Frostbitten Wayfarer

Zoe checked her stat sheet again for the first time since she left Korna, and saw she’d already made it to level fourteen. She had no context to compare to as the last time she was level eight, she had blasted to her next cap immediately. But it seemed to her like Temporal Continuance II was pulling more than its fair share of weight to her, just comparing to when she saw other people at her level not flying through the levels by doing nothing.

All of the stat points she was getting were dumped straight into Vitality. If resetting her classes over and over was something she was going to do more often, then she wanted to get to a good point with her Vitality that she wouldn’t feel so incredibly vulnerable every time she did. Maybe for a while she’d dump her birthday points into vitality too, just to try and get it to a number she was happy with. Ten thousand, maybe? Twenty? Maybe fifteen, that sounded like a comfortable baseline when combined with her powerful Restoration skill.

Already, her health had reached just over three thousand though. And if she got lucky with her cap, she might even manage to get to five thousand whenever she reset her third class — even without her birthday points over the next few centuries. That would be much nicer than the thousand or so that she was working with when she still had her Seasoned Frost stat allocation.

Zoe looked around the forest that she’d ended up after the bridge. It was breathtaking, really. Towering trees with immense trunks spread through the forest, with bushes and small saplings that surely had grand ambitions for themselves littered among the sprawling roots. Wooden platforms were tied to the large trees with ropes, making a walkway that led all the way up to the tree tops and throughout the forest as far as Zoe could see.

Birds fluttered through the tree tops as Zoe walked around, while squirrels and other small animals skittered around the roots and climbed up the trunks. Colourful swarms of mushrooms popped up in the dirt far below her, and clung to the tree trunks. Zoe wondered what eating them would do to her.

Many would be poisonous, probably. Mushrooms tended to be. But so was Klir, and she could handle Klir even at level eight without all the benefits she has now. Would normal mushrooms that grew in a somewhat public park be so deadly to her?

Probably.

Mushrooms tasted good though, and Zoe always had a deep respect for the fungal kingdom. The underlying foundations of life that was always present, prodding the world along its path. She often wondered if they were sentient, stretching to the roots of trees to warn them of danger and provide nutrients. What would the world look like without the vast expanse of mycelium lurking just below the surface? Barren wasteland, probably.

Zoe had never tried psilocybin, but everybody who ever did always spoke of a connectedness that Zoe could never quite understand. It was as though people’s worlds shifted as soon as they were spoken to by some higher power inhabiting the fungus, and while Zoe had never personally experienced it, she found it beautiful in its own way.

And seeing the colourful fungus spreading its spores around the forest was a simple pleasure for her. Did people in this world do drugs? Were there even more magic mushrooms in this magical world? Zoe wasn’t sure, she’d never heard of any drugs since coming to Abyllan, but it would be strange for there not to be.

There were a dozen others walking through the trees that Zoe passed, or often stopped with at designated lookout spots with gorgeous views peeking through the mess of thick tree trunks. Ponds full of green algae and little ripples as whatever lived in them touched the surface of the water. Zoe even saw a family of black bears far below, the mother scratching against a tree while the two cubs wrestled over a fallen log covered in fungus and moss.

Most of the people gave Zoe an odd look, and she wasn’t sure if it was because of her low level — or because her level went up when they looked at her, but she enjoyed the attention anyway. She never used to enjoy attention, always wanting to fall to the sidelines and enjoy her life on her own time.

But now, she’d accomplished something so meaningful to her. And seeing people recognize it gave her a little pep in her step as she ascended the winding path.

Breaking through the canopy was fun, the mass of leaves that blotted out the bright sky cut through just over the walkway. A two story tall tower was at the peak, with a spiral staircase in the center leading up to a lookout point far above even the tallest trees in the forest.

It was awesome, in the truest sense of the word. The bright green leaves that stretched up to grasp the sun’s rays were just a few dozen feet below her, and stretched on to the horizon. Korna’s walls were seen just a ways to the south, poking out above the canopy with the familiar menacing… northern… gate… Gate?

Korna’s walls were seen just a ways to the south, with their menacing northern gate standing defiant against the world. A mark of pride and…

The forest was beautiful, Zoe thought. Korna was seen in the distance, a reminder of where she’d come from. With its menacing…

Zoe climbed back down the tower. The view was beautiful, the forest stretching on as far as she could see. She expected to see Korna in the distance, but it must have been just too far away to be seen. Maybe they could make the tower a little taller someday, she thought. It would have been quite a sight to see the beautiful open walls of Korna off in the distance, standing strong and proud.

The walk back to the bridge was just as pleasant as the way out, the forest may as well have been completely different from the new perspective. Ponds she’d never noticed stood out like beacons of beauty, new nests with little baby birds crowing for food from their parent in branches she hadn’t seen. The family of black bears — if it was the same family anyway, was prowling through the forest after a distant deer grazing on some flowers in a sunny opening.

Zoe walked across the long wooden bridge to the park center and over to the restaurant. It wasn’t anything particularly special from the outside, just a simple log cabin with some meaty, greasy smells wafting out from the open windows. Inside was just a small counter with a menu, and a woman standing behind who looked a little bored as she leaned back and forth on her feat.

“Hello,” the woman said.

“Hi.” Zoe replied. “You don’t get a chair?”

The woman smiled and shook her head. “No, no I have a stool here.” She tapped on something wooden behind her. “I just like to stand up sometimes, get the body moving you know? Not good to sit for too long, I think. Makes me feel cramped. But enough of that, what would you like?”

Zoe nodded her head. “Not sure, gimme a minute to look through the menu.” She walked up to the counter and browsed through the paper menu. Two large trees were drawn on the sides, with their canopies stretching across the top. Ikleci was written on a branch that stretched across between the two trees, just below the green leaves.

The menu was rather boring, and far more pricey than she expected to be reasonable. Burgers and hotdogs seemed to be the main focus, though they also had some various salads and a soup of the day.

“What’s the soup of the day?” Zoe asked.

“Bear today.” The woman said.

“Right. I think I’ll take a burger then. Ryz, please. With extra mushrooms if possible?" Zoe asked.

“Sure thing. Do you have an Ikleci annual pass?" The woman asked.

Zoe nodded and summoned her wooden card, then handed it to the woman. A brief pulse of mana washed over it, and then the woman handed it back.

“Wonderful, thank you. That will be thirty two copper then.” The woman said.

Zoe summoned a handful of copper coins and handed it to the woman. “Thanks. How long will it be?"

“About ten minutes. Could I get your name, please? I’ll call for you when it’s ready.” The woman said.

“Zoe,” Zoe said.

“Zoe, alright. I’ll call you when your burger is ready. Feel free to browse through the Ikleci Trading Shop while you’re waiting.” She smiled.

Zoe nodded and left. That must be the name of the gift shop, she guessed, but she wasn’t interested in checking it out just yet. She’d eat her food, then buy a few souvenirs to take back to Joe and Emma and then head to Korna to finish up the last of her chores there.

She checked her stat sheet as she waited — up to level sixteen already, and pushed all of her points into Vitality. A disembodied voice called out her name ten minutes later, and Zoe went to grab her burger.

It was a tasty burger, with some melted cheese stuffed in the middle of it. A pile of yellow mushrooms on top, with a crispy bun and a side of thick cut crispy potato wedges. It wasn’t a forty copper tasty burger, but it was enjoyable and Zoe didn’t need to pinch pennies that much anyway.

But she had no doubt Ikleci was making off like bandits, even with her annual pass. Or perhaps especially because of her annual pass, since she wasn’t sure she’d really end up here again in the next year anyway.

When she finished her burger, she threw out the paper wrapping in a trash can then made her way over to the gift store. It looked much the same on the outside, though with the addition of the same woman from earlier playing some pleasant music just outside the entrance.

Inside however, was very different. Brightly lit with crystal lanterns that hung from the ceiling, and rows upon rows of shelves showcasing different products. Most of which were carved wood — bears, squirrels, trees. Even a miniature model of the bridge itself, above a painted white water river.

But there was an assortment of clothes as well, quite boring by Korna’s taste if she were being honest. Mass produced junk with different labels on the front of them. ‘I survived the Ikleci Suspension Bridge!’ seemed to be their main focus, but there were some more interesting pictures of the bridge on some clothes simply labeled ‘Ikleci’ that Zoe liked quite a bit more.

The whole surviving part of it just felt a little silly to her. If there really was any significant risk of injury, the place probably would have been closed down long ago. Surviving it was really just paying them some money for the experience to be a part of it, less than any personal achievement for yourself. Though it was a pleasant walk, without a doubt.

Zoe picked up about a dozen of the simple brown shirts, as well as two of the miniature bridge models and a handful of carved wooden animals then brought them up to the counter at the back. There were no prices on anything, but she was expecting the total to be rather outlandish.

The young man behind the counter wrote down all of the totals on a piece of paper then added them up to two gold and eight silver, including Zoe’s discount with her annual pass. She almost rolled her eyes paying the sum, and then pulled all of her souvenirs into her storage bracelet.

She was herded down another hallway by an assortment of signs and ropes blocking her path, towards a little ice cream parlour. Zoe picked up a cone of rawbi ice cream for forty copper coins and then left the Ikleci park. The ice cream was soft, sweet and somehow didn’t seem to melt until it was in her mouth. A convenient magic, but part of ice cream’s appeal was having it melt down your hand and make a mess you had no way of cleaning up if you didn’t eat it quickly enough, so Zoe was a little torn on it.

Zoe basked in the warm early evening sun as she walked the few minutes back down the road towards Korna. The gate was closed as usual, Zoe wouldn’t expect anything less from the city. She spoke with the guard outside for a few minutes, as he seemed quite interested in her experience at Ikleci and a little eager to go check it out for himself someday.

She walked back to her room at The Weary Rest and laid in her bed to check her stat sheet. After just a single day, she’d made it all the way to level twenty. A few more hours and she’d already be at her previous cap of twenty two. What would be the chances that she got twenty two again she thought, chuckling to herself.

About twelve percent. Not even that bad, really. And at this point, twenty five percent even. She hoped it wouldn’t be, after everything she’d been through. Having something to show she really did reset her first class level would be a nice bonus to have, but it didn’t really matter. She’d already gotten higher than the average, and that would be good enough.

Zoe drifted off to sleep as she laid on the comfortable bed, with dreams of peace and prosperity brought to Korna. Intense feelings of happiness and trust overwhelmed her dream, and she woke up feeling safe and protected as the morning sun just peeked through her window.

She checked her stat sheet, and saw it had reached level twenty two. With the rate it was levelling the day prior, Zoe didn’t think it would have stopped there if it wasn’t her cap. She checked her class selections and dismissed the window as soon as it appeared. She’d think about her class selection in a bit, but for now she just wanted to rest a little bit more.