Splinter Angel Chapter 30 (Patreon)

The sun was barely above the trees as they exited the Duskward gate, following a well-worn path towards the trees. Rayni led and Ana followed, unable to stop thinking about Messy and her own behaviour around her.

[You have been invited into the Party of Rayni, Human Huntress (11). You are already in a Party. Do you wish to leave your Party and join the Party of Rayni, Human Huntress (11)?]

She barely noticed the Party invitation, accepting it without issue this time.

[You have left your Party.]

[You have joined the party of Rayni, Human Huntress (11).]

[Party members:

Rayni, Human Huntress (11), Leader

Anastasia Cole, Human Companion (6)

Party effects:

Pack Vigilance (Rayni): All other Party members get a bonus of 2 to their base Perception. Bonus increases with class level. This cannot raise their effective Perception above yours.

Companionship: All Party members within 30 feet of you recover more quickly from fatigue, mana depletion, and injury. Range and effect increases with class level.]

Ana didn’t get attached. She didn’t get attracted. She barely formed friendships in the way she’d heard others describe them. She certainly didn’t fall in love, or get crushes, or whatever. And yet the last thing that went through her mind the previous night, as she tried to settle her mind to sleep, was the memory of Messy singing softly and stroking her hair as Ana lay with her head in her lap.

It just didn’t make sense.

“We’ll go about ten miles in before I start tracking,” Rayni said, breaking Ana out of her thoughts. “Though we’ll keep going duskward for two days. That’ll get us well away from the day-hunters, to where the hunting’s much better. You’ve got plenty of endurance, right?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine” Ana answered, somehow having listened to Rayni and wrapped up her own thoughts at the same time. Acuity helping out, probably. Not that she’d gotten anywhere.

Ana didn’t think that she could rival an Olympic athlete or an ultra-runner just yet, but she’d already been able to do some decent hikes back home, and her effective endurance was much higher now. Ten miles with a pack? That was nothing, even in her armour. Two days of hiking? Sounded nice. Relaxing, even.

Rayni set a good pace, and even though the path through the forest was pretty rough they made it to Rayni’s designated break spot in a little over two hours. And that was with Rayni stopping them every so often to draw Ana’s attention to things: useful plants, animal tracks, even scents. After they’d rested and filled up their waterskins they continued, going slower as Rayni began to actively search for prey. She still pointed things out to Ana, though, and soon switched to having Ana try to find whatever it was Rayni wanted her to see. Rayni clearly took their deal seriously, and after a few hours Ana was rewarded for it.

[Congratulations! You have learned the Skill Herbalism! You have been awarded: Growth Crystal (Lesser).]

[Congratulations! You have learned the Skill Tracking! You have been awarded: Growth Crystal (Lesser).]

And while Ana had been learning and gaining those Skills, Rayni had bagged two perfectly normal badgers, which she’d skinned with practised efficiency, leaving the rest of the carcasses behind. Ana was not best pleased with that. It went against her modern sensibilities. But she wasn’t back in England, or New York, or anywhere else on Earth, she had to remind herself. And with how happy Rayni was over the quality of the pelts she’d harvested, and the money she expected to sell them for, Ana kept her mouth shut.

Late in the evening, after about 30 miles of hiking mixed with tracking, hunting, a bit of gathering, and a break here or there, Ana was helping Rayni to skin a fox. Again, she didn’t feel great about it, but after they’d scraped off the pelt she picked up a third skill for the day.

[Congratulations! You have learned the Skill Harvesting! You have been awarded: Growth Crystal (Lesser).]

“Oh, hey!” Rayni said with a satisfied smile. “I just picked up Teaching!”

“Yeah? I just got Harvesting. Third Skill today, after Tracking and Herbalism,” Ana replied as she washed and dried her hands.

“Three skills in a day? That must be what did it for me! Congratulations, and thanks!”

“Right back atcha,” Ana said. “So, now what?”

“Now we camp. Getting too dark to hunt anyway. I’m guessing you’ve never slept in a tree?”

Ana blinked a few times. Was Rayni serious? “Can’t say that I have, no.”

“Yeah, thought not. And this isn’t the time to start. We’ll just tent normally and sleep in shifts, yeah? Haven’t felt any demons around, but they don’t sleep, so we’ll need a watch. How much sleep do you need?”

Ana thought about it. She’d been sleeping less than she was used to, and waking up feeling more rested than she’d expected. “I’m not sure,” she admitted. “Six hours?”

“Alright. And with that Party Effect from Companionship? Think you could function on four and a half? I’d rather not spend half the day with one of us asleep if we can get away with it.”

Four and a half hours of sleep? She’d survived on less when there was no shelter she could sleep at. She hadn’t liked it, but she’d survived. “Yeah, I should be able to do that. Will you be okay, though? You’re the one doing the real hunting.”

“Oh, yeah. Not getting into numbers, but I’ve got my willpower up so I can do fine with four hours on a normal night. Hoping that Ability of yours will push it to three, but we’ll see.”

That caught Ana’s attention. “Willpower effects how much sleep you need?”

“Well, yeah? Like how vitality affects healing and endurance how fast you recover from fatigue. How do you…?” Rayni stopped and screwed up her face. “Shit. Sorry. Some kind of messed up background. I forgot for a second. But didn’t they teach you anything about the System? At all?”

“I honestly didn’t know how anything worked until I got here, yeah.”

“Well, damn. So, what, they taught you to fight and expected you to figure the rest out yourself? Or did they not want you to do even that?”

“I learned to fight on my own. I had to.”

Rayni took on an uncharacteristically soft, sympathetic look. “That’s completely fucked. Puts things in perspective, honestly. My life hasn’t exactly been grapes and roses, but at least I had a family who did their best to set me up to thrive.” Then a smile split her face. “But hey, you got out! You’re here, alive, kicking ass, levelling like crazy. You’ve done alright, haven’t you?”

“I was doing alright before I dropped in here. Someone got me off the street, gave me a job…” Ana sighed. “But yeah, I guess I am doing alright, considering all the shit that’s happened to me the last… hell, it’s only been a little over a week.”

“And you already have some friends helping you out and a cute girl trying to get in your pants. You’ll be fine!” Rayni said, her smile turning into a grin as Ana rolled her eyes at her.

Rayni had Ana find them a campsite, and they started setting up the tent, drying the pelts, and all the other little tasks that were needed. This netted Ana a notification that her skills had been partially calibrated, which made sense. She didn’t bother opening her Summary. She’d done plenty of camping since Mr. Stamper brought her over, and she’d probably been cheated out of a Lesser Crystal or two for a Camping or Survival Skill, or something.

Ana broke the silence as she was starting a fire to cook their dinner, a rabbit that Rayni had shot together with some foraged greens. “Hey, Rayni. Without Delves and hunting demons, how do people level?”

“Huh?” Rayni looked up from skinning and dressing the rabbit. “Oh. Skills, mostly. And natural Crystals, but those are so slow and far between that they don’t do much unless you’re totally useless.”

“Alright, sure. But take me, for example. I need 2450 points to get to level seven. And I’m getting Lesser or Minor Crystals for Skills. I’d need a bunch of Skill levels to get to seven, and then level eight will take more, right?”

“Right.”

“So, if you’re not Delving…”

“How do you get anywhere?”

“Yeah.”

Rayni shrugged. “Most people don’t. Getting out of the teens from just skilling is hard work. Of course, if you’re good at what you do you can make money and buy Crystals, to help you level that way. But a lot of people are bad enough off that they have to sell their Crystals instead. You’ll even see some people who try to learn as many skills as possible just to get the Crystals, so they can sell them.” She thought about her own words. “Not a terrible way to make a living, I guess, if you like learning stuff and don’t have too much pressure.”

“What about you? You need money, right?”

Rayni sighed. “Damn right, I do. But making money gets easier at higher levels, so you can’t neglect that completely, either. I try to balance it. I never buy any Crystals, but whatever I get from Skills, I eat. It’s slow, but I hope it’ll get me to 15 in the next couple of years. And if I get lucky, and we can pay off my family’s debt, I might be able to start eating my Delving Crystals, too. Then I can really pick up the pace on levelling.”

“Stick around me and we’ll get you there,” Ana said off-handedly. “I’m aiming for 50.”

Rayni snorted, then burst out laughing. “Damn, Ana, you don’t lack ambition, do you?” she said after calming down a little. “Trying to become immortal?”

“I don’t know about immortality, but I figure if it’s possible to get strong enough that no one can bother me, why not aim for that?”

“‘Cause you’ll probably die along the way. But if that’s what you want to do, sure. Go for it. Best of luck to you. Just don’t do anything suicidal, yeah?”

“I have no intention of getting myself killed. But I don’t mind taking risks, if the payoff is good enough.”

“Yeah, I saw. But, Ana, seriously. Don’t get yourself killed. If this trip turns out good I’d probably be alright to team up again, but not if you’re going all, ‘finish levelling or die trying.’” 

“We’ll see.” They sat in silence for a while. The fire was going, and Rayni rubbed some salt into the rabbit and set it to cook. “What did you mean by ‘finish levelling?’”

“You said it yourself: Getting to 50. That’s the max level. Then you start Ascending, supposedly, though I have no idea how that works. And after Ascension is Apotheosis. Like, you literally become a god. That’s how the Wayfarer did it. Only mortal ever to reach godhood, according to her temple.”

“How come?”

“How come, what?”

“How come she’s the only one?”

“Not like I know. There’s Ascenders out there, probably tens of thousands of them with how big the world is, so it’s not like no one’s trying, but I never talked to one. Not like one of them would ever come to a scrubby low level Splinter like this one.”

“Sure, but if there’s so many of them trying to reach Apotheosis, you’d think more than one would have managed it.”

“I guess they died along the way. Maybe they killed each other, or the Wayfarer or the other gods kill anyone who gets close, or… I don’t know. I can’t even imagine what kind of creatures you’d have to kill, and how many, to get to level 50. Once you start Ascending I have no idea what’s going on. And I don’t want to. If I never meet one, I’ll consider myself lucky.”

“Why? Someone with that kind of experience must have seen and learned all kinds of things. They should be able to give some amazing advice, shouldn’t they?”

Rayni stirred the fire a little, and the meat started sizzling and popping. “Listen. Ascenders, right, they don’t have the best reputation. As a group, I mean. Most people just avoid them if they can, try to keep them happy if they can’t. It’s like… People in the 40’s can start losing touch with the rest of us because of how strong they’re getting. A level 40 is as much stronger than a level 30 as a level 30 is than a level 20, right? Or something like that, anyway. So what happens when you hit 50, and then keep going? They’re…” she trailed off.

“Demi-gods,” Ana suggested.

“I guess, yeah. I don’t know if they’re all trying to become gods, but they’re all on their way. Between Attributes and Enhancements, Abilities, and Skills and Perks, one of them could decide to wipe out the whole outpost, and I doubt that we could do anything about it. The only thing that can really threaten an Ascender is another Ascender. And they’re basically immortal, with how vitality messes with your ageing.”

“Sounds pretty good to me. Live as long as you want, no one can mess with you… I can see the appeal.”

“Maybe, but they’re not like us, yeah? That kind of life span, and that kind of power, it changes you. And they’re all combat classers or mages to start with, ‘cause no one else gets to that level. They don’t think like us, and they don’t see the world or other people like we do. You want my advice? Just avoid them.”

“But this is all second or third or fourth hand information, right? You just said you never even spoke to one of these Ascenders.”

“Yeah, well, if you want to go find one, go ahead. Not like I could stop you. And if you’re trying to become one of them… rate you’re going, with the right support you might make it. Remember me fondly, I guess? Don’t decide, 40 years down the line, that my stupid decision a few days ago is a reason to spend a few years tracking me down to kill me, or whatever.”

“Yeah, no problem.”

After they’d eaten and done some light care on their gear, Rayni took the first watch. Ana hadn’t felt all that tired when she crawled into the small tent, but it felt like she’d barely laid down before Rayni woke her, softly but insistently repeating her name. The stars were still bright in the sky, but to Ana’s surprise she felt pretty good. Not completely rested, but enough to go for another day.

“How long was that?” she asked.

“About four hours. You alright?”

“Yeah, I feel a lot better than I would’ve expected.”

“Great. Now get out here, would you? I’m sleepy!”

“Do you want me to wake you up at some point, or…?”

“Nah, I should be waking up on my own in three or four hours. If I’m not up by sunrise, don’t forget to burn my body.”

 Sitting in the dark, with only the embers of the fire for company in the warm summer night, Ana thought about what Rayni had said about Ascenders. People who made it past level 50, which was apparently the maximum. Most of what she’d said had sounded like pure prejudice, but some had sounded reasonable. If someone was functionally immortal, and if they were so far beyond the average human – or other sapients – that they may as well be demigods, like the Wayfarer had said, of course they’d look at things differently. When you expected almost everyone around you to die, while you remained the same, wouldn't it be hard to get close to them? Painful, even? If you knew that you were so much stronger than them that a comparison was ridiculous, wouldn't it be hard to respect them, or to even take them into consideration when planning and making decisions? Ana already had trouble with that sometimes.

Wouldn't there be a chance that at least some of these Ascenders would understand her? Not that they would be an ideal pool of friends, almost by definition, but still.

True to her word, Rayni woke a few hours later. “Hungry at all?” she asked.

“Not really,” Ana answered. “Sleep well?”

“Very. I think my Danger Sense is getting used to you.”

Ana shot her a questioning look.

“Didn't sleep well during the Delve,” Rayni explained. “Constantly felt like I was in danger, so I kept waking up. Tonight, not so much. No interruptions!”

Ana carefully kept a frown off her face at the reminder. The fact that Rayni, or anyone, found her uncomfortable to be around was, well, uncomfortable.

“Glad to hear it,” she said, trying to put some cheer into her voice. “What’s the plan now? Pack up and move on?”

“Let’s wait for sunrise. I don’t imagine you can see in the dark very well.” Rayni thought for a moment, then amended, “Can you?”

“As well as any human,” Ana hedged.

“Right. It wouldn't make sense for you to have your perception above 25 yet. I mean, I could lead the way, but it’s not like we’re in any hurry.”

“Why 25 specifically? Doesn’t perception improve night vision?”

“Not until 25, it doesn’t. You have a good chance of getting Darksight at that point, though. It’s not the only Enhancement you can get at 25, but it’s the most common one.”

“Alright, you mentioned Enhancements before. Are those like Perks?”

Rayni stirred the embers a little, then added some fuel to the fire. With obvious reluctance, she said, “Ana… I know you said that you’ve learned some stuff since you came here, but we have some time before the sun comes up. Do you want me to just give you the System talk? Like we do with kids?”

“Yes! Absolutely!” Ana said, Rayni rocking back at her sudden excitement. “Please, that's exactly what I need. I got a Perk during the Delve and I had no idea that it was even a thing. When I looked at what Advancement Points are, it said that you can get them for completing Achievements, and I got one of those when we did the Delve, too, but how do I get more? And now you say that there’s Enhancements? Please. Teach me. I am all ears.”