O-kay. The trek… took a little bit longer than I thought it would, but that’s alright! There’s really no problem at all with that, not like I’m hungry or anything, nah, not an issue in the slightest. It’s only been, what… like ten hours of straight gameplay today? Nothing that crazy, I’ve gone for longer. Bordering on a full day I think? I really oughta break my record one of these days.

…Anyways, the town itself is actually pretty interesting! Taking my mind off of my other woes for a moment, I just stare up at the thing in mild admiration for a moment.

The entire village is strung up in the karst-sides, rope bridges and the like connecting each place to the other. I’d expect the place to be a little bit, er, un-lively given the heights, but I suppose living in this place as your day to day would assuage a fear of heights at some point. No, people are walking all around. It’s a small village, but belying its size is a constant flow of people, a din of chitter and chatter that I can hear even from all the way down here on the gravelly path through these limestone lands.

There’s also a comparatively much smaller part of town that’s here on the ground for us lamer altitude-hating folk, but I’m gonna go out on a limb and say anything actually interesting is gonna be up there with all the altitude-loving folk. Woe is me.

I have to wonder how this all works out logistically though. Like, that’s no small amount of people that I spy walking around up there, and so I ask, how the hell is their weight held up properly? There are also, you know, buildings. Multiple.

This isn’t like, carved into the karst-side mind you, this is held up in the middle of two different peaks by what looks to be some rope-like material. The entirety of the village's weight is supported exclusively by the few dozen supports that I presently see attached to the rocky surfaces.

I suppose the possibility of it being some super material isn’t exactly far fetched, this is a game after all. It could very well just be like, GIGA rope, which is a hundred times better than NORMAL rope in every single way, and can hold like a gazillion tons with just a fiber of it or something? Something like that, so that’s what I’m gonna tell myself when I climb the ladder leading up to it, for, y’know, no particular reason.

For now though! I’m gonna look around the grounded part of this place!

“So, do you want to bother with being out right now, or would you two like to-”

“Count me out!” -Came an ever chipper reply!

“Mmm.” -Came an ever dignified reply.

“Right, have a good time then. ([Recall X2]) Oh, and uh… Jerry, would you care to explore, or, are you just gonna…”

“...” -Came an ever nonexistent reply.

“...Right. You know you really should participate in the conversation from time to time, there’s no need to be so worried about getting rended apart or whatever, you’re in safe hands you know!”

I really would like to see what that [In Search, Roaming] business is about, so I don’t quite have a reason to see harm come to him.

“...”

“Well, safe as in none of US will harm you, you have my guarantee on that one you know.”

“...Okay.” -Came an ever mild reply.

Hm. I do wish he wasn’t quite so timid, oh well!

To exploring, and infinity, or whatever!

The “ground floor” of this place is rather basic. I suppose the paths certainly grow more defined the closer you get to the town as a whole, and while that’s not the most interesting part of it, it’s certainly close to claiming the title. There are a few buildings of various varieties, and from the signs they are including but not limited to, a place for alchemy, blacksmithing, woodcutting, various different jobs and the like, notably except for anything related to food, and an outhouse… and an outhouse… and a-yeah you know what? That makes sense. Certainly don’t want to be doing that in the sky.

But for down here, that’s about it. It’s very basic, clearer gravel paths intersect and lead to the various buildings, but it would seem nobody actually lives down here, all just places of work and the like. There are a few people walking around, and I’ve gotten a few glances, but it’s not like anybody’s stopped by to say hello to the new face.

So… then it would seem my only recourse, should I wish to continue exploring… is to take to the skies. Or, well, the thirty something meters off the ground.

And how is that done? With a ladder. So much for safety precautions, but in a place like this, I suppose I might be expecting a little too much. In the first place the village is probably primarily off the ground for a reason. I can’t imagine people would go out of their way to make life more difficult for themselves in such a manner. There were a lot of monsters just prowling about in the rest of this whole location, so perhaps it’s something to do with that? But then I’d have to also wonder why the other buildings are on the ground and EH FORGET IT I can’t be bothered right now.

I’m tired, I’m hungry, Screech is-”So now that we’ve reached the town you were talking about when do we get to eat?”-hungry, so I’d very much like to get to an inn or something, and then I can go about acquiring sustenance for realsies. And I can get Jasper, Screech and Jerry-that’s a mouthful to say EVERY TIME give me like three seconds.

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Jasper, Jerry… if I named Screech something starting with j I could call them Triple J, but I didn’t have the foresight for that… just calling them “the summons” is lame, saying each of their names takes too long and will continue to take longer for each new monster I get… Do I just call them the gang…? No, that’s lame too…

Alright… FOR NOW, when I collectively refer to them, I’m calling them JJS. This will only hold until I get another monster, but hopefully, I will have something else to call them by then, and crisis will be averted. Ah, what was I doing? Right, distracting myself from these heights.

Now that I’ve actually gotten to town, I suppose my first directive here really is just to find a place to stay and eat. Food is clearly a concern for the creatures of this world, so there’s going to be some place to eat in a town, that’s just common sense. And bed and breakfast are pretty commonly grouped together, so it’s fair to believe they’d be in a similar position, no?

So, that’s what I’m gonna do… ask around, figure things out! And definitely, definitely, don’t look down, and don’t think about how everything is held up by rope.

…And don’t think about how everything is held up by rope.

Goddamnit everything is held up by rope.

Oh, and also don’t think about my negative karma score, just kind of been going off hope and a prayer on that one.

Wuzzat, I hear the voices in my head ask? My negative karma score? Why, from what? WELL, something that is quite bullshit if you ask me!

Not too long ago, like, an hour or two, as I was making my way through the valleys and pitfalls of this Karst, I got a very sudden notification.

-10 Karma!

And as you might have imagined, I was rather confused by the development! But then, you know, things kind of started to click into place… I DID steal a few epic items, which, the people escorting them were keenly aware of, buuut, do they REALLY know it’s me? Cause clearly committing the act itself doesn’t net you negative karma, just when somebody notices it happens.

Which also beggars the question; how does PK karma work? Cause the explanation in the menu said you’d get it on kill, but it also said you’d get karma based on deeds committed and not how they’re interpreted… but whatever that’s beside the point!

Bottom line, my karma did, technically, dip into the negatives. And it is also still, technically, hovering in the negatives. By a uh, not an insubstantial amount either, because the cap is five hundred in either direction, but it should be fine! Logic dictates that there’s NO WAY my face could possibly be seen or known around here for at least a day or so. And it’s not like people can just eyeball you and go “YOU FIEND!!!”

…I think.

Bottom line, I should be fine! For at least a day or two. So…

Finally pulling myself up from the ladder, I breathe a sigh of relief as I step foot onto the wooden platform awaiting me. And then proceed to absolutely, utterly, inconceivable REFUSE to look down in any capacity, holding my eyes straight ahead.

Falling? Eh, fall damage as a concept? Really doesn’t get under my skin! But… something just stirs under my skin, real primal like, when you place me up way high without the means to fall safely. Like, if I fell from here, I think I’d just die? And that really rains on my parade. Therefore, we’re not having a parade or rain! We’re ignoring it, and we’ll have a damn good time doing it!

One step, and the ground doesn’t crack and crumble. Another, and it doesn’t even rumble. As it should, given there’s a hundred or so people in eyeshot walking all over it without so much as a single groan!

Speaking of those people… pick out a random face in the crowd, and…

“Hi! Could you spare me a few moments of your time?”

A… moderately handsome face turns to face me, to my moderate shock. That’s like a shocking level of genetics right there. And to his credit, he doesn’t immediately spit in my face either!

“I suppose, that depends, what for?”

“Oh, nothing crazy, just directions to the nearest… inn, I suppose?”

“Mmm, you can’t go wrong with Sky Whale I suppose. Just across that bridge.”

Before I can ask him to elaborate as to which bridge, he lifts a finger and points it in the direction of a bridge to his left. That was surprisingly helpful, thank you random semi-noble from out of nowhere!

He walks away before I can actually say it though, so, erm, oops?

Well you know what they say. To beyond and infinity, or something like that.