77 – Knock Before You Enter
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"Really nice getting to know you, Sawyer," said Eclairs. She gave us a wave as we were leaving Vanguard Gaming.

"I'll try to visit again before I leave Egret," my sister replied as she followed me out the door. “And I'll add you on Missive!"

“Do try out that coffee,” I said with a smile.

Eclairs gave me a look that was a mix between a suspicious frown and a politely grateful smile. She reacted similarly to me when I first got the coffee bag. She might be half-assuming it was a prank when I kept calling it cat's butt coffee instead of kopi luwak, its actual name.

"I'll surely do," she said with a conflicted grin as I closed the door of Vanguard Gaming. I stopped myself from instinctively flinching at her eyes which were both uncanny and mesmerizing. “You’ll have to treat me to coffee sometime if this sucks.”

“What?” I asked as I was about to close the store’s door.

She shook her head and waved at me to go already.

Eclairs and Sawyer's first encounter was magnitudes different from mine. They immediately hit it off nicely as if they were long-time friends. There was no trace of the brashness of Eclairs. Perhaps it was because Sawyer looked quite timid, even if she wasn't. Or it could be that Eclairs woke up on the wrong side of the bed the day we first met.

While the two of them reminisced about the old days of Egret, especially when our little corner of the city was…not as pleasant as it was now, and also about Boady’s literal massive transformation, I spied on my sister's reaction. It was only for a brief moment, but she noticeably balked upon meeting Eclairs' eyes.

I wasn't crazy when I thought something was wrong with her eyes—not physically wrong, but there was a chilling aspect about their look.

"She's nice, isn't she?" Sawyer said, giving me a sidelong glance. I knew she would bring this up to ruin our peaceful car ride back to their hotel. My sister turned to me with a mischievous smirk. "Very pretty too. I can't believe Boady—or Derrick. My gosh, I can't believe I didn't know Boady's real name all this time."

"I didn't know that was Boady's real name either," I said, trying to shift the topic. "And I was always with—"

"Anyway," Sawyer loudly interjected, "it's settled that we both can't believe not knowing Boady's real name. I couldn’t believe more that he has such a beautiful cousin. Her eyes are adorable, aren’t they?”

“They are?” Was I mistaken that my sister was uncomfortable with Eclairs’ eyes? Maybe I had a weird perception of things.

“Definitely,” said Sawyer, eagerly nodding. “Gray. Such a rare color for eyes. Another thing—I also can't believe you haven't made a move on her."

"Move?" I played dumb. "What move?"

"Oh, come on. You know…" Sawyer grinned at me. She didn't push it further because that would violate the unspoken treaty between us siblings not to pry into each other's personal life. She settled with, "Just saying that you have free time now…so use that free time."

I nodded. My sister was right. I should use my time correctly.

Bill, the little boy wearing the Mardukryon T-shirt, was relying on me to free the Mardukryons from the mountains and show everyone how cool they were. I was sure he wasn't the only kid in this world who yearned for the same. The younger generation was looking up to me, Herald Stone, not to fail them.

And I'm not going to.


 

"Alrighty then! This is a dead end for now." I sighed as I stepped out of Healer Gula's shop. After returning to the virtual world of Hierakon, I tried again to convince her to let me meet her sister.

Gula wouldn't budge. She insisted that Bawu shouldn't meet someone like me who knew of the 'lost arts.' I gave up after several more minutes of repeated rejection.

It reminded me of when Mehubanarath kicked me out of his tiny little hidden base in the Golden Forest, and I tried to break back inside. At that time, a quest popped up to tell me how to get into the Big M's good graces. There was no such prompt now.

Did this mean there was no way for me to meet Potion Brewer Bawu? Was this path closed off forever?

I refused to accept that. There has to be a way!

Persuading Mehubanarath to let me enter Kurghal Village likewise didn't have a quest attached to it. The quest notification only appeared after I convinced him I could keep my Ancestral Flame pure even if I mingled with other Mardukryons.

It might be the same situation here.

But with no clue how to proceed, I shifted to my other pending side quests to continue leveling up. The mundanity of collecting various items or completing tasks for the NPCs could inspire a new idea inside me.

Quests gave plenty of Essences—essentially experience points—but a pittance of Gli for Cidule and Ocadule leveling. Increasing my player level was my main goal, so I didn’t mind Gli. Questing usually beats mindlessly whacking at monsters, and I’d get other rewards too. But even then, Mardukryons were incredibly slow in leveling compared to most races.

About a couple of hours and many quests later, I had progressed to doing assignments for the various Lodges in the village.

The Merchants' Lodge asked me to help them with deliveries, securing supplies, and collecting past-due debts from their customers. Thankfully, the NPC customers paid up when I asked them. I wasn't sure what would happen if they refused. Was I obligated to beat them up? Herald Stone the Loan Shark?

The Weavers wanted me to help them harvest flowers for dyeing the clothes they made. It wasn't a collection quest but an escort assignment—a welcome change. Four apprentice Weavers plucked clean the bushes near the western gate of the village while a smattering of [Lvl 11 Baby Frost Macaques] bothered them.

Those crazy monkeys were agile and fast, but I caught them by planting my Totems that used [Enraging Call]. Given that my Totems were only level one—my Totem Juggling strategy didn't need them to be leveled up—the screeching baby monkeys brought them down in a few seconds.

No problem. I resummoned my Totems in front of the Weaver apprentices gathering flowers to draw the monsters away from them. In a way, this was also Totem Juggling. There was no need to kill the mobs. More would take their place, as I found out when I first killed a couple of them.

[ Quest Completed: Shooing Away the Pesky Ones! ]

[ Increased: Healing Touch Level to 3 ]

I also assisted the Masons' Lodge in constructing a new house—not the construction itself, which needed specialized Ocadules to do, but with the collection of rocks and other construction materials. I returned to the quarry to collect rocks and then went to the caves to hunt a special kind of worm that oozed slime that could be used as adhesive.

"And that's twenty," I said after my [Greater Pyro Shell] exploded, killing a couple of [Lvl 12 Borpillars].

More of the hybrid mushroom-caterpillar creatures crawled out of cracks in the walls. They threateningly clicked their scissor-like mandibles at me.

“Ladies and Gentleborpillars,” I said with a flourished bow, waving my torch goodbye before turning around. “Your lives are no longer forfeit. You are free to go, for I have finished collecting your slimes.”

They scuttled across the floor to attack me, but I left a Totem to hold them for a second as I galloped away back to the Masons.

[ Quest Completed: One Rock Over Another! ]

[ Increased: Player Level to 15! ]

[ Increased: Ancestral Constitution Level to 4 ]

“Awesome, they both leveled up at the same time,” I said with a satisfied smile. “And Healing Touch also leveled earlier. Plenty of progress today.”

"Good job, youngling!" said the Mardukryon NPC.

“On leveling up?”

"We can now proceed with building this beautiful future house."

"Right, the house. Are you going to use slime as cement?"

"The Borpillar slime will cement the blocks together for a sturdy home in which the Anandor family will live."

"No, that's not what I meant. Or maybe it is. Do you not have cement here? The powder with water that turns into a paste—ah, I don't actually know what cement is made of."

"Once the Borpillar slime hardens, these stone blocks will be secured."

"Works well enough, I suppose." I shrugged. Wait a minute…there was something that I hadn't tried yet. The Mardukryons Masons constructing a home reminded me I hadn't been inside one.

When playing RPGs, I usually wasn't one to explore every nook and cranny of the map, talk to every NPC, and complete every quest—that was Mason's thing. But it might be interesting to see what I could find in Mardukryon homes. I’d check their cabinets, chests, pots, and other containers. In RPGs, there were usually money and items for the player to find.

I came upon a burrow home with an unlocked door.

It was pretty roomy to accommodate the bulky bodies of Mardukryons. No chairs, of course, only those square floor mats. I stepped softly, taking care not to make noise with my hooves.

Why am I tiptoeing? Could I even tiptoe with hooves?

I should confidently waltz into homes, loot everything, and go out. That was how it went in RPGs. Some games did have stealing mechanics, but I hadn’t encountered any stealth classes or skills for stealing items. And no one would miss anything here—the devs probably placed this house as a set design element.

Clop, clop, my hooves went. “No pots for me to break? Might as well open this cabinet.”

“Who are you?” an angry voice demanded.

Turning around, I saw a female Mardukryon walking from behind a wooden partition. She looked furious. The jeweled rings attached to her tusks clinked as she stomped forward. <Lvl. 36 Marukdryon: Villager Shala> raised a frying pan and waved it ominously.

The owner of this house? She did have the right to be angry at me then. I raised my hands and said, “I’m sorry, ma’am. I’m just an innocent youngling that wandered into your house searching for…something to eat. I’m sure you won’t miss some virtual reality bread.”

“You better get out of this house right now.” She shooed me away with her frying pan. Female Mardukryons were smaller than males, but that was relative to adult males. She was bigger than me. Also, a level thirty-six versus a level fifteen? No contest here.

I might need a stealth skill to loot homes. Or maybe there was a thievery Ocadule available. There was usually a thief occupation in RPGs. “Yes, ma’am. I’m going out of your house now.”

A large shadow blocked the door. I looked up and saw <Lvl 41 Mardukryon: Villager Apason> staring down at me. “My darling, who is this person?”

“I was on my way out,” I said. “I’m very sorry if I disturbed Shala here.”

“How do you know my wife’s name?” Apason said with a growl. The sword by his hip looked very menacing.

“It’s written on top…Oh, I get it.” I chuckled. The game developers of MCO probably inserted this as a joke.

Anyway, that was how I ended up in Mardukryon prison.

 

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