studiobondurri Chapter 107
Chapter 107
Chapter 107
Chapter 107
He clicked on ‘Guild & Faction System’ first.
[You must create a guild with the ‘Create Guild’ command prior to utilizing this page. You must have at least 3 people to create a guild. Guild Functions are currently frozen until further notice.]
Riven frowned and dismissed it, deciding to move on to the cortex first. He’d talk to the others about guild creation later when the system unfroze the guild functions, but that was definitely a team effort and not an individual one where decisions wouldn't solely be his. He didn't even know what they'd name their guild if he and the others created one, but the idea of having a group to go adventuring with in this new world was certainly likeable. Clicking upon ‘Panu Cortex,’ he saw a very intricate display appear in front of him in the form of a perfectly square hologram three times as large as his status page screen. This one had the image of a world that he could only assume to be Panu slowly spinning in the background, with a headline along the front page of “Welcome to the Panu Cortex!” and an article with listed options beyond that underneath.
[Welcome to the Panu Cortex!
This is the first week having the Cortex intact. For this reason, the system administrator will be able to answer direct questions if you have them over the next 7 days. Beyond that the system administrator will divert its attention to other more pressing matters upon the world of Panu. Here you will find forum categories and branching categories that you can scroll through subjects, post your own topics, acquire or share video feeds, create enemies or alliances in, and even bargain for goods here like a marketplace. Be warned that each of these have strict sets of rules, and you will receive a notification if your content is prohibited as it is denied entry. Most prohibited material from being made public involves key events in the world of Panu or even in your local area, secrets of Panu that the Elysium Administrator wishes to be found rather than publicly exploited, information released too early regarding worlds outside of Panu, and spam content. Video feeds can only be uploaded by request. You must ask the administrator directly for uploading content, and may or may not get your request recognized. Sometimes the administrator may also post video content even without an express request. In order to request video uploading, just mentally think of the time and place you want to upload and wait for a response.
Please note that restrained or imprisoned personnel may not access the forums of Panu’s cortex. Forums extend to only to places you have visited and guilds you have joined before with the exceptions of the main page discussion board and the world quest message boards- both of which are world-spanning and more heavily moderated. No forums outside key areas visited and guilds can exist other than Global Forums.
Feel free to select from one of the already categorized subjects, or you may use the search function for more in depth selections of guild forums. Your options are as follows:
Main Page & Announcements (Global)Power Ladders, Guild & Individual (Global)World Quests & World Quest Ladders (Global)Greenstalk VillageThe City of Brightsville]
Riven immediately clicked on ‘The City of Brightsville,’ and a top-down shot of an aerial view of the city was put on display in the background to replace the one of the revolving globe. It was very much like the website Reddit from back on Earth, with various subcategories that he could select from and a feed of the most popular posts - of which there were a number of quickly growing topics.
[In need of help, out of food and desperate]
[How do abilities work? Does anyone know how to get new ones?]
[My family was killed by little green men.]
[Forming a hunting group to level up. Taking applications, only class holders may apply.]
[Exchanging information on class types.]
[Repent! The apocalypse is God's will, and the sinners of these lands are to blame!]
There were a couple of interesting threads that got an insane amount of traction concerning the people of Earth still residing in Brightsville, while others not as much. It was far more than Riven had expected though, with thousands and then tens of thousands of people immediately blowing the more popular forum topics up with active and ongoing chatter. He also knew there were probably far more people just reading through the comments like he was, instead of posting outright.
However, there was one forum topic that caught his attention immediately. Frowning at it, he paused before selecting the following:
[Prophet’s forces have been routed, undead are swarming the city.]Vissit (.)c.om for updates
He clicked the link, and began to scroll through dozens upon dozens of comments. Talk about the surprise attack that morning was constantly being updated, horrified witnesses and even dozens of video feeds were somehow enabled for viewing purposes. Clicking one of the clips concerning the battle, Riven watched with a mounting tide of conflicting emotions while the attack was recorded.
He was watching from the viewpoint of a man who stood along a makeshift wall surrounding a gated community, overlooking layers of barbed wire fences and other brought-in barriers. He had a rifle slung over his shoulder, wore a linen vest, and was yawning while gazing towards the crack of dawn where the sunrise was beginning to peak over the horizon. Other guards also sporting rifles laughed and joked with one another while the man sipped his coffee, only to abruptly startle and drop to the floor when one of his companions exploded in a spray of viscera when a bone lance blasted through the air.
Unholy screeches rose up like thunder to meet his ears, and the man’s body started to tremble as he beheld a wave of undead rushing across the broken city towards the compound. Hundreds, and then thousands of the monsters swarmed over buildings, broken rubble, streets and trees in a mad dash that caused him to gasp. He began to scream out for help, only to have his vision go dark when a blur of motion collided with his head - ending the snapshot of video instantly.
How a dead man’s perspective was able to be obtained was beyond Riven’s knowledge, but there was a sky-down view as well that showed the flood of unholy creatures completely collapse on barricade after barricade while they scoured the norther reaches of the city. Was the system actually enabling these thing to be shown from its own perspective, rather than those still alive?
Why had Allie not informed him of this? There was only one person in Brightsville with those kinds of forces, and the ones they were battling were those with holy abilities. It had to be Allie.
And the things he saw...
Riven turned off the video feed and shut it down. He shared a look with Athela. “I won’t make any assumptions until I talk to her in person. Let’s not talk about it until I do... Ok?”
Athela didn’t say a word and he moved on, sheer determination not allowing him to jump to conclusions without speaking to Allie about what he’d seen. Yet he didn’t immediately call her either, for fear of what she would admit to.
The Greenstalk Village forum was far less active. That being said there were only a couple hundred elves in Greenstalk, so he wasn’t too surprised - and it appeared to be more of a test run to see just how the forums worked between the local fletcher and some of his friends.
Then came the more interesting part. He clicked on ‘Power Ladders,’ Guild & Individual’ next. It turned out to be a categorized list, and it had an explanation pop up prior to scrolling through it. The guild sections were grayed out, with a little notification stating that the guilds system would be released within the upcoming weeks.
Judith Marcina, Level 82 Human, Apex Rank, JusticarRetesh Vorath, Level 91 Corpse Lord, Apex Rank, Elder LichAren Hrall, Level 69 Snow Giant, Apex Rank, BerserkerThofus Hrall, Level 84 Snow Giant, Apex Rank, Blizzard MageCracius Mem, Level 85 Human, Apex Rank, Sword EmperorSinthil Tuk’tuk, Level 90 Lizardian, Apex Rank, Wind BladeThorman Bame, Level 90 Human, Apex Rank, Hammer of the MountainEsper Rite, Level 72 High Elf, Apex Rank, Glade GuardianToothly Rop, Level 60 Swamp Troll, Apex Rank, ManeaterChitter Teh-Sneaker, Level 61 Ratman, Apex Rank, Dark-Blade Assassin
Ren laughed, ducking underneath one of the lower-hanging treebranches in their path and continuing upwards in the direction of the next hill’s crest. “Yes, I never did get a chance to thank you with everything that has happened. I lost three sons in the fight with the orcs and it has weighed heavily on me, but I must put on a brave face for my family even so. It just took me some time to get ahold of myself and sustain my rightness of mind, for I was in a dark place due to unbearable grief.”
Riven’s shock wasn’t evident due to the hood and mask. He hadn’t realized that Senna had lost family members, she’d never mentioned it. Then again she hadn’t really been around much and had stuck to her own family since getting back to the village, perhaps this was why.
“I’m sorry for your loss.”
“Do not be.” Ren stated absentmindedly, shaking himself out of the obvious inner turmoil he was experiencing and stepping over a fallen log with a grunt. “It would have been more of a loss if you hadn’t acted, you have nothing to apologize for. Again, I just wanted to say thank you. You brought my daughter back to me, and I won’t ever forget the favor you’ve done my family. In fact my wife is demanding that we invite you over for dinner after you get back. The elder might hold a small feast in your honor when this deed is done, but if that happens we can merely have you over for drinks!”
“DRINKS!?” Athela called out from the back of the line. “Like the alcoholic ones!?”
Ren nodded and waved back at the others. “Of course you’re all invited, in case you were wondering!”
“Way to invite yourself, Athela!” Fay stated with an eye-roll. “Nice manners you’ve got there.”
“We’re demons! Since when are we supposed to have manners!”
Dr. Brass began to laugh, but Ren assured them all that he’d been intending to invite the entire group over along with Riven.
When Ren was done doubling down on that reassurance, he turned back to Riven while taking them onto a mildly worn dirt path running straight east. “I also wanted you to bring Ethel, Genua and Len of course. They’ve been family friends for many years, in particular - Genua, my wife and I all grew up together. Thank you for helping her daughter.”
Riven paused upon seeing a wild pair of wolves staring them down, but the animals high-tailed it out of there once Riven landed a few well-placed bloody razors that exploded upon additional mana infusion to scare them off. “So just ‘wife’, as in singular.”
“I’m not sure what you mean by that.”
“You don’t have multiple wives? It seems like a lot of the men in your village have more than one.”
“Oh! That.” Ren notched an arrow and casually pulled back, releasing it and infusing it with some sort of skill. The arrow glowed a light blue and crackled with lightning before slamming into a large snake of some sort further up the path - but the writhing of the creature quickly settled into death. A money pouch dropped on its corpse, and the elf bent down to pick it up while they walked past. “I only have one wife. She doesn’t like to share, and she’s a handful as it is.”
“Got it. Why do so many people have multiple wives in your village though? I’ve been meaning to ask. Don’t the other young men run out of potential partners? Back on Earth, my original world, the polygamist groups in my country of origin would actually drop young boys off to fend for themselves in other territories so they couldn’t compete with the older guys. They were called ‘The Lost Boys,’ and they’d just been completely abandoned because they were seen as a threat if they were to get older. They just didn’t have enough girls to go around.”
Ren raised his eyebrows in surprise and looked thoroughly taken aback. “That’s horrible. No, we don’t have that problem. The reason is that you’re likely looking at it in a light beyond what it actually is. Meaning that only the most prominent men, usually leaders, will have more than one wife. Most of us only have just one.”
Riven blinked, crushing a tree branch underfoot and batting away a large rock in the middle of the path with his morning star. “Oh. I guess I was under the wrong impression then.”
Ren took the opportunity to explain further. “Elves live a very long time, hundreds of years usually, but we’re an infertile people compared to humans. When men acquire power or wealth, and given our patriarchal society, it is only natural for the most well-off of us to buy new wives. You were human once, yes?”
“Yes.”
“That was what I thought. So although humans breed much more quickly and easily than elves, we make up for it with prolonged lifespans and more time to conceive children. But elves aren’t as fertile as humans and we all want to father children, or at least most of us do; and being rich allows one to acquire more wives for a better chance at acquiring a proper heir. Elder Preen worked very hard to have children of his own and only managed to acquire two sons despite having three wives and using fertility supplements. One of the reasons he wanted to take Genua was because she’d had two daughters in a very short span of time, so she is fertile and a higher prize than the wives he already had. Thus it is not that most of us have multiple wives, most of us don’t in fact. It is that the richest and most powerful of us can simply afford it. They can pay the extra dowry to the family they buy the woman off of and can support more people in their household. This is true not only for our village, but across many other elf societies. Probably even the drow.”
“Drow being dark elves, right?”
“Yes, the ones who live in the underdark. Though that isn’t confirmed by the elder I spoke to because drow generally hate the elves of the surface. But back to the topic at hand: As for why I personally only took one wife, I just chose not to participate in the bad habits of my fellows even despite my success because the woman I love wants me for herself. I respect her enough to abide by her wish, and wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“That’s so flippin cute!” Fay called out, giving Ren a big thumbs up and a wide, approving smile from underneath her hood. “Good for you! You have my official vote for next village mayor!”
Dr. Brass guffawed. “I would have taken five wives.”
“That’s because you’re a dirty old pervert!” Fay shot back with a glare over her shoulder, pointing accusingly. “Old and perverted!”
“Guilty as charged! And that’s rich coming from a succubus.”
“Don’t stereotype me, you wrinkled old mummy!”
Riven smirked and turned to look ahead again. “We’ve had enough old, perverted men for my liking recently.”