“We’re going to enter PvP zones?” I asked as we picked up the pace.

The sound of our hooves alternated between soft thumps when mushing through fluffy snow and hard clops when stepping on something very solid. The trail we treaded seemed to be an ancient road, with grayish cracked blocks peeking through the snow in certain places. Remnants of olden Mardukryon statues, those that hadn’t been toppled by the Great Quake or the passage of time, watched over us from either side of the path.

The trees we passed became much taller and wider as we went along. But they were also more spaced apart as numerous golden crystal formations littered the landscape, the cause of the booming tree growth. Some crystals even sprouted on the trees themselves, blinking as if stars.

Many monsters around the mid-forties level lurked behind the giant trunks or under mounds of snow. Paritor took the lead, fanning out his fiery summons to flush out the hiding monsters, killing them with the help of Megan and Nitana before they could reach us. Paritor’s new tiger summon was very powerful. We easily traversed the forest without pausing.

I should be in front of the party because I was Herald Stone—my only contribution was my presence, but that should be enough. However, there was the more pressing matter of the PvP zones.

“Most likely, we will,” Kezo said. “Picture the PvP zones ahead as islands. Really big islands. There are small spaces in between we can pass without entering them, but we can’t control where Mr. Bear goes. More than likely, it entered a PvP zone.”

“That’s… problematic.” Still no signs of hoof prints that weren’t ours. It didn’t mean that he wasn’t around.

“Don’t worry about RailGunLord. I don’t think he’ll try to kill us.”

“Are you sure?” Given that RailGunLord was the type to show off in dickish ways, it was possible he’d be a dick when we entered a PvP zone where attacking players was allowed.

“I’m not sure… I don’t know what kind of person he is, but I want to think good of people. I’m guessing the most he’d do is try to kill-steal Mr. Bear if he saw us going for it. Don’t worry, Herald. He won’t win.”

And that’s the problem, I thought.

Opposite to Kezo’s outlook in life, I assumed the worst in people and situations. It had served me well so far. I agree with Kezo that RailGunLord would try to kill-steal the Oyi Oso. Assert dominance and stuff. But what about after he would fail? We’d beat him, of course, and guard our quarry. RailGunLord could be pissed off enough after losing to shoot us.

“Can you tell me about the PvP zones we're heading to?” I asked.

“Been some time since I’ve been there,” said Kezo. “They have a slightly rolling terrain. No trees at all. Instead, they have crystal formations of a special kind that attract Elite monsters without the need to kill dozens of their normal versions. These places used to be highly contested because of the good drops and special crystals that can be mined. It was also the stomping grounds of PvP enthusiasts—many among the strongest Mardukryon players—because it’s the PvP zone nearest to the village.”

“Are you a PvP enthusiast yourself?”

“Back when my gang was around, we’d dabble when we were bored,” he replied, grinning. “One of us was a high-level Pathfinder main. He had a skill that could cloak the whole party for a few seconds. We’d go in, jump on an unsuspecting victim near the border, and swiftly leave the PvP zone before we got killed by others.”

I laughed. That sounded like something I’d do with my childhood friends if Nornyr Online had a mass invisibility skill. I remembered my last day at Vanguard Gaming—we joined a PvP tournament, and my indigent party defeated a whale party through unconventional tactics.

Defeating powerful monsters and overcoming challenges to complete quests was fun. But it couldn’t hold a candle to the enjoyment of crushing actual people and rubbing in their faces that you were better than them.

“Our fun times didn’t last long,” said Kezo. “Top guilds sent their members to be Mardukryons and establish ‘branches’ on this mountain in preparation for the Warp Gates Linking. There were also serious local Mardukryon guilds. Those groups fought for control of the PvP areas at the base of Rabisu Peak. It was difficult for lone players or even casual parties to survive and compete.

“Those times didn’t last either. Eventually, the strongest guilds settled with an arrangement to have schedules farming the PvP areas. So and so guild will get this day. Another guild will take the next day, and so on. They helped each other monopolize the Elites and special crystals, so there was no point for others to visit those areas because they’d simply die.”

“That’s not very fun,” I said. “Not fun at all.” Recalling the few RPGs with PvP servers I had played, when a guild or group of guilds became dominant, and any credible opposition disappeared, that was the start of the end of the server. The lack of competition drains the whole point of PvP.

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“Like the rise and fall of empires,” said Kezo, “this ‘no fun’ period was also short. There’s a trend here. The chaoticness of the PvP zones returned when most of the strong Mardukryon guilds disbanded because of the lack of progress finding our Warp Gate. Other players followed suit and—”

“And the PvP zones became empty?”

Kezo shook his head. “People continued farming the Elites and the crystals. But PvP died down. Players still fought sometimes, though more for fun than competition. Just testing builds and that sort of thing.”

“Ah, because the competitive people left…”

Most people playing RPGs weren’t particularly keen on fighting other players. The few titles I had played that were pure PvP had small populations. There was a higher level of competitiveness engaging in PvP—killing or getting killed by a human was very different than killing or getting killed by collections of pixels powered by computer programs. Even if the game didn’t impose penalties when losing in PvP, the feeling was just… different.

To me, at least. I could stomach dying to the same boss dozens of times. But losing to the same guy even, let’s say, just five times? That was grating.

There was the toxicity too of it. Ass people would be an ass if given the opportunity, and PvP was the perfect opportunity to be an ass. The mask of anonymity brings out the worst in people, the same as in other social media platforms. It gets amplified in MMORPGs because one could attack and kill the avatars of other people.

“Players eventually graduated to farming stronger monsters,” Kezo said. “But many still returned to the base of Rabisu Peak, exploring for ways to scale and get over it. Rabisu Peak became the final frontier for the Mardukryon community at that time. Many NPCs talked of a large city beyond it—Mezhu Nue. It’s the closest city to Kurghal Village. If the survivors Chief Nogras wanted us to find did exist, they’d be there. Maybe the Warp Gate too.”

“I have heard stories about that city.”

Healer Gula told me that Elder Pabilsag’s family, all wardcrafters, were in Mezhu Nue when the Great Quake hit. They were making a gigantic force field or something but weren’t able to finish it in time to save the city. Elder Pabilsag, a youngling novice wardcrafter then, survived because he was tending their hidden family workshop, the same one where Healer Gula hid her research notes on Bawu’s cure-all potion.

“Fast forward and Chimi’s party found the way to Rabisu Peak,” said Kezo. “Players lost interest in this area, although, there are still some farming Elites and mining crystals. That number will go up again as our population grows and the younglings level. But there should be no one there now. It’s the Great Hunt. Everyone’s over that way.” He pointed in the direction of the Hunter-Warriors’ camp.

“Too bad. It’s probably if there are other people to provide distraction and cover. On the flipside, he might be more incentivized to act if a larger audience is present. Anyway, let’s plan how we can—"

“Wait a minute, guys!” Melonomi caught up to us, apparently eavesdropping. “I’m not entering any PvP Zone.” She lowered her voice and forcefully whispered, “Not with someone trailing us.”

Why am I not surprised? I wanted to sigh and roll my eyes. “Entering PvP zones is unavoidable during the Great Hunt,” I said. “Yes, we have a possible Player Killer on our tail, but it’s—”

“Stop. Rewind,” she cut in. “Entering PvP zones is unavoidable during the Great Hunt, you say? Yep. I signed up for the Great Hunt. I’ll fight other parties too… which I did when we met Merl and his gang back there. I guess that wasn’t really fighting them, as in PvP, but I’ll do it if it comes down to it. However, we’re hunting for Ichors now. Something that we can do another time, I might add. No PvP for me here.”

“You can buff us before we enter. I don’t think there’d be any PvP happening.” I assumed that someone outside the PvP zone couldn’t support, including healing, anyone inside. It’d be unfair otherwise and would be the source of all sorts of shenanigans. “I forgot, but can you resurrect someone inside the PvP zone from the outside?”

“I haven’t tried,” she said. “Kezo, do you know?”

“You have to enter to ress,” said Kezo. “Devs changed it a few patches ago. Anyway, here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to continue chasing Mr. Bear. Melonomi, you still don’t have its Ichor, do you?”

“N-no…”

She does, I thought, smirking. If she didn’t, she wouldn’t bring up her issues of having issues with people.

“So, we’ll get that Ichor,” said Kezo. “We all want to recreate this mysterious potion, and having lots of Ichor will up our chances in case we make mistakes. Plus, isn’t it your dream to make it to be famous and—”

“Yeah, yeah,” she interjected. “But what about RailGunLord?”

“All of you buff me,” said Kezo. “I’ll equip my tanking set and taunt Mr. Bear out of the PvP zone. That’s it. No problem, right?”

“I guess not.”

The problem is that it should be my job, I mentally grumbled. But I was under no illusion that RailGunLord could kill me even if I was buffed to my gills.

“Maybe luck would be on our side and Mr. Bear isn’t inside a PvP zone,” said Kezo. “Don’t get stressed out over this, Melonomi.”

“Yohoo, guys! You have to see this.” Megan waved at us. She, Nitana, and Paritor had stopped charging forward and gathered around something on the ground. “Look! Look! Those are hooves, aren’t they?”

Imprinted inside the Oyi Oso’s humungous paw prints were hoof marks going roughly in the same direction. Whoever owned those hooves came after the giant bear or else the tracks would’ve been smoothened away. Something was interesting about these hoof prints.

“It means a Pathfinder is here,” said Melonomi.

“I believe that RailGunLord is nearby,” I said. “But those are not Mardukryon tracks.”