(Y7, January 14th-January 17th)
----------------------------------------
Quandocor was actually the first to respawn in the enclosed orchard that they had been using as a Recess location for visitors, a few hundred meters from the first houses of Manticore’s Buff. He still had a steaming styrofoam cup of coffee, courtesy of Birkathane’s fast coffee machine. He’d picked that because he didn’t want to steal a mug, even while the other two were already on Northworld.
He pulled out his stake from the ground. You could not see any living entity on a Silvergate’s view of your respawn location. Still, inert items, like the stakes each of them had driven into the ground, were clearly visible as long as they were not currently interacted with. Removing his tag informed everyone that he was already on Northworld and had moved out of the way of further respawns. The view was a distorted snapshot of what was there when you opened the Gate, and it was frozen to that moment, so you could not track things as they happened, but you could quickly check conventional signals before using the Gate.
Less than twenty minutes later, Berkleyyan popped into existence in the orchard, followed by a minute later by Goglas, and then, in short order, the rest.
“Let’s get our gear from the bank, then it’s time to head into the unknown,” the Brethren leader announced.
Everyone had stashed their most magical gear in safe storage in the town’s bank. Items that were too magical decayed on Earth. You could go with a +5 to some stat item and return with only a +4 or even less. The longer an item stayed on Earth, the more it decayed in properties. Only simple crafted or a handful of low-level items, like his former silvered staff, stayed stable. Maybe they would decay as well if left around for years, but for a Recess, they were safe enough. His new staff was probably good enough as well for a few days, but he was not going to risk it.
Manticore’s Buff had a strange hybrid look he’d noticed back before Recess. Half of the buildings he’d seen when they had stashed their gear at the local bank looked “native”. Old-looking while still intact, or in one case, with some obvious repairs. But on the street they were using, that was only the left side. The right side was brick structures that looked new and had actual windows. In fact, he could swear one of those still had a manufacturer label sticker attached to the glass pane.
“Looks like the town’s expanding,” he said.
“More and more people are spawning, you mean,” Jonkartman said.
“I saw some estimates, yes.”
“The Cartographers try to compare theoretical models to what’s happening. We could be over a million Silvergates now. A bit less Gaters since not everyone’s using their Gate all the time, and some people keep a spare in case theirs gets stolen,” Theavilast added.
Quandocor had seen those estimates, too. Not the ones that the FBI had – those were horribly underestimates, possibly for the purpose of feeling hopeful with the Gater Act – but the same ones that Van had access to.
“About ten times more Gates every year.”
“Not quite. And everyone thinks the actual use will slow down as more and more become available, while people interested into coming to or staying in Northworld dry up.”
“In four years…” he started.
“All of Earth could come. Theoretically. That is not going to happen, of course. A few people, including some Earthside social science academics who don’t want to publish such things officially, estimate it will peak at under 100 million. You get fewer and fewer actual adventurers that go out into the wild and get new Silvergates and more people who realize what life in the wilderness means and self-Exile back on Earth. Or people who will not abandon the Internet.”
Everyone chuckled at that.
“Giving up on social media was the hardest thing I ever did,” Goglas said.
“Really?”
“You have no idea.”
“Heading East? Not much there but trouble,” the banker-cum-clerk said as he dropped the last storage bag from his reinforced vault room.
“Drakes, we heard,” Thalokainy said.
“For sure. All sorts. A few people went, but beyond a hundred kilometers, they didn’t find any dungeons or ruins, just drakes, so there was little interest from people. There was an expedition, a couple thousanders and veterans, who wanted to go further just ‘because’, but they never came back. Drake momma probably got them.”
“We will be careful.”
“They all say that,” the banker scoffed.
“And now, we head into unknown,” Thalokainy said.
“Not entirely,” Quandocor countered.
“You remember way you came across?” he asked.
“Not the way Birka would, but she said we were following an 8° northwest heading to get to Manticore.”
“So basically, 8° southeast then. Good.”
The scout adjusted his heading slightly. Beyond what was known as the easternmost town of Beta were mostly plains dotted with small tree clumps of a dozen trees, always surrounded by a ring of bushes. It was going to be very easy to navigate, at least starting off.
“Let’s hope we don’t get momma drake,” Goglas said.
“Anyone know about drakes?” Thalokainy asked.
“Nope,” she replied, and the rest nodded in unison.
“Well, since Quandocor expedition reported traces of drakes, I did research. Thing is misnamed. It flies. Traditional drakes are supposed be flightless dragons. So that…”
“Is a full dragon, then.”
“That what you get when you aiming for cool rather than accurate,” he snorted.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
“Anyway, local drakes are six-winged versions. Eudimorphodon Sexalatus. Range from 36 for the young to… elite 98 for older versions.”
Quandocor had known most of that since Vantegaard was always a fount of all things bestiary-based for Northworld. But the rest of the expedition whistled.
“Generally, bigger they are, higher the rank. Now, we have thousanders – I don’t really count, I don’t have that many combat Skill – so it is definitively possible. But that is something that we need to be very careful.
“That is worst case. Normal adults will range around 55-plus, not 90.”
“Can you track them so we avoid them?”
“Not that easily. I have few things that help.”
Threat Level
Tier 5 Intuition
Continuous
Never lose sight of what might happen.
Automatically know the rank of the highest presence within range.
Maximum range: 45 km
Maximum rank reported: 45
Skill level 45 (base 28)
Advancement: 27%
“So basically, you can tell if there’s anything 45 or below?” Quandocor asked.
“Or above. The Interface just tell me it is ‘over 45’. Lots of places I have gone, it is that way.”
“I got Lay of the Land, which has a higher cap.”
“Tier 1 tend to do that when the stats start adding up. But yours needs to have an area, discrete, identifiable part of world. Not good in the open like here. You have all kind of Skills like that, like short range, no cap one that give you exact location, or Bloodhound, which give you the direction of something you’ve identified, no matter how far.”
“But for a limited time.”
“You know of that. Got that last, too. I still wish I had Lay of the Land, instead, I get just The Land.”
The Land
Tier 5 Intuition
Continuous
Memory never reflects the present.
Automatically map the geography of the surrounding area. Features, geology, general flora are available.
Maximum range: 26 km
Skill level 26 (base 9)
Advancement: 19%
“I thought it started with Denizens of the Land,” Berkleyyan said.
“No, there’s a full tier range,” Theavilast said. “And nobody’s ever reported getting two of those Land Skills except someone called Milley. He cheated, too; he finally said on the forum he got the second using a Skill Stone he purchased.”
“Bleh,” Thalokainy said.
“You probably have enough of those Skills,” she countered.
“True. But I wish there was way to upgrade them.”
“No one’s found a way to. Or to simply drop a Skill, even if that just reduced the cost of the following Skill lottery runs without a refund. For some Skills, it would be worth it.”
This far East, there were no easy, accessible pathways to follow. A few game trails crossed the plains, but they were heading toward low hills with forested tops, which would be slightly more challenging to cross. Quandocor remembered those lines – they’d come back from the Deva territory that way or through a very similar one. One of the benefits of Associative Memory. You knew you had been there before and under which circumstances.
The late evening ritual, which Thalokainy loved since the Intuition boost ranked up almost all of his Skills, brought some additional information in Quandocor’s Interface.
“The banker said there were no dungeons around; that’s not true.”
“Got one?” the scout asked.
“At the edge of my range northeast. It's probably a high-ranking one since I don’t get any enemies. That far out, I doubt it’s empty.”
“It’s not too far from Manticore. He was mostly talking about a hundred kilometers, I think.”
“It’s about 55km away. We’ve done around 40, which is good with that terrain, so with the angle, it’s well under that distance.”
“Well, it’s not as if we’re going to check it.”
Quandocor conducted his morning routine, boosting everything, while the rest of the expedition ate their breakfast. The scout had his own piece of wisdom about that.
“When you are moving long distance, never neglect breakfast. You can get away with anything lunch, but good breakfast makes the day run smoother, your trek better, and your enemies easier.
“Speaking of which, there’s a new one around.”
“New?”
“Threat level got raised. So something moved in range during night.”
“Drake?”
“Can not get more than rank, and it is over 49 even with boost. But it was not registering last evening; it is probably at the edge of my own range, over day away. So, unless it come this way, we are not seeing it.”
They crossed a ridge, and Thalokainy raised his fist in warning.
The pack was too far away for them to be noticed, but the dozen rummaging raptor-like creatures were not going to be taken lightly. Quandocor instantly recognized them.
“Some kind of pseudo-velociraptors. Around rank 45, the last time we met one, but that one wasn’t in a pack. New creatures, too. I think Vantegaard named them Dromaesaurus Avium. The running lizard of the wilderness.”
“Yeah, we’re not going to risk it. One rank 45 is fun; a big pack like that is courting risk, even with a druid,” Berkleyyan said.
“We didn’t have too much difficulty with us five, but yes. No offense to the thousanders, but…”
They made a wide detour, but the pack seemed to stay in place. Quandocor wondered if that little hollow nestled between low hills was their nest or something similar.
With the pack now safely behind, they resumed their trek eastward, moving briskly. Thalokainy didn’t put up his usual travel whistled songs.
“They not even the strongest creature around. I have been registering that ‘over 49’ since noon, and it has not vanished yet.”
“We’ll see.”
That evening brought an increase to his abilities. Entranced by Fate had gotten another point in the Skill during the noon break, so this time, he had an additional point in Intuition added to his boost.
Entranced by Fate
Tier 2 Intuition
Ritual
Fate cannot be seen, it can only be glimpsed.
Grant every friendly entity an Intuition boost.
Duration: 22 min
Area: 44m radius
Buff: +22 Intuition points
Cooldown: 4 hour, 48 min
Cast time: 24 sec
Cost: 60 Ritual, +18 per affected entity
Skill level 22 (base 8)
Advancement: 4%
“This time, it’s a real one, given how far away we are from Manticore’s Buff.”
“Dungeon?” Thalokainy asked.
“Southeast, yes. At the extreme range. I get a lot of creatures… and three items.”
The scout whistled.
“Virgin dungeon?”
“Looks like. There might be even more since I now cap at 61 for Lay of the Land while ritually boosted. The critters I detect are of course of that rank or under, and the items, too. There might be some over that cap…”
“I don’t think there are level 62 items in there. That’s something you’d expect on a rank 100+ dungeon, not one 60 or under,” Theavilast countered.
“Three is still good,” Quandocor said.
“No kidding. Can you give us more about where it is?”
“At 58km, that way,” he pointed. “It’s a bit off from the direction we’re going through, but we might pass a few kilometers from there.”
“Too bad we can’t make a detour,” Varmatan said.
That was one of the few times the mostly taciturn Earthen Brethren had expressed a preference.
“We’re going to be busy. Possibly for a long time, depending on how the meeting with the Devas goes. We all knew that going in,” his superior countered.
“Well, I’ll make sure we all get compensated,” Theavilast said.
“Compensated?” Jonkartman asked.
“Virgin dungeon location? If we pass closer and Quandocor can pinpoint it better, combined with Thalokainy’s map… well, that’s what the Cartographers do.”
“You’re going to sell the map,” Quandocor realized.
“As Berkleyyan said, we’ll be too busy to come back and tackle it later. It’s a rank 60, so it could be doable, but that’s the far future. Meanwhile… a virgin dungeon at rank 60 is something people pay serious electrum for. Notably with three confirmed items in it.”
“Well, we’ll see in two days.”
“And I’ll upload the data on the next Recess.”