Ch. 6 - Avelion (I) (Patreon)

Now arriving in ‘Verse #89,750 – Heficyre.

Felix landed on the soft grass and was immediately hit with the sweet scent of flowers in the breeze. The portal snapped shut behind him, and he glanced down, seeing that his weapon had altered to be more medieval in appearance, and his armor was now some type of hardened leather. He felt giddy with anticipation. “I’m in a fantasy world!”

And look at that…

Felix glanced behind him and gasped. Far off, at least a hundred miles away, was an enormous cliff that slowly rounded off in either direction. But stacked on top of it, further away and further in, ascending beyond sight, was a series of other, similar, circular cliffs. “It is like a giant wedding cake.”

I’ve never seen a world like this, that’s why I chose it. Let me check the information from the System.

[System Query: Information about Heficyre]

[The Universe is built around an object known as the Soul Spire that sits at the center of this reality. It is one enormous world. The top ascends into the Heavenly Realms, and the base reaches down into the Primal Chaos. All around is the Azure Expanse. This Universe is split into thirteen Tiers. You are currently on Tier ten, known as Avelion, The Arboreal Assimilation. Tiers are numbered from top to bottom.]

“That is so cool!” Felix looked around for any sign of life, but all seemed quiet in this large field. Not far off behind him was an enormous drop-off. Walking over, he looked over the edge and could not see the bottom. “Must be where the next Tier is. That would be Tier eleven?”

It is twenty miles down.

“We need to solve a crisis to get a Multiverse Charge, right?”

Yeah. I’ll query the System.

[Crisis: Heficyre – Several Options are available. Solving multiple Crises will result in extra Multiversal Charges.]

1.      Reach the top of the Soul Spire on Ethdellin, The Eternal Plains (Tier one).

2.      Solve the murder of Billiam III, on Mercantus, The Merchant Monopolis (Tier three).

3.      Revive the Dark Lord on Dirge, the Dark Lord’s Desolation (Tier four).

4.      Prevent Invictus, The Imperial Interior from collapsing (Tier five).

5.      Assist the Northern Court of Ashiyoko on Ryūganaru, The Renowned Realm (Tier six).

“Damn, there’s a lot of Crises here.” It made sense to Felix, this was a world that supposedly was the size of a whole Universe in comparison. “At a minimum, we need to go up.”

Oh, hey. Check this out.

[Dungeons: Heficyre is well known for its Dungeons, which are like living creatures. They can appear anywhere, and their interior molds itself to match the environment they appear in. They are populated by creatures formed from Primal Chaos Anima and have Bosses that, once killed at the end, cause the Dungeon to be defeated, whereupon it vanishes. All unclaimed loot is deposited on the original terrain, along with the ones who defeated it.]

“Is that talent auto-translating? I doubt they call it Anima also.”

Good guess. That is correct. They call it Mana in this ‘Verse. There was a feeling of gratitude and authenticity in the tone of words that echoed through Felix’s mind. And there’s two types. Heavenly Realms Anima, and Primal Chaos Anima. They are practically the same, the difference is that the Heavenly one is easier to control but not as potent, and the opposite is true for the Chaos one.

 “To the cliffs?”

By all means.

Felix trekked up to the edge of a vast forest, not encountering anything of note. The sound of animals met his ears the closer he got to the trees; the chattering of squirrels, the calls of birds, and the rustling of critters in the undergrowth. He reached a hand out to one of the trees, feeling the smooth bark. But he heard a crunching noise in the undergrowth, and he crouched, pulled his knife, and muttered, “Detect Hostiles.”

A golden line traced itself to a tree not too far away. Felix tried to stealthily approach, hugging the trees as he crept forward. The hostile had not moved, and he wheeled around the tree, ready to stab whatever it was. Execution.

He plunged his knife into some small, red-skinned creature that was slightly humanoid, but blended with rodent-like features. “What is this?” he grunted as he pulled the knife free – the body hitting the forest floor. No clue. Don’t forget to loot it. Felix did as he was instructed.

[Experience Awarded = 1]

[Experience Bonus from Execution Skill = 1]

[Achievement Unlocked: Killed a creature without it knowing you were there]

[Loot Obtained]

·         Forest Kobold Ears (x2)

[Loot Bonus from Execution Skill]

·         Local Currency: Converted to 5 VC.

So the System is starting to combine messages, Felix thought as the text flashed across the top of his vision in a much more condensed and rapid display. “Kobold. Right. If they’re anything like games in my ‘Verse, they travel in packs.” He glanced around, but his earlier Magic/Power did not detect any other hostiles within one hundred feet. “What do you suggest, Lucifer?”

Just go slow. Try not to make noise. Just keep heading towards the cliff. And I must say, you’re really comfortable with killing things.

This gave Felix pause. Glancing back at the corpse, a thought flit across his mind that this creature might have had a family. It might have other loved ones. He might have just killed their version of an herbalist or physician out foraging for plants to make concoctions. But he did not feel remorse like he was expecting. He did not feel guilt. The thing was too far removed from humans. It’s just a monster. It wasn’t a person.

Felix walked slowly, looking carefully before placing his foot down in small, clear patches of the undergrowth. He would occasionally use his booted toe to push a stick aside, but he stealthily made his way through the forest.

Night eventually fell, and the shadows under the trees darkened. No point in sleeping here, Felix thought. He climbed a tree, found a large branch, spent four hours focusing, and then rested in the VBV house.

Morning. You didn’t miss much. Let’s get going.

“Thanks for the wakeup call,” Felix muttered as he stifled a yawn. He left the VBV, shimmied down the tree and alighted on the forest floor, resuming his journey towards the enormous cliff. He retrieved a Versewalker Ration from his inventory and munched on it as he walked. It was delicious.

Hours passed with no sign of hostiles. “Why would a single Kobold be roaming around?”

Must be solitary creatures. Not like your – wait. Did you hear that?

Felix crouched in the undergrowth and got next to a tree as the sound of clinking metal caught his ears. He peeked around the tree and barely saw a glint of silvery metal in between the trees. This was followed by a loud curse, screaming, and the sounds of combat.

We should check it out.

Felix dropped all sense of stealth and made a beeline for the noises of combat. He wound his way around trees, and when he got to the edge of a clearing, he stopped and crouched once more. There was a group of three people in mail armor, holding various medieval melee weapons, fighting off a group of Kobolds. There were ten Kobolds that were up close engaged with large clubs and spears, and several in the tree line slinging rocks or using bows.

Oh, this is going to be too easy, Felix thought, pulling his knife and steadily creeping towards the clump of archers. He found the one furthest back who was wearing a small wizard hat. Reversing his grip on the knife, he crept right behind it. He activated Execute...

...and stabbed down into its skull at the same time as he wrapped his other hand around its throat to prevent it from saying a thing.

Good. Keep it going.

Felix complied, repeating the process until he had slain all the Kobolds in the tree line. He made sure to leave ten Vigor just in case he needed to heal, so he didn’t get to Execute all of them. The warriors in the center were struggling, the kobolds using hit-and-run tactics and their nimble agility to weave around the armored opponents. One of the warriors was down – a spear plunged into their throat, and the other two were injured. There were five Kobolds left. Use Affinity Empowerment again when I use Hellfire Beam.

Let’s burn!

Felix raised his hand, “Hellfire Beam,” channeling all but five Anima into it. Lucifer used the Affinity Empowerment at the same time as the laser of red and black flames split into a total of three beams, impacting and setting the Kobolds ablaze as they screamed and hopped around.

The warriors looked stunned, as did the Kobolds, as they gazed at the tree line. Felix stepped out and brandished his knife, “I got the archers!” He yelled.

The warriors took advantage of the Kobold’s lapse in combat awareness and resumed the fight, killing the last two, as the ones on fire fell and expired, the flickering sparks dying out. The combatants were huffing and one of them ripped off their helmet, revealing pointed ears and a delicate face. She knelt and checked her dead companion, before looking up to her alive one and shaking her head. “Our thanks, stranger,” She said. Her voice was coarse like a smoker’s voice.

Felix walked forward and pulled back his helmet-turned-hood. “No problem!”

The two warriors raised their weapons, “What is a Human doing here? And one that speaks our tongue?”

Felix held up his hands, “I just saved you; I think that should confer the benefit of the doubt.”

The two warriors glanced at each other for a moment before nodding slightly and relaxing. “Very well. We’ll take you to see our King. He’ll know what to do with an intruder.”

I did some digging. These elves are the main inhabitants of this Tier. They are racist…speciest…eh, whatever you want to call it. Definitely elitist. He chuckled. They are insular.

Felix nodded, “Right. Let me go ahead and just loot these things-”

“The ones you killed. The rest are ours by right,” The taller of the two women, who remained helmeted, stated bluntly. She set about cutting off the Kobolds' ears. Felix went about looting the corpses, and neither woman seemed to notice when his hand flashed with golden crimson light and the corpse partially vanished.

[Experience Awarded = 5]

[Experience Bonus from Execution Skill = 1]

[Loot Obtained]

·         Forest Kobold Ears (x14)

[Loot Bonus from Execution Skill]

·         Local Currency: Converted to 20 VC.

[Congratulations! You have reached the Experience threshold to level up! Speak with your Versewalker Core when you are ready to Choose your next Class.]

[Congratulations! Because you have been sneaking, stabbing, and looting in a Fantasy Universe, you have gained access to the Rogue Class!]

The Rogue Class is neat. All about sneaking around and stealth kills. Worth considering putting your level into.

Fitting, given I’ve been using a knife, Felix thought. Let’s use the level-up on that.

[Selection Made: Rogue]

Felix’s torso burned with heat once more and he exhaled a small gust of steam as it rapidly cooled. His vision sharpened further, and he felt a little more relaxed as if he could bend himself about with more ease.

You’ve got an Affinity slot empty, sadly nothing to fill it right now. You can equip a new Skill.

Ghostwalk.

“What was that?” The smoker-sounding elven woman asked.

Felix glanced up, “What was what?”

“Steam came out of your mouth. Are you a Primal Chaos mage?”

What should I say? Felix thought.

There’s no info on this from the System. 50/50 shot here, either Primal Chaos or Heavenly Realms.

“Neither,” Felix replied.

There’s that, I suppose.

The elven woman raised an eyebrow with curiosity but nodded curtly. “You would not by chance be a healer?”

Felix shook his head, “No. But you two look pretty messed up.” He slowly walked forward, and very, very slowly put his hands into his hip pouch, using the action to obfuscate the fact that he was reaching into his Versewalker Core, and pulled out the two Health Elixirs from his inventory. “These should help.”

The taller one with the helmet on – the more injured of the two – grabbed one without question, opened her visor, and slammed the elixir down before handing back the vial. “My thanks, stranger.”

“It’s Felix,” he replied. “Can I get your names?”

The taller one nodded and raised her visor once more, letting Felix get a good look at her dark, olive skin, piercing blue eyes, and haughty demeanor on chiseled cheeks. Her long, pointed ears pounced slightly as she turned. “I’m Tinuriel, and that,” she hiked her thumb to her gruffer and smoker-voice counterpart, “Is Ilanora.”

Ilanora grabbed the other vial and uncorked it, giving it a sniff before quaffing it and handing the vial back. “Thanks.”

“No problem.” Felix said. He gestured to the body of their companion, “My condolences.”

Tinuriel spit on the corpse, “She was weak. The forest takes and keeps what it desires.” She gestured to Felix to follow them, “Come. We will take you to our leader.”

Felix followed as Ilanora fell in step behind him so that he was in between the two.

This seems like a bad idea, Lucifer said with trepidation.

We need to find out how to get up the cliff. This might be our best shot, Felix thought back.

Do you mind me using Detect Weakness while we’re traveling? Once your Anima comes back, I mean.

Go ahead.

Lucifer activated the skill when his Anima had refilled, and Felix saw the golden circles appear in the usual places he’d expect on a humanoid – neck, underarm, inner thigh – all places where there were major arteries. But there was another odd location; their heart appeared to be dead-center in their chest, instead of in the left side of the torso.

A few hours passed in silence. The forest grew thinner and thinner as they approached the enormous cliff. Eventually, they arrived at a massive oak wall. Several enormous trees had been felled and planted down into the dirt, the outside–facing edge scraped clean, and several spikes planted to prevent a charge. There was a voice from above on the wall, “Who goes!”

The two elves waved, “Tinuriel and Ilanora, back from scouting,” Tinuriel replied.

“You have a prisoner? And where is Silvina?” the voice on the wall yelled back.

“The forest took her,” Ilanora replied.

“Open the gates!” The voice vanished back over the edge, and a hidden entrance opened up. Felix followed the two elves inside. “Who is that you brought, and why aren’t they in irons?” One of the gate guards asked.

“We were on a scouting mission. Why bring irons?” Tinuriel answered haughtily.

I like her. Sensible. No-nonsense.

“Hi, I’m Felix. I helped save these two.”

The gate guard glanced at the two elves with a quizzical look. Ilanora nodded, “He speaks true. This Human did help us.”

Tinuriel pushed past the gate guard and gestured for Felix to follow her, “Come, we see the King.”

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