Like a drop of blood on white cloth, the fur of the [Lvl. 1 Mirdabon] turned into an angry red, a distinct blot on the pristine snow. Its level increased to two, and so on, rapidly reaching five. Its cuddly face twisted into a raging demon, its mouth lined with cute but very pointy teeth.

At the same time, five other spots on the ground turned red. Mirdabons always went as a group and became stronger as each member died. They’d count as defeated only when the entire pack was eliminated.

“I’m going to fight!” Spokeless drew a basic sword given earlier by a player with a Smithing Ocadule. The Mirdabon he had stepped on jumped on him, its frothing mouth wide open.

I didn’t do anything, curious about what he’d do. Spokeless blocked the Mirdabon with his freebie shield. The furball’s teeth scraped planks of wood held together by metal strips, dealing much-reduced damage to Spokeless.

“What the hell is this?” he yelled as he slashed the offending Mirdabon.

I smiled. Spokeless was likely surprised by the number of negative statuses those nasty furballs could inflict. Way more than any other monster, including bosses, that I had fought so far could.

Spokeless Rado was a good fighter. Good reaction with the Head-On Block. He also managed a couple of stabs at the Mirdabon in front of him before a second bit his sword hand and weighed it down. After that, he tried kicking. But even the most skilled player wouldn’t be able to do much in Spokeless’ situation.

“These little shits!” Spokeless struggled to move.

All the Mirdabons had sunk their teeth into his plain leather armor, pulling his arms and body down. The weight of those furballs increased when transformed. Spokeless’ knees buckled, gave way, and he fell. But he was still alive. Not only the gear but also the free food buff he had eaten helped him big time.

The new generation always had it easy. I used to gallop for ten miles with a fifty-kilogram backpack to get to youngling school with only a slice of Peely fruit as my meal for the entire day.

“Herald, help!” Spokeless cried out. He was close to death.

Okay, he had his fun. With [Healing Touch], a green glow enveloped Spokeless Rado, instantly refilling his health bar. The Mirdabons continued to nibble him, but the Heal-over-Time effect of my skill that pulsed each second stemmed the damage.

Lvl. 4 Healing Touch: Use a touch of your revitalizing Ancestral Flames to heal yourself or an ally for (400 + (Vigor x 3.5) + 6% Ancestral Shroud) Health Points, and grant the target a buff that heals over time by the same value over 10 seconds. (Heal buff does not stack for a target.)

Generate for target: 1 Rejuvenation Charge

Cost: 35 Ancestral Shroud

Cooldown: 3 Seconds

Then I planted a [Superior Replicant Totem] beside Spokeless, paying for it with a fourth of my health. An ethereal blue statue of a sitting goblin, three Mirdabons high, rose out of the ground. It had four faces; each turned to one of the cardinal directions. And it hugged its legs with four muscular arms.

Lvl. 1 Superior Replicant Totem (Link): A hefty payment of blood establishes a contract with the world beyond for the aid of a spectral totem (limit 1). The totem will have 15% of the Offense and Defense attributes of its contractor, and it will continuously cast all linked Skill Shards that do not deal damage. The contractor will pay for its costs.

(Can only be Linked to Skill Shards that have cooldowns of ten seconds or less)

Cost: 25% of Maximum Health

Duration: 45 Seconds

Cooldown: 1 Second

The Replicant Totem used the Skill Shard linked to it, [Enraging Call], to taunt the Mirdabons away from Spokeless.

Lvl. 1 Enraging Call: Taunts nearby non-Player enemies, forcing them to attack you. During the duration, the taunted units gain 10% Damage, while you gain (+20 Armor).

Cost: 10 Energy

Duration: 3 Seconds

Cooldown: 5 Seconds

The furious mob of Mirdabons crowded around the ghost-like Totem. Though the Totem copied only a fraction of my stats, I was quite tanky and had nearly twenty levels above the enraged Mirdabons, so it stood firm. I also used [Healing Touch] on the Totem.

Spokeless struggled to get up; several ailments were still active. Too bad I didn’t have any skill that could remove those. [Cleansing Flames] only worked for me; it needed more levels to affect party members. Spokeless staggered forward, away from the Mirdabons. A few steps and on another patch of snow that turned red.

I stopped myself from facepalming.

“The hell?” Spokeless exclaimed. “I didn’t see—wah!” A Mirdabon from a different pack burst out of its hiding spot and lunged at Spokeless. Other Mirdabons dusted off snow and rolled to join the biting festivities.

I plopped my [Lesser Replicant Totem], costing less health than the previous one. This weaker version had a less intricate appearance, the goblin statue bony and frail. It had only two faces and two arms. It was similarly linked to [Enraging Call].

Lvl. 1 Lesser Replicant Totem (Link): A payment of blood contracts the aid of a lesser spectral totem from another plane (limit 1). The totem will have 10% of the Offense and Defense attributes of its contractor, and it will continuously cast all linked Skill Shards that do not deal damage. The contractor will pay for its costs.

(Can only be Linked to Skill Shards that have cooldowns of ten seconds or less)

Cost: 15% of Max Health

Duration: 30 Seconds

Cooldown: 1 Second

The Mirdabon that was latched onto Spokeless’ leg shifted to my second Totem. Its packmates changed their path and rolled to the Totem as well.

“Stand still,” I said. “I’m going to clear the surroundings of these furball mines.” I didn’t laugh at Spokeless or make any condescending comments or any comments at all. I wouldn’t be able to control if he’d view it as condescension, even just a tiny bit. I didn’t want to risk making him feel bad about his mistake.

I weaved through my two Totems, wiping out the Mirdabons as I passed.

“This place is really crazy.” Spokeless laughed. I chuckled, too, mirroring his lead. His ailments must’ve expired because he stood up. Staring at my head, he said, “Am I imagining it, or does your health bar regenerate really fast?”

“I’m a tank,” I explained. And I used to regenerate even faster, I thought. Relatively. My health pool was tiny back when I cobbled my Totem Juggling build.

“So that’s why. I assumed you were a DPS because of the Mirdabons dying left and right—that cloud thing you got going on is pretty neat. Anyway, thanks for the save. I got my taste of the Mirdabon challenge.”

“You should’ve recorded it.” Along with me heroically saving you, I added in my head.

“I’ll try again later. Caught me off-guard, dammit.”

“The Mirdabons force new players to run around this part of the Golden Forest because there are many quests here.” A horn reverberated through the trees, a robust and earthy note. “Like this one.”

We followed the sound of the horn until we came across a wide path scarcely covered by snow, the darkish brown earth a distinct line cutting through the white and gold.

“The horn will lead players to this road,” I said. “If you follow this—and that’s what we’ll do—you can safely reach the village. I didn’t immediately go here so we could have a small forest tour.” The truth was that Herald Stone, Useless Forest Navigator, didn’t know how to find this path without the horn, but that was better left unsaid.

“A death-defying tour.” Spokeless looked around. “Who blew that horn anyway? Other Mardukryons or some monster?”

“A group of Hunter-Warrior Mardukryons.” I pointed at the ground. Hoofprints pockmarked the earth. “They’re further up ahead. They'll offer a few quests and different storylines if you catch up to them.”

I learned that from SpartanDonkey since I didn’t experience it for myself. According to him, Sharulrath, the nephew of Mehubanarath, was with this group of Hunter-Warriors. Sharulrath would break off from them to meet his hermit uncle; that was another way to reach Mehubanarath, leading to a different quest line.

“What did you choose when you were level one?” Spokeless asked.

“I followed this way to the village,” I said. That was technically true, the best kind of true, though I didn’t actually enter the village. I died because Luds told me to attack a Mirdabon for a quest. And then, I headed to Mehubanarath instead.

Spokeless Rado didn’t ask any more questions, so I wasn’t forced to make up stories. He was reading information about the race-exclusive skills available in the Mardukryon Compressed Integral Data Module.

I could be farming right now, but public relations was also a resource. I was investing in my position in the Mardukryon community. Though after this, I should probably return to my pending quests.

Mirdabons observed us from the snowy borders of the dirt road. They sniffed the air as we neared, wiggling their shot whiskers. Sometimes, a Mirdabon or two would roll in the middle of the path. When the edge of my [Blight Cloud] reached them, they’d explode into sparkles of light.

Trotting through a wide curve in the road, the trees thinned, and we were out of the forest. A small path stemmed from the main one, snaking left back into the woods.

“If you go here,” I began to explain, “You’ll find the Hunter-Warriors chasing a…” I noticed Spokeless wasn’t looking the way I pointed. He wasn’t even listening to me.

Spokeless gazed up ahead. “This must be Kurghal Village.”

“Yes, it is.”

“And further… those large shadows behind the green haze.”

“Those are cliff walls. The village extends up on its face, with several levels built into it. Well, it used to extend there, anyway. But not now. You’ll get a better view later. The smoke makes it hard to see from afar.”

“I want to take a picture next to it. I’m going to get so many likes on Missive!”

The main road continued through a wide clearing dotted with tents and ended by the stone bridge arching over the dry moat filled with sharpened sticks surrounding the village. An earthen wall was on the outer side of the canal, while a wall of stone and lumber was beyond. Two watchtowers flanked the wide-open gates.

Only the watchtowers were manned by one guard each. No one patrolled the walls. The giant crossbows meant to shoot at Buvalu, the Mirdabon boss, when it attacked, were transferred to the other side of the village facing the cliff walls. There were far more immediate threats over there.

“There’ve been some big changes around here since the world quest began,” I said as we approached the low wooden fence ringing the tents outside the village. I supposed this was part of the village now too.

We were stopped by a [Lvl 28 Mardukryon|Kurghal Village Guard] posted in the middle of the road. “Halt there, young one! Where have you come from?”

“I killed some Mirdabons back there when I met this guy.” I gestured to Spokeless Rado. “Apparently, he had just finished communing with our ancestors by the cliffs. Don’t worry, I didn’t go near the Blighted area.”

The guard turned to Spokeless. “A youngling accepted by our ancestor. I hope you’ll soon find your place in our village and do your part in these dire times.” He stepped aside and let us through.

We continued along the dirt road and passed what seemed to be the moon’s surface. Craters had been hastily dug here and there with seemingly no organization. Piles of dirt were left everywhere. Most dugout bowls had a dome-shaped tent in its middle, housing Mardukryons.

I nodded at NPCs and the tents, giving Spokeless a short explanation. “This clearing used to be filled with about fifty or sixty Mirdabons. But now, Mardukryons from the part of the village affected by the Blight have fled here.”

Elder Pabislag, the deceased husband of Healer Gula, had buried crafted wards in this area to divert the energy of the golden crystals and attract Mirdabons. They were supposed to food to distract Buvalu whenever it wandered close to the village. The wards had been dug up and broken, the Mirdabons driven away, and a refugee camp hastily built.

“After saving at the Chief’s Lodge,” I said, “I suggest you come back here and talk to the NPCs. New quests have appeared since the world quest started. It’s faster to level with quests and—”

“Herald! Herald Stone!”

I turned around. A Mardukryon player trotted up to us. It was Bonk, the Expeditionary Legion member that had newly arrived on this mountain.