“Where to next, Esil?” she asks me.
We’ve been using Merlin’s Flyby ability to find the best places for leveling. The five of them surround me, each facing a different direction to protect me from attack while I merge my perception with Merlin.
From high in the sky, I can see our bodies on the ground like small ants. Far to the west is the town square. The Mortican Mountains themselves lie to the north. Several fishermen sit along the banks of a nearby stream, fishing for their dinner or perhaps to sell at the market. A lone harpy waits under a tree for her next victim. A group of giants pull trees from the earth a mile from where we stand and take turns throwing them, testing their strength. They are all around level forty, easy enough for us to tackle as a group.
I return to my body and tell them where our next battle is waiting. Aleesia walks beside me along the way. She wears cream-colored pants and a flowy blue top. How many outfits does she have? I don’t think I’ve ever seen her wear the same thing twice. Considering how much my pants and tunic cost, her closet must be worth a small fortune.
“How’s your friend’s mom doing?” she asks. I’ve confided in her my real reason for entering the tournament. I’m not looking for pity or a handout, but the more time we’ve spent together, the easier it has become for me to talk to her.
“About the same, I suppose. She has medicine for the pain, but there is not much else she can do at the moment.”
I haven’t talked to Buzz much since moving out on my own. I get the occasional message telling me his thoughts on the tournament or any big happenings with the other contestants, but not much more than that. I know he spends a lot of time exploring worlds when he’s not working or researching. With getting settled in, grinding, and the quest with Grayson, there just hasn’t been much time for me to reach out. I need to make time for him soon. Maybe we can go smash some steam-powered robots or something.
The red dot in the side of my vision reminds me I’m being watched. Part of my sponsorship stipulates that I have to stream for at least an hour a day to be in good standing. I try not to talk much about Buzz’s mom or my reasons for entering the tournament while streaming. Occasionally, things slip out. I don’t think anyone knows that I’m a miner. Or was a miner, rather. It’s still hard for me to truly believe that this is my life now. I often get messages asking me how I attack so hard, but I don’t respond. I’ve been trying to get better with my spells so that they eventually even out with each other. My strength is a blessing, but Grayson is right. I can’t rely on it solely.
Below the red dot, there is a ticker that tells me how many people are watching my stream at any given time. I have several thousand fans that log in to watch me every time I play. They must like the quiet underdog I’ve been labeled as. The wolf head belt buckle I wear has some calling me The Lone Wolf. I supposed as far as nicknames go, it’s not so bad. I don’t talk a lot as I stream, usually letting my actions take the stage. There are a few trolls here and there that send me rude messages, but I try to ignore them and carry on as best I can. Sometimes viewers from rival streams will follow along and talk shit for the duration of my stream. Ryken has a particularly nasty brand of followers who like to give death threats. The princess even has a few who get jealous when we are together. For the most part, I carry along as I would normally.
I can see the outline of the giants in the distance when a system message pops across my vision.
Greetings, Esil! Congratulations on making it through the first round of the Developer’s Tournament. The fun is just getting started. The next quest will be taking place in one week. Here is a clue to help you on your way:
Faster, farther, further still.
Daunting, dangerous, blood can spill.
Tortoise, hare, whichever way;
Succeed and quest another day.
Best of luck and as always, never stop leveling!
-Pangea Online Developers
Moments after the message comes through, my viewers nearly triple. Everyone wants to know what my next move is.
“What do you think it means?” asks Aleesia. She doesn’t question if I received a message. The way Ordin, Klink, and I all stopped walking at the same time was the only signal she needed.
“Some kind of journey?” I’m not sure what to make of it. I’ll need to talk to Buzz as soon as I can. He has lived and breathed this tournament just as much as any of us still in it.
“Yeah, but it doesn’t give any clue as to the location. Does that mean they will tell us where it is? And how is this supposed to prepare us for what comes next? Do you have any ideas?” she asks the dwarves.
I don’t know what it means, but it all has meaning. Every single word is a clue. Blood can spill, tortoise, hare. All of it means something. I need to logout and clear my head.
“I need to go. I need to think about this on my own for a bit. Do you want to meet up tomorrow and discuss whatever we find out?”
We agree to meet in the morning. I call Merlin back and clasp each of my companions around the forearm in turn before teleporting back to the town square.
Chapter 21
Buzz is talking so fast I can barely keep up with what he is saying. His hands move animatedly on the video screen in the top left corner of my vision. Merlin flies in quick circles around my home portal, all of the excitement making him antsy.
“‘Blood can spill,’ it has to mean it’s going to be PvP,” he says with a sigh. He knows as well as I that that would be bad news.
Player versus player is not something I’m looking forward to if that is how it goes down. I may have my strength bonus that no one else knows about, but I’m still way under-leveled in every other aspect of the game. At level twenty, I’m the lowest level by fifteen. Most of the other competitors are at least level fifty. PvP will be bad for me.
“But I don’t think it is just a battle,” he goes on. “It’s some kind of journey. It sounds like all you have to do is make it through to go to the next round. Maybe if you die, you’re out and if you complete it, you’re through. I don’t know. Could mean a hundred other things, but that’s what is jumping out to me. I need to research more on the tortoise and hare and see if there is any significance there.” He scratches his head, as if trying to remember some obsolete fact he learned long ago.
“Yeah, that’s what I’m thinking too. It sounds like there might be some kind of bonus to completing it quicker than others, though.”
“How are you feeling about all of this? Grayson told me about your quest yesterday.”
“Oh, man. Grayson fights like a beast. He has these awesome gauntlets and just punches things till they die, but his outfit, he looks like he belongs on the cover of a romance novel.” We both laugh. I really miss hanging out with Buzz for hours on end in the mines. It was boring, monotonous work, but we had a good time. I have more freedom now, but I miss my friend. I guess there is a cost to everything. “I don’t really know what to tell you, Buzz. I’m nervous. I’m sure we all are since we don’t know what is coming next. I don’t care if I’m first or last, just as long as I make it through.”
“We’ll get you there.” He winks. “You’ve got two of the best minds in the game on your side.”
“I’ll be glad to finally meet them one day,” I tease.
“Yeah, yeah. See you later, bud.”
“See ya.” Buzz disappears from my vision and I’m left alone with Merlin in my drab, gray home portal. I should spruce the place up a bit, but what’s the point? I spend most of my time out in the game worlds. I can’t justify the money for something I don’t need.
“Maybe when this is all over,” I tell Merlin. He quits his erratic flying and lands on my shoulder. His soft hoots are the only sound I hear aside from my breathing.
I log out and decide to go for a walk. It only takes a minute for me to scarf down a few energy bars and vitamin drink. I put on the clothes my sponsor sent me: a pair of sweatpants, sneakers, and a hoodie with the VR Haptix logo on the chest.
There’s no need to wear the contamination suit that I wore when I left The Boxes to take Buzz’s mom to the doctor. Out here, a filter mask is all I need. I strap it on and step into the entry room for my apartment. The door slides closed and steam hisses out, filling the room. A few seconds later, the door opens and I step outside.
It’s a nice evening out. The air is cool on my hands and the setting sun tints the edges of the gray sky with pink and yellow. I live in a busier part of Civic City, where people are always walking about. The strange thing is that no one ever talks. There is the shuffle of feet and the occasional blare of a car horn, but people don’t speak until they are inside the buildings and able to remove their masks.
The silence is very eerie at times.
My favorite place to walk to is a park a few blocks from my apartment. Several benches surround a small pond. A few bright orange fish swim underneath the water. It’s peaceful to watch them swim back and forth as the water gurgles from the makeshift waterfall that spills a constant stream into the pond. A turtle with two heads sits on a log floating in the middle.
The animals have paid the same price as everyone else.
I close my eyes and let the words of the quest run through my head over and over until they no longer sound real.
Faster, farther, further still.
Daunting, dangerous, blood can spill.
Tortoise, hare, whichever way;
Succeed and quest another day.
What does it mean by ‘tortoise, hare, whichever way?’ I don’t know why, but I feel like that is the key. They are both animals, but very different. Whatever connection they have, I’m not seeing it. One is a mammal, the other a reptile. One is fast, the other slow.
Wait! A memory reaches out from the back of my mind. It’s fuzzy at first, but slowly comes into focus. I’m lying in bed, but I’m not at the orphanage. Bright blue walls with clouds painted on them surround me. Soft, warm blankets cover me and a lamp glows from a table beside the bed. I cling tightly to a stuffed wolf. A woman comes in, the same woman from the vision with the aboleth. She carries a book with a turtle and rabbit on the cover. It’s ragged around the edges.
“My mother used to read this book to me all the time when I was your age,” she says. “It’s been in our family for a hundred years.” Her smile is warm and welcoming as she sits down on the bed next to me and opens the book.
More pieces slowly fall into place. I remember the story of the tortoise and the hare. Of how they had a race and the hare was so far ahead that he took a nap midway through it. The tortoise kept going, slow and steady, and eventually passed the hare and won the race.
I suddenly know what the next quest will be.
It’s going to be a race. And as long as I finish, I’ll be through to the next round. If I’m going to have a chance, I’ll need to find a mount.
I sit up from the bench so fast that a lady nearby screams. Right now, I don’t care if the memory is real or not. I need to get home.
My lungs burn and my breath fogs up the inside of my filtration mask as I run home as fast as I can. I need to tell Buzz and the others what I know.
It feels like a lifetime as I wait for the door to close and the steam to fill the room, flushing out the air from outside. When the door finally opens, I’m already naked and slip into my haptic suit faster than I ever have. I touch my fingers together, my vision goes black and then I’m in my portal.
I send Buzz a message while I simultaneously try to video chat with him. He doesn’t answer, which I expected. He probably had to power up his box or check on his mom.
Aleesia answers after a few seconds and her beautiful face smiles at me from the corner of my vision.
“It’s a race!” I blurt out.
“We know,” she says calmly.
“What do you mean, you know?” I ask. How could they have possibly figured it out so quick?
“If you would have stayed around for another five seconds, Tinker was able to puzzle it out. His mom used to read him a book called Aesop’s Fables every night before bed when he was a child. We think it’s going to be some kind of PvP race. Looks like we are all finally going to have get mounts. Well, I mean I guess you don’t have to, but it’ll be a heck of a long race if you’re on foot and everyone else is riding something.”
Damn. I thought I had made a breakthrough, but it turns out anyone with a halfway decent family probably heard that story a hundred times. All one hundred of us still in the tournament should have the riddle solved by now. What is the point of making it so easy? Do they think that by letting people know, it will make the race itself more competitive?
“Cheer up, buttercup.” She smiles at me. “You can come with us while we get our mounts. I’m going for a unicorn.”
“That’s kind of lame, don’t you think?” She doesn’t strike me as the girl who rides a unicorn with a rainbow tail.
“Typical. Everyone thinks that unicorns are so stupid because a bunch of little girls associate them with clouds and rainbows. Unicorns are badass. It’s a horse with horn coming out of its head. They are powerful, smart, and incredibly lucky. Just you wait. You’ll be impressed.”
I can’t help but smile at her enthusiasm.
“What about you? What kind of mount do you want?” she asks.
“Haven’t had much time to think about it. I don’t even know where to find one. Where are you going to get yours?”
“I’ll probably buy mine.” Her head drops a little. Is she ashamed to tell me? How much can a mount cost? “But if you can’t afford one, then there are always quests you can do to find what you want.”
I meet up with the princess, Ordin, and Klink. Glordin and Tinker have no immediate need for a mount so they decide not to come. Her merry band of dwarves grows smaller by the day.
We stand at an auction block in the Mortican Mountains town square. It’s a dual world auction, meaning that people in other gameworlds will be seeing the same items as they appear on the stage in front of us. A small gnome stands on a wooden block, attempting to gather everyone’s attention.
“Listen up! Listen up!” he yells to no avail. The marketplace is crowded. Apparently, word spread fast that mounts were in demand and all the local sellers showed up with their best wares.
A mist appears around the gnome and then suddenly his voice booms across the market.
“Attention!” The crowd hushes at his suddenly powerful voice. “Today is a special occasion. As most of you know, the clue for the second quest in the Developer’s Tournament went live earlier today. It didn’t take long for the clue to be deciphered. Due to the extraordinary circumstances, the Guild for the Sale and Development of Extraordinary Mounts and Vehicles has called a special auction to help those more well-endowed gain a foot up in the tournament.” His lips curl at the edge after he speaks. This is nothing more than a money grab. Rich merchants raising the prices of mounts while those of us with little money get left behind.
“Everyone, hold onto your wallets,” the gnome continues. “We have a lot of great items to get through, but first, we have five very unique mounts that might interest our higher bidders. These five mounts are one of a kind with each including a special ability only viewable to the owner upon purchase. Get ready, the bidding will start in five minutes.”
“How much does a mount go for?” I ask. I haven’t seen that many in game and I’ve never actually seen where they sell them.
“It depends. A basic model might go for five hundred gold. Better versions cost more.”
Five hundred gold! Holy shit. Maybe this tournament is designed as a plaything for the rich. If you need a thousand gold just to enter, what chance do I have in the next quest even if I do make it through this one?
The crowd chatters while we wait for the first auction item. I can see the greed in their eyes as they look around. Everyone here has money and lots of it. Everyone except me.
A hush falls over the crowd when an armored bear appears on the stage. The bear thrusts its
head back and roars at the crowd. It has been outfitted with a saddle and glittering armor plating. The bear is a great mount, not only can one ride it, but it can also fight.
“Let’s start the bidding at two thousand gold.”
A wooden sign appears in the air above the bear. $2000 is painted on it in blue. Ordin raises his hand for the opening bid, but the sign quickly changes to $3000 and then $4000. He grunts and then walks away, mumbling something under his breath. Over the next minute, the price rises to nine thousand. Almost half of what I make in a year. More than I would make in a lifetime in the mines.
The bear finally sells for eleven thousand gold. I almost walk away from the auction. My time could be used better elsewhere.
The next item to sell is a motorcycle. The motorcycle has guns mounted to the handlebars and tires that flip in and hover. It wouldn’t work in every world, but it still sells for seven thousand.
I wish I had gold for the next mount that comes up. A white wolf with bright blue eyes paces across the stage. Its sleek white fur is both beautiful and intimidating. The sun reflects off the brightness of its clean fur, making it hard to watch for too long. I can imagine it coming out of the snow, teeth bared, ready to rip an opponent apart. I have no idea what its special ability could be, but it sells for eight thousand.
“Oh, get ready!” squeals Aleesia. “This is the one I want.”
“Best of luck, princess,” says Klink.
I’m taken aback by how fierce the unicorn looks. Its hair is a dark gray and the horn that points out of its head is golden. It gleams in the sunlight. The creature looks anything but silly. It paws the stage and flares its nostrils. I could see a great warrior riding it into battle. The unicorn is a very fitting mount for the princess, elegant and powerful.
The bidding starts at two thousand and Aleesia raises her hand. She’s outbid, but doesn’t take her hand down. In a matter of seconds, the bid is at ten thousand gold. Someone else wants the mount just as much as her. Whoever it is, they’re bidding from a different world, because she is the only one with her hand raised here.
Pangea Online Book One: Death and Axes: A LitRPG Novel Page 15
