ALEXiThymiA: Chapter 50: The First Village - Outskirts

Chapter 50

The First Village - Outskirts

The first village Alexa went to had tiny people with yellow energy out working the fields. They all seemed to be moving about quickly, fear on their faces. At least what Alexa had learned from her Perception perks to be fear. She herself still had a hard time understanding the emotions, but thankfully the system gave her automatic readouts of what she was seeing.

Small Humanoid. Emotional State: Fear.

Small Humanoid. Emotional State: Fear.

That was all the information Alexa got, but truthfully that was all she needed. As she approached the people were neither hostile, nor accepting of her presence. Instead, they all just watched her wearily out of the corner of their eyes, while they went about tending to the fields.

Quest: Grain Production: You have stumbled across an enemy settlement that produces grain. Stop the production and confiscate the spoils.

That was the message from the system, though Alexa knew that there was more than was there. While the system often provided the most direct path, there were clearly other ways to solve events.

Alexa watched the workers move about in a state of fear, something she would never have been able to do before her increased Perception. This was why she took a few moments to watch the workers. Workers who while frightened, were not frightened at her. At least that is what she was able to deduce after a few moments of observation.

The workers saw her, they seemed to notice her, then disregard her. Instead their eyes kept shifting toward a spot off in the distance. 

A quick scan off in the direction they would occasionally send their eyes revealed a group of five much larger individuals. Individuals who had the same red shading as monsters in the area. 

 At least that is what Alexa took the red color to mean, as everyone that was that shade of red up to this point had been a monster. Though now she realized that the color likely meant something more.

Now she began to realize That the red coloring meant that either the creatures she was seeing were monsters, or creatures that she was supposed to kill.

Alexa for her part decided to sneak up on the different clusters of red monsters.

She stayed low, while she was tall, she learned a long time ago how to move around silently in a crouch. Fortunately the grain being produced was tall, easily taller than the small frightened humanoids, but not tall enough to protect her tall frame from being seen.

Without a weapon in her hands, moving in a crouch this was easy. Often times she would balance herself out by just touching her fingertips to the ground.

Also with her new vision she could see the different monsters and her relative location to them.

As she got closer, her heart beat remained the same slow steady beat that it always was. This was part of her advantage, without being able to feel fear, she could do actions like this and not blink.

In this world, her thoughts and actions were simple. People were being oppressed to work out of fear. By getting rid of the monsters, she would be able to complete the quest objective of stopping the rival faction from gaining food.

There was likely more to this scenario. There always were in dungeons. That was another thing about her new heightened awareness of this place. With her Eyes of the Architect, she realized that only the people now seemed real. Or at least they seemed to be more realistic than the rest of this fake world. Still fake, but not as fake. While Alexa didn’t quite understand that aspect of the dungeon, she did understand that this was likely meant to gain resources and allies.

Of course, the only reason why one would need to gain resources and allies in such large quantities was if one was going to war.

In the end, she figured that would be the overall goal of such training events. Go build up an understanding of supply lines, find resources and people willing to aide you, then crush the enemy.

Alexa’s lightning-fast mind contemplated these and more scenarios as she moved her way forward. Ultimately, she stopped on these sets of examples as being the most likely of cases for this stage.

Arcane Wind Blades.

The second she was close enough she hurled her ten blades of death out, two for each warrior.

The blades were so fast and sharp that they cut a swath of wheat down, on their way to their intended targets.

The rustling of the wheat being chopped was enough of a distraction to cause all the warriors to turn towards the attack, just in time to be killed by the various blades.

Enemies Killed: Elite Elven Forces.

Your faction rating with the Elite Elven Forces has dropped.

Your faction rating with the Gnomes of Flautan has increased.

At the notifications, Alexa noted that the dark yellow color covering most of the small humanoids lightened ever so slightly. But she only had a moment to understand the minor change before she was met with a familiar message.

Absorber Class Material Found: Would you like to absorb essence of Elite Elven Maiden?

“Yes.” Alexa said. Then with that a surge of energy filled her body as she felt her mind come alive with her own broken emotions.

Deciding to clear out the groups of elven oppressors that surrounded the village, Alexa moved forward a smile lining her face. From that moment on she was the stalking predator. Given her status, she made sure to steer clear of the fearful gnomes. Not because she expected the gnomes to attack her, but rather she didn’t know if the gnomes would alert others to her presence.

In all it was a good thing that Alexa decided to stalk her prey through the fields of densely packed wheat. For if any of the gnomes saw the malicious smile that covered her face, they would have been afraid of the other monster in their midst.

Just like before, Alexa crept silently forward. Coincidentally it was her stolen Agile trait that helped her remain quiet and easily weave a path forward through the fields of crops to her next set of targets.

Arcane Wind Blades.

Once again, she got until she was nearly exposed, then not needing to actually see her targets she fired. Even through the densely packed stalks of wheat she could see her targets standing about languidly.

Rustle.

That was all the sound these groups of guards heard as well. Just enough of a noise to suggest that a wild animal was foraging, or a gnome might have gotten lost. The elves all turned, then were mowed down by streaks of energy.

Then just like before she got five kill notifications, along with the fact that her status with the elite elves could not go any lower. All while her status with the local gnomes improved.

Alexa completed the process eight more times.

In all she killed fifty elven warriors, to free the surrounding area. By the time she was done, the dark yellow color of the gnomes had turned to a light yellow.

With the perimeter secure, Alexa made her way forward to the village.

Having gone around the entire village by this point, Alexa knew there were four ways to enter, as there were four main gates that surrounded the village. There was also an escape tunnel that seemed to lead from the largest building in the village out to the fields.

That particular trail was highlighted in a deep purple color. Curious as to what the purple color meant, she decided to enter the tunnel. To her surprise the tunnel was little more than a wooden door that had been overgrown with weeds and other dead patches of wheat. Other than there being a random bald patch, the entire area would not have been that out of the ordinary. Especially considering there seemed to be similar bald patches all around the village.

Looking back on the other bald patches, Alexa realized that they were purposefully made by the elves to hide their exit. Or this was likely a test of the system.

Once again, Alexa found herself questioning the true purpose for the system. Why introduce such strife into a society? But ultimately Alexa abandoned such thoughts, she figured more would come when the time for the Integration began. Then even if the true purpose was not explained at that point, she noted that wasting time on such theoretical concepts would just be a waste of time. Either there would be a purpose, she would try to find a purpose and assign one, or there was no purpose.

In all those three scenarios, the end remained the same. The end of course being that nothing would change about the system. At the end of the day the system would still be the system, regardless of overarching purpose. Alexa also knew that she would still be a slave to the system. Maybe not in the way the gnomes seemed to be slaves of the elves. But she would be a slave to the system in that she would need to come back, that she would need to use the system to feel emotions.

On a deep-down fundamental level, she knew that it was ultimately the system that caused her current condition. Had it not been for the system creating vampyres and allowing them easy access to Necromancy, she would never be in this emotional state. Again, though such thoughts were pointless, as there was no way to change the past. The only thing she could do was move forward, which was what she was doing.

She moved forward through the cramped dark tunnels. Her Night Sight kicking in and allowing her to see faint traces of light reflecting off liquids that filled the tunnels.

There was a thick pungent air that filled the tunnel. The smell was of clay, rot, and stagnation. It was clear that the tunnels had not been used in quite some time. If Alexa had to guess, she would put the last use of these tunnels to be either right after their completion, or never.

Looking at the tunnels it was clear they were not built for elves, as Alexa had to crouch low to make her way through the tunnels. Given the relative height of the elves, it was clear that they would never resort to having to crouch to make an exit. This likely meant that the original creators of this tunnel were the gnomes, not only that but they built this tunnel for themselves and not for their oppressors. Again, the logic that made the most sense to Alexa was that, if the elves had demanded such an escape route be made, they would have made the tunnels large enough for elves to flee at full standing height. No one wanted to try to flee an overwhelming force, while crouched. That allowed for too many attacks to the back, and other worse cases to even be logistically worth the effort.

All of this bode well for Alexa, as she felt this gave her an advantage. Given that the tunnel in question had not been expanded, it likely meant that the Elves didn’t find the tunnels or didn’t care to expand them. Either way, Alexa would likely be able to make her way unmolested by traps and other devices meant to slow or warn of her approach.

Still despite the assurances, she decided to make her way slowly and carefully. Walking at a crouch did wonders for her, as it made her focus on moving forward as smoothly as possible.

This meant that even if guards had been stationed near or along the tunnel, they would not hear Alexa’s approach. The fact that she was able to make the approach without a light source was also a bonus, as that further cut down on the number of people who would be able to prepare for her approach.

In her mind she went over several scenarios.

Ultimately her first course of action was to make it out of the cramped tunnels as quickly as possible. Given their cramped and confining conditions, she realized that should anyone come with the ability to fire either projectiles, or spells at her, she would be a sitting duck. Worse, the entire shaft seemed to be a straight line, meaning that all her enemies would have to do is point and click and she would be as good as struck.

Tingling sensations.

There was a tingling sensation on her face. With a quick swipe, her hand felt a sticky spider web on her face. There had been no warning of the web, meaning it was likely considered a non-threat. Also, a quick scan showed that the spider who created the web was either gone, or so small that they were not considered any real concern by the system. Realizing these facts, Alexa just brushed off the spider web and moved forward.

If Alexa had emotions, this entire time would be a nerve-wracking experience. The tunnel had clearly been made in mind to test one’s mental fortitude. Fortunately for Alexa, her mind seemed perfectly adapted to deal with this exact scenario.

Rather than being frightened by the dark, or the unknown. Alexa could both see and knew what was around her. Of course, she was cheating. All of her advantages all but proved that she was cheating, at least for this particular scenario. But then again, what was the purpose of putting in so many hours of hard work and dedication, if they didn’t provide some benefit to your future.

Still, she made her way slowly and steadily forward. Her face was covered by a second spider’s web, one that she once again brushed off like it was nothing. Then continued forward, until she finally began to see the red outlines of enemies up ahead.

From their dim glow it was apparent that they were on the other side of a wall.

Focusing on them, Alexa went to perform her patented ambush attack on these guards who would otherwise be unaware. Since she could technically see the guards, even if it wasn’t a direct line of sight, her mind allowed her to create the blades to cut. At least, that was how she was able to operate out in the fields. Here however, she felt there was something off.

This time when she tried to create the Arcane Wind Blades, she was met with a message.

Magical dampening field in effect.

Seeing the message, Alexa knew this whole process just got a whole lot harder. Rather than being discouraged, a slight smile formed on Alexa’s lips. For she knew, the greater the challenge, the greater the reward.

With her want of a larger prize in mind, Alexa did what she did best. She improvised.