The party progressed swiftly, regardless of the constant fighting, and the need for them to go out of the game occasionally to resupply their pods. Silent Light had been observing the five members of his party like a hawk ever since they left Sunpeak.
He was also curious about the Gnome called Food Goblin. Special classes were no longer as rare as when the game started and were now more of an uncommon result than a rare occurrence.
More and more special classes were popping up around New Eden, often a result of a weird combination of skills or strange fighting style. Many legacy classes had also started springing up.
Most of them were low-ranking legacies, in the Special grade and Elite grade, with the occasional Rare grade. If higher-grade legacies had sprouted, no one said anything about them, and the people concerned kept it for themself.
Of course, speculation about Khalor's legacy was plentiful, with some people saying it was either a Rare grade, or a Legendary grade legacy. Silent wondered if he would find a legacy for himself someday.
But he brushed away the stray thoughts, yawning from the accumulated fatigue.
It was already nighttime of their third day travelling, and they had apparently reached the border of the Ash Elf territory. Silent Light had kept in touch with Astaroth, giving him occasional status reports, as well as asking questions about the situation they were walking into.
Through their continued communications, Silent determined he was asked to come so he could close a tear, most likely more advanced than the one they had found under the Bastion.
Astaroth also warned him to stay off the roads once he entered the Ash Elf kingdom. When he had asked why, Astaroth had replied that it was highly likely that military patrols would be swarming the roads in search of anyone who wasn't an Ash Elf.
Not wanting to try his luck with soldiers from a kingdom he knew nothing about, Silent had taken this tip seriously. They would enter those borders the next morning, and he was already prepared to stick away from any road he crossed.
Over the last three days, Silent had confirmed the party's claims that Food Goblin was indeed their most invaluable member. He brought something to the table that few classes could boast of yet.
When they stopped during the day, to rest or resupply a pod, Food Goblin would pull his huge frying pan, as well as his ladle and knives, and he would cook food for everyone. But it was not ordinary food.
Silent Light had experienced it firsthand the first time they stopped to rest. The food he made from any meat, broth, herbs, or other ingredient he had on hand gave out buffs, depending on what was used.
Food Goblin wasn't a chef in the real world, and his skills might not be the sharpest in a kitchen, but the meals he made in New Eden had yet to turn out badly. He wasn't exactly sure how the game determined what food gave what buff, yet, but he tried many things hoping to find new combos all the time.
And Silent Light was glad he was coming along with them. His combat capabilities were quite strange?, but they were not a wasted space in the party.
Food Goblin had the ability to change the parts he struck on a beast into ingredients, if he hit the part in question for enough damage. This effectively meant he could hit a monster's arm and turn it into a piece of meat, rendering the monster unable to use the appendage.
This might sound stupid random, and weak, at first glance. But when teamed with a party that knew how to maximize its effect, it was a great way to incapacitate an enemy in no time, flat.
Sadly, they had rapidly realized once they started fighting corrupted beasts that the meat from them was unusable to cook, when taken as is. It wasn't until Silent Light tried a purifying spell on the meat that they were able to use it.
It otherwise rendered whatever meal cooked with it inedible. Silent Light shook his head from all the stray thoughts.
He could tell he was mentally fatigued when he started rambling in his own thoughts. He instead focused on the crackling of the firewood and the soft sounds of the surrounding plains.
Looking at four of his temporary party members asleep, he couldn't wait until it was his turn. He turned his head to the Orc, doing rounds around their makeshift camp.
He was the leader of this small group, usually, and he had a knack for keeping the morale of his friends high. His name was SharpTusk.
Silent Light found the name to be a bit underbearing, given the extremely outgoing nature of the man. But he wasn't one to judge a name, given his past in the matter.
Silent Light was his name now, but it used to be that he chose names much more on the ridiculous side. When SharpTusk came back to sit next to Silent, he started a conversation.
"So. Who is this person we are going to help? In three days, all you said about him was that he's an important member of Paragons. I would love a bit more detail."
Silent looked at the Orc, unsure if he could trust him yet. The priest was a blabber mouth by nature, and he understood the ease at which it was to drop secrets and regret it later.
But this was a case worse than this. If anyone knew who they were going to help before they reached there, they risked getting swarmed by players wanting to prove themselves against one of the most powerful players in New Eden.
So he was still unwilling to tell them where they were going exactly, or who they were rejoining. But he knew he would eventually have to trust the small group.
Keeping the information from them for too long would breed distrust between them and Paragon, and that would be bad in the long term.
The Orc sighed.
"It's okay. I understand the lack of trust. You barely know us and we haven't been in the guild for long, since we joined right before the game went down. But just so you know, we didn't join Paragons because it was the strongest. We joined because we heard the players in it were treated like friends and family."
Silent Light almost felt bad that he was proving this to be untrue.
'Will he leave if I never tell him? Trust is very important in a guild…'
Feeling it was riskier to stay quiet than to talk, Silent opened his mouth to respond.
"I'll tell you. But can you wait until we reach him before telling the rest of your friends?"
The Orc smiled widely, happy he had finally earned a bit of trust.
"Of course. They will understand."
Nodding slowly, Silent sighed.
"We are going to help the guild leader, Astaroth. He's stuck in a place where a breach keeps pouring corrupted beasts on NPCs and he can't leave without putting them at risk of dying."
SharpTusk's eyes went wide.
'The guild leader?! This is our chance to make a good impression!' he thought to himself.
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