Chapter 8

As the two stepped out into the open field Ryder looked around in shock as he saw many more players were casually walking around, carrying things like wood or meat to wagons to get them back to town.

There really wasn't a single enemy in sight now unlike at the very start, though there were some players still patrolling looking for any that might spawn.

"Wow, guess things really have changed" Ryder mumbles to himself.

"Yes, you outlanders have brought back some civility after all." Yuria comments in a matter of fact tone with a carefree smile. "It's made gathering supplies way easier, as well as befriending many of the forest spirits."

"Oh yeah, what's the deal with that anyways? They ran away from me both times I saw them, was it really because of that darkness?" Ryder asks while casually walking alongside her.

"It was, those creatures are adverse to any overbearing elemental feeling, not just darkness… it just so happened to be that's what you were coated in from the other realm and likely an artifact as well, so you reeked of an overpowering darkness…" a small smirk crosses her face. "That or you truly are just that scary to them."

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Ryder quickly looks at her, easily taking the bait.

Yuria just responds with a carefree shrug. "I mean you are a big scary guy who randomly showed up in their home, I'd run away too."

"Oh come on, you know it wasn't like that." Ryder sighs and hangs his head a bit at this.

"I'm only teasing you." Yuria calmly says as she looks at him. "You should try to relax, this will likely be a rarity for you moving forward. After all, your power and equipment is likely weaker than everyone else's right now."

"Yeah that's true, I'll definitely have to work on catching back up along with seeing about getting you introduced to everyone else like Radogan and Aranea." Ryder casually places his hands behind his head while he walks, slightly glancing at all the players and NPCs they pass.

"Here we are." Yuria says, snapping Ryder back to attention.

There he sees what looks to be the village that Aranea was talking about before they split off.

It's a decently sized hub, though clearly way smaller than the capital.

It has a wooden wall protecting it and some small buildings can be seen from the entrance, though the most noticeable thing were the guards.

A couple of players and NPCs were standing guard, all wearing their own gear but happily talking.

Not only that but it's clear that the village has been made peaceful as even some music and lots of talking can be heard from the village at this distance.

Ryder blinks a few times, wondering if this is really the same war torn place they'd been put in.

As the two walk forward the guards happily wave or nod to them and let them pass, clearly seeing them as no threat.

Once they're inside they see the place absolutely bustling with commotion.

Many parties talking about what to do next, bards performing to get everyone's spirits up, merchants trying to make a profit and so much more can be seen and heard as they walk around. Honestly it's a little overwhelming but just being there gets Ryder's spirits lifted higher than they'd ever been.

"You seem to be enjoying yourself." Yuria comments as she looks his way.

"Just happy to see the situation has improved somewhat, honestly expected it to stay all doom and gloom." he says now letting his arms fall to his sides.

"Well they say you can't keep the human spirit down forever, I'd say they were right." Yuria comments happily before moving forward. "Come, the blacksmith is this way."

The two snake through the crowd, bumping past many adventurers and the like while trying to get through. After a couple of minutes of navigating through a bustling crowd they eventually make it to the north side of the village where there's noticeably less people and only two buildings before the final exit.

One of them is a large round building with a sign out front marked 'Guild Meeting Area'. A little note on the sign reads 'meeting in progress'.

"Even got an official guild now? Geez just how far out of the loop have I gotten?" Ryder questions as they walk up towards the other building.

It's noticeably smaller than the round one but has a large chimney on it dispensing a lot of smoke as well as its own water wheel, whatever this place is it must be important.

Ryder looks all around but there's no sign to be seen.

Without hesitation Yuria walks up to the door and opens it, looking at Ryder expectantly.

"Guess this must be the place then." Ryder replies before following her inside.

Sure enough once inside he sees racks of various weapons all around, mainly just swords and knives but there are a few unique additions like scythes and giant maces.

"Wait here, I'll go get the blacksmith." Yuria replies before heading into the back like she owns the place.

"Must be friends with the blacksmith already…" Ryder mutters before turning to look around the shop.

While there were the aforementioned weapons lying around he started noticing other little interesting details about the shop. It didn't just hold weapons, there were also plenty of other useful items such as what looked to be grappling hooks, reinforced boots, dried meats, various types of cloth and leather as well as a little section of books.

Out of curiosity Ryder walked over and started examining the books, they were all player made. Each one from a different beta tester or dev explaining certain details or things to be cautious over.

The price tag next to them read "Free, take a copy and stay safe."

A small smile formed on his face.

If people had been reading these then surely there weren't as many deaths as he initially imagined. It honestly made him feel the tiniest bit hopeful that things might actually get better eventually.

As he reached down and grabbed a book written by Demea he heard two sets of footprints behind him.

"There, this is the one I need a sword for." Yuria's voice called out, clearly talking to whoever the blacksmith was.

"Alright alright, this better be someone important though-" a familiar voice continues before stopping. "Holy hell, is that who I think it is? Mr. Vanishing Act himself!"

Ryder turns around to see Yuria standing next to Radogan who's smiling brightly, his towering stature is still there but he seems to just be wearing a more casual outfit now. It consists of brown pants, brown boots, a white shirt, leather gloves that go up past his forearm, a leather apron and what looks like a welding mask?

"Is that a welding mask? Where did you even get something like that?" Ryder asks, looking more surprised than confused.

"Oh this? Made it myself with supplies and crafting! Technically it's only supposed to be used against things like flare stones but it helps when working on something really bright here." Radogan walks over, patting Ryder on the back as a friendly welcome. "So, where have you been? Lily and the others have been looking everywhere for you."

"You wouldn't believe me even if I told you… and what do you mean others? I only really knew Lily decently before vanishing." Ryder replies hesitantly, unsure if he could truly call them friends.

"You know, Aranea, Demea, Eleanor, etc." Radogan replies while stuffing his hand in his pocket and pulling out a notebook. "You may not have known them super well but that doesn't mean a connection can't form in a few days, especially when it feels longer in here."

"Thank the False Lord for fracturing time itself." Yuria nonchalantly says before moving to go look through the various weapons.

"So, where have you been and how did you meet the Cheshire Cat over there?" Radogan says while flipping through his book, seeming to make notes every so often.

"Cheshire Cat? What do you mean by that? And trust me, while I'd like to tell you it's something so crazy that even I still don't fully believe it." Ryder replies, looking to Yuria who is now casually examining a great sword that is way too big for her, yet she can seemingly hold it with no problems.

"I mean she's cryptic and tends to literally disappear without a trace when you least expect it." He now clasps his book closed and pockets it. "So between her personality and you going missing for a month along with some disturbing reports? I'm ready to hear just about anything." he turns and starts walking to the counter. "Come over here though, we need to figure out some details for your weapon first."

"What do you mean? Can't I just use one of these weapons out here?" Ryder asks as he approaches. "Wouldn't that just be simpler in the long run?"

"It can be if all you want is a standard weapon that could break when going into Fort Haysh up north." Radogan produces some paper and places it on the counter with a pencil. "Seriously, that place has been our biggest roadblock so far. I may be good at planning but without proper gear we can't get far."

"Have you guys really been stuck here for a month now? What's so dangerous about the fort anyways?" Ryder asks as he watches Radogan sketch out a bastard sword design, it looks simple but effective.

"Well we're not stuck, we've been exploring everywhere else thoroughly, hell we even recaptured another village and cleared all the dungeons we could find at the moment." Radogan holds the pencil up for a second, looking over the design. "As for the fort… well it feels like a story area that we're vastly underleveled for. So our only option now is to grind dungeons and build up our resources."

"How far has anyone made it in before? Have they scouted it out enough to at least know where the boss is in there?" Ryder thinks for a moment, trying to form some sort of plan that could help.

Radogan motions towards the paper and Ryder takes the pencil before starting to make his own changes. "Well we have found the boss room, but that's only because Oto ran through mapping the place out like a mad man. He has to have some kind of running experience because he was able to outpace most enemies and dodge pretty much every attack."

"Seriously? Guess he'd probably be able to keep up with Lily then." Ryder replies while making the modifications to the design and presenting it back to Radogan.

The weapon appears to be a bastard sword still but with a different grip, pommel and guard.

Radogan looked over it and took the pencil back to sharpen up the design a bit.

"Lily and Oto are actually our main recon team, they're what let us find the dungeons and the easiest route through the fort." he smiles and lifts the pencil once more. "As well as stopping us from fighting the main boss of the island too soon."

"The main boss?" Ryder asks while looking at the design, nodding and giving Radogan the okay to start making it.

Quickly Radogan took the paper and hung it up behind him. "Well it's some sort of pirate that forced his way into becoming a Lord Candidate, it doesn't line up with the old story though." He pauses and looks around. "Also, you got any materials you want to use for this build?"

Ryder stops and thinks for a moment before remembering something. "Can you reforge other weapons into new ones?"

"Sure can, just let me see what you're working with." Radogan replied, expecting just a dagger or something useless like a broken sword.

"Here, I would've used it but I don't have the stats to properly wield it." he replies, bringing out the Swordspear and putting it on the counter with an audible thud.

Radogan's eyes go wide as he looks over it, his tune immediately changing. "Wait, you had one of these too?! I thought only Lily had one!"

"No, we were both able to pick it up." Ryder replies. "Why? Is this thing that much better than our standard gear at the moment?"

"Are you kidding me?! This would let us actually fight against the fort and possibly even the Lord Candidate!" Radogan quickly begins examining it. "Not to mention if I'm only making things like greatswords or smaller then there's always some material left over for arrows or armor!"

A thought suddenly crosses Ryder's mind as he pauses before continuing. "I see… well I guess you guys could always set up an expedition to the place where we found it, the more we have the better, right?"

"You are absolutely right! Now I'm going to get started on your weapon, you just wait here." He picks up the spear and starts walking towards the back room but pauses real quick. "And I expect to hear all about your disappearance when I get back!"

Ryder lets out a little laugh at that. "Oh don't worry, I'll tell you every crazy detail of it!"

Now with Radogan heading back and the sound of metal work slowly starting Ryder turns around, looking for Yuria.

His eyes fixate on her reading the player made guides in curiosity, her fingers lightly flipping through the pages.

She seems interested or rather amused at what is written in them.

"So, this is how you lot staved off so many possible deaths." she says without a slight hint of care in her voice. "I'm honestly a little impressed, I figured you all would be too prideful to read this kind of stuff, though I suppose some likely were."

"Yeah, you're probably right… there are a lot of people here but I imagine there were still quite a few deaths along the way." Ryder replies while now leaning back on the counter. "So, how do you know Radogan?"

"Simple really, I was looking for a specific weapon to be made, he made it. He's the one I've come to ever since." she doesn't even bother looking at him while flipping through the pages. "It's not like how I found you face down in a lake slowly drowning to death."

"I'm sorry, what?! That's how you found me?!" Ryder says slightly panicking now, his voice noticeably getting slightly higher. "I was literally dying when you found me?!"

"Oh calm down, I didn't leave you for dead now did I? Besides, I figured you'd be fine after a while, and I was right." She sits the book down before looking back at him now. "Also you'd better look alive, you were wanting to question someone, yes?"

"I mean yeah, I was wanting to talk with Demea for a couple of reasons… wait how did you-" Ryder begins before hearing the front door open as if right on cue.

"Radogan? The meeting just wrapped up, I came to give you the plans like you asked-" Demea's voice spoke, only being covered by the sounds of forging in the back.

Her eyes fixate on Ryder in surprise and disbelief as she walks over.

"You?! How are you here?! You should be dead! A fall from that height would've even killed bosses!"

"Easy there, just relax for a moment." Ryder says, clearly trying to get her calmed down.

Unlike everyone else she looked like a wreck.

Messy unkempt hair that was loosely tied up into a bun, dark bags forming under her eyes, even her glasses had been crooked and her hands lightly losing their grip.

"I'm here because of her." he says motioning to Yuria who waves with a knife in her hand. "She saved me after i managed to escape some weird bug-"

"Not a bug, a bug is this." Yuria cuts him off before clearly clipping the knife through another knife. "What you experienced once again was a space between realities, between these dreams."

"What? What's she talking about?" Demea asks, clearly getting more and more concerned. "Did you find something game breaking? Or more info we could use?!"

"Just wait a minute, i'll tell you all about it once Radogan comes back out. For now just calm down and let's talk, as I have my own questions." Ryder says before motioning her over.

Demea seems to stand there, contemplating what to do for a moment. Her tired eyes trying to fully figure out if this was a joke or not before she sighs.

With a great deal of reluctance she walks over to the counter and leans on it as well. "What are you wanting to know? I know I said I was a game dev but that doesn't mean I have all the answers, I only worked on certain areas and storylines after all." She looks back at Yuria. "And I can't even begin to explain how her and Eleanor are actually showing sentience by breaking script and doing whatever they want."

"So Eleanor is sentient then? I guess that answers one question… but you really have no clue in the slightest how this could have happened?" The concern in his voice was evident as he tried to figure out what effect this would have on the world.

"The only thing I can think of is all safety parameters were flipped off and it somehow had an effect on the AI, that or someone tampered with the AI files but that's even less likely." Demea sighs and rubs her temple slightly, clearly annoyed at trying to figure this out.

"Why would it be less likely? I know it'd probably be insanely hard but not impossible." Ryder replies while looking at her. "My brother worked in game development for a while so I at least have some surface level knowledge."

She sighs before pulling out a drink and chugging it, seeming to relax a bit.

"Alright so, normally you'd be right, given enough time and pettiness you could go in and change a bunch of the AI files, but here's the weird thing. All of us lower team devs were never given access to the AI files, those were exclusively for top brass along with access to deeper server files." She pauses and takes another long swig of the potion, seeming to really relax now. "Not only that but our boss refused to tell us anything! Not about why the new engine was so needlessly complex, not about why the server seemed to be processing at speeds unheard of for our studio, nothing!"

"By any chance, would your boss have the initials L.S?" Ryder asked, already reaching for the sketchbook.

"Yeah… how did you know- you know what? Actually, I shouldn't be surprised you know. After all, everyone was talking about him right before the game came out." Bitterness and venom hung on her words, clearly having some grudge against the man.

"Actually that's not how I know." he pulls out the sketchbook and slides it over to her.

Demea's eyes lazily moves to the sketchbook, she looks at it questioningly before slowly and cautiously opening it up.

Her eyes widen upon doing so, a mixture of fear, anger and confusion can be seen in her eyes as she looks through it.

"Where did you get this, how did you get it?! This shouldn't even exist in game!" The tone of her voice was now a frantic mixture of anger, confusion, and desperation.

She frantically flipped through more and more pages, looking over the notes and examining each and every sketch closely.

Her eyes went from questioning to confused to angry in the span of a few seconds.

She was moving so fast and talking to herself so frequently that Ryder could barely even get a word in edgewise.

"This is… I don't even know what to make of it!" Demea tiredly says while skimming the pages once more. "Seriously just, what is all of this?"

"I was hoping you could tell me that, especially with how I found it." Ryder lets out a tiny annoyed sigh before recomposing himself, the mystery of the book bugging him to no end.

She shakes her head before looking at him apologetically. "I'm sorry I really wish I could tell you that I understand this at all, but I don't. I still haven't even solved half of the castle for crying out loud."

"Oh don't worry, it's fine, I understand." Ryder replies before taking the sketchbook back for safe keeping. "Though if I tell you about where I found it you have to believe me, no questions asked."

"Well that sounds like a deal if I ever heard one." Radogan interjected, returning to the scene with the newly completed weapon in his hands. "Here, try it out and make sure it feels right in your hands."

Ryder takes the blade, removing it from its scabbard and lightly twirling it around.

The blade was lighter than the swordspear but still had good weight to it.

In his hands it felt like a part of him rather than just a sword, he felt at home holding it.

"It's perfect. Thank you Radogan." Ryder replies with a smile.

"It's no problem, can't have you trying to fight empty handed after all." he smiles and crosses his arms. "Now then about that story."

"You really want to know right now?" Ryder asks, looking at both Radogan and Demea.

Both the tired witch and the forger nod seemingly excitedly so as they look at him.

Seeing no way out of this Ryder sighs and puts the sword away before clearing his throat. "This is going to be a long one, I hope you're ready."

With that Ryder began telling them about his journey to the castle and everything that happened.

Every little detail as he defeated the Burial Knight and investigated the anvil and gateway.

Not even the smallest detail was spared as they might notice something he missed.

It felt like the story was going on forever as he explained more and more of what he saw while in the void, up until the monster that ejected him was brought up.

"I'm sorry, a water monster of that size? There's no way, we never programmed anything like that into the game." Demea said dismissively.

"Oh so you don't believe that but you'll believe he glitched into an area that shouldn't exist." Radogan remarks as he glares at her.

"Yes, actually, people have glitched into dev rooms before after all." she states matter of factly as she stares him down.

"Demea this wasn't a dev room." Ryder replies, getting her attention once again. "And you know that too considering that sketchbook."

"Look, that's certainly odd and all but do you know what you're implying by saying a monster of that size exists?" She asks, looking at both of them. "You're essentially telling everyone we are dead in the water, there's no way we could fight something of that size."

"That's why you don't fight them." Yuria chimes in, now walking over to them. "Guardians are not something you fight in any plane of existence, not unless you have the ability or a good enough reason to do so."

Everyone pauses, looking at Yuria as if she just spoke in some alien tongue.

"Wait, how much do you know about these guardians?" Radogan asks, focusing more heavily on her.

"Enough. They're guardians that exist in those spaces between realities to ensure stability remains and nothing valuable gets destroyed." She looks around. "Supposedly they're like Deities of a sort, ones that you might be able to form a pact with if you're lucky enough."

"A Pact? Is that really possible here? If so, that could give us some kind of advantage here…" Ryder thinks aloud to himself while contemplating potential actions. There was a lot to consider after all, not only this guardian but all possible ramifications as well.

It could be some sort of malicious code or an unknown AI running rampant, to sign a pact with that? Well who knows what would happen to you.

Yet at the same time there were no clear signs of danger either, the creature didn't kill him after all. It only looked at him then removed him from the area.

The memory of its glowing eyes burning into his mind replaying over and over again, looking for any meaning in its gaze. That haunting gaze that didn't feel like something wanting to attack, it looked like it understood something… something important.

"You can't seriously be considering it!" Demea practically yells as she looks at Ryder, her eyes a bit harsh as she focuses on him. "We don't even know the first thing about these so-called guardians!"

"Relax, I won't go through with it unless there's no other practical options." Ryder replies, practically shrugging her off. "I'm sure everyone else already is coming up with plans for the eventual boss raid anyways."

Radogan and Demea both go silent, nervously looking away at this. It's clear that something is up. Then again with the fact that they've been stuck here it was already clear something was up.

"What? What is it?" Ryder crosses his arms as he looks at them. "I know something has to have happened if you are still stuck here."

Radogan sighs before looking at Ryder with a bit of hesitance in his eyes. "Well you see every attempt that's been made to fight the boss has resulted in us being hunted by an unknown enemy."

"Out of the one hundred and seventy five players that have gone in only thirty have come out alive… at this point Aranea has prohibited further attempts." Demea replies while looking down. "Even Oto and Lily barely made it out alive during their attempts, had they not had the escape route at the ready it would've been game over for them as well."

"So you guys actually found an escape route at least?" Ryder asks, curious as to what it could be.

"Yeah, turns out there's teleportation crystals that return you back to your last safe zone if used." Radogan replies before pulling one out of his pocket and tossing it to him.

It's a light blue crystal that's nearly completely see through, though it almost seems to shift and change before his very eyes yet maintain its original shape.

"So we've got a solid exit now but still no confirmed way to get to the boss huh?" Ryder thinks for a moment, his eyes flickering to the exit.

Without another word he begins to walk off, Yuria quickly following alongside him.

"Hey, where are you two going?!" Demea calls out behind them.

"To go see Aranea!" Ryder replies while just holding a hand up in response. "I've got some things I want to talk to her about."