Chapter 107 (Patreon)

Chapter 107

He clicked on ‘Guild & Faction System’ first.

[You must create a guild with the ‘Create Guild’ command prior to utilizing this page.  You must have at least 3 people to create a guild.]

Riven frowned and dismissed it, deciding to move on to the cortex first.  He’d talk to the others about guild creation later, but that was a team effort and not an individual one.  Clicking upon ‘Panu Cortex,’ he saw a very intricate display appear in front of him in the form of a perfectly square hologram three times as large as his status page screen.  This one had the image of a world that he could only assume to be Panu slowly spinning in the background, with a headline along the front page of “Welcome to the Panu Cortex!” and an article with listed options beyond that underneath.

[Welcome to the Panu Cortex!

This is the first week having the Cortex intact.  For this reason, the system administrator will be able to answer direct questions if you have them over the next 7 days.  Beyond that the system administrator will divert its attention to other more pressing matters upon the world of Panu.  Here you will find forum categories and branching categories that you can scroll through subjects, post your own topics, acquire or share video feeds, create enemies or alliances in, and even bargain for goods here like a marketplace.  Be warned that each of these have strict sets of rules, and you will receive a notification if your content is prohibited as it is denied entry.  Most prohibited material from being made public involves key events in the world of Panu or even in your local area, secrets of Panu that the Elysium Administrator wishes to be found rather than publicly exploited, information released too early regarding worlds outside of Panu, and spam content.  Video feeds can only be uploaded by request.  You must ask the administrator directly for uploading content, and may or may not get your request recognized.  Sometimes the administrator may also post video content even without an express request.  In order to request video uploading, just mentally think of the time and place you want to upload and wait for a response.

Please note that restrained or imprisoned personnel may not access the forums of Panu’s cortex.  Forums extend to only to places you have visited and guilds you have joined before with the exceptions of the main page discussion board and the world quest message boards- both of which are world-spanning and more heavily moderated.  No forums outside key areas visited and guilds can exist other than Global Forums.

Feel free to select from one of the already categorized subjects, or you may use the search function for more in depth selections of guild forums.  Your options are as follows:

• Main Page & Announcements (Global)
• Power Ladders, Guild & Individual (Global)
• World Quests & World Quest Ladders (Global)
• Greenstalk Village
• The City of Brightsville]

Riven immediately clicked on ‘The City of Brightsville,’ and a top-down shot of an aerial view of the city was put on  display in the background to replace the one of the revolving globe.  It was very much like the website Reddit from back on Earth, with various subcategories that he could select from and a feed of the most popular posts - of which there were a number of quickly growing topics.

[In need of help, out of food and desperate]

[How do abilities work?  Does anyone know how to get new ones?]

[My family was killed by little green men.]

[Forming a hunting group to level up.  Taking applications, only class holders may apply.]

[Exchanging information on class types.]

[Repent!  The apocalypse is God's will, and the sinners of these lands are to blame!]

There were a couple of interesting threads that got an insane amount of traction concerning the people of Earth still residing in Brightsville, while others not as much.  It was far more than Riven had expected though, with thousands and then tens of thousands of people immediately blowing the more popular forum topics up with active and ongoing chatter.  He also knew there were probably far more people just reading through the comments like he was, instead of posting outright.

However, there was one forum topic that caught his attention immediately.  Frowning at it, he paused before selecting the following:

[Prophet’s forces have been routed, undead are swarming the city.]

He clicked the link, and began to scroll through dozens upon dozens of comments.  Talk about the surprise attack that morning was constantly being updated, horrified witnesses and even dozens of video feeds were somehow enabled for viewing purposes.  Clicking one of the clips concerning the battle, Riven watched with a mounting tide of conflicting emotions while the attack was recorded.

He was watching from the viewpoint of a man who stood along a makeshift wall surrounding a gated community, overlooking layers of barbed wire fences and other brought-in barriers.  He had a rifle slung over his shoulder, wore a linen vest, and was yawning while gazing towards the crack of dawn where the sunrise was beginning to peak over the horizon.  Other guards also sporting rifles laughed and joked with one another while the man sipped his coffee, only to abruptly startle and drop to the floor when one of his companions exploded in a spray of viscera when a bone lance blasted through the air.

Unholy screeches rose up like thunder to meet his ears, and the man’s body started to tremble as he beheld a wave of undead rushing across the broken city towards the compound. Hundreds, and then thousands of the monsters swarmed over buildings, broken rubble, streets and trees in a mad dash that caused him to gasp.  He began to scream out for help, only to have his vision go dark when a blur of motion collided with his head - ending the snapshot of video instantly.

How a dead man’s perspective was able to be obtained was beyond Riven’s knowledge, but there was a sky-down view as well that showed the flood of unholy creatures completely collapse on barricade after barricade while they scoured the norther reaches of the city.  Was the system actually enabling these thing to be shown from its own perspective, rather than those still alive?

Why had Allie not informed him of this?  There was only one person in Brightsville with those kinds of forces, and the ones they were battling were those with holy abilities.  It had to be Allie.

And the things he saw…

Riven turned off the video feed and shut it down.  He shared a look with Athela.  “I won’t make any assumptions until I talk to her in person.  Let’s not talk about it until I do… Ok?”

Athela didn’t say a word and he moved on, sheer determination not allowing him to jump to conclusions without speaking to Allie about what he’d seen.  Yet he didn’t immediately call her either, for fear of what she would admit to.

The Greenstalk Village forum was far less active.  That being said there were only a couple hundred elves in Greenstalk, so he wasn’t too surprised - and it appeared to be more of a test run to see just how the forums worked between the local fletcher and some of his friends.

Then came the more interesting part.  He clicked on ‘Power Ladders,’ Guild & Individual’ next.  It turned out to be a categorized list, and it had an explanation pop up prior to scrolling through it.  The guild sections were grayed out, with a little notification stating that the guilds system would be released within the upcoming weeks.

[This is a one time message: Power Ladders are categorized into Guild and Individual categories and only include natives of Panu, they do not include monsters or outworld invaders.  They are ranked when combining and comparing raw fighting capabilities or military might, items, wealth, and ability to influence the world around you.  Why do these lists matter?  Rewards will be given out at random intervals based on your rank, the higher the rank the better the rewards.  World events will also take place and pit rival teams against one another or pair them up for cooperation based on power ranking.  Lastly, certain world event invitations will only include people or guilds that are ranked high enough on World Panu’s power ladder.  It is usually in your best interest to be placed higher than not.]

[32 billion current participants have been analyzed.  The ranking categories are as follows: Apex Rank (Top 10), Paragon Rank (Top 1000), S Rank (Top 0.0001%), A Rank (Top 1%), B Rank (Top 15%), C Rank (Top 30%), D Rank (Top 50%), E Rank (Bottom 50%)]

[Current Top 10 Native Participants:

1. Judith Marcina, Level 82 Human, Apex Rank, Justicar
2. Retesh Vorath, Level 91 Corpse Lord, Apex Rank,  Elder Lich
3. Aren Hrall, Level 69 Snow Giant, Apex Rank, Berserker
4. Thofus Hrall, Level 84 Snow Giant, Apex Rank, Blizzard Mage
5. Cracius Mem, Level 85 Human, Apex Rank, Sword Emperor
6. Sinthil Tuk’tuk, Level 90 Lizardian, Apex Rank, Wind Blade
7. Thorman Bame, Level 90 Human, Apex Rank, Hammer of the Mountain
8. Esper Rite, Level 72 High Elf, Apex Rank, Glade Guardian
9. Toothly Rop, Level 60 Swamp Troll, Apex Rank, Maneater
10. Chitter Teh-Sneaker, Level 61 Ratman, Apex Rank, Dark-Blade Assassin

Your Status: Riven Thane, Level 38 Pureblooded Vampire, Middle S Rank, Warlock Adept

Guild Rankings Currently Not Available.  To be updated within one week’s time.]

S rank wasn’t too shabby.  That meant he was in the top 0.0001% of participants on this planet that were fighting for its survival, though he certainly paled in comparison to any of the top 10.  How they’d gotten that strong in such a short time when everyone here apparently started at level 1 upon initiation was beyond him, though he had a sneaking suspicion that they’d used various abilities already available from their original worlds to wipe out insane numbers of enemies in the short span of time Panu had been around.  Riven also did some quick math and quickly realized that although he was actually listed in S rank, this only placed him in the top 3.2 million participants - given that there were 32 billion people on Panu.

That was a lot of people to contend with.  But it DID say he was ‘Middle S Rank’, meaning he wasn't near the bottom of that bracket.  So that was good.

“NICE!”  Athela screeched, slapping Riven’s shoulder excitedly with four of her legs and hopping up and down.  “I KNEW IT!  I KNEW YOU WERE GOING TO BE HIGHLY RATED!  Ohhhhh the opportunities that await us… I scored the jackpot!”

***

Kill the greenskins, visit the ratman Snagger at their predetermined meeting place in a few days, and have another long talk with Allie about both Chalgathi and the things he’d seen in the forums before returning to Greenstalk Village to turn Ethel into a thrall.  He also needed to figure out where he was going to plant his guild core and the Elysium Altar he’d obtained.  That was his list.  That, and continue giving Fay lessons on the ‘Wretched Snare’ spell he’d learned.  It was an unholy foundational spell, which meant she could learn it too as she was a mana-user and not based in stamina or divinity.

During his time over the past day he’d tried teaching Fay his ‘Wretched Snares’ spell, but the succubus hadn’t latched onto it at all.  What had taken him a very short amount of time to learn, the demoness was having a rather hard time grasping - and this was apparently the norm.

He also had the rod to plant the Elysium altar, but he still didn’t know where he wanted to set it up.  It was going to be very large and attract a lot of attention, especially when he’d not seen any altars before this and it’d likely be a coveted resource if there were any other groups in the area.

Riven rubbed his forehead with his thumb while walking through the forest, his pointer finger and middle finger squeezing to relieve the tension building between his eyes.  His three demons were close behind - the armored, four armed hellscape brutalisk Azmoth; the blue-skinned succubus; and Athela, the Arshakai.

Ethel, her mother Genua, and that cute little girl Len had bid them a temporary farewell with emotional goodbyes for over an hour before letting them leave.  With Elder Preen still a potential problem and Farrod nowhere to be seen to take care of them, Riven was determined to finish this fast.  He’d slaughter whoever he needed to and force the orcs out of the area, it was just that simple.  If he could do it by sparing those who were innocent, all the better, but he’d not balk now.

Regardless, he was far busier than anyone in a post-apocalyptic world should be, at least in his opinion.  He just wanted some time to rest and re-evaluate his life, not constantly being swamped with dumb shit like dealing with old, evil perverts or carnivorous goblins and orcs that’d been having blood-feuds with the elves of their planet pre-integration for centuries.  Even now he was mentally fumbling over the logistics of traveling between Greenstalk Village and the city of Brightsville for visiting the underdark, trying to figure out how many of those captured goblins they should take with them in order to feed on for meal supplementation after normal food.  Ethel could be turned into a thrall, but it wouldn’t be an immediate change and before that she’d only be able to supply small amounts of blood before falling ill herself.

Being a vampire might have its perks, but it definitely was a pain in the ass concerning the feeding he constantly needed to undertake.  It was a primal urge that never completely went away, and it only got worse the longer he didn’t do it.  Would he stay in the underdark long when visiting that rat man Snagger; the one he’d met in the sewers?  Who knew, but that wasn’t really a priority right now.  Allie was the priority right after this entire escapade with the elves was over with, and he was going to set things straight.

But he definitely wanted to check out Snagger’s nest of other rat-people.  The ratman seemed friendly enough and it’d be as good a place as any to find someone with the identifier class.  None of the elves had any high level identifiers, and from his conversations with Allie - neither did her undead.

Meanwhile Riven tried his best to keep the sun out of his eyes and off his skin.  They would have traveled the entire way in the dark if it weren’t that the elf guide leading them through the forests couldn’t see in the dark.

“You look deep in thought.” The voice of the elf scout called out from up front, causing Riven’s gaze to shift from the grassy forest floor to the bare-chested man ahead.  The elf was of a strong build with shorter hair than most his kind, though it was silver like many of the rest and he wore tribal markings of blue paint along his arms, abdomen and back.  He also had a longbow he carried in his left hand, and had two sets of quivers strung up behind him with a dagger in a sheath on his leg.  “Something troubling you?”

Riven shook his head, using his vampiric artifact Kane as a walking staff while hiking through the foothills and further into the southeast.  “No, not really.”

“You aren’t nervous?”

“About the goblins and orcs?  Perhaps this is overconfidence speaking, but no.  Not after all I’ve been through.”

The elf, an older man than Riven but still in his middle ages, grinned and nodded in approval.  He slowed down slightly to let Riven catch up, and began to walk side by side with him at a lengthy stride.  “That’s what I was hoping to hear.  I have heard many good things about you Riven, and though I was busy fighting the greenskins myself that night of the raid - I did get to see you in action for a small time.  What I saw was encouraging.  My name is Ren, it is nice to meet you.”

The elf put his hands together and bowed like most of his kind did when greeting one another for the first time, but then stuck out his hand to shake as well.  Surprised, Riven took the man’s hand in his own and firmly gripped it with a nod.

“So someone taught you our customs then.”

“Senna did.  She’s my daughter, one of the two girls you saved and brought back to us.”

“Oh!  That’s why your name is so familiar!”

Ren laughed, ducking underneath one of the lower-hanging treebranches in their path and continuing upwards in the direction of the next hill’s crest.  “Yes, I never did get a chance to thank you with everything that has happened.  I lost three sons in the fight with the orcs and it has weighed heavily on me, but I must put on a brave face for my family even so.  It just took me some time to get ahold of myself and sustain my rightness of mind, for I was in a dark place due to unbearable grief.”

Riven’s shock wasn’t evident due to the hood and mask.  He hadn’t realized that Senna had lost family members, she’d never mentioned it.  Then again she hadn’t really been around much and had stuck to her own family since getting back to the village, perhaps this was why.

“I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Do not be.” Ren stated absentmindedly, shaking himself out of the obvious inner turmoil he was experiencing and stepping over a fallen log with a grunt.  “It would have been more of a loss if you hadn’t acted, you have nothing to apologize for.  Again, I just wanted to say thank you.  You brought my daughter back to me, and I won’t ever forget the favor you’ve done my family.  In fact my wife is demanding that we invite you over for dinner after you get back.  The elder might hold a small feast in your honor when this deed is done, but if that happens we can merely have you over for drinks!”

“DRINKS!?” Athela called out from the back of the line.  “Like the alcoholic ones!?”

Ren nodded and waved back at the others.  “Of course you’re all invited, in case you were wondering!”

“Way to invite yourself, Athela!” Fay stated with an eye-roll.  “Nice manners you’ve got there.”

“We’re demons!  Since when are we supposed to have manners!”

Dr. Brass began to laugh, but Ren assured them all that he’d been intending to invite the entire group over along with Riven.

When Ren was done doubling down on that reassurance, he turned back to Riven while taking them onto a mildly worn dirt path running straight east.  “I also wanted you to bring Ethel, Genua and Len of course.  They’ve been family friends for many years, in particular - Genua, my wife and I all grew up together.  Thank you for helping her daughter.”

Riven paused upon seeing a wild pair of wolves staring them down, but the animals high-tailed it out of there once Riven landed a few well-placed bloody razors that exploded upon additional mana infusion to scare them off.  “So just ‘wife’, as in singular.”

“I’m not sure what you mean by that.”

“You don’t have multiple wives?  It seems like a lot of the men in your village have more than one.”

“Oh!  That.”  Ren notched an arrow and casually pulled back, releasing it and infusing it with some sort of skill.  The arrow glowed a light blue and crackled with lightning before slamming into a large snake of some sort further up the path - but the writhing of the creature quickly settled into death.  A money pouch dropped on its corpse, and the elf bent down to pick it up while they walked past.  “I only have one wife.  She doesn’t like to share, and she’s a handful as it is.”

“Got it.  Why do so many people have multiple wives in your village though?  I’ve been meaning to ask.  Don’t the other young men run out of potential partners?  Back on Earth, my original world, the polygamist groups in my country of origin would actually drop young boys off to fend for themselves in other territories so they couldn’t compete with the older guys.  They were called ‘The Lost Boys,’ and they’d just been completely abandoned because they were seen as a threat if they were to get older.  They just didn’t have enough girls to go around.”

Ren raised his eyebrows in surprise and looked thoroughly taken aback.  “That’s horrible.  No, we don’t have that problem.  The reason is that you’re likely looking at it in a light beyond what it actually is.  Meaning that only the most prominent men, usually leaders, will have more than one wife.  Most of us only have just one.”

Riven blinked, crushing a tree branch underfoot and batting away a large rock in the middle of the path with his morning star.  “Oh.  I guess I was under the wrong impression then.”

Ren took the opportunity to explain further.  “Elves live a very long time, hundreds of years usually, but we’re an infertile people compared to humans.  When men acquire power or wealth, and given our patriarchal society, it is only natural for the most well-off of us to buy new wives.  You were human once, yes?”

“Yes.”

“That was what I thought.  So although humans breed much more quickly and easily than elves, we make up for it with prolonged lifespans and more time to conceive children.  But elves aren’t as fertile as humans and we all want to father children, or at least most of us do; and being rich allows one to acquire more wives for a better chance at acquiring a proper heir.  Elder Preen worked very hard to have children of his own and only managed to acquire two sons despite having three wives and using fertility supplements.  One of the reasons he wanted to take Genua was because she’d had two daughters in a very short span of time, so she is fertile and a higher prize than the wives he already had.  Thus it is not that most of us have multiple wives, most of us don’t in fact.  It is that the richest and most powerful of us can simply afford it.  They can pay the extra dowry to the family they buy the woman off of and can support more people in their household.  This is true not only for our village, but across many other elf societies.  Probably even the drow.”

“Drow being dark elves, right?”

“Yes, the ones who live in the underdark.  Though that isn’t confirmed by the elder I spoke to because drow generally hate the elves of the surface.  But back to the topic at hand:  As for why I personally only took one wife, I just chose not to participate in the bad habits of my fellows even despite my success because the woman I love wants me for herself.  I respect her enough to abide by her wish, and wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“That’s so flippin cute!” Fay called out, giving Ren a big thumbs up and a wide, approving smile from underneath her hood.  “Good for you!  You have my official vote for next village mayor!”

Dr. Brass guffawed.  “I would have taken five wives.”

“That’s because you’re a dirty old pervert!” Fay shot back with a glare over her shoulder, pointing accusingly.  “Old and perverted!”

“Guilty as charged!  And that’s rich coming from a succubus.”

“Don’t stereotype me, you wrinkled old mummy!”

Riven smirked and turned to look ahead again.  “We’ve had enough old, perverted men for my liking recently.”