“It's one of the information pieces we paid for. I think it was one of the most expensive ones,” Hadwin glances at Tess, and she nods, confirming it.
While taking the rest of the mana stones I didn't pocket off the table, he continues, “The first one we learned about is the Colony. We've already had the luck of meeting some of them.”
“Good ol' bus-sized ants,” I say.
“Yes, millions or perhaps even billions of ants. No one knows. The entire thing we considered a mountain range is their anthills, and they crawl all over it and inside the holes that cover the area.” Hadwin says.
He scratches his chin, “The weird thing is that they refuse to leave their area and do not attack if you don't enter their territory. As for where they came from, no one knows. Some people say they came from a different planet through the tear in space. Someone else says they all come from their queen who used to be a strong monster that leveled up in a terrifying way.”
“I also heard they could be a failed experiment. A weapon one of the countries created to fight in one of their wars,” Tess joins in.
“Well, not like that matters. It's hard to imagine we could wipe out all the ants, the entire Colony that is probably considered to be one of the four Calamities,” I say.
As always, the system doesn't hold back when it comes to throwing all the challenges at us. Some of us aren't even level one hundred, so how the heck is it even possible to wipe out the entire Colony?
"Any more info on ants?" I ask.
"Not much, to be honest. Only crazy people go to their territory, and most of the time, they don't come back. But back to other Calamities..."
Before Tess can continue, I interrupt her, "What is down in the tunnels? Are they... weak to fire?"
"They should be full of mushrooms and other stuff ants like to eat. Apparently, they can be a bit flammable, yes. Nat, what did you do?"
"Nothing," I answer quickly. "So imagine if someone, hypothetically and by mistake, did drop an orb full of fire down there; what could have happened?"
"Well, if that fire could set their food ablaze, the result could be quite terrifying, especially down in the tunnels." Tess's eyes are sharp as she says so.
"Well, it's a good thing nothing like that happened," I say.
It's fine. Totally fine.
"Yes, it's a good thing nothing like that happened," Tess's eyes say that she knows.
Dang it.
Tess then sighs and continues, “I did find some info about the Fallen Hero while Hadwin researched the Colony.” She flicks a strand of hair off her face, “The Fallen Hero is what is left of someone who died long ago. From what we found, this place also uses titles such as 'Paragon', and 'Champion' that are similarly strong, and 'Absolute'. The Fallen Hero was someone like that, a man, human, that was said to be the Champion of an era a long time ago.”
“Currently there aren't any Champions or Absolutes, none that people or lynthari here would know about. The highest level they know about is somewhere in the mid-two-hundreds,” Hadwin adds some details.
“As Hadwin says,” Tess patiently continues, “We think the situation will be similar to the Saint. The Fallen Hero is dead and only his body is alive. From what we found out, he is kept moving by an ancient set of armor that feeds on the mana of his still-beating mana heart and moves automatically, killing everyone in sight. They call that armor 'Valorplate' and have long ago lost the knowledge to create them.”
I try to imagine this in my head, and it sounds kind of scary. The body of a champion is used as a puppet by some sort of armor, powered by the Champion´s still-beating Mana Heart. That is scary.
“Tess, I want that armor,” I say.
“Why?”
“The name sounds cool. Valorplate. Like damn. I want that armor. Do you think it's epic or higher rarity?”
“It's either one of the best possible equipment within the epic category or something a bit higher. It could be that the fallen hero is a Calamity only because of the body of what used to be a champion powering the armor. Also, I think it would fit Hadwin better, with his skill.”
Caught in the crossfire, Hadwin continues to flick his eyes between me and Tess. But I can see it! The greed in his eyes. You can't call yourself a man if you're not attracted to some cool equipment, especially one with such a name.
Tess might be right. I don't even like to rely on equipment, and it would surely be better for someone like good ol' Haddy, but still!
Valorplate.
We're already fighting over the loot, and we haven't even killed the Calamity.
“Any estimation on level?” I ask.
“Three question marks for sure,” Hadwin stretches on his chair, “The fallen hero calamity is on a battlefield, some desert-like area. Once in a while, someone tries to kill him. Either for fame, for the Valorplate, or for levels. Sometimes it's a small group, in other cases an entire army. Yet for hundreds of years, the body of the dead champion in the armor continues to walk around the desert and attacks everything in sight, never leaving the place.”
“We think this floor might have natives of a lower average level than the second floor. The second floor seems to be somewhat special with plenty of Champions, Paragons, and even two Absolutes. The 3rd and 4th floors so far seem to have lower-leveled people,” Tess says.
“We found out that this floor is somewhat safe, so we might have even a few years to level up or prepare. We could try to get all the good equipment, maybe we can earn a lot of money and just hire a lot of people to help us finish the quest. There are multiple ways we could go about it,” Hadwin shrugs his shoulders.
“Damn, it looks like you guys were super busy. So what about the 3rd and 4th calamities?” I ask.
“We didn't find any information on one of the calamities, so that's that. As for the third one, it's the Living Tree. It's a giant tree that towers over what used to be the old capital. Some call it the Demonic Tree even,” Tess says, “Apparently, a few hundred years ago, it sprouted out in the middle of the capital and killed everyone in sight. We don't have more reliable information.”
“That's a lot to take in,” I say.
Well, as Haddy said, it's not that bad. We can cheat a bit and maybe hire natives to help, steal or buy some powerful equipment, observe, get more information, and plan the perfect attack. Out of all the floors we were on, this one seems like the best place to spend some time on. All the calamities seem to be tied to one area, other than the 4th one we know nothing about.
But who do they think I am? Hiring help? Getting overpowered equipment? I'll take on the Calamity on my own. Maybe some other than ants, yup, let's leave ants alone; I don't want to piss them off more than I probably did.
“As for the city, you've already met lynthari. They are weird but somewhat harmless. They live longer than humans, they are born stronger, and most of them don't have to worry about money even once in their life.” Tess slides a few papers in front of me, “You can go through what we found; Hadwin did a nice summary.”
“Oh, one more thing, probably an important one. Lynthari often are too lazy to do anything and just like to observe humans. The ones that lead the city created an association you can join with your team, or guild if you will. You can even join alone. You pay registration and…”
I interrupt him, “Haddy, are you talking about adventures, rankings, guilds, and quests? Like in games?”
He gives up and sighs, “Yes. It's exactly like that.”
Tess nods in confirmation when I look at her, “You can imagine how excited the boys got when they heard that. They also registered our group as a small guild.”
“What is the name?” I ask.
“Angry Kittens,” Hadwin pushes through his teeth.
Oh boy.
I then glance at Tess, and even though she tries to keep a neutral face, I can see the corners of her lips lift up slightly.
I will turn Angry Kittens into the best guild this place has ever seen! People will keep talking about Angry Kittens in years to come. Angry Kittens will be written down in history as the noblest and…
Why are you hiding, you little shits?
I stop in front of the room where I sense three boys and Lily.
After a knock, I say in what I think is a soft voice, “Hello guys, can you open the door?”
It doesn't work.
“Nat! I swear it was Lily´s idea!” Kim blubbers out from inside to Lily's complaining.
“Oh? I don't know what you mean... Kim. Just open the door. I want to talk.” Me using his surname instead of his first name seems to cause even more panic.
Then I start enjoying it. Is this what people meant by it being fun having friends? This isn't that bad.
“I heard about the guild name you guys picked. I really like it,” I say.
“Fuck, he hates it,” I hear from inside, “He won't believe it if we blame it on Lily.” The voice of one of the twins continues in a whisper.
“We are friends, brothers almost, aren't we? Min-Jae?” I use my trump card.
“Fuck, Kim, do not open!”
Oh, it seems I have failed. But it's fine; I'm still quite enjoying it. Should I try something else?
“Lily? I wanted to see you.” I say again, and in what feels like half a second, the door opens. Lily looks up at me with big eyes.
In the corner of the room, three teenage boys freeze and stare at me like a deer staring at a car.
“See boys? Why aren't you more like Lily here?” I tap her shoulder, “Why are you even so worried?”
I notice Lily trying to lean against me while my attention is on the boys. Damn, she sure doesn't give up easily. I guess I'll really have to reject her out loud sooner or later.
“You,” I point at Aaron, “Angry kitten number two. What sub-class did you pick?”
“Diligence,” both of the twins say at the same time. “It's already helping with [Connection] and [Sensory Deception]. It seems to work pretty well with mental skills.”
“Yup! It feels like we can keep them up for longer.” Interesting, that makes me even more curious about the others.
“Min-Jae?” I turn to the younger boy.
“Envy,” he says quietly, looking down at the ground. “I think my skills become a bit stronger when I am against a stronger opponent than me.”
“Oh? How does it work?” That sounds super useful.
Seeing my reaction makes the boy breathe in relief, and his eyes glow as he looks up. “Right? It sounds super cool! I only tested it against Tess, and I'm not sure, but I would bet I became a bit stronger.”
“Power of love,” I hear from Dennis.
“Totally,” Aaron adds in quietly.
To annoy Min-Jae, they don't even communicate telepathically and just whisper it out loud.
I let the boy fight and turn to Lily, “And you?” I ask her.
“Not telling!” the petite black-haired girl resolutely shakes her head.
“Yeah, I bet it's because it's Lust,” one of the twins whispers loudly again.
That almost makes me giggle, especially seeing Lily's reaction.
I then leave the four members of Angry Kittens behind and send my mana through the house to find others. I'm curious about what they picked.
“Me? I picked Patience,” Maya wipes sweat off her face and answers easily to my question. “It boosted my [Focus] a bit, but it affected [Armament] the most. It now lasts much longer.”
“I think that's a good choice,” I tell her, and she nods.
“What did you pick?” she asks, and I hesitate for a moment.
Maya notices that and waves her hand, “You don't have to tell me,” she reads the mood quickly and changes the subject. “Tess here, did go with Chastity,” she points at Tess with whom she was sparring before I came. Maya is smiling slightly as she does so.
Tess doesn't even seem to be bothered by suggestive the name of her sub-class. “It was an easy decision. Chastity suggests self-control, purity, and clarity. It did exactly that. [Psychokinesis] feels purer and stronger, [Farsight] now allows me to see better, there's some sense of clarity to it, and it feels like I might be able to do more than just see far and see a bit of mana. But I have a feeling that it most affected [Declaration], though it's still hard to explain.”
“Pretty good decision,” I react, and Tess nods.
Knowing what I am curious about, she answers, “Hadwin went to hunt with Sophie and Isabella. Hadwin picked Temperance and it made his body tougher and [Strengthening] much stronger. I think out of all of us, he has one of the best fits with his main skill. As for Izzy... she told me not to tell you. Something like she will use it as a trading chip for something.” Tess lifts up her eyebrows.
Dang it. Do I have to sell Biscuit again just to satisfy my curiosity?
“It's one of the information pieces we paid for. I think it was one of the most expensive ones,” Hadwin glances at Tess, and she nods, confirming it.
While taking the rest of the mana stones I didn't pocket off the table, he continues, “The first one we learned about is the Colony. We've already had the luck of meeting some of them.”
“Good ol' bus-sized ants,” I say.
“Yes, millions or perhaps even billions of ants. No one knows. The entire thing we considered a mountain range is their anthills, and they crawl all over it and inside the holes that cover the area.” Hadwin says.
He scratches his chin, “The weird thing is that they refuse to leave their area and do not attack if you don't enter their territory. As for where they came from, no one knows. Some people say they came from a different planet through the tear in space. Someone else says they all come from their queen who used to be a strong monster that leveled up in a terrifying way.”
“I also heard they could be a failed experiment. A weapon one of the countries created to fight in one of their wars,” Tess joins in.
“Well, not like that matters. It's hard to imagine we could wipe out all the ants, the entire Colony that is probably considered to be one of the four Calamities,” I say.
As always, the system doesn't hold back when it comes to throwing all the challenges at us. Some of us aren't even level one hundred, so how the heck is it even possible to wipe out the entire Colony?
"Any more info on ants?" I ask.
"Not much, to be honest. Only crazy people go to their territory, and most of the time, they don't come back. But back to other Calamities..."
Before Tess can continue, I interrupt her, "What is down in the tunnels? Are they... weak to fire?"
"They should be full of mushrooms and other stuff ants like to eat. Apparently, they can be a bit flammable, yes. Nat, what did you do?"
"Nothing," I answer quickly. "So imagine if someone, hypothetically and by mistake, did drop an orb full of fire down there; what could have happened?"
"Well, if that fire could set their food ablaze, the result could be quite terrifying, especially down in the tunnels." Tess's eyes are sharp as she says so.
"Well, it's a good thing nothing like that happened," I say.
It's fine. Totally fine.
"Yes, it's a good thing nothing like that happened," Tess's eyes say that she knows.
Dang it.
Tess then sighs and continues, “I did find some info about the Fallen Hero while Hadwin researched the Colony.” She flicks a strand of hair off her face, “The Fallen Hero is what is left of someone who died long ago. From what we found, this place also uses titles such as 'Paragon', and 'Champion' that are similarly strong, and 'Absolute'. The Fallen Hero was someone like that, a man, human, that was said to be the Champion of an era a long time ago.”
“Currently there aren't any Champions or Absolutes, none that people or lynthari here would know about. The highest level they know about is somewhere in the mid-two-hundreds,” Hadwin adds some details.
“As Hadwin says,” Tess patiently continues, “We think the situation will be similar to the Saint. The Fallen Hero is dead and only his body is alive. From what we found out, he is kept moving by an ancient set of armor that feeds on the mana of his still-beating mana heart and moves automatically, killing everyone in sight. They call that armor 'Valorplate' and have long ago lost the knowledge to create them.”
I try to imagine this in my head, and it sounds kind of scary. The body of a champion is used as a puppet by some sort of armor, powered by the Champion´s still-beating Mana Heart. That is scary.
“Tess, I want that armor,” I say.
“Why?”
“The name sounds cool. Valorplate. Like damn. I want that armor. Do you think it's epic or higher rarity?”
“It's either one of the best possible equipment within the epic category or something a bit higher. It could be that the fallen hero is a Calamity only because of the body of what used to be a champion powering the armor. Also, I think it would fit Hadwin better, with his skill.”
Caught in the crossfire, Hadwin continues to flick his eyes between me and Tess. But I can see it! The greed in his eyes. You can't call yourself a man if you're not attracted to some cool equipment, especially one with such a name.
Tess might be right. I don't even like to rely on equipment, and it would surely be better for someone like good ol' Haddy, but still!
Valorplate.
We're already fighting over the loot, and we haven't even killed the Calamity.
“Any estimation on level?” I ask.
“Three question marks for sure,” Hadwin stretches on his chair, “The fallen hero calamity is on a battlefield, some desert-like area. Once in a while, someone tries to kill him. Either for fame, for the Valorplate, or for levels. Sometimes it's a small group, in other cases an entire army. Yet for hundreds of years, the body of the dead champion in the armor continues to walk around the desert and attacks everything in sight, never leaving the place.”
“We think this floor might have natives of a lower average level than the second floor. The second floor seems to be somewhat special with plenty of Champions, Paragons, and even two Absolutes. The 3rd and 4th floors so far seem to have lower-leveled people,” Tess says.
“We found out that this floor is somewhat safe, so we might have even a few years to level up or prepare. We could try to get all the good equipment, maybe we can earn a lot of money and just hire a lot of people to help us finish the quest. There are multiple ways we could go about it,” Hadwin shrugs his shoulders.
“Damn, it looks like you guys were super busy. So what about the 3rd and 4th calamities?” I ask.
“We didn't find any information on one of the calamities, so that's that. As for the third one, it's the Living Tree. It's a giant tree that towers over what used to be the old capital. Some call it the Demonic Tree even,” Tess says, “Apparently, a few hundred years ago, it sprouted out in the middle of the capital and killed everyone in sight. We don't have more reliable information.”
“That's a lot to take in,” I say.
Well, as Haddy said, it's not that bad. We can cheat a bit and maybe hire natives to help, steal or buy some powerful equipment, observe, get more information, and plan the perfect attack. Out of all the floors we were on, this one seems like the best place to spend some time on. All the calamities seem to be tied to one area, other than the 4th one we know nothing about.
But who do they think I am? Hiring help? Getting overpowered equipment? I'll take on the Calamity on my own. Maybe some other than ants, yup, let's leave ants alone; I don't want to piss them off more than I probably did.
“As for the city, you've already met lynthari. They are weird but somewhat harmless. They live longer than humans, they are born stronger, and most of them don't have to worry about money even once in their life.” Tess slides a few papers in front of me, “You can go through what we found; Hadwin did a nice summary.”
“Oh, one more thing, probably an important one. Lynthari often are too lazy to do anything and just like to observe humans. The ones that lead the city created an association you can join with your team, or guild if you will. You can even join alone. You pay registration and…”
I interrupt him, “Haddy, are you talking about adventures, rankings, guilds, and quests? Like in games?”
He gives up and sighs, “Yes. It's exactly like that.”
Tess nods in confirmation when I look at her, “You can imagine how excited the boys got when they heard that. They also registered our group as a small guild.”
“What is the name?” I ask.
“Angry Kittens,” Hadwin pushes through his teeth.
Oh boy.
I then glance at Tess, and even though she tries to keep a neutral face, I can see the corners of her lips lift up slightly.
I will turn Angry Kittens into the best guild this place has ever seen! People will keep talking about Angry Kittens in years to come. Angry Kittens will be written down in history as the noblest and…
Why are you hiding, you little shits?
I stop in front of the room where I sense three boys and Lily.
After a knock, I say in what I think is a soft voice, “Hello guys, can you open the door?”
It doesn't work.
“Nat! I swear it was Lily´s idea!” Kim blubbers out from inside to Lily's complaining.
“Oh? I don't know what you mean... Kim. Just open the door. I want to talk.” Me using his surname instead of his first name seems to cause even more panic.
Then I start enjoying it. Is this what people meant by it being fun having friends? This isn't that bad.
“I heard about the guild name you guys picked. I really like it,” I say.
“Fuck, he hates it,” I hear from inside, “He won't believe it if we blame it on Lily.” The voice of one of the twins continues in a whisper.
“We are friends, brothers almost, aren't we? Min-Jae?” I use my trump card.
“Fuck, Kim, do not open!”
Oh, it seems I have failed. But it's fine; I'm still quite enjoying it. Should I try something else?
“Lily? I wanted to see you.” I say again, and in what feels like half a second, the door opens. Lily looks up at me with big eyes.
In the corner of the room, three teenage boys freeze and stare at me like a deer staring at a car.
“See boys? Why aren't you more like Lily here?” I tap her shoulder, “Why are you even so worried?”
I notice Lily trying to lean against me while my attention is on the boys. Damn, she sure doesn't give up easily. I guess I'll really have to reject her out loud sooner or later.
“You,” I point at Aaron, “Angry kitten number two. What sub-class did you pick?”
“Diligence,” both of the twins say at the same time. “It's already helping with [Connection] and [Sensory Deception]. It seems to work pretty well with mental skills.”
“Yup! It feels like we can keep them up for longer.” Interesting, that makes me even more curious about the others.
“Min-Jae?” I turn to the younger boy.
“Envy,” he says quietly, looking down at the ground. “I think my skills become a bit stronger when I am against a stronger opponent than me.”
“Oh? How does it work?” That sounds super useful.
Seeing my reaction makes the boy breathe in relief, and his eyes glow as he looks up. “Right? It sounds super cool! I only tested it against Tess, and I'm not sure, but I would bet I became a bit stronger.”
“Power of love,” I hear from Dennis.
“Totally,” Aaron adds in quietly.
To annoy Min-Jae, they don't even communicate telepathically and just whisper it out loud.
I let the boy fight and turn to Lily, “And you?” I ask her.
“Not telling!” the petite black-haired girl resolutely shakes her head.
“Yeah, I bet it's because it's Lust,” one of the twins whispers loudly again.
That almost makes me giggle, especially seeing Lily's reaction.
I then leave the four members of Angry Kittens behind and send my mana through the house to find others. I'm curious about what they picked.
“Me? I picked Patience,” Maya wipes sweat off her face and answers easily to my question. “It boosted my [Focus] a bit, but it affected [Armament] the most. It now lasts much longer.”
“I think that's a good choice,” I tell her, and she nods.
“What did you pick?” she asks, and I hesitate for a moment.
Maya notices that and waves her hand, “You don't have to tell me,” she reads the mood quickly and changes the subject. “Tess here, did go with Chastity,” she points at Tess with whom she was sparring before I came. Maya is smiling slightly as she does so.
Tess doesn't even seem to be bothered by suggestive the name of her sub-class. “It was an easy decision. Chastity suggests self-control, purity, and clarity. It did exactly that. [Psychokinesis] feels purer and stronger, [Farsight] now allows me to see better, there's some sense of clarity to it, and it feels like I might be able to do more than just see far and see a bit of mana. But I have a feeling that it most affected [Declaration], though it's still hard to explain.”
“Pretty good decision,” I react, and Tess nods.
Knowing what I am curious about, she answers, “Hadwin went to hunt with Sophie and Isabella. Hadwin picked Temperance and it made his body tougher and [Strengthening] much stronger. I think out of all of us, he has one of the best fits with his main skill. As for Izzy... she told me not to tell you. Something like she will use it as a trading chip for something.” Tess lifts up her eyebrows.
Dang it. Do I have to sell Biscuit again just to satisfy my curiosity?
