The Achievement [system].

---James---

James walked forward space changing into something unique. Something out it spoke to him – the wind whispering truths the ground radiating meaning the path both solidly there and as easy to change as a cloud.

Where do you want to go? The ground spoke.

Where do you want to have been walking towards all this time?

Behind him the path seemed to have split dozens of times curving off into the distance and yet whenever James considered those paths he realized he was already on them.

Every possibility was in a super position but it couldn't stay this way for long.

If he stopped moving that was it. If he tried to spend too long – optimizing or abusing this gift it would vanish.

What type of space do you like? The cobblestones asked, speaking through James's bare feet. The feeling was translated by each step into words that echoed through his bones.

Do you want a place where transportation matters? Where the act of moving somewhere is important? Or do you prefer a place where locations are important, the act of getting there a hand wave of fast travel.

James took a hesitant step to the left. It wasn't something he cared about deeply but he might lean closer to the journey mattering? Its not like he had a specific place he wanted to be.

What's your opinion on germs? How much do you hate being sick. How much do you want protection from magical diseases?

James stepped confidently towards no diseases. Fuck being sick – if the system had been protecting him from magical diseases he'd rather keep it that way. A few steps in he paused slightly wondering about fermentation. What about cheese? Kimchi? Bread and pickles and yogurt!

James continued on. This was just where he would start. He could travel somewhere else if he didn't like it.

Power has weight, do you want that weight to be shielded?

If not shielded do you want the world strengthened to counteract that truth? Do you want materials strong enough to withstand your full might? Foliage able to survive your passing?

Power requires fuel and strength requires greater fuel. Do you wish for a place that will sustain you passively? Do you want food and drink to be a luxury or a required action?

If food is important, do you want food itself to grow in power as well? Or are you fine with sheer quality making up for the increased appetite your body requires.

Do you care for history?

For art?

For Information?

For the Unknown?

For Love?

For Recognition?

For Fame?

For Power?

For Devotion?

For Slaughter?

For Purpose?

For Second Chances?

For A Chance at Peace however small?

…

Question after question, some whispered soft enough James barely heard them, some yelled with such force he had to acknowledge them to move on.

Finally he realized there wasn't anything more.

The path was gone – turning behind him showed it was gone for good.

James stood at the base of a tall bright red mountain, surrounded by bright piss yellow trees and a menagerie of small animals drinking from a muddy river. Far in the distance in all direction he spotted a faintly rippling barrier. The edge of this zone.

High above he saw a city, made from polished red marble and heavily patterned multi coloured cloth.

In front of him floated a blue box.

James read through the card, nodding to himself as it finally faded away.

This place seemed fun. Soup! He was dying for a meal he hadn't had in a while.

It almost seemed like a dungeon? A tiny bit different – so far there was a certain sense that it was more realistic… but it had a quest. There was a structure 'real life' lacked. James wondered if the reward of spices was influenced by his [Foodie Explorer] class. It had to be right? That wasn't a general reward most people would like…right?

James felt a bit strange. The environment itself felt different, the air strong and heat from the sun higher than he was used to…but it was more than that. The environment interacted with him on a deeper level. The rules it stated were a part of him, capability he hadn't had before now, innate if unpracticed.

James tried to push his aura out in a clench of authority and watched as every single animal nearby scampered away in fear.

He pulled mana up towards his eyes and stared at a tree.

Yellowcrest Fir: Lesser Rank 2.

Just before a small mouselike creature vanished, he caught a glimpse of it as well.

Purple Tailed Pik: Lesser Rank 1.

Staring about a bit James analyzed a few more objects, the highest rank being the red stone of the mountain behind him.

Ruby Sandstone: Greater Rank 3.

Finally he deactivated the free ability and turned towards the city.

Might as well check it out? If he failed the quest it looked like someone else could try saving the town. No pressure! Worse case he couldn't come back here to try their soup. Considering he didn't know how good the soup in question was that might not even be a tragedy.

James hiked the mountain, quickly finding one of many footpaths that led him up towards an open gate.

Two guards wearing silk and feathers looked up as he approached, squinting at him their eyes flashing slightly with light.

Both started slightly – had they seen his rank? – then bowed slightly nodding inwards silently.

They looked relatively humanoid but had countless small differences – long lips pursed forward like miniature trunks, greyish skin faint stripes visible on their limbs.

James wasn't racist. Speciste? He didn't mind as long as they didn't…James paused for a moment to analyse them.

Guard: Greater Rank 2.

Guard: Lesser Rank 3.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Stronger than he thought based on their reactions…but then again there was a world of difference between rank 3 and 4 and James was pretty sure he read as Lesser Rank 4.

He guessed they needed to be at least this strong to deal with the wildlife that might come up from the forest below?

James walked past and continued inwards.

The city of soup was strange. Bustling but less obnoxious than a city could be. Tons and tons of conversations but no one was yelling. No banging of construction or honking of horns.

The architecture was vaguely Greek. Vaguely Roman. Hints of Indian with how colourful and plentiful the cloth was. Vaguely alien with hard to describe design choices and building shapes that matched nothing James had seen outside of an arts museum.

People moved around him, stepping to the side if they noticed but not seeming to care. Most seemed to be the same species as the guards, but a few were noticeably different – a man with four arms carried sealed jugs past without anyone seeming to notice and James thought he saw someone nearly four meters tall watching from an alleyway.

The main and most important feature of the town was immediately obvious, but it took James a bit to confirm that it was exactly what it looked like.

The entire town was filled with an aqueduct system and floating down the stream was a hot chunky liquid.

Could it even be called an aqueduct if it carried something other than water? Maybe it was called…what was soup called in Latin? Soupduct? Stewduct? Working name, James wasn't a linguist.

Some of the paths passed above in bridges or below the street through tunnels, but the vast majority of them ran along roads at waist height deep. Deep channels a layer of broth too high to see the bottom in.

James witnessed multiple people approach the stream with a bowl. They would dunk their entire dish in the liquid pull it out and then slurp without even using a spoon. James even watched a pair using their hands to finish the chunks while another simply dumped her leftovers back into the river.

As James got higher in the city, the buildings began to grow more detailed – nicer looking. More expensive.

The crowds started to thin, and James began to notice various people bringing baskets of food towards the soup trays.

They would toss dozens of chunks of fish or meat or scraggly rods or multi coloured balls into the canal. Some looked like restaurant owners dossing bins of scraps from their menu. Others looked like random residents adding bits they liked or dropping random items in just for fun.

One kid ran up and threw a bucket of small peppers than ran away giggling.

...was that okay?

Had anyone else noticed?

James felt himself pass a line and a sort of pressure began to grow. A faint waft of aura came from far above. Probably the peak if James had to guess.

Was that keeping the riff raff away? A sort of level barrier to keep this upper section an elite quarter?

Up here the buildings looked nicer and the soup cleaner. Instead of hundreds of different meats and veggies tossed in at random; this was a smooth base with choice items. The residents James saw were all at the upper end of rank 2 or somewhere in the 3rd and if they dropped something in the soup, the offerings usually looked bougie. Lobster instead of shrimp. Shaped balls and trays of little cakes instead of food scraps and leftovers.

Surprisingly enough, whenever James saw someone eat from the upper paths they didn't come off as posh or sophisticated. Just like below James watched individuals wander over with a bowl. Dunk it in – no spoon – then drink and pull chunks out with their fingers.

There was a tiny tiny voice in James's head crying about germs and hygiene but…this place didn't have that problem, did it?

There was a much louder voice telling him to try the soup. Taste it. Experience the culture of this place before he couldn't anymore.

How did James get a bowl?

People just seemed to have them. No one was handing out free bowls on a street corner. No communal trays.

Would he have to ask someone?

…damn. He would probably have to ask someone.

James signed slightly but the process was less annoying than it might have been ages ago. He was more confident now even if it wasn't something he cared about. Picking a short man sitting on the curb of the soup canal he approached waving slightly.

"Do you know where I can find a bowl?" James asked causing the man to start in surprise.

"Travvvelur? Tueerest? New to towwwn?" the mans voice came back to James in the thickest accent he could imagine. Actually that wasn't true. The words the man spoke were an entirely different language when James paid attention. The simple meaning of his words leaked through but quite a bit was lost in translation.

Poking his AI, James set up a translation filter for the words coming to him and a blue box output for his own words.

"Something like that. I was hoping to try the local cuisine?" James asked gesturing towards the slowly moving liquid beside them.

"Ah! That is better. If you are a tourist, you might not want to try the heart broth. Many of the restaurants serve high quality variations and most do take from the heart for their bases. It might be rude of me, but I do see you're an elite among elites. I should warn you the heart broth fluctuates between low lesser and medium greater. If you want pinnacle offerings, you'll have to find one of the restaurants with four or five stars on it." The man spoke his words coming through much clearer now.

"I think I still want to try the cities main attraction? I also don't have any money right now." James asked shifting awkwardly.

"It should be easy enough for someone of your caliber to get some chips. Hunt some high game. Run an errand or two for the council or one of the outposts. Now if you really just want a bowl." The man looked down for a moment then offered it over.

"Take mine, it's just a low dish. Fragile but cheap and gets the job done. I have a hundred more of them somewhere or another."

James reached out and took the bowl still partly filled with the man's soup. There was something slightly surreal about how little they cared about hygiene. It was to the point James felt like he was the strange one for even caring. He'd eaten raw monster meat after all! Even if this place didn't have an environment that killed germs, he could survive any mundane problems with just his stats.

"Thank you," James bowed slightly. He didn't have much more to say – nothing he could really do to show his appreciation for the kindness of strangers.

James hesitated for a moment. He wanted to ask the man more about the city but could tell they wanted to leave. It wasn't like it was his job to answer endless questions from a stranger.

"If I wanted to learn more about the city, where should I go?" James asked causing the man to pause mid step away.

"The standard answer is to find a guide but they are a bit of a rip off. My kids just sitting around wasting air. It will do him good to show you around. Give me a minute." The local held his hand up then left.

James stared down at his bowl then discreetly dumped the existing soup into the channel. It felt silly but he got himself a new bowl then raised and took a sip.

Immediately James was punched with flavour. It felt like something some chef would yell umami for. Gordon Ramsay would have approved.

The base soup was slightly thick, salty and slightly slightly fishy. If James had to pick an earth culture it reminded him of Korean food the most, but it was still entirely unique.

There was a faint undercurrent of spice, but the meal itself was not something James would call spicy. Reaching in with two fingers, James pulled a chunk of what looked like grilled and then soaked lobster. Were…they by an ocean? How was the city getting this much seafood? James hadn't seen one on the way up but maybe it was on the other side of the town.

"Pa said you wanted me to show you around?" A voice from behind him leaked through and James nodded turning.

"You don't have to, I just had some questions. I'm actually new here and feel a bit lost." James responded staring down at a short gangly looking kid. His mouth was even more pronounced than others – extending out two three inches from his face instead of two.

"You look it yah, what do you want? Me to show you to a workhouse? Best strainer? A sleep hole?" the kid asked. He seemed more than willing to entertain James – James had half expected a teenager forced into a job he hated, but the small person nearby seemed positively giddy to interact with him.

…had the dad said something weird? Promised James would pay a huge amount of money or something?

"Anything you are willing to show off? I need a job at some point – don't have any money – and want to learn more about the city." James made sure to point out he was broke just in case that was it.

"I'll show you the best strainer then, Follow me!".

…

The kid happily explained how the communal soup worked. Going into all sorts of details about anything James asked.

There was a hotspring at the very top of the mountain that was pumped into an initial basin by the council then mixed with a base infusion of broth. The council was a group of nine rank 4 'elders' who functioned slightly like a republic each taking responsibility for an industry or process. Any citizen who reached rank 4 could join the council and barter for power but that was obviously easier said then done. Other than those nine, there were only four 'non government' citizens at that rank and one of them was part of the army which technically answered to the government. All of them were theoretically as strong as James, although three of them was a whole tier into the rank and might be stronger.

Anyone and everyone could add whatever they wanted to the soup and a portion of the cities taxes went towards supplementing that culture with batches of ingredients. The channel itself had magical plates set along it that radiated heat endlessly. Most were placed in positions that were hard to reach, or covered with a grating so children couldn't touch them.

Obviously the flow rate wasn't perfect. Chunks would catch in corners or dips and build up, causing blockages. The 'worst' spots all had embedded magical artifacts that worked a bit like pumps or conveyor belts to dislodge food and keep them clean. The minor spots on the other hand were called strainers.

Citizens like the kid would actively seek these minor spots out out for a denser meal. They were also some of the best spots to find higher ranked morsels as the 'strength' of the meal varied wildly depending on what had been tossed into it.

If any of these strainers caused an actual blockage, the council would commission an artifact to keep that area clear, but otherwise the residents kept them clear themselves by eating or raking food onwards every day.

James was shown some of the strainers including the kids favorite – a raised bend you had to climb onto a roof to reach where clumps slowly gathered.

He tasted every part of course – while the upper part of the city vaguely reminded him of Korean hot pot and the very top had a light but flavourful broth without chunks, it wasn't the main flavour this cities soup used. The bottom half of the town outnumbered the top in scale and its speciality was quite a bit thicker and less fishy – a hearty gumbo hard to ignore. Soup turned to stew, the flavours maturing even as they got messier and less refined. Bits of food simmered long enough to break down into mush and sludge. The very bottom of the city where the poorest lived, contained winding paths of this sludge and while any of them could climb the city to get some of the 'better' offerings, a lot of them seemed content to just eat the leftovers they were given.

The final 'secret' of the city was at the very end. All the soup ended up at the same place if it wasn't eaten. It poured into a building the kid called the cities ass, but later admitted was called the refinery.

The refinery processed the vast amounts of soup filtering and magically condensing the results.

This process created quite a bit of 'waste' a steady output of brown stripped 'byproduct'. That byproduct was combined with the cities sewage and led down to the forest below.

The main result of this 'refinery' was high rank broths and dried powder. The refinery distributed rank 2,3, and 4 'stock' to restaurants in the town as well as a dehydrated stock powder of different grades and quality. The majority of the rank 2 stock and powder was actually recycled – brought to the top of the mountain and used to kickstart the process as it was mixed in the initial spring water.

The rank 3 and 4 stock and powder on the other hand was sold. The city seemed to supplement its taxes with a government run stock factory and the high rank food base was its main export.

James thought the culture was a bit strange but refreshing. Food was important – access to food was one of the highest 'human rights' of this city and the way people 'donated' food to the broth was very generous. You would think citizens would resent the end result being sold without them, but there was some strange overlap with taxes. The more the city made with its industry, the less taxes individuals had to pay. Some years the city had been essentially tax free and usually the tax itself was low because of how much money the exports made.

Maybe the citizens saw donating to the soup like a roundabout tax? Pay in money or pay in meat?

There was a bit of a tiered system with the richer and higher ranked people living in a better spot and the aura that acted like a wall to keep weak people out…but despite that there wasn't an open culture of oppression. People in the 'high' town didn't openly or aggressively discriminate against the 'low' town. They didn't seem to have any more rights than the lower ranks. No allowances or preferences.

Obviously that said nothing about what happened behind closed doors and ignored potential individuals, but the overall culture was surprisingly wholesome.

James…felt like he could live here for a bit. He still preferred the wilderness but as far as cities went this one was surprisingly inviting.

And that ignored the quest.

This city…was a re-creation. It had existed somewhere sometime and then fell…somehow.

How could James save it? What had led to its downfall?

Had…someone poisoned the soup somehow? Even if diseases weren't a thing you could still make or spike it with poison.

Had…the mountain erupted? Were they standing on a volcano? Was that where all the heat was coming from? A dormant volcano that was going to erupt?

Was it something else? Some disaster? A war? The town was almost suspiciously friendly and collaborative. Was it hiding a secrete? Had someone or something took advantage of them?

What could possibly have led to their downfall?

James would have to become a detective to figure this out.

How long did he have? He probably started this zone close to when the problem happened – right?

When he first saw the blue box, James had felt…unconcerned with what it meant. It was a goal. Something to work towards. A game of sorts.

Now that he had spent some time here, he began to grow invested and the quest began to grow stakes. The kindness of strangers tugged at his heartstrings. A random man willing to share his soup bowl without a second's thought. A boy willing to give him a tour wasting the majority of his day without expecting payment.

Would they die if he failed? What danger threatened them? If James did nothing this place would be lost. That couldn't be allowed to happen!

James was invested.