by I. Felix
“I think it was a great idea,” she said, smiling with that kind smile.
“Alright,” Blake said, also smiling. “Now we can go adventure! Hey, May, where can we go to adopt the jackalope?”
“It’s far from here,” she said.
“Yeah, that tamer NPC, she said we needed to catch an airplane or something,” Blake completed.
“Yes,” May said. “And it’s really fun. You two never caught one, I bet, not in this game. But I think we should go by foot till we can, leveling up, and when we can’t advance any longer, we catch the airplane for the rest of the way. We’re going to Rachel, and it’s pretty dangerous there.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Blake said.
“I’ll set up the navigation till the second airplane station that is in Janu. Then, we can catch the airplane there,” May said and a line appeared on the ground. “Say goodbye to the Novice Castle. We rarely come here after we start to really adventure out there.”
“Goodbye!” Blake actually exclaimed. Arche just smiled, content.
They started following the outside of the Ozladi city for the last time for a while. The weather was, once again, great, they could feel the ocean breeze. Ozladi was much less crowded than Pruntire, it was much easier to appreciate the city vibes. It was a laid-back city, where many adventurers went to rest and chill by the beach and ports.
They didn’t follow to the swirl light portal that they were used to go, the one that went to the map of Ozladi Surroundings 1. Instead, they kept walking in the direction of the ocean, following for a wooden dock. There was a giant ship there, and an NPC in front of the ship. The line indicated that they went in that direction and the NPC was shining.
“Let’s take a shortcut through the Bielen Island, they have a portal there that can take us directly to other continents and we’ll get much closer to our destiny,” May explained.
“Whatever you say, cap,” Blake said. Arche nodded. They got closer to the NPC.
“Buy three tickets to the Bielen Island?” he asked. May nodded and got some gold coins from her inventory. She handed it to him, who smiled and stepped to the left, letting them pass through.
Chapter 7 – The Island
They entered the ship and everything went white. When it got back to normal, they were already in a different place. The ship had ported in an island that was covered by tropical forest. It wasn’t sunny there, the sky was entirely cloudy, and it looked like it could rain at any second. The ocean beneath them was agitated and the ship was really shaky.
May went to the island, followed by the two boys and their homunculus. Oliver didn’t like to step on the mud and meowed loud. Blake got him in his lap. Dark, the pureng, didn’t seem to care one lit bit and went on, skipping.
“Are there strong monsters here?” Arche asked, looking around. His hands were grasping the hammer.
“No, not here,” May asked. “Because we are going there!” she pointed. The boys could see for the first time a cave a little ahead. The cave was giant and it had two holes as the entrance. They looked closer and Blake exclaimed, “it’s a skull!”
Arche raised his eyebrows in surprise, he hadn’t noticed it. May giggled.
“Yeah,” May said and they got even closer to the holes. Each of them had a swirling portal of light, and May followed to the right one. They stepped on it and everything went white.
When it got back to normal, they were inside a cave. It wasn’t dark, they could see normally, but the walls and the ceiling were made of stone and it smelled like water and mold. They were stepping on something like sand and they could see that some places were flooded.
As soon as they started walking again, Blake screamed. They all looked at him like something was terribly wrong but then they looked at where he was pointing at.
“It’s a cockroach!” he exclaimed. May started laughing and Arche punched his shoulder.
“What’s wrong with you?!” Arche exclaimed, annoyed.
“I don’t like cockroaches! They’re disgusting!”
“That’s not a cockroach, it’s a Kraki,” May said.
“It looks like a cockroach to me,” Blake said. It was a monster that looked like an insect, only the size of a rabbit. It was brown, had two big antlers, and a lot of little paws. Blake didn’t ask for anyone’s opinions. He got his dagger and went to the Kraki. He slashed it and then thrust the dagger. It died with a squishy noise and in its place, there was some goo left. Blake and Arche each got the leveling up light around them and the leveling up sound.
“Wow!” Blake exclaimed. “That was easy.”
“Yeah, you were level 1 now that you got to the new class, now 2. I mean, and all the monsters here are level 10 or more, so they are relatively easy to kill and you’ll level up faster. Well, at least in these first levels, they are pretty easy to obtain.”
Blake opened his skill tab. He remembered that he had the Shadow Hiding skill already and now he could allocate one skill point in whichever skill he fancied.
The available skills for leveling up were:
- Hiding
- Double Attack
- Improve Dodge
- Steal
- Envenom
- Detoxify
- Slide
He already had the Shadow Hiding, so he didn’t choose the hiding one. Double Attack made him attack twice with the effort of one hit. Improve dodge was self-explanatory. Steal made him collect more loot than normal, even before killing the monster. Then, Envenom and Detoxify, which were also self-explanatory. Slide made him slide to get away from monsters faster.
Blake chose Steal. He couldn’t wait to collect some items.
He also opened the stats part. Before, everything was with 1+5, being +5 the permanent buff that he got. Now, it had automatically increased for:
- Strength 1+5
- Agility 2+5
- Vitality 1+5
- Intelligence 1+5
- Dexterity 1+5
- Luck 1+5
“So I can’t choose my own stats,” he said. Arche also seemed to be looking at his stats and skills tab.
“No, it depends on the class. Thieves are masters of agility and dexterity, so those will increase faster than the others. There’s nothing we can do to change that, it’s made to make the classes balanced and avoid people making fatal mistakes that will prevent them from continuing in the game,” May explained. Arche nodded.
“The ones that increased for me were strength and dexterity. It makes sense if I want to make my own weapons, I need strength, and also dexterity is vital so I don’t break anything.”
“That’s it! And my stats are strength and vitality!” May said, smiling. “But don’t worry, eventually all of the stats will grow and you’ll become much more powerful.”
They walked some steps in the cave till they found the next monster that inhabited there. It was called Plankton and it was basically a gelatinous green cell. They killed it in some seconds and, this time, they didn’t level up but they got 50% XP. So, they kept walking and found the next monster. It was a mix between an octopus and a jellyfish. It was called Merone and it was a little harder to kill but got them to the next level and some loot.
“Let’s keep leveling up, then you can distribute the points later,” May said and they agreed.
They were walking and killing. The map was a swirling down spiral, leading them deeper each time. They walked killing Planktons, Merones, Krakis, and other monsters, like a big crab named Vedunn and a type of plant that attacked from a distance with its tentacles, called Hidre. They also found a subterrane river with freezing water. They followed the river, killing and looting, till they found the middle of the map, the end of the spiral, that led them to a swirling portal.
They finished the first map of the cave in level 12 when the monsters there weren’t providing a good amount of XP any longer.
Blake’s stats and skills were:
Skills:
- Hiding
- Double At
tack: 5
- Improve Dodge
- Steal: 5
- Envenom
- Detoxify
- Slide: 1
Plus Shadow Hiding, that couldn’t be increased.
Stats:
- Strength 2+5
- Agility 5+5
- Vitality 2+5
- Intelligence 2+5
- Dexterity 5+5
- Luck 2+5
“Now it becomes harder to level up but till level 50 is kinda easy,” May said.
“So, all the stats increases in a proportion of 5 to 1, every 5 points in the main class stats, each of the others stats get one,” Arche said, analytical.
“Exactly,” May said, smiling.
Arche’s skills were:
- Discount
- Overcharge
- Vending
- Large Blow
- Cart Revolution
- Armor Creation
- Potion Creation
- Weapon Creation
Discount made merchants be able to buy things at a cheaper price in the NPCs, overcharge was the opposite, it helped them to sell loot for extra money in the NPCs. Vending allowed him to use a space in the cities to sell his items to other players, just like the characters in Pruntire were doing. Large Blow made him attack in a very strong way with his hammer. Cart Revolution made him use his handcart to hit monsters with also a strong blow, at the cost of maybe breaking some of his items inside. Armor, potion, and weapon creations were self-explanatory. The strongest the level, the easier and better it became to create the items, and more items could be created.
Arche was also level 12, which meant he had 11 skill points to allocate, so he chose:
- Discount: 3
- Overcharge: 3
- Vending: 1
- Large Blow: 1
- Cart Revolution
- Armor Creation: 1
- Potion Creation: 1
- Weapon Creation: 1
As stats were concerned, his creation was:
- Strength 5+3
- Agility 2+3
- Vitality 2+3
- Intelligence 2+3
- Dexterity 5+3
- Luck 2+3
He had the +3 bonus because of finishing the Pureng’s Islands.
Their homunculus also leveled up, and as they leveled up easier than the humans' characters, they got to level 21 each.
“Do the homunculus also have other classes?” Arche asked.
“Yes, but they can only change at level 100,” May answered.
“One last question,” Arche said. Blake was sitting down with Oliver in his lap. They had advanced a lot and even though the game system didn’t have stamina, they were tired. “How can everybody in Pruntire be selling? Are all of them merchants?”
“We can get skills from other classes, and even NPCs, with an item called Rune. That’s why I learned how to tame monsters. They all are either merchants or they have a Vending Rune,” May said. Arche nodded..
“I need to study more about that.”
“It’s okay, you’ll learn with time. Are you ready to continue?”
“Ugh, I just want to sleep,” Blake said.
“You’re going to like this next map,” May said. “Let’s keep going. After this next map, we’ll be close to a city, where we can rest.”
Blake had no choice, so he got up. They entered the swirling portal and got out on the next map after everything went white.
The next map was entirely different from the first one. It was still a cave but, this time, the ceiling was glowing in fluorescent light, like if it was covered with neon paint. It looked like the stars in the sky at night but even more pretty. There was still running water in the river beside them but they could see that the river was running to a cave exit. It was illuminated by the sun in that direction.
“The best part is that we can get this and Arche will be able to make his first potions, it’s a key ingredient. That’s why I wanted to bring you here,” May said.
“Wow!” Blake exclaimed. He activated the steal skill and got near the closest fluorescent moss.
“2x Fluorescent Moss,” the notification popped up. Usually, he would only be able to get one. “Nice!”
They spent the next minutes getting as much moss as they could, even though it immediately started growing back in the place where they got it. Then, Arche opened the tutorial tab of the Potion Making.
“I need water and 25x Fluorescent Moss,” he said. Blake and May handed him the ones that they had gathered, he kneeled down by the river, got the moss there, and activated his skill on top of it.
They all could see a type of potion on top of his head and the message Success! Arche smiled, proudly. He got it from his inventory.
“Here it is!” he exclaimed. “And apparently we can use it five times.”
“Yep,” May said. “Good job! Now, let’s get out of here and keep going.”
They obeyed and they kept walking outside the cave.
Once they got out, they realized they were in a place that didn’t look like an island anymore. It was a long green field, with the sun shining on them, and beautiful little houses in the distance. The grass was being blown by the wind and reminded them of a type of hair. Also, it smelled fresh, like spring onions and garlic in the air. It made Blake’s stomach complain.
“I want food,” he said. “Where are we? How is that possible?”
“We’re still underground even though it doesn’t seem like it,” May said. “This is the third class Mage’s city. They built it here because it’s hidden and only people that know the path have access to it. There is a bunch of cool stuff around here and we could get some quests to help you level up faster. I know about this place because I was a Mage in my past life,” May explained.
“That’s amazing!” Blake exclaimed. “And… I bet there is food.”
“Oh, yeah,” May giggled. “And a place to rest. Welcome to Arcedy.”
Chapter 8 – Arcedy, the City of the Wise
"This is the most beautiful place I've ever been to!" Blake exclaimed, unable to stop looking around. "Are we really underground?"
"Yeah. They wanted to keep away from all the unwanted visitors, and, also, they can control things much better here. I say it was a smart move."
Blake nodded in agreement, still mesmerized by everything around. The city was covered in little fairy lights all around them. Also, something glowed like small fireflies everywhere, even though it couldn't be. They were simply flying dots of light. All the buildings were made of a cream-colored stone that looked something like marble. Also, the streets were covered in parallelepipeds but there wasn't anything out of its place. Everything looked clean, mesmerizing. They could feel a sweet scent in the air, like if it was some kind of strawberry together with a floral scent. It felt great. Even though they were technically inside the underground, the air was fresh, there was a cool breeze, the sun was shining beautifully. Everything looked perfect. The trees were also glowing as if they were full of fireflies and some juicy fruits hung from there.
The city was also much calmer than the others they went to. As it was a reclused city, it was much easier to move around. People that were there all looked chill, calm like they were taking their time to enjoy things. Most of them wore some kind of robe and other items, like a glowing aura around their bodies. Even though the three of them were clearly foreigners, and Blake almost felt like he was making the place dirty by being there, nobody looked funny at them. They felt welcome.
"Let's get something to eat and a place to rest before we continue on," May offered. Blake and Arche nodded eagerly almost like two children that couldn't wait for the playground time.
"Yes, ma'am," Blake said while they followed, getting more and more to the city.
All the stores were made of some kind of wood that looked heavy and beautiful. It also had a finishing touch of the stone-like marble. The windows were big and they could see the cozy indoors. They entered one place that
had a sign hanging in front of the door. The Mage's Rest, it was written. The inside was equally as good as the outside. There were big cozy leather couches, some small tables meant for two to four people around the restaurant, a fireplace but with no fire on, and some people there, resting, eating, and having fun.
They sat in one of the couches that had a small table and soon someone appeared to serve them. It was clearly an NPC because they had one of the common uniform fashion of the game: it was a girl who wore a white shirt and a leather corset on top. She also wore a long skirt to her feet and she was smiling, warmly. Her hair was brown and her eyes, blue. They could see her name on top of her head, Lunia.
"Would you like to have anything to drink, kids?" she asked with a warm smile.
"Yes, we would like three hot tuteris and some fries to go with it," May ordered for them. Blake and Arche didn't say anything, in a mutual agreement that she might know better than them.
Oliver jumped on Blake's lap and rested there, curling like a ball. Dark was on the floor, jumping around.
"Where is your mount, by the way? I feel like sometimes you have it with you and some other times it simply disappears," Arche asked, observant. May smiled.
"It's a Picupicu, it's the common riding mount for swordsmen. It's controlled by a skill and I can activate it or not just by thinking about it. I'm walking with you because, otherwise, I'd be going faster than you two," she smiled while the NPC appeared with the drinks.
"I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!" Blake screamed as he looked at the mountain of french fried with cheddar and bacon. The drinks were green and looked like a green apple soda. "How are there french fries in this world?"
"Well... it's not like it's real. The algorithm can do any recipe you want. I discovered this some years back. There's no tutorial to it but... this green thing, I invented it myself once I was playing being chef," May said, excited. Arche grabbed the plate of french fries and started eating one after the other, after the other.
