Occasionally, a traveler may get a skill, mutation, reward, or achievement simply labelled with a question mark. These skills, or whatever they may be, for some reason or other, do not fit within the regular tiers the system has set up. Some theorize that something earns a ? simply by being new, and the system hasn't properly categorized it yet. But several skills that have been around for eons disprove that theory quite easily. Chief among them the lowest tier spell of them all, magical bolt, and the much beloved passive skill, universal traveler translator.
The more logical explanation is that these unique skills and rewards are of undetermined power, and as such, cannot be properly categorized. Depending on how they are used, they can range from a lowly F-tier strength all the way to EX-tier. Others are so narrowly focused in their utility that it simply doesn't make sense to classify them as anything. Whatever the case may be, ? skills are often strongly tied to a traveler's very being, and are what makes them truly unique.
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It had been several days since my first quest as a traveler, and I'd been taking it easy since then. I often found myself strolling through the hub, simply going wherever to take it all in. No matter which direction I picked, there was always something new to discover. And the food was actually crazy good. I wasn't big on eating in my past life, mostly due to not being able to afford proper food, but I did have a few tasty meals in my time. I'd gotten my first taste of “alien” cuisine when I was staying with the asphons, and the stuff they put on the table was leagues better than anything Earth ever produced. Something about adding magic to the equation made some monsters just taste extra tasty.
All of that paled when compared to the food available on the hub. As the massive hodgepodge of cultures that it was, the food was equally varied. Eager to display the best their worlds had to offer, travelers made a tidy profit by opening a restaurant, which then had to compete to draw in as many customers as possible. I'd spent a lot of time in these restaurants, or sometimes street stalls, eating to my heart's content. I'd gotten a bit of spending money from Jorm until my items were properly sold, and the food I was stuffing down my gullet was rather cheap, but my funds were quickly dwindling. I couldn't wait to get paid, so I could try some of the more expensive menu options, which should taste even better.
“So, like,” I broke the silence, talking over the action scene currently playing on the 'TV' in the common area of the guild. “How the hell do I evolve?”
I was spending some time relaxing at the guild, having been on an outing earlier in the day, and I couldn't help but ask the question I've been wondering about for a while now. I'd gotten so used to having clear evolution goals that the absence of them felt quite jarring. At first, I'd thought that it would take a few days after I arrived at the hub before the requirements popped up, but it was starting to look like I was wrong. Both Liam, taking the form of a green slime today, and Steve turned their heads away from the screen, currently showing an episode of a soap opera Steve apparently really liked, to look at me.
“You don't know?” Steve asked with an incredulous tone.
“I guess I've been getting a bit of a free ride up until now…” I said slowly. “Evolution requirements were always available, and I was able to work towards the next tier as soon as I evolved. But ever since I got here… nothing.”
“It's not unusual for new travelers not to know. You had to be told as well,” Liam gave the burning bird a pointed look, which Steve ignored by redirecting his attention back toward the screen. “All you gotta do is reach level twenty and head to any quest hall. You'll be assigned a special evolution quest. The bigger main quests always have evolution requirements as well, so doing those can earn you several tiers if you put in the work. Not to mention campaigns.”
“Thanks,” I breathed a sigh of relief after hearing how simple things were. “I have a vague idea about what main quests are, but what the hell are campaigns?”
“They're these long ass quest chains, usually organized by the system,” Liam happily explained, apparently not nearly enjoying the drama on screen as much as Steve did. “You can't accept them as an individual, but if the guild signs up for one, participation is mandatory, as per our contract.”
“I do remember Chantal going over 'mandatory quest participation' at some point…” The busy ant went into extreme detail about every single clause, but only in regards to what it meant for my relationship to the guild. The topic had come up, but what exactly a campaign was, was left unexplained. Sure, I'd been curious at the time, but after hours of tiring legal talk, I hadn't felt like asking a question I could easily get answered later.
“I’m sure she did,” Liam sighed in a long-suffering way. “Anyway, campaigns are big ass guild quests where you can earn great rewards for the guild as a whole, but also have plenty of opportunities as an individual. They’re hotly contested, though, and are a big commitment for a smaller guild like us. We do them occasionally, though, whenever Polly manages to get his feathers on a suitable one.”
“Sounds exciting,” I said, already fantasizing about the great battles that could be had on a quest that was apparently meatier than even a main quest.
“They are,” Liam wobbled in agreement, most likely nodding. “But they’re also dangerous, extremely so. It’s not unusual to lose a member or two during one.”
“That’s… less exciting.”
We stewed in the awkward silence for a bit, and I absentmindedly watched the show without knowing what was going on. Although I was surprised at how similar some traveler TV programs were to what I’d seen on Earth. I guess romantical drama was a somewhat universal thing, as love definitely existed in the expanse as a whole.
“That reminds me…” I eventually spoke up again. “I was talking to Jorm recently, and he mentioned that I should get as many skills as possible before tier ten, but refused to elaborate. Don’t suppose you could shed some light on that, seeing as you’re a higher tier?”
“I could…” Liam gave me the kind of side-eye that suggested something was up. “But it’s basically tradition not to tell people. If you’re lucky, the people you’re close to will drop hints occasionally, but it’s generally considered a rite of passage you’re supposed to undertake on your own. If you REALLY want to know, I suppose you could buy the info from an information guild, but it’s generally pretty expensive to do so…”
“Alright, alright,” I sighed, starting to make peace with the fact that I would just have to go through it to figure out what exactly happened. Still, that wouldn’t stop me from fishing for more. “Don’t suppose you got a lucky hint for a new guild member then?”
“What traveler type are you?” Liam eventually asked after mulling it over for a while.
“Pay to Win, why?”
“Lucky bastard…” Liam muttered while rolling his eyes. “You got a shop, then, right? Try to buy everything in it before reaching tier ten, then. It is the threshold that will upgrade you to a tier three traveler, which apparently makes the shop reset. You’ll lose out on everything you haven’t bought.”
“Thank you for your wisdom,” I mock bowed my head while also rolling my eyes.
As with most everything under the system's purview, traveler types were separated into tiers as well. Ranging from F-tier, all the way to EX-tier, although I’ve been told that the EX-tier had to be unlocked somehow. Pay to Win was a solid S-tier type, apparently. Rare and incredibly good when compared to others, but nowhere near the top of the line. I had already suspected that I’d lose out on purchases during my time on Suigoss, but now it was a definitive fact. It was a good thing that I also knew by when I needed to buy all the goodies, too, since the shop had gotten… expensive after the reset.
Just as Liam said, the shop had reset after I became a tier two traveler, offering the same opportunities as before at a significantly increased price, switching out some specific things, while introducing new ones as well.
Buying mutations, skill points, and attribute points was back on the menu, although still restricted by how much I could get per tier. I once again could buy five skill level ups, restricted by my traveler tier, and the most juicy of options, buying a skill was back. There was no way in hell I would use that to buy anything other than an EX-tier skill, of course, but sitting at a whopping price of 400’000 DP, I would need to grind for a good while before I could afford it. I’d thought that the 160’000 DP I’d accrued toward the end of Suigoss was a lot, but I was humbled when faced with the new prices in the shop. The fact that I was no longer restricted to hunting monsters around my own level meant I could get more DP faster, but it was still expensive.
Yet, the EX skill wasn’t even the most expensive thing in the shop. I could buy another achievement that would increase my DP gain from 2x to 3x, which was definitely a priority, but seeing it cost a whole million DP hurt my soul. Things got even worse, though, as the next piece of the hidden access key cost a wildly expensive ten million. I still needed to figure out what they actually did, and if it was even worth getting, but I suspected that if I didn’t buy it before the next reset, it’d get even more expensive.
Another option, which I definitely wasn’t getting, allowed me to buy a building lot on the hub for a truly insane fifty million. I could buy a lot with credits, and if the others were to be believed, there were a lot of those in my future. Of more interest to me, and more affordable, was the third skill tree slot for half a million. I was still working on my current skill tree, but having the slot open would be valuable for the future. In a similar vein, I could buy the next system access level for 200’000. Getting a higher access authority got me the sort and filter functions, so I was looking forward to what I would be getting from this.
Capping things off was something incredibly interesting. For 200’000, again, I could buy myself a “Special Quest Token”. It apparently could be exchanged at a quest hall for a special quest that would provide a truly customized challenge level and rewards. I could only buy one, so with what little I’d learned about reaching tier ten, I’d best use that right before I actually went for the evolution quest.
I needed massive amounts of DP to buy everything I wanted before tier ten, which was made worse by the fact that I was already tier eight. Most travelers supposedly reached a hub around tier four, which would give them ample time to earn DP and buy things before tier ten. As for me, it was looking like I would need to stall before taking that important step, so I could buy out the shop. I’d need to keep my eyes open for quests where I could earn DP by the boatload. Surely there were quests like that.
Just thinking about it all got me fired up. Looks like my little “vacation” was coming to an early end, since I was suddenly giddy to go out there and work towards my new goals. Tomorrow, I’d start grinding quests until I reached level twenty, which would enable me to accept an evolution quest.
But maybe… before doing all of that… I should finally revisit my benefactor.
It was time to return to the void.