World-Tree Online

by EA Hooper

  Vincent aimed his cannon at the nearest goblin vessel. He fired three shots until the cannon glowed red hot, and the runes expelled excess heat. Two of his three shots hit, and the gray goblins aboard shouted in their language just before a large wave took their vessel under.

  “We’re almost to Stem Island!” Captain Elm shouted, pointing at the branch on the horizon. “Full speed, men! These three paid good gild for this voyage, and we can’t let them down.”

  Vincent eyed the branch. We might really make it to Valahym this time. I can’t believe it’s taken us this long to reach the mid-tier, but I guess I shouldn’t complain—it’s been a wild journey.

  “Uh oh,” Xan said, pointing past the destroyed vessels.

  A large fleet headed their way and tried to cut off their path to Stem Island. Vincent Scanned the largest vessel, a massive warship that glowed green with runes.

  Davy Gark’s Sinking Whirlwind (World Boss) – Monster Class: (Ship: B | Captain: C+) | Ageless | Sex: (Ship: None | Captain: Male) | Respawn Time: One In-Game Week | Personality: (Ship: None | Captain: Bloodthirsty)

  “Good lord!” Captain Elm shouted. “What’s Davy Gark doing this far north? He’s supposed to stay around the Cursed Isles to the west. He’s brought an entire fleet with him too.”

  “We can’t take all those ships,” one crewmate called back. “Let’s drop anchor, make a hard spin, and retreat.”

  “No, we have a Quest Contract to fulfill,” Elm replied. “We’ll outfit another ship if we have to. I say we press forward. Full speed, men! Prioritize the cannons on the Sinking Whirlwind.”

  A storm brewed overhead as the fleet approached. Lightning struck at the water, and the waves tossed their ship. Vincent and his team readied themselves. After twenty years, he knew what they were planning by their stance and body language.

  Quinn will try to board the boss’s ship if it reaches us. Xan’s about to ready those new butterflies of hers, isn’t she?

  Almost as soon as Vincent finished the thought, Xan waved her hands and created ten ghostly butterflies.

  Light-Drain Butterfly (Cleric Only) – Mana Usage: Very Low | Creates a phantasmal butterfly that can drain light from players or monsters. The butterfly can sacrifice itself to provide a nearby target with either healing energy or mana gained from absorption.

  Xan drank an ether and made even more Light-Drain Butterflies. However, Vincent knew she was pushing the limit of how many she could control at once.

  She’s come a long way since Knightrest, he noted. I have, too, though. This will be a good chance to practice my newest ability.

  He glanced at his HUD to check out the two void abilities he’d developed since leaving Knightrest. He’d finished his new shield after twelve years, but the other ability he’d only recently mastered.

  Gravity Shield – Mana Usage: Minuscule to Low+ | Replaces the user’s Mana Shield. | Generates an invisible forcefield around the user that’s made from negative energy. This forcefield slows and dampens incoming attacks, reducing the amount of damage taken. However, it saps the user’s mana reserve every time it slows an attack. The amount varies depending on the strength of the attack.

  Zero Field (Mage Only) – Mana Usage: Varies | Generates a zero-frequency field that can move objects. Larger or more powerful targets (such as spells or players) require significantly more mana to affect.

  He swapped out his lighter sea-faring outfit for hardened-oiron armor. He knew the 150-rating would stop the goblins’ weaker attacks, but the massive cannons on the World Boss’s ship intimidated him more than he would admit to his teammates. While his Gravity Shield had proved formidable, even stronger than Quinn’s Impact Shield, it could also rapidly drain his mana if he wasn’t careful.

  Quinn swapped to her combat attire. After losing her Orofabric Bandages when they wiped on Noonmar, she had eventually upgraded to a lightweight outfit covered in thin hardened-oiron plates. With her Agility at eighty, the plates barely slowed her down.

  Quinn tightened her fist, and Vincent saw black static and spatial warping around her fists.

  “You’re trying that here?” he asked.

  “I’m so close to finishing this spell,” Quinn replied. “It’s been at ninety-nine percent for too damn long. Maybe if I use it on a World Boss like you did, it’ll finally work. I want to finish my first negative energy spell before Jim finishes his.”

  “He’s at ninety-ninety, too, but you’re a couple years ahead. No reason to risk killing yourself when we’re so close to the stem. It’d burn about eight Jump Crystals between us to team jump you from Courtal to Valahym.”

  “Yeah, but it’d be worth it if this ability worked. I just can’t figure out your trick. Not feeling it—but still feeling it?”

  “Zero-frequency. It’s a lack or dampening of frequencies. Like the waves tossing this ship around. Only with nothing, instead of water.”

  “Zero-frequency? More like zero-freaking sense.”

  “You’ll get it one of these—”

  Mana blasts bombarded their ship’s barriers, and they readied the cannons on the incoming vessels. The three teammates and the crew blasted away at the nearest ships, but Vincent kept his eyes on the World Boss. The Sinking Whirlwind didn’t seem to bob with the water, instead, keeping a level course. It’d sink under the water with passing waves, and then reemerge soon after.

  A goblin vessel charged their ship to knock out a barrier, and then its crew leapt across the gap. Quinn quickly took out three goblins with her old-fashioned Breaker. Vincent equipped his magically-enhanced oiron longsword. He slashed through two gray goblins, blocked several counterattacks, and then slew two more.

  Xan waved her hand toward the nearby ship, and her butterflies swarmed the remaining occupants. The goblins swung their claws and weapons around, but her butterflies picked off three of them before returning to her. She used the mana gained to replace the ones the goblins had destroyed.

  With most of its crew dead, the goblin ship steered back toward its fleet. Two crewmates from the player-run vessel tossed a large, rune-covered crate onto the enemy ship before it left their range. The ship drifted back to the fleet, and then Captain Elm raised his hand to cast a spell.

  The spell triggered the chest on the other ship. The runes glowed bright and opened, releasing goblin magic that the crew had learned to capture and store inside rune-marked chests. The goblin magic spread in all directions, triggering all the explosive barrels below the deck of the ship. The ship exploded into a fiery inferno that spread magical flames to the nearest five ships.

  “Direct hit, Captain!” a crewmate shouted in joy.

  They watched as the fire, generated by goblin magic, spread and eventually ignited the barrels on three other ships. The rest of the fleet scattered away from the spreading fires, and the players sank any vessel that strayed too close.

  “Come on,” Quinn said, staring at the World Boss’s ship. “Just a little closer.” She tightened her fist, and once again black static crackled around her hand.

  >Vincent: Careful, Quinn. If that spell backfires, you’ll sink us by accident.

  >Quinn: I won’t damage our ship. This won’t be like that group wipe on Yunfield. I’m still sorry about that one, Xan.

  >Alexandria: I’ve told you a hundred times its okay. I’m almost used to dying by now. Hehe. But for real, let’s not lose this fight. Dying sucks.

  They aimed their cannons at approaching vessels and traded shot for shot. The goblins ships sank in succession, but Vincent noted that most the sections of their barriers had vanished.

  >Jim: You’re telling me. I’ve killed myself like ten times practicing my void spell. I think I’ve almost got it, though. It’ll be so cool. Way cooler than Quinn’s.

  >Quinn: Sure, old man. You’d better team jump to Valahym and show us. You and Keanu are still at Lillypost, right? It’d only take about sixteen Jump Crystals for you to reach us here.

  >Jim: I’ll take you up on that offer, if only b
ecause Valahym is my last chance to hang out with you three before you’re too far away. Maybe you can take a few years off from adventuring to party with me?

  >Vincent: Yeah, yeah, we will. But we have to focus on this goblin fleet first.

  Vincent sunk another ship with a well-aimed shot, but his eyes caught sight of the World Boss making its move. It glided toward them faster than the other ships, and its massive cannons took aim.

  “Ready for repairs!” Captain Elm shouted at his crew.

  Sixteen cannons of the Sinking Whirlwind opened fire at once. Vincent raised both hands and double-cast Zero Field. He caught two mana blasts in the air, but fourteen still struck. The shots battered away the remaining barriers in an instant, and explosions rang out across the ship.

  Vincent redirected the two mana blasts he’d caught back at the enemy vessel. He and his teammates fired their cannons on the World Boss. It had no shields, and Vincent thought they were damaging it well enough until he saw pieces of debris floating back toward the holes on the Sinking Whirlwind. The damage they’d done slowly began to rebuild itself.

  “Are you kidding me?” Vincent groaned. “It’s basically a lich ship.”

  “You have to kill Davy Gark to kill his ship!” Captain Elm shouted.

  The Sinking Whirlwind moved in parallel with their ship and blasted them again. One shot took out Vincent’s cannon and knocked him backward. His Gravity Shield slowed the particles from the explosion, and his armor kept the shrapnel from hurting him.

  He saw Xan fly backward from an explosion, and her butterflies rushed to heal her.

  Quinn’s fist sparked with black static again, and the air around her fist rippled from the gravitational effect. She leapt through the air toward the Sinking Whirlwind and slammed her fist into the deck.

  A spatial wave flowed from the spot she struck, creating a massive explosion that sent debris and Quinn herself flying away. Vincent extended a zero-frequency field upward to catch her. The field slowed her, and she fell unconscious into his arms.

  The Sinking Whirlwind replied to Quinn’s attack with a chain of cannon fire. Sixteen mana blasts tore through the players’ ship, killing several crewmates. Even Captain Elm leapt away from his wheel as mana blew it to bits.

  “We were so close,” Elm cried, glancing ahead at Stem Island.

  “We can still make it!” Vincent shouted, placing Quinn on the floor. “Everyone remaining, fire on the goblins controlling the cannons. I have a plan.”

  Vincent chugged an ether and cast Zero Field while the other players attacked the goblins. He flipped around the cannons on the Sinking Whirlwind one by one and activated them once their cooldowns had finished. The goblins’ own cannons tore through them and the ship. Vincent forced the cannons toward the captain’s wheel, hoping to hit Davy Gark.

  The rune-covered captain released a deep growl as he emerged from the rubble. He drew a verasteel blade and leapt over to the players’ ship.

  Vincent finished another ether and shot Davy Gark through the head with Void Gun.

  The Sinking Whirlwind stopped putting itself together the moment its captain died, and the enemy vessel sank into the murky depths. However, the players’ ship didn’t fare much better. Even with the crew using magic to repair it, it started to sink as they neared Stem Island.

  “Let’s beach her, men,” Captain Elm said, sadly. He steered the ship toward the Island. “This is it for the Rose Royale.”

  The ship crashed onto the beach with the last of its momentum, throwing everyone forward. Vincent caught himself, and then checked on his teammates. Xan had recovered and focused her attention on Quinn’s cuts and bruises. The Fighter opened her eyes after a minute and smirked at her teammates.

  “You complete your ability?” Vincent asked.

  “Nah, but that was awesome. I think my punch blew through every floor of the ship.”

  “Did you get a better feel for the lack of frequency, at least?”

  “Uh, I wasn’t really paying attention. It feels like a huge force shoving out of my fist in every direction. Like punching underwater, only the water exploded.”

  “That’s the gravity effect. You need to feel the gap between frequencies. Maybe if you had more experience with runes, you’d understand what I’m talking about.”

  “Bleh, boring. Can’t I just punch stuff and watch it explode?”

  “You can, but sometimes you’re the thing that explodes.”

  Quinn shrugged. “Touché.”

  Xan helped Quinn to her feet, and then stared around the destroyed ship. “Elm, I’m so sorry your ship got ruined.”

  “It’s alright, young lady,” the captain replied. “Not the first vessel we’ve lost. We have a spare that only needs to be outfitted with runes. Your Quest Contract will cover that much.”

  “Well, take this bonus,” Xan said, handing him several item crystals.

  “Thank ye,” Elm replied. “Luckily for us, one of the Jump Gates on this island points to Riva. We’ll just have to wait for one of our teammates to respawn to team jump us back. Gives us plenty of time to swim around and salvage Davy Gark’s items.”

  Vincent thanked the captain and his crew one more time, and then the three friends journeyed across the small island. At a distance, he could see three different Jump Gates on different ends of the island. One pointed to Riva, one aimed toward less-explored worlds, and the third led to Valahym. The three friends hurried to their destination and stepped onto the plateau together.

  >Vincent: Jim, we’re about to jump to Valahym.

  >Jim: Took you long enough. I halfway expected you to give up and settle down on Courtal.

  Vincent activated the two Jump Crystals needed to make it to Valahym. He aimed his crystals at the blue dot on the barren world that hung on the branch above.

  >Quinn: No way, Jimmy. We’re going all the way to the top—with or without you, casual.

  >Jim: Woah, woah, woah. Casual? First of all, that term is way out of style. You must’ve picked that up from old Vince. Second of all, I’m not a casual. I’ve been cleaning up worlds left and right. We’ll see who’s a casual when I finish my void spell first.

  Vincent flew through the sky as the gravitational energy pulled him toward Valahym. Even after a hundred jumps between worlds, it always felt exhilarating. His eyes looked from world to world for anything interesting.

  >Quinn: Jim, even if you made a negative energy ability before me, I’d call you a casual. Because you’ll still be on the lower worlds with all the other casuals. You might as well not bother with that void spell if all you’re doing is using it on B-Class and lower enemies.

  >Jim: Pfft. You three haven’t even seen an A-Class yet besides wyrms. I’d know because you three would be spamming me with messages about how you wiped.

  >Quinn: More like we’d be celebrating how we defeated an A-Class monster while Jimmy-boy was drinking alone.

  >Jim: Very funny. You should know by now that I never drink alone.

  Vincent spotted the smallest world he’d ever seen. It hung on the branch above Valahym, but was located near the end of the branch. He focused his eyes on the crag-infested world covered in dark clouds and smog. Is that one of those Dead-Worlds I’ve heard about? Better Scan it.

  Eramar – Classification: Dead-World | Size: Small | No facts currently available.

  Huh. I bet that place would be exciting to explore. Then again, I’ve always told Quinn and Xan we wouldn’t go to one.

  He slowed as he neared the Jump Gate on Valahym. Vincent glanced at the towering walls of the city in the distance.

  City of Midrun – Player Count: 5,205 | City Size: Very Small | Fact #1: Was once a prosperous city before Valahym’s century-long drought. | Fact #2: Most common class is Warden. | Fact #3: 99.5% of players that arrive to Midrun set their spawn elsewhere within five years.

  Of course they put their spawn elsewhere. There’s little on this world, and there are three other City-Worlds that aren’t too much harder
to reach. So, if you have the strength to make it that far, it makes sense to press forward. However, I’ve heard most players that get this far ultimately turn back and return to the lower worlds.

  Vincent looked around, but he saw no guards around the Jump Gate. However, runes lit up on the pillars as they stepped off the plateau. Scanning runes. I’ve heard the people of Midrun were a paranoid bunch. They’ve had so many would-be conquerors and toxic players try to use their city for their own good, so I don’t blame them for putting up defenses.

  They journeyed toward the city, and Vincent eyed the cannons. Eventually, a massive, city-wide barrier stopped them. I’ve never seen a barrier of this magnitude, Vincent thought, scanning it.

  Very Small City Barrier (Warden Only)– Initial Mana Usage: Very High (Teammates that cast this spell together can split the cost between them) | Magic Rating: Varies | Creates a large forcefield around a city of very-small-size classification. Maintaining the barrier requires an amount of mana that depends on how much damage the barrier has taken.

  A holographic image of a cloaked figure appeared before the teammates. “Halt. We’re checking your player profiles and background information before we allow entry.”

  “Alright,” Vincent replied.

  “Hurry up,” Quinn said. “It took us forever to get here.”

  “Don’t mind her,” Xan told the figure. “We can wait.”

  After a few seconds, the figure shook its head. “Your guild has done good work on the lower worlds, but unfortunately there’s a problem. We’ve heard of Noble Vincent’s spell that cuts through barriers, and that’s something our people see as a potential threat. We cannot allow you entry at this time. May I suggest taking the Jump Gate to Vatar? From there, you could reach Firepeak in several weeks.”

  Vincent sighed and looked at his team. “Yeah, I guess we can try that.”

  “Seriously?” Quinn grumbled. “We came all this way, and they won’t let you in because of your Void Gun? That’s so dumb.”