“These are very safe places to live, and farmers tend to congregate there, as they don’t need city guards or our guild to keep them safe when the monsters are so weak. You came from Bosqovar right? That’s a dark green zone. As the map fades to yellow, that indicates that you’ll start seeing monsters between levels twenty and forty. On the higher end of this, these areas are usually sparsely populated, except where many guards and large walls are employed to keep citizens safe.
“The red areas mark the most difficult areas that the Adventurers’ Guild is able to safely make expeditions into, and only then we risk entering some of the higher level areas with a very prepared and battle hardened force. You may have heard this ring of high level area referred to as the edge. Where you see the red end, and the gray begin marks the end of what we’re able to determine as far as potency goes, as we don’t deem it worth it to send members to potentially lose their lives just for the data. It is very rare for any humans at all to permanently reside in any area that is marked red on this map.”
Seth took in what Ramses had said and gazed at the map some more, but one question immediately popped up as he took it in, so he said, “If no one’s able to even get past these red areas, how do we even know there are mountains here,” Seth pointed at some mountains drawn deep into the gray area, what must have been days travel from the edges of one of the red outlines. He continued before Ramses could answer, “Or what about this! There’s a city marked here. I thought you said no one could make it through the red zones, how did this Askua city become established? How do people even live there?”
A sad smile crossed Ramses’ face, and he said, “That, my friend, is one of the sad truths about Morgenheim. Both the Adventurers’ Guild and the Transportation Guild acknowledge this, though we don’t spread the information around to the common folk. Askua is only mentioned in the oldest of history books, but the histories say nothing of the seemingly impossible travel between here and there.
Extrapolating from some of our oldest written texts, we can confidently say that the wild spirits, if slowly, are getting more powerful, and continuously restricting the habitable landmass for humans. From what we can tell, we’re simply not combating the spirits enough, and over decades they’re growing stronger. Humanity lives within an ever-tightening noose of aggressive monsters.”
Seth was shocked at what Ramses had just revealed to him, and it must have shown on his face, because the commander continued, “Luckily, it shouldn’t be an issue in our lifetimes, though for how many more generations it will be sustainable, I can’t say. But still, I worry for our descendants.” The commander turned back to the map and stared in silence for a few more moments before saying, “Now, I didn’t ask you to stop by to show you my fancy map.”
Seth saw another of the man’s seemingly rare half-smiles. He walked behind his desk and bent down, opening a drawer, and pushing some things around. A moment later, he stood again, reverently holding a perfectly folded up red cloak.
He looked at it for a few moments before handing it to Seth and saying, “We didn’t happen to grab any extra cloaks when we left on this expedition as we didn’t expect this to become our new headquarters, but you deserve to wear the red cloak after passing our trials. This was mine during most of my years in the guild, until my station merited a replacement,” he shrugged his shoulders, indicating the black and red cloak that fell behind him, “consider it a loan until we can get all of this sorted out. It has an enchantment on it, and that wasn’t cheap.”
He extended his hand, and Seth took the cloak, stumbling over his words, “Wow, I uh— Thanks! I’m not sure what to say.” He inspected the cloak as he unfolded it and fastened it around his shoulders.
Adventurers’ Guild Cloak of Redirection Enchanted Cloak + 2 Dexterity + 5 Physical Defense Enchantment: When equipped, unenchanted arrows on a collision path with the wearer have a 20% chance to be diverted skyward.
Seth was stunned by the gift, and his natural reaction was to make a joke so he didn’t feel awkward. He chuckled and said, “Wow, if this is your hand-me-down, what does your new cloak do?” Seth noticed a strange delay in his own speech, as if whatever translated his thoughts to the language used here had struggled with the phrase hand-me-down.
The message must have gotten across, though, because Ramses just smiled and said, “You’ll just have to hope you see me in battle to find out. Now, go rest, and I’ll see you later for our monster hunting expedition. It’s a bit of a silly tradition, but we like to hold onto those kinds of things, don’t we?”
Chapter 26
The group that left Slyborn consisted of Seth, Aurora, Ivon, Barnett, Ramses, and one of the healers from the duel, the one who’d been standing behind Randolph. The healer’s name was Dominick, and he was a level twenty-seven priest primary, knight secondary, the exact inverse of Aurora.
His hair was light, straw-colored, and his white robe hung loose over a slightly skeletal frame, but he had a confident, almost cocky way of holding himself regardless. Seth felt slightly put off by the man, if only because he’d been the one healing his opponent in the duel.
Seth was stunned to see that Ramses was a level fifty-three rogue. He was by far and again the highest level individual Seth had ever seen, at least who’s level he could confirm. Seth idly wondered how high Ybarra, the leader of the Howlingshield incursion in Vardon might have been, though he doubted he’d ever get to find out.
The group crossed the stone bridge leading out of the fortress, and then looped around the fortress, heading higher up the mountain. Seth found himself hoping they found something to fight soon so he wouldn’t have to do as much steep hiking as they had when they’d first arrived at Slyborn. After about twenty minutes of silent walking, when the fortress was out of sight behind an outcropping of rock, Seth spoke up and addressed the whole group. They all stopped and looked at him, waiting.
Seth said, “I want to introduce you all to someone. I actually have a bound beast that I can summon to use as a mount or to fight alongside me. Is everyone alright with me summoning him now?” Dominick and Ramses both nodded coolly, but Seth saw Barnett nervously hesitate before nodding with the other two.
Seth triggered his skill to summon Pahan, and the wind picked up as the lion appeared. The three party members who hadn’t seen Pahan before held perfectly still for a moment, before Seth said aloud, “Introduce yourself, partner!”
Pahan hummed a satisfied sound before his voice projected itself into their minds,
Seth just sighed and started hiking up the mountain again.
***
It took longer than Seth expected, with how often shades were appearing in the stronghold, to find a monster to fight, but when they did, he was hardly prepared for what he faced.
They’d been walking for almost an hour when they heard it. A screeching roar echoed down the mountainside, but Seth glanced around and didn’t see a source. He glanced at the rest of the party, and saw that many of them were looking around like just like him, but Ramses’ eyes were locked on something he couldn’t see, farther up the steep incline. Seth followed the man’s gaze and waited.
Perhaps ten seconds later, some kind of serpent burst out of a cloud that had been clinging to the mountain, honing in on their position like a bolt of lightning. Its long scaly body was white, but its head was a blood red color, as if it had been interrupted in the middle of some gory feast. It looked something like dragons Seth had seen in Chinese myths back on Earth, with a long serpentine body and small front and back legs, and no wings.
Wings aside though, it seemed to swim through the air just fine. Two wicked horns jutted from the back of the dragon’s head, looking like huge limbs off a tree, dead branche
s and all, and two massive, whisker-like hairs trailed from either side of its snout.
Seth was having a hard time judging the thing’s size, but as it drew closer, he guessed its head was about three quarters as large as he was tall. It had to be over forty feet long overall. Seth expected Ramses to say something indicating that they’d help him fight this one and find a normal, non-flying monster for the ceremonial hunt, but he just looked at Seth and said, “It’s a Broken Bone Lung Dragon. Don’t get bitten in half.”
He nodded at the beast still rushing towards them, so Seth took that as his cue. He thought Ramses was a bit mad, considering that the man didn’t actually know that Seth would come back to life if he died fighting against the great beast.
Seth leapt onto Pahan’s back and drew Fearless from its scabbard at his side. The lion shot off, heading up the mountain towards the rampaging dragon. The serpent was on them before Seth could really prepare, and they only dodged the initial snap of its jaws due to Pahan’s sheer speed. He pivoted at the last instant, and it was all Seth could do to hold on and not fly from the lion’s back.
The dragon flashed by in an instant, like white lightning. Pahan skidded to a halt and turned. The lung dragon was doing a graceful turning maneuver that involved its body going through several loops at different angles. It was mesmerizing to watch, but before Seth knew it, the thing was flying back in their direction.
The monster snapped its jaws at them again, but Pahan was able to maneuver out of the way. As it flashed past again, Seth was able to time it better and shot it sword out toward the creature. For extra range on his attack, he activated Quick Change Pierce, momentarily swapping to his second outfit that held the much longer two-handed sword, even though his heavy iron armor was still at the crafting building for repairs.
The move scored a hit, and a long red gash was carved in the massive meat of the dragon. Pahan lunged too and drug his claws down the flank of the creature as it passed. It roared in anger, and pebbles rolled down steep cliff faces all around them. A health bar appeared above the creature’s head, though it was already so far past them and moving so erratically, Seth couldn’t get a good read on how low it was. It still looked quite full.
As the creature made another looping spinning turn, Seth glanced at the rest of his party. Ivon, Aurora, Ramses and Barnett were all standing back, looking rather relaxed. Dominick, the priest, had stepped forward and was in a ready stance, his hands glowing with golden energy, ready to heal Seth if anything went wrong. It made him feel slightly better until he saw the dragon careen into a huge rock formation and completely decimate it. Dominick couldn’t heal him if he was obliterated in one hit.
Seth struggled to think of a creative use of his Quick Change Position skill to help him defeat the dragon, but nothing came to mind, so he and Pahan ended up repeating their bull fighter strategy three more times. They’d wait until the beast was about to chomp them in two, dodge to the side, and inflict devastating dragging slashes down its flanks. Seth activated some of his warrior skills on each pass.
During the first one, he activated Deliberate Strike, during the second pass he hit the dragon with Expose Breach, and finally on the last pass by he slammed his blade into the monster and activated Onslaught. The skill’s stun effect must have landed, since the monster immediately ceased its twirling, writhing flight pattern and locked up, crashing to the rocky ground and sliding dozens of paces.
Seth leapt off Pahan’s back and started ramming his blade home over and over into the closest section of dragon to himself, and Pahan thundered up to the beast’s head, trying admirably to get his jaws around the thing’s massive neck. He only succeeded partly, but the damage was done.
The dragon’s health plummeted, and it ceased moving. Seth had been breathing extremely heavily, but felt suddenly vibrant. He checked his logs.
You’ve slain level 31 Broken Bone Lung, +29,273 experience, you’ve reached level 30, 184,274 experience until level 31.
2,927 experience diverted toward leveling Beast Bond - Pahan. Beast Bond - Pahan has reached level 20.
Beast Bond - Pahan has reached level 20! You’ve unlocked one bond token. Use this token to unlock skills and abilities for your mount!
Seth grinned at the messages in his log, shocked by how much experience he’d been given for taking on a level thirty-one monster, and looked at Pahan to tell him. He stood over the dead lung, red blood soaking his mouth and face. Seth had a strange Déjà vu moment where, because of the bloody mouth, Pahan looked exactly like the lung, white body and red face, but it passed quickly.
Seth said, “Pahan, you did great! Did you notice that we’ve gotten another beast bond token? I wonder what we should unlock now!”
Without waiting for him to answer, Seth mentally commanded the window showing skills he could purchase with the beast bond token open, it appeared for a flash and then disappeared before he could even read it. It flashed back into and out of existence several more times before Seth stopped trying to open it and looked at Pahan.
The lion hadn’t answered or even moved since he’d stood from slaying the dragon. He stood there, rigid, blood dripping from his mouth. It looked like he was straining against something, all of his muscles bulged and relaxed with no discernible pattern. His eyes were unfocused, looking at nothing. Glazed over.
And just like that, Seth’s partner faded away. Seth ran forward with a cry and tried to grab him, but his hands went right through Pahan’s body. Just before he lost all consistency, his eyes focused and locked onto Seth’s. Seth heard his voice, weak and desperate, in his head.
Chapter 27
The walk back to Slyborn passed in a blur for Seth. He tried in vain to open the interface showing Pahan’s status, but the screen wouldn’t even open, let alone tell him if he had a beast egg equipped or not.
When they neared the fortress, Barnett said, “I’ve read several guild texts detailing an extensive cave system below Slyborn, filled with strong monsters. Since it looked like your…friend…went downward and said he was being subverted by the spirit, I’d consider he may be somewhere in the caves.”
Ramses said, “I’ve been down there, though not very deep. The monsters are indeed quite strong, but with Molly and I, we should be able to dispatch them quickly.”
Seth said, “Molly?”
Ramses said, “Right, I forget you haven’t met everyone yet. She’s one of our strongest mages. We’ll put a group together and be ready to head down within the hour, if that works for everyone?” He said it like it was a question, but he obviously didn’t expect a response, as he continued right away, “Barnett, take Seth and Ivon to the library and see if you can find anything on the cave system, I’ll assume you want to stay topside, so you can hold things down here while we’re below.” Barnett nodded frantically at this, his neck fat wobbling. Ramses continued, “Aurora, go find Molly and let her know what’s happening. Dominick, get twelve health potions and,” his eyes flicked around the group, calculating who used mana, “six mana potions. The potent ones. Everyone, meet in my office in one hour, battle dress.”
They crossed the bridge to the fortress and Seth suddenly couldn’t sense the location of any of the group any more, he realized Ramses had disbanded their party.
Seth and Ivon followed Barnett to the large building that housed Ramses’ office. He led them to a room on the first floor. They entered, and Seth saw that the entire four walls of the considerably sized room were covered in full bookshelves. Seth said, “I thought this fortress had been abandoned, how are all of these books here?”
Barnett was already pursuing a low shelf, he said, “The majority of these were left here, and the spirits didn’t care to destroy them. We did
bring some newer materials with us when we came to reclaim the fortress, though.”
Seth picked a book off the shelf at random. It was in almost pristine condition. “But wait, wasn’t this place abandoned for hundreds of years? Even if the spirits didn’t mess with the books, how are they not mush by now?”
Barnett just pointed to a strange fixture hanging from the ceiling. It looked like some sort of chandelier to Seth, and it emitted a very low level of yellow light. Ivon must have seen Seth’s confusion, because he said, “Preservation enchantment. Quite expensive, but no one would have wanted to come all the way here and fight all of the spirits to steal it.”
Seth nodded, understanding, and then looked at Barnett who was muttering to himself as he walked to different bookshelves, yanking out the occasional tome. He said, “Barnett, what can we do to help?”
The rituals master looked visibly shocked at the question for a moment before replying, “Oh no, you certainly can’t help unless you know the shelving system. Ramses just sent you with me to keep you busy. Entertain yourself however you’d like to, I shouldn’t be long.”
Seth looked around for a few moments, admiring all of the books, and spotted one on a high shelf that stood out. It was thicker and taller than most of the books surrounding it, and it was a vibrant red color, almost the same as his cape. He tried to reach for it, but was just barely too short. Ivon saw him struggling and walked over, “Here, boy, I’ll give you a boost. I’ve nothing better to do.”
He knelt and patted his thigh. Seth stepped on the man’s thigh, reached up, grabbed the big tome, and was back on the ground in seconds. He said, “Thanks, Ivon,” and started walking to the big wooden table in the center of the room to examine his prize.
Quick Change Volume 1: Slyborn Page 18
