Might as Well

After leaving the first fracture in the second layer, they did a little strategy meeting about the situation. The new fracture had some things that showed that the new fractures would be more complicated. And based on all that, the next layer would be even more difficult.

They discussed trying to do the fractures by separating into two teams and staggering their entries, but in the end, the consensus was that it would be much safer if they went together, no matter how it would slow them down. However, after they did another run of the mole-slash-mosquito fracture, they found their groove and the speed seemed satisfactory.

‘At least I hope it will be enough…’ Sam mused as they headed back to the portal. The situation outside of their little isolated world was starting to get crazy.

Thus began a crazy rush to use up all the charges of the fractures. Thankfully, there were only two left.

Took an hour or two, but finally, the last mole boss and several armies' worth of bloodsucking mosquitoes were eliminated.

The drops were okay, a few hundred more drops of crystallized blood, some blood magic skillbooks, and even a few runic rituals for blood magic. The moles dropped almost two crates worth of star metal and a few earth magic skillbooks. Sadly, most of them were way out of Sam’s wheelhouse.

Still, he knew they would sell well, and that was enough.

They spent an hour resting and arranging the loot and then directly headed for the next fracture. This one was shining with a bright red color, hinting at the elements found within.

[Let’s bring the heat!]

[The earth is torn asunder as big blobs of lava try to suffocate the living. Make sure to prepare some fireproof equipment and watch out for splatter.]

[Time limit: None]

[Penalty: Burning.]

[Reward: The distortion eases]

[Charges: 6/6]

[Hidden Bonus: Additional growth for the Tree of Rewards]

Sam instantly turned to Clarissa, who nodded with a proud look on her face. “Of course, I have buffs for raising fire resistance!”

Satisfied, the team simply stepped forward.

Thankfully, instead of a land covered with pools of lava, it was more like small rivers of lava running down a sizeable mountain’s side, crisscrossing over the land. Despite that, the environment was hot, stuffy and so dry that Sam could already feel his mouth drying out. Then a gentle light enveloped them, and suddenly they couldn’t really feel the effects of the lava coursing through the ground.

They were in the middle of thanking Clarissa, as well as praising her – Isabella and Katie stood there giving her an enthusiastic golf clap – when one of the nearby lava rivers erupted, sending lava, rocks, and other material in the air. In the wake of the eruption came a great lizard, covered in metal and rock, with rivulets of lava running down its back like water off the hides of alligators.

The lizard and its emerging cousins were the size of rhinos and looked rather hungry, which was expected as the air was probably toxic and nothing green could survive the constant high temperature, eruptions, and earthquakes.

“Dan, you’re on defense! Make sure no fire comes close to us!”

“Got it, boss!” came the energetic reply from the muscled mage.

Then Sam cleared his throat, causing the women in the party to remove their eyes from Dan’s muscled torso as sweat cascaded down as if he was in some kind of soda commercial.

“The rest of us will first try the flip and stab the belly tactic. If that doesn’t work, we’ll try overwhelming force,” he explained his ‘plan’ with a smile.

“I like that. You can’t go wrong with overwhelming power…” commented Isabella while grinning.

Sam bowed his head and then took another look at his team as the first lizard finally managed to fully claw its way out of the lava onto solid ground, ready to take them on.

“Any other question?” The team shook their head.

“Then let’s go!”

The fracture was mostly filled with lizards ranging from the size of rhinos to giant elephant-sized ones. The end boss was an even bigger lizard that was so big that it only managed to heave its gargantuan front half onto solid ground to face Sam and his team.

But with Dan redirecting any fire-type attack, Clarissa making sure that the environment didn’t cook them, and Sam using his wind magic and amateurish earth magic to take care of those types of attacks, the humongous lizard fell in short order.

They speedran the loot collecting and harvesting part as even with Clarissa’s skill the heat of the lava pool from which the boss emerged was so brutal they were practically drenched in sweat. Some of the lighter clothing had its edges begin to blacken and smoke…

Sadly, they didn’t manage to fully harvest the big boss, as that would have probably been just too much material, but even the meat from one of its arms was enough to feed a lot of people, not to mention the hide.

The drops were more star metal, fire, and earth magic skill books with a few sub-elements added in, like lava, magma, ash, and smoke. Some of the fire magic spellbooks were picked up by Dan, but Clarissa also took some basic ones. Isabella learned one of the smoke spells to try to create an environment where she could strike from cover, but she didn’t have a skill that allowed her to see through the smoke she created, or even breathe inside it without Clarissa’s buffs.

At least Sable, Isabella’s familiar, ate one of the bigger lizards, allowing the small wood spirit to transform into the wood and shadow version of the lava lizards.

The biggest drop was once again a material excellent for crafting.

[Ever-burning Coal: Despite its name, it doesn’t burn forever, however, it outputs heat in an extremely consistent manner, making it excellent for blacksmiths who need to maintain delicate temperatures for a long time.]

It went into its own crate, with some fireproofing enchantment around it, as Sam didn’t want it to accidentally catch on fire.

Then came some cleaning, clothing drying, and hair washing to get the smell of sweat out of their noses.

Sam wanted to head back in directly and found the idea of washing up and not just using the Clean spell rather stupid as they would need to do the fracture five more times. But the girls voted Dan and him down.

‘Man… I get it’s sticky, but come on…’ he grumbled to himself as he reluctantly washed his hair. He was all for the girls to get clean, but they insisted that he and Dan also get clean, as they didn’t want to smell their sweat. ‘Absolute bonkers…’ he continued to grumble as he exchanged a look with Dan.

The next five runs were done in an orderly manner while taking a cleansing bath between each of them as they tried to reduce the lava lizard population to zero. They collected the Ever-burning Coal, the spellbooks, and the random materials, ores, and reagents while also harvesting meat, hide, bones, and blood from some of the more impressive monsters.

They left the fracture after the sixth run relieved, drenched in sweat, dirt clinging everywhere, clothes singed and some of the fixtures even melted a little. Somehow, the last boss was even bigger than the others and delighted in slinging lava everywhere with every breath and movement.

The third fracture of the second layer recreated a muddy farmland with scarecrow monsters running at them with pitchforks and other agricultural implants.

[Fields of Nightmares]

[Once a proud farming community, now ravaged by a cruel curse, turning all scarecrows into cruel puppets of some dark being. They hunt the living and have no mercy. They cannot be cowed easily, so make sure to prepare your heart and mind for the challenge of taking them on.]

After the first run, they voted for the one scarecrow with the wheelbarrow as the scariest.

Something about a deranged scarecrow running at them with a wheelbarrow held in the air menacingly…

The scarecrows themselves were something of cursed monsters with some undead styling. They liked to use fear spells and rooting spells, allowing Sam and the others to practice their counter crowd control spells.

The boss was a giant cow with a peg leg and rapier. It was surprisingly fast. And with the scarecrows trying to root and fear the team, dodging the attacks from the boss became a true challenge.

At least the meat from the boss was premium, and the scarecrows dropped enough Fear Resistance skillbooks in the first three runs that all of them managed to learn and level it to an effective level.

The rest of the drops were naturally agricultural-related with a very weird and at the same time amazing fertilizer.

[Suspicious Fertilizer: A fertilizer that is just too jampacked with nutrients for the plants. If you would look closer, you could spot a few concerning things. But nobody wants to do that. Increases crop yield and may have some extra effect on a select few plants.]

They made sure to try it out on a normal seed, and the growth was almost twice the usual amount. Thus, they decided to dump a lot of it under the Tree of Rewards, which was slowly but surely turning into a sapling worthy of its name. There were small branches and a ton of leaves.

The biggest find was a rather eccentric artifact. It was made from wood, hewn roughly in the shape of a bird that resembled a raven or maybe a crow and the size of a palm.

[Totem of the Raven: A small totem imbued with the spirits of ravens slain over the fields. It was set up to prevent the accumulation of vengeful bird spirits. In the correct hands, it would show its true worth.]

“Lucy?”

“Totally!”

“How is the situation around the world?” Sam asked, leaning back, enjoying the atmosphere of the café. They were out of the game currently, and Lucy wanted to get together quickly to discuss developments over some drinks and desserts.

She was dressed in professional (and high quality) clothing, yet looked utterly at ease as she lounged in her seat. When looking at the young woman, he couldn’t help but feel a little satisfaction at preventing what may have happened. Nobody would know what he did, but he didn’t mind. Having friends was better…

Then she leaned forward, forearms on the table, and opened her mouth. “It’s all shit, Sam.”

He just smiled and took a sip of his lemonade. “I mean, it’s an MMO. What did you expect?”

She just shook her head. “You don’t understand. I saw the numbers. They’ve been funneling an insane amount of gold in the distortion ever since they found it. And this time the government is not playing nice.”

“They also want a slice?”

“More like the entire pie… Thankfully they didn’t send anybody important, so I don’t think they really understand what the Valley of Distortion represents.”

“I mean, based on the drops so far… I kinda understand the frenzy…” he admitted. Even with his foreknowledge, some of the drops truly surprised him.

“Don’t even mention that,” she sighed, resting her forehead on the table for a moment before raising it and looking back at Sam. “I’m already having a headache just thinking about how to handle all that shit. Tim is already updating the vault…”

“What about Lara? How is the construction?”

Lucy waved her hand around in a non-committal way. “The Silvercrest family has thrown their weight into the project, and thanks to our heads up, they haven’t slowed down due to the current events.”

“Oh? They didn’t send people?” Sam asked curiously.

“I may have promised some loot in your name…” Lucy admitted without an ounce of guilt.

“Fair enough. We got enough that giving them a few crates wouldn’t impact the bottom line…”

Lucy just snorted upon hearing that. “Just the theoretical profit will be bigger than some guilds’ entire operating budget…”

“Speaking of guilds. How are Chrysalis and Adam?”

“Legally good. His grandmother is some big-shot lawyer. The guild is…eh…”

Sam mulled over the words and then asked a question. “Not unified?”

“Yeah…”

“Well, as soon as Lara has the basic fortifications up, we can move the guild over there. The constant battles in defending that place will forge them into a true guild.”

Lucy looked back at him with a contemplative look, but before she could comment, they were interrupted by a blaring sound from the nearby television set.

It had been constantly broadcasting gaming news, and the sudden noise attracted everyone’s attention.

“Breaking news!” came the voice of the excited news anchor. “Several Distortion valleys have been found all over the world! Thanks to the tireless work of several guilds, including…”

The sound from the device was washed away by the excited chatter of the café patrons while Lucy and Sam looked at each other. They then shrugged and returned, discussing the details of the guild and company.

Sam knew that ever since the system ‘leaked’ the existence of the Valley of Distortions, not just people in the Emerald Kingdom but all the players all over the world started looking for them. Just like in his inherited memories. The entire world was abuzz with the news. Telling him something that he always knew.

A bloodbath was inevitable…

The fourth fracture in their isolated little valley was much calmer than the last one. Similar to the lava one, it was filled with rivers full of life, crisscrossing over a mountainside, creating small pools and beautiful waterfalls all over the area.

Opposite of the lava-filled one, the air was basically fully saturated with water, thus they were once again drenched in water and sweat.

[The hills are singing!]

[And they are very bad at it. Make sure to watch out for slippery rocks and slippery monsters. Something is wrong with this idyllic environment and it’s up to you and your troublesome team to find it.]

The hints in the fracture description were rather crude, as the first monster they came across was a water snake that blended in with the rocks protruding from the water, looking perfect for crossing the stream they were staring at.

The water was also filled with all manner of mundane and magical fishes, perfect for feeding the giant water snakes populating the rivers.

Often, they would find water snakes just lying with their mouth open and allowing the current to simply wash the fish into their endless bellies.

The boss was once again a giant monster, a water snake of epic proportions manipulating the water to try to dice them into sushi-sized pieces.

Once again, Dan with his ice magic, was the MVP of the fracture while the rest piled on the damage as he kept the monster occupied.

There was a ton of water magic, fishing, and fish-rearing skillbooks, but the best item they found by accident.

They were taking a break at one of the small lakes created under a waterfall, far enough to avoid the splatter and to hear each other, and when they went to refill their flask, they saw something shiny in the water.

Naturally, they had to check it out.

They were fish eggs.

[Chameleon Fish Eggs: Eggs from a chameleon fish imbued with dimensional energy. The fish born from these eggs will take on the attributes of their environment.]

“Well, another industry for the company…” Sam spoke after they all read the description. They could set up a magically charged environment with some other effects and create perfect fishes.

Nine charges in the water snake fracture were a lot, but the view was beautiful, and the snakes were easily baited by raw fish. The only problem was their water magic, but by the end of it, all of them were able to read the signs and dodge incoming water spears, lashes, or whips.

Once again, Clarissa learned a few water magic skills, just to make sure she would have tools for all occasions. Thus, she got the only item worth mentioning that dropped from one of the snakes.

[Ring of the Current: An ordinary ring swallowed by a water snake that was shaped, molded, and transformed by the magic of the monster. Increases water spell damage and reduces its mana cost.]

Aside from that, they had piles and piles of weapons, armor, and other trinkets, but nothing they would be happy to use. Katie made sure to try out a few cool-looking weapons, but in the end, she returned to her trusty greatsword.

The clearing of the fracture was followed by another break where they organized the loot in their ever-growing pile of crates, made sure Clarissa’s garden was growing well, and fed the Tree of Rewards with magical seeds and horrific fertilizer mixed with some crystallized blood, ground to dust.

The tree didn’t complain, so they made sure it had everything it would need to grow into a strong and independent tree. It already had a small crown and was tall enough that Sam didn’t have to duck down when he stood under it.

The fifth fracture was equally ‘peaceful’. It was a desert, filled with enough sand to make anybody hate it due to its roughness, coarseness, and ability to get everywhere. Sam hadn’t checked yet, but he was pretty sure his Clean spell gained at least a few levels just in the first run.

[One! Two! Three! Oh, no, that’s a mirage…]

[A desert can be a dangerous place. Make sure to keep an eye out for things lurking behind sand dunes and to step out of rhythm. Also, if a stranger offers you a weird sand and their eyes glow, reject it! Dare to say no!]

The fucking desert was full of mirages. Not just oases, but even simple cactuses had mirages. Often, what they would think was a hardy cactus forest would turn out to be one lonely cactus.

They saw giant buildings in all manner of shapes and sizes, but all of them turned out to be mirages. And meanwhile, the wildlife, consisting mostly of giant scorpions, tried to ambush them. Mostly by casting illusions.

Though, why the scorpions thought that a lone sheep standing in the desert would lower their defenses, Sam would never understand.

Thankfully, he had his illusion resistance, and after a while, the others also started picking up the skill to spot the illusions. Unsurprisingly, Katie was totally unaffected by the weirdness projected by the hungry scorpions.

The team had to navigate a maze of mirages beneath the sun that was always at its zenith until they reached an actual pyramid guarded by a sphinx of all things. The construct turned out to be the sphinx’s nest, and instead of asking riddles, it tried to eat them.

All of them picked up the Illusion Resistance skill during their runs, which surprisingly was still at nine charges. That made the subsequent runs much easier.

The drops were predominantly desert clothing and armor, with a few bottomless bottles added for convenience.

The few cactuses that turned out to be monsters instead of plants also dropped a very useful skillbook.

[Dowsing: Level 0/10 (0%) (Active) Use your mana to attune yourself to the environment and to figure out where to find a water source.]

As expected, they couldn’t find any water sources in the desert. Even the water in the cactuses that were real was poisoned.

All in all, it was a miserable experience that they were all glad to be done with.

The last portal was shining in several colors, including red, brown, blue, and yellow. The team approached it with a bored look on their face as if nothing could surprise them anymore. Which made sense to Sam. Some of the fractures were ludicrous.

[Storm on the horizon]

[The world was shaken by an earthquake. Volcanos erupted, the weather changed and a storm descended. Head into the Eye and do what you do best.]

[Time limit: None]

[Penalty: Burning. Electrocution. Drowning. Being Crushed. Pick your poison!]

[Reward: The distortion eases]

[Charges: 12/12]

[Hidden Bonus: Additional growth for the Tree of Rewards]

The inside of the fracture was pure chaos. A giant volcano in the middle spewed ash, dust, and smoke in the air, as periodically it would launch balls of lava-covered rocks in the air that would land somewhere far away, kicking up even more dust and setting things on fire. Which would then be instantly doused by the raging storm surrounding the entire area.

Black clouds, tainted with gray, were covering the sky, lightning flashing inside of them, trying to bring some manner of illumination to the world. Occasionally, lightning would strike the ground, causing explosions as electricity arced around.

And among all this chaos were thriving wyverns dancing a macabre dance in the sky.

They were covered in dark blue scales that would absorb the electricity from the lightning and would be untouched by the raging fires from the volcano.

The wyverns were currently happy trying to establish a pecking order, snapping and roaring at each other, but the team knew the moment they attacked the first one, all of the wyverns would try their best to demolish them.

Sam looked over at his team and spoke up. “Everyone ready?”

He received a few grunts, chirps, honks, and an enthusiastic roar from Katie and Lucky. “Then let’s go once again. I’m feeling like wyvern steak for dinner…”

The boss, to nobody’s surprise, turned out to be a gigantic wyvern. Of course, before the behemoth would descend from the middle of the storm, they had to go through treacherous terrain, dodging flaming balls of exploding lava, wyverns dive bombing them, wyverns trying to roast them, wyverns trying to grab them, and basically, everything that the monsters in the fracture were trying to do.

At least the wyvern meat, scales, and blood were a good consolation prize. As well as the great amount of random equipment that was dropped from the monsters. A few skillbooks dropped that were mostly basic wind spells that Sam either already had or had no interest in learning.

After all, who needed a spell just to flip skirts?

The moment they killed the last wyvern, a great roar shook the sky, causing some of the clouds making up the storm to fracture and they were instantly beset by the enormous behemoth, ready to tear them apart. There was no posturing nor preparation, nothing.

One second, the last wyvern died, and the next they were face full of an angry wyvern mother.

“Doing this twelve times is fucking unfair…” Clarissa grumbled as they left the fracture for the first time.

“At least the rewards are worth it!” replied Dan cheerfully as he swung his new bone club around, dropped by the boss. Made from wyvern bone, it was an excellent material to channel destructive magic through.

“And the money we’ll get!” added Isabella excitedly.

Clarissa thought about it for a moment, then nodded. “The money is indeed nice…”

The price of in-game gold had dropped as more and more people farmed and then sold it, but the game was popular enough that even with that drop, if one sold a good amount of gold they could rake in enough money to live comfortably for a while.

Twelve runs. Twelve angry mother wyverns. Twelve times wading through a battlefield against wyverns and the environment. But they had done it.

They were laden with piles of wyvern drops: meat, scales, blood, bones, and equipment enough to outfit an army. Or a guild…

But the most important thing they found were two intact eggs.

One of them was earmarked for Lara after Dan made an impassionioned speech that ended with a quiet: “…I really like her.”

Nobody had the heart to say no to that. In the spirit of that, the other egg would go to Adam. At first, Sam wanted to give it to Tim or Liz, as they had been with them longer, but neither would fit with a wyvern pet.

‘Maybe later we’ll have the opportunity to get them pets…’ he mused as they headed for the exit portal, glad to be rid of the oppressive aura of the storm.

They emerged into the valley with the portal blinking out of existence behind them. The distortion around instantly began to move. First slowly, but then it picked up speed. Within seconds, it looked like they were standing in the middle of a fucking weird storm that began to rise into the sky. And as it rose, it began to thin out, until nothing remained except a small breeze that ruffled their clothing as the air settled down.

Instead, they were left with four portals, each of them radiating mana in the four cardinal directions.

‘That looks suspicious as fuck…’ he thought as he looked around.

It was time to rest a little, but before that, they approached the nearest one, situated on the east side of the valley.

Sam reached forward and touched the swirling portal.

[Dawn in spring]

[With every year comes spring, where nature sheds its winter coat and clothes itself in the accruements of spring.]

[Time limit: None]

[Penalty: Super Death]

[Reward: The distortion eases]

[Charges: 1/1]

[Hidden Bonus: Additional growth for the Tree of Rewards, ???]

‘Oh boy…’