Enigmatic Crusade

When Valen had the courage to peek back outside he caught sight of the source of noise. It was a massive blue wolf. Twelve feet tall, it had a blue mane of fur. White fur along the legs and tale he gulped as he cast Identify. 

“Of course,” he mumbled as it ran past the tree line at the bottom of the hill he was on. He was either too low level or the monster had some kind of blocking skill. Either way it looked strong. The roar sounded again, but this time he noticed it was more like a very loud growl. The beast appeared to be on the hunt for something as it ran past where his vision could discern it. Disappearing into the trees he let out a sigh and sat back down in the dirt. 

“Fucking awesome,” he said. Looking back to the dungeon portal he was surprised how out in the open it was. Usually people scoured a location for hiding holes like this. Standing back up, the tree overtop the small cave in the ground didn’t appear any different from others around him. Maybe a little smaller, but that was all. No markings on it so others could find their way back, he assumed it was a previously unknown dungeon entrance. Hiding away for decades after the human race was Integrated. 

“Good,” he said. Still lost, maybe he could find his way back to the dungeon or sell it’s location. Raging might have the other entrance but this was his. People would pay a lot of money for a high level dungeon like the one behind him. Climbing up the pit in the dungeon would be a small feat for high leveled people, so it would be worth it for anyone. 

“Awesome,” he said, already picturing making more money. Life felt like it was starting to come around for him. He escaped almost certain death. Gained a lot of levels in a short time. Even soloed his first monster. Now he had a dungeon and some unknown section of forest. 

“Oh right,” he said, remembering that he was lost. Standing up again to peek out of the hole under the tree he didn’t see any more high leveled monsters. It was still dark out but he had plenty of light thanks to the moon. 

Looking down he got his first glimpse of his state of dress. The white robes the System had given him for his class were destroyed. No trace of them left, the undershirt and pants he had been wearing weren’t any better. Everything below his upper thighs had disintegrated in the volatile nature of the Black Ooze. 

“I have you, at least,” he said to mace in one hand. “And you,” he added for the shadow core. The item was at least worth a nice set of clothes. The only trick was finding civilization to sell it. 

The forest was a safe haven for him compared to the dark spider den. He stepped out of the dungeon pit and into the forest. Now with a full view of the area around him he noticed that he was on the edge of the forest. 

Valen hadn’t spent much time outside the city before the expedition. What he did know about trees was very sporadic. Unable to identify them they had flaky bark that peeled away from the trunk and wide canopies. 

Down the way from him was a tree line that was the edge of the forest where the blue wolf had run past. Not too far away from the edge of the forest was a line of other trees. These were much thicker than the ones around him. The bark was a darker shade of brown and the canopy of branches was much wider. 

It wasn’t so strange to see different ecologies next to one another. Essence affected everything. The life force of the planet leaked out to affect the ecosystem in different ways. When a certain type of ecology was singled out into an area it was called a zone. 

Like the Swamp Zone he had entered the dungeon in. Valen had heard there was a Frozen zone right next to it. The Essence in the air forced the place to be cold, thus attracting different types of monsters than those found in the Swamp zone even though they were right next to one another. 

Curious about what other types of zones could be in the area, Valen walked away from the tree that was hiding the dungeon. When he was a few paces away he turned to focus on the tree in the moonlight. 

Only about twenty feet tall the tree was irregularly shaped. At the base it went straight up then abruptly turned 90 degrees and then turned back to be straight up. Trying to take a mental picture of it, the tree didn’t resemble the shape of the others around it. 

As he got to the edge of this zone of trees he studied the tree again. Though hard to discern it was possible, but he didn’t want to risk it. Looking around he started kicking around the tall grass until he found a large rock. 

“Let’s see…” he mumbled, picking it up with a grunt. To his surprise he picked up the rock with very little effort. “More like a boulder,” he mused as he carried it to the edge of the zone. Setting it down in front of a tree that was next to the edge. It would be a good marker for the tree. 

“Guess these stats aren’t for nothing,” he said as he stepped away. Doing his best to find other distinct trees or scenery around him to identify the place, an arrow narrowly missed him. 

Stopping in his tracks the arrow struck the ground next to him. Valen looked in the direction of where the arrow had come from to see three goblins charging him. 

“Shit,” he spat, his hand practically throwing the mace as he brought it in front of him. Narrowly catching it in his fingertips his other hand grasped the wooden handle and pointed it in the direction of the goblins. 

They were as he heard. From two to three feet tall these had pale yellow skin. Pointy ears, sharp teeth, long crooked noses, they were as one would expect. 

As the small group of monsters charged at him they rasped some weird language that he couldn’t understand. “Well screw you,” he said as one showed him a crooked tooth grin. Valen had the presence of mind to use Identify on them. 

“Fuck yeah,” he said as he did the same to the other goblins who were only level 1. Finally he was fighting something weaker than him. His grip tightening on the mace he rushed forward and smacked the first monster hard in the skull. 

It barely had time to react before its brain was bashed in and it was thrown to the side. Valen didn’t hardly hesitate with the other two. He had seen so much death in his time that killing was nothing to him. Just a part of life. Though he didn’t have too much practice doing it, he had been mentally preparing for years or else becoming an adventurer would have been impossible. 

One of the goblins brandished a long crooked knife at him. Valen knocked it away and swung down with the mace. The metal head missed the head but the handle made a nice conking sound as it hit its skull. His next swing took the third goblin in the mouth and nose. 

Both cried out and were on the ground but Valen did another two strikes, one for each, and they were dead. 

“I’m a fucking adventurer,” he said, tossing the mace up and catching it. A small smile on his lips he heard a twig break and looked ahead. “You want some too?” He asked nothing in particular. Nothing approached. Curious, he looked down to the other dead goblins and realized that none had a bow. 

“Shit!” He hissed and dodged to the side, but no arrow was shot. Not risking it he ran to where he heard the twig breaking. There was nothing there. 

“Crap,” he mumbled. That was one thing he had heard about goblins. When you found one. There were at least two others you didn’t see. The archer must have run away already. 

Hoping he didn’t need to watch his back he walked back to the downed trio as he checked out his notification. 

“Fuck yeah,” Valen said. He knew that the first levels were the easiest. Still he regretted not going out on his own earlier. If things were this simple then he could really start power leveling. One day he might even be as strong as those in Raging as long as he kept at it. And then…

“What?” He asked. Valen wasn’t sure what he wanted to do. Looking around, the dark night felt rather quiet. Doubtful that this was the best time to go wandering around he picked up the three goblin corpses and walked to the dirt pit under the tree. 

Using the light of the moon he was able to search the corpses for anything valuable. From what he could remember there was always a bounty on goblins. Unsure if they wanted the left or right ears he took both. Using the goblin’s stone daggers to cut them off. 

Next he took the leather scraps they used for clothes and fashioned a crude wallet. Well more a purse but he didn’t like to think of it like that. The sack hung on his arm and had a dip in it to hold things. He took the better stone dagger of the goblins, their ears, and a needle and thread one had. Putting all on top of his shadow core he could now start looking around for civilization. 

But as the simple work made him slow down and after the day he had, Valen started to feel tired. Succumbing to sleep he sat near the portal with his back against the grass on the wall. Content with his achievements for the day. 

—-

The next morning Valen woke up sometime after dawn. Birds chirping in the trees somewhere he jerked up and was relieved to see the Red Ooze hadn’t climbed out of the dungeon portal like he feared. Monsters escaping from dungeons was rare, but not impossible. 

Once he knew he was safe and alone he peeked out of the hole and saw that there was nothing waiting for him. No monsters. No people. No one. It was one of the greater reliefs he could remember. He really was all alone. Now it was time to find out how alone that meant. 

After throwing the goblin corpses a bit away from the dungeon pit he set out to look around. Moving to the edge of the zone he preferred the tall grass of the in between. A few small critters running this way and that in the grass he hoped to luck on killing one with his stone knife. 

“I’m basically a caveman,” he mused. The rock dagger in hand he added, “I’m in the…Flint age? No, that's not right. What did Fiona call it? Rock age? Age of rock and something. Rock and roll!” He said excitedly then frowned. “No, that was music. What the hell was it? Brass age, copper age…” he listed a few off trying to remember what Fiona had said were the early caveman eras for man.  Back when they stopped using brawn and started using their minds. 

“I can’t remember,” he whispered. Claire would know that answer for sure. With that reminder he frowned.

A bird screeched high in the air. Valen looked up but couldn’t see it through the trees. Scanning the area he continued on. Doing his best to be on alert he was distracted by thoughts of Claire. 

She was…complicated for him. The first girl he had really considered his friend, she was also gorgeous and funny. Always smiling, she knew what she wanted in life and what she liked. Despite whining about it, Valen had loved to walk with her through the Trade District. The smile on her face as she looked at this gear and that always made him happy. 

But one of many things Valen knew was that he couldn’t offer her any of that. No money to his name, he was a nobody. A part of him wanted so badly to run away with her. See the world and carve out their own life together. That was a kid's dream. 

Once Valen turned 16 he became a man. If he wanted anyone he had to be able to provide for them. That wasn’t something you could do when any monster could take your life. Provide and protect were the main goals for him and the only way he saw that could happen was by joining a guild. 

Claire’s father had been killed by pissing off the wrong person. Valen never wanted that to happen to anyone ever again. At least no one he cared about anyway. He wanted to be the high level that people watched out for. He wanted to not have to be scared walking down the street. To live a normal life he had to push himself. Gain levels and become that person who Claire could count on. 

With a sigh he looked around. Ready to fight again there were no monsters in sight. No animals either. Annoyed, Valen realized he hadn’t eaten in nearly 12 hours. His stomach grumbling, he started walking again. 

The wide diameter trees appeared to increase in quantity as the thinner ones became more sporadic. Venturing out in a straight line he tried to keep his bearings so he could find the pit again. With luck there would be more goblins around. Though he doubted that he would be able to farm goblins until he was strong enough to take on the world, it was at least a good start. 

Excited at the prospect of more levels he continued his search. His mind moving from Claire to Peter he hoped to find New Rapids again. Since he was a long grind from going into the spider dungeon confidently he hoped there were cities in the area. With luck there would be a teleporter and he could earn enough killing monsters to use it. 

A plan in place he continued on. No monsters sited though he stuck to just watching for odd trees and scenery to find his way back. 

About midday he found a stream and drank from it hungrily. Some fish in the stream he spent a good hour trying to catch them. That didn’t work out too well so he landed on bashing their vicinity with the mace. After knocking out two large trout-like fish like this he noticed a small outcropping of herbs. 

A nice patch of them was growing near the stream. He recognized them from what Houdini taught him. Able to help with minor healing he put them all in his pouch/purse and moved on. The fish quickly began to stink but he hadn’t found an area to start a fire as of yet. 

When it was slowly turning from midday to afternoon Valen almost gave up and started a fire right in the middle of the forest to cook a meal. But that was when he noticed a familiar sight in the distance behind some trees. A metal sheen to it he thought he was seeing things but started running toward it. 

Once he was past another large tree it came into view. Unsure exactly how this could be he ran over to the literal building in the middle of the forest. Three short stone steps leading up to double doors. Gray wood paneling. Two stories tall with a small bell tower on top. It was the spitting image of the Town Hall he had received his Class at a month ago. 

As he drew closer to the building he noticed that it was about 50 yards from any tree. Around it was a field of tall green grass, but about ten feet away from the building the grass was trimmed to only about two inches tall, as if it had been recently mowed. Looking around the building it appeared brand new. But as far as he knew all Town Halls appeared 17 years ago with the Integration. 

“Hello?” He said lowly, then a little louder. No answer from around him he was worried maybe he was hallucinating. “This is…weird,” he mumbled, walking through the tall grass toward it. His stomach grumbling was the last thing on his mind. The lone building felt almost like a trap. Valen had heard of monsters that could cause hallucinations, or transform their bodies into something else to lure people in. 

Without much else to go on he bent down and picked up a fallen branch. Throwing it at the building it clacked against the siding and acted as it should. “Not a mirage…” He mumbled, still hesitant to venture toward it. “Hello?!” He yelled more loudly, but there was still no answer. 

“Fucking creepy ass…” He trailed off as he walked toward it again. His feet stepping on the trimmed grass, he didn’t feel any different. Curious if maybe the place was abandoned he couldn’t help but hope there was a hearth inside. There was a notification board out front with dozens of scraps of paper mounted onto it, maybe he could use them as kindling to start a fire. Walking ever so slowly up the steps he touched the brass doorknob and nothing happened. 

“Hello?” He asked as he opened the door. It creaked slowly as he entered. To his surprise there were lanterns inside. They were alight with candles as he slowly ventured in. 

“Hel-” He stopped as a figure walked out of a back room toward him. It was a System Representative like Jane back in New Rapids. Valen could tell by the robes he wore and the intricate etching on them. This rep was a male with a full beard and long black hair. The man smiled at him widely as if he had been waiting for Valen. 

“Welcome,” the man said.