"This isn't too bad," I said, shifting my feet folded beneath my bulky body as I sat on a small pile of hay scattered on the floor of my prison cell. "Quite comfortable, actually, if I say so myself. And I say that it is!"

My penalty for illegally trespassing a house was an hour of imprisonment. I could either pay for it with all the Essence, Gli, and Artas I had, or I could serve my sentence. I barely had any Essence to lose because I had just leveled up.

But I had a fuckton of Artas and Gli I didn't want to throw away for freedom. My Mardukryon Cidule and Aritu Form Ocadule were about to level up after a long time, granting me new skills. Resetting their progress was the last thing I wanted to do. And I was saving Artas for my eventual gear upgrade.

With a not-so-heavy heart, I decided to suffer the penalty…which didn't mean I had to spend time here in Mardukryon prison.

I could log out and stretch my legs, but I stayed inside the game while doing some work. This was the second time I was imprisoned, and I decided to serve my sentence while answering emails. It certainly wouldn't be the last.

The Mardukryon prison was nothing fancy, a long tunnel lined on both sides with cells. Its entire length was illuminated by golden crystals jutting out the ceiling and walls. Much more environment-friendly and cost-effective compared to the standard torches in standard prisons. What the hell was a standard prison?

I had no idea where this place was located because the guards who brought me here used a Sigil Totem to warp an ugly statue of a four-armed monster outside this small cave. Indeed, this must be far from the village to keep dangerous, hardened criminals away from the general population.

Hardened criminals like me who broke into houses, ransacking cabinets in search of loot from unsuspecting NPCs.

I chuckled as I remembered what happened at the house I broke into before the guards came. The female Mardukryon told her husband that I scared her, which was hilarious as I was a youngling, and she was more than twenty levels higher than me. She could probably kill me with a frying pan.

When the village guards arrested me, I tried to fight them, the same as my first arrest when I used a human character to punch a chaplain at Amberkeld Town. As expected, the system prevented me from doing so. I'd likely lose anyway since there were three of them, and they all had a higher level than me. I did try to hold them with my Totems, but that didn't work.

I examined my two skills that had just leveled up. The first was [Healing Touch] from my Aritu Form Open-Compatibility Accessory Data Module.

Lvl. 3 Healing Touch: Use a touch of your revitalizing Ancestral Flames to heal yourself or an ally for (300 + (Vigor x 2.5) + 5% Ancestral Shroud) Health Points, and grant the target a buff that heals over time by the same value over 10 seconds. (Heal buff does not stack for a target.)
  Generate for target: 1 Rejuvenation Charge
  Cost: 30 Ancestral Shroud
  Cooldown: 3 Seconds

A slight increase in the multipliers used for its heal formula. Nothing too surprising or game-changing. My Vigor was low—I had transferred the attribute points I used for it to Energy for my Totem Juggling build—and my Ancestral Shroud pool wasn't huge. Nonetheless, the heal was still a massive help for me. But it wasn't impactful to my party, who were way higher-leveled than me.

The next skill that leveled up was [Ancestral Constitution]. It was the skill I had chosen from the first Rank of my Mardukryon Compressed Integral Data Module.

Lvl. 6 Ancestral Constitution: Mardukryons inherited but a minute fraction of the divine solar vitality of their ancestors.    
  Passive: +350 Armor and Magic Resilience, +13% Armor and Magic Resilience, 350 Health and Ancestral Shroud, 5% Physical and Magic Damage Reduction
  Each time damage is received (Max stacks [6]):
  + 55 Armor and Magic Resilience, +20 Health per Second, +80 Health, +50 Ancestral Shroud
  Duration: 30 seconds per stack

[Ancestral Constitution] was looking mighty powerful. It had a base level of four but became six because of the two Greater Skill Points I spent on it.

I noticed that the flat values weren’t increasing as high as before, but percentage bonuses were appearing and rising. At my current state—low level and low attributes—percentage bonuses wouldn't do much. Prior levels of [Ancestral Constitution] gave marginally more stats to me. But eventually, when I get stronger and harder, the percentage bonuses would outstrip flat values.

Because I had leveled up, I had a new Lesser Skill Point and GSP—I gained the former every level and the latter every five levels. I invested my LSP in [Greater Pyro Shell].

Lvl. 4 Greater Pyro Shell: Glorious blessings of the ancestors coat you with a formidable barrier of protective flames that boosts your defenses and absorbs (68% of incoming damage) up to the amount of Ancestral Shroud/Energy spent to summon it added by (21% of Armor). When the barrier expires or is depleted, the damage absorbed is dealt to nearby enemies.
  Grants: +225 Armor
  Cost: 23% of Max Ancestral Shroud for Mardukryon; 15% of Max Energy for other Races
  Duration: 18 Seconds
  Cooldown: 7 Seconds

As for my shiny new GSP, I could spend it on either Cidule or Ocadule skills. I only had [Ancestral Constitution] from my Mardukryon Cidule; I didn’t yet pick any skill from its second Rank. And I had [Healing Touch] and [Molten Corium] from my Aritu Form Ocadule.

Lvl. 2 Molten Corium: Ancestral Flames thread through the skin of Aritu practitioners, granting them (+22% Fire Resistance) and (+6% Fire Resistance Cap). Being of such untold purity, the Ancestral Flames also warp (11% of all incoming non-Fire damage) and convert them to the Fire Element.

The best choice was to level [Ancestral Constitution]. However, both my Cidule and Ocadule were about to rank up, so I decided to hang onto it and wait for the next skills that would be unlocked.

I checked my current stats without any of my buffs.

Name: Herald Stone | Lvl 15 Exp: 2.9%
Base: Mardukryon       
  Health: 1559/1559
  Energy: 568/568
  Ancestral Shroud: 769/769

ATTRIBUTES:
  Might: 27
  Vigor: 89
  Spirit: 107  
  Sense: 15

OFFENSE 
  Attack Power: 181
  Physical Dmg. Inc.: 13.1%
  Magic Power: 301  
  Magical Dmg. Inc.: 37.1%
       --------------------
  Movement Speed: 16%

DEFENSE
  Armor: 1181
  Magic Resilience: 591
  Phys. Dmg. Reduction: 8%
  Mag. Dmg. Reduction: 8%
       --------------------
  Fire Resistance: 37%
       --------------------
  Slow Resistance: 10%

RETRIBUTION
  Neutral Damage: 110

HEALTH / ENERGY
  Healing Received: 20%
  Health per Second: 150
  Energy per Second: 41
  AS per Second: 2

“Wow, my health is now twice that when we fought Zoar Elab,” I mused. I was going to work on my tankiness until I reached level twenty. And then, I’d work on upgrading my gear and resetting my attributes.

For now, my path remained the same—power-leveling for the Great Hunt.

I still had plenty of uncompleted side quests, not to mention that I hadn't touched my main quest—many RPG players would be proud of me—but they were starting to lessen. Eventually, as I helped one random NPC after another with their problems, their demands would dwindle, and the primary source of side quests would be the Lodges in the village.

Unfortunately, there would come the point when I wouldn't be able to progress chain quests for the Lodges unless I committed to them, which means picking an Ocadule from their Lodge.

Hunter-Warriors naturally preferred a brother-in-arms employing the same fighting techniques, the Masons would want someone with construction skills to help them build a house, and Healers would trust someone using healing arts they were familiar with.

Picking all the Ocadules was possible so long as I completed the prerequisite quests and cultivated my relationships with NPCs—not that type of relationship. However, it wasn't advisable. The getting all Ocadules part, not the relationships part.

Having several Ocadules and too many unlocked skills would stretch the Gli I'd farm thin. Not to mention quests didn't provide much Gli; they rewarded plenty of Essence for power leveling.

"And send," I said, as I clicked the button after reading yet another board resolution that needed my electronic signature. Nelly was getting busy with her plans now that she had taken the helm of Dolly's. "I could get used to this," I said with a contented sigh as I examined my surroundings again.

Prisons seemed to be a conducive environment for work that I might make a prison office— Wait...many people already think of offices that way.

With several minutes left to go for my prison sentence, I decided to chat with the other prisoners instead of logging out. There could be secret quests like the one I had found in Amberkeld jail.

I trotted to the bars securing my awesomeness. “Hello there!" I called the level seventeen Mardukryon NPC locked up in the cell across mine. Reading the name floating above his head, I said, "Balasi, my fellow criminal, what are you in for?”

Based on his size, he was a youngling like me. However, something seemed off about him.

The entire time I was here, he stood facing the back wall of his prison cell like a character in a horror movie preparing for a jump scare. I assumed it was just an NPC thing, 'powering down' while no one was interacting with them. But as he turned around with a crazed look, his four eyes wide open and his mouth mumbling gibberish, there might be something more to this.

Balasi rushed to the bars of his cell, gripped them tightly, and demanded, “How do you know my name?”

"Wooo...I know your name because the ancestors told me about you!" I said, waving my hands as if I was casting a magic spell. I had no clue about Balasi's backstory, but I thought it might be fun to mess with him, recalling the Mardukryon couple who freaked out that I knew their name without them telling me.

I bet this was a joke by the game developers that also neatly fit in with the lore. It wouldn't be surprising to know the names of the more famous people in a particular place even if I hadn't met them. But knowing a random person's name out of the blue would certainly be suspicious.

“I don't understand what you're talking about!” Balasi furiously scratched his head and tried to dig out his horns beneath the skin of his temples. "Stop talking to me! Every one of you, stop talking to me!"

"But I'm the only one here." Was he crazy, or were there spirits that I couldn't see?

Balasi suddenly reared on his hind legs while thumping his chest and roaring. He charged the bars of his cell. There was a loud crash, but the bars held firm.

"What the hell...?" I stepped back, stunned by the unexpected turn of events. "Okaaaay. Should I call the—?" Next, Balasi decided to charge the wall of his cell. Obviously, that didn't have any effect. He continuously headbutted the rocks. "Guards!" I yelled. "We need help here!"

He returned to the grills of his cell and started to shake them.

"Yoohoo, anyone there?" I said. "There's something wrong with this guy! He's also trying to break out."

“Calm down, youngling,” a deep voice said. "Don’t mind Balasi too much."

A large shadow crossed the floor. Heavy hooves hit the hard ground. It was the prison warden.

He peeked into my cell and said, “No need to raise a ruckus. I am well aware of the situation." He pointed at the other cell containing the Mardukryon who had gone mad. "Balasi here seemed to have eaten something that he shouldn't have. A minor carelessness of youth, that's what I say. Happens to the best of us at this age."

"What did he eat?"

"A funny-looking Borple down at the tunnels," the warden replied, shrugging his massive pauldron-covered shoulders. "That's what his friends told us. But the Healers haven't had a chance to examine him yet. We put him here to calm him down."

"It sounds like the Healers should've given him immediate attention." What was the Mardukryon health care like? Putting this guy in prison didn't speak well of the system. We probably didn't even have insurance.

"The Healers have plenty of matters to attend to, and Balasi was still too violent. He still seemed to be, but he's much better now. Borples and younglings—a tale as old as when our hooves first touched the snow on this mountain. Those two don't mix well. I commend you, youngling, that you haven't tried Borples."

Tried them in what way? "Are Borples dangerous?" I asked, remembering that I had gathered their bodies for one of Healer Gula's quests. "Aren't they an ingredient for salves?"

"Plenty of other things as well," said the warden. The two of us observed Balasi cease his craziness and return to the back corner of his cell. "But they should be carefully prepared by an experienced Healer. If you chuck a chunk of their caps into your mouth, you're begging for something like this to happen to you." He nudged his head in Balasi's direction.

"I'll keep that in mind," I said. "Thank you for the advice. If there's any way I could help him, I’d be glad to do it." I still hadn't found a quest here, and the circumstances were screaming that there was one.

"Well, if you want to help..." the warden began to say. He folded his arms across his chest and scratched the bottom of his tusk as he pondered what he'd say next. "Your time here is almost over, and I'm sure you have reflected on your mistakes. To show that you have reformed and now desire to trot the right path a youngling should, how about you escort Balasi to the Healers?"

"I'll be glad to do it!" I quickly accepted the quest prompt that popped up. "I just know where to bring him."

---

 

"These symptoms...they are not of Borple-poisoning," Healer Gula said as she examined Balasi. She had fed him a small pill to calm him down.

"There was something more to this," I triumphantly said, more to myself. Herald Stone was right again!

The Healers' Lodge, the building where all the Healers of the village congregated, was far from Gula's store. This was just her own small business that was more into selling her concoctions with added healing ministrations on the side. I could've brought Balasi to the main building, but I didn't. I planned to use him to find a way to change Gula's disposition towards me.

"Familiar...curiously familiar," muttered Gula.

"Have you seen someone act like this after eating a Borple?" I asked.

"A Borple? No. But I had seen this reaction to a certain potion before...a potion made by my sister, Bawu."