While he waited for Eila and Rivingtol to finish, Tristan decided to pass the time by looking over his [Binder]. He wanted to make a note of what he planned on selling once all this initial business was concluded.

He flipped through the [Binder]. Most of the cards he’d gotten from the pirates had been of Adept rank and lower, though there was a smattering of Experts. He had already transferred all the Adept [Blueprints] to Eila for her forging, as well as a few rare Expert ones. Luckily, one of them was an Expert Air Field card [Blueprint], which would work for his advancement. The required materials had also come from the same [Binder], which the absorbed cards showed as one Duncal Pivo.

Tristan was slightly worried about whether the advancement would work. As it was in the game, all the requirements for an advancement card required the cardbearer to have obtained it all themselves. Purchasing the requirements would not work. That hadn’t been a problem thus far, but he’d obtained these cards from killing another person, who had killed the original owners of the materials. If it didn’t work, he would have to manually hunt down monsters that dropped Air Field card loot.

That would suck. He turned a page in the [Binder] and found the shining star of what he’d obtained: Dennier’s jacket.

And that was above and beyond everything else combined.

[Expert/Equipment/Top/Outerwear] — Wyrmskin Jacket: A fashionable and intricate jacket formed from the skin of a slain [Sky Wyrm]. Capable of keeping you warm in the cold and cool in the heat. Grants the Equipment Perk: {Redirect}. (ARMOR: 85/300 | CONDITION: THIS EQUIPMENT CONSUMES BOTH THE TOP AND OUTERWEAR EQUIPMENT SLOT | EQUIPMENT PERK SLOT: 1/2)

{Redirect} was a powerful one-cast Perk that allowed Tristan to change the target of an attack to the jacket itself and reduce its damage by half. Dennier had used it on him when they’d fought on the balcony. Not only that, the jacket had an empty slot that he could transfer the {Flight} Perk from his [Devourer’s Plate] over. And though it took up both his top and outerwear equipment slots, it came with a hefty 300 Armor to mitigate it.

He was excited to wear it when he advanced into Expert. That done, he flipped through the rest of his [Binder] and arrived at the section where his chips were.

It was still a little staggering how much money he had. He had a couple thousand greens, few hundred blues, seventy-six whites, twenty-three reds, five yellows, and two blacks. All in all, an exorbitant amount of money.

He planned on spending it all very soon on his Expert cards, not to mention more equipment upgrades.

Once he was all settled, he closed the [Binder] and settled in.

—🃁—

“Tristan. Tristan, wake up.”

He snapped awake, blinking bleary eyes. Eila and Rivingtol stood in front of him with amused looks on their faces. Behind them were some other former hostages of the Serenity, chatting quietly amongst themselves.

Tristan wiped some drool off his face and stood with a stretch. He looked at the window and saw that it was almost sunset.

“You were in there a while,” he noted.

Eila plopped herself down in a seat and sighed. Rivingtol clasped him on the shoulder. “They asked a lot of questions. It was difficult re-living those memories, but whatever.” She stretched then eyed him suspiciously. “How did you get out so quickly?”

Tristan explained what had happened with Jevian and showed them his card. Eila snorted in amusement, while Rivingtol frowned.

“Be careful, Tristan,” Rivingtol said. “This man seems like a fellow of ill-repute. I have trusted lawyers I can put you in contact with if you require legal services. I should have had that settled before we even landed.”

Tristan nodded his thanks but personally disagreed. While Jevian did seem like a rather unprofessional person, he had gotten him out of that interrogation quickly, and beyond that, something about the man made Tristan trust him.

“We should get going,” Tristan said to Eila, who looked to be nodding off herself. She blinked up at him then yawned.

“Agreed,” Rivingtol said. “We need our rest. Tristan, come meet me at the Stout and Cane in two days time. I’ll introduce you to our president, and you can give him Sir Barrihald’s cards then.” The man’s voice broke a little at the name, but he quickly recovered.

“I will.” Tristan clasped the man’s hand and shook. “Take care, Rivingtol. See you soon.”

Eila and the older man shared a hug. She then went over to the other gathered survivors and hugged them each, entering into a quick conversation. Tristan watched her, an odd feeling of isolation in him. He didn’t go through what they did in the dining room, and as such, he felt a bit like an outsider in that regard. Even on the Justice Alight, when they gathered to dine and be together, Tristan had been more of a bystander to their interactions. They acknowledged him and thanked him, but he hadn’t forged the same bonds they had going through that ordeal.

Soon, Eila peeled herself away, and with another goodbye nod to Rivingtol, they exited the enforcer station.

“Wow,” Tristan breathed, coming to a halt and looking around.

He hadn’t had a chance to look at Advance when they were being ferried to the enforcer station. They had landed at Airship Command, a large, military complex, and from there were sent directly to the enforcer station through a [Teleport Stone].

Advance was similar to the town of Sol in many ways—just bigger. A lot bigger. Whitestone buildings, small and large, stretched out in every direction, the setting sun lighting the glittering minerals in the stone on fire.

The set-up of the town was the same as in the game; the city was in the shape of a rough circle with five concentric rings, each ring named after the first five ranks: Novice Ring, Apprentice Ring, and so on up to Master, with that one being the smallest and the centermost.

They were currently in the Adept Ring. This particular section of the Ring seemed to be dedicated to civil services, as across the street from the enforcers he saw what appeared to be a fire barracks. Men and women in uniforms were practicing drills in a large yard; Tristan watched, fascinated, as they cast Water cards in unison at a blazing bonfire. Interestingly, the fire didn’t reduce at all under their cards.

“Come on,” Eila said, tugging his arm. “Let’s find a place to stay. I’m starving.”

Tristan followed after her as they went down a wide street, tall and wide buildings surrounding them on either side. The streets were clean and well-maintained; there was a thin band of white paint that ran down the middle, indicating that this section of the city was in the Adept Ring.

Workers in various uniforms were out and about, likely heading home after a long work day. Eila grumbled about how the lines to the [Teleport Stones] were going to be awful at this time, which amused Tristan. The 5pm weekday traffic is another universal constant, it seemed.

The two of them exchange stories about what had happened in their respective interrogations. Eila burst out laughing when Tristan explained how Jevian had legally changed his last name to Destroyer, and he beamed at her recount of how he’d heroically swooped in and saved her in the dining room.

But thoughts of the Serenity and what had happened aboard it were still fresh and raw, and the conversation died down soon after. He knew that Eila had nightmares, as did much of the other survivors.

Tristan didn’t, however. He wondered what that suggested about him.

Eventually, they found a [Teleport Stone] zone, or junctions as they were called. These were found in each Ring of the city at regular intervals, and they doubled as mini town squares.

The buildings around them thinned out as they entered the junction. It was a wide, circular space with lamp posts set up containing [Light Sources], casting the whole area in a warm yellow light. The [Teleport Stone]--a much larger one than the ones in the Serenity—was featured prominently at the center of the space. People waited in lines for their turn, and interestingly Tristan saw that multiple people could use the Stone at a time.

He looked around and saw that there was a street leading up to the previous Ring to the north and one leading south to the next Ring at the bottom. On the other side of where they entered was another street continuing further down this Ring.

Peppered about the junction were stalls with people selling various wares and food, which reminded him he needed to liquidate the cards he’d gotten from the pirates tomorrow. He’d already transferred much of the raw item materials and [Blueprints] to Eila for her forging, though he made sure to keep some materials for himself this time.

They walked over to one of four large ticket vendors surrounding the [Teleport Stone] and waited in line. Tristan’s attention was grabbed by the sight of what looked like a mom and dad Dueling in a cordoned off outdoor arena while their children watched and whooped.

Everywhere around him were tiny little sights like those that really made him aware of the world he was in.

He saw an elderly man cast a card out, summoning an Apprentice [Earthen Badger], which playfully ran in circles around a squealing toddler trying to catch it. When the Summon faded, the toddler ran up to the man and demanded he summon the badger again. He did.

He saw a group of teenagers sitting on a bench with their [Binders] out, trading cards with each other and laughing. One of them stood up and gestured angrily at his [Binder], which made the others laugh even harder.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

He saw someone fly overhead on some kind of giant eagle Summon, and no one even batted an eye.

“Whatcha smiling about?” Eila asked, nudging him with her elbow.

He looked up at her with surprise. He hadn’t even realized he was smiling.

“Just happy to be here,” Tristan said, nudging her back.

It was their turn at the ticket vendor, and they walked up to the large kiosk. A bored looking young attendant with the now-familiar tan skin and blue eyes sat behind a glassed-off counter. Tristan noted the cardbearer pin on his chest that indicated he was a Novice cardbearer. I need to go take care of that tomorrow, too.

He read the tickets listed on a board beside the kiosk as Eila paid for them. There were one-time [Teleport Keys], which would allow one use of the Stone, all the way up to one month, which would allow unlimited uses over the course of the month.

Eila bought them one-week keys, which came out to two blues total. She handed Tristan his, and he converted it, revealing a similar metallic disc to the ones on the Serenity. They got in another line, this time to use the Stone itself.

“So where do you want to go?” Eila asked him. “The Novice Ring is the biggest and has the most amount of inns that we can stay at.”

“You know,” he said after a moment of thought, “after everything that happened on the Serenity, I feel like we deserve something nicer than Novice accommodations."

She raised an eyebrow. “Is that so, Cardbearer Tristan?”

“It is, Forger Eila.” Tristan grinned up at her. “I’m thinking we stay in the Master Ring.”

“I don’t know, the Master Ring might be a little too expensive for us.”

Tristan summoned his [Binder] and wagged it in her face. “I’m rich now, Eila, in case you’ve forgotten. I’m sure I can handle anything they can throw at me.”

She looked down at him, then shrugged.

“If you say so."

—🃁—

“At least they didn’t kick us out right away this time,” Eila said consolingly to a dejected Tristan as they exited their third inn of the night.

“One order-chip per night!” Tristan exclaimed, stomping out into the street. “And that was for the cheapest room?”

Even the streets in the Master Ring looked expensive. Gone were the quaint but simple whitestone paving of the Adept Ring. Here, the streets were made of a smooth, black rock that sparkled in the light of free-floating [Light Sources] bobbing up-and-down in glass cages. The band that denoted which Ring they were in was not painted but embedded in Order-colored seashells.

The inn they’d just exited, the Gaia, was fashioned in the shape of a tree, with the trunk of the tree functioning as a vertical lobby and the branches containing the rooms. Absurd. Tristan knew the moment he laid eyes on the inn that it’d be way too expensive, but he stubbornly went in anyway, Eila sighing and following behind him.

“All right,” Eila said, putting her hands on her hips and frowning down at him. “I’m going to start eating my deck soon if we don’t find food. Are you giving up on the Master Ring now?”

Tristan nodded glumly.

“Good. Let’s find a junction and go to the Expert Ring.” She patted him on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, there’ll be nice places there, too.”

They soon found a junction and teleported to the Expert Ring. After asking for recommendations, they found a suitable inn situated in the heart of the shopping district of the Ring, which worked out nicely.

While the Salt and Stone was no behemoth tree-building, it was still very nice. The main building of the inn itself was five stories high and made of wood and stone with some smaller, auxiliary buildings beside it for the various amenities that the inn offered.

They entered the main building and found a large tavern-style setting complete with a crackling fireplace, tables strewn about with drunken guests eating food and in conversation, and a band of sorts playing live music at a raised stage on the side. At the back squished between two sets of stairs was a bar with a distinctly innkeeper-looking old man behind it polishing glasses.

This feels like it was copy-pasted from a medieval history textbook, but I kinda like it.

Tristan went over with Eila lagging behind, the girl hungrily looking at the food on the tables.

“Evening,” said the innkeeper. He was portly and bearded with a kind grandfatherly air about him. “Are you looking to rent a room?”

In the end, Tristan bought him and Eila their own rooms, plus three meals a day and access to the amenities for the next week. The total came out to two whites and forty blues, which barely put a dent in Tristan’s finances. He would have to go over it all again later after he sold some cards.

Once that was settled, they sat down at a free table in the corner of the room and ordered some food.

Eila literally cheered as the server came over and placed down two plates of roasted meat, spiced vegetables, and warm cheese-filled bread pockets at their table. Tristan ordered an argavo juice, while Eila stuck with water—after the Serenity, both of them had no plans on drinking alcohol again any time soon.

“Oh gods,” Eila moaned, her mouth stuffed with food. “This is so much better than what they had on the Justice.”

Tristan agreed heartily. The Justice Alight was a military vessel, and as such the fare on the ship was more nutrient-efficient than tasty. They quickly scarfed down their dinner and then talked about their plans over a dessert of pie.

“We both need to visit the Association tomorrow,” Eila said. “Afterwards, you want to sell some cards, right?”

Tristan nodded, polishing off his pie and sitting back with a satisfied sigh. “That’s right. Pretty much everything I got was Adept and under, so I won’t be needing it. I plan on advancing into Expert pretty soon anyway. Speaking of, how should I go about that? Just walk outside the city and find some monsters?”

Eila shook her head. “You can do that, but there’s more efficient ways. The Cardbearer’s Association has dedicated hunting zones for Adept cardbearers and lower. You’ll have to pay to access them, but that isn’t a problem anymore.” She paused, then added in a hesitant tone, “You’re close to Expert already?”

“Not really, but if I put some effort into it I’ll get it done quick enough.”

“Oh.”

Tristan looked at her closely and saw a slight furrow between her brows. “Are you all right?”

Eila blinked. “Yup. Sorry, got a little distracted. So, you’re going to do some hunting as well. Sounds good. I have some errands I need to take care of so I’ll do that while you’re off. Oh also, I forgot to mention, but some of the other survivors and I are planning on meeting this week.”

“For what?” Tristan asked, frowning.

“Just to talk about what happened. Kind of like a trauma support group, I guess.” Eila laughed, but it was forced. “You’re of course free to come.”

Tristan thought about it before shaking his head. “To be totally honest, I feel like I can’t really relate to the others. My experience with the pirates was different from yours. I think I’ll just feel like an outsider if I came.”

“I understand,” Eila said with a soft smile.

Shortly afterwards, they retired to their rooms, saying good night. Tristan closed the door behind him and rubbed his face. He was exhausted and more than ready to sleep.

But first, there was something he’d been wanting to do since he arrived at Advance.

Tristan sat on his bed and activated {The Great Tree’s Blessing}.

The map appeared in his vision. It showed him the entirety of the Province of Waves, a large chunk of the Continent’s south-western coast, bordered by the Province of Rays to the north and the Province of Growth to the east.

Dotting the map were all the Three Terrors in this area of the Continent.

There were hundreds of them. So many that the map looked more like a chaotic constellation, each of the Three Terrors a the stars in the structure. The Dungeons were colored green, the Dominions blue, and the Rifts red. Cleared Terrors were white, and as he stared in horrified fascination, one of the Dungeon’s abruptly shifted colors.

He focused on that one, and a message appeared.

[Wonderous Rapids]—High Adept rank Dungeon. Cleared. Regeneration time: 40 days. Dungeon Break risk: N/A. Unique Perk: N/A.

Tristan remembered [Wonderous Rapids] from the game. The whole Dungeon was a specific stretch of the massive River Wonder that plunged deep into the Continent.

But in the game, there were only maybe twenty or so Terrors in this whole Province, Tristan thought. How are there so many here now?

It must have had something to do with this Corruption the Great Oak had said. The Ninth Element. That whole situation was something he’d been deliberately putting off, as his one and only concern in this world was to reach Divine, not fight some force of evil.

But the two were more linked than he thought. Not to mention that Dennier mentioned before their final fight. A war of the gods… what happened here on the Serenity a mere blip in the pages of history…

He needed more information. He made a mental note to visit a library here when he had the chance to see if Corruption was a known entity in this world. Then, he narrowed the search of the map, specifying any of the Terrors that could grant him another unique Perk.

There were three in his vicinity. One was a Rift on the border between Waves and Growth.

[The Rift of Cultivation] — High Master rank Rift. Not cleared. Regeneration time: N/A. Rift Incursion risk: High. Unique Perk: Available.

He frowned. There were a few storylines in the game about clearing a Rift, Dungeon, or Dominion before the monsters contained within spilled out and threatened the NPCs in the area. Of course, as a game, Tristan hadn’t cared about any of that, only participating in the story because he had to.

But now the world was real. If a high Master Rift were to let loose its monsters, the damage would be untold. He needed to check if the people were aware of the Rift’s status, and if not, he would have to somehow get a message out warning that an Incursion was soon.

Unfortunately, a Master Rift was definitely too difficult for him to clear right now. He remembered this one from the game as well, and it was quite difficult. Rifts were extra-dimensional spaces, and to clear them one had to defeat every floor—or stratum, as they were called. Some of the later strata in this Rift had two bosses each.

He checked the next Terror, a Dungeon about maybe a week’s travel north-west of Advance.

[Geyser’s Wrath] — Low-Intermediate Master rank Dungeon. Not cleared. Regeneration time: N/A. Dungeon Break risk: Intermediate. Unique Perk: Available.

He remembered this one as well. The boss was a [Polluted Geyser Spirit], and it required careful co-ordination with a party in order to clear. It had been one of the last Dungeon’s he’d run with others before going solo.

Low-intermediate is still a little risky for Master, Tristan thought. He hadn’t even encountered a Master monster yet, so he didn’t know if they had any additional tricks in the real world.

The last one was a Dominion, and interestingly this one was just off the coast to Advance to the north west. The icon on the map hovered over the ocean itself.

[King Sunder’s Dominion] — Intermediate-high Expert rank Dominion. Not cleared. Regeneration time: N/A. Dominion Invasion risk: Imminent. Unique Perk: Available.

Dominions were when a singular monster grew powerful enough to subjugate others and form its own territory. Or at least, that was the logic in the game. He wasn’t sure how it worked in the real world.

Regardless, this one looks like a safe bet. It’s close to Advance, and it clearly being over the ocean suggests I can get some good Water cards for when I rebuild my deck. It’s at imminent risk, so I should take care of it quickly after I unlock Expert.