Jeriyan leaned forward, both hands clasped on the table in front of him.

  “We are always interested in armor and weapons made from the different planets.”

  “Don’t you guys have leather armor made from those strange spiders in the mountains north of Solacetown?” Fred asked, looking at me.

  I nodded.

  “Yeah. Shadow Silk Spiders and Mountain Edge Climbers. The armor gets some stealth properties and the gloves made from the Climbers silk has an ability to help with climbing.”

  “Those both sound interesting,” Jeriyan said. “We would be interested in seeing examples of both and then we could talk about the Resource itself.”

  “That sounds good, when I get back, I’ll have my people pull together some examples of what we can produce.” I looked at Fred. “You guys have wind related stuff with the plains creatures right?”

  “That we do,” Fred replied. “Plainswalkers and the flying Blackstar Crows. Good stuff for making fletching for arrows. But the ore found in the plains has a wind aspect that my people say is excellent for swords.”

  “That is also stuff we would be interested in,” Jeriyan said. “We have our own creatures that give wind aspects to equipment but would be curious what the differences are.” He unclasped his “

  hands, fingers started tapping on the table as he thought. “I will also prepare a list of what the Sunrise Formation territories have available that you might be interested in. As we have been integrated into the Multiverse for a long time, I think recipes and such would be the most useful.”

  “I like that idea,” I said. “Our crafters are somewhat limited in their growth. Having new and higher Leveled things to craft would help them.”

  “I’m sure we can work out an exchange,” Jeriyan said. “The other thing we might be able to offer is Tower team members.”

  Both Fred and I leaned forward, very interested. His Faction had the same issue as mine did. A limited number of first and second generation Adventurers getting closer to Level 100. He had some closer, but had also worked hard to get those ones Leveled faster, leaving others to lag behind. In Solace, we worked to Level a lot of people up. It was slower, but we had more overall higher Leveled people. Aside from my elite group of friends that would be stepping into the Tower in a few months hopefully.

  “First I feel I should ask, are either of you planning on running the Tower with people from your Factions?”

  “Not sure yet,” Fred replied. “From the UAA, the next closest to coming to the Tower are the people I ran with while stuck at the threshold. I’d like to run with them again but I’m not adverse to mixing it up.”

  “I’m not,” I answered. “The next up from Solace are already a group. I tended to run by myself so I’ll be looking for a team and want to be mixed with others from the Multiverse.”

  “Excellent. If I may ask, what is your build and fighting style?”

  “He punches things,” Fred said, chuckling and taking a long drink from his mug.

  Jeriyan looked from the laughing Fred to me. I shrugged.

  “He’s not wrong,” I said. “I absorb kinetic energy and transfer it back as power. There’s some more to it, but that’s the basics of what I do. With a team, I’d be melee DPS and I can take some hits thanks to the absorption power for some off-tanking.”

  Jeriyan nodded, fingers tapping on the table.

  “The Sunrise Formation has some candidates that will be entering Crossroads in the next couple of days,” Jeriyan said. “I can see if any would be interested in forming a team with you. Do you mind if I look at your records from your Tower run today?”

  “Not at all,” I replied, figuring they had to be pretty decent.

  “Thank you,” Jeriyan replied.

  “Does your Faction always try for mixed groups?” I asked.

  “Depends on the Adventurer,” Jeriyan replied. “Some we keep in all Sunrise teams but others, the more independent ones that we think can help strengthen relations with other worlds, we try to push into mixed species groups.”

  “That sounds like a good way to do it,” I said.

  “Indeed,” Jeriyan said. “I must confess that even though I sound like an expert on the Multiverse, I am not. At least not compared to the older planets and factions in the Multiverse. In the grand picture of the Multiverse, the Sunrise Formation is one of the newest Factions.”

  “You know more than we do,” I said.

  “Indeed. We did not have an easy time when Cryim was first opened to the Multiverse. Not all the Factions from Cryim learned the lesson, but the Sunrise Formation did. We try to help out the newly integrated so they do not go through what we did.”

  I wanted to ask more, but could tell that it was a sore subject, so I dropped it.

  “We appreciate it,” Fred said. “Thank you kindly.”

  “Yes, thank you,” I added.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

  Jeriyan nodded.

  “The Sunrise Formation is always looking to expand our interests and alliances with the newly integrated. You will find that the older Factions try to hold their accumulated power over those new, trying to set deals in their favor.”

  “The old power will do anything to keep it,” Fred commented, shaking his head. “It’s kind of sad to see that some things are common no matter what planet we’re from.”

  “Indeed.”

  ***

  It was an hour or so later when Fred and I left the restaurant, after exchanging contact info with Jeriyan and each other. There was a communication system connecting people in Crossroads. It sent messages to the Guides at each Fractions Compound. Jeriyan had said he’d contact us in a couple of days with time to make the first exchange and set up the deal. I was curious to see who he’d find to possibly team-up with.

  The restaurant was called the Rising Sun Falls On The Tranquil Ocean. Jeriyan’s people, and yeah they were elves, really liked the long names. Jeriyan had stayed behind as there was a direct portal to the Sunrise Formation Compound and he wanted to report to his people, to get started on finding Resources for us and possible team members for me.

  Sadly after having almost a six pack or more of ale, I didn’t have a buzz. With my stats, it took a really large amount of alcohol nowadays.

  “What do you think?” I asked Fred.

  “Wait and see what he brings us to review,” Fred replied. “Don’t start with your best stuff.”

  “I figured.”

  “Yeah, it’s not always the best idea to take the first deal that comes your way,” Fred continued as we turned left, heading back towards the intersection of the streets. “But he seems like a decent sort,” he finished with a shrug. “Have to wait and see.”

  I took in the sights as we walked. There were more restaurants, some places that look like just clubs, some shops that sold more cosmetic clothing and all kinds of other things. The buildings were just as varied. Pyramids, log cabins, tree houses, stone castles. Just like the Market District. I’m sure the architecture matched from Entertainment to Market District, a way to identify which buildings belonged to what Faction. I saw some that had an architectural style similar to the Sunrise Formation restaurant but there were some slight differences.

  “Those belong to other Fractions from Jeriyan’s planet,” I said, nodding at the buildings, one on each side of the road.

  I saw guards standing outside both doors. They didn’t look at the small amount of people walking the street, but glared daggers at each other. Both were dressed in a kind of scaled armor made of overlapping plates, curved swords at their waists, holding a spear. On the right the armor was a tan color. The left was a light shade of blue.

  “Looks like they don’t like each other very much,” Fred chuckled.

  I started calling each building its own block, which helped me with navigating the street. There were alleys between each building, giving some space separating the different neighboring Fractions. From what Jeriyan had said, spots could be bought with Multiversal Points, moving the shops up the street. The older Fractions, which had the shops closest to the obelisk, rarely gave up their spots but when they did, there was intense competition over buying the open block.

  As we passed an alley, I heard a commotion, tapping Fred on the shoulder to get him to stop. We both moved closer, trying to see into the shadows. It was about ten feet of space between a gray stone wall about twenty feet high and a light tan block ten foot high single width wall that surrounded a large pyramid. Four figures stood over a smaller one on the ground.

  We stepped closer, seeing that the smaller on the ground wasn’t really smaller but huddled in a ball, trying to avoid the kicks and blows from the other four. The four bullies looked to be Halflings like the guy I’d met when I’d first stepped into Crossroads.

  “Should we do something?” I asked, wanting to help the one being beat up.

  “I…,” Fred started to say but someone behind us interrupted.

  “Leave it be,” a deep voice said.

  We turned around, having to look down at the speaker. He was a Dwarf, standing about five feet tall, built like a rock and wearing a full suit of heavy plate armor. His thick brown beard hung low down his belly, parts of it braided. He wore no helm, his eyes deep set and dark behind a large nose. A giant warhammer lay against his shoulder. He pointed down the alley.

  “That poor bastard on the ground is a Vagabond,” the dwarf said. “Those are probably new arrivals from his old Clan.”

  “Vagabond?” Fred asked.

  “Aye. A Guest that was kicked out of his Clan,” the Dwarf grumbled, spitting on the ground.

  “A Guest? That means he’s below Level 100,” I said, shocked. “But if he’s not Level 100 then he can’t Level in the Tower?”

  “Yep, sucks for him,” the Dwarf muttered, walking off.

  If the Halfling couldn’t Level in the Tower, he was going to be stuck as a Guest for all time and useless to any of the Clans. He’d never be able to go back to his home planet. Stuck without the ability to do much of anything in Crossroads.

  Fred and I both looked at the scene. I wanted to run out there and help but I didn’t know the situation. Maybe the guy on the ground had deserved what he got. I didn’t think so though.

  The four Halflings saw us watching, one of them giving the guy on the ground one last kick, and the four ran off the other direction, turning around the back corner of the buildings. I hadn’t even thought there was anything beyond the buildings but I could see trees.

  Parks?

  There were parks back there?

  The Halfling on the ground pushed himself up. He turned, feeling us watching him, and glared at us. I was shocked, seeing that it was Newton Graceberry, the Halfling that had tried to sell himself as a guide when I’d first stepped into Crossroads. What was he doing down there? Had he been doing the equivalent of panhandling?

  “Enjoy the show?” he growled out, smoothing his close and walking off in the other direction.

  We watched him disappear.

  Fred grabbed my shoulder, pulling me back to the road.

  “Not our problem,” Fred said, voice quiet.