CHAPTER 14

Kopius woke up to a stiff body, neck and mind. He had to peel his makeshift pillow, his sword sheath, from his face when he first awoke. The early morning light creeped about the small space, and Cici sat by the fire, stirring in his pot.

“Top of the morning to you, Kopius!” Cici seemed to yell.

Great, he’s a morning person, Kopius lamented silently.

Kopius gave him a nod and tried to stretch his knots out. The morning was cool and brisk, but the small fire balanced out the temperature. Kopius located the small pouch he had and removed one of the two remaining marshromo. He ate it and threw the peel into the fire.

“What do you have there?” Cici inquired.

“Marshromo.” Kopius answered, possibly butchering the name.

“Marshromo?” Cici said with some surprise. “You do not come across that every day! I would not mind mixing up a meal with one of those.” He returned to his stirring, but Kopius could see the wheels turning.

Cici had taken off his large jacket and now wore a sleeveless shirt. His arms were indeed large, Kopius noticed, but not defined. From his angle, Kopius guessed that Cici was leaning more towards a dad bod than a Mr. Universe contestant. Nevertheless, the man had picked Kopius off the ground as though he was a small child. He removed the last slice of marshromo and offered it to Cici.

“This is all I have left. You want it?” Kopius said, holding the small slice out.

“I would happily take that off your hands. What do you want for it?” Cici said with a twinkle in his eye.

“Nothing,” Kopius replied. ”You can have it.”

“Those are rare to come by, you know,” Cici said.

“You mentioned that. How about a trade for the eyebright?” Kopius offered.

“Those can be found at the next river you come across,” Cici said with a laugh.

“How about payment for safe passage though your garden?” Kopius suggested.

“I am not some bridge troll!” Cici scoffed.

“Just take it then. I’m sure Oh-jin has more.” Kopius said, flustered. Without another word, Cici took the quartered fruit and placed it inside the bag that had held his cooking pot.

“I can make quite the meal out of this, you know. Powerful rations,” Cici said as he removed the pot from the fire. “Tell you what, I will save one for you.”

“One of what?” Kopius asked.

“Whatever I make. Trust me, you will not be disappointed!” Cici said as he dove into his meal.

Kopius worried that Cici would want him to wait to finish whatever the man was excited to make. He was anxious to get back to Oh-jin and hopefully put this whole experience behind him. With a fresh round of marshromo replenishing his system, Kopius wanted to get a move on.

“I don’t know that I can collect on that,” Kopius started. ”I need to head back soon, and if things go right, well, I’ll be home.”

“True enough,” Cici conceded, finishing his food. “But if you find your stay is longer than expected, the closest village, Feral Crossing, is about a day's walk from here. You go straight out this valley and head downstream at the first river you meet. It is a sty of a place but it’s home, for now.” Cici paused to think, ”At least until I figure a way out of my current, ah, situation.”

“Is that the love song thing?” Kopius guessed, to which Cici nodded, repeating the heart-removing gesture.

“There is a small tavern I frequent, The Ring Worm,” Cici started to explain. ”There is only one in the place, so you cannot miss it. Come find me and we will share an ale.” A blank window popped into Kopius’s field of vision. It had been a while since it last occurred, and it startled him.

“Relax, friend,” Cici said with a laugh. ”I am not asking for your hand in marriage!”

Kopius willed the window shut, and when it did, he guessed it was not a quest. The pop-up window lacked the glittering bronze border like the one he saw when accepting his first quest from Oh-jin. Bronze glitter border equals ‘quest’. Got it, Kopius thought. With one possible mystery solved, Kopius returned to the conversation.

“Did you offer me a quest?” Kopius asked.

“Ha, no!” Cici exclaimed. “I invited you to a drink.” Confused a little, Kopius let the matter slide.

“Alright-um, I can’t have that drink if I get killed by your traps. Maybe you should take me through that?” Kopius said. Cici produced a piece of paper from his groin area and handed it to Kopius. “Add this to your map,” the man said.

“I don’t have a map,” Kopius stated, patting himself down as though he’d once had one.

“Ah, that’s right. You cannot see anything,” Cici replied, scratching at his beard. ”Try looking at your profile and ‘thinking’ of a map.” Kopius shrugged and opened his page. “Ok” Kopius said before he relayed in frustration that nothing happened.

“You have to relax your mind, like you are ready for a midday nap. I swear, I thought you were tense when we met because of the trap. Now I might think otherwise. You are trying too hard. And you do not have to close your eyes either. You look like you are struggling with a turd.”

“Okay, okay,” Kopius conceded with a laugh. ”Eyes open, no clenching.” He relaxed as best he could, opened his profile window, and focused his mind on the word “map.” In two breaths, his name and level disappeared.

“What the hell?” Kopius whispered in annoyance.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

“Do you have a map?” Cici asked.

“No, no my name and level disappeared. There’s a window there,” Kopius said, waving his arm through the translucent window, ”But nothing else. How do I go back– to my profile?”

“As you normally would,” Cici replied with a shrug. “Same as the map, really.”

Kopius thought of his profile page, and his name with the level next to it returned. That’s cool, Kopius remarked. He thought of the word ‘map’, and the same thing occurred as the first time he had done it. This time, maybe because of his line of sight, Kopius saw three tiny, red dots hovering in the windowpane.

“Wait a minute. I see dots. Red dots,” Kopius said curiously, squinting to try and get a closer look.

“You do have a map!” Cici exclaimed, clapping his hands together.

“No, no map. Just three red dots,” Kopius answered. He flipped back and forth a few more times. The red dots were always there in the same spot when returning to the map. If the map is there and I just can’t see it… Kopius thought. “When you look at your own map, where are you on the map?”

“Is this a riddle?” Cici replied.

“No. When you look at your map, are you positioned in the center of it?” Kopius asked.

“Well, yes,” Cici answered.

Kopius gave the information some thought and then regarded the blank window of the ‘map’. Keeping his eyes on the group of red dots, Kopius began to rotate in place. He spun a slow, full circle in both directions before stopping; the red dots moved in relation to which way Kopius was facing. Ok, cool, Kopius thought. Now, if I have calculated this correctly…

“I think I might have something here,” Kopius said, still math-a-matizing his bearings. “Your traps are right over there.” He pointed to the other side of the small garden.

“You are a bit off, lad,” Cici said with a chuckle. “They are past the pile of stumps, like I told you last night.”

He threw his thumb over his shoulder, the opposite direction Kopius had pointed. Kopius readjusted his ‘calculations’. He faced the stump pile and walked towards it.

“Climb over and have a look,” Cici shouted over his shoulder as he began to break down camp. Kopius climbed the medium-sized pile, careful not to trip, and looked over it. To his surprise, the area on the other side lit up with dozens of faintly glowing, red dots.

“Are all these traps?” Kopius yelled in exacerbation. He could see a path through the red dots, but he would have to tread carefully to navigate through.

“Yes, they are,” Cici shouted back slowly, a bit of pride seeping through his words.

“It only showed me three dots!” Kopius protested, stumbling off the pile.

“You have to adjust your map to have a closer look,” Cici answered.

“Zoom in?”

“Like a spy glass? Yes, zoom in.” Cici replied.

Kopius opened his map, focused on the three red dots, and thought of the word ‘zoom’. Nothing happened. He thought ‘zoom in’, ‘closer’, ‘nearer!’ and ‘SHOW YOURSELF!’

Nothing.

He took a deep breath, and instead of trying to bring the red dots to him, he imagined going to the red dots. It worked. Sometimes you gotta take the fight to them, Kopius thought with some satisfaction. He stopped zooming in once he felt that he was at a proper distance and then looked over the pile again. “Does this work on all traps?”

“If you know the traps are there, yes,” Cici answered, finishing his packing.

“And I can see these because you showed me?” Kopius inquired.

“That is correct. They only turn red if you know they are there, someone showed you, or you happened to notice it.”

“So if I have to come back this way, will I still be able to see these traps?” Kopius asked to be sure.

“Yes, once you are close enough to them, they will appear. The distance varies, but I do know the more traps you find on your own, the stronger your Skill to locate them becomes,” Cici answered.

It sounds as though Cici is talking about Skill progression. I wonder if I have a Skill window like my map, Kopius mused.

“You’re saying that if I can find enough traps on my own, I’ll be able to find them all?” Kopius asked, pushing his other thoughts to the side.

“No, I am saying finding more traps makes you more likely to spot a trap. The traps will find you just fine,” Cici answered with a grin. Kopius glanced at the row of plants but did not see any red dots.

“Why can’t I see the trap over your plants? I mean, I know it’s there,” Kopius said, gesturing to where he'd been trapped.

“That is a magic barrier,” Cici said with a little laugh. ”At the core of it, it is just a barrier. A wall to separate us from them. After enough time and use, I was able to enhance it and add the stick function. So, it is not really a trap at its core.”

So many questions ran through Kopius’s mind after hearing the explanation. He wanted to know what kind of magic it was and how he learned it, if there were levels for progression, and if so, what level would the enhancement happen. Ultimately, though, he remembered his predicament and kept the questions to himself.

“Alright, cool,” Kopius started as he gathered his meager belongings. “Thanks for the… ah, thanks for not killing me?” Kopius said as a half-question, shrugging.

Cici laughed heartily and slapped Kopius on his shoulder.

“Any time my boy! Do not forget that drink,” Cici said enthusiastically.

With that, Kopius found his bearings and started to retrace his steps back to Oh-jin.

It took a little over two hours for Kopius to find the mouth of the cave he had climbed out of. In the beginning of his walk, he had watched the red dots on his map. They had disappeared within a few moments of him leaving the small glen, and though he could not see through the dense, dead forest he guessed he had traveled ten paces before they were gone.

“Ten paces at about six foot strides,” Kopius had calculated aloud, ”puts me at about thirty yards. You know what, we will say twenty yards to play it safe.” The rest of his journey back he attempted to open other virtual windows like he had done with his map. In his mind he tried to focus on words like Magic, Abilities, and Skills. When those didn’t produce anything, he tried variations, like Proficiency, Talent, and Expertise. By the time he had climbed up to the cave and reached the wooden platform, his mental thesaurus had long run dry. Kopius donned the pair of gloves Oh-jin had given him and steadied himself for the descent.

He lowered himself at a slow, steady pace, not wanting to entice gravity to take the reins. Before his hands could cramp up, he’d reached the bottom of the lift and exited the small alcove to an empty room. Light danced from the door at the end of the hall that Kopius knew to be the lab. He headed in that direction, passing by two closed doors before coming to a third that was ajar.

Soft light emanated through all the cracks and crevices in and around the door. Kopius peeked through one to see what could be seen. From his limited view, he could make out all sorts of books thrown about on the floor. A crude, half-empty bookshelf rested against a wall. He heard the sound of a book closing shut before he saw the object slide across the floor. After hearing an audible sigh from inside the room, Kopius knocked a few times before opening the door.

Oh-jin sat at a wooden bench, surrounded by more crudely made bookshelves in similar disarray as the first he saw. The small room had a spattering of books tossed about. Most found a new home on the ground, while a handful lay on the small cot opposite the door. There had to be over one hundred texts in total, half still on their respective shelves. Oh-jin turned his bald head to look at Kopius and smiled.