49

A Pledge II

Rian and Corvis stepped out into the evening air, overlooking Nostdal as they walked. Eventually Rian found the way leading down and into the outer section of the city. The raid defense had ended, and more players were beginning to show up. None of them even paid attention to him as he talked to Corvis.

“If I’m really stuck here forever,” Rian said, “then I want to do what I can to make things better.”

On the way into the outer ring of Nostdal, there were several flights of stairs leading down. Though he was fairly sure that if he leaped to the ground he’d be fine due to the nullshard field, the fear of heights was still ingrained in him. He kept to the stairs.

“If I can’t go back to my old life,” Rian said, “I’ll make a new one here. I’ll do whatever I can to make things better. For everyone.”

“You mean you wish to form a truce between the off-worlders and the Loyalists?”

Scratching the back of his head, Rian said, “Uh—maybe not that wide-scale. Gotta take small steps at a time, you know?”

“Then what is it you wish to do?”

“It just…” Rian sighed. He was being too vague, and Corvis was calling him out on it. “It seems like everyone is indifferent to what…your people are going through because of the players. We’re practically invading your world, killing your gods, and making your people endlessly suffer to fight against us. I mean, you’d understand that better than anyone, as a Loyalist. Am I right?”

Corvis remained silent.

“So I want to do what I can,” Rian said, “to find a way to resolve all this while I’m here. In a way that doesn’t…break things. There has to be some kind of compromise possible. Maybe it’s stupid to assume I can make a difference, but if Yindra chose me to come here, then it has to be the case that I can do something.”

Just the fact that Miracians could feel real pain and the players couldn’t was enough to tell him that something was gravely wrong with the way things were set up—that things needed to change.

“Maybe that’s what I can ask Yindra for,” he said, “if I ever get to meet the real version and make a wish. A new system. One that works for both of us. But until then… I guess what I’ve been trying to ask is, what would make you happy?”

Corvis seemed unusually withdrawn as if the question had forced him to consider something he rarely ever had.

“Justice,” he said. “Justice to the one responsible for what has happened to our world.” He hovered around to float in front of Rian. His hovering figure eclipsed the sunset. “Our history is nothing but war, but there was once a moment of peace—a singular instant when both sides had laid down their weapons. It was shortly after the Four had come to Miracia to bring an end to the conflict between Pyce and Onsolia. And it was the first time that it seemed things would begin to change for the better.”

“And then…the Undoing happened?” Rian said, slightly taken aback by how quickly Corvis had jumped into all this.

“It occurred in a single day,” Corvis said as the wind swept by. “One by one, each of the Four was struck down. Whether it was done by an agent of Pyce or Onsolia—or perhaps from a covert alliance between the two—the truth remains unknown. Whether it was a single person or several, a man or a woman, an off-worlder or a Miracian. None of these are known, except that it was a being of unfathomable power. A creature that not even Ulm, in fragmented form, could escape. A god slayer.”

Entry added to lore book: “The Godslayer”

Progress to next lore achievement: 50%

You have gained experience! (+741)

“Discover this being’s identity,” Corvis said, “bring justice to them for their actions, and I will swear my allegiance to you, Rian.” He held his hand over his chest and bowed slightly, but his eyes never left him. “The full repertoire of my abilities and that of the Loyalists will be at your disposal if such a time comes.”

“Then I promise,” Rian said, “that I’ll figure these things out.”

“A promise is but your word. I feel inclined to remind you that the tasks ahead are far from easy.”

“Well, as long as I keep moving forward, things will work out.”

Corvis slowly straightened up. “You…seem unusually optimistic against the odds.”

“That’s just how I am.” Rian smiled. “Or at least people tell me I seem that way when I’m not being a nervous wreck. But I can’t just assume I’ll fail from the outset.”

He resumed the walk, having reached the ground level. The gate leading out of the city was already within view.

“And that’s my point,” Rian said. “Even if nothing works out in the end and I never learn about what really happened to my mom, the best I can do is to have fun and make things better however I can. And maybe solve some problems for the people I meet. So that’s it. I’ll make this world my new home.”

Hovering, Corvis sat mid-air, crossed his legs, and smiled.

Corvis’s trust in you has increased!

Companionship Level Up! (Lv. 1→2)

Corvis is now your Friend!

[!] NPC Companionship: Friends

Friendly NPCs will occasionally bring you gifts (including materials and gold), as well as improve the relations and favorability of their faction, clan, or those of similar alignment to you.

Finally, Rian thought, and then realized what the new companionship perk meant. No more Loyalists coming to randomly hunt him down. Or so he hoped that was what it meant. If not, then at least it was an advantage he didn’t have before, if he happened to run into another of them.

He felt as if a weight had suddenly lifted from his shoulders. It almost stopped him, the realization of what he’d undertaken.

It was the first step in letting go of his old life, leaving the past behind. Maybe not entirely, but at the very least he was beginning to make peace with his situation.

At the gates of Nostdal, the guards let Rian through, and he took a moment to look over the plains sprawling to the horizon and the creatures roaming about, the grasses flowing in the breeze amid the sunset. It was a beautiful sight, one that he knew he’d never get tired of. The sheer breadth of the plains inspired a feeling of potential within him—of all the adventures awaiting him.

He cracked his knuckles. The whole night was ahead, and he was itching to try out his new skills.

***

It was eight in the morning by the time Kat logged on.

Overnight, Rian had leveled to 29, fighting skeleton creatures that spontaneously emerged from the plains. He’d found the Spirit Fists passive helped save him a decent amount of gold and lengthened his grinding sessions before he had to restock on potions.

Kat had spent a chunk of the night on her wind mage, partying with Maia on some kind of quest, it seemed. In-person, the way she talked and moved, Rian could tell she was becoming fatigued. The toll of playing for so many hours was beginning to show. And yet he remained as awake and alert as ever.

They found a nice spot away from Nostdal, between the plains and the forests, to set up their sparring zone. It was the last day that the anti-ganking flag remained on Kat, meaning that after this, LastWhisper would know her location. Rian understood: as exhausted as she seemed, she wanted to make this day count.

She was as sharp as always in combat, to his surprise. The moment they began fighting, it was like a switch had flipped. Kat had equipped a new hooded cape item and was using it to conceal what she was holding until the last second—either her daggers or a smoke bomb. Adapting to her new Rogue skills was giving Rian plenty of trouble, too.

Stamina-Steal (Level 1)

43 MP

Cooldown: 58 seconds

Endowing their weapons with spiritual energy, the Rogue steals the physical potential of their enemies. For 30 seconds, 10% of damage dealt (+1% of Spirit) will deplete an equivalent amount of the target’s stamina and restore the user’s.

To Rian’s dismay, it was capable of stacking with her Life-Steal skill, making each hit even more troublesome. That, however, was the skill she’d chosen for level 25. The automatically-given skill she’d received for advancement, like his Spirit Fists, was giving him the biggest headache.

Shadow Prism (Level 1)

190 MP

Cooldown: 144 seconds

By tapping into the world of shadows, the Rogue produces three identical copies of themselves which are automatically controlled by the user’s actions and cannot deal damage. Each copy will disperse after 10 seconds or until taking damage.

The skill itself didn't do anything beyond providing more distraction to her kit, but almost every two minutes it was practically a free back-stab for her. Despite his attempts, Rian simply couldn’t cover four angles of attack at once.

It was around noon, several hours into their sparring session, when Kat came to a halt. Rian hesitated from taking the opening. The abrupt stop told him something was wrong.

“The ward,” she said, lowering her dagger and staring across the plains. “Someone just tripped it.”

Glancing aside, Rian didn’t see anyone yet.

“Holy shit,” Kat said. “An entire party just set it off.”

“Is it LastWhisper?”

When she turned to him, there was a glimpse of fear in her eyes. “It shouldn’t be—they’re not supposed to know where I am until tomorrow.” She flipped her dagger around and sheathed it at her hip, then pulled up a window with a timer that was still ticking down. “What the hell’s going on?”

“Can we get to the nullshard fragment? There’s one nearby, right?”

“We probably don’t have time for it. They’ll just camp us there all day anyway.” She navigated through her menu, scrolling down. “We have to log out before they’re in range to engage us. Let’s regroup inside Nostdal and figure things out from there.”

“Oh, uh—”

With her finger hovering over her log-out button, Kat hesitated. “What’s wrong?”

Oh no, why didn’t I realize that was going to be her plan—to log out once the wards got tripped?

When he turned to look over the plains again, he spotted Corvis, who was kneeling with his staff resting against his shoulder. He was watching as if to see what they would do.

Maybe there was some other way. But even as Rian wracked his brain for any possible option to take, there was no way out. He could go to half-sync, but that wouldn’t make him invulnerable in combat. Regardless of his lacking-a-body situation, half-sync was still considered “in the game,” meaning he could still take damage and die. All it would do is render him defenseless.

A rock and a hard place, huh?

“Cob?” Kat said. “You still have the Y-Locator, don’t you?”

“Yeah, unfortunately.”

“Then what are you waiting for?” she said, her voice steadily climbing. “Log out! If anyone else gets a hold of that thing—”

4 players have engaged in PVP with you.

The log-out function has been temporarily disabled until the end of the encounter. (WARNING: half-synchronization will still activate automatically if the in-game timer is exceeded.)

“God dammit,” Kat said, sweeping her arm to dismiss her menus. “Why didn’t you listen to me?”

Rian took a deep breath. “Kat, I’m sorry. There’s something I need to tell you.”

“Yeah, well, it’s gonna have to wait.” She drew her ice dagger, flipped it around into a reverse grip, and turned toward Nostdal. “They’re here. Get ready to run.”