Chapter 11: Setting Goals

Hugh and Dex walked in silence for several more revolutions around the campsite while he struggled with the question. Where did he see himself in a hundred years? In a world where he could potentially build himself a castle and live like a king with NPCs to serve his every whim, what would it take for him to feel happy and satisfied?

"Friends," he said, thinking how lonely it'd be living as a ruler with no one as his equal. "One of the best parts of gaming is working with a team to beat the hardest challenges a game can throw at us. I want to be strong enough to support my friends when they need me. And I'd like to make my world into a place where they can come to hunt rare monsters and have adventures. I'm not really interested in micromanaging a giant population of NPCs. I think I'd be happy having enough to form villages where players can rest in safety between quests. But it'd be nice if every village had a different theme so no matter where you went, it felt like you'd gone somewhere new."

"I see. Then you aren't interested in settling down in Nexus and returning to a mundane life. You can do that, you know. Nexus was made to simulate a real world existence. You can get a house there and fill it with all the technology of a modern home in the real world. You can even get gaming consoles and return to gaming in a normal way. World NPCs aren't allowed there, so you could get a regular job to make money. Some people might even offer to buy your world for the raw resources they could get from it. You could live a long time without needing to work if you sold at a good price."

Hugh wrinkled his nose at the very thought. "I bought Thrive because I wanted to play it. It'd be kind of stupid to quit on the first day."

Dex reached out to pluck a leaf off a tree as they strolled passed. He twirled it around between his fingers and laughed, seemingly to himself. "Fair enough. I just thought I should point out it's an option—one a lot of people will take when they find adventuring isn't in their blood. Pain and death can be difficult to face, even when you know you'll respawn in one piece."

"But I will respawn," Hugh argued. "There's no point in being scared when you'll always have the opportunity to go back and try again. The only thing that scares me is when you only have one chance to get it right. That's why I always hated games with a Hardcore Mode. It's too much like real life where you can't change anything if you fuck up or make a really big mistake."

"I see. Well, I think I have a grasp of how to aid you. There are three basic routes to get to Nexus from here. There's the neutral route for people who don't want to play Thrive and just want to go back to a mundane life. That's the easiest way, although it skips over a lot of the stops intended to provide teaching moments on using the Book for adventuring. The builder's route can be as long or as short as you want it to be, but it focuses on interacting with the Nomads. The explorer's route is the longest. If we take that, you'll receive an intensive tutorial on adventuring and building, but it could take up to a month to complete. I think we should do that one. It'll give you the most complete foundation for playing Thrive."

"A month?" Hugh repeated with a grimace. "I was hoping to meet up with my friends sooner than that."

"I don't think it'd actually take you a month," Dex replied. "If you keep unlocking the Book's pages at your current rate, you'll shave a week off by nightfall. In the morning, Macro will be a high enough level to build you some decent equipment. If we spend a day on that, it could potentially shave off another week."

"That still leaves two weeks. Is there any way to shorten it even more?"

"Maybe. It'll take at least a week to get to the Spear on foot. We could speed up the travel time if you focus on giving Macro enough strength to act as a mount. Afterward, it's typically another week to convince the Nomads to take you to the Gateway. I don't know how to make it go any faster. It'll depend on how well you adapt to using the Genesis Spear."

Hugh considered that, then said, "Okay, so we'll aim for a week in total." Turning in place, he called over to his Engineer's Task Bot. "Scout—new orders. Survey the land between here and the Genesis Spear's location. Map out the quickest and easiest walking route, then report back."

The grey eagle bobbed its head and started running. It flapped its wings, bounding forward three times before it finally achieved enough lift to fly. It spiraled around the open air above the campsite as it climbed higher and higher, then it disappeared over the top of the treeline.