I stared at the notifications, reading them, not processing the individual words but the implications. The meanings.
A few of them jumped out at me, the absurd cheerfulness of Genie - who I had to imagine was a genuine, real, three-wishes type - contrasting with the utter horror of the combined meanings.
[*whoop whoop!* Allow me to introduce myself! My name is Genie! Couple of you folks have found me over the years, but here’s a wish that’s going to get all of you interested! This historian-ecologist, Hwinthel, wants to know whenever a species is wiped out!]
…
[*ding!* The shimagu have gone extinct.]
…
[*whoop whoop!* You’re in the mix with DJ Genie tonight! Wang Zhao has got something to mix it all up and bring the house DOWN! You’ve heard of basic elements. Yoooooooou’ve heard of advanced elements. WELL! Let me be the first to introduce you toooooooooooooooooo - THE TIER THREE ELEMENTS! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, crabs and crustaceans of all ages, we are here! Combine any two advanced elements together to create one of the six hundred and sixty six tier three elements! Hope you still have a class up or two left!]
…
[*ding!* It has been 10,000 years since Creation]
…
[*whoop whoop!* Keepin’ it locked and loaded, we’re back with everyone’s favorite wish-granter, GEEEEEEEEEEENIE! Those pesky tier three elements were too much for this anonymous wish asker, and they’re GONE! Done! I’d say they’ve gone the way of the dino, but you lot still have those around! Great job! Keep them alive. You’ll know why when the moment comes.]
…
[*ding!* Dodos have gone extinct.]
…
[*whoop whoop!* Eeeeeeeeeeeey y’all, it’s ya boy Genie! This little Felix here wants all [Shepherds] to be able to find their sheep! Well, never fear little bo peep, now you’ll always know where to find em! Mutton’s back on the menu!]
[*whoop whoop!* You all won’t believe who it is! GEEEEEEEEENIE IS BACK IN THE HOUSE. Honestly, I never left, this kid Felix is a riot. He’s got a second wish y’all should know about! Identify and Analyze and shit to stop being in COLOR! Dunno why, but I’m the genie, and his wish is myyyyyyyyyyy COMMAND! Status-checking skills now return numbers, not colors! Colorblind rejoice! Let’s see if Felix gets a grand three for three global messages, or if he’s going to ask one for himself!]
[*ding!* Due to the great efforts of [Mage] Felix, you get a +1 bonus to all stats! You also get a passive 2% increase to all experience gain!]
[*ding!* Due to the great efforts of [Knight] Chloe, you get a +1 bonus to all stats! You also get a passive 2% increase to all experience gain!]
…
[*ding!* Allerian Highlander Wasps have gone extinct.]
…
[*ding!* Steller's Sea Cow have gone extinct.]
…
[*whoop whoop!* GOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING PALLOS! Genie here with some more announcements! Have I got a doozy for you all today! Ready? You think you are but I bet ya ain’t. This little elf Helediron here’s a bit of a prick. He wants all monsters to gain experience faster, and level up quicker! Pssst. I got a secret for you. He didn’t specify what a monster is.]
…
[*whoop whoop!* Whoa, you won’t believe this one! Thraximundar the Terrible has wished for true, genuine, Immortality. Nothing can kill him! Nothing can stop him! I can’t wait to see what he does! Good luck everyone!]
…
[*ding!* Labrador Ducks have gone extinct.]
…
[*whoop whoop!* You should all know who this is by now! Or not, some of you can barely survive 3,000 years without bumping yourselves off. Geeenieeeeee is BACK baby! With a wish from Gertrude The Grumpy for an ever-flowing waterfall! We’ll just stick it right here. Dunno what you’re going to do with all that water, but hey! I don’t make the wishes, I only fulfill them!]
…
[*whoop whoop!* Humans lose System access. Someone sure doesn't like them very much! Good luck figuring out who, they asked me not to say!]
[*whoop whoop!* Humans regain System access – That was fast! Goats, take note! This is how it’s done. None of that lazing around for… ah, I forgot how many years it took.]
…
[*whoop whoop!* The Erosion element is now Fossil! Dunno why Sentos wanted the switch, but hey! Who am I to object? His wish, my command! You’re all going to want to do some serious updating. A few of your skills got shuffled around.]
…
[*whoop whoop!* Damn did y’all get every lawyer around to make this wish!? Longest, most complicated wish I’ve ever seen, ya feel me? Just thinking about it makes my head hurt! There’s now a hole at the bottom of the ocean. Where does it go? Jump in and find out!]
…
[*ding!* Great Auks have gone extinct.]
…
[*whoop whoop!* Genie is back! Hug yo kids! Kiss yo wife! Hope you’ve lived a long and fulfilling life because Bob has wished for the world to end! Man, if I was that depressed I’d ask to be happy, not take everyone down with me! End of the world in 3…2…1… and poof! Welcome to the world of tomorrow! New world, looks a lot like the old world! Because times marched on, the old world is dead, the new world is now! Welcome to Pallos, everyone! Hope none of you did anything too rash…]
…
[*whoop whoop!* Genie is here to drop some sick beats that sound like this! Coral, smoral, shit’s boring! And not like making a tunnel! Some of you peeps may remember good ol’ Slag, and now we’re back for round two! Thanks to my buddy Goshman here, Coral is now Magic Wood, and you have no idea how badly it hurts me inside that it’s called Magic Wood. There is a serious imagination deficit going on here, and be careful with the element first thing in the morning!]
…
[*ding!* Dong, the [Witch] is dead!]
…
[*whoop whoop!* Genie here, and y’all should listen up! We’ve got an interesting wish today! Tang San here wants a challenge. You all see that arrow? Yeah, that’s pointing to a grand arena! There’ll be a tournament in a year, and the winner? Well, you can’t wish for more wishes, but you can wish for someone else to get your remaining wishes. May the most clever win!]
…
[*whoop whoop!* Somebody decided to fix the terrible names! Magic Metal is now Crucible, and Magic Wood is now Sylvan! Rejoice! I let Lancelot get a two for one on this one, because WOW looking at those elements was hurting me deep inside! Not as much as seeing y’all chow down on mutton, but it was a close second.]
…
[*ding!* Congratulations! Thanwa Temirak is the first person to leave the grasp of the sun!]
…
[*whoop whoop!* Valesteria has politely requested that void mages stop blowing themselves up! Annnnd done! Not sure why she asked for that; they don’t self detonate in the first place, it’s actually because of - whoa I’m learning some new swears, Genie out!]
…
[*ding!* Congratulations! [Cosmic Presence] has leveled up! 300 -> 315]
[*ding!* Congratulations! [Celestial Affinity] has leveled up! 474 -> 480]
[*ding!* Congratulations! [Center of the Universe] has leveled up! 450 -> 451]
[*ding!* Congratulations! [Mantle of the Stars] has leveled up! 469 -> 470]
[*ding!* Congratulations! [Sunrise] has leveled up! 347 -> 411]
[*ding!* Congratulations! [Oath of Elaine to Lyra] has leveled up! 376 -> 513]
[*ding!* Congratulations! [Pristine Memories] has leveled up! 221 -> 278]
[*ding!* Would you like to upgrade [Pristine Memories] to [Immortal Recollections]?]
[*ding!* Congratulations! [Companion Bond between Elaine and Auri] has leveled up! 44 -> 128]
[*ding!* Congratulations! [Long-Range Identify] has leveled up! 375 -> 376]
[*ding!* Congratulations! [Passionate Learning] has leveled up! 380 -> 381]
I stared stunned at the notifications, wanting to deny it. Wanting to blast it with Radiance and destroy whatever cruel trick some illusionist was playing on me.
Amber was babbling, and Auri was brrpting in the background. Artemis had gone cold and steely-eyed, but I continued to focus on myself, internally.
I wanted to cry, to scream, to kick my feet and flail my fists in denial of what I was seeing. Tears threatened to pour out of my eyes, then I heard the sound of a large spider’s leg landing on our dome.
I shut down my emotions. Bottled them up, tossed them in a chest, locked it, and threw away the key. I’d suffer in the future for this. It wasn’t healthy, but it’s what I needed to do here and now to stay alive and operational.
If I had a meltdown, everyone could die. I had duties. Responsibilities.
Cold analysis, go.
We’d messed with the fae, and they’d messed back. It had been somewhat expected, but the sheer quantity of notifications, no, the mere existence of global notifications, indicated a lot more time had passed than we’d thought could pass in our wildest dreams.
10,000 years since creation. I’d left in 4801, and while the year wasn’t quite aligned with creation - Night had said it had taken a few decades for things to settle enough to start getting the idea of timekeeping, and that was just humans, let alone how everyone else kept time - it implied that we’d been gone at least 5,000 years.
And that notification was near the start. There had only been one grand feat for humans in the first 10,000 years, and there were two more notifications about that after. Given that the name “Felix” appeared in the Genie’s notification twice, and immediately after the Genie’s announcement he’d appeared getting a grand feat along with a second human, I could guess that his last wish was related to that. Sure, it was possible that Chloe had independently achieved a grand feat… but I wasn’t going to put my money on it.
I checked my status, and saw that it said I was 22. I’d left a few weeks after turning 21, so at best I’d spent a little under a year in the land of the fae, and at worst I’d spent almost three. Interesting that it didn’t give me the years since birth - It’d be nice to know exactly how many years had passed.
Given the large, wide-scale changes I saw Genie making, one plan - Plan G at best - was going to be: find the Genie, wish to be brought back to my home. In the correct timeframe. I’d need to work hard on phrasing that wish…
Assuming we weren’t trapped in some horrific fae illusion meant to make us question our sanity. I still had the four leaf clover on me, and it was better to accept the reality in front of me now, and be pleasantly surprised if it was all a lie, than to bury my head in the sand and insist nothing was happening.
For now, I would assume reality was as it appeared to be. I’d do a check with Radiance later, to see if there were illusions around me. Needed all my mana for now just in case we got into a fight.
By the same token, I was going to assume that Genie was as powerful as he claimed to be. I’d need to be clever and specific about making a wish, but I latched onto the small shimmer of hope of getting back home like a drowning woman would grab a floating door.
Ok. Not all hope was lost. I had no idea how viable the plan was, but simply having a plan was enough to alleviate much of my panic.
Things had changed. Some elements had gotten shuffled around, a few renamed. None of them touched my elements, so I didn’t care right now.
[Oath] was next on my list. The skill was famously hard to level, and I’d capped it? It took me a moment to figure out why. Marcus’s apprentice, once upon a time, had taken the same [Oath] I had made, and I'd gotten a notification.
[*ding!* Congratulations! A skill you created has been passed along to others! A tiny amount of experience that other people gain with the skill will go to you as well.]
Well, either being resolved to keep healing after all this time was great experience, or my [Oath] had gotten big, and I was reaping the rewards. Given that nothing else of mine had leveled up anywhere near that much? My guess was on the second one.
Ok, great. People were still around. People still lived. We weren’t in a perpetual never-ending wilderness. Most likely.
I looked around my notifications and stats and spotted another promising item.
[Sentinel’s Superiority] hadn’t changed. Hadn’t evolved. It wasn’t [The Last Sentinel], [Retired Sentinel], [Former Sentinel], or anything of the like. It hadn’t vanished, the same way [Ranger’s Lore] had poofed when I was being promoted. It was an organizational skill, which implied…
“The Sentinels still exist.” I announced, cutting through the chatter. Amber and Artemis looked at me, while Julius maintained discipline, staying on watch. I swear his ear twitched to better hear me.
“Explain.” Artemis demanded.
“I still have [Sentinel’s Superiority], unchanged.” I told her. She chewed her lip for a moment. I handed her one of my jugs of mango juice, and she shot me a grateful look before uncorking it and downing the entire thing.
Maging was hungry work, especially with the amount she’d just blown.
“Brrrpt!” Auri didn’t begrudge Artemis getting a drink, but she did protest the fact that Artemis was draining the ENTIRE THING.
She put it down, and I briefly debated leaving it behind, before reattaching it to my backpack.
“[Ranger’s Lore] had turned into [Retired Ranger] when I stepped down.” She admitted. “Also, my [Wandering Mage] class just got a ton of levels. I’m practically a senior Sentinel!”
I took a look with [Long-Range Identify].
[Mage - 455].
Yikes, she hadn’t been kidding!
“My command skills morphed.” Julius helpfully added in, never dropping his guard.
“I only have class ups ready.” Amber grumbled. Artemis punched her in the arm.
“Well, what are you waiting for? Let’s get a speedy class up going!”
“Let’s make a plan first.” I objected. “Amber, sorry, but there’s a slim chance our ability to get out of here alive will rely on you taking a specific class.”
She muttered darkly under her breath at that, then brightened up.
“Ok! You just tell me what to do! I got some goodies that practically replace my merchant class anyways.”
Good kid. Hang on, I needed to ask about those goodies.
“Brrpt! BRRRPT!” Auri didn’t want to be outdone. She let me know that SHE had her class up available, and was ready and willing to do whatever needed to be done!
“Brrrrpt!”
Two classes. Her first upgrading, and her second unlocking. I gave her a Look.
“You’re crazy lucky my ‘wandering around looking at cool magic’ class gave you all that experience.”
“Brrrrpt.”
Vain bird. She thought her leveling rate was totally natural.
“The situation is as follows.” Artemis took charge. “We’re in an unknown location, hiding in a rock dome from monsters. We need to stay alive, get out, find people, then find home. Agreed?”
“Find people, then figure out what we’re doing.” Julius objected. “I don’t think any of us have a home anymore.”
Artemis grabbed Julius’s leg, and he stopped. They looked at each other.
“Hey. Speedy. Home is where you are, ok?” Artemis’s voice was dead serious. Julius cracked a smile at her.
“Bad time, bad place, marry me, ok?”
Artemis snorted.
“Of course I’m marrying you, and I’m never. EVER. Going to let you live this proposal down.”
I coughed loudly. Really? Now? Here? This was not the time or place. I also prayed to the gods that “Speedy” referred to him being a speedster, and not something else.
“BRRPT BRRRPT BRRRRRRRRRRRPT!” Auri was super excited over the engagement, and I just wanted to hold my face in my hands.
Instead, I clapped, bringing the attention back to me.
“Congratulations. Julius, I’m going to eternally tease you. Amber. You said you had interesting things?”
She nodded, eager to be the center of attention.
“Yes! I traded like the gods themselves had empowered me with the fae. Formed a typical merchant’s pyramid. Complicated stuff. See, first I-”
I gave her a Look, motioning with my hand to get on with it, and that the exact details could wait for another day.
“Ok, long, LONG story short. My eye,” Amber pointed to her swirling, purple eye. “Can see value. I have to always tell the truth, but at the same time, I can tell if someone’s blatantly lying to me. And I got a lucky coin, although I have no idea how lucky it is.”
I thought about Amber’s face having neatly landed on the mossy section of the forest floor, and had to concede that she might have something there.
“I’m going to be blunt here.” Julius said. “None of that sounds particularly useful here and now. Value means nothing. We’re working together, truth is an assumed default. And we can’t rely on luck.”
Amber frowned, but I agreed with Julius.
“Relying on luck gets Rangers killed.” I told her. “What did you have to pay for that?”
Amber looked uncomfortable.
“Spit it out. There’s no room to be shy in here.” Artemis’s words were harsh, but true.
“My eye.” Amber admitted. “Part of my ability to walk with my right leg. And my name.”
I sucked in air through my teeth on the last one. No wonder I hadn’t been able to remember Amber’s name.
Wait.
Had it always been Amber?
I thought about it, straining hard. Recalling memories, but feeling them be “fuzzed”.
[*ding!* Congratulations! [Pristine Memories] has leveled up! 278-> 279]
[*ding!* Congratulations! [Pristine Memories] has leveled up! 279-> 280]
…
[*ding!* Congratulations! [Pristine Memories] has leveled up! 299-> 300]
AHHA! I got it! Her name had been Autumn!
[*ding!* Would you like to upgrade [Pristine Memories] to [Fae Remembrance]?]
“Your name was Amber.” I said, my mouth twisting the words as I tried to say them.
More fairy nonsense.
I got some weird looks at that, letting them slide off of me like water off a duck’s back. My emotions were still locked away.
I’d fought them and won on the memory issue, but clearly even speaking the name was off-limits, and clearly I was somewhat affected by my short stay. If the worst of it was I couldn’t say Amber’s old name? That I’d gotten 22 levels in a hard to level skill as a result? Sure, I’d take it.
Speaking of, I accepted the upgrade to [Immortal Recollections]. I didn’t want to remember everything that had happened in the land of the fae, and the upgrade seemed solid.
Immortal Recollections: You have made it far past the date of your birth, seeing years that only an Immortal could. Have the perfect memory for such a lifespan, able to recall whatever you need, whenever you need it. Able to organize memories, shade poor ones and highlight important moments. Able to archive memories. -8 mana regeneration.
“We’ve got shelter.” Artemis brought us back on topic. “We’ve got a few days' supply of food. Air’s our biggest problem right now. I don’t see any solution besides making small holes in the dome.”
I chewed over the idea.
“Agreed. I can’t think of any alternative, and Auri, I love you, but I have no idea if your body of flames is making us burn air at a high rate.”
“Brrpt! BRPT BRPT!” Auri assured me that, yes, she remembered the indoor burning rules, and that things would be perfect if she wanted to hurt us.
Lovely. Inarguably true.
“One big hole. Bigger spiders can come through. Lots of small holes. More openings to check, and I think we’d need more of them to make it work.” I said.
“The openings to check are less relevant if we cluster them together.” Artemis pointed out.
“While making a larger area of the dome vulnerable to a hit.” I countered.
“If something’s coming through, it’s coming through anyways.” Julius reasonably observed. “A small, high level poisonous spider sneaking in is our largest reasonable concern that we can afford to mitigate.”
I nodded my agreement. “I’m going to make myself a healing beacon. Anyone touching me will get a full-blast of healing, so even if a spider sneaks in, we’ve got some protection. Should sleep touching me, just to be safe.”
“Let’s do that then. Artemis?”
“I’ll get on it as soon as - oh yeah, my mana regen’s insane now.”
I smiled, remembering the “holy WHAT” of my stats all jumping. At the same time, I remembered Artemis’s build. Her idea of insane mana regeneration wasn’t my idea of insane mana regeneration… although she likely had more power than I did.
“For the spiders. I saw one [Tyrant Tarantula] over level 700. Did anyone else pick up anything strong?”
“You WHAT?!” Amber shrieked. I gave her a look.
“Why did you think I went with holing up instead of burning them all?”
“Brrrpt!” Auri approved of burning them all.
Amber muttered to herself.
“Pair of small nasty 400ish [Black Widows]” Artemis admitted.
“I didn’t see anything worth concerning ourselves over, except the sheer quantity.” Julius added in.
“BRRPT!” Auri had seen a ton of flying hazards, although she was sure they were flammable.
“Dirt.” Amber added in, entirely unhelpful. Artemis did me a favor and gave her a stink-eye.
“Right. Placate, Kill, Drive off, or Tolerate?” I asked, feeling a small thrill run through me. It’d been a lifetime ago I was sitting with Artemis, Julius, and the rest in Virinum, having the exact same discussion about the nothosaurus. Now we were back, with a slightly different group, sitting in our secure area figuring out how to best handle the monster.
“Can we even kill that thing?” Amber asked. I hesitated a moment, thinking about it.
“If I was alone, and I had to, and it didn’t have some particularly tricky or nasty skills, I might be able to.” I said. Flying while dropping [Kaleidoscope], shielding against skills and healing anything that hit me was a stupid good combination. Which is why I had it. “All the webs around here make me concerned, and we’re not only in their home territory, but it's got friends. Also, you’d all be in range of their rampage. It might follow me. It might run away. It might have an Earth element and fling the nearest stone at me. We don’t have enough intel.” I concluded.
“Driving off won’t work. We’re in their home.” Artemis said. “They’ll defend this place to the death before running away.”
“There’s nothing to placate. They’re not mad at us, or attacking us.” Julius said.
“Calling in a Sentinel isn’t an option.” Amber’s cheeky contribution to the discussion was technically valid, and I let it slide.
“We’re in agreement then. Tolerate them?” I asked, seeing slow nods.
“Brrrrrrpt…”
“Yes, that means no burning down their webs.” I told Auri.
“Brrrpt?”
“Not even a little.”
“Holes for air, and we’re tolerating the spiders.” Julius said. “I’ve got some ideas for what we can do next. Elaine, Artemis?”
I thought about our situation and what resources we had.
I hated to say it, but Amber and Auri weren’t going to be super useful. I could still probably find something for them to do – they’d need something to do, or else they’d become bored and cause trouble – but I didn’t see any of their skills making or breaking our situation. I kept them in mind for grabbing a critical class if we needed them to. For example, an air-generating and purifying class if we determined that we needed to stay entirely encased in stone, for whatever reason.
Julius was in the middle. Excessively competent, well trained, seasoned, and with massive amounts of experience, his skills were around being a speedster, leadership, and command. Spiders were almost one of the worst land creatures he could be paired against, their nets causing him issue, and we were too small of a group for his leadership and command skills to truly shine.
Still. His advice was good, and he could be trusted and relied on.
That left Artemis and I. Anything short of a killing blow I could heal anyone from, and I had powerful mobility, and a dozen utility gems. Artemis was lethality incarnate, Lightning and Earth.
We wanted to tolerate the monsters though, and pointing and blasting wasn’t the answer.
“I’m going to suggest what’s usually a cardinal sin.” I said, putting together what resources we had. “Except I’ve been explicitly trained for it. Artemis should let me out, I fly around, and see what things look like. A river if there’s one, civilization, a village, a town or city would be ideal. If they’re close enough, I might be able to ferry everyone out, one at a time. Artemis last, to keep things secure.”
“BRRPT!” Auri wanted to come.
Julius was shaking his head.
“Sentinel. With all due respect, we’re in a team. Don’t split the team. If you get shot down, trapped, lost, anything, the rest of us are likely dead.”
Artemis punched his arm for that, and they traded a look.
“The biggest concern is honestly you finding us again.” Julius reiterated. “A rod says the spiders have entirely covered us, using the rock as an anchor for their webs. How are you going to find one specific spider-covered rock in a forest?”
He had a good point. My wilderness survival was good. My wilderness tracking?
Literally finding one rock in a forest of unknown size?
“Artemis can always make a tall stone pillar, and that should be plenty visible. However. What do you think?” I asked him.
Julius and Artemis wordlessly swapped, Artemis patrolling around the small dome we had while Julius sat down to explain stuff.
“Well…” Julius said, and we all leaned in to better hear him outline the plan.
I stared at the notifications, reading them, not processing the individual words but the implications. The meanings.
A few of them jumped out at me, the absurd cheerfulness of Genie - who I had to imagine was a genuine, real, three-wishes type - contrasting with the utter horror of the combined meanings.
[*whoop whoop!* Allow me to introduce myself! My name is Genie! Couple of you folks have found me over the years, but here’s a wish that’s going to get all of you interested! This historian-ecologist, Hwinthel, wants to know whenever a species is wiped out!]
…
[*ding!* The shimagu have gone extinct.]
…
[*whoop whoop!* You’re in the mix with DJ Genie tonight! Wang Zhao has got something to mix it all up and bring the house DOWN! You’ve heard of basic elements. Yoooooooou’ve heard of advanced elements. WELL! Let me be the first to introduce you toooooooooooooooooo - THE TIER THREE ELEMENTS! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, crabs and crustaceans of all ages, we are here! Combine any two advanced elements together to create one of the six hundred and sixty six tier three elements! Hope you still have a class up or two left!]
…
[*ding!* It has been 10,000 years since Creation]
…
[*whoop whoop!* Keepin’ it locked and loaded, we’re back with everyone’s favorite wish-granter, GEEEEEEEEEEENIE! Those pesky tier three elements were too much for this anonymous wish asker, and they’re GONE! Done! I’d say they’ve gone the way of the dino, but you lot still have those around! Great job! Keep them alive. You’ll know why when the moment comes.]
…
[*ding!* Dodos have gone extinct.]
…
[*whoop whoop!* Eeeeeeeeeeeey y’all, it’s ya boy Genie! This little Felix here wants all [Shepherds] to be able to find their sheep! Well, never fear little bo peep, now you’ll always know where to find em! Mutton’s back on the menu!]
[*whoop whoop!* You all won’t believe who it is! GEEEEEEEEENIE IS BACK IN THE HOUSE. Honestly, I never left, this kid Felix is a riot. He’s got a second wish y’all should know about! Identify and Analyze and shit to stop being in COLOR! Dunno why, but I’m the genie, and his wish is myyyyyyyyyyy COMMAND! Status-checking skills now return numbers, not colors! Colorblind rejoice! Let’s see if Felix gets a grand three for three global messages, or if he’s going to ask one for himself!]
[*ding!* Due to the great efforts of [Mage] Felix, you get a +1 bonus to all stats! You also get a passive 2% increase to all experience gain!]
[*ding!* Due to the great efforts of [Knight] Chloe, you get a +1 bonus to all stats! You also get a passive 2% increase to all experience gain!]
…
[*ding!* Allerian Highlander Wasps have gone extinct.]
…
[*ding!* Steller's Sea Cow have gone extinct.]
…
[*whoop whoop!* GOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING PALLOS! Genie here with some more announcements! Have I got a doozy for you all today! Ready? You think you are but I bet ya ain’t. This little elf Helediron here’s a bit of a prick. He wants all monsters to gain experience faster, and level up quicker! Pssst. I got a secret for you. He didn’t specify what a monster is.]
…
[*whoop whoop!* Whoa, you won’t believe this one! Thraximundar the Terrible has wished for true, genuine, Immortality. Nothing can kill him! Nothing can stop him! I can’t wait to see what he does! Good luck everyone!]
…
[*ding!* Labrador Ducks have gone extinct.]
…
[*whoop whoop!* You should all know who this is by now! Or not, some of you can barely survive 3,000 years without bumping yourselves off. Geeenieeeeee is BACK baby! With a wish from Gertrude The Grumpy for an ever-flowing waterfall! We’ll just stick it right here. Dunno what you’re going to do with all that water, but hey! I don’t make the wishes, I only fulfill them!]
…
[*whoop whoop!* Humans lose System access. Someone sure doesn't like them very much! Good luck figuring out who, they asked me not to say!]
[*whoop whoop!* Humans regain System access – That was fast! Goats, take note! This is how it’s done. None of that lazing around for… ah, I forgot how many years it took.]
…
[*whoop whoop!* The Erosion element is now Fossil! Dunno why Sentos wanted the switch, but hey! Who am I to object? His wish, my command! You’re all going to want to do some serious updating. A few of your skills got shuffled around.]
…
[*whoop whoop!* Damn did y’all get every lawyer around to make this wish!? Longest, most complicated wish I’ve ever seen, ya feel me? Just thinking about it makes my head hurt! There’s now a hole at the bottom of the ocean. Where does it go? Jump in and find out!]
…
[*ding!* Great Auks have gone extinct.]
…
[*whoop whoop!* Genie is back! Hug yo kids! Kiss yo wife! Hope you’ve lived a long and fulfilling life because Bob has wished for the world to end! Man, if I was that depressed I’d ask to be happy, not take everyone down with me! End of the world in 3…2…1… and poof! Welcome to the world of tomorrow! New world, looks a lot like the old world! Because times marched on, the old world is dead, the new world is now! Welcome to Pallos, everyone! Hope none of you did anything too rash…]
…
[*whoop whoop!* Genie is here to drop some sick beats that sound like this! Coral, smoral, shit’s boring! And not like making a tunnel! Some of you peeps may remember good ol’ Slag, and now we’re back for round two! Thanks to my buddy Goshman here, Coral is now Magic Wood, and you have no idea how badly it hurts me inside that it’s called Magic Wood. There is a serious imagination deficit going on here, and be careful with the element first thing in the morning!]
…
[*ding!* Dong, the [Witch] is dead!]
…
[*whoop whoop!* Genie here, and y’all should listen up! We’ve got an interesting wish today! Tang San here wants a challenge. You all see that arrow? Yeah, that’s pointing to a grand arena! There’ll be a tournament in a year, and the winner? Well, you can’t wish for more wishes, but you can wish for someone else to get your remaining wishes. May the most clever win!]
…
[*whoop whoop!* Somebody decided to fix the terrible names! Magic Metal is now Crucible, and Magic Wood is now Sylvan! Rejoice! I let Lancelot get a two for one on this one, because WOW looking at those elements was hurting me deep inside! Not as much as seeing y’all chow down on mutton, but it was a close second.]
…
[*ding!* Congratulations! Thanwa Temirak is the first person to leave the grasp of the sun!]
…
[*whoop whoop!* Valesteria has politely requested that void mages stop blowing themselves up! Annnnd done! Not sure why she asked for that; they don’t self detonate in the first place, it’s actually because of - whoa I’m learning some new swears, Genie out!]
…
[*ding!* Congratulations! [Cosmic Presence] has leveled up! 300 -> 315]
[*ding!* Congratulations! [Celestial Affinity] has leveled up! 474 -> 480]
[*ding!* Congratulations! [Center of the Universe] has leveled up! 450 -> 451]
[*ding!* Congratulations! [Mantle of the Stars] has leveled up! 469 -> 470]
[*ding!* Congratulations! [Sunrise] has leveled up! 347 -> 411]
[*ding!* Congratulations! [Oath of Elaine to Lyra] has leveled up! 376 -> 513]
[*ding!* Congratulations! [Pristine Memories] has leveled up! 221 -> 278]
[*ding!* Would you like to upgrade [Pristine Memories] to [Immortal Recollections]?]
[*ding!* Congratulations! [Companion Bond between Elaine and Auri] has leveled up! 44 -> 128]
[*ding!* Congratulations! [Long-Range Identify] has leveled up! 375 -> 376]
[*ding!* Congratulations! [Passionate Learning] has leveled up! 380 -> 381]
I stared stunned at the notifications, wanting to deny it. Wanting to blast it with Radiance and destroy whatever cruel trick some illusionist was playing on me.
Amber was babbling, and Auri was brrpting in the background. Artemis had gone cold and steely-eyed, but I continued to focus on myself, internally.
I wanted to cry, to scream, to kick my feet and flail my fists in denial of what I was seeing. Tears threatened to pour out of my eyes, then I heard the sound of a large spider’s leg landing on our dome.
I shut down my emotions. Bottled them up, tossed them in a chest, locked it, and threw away the key. I’d suffer in the future for this. It wasn’t healthy, but it’s what I needed to do here and now to stay alive and operational.
If I had a meltdown, everyone could die. I had duties. Responsibilities.
Cold analysis, go.
We’d messed with the fae, and they’d messed back. It had been somewhat expected, but the sheer quantity of notifications, no, the mere existence of global notifications, indicated a lot more time had passed than we’d thought could pass in our wildest dreams.
10,000 years since creation. I’d left in 4801, and while the year wasn’t quite aligned with creation - Night had said it had taken a few decades for things to settle enough to start getting the idea of timekeeping, and that was just humans, let alone how everyone else kept time - it implied that we’d been gone at least 5,000 years.
And that notification was near the start. There had only been one grand feat for humans in the first 10,000 years, and there were two more notifications about that after. Given that the name “Felix” appeared in the Genie’s notification twice, and immediately after the Genie’s announcement he’d appeared getting a grand feat along with a second human, I could guess that his last wish was related to that. Sure, it was possible that Chloe had independently achieved a grand feat… but I wasn’t going to put my money on it.
I checked my status, and saw that it said I was 22. I’d left a few weeks after turning 21, so at best I’d spent a little under a year in the land of the fae, and at worst I’d spent almost three. Interesting that it didn’t give me the years since birth - It’d be nice to know exactly how many years had passed.
Given the large, wide-scale changes I saw Genie making, one plan - Plan G at best - was going to be: find the Genie, wish to be brought back to my home. In the correct timeframe. I’d need to work hard on phrasing that wish…
Assuming we weren’t trapped in some horrific fae illusion meant to make us question our sanity. I still had the four leaf clover on me, and it was better to accept the reality in front of me now, and be pleasantly surprised if it was all a lie, than to bury my head in the sand and insist nothing was happening.
For now, I would assume reality was as it appeared to be. I’d do a check with Radiance later, to see if there were illusions around me. Needed all my mana for now just in case we got into a fight.
By the same token, I was going to assume that Genie was as powerful as he claimed to be. I’d need to be clever and specific about making a wish, but I latched onto the small shimmer of hope of getting back home like a drowning woman would grab a floating door.
Ok. Not all hope was lost. I had no idea how viable the plan was, but simply having a plan was enough to alleviate much of my panic.
Things had changed. Some elements had gotten shuffled around, a few renamed. None of them touched my elements, so I didn’t care right now.
[Oath] was next on my list. The skill was famously hard to level, and I’d capped it? It took me a moment to figure out why. Marcus’s apprentice, once upon a time, had taken the same [Oath] I had made, and I'd gotten a notification.
[*ding!* Congratulations! A skill you created has been passed along to others! A tiny amount of experience that other people gain with the skill will go to you as well.]
Well, either being resolved to keep healing after all this time was great experience, or my [Oath] had gotten big, and I was reaping the rewards. Given that nothing else of mine had leveled up anywhere near that much? My guess was on the second one.
Ok, great. People were still around. People still lived. We weren’t in a perpetual never-ending wilderness. Most likely.
I looked around my notifications and stats and spotted another promising item.
[Sentinel’s Superiority] hadn’t changed. Hadn’t evolved. It wasn’t [The Last Sentinel], [Retired Sentinel], [Former Sentinel], or anything of the like. It hadn’t vanished, the same way [Ranger’s Lore] had poofed when I was being promoted. It was an organizational skill, which implied…
“The Sentinels still exist.” I announced, cutting through the chatter. Amber and Artemis looked at me, while Julius maintained discipline, staying on watch. I swear his ear twitched to better hear me.
“Explain.” Artemis demanded.
“I still have [Sentinel’s Superiority], unchanged.” I told her. She chewed her lip for a moment. I handed her one of my jugs of mango juice, and she shot me a grateful look before uncorking it and downing the entire thing.
Maging was hungry work, especially with the amount she’d just blown.
“Brrrpt!” Auri didn’t begrudge Artemis getting a drink, but she did protest the fact that Artemis was draining the ENTIRE THING.
She put it down, and I briefly debated leaving it behind, before reattaching it to my backpack.
“[Ranger’s Lore] had turned into [Retired Ranger] when I stepped down.” She admitted. “Also, my [Wandering Mage] class just got a ton of levels. I’m practically a senior Sentinel!”
I took a look with [Long-Range Identify].
[Mage - 455].
Yikes, she hadn’t been kidding!
“My command skills morphed.” Julius helpfully added in, never dropping his guard.
“I only have class ups ready.” Amber grumbled. Artemis punched her in the arm.
“Well, what are you waiting for? Let’s get a speedy class up going!”
“Let’s make a plan first.” I objected. “Amber, sorry, but there’s a slim chance our ability to get out of here alive will rely on you taking a specific class.”
She muttered darkly under her breath at that, then brightened up.
“Ok! You just tell me what to do! I got some goodies that practically replace my merchant class anyways.”
Good kid. Hang on, I needed to ask about those goodies.
“Brrpt! BRRRPT!” Auri didn’t want to be outdone. She let me know that SHE had her class up available, and was ready and willing to do whatever needed to be done!
“Brrrrpt!”
Two classes. Her first upgrading, and her second unlocking. I gave her a Look.
“You’re crazy lucky my ‘wandering around looking at cool magic’ class gave you all that experience.”
“Brrrrpt.”
Vain bird. She thought her leveling rate was totally natural.
“The situation is as follows.” Artemis took charge. “We’re in an unknown location, hiding in a rock dome from monsters. We need to stay alive, get out, find people, then find home. Agreed?”
“Find people, then figure out what we’re doing.” Julius objected. “I don’t think any of us have a home anymore.”
Artemis grabbed Julius’s leg, and he stopped. They looked at each other.
“Hey. Speedy. Home is where you are, ok?” Artemis’s voice was dead serious. Julius cracked a smile at her.
“Bad time, bad place, marry me, ok?”
Artemis snorted.
“Of course I’m marrying you, and I’m never. EVER. Going to let you live this proposal down.”
I coughed loudly. Really? Now? Here? This was not the time or place. I also prayed to the gods that “Speedy” referred to him being a speedster, and not something else.
“BRRPT BRRRPT BRRRRRRRRRRRPT!” Auri was super excited over the engagement, and I just wanted to hold my face in my hands.
Instead, I clapped, bringing the attention back to me.
“Congratulations. Julius, I’m going to eternally tease you. Amber. You said you had interesting things?”
She nodded, eager to be the center of attention.
“Yes! I traded like the gods themselves had empowered me with the fae. Formed a typical merchant’s pyramid. Complicated stuff. See, first I-”
I gave her a Look, motioning with my hand to get on with it, and that the exact details could wait for another day.
“Ok, long, LONG story short. My eye,” Amber pointed to her swirling, purple eye. “Can see value. I have to always tell the truth, but at the same time, I can tell if someone’s blatantly lying to me. And I got a lucky coin, although I have no idea how lucky it is.”
I thought about Amber’s face having neatly landed on the mossy section of the forest floor, and had to concede that she might have something there.
“I’m going to be blunt here.” Julius said. “None of that sounds particularly useful here and now. Value means nothing. We’re working together, truth is an assumed default. And we can’t rely on luck.”
Amber frowned, but I agreed with Julius.
“Relying on luck gets Rangers killed.” I told her. “What did you have to pay for that?”
Amber looked uncomfortable.
“Spit it out. There’s no room to be shy in here.” Artemis’s words were harsh, but true.
“My eye.” Amber admitted. “Part of my ability to walk with my right leg. And my name.”
I sucked in air through my teeth on the last one. No wonder I hadn’t been able to remember Amber’s name.
Wait.
Had it always been Amber?
I thought about it, straining hard. Recalling memories, but feeling them be “fuzzed”.
[*ding!* Congratulations! [Pristine Memories] has leveled up! 278-> 279]
[*ding!* Congratulations! [Pristine Memories] has leveled up! 279-> 280]
…
[*ding!* Congratulations! [Pristine Memories] has leveled up! 299-> 300]
AHHA! I got it! Her name had been Autumn!
[*ding!* Would you like to upgrade [Pristine Memories] to [Fae Remembrance]?]
“Your name was Amber.” I said, my mouth twisting the words as I tried to say them.
More fairy nonsense.
I got some weird looks at that, letting them slide off of me like water off a duck’s back. My emotions were still locked away.
I’d fought them and won on the memory issue, but clearly even speaking the name was off-limits, and clearly I was somewhat affected by my short stay. If the worst of it was I couldn’t say Amber’s old name? That I’d gotten 22 levels in a hard to level skill as a result? Sure, I’d take it.
Speaking of, I accepted the upgrade to [Immortal Recollections]. I didn’t want to remember everything that had happened in the land of the fae, and the upgrade seemed solid.
Immortal Recollections: You have made it far past the date of your birth, seeing years that only an Immortal could. Have the perfect memory for such a lifespan, able to recall whatever you need, whenever you need it. Able to organize memories, shade poor ones and highlight important moments. Able to archive memories. -8 mana regeneration.
“We’ve got shelter.” Artemis brought us back on topic. “We’ve got a few days' supply of food. Air’s our biggest problem right now. I don’t see any solution besides making small holes in the dome.”
I chewed over the idea.
“Agreed. I can’t think of any alternative, and Auri, I love you, but I have no idea if your body of flames is making us burn air at a high rate.”
“Brrpt! BRPT BRPT!” Auri assured me that, yes, she remembered the indoor burning rules, and that things would be perfect if she wanted to hurt us.
Lovely. Inarguably true.
“One big hole. Bigger spiders can come through. Lots of small holes. More openings to check, and I think we’d need more of them to make it work.” I said.
“The openings to check are less relevant if we cluster them together.” Artemis pointed out.
“While making a larger area of the dome vulnerable to a hit.” I countered.
“If something’s coming through, it’s coming through anyways.” Julius reasonably observed. “A small, high level poisonous spider sneaking in is our largest reasonable concern that we can afford to mitigate.”
I nodded my agreement. “I’m going to make myself a healing beacon. Anyone touching me will get a full-blast of healing, so even if a spider sneaks in, we’ve got some protection. Should sleep touching me, just to be safe.”
“Let’s do that then. Artemis?”
“I’ll get on it as soon as - oh yeah, my mana regen’s insane now.”
I smiled, remembering the “holy WHAT” of my stats all jumping. At the same time, I remembered Artemis’s build. Her idea of insane mana regeneration wasn’t my idea of insane mana regeneration… although she likely had more power than I did.
“For the spiders. I saw one [Tyrant Tarantula] over level 700. Did anyone else pick up anything strong?”
“You WHAT?!” Amber shrieked. I gave her a look.
“Why did you think I went with holing up instead of burning them all?”
“Brrrpt!” Auri approved of burning them all.
Amber muttered to herself.
“Pair of small nasty 400ish [Black Widows]” Artemis admitted.
“I didn’t see anything worth concerning ourselves over, except the sheer quantity.” Julius added in.
“BRRPT!” Auri had seen a ton of flying hazards, although she was sure they were flammable.
“Dirt.” Amber added in, entirely unhelpful. Artemis did me a favor and gave her a stink-eye.
“Right. Placate, Kill, Drive off, or Tolerate?” I asked, feeling a small thrill run through me. It’d been a lifetime ago I was sitting with Artemis, Julius, and the rest in Virinum, having the exact same discussion about the nothosaurus. Now we were back, with a slightly different group, sitting in our secure area figuring out how to best handle the monster.
“Can we even kill that thing?” Amber asked. I hesitated a moment, thinking about it.
“If I was alone, and I had to, and it didn’t have some particularly tricky or nasty skills, I might be able to.” I said. Flying while dropping [Kaleidoscope], shielding against skills and healing anything that hit me was a stupid good combination. Which is why I had it. “All the webs around here make me concerned, and we’re not only in their home territory, but it's got friends. Also, you’d all be in range of their rampage. It might follow me. It might run away. It might have an Earth element and fling the nearest stone at me. We don’t have enough intel.” I concluded.
“Driving off won’t work. We’re in their home.” Artemis said. “They’ll defend this place to the death before running away.”
“There’s nothing to placate. They’re not mad at us, or attacking us.” Julius said.
“Calling in a Sentinel isn’t an option.” Amber’s cheeky contribution to the discussion was technically valid, and I let it slide.
“We’re in agreement then. Tolerate them?” I asked, seeing slow nods.
“Brrrrrrpt…”
“Yes, that means no burning down their webs.” I told Auri.
“Brrrpt?”
“Not even a little.”
“Holes for air, and we’re tolerating the spiders.” Julius said. “I’ve got some ideas for what we can do next. Elaine, Artemis?”
I thought about our situation and what resources we had.
I hated to say it, but Amber and Auri weren’t going to be super useful. I could still probably find something for them to do – they’d need something to do, or else they’d become bored and cause trouble – but I didn’t see any of their skills making or breaking our situation. I kept them in mind for grabbing a critical class if we needed them to. For example, an air-generating and purifying class if we determined that we needed to stay entirely encased in stone, for whatever reason.
Julius was in the middle. Excessively competent, well trained, seasoned, and with massive amounts of experience, his skills were around being a speedster, leadership, and command. Spiders were almost one of the worst land creatures he could be paired against, their nets causing him issue, and we were too small of a group for his leadership and command skills to truly shine.
Still. His advice was good, and he could be trusted and relied on.
That left Artemis and I. Anything short of a killing blow I could heal anyone from, and I had powerful mobility, and a dozen utility gems. Artemis was lethality incarnate, Lightning and Earth.
We wanted to tolerate the monsters though, and pointing and blasting wasn’t the answer.
“I’m going to suggest what’s usually a cardinal sin.” I said, putting together what resources we had. “Except I’ve been explicitly trained for it. Artemis should let me out, I fly around, and see what things look like. A river if there’s one, civilization, a village, a town or city would be ideal. If they’re close enough, I might be able to ferry everyone out, one at a time. Artemis last, to keep things secure.”
“BRRPT!” Auri wanted to come.
Julius was shaking his head.
“Sentinel. With all due respect, we’re in a team. Don’t split the team. If you get shot down, trapped, lost, anything, the rest of us are likely dead.”
Artemis punched his arm for that, and they traded a look.
“The biggest concern is honestly you finding us again.” Julius reiterated. “A rod says the spiders have entirely covered us, using the rock as an anchor for their webs. How are you going to find one specific spider-covered rock in a forest?”
He had a good point. My wilderness survival was good. My wilderness tracking?
Literally finding one rock in a forest of unknown size?
“Artemis can always make a tall stone pillar, and that should be plenty visible. However. What do you think?” I asked him.
Julius and Artemis wordlessly swapped, Artemis patrolling around the small dome we had while Julius sat down to explain stuff.
“Well…” Julius said, and we all leaned in to better hear him outline the plan.
