The more Rèmsciore explained stats, the more confused Maso became.

"It doesn't work?"

In the crann, he had been able to find quick descriptions of each statistic. None of them gave any great detail, though, which is why he'd asked for an explanation. In particular, CHR - charisma - seemed to indicate that it could influence others' decisions: Use charisma to increase your sway over others, and reap the reward of being much better looking than you actually are!

That was one of the most dangerous things he'd heard about since he'd touched down on the planet, and he'd fought a man-sized spider earlier in the day.

"Yep, it doesn't do anything," the Aspen said with a shrug. "Charisma's been totally useless for at least half a century. That's a secret, though, so keep it between us. It took us ages to research that. I still get a kick out of the number of human merchants that maximize it."

"That doesn't make any sense. Why would there be an option to use it, if it does nothing?" Maso had certainly questioned the utility of some of the Thadh's messaging - the trivial or impossible quests, the bizarre help information, the in-your-face quality of the pop-ups - but everything had seemed to at least try to serve a purpose.

At least the useless quests could sometimes provide context or information about things, if he read between the lines. This was just deliberately misleading.

"Eh, don't ask me. I don't think it's intentional, though. The Thadh is... well." Rèmsciore stopped walking and stared Maso in the eyes. "Don't tell anyone I said this, either. The Thadh might be very powerful, but don't you forget this: it's not Aspen, and it doesn't think like us."

"It's a tree. I think that was a given," Maso said.

Rèmsciore shrugged. "People like to get it into their heads that because it talks with us, that it also can be reasoned about like it's another Aspen. Or reasoned with, you know."

"Do you know what it actually is?" Maso asked. "Presumably it's more than just a tree."

Rèmsciore shook his head. "Our top research team tried to determine that, too, but couldn't make headway. If they'd been allowed to inspect the Thadh directly, the effort might have gone somewhere, but that was politically impossible."

"Right."

That explanation, although useless in any practical sense, started to assuage Maso's concerns about the planet's residents. Before meeting Rèmsciore, he hadn't witnessed any evidence of higher civilization; outside of the bizarrely low-quality personal information display they called a crann, everything he'd seen in the village was what he'd expect from - well, a village in the middle of nowhere.

On the Origin, they'd had such locations centuries ago. It was a necessary part of humanity's progress, the in-between of the dark times and present society. But they'd all been removed, reconstructed since the age of the networked intelligences, reduced to rubble to make room for new factories or learning centers or (much) more efficient housing.

Perhaps here, without that driving force - and being able and willing to live on the surface - that hadn't been necessary. Now that he knew of some kind of military, one sophisticated enough to be conducting basic research, at least he had a lower bound on the level of development on this planet.

"You never mentioned int," Maso said finally, breaking the silence that had developed over a few minutes.

They'd continued walking, and he was starting to recognize the area of the forest they were in. They were approaching the village from the north-west end, an area that Maso hadn't visited much but had completed two or three quests in.

"True, I didn't. If you introduce adults to the system, they're... well, generally a little perplexed at it, so it's more complicated to explain."

"Right. I'm listening."

"Int stands for intelligence."

Maso blinked. "What does it do?" The idea of allocating points to raise his intelligence seemed ridiculous, but wisdom hadn't made him any more wise. Maybe metaphorically, in the sense that he now had knowledge of more magic, but that was a bit of a stretch.

"In theory, it raises your intelligence."

In theory, Maso thought. "So it's like charisma? People believe it works, but it does nothing?"

"That's the thing," Rèmsciore said. "It does work, but not in a way that really makes sense." He pushed a tree branch out of the way, and it snapped back towards Maso, barely missing his forehead.

"It makes you more intelligent," Maso said, flatly. "That's ridiculous."

"Well, no." Rèmsciore waved one hand around in the air, in a sort of universal so-so gesture. "We tested this, too. It doesn't really affect you personally. We tested hundreds of new recruits and couldn't find any significant evidence that allocating points into int actually raised their intelligence, in the sense that they felt any difference in their ability to - well, think. Or reason about things. And logical questions or tests that they couldn't solve before, they wouldn't be able to solve after, either."

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Maso said nothing, waiting for the but.

"What was really shocking," he continued, "was that we did see other differences. Their targeting of magic became better, sometimes radically so, for recruits that invested a lot of hoarded points into intelligence. The magic itself was stronger, too, and sometimes altered in ways that they couldn't really explain. And in a non-magical sense, their decision-making usually stayed the same, but sometimes it improved, most notably in combat scenarios with multiple adversaries."

Rèmsciore paused for a moment, seemingly thinking to himself. "There were theories of other benefits, too, and the tests we had for rating their intelligence were... eh, not great. But the combat applications made it a fantastic investment anyways, so we stopped that research program and moved on."

"Right," Maso said. "You couldn't measure a difference in intelligence, but it helped in a peripheral sense."

"Exactly. I'm sure you can see why we started prioritizing it, especially among our lower ranks," he said. "It doesn't matter how much magic you know if you can't use it properly. Our recruits became much more effective once we had them put a solid chunk of reputation into int."

"I see."

Maso mulled that over for a minute.

Lanoch had told him that the Thadh - or the System, as it seemed to refer to itself sometimes - was a deity of some kind. But the ways in which it had interacted with him, the ways that it interacted with anyone if he went by what Rèmsciore was saying, didn't seem particularly godlike. Not that Maso could really judge that quality, of course. But the awkward menu system, the nonfunctional stats, and the general communications he'd received... seemed to point somewhere else.

As long as it can get me off this planet, I'll be satisfied, Maso thought.

But if it couldn't -- he'd have to find another way out, and there were no signs yet of higher civilization that would lead him there.

That said, he knew that there were other species on this planet - humans, dwarves, Avalla. Were the humans his best bet? The knowledge he had of them was limited, and didn't suggest any particular technical prowess, but according to his wayfinder, he was as far from civilization as it got.

If he wanted to get to a human city to investigate, he'd have to travel north-west through a massive section of forest. The nearest cities were along a bay, however, and he supposed that ocean travel might be possible.

Maso's thoughts cut off as Rèmsciore abruptly stopped.

"What?"

"Shh." He held a finger up to his mouth. "Put some reputation into int, now."

Maso frowned, but did it anyways, the process taking a solid fifteen seconds. He hoped he'd never have to do this in combat; it was painfully slow.

"What is it?" he whispered, quieter than the sound of rustling leaves.

"Look," Rèmsciore said, pointing at an angle with one hand. In his other, he'd already drawn his sword; Maso hadn't seen him do it, the action hidden behind a cascade of menus.

He heard it first, the crunching of leaves, the creaking and rustling and snapping of shrubs. Something was moving towards them in the forest, not from the direction of the village but north of it. Slow, but keeping its pace.

"What is it?" Maso repeated himself, somewhat louder this time.

"I don't know."

A moment later, he saw it.

It was a six-legged animal, large but much smaller than the spider Maso had seen previously. It probably came up to about Maso's chest at the top of its head, which was covered in flowing burgundy hair that seemed to weave in every direction around its body, wrapping around its chest and legs and splaying out in the air behind it.

The legs were strange, Maso realized as it approached, in that they weren't all the same. Its front and hind legs were normal enough, covered in shorter fur and presumably ending in some kind of paw - it was impossible to tell as it moved. The middle two legs, however, were wide and flat, and short enough that he could see they didn't have any kind of paw at all, instead looking more like elongated ovals that flapped back and forth from the creature's body.

Rèmsciore's body relaxed. "It's okay," he said, speaking in a normal tone again. "I thought it was something else."

"What is it?"

The thing hadn't stopped moving, but it seemed to notice them now, only a stone's throw away. It suddenly changed course, bounding over a log and through branches towards them.

"A madrisk," he replied, taking a step forward.

The creature made it to them in moments, and immediately started pacing around them, waving its tail back and forth. It made a strange whining noise, and Maso briefly saw into its mouth - long and sharp teeth clearly visible at the front.

"Don't approach one of these if you're alone," Rèmsciore said. "I have a skill active that makes smaller beasts more docile. If I wasn't here, it might tear you to pieces." He paused. "Or leave you alone. I never studied these things much."

Maso watching him pat the creature on its head.

"They do breathe fire, though, which can be a bit of a problem."

"What?" Maso exclaimed, taking a step backwards.

"Oh, don't worry about it."

"Now, go along, eh?"

The creature whuffed at him, then shot off behind them, disappearing back into the forest.

"I haven't seen any of those before," Maso said, the image of his skin being fried off still stuck in his mind.

"That would make sense. You've stayed in the village, correct? Outside of your questing, that is."

"Yes."

"Those things don't like Aspen, so they stay away from villages, and they mostly live on the coast. The only reason they come inland is to avoid the flooding. There'll be more of them coming through soon, and other things, too. The coast becomes... strange, around this season. Mind you, so does the forest."

Maso blinked, but by the time he processed that, Rèmsciore was already moving again.

"What do you mean, flooded?" he asked, trying to catch up.

"Ah, you don't know? Soon, it'll start raining here, and anyone who has a place to go will be gone."

"What?"

"Oh, don't worry about it," Rèmsciore said, wagging his hand in the air. "It's not that bad. Most of the villagers move inland, but many stay behind - the ones who can't afford it, you know how it is."

Maso didn't, but he said nothing.

"They mostly live off rations, but there're plenty of other things to eat. If you stay in the area, you'll get real good at fishing, too."

Lanoch hadn't mentioned mass migrations or flooding, and to Maso that seemed a bit more important than "raising his reputation by collecting herbs". He had heard a few villagers mention that they'd be leaving soon, but hadn't thought much of it; on the Origin, citizens moved around frequently, never staying in one place for too long lest they get sick of the air.

He had a few things to ask her, when he got back.

Who had she expected to appear on her balcony?

What kind of 'wishes' did she think the Thadh could grant?

And why - of all things - had she encouraged him to take on a man-eating spider armed with nothing more than a machete?