Ascend Online

by Luke Chmilenko

  "Thanks, Ritt." I put the parchment into my pack; I’d take some time to draw out the area later on and design a better map of the area. Maybe once the players started to flood the area, I would be able to trade or sell copies of my map. Not to mention be able to find my way around much easier.

  “How much are you offering for a full set of armor?” I asked Ritt.

  Ritt rubbed his face while inspecting my armor. “I can go just shy of a gold piece, 9 silver for a set. 11 silver if you include a bronze weapon.”

  “Hmm… what’s the gold to silver exchange rate?”

  “Right now, I can exchange at twelve silvers to one gold since we’re far from the capital and gold pieces are pretty rare. If you’re at the Captial, though, it’s almost always fixed at ten to one,” Ritt answered with a shrug. “Unless there’s a vampire or werewolf outbreak. Then you’ll be hard pressed to find silver anywhere.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind Ritt. Thanks.” With our transaction done I waved Ritt goodbye and set back off into the wild, idly wondering how often vampire or werewolf outbreaks occurred if Ritt felt it was worth mentioning.

  ***

  My second adventure outside the village had me feeling much more confident than my first. With the added levels under my belt and my new sword I was easily burning through the low-level creatures surrounding the village, and thanks to my new armor, any damage they did to me was negligible if they even landed a hit at all.

  Hoping to find a challenge, I directed my hunting back towards the area I’d mentally named “Crater Lake.” With how overpopulated the area was with creatures I netted myself 43 x [Fox Pelts], 16 x [Snake Skin] and 4 x [Puma Pelts].

  Unfortunately, though, none of the Puma pelts belonged to my Nemesis, though, I idly wondered what happened to Puma I escaped from yesterday and if I would see it again today. I’d be ready to give it a better fight this time!

  Ragna wasn’t kidding about Hollyleaf. I thought to myself as I bent down yet again to tear the herb out of the ground. I’d made good use of the Herbalism skill so far and managed to collect 50 pieces of [Hollyleaf], along with bringing my Herbalism skill to level 3. As much as it slowed me down, the properties of the leaf had me stopping every chance I got.

  Hollyleaf - Herb - Level 1

  Use: Cure one lesser poison effect.

  Tastes extremely minty.

  An hour later I arrived at Crater Lake, having found a roundabout way to descend to the lower elevation. Sitting on a rock on the shore of the lake, I took a moment to eat a bowl [Beetle Soup] as I began to sketch out the outlines of my new map. I had some experience drawing maps from a few design projects in the past, so the process went reasonably quickly and before long, I had a basic map to help me keep track of the way I came. I drew out the route I had taken, detailing the ridge wall and an outline of the lake. I made a mental note to return to the outcropping I’d leaped from to get a bird’s eye view of the surrounding area.

  I made personal notes of the areas where I’d found the large vein of copper and tin. It might be worth taking a closer look at the area one day. Happy with my budding map, I added a pair of markers to the map indicating “Aldford - Village” and another at my current position “Crater Lake (Levels 1-5).”

  Achievement Unlocked – Explorer I

  You are the first person to explore and name a location!

  Movement Speed: +1%

  Renown: 5

  Next rank: Discover and Name 5 Locations.

  You have learned a new skill – Cartography.

  Your skill in Cartography has increased to Level 2!

  I grinned at the system message and the flood of knowledge a new skill level always brought.

  Excited, I decided to flesh out my budding map, and I started on a small circuit of the area, pausing every so often to draw additional detail on the map. While following a small vein of metal that netted me 10 x [Tin Ore], I lucked out and even found the hole I fell into the previous night. With half a thought I named it “Underground Ruins?” with the note (Digging Required). It might be something worth exploring one day – or selling the location to another adventurer.

  I was happy to have something to focus on other than just senselessly killing creatures as they crossed my path. As it was, they hardly gave me any experience now thanks to diminishing returns. The creatures in this area ranged from level 1 to 3 with the rare level 4 or 5. Keeping in mind of Aldford’s food issues, I made a point to kill a decent quantity of creatures, managing to collect about 40 slabs of beetle and snake meat, along with a more few generic [Chunks of Meat] from the foxes and pumas I’d killed earlier.

  Having exhausted the hunting on the Aldford side of the lake as I started to call it in my head and wanting a break from detailing my map. I decided to follow the lake’s shoreline and see if I could find a more challenging spot to hunt. I spent the next half hour walking around the lake, ignoring the weak, low level creatures in my path.

  The further I walked around the lake, the more I noticed a different tone to the forest. The trees became grayer and grayer, and I couldn’t remember the last time I saw a creature cut across my path. I stopped to take a closer look at one of the gray trees, and as I got closer, I noticed that countless webs were strewn about between the branches of the tree. I wasn’t any sort of expert, but it was obvious even to my untrained eye that it was choking the growth of the three.

  "If this area doesn't scream spiders, I don't know what does…” I muttered to myself as I looked around the area. Truthfully I was glad; it was starting to get a little boring killing low-level creatures so easily. I was ready to see what I could do to a more powerful creature.

  I looked at the forest line carefully, channeling all my years of gaming experience while attempting to spot anything moving. In my experiences, spiders were ambush predators by nature, and I wasn't about to go wandering blindly into its web. I stared intently at a nearby tree until I finally spotted a dark brown… smudge… nestled inside a tree. I readied a tiny ball of fire in my hand and threw it at my target.

  The tiny flare burnt through the fine webs hanging from the tree and splashed against the spider I’d spotted. Almost immediately the forest quickly burst into painful chitters and screeching as a pair of dog-sized spiders leaped from the tree and charged towards me.

  "Here we go!" I grinned, summoning another ball of fire. I focused on the spiders: [Small Spiderling] - Level 7. I tossed a flare at the second spider causing it to halt, hissing in pain as it momentarily burned. I charged to meet the other spider, my new sword Razor in hand. I quickly found out that the spiderlings were much faster and more nimble opponents compared to the creatures I fought before, easily dodging my opening swings with Razor and moved far too fast for me to land a solid kick on.

  I channeled another flare in my palm and tossed it at the spider I had burnt earlier. The flare splashed across it, causing it to squeal in pain once more. A follow-up Power Attack quickly finished it off. The second spider that I had ignored made its presence known as it bit into my forearm. I felt a burning sensation run down my arm.

  A [Small Spiderling] bites you for 4 damage!

  You have been poisoned!

  You take 4 damage from a [Small Spiderling]'s Venom!

  You take 3 damage from a [Small Spiderling]'s Venom!

  I saw the messages appear quickly across my combat log, as the venom began to rapidly drain my health. With a flick of my arm, I managed to dislodge the spider, and a vicious kick gave me some space to breath.

  "Shit!" I cursed as the side effect of the venom started to make my vision blurry. I conjured another flare and tossed it at the spider, missing horribly.

  The spider, sensing my weakness, leaped at me and managed to land another venom filled bite as it bit into my leg. This time, instead of kicking it away, I had enough presence of mind to stomp on it instead - pinning it to the ground long enough for my blade to find it and kill it.

  "Ugh." Fighting these spiders was going to be a te
dious task. It didn't appear that they had a large amount of health, but their speed and venomous attack more than made up for it! The two venomous bites the spiderlings managed to land on me brought my health down 12% after they ran their course.

  Had I been less lucky and suffered a few more bites, I would have been in trouble. The only factor that had me excited was that killing the two spiders, brought me 7% closer to my next level.

  That much experience per kill is worth a little bit of pain and suffering. I told myself.

  You have learned a new skill – Perception.

  Perception – You are skilled in spotting hidden creatures and places. Depending on your skill level, hidden creatures, and places will be highlighted in red.

  "That’ll help in spotting damn things before they sneak up on me… this would really be a good place to grind if it weren't for the venom…" I thought aloud before I remembered the beneficial effects of the Hollyleaf I'd been gathering a few hours earlier. I’m going to hate the taste of mint pretty quickly.

  Two glowing bags reminded me that I had yet to check the loot from the Spiderlings that I had just killed.

  [Spider Silk Webbing] x2

  [Meaty Spider Legs] x 4

  [Venom Pouch] x2

  Stowing the loot in my pouch, I decided to take a closer look at the tree I had seen the spiders on, hoping that I hadn’t set it on fire. Thankfully, there were only a handful of scorch marks on the branches, the fire not having full caught to set the rest of the tree flame. Deciding not to waste any more time, I set off in search of more spiders nestled in the trees above.

  Two hours, and seventy some odd spiders later I blew past level 7 and hit level 8. For both levels, I chose to invest my attribute points into Agility in an attempt to boost my speed and accuracy against the spiderlings. I barely noticed the speed advantage the spiderlings had on me earlier, finding it much easier to predict and follow their movements.

  Unfortunately, levels weren't the only thing I managed to get in the forest. It was all I could do not to throw up after chewing down a Hollyleaf sprig, a few dozen close calls with a swarm of spiders having given me a new dislike for the taste of mint.

  With a scowl on my face, I forced down the last bit of Hollyleaf down - happy to see the venom debuff fade away as it was neutralized. I opened my inventory to take a closer look at what I had looted during my grind session against the "Webwood Spiders", having named the area “The Webwood” on my map as I waited for my health to regenerate between fights.

  [Spider Silk Webbing] x44

  [Meaty Spider Legs] x 488

  [Venom Pouch] x48

  [Spider Carapace] x 65

  [Spider Fang] x31

  [Chewed Leather Boot] - Quest Item

  Wait. A Quest item? Where did I get that boot from? I paused to take a closer look at it, and my quest log quickly filled my vision.

  Chewed Leather Boot – Quest Item

  This single boot carries a single bite mark from a spider and is covered in what appears to be blood. Whoever lost this boot, didn’t do it on purpose.

  New Quest! A Missing Boot.

  You’ve found a half chewed boot in the forest, and you definitely know that spiders don’t wear boots. Find the missing owner of the leather boot before it’s too late!

  Difficulty: Average

  Reward: ??

  “A quest?!” I shook my head at the mental picture of a spider wearing boots. Quests in Ascend Online had far less hand holding than games I played in the past. Earlier MMORPGs would even have golden trails and an autorun feature to lead me from goal to goal.

  “Hrm. Let’s think a moment. The boot has a hole in it, bloody too. Probably caught in one of the spider’s webs I imagine, spiders wrap their prey in webs… before they eat them…”

  I looked around the area while hunting spiders I had largely ignored the cocoon-like sacs that hung from the odd tree. It made sense to me now that the spiders likely wrapped their prey until they were hungry enough to eat. I would have to cut open a few of sacs, but hopefully, I would find the owner of the boot.

  Armed with a more concrete goal – aside from the systematic genocide of the forest’s spider population, I continued further into the Webwood stopping to cut down every cocoon I came across. Inside, I found the remains of the forest creatures I had hunted near Crater Lake - Foxes, Beetles, and even a Puma. The deeper I went, the more and more forbidding the forest became.

  Thick webs hung high in the sickly, light-starved trees, and the forest itself was filled with an eerie silence. As good as a home as it was for the spiders, they were slowly choking and killing the forest. The absence of any real predator caused their spawn rate to jump out of control, before long they would likely start harassing the villagers of Aldford.

  In truth, however, I thought it was a perfect set up. A massive overpopulation of monsters was an adventure magnet; the local NPCs would generate quests as needed and poof! Adventurers get experience; monsters are defeated, and the region become safer. It was a happy circle, unless you happened to be a monster of course.

  Speaking of monsters.

  “Where is everything?” I whispered to myself keeping a sharp eye on the surrounding trees. The Perception skill had given me a great edge in spotting hiding spiders, but right now, I didn’t see a thing. My wandering through the Webwood had led me to a small clearing, complete with a copse of trees in the center of it covered so thickly in webs that I could barely make out their outline.

  A spot between my shoulders began to itch.

  Quest Update! A Missing Boot.

  Objective: Survive.

  I flinched at the system message. Shit! I must have stumbled onto an event!

  I held my sword and flare up high waiting to see what would come my way. A burst of movement from the copse caught my eye, dozens upon dozens of tiny palm-sized spiders exploded forth and swarmed towards me! I played for distance as I conjured flare after flare, tossing it into the seemingly endless swarm. That swarm would devour me in no time if they got too close!

  Where my flare spell would be enough to slightly scorch a single normal sized monster, here it burned the tiny spiders by the handful, three in one blast, a lucky five in another. It was all I could do to stay at range as I threw flare after flare into the swarm until I realized I’d spent nearly half of my stamina and mana pool, barely making a dent in the swarm.

  "Shit! What am I supposed to do?" I cursed as I looked around the place. Webs had sprung up, almost by magic, blocking any exit out of the clearing. If I ever left this place, it would be as a victor, or feet first into the grave. "Time to try something different…"

  Fighting the swarming spiders didn't seem to be working for me, I could still see more pouring out of the web covered copse of trees.

  "Damn!" I cursed. "Flare don’t let me down now!"

  Paying heed to the swarm, I stopped any attempt at conserving my mana, tossing every flare I could muster at the webs surrounding the copse of trees. The first few spells I threw splashed against the webs, smoldering without truly catching fire, then on my seventh flare, it was as if an invisible hand poured gasoline on the trees causing it to explode in flames.

  The effect was immediate on the swarm chasing me, it ground to a halt and began to scatter. I paused for a moment to catch my breath and regain some of the stamina I had lost while running. “Is that it?” I looked around, still seeing the web barriers blocking my exit from the clearing.

  “SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”

  I flinched as the sound assaulted my ears.

  From the burning webs of the copse, a massive spider barreled out while shrieking, burning webs had fallen all over it, sending it into a frenzy. I barely saw the name of the creature before it was on top of me.

  [Giant Webwood Spider – Quest – Level 8]

  I dodged frantically, trying to get away from the massive spider, it was easily over six feet long! Hell, it was bigger than my car!

  I’m in the right place! This a quest
mob! I slashed at the spider landing two wild hits before I was forced to back off.

  You slash a [Giant Webwood Spider] for 31 points of damage!

  You slash a [Giant Webwood Spider] for 37 points of damage!

  The spider recoiled from my attack, giving me the chance to see that the spider’s health had dropped 5%.

  “I can do this!” I whispered to myself as I conjured a flare in my palm while I waited for the spider to make its next move.

  Realizing I had some teeth to me, the spider took a moment to size me up before it quickly turned and shot a string of web at me! The move caught me by surprise, and the web hit me right in the chest before I knew what was happening I was sailing through the air. Right at the spider!

  A [Giant Webwood Spider] hit you with [Web Grab]! You are immobilized!

  A [Giant Webwood Spider] has pulled you close!

  “Aaaaaah!” A distinctly unmasculine scream escaped me as I was yanked off my feet, sending me flying through the air.