World Gate: Minecube - Random Unnamed Mountain

Hex bounced alongside Skel and Dracala over a landscape strewn with cuboidal boulders and stones. There was little greenery here, as they were fairly high up on a mountainside looking over the distant world below.

Skel had volunteered to be their Party leader, but that had always been the plan as far as Hex was concerned. He wasn’t eager to make up an explanation for his extensive waypoint area again. And besdies, Skel’s waypoints proved to give them plenty of freedom too.

Interestingly, as a member of someone else’s Party, Hex now had the yellow waypoint areas on his map like everyone else, though none were visible to his naked eye.

Does that mean I can still travel beyond the waypoints? And the System is just providing me visual representation of my Party’s limits?

They were essentially granted the entire mountainside to explore—minus a few excluded pockets here and there. Hex had no intention of going near one of those again any time soon.

"We need to find out which tower houses the Humanoid dorms," Skel said. He’d taken the long trek as an opportunity to brainstorm revenge plans against the ‘unknown’ Humanoids who’d strung them up and poisoned the zombies.

"I can fly around the castle at night. See if I can peek into any windows," Dracala offered.

"That’s perfect! Once we know where they are we can formulate a plan to sneek in."

"We don’t even know who we’re supposed to get revenge against," Hex said, even though he knew.

"Barely an inconvenience," Skel said. "We’ll figure that out soon enough."

This was exactly what Hex was afraid of. It wouldn’t surprise him if Skel assigned blame randomly, just so they could fight back in some small way. Then things would snowball out of control from there.

From what Talara and the other mentors had told them, a cure had been identified and there was already a Quest assignment underway to retrieve the ingredients from one of the Gates. If the zombies woke up, maybe this would all be behind them.

Or at least, he hoped it’d be behind the rest of them.

Hex wouldn’t forget so easily. Not after witnessing it first hand. Not after what Garo did to Rupert’s axe.

He’d still have his revenge, but it would take time. And he’d have to be smart about it.

If the orc knew anything suspicious was his doing, Hex would be as good as dead.

Occasionally, he considered telling someone of authority the truth. But most important people around the Academy were Humanoids. And the guilty members included royalty. Surely, that accusation wouldn’t go over well.

Shaman Ravine would likely believe him—she had said to come to her with anything. But what power did she have to do anything?

Hex sighed, giving up on that train of thought for now.

He was in an entirely different world, and here he was consumed by thoughts of petty revenge and navigating social dynamics of the Academy.

Try to enjoy the moment. Look where you are!

They’d nearly reached a small peak in the mountain. A cool breeze blew through the cloudless sky, chilling his appendages. Below, the world stretched out as far as he could see. Lush—albeit cubic—forests, crystal blue lakes, and dark mysterious caverns.

He’d never seen a landscape from so high up before and felt a sudden pang of jeaousy that Dracala could have this breathtaking view anytime she wanted.

The climb was getting steeper and Hex let out a heavy breath. "Gnoll farts, this is exhausting…"

"You gotta get more creative with your swears, my friend," Skel said, not even breaking a sweat from the climb. "If you wanna stick with the gnoll track, at least go with something like ‘dangling gnoll anal fungus.’"

Dracala stuck out her tongue. "That’s disgusting."

"If you’re not into that, insults to the Creator are always good too. It’s not blasphemy if it’s funny."

Hex recalled his one interaction with the Creator during his dip in the Halcyon. He’d probably find them hilarious anyway…

Finally, they crested the top of the mountain.

The terrain on the other side dipped down a slope, then flattened into a small valley between this and the next peak. Cubes of snow coated the ground.

And a giant stoney castle rested in the center.

Hex simply stared at the structure for a moment. It was similar in style to the other one he’d found with Yolo and the others, but this one was much more grand. "Do you suppose we…?"

"Yup," Skel said. "That’s why we’re here, isn’t it? Battle Heroes or die trying."

Dracala fluttered up and landed on Skel’s head. "Once night comes, the waypoints were probably going to direct us here anyway. May as well get the party started early."

"Right-o," Skel said as he brushed a hand over his head to shoo Dracala into the air. "Let’s do this."

It didn’t take long to decend the slope.

No one was waiting on the castle wall to greet them with arrows this time. In fact, the door to the structure was left wide open.

Hex considered himself an amateur castle connoisseur. One book Ruben had brought back from a resupply trip to Humanoid Territory was all about the different style castles across the World Gates. It was more of a manual than a children’s book, but Hex remembered flipping through the pages endlessly, dreaming about someday battling Heroes on the ramparts.

Well, here I am. Standing a few steps from that reality.

Grey cobbled stone cubes were used to construct the towers and battlements, but there were a few places that appeared to be missing large chunks and the ground within was still grass.

Hex checked his minimap to see if any yellow dots were hiding inside. With his passive ability Disperse Fog of War, he should’ve been able to see anyone within the castle, even without direct line of sight—assuming he understood the description correctly. But there was no one.

Are there actually no Heroes defending this castle?

"Hello!" Skel shouted so loud it made Hex jump. The word echoed several times off the mountaintops.

They all waited with bated breath.

No response. No motion. No activity of any kind.

"Alright," Skel said. "We’re going in, but stay cautious."

Hex stared up at the tall stone wall as they passed through the open gate uncontested.

Still no sign of any Heroes.

The only sound was the cool breeze whistling between the castle towers. Hex shivered, but not from the cold.

Skel and Dracala remained silent, so he did the same, despite the dozens of questions spinning arond his head.

Is this place abandoned? If not, why did they leave the door open? It’s possible this location is so remote that they felt safe leaving the place unattended. And it’s daytime, so they wouldn’t necessarily expect a Monster horde to strike.

But if that were the case, and the castle wasn’t abandoned… it meant the Heroes were probably somewhere nearby.

And they’d be back.

Hex and his friends snuck around the inside edges of the castle until they were fairly certain no one was home, then they set about exploring.

Hex expressed his concern about the Heroes who built it returning, and Dracala offered to fly up every few minutes to scout the surrounding area for any signs of them.

It didn’t take long before they found themselves in the main building in the back center of the castle, which had a set of stairs traversing multiple floors. There were beds, other assorted furniture, an entire room of storage crates, and still-lit torches strategically placed to light the rooms.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Whoever lives here hasn’t been gone long.

The floor with the storage turned out to be the most interesting. All three of them dug into different crates, examining the various items within.

Hex discovered an entire bin of mining equipment. He hefted a pickaxe over his shoulder and placed a yellow helmet with a funny flameless light on his head.

"How do I look?" he asked, posing with the axe resting on his shoulder.

Skel and Dracala both shook their heads, but the System graced him with a reply.

[Weapon acquired: Pickaxe.]

[Your Proficiency with one-handed weapons is 0.]

[Weapon damage reduced to basic attack equivalence.]

"Aww… lame."

"What?" Dracala asked.

"Apparently my weapon Proficiency is too low to use it."

Skel walked over and squinted at the axe. "I don’t think that’s true. It doesn’t say there’s any Proficiency requirement."

"So I can use it?"

"It just won’t deal true damage until your Proficiency increases."

"So, how do I—Actually… That’s a dumb question."

You increase Proficiency by actually using the weapon. That should’ve been obvious.

"Some weapons also have Level and Race requirements," Skel added. "But not this."

"What happens if you try to use a weapon beyond your Level?" Dracala asked, picking up a small knife from the chest.

Skel shrugged. "No idea. Looks like most of the weapons in Minecube don’t have restrictions. We can’t bring them back home or to other worlds anyway, so it’s mostly useless."

Hex turned away to hide the grin on his face. Maybe you can’t take them back home… But I sure can—assuming the rumors Professor Blackbeard mentioned about Waywalkers are true.

He threw a bunch of stuff in his inventory, but quickly noticed the little circle around his inventory icon filling up. The closer it got to 100%, the more sluggish he felt until he was completely encumbered and could barely slide his body across the floor, let alone bounce.

He deposited most of the items back, keeping a select few that actually seemed useful.

The next box he opened contained a bunch of colorful little triangle flags on sticks. He almost closed the lid, thinking they were simple decorations, but he accidentally focused on one too long and a name popped up.

[Respawn Flag - Uncommon - Single Use - 10 Count. Creates a respawn point where the user will spawn upon next return to the world.]

He added those to his inventory and returned the three Iron Shovels he’d taken.

At some point, Dracala had flown out through the window for a perimeter check. "Hey guys," she said through the semi-telepathic communication they’d discovered Party members could use with one another.

Hex could only hear her in his head, just like when he ‘spoke’ with Florimell. It differed in that the speaker still had to talk aloud while holding the Party Stone. They’d tried it when they were all walking together, but for some reason the Stones just made this weird tinny, echoing that sounded like the world was ending and made Hex want to rip the earholes from his head.

It worked much better when they kept physically out of earshot.

"Hey, Dracala, how’s the view?" Hex asked.

"We’ve got company," she said.

Hex stood still against the stone wall of the castle, which up close was obviously made from hundreds of grey cubes, as he watched the pair of yellow dots move closer on his mini map.

Thanks to his Disperse Fog of War ability, he could see the Heroes approaching on the other side of the castle wall, even though he couldn’t actually see them. Two other pairs of Heroes had separated and ventured to another part of the castle wall too far for him to see on his minimap.

Hex hid near a small portcullis at the rear of the castle, inside the first floor of a large keep-like structure. It was likely meant to be an escape route in the event enemies stormed the front gate. Not today, though.

The two yellow dots on his map were nearly at the door now.

He quickly pulled out his Hero’s Guide To Monsters book and activated it, which simply required flipping a few pages—not even reading. He’d forgotten about it every encounter before, but not this time. Now, at least if there were a battle and he died, he’d provide double the EXP to the Heroes and double the Heroic Energy for him in return.

It was too late to run. They’d surely catch up with him before he could escape down the hall and find a place to hide—even with my pumped up dexterity.

There was only one thing he could do.

He pressed himself flatter against the stone wall and waited.

Shortly after, a pair of human Heroes stalked past, holding their weapons ready.

Hex remained motionless. They didn’t even see him, despite coming within a breath of his face.

These Umbral Bracer skills are even more amazing than I originally thought! He was tempted to jump out and attack them from his stealthy position, but he still had horrendous strength and defense. Even with the element of surprise, he knew that if he faced two Heroes, they’d probably decapitate him in seconds.

The Heroes continued around a corner and headed toward a staircase.

Hex watched their dots continue up on his map. Somewhere above, he knew Skel was in hiding. The light blue dot that showed Party members was almost directly atop his own.

He was already spoiled being able to see everything on his mini map. How does anyone even survive a day without this skill?

After a few seconds, he followed the Heroes, his stealth camouflage shimmering away. With the upgraded dexterity and stealth stats, he moved relatively silently up the stairs behind them.

It wasn’t long before he heard yelling above and the clash of swords.

I guess the time for stealth is over.

He bounced up the remaining stairs as fast as he could—which was much faster than he ever had before thanks to the points he’d added to dexterity from his Level ups.

A room opened up at the top level. Skel had been backed into a corner by the two Heroes, but he’d reduced the health of one down to almost nothing—probably with his initial attack from wherever he’d been hiding.

One Hero jabbed, but Skel blocked it with a rusty sword of his own. He’d earned the weapon in his Welcome Box, which was pretty nice of the System, considering the skeleton’s starting skills were mostly based on sword strikes.

Skel took damage from another strike at his ribcage. He ignored it and performed a large overhead swing, taking a significant chunk from the second Hero’s health.

Hex still hadn’t been noticed. He charged at the Hero with health basically at zero and bounced with as much force as he could muster.

His body slammed into the Hero’s back and they both tumbled to the floor.

The Hero didn’t get up.

[Achievement Unlocked: First Kill - You defeated your first Hero.]

[Rewards:

Common Hero Box

10 Heroic Energy]

Hex stood there for a moment, completely flabbergasted. He hadn’t expected to actually defeat the Hero, even with so little Health remaining.

Skel and the second Hero also paused their battle, staring at him.

But not for long.

The Hero swung at Hex. He squished himself to the floor, barely dodging the horizontal strike as it whooshed over his head.

Skel stabbed the Hero twice in the stomach and he fell. Dead.

There were no other notification or announcements for their victory, but Hex knew whatever multiplier there was for experience was going up and he’d reap the rewards once a Hero defeated him.

"Not bad," Skel said, tapping the rusty sword on Hex’s head.

"You did all the hard work," Hex said.

Another notification popped up and they both froze.

[A Party member is in trouble.]

Hex bounced to the window as fast he could.

And watched Dracala fall from the sky.

Without even thinking he dove from the window, stretching out his appendages.

But Dracala was too far away, and he’d timed the jump poorly.

He thudded into the gound in the open castle courtyard, Health dropping down to a quarter from is already half full bar thanks to the Corruption.

Dracala’s limp body landed nearby, then dissolved into teal shards.

I actually thought I could catch her. What the gnoll’s anal fungus-whatever was I thinking?

The four other Heroes stood near the main entrance to the castle. Two had bows, with new arrows already notched and aimed at Hex.

He stood as still as he possibly could, despite the virbrations wiggling through his body from the impact, hoping the stealth from his Camoflauge skill would kick in.

It didn’t.

Apparently the skill didn’t take effect if someone was already staring straight at you. That made sense… He’d stood still plenty of times with Skel and Dracala and they didn’t ever comment on him vanishing in thin air.

Should’ve seen that one coming.

One of the Heroes pulled back his bowstring and launched an arrow at Hex’s head.

He hopped to the side, barely dodging the attack. At that distance he could see the arrow coming, but still came within inches of being skewered.

A few days ago, Hex might have run away at this point.

But this was the new Hex. He’d seen things. Things far more terrible than a silly Hero.

He did run.

Toward the Heroes.

Skel shouted from the window for him to wait, but he was the one who’d told Hex to imagine himself brave in the first place.

He ignored his friend, picturing that armor-clad slime he’d pretended he could someday be. With the Umbral Bracers he was already part of the way there. As he ran, he pulled the mining helmet and a pickaxe from his inventory. It wasn’t a suit of armor, but it’d have to do for now.

Then Hex felt the ground give way beneath him.

He tumbled amid a rain of loose cubes.

And landed on a bed of spears sticking up from the bottom of a pit.

[Death - You have been killed by a Hero’s trap.]

[Hero gains 52 EXP, plus 52 EXP from Hero’s Complete Guide To Monsters.]

[Reward: 102 Heroic Energy]

[You are being transported to the Minecube Respawn Hub.]

[Please wait.]

The Hub faded into view. Dracala was already sitting at a table. The cafe-slash-appraisal-counter was occupied by a gruff-looking, grey-haired orc who grunted as Hex arrived.

No Charlie today.

[Welcome to the Minecube Respawn Hub.]

[You have gained a total of 112 Heroic Energy since your last spawn.]

[Your Health and Stamina have been regenerated.]

[Enjoy your stay.]

He sat next to Dracala.

"I didn’t expet them to have bows and arrows," she said.

"I didn’t expet them to have a giant spike trap in the center of their courtyard."

They both looked at each other and laughed.

Skel joined them shortly after, unable to contend with four Heroes on his own.

Hex opened his Common Hero Box, but it didn’t contain anything interesting aside from a variety pack of potions.

A little anti-climactic for my first kill, but oh well.

After a few more uneventful rounds in Minecube, they departed through the Pentory portal in the Respawn Hub. The room back in the Gate Concourse with the Minecube World Gate was empty. It really did seem to be true that no one used this world except beginner Monsters.

Professor Xavus and their student mentors had said they could start using other Gates now in their free time. Students were encouraged to explore and try new things on their own.

Hex was hesitant though. He wasn’t quite sure how the waypoints were situated in other Worlds. Professor Blackbeard had mentioned they were more restricting, and he didn’t want to raise suspicions or end up out of place. It’d be best to keep using Party Stones and—

"Wow, Hex," Skel said patting the Gate bag slung over his shoulder. "I didn’t realize you packed so much to bring with us. I’d have offered to carry some for you."

Hex looked at him for a moment, confused.

I didn’t bring anything wi—

Then he realized how heavy the bag felt. He’d completely forgotten all the items in his inventory would rematerialize in Pentory inside his Gate bag. And because of his secret Waywalker ability, that meant all the items he’d stolen from the castle.

He peered over his shoulder and saw the bag bulging, shapes of the things within almost visible through the tought leather.

So much for becoming a stealth master.

Dracala squinted at him.

"Hah… Can never be too prepared, right?" he said in a tone he was sure wasn’t too convincing.

"True that, my gooey friend. True that!" Skel said.

Dracala continued squinting at him.

Hex turned away and tried to change the topic, but Dracala fluttered up next to him and wouldn’t take her eyes off him. She totally knew he was up to something.

Ah Creator’s tits…