William’s companions introduced themselves, receiving a simple nod from Nite. William and Nite explained the situation to the group with Nite taking the lead. Everyone stood in silence while they contemplated the situation.
Jane looked in the direction William and Nite had emerged from and sighed.
“Mum needs our help, William. I know that and want to free her and everyone else so badly, but we would just get killed and possibly cause the same to happen with our friends. We… need to get help somehow.”
William agreed mentally, but his heart fought brain for every inch. He felt that attacking swiftly with what they had would be enough. Logic was barely keeping him restrained, yet his face was stoic. His inner battle attacked his very soul, but he stood firm. A long moment passed and reason took control.
“We need to get more aid. Nite offered an introduction to her comrades. Maybe we can aid one another.”
Stacey was by William’s side a moment later, her hand sliding into his. She looked him in the eyes, worry clear as day, but something else also shone; determination.
“I’m with you. William, I trust you, I want you to know that. I’ll always follow your lead. If you think meeting Nite’s acquaintances is safe enough, then there’s no issues or worries from me.”
Once again, William was reminded of the angel by his side and how lucky he was. William turned to face her and gave her a gentle kiss on the forehead, then her hand as he held it.
“Thanks, Stacey. You always have my corner. I’ll always have yours.-” William turned to look at his other friends.”-You in, everyone? I think it’s time to make some new friends. Do you?”
Jane pondered the question for a moment, but quickly nodded, followed by John, who spoke.
“William, I’ve got your back. Bros before ho-” John was silenced from a light elbow to the ribs from a smiling Jane.
William recognized the smile, and internally winced for his friend. John was lucky he didn’t finish the sentence. Jane hated that word and any similar slur used on her. Jane locked eyes on William’s hands holding Stacey’s one hand. William enjoyed feeling her soft skin and gentle hands on his.
“Stacey, you seem to have completely won over William. I wonder if you’ll be my sister in law soon,” Jane said, a playful glint in her eyes.
William could see her plan clearly, as it was often his. Tease and laugh to hide the fear and pain. He wouldn’t hinder that. She needed it, hell, he needed it.
Stacey blushed making William wonder if it was from shyness or fondness.
Jane continued, ”Remember Stacey, chicks before dicks.”
Both William and John stared at her. Hadn’t she just had an issue with John saying the male equivalent?
“Why do you get to make those comments, Sis?”
“Obviously because its different when its girl is saying it,” Jane replied, her stubborn expression appearing on her face.
“Next you’ll be saying ‘death to the patriarchy’ or something.”
“You know, that’s not a bad idea, William.”
William gave his sister a flat stare. A few moments later, the two siblings broke into laughter and William was reminded that they were somewhat alike, even after a period of irreconcilable seclusion on his part.
Maya, who had been silent for a while now, presumably lost in her own thoughts broke up the laughter.
“Okay, I think we should meet up with miss Nite’s friends and go from there. We should probably go now in case the two of you left tracks from Greenwell to here.”
William could see the trained Scout in Maya take over and couldn’t help but be impressed. It wasn’t long before the group were following Nite’s lead with their bonds flying in a wide perimeter around them as lookouts. William and Stacey were walking beside each other at the back using the logic of having the strongest members take front and back of the party for security.
“William, do you think we can trust Nite?”
William looked ahead to the back of Nite’s figure, moving smoothly through the woodland, gliding like a predator across the uneven ground. He wasn’t sure.
“I… don’t know, Stacey. She is strong enough to just kill us outright when we least expect it, but she already had a few opportunities and didn’t take them. I think we can trust them to fight our common enemy, but as for the association with her group, I’ll be keeping my expectations low. It’ll be safer if we all do the same.”
Stacey nodded and held his hand again. She had gotten quite caring with William recently. Stacey was a nice person so it wasn’t a bad thing, but the frequency of her closeness was increasing.
“Is everything okay Stacey? Are you worried about the others. We’ll sort the problem out so don’t worry.”
William wasn’t sure he believed his own words, but he had to work to improve the chance of them ringing true.
“Other than Jill, and Wallace, I’m not too close to the others, so my worry is less focused on them and more on how we’ll survive and free everyone. I’m scared William. It seems like there’s people in this world who could obliterate one’s existence in less than the blink of an eye, and potentially, one that is closer to that level than us is also in the way.”
William felt sad for her and her worries. He also understood her meaning about how close he was to others in Greenwell. His mother, Wallace, even Devlin and Frenn were all people he wanted to look out for. The others he also wanted to keep safe, but William would be less sad if those others passed away over the ones closest to him. Maybe that was just human nature. He didn’t want the girl he cared about to dwell on her fears and wrapped his arm around her side, pulling her closer to him. They continued walking as he heard a soft, contended sigh from her.
“Then I guess it’s on me to get stronger, which I will admit is easier said than done with the bloody soft cap on EXP. If it wasn’t for some of my Titles, I would be closer to level twenty than thirty. I want to get my Enchanter class to Level ten as well, and see what Milestone thing I get. You also passed into the soft cap situation. I’m proud of you for that.-” William chuckled quietly, “-Listen to me acting all sagely about a path of progression we’ve only begun to explore. I’ve been trying to use Sharpie where and when I can so that I can get Enchanter EXP from using the items as it seems to give larger chunks than just wearing clothing with Runes on them.”
“Please share your insight, Stacey.” William thought, hoping to shift the topic to something else. Maybe she would feel more comfortable if he took her mind off of the main issue, even if it’s only for a few moments. William inwardly cheered as it seemed to work.
“I’ll get stronger too and maybe you can also enchant my daggers for me maybe? It’ll give you some more EXP. I’d kinda like the...’Recall’ Rune? Is that right? The one that makes the weapon or other object come back to your hand.”
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“Hmm, Recall on your daggers is something I’m happy to help with. It’s very helpful and has served me well in the fights where it was involved. I could also add the Restoration and Syphon Runes to them and you can get some health drain from the weapons while the Restoration Rune keeps the item from rusting, dulling, or chipping. It’s quite a useful synergy of runes. Is that cool with you?”
“I’d love that. Thank you sweetie.”
William chuckled softly and replied, “Sweetie is it? Onto pet names already?”
“Yep,” Was all Stacey replied, her face shining with a smile that could melt permafrost itself.
“Okay angel,” William replied, trying one of his own.
It was a little weird, but he thought the choice wasn’t a bad one. A warm expression grew on Stacey’s face showing that she seemed to like it. He would use that one going forward.
Stacey leaned into his shoulder and let out a quiet, contented sigh. William was oddly in an okay mood all things considered. Yes, most of his friends and family were captured, but he had Stacey, Jane, John, and Echo. Maybe Maya would become that important to him in time as he respected her spirit and attitude and wanted it to meld well with his people as she was one of them now.
He was worried, and angry, but also relaxed and composed. He was okay. Not poor, nor great, simply okay. In a way, it was a boon. He wouldn’t do something foolhardy, nor would he let his guard down completely. He was aware and ready for the work ahead. Maybe not for the final conflict, but time and preparation would sort that problem out in due course.
William was trying to picture what the associates of Nite would look like and how they would behave. He had a mental image of cloaked thieves guilds or assassin brotherhoods. All the fantasy tropes etc.
Those thoughts shifted as the walk went on and on. William’s mini map was updating with new information as they progressed. They were heading well north of Greenwell it seemed. The sun was already passing its zenith at this point and Nite signaled the group to stop and rest for a short while. As they ate dried meat rations, William looked at the clearing they were in. It was lowered with a partially exposed root system from a large tree nearby that caused a natural terrace to form. The flora around the area was much the same as what he had seen so far, but the atmosphere was slightly denser, stuffier. Birds chirped overhead still, making William wonder if the other bonds were up in the canopy playing around. Echo was in a nearby tree looking southward in case they were followed. William took the opportunity to enchant Stacey’s daggers, then even Nite’s as she spotted the work he was doing. William was happy to oblige and he could feel his Enchanter EXP growing ever so slightly. He would get trickles of EXP as the enchanted weapons are used on enemies by either Nite or Stacey, but most likely by Nite.
“What level Enchanter are you, William?” Nite asked, as she eyed her finished enchantments with curiosity.
“Level eight currently, but want to hit ten soon so I can get a new skill. This soft cap sucks though,” William replied, as he stowed away the tools he was using.
“You’re going to take [Quick Enchant] right? As a Fighter primary, it makes the most sense.”
William stared at her dumbly, prompting Nite to explain.
“One of the skills offered is called [Quick Enchant]. My friend explained the skill to me a while back. I don’t know the details, but it allows you to layer the effect of a single Rune of your choosing over an item of your choice for a few seconds. This does not conflict with other existing permanent enchantments, but can’t be stacked with another Rune cast through the same skill,” Nite said, putting her weapons away before continuing, “Don’t know the cool down, but I do know it can take some goodly amount of Mana to do, though enchanters can find the process easier if they have something storing Mana and can convert it. I dunno how though? I only know of [Quick Enchant] because of its use in combat. I digress, you can potentially double the effect of an already enchanted weapon temporarily, or use on a mundane one so that it has more bite. Those are two examples of its use, but I imagine the uses are much more diverse. The soft cap is bad, but there are a few regions bordering this one that are level twenty to forty, so you have options. Hells, you could take a bunch of items over the border into one of those regions and gain the full EXP benefits then hop straight back into your current region.”
William was stunned silent and it took him a few moments to digest the new information. It then took a couple more for him to respond, but he did in the end.
“That border thing sounds like its incredibly exploitable.”
“It is. Most high level regions have patrols around them to stop other regional poachers stealing loot, EXP, meat, materials, and so on. These regions around us don’t have those patrols so feel free to exploit the hells out of it. Most locally don’t however as their low level invites risk to themselves and increases the draw of nearby monsters to hunt and attack those who make the crossing.”
William liked that idea and decided that it would be a good option once they had dealt with the Stonegate issue, though maybe he would reach the hard cap from EXP gains if he killed enough enemies. That wouldn’t be as quick of a gain in Enchanter EXP though, and he already had some misgivings about having too significant a gap between Classes. It seemed like most people pursued one Class to the max, but he didn’t want that when his classes had the potential to synergize well. He had a feeling that later skill sin the Enchanter class would have more direct combat potential and knew it would be a great way to enhance his primary class. He knew that many people wouldn’t see the obvious benefits, but that was a them problem.
“It’s something I’ll consider in the future for sure. Thanks Nite.”
“My pleasure. We should get moving again, thirty minutes should be enough rest for now.”
William would’ve argued that she was wrong, but they weren’t moving exceedingly fast and this meant that those with lower Dexterity and Stamina wouldn’t find it too difficult to move through the area.
The day progressed with a few minor encounters with wild animals, but it wasn’t anything that was much of a threat to their group. By evening time, they were clear of the woods and moving over a slightly flatter area. Stands of trees and foliage were strewn throughout the grassy landscape, but in the form of a grey spec several miles away, they caught glimpses of a stone walled town.
“That’s the destination. We’re headed for the town of Shaderest,” Nite said, trying to sound excited and failing as William and his friends stopped and shared glances, with a confused Maya looking on.
William noticed the stares he was getting from Maya and Nite, the latter seeming suspicious suddenly. William decided not to risk letting any suspicion form between the two parties.
“So, you may be wondering why we stopped. Two of our current residents came from Shaderest and we took them in. It was brought down by two associates of theirs from the inside and the same thing was attempted at Greenwell. I assumed no one was still here. Also, why haven’t Stonegate’s forces took control of it? It’s an undefended fortification with a functional gate and solid stone walls.”
Nite seemed to lighten her posture slightly, as if she was a tense spring slackening partially.
Nite looked back between the town in the distance and William’s group.
“That explains why we took it over so easily and the lack of civilians. There were a few bandit bodies, but not enough for what would have been a standard siege breach. The boss will be glad to know there weren’t some unknown threat under the floorboards so to speak. I can clear up why Stonegate don’t own Shaderest in a simple way. Any scout that comes within ten miles of the area is killed and fed to some caged beasts we have. We make the bodies look like they died to vicious beasts and eventually, scout parties stopped bothering, assuming that nothing at this region’s level limit would live in such a violent place. In fact, two of my comrades had followed us over the last few miles just in case anything went amiss, and William, they avoided detection from you and Echo the same way I did. That’s a business secret though,” Nite finished with a cheeky wink.
William and his group looked behind them to the woods and saw no one. Not a soul. William felt a little silly for attempting to see the unknown scouts, but instinct and reaction forced him to try.
He looked at Nite again and nodded as she gestured for them to carry on. Evening violets and auburns started to paint the land in their image as the group went on. By the time they arrived, twilight had just passed and torches lit the walls of the main gate. Five shadowed figures appeared around the group with a sixth stepping out from the ajar main gate.
“Nite. Why did you bring… Guests here? In fact, let’s talk quickly in private about this. Your guests can wait there for a few moments,” The cloaked figure said, his voice deep and powerful.
William was tempted to [Identify] but if he was detected, that would make his group look bad. Better to comply for now and see the situation unfold more.
“Guests of Nite, greetings. We will be back momentarily. The five people around you will keep you safe during the wait. Shan’t be long,” the voice finished.
Nite followed the man at a gesture of his hand and the two disappeared inside. William looked at the figures around them, only seeing eyes watching him and his friends. His guess at the attire of this group had been bang on the money it seemed.
“Guessing you guys are the strong silent type eh?” William said, probing for a reply.
None of them spoke and William added, “I knew it.”
He briefly glimpsed the flicker of one pair of eyes at the comment and had spotted the shift to Severance and his shield, or maybe the thigh daggers? The lighting wasn’t great and the dim lighting actually made his [Darksight] partially blurry.
He gave a cheeky grin as the pair of eyes looked back up to his.
“Hey, masked person, my eyes are up here.”