(Y6, December 27th-Y7, January 7th)

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Vantegaard found it a bit weird to be trekking across the wilds of Northworld without the presence of Quandocor beside them. He and Birkathane had become accustomed to the regular presence of their friend. It might have been a shock to find out he was a – former – FBI agent supposed to arrest Gaters, but the adage about going through tribulations together – twice – making for lasting friendships was true.

“Let’s drop the dungeons. Without Quan to point out which…” he started.

“They’re still good experience. Stretch the skills.”

“If they are populated. That’s the other nice part of his Lay of the Land. We may have been relying too much on that one.”

They found a path going north across small hills, skirting small woods. The whole scene was bucolic in its own way. Small rank-1 or similar critters rushing around at the edge of their mundane senses. Few birds – despite its wild state, Northworld had very little in the way of flying creatures, unlike what the wilderness of Earth offered.

Despite what the maps told them, they found no predator until at least after a quick sandwich lunch. A lone boar, ranked around 25, as Vantegaard guessed.

“Yet another ability missed,” she said after they turned over the corpse, carefully avoiding the spikes of its collar.

“Don’t you have Bestiary or something?”

“Extended Bestiary. It caps at 16 Skill because it’s a shit tier-5. Anything above that, it’s just ‘above 16’. And well, it also tells me it’s a mammalian boar with Agility-based defenses, which is good to know but… insufficient. Oh, and it’s a young male.”

Extended Bestiary

Tier 5 Perception

Passive, Triggered

Your knowledge of your enemies is extensive.

You obtain knowledge about the rank and possibly the type, affinity, stats, and general disposition of any enemy.

Distance: 160 meters

Rank: 16 maximum

Information: one less data point, at random, per 16 ranks

Skill level 16 (base 11)

Advancement: 93%

Vantegaard twisted his head to look back at the boar’s corpse and chuckled.

“I concur.”

“I mean, it could be handy if you were to face an unknown creature. And it works out with your Psychic Reading, which tells you the weak points and openings in combat.”

“The only thing really unknown we’re likely to face at our levels were… the terminators.”

“And don’t forget the construct at Fanduk. It’s a skill that’s handy when you’re very low level, but at those ranks, all I got is ‘flee you fools’. No other information. I probably should have skipped using that Skill Stone. You’ve got the full bestiary memorized in any case.”

“But it was a Perception Skill.”

“And I got almost two points out of it. Which is meh, for the opportunity cost.”

Vantegaard shrugged. The truth was they all had picked Skills based on their quotes and stats. He’d been lost without a Skill reference in those days and had been making it as he went. And despite Birkathane’s complaints, that Skill was useful even with ranks above the Skill level when you had enemy packs. Since the missing data was random, you could get a nearly full picture of your enemies by cross-referencing its data.

“Sometimes, it takes time to figure out how to use a Skill best.”

“Description isn’t everything. Who writes these quotes, by the way?”

“Our mysterious Pyramid builders, I think.”

“They obviously know a lot about us. Do you think they’re behind the UFOs?”

“It’s called UAP these days, and it’s supposed to be an American obsession.”

“As if Sweden didn’t have its own UFO-obsessed,” she snorted.

“Americans always have to be on top of everything.”

“Everything? Reaaalllly?”

“Okay, maybe not all the time,” he laughed.

The advantage of Absolute Compass was that you never got lost. Along with the directional sense came a mental picture of where you were relative to your previous locations. That was what they counted on to find the Pyramid back. Birkathane knew she could pinpoint it exactly within a kilometer or less. She could even point the exact direction from there as the Corvus Rubicundus flew if she wanted to.

With nothing but points on the map, she led the two of them to a small settlement. Sixty kilometers north, there was a large spawn region – a place where many Silvergaters spawned for the first time. But it was a better leveling place to the east, with things that were 15 and 25 in rank. They’d get those combat Skills up as long as they found enough.

The small town was called “Mid-Noway” for some joke reason and had a burgeoning population of eighty regulars.

“We’ve got a few ‘settlers’ who grow food, but most of everyone still hunts,” the local tavern keeper told them after apologizing for the fact that his establishment didn’t qualify as an inn, as it lacked enough space for lodging. “You settling?”

“Now, we’re just wandering. Adventurers, looking to grow, you know,” Birkathane said.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Depends on your levels. Going east?”

“That’s where the action is. Lots of adventurers around?”

“Not too many. Mid-Noway is stable. You get people coming up from spawn regularly and some moving out when they get high-veteran. There used to be lots of people spawning a year ago up north, but that has slowed down.”

“You?”

“I’m 500, but I’ve also spawned over two years ago. I took over one rota of the tavern a couple of months later, and I haven’t grown much in levels since. I got good Skills for the tavern, and you know how it goes. The more you use specific Skills, the more likely you will get complementary ones in the lottery. Cold Baking… now that’s a Skill people would love to get. Even adventurers for the wilds, but they’re the least likely to get it.”

Later, she contemplated the land near the mini-town on a blanket beside their tents behind the Noway tavern. Neither had bothered making a campfire. They both had Night Sight and needed no light for anything close, and a fire wouldn’t light up things further away.

“Krona for your thoughts?” Vantegaard said.

“Thinking of the future.”

She laid back into her boyfriend’s legs and thought out loud.

“That wasn’t quite what I expected when Rangridda finally got me a Silvergate. All I wanted was to join with them here on Northworld, have grand adventures, and see a true wilderness that hasn’t seen the footprint of mankind.”

“And instead, we get to dig up the secrets of Northworld. Isn’t that a grand adventure?”

“Not quite. Right now, we’re guides for the biggest and best of Northworld, which everyone back in the Valkyries will be deeply jealous of. But that’s going to end. Once we’re at the Pyramid, we’re spectators. Don’t tell me we’ll be involved in the future?”

Vantegaard made a face, unseen by Birkathane.

“Peripherally, yes. Directly… probably not.”

“Then, after the Pyramid, we’re free. But after all that, what can we do?”

“You can always rejoin your friends. That was your plan. It’s just… delayed.”

He smiled, and she turned her head, feeling somehow the smile.

“And you?”

“Well, same thing. Okay, not the same thing. I mean, I didn’t have specific plans. Just go, find myself kind of thing. I liked geology, but Earthside, it leads to the oil industry, the mining industry, and little else unless you can worm your way into academia. My Ph.D. was enough. Once you’ve reached your goal, you’ve got the thesis wrapped… you find yourself on a different course.”

“Like?”

“Like cracking a Northworld mystery I can crack. Skills.”

“You’re going to traipse all over the world, you mean.”

“At least to where there are leylines. That’s the only advantage I have. The rest… well, I can organize and delegate from Earth.”

He looked at her.

“Want to see the world? All of it? Even the other four’s sectors?”

She startled.

“I doubt the locational interference is limited to us. I wonder how it is set up for them.”

She laughed.

“Maybe they’ll have figured it out already and have ready maps and lists.”

“The Guild will probably buy them to resell, then.”

The east of No-Midway started with rank 6 or 7 creatures but ramped up after half a day of travel. They found themselves quickly spotting Herpailurus Otiosum, lazy jaguars, sunning themselves here and there on the rocks dotting the plains.

Most of the spotted cat-like beasts did not even bother to move until the pair started to drop distant debuffs or launch Rock Darts in a pincer move. The beasts did not seem to have any magical ability, so Vantegaard could cross-reference their Aether levels with the rank obtained by Birkathane. Over half of them were at her Bestiary cap or under, giving her slightly less experience but confirming the ranks.

He spotted a minor leyline, and they followed it for a day, enjoying the slight boost to their earth Power cap as they strayed out of the line to pick this or that target. A lone spiked boar was the only significantly stronger enemy, but they were familiar with the breed.

Vantegaard finally found a standard leyline, which looked like it joined with the minor one. They reached the junction and put a camp there.

“No lottery?” he asked.

“I already have the minor. I know, I could try for the standard…”

“There will be a Perception skill there. One chance in three.”

“Remind me, how much XP did that one give you?”

“Well, both Weightless and Airbender are good self-buffs for melee, if you get them.”

“I think I’m better off banking points for that future. When we go look for the druid groves’ Skills. Less random, more useful.”

“Your Valkyrie friends are sweeping the area near Mt. Talbor. They have three druids to check and confirm what pops.”

“And as you said, we’ll travel the world. Lots of groves.”

“Too bad the nearest known one is, like, four days away. It’s too short to go there and be back in time.”

She shrugged.

“One day at a time. I don’t need a new Skill right now. With the raid, we won’t even have time to fight. They’ll wreck anything on the road. Hel, Vormacinus will probably solo a rank 50 in under ten seconds.”

The fifty-kilometer-long standard leyline took them into a slightly higher area. It crossed a large wooden area, where they found Ursus Fallax, dog-sized bears that ate anything in true bear fashion. The red-furred ursids were slightly over rank 20 and made for slightly more strenuous fights, allowing the duo to use more Skills and gain slightly more experience from those. The only drawback was finding the bears. Any time they went out spoiling for a fight, they got nothing, but taking a break meant that the bears started to get antsy and wanted to make a surprise.

The bites were painful, but thankfully, they only aimed for the flesh, not for the armor. The reinforced leathers were still useful against claws, but Birkathane’s Infuse Vitality got a good amount of use to fix the tears in the skin and sometimes muscle that their maws left when they found purchase.

They finally reached the end of the leyline and took a lunch break, making hot food rather than the usual dry traveling rations they’d packed at the Keep.

“It’s time to turn back,” she noted. “We should make it in three days, four at worst.”

“You point, I follow.”

“I’ll soon have bigger people than you following, you know?”

“If they follow at a safe distance, I’m okay with that.”

“Eh.”

They scarfed the last of the skewer’s meat, wondering how the bear would taste back on Earth. One advantage of Northworld was that you could pretty much eat meat straight from the beast without needing it to age.

“I wonder what Quan will do. You know, after…” she finally asked as they pulled back their backpacks.

“You can ask him during Recess.”

“It’s funny. We never talked much about the future when we were grinding together.”

“You know how he is. He wants to be sure about our neighbors. He wants to… well, to tell his boss he was right.”

“And once he does?”

“Well, there are three more to find out about. And then the Monitors.”

“Monitors?”

“Builders. Monitors. Makers? Experimenters? Nobody has decided on a name.”

“Well, I hope someone will pick a better name than Fursonas. I mean, I understand why they couldn’t call them the Varulv, but come on…”

“So?” the wolf-headed raider asked.

“Level 313 for me, against 239. So, it’s close to 75 levels gained. Birka?”

“Level 324 here. I was 249 after the conference. Nearly the same growth, which did surprise me, as I have less grindable Skills. It’s been mostly from combat.”

“That… surprises me. Let’s be honest; 100 levels in three weeks should be impossible, except maybe by some newbies with many brand-new Skills. 75 is very good. I was expecting you to squeeze level 300 barely.”

“We might have a lot more Skills than most people our level, and it was mostly dedicated skills from Stones,” Vantegaard reminded him.

No need to tell him we also cheat the lottery a lot, he mentally added. Locational Interference was not ready for public exposure, so sayeth the bosses.

“Along with tier 1 Meditations, we can afford to grind every combat skill to the full.”

Vormacinus blinked.

“I forgot that. Usually, people don’t buy that many Skill Stones unless they’re rich pricks, and those are never that keen on fighting, at least after one or two Recesses when they realize what a higher rank target means.”

He paused, his regard going distant, and then he had a smile, which was definitively not an expression that fit his face.

“Keep that for a couple of years, and maybe there will be a place in the Wreckers for people like you.”

“We’ve discussed it a bit. I will probably travel a lot for the Cartographers, and Birka, if she’s not with her guild, will probably be with me.”

“Jobs. Pfeh,” the man said, showing the same respect he’d had for the Cartographers during the conference.

“Who knows? Maybe you will find my job very useful for you.”

“I doubt it.”

More like you’ll hate how expensive in levels it will be to make use of the Skill locational data to add to your build.

“Well, that settles it. Recess whenever. We start out on January 13th. Pre-travel meeting at 8 AM local.”

He stood.

“And I hope you can sustain a reasonable walking speed. We travel light, no hunting or foraging. There are a few towns for restocking until we arrive at Hilltop Samms. Then, you know better than me how it will be.”

The two popped into their respective place in Erika’s living room, leaving the two Silvergates to fall on the carpet. There was no sense in risking triggering them again and falling back to Northworld and being stuck there for nine days, with Adaptation Sickness starting on top. Vormacinus might have smiled once, but Jasper Hill doubted that he’d let “Vantegaard” get away with that level of disruption, even for the sake of Erika’s Compass.

“Henry is probably coming back tomorrow at best.”

“If he recesses as scheduled, yes,” Jasper replied.

“Meaning we can go out as we want?”

“No Valkyrie invitations?”

“Nope. And I can even use my credit card rather than copper coins.”

She smiled, then smacked her face.

“Fuck. It should still be noon here. Too soon for a real night out.”

Jasper smiled back.

“Lunch as dinner sounds fine. But shower first. Not to disparage the Keep’s showers, but…”