9. The Green Line is Not Entirely Green
The Woodlands, in Isaac’s opinion, had the most misleading name of all the realms. A good portion of the realm was occupied with a lush, dense forest, but the name completely ignored the clear running rivers, lakes, and the giant ocean that also made up a significant portion of the area. Apparently the aquatic inhabitants of the Woodlands had gotten rather upset over it, thus initiating a long rivalry between them and the forest dwellers. Isaac was personally more fond of the forest himself; it was rare to see so many trees gathered in one place back in Chrowall City, and he enjoyed the shade the canopy provided.
The Woodlands cycled between night and day in completely random intervals, often switching multiple times within an hour. Isaac could see the sky lightening into day as he stepped out of the station and onto the dark soil—he was admittedly a bit disappointed. The Woodlands at night were beautiful, with the thousands of stars scattered across a rich violet firmament and the eight different moons that formed an arc across the vast sky. Daytime was significantly less interesting, but at least the moons could still be seen as faint silver traces hidden amidst the deep blue.
Isaac glanced down at his tablet and pulled up the live map of the Woodlands. After some scanning, he found a highlighted dot labeled [LORELEI] located by the shore not too far from the station. He turned right and began walking down the dirt road, enjoying the soft breeze and the rustle of grasses, the distant churning of waves as he neared the boundless expanse of the ocean. After the Inferno, the Woodlands were a pleasant change of pace.
Within a few minutes, Isaac reached the rocky shore. Large grey stones jutted out of the earth in picturesque patterns, and rolling, perfectly clear waves crashed over top, sending a light spray of ocean water in Isaac’s direction. He turned his head, searching the area, when he caught a flash of glistening green within the waves.
“Stat update request!” he shouted over the sound of the water. In the next instant, a head popped out from below.
Long, dark blue hair floated gently over the water as the mermaid approached, piercing crystal clear lavender eyes watching him intently. Isaac waited, tapping his finger against his tablet for her to approach.
“Well? What stat?” he asked. The mermaid frowned.
“It’s a skill,” she said. Her voice was rich and deeper than one might expect at a glance, the sort of voice that naturally commanded attention.
“Oh, which one,” Isaac said, already opening up Lorelei’s sheet. Skill updates were much less common than stat ones, even if they were arguably more important. In the higher levels especially, where everyone had high stats, skills were often what made the difference between the victor and the loser in a match.
NAME: LORELEI
SPECIES: MERFOLK
LOCATION: THE WOODLANDS, THE GREEN LINE
[CLICK TO EXPAND DETAILS]
ATTACK: 9
SPEED: 19
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SKILL: 16
DEFENSE: 7
INSTINCT: 15
INTELLIGENCE: 14
STAMINA: 12
CALCULATED LEVEL: 24
Isaac hit the “expand details” button, which promptly pulled up an extended list of languages, inventory, and other traits, which he scrolled through before he reached the part labeled [SKILLS]. He raised an eyebrow.
SKILLS
[SIREN SONG LVL 29]
His second thought was, “Well that’s a high level skill for her level.” His first thought was, “Damn, only one skill?”
Isaac didn’t think he’d ever seen someone with only one skill before. Even the lowest level “humans” usually had some sort of crafting, a career specific skill, or just conversational skills. He was pretty sure he’d seen sweeping and like, basic literacy as skills too.
The mermaid’s face scrunched into a scowl, and Isaac realized he must have accidentally spoken out loud.
“Yeah? You got a fucking problem with it?” Somehow, she was less intimidating when angry.
“No, not at all.”
She narrowed her eyes. “You sure? ‘Cause you sure look like you’ve got a problem with it.”
“I really don’t.”
Lorelei didn’t look the least bit convinced, letting out a scornful huff. Her tail briefly rose above the water before swinging back down, sending a wave of water splashing to the side. “Whatever. Just shut up and get the hell on with it.”
That was normally his line, Isaac thought. He tapped on the skill, and the tablet began to glow gold. He nodded at the mermaid, and after a final pissed look in his direction, she began singing.
Isaac had to admit, the song was beautiful. He’d heard mermaids sing before—there was that one particularly memorable experience when a whole choir of them had purposely sung so loud and annoyingly that they interrupted some festival happening in the forest—but this song had a certain edge to it that he hadn’t heard before. The tablet continued to glow in his hands as Lorelei wrapped up her song, rapidly calculating its effects. Isaac was impressed, but then again, he supposed if someone only had one skill they better make sure that skill was the best it could be.
“What the fuck did I just say about judging me?”
Isaac must be more tired than he thought, if he was slipping this much. Lorelei glared at him, expression a mix of indignance and fury. “I’d like to see you do better!”
He held up his hands in a placating gesture. “I’m not trying to pick a fight,” he said truthfully. “I was just surprised.” Besides, it’s not as though he could fight anyone anyway. Not only was he an ordinary human, but he didn’t even have a stat sheet and had no intentions of getting one no matter how hard Lilith tried to convince him to. He certainly didn’t plan on starting any fights, and having the sheet and accompanying tattoo would likely only invite more trouble. He was perfectly fine as he was, thank you very much.
The tablet’s glow dimmed, and the results popped up on the screen.
[SKILL SIREN SONG LVL 29 → SIREN SONG LVL 30]
Lorelei pumped her fist into the air, splashing water everywhere, and hollered in triumph. Isaac stepped backwards in time to avoid the worst of the spray, not that he could blame the mermaid for her giddiness. Two legitimate updates on a day, who would’ve thought.
Lorelei’s tattoo glowed, updating her information. The moment it was done, the mermaid vanished underneath the waves without another word. Isaac watched with amusement, though any good humor he had vanished the moment he saw the last location on his list.
Let it be known that Isaac had nothing against the color purple. It was a perfectly fine color, a pleasant mix of blue and red, very multifaceted and with many uses. Unfortunately, its association with the line of the same color had given it a bad reputation in Isaac’s mind, one which he didn’t think that it would shake any time soon.
Tightening his grip on the tablet, Isaac turned and began to walk back towards the subway station, deciding to get things over with. If he was walking slower than usual, that was no one’s business but his own.