That was the beauty of it all, really. Struggle, resolve conflict, then rest and enjoy your life. Repeat. I wasn’t too keen on the repeating part. That’s what made us adventurers, though. Drawn to danger, wanting to overcome odds and carve a better world for everyone. It involved a lot of over the top violence sometimes—assuming this isn't just me going over the drab point in the future, then you read the part where I sawed a woman in half, right?—but our intentions were always good. The road to hell may be paved with such, but I had enough dealings with demons for that to feel like home.
I groaned and rolled from the bed. Three days of bliss. Altogether too much and yet not nearly enough. Wiped my bleary eyes to see that Ren was not there. One day I’d get used to her waking before me. She mentioned heading out for supplies the night before.
There hadn’t been as much to worry about in terms of imminent danger since breaking down the fort, so having her out with Wolf and me here alone wasn’t a cause for concern. I switched to my magician outfit and adjusted my hat. Although, this was probably one of the few times I had been alone in the past three days. Being around the pair had become so normal that I couldn't imagine how I used to live such a solitary existence before.
I had spent a lot of time in bed, eating food, and generally just living for these few days. Cooked for Ren as promised. Got Wolf some padded armor - and a bow tie, as much as he grumbled about it. Made some slight adjustments to our outfits so that they were less tortuous to fight in. Checked the shops every day for anything new to add to my repertoire.
Aside from avoiding anything that looked like a Quest, we had been enjoying the System experience as it was probably intended. Peaceful. Three days seemed like the perfect amount of time to fully recover from our injuries, both physically and emotionally. Any more than that, then we’d run the risk of wanting to stay. Part of me did, despite the prickling knowledge that something untoward was happening a few steps ahead of us.
We had learned that the continent was ruled over by a King and Queen, several areas away. My best guess was that the Lady wanted to become Queen and take over control of everything, if not the System itself. It seemed a big stretch, but given how easily she could convert people to her cause, I could see it happening. Just because she could make people despise the System and the proper experience of it, reject their place and humanity... it didn't mean she had the power to control or change it. Least of all escape it.
From the bedside table, I picked up my journal and flipped it into the air to vanish into my Inventory. Ren had watched me scrawl in it the night before. Her question had been why all my notes were so dire, and was I really that miserable? I had given her a non-answer that made her roll her eyes, but the truth was, this was my coping mechanism. Allowed me to scream into the void and vent out the trauma so that my brain was left with the good memories only. Sure, it painted our travels in a dimmer light than what we truly lived, but I hoped one day to look back and scoff at the notion things had been so bad. Thieves and bandits still sucked, though.
With the first area soon to be a distant memory, I relented to checking my stats one last time. A brief record of what I had accomplished, without seeing any of the corpses and ruined scraps of my suit that had gotten me to this point.
[Stats]
Strength - 6
Constitution - 7
Agility - 6
Dexterity - 20 (15 + 5)
Intelligence - 29 (15 + 14)
Wisdom - 6
Luck - 12 (11 + 1)
[Other]
+10% Mana
+20% Mana Regeneration
+15% Magic Damage
+5% Magic Damage per 5% Mana Spent
+5% Magic Cast Speed
I sighed and left the room. With my [Knife of the Trickster], that put my Int over double the base amount. Didn't actually make me feel any smarter though, but at least my magic cards could do more than scratch tougher opponents. Was I powerful? Perhaps. Killing other Players seemed to come down to striking first and getting lucky most of the time. I'd save some of those musing for my diary. My legs took me down the stairs and into the main tavern.
“Hope you had a great evening, adventurer,” the barkeep greeted me.
“Was alright.” I waved him off. Didn’t want to give him all the details, and I only responded because it seemed rude not to - even if he didn’t actually listen or respond in kind.
Outside, the sun was bright, and the day was warm. Pleasant. With my eyes closed, I could hear the ocean lapping at the beach. Something I’d miss when we moved further inland. Maybe on better days we could return here, like a vacation. Relive some of our better moments, as few as they were.
“Morning, Max.”
I opened my eyes to see the burly man with a handlebar mustache and a large axe over his shoulders addressing me. A Player.
“Morning, Sven. Off out Questing?” He had come to the island yesterday, the fifth new Player we had seen since recovering. It was like the System was healing.
“Yeah, some bullshit about getting lumber from trees. Easy experience though.”
I nodded, and he went off. The other four had been equally as amiable. Bright eyed and bushy tailed after having survived the starter island under a lot less pressure than I had. After another deep breath, I went off towards the town center where the shops were. At least, I assumed the rest of my Party would be there - certainly would be handy to have a way for us to communicate when we weren’t together. I wasn't sure if there were any tricks I could do to help us there.
Before I reached my destination, I stopped at the Town Board where the challenges were posted. There was now a fourth page that wasn't part of the System messages. Something we had placed across the wooden planks . A warning about the Crimson Shadow, painting them as the danger and enemies that they were. We hadn’t heard of any activity in this area during our rest, but it was better to be proactive. Early days, after all. The area was large. It wasn't impossible for a few to have been missed and we could only hope that without the main recruiters, they would soon die out.
Any fears of losing my Party members soon melted away as I turned to see Wolf sitting in the town center looking bored out of his skull. His padded armor resembled a waistcoat, which he didn’t find as amusing as we did. Certainly made him look the part, though. His nose twitched in the air as he turned to me.
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“Morning Max.”
“Wolf.” I nodded. “Today’s the day.”
“Shame,” he grumbled. “Getting used to lazing around and eating good food.”
“I hear that. World won’t save itself though.” I grinned at him. “Plus, the next area might have even better food.”
He licked his lips in anticipation, and then his nose twitched.
Someone stepped up behind me, and something metal pressed against my spine through my suit.
“What now?” A soft voice said.
I smiled and vanished, appearing back up the road by the Town Board. My grin widened as the Hellhound+ jumped up at Ren in excitement, trying to lick at her face.
“Ah, Max!” she complained as she turned to me with her face wrinkled up. “Bullshit that you foresaw that!”
I walked back down to the square with my hands in my pockets. “What?” I shrugged my shoulders. “If I tell you how I knew, it’ll ruin the mystique.”
“Ass.” She kneeled down and gave the hound pets. “Did you tell him, Wolf?”
The bear shook his head. “No, never!”
Perhaps if they knew how often I sent out a just-in-case demon, then it wouldn’t sound so wild. You only had to hit once to make it seem like a miracle if they didn’t see all the misses. Plus Wolf had the tell. He knew our smells and reacted when we got close enough by twitching his nose.
Not that I was about to tell them either of those things. I had been teaching Ren some more magic in our downtime, but some secrets had to be kept. If only for my own ego at being the best showman in the System. Perhaps the next area would have enough Players to throw a proper performance…
I smiled at the elf as she stood and returned a grin. Still no closer to getting a Dazzle icon over her. I often wondered what it would take... but then again, I was close to letting it slide. Personal growth? Sure, we could go with that.
“Look what I have.” She extended her arm to show a device of polished wood and leather that matched the gray-blue of her waistcoat. “I took the prototype you made and had it constructed. One of the Players, Petra, has some crafting abilities.”
It was beautiful, a lot more practically functional than what I had managed to cobble together. Plus, it wasn't made out of parts of Hadrian. “I am amazed. You just got the one?”
She narrowed her eyes, but a sly grin went up at the side of her mouth. “Hell no. I have one for the other arm that fits Scrolls better.” She showed me an equally well-made one, now appearing on her left arm.
I wrinkled up my nose, feeling rather green.
“And if you’re good…” She adjusted my jacket to make me look a little tidier. “I got you a pair as well.”
Three wands and three Scrolls at my beck and call. I might be able to swap them at will too. Not as powerful as a real mage, but the possibilities…
“Let’s get going,” Wolf grumbled. “Otherwise, Max will spend all morning thinking of new ways to get us into trouble.”
“Yeah, you’re right - ready, Max?”
I nodded, although my brain was still trying to process in the background. We’d need to hit up the next area for better magic shops - if we can get new wands on the regular, then that would be a huge boost. Scrolls too, although-
“Here.” Ren tipped the table containing my thoughts as she handed me a Sweet Cake.
“Thanks, Ren.” I smiled at her as we left the outskirts of the town. “I thought we’d get tired of eating these by now, but they’re still just as good.”
“Mhm.” She nodded, her mouth already full.
Our comforted elation become somber silence the further along the western road we traveled. The giant warning crosses were toppled now. It had taken us a while, and it was perhaps disingenuous to say the first day of rest was just that. Bodies were buried best we were able to without being able to carry them too far.
A graveyard of our own making, on our right-hand side. Small plots that grass would probably overtake it in no time. Flowers we had gathered and left. It all felt so… disjointed from reality, yet still the right thing to do.
We hadn’t gone as far as the fort. Even with the partial recovery, it sat out like a sore thumb on the horizon as we approached. Most of it was a burned out and collapsed shell, hardly recognizable compared to its former shape. About the only good thing I could say about it was that it didn’t look like it had been looted, nor anything recovered.
“Still stinks like charcoal.” Ren scowled at the surroundings.
“You’re telling me,” Wolf grumbled.
We picked our way across the debris, moving past the dead bodies and ruined furniture. I didn’t much care to loot them, all things told. If it were possible, I wanted nothing to do with them anymore. Most of them didn't even give the option to. Either left too long to spoil or the fire had ravaged them, just like those in the outpost. Even my memories brought a bad taste to my mouth of the fight from three days ago. So much blood and suffering, and for what? So someone on a power trip could rule over everything? It seemed too basic.
Therein lied the reason why it was so evil, perhaps. Uncaring about the lives crushed or changed by her path. Still, all it would take was a crossbow bolt or two, and this thing could be over. I was too clever to fool myself into thinking it could be that easy, unfortunately.
We stepped over the ruined gates, charred black in places from the fire. Wolf pushed them to the side, the large metal beams creaking from the movement, causing small chunks of wood to clatter from the decaying floors above. After he relented when we moved ahead, we found ourselves on the edge of the bridge.
It was long. Several hundred feet, by my rough estimation. As we moved from the shadow of the broken fort, the daylight illuminated the river and everything seemed vibrant again. I’d never seen such a large and fast flowing body of water before - it was mesmerizing. All the way to the north, it seemed to come down from a mountainous region, and off in the other direction, it eventually flowed out to the near endless sea.
“It’s both beautiful, and humbling at the same time,” Ren said, her eyes wide as she was also enthralled with it.
“Makes me thirsty,” Wolf added, peering closer to the edge.
“The sooner we get across this, the better I’ll feel.” I grimaced, and with a nod, we began walking.
It wasn’t so much that I had a phobia of water, but there was something about this that unsettled me. The intrusive thoughts wanted me to hop in and see how fast I could flow down, and find out what was at the end. Nothing healthy or helpful for our current task, I told my panicked brain.
Thankfully, it listened, and while we remained on-guard... nothing terrible happened. We reached the other side and were officially in the second area of the continent.
Ren narrowed her eyes at her Map. We had gone over it a few times already, but it was always worth triple checking to be sure. “There’s a small village just to the north. We should stop there and see what’s going on. Maybe pick up a couple Quests?”
I nodded. “Perfect.” In amongst the struggles against the Shadows, we still needed to focus on dancing to the System’s tune in gaining new powers and keeping up. Usually adventurers would hit the second area at level ten, but I considered the fact we were punching above our weight. Wouldn’t take us long to catch up.
In fact, I almost allowed myself a chance to cheer up. The sun was shining, and I had some amazing company. I grew more proficient by the day, both in combat and magical ability. For the most part, we were on top of things. That was plenty to be content about. I even allowed myself to look forward to finding better equipment in the new area, where things would be scaled for higher levels. What heights I could reach if I just put that extra effort in?
We rounded the curve of the road as it rose up a hill, to be greeted by a sign post dug into the ground. In the distance behind it were the shapes of cottages all gathered together amongst farming fields.
Warning, it read, this area under control of the Crimson Shadows. Trespassers will be killed.
Atop the signpost, lending some streaks of crimson to the notice, were three impaled heads.
Any vibrancy to the area immediately dimmed, and the optimism froze in the pit of my stomach. I glanced between the others and they had the same drab expressions on their faces.
My right hand clenched into a fist as we strode toward the village.
I hadn't considered an encore so soon, but the crowd wouldn't be told no.