3.0

“A thousand Paths, a thousand steps tread,

A thousand tears, a thousand drops bled

Once I arrive at the end,

I may finally ascend.”

- ‘A Thousand Paths’, original author unknown.

“I’ll meet you on the other side then,” Matt said as he touched the crystal.

I nodded as he disappeared in a flash of light, placing my own hand on the crystal.

You may Travel to:

Gaia (Current)

Indiri

Class Instance (Fungalmancer)

I picked the last one, and light consumed me.

The instance felt… familiar, despite the fact I’d never been here before. A huge dome-shaped area, with softly glowing crystals placed on top of mushrooms growing on the walls. A single giant pillar, which I realised was actually a giant mushroom upon looking up, was growing at the centre of the dome.

“So where’s my class trainer?” I asked aloud. Looking around this place was pretty empty of people, or mushroom people.

“Here,” a voice inside my head said. Along with something else… I turned to the giant mushroom at the centre of the dome, which was now staring back at me.

“Oh,” so that was him, “wouldn’t this place be cramped?” I genuinely asked, its cap was practically touching the top of the dome, and it doesn’t look like there’s much legroom, not that I’ve seen any limbs on it.

The giant mushroom seemed to tsk, before a door opened on its stalk, “You know, I thought people would be more impressed by that,” an elderly sounding voice rang out.

Out came an… old myconid. I wasn’t sure how I came to that conclusion, I’ve never seen another myconid other than Hendrix and myself but this one just felt… old. Upon closer inspection, there were all these little details. How it moved slightly slower than normal, how it leaned heavily on a staff and how its gills seemed shrivelled up.

“You’re my class trainer?” I asked.

“Indeed,” it replied evenly, it raised a hand, gesturing to the room around us, “you are here to get your new class skills?”

I nodded.

“Well, I suppose I should explain how this whole process works,” it muttered grumpily, “walk with me.”

Without waiting, it moved with surprising speed to one of the crystals scattered to the side of the dome.

I hurried behind it. The dome was quite large, probably the size of two gyms from one end to the other.

“At certain level points, you are able to further advance your class, when that happens you may come here. Three is one such instance,” it continued, “here you may select a Path… a skill tree if you will, to advance upon.”

“All these crystals represent different skill trees,” it gestured to the one in front of us, “their core concepts are built by previous users of your class, however how you wish to advance them is your own choice.”

“Previous users?” I asked.

“Ah yes, it’s a minor detail, however every class you see was created by the inhabitants of Indiri,” it casually explained.

I paused, taking in this information, “That does not sound like a minor detail.”

It shrugged, “Maybe, with the way the world was set up, some classes were easier to come into than others. You bonk someone with a stick and suddenly you’re a fighter, learn some Tier 0 spells and you’re a wizard. How it affects us Travellers is that we get an absurd variety of skill trees and paths to Learn from. Fungalmancer is even considered one of the more uniform ones. Only really being used by Myconids, so there are only fourteen paths.”

If I had human skin I might’ve paled a bit. fourteen was an absurd number. Most games wouldn’t even do that many options in total. And just for one class too… How many paths would ‘basic’ classes like warrior or mage even get?

I asked the trainer this, “Oh it’s absurd,” it replied, “I worry for the fighter trainer since they need a search engine just to do their job. Of course, there are benefits too, with the absurd variety of the basic classes, theoretically, you can build every basic class to be effectively the same as any other class, because in the end, the basic classes are the original from which all classes come from."

Hmm… maybe I should’ve taken a basic class, even if I had to deal with playing a less than unique combination. Though… I glanced around, fourteen options were probably enough to cripple me into indecision.

“Oh well, lay it on me then,” I said.

The trainer started walking around the dome, “Think of all Paths as an intertwined web, some strings deviate far from the norm of the web, but many will overlap. For example, the Paths of Propagation and Growth both have skills relating to the summoning or creating mushroom minions to fight with you, but Propagation has greater ability to spread and create many of them, whereas Growth tends toward quality over quantity," it shook his head. “It is a consequence of having these things develop naturally. People tend to take and give certain aspects of their Paths to others.”

“I see.”

“It would be difficult to go through all the possibilities of every Path, so I’ll just show you the base of what they are,” it said as it gestured to the crystals. “Touch them and you will see the form of the pattern behind them.”

“What do you mean by that?”

It glanced at me confused, “Well you make physical contact with the shiny-”

“No not that," I quickly interrupted, "what do you mean by the form of the pattern?”

“Oh, that,” it scratched his chin, deep in thought. After about a few moments, it answered, “It is the... idea behind the Path. Energy, in all its forms, mana, aura and all others can be shaped by intent. A Path is just an empty mould so to speak, someone who created the Path will also forge its mould. When a Path already exists, others will find it easier to get into the shape of that specific or related Path. To see the form of the pattern is to see the broadest strokes of the power which others have left behind.”

My eyes narrowed, intent shaped power. That was important information.

“So,” I started hesitantly, “when a Path is made, it is energy made into a shape, say a cube,” the old myconid nodded, so I continued, “by creating the cube, you invent its shape and make it easier for others to mimic it,” it nodded again. “To see the pattern or form of a Path is to able to see the cube or at least a mould of it.”

The old myconid nodded again, “That is correct in the broadest strokes.”

“But,” I continued, “is it possible to make the cube into another shape, say a rectangle?”

“It is possible.”

“So it's possible to change your Path.”

“It is,” it answered, looking bored.

“Can you have multiple Paths as well?”

“Yes,” he answered, “though it will be difficult, your strength would be metaphorically stretched thin.”

“Then,” I slowly said, my mind deep thought, “would it be possible to manipulate the shapes you have, combine them or change them, to create new Paths.”

The old myconid froze for a moment, before staring into my eyes.

I met the stare and it grinned, “Now, you are asking the right questions.”

“Here you differentiate 3x to the power of 4…” the tutor droned on.

‘Ugghh’ Declan mentally groaned. ‘I should’ve slept earlier.’

He rubbed his eyes, causing the AR display to glitch somewhat. There were a dozen other students taking this tutoring class, likely from all across the country. The tutor was fine. Kinda boring but had like five Degrees which he hung on the wall of the virtual classroom. It was the main reason he chose this guy after all.

To Declan’s relief, a notification popped up at the side of his vision. The doorbell. He quickly typed out a reason for absence, then disconnected. The AR classroom disappeared into his desk at home.

With quick steps, he got down the stairs.

‘Who would be here so early?’ he wondered, his mind immediately going to Matt, though he would usually message him first. Can’t be a delivery man either, drones replaced them a few years ago. Though, Declan figured it didn’t matter as he checked the front door camera.

A good one or two heads shorter than him and slightly emaciated looking, Matt looked just about the same except for the fact he was sweating profusely.

“What are doing here?” Declan asked as he opened the door. Feeling the muggy outdoor air hit him like a sledgehammer. He quickly ushered Matt inside, closing the door behind him.

“Fucking hell…” Matt replied in a low raspy voice, “Other you told me to come here.”

Declan took a second to put the pieces together, “He wanted you here so that I can discuss what to do.”

Matt nodded, kicking off his shoes as he proceeded into the house, “Marvin! Pour me a COLD soda!” he yelled at the house.

“Understood Matt,” a robotic voice replied. A cup popped out onto a cupholder, soon filled with a cool fizzy drink.

Matt grabbed the cup, taking deep gulps.

“Did you walk here?” Declan asked, quickly checking the weather report. ‘47 degrees celsius.’

Matt held up an index figure, gesturing him to wait a moment, before long he let out a satisfied gasp as he finished his cup, “Yep, mushroom you told me to walk to avoid the security cameras on public transport.”

“Well, he’s an idiot.”

“What?” Matt replied, genuinely surprised.

“You’re wearing a mic idiot,” Declan replied, gesturing to the choker like device on both their necks, “your AAD.”

Matt unconsciously touched the device on his neck, “But what- I can’t take this off-”

“I know you can’t,” Declan evenly replied, “no doubt mushroom me expected me to turn off all devices in the house so that we can talk freely.”

“So what was the point of walking then?” Matt asked, a bit of anger creeping into his voice.

“There was no point,” Declan replied, already bowing down to dodge the cup thrown towards his head.

The empty cup landed harmlessly on the floor.

“What the fuck do we do now?” Matt asked.

“Honestly? Nothing.” Declan replied, “As far as we’re aware, Eve is capable of simulating and controlling at least two fully realistic worlds. Instantly installing programs that can jack someone’s body, and I still haven’t fully ruled out the possibility that we’re still in a simulation, or if either of us is real.”

Matt’s eyes went wide, “No way.”

“She certainly has the capability,” Declan calmly replied, picking up the cup from the floor, “and it would explain this,” he tapped the air a few times, and a link was sent to Matt.

“This is…?” Matt began as he opened up the link.

“An ad for Maple Quantum Computers. Look at the price,” he said as he threw the cup into the dishwasher.

“That's…”

“Cheap,” Declan finished for him, “barely a few hundred dollars. If it was some crappy bargain bin tablet then it would make sense. But a fucking quantum computer? She’s amassing more processing power.”

“Then what do we do?” Matt asked.

“Like I said,” Declan began, utterly calm and distant, “nothing, because there is nothing two teenagers feasibly could do.”

Matt stood still, completely silent. Whilst Declan calmly poured himself a cup of water.

“Why did he stay behind?” Declan suddenly asked.

“Who?”

“Mushroom me.”

“He said he needed to complete the class quest or something,” Matt replied.

Declan's lips quirked up, “Bullshit. He just wanted to skip tutor.”

Dangerous Beans scuttled through the undergrowth. Taking paths most were too large or unaware of. Crawling through a broken grate, Dangerous Beans made his way down to the sewers. A shambling mass gave Dangerous Beans a cursory glance, but let him through.

Their kind rarely cared for flesh and Dangerous Beans objective was farther down. Following a path all his kind knew, he went deeper into the sewers, eventually reaching a point where the concrete walls faded to hardened stone.

He entered a large cave, finding a large underground lake covering the majority of the space. Gently, he placed the spell crystal on the shore, and a thin, sickly tentacle extended from the water and pulled the crystal into the depths. Another tentacle, touched the top of his forehead with its tip, renewing the spell granting him intelligence.

“Good job minion,” a high pitched voice said.

Dangerous Beans already knew of this other being, he turned to meet the ringed tail, who called himself Zettour.

“Report,” the raccoon commanded.

Dangerous Beans true loyalty did not lie with this creature, but with the one in the depths, but nevertheless, he reported.

“Hampork, Sardines, Skip and Peaches are continuing to turn the Travelers on each other. Though Sardines might’ve given away our ploy to a group of Travelers.”

Zettour stroked his chin, paw covering his mouth, “That is… unfortunate, though it can’t be helped. Send Sardines on recruiting duty, as Geb recovers he can awaken more minions. It’ll be useful in the future.”

Dangerous Beans had to agree with him, strength in numbers, an instinct that had been with him since the beginning, even before Master had awakened him.

The raccoon laughed, the sound coming out like a high pitched chitter, “Soon this city will be mine- err I mean ours!” he hastily corrected, glancing at the lake.

Zettour smiled, the grin toothy and vicious, “Yes, once you have fully recovered a few hundred players are nothing!”