ACT II ­­– Zach

New Knowledge

Zach danced among the crab monsters, shattering their legs and pincers, leaving them vulnerable for the three adventurers coming from behind to take care of. He’d spent nearly a week doing the same thing. Over the day they would go out and find monsters, Zach would cripple them, and the others would come in with the killing blows, farming Essence. In the evenings when they retreated to the camp he would ask questions, and they would answer.

He had learned a lot about the Infinite Realm already. Most of it had been split into territories, each ruled over by sects or organizations. Many sects formed alliances and larger organizations, but most of the world was basically run by city-states that controlled large territories. The most powerful sects were those that had been founded by the first and the second Iteration Rankers, which made sense, as they had been here for longest. Zach didn’t learn much about these sects, as apparently their territories were a long way from here. Where they were was basically the frontier. Which led to another interesting tidbit: this world was in fact flat, and infinite, or at least no one had found an end to it. Sects constantly pushed further, exploring the world and sending expeditions farther and farther away.

Zach already had a problem with the night and day cycle; adding a flat world and fog of sight that prevented him from seeing a certain distance was a bit too much. He had decided not to dwell much on those things; the rules of this world were as they were. He couldn’t change them, only accept them. Still, it was an adjustment, and as the day turned into night and they headed back, he glanced to the sky, seeing the golden stars that formed a chalice—another strange quirk of this world. The chalice was in fact the crest of the owners of these territories, the Golden Sect. Apparently if Zach was to walk out of their lands, the stars in the sky would change to reflect the crest of the territory on which he stood. It made it easy to tell where he was, or at least who owned the territory he was in. As they returned to camp, Zach helped by making a fire, while the others prepared the meat for cooking. After they were done, and the meat began to cook, they settled in to eat and Zach started with his questions again.

“So, how do I go about joining the Adventurers Guild?” Zach asked over the meal.

Qiyanna was the one who answered him. “There is a test. It can be taken in any of the Guild headquarters.”

One of the first questions that Zach had asked had been about the races of this world. He had found out that Qiyanna, with her elven features, considered herself human. Her ancestors had been from the fourth Iteration of Earth, and it appeared like different Iterations sometimes had differences. There were apparently, out of the seven Iterations counting his, three different human forms. Riss was a drake, and Urda was Karura. There were nine different races on this world, with the other six being Kreacean, Demasi, Skreen, Minotaur, Cthul, and Ravzor. He didn’t know much about them, other than the fact that the Kreacean and the Skreen hated each other. From what he could glean, the two races had evolved on the same world and had warred against each other constantly, in every Iteration so far. He was provided with general descriptions of each race so that he could at least recognize them.

“And is there a headquarters somewhere close?” Zach asked.

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“Port Helios has one. It’s not the largest headquarters, but they can issue you a license,” Urda answered.

Zach nodded. From everything that he had learned, getting an Adventurers License would make his life far easier. License-holders were allowed to travel between territories without many questions, and if he was going to be traveling and searching for the monster, he would need to be able to move unhindered, as well have access to a large information network—which, he had been assured by the three, the Adventurers Guild had.

“That’s great. You said that you are planning on heading back once you hit level sixty?” Zach asked.

The three nodded. “Yeah, but we also need to get enough loot to pay back the loans we took,” Riss said.

“Loans?” Zach asked.

He was surprised at just how much the three had started to trust him. It looked like trusting them with his story had made them trust him more in turn, to say nothing about the fact that he was basically power leveling them for what might as well be free.

“We borrowed Essence from the Guild so that we could gear up for this hunting trip,” Urda said in a slightly embarrassed tone. “This area is a bit over our levels, and we had hoped that better gear would help us bridge the gap.”

Zach remembered how he’d met them, about to be killed by crabs, and knew that their plan hadn’t worked. They had been lucky that he had come along. “So they just gave you a loan, just like that?” It didn’t seem like a smart investment to Zach. If they had died, the Guild would’ve gotten nothing back.

“Uh, we did leave something as a collateral,” Qiyanna said.

Zach raised an eyebrow, but didn’t press, seeing her expression. They would tell him when and if they wanted to. He steered the conversation in another direction.

“So, tell me more about Port Helios.”

“Well,” Riss started, “it is a new town, relatively speaking. Small, but with a developing community and economy. It is led by the Golden Sect, as you know, which is a mid-sized sect. They are mostly a merchant sect, dealing in rare items and materials.”

“So, are there many powerful people there?” Zach asked.

“Not really. The territory master should be in the Early Lord Realm, if the rumors are to be trusted, and he should be around level sixty-five,” Riss said.

Zach nodded. The monster had been in the Lord Realm as well, but Zach knew that it was an unique case, as for its advancement and level it was far stronger than ordinary people. Based on what he had learned from the three, Zach knew that Cultivators that cycled were rare in these parts. Most people focused on Classes, while they used Cultivation as a secondary path. There appeared to be two schools of thought, one that focused on Classes and the one that focused on Cultivation. Zach doubted that a Lord from here would be anywhere near the capabilities of the monster; after all, its strength didn’t come just from its Cultivation, but its perks and titles as well. Its stats were far higher than they should be.

Zach was unsure where he stood compared to this Lord, but he wasn’t here to start fights. Still, he would like to know that he could fight if he needed to. His Cultivation was still far too small for his liking, but he had been following the same path that the monster was, cycling and reinforcing his core. He had a lot of Essence Crystals in his ring, which he had learned he could sell here, so he had been cycling every night, expanding his core. He didn’t need to sleep every day—he could go for two or three days without sleep—so he was taking advantage. And with the much greater amount of ambient Essence here, it went faster than on Earth. He had also learned that there are places here where the Essence density was even greater, and that those places were sought by powerful Cultivators from all over the world.

“So, how much longer do you think you will need to reach level sixty?” Zach asked.

“A few more days,” Qiyanna said. “Three at the most.”

“Very well. After that, you will take me to the town. Deal?”

“Of course,” Urda answered.

“Good,” Zach said. Only a few more days.