Raine counted in his head while he waited for the two patrolling wolves to turn away from each other, creating a narrow gap. The moment they did, he leaned forward and dashed as quickly as possible, burning a point of Discipline with each step. For a few short seconds, he didn’t feel quite as slow and clunky.
When his Discipline bottomed out, his pace slowed to a crawl; each step felt like an eternity as the wolves reached the end of their patrol line and paused before turning back.
Five seconds, go-go-go!
The trees of the Witch's Forest were just before him. He only had to bypass one more line of patrolling wolves that were too close to pull one at a time. He was confident in beating three of them simultaneously but it would have taken a significant amount of time for almost no gain. There were much more worthy prey on his list and the thought of getting to them had him licking his lips.
Five seconds came and went, and the wolves turned to find only their brethren in sight. They continued their monotonous patrol—none the wiser of Raine's passing.
Within the first line of trees, Raine stood perfectly still for sixty seconds to recharge his Discipline at double speed. Once done, he proceeded through the rapidly thickening woods at a light jog. Not ten steps later, he had to weave between another pair of Mangy Wolves being led by a level two Hungry Wolf.
Wandering beasts were common in every zone, and ZionLine certainly didn’t pull any punches with its starting areas. Players learned to pull monsters one at a time and fight while keeping an eye on their surroundings, or they died—losing a level in the process. Compared to most games, the difficulty curve of ZL was infuriating, but the draw of extending your life through its time dilation won everyone over eventually.
Raine kept up a decent pace as he pushed deeper into the woods. Whenever he spotted any beasts too late, he used the trees to break line of sight as a monster usually needed a full two seconds of sight before they would aggro. When needed, he sprinted between wandering beasts or patrolling monsters when they turned away, unwilling to waste time on even the level threes. He also made sure to give the dense patches of shrubs a wide berth as they often contained level three Rabid Boars.
Within an hour, he spotted the witch's hut at the base of a hill. A level two Hungry Wolf stood guard a short distance from the low fence surrounding the hut. Raine charged with his shield raised and it growled menacingly upon spotting him. Much like the Mangy Wolf, the hungry variant went for the throat and was easily knocked off balance.
After two quick strikes doing only 6 damage each, the beast was back on its feet and dashed for his ankle. Raine lifted his foot, avoiding the blow, and kicked it in the face for minimal damage. [-1] He bided his time as the wolf varied between attacking his ankle and wrist before lunging for the throat again. He once more deflected the attack off his shield, sending it to the ground where he cracked it with two more Discipline-powered punches.
When it stood again, it hopped back and raised its chin into the air. Raine dashed forward, spending two points of Discipline to reach the wolf as quickly as possible. He smashed his fist into its throat causing a [Critical hit! -12]
Now that the beast was below half health, it would attempt to call for backup which would spawn an additional mangy or hungry wolf that he didn’t want to take the time to deal with. If he wanted to grind Superiority off these beasts, it would have been relatively safe as he could easily control the amount of enemies without having to search for more. But Raine had much bigger fish to fry than a horde of helpless puppies.
After two more failed attempts to call for allies, the Hungry Wolf fell dead to the forest floor.
[Obtained 40 Superiority (100% bonus for defeating a monster 2 levels above you)]
[Obtained 2% Attunement (100% bonus for defeating a monster 2 levels above you)]
This is way faster than the grind at level one-fifty! My attunements are going to skyrocket when I really start grinding. Too bad soloing is impossible at higher levels. Would love to keep this speed forever.
Raine eyed the witch’s hut. A chill tingled his spine at the creepy, barren atmosphere. He had been here once before, but something about it was different this time. It only took a second to realize the feeling was due to him being the first to come here in this timeline. There were no signs that anyone had ever crossed the waist-high gate’s threshold.
Without hesitation, Raine marched through it and toward the hut, only pausing briefly to observe a group of dead vaaterrans whose bodies had been tossed to the side of the small path like trash. Weapons and equipment lay scattered around them.
Touching any of that is a death sentence. I wonder how many dumbasses will be cursed trying to pick up those items before news spreads not to mess with this witch. The fourth inviolable law of ZL: Do not mess with powerful Vaaterrans. This is their world, and they are far more powerful than us.
Players are going to consider them as nothing more than NPCs at first because they don’t act like a regular person. That will change. By the third expansion, it will be impossible to tell the difference between a Vaaterran and a real human.
Curses were nasty business for low-level players. Without any skills or spells to counteract them until well past level fifty, getting stuck with a random, debilitating curse could easily cripple an account. Raine shuddered at the thought of losing his headstart with an unlucky curse.
Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
Shaking his head to clear the unnecessary thoughts, he hopped up the hut's stairs and banged solidly on the wooden door.
A short, crisp yell echoed through the wall, “Go away!”
Raine knocked again, a light smile playing across his lips.
“Go away or I’ll curse you for a thousand lifetimes!”
Bang-bang-bang.
“For the love of—” The door flew open, revealing a warted old crone with crooked teeth and glass eyes. “I’m busy! What do you want?! Ooohhh a traveler, didn’t your people just arrive? How are you here already, little one?”
Wait, what? That’s not what she’s supposed to say. Her expressions and tone… She’s talking like a Vaaterran from the future!
The witch squinted and Raine shoved his trepidation aside to quickly respond before she really did curse him for being rude, “Apologies, Great One. I am indeed a traveler. I came here straight away from the nearby village.”
This isn’t at all how this conversation is supposed to go. She should have told me to go deliver a package to Mirror Lake Town and once that’s over, I return for the aspect.
“I see, I see,” she said while rubbing her chin. Suddenly her glass eyes gleamed with a purple sheen before she shouted in his face, “Then, you’re useless to me! Come back when you’re strong enough to take care of that annoying pebble in my garden!”
Pebble? Strong? There shouldn’t be any combat in this quest.
Realization dawned and Raine’s worried frown morphed as his jaw fell open.
The witch actually starts as a chain quest?! That's awesome! Whoever got here first last time must have finished it and gotten a better reward than everyone else. I don’t remember reading anything about that on the forums though. Damn, whoever the lucky bastard was must have kept quiet about it. Well, I’ll be taking these rewards for myself this time. Sorry not sorry!
Seeing his stunned expression, the witch harrumphed and turned around. Just as she was about to shut the door in his face, Raine spoke, “Yes, ma’am. I’ll take care of your garden straight away.”
She stopped, looking back at him with a toothy smile, “I guess you travelers aren’t too smart, are you?” Then she cackled as the door slammed shut.
[Unique Chain Quest: Fall of the Tyrants accepted]
[Kill the ‘annoying pebble’ in the witch's garden (6 hours remaining)]
Raine’s head spun and he stumbled back from the door as he saw the quest he’d just been given. There were two critical aspects of this quest that were very unusual, and both of them could have disastrous consequences for his future.
First, this was no regular old chain quest with a slightly upgraded reward. This was a unique chain quest which, as far as he knew, gave some of the best possible rewards. But in ZL, there was no such thing as a great reward without equal risk. If one failed a regular unique quest, losing only a few levels and weeks of time would be an optimal punishment. For failing a unique chain quest… Raine honestly had no idea how bad it would be.
For ten years, Raine followed guides, and grinded materials and levels for his guild. He had, of course, completed many chain quests, but always while knowing the dangers in and out. Every move to make for the optimal results had long been revealed by those who came before, paving the way for people like him.
For the first time in both his lives, he was the one embarking into the unknown. Both the rewards for success, and the dangers of failure his alone to face. And the danger was very real. There was a good chance he would end up loaded with so many curses he would be forced to start a new character.
That in itself would be a complete disaster as you could only ever have one active character at a time and deleting it would put you on a one-week suspension. That was one week in real time—the equivalent of three weeks in the game. If he lost three weeks, just how far behind the power curve would he be? Would it even be possible to start from such a deficit and catch the strongest players? Unlikely.
The second unusual, and equally terrifying thing about this quest; he had not been given a choice to accept or decline. The time limit was already ticking down in the corner of his vision. The numbers flew by, bringing him one moment closer to failure with each beat of his heart.
Raine's well-laid plans crumbled before his eyes. This wasn't how things were supposed to go. He knew every step he needed to take to succeed. He had it all planned out. And just like every other time in his life he had made plans and they fell to dust in his fingers, he charged ahead without hesitation.
Raine's eyes narrowed as he squeezed his shock in a fist of solid willpower before casting the weakness aside. His feet moved, first one step, and then in a mad dash. He rounded the witch's hut and stood before the large garden that extended into a dug-out portion of the hill beyond.
Stalking through a veritable treasure trove of mystic herbs, he spotted the 'pebble.'
[Rock Golem: Level 8 - HP ????/????]
image [https://i.imgur.com/63jttDR.png]
Six hours to beat that?! Maybe if I was level four or five I could grind it down in time. So long as I dodge every one of its attacks, because it would certainly kill me with one hit. This doesn’t make any sense! What the hell is going on with this quest?
Raine knew full well that ZionLine utilized variable quest difficulties. Meaning this challenge was suited specifically to his level. If he were level four, the golem he would have to fight would instead be level twelve.
Wait a second, is that why I never heard about this on the forums, because whoever got here first failed the quest? If they vanished completely without even leaving a post… just how bad is the outcome for failing?
Raine watched the monstrosity as it lumbered about the garden. His brain worked overtime to come up with a plan to overcome its physical damage mitigation, which he knew was a whopping thirty. With his current twelve Attack Power, he wasn’t even halfway to dealing a single point of damage.
There’s no beasts close enough to here that I could use to efficiently level three or four times and still make it back with time to kill it. Maybe if I had twelve hours. I need something else. What does the forest have? Poison mushrooms, blinding mud, stumbling powder. Nope, none of those will be effective against a golem. Oh! Stremph berries. But those don’t give nearly enough AP and they only last fifteen minutes with a thirty minute cooldown.
I’ve got to be missing something. There’s always a way. ZL would never give out a quest that couldn’t be completed. There has to be something in these woods I can use. An item or weap—
Suddenly, he understood. He knew exactly what he needed to do and the thought of it twisted his guts but also lit a raging fire in his heart. "Well, shiiiit," Raine chuckled, shaking his head at what he was about to do. The second inviolable law of ZionLine echoed within his thoughts: With impossible challenges, comes impossible rewards.