Chapter 16

  After a bowl of the richest, creamiest, best damn ice cream I’d ever had to date, I was ready not only for answers, but also to say yes if the mayor proposed to me. Seriously, who would have thought the mayor of some small backwoods town like Cogni could cook so well? It wasn’t fair.

  “I’m going to assume you enjoyed the meal?” The mayor asked as I leaned back into my chair, absentmindedly licking the spoon free of the remaining few drops of rich, vanilla flavor.

  “Yes,” I half mumbled, half sighed. “So good.”

  He smiled and reached across for the bowl. I reluctantly put the now clean spoon onto it, and handed it to him. He took the dishes back to the sink and motioned for me to follow him into the living room. We did so, and only after I’d sat myself comfortably on one of the leather chairs in the space, did he begin to speak.

  “As I previously told you,” he began, “Mun can evolve from reaching certain levels. But, as you have just discovered for yourself, they can also evolve in other ways.”

  “So you knew how to get a Cogberus?” I asked, “and still encouraged me against training my gear pups?”

  “I knew Cogberus was a Mun,” he said, “I didn’t know how to get one. As I said, most of the villagers here only get a gear pup to treat as a pet. No one is out there sending the little puppies into battles.” He smirked, “what type of crazy person would actively force such cute things into battle over and over again?”

  “Hey,” I said, sitting up a little straighter, my face going red, “I thought that was the whole point of being a Tamer.” I crossed my arms with a huff, “besides, you’re the one who gave me a gear pup as my first Mun.”

  “I’d figured you would like a traveling companion.” He said with a shrug, “and that after you got something better, like a springer, you would stop battling the poor little guy.” He chuckled and shook his head, “but who am I to discourage a Tamer from doing what they want with their Muns? Especially one who is set to save the world.”

  I said nothing and just glared at the man. Or tried to. The meal he’d just given me made it really hard to actually feel mad. The food coma was strong.

  “But, questionable treatment of puppies aside,” he smiled at me, and I knew he was enjoying this, “I am pleased and excited that you did get a Cogberus. We come across one in the wild once or twice every few years. Their crystals take a long time to heal naturally, and they do not occur all that often, given the calfer tendency to, well, prey on the poor little gear pups.” He looked absentmindedly at his gauntlet, and I wondered what his other 5 Mun were. “Last Tamer I know of that was running around with a Cogberus as one of his Mun was a man I’d met when I was just a boy. I don’t remember much about him, just that everyone in town spoke about him only in whispers. That, and the fact that he scared me.” He looked at me, and there was the faintest bit of worry on his old, weathered face. “He seemed dangerous. In a way that made me wonder if he was even actually human.”

  “Well that’s not ominous at all,” I said, figuring given the mayor had to be in his fifties at least, that whoever that man was, he was long gone. Ancient scary guy with rare Mun was not on my list of things to worry about.

  “Anyways,” the mayor shook his head, as if to clear the bad memory from his mind, “most Mun have a regular evolution path, and then the possibility of a unique evolution path. Some require fusing certain Mun together after they’ve all reached a specific level goal. Others require having a certain combination of Mun and reaching arbitrary goals, as you just learned. And,” he shrugged, “others just kind of evolve for reasons we don’t know into something that wasn’t part of the normal evolution path. That’s the wonder of Mun. Their possibilities are endless.”

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  “Hasn’t anyone like, taken the effort to record all of this?” I asked, “like, some sort of encyclopedia or book on the various Muns and their evolutions, locations, and all that jazz?”

  “There are some records like that,” the mayor nodded, “though most are kept by the Keepers of each of the nine major towns. The most detailed record is kept in Centropolis, that is, the great city of our world that is currently occupied by the Disciples of Nox.”

  “Hold on,” I couldn’t. Just, seriously? “Your greatest city is called Centropolis?”

  The mayor nodded, giving me a quizzical look. “Yes? It’s the center of our continent, after all.”

  “What?” I looked at him, then realized I’d never actually looked at the map. “One second.” I pulled out the crystal and immediately activated it like he’d told me to. Then, even as a map came to life in my vision, much the same was as the strange screens and prompts from the Gauntlet, I mentally zoomed out. And…

  “Seriously?” The entire continent was damn near circular, with only a slight bit of variation. From what I could tell, I was at the bottom right of the whole damn thing, with the continent itself being ringed by a massive mountain range on the bottom half, and what looked like vast coastline for the upper half. Like a strange slice of pie, the area I was in had a mountain range that moved partially towards the center, with a variety of smaller towns spread out this way and that, and of course, Silver Springs. The more I looked at the map, the more I just, well, couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

  The very center of it was marked as Centropolis, and it looked like the city had been created in the center of a massive crater. And outside of it, what looked like giant walls of some sort were denoted on the map. It was a fortress of epic proportion in some way, and all around it were the towns with the 9 Keepers. More and more, I had to wonder just what sort of game the world was up to. Considering I had no doubt all of this had been crafted by whatever strange magical force it was at the center of the damn world, that made everything so magically possible.

  Even still, the naming convention, while practical, if I was being honest, was just too… simple. Seriously? Centropolis? At least Cogni was somewhat creative.

  “Okay then,” I said, as I put the crystal back in my storage pouch and the screen closed from my vision, “sorry.”

  “No need to apologize,” the mayor said, offering another warm smile, “I can only imagine the shock you are still undergoing from being randomly pulled from your world and brought to mine.”

  I nodded, though as far as I was concerned, I was still doing a very good job of avoiding having to confront those feelings.

  “So, if I want any actual details on the Mun, I need to check out the records kept by the Keeper in Silver Springs?” I asked, figuring I should move this conversation along. I still wanted to inquire about a shower or bath, and then bed. Tomorrow was going to come sooner rather than later, and I still wanted to train all my Mun to level 15 before I headed for Silver Springs.

  “That’s correct,” he said with a nod, “our humble town isn’t important enough for such records, and even though we have a Mun Center, the features are limited.”

  Of course they were, I thought cynically. The whole damned world seemed really intent on forcing people to walk the Tamer’s journey. And yet… how many ever actually reached the top?

  “Alright, I guess that gives me more reason to head to Silver Springs,” I said after another moment. “Though,” I said, noting the mayor’s excitement at my statement, “only after I’ve gotten my Mun ready. You yourself have said the disciples are out there, and that I will need to battle the Keeper to upgrade my gauntlet. Better safe than sorry, my mom always said.” That was a lie. She never said that. In fact, she’d been pretty much of the YOLO mindset.

  I absentmindedly rubbed at my thigh tattoo, hidden beneath my pants, as I looked at the mayor. “Any chance I can stay here tonight? And, do you have showers or baths in this world?”

  The mayor smiled at me and stood, “of course you can,” he said sweetly, “it’s the least I can do, considering the journey ahead of you,” he motioned towards the stairs, “I’ll show you to the facilities upstairs, and you can stay in my daughter’s room for the night.”

  I smiled as I followed, “thank you,” I said, trying hard to ignore the small look of pain, the wetness in his eyes, that I’d started to notice whenever he mentioned his daughter. It wasn’t my place to ask, and I didn’t think I wanted the answer.