Chapter 17

  By midafternoon, I officially made the decision to leave Cogni for good. My morning had been one of leisure. It started with coffee and breakfast, courtesy of the mayor once more, before I headed off to train my Mun. The older man, forever warm and welcoming, had also been a little more adamant at hinting I should leave the town, which played into my decision. I had a feeling, me being at the town, even with how distant it seemed from everything else, was potentially not the best for it. The more I thought about it, it was probably true. After all, he’d all but admitted I’d been summoned to defeat some sort of cult that was taking hold of the world. That probably wouldn’t win his town any points with that cult, if it was found out.

  The second deciding factor in me leaving, past that, was the surprising power of my Cogberus. Originally, I’d intended to train all of my Mun’s to level 15, before beginning the two week trip to Silver Springs. However, when I started my training efforts in the morning, with my level 10 Cogberus, level 6 Springer, and level 4 Gearow, it quickly became clear that I probably didn’t need to overtrain this early. My Cogberus was able to practically one-shot the springers I ran across for training, and even though, level wise, it was the same as the first calfer I came across… the difference in power was night and day.

  Cogberus had a bite skill. What, um, I hadn’t realized was, that was all three heads biting per use. In two turns, the extremely tanky Calfer was dead, and my Springer and Gearow had both gained levels. Meanwhile, my Cogberus’s experience bar had barely moved, telling me the creature was now going to take much more experience to level than before, but, that was fine. His power difference made it pretty clear he was on a different…level than the others.

  As such, once I got my Springer and Gearow to level 10, during which my Cogberus had just barely climbed to level 12, I figured it was time to hit the road and actually venture out into the world of Mutopia. It was a two week trek to Silver Springs, which was apparently where I would find a Keeper to battle, and level up my Tamer’s Gauntlet.

  Two weeks of travel meant two weeks of coming across who knew what types of Mun, and other such new things. And if I over leveled now… what would happen if my Mun reached level 20, and stopped listening to me? Would they attack me? Would I be unable to summon them? Or would they just not do what I commanded in battle? None of those seemed like ideal situations, which was why I figured I should give myself a little more leeway in how much more they could grow between now, and my arrival at Silver Springs.

  Once I reached my destination, I figured, I could train up as needed till my Mun were closer to level 20, perhaps level 18. That way, when I fought the Keeper, there was no risk of them hitting level 20 mid battle, and costing me the fight. Not that… that could happen? Or would happen? I didn’t really know how battles between people worked. Something I probably should have asked about, but I’d spaced that.

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  And now, Cogni was a few hours in the past, and I was walking down a slightly sloping mountain path, Cogberus at my side, a Gearow on my shoulder, and a Springer slithering along happily. I probably looked ridiculous, but I didn’t really care. Having my Mun out meant I’d be ready for anything, though I’d begun ignoring some of the Mun as I passed them. During my training session, I’d collected a few crystals of each Mun type, and this time, pocketed them, wondering if I could trade them once I reached Silver Springs.

  I had no idea what other Mun would be like in the world, after all, and figured having some Mun that were potentially exotic or hard to find simply because of their location of origin, wouldn’t be a bad idea. Additionally, now that I knew you could trade Mun Crystals in to the massive gems at the Mun Center, it made since to grab a few just to experiment with. I figured I had the space in my special little bag on thigh anyways, so there really wasn’t a reason not to.

  Honestly, as I traveled, I couldn’t help but find myself smiling as my mind played through everything so far. I’d only been in the world for what, a full day, maybe a day and a half? But already I had a handful of Muns, had discovered a secret evolution of one, and was making, by my estimations, good time towards my next destination.

  The weather was gorgeous, with not a cloud in the sky, and if I had to guess, it was roughly spring. There was a slight breeze in the air, which helped counteract the occasional blast of heat from the mountain range that Cogni had sat nestled in. And all around, there were Mun. They were all the variants I’d already seen, so nothing overly exciting in that regard, but the sheer fact that I was surrounded by Mun, in a world where I got to tame such creatures, level them up, watch them evolve, and so forth, still floored me.

  I walked, and tears fell down my face for the first time since I’d gotten here. They were tears of joy, sure, but also tears of sorrow. How was this my life now? How had this happened? Why had this happened? And, would anyone miss me? I lived alone, after all. Didn’t talk with my family much. Only had a few friends… Was I just gone? Or was there a dead version of me back home? Would someone find my body, VR headset on, thinking I overdosed on something?

  Absentmindedly I fingered my tattoo on my right wrist. Would they think I’d given up?

  I shook my head, pushing the darkness aside, as my Gearow chirped cheerily into my ear, as if it had noticed my mood shift. Cogberus came up to my side, and I scratched the Mun’s ears, all six of them, as we continued walking. I couldn’t change the past. Couldn’t change what had happened to me. So instead, I would walk this past, and do my best to make the most of it.

  Far as I could tell, I’d been given the chance to live life the way I wanted, in the world of my dreams. And I was going to do it. I smirked at that last thought. That meant there was absolutely no way in hell I was going to embroil myself in stupid saving the world nonsense. I was not the girl for that bullshit. I just wanted a fun, simple life, and that was what I was going to have.