After collecting everything, they planned to take with them, the party relocated to the new campsite. Which was less, than ten meters from where the loot collection was taking place, just outside of the meadow proper.


    Prof felt much better and secure already.


    “Say, Mini. I have heard the Human opinion and theories about Experience Points and Leveling, and Foxy told me the Elven version. What’s the Forestean take on the issue?”


    “Other people just hold you back. The more people help you kill stuff or do something, the slower the Leveling. Probably the Greenskins are right in their belief, that challenging and defeating higher Leveled beings helps you level faster. Or makes you dead faster. The latter isn''t much of a problem in Forestdeep, we always need cold bodies for this or that, the worst that could happen to you is losing Levels, Skills, and Stats, but hey, you still can try again from scratch."


    “The belief in Forestdeep is that you shouldn''t rely on others too much to carry you forward, Levels will come naturally. And foremost, be nice to your resident necromancer or mage, they can re-animate your corpse, so you can try again from zero. If you weren''t much of an asshole or were connected enough, they maybe don''t even enslave you or use your corpse for their own purposes."


    “Think about it, Prof, how many things have you killed on your own since coming to Arkadia?"


    “Hmmm… Outside of dungeons, a single Molerat and a couple of rats back in Smallgrovewell, I think.”


    “Pfffffff… HAHAHAHAHA!” Mini was rolling on the ground. “I’ve killed more stuff alone before I turned ten! Seriously, Prof?!”


    “Yeah? I was on Arkadia for less than a month, trump that!” Prof snorted. “For ah, don’t rely on others much, you still have Binky, who does most of your killing! What about that?!?”


    “First, I''ve got Binky after the ritual as a gift, secondly, I reached Level 25 mostly on my own previously, and thirdly, I''m undead. Do you understand, what that means? I don''t age. I don''t get sick. I won''t die because of boredom. Elves can have a long life, but I''m practically immortal! I have all the time I want to become the highest Leveled entity, Arkadia ever had! A few months or years of fooling around with you makes no difference to me! Oh, since fooling around came up, how about we fool around a bit?”


    “No, thank you.”


    Prof started to miss Foxy. Maybe she kept Shinead peaceful, but also occupied Mini’s attention. She was dead for how long, an hour or so? Mini already started to get restless. Prof was afraid, he was the only eligible person in the party, and it would be him to take one for the team, as the saying went.


    He needed to find another new party member to occupy Mini. Fast.


    Or find stuff for Mini to kill. She was Bloodthistry, after all.


    “So, what now? Do you still want to visit the Human lands to the West?” Prof asked. Absolutely not to change the subject.


    “Yeah, I wouldn''t recommend going back to the Domain for a certain, and very long time. Or, in your case, probably ever. The main issue is, however, how to leave the Valley. With the fragile fabric of space here, we would probably just walk in circles. I doubt, we could replicate the spell the Elves were using."


    “About that," Bianca interjected somewhat demurely. "I overheard a discussion, the Elves were almost certain, the river and probably the creeks too, are more or less fixed in place. If we reach the river, we could follow it to the sea. From there it shouldn''t be hard to reach the Seven Kingdoms."


    “The Seven Kingdoms? That''s what they are called? What do you know about them?" Prof''s interest was piqued. It was a huge problem of the Rulebook that there was nothing about geography, political division, cultures, and races/species included. On the other hand, Arkadia was Medieval Fun Land, and very few knew about faraway countries.


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    “Faraway” as in farther than a day’s journey.


    Or so Prof though, at least. Actually, most people knew their neighborhood – say, 150 kilometers diameter circle or so – fairly well, and the problems started with the next country. Well, surprisingly, very few people leave the 250 kilometers mark even today. And have basically no idea what happens a few countries over. But I digress.


    “Not much, I just heard some rumors from fellow mercenaries and traders. There are Gerulian and Bergian states, and it is said, even some Greenskins are part of the coalition. There are other people there too, I knew a guy, who visited the Kingdoms, he said, you can find every known people there. I think, Julia is the largest kingdom, but I''m not sure. There should be countries even further West, the names the Western Marches, West''s End, Western Frontier, Wild West, and the Old Fallerian Kingdom came up. I don''t know, which is the correct name, or even if there is one."


    “Definitely not the Fallerian Kingdom." Mini said "That kingdom fell a thousand years ago, or so. Hmmm… Yeah, I heard, there are estates as far as the Western Ocean, but I didn''t know, they make a distinction between this Seven Kingdom and the rest. I will probably go West as far as possible. What about you, Prof?"


    “Yeah, probably. I don''t have any plans. And know nothing about Arkadia, as you pointed out. That reminds me… Sharpclaw, do you know anything about the Human lands to the West?"


    “No, Missster, no know. Sssssharpclaw from Eassssstern ssssseassss.”


    No help from there either. It wasn’t a large surprise, however, since Sharpclaw didn’t know much about the lizard states either – or wouldn’t talk about them much.


    “All right, we will head out West, and either exit the Valley the normal way or find the river and follow it to the sea. We could even make a boat!"


    “Ehmm… Prof, how high is your [Repair: Wood] or [Carpenter] or any other Skill that deals with woodworking?”


    What did Prof expect? Arkadia literally worked on Skills, with a Skill for every last little thing! There was even [Breath Control]!


    What was that about? Diving or some BDSM practices? Probably the latter, since there was a [Diving] Skill on its own.


    “Oh… A float maybe?”


    “Not, if you expect to last it for any length of time. Oh, and where would you get the ropes for it? [Rope Making]?”


    “Cut a few trees and ride them? No, there is probably a Skill [Woodcutting], and we would have to leave the donkeys back.”


    “Yes, there is such a Skill, but if you just want to make the tree horizontal, it doesn’t really matter, how high your Skill is.”


    “Damn… Hey, maybe we stumble upon the folks Bianca was talking about, and they can sell us a boat or float?”


    “I wouldn’t count on it.” Bianca destroyed his hopes “They didn’t look overly friendly, and they were nowhere near the river. As far as I could tell, at least.“


    “So, we are left with walking next to the river or swimming. Before you ask, my [Swimming] is at 50%.”


    “Sorry to disappoint, but that isn''t enough to bring your gear too," Mini said


    “And mine is only 24%” interjected Bianca


    “All right, walking it is…”


    Why was everything so hard on Arkadia? Back on Earth you just hopped into the water or built a boat!


    Oh, wait.


    Back on Earth you just rented or bought a boat. Probably not somewhere out in the barely inhabited parts, or anywhere that was not a tourist trap, but still…


    Frustrated, Prof started to rearrange their stuff.


    The jewelry went into Foxy''s belly bag of holding, together with most of the unidentified magical thingies – a few simply didn''t fit into the opening. The perishable loot – hearts, and organs of defeated animals and monsters – he left in it. He planned to stuff it with further such loot, so for easy access, he equipped it.


    His money went into the purse and was deposited deep into his backpack. While in the Valley, he didn''t expect to need money, and deep inside the backpack was probably the safest place. He thought about putting the money together with the jewelry but finally decided to keep his valuables in two different places. If losing one, he would still have the other.


    Everything else was distributed evenly on the mules – if one of them disappeared, only a set part of their stuff would be lost, not a high percentage of a given category. Of course, the Elves didn''t have tents with them, probably lost during the expedition. What needed to happen for Prof and the party finally get tents? Buy one?!?!


    Nevertheless, the joke was starting to get old.


    After a long night, where there were no ghostly and ethereal attacks from precursor spirits, it was time for the Grand Escape! Not from Alcatraz, New York, or Los Angeles this time, but the Valley of Death… Torment… Whatever!