“How can she stay connected with him if they aren’t even playing together?” I asked.
“My point exactly,” said Rose, quickly agreeing with me. “Anyway, she’s happy so I leave it alone. Congrats on the level by the way.”
“Thanks, I didn’t even know I was close to leveling up,” I replied, trying to downplay it. It seemed no matter how hard I tried, I kept increasing the level gap between us.
“It will certainly make things easier when we go to Hammerton at the end of the week. Gives us a much better chance at succeeding in that quest,” Rose added. “I hope when we finish off these quests, the rest of us will be at least level 8 but I’m barely 26% of the way there.”
“Well then, before I forget, I picked up a few skill books for you, I thought you might like them,” I said, removing the three Dwarven books from my bag and handing them to her.
“Wow, you found actual skill books? How much?” Rose asked, looking surprised, her eyes shifting between the books and me.
“30-Gold each,” I answered, not considering the price as being expensive.
“Jack, that’s way too much money. I can’t accept these,” said Rose, trying to push the books back to me.
If I thought about it, spending 90-Gold like that on a girl I hadn’t been on even one date with yet was kind of excessive. But I didn’t really think of it that way. “Nonsense, this is about me and making sure we succeed in whatever quests come our way over the next month. Plus, I got a serious mark down.” It took a few minutes to tell her about my morning and the attempt to capture or kill me in the Sundry.
“Fine, I suppose I can accept them, but no more extravagant gifts,” insisted Rose, opening the first book causing it to crumble to dust a moment later. I wish I could have gotten them in scroll format after seeing the amount of dust left behind from the book.
It was my turn to starting opening books. I worked quickly through the four Dwarven books, my extra books being the book on Dwarven Runes, the book on Vampire language and the book on Norse history, leaving a considerable pile of dust from the destroyed books.
Lore
Level: 89
Experience: 59.87%
Professional Skill: Lore is the study of the history of the World Tree and its denizens.
Subskill: Norse Mysticism III
Your knowledge of the Ancient Norse language, history, runes and their Mythos has granted you a higher level of mastery. Knowledge of Norse Skills and Spells is greatly improved.
Subskill: Ancient Vampin
You have gained knowledge of the ancient language of the Vampires
Subskill: Dwarven Mysticism III
Your knowledge of the Ancient Dwarven language, history, runes and their Mythos has granted you a higher level of mastery. Knowledge of Dwarven Skills and Spells is greatly improved.
Finally, I opened ‘The Out of Place Book’.
Perception Subskill – See Intrigue – Teaches the Perception Subskill ‘See Intrigue’
Would you like to learn ‘Perception Subskill – See Intrigue’?
Yes
No
Why did it always ask if I wanted to learn something? The game should know by now the answer was always yes . . . almost always yes. Right, better for now if it keeps asking.
You have learned the ‘Perception’ Subskill ‘See Intrigue’
Perception
Level: 29
Experience: 3.22%
Skill Range: 12.90 yards
Chance to See: 17.25%
Chance to Identify/Track: 24.50%
Subskill: See Intrigue
Skill Effect (Passive): Enables you to look at a person or item and spot unusual behavior or out of place details.
It seemed like the perfect skill for me. I wasn’t sure how it worked but I was sure I would soon find out.
I looked back to Rose prepared to ask her what she thought of the skill when I saw something I don’t think I will ever forget, though I am certain I will want to forget. Where is the mind bleach when you need it?
Just there, behind Rose, was Heath . . . dancing . . . it was equal parts hilarious and disturbing . . . especially as Heath looked like a ghost, barely visible. At first, he was dancing the running man, then some other dance move I didn’t know the name of, then the sprinkler, but when he started doing some weird twerking dance with his behind near Rose’s head, I had to put a stop to it.
“Heath, cut that out,” I snapped, causing him to freeze mid-twerk. Heath looked over his shoulder at me, seeming truly surprised for possibly the first time since I’ve known him. He righted himself out of the dance and move away slightly, but my eyes followed him.
Heath then dumbly pointed to himself.
“Yes, you,” I said, still looking right at him.
“Wait, you can see Heath? Since when?” Rose asked, drawing my attention back to her.
“Since now I guess. I just got a new subskill for ‘Perception’ called ‘See Intrigue’. Apparently, it allows me to see through ‘Stealth’ more easily,” I explained. I had seen through stealth before, but I had been almost directly on top of the guy or known exactly where the target was at, honestly, I was probably lucky to have seen him even then. That I was able to see Heath now was kind of impressive as I knew the thief had put a lot of effort into leveling the skill.
“And . . . uh . . . just what was Heath doing?” Rose asked, her voice sounded perfectly sweet.
I looked over to Heath who was emphatically waving his hands for me not to speak. Even putting his hands together and dropping to his knees to beg or pray for it.
“Dancing,” I answered, looking at Heath who cringed, but didn’t seem too upset by my answer.
“What kind of dancing?” she asked, the sweetness fading from her voice, now sounding dangerously close to angry.
Heath’s eye went wide, and he started shaking his head vigorously, I could see him mouthing ‘no’ repeatedly.
“Different kinds,” I answered, not wanting to lie to Rose but also trying to protect Heath. Even if he was a bit on the outs with the group right now, it didn’t mean I couldn’t at least try to protect him a little from Rose’s wrath.
“Let me rephrase that. Was his pelvic or posterior region in close proximity with me at any time?” Rose questioned, her ire now, at least partly, directed at me.
I looked to Heath again and tried to convey my sympathies.
Heath made a big sighing motion and hung his head, resigned to his fate.
“Yes,” I answered reluctantly.
“Jack, how long is that discount of yours good for? And did they have another of those books?” Rose asked first.
“Uh, I only saw the one and it cost me 300-Gold even with the discount,” I answered.
“Jack!” exclaimed Rose. “Where did you get 300-Gold?”
I told her about the map reward at the cartographer’s guild.
“I no longer feel guilty about accepting those books from you. But that is way too expensive for a Subskill of a Skill I don’t even have . . . yet,” Rose said. “I still want to go back to that store with you tomorrow, it will probably be too late by the time Mardi finishes to go tonight. I haven’t made it to the Enchanter’s college either, so we can also do that tomorrow.”
“Okay,” I said, not disagreeing with her plan.
“We are also going back to the library first thing tomorrow morning. I am getting that damned eye book and learning the ‘Perception’ skill,” Rose started. “Heath, be glad you can hide, because once I can see you, you’re dead meat.”
With that said, Rose opened her book again and tuned out the world.
I looked at Heath, he was now miming strangling Rose only to make a grand shrug of his shoulders and mock sigh. He looked up at me and rolled his eyes before walking away, vanishing from my sight after about 10-yards, invisible once more.
Accepting defeat, at least for the moment, I returned to my own book and more pattern recognition exercises. This time, these exercises w
ere color-coded or had a key wherein each color represented an element that paired with the light spectrum of that element. By the time Mardi called for us I was just over halfway through the book and I felt like my eyes were seeing spots.
“I think I am done for the evening,” said Mardi, pulling my attention from the book of brain melting.
Rose snapped her book and journal shut and put them in her bag, prompting me to do the same.
“Interesting books?” Mardi asked.
“Very interesting,” volunteered Rose. “Did you know, enchanting creates an energy matrix that loops and builds upon itself and the more loops you can complete, the more powerful the enchantment will be? By the same token, if you can find a way to break one of the loops it will weaken the enchantment. There’s also a nexus of energy that feeds the enchantment and if you can find a way to destabilize it, the enchantment will fail completely and often the cascading failure causes explosive results.”
“I had no idea,” said Mardi, staring at Rose, slightly wide-eyed.
I would normally have been fascinated and tried to talk to her about it, but at the moment, my brain felt like mush, and I wasn’t even close to completing the second of three books. If my luck held, the third book would be considerably more complicated than the first two . . . if that was even possible.
“Anyway, you ready to go?” Rose asked, standing up from her seat.
“Sure, it’s early enough too, we can have a few drinks when we get back to the manor,” said Mardi. She was covered from head to toe in soot and scorch marks marred her arms and clothes. “Olaf is in for a rough night after he went and ruined my fun earlier,” she added with a grin.
Looking at that grin, I feared Olaf’s punishment would be extended to me whether I wanted it or not.
Thankfully the walk back to the manor was Ardentia free, it gave me hope that they had finally given up. It also made the walk back uninteresting. Until something interesting and very unexpected did occur. Our path back walked close to one of the portals and when I looked at it, I received a system message unlike any I had received before.
Fa###ng F###fi##ds – Level #0-##
Fa###ng F###fi##ds a## ##m# ## t## ####e#t fa#####ds i# ### o# t## World Tree, ##d# ### #y t## v###an## s##l c###t#d #y t## Fa###ng ##v# ##v## t##t fl##s t###### t## c##t## of the p##v### ##d## ## t## G##at Fa###ng ##te#fa##. A g###t #### f###-###ist##t ####t###s c### t##s p##v#### ###e, t## ###t v###a### a#d ##ng##us o# #hi## ## t## ###nt #pi##-#o###d ##v# B###le#, a##o t## b#g### p### #o t# f###s ## t## ####.
Filing that away for later, I entered the manor prepared to put my digital liver to the test.
“Bye-bye, you’re back,” shouted Micaela, glomping on to me as soon as I was through the door.
“He smells funny,” said a voice from Micaela’s shoulder, the small pup, Vision, had taken to perching there like an annoying parrot or a cat which was strange considering Vision was a spirit wolf. “You smell funny. Like fire and something else, what is that?”
“Coal most likely, maybe metal,” I answered the pup after breaking free from Micaela. I risked losing my hand, but I gave the small pup a rub to his head. Seeing as my hand remained and the pup’s tail began to wag faster I would say I had just made a friend.
“Do that again,” ordered the pup, leaping from Micaela shoulder and tackling me to the ground and laying on my chest. “Come on, hurry up,” Vision insisted, licking my face to encourage me.
I couldn’t really argue so I gave the pup what he demanded, rubbing his head, scratching behind his ears and eventually rubbing his belly when he rolled off me and onto the floor. It was a strange experience to pet a ghostly animal like this. I half expected my hands to pass right through him, but they didn’t. It felt like fur, but the softest fur I have ever felt. It was also strange the way it slipped through my fingers, never binding in the fur.
Once I had rubbed the pup’s belly until Vision was happy and content, I was able to climb back to my feet only to notice I was alone.
“Where’d they go Vision?” I asked.
“Do not know, do not care, want more belly rubbing,” Vision replied, looking up at me expectantly.
“Maybe later,” I promised, knowing full well those damned puppy eyes he was giving me ensured I would follow through. “For now, let’s find your master and her husband. I feel like I haven't seen either of them at all this week.”
“Fine,” complained Vision, rolling back onto his stomach and standing. He stretched and then shook himself once. He stuck his nose in the air and sniffed, “Follow me.”
I found my friends and Mardi sitting around the kitchen table, all of them with a beer in hand. All of them except Heath. Apparently, he decided he wasn’t in the mood to socialize . . . or he was afraid of Rose.
Olaf, Rose and Mardi all occupied one end of the table and were playing a card game of some kind, several mugs, full and empty surrounded them.
Micaela was just entering from the kitchen carrying two large platters laden with food. As soon as she saw me, she smiled brightly. Rushing to set down the snacks by the trio of drinkers, she was quick to drag me to the other end of the table.
“Bye-bye, it feels like it’s been weeks. Did you have fun with Vision? Isn’t he the best pet in the history of pets?” Micaela asked quickly.
Now, I was honestly more of a cat person and Lulu would probably scratch my eyes out if she ever found out I had betrayed her by petting a dog, but had to admit, Vision was pretty cool.
“He’s alright,” I said, feigning disinterest.
Micaela laughed. “Bull, I saw the fun you two were having.”
“My cat would never forgive me if I ever uttered the words,” I said with a shrug.
“Ha!” Micaela barked with a happy laugh. “So how has your week been? Find any World Tree shattering quests yet?”
I chuckled. “No, no World Tree shattering quests . . . yet. It’s been a really good week. Even with the Ardentia constantly attacking us, it’s been a good week.”
“Yeah, they are annoying,” said Micaela. “Olaf and I were attacked earlier, nothing we couldn’t handle but still . . . annoying.”
“I have to agree with Rose on this. If it wasn’t so annoying, I would almost respect them for their persistence,” I said.
“Just two more days. We’re going to Hammerton next right?” Micaela asked.
“That is the plan. I’m really looking forward to the challenge,” I added. I really was excited about going into a new province and seeing what new adventures and challenges awaited my friends and I. Hopefully, even with the looming quest to protect the Duchess we would have time to explore and see what the province had to offer, see if I couldn’t dig out any Easter Eggs.
“How about you? How has your week been? Did you ever find some class quests like you wanted?” I asked.
“Huh, me? Oh, yeah, I went back to the zoo yesterday. I found a Greater Spirit, he promoted me to Initiate Shaman, gave me a couple quests for things that needed to be done around the zoo, things the zoo wasn’t doing or needed my kind of help to resolve,” answered Micaela. “There is this really interesting kid there. His name is Snow Whittle.”
“Wait, Snow Whittle, seriously?” I asked, barely holding back a laugh.
“Seriously,” Micaela replied with a laugh. “Anyway, he wants to become a Beast Tamer. And here is the really cool part. He said that if he doesn’t get accepted into the Hunter’s Union, he’s going to look for an Order to join.”
“Wait, can NPC’s do that?” I asked.
“I have no idea, but I can’t wait to find out,” said Micaela.
“Would they be able to be resurrected if they were in an order?” I asked. “I mean, I know we’ve been lucky so far in the one and only dungeon we’ve run that we didn’t die, not ever close thanks to our overpowered healer, but you and I both know wipes are coming sooner or later.”
“Again, I have no idea,” said Micaela, her excitement at the prospect not calming in the slightest.
“Speaking of Orders, Olaf said he dropped by the ‘Office of Orders’ to get some more information. They aren’t issuing new Order Contracts to anyone under level ten but anyone at any level can join an order. I wish I would have gone with him, so I could ask about the NPC thing.”
“He isn’t letting up on that, is he?” I asked.
“Not at all. But he did say he might look for a Service Order to level with for a while. He doesn’t want to start our order until level 40 or 50, somewhere around there. He said we should get better recruitment if we can wait until then,” explained Micaela.
I sat in silence for a minute, digesting what Micaela told me, both about the NPC that wants to join an order and about Olaf’s order plans. I didn’t think he was wrong. A service order would do us good for the sake of leveling to 50. That said, we were leveling pretty fast considering we weren’t really focusing on it just yet.
“Anyway, time for a refill and then I want to see what that card game is all about,” said Micaela, excusing herself to refill her mug from one of the two barrels that had been set out for us.
I couldn’t find any flaws in Micaela’s thought process, so I joined her and then as a group we joined in the card game that promised to get us all very drunk.
Chapter 17 - Baby
“I’m like a bird, I’ll only fly away,” sung Baby as she danced through the air, humming the oldies tune that struck her fancy in the moment. She couldn’t help but sing when she was surrounded by so many fairies and others of the fae, it was probably the most magical place in all the World Tree, the Royal Fairy Tree. It was home to the fairy queen and all her retainers.
It also served as the seat of the fae government and the primary training center for all the fae races, the very reason Baby had flown here three days prior. Unlike training with Trinico, the magical fae trainers either refused or lacked the knowledge required to create spell books or scrolls. Instead, they actually taught magic. It was the theory, the mana manipulation, channeling and incantation all together. Which was also why, in the three days Baby had been staying at the Royal Fairy Tree, she had only learned three new spells, one each day. Valuable spells to be sure, but still, only three.
World Tree Online: The Duchess of Hammers: 2nd Dive Begins Page 27