“I don’t have a good grasp of the whole experience thing,” Peter said. “How much more experience would you have versus, say, that guy?” He pointed at a man in his early 20’s who glared when he spotted Peter looking in his direction.
Name: Unknown
Species: Unconfirmed (Human suspected)
Renown: Level 17 (class/profession unknown)
Base Stat Average: 19.6
“Him?” Eliza said. She held out her hand and a weathered journal appeared. The Tome was bound in deerskin with a simple flap keeping it closed, and the binding was held with thread. The pages were thick and durable, and it didn’t take long for her to flip to the location she wanted, her fingers making the journey with practiced ease. “His Renown is Level 17, so he’s got at least 70,000 XP, which means I have… a little over 800,000 more than him.”
“Holy cow!” Beth exclaimed. She called up her own Tome and found the page Eliza was referencing. It broke down all of the events that had given her experience and exactly when she’d crossed each Renown levelling threshold. “I’ve only got 6,000 XP? Okay, this is making a bit more sense now.”
“I hope so. And consider this: That man will need to more than double his lifetime experience to get to Level 22. Renown is a big deal because it shows what you’ve accomplished and how hard you’ve worked to get there. Usually. That’s why one of your first orders of business should be discovering what Skills you already have that will transfer to Arenia. From what you’ve said, you can earn some big chunks of experience that way, which will not only give you some credibility in the city, it will also help keep your secret. People are going to notice if you suddenly jump ten levels in a week.”
“But I still don’t understand why they look like they hate us,” Beth said.
“Because Renown isn’t just viewed as a number,” Eliza said. “It’s indicative of who you are—what you’ve accomplished and how hard you work. The only reason someone your age would have such low Renown is if they had no ambition whatsoever and were leeching off society.
“Simply put, they’re looking at you with disgust because your levels are disgusting. Or they would be if you weren’t you-know-whats.”
Beth and Peter shared a look. If what Eliza was saying was true—and they had no reason not to believe her—they needed to get their levels raised as soon as humanly possible.
The rest of the walk continued mostly in silence. Occasionally Eliza would comment on a crop they passed or mention some little tidbit of life on Arenia, but it was mostly benign and of little impact to their future lives in Palmyre. Before long, they found themselves nearing the massive city walls of Palmyre, and Beth couldn’t help but be impressed. At least 20 metres tall, the behemoths were a sight to behold. Oddly, Beth even found them comforting. After all, if someone saw a need to put up massive defensive fortifications, wasn’t it better to have your home inside them rather than out?
There was a long line of carts waiting to get into town, as well as a separate line where people passed under the huge iron portcullis on foot. It was into that line that the small party stepped, but when they got to the gates, the guard held out a hand and stopped them before they could enter. Beth Inspected him reflexively.
Name: Unknown
Species: Unconfirmed (Human suspected)
Renown: Level 27 Guardsman (class unknown)
Base Stat Average: 21.1
It was interesting that the man’s class wasn’t listed as “unknown” this time. Apparently the fact that he was doing a job that required that class meant that Beth could fill in the blanks without being directly told his class.
“Come on, Eliza. You know the rules,” the guard said.
“What rules?” Peter asked. The guard gave him a withering look in return but still answered.
“You’re a singl’d,” he said. “We don’t let freeloaders into the city. Go find some honest work and come back when you’ve shown you can be of some use.”
“Just hang on a second,” Eliza said. “This lady here owns property. That gives her the right to enter.”
The man’s eyebrows raised. “She’s a property owner? I find that hard to believe.”
A jolt of panic shot through Beth. She had no idea how to explain her ownership of property, nor any means of proving the fact.
Fortunately, Eliza came to her rescue.
“It was a transfer award after that expedition disappeared in the Bookspine Mountains,” she said. “Go ahead, girl. Don’t look so daft. Just show him the Holdings page in your Tome so he knows you’re telling the truth.”
“Oh! Right, of course,” Beth said, hoping she wasn’t going red. Even still, her hands were sweaty as she called up her Tome and flipped to a section labelled “Holdings.”
HOLDINGS
Palmyre
327 Cirque du Chânce
Four-bedroom attached residential home located within the Chance District.
“See, right here,” Beth said, turning her Tome to face the guard. “327 Cirque du Chânce, in the Chance district.”
As soon as words left Beth’s lips, the guard burst into laughter. Beth looked to Eliza for some understanding, only to discover that the woman was also barely keeping it together.
“You’re in the… on the…” The guard couldn’t even get the words out. “Oh. Oh boy, I needed that.”
“Why are we laughing?” Peter said, his face a mass of confusion.
“Don’t they know?” the guard said to Eliza.
Eliza shook his head, now laughing as well. “No. Why don’t we let them find out on their own?”
“Oh, yeah. I like that idea,” the guard said. “Or at least I would if I could let them in, but I can’t.”
Eliza immediately stopped laughing. “What do you mean?”
“I can’t do it, Eliza,” the guard said. “The rules allow for a singl’d to enter if they’re living with family who owns land, but that presupposes that the owner has at least reached adolescence so they can provide for the singl’d. These two are only Level 6. I can hardly let a couple of children into the city without their parents.”
“Pardon me?” Peter said. He started to step forward, but Beth stopped him with a hand on his forearm.
“No,” Eliza said, glaring at Peter. “I understand. You’re just doing your job. I don’t want to get you in trouble with the Families.”
He nodded to her in appreciation, then gestured to a milling crowd of people off to the side. They were a sorry bunch, sporting all manner of ailments. A quick Inspection showed that every one of them was a singl’d. “Why don’t you head over to the beggar’s bay and see if you can pick up some work. Maybe in a few months, you’ll earn enough experience to come inside.”
“In a couple of—” Peter’s exclamation was cut off by Eliza, who yanked him away from the guard with a strength far beyond what her lanky body suggested. She practically dragged them away from the gate and into the space he’d termed the “beggar’s bay” before rounding on Peter.
“You need to watch your mouth,” Eliza hissed. “I happen to know that guard and he’s a good man, but you sass the wrong person as a singl’d and you’re liable to have your tongue cut out without a soul raising a finger to stop it.”
Well, that was a fun fact to learn about their new home.
“What do we do now?” Beth whispered. “We can’t wait out here for weeks.”
Eliza shook her head. “You may have to. Even if you unlock new Skills that get your Renown high enough, you run the risk of raising suspicion if you do it faster than would be reasonable.
“There’s got to be a way,” Peter said, but Eliza simply shrugged.
“At this point, there are only two ways you’re getting into Palmyre. Either you work outside the walls until you earn entry on your own merit, or you pray to Ádhmór that someone in your family shows up having made Level 10 already.”
“Is that something that could actually happen?” Beth asked. From what they’d experienced, it seeme
d an unlikely possibility.
“Honestly?” Eliza said. “What a person would have to go through to get ten levels of Renown in less than a week isn’t something I’d wish on anyone.”
The wagon rumbled closer to Palmyre’s walls, and with every metre, Mark’s anticipation grew. Priority number one, of course, was finding his family. If they were there. Come to think of it, it hadn’t occurred to him what to do if they weren’t. Would he still be able to gain access to their house?
Crap.
Mark pushed those thoughts away. There was nothing he could do about it right now, so instead he focused on the spectacle of the thick, towering walls of Palmyre and the large gate they were approaching. He was also treated to his first glimpses of non-human species other than Rosie, and he did his best not to stare at the occasional oddity that peppered the crowd.
There was a very orderly approach to entering the city, with almost everyone lining up patiently for their chance to enter—one line for carts, another line for foot traffic. The only exception was a gathering of destitute-looking people standing off to one side of the road, staring forlornly at those on their way inside. Even in the early-morning light, their unhappiness was palpable.
“Who are those people?” Mark asked, pointing to the sorry-looking group.
Darius shook his head sadly. “Those are singl’ds who’ve been denied entry to the city.”
“Denied entry? Why would they do that?”
Darius raised an eyebrow. “Yeh really don’t know much about this place at all, do yeh? An adult singl’d is either lazy or a criminal, so they’re denied entry. How else do you get to adulthood with a Renown still in the single digits? Excusin’ yer special case, o’course.”
“But what are they supposed to do?” Mark asked, shocked.
“Work a farm. Kill some wildlife,” Darius said. “There’s ways if they really want it.”
That explanation didn’t sit well with Mark. Some of the singl’d clearly had disabilities that would preclude them from those avenues of levelling, and that was just the disabilities one could see. Still, now wasn’t the time to push. Especially since it raised a much greater concern.
“Are you saying that if an adult singl’d arrives at the gate, they have no way of gaining entry?” Mark asked.
If that’s the case, how the hell is my family going to get in?
“Eh,” Darius said with a casual shrug. “The only real exception is if they have family that owns land and that person vouches for them. Which is a damn rare circumstance in a city like Palmyre.”
Mark’s eyebrows rose. They had been given a house in Palmyre as compensation for the mix-up that sent them to Arenia. Shouldn’t that qualify them for entry? If so, that meant that all he had to do was hang around at the gate until he saw his family! He could almost picture them right now, standing amidst the singl’ds off to the side of the—
“MOM!” Mark shouted, leaping off the wagon the moment he spotted her and his dad standing with the singl’ds. Their heads whipped around at the sound of his voice, both of their eyes going wide as Mark hurled himself into their midst, practically tackling his mother in the process.
“Mom! Oh my god, mom, you’re alive!” he said, tears flowing freely down his face.
“My little boy,” she sobbed, fiercely returning the hug. “I am SO happy to see you! You had us so worried.”
The rejoiceful reunion continued for nearly a minute before his dad grumpily cleared his throat and said, “I’m here too.”
“Hey, dad,” Mark said, pulling his father in for an awkward 3-way hug. It was then that he noticed his dad’s forearm was heavily bandaged, and his mom looked worn out and drained. “Are you guys okay? You don’t look so great.”
His dad chuckled mildly. “Son, if you had access to a mirror you’d see the irony in that statement. But yes, we’re okay. Barely, and only thanks to this woman.” He gestured to an older woman in forester garb who was standing beside them.
“This is Mark?” the woman said, nodding to him.
“That he is!” his mom said. “Mark, this is Eliza. She found us in the forest and helped us get to the city.”
It was surprising to hear that his parents had arrived on Arenia together, and even more so that they’d been able to find someone able to help them. He was pretty happy about the fact, though, and did his best to convey the weight of that sentiment through a simple shaking of her hand. “Thank you so much for helping my folks.”
“It was nothing,” Eliza said. When the two of them made eye contact, her eyebrows rose slightly and she gave him a crooked, curious smile.
“Don’t listen to her,” his dad said, oblivious to the exchange. “If it weren’t for Eliza, we never would have made it.”
“And you!” Mark’s mom said, giving him another quick hug. “You appear to have made it without too much trouble. That’s a very interesting staff you’ve made yourself, by the way. Thanks to your Boy Scouts training, I’m sure. And to think that Eliza had us worried that you were in some kind of dire situation! Thankfully, our Tomes appear to have been wrong.”
Mark’s gut dropped, and he glanced at Eliza. “Uh, yeah. No idea what that would have been about.” Eliza raised an eyebrow at him but didn’t say anything. Thankful for the reprieve, he leapt to change the subject. “Now that we’re here, let’s stop wasting time and head inside!”
His dad shook his head. “I’m afraid we can’t. The guards won’t let us through.”
“Even though you hold land?”
“It seems like they have some odd rules here,” his mom said with a sigh. “You can’t come in if your Renown is less than Level 10, which is obviously the case for all of us. There’s some kind of loophole where owning land and vouching for your family gets around it, but the fact that that I’m only Level 6 means we can’t take advantage of that fact.”
Mark grinned. “I may have picked up a few levels. Does that help?”
“Son, please, we’re in a serious situation here,” his dad said.
His mom, meanwhile, had taken the opportunity to look more closely at her son. “Peter, look at his Renown.”
Mark’s dad made eye contact with him, treating Mark to the sight of his dad’s eyebrows rising into his hairline. “How in god’s name did you get to Level 10?”
A loud voice interjected itself into their conversation, booming, “Aye, now that’s a story!”
Mark turned to see Darius ambling over, his wide grin taking in the whole group. Mark gave him a pointed look and said, “That particular story will NOT be getting shared out here, right?”
Darius grinned but didn’t say anything further.
“Mom, Dad, this is Darius,” Mark said. “I managed to find a road that follows the ocean north, and he and his family were kind enough to give me a lift. Darius, meet Beth and Peter, my mom and dad. And their friend Eliza.”
Darius winked at Eliza as though he knew her, and she gave him a deep bow of respect in return. Then he looked Mark’s parents up and down. “Yer parents? So that means…”
Mark nodded in agreement, and Darius gave a long, low whistle.
“Something tells me things are about to get a wee bit strange around this city,” he said. “Why are yeh waitin’ out here?”
“The guards won’t let us in,” his mom said. “I own land inside the town, but my Renown is only Level 6, so…”
“Bah,” Darius said, waving her comments aside. “They’ll let yeh in if yeh got Mark in tow. He’s Level 10, so yeh meet the requirements.”
“Actually, I’m not so sure,” Eliza said. “The guards were very particular about the rules, and with Beth not being the one who—”
“GUNTHER!” Darius bellowed in the general direction of the gate. “These folks have land, and their son’s Renown is Level 10! Let ‘em in!”
The guard looked over at them for a moment, then consulted a Tome that popped into his hand. It was huge, like an old bible from the middle ages. After a moment of consultation,
he snapped it shut and the book disappeared.
“Can’t do it, Darius!” the guard called back. “It clearly states that the landowner must be the one with Renown above—”
“Not a problem!” Darius said. “Can’t have yeh breakin’ the rules, can we?”
Darius turned towards his wagon. At the top of his lungs, he shouted, “ROSIE! GUARD GUNTHER HERE DON’T WANNA BE BREAKIN’ NO RULES, SO NO MORE O’ THOSE PIES O’ YERS! YEH KNOW, THE ONES HE BE NEEDIN’ TO GET HIS FLAG UP O’ER HALF-MAST—”
“HANG ON!” Guard Gunther shouted, his face going beet red as the other guards snickered. “I, uh, just found a loophole. You folks are clear to go in.”
Darius spun around. “Ain’t that a pleasant surprise! Come on, folks, let’s get yeh to yer new home.”
Quest: “Get to Palmyre” Completed!
You got to Palmyre! Good for you. Even if you were unconscious for half of it.
Reward: 200 XP, and you got to see your family! Well, some of them at any rate.
Mark grinned at the appearance of the message. From the smiles on his parents’ faces, he could see they’d gotten similar alerts. His grin faded somewhat when the guard glared at him, but Eliza distracted him with a bump on the shoulder.
“You heard the man,” she said. “Let’s show you around your new home.”
Epilogue
Endings and Beginnings
This was it. There was no other option—Angela was going to die.
Arrival: Legends of Arenia Book 1 (A LitRPG Story) Page 28
