Chapter 3

Three days, it had been three days since the initial dungeon exploration, a couple of groups had gone through the dungeon since, nothing was found aside from some simple upgrade materials and an inaccessible door.

The capital had quickly become filled with more and more players, many seeking shelter from the outside world while others wished for help after nearly dying on their own. There easily had to be at least two hundred players using this place as home now, many looking to Aranea and other beta testers for guidance.

Ryder leans against a wall, observing the bustling central plaza with a half hearted smile. Oto, Lily and Aranea were standing in various spots instructing the various newcomers on what to do.

It'd certainly been a surprise to see so many people flock back after getting through the dungeon, yet his mind couldn't help but wonder… if they just barely survived against that boss, then how many had ventured further and fallen since then? It could be just a handful, or it could be most of the player population. There was no way to know a full number at this point.

The sound of footsteps draws his attention, causing him to look to his right. Approaching him was the mountain of a man from the first night, the forger who looked like he could easily break through any shield. Kindly he smiled and offered a short wave as he neared, Ryder offering the same in return.

"Hey, you're Ryder right? Heard about you from Aranea and Lily, good job finding that dungeon and getting back in one piece.'' He stands next to Ryder, observing the crowd as well. "I would've met with you sooner but, since I'm the only forger in town, I got stuck with all the repairs and upgrades."

"You wanted to meet with me?" Ryder looks over in confusion. "Why? I didn't do much, just helped clear a bossfight."

"Hey, at this point that's more help than you realize. It's thanks to that we know what to expect going into those catacombs and that flare stones can be used to blind creatures." He pauses and looks over. "Your little trick will probably save more lives than you'll know."

"I guess, I never thought about it like that… I was just trying to give us any advantage at that moment." Ryder shrugs a little to brush off the compliment. "So what's your name or handle? I know you were the first to join Aranea but I don't remember getting a good look at your name."

"Ah name's Radogan, and before you ask, yes it is supposed to be like the final boss of that old game." Radogan speaks, seemingly slightly embarrassed about the name he's stuck with.

"I see, well hey at least you chose a cool name. Not something like Dungeater or noobslayer74" Ryder lightly jokes while smiling a bit.

"Yeah, that's fair." Radogan lets out a loud sigh of relief before leaning back against the wall to get a bit more comfortable. "So, you got a unique drop from that dungeon huh? Lily and Eleanor were talking about it yesterday."

"Oh yeah, got it right here." Ryder replies, patting the still wrapped tome on his side. "Haven't had a chance to really ask anyone about it yet, after all with the influx of players everyone's been a bit busy."

"Definitely, but I think I know two people who are actually free at the moment. Or at least free enough to help with that." the forger crosses his arms in thought, seemingly unsure about his statement.

Ryder looks over, not really believing it for a moment. "Really? I figured everyone would be too busy right now. Even you were busy until just recently, yeah?"

"Oh I was, but here's the thing. I'm both a forger and a tactician." Radogan motions to the crowd. "And tell me, do you see any spell casters?"

Ryder scans the crowd, stopping upon realizing there are none to be seen. "Surprisingly enough, no I don't. I figured there'd be at least one or two."

"Exactly, that's because they're all up in the temple right now, learning with Eleanor and the others." Radogan replies pointing up to the crumbling temple. "If we head there the two I'm talking about could probably help identify it."

"Why can't you? Can't forgers identify things? I know they can with weapons and armor at least." Ryder tilts his head, a bit confused on why they had to leave.

"Forgers can only do weapons and armor, along with some player crafted items." Radogan looks at Ryder. "For arcane items you need a spellcaster, maybe more than one depending on the item. And that IS an arcane item from what I heard, right?"

"Yeah, I guess it probably is considering where we found it." Ryder mumbles a bit while thinking about the magic in the temple ruins. "So two spellcasters, you sure they'd be able to tell what it is?"

"Not 100% considering I've never even heard of a tome like this existing in the beta before. Even with datamining." Radogan crosses his arms once more. "But hey, better than having a potentially hazardous item be unknowingly carried on your hip."

"I guess you're right… alright then, lead the way." Ryder stands from the wall, ready to follow Radogan.

Without another word Radogan begins walking around the crowded plaza to a tiny back alley, navigating it with ease through a network of surprising passages, allowing him to lead them to the temple entrance within a matter of seconds.

Standing before Ryder is the crumbling temple of the capital, it looks like it's been here for ages but no one has cared for it. Just how similar would it be to the other one they found? Could they possibly trigger another false illusory sky?

"Come on, they should just be inside." Radogan beckons Ryder before trudging up the steps.

After a brief moment of hesitation Ryder follows him up, unsure of what to expect once inside.

A mixture of anxiety and curiosity brimming up inside as he reaches the top step. What greets him is a similar architecture to the dungeon before, yet not as obviously ready to fall apart.

It looks old, yes, but more weathered by the elements rather than forgotten about and left to decay.

Inside many players can be seen sitting in various locations, some in groups while others are alone, they all appear to be pouring over various scrolls and spellbooks, all covered in ridiculous amounts of dust.

Everyone was clearly wearing various spell casting class equipment though.

Dark red robes, likely a blood sorcerer.

Brown prayer robes, probably the holy scholars.

Deep blue cloaks, mages.

Fur and metal armor, pyromancers.

"So many people here… and I thought the plaza was housing a lot." Ryder spoke idly, trying to count just how many spell casters had come back.

"Tell me about it, we got all these guys back yet not one single forger returned." Radogan hangs his head a bit. "But hey, at the very least we know this many people survived their outing. So who knows how many more survived?"

"Yeah, let's hope a decent amount did." Ryder crosses his arms and glances around, clearly looking for someone. "So where are those people you talked about?"

"Right, they should be towards the back of the main hall, they've been studying all the advanced stuff already. Should tell you what they've been spending all their time on." Radogan replies before walking towards the main hall with Ryder.

"Can they even use any of the advanced stuff yet? I mean i'm not even level 20 yet." the knight questions, clearly perplexed that they'd already made it to the advanced stuff.

"Honestly, I don't have a clue, heck i don't think anyone here is learning actual spells yet." Radogan looks at some of the groups studying as they walk past.

Now that he had pointed it out it seemed odd, why would they have to study this much just for a new spell in a game? "What do you mean? What are they studying then?"

Radogan shrugs a little before continuing. "From what Eleanor said it's the intricacies of the magic here. Stuff like understanding ancient symbols, recognizing runes, that kind of thing."

The notion of ancient symbols quickly got Ryder's hopes up as he asked. "What about reading stars? Anything about that in there?"

"Not that I've heard of, why do you ask?" Radogan's voice clearly holds a little confusion, as if he'd just been asked something preposterous. "Was it important in the dungeon?"

"Yeah, Eleanor said something about it being an archive." Ryder pauses and places a hand on his tome. "And I think the priest might have followed the archive to whatever this is."

"I see, then it probably would be good to know what was in that archive. Lore may be scarce but it could give us an indication on what we're going to be up against in the future." Radogan says as he steps into the main hall, stopping as he hears two voices muttering.

In the back of the main hall are the two figures who were with Oto the first night. A woman with dark purple hair and the other a man with long dark hair. They both seem to be working together on several thick spell books and scrolls that are stretched out across the floor. They mutter to one another and exchange notes back and forth, both of them pointing out things the other might've missed.

"There they are, Demea and Laurence, currently our two brightest academics." Radogan says nonchalantly motioning to the two in front of him. Without warning he whistles loudly, getting everyone's attention in the room as it echoes all over the place.

The purple haired woman looks up in surprise, clearly almost dropping the book in her hands before looking at Radogan. "Oh, it's just you… would you please refrain from surprising me like that?"

Radogan lets out a small laugh at this. "I apologize Demea, but I could tell you were absorbed in your research and if it's anything like yesterday there was no other way to get your attention."

"Alright, well what do you want? It must be important if you're breaking us out of research." Demea says as she looks between Radogan and Ryder, her cold tired eyes practically boring a hole in them.

Radogan holds up a hand in front of Ryder as he begins. "This is Ryder, he's the one who helped clear the dungeon-"

"-And the one who claimed an odd scripture, correct?" the dark haired man chimes in, setting his scroll down now. "I was wondering when we'd meet, i've been curious what is in that tome of yours."

Laurence stands up and walks over to Ryder, his eyes now clearly being a deep teal color yet holding some tinge of darkness to them. He was the very definition of a dark mage in Ryder's eyes.

"Allow me to formally introduce myself. I am Laurence, former QA and Beta Tester for this game. Now instead of testing for bugs all day here I am reading and training all day, not much has changed." he lets out a half hearted chuckle at this.

"Why are you reading all day? I mean I get how it could possibly help with spell casting but I really don't understand the finer details of it myself." Ryder replies, crossing his arms.

"Simply put it's what's helping us figure out the best route for minimizing casualties and keeping others alive." Demea cuts in, standing up and walking over. "At surface level this game tells players next to nothing about the lands we're in, the average player would normally find out by exploring the open world on their own… only in this scenario that's not really a safe option."

"However the answers lie hidden in the lore, these old texts and books the game has left available in places like the temples or dungeons, even some weapons from the QA sessions had runes engraved in the blades." Laurence continues, picking up exactly where Demea left off.

"So in summary, we're trying to be sure nothing else too surprising is waiting ahead. We're saving lives here." Demea states slightly smugly.

"I see… well have you guys found anything substantial for this area so far?" Ryder asks out of curiosity, looking between the two spellcasters.

They go dead quiet, a look of defeat slowly forming on their faces as the question hits them.

"I'll take that as a no then… well at the very least hopefully you two can help make heads or tails of what this tome is." Ryder slowly unties the tome from around his waist and holds it up to them. "Be careful there's something really weird about that thing. Once I started looking at it, some part of me didn't want to stop."

"Really? They must've amped up those elements since the beta test then." Laurence mutters to himself. "Please unwrap it, I'm really curious what this could be now."

With a slow nod he begins to slowly uncover the tome for everyone to see.

The dark material the tome is bound in seems to absorb all light and be oddly shaped, Its very presence seems to make the air in the room feel heavier, suffocatingly so. Not a single one of them could take their eyes off it, it felt like if they did they'd be swallowed whole.

"Open it." Laurence coldly stated, there was no malice in his voice though… just an odd cold curiosity, a need to know what was causing this feeling.

With shaky hands Ryder slowly opened the book, its yellowed and frayed pages opening to somewhere in the middle. A slight gust of wind blew past them as the candles in the room went out and the text on the page glowed with an odd unearthly light.

"I've never seen anything like this." Laurence replies trying to understand the writing on the pages. "I can't even understand this script..."

"I can." Demea chimes in. "It's a hard job but some of the script seems to be altered versions of the ancient scrolls from the time of the Ashen King." She quickly turns around and grabs a scroll off of the ground, holding it up to the book to match. "Yeah, it has to be a coded version of the dialect, that's why I can only make out bits and pieces."

"Well what can you make out then?" Radogan asks, looking at Demea curiously.

"Only something about the castle on the mountain… and the forest below…" She shrugs and looks at Ryder. "If you let me borrow it I could probably translate it fully eventually, though it'll take some time."

Ryder pauses for a moment before closing the book and handing it to her. "Alright, I'll trust you with it. But I do expect to have it back eventually."

"Oh relax, by the time i'm done you'll be able to read it in your sleep." Demea says before turning away and walking back to her spot and sitting down.

"Well I should be on my way to help her, do stop by again if you wish to talk." Laurence says before quickly running over.

"Well, that went about as quickly as I expected it to…" Radogan sighs before looking at Ryder. "Sorry, from what I know those two get really focused on their tasks."

"It's fine, at the very least i know the tome will be translated now." Ryder turns to Radogan. "So I imagine we should probably get back to the plaza now, yeah? I imagine Aranea and the others might need some help."

"Yeah that's probably a good idea, besides I'd rather not stick around here. Not exactly a lore nerd and hearing random names and locations thrown around gets confusing after a while." Radogan replies earnestly.

With a nod Ryder starts to head out, only to pause as a thought crosses his mind. "The Ashen King… you think it's a boss or something?"

"I doubt it, probably some sort of lore piece with weapons or armor associated with him-" Just as Radogan was about to finish speaking what was on his mind a new voice echoed from the front of the temple.

"There you are! I've been looking for you both everywhere!" Aranea's voice reaches their ears as she hurriedly walks up to them. "What've you two been doing this entire time? The meeting to decide on our route is about to start."

"Wait, we were going to have a meeting?" Ryder asks, genuinely confused on the matter. "I wasn't informed about this."

"What? Lily said she was going to tell you!" Aranea couldn't even hide the disappointment and slight irritation in her voice at this.

"Oh, that explains it then… yeah Lily got distracted helping everyone else out." Ryder replies nonchalantly while crossing his arm. "Pretty sure I saw her teaching some people how to properly attack, or craft, one of the two… maybe both."

Aranea sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose a bit. "Of course she got distracted, just come on, we're all needed at the plaza." she turns and starts walking off. "You two better hurry if you want an opinion on where we're going!"

Quickly Ryder and Radogan run up behind her to keep pace.

"What do you mean? I thought we were going to head for the side path." Radogan chimes in, bringing up his map. "What other path is there aside from the main one?"

"Through the mountains." Aranea replies, trying to stay calm.

"Through the mountains?!" Radogan nearly tore his map in half out of sheer surprise at the statement. "You must be crazy to think that's an option! You know that's possibly even more dangerous than what was in the dungeon!"

"I know it's dangerous! But at this point we're in the dark here!" Aranea snaps a bit before calming down and continuing on her way. "With all the potential changes we have no clue what's going to be down any path. The bosses and loot could be heavily altered or they could be the exact same, which is why we need to decide on a path."

"I'm sorry, what are the paths? I've been out of the loop apparently." Ryder cuts in while moving up to Aranea's left.

Without saying a word Aranea reaches into a pouch on her waist and produces a much better looking map than what was made on the first night. She hands it off to Ryder while keeping her stride.

Ryder takes a look at it, noting the two diverging lines marked in blue and red. Though they both head north they take very different paths.The blue heads off to the left, through what looks to be very dense woods and then up into the mountains. The red takes the normal path north to what looks like a fort or a castle marked with a big red circle.

"These are the paths?" Ryder asks while looking over at Aranea.

She nods hastily while keeping her focus ahead. "Yes, those are our only options as if we head to the west we'll run into the main boss of the area. I hope you can imagine just how much of a death sentence that'd be for us."

Ryder looks over the map once again as they reach the Plaza, everyone begins to surround them and clamor about what to do.

Lily and Oto walk up to them, clearly a bit concerned as well.

"So, what are we doing? We can't sit around forever." Oto asks while looking at Aranea. "Personally I'd say we should head through the mountains, potential exp plus better gear."

"Oh that's true, but if we head north we could potentially secure the village on the way!" Lily chimes in excitedly. "It could give us a secondary base y'know? And that'd make it easier for others to find a safe haven!"

"True but you gotta remember we don't know if they placed a boss in that village." Radogan replies while looking at her. "Either one sounds like it could be fatal."

Ryder pauses as he listens to this and looks between everyone. They're doing nothing but going back and forth about the choices, unsure of what to do. Both do sound incredibly dangerous after all, anyone would want to be certain of their choice here.

It's highly unlikely anyone would really want to go into an uncertain situation after all.

Then an idea hits him, causing him to raise his hand a little to try and get everyone's attention. "Ah, excuse me, I have an idea… why don't we do both?" Ryder says, catching everyone by surprise. "I mean the majority of everyone would head to the village, meanwhile a group comprised of myself and a couple others will scout out the forest and mountain path."

There's a bit of whispering through the crowd and even Lily and the others seem a bit unsure of this plan.

"And who would you take then?" Aranea asks while looking Ryder dead in the eyes. "This could be a suicide mission you know.

"Trust me I know, that's why I'll only take those who wish to tag along. If no one wants to join then I could even scout on my own, if things get too hairy I can always just run away." Ryder replies, his voice being surprisingly calm during the whole thing.

Aranea remains silent for a moment, seemingly judging her options before nodding. "Alright, then I'll allow it. Just be sure to be safe." Aranea then looks out at the crowd around them. "Everyone who wishes to leave, prepare yourselves and choose who you're going with."

The crowd begins to rumble a bit as everyone begins talking amongst one another, planning who to go with or what to do.

"Your deadline is tomorrow at sunrise!" Aranea calls out loudly. "That is when we march for the next village and we make our first steps towards our freedom!"

Ryder smiles as he looks out amongst the crowd who are now getting a bit excited.

He crosses his arms and looks around, this would truly be their first major steps in this world.

It had to be a major move so they'd be able to progress forward.

Now was the time to move, no holding back.

He looked out towards the mountains in the distance. There was his target, he knew it'd be a challenge but he was going to clear the path for everyone.

Even if he had to do it on his own.