Nova Terra: Guardian - A LitRPG/GameLit Adventure (The Titan Series Book 4)

by Seth Ring

  “Yeah, what he said.” Mina was getting a kick out of Thorn’s signs.

  “Good, let’s get going. Baxby, you are the best in the wilderness, can you lead the way? I have a map here for you.” Velin passed the old treasure hunter a leather scroll. “If you find a good place to stop, we can camp for the night. Here, I have one for each of us.”

  “No problem.” Baxby nodded, unrolling the scroll and activating it. Once he had finished updating his map, he ran an eye over it before marking out a route. Thorn and Mina both updated their maps as well from scrolls that Velin gave them. Looking over his expanded map, Thorn could not help but be thankful for Velin’s meticulous plans as it had never crossed his mind to get a map of the island.

  “I think I have a good route.” Rubbing the grizzle on his chin, Baxby dismissed his map and pointed to the south. “There seems to be a small trail that we can catch a few miles south of here. It winds a bit, heading southeast, but normally trails like that are faster than forging a straight path. It is worth checking out at least.”

  *Agree.*

  Heading south, Baxby led the way, moving surprisingly quickly for someone his age. Thorn had noticed the treasure hunter’s uncanny sense for danger, and it proved useful a few times as he steered them around small groups of aggressive looking birds that reminded Thorn of ostriches but with spikes. After winding their way past the birds, they picked up a trail that was little more than an impression in the grass, turning southeast to skirt by the mountains in front of them. Once on the trail, they sped up, everyone but Thorn activating their travel ability.

  Unbothered by their increased speed, Thorn thundered along beside them, Akira hanging on to his helmet and chattering with glee as the wind blew through her tails. By the time they had traveled for five hours, it was starting to get dark and Baxby suggested that they stop in a little clearing off the path. The remains of a campfire marked the clearing as a popular stopping point for travelers.

  While Baxby started the fire, Thorn helped the girls set up the tents and got out the material for dinner. Before they left Moon Wolf Citadel he had taken full advantage of his nearly endless inventory and had included enough food to feed a small army. Once the tents were up and everyone was sitting around the snapping flames, Thorn tossed a napkin over his forearm and began to take orders, much to Mina’s delight. Even Velin joined in the fun after rolling her eyes.

  Mina and Velin both choose steak tip pot pie, while Baxby had a salad, soup, and bread with cheese. Thorn settled for all of it, feeding Akira bites from his plate.

  “So, I don’t mean to complain, because you are paying me after all, but what is it you brought me along for, exactly?” Baxby asked between bites. “I’m certainly not the best pathfinder you have access to. Is there something we’re doing that I don’t know about?”

  Interested in Velin’s answer, Thorn looked up as well. The questline that Velin was on gave precious few details, like most of the quests in Nova Terra, so he had been wondering the same thing. Despite the time constraints they were under because of his impending hearing, Velin had seemed confident that they would be able to finish it on time.

  “Yes, there are a couple key pieces of the quest that I did not want to talk about in the citadel. While I am confident in the members of our guild, I thought it would be better to play this close to the chest. One of the clearest lessons from my time in Ragnarok is that nothing is ever secret unless you keep it to yourself.” Velin looked down as if she could sense Thorn’s frown and wanted to avoid it.

  “It’s true,” Mina blurted out, supporting her friend. “When interests come into play, people do all sorts of stupid stuff.”

  “Anyway,” tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, Velin looked up, smiling at Mina gratefully before looking squarely at Thorn. “Even if we call it a bad habit, it is a habit that has served me well. There are a lot of other people who are searching for the World Tree besides me. There are probably others with the same quest. So, rather than take the chance, I thought I would play it safe.”

  *You. Good.*

  It took Thorn a little bit to figure out how to communicate what he was trying to say, and even then, it wasn't actually the message he wanted to pass, but he could tell that Velin understood from her wide smile.

  “Aww, cute.” Mina grinned and fluttered her eyelashes at Velin, earning herself a push.

  “Ehem. Anyway. There are a few things that I did not mention in the citadel that are important. First, the World Tree is most likely underground. How I arrived at this conclusion is complicated, but I am almost certain that the World Tree is in a cavern system, probably in an underground ruin. Second, the entrance to the World Tree will be in a Dwarven ruin.”

  “Wait, Dwarven? I thought the World Tree was an Elven thing,” Mina asked, nibbling on the crust of her pot pie.

  “It is an Elven thing. But only because the Elves were the caretakers. The actual location of the tree is in a place where the sun and moon cannot reach the tree’s trunk and roots. The stories also say that the World Tree supports the world from underneath which only works if the tree is underground. Ancient Elven myths indicate that the Elven race was a race whose responsibility it was to watch over the tree and to tend its branches.

  “In the story that I found, they emerged from the garden where the tree was kept to take care of the World Tree’s offshoots that had burst through the earth. A lot of scholars believe that means that the World Tree was seeding, but I think it might actually be literal. I think that the World Tree grew up, through the earth, and sent its branches up above the earth like trees. I have a suspicion that the World Tree is not actually a tree in the sense that we think of, but is more like a massive root system.

  “Some of the carvings that we saw in Rakkam actually confirm this theory. There are indications that the dwarves of the Labyrinth city traded with dwarves from a ‘Wood’ city that was represented by a tree holding the world in its branches. Based on that, I think that we will find the World Tree underground here in Rasyn.”

  “Okay, that explains why you want me along, but how did it go from Elves to Dwarves?” Asked Baxby, slurping down the last of his soup.

  “Both the Dwarves and the Elves share a common history. Dwarves and Elves and a lot of other races all served another race that ruled Angoril. They are the ones that built the Labyrinth city of Rakkam, the floating capital of Northern Angoril, and many of the other fantastic structures and places around the world. The Garden of the Immortal was also built by this race. I believe that the Dwarves were the servants of this race and helped them with forging while the Elves were the servants that helped them grow plants.”

  *What people?*

  Thorn looked at Velin expectantly, only to find everyone looking at him in absolute confusion. Scratching his head, Thorn thought for a moment and then tried again. Holding his index finger up, he pivoted it, waving it back and forth before holding both hands out in front of him, parallel to each other and sliding them up and down.

  *Where person?*

  “You mean, where are the Elves? Oh, where is the race that built all this stuff? No one knows. Gone.” Velin frowned and put her plate down. “Even the Dwarves and Elves don’t know. They just know that one day, the immortals left. I tried asking the Dwarven scholars in Rakkam, but they would not talk to me, or any other players. I am hoping that finishing this quest helps us answer that question.”

  “It’s true.” Baxby’s eyes lit up with excitement as the topic changed to the lost civilization. “Finding out what happened and why the immortals left Angoril is the holy grail of treasure hunters! Imagine, there was a whole race of people who simply walked off into who knows where. But what is most fascinating about them is that everything they created is still working. It has been thousands and thousands of years but their magic and machinery is still ticking. The floating city in Northern Angoril? No one knows how it floats. Or how the giant magical cannons that guard it are powered. Same is true for the pit in Sout
hern Angoril. Endlessly deep pit with a floating island, nothing holding it up but it still floats just fine.

  “Remember those forges in Rakkam? They’ve been burning this whole time, using an ingenious method of siphoning heat from an underground volcano. Any normal system would have broken down or blown up by now, but they vent their heat whenever it gets to be too much through a machine that helps to power the elemental generators in the other sections of the city. Each system feeds into the other section’s systems, keeping everything balanced and working perpetually, like a giant perpetual motion machine!

  “The only thing that we know is that the race was much larger than the other races, and capable of unbelievable feats of strength and magic.” Pausing for a second, Baxby looked at Thorn with a curious expression on his face before shaking his head and continuing, “I’ve been compiling information on them with the other Drifters whenever we find new things. It would be really awesome if we found some new details on this quest.”

  “That would be really awesome!” The idea of discovering the secrets of a lost race caught Mina’s fancy. “We would be famous! Maybe they would name them after us!”

  “Why would they name them after us? They had their own name. The whole point is to discover the truth of history, to uncover what really happened, not to rewrite it in our image.” Scoffing, Baxby shook his head. “That is the problem with a lot of these youngsters who are trying to sniff out discoveries. They are trying to find secrets as fast as possible, just so they can be the first. What a waste. The only thing you get when you rush a mystery is a lousy conclusion. The last thing you should do is rush. Real discovery takes time and detailed examination. It takes sifting through the information and teasing out the truth. You know, really digging into the mysteries.”

  “Sure, old man, you dig into those mysteries. I’ve changed my mind, that sounds terribly boring.” Mina grimaced, pulling out her wand and twirling it in her fingers, the blue gem on the end leaving a circle of frost in the air. “I’ll just blast stuff.”

  Sitting on Thorn’s knee, Akira clapped her paws together at Mina’s display, asking for more tricks. Happy to comply, Mina carefully controlled her magic to create intricate ice patterns in the air over their heads like frost fireworks while Velin and Baxby continued the discussion about the ancient race. Listening to them discuss the various pieces of information they each had regarding the lost race, Thorn scratched Akira’s head as she watched Mina’s magical manipulation.

  After a few minutes, Akira yawned and stretched, prompting Velin to announce that it was time for bed. Thorn tidied up the camp as the girls went into their tent, leaving Baxby sitting by the fire on first watch. After agreeing on what time they would switch, Thorn crawled into his tent with Akira to sleep.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  It was close to midnight when Thorn woke, Baxby’s soft tapping on the outside of his tent rousing him from his dreams. He found it curious that the game allowed sleeping players to dream, especially since he had not dreamed much when he slept in the real world. Gently picking up Akira who was sound asleep on his stomach and placing her down on his pillow, Thorn crawled out of the tent and stretched.

  Waving to Baxby, who was entering his own tent to catch some sleep before dawn, Thorn rotated his arms and yawned. The girls were not taking a watch because both had logged out, opting to use the time to get a shower and a bite to eat before they continued playing. The contracts they signed with Nova Luna included state of the art gaming pods that allowed them to stay in the game for extended periods of time, but nothing was better than real food and showers. Due to the seven to one time dilation that Nova Terra employed, they only had about two hours before the sun would be back up, just enough time to get cleaned up and some food.

  The fire had died down to dim orange and red coals, but the night was warm so he did not bother adding more wood. Instead, Thorn began to stretch, starting his normal morning routine. Ever since he had been hit with the [Living Statue] curse, Thorn had been putting more time into his morning trainings.

  Once he had finished stretching, he dropped to the ground and did a few pushups. He found that with his in-game stamina, he never really got tired, but it had been part of his routine before he came into the game so it felt right. It felt like a lifetime ago, but it had not been that long since he had to do push ups at a snail’s pace to avoid tearing his skin open.

  Rising back to his feet he breathed out and held his breath for a moment, focusing on the quiet noises of the forest that surrounded their camp. Releasing his breath, Thorn began to run through his forms, focusing on controlling every part of his body. As he flowed through the movements, he could feel his mind settling and becoming more focused.

  Courdum the Stone King’s curse had robbed Thorn of his abilities, reducing him to little more than the clueless newcomer that he was when he initially walked into the game. However, it could not take away what he had learned, or the natural abilities that he carried with him. Even without the abilities he had earned in the game, Thorn was confident that he could hold his own. After all, he had not yet gained any abilities when he crushed Gargish. Or when he survived Karrandras’ attempt to consume him.

  Once he had finished his Taijiquan forms, Thorn drew his new tetsubo and began to practice with it, repeating the steps that Master Sun had shown him. A thick metal shaft with sharp metal studs, it looked almost exactly the same as the one he had lost when he fought Sylith in the tunnels of Rakkam. As he spun the weapon, his mind drifted back over that fight. The leader of Ragnarok had been the first opponent whom Thorn was unable to overcome with his unbelievable strength. It had awoken in Thorn the desire to truly master his weapon.

  Sylith’s skill, not only as a quad category class holder but simply as a warrior, was undeniable, and no matter how much Thorn despised the Heavenly Silver Dragon Knight he had to admit that he was outclassed. Still, Thorn was not about to give up. He had taken up training with his tetsubo every day in preparation for when he got the chance to fight against Sylith again.

  Finishing up his tetsubo training, Thorn ran through the other weapons that all of the disciples of the Temple of the Moon practiced with before sitting down for a bite to eat. Once he had finished eating, he put his helmet on and took a walk around the perimeter of the camp. The forest was quiet, and the rest of the night passed quickly. After preparing everyone’s breakfast, Thorn ate another breakfast himself.

  Akira was the first to get up, woken up by the delicious smells from the food that Thorn had taken out of his inventory. Rubbing her eyes sleepily, she crawled up on Thorn's shoulder and tugged at his ear until he handed her two pastries. Baxby was next, followed shortly by the girls. After everyone had eaten and the camp was cleaned up, they continued on their way, following Baxby as he led them toward Maandell.

  The city was situated in a small bend in the river that shared its name and ran from the mountain range on the western side of the island all the way out to the coast on the eastern side. Emptying out next to the island’s capital city, Shaylathemar, the Maandell river carried barges of ore down from the mines in the mountains to Maandell city where the ore was forged into goods that were then shipped to the capital. The returning barges brought food and fine goods that traders carried up into the mountains.

  A thick wall surrounded the core of the city, complete with gates and towers. Surrounding the wall was a squalid collection of shanties and camps. Thrown together with haste and whatever material was ready at hand, the buildings were placed haphazardly, creating a tangled web of streets. Thick mud coated the streets, lending to the haze of filth that seemed to hang in the air.

  Even from a mile away Thorn and the others could see the cloud of smoke and pollution that shrouded the shanties. As they got closer, the hubbub of the city grew louder as streams of carts and crowds of people jostled for position in the narrow streets. On the southern side of the city were three large docks and countless smaller jetties where cargo was being loaded and unloade
d by a swarm of sailors and dock hands. Fat merchants argued loudly with the clerks from the port authority overseeing the goods while thuggish guards watched with hawk eyed scrutiny.

  “Huh, this is not what I imagined for a town on an Elven island.” Mina remarked as she looked around.

  “No, and it certainly wasn’t like this the last time I was here.” Baxby scratched his head. “Boy, it sure has changed.”

  “You’ve been here before?”

  “Yeah, about three years ago. We were unearthing a Dwarven ruin in the mountains. There is a whole complex that runs the length of the mountain range. A chain of old fortresses and abandoned mines. The Drifters were hired to map them out so we spent about nine months here. It wasn’t nearly this dirty though.”

  Looking around, Thorn frowned. He was wearing his helmet since they had been traveling in the wilderness and had intended to remove it once they arrived, but something about the atmosphere in the city was bothering him. Everywhere he looked he saw a variety of players and natives hurrying around, all focused on their own business, and it took him a little while to figure out what it was that was throwing him off. He had just pinpointed the problem when Velin, standing next to him, drew her hood up over her head and spoke quietly.