They walked back into the Sheriff's office to finish their discussion.
“I know you guys are busy, so let's get down to it. What do you want to touch on first?”
Travis, now having the potential for an ongoing mission that required him to take prisoners, wanted to talk about that first. “What about the prisoners? Can you keep them securely over a period of time? Also, what do you think about the two Clyde likes?”
Clyde huffed, “I don't like them, I just think they can be salvaged.”
“Don't you mean saved?” asked the sheriff.
“That has too many religious overtones.”
“Hah! Damn right it does. To answer your question though, Major, yes, I can hold the prisoners. I will have to feed them, though, and also have them guarded. I will need something back in return for the expense.
Table that for a minute, though. Regarding the two that Clyde wishes to sanctify, I have an idea that you probably won't love, but hear me out. What better way to test their loyalty than to bring them with you? I know what you are going to say but think about it. Holding them in a dank prison in earshot of their former cronies will not garner you any good will.
They are deathly afraid of you, Travis, so it's not like you'd have to worry for your safety or anyone else in your party. Then if they make it through the trial by fire, by the time you get back to base, you'd have yourself two new members, and trust me when I say that you will need all of the faction members you can get.”
Travis had actually contemplated doing the same thing but wanted to know why the sheriff seemed so keen on it. That last thing he said had an ominous ring to it, especially when you considered that the sheriff seemed to know much more about the world than anyone else.
“What do you know that you aren't telling me, sheriff?”
“Well, that could be considered a personal question, Mr. Major, but since you asked nicely. I have a 12-inch dong and balls the size of cantaloupes.”
Travis didn't know if he wanted to laugh or strangle the guy; Clyde, on the other hand, was too tired to react either way, he just gave the sheriff an exasperated look.
“What?” the sheriff asked, genuinely seeming to not understand why he was getting dirty looks.
“Come on, man, don't be an asshole; you know what I mean.”
“Fine,” the sheriff seemed disappointed that people took things so seriously.
“I don't know anything specific that will happen; I am not a fortune teller. That said, it's safe to say that the danger level will continue to ramp up as yourself and other PCs get stronger. Has Clyde not discussed the idea of level scaling with you?”
“Honestly, I had forgotten about it.” When Travis looked at him expecting a further explanation, he continued. “Level scaling is pretty straightforward. In some games, there are areas where a PC can't go because they are too low level. They can go, but they'd be killed instantly. In many RPGs, they scale the difficulty to the level of the player.
If you fight level three wolves in one section but come through that area again at level ten, the game will throw bears at you instead of wolves.”
“Okay, so you are saying that the enemies will be more powerful?” Travis asked as he looked at the sheriff.
Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!
“Not in the way described by Clyde, but yes, I do think that your enemies will start to become more powerful. Level or not, this is a progressive world, meaning it is running and progressing even when you are not around. Unfortunately for you, you're the main character, but the world only cares about that in the area in which you are present.”
Clyde nodded in agreement, “that is a good point actually. In many games, the MC can play at his leisure. A mission that seems time-sensitive can be done days or months later. Bad guys only level when the MC does, etc. Now I hated playing games that did that, but what I wouldn't give for some of those features here and now.”
“I can see the appeal,” the sheriff said. “What do you guys know about leveling up?
Travis let Clyde handle this, “not as much as we would like. The AI told us basic stuff like killing monsters gets XP.” On seeing the sheriff start to interject, he corrected himself.
“Not XP, but level advancement. So what are the “points” called that lead to going up a level?”
“I'm sure you have noticed, but this game is not based on filling up meters. That is not how magic works; there are no hit points, and there is no total number you need to level up. It's all based on each individual.
Magic and health are pretty straightforward. Your stats, both known and unknown, are combined to give you the power to use magic before you can't or staying alive until you are dead. If you get stabbed and are bleeding out, it doesn't matter if that is the first hit or 10th; if you do not stop the bleeding you will die eventually. Now most higher-level players have advanced healing, but it's important to know that no matter your level there are no 'bullet sponges' in this game.
You may be able to last a lot longer from most punishment than a normal or lower-ranked person, but not necessarily either. A level 15 monster with a low endurance stat will die just as quick as a level 7 with a tick or two more in that attribute. You follow so far?”
They both nodded. “Okay, now ranking up. Leveling is connected to an attribute called Transcendence. This is a hidden power base, unknown is probably a better way to describe it. It's not hidden per se; it's just not something that can be measured with your journal. Although there may be ways going forward.
Anyway, this dictates how fast or how high you can level up. That is also tied to your tier max. All humans start as 3rd tier entities, but some people can go as high as the 7th level. For most people, though, the 3rd tier is a max, and those people likely won't progress past level 10. I'm pretty sure all PCs can get to tier 5, and since you are the MC, Travis, you can most likely get to tier 7.
“A tier 7 being is basically power incarnate. Things like time and space no longer have to be limits for a tier 7 being. Gods are high-end tier 7 beings, actually.” The Sheriff realized after it came out of his mouth that he shouldn't have said it, not because it was a secret but because these two humans hadn't encountered deities yet.
At the same exact time, Travis and Clyde said, “Gods!?”
“I forgot that you two haven't been exposed yet.”
Clyde interrupted, an atheist most of his life, he had to know more, “you mean like Judeo-Christian Gods?”
“Okay, I will just go into this quickly. I have no knowledge of whether or not the deities that people believed in before the changes are real or not. When I say Gods, I do not refer to anything prior to the game. I am talking about actual Gods that exist now because of the inherent magic of the planet. No, it is not just due to magic, Clyde, it is a combination of magic, faith, and other things.”
“I know I saw a column for Gods in my journal early on. Is that a thing now, will we be expected to pray to a particular God, and is this like the god of the sun and shit like that?”
“The answer is no, and trust me, let's move on. I'm sure one of them will reach out to you in one way or another.”
They both had dumbfounded looks on their faces. The Sheriff had one main pet peeve when it came to humans, and it reached a boiling point right now.
“You know what annoys the fuck out of me with you humans (that was a slight slip of the tongue)? That no matter what outlandish shit happens that you come to accept, as soon as the next thing pops up, you are in disbelief. Like come on, guys, you have spoken with a wolf, you've shot fire out of your hands Clyde. Are magical Gods really where you draw the line of belief?!”
The sheriff walked away muttering to himself after they didn't immediately answer. What a being like him couldn't understand is that the human mind is designed to find certain concepts inconceivable. It would be understood as a function of human evolution, but part of it is also base programming.
For a people brought up on the God of the Bible, whether they believed it or not, the revelation that other Gods do, in fact, exist is mind-shattering. Regardless of what insanity has transpired before.
Both of them dealt internally with that bombshell in their own way as they went to retrieve Omar, who was having the time of his life. One of the village moms had taken a liking to him, so he was fed and dotted over for most of his time here.