by Harper North
For now, my reply seems to satisfy Coco.
“Let’s go to the Jump Pod,” Lucky says.
“No,” I say. “That looks like a trap, if you ask me. That glowing green dot, I mean. Since when have you ever seen a map that just tells you where to go like that? I don’t think the boss will want to give up all its loot so easily. Maybe this crater is a better way down. It must hook up to the tunnels below, if the boss’ cache is down there.”
“Raven makes sense,” Vadie says. “I don’t feel like getting this far just to have my hotbar wiped.”
“Crater,” I say.
“How do we get down?” Vadie peers into the pit. “It’s deeper than an average ICC employee’s depression.”
I laugh. To make my point, I jump, sailing five times higher than normal. I land with little shock, sending up dust. “The reduced gravity will help. They wouldn’t have made a map without an escape route. We can always exit where the green dot is.” If that was the wrong thing to do, The Hermit would tell me.
Lucky_Champ stands at the crater’s edge. “Then let’s do this.”
He jumps and vanishes into the dark.
Vadie goes next. “Whooo!” he shouts on the way down.
At least there are no screams of pain as my clustermates jump. I follow, sinking into the abyss for what feels like forever. But it’s fun. Even Merans aren’t serious all the time. The paling light fades and I pick up speed, but not enough to cause damage when I hit the ground. Putting my legs out, I bounce off the ragged edges of the narrow crater, slowing my fall. At last, after a few minutes of controlled falling, my feet strike the crater’s floor.
“Who’s there?” Vadie asks.
“It’s me,” I say, finding his username and full health bar floating in the dark. “Looks like this was the way down. We’re not at a dead end, are we?”
“Lucky and I looked around a little,” Vadie says. “Lucky sees light somewhere behind me from a network of tunnels. Watch out for the pools of acid slime, though. We don’t want holes in our armor. Lucky almost sat on one.”
“That would be bad,” I agree, smiling. “We need light. Does anyone have a flash beam?”
It turns out that GloryStealer has one. The guy is having more uses the longer we have him. He turns the beam on once we have all reached the bottom. The light cuts through the darkness and reveals a tunnel––one I’m glad I hadn’t seen until now. Slime drips off the ceiling in places. But, at least, the tunnel is big enough for many off-road vehicles. My log flashes and tells me that we’ve entered an area with breathable oxygen. I can take off my face mask, but I don’t just yet, in case there’s another trap.
The tunnel tilts downward as we walk together, weapons out. This is an area beneath the Infernix mines that Lucky_Champ has already searched. The rock here is darker than that on the surface, as if the heavier stuff sank to the moon’s interior early in its formation. My log flashes with a red message as we near a faint light.
Moderate radiation detected. Your armor is expending energy to protect you. Damage Reduction dropped to 75%.
“I’m taking damage!” GloryStealer shouts. His health bar drops a sliver and then rises as he heals.
“You’ll need armor soon,” I tell him. “Keep using Nanobot Packs until we’re out of here.”
“And it can’t be armor with animated tattoos. Sorry,” Vadie tells him. “Hide those monstrosities.”
“Is anyone else taking damage?” I ask.
“No,” Coco_Dream says. “Radiation doesn’t affect Androids. My armor is working at full capacity.”
“There’s a reason radiation is here to decrease our armor,” I say. “Be on the lookout. Everyone, weapons out.”
The message repeats itself in my log. GloryStealer uses two Nanobot Packs––before he needs to––as we near the light. The tunnel opens into a large cavern, complete with stalactites and more jutting rocks. We’ve located the first large room on the treasure map. A small sprinkle of loot crates scatter across the cavernous landscape.
“We’ve hit the mother lode,” Lucky shouts. He displays the map again to show how we’re in an upper room on the treasure map, represented by five red dots. There’s no yellow to indicate loot in here. The cache is closer to the core.
“Quiet,” I say. “There could be a—”
Small green blobs climb over the loot crates from all sides. A multitude of dots appear on my personal map as if they’ve just spawned or seeped out of the walls.
“Baby Tenticlas!” Coco_Dream shouts, opening fire.
“Ack!” GloryStealer swings a Nanobot Pack at one of them.
I equip my Sniper Rifle, complete with my 4th Tier Scope, and only because it’s the first thing in my hotbar. Not the best weapon for crowd control, but it’s all I’ve got. Coco_Dream21 fires triple Blaster beams at our enemies, all Level 15, and it’s making a world of difference for her. Vadie equips a red Laser Blade and decapitates a couple. But more appear on my game map and swarm him. He spins as his health bar drops. There’s no cover here to regenerate hit points.
I fire, causing a mini Tenticlas explosion. GloryStealer falls and dies, Nanobot Pack still in hand. Some of the green stuff lands on Vadie, seething as it eats away at his armor. Coco_Dream holds her own, causing more Baby Tenticlas to explode around her.
“Raven,” The Hermit says, calm as flower drifting lazily in a gentle breeze. “The map you hold cannot respawn if everyone in your party dies, even if it is properly in your inventory. Once you die here, you may not re-enter. The crater will be blocked.”
“That’s nice,” I shout. Treasure maps aren’t my forte. “Everyone! We must stay alive or we lose this map! If you die, you respawn way back at the Jump Pod!”
Coco_Dream is forced to stop firing. Her Blaster is steaming as it overheats. So, there’s a cooldown period with the Mod. “We need to protect Lucky_Champ!” she says. “He’s the one who can find the stuff!”
I fire two more close-range shots at the Baby Tenticlas, making two more explode. Vadie staggers away, health bar pathetic. I search my hotbar for a Nanobot Pack to give him, but he’s already leaning down to loot the ones from GloryStealer’s corpse.
But it’s too late.
Another Baby Tenticlas leaps onto his head. With a disgusting sucking sound, it drains the last of his health bar and he falls while the creature tries to gnaw on his helmet.
“Two down!” Lucky_Champ shouts, firing on the remaining enemies.
With the first room clear, the three of us catch our breath and debate on what to do next. It’s obvious that we’ll encounter more rooms like this.
We decide to put the Fragmented Ground Bombs to use since they can fracture and create mini explosions. We loot GloryStealer’s and Vadie’s hotbars for them once the grace period is up, then wait for them to communicate with us, but they don’t. Must be an anti-cheating measure.
The Ground Bombs work wonders in clearing the next few rooms of Baby Tenticlas. Each Bomb fragments into ten exploding pieces when it goes off, and Coco_Dream manages to dispatch enemies that our new weapons miss.
We descend further into the moon and approach the core. On the way, the radiation levels climb to high and my armor’s damage reduction gets slashed to 50 percent.
Then, at long last, we enter the final room: a round chamber with faintly glowing walls and stacks of loot crates. Lucky_Champ whoops and runs into the room once Coco_Dream and I determine that there’s nothing behind the crates.
“He really likes to treasure hunt,” Coco_Dream says.
I step into the room once I see that he’s not going to die from a surprise attack. To my shock, victory music plays again. Once it fades, my XP chimes as more gets added.
The numbers spin and spin. Four digits. Then five.
I now have 15,550 XP.
Fifteen more upgrades. This is a treasure map, all right.
Once I allocate all fifteen, I’ll be at a total of 29.293 upgrades.
And very close to that m
agical Level 30, when I can use my 5th Tier Sniper Scope.
It’s no wonder Lucky_Champ is so ecstatic.
I can barely contain my excitement as I speak. “Lucky, level up now. Allocate a few points to Luck before you open these crates.”
He looks at me with one orange eye, as if I’ve said something super obvious. “Of course I’m going to allocate,” he says. “Let me do that right now.”
I pray this works. I watch the level above Lucky_Champ’s name change from 25 to 27. Then he rubs his hands together and begins opening crates.
GloryStealer and Vadie are, of course, upset when we tell them about the 15,000 XP they missed out on. But they cheer up when Lucky hands GloryStealer a full set of Plasteel Armor—which Vadie is very glad about—and then gives Vadie a Green Laser Blade. Our inventories are full of smaller loot, pieces of random armor, and numerous more Fractured Ground Bombs.
And one very Rare Artifact.
At my insistence, I hold the Ancient XP Detector, and according to the achievement I got, the cluster using it can see at a distance to determine which enemies will provide the most XP when killed. The thing looks like a pyramid with an open top as a purple glow emanates from within.
Once loot gets passed around, I bring up the next point. “Guys, you can have all the loot we found. I don’t want any of it. All I want is to be able to sell this piece on the market because I need the real-world credits.” It’s time to be more honest. As I speak, it alleviates the pain.
“You want to sell that?” Coco_Dream asks me.
“It must be worth thirty thousand credits,” Lucky_Champ says.
“Exactly. You guys need to take me to the nearest market where the rich folks shop.”
“But that can get us so much more XP,” Vadie says. “Even just by grinding, we can level up probably twice as fast as before.”
I gulp. It’s time to explain my situation on Mera.
“Trust me, I want to level up more than any of you. But I have a problem.” Leaving out Atlas and The Hermit, I tell my new cluster about my deal for staying in the hidden dome of Raralin, away from the ICC. I must sound truthful enough, because Coco_Dream nods when I finish. Even GloryStealer and Vadie don’t poke at each other.
“Okay,” Coco_Dream says, disappointed. “I know a market full of the people you want. You might be able to demand what you need for that.”
CHAPTER 5
THE HERMIT IS happy to tell me all about The Binding’s black markets, a fact I already knew. But I’m glad to hear him speaking again. After checking the time and realizing there’s more than enough before I need to pay the fine I’ve dug myself into, I board a Jump Pod with Coco_Dream21 and Vadie. GloryStealer1 and Lucky_Champ board another Jump Pod since there isn’t room for all of us.
“There are many black markets scattered around this part of The Binding,” The Hermit informs me. “The closest one to our location is back on Planet Yaren. Landing in the Collarix Region will be the fastest way to get there.”
With the other players seating themselves opposite of me, I don’t dare speak back to The Hermit. I’m starting to like them more, but I still can’t trust anyone. The Hermit may have blocked the Master Admins from seeing where I am in the game, but they must have other ways to track players. So, instead, I type. For all my clustermates know, I’m updating my stats, which I still need to do before the next battle.
RAVEN_VEX: I need the shadiest one that will pay the best.
The Hermit goes silent. “There is a market in the Moxa Forest to the East. It is a market created by players of the game, not the ICC.”
I type a simple “thanks” to The Hermit before studying the game map. Coco_Dream is already holding her Android finger over it, trying to pick a place for me to go.
“No,” I say. “We need the market in the Moxa Forest. That one will pay the best.”
She looks at me and nods. “I think I know the one.”
“I believe she’s looking for something off the grid,” Vadie says.
“An old friend told me about one there,” I supply before I get asked too many questions. Atlas once visited a map with a rebel group that was away from the rest of the game. Having played The Binding since forever, I realize that these maps and markets exist, and that most players never find the vast majority of them. The ICC has done nothing to stop their existence. They keep people coming back and paying, after all. But some markets are shadier than others. The ICC does frown on the ones where people can trade items for real-life credits, forcing those markets to stay hidden and away from the mainstream maps. They’re the game’s darknet.
But that’s what I need. The XP Detector should sell for certain.
I let The Hermit tell me where on the map to press. I highlight a green region on the touch screen, and the Jump Pod takes off. I then radio for the others to follow.
Lucky_Champ says, “affirmative,” and then we’re off.
The Pod trip takes minutes, thanks to Vadie’s level averaging out to ours, thus increasing travel time. Eventually, the landscape outside slows and we descend toward the thickest jungle I can imagine. It probably rivals the most inhospitable wildernesses that once existed on Mera. Lush green branches and glowing vines brush against our windows and slap the Pod’s outer walls.
My log is happy to tell me I’m about to die.
You are entering an Uncharted Region. Excessive heat detected. Your armor is working to cool you.
“Damage Reduction dropped to ninety-five percent,” I announce to my clustermates.
“At least we won’t listen to GloryStealer complain about taking constant damage,” Vadie says.
“That’s a plus,” Coco_Dream says.
The door to the Jump Pod slides open and the thick jungle forms a vast canopy over our heads. We’re on a pad made of mossy, cracked stone. A faint trail snakes into the trees, and my player map alerts me of red dot groups everywhere. Probably common jungle enemies like Mushkells, but I can’t be too careful. The area is dim. While the XP Detector would highlight the strongest enemies in the area, I don’t want it in my hotbar. A rogue cluster could be operating out here.
“This is the shadiest area I could find,” The Hermit says. “Scarcely any sun reaches the bottom.”
I want to turn around and smack my head on the Jump Pod. But I hold back since the others are watching and the second Jump Pod is already descending toward another Pad nearby. As I wait for GloryStealer and Lucky_Champ to emerge, I type a message to The Hermit.
RAVEN_VEX: IS THERE A MARKET HERE THAT PAYS WELL?
“Yes. And you are typing in all caps. That means you are angry.”
How long has Atlas dealt with this? But, at least, The Hermit searched for something that pays.
“Come on,” I say to the others. “I’ll lead the way. The market is—”
“To the left,” The Hermit says.
“To the left,” I say. That’s right into the jungle.
The trek through the thick vegetation wouldn’t have been possible if not for Vadie’s new Green Laser Blade, which easily cuts through the glowing vines and towers of neon fungus.
In time, we stumble across a narrow trail, obviously used before and not meant to be public. A sign there is a hidden market out here, one away from any recorded trading by the ICC. I should have known players would have placed the entrance in a free play area. We duck through overgrowth and bump into each other until the narrow trail ends at a vine-choked cave.
“This is the market you seek,” The Hermit says.
“Looks like that’s it,” Lucky_Champ says at the same time as The Hermit. “I’ve never been to this market before. But the entrances are always away from where most people would look.” He goes inside first and vanishes.
“Whoa!” GloryStealer1 says.
“In,” I say. We have to push him through.
The secret maps always force a partial log-out sequence when visiting them. We enter, and everything goes black for a few seconds as the new map loa
ds. When it does, I blink and then find myself inside of an ancient temple, complete with indoor waterfalls and green lighting. We’re surrounded by mossy stone, a few other players who mill around, and statues of The Binding itself. The floating stone diamonds spin in the air, lighting up the room with vertical green beams. The place is eerie but feels secretive.
A message alerts me that I’m now in a no-PvP zone.
“I told you,” Lucky_Champ says. “There are always people hanging around these places. Some live to make money on the market.”
“You’d know,” Coco_Dream tells him.
There aren’t many people here, though. No one speaks to each other. Most seem to be solo players since I see no other clusters. They vanish in and out of the dark entryway as we move deeper into the long temple.
Lucky lowers his voice and explains, “In the black market world, buyers stand around and avoid looking obvious.”
He’s right. A Level 5 Cyborg player stands between two waterfalls and a Level 22 Android stands farther down, waiting for business. Knowing the Level 22 guy—Poe_829—will have more credits to spend, I approach him and make an offer before he can ask what I’m doing here and how I found this place.
“I have an Ancient XP Detector,” I say after targeting him. “I’ll give it to you for twenty thousand credits.”
The Cyborg regards me with shock. Then he turns the corner of his lip up and bursts out laughing.
“An Ancient XP Detector,” he says at last. “I’ll give you ten.”
“Ten?”
“Look, lady. I need to resell these things and make a profit. Do you accept?”
There’s no one else selling today. Ten thousand will get me halfway to survival. “Tell me there’s someone else here.”
“Well, yeah. If you want to talk to the big guy, he’s in the Treasure Chamber. He won’t be interested in an XP Detector, but he’s exchanged everything from vacation time in the real world to promotions to better jobs. He makes a lot of extra money off this game.”
