The papyrus in my cloak lit with a thick purple flame. I tore it out and slammed it against the earth, cautiously giving myself some distance from it.
“Greetings you beautiful, terrifying beast! It is I! The Nightshaman of myth, Mavros Cuvar! A humble disciple in the studies of the mind-shatteringly arcane, and the one who shall unleash upon Alamir, the ULTIMATE LIFEFORM!”
I stared at the burning parchment, wondering if I was hearing correctly.
“Now, now, I know you must be on your knees, asking and begging for guidance from the great one, but alas, this is but a recorded message. A travesty! I know, such a travesty to be so close to greatness, yet so far!”
Are my ears still working? They have to be…
“Nevertheless! You fantastic beast, as a reward for finding and activating this parchment, I, the Nightshaman Mavros Cuvar, shall grant upon you a unique feature in your Nightscripts! It is my pièce de résistance! ”
[Recognizing Command Prompt…]
[Analyzing…]
[Checking Authorization Level…]
[Authorization Found.]
[Tier 9: Nightshaman: Mavros Cuvar]
[Modification Authorized.]
[Installing Modification…]
[Modification Installed.]
“What in the…?”
You have now unlocked the [Monster Link] feature of your Nightscripts.
“The Monster Link!” Mavros said with glee. “As it is my goal to create and support the ultimate nightmare, I know that this will do the trick! For you to access the Monster Link, you have to use the Nightscripts. Oh, and if for some reason you have never opened your Nightscripts, just know that you can access the full Nightscripts menu by saying ‘All-Menu.’”
The purple flames on the parchment began to weaken and fade. “Now, I must be gone! But fear not, for I have scattered tens of thousands of my scribblings across Alamir, each one enchanted to activate in the presence of a nightmare with unrelenting greed for power! Each one will bring you closer to I, the great Mavros Cuvar, and together, we shall become ULTIMATE!”
The laughter trailed onwards for several seconds, until the purple flames completely engulfed the papyrus, leaving behind ash that blew into the wind.
I hesitated, with good reason. My luck cannot be this good. This was most likely some sort of trap… as far as I knew, I had terrible luck. Alamir operated with Murphy’s Law set on the maximum setting. Such a fortuitous thing happening to me was absurd. Still, curiosity and greed spurned me on. What were nightscripts? And those words he said I should utter…
“All Menu.”
Nightscripts Menu Directory
+Crafting
+Domains
+Equipment
+Influence
+Inventory
+Parameters
+Quests
+Skills
+Status
+Minions
+Monster Link (New)
+World Map
I stared at the last item on the list. I stared, not believing what I was seeing, understanding the comprehension and meaning of those two words, yet not being able to articulate my feeling at the realization, that all this while, all the days I spent aimlessly wandering around Alamir, and all the while –
There. Was. A. Fucking. World. Map.
“FU–”
Chapter 4: Connection
The crackling warmth of a campfire and the presence of a large, humanoid, faceless and nameless golem were the two things that I focused on as I ended my tirade of swears. The sun had long since set over the horizon, leaving me once more within the forest at night, wary to any wild animals attracted to the fire that desired to make me their dinner.
Again, I roasted rabbits over an open flame, the scent and sizzling of meat was something I had grown accustomed to on my nightly rests. With my golem out, I did not need to worry too much about attackers, as I had primed it to automatically protect me from enemies. This left me time to focus on other things, such as fully exploring the “Nightscripts” which were apparently the official term for my ability to see floating words, gain levels and experience.
For the longest time I had assumed that my view of Alamir with its videogame mechanics was something completely and wholly unique to me, but if Mavros was able to so effortlessly edit it and add features to it – that was not the case.
“World Map.”
Note:
Fog-of-War is permanently enabled on the World Map. You cannot see beyond areas you have already visited or navigated, and you cannot see the happenings of people or things on the map that are beyond your current sensory range and capabilities.
The range of the World Map can be increased by acquiring Scrying skills and/or increasing your Sense parameter.
The map that appeared on my vision was not two-dimensional as I’d expected. Rather, it was holographic three dimensional, denoting my exact position in a forest with a skeletal pointed arrow, which also indicated the direction I was facing. The area around me was visible, showing details of the trees, rocks, small hills and landscape. There was a pale circle around me, which I recognized as my sensory range, but the area ahead of me beyond the circle was obscured with a thick fog, indicating that I’d yet to explore it.
Within the pale circle was an even smaller red circle, which I instinctually knew was the range of [Kataramenos’ Gift]. Beyond the red circle, within my sensory range, there were numerous plain white rabbit foot icons, an icon that resembled a pair of crossed antlers, some feather icons, and I recognized them as rabbit, deer and birds respectively.
Tracing the map backwards, utilizing the two different routes I travelled, I discovered that I had not been travelling north as I’d previously assumed, but rather, South. Right now, I was significantly southeast of the Final Sanctuary Woodlands, which appeared on my map as a scorched forest. If I wanted to make my way to Alhamis, to where I had fled from Hoplite, I would need to turn and head in the entirely opposite direction.
[Would you like to place a marker on the selected location?]
[Yes]
[No]
The marker I put on my eventual
