Explorer of Edregon

Despite every fiber in his being warring against his decision and telling him he'd regret what he was about to do, Vin raised a fist and knocked on Kym's door. The former king's advisor was one of the very few exceptions who had been given a smaller apartment entirely to themselves. Provided one didn't include the guard that was positioned outside who, for whatever reason, currently looked like he was trying to stare in any direction other than toward Vin.

Shaking his head at the effect his mere presence still seemed to have on some people after the rumor mill had blown him completely out of proportion, Vin waited patiently for Kym to come to the door. Kym didn't seem to be in any rush to answer his knock, which left Vin with a lot of time to second guess himself.

While Vin wouldn't necessarily consider himself 'smart,' at the very least, he definitely didn't think of himself as 'dumb,' either. He was well aware of the incredible resource Kym presented for the town of Earthers who were still relatively brand new to the System, and he knew Kym happily fielded just about any question that was brought before him in exchange for protection and being allowed to read the books the Earthers brought to Edregon with them. By now, countless people had no doubt received advice or tips on how to build their classes or ways to maximize whatever future goals they were trying to reach. Kym's flawless memory and years spent absorbing every single book in his noble family's library made him the perfect sounding board. There really wasn't a single reason why anyone shouldn't come to Kym and ask him about their build path. Unless…

Someone didn't want to have their entire future plotted and laid out for them.

Vin stood there patiently, trying to ignore the furtive glances the guard was shooting him as he continued waiting for Kym. He'd considered going to the Advisor a number of times over the past few weeks to ask about skills or passives or even potential Capstones that would benefit him. But every time the thought struck him, he was also struck with the image of carrying around a large laundry list of things he'd have to reference constantly, checking off certain actions and following the proposed 'optimal path' as best he could.

Which pretty much went against everything Vin personally believed in.

He was an Explorer. He lived to venture into the unknown and tackle life one day at a time. The mere thought of trying to plan out his future sent unpleasant shivers down his spine, which was why he'd almost avoided the Advisor like the plague up until now. Which admittedly, hadn't been very hard, seeing as Kym pretty much spent every second of the day he wasn't giving advice reading within his room.

However, Vin was also the highest level Earther on Edregon. At least from the U.S. And that meant he had a duty to make sure he was capable of protecting his people. Even that wasn't quite enough for him to sit down with Kym and ask the Advisor to plan out his entire future, but Vin was at least willing to have a quick check in with him and ask for a recommendation for his newest passive. Passives were rare, uncommon abilities after all, and he wouldn't have the complete freedom of choice again like this until level 45, which could be ages away.

"Hey, uh..."

Vin was broken out of his inner struggle by the guard standing watch at Kym's door. Despite the man's thick leather armor and sword strapped at his side, he looked as though he was doing his best to shy away from Vin as much as possible.

"Yes?" Vin asked, trying his best not to sound like The Roamer, whatever that meant.

"I'm Sean… A Duelist, from the second wave," the guard hurried to explain, his excitement seeming to drown out his fear the moment he started talking. "I'm a civilian, but I was a fencer in college, so I'm pretty decent with a sword, which is why Phil put me on protection detail for Kym. A real sword isn't quite the same as what I'm used to of course, but it turns out a good number of those skills actually translate over here to Edregon, which is why I was offered the class, I imagine."

"That makes sense," Vin said slowly, curious where Sean was going with this. Sean himself finally seemed to realize he was rambling, as his face heated up, and he quickly reached behind him and pulled out a small book he'd had strapped to his belt.

"It's, uh, somewhat embarrassing… But ever since arriving on Edregon, I've made it my mission to try and collect as many signatures from the first wavers as possible. You guys aren't just the strongest among us, you're the forerunners. The very first people from Earth to set foot on this world. The ones who had no camp prepared, no knowledge of what you were getting into, nothing but a few boxes of supplies. The fact that you guys didn't just survive, but managed to lay the foundation for all this," he paused, waving his hands all around them at the surrounding town. "…is incredible. At first I thought the signatures would just be fun to collect and have, but then I realized my little hobby would probably have historical significance as well. I mean, imagine if back on Earth, somebody managed to put together a book containing the signatures of every single person that boarded the first ever space shuttle to Mars or something."

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Sean paused, seeming to realize he was rambling yet again as he all but forced himself to stop and gingerly held out the journal. "Anyway, that's my reasoning. If you wouldn't mind signing, I'd appreciate it."

"I don't mind," Vin said, smiling at the nervous guard as he accepted the journal. Honestly, if somebody had come up to him and just asked for his autograph as The Roamer, he probably would have turned them away. But Sean appeared completely genuine in what he was trying to do, and he'd unintentionally struck upon Vin's very essence. Comparing him and the others of the first wave to some grand group of trailblazers made him feel warm and fuzzy inside, and he happily flipped open the tiny book and scrolled through the pages.

It seemed Sean had given each individual from the first wave their entire small page to write down whatever they wanted alongside their name. Some included details about their class or experiences after coming to Edregon, while others tried to come up with powerful quotes to be remembered by. A few left suggestions and advice for all that would come after and read the journal, while a small handful just quickly scribbled down their names and left the rest of the page blank. As far as Vin could tell, Sean had already managed to gather signatures from just over forty of the first wavers, which was most of all that was left. Vin wasn't certain of the exact numbers, and he'd been too afraid to ask Spur. But at this point, he thought the number of people still left from the first wave was somewhere around sixty.

Flipping through the book, he chuckled when he found Alice's page and saw the quick diagram she'd drawn showing future generations how to prepare an acceptable pitfall trap. Abby had included a powerful message about doing what one thought was right, regardless of the consequences. Phil had jotted down his name and nothing more, while Shredder had included a tally of all the different monsters he'd killed since arriving on Edregon. Myers' name was followed by an inspirational quote from some famous poet Vin could vaguely remember being taught about in school, and Spur had written a message encouraging all who came after them to remember where they'd come from. Sean even had Frank's signature, though the combat medic-turned-Healer had also poorly drawn what looked like a middle finger beside his name.

"This is pretty incredible," Vin whispered, feeling a storm of emotions broiling within him as he went from one page to the next. Sean hadn't been exaggerating. He was quite literally creating a piece of history before their very eyes.

"I reserved the third page in the book for you," he said, grinning sheepishly. "I wanted the surviving members of the very first council to have the first few pages. Patty and the crafter leader both died during the battle for wave two, but you, Spur, and Phil still remain.

Sure enough, Spur's signature was the very first one listed in the book, and Phil had taken the page immediately after. Alice's own diagram was on the fourth page, which Vin assumed was because she was now a member of the council.

"So I just sign and include… whatever I want?" Vin asked, suddenly feeling more nervous than he had in years. Facing down terrifying monsters and narrowly escaping death was one thing, but writing something that might very well be taught about in future schools and analyzed by who knew how many thousands of people?

Now that was real nightmare fuel.

"Yep! Seriously, write down anything at all," Sean nodded, all but bouncing on the balls of his feet as he waited for Vin to put pen to paper. "Sorry, I'm just really excited to finally get your signature added to the record. A few members of the first wave are hard to track down, like that Devin guy that lives out in the woods with his monsters, but none of them had anything on you!"

"I can imagine," Vin snorted, his pen hovering over the open page as he desperately wondered what he should jot down. What would be of the most use to future generations? He wasn't exactly a motivational writer or someone capable of pulling famous quotes out of the recesses of his mind, and he didn't think he could really come up with advice that wasn't fragment specific or something people wouldn't have already heard from others.

After a few moments, he blinked as the obvious answer struck him. Chuckling quietly to himself, Vin began drawing. There wasn't a lot of room on the small page provided to him, but he'd gotten pretty good at drawing by now, and his super-human dexterity allowed him to include plenty of fine details.

Sean stared down at his work in awe, the Duelist's mouth only growing wider by the second as Vin's fingers flew across the page. In what felt like no time at all, Vin finished up, and he grinned down at his own contribution to the future.

Drawing increased to lvl 9! 900 exp gained.

Cartography increased to lvl 7! 700 exp gained.

A small but legible map of the currently discovered Edregon had taken up almost the entirety of his page. He'd even gone so far as to try and scribble down the most important threats or things to know about each of the fragments. The sole moment of hesitation had been when he'd gotten to the neilans' fragment, which he'd decided to just label the defensive barrier and add 'danger' as he had to his own journal.

"I think a map would probably be useful," Vin admitted, going to hand the book back to Sean. The Duelist went to take it with wide eyes that were hungrily devouring the detailed map, before stopping himself with a jerk of his head.

"Your name!" he cried, pushing the book back toward Vin. "You forgot to sign it!"

"Oh, right," Vin laughed, rolling his eyes at his own forgetfulness. His map and all the details he'd included took up just about the entire space he had to work with, but a quick glance showed he had one tiny corner of uncovered space to work with. Putting the pen to paper, he paused one final time.

I suppose this is a historical record for the future…

Letting out a weary sigh, Vin scribbled his name in the remaining space, pleased at the very least that the text was so small and written so hastily that it was difficult to make out the full thing. He figured most people's eyes would be drawn to the intricate map anyway. Only the few that actually took the time to look closely and analyze his poor signature would be able to make out the four words he'd crammed onto the corner of the page as almost an afterthought.

Vinnie Stone. The Roamer.