-- James --

After rummaging through the library for the last week or so I felt my brain turn to mush. I also couldn't get over how much of the library was locked to me, though the longer I was in there I started to think that a lot of the "Books" weren't really information but placeholders for something new. The library was just so large I thought every "Book" couldn't have something in it.

The time had come for us all to meet back up and make a plan for the quest. Luckily I was holding on to the quest egg and had used some spare time I had productively. After greeting everyone, when the topic came up of what's next I spoke. Excited, "Since I had extra time, and I could not be in that damn library for another minute. I went out and triangulated the approximate location of the place we are going."

The group gave me an incredulous look, "You did the math?" Aster asked.

"I did."

"Did you?" he asked again

"I did." This time with a little bit of annoyance. I did my due diligence.

"Did you have someone look over it?" This time it was Bay who asked.

"I didn't need to." I was starting to feel offended.

"James I was in geometry with you." She commented.

It was true I didn't do all that well in geometry, "That's because it was boring. And this. This is important."

"So you did have someone look it over." Violet accused.

I let out a sigh, giving in. I had, "Yeah, the librarian. He said I should be within ten miles of the destination."

"Really?" Violet asked surprised.

"Yeah."

"So which dark continent are we going to? Rowan asked. At least he seems to believe me.

"The one to the west. The one with the sporadic forests and swamps. But it looks like there might be a town out there, and that's our destination."

"A town?" They all looked just as surprised as I was to learn of a town so far out. "How far away is it," Rowan asked

"Just under a thousand miles." Now that I did need help getting the distances right.

"Called it!" Violet yelled excitedly.

"What?"

"I called this was as going to be ridiculously far. This place is probably right at the edge of the continent." She said smugly.

"How are we going to get there?" This time the question came from Aster.

I was prepared for this one, "So I was talking to some people, and I have good news, bad news. Good news there is a drivable route to get there."

"Bad news?"

"It's not a real road just open ground and it adds time." I saw them all look at me to go on, "So we need to get a car, buses don't go near that far, and chartering comes with a lot of strings attached."

"Can we even afford our own car?" Aster asked

Violet looked to Bay thoughtfully before she asked, "Well how much are they?"

I tried to think what I read, "Depends, the ones for intercity travel aren't that expensive around two gold, but those don't have any protection. The ones we would need would be armored and run anywhere between twenty gold and three-hundred gold."

Rowan let out a long whistle.

"So I only made about two gold," Aster answered.

I looked over to him surprised as Rowan added, "Wow that's a lot. I only made thirty silver doing the cooking and a couple missions."

Aster shrugged, "I recently increased my rank."

"That explains it," I commented.

Violet cleared her throat, "Well. we made...twenty gold each."

"How did you guys make so much?" I asked shocked.

"Potions and energy crystals," Bay answered nonchalantly

I stared at them, "Well. If we get the car it will one-hundred percent be your car."

"Any other ways to get there?"

"Yeah, but it will cost the same as a car."

"Car it is then."

-- Later that day --

The sun was just reaching its zenith when Bay and Violet pulled up in what I could only say was a jeep. A normal jeep that didn't have any armor except maybe on the doors and a removable top.

Bay was driving the jeep when Violet popped out of the open top. "Well boys, what do you think?"

"It's cool and all but don't we need something for protection?" I couldn't help but ask staring at the open top.

"That's the best part," Violet said jumping out of the car. "We were talking to the salesman, and he let slip that, this here five gold jeep, is the base of most of the armored vehicles."

"Well, that's just the base, with no protection...well maybe the sides and window. They are reinforced right?" I asked taking a closer look at the vehicle.

"Correct on all points!" Violet said excitedly.

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"But how is that going to protect us on the drive out?"

Violet took on a lecturing tone, "We found out two things, if you can stop the monsters before they attack you don't need as much protection."

"That the reason for the removable top then?" Aster asked as he was looking over the vehicle.

"Yup, and we can jump out while moving?" She answered.

I stopped examining the car to look at Violet, "Can we?"

"Have you tried clocking your running speed yet?" Bay asked.

"No." But I couldn't help but wonder.

Violet excitedly answered, "We did. I can run thirty-five mph at top speed, and Bay can do about thirty. you guys can probably go faster. And since we'll be going through rough terrain..."

"We won't be going too fast anyway. So we can just run and jump in." I finished.

"Smart but what about surprise attacks or the attacks from the sky?" Aster asked.

"Well, we have a resident blacksmith for that," Violet said looking at Aster.

"We do?" Aster looked confused until it hit him, "Oh wait for me?"

"Yeah!"

"Oh...I guess I could. I mean I specialize in monster smithing, and my teaching also makes delicate things, like accessories, instead of weapons."

"You do?" I blurted in surprise. He never told us that. I just assumed he was just a normal blacksmith, but I suppose there would be all kinds of smithing in a world like this.

Aster looked chagrined, "Yeah. I forgot I never told you all."

"Is that why we aren't completely decked out?" Violet asked gesturing to her white coat.

"Kinda, I just haven't had time to hunt monsters, and I make way more doing rogue missions."

"Well, we got money now," Violet said heavily implying he should make stuff for the group.

"Ok, um when did we want to leave again?"

"Today," I answered.

Aster looked over the vehicle, as he spoke his thoughts aloud, "I could work on the car on the road. I think I could fashion some type of shield if we can get a giant beetle carapace. But the rest we can either hunt or we can buy."

"Does monster-based stuff add anything?" I wondered.

"They can channel energy better, and amplify things. It really depends on the monster. I mean look at Jame's sword it's a Mythril monster weapon."

"It is?" I pulled out my sword to look it over, "How do you know?"

"How do you not?" Violet asked.

Aster walked over to me and started to point things out, "Look at the blade. Ever wonder why it was silver and white. If you look close on the back of the blade you can see the bone pores, sealed but still there. Though the dead giveaway is the handle, doesn't it look a little too organic? The way it surrounds the three jewels."

I looked over the sword and saw exactly what he was pointing out.

Aster's eyes glanced over the three jewels, "I forgot to ask. What are the three skills it has?

"I haven't done any, honestly I've just been filling the jewel, and I can't decide on what I want it to do."

"James you didn't tell us you had a blank. Let alone one with three" Bay commented.

I shrugged, "It just didn't come up."

Aster stopped pointing out the weapon and looked to the team, "Actually, this is a good question. Who has magic weapons and who doesn't?"

No one had any magical weapons except me and Aster.

"Ok add gems to the shopping list, and I can make some once we reach a city, it takes way too long to properly make one do it in a car." Aster offhandedly commented.

"Wait. You can make blanks?" Violet asked seriously.

"Yeah, why?"

"I thought you said your rogue stuff pays more?" She asked.

"It does." He answered confused.

"Blanks sell for like a couple gold apiece."

Aster stared at Violet dumbfounded.

"You forgot you could sell them didn't you?" Bay asked aster seriously.

Aster began to move away yelling, "Well, I'm off to buy monster parts." As he quickly disappeared into the city.

We all watched laughing as Aster ran into the city. It was pretty funny he forgot he could make money from blanks.

Bay stopped laughing as she pointed behind me, "James what is that?" I looked to see what she was referring to. It was my massive pile of supplies. To be prepared.

"Those are our supplies," I said proudly.

"James there is no way we can fit all that into the jeep."

I looked back at the supplies and realized she was right, "I may have gone overboard."

"Do we even need half this stuff?" Violet asked starting to go through the pile.

"Is that a kayak?" Bay asked.

"Maybe," I answered looking away.

"and an inflatable raft!" Violet shouted over. "are these fishing poles and a tent?"

"I stand by the tent it has cloaking and monster repelling magic in it." I defended myself.

"Ok, the tent can stay but the rest." Bay looked at me seriously, "James how much food did you get?"

"Enough." We'd definitely not go hungry.

"It's that crate of MRE's isn't it?" Bay asked.

When I didn't answer Bay let out a long sigh, "James it's only gonna take us a couple of days to get there not two months. and we'll be going through towns. It's only the last half that was on our own."

I was actually proud of thinking of MRE's they last forever and only need water, "I stand by it. We don't know what we might run into. Or if something happens to the car."

Bay was quietly staring at me narrowed-eyed, "...You win this round."

"Ye.." I began to celebrate but Bay interrupted.

"Don't push your luck, James." I shut up, "We have some time. Grab what you really think we need for the area we are going to. Which are forests and swamps. So bug repellent and stuff to keep us out of the mud."

"Fine. I might just have been being paranoid."

I had just finished sorting out all the supplies when aster came back dragging a massive beetle shell, and a small crate of gems and monster parts. He walked over and set down the crate with the rest of the supplies.

He looked a little winded as he came over to us, "Let's get all this loaded then I can make something for the roof."

"What is that?" I asked staring at the giant carapace.

"Something called an iron beetle. Shell is supposedly harder than steel."

"Why is it called iron beetle then?" I asked.

"No idea. The carapace isn't even a metal it's some type of carotene and its molecular structure is similar to diamond but flexible.

"How does that even work?" Bay asked.

"It must have ---- --- --- after --- -- ---" Aster's head and mouth blurred as his words became unintelligible. What could he have possibly said to cause him to blank?

"You blanked again," Bay commented.

"It's a magic animal. Did I blank on that?" He said annoyed.

"Nope."

"Why does --- --- --- - fucking -- - - " Aster raged.

"Blanked."

Aster calmed himself, "I figured it will protect us from attacks from above, it's hard enough to withstand heavy attacks and resist claws. Ranged as well thanks to its shape."

"Nice. Now let's get loaded up." I said starting to load up the jeep. After getting the jeep loaded I asked, "What does this run on?"

"Magic power, every couple hours we'll have to stop and charge it but it should only take a few minutes," Violet answered.

Aster popped his head out to ask, "Why can't we just charge it from the car?"

"Something about having only one port. It can't draw in energy and expel it at the same time. Also, that feature was like ten gold since you had to buy an armored version to use it."

We all finished packing the jeep and we help Aster get the shell on the roof. We were ready to go, later than we expected but still had hours left in the day.

"Everyone all set?" I asked.

"Let's do this!" Violet shouted excitedly.

We drove off out of the city.

-- Unknown --

We just wanted to be left alone. We went to the edge of the world to get away from all the plots and plans. We just wanted to live in peace.

But these creatures won't stop. There are so many of them, they seem to come from the deep plains, and when they do we can barely fight back. Everyone has stopped training and most are now stuck at twenty-three.

I at twenty-nine am the highest and have been stuck here for the past one-hundred years. I tried for so long to break the barrier only to never quite reach it. It was twenty years ago I had finally figured it out. Hitting thirty requires an immense amount of patience and control. Any energy you use will actually draw from your experience setting you back years. I knew that was only the first half of it and couldn't figure out the other.

I would probably never reach that point, I loved my magic too much. So I decided to leave and find a place at the end of the world to grow. For twenty years I've been fighting the endless wave of monsters in this village. For most of the year, it is safe, but every year migration of thousands of monsters comes, and we are pushed to the limits. Here I stand as I watch. The migration is coming. I can tell the static that precedes the horde. The sky shocks and explodes, and today something is wrong. The static lasts for days. Instead of the hours. We know that this migration will be worse than ever and may destroy the village.

Right now we are discussing what we will do. Many are planning to leave, others plan to fight. Some are being tapped to deliver a message to warn the cities, and request aid. I will stay. I will fight the tide buying as much time as I can be for if I die here it will be years before I come back. We are too far from the central to central pillars.

The time I lose is not what I fear. It is for those that do survive. It is the slavers and bandits who roam these plains. The scavengers who would come for the survivors.