Our first steps on surface land are as magical as our first steps into the forest was a few weeks ago as it formed from the ashes of the old world.
Mana mutated birds and other, stranger Beasts fill the air with their songs and roars and frolicking.
And, of course, battling….
Just in those first moments, it’s as if I am once more back in the first hectic minutes after the System arrived, when Beasts and man and plant killed and grew stronger or died and were left behind.
All that withstanding, a truth I cannot deny surfaces within my soul, my very essence at the center of my being:
It is good to be back!
My Style, my Class, my very soul all seem at complete harmony with the cycle of life and death, destruction and advancement happening all around us.
As we begin to hike back through the forest toward the Village, Belina eager to see how her group has progressed, I feel a strange pulse emanate from somewhere roughly a half mile away from our path.
As I feel the part of my being that holds my Class, I realize that its special ability, A Huntsman’s Duty, is being activated for the first time by signaling where I should go to vanquish whoever or whatever is harming our world.
After quickly conferring with Belina, she continues on alone to the Village while Artemis and I peel off toward the disturbance that is even now growing in urgency within this special sense tied to my Class.
The closer we draw, the more the sense is pinged by whatever is occurring and when we reach roughly a few hundred yards away, two things happen:
First, we notice a cloud of smoke emanating from the forest just ahead.
Second, the full ability comes into effect, my stats all bumping up by 3 and putting me in the neighborhood of a low 20’s level Player or Beast in terms of my attributes alone.
Interestingly enough, Artemis receives a +1 to all stats herself, a product of our bond and her own special class tying into my own, she helpfully informs me.
As our speed and strength increase a feeling of indomitable power fill us both and with our pulse pounding in our ears in anticipation, we leap nearly 50 feet in the air through a helpful empty spot in the branches overhead, coming to an athletic landing in the middle of a clearing.
Far from being empty, the clearing is occupied by one single massive tree, a different species than your typical Mana affected Redwood that we have grown so used to, being attacked by a human throwing intense gouts and bursts of flames, perhaps the tier up of a Basic Fireball Spell?
Closer inspection, and some helpful System tags, reveal more of the situation as the perpetrator turns sharply at our unsubtle arrival.
{Eternal Evergreen, Lv.31}
{Human, Flame Mage, Lv.18}
{Helios Hawk, Lv.19}
{Helios Hawk Chicks, Lv. 2, 2, 3}
As I read off the tags, I find myself quite alarmed by what is occurring.
It seems this human, a man around my own age dressed in some form of orange and red uniform with blond hair and greedy, green eyes, is trying to steal this hawk’s babies!
Based upon the name of the tree and its lack anywhere I have seen thus far, I infer there must be something special about the Beasts and the tree, perhaps some sort of synergy or symbiosis? I suspect as much due to the name but also from the clearly non-rabid nature and care for its young the hawk seems to possess.
But that can wait, as the eco-terrorizing human speaks up arrogantly, “Who are you? I claim this tree and its inhabitants as mine by right. I’m not sure who you’re with but my Marvelous Mage clan owns these woods!” he states, indicating his fancy uniform as some sort of proof before continuing dismissively, “Huh, what am I saying, looking at your level, you are clearly some untested trash! Even if you have a class I’ve never seen before..”
Hiding my sneer at both his own pretension and his need to name-drop his apparently powerful group, I respond while sending Artemis a sense of readiness and inevitable conflict.
“My name is Nova. This is Artemis. As for a claim to said tree and those calling it home, who the fuck are you to declare ownership?” I reply calmly but aggressively as I begin stalking toward the fool. “To attempt to destroy a natural wonder and some of the few clearly peaceful Beasts we have left in this world is the height of idiocy. You should be ashamed of yourself.”
“Pshhh,” the man sneers, before continuing his inane posturing “What is the world for besides providing for our advancement? We are the Players here! The System merely made it easier for us to receive our due.”
I reply with a voice of deadly calm, my face frozen like ice and Artemis close to trembling with suppressed rage beside me, “You know, I loved reading books about martial arts and cultivation and leveling up before this. In those stories, there was always the villains who seemed to believe the world owed them something, that everyone and everything deserved to but be used to propel said individuals to heights they felt were theirs by right.”
I take a few more steps forward, entering this… this child’s personal space and at my hostile tone and further movement, the flame in his hands grows ever larger, its heat being keep out only by my stone armor and impressive Constitution.
I tilt my head, looking into the fool’s conniving greedy eyes and before he can argue, continue speaking with a tone of finality, “This world is not yours. You belong to it. Everything that you have or would have had, comes from it, is birthed by it. And you would harm a fellow member of it for nothing but your own gain? For no other reason than that you see it as your due? I rebuke you, fellow human, though I disdain to call you such. You have broken your bond with your home, with nature, and most importantly, with your humanity itself. You are nothing but a rabid Beast yourself now and my Duty requires me to cull you and those like you from the ecosystem. Farewell.”
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
At my words, the mage jumps back and away as he throws his gout of flame where Artemis and I are standing, attempting in vain to get a quick kill I suppose.
The flame lands with a thunderous explosion and a billowing cloud of smoke, which clears a moment later to reveal….
Nothing.
The confused asshole, forgive me for not asking for his name or using some other identifier, turns in circles as he frantically searches for us.
At my mental urging, Artemis and I pounce on him, our forms propelled downward from our hidden perch in the branches of the very tree he wished to strike down, the harried hawk chirping a cheer of encouragement.
Artemis, being heavier, lands incrementally before me and bats the man with her paw almost dismissively but managing to launch the slight man dozens of feet in the air before he comes to an awkward landing on his back, wheezing as he recovers his knocked-out breath.
I once more stalk towards the weakling, hatchet hanging casually from my hand as I raise it high overhead and draw nearer to him.
Apparently not out of the fight yet, he launches another gout of flame, which I contemptuously deflect away with the flat head of my weapon.
“Wait! If you do this, my Clan will never stop hunting you! You are only putting a target on your back, they will come for you!” he desperately attempts to reason, panic filling his eyes and voice as he attempts to crawl away from me while also trying to form another flame to throw.
Not that I intend to give him the chance….
“I don’t care about your Clan. I don’t care about putting a target on my back. And most of all, I don’t care one bit if they come for me. Let them.” I say with hunger, eager to rid the world of more fools who think such as this, as his Clan clearly must be.
“Wait, I--“ he begins, only to be cut off.
Literally.
The right side of his face slips off cartoonishly, falling to the ground to join the rest of him as I pull my hatchet back from its strike, twirling it to remove the blood in an arcing spray that paints the grass at my feet and spatters his bodies’ quickly paling skin.
Congratulations! You have defeated a fellow Player! To discourage an overt amount of Player vs. Player deaths, which would limit the Apex System in the Contest, no XP is earned when defeating fellow Players of your own System. For following your Duty, you do earn 5,000 XP.
“Interesting…” I muse aloud, Artemis sniffing the body with disdain before turning and walking toward the tree that this all centered around, its brown bark shiny, healthy and seemingly nearly indestructible, if the small and already fading scorch marks are anything to go by.
Before heading over myself, I grab the only thing of value I can see on him: a plain metal ring.
You have found: Simple Storage Ring(C)!
Simple Storage Ring(Common): Allows for the storage in a pocket dimension of non-living items up to a total of 10 cubic feet. May only be accessed by the being wearing ring.
Score!
I had, of course, considered that these may exist within the System but until now, no evidence presented itself regarding it.
Until now.
Hurriedly, I put the ring on my own finger and open its inventory to see what other goodies have headed our way.
Three items appear, each with a helpful, and odd, description listed after them.
Flaming Wand(C): For every fire mage’s pleasure! And every pyromaniacs’…. but we try not to advertise that fact. Anyway, using this wand lowers the Mana cost for fire aspect Spells by 25%. Burn, baby, burn. Well, not an actual baby. Or totally that too, go nuts man.
Certainly a useful item, though not so much for me, perhaps for another member of the Village?
Steel Dagger(C): Simple steel dagger with basic damage potential and higher durability due to its alloy. Place the pointy end against flesh and push. Simple enough, right?
This could be a good off-hand weapon for me but seriously though, what is with these descriptions???
Up to now, the System has been eminently serious in all of its tags and descriptions, except my crude cloak, why would it change for these??
The next items, stacked in a single slot, answer my question:
10 Shop Tokens: Use these tokens to purchase items, tools, weapons or consumables from any connected System Shop. Earn more through settlement quests. Shop may be used to buy and sell goods from other Players from any inducted Apex System world.
So, I would assume the descriptions are from the actual sellers of the items then!
But this also means that there has to be some cool stuff I can get from a Shop, hopefully the Viking Village has one by now. I’m not sure how much 10 tokens will get me but I can’t imagine finding more will be too difficult if this moron already had 10and likely more that he spent on his items and clothing.
Keeping the ring on my finger with all of the items placed carefully back inside, I turn and walk over to the special tree and the avian being that calls it home.
“Hello there, we mean you no harm.” I say soothingly, leaving my arms hanging palms up at my sides as I approach slowly toward the area directly underneath the hawk’s nest.
The hawk, plainly intelligent enough to understand that we mean no harm, comes swooping down to land on a short branch jutting out from the evergreen just a few feet above my head.
“Thank you for your help, Huntsman.” I hear a soft, feminine voice say inside my mind as the hawk, roughly 3 feet tall from her talons to the tip of her beak, bends her torso forward on her skinny legs in a clear bow of respect and gratitude.
Eyebrows raising in surprise, I ask, “You can speak mind to mind and understand our tongue? And that prick still tried to harm you??”
My further exasperation at the guy causes him to sink even lower in my opinion and makes me sneer ever so slightly.
“I’m afraid I cannot speak to everyone like this, although I can understand the spoken word. Only those who are so aligned toward nature and the natural world or are animals themselves can hear my thought-speech.” she explains patiently.
“Ohhhh, okay, I suppose that does make sense. I do apologize for a member of my species attacking you and yours. I’m afraid too many of my kind will be drawn by their insidious and base greed and avarice to attack, rather than befriend, you and others like you.” I state in warning to our new feathered friend.
“I thank thee once more for the warning, fair Huntsman. My chicks will soon be able to leave the nest, once that happens, we will retreat further into the Great Forest to help them continue to grow strong. I hope to be able to get them settled elsewhere by the end of the week, the System has informed me that I have qualified to be a Player in this Contest upcoming.” she says anxiously, her obvious fretting over her babies endearing.
“Well, you are welcome to join me and return to the settlement I stopped at a couple weeks ago, its not far from here. I can’t promise there will be no one like this poor fool,” gesturing down at his rapidly decomposing body as the System claims the remains bit by bit, “But there are many others, including the leader, Grover, that would welcome you and yours to join them. Most of all, there are likely a number of people who will not be selected for the Contest and could watch your chicks while we are competing.” I suggest hopefully.
The conversation lulls for a moment as she considers my offer, both of us watching Artemis wag her tail a bit and whine at the rustling of leaves and small chirps coming from the nest above, clearly eager to play.
“I find your proposal more palatable than traveling deeper into the woods and the unknown that may await us there. Would you be able to wait until tomorrow to leave? My chicks should be able to fly on their own, albeit slowly, by then.” she responds plaintively.
“That shouldn’t be a problem. We will go hunt for some Beasts, maybe try and level up.” I reply, eager to advance and this is as good enough an excuse as any.
Plans finalized and with a farewell wave to our new friends, Artemis and I stalk off into the undergrowth, ready to earn our way towards level 10. It is usually a milestone in games and stories, one I am eager for, considering my PAID shows there won’t be any Skill or Spell points, similar to when I chose my class at level 5.
Just over 19,000 XP to go!
Oof.
Even trying to say it with a positive tone doesn’t help it sound any smaller, or easier.
Oh, well.
Only one thing to do about that!
Grind!