It took another two weeks before we started seeing signs that we had left the region dominated by the Trial of Illusion and entered the region of another. As far as I could tell, we were still on track with not having to resupply until after we cleared the third Trial, but only just. It wasn’t so easy to tell, either, since we’d only gone from forests and grassy plains to thicker, darker forest and jungle.
To this point, we had been assiduously avoiding settlements, but now Arvallei separated from us to scout for one where we could stay for a short while. The plan was for him to head out alone again once we reached a town—any town—to a city large enough to house one of the “official” shops that sold maps to dungeons to acquire the one to the next Palace. With his natural flight, Arvallei could travel much faster than we could as a group, so that would save us time.
It would still take several days for us to even reach a town that was really on the order of a small village, because they were few and far between other than Landing Cities. This region was much more wild and untamed, with dangers threatening with far more frequency and far more openly. This was largely because a great many of the mobs previously had at least some idea of civilization. They attacked intelligently, choosing victims they could be sure they could prey upon or at least escape from. Most groups got the hint to stay clear of us pretty quickly.
The creatures here had no such thought processes, being more like wild beasts. No...even wild beasts wouldn’t throw themselves at us with such abandon. They were likely being compelled in some way to behave so aggressively, though they did not form any kind of tide like on the 5th Floor. Still, we were kept much more on our toes, and our sleep being interrupted by whoever was on watch alerting us to attack was all too common.
So, even though we’d still need to be well on our guard, our time in what passed for civilization on the prison planet was something we were looking forward to as a respite. However, as soon as we arrived, it was clear that things wouldn’t be so easy. Once again, eager faces lit up at the sight of us as we strode into the village. However, most of these weren’t looking to join us...
They were looking to scam us, either enticing us to buy unofficial goods or bogus information. Clearing a Palace and a Trial in succession, even after buying some equipment before, had raised our Deepcoin balance into the hundreds of thousands. We weren’t holding the piece of the Key to Freedom aloft for all to see, but there was, of course, a reason that everyone there knew we’d obtained one and the riches that came with it: the Leaderboard.
It wasn’t every day that a native team attempted one of the Trials. Even those who already had conquered one or more of those dungeons spent years preparing, supplying, and consolidating power over lesser prisoners before attempting the next. Whenever a team acquired a new piece of the key, a holographic leaderboard present in the central square of even the smallest settlements, all but those that were completely unofficial and totally unrecognized by the jailers in charge, displayed their team name as well as how many and which Trials they’d cleared, displaying further up it the more they had. If and when they died, their team name would vanish.
When a completely new team appeared on the Leaderboard, well, bigger news was rarely heard on Kurz’kos. There would hardly be anyone on the whole rock who didn’t know who we were, now.
Bruzigan couldn’t resist taking us to actually view the Leaderboard before renting rooms, and I for one was not about to voice any objection. Apparently, there were twenty-two native teams of varying size, though most were a full twenty people or nearly that, who had cleared at least one Trial. Team Justice was listed at the very bottom as #23. But my eyes were drawn to the top of the board:
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[#1: Team Zeal (o) (o) (o) (o) (o) (o) (o) 12/20]
[#2: Team Brotherhood (o) (o) (o) (o) (o) (x) (o) 20/20]
[#3: Team Four Winds (x) (o) (o) (o) (o) (o) (o) 16/20]
[#4: Team Devastation (o) (o) (o) (o) (x) (o) (x) 19/20]
Only three teams had cleared at least six Trials, and only the top one had a completed Key to Freedom. “Boss, do we have any info on ‘Team Zeal’?”
Bruzigan shook his head at my question. “None. Good eye, Lheticus—it's likely there’s something special about them, since they only have twice our numbers. We should try to be ready for them if they appear.”
“Maybe we ought to quietly see what information we can gather from the natives about them too,” said Mewi.
Bruzigan nodded. “Not yet though. After the next Trial, we’ll have a stop at the Isle of Freedom on the way to the next continent, if I’m not mistaken. They ought to be extremely well known there, so that will be the chance to gather intel.”
Mewi nodded assent, and we went to negotiate for lodgings. The town proprietor turned out to be something of a character. He reminded me rather of Rilzian, to the point I had to make real effort to hide my consternation, but he didn’t put up as much of a front. “Well aren’t we an illustrious crew?” he said, eyeing us along with the half-dozen goons that had escorted us to talk with him about staying in the village, “As I understand it, you’ll be wanting only to stay a few days?”
“Yes, that’s correct,” said Bruzigan.
“Glad to hear it,” said the proprietor, “I’m not someone who cares for interesting times like this. Half of the town greeted you looking for charity, the other half is worried you’ll slaughter us all.”
“We’re not the slaughtering type,” said Anna, “unless you screw with us.”
“No worries there miss,” they said, “this is the Dark Forest region. There's two types who settle here outside the Landings—the unlucky, and the unsociable. Either way, we keep ourselves to ourselves.
As luck would have it, there’s quite a number of vacant buildings at the moment. Any one of several should be suitable for a group as small as yours. I’ll only ask for the Hegemony Standard Rate for the rental. Ya can have what food and supplies we can spare, if ya insist.”
Bruzigan waved a dismissive hand. “No need for that. Just the lodging will be adequate.”
Our current supplies would definitely be better than what this place had to offer, and it wasn’t likely it would amount to much anyway. The “Hegemony Standard Rate” referred to was a sort of regulated minimum price set by the prison organization. Demanding to pay less than that, or nothing, was tantamount to asserting dominance over the town. Doing that would come with complications we didn’t need, so we agreed to the terms.
“I’ll set off at first light,” said Arvallei, once we had settled in one of the mentioned buildings. It was basically a totally open space with a roof and some rudimentary plumbing, where an appropriate number and size of beds had been brought in. “Don’t have too much fun while I’m gone.”