"Wow, we were frozen. That's so future sci-fi. Metal!" Raven exclaimed.

She and the others had listened intently to everything Amelia told them about Catherine, and shock had ridden over all their faces when she told them that they would eventually be able to log out. News about their families had certainly quieted them but they bounced back immediately. She supposed having been in a death game for over a year and then some and then finding out that you had been frozen for a number of years prepared you to some extent for the reality.

"How much do we cost? If I can't get a job will they harvest my organs?" Forsythe asked. Amelia was about to give him a tongue-lashing when she realized that he was seriously considering the problem.

"No, Fours, they won't harvest your organs," Amelia said slowly.

"Realistically they will have already harvested your organs if that is the case. So you don't have to worry about it in the future." Aidan said helpfully.

"Ah. Thank you, Aidan." Forsythe went back to cooking. Amelia had tried some of the lightly cooked nuts he had gathered from somewhere, and they weren't bad.

"That's what makes you feel better?" Amelia complained.

"If it's not something in the future, I don't worry about it." He replied earnestly. Too damn honest if you asked Amelia, which no one did.

"So I guess you guys are technically Transients again? I forgot to ask her at the meeting, or maybe she told me and I forgot, but I called her about it because I wanted to double-check, and she said that you were all set with the standard share data or something. She dumbed it down for me and told me your avatars are being treated like Transients. If you die you'll just be teleported to a church or cathedral." Amelia looked above their heads, noticing that their status bars were now a nice shade of blue. "Oh, they even changed your profiles to Transient profiles. No more getting mistaken for NPCness I guess."

"Total bummer," Raven complained instead, though she did relent. "But we're technically time travelers now so I'll let it pass."

"I was looking forward to abusing Residency," Aidan admitted forlornly.

Amelia looked at Forsythe. "Not going to complain?"

Forsythe shook his head. "It doesn't matter. I will be the best cook."

"..." These people.

"What level are you now anyway Amelia?" Raven asked. They had just finished clearing out a small nest of some sort of tree viper, and their pace was only quickening. The past few days had seen her skyrocket in levels, but they were still fighting creatures and monsters far below the average party level. Amelia was surprised they hadn't ditched her yet or complained. Instead, they kept surprising her with how excited they were. Every place was new and had to be explored, trees had to be climbed, creatures that were around were fought and eventually eaten.

"52. If you look above my head it'll resolve in your vision." Amelia replied.

"Oh. Yeah, I forgot." Raven replied evenly. "My spaciness is legendary."

"Don't be proud," Forsythe said tartly. Although his tone suggested exasperation he never even looked up. It was probably just reflex.

"We should push on to a new area anyway. The forest creatures are maxing at level 48 it looks like. Is there a place that's higher?" Aidan asked.

"Uh, I think the coast is actually north of here in a few miles. There's a gulf that digs into the continent, and if you skirt it and go west you'll come to that place where the refugees are pouring in." Amelia speculated. She had seen the maps, and had even poured over them when helping players plan out their leveling route, but had never been there herself.

"Check Status."

--------------

Amelia - Level 52 Wizard (Flame/Enchant).

Health: 1020 Mana: 1750

Sacrifice Trees: 8/9 Next Level: 76%

Intellect: 175

Spellpower: 325(20% increased by Wisdom)

Wisdom: 183

Agility: 45

Strength: 25

Constitution: 102

Concentration: 150

Fame: 750 (Veteran Regard)

Reputation: 3200 (Known)

Resistance(all): 65

Notoriety: 60 (Low)

Party Bonus: 15% Experience gain while in a party.

Morale: Un-intimidated. Your party does not think it will ever lose, and you are less likely to be influenced by terror or intimidation due to your party's incredible Morale.

JOB: Chronicler of the Heavens - Beginner Level 2

You begin to grasp the complexities of recording Grand Adventures.

---------------------------------------

"Amelia. Why are the vast majority of Transients below level 100? You have practically doubled your level in 3 days…" Aidan wondered.

Amelia was pulled from her thoughts when Aidan asked her a question he had obviously been mulling over for some time. It was a fair question, though one not easily answered. It had been 3 years since the start of the game, so for someone to make this sort of pace with a new player it would seem to make everyone else incredibly lazy or weak even if Amelia hadn't started all that long ago.

"Well, we are about to hit the upper limit for creatures of this continent soon for one thing. There is nowhere besides the Cavern of the Deep Roads to find monsters in the level 100 area, and that's considered a raid area. When you die you lose a portion of your total level, so the fights are long and intense. When I hit 80ish I think the experience will drop quite a bit no matter how many creatures we kill. It'll be like stepping on ants. It's why you haven't leveled yet." Amelia explained.

"Oh and this continent we're on has only really been available for about 7 months. Not only that but your level is only about a third of strength anyway so everyone else has to pay attention to grinding up their skills, jobs, and abilities."

"Oh?" Aidan made an interested noise with the back of his throat to encourage her, and it immediately reminded her of students at Sleipnir. Her nice quiet Sleipnir where people weren't aggravating. For once Aidan was asking questions that weren't obnoxious, and she was happy to respond.

"Simple questions with important answers. When we level up, our base stats rise, and we're also eligible to reach higher tiers of spells or skills. When Forsythe uses [Intrepid Strike] it's a skill. If he levels up to 150 or higher it should evolve on its own to be higher, but no matter how much he uses it there won't be an improvement at his current level." Amelia kept explaining. The road was clear here anyway, a path that had appeared suddenly and according to her mental map went to a popular resort area zone with Fox Demons. They would pass it and continue north toward the coast, but for a second Amelia considered turning. Fox Demons. She wanted to see one.

"That's not true though." Aidan argued. It didn't sound like arguing to Amelia. It sounded like he had already seen the flaw in his thinking but wanted her to explain it anyway. What a troublesome guy. "I have [Spell Mastery] that improves through the use of some spells, so even though my spell doesn't improve directly it does indirectly. I cast it and [Spell Mastery] which boosts all my spells, goes up."

"Which is why I said leveling was only about a third of strength. All Transients have similar schools. Forsythe, to use you again…" Forsythe nodded, listening interestedly. "...has a martial prowess skill or something. I don't know what it's called."

"[Combat Expertise]." Was the immediate and concise reply.

"So if for example, Forsythe were in our group… and he was me, and he didn't lift a finger and leveled to 100 he would actually be fairly weak wouldn't he? The bonuses from [Combat Expertise] would be crap and when he swung and used skills it would be with the power of a more well-rounded warrior several, maybe dozens of levels lower." Amelia said, realizing that she was totally caught up in teaching. She was gesticulating and everything. She started to scowl.

"As expected of Amelia." Raven nodded. Forsythe was nodding too.

"What?" Amelia snapped.

"Incredibly knowledgeable and keeping it to herself," Raven said.

"Stingy." Forsythe agreed.

"You didn't ask!" Amelia exploded.

"Ah, I should ask when I wonder something about Amelia?" Forsythe asked Aidan.

"Her. Yes." Aidan agreed.

"What?" Amelia asked guardedly.

"You seem uncharacteristically attached to one spell. You cast it over and over." Forsythe pointed out.

"Yes?" Amelia asked again, not seeing the point.

"Wouldn't your [Spell Mastery] rise faster through a variety of spells?" Forsythe asked.

"Yes, but I can't cast any other offensive spells," Amelia replied.

The party stopped, and they all turned to stare at her. She felt uncomfortable so she hastened to explain. "You can sacrifice trees of magic to increase effectiveness. I gave up all elemental schools except projectile fire. It's 50% more effective than it would be at my level as a result. The rest of my spells are just status increasing spells. I don't cast them because, frankly, what would be the point? I feel bad for the monsters. They look so happy when they attack you and then so confused when they explode."

"Wait, you can cast status effects?" Aidan said, his face unreadable. "Cast one."

Amelia lifted her staff from the earth and started to cast but was interrupted.

Aidan shook his head. "Your strongest," he insisted.

Amelia sighed and looked up for a moment. "[Aura - Forceful Awakening]." She looked up and as expected watched the health and mana of her party raise.

"What the hell is this?" Raven exploded. "My base stats increased by 75%! No matter how you look at it that's too freaking overpowered. Aidan, why haven't you been casting this? We could just run through the forest without getting tired. We could have been running the whole time. We could see… oh god, we could kill everything!"

"I can't cast that," Aidan responded, and Amelia was beginning to feel lost again.

"Stingy." Forsythe repeated.

"It's not a big deal? I don't really fight. I like to help parties and adventure but I get lost when I'm in the middle of things so I went the Enchanter route. On my own I'm worthless. Another reason why a lot of people don't level. They just don't solo very well at a certain point. I joined this game with friends and they all had classes they loved, I just picked this one to support. I can't even heal because we had a cleric and she didn't want me to." Amelia defended, feeling the blood rush to her face. It was an illusion or trick of her imagination however because the game at this point didn't pick up on embarrassment and translate it into reddened cheeks.

"No. Amelia is the strongest," Aidan said after some thought. "What's the duration?"

"About 30 minutes."

"Mana cost?"

"Uhm, 300.. so I'm full again in .. well now."

"I see. Amelia. You need to keep this on at all times." Aidan said gravely.

"...what?" Amelia's face was pinched again. She was going to get wrinkles.

"We're going now, Aidan." Raven said stubbornly. It was the first time Amelia had seen Raven not smiling. "Amelia I forgive you. But only if you keep this spell on me. I'm lighter and I can see further."

"Uh okay?" Amelia replied.

"Let's go then," Aidan said. His smile was stiff and cryptic, like he was trying not to laugh but was enjoying something nonetheless.

They had started sprinting before Amelia had a chance to wonder what they were talking about. Apparently, they were talking about running as fast as they could and killing as much as they could for as long as they could. All three of them were running through the forest ahead of her laughing and scaring creatures and monsters out of areas, smashing them on the run. Forsythe paused now and again to grab entire branches off of bushes and trees and pick them clean of berries and nuts while he ran. A small stampede of animals and monsters was preceded by fleeing birds causing many people nearby to wonder what was going on over there.

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DING

Wizard Level 53.

[Spell Mastery] Intermediate Level 6

The effectiveness of spells in the flame tree and in the schoolless enchanter tree will increase by 5%

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"EHHH? It went up again! Let's go faster!" Raven cried from the front.

"You people are insane," Amelia muttered, breathlessly trying to hike up her robes and run after them.