Chapter 17: Chapter 17: The Journey To The West Starts

The journey westwards out of the Eronite Kingdom was going to be a long one, so Sara decided to first seek out a couple of wolf packs, and thank them for their hospitality. They were doing their regular patrols at night, though she thought they seemed a little more cheerful than usual. In spite of her evolution, the wolves had no problem recognising her. Probably a scent thing. And apparently she had graduated from 'The Climbing One' to 'The Leading One'.

She bid them farewell, asking them to spread the word, as she was likely not coming back. At least not for a long time.

Wanderers and Residents had access to airships, teleportation, carriages, mounts, and more. There was even a railway that went between the human, dwarf, and gnome capitals. However Sara only had her legs. Sprint was going to speed things up, especially since she only had about 5 seconds of downtime while the cooldown refreshed. Aina had warned her it would still probably take at least three days depending on how much she checked out on the way, and whether she had any deaths.

If she really pushed it, taking no breaks, and even forgoing sleep, she might make it in under 40 hours, but Aina very sternly recommended against it. There was no point in wearing herself out, and it might be good to take in the scenery a little. She had roughly half the kingdom to cross, and staying up north would keep her away from the capital, and the busier areas around it. Though since Adventurers loved exploring there was no guarantee she wouldn't run into any of them, and there were potentially dangerous mobs to be wary of as well.

In a little over an hour she made it back to the field where everything had started. It honestly felt like it should be further away, but when she kept Sprint up she had made it out much faster than her initial trek in. She took a moment to survey the area from the treeline. It looked completely devoid of pla- Wanderers. Adventurers. Based on what Aina had said it was three weeks since the game had launched, so it made sense that not a lot of the current playerbase remained under level 10, let alone level 5. And those that were might not be very likely to play in the middle of the night. That would change in a week when the next lot was let in, so it truly was the best time to travel.

[ Keen Eyes Skill Level Up! Level Max Reached, Bonus Unlocked. 1 skill point gained. ]

One of the first skills she had bought had finally reached max level. The different Keen skills had all been useful to her, but Eyes was probably the best one, so she was quite curious what bonus it would get.

[ Keen Eyes (Passive): Improves the sense of sight, letting the holder see clearer both close-up, and at a distance. Effect increases with skill level. Focusing on a point will let you zoom in to an extent.
Max level bonus: You can see your target's weak points. Small effect. ]

Sara wasn't sure what that meant, so she looked at a nearby Field Hare (such nostalgia), and noticed a faint glow around its head, and neck. It made sense the head would be the weak point. A wolf showed the neck, and a glow in the chest which she assumed to be the heart. For a boar it was also the heart, but the way the creature was shaped it didn't really have much of a neck to go after. The head in general had a faint glow about it. That was probably true for most living creatures. With her set of 'weapons' it was probably easier to go for the throat, rather than trying to strike the head which would probably be more effective with blunt, or piercing damage. The heart most likely required piercing as well.

In any case, this didn't really tell her anything she didn't already know, but maybe it would be more useful when she encountered more unusual mobs later.

Crossing the field only took about half an hour. It was just a tutorial area, after all. The border of the field was a river that she crossed with a combination of Sprint, and Leap. It was roughly 5-6 metres wide, but she easily gained enough momentum to clear that distance.

[ Discovered Area: Merwyn Outskirts. ]

There was another patch of forest over there. The tutorial area was flanked by forest to the west and east, a cliff side to the north, and then a road to the south which was where the Adventurers would come in and out of. Ironically Merwyn Forest West was to the east, while to the west was a small strip of woodland that she cleared in less than 10 minutes. She hadn't even spotted any mobs in there aside from squirrels in the trees, and she wasn't interested in stopping to search for others.

Beyond the forest was more farmland. It looked similar to what she'd seen back on Earth. Several fields separated by thin lines of trees, or fences if they contained livestock, and farmhouses located not far off. She could spot four houses, all with nearby barns, and the main road running parallel to her down south. Her Night Vision skill might not be quite at 'as light as day' level yet, but she didn't really have any trouble seeing as far as her Keen Eyes reached.

As for mobs... there was some livestock sleeping outside. Horses, and sheep... yeah, only those two. If there was anything else it was elsewhere, or inside the barns. Roaming mobs looked to be only herbivores. Hares, boar, deer... they looked different from the Forest Deer, so hopefully they were not as scary. If there was anything else it was too small, or too still for her to spot while moving.

There was movement on the road as well. Probably an Adventurer party. If they were really trying to simulate a world here, it wouldn't make much sense for regular Residents to go travelling at night. She wasn't about to go closer to check it out.

[ Sense Presence Skill Level Up! Level Max Reached, Bonus Unlocked. 1 skill point gained. ]

That made her stop. Another long-time companion had maxed out. Well, she hadn't gotten it until she evolved into a Limber Wolf, but it felt like a long time ago now. Per Aina's recommendation she had just kept it turned on the entire time, and gradually gotten used to feeling everything close by. She could even tell what she was sensing by this point. Within a certain margin of error.

[ Sense Presence (Active): Lets the user feel the presences of others within a sphere around them. Continuous effect. Radius of the sphere increases with skill level, and further scales with other sensory enhancement skills. Increased skill level gives a clearer image of presences. Activation Cost: 5 SP. No further cost while active. Deactivation Cost: 0. Refresh: 3 seconds.
Max level bonus: Able to use Identify without line of sight on sensed targets within 10 metres. ]

That seemed surprisingly strong, but maybe she was overestimating it. The range was limited, shorter than her full Sense Presence sphere, but she could still imagine many scenarios where it would be useful. Whether any of them would come up was a different matter.

Sara continued her journey, and eventually spotted some sort of fortified building with an open gate down on the road. There was no wall extending to the sides, so it seemed more like a checkpoint, or guard station. The only thing stopping people from going around was another river that flowed through it. Meaning it was built on a bridge. Beyond the river she could see the landscape changing which suggested it was probably a new zone.

This river looked a little wider than the previous one, maybe 7-8 metres. So carriages would have a hell of a time crossing except for at the checkpoint, though people could probably manage to ford it. It didn't look terribly deep. She would estimate somewhere between one to two metres in the middle depending on the location. Which was deep enough that one would have to be careful about where to cross. The strength of the current would decide how viable it was to swim across.

All of which was irrelevant to Sara as she did another Sprint Leap.

[ Leap Skill Level Up! ]

Nice!

She could probably clear more than 10 metres now. So long as she didn't run into any 15 metre wide rivers or canyons, she should be fine.

[ Discovered Zone: Eron Hills. ]

[ Discovered Area: Eron Lowlands. ]

Eron Hills?

"It is the zone north of the kingdom's capital. If you follow the lowlands south you will eventually reach Hilmgrad."

Which was presumably the name of the capital. She could see the road beyond the checkpoint splitting into one trail going south along the river, and one up into the hills. Maybe one day she'd actually have the chance to visit the city.

"The hills also contain the kingdom's main mineral deposits. The lack of proper mountains within the borders, and the difficulty of scaling the northern cliffs means that the hills are the only place where any real mining activity takes place. There is also a large lake up top that is known for its great fishing, and is a popular tourist destination."

Maybe Aina could start a side job as a tour guide. Still, she hadn't considered the idea that a fantasy world would still have tourists. Well, even if she couldn't exactly vacation there (yet), she wanted to at least have a look at this lake on her way through. She hadn't actually checked the rivers on the way to see whether they had any fish in them. They would also be mobs, right? Unless there were non-mob animals too, but she had yet to notice any.

Sara started her climb into the hills with virtually no difficulty. Whether it was her stats, her skills, or both that were making a difference, she was having no real issues going upwards even while staying off the road, and wading through the grass.

There were some trees across the landscape, but it was mostly open ground filled with tall grass, or exposed rock. Though since she was walking on all four legs, the tall grass felt more obstructive to her view than trees would be. Only the exposed rock let her get a clear view of her surroundings. It did look like the grass got shorter further up, though that could just be wishful thinking.

It also made it hard to see what sorts of mobs might be around. She could see, and hear movement in the grass, but not make out what it actually was. Whatever it was seemed to be staying away from her.

"Sara. It will be morning soon. I would advise finding a cave to set as your temporary respawn point, just in case the worst should happen."

She looked up, and saw that the sky was changing from black to dark blue, with hints of colour at the horizon.

Are there any nearby caves?

"Yes. Eron Hills has many, many caves. The difficulty lies in finding one that is not occupied."

Occupied?

"Yes. Bears, and spiders like to make these caves their homes, so they also serve as their respawn points. It is not possible to simply chase them out."

S-spiders? Like... giant spiders?

"Correct. I would say they are roughly the same size as you. The stronger ones are a little bigger, but you can only find those in deep caves."

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Sara hadn't had any real problem with spiders back on Earth. They couldn't harm her, and they helped keep her place insect-free. Videogame spiders were a different matter. She hadn't even seen a giant spider in VR before, yet now she faced the possibility of seeing one with her actual eyes? It made her wish she had gotten the Fireball spell from the Goblin Mages. Her desire to bite a spider was even lower than her desire to bite the snakes back Merwyn Forest, and she would prefer not getting in range of the legs at all.

At least it sounded like they weren't roaming, so the rustling grass was unlikely to contain spiders.

"I will guide you to an unoccupied cave, as I do not wish for you to die before you are able to respawn in this area."

But you are fine with me dying afterwards?

"It is part of the experience."

That sounded a little too callous for Sara's tastes, but she couldn't really argue against it.

[ Discovered Area: Eron Hillside East. ]

Shortly before reaching the cave she had apparently climbed high enough to transition into the next area.

"I do recommend you have a look into caves you find on the way through the zone. Fighting the creatures inside would be a useful experience, and you might even find treasures."

... I will consider it.

She didn't have any use for treasures, at least not at the moment, though she would concede the point that learning how to fight spiders, and other mobs in a place where her movement was restricted would be useful. The problem was that she really didn't want to.

But what if the spiders had useful skills, her greed asked.

Maybe she could at least have a look. With Stealth and Camouflage they shouldn't be able to spot her unless she revealed herself.

[ Camouflage Skill Level Up! Level Max Reached, Bonus Unlocked! Skill Evolution available! 1 skill point gained. ]

Speak of the sun...

[ Camouflage (Passive): Makes the holder harder to notice as they blend into their surroundings. Effect increases with skill level. Stacks with Stealth.
Max Level Bonus: +50% efficiency while standing still. ]

v [ Evolves Into ] v

[ Chameleon (Passive): Makes the holder harder to notice as they blend into their surroundings. While standing still the holder's appearance will gradually change pattern and colour to match their background. This effect can be disabled for Friends, Allies, and/or Neutrals. Effect increases with skill level. Stacks with Stealth. ]

[ Price: 1 point. Evolve Yes/No ]

What does it mean by it 'can be disabled'?

"By default only party members can see through someone's stealth effects, but with Chameleon we got feedback that holders did not like gradually fading away while talking to for example merchants, quest givers, or their friends, so we added a toggle for them to disable the effect if they would like. It is not a simple on and off for everything, you can decide if it is just for one, or two, or all three of those categories."

That did sound like it would be an issue, though not for Sara. At least not for a while. Evolving seemed like the standard tradeoff of temporarily having less skill effect, with a bigger payoff in the long run. While she was heading into dangerous territory, she wasn't sure if there would ever come a better time, so she chose to evolve the skill.

[ Camouflage Skill Evolved Into Chameleon Skill. ]

She poked her head out of the cave to have a look at the sky. The sun wasn't quite up yet, but the sky was a mostly clear blue, with some clouds that were bathed in hues of red and orange by the rising sun. Looked like it was going to be another clear day, and her Environmental Sense was not suggesting otherwise.

"Sara? Might I suggest checking your Reputation tab?" Aina said with no pretext.

Huh? Sure.

[ Reputation ]

[ Eronite Kingdom: -14 (Neutral) ]
[^Bramond City: +72 (Neutral) ]
[^Merwyn Forest Guard: +158 (Friendly) ]

[ Adventurers' Guild: +86 (Neutral) ]

[ Merwyn Goblin Raiders: -286 (Hostile) ]

W-what's all this?!

The number on the Raiders had dropped by a substantial amount, and suddenly there were several new things as well.

"I wanted to explain, which is why I wanted you to look first. The final amount of goblins you killed, either yourself, or as part of working with the other mobs was 86, and you lost one reputation point with them for each. But you also gained reputation with the factions that care about killing them.
First off you gained one point for the overall kingdom for every helpful action done for a faction belonging to the kingdom, but each action only counts once, even if you gain reputation with more than one subordinate faction because of it. As a predator mob you automatically start with -100 reputation with Resident factions unless there's some special circumstance like the Goblin Raiders' increased hostility towards forest creatures, or the Guild being neutral towards everyone as a baseline. Though usually a mob wouldn't have to worry about reputation in the first place.
Bramond City considers the Raiders as one of the major problems in its neighbouring zones, so you gained 2 points for each kill from them. Meanwhile the Forest Guard have the job of directly handling the Goblin problem, so you gained 3 points per kill from them."

Isn't that a bit much?

"Your average Adventurer will never kill that many Goblins without serious dedication, or joining a raid. You just happened to make your own. Ordinarily someone's main reputation gain would come from completing quests. And a lot of quests, subjugation especially go through the Adventurers' Guild, which is why you gained points with them as well."

This is a lot to take in...

"Since you are still a mob, you will not be able to see any gain from this due to your lack of communication ability. Seeing you as a mob supersedes Residents recognising your reputation level, but it should give you a head start when you begin your Resident life. Though I am actually not sure how the system will handle this when there is no physical record of your achievements, yet your reputation score can be read."

What do you mean?

"The developers worked hard on implementing a game-like reputation system into this simulation of a real world in a way that would make intuitive sense. I will not claim it works perfectly, and I am aware they have a team working on improving it, but as of right now it works as follows:
If you have a Neutral ranking most people should treat you decently, though of course what that means differs between individuals. Their personal biases also come into play. Individuals will also remember personal actions you have done for or to them, and anything they have witnessed you doing. They might spread that knowledge to anyone they know, but generally Residents can sort of sense your ranking, and should treat you accordingly. Like if you reach Friendly rank or above, they feel a light compulsion to treat you nicer, or in reverse if you are at Unfriendly or below, they might feel compelled to be rude, or even attack you on sight.
However the internal AI of the Residents started disagreeing with this system within the first months of the beta. It is more of a subconscious thing than an active decision, but many prefer to make their own judgements on whether or not they like someone rather than leave it all to a number system. Some act freely disregarding the system, and might try to reason with someone deemed hostile, or be suspicious of someone deemed an ally."

That makes sense, doesn't it?

"Indeed. Still, the reputation system has gained official approval by the different nations, since it can be useful in quickly discerning whether someone warrants suspicion. So reputation readers are present at the entry points to all major cities, as well as other locations like guard headquarters. They are not omnipotent though. They can only read the reputations of local factions they are allied with. So they can tell whether you are friendly towards them, but not if you are towards others. It is also hard to check every person.
The Adventurers' Guild has a reader built into the analysis device that checks their members' statuses, but it only checks the score towards themselves.
The readers can be fooled, for instance with Conceal Status, but there are special readers that belong to the Churches and Temples of the various nations that cannot be fooled, and will show your reputation scores for every faction belonging to the nation. They also tend to check your Guild reputation for indications that you might be a criminal in other countries. The Guild is ostensibly a neutral organisation, after all."

This sounds very complicated.

"With how the system currently works it cannot be helped. Regardless, people who work to raise their reputation will usually become known figures around those factions, so even without the influence of their number score, the Residents will know them. So what will happen when someone completely unknown nevertheless shows up with a reputation score they cannot explain? I am interested to find out."

To Sara this just sounded like it was going to become a headache at some point in the future.

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