“Well, yeah, but you were the one who had to shatter it for me. That was some good teamwork. Damage over time counters regen, so with it on fire and you shooting the vulnerable areas, we were able to make short work of the damn thing.”
They both looked at the corpse, causing Sang to grin. She couldn’t believe they had actually survived that encounter. And now, few Druids were starting to return to the area, including the lead Druid who had given them the quest.
“Noble heroes!” said the Druid as she approached them. “You have both worked so diligently to not only rid our village of these dreaded Trolls, but you have also stopped the evil advances of our wicked sister, Soara. You are truly the champions of this jungle, and we must thank you for rescuing us from such peril! Now then, you must be rewarded. I give to you both this token of my appreciation! A transportation twig! All you must do is snap it in half, and then you shall be taken straight to the edge of anywhere of the jungle that you wish!”
“Perfect!” Sang said as she took the twig in her hand. She had grown very tired of being in the dense, dark jungle, and was looking forward to the fresh air of the open country. As she held the stick in her hand, the words Quest Completed! appeared before her, summarizing her adventure.
Much to her excitement, this was another ticket to levelling up! She eagerly pulled up the screen, excited to see what new powers and abilities she would be able to unlock. It seemed that with each passing day she was getting more and more into the game.
“Alright, I’m all leveled up!” said Van as he walked up alongside Sang. “You ready to get out of this place for good?”
“Never more ready!” she replied once she’d finished optimizing her character some more. She glanced at the twig in her hand. “And I just need to snap it?” she asked.
“Yeah, go for it!” Van said as he snapped his own. As Sang snapped the twig in half, a map appeared in front of her. It was a map of the entire jungle, and the entire border was glowing red. The words WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO FAST TRAVEL? appeared before her. She looked to the northwest side of the map to see the kingdom of Verrata’s borders. She reached her hand out and touched that edge of the map. The words FAST TRAVEL ENGAGED appeared over her as the wind behind the both of them began to pick up fiercely. It blew fiercely, and Sang felt herself losing her footing.
“What’s happening?” Sang screamed as the fierce winds picked her up in a kind of whirlwind.
“We’re fast travelling!” Van replied as they were both taken fully up by the winds. Sang bounced up and down, unable to control herself as the winds pushed them through the trees and over the dense jungle. She could feel the rush of fresh air as they floated high in the sky. It was crazy, but she could see just about everything around her and, as the wind blew, she felt it pushing her forward. Van was flapping his arms like a bird, joking about learning to fly as the winds pushed them.
“I can’t believe we’re flying!” Sang said, completely shocked at the sensation. This was a lot different from flying on the back of a Dragon. While the Dragon had been stable, smooth and controlled, flying on a whirlwind was hectic, chaotic, and crazy. At many points, she even felt as if she were falling, and sometimes she’d drop suddenly, but only to be lifted back up by another wind.
All in all, though, it was a fantastic experience. She couldn’t believe the view as the wind rushed them both quickly over the jungle, moving them at speeds faster than even the Dragon had flown.
As they flew together, Sang could see a massive set of spires and castle tops in the distance. They reached the jungle’s edge and the whirlwind gently landed them on open ground. Before them was a road with a fork that pointed toward the city. It read “Verrata, 1.2 miles.”
“Whew!” Sang said as she looked back at the jungle opening behind them. “I can’t believe we made it! We survived that whole stupid jungle!”
“Yeah, that was crazy,” Van replied as he knelt down to tie his boots back up.
“So, next stop, the Cave of Visions, right?” Sang asked.
Van nodded. “Sleep Time’s coming up. After we take a break, we’ll go there.”
Chapter Nineteen
Van could barely hear Sang’s words over the mass of humanity that filled the streets of the kingdom. Verrata was a large, beautiful city full of people, Elves, and treasure. It was the hub of most of the game’s urban adventures, and as Van struggled to avoid getting run over by an excited crowd, he wondered what was going on at this moment. They had reached Verrata without anymore incidents, but judging from the sheer amount of people who were around, something big was going down in the area. It couldn’t possibly be an event, though, as there would have been some kind of a big message to greet players as they entered into the area, and he’d seen nothing of the sort.
The sights were gorgeous, though. The spiraling towers glistened in the sunlight, and the jewels that adorned the towers sparkled in brilliant blues, greens, and reds as the sun continued to move higher into the sky. The city was huge, as it had a NPC population of nearly 20,000, and there were over 2,000 player-owned shops, taverns, and homes. It was the biggest urban location in Dragon Kings of the New World. Van didn’t particularly care for the city, however—primarily because there weren’t that many good, old fashioned, violent adventures. There was a lot of intrigue, which was less his style—political quests and interaction-based quests. The city also had the highest concentration of pro gamers, mainly because politics needed more than an AI in order to be interesting.
“What is all of this nonsense?” Sang asked as she pushed her way through the masses to get to Van. They had been separated by a wave of people pushing through. Again.
“No idea!” Van said. He grabbed one of the players—a tall mage with blonde hair and a droopy blue hat.
“Yo, hey, what’s all this racket about?” Van asked the mage. She giggled and pointed toward the northeast.
“The Cave of Visions has been nuts lately! Players are saying it’s some kind of hidden event, like a secret introduction to the new expansion! They closed the cave down with some kind of barrier, but everyone’s rushing to scour the entire area anyway and find an entrance! Rumor has it that whoever gets in first is going to unlock a special title!” the mage said as she pulled loose from Van’s grasp. “I’m gonna be the first to find it!” she laughed before running back into the crowd.
“Well, crap,” Van said as he looked at the sheer number of people in the midst of the streets. With this much of a player load, there would be zero chance of doing any kind of investigation in secret.
“This isn’t good,” Sang said. “We’re going to have to plan to go in during Sleep Time. No one will be around.”
“We also won’t be around, remember? We’ll have been kicked out,” Van said.
“Did you forget what I do for a living?” Sang asked. “We’ll be in there in no time. Just need to wait for everyone else to go to sleep and then we can scour those caves without a problem.”
Van grimaced. He didn’t particularly like the idea of going into the game during Sleep Time. First off, there was a danger that they’d get caught and then banned from the game, jeopardizing the entire mission. The second danger was if Draco somehow figured out that Van was actually Sivlander playing another character—then, they would ban Sivlander’s account, as well.
“You look worried,” Sang said. “Don’t be. I haven’t been caught yet, and I do it every few days or so. Just to check for glitches at night.”
“Alright, fine,” Van said, sighing heavily as he felt the throngs of people begin to push him backwards due to their sheer mass. A fight had begun to break out between a few players, and they were all busy punching each other in an impromptu melee.