Pantheon Online

"What are those?" Clay asked curiously as he stared at the tokens. 

"Hm, they're some sort of currency..." Exile sighed as he explained the item description to the group.

"Human sacrifices..."Clay hummed in a low voice as a dark look crossed his face. "That can't be good. If you did something like that in other games you would definitely be considered evil..."

"I'm not sure it's that simple..." Exile stroked his beard as he glanced around. "Good and evil is a matter of perspective. They made these sacrifices to me, but I didn't demand them. Which means the Skardian's have a culture where sacrifices are acceptable..."

"Logically speaking, that means they don't see sacrificing humans to the gods as an evil act..." Exile continued, while the others frowned. "I think we have to be prepared to accept the culture of our NPCs, no matter what it brings."

"If what you are saying is true... Then what are The Fallen?" Clay's frown deepened as he thought about what he had learned in the tomb. "I was under the impression that they were possibly evil gods..."

Exile heaved a long sigh as he shook his head. "I'm not sure. Personally, I thought the same..."

The bar became silent as Exile mused over his thoughts. 'With what we've seen so far, there seem to be both invaders and defenders of the tombs. The ones outside are trying to get in while the others are testing us to see if we deserve the legacies left behind.' Exile hummed as he tried to put together the bigger picture. 'There should be a way to be considered as an evil god... Maybe going against your NPCs established beliefs?'

Exile felt the start of a slight headache coming on as he struggled to understand. However, he was now sure that the idea of good and evil was not so black and white in Pantheon Online. 'It's not something I can get a grasp on just by thinking about it. I'll need to wait for the situation to become more clear...'

Since it appeared to have no adverse effect on him for the time being, he did not intend to stop the sacrifices. He hoped that as long as he did not explicitly condone it openly, he could reap the rewards for the time being. 'I think we've wasted enough time...'

"Forget about it for now. Let's face it, we still don't know much about the game yet. We can revisit this at a later time. For now, let's get out of here..." Exile nodded at the others to show that they should prepare themselves.

It only took a few minutes for the party to sort out their gains before they gathered by the door. Exile silently hoped that nothing else would crop up while they left Valheim. Luckily, the streets appeared just as empty as before. 'Surely not everyone is stuck trying to deal with the new players?' Exile frowned as they quietly made their way through the streets.

However, Valheim remained deathly silent. Even when they reached the gates and looked out onto the snow-covered hills, there was not a single player in sight. 'If anyone else has already solved their problem, then maybe they had the same idea.' Exile figured that there had to be at least a couple of other active parties in the area. However, they were probably searching for new hunting grounds just like them. 'Let's see...'

Exile picked out a random direction that led away from the wolves. It would all be up to luck when they found something new anyway. However, as they travelled across the hills, they would randomly attract the attention of wolves who should be too far away for them to cause aggro.

[Wolf Slayer: 27/40]

[32/40]

[39/40]

"Damn!" Exile shouted in frustration as he glanced at his milestones. "One short..."

"Is that really what you should be thinking about?" Clay gasped for air as he looked around. "Why are they attacking us? We're definitely outside of their zones!"

Exile frowned as he turned his attention to the question. "Maybe... Things have changed along with the Open Beta?"

The group fell silent at Exile's statement. It made a sort of sense, but there was no way to confirm it. After all, they had not interacted much with anything besides Divine Wolves and Lost Souls. Exile glanced at their concerned expressions before shaking his head. 'There's no point worrying about something you can't change. But maybe, we should take advantage of these wolves while we can...'

The team had not taken any damage due to their levels, but it was still tiring to time their attacks properly. Exile grinned as he spotted another pack rushing towards them. Looks like I didn't have to wait long!' Exile licked his lips as he let out a roar!

The others shook their heads as they split up to take care of a wolf each. After all, none of them wanted to miss out on free kills! Naturally, it was a bloodbath. The wolves seemed to be throwing themselves into the jaws of death for no reason. Not that Exile was complaining...

[Wolf Slayer: 40/40]

[Awarding +1 Stat Point]

[Wolf Slayer: Completed]

'What the fu...!' Exile cursed as his good mood was shattered. With the Wolf Slayer milestone completed, that meant there was no way for him to farm levels from these mobs anymore. The only benefit they had now were the few drops that they could gain. 'I see, this is how they'll stop powerful players from farming low-level zones. Forcing us further away from safe zones in search of levels.

Exile sighed as he remembered the players he had seen farming here before. 'Maybe it's not that they wanted to look elsewhere, but they had to...' He suddenly had the distinct feeling that his team had actually fallen behind instead of being far in the lead. Exile sighed as he pulled up his stats.

[Name: Exile]

[Pantheon: Ragnarok]

[Title: King of the Gods (Ragnarok), God of the Hearth]

[Race: Local Royal Deity (Human)]

[Tier: 0]

[Level: 5]

[HP: 105/105 (90+15)]

[DP: 16/16 (8+8)]

[Strength: 10]

[Endurance: 21 (18+3)]

[Speed: 14 (13+1)]

[Authority: 16 (8+8)]

'Now... What should I put you in so I can reach Level 6?' A glint appeared in Exile's eyes as he tried to make up his mind...