Luna woke up early the next morning, still excited to finally get back on land. She went looking for Parrot and found him already up on the sterncastle looking at the land in the early morning light.
“Parrot, I need you to look at something.” She told him and fished the Pathfinder Map from her pocket and activated it. Parrot saw the item and quickly moved over to her, blocking line of sight for other people.
“Careful Luna, you don’t want other people to see that. What did you want to show me?”
Luna showed him their current location near the land and then moved backwards to the point where the map simply ended in the ocean. She explained that they seemed to have simply appeared from nowhere and that she could not find the human kingdom and the land they had started at anywhere on the map. Parrot had begun to thoughtfully stroke his beard during her explanation and after a few seconds of silence told her to not tell anyone else, not even the captain.
They would hurry up to unload this ship, going as far as borrowing the other ship’s rowing boats and then he would set sail immediately and try to find where they had seen the sharp break in weather before. His goal was to verify that they could leave the area without problems. There was no point in spooking the other people with this.
Luna thought about it and realized that it was practically irrelevant for their situation. They were going to unload and setting up the settlement was the priority right now. She requested for her travel trunk and herself to be on the first rowboat to the beach. It was important for her to set up a tent in a good location and get her bow back. After that she would start scouting the nearby area and make sure the perimeter was secure for the settlers to start chopping down trees and start on setting up the village.
The order from Parrot for her things to be a priority on the first boat caused some grumbling, but Luna ignored it. She could understand that everyone wanted to get on land now and that every minute waiting felt like hours. A second row boat had been dropped into the water and was currently paddling along the shoreline, checking the water depth so they could get the ship closer. The same was happening on all other ships right now, every captain checking for a safe spot to bring their ship close to the beach or even beach themselves for easier unloading.
A bit later Luna stepped foot on the beach for the second time. Two sailors hoisted her traveling trunk off the boat and Luna grabbed it by a handle and started dragging it behind herself up the beach. It took her quite some time, the trunk plus her backpack weighing a serious bit, but she managed without help. After leaving the beach and crossing the bit of rocky ground she found a nice place out of the way between some bushes. She dropped the trunk and her backpack and pitched her small tent. She secured it properly with extra pins in the ground and tied it down to withstand some wind, then pushed the travel trunk inside and opened it up with her key. After a bit of rummaging around she extracted a quiver, her bow and a string.
Normally she would leave the bow unstrung, but given the unknown surroundings she decided to better be safe than sorry. She dropped her overcoat into the trunk and retrieved her normal cloak and after slipping it on she checked her equipment. Machete, axe, bow, throwing knives, extra knife in the belt, wooden buckler, quiver with arrows, water skin. Satisfied that all was where it should be she left her tent and stepped out for the bushes, meeting the first group of settlers coming up the hill. The group was led by William and Luna waved him over to her, the group following behind.
“Good morning William. I was about to start checking the area around here for nasty surprises. Anything you want me to look out for?” She asked him cheerily.
“Good morning Luna. The people behind me are the other members of our rag-tag settler council who will decide where we put which building and so on. Could you keep an eye open for naturally growing plants with strong fibre that can be used for making ropes? That way we could save rope for other things. Any other ideas?” William said to her and then opened the field for suggestions from the other people who had been impatiently waiting behind him.
Luna had been watching them closely and their first reaction to her had been funny to watch. At first they only saw a young woman, but then they saw the bow, the shield, the knives and the axe at her side and that painted a whole different picture for them. It was a stroke of good luck for Luna to meet them in her full kit, but she promised herself to keep walking around in it, if it lent herself some authority.
The other suggestions weren’t bad either, even if she or Parrot had already come with them during one of her planning sessions. First on their list had been to find freshwater. Which was already solved by the river. Second, find local fruits, roots and vegetables, collect examples to check for known variants and edibility. Third, find highground and check to get an idea of their local terrain, see if any smoke can be seen that could indicate a settlement. Fourth, find out what the local wildlife is and if possible what the largest predators are.
After a few minutes Luna interrupted the torrent of suggestions the people had for her. She was not their courier service and she was also not there to help them find the best spot of land for their personal house. She excused herself and quickly walked off, heading north west from their location, towards the cliffs. She would follow them north from their beachhead and then turn east and move through the forest bordering the village. She would do a cursory sweep through the closest trees and then circle back to the river.
It took her barely an hour for the short walk, as the radius of the circular route was small, but it would only grow over time as her search pattern extended further and further out. The coast to the west and river to the south built two easy start and end points for her and also limited the area she had to immediately cover, conveniently ignoring the south side of the river for now.
The exploration turned up a few familiar fruits, but she left the taste testing to the settlers. They looked like apples, pears, plums and cherries, but Luna was not going to trust a cursory inspection. Luna was confused why the fruits were there in the first place. It was supposed to be spring and the time for ripe fruit was at least a few months off.
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She gathered some of each and brought them back with her. The fruits could be a good supplement for the near future, but there were not enough trees around to be a serious source for food. The trees were standing mostly at the edge of the forest, in the shadow of the much larger trees behind them, but most were too far away to be easily accessible for the settlers right now.
When Luna returned from her first round she went to find William and dropped off the fruit with him. After shooing away some people who were looking into her tent she went to find William again and told him to keep the people away from her stuff, or she would have to stand guard over it all day instead of doing her job. He promised her to do so and Luna stomped off again for the second scouting run in the surroundings.
Following the coast north for half an hour changed the landscape a lot. The land between the forest on her right and the ocean on her left was grassland with only a few bushes and trees here and there. She was walking along the side of the forest that started right at their camp and it had started to thin out as the ground slowly rose towards hills. She decided to climb up and use it as a vantage point to check the area from.
Luna started her way up the rising terrain until some time later she had crossed through the patch of forest. The trees ended and on the grass plain behind it Luna found the first larger animals. They looked like deer, but not of the type Luna was used to. They had shorter legs and were missing the white spots on their coat. Instead they were of a light brown beige color, the one buck in the group sporting two antlers which forked just once close to his head. In total there were 4 of the deers she could see and she identified each of them.
[Guemal]
Level 27, Monster
[Guemal]
Level 15
[Guemal]
Level 17
[Guemal]
Level 21
The Luna froze, quickly activating Conceal Presence. She had never seen an animal of this level, and the buck was even classified as a monster. Luckily she had spotted them while still near the tree line and she could now use one of the trees as cover. She had planned for a lot of things, but not for finding random animals to be of higher level than herself. She quietly retreated the way she had come, when a sudden noise behind her made her turn back. Three of the Guemal were running away, but the last one was not so lucky.
[Jaguar]
Level 32, Monster
A massive cat with gold yellow fur covered in irregular black patterns was in the process of tearing into the last remaining guemal. Where Luna had frozen in shock about the level of the random animals, she was now frozen in fear. She had been bumbling along like this was some kind of stroll in the woods.
Luna dropped Conceal Presence, activated Windwalk and took off at a run. Finishing her route was unimportant and she was not going to walk anywhere close to that monster and the settlers had to know that the area was not safe for them to move around in. Even the deer might be a serious threat. Who knew if they reacted the same as the deer back home had? Would they run when spooked or be easily provoked and charge a human?
Luna made it back just after noon and went looking for Parrot or William. The beach was now covered in crates and boxes unloaded from the ships. Two ships had been beached and after the unloading was finished they would be dragged further up and then be taken apart for building materials.
Luna found Parrot in a sizable tent with a big entry at the front, standing in front of a table, drawing a map of the coastline onto a piece of paper. Luna stepped in and Parrot looked up. “Luna, good you’re back. I fear we might have a problem.”
Luna couldn’t suppress a chuckle. ”Funny you should say that. I just found normal animals turned monsters roaming just beyond the forest. Some monster forest cat decided to tackle a level 17 deer or something. I was lucky, could have as well been me. I didn't even notice it before.” Luna told him with a shudder, sitting down across from him.
Parrot nodded. “I feared as much.” He got up and walked over to a chest in the corner of the tent and retrieved the Class Tablet from it. He tossed it over to Luna, who caught it awkwardly. “Check it.” He told her.
Greetings Emiluna
You have entered a mana rich zone.
All regular gains through class actions and achievements is multiplied by 10.
Your race grows quicker in a mana rich area. The speed at which you gain race evolutions and physical traits is increased.
Your gains since your last visit at a Class Tablet.
General Experience [Experience gained by performing Class actions]
Pathfinder: 671 XP
Stalker: 78 XP
Additional Experience [Noteworthy Achievements]
You have found a mana rich zone: 2500 XP
You have stepped upon a new continent: 2500 XP
Name: Emilia Lunare Sylvanlake
Level: 18
Race: Sylvan
Age: 16
Class 1: Sylvan Pathfinder - Level 9
Experience: 15029/16200
Class 2: Sylvan Stalker - Level 9
Experience: 14803/16200
The experience gained for her classes had been abysmal over the journey, which was more or less what she had expected. But the achievement Experience was insane. What was supposed to be 250 XP was now 2500 XP, close to getting her a level up.
Luna skipped the rest of her status, looking at Parrot with wide eyes. “What the fuck.” She whispered. He nodded and replied. “Indeed. What the fuck?”
Luna dropped the Class Tablet on the table and covered her face with her hands. “What does it mean and what do we do?” She asked nobody in particular.
“That is what I needed to talk to you about. First, I am not going to let anyone get their hands to the Class Tablet. This stays a secret until there is no ship left here that could carry back news.” Parrot told her and started pacing. “Second, I am going to sail straight back, get as many Pathfinders loaded on this ship as I can and come back. Imagine the possibilities. Ten times the experience for the same work. Instead of 50 years to reach level 30, it is suddenly cut down to 5 years.”
Luna interrupted him. “First, you have to make sure nobody finds out. If words get out then you will have all kings trying to claim this land. So far they were not interested, ‘more land’ was not relevant when all three were just barely holding on to their share of the kingdom.” She pointed out, leaning back in her chair and putting her feet on the table.
Parrot was still pacing and mumbling to himself. “Yes yes, you are right. You hold on to the class tablet until the ships have left and then you inform William.”
Luna could see the logic behind that, as it would effectively prevent the news to travel on any of the ships. “Sure, I can do that. But first I have to tell them that there are dangerous animals out there. Should I tell them I saw a ‘monster’?”
“Tell them. A little fear should do wonders for their intergroup cooperation. The second they set foot on the beach they started squabbling over who gets to pick land first, who will get to decide which buildings are a priority, all the way to ‘who will decide where people can do their business’.”
“Oh I can scare them alright. That cat was not just a random mountain cat, this was a full blown predator able to take down a human without problems. That beast was an easy 80kg heavy, most likely more.”
At Luna’s words Parrot had stopped pacing and was looking at her. “Oh, you should have mentioned the weight earlier. I was still thinking of some kind of large housecat.”
“I said it had taken down a deer. What did you expect? The deer fell over from fright and waited to get purred to death?” Luna demanded to know. While making fun of Parrot she retrieved her Pathfinder Map from a pocket and put it on the table.
She waved Parrot over and pointed on the two maps. “Get to copying, I won’t be traveling any further north for now, so that is all the coastline you will get from me, first I have to make sure the perimeter really is secure.”
Parrot scrambled over and copied the coastline visible on Luna’s map and tried to mark the area where they had crossed over from the stormy seas.