CHAPTER 240—TRIAL INSIGHTS.
“This is a gold mine,” Michael exclaimed in delight as he traced the goblin sprite tile in detail. He was on his hands and knees inspecting all the different symbols around the warlord they had defeated.
Tom completely agreed. He almost wished they had spent more time in the previous zone, which would have gifted them with extra details to apply in verifying what was depicted. It seemed to be an honest portrayal, but he would have liked to have been able to confirm more of the features explicitly.
There were a lot of assumptions that they had to make to match the data captured in the tiles to reality, but the experience in the goblin versus sprite zone helped and let them both interpret the map more accurately and to trust what it was saying. There was a significant amount of actionable information contained. It was considerably more than just the locations of enemies and clues about their key skills. While Michael was focused on the minute, Tom tried to get a feel for the bigger picture.
The zone next to them, the door to the right of the one they had entered was populated with a single enemy. The carving on the woodwork suggested it, and the tile confirmed it. That it also possessed no unique geographical features firmed Tom’s opinion of what they would face. It was clearly a clearing or gathering quest. Kill a thousand forest trolls or gather five hundred of their hearts type of flavour. It was a walk through the trees and kill everything you see without worrying about surprises hidden in the foliage. That was unless that single monster was an ambush predator that climbed trees then the foliage was all that you would need to worry about.
The next one was far more complicated. The map showed off broken geography, with ravines, tunnels and caves linking different spots of the landscape together. Terrible birds ruled the skies, and it was clear that safety could only be found underground or within the maze of cracks that filled the place. Yet that security was only relative. It was filled with monsters and occasionally locations where a yellow flower was painted. He guessed that zone was a gather quest and given the number of boss or near boss monsters that were showed guarding tunnels, finding the flowers would be difficult… if you went blindly. However, having seen the map it changed everything. Tom could trace a path where he could go from flower to flower without having to fight an enemy monster. The map would make what would otherwise be a risky slog trivial.
With a bit of experimenting, they could position themselves to only fight boss monsters that they had a match up advantage against. There were symbols next to most of them, which indicated both invulnerability and vulnerability to elements. That simple amount of information would let them plan the attack not to mention other spots where Harnessed Meteorite would be useful. Step around a corner and start firing before the nasty boss creature could respond type of ambush.
“Guys, come over. You need to see this and we have to get it sent across too Vidja’s team.” Harry called out again.
Tom went over and saw exactly why Harry had been excited. They knew Vidja’s quest was an assassination one.
After examining the tile for ten seconds, the layout was easy to see. The zone was a series of concentric rings. You would enter the first one and have the choice of going either left or right. Fight for half a circle and then you would reach the other side of the mountain where you would find another gap to allow you to climb higher. The target, of course, was at the top in the centre and to reach him you would have to fight half the monsters in the zone.
That was, if you didn’t find the secret entrance. That tunnel would allow you to bypass the entire mountain and go straight to the king. Alternatively, if you were after more experience, there were shorter hidden passages that could take you from one warlord equivalent to another while avoiding most of the trash monsters. You weren’t finding the hidden tunnels by accident as according to the map there were literally thousands of decoys that would lead you down through trash mobs and half bosses before exiting almost where you started.
“My lord,” Michael muttered as he studied the layout. “If you have access to this map, it trivialises the quest. Being here and seeing these tiles is a massive boon.” Michael said. “We need to plan a course that lets us make the most of it.”
“We have to communicate this with Vidja first,” Harry reminded them.
“The only problem for us is remembering the details.” Michael mused, ignoring Harry. “Considering it will be weeks until some of this knowledge can be applied, we will forget stuff. Maybe we can rely on Tom, but I don’t enjoy putting everything on him.”
“Crystal photos,” Thor volunteered. “Record the more complicated zones so we can reference it in real time when necessary. I mean when we reach the zone.”
Tom perked up at that suggestion. “What’s a crystal photo?”
“They are tier zero items in the GOD’s shop. They cost a thousand credits and allow you to take a single perfect picture.”
“That’ll make sending this to Vidja easy.” Tom said. “We’ll take the picture, charge fifteen hundred for it.”
Thor shook his head. “Good idea, but it won’t work. They are soul bound after you capture the image.”
“Oh,” Tom said, feeling slightly embarrassed. He really shouldn’t have jumped the gun like that and started giving orders before he understood the tools. “Any other ideas?”
“Cartography.” Everlyn suggested.
“That’s a great idea,” Michael said, shaking his head as his tone went slightly sarcastic. “If we want to dedicate individuals to drawing maps, the whole time we’re here. Plus, I assume none of us are an artist, so we would need to invest in skills as well.”
“Michael,” Clare warned him.
The healer wiped his brow. “Sorry, Everlyn. I guess the stress is getting to me.”
“The easiest answer,” Tom said after a moment of thought. “Is to tell them that this exists. If they want to use it, they can send a scout immediately to take the pictures.” He glanced at Thor.
“I’ll do it.” The man said, pulling out pen and paper to forward a note to the other two.
Tom went back to look at the tile that Selena’s squad was currently battling. “Send a separate communication to Selena. Tell her that she’ll have access to this zone after she completes her current one. There’s no point rushing over because that map won’t help with her quest.”
Michael cleared his throat. “Everyone listen up. Given the odds we’re facing, we need to be strategic. This is a resource for all humans. We found it, but we can use it to shape the destiny of all of our teams. Even Phil.” He made eye contact with Thor. “I’m sure he would prefer zones which have the theme see monster, bash monster. I think even without cartography we can forward him a roadmap of how to get that type of zone. He is easy to deal with. Us and the other two teams are harder. We all want to grind experience. So that means three routes that don’t intersect.” Michael appeared uncertain. “We also probably need to make them equal. Selena will definitely come here, Vidja may or may not. The proposed routes have to appear fair.”
Michael’s fingers drummed his side as he considered the intricacies of the problem. “We can’t do what we need. There is too much unknown to do a precise plan. Is a zone clear supposed to take one day to clear or eight? When you’re planning numerous steps forward, that assumption becomes critical.”
“The first one seemed to be tailored at about four days.” Keikain pointed out helpfully.
The healer chuckled. “Yes, but we don’t know if that’s typical or an aberration. It was the starter zone, so it could be either after all the GODs knew we were placed there. Not that it matters too much, anyway. We can only do plans for a couple of rings. If you think about it, there are seven competitor races. The dragon will go straight to the centre. The other six groups will probably be doing what we’re trying. A little grinding on their way inwards. Why we probably won’t run into another species in this outer ring once we get four layers in there are only sixteen zones to complete and at least six separate species. Humans are split into four groups. Who knows what the other species will do? We’ll be running into others and the zones won’t be pristine anymore. To get experience at that point, we might need to hunt around.”
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“I imagine relative difficult will also skyrocket.” Keikain commented. “I wouldn’t be surprised if the complexity of clearing the inner layers is far more than this outer ring. Even if the monsters only increase by two ranks for each step, the complexity can be increased in other ways. For example, quantity has its own quality.”
“As does giving the monsters more skills,” Clare said darkly.
“Let’s take an hour.” Tom said, taking charge. “Everyone heard what Michael said. Take your time to review possible routes and then we will get together to confirm how we want to approach this. No matter what the decision is we’re going to help the other humans.”
“Of course we are.” Michael said, sounding offended. “We’re the same team, after all.”
They spread out individually in order to explore the tiles. Most people seemed to be walking different routes, but Tom went slower and took the time to memorise each of the zones that they were likely to reach. Once he reached the inner rings, he was memorising everything because he honestly couldn’t say where they would end up and none of the inner zones had tiles devoid of geographical features. Keikain’s suggestion that complexity would increase seemed to be right on the mark.
The hour deadline passed, and they met up for a brief strategy discussion.
“I’ll start this off.” Michael said immediately. “Our aim remains to extract as much experience as possible. You’ve walked the floor and I am pretty sure this is not the only zone with the map. Our working assumption has to be that other species have the same access to this information.” He pointed in the cardinal directions. “There are four tiles that look identical to this one, so we can’t assume that we’re the only species to have obtained this knowledge.”
“But none of that will matter until we’re at least three rings in.” Harry said confidently. “At that point, we will be playing things by ear, anyway.”
“Probably won’t matter.” Michael corrected. “While we need to be aware of the threat, we shouldn’t let that dictate a decision. In these outer zones, we want to focus on completing as many zone quests as possible. I suspect the other species will be doing the same, so we can’t discount meeting them.”
Tom scratched his head a little perplexed. “I don’t understand why we are even debating this. Our path has to be focusing on zones where the detail in the map allows us to circumvent some of the intended difficulty. I’m sure all your plans are the same.” He glanced around. No one said anything. “Well, are they? Do any of you have a different plan?” Once more, only silence greeted his question. “Keikain how about you?”
“What?” he answered, appearing more than a little annoyed. “It’s whatever you say.”
“I command you to speak your mind.”
The earth mage’s face when apocalyptic. His fists clenched, his eyes went wide and for a moment, it looked like he was trying to hold vomit down. “Fuck you. You’re a fucking cunt. You said you weren’t going to use the bond to compel me. You fucker! You promised.”
“I meant, about the plan.” Tom corrected coldly.
“The plan?” Keikain turned away. He was panting. “Yeah, well, even an imbecile would agree with what you’re proposing.” He refused to look at anyone, remaining with his back to the circle and facing outward. His arms were crossed over his chest and his foot twitched impatiently.
“Keikain,” Tom said quietly. “I’m sorry for forcing you to express yourself like that. I misspoke, and it was a mistake. But I do need you to speak your mind. What you said earlier, about power imbalances we’ll address that later. I think your concerns are valid, but the solution is not for you to become a mouse. We can’t afford for you to be silent and not contribute. You’re one of the more intelligent people here. If you have concerns like you did about me not using my golem, then raise it.”
The earth mage turned and met his eyes. There was resolute determination in them. “I can do that. First, I suspect you’re not going to be great at these challenges, even if you are, it doesn’t matter. You need to dedicate your time, the team’s credits and potentially some of my, almost certainly, more valuable time for the duration of this zone to create a golem. Your earlier ideas on what to build are adequate, but with an advanced knowledge of future enemies we can do better. Whatever you chose to create should be focused on defeating these monsters.” He waved at the tiles.
“I’ll do that.”
“That’s not all!” Keikain raised a finger to emphasise the point. “You also need to start gathering real time intelligence about our sapient opponents. With this,” he waved at the tiles all around them. “There’s a good chance a brief glimpse of their battles will allow us to place where they are. Details on how easily they are killing stuff will also let us estimate their combat rank. For now, if you have the control direct your skill away from the dragon. It’s more important to find the other weaker species.”
Everlyn snorted at that comment and the obvious self interest.
The earth mage glared at her. “Yes, my suggestion is partially to save myself and Clare, but it’s more than that. We need allies and if we can manage to fight the dragon with four species, then I’ll be a lot more confident about our chances of defeating it.”
Tom nodded. The pedestals looked appealing, but he understood what Keikain saying and acknowledged that he was right. In this zone, the team would be best off if he spent it sleeping rather than actively participating in the clearing.
“Beyond those points, I’m sure the route you pick will be the best, and sorry for swearing at you earlier. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a choice. You did sort of order it.”
“I only told you to express your mind. The cursing and abuse was on you.”
“You ordering me triggered the outburst and you know it.” Keikain glared at him.
Tom smiled internally. Briefly, the earth mage’s anger had pushed him past his survival instinct to suck himself into his shell like a snail. It was a good sign for their future relationship.
“That outburst was your fault and no one else.”
“Fine, whatever it doesn’t matter. In terms of the next steps, I think it’s obvious. The next zone will be the flower picking one and after that the four-way battle.”
“Why that one?” Michael asked. He pointed at one of the other layouts connected to the flower picking. “That has more secret passages.”
“Because if we defeat the four-way battle, then we gain access to this.” Tom walked over to stand on a tile painted in the colours of bare mountain rock. This layout looks like the kill quest that Vidja’s team is doing. He traced a tunnel from the door they would arrive at. It went from there all the way to the centre of the map. If the quest is an execution one. Then it should be quick in which case it might let us…” Tom hurried across eight metres to reach a fifth tile. “This is another gather quest where we can avoid the major enemies. With this targeting, we might get to clear five zones.”
Everyone thought about it and they discussed various issues for another ten minutes but there was no heat in it. If clearing zones took longer than expected instead of choosing Tom’s suggestion, they would go to Michael’s. If they were significantly shorter, they would go a completely different route. Basically an approach that would open up space behind them for Selena’s team to clear.
Once you had the information, the course you wanted to set was self-obvious, with the only complexity being how long the zones would take to complete. Their best assumption was three to four days, and that is what they were using. If the assumptions changed so would their optimal path. In the meantime, they could only plan three or four steps ahead and be ready to adjust if their time lines shifted.
“Now let’s focus on completing these mini trials.” Michael stated. “I’m assuming the challenges are going to be related to the tile under it and the images on the pedestal. I’ve located six distinct images and fourteen combinations once I take into account the type of tile. There might be more. Before we optimise the fastest way to complete the challenge, we need to understand what we’re up against.
Michael explained his reasoning and what he was expecting, and a short time later Tom found himself assigned to a pedestal. According to Michael, it was supposed to contain stimulated combat.
Tom reached out to put his hand on the gem.
This is a ring eight challenge.
Once you enter this trial, you cannot exit for a minimum of sixteen minutes.
At that point, if you have completed the challenge you will be released.
If the challenge is ongoing, you can persist until you complete it or choose to exit at anytime.
This challenge will reward one point.
Michael had already explained the first bit. Ring seven challenges had a minimum of thirty-two minutes and the time elapsed doubled as you got closer to the centre. Though apparently everything below ring four had the same minimum time.
Tom did the mathematics and frowned.
If he allowed for eight hours of sleep per day, then to complete all the challenges would take the better part of two days. But Tom knew they were not going to finish them on the first attempt. It was likely it would take multiple tries to complete them. Some would be defeated first go, but Tom was confident that there would be others that would need numerous iterations to solve. That three or four day estimate per zone was looking pretty accurate.
Do you want to enter?
Tom read the prompt. Did he want to fight something?
Absolutely. He accepted the invite as his spear appeared in his hands.