I let out a long, drawn-out yawn as I climbed out of the capsule. On Mundus, I had slept for about three hours before moving into my Hallow, using the fact that Lenore could move with the others to get a few things done outside the game. That was a mechanic I felt should be easier accessible, a way to keep a party together while one of them had to log out. Otherwise, most people would be almost unable to travel longer distances, simply due to the time involved. I had put my life essentially on hold for the Beta, in an attempt to get in front of a new wave of content-creators, but the vast majority of players wouldn’t be able to spend all day in a capsule and it would be seriously detrimental to the players’ mental health to do so.

On the other hand, if Road to Purgatory was kept in its current state, it might give way to a different way to play the game. Most people were playing together with people they knew from before or they started to play together and kept playing together by random chance or due to compatible personalities but that wouldn’t quite work, unless people had the same gaming schedule and were willing to actively accommodate each other.

What might work would be using something akin to the Adventurer’s Guild, with people congregating in certain towns, places like Yaksha or even Yari, far from civilisation, to form short-term groups to play together for a few hours before they had to log out again. Sadly, that would pretty much mean that Traveller communities would form locally and most people would remain in such a local area, without actually travelling the world of Mundus, which would be a damned shame.

On the other hand, just the journey we had undertaken had taken us almost a year of ingame-time, granted we hadn’t purposefully moved towards a destination some of the time but for quite a bit of time we had. Unless Pantheon Entertainment wanted players to focus on the Road-part of the title, I felt that they should add something to make travel more convenient, not necessarily faster but something that allowed a group of people to travel together, even if their schedule wasn’t in alignment. Even if faster travel wouldn't necessarily be bad. It would certainly cut down on the endless trudging through the expansive forests of Mundus.

A little lost in thought, I stood near the window to look out, only to be disappointed. The normally enjoyable sight, looking out across the neighborhood was covered in dense, low-hanging clouds with rain making the visibility even worse. Just standing there and looking at the world made me feel cold, despite my apartment being comfortably warm. After a moment, I wanted to slap my forehead as I realised something entirely different, the answer to a question I hadn’t asked the night before when I had considered ways to improve my ability to fight in Mundus, how to use shadow-decoys during the day and in bright sunlight.

I had simply discarded the idea of actually hiding while in bright sunlight, had deemed it too far off my current path of magic and discarded the idea. But why would I need to? Just looking out into the dreary sky made me realise a different way, if hiding in bright light was impossible, the idea shouldn’t be to push my magic to make it possible, spending valuable time and a lot of effort on the idea, instead, why not change the bright sunlight?

Sure, it would require a stupendous amount of Astral Power to create a large zone of darkness, though it would be possible, and I would have to constantly maintain it, eating up even more Astral Power. But that was only if I was limited to Darkness, which I was not. How often had I used mist to conceal, to confuse my enemies and even harm them directly? Creating a dense cloud of mist to cover me and an area around me, combine it with some concealment magic directly applied to me, maybe add some decoys, similar to the shadows I had began to train during the night, just made out of mist, and I should be able to keep most enemies at bay. The dull, white clothes I had been given by the dwarves would further allow me to blend into the mist, hiding me from sight. In addition to that, I should be able to push the concealment-effect to dampen sound and mask smells, just in case an enemy was using those, maybe even work together with Lenore to use Wind-Magic to hide the traces I created by moving through the wind. There were quite a few options and they seemed to line up quite well with the rest of my magic, meaning I wouldn’t need to go too far off my current path to explore them.

While such mist would also affect me, my link to the Astral Power within it should allow me to keep some level of awareness and orientation, likely more than enough to use my frozen shuttles to harass and slowly wear an enemy down.

Sadly, such a mist would be only usable if I fought alone, as it would hinder the rest of my group, opening up the way for mistakes and injury. But as an ace in the hole when fighting alone or as a trick if we ever got caught in an encounter we couldn’t win, such mist could act as a smoke-screen to cover our escape, with me leading the others to safety. Just for that, it would be a worthwhile thing to figure out and put into my mental toolbox.

With a grin on my face, I stepped away from the window and walked into my kitchen, looking for breakfast. The grin vanished as soon as I opened my fridge, realising that I’d have to go shopping soon, or I would have to go hungry. Another look through the window made me shiver once more, while my Avatar Morgana didn’t mind the cold, I had absolutely no desire to go out into the rain.

A quick check on my phone told me that the rain shouldn’t last too long, cementing the decision to delay at least for a bit. For a moment, I considered hopping back into the capsule but decided against it. Instead, I took a leisurely shower, enjoying the hot water as long as possible before retreating onto my couch and checking the forum on my tablet.

While the usual discussions were going on, I realised that Pantheon had replied to my report about the mist that prevented me from accessing the recording of the Titan’s valley. As I had expected, they confirmed that it wasn’t a bug but a feature, congratulating me for discovering one of the important locations of Mundus. Just that, the acknowledgement of my achievement, brought a smile to my face. It wasn’t much but it hopefully was a step on the way to keep Sigmir by my side, when I returned to Mundus. It might require some sort of sacrifice, maybe some sort of special class or some other disadvantage to balance the advantage having her next to me would bring but I would gladly pay that price when the time came.

A good two hours later, after I had almost given up on waiting, the rain was merely a drizzle and I quickly put on a coat and went out. Shopping was as disagreeable as always, too many people, too little order but I persevered, as I always did. While I could have my groceries delivered, I preferred to inspect the vegetables and fruits myself, before buying them.

Soon, I was back out, carrying my shopping and my face fell as soon as I realised what the strange noise I had heard inside was. Instead of raining, it was now hailing, pea-sized corns of ice, covering the surrounding area. For a minute, I stood beneath the awning, hoping that it would stop but as I looked at the clouds, I didn’t think it would.

Channelling my inner Morgana, as much as I could, I began speed-walking back home, letting the hail beat against my face. Why couldn’t I have the abilities my Avatar had on Mundus here on Earth, I would be able to simply part the hail with barely a flicker of magical effort. I might even be able to simply make it stop, it would require more effort, maybe even Lenore and her Wind-Magic but I certainly wouldn’t have to freeze my face off.

By the time I was home, I was wet, shivering and miserable due to the cold wind. Before even putting my food away, I was stripped naked and back under my shower, wishing for the Ice-Resistance of Morgana.

Once I was warmed up and dry, I finished my chores and was able to return to Mundus in good conscience, for an exciting day of walking, or rather, for a day of sleeping within my Hallow before we hopefully would get to Neamov on the next day.