image [https://i.imgur.com/JZtknwC.jpeg]

The Cloudlands

High above the earth lie the Cloudlands, a land of solid clouds where the elements of the land are scarce.

Space rank: 1

Rank 1 enemies may now appear

Rank 0 elites may now appear.

Cluster rank: 1

Variant enemies may now appear

Once again, Will found himself standing on a cloud. It looked just like the cloud roads in the Cloud Kingdom Space. Two meters wide, slightly springy beneath his feet, and completely flat.

The one difference Will could see was that the cloud road he was standing on was made out of white cloudstuff, while the other cloud roads were grey.

The cluster rank must be from my earlier quest on the Cloud Kingdom, but this is my first time here, which means that the other guy must have finished a quest here. Which makes my life harder, but I’m stronger than I’ve been last time I was on a ranked-up Space. I’ll need to take care, but it should be fine.

Main quest

Slay 5 Stormbeasts.

Reward:

Space rank-up

100 XP

1 aspect shard

That’s new. Never seen an aspect shard on one of these quests before. And the XP reward is higher than I’d expected too. Is this because the Space is ranked up, so I’m getting a harder quest?

But if that’s how it works, how come I didn’t get that in the Ruins Space when that guy ranked it up? Or is that because I was already in the middle of a quest?

Either way, this means we’re competing for resources, in addition to making life harder for each other. Which also means that I can’t afford to give up on quests. Going to have to deal with that volcano somehow.

But that’s a problem for another day. For now, I’m hunting Stormbeasts. Be vewy vewy quiet!

Will moved along the cloud road, following a couple of meters behind his Wild Sage. After five minutes of walking, the road led him to a cloud clearing. Like the clearings in the Cloud Kingdom, the clearing just suddenly appeared when Will stepped into it, having been completely invisible until then. Already familiar with the behavior of the cloud Spaces, Will walked unsurprised into the clearing.

A mountain made out of cloudstuff rose up in front of Will. There was no way forward other than up, but the mountain’s slope was just shallow enough that Will would be able to climb. At least, he’d be able to climb using the zigzagging trail that seemed to be a direct continuation of the cloud road. The problem with trying to climb the mountain was going to be the goat.

It was about twenty meters above Will, standing directly on the trail and chewing cud. It was, of course, made out of cloudstuff, and was white enough that it was almost impossible to see against the white mountain. It was ignoring Will’s presence for now, but he expected that to change as soon as he tried to approach it.

Unfortunately, climbing without using the trail was not something a wombat would be able to do.

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Yeah, I’m sure that fighting a goat on the side of a mountain is a good idea. Especially when falling off the mountain means falling off the cloud. Don’t think I want to play this game. Lucky I’ve got a cheat code.

Will cast his new Thunder Ball skill, choosing to use the ball option for the higher damage output. The skill looked the same as it did before it was changed from Shock Ball, and Will was suddenly worried that he’d wasted his copper bits on a useless upgrade.

And then the ball hit the goat, and exploded into a burst of electricity, accompanied by a lout clap of thunder.

I guess it makes sense for Sonic to have no effect on how the spell looks, Will thought, while waiting for a cloud of… cloudstuff to clear from the site of the explosion.

Of course, before the cloud had a chance to settle, a rather irate goat stomped its way out, jumping rapidly between footholds only a goat would consider, on its way to headbutt the offending wombat. Will had just barely enough time to notice a large chunk of missing cloudstuff from the goat’s haunch, testifying to his new aspect’s power, before the goat got to close for any more observations. Will cast Thunder Ball again, this time in burst mode.

The clap of thunder sounded all around Will, deafening and almost stunning him. The effect on the goat, however, was far bigger. The attacking beast was thrown away from Will, far further than he’d expected something of that size to fly. Then again, it was made out of clouds, which probably meant it had a lot less mass than he’d have expected. Will took advantage of the effect of his skill, and hit the goat with another ball-shaped Thunder Ball.

The third skill was enough to finish off the goat, and Will got the expected kill messages.

Cloudbeast slain!

Gained 5 XP

Or, at least, one of the expected kill messages.

No quest advancement message? Wait, it said “Cloudbeast”, not “Stormbeast”. But there’s only one kind of monster in every Space, isn’t there?

No, wait. The Space ranked up, so there are rank one monsters here now. Does that mean that Cloudbeasts are rank zero and Stormbeasts are rank one? That would explain the higher XP reward, I guess. But it definitely makes my life harder.

Still, getting an aspect would make the harder quest worth it. Onwards and upwards, I guess.

The dead goat did yield the same type of Living Cloud as the Cloudkin, except that since Will’s Harvester skill was now at expert tier, the loot was good quality, rather than average.

Climbing up the cloud mountain was not at all fun. Will’s stubby little wombat feet we definitely not optimized for mountain climbing. Especially while wearing plate armor. Will found himself having to stop and rest every five minutes or so, making the climb take a lot longer than he would have liked.

Which actually turned out to be in Will’s favor, since it meant that he’d gotten back to full mana by the time he’d realized that there was more than one goat on the mountain.

Unfortunately for Will, between the fact that he was concentrating on climbing the mountain and grumbling about it, and the fact that the white goats were very hard to see against the cloud mountain’s whiteness, he’d realized it only after the second goat headbutted him down the mountain.

Rolling down a mountain made of clouds, with the prospect of a several thousand kilometers drop if he rolled over the edge, was another one of those experiences that Will would have been happy to avoid. And he did manage to avoid the whole “going over the edge and falling to his death” part, by sticking every single one of his claws into the ground.

The fact that the goat was busy defending itself from Will’s extremely persistent Wild Sage also helped, since it kept the cloudbeast too busy to keep attacking him.

Somewhat battered, Will caught himself a mere meter away from the edge of the cloud clearing, and immediately started sending Thunder Balls at the goat. Away from melee range, and with its surprise headbutt attack out of the way, the second goat died as easily as the first, and Will harvested it for another Living Cloud before going back to climbing.

A lot slower, and a lot more cautiously.

Which, of course, turned out to be completely pointless, since it turned out that the second goat was the last one in that particular clearing, and a wary and weary wombat, upon reaching the top, flopped down with a groan, prepared to take a well-deserved rest.

Can I go back to the caves instead, please? I liked the caves!

There was, of course, no answer. And after lazing around for half an hour, Will picked himself up and moved out of the clearing and back to the cloud road.

The next clearing held a forest. The trees were, of course, made out of white cloudstuff, and looked more like cotton candy than like actual trees, but it was still very easily recognizable as a forest.

Will was barely inside the clearing when he saw the first of the resident monsters. It was shaped like a boar, and was a lot easier to find than the goats were. Mostly because it was green.

It was still made out of cloudstuff, of course. Just… Green cloudstuff.

Which, as far as Will knew, meant that it was either a variant, an elite, or one of the tier one Stormbeasts he was looking for. He assumed it was a variant, but the truth was that it didn’t matter which of the three options it was, since Will would have to kill it anyway.

A Thunder Ball started the fight, followed by the boar charging at Will, and Will getting out of its way and launching another Thunder Ball.

Rince and repeat, and the third cast was enough to kill the boar, which turned out to be an “Acid Cloudbeast”, and only worth the standard five experience.

It did drop a bottle of living acid, in addition to the standard living cloud. Which was a nice bonus, considering the fact that it barely qualified as a challenge.

Yeah, definitely a variant. At least this one was less annoying than that stone slime.

The clearing also contained a regular Cloudbeast boar, which Will took down with just as much ease before walking out of the clearing and back to the cloud road.