Spartan Fire

Kit felt excitement thrumming through his body once again. He was eager to head off to find the village to dispel some of his excess energy. As Kit started to walk through the grass, he noticed a white flower nestled in amongst the green grass. He felt like he had seen them before. Kit bent down and picked one of the flowers.

He used identify.

[Bloodroot]

A white flower with eight petals. Its root is a bright red colour due to the sap running through the plant. Has various uses. Found at the bottom of the Spirit Devouring Ranges.

Kit had thought he was over all his shocks today. He was happy to have found one more. This was the plant Morrigan had used to increase the length of time a stats dish would be active for. Kit gave a whoop in delight.

Mars and Twix gave him a what the hell look. Kit quickly showed them the flower. "Quick collect as much of these as you can. Make sure to dig the root out. I'll be needing as many of these as I can get."

Twix gave Kit a weird look. "Kit that is a weed. You will never be in short supply of that flower around here. They grow like wildfire."

Kit became even more excited. He would have a never ending supply of the flowers. "That is awesome! A weed! Haha!"

Kit quickly bent down and started to harvest the bloodroot. Twix shook his head but followed Kit's lead. Mars was already used to gathering ingredients for Kit, he had started collecting the flowers as soon as Kit asked.

They harvested the flowers towards the direction of the lake. Kit assumed that is where he would find Spartan Fire. The closer they were getting to the lake, the more confused Kit was getting. He couldn't see a village anywhere. The only thing that was visible were three mud huts not far from the bank of the lake.

"Umm, Twix where is Spartan Fire exactly."

Twix lifted a finger and pointed towards the three mud huts. "Those houses over there are Spartan Fire."

'What the Holey red apples! That is not a village!' Kit felt like crying. He was hoping for something more than what was in front of him. He couldn't even fathom how this group of houses had a name. Could they even spawn here if they died?

Would they have to walk all the way from Red Splash village every time they died? This would add another week in travel each time they died. Kit didn't believe with all the danger around such a high level area they would be lucky enough to find the cave entrance without dying a few times.

He was very realistic in this respect. Kit felt the treasure getting further from his grasp each time he learnt something about the Forsaken state. 'Maybe I should give up on the treasure and just open a restaurant and enjoy the experience for the time I have left. I still have over 8 months in game of play time.'

Kit's mind was in a whirl he didn't know what to think right now. He turned towards Mars to see what he was thinking.

"This is a village?" Mars tone was incredulous. Mars spoke out loud what Kit was thinking earlier.

"What, no! Spartan Fire is only a hamlet. It is not big enough to be a small village yet. We only have a population of 48 people. Once we get to 50 residents, we can apply to become a small village as long as we meet the requirements. My Grandpa has been trying to get Spartan Fire to be grown in size for as long as I can remember."

Kit groaned internally he had a very strong feeling his earlier thoughts about not being able to respawn here were correct. He couldn't help but to raise the question.

"Twix does Spartan fire have any stone arches around at all?"

"Are you talking about the ones for the CAL blessed people? We can't open one of those until we reach the status of a small village."

"CAL blessed? I don't understand."

Twix gave Kit a strange look.

"Are you not a CAL blessed? You said you can respawn. I assumed you were able to respawn because you are a CAL blessed individual."

Kit realised that the game had made a reason for player to be able to return to life. He didn't know the story that the game gave behind being able to respawn. Being CAL blessed must be the answer. He was curios to hear what a CAL blessed was.

"Um Mars and I only recently became CAL blessed. We are not actually sure what we did to receive the blessing."

"Oh, that's normal. No one can ever remember what they did to receive CAL's blessing, all we know is that are able to respawn if they die. Congratulations by the way. I have always wanted to become one of the blessed people. I am a little envious."

Twix had a new twinkle in his eyes when he looked at Mars and himself. He could see a bit of worship reappear in their depths.

Kit felt his ears go red. He was embarrassed that Twix thought that there was something special about them. All they had done was play a game. But in the eyes of Twix, they had achieved something amazing. Kit felt bad that his new friend could never achieve the same blessing as them. He decided to change the topic to relive his awkwardness.

"So, if you can get Spartan Fire to a population of 50 people the town can get a respawn arch?"

"Yes, that is the goal. My Grandpa says once we get that we can finally grow our town. Having the respawn arch means we would have a steady stream of people enter our village. This would allow us to attract merchants and business owners to open a business here."

"Right now, there is nothing here to make people visit. They only time we get visitors is when they come to negotiate with one of the town people to take them up the mountain. This is how we earn our living."

Kit was shocked at Twix words. If the whole town could escort people up the mountain, then they all must be at a high level. Kit felt that training here with such high level people would actually be a good idea. Twix earlier offer to help him become level 100 could actually become reality. Kit just didn't know how long that would take.

He had already had a shift in his thinking to enjoy his time in CAL, instead of stressing about how to continue to play after his subscription ended. Now he looked at being able to play longer as a bonus instead of a major catastrophe. Kit decided to still try his hardest to raise his level. Now his concern was where to start his restaurant.

He didn't think a small town like Spartan Fire would be a good place. Maybe he should look around at the nearby towns and if they were a decent size he could establish a restaurant there. He didn't want to go too far from the area in case he did make it to level 100 and was able to reach the treasure.

Even though he had a shift in his thinking he was not an idiot. If he could find a way to play longer then he would. Though now he wouldn't consume wasted energy on stressing about his end date. With that settled in his mind Kit looked forward to meeting Twix' Grandpa.

Twix brought Mars and Kit to the three mud huts. They were spaced out in a triangle, with each house at a point. Kit walked up to a hut for a closer look. The huts were an orange colour with a rough texture. When he was up close, they looked quite solid. An earthy smell came off the building, Kit thought it was quite pleasant. His eyes wandered over the straw roofing it was shaped like a cone. The mud huts were a simple design with one circular room.

As Kit was inspecting the buildings an old man walked out of one of the huts. He was tall and still quite robust for an elder. He had long grey hair tied in a bun on top of his head. His face was covered in laughter lines, he was dressed in the animal skins Kit now realised where common place amongst the NPCs of this area. A huge smile was on his face as he looked at the trio.

"Twix my boy, welcome back. Who are your friends?"

"Grandpa this is Kit and Mars. I met them at Red Splash village. They had a bit of trouble with the locals there, so I brought them here."

"Welcome to Spartan Fire boys, how long are you planning to stay?"

Kit looked at Mars and Twix. He hadn't thought about how much time he would spend here. He realised with the mountain path blocking his way to the cave he needed to make new plans. He would need money for land, and he needed to create some new recipes to sell in his restaurant.

Mars noticed Kit's lost expression. "We are not sure how long we will be staying for sir."

"Grandpa, Kit and Mars want to go up the mountain, but their level is not high enough. I was hoping you could come up with a training plan for them like you did for me."

The old man looked at Kit and Mars with an assessing look. His eyebrows were wrinkled in thought.

"Well, a training plan would be quite easy, but there is a problem. You see I only give out training plans to Spartan Fire residents. Strangers would need to go to a guild or find a master in their profession to teach them."

Kit felt disappointed after hearing what the old man had to say. It didn't come as a surprise though he already knew that finding a teacher was hard.

"Grandpa don't be like that. These are my first friends. I am even part of their team now. You are being mean to Twix' friends."

The old man showed a look of surprise. "Friends … mmm, well if they become Spartan Fire residents then it would be ok to teach them, then they are not strangers."

Kit saw a glint in the old man's eyes. Kit felt this man was a crafty fox. Kit could tell this was his gaol from the start to get two more residents. Kit had to hold in his laughter at the old man. He decided to play along with the old man.

"So, all we have to do is become residents and we can receive a training plan?"

"Mmm, that is what I said. Can't have strangers learning my secrets."

Kit saw a flicker of excitement pass through the old man's eyes, before he quickly hid it. Kit really was struggling not to laugh. He didn't see a problem with becoming a resident if it didn't hinder his plans. Before he agreed to anything he wanted to talk to Mars to get his opinion.

"Can you excuse us for a moment I just want to have a talk with my friend before we decide on anything."

Kit pulled Mars over to the side. He wanted to include Twix, but he was an NPC, so he had to leave the other out of the discussion. He felt guilty when he remembered the look of hurt that Twix had when he was left out of the discussion earlier.

He shot a look of apology to Twix before he took Mar a safe distance from the elder and Twix so that they wouldn't be overheard. When he finally stopped and turned to Mars, Kit was surprised. Mars looked like he was practically beaming from happiness.

"Kit, FUCK, this is fantastic! We got offered residency! Do you know how long my brothers have been trying to get permanent residency in the city they are in? FIVE FUCKEN YEARS! This is amazing. We have to accept."

Kit was shocked at Mars reaction. He wondered what was so good about getting residency in a town. He didn't want to stay clueless, so he asked Mars.

"I don't quite know what you receive, all I know is that everyone wants it. It must be something good if my brothers are trying to achieve it though. They have brought multiple houses in the city they are in and completed thousands of city quests but have still been denied permanent residency. They have only gotten temporary residency so far."

"NPC's rarely let players gain permanent residency. We need to find out if it's temporary or permanent residency that's on offer." Kit could clearly hear the excitement in Mars voice.

"I have no problem with having permanent residency in Spartan Fire especially if we gain something good. My only concern is that I would have to open my restaurant in town because of this. Spartan Fire has no customer base and no customer traffic, it's too small. How will I make money?"

Mars visibly calmed himself after Kit brought up his concerns. Kit knew Mars wanted to accept but would hold off for his sake.

"Kit, if you have to build your restaurant here to get permanent residency, I think we should still except. I mean there is no rule in CAL that we can't help grow a town to a bigger size. Did Twix not say if they got 50 residents, they could increase the size of the hamlet and that would open a respawn arch."

"What did you just say?" Kit thought he had heard wrong. Increase the town size, how did Mars even think of that.

"We will make the town bigger. There is no rule we can't increase the size of Spartan Fire. So, let's just do that. If there is something stopping you from your dream, we just find a way around it."

Kits was gobsmacked. He never in a million years would have thought of this solution to his concerns.

"Mars you are a freakin genius! I'm so glad you're my best friend. I don't know what I would do without you."

Right at this moment Kit felt that if Mars was with him, he could achieve anything. He was smiling once again. Hope was blossoming in his heart. He really didn't know what he would have done if he had never met Mars.

"I'm your best friend?" Mars had a bewildered look on his face.

"I finally have a best friend!" Mars smile was unlike any Kit had seen before on his face. This kid was definitely something else. Kit started to laugh at Mars expression.

"Yes Mars. You have a best friend."

Right now, Kit thought Mars was more excited about the prospect of having a best friend than building a town. Mars really did have a weird way of thinking. Kit tossed this thought to the back of his head and thought about making Spartan Fire bigger.

This made him feel excited. Getting residency must be something good. Could they help build the town to a bigger size? If that was possible then he would consider making his restaurant at Spartan Fire. The biggest hurdle would depend on how much land would cost. He didn't have that much saved.

The land at Flower Fields was around 60 gold coins for a decent plot of land from what he could remember. This place was a hamlet so he hoped it might be cheaper. Kit felt his excitement grow. If he built here when the time came that he was level 100, they would already be at the starting point of the journey to go up the mountain. The path to the mountains wasn't even an hours walk from where he was standing.

Kit eyes started to sparkle just like Mars' had. "That's right we could help build the town to be bigger. That's possible, yes?"

Kit wanted to confirm with Mars before he let his hope get away from him.

"That's right Kit. We can build a fucken town, build a restaurant, and raise our level all at the same time." Mars was getting more excited the more he talked.

Kit felt the fever from Mars spread towards him. They were going to build a town! They would make it the best town in the Forsaken state and his restaurant would become a legend! Kit felt his expectations blow out. He had just settled his mind to enjoy his time in game. BUT FUCK THAT! He was going to make as big a splash as he could while he was playing.

"LETS DO THIS!"

"YES, LETS DO IT!"