CHAPTER 37: THE VERDANT CALAMITY, PHASE I (THE AWAKENING OF THE ROOTCORE)

One of the first MMOs ever created had a feature that was beyond their time. That game featured a fully-fledged ecosystem, in which herbivore animals would feed on plants and predators would feed on them.

It ended up being a complete waste of resources, as the players killed the animals faster than they spawned. The average animal lasted so little that the devs ended up taking the code for the ecosystem out of the game in a subsequent patch.

The devs of Hyperborea wanted the game to have that ecosystem and even more detail than that. With that goal, they set up some guardrails so players wouldn’t overhunt.

First, they created a distinction between animal and monster. Animals don’t give too many drops, and they are all useless for any player beyond the very early game. Even for feeding NPCs, it was more efficient to raise domesticated animals.

But there would always be players who went on a rampage just because. That’s why they added a second measure. Each designated biome would have a hidden AI that would serve as the ’spirit of the land’ and guardian.

Whenever animals were hunted in excess, it would spawn a procedurally generated beast, the Verdant Calamity, which would then rampage into the nearest settlement.

It wasn’t meant to be defeated. That was a literal punishment mechanic, designed to discourage players from messing too much with the natural world. It also created another level of strategy in the expansion of kingdoms’ territories into the wilderness.

And that was the beast furiously walking towards Aberswan.

:::

((Fuck, even my spell can’t deal with that thing. The village is marked as a settlement, so the death-like decoy won’t work. But who woke it? And why?))

"Miss Cecilia, do you know something about that monster?"

Her reaction didn’t pass unnoticed by Mutt.

"Yeah... that thing is bad news."

"Well, that goes without saying. But if it creates that reaction even from you, then it’s even worse than I imagined."

Cecilia turns to the mayor.

"Gather the people and leave as fast as possible. The monsters shouldn’t bother you because of the effect of my spell. I’m going to face that thing."

She jumped away, without waiting for a response, and started to run towards the monster. Then she remembered something and got back as fast as she went away.

"Mutt... Did any villager do anything that could’ve angered the spirits of the forest? Did you overhunt or something?"

"No. If anything, I had been hunting less than before. You saw how things were, and it got only worse after you left. And I don’t know of anything anyone could have done to anger the spirits..."

"I see... thank you."

That time she left for good, heading towards the huge monster.

:::

((Someone must have roused up the ’spirit’ of the land. Could it be that the old Eco Defender System also became a real... something? An actual spirit? Ugh, I wish I had seen the signals when I was here before...))

The spawning of the Verdant Calamity was a last measure because of its high lethality.

The AI would begin by increasing the number of monsters in the region where the killing had been too big. If it increased, less animals would spawn, as if the ’spirit’ had taken them to ’protect’ them. Then there would be a fog. And only then would the Calamity spawn.

That sent a signal to the players in the area so they could tone down their activities. Or even capture and punish if it was the work of a single troll player.

Which means that, by the time Cecilia had spent a few days in the village, the measures against overhunting were already in effect. Whoever was doing it was already in action.

And it was near the village. It was the only way that the beast would spawn here and not in another place.

In the beginning, some players liked to summon it on purpose, as a challenge. But the fact that it didn’t drop any items nor give any XP quickly made the trend fade away.

Some people tried to use it in wars between the factions, but the sending of ’signals’ also served as a cushion, making it harder for the system to be weaponized.

Thinking about all that, Cecilia finally reached the monster. Looking at it up close was even more intimidating than from a distance.

It noticed Cecilia standing at the top of a tree, then reared and slammed its antlers into the canopy of the forest. A shower of sharpened branches rained down in her direction, but she simply jumped out of the way.

The tree towards which she had jumped on suddenly sprouted several vines, which burst violently, attacking her while she was still in the middle of the jump.

"Tsk! Ethereal Foothold!"

That technique created a solid point on space. She put her feet down on it and jumped to the side, effectively dodging the vines.

((If I use an area spell here, the collateral damage will only anger it further. I need to distract it from reaching the village while I think on a way of calming it...))

"Anthyra doryon. Phaneros es epistrepho!"

(Spear of Rebirth. Light Returns to Me.)

Cecilia launches a radiant spear to a spectral giant owl that was descending onto her, making it disappear instantly.

((Good, this big guy uses spectral minions. The realm of the dead is my playground, so come, send more of those in!))

As if hearing them, several specters of animals came to attack her, like waves crashing into a rock.

"Radiant Aura."

All specters started to immediately dissipate as soon as they reached a radius of ten meters from her.

But ’dissipate’ isn’t the right word here. Yes, the animals’ spectral body collapses into shiny little particles that are blown away by the wind, but something is left behind.

They are like small ethereal bluish fires, floating in the air. Looking at them, Cecilia sensed something very familiar, as if she knew what that was. Yet, she doesn’t remember seeing anything like that in the game.

The Calamity was still summoning more minions, which gave Cecilia a small respite, a window of opportunity for her to let her curiosity take hold.

She extended her hand and touched one of those fires. When she does, a surge of memories enters her brain, as if her very soul had merged with the soul of another being.

When the rush of memories ended, that fire had disappeared, merged into her own body.

"What the...? Are those... souls? Are they the souls of the dead animals of this forest?"

She was able to remember the life of the animal whose ’fire’ she had just interacted with. Its desires, thoughts, fears... everything felt like it was their own memory.

And it included the animal’s biggest trauma. It was killed by a group of humans that didn’t look like anyone she met in the village.

"So it really weren’t the villagers who killed them... Those looked like thugs, if anything. Wait..."

Taken by a sudden resolution, she touched the other ’fires,’ absorbing a few dozen other souls at once.

Her mind reeled from the sudden influx of information, paralyzing her body for a few seconds.

Which was enough time for the beast to hit her with its full force.