Destination

Chapter 138: Destination

/What really is Exp?

Clearly, it is something we need to become better, to improve ourselves. It is to us as mastery is to our skills, something we gain to level, to evolve, to grow and improve. But what is it?

Of course, the most immediately obvious answer would be experience, or experience points. But regardless of whether that is what the abbreviation truly means, it would not be an answer to the question. After all, Exp is gained through many actions, and many of said gains are hidden from our sight. Through that, there are many theories on how we actually level, from softcaps to development blocks.

Regardless though, what grants us this Exp? Generally, this question has received inconclusive answers. Very clearly you receive Exp for completing quests and trials, as well as killing things. Mages have reported gaining it for absorbing mana, while warriors have reported gaining it through absorbing stamina.

Even then though, Exp is still gained from other things. Crafters clearly gain Exp when they finish creating something, bakers and farmers gain exp for cooking and harvesting things respectively. Some authors, such as myself, gain Exp from publishing our works and even from having them read, in addition to the World points it can provide.

As stated above, answers have not been quite conclusive, but recently, in talks with some of my colleagues, we believe to have found a common thread. Something that seems to be a theme throughout all aspects of the system. It wants to give us choice, and the quests it hands out generally are in line with what we wish to do.

Perhaps, what the system really listens to is desire. Fighting grants experience because it inherently involves some form of desire. To hunt for food, to kill for vengeance, and the form of fighting that earns you the most Exp: fighting for your very survival.

We are granted rewards when we feel fulfilled. Some trials are completed once the individual undertaking them simply wishes for them to be over, to return to something. I like to believe that the system tends to reward us for doing exactly what we want, without judgment or bias of what those actions are, regardless of whether that is good or bad.

It would also explain how eccentrics tend to rise so far above most others. The more passionate you are, the more desperately you desire something, the more likely it becomes for you to get it. And when you finally feel fulfilled, you pursue a new path, a new desire. It would serve as the perfect tool to let people go down the path they choose, yet allow them room to turn left, right, or even back around whenever they wish.

Thus, it seems likely that those who desire will gain what they wish if only they desire it enough./

An excerpt from "Notes, Thoughts and recent Developments on the Nature of the System" by Ximena Statica, pioneer on system knowledge.

- - - - - -

Mercury couldn't help but wear a thin smile on his lips. He was close now. So tantalizingly close. Today was probably the day he'd finally get to the nexus.

His plans had seen some delay, given that he'd been busy. He helped with scouting, hunting, and also crafting around the place. He fixed up traps, and brought home more food, making sure to carry his weight at the very least. It had also evolved his <Crude Weaponmaking> Skill into <Elementary Crafting> automatically, a Skill which seemed to provide a far more general help in creating anything. As all choiceless evolutions, it didn't cost him any Skill points.

But, far more importantly than that, the system had seemingly acknowledge his desire to get out of this hellhole.

-

[Main Quest: "Heart of a starving Dream" (Chain <1>)

Condition: The individual has survived within the ashen plains, hidden within the realm of the Court of the Crimson Sun. Now, they seek to escape, and to do so, must destroy the hungering nexus, by any means necessary.

Reward: <Talent> Skill, <Bloodlust> mastery increase, 3500 Gold, choice of bound item from suitable list.]

-

But that wasn't even all.

[Due to the severe difficulty and hardship the individual has gone and will go through, the <Trialist> title is activating. Would you like to initiate the title Skill, <Bet>?]

This, however, he was unsure about. <Bet> specified that it might impose restrictions, or penalize him for losing the bet. Then again, if he lost here, he would most likely die anyways. Faced with a difficult choice, he decided to ask his most trusted advisor. "<Appraisal>, would you recommend initiating a bet?"

[Yes.]

As always, the answer was a little lacking. "Could you elaborate?"

[Yes. As the individual is currently attempting a difficult feat only possible because of their very specific skillset, restrictions will most likely not target anything highly debilitating for the current mission. Additionally, penalties may be lenient, due to the nature of the challenge. Finally, a difficulty scale for the <Bet> is likely to be provided.]

Well, that was good news. He'd consider it for a moment longer, but he had another question to ask in the meantime. "<Appraisal>, what does the "Chain" next to the main quest mean?"

[A quest labeled (Chain) will continue offering further, increasing challenges and rewards to the individual. These are usually only invoked for strong desires, in specific situations, and will thus occasionally cause longer waiting times for activation. In exchange, their nature of stringing quests together can result in rapid growth for the individual.]

"Thanks <Appraisal>," Mercury said, dismissing the message. Was it just him or did the Skill appear more helpful today? Whatever the case, he now had one more thing to consider. If this quest was going to result in more quests, he could most likely guess what they were. Next would be breaking into the mansion and then getting out of this place, probably.

Since it was a quest, he was sure it was possible. Hard, definitely, but still doable, which also gave him hope for the <Bet>. Of course, <Appraisal> wasn't quite perfect, but he still definitely valued the input the Skill gave him. Especially when it was serious, rather than its usual mocking tone. Though it was still strange to hear it sound so genuine.

Well, whatever then. He'd take it's advice. "Initiate <Bet>!" he ordered.

[<Bet> initiating. Calculating parameters. Comparing skillset to task. Eliminating impossibilities. Determining likelihood of success.]

[Calculations complete. Choose difficulty level: -1-2-3-4-5-]

Before he even had a chance to ask, another boy popped up, confirming that 1 was the lowest level of difficulty, and 5 the highest. Honestly, he didn't even really consider options 4 or 5. It felt like doing so would just be the fast track to getting himself killed. Sure, if the quest was something easier, like hunting something in the plains, he might take them, but especially for his first try at the Skill it seemed like too much.

The same thing ended up ruling out difficulty 3. The system was incredible, but at the same time, it most certainly had a tendency of seeming a little more on the cruel side. It rewarded struggle too much. If that theme continued, then even difficulty 3 might be too much, he just didn't know enough about how fair the <Bet> would be.

Should he choose 1 or 2 then? He was leaning more towards 2, since <Appraisal> said it would most likely not inhibit the Skills that were actually, truly important for this quest. It seemed like a decent balance between risks and rewards, where he wouldn't put himself one missed breath away from being deleted out of reality, but also would still receive a reasonable payout.

2 it was.

[Difficulty selected. Generating conditions.]

-

[Bet: -2-

Condition: Complete the quest "Heart of a starving Dream".

Reward: 1 level (Skill), <Adaptable> Skill, <Bet> mastery, <Dracoleather Cloak> proficiency milestone.

Restrictions: The individual may not use Spells for the duration of the quest. <Diplomacy> has been disabled. <Tracking> has been disabled. <Novice Runecarving> has been disabled. Strength has been halved.

Penalties: regression of <Appraisal> mastery, -10 Willpower, -10 Wisdom.]

-

It looked as though he'd made the right pick. The amount of Skills that were disabled felt a little disorientating at first, like some part of him now functioned less, but luckily they weren't super intrinsic to his skillset.

Losing half his strength hurt a lot, but as of right now, it didn't seem like the most horrible thing. He was unsure how it even filtered into his body in the bog at all. The only Skill that seemed pretty painful to lose was tracking. It felt like it helped with detecting the stalkers early, though he wouldn't quite put his hands in the fire for that.

Seems like <Appraisal> hadn't lied, this was still doable, and seemed like a comfortable level of difficulty.

With that out of the way though, Mercury felt comfortable finally committing to the task. The sun outside was already dimming, and with Jirluc and Juno still in the hut, it was about as safe as they were going to get.

Slowly, Mercury closed his eyes and grew sleepy. He'd gotten much better at controlling when he slept over time now, probably because of <Steady Heart>, <Breath> and <Daydreaming>. Whatever the case, sleep came to him easily, and with a fully healed <Astral Body> his paws touched the swampy floor again.

This close to the nexus, there were roots interlaced with the mud, pulsing as though a heartbeat was coursing through them. It felt like Mercury was stepping over a network of little veins. Maybe, if he'd watched them closely, he might notice that there sometimes was a tiny shimmer going through them, back to the nexus.

Unfortunately, the mopaaw was preoccupied trying to avoid the stalkers. With how close he was getting to the nexus, its red light was showing aggressively through the fog, enough for Mercury to make out the figures of the stalkers slowly skulking along. Some got close enough to the point where he could see their black, gangly legs, but he had gotten much better at avoiding them these days.

Whenever one got a little too close, he'd press himself close to the floor and slowly move in the opposite direction of where they were headed. It was a gentle game of taking two steps forward, then one step back. Of course, he'd failed quite a few times in the past, but by now he had a fairly decent grasp of how the stalkers worked.

The creatures were optimised for finding anything alive. They had excellent kinetic vision, and an uncanny knack for finding things which had remained still for a longer while, which also meant there was a sweet zone of speed where they would hardly ever find you. Unless you walked right in front of them, of course.

But by now, Mercury had developed a very good sense for how the creatures liked to make their rounds. Some of them were more erratic than the others, of course, but most didn't like to stray too far from the nexus. In fact, the closer he got, the more predictably they moved. By now, most of them were simply walking circles around the thing.

If they weren't so horrifying, he might have found them looking quite silly making their rounds. But he'd died to them a couple too many times to still hold that opinion. The stalkers were still horrifyingly dangerous, and would deviate from their paths if they thought there was something else going on, but with lots of care and practice, Mercury snuck past them.

... Almost.

At the end, there was a rather strange sight. He was close enough to make out the shape of the chains holding the nexus from where he stood, but he couldn't quite get closer at the end. There was a perfect ring of stalkers, facing towards the outside, their cones of vision blanketing everything that could come close to the core.

Not one of the creatures moved even a single muscle, standing there completely still and staring into the fog.

He really couldn't catch a break, could he.

With limited time until he was caught by some of the other stalkers making their rounds, Mercury had to think fast. There were no more stalkers behind this gathering of them, he was sure of that, but just because there weren't any more after this, that didn't make actually getting past them any easier.

Could he kill them?

Maybe. One of them at the very least, most likely, but there wasn't just one. It was at least a dozen of them, probably more. He'd be torn apart before he made even a hint of progress.

No, that wasn't exactly an option. What then? Distract them? Dig a tunnel underneath them? Learn how to fly? Well, that last one was only somewhat unrealistic; he had managed to walk on air in a dream before, after all. But that time the air was weirdly thick, so it didn't exactly count.

Digging a tunnel was also unrealistic, given the roots extending into the floor, and the amount of control the nexus seemed to have over it.

Which left him with distracting the stalkers. Except, who would he do that? He couldn't use things from his inventory in here, since it was more of a mental realm in general, and other than that, he just had his Skills. <Sneak> was level 9 by now, but he doubted that was enough to just get by them.

<Thread> would probably work, at least. He could use it to give the stalkers something to focus on, and to make them less likely to focus on him, but he couldn't really get close enough to use it on them, even with <Telekinesis>. Unless...

Since <Thread> slowed down the thoughts of anything it touched, maybe there was something he could use it for after all. If he weaved a cocoon of it around himself, would the stalkers be less likely to notice him? The idea seemed a little far fetched, but not ridiculous enough to discard immediately.

Even if the mental properties of the Skill didn't take hold in this form, the colour of the thread was much closer to the muck on the floor than his fur was. Also, he was really beginning to run out of time until some stalker came back around or started smelling him.

Alright then! His decision was made. For good measure, Mercury also invested 40 more Ability points into this operation.

Agility: 75 -> 85

Dexterity: 75 -> 85

Luck: 55 -> 75

Hoping for the best, mercury quickly began spinning a silken cocoon around himself. The threads were of a dull colour, and he made them the least shiny they could possibly be, floating them a slight distance from himself with <Telekinesis>.

Very soon, he'd wrapped himself with enough of the material to be almost completely covered, leaving only small holes for him to look out from. Once he double and triple checked the cocoon, he decided to just go for it, slowly crawling along the floor.

Hoping for the best, Mercury dragged himself closer to the circle of gloom stalkers, inching forward just fast enough to hopefully not leave lingering traces for them to notice. It was a delicate balance, and the fact that there were so many of the creatures didn't exactly help, but he continued on nonetheless.

After the first few seconds, he saw that the fog around him grew heavy, soaked in yellow light. He was now within the range where the things could spot him fairly easily, and the seconds began to slow down to a crawl.

Trying his hardest not to breathe, Mercury simply inched his way forward bit by bit, noticing the light grow brighter the closer he got. He'd picked a fairly straight line towards one of the creatures, since they were packed together so tightly, he'd most likely be in range for multiple if he decided to go to the edge of their vision.

As he moved closer and closer, Mercury could feel the panic rising in his stomach, as a good part of him screamed to get away from the things. He decided to place that worry at the back of his mind, dully realizing that perhaps getting killed by them had left more lasting damage than he'd thought, and shoved the fear down with <Steady Heart>.

Falling into the calm state of the Skill, he simply dedicated himself to the rhythm. One paw before the other, slowly getting closer. He could see his mana tick down as he kep <Telekinesis> active, but he didn't hurry because of it, just keeping up the same pace as always.

Eventually, he got so close to the stalker that there was no longer any fog between them. Just a ew more meters and he'd be behind them. Gritting his teeth, Mercury pushed forward just a bit more, hoping his luck would last, until one of his paws struck against a root.

Half a moment later, Mercury could see the cone of light that encompassed the stalker's vision shift slightly, landing on his cocoon, as he tried his hardest to simply face into the ground, hoping the creature didn't notice him.

Following his <Intuition>, he laid completely still, even tightening the threads around him slightly, as the stalker took a step forward. He closed his eyeholes, simply listening to the creature, hearing the faint thuds of its legs as it grew closer. Somehow, the creature made barely any noise, despite its height.

The steps stopped just a moment before him, and Mercury could feel his heartbeat speed up, even as he controlled his breath, trying to sink into meditation. He found himself unable to.

Abhorrently slowly, he could hear the creature crane down to get a closer look, the top of his cocoon beginning to glow a slight yellow, visible even from inside. It got so close, in fact, that it decided it should see whether this thing was something living or not.

Mercury's heartbeat shot higher again as the creature's leg lightly impacted the side of the cocoon, some of the <Thread> sticking to it. Hastily, he repaired the small gap it left, as the stalker simply stopped. It was suddenly silent, contrary to its usually cruel nature, until he heard its head lightly tap against the cocoon wall as well.

From the inside, Mercury created more and more <Thread> to patch up anything that the creature touched, but after a few moments passed, its head simply raised. A few bits and pieces of the Skill still stuck to it, but somehow, it seemed to have returned to its post, not having smelled him through the cocoon.

Apparently, when the creature's got too confused, they simply returned to the ring.

In that moment, Mercury held back a sigh of relief, instead deciding to channel his elation into the slow crawl forward.

After just a few more seconds, he was almost straight underneath the creature, when he heard a screech above him. The confusion from his <Threads> had worn off, and the stalker was pissed, its eyes, and those of all the others around immediately latching onto the mopaaw.

Without even a shred of hesitation, Mercury listened to the warning bells in his head, and launched the remainder of his Skill into the creature's face before sprinting away with every ounce of strength he had. His earlier investments immediately paid off, as stakes of darkness burrowed into the mud right behind him, close enough that he could feel the splatter against his fur.

Ignoring the things, he sprinted forward towards the nexus. The chains were now distinct through the fog, almost within reach as he charged forwards. The floor underneath him shuddered, both with the beating of a heart and the attacks of the stalkers, but he ignored it as much as possible.

For a moment, a warning rang out in his head, but before he could react, one of the stakes had dug into his front left shoulder, almost taking him off his feet. But at the same time, the steps of the stalkers were also more distant, as though they were scared to approach him. Gritting his teeth, Mercury hobbled forward a few more steps, squeezing out his strength to make it the last few steps, until they were in sight.

The fog parted. The ground grew steady. Mercury found himself in a clearing from the marsh, standing on rust red roots, occasionally pulsing with light. Spread around to multiple anchors, he saw thick chains, reaching into the sky, latching onto a red crystal from which the roots grew. Or perhaps, it grew from the roots?

It mattered little. In the fog he had just came from, Mercury could see dozens of glowing yellow eyes, stygian maws filled with fangs, but none of them dared het any closer. They were creatures of the fog, and it had no place here.

Without the fog, beyond the red crystal, Mercury could see up into the patchwork sky of this place, looking over it and finding it devoid of stars.

He'd made it here, finally. Now it was time to climb up there and break a crystal.