Chapter 16 - To Make the Impossible Possible
Primordial Calendar 097, Summer Season 8, and 23rd day, City: Ravelin, Continent Truven, World Javelin
When the storm passed two days later, the two men set out on their trek. They'd been given supplies to last them however long it would take them to get to Ravelin.
Now assured that their lives would be relatively smooth sailing, at least that was what Conroy hoped for, he and Kenneth made their way to Ravelin. They were only going there to ensure they could follow the path they needed to successfully prevent further anomalies from exploding in their faces. However, it was soon discovered that they'd indeed wound up in the game version, which meant everything was utterly screwed up.
"This is a free-for-all," Conroy murmured as he scanned various notices and winced at one point when noticing a warning message blinking on the main announcement forum. "Great, someone just screwed the aliens over but good."
Kenneth frowned when he heard that. "Say what?" He joined Conroy to study the forums cleverly disguised as parchment missions. His eyebrows rose. "Yikes."
The footage was remarkably graphic.
"I don't remember this being rated R and above for imagery of this kind." Kenneth was turning green from shock.
Conroy shrugged. "You told me the game creators did whatever they wanted, right?"
Kenneth nodded. "I don't remember this type of stuff happening, though. Much to their anger, they were forced to tone down the horror aspect."
That was only to appease the regulators. Now, it seemed, nothing was in place to prevent such gross cruelty and viciousness.
"Well, this explains why we're going to take matters into our own hands to survive." Conroy exhaled in frustration.
Despite their agreement, they still had yet to find someone they could talk to who wouldn't report them as aliens. From what Conroy discerned, that would be the biggest hurdle to avoid getting tangled up in right now.
They were startled when someone addressed them curtly. "You two wouldn't happen to be Malkin Conroy and Loftin Kenneth, by any chance?" The speaker was a man with white hair sprinkled with maroon highlights. His scarlet irises were surrounded by gray and black, and his complexion was dark green and covered in scars. His scales hint at a similar background to Kenneth's. His lanky build was somewhat different, but he was clearly a warrior.
Conroy was still determining what to say, though Kenneth was fine answering this time.
"Aye," Kenneth inclined his head. "You would be?" He was taking no chances. Either this was one of the acquaintances of the Innkeeper Trubin or not.
The speaker blinked. "I'm Lancer Oljan." His eyes narrowed as he scrutinized the two of them. "I believe you came into contact with innkeeper Trubin yesterday?"
Conroy nodded when Kenneth glanced at him sideways. "That we did," Conroy confirmed. "We were told to meet with you as soon as we arrived in Ravelin."
Lancer Oljan relaxed. "Good. Have you registered for any classes or job selection yet?" Oljan tilted his head. "You'll need one or the other to advance further into the higher levels," Oljan explained when they frowned in confusion. "When you've reached at least forty, you'll need both, plus supplementary classes and jobs to ensure you're well-rounded."
That made things even more difficult! How were they supposed to do this in addition to surviving the most fundamental stages? Hmm, Conroy and Kenneth glanced at each other worriedly. This didn't feel right, leaving Oljan and the Innkeeper on the floor when the area would soon turn into a ruinous wasteland with the devastation of an ocean vaporizing.
*
In all his decades of life, Lancer Oljan met many unusual individuals and people. However, these two made quite a splash with their appearances. He identified them immediately after Trubin sent the bare minimum descriptions of both.
Lancer could already tell they weren't the average Noctu-Shydon, much less Serpentina-Regalas, so what were they? A sigh escaped him as he contemplated what else he should say to them. They had gone into a cafe that was usually very quiet.
However, because of the sudden wild weather, all the eateries were packed and noisy, with rumor-mongering about cannibalistic aliens appearing and masquerading as Snarwhellians. When did they suddenly turn into man-eating monsters? What nonsense and total bullshit. That last was much for Lancer to take in. Nor did he believe these two hailed from that particular species. There was no webbing to be found in either of their appearances. "I fear those fools raising such a ruckus must've been drinking while at sea when they should've been working." He told them of the rumors.
Conroy and Kenneth winced. "Well, we did see them circling the raft." A sigh escaped Kenneth. "However, none of them came after us," He shook his head, baffled.
Conroy frowned. "Though for a while there, I sensed murderous intent." He shrugged with a sigh. "However, after a few underwater antics," he clearly hadn't appreciated the precariousness of the actions.
"Antics?" Lancer wasn't sure what to make of their wording.
"Yes," Kenneth took over when Conroy turned a little green upon recollection. "Such as pushing and shoving the water beneath the raft and sending us further away from a dangerous mainland." He sighed. "Granted, that was how we wound up in Kilton."
Conroy cleared his throat. "The raft didn't survive the rough landing against the rock barrier." They'd wound up swimming, and that had been tricky.
Oh dear, that tied into the rumors a bit too neatly. So, some of them had gone rogue. That wasn't good news. Lancer sighed. "Well, that means we'll need to speed things up to get you all settled in for the night." He tapped his jaw with a worried frown. "I'm afraid you'll have to make a report to someone about what you experienced out there."
That also meant they might be exposed as aliens. How could that be prevented, given that they'd managed to remain anonymous to this point?