Chapter 41
Fenard had been making regular trips between his palace and the Weaver Estate ever since Tom’s arrival, but this was the first time he had changed his schedule for one. Tom had mentioned in the message he’d penned that the matter was ‘sort of important,’ and it was the first time the boy had used that phrase.
While Fenard wished that there had been more information included in the letter, he had informed the boy when the scry-pen had been gifted to him that any message written with it would pass through several hands before making its way to Fenard, so the king also appreciated the boy’s discretion.
Fenard didn’t have any important duties anyway, so he quickly cleared his schedule and gathered his guards from the winged knights before flying out to the country estate on his griffin. Tom, and a harried portion of Tom’s staff, met the king just after they had landed. The butler looked out of sorts, as he’d had no warning that there would be another royal audience that day. After giving the king his greeting, the servants made their excuses to rush off and prepare refreshments, see to the sitting rooms, and otherwise prepare the house for whatever use the king might require of it during his stay, which remained open ended.
The air was somewhat warmer than it had been for some time, but after flying for an hour King Fenard was quite chilled, so Tom entertained him in one of the parlors where the servants had built a roaring fire at his request.
“So what is so important?” the king asked as he was warming himself, after several moments of pleasantries.
“I didn’t honestly mean to make you go out of your way to visit,” Tom admitted. “It might have waited until the weekend, since you and Rowena were planning on visiting me again then anyway.”
“And what do you think of Rowena?” Fenard asked with interest.
Tom frowned. “She’s a nice girl. I’m not certain I can see myself marrying her, but I dunno.”
“She let that bit slip, did she?” Fenard said, disappointed in the girl. She had supposed to keep that tidbit under wraps. “I suppose it must have slipped out in the excitement of her class unlocking.”
“I hope you don’t mind that I Evolved her,” Tom said. “It was her choice.”
“Agent is a fine subclass for her. I would have been worried about having missed something significant in her personality if she awoke as an assassin, but although I was expecting her to be a Merchant like her parents, perhaps a combat class will suit her better in the long run,” Fenard answered. “Especially if the two of you do wed. Which would be my preference, ultimately. I believe that she would be a fine wife for you, Tom.”
“I know enough about this sort of thing to know that you should be talking with my parents, and they’ve only just left Tilluth Valley,” Tom objected.
“A clever delaying tactic. One that I accept.” Fenard considered for a moment, and decided to be honest. “Tom, I know that I may seem to be pressuring you into things which you may not desire. The knighthood, marriage, service to your country. I’ll not lie and pretend that it is strictly for your own good. It is ultimately my job to service the country of Welsius, and Welsius requires a controller. I am willing to go to great lengths to secure your loyalty. Your willing loyalty, as loyalty is not a thing I believe can be coerced.”
“I understand that,” Tom said. “I’m still uncertain about the knighthood. And I’m even less sure about marrying a girl I only met once. Grant thinks that I should formally court her for a while; would that be enough to, well, get you off my back, I guess?”
“I would take a formal courtship between you and Rowena as a giant leap forward in the direction I want to go in establishing a link between the royal family and yours. And, as the system deems you of age, you can enter a formal courtship of your own volition, without requiring the permission of your parents. They could muck things up if they disapproved of it, of course, but I don’t foresee that being an issue, do you?”
“I don’t know,” Tom admitted. He felt a little red in the face as he realized that he had given far more ground than he’d intended to give in this conversation. He considered if there was a way to take some of that ground back when he received a system notification.
Congratulations, Controller, you have reached level 15!
Congratulations! You have received a Quest!
Quest Name: Establish a New Network!
See Quest menu for details. (Note: You may not refuse this quest)
“Wow, the others are doing really well today,” Tom said.
“Your companions are delving your dungeon at the moment?” the king asked.
“Yeah, and they must have done something major, because I just gained two levels,” Tom said. “I was almost all of the way through level thirteen before they entered, so I was expecting to gain one before they finished, but not two!”
“Congratulations are in order,” Fenard agreed. “For you and your friends, by the sound of things.”
“Yeah, that’s not what has me distracted though,” Tom said, navigating his menu to find the new tab which read “Quests.” “The system just issued me a quest.”
Fenard froze. “Say again?”
“Establish a new network,” Tom read. His eyes shifted left to right as he read the system text that populated when he selected the quest in his menu. “The quest to establish a new network of Core Stones has begun! As the chosen champion, your task is to expand the network by Linking at least one hundred core stones. Each core stone represents a crucial node in the network's infrastructure.
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“To complete the quest, you must strategically place and activate core stones throughout the land, ensuring that they are properly linked and integrated into the network. As the network grows, it will become more resilient and powerful, capable of supporting a wide range of magical and technological functions.
“However, the quest is not without its challenges. You must navigate through treacherous terrain, fend off hostile creatures, and overcome various obstacles to secure new core stones. Additionally, you must establish at least one link to the world dungeon, a mysterious and dangerous realm that holds untold secrets and treasures.
“Only by successfully expanding the network and establishing a link to the world dungeon can you complete the quest and unlock its rewards. Are you ready to embark on this epic journey and shape the future of the network?"
Tom frowned for a moment and considered. “It shows my current progress as three out of one hundred, and zero links to the world dungeon. I guess that I’ve already made some progress on the quest by linking Alpha, Beta, and Gamma.”
“It sounds that way,” Fenard agreed. He forced his fists to relax. This was expected, but it wasn’t the end of the world. Normal Controllers did not receive their system quest until a much higher level than Tom was now, but this quest did not sound like the same snipe hunt that the others had risked, and often spent, their lives attempting to fulfill. It had a measurable degree of progress; Tom had already completed three percent of the system’s quest. As for the link, well, Fenard had a solution for that.
“Because it is a system generated quest, Tom, I must inform you that the kingdom of Welsius will stand behind you in its completion. Whatever resources you require will be made available. If you need soldiers, the Royal Knights will obey your command. If you need transportation, that too will be provided. Whatever logistics I can provide to ensure that the system’s will be done, I will provide.”
Tom blinked at the formal tone of Fenard’s words, then nodded. “Thanks. I guess this means it’s time for me to delve dungeons again, doesn’t it?”
“I suppose it does,” Fenard admitted, reluctant to expose the young Controller to such a dangerous task, but knowing full well the risk he would run by attempting to prevent the system’s will. “Does the system give you a time limit on the quest?”
“No,” Tom said. “I’m not seeing one. I have no idea how to establish a link to the World Dungeon, however. Isn’t that just a myth?”
“That, at least, I can help you with, Tom,” Fenard said. He exhaled, considering how much to tell the boy. “One of the many Cores in the possession of the crown comes from the world dungeon. You should be able to satisfy the requirements of the quest by linking your network to that Core, I believe. It is, however, a level ninety core. You will have to gain many levels yourself in order to interact with it, and I suspect, given our conversations prior about how your Link ability works, you will need a high level core of your own in order to establish the link.”
“So the World Dungeon is real?” Tom asked. “Is it here in Welsius?”
“It is certainly real,” Fenard admitted, “But nobody knows exactly where it is. There are a number of dungeons suspected to be the world dungeon, two of which are near the borders of Welsius, but nobody knows for certain which one it truly is. Each of those dungeons is extremely dangerous, and it would take a team of men and women as strong as Antoine in order to conquer them completely. The Core that I am willing to grant you to establish a link to the World Dungeon is over a thousand years old, Tom. It is particularly resistant to Sundering, or else its level would have been reduced previously. Fortunately it spawns a monster but once a century, and the last one was put down by Antoine twenty years ago.”
Tom nodded. “Well, it sounds like the way to do this quest is to establish the rest of the network, and then worry about establishing a link to the world dungeon,” Tom said.
“That is what I would suggest as well,” Fenard agreed. “It will likely take you years to complete this task, and I do not encourage you to rush your way through it. It will be dangerous to have you delving so many dungeons, but if the system deems this task necessary, then it must be done. If it were truly urgent there would be a time limit on the task.”
“What about Village, Town, and City Cores?” Tom asked. “I mean, should I try to link them as well?”
“I would prefer that you not interfere with any stable core in the kingdom until you have at least obtained the ‘Collaboration’ skill, Tom,” Fenard said. “I truly hope that skill is available to your subclass, but only time and experimentation will show for certain. I wish that there were more information available about Progenitor, but I have only found scant references to it in the oldest of texts. Not all of them are even in the common tongue! Some of them are in pre-unification texts, and we can only speculate at some of their meanings.”
“At least that means that I’m not a complete freak,” Tom said. “What do you know about my subclass?”
Fenard sighed, and recited “Omnes salutamus Progenitorem, nam terram super quam ambulamus posuerunt.” He chuckled. “I believe I pronounced some of those words correctly. It is the beginning of a text which we are trying to decipher. We believe that the words mean something like ‘all hail the Progenitors, for they lay ground upon which others may walk.’ Unfortunately, in order to read the document, my scholars are being forced to refresh themselves in the tongue of a dead language. Even the scholars who have been preserving this document for centuries have been merely copying it faithfully from the original before the parchment could decay and the writing become unreadable.”
“So there’s nothing you can tell me?”
“Only that the ancients valued the progenitors above all other Controllers, Tom,” Fenard admitted. “It seems likely that we have been missing a key piece of the puzzle in how the six kingdoms were formed from the beginning. Perhaps that is why all efforts of colonizing the wilds have ultimately failed; we were sending the wrong sorts of Controllers for the purpose.”
Tom was quiet for a moment, then he said “None of this has anything to do with why I asked you here, though. King Fenard, I have to admit that I’ve mislead you. My level ten skill was not Link. It was another skill which I believe is very valuable. I see Grant coming out of the dungeon now, and I’d like to have him with me as an advisor as I explain what it does and we talk about how I might put it to use,” he paused, “As well as how you might compensate me for it.”