The gray world expands from the far side of the wall, the Cursed Lichdoms a blight of black trees, glowing green streams, and gray grass. The rivers and streams of [Water] so full of [Curse] Mana that they glow sickly green, polluting the land and allowing undead to form and roam free.

  In the far distance there is a town of similar size to Woodholme, though it is hard to tell from a distance the walls look like bone, gray white and smooth. The tall walls reflect the light of [Curse] Mana in the surrounding lands, glowing the familiar sickly shade of green and illuminating undead workers digging outside the city.

  The marshalling field is a fenced in portion at the top of the wall, stretching from crenelation to crenelation with gated fences on the sides, allowing people to enter and exit but keeping everyone separated if needed. Marco enters the marshalling field and spots Oren for the first time on this trip, speaking with an older human man who is bowing respectfully to the old elf. The older man, presumably of the Ebony Family has skin reminiscent of his family name, dark and smooth, with a bald head and black eyes.

  Marco slowly walks over to the pair slowly, not wanting to interrupt their conversation. Oren gestures him over and introduces the older man, “Marco, meet Geoffrey Darkflame, current head of The Ebony Family and an old student of mine.” Oren introduces, “Geoffrey, this is Marco, Traveler and one of my current students.”

  Geoffrey gives him a small bow, “Greetings Marco, welcome to the wall and Omnia as a whole. A [Salt] Mage, correct?”

  “Yes, I was a Chef back home and I guess that translated to a High [Salt] Affinity here.” Marco shrugs, “I look forward to my time at the wall.”

  “And a High Affinity to start? Auspicious, destroy lots of undead while you’re here, [Salt] usually has the easiest time of it.” Geoffrey comments, bidding farewell soon after to go speak to more newcomers.

  Oren grabs the attention of the rest of his party members and they quickly come over, interested in what the old elf has to say.

  “Your first order of business now that you’re on the wall is to find your last team member. I am extraordinarily biassed but as you need a damage dealer and control hybrid, I think you should look for a [Dark] Warrior or Rogue.” Oren says, taking the same lecturing posture as always; hands clasped behind his back. “The Ebony Family is leaving some of their younger members behind for additional training and experience, any one of them would be a good fit for your team composition.”

  “That sounds great! We will look into members as soon as we can.” Marco agrees after making eye contact with his party members and seeing their agreement.

  “Secondly, I know it is the first trip to the wall for all of you so there are somethings I must explain about how things work out here.” Oren begins, “We are out of Sunlit Lands, deep in the Deadwoods like this, the Sunlight System cannot reach us normally. There is an artifact here at the wall called the Sunlit Pillar, make contact with it and the System is able to function.”

  “How cool, able to use the System all the way out here in the Inner Deadwoods.” Marco thinks to himself, “Oren is right! We need to finish filling our party slows and then we can take on jobs together.”

  Oren dismisses them and walks off to find other people to inform about the happenings of the wall. Marco turns to his teammates and they find a quiet coroner to discuss what they want in a teammate.

  “I think Oren is right, we need to fill our party soon, that way we can get used to fighting together and take on a Gold Rank job. The quicker we get comfortable the better off we will be.” Marco says to unanimous nods from his friends.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “A [Dark] Warrior or Rogue would be great but if we can find someone with dual affinity that would be even better.” Shen says, “It will give the team more adaptability and options in a combat situation.”

  They chat about combinations they would love to see in future teammates and what elements they would avoid. They were interrupted eventually by Geoffrey and Violet silencing the crowd to complete the changing of leadership.

  “Attention gathered Warriors, it is that time once again. Violet Forestsong of House Ivory, do you swear to care for the wall and all of its citizens? To protect Eldermyst from its ancient enemies from the Cursed Lichdoms? Do you so swear?” Geoffrey intones, power growing behind his words.

  “I do so swear on my power and strength to protect Eldermyst and all of its citizens.” Violet agrees ritualistically. A small flash of overlapping Mana pressure form the pair nearly drives the crowd to their knees.

  “And with that the Ebony Family relinquishes their time on the wall and passes it off to House Ivory. May your time on the wall be beneficial for all.” Geoffrey says and then takes a step backward into his shadow and disappears, [Shadowstep].

  All along the wall more elder members of the Ebony Family do the same, stepping into shadows and disappearing from the wall. Marco looks on in amazement at the grand show of magic, not flashy but insanely useful and so cool. The Family left behind its younger members and those unable or unwilling to teleport in an effort to make them stronger.

  Marco and all of the other combatants are dismissed and given directions toward the barracks-style housing where they would be living for the next four mouths. He follows the directions that he was give, quickly heading back down the stairs and into the residential area of the wall.

  He finds his assigned bed and chest, placing cloths and extra shoes into the chest at the foot of his bed and makes a note to find the Quartermaster and leave her with the boxes he carried to the wall in his [Inventory].

  Ben is assigned the bed next to his and Shen is one more bed over, the team all together for security and relationship reasons, ensuring that you at least go along with your roommates. One more empty bed completes their section of the barracks, no one coming forward to claim it until they find their last team member.

  “Do either of you know where Eileen is located now that we are at the wall?” Marco asks, “I have some cargo to return to her.”

  “Yeah, I can lead you to the Quartermaster’s area. It’s on the bottom floor of the wall near the portcullis.” Ben says, finishing placing his items in the chest at the foot of his bed and making sure Marco is following him before they head down more stairs back toward the ground floor and Eileen.

  They walk through the plain but busy hallways of the wall, most people still looking for their rooms or headed toward the Sunlit Pillar to activate their System again. Marco talks to Eileen quickly and then dumps the cargo her transported for her in its designated spot, she thanks him for easing the burden and waves him away, the area extremely busy as House Ivory starts to settle in.

  Ben and Marco head toward the top of the wall once again, to the area containing the Sunlit Pillar, Shen meeting them on the top floor of the wall. They all quickly make contact with the strange stone pillar, a chest high column of golden stone threaded with the colors of every element; various shades of blue, red, black, golden yellow, white and even curse green.

  *Ping* Satellite Sunlit Pillar Found

  Access to System Granted Once per Day

  “Cool, so it’ll just update with everything once a day? Probably saves Mana to not have it active all the time.” Marco thinks to himself.

  Marco finds the dining area pretty quickly, grabbing food prepared by cooks of the wall, the sisters not yet settled into the kitchen. He sits with his party members and they make plans to find the recruitment center to find their newest teammate.

  “This place is amazing; it’s like its own little ecosystem or city.” Marco says, eating his mediocre plate of fried rice, carrots overcooked and mushy and the rice too salty. He sighs to himself at the sad food, filling but uninteresting and poorly executed. “Food needs some work though.”

  “The wall itself is a marvel of engineering and magic,” Shen says, the [Earth] Warrior able to feel the magic of the wall and how it was crafted.

  “After we finish eating, let’s find out where people seeking parties are congregating and see if there are any people that mesh well with us and fit our criteria.” Ben says, scowling at the plate of fried rice.

  “Agreed.” Both Marco and Shen say at the same time.