Chapter 271: Main Quest

It didn’t take long for the Ring Gate to be prepared. Sure enough, it was a tiny item, capable of fitting on my finger if I wanted. According to Diane, activating the ring would summon a gate leading to the designated location, which in this case was G’Riol.

A second Ring Gate was given to the pixie assigned as our ambassador, who went by the name of Shallas Silvessent. Meaning that the one given to us was for our own personal usage in case we needed anything from the pixies in the future, while Shallas was in charge of ferrying regular meals back and forth between Fallcry and G’Riol.

It had been no small feat to convince them that the name of the nation was Fallcry rather than ‘D’Advent’, as they kept calling it. The king still slipped up on occasion, but usually corrected himself.

Once it was time for us to leave, we went through another spirit gate as Shallas latched onto the back of my head, and I teleported us first to Ella’s kingdom to return her home and then to Fallcry. Once we were in Fallcry, Shallas released my cranium and flew up into the air in excitement. “Ooh, look at all the big people!” she said in astonishment.

Because Shallas would be living in Fallcry from now on, I had pressed her to find out what her gender was, purely for the sake of making things easier in conversation between her and everyone else. Since gender is something that pixies only typically reveal to their romantic partners, this seemed to be quite the embarrassing request for her, but she eventually relented when she realized the cultural differences.

As Shallas flew into the air, the eyes of several other citizens, among which was no small number of Players, all turned skyward to look at her in surprise. Some of them tensed, clearly with memories of Feycross from before the update.

“So, can you tell me what those items you asked for trade were?” I asked, looking over at Diane now that we were away from G’Riol. I still had no clue on what Everrune Pages or Weeping Stones were supposed to be.

Diane simply chuckled. “They’re going to be incredibly useful for this city, at the very least,” she promised. “Everrune Pages are basically stamps for runic formations. According to the description included with their list, you can layer them over a single runic formation, and that pattern will be stamped on the page. After that, you can repeatedly stamp that formation as many times as you like.”

“In other words, you can make up for the fact that you didn’t have a City Planner build Fallcry by putting various wards along the wall or throughout the city,” she summarized. “That will be especially helpful if anyone decides to attack us.”

“As for Weeping Stones, those are a power source. They continuously release a substance listed as ‘Pixie’s Tears’, which can be used to fuel or empower runic formations. I don’t know the rate of production, how fast they’re used up, or even how potent they are, which is why I asked for three of them. At the same time, runes and other forms of magic can’t be used in their immediate vicinity, as they drain any airborne energy to convert them into these tears.”

I listened curiously to her explanation, my eyes widening at the description of the Weeping Stones. “Pixies don’t have a proper concept of skills. If those stones can cancel out runic magic…”

Diane nodded her head. “It’s highly likely that they cancel out any form of projected skill. At the same time, the liquid it creates should act as a form of mana supplement. Even if we get an excess of the liquid, we can just have it sold in one of our shops as a potion.”

That made sense. I wasn’t sure about all of the other items on the list, but from what they had listed during our first visit, I assumed most of them were rather niche. For instance, the map that only showed locations nobody else was aware of. Given the eccentricities of the pixies, I could see a lot of similarly niche items.

“In that case, I’ll go and get the embassy built,” I told Diane and Bella. “In the meantime, the two of you can figure out where we’re going next. Diane, I don’t think you were able to completely finish your dungeon with the points you had available, right?”

Diane gave a wry smile. “That’s right. I still need quite a bit more to get everything finished off how I want it.”

The two agreed, wandering off towards the palace while I looked for an empty plot of land to build the new embassy. Although Shallas insisted that it didn’t need to be anything big, I couldn’t exactly give her a birdhouse as the diplomatic envoy for G’Riol.

In the end, I found a vacant lot not far from the palace itself. Originally, the lot had been arranged for a storefront, but nobody had taken over that particular shop yet. Thus, I tore the unused shop down and constructed a small embassy in its place. The building had three floors, but a rather small footprint, given that it had simply replaced the space an empty shop had taken.

After I was done constructing the embassy, I sent a message to Nuoda, letting her know to inform the other Players that we were in a favorable relationship with a pixie kingdom, and Shallas was serving as their ambassador. Then, I made my way to the palace to find Bella and Diane seriously discussing our plans for the future.

The moment that I entered the room, their voices quieted, both looking at me with concerningly serious expressions. “Did you two decide what you want to do?” I asked, and they nodded.

In the end, it was Diane that spoke up first to explain. “I think that we should pursue this world’s main storyline,” she answered, much to my confusion.

“Main storyline? What do you mean?”

“In nearly every game, there is at least one story that everything revolves around. Some have branching stories, and some have entirely unrelated ones for the Players to follow as they wish. A small percentage of games are regarded as ‘sandbox’ games with no real story. In these games, the Players are allowed to roam and create as they wish, making their own story.”

As Diane spoke, she glanced over at Bella before returning her gaze to me. “Originally, myself and other Players assumed that this was a sandbox game. I hadn’t worried about pursuing a storyline because I did not believe that there was a main line to follow. I thought that the main attraction of the game was that it allowed you to live a fantasy life in another living, breathing world.”

“What changed?” I asked, unsure where this decision had come from.

Diane took a deep breath. “It started with Marron. The quest that she took us on hinted at an ancient civilization, one that existed before the realms were divided. Some Players have been theorizing on the forums after she released her posts, saying that each realm represents a different aspect of the ‘original’ world, with Chimeris being a jumbled mix of what was left over.”

“Originally, I wasn’t one to care much about these theories, but there was something about the old civilization that didn’t sit right with me. They had the ability to leave behind skill books and issue quests.”

She looked straight at me, letting that sink in for a moment. When it did, my eyes widened. “NPCs can’t learn skills on their own or issue quests. Meaning that the ancient civilization had their own methods for doing so, whether they had Players or something else.”

“Exactly,” Diane confirmed. “A lot of people just write that off as worldbuilding and an excuse for the rewards that Marron deserved after a long quest chain. However, nothing in this game works so conveniently. If the ancient civilization issued quests and gave skill books as rewards, that meant that they had the means to produce these in that period.”

“Then there is the recent evolution of dungeons. If we accept that this is not a glitch, then that means that this is most likely either a result of something someone did, or it is a precursor to something coming. Both options suggest the existence of a primary storyline.”

I thought about that, and it made sense. However, there was something that felt off. “Wouldn’t you Players know if there were ancient Players that connected to this game?”

Diane’s expression turned rather complicated at that. “That’s… difficult to properly explain. All that I can really say without getting things too complicated is that it should be like some of the old Fallen like Kelly or the kings of the existing nations.”

I wasn’t entirely sure what she meant by that, but didn’t press the issue. If it was something that she couldn’t explain, then pushing for an answer would get me nowhere. “Alright, then. Let’s assume that this game has a main storyline like you said. Where would we look for it? Do we just run around and go through different dungeons to look for clues?”

“Well, we have two real options. The first one would allow us to discover things on our own, but the other would be a more guided experience.” Diane shrugged her shoulders. “That’s what Bella and I were talking about when you came in. The first option is for us to negotiate with the pixies to get the Map the Land Forgot. From there, we can visit Khestra. It’s a desert realm where some Players have reported seeing ruined buildings. However, Khestra is a big place, and there’s no guarantee that we’ll be able to find anything of significance.”

“Then, what’s the second option?” I asked, and Bella spoke up.

“We join up with Marron,” she stated plainly. “She has that map that records historically significant dungeons, right? If we take her to Khestra, her map could point the way to the dungeons containing clues of the main story.”

“However, there’s a problem with this plan,” Diane cut in before I could say anything. “Marron’s skill only allows herself to enter the past timeline and see the truth of dungeons. Aside from being easy transport for her, we don’t really have anything else that we can offer her. She isn’t even in need of protection most of the time because of her trait.”

Looking at the duo, I could clearly tell which option each of them preferred. Diane wanted to go hunting on our own, while Bella wanted to enlist Marron to speed up the search. I crossed my arms, thinking about both points. There were clearly advantages to both options.

“Rather than enlisting Marron to travel with us to the dungeons, I’d say that it would be a better idea to ask her about clues that she’s found in the last month, and then use that as a starting point. There might be dungeons that she wasn’t able to enter due to the evolution. Her passive doesn’t work against intelligent creatures, remember. So there might be dungeons that she has either tried to visit and couldn’t make it through, or ones that she’s read clues about.”

To me, this was the best of both worlds. Like Diane said, there wasn’t much that we could help Marron with in most dungeons, aside from quick transport. At the same time, however, it was important to get the advice of someone who knew what they were doing in this field. Though, saying that, I did look at Diane next. “On that subject, though, I would suggest against getting the map from the pixies.”

“Oh? Why’s that?” Diane questioned.

“The map only shows locations that nobody else knows about. If we’re looking for areas that Marron has found clues of, they wouldn’t show up on the map to begin with. The only ones that would show up would be dungeons that absolutely nobody was aware of, meaning that there wouldn’t even be anyone near its entrance. The dungeons that we went to with Marron all had, at some point, people living near them, so they wouldn’t be likely to appear on the map either.”

Diane blinked, having overlooked that detail. “Fine. We’ll call Marron to see if she has any ideas for where we should go, then set off on our own.”