A Whole New World
There is no easy way to choose a world to explore. By definition, exploration means not knowing what you’re getting into. Exploration begins where your map ends. However I decide, it won’t be an educated decision.
I briefly thought about returning to a world I’ve already taken requests in. From what I can tell about them, A-220 is a world where summoning is a weapon of war. I should only return there if I’m looking to battle against my own kind. That’s also where I met Old Man, who had a very bitter view of my kind. It’s probably an even more cut-throat world than X-002.
I remember D-339a fondly, but, in fairness, bandits don’t spawn into empty caves. They’re usually soldiers that go rogue after a war. It might only be chance that I didn’t get a war-related request.
R-71 seems to be a world where summoning ability is very common, if inexperienced adventuring parties can make requests. But I don’t think this is W-1 meant.
What would a world suited for rapid growth look like?
*
After alternating requests and short visits to various worlds, I saw them with fresh eyes, sizing them up for whether they’re a good place to grow.
Before, I didn’t have definite knowledge that worlds had creators who ruled them absolutely. I believed they were more of a natural phenomenon. Knowing this, I examined worlds with an eye toward what it tells me about its creator.
Some features seem to be fixed. Specifically, the system features are the same everywhere. It appears that every world has a forum, every world has a fates, every world has mana, and every world has inhabitants. Outside of those things, it seems anything goes.
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I’d like to say I had an idea of where I would settle in, but that would be a lie. The world that gave me a reason to stay was unlike any other.
*
Incoming Request
World: M-777
Spell Level: 4
Duration: 2 hours
Mana offered: XXX
Karma: X
Request Accepted
Select your form.
Choice: Cave Bear
Select spawn location.
Subtle colors paint the firmament as I entered this new world. In a dark tunnel, a team of adventurers stand before me as thud onto the floor.
The walls alternate between brickwork and polished native rock, as though this tunnel were carved rather than built. It seems to go on indefinitely in both directions. Something gently foreboding looms in the distance, somewhere in these bowels.
One adventurer, some sort of caster, primes his mana and waits. My client casts something. I suddenly understand his intentions: I am this party’s tank. Tiny motes of mana released by my client’s spell, a waste product of spellcasting, float toward the other caster and are collected.
The party decides to advance. Two lightly armored adventurers go first, then me, then the rest of the party in battle formation. We proceed down the tunnel.
We travel some distance, and one of the adventurers before me signal a stop. The section ahead faintly glows of mana, but nothing stands out to me. Somehow, he discovered a a magic circle underneath the floor tiles, which is a switch to activate a heavily trapped corridor. Together, the two disarm it; they appear to be a master rogue and his apprentice.
The caster from before casts some sort of spell on the disarmed traps, and the party continues.
Another stop. The rogues inspect the tunnel but it looks like the trap is beyond their ability to disarm. I sense my client’s apprehension: we are entering battle.
The rogues trigger the trap. A hollow sphere of mana spreads out from the trap, and passes through the walls. The caster from before captures some of it before it passes. The rogues rush behind the battle party. Is something about to happen?
The walls ahead deform, producing six vaguely humanoid figures. The figures split off and the walls return to their previous shape. Four of the stone golems are ordinary, one is covered in blue runes, and one is covered in red runes. The runed golems begin casting, and the other four charge.
