Wall Breakers (Panomekon – LY 448)

“What brings mighty Thorleif to the meeting of his competition,” Tang Feng said when he spotted the Viking’s silhouette at the door.

“Welcome to the 59th meeting of the Alpha Progress society, by the way,” he added.

“Rumors on the wind is what brings me, Feng.”

“What is it? Another secret weapon?”

The rumors about those had started a bit over twenty years ago. Anti-Professionals weapons, developed by Late Divergences – those whose technology had advanced into the late centuries, far beyond the end of True History – one that could cripple or kill even high-tier Professionals.

Tang Feng had tracked some of those rumors himself, of course. He was pretty sure the rumors didn’t originate from those Late Divergences, but from a recent one in his own sector, Earth-113. He had even mapped a path there, getting an audience with the Daoguang Emperor.

The ceremonial was still pretty much what he’d known across many Divergences in his homelands, even though the dynasty was slightly exotic from its Manchu origins, long after his origins. The Emperor’s sister standing next to him could have been highly impressive to most locals, but she was still a mere upper tier-eight spellcaster and no Lord.

The Emperor had apologized about wasting his time to chase spurious rumors, and offered to have his sister help him in any way she could – at tier eight? – and generally went back to managing the First of the Five Spheres, the local superpowers that arose out of the five nations to get Gates.

Weeks of trying to dig didn’t lead to anything he hadn’t gotten in Panomekon, mainly second-hand from the eight Lords that had come out from the Lord-poor Divergence. He could feel there was something, but no one was ready to confirm his feelings.

“No. The Primus is mobilizing,” Thorleif said.

“The Katerlikon-Vaterskon-Blickon sheaf? What of them.”

“They’ve decided they have enough high-tiers.”

Tang Feng blinked in surprise.

“They’re shooting for a Legend?”

“I had a friend based in Katerlikon that stumbled on me when I was checking the Hallowskon markets. A Marcus Solidus is leading the effort in his sheaf, and he had a number of tier eighteen that are actually high levels, along with plenty of backfilled nineteens. Enough he now feels confident they can take down one.”

“And you came to warn us.”

“Beta and Gamma’s effort at getting to high tiers have faltered. You’re the only one in this Nexus who still manages to get Lords motivated.”

The 59th meeting of the Alpha Progress Society had started well, despite Feng’s troubled thoughts. Nobody dropping out, and a handful of new faces, albeit few truly high tiers.

The Spectacular Critical Aegis that was presenting some interesting safe paths to building a solid tier nineteen defensive, complete with the shortest and easiest zone lists was surprised when Tang Feng finally stepped and interrupted her. Feng was the Alpha Progress Society, after all. Founded by him, with an uninterrupted leadership. Even if there were years where he thought he was single-handedly pulling the entire sheaf upward.

“We have a more important thing to discuss,” he bluntly announced.

Everyone’s eyes focused on him, and even at his tier, the cumulated amount of Presence made itself felt.

“The Primus sheaf has decided they want to be the first beyond the Wall.”

There was absolutely zero sound coming up from the assembly. The news was apparently as unexpected for them as it had been for him. Well, save for Thorleif who was obviously smirking with his glass horn of high-tiered spirits.

“We’ve been debating since the last meeting which Legend is best, based on what Gauge Enemy says about their skills. Well, that debate is moot. We have only a few months, maybe, before they make their attempt and potentially succeed. Alpha was the first sheaf to ever open into the Labyrinth. And I say, it’s high time we remind everyone that this has to mean something when it comes to breaking through the Wall.”

He pummeled the table – not too gently, but the furniture was made out of tier fifteen and above stuff, so it could withstand tens of thousands of Strength scores – and added.

“This is not a debate. Do or don’t, but there is no trying. The target is Macrors, Pit-fiend, in Vakatrok. And the time is four weeks from now. Four, exactly.”

The sucking sight as everyone swallowed, hearing the commands of the foremost of Alpha, could have ruptured the eardrums of a mundane.

“Almost everyone high enough should have a path to Vakatrok. I don’t care about your actual tier. Everyone who can, be there. If you have slacked, then you have four weeks to open one from Bantarl or Sashatras. You’ve all got centuries of experience, so I don’t have to tell you how to organize ad-hoc teams to maximize the respawns in the lairs to open access. Priority down in order of completion, etcetera. If the List isn’t up to date with your tier 20 accesses, just go and update it as soon as we’ve concluded.”

All of the presents suddenly rose, and slammed fists on chests, on other fists, or raised them as feet slammed on the – thankfully extra-solid – room floor.

“Next month, in Vakatrok!”

Of course, not everyone present was going to be there in Vakatrok next month. There were going to be high tiers who didn’t attend, who would mobilize as soon as they heard – and slackers who would ignore the call, content to sleepwalk their way across eternity by getting XP here and there to keep youth up, and calling that “progress”. And of course, half the people present were too low a tier to actually go up and help the raid. But that was okay. You rolled the dice and saw what came out.

Those people would rise and join them. And not at the wall, but beyond. That was why it was important to encourage them, like the pair that was coming to chat him up, probably one of the lowest levels of the present.

“That’s my first meeting, and I and Ira didn’t expect it to be that… historic,” the tier-ten told him.

Something about the name his partial Gauge Enemy listed tickled his memory, and Feng immediately perked.

“Sims Jonas, right? You’re one of the Lords of Earth-113. The late ones.”

“That’s right. Got caught into a gate closure, almost twenty years after it opened.”

“Your Divergence is a bit infamous for its anomalies.”

Gate closing was one. How had Earth-113, which was supposed to be lost for two decades, gotten its hand on Gate Closers? The proscribed devices were rare, and not many were made. That, alone, hinted at shenanigans by Lords, a private venture hidden from prying eyes.

He should venture down, find some non-Lord Professionals, and ask around. Some would know something, Tang Feng thought. But that was something to do later. After he had his access beyond the Wall.

“Yes,” Jonas answered.

Feng waited, but no further explanation was forthcoming. The Lords of that Divergence had obviously been thoroughly warned against leaking whatever true weirdness was associated with the Divergence. And even at tier 20, Tang Feng wasn’t going to go all out against the council of Panomekon by forcing himself on the low-tiered.

“Sometimes, things move slowly, and sometimes they move fast,” Feng admitted.

“When we were introduced to the High Tiers, I was told I’d be up there at one time. It’s just going to take a long time. And now, I guess we’ll know all about behind the Wall by the time we’re strong enough to cross it.”

“That, or you’ll know the Wall can’t be breached because nobody can actually kill a tier 20 Legend,” Feng laughed.

“Do you think so?” the Ward asked.

Feng turned toward the other young Lord.

“No. There’s nothing particularly odd about those Legends. It’s just that they are absurdly strong, as the strength of Legendary Guardians scales slightly faster than the tier they’re in. But quantity has a quality enough. There are over a hundred tier 18 and greater… and I’m expecting most of them.”

“So, you’re going to break it?”

“The biggest and worst thing that can happen is that completion will fall on Professionals without the full 20 base lairs completed, leaving no one actually enabled. The worst case is one person who’s there for the first time, meaning a rush of all base lairs.”

“That would suck,” Ira Heard said.

“Indeed. And you? Where’s the rest of your team?”

“We… broke up. Some of the circumstances surrounding the negotiations with Panomekon led to, say, divergences of opinion. And five years ago, our healer and his wife decided to take a break, and get kids,” the Aethersmith said.

“Sometimes, that happens. Almost never after you see your first kids die of old age, but that happens.”

“So yea, we’re running a mixed team. Most of us owe to the Inquisition, and we’re going to be a supplementary team for them.”

“Troubleshooting and monitoring? Well, as long as you do not neglect your growth, that’s fine.”

“Got a min-width build to tier 15, so we’re making sure we get all the lower tiers stuffed to max Milestones first. That sucks because it means we’re spending a lot of time in high levels of those Professions, but…”

“Can’t be avoided. Better do that rather than what most of us have done, which is redoing all those levels from scratch later.”

Tang Feng contemplated the pair as they drifted and chatted with a few mid-tiers.

One day, he’d get to the bottom of the mystery of Earth-113.

But not today. Today, he had a more important goal.

Macrors, Pit Fiend

Level 21,311 Legend

Health: 13,900,895,786

Mind: 2,000,138,447

Stamina: 10,770,895,172

Aether: 6,882,055,664

Strength: 1,073,622

Dexterity: 909,154

Agility: 747,982

Constitution: 944,685

Stamina: 1,009,154

Wisdom: 651,279

Focus: 747,982

Presence: 1,009,153

Fortitude: 654,576

Intelligence: 651,279

Skills: Call of the Horde, Shadow Ally, Burning Ground, Homeland, Burst Aura, Black Cover, …

The Legend looked like an oversized toad, 40 feet wide, covered in glowing warts. The reddish glow that came from the bubbles piercing an ash-grey skin was thought to be associated with the auras that the Gauge Enemy list uncovered.

That particular lair had been selected by Tang Feng for three reasons. The first was because it had five Ancient guardians as well, each contributing to completion. Although it was a foregone conclusion that leaving them active would result in an impossible fight against the Legend, a focused team would reap the partial completion percentage.

A team that, of course, included him.

The second reason was that it was the second-lowest level Legend in the zone. He hadn’t selected the lowest, because of the other two reasons. The last reason to select this zone and lair was that the Pit Fiend was a mostly melee Guardian. That meant defense piercers, loads of health, and heavy damage, but fewer area effects and mind attacks, allowing the healers to focus on those in close combat. A few of the high tiers present had offered to switch to an alternate range build, but Tang Feng had put down the idea immediately.

“Nope. Everyone at their best profile, because we need that. I’m expecting heavy losses, but I’d rather have someone being ready to occupy the fiend for an extra twenty seconds than someone doing 80% of his normal damage from a range for all the fight.”

Now, the assembled High Lords of the Labyrinth, the crème de la crème of their sheaf, the best there was were surrounding the pit and its final Guardian, weapons drawn out and ready. Tang Feng contemplated his enormous descriptor, the seventy-one names listed.

He raised his fist, holding a longsword with its shadowy twin slowly orbiting the main blade.

“THE WALL FALLS TODAY!”

Macrors, Pit Fiend, defends his home: -1% Potentials to enemies, +1% Potentials for allies for 15 seconds.

...

Defenders of the Pit × 119: 1,147,845 XP/37 contributors = 34,407XP. Level up.

Pit of the Ashen Lake

Accolade

Legend

Level 21,000

Provides: AGI +6970, STR +6765, FOC +6196, WIS +5901, health +91504, aether +64300, +6 Fast Moves rank, +5 Find Spot ranks, +9% regeneration, +5% defense

Current Accolade: The Sunken Arena (legendary level 11950)

Replace

Yes

No

Tang Feng didn’t hesitate one second. That was the highest accolade he’d ever see for a long while – unless they started unlocking other tier-20 zones later – and about right for his main Agility build. He didn’t even focus on the half-expected level up. No, the bad part was…

Location

Zone: Vakatrok (tier 20)

20 lairs completed

Locale: Pit of the Ashen Lake (complete)

Recall: Panomekon Plaza

Recall: available

Gates: 20/20

…

Fast travel: 4 charges, 17 days until next

No completion. Still at 20. He’d failed to get the lair done. Not that he’d expected to see it, given the lack of notification.

“Okay, who got completion?” he finally asked.

Only two fists rose in answer. Barnabas Barnet, a tier 19 spellcasting specialist, and Naveena Adhikari, an odd upper Dexterity-based build 18 that had more levels and milestones than Barnet. Both had been in the cleanup team, so… the Legend had provided its 21st lair completion the proper way. It would have been the biggest joke the Labyrinth would do if no one had received the notification.

“Start recovering the dead. Except you two, of course. Everyone wants to see it happen… And make sure to record the time.”

Transit: Vakatrok – Nicterlong

Integrity: 100%

Active

(448 years)

Stability: 100%

Lairs: 20/21

It tore at Tang Feng to see the missing lair, but he had little choice. At least… two people would go and see the Labyrinth beyond the Wall.

Barnet and Adhikari stood on the ramp. Adhikari had even taken the time to swap in a Core with a Fast Travel option – three, actually – to be able to grab the Gate.

“We look, we see what’s there, and report. Don’t you worry. I’m on fake defender and Barnabas has boosted healing, just in case. We should survive.”

“Go forth, and bring news,” Tang Feng said abruptly.

The two raised their weapons and turned, before vanishing into the light surface of the Gate. Tang Feng felt relieved to see none of them come out. Although they both said their descriptor no longer sported a requirement, it was always possible that something unexpected would prevent them from going.

If the Wall required killing every Legend of the zone, it would be a massive blow.

But they were gone, and so everyone waited for news.

And waited.

After five minutes, people started to mutter. The first foray was supposed to be very, very short. See what the zone looked like, confirm locators, have a quick look to see if there were creatures close and what type they were, then come back.

Nearly five minutes later a figure finally came out.

“Congratulations. I was getting worried,” Feng said.

“We’re fucked,” Barnet replied.

“What?”

The second Professional came out and replied instead.

“We lost everything,” she added.

“Everything meaning what exactly?” Tang Feng asked, starting to get worried.

“When we crossed, we lost all fast travel options. Zero gates were referenced, and Recall was set to Nicterlong’s Plaza. That’s it.”

Tang Feng’s eyes bulged. He’d expected the abnormal, but that particular development was not one he’d ever envisioned.

“We were worried we’d be stranded, but at least the Gate back was still enabled. But otherwise, if you step beyond the Wall, everything before is wiped. I think we will have to walk back all the way to Panomekon.”

Barnet looked at his zone descriptor.

“Okay, I was worried that we’d have lost completion of the Lairs and would need to redo everything. But no, still 21 recorded. At least, this works.”

“Oh, and crossing back… also wiped the stored Gate I had taken. And reset again the Recall to here as well. The Wall… truly separates two different parts of the Labyrinth,” the first traveler beyond the Wall said.