Chapter 106: Faster

Jaxir reread Lue’s message once before closing it and looking toward the map Luxy had already pulled out for him. Getting to the town wasn’t going to be as simple as walking down a road, especially after everything she’d explained about the regions surrounding the Tutorial Zones, but with the Glider Wings sitting in his Inventory, the trip looked considerably less stupid than it would’ve yesterday.

Even so, the map still cost him more than 100,000 copper.

Jaxir stared at Luxy after the transaction completed. "You know, I’ve killed 3 regional bosses and somehow I’m poorer than when I started."

Luxy smiled without a hint of shame. "Perhaps you should stop buying things."

"..."

He left the shop several minutes later with the map open in front of him, following the shape of the region as he moved through what remained of Twinkle Village. The Tutorial territory wasn’t one large circle like he’d imagined, but a collection of broad triangular regions arranged around the same central town, with each triangle widening toward the outside and narrowing as it approached the settlement.

Sparkle Village sat near the triangle whose point reached closest to the town, which made Jaxir’s recent trip there more useful than he’d realized. Beyond the town, another network of regions continued inward toward the center of Gravity’s province, with the general Level of everything rising the farther someone traveled.

According to Luxy, the town itself didn’t have a Level cap like the Tutorial Villages did, but most people living or training around it still topped out somewhere near Level 30. Once someone reached that point, there simply weren’t enough useful creatures left in the surrounding regions to keep leveling efficiently, so anyone serious about advancing moved farther toward the province’s center.

That finally explained another part of Divinity Jaxir hadn’t completely understood.

Experience only came from creatures within your current Tier or higher. Once someone reached Level 11, anything Level 10 or below stopped giving Experience, and once they crossed Level 21, the same thing happened to anything beneath that new Tier.

"So that’s what they mean by a Tier."

Jaxir had known the word mattered, but Magic Elite made considerably more sense now. The system apparently treated every 10 Levels as a complete Tier, which meant reaching Level 20 in his Root Abilities while his Character Level remained inside the first Tier had put his magical foundation a full Tier ahead of where it belonged.

It also explained why merely crossing Level 11 wouldn’t have been enough. Divinity didn’t seem impressed by touching the bottom of the next Tier. Jaxir had needed to reach its peak before the system considered that Tier fully grasped.

"What a stingy game..." Jaxir muttered.

He realized that after Level 40, his leveling speed on his Root Abilities had slowed considerably as well. Even after two more boss fights, and what he’d consider a pretty big breakthrough in comprehension, they had only budged a level or two.

He honestly felt like something else was holding him back, or maybe he just needed more skilled enemies to push him.

With that settled, he focused on the route.

The fastest path took him back through Sparkle’s mountainous territory until he reached its northern point, where the land narrowed toward a massive river cutting between several Tutorial regions and the central town. From there, he could either cross the river directly or take the long route around it, moving across the tips of several neighboring triangular territories before finally gaining a clean path toward the town.

Though... Luxy had mentioned a third option.

Pirates.

There were groups operating ferries and small transport vessels along the river, although calling them ferries was apparently generous. You paid them to cross, and roughly half the time they actually did what you’d paid them to do.

The other half involved robbery, often murder.

Luxy claimed it depended on the crew, the season and how desperate everyone happened to be that week. With all three Village Heads dead and the nearby Tutorial regions already destabilizing, Jaxir suspected the odds had probably gotten worse.

Still, he chose the pirates anyway.

Going around would waste too much time. If the pirates decided to rob him instead of ferrying him across, there was at least a chance he’d leave the encounter richer than he entered it. Apparently he was still a pauper in this game, so he needed the boost anyway.

Jaxir started toward Sparkle territory before remembering the chat interface Lue had used to contact him. He opened it while walking and found several names available, most of them tied to previous trades or direct interactions, until one familiar option caught his attention.

Nick.

Jaxir had no idea how Lue had managed to contact him when they’d never traded anything in-game, but that sounded like a problem for someone who cared more. He opened Nick’s contact and sent a short message.

―

Jaxir Chance: [Heading out of the Tutorial Zone.]

―

The reply came so quickly that Jaxir almost wondered if Nick had been staring at the interface waiting for him.

―

Nick: [WAIT FOR ME!]

―

Jaxir laughed.

They met less than half an hour later along the edge of Sparkle’s territory, with Nick coming through the trees at a run before slowing when he spotted Jaxir waiting beside a rocky incline. The relief on his face lasted right until Jaxir explained which route he’d chosen.

Nick stared at him.

"You want to cross with pirates?"

"That’s what I just said."

"Really?"

Jaxir smiled. "You heard me the first time."

Nick rubbed both hands down his face. "You know the waters are some of the most dangerous areas in Divinity, right? They’re among the least explored regions in the game, and almost every boss tied to them gets extra strength just from being aquatic."

Jaxir started climbing the incline while Nick followed behind him. "Good thing we’re crossing a river and not fighting Poseidon."

"The pirates count too." Nick pointed after him. "With the Village Heads dead, there’s a good chance special instances start appearing around the region, and pirate Elites could easily be part of that. We should take the long way."

"That sounds slower."

"It is slower because it doesn’t involve voluntarily trapping ourselves on a boat with people who might murder us." Nick’s voice climbed as Jaxir continued upward without looking back. "Once you’re on the water, there’s nowhere to escape, and even if we kill everyone on the boat, then we have to figure out how to sail the damn thing ourselves."

Jaxir glanced over his shoulder. "Sounds like fun."

Nick stopped walking.

For several seconds, he simply stared at Jaxir’s back before following again with the expression of someone reconsidering several recent life choices. Somehow, somewhere along the way, he had attached himself to a lunatic.

Things became worse for him when Jaxir reached the first suitable launch point.

The Sapphire-Emerald Glider Wings unfolded behind Jaxir as he looked over the drop ahead, then he turned toward Nick and gestured downward. "Grab on."

Nick looked at the wings, then at Jaxir. "Where?"

"Ankles seem easiest."

"You cannot be serious."

Several minutes later, Nick was screaming.

Jaxir laughed while the Glider Wings carried them over the mountains at the same ridiculous speed he’d used to cross the region the night before, although carrying another person cut the maximum glide distance roughly in half. Nick hung from Jaxir’s ankles with both hands locked around them, shouting something about psychotic assholes that the wind kept tearing apart before Jaxir could make out every word.

"This is way faster!" Jaxir called down.

"FUCK YOU!"

"You’re welcome!"

They repeated the process several times, launching from high ridges whenever the terrain gave Jaxir enough altitude and using his new control whenever it didn’t. Even with Nick cutting the distance of every glide in half, the speed remained unchanged, and they ate through the territory faster than either of them could’ve managed on foot.

The landscape changed beneath them as the Tutorial region fell away.

Low-Level foxes and bears disappeared first, replaced by larger creatures moving through rocky forests and ravines, while Jaxir’s map began marking enemies above Level 10 with increasing frequency. By the time the mountains started sloping downward toward the river, they were already deep inside territory neither of them could treat like a Tutorial Zone anymore.

Far ahead, wooden docks stretched into a river wide enough that the opposite bank looked hazy.

Several ships waited along the shore.

Jaxir grinned as they descended toward them, while Nick tightened his grip around his ankles and groaned.