The Lone Traveler's Diary and other Short Stories

Sky Log #29: A Veteran's Guide

· Experience at least a season from start to end

I remember that I wrote on Sky Log #22: A Moth's Guide Part 2 that veterans stayed for at least 3 seasons. I think that's a high bar to reach, so I decided a kid can be considered a veteran when they experienced an entire season.

· Know the types of spirits and elders in Sky such as the ordinary constellation spirits, seasonal spirits, traveling spirits, quest guide, and elders

I'm not talking about the names of all the spirits because that would be too much. It's the same as differentiating the candle types, but it's the type of spirits this time. I have written about them under the section "Seasons and Events" in Sky Log 21: A Moth's Guide Part 1.

· Know at least 2 Out-Of-Bounds (OOB) spots and how to get to them

One of veterans' defining features would be the knowledge of Out-of-Bound (OOB) spots. It's what sets veterans apart from moths.

One of the problems of staying in Sky is the longer you stay, the more familiar you are with the places. Things can get boring after a while. It's why some people choose to sleep and wake up when it's a new season. Or... they can get so bored, they start finding out the limits of this world.

There are some known ones, but OOB experts find a new OOB every day. When a new place is opened up, new OOB spots will be discovered.

· Completed at least two normal constellations at 100%

My previous idea was to complete about 50% of all normal constellations. I wasn't sure if there was too easy, but I wanted to give people a bit of a challenge at this point. Or it would be too easy, and everyone might end up calling themselves a veteran. That may get too dangerous since we do have dangerous creatures which are light-threatening (life-threatening, but this concerns our wing bois, get it? Lol.)

But I settled for the requirement as you see above. It might prove a challenge for some kids who have financial problems and do not have the habit of saving.

Not all the kids are as diligent in saving and farming candles. They may find farming secondary to playing and hanging out with their friends. Or they just don't come to Sky every single day. Maybe they don't have a conscious habit of saving candles when buying things in Sky. They see something they like, buy it immediately, and cry about their empty wallets when a new traveling spirit comes by.

Here's a tip for saving candles.

Normal constellations will always be there, so you can slowly buy the cosmetics over time. It's not a rush to finish theirs. Traveling spirits, however, come at most yearly. If you missed them, you might need to wait for a year at most because they come at random. So, the priority is traveling spirits. Now, let's do simple math.

Every 2 weeks, a traveling spirit comes.

You need at least 200 candles and 20 hearts to finish their tree. Now, if you are the type who gathers 15 candles every day plus daily missions, you will get 20 candles in total for a day. So, in two weeks, you will get a total of 280 candles. That means 80 candles extra. You can use them to heart trade with your friends. So, you can trade hearts with 2 friends for 13 days. In total, you can get 26 hearts because the math gives you 2 leftover candles.

Of course, this is an example. You can play around with the numbers and realize that 2 weeks is good enough for you to get most items from a traveling spirit.

~~~

These are the general things needed to qualify as a veteran in Sky. If you got most of them, congratulations! You are a veteran.

Maybe you have a few slips up here and there during your journey through Sky. That's okay. I do too.

There are times when the krills are having a field day eating me because I was having difficulty deploying out the Home trick. Or like you didn't expect that you are so popular among them that there's 3 looking at you, and you only prepared for 1 krill to attack. It happens sometimes. Then, you can chalk it up to the krills having that time of their day or were being particularly angry and hungry. I call that hangry.

I know that there is an existence of lone veterans, so I didn't put any requirements of being part of a friend group or being part of a community. Having friends is the goal of TGC, but I know that some choose to be alone because they like to be alone or haven't found the right people to click with.

A/N: 16 Jan 2022

I may need to pause this story soon because I wanted to dedicate an entry or two for the new Season of Abyss which has an entirely new area. It's on 17 January 2022, which is tomorrow! I'm looking forward to getting some new inspirations from the season.

Are you peeps excited for the new Season? Let me know in the comments! XD