Soul of the Warrior

Several maids and manservants carried armfuls of scrolls and books into the residence. One after the other found an open space on the tables and counters to deposit their loads. Reivyn watched as the mountain of material continued to grow.

The number of documents quickly surpassed anything reasonable and just continued to grow. Kefira hid a small chuckle behind her hand at his expression. Nobody else in the room, including his parents, seemed particularly surprised or dismayed at the reading material transported to their house.

After the last manservant dropped several large tomes by the door, Reivyn turned to Kefira and raised an eyebrow.

“Oh? Is that all?” He kind of shrugged his shoulders like he was expecting more. Kefira snorted.

“For now,” she smirked. “That’s everything regarding the Wilderness and the Tier 5 Region. There’s still an entire other floor that contains what little information we have on the Tier 6 Regions and some of the further afield Tier 5 Regions and their Dungeons.”

“I think this is plenty,” Reivyn gulped.

“Can’t you just scan it all with your Divine Sense and, I don’t know, just know everything that’s written here?”

Reivyn shook his head.

“That’s not how it works. Sure, I won’t have to crack any of these books open to read them, but I still have to actually read them. Even if it’s just in my head, I have to mentally process all the information. It’s the same as you. Can you just flip through each page, look at the words without taking the time to read it, and know what’s written there?”

“Ahh, that makes perfect sense, actually,” Kefira said.

“Yeah. Granted my Skill and Stats have made my mental faculties extremely quick. Much faster than they used to be. I imagine I can process this information three or four times faster than someone else with equivalent Stats because of the mental strain I’ve suffered, and my Stats are considerably higher than someone else my Level.

“That being said, it’s still a lot of information to go over.”

“It’s not going to be so bad,” Ameliyn said. “You’ll get probably about 80% of the information you need from one source as long as you choose a thorough one to read. Everything else is just there to fill in gaps or potentially ask questions you might have not addressed in the one document. Trust me we had a similar library in Vynndin. I’m assuming this has been part of your curriculum already, Kefira?”

Kefira nodded her head with a smile.

“I’ve probably read a quarter of the volumes here over the past couple of years,” she confirmed. “All of our family members are expected to contribute to our efforts in the higher Regions in the future, so we make sure we have a firm grasp of the theoretical knowledge during our schooling years.”

“Oh, then you’ll be a great source to answer questions,” Reivyn brightened up. “That way I won’t have to pour over several tomes looking for obscure information if I need it.”

“You would think so, wouldn’t you?” Kefira gave another playful smirk before grimacing. “I’ll help as I can, but unfortunately, my mother has deemed this the perfect time for me to continue my own lessons on the subject. I have to read three new volumes and prepare academic-style reports on them for her.”

Ameliyn’s expression brightened as her eyes widened.

“That’s an excellent idea!” She exclaimed. Reivyn closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable. “In fact, Reivyn, you should do the same thing. You said you can read three or four times faster than someone else with similar Stats, so let’s say… ten book reports. It’ll be an excellent exercise in critical thinking and Penmanship, which I’m sure you’ve let fall to the wayside long ago.”

“Yes, mother,” Reivyn sighed. Kefira mouthed “sorry” to him. He simply shrugged.

“Your father and I have already learned about the fundamentals regarding the Wilderness and TIer 5 Regions, so we’ll just touch up on the specific Regions accessible from here. You and Kefira won’t be the only ones going over these documents, so don’t feel so left out.”

“Oh yeah, that was the issue,” Reivyn replied sarcastically. “Feeling ‘left out.’”

Ameliyn just laughed at him as she perused the titles of the volumes, searching for a tome or scroll regarding the more local Tier 5 Regions.

“Get to it.”

—

Reivyn sat in the seat in a relaxed manner with his leg up over the side of the armrest. He leaned back as he read through the old journal of one of Kefira’s ancestors. He didn’t need to hold the physical copy to read through the contents, but he always felt more focused when he did.

The journal was a travel memoir of the man’s first time through the Wilderness into the Tier 5 Region. It was structured like a personal journal and didn’t have a table of contents or index. There was, however, a couple of pages that were clearly from another source placed in front of the journal before the actual events were recorded.

Reivyn read through it with interest.

I’m going to include this little bit of summary in the front here, the first page read. It’s my experience that some people might miss crucial information if they don’t specifically think about it, and the contents of my journal were more a stream of consciousness than any kind of detailed record-keeping.

Some of these things might be obvious, but if one doesn’t think about it, it might not ever occur to them. If that makes any sense. It does to me, and I’m sure you’ll understand after further reading.

First and foremost the most important thing that most people don’t think about until it’s potentially a fatal problem: pockets of zero Mana density exist in the Wilderness, and those places are death traps.

They could be as small as a pin prick or as large as the capital city of Willowan. They’re not stationary, and all Mana density zones shift and change over time in the Wilderness. One cannot accurately predict when one will encounter such a zone.

The reason these are death traps: First, anything beyond the most basic of Spells will require one to crush a Mana Stone to flood the area with some ambient Mana to be able to meaningfully Cast the Spell. The lack of Mana density acts like a vacuum on the Spell and will quickly drain any power away from it.

Second, such methods are fleeting and quickly disperse as the Mana vacuum absorbs and disperses the additional ambient Mana.

Third, and most importantly, it is impossible to restore one’s Mana Points inside a null zone. In fact if one does not keep a tight reign on their Mana Channels, the vacuum will act on one’s Mana reserves and drain the resource directly from your body.

If someone is already low on Mana, whether that’s a lack of a large resource pool or from expenditure, and that person fall unconscious, there is a real possibility of the null zone literally draining the life out of the person while they’re unconscious. Once Mana reaches zero, Health will replace Mana, and the differential in properties means the amount of Health lost is significantly more than the Mana drain.

I have personal experience with this tragedy. Our Party was ambushed by a higher-Tier monster lurking in a Mana dense zone in the Wilderness. My friend lost consciousness before we escaped into a null zone, and by the time we got to safety, he was dead.

An unconscious person can’t warn you. An unconscious person can’t react or clamp down on their Mana Channels. An unconscious person in the Wilderness is a dead person in the Wilderness.

If there’s anything you take away from this journal, it’s: Get away from null zones as fast as possible, and do not let anyone lose consciousness.

Another aspect many people will realize is obvious once confronted with it but don’t think about ahead of time: the same type of monsters in a Tier 5 Region are not the same Tier as those found in the lower Tier Regions. A goblin in a Tier 5 Region is a Tier 5 monster. Yes, it is almost universal that they will be Level 1 Tier 5, but those are still Tier 5 monsters.

Goblins are not solitary creatures. You will run into goblins in Tier 5 Regions, and there will be twenty or more of them in the same place. Every. Single. Time. If you see a goblin, it’s not alone. They also look identical to their Tier 1 counterparts.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking, “Oh, it’s just a small pack of goblins. What can they do?” They can kill you. The Upper Regions are almost a different world from what you’re used to. Forget everything you know about the monsters you know from the Lower Regions and just assume everything is dangerous, because they are.

Tier 5 monsters are harder to hurt. They can take more damage when you do hurt them. They can all use Mana in some for or another. They’re smarter than Lower Region monsters. Tier 5 goblins have Tier 5 Stats. They’re probably smarter than some of your friends back home. They’re still slaves to their instincts, but that doesn’t make them much safer to encounter.

Another thing people don’t realize right away: there are no Dungeons in the Wilderness. It’s not stable enough.

If you find a portal in the Wilderness, STAY AWAY! Those are 100% lairs of powerful Tier 6 or higher monsters that have access to the Space Affinity. It is rare to see a Tier 6 monster or higher in the Wilderness, but it’s not unheard of. There are records among our library, if you dig deep enough, of people encountering Tier 8 monsters in the Wilderness.

The last obvious thing that most people don’t think about: A lot of people live in the Upper Regions. Like, a lot. There are millions of people scattered throughout the various Upper Regions. Tens of millions, possibly hundreds of millions.

There are just no governments (for the most part, that’s not entirely true). That also means there are no laws other than the Law of the Jungle.

You will run into other people and Parties in the Tier 5 and higher Regions. If you come across a single person wandering about on their own, even if they appear to be a youth, be respectful. That person is probably Tier 6 or higher.

It is not safe for even Tier 5 Classers to wander about on their own in the Upper Regions. A larger Party more than likely is safer to you than a small Party. The less people in a group, the more powerful individually they have to be in order to be able to walk around.

Like I mentioned just above, there are small governments scattered about the Upper Regions. They are exclusively city states, though. There are cities where Adventurers over the years have built a safe space. The laws are enforced by the Adventurers Guild, but only within the city walls.

People can live in these Adventurer cities for years, decades even, but nobody is ever considered a permanent resident of one of these cities. The City Lords are the local Adventurers Guild branch managers, and even they are assigned temporarily.

Every Adventurer City has the same fundamental rules of no killing or stealing (not that I very specifically did not say “no fighting”), but other than that, each one has their own individual set of additional rules. They will be posted where it is easy to see as soon as one enters the city, so don’t fear you won’t know the local rules within one of these cities.

These cities exist near important resources like Dungeons or mines. If you find a city, there will be something worthwhile nearby.

I feel like I’ve done an adequate job of pointing out some of the obvious things people won’t typically realize until they’re in the situation described. I mean, of course one can’t replenish their Mana Points in a null zone, but did you ever stop to actually think that in your mind? I’m guessing you probably didn’t.

There might be other obvious situations I’m missing here, but I believe these ones are the real traps to avoid. This journal is not an academic work. It is my own personal experiences of my first journey through the Wilderness and into my first Tier 5 Region. I made a copy and provided it to the family library as I felt it was a good source of practical information, but if you want to learn the theoretical information underlying the fabric of reality in regards to the Wilderness or how flora and fauna work in Tier 5 Regions, this isn’t the book for you.

I just hope future generations pay attention to my warnings and can glean some helpful information from my own blunders that will save their lives one day.

Regards,

Relthinor Willowy, III

Reivyn placed the journal down and lifted his head. He close his eyes as he was lost in thought.

That’s a really good point, he realized. Seeing those things laid out like that, they are obvious, but I’ve never thought about them. I knew there were shifting levels of ambient Mana in the Wilderness. I mean that’s what the Wilderness is. I never stopped to consider places with zero Mana density, though.

Thinking about it, of course there would be places devoid of Mana in a place that has chaotic shifting densities, and of course we can’t replenish spent Mana in such an environment. I wouldn’t have guessed that it would literally suck the Mana out of my body, though.

I wonder if my Perfect Domain Skill would handle that for me? Best not to test it.

Reivyn opened his eyes and brought the journal back up to his face.

Day 1

No need to talk about the preparation and excitement leading up to the excursion. This is a document of my time in the Wilderness and the Upper Regions, so this Day 1 is the first day after entering the Wilderness.

…Frankly, I’m a bit disappointed.

I’ve spent many years hearing of the different adventures my uncles have had on their forays to the Upper Regions. I was expecting rousing conflicts with strange and mysterious creatures, complicated logistical problems to solve, imaginative solutions to novel hurdles thrown in our way.

There’s been NONEof that! We’ve just been walking on the road. The well-paved, well-traveled, road!

First off, there’s a road?! A road through the Wilderness?! I thought we would be traveling through, I don’t know, wilderness!

We’ve just been walking on the road. Nothing has happened. I don’t know. Was I expecting too much?

At least everyone is in high spirits.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m very happy to be safe and sound. I much prefer boring to exciting. I’ve been on adventures. I know that exciting usually means hungry and/or cold while dodging fatal threats.

I’m just… A road through the Wilderness? I didn’t even know this was here!

I guess we’ll see. I don’t expect I’ll be writing nearly as routinely as I thought if we’re just going to be walking on a road.

Reivyn chuckled to himself. That was definitely also not what he was expecting to read as the first entry in the journal. Especially not after such a heartfelt introduction. Wasn’t there something about one of his friends dying? Reivyn continued to read.

Day 4

Ok, so the road is gone. It only lasted the first couple of days. The reason is quite obvious after experiencing it for myself. The edges of the Wilderness are more stable than further in. It’s quite rare for the Mana density to fluctuate that much, and it’s definitely not as rapid as the less stable zones.

After midday the second day, the road ended. I’ve already experienced varying Mana densities in the past two days. The Wilderness typically takes about a month to cross if one doesn’t run into any trouble, so the fact that the stable portion is only about two-days’ worth of travel deep is quite telling.

I haven’t experienced any actively fluctuating zones, yet, but I’m sure it’s coming. I wonder what it’ll feel like to have different Mana densities simultaneously accost my body?

We still haven’t run into any monsters or beasts. The way my uncles talked about the Wilderness it seemed like they would be behind every stone and tree. Granted they never mentioned the road, so they might not even consider this as actually part of the Wilderness, yet.

Day 7

I feel like we’re being watched. It’s the most uncanny sensation. There’s obviously nothing there, but I expect to see glowing eyes in the dark every time I peer into a shadow or gaze out at the darkness at night. There’s nothing there, though.

It might just be my nerves from entering such a dangerous place for the first time. I’ve been to dangerous places before, but that’s only relative to Lower Regions. It’s been a long time since I’ve truly had to be fearful for my safety.

This sounds paradoxical to my own thoughts. We’ve only encountered a smattering of Lower Region monsters moving about in the Wilderness so far. Hardly anything to write home about, and thus I obviously didn’t feel the need to include a specific journal entry for the encounters.

Things have been smooth sailing for the most part.

We came across our first null zone earlier today. It was nothing like I’ve experienced before. I’m known to be quite talented in my Magic and Mana Skills. I’m an Expert in Mana Manipulation, and yet even I felt the Mana being ripped uncontrollably from my body. I had to bear down with everything I had to slow the drain to only a point or two every couple of seconds.

The null zone had only been about the size of a city block, and I lost nearly a quarter of my Mana Points. It got easier to keep hold of my Mana the more practice I had, but it doesn’t seem like something I would particularly like to practice.

The sensation was not pleasant.

Day 12

Lari is dead.

We all thought we had stumbled across a golden opportunity. We’ve never heard of Dungeon or Mystic Realm opening in the Wilderness before, but we’ve never heard it wasn’t a thing, either.

We thought we were going to find something exciting.

Well, like I said before, exciting is code for hungry, cold, and dangerous. We definitely found the last one.

We found a portal just floating in a meadow. We scouted the surroundings and didn’t find any monsters or beasts in the surroundings. It didn’t seem suspicious in the least. We also weren’t really thinking clearly. Why would we? We had just found the pinnacle opportunity of our excursion, and right at the beginning to boot.

What could go wrong?

A lot. A lot could go wrong.

We approached the portal in high spirits. As a prince, I was obviously not allowed to be the first in, so I was a bit to the back as several of the hired Adventurers approached the portal. None of them knew any better either. It was considered a rite of passage to not go with anyone experienced on the first trip. A sort of test and bragging rights.

That’s a stupid rule. I’ll be sure to change it if I make it back.

The… thing, I don’t know how else to describe it, exploded out of the portal. It was a shower of dirt, blood, and body parts. The Adventurers just… ceased… to be. They were gone, and in their place was this creature of darkness.

It was grotesque to say the least. I’ve been to oceanic Regions and Dungeons before. I’ve seen creatures of the deep. This thing could put any sea monster to shame with the mass of tentacles, suckers, and barbs covering its body. A weird miasma surrounded and shrouded its inky black body, and strands of caustic mucus dripped from various pores across its colossal form, melting the earth and stone around the portal.

It moved too fast to see, but we could all hear the chewing.

Oh god, the chewing!

We took off. We scattered in every direction. Lari, Sacru, and Loselia came with me.

Oh god, what am I going to tell Lari’s family?

We thought we had gotten away. It didn’t seem to be chasing us.

It was too late. I don’t think Lari even noticed. After running for ten minutes, he collapsed. We checked and found that the thing had shot some of the barbs as projectiles. One had pierced Lari’s lower back, and he had lost consciousness from blood loss.

We didn’t feel safe where we were.

We should have tended to his wounds right there.

We shouldn’t have approached that portal.

Shoulda woulda coulda…

We didn’t stop. We were too scared. We weren’t thinking right. We had never seen anything like that before. I can feel the bile and panic rising just writing about it.

I picked Lari up and carried him with me. He was still breathing. Sacru pulled the barb out and Loselia Cast a quick Mend Flesh Spell on his wound. There wasn’t time to think and do anything else.

At least that’s what we told ourselves.

He was stabilized. As far as we could tell there was no miasmic or caustic contamination. He didn’t have any weird Statuses in his Party profile other than “unconscious.”

What could go wrong? We just needed to get further away. We had all seen how fast that thing moved. We didn’t trust for a second it couldn’t suddenly appear in pursuit right behind us.

We ran until we reached a null zone. We thought it was perfect. Everyone knows higher-Tier Monsters, Classers too, have a much harder time in lower ambient Mana Regions. A null zone seemed like the perfect place to lose it.

It was large. We ran and ran and ran.

I had much better control over my Mana in these zones than the first time. The others as well. We didn’t even lose any of our Mana to the drain at this point.

We came out the other side and finally felt safe enough to stop and catch our breath.

That’s when we realized. Lari was dead.

He couldn’t fight against the drain. We had carried him to his death.

We killed him…

Reivyn once more placed the journal down. He had only read a few entries in the journal, and they had already encountered disaster. The warning in the introduction had not done justice to the terror of the situation that had led to his friend's death.

Reivyn could place himself in Relthinor’s shoes. He could practically feel the emotions evoked on the pages. He had experienced fear and terror before. He had seen the terrors of the deep, so he could perfectly envision the nightmare creature they had stumbled upon from the portal.

He wiped sweat from his brow as he considered what he had read.

I thought this was going to be a dry exercise, learning about the Wilderness and the Tier 5 Region, he thought. If everything is like this…

Reivyn made the determination not to skimp on his research. If a nightmare creature could be one of the first serious encounters in the Wilderness, he needed to be prepared.

Complacency… Reivyn shook his head as he brought the journal back up to continue reading. Even in ages past, it was apparently one of the number one killers.