fast," Bel observed.

Eli nodded.

The walking speed mode of the modeler was not the walking speed of a tourist wanting a relaxing stroll.

"Too logical," he added. People meandered, they got distracted, they asked a lot of questions and threw off the schedule, they wandered off and got lost.

They definitely didn't follow obediently behind a tour guide. Not always.

He opened the modeler program, sketched in a few platforms in various places. "Let's add in your falling meditation."

"Wha—?" Bel jumped when a platform appeared on the cliff the tower was built against.

"That is…let me do that." Her voice was a little pained as she opened the modeler with her own holo-bracelet. "This thing has a perfectly good in-program library of shapes and textures. Why aren't you using it?"

Eli thought he had adequate artistic ability.

Watching Bel manipulate a few basic shapes, stretch and slice and put them together, then match the style of the platforms to the surrounding landscape of the monastery though…

He was now very sure, that he had only adequate artistic ability.

He swiped his fingers through the holo. Chairs appeared, anachronistic against the stone of the surroundings.

"Oh, thanks."

He left her to it and started programming new routes for the simulated tourists.

Different paths for those who came to sightsee. Different paths for those who came for peace and quiet. Different paths for those who came for solo meditation, falling meditation, group meditation.

The platforms appeared one after the other on his modeler as Bel finished each.

He rerouted and restructured. They ran model simulations and discussed.

"Mist? Just hanging there?" Bel argued.

"Just here, and here, in the morning and late afternoon. We can suspend most activities in the area until the mist can screen the groups of people from each other."

"More like rolling clouds than mist, if you want it thick enough to prevent sight."

"That's fine. This is an initial pitch. There'll be others looking at the project before it's finalized. At this part of the plan, best keep things to concept."

She agreed and helped him fine-tune the movement of the constantly shifting mist.

"How much freedom do you have, changing the environment?"

Eli paused, eyed her. Always a complicated question, with an artist.

"Very little. The platforms and weather are likely the most we can do on this project. Nothing that stands out."

She sighed. "Too bad."

"You say that like you didn't argue for a specific color of stone to accent a platform people just jump off."

"It's soothing like that!"

"Having fun, though?"

She huffed. "Yes. I thought it would be less involved than this. Thanks."