The two of us continued to walk, largely in silence, though I could tell from the frequent cues of Wyr that Diane was communicating with her newly tamed creature. Even though neither of us were saying anything, it still felt oddly reassuring just to have someone nearby, as if the mere presence of another person was enough to dispel the loneliness that had begun to build up.
Despite the speed at which we were traveling, I wasn’t at all disappointed. Diane explained to me that she typically traveled hours per day when she wasn’t in a town, and spent her last two hours of activity either hunting or leveling. If the road was suitable, she would try to gain experience while traveling. However… that didn’t seem like it would be the case here. The further into Farro we went, the lower the level of the monsters.
By the time we saw the next village, the sun was beginning to set over the horizon once again. Around us, the average level of monster was only in the sixties, making this a poor choice of location for us to level up.
Given that Diane still had plenty of ingredients in her inventory, she didn’t worry about hunting for the day, taking care of the cooking as she fed Wyr a couple more pieces of copper ore.
“So, why were you wanting to go to Shadowbane?” I asked curiously, and Diane glanced up at me.
“The League of Assassins for this continent is stationed there. It’s an organization that you can join in addition to guilds, similar to the church. Like how the church helps supply players with light and healing magic, the league helps supply affiliated players with special rogue skills.”
My eyes widened when I heard that, having never heard of such a group before. “How did you find out about them?”
Diane let out a soft chuckle at that, before her expression went stern again. “In Decashear, after I finished learning all of the skills that I wanted there, the shop owner told me about the league. They have members in locations like that, where they can keep an eye on promising players.”
I pursed my lips slightly, thinking. “Would there be an information trading organization, then? If someone was able to piece together that I went to Aureakeep, they could probably find out my current disguise.”
Diane’s eye widened a fraction, and she fell into thought. “It’s possible. Information networks are common in settings like this. Especially if you consider that the teleportation business themselves might be in on it. There is a good chance that your current appearance is known to them.”
If that was the case, it was only a matter of time before the bounty hunter players learned that I had crossed over into Farro, and maybe that I had visited Ardenveil. “It looks like I’ll need to change again.” I said with a faint chuckle, Diane nodding her head. Looking at my skill window, I paused briefly. “I’ll change tomorrow, I think.”
“Why?” Diane asked, seeming surprised.
“I’m at level nineteen for Disguise now, so it should be ready to evolve tomorrow. Once it evolves, I can create a better disguise for myself.”
When she heard that explanation, Diane nodded her head in agreement. “That’s probably a good idea. Then, tomorrow, we should focus on not letting anyone see us. What other skills do you have that are ready to evolve?”
I looked through the list again. “Flicker Step, Ki Projection, and Sturdy Hand are all nearly ready. That last one is the one I mentioned, the one that should let me become a martial mage by enchanting my body.”
Diane’s visible eye narrowed dangerously when she heard that. “I want to see you use it in a safe environment, first.”
It was clear what she was worried about, the fact that enchanting myself like this could cause another incident similar to the cave. “Probably for the best.” Thankfully, I agreed that safe testing would be needed before that skill was used in a fight.
She gave a small nod at my acceptance, glancing off towards the village that we could see in the distance. “We’ll circle around the village in the morning. While we travel, the two of you should keep an eye out for any hidden dungeons.”
It was clear that the other person that she was talking to there was her Chosen, causing me a bit of confusion. “You won’t be logging on tomorrow?”
Diane paused, thinking how to explain. “My doctors want to see me tomorrow morning. I’ll be on, but it will be later than usual. It’s a weekly check, just to make sure the game isn’t affecting my health.”
I gave a small nod when I heard that. Given all of the medical problems that Diane faced in her world, it was no wonder that her doctors needed to take special care when it came to her health. “Good luck.”
“It’s just a regular exam.” Diane shrugged her shoulders. “I’ll probably be on about two hours later than usual tomorrow. That applies to all Thursdays, by the way.”
After she said that, the food was ready, and we proceeded to enjoy our meal. After the meal, her Chosen took over as she logged out, starting to set up her camp.
“Does she still sell rare items?” I asked once I was sure that Diane had logged out.
“Hmm?” Her Chosen looked over at me, recalling our previous talk. “She hasn’t since I’ve known her, at least. But that might be because there haven’t been any good chances. Apparently, this game is a lot slower than other games that Players usually enjoy.”
“In a normal game, travel between cities should only take a few minutes, maybe an hour at most. Materials should be more abundant and naturally respawn, like in dungeon, too. So far, we haven’t found any good items that other players would pay money for outside of the game. Why did you ask?”
“I was thinking that it might be good to help her out.” I answered honestly, and the Chosen blinked in surprise. “I mean, she’s already doing a lot for me. Helping her get something out of the game is the least I can do, right?”
She thought about that for a moment, before nodding. “Apparently, the best targets for stuff like that in this game, according to her, would be monster materials. There are always crafters that want to purchase materials with unique properties, so try to keep an eye out for something like that.”
After saying that, she finished setting up the camp, and turned in for the night. “Oh, and we’ve got to get you your own tent, the next time we hit a big city.” She said, looking at how I simply laid down on the ground. “It’s making me uncomfortable seeing you like that.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle at that. “Reminds me of the first time I met you.” I said, and she blinked, before seeming to recall the night that Diane had to log out and had me keep an eye on her Chosen while she slept.
“I suppose… still, that’s not the kind of thing I want to remember.” She said with a huff, pulling her head back into her tent again.
The next day, both Diane and I were surprised to see how much Wyr had grown. The Rook Roc had almost doubled in size while Diane slept, and could now fly for short distances before returning to her shoulder.
At the same time, I was pleased to discover that Disguise had evolved into Camouflage. Diane and I both went over the details of this new skill, which not only allowed more extensive changes to my appearance, but even allowed me to alter the appearance of my outfit. However, there were conditions to the skill.
When changing my body, I had to maintain the same physical build. Meaning that I couldn’t turn into a halfling or a beastfolk, but I could alter my skin to look like a human or elf. The two of us immediately took advantage of this to design a new appearance for me, a muscular human with blonde hair and red eyes.
As for changing my outfit, there was a different condition. I could only change a piece of equipment’s outer appearance into another of the same type, and it had to be one that I have previously equipped. This was a bit of a problem, because the only other outfits that I had equipped before were those tied directly to my identity as Drake.
“Your current equipment should be good for now.” Diane offered with a smile. “That Hammer guy said that he had to make quite a few sets of that gear, so you can say that you bought a spare set from him if anyone asks. We’ll just keep an eye out for another outfit that you can use for your disguise later.”
Next, we worked on an alias for me. If anyone used an appraisal skill on me, they would get my true name, but Diane believed that the alias would work for most situations. To that end, we decided that I would go by the name Rudy while I was in this form.
After we decided on that, the two of us began walking again. Thankfully, Diane’s player logged in a couple hours later, just as she had promised, and said that the doctors didn’t find anything wrong. At the same time, I told her what her Chosen and I had decided about my new disguise, including my alias.
Unfortunately, we didn’t find any good targets that day to fight and let me level up my skills that we had mentioned before. However, we did make it to Sullenveil, or rather just outside of it. The guards at the gate wouldn’t let Diane enter the city with Wyr, because he wasn’t old enough to be kept in the ‘pet inventory’, a term that I hadn’t heard before. Either way, they were worried that other players or NPCs might mistake him for a wild monster that snuck into the city.
So, we once again camped out outside of the city. On the bright side, Sullenveil was the last city on the path to Shadowbane, so it would only take us a couple more days to reach there. However, Diane did make me enter the city to buy a tent first, which she thankfully offered to keep in her own inventory, knowing how limited mine was.
Included with the tent was a large bedroll, which was apparently a piece of player equipment, as it would automatically resize to match the race of the player wanting to use it. It felt… oddly comfortable to be able to sleep it, though that could have just been the fact that I wasn’t sleeping directly on the hard ground for once.
The next day, we were again amazed by Wyr’s growth, finding that he had once again doubled in size. Furthermore, Diane’s Chosen reported that she was now able to store Wyr in a special inventory, which allowed her to summon him out whenever she wanted. However, there was a warning attached to this, as pets stored in the inventory will not continue to grow.
Thus, for now at least, we let Wyr stay out, letting him hunt some of the weaker monsters that we passed along the way to help strengthen his body and get him accustomed to combat. I thought about increasing our speed a bit more with this, but it was clear that Wyr would still not be able to keep up with me if I ran at my full speed. Instead, I simply resolved myself to waiting until he was fully grown, so that Diane could keep him in her inventory while we were traveling between cities.
