“Truly?”
“If you showed your status and your seven digits!”
“Seven digits?”
Garnedell nodded but Joe remained confused.
“I don’t understand what you mean by seven digits,” Joe said.
“Ah, well. If you could show me your main status page?”
Joe opened his status page and showed the first screen and Garnedell pointed out one of his stats, his health, and counted each of the symbols there. Joe’s current health was shown as 55 (138) and Garnedell counted each symbol: five numbers and two parenthesis. “See, you have seven digits! It is an incredible feat! How… how did you get so strong?”
Joe mused over Garnedell’s explanation and snorted with some humor. Well, I guess that makes sense. People would have probably figured out the relationship of the individual numbers to specific stats easily enough. A job known to have a lot of health and be very difficult to kill would show up regularly with large numbers in the health slot. From there, they would just extrapolate the power by counting the number of digits, or symbols, even if they couldn’t even read them. Why would a system demand reading when there is no reading in existence! I don’t… Joe broke his wandering thoughts and brought himself back to Garnedell’s explanation, “Ah… I see why your people would do that. Interesting. Well, regardless, I do want to remain under the radar for now.”
Garnedell squinted a bit, some confusion on his face, “Radar?”
“Ah! Sorry. It is a saying amongst my people. It means I do not wish to be well known or popular. I wish to remain anonymous, or normal so that I blend into the crowd of people. I do not wish to hide, but I do not wish to be easily seen.” Huh… why didn’t the magic translator kick in?
Garnedell nodded then frowned a bit, “Then, I am uncertain how we could enter the library, Joe.”
“It’s fine. It’s a bit of a long term goal anyway. Then… oh! Yeah! The five guys that tried to kill us as we came to the city; we got their bounty paper from them. Remember them?”
Garendell nodded but took a few moments to remember, “Ah. Yes. I remember, Joe. We captured their ID cards.”
Right. Another question. ID cards. I’ll need to get mine? “So. What do we do with those cards? Or should we just throw them away?”
“Ah… well. If you wish to hide a bit, then…”
“Toss them, huh?”
“Perhaps. Although… maybe we could give them one at a time? Or maybe two? There are two of us. It could be possible for two to kill one.”
Joe nodded, considering. Some more basic coin without the flashiness of trading in a core would likely be useful, and Joe nodded his head, “OK. Let’s hand in one or two over the next couple days and then I need to get my ID card.”
“Your ID card?”
“Yeah. Like the five guys. You have an ID card, too, right?”
“Of course. Everyone does. We all have an ID card.”
“Right. So I need one as well.”
“But… your status is your ID card.”
“Um… didn’t the guards at the gate ask for an ID. We had to show our status instead. It seemed to annoy the guards.”
“Ah. A membership card.”
“They’re different?”
“Yes. The membership card is to easily enter and exit certain cities. The membership cards are different for different organizations, like merchants, adventurers, dungeoneers, nobility, or various crafting guilds.”
Huh… so… “Which membership would be best to get?”
“We could get many, but an adventurer’s or dungeoneer’s membership cards are the best for their widespread use.”
“OK. Then let’s try that tomorrow? We both need cards. But…wait, then… the cards the five men had were a membership cards?”
“No, master. It was their status card.”
“Status card? Then…,” Joe trailed off, uncertain realization coming to him.
Garnedell looked to Joe, some confusion in his eyes before he began speaking, “When a criminal is killed in defense, their status crystallizes as a card and becomes identification for a bounty. If no card falls, they are not a criminal but you will likely gain a criminal status.”
Joe felt some relief flood him. They were criminals! Any small excuse to explain away the killing of five people was something that he grabbed as quickly as possible. Joe found himself quite surprised at the desperate way his mind seemed to leap at the justification, not having thought about the deaths of the five men for some time. He shivered, mind shearing away from considering the reality and he turned to safer shores.
“Um… how about the dungeons. Is there a better way to find or kill monsters? A better way to grow ourselves? Somewhere else?”
“We are in the greatest dungeon already, Joe.”
“The greatest? How many are here?”
“Coushar currently hosts three public dungeons. A beginner dungeon, a slightly harder beginner dungeon, almost middling. And an advanced dungeon.”
“And we’re going into the advanced dungeon.”
“Yes, Joe.”
“Hmm… are all the dungeons the same? With the same monsters?”
“No. That is why they are rated differently.”
“Where … what… what are dungeons? Where do they come from? How do they work? Why are they here? What or who made them? Just… what are they?”
“You… you would have to ask the temples this, Joe. I am not a theologian.”
“It’s a religious thing?”
Garnedell shrugged but then replied, “At least the temples have an answer. No one else has one.”
“Huh. Interesting. Well, OK. What about a better way to grow?”
“As I said, Joe. We are in the strongest dungeon. The greatest growth comes from the greatest dungeons. If you seek greater, we would have to travel to another place.”
Joe grunted, dissatisfied with the answer but knew Garnedell couldn’t give him anything else. He just didn’t know. “Right. Then what about monsters. What are calamities? What’s considered ‘normal’ monsters to kill? I really don’t want people to be surprised if I do something crazy. And what about the cores? What are those, the one core, two core, three core… ten core! What about them?”
“Uh. Calamities. Calamities are considered a city, or regional event. Even a plane event. A great calamity can destroy an entire plane if left unchecked. Small calamities are considered champions and bosses. Kings and emperors are considered greater, and deadly, calamities. Cores come from creatures, and what you call one or two cores are simply the growth of a monster. The more cores that combines to create a core web, the greater the monster is. And cores have many uses. As I showed you, they can help you grow in strength easily. They can be used for enchantments, power sources, and enhancements of many kinds, if you can find imbuers, engravers, or mana smiths; although there are crafters of many kinds who can use the cores to enhance their products in many and powerful ways!”
“OK… ok… That… that’s pretty cool!” Joe’s mind pondered the possibilities, mind wandering far afield. “Right. Then you said the calamities are champions and bosses; kings and emperors? What does that mean?”
“That is the level of a monster.”
“The level?”
“Yes. If a monster has no name, just its basic name, then it is the lowest of monsters. If a mon…”
“Sorry. How many core’s does a basic monster have?”
“Oh, one.”
“Right. OK. Go on?”
“So, a one core monster is just a basic monster. The next monster is a great monster. Like a great slime or a great spark.”
“How many cores?”
“Two. Three cores are called masters. Four cores are called guardians. Five and six core monsters are the lesser calamities and they are named champions and bosses.”
“Wait? Calamities are only five and six core monsters?”
“They are incredibly powerful Joe. Even the master slime… uh… the three core slime you killed alone is considered an incredible monster needing an incredibly powerful group to kill it. You did it alone! Something that only Powers or near-Powers can do!”
Joe sighed, “Well, great. And now I’ve solo killed two ten core monsters. Legendary sparks. Bah!” Joe shook his head in frustration. “Well, so much for laying low, you idiot, although… no one seems to have really responded much.” Maybe I can tell them it was only a two or three core monsters? Joe continued mumbling deprecations at himself before the silence in the room made Joe glanced towards Garnedell. Garnedell sat in awe, a look of reverence on his face as looked towards Joe. “What are you looking at me like that for?”
Garnedell leaned forward excitedly, “You truly killed a legendary monster?”
“Those sparks from two days ago?”
“Yes!”
“Yeah. My log said they were legendary sparks.”
Garnedell literally vibrated where he sat, “You killed two!”
“Yeah…” Joe was much more cautious in his reply, concerned by Garnedell’s reaction.
Garnedell simply smiled and settled back, “I knew you were strong, master!”
“Woah! Wait a minute there, Garnedell. I was just lucky. I just took advantage of their weakness, so it’s not that big of a deal!”
“You say you know a legendary monster’s weakness, and it’s not that big of a deal!?” Garnedell’s reply was of disbelieving shock.
Joe squirmed a bit at Garnedell’s awe and decided to change topic, “OK. So then, what about the king and emperor monsters. Are they twenty or thirty core monsters?”
Garnedell blinked in shock for a bit but shook his head, “No. They are seven and eight core monsters. These are considered a great crisis and I have often heard news of entire planes destroyed by such creatures.”
“Seven and eight core? Then what about the nine and ten core monsters. The legendary sparks we just saw in the dungeon!”
Garnedell grinned, “They are stuff of stories told by grandmothers to scare children into obeying their parents. I have never heard of epic uhh... nine core monsters, let alone legendary monsters. Such creatures have not existed for thousands of generations, if they even have ever existed!” Garnedell’s grin grew with the telling, his face looking to Joe with growing intensity bordering on obsession. When he finished his sentence, Garnedell settled back and turned his head to the ceiling. “Two days ago, I watched my master destroy two legendary monsters in a single day without any harm or damage. By himself!” Garnedell glanced back at Joe. “And you say you are not strong? Ha!”
Joe fell silent, discomfort coming over him as he considered Garnedell’s words. Joe didn’t really know how to continue the conversation comfortably, so moved on, not wanting to really make such a big deal out of what he’d done. He really didn’t want to come to the eyes of any political power. Joe considered other topics that he could explore, but knew that it would only remind Garnedell of Joe’s uniqueness so ended up taking so long that the two of them soon found themselves focused on toweling off the rest of their bodies. By the time the basin of water had cooled and they washed themselves, the two had moved on to the average conversation of two young men enjoying their friendship.
Clothing was cleaned soon afterwards and Joe climbed into bed, exhausted by the day. Garnedell climbed in as well, after blowing out his lantern, and soon fell asleep. Joe remembered to take the time for the notes of the day, his diary and notes ballooning now that he was able to ask and understand the locals. By the time Joe was finished with his writing, his eyes were dragging and he collapsed into a deep sleep. Guess I’ll end up sleeping later now that I can easily hold a conversation!
Status
Blessings
Current Job
Available Jobs
Current Skills
Available Skills
Log
Joe McConnell
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Status
Physical Resistances
Magical Resistances
HP
15.00
Physical:
MP
15.00
Piercing
0.00
Attack
15.00
Crushing
0.00
Defense
15.00
Slashing
0.00
Magic
15.00
Magic Defense
15.00
Strength
15.00
Dexterity
15.00
Agility
15.00
Polyglot
17
Speed
15.00
Endurance
15.00
IQ
204.00
Wisdom
204.00
Learning
255.00
Luck
0.00