[NR] Badger? - Chapter 529 (Patreon)

While level 25 was shockingly low compared to 499, three breaks was nearly half way through all the bottlenecks. Yes, you could find areas in NeoRealm with monsters going all the way up the scale, but the higher end wasn’t like the lower. There weren’t volcanos packed to the gills with level level 300 plus red dragons.

You might find five such monsters in a region and if you killed them? The System didn’t just respawn them for you the next day. Rather, after a certain point, you needed to depend on monsters naturally working their way up the food chain.

Most level capped locals got there not by going out and fighting level appropriate monsters. Instead, they spent hundreds of years to get the last levels through alternate growth methods. Stuff like gaining pass up experience from leadership, stomping on some never ending threats such as region spanning ant hills, or stretching their non-combat skills. Though there is one option and the group happens to be heading straight towards it.

The Deep Wilds. Go deep enough and while you still won’t find that volcano with more dragons than air, it is a literally infinite space to explore. So even if there is only one high-level monster in a certain part of the depths, well, just keep exploring until you find the next. You’ll never run out of anything except maybe your life. There are even rumors that if you go deep enough, you’ll find beings that not only break the level cap, but the rules as well.

Jason looked away from the sky and shook his head. There was probably similar nonsense going on with the deep sea areas as well. Especially since the ocean still managed to cover more area than the land. Though unlike irl, it was a lot closer in area and tended towards a layout that was more like an archipelago made of continents.

Jason shook his head again and focused on the road. It had been a couple weeks now and not much to show for it. Well, Lily was happy enough. She got to stay out and hop around in the roadside grass.

Other than that? Even the monsters that did attack them were boring. Regular animals? Sure, a couple had some extra spikes, but they didn’t even have a special ability to throw around. The most exciting encounter was a two-tailed fox and that wasn’t even a fight. The critter had simply been curious and got caught sneaking around their campsite.

Though things would pick up soon enough as only a day later they arrive at something novel. A checkpoint. You would think with the patchwork of nations and kingdoms splattered all over the place, they would be more common. Except part of why there are so many, is for the same reason this particular checkpoint exists.

And as seems to be the trend as of late, it all circles back on the Deep Wilds. Sure, there are some strategic resources worth fighting for. But a generic iron mine? No ruler on NeoRealm is going to go to war over something like that. Instead, they’ll send explorers into the Deep Wilds to find their own source of iron and then conquer the place.

Want more land? Take it from the Deep Wilds. Want more mines, farm fields, or any other land-based resources? Take it from the Deep Wilds. Sure, the process is on the scale of decades instead of a rough and tumble war that is over in less than a year’s time. But because of this, most kingdoms don’t even bother expanding their borders until they touch another kingdom’s territory. Why bother causing sparks when you can basically kingdom build in single player mode?

Not that wars don’t happen. They just don’t tend to be because of territory concerns. Think more along the lines of one noble feeling insulted by another noble.

Though back to the checkpoint. Because there is one border a kingdom truly needs to pay attention to. That of their expansion into the Deep Wilds. The easiest way for nations to hurt one another, is to mess with such attempts.

While at the most basic level, all you need to claim some of the Deep Wilds is to homestead it. A kingdom doesn’t just want some new forest area, they want resources. That requires claiming a decent amount of very specific land. This is possible through regular homesteading, but more likely the land will end up shifting beneath you and taking away what you had originally been aiming for.

Much more reliable is to use large-scale enchantments, formations, or rarely rituals. They would form these with various monoliths and simple structures. Think pyramids, obelisks, stone circles, and mounds. While the materials to build such things tend to be on the cheap side, you need a lot and can be sabotaged.

Thus the checkpoint. Magic does make avoiding them quite easy, but in NeoRealm they tend to be seen more as “no trespassing” signs for nations. Oh, and they kept track of regular people entering the area to try for some free land. Like their team is looking for and so since they aren’t trying to do an illegal land grab, they stop by the checkpoint.

One of the guards, a badgerfolk, steps out of the checkpoint building. “Here for a claim? Of course you are. Not much else a trio like you would be looking for. I’m going to assume you all aren’t completely brain dead and so how about you show me your guild cards?”

The trio aren’t looking to cause trouble and so pull their cards out.

The guard glances at them and nods, “Ah, travellers. Yah, looking for an actual claim, or are you trying to join up with one of the settlements? Cause if it is the second, you’re a little late as most of the good ones are already turning away people.”

Rosha shakes her head, “We’re going to be settling our own little corner. Though we don’t want to go full hermit. Got a good settlement for us to set up a day or so away from?”