Chapter 14 #2
“How far around?” Theron asked.
“There’s a lower path through the trees.” Garrett pointed down the ridge’s eastern slope. “Adds two hours, maybe three. These tend to have larger territories, and rest at their border.”
Luna raised an eyebrow at Theron, clearly questioning if it was really inedible. He only shook his head.
They backtracked quietly and descended the ridge. The lower path took them through a ravine thick with ferns and loose scree, not the terrain one would choose without being forced to. Garrett navigated by landmarks, checking the sun and his map.
Nobody complained about the detour. They moved in focused silence, the basilisk’s acidic stench still faintly in the air, a reminder that this part of the world had been claimed.
By late afternoon, they had cleared the ridge entirely and regained their heading. Garrett called for an early camp beside a shallow cave that offered shelter from the wind. As the others scattered to build the camp, Garrett remained by Alsen’s side.
“So,” he said. “What levels are you two, actually?”
“Seven, at this moment,” he answered honestly, acting as if he didn’t understand the implied question.
“Neither of you performs like a level seven. The four of us are in the mid-twenties as far as levels go, so we have seen quite a few low levels during our time.”
He expected this question, though it still brought a smile to his face. “The System didn’t show up when we lived in our village and its surroundings,” he lied with confidence and a steady tone. “My main spell is from before the System, and Luna has… been through a lot.”
“At her age?”
“That is her story to tell,” Alsen said. He had no explanation for Luna without getting into the whole from another world thing. “We are level seven, but I created spells long before the System ever showed up.”
Garrett nodded. “You also apparently didn’t have the adventurer’s guild there.
The way ranks work is that they go from F to A, and then there are special S-ranks.
I’ve never met anyone above B-rank, and the ranks roughly match the System’s levels.
Up to ten F-rank, ten to thirty E-rank, thirty to forty-nine D-rank, fifty to sixty C-rank, sixty to seventy-four is B-rank, and seventy-five plus A-rank.
S-ranks are rumored to be ninety-plus, but there are three known S-ranks in the realm.
The adventurers’ guild ranks are technically determined by the guild, but one rarely rises in level without the guild noticing them, though some people are assigned ranks in absentia. ”
That meant that the guild functioned as a public classification system.
That made it somewhat dangerous, yet also a key to status.
The official title of an archmage, his own school of magic, worldwide fame and recognition, everything he ever wanted could be unlocked by climbing the adventurer guild’s ranks.
The irony winked at him.
He had a new life in a new body in a new world.
An endless array of opportunities, of choices about who he could become.
But, at the end of the day, his desires and dreams were exactly the same as back on Earth.
He just had more mana and a better system to turn them into reality in this world.
He was the greatest mage of his old world, and he was going to become the greatest mage of this one.
“Thanks a lot,” he said, “That clears things up a bit. And is it just me, or are the E-rank and D-rank ranges pretty long?”
“Especially D-rank. That’s where most adventurers end.
Not by death, necessarily, but the climb to C-rank takes so long that most become old before they get anywhere close.
” Garrett smiled. “That’s what awaits me, if I am to be honest with myself.
I’m hoping to hit level thirty with this dungeon, but I’m not all that young anymore.
The levels get harder and harder to get.
It all went well until fifteen, then things slowed down. ”
Alsen narrowed his eyes. He planned his build only to the next step, assuming he would level at a good rate and fix whatever he needed to get later. But if the time between levels were to turn from days to years, then he’d best be sure with his build.
Then again, his out-of-the-system power progression far outpaced that of the System.
The rock bear steaks were a lot chewier than last night. Still, a decent meal, with no sacrifice needed from the party supplies.
The third morning started with a new game.
Luna descended from her tree wearing the collar, still the red one. The leather had already begun to darken where it met her skin, softening into a fit that looked almost natural. She didn’t touch it. Didn’t acknowledge it.
Sonja, smiling the calm, warm smile that had replaced her previous mania, almost caught Luna when she landed, but instead, clipped a leather leash to the collar’s brass ring.
Luna unclipped it.
Sonja clipped it again, while reaching for her backpack with the other hand, casual as anything.
Luna reached up and popped the clasp without breaking stride. The leash swung loose. Sonja caught it before it hit the ground.
They hadn’t exchanged a single word about it. Alsen, waking nearby, watched out of the corner of his eye.
Sonja waited five minutes. Then she stepped close to Luna under the pretense of pointing out a bird in the canopy, and clipped the leash while Luna’s eyes followed her finger upward.
Luna unclipped it before Sonja’s hand had returned to her side.
The game continued through the morning. Sonja would find moments, little gaps in Luna’s attention, a stumble on loose rock, a turn in the trail that brought them close, and clip the leash.
Luna would remove it within seconds, sometimes without even looking at what her hand was doing.
The collar never came off. The collar was settled, apparently.
But the leash was a separate negotiation entirely, and Luna didn’t seem to be all that open to it.
Then again, she also didn’t stab Sonja, so she didn’t mind all that much.
By the fifth or sixth attempt, the rest of the group had started watching like it was a spectator sport.
“She’s getting faster,” Theron observed.
“Sonja or Luna?” Garrett asked.
“Both. But Luna unclipped that last one before Sonja’s fingers even left the ring.”
Garrett shook his head. “Sonja’s going to start clipping it in her sleep.”
“I wish. But Kitten sleeps on a tree,” Sonja called back, having clearly heard every word. “I’m working on that, though.”
Luna said nothing, but the faintest trace of a smirk crossed her face before it vanished.
The terrain changed again as the morning wore on.
They descended from the foothills into a wooded valley, the trees taller here, the undergrowth thicker.
The trail they followed showed signs of old use, grooves worn into rock by cartwheels, the remnants of a cobbled surface peeking through layers of dirt and moss.
Someone had built a road here, once. Long ago.
They found the camp around midday.
It sat in a clearing just off the trail, partially hidden by a fallen tree that had collapsed across its entrance.
The tent had rotted through, its canvas reduced to gray strips draped over a sagging frame.
Scattered around it lay the remnants of a life interrupted.
A rusted cook pot, its bottom eaten through.
A leather pack, cracked and stiff, its contents long since ruined by rain.
A pair of boots, still laced, sat upright by the tent as if their owner had stepped out and never returned.
And at the clearing’s edge, a sword was stuck into the earth. Rusted to a deep brown, the blade scorched around the ground, with a strip of cloth tied to the pommel, so faded that its original color couldn’t be recognized.
Garrett stopped at the clearing’s edge. His expression went flat. “Well…”
The rest of them walked on the clearing. Everyone turned dead serious, even Sonja. Theron stepped past the fallen tree and crouched by the pack. He turned it over, examining the remains of a buckle. “Vellhorn’s standard. This might be Laurean’s group.”
Garrett nodded. “I recognize his sword.”
Everyone went quiet. Alsen and Luna stood aside. One sleeping roll remained in the camp. This was where Laurean, whoever he might be, finished his adventure.
Garrett was the first to go to the sword, while Theron, Marena, and Sonja quickly put together a small fire. Alsen got the idea, so he lit it up for them.
Garrett took one burning branch and put it down by the sword. “May the fire light your way,” he whispered.
Alsen watched the ritual.
Theron, Sonja, and Marena followed. They each picked a burning branch, put it by the sword, and whispered the same line.
Luna joined up, and so did Alsen.
He picked up a burning piece of wood from the fire, walked to the sword, and put it down by the blade. “May the fire light your way.” His eyes teared up.
He hadn’t ever met the man, never even heard his name, but there still was something about this.
He stepped aside, tears rolling down his face.
If things didn’t go well in the vault, this was how he was going to end up.
With his spellbook placed on the ground with a piece of cloth, and others placing burning branches around it to light his way.
Same for everyone else in their group.
They watched the fire by the sword burn to its end.
“Let’s move,” Garrett said, heading away. Everyone followed without a word.
The afternoon and evening passed in almost complete silence. Not even Sonja made any moves towards Luna.