Frostbitten Wayfarer

The room was simple. A window looking out at the back of the wooden palisade that surrounded the village, a small desk with a nice wooden chair and a much more comfortable bed than the one at the dungeon.

Zoe sat down at the desk and opened one of the three drawers along the right hand side. Inside was a pile of off white papers and some writing implements. She checked her level, one hundred thirty nine. Two levels since she left the previous morning, much faster than she would have expected. She didn’t fight anything, she didn’t even spend much time using her skills, so where did the levels come from?

Just from the passage of time alone didn’t make sense to her, since she’d spent many months sitting around in her cave and levels never came that quick. Was it from exploring a new dungeon? Was there some passive experience gain from exploring a dungeon she’d never been to for the first time?

She thought through her class bonuses and remembered her Cosmic Mystic gave her experience through the passage of both time and space. She thought it meant normal travel, walking or flying even. But did she get a massive boost when she teleported multiple kilometers at a time?

Zoe looked out the window to the sky, Cosmic Stepping far above the village and catching herself in a suit of earth. In a little under an hour, she made it back to the sky far above Foizo. Another hour later, and she was back in Kurn’s inn, sitting at the desk.

She checked her level again — one hundred forty, another level. Was she already at the cusp of a level from exploring the springs or did she just get an entire level from just under two hours of teleporting around? Zoe sighed and repeated the process again. As she travelled through the sky, she half hoped it wouldn’t get her another level. As enjoyable as exploring the world was, spending days on end teleporting back and forth was not her idea of a fun time.

By the time she made it back to Kurn’s inn again, the sun was beginning to dip on the horizon and Zoe checked her level. Still level one hundred forty. Which still didn’t rule anything out, Zoe thought.

Maybe it was a mixture of the two factors she could think of — exploring a new dungeon gave her a bunch of experience, and teleporting gave her a bunch of experience. Maybe it just wasn’t enough for a full level but only half? She wished the system would just give her an easy to understand experience bar at the bottom of her vision so she could figure things out better, but whenever she tried to pry that information from the system it never responded with anything useful.

One time she managed to stretch out her health bar to the bottom of her vision and got excited for a moment, before she realized what had happened. The system gave her a great deal of customization over how it appeared, but the exact experience she had left for the next level just wasn’t information it gave her.

Maybe it wasn’t information it even had at all. Maybe the system just decided she levelled up sometimes with no rhyme or reason behind it. She shrugged, and left the room back out to the dining area where Kurn was at work in the kitchen with some stew bubbling away in a pot and the smell of fresh brul filling the inn.

“Oh hello, did you enjoy the bed? I made them myself you know?" Kurn asked when he saw Zoe come out.

“Really? That’s quite impressive. I didn’t get to try it out though, sorry. Seemed much more comfortable than the ones at the inn at the Springs of Gir though.” Zoe laughed. “You ever been there?”

Kurn shook his head. “No, no. Never myself. I think I’d like to go one day but it’s quite a journey out there you know?"

Zoe smiled. “Yeah, I suppose it is. The inn was really nice but my god did the beds suck.” She sat down at one of the tables. “What’s for dinner tonight?"

“Bear stew and a sweet brul my nan used to make. It should be ready now, if you’d like?” Kurn asked.

Zoe nodded. “I think I would like, thanks.”

Kurn pulled a wooden bowl from one of the cupboards and filled it with the dark brown stew from the pot, then pulled out a fist sized brul bun from the oven and walked over to Zoe’s table. “Here you are. Enjoy.”

Zoe dug in, the brul was delicious and reminded her of her own grandmother’s sweet brul she used to make. Or bread, Zoe realized. The stew was flavourful and packed with herbs, though the meat was rather tough and fatty with a strange bitter flavour to it that cut through the gaminess of the bear but wasn’t all too pleasant itself.

*Ding* You have consumed an Innkeeper’s dinner. All regeneration increased for four hours.

“Thanks,” Zoe said. “It’s good.”

“Yeah, well the bears have been eating something odd lately so their fat is a bit off. But foods food, I say.” Kurn said, sitting down across from Zoe.

“Do their diets affect the flavour of fat that much?" Zoe asked.

Kurn nodded. “It does, yes. One year I suppose the fruit harvest was quite significant, and the bears around here gorged on fruits for a large part of their diet. And as a result, they tasted sweet and delicate. It was wonderful. I rather think it would be an enjoyable time to try and replicate that, but I find I just don’t have the same motivation for things I used to anymore.”

“I’ve never heard of domesticated bears before, but I guess it would be possible. If it makes that big of a difference, you could export some special bear meat, I guess. Don’t know what the market would be like though.” Zoe said.

“Oh! I’d never even thought of exporting it, I just thought it would be nice to have some delicious food here in the village. Maybe we can try that out next year. It would be nice to have something for this little village again.” Kurn said.

“What did you used to have?" Zoe asked.

“Well we used to be a stop between Darpi and Flester. Lots of merchants travelling back and forth, stopping by here to peddle some wares and stay at the inns. We still do get them sometimes, but it used to be enough to sustain us. Now we’re left more to ourselves and that’s good in its own way too I think, but I don’t think the little ones enjoy it so much. If we don’t get something going, this might be the last generation living here.” Kurn laughed

“That’d be sad, you have such a long history here too.” Zoe said.

Kurn nodded. “But it’s the way of life. The world changes and we can’t always stand against the current. Sometimes you just get pulled along with everything else, and that’s okay.”

“Well in a few years, trade might start up with Foizo again too. You never know.” Zoe suggested.

Kurn shook his head. “I appreciate your positive outlook, but it will be decades before Foizo is as enticing to the Darpi merchants as Flester was.” He waved his hand. “Enough of that though. What were you getting up to you in your room if you don’t mind me asking? I had thought you were asleep, but I suppose I was mistaken.”

Zoe chuckled. “I was just experimenting with some of my class stuff. Nothing too special.”

“Mmm, yes. They can be quite complicated sometimes, can’t they?” Kurn asked.

“Complicated is an understatement.” Zoe laughed. “I swear, sometimes I think the system’s trying to confuse us.”

Kurn laughed with her and then got up and walked back to the kitchen area of the room. “I can’t disagree with that. You know, for some of my skills to work I have to be in an inn?”

Zoe smiled. “I have an innkeeper friend, I’ve heard the frustrations.”

“It’s the damn sinks! Why do I need a sink? I have a cleaning skill. I never use the sink. Why do I need a sink?" Kurn ranted.

Zoe laughed. “You know actually, I did this service for people where I escorted them through Moaning Point, if you’ve heard of that?”

Kurn thought for a moment then nodded. “That’s a dungeon far to the east, right?”

Zoe nodded. “Yeah. I spent a few years escorting people up the mountain and met a lot of people with restrictive classes like that. Always made it an extra challenge, but it was fun to try and work around them.”

“You escorted people through a dungeon? At such a low level?” Kurn asked.

“Mhm. I’m pretty capable, despite what I might look.” Zoe said.

“I’d love to try someday, but I’d be rather useless in a dungeon.” Kurn laughed.

“Yeah, I once had to build an inn for somebody. Just up in the middle of the dungeon, just so they could use their skills. Pain in the butt too because the dungeon rots everythign you build on it over time so I had to keep up on maintenance constantly, while also making sure everything else was running smooth.” Zoe said.

“Sounds like a lot of work. You get paid well at least?" Kurn asked.

Zoe laughed. “I didn’t get paid at all. Just did it for fun, really.”

“Really? At such a young age too, I’m impressed. It’s taken me this long just to get to my level, though I got quite lucky on my class caps.” Kurn said.

“Yeah I noticed that. You’re really low level for having your fifth class already. Did you loop for that?” Zoe asked.

“Nope. Never replaced any of my classes, don’t think I will. Losing my skill levels sounds like a nightmare, if I’m being honest.” Kurn said.

“Right, that is definitely the worst part.” Zoe said.

“You looped?” Kurn asked.

Zoe nodded. “A few times, yeah. A shame to have so many options and not try them out, in my opinion.”

“And I’m sorry if you don’t want to answer, but how old are you? You seem so young.” Kurn asked.

Zoe smiled. “I’m, oh gosh it’s so hard to remember these days. Almost fifty, I think?”

“Fifty! My goodness you look so young.” Kurn said. “I thought you were younger than me, I’m sorry if I’ve been rude.”

“No it’s fine, I got immortality at a young age and I can’t say I’m too upset about it. I don’t think you were rude at all.” Zoe said.

“An immortal looper visiting my inn, huh? Who would have thought.” Kurn shook his head. “Are you with the royal guard, then?"

“No, I’m just me.” Zoe said.

“You ever thought about joining them?" Kurn asked. ”I bet they’d love you.“

Zoe shook her head. “No, I like my freedom, really. Same reason I try to avoid classes with those obnoxious restrictions. Even if it makes you better off in the right situation I just really want freedom, personally.”

Kurn shook his head. “Freedom’s nice, but I like being an innkeeper. As frustrating as it is, we meet a lot of interesting people. Or well, the people I meet tend to be interesting anyway.”

“Like me?" Zoe asked.

“Yup. It’s always a joy to meet new people.” Kurn said.

“It is. When they’re nice, anyway. I’ve met a lot of assholes that I think I could’ve done without.” Zoe said.

“Well here we just kick them out. Jolg’s never far away when I need him.” Kurn said.

Zoe nodded and sat in silence for a few minutes before she stood up. “I think I’m gonna go wander around then. Anything to do at night here?”

“If you fancy hunting, then Klia should be going out soon. You might be able to join her. Otherwise, we’re rather a small village. There isn’t much to do here, you could go see the fountain.” Kurn said.

“Klia hunts at night?" Zoe asked.

Kurn nodded. “Says its easier to find them in the quiet of night, but I think she just doesn’t like mornings personally.”

“Alright, I enjoy hunting. Where can I find her?” Zoe asked.

“Probably at the front gate around now. She chats with Jolg for a while before she heads out usually. If she’s not there, Jolg will know.” Kurn said.

“Cool, thanks a bunch.” Zoe left the inn and walked the short distance back to the front gate where Jolg was chatting with a short woman with long black hair that had specks of purple shining in the evening light. Zoe’s identify showed her as a dark red level one hundred thirteen.

“Hello,” Zoe said as she approached. The two turned to look at her. “This is a bit awkward actually, now that I think about it. But I was talking with Kurn and he said. Sorry, are you Klia?"

“Yes, I’m Klia. And you are?" Klia asked, flooding Zoe’s Empathy with confusion.

“Sorry, I’m getting ahead of myself. I’m Zoe, I just stopped by here cause I thought it would be fun. And I was talking with Kurn about what to do around here at this time and he said you go hunting and might be up for some company?” Zoe said. “Sorry, it’s real weird to just ask somebody to go hunting, isn’t it?"

Klia laughed. “This is the girl you were talking about?" She looked at Jolg.

He shrugged. “I didn’t say she was dangerous, I just said that somebody showed up earlier.”

“Well anyway, do you have experience hunting, Zoe? I don’t mind you coming along but not if you’re going to make my job harder." Klia turned to Zoe.

Zoe summoned her diploma from the School of Hunting Interesting Targets and waved it around. “Got a diploma and everything.”

“Yeah but are you good at it? Klia asked.

Zoe put the diploma away and nodded. “I’m very good at it, yes. I don’t think I’ll slow you down at all. Just looking for something to pass the time, really.” She laughed.

“Okay, but if I think you’re slowing me down then you’re going back to Kurn’s inn, alright?" Klia said.

“Sounds fine to me. When are you planning to leave?" Zoe asked.

Klia shrugged. “Now?”