JESSIE : LEVEL 13+3

DAY 263 : G-DAY, FIRSTWEEK, AGNI, YEAR 2

FULGORA 2 : DOWNPOUR 1 : DREGS

Ever since I escaped Fulgora, I’ve just been flying around Fulgora, a dozen or so miles above Fulgora.

Fuck, it’s even hard for me to keep straight which one I’m talking about. But I guess it’s not an issue most people deal with since only those with a Surge attunement can survive down here. Or maybe just the ones she likes?

Whatever her reasons, Fulgora doesn’t take too kindly to anyone else getting this close to this part of her territory outside of a train, or the city on her back. I haven’t even spotted anyone chasing me for more than a few seconds.

Fulgora sneezed.

Then they were gone.

Not one of them ever got close enough for me to target, let alone be bothered by. None that I could see, anyway. Can’t discount the possibility of an invisible Maxlevel or two just following me around for the hell of it. Not that I could do anything about it if they did. If they can keep up with me at this speed… Ah well, it’s not like I haven’t spent my whole life assuming someone was watching me.

Actively observed or not, after the better part of a day unsteadily orbiting around the legs of my best friend, I realized something about the ground. It’s hollow down there. Down here. Okay, obviously I had to check it out.

With how testy Fulgora is, I don’t know how anyone else can get through the gaps in the geometry. Assuming they aren’t also a prophet or whatever’s getting me this free pass.

There’s daylight, of course. It comes through those same gaps. But looking up, the electrified light is more focused around the squares. Like one big tile ceiling. Well, it’s cooler than that. Cooler than I thought it would be when I got the idea to come down here. I even thought it was a relatively original one.

So where did all these people come from? They’re just kind of wandering around down here like…

Also, fucking, Brrr.

Pausing time, I use one of the blueprints I bought from the System store back when I had money.

[ COMMON HEAVY ARMOR C.R.A.F.T.ED: BIG ASS COAT ]

[ SHOULDER ARMOR UNEQUIPPED ]

[ COMMON HEAVY CHEST ARMOR EQUIPPED: BIG ASS COAT ]

Can’t believe it took me so long to figure out I could rename the armors I make. Didn’t even need a Skill for that one. Woulda made my gift to those jerks more personal, I guess…

Damn it, I’m still cold. But I’m out of EP and I refuse to make myself weaker for comfort. But Imma have to get some sort of heater Skill to go with Central Air. But… No, I think I’ll just go ahead and get to one of those dungeons I saw on the way down. Little purple domes thousands of miles away in this hundreds-of-miles-deep cave. Goddamn it, WHY IS IT SO COLD DOWN HERE???

But I only have to walk around for a few minutes to realize the problem. There are lights. The whole setup is like one big, if bedraggled, town. A relatively bright one. But there’s no heat from any of it. No heat from anything at all.

It takes another hour to learn why. Fulgora runs over and stamps out any fire the instant it starts. She does not like fire. And so none can exist here. No candles. No smoke. No flames of any kind.

There are signs everywhere, reminding everyone. Fulgora can’t see down here since the gaps in the land above only appear where she’s not. But she knows when and where a few things come to exist in her domain. One of those is her prophets. Another is fire. Or other attunements. But she doesn’t care about those. If so much as a candle is lit within her territory, that spot will be instantly engulfed in a miles-wide pillar of lightning.

Fulgora does not fuck around with her main weakness. Which I guess explains her tendency to hang out near the Eos border. It’s not only that she wants to eat the deer. She probably just doesn’t like being anywhere near the fire chicken.

So it’s cold down here. Colder than the same area around Boreas, the snowy mountain kinda sorta visible through some of the cracks above. At least what that place lacks in air temperature, it makes up for in the bear not particularly minding fire.

Like, I can’t see Boreas melting from anything short of Agni clucking over and sitting on him while he sleeps. Although, I’d be more worried about the bear putting out the chicken if it came to that. It’s probably best for everyone that they can’t actually cross each other’s borders. I think. I haven’t exactly seen them try.

But that’s just a distraction from… Why is anyone even here?

There are rows of houses, but they’re clearly all made from the same blueprint. And there’s no official road. And… This isn’t a town. There… Aren’t towns. Oh no. Then how do you level up?

[ RARE BED DEPLOYED: BED OF SAND ]

In a sudden panic that this might not even work, I get in.

[ ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED - TRANSONIC SPEED: BY YOUR OWN POWER, MAINTAIN A VELOCITY AT OR ABOVE TRANSONIC SPEED — REWARD: PERCEIVED G-FORCES CUSHIONED — XP: 64 ]

[ ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED - SUPERSONIC SPEED: BY YOUR OWN POWER, MAINTAIN A VELOCITY AT OR ABOVE SUPERSONIC SPEED — REWARD: PERCEIVED G-FORCES ALLEVIATED — XP: 256 ]

[ ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED - HYPERSONIC SPEED: BY YOUR OWN POWER, MAINTAIN A VELOCITY AT OR ABOVE HYPERSONIC SPEED — REWARD: PERCEIVED G-FORCES MITIGATED — XP: 1024 ]

[ ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED - EXTREME SPEED: BY YOUR OWN POWER, MAINTAIN A VELOCITY AT OR ABOVE EXTREME SPEED — REWARD: PERCEIVED G-FORCES AMELEORATED — XP: 4096 ]

[ ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED - LIGHTNING SPEED: BY YOUR OWN POWER, MAINTAIN A VELOCITY AT OR ABOVE LIGHTNING SPEED — REWARD: PERCEIVED G-FORCES DEADENED — XP: 16,384 ]

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

[ ACHIEVEMENT MILESTONE REACHED: 4 ]

[ ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED - QUICK TRIP: FLY FOR 1 MINUTE STRAIGHT — REWARD: BASE FLIGHT SKILL COOLDOWN DECREASED — XP: 128 ]

[ ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED - INFREQUENT FLIER: FLY FOR 1 HOUR TOTAL — REWARD: PERCEIVED WIND RESISTANCE SOFTENED — XP: 128 ]

[ ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED - LUNCH TRIP: FLY UNDER YOUR OWN POWER FOR 1 HOUR STRAIGHT — REWARD: BASE FLIGHT SKILL COOLDOWN LESSENED — XP: 512 ]

[ ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED - FREQUENT FLIER: FLY UNDER YOUR OWN POWER FOR 1 DAY TOTAL — REWARD: PERCEIVED WIND RESISTANCE CUSHIONED — XP: 128 ]

[ ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED - DAY TRIP: FLY UNDER YOUR OWN POWER FOR 1 DAY STRAIGHT — REWARD: BASE FLIGHT SKILL COOLDOWN REDUCED — XP: 4096 ]

Cool… Doesn’t make a dent in my next level. Or the quest. Or debt. And I’m pretty sure wind resistance and G-forces are negated in Lightning Form anyway. Still cool though. And… Wait a second, that means I get a Skill Point, doesn’t it?! I wasn’t sure when it’d happen since there’s no progress bar for Achievement Milestones.

But I guess it makes sense. That Lightning Speed thing was a big one, huh? And damn, it really is getting harder and harder to advance. All those Achievements I got for ‘healthy living’ that whole last month in Central, and only now did I go up another milestone.

But hey, a Skill Point is a Skill Point, so-OH… That’s right. A Skill Point. A bonus point not in any way part of the leveling plan I made on the train. A point that can count towards where I’m going just fine, even if I…

[ COMMON CORE PASSIVE GAINED: CENTRAL HEATING — EFFECT 1: PERCEIVED AIR TEMPERATURE WILL NOT FALL BELOW PRESET (DEFAULT 70º) — EFFECT 2: ADDS CUSTOMIZATION OPTIONS FOR MINIMUM TEMPERATURE, HUMIDITY, ETC — NOTE: THIS DOES NOT AFFECT OPPOSITIONAL OR ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE OR DEBUFFS ]

Everything unclenches as it kicks in. “Aaah…”

Then I look down at the big ass coat I’m wearing. It’s all sandy now… And useless to me. To think I wasted the materials on it when I could’ve just gotten into bed and bought the Skill straight away. Ah well, not like I knew. And not like I can’t just…

[ CHEST ARMOR UNEQUIPPED ]

[ COMMON HEAVY SHOULDER ARMOR EQUIPPED: SLIZARDIC PAULDRONS ]

Just as I’m about to disassemble it, I get a better idea.

With a spring in my step, air temperature fully regulated, I get out of bed and look around at the distinctly less happy, on average, people. In fact, I think I’m the cheeriest person I’ve seen so far. A first for me. It feels wrong. So wrong…

Which is why I toss my big ass coat onto someone who looks both sad, and cold.

She only grunts in recognition. But then she curls tightly around it. Like a refugee in… Not Heaven, that’s for fucking sure.

Which only further begs the question… WHY ARE THEY HERE???

I could talk to someone, but… Heh… Fuck that.

Instead, I wander, eventually turning into lightning at a word.

[ MOVEMENT BLESSING: SURGE ]

Then I zip a couple dozen miles over to find… The same thing. Poor, downtrodden people as far as the eye can see. Heroes and NPCs alike. All with a Surge Attunement. All kept here by the Path Quest. That’s why no one cares about me using my Blessings. Everyone has them. They aren’t all as flashy or quick as mine, but nobody here is surprised by anyone with lightning powers. Not when any stray flame will instantly result in more, and stronger lightning than anything I can ever hope to produce.

Besides, these people are more worried about themselves. Not that I blame them. There are no actual Cities or Towns or anything like that. Just Rest Areas. With the same System tablet as in Outset. Basic buy and sell functionality. Except just… Fucked. Absolutely, totally, royally fucked all the way up. Apparently literally too, since the royals can override buy and sell markups in their lands. Supposedly to give this Kingdom the reins on its own economy. But in practice…

Any kind of profit is impossible. Which leaves XP as the only way out. XP that everyone wants, from the handful of dungeons in the area. They aren’t infinite resources. Well, they are, but not everyone can profit from the same dungeon at the same time. So there’s a wait. A very long wait. And at the end of that wait… Mythics can drop from these dungeons. Which means the monsters are strong. Extremely strong.

And the people here are just as extremely weak. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been taken aside to ‘answer a few questions’ in the city. In the hundreds of conversations I’ve overheard by now, I think I’ve got a pretty clear picture of how it works. The royals and nobles and guards only target NPCs and the weakest of Heroes. The ones they think will give their kingdom a bad name if they walk around being ineffective with lightning powers.

This whole thing is… Disgusting. I even wanna help. But… How? And how many years would it take..? Decades? There are so many… To personally carry them through… How many dungeon runs? No.

The fact of the matter is, this place shouldn’t be populated at all. It’s the area underneath where all the towns and cities and things are supposed to spawn. Only the concentration of people made the Rest Areas and Dungeons appear in the first place. And then only just barely.

To make matters worse, Quests apparently stop generating if you spend too long in the area. At that point, everyone gets the same Quest.

I get it too as I walk.

[ ULTIMATE QUEST GAINED: DEFEAT FULGORA ]

Which, not for nothing, but… WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN??? Forget the fact that there’s no reward. Or incentive of any kind. Just… What?! How?! WHY??? Why would I do that? Why would ANYONE???

I guess these people might… I just stepped down here, and I’m already pretty sure I have the best relationship with the Apex in this whole place. If you can truly call it a ‘place’…

There aren’t even any colossi. No real way to earn XP at all except to venture into one of those purple domes separating technically Heaven from basically Hell. And then what? Fight monsters way above the level of anyone down here? Pure suicide. They have no path to XP. With no XP comes no Levels. And with no levels, no power.

I’m starting to understand why none of these shivering folks just dump a point into the Central Heating Skill like I did. They have no points to dump. They can’t grow at all. They can’t even leave. Train stations are only in towns, after all. And even if they went to a train station, they’re banned from Fulgora. The city. Not the wolf. Or the land above. I’m banned too, I bet. Not that I’m about to go back there and check. Turns out, they can do worse than kick me out of that place. But I have to actually be in the city for that.

So I’m not doing that. Even if some of the people down here wish they could. But the wolf will step on them the instant they go above and do anything but run straight for the Stormlands… Which they can’t even enter without completing the Path Quest.

It’s safe to say the royals and nobles want people to stay on Fulgora. Just out of sight and out of mind. Which, I guess, is why they go out of their way to provide easy advancement to the chosen few, who get wined and dined and put right back on the train without ever seeing the truth. Without even knowing of the sacrifice of… How many? How many millions? All for… What? Is it just a population density thing? Taxes? Gotta be something like that…

So that explains why they’re down here. These people are well and truly stuck. They have to be, right? Can’t have them going out into the wider world and blabbing about their experience to those still deciding on an Attunement. They’ll scare away the talented ones.

So here they stay. Here we are. A sacrifice so the rest of the Kingdom can function smoothly.

At least down here, no one cares who I am or what I did or didn’t do or any of it. And it’s more than apparent that as long as I don’t make it their problem, they could give a fuck.

But no matter how well I come to understand the reasoning behind it all, none of it addresses the most distressing point.

How can the Admins let this happen?