Vivid Stars Online

With my meeting complete, I took the monorail back to the Explorer’s guild to pick up my gear. As I traveled, I thought over how the meeting went and in the end, I decided it had gone well overall.

I was already going to investigate the three facilities I knew about anyway, so being rewarded for doing so was a significant plus. While I was still a little concerned about how much the Duchess had seemed to know, I supposed it wasn't a big deal as long as she didn't interfere.

In the end, I would just have to succeed and it would all turn out alright. That had been my mantra since I started playing the game, and it had worked so far. Luckily, I had something that should help with that.

I pulled out the enhancement elixir that I had received and examined it. While I could feel the Psi energy rolling off it, there weren't any clues as to what exactly it did. A quick search of the explorer database showed nothing as well, or at least not in the freely available information.

Not having many other options, I decided to simply drink the vial and see what happened. I doubted that the Duchess would provide me with anything dangerous, she'd have much easier ways of killing me if she wanted to after all.

Downing the potion gave me an odd feeling as if every part of my body was itching. Over the next minute, it grew to the point of being painful, and I almost changed my pain settings before it subsided, leaving me feeling amazing.

Pulling up my status, I was amazed to see that it had added three points to every stat, providing me with eighteen points or two and a half levels' worth. While they weren't all in the stats I would normally put them in, this was still an incredible improvement.

Now I'm really looking forward to finding these facilities, I mused with a happy grin. If there is even a chance of getting more of those I have to take it. That meant getting moving as soon as I could.

I gathered my gear without incident and sent a message to Adam asking him to meet me at Brian’s landing pad on the edge of the city. With that settled, I headed over there myself, eager to get started on the expedition.

After arriving, I only had to wait a few minutes before Adam arrived as well. He was an enormous man, well over six feet, with broad shoulders and a backpack sized to match. Across the pack, he'd slung a bulky gun, wider and a little shorter than Linnea’s long rifle.

He was clad in camo-colored light armor, with even his eyes being hidden behind a pair of goggles. A bandolier stuffed full of ammo covered his chest while his left leg had a knife strapped to it and his right a pistol.

In summary, he looked large, dangerous, and competent. While I would miss having Linnea around for a few weeks, this man looked like an ideal replacement for that time.

“Hello, I’m Jared.” I greeted him as he walked into hearing range.

“Morning, boss,” he responded with a casual wave and a broad grin. “This our ride?” He gestured toward Brian’s VTOL as he finished speaking.

“Yep,” I said with a smile. “It will drop us off out in the wilderness. Just to confirm, you're good with supplies? I’m planning for at least a week of travel before we’re resupplied.

“Hah, no worries,” Adam said with a laugh. “I’m good for two if needed,” he finished while hiking a thumb at his massive pack.

“Great, let’s get going then. I want to get as far as we can today.” I turned toward the VTOL and slipped in, greeting Brian in the pilot’s chair as I did so. A minute later, Adam was inside as well, and we were winging our way north.

I had organized for us to be dropped off at the section of the lake I had surveyed for my first mission. It was the furthest point north that I had enough scans of that Brian was happy to drop us off there, making it the most efficient start point.

Beyond this, I was curious to check the location out and see if the city had used it yet. After everything I’d gone through on that mission, it would be nice to see it making a difference.

Several hours later, Brian spoke up as we approached the site. “Looks like someone’s set up here since last time, they’ve got an official landing pad and everything. I’ll have to call ahead and get permission to land.”

That sounded good, and I grinned as I let him know to proceed. It turned out that they were more than happy to allow us to land once I sent through my Explorers guild credentials, and shortly afterward, we lowered down onto a large concrete circle.

I climbed from the VTOL only to pause, blinking at the sight before me. It had been less than a week since my scans of the lake had been approved, and significant progress had already taken place.

Someone had organized several hundred tents into neat rows to the left of the landing pad, while the foundations for half a dozen buildings were being constructed on my right. Straight in front, a large wooden dock had already been built and beyond it, I saw several boats out on the water.

It looked well on its way to becoming a bustling frontier town and I couldn’t have been happier to see it. “They sure work fast when they want to,” I murmured as I continued looking around.”

“That's right lad, we Altheians know when to buckle down and get things done.” Brian’s voice echoed from behind me, startling me out of my musings. It was the first time I’d seen him out of his VTOL when on a trip and I hadn’t been expecting it.

He only laughed as I spun around and looked at him askew. “No need for me to stay in the vehicle with a landing pad here, not if it’s officially registered. Lets me get out and have a look around at this lovely sight.”

He looked as happy as I was to see the sight, something I wasn’t too surprised at given the troubles the city had been facing. Food had been on everyone’s minds as winter grew ever closer and any additional source of food would be greatly welcomed.

“Besides, it’s nice to see something you helped cause come together,” he continued with a broad grin. “While I didn’t do nearly as much to help as you, Jared, it’s still enough to warm this old heart.”

Another set of footsteps approached, followed by Adam’s voice as he broke in. “So you're the guy, huh? The hotshot newbie explorer out to save the city?” His voice carried an impressed, though somewhat amused, tone.

“Ah,” I mumbled, stumbling over what to say. “I’m not sure I’m exactly saving the city, but I’m the guy that set out to explore here, yeah.” I was still surprised at times by how realistic the NPCs could be and I’d never been good at handling praise.

It wasn’t like I thought I’d made that much of a difference, either. Sure, I had found a source of food, one that looked to be quite good if they were putting this many resources into it, however, I was sure that someone else would have come through, eventually.

Eager to get started, and to move on from this conversation, I continued. “Anyway, we should get moving Adam, we’ve still got a few hours of daylight left.”

“You got it, boss,” the mercenary’s deep voice boomed out. “Lead the way.”

“Have fun out there,” Brian laughed with a wave of his hand. “I think I’ll check the place out for a bit. It’s a beautiful little spot out here, might even see about getting myself a little cabin out by the lake. It’s been years since I’ve done any fishing.”

I bid him farewell with a smile before pulling up our planned route and moving out. My route took us north along the lake for nearly a week before we moved past it and out into the vast plains.

While I was a little worried about what might be in the lake after my encounter with the Lake Beast, the easy access to fresh water would be worth the risk. Besides this, I was just as worried about what might be out on the plains.

I knew that plenty of dangerous animals lived in that kind of environment on Earth, so I could only imagine what Beasts might have formed on this dangerous planet. We would have to be careful which was something that I communicated to Adam.

“Understood,” he said with a nod. “I know it’s more dangerous up north, but I’m not aware of many of the details. I’ll leave that kind of planning up to you while I focus on killing things.”

“Sure,” I said. “What’s the plan for that? I’ve mostly ended up being in front so far, keeping the Beasts' attention and using this.” I patted the pistol at my side as I finished.

Adam raised an eyebrow and looked at me for a few seconds before replying. “Odd for a client to put themselves in that much danger. Though I’m certainly not going to complain as long as you stay alive.”

“I’m a short to mid-range combatant, using this baby,” he continued, patting the massive gun on his back. “It’s a shotgun that can fire either a moderate-sized plasma blast for mid-range or a devastating spread at close range. If you can get their attention, then I’ll happily take them down.”

I nodded with a grin in response, glad that we would maintain a strategy that wasn’t too distant from what I was used to. After all the battles so far, I didn’t think I’d have been able to just stay back and watch while Adam did all the fighting.

I wouldn’t have been able to handle putting all the responsibility for my safety on someone else without being able to influence the outcome. In any case, I wouldn’t be able to level my combat skills or gain any XP without participating.

With level seven being an important goal to unlock the full capabilities of my new Psi ability, I had to gain as much XP as possible.

We continued to discuss combat plans in more detail as we advanced, making sure that we were as ready as we could be for whatever was to come. I found Adam to be a font of experience, as expected, for someone who had been doing this for years and I was feeling ready for the long trip to come.

The first hour of the trip was quiet as we moved away from the bustling town. Adam explained it was likely because the military was doing daily patrols of the surroundings to help get the town on its feet. Without their help, the workers would be in continual danger of being attacked as they worked.

After that, we began encountering small groups of Beasts, mostly wolves. Between the two of us, we had little difficulty in taking them out, with Adam destroying anything he hit with his shotgun. While he wasn’t as accurate as Linnea, his overwhelming firepower made up for it.

We continued until we found a collection of driftwood sufficient for making a fire. That allowed us to sleep without keeping a watch, something that would likely become impossible once we reached the plains.

The next six days proceeded in much the same manner. We averaged more than a dozen fights per day and finished each of them with only minor injuries. My nano weave leg armor was particularly helpful with this, as the wolves’ favorite tactic involved biting deeply into our legs.

Adam’s armor helped him in much the same way, however, his didn’t repair itself as mine did. This led to it gathering more and more holes over the trip. I offered to try repairing it with Item Attunement, though I only had minor success.

While it was far easier to produce more of the composite material making up his amour than it had been when I’d tried with the nano weave, it was still energy intensive. I could only repair a hole or two per day while still using my energy for combat.

Still, it was better than nothing and Adam thanked me for the help along with my contribution to the combat. He even went as far as saying I was his favorite client ever, though I wasn’t sure if that was truthful or not.

By the afternoon of the seventh day, we had left the edge of the lake, making sure that we filled all our water containers as we did so. As we were doing fine on supplies so far, I delayed our resupply shipment for a few days in case we ran out of water on the plains.

For a while, the difficulty of our combats remained the same, before spiking intensely on the eighth day as we began encountering more dangerous Beasts. Mutated lions and rhinos became common, though thankfully, we only encountered them individually.

Then on the ninth day, danger struck as my scanner picked up half a dozen signatures all at once. Pulling up the information caused me to yell at Adam to get ready.

A lion pride had found us.