It was midday, and Nova, Alistar, and I were going our way toward Veinforge.
The village was situated on the south of Crabriver. We had taken the inside route amid the mountains and walked on the left bank of the river.
The verdant path at the sides of the river was chock-full of crabs and fishes
Tracing, I noticed that there were starting to appear some Zap-trouts as well. They were not uncommon, but the closer we got to Little Bush, the more common they became.
We would have to traverse all the way across the river and take the right branch, the left one heading instead inside to the forest.
The river was overlooked by two heights that traced it throughout almost its whole length, and it wasn’t unusual to find Gnolls patrols on top of them.
When that was so, traversing Crab Valley became more of a race than anything else.
However, Gnolls or not, today was my day. I felt amazing.
Nothing could beat me out of shape after yesterday.
Harlow had woken up with me, we had breakfast, and then we saluted, with the promise of having more encounters back at Murkstall. She would come to visit much more often.
“There they are,” said Alistar, bringing me out of my day-dreaming. His hand pointed upwards.
Atop the right side of the valley’s wall stood a patrol of Gnolls.
“Did they see us?” he asked, turning toward me for confirmation.
“They did,” I answered. I could see the Gnolls try to fake a lack of interest toward us.
“Get ready to bolt, they have arbalests, and we don’t. By the way, where’s yours Star?”
“Right here, do you want to do the honor?”
“No, let’s leave. I’m not confident enough to take them all on, not by myself, and not without my bow.”
We continued on; there was still a lot of ground to cover, and running, I was ahead of the other, while Nova was second, and Alistar close third.
I might have grown, but Alistar had grown, too, again.
As I tracked and traced him, I could see the image of his supposed future movements superimpose on him, only to then disappear as his body and the images met.
Alistar Migs Soldier Level 22 (13587/22000), Fisher Level 29 (7896/29000)
Health: 100%
Stamina: 98%
Strengths: Constitution
Weaknesses: Unbalanced stats
Race: Kobold
Sex: Male
Height: 195 cm
Weight: 103 kg
Age: 18
Origins: Murkstall
Family: Potts Migs, Gudri Migs
In a little more than a couple of months, he had grown two centimeters, he was only eighteen, and although there was a limit even for them, it wasn’t unheard of for Kobolds to grow way beyond normalcy.
If he kept growing like this, he might as well reach the four meters, or even more.
“How did you even train in both your Class and Sub-Class at the same time?” I asked incredulously.
“Being Tracked doesn’t feel really good,” Alistar said. “Anyway, it’s because of my nature as a tank. I taunt them with my Fisher Skill, and then I hunt them down.” He shrugged, “I get the credit for both then.”
“Really?” Nova shouted, “Isn’t that, like, cheating?”
I laughed, “Kinda!”
However, when arrows started falling by our feet, we knew it was time to stop with the jokes and get on with the running.
We had long since left the patrol behind.
Gnolls were resilient, yes, but they were by no means fast. With those stubby legs and undulating gait of theirs, they would never be able to keep up with us. But when we would start running low on Stamina, they would instead have more than enough to keep up the chase.
It was why they kept expanding their territory no matter how many times they were pushed back.
Sometimes when I was younger, I wondered why no one would hunt them down to extinction, but then I understood that it was a game of balance. Both the people of the nearby villages and Sundoor kept them alive and expanding for the experience they provided.
It was tragic, and yet the same could be said for us.
The Gnoll’s primary searching material to level up were Humans.
Meaning that if they had the means to, they would hunt us down, just like we did.
As we traveled, my mind wandered, yet the thought which I navigated the most was related to what had happened the previous day, especially the previous night. When I wandered into that dangerous state of mind, I had to push myself back to focus on the task ahead.
Weirdly, Nova had yet to make any sort of allusions to us for what happened the previous night; and how she, coming to wake me up, noticed Harlow and me peacefully sleeping together.
When I asked about it, she just said that “It was natural.”
I hoped it wasn’t some sort of ploy to push me into accepting whatever decision she took when she found someone she liked. Especially since we were going to get this Faruq dude, her juvenile crush.
Veinforge would soon be at our right, and in fact, we got there sooner than I thought.
Although the trip was short, it was made even more so as I kept returning to and playing with the previous day’s memories.
Veinforge was a mining village. Meaning that it was entirely built inside the face of a mountain; yes, I had to admit that calling the little mound the term mountain might be a bit excessive. However, the fact that it extended much more below ground than in height meant that there was a lot to explore and ores to mine.
It wasn’t unheard of to find copper veins that had already been contaminated by Flow and thus primarily used for building SunBronze. Although finding outright SolarTitanium, a natural material that did not need to be forged, was much harder. It was indeed a possibility.
However, finding MoonSteel was much easier, giving the inherent underground qualities; then again, LunarTungsten was something else entirely. At least for our layman’s knowledge, there were no known veins to be discovered in Sundoor’s region. All we had, they had, since we could not afford to buy it. It all came from the nearby trades with other city-states.
Anyway, Veinforge’s entrance was guarded.
“Being so close to Gnolls’ territory has its ups and downs.”
Ups being that people would have more chances at fighting Gnolls while at the same time having few chances of being on Sundoor’s radar, downs because they would have way too many chances of fighting Gnolls. They were most probably raided at least twice a year.
Their defense system seemed rather strong, maybe even a bit too strong, I noticed.
It wasn’t wise to show too much of something around these parts, whether that was riches, power, or even population. If they got Sundoor’s attention, they would be forced to become their vassals, which meant paying for protection while sharing and opening their internal markets.
That was as far as I knew, but it was sure that there would be more downs than ups.
Veinforge defense was constituted by two rock towers built on the sides of the entrance, directly integrated with the mountain, and a large spiked trench.
Where we had our natural defenses, they had indeed built a proper one. Given their location, it was the least they could do.
The trench had only an access point that pointed directly in front of the village’s entrance, which was in turn defended by a heavy steel gate.
“Who are you?” Shouted one of the sentries when he saw us.
“Envoys from Murkstall!” Alistar shouted back.
“Murkstall!?” He asked, “Wait there!”
“He seemed confused,” I noted, “that’s a good sign.”
“Why would it be?” Nova asked, “Doesn’t that just mean that he’s as dumb as they come?”
We all chuckled, “It might be, but at least that tells us that our situation has not been shared as much as we thought it would,” I said.
“Told you, Faruq is a nice guy. Although, I don’t understand how he had the freedom to get all the way to Murkstall without anyone asking questions,” said Alistar.
“You say that because he’s the mayor’s son? I believe that comes with a few perks, one of them probably being discretion,” I answered back.
“Might be,” Alistar shrugged. Something about it seemed to bother him.
“You can proceed!” Shouted one of the guards.
We passed over the strip of land barely wide enough to accommodate the passage of one Flow-cart, and the gates opened for us.
“Wow, darkness and Flow-fire. I already like this place,” I said.
Seeing it like this, the village seemed more a dungeon than a place where people lived.
The walls were covered in chemically prepared Flow torches. The rest was based in darkness.
The village itself was one massive cavern. Tall at least a hundred meters, and wide at least ten times that.
It was more a hollow mountain than a mine.
The air was stale, but the atmosphere was one of focused effort and happiness. The housing and workspace were built directly inside the rock walls and scooped out of the mountain walls. At the village’s center was a wide zone where their poor farm field and the free dwelling space were located.
They could grow their farm through solar panels that had been mounted on tall poles that hovered on the crops. We had a few of those too, and they were costly pieces of clock-tech to make and needed quite a few Crystals to work.
Between solar panels and continuous Flow-torches chemicals productions, their need for Crystals must have been really high. If they did not live by the side of an outrageous source of little Crystals like Crab-river, they would not have been able to sustain their economy.
At Murkstall, we could have sustained on crabs alone, but feeding only on those was entirely not feasible, especially during the first few years we suffered from the plague. Villagers that came fishing by our side of the river wanted to burn us alive on sight.
If it hadn’t been for my extremely hard counter defense of three years prior, one of the villages closest to us would have already put Murkstall on fire.
Thankfully, a few of my arrows had discouraged many of them, especially given the fact that I made cyclops out of more than a few family men. It had been one of the toughest years, if not the toughest one I had ever lived; but I was glad when the opposing village mayor came to speak to us to deliver his apologies and the certainty that it would never happen again.
Plague transmitted only with touch after all, not by indirect contact. It was not the damn flu.
In the distance, I could see tunnels that were illuminated by fewer Flow-torches. It was clear that those were the mining zones and some other districts of the village.
There were many villagers, I could guess at least more than a hundred, and those were the ones not working and outside of their houses or workshops.
If we took those into consideration, the population might account for thrice or four times that number, which was more than Murkstall was at its prime, even though we had much more space than Veinforge, and our farm fields were extremely more abundant.
The inhabitants ranged from regular, to more than a few Shade-cursed, to a few Flow-blessed. There seemed to be a couple of families of Kobolds as well, green-scaled ones, fishers, surely.
There were no traces of halflings like momma Jane around, but that was normal. There were few of those. Most were fugitives, deserters, or people that had been banished from their homelands because of their nature.
A tubby man with a round face and long golden mustache came at us with a speeded gait and a radiant smile on his face, following close behind was a young man. It was Faruq, the Flow-blessed we had saved from the slave traders.
Turning toward Nova, I saw what Alistar was talking about.
A carefully hidden smile slightly crept up on her lips, as if she was failing to hide it, and her eyes shone just a little more than usual.
She had indeed fallen for the guy, and I was damn mad about it.
So much so that without even thinking, I Tracked and Traced him. I could see him arc a questioning brow at that; I wouldn’t have even cared if he stumbled and fell for the surprise.
This was my sister we were talking about!
Faruq Jameel, Soldier Level 25 (6817/25000), Runner Level 29 (27789/29000)
Health: 100%
Stamina: 97%
Strengths: Agility, Strength, Focus
Weaknesses: None
Class Skills: Metal Flow Body (Con), Slash (Strength), Beautiful Star (Fortune)
Sub-Class Skills: Dash (Agility), True Stamina (Con), True Grit (Focus)
Race: Human
Sex: Male
Height: 184 cm
Weight: 75 kg
Age: 18
Origins: Unknown, Veinforge
Family: Jamal Jameel, Lindia Rover-Jameel, Aaadil Jameel, Amir Jameel
I couldn’t believe what his collection of Skills were.
Metal Flow Body was an extremely rare and massively overpowered transformation Skill. Slash was common, and so were the Star Skills like the one he had, although I had never heard of a Beautiful Star Skill. However, the combination of Dash and True Stamina was famous, and True Grit was an envied Skill in which it could boost all other Skills for a period of time; and it was damn rare to boost.
This young man was a Moon f****** walker dream of perfection! And I had to keep him away from Nova? How in hell was I gonna do that?
I started pinching my nose in frustration.
“Loke?” Called a couple of voices.
Faruq and his father had already reached us and started talking to us while I was taken by my calculations.
“Sorry, I spaced out. I’m still recovering, you know,” I said.
“Yeah, right,” Nova whispered.
“Anyway, I’m Loke Nightfold, defender of Murkstall. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, mayor Jamal,” I said. Then nodded an acknowledgment to a confused and excited Faruq.
The mayor was indeed surprised by me knowing his name, which I knew because under the Family information of the Tracing, I could now more easily see in mid-air if I so wished, the father and the mother always came before the brothers and sisters.
He laughed out loud, “It’s a pleasure finally meeting my son and villager’s saviors! And it is a pleasure understanding that my name is known even outside of this little mountain!” saying, so he kept on laughing.
“But where are my manners. Please, come, let me offer you something to drink!”
The mayor’s house.
I did not dare Trace the mayor, not to spook it, but I could feel he was a man of poor physical skills but damn good social abilities.
His house was big, rich in tools to ease lifestyle, and most importantly, it showed off the importance he gave to his family.
The house was full of paintings of his three sons and wife. A wife that had not long since died and which love seemed to still reflect in her son’s tracing screen.
I couldn’t help but doubt about it, before I understood that what I was feeling was not just doubt, but envy about the depth of Faruq’s love for her mother. My grandfather’s name had long since disappeared from my own tracing… I force myself to focus on the moment.
While of the mayor’s sons, only Faruq remained, the other two had willingly chosen to join the war. It was easy for them to do so, given their Flow-blessed looks.
“Crabs and fish are indeed good. My grandfather died at one hundred and two years of age because of the way he ate. However, varying our diet is important. Also, we are expanding, I don’t know how long this mountain can contain us, but to do so, we need to support this growth with the right amount of food,” he said.
Although I was not an expert in trading or bartering, his intentions were pretty clear to us. The man wanted his village to expand and needed more food to do that; the food we had aplenty.
This meeting would just be the baseline of our exchanges.
Mine was only a formal greeting and a check for the good faith of the villager’s intentions; the accords would have to be formalized and talked of at lengths by the two mayors and their entourages.
Once the topic related to the commercial exchanges was over, started the reason why we had really come here for.
“Faruq, I believe it’s time for you to speak for yourselves, say what you wanted to say,” he said, inviting his son to speak up.
“Yes, father.” Faruq cleared his throat, then planted his eyes in mine.
“Ever since I’ve seen you fight, that Advanced Class Rogue, Mister Loke, and then heading back, witnessed what you were capable of accomplishing with only a bow and an arrow, I decided that I had finally found something I had long waited for…”
I curled my brows, “What do you mean?”
“What I mean is that I’ve always wanted to fight alongside a man of might! A man that could lead me, lead us all, to great heights! And I believe that man to be you, Loke. I want to follow you, and wherever your command will lead me!” He said, euphoric as he shot up from his seat.
He’s crazy…
“I don’t understand…” I said, instead.
“Loke, the man, is asking to join our party,” said Alistar, sitting by my side as he finished his drink, slightly spicy radish juice. Ugh!
“Are we a party?” I asked.
“We will be, won’t we? Aren’t we shooting to become Delvers?” Said Nova.
I could hear a low and surprised “Oooh” from the mayor; it was then followed by nods and a happy cackle.
“I believe you might really make it!” Said the mayor, “Look at you, a mighty hunter, now known throughout the lands and feared even by the Sunguard, a true and thorough healer, yes the voices have reached our ears too, a giant protector, and my boy!” he added, giving a sonorous pat on his son’s shoulders, “The most promising warrior of Veinforge!”
“He’ll become a war machine, like his brothers!” he said while keeping up with the patting, “He’ll be the most valorous warrior in the lands!”
“Second most,” said Alistar showing the mayor his empty glass, “I’m going to be The Alistar, The Red Star.”
He shamelessly coughed, ignoring our silence, and interrupting that soliloquy, then shaking the empty glass, he added, “may I have another glass of radish juice, please.”
“S-sure,” said the mayor, a little spaced out.
But Faruq had an entirely other reaction, one I did not expect, “I’m fine with second-most,” he said, locking eyes with Alistar and smiling.
Alistar nodded back, “I’ll allow it.”
It’s official, I thought, I’m surrounded by crazy people.
Nova got up from her seat slowly, “You might not know this yet, but I have you know that I’ve made my decision,” she said, “I’m going to become the one and only Champion of the Sun!”
“What!?” I asked, really taken aback this time.
“What, what?” Nova asked back, “I’ve healed who I wanted to heal; isn’t it about time I became who I want to be? I could not become a mage? Alright, I can accept it, but I can become a Champion of the Sun! It’s not written anywhere that a Rogue cannot!”
“But where did that even come from!?” I shouted back, hysterical. “You shouldn’t even be allowed to fight another sentient until you are at least… twenty-four!”
“What!? You can’t tell me what to do!”
“I can! I’m your big brother, and if I say you don’t fight, then yo-“
Our bickering was interrupted by both father and son’s thunderous laughter, and soon later, Alistar joined them too.
We had given spectacle and now deserved to be laughed at.
Before we left, I gave the mayor a white metal star with the symbol of Murkstal. A house in the middle of two mountain peaks.
He was meant to show it to our mayor when they managed to meet; the white star was meant for me to give in case I acknowledged the good intentions of the man I met.
Then as we left the house and I gave my apologies to the mayor for the spectacle, and he waved me a “no need,” a Faruq that had disappeared a few minutes prior came back with a big bag on his shoulders.
“So,” said Faruq, “where are we going?”
That was when I realized it and hit my forehead with the wrong hand, the metal one.
Oh, for Sun’s sake… he’s coming with us…
