B5 C27: Cloud Tending

In general, Cal got the sense that quest updates were a good thing. They meant you were progressing, gradually uncovering more details about your system-assigned task. Unfortunately, after the dungeon had foisted too many cruddy and not-quite-optional quests on her, Cal was coming to dread any quest-related notifications.

That didn’t stop her from reading the update, but by the same virtue, nothing stopped her from grumbling the entire time, either. 

And from what she was reading, there was plenty to grumble about.

Unsatisfied with their humble lodgings, the voltaic monarchs seek to expand ever outwards until their palace bulges out of their region and spills into the rest of the dungeon. Not interested in standard wealth and riches, they desire only more cloud essence, which may be fed to their palace to aid its growth.

To earn safe passage from the kingdom, you must offer a fitting haul of cloud essence as a tribute. A room has been set aside for you to gradually submit your offerings.

Cloud essence offered: 0/10,000

If nothing else, the update proved to be just what she needed to fully tear her attention from the oppressive presence of the king and queen.

On the one hand, it was nice to hear that she wouldn’t need to offer up any gold or money. Not that she wasn’t willing to pay to skip the region outright, but without a functional spatial bag, Cal was flat-out broke. Barring the smattering of gear she’d managed to loot from the dungeon thus far, she had nothing to her name, and she certainly wasn’t forking over her weapon or armor when she still had more regions to traverse.

On the other, did they really expect her to suffer through a gathering quest? And what the hells was up with those numbers? Ten thousand? 

Examining the singular essence she’d stolen from one of the cloudtenders, Cal tossed it from hand to hand. Admittedly, it wasn’t all bad. If she just kept nabbing essences from the cloudtenders, she could probably shave days or even weeks off of the bothersome quest.

Easy. Guess I’ll just go grab-

Any further thoughts were fully blasted from her head as the room lit up with an overwhelming white radiance. 

Before Cal could even process her loss of sight, a thunderous roar followed, the noise almost enough to physically sweep her off her feet. Already wrapped up in relevant Apex Shroud protections, Cal managed to weather the somewhat literal storm admirably.

The hells? For a moment, Cal worried that she’d done something to earn the ire of the monarchs, but when her vision returned, she found that she hadn’t been the target of the recent attack at all.

There, at the head of the procession, was a layer of soot nearly blending into the already gray floor. An unattended basket of cloud essence lay in the center of the soot corona, painting an unpleasant picture of what had occurred.

Did they just blast one of the cloudtender guys to bits? But why? As Cal tried and failed to process what she was seeing, a new quest update rolled in, dispelling her confusion.

Gatherers beware! A cloudtender has failed to meet their quota, presenting the monarchs with a basket that was not completely full.

Further infractions may result in penalties and increased surveillance to ensure that the realm’s loyal subjects are not skimping on their duties and that no harvested essence goes “missing.”

Turning her head first to the gradually fading stain on the floor and then to the pilfered essence in her hands, Cal quickly made the connection.

Oh shit. Is that my fault?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Having little desire to remain under the piercing gazes of the region’s rulers, Cal rushed out of the palace as soon as she got the chance, her head swimming. With any luck, she’d be back to stalk the many halls and hunt down any treasure therein, but for now, she wanted some distance from the trigger-happy bosses. And besides, Cal had other things to worry about. All of a sudden, her quest had become all that much harder.

Not that she really felt bad about getting a few cloudtenders killed here and there. She was well aware that the creatures were simple dungeon constructs, no more sentient than the desert crypt’s skeletons or any of the other monsters she’d fought thus far. Just because these monsters happened to be non-hostile and vaguely human-shaped didn’t mean that she was suddenly a bleeding heart, and she would cut through them just like a horde of gryphons if it came to that.

The real hitch was the threat of “penalties and increased surveillance.” She wasn’t entirely certain what that would look like, but from the sounds of it, her quest would grow considerably harder if she just started stealing baskets left and right.

And so, for entirely un-altruistic reasons, Cal decided to at least try to complete the quest normally. After all, how hard could it be?

Following a trail of outbound cloudtenders, she eventually made her way to a nearby essence tree. If she hadn’t known any better, she would have wondered if she’d walked all the way back to the region’s border, as the scene looked exactly like the first tree she’d stumbled upon. 

Various cloudtenders sent their pitchforks up into the boughs of the tree, yanking back tufts of essence. Spotting a few unused forks, likely courtesy of the tenders currently en route to the palace, Cal snatched one up and did her best to copy the motions of the others.

“You know, I hate to say it, but this is weirdly kind of fun.” A few ineffective jabs yielded no rewards, but that was mostly a matter of technique. Slowly, Cal came to realize that she needed to spin her instrument while it was inside the cloud, almost as if she was twirling a forkful of noodles. After really putting her back into it, she was at last granted her spoils, which she set off to the side.

“Aaaand, it’s not fun anymore.” Three essences later, Cal’s initial enthusiasm rapidly waned. Even ignoring the fact that she lacked a spatial bag to stuff the essences into, when she started to do the math on how long it would take to pull ten thousand essences from the tree, her mood instantly soured. That was all the more true when a notification threw an unexpected wrench in her plans.

Note: This tree is being harvested at an unsustainable rate. Please slow down or move to another location.

Cal’s eye twitched as she added this new development into her calculations, realizing that it would optimistically take her months to meet her quest requirements at her current pace.

By now, she was beginning to suspect that the quest wasn’t meant to be completed this way. No one would stick around doing grunt work for so long just because some lousy monarchs said so. Still, there were a few more things to try before she needlessly escalated things. 

When politely telling the other cloudtenders to get lost didn’t work, she half considered attacking them so she could have the tree all to herself. In the end, it was too risky. Even if killing them didn’t immediately get her into deep shit with the monarchs, Cal was pretty sure that would result in those “penalties” getting applied when they didn’t show up with their quotas.

But maybe they’ll go find a different tree if I milk this one for all it’s worth? Figuring it was worth a try, Cal ignored the earlier message and tore away chunks of essence as fast as she could.

And in one sense, it worked exactly as she’d hoped. The surrounding cloudtenders did stop working.

Unfortunately, they all stopped to focus on her.

Lightning Bolt hits you for 0 damage!

Thunderous Boom hits you for 0 damage!

You have gained a stack of Rising Tenacity. Stamina recovery enhanced.

You have gained a stack of Wellspring’s Renewal. Mana recovery enhanced.

You have gained a stack of Surging Vitality. Health recovery enhanced.

With her Apex Shroud protections still up and running, Cal was effectively immune to sonic and electrical attacks, but the Legendary skill used up a large chunk of her mana as it hid her from the offensive spells. Much to her dismay, it didn’t appear as if the cloudtenders had any intention of relocating now that she’d staked her claim.

Well fine then. I guess we’re just going to have to take more drastic measures.

Cal needed essence. 

She wanted to force the surrounding tenders to disperse.

She was trying not to kill them or directly steal from their baskets.

Maybe there was a more elegant solution, but one clear answer presented itself, and Cal went for it. Sinking into full invisibility to throw off her attackers, Cal summoned her feather blade and began to feed it her mana.

Darting forward, Cal dropped her shroud for a split second as she swung with all her might. Despite her many attackers, Cal did not aim for any of the cloudtenders, though. With how much mana she’d fed into her blow, she still managed to damage a few of them in passing, but her target was something else entirely.

After all, if she couldn’t get the tenders to move away from the tree, why not move the tree away from the tenders instead?

WHAM. Nearly splitting the thick trunk in half, the mana-clad feather bit deep into the wood. 

Cal would have celebrated her power had the tree not chosen to retaliate. Before she could slip back into her shroud, a heavy stream of viscous sap erupted from the opening she’d made in the bark, liberally coating her from head to toe.

Gah. Gross. What even is this stuff? Cal spluttered and hectically swiped at clothing in vain, only growing more flustered as a stream of lightning bolts crashed into her. 

Normally, that would have been enough to send her into a fit of curses as Apex Shroud tore through her mana, so it was with some shock that she realized her mana had barely budged. Instead, she tracked the next bolt to the best of her ability, watching as it fizzled out as soon as it hit her sappy exterior.

Wait, the sap is some sort of lightning repellent? The revelation proved to be one too many distractions, and between Cal’s low Perception and the constant barrage of flashes and bangs, it took her a second too long to notice the tree precariously tipping her way.

An awkward lunge spared her from the worst of the damage, and instead of being flattened by the trunk, Cal was scratched by branches and buried in a mountain of white fluff as the tree collapsed.

Sadly, not everyone was so lucky.

You have defeated a Voltaic Cloudtender!

Cal winced at the notification, spotting a few more, but not letting herself get distracted. She would have assumed the creatures were made of sterner stuff, but apparently the tree that had nearly crushed her found a different victim instead. So much for no killing.

With that being said, Cal was surprised she only had one such message. The entire battlefield had suddenly gone quiet, to the point that she half wondered if she’d somehow wiped the rest of the cloudtenders out.

It was only as she struggled out of the pillowy layers of cloud essence that she realized her mistake. It wasn’t that the thunder had stopped; she just couldn’t hear it. The moment her head poked out of the essence, the surrounding sounds hit her with full force.

If nothing else, I could sell this stuff as ear plugs. Future business plans could wait for now, though. Freed from the boughs of the tree, Cal went to work separating the treetop from the rest of the trunk, even as attacks continued to assault her whenever she reappeared. 

She expected to have to keep going after that, cutting the tree into manageable chunks, but much to her delight, the wood, much like the fluffy foliage, was impossibly light.

Without further ado, Cal hefted up the entire top half of the tree before activating the full extent of Apex Shroud once more. The great size of her burden drained her skill like nothing else, but in the end, it wasn’t any different than using the skill to make her sword or any other held object invisible.

Having successfully pulled off her heist, Cal slunk away from the battlefield, leaving behind a gaggle of confused cloudtenders in her wake. By the time she was forced to cancel her invisibility, she was far away, obscured by the region’s thick fog.

Hidden from view, Cal set her bulky bounty down, her eyes alight with avarice.

“Now, let’s see if all that was worth it.” Plucking an essence directly from what remained of the tree, Cal could only hope that her daring escapade had put a serious dent in her quest requirements.

And as it turned out, it did.

Just not in the way she’d hoped.

Scanning through her recent notifications, Cal was initially alarmed to spot one of her least favorite lines: Quest Updated! 

As she read through the changes, she couldn’t help herself, devolving into a rapid-fire string of curses. At the same time, an entirely unrelated set of messages managed to brunt some of her ire, forcing her still-cursing lips into a reluctant grin.

Apex Shroud has reached level 10!

Congratulations! You have reached the Initiate rank in Apex Shroud!