Getting Hard

“Ta-dah! I’m back,” I said to the distant mountaintops poking through the clouds.

I fell about thirty meters—I had no idea how tall I was to have a frame of reference—before hitting the sharp edge of a massive rock and immediately dying.

It was a reverse guillotine execution, with me falling on the blade instead of it dropping on me. When I opened my eyes, I had returned to the top of the cliff.

Worth a try, I thought with a shrug of my muscular shoulders. Then I looked down. Wait, what?

I was floating above the clouds, a meter beyond the cliff. Examining myself, I found out that I was pale, almost ghost-like. I’m an actual ghost! My body should be somewhere below that I couldn’t see.

[ You have died. Resurrect at last Save Point: Y/N? ]

This prompt didn’t appear when I threw myself over the balcony of the Dolbara, the Dalkanus ship. If I had to guess, this feature was for players to decide if they should wait around for a kind soul to resurrect them, if said kind soul did have that skill. I found that there was an option to turn wave away this notification every time I died.

[ Toggle Automatic Death Respawn Setting: ON ]

Now I would instantly resurrect whenever I died. The system did inform me that the exception was if I had a self-resurrection skill or if I was in a party with members that had resurrection skills. That was a nifty quality of life feature.

And then I accepted the option to go to my last save point and I was back in my original body at the edge of the cliffs. I was half-expecting to show up in the Mardukryon village, but it turned out that this place was my save point.

Mardukryons had a starting community like all the other races. However, they only had one option—Kurghal Village. It was a small settlement of a handful of Mardukryons trying their best to survive this harsh mountain. On the other hand, humans had several towns, cities, and even kingdoms spread all over Hierakon.

After choosing my new character, I thought I was going to spawn inside the Mardukryon village, similar to what happened to my human character popping up at Amberkeld town. Instead, I was here in the middle of nowhere, just endless ice around, with no hint of any other Mardukryon. A village of buff charcoal centaurs should be quite noticeable.

There must be a reason why I spawned this far from the village. Could there be a secret quest somewhere? A clue to escape the mountain? But there was nothing around here. Surely, I couldn’t be expected to dig through all this ice.

I recalled the first time I met the Dalkanus, and wondered, what if I threw myself off the cliff?

My plan might sound stupid, but I did find a quest after getting jailed in Amberkeld. The key to discovering secrets was openness to try anything even if it looked far-fetched on paper—a worldview with extremely varied success rates. I had nothing here except for a cliff. I should use it—something that shouldn’t be attempted in real life.

It turned out that gravity wasn’t the key to solving the Mardukryons’ problem. If nothing else, at least I had scratched out one lead.

Something I missed as a human was exploring the Compressed Integration Module for my race. I simply dismissed it earlier because it was only level one. And then, I subsequently forgot about it in the excitement of my first experience of combat in a virtual world. I learned in my research that we were provided with an initial skill—skill choice to be more exact—at Cidule level one, and then each level up thereafter up to the maximum of ten.

Opening my Cidule, I surveyed the three skill choices exclusive to the Mardukryon race.

The first was for physical DPS, the other for magic DPS, and the last for survivability for support classes. Obviously, I picked the last one. And thus, I got:

Lvl. 1 Ancestral Constitution: Mardukryons inherited but a minute fraction of the divine solar vitality of their ancestors.  
  Passive: +3 Armor and Magic Resilience, +10 Health
  Each time damage is received (Max stacks [3]):
    +1 Health per Second, +5 Health
  Duration: 15 seconds per stack

The other two skills were in the same vein—attacking would stack physical or magical damage attack counters. The physical option would be the most useful early on. A magic DPS passive skill didn’t have anything to boost right now, but I had read that magic spells could be obtained in the village.

Tanking skills were the least useful at the start of a character’s life, mostly because there was usually nothing to tank yet. Furthermore, they hampered leveling by giving up damage skills in exchange for unneeded survivability.

But I choose the hard life so I can get hard in the future.

Several trees came into view after I had trotted some ways from the edge of the cliff in search of the village. How could those plants survive the extreme cold and thin air? Were they simply decorations put by the developers, ignoring realism since this was a fantasy game anyway?

Plumes of smoke from inside the forest showed signs of civilization.

And my next destination.

I reached the edge of the line of trees and realized it wasn’t as sparse as I thought. It couldn’t compete with the lush forest outside Amberkeld town, but the trees here were monstrous, both in size and appearance.

Pulsating bulbs grew on the trunks containing golden liquid, which then pumped it to the rest of the tree through veins thick enough to break through the bark. The trees were far apart and didn’t have that many leaves, but their branches were numerous, endlessly entwining with each other with the mysterious liquid flowing through them. The result was a golden canopy that made this icy landscape appear magical.

Heading for the smoke, I came across the source of the golden liquid and the explanation why a forest could grow at this place—an elaborate bouquet of crystals grew out of the ground. There were dozens of them, ranging from the size of my finger to just a bit bigger than my leg.

These crystals…their color…they reminded me of the floating crystal on the fountain at the center of Amberkeld. Peeking through the trees were other crystal formations. The Amberkeld crystal seemed important and rare, I didn’t see anything else like it in that town, but tons of crystals like it just scattered throughout the forest here, albeit smaller ones.

I touched the crystal. It vibrated, giving off the sound of a tolling bell. I let go of it in surprise.

Scratching noises behind me! I turned around, holding my fists up.

The hell am I doing? I chuckled as I put down my arms. A centaur creature boxing a monster? Captain Edmund’s rusty knife would sure come in handy now. Or not? It was probably better to kick and trample my enemies. I was a city guy and never knew much about farm animals, but I had heard stories of horses and cows killing people with a kick.

Violence wasn’t required at the moment.

[Lvl 1 Mirdabon] A ball of fur with a face peeked from behind a tree trunk.

It was about twice the size of my head and colored pure white, perfectly camouflaging against the snow if it didn’t move. Three dots were on its face, its two eyes and nose. Its tiny mouth nibbled on a tiny pod from a nearby plant as it made soft purring noises.

“Hey there, little guy,” I said in my menacing demon voice.

The weak monster that looked like the head of a baby seal regarded me before rolling away. I had half the mind to test out Madrukryon combat, but it might be better to wait for a weapon. And my conscience couldn’t handle trampling such a cute creature.

“You live this time, Mr. Furball. The next—woah?” I jerked back in surprise.

The patch of snow near the Mirdabon moved. A bunch of monster names suddenly popped up. More Mirdabons that I wouldn’t have noticed if they didn’t move.

Some kind of low-level stealth skill? An ambush mechanic? Their names only appeared when they revealed themselves. I filed the reminder that should be more careful of my surroundings as I watched the six furballs roll after the first one, merrily bouncing over a bunch of rocks.

After they disappeared into the forest, I picked the curious plant that the Mirdabon was eating.

[ Obtained: 2 Snivel Pods ]

“Snivel? That’s a peculiar name for a plant,” I said. Checking my inventory, I saw that each pod gave ten health points when consumed. A minor amount, but better than nothing. “Speaking of health…”

Name: Herald Stone | Lvl 1 Exp: 0%
Base: Mardukryon
  Health: 158/158
  Energy: 110/110
  Ancestral Shroud: 125/125

ATTRIBUTES:
  Might....................15
  Vigor.....................15
  Spirit.....................15  
  Sense...................15

Mardukryons had higher than average—the average being humans—starting attributes. It was a minor advantage, only an additional five points to all attributes. Nonetheless, the higher numbers made me giddy. And I had a new resource in addition to Health and Energy—Ancestral Shroud. It turned out that certain races had special mechanics.

Then I looked up and scanned my surroundings. Damn it! I couldn’t remember the direction I was heading to. I faced the path the Mirdabons took. Should I try following those white furballs?

A powerful sound reverberated through the trees, a mellow but also earthy blast that increased in intensity, holding a commanding note at the top for a few seconds, before descending and petering off into silence.

Was that a horn?

After I had entered the forest, I lost sight of the column of smoke. There was no way to regain my bearings other than going back out of the forest and checking it again. But maybe this horn was blown by fellow Mardukryons, so I veered in its direction. The regal bellow repeated every ten seconds so I knew where to go.

I swear if this is some monster mating call…I mockingly mused as I jumped over giant gnarled roots that had crawled out of the ground. I was careful as I galloped through the snow—I never expected to use the word ‘gallop’ for myself—watching out for any hiding Mirdabons. There could also be other monsters lying in wait around here.

This was a beginner’s area. The normal assumption was that any monsters I’d encounter would be around the power level of the Mirdabons, something I could easily fight with no weapons. However, I learned from random forum posts that high-level monsters occasionally roamed this forest, making the Mardukryon race not so beginner-friendly.

Dying here would be annoyingly bad. My aim was to find the starting town and save it as my respawn point—I had no idea how to do that—before doing quests so I wouldn’t end up back on the cliffs if I died.

Apparently, I made the right choice following the horn.

I stumbled into a wide path that seemed to be frequently used by Mardukryons. Snow barely covered it compared to the rest of the forest floor, and there were fresh hoof marks on the dirt. The sound must’ve been a way to help new players who could be lost—for example, Herald Stone, Useless Forest Navigator.

Following the trail, I went deeper into the forest with the trees growing closer to each other and the network of branches becoming denser. They almost completely blocked out the sun but, in turn, their golden light illuminated the way.

I saw several more Mirdabons while following the path. They stared at me with beady eyes, suspiciously sniffing the air with their short snouts and wiggling their whiskers. And then they’d roll away if I got close enough. They seemed to move in packs of at least half a dozen.

Rounding a wide bend, I saw the forest open to a clearing further on. Sunlight shone once again illuminating the edge of the Mardukryon settlement like stage lights.

“Finally,” I sighed in relief. “But what’s this?” To my left, a smaller path branched off from the main one, winding back into the depths of the forest. The footprints on the ground turned that way instead of heading onward.

Footprints or hoofprints? Was that a word?

I hastened my pace to the village, deciding I’d investigate that other place later. That way obviously led to a quest. I was resolved to scour this forest for secrets.

More Mirdabons dotted my way. These ones weren’t shy compared to the others I had passed in the forest, carelessly rolling back and forth in front of me. I almost tripped over my legs trying to avoid the little fuckers. The annoying furry scampers excitedly came from the bushes lining the sides of the rough road. Their cuteness had a limit in protecting them from getting killed.

I may not have Captain Edmund’s rusty dagger, that condescending cheapskate, but I had my trusty hooves. Mulling about it, I’d rather face a human with a dagger than a rampaging Mardukryon.

Thoughts of stepping on the annoying Mirdabons disappeared as I neared the village and beheld how formidable it was.

It had three layers of defenses. The first was a low earth wall, just a simple mound of dirt ringing the village. Several Mirdabons rolled up the dirt but didn’t dare go over the other side, for if they did, they’d fall into the second layer of defense and die—a dry moat where the dirt for the first wall likely came from, filled with sharpened sticks.

Lastly, a low rock wall, as tall as me, provided support for the upper wooden wall—immense logs, each one thicker than my upper body, stood side-by-side, circling the whole village. That wall should be super thick and well-constructed because a couple of Mardukryon guards patrolled the tops. Pieces of the same golden crystal from the forests were spaced throughout the wall, probably giving it magical protection.

Two watchtowers, both half a length taller than the rest of the wall and manned by one Mardukryon each, flanked the main gate, overseeing the road and part of the forest. Large crossbows pointing upwards hinted at possible enemies coming from the sky.

Skulls of different kinds of monsters decorated the heavy door to the village. It was partly open with two [Lvl 27 Mardukryon | Kurghal Village Guard] standing with spears.

“Kurghal Village,” I said. “Looks scary. Can I just walk in here?”

I hoped these guards were friendly; their expressions didn’t look happy, but that was the default look of Mardukryons. I still hadn’t found any clue why I spawned away from the village. It couldn’t have been that possible quest back there because new players could simply be led to that place similar to what Dunstan did ushering me to Captain Edmund.

I stopped on the bridge of wooden planks over the spiked moat as I examined the village walls, hesitant of continuing forward for worry that I might’ve missed something. The few Mardukryon beginner guides I had found were mostly about what to do inside the village, which was why spawning on the cliff surprised me.

Mardukryon players were coming up to the gate on their way out of the village, two male and one who was probably female. She had a much smaller and slimmer body than the others.

What luck! Maybe they could tell me if I was missing something?