I put on the Recca 6 late that night and logged into Apocalypse Earth.
SunDome appeared again in the town of Telling. Now he wore the chrome mask, and had an aura which was very different than his own.
He really had only one goal in this game, and that was to secretly find Kirsten, as he now knew for sure that she would be playing. The town of Telling was just one of many towns where players spawned. More and more players were arriving in Apocalypse Earth and many of them already started out on various quests.
Right now, there were only hundreds of such quests. Each was a low level quest similar to the Yorkshire Were Demon quest. And it seemed the number of low level quests increased as more players joined the game.
Still, there were probably about 5,000 players for each quest created. This made it so that there was a strong competition to complete each quest. Of course, not all players wanted to level as quickly as possible. Some just wanted to explore.
Nevertheless, without levelling, death by some strange beasts was a sure outcome if one went too far from the towns or cities.
Sundome travelled the roads to Yorkshire. He had obtained a basic map, which outlined the surrounding cities, towns and villages, as well as mountain ranges, and forests and rivers. He walked from Telling and passed through a mountainous region before coming to the town of Wrestlewood. Along the way he had joined others and slayed small beasts. He weilded a small sword, but he wasn't very comfortable with it. For every small beast slain, he received a few coppers, or an occasional gem.
Gems could be used for cultivating magic.
He was careful to stay away from the areas marked as dangerous on the map. The map was of Narlath. As far as he could tell Narlath was everything that he could see for hundreds of miles. There were three main cities that had a population of over 200,000 each. Although the biggest had over 600,000. And this was likely to swell as players joined.
But this was nothing compared to the real world. Yet in Apocalyptic Earth, these were major population bases.
Narlarth was a huge swath of land between two huge mountain ranges. There was no information about what lay beyond these mountain ranges, nor were there any markings for roads or paths that led over them.
Smaller mountain ranges dotted the land, and these had names and descriptions as well as warnings for some of them.
Sundome entered a weapon shop called Wrestlewood Maces. There a tall skinny lad was looking for a Mace. SunDome had also been looking at the Maces, so a conversation naturally sprung up.
"I wouldn't get that one." He said. He learned some interesting things on the road to Wrestlewood. Size wasn't everything. A talented local had informed him about weapons which had the power of the comet. These weapons were refined from the precious materials of the Zendor Comet, which split up upon impacting Earth. Such materials could also be found, and were considered precious. Whenever they were found, a town usually sprung up, and in some cases, a city!
"Huh?" The lanky youth grunted. He was studying an ornamental Mace. He had a ponytail and reddish brown hair which is probably what he looked like in real life. He didn't look up. "Why not this one?"
Finally he straightened himself and turned to look at the person who spoke to him. But when he did, he saw a man who had a grim aura of death, and a chrome mask instead of a face!
"I'm just looking! You can have it!" The youth cried out as he gesticulated in a manner which showed his desire to leave.
"No, thats not what I mean." Sundome said hastily and had to yank the boy back because he was already running for the exit. This scared the boy even more who almost went completely limp and resigned to his fate!
"You need a mace with Zen Power if you want to be strong." Sundome said. "Here, look at this."
Sundome handed the youth, whose name was Wellington, a device which looked like a wand. Wellington gathered himself and then intently studied the device.
"What is it?" He asked.
"It can measure Zen Power." Came the reply.
He slowly moved the wand over each of the weapons. Within the wand was a liquid and a stone. They somehow synergized when near Zen Power and the stone would move up. It was so as it landed on a basic looking Mace that had the words Jaku written on the handle.
"That's the one you want."
Wellington's eyes popped. It was priced at 6 silvers! Nobody had 6 silvers at the start of this game. Still that didn't stop him from google eyeing it.
Before he could even pick it up, Sundome reached in and grabbed it. He swung the mace several times before tossing it to Wellington.
"Ahhhh" Wellington almost let the mace fall to the ground, and he was amazed at how heavy it was. He could barely lift the thing with two hands and this chrome masked guy named Sundome just swung it around with one hand! That was even more amazing.
"I'll help you get that Jaku Mace." Sundome said.
"What do you want in return?" The Wellington asked.
"We'll have to pool our talents to get the 6 silvers to buy it. Later you can help me capture the Were Demon. That's where I'm headed, to Yorkshire for the Were Demon Quest." Sundome said nonchalantly.
"That's all?"
"Yeah, but we'll do a 80/20 split on the Were Demon if we are successful."
"Ahh, you drive a hard bargain! I planned to go after the Were Demon too!"
"Well, you get some help now, and you give some later, it's a fair deal. Plus the sooner you get a powered weapon the sooner you can become stronger. You'll be leaps and bounds ahead of most people by doing the deal now.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
That was true.
"Ok, I'm Wellington! Nice to meet you... Sundome!"
"Same, same!" Sundome answered.
The two shook hands and then headed out. They needed silvers to buy the Jaku Mace. Their destination was the Wrestlewood forest just outside of town. It was marked as Dangerous Level 1 on the map.
"On the way here, I could handle the small beasts that ventured near the roadside." Sundome said. "Those were just Rabbit Pups though. "Nevertheless, we should be able to handle Dangerous Level 1 with the two of us working together.
"Sounds good!" Wellington said. He again sized up his new companion. Truthfully he was glad to have someone who looked like this with him. No one would mess with them.
They arrived in the forest and began to hunt the demons which were large rodents with sharp fangs. The rodents would scurry up the trees and then jump down to attack Sundome and Wellington.
After seeing it a few times, Sundome used what they were doing against them and scurried up after them and dragged them down by the tail.
Seeing how easily Sundome was able to jump up after them and yank them down by the tail, Wellington commented. "How come you are so strong? And you can jump up there after them so easily? I can't even climb one of these trees!" He said as he hacked at the one Sundome dragged down.
"I spent several weeks in the Recca 6 config world, and I used the pressure level as high as I could take it."
"I did that too, but after level 2, the pressure is almost unbearable. How high did you go?" The lanky Wellington asked.
"Level 12" Sundome was nonchalant. However it came across as scary, because of the mask and the death aura.
"Level 12!!" Seriously he couldn't understand it. Actually, nobody would really be able to understand it. Tristan had used the Recca 6 Config World's Pressure Challenge to help him deal with the pain he was feeling in his heart these days. He relished the pain, he wanted the pain, and because of that his natural ingame ability had increased dramatically.
They took a break after a while and sat by a small creek. The fish darted around and the moon was out in the sky. It was an interesting place. A beautiful place. One day Tristan wanted to bring Kirsten here.
They didn't light a fire because fire attracted the huge rodents.
"There are ways you can get strong." Tristan was Sundome again, in mind and body. While in game, he rarely thought of the real world. If it wasn't for Kirsten, he never would.
"For starters, theres potions that will help you to get stronger. And just by constantly pushing yourself you can do alot."
"Yeah" Wellington remembered the words of the shop owner. To weild the Jaku Mace, it was necessary to use potions to reduce it's power. Then gradually as you get stronger, you can weild the full power and use less potions. Wellington sighed. Power in this world meant prestige not just in Apocalypse Earth, but also in the real world. He had friends, who he would eventually meet in game, and they all knew eachother outside the game as well.
"By the way, what is that little wand device called? The one that measures the powered weapons." He asked.
"Not sure myself. It was given to me by a local after we spent the some time travelling together. I guess i'll call it the Comet Stick for now. It's like a measuring stick for the comet power. Haha"
Wellington peered in the moonlight at Sundome. It was odd hearing the man laugh. He looked rather scarry in an old fashioned way. And the mask reminded him of a greek statue, or perhaps it was roman.
Sundome wasn't even aware himself of how his voice had changed while using the mask. It just seemed natural to him.
"Where you from? In the real world?" Wellington asked.
Silence. Only the insects could be heard. "Anyway, you don't have to say, I'm from Rochester."
"Aight, Wellington of Rochester!" You ready to go night hunting?
They had already killed 6 of the huge rodents. Each one gave 17 bronze coins. They would need to kill a lot more to get the six hundred bronze coins that makes for six silvers!
"I'm ready"
Both were weilding small swords which only cost 10 bronze coins. By the time they killed 10 more giant rodents, Sundome's sword started cracking.
Before it gave way, he sharpened some spears from some sappling trees.
Wellington's sword was still strong, but he didn't say anything.
Truth was, Sundome had slaughtered many beasts on the way from Telling to Wrestlewood and he already had 2 silvers saved up.
After making the spears, they changed tactics a little, but they pressed on and on. They both logged out a few times, but came back to meet at the Wrestlewood Forest.
So it was that after a day and a night and a day, the two walked back into Wrestlewood with 6 silvers worth of bronze that all the giant rodents had dropped. They also had a few rarer gems which could be used for creating magic.
They approached the weapon shop and Wellington stepped up first. Just as they stepped up, a huge guy walked out. He held a mace himself and he looked well pleased. He bumped into Wellington as he came out the doors and Wellington nearly flew off the porch to land sprawled out in the mud in front of the place. It was a funny sight, but at the same time the air got tense.
"I guess you can't see, can you?" Sundome said to the big guy. The guy had a shaved head and beard. His head was pointy on top.
Pointy Head took a step back after seeing Sundome. The mask, the aura, it left him puzzled, and a tremor of fear ran through his body. Still he was not a person who was easily intimidated.
"What are you? Some kind of Holloween character?" Point Head answered.
Seeing how antsy he was, Sundome just casually said "Settle down will you, an apology is all that's needed."
"Apologize my ass!" Pointy Head shouted. He was used to pushing others around. But Sundome had just casually gained the upper hand.
Wellington was just getting himself up out of the mud when Pointy Head swung his mace. Little did Pointy Head know that it was just a regular mace. He didn't even know that powered mace's existed yet! Information had to be gained in game. There was precious little information outside of the game about actual game play.
He swung at Sundome but Sundome just bent at the waist and casually ducked the incoming mace. Then he used his boot to kick Pointy Head off the porch as well.
While Pointy Head also sprawled out in the mud, Sundome entered the shop and put six silvers and some change on the counter, then he grabbed the powered mace and the potion he just bought and tossed them both over to Wellington.
"Here's your chance Wellington! To get stronger! Hahahaha" Sundome sat himself down on the edge of the porch and watched the confused Pointy Head and Wellington who were both looking at him.
Pointy Head looked over angrily at Sundome and shouted "You are the one who started this whole mess!"
"If any more words come out of your mouth that aren't an apology to my friend here, I'm going to whip you so badly, you are never gonna wanna play this game again." The words may have been corny, but when you took into consideration his overall appearance, the threat sounded extremely credible.
"Come on Wellington, use the potion, it'll lower the level of that Jaku Mace." Sundome encouraged.
Pointy Head was flustered. He looked at Wellington. Most of his anger was at the chrome mask but he had a strange feeling about him. So he turned his anger towards Wellington.
Wellington quickly consumed the potion. It didn't really do anything to him but it made it so the Mace was less powerful and easier to weild in his hands.
"Duck!" Sundome shouted out to Wellington. He had to give this guy some tips! Tristan and Peter use to fight. They played rough and tumble growing up and so Tristan learned early on from his brother how to fight, how to street fight, and how to make someone wish they never met you.
A small crowd of players were gathered around. Wellington took a hit but he got back up. The two circled about and one after another they both exchanged blows. After some more coaching from Sundome, Wellington finally hit Pointy Head right on his pointy head with that Jaku Mace. Pointy Head slumped down and was out cold.
"Well done, well done! Are you going to take his coins?" Sundome asked.
"Huh? No! I'm not going to rob him over a misunderstanding!" Wellington said.
"Ok, I guess I won't either, it was your fight." Sundome said. "Still, he might not have done the same for you! In this game, players get robbed all the time. I already seen it happen once before. Anyway, let's make our way to the next village."
It was time to get going. A crowd of players had seen the two, and likely, in this area, they would become well known. Player fights were always something that became talked about subjects.
That was alright, less people would try to steal from them.