Pieces of Sonder

Freya scanned the screenshot in front of her. Next to her, even the quiet K13 let out a surprised, “Wow.”

[Nightscythe]

[Lvl 9 Rogue]

[45/45 HP] [0/0 MP]

[Vitality: 1]  [Mental Power: 0]

[Strength: 1] [Stamina: 1]

[Dexterity: 4] [Perception: 15]

[Charisma: 2] [Luck: 3]

[Skills:]

[Disappear (Innate) (Lvl 7)]

[Warp (Innate) (Lvl 5)]

[Translucent Field (Lvl 5)]

[Tracking (Lvl 4)]

[Quick Attack (Innate) (Lvl 1)]

“Why are all your stats so low except for perception?” Infamous Biscuit asked incredulously.

“You’re like Freya, except you did it intentionally,” Heilong said, letting out a low whistle. “I thought maybe your health was ridiculously low because you were going for a glass cannon build and putting everything into strength or dexterity, but to put it all in perception...”

Freya nodded, then blinked, “Wait, I can’t believe I didn’t think of this before, but since your perception is high: can you see the octopus on Bis?”

“Yeah, I see it.” Nightscythe said, shrugging. “I thought it was a druid thing or something.”

Freya let out an exhausted sigh. Game players are really used to seeing weird things, she thought to herself.

“Anyway, why are your stats so low?” Infamous Biscuit asked again. “Is this your first VMMORPG?”

“Oh no, no. I know I’m not building a very good character for leveling up. I’m just here for a different purpose. I thought having high perception might help me see what I’m looking for, but it hasn’t helped much. At level fifteen, I got the ability to see other people’s full list of abilities, but it doesn’t mean much to me.”

“I heard Warp is a hard skill to level, but you’ve gotten it pretty high,” Heilong said, scrolling through the screenshot again.

“Again, I’m looking for something. I wanted to be able to get into places, so I leveled up Warp the best I could.” Nightscythe sighed, “I am starting to realize this unbalanced build is now holding me back from leveling up enough to level the skills I want.”

“No kidding,” Heilong said. “Like Biscuit said, I’m surprised you haven’t died yet. Your health is super low for a level nine character, even if you are a rogue.”

“Well, I have died before, but I have plenty of extra lives,” Nightscythe said, standing tall. 

“Why don’t you try not dying in the first place,” Freya said acidly. “Anyway, let’s keep going into the port. The King said the building his brother’s spirit is in is somewhere near the shipping docks.”

Luckily the train hadn’t traveled far, and they were able to get on their way again. The fog continued to thicken as they moved downhill into the port. Mold grew in the cracks of the wood and stone buildings. Freya wondered if it was due to them being abandoned or if it was natural from the humid environment.

The smell of salt and fish hung in the air. As Freya brushed the hair out of her eyes, she felt the wet condensation on her fingers. Sitting on top of the cart, she accumulated a lot of water from traveling through the fog. 

Finally, they reached the end of the railway. An awning allowed the mana-powered cart to be shaded from the elements. Many mana stone-powered machines were stationed around them; many still had large mana stone sitting in them. Freya was surprised they hadn’t been pillaged yet.

As she waited for the others to climb out of the cart, she spotted a small black creature scurry into a crevice. A text box disappeared along with it.

Surging her qi, she aimed at the spot it was hiding. Her arch of qi almost missed the mark. Only the tail end of her Shockwave hit.

EEK!

A small black demon flopped out of the hole. Just before it vanished into dust, Freya was able to read:

[Port Rat]

[Lvl 3] [0/30]

“What was that?” Infamous Biscuit asked, noticing the plume of the smoke. 

“Just a small demon rat, but it’s weird that it ran away. There are probably bigger demons around if it’s used to hiding.”

Heilong was making motions in the air, probably looking at the map on her game screen. 

“Hey,” Nightscythe called out. “I just saw something disappear behind there.”

He pointed to a wooden column of the platform a few meters from them. K13 went to investigate, axes at the ready.

“I don’t see anything,” K13 said quietly, scanning the area and even looking up the column.

Freya came over to examine the supposed sighting. As she rounded the pillar, she immediately noticed a small figure hiding behind the next column.

A little girl, slightly older than a toddler, peered out at them. 

She seemed to be trying to hide, but her fluffy white dress and the large bow on her head made her easy to spot. 

Freya wasn’t sure how K13 missed the child. Even now, he scanned right past the column she was poorly hiding behind. But as the little girl stepped out from the column, Freya understood why she couldn’t be spotted.

Her white dress almost blended into the background, and her face was too pale. As she walked, her shoes sank into the wooden platform, but she kept moving forward with ease.

Behind Freya, the platform shook as Nightscythe jumped and exclaimed, “A ghost!”