“It is, but it’s once an hour. Isn’t that great?”
“Wow.” I don’t tell him my Seizure move is the same way. It must be something with the special Dark World classes. I’ll have to ask Sorry and Days about it.
“Do you judge me?”
I shake my head. “No,” I try to say as non-judgmentally as I can. I think it’s abuse, just like he used to do, which makes his story of seeking someone as a reason to kill and loot players a load of crap. He won’t farm or craft or sell magic like the rest of us.
“You’re lucky. You made friends. You’re in a guild.”
“You’ve never even been in a guild?”
“Yes,” he says, pushing his long, white hair back and taking a drink. “I was at one time, years ago. When I first started playing. The help was nice, but I left. Girl problems. I was so young, the stupid things that mattered… oh well. We can’t help our decisions of youth.”
I sip, too. I feel relaxed, but still cautious. Should I even have drunk something he gave me?
No, I think it’s okay. If I trust my gut, which I usually do, he actually does admire me in his delusional way and wants to be friends who take over the game and create a paradox. Whatever that means. “I made some dumb ones when I was in college. Usually women.”
“Almost always is.” He laughs softly. “This is nice. You have given thought to what I said?”
“Of course I have. I haven’t made a decision yet.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t understand what you’re talking about, for one.” I hate him, I hate him, I hate him. But maybe I can get info if I can keep up this act. The beer is helping. I stay away from asking how he brought us here. He doesn’t like that question. “Why did you ask me if I’ve seen Dragonbane Territory?”
“It’s so different. Sid, you’ll love it. There are dragons! They are enslaved right now, but some escape. And humans, so many. All mixed with Dragonbane. I wanted to see Bane, but never had the opportunity.”
“That’s… something.”
“It really is. What don’t you understand about what you call my plan?”
I take a deep drink this time and let it work its Dark World beer magic, and my shoulders relax. I need to word things carefully, like the good Nuudle I am. “Are we in Elora’s past?”
He shrugs. “I can’t explain more about what I know until you’re onboard.”
“Okay, but I can’t decide whether or not to be onboard unless I know what we’re doing and why.”
“It’s owning the game. We will own the game. That’s really all you need to know to motivate you.”
He’s dodging every tactful thing I dig for. This is stupid. He’s an ass. I have to get the hell out of here.
I stand up and stretch, trying to seem casual, leaving my beer on the ground. “Sun’s up, and I gotta sleep somewhere indoors. Been grinding for days out here.”
“Where did you sleep?”
“I didn’t. That’s why I gotta go. It’s been nice, and thanks for the beer.”
“Is that it?” He jumps to his feet, dropping his beer next to mine. It spills onto the dead leaves.
I act innocent and dumb. “What do you mean?”
“You are supposed to give me your decision.”
“Oh, that. I haven’t made up my mind.”
“Why not? It’s a simple question.” He’s acting panicked, angry.
“Really, I have to sleep. I’ll catch up to you once I’ve made up my mind.”
“There has to be a reason you want more time. What is it?”
“I want to understand Dark World more, gather my options, figure out things for myself.”
“Why?”
“Well, because nobody will just tell me.”
His brows push together.
“See ya, Seeker. Good luck.” Taking over the world and conquering the universe! I want to add. I turn south and walk away from him. I can feel his bright White Elf eyes glowing holes in the back of my small head.
I’m nervous until I think I’m out of eyesight.
Sid summons Varengan.
Blue mist flows out of my chest and my gorgeous, gigantic blue bird flies around me soon after. We get to the path and head to the Pass, then through Nuudle Territory toward Kleeple. I’ve never traveled with Varengan before, and he’s so fun. He flitters here and there. Lands sometimes and pecks at the ground. Flies up to trees. Some players stop on their mounts or walking to watch him.
I’m proud. I’m also lucky I got away from Seeker that easily, but I know he’ll be back.
CHAPTER 10: BATTLE OF DJINN
Of course, the economy is very different than in Elora. Everything costs less, but it’s harder to get cash. Plus, there seem to be less players here in Dark World. The Kila Crystal links I’ll make on the other continent will help a ton until I can afford a mount. I remember what a big deal it was to get a new Kila Crystal access point when I first started playing Elora. It was a year before I had all the ones I knew of. You never really know if you have everything of anything in Elora Online, and Dark World is the same way. Secrets and unknowns everywhere.
I spent time in the Temple of Nuudlel trying to figure out scroll-making, but was completely lost. The instructor NPC said to read all the books about it in the libraries. Do you know how many books there are in that temple? I’d say about 4,000. I didn’t have time for all that, so put off the craft after skilling up on a few simple salve scrolls. I got to skill stat 3.5. I pop in on Master Gronai for a Contemplation infusion and chat for a few. I like that old NPC. He’s oddly comforting to me.
I travel through White Elf Territory to the Snowy Mountains, or, as I know them, Red Snow Mountains, and make it to Hilly’s Balloon Station. It’s freezing here.
I ride the hot air balloon to the other continent, where Mylop Territory and Dragonbane Territory are. And where the temperatures rise dramatically.
I’m shocked when the balloon lands and I see what Dragonbane Territory looks like.
The first thing I see is a blood red dragon, a little one, flying low through the black land. It vanishes in the distance. This is a great vantage point to see the whole territory before making the climb down.
Black, shiny volcanic structures are the same, mountains all throughout the horizon the same, but Kane, now Bane, to the north, is shining silver, as though made from the solid precious metal. In Elora, it was black volcanic glass.
Bane is an egomaniac. I can’t wait to meet this NPC, or at least get a glimpse of him.
Sid summons Varengan.
I want to be safe, and the Counts would hate it here. So very exposed. I walk all the way to Bane, through the black sand, and see huge cages full of all colors and types of dragons, then human males with silver collars around their necks mining for obsidian. All those poor NPCs. They are mining for Bane until he makes each and every one of them Dragonbane. I also see the newly converted Dragonbane. This is all around the little towns outside Bane.
It blows my mind.
I dismiss Varengan far from the capital.
The city of Bane’s silver walls give in to a meticulously-designed and grand city. It feels industrial almost, as compared to the rustic feeling Kane had in Elora. There are statues of Bane everywhere. He is a red Dragonbane with silver, curving horns and silver spikes down his back. By the gear he’s in, it looks like he’s a Maniac, my old job.
I wander the city, check out the AH. My stuff had taken two days to sell, and now I’m outfitted in an Apprentice Robe from the recipe with the fluorite, have four new rings, Charmed Linen Pants that I made, Smart Sandals—I gave up on my feet ever feeling good again for stats—and a couple of earrings. My robe has a hood. It’s green with decorative gold around the trim. My CON is now at 61. INT at 46. MND at 30. I’ve also done some side quests to boost my concentration as they came to me, mainly from talking to all the NPCs in Kleeple. Makes sense. Nuudles should be Mystics, and Kleeple is Nuudle Central.
I also grinded for some
other stat boosts to thicken up my HP bar, especially focusing on ATT and DEF.
I like robes with hoods. People don’t look at me as much. The more I travel, the more people stare at the marking on my forehead. Often, I get questions. People always want to see Varengan and the Counts. With hoods, I can pull the rim low so as to cover my rare Mystic marking.
The layout is pretty much the same here, and I go to where the NPC ruling over Dragonbane Territory used to reside in a three-story volcanic glass mansion. Now, in its place is a solid silver spiral going into the clouds, about sixty feet wide. Six Dragonbane guards stand in front of the door, which is made from black volcanic glass.
I approach them. “I’d like to see Bane.” I say.
“Nobody sees Bane,” says the nearest NPC. “You especially. Get out of here.”
No way I’m going to just walk in and meet the famed, evil NPC.
I turn and walk away, listening to guild chat. I tell them where I am, and they’re excited that I made it. I’m still shy in Faithgamblers most of the time unless I forget myself when I’m excited about getting summons.
Yeah, I’m pretty quiet in guild chat, whereas in Nowhere Squares, I talked all the time. So many of those people I knew in real life. It was easy to be myself.
Real life. What is that?
“Pssst,” I hear a woman’s voice hiss from my right. I look at the shop there. It’s a flower vendor. There are no flowers in Dragonbane Territory. These flowers must be expensive.
“Pssst!” I see the human woman’s eyes through a slit in the shop’s curtains over the open window.
NPC? Or player? I’m curious, and go inside the flower shop.
A human NPC named Mena with red hair, freckles, and wearing a healer’s robe greets me with fear in her eyes. Have I found a secret quest?
“You… are Mystic?” she asks quietly.
“Yeah.”
“We need a Mystic to help us. Bane is taking over the world, he’s changing our very bodies. Look at this silver collar around my neck!” She pulls at it. “I’m marked for changing. What will happen to me? I don’t want to be half dragon. I have seen what it does to the human spirit. Crushes it. Will you help stop him?”
“Sure,” I say, knowing that’s the right answer.
“Okay. Good, thank you very much, young Nuudle Mystic. So rare to see a Nuudle here, much less a Mystic. Are you sure you want to do this? It will be hard, and you will have to be the bravest alive to accomplish this. Are you?”
“Yeah.” No hesitation. There might be a delay in gathering everybody for the Djinn fight if this is a long quest.
“I’m going to show you a special flower. One I keep in the back, and it never dies or dries out. It’s a Human Lotus, carries the essence of a Mystic I once knew. I grew it in volcanic sand, put some of his ashes in the soil. I thought I was burying him, but this grew. I want you to handle it, gather what Mystic secrets it has. I have a feeling something will happen.”
“Well, thanks,” I tell her. I can’t wait to see this flower.
“I’ll be back. I have to get it from the safe.”
“Okay, thanks again.”
She turns her head funny at me. “You sure are a nice Mystic. But Nuudles do know how to talk.” She goes through a door behind the counter.
I look around at all the flowers. One in particular catches my eye. It’s a daisy, but the center is the classy kind of yellow gold, and the white petals shimmer like mother-of-pearl. I pick it up and look at its description in my interface.
Sunlight Daisy—A great gift for that special someone. When carried, the person warps to you instead of their grave upon death, alive and at full health.
Wow, gift? I need this for me. But then I think of Silvia, and would love it if every time she died, she came to me.
I look at the price. It’s outrageous. I can’t afford this.
As Mena comes back into the main shop area, I say, “Any way I can get a discount on a Sunlight Daisy? There’s someone I’d very much like to give it to.”
She’s holding something wrapped in pink silk, and pauses as she reaches me. “Oh? Who is this person?”
“Well, it’s hard to explain. I think I’m in love with her, and I can’t figure out how she feels about me. It’s complicated, though, because we… live in different places.”
She laughs with delight. “So, this way, she can come to you every time she dies and you can see each other more.”
“Exactly.”
She tilts her head in thought. I wait. She twirls a red curl, then says, “You did agree to save the world for me, so the Sunlight Daisy is on the house. Now here, look at this lotus.” She unwraps the pink silk and reveals a tiny white lotus. I touch its petals. They feel like marshmallows. “It’s beautiful,” I tell her. “You are quite gracious.” I’m pushing my Nuudle language charm hard because she seems to like that.
“Take it, Sid. Once you hold it, it will know you are Mystic too, and grant you a gift.”
“How do you know that?”
“I know everything about flowers.” That’s an easy answer.
I take the white lotus into my small hands and it fills them. Suddenly, the lotus glows brightly, like it has a lightbulb inside it, and I see a Dragonbane Mystic in long, dark robes within the glowing lotus. He can’t be more than half an inch big.
“That’s him!” Mena says happily.
“Hello,” says his hard-to-hear voice. “Hello, fellow Mystic. I see you have two summons already. That is good. I left a piece of me with Mena because I knew she was the best nurturer of all and would find a way to preserve my talents for a new Mystic to learn. Here, for now I will teach you Mantra, something all Mystics should have. First, though, you have to pick a word or phrase to use as your Mantra.”
“Okay, um…” I have no idea. “Anything?”
“If you have special attachments to a name or saying or word, that works best.”
My mind blanks. “Silvia,” I spit out, worried I’d run out of time and lose this opportunity. Maybe it was because I had just been thinking about her, but I’ve been thinking about her for two years. I don’t even know her real name. I think of her everytime I log in and out, things in the game remind me of her, and late at night when I can’t sleep, I think of how she looks in White Elf Territory, her blonde hair glistening in the sun, the constant gentle breeze of the area blowing it around her shoulders and waist.
“Silvia. That’s her, right?” asks Mena.
“Yep.” My heart rate picks up at the memory, and I say her name in my head, trying it out as a mantra.
“No, you have to say it every time you use Mantra,” says the little Mystic NPC in my palms.
“Silvia,” I say, but nothing happens.
“I haven’t taught it to you yet, curious Mystic Sid.”
I laugh. “Okay, I’m ready.”
A bright blue bolt shoots out of his itty-bitty index finger and hits me in my chest, where my summons go in and out. It knocks the breath out of me, but it doesn’t hurt.
“Now, look at your abilities,” he says. “When you say your mantra, Silvia, after using the ability, the effects of Mantra will take place.”
“Thank you.” I smile down at him. Finally, someone smaller than me.
“You’re welcome. Maybe you will succeed where I failed. Mena seems to think so.”
The lotus stops glowing and he fades away.
Mena cries softly as I hand the lotus back to her. “It was so nice to see and hear him again. Before, when he was human, we were married. Bane turned him, and he was never quite the same. I see that now, after he’s passed, he’s himself again.” She smiles down at me. “Now, don’t forget your Sunlight Daisy.” She wraps the lotus in the pink silk and walks away, wiping tears from her eyes.
I open my abilities menu and read about Mantra.
Mantra—Gives target + Attack, random. Cumulative until end of battle.
Damn. This is a great one. I wonder how high the ATT stat can g
o. Varengan’s Swift Arrow with that on it? Cumulative? That will be something.
I want to thank her all over again, and close my ability menu, but Mena is gone, probably putting the lotus in the safe.
I leave the shop, and tell the guild about it. They are stoked. I don’t tell them about the Sunlight Daisy, nor what my mantra is.
Shell immediately pops in with, “Tell me everything!” She hardly ever talks and has three summons, including Djinn. “I don’t have that.” Something in the tone of her voice seems off. I can’t place it. Maybe it’s just one of those things. Looking into a little change and making a snap judgment.
I tell her exactly where I went, describing the flower shop.
“I’m on my way there now. Thanks, Sid,” she says in her husky voice.
“We doing this thing today?” asks Days.
“I’m ready whenever you all are. Just say the word,” I tell them. “No rush,” I add, but I’m dying to charge down Djinn’s cave and kick ass, get a new summon.
Getting new summons is addictive now.
Simple says, “Oh, man. I finally get to do one of these. Djinn! I’ve never even seen him.” She lets out a little squeal.
It occurs to me that when Days met me and introduced me to Sorry the day we fought the Counts, he was seeing if I was a normal person and decent player so I could join the guild. And then they could do the big summon fights. They love this stuff.
I do, too, to be honest. In Elora, I never missed a big boss fight unless I was running a dungeon or asleep. We’re all like that. Here, even more so, to keep us from the questions, even if it hurts, and hurts bad.
“I’m in,” says Sorry.
“Me too,” adds Doolittle.
“You guys are awesome,” I tell them.
“Say, an hour? What cave this time?” Days asks.
“It’s called Abandoned Echo Mine on the map when you zoom in on the northwest corner. It looks like it’s at the base of a volcano.”
I can’t believe how lucky I am. I might actually get Djinn and this rad move Mantra in the same day.
“I can’t wait to see my Death Lightning with Mantra,” says Simple. “It’s my hardest-hitting spell. I wonder how much Attack I can get…” She sounds geeked. ATT isn’t a major stat for The Blacks, but through experience, players know damage mages with high ATT do much more damage with their big spells. One of the many unexplained parts of this MMO’s gameplay method. Wikis theorize for pages and pages as to what stats actually do what for each class.
Total Immersion: Dark World: A LitRPG Adventure Page 9
