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Neophyte Mira Hill has completed the Legacy Quest, "Provide Recompense to the River Guardian."

Summary: Whether you want to begin a journey into the world of soul manipulation or simply wish to start a life in the Areswood Forest, you must gain access to the Diktyo River—and gain the inhabitants’ approval. Provide proper recompense for stealing the sacred water sack plant and prostrate yourself to the River Guardian and ask her forgiveness. Only then can you truly be accepted by this forest. Complete this legacy quest, and you will be offered the legacy of a soulmancer that specializes in plant-based soulmancy.

Duration: None

Requirement(s):

Provide recompense to the River Guardian.

Prostrate yourself before her.

You may not hurt, threaten, or kill the River Guardian.

Rewards:

Legacy Reward.

Blessed Subclass of Your Choice (If Offered).

Access to a Sacred Location.

Warning: The River Guardian may not accept you, regardless of the recompense you provide.

I walked over to a calcified eranthia tree and let my back fall onto its sandy bark. I closed my eyes and looked up at the sky, still gray and stormy yet lighter somehow.

"So satisfying," I whispered. I looked back at my screen. "I wonder what the sacred location is."

Another notification greeted me. It read:

Congratulations! You have found a hidden passage to Lake Nyralith, nicknamed the "Lake of Symmetry" by Brindle Grask.

Description: Nothing is written about this location, likely to prevent anyone from seeking it out. Be careful when approaching it, and consider enacting privacy protocols when visiting it.

Note: Patron gods and observers cannot see your guide unless you share it, so this reward is currently between you and the god that offered it. As a god-provided reward, I am also unable to record or remember the map. So do not share this information lightly, lest you incur the god’s wrath.

I forced a smile as I read it. "Ah… pleasant…" It was a nerve-wracking type of reward, but it did provide me great insights into the system. I’d have to research these "privacy protocols" soon. "Okay, so… where is it?" I turned to look at my map, and my cheek twitched uncontrollably. "You gotta be shitting me."

Usually, the map would highlight areas I had already been to in light blue. Then, when I looked for locations, I would see that strip of blue as a relative marker.

I couldn’t see any blue.

I saw a tiny star showing where I was, the gate which was 25 miles away as my relativity point, and then the location, which was fifty miles north—on a mountaintop! It was in the middle of the Fifth Ring—a place where all the beasts were as powerful as the River Guardian! I was pissed.

"What type of bullshit is this?" I asked, cupping my face and taking deep breaths. The last thing I needed to do was get pissed off and attract beasts, but I wanted to. Doesn’t even tell me if it’s worth it," I thought. What a joke reward.

I didn’t say that aloud because, with my luck, this might be the Fountain of Youth, and the god who gave this to me would spite me or make my life hell. It was especially concerning when the River Guardian knew Brindle…

That’s when it finally sank in. Wait… this legacy’s Brindle’s…

The River Guardian confirmed Brindle was a soulmancer—and he was the person who wrote the book on Areswood Forest. He’s the only person who would know hidden locations. There was no doubt: Brindle Grask, the person who wrote all my books, offered me the legacy. Fuck the alchemy god and the poison god and the… whatever god. Choosing anyone else would be moronic!

My heart fluttered, unknowingly preparing my mind for the best news I’ve gotten in the last week.

Neophyte Mira Hill has completed a hidden mission for Mandatory Quest: "Trial of Worth."

Hidden Mission: Survivalist

Mission Summary: Part of the Trial of Worth is determining whether you’re worth investing in or if you’ll be a burden on taxpayer money as we clean up your corpse. Turns out—you’re remarkably good at staying alive. That’s a great thing, considering your actions seem to disagree. You’ve accepted three suicidal requests, committed mass exterminations, and almost killed yourself plenty without a quest’s influence. You even went through hell just to get your tent and camping equipment back. Now, as a reward, let’s make that backpack irrelevant. For the next eleven weeks or the period until your first equipment drop-off (whichever comes sooner), you will have access to the temporary shelter. Once you arrive, you will be given instructions on how to increase its longevity.

Disclaimer: This reward is only valid if you fill out an equipment request by tomorrow at midnight.

…

I chuckled and let my back slide to the ground, taking deep breaths. It was a miracle that I wouldn’t be living outside in a flimsy Coleman tent. Nothing against Coleman but it wasn’t made for camping in hell.

I turned to Kline. "You get these notifications?"

Kline meowed.

"Good… let’s get you some water." Getting his water bowl proved ironic. I had worn my backpack in the river, so when I unclipped it, it was dripping with water, which Kline started lapping up. "Get away…" I said, moving the backpack. He followed it, ignoring me. "Okay… Desiccate."

Suddenly, all the water in the bag suddenly dumped out, sloshing Kline like a bucket of water. He blinked a few times, unbelieving the situation. Then he started howling.

I snorted with laughter. "Who’s fault is that?"

Kline yowled and looked at me like I betrayed him.

"Yeah, yeah," I giggled, leaning down. I petted him, using Desiccate on his fur, causing him to dry in a moment. He still wouldn’t look at me, which just made me laugh harder.

I didn’t stop until I reached into my backpack to get the water bladder and water bottle, only to find that my travel-sized iron skillet was already rusted. "You gotta be kidding me…." There has never been, nor will there ever be, a person, object, or concept more sensitive than cast iron skillets to water. "I wonder if there’s a dry clean spell…"

Pushing that thought aside, I pulled out the bottle and bladder and bowl, and filled them all with the mana-infused Diktyo River water. As Kline drank, he shivered and glowed with an ambient aura. It was almost angelic. My little warrior could very well become a god.

He finished and looked up for more.

"No, little guy. Drink too much and you’ll have problems. But I’ve saved some. And… we can get more… I think. Speaking of which… did you evolve?"

Kline’s eyes widened, and he grinned. His body took on a ghostly outline of a mountain lion, and his body even elevated two feet as he walked around.

I reached for him and felt a solid object where the ethereal head was. "This’s wild… good job!"

Kline meowed proudly, and I felt another desire to shed tears of joy. We survived… we actually survived.

"Let’s get out of here." I walked forward, preparing to leave. But as I was leaving, I saw the broken hives on the white tundra. There, in the liquid, were clouded white stones like pearls. There were hundreds of them. "What’re these?" I asked, picking up one. As soon as it touched my fingers, the soul core in my chest started churning, reacting heavily. Then I thought about it—soul core. Lignan bugs. Soul eaters. Soul cores, maybe?

"Let’s pick these up," I said.

Kline tried to bite one but hissed and spat it out, voice sharp like a vampire touched by the sun.

"That’s… a good sign," I said grimly. "Give me a sec. I bet these are valuable."

I pulled out my core sack and started collecting them as fast as possible. It was taking too long, so I reached out my hand. Levisphere.

All the rocks flew in the air, congregating into a sphere that I threw into the bag. I chuckled and ran, feeling like we were on a timeline as I called spell after spell, collecting hundreds of them, some the size of marbles, before running off, following Kline as he led me to more. I had a feeling—a good feeling—that I stumbled onto gold.

3.

Elana’s chest developed a deep pit of anxiety and excitement and greed as she watched Mira collecting the stones. This was just another reason why she needed to obtain the blessed subclass option at any cost.

4.

Kline and I ran through the forest, following his senses to obtain the stones and collect them. We didn’t get all of them, but we followed the River Guardian’s tracks and found dozens of massive lignan bugs that we relieved of the stones. They were squishy, empty creatures, so it was easy, disgusting work.

Then Kline led us back to the bear. I was hesitant, but he was bold and insistent, so we returned. There, we found the bear, bloodied but otherwise normal-looking. Yet its eyes were hollow, gray like cataracts, staring blindly toward the river.

Kline pounced on the bear, grabbing its throat in his jaw and ripping it out.

"Gross," I said, trying not to watch as I pulled out preservation arrays. I lost a lot of soul force, but I didn’t lack the means to get it back quickly. I had lived here for a week—I had a lifetime ahead. I’d be fine.

I sliced up the bear, trying to take the shoulder I slashed but finding myself weak. Kline noticed this and elevated off the ground with his translucent, mountain lion-sized body, picking it up in his jaws and trotting off. It was surreal to watch him two feet above the ground like a circus performer on stilts, but I didn’t question it. I was too tired. I just wanted to get home—and there was a long hike ahead.

Kline and I began, and that’s when something strange started happening. Large and terrifying beasts approached us in the distance, long distances apart to keep distance between us and other beasts. They were all strong, likely stronger than us, each with spines and studs and fur and fangs and sharp claws, ranging between the size of wolves to the height of semis. It was terrorizing, so we walked faster, expecting the worst every time we saw one on a hilltop or downhill—but they didn’t attack. They just watched, and some even nodded their heads, only for a moment, a simple gesture of acceptance.

Respect.

I could feel it was respect, but I didn’t believe it until we had entered the barrier, leaving them all behind. I still couldn’t after. Such a thing wouldn’t happen on Earth. Something like that didn’t exist. Not amongst carnivores. Yet one look at Kline reminded me that animals were far more intelligent in Areswood or perhaps Dranami as a whole. The River Guardian could even speak. Perhaps all of these animals could converse with me. It was an eerie thought and filled me with a type of apprehension that I had yet to taste.

I moved on, stepping over a bramble, weaving between brush, reminding myself that I wasn’t safe just because I survived greater danger.

Then I blinked, and we were back at the shelter, sun dropping slowly, time for it to unlock.

I heard a chime.

It was a notification. It told me to chant a few lines that I heard in my head. I did, and the shelter lit up with a light that alternated between blue and yellow and green in the dimming sun, illuminating the trees around it. Then I walked forward and got a notification about how it was unlocked for eleven weeks or until my first drop, whatever came first. It was a relief like none other.

I walked in, barely purifying myself before crashing onto the bed, chuckling exhausted, curling up with Kline—instantly falling asleep.

It was still dark outside when I awoke, three a.m.—the perfect time for a bath.

I took some of the bear meat and set it spiceless on the fire rack, then activated the bath and crawled inside. Kline didn’t join me, opting to stay curled, sleeping as a victory trophy. We both got what we wanted. God, it was so good.

It’s almost over, I thought. Just a few more hours….

I finished up and put my camping pajamas on (a pair of shorts and a tank top) and went to sleep, snuggling with my little warrior until morning’s light. Then we woke and ate and prepared and left the temporary shelter, sitting like victorious war victors in occupied cities, waiting for the war to end.

I made it… I thought as I felt the morning mist on my skin. It’s hard to believe…

Flashbacks of the last week played out in my mind. Waking up on the reaper; fighting for my backpack. My first kill and Kline’s rewards; trap plants and poison and itchiness. Soul damage twice, slurries and poisons and exterminations. Tripping—for the first time—building a core and then another. Meeting a forest spirit and attracting multiple gods. Then the River Guardian, connected to the symphony bugs in the Divide, keeping us safe in this dark and dangerous forest in a land far beyond.

I wonder how I’ll look back on this… I thought. Would it be good or bad? Nostalgic maybe? Lucky? Callous and resentful? It was hard to say. All I knew was that I was glad to be alive.

At 8:43, we got the chime, indicating that the Trial of Worth was finally over—and the rewards came in.