“So basically, factions with planetary-level holdings need to keep climbing in the Arena, or they risk losing rank, being dissolved, and their holdings being liquidated. As a faction squad climbs, it gets a ranking based on floors cleared, time to clear those floors, performance within the floors, etc. Basically, if they can find a way to measure it, yer gonna get it added into yer ranking. Now, here’s where the problem comes in. That ranking it’s attached to yer highest floor achieved. Well, those scores deteriorate. The longer it takes ya to clear the next one, the faster they start to drop. That means if ya ain’t climbing fast enough, ya start to go backward, and with that comes giant penalties to yer ranking, making ya fall even faster,” Mel explained. Great, so I was going to be stuck playing Arena games well past our initial ten levels then since we weren’t likely able to recruit a full squad anytime soon.
“Can you climb back up after being knocked down?” I asked.
“Ya can, but it ain’t that easy. Ya won’t be going up against the same squads ya did before. Yer now in the falling brackets, along with other squads in their descent, and ta make it even worse, the bigger factions can field multiple squads. So they often keep what’s called a drop squad for the sole purpose of wiping out any up-and-coming faction they think may be an issue or just don’t like. Normally, as ya climb, ya won’t get paired against anyone that much outta yer league, but that won’t be true for climbing back up. If someone fell from the hundredth floor back to the ninth and yer climbing back up to the ninth from the tenth, you can and will go against them. The good news is that this ain’t really our problem to worry about at all now,” Mel said. I really didn’t understand the purpose of any of this. I know they had said it was lost to time, but why kill so many of their strongest channelers like this? Or was that exactly the point? Had the system been set up to make it that much harder for prodigies to come along and rock the boat? That was something to strongly consider with the maelstrom we seemed to be stuck in.
“Let’s say we manage to pull this off, clear floor ten, and really establish the terribly named Empire of Dave. Then what? How often do we have to keep climbing?” I asked, hoping it wasn’t that often.
“Too many factors to say, but there’s likely gonna be times y’all want to climb fast for certain prizes. For the most part, I doubt yer gonna be forced to do more than ten levels a year, and even that is more than most factions do. There ain’t really any factions of our size to compare with, though. Now, if yer asking what we’re gonna do outside the Arena, well, that’s a good question. I vote we table that discussion ‘til it’s relevant, though,” Mel said.
“Fine, but one more question I need answered. Elody, What made you want to sign up with us? Why risk your life like this?” I asked. While I had been glad to see her and have her legal knowledge on our side, I really didn’t understand why she would risk her freedom for our essentially worthless faction.
“I’m honestly unsure if I can give you an answer you would find entirely satisfactory. There are so many facets of the Spiral you’ve never experienced or likely even fully heard of, adding to the difficulty in answering your question; I’ll try, though. There are a multitude of events that pushed me in this direction. One of the most profound and most recent events was being forced out of my position as master librarian,” Elody said, starting her explanation before I interrupted.
“I’m sorry that happened,” I felt partially responsible, even if I knew logically that it wasn’t my fault or that there was anything I could have done to change the outcome.
“I appreciate the sentiment, which is partially why I chose to join this new faction when Mel reached out to me for assistance. As for another reason, let me propose a situation to you,” Elody said.
“Go for it,” I said, wondering what hypothetical she was about to hit me with.
“This is a two-part proposal, so please listen to both questions before answering me. I have a rather large personal library, and while it isn’t nearly the size of the Archives of Gortrin, It does include books I would never have risked shelving there due to situations that you yourself have witnessed. I wish to establish, initially privately, a library here. I assume you can already see the benefits of growing our strength potentially by utilizing that knowledge. So, will you support me in seeking out sources of information as I learn clues to their whereabouts in order to add them to the faction library? Furthermore, I do not like the idea of a private library, so once we have the power to defend it, will you be willing to support me in turning the library public?” Elody asked both of her questions. While I had already been considering establishing a library here, this seemed like it had the potential to move that along much further than I’d have expected so quickly.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
“Well, considering I had already wanted to start our own library, yeah, I’m entirely behind the idea. Question though, when you say seek out knowledge, is that one of the functions of your class?” I asked, not sure I had phrased my question exactly right.
“It’s the way that I’ve built my own pathway. Paladins of knowledge focus on some aspects of information retention and understanding. This manifested in a lifelong pursuit of just that. I found my passion and subsequent pathway in the idea of knowledge itself. The archiving, replication, and dissemination of collected knowledge is something I strive for. To that end, before I served as the master librarian, I spent many decades hunting down supposedly lost works, collecting records, interviewing scientists, even working with the paladins of conservation, essentially anything you can imagine to make an attempt to keep knowledge from being lost,” She answered. I could get behind that. Who didn’t love the Indiana Jones movies? Well, maybe not the last two.
“Alright then, I think I understand now. Partially, you have nowhere else to go anymore, thanks to the pushback against free trade of knowledge, and while we don’t really have anything to offer you yet, we have the potential to offer you everything,” I said, smiling. It made a lot of sense. We were a brand new faction and, for the most part, had no idea how any of this was supposed to work, let alone an idea of how it actually would work. So Elody had a real chance to influence our growth toward her own goals, goals which I, for the most part, shared.
“Hey, are you all in here?” the voice of Pryte called from the other side of the front door.
“Yes, get yer ass in here with those orbs,” Mel yelled back through it. The door immediately swung open to reveal the small man carrying a stack of paper. He quickly sat the stack down on a clear surface and then materialized two class orbs in his hands.
“Here,” he said as he passed them over to the twinogs’ outstretched hands. They both looked overjoyed to finally have them.
“Perfect. You two, socket those immediately. Pryte, I want us registered for the first seven floors as soon as possible, preferably tomorrow, but no earlier. Then, if they find at least two people to sign on for our idiotic idea, register them for floor eight two days after that. I was considering trying to get the squad registered for today, but I wanna give them a rundown on all’a the first seven floors before tonight and get these two prepared with a class,” Mel said, barking the orders at Pryte, who didn’t even flinch. He seemed used to these types of communications, honestly.
“I already figured we’d be registering immediately, just didn’t know the planned days. I have all the paperwork there. I’ll get it filled out and submitted. I don’t see any reason I can’t have them ready to go tomorrow morning. So make sure you all get plenty of rest and are ready to go first thing, as the porter won’t wait on us, and if we miss it, there’s a huge fine. Which, I assume, we cannot afford to pay,” Pryte said.
“No, we cannot. We’ll be awake and ready. Just let us know the exact time when you get back,” I said. Pryte nodded before disappearing back out of the door he had come in from.
“We got real lucky with Pryte. If he weren’t in so much danger, no way in hell we ever coulda afforded someone of his skill to handle the paper pushing, but more importantly, you two get those orbs in and pick yer damn classes already,” Mel said, turning to the twinogs. I watched both of the class orbs disappear into their bodies before they went entirely silent for a few minutes. No one else spoke, either too enraptured by this new sight or, much more likely because we were all tired of Mel’s yelling.
“Huh, Elody, I have an option for a class called Paladin of Agriculture. It looks a lot better than the others. They’re all either fighting or plain farming classes, but I don’t know anything really about being a paladin,” Cecile said, breaking the silence.
“Choose that. Do not even consider anything else. The last Paladin of Agriculture fell without passing on his class. The System is giving you a chance at a lost class, Cecile,” She said. I could figure out what a lost class was by context. It was good to see I wasn’t the only one to get special System treatment.
“You heard her, pick it!” Mel yelled. Neither of twinogs responded. Instead, they started to convulse.
----------------------------------------
----------------------------------------
All I ever wanted to do was to feed everyone. Every single being. I wanted to elevate this existence beyond the constant push against starvation. While I didn’t understand the pushback at first, it became clear in the end. Not everyone considered it a benefit for children to no longer starve in the street.
The Last Recorded Interview with Jornlorn Rown, the last known Paladin of Agriculture