Chapter 27

  The magic of Mutopia was fascinating. Not only had it teleported me to that strange coliseum for the battle, but when it teleported me back, it healed all of my Muns. Even the ones that had been reduced to zero HP and turned back into crystals, were full health. The battle had also served… unfortunately, to bring Cogberus one level closer to 20, the three headed dog, following its, practically single-handed handling of the cultists’ Muns, had gained a whole level worth of experience.

  Along with Cogberus now being level 19, my Gearow had hit level 17, and my Calfer, which had been around for most of the additional carnage, had jumped from 16 to 18. Personally, I wasn’t terribly upset about the levels gained from the battle, though, given I was still a few days away from my destination, being so close to max level before my Muns would begin disobeying me was a little on the worrying side.

  Still, that was a problem current me couldn’t deal with. Instead, I was hard at work droning out Guy as he merrily sung some random song as we followed the dirt road that served as the main point of travel in the area. According to my map, this road would eventually take us to Silver Springs proper, and cut a lazy, slightly winding path through the tall grasslands. Guy didn’t walk with any Muns out, which made me wonder what he had at his disposal. Meanwhile, I had my Pride Cub and Gembra Foal, and Springer traveling beside me, those three my remaining trio at level 16, my OCD mind wanting them to quickly level to at least catch up with my Gearow.

  I scanned the grass as we walked. Most of what was around wasn’t of much interest. With the power of my gauntlet, and the magic of the world, my eyes could quickly pick out potential targets, and the data would let me know if an auto-battle would be worth it. Such things made leveling while walking easy, as I could send my trio off to battle, and once they finished they’d just run back towards me. Quick and simple, and arguably way to easy. It made me question even more the world I’d been transferred to. Why did whatever the rules were that ran this world make it so… easy to gain power? Why did it almost seem like the world encouraged such things?

  Guy eventually stopped singing after I jogged off to collect a Gemzelle crystal. I was still searching for a Gem Beetle, though hadn’t found one yet. I wanted to collect all of the different Mun I could, especially given doing so would allow me to investigate their moves once I reached a proper Mun Crystal. I didn’t like not knowing what skills a Mun could use. Unknowns could be extremely dangerous in battles. And the more I knew, the more I’d be able to plan during battles against other Tamers.

  That being said, following my battle against Ember and Aaron, I was feeling more than a little confident about my chances against the Keeper of Silver Springs. Especially now that I knew the Keeper’s Muns would be leveled down to 20, and mine would all be magically increased to 20. Again, another aspect of the world that seemed to favor, and encourage... pursuing the path to power.

  “Why is it so easy to get stronger?” I asked, taking the lull in his singing, which had also been off key the entire time, to finally try and get some answers from the man. Given his profession, and the fact he’d already claimed Traveling Guys specialized in knowing things, I figured he was my best bet to get some answers.

  “What do you mean?” He asked me, glancing down to look at me. His goofy hat cast shadows over his eyes, though I could see them crinkle at the corners, along with his moustache. The annoying man knew exactly what I meant.

  Stolen story; please report.

  “This world,” I motioned around us, even as I sent my trio off to ambush another poor Pride Cat, the three having a 100 percent chance to win the auto-battle. “Makes it way to easy to level up your Muns.”

  “Early on, sure,” he said with a shrug. He reached into a pocket of his coat and pulled out a crystal. Tossing it into the air, it turned into a bright red, perfectly ripe apple. He took a bite of it, uncaring of the sticky juices that coated his moustache, making it shimmer in the sunlight, and continued speaking as he chewed. “But around Tier 3 it becomes a lot harder.”

  “Tier 3?” I thought about it. That’s when the Mayor had said you could use an amplifier for your gauntlet. “How come?”

  He used his right hand, which was free, to point at the large stone at the center of the back of his hand for his Tamer’s Gauntlet. “Amplifiers change everything.” More chewing, the man clearly unphased with his lack of manners. Still… that apple did look really good. Especially since I’d mostly been eating ‘rations’ my whole journey.

  “Is that so?” I asked, my interest piqued even more about the amplifiers. The Mayor had gone on a quest to reach Tier 3 so that he could use an amplifier, claimed all the town mayors had to. What was it, that made them special?

  “Yup,” another bite, as he held his left hand out, wiggling his fingers to make the sunlight dance across his knuckles and the five other augmenting stones. “Stones are simple. At Tier 1, you get the ability to use your first two. Tier 2, you get two more slots unlocked, Tier 3, you get the fifth, and then, access to your augmenting stones.” Yet another bite, the crunching as he spoke causing my temper to slowly build. If not for the interesting information, I’d have already lost it on him.

  “The Mayor of Cogni told me augmenting stones had different types and rarities to them.” I said, figuring the cat was already out of the bag about where I’d come from. My Muns pretty much gave it away as far as I could tell.

  “Yeah, there’s that too.” Crunch. “Tier 3 and lower you’re limited to common grade augmenting stones. Tier 4 allows you Uncommon grade. Five and six rare, seven and eight ultra rare, nine is mythic, and ten is legendary.” Crunch Crunch. “Same with amplifiers too. Different rarities, different effects, though in different ways.”

  My eye twitched as he took his final bite, glad the apple was gone. He tossed the core to the ground, and it immediately turned back into a crystal, which sunk into the earth, as if the planet was taking care of the trash for him. What a strange, strange world.

  “Are you going to elaborate?” I asked, not content with just the bare basics. So they had rarities, cool. And different tiers for your gauntlet allowed you to use different rarities. Awesome, so, like, every other video game out there. But, he hadn’t told me what any of the did. And why was it that after Tier 3, and the introduction of amplifiers, that leveling became so much harder?

  “I suppose I could,” Guy said, glancing at me with a smile that immediately put me on edge. “Though, that information comes with a price.”

  My left hand flinched towards my thigh tat, as I held his gaze. “What’s that?”

  His smile widened, and he let out a laugh, as if trying to disarm me. He’d noted my immediate discomfort at his statement. Though, a man with a mullet leaning his head back to laugh, with a moustache like his, did not put a girl at ease. If anything, it made me even more wary of the man.

  “Information for information, of course,” he smiled, his eyes sparkling, the man seemingly uncaring that his entire moustache was now coated with apple juice. “I want to know all about what Travelers like. Such things, you must understand, are sure to help me and the other Traveling Guys. And, in return,” he held up his gauntlet once more, “I’ll give you the full rundown on Tamer’s Gauntlets and what it really means to be a Tamer.”