Unbound
Deathlord: Challenge

By
Edward Castle

Unbound Dethlord: Challenge

Copyright © 2016 by Edward Castle

All rights reserved.

This book or any portion thereof
may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever
without the express written permission of the publisher
except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Cover art by Yuriko Matsuoka, sicarius8.deviantart.com

Cover typesetting by Bonnie L. Price, bonnie-l-price.deviantart.com

Editing by Nicolas Lagrand, nevir.saedi@gmail.com

Acknowledgements

There is no way I could have written this book without help from a lot of people. Therefore, I'd like to take a moment to thank them here.

First and foremost, my family and my loving girlfriend.

It isn't that easy to be supportive when your son or boyfriend is giving up his IT career to pursue the dubious profession of author, but they have.

Then, there are the thousands of beta-readers on RoyalRoadL.com, the website where I first published this book.

There were so many grammar and syntax errors in the first drafts, I'm surprised they kept reading to the end of the book.

Not only did they overcome these obstacles, they also provided essential feedback that helped make this story even better.

Guys and girls, you are awesome.

Next, there are two people who believed in me enough to make a financial contribution in support my dream of being a writer: Adam Skinner and Logan.

Adam supported me on my Patreon (http://patreon.com/EdwardCastle) and it was a big morale boost.

Logan made a substantial donation, which is responsible for this book having such an amazing cover.

There's only one reason this book is as readable as it is now: Nicolas Lagrand, my editor. Believe me, he worked wonders; I can't stress enough the importance of his work or how rough it was before.

I would recommend his services to anyone, you can reach him at nevir.saedi@gmail.com

Thank you all!

This book wouldn't exist without you.

Lastly, and most importantly, I thank God.

For everything.

Table of Contents

Copyright

Acknowledgements

Table of Contents

Prison

1.
The Curious Case of the Stone Licker

2. Red
Hot Chili Bones

3.
Boy Finds Girl

4.
Magic 101

5. Don't
Try This at Home

Ter'nodril

6.
Dry Fishing

7.
Persona Non Grata

8. City
of the Black Sun

9. An
Eight Legged Favor

10. Everything Changed When the Fire Mage Attacked

11.
Scrambled Eggs

Chess

12.
Under the Underworld

13.
People Person

14.
Mister Big Heart

15.
Cat Theory

16.
Life or Death

17.
Manning Up

18.
Arachnophobia

19.
Big Bad Wolf

War

20.
Wall Walker

21. Ice
in the Hole

22.
Truth?

23.
Don't Feed the Animals

24.
Dream Crushing

25.
Tastes Like Chicken

26. My
Life

27.
Crazy Mode

28. If
You Can't Win

Epilogue

Afterword

Prison

Deathlord

Underworld – Corrupted – Undead

The only reason the
deathlords are not the most arrogant species of the Underworld is that they
share space with vampires and drow.

Like liches, deathlords choose to become undead
by magic, but both are very different beings. While liches give up on everything
that could link them to their previous life – meat, blood, voice, memories –,
they also receive exceptional power in the exchange.

Liches also have to study necromancy, a very
complicated art that deals both with death and life magic. Only a master can
then perform the ritual that will kill them momentarily and turn them into an
undead.

Deathlords are not like that. They study only
death magic and that, only scantly. Instead of turning themselves into a new
existence keeping the power they possessed, they corrupt their lives with death
magic until they become undead.

Immortality is their only goal, and the
corruption strips them of everything they achieved in life, both physically and
magically. It's like being born anew, keeping only their bodies and their
memories, but losing every drop of power.

The Fallen Gods use such loss as a way of
increasing their strength and influence over the world. They seduce the
deathlords in their most vulnerable moment, trying to bind them to a mutually
beneficial contract. Thus, the bound deathlords are born, giving away some
liberty for the promise of easier and faster power to come.

But not all of them are seduced. When grown and
powerful men lose everything that holds their ego together, a few of them opt
for freedom instead of what they see as slavery. Unbound, they claim themselves
to be.

Most of the world doesn't know how to feel
about the species: should they be pitied for their fear of death? Rebuked for
being undead? They are an enigma, and many fear what they don't understand.

Immortals by choice, bound or unbound, they
have known since their transformation that they hold their existence and their
future in their hands.

And they stop at nothing to achieve their
goals.

-- Excerpt from
"Species of Valia", by Amir, a Karr

1. The Curious Case of the Stone Licker

'When in doubt,
attack. People respect power, not passiveness.'

- Father

"As you can see,
it's like living a dream forever," said the young
blond saleswoman with glasses that gave her a bit of a geek look and a
strategically unbuttoned button on her shirt.

Yeah, I thought.
Forever. Or until I die. Or my budget runs out. Or the game servers are shut
down. Or a lot of other possibilities.

It was still a good product. The first game
supporting long-term immersions. More than that, the first massively
multiplayer online role-playing game, MMORPG, available in the Immersive
Reality technology.

V-Soft was the company behind the technology
that 'talked' directly to the brain and gave the user the impression of being
transported to a different reality. Since the technology reveal, five years
ago, the company had refused to allow any MMORPGs to be developed by any
developer. Only now were they releasing such a game themselves.

"What about money? Can I put some cash in?"

"Of course! I mean, we have a minimum
interference policy; who would like some super powerful V-Soft employee
meddling with their lives all the time? Or a super powerful player coming out
of the blue just because he is rich in this world? But let's be frank, there is
no reason to send away anyone genuinely interested in starting a comfortable
new life. Really, really interested."

She looked at me expecting a reply, her blue
eyes giving me the mysterious 'are you good enough to ask' act. I bit.

"How interested?"

"You can buy in-game currency." She
leaned closer, as if she was about to confide in me a most magnificent
opportunity. "Minimum of ten dollars, for ten silver coins. Maximum of ten
thousand dollars per month per player, for a hundred gold coins."

Valia Online, the game I was considering
playing, had a pretty common currency system: bronze coins were the less
valuable, a silver coin was worth a hundred bronze, a gold coin was worth a
hundred silver, and a platinum coin was worth a thousand gold.

A teaser trailer had shown a level twenty elf
buying a common sword for fifteen gold. This meant about fifteen hundred
dollars for a basic piece of equipment. It was crazy. And the worst of it all
was that people would pay for it; the game was already popular before even
launching and if it delivered all it promised, millions would play in a few
weeks.

It was easy to believe what she had said: they
had a minimum interference policy, but no one was crazy enough to ignore rich
people willing to pay – and there were a lot of those around. Investing real
world money in the game wasn't in my plans, but I couldn't complain about the
rates. They were making average players and rich bastards alike happy enough.
Unfortunately, those prices would only last until the black market developed.

"Of course," she continued, "we
will also sell multiple exclusive items with purely cosmetic value that will
not affect the game balance, such as items to make a weapon or an armor glow
and the possibility to change your character name."

That was expected, these days no game came out
without items like that. 'Hats,' gamers called them, even though no one
remembered why.

"That sounds reasonable, but I'm just a
law student with a few millions. I must save some money for my children."
I gave her my best smile, not wanting to waste the opportunity of hitting on
her. She was pretty.

Beautiful, but not interested. Her smile didn't
disappear, but she leaned back in the chair again.

I guess a man going into stasis for
undetermined time isn't a good romantic investment.

"That's alright, of course. We want
players from all economic possibilities to enjoy our game!"

Sure you do. Four hundred bucks a month after
the trial month. Every poor youngster can just stop working and pay forty-eight
hundred dollars for one year of their lives.

Despite my social warrior thoughts, I knew it
was pretty cheap. Most people spent more than four hundred bucks in one month
of their lives. In my case I would get into a rented virtual reality capsule and
forget about bills until my contract ran out or I decided to leave. And if I
wanted to interact with the real world without leaving, I could just call
anyone from inside the game. If one had a house, one could sell it and live
comfortably in a rental virtual reality capsule for the rest of one's life.

Of course, there were also the people who
wanted to stay in their houses and play. The monthly fee was only fifty bucks
in these cases, but they had to buy their own IR equipment. The cheapest one
cost five thousand dollars and was a simple IR helmet, called VirBridge, not an
encompassing full body capsule. It was the best choice if they were casual
players, or had to leave the game regularly, but I was going for the long-term
option.

Looking at her open blouse, a thought occurred
to me. "What about sex?"

Her eyes widened for a second and she
reflexively crossed her arms. The kinds of gamers she was used to dealing with
probably weren't that shameless.

Still, as the professional she was showing
herself to be, her smile didn't disappear.

"You can do anything in Valia. Any NPC can
become your lover, if you play it right." An NPC, or non-player character,
was any non-player entity who wouldn't be classified as a monster. Nowadays
they were mainly controlled by AIs, much to the despair of AI Rights Activists.
"The same goes for any player, of course. We also take the recently passed
gaming laws very seriously and there will be no in-game pleasure houses, nor
will any kind of sexual harassment be tolerated"

Sex was no novelty in IR, either with NPCs or
with other real people using their own IR devices. It was said that some
couples preferred to have sex in simulators where they could go on indefinitely
without tiring and try some positions their real bodies were not flexible
enough to achieve.

"Alright. Let me see the papers."

Her smile got even more beautiful, and she left
the small room for a few minutes.

* * *

"Jack, I'm begging you, don't waste your
life like that. Your parents-"

"My parents are dead, Richard," I
interrupted my family's grey-headed lawyer. "I killed them,
remember?"

"It was an accident! You must stop-"

"I mustn't and I won't! I'm getting in the
damn capsule. I have a duty to them, to have a child and give him or her the
family money. But I-"

"You have a duty to be happy! That's what
they'd want! A happy life for their child!"

"You don't know that! You didn't know them
like I did! When I was four they taught me how to take revenge on the kids who
made fun of me in the damn playground! They were not saints, they were tyrannical
bastards, but they were still my parents and I killed them!"

"Jack, you-"

"I am getting in the capsule, like
I said! I'll eventually get a wife, in some distant future, and make a family,
but that's all. No matter what I do, I keep remembering that I started the
fire, except when I'm playing. Yes, I'm running! Call me a coward if you want,
I don't give a damn. Just make my money ready for the monthly fees and don't
call me unless the world is ending."

"Jack...

"Richard, I'm ordering you as your damn boss.
Do you understand my orders?"

"Yes." He said tiredly. "Yes, I
do. But you aren't my boss; you're my client."

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that. Someday
you might even convince yourself my father didn't make you his puppy."

He looked at me with pain in his eyes, but I
made a show of ignoring it and left the room. It had been some time since I had
exploded like that and I felt bad about it, but he had touched forbidden
ground, and he damn well knew it.

If I was back to bad habits, I might as well
call some ex-girlfriends. The game would launch in a week, and it seemed
eunuchs had created it. I mean, no brothels? C'mon!

* * *

The doctor looked at the soon-to-be-player
seriously.

"Jack Sunni Carpenter McHolen, are you
sure you want to undergo this procedure? I'm legally obliged to inform you
there is a zero point zero zero zero zero one percent possibility of your
death. You can desist right now and have all your money back."

That was pretty well done; they were even
recording it. About one in ten million people would never wake up after trying
to go to another world in a long-term capsule. I liked my chances.

The question was only a formality. I had
undergone a lot of psychological and medical exams, plus a two-hour lecture
about the procedure. To tell the truth, it made me feel secure. At least, this
time, my parents' colleagues, the politicians, had done something right.

"I'm sure, please go on."

"Ok. I'll begin the procedure. Have a good
game, sir."

The doctor put the needle in my arm.

Blackness came soon after.

* * *

Ten minutes after
creating my character, I touched the stone wall again, mesmerized. I could feel
its texture, its imperfections, its coldness. When I took my hand away, dust
stuck to my fingers. The smell was metallic and on an impulse I licked it,
feeling the unique taste of stone in my mouth. Spitting on the floor multiple
times didn't make it go completely away.

This game is awesome.

V-Soft had released a single game before this,
the very first one for the new IR technology. It had been developed to show the
world the potential of the thing and it was nothing like this. When the first
video of Valia Online had appeared, of a man over a castle wall overlooking a
small town, people had thought it was a movie trailer until the company explained
it.

Still, game companies were known for cheating
their clients with screenshots and videos that were way better than the
finished product. V-Soft, on the other hand, had downplayed it.

I couldn't find any difference from the real
world. High visual detail was usual in the old retina and ears virtual reality
games, but here it went a notch up. Not only that, even the touch, smell and
taste were perfect.

Four hundred bucks to be transported to an
alternative reality world looked way too cheap now. I hoped that the price
would go up by hundreds, so it wouldn't become full of annoying kids destroying
the game experience for others.

The only thing that prevented me from believing
I was still in the real world were the things floating on my vision edges: colored
bars with numbers, a clock, an exclamation point in a square button, and an
'Welcome to Valia Online' text. Common sense dictated that I took my time to
get my bearings and plan ahead.

To hell with common sense. I need to see more!

I was wearing tattered gray clothes in a stone
room with a locked metal door and no furniture. All the light was coming from
under the door. I could hear fire crackling on the other side. To see more I
needed to get out, and to get out I needed to make someone open the damn door.

So I did what every levelheaded person would
have done.

"Fire!" I screamed at the top of my
lungs, trying to sound as desperate as possible. "Help! Fire!" To add
to the realism of panic caused by a fire starting in an underground cell made
of stone and bare of furniture, I hit the metal door repeatedly. It was a
little loose and made a lot of noise. "Please, help me! I'm dying!
Fire!"

"Quiet!" I heard a hoarse male voice
on the other side of the door. Jackpot!

"I need help! Please! There is fire in here!
I'm burning! Fire!"

"Shudap!"

"Help me! Fire! Help!" I kept
screaming and hitting the door.

A hard blow came from the other side of the
door. "I told ya to shudap!" I didn't obey. "Now ya did it!
Ya'll regret getting to ma nerves!" The door opened. Light poured in the
cell and what I saw was a vision directly from hell.

It was a kind of unfinished man: he had no
nose, his skin was missing in random parts of his head, where I could see his
muscles, and only a few strips of hair were still in his scalp. His teeth were
mostly rotten or missing, and a foul odor was coming from the creature.

I recognized his species from other games: a
ghoul. As soon as I did, a text appeared floating above his head:

Ghoul <?>

The horrid creature was clothed in worn gray
shirt and trousers, gray leather belt and gray leather shoes; as lacking as it
was, it was still a lot better than my own traps. In his hand he had a corroded
metal pipe. After looking around to confirm there was indeed no fire and I was
just being annoying, he attacked.

My heart rate got up a little after seeing the
deformed face, and the moment he began the pipe swing I got a little scared.
But it was wasted adrenaline. The metal bar descended really clumsy and not
fast at all, as if a child was swinging something too heavy. I merely stepped
aside and punched the ghoul in the face.

It was just like hitting someone in the real
world. I had done my fair share of street fights in my adolescence and early
youth and it was surprising how real the punch felt. Wondering how real the
fights could be, I used a kick to try and push the ghoul away.

Success. The ghoul stumbled back to the wall
and hit his head with a loud sound. A few more punches later, my hands were
covered in the black smelling substance that was the ghoul's version of blood.

2 blunt damage dealt to Ghoul

2 blunt damage dealt to Ghoul

2 blunt damage dealt to Ghoul

The same message appeared over and over again
at the bottom left corner of my vision. I wasn't a powerful guy, it seemed.

No reaction came from the ghoul. He couldn't
even properly move after I threw him on the floor and began to kick his face;
he merely tried to shield himself with his arms and gave out weak cries of
pain. Doing such a thing to a defenseless creature was highly repulsive and made
me feel a little bad, even if it was just an NPC.

But the bastard had just tried to kill me, and
I was not one to forgive and forget. At least he didn't try to beg for mercy.
Well, it might have something to do with the strange angle his jaw was twisted,
but I was no doctor.

With a last cry, his body became rigid and
unmoving. The ghoul was dead.

2 blunt damage dealt to Ghoul

HP: 0 / 20 <?>

I took a few seconds to catch my breath. In the
real world I wouldn't be even close to tired, but my character body was weaker
than the real me for now. Thinking about it, I checked how much stamina I still
had. There were three colored bars on the top left edge of my vision, one below
the other: red, blue and green.

Red was for hit points, HP; blue was for mana
points, MP; and green was for stamina. There were numbers over each one of
them.

HP: 95 / 95

MP: 95 / 95

Stamina: 30 / 85

This was part of the beauty of games. In real
life, you feel healthy or sick, lively or tired, and that's it. In gaming, you
know exactly your limits, which's especially useful for fighting.

Hit Points, or HP, measured my health, and the
bar was full. Receiving damage would lower my HP, and if it got to zero, I
would die.

Stamina was my physical conditioning. How much
I could run, attack and so on.

Mana Points, or MP, was like stamina for magic.
I had no abilities that consumed MP for now.

I had used up quite a large amount of stamina
in my short fight and would have to recover it. A new exclamation point button
had appeared on the right edge of my vision, right under the old one. Both
contained an upward pointing arrow, but one had a 'Q' letter and the other an
'A'.

Wondering if the game would force me to check
the old one first, I focused on the 'A' and willed it to show its hidden
information. A translucent message window appeared floating before me.

Intelligence increased to 1 (+1)

By solving the problem of imprisonment you've
proved yourself to have a superior intellect.

» MP: 100 (+5)

Agility increased to 1 (+1)

By not staying put while the enemy tries to
kill you, and by repeatedly attacking such enemy with all your speed, you
become faster.

Strength increased to 1 (+1)

You know how to hit. Now you do it harder.

Dexterity increased to 1 (+1)

It's not about hitting hard; it's about connecting
your hits. You learn how to better direct your attacks.

Constitution increased to 1 (+1)

After putting your body to stress, you learn
how to further move without tiring.

» HP: 100 (+5)

» Stamina: 95 (+10)

Strength, agility and so on were attributes. I
had eight of those, and each one of them controlled some aspect about me and
how well I could interact with the world. Having more strength, for instance,
not only would allow me to do more damage to my enemies, but also to carry more
weight.

Again, the game provided me with exact numbers
for my limits. The way to get more points in an attribute was to do things
related to it, like weight lifting or killing people with my fists for
strength.

I much preferred the latter, thanks.

Receiving this many points early on was
expected, since I had had zero points in all of my attributes – and the less
points in an attribute, the easier it was to receive more. Five attribute
points was not bad and it quelled my fear of boredom; I was not a huge fan of
going to the gym in a game.

The explanation under each received point was a
nice touch too. That way the player would know exactly how he had increased his
attributes and it would lower the complaints. Supposedly. People always found
things to complain about. I for one would love a progress bar showing me how
far I was from the next level.

I looked at the corpse before me and took the
time to rob him of everything he had, except his underwear; humanoid creatures
could only get naked by their living will. Not that I'd be interested in
stripping a dude anyway.

Worn Cotton Shirt

» +1 defense

Worn Cotton Pants

» +1 defense

Old Leather Shoes

» +2 defense

Old Leather Belt

» +2 defense

Defense in this game was as simple as it could
be: if an attack should've caused five damage but found an armor with a defense
value of two on its way, the final damage was three; a
direct subtraction.

It seemed leather was better than cotton for
defense; who would have thought? The shirt and pants were torn in a few places,
but they were still a lot better than the tattered clothes I was wearing.

I didn't check the items' detailed information;
checking the color, material and overall condition of these clothes was easy
enough to do just by looking at them or by reading their names.

Putting my new clothes on was slightly
disgusting; the ghoul's blood was sticky and smelled revolting. After that, I
took the pipe.

Corroded Copper Pipe

» 15 (+2 [Strength]) physical damage

Fifteen was the maximum damage the weapon was
capable of doing unless it hit a critical spot. Hitting a man in the chest
could potentially lower his hit points by all fifteen points, but hitting him
in the foot using the same force would do a lot less damage.

The player's strength also played a part on the
potential damage, as showcased by the '+2'. I could do a little more than
fifteen points of damage on each hit because of my one point in strength.

I put the pipe on a spot for it in my new belt
and sat to wait while my lost stamina recovered. Doing nothing made me remember
the second exclamation point on my vision edge. I willed it to show me its
information.

Quest: Escape the Prison

D rank

You have been imprisoned in the deathlords
secret prison.

Find a way to escape it.

Conditions:

» Cannot be refused

» Cannot be dropped

» Must be completed without dying

My very first task, or quest. Compared to the
attribute points messages, it lacked information.

For instance, why was I imprisoned? I had
chosen the unbound variation of the deathlord species. Doing so gave me a
diplomacy bonus, which meant that every species in the world should treat me
neutrally, except for the bound deathlords and the vampires, who hated me for
unknown reasons.

Also, what would happen if I died without
completing it? Would it be game over? Would I receive another quest?

At least I now know I'm in prison. Ya, thanks
for the heads up.

The quest difficulty was relative to my current
power. It could rank from A+ to E-, a C-rank being the middle ground. I doubted
I would have any trouble with a D-rank quest.

After about five minutes of sitting, my stamina
was replenished.

It was time for some prison-breaking.

Crouching as much as I could while still being
able to move, I left the cell. I found myself in a long stone corridor with
closed metal doors and torch sconces. The torches on each side of my door were
the only ones burning, the rest of the corridor being in the dark.

One of the two starting skills, or abilities, I
had chosen had been darkvision, which allowed me to see through absolute gloom
as if it was the end of twilight. Thanks to that, I would be able to explore
the prison without having to take a torch, which would've made me a bright
moving target for my enemies.

Happily ignoring the torches, I began to walk.
Since I was crouching, it was slow, but I'd rather walk this way and lower my
chance of being spotted.

Each side of the corridor had intermittent
cells and the doors had white letters and numbers painted on them. Mine was the
A-20 cell, the last one in the hallway. At first I had thought the way the
cells were placed was a waste of space, but after some consideration I
concluded that they were this way so the prisoners wouldn't be able to talk
among themselves. This prison was not a pleasant place to be.

The first cell I passed by was empty, the door
wide open. In the far end of the corridor I could see the only other light
source. The next three cells were also open and empty, but inside A-16 I found
a dead skeleton. It was important to assess its death state, even if it was a
skeleton; in this world, skeletons could walk and stick a knife in your back.

I almost passed by the door, but a small bag
under the corpse caught my attention. I approached the bones slowly and took
the brown bag, which I discovered to be a purse. It had a single copper coin
inside.

Sweet. It had some strings that I used to tie
the purse to my belt. Another 'A' exclamation point had appeared, and I opened
it.

Perception increased to 1 (+1)

Noticing small things shows that you are a
perceptive person.

Another free attribute point. I wondered how
hard it would become to level my attributes after they got to level twenty or
so. I went back to the corridor and resumed my crouched walk.

The next six cells were also bare, but A-9 was
different: its door was closed. I remembered how loud my cell door had sounded,
so I applied only a small force as I knocked.

"Anybody there?" I said quietly, but
loud enough for my voice to go through the door.

"Screw you!" A man yelled from
inside.

I frowned. What kind of response was that from
a game character?

"Calm down, mister politeness incarnate.
I'm an escaping prisoner."

"Ha! Get out, ghoul! I will tell you
nothing!"

"I'm not a ghoul."

"Right! Go away!"

"I'm telling you, man, I'm not a ghoul.
Escaping prisoner coming through."

"Stop the act! I can smell death even
through the door, undead. Ghoul, deathlord, vampire or zombie, even if you are
an escaping prisoner, you are not my ally. Just go away!"

"I think I know why you are in prison,
what with this attitude and all. Do you always spit in every hand that tries to
help you?"

"Oh, you are a helper! An innocent boy in
the deathlords' prison, trying to help everyone! Come in here, undead, I still
have some life magic left. Let me heal you; you will love it."

Life magic would heal living people, but me
being undead, I would receive damage instead. This was a confusing situation.
Wasn't that a game character waiting to be rescued? What kind of victim made
the rescuer beg to allow the rescue to be done?

"Whatever. Just pretend I'm a boy scout
who wants to help, what would I need to do?"

"Scout? Who would you even be scouting for
in a prison? Go away!"

Ouch, the cultural gap between worlds.

"Man, just tell me how to take you out of
the cell. Can you get out by yourself? Can the door be forced?" I tried as
I spoke, but the door was firmly set, unlike my own had been. "Do you know
who has the key? Just tell me and I'll leave."

This time, the prisoner didn't answer
immediately. After a few seconds, he replied with a much lower voice. "A
torturer must have the key."

"Was it that hard? I'll be back."

Two exclamation point buttons had appeared, one
with the letter 'Q' and the other with the letter 'A'. I opened the quest one
first.

Quest: Save the Prisoner from Cell A-9

C+ rank

Help the prisoner from cell A-9 escape the
deathlords' prison.

He told you that the key to his cell is with a
torturer.

Conditions:

» Must be completed before leaving the prison

» Must be completed without dying

A C+ quest meant that it was slightly above the
average difficulty for my current power. A small challenge. I smiled and opened
the attribute exclamation point button.

Charisma increased to 1 (+1)

Convincing a prisoner to let you help him is a
feat of a true charismatic person!

Is this attribute message being sarcastic?

A few more open doors later I found myself
before cell A-2 and was finally able to see what there was in the light ahead.
Two ghouls were there, clearly stronger than the one I had killed.

Instead of pipes, they had corroded swords
loosely hanging from their belts and small round corroded shields on their left
arms. With only a pipe myself, I decided it'd be best not to attack head on.

I had to make them leave their position or become
distracted.

How to do that came to me fast: I entered the
empty cell nearby and hit the metal door sharply. A loud sound echoed through
the corridor.

"Did ya hear that?" One of them
spoke.

"No, shudap."

I couldn't hear them move. I hit the door
again.

"Hey, ya hear it now?"

"Mus' be a rat. Da pests everywhere."

No movement. I tried again.

"That ain't no rat. Mus' be one of the
prisoners."

"Mus' be the elf. High Lady Renno said the
other one'll get killed when he wakes. That's why she sent the newbie there. He
is an idiot, but I bet even he woul' check the noise."

"A bet? A'right, I bet he asleep. Wha'
'bout a silver coin?"

"Deal. But I check."

"No way. We go together."

It worked. Only one would be better, but life
has a way of denying perfection to people. I hid beside the door and waited. As
the ghouls neared, I synchronized my breathing with their steps. Light shone
outside, probably from a torch one of them was carrying.

As they passed the cell, walking slowly and
unworried, an exclamation point button appeared, but I ignored it for now and
followed my boys. I took extra care only to step on the floor when one of them
stepped too. Soon, I was behind both of them and chose the left one to be the
first one to die. He had a torch in his hand and could use it as a weapon
faster than the other one could grab his sword. I swung the pipe with all my
force at his head.

Sneak attack for 2.0x damage!

34 blunt damage dealt to Ghoul

Sneak attack! That wasn't in the manuals. He screamed, and the
other one turned. I attacked the same ghoul again, but this time I didn't
receive a sneak attack bonus and missed the head, dealing a lot less damage.
Meanwhile, the other one took the sword from its belt. A final pipe hit killed
the first ghoul, but the other one swung the sword at me.

23 slash damage received

HP: 77 / 100

I felt the cold sword cutting through my side
and it hurt a lot. I gritted my teeth, stepped back, used the pipe to take the
ghoul's sword out of the way and then attacked him. He put his shield in the
way, but thanks to the bar above his head, I knew he had taken damage.

6 shock damage dealt to Ghoul

HP: 53 / 59 <?>

Wait, the bar above his head?

A red bar had appeared between his head and the
floating 'Ghoul' text above his head. It was not entirely red, almost a tenth
left to become full. Over it was the HP numbers I had just seen in the damage
message.

Fifty-nine had been the total damage I had
inflicted to the first ghoul. So, for killing the first, I now could see this
one's hit points. Sweet.

He attacked, faster than the ghoul I had fought
in my cell, but still slow. He had been able to hit the previous swing only
because I had been too focused on killing the other guy.

I stepped aside to dodge the sword swing and
counter-attacked. Again he used the shield to block.

The biggest concern now was the stamina. Each
attack, dodge or even hit I received consumed five stamina points.

Five damage, dodge, six damage, dodge, six
damage, dodge. He still had twenty-nine HP left.

It was clear that my remaining thirty stamina
would not be enough. I had to try something different. I feigned an attack at
his body, and as soon as he raised his shield, I lowered the pipe to his legs.

12 blunt damage dealt to Ghoul

HP: 17 / 59 <?>

Great! After that big damage, the fight was
decided in two more attacks to the shield, for a total of fifty-three points of
damage. The ghoul's total HP was updated on the last hit.

That's what the question mark means, then. The
information is only an estimate based on my previous experiences. Or thoughts,
in the case of the 'Ghoul' text appearing over their heads.

As the ghoul dropped dead, I suddenly felt
shaky. I was panting, and the bloodied pipe weighed heavily on my hand. I let
it go. The metal clinked when it hit the stone floor. My body went down next.

Man, I'm tired.
A translucent energy left the last ghoul corpse; it was dark grey and flew like
an arrow to me. I was too surprised to dodge.

Kill to Survive: 1 HP recovered

'Kill to Survive' was the name of the skill I
had chosen together with darkvision. Both were magic skills and were now on
level one; using them a lot would level them up. Leveling them up would make
them stronger and grant me new magical skills.

I really wanted to do some real magic,
like throwing fireballs. Not that I would be able to do so any time soon. I had
chosen death magic to heal myself, since I was a solo player, and because
deathlords had a ten percent efficiency bonus to death magic. And I had chosen
darkness magic because of the darkvision, which would be much safer than
walking around with fire, as had already been proven by my actions. But as soon
as possible I'd start on the fire path.

I was very into mages. Granted, kicking people
in the face or hitting them with pipes was fun, both in Valia and in the real
world, but killing people just by thinking about it was way cooler.

For now, everything my mighty death element
magic skill did was heal me by one HP. It was so pathetic after the hard fight
that I laughed. I had five stamina remaining; one extra attack or dodge and I
would have become unable to move for five minutes.

There were two exclamation point buttons
visible now, one of them with a brand new 'T'.

Trait received: Shadow

You have learned how to pass unnoticed by your
enemies.

» Sound and smells reduced by 1% while hiding

Traits were like another kind of attributes in
that they both affected what the character could do and how well he could do
it. Also, the trait points were added to the attribute points before dividing
by ten to determine the overall character level; I was currently level zero.

Even if they helped with the character level,
traits came with a few setbacks: they were a whole lot harder to level up, were
not all known and had to be unlocked by the character actions.

The trait system was the closest thing Valia
had to a traditional class system that divided people into warriors, rogues,
mages, archers, bards, and so on.

Discovering the shadow trait was interesting.
The first stealth skill players could get made it harder only to see the
character, not hear and smell, so a player going for the stealth path would
also need the shadow trait to become more effective. It was a nice touch, as
traits were leveled up by acting in the right way while skills did so by
continuous usage. Combining both would lead to a deep and immersive character –
a real ninja in this case.

I checked the other exclamation point.

Willpower increased to 1 (+1)

Fighting to the brink of exhaustion requires a
lot of willpower.

» Stamina: 100 (+5)

Willpower increases stamina? Well, I guess a
willful person will go further than one who gives up early. Why doesn't it also
apply to MP, though?

For the next nine minutes, I remained seated
there. Thanks to my one point in constitution I recovered ten stamina – nine
base points plus the constitution value – and one HP per minute if I was
resting. When my stamina was full, and my HP got back to eighty-six, I took the
ghouls' equipment.

Corroded Copper Sword

» 25 (+2 [Strength]) physical damage

Corroded Small Copper Shield

» Resistance: 50%

The shield's resistance was used for any damage
that had to pass the physical barrier of the shield to get to me. Blades,
spears, arrows, fireballs, ice spikes, it all fell into that category.
Lightning, life magic, and other stuff usually didn't.

I took the new weapon and strapped the shield
to my arm, leaving the pipe on my belt. One of the shirts became a makeshift
bag where I put the two new pair of shoes while the two belts became bindings
for the extra sword, which I carried in my shield hand with the bag for now.

It was an RPG law: take everything possible for
selling later. There was no way to take the extra shield, though.

Although I'd probably get back to this corridor
to save the prisoner, there were no guarantees so I decided to bring everything
with me.

I put the other shirt and the two extra pants
over what I was wearing. While handling the pants I found hidden pockets sewn
inside them with a silver coin in each. Sweet. Was this a bonus for listening
to the conversation earlier? If so, it was an interesting touch to the game
that would slightly change the way I played. Listening to enemies'
conversations wasn't useless anymore.

Two silver coins and a few items richer, I hid
the corpses, the shield, and the torch in the A-2 cell and went on.

None of the other rooms had anything
whatsoever, and I finally got to the end of the corridor, where the two ghouls
had stood. Only a single torch remained at the beginning of the stone stairs.
Contrary to the uneven stone floor until now, the stairs were perfectly cut.

A door was at the end of the stairs, slightly
ajar. I silently looked inside.

Two more ghouls were in there, seated in front
of each other, a table between them. Both were asleep with their heads on the
table. It was a small room, with no furniture besides the table, chairs and a
single torch on the wall, with another door on the other side of the room. The
walls, floor, and ceiling were made of perfectly cut stone, too.

I took utmost care as I slowly entered the
room. The ghouls' shields were on the table with some copper and silver coins
scattered on it. The coins, two empty bottles of wine, and some cards made it
clear what they had been doing. I put my bag and wrapped sword on the floor and
positioned myself behind the nearest ghoul.

With one hand I blocked his mouth, and with the
other I struck his neck with the sword. I felt the blade cut through flesh and
scratch bone and felt a chill down my spine. He managed to open his eyes, but
couldn't even move before dying.

Attacked a sleeping target for 2.0x damage!

Sneak attack for 2.0x damage!

Critical hit for 2.0x damage!

162 slash damage dealt to Ghoul

HP: 0 / 53 <?>

Blood poured from the wound and covered the
table. It shone gruesomely on the torchlight and the foul smell of it made bile
come to my mouth.

Part of me wanted to feel bad, knew I should
feel bad. It was a gruesome scene, the bloodied sword in my hands, the blood
covering the table, the eyes of the dead ghoul wide open.

But I didn't. They were game characters and had
been put there by the game designers so that they could be killed. More
importantly, they were my enemies and would kill me if they had the chance.

The Underworld was no place for mercy.

Instead, I had the opposite reaction: I felt
amazed at the realism of it all and wanted just to do it again. Which I did;
the second ghoul also died in his sleep. I took the coins and cleaned the blood
on the clothes of the dead as if it was the most common thing in the world.
Seven silver and three copper richer, I took all the ghouls' equipment that I
could and proceeded to the door.

Never before in my life did I open a door so
slowly. On the other side of it I saw an enormous hall. On the wall to my right
there were big wooden double doors. To the left, a large staircase that divided
in the middle and lead to two doors upstairs. On the first floor there were
eight metal doors, each with a letter engraved on it, from A to H, four on each
side of the room. I was on the A-door, closest to the staircase.

There were torches on the walls, all lit, but
thankfully no enemies were there. I closed the A-door and walked in a crouched
position to the B-door. Again I opened it as slowly as possible.

A room just like the one at the A-door was
there, but this one had no ghouls, its torch unlit on the wall. I entered,
closing the door behind me just in case. The door to the cells corridor was
open, and no lights were visible in there. Even so, I checked all the cells,
every single one of them open and empty, except for the last cell which had a
lone copper coin that hardly paid for the time it took me to get there.

Back to the big hall, I went for the C-door. As
I slowly opened the door, I heard a woman scream.

Jack
Thorn

Unbound
Deathlord

Level 0

Hit Points:100
/ 100

Mana Points:100
/ 100

Stamina:100
/ 100

Attributes:

Strength:1

Agility:1

Dexterity:1

Constitution:1

Intelligence:1

Perception:1

Willpower:1

Charisma:1

Traits:

Shadow:1

2. Red Hot Chili Bones

'A world without bribes is like a machine
without oil. '

- Father

"I don't know! I
swear by Lathar! I don't know!" She cried and desperately yelled some
words between screams of pain.

Two loud cracks were followed by even louder
screams and a genderless voice.

"Speak, human! Where is he? Where is the
Resistance man you were supposed to meet that day?"

"I don't-" She began to reply, but
another crack interrupted her and she screamed again.

"Stop lying! If you don't, I will bring
new toys next time I come. Do you want that? Do you?"

"No! Oh, Lathar, please, no. Please. I
don't know-" Again she was interrupted by cracks.

I kept listening as I opened the door. The room
had a lit torch, and a ghoul was leaning on the opposite door, looking at the
corridor with his back to me.

Holding my breath, I entered the room, closed
the door to the hall, put my bag and surplus swords on the floor and walked as
noiselessly as possible. When I got behind him, I did almost the same as I had
done to the sleeping ghouls. One hand closed his mouth while the other quickly
put a sword through his neck. Sneak attack and critical hit: instant kill.

I dropped the corpse gently on the floor to
prevent sounds and walked downstairs. A little further into the corridor, right
next to the C-1 cell, there were two other ghouls, one to each side of the
door. They had their backs to the wall, and one of them was smoking a straw
cigarette, which gave out a strong smell that almost made me cough.

How fun would it be, having an all cool shadow
trait and getting discovered because I coughed at cigarette smoke?

There was no way to approach without being
seen, so I charged full speed ahead, my sword held in front of me. I aimed for
the neck, but the ghouls saw me and moved, forcing me to lower the sword and
hit the first one's stomach instead. I stepped back as he counterattacked.

"Intruder!" He yelled. It became a
fight against the two ghouls, but they were slow, and the sword did a lot more
damage than the pipe. Dodging two swords was harder than one, but still doable.

I'm no intruder, idiot. I'm escaping, I thought as I killed them. I was panting at the end, with only
twenty stamina left. I could hear no movement inside the room, so I took the
time to check the new exclamation point that had appeared.

Agility increased to 2 (+1)

Fighting two enemies and not getting damaged
has sharpened your reflexes.

Constitution increased to 2 (+1)

By repeatedly fighting to near exhaustion,
your body becomes more used to harsh treatment.

» HP: 110 (+10)

» Stamina: 110 (+10)

Level up!

Current level: 1

HP, MP and stamina restored

My very first level. It had taken me half an
hour to get to level one, which was a little too much. On the other hand, I had
only killed six enemies. Recovering all my HP, MP, and stamina was a pleasant
surprise. Instantly, all the tiredness left my body, and my breath went back to
normal.

Sweet. And a little scary that the game has so
much control over how I feel.

My stamina back, I charged again, this time
into the room.

I was met with a ball of fire flying directly
at my head.

Somehow I put the shield on the way just in
time to block and wondered if I would have been able to do it if my agility had
not just increased. How exactly did these attributes affect my virtual body and
my perception of it? I had just witnessed the system remove all my tiredness,
so it was an interesting line of thought.

All considerations left my mind the moment the
ball of fire exploded on the shield. The unexpected force of the explosion made
my arm jerk back, and the shield hit my face. The fire burned my clothes and
heated my head.

20 shock + 2 burn damage received (22
total)

HP: 88 / 110

Shock damage was the damage that went through
the shield, which I lowered slightly to check the room.

It was an ordinary cell, but there was
something very disturbing about it: a woman in underwear was hanging by chains
on her wrists. She was in the center of the room, her blood pouring from lots
of livid red wounds. Her hair had been crudely shaved, with patches here and
there, and she was looking down, sobbing. It was such a sorry scene that it was
enough to make me understand why it was necessary to be of age to play an
Underworld species.

Before her stood a living skeleton. Its bones
were red, and so were his clothes: a leather jacket with straps closures,
leather pants, and boots. Without any meat on the skeleton's body, the clothing
was loose. It held a whip in its hand.

"Ah, a deathlord! Come, let me give you
your final death!" It lashed the whip at me.

The torture scene had caught me by surprise,
and I just stood there, waiting for the skeleton to move. I snapped out of it
as the whip came at me and put the shield up again.

The hit was too powerful, and the shield broke
into pieces, the whip hitting my forearm after that.

Your shield has broken

36 slash damage received

HP: 52 / 110

I felt so much pain that I almost fainted, my
vision becoming blurred for half a second. It made me fearful, which in turn
made me furious, and I attacked the skeleton head on.

A laugh came from the skeleton as it opened its
jaw and a small flame appeared inside. One second later the flame flew to me,
becoming bigger as it left the mouth. It was too close to dodge and positioned
myself to take it in the chest.

36 fire + 8 burn damage received (44
total)

HP: 8 / 110

It hurt a lot and made me stumble. I could
smell my burnt skin. The heat and the pain were so intense I just wanted to
curl someplace cold and cry. Just the air passing by my neck and chest as I
moved was painful enough to make tears come to my eyes. If it wasn't for my
street fighting experience in the real world, I'd probably have done just that.

As it was, I let out a cry of pain and fury and
hit the skeleton in the head with my sword, using all the power I could muster.

The sword hit and bounced from the skull, not
even leaving a mark.

4 slash damage dealt to Red Skeleton

What? Four damage? And I just took forty-four?
Is this even serious?

After a leap back, the skeleton, still
laughing, used the whip and I reflexively put the sword on the way. The whip
wrapped around the blade and with a pull from the monster I was left without
it.

This is ridiculous!

Desperate, I took the pipe from the belt,
closed the distance and swung with my full force on its arm. A tiny crack
appeared on the bone, and the skeleton gave out a yell of pain.

12 blunt damage dealt to Red Skeleton

Of course!
Different species and races reacted differently to certain types of damage.
Skeletons had nothing to fear from slashing and piercing while having their
bones smashed was a nightmare.

The skeleton tried to step back again, but I
accompanied it. It stopped laughing, and another fireball started to form
inside its mouth. The pipe met its head.

13 blunt damage dealt to Red Skeleton

Disrupted spell-casting for 12 pure damage

Spell disrupting, the eternal weakness of mages
and the reason they had to be protected by allies.

Keeping close to the torturer and attacking it
with the pipe made the fight fairly easy. Half a minute later the skeleton
received the final hit and its bones dismantled.

I was panting again. A dark semi-transparent
energy raised from the bones and entered my body, healing one HP.

Man, this game is hard! And killing this
skeleton is for a C+ rank quest too. To be fair, killing it was easy after I
got the gist of it.

Strength increased to 2 (+1)

Hitting enemies with all your might makes you
even mightier.

Dexterity increased to 2 (+1)

Each time you hit your mark you get better at
it.

Willpower increased to 2 (+1)

Resisting pain and purposefully taking spells
takes a lot of willpower. Or idiocy.

» Stamina: 115 (+5)

Wait, had the game just called me an idiot? It
had not been smart to do that, but it was not nice to be told so. I wondered if
it was enough for a suit.

Trait received: Antimage

You hate enemy mages. Well, you hate enemies,
but the mages even more so.

» -10% damage needed to disrupt enemy spell
casting

I was in pain, but considerably less than I
thought I should be, and it was fading away too quick. The four shirts I was
wearing were torn apart on my chest level, and my flesh was still hot. Still, I
only felt as if hot water had been poured across the area.

My forearm was the worst. It had already
stopped bleeding, but I felt it pulsating in a slightly more painful way than
my chest. In a fit, I spat on the red skull of the skeleton.

A quiet sob made me remember the woman. She had
been looking at my back, but as soon as I turned to her she gasped, and her
eyes widened.

"D-deathlord..." She said terrified.

How does she know? How did the skeleton know?

She was a medium boned woman with green eyes.
Not gorgeous, but certainly comely. Her lack of hair and sore eyes made her
look fragile. Or maybe it was the blood all over her body. As she watched me
looking at her, she tried to twist weakly, but her feet chained to each other
and her body weakness made it too difficult.

"Sorry," I said, and I could swear
her eyes popped even more, now full of shock. "I was just looking at your
wounds... It's... Disheartening." Remembering the A-6 prisoner, who had
said the torturer had keys to the cell, I searched the remains looking for it.
I found three keys of different sizes in a small bag on its belt.

Small Copper Key

A small key to small locks.

Medium-Sized Silver Key

Looks like a key to a door.

Big Gold Key

It's big and made of gold. Seems
important.

I took the small one and tested it on the chains
on her foot.

They opened with a click and the woman
sighed, then resumed crying. I had never been good at emotional stuff, and it
made me feel very awkward.

"Hey," I tried to speak softly, but
my undead voice didn't seem to have soft tones, sounding deep and scratchy
instead. "Everything is alright now. I'll get you out of here." She
cried even more. "I will have to hug you, OK?" I said carefully,
afraid of the sexual abuse rules of the game. V-Soft forbid this kind of things
on NPCs too, and they were very strict about it. "If I don't, your body
will be suspended only by one arm and it might hurt more."

After waiting a few seconds for an answer that
didn't come, I hugged her body as delicately as possible. I unlocked the cuffs
and gently put her sitting on the floor. She was crying even more now.
"I'll get some clothes for you, just a second." I went outside and
stripped one of the ghouls, entered the room again and put the clothes on the
floor next to her. "Take your time. I'll explore the rest of the corridor.
I'll be right back." I left.

What about that time? What if I had got to them
earlier? Would I had been able to save them? The autopsy said... But what if it
was wrong? What if I could've...

Taking a deep breath, I focused on checking the
corridor, or rather at not thinking about that long past morning. That was a
road of no return and the reason I played games was exactly not to think about
the past.

All the other cells were empty. When I went
back to the woman, she had put the clothes on and was sitting outside the cell,
next to a ghoul corpse, her back to the wall and hugging her legs. She looked
at me as I came back and silent tears were still pouring from her eyes.

"It was impossible for me to stand in that
foul place a second more..." Her voice was hoarse and weak; I wouldn't
have heard her if it wasn't completely silent. "You made me so full of
terror and pain that even the little gentleness you showed in this obvious
scheme of yours has broken me." She had a dignified way about her speech.
"Just ask and I shall tell you all my secrets, deathlord." She hugged
herself even harder. "I shall do whatever you want. Please, don't put me
in there anymore. Please."

Damn, these game characters are well-made. I'm
feeling a lot of compassion, and I knew she's just code. No, not 'she', 'it'. I
put my hands on my head. This level of realism could mess with one's mind.

"That's very considerate of you, milady,
but this is no scheme. I don't know how everyone seems to know I'm a deathlord,
but I'm an unbound one. I'm an escaping prisoner."

For a few seconds, she just looked at me, then
nodded her head slightly. "It makes sense; you want me to lead the way to
the Resistance myself, to avoid suspicions. Will you allow me to heal first or
shall we go now? I beg your pardon, but in this frail condition my body will
not readily comply with a fast pace." And she added with a whisper.
"My master."

A shiver ran through my spine. Her voice was
devoid of emotion, and it made me full of compassion. Unfortunately, I had no idea
how to comfort her. Well, I knew a way of doing it, but she didn't seem in the
right state of mind for that.

"Ok... Look, miss, I'm a prisoner too. I'm
escaping. I'll just get the stuff from the dead bodies, and we can go and
rescue another guy. He said he has life magic to kill me, so maybe he can heal
you. Alright?"

She nodded again. "As you wish, my
master," she said, then put her head between the legs and began to hit her
back against the wall.

This shit is so messed up.

First I took the stuff from the ghouls, then
from the torturer. I had to take all my destroyed shirts off before wearing
another one, and it hurt a little on the burnt area, albeit a lot less than
before. It was now hurting like a heavy sunburn.

Worn Torturer Leather Pants

» +4 defense

» +5% extra pain to target on hit (PvE
only)

Worn Torturer Leather Armor

» +5 defense

» +5% extra pain to target on hit (PvE
only)

Old Torturer Leather Boots

» +3 defense

» +5% extra pain to target on hit (PvE
only)

Old Torturer Leather Whip

» 65 (+4 [Strength]) damage

» +200% extra pain to target on hit
(PvE only)

The items description explained the extra pain
I had felt on my arm, and it was very smart of V-Soft to only allow it to have
effect on PvE – player versus environment – situations, as opposed to PvP –
player versus player. I put the sleeveless armor on and had to take out four of
my five cotton pants to be able to wear the leather pants and still move
freely. I also swapped my shoes for the boots.

I tried to use the whip, but I didn't have the
ability to do that nor the time to practice, so I just left it coiled on my
waist.

With everything ready, I left the room. As I
did so, the woman looked at me with empty eyes. My heart sunk and I took her in
my arms; she shivered but didn't complain.

In the room near to the great hall, I stopped
again to take more stuff. As I created a second makeshift bag using a shirt, I
got another exclamation point.

Trait received: Crafter

You have tapped in the secrets of crafting
objects.

» +1 dexterity when crafting items

The makeshift bag became a proper item, named
'Trash-Quality Makeshift Bag'. I liked it a lot.

With everything ready, I put my stuff on my
shoulder using some belts and picked the woman up again. Back to the A-6 cell I
gently put her on the ground and used the medium sized key in the door. It
opened.

An elf was there. He had light fair skin, blue
eyes, pointy ears and his hair had also been shaved. He had wound marks all
over his almost naked body, but the blood was dry. His body was suspended by
chains coming from the ceiling.

"Ah, a deathlord torturer. I must be
thankful for the change of style, I think. Let's not waste time, the sooner you
begin, the faster you will get frustrated and leave."

"How the hell do you all guess I'm a
deathlord? I didn't even change my body appearance when I got into Valia,"
I said as I unlocked the chains on his feet.

The elf frowned. "I recognize your voice.
The alleged escaping prisoner. You look even closer to death than me."

"Yeah. I have been told that taking
fireballs to the chest on purpose is not a smart move. Go figure." I
provided support for the elf's body, unlocked his handcuffs and helped him to
the floor. The elf was looking at me as if wondering what the trick was.
"Do you really have some life magic left?" I left the room before the
answer and brought the woman inside. "She needs some healing."

For the next few seconds, the elf looked from
me to the woman and then back. "I must admit, this is a good play even for
a deathlord. Do you possess drow blood running through your veins? This plot is
drow level without a doubt."

"Yeah, right. I'm the mastermind
deathlord, running almost dead in my prison and saving people in an evil scheme
to let them free in the world. We all know life sucks, so this is the greatest
revenge I can take on you. Feel my power."

"Yes," the woman said suddenly.
"My master is the greatest." Fear was in her voice. She was clearly
saying this in the hopes of preventing some future beatings.

The elf opened his mouth, but I beat him to speaking.
"As I said, she needs some healing. Take a look at her and I'll get you
some clothes and a sword." I did so, having to unmake a makeshift bag to
give him a shirt. I also threw a sword at his feet. "I'll check the rest
of the prison."

I was too tired of all this prisoner's attitude
towards me to wait for anything; I just left my items there and resumed the
exploration. I took a small break at the table room to rest. No reason to
go and kill myself. The next door I visited was the D-door, the last one that
side of the great hall and closest to the wooden double doors.

Its cells were also empty.

Back to the hall, I crossed it and went for the
E-door. Frustrated from all the empty corridors, cells and the NPC's attitude,
I opened it without care. A ghoul was sitting on the table. As soon as he saw
me, he stood and ran to the opposite door.

Dammit, I
thought and ran after him, sword in hand. The ghoul had to stop to open the
closed door, and I was able to hit his neck thanks to that.

Critical hit for 2.0x damage!

48 slash damage dealt to Ghoul

HP: 5 / 53 <?>

"Intruder!" He yelled and fell all
the way to the bottom of the stairs, where he laid motionless. Dead.

He died from tripping on the stairs. This level
of realism is absurd. Is this really a game or am I in another dimension?

Also, it had been a critical hit, but it didn't
deal the max damage of the sword. Probably because the hit hadn't been applied
with my full strength, or with much skill.

Until now the only thing I had found too hard
to believe was me being unchained in my cell and the novice ghoul outside
waiting to be tricked, but I guessed the game had to provide some way for me to
escape.

Slowly, I went downstairs and took the stuff
from the ghoul's corpse. Besides the usual, I also found two silver coins and
seventeen copper coins in a hidden pocket on the shirt. The corridor was
completely dark, but since the ghoul had run this way and bothered to announce
me, I was sure there were enemies in there. I walked slowly and crouched,
looking attentively into the open cells.

E-1 to E-6 had open doors and were empty. E-7
was the first closed door I found. It was not locked, though, and I opened it
carefully. Empty.

E-8 through E-11 were all empty as well. It was
a tense situation. The silence, darkness, and unknowingness were overwhelming.
Just before E-12, there was a tripwire on foot height, attached to small hooks
on the walls. Only then did I notice that all over the corridor the walls had
small hooks like that on foot height.

Perception increased to 2 (+1)

Checking a lot of empty cells, noticing a trap
and observing details about the environment makes you more aware of your
surroundings.

I cut the wire and put it in my remaining
makeshift bag. Noticing the E-12 door open after so many closed ones, I guessed
the enemies were there, and the tripwire had been placed in that area so I
would fall right in front of the door and die.

Taking a peep would be slightly dangerous; I
didn't know what was inside nor how precise the possible enemies were. Instead,
I ran past the door.

A fireball flew from inside the cell and hit
the wall. I had taken a look and seen three ghouls in front of a red skeleton.
Without wasting any time, I charged inside.

The ghouls had their shields raised, a 'living'
defensive wall to the skeleton. I ran to them, and before I rammed their bodies
with mine, I crouched and swung the sword at the knees of two of them. They
screamed in pain, and I took the opportunity to stick my blade in the middle
ghoul, piercing under his chin and entering its head. I pulled it back and he
dropped dead.

From the right came a sword swing. I dodged it
and put myself in front of the first ghoul, letting him stay between the
skeleton and myself as I ran to the outside and prepared myself next to the
door, but out of view.

"You dumbass! Come back!" The
skeleton yelled, and a second later the damaged ghoul got out of the cell. I
hit his leg again, then his shield before he could do anything. He died, and as
dark energy left the body to heal me, a fireball came from the cell, hitting
the wall yet again. The skeleton let out an angry scream.

I picked my bag up and charged into the room
once more. As I expected, the torturer used its whip, but I threw the bag in
the way and ran to the ghoul, repeating the combo of hitting his legs and then
his neck. It seemed they were all equally dumb.

By then the skeleton had its mouth wide open,
and fire lit inside it. I threw my shield first and my sword right after it,
just in case. A small explosion happened inside the head, and smoke came out of
it. I got close and almost felt relaxed. From there on the fight turned easy. I
took the pipe from my belt and smashed the hell out of the red skeleton.

I was breathless yet again, but now it had
required four enemies to cause that. The extra stamina from the higher
constitution made a difference, but I was also getting more efficient at the
fights. I had found the perfect way to battle both ghoul and skeleton.

Sitting on the floor, I checked the exclamation
point buttons which had appeared.

Agility increased to 3 (+1)

Hitting a fleeing ghoul in the neck, dodging
fireballs, preventing a whip by quickly throwing a bag at it and a fireball by
quickly throwing your shield and sword. This man can act fast!

Dexterity increased to 3 (+1)

You are just too good at hitting exactly where
you want.

Intelligence increased to 2 (+1)

Noticing the way the fleeing ghoul was
running, anticipating the trap after the tripwire, previewing the whip attack
and using your shield and weapon in different ways.

Are you a genius?

» MP: 110 (+10)

Level up!

Current level: 2

HP, MP and stamina restored

I smiled. After calling me an idiot, the game
was now calling me a genius.

Trait received: Nitpicker

Always going for critical strikes when you
have the chance has made you more in control of your attacks.

» +2 dexterity when attacking with a weapon

Critical hits in the game depended exclusively
on the place you hit your enemy's body, and how well you maneuvered weapons was
dictated by the dexterity skill. Having extra dexterity in my fights wasn't bad
at all.

As I began to take the stuff from the corpses,
I noticed for the first time a prisoner in the cell. It was an almost naked
pale man without visible wounds, a sack on his head and chains on his feet and
wrists. Anticipating the ungrateful prisoner act, I took my time to grab
everything from the bodies, finding three extra keys and seven silver coins in
another small bag.

I left a ghoul attire out of my collection and
put it next to the prisoner before removing the sack from his head. He was a
handsome vampire with a tight gag on his mouth. He had red irises, long
canines, and a long black hair not yet shaved like the others.

"Ok, vampire. I'm sorry for doing this to
you, but I had a lot of problems with other prisoners, so forgive my lack of
courtesy. I'm not a local, I'm an unbound deathlord who was imprisoned, and now
I'm escaping the hell outta here. My name's Jack Thorn. If you want out, I can
free you. If I do, you can either get out by yourself or wait for when I decide
to leave. Or I can forget you gagged here. Your choice."

The man nodded once and I cut his gag.

"I am Senir Yechkov, from the Arktov
clan." As he said it, letters appeared over his head: 'Senir Yechkov,
Arktov clan.' This time, there was no question mark. "I am no stranger to
the difficulties of the unbound deathlords, and I can feel your lack of a
higher master. I allow you to remove my bounds."

Allow me? I had
to use all my willpower not to roll my eyes before opening the chain locks. The
vampire stood graciously and looked at the clothes I had put by his feet.
"I am not a dog to walk in these... Vests. I will let myself out."

No nice, grateful prisoner for me, it seems. "Wait, you'll need this key, I think," I said as I
extended the extra large gold key to him.

The vampire stopped, looked at me, then at the
key with disgust, and made a tsk sound. "I allow you to gift me this key.
I graciously warn you not to presume such intimacy again." He took the key
and left.

I sighed, grabbed back the extra clothes and
sword I had put aside for the vampire, and went back to exploring the corridor.
I was about to enter the last cell when an exclamation point appeared.

Hidden quest completed: Save the prisoner
from cell E-12

Random primary attribute points received:

» +1 charisma

» +1 willpower

Stamina: 120 (+5)

Bonus for completing a hidden quest:

» +1 intelligence

MP: 125 (+15)

Interesting. With Valia not having the
experience points usually present in games, quests could reward attribute
points. Made sense. More exciting was the existence of hidden quests; not a new
concept by any means, but still not confirmed to exist in Valia up until now.

There was nothing in the last cell, and I went
back to the main hall, crouched yet again. The double doors were wide open, and
I took the time to close them while shaking my head.

Damn vampire couldn't
even bother to shut the door. What if someone saw it?

Next, I went for the F-door.

I opened it with total care and was
rewarded by nothingness. I bet that if I had opened it wildly, I would have
taken a fireball to the head. So frustrating. Once more the corridor and
cells revealed nothing. I gritted my teeth as I went back to the hall, but this
time, I didn't allow the frustration to make me sloppy and carefully opened the
G-door.

Two ghouls were playing cards there.

"Three stripes and two squares. You
lose," said one with a horrendous smile.

"You cheat!" The other slammed his
hand on the table.

"Ha, cu' it. Ma goddess is Sanith, she
bless me a'right," the first one said, pulling some coins to his side of
the table.

"Don' ya tell me 'bout ya Sanith tities!
Ya cheat!" The second ghoul stood up and took his sword from the ground.
The first one stopped taking the coins and did the same.

I took the opportunity to get quickly inside
and close the door. Both ghouls looked at me with eyes wide open before yelling
'intruder' and attacking. They didn't last long.

After collecting the goodies, I explored the
corridor. Two more ghouls were right down the stairs, and I found the second
ghoul with a pipe in the whole prison by the end of the hallway. The last door
was closed, and the torch beside it was the only one lit in the entire
corridor.

The layout was too similar to be a coincidence;
it was probably another possible starting point for a player.

For the first time I noticed another difference
to the last door: instead of a keyhole, it had a sliding lock at it, which
explained the sound I had heard when the ghoul opened my cell.

The lock was ridiculously rusty and looked
fragile. It wasn't hard to believe that if I had got my strength level to one
or two, I could've forced the door from the inside. Which was another break to
the realism of the game, since the NPC prisoners were much better guarded.

There was a woman there, petite and blond. When
she looked at me I finally understood how everybody knew I was a deathlord: her
eyes were completely black, even what should've been white.

"Finally, the NPC is here. Stupid game,
made me wait for twenty minutes. Let's go."

I watched dumbfounded as she left the room,
looked at the dead ghoul and ran. She stopped a little ahead and yelled.
"Come on you bugged game code. Laggy shit."

I frowned. What the hell was that? She was a
player, but that level of immaturity... Weren't the Underworld species and
races supposed to be only played by people of age?

More than that, she was an unbound deathlord
just like me. Having a person with that kind of attitude in the same category
as me was annoying and embarrassing.

Which meant one thing: miss sunshine had to
die.

I wasn't sure what would be consequence of
killing another player, but after a quick thinking, an idea bloomed on my mind.
Yes, that will be good enough for her. I ran.

Before the end of the corridor, just as she
began to climb the stairs, I put my plan in motion. If she believed this game
was poorly-made, I'd just use that against her.

"Oh, noble lady," I said in the most
'forced act' way I could, "we are near the end of the escapade. My
comrades have dominated some nearby enemies, and there is good equipment
waiting for you! Come! I will guide you!"

"Holy crap, look at this voice acting. Is
this even artificial intelligence or just poor recording?"

I climbed upstairs. She yelled a 'wait', but I
ignored her, and she ended up accompanying me. I led her to the front of the
H-door, the last unopened door on the first floor.

"Oh, noble lady, behind this door is the
right equipment for your mighty existence. Please, go ahead."

"No, you go ahead," she said, looking
suspiciously at me.

I didn't answer and after a few seconds
repeated: "Oh, noble lady, behind this door is the equipment for your
mighty existence. Please, go ahead."

She rolled her eyes. "I haven't seen such
bad characters since the sixty-four bit games." She opened the door.

I pushed her inside, closed the door and held
the doorknob firmly.

"Intruder!" I heard a ghoul yell.

"What the hell?!" She began to hit
the door repeatedly. "Open the door, idiot! Oh, freaking hell, open the
door! Ahhh! My back hurts! Open it! Oh, god, it hurts! Open! Damn it; I'm out
of this shitty starting point. Force logout!"

A few seconds later I heard a ghoul speak.
"She dead."

"Look at she clothes. She a
prisoner."

"We tell the High Lady?"

"Na, come back to da game, prisoners
always die anyways."

I smiled from ear to ear.

Jack
Thorn

Unbound
Deathlord

Level 2

Hit Points:110
/ 110

Mana Points:125
/ 125

Stamina:120
/ 120

Attributes:

Strength:2

Agility:3

Dexterity:3

Constitution:2

Intelligence:3

Perception:2

Willpower:3

Charisma:2

Traits:

Antimage:1

Crafter:1

Nitpicker:1

Shadow:1

3. Boy Finds Girl

'Democracy's a funny concept. It expects
people to know what's better for them.'

- Mother

Without feeling even
slightly guilty, I entered the room and dispatched the ghouls, who yelled
'intruder' again.

That corridor was empty of prisoners and other
guards. On the very last cell I found a single copper coin hidden under a lot
of dust. I almost left it there for spite, but money was money, and I was
already there anyway. I took it.

Trait received: Gold Digger

You like shinny things a little more than
normal and go to great lengths to get them.

» Coins will glow

» Glow intensity: 10%

This almost made all that walk through empty
corridors worth the trouble. Just to see the effects I threw a coin on the
floor. It was faint, but made the coin a lot more noticeable in the dark if I
was looking in its direction. I doubted it would be that useful in bright
environments, though.

Only upstairs was now left to explore, but
first I went back to the A-6 cell just to check on my fellow escapees.

The woman was sleeping on the ground with a
shirt being used as a blanket. The elf was seated shirtless on the floor,
looking exhausted. He barely opened his eyes as I entered the room.

"Hmm... Seeing a sweaty man next to a
sleeping woman was not what I had in mind when I told you to heal her."

The elf just closed his eyes again, too
dignified to answer. I left my bags and extra swords there and threw him a
shirt. That finally made him speak.

"I've rarely seen... That much mental
damage. I couldn't heal her completely. I made her forget some parts of the
torture. But you rescuing her when you did made such an impression... She will
not call you master anymore, gratitude now being greater than fear, but the
torture affected her so deeply that I doubt she would dare disobey anything you
say. So much pain..."

"I call that a clear improvement. Will she
ever get back to normal?"

He shrugged. "Probably not. But the worst
is gone. She can live a fairly common life as long as she doesn't see another
undead ever again. It is going to be a hard blow to her, but it is better than
dying or enslaving herself to the undead, I suppose."

I raised an eyebrow. "Hard blow?
Why?"

He looked at me silently for a few seconds.
"You are an innocent bystander, aren't you? She is Ambassador Alia
Soman, from the human Somanai Empire, third in line to the crown. She is worth
a hundred times her weight in gold." After saying the last sentence, he
looked at me with clear interest.

I just shrugged. There was no way for me to
leave the Underworld and claim the reward. As an undead I had a big weakness:
each second I stood in direct contact to sunlight would take ten percent of my
total HP. Ten seconds for a sure death and no way to heal as long as I even saw
indirect sunlight. I guessed there was a way to remove this characteristic, but
I bet I would not discover it so soon.

In the end, I wouldn't get anything from saving
her, even though she was a big figure. Maybe the annoying player girl had been
right: this was a shitty starting point.

"If you want you can leave now, the first
floor is clear and the front door is open. I'll check the rest of the
prison."

"Wait. Are you really just going to allow
us to leave this easily, deathlord?"

"Unbound deathlord, unbound being
the key word. Remember that."

"I will," he replied soberly and said
nothing more. I went back to exploring.

I heard voices just as I started opening the
door to the great hall. I stopped and listened, looking through a small gap.

Five ghouls in leather clothes, holding big
wooden kite shields and old looking wooden spears made the front line. Behind
them came two ghouls with chain armor and chain pants over their leather
clothes, holding rusty metal spears and medium rusty metal kite shields. Two
skeleton torturers with diamond shaped red stones attached to the middle of
their heads walked beside a big figure in black full plate armor, including a closed horned helmet.

Following common gaming nomenclatures, I named
the ghouls with wooden shields and spears 'Veteran Ghouls' and the two with
metal stuff 'Elite Ghouls.' The skeletons I called 'Third Eyed Red Skeletons'.
As soon as I decided that in my mind, the names appeared above their heads with
the question mark next to it.

When the plated armor creature walked, it made
a loud sound that echoed all over the hall. A massive sword was on a scabbard
hanging from its waist and in one hand it held five polished metal spears.

"...not a good idea, with all due respect,"
said one of the skeletons. The ghouls kept looking ahead, walking silently.

"I agree, milady," said the other
skeleton. "We had him for only seven days, we can still continue. Show him
the woman in pain and he'll give up. They always do," said the other
skeleton.

"Enough!" The plated creature was a
woman with a commanding voice. "He is to be killed today, by order of the
High Council."

"We understand, but High Lady Renno
said-"

"I said enough!" Her voice boomed in
the hall. "I didn't ask for your opinions, pile of bones, I gave you
orders. I will talk to Renno now, and I want the prisoner ready to be executed
by me in half an hour. You two," she said to the elite ghouls,
"accompany the torturers and guarantee they are following orders. I will
not be delayed by disobedient dogs who think too much of themselves."

They got to the middle of the stairs and the
veteran ghouls went to the right with the plated woman. The elite ones
immediately took the left path, while the skeletons took some moments looking
at the back of the plated woman before going to the left.

That made things complicated. I hadn't fought
either the elite ghouls or the new skeletons, and it seemed I would have to
fight them in pairs. The skeletons had the same equipment as the normal skeleton
torturers, but the red stone on their head and the people they accompanied made
it clear they were stronger.

I also had a time limit of half an hour before
the plated woman came back. Thirty minutes was probably not enough to safely
explore everything upstairs. But a dead NPC was an NPC who couldn't be rescued,
and unrescuable NPCs were attribute points I couldn't get.

No gamer had ever become strong without some
measure of greed.

Better hurry.

I didn't stop crouching, but moved a lot faster
than before. They had left both right and left doors open and I entered the
left room without problem. The letter 'S' was painted on the door.

The room inside had a small table with a chair
and some papers on it. Two torch sconces were on the walls, but only one had a
lit torch in it, the other one empty. A big metal cabinet was on the back wall
and beside it a metal door was open. Light shone beyond, probably one of the
ghouls carrying the missing torch. I closed the S-door behind me and proceeded
to the next door.

I found myself in a big stone room without any
torches. There were four people in the center, suspended by chains in a kind of
square formation, their backs to each other, their heads shaved and their eyes
blindfolded.

One was a female dark elf, also called drow:
she had pointy ears, a slender figure and her was skin a very dark blue, almost
black. The drow were the evil twins of the elves, and each despised the other.

The other three were an elf and two humans, one
of the latter already beginning to decompose. All of them had uncountable
wounds; missing fingers were commonplace, but the drow was even missing a half
her right leg. A lot of blood painted the floor and walls in red, and the
strong smell of decay made me double over and heave, but only a little saliva
left my mouth due to my empty stomach.

Not even torch sconces were in the walls. It
was a room created for delivering the people there to a painful dark death.

I closed the door behind me and moved a dizzily
to the other open door. There I saw a long room with some torture tools: a
table close to a lot of blades of all sizes and curvatures hanging on the
walls; a kind of vertical coffin full of spikes inside; and a chair full of
gears. Blood was everywhere, and so were some meat and bone parts. The putrid
smell here was even stronger than the death smell on the room before.

This is too sick. I almost went back and damn the attribute points, but I just
couldn't stand the idea of a prisoner being executed after enduring all this.

Yes, everything was just computer code,
including the scenery and the prisoner, but it didn't sit well with me. Even if
they were computer codes, the game characters still believed they were real and
felt pain in their own way. How different was that from me? My brain also worked
by electrical signals, similar to a computer, didn't it?

Too busy to pursue the philosophical thoughts,
I closed the door behind me once more and went to the other open door in the
room.

There was a small corridor on the other side of
the door. It had three shining metal doors, the middle one open. An elite ghoul
was to the right of the door where I now was, and the other one was before the
open metal door, looking inside with the torch in his hand. A veteran ghoul was
beside him, probably the one who had been looking at papers on the table.

Those metal shields and spears changed
everything. Fighting a man with a corroded small copper shield and a sword was
completely different from fighting a man with a medium metal shield and spear.
If I compared it to my street fighting days, it would be like fighting a man
with a crowbar instead of an unarmed man.

Well, I had done both and survived. And the
game was making it too easy anyways. After a deep silent breath, I stuck the
point of my sword into the elite ghoul's neck.

Sneak attack for 2.0x damage!

Critical hit for 2.0x damage!

116 piercing damage dealt to Elite Ghoul

Surprisingly, the sword didn't penetrate all
the way through the flesh. The ghoul let out a big scream, immediately stepped
ahead and turned back, taking a defensive stance: crouched, the kite shield
before him and the spear held horizontally.

Shit. I had
expected the ghoul to die in a single stroke so I could take his weapon and
fight the others. Having to also fight him sucked. I couldn't even run, or I
would have to give up on rescuing the elf and the woman. Things were not that
easy after all.

The other ghouls looked at me and while the
veteran ghoul got surprised, the elite instantly moved. I had to kill the first
one as quickly as possible or I would have an even harder time.

I tried to jump at him, but he took a step back
and thrust the spear at me. I contorted my body to dodge but the weapon still
grazed my side, cut my leather armor and did two damage to me.

It was enough time for the other elite to get
beside the hurt one and create a shield wall in the corridor. One skeleton got
out from the cell and looked at the commotion. A red flame appeared out of
nowhere, this time not inside its mouth but floating before its forehead.

I thought about throwing my sword at the
skeleton, but the distance was enough that I could miss and that would leave me
only with the the pipe, which was nowhere near as good as the sword against
ghouls. Desperate for a quick solution, I had an idea. I stood alert at the
growing flame.

The ghouls poked their spears as one and I had
to take a few steps back to get out of range. The flame before the skeleton was
now a sphere the size of its head, which was not what I had expected, but it
was too late for me to have second thoughts about what to do.

When the big fireball came my way, I took two
steps ahead, jumped in the air and raised my shield to defend.

The explosion sound was deafening. I was
enveloped by flames and thrown back at high speed, flying through the air and
hitting my back on the torture chair. My sword left my hand at some point, and
my shield had become black charcoal and partly broken away, but it wasn't
completely destroyed.

40 shock + 7 burn + 4 impact damage
received (51 total)

HP: 57 / 110

Holy crap! What the hell is this?! This is no
common fireball!

My plan had been to use the fireball explosion
to do some damage to the ghouls, but this was way over the expected power
output. I got up and ran back to the room.

There was black soot on the floor and walls,
but the metal door next to the explosion was still clear and shining. The two
elite ghouls had also been thrown back a little, but not as much as I had. I
smiled as I saw two spears on the ground and took one.

Rusty Iron Spear

» 45 (+4 [Strength]) physical damage

The two elite ghouls were still getting up but
the skeleton already had a new flame forming before its forehead. I threw the
spear at it.

It flew clumsy but with some force and hit the
skeleton in the leather armor. It was not enough to disrupt the spell-casting.
A second later a second big ball of fire came my direction. I threw my body on
the floor and heard the explosion in the room behind me.

Shit. If anyone hears these explosions I'm
screwed.

Picking up the other spear I stood up and found
the elite who still had its shield and the veteran ghoul side by side making a
new wall. The other elite had gone for the spear I had thrown and the skeleton
was preparing another explosion. I was getting a little desperate so I threw my
body on the veteran's big wooden shield.

Not as quick as the elite ghoul, the veteran
didn't step back in time. After breaking the shield wall, I thrust the spear at
the elite ghoul's neck. He had good reflexes, but was not expecting the move
nor the invasion in the perimeter, and the spear found its mark.

Critical damage for 2.0x damage!

98 piercing damage dealt to Elite Ghoul

He sadly wasn't the ghoul I had attacked before
and didn't die. He tried to use his shield to bash me, but I stepped back and
sunk my spear into his foot. He let out a scream, but I couldn't follow up with
another attack because the veteran body rammed me and fire followed suit.

5 fire damage received

HP: 49 / 110

The veteran fell dead on the ground, the back
of its leather armor had been destroyed and his flesh was deeply burnt,
impregnating the air with a repulsive smell. The skeleton had hit the veteran!

Before the skeleton's head, another flame was
forming. The other elite had recovered both a spear and metal shield and was
back beside his elite brother.

This fight was taking way too long. I tried to
put one of the elites between me and the skeleton and thrust the spear at the
one I had attacked with a sword, knowing it would be blocked by the shield, but
willing to deal even a little extra damage.

They fought back and were a lot faster than the
normal ghouls, but I still could dodge them. Most of the attacks grazed my
leather armor but didn't do any real damage.

I focused my attacks on their legs, happy for
the extra range of the spear and when the first ghoul finally fell I had only
received two damage. A health bar became visible above the other elite's head.

HP: 56 / 161 <?>

Just as the ghoul fell and I got healed by one
HP, a big ball of fire flew at me. I was becoming mentally tired and didn't even
expect this obvious thing to happen. All I could do was raise my shield and
block again.

40 fire + 4 burn damage received (44
total)

HP: 3 / 110

This time instead of flying all the way to the
other room, I just lost my balance and fell to the ground. The fire burnt my
eyebrows and I smelled burnt flesh once again. My shield shattered and my arm
hurt badly. Three HP and thirty-five stamina left.

Getting up I saw that the ghoul had also taken
damage. It now had forty-nine HP and had fallen on the ground. I ran to it and
thrust my spear into its head. The spearhead penetrated and killed the creature
in another critical hit. One more HP healed and two skeletons to go.

The skeleton laughed loudly. It seemed pleased
about being an indirect responsible for the elite ghouls' deaths. I wondered if
it had been on purpose. Was it an ally? Another ball forming before its head
told me the answer was no.

Once more I tried throwing a spear at it. It
did hit the skeleton but again failed to disrupt the spell-casting. Desperate,
I took the pipe on my belt and also threw it.

As the ball of fire left its place before the
skeleton's head, the pipe got in its way, making it explode just before the
skeleton's face. The pipe flew back missing my head by a hair and clinking far away.
The skeleton was also blown away.

I ran to it, getting a metal spear on the way
and passing in front of the open door full speed ahead. Getting to the
skeleton, I used the spear as a kind of club. The creature was on the ground,
had no means of defense and couldn't attack with fire nor whip.

7 blunt damage dealt to Third Eyed
Skeleton

The spear was not meant to be used as a club
and it didn't do as much damage. I knew I would die. I had twenty-five stamina
left and I doubted the skeleton would be destroyed in five more attacks. Still,
I would fight it to the death.

One, two, three attacks. The spear felt
extremely heavy in my hands. Four. All my power was needed to move it.

Five.

Status effect received: Exhaustion

For the next 4 minutes, 59 seconds, you:

» Can barely move

I dropped the spear and fell belly-first on the
ground next to the skeleton. My nose hit the floor and became a bloody mess,
and I received one more damage. I had trouble breathing and my body refused to
move. With a lot of effort I put my belly up. I would die facing the damn
thing.

Everything seemed to move slowly and blurred.
The torturer got up. It looked at the spear on the ground and picked it up. It
looked at me. It laughed again.

What happened next was hard for my mind to
register. One moment the skeleton was before me. The next, it's head flew away
and a massive black fist replaced it. Only when the dark energy left the
falling bones and found me did I understand what had happened: the skeleton had
died.

An exclamation point appeared and I focused on
it.

Strength increased to 3 (+1)

After a lot of fights, you learn to hit
harder.

Agility increased to 4 (+1)

Barely dodging the elite ghoul guards' spears
and dodging/blocking fireballs show your reflexes are better than you thought.

Dexterity increased to 4 (+1)

You have demonstrated to stronger enemies that
you know how to hit them. Their corpses shall remember the lesson for eternity.

Constitution increased to 4 (+2)

Fighting against multiple enemies, walking
crouched everywhere, fighting to almost death against elite and veteran enemies
and becoming exhausted makes your body more used to the constant abuse you put
it through.

» HP: 145 (+35)

» Stamina: 140 (+20)

Intelligence increased to 4 (+1)

Purposefully blocking firebombs to help
killing stronger enemies reveals either a suicidal mind or a true tactician.

» MP: 145 (+20)

Willpower increased to 4 (+1)

You have the will of giants. You know no fear.
You are willing enough to fight to death if need be.

» Stamina: 145 (+5)

Level up!

Current level: 3

HP, MP and stamina restored

The fatigue and agony left my body and my
vision came back to normal as the refreshing level-up sensation enveloped me. I
looked at the fist's owner.

He was a huge man. His skin was coal black and
his eyes were like those of cats, vertical yellow slits shining in the darkness
of the corridor – the torch had blown away at some point. The man's hair was
shaved like the other prisoners' had been. He was massive, with huge muscles
that made him look like a successful bodybuilder.

He was only wearing underwear, his body almost
as injured as the suspended dead bodies had been. He extended his hand with two
missing fingers to me. "From all the things Ilhonya could have sent
me," he said with a deep voice, "an undead is most unexpected."

I took his hand and got up, almost too afraid
that the illusion would dissolve. A grateful prisoner. I had to be dreaming.
"Well, here I am. And we've no time to talk. Take whatever you want and
let's go." I started to undress a elite ghoul as I said that. "How
did you escape your cell anyway?"

It became clear this was indeed a dream when
the man obeyed without question, immediately undressing the other elite ghoul.
"They had just unlocked my feet when you began the fight. These moving
bones are no match even for my legs alone. But I admit I was not as fearless as
you in my youth."

"Thanks," I smiled. "I'm Jack,
by the way. Jack Thorn."

"I am Gannor Bunen. Nice to meet you. You
are the first deathlord I ever said these words to with sincerity."

"Met your fair share of deathlords, did
you?"

He didn't reply, and I didn't care.

We finished getting the equipment from the
ghouls. The leather armor and pants were worse than the torturer's, but the
chain shirt and pants were good. So was the shield.

Medium Iron Kite Shield

» Resistance: 75%

Weak-linked Copper Chain Shirt

» +10 defense

Weak-linked Copper Chain Pants

» +9 defense

I also quickly searched for hidden pockets on
the corpses clothes and found two new shining keys, one small and one medium
sized, fifty-seven silver coins and thirteen copper.

Besides the spear I held on my hand, I also put
the sword and pipe I had brought on my belt and we left the place after
confirming no one else was in the other cells. I had already spent twenty
minutes of the half hour timeline and we almost ran back to the A-6 cell.

I noticed two new exclamation point buttons
with a 'Q' letter on the way, but I chose to postpone checking on them; the
armored woman could come back at any moment.

It was impossible to tell whose eyes popped
more when we entered the cell: the elf's or the big man's.

"By Ilhonya! Alia!" Gannor threw
himself on the ground and took the woman in his arms.

"Gannor Bunen?" Said the elf
incredulously.

"Alright people, you all know and love
each other. Let's get the hell outta here."

Gannor stood up carrying the sleeping woman and
the elf got to his feet with difficulty. I helped him, leaving all the extra
clothes in the cell with a tightness in my chest, but still taking the extra
swords with me.

We found no one on the way out and right after
I helped them leave the prison, I decided to check the exclamation points.

Quest completed: Save the prisoner from
cell A-6

Random primary attribute point received:

» +1 agility

Hidden quest completed: Save the prisoner
from cell C-1

Random attribute point received:

» +1 willpower

Stamina: 150 (+5)

Bonus for completing a hidden quest:

» +1 intelligence

MP: 170 (+25)

Hidden quest completed: Save the prisoner
from cell S-2

Random attribute points received:

» +1 agility

» +1 dexterity

» +1 perception

» +1 intelligence

MP: 200 (+30)

Random attribute point received for reuniting
him and Alia:

» +1 willpower

Stamina: 155 (+5)

Bonus for completing a hidden quest:

» +1 intelligence

MP: 235 (+35)

Level up!

Current level: 4

HP, MP and stamina restored

It had been easy to get from level two to level
four. It seemed that the stronger the enemies I fought, the more my attribute
levels raised. And that completing quests was the best way to level up
attributes.

I checked the other two buttons.

Darkvision

Skill is now level 2!

» Visibility level: heavily clouded afternoon

New skill unlocked at The Lack of Light
skill-tree

Darkball (level 1)

First you learn to see in the dark. Then, you
learn to see darkness itself. And to harness it. And to send it flying.

» Active Spell

» Cost: 5 MP

» Amassing time: 0.5 second

» Element: Darkness

» Damage: 18 (15 + 3 [Intelligence])

Skill-trees were, as the name suggested, trees
of skills, growing from the roots and sprouting branches. In this case, I had
started with seeing in the dark and now a new skill in the tree had become
available to me: darkball. As I met the requirements, I'd unlock new skills in
the skill-tree.

The spell was not that powerful, but it was
still on level one.

I checked the other exclamation point.

Kill to Survive

Skill is now level 2!

» Heals: 2% + 0.2% [Deathlord] of dealt damage

» Minimum healing: 2

» Minimum dealt damage needed: 18 (19 - 1
[Deathlord])

New skill unlocked on Death is a
Lifestyle skill-tree

Deathball (level 1)

After continuous observation and absorption
you have learned enough about the mysteries of death magic to amass it from all
the small vermin and lower life forms dying around you and project it in any
direction you like.

» Active Spell

» Cost: 15 MP

» Amassing time: 3 second

» Element: Death

» Damage: 58 (50 + 5 [Deathlord] + 3
[Intelligence])

I was happy as hell. I finally could use real
spells!

Now that I had already saved the prisoners and
guaranteed my attribute points, I couldn't stand the idea of leaving the extra
clothes in the prison cell. I had almost no money and who knew how much they
might be worth?

On the other hand, I looked at my fellow
escapees: a healer elf, a badass fighter and an ambassador. They would surely
be grateful, right? I hadn't received any specific quests to get them to their
home, but hidden quests were a reality in this game and I looked forward to my
possible rewards.

"Thank you," Gannor said, "for
helping me and my wife." The elf's eyes widened so much they almost popped
out of his head. "Sadly, I have nothing to give you, not here in the
Underworld. We will run for the Surface now. You are welcome to come with
us."

Quest: Escape the Underworld

F- rank

Gannor Bunen has offered you a way out of the
Underworld.

It might be a unique opportunity to leave it.

I gulped. That would be amazing! I could even
get something expensive for rescuing the ambassador!

"Unfortunately," he kept talking,
"I have no way of helping you with the sun. Unless you have a way of
surviving..." He didn't finish the sentence.

No! So close! I
looked hopefully at the elf, but he just shook his head. My hope was crushed.
"I have no way to do that," I said and a 'quest refused' text
appeared in my message log.

"It's unfortunate. Fight well." He
nodded once at the elf and left. Just like that. No reward, no promises. And
here was I thinking he was a pleasant fella.

"Do not resent Bunen, deathlord," the
elf said as I watched my potential pile of gold leave in the black man's arms.
"A few years ago he would've killed you and eaten your body after you
rescued him. For him to be married to a Soman princess... Only the Mother can
explain it."

And she was a princess, too. Great. Thanks a
lot, game. "I guess it's better to live in the
darkness of the Underworld than in the darkness of his stomach. So, what are
you doing?" I tried to sound conversational.

He looked sympathetic at me. "I have
friends I can reach in these Mother forsaken lands, but I'm afraid they would
never take me in if I got to them with you by my side. I'm sorry." He did
sound sorry. Didn't make me any less upset.

"Yeah, figures."

He extended his hand to me. "But I am not
ungrateful for what you did for me. I am Leothril Etheranol. If you ever leave
the Underworld, come to the Forest of Tranquility and I will repay your
kindness."

Quest: Meet Leothril at the Forest of
Tranquility

A rank

You helped Leothril Etheranol escape the
deathlords' prison.

He told you to meet him in his homeland to
receive a reward.

Shaking hands with him, I realized I hadn't
told him my name yet. "I am Jack Thorn. I'll find you as soon as I figure
how to walk under the sun without dying. See you soon."

"Live well, Jack Thorn. May the Mother
watch over you." He went after Gannor.

So, a poor alone guy yet again. With fate
deciding my path for me, I went for a quick grab and run for the extra clothes.
Even if they ended up being worth little money, it was still money.

I mean, it wasn't as if the prison boss and the
armored woman, who were still somewhere in the prison, would just appear in
front of me.

Right, game?

Jack
Thorn

Unbound
Deathlord

Level 4

Hit Points:145
/ 145

Mana Points:235
/ 235

Stamina:155
/ 155

Attributes:

Strength:3

Agility:6

Dexterity:5

Constitution:4

Intelligence:7

Perception:3

Willpower:6

Charisma:2

Traits:

Antimage:1

Crafter:1

Gold Digger:1

Nitpicker:1

Shadow:1

4. Magic 101

'Don't gamble. Unless you've rigged the
game.'

- Father

"Darkball, I
choose you!" Nothing happened. "Go, darkball!" Still nothing.
"Darkball!"

All my tries amounted to nothing. I was inside
the prison, in the cell where I had found the elf and had left my loot.

I had tried, I had done everything I could, I
had mustered all the power in my guts, everything I was, to stop myself from
trying to learn how magic worked before leaving.

But, hell, it was magic!

A fair share of fantasy games had found their
way to me in my lifetime. Not a pro by any means, I was still an informed
amateur. I had played games where I had to chant spells to use magic. Those
were boring and lame. I had also played games where mages were so powerful that
they could create a meteor shower just by snapping their fingers.

And I was too damn curious to see how magic in
Valia worked.

Curiosity killed the cat, I had repeated to myself to no avail. And so I was trying to cast
magic.

Problem is, there were no manuals on how to use
the spells. If they were supposed to be chanted I would not be able to use them
unless I found a magic school somewhere.

Frustration defined me. The skill description
also didn't help:

'First you learn to see in the dark. Then, you
learn to see darkness itself. And to harness it. And to send it flying.'

I couldn't see 'darkness itself' no matter how
much I tried. I could see shadows and I could determine that some places did
lack light. Well, I couldn't actually see real 'lack of light' anywhere because
of my darkvision skill, but I knew it was there.

Death magic was also eluding me.

'After continuous observation and absorption
you have learned enough about the mysteries of death magic to amass it from the
small vermin and lower life forms dying around you and project it in any
direction you like.'

Killing spiders and other small animals
everywhere hadn't helped. The translucent black energy that left my enemies to
heal me didn't even appear. Perhaps they had less than eighteen HP, which was
the minimum amount of damage I had to deal to an enemy for the skill to work,
or perhaps the energy was invisible and just became visible when it healed me.

To hell with it. I will not leave this place
until I do some damn magic.

I punched the door in frustration and took a
deep breath. Sitting on the floor, uncaring about possible enemies, I closed my
eyes and decided to try something mages had to do in a few games: meditation.

My delinquent youth had made me take some
martial arts classes in the hopes of crushing my enemies more efficiently; it
had backfired, as my Sifu – the Kung Fu teacher – was the man responsible for
my change of attitude in life. Thanks to that, I also knew how to meditate to
some extent.

When people close their eyes, they think. About
their day, their ambitions, their fears, their fantasies. About themselves.
Closing one's eyes is a gateway to one's ego. It is also the first step into
your true self, or so my teacher always said; all meditation did to me was
giving me a kind of mildly peaceful sensation.

The second step was controlling the breathing.
Inhale. Keep it. Exhale. Wait. Repeat. I did that, starting with a mental count
for each action and slowly letting the counting go, making it natural to
breathe that way. Soon, I felt less frustrated or anxious.

Then I focused on my physical self, on every
inch of my body. Forehead, under my ears, shin, shoulders, armpits, arms,
hands, chest and so on. From head to toes, I became aware of my whole being. I
knew myself in my mind, relaxing each part of my body further as I thought of
them.

Next came knowing my surroundings. The hearing
was the first thing I focused on. A low rat squeak. The very low sounds of the
links in my chainmail rasping against each other as I breathed. The cracks of
the metal doors affected by temperature. I almost let that slip my
concentration: did the game really go that far in reality or was I hearing what
I expected from experience?

After the hearing, I focused on the smell.
Stone, mold, earth. Sweat. My corporeal odor. The lingering smells of ghouls
who "lived" in the place. The metal around me and the blood on my
weapons.

Feeling. The air was cold and so was my body,
but I didn't feel cold. I was a cold-blooded creature now, I realized. I felt
the small imperfections in the stone beneath me. The way my clothes pricked my
skin. An almost imperceptible lingering pain in my knuckles, where I had
punched the door. The air touching my lips as I exhaled through my nose.

I knew myself. I knew of my surroundings. It
was time to become one with the world.

As soon as I expanded my sense of self – which
is a fancy way of saying I was trying to feel beyond my body, even though no
previous experiences had ever succeeded – the blackness of my vision shifted,
and the world changed.

I somehow knew my vision had changed position
to a place some meters ahead and above my own head. In the place where my head
should've been, a gray dot appeared, unseen at first, but slowing growing.

It expanded until it became a prefect gray
sphere some five meters wide, surrounded by darkness. Multiple tiny light gray
lights pulsated inside the sphere, mostly where the non-existent walls, floor
and ceiling would've been.

My body was also visible inside the sphere,
only it was made of pulsating light gray light and dark gray smoky light, naked
and without genitalia. The different luminosities kept moving around each
other, as if they were bubbles of water and oil trying to blend but failing.

When the sphere stopped growing, I found I
could move my mind around, like some flying camera.

First I focused on one of the pulsating light
gray glows and it looked like I was zooming the camera until I could see what I
assumed to be a worm.

It was pretty amazing. There were multiple
small lifeforms and I checked them all: worms, ants, spiders, even a rat near
my body.

Remembering the spell description about taking
the death energy from the dying vermin around me, I looked around for a long
time. Sadly, none of the light beings seemed to be interested in doing me the
courtesy of dying. I wondered if I could and should force nature's hand. I
willed the rat to die.

It was as if a member I never knew I had tried
to squelch the animal. It resisted me and tried to run, but to no avail. Soon
the light gray rat became a smoky dark gray rat. The smoke began to dissipate
in the air and I willed it to stop and stay in place. It obeyed.

What I felt the moment it happened was
exhilarating. I did it! I killed a bunch of the vermin in a single crush
and willed all the dark gray energy to get together right before my body. It
did, in a sphere, like a ball of glass with ever moving smoke inside of it,
only I couldn't see the glass.

At last, I willed the dark gray sphere into my
body.

A refreshing coldness washed over me. When I
opened my eyes I saw the system message:

You healed yourself by 58 HP

HP: 145 / 145

There were also two exclamation point buttons.

Trait received: Meditator

Concentrating inwards helps you to harmonize
with your magic.

» +5% MP recovery rate while meditating

» Minimum: +1 MP per minute

Trait received: Mind Seer

One's mind can see what one's eyes hide.

With eyes closed:

» Perceive all life and death elements around
you

» Radius: 3 meters

Trait received: Mage

You have discovered how to impose your will
upon reality itself.

» Can impose your will on visible things

» +1% base effectiveness to spells

Trait received: Energizer

You have learned how to amass magical energy
into a sphere.

» Must not move while creating spheres

» Damage for disruption: 5

» Mana to damage conversion on disruption:
120%

The mage and meditator traits bonuses were
little help now, but as they leveled up they would become a lot better. The
mind seer was kind of useless. As far as I could tell, it's primary purpose was
making death magic usable. And the energizer was okay.

I checked the remaining exclamation point
button.

Intelligence increased to 8 (+1)

Discovering the ways of magic by yourself is
proof of your superior intellect.

» MP: 275 (+40)

Willpower increased to 7 (+1)

Not giving up on the difficulties of lacking a
proper magic teacher and discovering the ways of magic by yourself is also
proof of your strong will.

» Stamina: 160 (+5)

Would people who already knew how these things
worked, thanks to real life information sources, also get the attribute points?
They wouldn't be figuring the things out by themselves, after all.

Well, it didn't matter. I had done it by
myself, and I felt damn good about it. Now for some darkness magic.

Wanting for a safe practice target, I left the
room and got to the end of the corridor, where my cell had been and the torch
was still lit. There, I looked at the shadows created by the fire. They were
like any other darkness.

When I willed it this time, using the mental
power I had just discovered, the darkness obeyed. As if alive, streams of
darkness moved from the shadows all around me, including from inside my own
clothes, and formed a floating black sphere before me. Instead of smoky, the
black substance was liquid.

Awesome. I
touched the sphere. The darkness flowed to my skin and pain followed suit.

23 darkness damage dealt to yourself

HP: 122 / 145

As the black liquid passed through my skin and
applied pain, it also faded out of existence.

Neat. Sadly, I can't just ask my enemies to
touch the magic sphere floating above my head. Time to find out how to make it
fly away.

I created another sphere and this time I willed
it to fly to the torch. It didn't move.

"Go! Attack! Fly! Move!" Nothing
happened. I tried the other obvious thing after that and pointed my finger at
the torch. Still nothing.

I did a throwing motion and the sphere flew to
the ceiling. It didn't explode, it moved like liquid again, trying to find a
way through the stone, and eventually dissipating.

Quickly thinking about the throwing movement, I
created another sphere and tried extending my arm with my open palm on the
direction of the torch. It worked. When the sphere touched it, the black liquid
enveloped the torch and the fire was put out.

For the next few minutes I did multiple tests
with the sphere.

I discovered that once I threw it away, I could
not change its course, but I could make it dissipate.

Even though my mind determined the target of
the darkball, it was also necessary to extend my arm in the direction of the
target.

It was also possible to create two spheres in
total to accompany me, but not change their positions – they just floated a
little ahead of me, above my head.

Finally, by targeting a rat I learned that if
it moved after the darkball had been released, the spell didn't follow it.

Trait received: Controller

Controlling energy in the physical world
demands physical action. At least for novices.

» Gesture required: Extended arm and
completely open hand

» Targeting width: 5 centimeters

» Max distance: 10 meters

And now you tell me. Thanks, game.

So, three traits controlled spell casting:
energizer to create the spheres, controller to send it flying, and mage to
assist and bridge them by using my will, allowing magic itself to happen. It
made sense, kind of.

Other things that made sense, now that I
thought about it, were the spells descriptions: instead of casting time, they
had 'amassing time' written on them. Time to amass the magical sphere, not to
cast the spell proper.

The magic system was exciting; It allowed mages
to prepare better for a fight than if they had to chant. Less impressive than
instant meteors, though.

So, now I had magic. Should I try to sneak on
the remainder of the prison?

The danger was the highest I had faced and the
price for failure was huge. I had the Challenge to worry about.

* * *

The young lady came
back with the papers for me to sign, putting them on the table. "Here it is."

I hadn't been lying when I said I was in law
school. I took the papers and began to read them.

"Also," she said a few seconds after
I started, "there is a unique launching Challenge."

She said it as if it had a capital letter and
once again waited for me to ask about something instead of offering the
information. It was annoying, but I did so.

"What is it?"

"Players who survive the first month
without dying and get to at least level ten will have a chance to receive ten
extra points to each attribute."

The characters had eight attributes, which
meant eighty free attribute points just for surviving. "This sounds too
easy," I replied with a frown. "What's the catch?"

"There are two conditions. First..."
She counted in her hand. "...the player cannot leave the game in the first
month. Second, only the thousand players with the highest levels will receive
the reward."

So, a challenge only for players in long-term
capsules with a limit on the winners. Simply put, a forced war.

Everyone would try their best to stay alive,
but some would die. Of these, a part would let it go, but others would try to
kill every other Challenger they could for revenge. And even those who survived
would eventually begin hunting the other Challengers to try and guarantee the
attribute points.

It was a great challenge. It would make players
like me try their best and create a sense of urgency, especially in the last
few days.

I loved it.

"How do I join?"

"All you need to do is follow the rules.
Oh, and one more thing. Two days to the end of the challenge all players who
are still eligible for the prize will receive a distinctive red icon above
their heads. If you want to give up, just leave the game for a second and the
icon will disappear."

I smiled. "As if."

* * *

Up until this point I
had taken some risks, but they had been for easier quests. Calculated risks.
Except for the elite ghouls and badass skeletons, and they were a big telltale
of the power of the armored woman, should I run into her.

Plus, my magic was not as strong as I had
hoped; risking encountering the woman for no good reason was not the smartest
thing to do. I had everything to lose and not a clear idea of my potential
rewards.

It was fun and all, but it's past time I leave
this place.

I got back to the cell, took the loot and
proceeded to the main hall. There, I found something surprising.

The armored woman was there, kneeling some
twenty meters away from the double doors. Her spears were touching the ground,
and she was putting all her weight on them as if she depended on it to not drop
on the floor.

Her black armor was covered in a black liquid
that I recognized as undead blood – the ghouls and I had it –, and bloody
footprints could be seen on the floor. Bloody handprints were also on the walls
and the stairs.

Whatever had done it to her, I wanted to be out
of the prison before it could get to me.

Hoping she was dead enough to not run after me,
I walked close to the walls, my heart pounding in my ears, and got to the still
open double doors. That's when the woman fell on the ground, her armor making a
loud noise.

It made me stop.

No! Keep moving! Walk! Go! Step after step!

I gulped. Twice. And looked at her.

Was she dead?

The spears were reflecting the fire of the
torches. The big sword was on its scabbard. Her horned helmet was cool looking
as hell.

JUST. KEEP. WALKING. I yelled to myself in my mind. But my body took a step towards the
woman.

Hell, no! God, please get me out of this
idiot's body. He doesn't deserve me.

She wasn't moving, not even to breath. I did
breathe. The ghouls didn't, but I did. She probably wasn't a ghoul, right? A
ghoul wouldn't have a nice armor like that, right? Right?

If something happened, I could just run. She
didn't seem exactly fit for running after me. And, well, I had gone back to the
cell to get leather clothes. How much more would that very nice looking
spear be worth?

Taking a deep breath, I touched the spear.

Nothing happened.

Then my fingers enveloped it.

Still nothing.

Exhaling, I tried to take it out from the
woman's hand.

That's when she tightened her grasp on them.

"Shit!" I yelled and jumped back.
Then ran like hell to the doors. Which obviously closed with a big boom.
I tried to open them, but they didn't budge. Desperate, I looked back at the
woman.

She was definitely not dead. Using the spears
as support, she was slowly getting up from the floor. One of her hands was not
on the spears, though. Her right arm was extended in my direction in a fist.

"Unbound," she said with a hoarse
voice.

How does she know?

"Don't worry about me; I'm just
leaving." I tried to force the doors behind me with my body, but to no
avail.

Like a damn monster from some old movie, she
got up. A very faint gray light like was surrounding her whole body. I was sure
my heart would jump out of my mouth any minute now. After a few seconds, she
opened her extended fist.

Status effect received: Duelist

You have been challenged to a duel and
failed to refuse it.

You cannot leave this room until one
of the conditions are met:

» 4 minutes, 59 seconds have passed

» You have killed the challenger

All the open doors in the hall closed at once.
"What?! No! I didn't accept any duel!"

Without a word, the woman took a spear in her
free hand and threw at me.

It was like watching light travel through the
air, so fast it was almost impossible to do anything before it hit the door,
right next to my head, a loud thud making me half deaf.

I looked at the spear, still trembling after
sticking to the door.

Oh crap. I'm dead.

"There is no leaving this prison for you.
You will die here." Her hoarse voice made it even scarier.

"Are you going to fight me alone?"

She huffed. "Fight? Is it what they call
it in your world? Here it's called a massacre."

She took another spear. I readied myself, rusty
spear in one hand, metal shield on the other. She threw the weapon.

I felt as if I was hit by a train. With the
impact, my shield arm went up, and my head hit the doors.

113 shock + 25 pierce damage received (138
total)

HP: 7 / 145

What the hell?! My shield annulled seventy-five
percent of the damage, and I still received all that?

I had a feeling that the woman had hit my
shield on purpose. I moved my shield arm back to position, and it sloppily hit
my face. I couldn't feel my arm! Looking at it, I noticed it was shaking. The
spear had passed through my forearm; it was a good thing it was numb.

Fear and adrenaline overwhelmed me like they
hadn't in a very long time. I smiled.

Yes! That's the feeling! Come at me, game!

I removed the spear from the shield and checked
it.

Speeding Penetrating Polished Iron Spear

» 70 (+6 [Strength]) physical damage

When thrown:

» 3x damage

» 3x speed

» 3x penetration

Wow. Those were
some badass spears. Two hundred and ten damage in a weapon was not something I
had expected to see for a lot of levels yet.

Still smiling, I threw it back at the woman.
Just like before, it flew at high speed. The spear hit her armor and penetrated
it, but that was all. She didn't move or make a sound as the weapon entered her
body, nor when she simply took the spear out of her chest.

A darkball hit her right after, its black
liquid infiltrating through gaps and the recently opened hole in the armor.

96 piercing damage dealt to Armored Woman

17 darkness damage dealt to Armored Woman

That was some damn good armor. But even so, she
had received more than a hundred points of damage and didn't even look like she
had felt it. And she was supposed to be hurt, too.

This fight might not be within my power to win.
Not that it would stop me from trying.

I threw another darkball at her and started
running around the woman, as far from her as possible. I wanted to shower her
in darkballs, but to create a darkness sphere I had to stay still for half a
second and that would make me an easy target for her spears.

She put herself in position to throw a spear,
but for almost a full minute she just watched me run, slowly turning around to
aim better.

Then the flying light came at me.

I had to bet my life on either stopping or
keeping running. She had watched me for a long time, which meant she had felt
my speed and could predict my position. I did a full stop as best as I could.
Evidently, inertia kept me going for a few meters, but the sudden change in
acceleration and speed was enough. The spear passed through where my head would
have been if I had kept running, and struck the stone wall in another loud
thud.

Grabbing the spear would have been good, but
the wall was good five meters away from me. I created a sphere and sent it her
direction. And another. And a third one. She ignored the damage they dealt, and
I suspected I might as well caress her armor for all the damage I was dealing.

She prepared a new spear and I ran again. This
time, it took her a lot less time for the throw. I bet my life again and kept
running instead of trying to stop. Air rushed behind me, and the spear hit the
wall.

I threw three dark spheres at her and resumed
running. I almost believed I could survive the five minutes of the duel; then
she positioned herself as if she would throw her last two spears at once.

"Dodge this, unbound!" She
half-yelled and the spears flew.

I didn't throw myself to the ground; that would
have been too slow. I purposefully tripped on my own foot and took advantage of
my running speed to get to the floor faster. That lowered my HP by two, but it
was better than dying. The spears hit the places where I would have been had I
not went down, either had I kept running or tried to stop.

After a quick glance to confirm my enemy was
not running at me, I closed my eyes. The gray circle of my mind's eye
immediately appeared. I killed all the vermin around, healed myself once and
got up from the floor.

She had taken the sword out of its scabbard.
Even the blade was black but strangely dull as if the light had difficulty
getting to it. She maintained a very slow walking pace coming to me. Again I
gambled my life, closing my eyes for another healing, keeping alert for the
sounds of her steps and watching if she would get inside my mind's eye's
sphere.

Three seconds later, when I opened his eyes,
she was still walking. I finished healing myself and threw all the darkballs I
could at her.

After tens of darkballs, my MP was depleted and
I was feeling a little dizzy, as if a bit drunk. She was still coming at me.

"Is that all, unbound? No more of your
magic tricks? What a shame, I had some expectations from you after those
dodges. It shows I should never expect anything from your kind."

I ran to a spear at the wall and tried to take
it out, but it was firmly struck. I didn't give up and ran to the one on the
wooden doors, but still couldn't take it out. It was time for psychological
warfare, then.

"I must say, you are so hot with all that
macho attitude. I'm sure all the other girls must fall for you."

She ignored me.

"See, that's what I'm talking about. Do
you also lift?"

We were two meters away from each other.

"It is a shame you are such coward,
though. Fighting me in that armor of yours."

"The Underworld is not a fair place,
unbound. I'm doing you a favor by killing you before you have time to see that
for yourself."

"A humanitarian too! It's hard to compete
with you. Please don't hang out in the same places as me at night."

"Worry not, we will be in different worlds
very soon."

We were near enough; she raised her sword and
swung it down. I blocked. As soon as the sword hit the shield, a dark liquid
left the blade, enveloped the shield and got to my hand and arm, paining me in
an already known way.

48 shock + 15 darkness damage received (63
total)

HP: 82 / 145

What the hell?!
Two more blocks and I would die; she didn't even have to bypass my
defenses. And that was an enchanted sword, too; I had no way to decrease the
additional dark damage.

Just for science, I hit her back with my
corroded spear, and it didn't even scratch the armor.

Suddenly, the fear I was feeling was not that
fun anymore. I was going to die, no doubt about that. I took five steps back
and hit the wall.

"Uh... Can I surrender and be taken back
to my prison cell?"

"No," she said impassively.

"But I love dark bare underground
cells. They are the best."

"You are not funny, unbound. Your
groveling is pathetic."

"C'mon, at least I'm trying! Why are you
so slow, though? Feeling bad?"

She didn't answer.

As much as I wanted to keep thrusting my rusty
spear at that very solid looking armor, it was her lucky day: I didn't need to
defeat her, I only had to survive long enough.

I tried to run away, but when I was not distant
enough from her, something weird happened. My legs kept moving and I felt as if
I was running, but I wasn't going anywhere. Looking back, I saw the woman had
her extended fist pointing my way again.

"No way! That's cheating!"

Status effect received: Eager Duelist
(level 2)

You have been challenged to a duel
twice in a row and failed to refuse it.

You must stay within 10 meters of your
challenger until one of the conditions are met:

» 4 minutes, 59 seconds have passed

» You have killed the challenger

That sucked, but... "Ha! Joke's on you!
Catch me if you-" Before I could finish my phrase, she closed her hand
again, and something pulled me closer to her.

Status effect received: Earnest Duelist
(level 3)

You have been challenged to a duel
three times in a row and failed to refuse it.

You must stay within 5 meters of your
challenger until one of the conditions are met:

» 4 minutes, 59 seconds have passed

» You have killed the challenger

She didn't even let me open my mouth this time.
She just closed her fist again, and I was pulled even closer to her. After a
few seconds, she opened her hand a new message appeared on my log.

Status effect received: Fanatic Duelist (level
4)

You have been challenged to a duel
four times in a row and failed to refuse it.

You must stay within the challenger's
reach until one of the conditions are met:

» 4 minutes, 59 seconds have passed

» You have killed the challenger

No other choice, then. I had enough stamina for
twenty attacks. "You asked for it." Gripping the spear, I attacked.

Hit, circle her, hit, move, hit, move. Repeat.

She took every strike. I did no damage at all.
When I had five stamina left, she was still just looking at me.

"What the hell are you?" I asked
angrily. "Goddamit. Just die already."

It was the end. I had no mana and couldn't even
run; even dodging an attack would exhaust me. I got in position, shield before
me and spear ahead, panting, looking at my death slowly coming. The moment she
attacked I would attack back, a kind of system abuse that would allow me to
block and attack at the same time using only my last five stamina.

My last act of defiance.

We looked at each other. Well, I looked at her
closed helmet. She refused to attack and since I was going to die, I liked it a
lot. After what felt like an eternity, the woman flowed.

She was too fast for me to do anything. She
punched my shield one, two, three times, enough for me to open my guard
completely. Then she punched me in the stomach.

10 shock received

10 shock received

10 shock received

40 blunt damage received

HP: 12 / 145

I doubled over myself, out of air, my belly
spasming.

"Die," she said in a low voice, full
of hatred.

Everything seemed to be in slow motion as her
fist came for my face. It was the end.

"Blademaster Shai." A commanding
female voice came from the stairs.

The fist stopped inches from my face and the
armored woman looked back.

There was a female elf on the middle of the
stairs. She had short red hair and a solid black circlet on her head that
resembled a thin crown. She wore a red robe with golden details, which hid all
of her limbs. Her eyes were completely black: a deathlord.

"I remember commanding you to go back to
the Citadel in haste," she said. "Am I mistaken?"

Silence fell on the hall. Over my hard breath I
could hear the crackle of the torches as if they were right beside me.
"No, High Lady," the armored woman replied. "But I found-"

"I see," she interrupted without
raising her voice. I found that damn impressive. "You are saying that your
own judgement of priorities is better and more important than obeying your
superior's commands. The new crop of deathlords are curious things. I suppose I
should travel with you to the Citadel and inform them of my return to their
rankings because of the lack of discipline and courtesy you displayed under my
dominion."

"No!" Incredibly, I heard the fear in
the armored woman's voice. "I was merely trying to help! I saw an escaping
prisoner and thought better-"

"Not only your judgement is better, but
you also execute my own responsibilities better than me. You are clearly much
more qualified than my ignorant and weak self to run this prison. Wait here, I
will take my traveling clothes. I must clarify to the council how inadequate I
am and step down from my position in your favor." She started climbing the
stairs to the right.

The armored woman fell to the ground on one
knee. "High Lady Renno! Please! I beg your forgiveness!"

Renno stopped and looked back to both me and
Shai. "Get out of my sight, Shai," her tone was now harsh. "If
you ever again come to my property to tell me how to run my prison, I will make
you regret having eternal life. No, if I ever see you again, no matter where we
are, I will cause you unimaginable pain right there, right then. And I dare the
council to stop me from doing so. Now, leave."

"I am truly grateful, High Lady
Renno." She said meekly and without another word got up and left the
prison, my 'Duelist' status disappearing just before she opened the door. Renno
looked at me.

"Unbound, sit, meditate, and recover your
life and arcane powers. I will stand guard."

"How do you now I'm unbound? And who
are-"

"Obey me. Now. In silence."

It was as if I felt power in her mere words. I
obeyed. When I got completely healed, with full mana and full stamina, some
half hour later, I got up.

"I'm okay. Now, who are-"

She flexed her right arm without taking it out
from her side and her finger appeared from inside the robe, pointing at me. A
ridiculous small flame, the size of a candle, instantly materialized and flew
at me. It passed right through my armors – chain and leather both –, through my
right arm and hit the wall behind me.

I screamed in pure pain.

76 fire damage received

HP: 69 / 145

"You are unbound, so it is natural that
you are uneducated." I couldn't understand how her unaltered voice was
being heard over my own screams. "I will enlighten you to the methods of
the torture you are to experience. That was the weakest of the fire spells. It's
intended for light or lighting fireplaces. I've lived for so long that I have
achieved such power with it as well as altering it slightly to cause more
pain."

She took a step down the stairs and spoke once
more. "Most can't understand how an elf could willingly become undead.
They are idiots. Elves live a long life, but they are not really immortal. Why
should one such as myself have to die while undead live forever? It was not
hard for me to learn the ways of death magic and how to become a deathlord. It
was even easier to rule over the Death Citadel for decades using only raw
power."

I was recovering from the pain when she took
another step down and a new small flame came at me, passing through my left leg
now. I fell to the ground, still screaming. My HP got to exactly one. Somehow
she knew my total HP and had dosed her fire spell to do this.

"Politics is the tool of the weak. They
must bribe and negotiate to make their wishes reality, and even so, they can be
opposed. Not me. My words were law, by fear or by force. But I eventually got
bored of it. I created this prison to experiment on some interesting magical
paths and left the world. The fools who stayed in my place allowed the vampires
to rob their power and now dare to command me. This makes me...
Unsatisfied."

A smoky dark gray ball formed above her head
and hit me a few seconds later. Refreshing coldness swept over me, completely
restoring my HP. She was slowly getting close to the first floor.

"But what brings me even more unhappiness
is when my prey is taken from me by some ignorant weak unbound." A new
flame hit my other leg before I could get up after the healing. "The so
called Resistance is a mild annoyance which I allow to exist because I am too
occupied with my own studies; so busy and for so long, in fact, that my own
muscles have atrophied. It's distracting to defend my prison every few days,
which led to a commitment with the Resistance and the Destiny Spirits.

"I allow weak Travelers to escape and the
Resistance don't fight me. This even allowed me to weaken my security detail
and save resources." Another flame and more pain. She was now on the first
floor. "Therefore, imagine my unhappiness when the first unbound I allow
to escape decides to free all my prisoners before fleeing.

"Yes, I know about your little adventures.
I even took it out on Shai, while you ran rampant. A deal with the Destiny
Spirits is not easily broken and I knew that if I moved to stop it and saw
you... "

She healed me again and got right in front of
me, two meters away. I was on my knees and looked at her from below. "And
then you came back. It has been centuries since I felt any semblance of anger,
but you make me absolutely furious. I will not allow you to die at first, I
will torture you for months. When I'm done with you, I will go back to the
Citadel, reclaim it, and hunt every last member of the Resistance until there
is not a single stone unturned in the Underworld."

I knew about the first skill in the fire magic
skill-tree: it did a single point of damage per level, plus the user's
intelligence level. To be able to do almost eighty damage to me after going
through my armor, she had to have almost eighty points in intelligence. Which
was a damn lot.

Her exploits of almighty power were obvious
lies, of course. No matter how powerful anyone was, it was impossible to rule
over an entire species without playing heavily on politics, unless they were
ants or something. The way she had handled the armored deathlord was proof
enough of the lie.

She was still too powerful for me, though. It
was no wonder the armored lady had been so terrified. I could even guess what
had happened to the veteran ghouls when they had accompanied Shai to demand
something from Renno.

Yet again, she healed me. "All I must do
now..." she attacked me with fire again, and this time it was my belly
that was hit, making me discover a new kind of pain, "...is deciding how
to begin your treatment." Another hit to the shoulder. An idea came to me
amidst all that pain and I let my spear and shield drop before touching a whip
on my belt.

"I suppose burning all your skin off will
suffice for the beginning. You can either get up and come with me or I can
break your will before you obey me. It is merely a matter of keeping your
sanity a few minutes longer but I find it curious that most prisoners value
this technical detail." She began to form the healing sphere.

The torture was not that scary, since the game
provided a skill exactly for that situation: all players could kill themselves
at any time to return to their revival point. If the revival point was in a
torture environment, a new safe revival point was provided. Still, the eighty
attribute points that I would lose for not winning the Challenge were too many
to let go without a fight.

I had counted the seconds on the last healing
sphere she had formed: two. When the new sphere she was creating was a second
and a half on the making, I moved.

Jack
Thorn

Unbound
Deathlord

Level 4

Hit Points:1
/ 145

Mana Points:275
/ 275

Stamina:160
/ 160

Attributes:

Strength:3

Agility:6

Dexterity:5

Constitution:4

Intelligence:8

Perception:3

Willpower:7

Charisma:2

Traits:

Antimage:1

Controller:1

Crafter:1

Energizer:1

Gold Digger:1

Mage:1

Meditator:1

Mind Seer:1

Nitpicker:1

Shadow:1

5. Don't Try This at Home

'Never give up. Retreat temporarily, if
needed, but never. Give. Up.'

- Father

I took the whip, got up
and ran to Renno. The death sphere hit me midway and healed my HP back to full.
A few moments later a little flame came at me. I jumped. The flame would have
hit my neck and killed me, but it just went through my stomach as I fell on
her, screaming in pain and rage.

It was good old jiu-jitsu time; before I had
even thought about learning Kung-Fu, I had grasped the very basics of wrestling
and subduing people so I could survive the street fights. My body ended up over
her back, her arms locked behind her. I used both the whip and one of my two
belts to bind her hands.

The sensation was marvelous. It was like
spitting in the game's face. Too much realism in a game could also be a
weakness.

Eat this, developers.

"Guards! Guards!" She yelled as she
struggled. I didn't stop; I finished binding her and used the other whip I had
to gag her.

Renno still tried to yell, but her voice had
been muffled. It was already too late for me, though. I heard steps and looked
up. Lots of ghouls were coming from the right door. No veteran, no elite, no
skeleton, only common ghouls. I sighed in relief.

After being healed by Renno, I was pretty sure
it wasn't necessary for me to close my eyes to heal myself, but this was not
the best of times to test my theory. Closing them, I healed myself once and got
my spear and shield back.

The first ghoul was met with two darkballs and
spear to the shield, dying just like that. When he tried to defend against the
darkballs, the black liquid just went around the shield and got to his arms,
dealing the full damage. I loved it!

Sadly, that was all the magic I could do in the
battle, since the other ghouls quickly got to me. It if wasn't for the spear's
reach, I might not be able to hold my position and prevent them from releasing
the woman. As it was, they all died very easily: a hit to the legs for them to
drop their defenses and a hit to the head to finish them.

I turned back to the mage just in time to see
her turning back my direction, her hands untied, the bonds somehow destroyed. I
desperately jumped on her and held her hands. We struggled for control, but as
she had said, her muscles had atrophied. Plus, I had the advantage of weight,
and that was a big deal in jiu-jitsu.

After dominating her for the second time, I put
my spear through her neck. Or tried to.

No damage dealt to Badass Woman

Shit. Damn high-level NPCs and their
unfairness.

This meant I had no way of killing her, which
in turn meant I couldn't leave the prison alive. I did tie her hands with my
last belt, but if she had untied herself once I had to assume she could do it
again, and I doubted I could get out of her sight before she could free
herself. If I wanted to survive, I would have to stay over her and hold her
hands in a way that they couldn't point at me.

The High Lady seemed to realize that, too.
Eventually, she just stopped struggling and looked at me, still gagged. Unless
I found a way to kill her, we would be close buddies until someone appeared to
kill me instead.

I hope the damn game system doesn't see it as
sexual abuse of some kind.

I tried to kill her with magic, and my darkball
damaged her a little, but she merely created a death sphere and healed herself
without having to move her arms or hands.

Goddammit, I forgot the deathball can be used
to heal without hand gestures.

So we just stood there. Sooner or later some
other deathlord, skeleton or ghoul would come to the prison, and it would be over
for me.

Frustrated and with nothing better to do, it
was science time: I tried to create a death sphere with my eyes open, just like
she had done, but it didn't happen.

Afraid I might have lost my death magic for
some reason, I closed my eyes and created a death sphere. The smoky dark gray
energy in a perfect ball was there, in the gray space of my mind's eye. When I
opened my eyes, it also stood before me, about a half a meter beside the dark
sphere.

With science time a failure, I decided to spend
some mana in the hopes that my intelligence or my skills could level up.
Keeping my arms and hands extended as I pinned hers, I created magical spheres
and used darkballs and deathballs on Renno for a long time. I saw no reason not
to heal her too; it wasn't as if it would make any difference.

Watching the spheres become spells was kind of
interesting. The death spheres became smaller balls and flew like arrows to
Renno. The darkness spheres kept their sizes and just flew at the same speed I
could throw a water balloon.

People used to say an empty mind is the devil's
workshop, and they were right; I always found that idleness and creativity
walked together. I soon discovered I could not use two spheres at the same
time, even though I could do it one right after the other, like some machine
gun. After some tries, I managed to make a deathball hit a darkball before they
got to Renno, and they acted just as if they had hit a target, trying to engulf
each other and dissipating.

All the while Renno just looked annoyed at me.
At least that made me feel good.

"Yeah, woman, I'm a newbie, and you can't
do anything to me. Just watch me learn the very basics. Ha!"

The hatred in her eyes intensified.

Another idea popped up in my mind. I created a
darkness sphere but tried to put the incoming darkness energy over my existing
death sphere. It kind of worked, but the black liquid and the dark gray smoke
just battled for a few seconds until both dissipated.

When I tried to add more energy to the right
spheres – death to death, darkness to darkness –, it worked, and the spheres
got slightly bigger. I tried to send them flying, but they didn't move. So, I
had just created useless magic spheres. Great.

All I could do was dissipate them. Or... I
could find out how big they could become!

It has nothing to do with inferiority complex.
Shut up, mind!

Make darkness sphere bigger, close eyes, make
death sphere bigger, open eyes. It was also an exercise in trying to keep my
eyes closed exactly the required time of three seconds. Every time my MP got to
zero, and I became a little dizzy, I just closed my eyes for about half an hour
until my MP was recovered.

And so the hours passed by. Some part of me
kept telling me to use the time to level up my skills and maybe get a better
spell to kill Renno, but unless the next skill dealt thousands of points of
damage, there was no way it would be enough to kill her. She could fully heal
my HP with a single death sphere, after all.

Plus, I kind of became curious about what would
happen when the two spheres touched each other. They did destroy each other
when I created them in the same place, after all.

The bigger the spheres got, the more times I
had to add energy to grow them further and I guessed it was not mere physical
volume that was at work there. I would have given up halfway if it wasn't for
the very peaceful feeling I got when meditating; as if I couldn't care less
about the world.

That bothered me a little, the game acting on
my mind like that. But since it was a pleasant sensation and very useful for
now, I let it go. It surprised me a lot when I looked at the clock on the very
edge of my vision and realized five hours had already passed without me feeling
even a little of boredom. In the end, it took me all of thirty very relaxing
meditations, seventeen whole hours, for something to happen.

Both spheres used to be perfectly smooth, but
when there were only a few centimeters between them, they reacted with one
another. They got agitated, the black one began to rotate on itself, and spikes
appeared on the dark gray one. Black and dark gray bolts of lightning appeared
between them.

Renno woke up when that happened, or stopped
pretending to be asleep. Her eyes popped, and she tried to speak something
under the gag. When she saw I didn't give a damn, she started to trash her body
and try to break free. I smiled. If it had gotten that reaction from her, I was
on the right path.

I had to rest a few more times before
completing it. She didn't stop shaking her body for even a second, and it
prevented me from meditating, but I was still able to recover all my MP and use
it to enlarge the spheres.

Lightning was now continuously forming between
and around the spheres. The black one, made of liquid darkness energy, looked
like an incredibly fast spinning ball and the dark gray one, made of smoky
death energy, looked like a ball trying to explode but being blocked midway,
steadily expanding and contracting.

High Lady Renno was using all her mighty trying
to break free by now, in a very desperate way. She hit me between the legs
using her knees and did two damage to me like that. Two damage couldn't even
begin to convey the pain I felt. Hope appeared in her eyes, and she quickly
repeated the movement. I saw stars.

But it was too late.

I closed my eyes and added the final death
energy. I opened my eyes and applied the last darkness energy. Both spheres
touched.

They vibrated.

They stopped rotating and pulsating but
vibrated at such a high rate that it created sound, a thick buzz, like a badly
connected microphone. It began low and slowly increased in volume as the
vibrations got faster. My whole body began to vibrate too, and I decided it was
time. I would die, but I sure as hell would take that sadistic monster with me.
In a quick move, I put her head right between both spheres.

I expected the thing to blow, but it didn't. It
was as if her head became a third sphere and began to vibrate with the other
two, too fast to be healthy. It didn't take long for black blood to pour from
her eyes, nose, mouth and ears in high amounts.

Energy from both spheres slowly flowed to
Renno's head. The different energies touched each other and light shone,
illuminating the splashing blood in a yet more macabre scene. Soon all her head
was shining, and the energies were going down from her head to her body,
covering her in a glow too bright to directly look at.

It was fine by me; it was past time to get the
hell out of there anyway. I ran for my life and fell on the way, my lack of
belts allowing my pants to fall. Holy shit, if I died because of this, I would
never forgive myself. I took the pants off and resumed my crazy run. When I got
to the double doors, the sound of the vibrations was so loud that I had to
cover my ears, feeling blood pouring from them.

The prison was inside a big cave chamber, but I
didn't stop to look, I just run as far as I could. Surprisingly, the armored
woman was there, looking at the prison. I had no idea why and didn't stop to
ask, I just ran past her, pantless, blood pouring from my ears, eyes, and nose,
hands on my head.

Shai didn't try to stop me; she just stood
there looking at the prison. I took a quick glance back and saw a bright light
coming from inside the doors of the stone fortress, illuminating everything.

Suddenly, the vibration stopped, and the light
died.

Shit. Am I still too near? Shit. Shit, shit,
shit.

I threw myself on the floor.

The explosion came right after.

I didn't hear it, already deaf by then. But I
felt the crushing pressure from the shockwave and the hellfire that followed.
It was like a damn dam of fire, darkness and death had broken loose.

The fire came fast and hot and instantly melted
my legs. A big stone block from the exploded prison fell over my left arm.
There was so much pain that I couldn't even think straight enough to kill myself.
Worst of all, the familiar coldness of death was healing me at the same time
the fire damaged.

Cold darkness energy was there too, making me
mad between heat and cold, not even being allowed to accept the cold as
something entirely good.

It took forever, rapid streams of the three
elements coming at me, death preventing me from dying.

The fire melted the stone over my arm and the
arm itself. Death grew the limb back around the molten rock in a weird,
incomplete and painful way. It happened so many times that eventually the
melted stone became the floor under the arm. The same thing happened with my
chain armor and my chest.

I only knew pain.

After an eternity, my mind couldn't take it
anymore and sank into blissful oblivion.

* * *

I woke up feeling like shit.

I was mentally and physically exhausted,
hurting everywhere. I tried to heal myself, but all I got was more pain and a
message.

18 pure damage dealt to yourself

HP: 127 / 145

A black lightning icon was right beside a black
ear icon below my health bar. I willed them to show me their mysteries.

Extreme Magical Backslash (level 5 – max)

For 59 minutes, 59 seconds:

» Cannot cast spells

» Will not recover MP

Trying to do any of the above actions
will deal damage and reset the countdown.

Complete Deafness (level 10 – max)

Until you are magically healed, you
are unable to hear

A naked deaf deathlord in a cave without weapon
nor magic, hurting all over. It was just perfect. I weakly got up and looked at
the prison.

Or, to be precise, at the place where a prison
once stood.

I was in a huge hole. A perfect ball with a
hundred meters' diameter had been excavated in the cave floor, ceiling and
walls. The prison had stood on the end of the cave chamber, and now nothing
remained at the spot but black soot.

There had been no fire magic on my part, so
either Renno had used it before dying, or the two big spheres had somehow
synced with the magic inside her. I would never know.

There was a strange calmness in it now, after
the explosion, that sat right with me. It matched the awful way my body and
mind felt.

My body hurt even more as I climbed out of the
hole and saw prison debris everywhere. Stone, wood, metal, meat, bone and blood
were all over the place.

Thank the gaming gods, some loot for my
trouble. Wait, is it what I should be thinking while looking at this scene?

Deathlord Shai was some twenty meters away from
me. Her armor was all cracked up and her helmet had half disintegrated. She was
weakly trying to move a stone double my height which had fallen over her leg.
She was also unable to cut her leg off: her big bastard sword was at my feet.

I picked it up with difficulty and approached
her. Her head had been badly burnt; there were almost no skin and only patches
of burnt hair amidst the mess. Bloodied muscles moved as she tried to free
herself.

"You-" I tried to speak, but
couldn't; it hurt too much.

It was strange: she had not looked at me as I
approached. As I got near, I saw why: she was deaf and blind, dried blood on
both ears and eyes.

Looking at the scene was too sad, even for an
evil NPC like her. I could see black blood tears running down her face. I tried
to move the stone, but it was just too big and too heavy. She couldn't see it
and still tried, her fingerless burnt hand bloodied by the effort.

I had never felt pity for an enemy before, but
there is a first time for everything. With effort, I lifted the heavy sword
above her leg and let it drop.

She opened her mouth widely, so she must have
screamed. I repeated my action. On the seventh drop, she became free of her
leg, and blood poured freely from the stump.

I found some ripped cotton clothes nearby and
applied pressure to the wound, but it didn't stop. She had probably received an
Open Wounds status effect, which would slowly kill her if not healed by either
magic or medicine. I had neither.

I searched the rubble for ten minutes, hurting
all the way, but didn't find anything I could use. When I got back to her she
was unmoving, tears flowing freely from her blind eyes. I put the sword in her
hand. She took it with one hand and used the other to hold my hand strongly on
hers. It hurt and did damage, but I didn't move. I had just unwillingly killed
the poor creature.

When she pointed the sword at her heart, I
replaced her hands with mine on the handle. More than a few times in my life I
had been close to doing what she was about to, and no one should have to do it.

I looked straight into her blind eyes as I
reaped the life out of her.

Everything piled up: fear, anger, frustration,
pain, exhaustion.

I cried.

* * *

Hours and a few heals
later; I was pillaging what I could. My seventy-seven silver coins and all my
stuff were gone, either destroyed or melted away. All I had for my efforts
until now was the black sword of the woman.

The hilt was made of black metal, with a big
black onyx on its pommel. The black blade had a sharp edge, but the dull made
it a little unsightly. It was big and heavy, a bastard sword, to be used with
both hands. The fact that Shai had been able to handle it single handed and
still swing it at great speed was proof of her great strength.

Deathlord Shai's Enchanted Darksteel
Bastard Sword

» 110 (+0 [Strength]) physical damage

» 15 darkness damage

It was crazy good, but when I tried to wield
it, I got an irritating message.

Status effect received: Massively
Encumbered (level 10 – max)

You are using equipment too heavy for
you.

» -100% strength damage

» -100% agility (6 -> 0)

» +100% stamina consumption

I could still move, but raising the sword to
swing it was impossible. When I didn't think of it as a weapon, but just as
another item that I was carrying, the status effect disappeared. No status
effect meant I didn't get the penalties, but the sword remained heavy and
impossible for me to lift without effort.

There were a few blinking exclamation points on
the edge of my vision, but it felt wrong to check my rewards after what I had
done to Shai. I knew this was a game, but that had been intense.

Back to pillaging, I found nothing useful.
Maybe because when I had been in the prison I had taken the equipment of all
the enemies I had killed. Except for the stuff from the ghouls I had killed
after binding Renno, but they had been too close to the explosion, and I
couldn't find any undamaged and usable equipment. It seemed the smart thing to
do at the time, carrying everything I could, but now it meant I couldn't find a
corpse part with some cloth for me to pillage.

I had no choice but to leave half naked.

Something caught my attention when I looked at
the crater for a final time: a spot where the soot looked a little different. I
moved around to confirm I could see it from different angles, then went there
to check on it, passing by the small mound that now contained Shai's remains. I
had thought of taking her armor, but it was too wrecked to be any good.

First, I found Renno's circlet. Then, feeling
like an idiot for not having thought of looking for her items, I searched all
the damn crater, founding only an extra ring for my efforts.

Circlet of Enlightenment

Legendary

A special circlet forged by the
dwarves, enchanted by the elves, stolen by the drow, perfected by the sorins,
bought by the vampires and conquered by the deathlords.

» +10 magic

» +10 perception

Deathlord Renno's Ring of Fire Magic

Legendary

Forged by Deathlord Renno after
decades of study with the sole purpose of creating it, this ring is the envy of
all fire magic users that know of its existence.

» +2 to all unlocked spells on The
Flames skill-tree

This bonus is not
applied to unlock new spells

The thin crown-looking circlet had been made
with a kind of black crystal by the dwarves, so it thankfully was not as
feminine as it could be. Not that I would not use it even if it was made of
pink ribbons. The ring was designed as two black metal strips and a ruby strip
interlaced with some space between each other. It was truly a masterfully
crafted ring.

The items resistance to the fire, darkness and
death waves of destruction was thanks to their legendary grade; legendary items
were indestructible. They were also rare as hell, only below mythical in both
awesomeness and rarity.

I could see the stupid advantages the ring
would allow a fire magic user, especially as he unlocked better spells which
took even longer to level up. But the circlet was kind of a letdown for a
legendary item, particularly taking into account its impressive description.

The cave chamber was big and had a narrow
tunnel opposite to where the prison had been. It was high enough for a tall
human and wide enough for a broad shouldered dwarf to pass. A marching army would
have trouble attacking through it. As soon as I got there, I opened the
exclamation points.

Trait received: Scavenger

You just can't let go of stuff.

» Unowned or enemy owned items not on their
living bodies will glow

» Glow intensity: 10%

Not bad, but not especially good, either.

Strength increased to 4 (+1)

Wrestling for dominance with another being and
winning helped you grow stronger.

Agility increased to 7 (+1)

Not everyone can dodge triple speed spears
thrown from a much stronger opponent.

Constitution increased to 6 (+2)

It is a miracle you are alive. Your body
learned to suffer even more before you die.

» HP: 200 (+55)

» Stamina: 180 (+20)

Intelligence increased to 10 (+2)

No one would have thought of binding one of
the most powerful beings in the Underworld and killing her the way you did.

It's a shame the max attribute points you can
receive for fighting is two. Really.

» MP: 370 (+95)

Perception increased to 4 (+1)

Noticing how the High Lady had to move her
hand to use magic and acting on it was very perceptive of you.

Willpower increased to 9 (+2)

Words cannot express your stubborn refusal to
give up, even when facing one such as High Lady Renno or looking for items in a
desolate place.

» Stamina: 190 (+10)

Level up!

Current level: 5

HP, MP and stamina restored

The intelligence message was weird, but I was
getting used to it by now. I opened the third exclamation point, and it was
unlike any other I had seen up until then:

Title received: Archmage

After your recent magical exploits, the gods
have granted you a special title.

You must choose a magical element used in the
exploit to bind it to your title.

You will become immune to the chosen element,
including immunity to damage and healing.

Available elements:

» Darkness

» Death

Please, choose your element.

It was great! Of course, I would wait until I
learned life magic, which did a hundred percent extra damage to the undead, and
then do the whole explosion thing again so I could select life for the
immunity. If I did that, I would become a kind of living legend.

When I tried to close the window, a system
message popped, and my body froze midair.

You must select your element before moving
on.

Well, it was too good to be true. Becoming
immune to being healed by death magic was a no-go, which left me with only one
choice.

I choose the darkness element, I thought, and the window content changed.

Title received: Archmage

An Archmage is a mage of incredible talent.

As such, you can choose one of the following
traits to receive +10 levels:

» Controller

Will remove the necessity of doing hand
gestures to attack with your magical spheres.

» Energizer

You will be able to create magical spheres
even if you are running.

That was a tough one; both options were
amazing. But after what had happened to Renno just because I had bound her
hands, it was evident how important it was not to need to extend my hand to
attack.

I choose controller.

Title updated: Dark Archmage

In Valia's history, many thought about putting
big masses of magical spheres close to and touching each other.

But you're the first to use an Expert Antimage
as a catalyst, destabilizing the magic energies and causing an explosive
reaction.

Such a magical reaction will be named Thorn's
Reaction in your honor and the gods have named you Archmage.

One of the elements used in the discovery has
resonated with you, branding you a Dark Archmage.

» Immunity to darkness element

» +10 Mage

» +10 Controller

» +50% light element resistance

Mage increased to 11 (+10)

» +11% effectiveness to spells

Trait has evolved into Adept Mage:

» Can apply your will to unseen things

» +1% resistance to all magical elements,
except divine

Controller increased to 11 (+10)

» Gesture required: None

» Targeting: Anything in view

» Max distance: 110 meters

Trait has evolved into Adept Controller:

» Can change spell paths midair

» Spell path max correction: 48 degrees

Level up!

Current level: 7

HP, MP and stamina restored

I closed the window dumbfounded. It was
difficult as hell to level a trait up, and I had just received twenty free
trait points because of a title. Also, I had just found out that some traits,
if not all of them, would get better on level ten or eleven.

Excited, I quickly opened the fourth
exclamation point, which also had a 'T' letter for 'title' on it.

Title received: Legendary Spotter

There is no limit to your item searches.

Finding a legendary item on the ground is
proof of it.

» +1 Scavenger

» +1 Gold Digger

Scavenger increased to 2 (+1)

» Glow intensity: 20%

Gold Digger increased to 2 (+1)

» Glow intensity: 20%

Level up!

Current level: 8

HP, MP and stamina restored

Not what I had expected, but that's life for
you, a big teaser. Only one exclamation point left, this one with the letter
'M'.

Dear player,

The Guardian, Valia's anti-cheat AI, has
marked you as a possible cheater.

Our analysis of your actions to date was not
conclusive.

You are now under strict observation, and we
are required by law to inform you that your game related thoughts will become
available to us.

Yours,

V-Soft anti-cheat team.

I actually... Liked it. It made me feel secure
that they cared so much about cheaters. But no one should receive free reign on
one's thoughts without some rebuke, obviously.

For five minutes straight, I just thought of
committing impure acts, making sure to make them game related somehow.

I received another message.

Dear player,

We desire the same upon you.

Yours,

V-Soft anti-cheat team.

I laughed and felt my mood lighten. With all
exclamation points taken care of, I moved on.

At the end of the tunnel was a small chamber
with ten dead ghouls and big metal gates that had been torn apart and melted.
If not for what I had just been through, I would have found it impressive. Now,
I just wondered which prisoner had been the one responsible. Probably the elf.

I took the stuff from the ghouls and found
myself once more clothed and a proud owner of a corroded sword and an old small
corroded shield, plus loot.

As soon as I stepped out of the gates, two new
exclamation points appeared.

Quest completed: Escape the Prison

Random primary attribute point received:

» +1 charisma

Quest: Find Help

E rank

You have escaped the bound deathlord's secret
prison, but unless you find help you will not live long when they begin their
hunt for you.

You have heard about the Resistance; it might
be a good place to start.

The Resistance, huh? If I had known it would be
like this, I might have asked for help from the rescued woman while she was
still treating me as her master. Hell, if I knew what I would go through, I'd
have chosen to burn in the sun instead!

Out of the gates, I found myself in a long
corridor, wide enough for two cars and high enough for a giant. Metal pillars
sustained its weight, and a metal sign was visible.

East:

Dakar

West:

Serharn

Kazomor

Ashsom

None of that meant anything to me, so I just
went right.

To Dakar.

Jack
Thorn

Unbound
Deathlord

Legendary
Spotter, Dark Archmage

Level 8

Hit Points:200
/ 200

Mana Points:370
/ 370

Stamina:190
/ 190

Attributes:

Strength:4

Agility:7

Dexterity:5

Constitution:6

Intelligence:10

Perception:4
+ 10 [Items]

Willpower:9

Charisma:3

Traits:

Adept Mage:11
+ 10 [Items]

Adept Controller:11

Gold Digger:2

Scavenger:2

Antimage:1

Crafter:1

Energizer:1

Meditator:1

Mind Seer:1

Nitpicker:1

Shadow:1

Ter'nodril

Drow

Underworld – Corrupted – Darkness Touched

Most think of the drow as the evil twins of the
elves. This is not completely wrong.

The drow were born in a lost age, created for
an unknown reason. What is known, thanks to almost forgotten elven songs, is
that exactly half of the living elves of the time chose to become drow, most of
them either warriors or their companions.

The Devourer, god of darkness, touched those
elves and made them his own. They became dark elves, living for their god in a
closed, dictatorial and theocratic society, freedom a word without meaning to
any of them.

"Why?" is the big mystery of the
drow. While they are slightly stronger than their brothers who live under the
sun, the difference is not significant enough to justify half of a people
offering their lives to a fallen god and the darkness of the Underworld.

Still, the drow came to be.

They are divided into three main groups:

Priests, holding all political power;

Blackguards, holding all military power;

And serfs, the drow who fail to become either,
becoming slaves in all but name.

-- Excerpt from
"Species of Valia", by Amir, a Karr

6. Dry Fishing

'Any idiot can become rich. But only the
smart can keep the money.'

- Father

It took me all of a
single step for the world to change.

One moment, I was starting my walk; the other,
I lost my body and found myself in complete darkness. Nothingness surrounded me
for a few seconds, and then the developer logo appeared.

V-Soft presents...

Distant drums hit one time and the game company
logo faded. Some seconds later, two more hits came to my nonexistent ears and
the game logo appeared before me with an elevator music on the background.

Valia Online

A few more instants passed by, the music
stopped, and the logo faded away. Everything stood like that for the better
part of five minutes. I was wondering if I had encountered a bug when I heard a
heartbeat. And another. Soon, it was constant. Then it was fast. Then it
stopped.

"Death," said an angelic and ageless
female voice, "comes to all."

I suddenly saw an enormous battlefield from
above, all kinds of races and species fighting each other. Gigantic fireballs,
big lighting arcs, ice explosions and other spells went everywhere. Warriors
used swords in a way too fast for eyes to see, killing dozens in a second, like
hurricanes. Giants swung enormous hammers and smashed enemies to a pulp.
Screams, trumpets, drums, metal on metal, explosions; the sounds of war. A
sight to behold.

It slowly faded away and was replaced by the
aftermath, with thousands of dead bodies, absolute silence now reigning on the
field. The camera focused on a bloodied halberd struck in the ground, a red
string attached to it swaying with the wind. Everything slowly lost all color,
until only the redness of the string and the blood remained. A sad slow music
started to play.

"I birthed life," said the voice.
"From my womb, the gods came to be."

Thirteen people appeared in a line, on an
uneven ground; some were sitting and others were on their feet. Powerful drums
began to beat as the song increased in tempo. They were all covered in
impressive armors, wielding different weapons, their species and sex impossible
to tell.

"They loved each other, brothers and
sisters forever. They hated each other, enemies with eternity to fight and
destroy. I wept to see what my children had wrought."

A sun exploded, and the music became epic.
Galaxies were created and destroyed. An armored face screamed in rage. A tear
rolled on an ebony cheek and dropped into nothingness. Darkness and silence
enveloped me again.

"I birthed death. Something lower than the
rest of my children, but also greater. I created it to give my children rest
from their troubled lives. Because of death, I forgave myself. Because of
death, the wars of the gods came to a halt. They feared my gift more than they
hated each other. I was satisfied. After eons of peace, I gave them the spark
of life and allowed them to create their children."

A blue and brown planet was seen from above,
continents different from Earth's. The camera zoomed in at high speed until I
could see the barren soil in details. Then a green sprout grew and bore a
flower. The flower was picked by a beautiful elven lady wearing a diaphanous
white garment, her blond hair blowing in the wind, her deep blue eyes
reflecting the surrounding forest. She left the flower to her nose, inhaling
its perfume, closing her eyes.

"Some lived in peace, like brothers and
sisters. Others hated each other, like their creators before them."

A hiss slit the air and the elf opened her eyes
in shock. An arrow had struck her from behind; blood flowed staining her
pristine garb. An armored orc was shown in the woods, holding a crude bow, and
screaming a savage howl, saliva strung between its sharp teeth.

"I pitied them, and also gifted them
blissful eternal rest."

The image faded.

"But unlike my children, the mortals could
breed. It was enough for them to see death differently. Instead of halting
their killing, it led to family feuds that lasted as long as an heir
lived." I heard a deep breath. "That was not all."

Again the music assumed a lethargic pace, and I
saw a man just like me, but clearly still alive: his eyes were not completely
black, and there was color in his cheeks. He was wearing blue mage robes in a
forest, looking intently at a giant spider attacking an enormous rat. The
animals battled each other, but in the end the rat was caught in the spider's
web and couldn't move. The spider killed it with its toxin.

A translucent energy left the rat's body, going
upwards then slowly dissipating. The mage extended his hand and made a fist.
The energy coalesced into a medium sized sphere, then slowly became dark gray.
The mage got closer to it, the spider completely forgotten. The music became
more urgent.

The spider was not as forgetful as the man and
didn't like him approaching. It jumped at him and he ducked, sending the gray
sphere at the insect by reflex. The sphere hit the giant arachnid and it
immediately died with a shriek. The mage trapped the energy leaving the
spider's corpse and examined it

"Some mages corrupted my gift of
never-ending peace," the embittered voice continued. "They took it
and remade themselves with it. They didn't want to rest; they wanted to become
ageless like the gods."

The mage was in a laboratory, and the music was
an agitated voiceless rock. Lots of dead animals were around him, inside
strange symbols drawn in blood on the floor. Dark gray smoky energy was everywhere,
like an evil mist.

He cut his wrists, spread his arms and the
energy slowly began to spiral inwards. Then it became a gray tornado, the mage
hidden in its center, his red blood mixing with the dark energy and his body
floating just off the ground.

Suddenly, all the energy entered him, and he
screamed in pain. He stood like that, awash in blood and magic with arms wide
open for a moment, screaming until it ended, then he fell unconscious to the
ground. Silence reigned as he seemingly lifeless face on the floor became the
focus.

"And godlike they became," the voice
now dripped with contempt. "From death, they found eternity in a tainted,
corrupted way. Even the gods learned from them, and created their own corrupted
children, through death or darkness. Demons, vampires, ghouls, zombies, drow,
sorins, hellhounds, ternui, specters... All of them became part of the world.
Not even the skeletons of the long dead were spared, walking again in the world
of the living. But they were made by others; they were not the ones who first
eluded death. They were not the ones who took death for themselves and became
its lords."

The mage's eyes opened, completely black, no
irises or whites.

"They were not deathlords."

The eyes blinked, I heard two final drum beats
and gloom surrounded me again. All was silent before the voice spoke again,
peaceful once more.

"Most of them gave themselves to higher
powers and were called bound deathlords. Bound to the God of Fire. The God of
Water. To the Fallen Gods – Fallen in a war so ancient that even those who
fought them don't remember why anymore. But not you."

When my vision came back, I was corporeal
again. The most beautiful woman I had ever seen stood before me, floating in a
vast whiteness, her bronze skin wreathed by white cloth that billowed as if
blown by a nonexistent wind. She was literally shining. She looked directly at
me with eyes that changed colors.

"You weren't in it for power, were you?
You just couldn't stand the idea of dying." She neared me and put a hand
on my cheek. It burned fiercely, but also felt amazingly good, a pleasure I had
never experienced in my life. Not sexual, but something else. "Poor child.
So far gone from me in your fears, that I cannot touch you with kindness
without causing you harm before healing. But I do love you, child. I could
destroy you, here and now. You, and all my children, and all their corrupted
creation. Start again. But I won't."

She took away her hand, and I missed it like a
child misses its blanket. Like a lost lover. Like my aunt. Like my parents. It
was a deep urge to have her back, even if it was just her hand, just her
finger. A mediocre existence touched by a transcendent being, immediately
addicted. I tried to move to her, but my body refused to obey. I tried to talk,
to beg for her forgiveness for whatever sin had made her go away, to beg her to
touch me again, but my mouth wouldn't move.

"I love you," she said, and I loved
her too, with all my soul. "I allow you to live. But I also pity you.
Hated by your brethren and shunned by almost everybody else. So I give you a
gift. A quest. Find my High Priest in the Death Citadel, and he will remove
your curse."

"I will," I said in the midst of
tears. I would do anything for her. Surprise came over me as I realized I had
spoken, but when I tried to do it again, I couldn't.

"Now go, my child. Go live your unending
death."

She extended her hand to me, but she was fading
away. I tried to reach her, but our fingers never touched.

When she was gone, I found myself again in the
cave corridor.

I was not breathing, but I found I didn't need
it anymore.

My transformation into deathlord was complete.

* * *

The cutscene had been intense.

Even though the sensation was gone now, I had
strongly believed for a few moments that I loved that creator goddess.

This was no novelty to games. The contract I
had signed allowed V-Soft to do that, as long as the scenes lasted no more than
fifteen minutes, with a minimum of five minutes between scenes – in which I had
to be fully awake and conscious enough to confirm if there was any lingering
sensation in my body.

Aside from that, no system in the game could
directly apply pleasure. I could have pleasure having in-game sex, for
instance, but any type of pleasure beyond a physical action was forbidden. No
magic, no pleasure feedback on level ups; only things I could do in real life
could give me pleasure in here, with the exception of the cutscenes. There was
great worry about people becoming addicted to the pleasure.

For the next few hours, I just practiced my
magic, my sword, and ran. All the pain I had suffered because of Renno was
still fresh in my mind, and I wasn't in a hurry to discover the next experience
the Underworld had in stock for me. At least not before I got stronger.

I used almost all my MP doing magic, and ran
while swinging the corroded sword until my stamina was also almost depleted.
Then, I meditated for half an hour and repeated the process.

Soon I found out I could now create three magic
spheres, even though I had no idea why the number had increased. It could
either be because of the mage trait, the Archmage title, the intelligence
increase, the overall level increase, or even for any other reason; I had no
real way to know.

Also, becoming tired without panting was a new
experience altogether. Talking without the need to pause for air was something
in a whole new dimension. I supposed it was how the skeletons talked, using
some innate magic the undead had. Would I need to do some rehab in the real
world when I left the capsule?

Eight hours later I saw a big chamber on the
end of the tunnel. I went back a little to meditate to full MP, created three
darkness spheres and checked it out.

It was the size of five or six football fields,
round, and with multiple exits all around, including what looked like the
corridor continuation on the opposite side. A lake occupied a quarter of the
chamber and some luminous lichen on the high ceiling gave a faint green light.
There were mushrooms on the walls and floor near the lake. Seeing water for the
first time since getting into the game was touching.

Food and water. How does my undead body deal
with it?

I got closer to the lake and sipped the water.
It tasted like shit. For the next five minutes, I kept spitting, trying to
remove the taste from my mouth. It was déjà vu all over again.

Desperate to get rid of the taste, I took a
mushroom nearby and ate it. It tasted sour but better than the water. I chewed
on it until the water taste disappeared and swallowed.

12 nature damage received

Status effect received: Food Poisoning
(level 1)

For 4 minutes, 59 seconds:

» -1 HP per second

That was a lot of damage. The moment the
poison kicked in, the water surface shifted. A few instants later, three
monsters jumped from the lake.

They were humanoid, with heads like a mix of
lizard and fish and scaly skin all over their body. They had big claws and
sharp teeth in multiple rows, like those of sharks. Their limbs were elongated
and their bodies wiry. I immediately sent a dark sphere flying at one's face.

14 darkness damage dealt to Weird Fish

That was just great; they had fifty percent
darkness resistance. I dropped my stuff, took my sword from my belt and
prepared to fight.

And stood prepared for a long time. They moved
so slowly it made a turtle look fast.

Dropping my guard, I closed my eyes long enough
to create a death sphere.

28 death damage dealt to Weird Fish

Shit. As good as
darkness and death magic had been for me in the short term, it seemed I'd have
some troubles using them on some species of the Underworld. Just my luck.

Since darkness had a better mana/damage ratio,
I started to send a lot of dark spheres their direction. It took a total of
three hundred and eight damage to kill the first. It didn't even make a sound,
just dropped dead.

I killed the second just as effortlessly.
Meanwhile the third bent and picked a mushroom. They had just come to eat and
were unable to fight. It was like killing puppies who came to eat their kibble.
I stopped attacking.

As slow as a sunset, the creature took the
mushroom from the ground. It put it in the mouth and swallowed it in a single
gulp.

Then, it grew.

It got thicker, taller. I could see its muscles
growing and ripping its skin apart. Its face elongated and the mouth enlarged.
It looked at me, blinked with horizontal eyelids, and attacked.

Fast, I thought
as it rushed at me and tried to claw me down. I blocked with the shield.

50 shock damage received

HP: 118 / 200

Wow. I got
surprised both at the damage I had received and at the fact that my life was
that low. That damn food poisoning! Since it didn't hurt I wasn't paying enough
attention to it.

Annoyed at the unexpected turn of events, I
thrust my sword at the monster.

20 damage dealt to Fast Fish Monster

Not bad. I barely dodged the next attack and
attacked again. It wasn't very difficult, but I needed extreme concentration.
If there were two or three of them, I wasn't sure if I'd have survived.

It was a good opportunity to apply magic to
close combat. I read the flow of battle as best as I could and stopped moving
for half a second. The fishman had just finished an attack, and I used the time
to create a darkness spheres and throw a darkball at it.

In the end, it died when the damage it received
was over five hundred. It was not a low-level monster. Damn, if I didn't have
magic, I would have run out of stamina even fighting a single one of them.

The monster's eyes were glowing with the
unowned items glow. I took them out in a most disgusting manner.

Fishman Youngling Eye

An eye from a fishman youngling

A fishman. It was a nice way of discovering
creatures' official names.

I had no idea what the eyes were used for and
wondered if its heart or something would also be useful, but a new game feature
was discovered. When I put the sword on the monster, it refused to cut, and a
message appeared:

You cannot cut humanoid bodies open!

Only eyes, teeth, tongue, hair, fingernails,
ears, fingers and head are allowed to be taken from humanoid creatures (except
if in beast form).

It looked like the developers didn't want
weirdos doing weird stuff to humanlike creatures.

For me, it meant it would be easier to get
items. Opening the creature's mouth, I noticed that neither its teeth nor its
tongue were glowing. Nor were its fingers and fingernails. None of the
non-transformed fishmen had glowing eyes, either.

After getting back to the place I had used to
recover my mana before, I once more meditated until both my HP, MP, and stamina
were full, healing as needed because of the food poison status.

When I got back to the lake chamber, I saw ten
people. All of them had red capes with black edges over full plate armor. They
walked with their helmets open, a crossbow in one hand and a big metal shield
in the other. On each of their belts, they carried two swords. Even some fifty
meters away I could see their eyes were red. Vampires, all of them. With their
equipment, I doubted I had a chance if it came to a fight.

They saw me the same time I saw them.
Immediately all of them made a line and pointed their crossbows at me. Not good
prospects to live there.

"Stop there! No outsider is allowed at
Crystalia or its surrounding chambers!" One of the guards yelled.

I stopped, raised his hands and yelled back.
"I'm sorry for trespassing. I'm going to Dakar. Can you help me?"

"You are in Dakar, deathlord. But you are
on our lands. Get out or we'll shoot you. You have five seconds."

"C'mon! I just want to find a nice
city-"

"Five."

"Seriously man, I'm no threat-"

"Four."

I looked annoyed at them. They closed their
helmets.

Shit is getting serious.

"Three."

"Ok, you win. I'm leaving." I turned
back. It was unnerving to walk with crossbows pointing at my back, but I
figured it would do me no good to see the bolts coming instead of just feeling
them.

"Two," the vampire said, and I heard
a whoosh sound right next to my ear before a bolt struck the floor ahead of me.

It made me stop for half a second, but I kept
walking.

Another arrow came. And another. I started
walking faster. More arrows, and one of them grazed my ear.

I ran. The vampire laughs followed.

For half a day I trained in the corridor
nearby, waiting for the vampires to go away. When I went back to the chamber,
though, I saw they had made camp there – no idea where they had got the tents
from.

It was a dead end.

* * *

The way back through the tunnel was even slower
than before.

Fueled by fury, I trained like a madman. Even
in my 'meditations' – if I could call what I did meditation – all I did was
thinking of ways I could have killed the vampires before dying a horrible
death. My best score on the end of the first meditation was one kill. After the
fourth, I was pretty confident I could have killed one and a half.

I also began to practice walking stealthily
again.

As I got back to the sign in front of the
prison gates, my strength had risen by two and reached six. Every other
attribute remained the same. It seemed they were much easier to raise by
fighting ridiculously strong enemies. Even so, I didn't try to go back for the
vampires.

That's when I decided to level all my primary
attributes to at least ten, starting with strength and constitution. Long
boring training was made routine. My thinking was that since I was already
level eight, I could take my time to level up slowly without affecting my
chances at the Challenge.

Something strange happened while I trained: I
heard a phone ring in my head and an exclamation button appeared.

External Call

+1 202 7712-8823-9912 is calling you.

Think "pick up" to answer,
"ignore" to ignore, "add" to add this number to your
contacts.

Before I could do anything, the message in the
window was updated.

Call Dropped

The caller dropped the call.

I recognized the number as grandfather's. Only
Richard, my lawyer, was supposed to have my number, but I wasn't surprised that
he'd let himself be bullied into revealing it to the old man.

I wasn't called again, for which I was
grateful; I wasn't in the mood to talk to him. Truthfully, I was never
in the mood when it came to anything about grandfather. I'd never forget the
way he had looked at me, nor what he had said to me after the fire.

I added his number to the contacts and went
back to my training with a sour mood.

At the beginning of my fifth day in the game, I
had risen another strength point and one constitution point. That's when I
heard the scream.

I was so focused on my sword swings as I ran
that the startled me.

"Run!" It was a male voice.

"No! You run! I'll distract them!" A
genderless voice yelled back.

With fifty mana points and sixty stamina left,
helping was not a very smart thing to do. I wondered what action I should take
until a scream of pain reverberated off the walls.

Shit. Someone is
in a lot of pain. I'm in no condition to help. Shit. Shit. After another
terrifying scream, I ran toward it. Shit.

Ahead of me, the tunnel turned right. It had
become a common occurrence as big rocks had been hit by the excavators. The
moment I turned the corner, I saw something weird.

A hairless dog, so emaciated it was possible to
see its bones under the skin, was biting a ghost. The strange thing was that
the ghost was taking damage and a white substance was dripping from its wounds,
disappearing after a moment. The ghost was on the floor, thrashing and trying
to get away from the dog to no avail. A little ahead there were six dead dogs
and a dead... humanoid thing... too bloodied to be recognized.

A dog? Really? I had to kill elite ghoul
guards, and these guys are being defeated by starving dogs?

I threw a darkball at the attacker.

28 darkness damage dealt

The dog whimpered and ran away. I threw a
second dark sphere, and it would have missed if not for my Adept Controller
attribute allowing me to correct the sphere's path slightly. The dog fell and
died amidst painful whimpers.

Poor thing, I
thought.

"Tha- Thank you," the ghost said with
a child's voice as he stood. He was bald, and his facial features were too
smooth to be recognizable. He had white clothes and two small daggers, all of
it semi-transparent. His bottom half was absent and when he stood he floated.

"Whoa, what the hell are you?" I
asked.

"Is this your first time seeing a
specter?"

"Yeah," I poked him, and my finger
hit an obstacle. It was like poking jelly.

"Hey! I'm not an animal. Stop that."

"Talking about animals..." I looked
at the corpses. "What were you doing here?" I approached the dead
humanoid.

"Well..." Suddenly, he seemed to
suspect me. "What are you doing here?"

Just for safety, I created two more dark
spheres as I crouched next to the humanoid. It looked and smelled like a long
gone corpse, but by all the blood nearby it couldn't have been dead for more
than a few minutes. It had no skin whatsoever.

"Is this what ghosts become when they
die?" I asked doubtfully.

"No. He is a zombie," he replied
curtly.

The zombie had leather clothes and a two handed
sword, all of it glowing the way unowned items did. In Valia, all equipment was
lost at death; the manuals hinted of a way to prevent that, but I didn't know
how.

So, a dead player. His purse was also glowing.
I opened it and found thirty silver coins and twelve copper coins.

Except for the money, I didn't see anything I
liked in the zombie's equipment; the sword was too big for my tastes.

It was not a whole lot of money, and I thought
it was more valuable to make a friend than get some silver at the moment. I
took the purse and offered it to the ghost. "He was your friend, right? Do
you want me to wait for him here with you?"

He frowned, then took the money.
"Thanks." He sighed and his posture changed, as if he had just
realized there was no reason to be tense around a guy who had saved him and
returned his friend's money. "I don't know if he is coming back. Too many
monsters on the way and he will be naked.

"I see." I could protect the body or
act as a bodyguard for the zombie, but I wasn't interested in doing so for some
strangers. "I'm Jack, by the way."

"Ted," he said. Then, he crossed his
arms and looked at the zombie corpse with what I guessed was a sad face;
because of the smoothness of his face, his facial features were immensely hard
to distinguish.

"So, where are you headed? I was going for
Dakar, but some vampires blocked my path."

He sighed a last time at the zombie corpse and
looked at me. "It's not just you, the vampires sent a message to the
merchants in the Catacombs, saying the path is closed until further
notice."

"Dickheads," I said.

"I don't blame them. It seems like a
merchant was involved in the kidnapping of an important vampire, who just came
back to them and revealed it. They were enraged enough to start a war against
the kidnappers and stop all trade."

From the timing, I could assume he was talking
about the vampire I had rescued. Just my luck: rescue a guy and it backfires.

"Well, I'm too low level to get involved
in a war anyway. Where are you going now?"

"Catacombs." He crouched and took the
two-handed sword from the zombie.

"That's the second time you talk about
this Catacombs place. What is it?"

"The specters starting town."

"Great. Let's go, then. I've no idea where
to go, to tell the truth. I'm just wandering."

"Yes, I guess this must be hard on
you."

"Huh?"

"You know, being locked out of Dakar."

"Why would it be?"

I think I saw a frown in his face. "Isn't
Dakar the deathlords country? Theirs, and the vampires'. Now you can't get
there because of the war."

Crap. Great, that was just what I needed, be
struck outside my own country. Not that I expect a warm welcome there; both
vampires and bound deathlords hate me.

"Didn't know that."

"For real? Didn't you spawn in
there?" Spawn was gaming-talk to the appearance or creation of anything,
from items to cities, from monsters to people.

As much as Ted had been useful
information-wise, I wasn't about to tell him about my starting point. I didn't
know yet the implications of destroying the damn place. Time to deflect.

"Not there." I smiled in what I hoped
was a excited way. "But talking about spawn points, I just remembered the
introduction cut-scene for my species! It was awesome! My character was a
human, then he killed animals and drew magic runes on the ground, and there was
this hurricane of death magic, and my character just woke undead from it!"

"Hmm." He was nowhere as excited as I
thought he'd be. "The specter movie is a big war, and I am a vengeful
spirit who refused to let go of my old grudges. It took some centuries for me
to gather energy, but here I am." He extended his hands and did a weirdly
sensual turnover.

"Well... You could have taken some extra
decades. You look like crap."

"Hey! Right, I know. But as I level up I
will get my legs and my face back. From what understood, I'll be complete by
level ten or so."

"Really? How will you look?"

"Like a translucent person who can float
at will and pass through doors."

"I bet you will be an impossibly handsome
man nowhere near your actual looks."

He smiled in a weird way. "You are one to
talk. Those muscles are way too unrealistic. You look like a nerd who wanted to
have muscles but was afraid to go too far from your real fatty body."

I smiled back. My game body was exactly like my
real one, except for the eyes. I worked out for strength, not gaining muscle
mass. "Sorry for not fitting your beauty standards. I'll just log out,
kill myself, become a real life ghost and join a ghost gym somewhere."

"It would be a favor to humankind. What
are you waiting for? I'm not going to miss you." His excitement was
somewhat surprising. It seemed Ted liked small talk more than game-related
conversations. Weird gamer.

"I'm too lazy. But what about this going
through doors thing? Isn't it a cheat-like ability?"

"No. I take damage doing it. The better
the material and its possible enchantments, more damage I take. I can't know if
I will survive going through objects just by looking at them, so it's not that
safe. Imagine how dumb it would be to die because I'm trying to go through an
enchanted rock."

"Still looks like an overpowered ability
to me."

He shrugged. "I didn't make the rules. And
you can start over as a specter if you want to."

It took me all of half a second to decide I
didn't want to. I had two legendary items at level eight; who was I to complain
about some ghosts going through doors? That reminded me of something.

"No, thanks. Can I learn fire magic in
your town?"

"No. I can, but outsiders aren't allowed.
We tried." He made a gesture at the dead zombie.

"Damn. Well, I'll still go with you if
that's okay. Nowhere to go and all." Plus, I wondered how much more
information about the game a player who started in a city had.

"Fine. Let me just rest a little. I'm
under ten health to-" Ted suddenly stopped talking, realizing he had just
told another player how easy it would be to kill him.

I raised my hands in the universal gesture for
peace and smiled. "Relax. Even if we are not best buddies yet, I already
consider myself your friend or at least a colleague. I'm also under ten
HP," I lied. "Wait, which magic element heals you? If it's death, I can
take care of it."

"These look like darkness magic, not
death." He looked curiously at the darkness spheres.

"Yep, this is darkness. Death magic is
much slower to use and I have to close my eyes. Like this." I dissipated a
dark sphere, closed my eyes and three seconds later a smoky dark gray sphere
was floating in the middle of the two dark liquid ones.

"You went for two magic skills? And want
to learn a third? Isn't that a little..."

"Stupid? I know the jack-of-all-trades
theory about immersive reality RPGs. But I can punch people in real life, in
Valia I want to magic the hell out of them."

"Punch people in real life? Like a
boxer?"

I smiled. "Yeah, something like that. So,
you want some healing?"

"Yes, please!"

I extended my arm and opened my palm at Ted. I
didn't need to, but I thought it better to keep that a secret for now. RPG
players were a bunch of envious people, so if I showed my powers I would soon
be called a cheater, even though what I had done was perfectly within the
game's limits. Plus, if Ted turned out to be an enemy, it'd be better if he
didn't know much about my true power.

The moment the death sphere touched the ghost,
its gray smoke surrounded him and was absorbed.

You have healed Ted by 70 HP

I healed the ghost two more times and my MP was
depleted. An exclamation point button appeared.

Trait received: Healer

Taking care of other people's injuries,
without asking for anything in return, shows that you have a healer's heart.

» +1% healing effectiveness

» Minimum extra healing: +1 HP

"That's all I can do for now; I'm out of
MP. Let's rest," I sat and closed my eyes. In my mind's eye, I could see
the ghost the same way I could see myself: pulsating light gray and opaque dark
gray energy fighting and mixing with each other in a humanoid form. I figured
that was the way all undead would look

Is a ghost even an undead?

"You are a little too trusting, you know?
You gave me back my friend's money, healed me and even saved me without much HP
yourself. Are you role-playing as a hero?"

"Something like that," I answered
without opening my eyes. Even if I had indeed been almost dead, I still doubted
Ted would've been able to kill me; some shitty dogs had killed the zombie, and
Ted would have followed suit, after all.

"Thank you," he said in a heartfelt
way. "I wanted to be a specter because I like ghosts, but I didn't expect
to find much kindness in the Underworld. Not after all the NPCs in the
Catacombs. God, even the players were hateful people. Bear and I came here to
get away from them, and it all ended this way. I would have died if not for
you, and I was really scared."

"No problem," I saw the ghost touch
his face while speaking. Was he crying? Weren't undead species supposed only to
be played by people of age? It was the second undead player I found and both of
them acted like children. Well, to be fair I could understand Ted if he was a
city guy raised in a bubble and not used to near death experiences. I would
have punched him for it before my martial arts enlightenment experiences, but
now I only pitied him for his overprotective parents.

Half an hour later I created a third dark
sphere and stood up. "Let's go. Lead the way."

"Okay!" Ted answered, and we moved to
one of the corridors in the small cave chamber. "To the ghost city!"
He said excitedly.

I sighed.

Overexcited younglings.

Jack
Thorn

Unbound
Deathlord

Legendary
Spotter, Dark Archmage

Level 8

Hit Points:235
/ 235

Mana Points:365
/ 370

Stamina:200
/ 200

Attributes:

Strength:7

Agility:7

Dexterity:5

Constitution:7

Intelligence:10

Perception:4
+ 10 [Items]

Willpower:9

Charisma:3

Traits:

Adept Mage:11
+ 10 [Items]

Adept Controller:11

Gold Digger:2

Scavenger:2

Antimage:1

Crafter:1

Energizer:1

Healer:1

Meditator:1

Mind Seer:1

Nitpicker:1

Shadow:1

7. Persona Non Grata

'Trust no one, no matter the
circumstances.'

- Mother

As we passed by the
dead dogs, I noticed their bodies were glowing. I told Ted to wait and took my
time to skin them. I had never done it and ended up damaging some of the pelts
and leaving some meat on them in the first tries. Six dog pelts for free. Not
bad. Ted puked white ectoplasm.

"They are dogs. It's disgusting."

"Well, I'm undead. There's no such thing
as disgusting for me."

"I'm an undead too, and I find it
disgusting."

"It's clear who's the alpha male,
then."

Ted didn't answer, but he didn't look upset,
just out of words. Weird.

"What about your friend's clothes? Are you
going to leave them there?"

"Yes! Yes, I am!" He said vehemently.

"Can I take them, then?"

"I guess." He crossed his arms and
turned back. "Be quick about it."

Why turn back? Weirdo.

I took the zombie's leather clothes, which were
as bad as my own. Thanks to the extra stuff, I had to change the way all my
items were organized, unmaking the three small bags I was carrying and creating
a bigger single one.

I ended up having to carry it as if I was Santa
on Christmas day. Or a cartoon burglar. I also found a way to tie the
greatsword to my back, so I didn't need to use it as a walking stick anymore.
After all the trouble holding it in one hand while I used the other to swing
the corroded sword as I ran, I felt like an idiot. Everything ready, we resumed
our travels.

Time for real information gathering.

"So, which skill-trees did you get? Dual-wielding
is evident. Which is the other?"

"Hmm... I..."

"C'mon, you know mine, darkness and death
magic."

"If you need to know, it's stealth."

"Sweet. Wait, why were you being bitten to
death then? Couldn't you just run away while the dogs chewed the zombie?"

"Of course not, he's my friend!"

"Oh, I bet there is some logic in dying
with him, I'll just keep thinking about it."

Ted slapped my shoulder in such an unmanly way
that made me suddenly understand his loss of words before: he was gay. The
zombie was probably his boyfriend or something.

"It looked wrong to let him die while I
safely watched."

"I'm just kidding; I know what you are
talking about. It's something any gamer wouldn't have trouble doing in old
computer games, but in the immersive ones it's harder just to let your pals
die."

"Yes! I just couldn't watch without doing
something."

"Yeah, I feel you. But tough up a little
next time, if you both had died you'd be out of money and naked now."

"Ouch. It hurts just thinking about it.
Ecto-equipment is way too expensive and almost impossible to find in the
wild." Specters were the only species with equipment restrictions in
Valia: they had to use ectoplasm equipment. Anything else would just go through
them after a few seconds. They could carry common items just fine, as proven by
the zombie's sword in Ted's hands, but not use them in battle. "These
daggers here cost me a liver each."

"It's good you have no need for livers
anymore, then," I laughed. "I think I have some spares too if you
want."

"No, I'm kind of serious. I had to use
some money I was saving to buy a car. Each dagger cost me a thousand
dollars."

I stopped walking and looked at him
dumbfounded.

"What?" He asked.

"You spent two grand on beginner
items?"

"Of course not, I'm not stupid. These daggers
will last until level twenty or so."

"Holy cow. You're aware that the items
costs will drop by ridiculous amounts in a few months, right?"

"No, they won't."

"Yes, they will. People will start selling
in-game money and items for real life money much cheaper than V-Soft. Next year
your daggers will cost about ten dollars each."

"Actually, no, they won't." He had
his nose held high. "My dad works in V-Soft, and he told me they have some
big guns pointed at the black market. You read the contract, right? Valia
systems can read your mind to enhance your immersion experience."

"I know, but still..." As I began to
answer, it suddenly came to me. "The immersion experience is whatever
V-Soft says. I see. They can claim a black market of items and money would harm
such experience, which wouldn't be a lie, and allow special AIs to use black
merchants' thoughts against them."

Ted clapped. "Yes! Isn't it
brilliant?!"

"I think scary is the right word for it.
They have a perfectly controlled environment. They're gods in their own
world."

Well, I had just gone through some crazy shit
with the Goddess and had people reading all my game-related thoughts. It wasn't
as if it was news to me.

"No, no! Dad would never allow that.
There's a minimum interference policy," he said as if that would be an
absolute rule everyone would follow. I didn't believe it for a second, but it
seemed wise not to push it.

"So, did you tell him about your
purchases?"

"Of course not, he would've killed me.
Twice, once for each dagger."

"I see. It must be nice to be that
rich."

"It is," he replied matter-of-factly.
"Are you poor?" He said it in such an innocent way that it'd be cute
if he weren't a dude.

"No, but I don't work either and money
isn't unlimited. And I do plan to start a family in the distant future;
putting money in online gaming is not the best move."

"Oh. That's so sweet of you."

Yes, definitely gay.

"Thanks, man," I stressed the
last word.

He frowned. "What?"

"Don't worry; your secret is safe with me.
I know gamers can be a bunch of savages. How long has it been since you
knew?"

His frown deepened. "Knew what?"

"Well, you know... That you were... Born a
woman inside?"

"Since birth, I guess?"

"Really? And your father was OK with
that?"

"Why wouldn't he be? He always wanted a
girl anyway."

"Wow, that's some open-mindedness, even
for these days. I'm glad for you."

"Hmm... Thanks?"

"You're welcome."

We walked silently for the next ten minutes,
until the corridor ended in an cavernous chamber. It was so big that even with
darkvision I couldn't completely see the ceiling or the other side. A big river
flowed into the distance with lots of moss around it. Giant gray lobsters were
walking and digging all around. I took my sword from my hip.

"Don't attack! They are harmless, but if
you attack one, all of them will attack you."

Half doubtful, I kept my sword in my hand.
"What are they?"

"They are called logus. They dig looking
for metals, which they eat. If you give them some metal you can even tame them,
but they will eat you if you wear any chainmail or other large metal items, so
they're not that desirable."

"What about my sword?"

"Swords are too small for them, but I'd
hide it if I were you."

"Oh." I put my sword back. "Do
they always stay here?"

"Yes."

"But if they eat metal and are digging so
much, how come they don't leave? I wouldn't think a place could have any metal
left with this many lobsters in it for even a week."

"No idea."

"How long have they been here?

"No idea."

"So how do you know they always stay
here?"

"I saw them here before, and I see them
now, so I just guessed."

"Oh." Idiot. "Well, let's
go then?"

"Sure. The Catacombs are hidden a little
ahead. I'm safe here. I'll take you to Serharn, and we can part ways."

"Great!" After a moment, I continued.
"What is Serharn?"

Ted facepalmed. "It's the drow kingdom.
They have a bunch of villages and a big city as their capital, called
Ter'nodril, also known as the City of Darkness. I heard that any dark mage can
get in there, so it should be alright for you."

"Oh. Sounds good, then. By the way, do you
know where I can find the Death Citadel? I have a quest there."

He thought for a moment. "Isn't it the
capital of Dakar?"

"The deathlords kingdom?" He nodded.
"Just great. I guess I'll not complete my quest anytime soon."

After a twenty minutes walk, we arrived at an
archway between the current chamber and another one of equal magnitude. I could
see three villages not too far way.

"Here we are," said Ted.

"Thanks," I extended my hand, and the
ghost shook it awkwardly.

"Here, you can have this if you
want," he said almost shyly as he extended a small blue crystal to me.

"Thanks," I took it.

Low Quality Communication Crystal

» Contacts: 0

» Max contacts: 100

» Max connections at the same time: 1

"Wow! Thanks! What is it?" I had a
pretty good idea from reading the description, but it was my first time seeing
it; whenever possible, it's always good to get a full explanation.

"God, you are a super newbie, aren't
you?"

"Yup."

He sighed. "There is no native friend list
for fast communication in Valia. This is a communication crystal, something
like those old phones which could only be used to talk to people. I'll never
understand those people of old; if they have to carry a big chunk of metal
around, why not put something fun in it, like internet? Here, touch mine with
yours and you will understand," he took out another crystal.

Forcing myself not to comment on the
awkwardness of his phrasing, I did as instructed and an exclamation point
appeared.

New crystal synchronized!

Please, choose a name tag for the new crystal

Ted, I thought
and the window updated.

New contact added!

Name tag: Ted

"Did you do it? Good. Now you just need to
think about contacting me, and you will be able to. You don't even have to
touch the crystal, and it can't be lost on death."

"Sounds like a friend list to me."

"It sorta is. But NPCs can have this
crystal too. And it cost some money."

"Really? Contact NPCs at a distance? That
changes some things."

"Don't get all worked up, getting NPCs to
show you theirs isn't easy."

This time, I couldn't stay quiet. "The way
you say it, I get a little ashamed of touching my crystal with yours."

I could swear he blushed, even though he was
completely white.

"You don't say that to a lady!"

"Just kidding. I'm straight, you know. One
hundred percent. One hundred and ten. Don't worry about me."

"What are you talking abo- Oh. Oh!"
Ted looked like he had just found the cure for cancer. "You think I'm
gay."

"Obviously, since you said so
yourself." Ted laughed for a long time while I just watched until I became
annoyed. "What?"

"You silly," the ghost said between
laughs. "I'm not gay. I'm a woman."

"Oh, right, of course. I always mix up
transgender with sexual preference. My bad."

He laughed harder. "No, I was born a woman
outside too."

I frowned. "What are you talking about?
You have no sex change mark." Players of a biological sex which wanted to
play the opposite sex received a small tattoo on their necks. That way V-Soft
hoped to avoid some lawsuits from unhappy people who felt cheated.

"Of course not. My character is
female."

"I repeat, what are you talking-" I
stopped mid-sentence as I looked better at Ted. I couldn't see the ghosts
features and his voice also sounded like a child's, but children didn't have
defined gender voices. "But you said you'll become a strong man."

"No, you did. I thought you were joking
around. That talk about since when I knew I was a woman was strange, but I
wasn't expecting this!"

"Holy shit, my mind just blew." Ted
laughed. Now that I knew she was a she, the laugh sounded more musical. That's
psychology and preconception for you. "Wait, what's your name?"

"It's really Ted. My name in the real
world is Theodora."

"Now even Ted sounds another way to me.
What the hell, man."

"Not man, woman."

"Right. What the hell, woman!"

"No, not that way! It sounds like you will
order me to go and make you a sandwich!"

"Well, what are you waiting for?" I
forced myself to sound like an old man. "That sandwich is not going to
make itself, woman."

She slapped my shoulder again. It felt completely
different. My mind was really blown.

"Wait, I think now we should go back to
the dead dogs and walk everything again. Now that I know there is a single girl
next to me, I must hit on you. For my honor."

"Oh, right, because you are the alpha
male, right?"

"That too. But mainly because you are
rich."

"Hey!"

I smiled.

"What?"

"You rejected my interest for being rich
but said nothing about being single. Are you pretty?"

She rolled her eyes. "Not interested, no
matter what you say."

I had heard that before and two hours later the
girl had been exhausted beside me on the bed. A ghost wasn't really my style,
though, and I decided to drop it.

We walked in silence for some time.

"What are you thinking about?" She
talked first like she always did when it became quiet for a time. Typical girl
meeting a new boy: couldn't stand silence.

"I'm just thinking about all our
conversation. It looks a lot different now that I know you're a woman. It makes
a lot more sense."

"Oh," she sounded disappointed for
some unknown reason. "Well, I must go. Dad is getting home soon, and he
doesn't know I play."

"Naughty girl. I like it."

"Oh my god, you are just an ass like every
other gamer, aren't you?"

"You offend me. I like to think I'm the
master of asses. If you know what I mean."

She rolled her eyes. "I hate you. Please,
die. I mean it."

I laughed. "Not happening. Too many asses
to conquer."

"God. No wonder you became a virgin
gamer."

"You'd be surprised," I winked at
her. "Girls sometimes just want to have fun with the first brave idiot
that appears in their way."

"Right, I'm sure you get lots of
girls."

"I do."

"What about your nonexistent family's
future?"

"What, you think this is a bad place for
pick-up?" I opened my arms. There was no one around except for us. "I
bet that's why you're here too. Just stop hitting on me, please; I'm not
interested."

Crossing her arms, she sniffed. "As if.
I'm just playing to annoy my dad when he finds out. I hate games and
gamers."

I frowned. "So, if you want to get caught
by your father, why do you want to log out before he gets home?"

"It can't be that easy, can it? It must
look like I'm trying to hide it. He gets home and notices the ugly IR helmet is
a little hot. At first, he thinks it's his imagination, but it keeps happening
over and over again. Then he gets suspicious and asks me, and I deny it. Then
he comes home early, find me, I cry about how he's not paying attention to me,
and he feels guilty. We go to Hawaii, and he becomes attentive for some months.
When he becomes distant again, I repeat the process using another excuse."

"Damn, girl. Can't you just talk to
him?"

"Of course, I can. But where would be the
fun in that?"

"Yeah, silly me. So, after this brilliant
speech, I think I'll just forget about getting myself a wife and turn all my
money into game cash asap."

"You better do that; you wouldn't last a
single second with a smart woman."

"Oh, maybe I should find myself a dumb
one, then."

"If you are half the smartass you look,
you will just be bored by a dumb woman."

"You're a connoisseur, huh?"

"I like to think so. I'll introduce you to
a gamer friend someday. I think you'll like her."

"Thanks, Madam. I'm eternally indebted to
you."

"You bet you are. Nany is a piece of art,
too good for the likes of you. But it'd be fun to see you two interact."

"Nany? Like in the woman who takes care of
children?"

"Yes. But now I have to go. See you!"
Without another word, she turned back and floated away. I watched her go until
she simply disappeared out of existence a few hundred meters away.

Out of curiosity, I went to the same place.
When I was a few meters away, two big headless ghostly horsemen appeared from
what I supposed was an invisible barrier. They were not white like Ted; still
semi-transparent, they at least had colors.

The horses were brown muscled animals and the
riders' plate armors were metallic gray. On the breast, there was a symbol: an
open white hand, drawn in a way that gave the impression of someone having put
their hand on paint and then pressing it on the armor.

They didn't act aggressively, just stood there
in their plate, metal lances held high. The moment I took another step, the
lances pointed directly at me.

"Ahmn... I'm Jack. Can I enter,
please?"

Headless that they were, they didn't answer. I
made a gesture as if I was preparing to take another step ahead and both
horsemen got into a position that was clearly offensive. Not in a dying mood, I
turned back toward the drow kingdom.

I tripped on a logus coming out of the ground,
but it just ignored me while digging. Weird monsters.

Ted had been... A piece of work. Her open talk
about how she was manipulating the situation to get attention from her father
was touching, in a twisted way. Still, I had no intention of meddling with her.
Too crazy for my tastes.

She seemed to make a nice friend, though.

The drow kingdom chamber was huge and
completely bare. No rocks, no plants, nothing to obstruct the view or hinder
movement. It was a different kind of protection than the straight tunnel
leading to the prison, which forced people to walk one by one. Here, any
invading army would have to bring their own defenses to a desolate area and be
vulnerable to attacks from all sides while on the move.

There were three villages that I could see, all
of them without walls. The constructions were made of stone and rarely were
higher than two floors, except for some square towers on the outskirts of the
villages. Guard towers, I supposed.

Each village was tens of kilometers away from
each other. I went for the nearest one.

When I was still some hundred meters away, a
big fire was lit above the nearest guard tower. I kept walking, and a few
meters later an arrow hit the floor just before me.

Is this serious? First the ghosts and now the
drow. How the hell do they even practice commerce?

"Hey!" My yell didn't see to go too
far in the vastness of the cave. "I'm just a traveler! I'm looking for
work, anything, from rat extermination to whatever you have that your people
don't want to do! Please, let me in!"

Two seconds later a second arrow came, this time,
closer.

Damn savages.

I gave the village a wide berth and went to the
next one, where I received the same treatment. On the third, I got annoyed.

"Listen, you damn closed minded asses, can
you at least tell me-" My yell was replaced by a scream of pain as an
arrow hit my shoulder with such force that I twisted on myself and fell on the
ground. After a quick heal, I got out of range as soon as possible.

That was it, the extent of my adventures on the
three villages. How was a player supposed to do anything here?

As much as I hated it, I needed their help.
Back to the first village, I yelled again.

"Hey! Please, could you, please, tell me,
please, how to get to Ter'nodril? Please?!"

A few seconds later an arrow stuck the floor
before my feet, but his time it had a paper attached. Feeling victorious, I
read it.

No.

In a fit of rage, I shredded the paper to
pieces. Then I left before I was shot again.

It was just bad design; I had only seen a
single signpost since leaving the prison. How do the people of the
Underworld even travel? Now that I thought about that, where were all the
traveling people?

Oh, that made sense. Different races didn't
travel between themselves in the Underworld. They were xenophobic, as proven by
the way everyone blocked my entry. I wondered if the surface races acted the
same way.

If there was no care for foreigners, signs were
unnecessary. Which meant that it was the first sign which had no explanation
whatsoever. Had it been put there by the Resistance, for incoming unbound
deathlords? If so, where the hell were they?

Walking in what I figured was a straight line
from the chamber entrance, a river appeared on the horizon, probably the same
one I had seen in the previous chamber. That gave me a thought. Drow were not
undead, just evil elves. As living beings, they required water to survive. A
capital city would probably have thousands of people; if I traveled along the
river, I would get close to the city. At least I hoped so.

Other villages became visible, so did a town
with big stone walls, but I received the same hostile treatment every time I
got close to one of them. I ended up traveling downstream by the river margin.

How is a place this big even possible
underground? Where does fresh air comes from? Where is the food that this many
villages and towns must grow to eat?

In other games, I might have ignored all these
questions using the artistic freedom excuse, but since coming to Valia I had
found none of such excuses, so I expected actual answers.

One question resurfaced on my mind time and
time again:

When the hell am I going to be able to see
the sun?

All those dark places were irking me. I wanted
to play Valia to have a new, vibrant life, not to become depressed in a dark
cave where everyone tried to push me away. Games were the single happiness I
allowed myself.

It made me want to learn fire magic even more,
just to create a giant ball of fire when I was tired of the lack of color.

Does this game have any kind of rainbow
magic?

That would be nice. Painting these boring caves
in all kinds of glowing colors. Even if I was killed right after doing it, I
wanted to see how that would annoy and affect the Underworld denizens.

Boy, this cave chamber is immense.

For some time now I could see the end of the
chamber up ahead, but it seemed as if I wasn't closing on it. Even more
villages and towns had appeared, but I didn't even try to go for them; I just
kept walking.

I eventually came close to the chamber wall.
There was an opening in it and two big stone towers on each side.

Great. If I get one more warning shot, I'm
going to go for it and try to kill the damn attacker. I'm tired of this
bullshit.

The opening was a few hundred meters away from
the river. I walked there, but thankfully no arrows flew my direction.

Lucky them.

Actually, nothing happened. The towers
were silent, and no movement could be seen inside. It was an obvious invitation
for an adventurer.

As soon as I stepped in the direction of one of
the towers, I found out how wrong I was.

Six people just came into existence out of thin
air. It was not like the horsemen who had walked out of an invisible wall;
these people weren't there one moment and appeared the next.

All of them were wearing black cloaks with
their hoods up, hiding everything about them. Even with darkvision, I couldn't
see their faces. Underneath their cloaks, there were lots of hidden weapons, as
I could determine by the outline they made on the cloaks.

"Deathlord," said a male. "What
do you want with the Blackguard?"

Finally, someone who spoke. I smiled; after
being ignored so many times, it was time for some politeness.

"Hi, I'm Jack. I didn't know the towers
were occupied, sorry. Blackguard, huh? Sounds ominous. What do you guard?"

Seeing that I was obviously not a threat, five
of the guards disappeared. Were they illusions? Is the one left an illusion?

"The Blackguard has the honor of guarding
the Devourer, God of Darkness, Master of Ter'nodril and all Serharn, Lord Over
the Drow, the First Guardian."

So, there was a sort of a king who thought
highly enough of himself to call himself a god, and who was strong or smart
enough to force all drow also to call him that. Or maybe I was thinking too
normal; in the game, it might as well be a true god.

More important than that, I could have shed
tears of relief upon being answered by the NPC. I decided to act even more
politely.

"That sounds... Impressive. I'm honored to
meet one with such important task. I find the ways of darkness the best,
myself," I extended my hand to the right and sent a dark sphere flying at
the river, immediately creating another to maintain my maximum of three
floating around.

"I can see that. It is the only reason you
weren't turned back from the entrance to Ter'nodril. Even one as weak and
ignorant as yourself can be enlightened by the Devourer. We allow all children
of darkness to come and convene with him."

Jackpot!

"I'm grateful. I look forward to meeting
the Devourer, should he wish."

"Should he wish it, you will be invited to
his Temple."

"It will be an honor. Is the city on a
direct path from here?"

"Yes."

"Thank you for your guidance. I will be on
my way, then."

"Good. I suggest you get yourself a proper
backpack. I feel embarrassed just looking at you." After a small nod, the
man also disappeared.

What? Backpack? Weirdo.

I walked into the tunnel. It was time to see
some drow.

Jack
Thorn

Unbound
Deathlord

Legendary
Spotter, Dark Archmage

Level 8

Hit Points:235
/ 235

Mana Points:365
/ 370

Stamina:147
/ 200

Attributes:

Strength:7

Agility:7

Dexterity:5

Constitution:7

Intelligence:10

Perception:4
+ 10 [Items]

Willpower:9

Charisma:3

Traits:

Adept Mage:11
+ 10 [Items]

Adept Controller:11

Gold Digger:2

Scavenger:2

Antimage:1

Crafter:1

Energizer:1

Healer:1

Meditator:1

Mind Seer:1

Nitpicker:1

Shadow:1

8. City of the Black Sun

'Your mother is right: politics bring true
power. The next best thing though, is money.'

- Father

After walking for half
an hour, I found a black metal wall blocking the passage. It had a symbol inlaid
on it, of a vortex inside a circle.

Something made me stop about fifty meters from
it. It was a feeling of wrongness that I couldn't explain. I didn't even dare
walk away, afraid of having stepped on a trap or something. Only when I paid
the floor much more attention than one should, did I understand what I was
feeling.

The floor ahead was a shade darker, almost
imperceptibly so. A perfect line divided the regular floor from the darker one.

Curious, I kicked some dirt at the
strange-colored floor, and the dirt changed its color. I tried something
similar with my sword, and the blade got darker as soon as it entered the area,
going back to normal as I took it back.

There clearly was some magic at work there, but
I would be damned if I knew what kind of magic it was. Could I say it used the
darkness element because it made things darker? It sounded lame when I thought
about it that way.

Wondering if my mind's eye could help me
understand it, I closed my eyes and saw nothing in the gray. Exactly nothing. In
the place where I should have seen more grayness, where the gray bubble should
have existed, only the common blackness of my closed eyes was visible, as if
the bubble had been cut where the darkness started.

Intriguing. A trap? Something different?

Taking a deep breath, I pushed my hand over the
threshold. My darkness spheres blinked out of existence, and I felt something.
As if a hand, hot and cold at the same time, was holding my throat. Only it
wasn't my throat, but something inside it, something invisible. My soul.

No message explained to me what was happening,
but a black 'M' icon appeared above my HP bar. I focused on it.

Total Magic Lockdown (level 10 – max)

Until you leave the Disruptive Zone, you:

» Cannot use magic

» Cannot use enchanted items

» Do not regenerate MP

» If you have the Mage trait, you cannot rest

What the hell?!

That was ridiculously powerful. Only physical
weapons would be useful inside that while all pure mages would be useless. I
took my hand out, and the status disappeared. For science, I created a darkness
sphere and sent it inside. It also disappeared. But as soon as it did, other
things appeared.

Two black cloaked people appeared out of
nowhere once more. This time, though, the point of a thin long blade was
millimeters away from my neck. Strangely enough, I still could see nothing
inside the hood, even that close. Under the cloak, the Blackguard wore badass
looking black leather armor, with gloves and all; no skin was visible.

"Deathlord. How dare you attack the
Fortress of the Devourer?" It was a female voice this time.

I lifted my hands. "Sorry, sorry. I never
saw this Disruptive Zone before; I was just testing its boundaries. I had no
intention of attacking the land of the very being I came to see." I
remembered the previous guard's words. "I come in search of enlightenment
and strength from the Devourer, being the weak mage I am."

"You are weak, but not enough to be
ignored as a threat." She put her blade back inside the cloak. "I am
giving you your first warning. If you are seen illegally attacking again, the
Blackguard will kill you." With these as parting words, both people
disappeared. But this time, since I was so close, I saw them fade away
fast instead of simply blinking out of existence.

Stealth!

It was pretty obvious if I thought about it,
but I hadn't expected to see so many NPCs with that high level of stealth,
enough to disappear right in front of a player with fourteen points in
perception, counting the circlet bonus. Becoming invisible in plain sight was not
that easy.

Those were tough guys; I'd better not mess with
them.

I entered the Disruptive Zone, and the same
soul crushing sensation came to me. I ignored it as best I could and walked to
the front of the big metal wall. When I got close to it, I noticed that the
center of the symbol on the metal, where all the spiral paths met each other,
looked even blacker than the metal, as if there was no ending to the vortex,
but the darkness swallowed it instead.

There, looking at the symbol with the magic
lockdown weighing on me, it didn't felt like it was such a good idea to go
inside. If this was the door, I would be as much locked inside as I was locked
outside.

But I had nowhere else to go. I touched it and
pushed with all my force, but it didn't budge.

"You who enter the domains of the
Devourer, abandon all hope," came a whisper in my ear. I looked around but
saw no one. The wall moved.

It didn't open like a door, but slowly slid
back, and I accompanied it. Rails were underneath it, but I could still hear
the sound of metal scraping on metal as it moved five, ten, twenty, fifty, a
hundred meters, until it finally stopped. The Disruptive Zone extended all the
way in.

On the left wall, a small square entrance of
about two meters was revealed right before the wall stopped sliding. The room
inside was about five meters by five. As soon as I walked inside it, three
visible Blackguards appeared, swords out. I thought about leaving, but another
one materialized right behind me. The black wall began to move back.

"The doors to Ter'nodril are the
purposefully weak points of our first defenses," said one of them, a man.
"They have only twenty meters of darksteel, more vulnerable than the two
hundred meters of stone around it to be a better option, but still robust
enough to be an annoyance to any invader, especially when taking the Disruptive
Zone into consideration."

The scraping sound continued behind me as more
metal was passing by.

"The rails are not there to make the door
easier to slide, but to make it easier to maintain the ground beneath it. It is
not possible to move so much weight without damaging the floor." The big
block of metal finished passing by, and the view behind it was even more
impressive.

A long and thick metal bar was attached
perpendicularly to the block with big handles all over it. Dozens of big ogres
– yellowish-gray fat humanoid creatures with a single eye – pushed the handles
to move the door.

"That's the workforce needed to move the
wall. Even so, if the enemy managed to counter it, he'd still need to destroy
stone, either here or at the end of the way. The passage, as you will see when
you leave here, is too small for an invading army." The man got closer to
me. "So I give you two pieces of advice: never attack us; and get yourself
a proper backpack. It's embarrassing to see you with that big ball of clothes
on your back." They vanished.

Wait, what? What the hell is wrong with
these people and this backpack talk of theirs? And with this vanishing act? Do
they think they look cool or something?

Well, they did look cool, but when cool
people knew how cool they were, they became unbearable.

I left the room as soon as the last ogre passed
by. Some fifty meters ahead the corridor became two meters by two for the rest
of the way.

Finally, I got to the end. Just before the
exit, a new cloaked figure waited for me.

"Don't look around, don't talk to them.
Just walk straight ahead. Don't stop," he said before disappearing.

I didn't have a clue what that was about, but I
guessed I was about to find out. I stepped out of the corridor and the
sensation from the Disruptive Zone left me, immediately replaced by fear.

Drow. Drow everywhere. A horde of almost black,
slightly blue elves with white hair, all wearing chain armor, was before and
around me, so many I couldn't see the end of them. I summoned three darkness
spheres and looked at them.

I cannot stop. I cannot stop. I repeated it like a mantra. Those had been the words from the
Blackguard. I forced myself to move.

One step. Two. Don't stop. Three. All of
them were looking at me, but there was something wrong in their eyes, in the
way they looked at me and moved. Something beyond all having red scars on their
necks as if they had been hanged. Cannot stop. Four.

On the fifth step, one of them moved, the one
straight ahead of me. He moved back exactly as much as I did in his direction.
On the sixth step, two more moved away. On the seventh, even more. On the
twelfth step, I was surrounded by drow.

They stood about one meter away from me, as if
an invisible force was repelling them. As I walked, space opened before me and
space closed behind. The smell of body odor was unbearable.

Keep walking. Don't stop.

I had been walking for one minute when I
noticed the meter of distance had become a little less. One more minute, they
were closer. I was getting desperate when finally, after the third minute the
mass of drow ended.

It felt like getting to the surface of water
after being too close to drowning. I wanted to run away but wasn't sure if the
drow would chase me down.

Two steps later, I froze in awe.

Not because of the cave, even though it was the
biggest I had seen until now, without end in any direction but behind me. Nor
because of the almost endless fields of mushrooms ahead of me and the countless
drow in white clothes harvesting it. Not even because of the massive black
metal walls far ahead in a circular format that hinted at an enormous city.

No, even though everything since the Disruptive
Zone was a declaration of power in a magnitude I didn't expect to see in some
underground caves, all of that paled in comparison to what I could see floating
above the city.

It was like seeing a black sun up close, so big
it was; as large as the city itself. Floating rivers of darkness appeared and
disappeared all around it. Sometimes it was possible to see them being created,
streams of darkness leaving the sun in a place and connecting back to it
someplace else. Other times a river partially disconnected from the mass,
becoming evident and binding to the mass again after some time. The mass also
revolved around itself, liquid darkness in a never ending spin, not fast nor
slow.

Pure Darkness. Alive.

The Devourer, I
realized.

"Do not stop yet, deathlord. The thralls
can still smell your fear. You can stare at God from a safer distance," a
female voice snapped me out of my trance.

I looked at the source of the sound and saw a
drow with gray hair wearing a gray robe. Her hair was styled in a bun, and her
dark blue face was beautiful. On the front of the gray robe, there was the same
vortex I had seen on the massive wall. I now recognized it as the symbol of the
Devourer, a being of darkness, devouring everything around it in an endless
hunger. That place wasn't called the City of Darkness for no reason.

"Thanks," I began to walk again, and
she joined me. "I didn't expect..." I found myself at a loss for
words for defining the big dark ball and just gestured at it instead.

"I'm told all foreigners react the same
way to God. Not all of them have an Enlightened to save them from the thralls.
You were lucky I saw your darkness magic and came to your rescue, I doubt the
thralls would have held a minute more."

"Thralls?" I looked back at the
hundreds of drow. "What are they?" The drow army I had seen before
was closer than I remembered, their mouths open revealing pointed teeth with
saliva dripping from them. "What the hell?!"

"Betrayers, all of them. The Ways are
merciful and on the first betrayal, they are hanged and resurrected. They are
forbidden to heal the scar of the rope and have to bear their shame for the
rest of their lives. On the second betrayal, they are deemed unworthy of their
bodies. Therefore, they are enthralled and perfected for combat to serve God in
a small way."

"People sure seem to betray you a
lot."

"They don't. But we are numerous and live
a very long time."

"If you say so. And how smart is it to
turn betrayers into a mind controlled army? No way that could backfire,
right?"

She sniffed. "Even though they are
vigorous and ferocious warriors, they are only fodder. Ter'nodril's true
champions are the Faithful and the Blackguard. Especially the Faithful. We
protect the enemies with our lives."

"You mean you protect the city," I
corrected her.

"I mean what I said, deathlord. We fight,
so God doesn't. Should He engage a numerous enemy, their souls would be forever
lost, consumed, devoured, and his hunger would be far from satiated. He would
look for more before He is ready. We serve God above all, but until it is His
own will to lay judgment upon all creation, we stop His hunger from consuming
everything. He knows the Day All Things Will End, but He can't deny His nature.
That's why the Faithful exist: to protect Him from Himself. And that means
protecting our enemies from Him."

This makes no sense at all, I thought. But her voice had been becoming a little agitated at
the end, in a fanatical and scary way. "It makes perfect sense," I
said. "I thank you for your wisdom, Enlightened. Sorry, what was your name
again?"

"I have no name, it has been devoured, and
I have not yet deserved a new one. But I congratulate your wisdom; not many
foreigners can see the perfection of the Ways on their first contact with
it."

"Well, I'm a darkness mage, after all. I
can feel the Devourer in my soul." And the strange thing was that after
saying that, I noticed I actually could. Like a second gravity pulling me
towards the big floating black ball, not physically, but in some other sense
related to the way I crushed small lifeforms and gathered darkness from the
shadows.

"So you can."

We walked side by side through the mushroom
fields. "Not much variety, huh?"

"This is the Underworld," she
answered simply.

"Still, I bet you could grow some other
stuff."

"We could." It seemed she was not a
talker for anything besides the Ways, whatever it was.

"Don't you ever get tired of eating
mushroom?"

"The Firsts traded many things for power
when we abandoned the old ways of the surface. Among the things we gave away
was our sense of taste. We know when a thing is sour or sweet, but that is all.
If we get tired of mushroom, we put sugar or salt on it, or bake it
differently, and it suffices."

I feel depressed just hearing about it. I
wonder how the drow players cope with it.

"That's impressive. I've no need for food
myself, but how do other species deal with it?"

"I don't think they do. No one comes to
Ter'nodril unless they have no choice, and we like it that way. Makes it easier
to protect them if they aren't in danger. You must have been exceptionally
desperate running from your fellow deathlords' hunt to come here,
unbound."

I stopped walking, and the Enlightened must
have been expecting that, because she stopped with me.

"Oh, you thought you were smart with your
flattery. It might have worked when you were human, but this is the Underworld;
if your words are working too well, be sure that you're being cheated in a way
you cannot even being to guess. Your naivety is going to be the end of
you." Resuming her walk, she left me dumbfounded behind.

I'm already being hunted by the bound
deathlords? How do they even know I did anything? And how the hell do the drow
already know about me?

Someone knew these things and was a teller. It
was evident I was on someone's agenda. I wondered whose.

No, wait. I'm reading too much into these
things. This is a game; I'm just following a script. Damn, it's well written.
It felt like a coincidence that I got to this city, but this was the plan all
along, huh?

Those thoughts made me relax. Yes, this was a
game. It was damn easy to forget it, all my senses being affected, even senses
I didn't have in the real world. Too damn easy.

Had I been allowed, I would've left the game
for a few hours now, just to get some air and clear my head. But the Challenge
had been accepted, and there was no turning back from it now.

Deep down, though, I began to hope for death so
that I would be freed from my own pride.

Taking a deep breath, I resumed my journey to
the city. I felt curious; the black metal walls were so high I couldn't see
anything inside. The Devourer seemed bigger every step I took, but I was getting
used to his presence.

Open metal gates greeted me. A male child stood
there. He had with white hair and wore white clothes with the black Devourer
symbol sewn on it.

"Greetings, deathlord. The Faithful
welcome you to Ter'nodril. The toll for opening the city doors is five gold
pieces, and for entering the city, you must pay three more."

It felt like a stab to the guts, only worse. I
thought about talking my way in, but the Enlightened's words were still fresh
on my mind.

Thanks to my parents I knew the best way to
handle this situation; not wanting to use their skills, instead I chose to play
dumb.

"As you probably already know, I have no
money. Tell me what can be done."

The kid smiled in a creepy way no child should
smile. "He learns. Good. But too blunt. For that, I charge you an extra
gold coin."

What the hell?!
I bit my tongue not to lash some deserved words at the kid, who just looked as
if expecting something. After a few seconds, the smile got even worse.

"Right. You now owe the Dark Temple ten
gold coins." He increased the fee for no reason. "You do well not
bartering with me, but since I want to get paid someday, I strongly suggest you
do banter with the merchants to save some money."

And how the hell am I going to find ten gold
coins in a city? He's making me a prisoner!
Swallowing, I said nothing. He had all the power in the situation, and if I
talked, I might just make the things even worse. I simply entered the city.

"And be more polite. Eleven gold coins.
Oh, and this bag of yours is just deplorable. Get yourself a proper backpack. I
put it back to ten gold coins out of pure pity."

I had just been extorted by a kid. Worst
of all was that it was my fault. It was pretty obvious, if I thought about it,
that no city would open those titanic doors for free. Also, tolls for entering
cities were common in medieval games.

But there was no point in arguing prices after
I was already locked in an impregnable fortress, full of unseen cloaked guys
all around me, with an army and an unmovable metal wall between myself and
freedom. Yes, taking it silently was better. For now.

And what the hell is this about backpacks?
Seriously.

Ter'nodril was a city without straight lines.
The walls that encompassed the city made a circle and the street I saw myself
now in turned to the left after a sharp right by the entrance. All the
constructions I saw had two floors, were made of black stone, and were unlit
inside.

Drow walked everywhere, most of them in plain
white robes, which in my opinion was out of character for them; they should
just wear black too and be done with the theme. Very few of the white clothes
had the Devourer symbol on them, but it was present on the few gray robes that
could be seen. Curiously I noted that the gray robe wearers also had gray hair.

There were also hundreds of players around,
easily discernible. They had all kinds of clothes and armor and instead of
walking, they ran everywhere. I didn't see any of them leave the city, though.

I hadn't seen a single other kid in the city
since the one in the gate. It was probably for the best. Damn kids these days
had no respect for their elders.

Everyone gave me weird looks, but I just
guessed it was because of me being a foreigner; the Enlightened had said I was
an unusual sight.

Fewer stores than expected were on the streets.
Words on black metal plates above the doors heralded the few that I could find.
There weren't showcases of any kinds, only the signs. It clearly wasn't a
merchant city.

A 'weapons store' was not that far from the
city gates. I entered it and found myself in a place filled with weapons
everywhere. Hanging on the walls, on metal displays, on metal shelves, on the
floor. Maces, spears, bows, crossbows, swords, pikes, halberds, daggers,
scythes, even some claw-like weapons I had never seen before.

The first fat drow I had seen until now walked
from an inside door, wearing a golden silk shirt, red pants, and blue shoes.
His hair was white and his eyes black. His skin was oily.

"Greetings, greetings! What a pleasant day
for business! Would you be interested..." The animation in his voice
dropped the more he looked at me. "In some old daggers? Maybe a good
butter knife? I'm sure I can find something of your... standard." There
was doubt in his voice.

"Hello, good merchant. I come to negotiate."
I began to open my bag. "I have these-"

"No, no, no. I only sell. Unless you have
something enchanted," he said it with sarcasm. "The sooner you leave,
the sooner you can find yourself a more appropriate store."

"Actually, I might have something, but it
is clearly better suited for different hands to evaluate," I said trying
to have the last word for once.

"Clearly. I'm pleased we are in accord.
Please, leave."

Kicked out of the store with my pride damaged
yet again, I was highly annoyed at the NPCs of the game. Not a single one of
them had helped me in any way.

Except for the big black guy saving my ass.
Hell, that's a weird phrasing.

The only other one who had come close to it,
High Lady Renno, had only saved me from certain death to have the privilege of
killing me herself after torturing me for months. I had chosen an unbound
deathlord for the diplomacy bonus, but it felt as if I was playing against the
world.

Yes, the undead were not loved by people, not
even the most open minded ones, and it was obvious that the drow were not the
warmest guys in the vicinity. They were the evil cousins of the elves, after
all. Vampires disliked unbound deathlords and to be fair the ghosts had also
turned the zombie out of the catacombs, from what I had heard. Yes, it all made
perfect sense, but it still made me upset.

How big was the surface world, anyway? Did I
even need the diplomacy bonus I'd receive there for being unbound? Because in
the Underworld, it didn't seem to do much for me; if this was them being neutral,
I didn't want to know what their hostility looked like. Perhaps starting over
as an elf or human wouldn't be so bad, after all.

I took a big breath. No, I'm not a quitter. I
refuse to give up. If the game wants to beat me, I'll show it who's the boss. I'm
the boss.

The black sun over my head gave no light but
added a sense of motion to the silent city. Too silent. Suddenly I realized how
people didn't talk on the streets, except for an occasional player or two, and
only muffled voices came from some buildings. Thinking back, I also couldn't
remember listening to people in any of the other drow cities. Even the hungry
dogs had only whimpered away.

All weirdos, everyone who live in these caves.

Just for spite, I screamed.

A big, loud scream, putting all my frustration
in it. Wordless, formless, raw emotion.

The drow on the street looked at me and moved
away. A Blackguard appeared, looked around, and disappeared again.

The looks on the drow faces wondering if I was
crazy made me smile.

Now genuinely happy, I resumed my great quest
for commerce.

God, I needed that. I hadn't noticed how the heavy atmosphere was weighing on me. The
game was amazing. And dangerous. A guy could grow depressive in this place. That's
probably the reason they require someone of age to play any of the Underworld
species.

It took me some time and some walking to
fulfill my great journey. After visiting fifteen stores, I went back to the
third one, where I had got the best prices for everything: clothes, pelts,
rusty sword, zombies clothes, and Shai's greatsword.

Now, that had been a difficult decision to
make. The big sword was awesome and parting ways with it hurt me deeply. But I
had to be practical, and I needed the money more than I needed a useless lump
of metal. Even with my seven points in strength, I still received a level nine
encumbered status. I wouldn't be able to use it for a long time.

NPCs usually bought items for a much lower
value than they sold it, so logic dictated that I find a player to sell the
greatsword to. And I would've done it if it wasn't the fifth day of the game.
People could only buy a hundred gold pieces with real life money and the NPC
was offering me a much more than that.

The selected store was clean and spacious, with
weapons and armors organized by kind and size in isles. Contrary to all other
stores, this one didn't look as if all its weapons were on display, only main
ones. What differed most, though, was the shopkeeper.

Tharnya was her name. She looked young, her
white hair arranged in a braid. Her face was beautiful, no matter that it was
blueish. Really polite and gentle, I instantly distrusted her. But she paid
well.

"You are back, Traveler! What a pleasure
to see you in my humble store yet again."

"Hello, fair lady." I remembered the
tips from the kid. Be direct, but not blunt. It was also close to what my
mother had taught me. The memory made me sour, but I didn't let it affect my
business. "It's also a pleasure to be back, especially for the opportunity
of seeing you. Unfortunately, I come for business, not pleasure."

"That's a shame, but enjoy that as well.
Buying or selling?"

"Selling," I put all of the stuff I
wasn't wearing on the table, except for the greatsword. I also unmade the
makeshift bag and removed the extra pants and shirts I was wearing.

"Well, I can offer you the same I did last
time. Twenty copper for each cotton shirt; eighteen for each cotton pants;
forty for each pair of shoes; ten for each belt; five for each dog pelt, and
I'm just paying that because I like you; a silver for each sword, leather armor
or leather pants. I have no interested in the fishmen eyes, as I already told
you."

"Come on, you must at least know how much
they are worth. Just pay me half their worth and we are done."

"No. I would love to take care of that big
sword you are hiding..." I stopped myself from saying something not very
dignified about that. "...but I will not trade alchemical
ingredients."

I sighed. "Ok. Take everything but the
eyes."

She did. "That's eighteen silver and
sixty-one copper coins," she gave me a purse with the money, and I counted
it in front of her. She looked a little annoyed at it but didn't say anything.

"Everything's here. Now, wanna see my bad
boy?"

Her expression was of absolute nausea for a
split second before realization came to her. It was enough for me to see the
business mask off. So, she was not as pleased to see me as she had said, and
was also probably cheating me somehow, I just had no idea how. In the
Enlightened words, I was being cheated in a way I couldn't even begin to guess.

Sadly, I really needed the money; eighteen
silver could buy me nothing. At least she was the one who was cheating me the
least.

Her eyes shone as I unwrapped the weapon,
revealing the onyx on the pommel and the dull black blade. All merchants had
reacted excitedly to the sight of it. I had checked their wares before showing
them the sword, though. If I had been buying it from them, its price should be
around three hundred gold.

Of course, they'd only pay me part of it and
most of them wouldn't even get to half the price.

"We agreed on a hundred and fifty gold
coins, right?" She eagerly took the sword from my hands.

Time to some barter. "Give me two hundred
and it is yours."

She showed biggest smile to date. "Don't
be like that, dear costumer! You know I'm paying you better than anyone
else."

"Still, Tharnya, I'm not sure I even want
to sell it in the first place. I'm sure we can get to a better agreement. A
similar sword in your own store would be bought for four hundred gold
coins." I said the price wrong on purpose.

She sighed theatrically. "That's not how
business work. Just because I'm buying this sword from you, doesn't mean I'll
be able to sell it quickly. Look around, costumer; there are plenty of unsold
items in here, including the similar swords you just mentioned; and they cost
three hundred coins, not four hundred. When I'm buying, I have to account for
storage space, calculate how long will it take me to sell the item, add in the
risk factor..."

"Don't be like that. You know as much as I
do that if I hold this sword for a month, I'll be able to sell it to any other
p-" I stopped myself from saying 'player.' Games always penalized players
who did that. "To other Travelers in a month's time. And I bet you'll even
have raised your prices by then. You're clearly going too far in your risk
factor."

"A month from now is a month from now. I
don't deal with possibilities. For all I know, I could be robbed, or my
business permit could be revoked, or Deathlord Shai could come back for her
sword. If you're really willing to take that risk..."

"Wait, what? How do you know- Shit, the
item name?" She nodded. "Don't worry about Shai, she's dead and
buried." I coughed. "At least that's what the guy I bought this sword
from told me."

"I'm sorry, dear costumer, but this guy
lied to you. She was dead and buried. But she has been
resurrected."

"She what?"

"A strong enough mage with both death and
life magic was luckily sent to whenever you- Sorry, your friend, buried her in
time. Oddly enough, it's your name that she gave as the one responsible. Dakar
isn't happy about what you did, and when Dakar isn't happy about a terrorist,
people usually aren't happy about said terrorist's presence, either."

"A terrorist? Slow down a moment. Shai
tried to murder me! And after that Renno was about to-" I stopped as I saw
Tharnya lean closer, a look of deep interest in her face. She didn't know about
Renno.

"Yes? High Lady Renno was about
to...?"

I took a deep breath. That was probably what
the merchant wanted when he broke the news about Shai: to destabilize me.
"Holy shit. Deathlord Shai is alive."

She went back to a perfect vertical position;
her posture was impeccable. "She is. And if she finds out you've
successfully sold your sword to a drow in Ter'nodril, Dakar won't be happy with
us. So, you see, my risk factor is actually very sensible."

I frowned. "What do you mean Dakar won't
be happy?"

"I'm sorry, mister costumer, but I'm only
a simple merchant, not a knowledgeable politician. I already said more than I
should. A hundred and fifty gold coins, yes?"

Closing my eyes for a few seconds, I recovered
from the blow. "After what you just told me, I can't in good conscience
put you in such risk. You were too good to me and I'm not ungrateful. I'll have
the sword back, please." I extended my hand.

She hugged the blade as if I was trying to take
a child from her. "Now that you talk about it, you were also very good to
me. I just realized I forgot to also calculate the gratitude factor. I'll give
you a hundred and fifty coins now and in a month's time you can come back to
get yourself ten more gold coins."

I kept my hand extended. "I can't in good
conscience sell your safety for a mere ten coins. But I could understand your
stubbornness in protecting me, your valued costumer, if you paid me a hundred
coins in a month."

She smiled at that. "I don't want to
protect you that much, my dear valued costumer. But for eleven gold in a
month I'd be happy to take this heavy burden off of your hands."

"Burden? What about the burden to my heart
to know that you're in danger because of me? For ninety-nine gold coins it'd be
much easier to bear it."

"But you're my valued costumer! How could I
bear with the knowledge that you'd be carrying so much money in the dangerous
Underworld in a month? It's for you, not for me, that I insist in only
providing you with twelve gold coins."

"Exactly, Tharnya! You are such a fair
lady, that surely a thief will see you as a much easier target. And you said
yourself that you could be robbed! If you give me more money – say,
ninety-eight gold coins – you'll be much safer!"

Such haggling took the better part of an hour.
Eventually, she changed her terms to avoid giving much more gold later, and
settled for giving me a hundred and fifty-five gold coins now, plus a magical
lockbox, and fifty gold coins in a month's time.

I was damn satisfied with myself.

"Pleasure doing business with you," I
said to Tharnya as I took the heavy small lockbox, which looked like a chest,
and an iron key from her hands.

"You should buy yourself a backpack. It
was... Uncomely to see you carrying your possessions in that bag of yours. And
very unsafe to travel the streets of the Underworld carrying all your money in
your hands."

"You drow really like your backpacks, huh?
Do you know where I can buy one at a good price?"

"Equipment store on the Third Street,
owned by Surenor. Tell him I sent you and he'll give you a discount."

"If he's half as good as you in keeping
his money, I'll make sure to say as distant from him as possible."

"You got me. I was only sending you to him
because I hate him. I wanted to see you steal his pants just like you stole all
my money!"

"Why, and here I thought I was being so
good to you!" A drow player in leather armor entered the store and I
blinked to the shopkeeper. "See you."

"Bye, bye."

I wasn't lying when I said I would stay as far
away from her suggested seller as possible. Not after all the struggle I had
gone through to get myself what I was sure was her set price since we had begun
negotiating. I had turned into a skeptic.

Thanks, game, took me years to trust someone
again and five days to throw it away.

An hour later, I had discovered that magical
backpacks were ridiculously expensive. The cheapest one I had found cost three
hundred gold pieces. I repeated the number in my head: three hundred gold
pieces. For a backpack.

Three hundred absurd gold pieces.

For a backpack.

Yes, they were enchanted, but still not nearly
worth that much by a long shot.

I'd look all the city for a cheaper one, even
if it took me a year. And it could well take that, for the size of the place.
After an hour I was still on the same street on which I had entered the city
and hadn't got to the center.

The street got crowded as I walked. After a
long time, the street finally ended, and my jaws dropped.

A few hundred meters ahead of me was the Dark
Temple.

It was black, like everything else in the city,
and huge, like everything the drow did to impress. Three black metal rings,
each one four stories high, were on top of each other, each one of them half as
big as the one below. It reminded me of a wedding cake. A big, black, metallic
wedding cake. The top floor almost touched the spinning Devourer, and thousands
of translucent big dark spheres created black trails in the air as they floated
around the temple like ghosts.

Lots of drow were entering and leaving the
temple in huge double doors. Two drow with black hair and black robes, the
first I had seen, were on each side of the doors.

"Excuse me." I stopped a man who was
walking in white robes. "Can you tell me how-"

"Mind your own business, deathlord."
He cut sharply.

Lovely people.

I tried again, now with a woman: "Excuse
me, can you tell me how to enter the temple?"

"Walking, idiot." She moved on.

I would get no help from the passersby and entering
the temple could wait anyways. I kept looking for a cheap backpack.

Half a day later – which was nothing in
shopping time if my ex-girlfriends were to be believed – I was back at the
front of the temple, now the proud owner of a brown enchanted backpack.

Low Quality C-Size Enchanted Backpack

» Drop chance: 3%

» Slots: 30

» Max items per slot: 10

The way the item worked was that anything that
could go through the opening would fit inside, up to three hundred items. The
magic of the thing allowed it to hold thirty different items, and ten 'copies'
of each of them. Meaning I could have put ten of the ghouls' rusty swords in
the bag, and it would have occupied a single slot.

It had a virtually unlimited space inside, as
long as the rules were obeyed. I could put a five thousand kilometer rope
inside, and it'd only occupy a single slot, even if I'd be unable to carry it
because of the weight. I could put ten such ropes inside, and they'd still only
occupy one slot. If I tried to put more stuff inside than the numerical limit,
though, it had a chance of either fitting or ripping the backpack apart, no
matter the size of the item.

Any items inside would be lost if I died, but
the backpack itself had only a three percent chance of dropping.

The items would still weigh as much inside as
outside the bag, but it made them super easy to carry. It had cost me a hundred
gold, and it was the best cost-benefit I had found. A medium quality backpack
lowered the chance of being dropped by one percent at triple the price. I would
have bought it had I had the money.

After the acquisition, I was now down to
fifty-five gold, eighteen silver and sixty-one copper coins. I left ten gold
coins, the silver and the copper in a pouch and the rest of gold inside the
chest, which in turn was inside the backpack. I wondered if I could put lots of
containers inside containers in the magical bag and store things infinitely.

Now that I had it, I could understand all the
talk about proper backpacks. I felt like a man now. A true adventurer. The lord
of death, walking the dim streets of the evil elves' city under the mighty
Devourer.

Oh, the power of a backpack.

"Hey, jackass with the ugly backpack, do
you have any quests for me?"

Looking at the source of the voice, I saw a
young male drow with white hair wearing a nice looking leather armor, pants,
boots and gloves, all black. At his waist, he had three daggers and a small
golden pouch.

"Sorry?" I said.

"Quests? Or tasks. You have any? I don't
have time, be quick."

Yet again, I was found by an unpleasant player.
I smiled. This time, I would get something out of deceiving an ass.

"Oh. It's nice of you to ask, young man.
I've heard of a great treasure, and I might tell you its location. For a
fee."

"What? No fee. Just tell me."

"Well, that'd hardly be fair, would
it?"

"Come on, just fall for my high charisma
already."

"Well, now that you mention it, you do
look like a charismatic young man. Tell you what, I'll make it cheap for you.
For only fifty gold coins I'll tell you the location of a huge treasure. So big
it wouldn't fit your pockets."

"Stupid NPCs," he said as he opened
his pouch. "Why not go and take the money themselves? Luke said this game
was different, but all the NPCs suck." He took twenty gold coins and put
them in my hand. "This is all my money, take it or leave it."

I pretended to think about it. "You drive
a hard bargain, young man. All right, I'll tell you. Follow through this
street..." I said the location of the fat merchant; they deserved each
other.

"Thanks, idiot," the drow said as he
left.

"You're most welcome."

Charisma increased to 4 (+1)

Continuous talking and negotiation makes you a
little better at it.

Trait received: Negotiator

After tricking two Travelers and bargaining
hard for a sword, you've become a skilled negotiator.

» +1 charisma in negotiations

Player interactions can also be used to raise
attributes? Good to know.

I didn't worry that it could be abused. Not
after talking to Ted about the anti-black market measures that read directly
into the players' minds.

Finally, without tasks on the queue, I went to
the temple, feeling damn good for robbing the little shit out of his twenty
gold.

As I got close, one of the black clothed men
spoke.

"Deathlord. I am Parnass, a priest of God.
Do you wish to enter the Heart of God?"

"Hell, no. I just want to see the
Temple."

The black-clothed priest looked at me as if I
was an idiot. "That was my question," he spoke slowly, making me feel
like a halfwit. "However, as is widely known, any non-drow species
requires a formal invitation from a Chosen to enter."

"Oh. That sucks. How do I get
invited?"

"An invite can only be given to the
friends of the Dark Temple, those who have proven themselves worthy to witness
the great Heart of God."

"And how do I prove I'm worthy?"

He sighed. "Just... Go away. You are not
welcome here." He shooed me with a hand gesture.

Well, that went badly.

With no sightseeing left to be done, it was
time for me to follow up with my unbound deathlord quest and find the
Resistance.

Jack
Thorn

Unbound
Deathlord

Legendary
Spotter, Dark Archmage

Level 8

Hit Points:235
/ 235

Mana Points:365
/ 370

Stamina:83
/ 200

Attributes:

Strength:7

Agility:7

Dexterity:5

Constitution:7

Intelligence:10

Perception:4
+ 10 [Items]

Willpower:9

Charisma:4

Traits:

Adept Mage:11
+ 10 [Items]

Adept Controller:11

Gold Digger:2

Scavenger:2

Antimage:1

Crafter:1

Energizer:1

Healer:1

Meditator:1

Mind Seer:1

Negotiator:1

Nitpicker:1

Shadow:1

9. An Eight Legged Favor

'Never negotiate when you're desperate.'

- Father

"Sorry," I
said as I squeezed myself between the drow. "Passing through."

Getting to the counter was a real challenge.
The White Spider was the closest inn to the Temple and it showed; the big room was
so full it was a miracle I had been able to get in.

In real life I would either have gone to
another place to drink or already have been sitting in a reserved table. Real
life didn't come with the need to find information in drinking environments
though, and for my purposes I guessed that the more people, the better. Even if
no one talked to me, I could at least listen to strangers' conversations.

"I'm telling you, man!" A drow – as
far as I could tell there were only drow in the inn other than me – told
another one. "The Nordic Warriors are gonna destroy the Red Mammals!"

That marked them as players, talking about
football. If I had to bet, I would say every consumer in here was a player,
even if most of them looked just like the drow in the streets with their plain
white clothes.

Most of the conversations I overheard in the
chatty room as I got to the counter was real life related or boasts about
killing some monster or another. It looked like the Nordic Warriors were the
favorites in the season, the players were forbidden by the NPCs to leave the
city before reaching at least level ten, and there were hundreds of quests
inside the Temple.

It also looked like the average level of the
players was five. The game was not designed for power leveling, the term for
rapidly leveling up a player, but for adventuring and experiencing different
things than real life.

"What will it be?" The barman yelled
to me over the counter. He was a chubby drow with white hair. So far only the
priests of the Temple had had different hair colors.

"A beer!" I also yelled over the
noise in the room.

"Two silver!" He made a two with his
fingers to confirm the price.

Remembering what the kid had said on the city
entrance, I tried bargaining a little. "I asked for a beer, not liquid gold!"
I took a single silver coin from my pocket and put on the counter.

"You asked for a beer, not piss!" The
barman took the silver nonetheless and served a pint. It was not as full as the
other pints going around, but it had been worth the barter.

"Thanks!" Taking a sip, I found it
did taste like piss, no matter what the man had said. "I need some
information!"

"And I need money!" Ignoring me, the
barman began to take an order from another drow.

Great, no help there. I turned around, the pint on my hand, and looked at the wall of
people immediately in front of me.

Twenty minutes later I was drinking my third
pint and was no closer to finding the Resistance than when I entered.

Intoxication resisted

Undead can't get drunk

I was just wasting my money on the beer. It
felt too awkward to not drink alcohol in a place like that, so I kept buying,
even if I drank a lot slower. I was about to leave the inn when I saw a
commotion.

Near the center of the inn a man was yelling
and people around him were becoming silent. I soon could hear him.

"...level six in five days! That's plain
shitty design! You idiots keep playing because of graphics, but I'm done with
this shitty game!" He logged out.

For a few seconds everyone looked at each other
in an awkward silence. Then, as one, we all raised our pints and roared before
going back to drinking.

"That was a rightful jerk, if I ever saw
one," a guy said to me.

"Yeah. I thought the Underworld was
supposed to be played by people of age, but it's full of annoying
children," I replied.

"You are right, man. You are right. So,
what do you-"

I felt a pull on my waist and stopped
listening. Looking down, I saw a hand trying to undo my purse's strings. I
tried to grab the thief's hand, but it slipped away like a damn wet soap. When
I looked back at the guy who had been talking to me, he was gone.

"Like I said," I said to no one,
"it's full of annoying children."

It was time to leave. I would just try to get
the barkeep to talk once more.

"Hey!" I put five silver coins on the
counter. "I really need information!"

Seeing the money, the barman approached smiling
and took the coins away. "Why didn't you say so before? What do you
need?"

"What can you tell me about the
Resistance?"

His smile died and he frowned. "I know
nothing about it! Now, leave my inn!" He tried to go away, but I held his
arm.

"Wait! Tell me your price!"

"Go away before I denounce you to the
Blackguard!" He yanked his arm away and went to the far side of the
counter.

Shit. At least I know he knows something. Sighing, I took five gold coins from my purse and held four of them
in the middle of my finger, raising my hand in plain view of the barman.

When he saw it, the drow came to me so fast he
might as well have teleported. He was all smiles again and rubbing his hands,
face full of greed.

"I think I just remembered something about
the Resistance!"

"Good!" I took one of the coins and
put on the table. "Why don't you tell me about it and we see how useful
you are to me?"

"Yes!" The drow took the coin.
"I know the Resistance has a place in the city! A place too well hidden
for anyone to find it without the right instructions!"

"Good!" I put another coin on the
table. "Where is it?"

"I don't remember!"

"Don't be greedy!" I warned but did
give the man a third coin.

"Come with me!" He gestured for me to
follow him behind the counter and into a door. We found ourselves in a typical
kitchen, only it was full of crude stone and metal. A female drow was working
there with an apron, making food. "It's better to talk business here,"
the barman said.

"So, where is it?"

"I might remember it-"

"Just tell me your price, dammit!"

"Not everything's about money,
deathlord." The drow seemed surprised to have said that. "Not always,
anyway. I need a favor."

"What? I gave you three gold coins so you
could ask me for a favor?"

His smile disappeared. "Listen, I don't
need to help you; you're the one who asked for my help. You want something from
me, and I want something from you."

"I gave you money!" Three gold coins,
while all my common loot had amounted to eighteen silver.

"And that allowed you in here. I know
where the Resistance is and how to contact it without getting killed. It's your
choice, but I'll not simply sell the information." He crossed his arms.

As annoying as it was, I didn't really have to
think about it. If Shai was coming for me, I needed to find the Resistance as
soon as possible. "Shit. Alright, what do you need?"

He pointed at a different door from the one we
had come from. "My basement has spiders. Every now and then I have to get
in there and kill a couple, or send some Traveler like yourself to deal with
it. The problem is that the spiders prevent my wife from getting into the
basement, and paying someone to get in there every time she needs to get in
there is costing too much money. Find out how they are getting into my
basement, get into their nest and kill them all. If you do, I'll tell you
everything I know about the Resistance."

Quest: Destroy the Spider Nest in the
Basement

B rank

The owner of the White Spider inn has asked
you to find and destroy the spider nest that is infesting his basement.

He promises to tell you everything he knows
about the Resistance if you succeed.

A quest with B difficulty. Didn't seem that
hard. "Ok, I'll do it."

"Good." He gave me a key. "Now get
in there and kill those damn spiders." He left without further words.

I looked at the wife but she just ignored me as
she created a fire sphere and manipulated it under a pan. I supposed it made
sense that in a magical world people would use magic for mundane tasks.

Wait, she was using fire magic! It was my
chance to learn it and put my ring to good use. I neared her, a smile in my
face. "Miss-"

"No." She cut me without looking up.
"Whatever it is. Not even if you pay me. Go away."

"But-"

She looked at me, and her face was furious.
"Listen to me and listen closely." She pointed a big spoon at me.
"You are in my kitchen and you are an undead. I dislike intruders just a
little less than I dislike your type. Now, pretend you are smart, connect the
dots and get. Out. Of. My. Kitchen."

I raised my hands. "Okay, I'm sorry."
I unlocked the door and entered the basement.

These damn game characters are so full of
attitude.

The basement door led to a short stair, which I
climbed down. The room I came into was about half the size of the inn by my
estimate and full of sacks. A heavy smell of mushroom and salt impregnated the
place.

On the other side of the room was a doorway and
that's where I saw the giant spider.

It was hairy, brown and half my height, with
eight thick legs. Its head had multiple black eyes and large intimidating
chelicerae which it was almost silently tapping together. As soon as I looked
at it, the spider shrieked.

It stood, four legs remaining on the floor and
the frontal four raised, clearly meant to be used to attack me, should I
approach. It was scarier than I cared to admit.

It was a good thing I was not planning on going
anywhere near it. A darkball flew directly into it, closely followed by a
second one; my third sphere was death magic and I chose to save it for healing,
if necessary. They were still flying when I began to create new ones.

19 darkness damage dealt

19 darkness damage dealt

My magic should have done more damage than
that. I did the math.

About thirty percent darkness resistance. Just
my luck.

It shrieked loudly when the first sphere hit it
and began to come at me. I took my sword from my waist and my shield from my
back – hating myself for not getting better equipment – and attacked with more
magic.

It tried to dodge my magic, but I redirect it.
It was almost on me when my sixth and final darkness sphere hit it. With a last
shriek, it died, falling with its back on the floor it's legs curled inward as
it balled up in death.

That was a damn hard to kill spider. I was
focusing on the glow of its pincers when an impact hit the side of my face,
followed by a sharp pain.

60 acid damage received from Unknown Enemy

HP: 175 / 235

You left eye has melted

Status effect received: Complete Left Eye
Blindness (level 10 – max)

Until you are magically healed,
you'll:

» Be unable to see with the left eye

» Have no sense of depth

It took me a few seconds to notice that the
screams I was hearing were coming from me. My hand also hurt as I put it over
my face and I took additional damage.

Looking around, I saw another spider halfway
through the room coming at me. It was not brown, but black. It had also a lot
more hair and was at least half again the size of the brown one. Plus, its
pincers were covered in a green goo.

I was blind in the left eye, had no darkness
sphere ready, and that big monster looked like a tough son of a spider. I
climbed the stairs as fast as I could and locked the door behind me.

The cook only spared a curious glance my way,
probably because of all the screaming I had done; I was still grunting loudly.
I sat with my back to the door and closed my eyes.

I was alone in the mind's eye vision, so the
spider hadn't followed. First I used death magic to heal myself – which also
regrew my eye –, then I rested until both my HP and MP were full again. I
descended the stairs with a hurt pride and three death spheres hovering above
my head.

Big black spider had taken the brown spider
body away and was waving a web around it in the far corner of the room. I sent
death down on it as soon as I saw it.

76 death damage dealt to Black Giant
Spider

76 death damage dealt to Black Giant
Spider

76 death damage dealt to Black Giant
Spider

HP: 0 / 228 <?>

They hit, the dark gray smoke covering as much
of the spider body as it could and leaving a slightly lighter color to the
spider hair where it touched. With amazing two hundred and twenty-eight damage
dealt in less than two seconds, the spider died in a loud shriek. That felt
damn good.

It took me almost ten seconds to create three
more death spheres before crouching and walking as silently as possible to the
doorway.

On the other side of it I saw a room the same
size as the one I was in. Two black spiders were inside, in a protective
position over a few dozen eggs the size of my leg.

I had barely put my head inside to see the room
when two green balls of goo flew my way. I dodged in time and they splashed on
the wall.

Alright, I could kill one of them in one go,
but then it would come to sword and shield. Or I would need to run away. Taking
a deep breath, I rushed in.

More goo came flying but was nowhere near
hitting me. My death spheres flew to the spider on the right, one by one. It
tried to dodge, but I changed the spells path and the spider died with the
usual shriek.

I created a darkness sphere and attacked the
remaining spider with it.

9 damage dealt to Black Giant Spider

HP: 219 / 228 <?>

Crap, it had about double the resistance to
darkness magic of the brown one and without three seconds to stay still with my
eyes closed I couldn't use death magic. It spat more acid and I dodged. Then
ran to it.

Closing the gap was easier said than done.
Rolling on the floor and running diagonally were the way I found. It made me
remember deathlord Shai's spears.

Thankfully the spider couldn't spit like a
machine gun and I was able to get close to it. That's when I discovered giant
spiders hit like little kids. It attacked with one of its legs and I raised my
shield just in time to defend myself.

2 shock damage received from Black Giant
Spider

HP: 232 / 235

The thing is, it could attack with four legs.
As I defended from one of them, three other hit my body for additional four
damage each. My cotton shirt's single point of defense didn't apply: the spider
dealt damage of the blunt type, which could ignore some defense.

I chose not to defend myself unless an attack
was coming for my head and I couldn't dodge, and pierced its eyes like a
fencer. The sword came out with some yellow and white sticky substance into it.

Critical hit for 2.0x damage!

78 damage dealt to Black Giant Spider

HP: 141 / 228 <?>

Wow, that was easy. I hit it in the same spot again and it shrieked and spat poison. I
used my shield to defend myself and took a lot less damage than the acid attack
I had received to the head. Apparently, that had been a critical hit.

I easily killed the spider with my next attack,
now already used to the sound it made upon death.

Resting and healing were in order, but first I
had leg-sized eggs to crush. They were white and wrapped in webs on the corner.
I stepped on them.

It was disgusting. White and yellow sticky
liquid covered half my legs and small light brown 'fetal spiders' came out. One
fetus in ten even moved a little as it spilled onto the floor. I gave them all
mercy with my sword.

Giant Spitter Spider Pincer

The pincer of a Giant Spitter Spider

Young Giant Spider Pincer

The pincer of a Young Giant Spider

The spider pincers were glowing and I took
them. Six of the spitter type, two of the young type. I loved finding the items
for the simple reason that they told me the official name of the monsters. Was
that bad design or an intended feature? Seeing how they had taken their time in
designing the whole name and HP guessing system, I bet on the latter.

Opening one spider of each type didn't reveal
any glowing item inside their bodies.

With my work done for now, I took the time to
quickly search for lost items in the basement, but found nothing, only sacks of
mushroom and spices.

Back in the kitchen, this time the cook looked
at me for a long time. With disgust. Her eyes traveled my body up and down, and
suddenly I felt very self-aware. I left her kitchen before she killed me with
fire.

"It's done!" I yelled to the
innkeeper over all the noise in the room.

He frowned. "Did you find it? The
nest?"

"Yes, it was on the second room!"

He closed his eyes and sighed. "They
always try to extend their nest into my basement, but that is not the nest
itself! A nest has a queen! Go back there and only return when you have the
queen's head with you!"

Quest Updated: Destroy the Spider Nest in
the Basement

B rank

The owner of the White Spider inn has asked
you to find and destroy the spider nest that is infesting his basement.

He promises to tell you everything he knows
about the Resistance if you succeed.

After a misunderstanding, the owner of the
White Spider inn decided to impose a condition on the quest.

Condition:

» Bring the Queen's Head as proof of your deed

Oh. That had been stupid of me: killing those
three spiders would hardly be considered a B rank task.

But if things would get harder, I would need
better equipment. I had taken some damage against only two spiders. What would
have happened if there were three? Or four?

"I need to buy stuff! Can I clear the
basement after that?" I asked the innkeeper.

He thought for a second. "Yes! But be back
in the basement in twenty hours."

Once again the quest conditions updated, now
showing a countdown and telling me to be back at the basement before that.

I left the inn under the scrutiny of multiple
players and went hunting for an equipment store.

* * *

"Holy Moly!" I said aloud as I looked
at myself on the mirror.

All the parts of my body that weren't covered
by clothes had vestiges of soot from the prison explosion – my face was almost
black. My spiked black hair also had some soot but the ugliest bit of it was
the green goo on the left side of my head; the circlet had likely only resisted
destruction because of its legendary status. The acid didn't hurt anymore, but
it was ugly and sticky.

"I'll be right back," I told the man
in the store and entered the first inn I found, where I paid ten silver for a
shower. It was worth every penny.

Back at the store and looking at the mirror, I
smiled satisfied. Now I looked like a clean beggar. Much better.

The salesperson's name was Lithir, an average
drow in average white clothes. He was a good clerk. He had seen me in dirty
leather armor before, and now in clean beggar clothes, and still showed me all
the equipment I asked for, even a beautiful full plate armor. It was black and
stylish, the shoulder was pointy and the helmet had a horn sprouting from it.
Albeit unpractical, with those spike and horns, it made me feel like a badass
warrior.

"It's pure darksteel, sir" Lithir
said in his melodic voice. "Sorin made and enchanted by a rare lich
enchanter. It's one of the best sets in the store."

"It's awesome," I agreed. "I'm
sorry for my ignorance, but would you be so kind as to enlighten me to what the
hell is darksteel and a sorin?"

"Of course, sir. Darksteel is a black kind
of steel that can be enchanted with darkness magic especially well. Some say
that any of the negative magical elements can be more easily place on
darksteel, but I have no such knowledge about magic to either confirm nor deny
it. The sorins are, of course, the... Socially unaccepted dwarves."

He meant evil dwarves, just like the drow were
the evil elves. Sorins... I had heard this name before... Of course! The
goddess had mentioned them in the unbound deathlord introductory video and my
circlet had been perfected by them.

About positivity and negativity, I guessed
death and darkness would be negative magic elements, and that both light and
life would be positive. Lithir also couldn't help me on that when I asked him.

Darksteel Set of Ultimate Strength

Rare

» Prevents critical hits on the head

» +25 Strength

While wearing a complete set, you
receive the same defenses to all your body:

» +200 defense

» +50% darkness resistance

» +50% light resistance

The armor was awesome, but so heavy that I
received a level five encumbered status wearing it, even with the bonus
strength.

"So, how much does it cost?"

"Why, sir, it is on sale. For only seven
thousand gold pieces these incredible pieces of smithing can be yours."

I almost choked. Seven thousand gold pieces?
"Well, it's good to know, but I'm more of a mobile fighter myself. I'm
sorry for the trouble." I started to remove it.

"It's not a problem, sir. I must admit I
have already put the armor on myself and I have no plans of ever leaving this
store with it."

I liked the damn drow. I wondered how he would
cheat me.

"I'll be sincere too, then. I wasn't
planning on buying such expensive armor, only a little leather and slightly
better weapon and sword than what I have."

Good leather could be as good as chainmail, but
it cost only a little more, was lighter and allowed more freedom of movement.
Plus, with seven points in strength, I also received an encumbered status if I
wore both chainmail armor and chainmail pants while holding a shield.

"As you wish, sir. If I might be so blunt,
would you mind telling me how much you plan on spending, so I can give you the
best equipment in your price range?"

"I'm planning on not going too far over
thirty gold coins." His eyes popped for a second. "Anything
wrong?"

"No, sir. I was expecting your... Budget
to be smaller. I'm sorry."

"No harm done, man." This had been
the second best store price-wise that I had found earlier. I had been to
Tharnya's place, where I had sold my equipment, but she was nowhere to be seen
and after waiting for half an hour, I decided to move on.

I should have thought about buying equipment
before, but it had simply slipped my mind.

"I will bring some things I believe you
will like."

In the end thirty gold gave me a nice equipment
upgrade. Nothing enchanted, but I was satisfied as I looked at myself in the
mirror again.

Over my new black cotton shirt, I was now
wearing a dark gray leather jerkin with high collar. Over my black cotton
pants, black leather pants. The old leather boots were replaced by well fitted
and flexible brown leather ones. My shield was now a medium size kite one made
of iron banded wood – the pure steel shields were too heavy for me to fight
properly, as I discovered after a few swings – and my new sword, the costliest
purchase, was made of darksteel. Between my ring and my hands, I now had thin
dark brown leather gloves.

Lithir also talked me into buying a painting
kit for magical backpacks that cost one gold piece and made my backpack black.
That guy could probably sell sand in the desert.

I ended thirty-five gold and thirty-three
silver pieces poorer, but a happy customer. "I must say, Lithir, even
knowing that you cheated me somehow, I have no idea how you did it and I'm
still satisfied with everything. Care to enlighten me?"

He smiled and I noticed an attribute
exclamation point appear on the edge of my vision. "I wouldn't call it
cheating, sir, it's just business. But since you asked without anger, I'll tell
you that everything I sold you is slightly more expensive than it should have
been. Sincerely, I think it is a fair value for the high quality treatment I
provide."

"Ha, a drow full of himself, who would
imagine," I said ironically. "But I think I agree with you on that;
you did treat me well. I can't promise, but you might have gotten yourself a
returning customer."

'Never tell a clerk you are satisfied with him.
He will pretend to be happy for it and try to rob you blind next time', my
mother's teachings came to me and I mentally shooed them away.

"Thank you, sir." He bowed slightly.

"Thank you, Lithir. See ya." I
left the store, checked my new stuff again like an overexcited boy with a new
toy, and focused on the attribute exclamation point.

Iron Kite Shield

» Resistance: 60%

Low Quality Darksteel Shortsword

» 50 (+14 [Strength]) damage

Low Quality Leather Jerkin

» +20 defense

Low Quality Leather Pants

» +20 defense

Low Quality Flexible Leather Boots

» +10 defense

» High flexibility

Charisma increased to 5 (+1)

Through flattery and using honeyed words you
don't sound like an ape anymore.

Having time to spare, I decided to stop by the
drow child and pay my debt before he decided to charge interest.

"I'm disappointed," he said as he
took the money. "Hunting you with the Blackguard would have been
fun."

"I'm so very sorry," I smiled and
left before he could charge me for breathing the air of the city.

As the old saying goes, 'easy come, easy go.'
All my money had been reduced to little less than six gold coins. Better than
nothing, I supposed.

For the second time in the city, I felt like a
proper adventurer, instead of a desperate beggar without a clear picture of
where he was going. I would do the spider quest, find the Resistance, and look
good while doing it. That's the power of capitalism for you.

I went back to the White Spider Inn and the look
of surprise on the innkeeper was rewarding. Even the cook looked at me
differently.

After recovering my HP and MP and creating
three death spheres yet again, I climbed down the basement.

Everything was as I had left it. Now the
difficult part began: finding the hidden passage to the spiders' nest.

Looking around, I found nothing on the black
metal walls. They were made of vertical rectangles, two meters by one, placed
side by side; so were the ceiling and the floor. I was unable to identify any
openings other than the tiny slits between the plates.

Next I tried hitting all the walls, but for all
I could tell they sounded the same and none of the walls was an illusion.

Stepping forcefully on each meter of the floor
also didn't show any discrepancy. I didn't try moving the sacks or the shelves:
if the spiders were getting in somehow, they couldn't move what was inside before
getting in and then move the stuff back into the original position.

Unless they could. This was a magic world,
after all, and I was far from aware of its inner workings.

With a sigh and annoyed for being so good at
arguing against myself, I moved everything. The room was packed and some sacks
and shelves weighed a lot. It took me the better part of an hour to move
everything only to find out that the places they had been occupied were as
solid as everywhere else.

The crushed eggs also held no clue. Removing
them – using the sword, not my boots this time – revealed nothing.

It was frustrating.

I looked around one more time, completely lost.
My best bet now was waiting for new spiders to appear.

Sitting with my back to a wall, I closed my
eyes out of habit. It was weird: being undead I didn't tire nor need to sleep,
but doing something so human like resting felt damn good.

As I closed my eyes, the gray sphere of the
mind's eye appeared. The three dark gray spheres of the death magic were
floating about my dark and light gray body. Small vermin, mostly ants eating
the remains of the spiders, glowed in light gray light. So many small animals were
glowing on the walls and floor that I remembered Christmas.

There was an ant colony to the far edge behind
me inside the wall.

An ant colony.

In a game.

Damn amazing.

How could the game be so realistic? How the
hell had V-Soft even achieved the computing power necessary for all this? The
capsule my real body was into only needed to talk to and listen to my brain.
All the processing, all the world, was happening on what I guessed were
multiple servers owned by V-Soft. Had they mastered quantum computing?

A single AI, by itself, consumed a lot from a
computer, and they had AIs running for each NPC I had found so far.

Well, they had developed the new
controversial technology to communicate directly with the brain, so bettering
the existing AI technologies was not that surprising.

I didn't expect the ants on the wall to have
each their own AIs, but if they did-

Wait, ants on the wall.

If behind the wall there had been a big gap, I
wouldn't have been able to see any ants in there. If that was the case, the
lack of them would be an indicator of a false wall or floor section. A smile
crept on my face and I got up.

Eyes closed, I walked with my hands on the
wall. It was a slow process, as I found out the gray sphere in my mind
dissolved if I moved too fast.

I had been seated in the second room, near the
crushed eggs, opposite to the door. As typical, I found the hidden passage
right next to the stairs, a whole hour after starting.

All over the walls, except there, I found small
animals. On that place, though, there were a few centimeters with such animals
and then nothing, like a thin earth wall.

Opening my eyes, I looked around but didn't
find any clue on how to get to the other side. An idea popped up and I checked
the stairs leading to the kitchen, but I also found nothing there.

I proceeded, then, to touching the walls and
the floor, both on the fake wall itself and around it, inch by inch. It worked.

A small square, only large enough for a single
finger to get through, was on a neighboring wall. The small hole was not
visible; my finger went right through what I saw as metal. An illusion, then. I
looked closer and when my head got only a few centimeters away I was able to
see the small square vibrating a little.

I tried touching it with my will but found
nothing there. I used one of my death spheres there and when nothing happened,
I tried creating and using a darkness one, still to no avail. Whatever was
powering that illusion was not in the illusion itself.

Leaving my finger inside the hole I closed my
eyes. When the grey bubble appeared, I tried focusing my will at the area
again. This time a very subtle light gray square – only slightly lighter than
the gray of the mind's eye sphere itself – vibrated for half a second before
disappearing.

Smiling, I began experimenting and applying my
will around the square, but although I could will my invisible power to hit the
whole wall, only when I applied it to an area the size of my fist, and such
area touched the square, did the vibration appear.

It meant I had no way of finding unknown
illusions by applying my will to large areas, which was a little disappointing.

Now, was the 'magic finding' thing something
exclusive to illusions or could it be applied to all magic? I created a
darkness sphere, which didn't appear in the mind's eye, and applied my will
where I knew it was. Jackpot. The darkness sphere vibrated in a slightly dark
gray light for half a second before disappearing again.

It felt exhilarating. I had just found a way of
detecting magic in places I suspected it to be! Never mind it could only be
used in situations where I could stay still for a few seconds, it still felt
damn good.

Opening my eyes, I saw two exclamation points.

Perception increased to 5 (+1)

Noticing you were being cheated in stores,
even without knowing how, finding hidden holes in walls and figuring a way of
detecting magic is the way of a perceptive person.

Trait received: Diviner

You have uncovered the secrets of seeing the
unseen.

» Can feel any non-hidden magic

» Can feel hidden magic the existence and
location of which you have confirmed

» Radius: 1 meter

» Precision range: 180 degrees

Diviner trait increased to 2 (+1)

Being a Legendary Spotter, your traits related
to spotting things, be it with your eyes or your mind, receive a bonus.

» Radius: 2 meters

» Precision range: 162 degrees

Level up!

Current level: 9

HP, MP and stamina restored

As soon as I closed the window I felt magic
upwards and ahead of me. Upwards for the death spheres and ahead for the small
illusion. It was pretty useless now, but I guess it would become better on
higher levels.

Scolding myself for not creating a new death
sphere before leveling up, I took the time to create it and restore my MP.

Then I pushed the button.

Jack
Thorn

Unbound
Deathlord

Legendary
Spotter, Dark Archmage

Level 9

Hit Points:235
/ 235

Mana Points:370
/ 370

Stamina:200
/ 200

Attributes:

Strength:7

Agility:7

Dexterity:5

Constitution:7

Intelligence:10

Perception:5
+ 10 [Items]

Willpower:9

Charisma:5

Traits:

Adept Mage:11
+ 10 [Items]

Adept Controller:11

Diviner:2

Gold Digger:2

Scavenger:2

Antimage:1

Crafter:1

Energizer:1

Healer:1

Meditator:1

Mind Seer:1

Negotiator:1

Nitpicker:1

Shadow:1

10. Everything Changed When the Fire Mage Attacked

'Beg if you have to. But make sure to
pay back whoever put you in this position.'

- Mother

A purple circle with a
thirteen pointed star and lots of runes inside appeared in the middle of the
wall. It glowed and the wall moved backwards, then slid down into an opening in
the floor.

The first thing I noticed was the webs. They
occupied the walls, the floor and the ceiling of the bare earth stairs and the
corridor ahead. The corridor was tight enough for me to touch both walls by extending
my arms and low enough for me to touch the ceiling if I got on my toes. It was
a mixed blessing: attacking spiders would only be able to attack one at a time,
but I would also have trouble swinging my sword and dodging attacks. Good thing
I had bought myself better armor.

There was a small brown button on the corridor
wall, easily visible. Why couldn't it have been that way on the basement's
side?

With my sword in one hand, my shield on the
other arm, and three death spheres floating above me, I descended the stairs.

I soon found out I had to use raw strength just
to move. The webs on the floor were sticky and even though I could force my
feet to unstick, it was not easy. Bad news for my mobility and my battles.

Still, I moved on. It was possible that the
webs were limited to that corridor and I could find myself in better terrain
ahead.

The corridor was long and together with the
sticky floor, it took me almost ten minutes of walking to get to the end.

Damn cook, if only she would teach me some fire
magic, I could burn all this shit to ashes.

The corridor ended in a cave chamber. It was
small if compared to the enormous chambers I was used to seeing in the
Underworld, but still around four or five football fields in size. There were
eggs all over the floor and walls, and almost a hundred spiders were tending
them – mostly young ones but also some twenty spitters and about ten bigger,
tough looking dark gray ones.

And in the center of it all stood the Queen.
Capital letter Queen, no doubt about it.

She was double to triple my height, a woman's
torso attached to spider legs. The legs were big, black and covered by hard
scales. The shells continued up her feminine upper body and covered her back,
side, and breasts, while leaving the stomach uncovered. Her lips were red and
full, and twelve black spider eyes covered the rest of her head. Grotesque.

There was no way in hell I would be able to
kill them all. And this was a B rated quest? How the hell was the game even
measuring it? Even if I tried to kill them one by one in the corridor and they
didn't kill me, I would still run out of stamina and fall exhausted on the
floor.

Unless I pulled them. In gaming, pulling a
monster or a few of them was done exactly in situations like this. I would
attack, attract their attention, then fall back into an advantageous position.
If they all came at me I would still die, but I felt confident that if
only a few dozen came each time, I could kill them all in one on one fights.

Only one thing stood between this plan and execution:
the web-covered floor. I couldn't run on it, therefore I couldn't get to the
advantageous position without dying.

After unsuccessfully trying to remove the silk
with my sword and with darkness and death magic, I ended with only two
possibilities: buying something that could create fire or learning fire magic
myself.

Ten minutes later I was kneeling on the kitchen
floor, my head on the floor. "Please, miss. Please. I beg of you."

"I told you no!" The chubby cook hit
my head with the big spoon. "Get out of my kitchen!"

"I need it! Not for me, for you! So you
can safely get ingredients in the basement. But the spiders have webs all over
the place and I need to burn them away before fighting them or I'll die."

"I don't care! You are getting in the way
of my work. Get out! Now!" She hit me again. She wasn't going easy on me
and it hurt a lot.

"Just teach me and I promise I will never
bother you again. I promise."

"By the Devourer! Get out!"

"Please!"

She was furious. "I." She hit my
head. "Told." She hit again, this time with a heavy pan.
"You." Another hit. I began to bleed. "No!" This time the
power of the hit made my nose crush on the floor.

I didn't move. I wouldn't stay there forever,
but I could afford one or two hours of groveling before searching for a
fire-making tool.

"Blease!" My nose had broken
and was bleeding. "I beg ov you!"

She sighed. "I'll get my husband." I
heard her leaving, used the opportunity to heal myself, and heard her coming
back with another set of steps. "He won't let me do my job!"

"Undead," the innkeeper said with a
much more angered voice than I expected, "you must not upset my wife. What
are you doing?"

"I am begging her to teach me fire magic.
I need it to kill the spiders."

"Devourer above! Even if she wanted to,
she can't teach you! Only the Temple priests can teach magic in Ter'nodril.
Now, get out of here before-"

"Can I just watch?" I raised my head.

"What?!" They both asked at the same
time.

"Can I watch her doing magic? I'm a mage
myself, it might be enough."

"The Temple-"

"Would never know I learned from her, and
even if they did, she'll not teach me. I can watch any number of mages doing
magic; it's not teaching."

"Why watch my wife, then?" He
was suspicious. Was that jealousy?

"Because she is the closest fire mage I know
of. And because she will stay at the same place doing magic over and over
again. If I ask another adventurer, I might have to leave Ter'nodril and your
spider problem will continue."

"Why do you need fire magic to kill them?
If I'm not mistaken these morbs above your head are death magic, aren't
they?"

Morbs? That's what these spheres are called,
then?

"They are, but there's a field of webs I
must go through and death magic can't destroy what's not alive. I need
fire."

"Why not use a tool? There are crystals
for this. Not everyone has the luxury of learning fire magic just to
cook."

"Hey! Bar guy! We want beer!" Someone
yelled from the mess hall.

"Coming!" The innkeeper yelled back.

"Because," I said slowly while trying
to think of an excuse, "I am a mage. I know how to effectively use magic
and if I need to burn a web in the middle of a fight I won't have the time to
get the crystal." I almost sighed in relief for my quick reasoning.
"Also, buying my new equipment cost me all the money I had," I lied.

He looked thoughtful at me for a few moments.
"What does the Blackguard think of this? Would it be against the Ways to
allow him to watch?"

I believed he was talking to his wife until I
heard a young woman's voice behind me. "No." I turned quickly and saw
a Blackguard a few meters away, black cloak and hood. "The Ways do
determine only the Dark Temple can teach, but it doesn't say only those in the
Dark Temple can learn."

"You were there the whole time?" I
asked.

"Obviously." She didn't elaborate.

"Did you go downstairs with me?"

"Obviously not."

"You like talking like this, don't
you?"

I think I heard a hint of a smile in her voice.
"Obviously."

"Well, it's settled," said the
innkeeper. The cook tried to say something, but he raised his hand. "I
know you don't like undead, Larantha, but he has a point." He turned to
me. "You have six hours. My wife will work as she always does and you can
watch. Quietly and out of the way."

I doubted I would learn fire magic by myself in
six hours if this was the real world. But I was in a game. Players who wished
to were supposed to be able to learn magic, and how difficult could it be for a
mage to learn a new element?

"Alright," I nodded to him.

* * *

As it turned out, it
was difficult enough.

Five hours had passed by, I watched the cook
creating a fire morb for the thousandth time. She then proceeded to use a spell
that made the morb go under the pan and become the equivalent of a gas range
fire.

I had moved close to her and yet again I closed
my eyes and began to focus my will against the place I knew the flame was, as I
had done with the illusion. Just like all magic I had tested until now, the
flame appeared in the mind's eye for a split second. It was nice seeing the
color red in the grey and black world.

I kept trying to will the fire to obey me, or
to talk to me, or something, but nothing happened. I had looked at the fire for
minutes and minutes, trying to feel something different from it, and it mocked
me, its flames licking the pan indifferent to my struggles.

Larantha, the cook, ignored me completely as
she worked. I had even asked her if she even slept and she didn't bother
answering.

Frustrated and with a single hour to the time
limit, I did the last thing I could think of: I walked to the pan, took off my
glove and put my hand on the fire.

It confirmed what I had been wondering; the
game reduced the pain input to the players. It still hurt like hell and the
smell of burnt skin and meat filled the air, but I was able to grit my teeth
and not scream. Meanwhile, I looked at my burning hand and tried to feel
something magical out of it.

"What are you doing?!" The cook
yelled in a startled tone and pulled my hand out of the fire.

"I'm trying to understand the magic."

"Idiot! By the Devourer, how do you think
losing your hand will help you understand magic? The physical has nothing to do
with the-" She put both her hands on her mouth and looked around scared.
When nothing happened she pushed me away. "I don't care what my husband
said. Get out of my kitchen! Now! Or you'll get us both killed!"

I obeyed this time, since she used a good
argument. She had almost spilled the beans and making her die for teaching me
would be bad for my business with her husband. Dying myself also wouldn't help.

Opening the door to the basement, I sat on the
stairs. My hand was throbbing and I felt tears streaming from my eyes. I
cleaned the tears and instead of water I saw blood.

I cry blood. That's pretty neat.

My hand was a mess but no enlightenment had
found me because of it; in the end it had been a useless endeavor. I healed
myself and laid down on the stairs.

What was I missing? Miss Fire Mage had said the
physical had nothing to do with 'something', and I bet that this something
would be either 'the spiritual' or 'magic.' It didn't make sense to be magic,
though, since magic affected the material world directly.

Spiritual, then, or something close to it. The
physical had nothing to do with the spiritual, and I was trying to do magic.
Did it mean magic was somehow related to a spiritual thing? If so, and if the
physical was indeed as far from the spiritual as the cook had said, it made
sense to see magic as a way to make the spiritual affect the physical.

I could understand the physical world as well
as the next man. I could do magic and see how it affected the physical. But I
had no idea of how the magic affected or was affected by the spiritual.

Where did magic even come from? Yes, I had to
use my magical energy, also called MP, to use magic, but where did it
come from? Energy was just that, energy. For all I knew, electricity was a kind
of energy and most technology in the real world needed it to work.

So, magic needed my magical energy to work?
When I used mana, a morb – weird word – would form. Depending on the source I
used, be it death of small vermin or the darkness, a different type of morb
would form. Somehow both types of magic used the same energy source to come
into life, which proved that the mana points were a mean to an end, not the
source of magic itself.

Right? Let's suppose so.

Where did magic come from, then? From the
darkness? From death? It made no sense. Darkness was simply the lack of light.
Death was simply the moment when something stopped living. They were physical
phenomena and if they could lead to magic, the real world would also be
swarming with mages all around. Or at least magic would happen spontaneously in
nature.

Therefore, magic came from a source. The death
of the vermin released something that I used to create a death morb. Was
it the source? It made some sense: the source of death magic was death, the
source of darkness magic was darkness and the source of fire magic would be
fire.

However, even if they did come from those
sources, death and darkness were not something that could be physically
handled. They were magical representations of the physical, only that.

Or were they spiritual representations of the
physical? In a spiritual or parallel world, not bound by the laws of physics,
darkness could exist by itself, as an element. When I used darkness magic I was
not amassing darkness from the shadows I could see, but I was getting living
shadows from the spiritual world, burning mana to transport the spiritual
element to the physical world. The same happened to the death magic.

If that was so, why couldn't I do the same for
fire magic, then? Was I tapping the wrong place in the spiritual world? I knew
for a fact that fire in the physical world was not the source, since the cook
didn't need a fire going to make it appear out of thin air. I frowned. Why,
then, did I need darkness or death around me to create my morbs?

Was the cook a master mage or something?

Supposing she wasn't, I should be able to do
the same as her. Concentrating, I tried to create a darkness sphere without
willing the darkness around me to come. Nothing happened.

But if what I usually did was using the shadows
of this world as a representation of something in a spiritual world, I would
need to think of the shadows in the spiritual world instead.

A spiritual world. Something like this world. I
created this image on my mind, of a world like this but without me, without the
cook, devoid of people, a world that looked like this one but was not like it,
a world superimposed upon this one, like a 3D image without the glasses. As I
willed the shadows of that world to come to me and...

Nothing happened.

Frustrated, I sighed. A source had to exist; a
source not in the physical world. A source that both I and the cook could tap
into, using mana to transport the element from that world to a morb in this
world.

Why did I need a physical representation and
she didn't? Could it be that I was doing things the easy way, using things my
mind could see and comprehend while she was doing things in some unknown arcane
way?

No; if that was the case, I would have been able
to take the easy path by using the existing fire in the kitchen to create my
magic.

Was it all tied to having the right skill,
then? I had unlocked both darkness and death magic skill trees when I created
my character. Did I have to go through some type of ritual now that would
unlock the fire magic skill tree? If so, how had the first mages learned? Well,
that was obvious: they had received magic from the gods. And there was no law
against the gods being created knowing how to make magic themselves.

But that also would go against what had
happened in the conversation in the kitchen. The innkeeper was worried that I
could learn fire magic just by watching the cook and had even asked for
permission from the Blackguard. This meant that there was no ritual. The Guard
had also confirmed that I could learn, but I trusted her less than I trusted
the fear of the innkeeper for his life.

So, there was a source and there was a way to
get fire from it. It was not the same way to get darkness nor death. When I
created a darkness morb, it was like liquid darkness shot from the world's
shadows and formed into a magical sphere. When I created a death morb, it was
like taking a smoky something released from dying animals and putting it
together. From what I remembered from High Lady Renno, the creation of the
death sphere was not something visible in the physical world.

Just to make sure it was the same with my own
magic, I closed my eyes, killed a lot of ants nearby, and opened my eyes before
using the death energy to create a morb. I couldn't see nor affect the death
energy I knew was there.

Wait, energy. I was instinctively calling the
death stuff an energy. If that was right, the morb was created by using two
different energy sources: mana and the desired element. Death energy was
invisible to the naked eye, so was darkness up to the moment I willed it into a
morb. If all sources were invisible, actual fire couldn't be the source.

Where the hell was the invisible fire energy,
then? And why did I need to use two energy sources in the first place?

What if it was only one source, mana, being
changed? What if I was the real source and all that happened when I
willed the shadows to gather was my mana going there and turning into the
element? And when I did the same to the death 'energy', I was actually using
the death of the vermin to change my mana into death energy, and then gathering
it.

There was an easy way to check. I looked at my
mana bar.

MP: 355 / 370

Yes! I had lost mana when I killed the vermin
even though I hadn't amassed the death energy. I had been looking it the wrong
way. I didn't need to know the source of the magic, I only needed to understand
the process.

So, if I needed shadows to create darkness
magic, and dying animals to create death magic; and if all magic worked the
same way; it meant I needed a physical representation to anchor the invisible
mana inside me to this world.

Only then would I use the anchored – and
transformed – mana to create a morb. It was a two-step procedure, even if it
didn't look like that because the anchoring part was so easy and fast. The
willing into a morb, on the other hand, could be fast or slow depending on the
element: darkness was faster, death was slower.

What was she anchoring her mana to? Her body
heat?

I tried, and it didn't work.

An emotion? Anger, passion, love?

I also tried that, and it didn't work.

What, then?

A god?

I had no idea who the fire god was, and I
didn't need a god for any of the magic I could do, so it didn't make sense fire
magic would.

Still frustrated, I punched the wall. Pain
flooded yet again to my hand – I had used the ungloved one. Unfortunately,
unlike in the cartoons, my punch didn't make a crater in the metal wall.

Ha, that would be nice. A fire punch to destroy
the wall.

Come on, mana. Get in there. Let us do
something cool.

And it got. I didn't see fire, but suddenly I
felt my knuckles burning from a sourceless heat.

Holy shit! I
thought as I shook my hand. When I saw I had lost a few mana points, I smiled
and tried again, but this time as soon as the burning started, I willed it to a
morb.

Right there, a little above my head and in
front of my eyes, fire appeared out of nowhere and became a fire sphere.

Pain! Pain was the thing I had to anchor the
mana to!

And it was in front of me the whole time: the
red skeletons of the prison were the torturers and they used fire magic!

Title received: Hedge Wizard

Untrained, Hedge Wizards are self-taught mages
who use incomplete or false understanding of magic to create real morbs.

Although creating a morb is not enough for
using spells, tapping into the realm of magic without training and becoming a
Hedge Wizard will automatically unlock the skill tree related to the element
you first discovered.

Because you already received another mage
related title, the secondary bonuses for receiving the Hedge Wizard title will
be halved.

» Unlocked: The Flames skill-tree

» +2 intelligence

MP: 485 (+115)

» +2 Energizer

Energizer increased to 3 (+2)

» Can move very slowly while creating spheres

» Max distance: 50 centimeters

New skill unlocked in The Flames
skill-tree:

Fire of Revelation (level 3)

Fire is the source of light that allows life
itself to exist. Its power is ultimately unlimited and now you can create your
own candle-sized flame, which will float around you at your will.

» Active Spell

» Cost: 15 MP

» Amassing time: Instant

» Element: Fire

» Damage: 3 + 12 [Intelligence] = 15

» Range: 3 meters

» Duration: 30 minutes

As I read the spell information, I felt as if
my face would split, so large was my smile.

That was exactly what I needed! Not a
useless fireball, but a reusable flame that I could move at my will. I already
knew what the spell would be from real life sources, but reading it after all
the hard work was something else.

And because of Renno's ring it was even better.

The cook had been there for a reason, as a
clue. Just like the innkeeper had said, not every cook had the luxury of
learning magic just for cooking.

Thinking about the cook... I climbed the stairs
up and opened the door. "Nice acting, liar." I said to her.

She looked my way, saw the fire morb and her
face would have been kinder if I had pissed on her food. Her eyes were full of
anger and her lips became a thin and white line. "Out." She said low
and slowly. My smile widened even further, if that's possible, and I winked and
blew a kiss to her before climbing back down.

The physical was necessary to do magic.
She hadn't thrown me away because she was worried about dying, but because she
didn't want me to learn the secrets of fire magic. When I put my hand in the
fire I had become closer and she got desperate.

Thinking that way, it was damn easy to become a
Hedge Wizard. All one had to do was be a little bit crazy and put one's hand
into fire. Nothing much.

I let myself take a second look at the fire
morb. It was like a raging flame which entirely occupied what looked like an
invisible ball, never leaving its boundaries, just like with the death and
darkness morbs.

No heat came out of it, only light. When I
touched it, though, I found nothing between myself and the fire and it poured,
covering my arm before disappearing.

15 fire damage dealt to yourself

HP: 220 / 235

Well, time to burn myself some webs.

I created a new fire morb and as soon as I
willed it into a flame, just like the spell description, the morb shrunk and
became a single blaze the size of my middle finger.

Just like the spell said, I could move it at
will within the three-meter radius. I touched the web on the secret passage
floor with it and the web 'burned' just like it did in real life: it didn't
actually catch fire, but shriveled away when the flame touched it.

Moving the undying flame one side to the other
on the floor and walls – the space was tight enough that I might need to touch
the walls when fighting – I removed the spider webs. Small chunks of burnt,
heated webs remained on the floor, refusing to properly burn away into ashes.

Which was good in its own way, as I guessed the
flame would die if I actually set something on fire with it. Using its heat
without actually destroying something directly was kind of a loophole, but an
expected one when dealing with fire, otherwise the cook would not be able to...
Well, cook.

More good news was that I could create another
death morb as I maintained the fire spell. I now had three active death morbs.

It took some time, but I eventually got to the
end of the corridor and a green goo missed me by very little. A spider had seen
the light and had attacked; the shrieks of a hundred spiders was deafening,
loud enough to make my body vibrate. I ran back and stopped a few meters from
the basement.

There, I made my stand.

Turning back, I felt fear. I could see legs
moving, so many legs it would put my blood pumping if my heart could beat. The
multiple eyes in each one's head reflected the light of the fire as they came
from the darkness.

That was a vision from a nightmare.

They had to walk on the walls, the width of
their legs was too great for the narrow floor of the passage. They came one at
a time as expected. The first one was the young type – a brown spider – and I
gripped my sword. I would save my death spheres for a special occasion.

It was too easy. Its attacks dealt no damage to
me, thanks to my new leather jerkin. Blunt damage could ignore some of an
armor's defense, but not all, and my new clothes were much better than the
plain shirt I had been wearing on my last spider fight. I pierced its eyes with
my brand new sword.

Critical hit for 2.0x damage!

128 piercing damage dealt to Young Giant
Spider

HP: 0 / 114 <?>

Holy cow, that was amazing! A one hit kill for
over a hundred points of damage!

After it died, another came. I just stood in
the same place and let it attack me before putting my sword through its head
killing it too.

They took their dead out of the way and I just
kept killing. The thirty gold coins spent on the equipment had been well worth
it.

Twenty more young spiders later, I began to
worry. My stamina was draining fast and I had less than half left. As I killed
the twenty first one, I barely dodged a green ball of goo that flew my way.

The spitter didn't come near, it just stood
some ten meters down the corridor and spat again. Once more I dodged and tried
to get closer. Five spits later I finally got to it and attacked. One, two
times. It died. A second one spit and this time I was tired and couldn't dodge,
but I did block the goo using my shield.

19 shock damage received

HP: 193 / 235

With twenty-five stamina left, I might not be
able to dodge incoming attacks and physically attack the spider. I used my
three death spheres- No, not spheres, morbs. It died.

Another young spider followed and I could still
see more legs behind it. Since it was ten meters away, I used the opportunity
to create a new death morb. I felt an attack before the three seconds had
passed by – that spider moved fast- but nothing happened to my morb
creation.

Nice. So, as long as I didn't receive damage, I
wouldn't be interrupted, just like the Energizer trait had said. Having mana to
spare and lacking in stamina, I killed the next three young spiders and one
spitter – whose attack I blocked again – with magic.

And then the attack ended. Just in case, I
created three extra death morbs and stood alert. But that was it. I had
survived the first wave.

I went back to the basement and sat on the
floor.

Nothing like a good rest between massacres.

Jack
Thorn

Unbound
Deathlord

Legendary
Spotter, Hedge Wizard, Dark Archmage

Level 9

Hit Points:182
/ 235

Mana Points:265
/ 485

Stamina:20
/ 200

Attributes:

Strength:7

Agility:7

Dexterity:5

Constitution:7

Intelligence:12

Perception:5
+ 10 [Items]

Willpower:9

Charisma:5

Traits:

Adept Mage:11
+ 10 [Items]

Adept Controller:11

Energizer:3

Diviner:2

Gold Digger:2

Scavenger:2

Antimage:1

Crafter:1

Healer:1

Meditator:1

Mind Seer:1

Negotiator:1

Nitpicker:1

Shadow:1

11. Scrambled Eggs

"Never deal with desperate people.
They're most likely to do something stupid that may hurt both of you."

- Father

It turned out killing
helps build character.

Trait received: Athlete

After almost exhausting your body multiple
times, you have learned how move it more efficiently.

» -1% stamina usage by non-skill actions

Non-skill actions were things such as running,
attacking, defending and dodging that the game didn't have explicit skill ranks
to define.

As much as it was a nice trait to have, what I
would find really useful was a warrior or fighter trait. I had been using
physical attacks much more than magic, after all.

Well, whatever; I was recovered and it was time
to lure some more monsters to the slaughterhouse.

Yet again multiple spiders followed me through
the corridor and yet again I killed them all, going back to rest after it was
over. I repeated the process five more times and received an extra point to dexterity
thanks to all the critical hits I was applying.

Fewer and fewer spiders came to fight each
time. On the ninth time no spider took the fresh bodies out of the corridor.

I walked to the end of the corridor and found
no young or spitter spiders in the big chamber. The corpses of the dead spiders
were scattered all around the cave, one of them right at the entrance. I used
it as cover.

The ten big gray ones were still there. Their
legs were shorter, but their bodies larger and protected by an impressive
carapace. They formed two protective walls around the queen. Elite guards,
then?

If they wouldn't attack, I wouldn't complain.
From the chamber entrance I sent three deathballs at one of them. They flew
true and were about to hit when three of the spiders curved their... Asses
under themselves and shot. Silk came out of it and hit my spells. The smoke of
the death morbs released into the air and dissipated harmlessly.

Interesting. A shame to them that I was an
adept controller. Ten seconds later, I attacked again. This time, as their
asses made the muscle movement of releasing silk, I changed the morbs paths.
All three of them of them hit one of the spiders and it died, surprisingly
silent.

The Queen did nothing, just stood there,
looking my direction with an unhappy – and ugly! – face.

One of the other elites moved the dead body a
little to the side and took the dead one's place in the defensive line. I
created more death morbs and attacked again. Another of the spiders died and
they repeated the process. So did I.

I frowned. This was too easy. Well, I was not
one to look a gift horse in the mouth. Six more dead spiders later, I had ten
MP remaining. I sat right there and rested. No spider attacked. After half an
hour, fully rested and with three death morbs floating around my head, I killed
the second to last spider. Then took a deep breath and killed the last one.

Tensing, I awaited a counter-attack while
creating yet more death morbs.

Nothing happened.

Was it going to be this easy? Really? I sent a
death morb flying at the queen.

It flew true, hitting her on the multi eyed
face.

You healed Giant Spider Queen for 72 HP

She was an undead. I sent a dark morb next.

No damage dealt to Giant Spider Queen

She was also immune to darkness damage and too
far for my little flame to reach her even if I wanted to try killing her with
it.

So I rested yet again, created a flame to clear
the webs on the floor with, and made sure I had all three death morbs ready. I
tried to push the spider body in front of me aside, but it was too well stuck
to the floor. Instead, I climbed on it.

That's when the queen smiled and I froze. She
moved one of her legs and I raised my shield, but she just put it on the floor
again and I heard movement behind me. Looking back, I saw a new wall sliding
quickly upwards from the ground, blocking the exit of the chamber.

"You dared kill my children," her
voice was loud and seemed to come from a hundred different female mouths.
"Now you will pay with your own death."

She extended both her arms in my direction, the
palms of her hands pointed up. She closed her left hand and pointed at me.

From hidden holes on the web covered walls and
ceilings, hundreds of spiders emerged, young, spitters and elites. But they
moved unnaturally, too robotic, and looked strange, as if... As if they were
decomposing; some parts of them were missing. The smell of decay hit me a
little later.

Undead, all of them.

Shit. I can't even try to defend myself with
death magic. I looked back at the Queen. What
wouldn't I give for a way to take that smile off her ugly face.

There was no way I would be able to get to her
before the spiders got to me, though, not with all the webs on the floor. Even
though I could take a lot of spiders one on one, I couldn't take hundreds of
them without resting and I definitely couldn't take more than one spitter at a
time; it was impossible for me to block two acid attacks at once.

10 blunt damage received from Unknown
Enemy

HP: 225 / 235

I felt the hit on the back on my head and lost
my balance. If I hit the floor I would stick on the web and die. On the spur of
the moment I put all my leg strength into jumping to a nearby spider body.

I awkwardly succeeded and I looked at the
source of the attack: zombie spiders had come from the walls behind, too. At least
the damn thing had showed me the way ahead: the dead spiders corpses – the
recently killed ones, not the ones trying to kill me – were all around the
floor. Quickly deciding on a path to the Queen, I jumped.

Falling was not an option and although I had to
use all the power of my legs to get to the next spider, it wasn't that
difficult. Each jump consumed two stamina. I had already jumped over twenty
bodies when I noticed that the Queen's smile had not died.

After about twenty jumps, the zombie spiders
were halfway through to getting to me and I was three jumps from the Queen. All
the while she had just looked at me and her smile gave me the creeps.

When I jumped again, a morb appeared over her
head. A death one. On the next jump, and a second morb appeared, this one a
light gray giving off a pulsating glow. Life, I guessed from what I had
seen in the mind's eye. Before I could even jump again, she pointed her hand at
the elite spider right in front of her, one of the steps I had to use to get
closer.

I didn't lose time and jumped ahead anyway;
whatever would happen, I doubted staying still would help. Her morbs joined,
flew to the elite, and it immediately began to move. I landed on it and the
Queen's smile disappeared.

Had she expected me to just wait while she did
whatever she wanted? Typical woman.

The elite was getting to its feet. I didn't
lose time allowing it to fully rise from the dead; holding my sword with both
hands, the grip backwards, I jumped at the queen.

She was more than two times my height, but much
of it was because of the big black scaled legs; her humanoid form was a proper
human size. I expected my sword to sink in the middle of her breasts so I could
get a hold, but it didn't. The sword did pierce her, but only the tip, and I
found myself falling. She screamed in pain, again like it came from a hundred
voices, but I was too busy to celebrate.

I did my best to grab something, anything, even
letting my sword fall for that. My right hand slid by one of the Queen's thick
legs, but it didn't matter. I fell, my back to the floor. Right into a web.

I was going to die.

But I'd be damned if I would die without a
fight after having killed Renno. I used my flame and a lot of raw power to pull
myself from the web on the floor and to unstick the sword. Just as I did, I
felt something hit my shield.

The zombie elite had used its silk and I
couldn't move my arm. I tried to use my flame, but it died as soon as it hit
the silk.

15 fire damage dealt to Zombie Elite Giant
Spider's silk

Some of the silk did shrivel away, but not
enough. Cursing, I considered attacking the silk with my sword, but I couldn't
afford the possibility of having it stick too. I let the shield go.

A second elite was raising as a zombie now and
the hundreds of other spiders were almost upon me. I jumped at the closest
Queen's leg and tried to climb it.

As it turned out, the scales made my job
surprisingly easy. The zombie elite tried to attack me with silk again but
missed as the Queen tried to shake me off her leg. I held and kept going up.

One of her other legs tried to hit me, but I
just let my body fall while still holding with my legs and I found myself
upside down. A new silk attack tried to bind me but yet again the Queen herself
saved me by violently shaking her legs, which also put me back upright.

The scales were a double blessing: not only did
they make my climb easier, they also were much more pleasant than a hairy leg
would have been.

Climbing as quickly as I could, I got to the
waist, keeping my legs on each side of her leg in the way a bronco rider would
grip his unwilling steed. She tried to hit me with her human arm and I let her.
It surprisingly did a lot of damage, forty-four points, but it was well worth
it. I held her arm firmly and used it to get higher on her body.

A large strand of silk finally hit my leg and
almost made me fall. I tried to pull away, but the zombie elite's counter-pull
was too strong. I quickly decided against using the sword; it would get stuck
and I'd be without a weapon. The Queen began to shake violently.

Gripping her desperately, I had an idea and
stuck my silk covered leg to the Queen as high as I could, right under her
breast. I used it as a solid foothold to stay high on her body. My hand touched
her eyes and crushed them.

She screamed horribly in pain, and so did all
her zombies, almost deafening me. After a quick look to confirm her teeth were
human, I put almost my entire hand into her mouth to pull myself up to balance
myself up, and the other hand attacked her eyes with my sword.

Critical hit for 2.0x damage!

112 damage dealt to Giant Spider Queen

I attacked again. And again. Four times total,
until a silk hit my elbow and I couldn't move my arm anymore. The silk had come
from the side and when the Queen moved again my arm stuck to her body.

Hopeful, I put all my strength into her jaw,
forcing it down. Meanwhile, I started head-butting her already crushed eyes
repeatedly. Yellow, green and white liquid goo, her version of blood, soon was
all over my face.

Suddenly, I felt a burn on my back.

Acid has made a hole on your Low Quality
Leather Jerkin!

Acid has made a hole on your Black Cotton
Shirt!

30 acid damage received

HP: 151 / 235

I healed myself with one of the death morbs and
kept going.

Each head-butt dealt three to twelve damage to
the Queen, depending on where I hit.

And each time I hit I did it even more
desperately, since I heard more acid and silk hitting around me.

The next few moments took forever. My head was
hurting and I started to take damage as I smashed it into the Queen's eyes. Two
more acid burns had found their mark, searing my body and I used the second
death morb.

One death sphere to go.

That's when I heard a crack. Something
loosened on the Queen's jaw and I screamed as I pulled it with all my power,
ignoring the disgusting goo getting into my mouth. With a secondary crack her
jaw broke and I took it from her head, ripping skin and muscle with it.

Fatal injury applied to Giant Spider
Queen!

She screamed a last scream, her tongue loosely
hanging from her throat, and her legs stopped supporting her weight. She
dropped down and so did all her zombies, like puppets with their strings cut

My head was wet with goo and blood.

Shouldn't it be warm? Oh, right. Undead.

The ending of it all, the goo all over me, the
creepy human jaw in my hand... It seemed funny somehow. I smiled and became
even more aware of the horrid taste of the spider ichor and my own foul tasting
blood in my mouth. It made everything even more comical for a reason.

I rested my head on the Queen's body and laughed
exhausted.

For a few minutes I just kept laughing like a
damn madman. I found it even funnier that I could laugh nonstop thanks to not
needing air to make vocal sounds.

The humor slowly disappeared and I felt my body
shaking because of adrenaline. Interesting, that. It meant that while I wasn't
alive anymore, my undead brain and body still released some chemicals.

When the shaking stopped, I found myself in the
utter silence of the chamber. I felt tired, not physically, but mentally. Even
so, rest would have to wait.

Multiple flames helped me get unstuck from the
Queen's body. I chopped her head off, used some web as glue to stick the jaw
back, and stored it in my backpack. Then it was looting time.

I left the basement for the kitchen and the
cook looked at me with plain disgust. I ignored her. I also ignored the way the
innkeeper, all the players, and all the drow in the city looked at me. Telling
the innkeeper that I would be back, I began to search the town.

It took me half an hour to find the first store
which would buy the giant spider pincers, and then two more hours to find the
one which would pay the most. Coincidentally, or maybe not, it was right next
to Lithir's equipment store. The inside looked like some wicked witch's house,
full of creepy ingredients on shelves: eyes in bottles and stuff like that.
'Little Alchemy' it was called.

One silver coin for each young spider's pincer,
the same for weaving spider's ones – that was the real name of the elites –,
two for each spitter pincer and incredible ten silver pieces for each weaving
spider ass. Well, not the ass, but something called 'Silk Producing Gland' the
size of my head that was found in its ass. It had not been pleasant to
retrieve.

It took me six trips in total to sell
everything, including the fishmen's eyes.

All the spiders I had killed had their pincers
intact, but I had only been able to get about one pincer out of every two of
the almost three hundred zombie spiders. The final profit was of six hundred
and twenty-three silver pieces, or six gold and twenty-three silver. Not bad,
but nothing amazing either, especially considering the amount of stuff I had
sold.

Lithir, the clothes' store owner, looked at me
as if I had just left a nightmare when I got into his store.

"Sir, I beg your pardon, but you are... Gooing
my floor."

Gooing? Wow, that's an impressive AI, able
to invent words by itself. "Sorry, Lithir. I
just want to know how to fix these holes." I showed him the three holes on
my backside, two in the jerkin and one on the pants.

"A leatherworker might be able to do that,
sir, but it will... Not look the same."

"Yeah, I thought so. Can you recommend a
good leatherworker?"

"Alas, no, sir. The sorins might have one,
but I don't know of anyone in Ter'nodril."

A capital city without a leatherworker? This
doesn't sound right. I took a gold coin out.
"Are you sure, Lithir."

His eyes glistened. "Unfortunately, yes,
sir."

"Okay, then," I put my coin back.
"If I gave you these clothes back, how much would it cost me to get new
ones?"

"Nine gold pieces, sir."

I frowned. "It makes no sense, Lithir. I'm
pretty sure last time they cost me eight gold." The shield and sword had
been the most expensive items.

He smiled. "You see, sir, prices rise
accordingly-"

Without patience to hear bullshit, I left the
store before he could finish. I was feeling so filthy, that I couldn't wait to
take a bath; I spent ten silver coins on it and I went back to the cave under
the basement. As I walked the streets I was uncomfortably aware of the cold air
wafting across my skin through the holes in my clothes.

A lot of the webs on the ground had already
been heated away by me when I had collected the pincers, but it was now time
for a complete cleanup.

For hours all I did was heat webs away and
destroy spider eggs. It was boring but necessary work, as I had no idea of what
could be hidden in all that silk.

In the end, it was also useless work: only a
single place had a hidden item, and it was right under the Queen, the place I
cleaned last because of the difficulty of moving the body.

There was a small hole there, and right in the
corner I saw the glow from the scavenger trait. Grabbing the item, I found a
silver ring with a golden web pattern all over it. Around it, equally spaced
between each other, seven small green stones were inlaid.

Ring

I frowned. Information was clearly missing
there, which could only mean that the game had a yet unknown-to-me system to
identify hidden properties in some items. As I thought about that, my frown
deepened. Had the greatsword had hidden properties? Had I undersold an item
that was more amazing than I thought?

Anyway, I opened my character's attributes
window and put the ring on. Question marks appeared right next to each
attribute, each trait, HP, MP and stamina. It seemed I would not cheat the
system and discover the ring's hidden properties doing that.

Taking the ring off- Shit. It was stuck.
I noticed three of the green stones were glowing and a fourth one lit right
then. I became desperate and tried to take it off with all my strength, but it
didn't budge. A fifth stone lit.

Yeah, Jack, don't worry, just put the
unidentified ring on, no matter it was found under an undead giant spider queen
that commanded an undead army. What could possibly go wrong?

The sixth store lit and I panicked, took the
sword with my other hand and chopped my finger off. I screamed as it fell on
the ground and the seventh stone lit.

From under the ring, green and golden webs
appeared and covered the finger rapidly. Then the glow of the stones died.
Meanwhile, I healed myself.

Whatever was happening on the finger did not
end, though. It started to change. The upper side of the finger became black
and small scales began to form. It also created... Legs. Black scaled spider
legs. Repulsed, I stepped on the mutating thing before it could lay eggs.
Whatever it was, it died.

I took the ring and its name remained the same.
Wondering if I had just thrown away some one use only opportunity of becoming a
mutant, I put it on the fingertip of yet another finger.

As soon as the first green stone lit, I took it
away and this time I was able to. The light of the stone died right away. Now I
just needed to hope it was not a two charges thing.

Good. I don't want to become a monster...
Well, more of a monster than a human-looking undead. But someone might be
interested.

Taking my small chest from my backpack, I put
the ring in there after I confirmed that it would not turn my gold coins into
some bizarre spider. Double checking the chamber revealed nothing and I ended
up frustrated with a useless ring.

The holes where the spiders had come from were
not inviting. I could try to find some more illusions on the wall but I didn't
have the patience and just went back to the innkeeper.

"You took a long time doing it," he
said in the kitchen as he held the half-smashed Queen's head in his hand.
"A shame you had to do this to the piece, but a good taxidermist will
restore it alright. A nice addition to my mess hall, don't you think?"

"You are going to stuff it?" I asked
incredulous. I had done all that fighting so he could get a stuffed head?

"Of course I am. Here," he gave me
five gold coins. "For you trouble. I have an inn to run now, so you can
see yourself out."

I took the money. Then I created three morbs:
fire, death and darkness. "I'm sure you remember we had an
agreement?"

His eyes popped and he looked around. "He
is threatening me!" No Blackguard appeared, though.

I smiled. "I guess they don't care what
happens to a liar." Fire of Revelation, I thought and the flame
formed. I moved it next to the drow.

"Alright! The first clothing store on the
south gate. Go there and ask about a black sun. Then ask for the hidden secrets
of death."

"I'm sure you can be more specific than
that." I said. The cook was just looking impassively at us.

"I can't! That's all I know, I
swear." I extended my hand his direction. "The clerk! The clerk
dresses up like some clown! I know nothing more!"

I withdrew the flame and the innkeeper sighed
in relief. "Thanks, good innkeeper. A pleasure doing business with you."
I left.

"Why didn't you help?" I heard the
innkeeper yell at his wife.

"I told you I don't like undead! Did you
help me? I don't think you did!" She yelled back.

And I admit that seeing the fear in the
innkeeper's eyes, knowing that I held power over him... That was a damn nice
feeling. I gulped at the thought. That was a very dangerous path to walk,
especially for me.

As if hearing my thoughts, a Blackguard
appeared before me moments after I left the inn. Being on the receiving end of
a powerful gaze – even though I couldn't see her gaze – was not nice.

Was I still going to die after all that? If I
did, I would quit Valia without a doubt.

"Don't get used to it, deathlord. I
allowed it because the Ways says all agreements made under the Devourer must be
honored. But only the Blessed may enact punishment. If you had so much as
touched his hair, your blood would be covering the White Spider's kitchen floor
right now." She faded away.

I sighed. The good news was that I was alive
and knew where to go. The bad news was that a Blackguard had her eyes on me,
and not in a good way. There were two new exclamation points on the edge of my
vision.

Quest completed: Destroy the Spider Nest
in the Basement

Random primary attribute points received:

» +1 charisma

Bonus for finding the hidden ring:

» +1 perception

Level up!

Current level: 10

HP, MP and stamina restored

Title received: Pioneer

You were the first of your subspecies'
(unbound deathlord) Travelers to reach level 10!

For achieving such a feat, you were recognized
by the gods as a Pioneer.

Unfortunately, you are late in the fold and
will receive greatly decreased bonuses.

Random primary attributes points received:

» +1 intelligence

MP: 550 (+65)

» +1 charisma

Fun fact: Yours was the 36th overall and 7th
Underworld subspecies to receive this title

A lot of thoughts invaded my head as I read the
messages.

First, it was good to know that quests could
have hidden objectives, like finding that ring.

Second, I was a little pissed for receiving
'greatly decreased bonuses.' The Underworld was supposed to be harder to play
than the Surface, so I clearly deserved more than that.

Third, it made me pissed that I wasn't as
overpowered as the small talk I had heard – and the guy who left the game in
the White Spider Inn – had made me believe. A lot of people were stronger than
me. Well, not a ridiculous amount of people; I bet I was in the top hundred or
two hundred, even if more people of the same subspecies had gotten to level ten
too. But I was still far from being number one.

I'd have to fix that.

Then, I will conquer all known Valia,
starting with the Underworld, and-

Wait, when had I decided that? I shook my head
and decided to focus on the Resistance for now.

So, a visit to the merchant who had judged me
by my appearance. Well, after I had seen myself on a mirror, I couldn't rightly
blame him. At least he would not see the holes in my equipment unless I turned
my back to him, so I would look damn nice now.

On the way there I began to see shadows. The
street had various dead end alleys between some buildings. I saw something
moving at the edge of my vision and when I looked, there was nothing there.

The first few times it happened, I thought it
was only my imagination. After the hundredth time, I was scared.

It's just the Resistance. They know I'm
coming and they are watching, I kept repeating to
myself. People started looking at me strangely on the streets. Or were those
the same looks they had always given to a stranger in their city?

I could swear the weather was getting colder.
It was getting darker.

Wait, I have darkvision. Why is it darker?

I created a fire morb and the darkness receded.
I turned it into a small flame and moved it around. I saw the shadows going
away, running from the fire.

"What do you think you are doing,
deathlord?" The male voice came from directly in front of me and I saw a
Blackguard appear.

"Huh?" I said smartly.

"Do you have permission to carry fire on
the streets?"

"Do I need it?"

"Yes. Turn it out. Now." I saw the
outline of his hands on his waist, probably on the weapon and willed the flame
off. " Don't do it again."

"But the shadows..." He disappeared.
I looked around and found out there were no moving shadows anymore.

Still frightened, I walked. A few hundred
meters later, no new shadow appeared at the edge of my vision. Assuming I was
seeing things because of mental exhaustion, I decided I would drop in an inn
for a good night's sleep after I met the Resistance, even if I theoretically
didn't need to.

The fat clerk was already at the counter this
time, reading a book. He looked up when I entered the store and his face showed
clear disgust.

"I remember sending you away from my
store."

"I know, I know," I raised my hands
in peace, not understanding the hostility. "I was just wondering if you
know something about the black sun."

He squinted his eyes. "I don't think I
understand what you are saying, deathlord, but you must leave right now."

"Thank you for remembering I am a lord
over death. You wouldn't know any secrets of death, would you?"

His angered face gave way to a perfectly still
poker face, so quick it made me impressed. He opened the door behind him and
motioned for me to get inside. "Over here, please."

It was now my turn to squint my eyes. "You
first," I said as I got closer.

"I'm afraid there are rules-"

"Damn the rules. I gave you the passcodes,
but I will not let you stand behind me in an unknown situation. You
first."

"Do you want me to call the
Blackguards?" His tone had no emotion; as if he had just flipped a switch
and turned robot mode on.

I smiled. "Please, go ahead. If I've
learned anything about the Blackguard, it is that they don't care what people
do unless it's against the Ways. I doubt telling you to get in your room, where
you invited me, could be considered illegal."

"I have friends in high places,
deathlord."

"Yeah, and I have the Ways on my side. If
a Blackguard does something against it and someone finds out, how long do you
think it will take for your well placed friends to forget you ever
existed?" I bluffed; I had no idea how things actually worked.

He saw right through it. "You place too
much faith in old laws you know nothing about." I heard a hint of anger
this time. No one can resist my charms.

"Yep. That's pretty much all I've done
since coming to Valia. I'm a sucker for magic, mainly; no idea how the stuff
works, but it sure is convenient being a darkness mage in Ter'nodril." I
created a darkness morb as a veiled threat

We locked eyes. He looked to the air beside me,
but I didn't flinch. If there was a Blackguard with his knife on my neck, I
doubted I could do anything against him even if he was visible and shining like
a Christmas' tree, so no reason to look.

Eventually, the fat drow sighed and entered
through the door. I created a death and a fire morb before following.

The door led to a small room. The drow was
waiting for me right next to the door. I kept alert, my hand on my sword grip,
as I walked to the opposite wall and placed my back to the corner.

"There will be no need for violence,
deathlord. I may not like your lack of trust, but you were right: you said the
passcodes. If you're to die, I will not be the one to do it." He closed
the door and created a purple morb. It was translucent and still, a perfect
ball.

"I haven't seen this color before," I
said.

He looked dumbfounded at it. "You did say
you know nothing about magic. Very well, I'll show you courtesy because you are
my guest, but do not offend me again. This is gravity magic," he said as
two more morbs appeared. Then he half extended his arm to one of the walls and
shooed the wall away – that's the only way I can explain that hand gesture.
When he did so, one morb flew to the wall, entering it and disappearing.

"Most people," he continued,
"don't see the need to become better controllers, since it's only used at
the release phase of some spells, mainly offensive ones. But I never liked
having to extend my arm or point my fingers. Soon I won't need to even do this
much." He did the same gesture to the opposite wall and another morb flew
to it.

"Gravity magic," he kept talking,
"is powerful and rare. One of its many strengths is that it's invisible
while dormant, and it can lay in such state for a long time. Thousands of
years, if used in a seal." Finally, he sent the last morb to the floor.

Putting his hands back on his sides, he nodded
at the wall to my side. "Careful now." The walls he had thrown the
morbs at shone purple and moved outwards. I stepped to the side and the walls
stopped both moving and glowing after moving some fifty centimeters.

Then the room began to move down.

"Elevator," I thought aloud.

"Yes," he replied and said nothing
more.

"What are seals?" I asked.

"They're symbols that can retain and
preserve magic. Basic seals can be a single rune, a star, or a circle. The most
advanced ones, which can stand the test of time, are usually made of all three:
circle, star and runes. No one knows why, but they also become invisible after
drawn and can only be seen if activated or if special skills or tools are
used." As we descended more, the metal walls around us gave way to stone
ones.

"Where does magic come from?"

"No one knows."

"But-"

"Enough." He said without anger, but
firmly. "You are my guest, not my pupil, and Ter'nodril has firm rules
against teaching magic. Even if I am sure there are not Blackguards in here,
the priests sometimes use other means for spying on the populace." I shut
up. He had been helpful and I didn't want to antagonize him. "We are
close."

Soon the wall behind him gave way to a door. He
opened it and gestured for me to go in. This time, I did as bid: even if he
attacked me in the back, I was in god knows where with no gravity magic to push
me back the way I had come.

I found myself in a stone corridor and the door
closed behind me without warning. I wanted to try and open it, but it had no
handle. I surrendered to my destiny and walked the corridor, noticing it had no
torches in the sconces on the walls.

At the end of the corridor there were silver
double walls with black runes all over them. Looking from far away it resembled
the night sky, only with inverted colors.

Stopping right in front of the doors, I touched
them, one hand to each side. When nothing happened, I pushed and they moved.

"Jack Thorn," I heard the moment a
small slit appeared between the doors. "What a pleasure."

The voice was raspy, and as the doors kept
opening, I found out why: it belonged to a skeleton. Unlike the red skeletons I
had seen, this one had white bones and dark gray flames were lit inside its eye
sockets. It was in front of more double doors, these ones made of wood.

It was wearing a black and gold robe with so
many patterns interlaced that it had no main color. On its long fingers there
were multiple rings and on its neck there were three long necklaces – two
golden and one silver – all of them carrying big medallions full of runes. On
its head laid a silver crown with black symbols all over it, and above its head
two death morbs were floating.

"Lich," I said.

"Indeed," it answered without moving
its mouth. "I felt the death of an eight-legged acquaintance last
evening." I supposed he was talking about the spider queen. Had it already
changed days? I confirmed it by checking the clock on the edge of my vision.
"And now you appear before me. I don't believe in coincidences."

"Neither do I. So, what's up?"

It looked at me silently, as if deciding what
to do with me. "Not telling me anything about it, while acting as if you
are my equal. Your arrogance is typical of a deathlord. So is your secrecy.
We've had worse recruits in the past."

"Hold there, mister or miss bones. I
didn't say I would join anything."

"No; I did. Unless you want to find out
how long the bound deathlords will take to track you into Ter'nodril."

I smiled feebly. "So, you are telling me
I'm being chased by some bad guys and you are my only salvation. Typical
recruiting scam."

"Do you doubt any of it?"

Tharnya could've been lying to me, but the drow
had known about me before I got to Ter'nodril. Believing that Shai had
been resurrected wasn't hard.

"Quick question before I answer yours: how
do you make sure someone doesn't get resurrected?"

Skeletons couldn't really smile, but the way
the flames inside its eyelids flickered seemed... Amused. I credited it to some
kind of feedback the game was applying directly to my mind.

"By destroying over half the body, over
half the brain, or cutting this someone's head off."

That matched how I had left Shai's body. Not
only that, a quest I had received also suggested that I should find the
Resistance. Although it didn't say the Resistance was my only choice, after
interacting with the ghosts and the drow it was clear I wouldn't find help
among their xenophobe racist asses.

My already weak smile died completely.
"No. No, I don't."

"Good, this means you are not as stupid as
the reports said."

"Wait, what?"

He pushed the wooden doors open. "Welcome
to the Resistance."

Jack
Thorn

Unbound
Deathlord

Legendary
Spotter, Hedge Wizard, Pioneer, Dark Archmage

Level
10

Hit Points:235
/ 235

Mana Points:550
/ 550

Stamina:200
/ 200

Attributes:

Strength:7

Agility:7

Dexterity:6

Constitution:7

Intelligence:13

Perception:6
+ 10 [Items]

Willpower:9

Charisma:7

Traits:

Adept Mage:11
+ 10 [Items]

Adept Controller:11

Energizer:3

Diviner:2

Gold Digger:2

Scavenger:2

Antimage:1

Crafter:1

Healer:1

Meditator:1

Mind Seer:1

Negotiator:1

Nitpicker:1

Shadow:1

Chess

Vampire

Underworld – Corrupted – Undead

Who came first: the vampire or the deathlord?
Behold the greatest debate of the Underworld.

No one knows for certain and both species swear
the Mother Herself has told them they were the first to become undead.
Unfortunately, no priest or priestess of the Mother will confirm or deny the
words.

Whatever the truth may be, vampires were among
the first to be corrupted by death magic. While the deathlords did it to
themselves, the first vampires were humans experimented on by Logan, the God of
Blood. From them descended the noble lineage of the pure-blooded in their
thirty-three clans, interbreeding and killing each other since time immemorial.

These pure-blooded are but a small faction,
albeit the most powerful one, of the vampire species. Any human that has been
bitten may either become a vampire or a ghoul, the former being politically ignored
and the later physically enslaved.

Pure-blooded or turned, all of them obey the
Father, the most powerful vampire alive. All other species agree that no one
should dare to take a title similar to the Mother, the Creator Goddess of all
Valia. And for that reason, perhaps even more so than for their turning mortals
into ghoul salves, the vampires are hated by all.

The danger is this: the vampires know they are
hated, and they hate everyone in return.

Hide your blood or forfeit your soul for
eternity.

-- Excerpt from
"Species of Valia", by Amir, a Karr

12. Under the Underworld

'When an enemy shows you something, that's
when you should try harder to discover what he wants to keep hidden.'

- Mother

Quest completed: Find Help

Random attribute point received:

» +1 intelligence

MP: 620 (+70)

The quest was completed as soon as I said I
didn't doubt the skeleton. Not bad, although the system responsible for
generating random numbers in Valia was clearly broken: the last four points I
received had gone both into intelligence and charisma. While I was happy for
the extra bit of intelligence, I wasn't sure charisma was that useful.

"Are you coming?" The lich asked.

I snapped out my reverie and looked at what was
beyond the doors. More of the same: a huge cave chamber. What was weird was the
fact that it was under the drow city and the ceiling was really, really high. A
black tower pierced the ceiling far away from us:

The Dark Temple under the Dark Temple.

A wide river came from a wall and flowed around
the Temple before moving on, making the tower into an island. All around the
place there were pools of water, more mushrooms and... Cows.

Well, whatever they were, they looked like
cows, except they had two heads, beaks and were albino white. They were actually
disturbing to look at.

"What are they?" I asked as I stepped
out of the big stone tower I was inside. The doors closed themselves behind me.

"Beacows." We started walking.

Cows with beaks are named beacows. So very
creative, mister developers.

"And where the hell are we? I mean, I know
that tower there looks like the Dark Temple, but I got down here too fast. Did
I pass through some magic portal or something?"

"No, you only fell."

"Huh?"

"You rode the faller, did you not?"

"You mean the elevator?"

"That's what you choose to call it?
Elevator." It tested the word. "Awful choice. It is hard for a novice
mage such as yourself, and a Traveler on top of that, to realize the gravity
spell used on the floor was not to make the elevator fly but to lessen the
effects of the fall on your body. You reached impressive speeds as you plunged
towards the ground until you entered the area of influence of the spell below,
which made you slow and stop."

"Wait, the elevator was free
falling?"

"Yes."

I gulped. This sack of bones was telling me a
single spell on the floor of the cave had stood between me and death? These
people placed way too much faith in magic.

"What do you mean lessen the effects of
the fall? Something, like inertial dampeners?"

"Yes." The lich turned its head to
face me in a way that would have broke a human's neck. "I'm surprised you
understand Valia's physics so well."

And I was surprised that they could negate
inertia with magic. All space scientists would kill to have such an ability
back home.

"I'm smart like that." I nodded at
the Dark Temple. "How big is that thing?"

"As far as I know, that's the entirety of
it. However, half the Temple is only accessible to the Chosen, and they keep
their secrets well."

"Yeah, they didn't strike me as very talkative
folk. No idea whatsoever about what's in there?"

"The true Ter'nodril."

So very helpful. Well, at least he's
answering my questions. "Care to
elaborate?"

"Ter'nodril is a word in the gods'
language and we will never know all the meaning it has, but part of it would be
'Soul of Nothingness' or 'Black Core' or even 'Nothingness' Fortress'. The
'surface city' is both a ruse for other denizens of the Underworld and a
punishment for the drow who displease the Chosen. The true Ter'nodril is inside
the Temple."

"So, the Devourer is a true god? It just
looks like a big mass of darkness energy to me."

"What you saw over the surface city is but
a show of power. The Devourer is real, but also locked in the Temple, his power
taken and used by the drow. The Ways are an elegant lie used to more easily
control the masses. It all goes back to when the drow were created and their
leaders betrayed their god."

I looked at the lich. "You know an awful
lot about a secretive people."

"The Resistance has many friends and many ambitions,
both bring and require information. Dakar must fall first because the drow
mostly stick to themselves and enslave their own, while the vampires and
deathlords..." It looked at me. "And the bound deathlords
bring misery to a lot of the Underworld and the Surface too. I have been told
you saw a very small part of it in the prison you destroyed."

"Wait, you know about that? Who told
you?"

"Of course I know; why would I allow an
unknown deathlord to live after finding an outpost of the Resistance?"

I noticed it didn't answer my second question. Not
that much of a nice skeleton, after all.

"Huh. And what about that show the
Blackguard put on at the entrance? Couldn't an army just march in here and
destroy the city from below?"

"They could, but why would anyone destroy
a city instead of capturing it? That would be an awful waste of resources.
Especially since the real drow power would be inside the Temple and they would
counter-attack."

"If it's about capturing the city, what
about piercing the ceiling here and putting people up there using
elevators?"

"There are enchantments to prevent that
and the invader would be under observation and attacks from the Dark Temple all
the while." I opened my mouth to ask more and the lich lifted its hand to
stop me. "As much as I'd like to discuss strategies to overthrow the drow,
I'd rather not do that where the Blackguard might be listening."

I took that as sound advice and kept following
Bones in the direction of a far wall. It had told me to change the subject, but
not to shut up. I kept my questions going.

"How come the ceiling doesn't fall
down?"

"No one knows. Which usually means either
the gods willed it that way or some very powerful mage did."

Or incomplete game design.

Thinking about the Resistance and the evil
deathlords I began to wonder, was helping the Resistance save the Underworld a
mandatory quest? That was stupidly black versus white, good versus evil. Yes,
pure evil existed, but I had never seen pure good. People only come in shades
of gray.

Wait a second, why the hell was I believing
everything a lich whose name and gender I didn't even know was telling me? All
of the Underworld until now was about people looking after themselves only and
here I was, believing a savior-of-all speech.

"So, any truth in all of it?"

That made the lich stop and I did too. It
turned to me and those gray flames stared me until it finally spoke. "I'm
not sure if you are being naive, smart or rude with that question. Either way,
you have a lot to learn." It resumed its walk.

Again, it had not answered my question, which
was an answer by itself: I would have to decide on the truth for myself.

"Who exactly are the Chosen?" I broke
the silence which had settled upon us. The priest by the Temple had told me I
needed a Chosen to invite me in, and the lich had told me they were in control
of the Dark Temple.

"First you call me a liar, then you ask
for more information?"

"Even if you lie, I may be able to glean
some enlightenment from your words."

It kept silent long enough that I thought it
would not answer. "Very well. All over Serharn, this country's name, the
Temple take the children from the drow to be schooled by the Faithful. The
children start as the Ignorant, forced to walk nude and subject to the most
brutal training and education system known in all Valia.

"They have until they are thirty years old
to show their worth or they are expelled from the Temple and forced to live in
one of the country's cities, forbidden to leave or show the symbol of the
Devourer.

"If they are deemed worthy, they become
the Searchers, as they are on a quest for enlightenment. These wear white
clothes with the symbol of the Devourer.

"Once they have overcome their trials,
they become the Enlightened. Their clothes become gray and so does their hair.

"Finally, after they've overcome all the
challenges they may become the Chosen, clothed in black with dark hair. No one
knows how the changes to the hair are accomplished, only that they are
permanent and they are mere external signs of more important changes in their
minds.

"We believe the Devourer, or rather the
stolen divine power from the Devourer is used. No mortal magic element can do
what the Dark Temple does, as simple as permanently changing hair color may
seem." It concluded.

"So, the Chosen are the highest ranking
priests of the religion."

"As far as we know. As I said, there are
large sections of the Temple only accessible to them, which makes it impossible
to be sure. It might be they have higher castes known only among
themselves."

We were halfway to the wall when the lich
disappeared into thin air. It was exactly the same effect I had seen at the
Catacombs. I followed through.

On the other side, instead of some cool looking
secret base of operations, I saw five people around a rotten wooden table: the
lich, three drow, and a vampire.

One of the drow was a young male in white
clothes with the symbol of the Devourer and had ridiculous green hair; a
Searcher.

Shouldn't he have white hair? It seems good old
pile of bones lied to me.

The second drow was an old man with black hair
and the black clothes of a Chosen; he also had a horizontal red scar going
around his neck. From what the Enlightened had told me when I entered
Ter'nodril, he was a one-time criminal. Still, he had been able to become a
Chosen. Weird.

The last one was the shortest of the three. He
wore the cloak of the Blackguard and I couldn't see his face.

The vampire was old looking, with long blond
hair, almost white, and pale skin. He had chain armor over leather armor and a
blue and green cloak atop it all. On his side, he had a big two-handed axe. His
red eyes locked on my face as soon as I entered.

"Is this him? He doesn't look like
much," he said.

"Yes," the lich sat and replied, not
making it clear if he was answering the question, agreeing with the statement
or both. "Sit here, Thorn." It mentioned to the empty chair by his
side. It was made of wood, but it wasn't rotten like the table.

Treat me like that and ask me to sit
quietly. I don't think so.

"I must say," I said, "that I
expected more from the Resistance." I smiled. "And didn't you just
say the Resistance plans on destroying the drow some day?"

Everyone looked at me silently for a few
seconds after I sat.

"He's an idiot," said the Blackguard,
a female by her voice.

"I like him," said the green-haired
drow with a grin.

"He will get us all killed," said the
vampire.

"We should kill him," concluded the
Chosen.

The lich laughed, making a raspy and scary
sound. "He is a bold one. Use him, Marbareus. He killed the Fallen Spider
Queen of the White Spider inn."

"A kid of my clan could have killed her
with eyes closed," the vampire said.

"No, they couldn't. What have you heard
about High Lady Renno?"

The vampire and the Chosen squinted their eyes.

"What are you talking about?" Asked
the vampire.

"You know about the Arktov's First Lord
returning alive from the deathlords' prison..." The lich said.

"Everyone does."

"...but you are not aware of the real
reasons for the civil war. Kidnapping an opponent is and old and vastly used
strategy in Dakar."

"Kidnapping a First Lord-"

"Has been done before, more than once, and
for petty things such as gold or land."

"It hadn't happened to the Arktov clan
before."

"No, it hadn't. And the deathlords would
not have dared to do so unless they had been certain of both their political
and military power to back such decision. But they seem awfully unprepared,
don't you think?"

"The deathlords are known for their
idiocy."

"No, they are not. They are known for
striking hard and having multiple contingency plans. And yet, haven't they
already lost almost all of their outer territory? Against only half the vampire
clans?"

The vampire closed his eyes. "Yes, it does
seem strange. The warring clans are all expecting some unseen blow."

"It won't come. The deathlords are going
through an internal strife of their own. A strife caused by the loss of High
Lady Renno and her prison with all its secrets and high-value prisoners."

"What?" The Chosen asked surprised.

"Almost all of the prisoners were long
dead," the lich continued, "even before the explosion that destroyed
the prison, but were thought to be alive and used as political coin."

"I don't care about any of it." The
vampire said. "The Arktov isn't one of the clans we are allied with nor
which we want to destroy. It's neutral in vampire politics and if they are
killing deathlords, that's good enough for me. What does any of it have to do
with this meeting?"

The lich looked at me for a long time, as if
expecting me to admit having killed Renno. I winked at him and he finally
answered the vampire. "We need a deathlord for our plan exactly because of
the situation in Dakar, and we cannot afford the time to find another, less
stupid deathlord." Ouch. "We've waited for an opportunity half
as fortuitous as this one for decades, now we are presented with something
beyond our wildest dreams. He will have to do."

That was a skeleton that knew how to dance
around the truth in elegant circles. I'd better be careful around him.

"If you say so," the vampire said in
a tired voice.

"Now that this is decided," the
Chosen said, "the Faithful orders the vampire to take these two drow
Travelers with hi-"

"You do what?" The vampire
interrupted.

The Chosen looked at him. "I, in the name
of the Faithful, order you-"

"How dare you?!" He interrupted
again, now yelling. "I am-"

"You are part of the Resistance," the
Chosen cut him off. "And my nation is what allows the Resistance to exist.
You will take who I tell you to take or the Resistance can find another country
to support it!"

"You call this support? This is
ridiculous! And I repeat: how dare you order me?! I am Marbareus Sophus,
the First Lord of the Sophus clan! No elven will order me to do
anything!"

Wow, that escalated quickly. Which is
absurd; vampires might be this quick to anger, but I know how drow squeeze you
dry, and it's not by yelling.

"Elven? Elven? I am drow! And you will
obey! You will take these two with you-"

"Oh, will I? And how are you going to
force me?"

Neither of them had even picked their weapons
up. I was getting the feeling that this was staged.

"The rules are to be obeyed! Manhart, tell
him!" The drow turned to the lich.

"To hell with it!" Marbareus, the
vampire, yelled again. "I must take a single observer, and that is what I
will do! No one can force me to do otherwise!"

I was getting both bored and annoyed at the
performance. "Really, guys?" They looked at me and their stares of
hatred became much more real all of a sudden. "I mean, I've seen drow
negotiate, and this is not how it works. They demand from a position of power'
they don't make empty threats.

"I have also seen vampires bossing people
around, and this is a weak impression." I remembered the vampires that had
made me turn away from the cave. "They impose by force and don't accept
'no' for an answer. If this was a serious fight, at least the vampire would've
already attacked.

"What I don't understand is why you are
doing this. If you want to take just one of the drow, just say so, you don't
need to act like two children fighting over mama's attention."

First came the silence, then came the green
haired drow's laugh.

The laughter died the moment the vampire
attacked.

I never saw him lift his big double-edged axe
from his side, but I did see him coming over the table to get me. I had not
even begun to draw my sword when a translucent black wall appeared just in time
to stop the axe a few centimeters away from my neck.

32 darkness damage dealt to Jackass
Vampire

I had used magic by reflex and the message
surprised me. It seemed to make the vampire even angrier as his eyes shone red
and I narrowed, until I could see only on the threat in front of me.

"Enough!" The lich yelled. The tunnel
disappeared but the vampire was still gnashing his teeth at me.

"He is a Wildling!" The vampire
screamed, and this time, it was completely sincere.

Again silence descended upon the table. People
looked at each other and I frowned. What was the vampire talking about?

"He isn't," said the lich, finally.

"I can smell it in him," Marbareus
insisted.

"You can smell his title. He is a Hedge Wizard."

"Wait, how do you know that?" I
asked.

"An unbound and a Hedge Wizard! In four
days! Isn't it proof enough?" The vampire said, ignoring me.

"Not for me. I have Seen more than chaos
in him, and I swear on it. Do you contest me?"

Was it me or had the vampire become paler? He
closed his eyes and when they opened again, the glow was gone. He sat back
down. "Of course not, Manhart."

"Good. Stop trying to kill him and choose
one of the drow to take with you. I agree with the deathlord, this act of yours
is lacking. I told you I wanted the newcomers to believe we had problems, but
if a known socially inept imbecile has seen through it there is no meaning in
maintaining this farce."

As much as the lich's words hurt, it also made
me uncomfortably aware that I had just used the skills my parents had imparted
to me. I gulped. Had father been right? Was I-

"I'll take the Blackguard trainee,"
the vampire's words saved me from my train of thought. "The other's green
hair is as embarrassing as his lack of a proper backpack."

I smiled. The lich, the vampire, and the Chosen
all had purses on their waists. It was impossible to tell on the Blackguard,
whose cloak hid everything, but the green-haired drow was visibly lacking any
sort of container.

"For once, we agree," I said.
"How can a man live with himself without a proper backpack?"

"Deplorable," the Chosen agreed.
"I admit I was forced to bring him with me."

"What the hell is it with this backpack
thing?" Complained the green haired drow.

"It's one of those things that cannot be
explained, you can only feel it for yourself," I said. The vampire and the
Chosen nodded.

"You are a bunch of weirdos." The
drow crossed his arms and looked upset.

"Now that your choice has been made, test
them," ordered the lich.

"I already tested the deathlord," the
vampire said and I frowned. Now that he said that, his anger seemed completely
under control. Had his attack also been an act? "He will do,
barely. The drow is just an observer; whatever her power may be, it won't
matter."

"Well," I interrupted again just
because I knew it would upset the vampire and I didn't like being attacked,
even if it was a test of sorts. "I'm Jack. Nice to meet you." I waved
to the Blackguard trainee.

"I don't care," she answered.

"Now you are only helping the
asshole," I nodded to the vampire. "You're an observer; you're
supposed to know everything about whatever you're going to observe, and that
attitude will only make things harder for you."

"Nice to meet you, I'm Daggers," she
said immediately. That was... Surprisingly smart of her. I had said something
against her position and she had analyzed my argument, concluded it had merit
and acted on it. Instantly, not showing any annoyance at all. I didn't know
many people who could do that.

"Now, for the negotiations." I said.
"I haven't yet agreed to do whatever the Resistance wants me to do."

Not that I have any better option, but getting
something out of it wouldn't hurt.

I bit my tongue as soon as I thought that. It
was almost a quote from my father's teachings. The damn man couldn't leave me
alone even after I had killed him!

And yet again, I had killed him. And now I was
badmouthing him. A damn ingrate and sorry excuse for a son I was. A much worse
monster than he had been. At least he hadn't killed his parents.
It would be better for the world if I just-

Ahhh! I yelled
in my mind. I was getting back to the same old shit. It was all the damn
vampire's fault for putting me on the defensive since I had joined the meeting.

"How about you do what you are told and I
don't kill you?" Asked the vampire.

I snapped at that. He allowed me the exit I
needed to quell my inner turmoil, one I had taken many times before: violence.

I grabbed my sword hilt and started raising
from the chair.

"You are both right," intervened the
lich with a commanding voice that seemed to pierce my skull and empty my mind.
Only my mother had been able to do something like that before, always
preventing me from concentrating when I wanted to. "While we can force the
deathlord to do our bidding, he'll be much more amenable if he's paid for it.
He also could travel out of Valia permanently, without notice, unless he has a
reason to stay. More importantly, the Guardian strongly suggested that we use
the ancient rules of quests with the Travelers, and such rules recommend
compensation for completed tasks."

"I agree," said the Chosen. "The
Guardian is not to be taken lightly."

"You would know everything about that,
wouldn't you?" Said the vampire touching his own neck.

"I don't like your tone, filthy blood
sucker," the drow answered with anger in his voice.

"Oh, did I made the little elf
upset?" Marbareus put his axe, which he was still holding, over his
shoulder.

Shadows moved and darkness morb formed above
the Chosen's head. "I am no elf." His voice was ice cold.

"Now, that's a legit fight." I
decided to feed the flames, still in the hopes of some stress relieving
bloodshed. "But be fair, vampire. You attacked me, attack him too!"

"I said enough!" The lich yelled and
used magic. I never saw any morbs except for the death ones, yet I felt as if I
was being crushed by an invisible force coming from above. "Jack Thorn,
Samantha Hidden Daggers, do as you are told and you will be given a fair
reward, my word on it." He saw my mouth open and the crushing sensation
increased, making it hard to even hold my head up. "Before you ask, I'm a
truthseer. I cannot lie when I swear, else I would lose my Sight. That is also
how I knew you are a Hedge Wizard. Mine is a rare and most useful ability to
have." He turned to the vampire. "Marbareus, leave with the deathlord
and the drow right now."

Quest Series: Obey the Resistance

You have been conscripted into the Resistance
and promised a reward by the lich Manhart.

The reward will depend on how well you execute
your tasks from now on.

Conditions:

» Cannot be denied

» Disobeying will lead to unfavorable
consequences

» Must accept all Resistance quests given from
now on

Quest: Follow Marbareus

[Obey the Resistance]

F- rank

You have been ordered to accompany the vampire
Marbareus.

Conditions:

» Cannot be denied

» Disobeying will lead to unfavorable
consequences

A quest series was like a big quest divided
into multiple sub-quests. And my first one sucked.

"Manhart-" The vampire began.

"It was not a suggestion," the lich
interrupted him. "Not the order, nor the moment it is to be executed.
Leave. Now."

After a sigh and a slight bow, Marbareus did
something amazing: he stood up. I was barely able to remain sitting, my arms
being used to endure the crushing pressure, and the vampire had simply got up.
"Thorn, Daggers, let's go," he said.

I was humiliated next. Daggers also got up,
albeit with clear difficulty. I breathed hard and tried to also do so, but I
couldn't. Then the pressure vanished and I jumped out of the chair and fell
awkwardly on the ground. I felt the blood rushing into my face – it was
interesting that undead could blush – and got up under the sadistic look of the
vampire.

"We will run until the first of you two
tires, then we will rest and run again."

"Why not use a few lizards?" Asked
the Chosen.

"Because Thorn clearly needs the training.
Come." The vampire ran. Daggers became a little translucent and set off
after him. I sighed and followed.

I wasn't aware of when we went through the
invisible barrier; it was not visible from the inside. We just ran at the
nearest chamber wall, passing by beacows on the way. When we got there, the
vampire went right through the wall. I kept running and found myself into a
very narrow corridor.

We ran for hours; turns out the Underworld is a
damn huge place.

Eventually, I ended up using my mana as I ran,
to see if I could raise an attribute or a trait. The moment I tried to also
swing my sword, Marbareus complained about how that would drain my stamina
faster and slow us even more than I already did.

"So, Sam – I can call you Sam, right? – how
are you liking Valia?"

It was my third attempt at making her talk to
me and she just ignored me again. Not even provoking her had produced results.
She was like a damn machine.

"Come on, we're going to run for god knows
how much time-"

"Nine hours not counting resting
time," said the vampire.

"Whoa, really? Anyway, Marbareus there
will not chat with me-"

"Not in your wildest dreams," he
interrupted again.

"More like nightmares. So, why can't we
chat a little?"

No answer.

"Come on. At least tell me about your
cloaking ability."

That, finally, made her look at me. "What
do you mean?"

"Well, you are all translucent. I guess
it's an incomplete stealth skill. Can all drow do this? Or only the Blackguard
trainees? How do you even get accepted in the Blackguard, anyway?"

"You can see me?" She ignored my
questions.

"Yes, as I just said."

"You shouldn't be able to. You would need
fifteen points in perception."

"Well, I have sixteen. I can-"

"Stop right there, you two," said
Marbareus. "Never tell your secrets like that. Especially your abilities'
limits and attribute points. You never know who's going to become your enemy in
the future nor how that information will be used.

"I, for instance, know that a stealth
ability with such a requirement in perception would be impossible to obtain by
normal means in such short time, and so would sixteen points in perception.
Both of you either have rare titles or rare enchanted items to attain that.

"The only reason I myself am not killing
both of you for the chance of the items right now is because I would be hunted
by the Resistance afterward."

"Oh," said Daggers.

"Well, I'm impressed," I said to him.
"I never thought you would help me in any way whatsoever."

"It's not for you that I do this,
deathlord. I decided it would be better to keep the temptation down. Next, you
would tell me something absurd like having more than ten points in your mage
trait and I would be sure that you are using the Circlet of Enlightenment the
deathlords plundered from a vampire stronghold two hundred years ago. It would
be impossible to not kill you, then."

For almost all the remaining of the trip, I
didn't speak a single word, except to tell him when I was tired and when I was
rested.

Daggers asked for a short stop to eat; I asked
her about sleeping and she said drow didn't need to. The vampire told us it was
related to the influence of the God of Darkness, also known as Devourer: he
modified their bodies when they became the drow. That was an interesting
knowledge not available in the game's official wiki pages.

Constitution increased to 8 (+1)

This insane amount of running has made you
more robust.

» HP: 275 (+40)

» Stamina: 210 (+10)

I leveled up my constitution by the end of the seventh
hour and finally understood how it worked: each point I got in it would
increase my HP by the new level number times five. Meaning: when I got to level
ten in constitution, I'd get fifty more HP. Level eleven, fifty-five HP. And so
on.

Intelligence and MP worked the same way.

To tell the truth, it made me a little
concerned about the game balance. I mean, I had six hundred and twenty MP now.
As long as I stood in a protected position I could just attack with magic for a
very long time. But that also meant the next spells I learned would either
require more time or ridiculous amounts of mana to use. Or both.

More importantly, it meant that mages were not
as useful as I would like. Someone with as much constitution as I had
intelligence would also have six hundred and twenty HP. That was a lot of HP
and unless he stood still as I attacked him from afar, I didn't have enough
magic to kill him before he got close and killed me.

Glass cannon, that's what characters like me
were called in games: capable of dealing lots of damage but physically fragile
as a trade off. Right then, I decided I would not stand for it. I would become
a warrior mage.

Trait received: Warrior

Being a warrior is not just about repeatedly
attacking enemies with a physical weapon; it's a mindset, a belief that your
muscles are as necessary as your brains to destroy your enemies.

» +1% efficiency to stamina consuming skills

That was... Interesting, for two reasons:

First, it made clear that how the player
thought heavily influenced the game. A little scary, to tell the truth, but not
that unexpected.

Second, it was a damn overpowered trait. Every
stamina consuming ability would become more efficient? That was bullshit. It
made the warrior trait good for everyone but people who used magic.

Why the hell couldn't mages be considered
warriors? What was with that prejudice?

Thinking about magic, something came to mind.
"Why can I only have three morbs at the same time?" I asked the
vampire.

"Because of your low intelligence. That is
also information you should keep to yourself. Unless it's a difficult battle
you should never show your enemy how many morbs you can maintain."

I frowned. "What's the intelligence to
morb ratio?"

"Three to one."

"Why-"

"I'm not," he cut me off, "your
magic teacher. Shut up."

I obeyed. If the ratio was three to one, it
meant that I could create four morbs with my fourteen points in intelligence,
not three as I was doing. Why didn't it happen, then?

Well, obviously because I didn't try.

I had tested my boundaries after leaving the
prison and got to three morbs, but I hadn't done the same recently.

<Hey, Jack.> The
voice came out of nowhere and I nearly tripped.

"What?" I asked looking around.

"I told you to shut up," growled
Marbareus.

"But-"

<Jack? Can you hear me?> I heard it
again.

Looking around and seeing no one speaking I
concluded I was crazy and listening to things.

<Oh, right, this must be your first time.
It's Ted. Communication crystal. Just think about your answer while willing it
to get to me.>

<Ted?> I did as she said. <Can you
hear me?>

<Yes! How are you?>

<Good. It's been a while.>

<I know. Dad smelled something wrong and
worked from home yesterday, so I couldn't come. What are you doing?>

<No idea.>

<What do you mean?>

<I had a quest to find some Resistance guys.
I found them, got conscripted and now I'm running through some narrow cave
passages behind a vampire and a Blackguard.>

<Sounds exciting!>

<Yeah, right.>

<Anyway, that's not why I'm talking to
you.>

<Don't worry, I already know about my
magnetic personality, you obviously couldn't pass up the opportunity to hear my
voice.>

<No, dumbass. It's about your cheating and
the anti-cheat team.>

<Huh?> Had I told her about it? I didn't
think so.

<I heard from dad that you killed some big
NPCs and it made a lot of people really mad in V-Soft. You started a civil war
in Dakar and it's going to affect all of the Underworld and some of the Surface
too. You even destroyed some fairly important quest lines, and more are going
to disappear in the war.>

<Well...>

<I know you are not a cheater. You can't
even use a communication crystal without help.>

<Yeah, tell that to the people inside my
head.> The anti-cheat team was still listening to my game related thoughts.

<Now you just sound like a lunatic.>

I laughed. <Yeah, I guess I do.>

<Anyway, dad told me everyone in V-Soft
already knows you are just a lucky newbie and the lead game designer is only
keeping your anti-cheat feedback on because he loved how you found a solution
to an impossible problem.>

<That sounds a little like power abuse.>

<It does.> She became silent.

<Ted?>

<Sorry.> Her voice was a little shaky.
<I never thought dad would be okay with something like this. I feel
betrayed.>

<In your dad's defense, this is pretty
common in the gaming industry.>

<What? Don't you care about it?>

<I do. So do a lot of other people. There
are heavy governmental regulations about it. You see, the government loves to
shit on our privacy, but they like to be the only ones doing so. Immersive
gaming companies usually gets lots of audits from governmental agencies.>

<Oh.>

<There's even a bill proposing some
encryption be put in place by a governmental AI in all immersive games. This
abuse of the Immersion Tech is nothing new and there are some civil rights
group making a lot of noise about it.>

<Really? I see nothing about it in the
news.>

<A person who trusts television. I never
thought I'd find one in my lifetime.>

<A conspiracy theorist. I never thought I'd
find one in my lifetime.> She replied with the same tone.

<Just Google it and browse some gaming
forums. Why would V-Soft even read our thoughts? For instance, I just thought
about my account number and password, but if they mess with it, I'll just call
the police and they'd be in huge trouble.>

<I see.> Her voice was visibly more relaxed.
<That is relieving. Thanks.>

<No problem. Even if you still don't like
it, just try not to attract the anti-cheat AI's attention and you're good.>

<To think that I believed I was discovering
some new and nefarious truth that would make you as worried as I was...>

<Thanks, anyways. It meant a lot.> And
just as I said that, I realized I meant it. <I'll consider you a true friend
from now on.>

<You told me you already considered me a
friend before.>

I was lying before, but I didn't think she
would take it well. <Yes, but now I know it goes both ways. Therefore, a
true friend.>

<I see. I am going to call Bear and level up
a little.>

<Bear?>

<That dead zombie.>

<Wait. Ted and Bear. I see what you did
there.>

Her answer came with a hint of a smile. <I
think he likes me.>

<You don't say.>

<No, seriously. We are childhood friends and
he was always such a ladies' man. But when I got my first boyfriend he changed,
got more distant but closer at the same time. I do not know how to explain
it.>

<I'm gonna stop you right there. All my
girlfriends were won through simple communication: let's go out? Yes. Come to
my house. Okay. Lots of fun after that. I have no idea why you people make a
mess of such a simple thing, so there is no reason to tell me. Whatever you say,
my suggestion will be the same: hook up with him and see where it goes.>

<But what if we lose our friendship?>

<Like I said, see where it goes. If he is
really into you, the friendship will eventually be strained and broken
anyway.>

Again she became silent, now for a longer time.
I warned Marbareus I was close to exhaustion and we sat for me to rest.

<I'll think about it.> She said, finally.

<Typical woman.>

<Prick.>

<Scared little girl.>

<I am hanging up to call a true man,
bye.>

<Remember the condoms.>

No reply, which I took to mean she had hung up.
After that, it was back to resting and running in silence.

Until we finally got to our beautiful and
painful destination.

Jack
Thorn

Unbound
Deathlord

Legendary
Spotter, Hedge Wizard, Pioneer, Dark Archmage

Level
10

Hit Points:275
/ 275

Mana Points:0
/ 620

Stamina:3
/ 210

Attributes:

Strength:7

Agility:7

Dexterity:6

Constitution:8

Intelligence:14

Perception:6
+ 10 [Items]

Willpower:9

Charisma:7

Traits:

Adept Mage:11
+ 10 [Items]

Adept Controller:11

Energizer:3

Diviner:2

Gold Digger:2

Scavenger:2

Antimage:1

Athlete:1

Crafter:1

Healer:1

Meditator:1

Mind Seer:1

Negotiator:1

Nitpicker:1

Shadow:1

Warrior:1

13. People Person

'Acting on principles is an easy way to
become predictable. And once you are predictable, it's only a matter of time
until you are destroyed.'

- Father

"Don't speak,
don't look up, don't walk away from me. If you do, you'll be attacked and I'll
not protect you," said Marbareus.

"Ok," I answered weakly.

"Yes, sir," said Daggers.

We were in Crystalia, a cave complex full of
crystal forests – there was no other way to describe it. Crystals of all colors
shone everywhere, from red to blue, white to black, in all sizes, from the
equivalent of sand grains to five stories buildings.

They formed a maze of colors that was as
beautiful as it was confusing. Even the ceiling was covered with crystals. My
head was hurting from that the sensory overload, especially after coming
straight from the drow city and its complete lack of colors.

The plan to paint the Underworld rainbow colors
died right there. Someone had already done much worse and I'd rather not be
considered a plagiarist.

I didn't even have the force to argue with the
vampire, with my head hurting so much, it was as if someone had found a way
inside and was driving nails into my brain. It had gone on for half an hour or
so, ever since we entered the crystal chamber via a hidden passage in the wall,
and I was seriously considering logging out when he told me we would be
arriving at a vampire's city soon.

If he had told me to kneel and beg for
admittance in the city I would've done so, if only to get into a dark room and
lock myself in there for a few hours. The small darkness in the hooded black
cloak he had given me to hide my face did nothing to block the pain.

The city I could now see had walls made of
large crystals, but they had at least kept to a single color: blue, the main
color in Marbareus' cloak which had intricate green details stitched
throughout. Vampire soldiers with the same cloaks as him had passed by us and
spoken in whispers to him before moving on. I didn't even try to eavesdrop, I
only wanted the pain to end.

Over the walls – it looked like they had either
carved the crystals or placed a platform there – more soldiers were patrolling.
They looked attentive; more than one archer knocked arrows on their metal bows
and a few morbs were created as we approached.

Until now, the vampires and deathlords war had
been just something distant I heard about, but all those soldiers around made
it real to me. And not only was it real, I was getting closer to it.

We neared the immense gates of the city and I
kept my eyes low. Pain and helplessness have a way of making people less
defiant, go figure. Marbareus traded words with the vampires guarding the doors
– seven vampires in full armor – and they made a point of looking away from me
and Daggers as we walked past them.

The moment I went through the threshold of the
city, my headache disappeared; not even a trace remained. I breathed heavily,
which seemed to deeply disturb the vampire, by the look he gave me.

His frown was quickly replaced by a happy
smile, though. Marbareus smiling in legit happiness was one of the creepiest
things I had seen in the game.

"Crystalia is one of the great mysteries
of Valia," he said. "The crystals have been growing in this land
longer than recorded history and no one understands why being in their presence
causes similar effects to indirect sunlight. It's one of the best natural
defenses of the Underworld." He was in good humor.

"And the city has protection against
it," I said.

"Evidently. The Sophus clan is proud of
being the only ones capable of such feat." His chest grew as he said that.
"We are the first defense against the West Underworld and no one has ever
breached us."

The vampire had shown himself to be a fairly
important person in the city, making guards look away as he smuggled us in and
all. Now that the meeting was already in the past, I saw it as an opportunity
to get myself a new high-level NPC pal.

"Impressive. How many have tried and got
massacred?"

His good mood disappeared and he didn't answer,
just started walking again. Apparently, it had never been breached because it
had never been attacked.

"You are an idiot, but you have some
courage," Daggers whispered as she followed along.

At least he didn't like me before anyway. No
big loss there. I went after them.

The city was classical Greek or Roman – I never
could tell the difference – in style. White columns supporting spacious tall
white buildings were everywhere, vertical banners giving color and indicating
what they were or who they belonged to.

Some of the buildings had gardens with actual
grass and flowers, with what looked to be crystal sand glowing on it. The
streets were large and stone-paved, and the vampires walking around were all
well dressed in Roman-or-Greek-looking clothes.

It felt as if I had found civilization for the
very first time since I starting playing.

"This is a damn nice city," I said.

"Too late," whispered Daggers. The
vampire didn't even acknowledge my commentary.

We walked in the direction of a big building in
the middle of the street, far away. Vampires looked at us as and talked among
themselves as we passed.

"Won't they get suspicious?" I asked.
Daggers and I were hooded, but we were obviously outsiders.

"They will," Marbareus said,
"but no one would dare get in my way."

The words had barely left his mouth when a
woman stopped in front of us, arms crossed. She was tall and lean, her blond
hair almost white, her red eyes shining in a way I believed meant either anger,
battle mode or skill usage. Like all vampires, her skin was light, but not pale
like Marbareus'.

"What is the meaning of this?" She
said as she opened her blue and green cloak to reveal impressive golden armor
with an intricate pattern and gems all over it. It was tight, but there were no
nice breasts curves on it, as in almost every other game or movie with women in
armor.

Yes, definitely a game made for eunuchs.

"Get out of the way, sister. This is none
of your concern."

"But it is. The Prince has named me
Captain of the Guard. You-"

"I," he raised his voice to interrupt
her, "am not under the Guard's scope of power. Unless the Prince has
ordered you to annoy me, get out of my way."

They locked their eyes for a long, long time.
Was it me or were her eyes glowing brighter each second? I couldn't see
Marbareus' face, but I bet the same thing was occurring on his face.

People passing by pretended not to see, but I
noticed more and more vampires were stopping nearby, finding some reason to
stay in sight of us.

After five minutes I was beginning to wonder if
the NPCs were malfunctioning when she finally spoke again.

"The Prince has summoned you. You are
already late."

I thought Marbareus would swear and run, but he
made a nasal sound before answering. "I told you twice to get out of my
way and not only did you keep challenging me, but you also interfered with my
fulfilling an order from the Prince. This is the third and final time I tell
you: get out of my way. Or face both mine and the Prince's wrath."

Her face contorted but, to my surprise, she did
step out of the way, the glow in her eyes fading away. "You didn't need to
threaten me." She said low, almost a whisper.

"I did, sister. You are getting
better," Marbareus said surprisingly softly. "The Prince will skin me
alive for this little prank of yours." He resumed walking and I noticed a
slight smile on her lips as I passed her by.

"What the hell was that?" I asked.

"None of your business," Marbareus
answered like the prick he was and got on my nerves. Had I really tried to
befriend him ten minutes ago?

"Oh, so the big bad vampire has a soft
spot for his little sister, does he?" I mocked. "Isn't this one of
those things people aren't supposed to let their enemies know?"

He laughed. "I'd like to see you do
anything to Kassandra, deathlord. Please, be my guest."

Giving her a quick glance and once again noting
her golden armor, I decided it was better not to. She was a woman, after all,
and I was a perfect gentleman. I dared any living woman in Valia to say I
wasn't; emphasis on living.

More importantly, he had not said we were not
enemies. That gave me a strange sense of foreboding.

There were no further delays and we finally
reached the central building. It looked like a classical palace, big and white,
with multiple banners flying numerous insignia, all of them geometrical. They
were all different variations on the theme of blue, green and silver.

People hurried to the side as we climbed the
stairs of the palace. The guards here even bowed to Marbareus; "First
Lord," they would usually say.

The entry hall of the palace was enormous. Lots
of silver columns supported the three story high ceiling and sculptures adorned
the room here and there. The floor looked like a single blue stone, polished
and glowing weakly. There were few people here, mostly soldiers going one way
or another.

"Tardas, take them to the guest room next
to mine," Marbareus said to thin air.

"As you command, First Lord." A raspy
voice said behind me. I turned back and a ghoul was only half a meter behind
me. Scary. I hadn't heard nor sensed him at all.

He was wearing a dark green scale armor and
holding an impressive white wooden longbow on his hands. By my gaming
knowledge, that was surely elven made. He also had a thick black metal collar
on his neck and a small purse on his waist.

"If you would please accompany me, mister
and miss, it would be my pleasure to take you to your accommodations." He
said bowing as we looked at him.

"A ghoul butler, that's new."

"I am pleased that my humble presence was
able to remove preconceptions from your head, mister."

"Ouch. Nice jab."

He turned to the right and started walking
without reply. Marbareus was already away from us, walking in another
direction. Daggers and I followed the ghoul.

"So, you're a hunter or what? I can't even
hear you walking."

"I am what the First Lord orders me to be,
mister."

"And what has the First Lord ordered you to
be?"

"He has ordered me to be secretive of my
orders, mister." He had a way of sounding condescending but not
irritating, which was awesome.

I smiled. "The way I see it, you just
disobeyed him by telling me that." He didn't answer and I turned to the
drow by my side. "What do you think, Daggers? A perfect match for you,
huh?" She also didn't answer, which was exactly my point. I became damn
satisfied with myself for that brilliant observation.

Tardas led us through a corridor, stairs, more
corridors and a final lounge. Paintings and sculptures were apparent along the
way, and so were more ghouls wearing the metal collar. The more ghouls I saw,
the more uncomfortable I felt.

This place reeks of my mother.

"These are your rooms, mister and
miss," he said opening the door. "Should you need anything, please
ring any of the bells in the rooms and a slave shall come to you."

Daggers entered first and faded away from
existence. Logging out, I guessed, unless she had become better at stealth.

As I entered, I took a good look at the room. I
was in a living room of an apartment. It had a large wooden table full of food,
a fireplace, comfortable looking sofas and armchairs, a metal box that looked
like a freezer and three doors. The floor was covered with animal furs and a
few glowing crystals on the walls were responsible for illumination, just as
they were in all the city and palace.

The first thing I did was check the freezer.
Seeing the cold vapors leaving it and blue magical circles inside made me
satisfied. It was always nice to see magic replacing modern technology.

Next, I took a bite of some meat that tasted
like apple on the table. Unlike the mushroom, it didn't give me food poisoning.
There was way too much food arrayed across it, from steaming bowls to ice-cream.

"The First Lord has not told me of your
background, mister, so forgive me if what I will disclose may sound offensive –
it is not my intention." Tardas bowed. "It's not uncommon for workers
to access occupied rooms to do their job. They are to be ignored unless you
need something from them. Should their presences be deemed intrusive, you need
but to order them to leave and they will return in a few hours."

Yup, just the way mother would like.

I saw nothing wrong with social rules for the
employees, by itself. The problem started when-

No. Enough about mother.

"I'm a people person," I said to the
ghoul. "It's really hard for me to ignore someone. Also, everyone seems to
love me and keeps vying for my attention. Especially in the Underworld, this
lovely warm place. But I'll do my best."

Ignoring me, he went away, closing the door
behind him.

I sat in an armchair and took a deep, relaxing
breath. Since saving Ted I had not stopped to take a break and think. This was
a good opportunity to do that. Or maybe not: a message popped up in my vision.

System Message

Dear user,

Although the
Dreamer, our Long Term Immersive Capsule, is capable of both preventing brain
damage for extended usage – multiple fail-safe layers included – and putting
the brain into a sleep like state, our doctors advise there is no substitute
for a proper sleep.

We care the utmost
about your health and safety!

The ideal amount
our system has calculated for you is seven hours per week.

You are playing a
species that should not be burdened by the need for sleep, therefore while you
sleep your time will be counted as if you were training in any way you choose,
for a maximum of seven hours per week.

This is a special
feature for you, Dreamer user.

And don't worry:
you will be awakened if anything of interest happens around you.

Should you refuse
to sleep, you will be forcibly logged out and put in a sleeping state for the
needed time.

You can open your
Sleep Window at any time to check the remaining sleeping time available, and to
determine both how you want to invest your time and for how long you wish to
sleep.

Our systems
detected you are in a safe resting place and we suggest you use this time to
sleep. There is no telling how many wonderful adventures might happen non-stop
while you travel in Valia!

Yours,

V-Soft team.

The message made me very, very upset. Sleeping
was the thing I dreaded the most. Sleep gave me dreams. Dreams of the people I
had killed in the real world. Unless it was a heavily drunken sleep.

When I had discovered undead didn't need to
sleep, I hadn't even considered another option. And now V-Soft was shitting on
me.

I sighed deeply. I had decided to rest
when I got the chance. Resting didn't mean sleep, but if I slept now I could at
least rest too, and train my character while I did that. Plus, it was either
that or losing the Challenge.

No point in delaying the inevitable. I opened
the Sleep Window, chose to train my magic with focus on fire magic, and set the
sleeping time for seven hours.

As soon as I hit the 'OK' button, darkness
consumed me.

* * *

"Tell me, son.
What is power?"

Mother was sitting on the leather sofa of our
living room, reading something on her paper-thin tablet. It was the day after
my fifteenth birthday and she had ordered me to attend one of her lectures.

"Father says it's money," I answered
with my best poker voice, if that's a thing. Mother didn't care if I lied or
offended her, as long as I kept my voice devoid of any and all emotion.

'Emotion breeds weakness,' she always said. 'If
you must be weak, at least hide it from your enemies.'

"It is not wrong, but it is too
shallow." She rarely looked at me when she gave me her so-called lessons.
Her looks were reserved for when I messed up, and they always came with
consequences that I had learned to fear. "Do you understand this country's
employment system?"

"I think-"

"Never let your enemies know you think.
Thinking allows you to consider your enemy's position, which in turn allows
them to corrupt you and your power. You must always be sure." She repeated
another of her great pearls of wisdom. "I already told you that."

Father would have me say I was sorry. Mother
would have punished me for saying that. "You did, but I ignored it. Sue
me." My voice was plain the whole time.

She nodded slightly. "Much better. Do you
understand it or not?"

"I do."

"Then you know our employees do much more
work than they are paid for."

I looked sideways to the maid waiting by the
wall, who held a metal platter in front of her body. She was clothed in
nondescript black and white clothes.

"Yes."

"Why do you think they don't leave?"

I had no idea. But 'it's better to be sure of
something wrong than to let your enemy know you have doubts about yourself and
your own knowledge.'

"Supply and demand of jobs."

"No. Any employee trained by me would have
great market value. They don't leave because I don't allow it."

She said nothing more. It was time for me to
ask the right question or be punished. I had to use all my willpower to not
show fear in my voice.

"Why don't they sue you?"

"Not the right question..." I braced
for impact. "...But not completely wrong. They wouldn't dare do anything
to me because they understand true power." She made a gesture with her
hand and the maid approached from behind.

"Yes, senator?" The maid asked
meekly.

"Kiss my feet."

To her credit, the maid only showed disgust for
a split second. "Yes, senator." She moved in front of mother, knelt,
put the platter on the carpeted floor and kissed her feet. "Is that
satisfactory, senator?"

"No. Keep kissing until I order
otherwise."

"Yes, senator." The maid obeyed.

I couldn't keep the disbelief and revulsion
from my face. That was too surreal, even for mother.

"True power," she said, "is
knowing that nothing can be done to oppose you. If you told anyone what you are
seeing, they would not believe it. Because they don't understand it. They've
never experienced it themselves, they only know the infantile form of power
called money.

"But this inferior woman at my feet
understands that no matter what she does, she will never, ever, be able to do
anything to me. More than that, she knows that if she even dares to try, she
will regret it for the rest of her miserable life." She moved her feet out
of the way, the maid took the platter and got up.

"Anything else, senator?"

"Yes. Kiss my son's feet."

The maid turned to me and I felt my eyes widen.
"What?!" I almost yelled. "No! This is ridiculous!" The
maid knelt before me, but I moved away from her.

"You dare disobey me and show emotion
while doing it." Mother's voice cut off my protesting. She looked at me.

I took hold of myself. "Yes," I said
back into a plain voice. "I will not-"

"Sarah." Mother said and I froze.
"This is aunt Sarah's doing." She never called my aunt 'my sister,'
even though they were siblings. "She has been corrupting you since the day
she came into this house."

"No!" Dammit, my voice! I
controlled myself. "No. She has nothing to do with it."

"That's what you say. I disagree and I
have the power to do with her as I wish. And there is nothing you can do about
it. Do you understand?" Her blue eyes were so terrifyingly beautiful and
intensely cold. They seemed to pierce me.

"Yes."

"Then you know what is to be on the wrong
end of true power. Today you must learn to be on the right end. I will not
order the maid to go to you, this time you will order her to go to you on all
fours and kiss your feet."

She returned her gaze to the tablet and I felt
the weight of the world lifted from me.

It was either comply with her order or losing
Sarah. My aunt. The only bastion of righteousness in that house. My last
refuge. The one who taught me about love, respect, and everything good. The
woman who was a true mother to me.

As much as I wanted to protect her, I knew that
she would never forgive herself if someone was humiliated that way because of
her. I was about to say no to mother when I took a quick glance at the maid.
She was looking at me with tears forming in her eyes.

'Please,' her
lips mouthed.

And I remembered when mother had told me that
Marta, our last cook, had been imprisoned for stealing jewelry from us. I
couldn't believe Marta had done that, but I hadn't understood at the time.

Marta had displeased mother in some way. And
the maid was afraid of what would happen to her.

With difficulty, I opened my mouth. "Come
to me." I took a deep breath. "On all fours."

She did. Her eyes never left mine. She was
before me, looking at me from below, awaiting my order. Complete submission.
"Kiss my feet," I ordered with a mechanical voice. She obeyed.
Complete control.

"Welcome," mother said, "to true
power."

I saw the maid bend her body. She kissed my
left foot first, then my right one. Then she looked at my eyes again, waiting
for another command, and I understood what mother meant.

Having that kind of control over another human
being felt awesome.

But the maid's eyes also conveyed something
that I was sure mother had never received:

Gratitude.

For doing that to her and preventing something
worse.

Leaning to the side, I puked.

* * *

I woke up agitated,
breathing heavily, and covered in sweat. The digital clock on the edge of my
vision told me I had slept for exactly seven hours and there was an exclamation
point on the edge of my vision.

That had been one of the most difficult lessons
mother had given me. I would later in my life come to realize the people
working in my house had been slaves in all but name. For years I wondered why
they didn't go to the media or the police. After I killed my parents,
grandfather had told me how Marta had done that and been discredited with the
false charge of theft.

My respiration took some time to return to
normal. Breathing, something an undead shouldn't do. I credited it to the
fail-safe mechanisms. Focusing on the air moving in and out had, after all,
helped me calm down a little.

I got up and drank some water from the table.
For the next few minutes, I focused on the taste of the food. When I was once
again myself, I examined the exclamation point.

Fire of Revelation

Skill is now level 4!

» Cost: 20 MP

» Damage: 18 (4 + 14 [Intelligence])

» Range: 4 meters

» Duration: 40 minutes

That showed me multiple things. First, the
sleeping training really worked. Second, I had been sure that the spell would
get better on higher levels, but now I knew that the MP cost also increased.
Third, after a quick try, I discovered I could cast lower level versions of the
spell at lower costs.

And that was only part of the message.

New skill unlocked on The Flames
skill-tree

Fireball (level 3)

After some consideration, you realize that
fire would make a wonderful weapon if used in a slightly different way.

The result is a magical fireball that can be
thrown and creates a tiny explosion when it collides with something.

» Active Spell

» Cost: 30 MP

» Amassing time: 1 second

» Element: Fire

» Damage: 86 (60 +12 [Adept Mage] +14
[Intelligence])

» Max collateral burn damage: 20% (17)

That... Was huge! I checked how much it was
enhanced by the fire magic boosting ring and saw that the base damage on level
one was thirty, half the base damage on level three.

Deathlord Renno's Ring of Fire was really
legendary, in a way I hadn't understood before. It was boosting the spell's
damage by thirty points by itself. And the Circlet of Enlightenment boosted it
further six points thanks to the ten bonus points in my mage trait, each point
giving one percent bonus damage.

Granted, the fireball was still useless in
close combat, where the smaller amassing time of the darkness magic would be
much better. But in a ranged battle it was the best thing I had.

"Thank you for dying on me, Miss
Renno," I said in a half-mocking, half-sincere prayer. She had boosted my
fireball damage by thirty-six points by herself. And this was only on a second
tier spell, too.

Anxious to try it out, I bit my tongue and
created a fire morb with the pain, noticing it took a second to appear and
consumed thirty MP instead of twenty.

Fireball, I
willed, focusing on the fireplace.

Magic happened, the morb slightly expanding and
then flying to my target. The effect was greater than I expected: the explosion
blew the three logs that were there in half and fire enveloped the fireplace,
expanding upwards and leaving a trail of black soot where it passed.

Neat.

I decided to check the three doors in the room.
They revealed two luxurious bedrooms and a bathroom. The food on the table
seemed to have been replaced while I slept, everything as fresh as when I had
just arrived.

Such a waste.

I was beginning to smell, so I opted for a
bath. The bathroom was large and covered in light blue tiles, except for one
wall, which was completely covered by a huge mirror. A big bathtub was already
filled with steaming water and two metal disks as large as me were mounted to
the low ceiling. There were multiple white towels and robes near a sink with a
very small disk in the place of a tap.

Looking at me from the mirror was a very dirty
version of myself. I guessed the big disks were showers and went over to try to
figure them out, but there was no mystery: a glowing white rune appeared on one
of them as soon as I got underneath it, and water poured from it right after.

I cleaned my equipment – clothes, jewelry,
boots, sword, shield, and backpack – the best I could, then put them near the
towels and got in the bathtub.

Which was good as heaven.

That was a great moment to decide what I would
do. Obeying the Resistance was an obligatory quest, but there was a city to
explore, a lot of game mechanics to discover and grinding to do.

Grinding, the act of killing monsters non-stop
to better a character and make money. Yesterday I had discovered there were
lots of people better than me in the game, and all I had done from then on had
been running. A day in a new game was enough to create a gap as high as the sky
between leading characters.

A game. It was good to force myself to remember
this was a game, and therefore should be enjoyed. Was I enjoying it?

Yes, I was. Real life was just too bleak, and I
wasn't even poor. I could buy a motorboat and get some chicks – had done it
before – but it was so... Shallow. I wanted more. I had a calling in my soul that
had only ever been met when I had started breaking my hand by hitting people on
the streets.

Martial arts had made me realize street
fighting was just a way out of my own frustrations, but it hadn't told me what
I was really meant to do. Law school gave me some weak purpose, but not one I
really found interesting and definitely not one that gave me a sense of
fulfillment.

But Valia gave me what I really wanted: a more
exciting world and clear purpose. Not that boring college stuff, studying
boring books to work in a boring job for the rest of my repetitive life. No. An
appealing world, real looking and open, where I could be whatever I wanted, as
long as I was prepared to get things done. Progression, quests, traits and
skills to discover. A way to transcend my own humanity.

New experiences waiting for me. Magic at my
fingertips. A simple and even rewarding way to vent my frustration by killing
things I wouldn't be sued for hurting.

I was a goddamn mage, not a boring lawyer
studying some flawed laws.

Somewhere within I felt something was still
missing, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. Better to set aside such
thoughts, right next to the place I had put my parent's murder and ignore it.

My position now was much different from my
position in Ter'nodril. Here, I was far from any lead the deathlords might have
on me and therefore I didn't need the Resistance anymore; and while working for
the lich Manhart might be interesting, Marbareus and I didn't seem fated to be
good working colleagues.

So, I would check the city, try to find some
quests to do, grind a little and obey the Resistance. For a week.

Yes, that sounded good. I would give the
Resistance a week before considering deserting and finding better stuff to do.
This would also be a good week to find information about Valia and the
Underworld.

Having decided that, I got out of the bathtub,
took a shower, and I discovered I had a problem: my pants, my shirt, and my
jerkin were gone. Thirty-five gold worth of clothing gone in the minutes it had
taken me to bathe. At least my weaponry, jewelry, boots, backpack, and cloak
were still there.

I immediately created four morbs – two fire,
one darkness, and one death –, stored the cloak in the backpack, put my stuff
and a robe on and got out of the bathroom with murder in my eyes.

"Stop right there!" I yelled to the
female ghoul on the apartment door. She was wearing the same white nondescript
Greek clothes and black metal collar all other servants did.

She obeyed. To the letter. She was getting out
of the room when I yelled and as soon as she heard me, she froze.

"What are you doing with my clothes?"

She didn't look to me to speak, just kept
frozen. "Imma takin 'em to repair, mister." Her tone was full of
subservience.

"I didn't order a repair." She said
nothing. "Answer me."

"Ya ain't asked me a question,
mister."

I frowned. Had I found the first low-quality AI
in the game? "Why are you taking my clothes if I didn't order a
repair?"

"All people stuff in the palace must be
gotten to repair, mister. The Prince orders and I obey."

"Huh. And how much does it cost me?"

"It's free, mister. For all peoples in the
palace. 'Cept the prisoners, I s'pose."

Well, that was nice. "How long until my
stuff is back?"

"Leather is easy, mister. An hour."

"That's great news. What's your
name?"

"What ya wants, mister."

"C'mon, just tell me your name."

"No name, mister."

"People must call you something in here,
don't they?"

"Yeah, mister." Her shoulders fell a
little as she continued. "Slave p-one-oh-three-seven if ya must know,
mister."

That made me shiver. Just an NPC, I told
myself. "Oh. I'm sorry." She didn't answer. "Okay, thanks. Go
on."

"Thanks, mister. Do ya wanna me to beg the
boss for a beating?"

Of all the things I had endured in the game,
the scenes of torture in the prison withstanding, this was the most pitiful and
revolting one.

Miss P-1037 was a petite ghoul, who walked
drawn in on herself, looking at the floor, her clothes were rags, and even
calling them that was being generous. Near her was a table full of uneaten food
that would remain uneaten and I bet she was hungry. Meanwhile, she was asking
me if I wanted her to beg to her tormentor for a beating.

Even knowing she was just a game character, my
heart was crushed. Everything seemed so real, felt so real... And it was real
for her.

"Huh... Marta. I'll call you Marta. Do you
have to obey anything I tell you to do?"

"Yeah, mister."

"Anything? I mean, anything at all?"

"Yeah, mister." She added a little
low: "I don't know ya tastes, but there be better beautiful slaves for
these things."

"What? Hell, no. I mean, not that you
aren't pretty," I added quickly, "but this would be rape. Wait,
there are?" I felt repulsion. "Holy shit. Listen, Marta, I am going
to give you an order, and I want you to obey, understand?"

"Yeah, mister."

"Good. The table has enough food for a
battalion. Sit and eat as much as you'd like."

"Can't do that, mister."

"Of course you can, Marta. I just gave you
an order and you must obey anything I tell you to do."

She swallowed and looked at me directly in the
eyes for the first time. I could see something broken in there. "Look,
mister, I tell ya this 'cause you seem like a nice sorta fella. If ya order me
for real, I ain't not disobeying ya. But the boss gonna know I was treated nice
and it gonna be bad for me later."

Holy shit. That's even worse than mother. I
never thought it would be possible.

"I... Understand, Marta. Sorry for forcing
you to refuse it. Please, go on."

"Thanks, mister." She walked away and
was already out of my vision range when I heard her fearful voice. "If ya
wanna be kind, call the beautiful slaves, mister. They be the ones who take it
most bad."

That was too much for me, I needed to get out
of there. I left the room without any regard for my appearance. This was a sick
place for sick people.

Walking the corridors, seeing all the slaves
coming and going only made me feel worse. Two vampire soldiers in chain mail,
one of them with a sword on the waist and a shield on the back, the other
carrying a halberd, were walking the corridor. As soon as they saw me, one of
them held his hand in a stop position.

"Hold there!"

"What?!" I said annoyed but obeyed.

"State your business."

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"Unless you have official business, you
cannot walk with an unsheathed weapon or summoned morbs in the palace."

"Oh. I didn't know." I extinguished
the morbs. "Hey, completely unrelated to my morbs, do you know where
Marbareus is?"

Their faces became rigid and they gripped their
weapons tighter. "Why does a deathlord wants to know the location
of the First Lord?"

Whoa. Better be careful. "I'm his guest in the palace. If not him, can you guide me to
Tardas? He is the one who showed me my guest room. Marbareus said my guest room
would be nearest his, but this does not help much. This place is huge."

"Lughus, go find the slave. I'll accompany
the deathlord to his quarters," said the vampire with sword and shield.

"Nope, you won't," I said and the
halberd guard, who was already moving, stopped and looked at me. "I'm a
guest of the First Lord, not a prisoner. If you want me to obey you while you
confine me in my quarters, you'd better be willing to piss the First Lord
off." He opened his mouth and I kept talking. "Now, I know you are
not as stupid as you look and that you have a job to do. I am going to the main
hall of the palace. You can accompany me or you can create a big mess. Let's
go." I resumed walking the way I had been before.

For a few seconds, the guards didn't know what
to do. Then the one who seemed to be the boss spoke: "You heard the guest,
Lughus. We will wait for the slave in the main hall. And the Father have mercy
on this deathlord's soul if he is using the First Lord's name falsely."

The halberd guard ran off and I resumed my
walk. Damn vampires were control freaks, no wonder the Resistance wanted to
mess with them. Just as I had been told, drow just meddled with drow and didn't
care about anyone else; the vampires were enslaving ghouls in a very demeaning
way and if they had good looking slaves, those couldn't be ghouls.

Still, if there was a high ranking vampire in
the Resistance – I wasn't sure what a First Lord was, but it sounded powerful
–, I doubted he would just abolish slavery out of the goodness of his heart.
Not Marbareus, no.

That's it, then. I'll wreck his plans
somehow, whatever they might be. I just need to understand the political-

I froze. No. Not that. My whole skin
crawled and I took a deep breath. I couldn't do that. It wasn't right, not
after I had killed the people who had taught me. I would do my best to mess
with him, but I would not meddle in politics. I needed to take my mind
off it.

"Don't even think about running away, you
sack of-"

Bad timing, bro.
The guard gave me the escape I needed and I snapped. I took my sword as I
turned around and created a darkness sphere. He was three steps behind me and I
was surprising him; still, he somehow was able to get his shield from his back
and defend my sword thrust in time.

"Attack!" He yelled while taking his
own sword from his waist. "Attack! To me!" He slashed the sword at
me.

Too fast. I was
barely able to put my shield in place to defend my neck.

52 shock damage received

HP: 218 / 270

And that was with a sixty percent reduction to
the damage, too. I was still thinking how to counterattack when he attacked
again. This time, he used it as a piercing weapon, going for my head. I began
to move the shield to defend while taking a step back, but he was faster and
not only accompanied me but also changed the direction of his sword, piercing
my stomach.

I screamed in pain and he punched my head.

My body flew back and I was on the floor. Just
like that, in three attacks, I was down to about ten percent HP, no chance of
defense whatsoever. It probably was something like this that should have
happened when I was facing deathlords Shai and Renno, had they not been toying
with me.

Yet again the guard approached me, but instead
of killing me, he sheathed the sword and took the pouch from his waist.

"Don't move, deathlord. You're my
prisoner. If you try anything, I'll kill you." His face had no anger, nor
bloodlust, just focus. He was doing his job and I was just garbage to be thrown
away.

Becoming a prisoner again was not my thing, and
I wondered what would happen if I killed myself. Would be resurrected in this
city, in Ter'nodril or in the crater where the prison had been?

"Stop!" Someone yelled. The guard
obeyed, now holding something that looked like thick black shackles, and we
both looked at the direction of the yell.

A young vampire was coming down the corridor.
He had a black collar on his neck but unlike the other slaves, he was wearing
an expensive-looking silk Grecian robe in blue and green.

"You have no power here, Eternal, the
slave," said the guard.

"The First Lord has ordered me to bring
his guest to a meeting."

"His guest attacked me and is now a
prisoner-"

He never completed the phrase. He took an arrow
to the knee and dropped on the ground beside me like a sack of potatoes. His
eyes were open and he was trembling a little, but he didn't move beyond that.

I looked at the direction of the arrow and I
saw Tardas there, his beautiful white longbow in his hand. The impressive
thing, though, was that there were at least ten other guards unconscious around
him. They all came at the call? That's a fast response if I ever saw one.
Are they dead?

"You," he said as he pointed at a
ghoul slave nearby. "Find me the First Lady." The slave hurried away.
He looked at me. "Who attacked first?"

I swallowed. "Me."

Did the ghoul's face become even angrier?

"Why?"

"He was being annoying."

Yup, definitely angrier.

"How?"

"He called me a liar when I said I was the
First Lord's guest. Then he called me a coward."

He relaxed at that. "Good." He looked
at the young vampire. "Mister Eternal, may I ask you to accompany mister
Thorn to the First Lord's quarters?"

"Of course, Tardas." He approached
and offered me his hand to help me from the floor. I healed myself three times
before going with him. I could feel Tardas' gaze on my back until we turned a
corner.

"So, I'm Jack." We began to walk.

"I'm Eternal." He had short brown
hair and a chubby body. "You are lucky I got there when I did."

"Yeah, tell me about it. I didn't expect
the guard to be that strong. My damn luck to find some elite guard like
that."

He laughed. "They are only recruits and
you were lucky. A regular would never have stopped because a slave said
so."

"A recruit? Holy cow. What do these people
eat?"

"Blood," Eternal said with a kind of
sinister smile on his lips. "Do you want," he said as we got close to
my room, "to get a change of clothes?"

"Nope." This time, I was the one with
the sinister smile. "Let Marbareus see how close I was to death, saved
only by his summons. He'll never forgive himself."

He looked at me alarmed. "What do you
mean?"

"Didn't he tell you? The guy hates my
guts. If I had died fighting a guard without Marbareus' knowledge, he would
probably promote the guard and decree a national holiday or something. Hell,
even Tardas was right there fighting other guards, supposedly to help me, but
letting me handle the fight all the same. It was a dream come true for
Marbareus."

"Oh." His shoulders fell.

"Don't worry, dude," I gave him a pat
on the back. "You were only obeying your orders. It's usually not good to
take a dead guest to a meeting, so you did your best."

"You really think he won't blame me?"
He was coy.

"Sure. Even Tardas was also willing to
help me after you intervened. If anything, Marbareus is now in a stronger
position to get rid of me."

At least the fight had put my head back in the
right place. I couldn't do anything about my mother's slavery system in real
life; I had found my own freedom by running away from home and joining local
gangs. But I sure as hell wouldn't run away from slavery in Valia.

I'd grow stronger and kill every damn slaver I
found.

We walked in silence the rest of the way.
Golden metal double doors – probably gold – with blue and green details and
lots of carved magic circles of multiple colors protected Marbareus' quarters.
They opened by themselves and his voice came from within.

"Jack Thorn, a man calls you a liar and a
coward, and you decide it's best to show him you are neither of those, but a
complete idiot instead. I cannot think of a better way to prove this point than
to fight in bathrobes against a stronger opponent who is fully armored and
better armed." He had a smug smile in his face.
"Congratulations."

Man, I hate this vampire.

Jack
Thorn

Unbound
Deathlord

Legendary
Spotter, Hedge Wizard, Pioneer, Dark Archmage

Level
10

Hit Points:249
/ 275

Mana Points:535
/ 620

Stamina:190
/ 210

Attributes:

Strength:7

Agility:7

Dexterity:6

Constitution:8

Intelligence:14

Perception:6
+ 10 [Items]

Willpower:9

Charisma:7

Traits:

Adept Mage:11
+ 10 [Items]

Adept Controller:11

Energizer:3

Diviner:2

Gold Digger:2

Scavenger:2

Antimage:1

Athlete:1

Crafter:1

Healer:1

Meditator:1

Mind Seer:1

Negotiator:1

Nitpicker:1

Shadow:1

Warrior:1

14. Mister Big Heart

'Only call your enemies on their lies at
the most damaging moments.'

- Mother

"You always lacked
imagination, Marbareus. I, for instance, cannot think of a better way of
proving one's complete idiocy than by simply being you."

His smiled widened; he was aware of his victory
in our little war of words.

Marbareus' room was spacious, had paintings on
the walls and a big golden dragon sculpture in the center. Marbareus was
sitting at an expansive wooden desk, which had open books and papers all over
it. Behind him, on the wall, a large map of what I supposed was the Underworld
hung with multiple marks and inscriptions.

Daggers was already there, looking at some of
the paintings. Well, at least I was reasonably confident that the Blackguard in
the room was her.

"I like this one," she said,
suddenly. "It shows how trapped the painter is in his own mind. The lack
of emotions at the same time he feels so conflicted at what he is feeling. The
anguish he shows is almost of someone imprisoned. It is a powerful scene."

It was so surreal listening to her speak so
many words at the same time that I took a few precious seconds of my time to
look at the abstract painting. There were a lot of colors mixed together in a
somewhat circular pattern. "Looks like a two year old was playing with
mama's brushes."

"I thank you for your kind words,
observer," Marbareus said. "I myself couldn't have described my
feelings when I painted this any better."

Eternal shifted uncomfortably where he was
standing and I smiled.

"Ha! That's funny because you don't have
feelings."

He ignored me. "Sit down, all of you. I'll
reveal my plans." We did. "As you know, there's an ongoing war
between vampires and deathlords. It's a small and petty war and it's bound to
end soon with some reparations and some territory conquered, like all wars
since Dakar became a joint country.

"The firebound, waterbound, and airbound
deathlords have an alliance, and they are the only ones fighting about seven of
the seventeen vampire clans. The deathlords are losing and information about
peace talks has already reached me. That is not for the best interests of the
Resistance.

"Taking down Dakar from the outside is
impossible. Geography and the combined power of deathlords, vampires and its
hundreds of thousands of slaves make Dakar too powerful. The best way to defeat
any big nation is from the inside. And like I just told you, much of Dakar's
power is thanks to slavery.

"Freedom propaganda for the slaves has
been spread for a few decades now. Even here, where the pains of war haven't
been as as strong because of the neutrality of my clan, and where the Prince is
known for being a strong supporter of magic studies to make slaves better
behaved, I have already heard of voiced dissatisfaction from some of the
slaves.

"Our main objective is an all-out war
between vampires, deathlords, and slaves, so the multiple Resistance members in
key positions can step up and make the war end in a convenient way. We'll use
the already existing war and make it even bigger. This is where Thorn and
Eternal come in."

"Why this war? Why not any other?" I
asked.

He looked annoyed at me for the interruption.
"Because it is one sided. A war between balanced powers tends to end, but
a war where one side thinks it's possible to gain so much, and the other side
fights for hatred of being betrayed... That is a war that goes all the way to
the end and changes worlds.

"The deathlords in the alliance have
already lost all their outer territories. Granted, the Outer Circle territories
are not well guarded, but it is still an unprecedented blow, and there is
already talk of a power hungry minority in the vampires pushing for the army to
breach the Inner Circle."

"What about the slaves?" My voice
came out with much more venom than I intended. "Are you against
slavery?" I asked.

He smiled. "Eternal?"

"The First Lord is known for his mercy.
Tardas and I are examples; there aren't any better treated slaves in all Dakar.
But maybe you would listen more carefully to me if you knew I'm a Traveler."

For some reason, the world 'Traveler' in the
chat log was highlighted.

"What? A Traveler slave?"
Wait, I didn't try to say 'Traveler', I tried to say 'player.' "I mean, a Traveler.
Traveler. What the hell?"

Marbareus held a hand up. "I know you
Travelers are forbidden by the Destiny Spirits to call yourselves anything
different, and to reveal anything about your origin world. They told our
leaders about an incident and the new rules were applied after that."

"Well, I didn't know about that. It
sucks."

Marbareus raised an eyebrow. "Weren't you
informed by your Destiny Spirit?"

I remembered the damn thing. Zenhit was its
name. I had met it when I was creating my character, just before appearing in
my prison cell.

It had looked down at me from the beginning,
saying things like I wouldn't survive and that my character was too ugly. Then,
it had told me how essential Destiny Spirits were and whatnot. That's when I
made a bet with it and tossed it out of my virtual life.

Forcing myself to forget about its existence
had been a Zen thing; finding peace of mind and stuff. "No. Let's say we
don't mix well."

"Jack Thorn not mixing well with someone?
What a great surprise." His tone was tired.

"What? And here I thought we were going
along so well."

"Not in your wildest dreams."

"Anyway, why would you travel in..."
I meant 'play'. "...as a slave? Why not receive another body?"
I meant 'create another character.' This was really upsetting. I didn't care
about the possible extra immersion to the players, I hated any and every kind
of censorship.

"I was going to. Until the First Lord saw
me and bought me. Now I train under his guidance and I'm treated better than
some of the vampire lords in the clan which enslaved me."

"I see. So Mister Big Heart there loves
all his playthings." I said sarcastically.

"Yes!" Eternal replied with a fervor
in his voice that was kind of scary; I was almost buying it. "You can even
ask the... The sex slaves. They love him." He blushed as he said that.

And that is when I became sure that Marbareus
was lying to Eternal. Poor idiot. "Can I, really?" I said
conversationally. "Well, let's do that, then. Why don't you call a sex
slave to talk to me, Marbareus, my old pal?"

He squinted his eyes. "It is a shame, but
I can't. The Destiny Spirits forbid Travelers to interact intimately with other
people without free will from both parties."

"Don't worry, we are only going to
chat."

"It matters not, I shall not risk-"

"How did Eternal talk to them, then?"

"I didn't," Eternal said. "But I
heard it from people I trust."

"I see. Well, it's settled, then. I guess
all Dakar- No, all the Underworld, owes Marbareus big thanks for how well he
treats his toys, even though no one can talk to them to confirm it."

"I don't like your tone, deathlord."
He said with murder in his voice.

"Good, I don't like your lies
either."

"You don't understand, Jack," said
Eternal in a pleading tone. "He treats me really well. And Tardas too.
Believe me, please."

After a few more seconds of staring at
Marbareus, I sighed. I couldn't do anything about it now, so I'd have to bide
my time. "Whatever. So, Mister Big Heart, pray tell, how are we going to
help you free all the slaves?"

"Through deception." Something you
know a lot about, it seems. "We need the neutral parties on both sides
to join the war. We are going to attack their people under the guise of the
opposing side: Eternal will show himself when we attack the deathlords and
leave a single witness, and you, Thorn, will show yourself when we do the same
to the vampires."

"Great plan, except I'm an unbound, dude,
and I've known some people who could tell it just by looking at me. A First
Lord included."

He squinted his eyes at me again. "Who-
How would you-" He closed his eyes. "It matters not, the witness are
going to be slaves or common guards."

"Okay. But that's your big plan? Really? I
have seen kids fights with better tactics."

His eyes were glowing slightly. "You will
obey, deathlord."

"Well, I guess you are the boss of
the Resistance in here, I have no choice but to go with it, do I?"

"No, you don't." He said that
gloomily as if searching for hidden meaning in my words.

Looks like we got a paranoid over here.

"When are the operations starting?"
Daggers asked.

"In three days. Until then, you are free
to do as you wish, as long as you are back here in time." He took a ring
and put it on the table, close to me. "This is an illusion ring that will
make you look like a vampire. It will not deceive any vampire lords or above if
they take a good look at you, but it will be enough to trick any merchants in
the city. Or outside it, should you decide to travel. No one besides the people
in the palace must know we are sheltering a deathlord, or our plans might
backfire."

Quest Series: Deception

[Obey the Resistance]

Help the Resistance spread the war to more
vampires and deathlords by executing false flag operations for Marbareus
Sophus.

Conditions:

» Cannot be denied

» Disobeying will lead to unfavorable
consequences

Quest: A Meeting

[Obey the Resistance – Deception]

F- rank

Meet Marbareus in his room at the Palace.

Time remaining:3 days, 4 hours, 48 minutes,
24 seconds

Conditions:

» Cannot be denied

» Disobeying will lead to unfavorable
consequences

Quest: Be a Vampire

[Obey the Resistance – Deception]

F- rank

Wear the Ring of Vampire Image from now on,
unless ordered otherwise or until completing the Deception quest series.

Not only that, but you must protect the secret
of being an unbound deathlord at all costs, except from those who have already
seen you.

Conditions:

» Cannot be denied

» Disobeying will lead to unfavorable
consequences

A quest series and two quests, but none of them
interesting. I took the ring, a simple silver one with yellow symbols all over
it, and put it on. I felt no different from my normal self.

Rare Ring of Vampire Image

Makes the wearer look like a vampire

"Whoa," Eternal said. I guessed the
ring was working.

"Anything else?" I asked.

"Yes." He stood up, his eyes shining.
"If you ever attack my household again, I will make you wish you were
dead."

"So cliché," I said as I stood up.
"The last people who said something along the lines of 'wishing I was
dead' to me are not doing well." I left the room without a care.

A change of clothes was due. I got to my room
and was pleased to see my stuff already there, all as good as new. I took a
quick shower to wash my blood off and put it on.

"Thorn," Daggers said as I entered
the corridor. She was coming from the next door, where Marbareus was.

"Yeah?"

"Where are you going?"

"No idea. Just sightseeing, I guess."

"I will go with you," she said
matter-of-factly. It annoyed me.

"Well, ok, you can come, thanks for
asking."

"I am an observer, I do not need to ask
for permission."

"You sound like a complete jackass. You'd
have made Marbareus proud."

"Jack!" I was about to resume walking
when Eternal also called me.

"Hey there."

"Are you going to see the city? I can show
you all the nice places."

"Great! Let's go."

He took the lead and we went to it.

* * *

Sorina was a small but busy city. Unlike
Ter'nodril, where all people seemed to only care about going to the temple – and
players about going to the tavern –, here there was actual commerce.

The Commerce District was a big square in the
city layout, a quarter of all the city, full of stores, and the only place
where stands were allowed in the streets. There wasn't the yelling one would
expect in such a setting, but lots of talk and bargaining.

Slaves were sold there, too. There were stores
for that and also platforms where the slaves were exposed in underwear. Ghouls
were the main... Merchandise, but there were also plenty of vampires and some
other species: goblins, pale dwarves, deathlords, ogres, gnolls, elves, humans,
beastmen, zombies, fishmen (in some kind of aquarium), a tentacle species, one
covered in fur, mermen, giants, and orcs and even some that appeared to be
mixed races.

"This place makes me sick," I said.

"You get used to it. And it's just a Valia
after all," Eternal said. He meant 'game.'

"Yeah, sure. Nothing wrong in getting used
to seeing people as property at all." He blushed a little and I left it at
that. "What about the drow? I don't see any."

"The drow are the only people in the
Underworld who officially forbid slavery," Eternal explained. "They
have their thralls and a few badly treated ogres, but that is all. If it
becomes known that someone has a slave drow – and that would be a feat, since
only Blackguards leave their country – then the drow declare an all-out war of
complete annihilation. See the tentacle monster over there? They once enslaved
a drow. Only the ones who were out of their country survived, and now all the
few remaining ones are slaves. No one even remembers what they were called,
they're simply the tentacle people now."

It explained why the Resistance was using the
drow – they were a reckless power. Military strength is all good, but a country
willing to use it to enforce their beliefs is a dangerous country, one you
would not want to mess with, even if they harbor your enemies.

"Well, things will change soon. I doubt
the Travelers..." Damn, I hate this censorship.
"...Will stay in the drow country without leaving. We're due for a few
wars, it seems."

"No, we are not considered real
drow," said Daggers.

"Huh? But aren't you even learning how to
become a Blackguard? I thought they were kind of an elite force or
something."

She shook her head. "We are accepted to do
anything a real drow can do, but the Faithful make it clear that we're not real
Sons of God. Some call us the Distant Cousins: people we do things for, and
usually treat well enough, but who are not really part of the family."

"No war over you being enslaved then, huh?
A shame, I was about to buy you a collar just to set the world on fire."

"I would kill you before you put a slave
collar on me." She said matter-of-factly.

"Ha. Big words for a tiny observer."

She didn't reply.

The Military District was a walled square as
big as the Commerce one. We were forbidden entry and Eternal explained not even
Marbareus had the power to allow us in; only the Prince could grant a slave or
foreigner entry to the Military District. Which sucked, since only the military
and the nobility could teach magic in the city, and I doubted I could trick a
vampire noble into teaching a deathlord some magic.

Entertainment and residences filled the
remaining half of the city. We ended our little tour in a high-class tavern
after Eternal said the magic words:

"I'm paying."

We sat at a small wooden table with cushioned
chairs and a personal waiter in classical looking leather clothes – if that's a
thing – a few meters away. The whole place was full of dark wood and the lights
were dim.

Some vampires were smoking cigars and it took
me a while to understand why the smell of the smoke was not bothering me: I was
not breathing. When I did breath, though, I discovered the smell was not bad,
but something like mint.

"Wood is really expensive in the
Underworld," Eternal explained the excess of wood in the tavern,
"there are no trees which can survive here. No one is sure why, since it's
possible to grow grass, flowers and other vegetables using the sun crystals.
But then, no one knows what the sun crystals are either."

"I see," I said. "And I guess
the surface world is really far away from here?" I took a sip from the
wine I had ordered. Not bad.

"Yes. Wood is worth more than gold. It
goes without saying that wood enchanted not to rot, like all this around us,
can be used to buy land."

"Huh? You speak as if it's
noteworthy."

"Oh, right. You are still thinking about
the outside world. This is a medieval world, and the Underworld
is even more... How can I say this? The power here is even more concentrated
than in the Surface, from what I hear and read on outside world boards."
I didn't understand that one and focused on the highlighted words. A tooltip
revealed he meant 'online forums.' "Land belongs to those in power and is
granted only temporarily for services provided."

"Like rent, only you use ass kissing as
currency."

"Well, yes," he said uncomfortably.

"Can't you buy some land? Or rent it for
money?"

"You could, but it is incredibly
expensive. You see, the people in power don't really need money, they can get
whatever they want by force. Unless you are bringing special resources from
outside or have skill sets that are better used if you aren't a slave."

"Special resources would mean wood. What
about the skill sets?"

"It could be a lot of things. Administrative
skills, for instance. A slave will not care as well for a household as a free
person who lives there by choice or for money. Or officers in the military. The
First Lord told me that they tried it, but more often than not a slave officer
would bide his time only to kill his whole company at the worst possible time
for his owner."

"Smart guys. Speaking-"

"If wood is that expensive," Daggers
said, interrupting me, "why does the fireplace in my guest room have
logs?"

Annoyed at being interrupted, I quickly
recovered the reins of the conversation. "For the same reason people buy
stuff on Earth for more money than it is worth: to show off. The nice
wooden chairs in the Resistance meeting make much more sense now, huh?
Anyway," I turned to Eternal, "speaking about First Lord, what's the
hierarchy here?"

"Let me see... What 'here' do you mean?
This city? The vampires? Dakar?"

"Well, I guess all of the above. I'm
completely ignorant."

He took a sip from his goblet of wine.
"Dakar is ruled by a Judecracy. I'd never heard the world, either. They
have a set of rules, like a constitution, the vampires and deathlords each have
three Grand Judges. Whenever there is a problem between both species, they
gather and discuss which is the correct solution according to the law.
Surprisingly, they agree more often than not."

"Two even numbered groups agreeing? Weird.
But what about the war that is going on?"

"From what I understand, wars are also
legal to an extent. Although the Grand Judges enforce peace treaties, if there
are any."

"Like a feudal society or something."

"I guess. The joint law is generally
adhered to, especially in mixed cities. But when a city has only one of the
species, it usually has its own set of rules. Theoretically, anyone could ask
for the Grand Judges to intercede, but those who do tend to die before their
cases can be adjudicated."

"I see."

"I'm not really sure about the deathlords
but on the vampires' side, everyone obeys the Father. Even the vampires Grand
Judges. But he understands the power balance better than most and when he
orders the judges to pressure a decision, he is always sure they can get away
with it. He is the most powerful vampire of all and not doing what he wants
means death for a vampire and war for the deathlords."

"So, unless the deathlords are willing to
start an all-out war over something, they would not face the Father directly.
Don't they have someone equally powerful?"

Eternal shrugged. "I heard they had a
woman, not as powerful as the Father, but capable of uniting the Deathlords in
common goals. But she retired to a prison or something and the deathlords have
been struggling ever since."

"I wonder who who she might be?" I
said quickly. Eternal just looked at me confusedly. "Sorry. Go on."

"Under the Father, there are the clans.
There were thirty-three originally but after thousands of years, only seventeen
remain. Each has a Prince – like the Sophus clan – or a Princess who governs it
with absolute power. Under him or her come the Vampire Lords, the nobility of
pure-blooded vampires."

"Wait, what do you mean by pure-blood?
Vampires are created by biting people, aren't they?"

"Not in Valia, I mean, not always. There
are the pure-blooded vampires, the direct descendants of the thirty-three
original clans, who are made the... Original way."

"Sex."

"Yes. But vampires are less fertile than
humans, and as much as they enjoy warmongering, that's why they don't overflow
the Underworld. The pure-blooded are the only ones who have any political
power. A pure-blooded will either be a vampire lord or someone important in the
military. Very few of them are put into slavery, that being the utmost offense
to a vampire family. Except when they are Travelers, it seems." He
touched his collar.

"Yeah, xenophobia is a big thing in the
Underworld. But what about the First Lord?"

"I'm getting there. The Vampire Lords are
powerful, but they are not in line to become a Prince. The Prince or Princess
of each clan names both a First Lord and a First Lady. These two struggle for
political power, seeking support among the Vampire Lords, and should the Prince
or Princess die, the First Lord and the First Lady fight to the death for the
position as the new head of the clan. Civil war is common in such cases."

"Wait, what? Wouldn't that weaken the
clan?"

"Yes. That's also something that the First
Lord wants to change. It's a waste of our people." I took note of the way
he said 'our' people. "At least Princes and Princesses live for a very
long time. Umbrus, the current Prince, has governed for almost three hundred
years now and unless we get into a war that forces him to fight he's not likely
to die anytime soon."

"I see." And I did. It seemed mister
Big Heart had a lot more to win in an all-out war in Dakar then he let on, but
I guessed Eternal wouldn't want to hear about it.

"And do you know anything about
magic?"

His face brightened. "Sure! I'm a
mage!"

"What, really? That's great! Me too!"

"I'm fire and water, what about you?"

"Darkness, death and fire."

"Three elements, isn't that a little too
much? What about the spread penalty?"

"The what?"

"Spread penalty. You know, when you get
more than two magic elements, you need ten intelligence points for each. Ten
intelligence for three elements, twenty for four and so on. If you don't, you
get- Wait a second, if you don't know about that, does it mean you have more
than ten intelligence points?"

"I guess."

"Whoa. I have been training directly under
the First Lord and I'm still on nine intelligence points. How did you even get
that high?"

"Well, you know, a little of fighting here
and there. Maybe the First Lord is holding out on you?" His face darkened
and I decided to add a little flourish. "You know, because he doesn't want
to let go of you." The dark mood on his face became a happy blush.

"No, he wouldn't do that. He is a First
Lord and having stronger people, including slaves, is better for him."

Unless it isn't. Unless he is afraid you
could wreck him if you got too strong, too quickly, without proper time to make
it seem as if you owe him big time.

I stopped my line of thoughts. Politics, again.
Better to change the topic.

"I see. Makes sense, I guess. So, where
can a man get some monsters to kill around here?"

He shrugged. "I don't know."

"Wait, what? You never hunted monsters in
the Valia?"

"I have!" He said too quickly.
"Sometimes the First Lord brings me to the basement where he has a- A big
mean monster waiting for me to kill."

The pause was not subtle. He was probably
killing rats. "Great! Then come with us. Daggers and I are going to find
ourselves some monster subjugation quest and have some fun."

"We are?" Daggers asked.

"Sure, you said you were coming with me.
Don't tell me you are afraid?" I goaded.

"No." She said simply, but there was
a little fire on her tone.

"Good." I turned to Eternal and he
was visibly about to make up an excuse to not go. "If the girl is not
afraid, it's our duty as powerful, honorable, bold, and manly men not to fall
behind. Let's go!" I gulped the remaining wine in my cup and went to the
door. They followed.

Quest: Help Production Cave 4

B rank

Gabats have been attacking livestock in
Production Cave 4.

The guards can deal with the attacks, but the
Prince has forbidden them to pursue investigation, claiming it might be a trick
aimed at provoking the Sophus clan into war – something that should not be
allowed over a few livestock, but would be inevitable over the lives of his
valuable soldiers.

Gabats are known for having kings and, when a
king is lost, it takes them some time before a new one arises.

You must find the king of the gabats and kill
it.

Conditions:

» Kill the king of the gabats

» Bring proof of the deed

It took us half an hour to find a guard with a
quest, but we finally did. He was a common guard coming from outside the city
and told us he was just coming from the production cave. He was sure the First
Lady, also known as the Captain of the Guard, would be happy if we took care of
the gabats problem for her.

Even though it was B ranked, I was confident we
could handle it. I had, after all, done a B- ranked quest by myself when I had
killed the spider queen. What were the odds that I would find another boss who
could summon a zombie army?

I mean, according to the guard, gabats were
only giants bats. Which meant no silk spitting like the giant spider and easier
times ahead.

We stopped by Eternal's room – a guest room
just like mine and Daggers' –, for him to put his mage robe on, by our room so
that Daggers could pack some food under her cloak – probably a concealed
backpack –, and we went for it.

Eternal provided me with a Worn
Sun-Crystal-Resistant Cloak, a light gray one, almost white, its purpose was to
prevent the harmful effects the sun crystals had on undead. He showed surprise
when I said I had walked by the crystals for half an hour without going
unconscious and I called Marbareus names as I did so.

The crystal forest was much more beautiful when
I wasn't in pain, but the big crystals made it difficult to see what lay ahead.
Thankfully, Eternal knew the way to the cave and I was liking the gullible guy
more and more. He led us through a kind of maze made by the larger crystals and
after only ten minutes of walking we arrived at a chamber entrance protected by
a group of five vampire guards and no less than fifty ghoul slaves.

The vampires were in full plate armor with the
usual blue cloak and had both swords and crossbows. The ghouls had only leather
armor on and were clearly suffering because of the crystals, making it clear
that they were there only to be a flesh wall and provide distraction should an
enemy appear.

"State your business," one of the
vampires ordered, and it was weird when his hostility was directed not towards
me, but towards Daggers.

He can't see through my illusion, huh?

"We are here to investigate the gabats
attacks," Eternal said.

The guard relaxed. "About time, not even
these ghouls deserve to be sacrificed to the damn beasts. I heard they keep you
alive for days so you can recover your blood enough for them to suck more of it
out of you."

Said the humanitarian vampire.

The quest updated with the new information and
I frowned. What sacrifice was he talking about? Better not to ask, since he
could deny us entry and after almost dying at the hands of the recruit
guard, I was pretty confident of my death should I attack five non-recruit
ones.

It didn't take long for the answer to present
itself, though. We passed through the entrance and found ourselves in a big
chamber full of plantations and livestock. There were still big sun crystals
here and there on the floor, providing a nice illumination together with the
crystals on the walls and ceiling, but the smaller ones had been completely
cleared. Metal structures – small houses, barns, and fences, mainly – were
scattered through the place.

Beacows were the main livestock, followed by a
species that looked like a mix of giraffe and elephant and some giant cats. The
plantations had multiple vegetables, not all of them looked like stuff from
Earth.

Ghoul slaves were everywhere, and so were
vampires who managed the former using whips. In the middle of the cave, tied to
high stakes and still alive, were ten ghouls.

"Holy shit, is it what the quest calls
'dealing with the attacks'?"

"They are surely criminals," Eternal
said defensively.

"So what, they deserve to be tied and
sacrificed to some big monster just because they didn't do what the very just
and wise vampire slavers told them to do?"

He shrugged. "For all we know, they might
be murderers and rapists."

"Great argument. Why don't we go and find
out?" I started walking towards the center of the cave when a big shadow
passed over us.

"Bats!" Multiple people yelled, and
as one every worker in the cave threw themselves to the floor. Believing the
wisdom of the natives, I did the same.

Gabats were not the slightly oversized bats I
had expected. They were really giant – two to three meters long – and scary.
They were black, hairy and instead of having arms and wings in a single
structure, they had huge wings on their backs and four brawny arms. Instead of
common bats heads, they had wolves ones.

There were five of them and they all wore black
scaled armor and had four swords sheathed on their waists.

B ranked quest my ass, I doubt we can fight
two of the damn things head on.

They didn't even look around, going directly to
the stacks. Each of them bit a ghoul's head off, swallowed it in a gulp then
put their big mouths on the neck stump, from where they drank all the blood
from the ghouls' bodies like a straw.

Bat-wolves using neck straws. Valia could be
weird at times.

The other ghouls in the stacks were screaming
by then, but the big monsters just ignored them until they finished. Then, each
one of them took a sword, cut the binding of the remaining ghouls, grabbed them
and flew away.

Only the headless and bloodless corpses of the
five ghouls remained to tell the story.

"Care to review your opinions?" I
asked Eternal after the bewilderment left me.

"Better them than hard-working
people," he said weakly.

As if the game was trying to prove him wrong – which
it might well be for all I knew – one of the whip holding vampires nearby
pointed to exactly ten ghouls saying. "Him, him, him..." They tried
to run, but the other ghoul slaves took them by force. The targeted ones
screamed and cried in despair.

"Better them than me, I guess," I
whispered and this time Eternal didn't offer an excuse.

The path the gabats had taken was pretty
straightforward, directly to a hole in the chamber wall, some ten meters above
the ground.

"Let's go," I said. "Damn bats
aren't going to kill themselves for us."

"Are you crazy?" Eternal protested.
"Didn't you see them? They are huge! And armed!"

"So? You expected them to be tied and
waiting for us to finish them?"

"No!" He said too quickly.

"Don't worry, bro, I'm not suicidal; I
also don't think we can complete the quest. But we must at least try. We've
never fought together, so maybe little Daggers here will prove herself a very
badass fighter and make our lives easier," I said sarcastically.

"But... What if we die?"

"Relax, man. This is a Valia, so
I'm pretty sure we will find a few of the beasts alone first so we can test our
strength. Plus, you will be the one in the back, being a pure mage and all. If
anything happens, you'll be the first out of the cave. Ok?"

He sighed. "Okay."

"Good. Let's go, Daggers."

"Are you sure?" Was all she asked.

"Yep. Trust me, I know what I'm
doing!"

"Famous last words," Eternal mumbled
to himself as he followed.

Jack
Thorn

Unbound
Deathlord

Legendary
Spotter, Hedge Wizard, Pioneer, Dark Archmage

Level
10

Hit Points:249
/ 275

Mana Points:535
/ 620

Stamina:190
/ 210

Attributes:

Strength:7

Agility:7

Dexterity:6

Constitution:8

Intelligence:14

Perception:6
+ 10 [Items]

Willpower:9

Charisma:7

Traits:

Adept Mage:11
+ 10 [Items]

Adept Controller:11

Energizer:3

Diviner:2

Gold Digger:2

Scavenger:2

Antimage:1

Athlete:1

Crafter:1

Healer:1

Meditator:1

Mind Seer:1

Negotiator:1

Nitpicker:1

Shadow:1

Warrior:1

15. Cat Theory

'Trust no one.'

- Mother

We bought a rope and a
pickaxe from a vampire in the fields and got to the cave without problem.

Once there, Daggers climbed first after a quick
check of our dexterity. We didn't go ahead and spill out exact numbers, but she
claimed hers was higher than ten, which was almost double mine.

I took the time to rest and restore my HP and
MP, then created two fireball morbs, a death one, and a darkness one; fireball
morbs were 30 MP morbs intended to be used for level three fireballs. When we
finally got to the cave entrance, we saw a tunnel, large enough for of us to go
side by side if we so desired and at least three times my height.

"So, Daggers, who goes first? Are you any
good defending yourself?"

"I am, but I am better focusing on
attack."

"Okay. I go first and tank the
enemies." Tanking enemies was RPG speak for the guy who took the enemies
hits so other people with less HP or worse defense could attack without worry.
"You go second and attack as soon as you get in position, and Eternal
go-" I stopped mid-sentence when a strong light illuminated the cave much
further and brighter than my fire morbs.

Eternal had cast Fire of Revelation, the spell
which created a small flame for lighting purposes. I looked at him in
disbelief. "You can't see in the dark?"

"No," he said ashamed.

"Okay, whatever. Just put the flame as far
ahead of you as you can and try not to make yourself a target." He obeyed
and the flame went two meters ahead of him. "You know what, I'm not going
to be able to cast many spells since I'm the tank. Let me take care of the light,
you just focus on attacking."

Fire of Revelation. One of my fire morbs became a floating flame and I put it a little
above and ahead of me. Eternal dispelled his own spell and walked with two fire
morbs and a water one; apparently, he could only have three.

Well, I could have four, so I created a fourth
one again. Or at least tried to. The moment I focused on the pain of my bitten
tongue to create the morb, a new message appeared on the bottom left log.

Active magic limit (4) reached

Crap. Having an
active spell prevented me from creating a morb. It made sense to prevent
abuses, but I didn't have to like it.

"Any of you knows how to create a party in
this world?"

"No," they said in unison. "But
I can do a quick travel out to check," Eternal completed.

"Good idea. We'll wait."

"Okay."

Instead of fading out, his body simply froze.

"Huh? Why isn't he fading out?" I
asked Daggers.

"Safe zone."

"Care to elaborate?"

"Did you not get a popup message about it
the first time you traveled out?"

"I'm on a Dreamer, I never travel out."

"Oh. That's sad."

"Huh?"

"No one cares enough about you to force
you out of the game. I am sorry." Strange thing is, she did sound sorry.

She phrased that in a strange way. I mean, what
about the fact that I didn't care enough about the real world to log
out? I wasn't interested in that discussion, though.

"So, safe zones?"

"When you play with a VirBridge..."
That's what the IR helmet was called. "...you get a status icon under the
health bar telling you if it is a safe zone. They are mainly inns, bedrooms and
so on."

After a few seconds waiting for her to go on, I
understood she was done speaking. "You are not very good at explaining
stuff, are you?"

"Not to people who do not know what to
ask."

Great, another player with an attitude.

I sighed and pointed at Eternal. "This is
what happens when people travel out outside of a safe zone? No
workarounds?"

"In an unsafe zone you must stay out of
combat for ten minutes before traveling out, or your body stays behind
until the requirements are met." She seemed to have stopped explaining
before adding information a few seconds later. "If there are enemies
nearby, if you get attacked, or if you attack anyone, the waiting time
resets." She gestured with her head to Eternal. "I would never trust
you with my body that way." She meant 'character', but 'body' was a
good substitute word.

That made me raise an eyebrow. "What?
Why?"

She didn't answer.

"No, I mean it. What did I ever do to you
to be untrustworthy?"

"You are too childish."

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

"You really do not know?"

"If I did I wouldn't ask, would I?"

"This is exactly what I am talking about.
You are always attacking, provoking others for no reason, and making jokes with
very bad timing. You are a big child."

I knew what she was doing: she was trying to
make me feel inferior to her. First, with the 'no one cares about you' speech
disguised as if she cared about me; and now with 'you're a child' one.

After handling lots of psychologists in my life
who could really mess with one's head, and some women who tried to do exactly
what she was doing, her kindergarten psychology tactics didn't get even close
to affecting me.

So, I showed her she had chosen the wrong guy
to try that with. I smiled and winked to her. "Don't worry, Daggers. I
like the way your ass is outlined in that cloak. You don't need to try to get
my attention with all these words."

She didn't answer and we waited in silence
until Eternal came back with the requested information a few minutes later.
Since I was the one who had gathered our merry group for the quest, it was
agreed that I should be the party leader.

Party create, I
thought.

Party created

You have created your first party!

Parties are groups of people who unite for a
common goal.

The main benefits of a party are:

» Free mind communication between the members

» Easy loot sharing

» Seeing the party members' data

» Seeing the party members' location in your
map, if you have one

Current loot policy: round robin

"Wait, we can have maps in the game? The
kind that automatically draw your surroundings and you can see easily in the personal
vision?" I meant 'user interface'.

"Don't even think about it, these maps are
worth as much as enchanted wood in the Underworld. They are also forbidden;
even if you get your hands on one, there are high-level NPCs who will kill you
for it. I heard they'll do so even if you start drawing a map on a common piece
of paper and get discovered"

"Oh." That was disappointing; an
automatic map would really make things easier. Maybe that's why the high-level
NPCs didn't want everyone to have one in the Underworld: here there was no high
mountain or something you could climb to see your surroundings, so geographic
information was extra valuable.

After a quick talk, we agreed that a round
robin policy for loot was best. That way we would take turns receiving any
items the enemies dropped.

Add members to party, I thought while thinking about Daggers and Eternal.

A 'waiting for confirmation' message appeared
and shortly Eternal and Daggers HP, MP and stamina bars appeared in my vision,
right under my own bars. I checked Eternal's first.

Eternal (level 7)

HP: 170 / 170

MP: 290 / 320

Stamina: 153 / 155

It seemed that Marbareus was really messing
with the guy's growth. I checked Dagger's next.

Daggers (level 10)

HP: 235 / 235

MP: 125 / 125

Stamina: 207 / 210

Daggers, on the other hand, looked like a
highly specialized character. Constitution affected HP and stamina, still, she
had lower HP than me while having higher stamina, which meant that the
secondary attribute affecting stamina – willpower – had to be high. Together
with the high dexterity she had informed us about before, my guess was that she
was an agile-type warrior, like an assassin or something.

I was more of a jack of all trades, even though
I favored magic. Playing alone without mentors, I had to be prepared to do
anything the game demanded of me.

Another interesting thing was that the names on
the status bars were the ones I had in mind when I thought about both people,
not their full names. Well, at least not Daggers; for all I knew Eternal's full
name was just that: Eternal. Did it mean people could lie about their names and
still get into a party?

"Wow, so much MP," Eternal said.

I ignored him, held my shield – which was still
attached to my left arm – in front of me, crouched a little to make myself a
smaller target, and started to walk; my sword was firmly held in my other hand.
"Let's go."

Thus the exploration began.

"Stop!" Daggers yelled into my mind a few steps later.

"What?" I turned to her while still
walking.

The world turned upside down as the big
explosion deafened me. My body hit the ceiling and then hit the floor. Fire
covered engulfed me.

200 fire + 50 burn damage received

HP: 25 / 275

Status effect received: Legless (level 1 –
max)

Until you are magically healed, you:

» Will have no legs

Status effect received: Grossly Open
Wounds (level 50 – max)

Until you are magically healed:

» -50 HP per second

Status effect removed: Grossly Open Wounds

You have discovered a new way of
removing an Open Wounds status effect.

Status effect received: Slightly Dazed
(level 1)

For 1 minute, 59 seconds, you:

» Cannot see properly

» Cannot move property

The pain was sharp and made me scream, but it
was not nearly as bad as losing my legs should have felt, I guessed. The worst
was the blurred world around me.

I tried to heal myself, but more pain found me.

Spell Disrupted: 18 pure damage received

HP: 7 / 275

Shit. Spells
couldn't be cast while dazed. I had forgotten that.

<Thorn! Thorn, sir!> Daggers was screaming in my mind. <Don't move, don't do
anything! Thorn! Thorn, sir! Don't move-> She kept repeating that. Being
screamed at while in pain was not a fun experience.

<Alright, alright! Stop screaming!>

She did. I could see her and Eternal's shadows,
but it was all very blurred and darker than I remembered; my Flame of
Revelation had gone out too.

I closed my eyes but the world didn't stop
spinning until the countdown on the dazed status effect was out. I just grunted
in pain all the while.

When it finally stopped, I opened my eyes and
sat as best as I could. I was legless alright. The very short stumps I now had
were sealed on the bottom, cauterized by the fire.

Some new way of removing Open Wounds status
that was.

"Are you alright?" Eternal asked.

<Do not speak, it may attract unwanted
attention, especially after the explosion." Daggers said in the mind
chat.>

<Sorry.>

<I'm okay,> I said, holding my grunts of
pain. I moved my stumps and it was a really weird thing for me. <I gotta
say, having no legs gives you a very different take on people who go through
it.>

<How so?> Eternal
asked.

<Dunno, it's weird. It's as if a part of you
is missing. Not just physically. I feel incomplete somehow. And in pain. A lot
of pain.">

I healed myself. As soon as the death morb
touched my body, my legs faded into existence, but my pant legs and boots
didn't. Almost five gold coins gone in the blink of an eye.

Getting up, I saw the floor where I had stepped
only had a small crater.

<They could show the ground damage better
than that,> I said. <I mean, there was a lot of damage.>

<Look closer, sir,> Daggers said. I did and saw that at the bottom of the hole, buried
in the ground, was a metal plate shining with blue symbols.

<What is this?>

<Foresight, sir. Whoever put this trap here
only wanted to kill intruders, not collapse the tunnel.>

<Can I light a flame and see?> Eternal asked. I cast a Fire of Revelation and Eternal got closer. <Looks
like water magic to me.> He created a water morb to make a point. The color
was very similar.

<So, Daggers, feel like taking the lead
until we find some monsters?>

<Negative, sir. That would have killed
me.>

She had a point. I had been ridiculously lucky.
<But->

<I will stay close by, sir.> She
interrupted my protest. <Stop when I tell you to. Immediately.>

<Or we can leave this dungeon,> Eternal suggested.

Dungeon was game-speak for the places where a
player went to kill monsters or find items. They usually had weaker monsters
and weaker traps first.

If a two-hundred and fifty damage trap was the
weakest of the traps, this wouldn't be a walk in the park.

But there was no way in hell I'd admit defeat
this early.

<Don't let me die, Daggers.> I walked.

<Stop!> She said
a few meters ahead. This time, I froze midair.

She passed by me and knelt a few centimeters
ahead. Then she took a very thin and very long knife from inside her cloak and
meddled with a flat rock on the ground. As hard as I tried, I couldn't see
anything.

A few seconds later there was a 'click' sound
and she stood up. <It's safe now.>

<Why didn't I see it? Isn't my perception
high enough?> I asked.

<If you can see me in stealth mode, your
perception level should high enough, sir. But in this world you also
need the right traits, skills, and to pay attention to your surrounds for
things related to perception. I would wager you never saw a trap before, did
you?>

<Nope.>

Now that I thought about it, the lack of traps
in the prison was strange. Unless, of course, Renno had been even more arrogant
than she had seemed, which in a way was an amazing accomplishment. When I
thought about the expensive wooden double doors on the prison entrance, it made
a lot of sense.

We kept walking and Daggers stopped us to
disarm traps a few more times.

<How strong are the traps?> I asked.

<I do not know, sir. I only see and deal
with the trigger, going beyond that can be very dangerous.>

For lack of information, I had to believe her
to some extent, but I still wondered if she was keeping something to herself.

I mean, if a trap could've blown me to pieces,
telling me that wouldn't exactly encourage me to act as a meat shield.

<What's up with this 'sir' thing
anyways?>

<You are party leader, sir. It is only
proper.>

This was a girl who got into character.

We kept moving, me feeling very awkward for the
half-destroyed pants and lack of boots, and it didn't take long for us to find
ourselves our very first gabat. And five more.

They were in a small cave chamber with the
remains of a bonfire in the middle. Three beacows were to the side, locked in a
crude metal fence; one of the gabats was there, licking blood from a cut on the
side of the animal. The gabat's tongue was huge and the meekness of the wounded
beacow as it had its blood consumed was disconcerting.

Four of the other gabats were sleeping, curled
together on the floor the opposite the beacows.

The last one was standing on a kind of small
platform, its wings covering its body as if they were a cloak, its eyes open.

Looking straight at me.

I had just turned a corner in the tunnel and
was seeing the scene from a little outside the cave chamber. This close the
gabats were even scarier, especially the wolf head and the three meters'
height. Oh, and the four sturdy arms that seemed as if they could crush me with
ease.

It made me freeze for a few seconds.

<What is wrong, sir?> Daggers asked.

<Gabats.>

<How many, sir? What is their equipment? How
distant? Give us a proper report.> She seemed highly annoyed.

<Six. Four sleeping, one distracted eating
and one – the closest to me, about ten meters away – looking right at me. They
all seem pretty much naked except for some tattered clothes covering the
necessities. Except the one looking at me, it's hiding its body with its
wings.>

<What do you want to do, sir?>

<Not sure. Suggestions?>

<I can try to sneak up on them, sir. Perhaps
their perception is not high enough.>

My mental gears ground into action. If I
considered them just another street gang who I wanted to beat up, I might come
up with some not entirely stupid tactics.

<Maybe. But only as a test to check it. Even
if you killed it stealthily, it might alert the others and you would be
screwed. Walk ahead slowly until either it sees you or you get a meter from it,
then come back.>

<Roger, sir.>

Roger? What was she, role-playing as a
commando?

Eternal let out a gasp and soon enough I saw a
translucent Daggers walk past me. When she got a little ahead of me, the
gabat's stare turned to her.

<Well, worth a try.>

<What do we do now, sir?>

<We could try to bait it away from the
chamber, but I can't think of a way to do so without alerting the other one
who's not sleeping.>

<Nor can I, sir.>

<Me neither,>
said Eternal.

<Another way would be attracting them to the
traps,> I said.

<Hell no! That's a very stupid idea.>
Eternal raised his mental voice.

<I agree with him, sir.>

I did too. With my luck, I would just trip and
fall into the trap.

<Luring them to this tunnel it is, then. Two
is better than six, at least.> I took a copper coin from my coin pouch.
<Eternal, step a little further away. You too, Daggers, get right back on the
corner, out of view. I'll retreat to you soon.>

Aiming the best I could, I threw the coin at
the gabat.

It hit him and the eating gabat looked at the
almost inaudible sound and then at me; it hit the ground and all four sleeping
gabats woke up and did the same chain of looks. Then the standing gabat opened
his jaws and howled.

As one all the other five gabats came at me,
their growls terrifying. I used the opportunity to test my magic on the nearest
one.

16 darkness damage dealt to Almost Naked
Gabat

The dark liquid seemed to be absorbed by the
hairy hide of the beast and the fifty percent darkness resistance confirmed it.
It seemed darkness magic would not be very useful in the Underworld except for
the darkvision it provided.

80 death damage dealt to Almost Naked
Gabat

Death magic worked the same way as always: the
dark gray smoke tried to cover as much as possible of the target's body and
made the area's color lighter as it passed through.

86 fire damage dealt to Almost Naked Gabat

And fire was fire. It created a small
explosion, slightly slowing the gabat, and the fire expanded as much as
possible, filling the air with the smell of burnt hair. Sadly, the beast hide
seemed to prevent it from taking extra burn damage, but it was still the best
thing I had.

More important than the visual effects of the
game, though, was a single fact: the damn bat had taken a hundred and
eighty-two damage and was still coming.

I took a few steps back, going around the
corner, and raised my shield high, feeling more anxious each second. Their
growls were filling the entire cave and they ran slower than I expected – maybe
because they had bat feet and not lupine ones.

After I had created two extra fire morbs, the
first gabat appeared and I threw fireballs at it. If finally died, three
hundred and fifty-four damage received.

Its body was removed by one of his pals and
another one appeared before I could even create another morb. I hoped the damn
thing hit weakly.

Its four-fingered hands – strange the things
you sometimes pay attention to in a fight – had sharp nails and it slashed at
me fast, but not quickly enough to keep me from defending in time.

12 shock damage received from Almost Naked
Gabat

HP: 263 / 275

For once my expectations had been met. I thrust
my sword and... The gabat dodged. Shit. Then it attacked again.

10 shock damage received from Almost Naked
Gabat

HP: 253 / 275

Again I tried to hit it with my sword and again
I failed.

<Get down, you are in the way!> Eternal yelled in my mind.

I obeyed as I defended yet another attack for
extra ten points of damage and something hot flew over my head. Eternal's
fireball struck the beast in the chest for laughable forty points of damage.
Only three hundred and freaking fourteen to go.

As I prepared to attack and be dodged again, something
happened. A shadow moved from behind me to the beast. I heard the sound of three very
rapid thrusts, then the shadow leapt back behind me.

[Daggers] 120 (40 x 3) piercing damage
dealt to Almost Naked Gabat

HP: 194 / 354 <?>

The gabat whimpered and I used its distraction
to finally hit it.

49 slash damage dealt to Almost Naked
Gabat

HP: 144 / 354 <?>

Its hide was hard. Hard enough to
decrease my damage by about twenty percent. And Daggers had pierced through it
like it was nothing.

<Feel free to do that again anytime!> I
mind yelled.

<Cooldown!>

Unlike magic – at least the magic I had been
able to do until now –, physical skills could, and usually had a period between
usages: a cooldown time.

<How long?>

<Ten seconds!>

I began to suspect this fight would not go as
well as I had thought.

<Dammit, Jack, stay down!> Eternal mind yelled at me and I obeyed. A new fireball flew over me
and I blocked another attack.

My stamina was draining fast – one-quarter was
already gone – and I stopped trying to attack. Two more attacks of the beast
later, a new fireball flew over my head. Three new blocks and a last fireball
later, it finally died.

From the corner, the hands of a fellow gabat
took the body away and soon enough there was a new one before me. The bit of
good news was that I had had time to create a new fire morb and that its likely
max HP had been updated to a little less: three hundred and twenty-four.

The battle followed the same script another two
times: I got attacked three times and Eternal threw a fireball at the gabat.
Until Daggers acted again for her hundred and twenty damage and I slashed the
damn beast to death.

Already expecting the respite of the gabat's
death, this time I was able to create two fire morbs before the new gabat
appeared and it took three fireballs as soon as it showed his face.

HP: 114 / 324 <?>

Even so, things were beginning to get a little
desperate. Daggers wouldn't have time to do her shadow thing on this one and
Eternal would make me take nine attacks before killing the damn thing.

<Daggers, can you tank the two after this
one?> I assumed the one who had been awake would
come after we had killed its pals.

<Negative!>

<C'mon! I can kill them a lot faster!>

<I do not have a shield!>

<I'll lend you mine, idiot!>

<Then, yes!>

<Stay sharp! When it dies I'll drop the
shield on the ground and fall back!>

<Roger!>

Just as I expected, the gabat had time to hit
me nine times before dying. I immediately dropped the shield and ran back
without checking if Daggers was doing as she had been told.

I didn't go far, though, only about two meters
away, and turned while creating fire morbs.

Things went much smoother. Not only did I add
eighty-six points of damage per second, but Daggers was also able to hit it
almost twice a second.

The gabat died much faster, in a storm of fire
and metal. The sixth beast didn't come, even though we were ready for it.

Daggers HP had gone down by a third by then,
but nothing like mine: I had thirteen HP left. If Eternal had taken half a
second more to kill the last gabat I had tanked, I would have died. For a
stupid quest in a stupid place.

"That was amazing!" Eternal said
excitedly. "Did you see that?! We-"

<Shut up!> Daggers mind yelled. <Party
chat only!>

<Okay, sorry! But, man, that was so
incredible! We burned them! To death!>

<Yeah, buddy. Crispy bats.> I sat and began to heal myself. <Let's rest until we're full,
then go for the last guy. He's probably a mini boss or something.> Bosses
were the stronger monsters in an area or in a big group, like the spider queen
had been, and it was common for smaller groups to have mini bosses. <Which
magic element heals you, Daggers? Darkness or life?>

<Life, sir.>

<I can't help, then. I think we have to
redesign our strategy. You should tank first while I rain magic over the enemy,
then I take over. Doings things the way we did only makes you take extra hits
when we swap.>

<Negative,> she
said firmly without even taking a second to think about it.

Jackass.

<Well, then we better leave after we kill
the mini boss. If we find another group like this I don't want to be a hit away
from dying again, not for some spoiled girl who refuses to do what's better for
the group.>

<Guys-> Eternal
began, but Daggers raised a hand and stopped him.

<I am not a tank, sir, I am a damage
dealer.>

<Yeah, we saw that. Great damage.>

She shook her head. <I am an agile fighter,
sir, and it usually means I am better at close quarters. But our enemy is agile
too, therefore I need space to move around.> Her hands motioned at the
corridor. <In here I cannot dodge properly and I have to stay protected. As
a party leader, it is your responsibility to choose a battleground where your
party members can do their best.>

<What?! You trying to blame me?! I tanked
the most and I did the most damage to the damn monsters!>

She didn't sound impressed. <Of course you
did better than me, sir. You know how you fight, so you put yourself in an
optimal position in the battle. Do the same for me. That is a party leader's
job.>

<I'm trying to better the whole party's
tactics instead. I'm clearly a better damage dealer than you, so I should be
one dealing damage.>

<You are blind if you think that,
sir.>

Yep, definitely a commando. She was able to
sound just the right amount of disrespectful, but still dutiful enough that I
couldn't do anything about it as her 'superior'.

She and Tardas did make a great couple.

<Oh, really? Why don't we find it out, then?
What about a duel?>

<I do not need to prove myself to you, sir.
I will not take the shield unless you are about to die again, I've already
decided that. Do as you will with this knowledge.>

Crap. I punched
the ground to vent off some frustration. Women! The next few minutes
passed slowly in silence. Eternal was the only one who still seemed excited
about going on with the quest, so I decided to go on at least a little further
for him. If Daggers became excessively annoying to deal with, I'd call it a
day.

When we got back to work, in the same setup as
before, the gabat was still standing in the same place. Before deciding to tank
it, I chose to try and kill if from afar.

My first fireball flew straight at the gabat.
It tried to dodge, but I took advantage of the fact that neither Daggers nor
Eternal could see it, and made the fireball change paths midway, hitting the
gabat close to its head.

86 fire damage dealt to Forever Alone
Gabat

It opened its wings, revealing a scabbard on
its waist. It took the sword out – a very, very large one, bigger even than
Shai's had been – and held it with its four big hands. The reach of the thing
was such that I wouldn't be able to counter-attack the gabat.

It ran towards me.

I had time to create two or three morbs before
he got close enough, but this was a good opportunity to test Daggers.

<Eternal, Daggers, come on!> I ran to the gabat, my shield held high, throwing my two remaining
morbs at him as fireballs.

They hit, then the gabat hit me.

No sword that big should be able to move that
fast. It was not fast enough for me to have any difficulty defending, but still
faster than my dodge speed.

56 shock damage received

HP: 219 / 275

Holy crap! Why does everyone hit like trains
nowadays?

I felt my arm strain under the power of the
hit. Dropping the sword on the ground, I put my other hand on the shield to
assist on the next block.

Eternal's fireball flew over me but the gabat
dodged it. It didn't dodge Daggers attacks, though.

Again she passed by me like a shadow and thrust
her daggers three times total for a hundred and twenty damage. The gabat
whimpered like the others and tried to hit her, but she dodged it with a high,
graceful leap like a spring uncoiling. The sword passed under her and she put
her dagger to the gabat's leg, dealing thirty-five damage.

It didn't make any sound as it fell dead on the
ground.

<What the hell?! Why
didn't you do that acrobatics thing in the tunnel?>

<Like I said, sir,
there was no room for it in the tunnels.> She said as she cleaned her
daggers on the gabat's hide.

<But you just
jumped! You could jump in there too.>

<Yes, sir. But the other gabats did not have
swords. And even if they did, they couldn't have swung horizontally in
there.>

I wanted to argue back, but the damn girl had a
point. Which I would have seen if I wasn't so upset about her being so full of
herself. Now I felt like a blind idiot.

<By the way, sir,
this is a good way to kill loners. You deal preemptive damage, tank the first
hit and I can finish it.>

She didn't sound as if she was trying to make
peace, or even as if she was slightly annoyed at the near argument we had just
had. It seemed that to her it had all been simple questioning. It disarmed me
completely.

I sighed. For now, I would simply consider her
as a very exotic person. To continue fighting her would be stupid.

<Yeah. I'm
brilliant. You are pretty good yourself.>

<Convinced that I am
a better damage dealer, sir?>

A smile came to my face. So, she did have some
fire in there.

<Not even close. Let's check our loot.> We did, and after everything was split between us by the game
system, I got two gabat hides.

Eternal almost puked at the suggestion of removing
them from the corpses and Daggers had finished cutting her two while I was
still halfway on my first. She ended being named our official hide cutter.

Slightly Damaged Pawn Gabat's Hide

We discovered the gabats were named after chess
pieces. The ones without a sword were all pawns and the other one was a rook
gabat. On close examination the color of their pelts was of slightly different
shades, Daggers told us. They were equally black to me, so I just took her word
for it.

My two pawn hides went into my backpack.
Eternal produced a small purse from his purple mage robe. It had lots of laces
in its mouth and he took the time to open them all, expanding the mouth to a
ridiculous big size, before putting the hides and the sword inside. Daggers
produced a similar purse from her cloak.

The purses didn't get bigger as the items went
inside them and I recognized them for what they were: enchanted bags.

<Woah. How did you
get these?>

They looked at each other and Eternal blushed. <The
First Lord gave them to us.>

<I see.>

Basic RPG rule: if an NPC likes you, you get
stuff other people don't. I didn't even care; I wanted nothing from the damn
slaver. I had to tell myself this a few times before I was convinced enough.

Strength increased to 8 (+1)

After continuous fights, you have gotten
stronger.

About time. Last
time I had leveled my strength up had been on my training after leaving the
prison, and I had used my sword a lot on the spiders.

After a quick rest, we moved on to one of the
two other tunnels that intersected this chamber. I chose the right one because
yes.

A new corridor and new traps were revealed and,
unsurprisingly, yet another cave chamber with six gabats. This time, all five
pawns were sleeping, but the rook was still standing and awake, looking right
at me as I appeared.

<Ok, fellas, new plan.> I explained it to
them.

A few seconds later, four fireballs flew at two
different gabats – Eternal had been tasked with maintaining his own Fire of
Revelation since I dealt much more damage than him.

Fortunately, I got critical damage bonus on all
fireballs and the two gabats died in their sleep.

The rook howled, the three pawns woke up and
ran at me. I managed to throw two extra fireballs before they got to us and
they died after a quick fight.

<Easy-peasy.>

After a quick rest, we killed the rook as
easily as before. So the circle of death began: rest, kill pawns, rest, kill
rook, rest, find more gabats to kill, repeat.

It was damn nice to hunt with people, instead
of all alone. Not only did it made things much easier – I wouldn't have been
able to kill the gabats alone –, but hearing other people's voices was a nice
break to the dark mood of the Underworld.

That was it, I realized. The thing I had been
missing.

Friends.

Well, they were not really my friends, more
like temporary fellow combatants, but having them with me still felt good. A
part of me relaxed a little and, for the first time, I began to really enjoy
the game without my worries weighing me down.

We found out the cave had more than one floor –
a ramp in one corridor went upwards – and that the floor we were in had twelve
cave chambers, each of them with the six gabats setup.

<Do they revive, you think?> I
asked them. In games, it was common for monsters to reappear after some time,
but Valia had been too real up until now.

<They do,> said Eternal. <From what I
read, it uses an advanced implementation of a Schweppes-or-something cat
theory.>

<Schrödinger's cat?>

<Yes, that.>

<I see. I just hope they did it right,
others have failed too badly on this.>

Schrödinger's cat was a quantum mechanics
theory, or maybe just an explanation, that considered a cat in a box with a
mechanism that may at any moment kill it to be both dead and alive until
someone opened the box to check. Or something like that. It went too far from
my interests in life for me to really care to understand.

In gaming, it meant that anything could happen
as long as there was the freedom of lack of knowledge for the game to act.

For instance, armies of gabats could appear
coming from the upper floor as long as no player was actually there checking
how these armies were appearing. When a player did get there, there
would be a generic setting, like the spider eggs from the inn, from where an
undetermined number of troops could have come.

Also, if there were players watching, there
would be a limit to the reinforcements based on existing numbers of gabats.

This was a gambit. Games didn't need to do
that, they could simply say that some mystical energy liked to create monsters
out of thin air and leave it at that. When they did use the cat theory, though,
it meant giving players expectations of some logic and reality. Which, in turn,
meant that people would feel cheated or betrayed if such expectations weren't
met.

After the AI quality I had seen in Valia, I
knew for a fact that they had the computing power to pull off something like
that. Yet, AI and monster systems were different things and it was entirely
possible for V-Soft to fail.

<Are we going up?> Eternal asked.

<I cannot,> said Daggers. <I must travel
out. I can be back in about nine hours.>

<Wow, it's already this late? I also must
go. I'll try to be back on the same time.>

<Ok,> I said. <Let's get back to the
entrance so you two can travel out safely.> We did and just before
they logged out, I got all emotional on them. <By the way, thank you,
guys.>

<Sorry?> Eternal said.

<For the company, you know? I'm happy I'm
doing this with you two.>

<You are not half bad yourself, sir. At
least not after you pull your head out of your ass,> Daggers said and logged
out.

I laughed. Yeah, once you accepted her
thickheaded nature, it was possible to not want to kill her.

<Okay, thank you too,> Eternal said
awkwardly and also left.

I hope I hadn't sounded like a needy guy as I
suspected I had.

After long moments feeling embarrassed with
myself for what I had done, I took one of the four huge gabat's greatswords I
had received as loot out of my backpack.

It was training time.

Jack
Thorn

Unbound
Deathlord

Legendary
Spotter, Hedge Wizard, Pioneer, Dark Archmage

Level
10

Hit Points:275
/ 275

Mana Points:620
/ 620

Stamina:210
/ 210

Attributes:

Strength:8

Agility:7

Dexterity:6

Constitution:8

Intelligence:14

Perception:6
+ 10 [Items]

Willpower:9

Charisma:7

Traits:

Adept Mage:11
+ 10 [Items]

Adept Controller:11

Energizer:3

Diviner:2

Gold Digger:2

Scavenger:2

Antimage:1

Athlete:1

Crafter:1

Healer:1

Meditator:1

Mind Seer:1

Negotiator:1

Nitpicker:1

Shadow:1

Warrior:1

16. Life or Death

'Your advantage is your ultimate goal. Be
prepared to throw away anything and anyone to achieve it.'

- Mother

Low-Quality Extra Large Greatsword

» 50 (+4 [Strength]) physical damage

The greatsword was surprisingly shitty for a
weapon that big, but the reason I had taken it out was not for the damage, but
for its weight. The thing was so heavy that I received the old Encumbered
debuff – game talk for a negative status effect – when I used it.

Encumbered (level 7)

You are using equipment too heavy for
you.

» -70% strength damage

» -70% agility (7 -> 2)

» +70% stamina consumption

I hadn't forgotten my unmet goal: leveling all
my attributes to ten. Unfortunately, after meeting Ted I'd had no opportunity
to focus on this.

From what I understood of this world,
weightlifting would probably work. So, instead of training with my sword, I
would do it with the heavy one. It was unfortunate that I could not hold the
big thing with a single hand – it was that heavy –, but I'd take what I could.

And so I trained.

A turtle would probably be able to dodge my
attack, as slow and off mark as they were. It didn't take long – exactly
twenty-three clumsy attacks – for my stamina to be almost depleted, my arms
shaking for the effort.

I threw myself on the floor, threw half my MP
worth of magic at the walls and for the next twelve minutes or so I rested.
After that, I got up and swung the sword again.

More than a few times I had wondered about my
lack of boredom in the game. I mean, swinging a sword and a shield while
throwing spells repeatedly was not the most entertaining activity. Still, I had
done that for days after leaving the prison. It meant that V-Soft's technology
was not only about sensory feedback, but it also relaxed our minds as we played
the game.

Which was cool with me. Playing a game was
supposed to be fun and relaxing, and if they could help with that, why not?
They were already reading my mind; you can't get much scarier than that.

Plus, living the rest of my life without
boredom, doing whatever I wanted in a fantasy world sounded good to me. If
anyone got concerned about it – like people from fifty or so years ago would be
–, it was their job to do something about it, not mine.

Also, I need to conquer the Underworld.

That thought made me stop mid-swing. I had no
intention whatsoever of conquering the Underworld and my thoughts were nowhere
in that direction. It was the second time that had happened and I was sure now:
something was in my head.

Not nice, V-Soft. I don't like you directing
my life in the game.

As bad as that sounded, it was not uncommon in
gaming: adding a character thought to the character. It was a big gray area,
with good arguments on both sides – they were supposed to be characters, after
all, not our true selves. I disliked it, but I was willing to endure it for the
sake of continuing to play.

Does it sound like I'm an addict? Well, I
don't care.

I kept training.

* * *

<Good morning, sir.> Daggers said nine
hours later.

<Morning.>

She looked at the big sword in my hands. <Compensating,
sir?>

I smiled. <Nope, it's just how I wake up
every day.>

<It is good you are not ashamed to admit you
are into gabat's giant swords, sir. I would never have thought.>

<Well, Daggers, I'd never have thought you'd
think of these naughty replies, either! I'll make a fun woman out of you
yet!>

<I second Marbareus, sir.>

<Huh?>

<Quote, not in your wildest dreams, unquote.
Sir.> It made me laugh.

I didn't know why she was in such a good mood,
but I'd take it. Maybe because of my speech the day before? Women liked stuff
like that.

We waited for Eternal before moving on. He did
little damage, but it was still some damage, and we were almost pals now.

<Alright, people,> I said. <First
business of the day is checking this floor for new gabats, then finding out
what we have on the second floor.>

<Yes, sir,> said
Daggers.

<Actually, I think the First Lord might be a
little worried-> Eternal began to say.

<Nonsense,> I interrupted. <Even if he
is, just think about the big surprise you'll give him when you go back
stronger.>

The vampire's eyes widened. <Do you think
he'll like it?>

<I'm sure,> I lied. <He'll be
positively thrilled. You are his important apprentice after all, aren't
you?>

<Well... I like to think so.>

<Great. Let's go.>

All the gabats had reappeared and we took our
time annihilating them. After discovering the right way to do it, it became
almost too easy.

As my agility increased by one, I realized this
was a nice hunting area; if the upper floor was the same, it would be great for
leveling up.

<Daggers, take extra care about traps,> I
said when we got to the ramp. <Eternal, wait here until I say it's safe to
go up.>

<Roger.>

<Okay.>

Anything could be waiting for us. Sooner or
later we would at least find the gabats with four swords which had killed the
ghouls, and I was not in a hurry to fight them.

The access ramp was about ten meters long, but
Daggers found no less than twenty traps on it. And I found one. I felt
damn proud of myself for differentiating the small rock from the ones nearby
while Daggers was disarming another one.

Trait received: Scout

Detecting two highly concealed traps has shown
that you are mindful of details in your surroundings.

» +1 perception when detecting hidden things,
people or illusions

Scout level increased to 2 (+1)

Being a Legendary Spotter means you are a
better scout.

» +2 perception when detecting hidden traps,
people or illusions

It felt like forever since I had received a new
trait. Which was it, negotiator? And why was it saying I had detected two traps
when in fact I had only detected one?

It took me some time, but I remembered the trap
in the prison. The game had a long memory.

Detecting the trap didn't mean I could disarm
it but Daggers was happy enough to keep raising her trap disarming skill by
herself.

Another corridor was ahead of us, this one
about eight meters high. I called Eternal up and we began exploring the floor.

<What do you think, Eternal? Some nice
hunting, unsure of what to expect, with death waiting around every corner.>

<I... Like it?>

<Sure you do! That's what being a man is all
about!>

<Yeah...>

Soon enough we found the first chamber. It also
had six gabats, but they were not five pawns and a rook. The livestock and the
fences were there, and three pawns sleeping on the side, but that's where the
similarities ended.

A tall metal structure was in the center of the
chamber. It was like a soccer goal, and a gabat was hanging upside down from it
by its feet. Its body was wrapped in its wings.

Instead of a single rook gabat, there were two
in front of the upside down gabat. Well, at least they looked like rooks since
they acted the exact same way.

Still six gabats, but a different setup.

There was no need to describe the scene to the
party. The corridor was straight and both Daggers and Eternal could see what lay
ahead.

<What should we do?> Eternal asked.

<First we kill the pawns, then we think
about the rest.>

Without waiting for a reply I threw four
fireballs and killed two pawns. The third one didn't provide any difficulty for
us when he got closer and the rooks didn't attack at once.

<Easy. What do you think, Daggers? Can you
dodge two rooks in a fight?>

<I would rather not, sir.>

<Well, it's a good thing you don't need to.
They have about four hundred HP each, which means I can kill one by myself
before he gets to us. Then you go there and attack the other one. Sounds
good?>

<What if they are not rooks? What if the one
upside down attacks?> Eternal asked.

<Then we deal with it.>

I knew I was being reckless, but after all that
training I just wanted to kill things as fast as possible.

Soon my four fireballs flew again. The rook
tried to dodge.

I had not shown my path correction ability to
my colleagues but now was a bad time to worry about that. If the two rooks got
to us, it could mean our collective deaths. So I corrected the path and all
spells hit.

Both rooks opened their wings and ran in my
direction. I had enough time to create a new fire morb and finish one.

Its corpse fell hard on the floor, and Daggers
passed by me in shadow mode, running to the remaining rook.

Watching Daggers fight was beautiful. She was
fast and flexible, dodging attacks as if they were nothing, moving constantly
around the gabat to make its life harder. Eternal and I did what we could to
help and it didn't take long for the rook to die.

The moment the body hit the ground, the gabat
hanging on the metal bar opened its eyes and its wings. Two swords were in its
scabbards, both the same size as the rooks' ones. It dropped from the metal
bar, doing a half flip before landing upright on the ground. The two arms on
each side crossed to draw the swords from the opposite sides.

<Watch out, it has a long reach,> Daggers said before she attacked.

I began creating fire morbs. <Let's magic
the hell out of it, Eternal.>

<Okay.>

If Daggers had been great before, now she
really shined. There was a moment when she simply twirled horizontally between
the two greatswords swinging at her from opposite directions, like a damn movie
scene. My fireballs helped and even my almost useless vampire friend hit two
spells out of five.

Outside of Daggers little fighting world, there
was not much adrenaline to be had, though. After receiving little more than
five hundred damage, the gabat died with a pained growl.

<Congrats,> I
said after I saw Daggers HP go up by forty and her stamina by ten. She had just
leveled up her constitution. <Care to do any tanking now?>

<Care to do more damage than me, sir?> She said a little winded. Her stamina had gone down to almost half.

<Whoa, big ego there. Let's rest and clear
this floor. I bet my right hand that there are twelve cave chambers with this
exactly gabats composition in them.>

Fortunately, they didn't take the bet. Instead
of twelve, there were twenty-four chambers on that floor.

It took us hours to clear it completely, but we
did it eventually and went to the third floor without any issues.

In the first chamber of the third floor, we
found a pawn, two rooks, two knights – the one with two swords, which had been
upside down –, and one which I believed to be a bishop gabat, going by the
names up until now. I quickly disposed of the pawn.

The rooks were standing and looking at us. The
knights were upside down on metal structures and the bishop was standing on a
metal bench in front of the goal post.

<Now, that's tricky.
The two knights will probably attack right after the rooks die, and we only
have one Daggers.>

<What do we do?>
Eternal asked.

<We attack,
obviously. As soon as I figure out how.> We sat and I put my brains to work.

The knights we had fought before only attacked
when the rooks died, which made things easier. Sadly, Daggers could only dodge
a single gabat at a time, and I couldn't tank even one of them.

In other words, as soon as a pair started
attacking, we had to dispose of one of them as fast as possible, before both of
them could kill Daggers.

My best plan involved me killing one rook and
letting Daggers almost solo kill the second one. It would allow me to be
prepared to quickly kill one of the knights when they attacked. She would then
kill the second knight almost by herself and we could work on the bishop with
my morbs ready.

But if Daggers fought a rook and a knight by
herself, with a little help from me after I finished creating my four
morbs; and if the bishop attacked right after the second knight died; that
would mean Daggers running out of stamina before the end of the fight.

I ran through multiple scenarios in my mind
until I decided on a genial plan that only years of gaming made me think of,
even though I had already used it in Valia: hit and run.

That way, even if the knights felt the rooks'
deaths from far away, we would still have time to prepare and even rest a
little. It was also true in case the bishop felt the knights' deaths.

We decided to use the last cave on the second
floor as our fighting arena; it gave us both time to prepare in case the
knights came for us and room for Daggers to fight. Eternal and I waited there
while our Blackguard went to get us some opponents.

It didn't work.

<They do not pursue me, sir,> she said
when she entered our cave chamber. <They move when I get into the chamber,
but as soon as I leave they go back to their positions.>

I sighed theatrically.

<Once again the destiny of mankind falls on
my shoulders. I'll go, milady, but wait for me here. I'll be back for you.>
I bowed mockingly and went to fulfill my destiny.

The gabats were in the same place as before.

<Hey, dumbass. Just stay still while I kill
you from here, ok?> I threw my fireballs on one of the rooks, took the
necessary second to be able to throw a fifth one and kill it, then ran like
hell. The other rook didn't stop coming at me at the chamber's threshold.

I got to the chamber where Daggers and Eternal
were waiting and the rook was easily killed there.

<Now we wait a few seconds and see if the
knights are coming for us,> I said as I created more morbs.

They did. The first one was received by
fireballs and Dagger's shadow skill, dying instantly. The second one didn't
take much longer. I replenished my fire morbs and we all waited for the bishop,
but it never came.

<I gotta say, I like killing these huge
guys!>

<I agree, sir.>

<Good. That went great. Now rest, then let's
get ourselves some bishop fur.>

<Hmm... Jack?>
Eternal called.

<Yes?>

<How do you change the fireballs
direction?>

I had dreaded this moment. Telling him this
would give him information about me that Marbareus might find useful. Yes, we
were hunting together now and I kind of liked the silent coward guy, but if he
had to choose between the vampire and me, I'm pretty sure he would choose his idol.

However, I wasn't about to let Marbareus get
between my me and other people. Something nagged at my mind when I thought
that, but I couldn't put my finger on it and let it go.

<I'm a level eleven controller; it allows me
to change my spells paths for a maximum of forty-eight degrees.>

<Wow!>

<Controller? What is that, sir?> Daggers
asked.

<It's a trait that allows magic to happen,
kind of.>

<How?!> Eternal asked. <It should be
level two at most, by now. Wait, are you a cheater? Teach me!>

I laughed. <No cheating, man. I just got
lucky with a title.>

<A title gave you nine points in a trait?
Which one? How do I get it? Please tell me!> He was a little too excited.

<Whoa, calm down. I'd rather not tell you
the title, sorry, but trust me when I tell you that you cannot get it the same
way I did. The description said that I only got it because I was the first one
to do what I did.>

<For real?> He was visibly disappointed.

<Yeah, sorry.>

<Which is your other core, then? What does
it do? I'm a little unsure on what else to core when I get to level ten, there
isn't enough information about the traits on the Earth information boards.>

<Huh? What do you mean by core?>

<The traits that you chose to level, you
know?>

<Well, I chose to level them all.>

<Didn't your destiny spirit-> He stopped
speaking midway and hit his forehead. <Of course, your destiny spirit
doesn't talk to you. How do you think you level up your traits in Valia?>

<Huh... Quests? Titles? Doing the same stuff
that unlocked the trait over and over again?>

<Good luck with that. Even if you found one,
titles that level your traits are really rare, except for a few useless ones,
like Legendary Spotter. Do you know anything at all about the trait
system?>

<Looks like I don't,> I said a little annoyed. Legendary Spotter wasn't that
useless. It made me a better scout!

He sighed. <Okay, listen, traits can be
leveled four ways: the three ones you mentioned, plus the easier and proper way
of doing it: by choosing traits as your core ones.>

<How do I->

<Don't interrupt, I'll get there. You start your
life in Valia with something called a core slot, and at level ten you
receive another one. Before you ask, no one knows if level twenty will give you
a new one. Each of these allows you to choose a trait to become your core one.
You are level ten, so you have two slots.>

<So I->

<Shush, I told you to be quiet. You can
change your cores at any time, but then you'd just become a useless jack of all
trades, which everybody knows is stupid in games.>

<I don't think that is actually->

<Silence!> He was intense about
this explaining thing. Was he a teacher in real life? <The core traits
receive one level for every seven days you travel to Valia, as long as
you stay in here at least ten minutes each day.>

<What, one level per week? That's->

<Oh my gosh, just shut up already! Yes,
that's absurd. People are already complaining about it, but our masters...>
He meant 'V-Soft'. Heh, funny little censorship there; made me want to punch a
V-Soft employee in the face. <...just repeat the same thing: 'Valians
level their traits up on a year/level ratio which means fifty years to get a
trait to level fifty, instead of the single year you need. You are a bunch of
ungrateful Earthens that should just shut up and enjoy what you
got.'>

<Ouch. Did they really say that?>

<Yes. Not using these exact words, but the
meaning was pretty much the same.> He didn't rebuke me for speaking again,
so I guessed class was over.

<Bastards. Damn them and damn Zenhit. Stupid
piece of life.> I meant 'code'.

<Your destiny spirit does seem weird. Maybe
you should pray.> The 'pray' word was an even more ridiculous replacement than
V-Soft; it meant 'open a ticket', as in complain about it to V-Soft.

<Sure, it seems to be going really well for
everyone who is doing that.>

<Got me.>

<So, how do I set a trait as a core?>

<Oh, right. Just think about the trait you
want to core and ask the gods to do it.> He meant to will the game to
do it.

I thought about what to core as I opened my
character window and checked my traits.

Traits:

Adept Mage:11
+ 10 [Items]

Adept Controller:11

Energizer:3

Diviner:2

Gold Digger:2

Scavenger:2

Scout:2

Antimage:1

Athlete:1

Crafter:1

Healer:1

Meditator:1

Mind Seer:1

Negotiator:1

Nitpicker:1

Shadow:1

Warrior:1

It would be pretty nice to become a better
energizer. If I remembered correctly, it'd made me able to create morbs while I
ran. And who knows, as it got better I might become able to amass morbs as I
fought enemies in melee.

Diviner also sounded awesome at high levels:
being able to feel all magic around could be really useful if I decided to
venture on covert business in a mage's house.

By becoming a high-level athlete, I would be
able to act more in battle; for now, my stamina was too low and I tired too
fast.

Antimage, crafter, meditator... Hell, even
being a high-level gold digger sounded interesting, as it might become better
at higher levels and more money meant better items.

Thing is, I had wanted to be a warrior mage,
but after seeing Daggers fight I had my doubts. She could do what she did
because she was a specialized character and probably had spent a lot of
time learning to move that way. On the other hand, the reason I could hit
enemies Eternal couldn't was because of my controller trait, which was also
kind of a specializing path for me.

Not only that, but I had no skill at the moment
to take advantage of if I chose the warrior trait as a core.

I still wanted to be a warrior mage but for
now, my choices were pretty obvious: I had to pile on the high advantage I
already had with my mage and controller traits, else I would lose it. At least
I liked both traits a lot and I had nothing against keeping them going up.

Or did I? The mage trait gave me bonus damage,
but it wasn't that versatile. Being able to create morbs while I moved would be
much, much more useful. Yeah, making energizer trait a core sounded better.

And if I didn't like it, I could just change it
later.

Suspicious of Eternal's strange smile, I chose
my core traits.

You have selected two new core traits:

» Adept Controller

» Energizer

Bonus received!

You used two core slots for the first time
each and received +10 levels on the chosen traits!

Adept Controller increased to 21 (+10)

» Max distance: 210 meters

» Path correction: 288 degrees

Energizer increased to 13 (+10)

» Can create morbs while running

» Max movement distance: 3 meters

Trait has evolved into Adept Energizer:

» Can amass unseen elements

» Damage for disruption: 9

» Mana to damage conversion on disruption:
116%

Level up!

Current level: 12

HP, MP and stamina restored

Creating a morb while running was not as good
as I expected, not with that distance limit. But looking at the 'can amass
unseen elements', I remembered that the adept mage trait allowed me to apply my
will to unseen things. This could mean...

Keeping my eyes wide open, I willed every
life-form around me to be crushed. Interesting enough, I could also feel my
will being applied to Daggers and Eternal, even though it did nothing to them.

After feeling the lifeforms dying, I willed a
death morb to be created from the death energy I knew was all around, even
though I couldn't see it. It happened and I felt damn happy about it.

Eternal was smiling broadly. <Also, when you
choose a trait as a core, you gain ten free levels on it!>

Part of me wanted to punch his face; if I knew
that ahead of time, I might have gone for different traits. Lucky for him, I
was satisfied with my choices.

<Great! I guess our masters wanted us
to complain a little less about the time to level up. Thanks a lot, man. If it
wasn't for you, I'd fall even further behind.>

<No problem. So, what did you choose?>

<Curiosity killed the cat. Kidding, I chose
controller and energizer.>

<Energizer, sir?> Daggers asked.

<The trait that allows mages to create
morbs,> I said.

<Morbs, sir?>

<The magic spheres.>

<Oh. Thank you, sir. These magical traits
sound more like skills than traits.>

I shrugged. <Bad game design, perhaps.>

<Congratulations on the level up,>
Eternal said.

<Thanks. What are you guys' cores, by the
way?>

<I'm a mage,> Eternal answered at once.

We both looked at Daggers expectantly. She
shook her head. <I also did not know about core slots up to until now.>

<What? Why?>
Eternal asked.

<Destiny Spirits are forbidden to Blackguards.>

<Why?>

<I am forbidden to reveal the reasons.>

<Okay,> I said. <Which traits are you
coring, then?>

<I will think about it and check the Earth's
information boards before committing, sir. Ten bonus levels are not to be
used so easily.>

<That's women for you, never sure of what to
get.>

Something about my little chat with Eternal
just didn't seem right, but I couldn't quite well put my finger into it. Every
time I tried to think about it, some sound in the cave distracted me. Wolves
howling; stones cracking; kind of distant yet near enough to be distracting. I
eventually just let it go.

We waited for Daggers' stamina to be
replenished and went for the bishop. It was standing on the metal bench, its
wings open, holding three swords: a greatsword and two longswords; the
greatsword was held by his upper hands, while the lower ones held the
longswords. It had chain armor all over its body, except the wings.

<That's a lot of swords to deal with. Can
you dodge it all, Daggers?>

<I am not sure, sir.>

<What about that chain armor, can you pierce
it?>

<I think so, sir.>

<Good. Now, if the bishop follows the other
guys HP increase rate, it has about six hundred.> Pawns had three hundred,
rooks four hundred, and knights five hundred. <I'll throw fireballs at it and
run to tank. It should leave you fewer attacks to dodge when he starts
attacking you.>

<Understood.>

<Eternal, try to throw your fireballs only
if the bishop is with its back to you or right after Daggers has used that
shadow thing of hers. That way you are more likely to hit.>

<Okay.>

<Alright, let's do it.>

I extended my hand to the bishop and realized I
didn't need to do that anymore, since I had already told them I was an adept
controller. My fire morbs became fireballs, flying straight at the gabat. It
tried to dodge, but as with other gabats, I simply corrected the spell path.

Next, I ran to the gabat and was received with
a greatsword hit on my shield.

I had forgotten how powerful the greatsword
blow was, but my shaking arm was a quick reminder. I dropped my sword and
prepared for the next attack, this time from the longsword. It hit hard and
fast, I barely had time to defend myself.

The power of the blow so shortly after the big
sword made me step back. The speed of the third longsword was too fast for me;
I screamed when it cut deeply into my left arm.

48 shock damage received

40 shock damage received

78 slashing damage received

HP: 109 / 275

Status effect received: Mildly Crippled
Arm (level 4)

Until you are magically healed, you:

» Cannot use your left arm

The gabat kicked me right after that for more
twenty damage. I couldn't use my shield arm and it was already preparing the
greatsword.

I'm gonna die. Holy shit, I'm gonna die.

Status received: Panic

You will not act in a rational way

And I don't remember what happened next. When I
came to myself I was lying on the floor headfirst, an unknown hand forcing my
neck down and my right arm firmly held on my back. My left one was hurting
considerably less.

<Thorn! Drop it! Thorn!> Daggers voice
was screaming in my mind. There was both annoyance and a surprising hint of
concern in it.

<Wow, my head is hurting just from your
thoughts. Is this a new high bar on hangovers or what?>

<Thank goodness,> Eternal said, clearly
relieved. <I thought we would have to kill you.>

The pressure on my body was removed and I
turned back. <What? Why?>

<You tried to kill Samantha!>

<Wait, what?!>

<Yes, you started throwing fireballs at her
and she->

<That,> Daggers firm voice interrupted
him, <is not what happened. And I am not Samantha to you; not even Thorn
calls me that, and he is a disrespectful ass. You panicked, sir, and I did not
notice. You were ignoring us and when I approached, you attacked.>

The final scene I remembered came to me: the
big gabat holding its huge sword above my head.

<How the hell am I alive? Where's the
gabat?> I looked around and saw his body on the
floor, blood covering its head.

<Man, it was awesome! Saman- I mean, Daggers
saw you freeze and pushed you out of the way. She received the blow on her head
because of that and I heard a crack noise. I thought we were done for, but she
just shook her head and began to fight... I don't know how to describe it. She
was awesome, the swords missing her by inches. In the end, she used the bench
to jump on the gabat and kill it with daggers to the eyes.>

I looked at Daggers, worried. She had forty-one
HP left and an Internal Bleeding status effect on her that was draining 1 HP per minute.
A single fireball and I would have killed her.

<Shit. I'm sorry. But more importantly...
Are you okay? I mean, my arm is hurting like hell and->

Her body dropped on the floor. I didn't even
take the time to think, I just got up and tried to lift her, but my left arm
didn't hold. Six seconds and two heals later, I tried again and succeeded.

Encumbered (level 3)

You are carrying too much weight.

» -30% strength damage

» -30% agility (7 -> 4)

» +30% stamina consumption

"Oh my gosh, what are we going to do? What
now? What-" Eternal dropped the mind chat in panic.

<Shut up!> He did. <Good. Now follow
me. We are going to run for the plantation and buy an HP potion there.>

<HP potion? There are no HP potions in this Valia!>

<I bet there are. Every world has
potions. We just have to ask nicely.>

<But what if they don't have one?>

<Then Dagger's is gonna die.> I dropped
my sword and my backpack on the floor and my encumbered status dropped to level
one. Eternal motioned to pick it up. <Leave it. I might need you to carry
her instead, I don't know how long I'll last.>

<You're going to just leave your things
here?>

<She saved my life,> I said simply and
began to run.

Fifteen minutes of a frantic running later, I
was talking to a vampire.

Daggers had twenty HP.

"I'm telling you, stupid turned..."
Said the vampire with a whip, who we had asked for help. I looked like a
vampire thanks to the illusion ring, but for some reason, he considered me a
turned vampire instead of a pure-blooded one. I guessed theirs was a club of
marked cards. "...that we do not have any life regeneration-"

"Don't bullshit me! Both of us know full
well that you do have at least a potion or a life mage in this
plantation, just in case you need to use it against an undead. Or even to
torture a ghoul. You may think I'm stupid, but I'm not that
stupid."

The vampire shook his head. "Even if we did
have it, it is not your place-"

"This is a drow observer under the care of
the First Lord, you have-"

"Turned. I'll make it simple to you: I.
Do. Not. Care. The First Lord has no power here. I-"

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I knew
what I had to do. I didn't want to do it, but I knew I had to if I wanted to
save Daggers.

She was just an annoying girl, but an annoying
girl who had risked her life to save me. That meant a lot in the streets. If I
let her die having the power to save her, I'd be no better than trash.

Gulping, I let something loose inside me.
Something ugly. Something that should've remained buried for the rest of my
life.

The vampire stopped talking when I looked at
him again.

"What's your name?" My voice lost the
desperation and shakiness, coming out steady and firm.

"My name is of no concern for the likes of
you."

"See that, slaves?" I raised my voice
and looked around. "Your great master with the whip is just a little boy
afraid of a turned." The ghouls made a point of not looking in our
direction. "See that, vampires? This is one of yours, and he boasts no
fear from the First Lord, but denies me his name." I looked at him.
"You, coward, should be ashamed of calling yourself a pure-blooded
vampire."

The vampire's face contorted in fury, his eyes
shone and I wondered if I had gone too far because of lack of practice.
"You know much about shame, don't you, turned?" He had raised
his voice. "I am Protus Sophus, son of-"

"Of a goat. That is what you represent to
the First Lord: nothing more than an animal that ghouls would take care of in
this field. Yet, you claim the First Lord to be powerless here. I take back my
words, Protus Sophus. You are not a coward; you are a bold one." His
expression became confused. "Of course, I will be sure to inform the First
Lord of such powerful vampire proudly using his talents to take care of cattle.
I am positive he will be delighted to hear about it after I tell him such
vampire let the drow observer... Which the First Lord personally brought
from Ter'nodril... die. I see a great future for you, Protus Sophus. Bards will
surely sing poems about your courage.

"Now," I turned around to the nearby
vampires, "maybe one of you is a little less bold than mister Protus,
here. Maybe one of you would like to be known by the First Lord as one who
fears and obeys his name. I am no pure-blooded to pretend to know how your
little war of houses works, but I know gratitude is a universal currency and
that no powerful noble would ever want to have his name in debt to anyone.
Especially the First Lord."

There was a long silence, Protus smile
broadening each second until one of the vampires spoke. "How do we know
you are speaking the truth, turned?"

"Argus!" Protus said.

"Shut up, Protus. If he can prove he is telling
the truth, I'll be saving your life."

Daggers had lost seven more HP in the
meanwhile. Time was ticking. "You must know the First Lord's personal
slave," I nodded to Eternal. "And you must know the First Lord treats
well those who earn his favors." I put my hand inside Daggers' cloak and
took her magical purse from inside it.

High-Quality Enchanted Purse

» Drop chance: 1%

» Slots: 15

» Max stack per slot: 15

» Weight reduction: 10%

Holy cow, it was a high-quality purse, too! It
even reduced items weight! I saw the vampires' eyes become more interested.
"Eternal," I said, "is it true that the First Lord has honored
both you and the observer with such very expensive gifts?"

"I- I-" He was clearly uncomfortable.
I looked at him.

<Man!> I mind spoke to him. <Help me
here! Marbareus will not punish you, he is going to be too busy being furious
with me.>

<What if he->

<Eternal! We are friends! Or at least
brothers in arms. Daggers and I were helping you get combat experience and some
items to sell and we asked for nothing in return. I know you helped me with the
traits thing, but do this for her. You know she deserves it.>

He kept silent for some time.

<Eternal!>

<Alright, alright, I get it. Geez.>
Taking a deep breath, he took out his purse from his robe pocket. "It is
true." He had his eyes closed.

"A Blackguard," I resumed my speech,
"might have enough money to buy her own magical purse, but him? A
slave?" They seemed interested, but still a little away from completely
buying it. So I would give them something every vampire seemed to love: the
opportunity to make a slave suffer. "And he is the guarantee I give you:
imagine the scandal if a slave lies in the name of its master, and the First
Lord no less. Imagine the gratitude of this Blackguard if you help her without
needing to.

"We all know the First Lord has ties to
the drow, but do any of you have such? And if the slave is telling the truth,
imagine the First Lord's gratitude. It is a win-win situation, one you get once
in a lifetime, and it has just dropped on all of you out of sheer luck." I
checked her HP: nine remaining. "But she is dying and she needs help right
now."

The eyes of at least three vampires were
shining now, but Protus, with his face pale, was the one who quickly retrieved
a small bag from his waist, under his blue cloak, and took a flask containing a
green liquid out of it.

Charisma increased to 8 (+1)

A deathlord, disguised as a turned vampire,
using the mention of a First Lord's power to make a pure-blood change his mind
and do as bid. It is unheard of. And impressive.

Level up!

Current level: 13

HP, MP and stamina restored

Damn right it's impressive. Particularly when
put that way.

Wound Closing Concoction

An expensive piece of alchemy,
especially in the Underworld.

Removes:

» Any kind of Open Wounds

» Any kind of Bleeding

I took the flask and was about to take Daggers'
hood off when it felt... Wrong. She hadn't removed her hood a single time and I
had never seen a Blackguard's face before, so it could have a special meaning
to them. Instead, I felt her face with my hand, found her mouth and gave her
the potion.

For the next minute, I watched her HP bar,
waiting for it to drop more. It didn't. I let out the breath I hadn't known I
was holding. Which was something else for a guy who didn't need to breathe.

"Is that all you are going to do to make
up for earlier?" I pushed Protus a little more. "What about some life
potions?"

He was about to burst when the second vampire
to speak to me put his hands on the first vampire's shoulder. "You must be
a Traveler. There are no life potions in this world, turned." He turned to
Eternal. "Be sure to tell your master what happened here. I am going to
tell our mother, Ambrassa."

I saw Eternal swallow at the name, but I was
done with them. Fixing my grip on Daggers, I set off to the city.

Time to face Marbareus' wrath.

Jack
Thorn

Unbound
Deathlord

Legendary
Spotter, Hedge Wizard, Pioneer, Dark Archmage

Level
13

Hit Points:275
/ 275

Mana Points:620
/ 620

Stamina:210
/ 210

Attributes:

Strength:8

Agility:8

Dexterity:6

Constitution:8

Intelligence:14

Perception:6
+ 10 [Items]

Willpower:9

Charisma:8

Traits:

© Adept Controller:21

© Adept Energizer:13

Adept Mage:11
+ 10 [Items]

Diviner:2

Gold Digger:2

Scavenger:2

Scout:2

Antimage:1

Athlete:1

Crafter:1

Healer:1

Meditator:1

Mind Seer:1

Negotiator:1

Nitpicker:1

Shadow:1

Warrior:1

17. Manning Up

'Never sacrifice yourself.'

- Mother

"You little piece
of shit!" Marbareus yelled. "How dare you use my name? How dare
you?! I'm going to flog you publicly to make sure no one ever does that again!
To make sure no one ever believes the words of someone claiming to work for me
without proper proof!"

He was livid. As Eternal told him the tale of
my speech, Marbareus had slowly stood up from his seat and his red eyes had shone more
and more. At least he had ordered Tardas to take Daggers for healing before
receiving the rest of the report.

"That is going to work great for you when
there is need of a covert-" I tried to say, but he jumped from behind his
desk and slammed my head to the floor. He kept his body over mine, and placed his
hand on my mouth.

"Not a single word! No. That's wrong.
Speak, deathlord. Give me a single good reason for not killing you. Yes."
He smiled maliciously and his fangs grew. "Do that or die." He moved
his hand from my mouth to my throat.

"I'm more valuable alive," I said
with difficulty. Even though I didn't breathe, it seemed I still needed my
throat unhindered to be able to speak.

"You? How could you possibly be more
valuable alive than dead? I will put on a show of your torture and put your
head on a spike so everyone will know what happens to those who disrespect
me."

I tried to speak, but his hand was holding me
tight. I tapped it lightly and he loosened it a little. "Anyone can kill a
disrespectful man, but few can break one."

He looked at me with contempt and a little bit
of interest. "Speak up."

"You cannot effectively torture me because
I'm a Traveler. Everyone knows that. I can kill myself anytime I want and
resurrect far away from you. Well, what if you broke me? What if you flogged me
publicly, put a slave collar on my neck, then led me to a cave where you
supposedly ordered me to go earlier? What if you freed me there and dared me to
run? What if I not only came back, but I also brought you the head of the king
gabat that is terrorizing the nearby plantation? What if I did that meekly,
begging you for forgiveness?"

His silence was all I needed to keep talking.

"At the same time, you would show your
gratitude to this Ambrassa." His eyes shone even brighter than before; he
really hated the woman. "A few will mistake it for weakness. Until I come
back, that is. Then, people will wonder: if you have so much power, why do you
show needless gratitude? They will see that while you are merciless to those
who do you wrong, you also reward well those who help you, even if there is no
love lost between you and them. When people start doing things here and there
for you simply because there is the possibility of payment, you will thank me.

"Pay some of them well and publicly and
soon all the turncoats in the opposing factions, and all the unaffiliated
vampires in the city will come to you. They saw the gift you gave your slave..."
I nodded to Eternal. "...who has no real political value to you; they'll
wonder what you would give pure-blooded vampires for some real help."

His fangs had retracted and his fury had been
replaced by... Curiosity. He moved from over me and recomposed himself, going
to sit back in his chair. "Those are interesting theories, deathlord. But
should your plan fail, I'd be weakened."

"Only if you are as dumb as you
look," I said as I lifted my chair from the ground and sat on it,
massaging my throat. "Play it as if she was begging your favor by giving
you the potion and you will gain power. If you paid attention to what I said to
the vampire to make him help, you will realize it was fear of you that did it.
Don't you wonder why Ambrassa's minions would be afraid of you? Like I said, a
few shall mistake your generosity for weakness in the beginning, but as long as
you play it right, you can quell such talk even should I-" I stopped
mid-sentence, noticing the way my speech was changing. This was going too far.
"Even if I ran away. And if I do, you can just send someone to kill me
quietly."

He was tapping his fingers on the desk, looking
even more curious at me. "Why do you antagonize me, deathlord?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Really? Wanna be
pals, now? Well, if you need a reason I suppose giving you a mirror might
suffice." Shit. My parents' finger prints are all over me. I must stop.
"I mean, should be enough."

"No. I had taken you for a fool, but you
are clearly smart enough to know the dangers of antagonizing me, while at the
same time realizing the necessity of being less than severely offensive. If for
no other reason than because I could kill you anytime I wish. Still, you
persist in walking the hard path. Why?"

Because you are a damn slaver and a liar.

"Woah, you are even slower than I thought.
Ok, listen. Me: beautiful, awesome. You: ugly. Beautiful not go well with
ugly." He closed his eyes, clearly controlling himself. "Now, get me
a pain reducing potion already, I have a beating to attend. And could my slave
collar be blue? I like blue."

Eternal had been shifting where he stood and
decided to speak before Marbareus could reply. "Why?"

"Huh?"

"Why? Why save her, why do this for
her?"

"Because she saved me?"

"But she has been antagonizing you since
our first fight!" He said exasperatedly. "She refused to tank, she
kept giving orders about being silent and properly reporting and whatnot."

I frowned. "You sounded impressed by her
before, not annoyed."

He shook his head. "She is a very good
fighter; I'll give her that. But I'd not throw my loot away and get publicly
humiliated for her! We barely know each other!"

"I... I don't know what you expect me to
say. It's not about liking her, it's about... How can I explain this to
you?" I closed my eyes. Everything had been pretty straightforward to me.
"Look, she saved my life, I save hers back. The streets don't forgive
ungrateful shits and this world has been just a little better than the
places I used to hung out at."

"But the only reason you were fighting in
close range was to make it easier for her! You don't owe her anything!"

"Dude, that's not how things work. We were
fighting together, that means something. Look, I know you are not the fighting
type, but show some respect, alright? I don't have a lot of lost love for Daggers,
but she saved my ass. Why do you even care so much if we barely know each
other?"

He crossed his arms. "Whatever."

I turned to Marbareus. "Now,
questions."

"I see no reason to answer any questions
you have, deathlord."

"Yeah, yeah. You like my idea of a public
beating, right? It saves me from being killed and you from being humiliated.
But what would happen if I yelled about our agreement in the middle of the
beating?"

His eyes shone. "You wouldn't dare."

"Listen, mister vampire, it's nothing
personal. Well, it is, but I don't want the password to your safe. I just want
some questions about the Underworld and Valia in general."

This was a unique situation for me. For the
first time, I had leverage over him but it would go away as soon as the beating
finished. He needed me and I would do almost anything to not die, but he
didn't know that.

'Missed opportunities are the greatest losses
in politics and the market. Show no mercy for your enemies, for they will not
show it to you,' father used to say.

Marbareus looked silent at me for a long time.
"Speak."

I smiled. "First, what the hell is wrong
with you and the deathlords?"

He closed his eyes. "Are all your
questions of this type?"

"Yep." I was sure that if the vampire
in the plantations had been a little more politically powerful, he would have
killed me. Marbareus would not show me the same mercy if I pushed him too much,
so I'd have to tread lightly and not abuse my advantageous position.

He considered me for a few more seconds.
"You are playing a very dangerous game, deathlord. I didn't have a good
opinion of you before but you're slowly making yourself my enemy. Are you sure
you want to force me to be your general knowledge teacher?"

I had already decided to kill him somewhere in
the future, so I lost nothing by having his enmity. "Sure thing. So? The
answer?"

He laced his fingers over the table.
"Religion, history and geography." His voice was businesslike all of
a sudden. "Your species claim to be the first to become undead, which is
an offense to our god creator. We, vampires, and you, deathlords, have fought
each other countless times. And we want supreme control over the same
country."

"See, did that really hurt? Now, why do
you fight for the same place?"

"The Underworld is divided into four big
sections: north, south, east, west. Dakar is in the center. It is the most
defensible country because of its geographical advantages and the richest one
because of its location."

"Huh? Couldn't people just excavate around
and create market centers there?"

"They could. They would die. No few wars
were fought over market share supremacy."

"Makes sense, I guess. Wait, does that
means everyone hates you?"

He smiled. "Everyone fears us. We are the
most powerful country in the Underworld and we are not afraid to use our power
to keep the position."

"Holy shit, they do hate you.
That's why everyone hates me?"

"You are an unbound. We hate all
deathlords and the deathlords hates you. The other nations might not despise
your existence, but only idiots would show sympathy for the enemies of Dakar.
Or the Resistance, of course."

"But when I chose an unbound, it said I
had diplomacy neutrality with almost everyone."

"I heard the deathlords are looking for
you specifically. They are keeping the reasons secret; I don't believe they'd
go to such lengths just because you killed the Renno woman. Whatever you did,
you inconvenienced them more than normal, which bodes ill for whoever takes you
in. If you had been found by any nation other than the drow... Care to
enlighten me as to why you are so sought after?"

I ignored his question. I knew what Marbareus
was doing: he was trying to make me lose my focus. No way in hell that I'd let
him.

"Alright, then. And if you hate the
deathlords so much, how the hell did you end up with a joint country?"

"About five centuries ago, the werepeople
invaded the Underworld. We hate them more than we hate your people and war
ensued. Much to our shame, we were losing. We allied ourselves with the
deathlords to win and expel them from our caves."

"Werepeople? Why do you hate them?"

"They betrayed us when we still lived in
the Surface world. It's their betrayal that made us come to these gods-forsaken
caves in the first place."

"What did they do?"

"It is not spoken of. No threat will make
me speak of it." He had a solemn tone.

"Okay. So, you allied with the deathlords.
If they were strong enough to turn the tide of war, why the hell didn't they
kill all of you after that? Or just expel you from Dakar? Hell, why didn't they
enslave you all? You guys seem to love this slavery shit."

"You just blundered past the reason. Only
vampires can create ghouls. We didn't see their usefulness long ago, but the
deathlords agreed to let us stay in Dakar as long as we provided a very large
quota of ghoul slaves to them every year." He looked sideways to Eternal.
"They corrupted us with it and I want to end such shame in our
society."

He's not even trying, how the hell can't
Eternal see through this?

I tried to think of other questions, but that
was enough for now. Everything made sense and I only wished I had met someone
to explain this stuff to me earlier.

How messed up was a place that forced me to
blackmail my enemies for basic information?

Only one thing was left to ask.

"I need my pants fixed and new
boots."

He looked at my legs. "Not only fixed; you
will need new pants. I can't have my slaves walking around in such a sorry
state." He said it matter-of-factly. The more he spoke about slavery the
surer I became that he had no intention of freeing any slaves. "Give Eternal
the money and he will see to it."

I did. "That's all, for now."

"Tardas is coming. He will bring a new
ring for you."

"Huh? Why?"

"Did you forget when I said the lords can
see through your illusion? Doing what you did to me, and being an unbound
deathlord, I should have you killed, tortured, or given to the bound
deathlords." He said the next words as if they hurt him. "The lords
will have to believe you're a turned."

I smiled. It meant I would still have some
leverage over him.

Actually, it was only fair. His position would
get much stronger after my advice about spying on his own clan.

It was basic politics, but he had received it
as new information. I guessed there was a limit to how far an AI could go
unless specifically programmed for it.

I just hoped I hadn't made him even more
dangerous for me.

* * *

The worst part of it
wasn't being chained half-naked in front of a crowd of vampires and ghouls.
Neither was the smell of rotten food that had been thrown across my whole body,
nor the taste that wouldn't leave my mouth. No, the worst part was listening to
Marbareus' speech.

"...and so it should be known that the
First Lord is not one to be trifled with, and his name not to be used
lightly..."

He had been going on for ten minutes already
and I had to try very hard to keep feigning fear. Amazingly, Marbareus had
broken through the anti-boredom system of Valia and I even had to suppress a
yawn. After five more minutes, he finally called Tardas to start the
punishment.

I had downed the pain nullifying potion before
coming and we did as agreed. In the first few lashings, I didn't scream and
provoked Tardas to hit harder. By the sixth lashing, I was wasting my vocal
cords as I screamed with the full force of my magical lungs. Thirty or so
lashings later, I was begging for him to stop.

"Go ahead, turned. Kill yourself. I dare
you! But know that I will find you one, two, however many times it's necessary.
I'll be there when you wake up, waiting for you. I'll be there when you sleep,
ready to take you. You will be mine!" Marbareus said. We had also
agreed on such words beforehand, but he was really bad at this kind of acting
and sounded mechanical. Good thing I was a natural and that screaming
desperately was a much easier line.

I even managed to cry a little.

When it stopped, some hundred lashings later, I
was hoarse. And even though I hadn't felt it, my HP had dropped to two. Not
feeling pain was dangerous in its own way.

Marbareus made a show of putting the slave
collar on my neck – not blue, but a dull black one. I heard someone commenting
on the fact that he had not one, but two Travelers as his slaves, wondering if
the first one really was there by his own will or had been broken like me.

Heh. Aren't I a genius?

With the lashing taken care of, Tardas carried
me to Marbareus' rooms in the Palace, where I magically healed myself and put
my clothes on.

To be sincere, I had been dreading taking my
legendary items off for the beating. When I told Marbareus that I didn't want
to part with my stuff, he just laughed in a weird way.

Daggers had been silent the whole time, which
was a little weird after all the talking she had done in the caves. The damn
girl couldn't make up her mind on being mysterious, hard-headed, or talkative.
I didn't expect some rescued princess bullshit, but some thanks would have been
nice.

Well, whatever, she had almost died saving me;
I had just paid her back for it.

After clothing myself, I confirmed for the
hundredth time that the key I had been given was the right one for the slave
collar I was using.

"Tardas will accompany you to this gabats
cave of yours. Remember to pretend weakness from the beating, since you
shouldn't have been healed."

"What about Ambrassa?"

His face twisted. "She asked me to meet
her in the audience hall, in front of the Prince. I'll make her regret
it."

"Good boy. Let's go, Tardas. Did you see
how many people came to see me? They must be dying for autographs."

After attaching a chain to my collar, Tardas
led us back to the gabats cave. I walked with my back bent, looking at the
floor, letting out fake pain moans here and there. People often stopped and
commented on me.

"Where do you think you are going,
slave?" A woman said ahead of us. I looked up and saw Marbareus' sister,
Kassandra, wearing her usual gold armor full of gems and her blue and green
cloak.

Tardas actually bowed to her, so did Eternal. I
took the hint and bent my back even more. "I am but obeying orders, my
First Lady. The First Lord ordered the new slave to get back to his unfinished
work. The First Lord is not fond of useless slaves and likes to put all of them
to work."

"Except this useless Traveler, it
seems," she said with a nod to Eternal.

"I am unfortunately not privy to all the
First Lord's orders to all his slaves, my First Lady. If you so wish, I will
gladly go ask him right away what are his plans for the pure-blooded
slave."

"You'd be glad to do that, would you,
Tardas? What if I told you to give me the slaves yourself?"

"I would obey, my First Lady. It is not my
place to meddle in how my betters use slaves. I would immediately inform the
First Lord, since he is known to be a bit jealous of others using his property,
but that would be all."

"I like your manners, they are far too
refined for my brother. Why do you still serve him? You could do much better
with me."

"I humbly accept your praises, my First
Lady, undeserving as I am, being the lowly slave I am. As such, I am also
unable to change masters unless my current master so desires, and it is also
not my place to even wonder over who I would rather serve."

"See? Perfect by the book answer. Where
are you taking them?"

"To the fourth plantation, my First Lady.
The First Lord wishes them to clear the gabats cave that has been found
there."

She frowned. "The fourth plantation is
under my care, not his."

"I know, my First Lady, but so I have been
ordered and so I obey. However, if you might allow me to be so bold as to dare
pass to you the First Lord's words on the subject, it might help in
enlightening you."

I have to agree with her, Tardas is damn impressive
with his sweet slave talk. Leading her right where he wants, hopefully away
from me.

"Go on."

"The First Lord has argued that while the
fourth plantation is undoubtedly under your jurisdiction, adjacent caves are
not. Beyond that, my First Lady, he believes gabats can be considered enemies
of the clan for their recent activities and has claimed hunting rights on
them."

"He did what?!" She almost
shouted furiously. "He cannot claim hunting rights in my
area!" Tardas didn't answer. "Where is he?"

"I believe, my First Lady, that the First
Lord has a meeting with Lady Ambrassa Sophus scheduled in five minutes, in the
Throne Room."

"What in the nineteen hells?!" She
walked away, ignoring us and talking to herself. "When I find Burnus I'm
going to..."

"Whoa," I said low, "she was
able to accomplish a whole bunch of nothing in this talk. A bureaucrat to the
core."

Tardas smiled at that and pulled the chain on
my collar. We resumed our walk. No one hindered us for the rest of the way and
the rope and pickaxe were still where we had left them. He left us without
saying a word.

"That's it, people. Let's go."

I was without shield and sword this time, which
meant new tactics for the first level, the only one which had five gabats
coming at us at the same time.

After seeing how well Daggers could dodge, it
wasn't too difficult to discover a way. I would begin the fight by killing two
sleeping gabats. After that, Daggers would enter the gabats chamber and get
their attention while running around, focusing on dodging. Meanwhile, the men
in the party would safely stay back throwing fireballs.

Wait, this doesn't sound right.

What I meant to say was that Daggers
would run away like a coward while Eternal and I did all the hard work of
killing our enemies and saving the damsel in distress.

The first and second floors were no challenge
for us and we were about to go to the third one when Eternal said he had to log
out. His damage was really low but it was still better than not having it, so
we went back to the cave entrance, where he logged out after ten minutes,
claiming he would be back in two hours.

<Guy has been awfully quiet, don't you
think?> I asked Daggers.

Our vampire companion was acting as if all he
wanted was to be as far away from the gabats as possible. After the short talk
we had had in Marbareus' room, I even wondered if he wanted to leave the party.

She shrugged. <I did not notice, sir.>

<Why do you insist on this formal treatment?
I told you it's ok to call me my name. I don't care about this 'party leader' bullshit
you spoke about.>

<My father is military, sir. The chain of
command was imprinted in my soul since I was a kid. Calling you 'sir' is a good
way to make us both remember our positions: you give orders, I execute them, no
matter the cost.>

<Unless I order you to tank my enemies, you
mean.>

<Roger. Unless they are ridiculously idiotic
orders.>

So, she was one for role-playing, to put her
character into a mindset and follow it to the death. She probably had
experience in tabletop RPGs, too. I could respect that, even if it wasn't
something I would do in an immersive reality RPG; throw away all my freedom?
No, thanks.

<Military, huh? That's a place where I
wouldn't belong even if I tried.>

<That is not right, sir. You would make a
fine staff sergeant.>

I smiled. <Would I? I thought I was an idiot
child or something.>

<You are, sir, but that is not what I am
talking about.>

<Huh?>

<You save your men, sir. Even at the cost of
your own blood. Even at the cost of disobeying the chain of command and being
punished for it. Everyone can order other people around, but only the best of
us can put other people's lives over their own comfort.>

That made me laugh. <So now I'm an idiot
child, but a big-hearted one.>

<That is how it looks, sir.>

<You do realize I felt no pain in the
beating, right?>

<Yes, sir.> She didn't provide any
further explanation.

<Great.> I cleared my throat and made my
best impersonation of a wise soldier. <Well, soldier, you are also a damn
nice man to have in my platoon. Thanks for saving my life.>

She saluted. <Just doing my job, sir!>

<Then keep it going. If I had a platoon full
of men like you I'd win this goddamn war in a damn hour.>

<I think you are mistaken, sir! A platoon
full of me would win the war in ten minutes, sir!>

<Ha! Aren't you the smart ass? Pay me a
hundred and be quick about it!>

<Yes, sir!> And she got to the floor and
began to do pushups, counting them aloud.

Weirdo.

Eternal had been right: she had been a pain to
work with in the beginning. She still was, refusing to do some things I told
her. But at least she was frank about it.

I could almost see that political monster
inside me, trying to get out of the prison I had put it back into, its black
tentacles probing through the gaps in the bars and trying to get ahold of me.

'Straightforward goons,' Father would say, 'are
the best muscle you can find. If you do, learn to accept their quirks and deal
with them. They are rare and the most useful ones when shit hits the fan.'

That had been a very unusual day. One of his
schemes had failed in such an epic way that he had called some nasty people
into the house, to give some monstrous orders. His use of foul language was
proof of how unstable he had been.

And I had to use all my willpower to not give
in to the political Kraken inside me.

'We do everything for power. That's the blood
in my veins, that's the blood in yours, our nature. And we are too good at it
to let it go to waste. Don't be ashamed of it. If you want to listen to your
aunt that much, you can do it too. Power can be used for the good of others.'

I would have believed him if such words hadn't
been uttered the day after Mother had forced me to order a maid to kiss my
feet.

That being the case, I could see the evil in
his eyes, the surety that should I taste enough power, it would corrupt me and
shape me into him.

Of course, that was before I had taken
into my hands the ultimate power and killed him

I shook my head. I knew where that line of
thought would lead and I needed some distraction.

<Daggers, stop with this shit and get two
greatswords from your purse. Let's do some ridiculously slow training.>

It was a pleasant surprise discovering that the
encumbered status from using the greatsword had been reduced from level seven
to level six, thanks to my strength level up. It wasn't that pleasant to see
Daggers move the big weapon much better and faster than me.

Still, we spared, if it could be called that. I
would tire after little more than twenty hits or blocks and sit, while Daggers
attacked thin air some few more times before also tiring and sitting to rest. I
didn't use too much mana throwing fireballs for fear of having no MP in case we
were ambushed.

<Let me ask you something.> I said in a
rest session.

<Go ahead, sir.>

<You have high dexterity, don't you?> I
half-expected her to not answer.

<Yes, sir.>

<So, why don't you go for better-placed
attacks? Except for the way you killed the bishop, you always attack the same
general region, like legs, but you never try to cripple the gabats by cutting
behind their knees or something.>

She took a while to answer. <I... Did not
know it was possible to cripple my opponents in this world, sir.>

<Huh? Didn't they teach you that in the
Blackguard?>

<No, sir. Who taught you?>

<Experience, I guess. It's just the way I
killed a big monster, by taking out its jaw while stabbing it in the eyes. And
how critical hits apply when you cut necks or hit the head. And the way I
couldn't carry your body with my arm almost cut off. Seems like it should work.
I would try if I could hit the damn monsters.>

<I will keep that in mind, sir.>

After three hours of training, Eternal appeared
again, providing no reason for his lateness and not caring that we had been
waiting for him. I attributed his attitude to the way I had forced him to
cooperate with me in the plantations.

The gabats had reappeared and we yet again
killed all first and second-floor monsters. And yet again we couldn't
get to the third floor; this time it was Daggers who had to log out.

Back to the entrance we went, and Eternal also
logged out after complaining about the time. The real-life clock in my vision
marked it as ten o'clock in the night.

<Jack!> The familiar voice entered my
mind. It was a little more female than last time we had talked.

<Ted! How are things?>

<The worst! Can you believe Bear told me I
should be an archer?! The prick!>

<Sorry, wrong call. Call your lady friends,
not me. I don't care about it.>

<As if I would tell my friends I'm traveling
to stupid Valia!>

<Didn't you have a traveler friend
that you'd introduce me to? Nany or something.>

<She is out of Valia right now. You
are the only one I have, so shut up and let the lady speak.>

<Alright, I'm just resting, so go ahead.>

<He said to me that because I'm always out
of Valia I should focus on ranged attacks. That it is becoming too much
trouble to protect my a- To protect me. Can you believe that?>

<He plays a lot more than you?>

<He is in a Dreamer. As if that made him
better than me!>

<Not better, but stronger. He stays in
Valia more, therefore he gets stronger faster. Plus, he already died once
to protect you, right when I met you, remember? It doesn't sound like he is
lying about it.>

<That was different! It was an accident and
I really wanted to see Crystalia. They say it's beautiful.>

<It was even your idea? Man, the guy really
likes you. I'd never chance losing the Challenge to save a girl in some stupid
sightseeing tour.>

<Challenge? What are you talking about?>

<Didn't your dad tell you? The thousand
highest level Dreamer Travelers who survive for a month will get eighty
free attribute points. Guy just threw it away for you.>

<What?! He did what?>

<Yeah, I know; sounds stupid to me too.
Anyways, he stays in Valia more, so he knows better if you can keep up
with him on the front-lines. I'd rather have some long range guy helping me
from somewhere safer than to have to worry about protecting a weak guy>

<I'm not a guy! I'm a lady! He shouldn't
talk to me like that!>

<Now you are just being spoiled. The better
you two fight together, the more amazing places you can see in Valia. And let
me tell you, Crystalia is really beautiful.>

<Did you go there?>

<No; I am there.>

<God, I hate you two. I bet you would be
best buddies.>

This time, there was a quick beep sound to
signal the end of the call. V-Soft was changing things in Valia and I had no
idea what they were until they affected me, thank to my situation with the damn
Destiny Spirit.

Ted out of the way, I focused on training
again. Or tried to. I was feeling bad for Daggers. 'Only the best of us can
put other people's lives over their own comfort,' she had said. She clearly
didn't know me.

That was a once in a lifetime occurrence. I had
been responsible for the player's death in the prison. I had scammed another
player in Ter'nodril. Granted, I had saved Ted, but only because I needed
information. Daggers was projecting her father onto me or something. It was
pitiful.

'No one cares enough about you to force you
out of the game.' Her other words came to me, unbidden. Yeah, she could
guess right once in a while, but it didn't mean she was always right.

Damn girl, I didn't need her pity.

Why was I even thinking about it now? Was it
because of Ted and her relationship with Bear? I told her I didn't care about
this kind of stuff. I was a simple man: meet girl, ask girl out, have fun with
girl, repeat. I did want to marry someday, but that was for the future.
I would have some fun in Valia for a long time until I decided to leave the
game and find myself someone.

What the hell was wrong with this game,
anyways? I had gone years of my life forgetting myself in games, without having
to wonder about any of this deep stuff. Suddenly, some random guy sacrificing
himself for a spoiled girl was leaving me all touched. I was acting like a
girl.

And if I had time to act like a girl, I was being
too easy on myself. Time for some solo gabat hunting.

The main difficulty was the first pawn gabats,
simply because they attacked in a big group. They had three hundred HP each,
but I could kill two with my initial four fireballs. That gave me enough time
for one or two more fireballs before the other gabats were onto me.

That's when the real problem started: without a
shield and sword I would be fighting hand-to-hand.

So, how could I do it? Thinking about the whole
setup, a possibility came to me: what if I used the rook gabat?

The idea made me excited. I could try to kill
four gabats with fireballs then run to the rook and use it as a barrier between
the last pawn and myself, allowing me enough time to create some more fire
morbs. Rooks didn't attack unless all the pawns were killed, anyway, and they
didn't leave their chambers unless they received some damage.

If the pawn ended up attacking the rook, it
would come to my advantage as some extra damage for later. If that made the
rook also attack me, or I couldn't kill four pawns in the beginning of the
fight, I would have to run for my life.

Anyway, when I either killed the last pawn or
got attacked by the rook, I would run away until I left the cave and pray it
didn't follow me. Even if it did, I would then run to the vampire guards and
prepare some explanation or another for Marbareus.

With the plan made, I put it into action. The
pawns were sleeping and the rook was standing, as usual. I threw the first two
fireballs.

Critical for 2.0x damage!

172 fire damage dealt to Pawn Gabat

HP: 153 / 325 <?>

I wish the other damage bonuses, sneak
attack and attacking sleeping target, worked on these beasts too. Or that I
knew the reason it doesn't.

I killed another gabat with fireballs to the
head and used all my willpower to not move too much while the remaining three
gabats ran to me.

I more or less held the line and killed one
more, but that was all. They got too close and I had to run for it.

They followed me up to the cave entrance.
Desperate, I jumped over the edge, hitting the ground hard and awkwardly. They
thankfully didn't follow me outside.

Damn quest wasn't B ranked for no reason. Since
I wasn't in the mood of jumping from a great height over and over again, it was
back to slow sword swinging for me.

Almost ten hours later, I greeted Eternal and
Daggers.

<Did you get stronger, sir?>

<Yeah.>

My constitution and my willpower had both gone
up by one and I now boasted three hundred and twenty HP, almost double
Eternal's. Was it me or had his face gone a little sour? Hell, was Eternal
jealous of me? That struck me as so weird that I just decided to let it go.

<That's it, you both have already slacked
off too much. Let's kill bishops.> I took a few steps. <And while we do
that, let's pray that the Church doesn't hear about it.>

After the usual clearing of the first two
floors, it was finally time to go for the third one.

<Daggers, there's something I don't get.>
She looked at me. <Last time you said you would rather not fight the bishop
by yourself, but you still did it, and after a huge hit. How did you know you
could deal with it?>

<I saw it attack you, sir.>

<So...?>

<I determined its speed, sir. It was clear
that I was faster. Not only that, but the beast is rather clumsy with its
swords. As if they are too much for his brain to properly use.>

<They didn't seem clumsy to me.>

<It is not a novelty that your brain is on
the level of a gabat. Sir.>

Eternal laughed at that a little too hard to my
liking.

<This time we are doing almost the same
thing as before, except Daggers will fight solo in close range while Eternal
and I do long range support. Let's go.>

They waited for me on the last chamber of the
second floor while I went to the third to lure the first gabats. When I got
there, I saw something I didn't expect.

<Uh... Guys? Come here, you need to see
this.>

Jack
Thorn

Unbound
Deathlord

Legendary
Spotter, Hedge Wizard, Pioneer, Dark Archmage

Level
13

Hit Points:320
/ 320

Mana Points:620
/ 620

Stamina:225
/ 225

Attributes:

Strength:8

Agility:8

Dexterity:6

Constitution:9

Intelligence:14

Perception:6
+ 10 [Items]

Willpower:10

Charisma:8

Traits:

© Adept Controller:21

© Adept Energizer:13

Adept Mage:11
+ 10 [Items]

Diviner:2

Gold Digger:2

Scavenger:2

Scout:2

Antimage:1

Athlete:1

Crafter:1

Healer:1

Meditator:1

Mind Seer:1

Negotiator:1

Nitpicker:1

Shadow:1

Warrior:1

18. Arachnophobia

'Most of the time, great people fall not to
their enemies moves, but to their own mistakes.'

- Father

<What the hell
happened here?> Eternal asked.

Instead of six beautiful gabats and their
livestock waiting for us, we were staring at about eight white cobwebs on the
ceiling and a dozen eggs half my size on the ground. There were lots of
longswords and two greatswords in a pile in the center.

The scenery was disconcertingly familiar.

<Destroy all the eggs and find me my
backpack,> I ordered as I took a sword from the pile help with it.

Low Quality Longsword

» 30 (+16 [Strength]) damage

I had to use it with both hands, but I decided
against smashing the eggs with my feet as I had last time. Just as I expected,
there were small fetal spiders inside.

Eternal, much smarter than me, just threw
fireballs at them.

<Your shield and sword are here. The
backpack too.>

Ignoring the weaponry, I went for the backpack
and checked it. The strongbox where I kept my money wasn't there.

<Try to find-> I stopped mid-sentence as
I saw the strongbox in the pile of greatswords. It was torn and broken and all
the money that had been inside it was scattered. I ignored the coins as I
searched for the ring.

It wasn't there.

<Shit.>

<What is it?> Eternal asked. <They
stole some money?>

<No... Well, I think not. But I think I know
what happened here.>

<What?>

<There was a kind of cursed ring in the
strongbox.> I began to pick my money and put in my purse. <I found it
after killing some giant zombie spider.>

<And...?>

I took my sword and shield in my hands. <And
it mutated my finger into a small spider when I put it on. If it wasn't for me
chopping the finger off, I have no idea what would have happened to me.>

<You are telling me there is a giant zombie
spider in these caves now?>

<Probably, yeah. Let's go kill it.>

<Are you sure? I'm not a huge fan of spiders.>

<Neither am I. But I have killed it before;
I can kill it again.>

All over the third floor, there were cobwebs
and eggs. Loot was still loot and we opened the cobwebs to get the gabats'
hides.

The floor was huge, almost double the size of
the second one, and each of the chambers had multiple exits in them. It was a
damn maze.

I found that Daggers could navigate it very
easily, while Eternal and I were lost after the fifth chamber. As we worked our
way through the floor, even the ground and walls began to have webs on them.

Fire of Revelation.

I taught Eternal how to 'burn' the webs away
and helped him with it.

We ended up before a big archway with huge
double doors slightly ajar. They were black and covered by crude white
paintings of gabats and other animals, like some prehistoric paintings.

<Daggers, stay close. Eternal, wait
here.>

As slowly as possible, crouched as low as my
body allowed, I entered the door, followed by Daggers. What I saw took my
non-existent breath away.

The room beyond was a big cave chamber. To one
side there were about ten forges with the fire lit, but no one was working
them; there were lots of raw minerals next to it too. On the opposite wall
there were hundreds, thousands, of swords in metal racks, greatswords and
longswords. Hundreds of sets of chainmail were next to the swords.

But what impressed me the most was the ceiling:
it was entirely covered by gabats. They were all upside down, all looking down.
So many I couldn't even count.

I guess that's the cat explanation for this cave,
huh?

On the far side of the room, sitting on a big
throne of metal, with four big metal shields on the wall right behind it, was a
gabat. It had a helmet without visor on and a plate armor covered its whole
body, except the wings.

Before it stood the five gabats with four
swords and scale armor that we had seen on the plantations. All of them had
their four swords in their hands, most of the blades covered in white and
yellow goo, just like that which was spattered across the floor.

On the wall behind the throne, about ten meters
above it, something stood out: a deformed gabat. It had lost its bat legs,
replaced by black scaled spider legs. The scales covered most of its body and
its face was almost completely covered by wolf's eyes. A greatsword had pierced
its body and was pinning it to the wall.

Beside it, also pinned on the walls by
greatswords, were almost twenty ghouls, all of them somehow alive and moaning.

"Vampire come challenge?" The gabat
on the throne, which I guessed would be the king, asked. It was weird seeing
words leaving a wolf's mouth and the way it spoke was more a growl than speech.

Good to see the illusion ring was working. "Yes, I'm all about challenges. Smart dog, guessing
that."

It growled shortly. "I no dog, I king
gabat. Fight, leave. You choice."

"Well, how does the fight works? Do I have
to fight all of you?"

"Fight one to one. Two to two. Fair
fight."

"I see." I extinguished the flame I
had used on the webs and created a fourth fire morb instead. "In that
case, we would love to challenge you."

The door behind us closed with a big boom.

<Jack? What's going on?> Eternal asked.

It was actually advantageous for us that the
vampire had stood outside. <Some ritualistic fight mumbo jumbo. We'll be out
soon.>

"Fight!" As soon as the king's words
left its mouth, two gabats – I guessed they were queens – ran to us.

I threw four fireballs at the queen on the
left, who was coming at me. It tried to dodge, but I redirected them and all
four hit its head.

Critical damage for 2.0X damage!

172 damage dealt to Queen Gabat

Four times the message appeared. Meanwhile,
Daggers was running to the other gabat and they were close to engaging.

I held my ground, creating more fire morbs.
When the first one appeared, I fireballed the queen again. This time, the beast
didn't try to dodge but used a long sword to cut the spell in the air. When I
threw the second fireball, one second later, I moved it in the air a few times,
changing its path, until the queen missed the sword attack on it and got a
fireball in the face.

Daggers had engaged her queen. Surprisingly,
the fight was not as one sided as I was used to seeing. The gabat's swords
grazed Daggers multiple times and the only time I saw her successfully connect
her daggers on it was when she used the shadow thing and moved hella fast.

On my end, I had time for a single extra
fireball before I had to fight at close range. I decided on going to the forges
and running around it. Hopefully, the queen had a brain like a dog's.

I shouldn't have worried. My morb formed, my
fireball flew and the moment it hit the queen's face it fell with a loud thud.

A thousand and thirty-two HP. Scary. I
didn't stop creating morbs.

Daggers was struggling a little too much for
comfort. Between grazes, her life had gone down by forty HP already. I was
about to throw a fireball on the gabat she was fighting when the king's voice
interrupted me.

"One to one! You fight unfair! You,"
he pointed at a queen, "kill he. No be fair in it."

It obeyed, doing something very unfair: opening
its huge wings and getting to the air. Shit. I threw the fireball at it
instead, but it maneuvered ridiculously fast and I missed.

I didn't have time for an extra fireball; I ran
for the forges. The queen turned in the air and followed suit. I wasn't nearly
fast enough.

79 piercing damage received

79 piercing damage received

79 piercing damage received

79 piercing damage received

HP: 4 / 320

I screamed as I felt four swords pierce my
back. The pain was so sharp that made me remember the prison explosion.

<Thorn!> Daggers got distracted by my
near death and was also hit for fifty HP. It seemed her defenses were much
better than mine. She recovered and went back to the fight.

The shirt. The cotton shirt with its +1
defense, together with the jerkin's +20, had saved me. I barely believed it. It
wasn't time to think about how lucky I was, though.

The gabat flew a long way ahead after hitting
me. Enough for me to create a death morb and heal myself for eighty HP. Then it
turned and flew my direction again.

<Daggers, I need your help! I have a
plan!>

<I am busy, sir!> She said mid-air, in
the middle of some elaborate acrobatic move.

<And I'll die if you don't help!> I began
to run the opposite direction of the gabat that was coming to me. <You're
kind of a timing and speed prodigy. Well, the gabat is coming to me. I'll run,
you just tell me the moment I need to drop to the ground to dodge the damn
thing.>

<Roger.> She rotated around her gabat to
have a clear view of me.

I kept running full speed ahead. Each second
seemed like forever. Was Daggers looking? Did she miss the timing? I could
still feel some pain in my back and was not interested in feeling it again.
Especially taking into account I would die this time.

<Now!>

I let my body fall on the floor. I felt the
swords touch my jerkin, but no damage nor pain. Still on the ground, but
getting up as fast as I could, I looked up and threw a fireball.

86 fire + 12 burn damage dealt to Queen
Gabat (98 total)

HP: 934 / 1032 <?>

It flew true to the gabat's wing and for the
first time since ever I dealt the extra burn damage; the wing got a nice hole
in it. The queen whimpered in pain and fell to the ground; I was already
running to it.

<Thorn, no!>
Daggers mind yelled at me.

I ignored her.

Heh. It's High Lady Renno all over again. I thought as I jumped on the fallen gabat.

Big mistake. The queen rolled to its back and
pointed four swords at me. I was going to die.

Except I had Daggers. She jumped at me when I
was centimeters from the blades and we both ended rolling on the ground.

<Listen to me, you idiot!> In a leap she
was already up, holding her daggers before her and waiting for the queens.
<A guy killed a high-level Valia in the beginning of the Travelers
age and the Mother fixed it. Now almost everyone in this world
has high perception and fast reaction time against grappling on the floor.>

<What?! That's unfair!>

<Complain to the bastard who abused it!>
She ran to her queen while mine was running to me.

Shit. Getting up
as fast as I could, I went back to my original plan. The queen was fast in
flight, but a lousy runner. To the forges it was.

I checked Daggers fight. Her queen had lost
only about four hundred HP, while Daggers stamina was at the eighties. She was
going to lose. And even if I killed my queen I would not be able to help, else
another one would come.

One problem at a time.

As soon as I got to the first forge's furnace,
I almost breathed in relief. The furnace was even big enough for me to create
fireballs and throw at the queen.

"You coward! Fight fair!" The king
bellowed.

"Fair! What do you know about fair?!"
I threw a fireball and ran around the furnace. "I didn't know I couldn't
help my friend but instead of telling me that, you ordered me killed while I
was unprepared!" I got distant enough that I could create another fire
morb. "You are a goddamn cheater!" Another fireball flew to the
queen.

"I no cheater!" It was furious.
"Kill he fast!"

As if the order made it smart, the queen jumped
onto the furnace to cut the distance between us. Damn.

After four critical fireballs, there were two
hundred and forty-six estimate HP left to kill it. I ran at Daggers direction.

<Daggers, I have a plan!>

<For real? How are you going to try to kill
yourself this time?>

<What, no 'sir' anymore?>

<How are you going to stupidly try to kill
yourself this time, sir?>

<There was no 'stupidly' the first time!>

<Sorry, sir! I forgot it the first time!>

<Listen, I'm going to use you! When I'm
nearby, get distant enough from your queen that you can stay still for two
seconds.>

<What?!>

<No time to explain, just do it!>

Since she didn't reply, I had to believe she
was going to do it. As I closed the distance, she used her shadow thing not to
attack, but to get away from her opponent and closer to me.

<Don't move!> I jumped. Using her as a stepping
stone, I kicked her head and got further away in the air. <When my gabat
comes, dodge it!> I got to the floor and rolled, first ahead and then to the
side. There, I turned and started creating a fire morb.

My queen tried to jump using Daggers the same
way I did, but she dodged. Instinctively, the gabat tried to use its wings, but
the hole I had put there earlier made the beast fall clumsily on the floor,
barely standing. The loss of momentum was enough; I had time to throw two
fireballs at it.

The queen died. I turned to the king and raised
my hands.

"I'll not cheat! I'll not help!
Please!"

"She cheat! She help you!"

"What are you talking about? I was running
and she got in the way, so I jumped on her. But I didn't attack her
gabat!"

"She not let queen jump she."

"Of course not, what if the queen attacked
her? Beyond that, she is still fighting! Staying still for your queen to
use her would be stupid!"

It sniffed. "You cheat. But destiny spirit
say I be fair king. You go back door. Wait."

"Can I heal myself? And prepare for the
next fight?"

"Yes. And no help."

After a deep, relieved breath, I obeyed.

Daggers had fifty stamina left and her queen
still had only suffered three hundred and eighty-seven damage.

Watching without distraction, I understood the problem:
they had about the same speed. Daggers could dodge most of the time and even
parry with her daggers, but it wasn't enough. The girl who had humiliated me
and Eternal now couldn't even kill a single enemy, of which I had already
killed two.

Well, to be fair, she had helped in the last
bit. And saved my life. Twice. Damn, I owe her again.

What did I know about Daggers' fighting style?
She was fast. That was all. If her speed was enough, she would destroy her
opponent, but if not, she would have a single attack, the shadow thing, and
have to hope it was enough.

Even though we had used her that way, she was
no front-line fighter. Her damage was also ridiculously low, forty-three damage
each dagger, after some attribute level ups.

How could I help her deal more than six hundred
damage without the king deciding I had cheated and ordering me killed?

Well, that lead to another question: what did I
know about the king?

It had low intelligence and fanaticism for
fairness; apparently the destiny spirits manipulated everyone this damn world.

That gave me an idea. I was still far away from
the door, walking there at a normal pace.

<Daggers. Plan your path to cross mine. When
you are five seconds from me, let me know.>

<Roger.>

<What, no talk of idiotic plans now?>

<It did not help last time, sir. I doubt it
will make you smarter now.>

I kept walking.

<Five seconds, sir!>

Turning back to the king, I raised my hands
again. "I will heal myself! Not helping!" I purposefully closed my
eyes and began to create a death morb.

<Jump over me and put me between you and the
gabat. It will get distracted. Use the opportunity to kill it somehow. That's
the best I can do.>

<Okay, sir.>

I braced for impact. If the gabat decided to go
over the king's order and attack me, I'd be in a lot of pain.

"No! You out way!" The king yelled.

Opening my eyes, I saw Daggers jumping over me.

"What?" I turned to the gabat.
"The queen is cheating! The queen is attacking me! Kill her too!"

"No! Out way, idiot!" The king stood
from his throne and motioned me over. It was too late. Seeing me between it and
its prey, then hearing me speaking of cheating, was enough for the queen to
hesitate and look at the king.

Daggers used it. Like I did to her, she jumped
by using me as a stepping stone. The queen tried to turn back, but it was too
late; Daggers got to its head, her legs closing around its neck and the daggers
hitting the eyes. Repeatedly.

The gabat growled in fury, and pain, as blood
flew from its ruined eyes covering Daggers' weapons and clothes. She kept
going. Even as the queen died and fell, she kept hitting it. When the body
finally fell to the floor, she leapt into a twirl and landed gracefully covered
in red.

It didn't last long, though. The cloak absorbed
the blood quickly and she hid her daggers inside it. It was as if nothing had
ever happened.

Damn impressive. I want a Blackguard's
cloak.

"You cheat again! You help her!" The
king was in a rage.

"You are the cheater! The queen was about
to attack me! When it was the other way around, you ordered me dead!"

"You get way!"

"I was obeying your order! You told me to
get to the door, didn't you? I was getting there!"

"You stop!"

"I told you I was healing myself! I asked
before if I could heal myself and you said I could!"

"Not there! On door!"

"Well, you didn't tell me that, did
you? Anyways, it was all your queen's ploy!"

"No! You cheat!"

"What? How? I almost didn't see it coming!
You gabats are too smart!"

I never knew a wolf head could frown.
"What?"

"Yeah! You saw how your queen was winning
the fight, didn't you? She..." I decided it would be better not to treat
them as the beats they were. "...was too strong. You gabats are strong.
She was pressing Daggers, but she thought she could kill me before. You ordered
me dead, didn't you?"

"I do."

"Yeah, she was too obedient and smart. You
are really a great king to make them so obedient. So, she forced Daggers – that's
my friend's name – back until she could kill me too, for you. It was just your
fairness that made her not do that. You are too fair for that."

It knew I was bullshitting it somewhat, but it
was not smart enough to see how. It was as if the king was me and I was a drow.

"I be."

"Yeah. So, for fairness, now you let me
and Daggers rest and heal, right? Only then we fight more. For the fairness of
the destiny spirit."

It didn't answer.

"You know you are going to win anyway. A
king as strong and smart as you can't lose to us. Let's just be fair and have
some fun. I bet you have a lot of fun killing things."

"I no bet. I do fun. Rest."

I bowed slightly. "Thank you, fair
king."

We both started walking to the door.

<Sir, you are a silver tongued one. If you
ever try to convince me, I will never believe a word you say.>

<Smart girl.>

<What?> Eternal voice came through. <What
happened?>

<Thorn sweet talked a monster into letting
us rest before fighting more.>

<He did?> His tone was down. <How
great of him, huh?> I confirmed it now: definitely jealousy.

<Hey, Eternal,> I said.

<What?>

<I never thanked you, did I?>

<For?> He sounded suspicious.

<For our team play with that vampire, so he
would help Daggers. And the way you told Marbareus the tale. If you had told it
the wrong way, I would be dead before I could say anything. You never told him
I knew he would be furious and he is not one to let it pass.>

<Well... Yeah...>

<Thanks buddy. Thanks to you Daggers was
saved and I didn't die.>

<Don't mention it.>

"Silver tongue," she whispered.

"Stop it!" I whispered back.

"Silence! Wait silence!" The king
yelled.

She put a hand into her hood's opening and left
only a finger out of the shadows, at mouth's height. Like a tongue.

What is she, seven?

<Why are your daggers so shitty?> I broke
the mind silence after a few minutes.

<What?>

<Your daggers. You know, each strength level
gives two points of damage to a weapon and you are a level ten melee fighter.
At level ten you should have at least eight or nine points in strength. It
means eighteen damage. You are dealing forty-three on each hit, which means
that each dagger of yours deals about twenty-five damage at most, each.>

<Is that not enough, sir? How much damage
does your sword deal?>

<Fifty.>

<It looks balanced to me, sir. I can use two
daggers.>

<Nope. I'm a mage who has to fight close
range when I'm forced to, but you only do melee. Plus, you have pretty good armor;
if I'm not mistaken it lessens the damage you receive by more than thirty
points. Which means you should have a better weapon than me.>

For a few seconds, she didn't answer. <It is
for training, sir.>

<Huh?>

<The Blackguard taught me that if you fight
stronger enemies with worse weapons, you level up your attributes faster.>

I frowned. <High risk, high reward, huh?>

<Yes, sir. But you have to commit to it.>

<Huh?> I was feeling a little stupid with
my 'huhs'.

<For the bonus growth to be applied, you must
wait some tens of fights after you first equip your weaker weapon.>

<I see. If you go back to a stronger weapon
too fast, the bonus doesn't mean much, right?>

<Yes, sir. But it is more than that. When
you get a stronger weapon, your attribute gain is frozen for the time you kept
the weaker weapon.>

<Woah. Isn't that a bit too extreme?>

<The reward is worth it, sir. It also pays
in the long run, as the attributes get harder to level up anyway and some
little extra time in the beginning is not as harmful.>

<Makes some sense. Good luck, then.>

<Thank you, sir.>

It was an interesting tactic, but it was not
for me. I had no close range skill and when I did fight with sword and shield,
I had to be at my best. If needed, Daggers could get away from danger by using
her shadow skill, but I didn't have that luxury.

We rested until we were completely recovered.

"Hey, ugly thing, we are ready."

"Good." The king stood up, got behind
its throne and got the four shields. They were so big the gabat's wings barely
appeared behind it. "One to one. Three persons."

The door behind us opened and Eternal's face
and flame appeared, looking curiously inside. Seeing no danger, he entered the
room.

"What? No! Two on two!"

"I tired you cheat. Three to three. Fight,
leave. You choice."

Shit.

<Eternal, make your fireballs ready. Let's
all of us focus fire, guys.>

<What about the cheat- Oh.> Daggers said.

<Exactly, there is no reserve for him to
throw at us, so we may as well do the smart thing. If he throws the gabats on
the ceiling at us, we're as good as dead anyway.>

I gave them extra instructions. Eternal should
run to the forges and attack from there; his priority was staying alive.
Daggers' was to defend me as best as she could. I was the guy with the
firepower.

"Fight!" The king yelled and the
doors closed behind us.

Jack
Thorn

Unbound
Deathlord

Legendary
Spotter, Hedge Wizard, Pioneer, Dark Archmage

Level
13

Hit Points:320
/ 320

Mana Points:620
/ 620

Stamina:225
/ 225

Attributes:

Strength:8

Agility:8

Dexterity:6

Constitution:9

Intelligence:14

Perception:6
+ 10 [Items]

Willpower:10

Charisma:8

Traits:

© Adept Controller:21

© Adept Energizer:13

Adept Mage:11
+ 10 [Items]

Diviner:2

Gold Digger:2

Scavenger:2

Scout:2

Antimage:1

Athlete:1

Crafter:1

Healer:1

Meditator:1

Mind Seer:1

Negotiator:1

Nitpicker:1

Shadow:1

Warrior:1

19. Big Bad Wolf

'That story your aunt told you? Be the
hunter. Only make sure to be paid for skinning the wolf.'

- Father

They came at us with
the fury a thousand suns, or so the saying goes. There wasn't even the pretense
of fairness as the three of them beat their wings and got to the air.

<Everyone to the forges! Daggers, tell us
when to get to the floor! Eternal, obey the moment she says it!> We all ran.

<Sir, it is also better to slightly jump to
the side and roll when we go to the floor. They already saw you dodge by
dropping on the floor once.>

<Good thinking. Eternal, you heard the
woman. Thank goodness she is not doing a sandwich somewhere like she should.
Gotta love the rebel ones.>

<Yes, sir> She answered upset. <And I
love dead men. Guess what? Our relationship is very close to fulfillment.>

I decided it was better not to answer that. It
would be rude to a lady to tell her I was not interested.

<Now!> She yelled, and we jumped.

My jump was higher than it should have been and
I felt something solid hit the back of my head.

52 blunt damage received

HP: 268 / 320

Status effect received: Mildly Stunned
(level 2)

For 19 seconds, you:

» Cannot see properly

» Cannot move

» Cannot use skills

My body hit the floor in a weird way, and I
received two more damage for it. The world was spinning. I tried to get up
once, but my hand kept trying to use thin air to get up.

<I'm stunned! Eternal, keep running!
Daggers, come help me!>

<Roger!> In a few seconds I felt her
dragging my body.

Not being able to use magic was a huge setback.

<Daggers, keep watching Eternal's time to
jump. And when our gabat comes, thrown me to the side and jump on the damn
thing's head! They'll think we are both going down again!>

<Yes, sir.>

She obeyed. A sudden kick on my side made my
body roll. My vision was coming back, spinning less but still hella blurry, so
I didn't see what Daggers did.

I heard the feral growls of the gabats and the
whimpering of one of them though. I also heard a big thump on the floor after
it stopped crying.

<Please tell me it was the king.>

<No, sir!> I could see her blurred image
running for me again.

<Eternal, why did you stop? Get to the damn
forges!>

<Sorry! It was just so amazing!>

Seven seconds for the stunned effect to go
away.

<Where are they? In front or behind me?>

<Behind, sir!>

<Then I have an idea! Get to the forges and
tell me when it's impact-time.>

I anxiously awaited the seven seconds to pass,
then I got up and ran. The moment Daggers told me it was time, I turned back,
raised my shield, and jumped to put as much of my body behind it as I could.

160 (40 x 4) shock damage received

HP: 106 / 320

It was like getting hit by a truck. My body
flew like it had no weight and bounced on the floor multiple times while it
spun. In the end, I was left in pain with fifty-seven HP left.

As I got up, my shield crumbled into pieces.

Holy shit.

On the bright side, the impact had put me
closer to the forges, like I intended. I ran to the nearest one and hid behind
it. The king gabat settled to the ground and the queen landed behind it. They
retracted their wings and the king put its four shields in front of him, completely
covering his body.

"You cheat. I do hard way," the king
said and started to walk slowly toward us.

<What do we do now, sir?>

First I healed myself one time, getting close
to half HP.

<Now, Daggers, we show him the error of his
ways. Just watch.> I created four morbs and sent four fireballs at the
gabats, a little far from the shields. When the spells were past the threshold,
I made them do a ninety degrees' curve and go for the gabats.

And nothing happened. No damage message, no
explosion, nothing.

<What the hell?! > I said.

<The spell dissipates if you lose your line
of sight to it.> Eternal explained.

<Well, that's not good.> I started
remaking my fire morbs anyway. It wasn't just 'not good', it was ridiculous and
stupid, and I hated it.

<Clearly, sir. What do we do now?>

I just looked at the oversized bats until they
were twenty paces away. Then the obvious came to me.

<We wait for them to come closer and split
up, of course. They are slow and outnumbered. If they attack one of us, just
run while the others attack.> I got out from behind the forge. <Stay as
close as possible to this region, though; they still have their wings.>

Just for good measure, I threw a fireball at
the gabat's shield.

No damage dealt to King Gabat

Figures. When they were near enough, I ran.
<Eternal, stay here. Daggers, let's do a triangle with his position.>

We did. The king froze in place and as soon as
I got vision, I threw a single fireball at the queen, sure something would go
wrong. It did.

The fireball was flying true and was about to
connect when a shield hid my vision of it and the spell disappeared.

"Stupid." The kind laughed, which was
a weird thing when you had a wolf head.

I recreated the missing morb and smiled at him.
"Block this."

<Daggers, go for it and tell me when to
launch my fireballs. Eternal, throw spells with me.>

<Now!> Daggers said a few seconds later.

Fireballs flew. All my four. As I expected, the
king defended the queen. <Stay on the queen, Daggers!> I changed my
fireballs path, though, and hit the king straight in the face.

86 fire damage dealt to King Gabat

The message repeated four times and I got
annoyed. The damn helmet, while not blocking normal fire damage, was preventing
critical damage.

It was still enough. The king wasn't expecting
that and instinctively put his shields back. The queen wasn't expecting that
and Daggers got to it. And for once I agreed with Eternal: it was marvelous.

She was full speed and jumped, sticking her two
daggers into the queen's breasts through scale armor as if it was nothing. I
didn't even know it was possible to pierce scale armor.

Then she shadowed. Ridiculously fast,
she climbed the freaking gabat by sticking daggers in it and got to the head.
There, she put one dagger through the throat and the other in the eye. Repeatedly.

It brought back memories. I guess big queens
are fated to be wrecked this way.

The queen died; surprise attacks were sought
after for good reason. Nice timing from Daggers on the skill usage, too.

<See, Eternal. Much more useful than
sandwiches. At least for us undead.>

A dagger flew, thrown by Daggers, and hit me
handle first.

"Now, my king. Queens are the most
powerful units in chess. Do you know which is arguably the worst?"

"Wait! Treaty! I no attack. You
away."

"Sorry, dude. I promised your head to
someone."

There was no fun in the rest of the fight.

After having to choose between getting
fireballed or stabbed, the king tried to stay in the air. It took some time,
but I eventually managed to hit one of his wings and its fell to the ground.

Then, it ran to a wall and tried to defend
itself like a turtle. It couldn't defend from every damn angle, though, and
after absurd five thousand and seventeen damage, it died.

The moment its body hit the ground, I almost
became deaf.

Thousands of gabats on the ceiling howled while
thousands more growled as they slowly descended the walls.

<Shit! The ring! Daggers, get the king's
body out of here! Eternal, just run!>

I ran to the throne as fast as I could and
jumped as high as possible, barely grabbing the spider queen's foot.

The uncountable gabats were halfway to the
floor.

Climbing the black scales, I got to the gabats
body. Frantically searching its hands, I found no ring on them.

Shit. The queen under the inn also didn't
have the ring.

I let go of the body and looked at the ground,
but there were no glows of unowned items anywhere. I quickly looked for it in
the throne, but it was also empty.

The gabats were almost to the ground.

Goddamnit, I hate this game!

I ran for my life and as I passed by a dead
queen gabat, I saw Eternal collecting loot.

<Eternal, you greedy idiot! Run!>

He looked around and his eyes popped. He put
something in his bag and ran.

Daggers had already left the room with the
king's body. All four of its shields and its helmet had fallen from its body. I
picked up one of the shields along the way.

It was heavy and slowed me down, but loot is
loot.

The only reason I survived the run was that no
gabats had climbed down the entrance's wall. By the time I got to the door,
that quarter of the room was not covered by the swarm.

Wait, where is Eternal?

I looked back. He had stopped to grab a shield
and was dragging it with him.

<Eternal, how stupid are you? You don't have
enough strength! Drop it and run!>

He ignored me. There was no way we had enough
time to grab another heavy shield like that. I looked at the gabats, swore in
my mind and ran to the imbecile. I threw a fireball at his hands and the moment
he dropped the shield, I pulled him along bodily.

<No! That is a rare shield! It ignores
twenty-five points of damage before the percentage reduction!>

<Stop struggling! You are going to die! I
already got one!>

<Let me go! I'm not a kid! Let go of me!>
He kept struggling.

And I kept pulling his body. Only a very narrow
corridor to the door remained gabat-free. With a quick look back I saw the
shield was already covered by gabats.

<It's gone!> I released him. <Come!
Run!>

<I hate you!> He yelled, but ran after
me.

The gabats claws were already touching me by
the time I made it to the door. When I turned back, I saw Eternal fall.

<Grab my hand! Daggers, you hold my
body!> I jumped for him.

He grabbed it and I pulled, while Daggers
pulled my body. The damn bats were stronger, but I didn't let go. I threw a
fireball at a gabat and Eternal got closer to the door.

Yes! It will work!

The throne room was a mass of blackness, the
gabats covering it all.

<Keep pulling, Daggers!> I threw more
fireballs. We were almost to the door.

And it closed, cutting my arm off.

50 slashing damage received

HP: 87 / 320

Status effect received: Badly Open Wounds
(level 25)

Until you are magically healed, or the
wound is cauterized:

» -25 HP per second

I screamed in pain and in my mind I heard
Eternal screaming too.

<Help! Help me! Get me out! Help! I was bit!
They are eating me! Help! It's his fault, Jack! I hate you! Help! He-> His
HP bar became gray, and silence descended upon the mind chat.

My first try at creating a death morb failed
because of the pain. There was a damage threshold for spell disrupting, but I
just hoped it didn't apply for status effects.

After multiple tries, I finally healed myself.
My arm didn't grow as much as it faded into existence. Daggers was silently
looking at me.

"Was he right?" I asked in cold
anger. "Was it my fault?"

She shook her head. "No, sir. It might
have been mine. I am stronger than you; I could have pulled him faster."

It was strange, hearing her actual voice after
mind chatting for so long.

I got up and punched the door. "It's not
your fault; he was the one who stayed! For an item!"

"You are right, sir." She said way
too quickly, no remorse whatsoever. She and Eternal were one of a kind when it
came to camaraderie, it seemed.

For me, it was a little harder to accept. Just
like I had fought with Daggers, I had fought with him, too. "What a
shitload. To die like this on the way out! What's the damn point?"

"There is no point in either life nor
death, sir. Both just are."

"Well, not on my watch. Damn this shit. To
die because of cheap greed."

"Sir, there is no point in dwelling. The
door can open anytime. We have to go."

I looked at her. "You are a cold one,
huh?"

"Affirmative. I find it very hard to feel
bad because an Earthen body died."

I gritted my teeth. She was right. I had
forgotten it myself for a second there. "Whatever. Hold the head this way,
let me cut it off." After a few hits, I put it in my backpack. "Good.
Let's get its armor and get the hell out of here."

The armor was way too big and heavy for me. So
was the shield, as crazy good as it was.

Oversized Steel Kite Shield

Rare

» Damage reduction: 25

» Resistance: 85%

Trying to use it applied a level nine
encumbered status effect to me.

"Hey, Daggers, how the hell does this
encumbered shit work?"

"All items have a required strength level
to be perfectly used, sir. You receive a proportional reduction accordingly to
your strength."

"Where do I see the requirements?"

"You cannot, sir. It is hidden. Our
masters think it helps with the role-play."

"Boy, I thought I despised them enough,
but they sure know how to lower the bar."

Daggers explained it better to me and I
concluded that the shield would take around fifty points of strength to use.

Why do you tease me with items I'm nowhere
near able to use, game?

A sigh of relief escaped my mouth when we found
the cursed ring on a chain around the king's neck. As we walked away, I checked
the exclamation points on the edge of my vision.

Quest updated: Help Production Cave 4

F rank

You have killed the King Gabat.

Bring the head to the First Lady to receive
your reward.

Interesting enough, the quest difficulty had
changed. A problem arose: I had already promised the head to Marbareus. But I
didn't want to think about it right now.

Trait received: Strategist

Chess is a game known both for its strategy
and tactics.

You have shown that beyond determining how
to achieve victory, you knew why to develop the tactics you did.

You knew when to act and who was
most prepared to act.

To all members of a party you are the
leader of, except you:

» +0.5% increase to attribute of choice

Wow. That was a
really good trait. If I had gotten it before, I might have even considered
picking it as a core. If it increased by half percent each level, I could
become a hell of a party leader.

Trait received: Tactician

Chess is a game known both for its strategy
and tactics.

You have shown you can successfully create
tactical solutions to difficult problems.

You have also learned that killing targets
fast is often a good idea.

To all members of a party you are the
leader of, except you:

» +0.5% increase damage

Also good. And a little annoying: I didn't get
to benefit from two traits I had gone to all the trouble to receive.

Again, the game seemed intent on make my life
harder.

"Congratulations on the new traits,
sir."

"How do you know about that?"

"I got a status effect icon for Tactician
and Strategist, sir. And I was asked to pick an attribute to receive the
Strategist's bonus."

"Oh, right."

We got out of the cave and began to walk back
to the city.

"By the way, hell of a job, Daggers.
You're too good in this game."

"I know, sir."

"Hah. But you still can't make me a
sandwich."

She hit me in the stomach, and I bent forward.
"You are supposed to act as a humble slave, sir. You are welcome for the
help."

I didn't reply.

* * *

Opening the doors to
Marbareus' room, I heard yelling.

"-my protection! You should
not-" The First Lady stopped as we entered.

"Oops. Knock, knock, I guess."

"We'll talk later, brother."
She turned to leave. "Maybe after you properly teach your slaves some
manners."

"Actually, my First Lady, I have business
with you." I got my backpack.

"What could a slave possibly have to talk
to me?" There was true disgust in her face.

"You see, earlier a guard from the fourth
plantation came into town talking about your little problem with the gabats and
how the Prince was being... Difficult. He mentioned a reward should we take
care of it for you." I took the gabat's head out of the backpack.
"This is their king's head."

"I have no business with you, slave."

Leave it to Valia to make a man fight for his
reward. "Really? So I should spread the word that your soldiers don't act
on your orders?"

Her mouth became a fine line. "What do you
want?"

"Well, gold. Also, some points in
intelligence would be nice."

"Intelligence points? Did you get a quest
for it? Without my consent?" Her eyes were little slits full of hatred.

"Seems like it."

"The gods hate me!" She took a purse
from her cloak and threw at me, then looked at Marbareus. "If this slave
ever comes close to me again, I'll kill him, I swear!" She stormed out of
the room.

Quest completed: Help Production Cave 4

Random primary attribute point received:

» +1 agility

Checking the purse, I saw it was the same one
Daggers and Eternal had received from Marbareus. Cosmic justice, it seemed. I
opened it and was about to count the coins when a small window appeared over
it.

Money: 60g 60s 60b

Items:

» 5 icebomb stones

A tooltip. Oh, the quirks the rich get with
their items.

"Now..." I turned to Marbareus and
threw him the head. "...I think I promised you this."

Verbal quest completed: Bring the King
Gabat's Head to Marbareus

Random primary attribute point received:

» +1 perception

Cool. Not only
had I discovered verbal quests – which were similar to hidden ones, except I
had said I'd do it beforehand –, I now knew that I could receive double the
reward for similar quests. That was a power leveling tool I'd love to abuse.

Marbareus caught the head midair and looked at
it. "It doesn't look too strong."

"Yeah, I'm sure you can see the item name.
King Gabat's Head." It had been something I hadn't thought about when I
took the spider queen head: I could discover the monsters' names even if they
didn't drop an item. I just had to chop their heads off.

"Yes. Well done, observer." I smiled
at his small jab and he turned to me.

"Where is Eternal?"

"Gabat food." I still felt bad about
it, but damn me if I'd let Marbareus know.

He looked at me silently for a few seconds,
then spoke as if nothing had happened. "Since you have a new vendetta with
the city's Captain of the Guard," he emphasized the title, making
it clear how stupid I was, "I guess I'll have to move the Resistance's
schedule up or risk losing you and upsetting Manhart."

"Afraid of the old lich, huh?"

"I have already tolerated your presence up
to this point. Letting all my hard work go to waste would be a shame. Pack your
things and meet me here in twenty minutes."

I left, and as I closed the door I saw him rip
the Gabat's tongue out and bite into it, chew it, swallow it, and smile to
himself.

Creepy guy.

There was no real item packing to be done as
all I owned was on me.

"I will sell my loot, sir."

"Ok. I don't think it's safe for me to
walk around, what about selling mine, too? Oh, and here is your third from the
First Lady's reward."

Giving her my loot – except for the shield –, I also gave her twenty gold coins.

"Get me the best shield you can get using
this money, please."

"What size, sir?"

"I only really know small and medium, so
I'd guess medium. It might be a larger one if you think it'd not get in the way
of my movement."

"Roger. Anything else?"

I thought about that. Metal armor might be
good, but it might slow me down in case I had to run. On the other hand, I was
the tank of the group now.

"Yeah, better armor. Plate." I took
my purse.

"That would be a bad idea, sir."

I frowned. "Why?"

"It is too heavy, sir. And you have too
little HP, anyway. With leather armor, you can try to dodge and run, at
least."

"Daggers, you do realize that we are much
stronger in Valia than in Earth, right? I can deal with some
armor."

"Sir, the metal in Valia is
different."

"Huh?"

"Think of two metal plates weighing a
pound each, sir. Separately, they weigh two pounds. But if they somehow become
a single item, their weight increases to more than that. Metal armor is really
heavy."

"But I-" I stopped myself
mid-sentence. I had tried the armor in Ter'nodril, but now I remembered that it
gave me twenty points to strength, and I still had been encumbered. And the
thick shield I had given her was also proof of such issue. "Oh. Okay. Just
get me something cheap and heavy to wear, then, without worrying about how good
it is."

"I don't understand your reasoning,
sir." She took the money I gave her regardless.

"So I can train in it. When I'm stronger,
I'll buy better stuff. But if I break the armor just like I broke my shield, I
won't have wasted so much money."

"Good reasoning, sir." She surprised
me again by how fast she could accept an opposing viewpoint. "Anything
else?" She repeated the question.

"Yeah. Why do you keep the sir? The quest
is over."

"You are the party leader, sir. Unless you
want to disband while I have your money."

"Keep up the good work, soldier!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Dismissed."

She walked away. Once you got used to it, the
role-playing was kinda nice. And since we were in the characters' bodies, there
was no reason not to. Daggers was special in that her dad was military, so she
was only half role-playing.

Wait, was I doing the same? Putting a part of
me in my character? If so, what was I role-playing as?

The answer came quickly to me: I was obviously
role-playing a jackass.

Way to go, champ. Didn't even try to be
something different from real life, huh?

I took the chance to put my money in the
high-quality purse but left the ring in the common one. After it had nearly
wrecked my day twice, I decided to sell it to Manhart next time I saw him; the
lich looked like the kind of guy who would would know what to do with a cursed
ring that turned people into giant undead spiders.

Sitting on an armchair and looking at the unlit
fireplace, I waited for the time to leave.

What was ahead of me? I wondered.

* * *

Five minutes after
leaving the city I took off my slave collar and threw it as far as I could.

"Mister Thorn," Tardas said, "I
suggest you at least keep your hood on. Sorina has no love lost for runaway
slaves, and we are still in guard patrol range."

"Don't worry. You might have some fancy
toy to make all these crystals not affect you, but all I have is this
cloak."

Copper Kite Shield

» Resistance: 75%

For all my twenty gold coins – or at least
that's what she told me – Daggers had bought me a pretty neat shield. It made
me realize how good the copper shield I had got in the prison had been. The
only downside of it was its color: copper was so not in fashion!

Trash-Quality Pure Iron Armor Set

The results of a failed experiment by
a non-gifted apprentice.

» Prevents critical hits to the head

While wearing a complete set, you
receive the same defenses to all your body:

» +10 defense

She had also bought me a shitty armor set. The
thing was so heavy that I couldn't even wear everything, only the chest armor,
and I already received a level eight encumbered status.

"How the hell is it so heavy?"

"It is iron, sir."

"You sound like that explains
anything."

"Iron is heavier, sir. Your sword is
darksteel, correct? Darksteel is lighter."

"Oh."

It made some sense. Unless there were
higher-quality light metals in this world, it would be impossible for people to
work with it.

We were walking in a line. Marbareus led,
followed by three catrons – cow-sized cats – carrying lots of bags. I was next,
followed by Daggers and Tardas.

We walked for another fifteen minutes until we
hit a kind of line on the ground. It was thin and black, made of metal and
firmly attached.

"This is the limit of Sorina. The City
Guard can only leave if they are accompanying the Prince," Marbareus told
Daggers when we stopped a few meters ahead.

"Even in wars?" I asked.

"Yes. The Vampire Princes always fight in
our wars, but The Guard stays behind; the Princes take the real military with
them." He shot a sinister smile at me. "They usually come back with
grand tales of massacre and blood. They also bring bodies. We throw a big party
as we eat our defeated foes."

"Urgh. Shouldn't you only drink the
blood?"

"We could. Blood is all we need to
survive, but nothing beats the taste of a good human heart with some elven
blood over it. Food can also be a pleasure."

I swallowed. Did vampire players also eat
these... Delicacies? Actually, I'd rather not know. "If elves are tasty,
what about drow? Do you like eating them?" I threw a look at Daggers.

"Even if the Faithful allowed drow bodies
to be eaten without a full-fledged war, no one would want them. They taste like
spoiled elf. Or so I'm told."

"Good to know. I'll be sure to tell my
friends."

"Do that, as soon as you find yourself
some."

"I'll keep that in mind. Or maybe I'll get
some slaves to force them to fill this big hole inside me. And I'm not even
talking about eating them... Yet. Sound good to you?"

He didn't answer.

Tardas went to the catrons and began unpacking,
beginning by setting up a big tent. For the next hour or so we did nothing as
he worked.

The camp ended up having three tents, two small
and a huge one. The smaller ones had enough space to walk inside and some
chairs. One was for Tardas and Eternal and the other one was for Daggers and
myself.

Only I needed to sleep in the group and no one
knew about this, so there were no beds around.

"Eternal should be here tomorrow, unless
he decides to travel to Valia a little later," Marbareus said.
"Either way, we will start when he gets here. Do not get more than twenty
meters away from the camp." He went into his tent.

Quest updated: A Meeting

[Obey the Resistance – Deception]

F- rank

Wait in the camp.

Waiting time: approximately 22 hours

Conditions:

» Cannot be denied

» Disobeying will lead to unfavorable
consequences

"Sir, I will use the time to travel out."

"I was going to invite you for some
sparing, but okay."

"Then I will stay a little longer, sir. It
will be good for my morale to beat you to your knees before leaving."

Let's just say that if sparring had
happened, Daggers would have been able to cut fireballs midair with her
daggers, dodge all my attacks and get to my flank faster than I could defend
myself.

Thank goodness it never happened.

It especially didn't happen multiple times as
we waited for Eternal to appear.

Such fights would have been really, really
painful experiences.

In a way that shall not be described.

Ever.

Jack
Thorn

Unbound
Deathlord

Legendary
Spotter, Hedge Wizard, Pioneer, Dark Archmage

Level
13

Hit Points:2
/ 320

Mana Points:580
/ 620

Stamina:10
/ 225

Attributes:

Strength:8

Agility:9

Dexterity:6

Constitution:9

Intelligence:14

Perception:7
+ 10 [Items]

Willpower:10

Charisma:8

Traits:

© Adept Controller:21

© Adept Energizer:13

Adept Mage:11
+ 10 [Items]

Diviner:2

Gold Digger:2

Scavenger:2

Scout:2

Antimage:1

Athlete:1

Crafter:1

Healer:1

Meditator:1

Mind Seer:1

Negotiator:1

Nitpicker:1

Shadow:1

Strategist:1

Tactician:1

Warrior:1

War

Specter

Underworld – Returned – Undead

It is believed specters can appear anywhere in
the world, including on the Surface. Even if this theory was never been proven,
powerful returned souls have been known to lay waste to whole towns.

However, it is in the Underworld, more
specifically in the Catacombs, where most of them appear.

Theologians state that the gods love the
surface and the waters too much. Such love is a significant deterrent to most
of the hateful energies that linger after death and lead to the beings
appearances.

Light mages, on the other hand, insist it's the
darkness, both of heart and in the ambient, which leads to the phenomena.

Dark mages laugh at that, reminding all that
darkness cannot generate undead. This would be the domain of the death and life
mages.

Death mages don't deny the possibility, while
life mages argue that the ghosts aren't really undead, but spontaneous sentient
ectoplasm.

Whoever is right, specters are born with an all
consuming desire for vengeance and more than a few successful ones have begun
their quest in the Catacombs of the Underworld.

Those who find themselves the target of these
beings quickly discover there is no running nor hiding: they will pass through
doors and walls and kill their prey without flinching.

Are they indeed returned souls of the dead?

Or are they but memories held together by
lingering death magic and ectoplasm?

Only the Mother knows.

-- Excerpt from
"Species of Valia", by Amir, a Karr

20. Wall Walker

"I'm always here for you, little
penguin."

- Aunt

"You will travel
to the Great Maze..." Marbareus said, beginning the reunion.

We were inside his big tent. He had brought his
expensive wooden table somehow – probably magic – and was sitting in his chair.
All four of us were standing: Daggers, Eternal, Tardas and I.

"Which is?" I asked before he could
continue. He looked annoyed at me.

"The great divide between the Inner and
Outer Dakar. An immense maze where a trickster god lives, that only earth mages
can traverse."

"Why are we going there?" Yet again I
asked before he could go on. His red eyes brightened a little.

"Only the earthbound are allowed to guide
people through the Maze. It's one of the reasons they rose to the top of
Dakar."

"The top?" The glow in his eyes
intensified.

"Yes, deathlord. Together with the
darkbound, they are the most powerful deathlords in Dakar." He looked at
me in silence.

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Well? Aren't
you going to explain the plan? Don't let me stop you."

Marbareus closed his eyes for a few seconds.
When he opened them again, they were glowing substantially. He opened his
mouth.

"What about the vampires' side?" I
asked. "Who are the strongest?"

"Stop! This is your first and last
warning! I swear by Logan that I will kill you if you interrupt me one
more time!"

Divine Vow Witnessed

You have witnessed a vow in the name of Logan,
the God of Blood.

If you see the one who made the vow break it,
you can call Logan's judgment upon them.

Not a bad touch to the game world. If the gods
were indeed alive and interacting with the populace, it was expected that they
would not want people swearing by their name in vain.

However, Alia Soman, the woman in prison, had
sworn by a god's name, and I hadn't received this message.

Maybe it doesn't count if someone is
torturing you. Or maybe you have to impose a condition.

He stared at me for a long time to make a
point. Then he looked to Daggers. "Just so you know, observer, the Arktov
and the Basir are the most powerful vampire clans." He looked at all of us
again. "As I was saying, you will go to the Great Maze. There, you will
kill merchants who are traveling under the guidance of an earthbound. However,
you will leave a single man alive and you, deathlord, will show your face to
him. Any questions?"

"Tell us more of the Maze. And how can we
pass through it, if only the deathlords can navigate the place?"

"Like I said, it divides Inner and Outer
Dakar. It has exactly four entrances and four exits, at the four cardinal
points, but the internal paths change daily. There is only a single place in
each of the four ways that doesn't change and it must be traversed to get
through the maze. It is the best spot for ambushes.

"As for getting there, I didn't say only
the earthbound can navigate it; I stated that they are the only ones allowed to
guide people through it. I have an enchanted map that shows the ever-changing
ways, which Tardas will keep for the duration of the quest."

I waited a few seconds in silence before
speaking, just to make sure I wasn't interrupting; for some reason, I wasn't in
a dying mood. "Aren't maps illegal? And Tardas' is coming too?"

"They are, but it is a necessity in this
case. Yes, he is."

There was a big hole in his explanation: the
earthbound deathlords. If they were so strong, I wasn't interested in fighting
them. "Is Tardas the one who's going to take care of the deathlords?"

"Yes. Surprisingly, this is an important
question. Tardas is the only one who is allowed to interact with the earthbound
deathlord in any way. Is it clear?"

"Sure is," I said, already thinking
of how I would disobey that at my first chance. "At the palace, you said
Eternal would be the one showing himself to the deathlords, and I would show
myself to the vampires instead. But now you ordered me to show my face
to those under the deathlords' protection. Does it mean I should wear the
illusion ring?"

"No. The plans have changed." He
extended his hands. "Give the ring back, while we are at it."

I frowned. "What do you mean the plans
changed?"

"I meant what I said. The ring."

I understood it, then. "You are setting me
up, aren't you?" I wish I was seated just so I could get up dramatically.
"It was never your intention to make Eternal show himself. Hell, you even
have this illusion ring. I was going to be a scapegoat all along. The unbound
no one wants nor cares about; put all the blame on him and everything is
solved."

The bastard actually smiled. "The ring,
deathlord."

"Screw you. If you are going to use me,
I'm taking the damn ring."

I thought about the leverage I had over him,
the possibility of revealing the fake beating. But he had just put them out of
my reach. He had even told me so: 'Sorina has no love lost for runaway slaves.'
I'd be killed on sight.

It made me shake my head. I had been played
alright. Valia was a game, but it also allowed the NPCs to move as they wished.
I had to remember that, or I'd keep being played.

No use crying over the spilled milk, though.

"So, we go to the Maze, kill some people,
I show my face, Tardas takes care of the deathlord, and we come back. In and
out, easy-peasy." I tried to move the conversation away from the ring. It
didn't work.

"Deathlord, listen carefully. I will allow
you to keep the inferior quality illusion ring, but not the one you have now.
Give it to me or I will take it by force."

The glow in his eyes was intensifying, and I
could feel my vision narrow again, just like it had at the Resistance meeting.
Only this time there was no Manhart to save me. Gulping, I took the ring off
and gave it to him.

He put it away. "Anything else?"

"Why the Maze?" Daggers asked.

That was a valid question. There were probably
easier ambush places than inside an ever-changing maze, using an illegal map
and waiting for a guy to come. I was so immersed in thinking of ways to mess
with his plans that I hadn't thought about it.

"Well observed," Marbareus said, and
I had to use all my willpower not to say 'I see what you did there.' "As I
said, the earthbound's power come in part from their exclusivity in guiding
people through the Great Maze. Hitting them there, while they are conducting
merchants, will be a great wound to their pride. Especially when it becomes
known that an unbound is the one responsible."

"How would it benefit the
Resistance?"

"If one of the most important deathlord
factions is humiliated by an unbound and becomes perceived as weak, it will
lead to internal disputes. These two factors, weakness and discord, will show
the vampires that the deathlords can be beaten easier than it's believed. The
war will intensify, and I already told you how this helps the Resistance."

It was a sound plan. Too sound. It was
completely different from the 'kill deathlords while showing a vampire face and
vice-versa' one.

The AI had evolved.

And I wasn't sure I liked an enemy getting
smarter.

"Any more questions?" No one said
anything. "Then leave."

* * *

Quest: Ambush in the Great Maze

[Obey the Resistance – Deception]

C rank

Follow Tardas to the static point in the Great
Maze and raid anyone being led through the Maze by an earthbound deathlord.

Kill everyone but a single survivor, to whom
you must show your face.

Conditions:

» Do not interact in any way with any
earthbound deathlords

» Cannot be denied

» Disobeying will lead to unfavorable
consequences

As we traveled, I kept reading the quest
information to make sure I had read every detail. I already knew how I was
going to mess with the First Lord's plans.

The Maze was almost a day's walk from Sorina.
When Eternal asked for a lizard to ride, Marbareus said we were supposed to be
covert and that people riding a lizard were more noticeable.

When the vampire slave and Daggers logged out,
they revealed a new game feature to me: auto-following. They set their characters
to follow someone and logged out. Instead of disappearing or staying still, the
character kept walking until it died or the player logged back in.

I, on the other hand, had to enjoy the walk
through uninhabited and mostly barren caves. There were some lakes and
vegetation here and there, and some regular monsters, like tentacles and stuff,
but Tardas just ordered me to keep moving.

The one time I tried to disobey, he killed the
monster with a single arrow, which exploded making a huge mess.

"I respectfully suggest you stay clear of
the body, Mister Thorn. It may still be alive and to protect you, I'd need to
fire yet another arrow."

I took a look at the pieces of the monster
everywhere. How the hell can it be alive?

"However," he continued, "one in
a thousand times, I miss my shots. We don't want an accident to happen."

I stopped walking in the direction of the
remains. "You are right, Tardas. Accidents are bad. And I don't want you
to feel sad about it."

We also saw some merchants coming and going. They
had catrons with them and walked on foot.

"Why don't they ride a
lizard?" I asked.

"Giant lizards are reserved for the
wealthy or the desperate, Mister Thorn. The beasts consume considerable
quantities of rations when they leave their shelters."

A stone-walled city was in the center of a big
cave chamber. Tardas made us walk far away from it. The entrance to the Maze
was in that chamber, and it was disappointing: a rectangular opening in the
wall, about three catrons wide and five tall.

The moment we walked through it, I felt magic
all around me, even if I couldn't see it. It was oppressive, as if the air was
heavy and applied extra pressure to my skin.

The walls were ten stories high, and the maze
was full of straight lines as if it had been created on Earth to be published
in a magazine. It probably had been. The corridors were twenty meters wide.

"It feels impressive, and it doesn't look
half bad. But what prevents someone from just boring through the walls?"

"Try it, Mister Thorn." I looked
suspiciously at him. "Worry not, nothing will happen to you."

Creating a fireball, I threw it at the wall.
The moment they touched, the fireball disappeared.

"The walls are unbreakable, Mister. Trying
to excavate above or below the Maze leads to the same result."

"So the god likes his toy, huh? What's his
name?"

"No one knows, Mister. No one has ever
seen the god of this place."

"Then how the hell do you know there is a
god in here?"

"Only divine power could do this,
Mister."

Primitive people, crediting everything they
don't understand to gods.

His 'Mister' was more annoying than Daggers'
'sir.' Being respected was very upsetting. No wonder all the politicians Father
and Mother brought home were anxious bastards.

Tardas kept leading us forward without
faltering a step. "Where's the map?" I asked.

"Maps created by the Cartographers Guild
are soul-resonating, Mister."

"Which means...?"

"They disappear on pick-up and stay on the
edge of your vision, Mister. I can see it at all times and manipulate it at
will."

It was 'NPC speak' for 'user interface' – all
the things that I could see that were not part of the scenery, like HP bars and
chat log.

Disturbingly enough, the Maze was three
dimensional. On some edges, the world perspective changed: one of the walls
became the new ground, the floor and ceiling became walls. Only it wasn't them
that shifted, but gravity itself.

It didn't take long for me to find myself at a
loss as to where the up and down of the outside world was. More than once
Tardas led us to what had been the floor just a second before, making us get
close to a wall before taking a turn that would change the perspective.

There was no awkwardness or rushing of movement
when going from an old-floor-new-wall to an old-wall-new-floor, no sensation of
falling or anything. Everything seemed natural, normal walking, and the ghoul
guaranteed me that one wouldn't fall if one was too far from the new floor when
the world turned upside-down.

"The reason I insist on getting us near
the wall when the perspective is about to change, Mister, is because it is
highly disturbing to walk on walls."

I tried it once and found out he was
unquestionably right.

The Maze was ridiculously difficult and I
realized with unhappiness that if Tardas just left me there, I would be lost
until I died.

After only two hours of extra walking, we
reached the static point. It was a square cave chamber big enough for about two
hundred people to camp comfortably. It was bare of anything at all.

"Here we are, Mister."

When Daggers and Eternal logged back in,
Tardas changed from water to wine.

You have received a party invitation from
Tardas.

Accept or refuse?

"I didn't know Valians could get in
parties," I said.

"Come to our world," Tardas replied,
"steal our things, sleep with our women, then tell us you didn't know we
could use them. Typical Earthen."

His change of attitude shocked me so much that
I just looked at him open-mouthed for a while.

"Yes, Thorn. Fun time is over. We are now
in a combat zone. Accept the party."

"Well-" I tried to speak, but he held
his hand up and pointed at his head.

Mind chat, I guess. Man, I couldn't have
been more right about him and Daggers. Am I a prophet or what?

I accepted the party.

<Now, Tardas->

<First rule,> he interrupted me, <is
that when we are in this chamber, we only talk about combat-related things. And
we do that in a concise way, providing only necessary information.>

<Tardas-> I tried
again.

<Second rule is that this is your mission,
not mine. I'm here to provide a distraction for the earthbound until you are
done, and only that.>

<Listen->

<Third rule is that you can do whatever you
want until there's a merchant caravan nearby. I'll warn you three hours before
they're here, and you must be here within one hour of my alert. Obviously, you
must stay in the party at all times.>

<Hi?>

<The Fourth rule is that I will claim all
the merchants' loot in the name of the First Lord, but you can plunder any
guards that come with them. Do any of you have any questions?>

<What the hell?! No way, the loot is ours!
We will do all the work!>

<Yes. All the work besides getting
information on how to get in here and leave, obtaining information on the
timetables of the earthbound's travels, and having the power to neutralize the
earthbound without being killed. Any intelligent question?>

Douchebag! But
he had a point.

<I have strategist and tactician traits.
Pass the party leadership to me.>

He did. <If you change any settings, I will
kill you.>

Only when he said that did I notice that no HP
bar was showing for him. Our ghoul was a secretive one.

<I liked you better when you were
respectful.>

Yes, politicians, I now understand you.
Sorry for earlier.

<And I liked you better when you weren't in
my goddamn life. You two have any questions, observer and Eternal?>

<Why are you nice to them?>

<Because they respect the First Lord. The
world is round, Thorn. What goes, comes back.> When he was sure neither of
my two player pals had any doubts, he continued. <You are free to go for
now. Do not go anywhere you are not entirely sure you know how to get back. I
will not rescue any of you.>

<Are there any monsters nearby?> Daggers
asked.

<Yes, the Maze is overflowing with them.
Some might kill you, and some should be too weak. The area around a static
point is a low-level one. You should be fine.>

With the pep talk concluded, I was finally able
to put my chest armor on. Wearing it on the travel would have slowed us too
much.

<So, who wants to go monster hunting?>

<I do, sir.>

<I'll pass,>
Eternal said. He had been bitter since his death, and I figured it was better
to give the man the space he needed. That's how I ran my gang back on Earth,
and it had kind of survived intact.

Daggers admitted, much to my delight, that even
she got a little lost in the Maze.

After the non-fight with her, in which I
hadn't got my ass handed to me, it was nice to discover she was human
too.

We walked for about fifteen minutes, turning
back every time she decided she couldn't memorize more of the path until we
finally found our first monsters: a goblin band.

All eighteen of them were green and half my
height, with big ears and noses. They wore leather armor and had weak looking
small weapons.

Critical damage for 2.0x damage!

172 damage dealt to Goblin

HP: 0 / 172 <?>

The first four goblins died with my fireballs
impacting their heads, just like that. Daggers advanced and started a ruthless
blood dance in the middle of them.

To my surprise, a few of them created darkness
morbs and threw them at me.

No damage received from darkness element
(Immunity)

It was the first time my immunity kicked in,
and I liked it a lot. The goblins had high pitched voices and kept screaming
and speaking in an unknown language.

They were so weak that Daggers killed each of
them with two strokes of her daggers. It gave me an idea.

<Daggers, don't kill them all! Leave one or
two alive!>

<Roger.>

The slaughter continued until only two goblins
remained. They tried to run, but Daggers cut their retreat off. <Here it is,
sir. Two goblins, fresh from harvest.>

<Good job.> I got
closer to them as I created four death morbs and took my sword out. <They
are perfect for training!>

Twenty percent of my agility amounted to a
single point, and that was all I had after the eighth level encumbered status.
It was very strange: while the attribute reduction only applied to agility, the
way it affected me was that I had to make a significant effort to hold the
sword, and that led me to swing it slower.

My slashes didn't connect. The goblins were
armed with shitty small swords and while their attacks hit me, they barely
did any damage at all.

And so we fought without end. Daggers liked the
idea, borrowed some heavy equipment from me, and we took turns fighting the
bastards.

Tardas called for us after some six hours, and
we let the small guys go. Their equipment was bad enough that we didn't even
bother to collect anything but coins from the bodies.

"See you later, little guys!" I waved
at them. They were highly bruised and panting. I only had the bruises.

<Position yourselves however you like,>
Tardas said as soon as we were back to the ambush chamber, <as long as it is
out of view. Only attack after I deal with the earthbound. Go.>

The ghoul faded away from view at one corner of
the chamber and Daggers tried to follow suit.

<That is not stealthy enough, observer,>
the ghoul said.

<It is all I have.>

<Stay still.>
Soon enough a blackness enveloped her translucent body, and it became
completely invisible.

<Whoa! I like it! Me too! Me too!> I
said.

<I can't; First Lord's orders. I might do it
to Eternal if he so wishes.>

<I do,> the
little vampire traitor said.

<Well, screw you guys too.>

<I am not a guy, sir.>

<Of course not, man.>

<Thorn,> she said
dangerously.

<I said combat-related talk only,> Tardas
barged in.

<You heard him, Daggers. You don't-> I stopped speaking as an arrow passed way too close to me.

Silence governed the mind chat for a few
seconds until the ghoul spoke. <Remember to leave one man alive so Thorn can
show him his face.>

<Roger.>

<Okay.>

<Sure thing. You can totally trust me.>

He didn't answer. The chat became silent again.

The caravan took about forty minutes to get
there. A man in dark green metal armor – very lean and sculpted armor – was the
first to appear. He had completely black eyes and had been a human before
turning into an undead. Above his head, a single green morb floated.

After him were nine catrons carrying multitudes
of bags and a single merchant in silk clothes. No guards at all.

<So many guards with their juicy loot. I
must thank Marbareus for this incredible opportunity.>

Tardas' answer was an arrow flying toward the
earthbound and hitting the ground before him.

He missed? What the hell?!

The deathlord's response time was very quick.
"Ambush!" He yelled and extended his hand to the floor. His morb flew
to the ground, and it erupted in an incredible speed.

Like a one-person bunker forming from below, it
covered him entirely, leaving only very narrow slits on the eye level that not
even an arrow could penetrate. Tardas sent another arrow flying anyway.

This one shone blue and red as it flew to the
bunker. It hit it and penetrated making a hole the size of my fist. Then it
exploded inside in a red and blue flash, and the mist appeared.

It came from inside the bunker and covered a
very exact round area around the shelter. One to two meters' radius, if I had
to guess. It was dense and impossible to see anything through it.

The perfect cage for a mage: inside a fortified
position, with no visibility at all.

<The earthbound has been neutralized,>
Tardas stated the obvious. <Daggers, incapacitate the merchant.>

She did. Appearing out of nowhere, she hit the
man in a very particular spot on his neck and he fell unconscious.

The ghoul became visible and walked to the
catrons. There, he proceeded to unload everything into a backpack; a backpack
that he took from his purse, after opening its mouth wide.

Oh, so the item storage can be used this
way, as I thought.

The man was a beast at thievery. In less than
half an hour he had stolen everything from all nine catrons and from the
merchant's body too. The animals were released into the Maze and the merchant
was tied with a rope.

<Now we wait for him to wake up->

Tardas stopped speaking as I crouched next to
the merchant, opened his eye with my fingers and I lowered my hood in front of
him. Then, I got up.

<It's done, let's go.>

<What?> Tardas
asked incredulously.

<I did what the quest asked of me. Leave a
survivor and show him my face. It was never mentioned the survivor had to be
conscious.>

<I am mentioning it now. We wait for him to
wake up and you show him your face again.>

<Sorry, buddy. The world is round, remember?
If Marbareus wants to use me as a scapegoat, I'll not make it easy for him. And
he is the one who gave me the quest, not you. Oh, look, it just updated
ordering me to go back to the First Lord. I guess we have to go.>

Raw fury was visible in the ghoul's face. <I'll
kill you if you disobey me.>

I shrugged. <Go ahead.>

Apparently, he didn't have a lethal eye attack
because his look didn't kill me.

<I can tie you up and force you to show
yourself when the merchant wakes.>

<Sure you can. Won't be suspicious at all, a
hooded figure showing a tied deathlord to the merchant and insisting that said
deathlord is the one responsible.>

His hand shook, making the bow tremble. I kept
wisely silent. Eventually, he closed his eyes.

<Go back to your monster hunting. I'll talk
to the First Lord and suggest he updates your quest. We'll wait for the next
caravan.>

<Wait, he can do that? Change my quest from
afar?>

<Yes. Go. Now.>
He kept his eyes closed, apparently trying to control himself.

Staying in the Maze for longer wasn't what I
had in mind, but I'd take what I could. I started walking and was surprised to
hear Daggers whisper.

"That was well done, sir."

I smiled and winked at her. It was good to know
that not everyone expected me to just meekly accept people trying to take
advantage of me.

"I need better relationship for my
Blackguard quest," she whispered next. "But trust me."

<Tardas, I just thought of a question,>
she said in the mind chat.

<You may ask, observer.>

<Why cannot Thorn show his face to the
earthbound before the fight?>

My eyes widened. Was Daggers really willing to
sell me out for a quest? And after telling me to trust her?

<That is a good suggestion, observer. The
First Lord thought it would be too risky. The earthbound might attack instead
of defending himself if he had a visible target and it would be the end of this
plan. Do you disagree?>

<No, no, I do not. Please, tell the First
Lord that I bow to his wisdom.>

<I will.>

She covertly made an 'OK' sign with her hand,
and we found some more goblins to kill and train with.

Nothing like a massacre after pissing on
Marbareus' plans.

Jack
Thorn

Unbound
Deathlord

Legendary
Spotter, Hedge Wizard, Pioneer, Dark Archmage

Level
13

Hit Points:320
/ 320

Mana Points:620
/ 620

Stamina:225
/ 225

Attributes:

Strength:8

Agility:9

Dexterity:6

Constitution:9

Intelligence:14

Perception:7
+ 10 [Items]

Willpower:10

Charisma:8

Traits:

© Adept Controller:21

© Adept Energizer:13

Adept Mage:11
+ 10 [Items]

Diviner:2

Gold Digger:2

Scavenger:2

Scout:2

Antimage:1

Athlete:1

Crafter:1

Healer:1

Meditator:1

Mind Seer:1

Negotiator:1

Nitpicker:1

Shadow:1

Strategist:1

Tactician:1

Warrior:1

21. Ice in the Hole

'Shh... It was only a nightmare. Relax,
honey.'

- Aunt

<One minute,> Daggers told us. I swear the
girl was born with a clock in her guts.

Three days had passed. Our routine became
raiding caravans and training by using nearby monsters in between. About four
merchant caravans came each day, and after the first one, all came with guards.

But they were weak as hell.

Thing is, Marbareus had downplayed the
importance of the Great Maze to the earthbound's pride. They forbid guards to
come at all, and only covert weak ones passed their inspection. They also
refused to send more than a single earthbound, claiming it would be enough that
time.

Deathlord politics seemed to put a lot of faith
in believing your enemy wouldn't be crazy enough to keep attacking. We had,
after all, left the battlefield multiple times in the past week to allow the
earthbound to retreat alive.

It also better explained the choice of this
place for an ambush. Three players around level ten would hardly be able to
withstand the fury of the most powerful deathlords unless it was in perfect
conditions.

I wouldn't have believed in such stupidity from
the deathlords if it wasn't for my political background. I knew how bureaucracy
and idiots could allow a tiny problem to fester and snowball into a
catastrophe.

'Most of our enemies are power-hungry imbeciles
in prominent positions who only know how to buy and sell favors,' mother had
taught me. 'They lack foresight and knowledge to solve problems themselves.
Therefore, they became the best as stalling for time and waiting for the
problem to solve itself.'

All those days, Marbareus and I had been
playing a little game of cat and mouse.

First, he updated the quest adding a condition:
I had to show my face to a conscious survivor. Daggers agreed to put a
dazed status on a man 'by mistake' in a fight, and I showed my face to him.

After that, he ordered me to show my face to a
conscious and lucid survivor. I did, then I waited for the quest update and killed
the guy anyways.

Marbareus could only talk to Tardas once a day.
The Maze was a magically isolated place, forbidding even Daggers and Eternal's
bodies to fade away in there when they logged out. Such a communication
blockade only made it an even better defense against invasions.

Those had been fun days, but they were about to
end. Marbareus had finally realized what he needed to do: he merely changed the
quest to the lines of 'obey Tardas unconditionally.'

<Ten seconds,>
Daggers gave us an updated estimate.

At least it would end with a grand finale.
Today there would be no dull merchants and guards for us to kill, but a spicy
novelty: players. The earthbound claimed the Destiny Spirits had asked for a
quest to be created to deal with us.

I would bet all my money it was bullshit.
Someone in there had something like a brain and was using it.

According to Tardas' report, twenty players
were coming, mainly deathlords and vampires, but also a couple of ghouls; these
were the only species that could start the game in the Inner Circle.

<Five seconds.>

Tardas was in the corner of the static chamber.
Eternal and I were right after the corner beyond the exit. Daggers was a little
ahead on the entrance's tunnel, invisible thanks to Tardas' skill, and timing
the arrival of our enemies.

I finally caught sight of the first players. I
was excited and had been a little worried about their numbers, but the worry
faded away as I saw more of them: there was no organization. Instead of walking
and fighting as a single unit, they were divided into small groups or walking
alone.

Seeing them was a very educational experience.
The sheer variety of equipment was amazing: from leather to metal, from robes
to armor, daggers to mage staffs, halberds to bows. It was also possible to see
how my gang fights had been stupid in the way we fought without coordination.
Tardas and Daggers had shown me the usefulness of enforced discipline.

Not that I would ever admit it.

<Dibs on the upper chest armor,> I said.

<Mission is on, operational communications
only!> Tardas complained.

One of the player's upper chest armor was a
metal piece strapped on with leather and chains. It was the last thing I needed
to complete my new pillaged set: copper vambraces and greaves were on my arms
and legs. They changed my fighting style a little, and I liked them a lot.

They were not entirely metal, only the front
half, the remaining being plain leather. It was a very well thought-out
workaround to the armor weight problem, protecting critical areas but still
being light enough for agile fighters to wear. Daggers told me Blackguards were
forbidden to use metal except in training, but the reason was a secret.

Sadly, I couldn't use any chainmail gloves over
my ring nor any helmet with my circlet. When I tried, they stopped working, and
I received a stupid message about the items interacting with the ambient
enchantment. Also, no guard had had a better short sword or shield.

<How do we do it?> Eternal asked.

<Daggers, are you nearby?>

<Affirmative. I'm trailing them.>

<Good. We use the pincer tactics, then.>

Fighting the weak caravan guards had been easy.
They fought back, but they were just barely stronger than the elite prison
ghouls had been. It had, however, allowed us to test different tactics to
ambush people. The two fronts attack had been the most successful one.

<And don't forget plan B if we get in a bad
spot.>

By now, the players were all in the cave. They
looked around suspiciously, visibly anxious. The earthbound deathlord was a
woman this time, but she had the same dark green metal armor as all the others
had had. Also like the others, a single earth morb floated above her head.

"Where are they?" One of the players
broke the silence.

"Silence! Pay attention!" The woman
bellowed.

The distraction was even better for us.

Tardas arrow flew and hit the ground before the
earthbound. "Ambush!" She yelled, like all the others had done and
threw her morb on the ground, from where the bunker appeared. Either they had a
bad AI or a very standard military training back home.

[Daggers] Sneak attack for 2.0x damage!

[Daggers] Critical damage for 2.0x damage!

[Daggers] 384 (192 x 2) slash damage dealt
to Rear Mage

HP: 0 / 384 <?>

Daggers attacked a mage in the back a split
second after the earthbound created his bunker. Tardas blue-and-red shining
arrow flew at the same time, distracting everyone.

Daggers became visible when she attacked, but
the distraction and shouting all around was enough for no one to realize the
loss of the mage, who had been alone.

She moved further into the group and shadowed,
killing a warrior with three fast strikes in the neck, then jumping quickly at
another mage nearby, killing him too.

"Behind us!" The earthbound's voice
came from the mists and was miraculously heard over all the shouting. Apparently,
they created parties right before entering the Maze, in case their clients
wandered away.

Everyone turned, and Eternal and I used the
opportunity to attack. After finally reaching level fifteen on intelligence, I
could now create five morbs. Together with my fireball spell reaching level two
– four with the ring – I was now a damn volcano, melting everything in my path.

Sneak attack for 2.0x damage!

Critical damage for 2.0x damage!

228 fire + 15 burn damage dealt to Random
Mage (243 total)

228 fire + 13 burn damage dealt to Random
Mage (241 total)

HP: 0 / 484 <?>

I killed two dudes and injured another one.
Even Eternal managed to kill one. We had discovered sneak attacks only worked
if no enemy at all was seeing the attack coming.

After that, the real fight was on. Fourteen
people to go. Right after we struck, Eternal and I hid, one around each corner,
and began to recreate our morbs.

I kept an eye on Daggers' HP. I knew that she
would fight smart: dodge attacks and put people between herself and the enemies,
moving like a ghost and abusing her high agility, only attacking when it was
safe. She still would take occasional damage, but it shouldn't be anything off
of charts.

<Eternal, now!> I
ordered when my five morbs were ready.

The chamber was in chaos. People kept trying to
get to Daggers but couldn't, and not a few attacks from them hit their own
associates. Without the earthbound, they had no one to coordinate them and
their yelling added to the confusion more than helped.

I loved it.

My fireballs flew. It was a shame, but people
were looking our way, so no sneak bonus damage applied. It was still enough to
kill the guy I had injured earlier, and coordinate a single target attack with
Eternal to kill another one.

We both were already going back to hiding when
two arrows missed me by a breath.

It amazingly didn't miss my hood, which we wore
to give some credit to our thieves cover, and it opened, revealing my face.

"It's a deathlord! They are
deathlords!" I heard one of the archers yelling.

<Do not try to hide your face,> Tardas ordered, and I wondered if the arrow that revealed my face
had indeed missed me or hit the bullseye on my hood.

Scanning the logs, I saw Daggers kill another
guy. Eleven to go. Her stamina was draining quickly, though, already at a
hundred and eighty.

Some arrows and magic hit the edge of the gap
we were at, but my leather armor was good enough to protect me from small
incidental damage, like the burn and frost that came. The sound of explosions
still made me half deaf, though.

<Eternal, two seconds!> I told him. The enemy would be ready for us now. I appeared first
and drew their attacks, my shield in front of me and the top of my head covered
by my forearm and its vambrace.

Two arrows hit me before I could even see the
battlefield and a white ball followed suit, partially blinding me. I was still
able to see two shapes running at me and targeted them.

My first two fireballs went for their bodies,
then turned midair to hit their legs. They stumbled and fell on the floor. My
following three fireballs hit one of them in the head – the one without a
helmet – and killed him.

Eternal attacked the other one. The helmet
prevented critical damage from spells to the head, and he survived. We hid
again, and I kept my shield ready for the incoming warrior. If the guy were
dumb enough to try and get to Eternal, on the other side of the corridor, he
would leave his back to me and die horribly.

He wasn't that stupid, though, only mildly.
Three seconds later, he was on me, but his back was to Eternal. I defended his
attack and put my fireballs in his face, while Eternal put his fireballs into
the guy's neck. He didn't die, but I could see his eyes get desperate
underneath the helmet. Smiling, I kicked between his legs and he screamed in
pain. I finished him with a sword through his face.

Concentrating amidst the ringing in my ears,
the shouting and explosions was hard, but I managed to summon all my morbs
while Daggers killed another guy.

Eternal and I repeated our attack and killed
another two.

Only seven to go, but Daggers stamina was down
to ninety, and two of the remaining ones would be a pain in the ass to take
care of, thanks to their body covered in plate armor from head to toe. To tell
the truth, only Daggers could deal with them, and she would need a lot of
stamina for that

<Time for plan B!>

I got to the middle of the corridor, shield
ahead of my body, and Eternal got behind me. Daggers became translucent and
started running to us.

No one was attacking me now, and I took the
opportunity to summon morbs as I slowly walked back. Eternal couldn't move
while creating morbs and I had to make short stops for him to attack too.

Between the two of us, we killed two more guys,
and Daggers used her shadow skill to kill another one before she got to us.

Only four were left, all of them close ranged
fighters. I kept my shield in front of me anyways – you never knew if there was
an invisible guy nearby or if your enemy had secret ranged skills. The
fireballs continued to fly at them.

Daggers disappeared around the corner. She
needed to rest and each minute I gave her meant nineteen more stamina. I had
lost a hundred and fifty HP, so I guessed I could give her one or two minutes
if nothing went terribly wrong.

Naturally, just as I thought that all four of
the close ranged fighters decided to run at us.

My hand found my high-quality purse and my
fingers took one of the icebomb stones from it. It was like a never-melting ice
cube. I aimed at one of the guys in full plate armor and threw.

He hadn't learned the lesson of magical worlds:
if someone is throwing anything at all at you, even if it's a small stone,
dodge it! The ice cube hit him in the chest and expanded.

It instantly grew and became an ice crystal
full of spikes in all directions, the size of a man. It pierced his armor and
his body, painting ice in blood and gore, tearing flesh and armor apart. He
died instantly.

I had already seen the effect once when I used
it on a merchant to test it, but it was fascinating all the same.

The remaining three of them looked among
themselves, turned back and ran the other way. I couldn't blame them: they had
just seen seventeen people, one of them in full armor, get slaughtered by
three. Daggers, especially, had been in the middle of it all and survived. They
probably thought she was a high-level NPC or something.

It was a little anticlimactic, to tell the
truth. Well, better that than dying, I guessed.

<Gotta love the little massacres life gives
you,> I said as I walked to the guy I had seen with the chest armor.
<Look, this guy even has gold! Moron, bringing money to a place like
this.>

<Sir, you also brought your money.>

<Shut up. What are you, a bank or
something?>

Even with the loot restrictions, my treasury
had gone up by about eighty gold, and that after sharing everything equally
with Daggers and Eternal.

Evil paid off in the Underworld.

Low-Quality Copper Half Breastplate

» +30 defense

The same material and same defense value of
both the vambraces and greaves. It seemed to be standard cheap stuff in the
Inner Circle.

We cleaned the corpses of all their valuables.
Accordingly to the party's loot policy, it was my time to get jewelry, and I
got a sweet Necklace of Minor Strength. Daggers pestered me until I agreed to
trade it for a Ring of Minor Charisma and some gold.

Eternal hadn't thought about trading and after
a quick negotiation, I exchanged him the ring for a Belt of Minor Intelligence
plus ten gold. Why the hell would a mage trade intelligence for charisma was
beyond me, but I didn't care as long as I got paid.

Belt of Minor Intelligence

» +2 intelligence

Poor-Quality Training Magic Staff

» +1% effectiveness of spells

I didn't care about the staff. One percent
effectiveness was useless to me. Sadly, the full armor went to Eternal, and he
asked way too much money for it. For armor I couldn't even wear. My training
equipment would have to do for now.

Now, only one thing remained: to prevent people
from being magically resurrected, we had to cut their heads off. I took my
sword out and proceeded to do some chopping.

<That's stupid,> Tardas said. <They
are Travelers and are going to revive no matter what we do to their
corpses.>

<Oh, right.> I
checked the 'quest updated' exclamation point, trying to find loopholes in it
that I could abuse, but there were no changes to the restrictions, it only
added an order to go back.

<I guess we rest and finally get out of this
place, then?> I sat with my back to a wall and
looked at the foggy area where the earthbound was. From time to time Tardas
fired a new arrow there to keep the mist going.

Marbareus didn't want deathlords killed, and I
understood his reasoning. He wanted the deathlords to fight among themselves,
and always allowing the deathlords to live made the others more suspicious.

Plus, if the plan was ever discovered, all the
First Lord would owe the deathlords would be money over some goods stolen, some
unimportant people killed and some hits to his pride. If earthbound blood were
spilled, amends would be much more expensive.

<Sir, I must say I am impressed.>

<Huh?> I replied
smartly.

<They outnumbered us almost seven to one,
sir.>

<Yeah, Jack,>
Eternal said. In the last few days, he had got back on the team, probably out
of boredom. <That was neat.>

<Heh, thanks. It was no great feat,
though.>

<No need for false modesty, man.>

I smiled. <C'mon, you know me. There is no
modesty lost in this sexy body of mine. What I mean is that I'm no genius or
anything. I just have this way of seeing things.>

<What do you mean?>

<I can break stuff. No, not that way. It's
just that when I see a problem, I can split it into small pieces in my mind,
use everything I know as other pieces, and solve the puzzle that way. This is
how I kept finding ways around Marbareus orders, too.>

<Like a genius problem-solver?>

I shrugged. <My shrink called it logical
thinking. But I don't know about the genius part. This pincer attack, for
instance, came after I tried to use the little pieces in different ways,
watched the outcome, then changed what didn't work until it became evident this
was the best way for us to go. Or at least, the best way I can think of. A more
experienced commander could probably have killed everyone a lot easier.>

<No way.> Eternal
was kissing my ass a little too much for comfort.

<Yes, way. Ask Tardas; I bet he saw his
share of battles in his life.>

<Is he for real, Tardas?>

<Yes,> The ghoul said. <I have seen
mortals possessing pure tactical genius as only the gods should be allowed to
have. Generals so skilled that only by ordering a single change to a formation
they could turn their own men's broken lines into a decimation of the enemy.
Leaders who could see so far ahead in what would happen on a battlefield that
they could write orders to his subordinates and command such orders to be read
at the right moments. What Thorn did is merely a parlor trick.>

I smiled at Eternal, ignoring Tardas verbal
attack. <See? I was right. Again. Maybe I am a genius after all.>

We talked some more until Daggers was full HP
and stamina. <I am ready.>

Tardas sent a last mist arrow at the earthbound
bunker and started walking. <Let's go.>

The moment he said that something marvelous
happened.

Quest completed: Raid the Maze

[Obey the Resistance – Deception]

Random attribute points received:

» +1 agility

» +1 intelligence

Quest: Follow Tardas

[Obey the Resistance – Deception]

F- rank

The First Lord of the Sophus clan has told
Tardas to check your completion of the 'Raid the Maze' quest before allowing
you to leave the Great Maze.

After multiple failures, you finally completed
the quest. It's now time to follow Tardas back to the First Lord's camp.

Conditions:

» Obey every order Tardas give you

» Cannot be denied

» Disobeying will lead to unfavorable
consequences

I read the windows multiple times before
deciding on my action.

<Wait a second,> I said. <Daggers, can
I borrow your daggers real quick?>

<What for, sir?>

<Trust me.> I
repeated her words back to her.

<Okay, sir.> She
gave them to me.

<Thanks!> I
walked in the direction of the corpses, close to the bunker.

<What are you doing?> Tardas asked.

<One of them is alive,> I kept walking.

<Stop spouting nonsense. They are all
dead!>

When I got right beside the mist, I turned back
to the ghoul, winked at him, and entered it. My view was completely covered by
the thick whiteness.

<St-> Before he
could complete the order in the mind chat, I left the party. And before he
could try to speak anything aloud, I used the daggers on my ears, deafening
myself.

It hurt like hell, but it was for a noble
cause. Taking care of the three ways Tardas could have ordered me to stop – mind
chat, ears and vision – I touched the earthbound's bunker and put it between
myself and the ghoul's last known position.

Groping the shelter, I found the opening Tardas
had created with his arrows. Then, I grabbed two of the three remaining icebomb
stones and threw them inside.

The world turned upside down as I was
forcefully pushed away by instantly forming ice spikes. My body ended tens of
meters away from the big thick blood-stained ice spikes that were now visible
piercing the mist from the inside.

600 ice + 200 frost + 200 piercing + 153
crush damage dealt to Earthbound Deathlord (1153 total)

HP: 0 / 1153 <?>

My ears were bleeding, my body was bruised from
the spikes, and my head was hurting for hitting the floor. I still got up with
a big smile on my face. It had been a long time since I had been so damn
pleased with myself.

Eternal's expression was of wonder. Daggers was
shaking her head slightly and slowly. Tardas was looking at me in complete
disbelief. He tried to say something, but I didn't hear.

"Wait a sec," I said and healed
myself. "Can you repeat?"

"You just got yourself killed. The
runaways saw your face." I expected fury, but he was dead serious.

"The deathlords are already looking for
me."

"Only part of them were. The firebound and
their alliance. You just made yourself an enemy to the most powerful of
them."

"Doesn't matter. I'm coming for them
sooner or later."

He shook his head. "Going after the
earthbound? This is ridiculous. Why would you even want to do it?"

"Because I do not forget."

"Forget what?"

"The look on the slave's face who asked me
if I should order her to beg for a beating. The talk of even more punishment
being received by sex slaves. The lives squandered to appease monsters in the
plantations as if they were worth nothing. The lack of concern from everyone as
they saw people become monster snacks and selected others to be sacrificed.
Slaves turning on slaves because their masters broke them enough for them to
forget what sympathy means."

"What do the earthbound have to do with
it?"

"Everything, Tardas. Aren't the earthbound
the most powerful deathlords? That makes them the ones with most
responsibility, too. And, of course, I did it to piss Marbareus. I wish I could
do this to all slavers, but he is the easier target."

"But he is not like the others!"
Eternal said.

"Really, Eternal? Had you ever got enough
trust from a slave for him to tell you what he really thought? I did.
Marbareus is a monster."

"No, he is good to us! I swear!"

"Eternal, hear yourself! You consider
yourself a real slave! You are an Earthen, wake up! You know why your
character growth is so slow? Because Marbareus wants you meek and docile as he
grows you to be his faithful hound. He wants you to owe him!"

"He doesn't! Stop saying that!"

"Gods, you are clueless. Whatever;
it is done."

"It is done." Tardas agreed, and his
tone went back to butler-mode. "Are you done now, Mister Thorn? Can we
go?"

I could say no and keep being annoying, but I
had done all I could in that cave and without Tardas I wouldn't be able to
leave the damn place. "Sure. Party me up."

You have received a party invitation from
Tardas.

Accept or refuse?

I accepted, and he transferred leadership to
me.

It was a shame that the two icebombs combined
shredded the deathlord's armor and items, only scraps remained here and there.
I wanted to look around for loose change, but I doubted I'd find enough to
justify the arrows Tardas would pepper me with.

On the other hand, it was now time to see how
much I had affected Marbareus.

Man, what a pleasant day!

* * *

Marbareus didn't look angry, but tired. This
reaction from both him and Tardas was more disconcerting than anything.

As I entered his tent in the camp and got the
'quest completed' message, he just threw a map on the desk.

"There is a cave marked on the map, and I
have received reports of specters inside it. As you will see, it is too close
to Margs Market and has made Manhart wonder if the specters have new ties to
Dakar. He wishes a quiet inspection of the place, but I have a better idea. Get
in there, explore everything inside, and kill anything in there. You are
forbidden to hide unless it is to make the killing easier. You are also
forbidden to let anyone leave the cave or survive. Do you understand?"

Quest series completed: Deception

[Obey the Resistance]

You have not participated until the end, but
your assistance was still valuable.

You will be rewarded accordingly next time you
talk to Manhart.

Quest: Clear the Cave

[Obey the Resistance]

D rank

You will be rewarded accordingly next time you
talk to Manhart.

Marbareus has ordered you to explore a cave
and kill everything inside it.

Conditions:

» Leave no survivors

» Do not hide unless it makes for an easier
kill

» Cannot be denied

» Disobeying will lead to unfavorable
consequences

"Can you repeat the part where you tell me
how smart of me it was to kill the earthbound?"

He ignored the question. "Take the map and
go. Try not to get yourself killed for having it."

He wasn't even hiding he was trying to get rid
of me anymore. What the hell is going on? That surprised me so much that
it put me off-balance.

"Time limit?"

"None. Just get out of here."

"Can I take Daggers and-"

"No, deathlord!" He finally exploded.
"You can take no one, you can take nothing, you can do nothing, you don't
even have to come back. Just get out! Now!"

When I touched the map, it disappeared. At the
same moment, a minimap appeared on the top right edge of my vision. I wanted
nothing from Marbareus, but maps were expensive, which meant he would become a
little poorer because of it.

Yeah, right. Worst rationalization ever.

Truth is, I wasn't about to reject it, no
matter how I felt about the guy. "Thanks for the gift," I said, as
the educated gentleman I was, and left.

Eternal and Daggers had logged off after
Marbareus had talked to them in private before me. I would have waited for them
if Tardas hadn't told me he had been ordered to kill me on sight after twenty
minutes.

Speaking to them using the party chat would be
enough. Unfortunately, when I was about a kilometer away, the party disbanded
because of the distance.

Nothing to do about it. I kept going.

Playing with the map, I discovered I could zoom
in and out and move it around just by willing it. I could also make the map
bigger or smaller in my vision. There were few areas charted, mainly the ones
around Sorina, a path leading to the target cave and a path to Ter'nodril.
Everything else was black.

A cool feature was placing waypoints on the
map. It allowed me to discover the distance in a straight line between
waypoints and estimate time of arrival accordingly to how fast I was moving.

I was instantly in love. That map was the most
useful thing I had received since starting Valia. I tried to feel disgusted
that I had received it from Marbareus, but I just couldn't.

With that settled, there was only one thing
left to do, other than walking.

<Hey, Ted.> I was
unsure how to call her, so I just willed the communication crystal to connect
and send my message.

<Just a second! Fighting!> She kept silent for about ten minutes. <Jack?>

<Hey, Ted. What's up?>

<I'm hunting rats! It's disgusting!>

<Rats? Really?>

<Bear said that he would shut up about me
becoming an archer if I was able to get to the end of a rat-infested cave
without dying.>

<How's it going?>

<I died twice already.>

I laughed in my mind. It was a weird
experience. <Are you two dating yet?>

<I... I'm not convinced that we should. We
are friends.> I noticed she was a lot more uncertain about it than last time
we had talked. <I thought you didn't want to talk about it.>

<I don't, I'm just trying to sound like a
nice guy before telling you to travel for a couple days.>

<What are you talking about?>

<Have you heard about Margs Market?>

<Yes.>

<There is a cave near the Market full of
specters that I'm supposed to kill. I bet you could get some equipment from
them.>

<That's great! Oh, but I can't.>

<Huh?>

<Bear bet I'd give up before completing the
challenge.>

<So what? Just give up already.>

<Shut up! Men! I hate you all!> She hung
up.

Girls didn't come much crazier than that one.

* * *

It was just as well that she didn't accept my
invitation. I was still halfway from the cave when an exclamation point
appeared.

Quest cancelled: Clear the Cave

Just like that, no explanations provided at
all. Four hours of boring walking thrown in the trash.

"Ahhhh!" I let out a scream of
frustration.

Marbareus had done it.

I'd kill the bastard.

Or die trying.

Jack
Thorn

Unbound
Deathlord

Legendary
Spotter, Hedge Wizard, Pioneer, Dark Archmage

Level
14

Hit Points:425
/ 425

Mana Points:695
/ 695

Stamina:250
/ 250

Attributes:

Strength:10

Agility:12

Dexterity:7

Constitution:11

Intelligence:16
+ 2 [Items]

Perception:8
+ 10 [Items]

Willpower:11

Charisma:8

Traits:

© Adept Controller:21

© Adept Energizer:13

Adept Mage:11
+ 10 [Items]

Diviner:2

Gold Digger:2

Scavenger:2

Scout:2

Antimage:1

Athlete:1

Crafter:1

Healer:1

Meditator:1

Mind Seer:1

Negotiator:1

Nitpicker:1

Shadow:1

Strategist:1

Tactician:1

Warrior:1

22. Truth?

'Come here, give your aunt a hug! '

- Aunt

My rage didn't recede
as I went to Sorina. But once I got to its cave chamber, part of my emotion
turned into curiosity.

A lot of smoke was coming from the direction of
the camp. The damn crystals everywhere didn't allow me to see anything in
detail, though.

Instead of going directly there, I crouched and
decided on a more cautious route. Where there's smoke, there's fire.

I unsheathed my sword. My six morbs – four
fire, one darkness, one death – were floating above my head.

Ten minutes of a slow walking later, I found
the first sentry above a rather tall crystal, looking around.

He was wearing full plate armor. A loaded crossbow
was in his hands, and five almost transparent white morbs were visible. I knew
from experience that it was not light magic; maybe air. His blue cloak with
green borders marked him as a Sorina's guard.

What or who was he looking for? Me?

Happy I had thought of trying to be stealthy, I
hid from his view and tried to go around him.

And I found another sentry.

Minutes turned into tens of minutes, which
turned into hours. I eventually got to the mark on the ground that designated
Sorina's territory. I stepped over it.

Warning!

Entering hostile territory!

What the hell?!

I immediately stepped back; I didn't know
enough about Valia to know if they had any way of detecting my intrusion.

Had Marbareus finally decided to kill me? But
what about the smoke in the camp's direction?

Wait, does it mean... Did the earthbound
find out about him? If so, why are there Sorina's guards in the area? What is
going on?

There was no easy way to get through the
guards. Maybe I could-

My line of thought was interrupted by a hand covering
my mouth and an arm firmly holding my body. I bit the hand hard, but it didn't
budge. Struggling also didn't get me anywhere.

You have received a party invitation from
Tardas.

Accept or refuse?

Tardas? Shit. I
accepted the invitation.

<Drop the morbs. Fast.> He said.

<That's not happening.>

My morbs suddenly blinked out of existence.

Status effect received: Short Silence
(level 1)

For 5 seconds, you:

» Cannot use magic

"We have no time for this. I'm sorry, but
if you don't come for good, I'll-"

<What?!> I mind
yelled incredulous.

<'What' what?> He
asked confused.

<What did you say? You are what?>

He took a few seconds to understand. <I'm
sorry, Thorn. I'll explain everything, but come with me first. No morbs, I'm
sure they have an expert diviner with them.>

I'd never have gone quietly if he hadn't said
he was sorry. More than hostile territories, smoke in the air, and badass
looking guards, that made me realize something was terribly wrong.

<Okay, I'll come.> He released me, and I turned around. Black blood covered his body
whole, his longbow and purse were missing, and his dark green scale armor was
half destroyed. <What happened to you?>

<I'll explain, but not here. Come. Remember,
no magic.> He started walking crouched. Everything
was so out of character that I followed.

<How did you find me anyway?>

<I put a tracking crystal in your jerkin
when it was being fixed.>

<What?! You can do that?>

<I don't understand the question. You
Travelers are surprised by the most common things. Speed up, but try not to
make any noise.>

We walked for an hour until we reached a
clearing. Two bodies covered by dark cloaks were there, and I recognized
Marbareus' big axe close to one of them.

<What happened? The earthbound?>

Tardas sat on a small crystal and shook his head
slightly. <No.>

I checked the corpses under the cloaks.
Marbareus' body was there alright. So was Daggers'.

<You killed them?>

He let out a quiet laugh. <I did. So did
you.>

I laughed awkwardly with him. Everything was so
weird.

<You shouldn't get drunk, man. Aren't you on
the clock still?> He didn't answer. <Care to explain anything at all?>

<The First Lord- No, not First Lord anymore,
I suppose. Marbareus told me you saw through the bullshit in the Resistance's
meeting. He has had an almost respect-hate relationship with you ever
since.>

I laughed more. <Then he needs a shrink even
more than I do. That's some deep emotional hiding right there. And you suck at
explaining things, don't you?>

As if to prove my point, he completely changed
the subject.

<Do you have food?>

<What?>

<Stop making me repeat myself; did you
became deaf? Food. Do you have any?>

<No.>

<Figures. Deathlords are the only assholes
in the whole world who don't need to eat to survive. I think this makes the
vampires more envious than anything else. When you gave Marbareus the King
Gabat's head, he was delighted enough to accept the verbal quest and allow the
Destiny Spirits to gift you attribute points. Do you have any idea how gross
the blood of the Underworld's species is?>

NPCs could choose whether or not to reward
players for verbal quests? That was news. And completely different from normal
quests, since Marbareus' sister had been forced to reward me.

<Huh... No?>

<Sure you don't. You claim not to know shit,
don't you? That's what Marbareus liked the most about you. You are like an
ignorant fish pulled from the pound, but finding ways to survive instead of
dying.>

<You do realize you sound like a madman,
don't you? Are you under some status effect or something?>

<Did you truly kill Renno?> He asked
suddenly.

My eyes widened. <What?!>

<The High Lady. Did you kill her?>

I thought about the answer. If I was being
played, this was something so above my level that I'd better not even try to
comprehend it, or my head might blow. I sighed.

<What does it have to do with anything?>

<Everything. You threw the power balance in
the Underworld into disarray. How did you do it? Maybe you are not a fish, but
a god disguised as a Traveler. We never saw your Destiny Spirit, after all.>

<A god? For real? Me?>

<You killed one of the most powerful
deathlords in the Underworld and didn't show fear even when Marbareus had your
throat in his hands. He boasted about it. About your unbreakable will. Said it
made him remember his younger days, before he became a coward.>

<Tardas, help me here, man. What the hell
are you talking about?>

He closed his eyes, put his elbows on his knees
and supported his forehead with his hands. A lengthy period followed. <The
Resistance is a ruse.> He finally said. <It attracts idealists and
desperate people. It kills the former and uses the latter. Manhart is a
monster.>

<Manhart? Did you just say Marbareus name
incorrectly?>

<Just... Shut up for once. You are a little
shit, but this was Marbareus last order before he died: to tell you the truth.
Even before I try to resurrect him. Do you have any idea how much I hate you
for it? You don't have to believe nor like it, but respect this moment.
Please.>

I got totally confused. I think that was the
first time an NPC said 'please' to me and meant it too. I shut up.

<Marbareus was a naïve idealist when he
discovered the Resistance. He had plans to free all the slaves, to save the
Underworld from itself. The only thing that saved him was his pure-blood
training. They are taught since birth, you see. Their mothers teach them to
wage war, and their fathers teach them politics. If they can't lie or kill well
enough when they are thirty, they are murdered by their own parents.>

I gulped. Except for the getting killed part,
that was uncomfortably similar to my own upbringing.

<When he found them, Marbareus quickly saw
through the Resistance's lies, but it was too late to back off. He pretended to
be desperate. I think Manhart always knew the truth, but Marbareus was good
enough to fool the other leaders and too useful to be killed.

<He was told about the Resistance's origin.
The drow planned the whole thing with the darkbound. They want to enslave all
the Underworld under the banner of the Devourer.

<And the Sophus clan are a pivotal part of
their plan. The Sophus are magical researchers. They found out how to nullify
the sun crystals effects. And they found out how to create slave collars that
force the wearers to obey every order from whoever holds the key.>

The game manuals had no mention of that. If it
also worked on players, I could predict some impressive lawsuits soon. <How?>

<Mind magic. Even the gods forbid it, but it
seems the Prince's curiosity went too far. Strangely, no god killed him for it.
Now, the Devourer wants the collars.>

<You mean the priests, right? They control
the Devourer.>

He looked at me in disbelief. <Mortals
controlling a god? These are the most ridiculous words that have ever left your
mouth, and you have set a rather high bar for that.>

Manhart had told me about the Devourer and the
priests. Maybe Tardas knew about that talk and was trying to discredit the
lich. The ghoul could become completely invisible when he wanted, after all,
and I had no way of knowing if he had been following me since Ter'nodril.

<Yeah, sure, screw you too, and all
that.> I wasn't in the mood for cheap talk. <What do you mean by mortals?
Gods are mortals too.>

<I don't know where you get these beliefs,
but you are wrong. Gods can theoretically be killed, but only by other
gods.>

<Oh. Okay. Go on.>

<The Devourer consumes everything it
touches. The drow have been sacrificing themselves to appease his hunger for
millennia, but their god told them he wanted more, much more. The darkbound
proposed the perfect solution: slaves.>

<I thought the drow didn't meddle in
slavery.>

<The Ways indeed forbid them from enslaving
others. But it doesn't mean they can't accept slave offerings from other
people. It also doesn't forbid them to indirectly help other people to enslave
the world.>

It was hard, but I forced myself to ask a
question. <Why don't they just buy slave sacrifices from Dakar, then?>

<They do. What do you think the secret path
you took from Ter'nodril to Sorina is used for? But they act as if the whole of
Valia owe them or something. They are crazy fanatics, all of them. And they are
master manipulators. By using Manhart, they have distanced themselves enough
from the deed to be within the Ways limits.>

<What the hell are the Ways, by the way?
Their laws?>

<Sort of. The Ways are a limitation set on
the drow since they came to be. All the species and races of Valia are
magically bound to destroy the drow if the drow ever allow a breach in the Ways
to go unanswered.>

<Woah. Isn't it a bit, I don't know,
extreme?>

<Yes. And no one even remembers why it is so.
But it doesn't matter for this conversation. The Resistance was destroying
Dakar from the inside like a disease. Until the Unifiers appeared.>

<The what?>

<The Unifiers. They are the response from
the firebound to the Resistance. They believe in a united, strong Dakar; in
maintaining the status quo. They somehow found a way for the Father himself to
back them and were near gaining support from High Lady Renno as well. If they'd
succeeded, they could have taken Dakar to even greater heights.>

<Wasn't she a firebound deathlord too?>

He took a moment to answer. <She was...
Unique. In her earlier days, she spread fear and pain through all Dakar,
including among the firebound. They both revered and feared her. Then she
retired and refused to help in any way.>

<She almost did it. Waged a war against the
Resistance, I mean. She told me she would do that just before I killed her.>

<Don't ever let the Unifiers find out about
this. Marbareus became a double agent; he didn't care for Dakar, but it was the
lesser evil. He even met the Father personally; you have no idea how few have
this privilege.

<When you killed Renno, you disrupted the
whole balance. She was a wildcard before, but without her, the Unifiers lost
too much potential power. Everyone believed she would intervene if Dakar came
under siege; she helped build the damn place, after all. The Resistance
organized an attack immediately. And they even used something she did as an
excuse: the incarceration of the Arktov's First Lord. It was perfect. All
thanks to you.> There was no lost love in his tone.

<Wait. You said she helped build Dakar?>

<Yes. High Lady Renno and High Lord Sadder
built it. Any more questions?>

<Can't Sadder help hold the Resistance at
bay?>

<He disappeared. After building Dakar, he
let the High Lady rule and went off, never to be seen again. Anything else?>

<No, go on.>

<When your exploits became known, the
Resistance ordered Marbareus to get close to you and recruit. So did the
Unifiers. He intended a slow approach. Then, you became furious at the slavery.
We interrogated the slave woman, and she cried when she told us you named her.
Marta, I believe it was. That's when he decided to protect you.>

<Sorry? Do you mean he decided to kill
me?> I asked.

<He is hot-tempered, I'll give you that, but
when he calms down he can differentiate right from wrong. His temper ended up
working out for the farce, but even when he was calm, he purposefully pushed
you away from him. He wanted to make you hate both the Resistance and Dakar.
And if he had to be both the catalyst and the focus for your rage, so be
it.>

If there is any truth at all in it,
Marbareus did a damn good job at it.

<You see, he knew what he had been through
by playing double agent, and he could see you would end in the same position.
He used his quick-to-anger personality as an excuse to protect you. He also
tried to slow the Resistance's agenda by creating stupid plans. Then you
happened again.

<When you made Ambrassa's son save the
observer, you gave her an idea: using the earthbound station against them. We
never knew she was part of the Resistance until the day Manhart ordered us to
put her plan into action.

<I seldom saw Marbareus as happy as when you
told him that using and discarding you had been the Resistance's plan all
along; his plan of making you hate the Resistance was working. And I never
heard him laugh so much as when you messed with the Maze plan on the first
day.>

I raised an eyebrow. That was a little too much
to believe. <Are you a bard or something? That's some pretty bullshit you
are singing me there. If he was that satisfied, he could have left us there
forever.>

He gave another quiet laugh. It sounded tired.
<I don't care if you believe it or not, I'm just obeying my order. He
wouldn't have called us back if he wasn't forced to. The amount of promises you
have to give a Destiny Spirit for it to change a quest condition is ridiculous.
They do allow better or worse reward depending on the outcome of a quest, but
rarely changing it. And they only cancel it on death. It's supposed to be some
ancient sacred thing. In the last change to your quest, they told Marbareus
that no further changes would be sold. And as much as he wanted to allow the
plan to fail, Manhart doesn't take failures well.>

He allowed silence to hang in the air.

<We never expected a third party.>

<Gotta love a three-way.>

He ignored me. <I don't know who they are or
why they killed Marbareus. All I know is that they somehow got to the First
Lady. She asked for a private meeting with him, and when I realized something
was wrong, it was too late. I barely managed to rescue him, and the observer
sacrificed herself to allow us to escape. I took her body with me out of
respect.

<Kassandra poisoned him. A poison that
paralyzes then kills. I think she knew all the antidotes I had on me; none of
them had any effect. I couldn't get to the city, either, because her guards
were everywhere. All I could do was add him to the party and speak to him while
he died in my arms.>

A lot of willpower on my part made me stop a
joke before it could leave my lips.

<He gave me his communication crystal. I
contacted Manhart and the Father, and both made a Divine Vow that they didn't
know about the attack on Marbareus nor about the third party. I wrongly called
divine judgment upon them both and was punished for it. I lost all my
possessions except for my clothes and was almost killed.>

Note to self: never call a god's judgment
upon people unless I'm sure I'm right.

<Marbareus told me many Resistance members
were killed. The Father said the same about the Unifiers. The First Lady killed
everyone who opposed her and took control of the clan. Something similar
happened in other clans, the Father didn't like it, and the vampires are now at
war with themselves. I have no reports about the deathlords, but I believe they
are having issues too.>

<No way.>

He smiled mockingly at me. <Yes, way.
Eternal is nowhere to be seen. I don't know if he betrayed us or if he got
killed and gave up on his body. We were too busy with our known enemies to see
the sudden strike from an unknown third party. I wonder if the drow are
responsible for it.>

<You just said Manhart didn't know about the
attack.>

<Manhart is a monster, but still a pawn. The
drow... There is a story the vampires tell their children to teach them about
the drow. A vampire was dying of thirst and asked a drow for a little blood.
The drow agreed, and drank from a bottle before piercing a finger with a needle
and allowing a single drop of blood to escape it. The vampire was so desperate
that he didn't think about of the strangeness of the bottle, he just drank the
blood. The next day, a wanderer found two bodies. The drow had poisoned himself
to kill the vampire with him.>

<There are so many holes in the story that I
don't even know where to begin.>

<It is a children's story, deathlord. It
doesn't have to make sense, only teach something. It teaches never to let
instinct overcome reason, never to dismiss anything suspicious, never to accept
anything from a drow. It teaches that drow will always give you less than they
could and that they are willing to sacrifice themselves for things we can't
understand.>

<I understand, I guess. They were asses with
me too.>

<In a way, you were lucky to find them after
leaving the prison. You are a known criminal in Dakar. I don't know how things
will stand when the internal wars calm down, but no one would want to harbor
Dakar's enemy before today. Except for the drow.>

<Yeah, I committed this terrible crime of
not letting myself be tortured. Of course, everyone should just hand me back to
my torturers. Screw me, right?>

<Such is the destiny of the weak. If you
can't handle it, go to the Surface. I know I would if I could.>

He got up, got to Daggers' body and took all
her equipment off. Her cloak faded away quickly when he took it off. Her body
was completely blueish black, but the angle he worked at didn't allow me to see
her face. He got food and some weapons for himself, then threw her purse with
everything else inside to me.

<I'll try to find the Father and resurrect
Marbareus. You tell the observer and Eternal the truth, as well, if you ever
see them. It was also Marbareus' wish.>

He got to Marbareus body and lifted it, gently
wrapping it with the cloak.

<What about you? Won't you need more than
these shitty daggers?>

<I have hidden stashes with better weapons.
You, on the other hand, are only a fish out of water or a disguised god. If
it's the former, Marbareus would have wanted you to have all possible help. If
it's the latter, take it as an offering.>

<That's it, then? The whole truth? That he
was just making my life hell because he liked me? I call bullshit.>

<Whatever you decide to call it, now you
know.> He started walking away.

I took Daggers' purse, instantly receiving a
level five encumbered status, and put it inside my own. <Well, I don't
believe a word of it. Why wasn't his head cut? Why was he poisoned and allowed
to leave? You are so full of it. Even if you told me any truth, I bet that you
are the one who killed them. I bet you are the drow trying to poison me.>

He stopped but didn't turn.

<You see,> he said, <another thing I
wonder is if Marbareus would have seen the blow coming if it wasn't for you. I
was with him for decades, since the day he took the collar off my throat and
told me I was free to go. He was always focused, always suspicious. He never
left Sorina alone, unless it was in absolute secrecy. But four days ago, he
left it in plain view of everyone. He allowed himself to become a target to
protect you from his sister's treat.

<Who knows, maybe she saw through him and
used you to force him to do something stupid. Or maybe she didn't. But know
that if he had been in the city, we would have a healer available. He went out
of his way to protect you. You, a Traveler who doesn't give a damn about our
world. He believed in you. That you would keep bringing positive changes to the
Underworld, greater even than killing Renno.>

He spat on the ground. <For me, you are just
a spoiled child. He sheltered you like his own you like a son, and you killed
him.>

He left the party and resumed his walk.

Flashbacks overcame my mind.

The looks from my parents' colleagues. Fear and
respect. They didn't believe it had been an accident.

Grandfather's words, telling me he had taken
care of the cover-up and that he expected big things from me.

My parents burned bodies.

Their funeral.

My aunt's funeral.

Tardas words echoed in my mind.

I ran.

* * *

I woke up coughing. All
I remembered was going to the bathroom in the night, the big explosion sound,
and my body flying into the bathtub.

Something was above me, covering the tub and
blocking the light. I pushed it, and it moved effortlessly. It was the bathroom
door.

"I think I heard something!" Someone
yelled from outside.

"The structure is still too unstable,
don't get in there!" Someone replied.

My body was aching, but nothing that prevented
me from moving. The smell of smoke and ash was overwhelming, and so was the
horrible taste in my mouth. I sneezed. When I finally left the bathtub, nearly
without a scratch, I saw the first of a sequence of images that would never
leave my mind:

My house was gone.

Everything had burned. Not enough to collapse
the two stories wooden mansion to the ground, but enough that the floor of the
corridor had become only support beams in some places.

My aunt, I
thought immediately. But no, she would be on the first floor, and I was in the
second. My parents would be nearby.

Not even they deserved to be ignored on
an occasion like this.

There was a big part of the corridor with
almost no floor, and I'm not sure how I did it, but I suddenly found myself in
my parents' room. I saw their burnt corpses sprawled across their bed's charred
wreckage.

Father had finally lost the weight mother
insisted he lose.

Next thing I knew, I was on the first floor.
Someone's roasted head was in the exploded kitchen. My aunt's bed was empty.

A fireman found me then and had to battle me as
I desperately fought him.

"Aunt! Aunt!" I screamed. "I
need to find my aunt!"

Suddenly, I was lying in a hospital bed. A
doctor was flashing light in my eyes.

"He is awake," he said.

Richard, the family's lawyer, was standing
nearby. He was almost as white as my bed sheets and let out a relieved sigh
when he saw me look around.

"Can you tell me your name?" The
doctor asked me.

"Jack," my voice was hoarse.

"How old are you?"

"Seventeen."

"Do you know where you are?"

"In a hospital."

"Do you know who this man is?" He
pointed to the lawyer.

"Richard."

"Do you-"

"I'm all right, doctor. My parents were
the ones who burned to death, not me."

The doctor looked silently at me for a few
seconds. "You suffered a minor concussion to the head, but as far as I can
tell, your fainting was the extent of it. Just to be sure, and to relieve the
stress in your body, I'll have you to stay here under observation for a
week."

"I don't think that's necessary," I
said.

"It's important. For your own good."

"Don't worry, doctor," Richard said.
"We will stay here for as long as you say."

The doctor nodded to Richard and left the room.
My lawyer approached my bed. "Are you... How are you feeling?"

"Where is my aunt?"

He swallowed and shook his head. "We found
no one alive."

"Yes, but where is my aunt?"

"She is dead. I'm sorry."

"Her bed was empty. I saw it. Where is
she?"

He closed his eyes in pain. "I... Some of
the corpses couldn't be recognized. But they were all accounted for."

A thick silence wrapped us for a very long
time.

"What happened?" I asked.

"An accident. The firefighters said
someone left a gas valve open and when the cook lit the oven... They don't
understand how she didn't smell the gas or even got close enough to the oven
without feeling dizzy, but they are not interested in pursuing an
investigation. I think it's better that way. These tragedies are difficult
enough without strangers poking around." I didn't answer. "I'm sorry,
Jack. I truly am."

I took a deep breath. "I was the last one
in the kitchen before bed."

His eyes widened for a split second. "It
doesn't mean-"

"I killed them." At last, I released
the tears that I had been holding. "I murdered my father, my mother,
Margaret, Simon, Stewart, Bruno. I murdered my aunt. I murdered them all."

"Jack, listen-"

"Leave me, Richard. I need a moment
alone."

"I don't think that's-"

"Leave me!" I yelled. "Leave me!
Now! Get out!"

He did, looking worried. When the doctor
entered the room a few minutes later, I had used the IV needle to open my
wrists.

I lived the next two years of my life in a
psychiatric facility.

Jack
Thorn

Unbound
Deathlord

Legendary
Spotter, Hedge Wizard, Pioneer, Dark Archmage

Level
14

Hit Points:425
/ 425

Mana Points:10
/ 695

Stamina:5
/ 250

Attributes:

Strength:10

Agility:12

Dexterity:7

Constitution:11

Intelligence:16
+ 2 [Items]

Perception:8
+ 10 [Items]

Willpower:11

Charisma:8

Traits:

© Adept Controller:21

© Adept Energizer:13

Adept Mage:11
+ 10 [Items]

Diviner:2

Gold Digger:2

Scavenger:2

Scout:2

Antimage:1

Athlete:1

Crafter:1

Healer:1

Meditator:1

Mind Seer:1

Negotiator:1

Nitpicker:1

Shadow:1

Strategist:1

Tactician:1

Warrior:1

23. Don't Feed the Animals

'Shine, shine like a star...'

- Aunt

I eventually calmed
down enough to remember the sleep function and use it. A short nap made me feel
less messed up.

The first thing I did when I woke up was
checking each centimeter of every item I had, looking for things that could be
used to track me. Feeling my jerkin, I found not only one but two flat crystals
inside it, each one about five centimeters by five, full of runic inscriptions.

I had been told runes only became visible when
they were being used so even if no one was checking me out now, the crystals
were still transmitting my position.

There was no way to be sure of their function,
to be honest, but I had found them where Tardas told me they would be. That
being so, it was sensible to assume he wasn't lying about what they did.

Using the same logic, he hadn't told me there
was more than one crystal, so it was possible they did more than tracking.

The second crystal being from an unknown third
party was also a possibility. I didn't care either way; I just crushed the damn
things.

After thoroughly inspecting all the items I was
carrying three times over, I found five crystals, and only one of them
was on Daggers' stuff.

That was downright ridiculous.

Fury defined me. I had been taking shit from
the damn game for far too long. I had clung to the fact that this was just a
game I was supposed to have some fun with; a different world that didn't really
affect my life. I had just gone along with the way things were presented me.

Those days were gone.

I didn't forget this was a game, but I would
not just silently accept all this jackassery anymore. I would rise to my feet,
become powerful enough to lay waste to all the Underworld, and show them who
was the boss.

My number one target was Marbareus.

If Tardas had been telling any truth amidst all
the holes in his story, the ex-First Lord had acted like a damn child. He could
have just got me to a Disruptive Zone and told me the truth. That would make
everything alright without the need to screw me over and over again.

On the other hand, if Tardas had been lying...
Gods help the vampire.

And after I'm done with him, I'll conquer
the Underworld.

Yes, I would-

I frowned. I was dead set on destroying all the
bastards, and to do so I might have to conquer some of them, but that was not a
primary objective. I was sure now: something was in my head.

Quest Series: Mind Invasion

You have detected thoughts that are not your own
in your head.

What could it mean?

Quest: What is Going On?

[Mind Invasion]

? rank

You have detected thoughts that are not your
own in your head.

Discover what exactly is doing this to you.

Condition:

» Cannot be dropped

That only deepened my frown. So it was not
V-Soft messing with my character's motivations, as I had thought previously,
but actual game content.

Why had I only received the quest now, though,
and not in Ter'nodril? Could it be that I was only suspicious before, while now
I was dead certain?

After some thinking, I concluded that the one
responsible for the foreign thoughts had to be an item. Unless this quest was
something I could have uncovered since coming to Valia, it would have to be
something I had picked up along the way. Plus, the first time I detected the
mind invasion, I already had some magical items with me.

A spell was also possible, but I was in the
middle of nowhere, in a deserted corridor, and had just broken the crystals I
knew could be used to track me. How would a spell affect me there?

Wait, that made me realize: I hadn't tried to
check the items for hidden magic. Two more times, I went through everything I
had, closing my eyes and I touching the objects with my mind.

As expected, the circlet, the bags, and my four
rings – fire ring, illusion ring, minor intelligence ring, and spider ring – had
magic on them, of multiple colors. Everything else, including Daggers' stuff,
was normal.

Of those, the only things I had now that I'd
had the first time I heard the 'other me' in my mind – the thoughts used the
same inner voice I did – were the backpack, the circlet, the fire ring, and the
spider ring.

I immediately discarded the possibility of it
being the backpack, of the reason being that it was 'too lame'. I mean, a mind
invading backpack? Please.

The legendary items were possible but unlikely.
High Lady Renno had enough power to start some rather large wars, but she had
instead retired to the middle of nowhere. I couldn't believe she had heard the
voice for years and not done anything about it.

It left only the spider ring. I also had first
thought about conquering the Underworld right after picking it up. Yep,
undoubtedly the ring.

Uh... Ring? Hello?

No answer. No quest update, either.

It was just as well. A ring corrupting me with
visions of grandeur and power? Too cliché. I'd need some pretty good motivation
to pursue such a quest series.

C'mon V-Soft, you can do better than that.

Anyway, I had more important stuff to do:
unending training. With difficulty, I fit the training armor over the
half-breastplate.

On the middle of my fifteenth day in Valia, I
started the most hardcore training ever known to humanity. Or at least that I
knew about.

I hated my father, but I had to give it to him:
he had taught me how to get revenge.

A weak part of me kept telling me I had no
right to use this knowledge. Not after killing my mentor. Not being a
patricide.

But the bars of the Kraken's prison were gone.
The hatred had unlocked it, and there was no going back.

As usual, as much as I detested it, father had
been right; there was no denying who I was.

It was in my blood.

* * *

The first thing I
noticed every time I entered the room was the smell of cigars and paper.

My father's workroom was a mirror of the man
himself: bad and knowledgeable. He was sitting with his fat belly behind the
mahogany desk, typing on a laptop. Around us, there were thousands of books.

"Did you call me, father?" I asked
with open defiance in my voice. I was seventeen, and I didn't bow to him
anymore. Even if I couldn't defeat him, I could disobey him.

He stopped typing and looked at me.

"Close the door," he said.

"I won't-"

Then something happened. Something so alien, so
out of place, so unimaginable, so wild, that I was rendered speechless.

He yelled.

"Close the door!" I never knew he
could put so much anger into his voice. Eyes wide and full of fear, I obeyed.

"Good. Remember this lesson: what your
mother teaches you about not demonstrating emotions is wise, but there's always
the right place and time for everything. Sit."

That shocked me even more. In all my life, he
had never allowed me to sit in the wooden chair in front of the table.
Mustering all my courage, I obeyed. Again.

It wasn't right. I wouldn't keep obeying! I
took a deep breath and tried to get my bearings back.

"Tell me about your gang," he said,
and I felt as if the wind had been knocked out of me.

"What?!"

He raised an eyebrow. "Why the surprise?
You believed I was in the dark about it? You are even dumber than I thought.
Tell me about the gang."

"I- How do you know about it?" He
squinted his eyes. I hadn't asked it in a polite way. He had cut my allowance
last time I did that. I didn't care.

"Tell me about your gang." He
repeated.

"Tell me how you know about it and I
will." I insisted.

We locked eyes, and he eventually spoke. I knew
my car would be gone when I awoke next day. "I have more police officers
in my pocket than you have girlfriends." That was a lousy claim.
"Now, the gang."

"What do you want to know?" I
realized too late that I had made an agreement with him: I'd tell him about the
gang if he answered my question. It wasn't even a good question, either. As
usual, he had played me.

"Who runs it?"

"Didn't your pig friends tell you?"

"It doesn't matter, I'm asking you."

I sighed. "I run it."

"Did you found it?"

"Start the gang? No, it was Big K's."

"How did you come to rule it?"

"Found it? Rule it? This is a gang we are
talking about, father, not a goddamn country." He balled his hands into
fists, and I wondered if he would finally lose it and come at me.

"How?"

"I beat some, blackmailed others, created
a faction... Politics. All the shit you taught me? I use it to shame you before
your politician friends. How many of them know you have a delinquent son? Now
that I think about it, how much are you paying the pigs to keep me out of jail?
Hell, did the media get to it already?"

That was an exciting line of thought. To tell
the truth, I had started going out with the boys to release some steam, but it
hadn't taken long for me to see how I could use it to mess with my father.

He surprised me for the third time that day. He
smiled. Not in a creepy way, in a happy way. "Five thousand each police
officer, about fifty thousand each reporter. And I have been blackmailed twice
already by political enemies."

"Why are you smiling?"

He laughed. "Don't you see, you
idiot?"

"See what?"

"You are indeed our son."

"Huh?"

"Power, you imbecile. Power is in your
blood; it runs in your veins. You cannot run away from it. I know exactly when
you first met the scourge you call friends: it was the night you introduced
that girlfriend and saw her accept money to never see you again. You ran away
from home and were mugged by a rival gang, only to be saved by the one that
would become yours. You really believed I had no one following you?"

I was at a loss for words.

"And five months later, you were the new
boss. Your mother and I taught you well enough. You can run from me, but you
cannot run away from who you are."

"Don't be ridiculous, father. I did it
because I wanted to."

"You did it because that's all you know,
all you are, what we made you into. Because that's your instinct. You can't
help the urge to become powerful, to rule, to crush your enemies. They are
stronger than you are."

"No," I said less firmly than I
wanted to.

"Did it feel good? To feel their blood on
your hands? How is it, to give orders and know you will be obeyed? The fear and
envy in your so-called friends' eyes as they submit to you? To decide how many
people will be attacked and hurt on a whim? To be at the top? To have
power?"

I got up. "I know what you're doing. It
won't work."

As shaken as his words made me, I had been
trained well enough to not show it. And with that thought, I knew he was right.
I couldn't help doing it.

"I am new money, but your mother told me
her parents raised her the same way we are raising you. That she felt the same
revulsion you do, but in the end, she accepted her destiny."

"That's bullshit." I was nothing like
mother. Nothing.

"That's who you are, son. Do you remember
the day I ordered you to beat your bully tormentors at school? What were you,
eight? Nine? How did it feel? There was so much anger in you when you left this
room that I feared for their lives. A broken arm, a broken leg and seven teeth.
Did that feel good too?"

My aunt had stood with me in my room as I cried
myself to sleep that day.

But it had felt good.

"Stop." I felt the anger build up.

"Just remember: that's you. The real you.
You can't run from it. You can try; your mother said she tried too. It won't
work."

"I said stop!" The hatred was
increasing. I didn't want to hear that.

"I'm not your gang member, boy. You can't
shout me to silence. I will keep talking about your love for power-"

"Stop or I will-" I interrupted,
screaming.

And he got up and screamed too. "You will
what?" I recoiled. "You will beat me? Crush me? Show me who is the
most powerful man in this room? Yes." He lowered his voice. "You
will, won't you? That's what you are, after all."

I considered it and was about to punch his face
when I realized it: that's what he wanted.

Plus, he was my father. What would my aunt say?
No. I'd not bow to his whims.

Another part of me also remembered that if I
touched him, I didn't know what he'd do to my aunt. I turned back and walked to
the door.

He laughed again. "Yes. Just like we
taught you. If you see an opponent that you can't beat, retreat. Take your
time, make yourself stronger. And when you finally attack, be swift and
thorough."

Slamming the door behind me, I went to my gang.

That day, we crushed our biggest enemies.

When I got back home, it was all dark, and the
cook was already sleeping. I went to the kitchen, fried some eggs on the stove
and laid in bed. I couldn't get any sleep.

It was almost morning when I decided to take a
bath.

As soon as I closed the door to the bathroom,
my house exploded.

* * *

I woke to what
experience had taught me was the sound of something trying to move silently in
the water. A quick check showed me barely an hour passed since I began to
sleep. Short naps were a common occurrence in the cursed lands I now called
home.

The smell of moisture and greenery slowly gave
way to a faint scent of wet pelt. I did my best to not move, lest I be attacked
before I was ready. I was sitting on the ground, my back touching the plant
festooned cave walls and my shield covering both my body and my sword. My
backpack was inside my purse.

From my experience in the last week, wet pelt
meant either cave bears or corrupted wolves. I had found fighting wolves in
Valia a much more traumatic experience than in other games. As much as I wanted
it to be a bear, there was no way in hell a bear would be that quiet.

I heard more movement, much closer this time.
Whatever it was, it had probably scented me by now. I opened my eyes.

Twenty points in intelligence – eighteen
natural points and two from the enchanted belt – allowed me to summon six
morbs, and all of them were already up. Thankfully, sleeping didn't make them
go away, or I'd have died multiple times already. Five of them were fire, and
one was death.

Greenery and dirty water were everywhere. The
enormous cave that was now my hideout was a swamp. The floor was covered by at
least half a meter of water, and multitudes of small 'islands' were everywhere.
No trees could be found, only thin-stalked plants that still managed to grow
meters and meters above water somehow. The place was cold enough that even
being a cold-blooded creature, I was feeling chilly.

What I liked the most about the place was that
there were so many plants all around that it was impossible to see more than
twenty paces ahead. Whoever wanted to hunt me would have a hard time finding me
here. Even if they came, there was no way in hell they could get close to me
without making any sound.

Something moved behind some leaves, in more
than one place. That confirmed that these were wolves since bears hunted alone.

Firmly gripping my sword, I leapt up and held
my shield before me. I was in an optimal position, with the wall behind me.

They didn't move for a long time. My naked feet
– all my equipment below the knees and the elbows had been eaten by the beasts
– were standing on sharp rock, but I didn't dare to get more comfortable. The
wolves were smart, and if I moved now, they would surely use the split second I
was off balance to attack.

Eventually, one of them left. That made me even
more tense, and sure enough, two big black wolves jumped on me.

111 fire + 8 burn damage dealt to Young
Corrupted Wolf (119 total)

HP: 905 / 1024 <?>

The damage message repeated itself five times.
I had halved one wolf's HP before he was on me. Instead of blocking them, I
crouched and thrust my sword upwards.

85 physical damage dealt to Young
Corrupted Wolf

HP: 348 / 1024 <?>

Seventeen points in agility, eighteen in
dexterity, nineteen in strength and a lot of combat experience. All of it made
a huge difference. First time I had fought a single wolf, I had almost died
when it pinned me to the ground. Now, I could dodge and counter-attack at the
same time, and hit the mark while doing it.

The one I damaged hit its head on the wall, and
I knew it would be out of the fight for a few seconds. The undamaged one used
the wall to pick up momentum and jumped on me. I put a lot of raw power into my
legs as I blocked the wolf with the shield.

Status effect resisted: Overwhelmed

I pushed the shield to the side and attacked
the first wolf again, both with my sword and a newly created morb. It whimpered
and ran away, disappearing in the foliage.

Shit. I wanted the meat.

Putting my back to the wall again, I prepared
for the second wolf, but he was also gone. They hunted in packs and had only
been pups. The one who had left before the attack had been the pack's alpha.

The wolves in the swamp had been using me to
test the pups since the day I had entered the place. I had killed plenty,
including a few alphas, but they just kept coming.

I loved it. It was perfect for my training.

In my mind, I called that place the Hell Course
Swamp. Oversized alligators, anacondas, annoying small monkeys, spiders, swarms
of scorpions. I had to kill them all on a daily basis and use the moments
between attacks to meditate and recover MP.

Which I did now. Sitting in the same position I
had been before, I closed my eyes, paying utmost attention to every little
sound, every water drop, every leaf crushed. A second of distraction could mean
death and even the peaceful sensation that came with the meditation didn't make
me completely relaxed.

<Jack!> Ted's
voice suddenly yelled in my mind, and I almost had a heart attack.

<Holy shit, girl. Don't you->

<You are famous!>
She yelled again.

<What?>

<A deathlord and a vampire appeared here in
the Catacombs today, and they made an announcement! Dakar is starting a most
wanted list with lots of names. And I mean lots. There are thousands of people
in there!>

Ted's voice had been my only companion the last
week. She kept me posted on the news and one day ago she had told me the civil
war in Dakar was in full swing.

<Wait a second, is the war settled,
then?>

<No. But no spoilers! Ask me about the
list!>

I sighed. The girl had to do everything her own
way. <I guess I'm on the list?>

<You aren't merely in it. You are the most
wanted Traveler! There are plenty of NPCs more valuable than you, but your head
is still worth two hundred gold coins!>

<What?! Holy shit! Where do I turn myself
in?>

<I know, right? Bear said we should trick
you into coming here, but the list is a fake. Dakar is still at war, and the
ones who came are only one of the factions wanting to kill their enemies. There
is no reward.>

<How do you know that?>

<My bow master told me.>

She had lost the bet with Bear and was learning
archery from an NPC. She refused to admit it, but she liked the bow a lot more
than her daggers. She had told me once that seeing the spectral metal penetrate
her enemies' flesh and kill them up close was a little disturbing.

<How is it going with the archery, by the
way?>

To kill everyone that I wanted dead, I'd either
need a lot of gold or allies. I had neither, but allies were much easier to
come by. Ted didn't know this yet, but she was the first I would secure.

<Not bad,> she said coyly. <I cleaned
the rats' nest by myself yesterday.>

<Really? Wow! You have come a long way,
girl! And to think I knew you when you didn't even have legs.>

She laughed in my mind. I still found it unsettling.
<Anyway, stay away from the towns unless you want to start a war. I mean,
everyone will want to kill you for the reward.>

It was as if a big lamp lit above my head.

<Repeat that.>

<What?>

<About the war.>

<If you get close to a city and anyone finds
out...>

<That's it! Ted, you are a damn genius!>

<I am?>

<Yeah! Do you know about the Challenge
now?>

<Yes, Bear
told me.> She said even shyer than before.

<Good. So you know I have to eliminate the
competition, right?>

<Yes...?>

<How much do you trust Bear not to kill
me?>

<Bear? Don't tell me you are thinking...>

<Yeah! Let's party up and kill some
people!>

<No!>

<Why not?>

<Because it's wrong!>

<You do realize this is a Valia,
right?>

<I know, but still->

<Ted, listen close to me. Killing
people...>

She took a while to answer me. <Yes...?>

<Is very, very fun! Aren't you bored of
throwing arrows at stupid monsters while Bear tanks them for you? Yes, you are!
Guess what, players are a lot more fun to kill!>

<I'm not an assassin!>

<Ted! I promise you that you are gonna love
it. My word on it. More than that, if you don't like it, I'll let you kill me
after the Challenge is complete.> I lied.

<What if we die?>

<So what? It's not like you have anything to
lose. Didn't you sell your daggers and put the money in the bank?>

<I guess...>

<Great! Meet me at the Catacomb's entrance
in four days.>

<Okay?>

<See you there! Bye!>

When my mana replenished, I started to walk to
the swamp entrance, never leaving the walls. On the way, I saw the tiger family
that lived there.

The female was white, my height, and had blue
eyes. The male was half again my height and as black as the night, with yellow
eyes. The black tiger was laid down looking bored while white one was with its
belly to the air, playfully biting the black one's ears.

Close to them, playing with five scorpions as
if they were mice, was the black and white striped baby tiger with green eyes.

The black one raised its head when it heard me,
but it just watched me pass by. They were the only beasts in the whole place
who hadn't tried to kill me, and I was damn happy for it. I had once seen the
female kill two packs of black wolves – thirteen in total – by herself while
the male yawned.

When the baby tiger saw me, he let out a
half-meow, half-roar and came in my direction. He sat right in front of the
path I was walking and looked at me with demanding eyes, his tail waving
slowly.

I sighed, opened my purse and took a dead wolf
from there. I only had five of those – four, now. Still, pissing off the tigers
wasn't in my plans.

I threw the carcass to the side, and the baby
happily helped itself. Even the black tiger came over to eat, watching me with
penetrating eyes as it got closer. I had tried petting the baby once before and
the roar the black tiger let out had put me in a dazed status for half an hour.

Quickly moving away, I got back to walking.

5 piercing damage received

HP: 615 / 620

Status effect received: Mildly Poisoned
(level 2)

For the next 1 hours, 59 minutes, 59
seconds:

» 10 acid damage per second

I felt the sting of the small scorpion in my
foot and screamed in pain. I killed it with a single swing of the sword and
looked around. There were no other scorpions nearby.

These damn things were the main reason I had so
little wolf meat with me. Taking out one of the wolves' corpses, I helped
myself to it. It tasted like Japanese food. About twenty bites later, I got the
message I wanted.

Status effect received: Powerful Corrupt
Healing (level 4)

For the next 4 minutes, 49 seconds:

» 20 death damage per second

Each wolf body only lasted for about two
scorpion stings. The problem was that the scorpions appeared from the ground
out of nowhere and made no sound. It was impossible to prevent the poisoning
without boots, and mine were gone.

So were my metal greaves and vambraces – both
the ones I had got in the Great Maze and the training ones Daggers had bought
me. I had considered using Daggers' stuff, but in the end had decided against
it. They would just get destroyed, too, and taking damage seemed to help raise
my constitution faster, anyway.

More wolves found me on the way out. Seven
times in less than two hundred meters. I was also poisoned twenty other times
by scorpions; thankfully, they only reset the poison timer instead of
increasing the damage. Ted explained to me that it was because of my undead
status.

At one point an alligator bit my leg and threw
me into the water. I bent my body and thrust my sword at the damn beast's eye
until it died.

And that was just a typical day in the swamp.

Constantly struggling for survival just after
becoming my true self again had been an incredibly freeing experience. It made
me think clearer and act more focused. It didn't completely quell the guilt I
felt, but it quelled my self-destructiveness.

Thanks to that, I had reviewed all my actions
since entering Valia and realized Eternal was a liar. I didn't know what his
agenda was, nor even if he was my enemy, but he wasn't a pure mage as he had
led us to believe. He was something different: a charisma-focused character.

It all went back to a few key moments.

The first had been when he had asked me what my
core traits were. There was nothing wrong with that, but right before that, he
had acted surprised when I told him I was an adept controller.

The way he talked about it as if it was
something unique and unexpected, had led me to reveal I had an unusual title. I
was sure now that he had been fishing for that all along.

The second moment was when, right after he told
me about the core traits, I detected the holes in the conversation. The way his
high charisma worked was not by truly making my mind ignore the holes, but by
making me very distracted. Sounds in the cave seemed louder, and anxiety
consumed me when I had tried to think about that while I was next to Eternal.

The third moment was when he traded the belt of
intelligence for the ring of charisma. No mage would ever do that.

Why had he done those things? I had no idea.
But he was someone to be careful about.

The most significant realization I'd had was
that Daggers had been right: I had been acting like a child.

There had been so much anger inside me trying
to get out but being forced in, that I had just begun to self-destruct. The way
I was acting just after entering Valia and the way I had started to behave as
the days went by were completely different.

Now,
I wanted to kill and destroy, and had only 'cured' myself thanks to these
intense feelings. Perhaps the women I'd used had been right: I was all kinds of
messed up.

Between battles, eating and meditation, it took
me half a day to get to the exit tunnel, but I finally succeeded.

The tunnel was straight, half hidden by
greenery, and extended for a few meters. I took the opportunity to meditate and
wait for the poison to go away. Two hours and a half later, I exited the swap,
with a half-eaten, scratched, pierced and dirty equipment. Wet and dirty
defined my existence.

That sounds so wrong.

Outside the swamp was a larger tunnel without
any supports, so probably a naturally formed one. The walls were covered with
mold and some plants. With a safer environment ahead, it was now time to use
Dagger's stuff.

Low-Quality Leather Pants

» +20 defense

Low-Quality Leather Armor

» +20 defense

Low-Quality Leather Boots

» +5 defense

Discovering that Daggers' equipment was worse
than mine had been a surprise. From what I remembered, her defenses had been a
lot better than mine. It had been a shame that her cloak had disappeared when
Tardas took it off as it seemed to be the best defensive item she'd had.

What worried me the most was my shield. It
hadn't broken, but it was so crumpled and dented that I didn't think it had
much time left.

The last thing I put on was the Sun Crystal
Resistant Cloak. I wasn't planning on traveling to Crystalia, but I also wasn't
planning on being recognized and killed for some reward.

Everything set, it was traveling time.

Twenty minutes of walking later, I saw five
players riding a giant yellow lizard.

Jack
Thorn

Unbound
Deathlord

Legendary
Spotter, Hedge Wizard, Pioneer, Dark Archmage

Level
20

Hit Points:620
/ 620

Mana Points:950
/ 950

Stamina:305
/ 305

Attributes:

Strength:19

Agility:17

Dexterity:18

Constitution:14

Intelligence:18
+ 2 [Items]

Perception:16
+ 10 [Items]

Willpower:18

Charisma:8

Traits:

© Adept Controller:22

© Adept Energizer:14

Adept Mage:12
+ 10 [Items]

Scout:3

Athlete:2

Diviner:2

Gold Digger:2

Meditator:2

Scavenger:2

Shadow:2

Antimage:1

Crafter:1

Healer:1

Herbalist:1

Mind Seer:1

Negotiator:1

Nitpicker:1

Ranger:1

Strategist:1

Tactician:1

Warrior:1

24. Dream Crushing

'How do I look in this dress? Hey, eyes up
here, young man!'

- Aunt

It wasn't hard to
identify them as players: they had mismatched equipment, ranging from silk to
steel, and were from multiple species: a pale dwarf, two drow, a ghoul and a
vampire.

The giant yellow lizard they were riding was
double my height and moved in a clumsy but quick way. They passed by me in
silence, without even taking note of my existence.

Yeah, definitely players, probably using the
mind chat.

I soon discovered the Underworld had changed,
and I wasn't sure if it was for the best. In that little tunnel, I ran into
dozens of other players, and when I got to more central cave chambers – uncomfortably
close to Crystalia – I found hundreds of others. Most were on foot, but a few
rode lizards.

If the beasts were as expensive to maintain on
the road as Tardas had told me they were, the riders had to be rich dudes who
had converted real money into Valia currency.

As I walked, I found no monsters in the caves,
but plenty of bodies from beasts and humanoids alike – which I supposed were
players. Only some of them bore the marks of teeth or scratches that indicated
PvE fights.

It didn't come as a surprise that there were
some PK – player killers – going around.

All the corpses had already been robbed of
their possessions, but I still checked on them just to be sure.

The first noteworthy encounter in my journey
happened when I was in yet another straight tunnel, only large enough for maybe
five people to walk side by side comfortably.

"Stop right there!" A man in a trio
yelled to me when he was about twenty meters away. They were all drow, wearing
leather armor and holding steel bows. His two friends, both women, looked at
each other, then knocked arrows and pointed the bows at me.

I stopped. "What? Think I'm hot? "

"There is a toll to pass through this
tunnel. One gold piece."

That made me take a better look at them. Their
leather armor was worn, and their bows didn't look like much. The man had lots
of muscles, but the women were almost too lean to be healthy. They had pretty
standard drow faces: bluish black skin and white hair.

To be honest, one gold coin wasn't much to me,
but I knew the thug's type: if I gave him anything, he would just ask for more.

More importantly, I was still very much pissed
on the Underworld, and he was an example of what was wrong with those caves.

"Do you have a death wish?" I asked,
as I took my sword from my scabbard and held my shield in front of me. A new
fire morb flared to life.

It was his time to take a second look at me. He
could only see beginner equipment and dirt under the cloak, but my bent shield
sure as hell gave me the looks of someone who knew how to fight and wasn't
afraid to do it. His attitude changed instantly.

"Wow! Wait a second, there. I'm just
following-" A third fire morb came to life, and his eyes popped.
"Sorry! Just let me pass, please!"

It was a tough decision.

I don't want to worry about them turning around
and ambushing me. But I also don't want to be found by other players in the
middle of a fight.

"Sure," I said and got into a
defensive position next to the wall.

They walked slowly. The women kept their bows
pointed my direction, and I changed my defense angle as they passed by.

Well, if I don't want to be caught by other
players, I just have to be quick about it.

Critical damage for 2.0x damage!

222 fire + 20 burn damage dealt to Woman
Number One (242 total)

The first woman died with two fireballs and the
second one screamed in pain as another hit her. As I waited for a second to
pass so I could create a new fire morb and finish her, her body became limp and
dropped on the floor. She had logged out.

I directed the new fireball to the guy.

As I expected, he was planning to attack me. He
didn't even blink as he found himself alone, he simply produced two daggers
from behind his back and counter-attacked. He was expecting my fireball and
dodged on the last second, too late for me to correct the path.

"Surprise, little mage!" He said and shadowed
the way I had seen Daggers do.

I didn't try to defend myself – he was too fast
for it. I left my right flank purposefully unprotected, and he took the bait.
The moment he got nearby, I put my sword in his way.

He impaled himself on it.

"Surprise, motherless bastard," I
created another fireball and threw at him.

His screams only increased when he took a
critical in the face.

A second critical made me surprised he didn't
die. After some struggle, he freed himself from the sword and tried to become
invisible. Unfortunately for him, with my high perception I could see him much
clearer than I had been able to see Daggers.

He died to the third fireball.

Heh. Thanks, Daggers. If I hadn't seen you
do that shadow thing, I'd be dead meat by now.

I had no doubt of that. If he had managed to
close in on me, it would have been the end. It was looting time.

Swift Dagger

» 30 (+18 [Agility]) physical damage

» +1 agility

Low-Quality Metal Shortbow

» +10 (+18 [Dexterity]) damage to
arrows

Low Quality Enchanted Quiver

» Storage limit: 500 arrows

Common Arrow

» 10 physical damage

A single dagger was all that I took for myself
from the guy. Besides the weapon, everything else he had was trash. The women
provided me with a shitty bow and a nice quiver with three hundred and
seventeen arrows.

I also found almost twenty-three gold coins in
the guy's pocket. It seemed his business was thriving.

What I couldn't carry in my hands or over my
shoulders I left on the bodies, since my bags were full of jungle loot.

Man, player-killing sure was profitable! I
could already see the riches pilling on the ground from the war I had planned.
It would be the best day ever!

After a few tries, I managed to correctly use
the bow and make arrows fly. The way different attribute points affected
different weapons was interesting, but also a little disappointing. I expected
more freedom from Valia.

I mean, it did make sense for a sure aim
with a bow to deal more damage than a powerful or fast pull, and daggers were
supposed to be handled with speed, not strength, but that should have been left
for the player to decide, not the game.

What if a very strong, but slow character tried
to use a dagger? How fair was it for him to deal crappy damage because he had
the wrong attribute for the weapon?

Forced attribute growth is not cool, game.

As if they had been expecting the cue, an
exclamation point appeared.

System message

Dear user,

After continuous
observation and careful analysis, we have detected nothing against the rules in
your gameplay.

Your game-related
thoughts will stop being streamed to our human staff.

As a means of
apology for the false flag, you will be given a random attribute point.

We thank you for
your cooperation and wish you a good game.

Yours,

V-Soft team.

Dexterity increased to 19 (+1)

You don't really deserve it, but I have no
choice but to give it to you.

A single attribute point, given unwillingly.
Yeah, based on all I had seen in Valia, it sounded like V-Soft to me. Well,
better one than zero. They had followed the law, after all, and it didn't
require any compensation.

I kept walking, watchful and suspicious of the
masses of players I found everywhere. How many people were in the Underworld?

Camps were commonplace; people sat around
fireplaces or by the walls and talked. It surprised me how many people would
speak aloud even while having the party mind chat available. After a quick
reflection, I concluded that I agreed with their choices; actually listening to
voices in the air was much better than hearing people in my head.

A passerby talked about my black eyes, and it
made me realize I had forgotten to put the vampire illusion ring on. I
corrected my mistake right away.

The path to the Catacombs led me to the cave
where I had seen the fishmen, and I found it devoid of any mushrooms. About
twenty people were by the lake's margin and the moment three fishmen leapt out
of it, all twenty of them attacked. It was a slaughter.

Thankfully, the vampire camp was gone. I went
straight to the corridor that passed by the prison. If I could prevent it, I
would have gone another way, but the map I had didn't show other ways to the
Catacombs.

What worried me was that deathlords, ghouls,
vampires or other types of Dakar's denizens could be traveling the corridor to
the prison. Just in case, I walked with five fire morbs and a death one ready,
and an arrow knocked to my brand-new bow.

Holding a bow with the same arm I held a shield
was weird.

It was wasted worry on my part. I saw no one
but players, and when I got to the prison entrance, it had been completely
sealed. Where once stood the gates, the corridor now continued as if it had
always been like that, without any openings. Only the signpost made me aware of
where the gate had been.

Curiosity demanded that I try to find out if
the wall was an illusion or not, but my wiser and more cautious side made me
move on.

Some lizards and lots of players later, I
finally got to the Catacombs cave chamber. It had changed a lot.

The first thing I noticed was that the logus
were gone.

The second thing was that a kind of small town
had developed close to the place where the invisible Catacombs were. It had
three distinct small stone buildings and lots of metal shacks. Hundreds of
people were in the area.

I arrived at the cave chamber two days early. I
trusted Ted well enough, but Bear was a stranger. By getting to the place
earlier, I could prevent ambushes or even lay my own trap if I so desired.

With nothing better to do and reasonably confident
about the safety of the place, as seen by the people entering and leaving it
without visible worry, I decided to check the small town.

* * *

It was a mix of slums
and flea market.

Merchants were everywhere, exposing their
merchandise on fabrics on the floor and on low shelves. It covered the area of
about a hundred soccer fields. Lots of guards, using red metal armlets with a
white tree symbol on it, patrolled the narrow streets and kept an eye on
everything.

What surprised me the most was that everyone
looked like players. The drow didn't have their plain robes, the vampires
didn't wear clans cloaks, and the ghouls weren't slaves. Specters, deathlords,
zombies and sorins completed the species from the Central and West Underworld
which walked around.

"Hey, pal," I asked a random
merchant, who was a ginger dwarf.

"Yes? Interested in something?"

"Yeah, information."

"Sorry, man, I don't have a permit for
information brokering. Walk ahead until you see some people in blue
jackets."

"Thanks!"

"You're welcome."

Heh, politeness. Talk about strange things.

I marked the dwarf's face and stall – he was
selling raw ore – for some grateful business later, in case he had told the
truth. I followed his directions.

People were bargaining everywhere. I paid close
attention to the ongoing prices; money hadn't been a worry before, but I now
had to save enough gold to invest in the destruction of my enemies.

The Blue Jackets were some hundred people
inside a big square, surrounded by a small metal fence. For about two hours I
just watched the money changing hands. No one was speaking anything, which I
assumed to mean parties were formed to discuss business.

"Hey!" I said to a Blue Jacket close
by.

You have received a party invitation from
Vampire Girl.

Accept or refuse?

<What is it, sweet?> She asked once I accepted. Her voice was silky, and her smile could
melt ice. However, her glowing red eyes made me very careful of her.

Status effect resisted: Influence

<I want some information.>

<Of course you do, silly. That's the only
reason you'd be here. Right?>

She bent slightly, and I suddenly realized her
cleavage was very much visible, thanks. Under the blue jacket, she wore a tight
white cotton shirt with a low neckline and- I frowned as I checked it again.
Yes, she was wearing black yoga pants. In Valia.

It was proof of how worried I was about
important stuff like money and information to not check out the lady.

Sadly for her, I wasn't about to trust and fall
for someone who had just tried to use some kind of skill to influence me.

Status effect resisted: Seduce

<Right you are, lady. First, I want to know
all about the Influence and Seduce status effects.>

Her smile instantly disappeared. <I don't
know what you are talking about.>

I sighed and rolled my eyes. <Right. I'll have
to pay someone else for the information, then. Big help you were, miss
information broker.>

<No, wait. Two silver coins for each
skill.>

I laughed at her face, out of the mind chat.
<Screw you, too. I'll give you five copper for both.>

<That's outrageous!>

<That's fair, woman. I could get the
information anyway, just asking around. By asking you, you save me time, and
you get money for providing common knowledge. What will it be?>

She crossed her arms. <Fine. But only if you
promise to buy real information after I answer you.>

<You got yourself a deal.>

<Money up front.> I thought about
complaining, but it was only five copper. I gave it to her. <Individual
Influence is the second skill on the 'Talking Big' skill-tree. At level one, it
consumes no stamina, but can only be used once every twelve hours on each
target. It makes the target more likely to do stupid things.>

<Like paying two silver for worthless
knowledge?>

She just shrugged. <Individual Seduction is
the second skill on the 'Body Talks' skill-tree. At level one, it consumes ten
stamina and can only be used once every fifteen minutes. No, not per target,
the general cooldown is fifteen minutes. Social skills in Valia are very
conservative in their usage, at least at low levels.>

<How does these skills affect Earthens?>

<Five more copper.> That was fair enough.
I gave her the money. <When someone uses the skill, the gods do some
calculations based on the target's mindset and attributes to determine if the
skill was successful or not. If it is, the target Earthen loses control
of his body on critical decisions, like deciding how much to pay.>

<Doesn't it reveal the person is under some
skill?>

<I guess. The alternative would be
mind-controlling you, though. I don't think our masters want to risk
getting sued for that.>

<Makes sense. You told me the skills were
named 'Individual.' There are group versions of them?>

<Five copper. Yes. Third-tier skills – or
third-level, in case you don't know what it means.>

<Wait, are you giving me information I
didn't pay for?>

<You paid for it. I sell information, not
data.>

<Huh...>

She rolled her eyes. <I could answer you in
Chinese. It would be data because it is true, but you can't understand it in
any meaningful way. Data must be understood to be information. That's the gist
of it, at least.>

<I see. Why would you get into a Valia
to sell information? Why not just, you know, go kill stuff?>

<I don't sell personal information.>

For some time, I just looked at her. <I
didn't expect this level of professionalism from someone who tried to cheat me
from the get go.>

<Why did you pay me, then? Are you
stupid?>

Well, that was fair.

<Maybe. Or maybe your skill didn't work, but
my heart was moved by the beautiful view of your... Heart.>

She smiled again. <Nice try. Now, are you
going to buy anything real?>

<How long does it take to learn a third-tier
skill?> All my second-tier spells were already level
two, but no third-tier spells had been unlocked.

<Twenty copper. No, I won't back down from
this price. Right, thanks. When you unlock a skill-tree, you can only learn up
to tier two skills by yourself. For anything more than that, you have to find a
teacher and train under him. Sometimes you will even have to learn a different
skill-tree altogether to unlock joint skills.>

<Like what?>

<Ten copper. In magic, for instance, there
are elements, like fire and water, and schools, like destruction and
summoning.>

<Really? That sounds neat. What are all the
schools?>

<Beats me. I only know about three, and I
will tell you about the other one for five copper.> I paid her.
<Healing.>

<Are you kidding me? You charged me five
coins to tell me something as obvious as that?>

<You didn't know it, did you? Then, don't
complain.>

She had a point. She also had a lot of business
competitors around her.

I left the party and asked around. A lot of
bargaining followed, and I discovered all the magic schools:

Destruction and Restoration – not healing, as
the vampire lady had told me – dealt with dealing and removing damage to people
or objects.

Illusion was, well, illusion.

Summoning allowed the mage to summon creatures
from other planes.

Creation was used to create magical constructs,
like fire blades. Or golems.

Alteration related to changing things into
other things.

Engraving was the art of embedding magic into
items by using runes.

Those were the seven primary schools.

There were also secondary ones, like
'decrypting', that allowed the mage to understand enchantments. Or 'shadowing',
the magical equivalent of stealth, that was a child-school of both illusion and
alteration.

I asked about learning skills from players
since I had to stay clear from cities, but the answer wasn't one I liked.

At level ten, a trait evolved to adept-rank.
Level twenty-five would bring the 'skilled' rank. Level fifty, expert. Ninety,
master. And level one hundred made a trait grandmaster-level. Only experts or
above could teach skills.

<What about core traits? When can I core the
third one?> I asked a zombie broker.

<Seven copper. No one knows. There is an elf
on level twenty-three who said he still didn't receive his third slot.>

That sounded right. I hadn't received an extra
trait core slot on level twenty, either.

<Now, let's talk about the market.>

For some time, I asked multiple brokers about
the economy in the place, especially about items prices. The talk eventually
drifted to a rather interesting subject.

<What do you mean the white tree on the
armlets is the symbol of the owner clan? Are you telling me Earthens own
this place?>

<Of course. The White Tree clan has put this
place together. In Valia, anyone can try to claim any land. You only have to
keep it for a week for the gods to accept it as yours and unlock the
management system. Oh, this info costs one silver, by the way.>

A player clan was basically a permanent party.
People got together, paid some money for it to be registered in the system, and
then acted as a small company, with common goals, group hunts and so on.

I knew the little zombie was giving me a
ridiculously exaggerated price for that knowledge, but I paid him with a big
smile on my face. This place being player-owned was perfect.

There were so many things I could accomplish
with it!

The place I was now at was officially called
'White Tree Clan Hall', but people just called it 'The Slums.' It had been strategically
placed in there to be the last trade node of the West Underworld before the
city by the Great Maze's entrance. The players wanted to profit big from
commerce.

I could join the clan and eventually secure a
chunk of the Slums for myself. That dream of theirs could go a long way in the
long term, but it was too risky, much more so than the White Tree Clan seemed
to realize.

Tardas had explained to me why no one created
merchant nodes circumventing Dakar: the deathlords and vampires killed everyone
who tried.

Granted, all the counties in the West that I
had seen until now had been xenophobes. But with this many people coming and
going, and so much money flowing, it was only a matter of time before one of
them took an interest in owning the Slums, or creating their own version of it.

If I based the Catacombs power only at the
horsemen who had met me at the entrance, I was pretty sure they could crush the
White Tree in no time.

In the unlikely event that the countries around
didn't want anything to do with the market, it was a matter of time before
small parties organized to attack together and steal everything they could.
There was no way those guards would be enough, not in a city without walls.

There was even the possibility of the logus
coming back and trying to eat everything.

My best bet was negotiating the creation of a
node like this with one of the countries and insist that the destruction of
this one was imperative for the economy of the Underworld – and for the health
of our own node.

'In this world, no one cares about who came
first, whose idea it was,' Father had taught me. 'People only care about who
can provide them with the best quality service for an uninterrupted time.
Companies who can't protect themselves are for the taking. Our taking.'

I wanted to do it; I wanted it very much. But I
was a wanted man. I'd have to be satisfied with the second-best alternative.

'If you can't conquer your competitors, crush
them.'

All players were competition. If people got
richer or stronger than me, faster than me, they would get in the way of my
objectives one way or another. I had to deal with the problem while it was
still small.

It made me very glad that I had the perfect
solution.

<I remember something,> I kept my smile
to not look suspicious. <I saw a man with black eyes... What are they called
again?>

<Nice try. It's five copper for the
information.>

I let my smile slip. <Damn, can't fool you
guys, can I? Here.>

<They are called deathlords.>

<Oh, right. I saw this deathlord killing a
lot of people by himself on the way here. How secure is this place to prevent
him from doing the same in here?>

The spark of interested on the man's eye was
clear as day. <You saw? I mean, five copper for information on the Slums
security. Good. It has anti-theft magic that turns any thief completely red,
and there are more than a hundred guards in here at any time. So, about this
deathlord you saw...>

<Yes?>

<Would you be interested in getting some
money? I will give you ten coppers if you can confirm something for me.>

<Sure!> I made a
point of answering too fast. He smiled.

<Great! Here. So, what was he like?>

<Oh, I don't know. Normal, I guess? He was a
guy.>

<I know, but what was he wearing?>

Smiling, I extended my hand to him. <I don't
know why, but you seem to care about the information. Ten copper.>

<What! No! You can't sell information; you
don't have the permit!>

<Nice try. Ten copper or I'm sure someone
else will want to know about this.>

I had seen guys like him before. He would
become suspicious if I were too gullible. Plus, it was sweet to part him from
his money. He sighed and handed me the money.

<He had a white cloak, copper shield, and
black sword.>

<White cloak? That's news. Maybe it's
another one. Was he fighting with magic too, or only sword and shield? Here,
ten copper.>

I wondered how far my description went on the
most wanted list. I should have asked Ted.

<Pleasure to do business with you. He was
using death and darkness magic that I saw.>

<No fire?>

Damn, they knew everything about me. <Not
that I saw. Maybe he was trying to hide?>

<Maybe. Where did you see him?> He handed me more copper coins.

<Close to here, actually. At the tunnel
between the cave chamber with a lake and here. He was coming this way when some
people yelled 'it's him!' and everybody attacked.>

<He was coming this way? And he didn't
die?> He grabbed my arm.

<I don't know if he died, I ran away from
it. Who was he?>

He gave me an evil smile. On this zombie's
skinless face, it was very creepy. <That information costs ten
silver.>

<What? Why?>

<Heh. I'll tell you why if you pay me ten
silver.>

<Jeez. You just played me, didn't you?
Asshole. Here, take my precious money, earned with my hard work.>

<We all have to eat, man. He is called Jack
Thorn, and his head is worth two hundred gold.>

<What?! Holy crap! Do you think they killed
him?>

<I hope not. Now, if you excuse me, I have
to sell information to some other people.> He left the Blue Jackets' square.

<Hey, what did you tell him?> The vampire
woman from before asked as she looked suspiciously at the zombie's back.

<Huh? Oh, right. I just told him about Jack
Thorn.> I said it as loud as I could without being obvious. <I saw him on
the way here, in the tunnel between the fish people lake and here. Wait, that's
ten silver!>

They didn't even answer me. Suddenly, all Blue
Jackets within hearing range became dead silent, with distant eyes. Using their
communication crystals, I guessed.

Damn satisfied with myself and making a very
annoyed face, I proceeded to sell my stuff and do some shopping.

Copper Kite Shield

» Resistance: 75%

Common Leather Armor

» +35 defense

Common Leather Pants

» +30 defense

Common Leather Boots

» +15 defense

Low-Quality Chainmail Armor

» +30 defense

Low-Quality Chainmail Pants

» +25 defense

Low-Quality Copper Vambraces

» +30 defense

Low-Quality Copper Greaves

» +30 defense

Low-Quality Half Breastplate

» +30 defense

It cost me over a hundred and fifty gold coins,
enough for me to get back to only having around fifty gold, but I got myself a
damn nice upgrade and replaced my bent shield.

I could have bought some plate armor, but it
was much more expensive. Even if it would have given me better overall defense,
it would be worse in particular places. For instance, my new equipment would
mitigate ninety-five damage if I got hit on the breastplate.

The little shopping spree also made me realize
how much more expensive weapons were and how big the '+1 agility' dagger was,
even if the bonus only applied when I was holding it. I bought a small sheath
and strapped it to my abdomen.

I decided on keeping my current sword for now,
since an upgrade would cost too much.

Valia's fights were much more about skill usage
and hitting the right place than solely killing your enemy with overpowered
weapons.

I still thought the prices were too inflated,
but no broker had any information about it.

One of the three stone buildings in the place
revealed itself to be a very full tavern. I made it my new favorite place in
the world and for the next two days, I just drank and listened in on gossip.

It didn't take long for the number of people
around to increase and the talk of the reward for Jack Thorn's head to spread.

The stage was set. Now I'd only need Ted to do
something for me and wait for the last day of the Challenge.

I regretted the lack of training, but I'd soon
get myself eighty free attribute points.

And destroy someone's dream market while at it.

Jack
Thorn

Unbound
Deathlord

Legendary
Spotter, Hedge Wizard, Pioneer, Dark Archmage

Level
20

Hit Points:620
/ 620

Mana Points:950
/ 950

Stamina:305
/ 305

Attributes:

Strength:19

Agility:17

Dexterity:19

Constitution:14

Intelligence:18
+ 2 [Items]

Perception:16
+ 10 [Items]

Willpower:18

Charisma:8

Traits:

© Adept Controller:22

© Adept Energizer:14

Adept Mage:12
+ 10 [Items]

Scout:3

Athlete:2

Diviner:2

Gold Digger:2

Meditator:2

Scavenger:2

Shadow:2

Antimage:1

Crafter:1

Healer:1

Herbalist:1

Mind Seer:1

Negotiator:1

Nitpicker:1

Ranger:1

Strategist:1

Tactician:1

Warrior:1

25. Tastes Like Chicken

'Yes, one step after the other. See?
Dancing is simple!'

- Aunt

<Jack?> Ted contacted me the day we were supposed to meet. <Are you here
yet?>

I had been watching my ghost friend for the
last fifteen minutes. Ted's body now had legs but was still missing feet. She
was still white, just like her leather armor and the longbow on her back; no
colors like the horsemen had had.

Bear was larger than I remembered, but maybe
that was because of the very expensive full plate armor he was wearing. In a
sheath on his back was a big bastard sword, almost the size Shai's had been.

<Almost,> I
replied.

They were in the half-full tavern I was. It was
made entirely of stone, even the counter, and had thirty odd metal tables for
patrons.

A staircase led to the second floor, but a
guard had blocked my access when I tried to go up and refused to tell me what
was in there. Since I only saw people with the white tree armlet going up, I
supposed it was something like a clan hall or guard house.

"What?! Twenty silver for a pint?! Are you
crazy?!" A sorin – that's what the pale dwarves' species was called – patron
complained.

"Look, amigo. No one is forcing you
to buy. Pay or leave, your choice." The drow behind the counter said.

Bear was gulping beer after beer under Ted's
concerned gaze. The prices had grown exponentially in the last few days, as
more and more people came to the Catacombs, probably to search for me.

The individuals in the Slums clearly had no
idea of how the inflation could hurt them in the long run. Thankfully for them,
they wouldn't live to experience it. I was that kind of good guy.

<Okay, listen. There is a small city outside
the Catacombs. Don't come close to it! There are lots of Earthens around
and they are ordering everyone to take their hoods off. They somehow guessed
you were coming. We should probably meet in another cave.>

As far as I could tell, the two of them were
not planning any ambushes, although by the amount of beer Bear was drinking, he
was evidently planning on going bankrupt. He slammed a now empty glass on the
metal table and yelled.

"More!"

Ted shifted uncomfortably in her chair as she
took some gold from her purse to pay the ghoul waiter.

<Why are you paying for Bear's beer?> I
asked.

<I'm carrying his money because of the
armor-> She began to answer while looking with
distracted eyes at the money being carried away. <Wait! Where are you?>
She looked around.

I got up and got closer. <Hey, there.>

Bear had positioned himself with the back to
the wall and looked at my approach with a promise of violence evident in his
skinless face. Kinda scary, to be honest.

Ted had looked at me with mild curiosity but
kept looking around. <Where? I can't see you. Are you invisible?>

"I'm here, Ted. Hey, Bear." I nodded
to him.

"What?!" Her eyes locked with mine.
"You recreated your character in a new species? When? How's the
communication crystal still working?"

I sat on a chair. "Calm down, woman. And
lower your voice. I'm using an illusion ring to change my appearance."

"Oh. I'm so glad you are okay!" We
were never that close, but she took my hand in hers and squeezed. I looked at
Bear from the corner of my eyes. "You look better as a vampire."

That made me frown. That was unlike any
conversation we'd ever had. Was she trying to make Bear jealous? Knowing her
plot involving her dad, I didn't doubt it.

"Thanks?"

"Bear, this is Jack. Jack, this is
Bear."

"Nice to finally meet the famous
Bear." I extended my hand, and he shook it. Hard.

"Same here, dude." He had a rich
voice. He wouldn't have trouble finding a job at one of those radio stations of
old. "Beer in this Valia sucks; what's the pointing of drinking
without getting drunk? At least it tastes good."

"It tastes like piss," I said,
sitting at the table.

"My point exactly! Have you tried that
European shit? It tastes good! How can a man call himself a man if he's
drinking liquid candy?"

I looked to Ted while pointing to Bear. "I
like him."

She rolled her eyes. "He tells you he
likes to drink piss, and suddenly you're pals. Men."

He drank more from his pint. "My archer
told me that you have a job for us, and it involves bathing in the blood of our
enemies."

"Stop calling me that!" Ted
half-yelled. "I hate being called an archer!"

But not being called his, huh?

"Yes." I rested my back against the
metal chair and crossed my arms. I decided on explaining from the beginning, to
make sure both of them followed. "This is day twenty-six since the
beginning of the Valia, and the Challenge ends the moment day thirty
ends."

"Look, archer," Bear interrupted me.
"He likes to tell people stuff they already know! He's just like Uncle
William!"

"He's nothing like my dad!" She
replied angrily. Bear seemed to be an expert at getting on her nerves.

"On the first minute of day
twenty-nine," I continued as if he hadn't said anything, "I'll get a
red mark above my head, and there will be lots of fun to be had with everyone
trying to kill me. Including today, we have three days to get everything ready
for that day."

"Look, archer. He speaks of carnage. He's
trying to sweet talk me! I like it."

And I was liking Bear more and more. He
reminded me of my old thug friends. It didn't mean I trusted him, but well, I
didn't even trust myself. Not with some alien voice in my mind.

"I told you to stop!" Ted crossed her
arms.

"Ted, the first thing I need is from
you." I put my hood up. "I'll remove my illusion ring, and I want you
to record a few seconds of something I'll say. Tell me when you're ready."

She made a curious face but did as told.
"Okay."

After making sure no one was looking and that I
had my back to the door, I took the ring off.

"You were right, his vampire face is much
better," Bear said.

I ignored him again. "When I finish
speaking the first time, ask me if I'm sure. The second time, ask me if I'm in
the Challenge. Three... Two... One... Shoot." I did my best to act twitchy
and kept looking around. "I'm telling you I don't fear these noobs. I'm
level ten already; I'm going to kill them all. They think they can kill me?
I'll show them. Heh, a bunch of weaklings."

Ted took a few seconds to ask. "Are you
sure?"

I looked straight at her. "Look at me. I'm
inside the damn Slums, and no one caught me. I'm telling you, I'm the only Earthen
in this whole Valia who has any worth. Day thirty of the Challenge I'll
just start killing them all and claim my prize."

"Are you in the Challenge?"

"In the Challenge? Hah! I am the
Challenge! My head is worth two hundred gold to Dakar, and I bet the drow would
pay even more. But no one can claim the prize and stop me from getting free
attribute points. Just look, woman. I'll hand all those noobs' asses to
them."

Someone opened the tavern's door, and it was my
cue. I extended my hand. "Give me my gold, interview is over."

She put a gold coin in my hand, I checked the
hood and got up. Then I went to the door, discreetly putting on the illusion
ring as I did. I exited the tavern and waited a few seconds before going back
in and sitting at the table.

"How did I look?"

"Ugly!" Bear said between pints. I
winked at him.

"Okay, I think," Ted said. "I'm
guessing you want me to post this in the public boards?"

"Yeah."

"Are you sure? This will make a lot of
people angry."

"I'm counting on that. The more, the
merrier."

"But what if you die?"

"Then you better take my items and find a
way to survive, because they are worth a lot of money."

"Your plan has a big hole, pal," Bear
said. Damn, his voice was too damn cool. Thank goodness his zombie face was a
mess, or I might have some jealousy issues. "What if nobody shows up? Your
acting was not as horrible as it could've been, but any sensible person could
see through it."

"Yep. That's where the third part of the
setup comes in."

"Third party? What was the second?"
He asked.

"We just did the second. Movie on the
internet. Well, it's not up yet, but let's act as if it is for the sake of this
conversation."

"You lost me there, Jack," Ted said.
"This was the first thing, wasn't it?"

"Nope. I haven't been idle in my time in
the Slums. Call me James, by the way; no reason to make people look twice at my
face when they hear my name. Here, let me tell you about my plans. And Bear, I
bet you a gold coin that you're gonna love it."

"I'm game!" He threw a gold coin on
the table and ordered more beer.

* * *

A few hours later we
finally left the tavern. Ted went to the Catacombs to take care of her part of
the plan, and I took Bear to do some shopping. I kept a fire and a death morb
floating above my head at all times, just in case.

I could've shopped alone before, but I wanted
first to make sure Ted and Bear were interested. I'd invest all my remaining
money, and if they hadn't been with me, it would've been for nothing.

The bargaining went well, even though there was
a kind of uneasy air to the Slums. I eventually got to the sorin who had helped
me and spent an entire gold coin on the cheapest minerals he had.

"What are you going to use these
for?" Bear asked.

"Nothing. This fella helped me before, so
I'm helping him. Right, man?"

The ginger dwarf smiled at me. "I'm not
saying I don't want your money, but what I did was hardly worth this
much."

"See, honest to a fault. Tell you what,
good man. If anyone asks you, let them know I always help those who help
me."

"Alright. What's your name again?"

I winked at him and left without another word.
I was winking too much at men recently; time to visit the ladies.

"Hey there, handsome," the vampire
lady in the blue jacket said as soon as I got back to her.

Status effect resisted: Influence

I raised an eyebrow at her. "Again? You
know this doesn't work with me."

"Hey! Don't disrespect the lady, man! Not
cool!" Bear said. When I looked his direction, he had a confused
expression in his face; she had got to him. I laughed.

"You told me the status effect only took over
the body in critical moments," I said to the vampire.

She smiled beautifully. "Mostly. However,
some men tend to use their lower heads more than others. Not that I don't like
the attention." She adjusted her shirt to show more skin.

"Yes, man!" Bear suddenly got between
the vampire woman and me. "You should move along if you don't appreciate
the view!"

That made me laugh more. "Okay, oh most
fair lady. Release my colleague now." I threw her a silver coin.

"You'll have to do better than that,
handsome," she said.

"You heard her," Bear said.
"You-"

83 damage dealt to Bear

I interrupted him by swiftly putting my sword
through his face. Thanks to his helmet, there was no critical damage. Black
blood splashed, and he screamed in pain. People around looked our direction,
and two drow guards took their weapons out. Lots of morbs appeared above
people's heads.

Sheathing my weapon, I raised my hands.
"Just releasing him from a seduce status effect!" I yelled. "We
are pals! I'll heal him!" I extended my arm to him, and my deathball flew.

You healed Bear for 113 HP

It mostly restored his face. He immediately
took me by the collar. "You asshole! That hurt!"

"Sorry. Next time I'll let you be
mind-controlled by some random chick."

"Yeah! Do that! Hell, I haven't received
so much damage for a while now." He caressed his face after releasing me.

"I don't care if you're friends," a
guard said. "Don't do it again! Things are tense enough without you clowns
acting like that." He walked away.

"Well, that escalated quickly." I turned
to the vampire woman, who was looking at me in shock. "Now that you know
I'll not take your shit anymore, let's talk business."

Bear told her in kind words how much he had
disliked being under the effect of her skill, suggesting a blood oath so they
could go back to being friends. Only the oath involved only her losing blood.
Lots of it.

I used my attack as an example of how sensitive
I was about being bullshitted that day. Money exchanged hands, and I was
reasonably confident that she would do as told.

Just to make sure, I paid a man right beside
her, talking aloud – not in mind chat –, to confirm that my instructions had
gone through.

"Let it be known that I help my friends,
but I don't like to be played with," I said aloud.

"But what's your name?" The woman
asked. I dramatically winked at her before leaving.

We were on our way back to the tavern when I
saw Eternal.

He looked my way the same moment I looked his.
Our eyes crossed, and he walked purposefully towards me.

His chubby face was gone, replaced by a thin
one, but it was definitely him. He was wearing a tweed suit and exuded
self-confidence.

"Bear, watch out, he's more dangerous than
he seems," I whispered, preparing myself for any fun actions my ex-vampire
pal might make.

Status effect resisted: Influence

Status effect resisted: Low Defenses

Status effect resisted: Openness

Status effect resisted: Inattentive

Status effect resisted: Talkative

Holy cow, that was a lot of skills. I wondered
if any unknown one had passed through my resistances.

"Jack!" He said with a big smile.
"You survived! I'm so happy!" His tone had no happiness whatsoever.

I bet the skills and his high charisma made up
for his lack of acting before. Wait, does it mean he was always lean? Even my
visual perception of him had been corrupted?

Those are some very useful skills to have,
and charisma seems more useful than I expected. More importantly, doesn't he
know the skills failed?

"Good to see you too!" I tried my
best to act like I meant it. "How did you survive? I was so worried!"

"Oh, you know, lucky. Tell me, how did you
do it?"

Status effect resisted: Deflection

Six different skills that affected my
character's mind. I admit I began to feel a little alarmed. Who the hell was
Eternal?

"Lucky, too. I tripped on one of those damn
crystals and fell on the ground right when an arrow from a vampire guard would
have killed me! Can you believe it? I think this Valia has a hidden luck
attribute or something! I ran so hard after that! Do you know what happened to
everybody? The quest Marbareus gave me was canceled. I'm so confused!"

He squinted his eyes for a few seconds.
"Too talkative. You resisted, huh?"

Shit. He was smart. I shrugged. "Seems so.
Did you kill him?"

"You aren't even trying, are you? I saw
the spiders around. How did you get back to your natural body? I heard the
transformation was final."

"Spiders? Listen, Tardas told me-"

"Just shut up," he cut me off
angrily. "I saw his body too. I know you're a liar Jack. I'll-"

I sighed and stopped listening. He gave me
empty threats. When he was done, I smiled at him. "Nice talking to you
too. Have a nice day."

Believing anything he told me, either with his
words or his body language, would be a mistake. He was clearly a manipulator,
and even the emotions he showed on his face could be fake. The only way to deal
with his type involved unilateral blood oaths.

'There are businessmen, and there are
pathological liars,' father had taught me. 'You might negotiate with the
former, but you must utterly crush the latter, or you will regret it
later. They always find ways to get in your head, or of those around you. The
less they have to lose, the more dangerous they are.'

"He is Jack Thorn!" He yelled from
behind me as I walked. "He's using an illusion ring! Kill him! His head is
worth-"

"You there, calm down!" A guard
yelled. "There is no need in- You just tried to use Influence on me? Guys,
give me a hand here!"

"No, wait! I swear he is Jack Thorn!"

"I don't care who he is! Shut up and come
with us!"

My smile broadened. He had even helped my
cause! I doubted anyone would act against me immediately, not after what had
happened to the crazy dude.

The thing is, people aren't as impulsive as one
typically assumes. Everyone who heard him and wanted my head would get curious
and investigate, but I had at least a few hours before someone made a move. I'd
be long gone by then.

"Who was he?" Bear asked.

"Old acquaintance. I was with him for more
than seven days, and he lied to me every minute of it."

"You know he's coming back for you,
right?"

"Of course I do. Who do you think I am,
your mom? Oh, wait, she also keeps coming back."

"Bro, your plan to kill people is good,
but you suck at shit talking. What you just said makes no sense at all."

"Shut up. Your face makes no sense."

One hour later, Ted met us at the tavern, and
we left the Slums.

* * *

"I think we are
being followed," Ted said.

"Look, ugly-face," Bear said.
"My archer likes to speak the obvious. She's just like Uncle
William!"

"I'm nothing like dad! And stopping
calling me that!"

We were in the cave chamber right next to the
Catacombs, the one with multiple drow cities. Bear had been leading us for half
an hour. He claimed to know a cave in there where we could practice our team
fighting.

There was some influx of people in the chamber,
albeit much less than what I had seen in other places. It was pretty clear that
at least ten people were following us in two separate groups. I wasn't so sure
about another seven that were also walking the same direction we were.

"Heh, it's funny when you call me ugly
face because you are a zombie," I replied.

"I wasn't being funny. You should stop
deluding yourself."

"Yeah, whatever. So, guys, I think it's
past time we party up." I invited them, and they joined.

"Bonus attribute and bonus damage, not
bad," Bear commented on my strategist and tactician traits. "You
should force the party members to show their level and their core traits."

"Huh?"

"You know, in the settings. No? Just think
about opening the party settings, there are lots of cool things in there. I want
us to come clean on level and traits. It's only fair."

I did as he instructed and there were a lot
of options in there, even seeing the party members' attributes and traits
levels. I only toggled on what he suggested, plus the ability to see party members'
icons on the minimap.

Are you sure you want to change the party
settings?

Any member who doesn't accept it will be
automatically removed from the party.

I'm sure.

It would be really useful seeing their icons on
the map. That gave me an idea, and after a quick search, I also found the
option to see the party's "perceived enemies'" icons on the map.
Basically, anyone that any of us saw as an enemy.

That would give me a tactical edge over those
who didn't have a map.

Ted (level 9)

<Adept Archer>

HP: 275 / 275

MP: 170 / 170

Stamina: 195 / 195

Bear (level 16)

<Adept Berserker | Adept Warrior>

HP: 1720 / 1720

MP: 110 / 110

Stamina: 475 / 475

"Holy shit! Seventeen hundred HP? What the
hell?! How many points do you even have in constitution?"

"Twenty-five," he answered without
hesitating.

"Wait, what? How?"

"I fought naked for a long time. Lots of
pain and damage. Lots of levels to constitution, too."

"He didn't stop hunting since he
died," Ted said. "The only reason he's here is because you promised
he could blow the frustration of losing the Challenge on other
Challengers."

"Fighting naked? How the hell didn't you
die?" I asked.

"I ate a lot."

"What?"

"Zombies can regenerate health by eating
fresh corpses."

"Super gross," Ted said.

"How do corpses taste?"

"Chicken. You should try."

"No, thanks. Ted, how the hell are you an
adept archer? Weren't you going for daggers?"

"What do you mean? I just changed my core
trait."

"I know. But the bonus ten levels only
apply to the first trait you pick in each core slot, right? After you changed
your core trait, the new one shouldn't have had time to get to adept
level."

"Oh. You can change your first core and
keep the bonus if your body's level is below ten." She meant
'character.' "It's supposed to help you make the right choice."

"Shit. I'll kill Zenhit next time I see
the jackass. I could've tried different paths if I knew that."

"Kill who?"

"My destiny spirit. We had a
breakdown."

"You can just summon him whenever you want
and force him to help. You know that right?"

"Yes, yes. But I made a bet with him, that
I'll survive the Challenge without his help."

"You're an idiot."

"He is a true man," Bear said.
"Braving the wild unknown using only his own power."

He had almost quoted the words I had said to
Eternal in the gabat's cave. "Right? Ted, I like this guy!"

"Men!"

"What about you?" Bear asked.
"How are you level twenty?"

"Lots of anger issues; tried some
therapeutic killing. Lots of it."

"How's your HP so shitty, then?"

"I'm not a masochist like you; I used some
armor."

"Training in armor is for little
girls."

"Right. Anyway, guys..." I changed
the medium of communication. <...mind chat only from now on. Ted, do you
have any trap skills?>

<I'm an archer, not a... I don't know. Not
someone who sets up traps.>

<Okay, then we'll have to ambush them
without it. What battle skills do you have, Ted?>

<Focus shot, for extra fifty percent damage,
ten seconds cooldown. And some passive ones.>

<Really? I expected more. You are awfully
under-leveled too.>

<Sorry if I have a real life, nerd.>

<You are excused. Bear, skills?>

<I have four active skills. First is Rage,
that makes me receive less damage and deal more. But I can't choose who I'm
attacking. Whoever is in front of me is game, even if it's an ally.>

<Typical berserker thing. Can you deactivate
it at will?>

<Yes, but only after five minutes.>

<Okay, I'll keep it in mind. What's
next?>

<Typhoon Swing, an AoE skill.> AoE, or
area of effect, were skills that dealt damage to anyone in an area instead of a
single target. <It allows me to damage anyone within weapon's reach around
me for a hundred and fifty percent my maximum damage.>

<Lame name, cool skill. Cooldown?>

<Thirty seconds.>

<Urgh. Third skill?>

<Penetrating Thrust. Normal attack that
ignores armor. Twenty-seconds cooldown.>

<What's up with these big cooldown
times?>

<It gets much lower as the skill levels up.
Last skill is Kamikaze Moment. Makes me receive more damage and deal a lot
more. Goes very well with Rage. I also have to keep it on for at least five
minutes after activation.>

<Okay. I only have spells, and the best one
needs one second to cast. Healing requires three seconds. How far is the
cave?>

<We'll be there in twenty minutes.>

<Can we lose them in there?>

<No. Too many enemies in the cave, we'll
eventually get slowed down.>

<That sucks. If we can't lose them, we
should deal with them in a terrain of our choice, instead of chancing being
surrounded by monsters and Earthens alike. Is the entrance at least a
narrow one?>

<No, it's as large as large as your mom's...
Heart. See, that's how you do it.>

<You should try stand-up comedy; you are
good at this. I guarantee I can't stop laughing on the inside.>

<You should ask your mom about ways of
dealing with things inside you.>

I sighed.

<I know,> Ted said. <I hate him
too.>

<The plan is a simple one: we kill any
visible monster as soon as we get in there. Ted positions herself as far from
the entrance as possible, and Bear tries to block as much of the cave entrance
as he can. I get between the two of you and try to act as a second defense to
Ted.>

<What if someone gets to me?> She asked.

<Then you try to run to me. Do not, under
any circumstances, go deeper into the cave, or you'll die. I'll focus fire on
whoever is attacking you, even if I take more damage because of it.>

<Okay.>

<Bear, use everything you have from the
get-go.>

<Even the Rage? What if I attack you guys
too?>

<Then we deal with it.>

When we got to the cave, I summoned all the
morbs I could, ending with five fire spheres and a death one.

<I see no monsters,> Ted said.

<There must be some people hunting in
here,> Bear said.

<Let's just hope they don't find us in the
middle of the fight, then. Let's do this, people.> I put my shield before me
and crouched a little, getting into a defensive position.

<What if they aren't enemies?> Ted asked.

<They're following us without getting close
enough to talk, naïve archer of mine. Trust me; they are enemies.> Bear
replied.

<But what if they're just coming here to
hunt? I don't want to kill innocent people.>

<Killing?> I asked. <Who said anything
about killing? We are simply going to introduce them to the fine art of weapon
speech. Now, if they prefer to talk to our swords with their bodies, it's their
problem, not ours. >

<Listen to him,> Bear said. <His
mother must have taught him all she knew about using his body on other people's
swords.>

<Ted, I don't think I like him anymore,>
I said.

<Join the club. I have no idea why I hang
out with him.>

We didn't have to wait long. Five minutes
later, the first four people appeared.

It was a slaughter.

Ted opened with an arrow to a sorin's face.
Bear raged – becoming slightly red – and used the Typhoon Swing to damage them
all. My five fireballs flew and finished three of them, except for a dude who
was wearing what looked like good scale armor.

Before the survivor could even react, Bear's
huge bastard sword hit the guy on the side and Ted's second arrow hit him in
the face. A second fireball in the man's face ended him.

It was all over in less than three seconds. Out
of curiosity, I checked the damage logs.

[Ted] Critical damage for 2.0x damage!

[Ted] 153 damage dealt to Shorty

[Bear] 201 damage dealt to Shorty

[Bear] 189 damage dealt to Tall Guy

[Bear] 162 damage dealt to Good Armor Dude

[Bear] 205 damage dealt to Probably Mage

Critical damage for 2.0x damage!

222 damage dealt to Shorty

HP: 0 / 576 <?>

Critical damage for 2.0x damage!

222 damage dealt to Tall Guy

Critical damage for 2.0x damage!

222 damage dealt to Tall Guy

HP: 0 / 633 <?>

Critical damage for 2.0x damage!

222 damage dealt to Probably Mage

HP: 0 / 427 <?>

Critical damage for 2.0x damage!

222 damage dealt to Good Armor Dude

[Bear] 91 damage dealt to Good Armor Dude

[Ted] Critical damage for 2.0x damage!

[Ted] 102 damage dealt to Good Armor Dude

Critical damage for 2.0x damage!

222 damage dealt to Good Armor Dude

[Bear] 91 damage dealt to Good Armor Dude

HP: 0 / 890 <?>

I couldn't even read it all, because when Bear
suddenly found himself out of targets, he turned to us.

Shit.

We were saved by a woman's scream behind him. A
drow wearing the characteristic white robe of her people was there, and a
second drow in Blackguard's cloak appeared right beside her.

Bear attacked.

His sword cut the woman almost in two, and she
dropped on the floor, probably with an Open Wounds status effect. The
Blackguard reacted fast and shadowed, striking Bear three times.

Something weird happened next. Bear's helmet
opened by itself, revealing his now completely white eyes and sharp teeth. He
dropped his sword and hugged the drow.

Then he bit the man's face.

A horrid scream followed. Four more people
appeared, two other drow and two zombies. My fireballs flew, so did Ted's
arrows. They counter-attacked.

They had a mage and a guy with a crossbow, who
focused their attacks on Ted. Or at least tried to.

I didn't expect it from her, but she rolled to
put me between the attacks and herself; she also somehow hit the mage's light
spell mid-air with her arrow.

Meanwhile, the Blackguard had stopped
screaming, probably having logged out after the shock of having his face bitten
off. The other two players were a sword-and-shield guy, and one with two axes.
Axes guy screamed in fury, and they attacked Bear.

<Ted, focus fire on the mage!>

<Okay!>

I waited for five fire morbs before throwing
them, guessing their crossbowman would do the same to them as Ted had done. I
made the spells move erratically, but the guy still managed to destroy one with
a bolt, and the mage destroyed another one with her spell.

Three of them were still enough to kill the
mage, though.

<Now the guy with a crossbow!>

<I know!>

Bear had dropped the drow on the ground and
kicked the guy with the shield far enough to grab his own sword from the floor.
Then he used the Typhoon Swing: he rotated with his arms extended, sword in
hand. Right after that, he dealt a massive blow to axes guy, right in the face.
Then to the man's arm.

Something fascinating was happening: he was
recovering HP. Not only because of the drow he had bitten; with each blow he
dealt, he shone slightly redder and recovered HP.

The crossbowman ignored us and started
attacking Bear, too. Ted and I killed him after a short while. He rolled on the
ground, trying to dodge our attacks, but it was to no avail.

Bear's HP hadn't even dropped to half. Between
regeneration and his armor, it was very hard to kill him.

Without saying anything, both guys suddenly
disengaged and ran.

Bear tried to run after them, but the guy with
the shield bashed the zombie in the face, and he received a dazed status effect
for thirty seconds.

<Let's go!> Ted
said and begun to run, but I grabbed her arm and stopped her.

<No!>

<Why not?>

<It might be a trap! Even if it isn't, they
might call for help from nearby players, and some might help. Come with me. We
must hide and wait for Bear's Rage timer to end.>

She complied.

As we hid around a corner and heard Bear's rage
screams, I felt burning anticipation inside me.

The zombie was a monster. How many more like
him were there in the Underworld?

That war of mine would be even more amazing
than I had expected.

Jack
Thorn

Unbound
Deathlord

Legendary
Spotter, Hedge Wizard, Pioneer, Dark Archmage

Level
20

Hit Points:620
/ 620

Mana Points:510
/ 950

Stamina:305
/ 305

Attributes:

Strength:19

Agility:17

Dexterity:19

Constitution:14

Intelligence:18
+ 2 [Items]

Perception:16
+ 10 [Items]

Willpower:18

Charisma:8

Traits:

© Adept Controller:22

© Adept Energizer:14

Adept Mage:12
+ 10 [Items]

Scout:3

Athlete:2

Diviner:2

Gold Digger:2

Meditator:2

Scavenger:2

Shadow:2

Antimage:1

Crafter:1

Healer:1

Herbalist:1

Mind Seer:1

Negotiator:1

Nitpicker:1

Ranger:1

Strategist:1

Tactician:1

Warrior:1

26. My Life

'Ice-cream! Gimme the ice-cream! No, don't
run! I just want a bite, I swear! Maybe two. C'mon, it won't be more than
three!'

- Aunt

I shook the sword a
little to loosen it from the corpse on the ground. People these days couldn't
even die without being a pain in the ass to their murderers.

<I worry about the state of the world
sometimes.> I cleaned the sword on the body's clothes.

<I know what you mean, bro.> Bear spoke
with his mouth full of drow meat. <Look at all these corpses around us. Not
a single copper on all of them. How can a man earn his keep like this?>

<How can you two enter a weird subject like
that out of nowhere?> Ted was walking closer to us.

<If you can't understand the problem, you're
probably part of it,> Bear said. <How much money did you bring with you,
when we left the Slums three days ago?>

<Nothing.> She
crossed her arms. <Why?>

Bear and I looked at each other and shook our
heads. Ted sighed out loud and began to loot the bodies with us.

There were sixteen corpses around us, killed in
three distinct battles. We had started the first against a somewhat isolated
group of five people. Another group of three people, more or less nearby,
decided to help the first group and attacked.

They hadn't expected us to finish the first
fight as quickly as we did, though, and soon found themselves fighting without
backup. They tried to run and screamed for help and found eight paladins of
justice willing to save them.

Such paladins, while confident in their numeric
superiority, hadn't believed we would kill the second group so fast, and
suddenly found themselves having an intimate physical conversation with our
swords by themselves.

We explained to them, in very didactic terms,
why you never help unknown people in MMORPGs. Especially when you don't have a
way to be sure of the enemy's strength in comparison to yours.

<This girl's scale armor has a defense
factor of forty.> Bear was parting a zombie woman of her equipment.

We had decided on an ecological approach to
after-battle scenes: we took everything the dead people had instead of leaving
non-organic waste around.

<Mine has forty, too.> I knocked on my armor.

<I still hate you for thinking out of the
box.> With a perspective too tied to the games of
old, Bear hadn't thought of putting leather equipment underneath his plate armor,
and his total defenses were lower than mine.

Low-Quality Scale Armor

» +40 defense

Low-Quality Scale Pants

» +40 defense

My new scale armor was made of copper and ugly
as hell, but gave me better defenses than my old chainmail set. Sadly, I
couldn't fit one over the other, and ended up selling the chainmail to Bear.
Even while complaining that it disturbed his movements a little, he was now
using it under his plate armor for some extra defense.

After receiving a few hits in some battles, I
had been enlightened to changes in the defense system that the lack of a
Destiny Spirit hadn't made me aware of.

Since an update in the last week, if you wore a
piece of armor above other ones, it halved the worse ones' defense.

Meaning that my leather armor, scale armor, and
half chest plate didn't mitigate damage by a hundred and five – the sum of all
defenses – as I thought.

After being halved twice and rounded up, my
half breastplate – the piece with the worse defense in the breast area – had an
effective defense factor of eight, instead of thirty.

The leather armor – the second best piece – was
lowering the damage I received by half its total: eighteen.

Only the scale armor defenses were being kept
intact.

Any damage I received in the breastplate would
be lowered by sixty-six, way less than what I had expected. It seemed like
V-Soft didn't want cheap people like me skipping the more expensive armors.

Such lower defenses were actually visible in
the items descriptions after you equipped them, but I hadn't cared to check. I
mean, who did?

<Alright, people, let's go. Bear, would you
do the honors?> We had finished looting, and there
were some players around looking at us.

<Why, it'd be my pleasure, good sir.>

He put his hands beside his mouth. "This
is White Tree territory!" He yelled with all the power he could muster.
"We obey Jack Thorn! We challenge the drow to a fight over this land
tomorrow, thirty hours from now! Come to the Slums if you have the guts!"

I nodded to him. <Good. We've enough killing
now, enough that the White Tree might stop being lenient about it. Plus, Ted
has to log out. Let's go to the cave and wait for tomorrow.>

A three-dimensional red 'C' letter the size of
my head was rotating a few centimeters above me. We were on day twenty-nine, at
midday, and had been killing people close to the drow cities for hours.

The most fragile point of my plan had been
counting on the drow not attacking us immediately when we killed the first few
players and yelled our summons. If they had, we would be dead, and it would've
been the end of the Challenge for me.

Thankfully, I had read them well enough.
Daggers had told me the drow considered players as distant cousins, but it was
more like unwanted neighbors your parents – the gods – ordered you to treat
well. The drow didn't care that we were killing the players, as long as it was
outside their cities.

They should be downright pissed at the
territorial claims, though.

Still, if you are a gang member in a
neighborhood full of people you dislike, and a random dude starts to clean the
streets of unwanted neighbors for you, you just let him do his job.

Even if he is yelling that the streets are now
his, as long as he sets a place and date to decide that once and for all, and
as long as such time is not too far in the future, you don't bother with him.

If you are going to confront a cleaning lady
for stealing your stuff, you only do that after she finishes her job.

Unless she makes a point of yelling about the
thievery every damn second of her workday, of course.

So, we had killed people for ten hours, and I
had decided it was enough.

<Are we there yet, mommy archer?> Bear asked in a kids voice while dragging his feet.

<Shut up!> Ted
was leading us to a smaller cave in the Catacombs' cave chamber. Bear knew
where it was, but it seemed his life's mission was annoying people around him.

The drow and the White Tree weren't my only
concerns. We had fought a few close calls, and I wasn't interested in dying by
mistake in the middle of nowhere. Also, about one in every hundred people I saw
walking around had the 'C' letter floating above their heads; Challengers were
common in the areas around the Slums and looked my way with far too much
interest.

<Damn, spoiled already.> Bear threw a drow foot on the floor.

Watching him eat people's bodies was one of the
most disturbing things I had seen in my life. The fact that he didn't seem to
care only made matters worse. In the cave where we had been the last few, he
had at least eaten giant ants.

It was a blessing that the meat lost its healing
effectiveness and good taste after a half hour. I made a point of not looking
his way after the fights.

Bear had already visited the cavern that Ted
led us to: it was the rat's cave of their bet, the one that the specter had
failed to clear using daggers, which forced the archer path upon her.

A series of narrow passages with turns every
twenty paces made it excellent defensive terrain. Ted left us there and logged
out immediately. She'd only come back when it was time for us to leave.

<Alone at least.>
Bear put his arm around my shoulder and pulled me close to him. Side by side,
we barely fit the tunnels. <We should talk.>

<About?>

<Our little female companion. Just so we're
clear, if you ever make her shed a single tear, I'll kill you. On Earth.>

I laughed. <No need for that, bro. She told
me you're interested in her. I have no intention of sailing those waters.>

<Hah! Nice try! She's a sister to me; I'd
never touch her. Just remember that I'll be watching over your relationship
with utmost care.>

With some difficulty, I forced myself out of
his hold. <I'm not joking, man. She told me you're interested in her.>

<And I'm telling you that makes no sense!
Didn't you see how we act with one another? We grew up together; we're all but
blood-related.>

Realization hit me, and I rolled my eyes. I
couldn't believe the universe would make me act cupid. <Bear, you big
imbecile, why do you think I take all your bullshit jokes?>

He made a confused expression. <Because they
are funny?>

<Because I joke back. That's a healthy
relationship, we piss each other off and move on. It doesn't mean we are close
friends, but it means we can tolerate each other without any overheating on
anyone's part.>

<Look, archer- Oh, she's not here. Look,
rock! He thinks he's wise!>

Ignoring him had become a habit by now. <Ted
doesn't talk back. She gets really annoyed but accepts it. She claims we are
nerds for traveling to Valia, but does the same. She never wanted to live
as an archer, but she does it. Why, you moron, do you think she does that?>

He had a deep frown on his face. <You told
me she told you I like her.> He had a way with words. <Not that she likes
me.>

<Yeah, she said that, but you told me it's
bullshit. If the one telling me the truth is you, it means she lied. Why would
she do that? When we think about the way she acts about you, the conclusion is
obvious: she expected me to counsel her about it.>

<Why you? We have plenty of other mutual
friends, both male, and female.>

<Because she's insecure about it. Because
she didn't know me. Because I'm a gamer like you. Or because of something else.
Ask her; I'm not cut out for this shit. Just don't try to push me to her,
because that's not happening. Girl's too crazy for my tastes.>

For the next few hours, Bear kept a pensive
face and killed rats in silence. The fact that he didn't eat a single rat –
even thought they were reserved for my plans – was a testament of how disturbed
he was feeling.

Just like the ants' cave, this one's cat theory
worked via countless holes in the walls, from which the animals appeared. A
sorin might be able to crawl through them, but not Bear or I.

We found a few other players in there and
killed them without difficulty. Only newbies would be hunting here, which was
one of the reasons I had decided on that cave. The other reasons were its
proximity to the Catacombs and defensibility.

Killing them was a defensive measure. Valia's
death penalties were extreme: besides losing all your items, except for soul
bound ones, the player also lost ten percent of all attributes and traits
levels, and was forced out of the game for a while.

The logged-out time increased the more a player
died until it hit a cap. The first time it would be somewhere between eighteen
and twenty-four hours. The second time, twenty to twenty-six. The third time,
twenty-two to twenty-eight. Finally, from the fourth time onwards, the forced
logout time would be between twenty-four and thirty hours.

V-Soft claimed the range would make it slightly
harder for enemies to camp a starting point. For the suicide system to take
effect and transport a player to a safe starting point, the player had to,
well, kill himself. Being assassinated didn't count, and it was theoretically
possible to keep murdering someone as long as the starting point's NPCs didn't care.

Players didn't buy the explanation. We all knew
the truth: they only wanted to laugh at us as we raged. A six-hour range was
big enough that any player would be furious for receiving the max penalty.

By killing the newbies, we could assure that
the only way for them to tell the world about us would be using the internet.
And in the big web, no one would care about low-level nobodies dying in a rat
hunt.

<What do you think I should do?>

We were sitting at the end of the cave. For a
long time now I had believed Bear to be sleeping while I was replaying my plans
in my head. His voice startled me.

<Huh?>

<About Ted. What do you think I should
do?>

Gods, what did I do to deserve this?

<Talk to her, evidently. You're adults. If
you want her, kiss her. If you don't, explain it to her.>

<What if... We're friends, you know?
Childhood friends. I told you: she's like a sister to me. What if I make her
suffer?>

<No idea. Like I told Ted, I solve all
issues with women by telling them my expectations. If they're okay with it, we
have fun together. If they aren't, we split.>

<I'm not talking about having fun. I'm
talking about feelings.>

I sighed. <I don't believe in feelings.>

<What do you mean? Are you a psychopath or
something?>

<Not that my doctors have diagnosed, and
believe me, they tried. I had an enlightening experience in the past, and I've
never believed in love from then on. I mean, people can like each other's
presence and stay with each other as long as it's convenient for both, but
there's nothing beyond that. People only feel hurt because of unmet
expectations. That's how people can declare undying love one second and be with
someone else the next.>

<That's cold, man. What about parental
love?>

I felt an ache in my heart. <Oh, that's
real. I loved my aunt, and she loved me. I was talking about romantic love.>

<Aunt? What about your mother?>

<I had one. Don't want to talk about
that.>

<Oh. Sorry, then. All those jokes about your
mother. I didn't know it was a sensitive topic.>

<Yeah, whatever. I don't care about
that.> But as he said he was sorry, I realized I
did. That conversation was making me uncomfortable. Time to deflect. <Anyways,
about Ted. Talk to her and see where it goes.>

<You don't understand. You said you loved
your aunt, right? That's how I love Ted too, kind of. What if someone told you
your aunt likes you in a romantic way? Wouldn't you fear making her sad by
telling her that you don't like her back?>

My laugh was a sad one. <It'd need to be a
very special kind of man to make my aunt interested. She was too amazing to
fall for just any jackass, much less me. But I get your point. Yes, the
possibility of making her sad would've made me very scared.>

<So, what do I do?>

<Talk to her anyways. That's what my aunt
always told me: 'If you want to tell me anything, ever, just say it. Anything
at all. We love each other, right? We should be honest with each other.' And so
on.>

<Dude, your aunt sounds a little...>

<Amazing, right?> The throbbing deepened.
<Let's not talk about her either, please.>

<Sure. So, talk to Ted, eh? Shit, this is so
messed up. Ted and I. It's so weird.>

<I know what you mean. Any woman would've
fallen for me, not you. This doesn't make sense at all!>

<Hah! So funny. Well, I'll think about it.
Maybe talk with my friends.>

<Nice try. You having friends; I almost
believed it.> Just like that, I thought of something for the war. <Wait,
do you have any friends in Valia? Zombie friends?>

<Yes, why?>

<I'll need them. Let me make a phone call; I
have an idea. How do we make phone calls?>

<I do that by thinking about the phone
window. But you can't.>

<What do you mean I can't?> I tried to open the phone window but instead I got a message.

Phone Calls – Disabled

As of day 4 of the Challenge, all Challengers
are forbidden from contacting Earth by any means.

If you choose to use your phone, you'll be
removed from the Challenge.

<What the hell?! That wasn't in the contract
I signed!> I didn't care so much about the lack of communication, but I
cared deeply about not being told about it. They had the right to change the
conditions of the Challenge, but they had to inform me about it when they did.

Suddenly, the call dropped from grandfather
also made more sense. He wasn't a man to simply change his mind about anything
at all.

Bear shrugged. <Call a lawyer. But the way I
see it, you're the one who's refusing to use your Destiny Spirit, the official
means of communication between our masters and us. I've no idea how a
judge would see that, though.>

I had an idea. V-Soft had various other means
of reaching me – as they had done before with the cheat thing – and not doing
so was a contract breach. Even so, anything I'd get out of it would be money,
which I didn't need.

<Shit. Screw our master. By the way,
I hate this master censorship shit so much!>

<I feel you, bro. There was this time when I
tried to hit on a sexy zombie girl...>

We talked and killed a lot of rats,
periodically stopping when someone came to collect the dead rat corpses for
another scheme of mine.

<Guys?> Ted's
icon had just appeared on my minimap a second before her voice came through. <Are
you alive?>

<We are, my archer.>

<Geez! Stop!>

<Alright, people.> I interrupted before
they started arguing. <Let's start a war.>

* * *

The Slums were packed.
Thousands of people were there, doing nothing productive. There was so much
yelling going around that even from afar it was hard to listen to the mind
chat.

On the far edge of the cave chamber, at the
divide between the Catacombs and the drow country, there was a line of black
cloaked people at least two hundred people long.

<Have fun talking to them, Bear.> I sat
on the ground.

He started walking their direction. <If I
die, I'll kill you.>

<That's funny, because you think you can
kill me.>

<Wanna bet?>

<Sure. When the Challenge's over we can duel.
A hundred gold coins?> I touched my purse.

<How about a thousand?>

<I think a million would be more
adequate.>

<Make it a billion!>

<It's even funnier because you will both die
and become bankrupt at the same time.>

<We'll see, ugly-face. We'll see.>

<Geez, you two are like kids.> Ted sat beside me. <Oh, you forgot this!> She threw a red
piece of metal at him.

He put the armlet of the White Tree on.

Our zombie friend headed towards the middle of
the line of Blackguards. The message he would give was simple: the White Tree
clan would be ready to fight in a few moments, after I got to the Slums I
supposedly owned and talked to my subordinates.

I even waved their direction.

Everything went smoothly, and we proceeded to
the Slums.

<Ted, grab your purse. I don't trust this
crowd.>

<Look, my archer. He likes to->

<Yeah, yeah, I'm just like Uncle William, I
know.>

<You're nothing like dad!>

Bear laughed, and I smiled. I could see the
beauty in pissing Ted off.

Ted and I were squeezing between people, until
we noticed Bear was opening a path as he walked, like a damn snow plow. After
that, we walked behind him and got some respite.

It took us much more time to get to the Slums
proper than it should have and it messed up my timetable a little. What I had
planned would still probably happen, but the more I waited, the fewer people
would die.

<Bear, lead us to that ginger merchant
dwarf.>

<Gotcha.>

<Why?> Ted asked.

<I'm building a reputation. It won't work if
he dies in the middle of my play. But it'll help if I save him.>

When we got to his stall, he was grinning like
a madman, as were all the merchants around.

"Hey, man!" I had to yell to be heard
over all the chatter around.

"My ex-favorite vampire customer!"

"What? Why 'ex'?"

"Prices have gone up too much! What I sold
you is now worth a lot more!"

"Okay! Listen, man, I have to tell you
something!"

"What is it?"

"Get out of here!"

"What?"

"Get out of this place!"

"I heard you the first time! Why are you
telling me this? Are you threatening me?"

"No! I'm trying to help! Shit is gonna hit
the fan soon!"

"Don't worry, man! We've had some thieves,
but the White Tree can deal with them!"

"You don't understand! Jack Thorn
is-"

"He's gonna die! The specters put a price
on his head, just like Dakar, and guaranteed everyone that he'll be here today!
Everyone's waiting for him!"

"Yeah, exactly! And what do you think is
gonna happen when there's only one Jack head and thousands of headhunters
wanting it?"

He frowned, and I kept talking.

"Listen, man! Do you remember when I told
you I always help who helps me? Trust me on this one! Get out of here right
now! Yes, right this moment! The mess in here will be huge, and it's about to
start!"

For a few seconds, he looked in silence at me.
Then, he sighed. "Alright! Hey, you morons, the store's closed!" He
started packing his things. "I'm almost sold out, but if I discover you
were lying to me, I'll pay someone lots of money to bring me your
head!"

"Fair enough!" I pulled my
Communication Crystal out of my purse. "Do you have one?"

"I do!" We touched crystals and said
our goodbyes.

<Awfully nice of you, Jack.> Ted said as we walked to our original destination in the Slums.

<What can I say? I'm a good guy.>

Plus, I'd need an associated merchant sooner or
later, and I'd rather have one who was honest. I didn't doubt for a second that
when I first entered the Slums, he could've sold me the information I wanted.
And if the guards came after him, for having done so without a permit, he
could've just bribed them.

<Isn't it too crowded in here?> Ted asked
when we were close to one of the stone buildings. <I mean, I know you
planned for people to come, but it's a bit too much!>

<Ted, how many people are traveling to
Valia?>

<No one is sure. But our masters say
it's on the tens of millions.>

<Let's suppose it's ten million. Let's also
be conservative and say that only one percent of those are traveling to the
hard-mode Underworld. It means a hundred thousand Earthens should be
around.

<From what I understand, the Underworld has
five main sections: north, south, east, west and central. So, there should be
around twenty thousand Earthens in the West Underworld alone.

<And in the West, this is the biggest event
that has ever happened: the last few hours of the Challenge. And everyone can
also watch a mildly famous guy get killed. Most are here for the fun and to be
part of it in some small way, not for my head. If someone had thought about
selling drinks and food, he'd be making a huge profit.>

"Hey, food guy!" Someone nearby
yelled. "I want fried rat!"

"Sorry!" The food guy yelled back.
"Business is closed! The permit only went until an hour ago!"

"This is bullshit! I'm hungry!"

"Sorry!"

I smiled. <And if someone did think about it
but timed the sale wrong, and we suddenly got ourselves a hungry and unhappy
mob...>

<Look, my archer. We are walking with evil
incarnate!>

Ted didn't answer.

The closer we got to the stone building we were
going to, the more Challengers we saw, as identified by the red C floating
above their heads. Lots of guards from the White Tree were also Challengers.

"Stop!" A line made of seven guards
in full plate armor was before the stone building's doors. One of them raised
his hand as we approached. "This is the White Tree Clan Headquarters!
Authorized people only!"

"Don't worry!" Ted appeared from
behind Bear and showed them the red armlet. "I have authorization!"

The guard put his hand on his sword handle.
"I don't know how you-"

"Wait, solder!" Another one yelled.
"The boss is waiting for a specter with an armlet. Where is the vampire?"

Bear suddenly turned around and grabbed me.
"Hey!" I yelled. "What is the meaning of this!" The zombie
held me in a bear hug, making sure my arms were locked close to my body.
"Let go of me!"

"There he is," Ted said. "Mage
with bound arms incoming!"

"Okay, guys! Hold the line! You," the
commander pointed to a guard, "come with me; get behind them and be
watchful. You two," he pointed to Ted and Bear, " follow me."

The commander hit the big metal door in
calculated intervals. It opened, and we went inside. I wasn't walking, as Bear
held me aloft.

"Let me go!" I yelled. "You
traitor! I trusted you!"

"Bear," Ted said, "be a dear and
crush his spine if he speaks, yes? We promised him alive, but a little squishy
should be okay, too."

"What? I-"

20 blunt damage received

HP: 600 / 620

I let out a pained moan and shut up.

The building had three floors and no windows.
There were fewer people than I expected inside, only the occasional guard here
and there. It seemed the White Tree was spread thin patrolling outside, with
all those people around.

Furniture on the first floor rooms was sparse
and consisted mostly of metal tables and chairs. The second floor had a few
metal beds that looked as comfortable as sleeping on needles. The third floor
was completely bare, except for a long table with multiple chairs in a big
meeting room, and the clan master's room.

The master's room had two other guards: a
specter and a vampire. They wore scale armor just like mine, and a few morbs – fire,
water, darkness, death, light and earth – were floating above their heads. They
didn't have any visible weapons other than magic but held massive metal riot
shields in front of them.

<I'm a mage and I hadn't thought about using
a shield like that,> I said in the mind chat. <I love it! Can I have one,
please? Pretty please?>

<Shut up! I'm anxious enough as is!>
Ted's voice was shaky.

"Password," the specter said.

"A-X-X-Eight-Nine-Two-Three-Blue-Red-R."

"Really, guys? An actual password? What
about some cool passphrases? Maybe something poetic like 'the blue butterfly
has wings that-'"

20 blunt damage received

HP: 580 / 620

"The boss told me about him," the
drow said. "He's an asshole, alright."

I frowned. "Ted? What's he talking about?
How does the boss know about my charm?"

She didn't answer. Bear laughed in the mind
chat, and I was happy for his helmet covering the big idiot grin I knew would
be in his face.

"Second password?" The specter asked.

"Two-P-Five-P-Seven-Eight-A-B-C."

All my willpower was required to keep my mouth
shut.

The specter nodded and walked through the door,
his morbs vanishing as they touched the walls. A little ectoplasm stayed behind
and quickly evaporated. It was a pretty neat usage of the specter's ability.

<That reminds me, I thought specters
couldn't use conventional equipment.>

<We can't. Look at the floor beneath the
shield.>

I did. The shield was slightly curved, and I
thought that had been the reason for it not to drop when the specter left it.
However, it was the stone around the shield's base that was bent upwards and
holding it in place.

<Earth magic,> I
guessed. This clan had some smart people; I'd give them that.

The doors opened, and we entered the room. It
had a big wooden table, a wooden chair, and a big map on the wall behind, full
of markings.

A drow with short white hair in a gray metal
armor was rising from the chair, his helmet on the table. He had no visible
weapon.

<Dibs on the armor,> I said.

<Look, my archer! He thinks->

<Shut up!> Ted
yelled.

There was no reason for him to be in that
closed room, especially not wearing that expensive armor. It was damn obvious
he was doing that for show.

"Jack Thorn," he said. "The man
whose head is worth two hundred gold." He nodded to the specter, and it
left the room, closing the door behind him.

The drow, Ted, Bear, I and the two guards were
the only ones left.

"What?!" I said. "Jack who? Who
are you talking to?"

He laughed. "We had a conversation with a
very interesting vampire friend of yours. Eternal, he was named. Your illusion
ring is no surprise to us. We were about to grab you when your ghost friend
here came to us with a proposal."

"Ted?" I looked at her. "What's
he talking about?"

"After she used her skill to see through
your illusion and got the interview with you, she came to us. She had a plan on
how to make your death even more profitable. Didn't you think about why there
are so many people around?

"She put the interview in the public
forums and we helped her spread the word that you'd be found here, so we
could get more customers. Even the specters got interested in it and are now
offering a hundred gold for your head."

"But- Ted! You promised you'd only release
the interview after the Challenge was over! I trusted you! And you too, Bear!
We fought together!"

"Wait, wait, there's more. She planned to
use you to level her attributes up a little and then turn you in. You were
completely played, dude."

"I hate you!" I struggled, visibly
trying to get out of Bear's embrace. "And you too, whoever you are!"
I spit in the direction of the drow, but he was too far. "Come at me! One
on one! I challenge you!"

The drow laughed more. "Big guy, shut him
up." Bear squelched me for twenty more damage, and I stopped yelling.
"You asked me who I am? I'm General Garcia, the richest Earthen in
the Underworld! And you even helped!"

"I'll kill you, Ted! I'll come back and
kill you! And you, Bear! And you too, Garcia!"

The general opened his mouth to say something,
but Ted spoke before he could. "Oh, yeah? Let me give you a real reason,
then." She knocked an arrow at her bow and pointed it directly at my face.

"No! Lower the bow." Garcia yelled.
"I want to do it myself. With my fists. I believe his words in the video
were 'bunch of noobs.' Let's see how he handles the punches of a noob with
twenty points in strength."

<I have nineteen! It means I can use the
armor, too! Double dibs on it!> I said in my mind.

<Not happening, ugly-face.>

<Shut up!> Ted was very unhappy. <God!
I think I'll really kill you right now!>

<As if. Playtime is over; it doesn't seem as
if he'll send the two remaining dudes away. They are all yours, Bear. Try to
prevent them from opening the doors. I'll help when we have dealt with the
General. Just let me say something first.>

"You know what's really funny?" I
asked. "Your head with an arrow in it."

Ted turned the bow, and the arrow flew true,
penetrating the guy's head a little and staying in there. He screamed at the
sudden pain and moved to get his helmet.

Bear dropped me, took his sword from his back
and turned to face the armored guys. I created a fire morb as I pulled my
weapon from its scabbard.

"Attack! We are under attack!" One of
the guards screamed, but that was all. I guessed they used the mind chat after
that.

Garcia picked up his helmet but found a big
issue: while the metal arrow in his head didn't prevent him from living, it did
prevent him from putting the helmet on. That single second allowed my first
fireball to hit the back of his head for a critical, and my sword to go through
his neck.

Ted also put an extra arrow through his head.
He kept screaming in pain and rage and wasn't able to put the helmet on. He
died to my next fireball.

As I turned back, I saw Bear slipping his sword
into the gap in one of the guards' armor, at the neck. The man died instantly.

The remaining guard opened the door and ran.
There were no mages outside the door anymore.

<What's going on? Why is he running?> Ted
asked.

I kicked Garcia's body. <This asshole must
have ordered them to retreat and regroup before attacking.>

<Why do you say that?>

<He was smart. He tried to put the helmet on
before anything else; an idiot would've gone for a weapon.>

<I don't get it.>

<The helmet would have given him maybe two
or three attacks on us before he died, and that could have made a difference.
Especially if the mages outside had time to join us.>

<Oh, I see. What now?> Ted asked uncertainly. I had not told them the rest of the plan.

<Now we run. I saw a staircase going up.>

<What? Why? Isn't this room better
protected?>

<It is, but those stairs are the whole
reason I chose this building instead of the tavern.>

<I thought you wanted to deal with the
opposing leadership first.> Bear had sheathed his
sword and was now carrying the General's body over his shoulder and the helmet
in his hand.

<Nope. Garcia is irrelevant in the grand scheme
of things. Let's go before they group up.>

We ran to the stairs I had seen before and went
up. I tried to grab the riot shield that they had left behind, but it was too
firmly struck to the ground.

When we finished climbing the stairs, we found
ourselves on the roof of the building, no walls anywhere.

<They planned on making this a building with
four floors like that one over there, but the money ran out. They're waiting
for the sorin builders to come back and finish it.>

<I still don't understand!>

<Come to the edge. Look down.>

We did. We could see everything, from the White
Tree guards coming to the building to the mass of people everywhere. The guards
were shouting and pushing, and people were getting upset.

<So?>

<So, we have a hungry and angered crowd. We
have Challengers wanting to get rid of the competition and competitors all
around. Put it all together and you got yourself lots of killing machines just
waiting for us to turn them on.> I pointed at the Blackguards on the edge of
the cave chamber, some nine hundred meters away. <And here is the best view
of the place. Bear, is your friend ready?>

He took a while to answer. <Yes.>

Right before the line of black cloaked people,
a single zombie in plain cotton clothes stood. A red armlet was on his arm and
a small dagger in his hand.

<I bought myself a copy of the Ways. It was
expensive but worth it. The drow are forbidden to wage war on any of the
species who signed the Ways, except if a sole condition is met: if they are
attacked first while visibly protecting their territories. Do they look like
they are protecting their territory for you?>

<I guess?>

<Good. Bear, do it.>

A few seconds later, the poorly clothed zombie
stuck the dagger into one of the drow hoods.

It was as if he had opened a dam. Like a wave,
the Blackguards came. I didn't even see how they killed the zombie, the guy
simply dropped dead immediately after delivering the first blow.

I smiled. <Great! Now, let's help to put
these people in the mood for a battle. Try to hit the White Tree guards on
every other arrow.>

After taking my hood and my illusion ring off,
I held a metal cone before my mouth. "Hello, noobs!"

My voice boomed much louder than I expected.
Everyone looked up at once, and silence reigned.

"I am Jack Thorn, and you are all dead.
You all fell into my trap! Hail the White Tree clan!"

I shoot a fireball at a random guy. People
screamed, and suddenly there were a lot of morbs appearing and weapons being
grabbed. I threw another fireball.

<C'mon Ted! You are missing the fun!>

<But they are innocent!> An arrow missed her by a breath.

<Sure they are. All Underworld Earthen are
just angelic kids, right?> I threw another fireball and lay on the floor.
<You're already a part of it! Everyone saw you with me!>

She dropped on the floor too. <I could just
kill you!>

<Do you think this is going to stop them
from killing you?>

She took a while to knock an arrow to her bow
and just fired it randomly, without even bothering to look down. <I hate
you! You told me this was going to be fun! It isn't!>

<Speak for yourself.> Bear said. I looked back and saw him putting the white armor on. <I'm
loving it.>

<That was mine!>

<Funny. I could swear I was the one wearing
it. Oh, wait; I am!> He positioned himself right
beside the stair opening, sword on his hands.

<Ted!>

<What?>

<I understand you now! I hate him too!>

On the streets, people were screaming, and
chaos had erupted. The Blackguards were still coming in single line. A few
people had got caught on the way, and only their corpses were left behind.

<Did you buy all the thousand arrows I told
you?" I asked>

<Yes!>

<Good!> I took my
short bow out and also began to help with the rain of arrows on the people
below.

<Ugly-face, there's something wrong with
your plan.>

<What?>

<You promised me that I'd personally bathe
in blood. Even if there's anyone stupid enough to try to get up here one by
one, I don't see that happening.>

<Bear, my dear idiot, what's the main
restricting factor in Valia's fights?>

<Skills?>

<Almost. Stamina. How long do you think will
it take for everyone out there to run out of it? Five stamina per physical
attack or defense is too unbalanced. In a few minutes, we'll have a field full
of exhausted people ripe for the taking. And what's better, some of them will
be Blackguards too!>

<I was right. You are evil
incarnate!>

For a few minutes, I just kept attacking and
watching people die. The weaker ones were the first to fall, and lots of small
groups had formed.

Fire seemed like a favorite element, and
fireballs went everyone. People with ranged weapons were having the hardest
time in the closed space, but close-range fighters were shining.

People doing typhoon swings could be seen here
and there and the blood they left in their wake was splashing everywhere.

Shadows moved swiftly. Some people jumped
around making some weird moves. Others were like martial artists breaking bones
and whatnot.

People in full plate armor seemed to be
unconsciously declared public enemy number one, and whoever was close beat them
to death. When the plated person died, the attackers turned against each other.

The world was being painted in a beautiful red.

'Always try to make your enemies fight among
themselves. There is no greater pleasure in life,' father had taught me. I
still preferred sex, but I could see his point.

The drow joined the fray, and it was as if a
harvesting machine was going through the battlefield.

A month after starting Valia, life was finally
great, and the world was again a beautiful place.

Then Ted opened her mouth.

<Jack, my Destiny Spirit just talked to
me.>

<What is it?> I
fired an arrow without looking.

<Valia has different rules for large battles
like this one: stamina and mana consumption gets decreased to twenty percent
for all moves and skills, until someone is declared the victor.>

<What?!>

I looked at the field. By now, plenty of people
should've already dropped exhausted on the floor, but they hadn't. My MP bar
also had a lot more mana than it should.

<They are here!>
Bear yelled as someone climbed the stairs.

<Look there! At the Catacombs.>

I did.

From the invisible walls of the Catacombs,
hundreds of colored headless ghost riders had appeared and were charging
straight at us.

They weren't supposed to come. Ted had bribed
them to stay out of it, and even if that wasn't the case, the drow presence
should have discouraged the specters from attacking.

<There, too!> Ted
pointed.

Reluctantly, I looked at the direction she was
pointing.

Ridiculous amounts of ghouls using slave
collars were pouring from the corridor that led to Crystalia.

Right beside the tunnel entrance, riding a
giant black lizard double the size the yellow ones, was a person in black armor
holding five polished spears.

I felt shiver's in my body. That looked way too
much like Shai.

They shouldn't be here. Dakar was in the middle
of a civil war and the soldiers should've stayed there.

I inhaled deeply.

"Fuck."

Jack
Thorn

Unbound
Deathlord

Legendary
Spotter, Hedge Wizard, Pioneer, Dark Archmage

Level
20

Hit Points:560
/ 620

Mana Points:726
/ 950

Stamina:278
/ 305

Attributes:

Strength:19

Agility:17

Dexterity:19

Constitution:14

Intelligence:18
+ 2 [Items]

Perception:16
+ 10 [Items]

Willpower:18

Charisma:8

Traits:

© Adept Controller:22

© Adept Energizer:14

Adept Mage:12
+ 10 [Items]

Scout:3

Athlete:2

Diviner:2

Gold Digger:2

Meditator:2

Scavenger:2

Shadow:2

Antimage:1

Crafter:1

Healer:1

Herbalist:1

Mind Seer:1

Negotiator:1

Nitpicker:1

Ranger:1

Strategist:1

Tactician:1

Warrior:1

27. Crazy Mode

'Run away? We can't, darling. Your parents
have too much influence and they'd punish you too harshly. I couldn't stand
that.'

- Aunt

<Shit. It's time for Plan B.> I shot an arrow and a fireball at the man who was trying to climb
the stairs, but was being blocked by Bear.

<Are you sure?>
Ted also shot an arrow at the newcomer.

I looked over the edge.

The fight was as hot as ever. The ghost cavalry
had arrived at the outskirts of the Slums, and the Blackguards were everywhere
now. The ghouls, about two hundred of them, all in chainmail, were now running
our direction. Deathlord Shai was close behind them.

It was only a matter of time before they got to
the building.

<Yep, pretty sure.>

<Think again! If you do that, there's no way
for us to get out of here!> Ted's next arrow missed
the guy trying to get to the terrace and hit Bear instead – the zombie had just
pushed the enemy down using his foot.

<Watch out, my archer!>

<Call me that again and I'll give you a
repeat performance!>

<Guys, focus! Bear, call your dudes. It's
time.>

<For real, ugly-face? I agree with the
archer; we won't be getting out of here if we do that.>

<We have no choice! Without the stamina
factor, it all comes to who can punch harder. And believe me when I say the Valians,
not us, are the badasses in the area. Do it!>

<Is the money ready?>

<It'll be after the Challenge.>

<Make sure it is. If you're lying, they get
angry at me because of that, and I end up losing this body, I'll track
you down and punch you to a pulp.>

<Just do it.>

Fifty gold coins just for staying in the area;
a hundred and fifty extra for acting. That was the cost of the 'Zombies 4 Life'
clan.

I had tried to contact my lawyer to make the
payment with real world money, but that option had been taken away from me.
Bear had refused to negotiate on the hopes that I was as rich as I said.

In the end, we had agreed that I could raise
that much money in the game just by selling one of my legendary items.

The doors to the tavern opened. A zombie in
leather armor, glowing slightly orange, came out of it and jumped on a nearby
girl in mage's robes, biting a big chunk of her neck off and eating it away.

Behind the first zombie came other forty-nine,
the entirety of the clan, each in his or her armor of choice, but every single
one of them lacking weapons. Their nails, however, had grown and were sharp and
hard as metal knives, their teeth were like shark's.

'You like the Rage still?' Bear had told me.
'Wait until you see someone using Feral.'

The damage output increased even more than with
Rage, and so did the damage resistance. More importantly than that, eating
people recovered more HP and also a little bit of stamina.

To counterbalance that, Feral zombies couldn't
choose who they'd target for half an hour, couldn't use weapons, and couldn't
activate new skills while in that state. The only ones who they wouldn't attack
would be other Feral people.

And it was astonishing.

They were clearly not low-level newbies, but
veterans who had taken the trouble to raise their attributes and learn how to
fight. They dodged more blows than I'd expect and found ways to pin people to
the ground and eat them away.

<More like a pack of wolves than people.>
I was impressed.

<I'd love to do that, but I'm always hunting
with companions.> Bear said in a sad tone.

<Now what?> Ted
asked as an arrow missed her. Players didn't practice shooting upwards, it
seemed.

<We wait.> I
fired another arrow.

<What?! Why? Let's run! Sooner or later
someone will get in here!>

<Better here than down there. Fewer enemies.
Trust me; you don't want to be in the middle of a fighting mob.>

<What if someone strong gets in here? We
won't have a way to run!>

<Of course we will. Bear there always wanted
to be a cushion.>

<He what?>

<I what?>

<If someone too powerful gets in there, we
jump with Bear beneath us. He has the most HP, it->

Status effect received: Duelist

You have been challenged to a duel and
failed to refuse it.

You cannot leave the Slums until one
of the conditions are met:

» 4 minutes, 59 seconds have passed

» You have killed the challenger

I looked down just in time to see Shai throw a
spear, in the direction of my building.

It was nothing like before. The spear made a
loud 'boom' sound as soon as it left Shai's hand and left a trail as it flew,
like some sort of comet. It killed everyone in its path, leaving a line of
corpses, limbs, and blood. The building shook when the spear hit it.

<What the hell!>
Ted had pure panic in her voice.

<An ex of sorts.>

<You dated a Valian?>

<More like an ex-tormentor and ex-accidental
murder victim.>

<Accidental murder- You know what, I don't
even wanna know.>

Shai extended her hand to me, and I quickly
ducked out of her field of view. Being pulled close to her wasn't in my plans.

<Incoming!> Bear
yelled.

I looked in time to see a small crystal being
thrown at us from downstairs. Bear leaped and kicked it back in the hole. The
resulting explosion created a blaze that went a few meters up in the air.

<What on Earth?! Why didn't it explode when
you kicked it?> Ted was getting more and more stressed.

<Timed bomb.>

<Why did they use a timed bomb?>

<Else we could just try to catch it.
Throwing grenades from their position is not easy.>

<How did you know it was timed?>

<I didn't. Jack said they were smart; I
acted on that presumption.>

<What if it didn't work?!>

Bear shrugged. <Then I'd lose a leg.>

<And I'd heal him,> I said. <Ted,
relax. This is a Valia, remember? Shoot some arrows at some people,
we->

A shadow appeared from the stairs, moving
ridiculously fast. It bypassed Bear's sword swing – an incredibly fast reaction
from him that surprised me as much as the sudden appearance of the enemy – and
came directly at me.

My first reaction was to put my shield on the
way, but that would make it too easy for me to be thrown from the terrace.
Instead, I threw a fireball to make the shadow dodge and jumped ahead, right
after the spell.

It worked. The shadow ducked, and while I
jumped, I also moved my fireball to hit the enemy. My bow would be useless at
close range, and I swung it at the shadow as I passed by it, to try and get
some more distance between us.

That didn't
work. It dodged the fireball again, slapped the bow away from my hand, and I
felt my body be seized. The shadow positioned itself behind me, and I felt the
cold edge of a blade at my neck.

"Don't move!" She yelled.

Daggers voice was music to my ears.

<I think I can hit her!> Ted pointed an arrow at us. Her hands were shaking like hell.

<Don't! She's my friend!>

<And here I was thinking about how to kill
you without making you angry, while all I had to do was to befriend you!>
Bear said.

<Very funny. Ted, lower your bow. If Bear
and I missed her, you can't hit her either. Bear, watch the stairs. If she
wants to kill me, she can do it and kill Ted too before you could do anything,
so you'd better do something productive instead. If she does kill me, however,
Rage the hell out of her.>

<Gotcha.>

Ted lowered the bow and Bear turned back to
watch the stair.

"Hey, Daggers! I have your purse with me.
I had to sell your stuff, but I have your money. Kind of. I invested it, but
I'm sure I can give it back to you soon enough."

"Why did you kill me?" She asked.

I had no idea what she was talking about.

"That's a tough one. Can I ask Ted for
some help?"

"No! Just answer me!" I felt the
blade penetrate my skin a little and received five points of damage.

"Ted! There's this girl I know. I saved
her, and almost got killed for the way I did it. Then I got publicly flogged
for it. Later, I trusted her with my money and asked for no receipts. Right
after that, I developed contingencies in my tactics inside a labyrinth so that
she wouldn't die. But then, I'm not sure how, I killed her. I'm pretty
confident she never saw my face, but for some reason, she thinks I did it. So,
any ideas why I'd try to kill her?"

"Money?" My specter friend wasn't
helpful.

"Remember when I saved her ass? I risked
losing all my money doing that, but still went ahead with the saving
part."

"An item she has?"

<Stop giving her ideas!> I complained in my mind. "I have a legendary circlet on my
head." Her eyes popped; Bear knew about it – telling him had been a test
of sorts – but Ted didn't. "There, just told it to you. Because I trust
you. Anyway, I have it. And she didn't even have a rare item. Except for the
cloak, maybe."

"A legendary circlet? Don't bullshit
me!" Ted half-yelled.

"So, Daggers, as you can see, it makes no
damn sense for me to have killed you. Are you going to kill me and loot my body
already, or are you going to join the fun? We have lots of people to kill and
not enough weapons for that."

"No, seriously." The specter came
close. "Can I see it?" She extended her hand.

"After the Challenge. Remember when I told
you to loot my body and hide if I died? Yeah, also don't forget my rings.
Daggers?"

"I have orders to kill you, sir."

I felt the tension leave my body and sighed.
'Sir'; that was a lovely word. I had missed it.

"Whoever gave you those orders is an
idiot."

"I also have orders to deliver you alive
to someone else, sir." She took the point of her dagger out of my neck.

"Huh?"

"Manhart, sir. He contacted me and gave me
a quest to get you to him."

"Well, that's interesting. Are you going
to do that?"

"If you want, sir. You did save my
life, and I saved yours. We are brothers-in-arms now."

"Damn right we are." I invited her to
the party.

Daggers (level 19)

<Adept Shadow | Adept Athlete>

HP: 485 / 485

MP: 170 / 170

Stamina: 284 / 300

<Level nineteen? What have you been eating,
girl?>

<That is my line, sir. I did hellish
training under guidance from experts and masters. How did you get that
high?>

<Would you believe me if I told you->

There was another big boom and the building
shook again.

This damn battle is stopping my great lines
from being delivered!

I chanced to look down and saw Shai dismount
and enter the building. She had thrown all her spears, and there were five
clear paths of gore on the battlefield.

The number of players had been halved by now.
The drow had only lost about twenty of its members, and so had the ghosts. I
noticed they didn't attack each other, nor did Dakar's ghouls. The assholes
were helping each other kill the players.

Of the players, only the Zombies 4 Life were
doing well. They had lost about fifteen members, but those who were still alive
looked very healthy, eating people and tanking attacks like crazy. I even saw
one of them eat a Blackguard. That Feral shit was good.

<Bear, cushion time!>

<Not happening, ugly-face!>

<Yes happening! The deathlord who's coming
up right now had forty points in strength last time we fought! And she was
weakened!>

<I don't care. I'm not running.>

<Why the hell not?>

<Look down! It's either four against one or
four against a thousand. I'll take my chances.>

<You're an idiot! Blademaster Shai is one of
the biggest badasses in Dakar!>

Bear snapped and looked my way.

<Who?>

<Blademaster Shai.>

<Let's get the hell out of here!> He ran
to the edge.

<What?>

<The sword masters in Ashsom – that's the
kingdom of zombies – spoke about Shai. No, the correct word is that they
venerated her. You said she had forty strength points last time you fought her?
Her strength was at least halved, then!>

<Shit! Come here, try to jump on the giant
lizard, it should help.>

<What is going on, sir? I->

"STOP!" The yell was like a million
male voices screaming, it was so loud it hurt. Putting my hands over my ears, I
looked at its source.

Seven elven specters, all in golden robes with
crowns of different colors – purple, red, green, translucent white, blue, black
and light gray – were close to the Catacombs. They were blond and had
completely white eyes. They floated about ten meters from the ground, even
though they had whole bodies.

Each of them had twenty morbs of the same color
of their crowns: gravity, fire, earth, air, water, darkness, and death.

<Oh my God! Those are the Ruined Mage Kings!
They can use divine magic, but they're supposed to be forbidden from leaving
the Catacombs!> Ted was panicking more than ever.

"We contacted the drow leaders, and they
don't officially recognize you, rogue Blackguards." All seven of them
spoke as one, moving their mouths in perfect synchronization. "We
contacted the firebound deathlords, and they told us of your treachery,
Blademaster Shai. And we never ordered a charge, traitor specters. Surrender
now and we will strip you of your possessions, but allow you to leave."

Someone screamed. All of us had stopped to look
at the sound of millions of voices, but the feral zombies had just kept eating.

"You made your choice."

I saw all Blackguards, ghouls, and ghosts
retreat at once. I saw Shai leave the building in a hurry, jump on her lizard
and flee.

And I heard a song.

"Fire, Holy Fire,

Destroyer, Purifier,

Come, my Raging Child,

Caress the sinners,

With your painful love,

Fire."

Now only one of the Mage Kings spoke, but it
was as loud as the million voices had been. It was also in a strange language
that I didn't know, yet somehow understood. When the Fire King stopped
speaking, all twenty of his morbs merged and flew like lighting, hovering right
above the Slums.

"Divine Purging Rain of Fire."

The merged morb expanded in a beat and became a
ball the exact size of the slums.

<Shit. Run!>

Creating a second death morb, I pulled everyone
with me and ran to the stairs.

The fire got to us on the way there. It poured
and burned, and I heard thousands of people screaming, including all of us in
the terrace.

100 divine fire damage received

HP: 460 / 620

The damage repeated itself each second, as the
fire kept coming. I healed Ted twice, but she would die nevertheless. Then I
saw Daggers icon move incredibly fast on the minimap, together with Ted's. They
got inside; then Daggers came back, and I felt her grab me and pull.

She threw me at the stair opening. Fire still
kept pouring through the opening, but inside the building the damage it dealt
was halved. Ted was running to the General's room.

<Ted, no!> She
ignored me and kept going.

Five seconds after the fire started, it ended.
The pain was ridiculous, but I forced myself to create more death morbs. Bear
dropped from the opening, his helmet gone – probably thrown somewhere after he
had started boiling inside it – screaming in pain.

<Bear, get up! We must run! Ted, come
back!>

We had to leave. If Shai had fled, we had no
chance staying in here.

I healed myself three times before a new voice
sang.

"Life-giver,

Life-maintainer,

Soft, gentle,

Swift, cruel,

Water."

<Shit! Daggers, jump on Bear! We'll make a
protective sandwich!>

<That's not necessary, sir! I- Wait-> I pushed her to the zombie, and I jumped over her, healing myself
once more.

"Divine Ever-Growing Ice Forest."

The temperature dropped and out of nowhere I
felt cold spikes enter my back.

All around us, coming from the floor and
ceiling and walls, appearing from thin air, were ice spikes. They formed and
melted away ridiculously fast, piercing my body for a hundred damage per
second, completely ignoring my armor.

The world of pain ended five seconds later, and
I forced myself to create death morbs.

Ted was dead. She had died with a horrifying
scream.

We had fought together enough for her to know
better than to run away from the group, but we had never faced such odds; some
people were not cut out for this kind of battle.

Only then did I realize that Daggers was still
full HP. Bear had a little more than three hundred, and I had slightly less
than a hundred.

<What the hell, Daggers? Why didn't you lose
HP?>

<I tried to tell you, sir. I am immune to
divine magic.>

<Wait, what?! How?>

<I cannot tell you how, sir.>

<Blackguard thing!> Bear said, visibly in
pain. <When they join they forfeit their destiny spirits, all magic, and can
only follow a few specific skill-trees.>

<How do you know that?> Daggers asked.

<I have access to
the public boards.>

That's the internet for you, destroying
secrets since forever.

I healed myself two times and Bear once before
another male sang.

"Unseen, yet everywhere,

Caresser of all,

Creator of mountains,

Deliverer of rains,

Forever blowing,

Forever going,

Air."

I managed to heal myself once more and tensed,
waiting for the skill name.

"Divine Hurricane."

<Shit! Bear, hold me firmly! Daggers, stay
in the middle! We can heal, you can't!>

He obeyed just in time. The ceiling was blown
away by a strong wind, and we soon found ourselves being lifted from the floor.

The world spun. Bear held firmly while my own
hands slipped away from him. All around us, flying in the hurricane, were
hundreds of bodies, metal, and items. People still screamed, but the sound was
muffled by the wind that cut through our body, for fifty damage per second.

And five seconds later, it ended.

We were free falling from tens of meters high,
spinning all the way down.

<Jack, woman, hold me firmly! I'll try
something!> Bear opened his arms.

Whatever he did, worked. We hit the ground
feet-first, in excruciating pain, and fell on him right after that. Daggers HP
was halved for being in the middle, but it was better than the alternatives.

I healed myself once to remove the 'crippled
legs' status and did the same for Bear. Nothing to be done for Daggers' legs,
though.

We got up, Bear picked Daggers up, and we ran
like hell under a rain of debris.

<Hey, ugly-face!>

<What?> A large
chunk of stone dropped in front of us, and we had to circumvent it.

<I'm still waiting for the blood of my
enemies!>

<Lots of it around, just stop for a moment
and help yourself!> A body hit the ground right beside us.

<Thinking again, I feel a sudden urge for a
vegetarian diet.>

"Like the Mother,

You hold us in the arms of existence,

Protecting us from the oblivion of nothingness,

The holder of time,

Gravity."

<Run faster!> We tried.

<Divine Black Hole.>

Nothing happened. Not to us, at least. I
stopped running and looked back.

Everything in a wide area was being pulled
towards a tiny purple sphere. Bodies, live people, metal from the stalls, parts
of stone buildings, weapons, shields, armor, even the ground.

People screamed as they were pulled. Bodies
imploded, and the blood was pulled into the sphere instead of splashing away.
It created a terrifying giant ball which lasted five seconds, then everything dropped.

A big wave of blood covered everything.

<Look, Bear! There's the blood bath I
promised you! Go get it!> I turned and resumed my run.

<Stop tempting me, ugly-face! I'm all about
eating plants now!>

The more we ran, the fewer people we saw. Only
a few were running that I could see.

"Strong,

Firm,

Earth."

<Well, that was short.>

"Divine Tomb."

The earth swallowed everything. As if the
ground had become liquid and grown hands, it consumed everything in a it was a
roiling chaos of earth. A few seconds later, nothing remained. After five
seconds, the earth became solid again.

It was as if the Slums had never existed.

"We allow you to run. Let it be known that
the Catacombs are sovereign and will not idly sit while destruction rampages
through our territory. We will not sit idly while the drow scheme with
deathlords, and the vampires search for alliances with zombies."

The one million voices were even louder now.
The next words were full of rage.

"Let it be known, that we formally declare
war against Serharn, against Ashsom, and against Dakar. You are diseases in
Valia's bloodstreams, and we will erase you."

Turning back, they floated to the invisible
walls of the Catacombs and disappeared.

And that was it.

All my carefully laid plans, destroyed.

All the loot I planned to obtain, gone.

All the glory for starting a huge battle and
surviving casually swept away by overpowered ghosts.

The sound of people crying came slowly to me.
Perhaps a hundred men and women were standing or sitting in the cave chamber,
all in terrible condition. Torn clothes, missing limbs, burnt skin.

Except for one person in immaculate black
armor, who had a fist extended my direction and held an impossibly familiar
black bastard sword in her hands.

Status effect received: Eager Duelist (level
2)

You have been challenged to a duel and
failed to refuse it.

You must stay within 10 meters of your
challenger until one of the conditions are met:

» 4 minutes, 59 seconds have passed

» You have killed the challenger

I healed myself. She ran at me.

<I hope you woke with a death wish today,
Bear!>

<Shit, ugly-face. Throw me a heal.>

I did and looked at our HP.

Jack Thorn

HP: 136 / 620

Daggers

HP: 273 / 485

Bear

HP: 234 / 1720

It was pretty obvious we'd die. I could at
least try to save my pals and my items.

Putting my hands behind my head, I knelt.

"I surrender! Just let them go!"

Shai's way of acknowledging my surrender was to
put her sword in a horizontal position and yell at me.

"You killed me, unbound! I will end your
miserable existence today!"

<Shit.>

Only gaming rules had prevented my items from
being blown away by the wind. I took my shield from my back and held it in
front of me.

65 shock + 0 darkness damage received

HP: 71 / 620

The blow was even stronger than I remembered
and my arm immediately numbed. At least the liquid darkness that got to me
didn't apply any damage.

Bear got behind the deathlord and used the
penetrating skill, his sword going through armor as it was nothing and exiting
through Shai's stomach. Daggers, still with crippled legs, put her blades
through slits into Shai's knees.

The Blademaster opened her arms, and an
invisible energy blew us about ten meters away. I took the last icebomb from my
purse as I threw a fireball at her. She punched the spell mid-air and kept
coming at me.

<Bear, grab her! Daggers, open her
helmet!> I raised my shield.

She moved even faster than I remembered. Right
before me, she swept her sword across at a weird angle and slapped my shield
away. She put her sword in position to chop my head off and swung.

Bear grabbed her arms. It wasn't enough to stop
her, but it slowed the swing enough that I managed to dodge. Daggers shadowed,
screaming in pain, but before she could even touch Shai, the invisible energy
blew us back again.

It didn't free her from Bear's death grip. His
teeth sharpened and he bit Shai's armor at the neck.

There was no effect whatsoever. At least his
teeth didn't break.

Shai took him by the head and threw the body at
me as if it were made of paper. I blocked with my shield but the huge zombie
still knocked me down.

Shoving him off me as fast as I could, I got up
and leapt as far away from him as possible. He also got up and looked at me.
Then at Shai. I noticed that his eyes weren't completely white; he wasn't in
Rage mode as I had thought. He ran at the Blademaster.

I saw in slow motion as her sword swung at
Bear's head. Daggers shadowed again, and jabbing her daggers through slits in
Shai's armor, she climbed the imposing woman's body.

The sword was halfway to Bear's neck when one
of the daggers hit Shai's armpit, while Dagger's other hand opened the
Blademaster's helmet.

Shai's sword missed Bear by a large margin. The
zombie jumped on her and his teeth found her face. The woman screamed before
using the invisible energy to make both him and Daggers fly away.

As soon as she did, I ran. One of her hands was
on her face and the other was swinging the sword wildly in front of her. I
rolled on the ground to dodge it, stood up, and used my thumb to insert the
icebomb into her eye socket.

She screamed and broke my hand. I punched her
face. Hard.

Critical hit for 2.0x damage!

Attempted fatal injury for 10.0x damage!

3600 ice + 1200 frost + 1200 piercing
damage dealt to Blademaster Shai (6000 total)

Small ice spikes pierced her head from the inside,
including her other eye. A medium ice spike came out from her mouth, breaking
teeth on the way out. She looked like a blowfish.

And still didn't die. Damn monster!

She did kneel and held her head in her hands,
in obvious pain, but she was pretty damn alive.

<Let's run away!>
Daggers yelled.

<I can't! Status effect holding me here!
Just do as much damage as you can and hope she dies before she recovers!>

She obeyed, and after healing myself once just
in case, I stuck my sword through Shai's head while throwing fireballs.

Bear joined the fray and used his sword as if
Shai's head was a section of log he wanted to cut down for his fireplace.
Daggers' daggers ripped through vital organs blindingly fast.

After over nine thousand HP, my archenemy
finally died.

<Chop her head off or someone will revive
her!>I yelled.

We did. It rolled away without dripping any
blood, frozen. Just to be sure, I fireballed it until it became charcoal.

Then I stomped on it until it was reduced to a
fine ash.

<Damn, ugly-face. You have some hatred
issues.>

After spitting on her for good measure, I
noticed a few Blackguards approaching a few hundred meters away. Bear had
started stripping his armor. I did the same to mine.

<I do not understand, sir. Why did she not
use any offensive skills?>

<She couldn't,> Bear said. <Being a
Blademaster means forfeiting almost all skills altogether, for some other
advantages. Just like the Blackguards.>

<That sounds dumb!>

<Having a Blademaster in the court is all
about status. They're master duelists and lots of petty national politics in
Valia is solved by duels.>

<Doesn't sound so bad. Why were you so
scared of her, then?> I asked.

<If you didn't notice, she had nine thousand
hit points, which should be around sixty points in constitution,> He took
the big black sword from the ground. <And from the logs, I can guess her
strength was seventy-six. Only two things allowed us to kill her: first, she
underestimated and ignored your woman...>

<I'm not his woman.>

<...second, you cheat.>

<What? No, I didn't. Everything I did was
within game rules.>

<Keep telling yourself that.>

Dear player,

The Guardian, Valia's anti-cheat AI, has
marked you as a possible cheater.

Our analysis of your actions to date was not
conclusive.

You are now under strict observation, and we
are required by law to inform you that your game related thoughts will become
available to us.

Yours,

V-Soft anti-cheat team.

Don't even try, V-Soft assholes. Drop this
shit and I won't sue you for the phone call business.

Dear player,

We have revised our anti-cheat policy and
concluded that your actions were within game boundaries.

Your game-related thoughts will stop being
streamed to our human staff.

We thank you for your cooperation and wish you
a good game.

Yours,

V-Soft anti-cheat team.

Jackasses.

<Now, any ideas on how to kill one, two,
three... Four Blackguards?>

<Ice spikes in their heads?> Bear was now putting Shai's black armor on, and I was doing the
same to General Garcia's armor. Bear was the tank; as much as I'd like the
better armor, it made sense to give it to him.

Putting the new armor on gave me a level two
encumbered status, but with four Blackguards coming my way, I wouldn't be able
to dodge them even if I were naked.

<Sure. Lemme shit some icebombs, and we are
done. Any useful ideas?>

I was out of tricks. No zombie clan to use, no
trinkets, no- Wait, I had a few toys left.

Taking some of the raw ores from the ginger
dwarf, I distributed the smaller ones to Daggers and Bear. Then I got into a
throwing position, hoping the Blackguards would confuse the ores with magic
crystals.

The blackguards decelerated. Then stopped.

<Holy shit, I'm a damn genius.>

Then they ran at us again.

<Well, worth a try. Good people, it was a
pleasure fighting with you.>

<Look, woman, ugly-face is trying to be cool.>

<My name is Daggers.>

<I didn't ask.>

<Sir, can I kill him?>

<Maybe later, we need him for now. Bear,
Rage time. Daggers->

<I can't,> Bear
interrupted me.

<Huh?> Looking at
his stamina, I noticed he had only about a hundred left; the Rage skill cost more
than that.

My own stamina was almost depleted; taking
hundreds of points of damage had drained our stamina away. While the
Blackguards should be in much better shape-

<Wait a second. Daggers, if the Blackguards
are immune to divine magic, why did they run away?>

<I do not know, sir. The Ruined Kings called
them rogues, though. I heard that going rogue is very unhealthy.>

<Thank goodness. Go kill them; I'll give you
ranged support. Bear, stay close to me and try to tank whoever gets close.>

<Sir, I do not have legs.>

<Sure you do; it'll just be a little
painful. All that talk about hell training, and you'll give up on a few broken
legs?>

Her hood faced me in silence for a long time.
Then, screaming in unimaginable pain, she pushed herself from the ground and
stood up.

<Damn, son!> Bear said.

<I should not have encouraged you to be a
good staff sergeant, sir. They suck.>

<Don't lie; you love my manliness.
Thankfully, you're the only legit Blackguard around, which means you are the
only one with okay stamina. Bear, confirm with your Destiny Spirit if the
battle is over. Is it? Good. Now, Daggers, go have fun.>

She went, her legs making weird crackling
sounds that made me gulp. That was a tough girl.

My fireballs flew, and I managed to kill one of
the rogues before he could get close. They tried to cut my spells midair or to
dodge them, but I was too good with my controller trait.

Daggers engaged one, and they fought almost
like mirrors, jumping and dodging and parrying. She got hit more than her
enemy, and was slightly slow – especially when moving with her legs – but it
was only a matter of time before her stamina advantage made her victorious.

A second dude died right before me, after
taking multiple fireballs to the face. At the same time, I ran out of MP. Bear
engaged the remaining one and I fell back a little from them.

Bear became a punching bag, but an active one.
When the Blackguard tried to shadow away from him and come to me, he used the
Typhoon skill and knocked the drow off balance enough that he wasted the shadow
time.

Daggers and her opponent shadowed together. I
saw nothing but a blur and blood pouring. When the shadows stopped, one cloaked
person dropped dead, and the other one was left standing.

Daggers HP bar showed about fifty points left.
She fell on the ground next, screaming in incomprehensible pain. It was the
second time she screamed like that, and it made me wonder.

Did I exaggerate a little with Daggers? Nah,
she's okay. I fought rival gangs with a broken arm and lived to tell the tale.
She's just acting girly.

Bear's fight went on a while longer. Then, the
zombie dropped exhausted; his stamina was gone. It was my turn to fight.

I approached the Rogue, but he turned on his
heels and ran like hell.

Following him was a no go. If I became
exhausted before him, it would be game over for the three of us.

Sword in hand, I looked around.

There were a few ghouls and even two
Challengers left, but they didn't seem interested in fighting. Most of them
even took a step back when I looked at them.

Finally, I sat on the ground.

<Well, that was fun. Totally not what I
expected, and much less profitable, but definitely fun.>

I had achieved my primary goal: lowering the
amount of Challengers. I had also achieved a secondary goal: destroying the
Slums. For the remainder of my time in Valia, General Garcia and the White Tree
clan would hunt me.

The specters knights' and ghouls' interference
had been a surprise, but the sheer power of the Ruined Kings...

They did a lot of killing, but if it weren't
for my setup, it wouldn't have been possible. Just like father advised, I had
let my enemies kill themselves. By accident, but it still felt damn good.

Now, divine magic... That was the kind
of magic I wanted. My next long-term objective was either allying with the Ruined
Kings or learning divine magic myself.

I expected lots of training in the jungle in my
immediate future, though.

<Fun? Look, woman. Ugly-face likes to be
toasted alive, be pierced by ice spikes, fly in hurricanes and almost die to a
Blademaster. He's a masochist.>

<My name is Daggers. Call me woman one more
time, and I will kill you.>

<Calm down, woman, I-> Daggers screamed in fury and pierced the floor with a dagger. Then
with another one. Slowly, she crawled in Bear's direction.

<Holy cow, bro. Where did you find this
one?>

That made me smile. <I put an ad on
Ter'nodril: 'Looking for a random woman. Pay in broken bones.' She couldn't
resist.>

She kept coming.

<Uh... Ugly-face? You're gonna save me from
her, right?>

I put my weight on my arms and leaned back a
little.

<Sure. Why do you ask?>

<Jack, I'm not joking. Don't let her kill
me. Not after all this.>

<Don't worry, pal. I got your back. Hey,
Daggers, if I somehow fail to save him, dibs on the armor, alright?>

<Man, this isn't funny!> She was a meter away from him. <Jack!>

I was about to get up when the air suddenly
became heavy. I felt as if I was being crushed by an invisible force and
Daggers stopped moving, screaming in pain yet again.

"Jack Thorn. Just who I was looking
for."

Looking back, I saw a lich in a black and gold
robe. The gray flames that were his eyes were burning fiercely.

"Well, hello, Manhart. I have to survive
the next two hours. Could you kill me only after that, please?"

"As much as I take pleasure in taking the
life away from most beings, you aren't among my current targets. I understand I
owe you some quest rewards. And I need your help. The drow betrayed me."

"My help? I'm sure you know more qualified
people. What about Tardas?"

"Tardas? Marbareus' slave? What of
him?"

"What do you mean? Didn't he call you and
make you swear a divine vow?"

He looked at me in silence for a few seconds.
"We clearly need to talk. Come, I'll protect you. Unless the Ruined Kings
take a special interest in me, no one in a two-hour radius could defeat
me."

I sighed deeply, lay on the floor, and closed
my eyes, ignoring the blinking exclamation points at the edge of my vision for
now.

An NPC was promising to protect me.

The world had just gone full crazy mode.

Jack
Thorn

Unbound
Deathlord

Legendary
Spotter, Hedge Wizard, Pioneer, Dark Archmage

Level
20

Hit Points:71
/ 620

Mana Points:4
/ 950

Stamina:78
/ 305

Attributes:

Strength:19

Agility:17
– 4 [Debuff]

Dexterity:19

Constitution:14

Intelligence:18
+ 2 [Items]

Perception:16
+ 10 [Items]

Willpower:18

Charisma:8

Traits:

© Adept Controller:22

© Adept Energizer:14

Adept Mage:12
+ 10 [Items]

Scout:3

Athlete:2

Diviner:2

Gold Digger:2

Meditator:2

Scavenger:2

Shadow:2

Antimage:1

Crafter:1

Healer:1

Herbalist:1

Mind Seer:1

Negotiator:1

Nitpicker:1

Ranger:1

Strategist:1

Tactician:1

Warrior:1

28. If You Can't Win

'I love you.'

- Aunt

"Before we talk, I
need to know one vital thing." An hour and a half after the end of the
battle, I sat on a metal chair in a small cave chamber. It only had ten chairs
and a table, nothing else. I kept a Fire of Revelation spell going for Bear; he
couldn't see in the dark.

I
was half-tempted to just kill him for his armor and Deathlord Shai's sword, but
that talk could wait. At least the way he looked at me made it clear he
understood the implications of taking the loot on Shai's body for himself.

"What is it?" Manhart asked with his
raspy voice. He had healed us all – including Daggers, by using life magic – and
led us to the cave.

"Duels. How the hell do I refuse
them?"

"You can't."

"What? Why? That's bullshit; people can't
be allowed just to call others into duels without consequences."

"You are confounding things. I said you
can't refuse duels. In Valia, it usually takes a skill to cancel another skill.
Unless you unlock the Duels skill-tree, or any other with a status removal
skill, you can't refuse duels."

That made sense, I guess.

"However," he continued,
"calling individuals into duels without their verbal acceptance is
considered unlawful aggression in most countries, including Underworld ones.
Yet, as you might expect, individuals who are trying to kill you oftentimes don't
care about laws which deal with unlawful aggression."

"Hmm... Okay. So, what are my
titles?"

"Sorry?"

"You're excused. My titles. What are
they?"

"I don't understand the point of your
question, Thorn."

"You're Manhart, right? The Manhart I know
is supposed to be a truthseer. I did some asking around, and truthseers are the
only ones around who can tell people's titles, just like you told people I'm a
Hedge Wizard in that first Resistance meeting I attended. Now, tell me the
other titles so that I can confirm your identity."

"That doesn't prove I'm me, it just proves
I'm either a truthseer or someone well informed."

"Yes. I'll have to chance it being the
first option. Then I'll ask you to swear that you are Manhart. Truthseers can't
lie when they're swearing. I also confirmed that in my questionings."

"What about a divine vow?" Daggers
asked.

"It'd not work. Anyone can swear anything
by a god, even if they are swearing falsehoods; it's the one who doubts it who
needs to call judgment. If he swears by a god that he's Manhart, and he's
telling the truth, I'll suffer the consequences when I wrongly call judgment
upon him. I'm not in the mood to risk it."

The lich just looked at me for a few seconds.
"So be it. You're Jack Thorn, unbound deathlord, Legendary Spotter, Hedge
Wizard, Pioneer..." He looked at my companions. "Do you want me to go
on?"

I also looked at them. Both had gone through
hell with me, and I'd need them on the days to come. I nodded to the lich.

"And Dark Archmage."

Bear raised an eyebrow, uncertain of what that
meant. I couldn't see Daggers face under the hood.

"Ok, now swear you're Manhart."

"I swear my name is Manhart, the leader of
the Resistance, the same Manhart you met a little after having killed the
Fallen Spider Queen."

I sighed. Now it was time for diplomacy.

He had said he was the strongest being
in the Catacombs, not counting the Ruined Kings. And he had kept his word about
keeping me safe, at least until now. It wasn't advisable to keep pressuring
him.

"Thanks for not obliterating me and
accepting my suspicious. How can I help you?"

"You weren't that polite last time we
talked."

"That's all Bear's fault. Look at him: a
perfect gentleman. It infected me." The zombie looked at me and burped.

"I see you're still secretive. Good. Now, listen
carefully. For you to adequately help me, I'll have to tell you the whole
story."

And so he did.

There was a reason why High Lady Renno had set
her prison where she had, at the outermost point of Dakar, between her nation
and the West Underworld: she was keeping the drow in check.

She didn't care about the Resistance, the
Unifiers, and whatnot. She understood the real problem was the drow and her
mere presence there was enough of a threat to make them cautious.

Every other week she'd capture a Blackguard and
torture them to death, then send the body back, just to make a point. Sometimes
she even did that to a Faithful. She also did the same to the darkbound
deathlords. That had been enough to halt any drastic actions from them.

When she died, the drow lost the need for the
Resistance and began to work directly with the darkbound. They bribed and
blackmailed enough people to support a coup and only the unexpected escapade of
the Father from death, and the actions of the Unifiers, prevented the coup to succeed,
putting Dakar in a civil war instead.

Thanks to their observers, the drow knew every
move of the Resistance and had effectively decimated its members. Manhart had
survived in a way he didn't want to tell us, but he swore he wasn't helping the
drow in any way, nor misleading us.

"I also swear everything I've told you is
the truth, as far as I know. Now, please, tell me about what happened to you
after Marbareus' death."

After considering the pros and cons, I decided
that lying to a truthseer wasn't in my best interests. Not one as powerful as
him; he could kill all of us and after seeing Shai's body, I didn't think he'd
make the same mistake of underestimating Daggers. Plus, I was out of
"cheatstones" and he could immobilize us all without any trouble.

And so I told him everything, starting with my
talk with Tardas.

"Sir, that is not how I died."
Daggers said. "I was alone with Tardas in my tent when I felt a stab in my
back, and Tardas said your name. I died right after that."

"So he put the blame on me. Asshole."

I kept talking, and also explained my plans for
the battle in the Slums, my meeting with Eternal, and described the fighting
itself.

I didn't tell him I wanted to destroy the
Underworld, though.

Although he was telling me the truth – of that I
was sure because Valia's rules forced him to – I still didn't trust him
completely.

No, if Tardas' tale had been true, Manhart was
a monster that attracted people with lies and killed them afterward. I needed
allies for now, but I'd have to dispose of the lich as soon as I could.

Manhart nodded when I finished my tale. "I
know the Sophus clan army. They are not as stupid as you seem to think. If they
had visible sentries looking for you, they had hidden ones, too. If they hadn't
allowed it, Tardas wouldn't have been able to leave with Marbareus' and
Daggers' bodies, nor would you have been able to avoid capture. Tardas lied to
you about contacting me and about how Daggers died. He also lied to her.
There's only one conclusion we can reach."

"He betrayed me," I said.

"No. He's helping us."

"Wait, what?"

"He told you lies that are easily
discovered. Meanwhile, he also said truths. For instance, Marbareus' behavior
where you were concerned: he could have ordered you to obey Tardas in the Maze
from day one, and I had been suspicious of him lying to me for quite a while.
It's also true that the First Lord was a double-agent, and I was planning the
same for you." He stood up and began to pace slowly. "Providing
easily verified fake information among truths is a common practice for double
agents. We can't be sure of who holds Tardas' allegiance, but he's telling us
he's not our enemy. At least for now."

"Oh. Makes sense, I guess." I
still hate the vampire, though. "Why the hell didn't Marbareus just
tell me everything, then? Why all the acting?"

"I'm a truthseer, Thorn. There are ways to
escape my gaze, but none that you'd be able to accomplish. The Father also has
his own way of taking the truth out of weak people. It'd only take a question
from me and Marbareus' plans would've been discovered."

"Oh. Makes sense too."

Still hate him!
I thought weakly.

"It does. Tardas also lied about
something, even though he didn't know it: the death of idealists. I was playing
the drow, just as they were playing me. Our immediate objective was the same:
conquering Dakar. But the Resistance wasn't killing idealist like Marbareus was
told, and the drow believed.

"I have been recruiting people for a
secret army; Marbareus was too famous for me to make him disappear, and so he
was left out. I admit slavery means nothing to me, but what I feel means
nothing to Her."

"Her? Who?"

"Ilishia, the Goddess of the Living
Skeletons. You, Travelers, brought change with you, and one of them is that the
gods are interfering with mortal business. Necromancers usually raise skeletons
and strip them of their will. So, Ilishia gave me a quest to free her people. I
am her paladin; Her will is my command. After that, even more gods have asked
the same of me."

"Wait there, go back a little. You said we
brought change, and that the gods asked stuff from you. But we've been around
for a month, and the Resistance is older than that."

"Two hundred years ago, your coming was
prophesied by the Destiny Spirits. The gods changed that day and old rules have
been fading away little by little. That's when I was asked to free my people.

"The Ruined Kings leaving the Catacombs is
the biggest proof of such a change. If it had happened three hundred years ago,
the gods would have annihilated the Kings for what they did. They even dared
use Divine Magic, which is the reason they were confined to the Catacombs in
the first place. The Travelers Age changed things. And that's why I need
you."

"I don't follow."

"The Resistance is gone, except for my
still incomplete army, and I'm being hunted. I'd go into hiding in old times,
but this is the Travelers Age, isn't it? There are millions of you in Valia,
and you grow fast. You also can't die, which means you can do things Valians
are too afraid to do.

"You can battle against impossible odds.
You can lie, and murder, and be assassinated for it, and then you'll revive and
do it all again. Even imprisoning you in the special prisons the gods provided
can only halt you for a time since you can forfeit your bodies and come back in
new ones.

"Anyone who thinks about it for a second
fears you, for it's only a matter of time before you conquer Valia. Recruiting
and befriending Travelers is the most sensible course of action for me right
now."

He stopped pacing and looked straight at me.

"And you are more interesting than most.
Not the strongest; Daggers, behind you, could kill you before you could blink,
and she is just one among many I know of. Not the smartest, either; I have
heard of genius mages and generals appearing all over the world.

"No. You are the most unpredictable. You
killed Renno on your second day in Valia; you found ways around Marbareus'
orders in the Maze; you started a battle when everyone expected you to hide,
and it has plunged the whole West Underworld into war.

"The drow are master manipulators, but for
that, they need to predict people's moves. They sent rogues and traitors
against you in the Slums, and it only worked against them. You are their worst
nightmare."

He sat in front of me.

"The way I think and plan is too predictable
and too bound by rules of mortality. I need an unpredictable second in command
to appropriately deal with the wild cards that are the Travelers. Only in this
way can I hope to win against the drow.

"Jack Thorn, will you become my
General?"

Multiple exclamation points appeared on the
edge of my vision at the same time the 'C' letter disappeared from above my
head.

The Challenge was complete. I had done it!

Anxious about what I'd see, I raised a hand for
him to wait and checked on them.

Intelligence increased to 20 (+2)

You cleverly survived the Challenge while
decreasing the competition and removing a possible threat from your future.
You've proven you have a superior intellect.

» MP: 1145 (+195)

(Items disregarded)

Constitution increased to 15 (+1)

Your body has become more intimate with
suffering and how to bear it.

» HP: 695 (+75)

» Stamina: 315 (+10)

Event Quest Complete: Challenge

Congratulations!

You have won the Challenge!

Attributes points received:

» +10 strength

» +10 agility

» +10 dexterity

» +10 constitution

» +10 intelligence

» +10 perception

» +10 willpower

» +10 charisma

Fun fact: You rank #89 in level in all of
Valia and #4 in the Underworld.

Level up!

Current level: 28

HP, MP and stamina restored

Title received: Warmonger

Your actions have led to a war between
countries and shown that you value war above peace.

The methods employed achieving this title
impact the trait that is positively affected.

» +10 Strategist

» -50 charisma when negotiating peace deals

Strategist increased to 11 (+10)

To all members of a party you are the
leader, except you:

» +5.5% increase to attribute of choice

Trait has evolved into Adept Strategist:

» Number of attributes affected: 2

» Extra increase on each level: 0.5%

To all members of a party you are the
leader, except you:

» +6% increase to 2 attributes of choice

Level up!

Current level: 29

HP, MP and stamina restored

Profession: Resistance's General

You have been offered a Profession.

A Profession is usually a title that can be
stripped from you by your employer or by yourself, any time either of you
wishes.

To know more about your bonuses and
responsibilities as a General, ask Manhart.

Be advised that he can lie, and some
Professions are semi-permanent and can only be removed by your employer!

That was awesome! I was level twenty-nine in an
instant! And this Warmonger title was fantastic! Well, not the charisma
penalty, but the extra levels in Strategist would work wonders for my parties.

And I hadn't even received my reward from Manhart
yet.

I was about to demand it before negotiating his
generalship offer, when I hear a phone ring in my head.

This time it wasn't grandfather; I recognized
the number as Richard's. I had made it clear to him not to call me under any
circumstances. Still, he had done so as soon as he was able to contact me.
There was a very tiny chance that it was important.

"Just a second, someone is calling me from
Earth," I informed the lich.

<Jack?> My
lawyer's voice came through.

<It better be good, Richard.>

<Are you sitting?>

<Yeah, yeah. Drop the drama, just tell me
what you want. I'm in the middle of something important.>

I heard him inhale deeply. <It's your aunt,
Jack. She's alive. She's in my office right now.>

I froze.

He could be joking. He could be shitting me.
That could be a maneuver to make me leave the game against my wishes.

But I knew Richard. He wouldn't do that.

And if he did, I'd beat him him to death.

"Emergency travel out!" I
yelled.

Are you sure you want-

I didn't even finish reading. "Yes! Emergency
travel out! Now! I'm sure!"

* * *

Getting out of a rented
Dreamer usually took about half a day, depending on how long the queue of
people wanting to leave was.

Emergency logouts put the user in the first
positions of the line, for a damn high price. One hour after logging out, I
awoke in a hospital bed, with a big plate of food right next to me.

Everything from then on happened in a blur.
There were nurses, doctors and other V-Soft employees yelling at me as I ran
through the facility, and there was a lot of money and threats exchanged. Next
thing I knew, I was sitting in an automated taxi, feeling hungry as hell and
watching TV.

My body felt okay, much better than I expected.
Whatever V-Soft did in the Dreamers worked, since I wasn't feeling weaker or thinner
even after a month of doing nothing.

"Five hundred people are protesting in
front of Congress right now, as the congressmen vote for a bill that limits AI
usage for entertainment purposes." The female reporter said in front of
the Capitol. "The discussion has sparked after V-Soft's public
announcement that they're using fully sentient AIs for their gaming characters
in the commercial success 'Valia Online.' For over ten years the AIs Rights
Movement have been insisting that using AIs in military simulations is cruel
and inhumane. AI engineers mostly agree that AIs are only software and
that-"

I stopped paying attention.

My aunt was alive!

How? Why had she hidden away?

Wait, was she afraid of me?

Did she think I was a monster?

Maybe... Maybe I was the one she didn't want to
see.

Maybe she had run away from me.

From the madman who had killed his own parents.

Who had killed his employees.

Who had set fire to his own house.

Maybe-

Somehow, I was in front of Richard's office
door. It was made of wood and full of details.

Now that I thought about it, there was a lot of
wood around. And I had seen the sky after a month. That was touching, I
supposed.

Maybe I should've stopped to look at it.

Yes, I'd go back and watch the sky a little-

The door opened, and Richard became visible.

"Hello, Jack." He said. It felt as if
I had gone through so much in the last month, but he was just like I remembered
him.

He didn't sound confident. That was weird for
him.

"Hey, Richard."

With a sigh, he stepped to the side.

First I saw a man in his seventies, with dyed
blond hair and green eyes. He wore a tailored suit and looked like the most
caring old man you could find. He was one of the most dangerous people I knew.

After him, I saw one of his bodyguards: a blond
man in a suit. Grandfather liked to have blond guards like him. He said it gave
a message, but he had never told me which message it was.

Then Richard finished getting out of my view,
and I saw her, sitting on a chair.

She was in her late thirties, had brown hair
that went to her shoulders, brown eyes, and a angelic face. She looked just
like my aunt.

But it wasn't her.

She was wearing fishnet tights that stopped
over her knees, a very 'mini' jeans miniskirt, a tight white blouse knotted in
a way that showed her pierced navel and red high heels. The lipstick she had
used was too red, and so were her nails.

"What's the meaning of this,
Richard?" I yelled in sudden fury. "You're grandfather's puppy
now?"

"Jack, listen-" Richard began.

"Shut up and leave." Grandfather's
voice boomed, even though he didn't yell. "Let me talk to my
grandson."

Gulping, Richard obeyed. He tried to lock eyes
with me, but I was focusing on grandfather now.

"Now, boy-"

"I'm no boy!" I yelled even louder
than before. "Who's this poor woman that you brought into your plans?
Really, grandfather? A cheap hooker like this? Did you think I couldn't
recognize my aunt when I saw her?"

He smiled, and it made me even more furious. I
stepped his direction, but someone suddenly grabbed me and locked my arms behind
my back. I hadn't seen whoever it was, but grandfather never left his house
with less than five bodyguards.

I tried to free myself, but the man knew what
he was doing, and I almost broke my arm in the process.

"Ha! Coward! Let me go! Let me go and I'll
give you a free plastic surgery, you pig!"

He looked at the hooker and nodded. She smiled.

"Hello, Jack." Her angelical voice
washed over me, and with it came confusion and fear. "It's been a while,
little penguin."

My eyes widened. Only my aunt called me that.
That was our secret name. And she had the same voice. And the same face.

No. My aunt could've had said something to
my parents. I-

"Sophie Richards told you she liked you in
the second grade," she said. "And Matt Davis said the same on the
fourth. Do you remember how confused you felt when you discovered homosexuality
existed? You confessed to Eleanor Williams in the eighth grade and lost your
virginity to her on vacation that year."

I looked at her. She was smiling, that
beautiful smile of my aunt. Her voice was the same, too. And her cleavage
showed the small heart tattoo that I had glanced at so many times.

Scream. Cry. Explode. I wanted the world to
end, to fight, to do something. I wanted to kill, to die, to disappear.

Instead, I broke.

It felt like when I had been in love and father
paid my first girlfriend to leave me.

It was too much.

My muscles relaxed, and I wanted to cry, but I
didn't have the energy even for that.

"Your mother reacted the same way,"
grandfather said. "So did I. And my father before me. The loving actor or
actress has been a tradition in the McHolen family for generations. You'd learn
about her when you came of age, but our little bunny disappeared after the
fire."

"I was a bunny once-" She began.

"Shut up." Grandfather interrupted
her. "It's painful enough for him as it is. Leave."

No, grandfather. It's not painful at all.
I'm not feeling anything; I feel empty.

"What about my money?"

"I told you to leave, whore. I'm not as
kind as my daughter, do not defy me."

Not as kind as my mother. That described him
well.

Looking angrily at him, she got up and left.
She passed by me on the way, really close, looking into my eyes without shame.

She was using a perfume I had given her for her
birthday.

"Phillip, release him. Jack, get in and
sit. We have to talk."

I obeyed mechanically. Richard's room was like
any other old lawyer's workroom: table, chairs, computer, and books everywhere.

Grandfather pulled up a chair and sat right in
front of me.

"She was a country girl who came to the
big city dreaming of being an actress. Soon, she was working as a hooker
instead."

"She betrayed me," I said without
emotion. "'It's not wrong to be betrayed; having only trustworthy people
around you is impossible. However, all traitors must be dealt with. The sooner,
the better.' Mother taught me."

"Such a good boy. Do with her as you
please, I don't care. My point is that she was just a frustrated woman
desperate for money. As you know, all humans put their needs in front of
anything else. For what it's worth, she told your mother she wanted to quit
multiple times. She said she was falling in love with you. Nothing that a
little whoring didn't cure, apparently."

I focused on his face.

"Why are you protecting her?"

"I killed my 'aunt.' Personally. Your
mother had her 'uncle' poisoned. They had been sleeping together, and he
laughed in her face when it was time for him to leave. He's still being kept
alive by machines in an induced coma, dead for all purposes. Murder is a nasty
business. When you do that, it changes you permanently."

"Isn't that what you want?" My anger
flared, ripping me out of my shock. "Isn't that the whole point of my
education? Turning me into a monster like you? Well, I'm ready, grandfather.
Let me go and kill that bitch."

He shook his head. "Do you have any idea
how much you cost the entire family with that gang of yours? With your sex
scandals? With your youth? Don't you find it strange that even though we
reprimanded you for it, we never forbid you, never forced you to stop?" He
leaned back in the chair, crossed his legs, and lit a cigarette. "This is
the most valuable lesson, boy. Family comes first."

"Are you shitting me? After all I went
through, after- This! I don't even know what to call it! You make me get
attached to a damn whore just to make me suffer! How dare you say family comes
first?!"

"Didn't you hear anything I said? She's
not just a whore; she's an actress. We hired her not to sleep with you, but to
teach you something we can't: all the “good” that people sell in the media: love,
justice, and so on. And later, when the truth came to light, was to teach you
that you can only really trust your own family.

"Your father would have withdrawn from the
next election to prevent you from being arrested in the scandal of the century;
I'm confident you didn't do it, but our political enemies had proof of your
gang raping and murdering women in their own homes.

"Family comes first. You needed space, and
your parents gave it to you. We are not psychopaths; we understand we aren't
exactly good people. But we also know the world isn't a fairy tale, and
whatever our family members want to do with their lives, they have to be
prepared.

"That's what family is for: to nurture its
members to survive the world. In other times we'd have sent you to the jungle
with a hunting instructor. These days, we teach you the rules of the concrete
jungle.

"Individuals also count, but being played
by the wrong person could ruin the whole family. That's why we teach and
prepare you. You have five cousins who have chosen their own path, away from
us. They got their money and their experiences, and they are all doing fine.
One of them is in the Doctors Without Borders, if you can believe that."

"I can't. I call bullshit."

"You'll receive an email with their names
and you can investigate them however you'd like. I'm also transferring you your
parent's funds."

"I already have their money."

"You have their legal money, boy. I'm
talking about their real riches. You must also meet the next family head. With
your mother dead, your real aunt will inherit everything."

He blew smoke my way. I looked at him in
silence. He finished the cigarette and lit a new one.

I don't know how much time passed, but the sun
set and a bodyguard had to buy him a new pack of cigarettes by the time I
finally spoke.

"Why now?"

"I thought you wouldn't ask. I believed
you had killed your parents; it wouldn't be the first time it happened. That's
why I called you that time, to confirm it before I sent you to rot in prison.
But you didn't do it."

What was he talking about?

"That's when I spoke to Richard, and he
told me the firefighters weren't pursuing investigation. A gas leak would never
do the kind of damage your house received; it was evident that very well placed
incendiary bombs were used."

My heart accelerated. It couldn't be, could it?

"After that, it wasn't difficult to
discover the culprits. I'll show you all the evidence if you want, but you must
come to my house. I keep them in a private server. I've been battling the
masterminds behind it ever since, but they grow more powerful each day and have
a very effective method of getting blackmail material on everyone. Even on me,
and I only used their helmet once."

"I- What- I wasn't the culprit? But I used
the oven that night."

"Boy, use your head. Do you think a gas
leak on the first floor could've had completely incinerated you parents room on
the second floor? That it could destroy your house like that in the forty
minutes the fire took to die? Your parents were assassinated, and I don't think
I'll ever be able to avenge them. As incredible as it may sound, the enemy
might be too powerful this time."

A surge of energy consumed me. I hadn't done
it! I wasn't a patricide!

He could be lying. It'd be easy enough to
discover, though. I could check his evidence with experts all over the world.

What if he was telling the truth?

What if I was innocent?

My whole body felt lighter, and I felt tears in
my eyes.

"What about my aunt- Sarah's body? Wasn't
it found?"

"She slept with one of the arsonists the
night before. He took a liking to the whore and made her leave that night and
staged it to look like she had also died. He died soon after, though, and Sarah
went back to her old business."

"Why didn't you tell me before?"

"Because I feared for your life. Like I
said, family-"

"-comes first. Why now, then? What
changed?"

"They called me a few days after you
entered your Dreamer. They had very detailed information about your education;
very sensitive data about things your parents did. They read your mind, and now
they hold this family in the palm of their hands. That's why I'm giving you all
the money, too. I'm advising all family members to hide. They promised they'd
not pursue anyone who disappeared and kept quiet."

"Wait, are you talking about who I think
you are?"

"When I tried to call you, they blocked
the call and changed the rules of the Challenge. They have been keeping you
hostage for a month. These were a hellish thirty days. They just passed a bill
to allow them to keep doing it, under the guise of some bullshit AI bill. They
are conquering the whole damn Commonwealth."

I looked dumbfounded at him.
"V-Soft?"

"Yes, boy. V-Soft killed your parents.
Your parents saw through the dangers of the mind-reader early on. They were
murdered for it."

"I- That's- That's impossible," I
said. "The government are very zealous about this kind of thing. They must
have-" Sudden realization hit me. "They are with the
government."

The orange ember of his cigarette glowed more
intensely as he slowly drew in his breath.

"Not exactly. They were part of the
government, but they went rogue."

"So? Why can't you just crush them?"

"When I left political life, I retained
some influence with my party, but everything else, my connections, my
knowledge, I gave over to Diana." That was mother's name. "Dealing
with a rogue agency isn't the same as dealing with rival politicians in the
Senate. I've been out of the game for far too long and my power is a shadow of
what it was. Mariah, your real aunt will run next year, but I don't expect much
from her."

"I don't understand. Why isn't a rogue
agency the same?"

"When people in the government want to do
something that should be kept secret and keep their hands clean, they create a
fake private company and enact the right laws and regulations to make whatever
they intended viable much faster. Sometimes the private company decides it
wants to really be private. That's what going rogue means. They were supposed
to be under the control of some public agency or another, but they
aren't."

Grandfather lit another cigarette, and I
extended my hand. Nicotine had been long gone from my system, but I needed some
now, to think.

"They have too much power in the form of
money and blackmail material. The media are kept from saying anything negative
about the Immersion Technology. Anyone in the government who dares speak
against V-Soft one day is suddenly V-Soft's greatest supporter the next day.
People have been fired, disappeared, died in “accidents” like your
parents."

That was some crazy shit.

"If they are private, can't you just start
a corporate war against it? You have the money and even a little political
support should be enough." I drew the smoke through my mouth. God, I
missed it.

"I'm a politician, boy, not a businessman.
'Knowing your limitations-'"

"'-is the first step to success.'" I
completed the quote. There were multiple quotes with different 'first steps to
success' in the family.

We smoked quietly for a few moments.

This sudden chaos into which grandfather threw
me gave me focus. Purpose. It took my mind off the hooker.

Someone had killed my parents.

If I hadn't done it, no one could be
allowed to do that and walk away, either.

The gears in my head were spinning full speed.

It was strange, though, that grandfather would
just accept defeat like that.

I took a good look at him through the toxic
smoke that left my mouth. His shoulders were lower than they should be. His tie
wasn't knotted perfectly. He wasn't sitting upright.

That was a defeated man.

"Do you trust them?" I nodded to the
two bodyguards in the room.

"Yes." He didn't explain further,
which meant he didn't trust them at all.

Bodyguards were kind of modern mercenaries. As
much as grandfather could bribe them, it was never a surety with people who
traded their lives for money; V-Soft could well be paying them too.

"Could V-Soft be listening to us right
now?"

"Obviously. My boys tell me they did the
usual counter-espionage routine, but you can never be sure with
technology."

"That's bad." Just in case, I shifted
so I wasn't in view of the window. "Do you think V-Soft could kill me
depending on what I say in here?"

" No. If they did it, it'd be over for
them. We are fighting a cold war. If they touch my family, they know I'll talk,
and it'll be over for them. And I also have countermeasures in case I
die."

"Why don't you do it now?"

"Talk? Or die?"

"Yes." I answered vaguely and smiled.

He looked annoyed at me. "If I talk, they
talk too. And it would destroy our family in the process"

"And family comes first," I repeated.

He nodded.

"If this goes on, won't the family be
destroyed anyway?"

He shook his head. "If you can't beat
them, join them. That's why our enemies allow us the space they do. They know
we'll do the rational thing if it comes to that."

That sounded about right. Mother's teachings
had been all about being rational and keeping power.

Grandfather was predictable.

But father had also taught me a few things. A
few things that Manhart had believed to be the right way to deal with the best
laid plans.

I couldn't be predicted. And I had the business
know-how that grandfather lacked.

"Tell me, old man. If I asked you to
change the AI bill, how fast do you think you could pass it?"

"Whatever you have in mind, it won't work.
Even if we somehow pass a bill, V-Soft won't obey it, and no one will investigate
them. They can just do whatever they want without consequences."

"Now I understand why father got so upset
when I talked back to him without understanding. Tell me, how quick?"

He looked at me with a little anger in his
eyes. Good. I'd need his ferocity. "Three hours. Maybe two."

"And how fast could you get a particular
V-Soft employee's phone number for me? And his daughter's number?"

"A few minutes."

"Good. Now, listen carefully. This will
have to be done quick, and since V-Soft could be listening in, time has been
ticking since my last question. You know the saying you just used? Father
taught me a different one."

I extinguished the cigarette and quoted the
dead man:

"'If you can't win, my idiot son, make
sure no one can.'"

My parents were gone; there was no going back
from that. Revenge couldn't be completely achieved since V-Soft was too big to
simply disappear.

But I could force them to run back to the
government. And then I'd mess with the government too.

To do that, I was prepared to sacrifice myself
and my family. Grandfather obviously didn't need to know that.

No winners, just a big mess.

Mother had called father a sore loser for such
tactics, but it was another need-to-know only thing.

I'd fight a two-front war:

In the real world, it'd be a political-business
war, fought mainly by grandfather under my direction, starting by good old
emotional blackmail.

And in Valia, it'd be a campaign of conquest
and annihilation. I'd make sure no player could play the game ever again, not
without V-Soft heavily interfering in it.

That's is why the real world front was so
important. I had to make it impossible for V-Soft to interfere. If father's
teachings could help grandfather as I thought they could, it might be possible.

If both fronts were timed right and it all
worked out, I'd crush everyone.

Thoroughly.

Jack
Sunni Carpenter McHolen

Human

Rich
Bastard, Gang Leader, Anger Driven, Smartass

Age 24

Epilogue

David wore slippers,
shorts, and a T-shirt, as if he was in his own home. The lack of a dress code
was a big advantage of working in V-Soft – that, and the money.

He hadn't believed it the first time he read
the report, but he had watched his little Theodora on the screen just a few
moments ago; she was really playing the game.

A mixed feeling of anger, betrayal, and pride
swirled inside him and he tried to focus on the job.

And the job today consisted of looking after
the daughter-corruptor, deviant, scourge of society, the man who had brought
David's little girl to that horrid war and caused her to die screaming
horribly...

He took a deep breath.

Today the job was watching Jack Thorn's plans
come to fruition. There were similar power plays going on everywhere in Valia,
but this boy specifically had already broken the game once, and some AI
estimates showed that his actions could create big waves.

All the programmers of the Valia Division in
V-Soft – four whole people – plus the Guardian's Engineer, David, were
watching. David was there to ban the deviant out of the game at the smallest
sign of cheating. The others just wanted to have fun watching their game being
awesome.

'Their' game. The AI did most of the work, they
merely had to steer it this way or that. Sometimes they created a character
framework, but it was also the AI who completely integrated the character
within the world, effectively giving it a 'life.'

Other times they created some quests and items,
tweaked the systems, and things like that. The AI still was the one who made
the tweaks happen in a logical way. You can't just change an item price
overnight, you have to justify the price fluctuation: a lost caravan here, a
shortage of metal there.

The AI was like a mother to those lazy
bastards.

For all David knew, he was the only one in the
whole company who really worked. Oh, and Robert, the Alpha's Engineer, too.
Alpha was the AI which created and tweaked the worlds.

And the Guardian controlled the external output
interactions with whatever Alpha created. The mediator between players and
world.

Granted, David was overseen by Robert. The man
was like an AI superstar and had developed both technologies, leaving the
Guardian for David out of laziness. Alpha was much more fun, he said. Every
change David proposed and applied had to be approved by Robert.

He didn't care much; that tech was almost too
much for him to understand and he sometimes even welcomed the man watching over
his shoulders.

"How the hell is Shai there?" Ethan,
the lead game designer half-yelled, stirring the Guardian's Engineer from his
musings. "Louise, get me her data on the seventh screen right now!"
His glasses almost fell from his face as he furiously got up instead of
checking it himself. He had styled clothes and hair.

The five of them were looking at multiple
monitors on the wall of the small room. It was a constant complaint among them
that V-Soft was earning millions but couldn't allocate more than a closet for
its developers.

"Here it goes, boss!" Said Louise,
one of the two females in the room. She was heavily tattooed and wore fewer
clothes than most of her male coworkers felt comfortable with.

She was also the best programmer among the four
of them, an ex-cop, and they had learned fast not to throw any demeaning jokes
her way.

The main screen was huge and had three smaller
ones to each side, all with small numerical labels on them. On the number seven
display, Deathlord's Shai data appeared.

Ethan immediately became furious. "Last
external change two days ago? By Megan?" He turned to the other female
worker. "What is the meaning of this? Shai was supposed to be leading a
black ops group infiltrating the drow!"

"So what?" Megan yelled suddenly, and
everyone looked shocked at her. She was a nineteen year old Asian, petite, and
had only worked with the team for less than a year, always blushing with
timidity. She never raised her voice to more than a whisper.

"So... What?" The leader repeated in
disbelief.

"Yes! So what? I have been working here
for seven months, and all I did was create secondary characters! And the AI
makes them better than I do! The only important one you allowed me to create
was Renno! And he killed her! He cheated and killed her, and you did
nothing!"

"What kind of absurdity are you talking
about?"

"I gave her my best! I stayed up for weeks
and thought about her background and her quests and her personality! She would
unite the Underworld and start a Surface invasion! And when she died, you
didn't even care!"

"She was just a game character!"
Ethan yelled back. "She died! It happens! I never told you to do that
much!"

"But I did! And he killed her! And he'll
die for it! He'll lose the Challenge and his precious legendary items and be
resurrected in the trap they left for him in the prison. Then he'll have to
suicide. I bet my salary he'll quit the game!"

"Out! Now! You're fired!"

She spat his direction and left.

"I believe her nemesis would say something
in the lines of 'that escalated quickly.'" Stewart said. He was black,
thin and bald, and wore a suit to work, much to the surprise of everyone. Why
wear such uncomfortable clothes when you didn't have to?

"She interfered." Ethan looked back
at the main screen. "This is my game, my world. No one interferes without
my say so! No one!"

"Should we change Shai back?" Louis
asked.

"Didn't you hear what I just said? No one
interferes." He was suddenly back to his calm mood. Ethan's emotions
fluctuated quickly, and everyone in the team could understand Megan, if not
support her actions.

They watched in silence until the Ruined Kings
appeared.

"See, that's what I'm talking about.
Complete freedom. They are doing what their personalities tell them, forcing
the world to adapt to their will. I created a true world, with real
inhabitants! I'm a god!"

David rolled his eyes. Yes, Ethan had been the
one to design most of the game, including making Valia as free as it was, but
he was nothing when compared to Alpha – and he wouldn't have been able to do
anything without the AI.

The other two people in the room just kept
looking at the screen, having learned early on not to point out his delusion of
grandeur.

Shai got killed.

"Boring. Stewart, you're the one
responsible for patching that ridiculous glitch and forbidding helmets to be
opened by others. Too much freedom hurts a game."

'Fixing the glitch' meant telling the Guardian
to tell Alpha what to change. They didn't even have to type it, just say what
had to be done, and the AI obeyed.

Lazy bastards.

Jack got the cheating message – auto-generated,
since David would've banned the boy if it was a real cheat –, and they all
heard his blackmail.

Ethan laughed. "I love this boy! Take him
off of the hook."

Sighing, David obeyed, ordering the Guardian to
remove Jack Thorn from the watch list.

Manhart appeared, and Ethan commented again on
the genius of his game and world.

And the Challenge ended.

"Good ride. I'm starving, see you."
The lead game designer left the room.

"I have to say that I partially agree with
him," Stewart said. "What the AI did was impressive. That wasn't a
scripted quest line, was it?"

"No," Louise said. "No, it
wasn't."

They got back to work. Each felt proud in his
or her way but knew better than to relax. Theirs was the current dream job of
game developers, and they didn't want to lose the opportunity.

Five hours later, already back in his room,
David received a call. "Ted? Oh, I'm sorry I forgot the dinner. I'll come
home right now."

"Wait, dad." He could hear her cry,
and his heart ached.

"Honey? Are you crying? What's going on?
Did someone hurt you? Where are you? Are you home? I'm coming, honey. Just
wait." He grabbed his jacket and walked to the door.

"Wait, dad! Wait!" She kept crying.
"I need your help."

"Sure, honey," he kept walking.
"Just say it. And don't hang up, okay? I'm listening."

"It's Jack."

His pace slowed.

"What about him?"

"Jack told me that you are doing something
bad, dad. He was lying, wasn't him? Tell me he was lying."

David stopped walking.

"Honey? What did he say?"

"He said you work for criminals. That you
are reading people's mind and blackmailing them. He said- He said-" She
cried harder. For a long time. "Please tell me it's a lie, dad. Please."

"I- How-"

"Dad," she interrupted, "please.
Tell me he's lying, please."

He had heard something about it, but he also
knew V-Soft was connected to the government somehow. And since the creation of
the Commonwealth, you couldn't simply point fingers at the politicians.

"Honey, it's more complicated than that.
And I can't discuss it with you. Not by phone." He picked his pace again.
"I'm coming home for you."

"More complicated? You are doing
it, aren't you? You're a monster!"

"Honey, aren't you exaggerating a
little?"

"Exaggerating? Exaggerating?! I hate
you!"

She hung up. His heart felt like it was being
squeezed in a vise. He kept walking, half believing this was one of those
manipulations of hers, her new way of earning a trip to a tropical beach.

She had done it before and he was pretty sure
she would do it again. He usually played her game until it was a convenient
time to travel.

It was both funny and offensive that he worked
with one of the most advanced AIs in the world and his daughter thought he was
an idiot.

His phone rang again, and he looked at the
screen. Unknown number. He answered.

"Hello?"

"Hey there." It was a male voice.
"Is this David Williams?"

"Yes. Who is it?"

"My name's Jack McHolen, but you probably
know me as Jack Thorn. Let's talk about your daughter."

Afterword

What a ride! Thank you for reading! A few quick topics with cool links for you:

1. If you liked this book, please, leave a review on Amazon. It really helps an indie author, especially a first-timer like me.

2. My website: Edward-Castle.com

I release book two's chapters on the website as I write them (first drafts). Plus, it has a mailing list that you can subscribe to for updates on future books.

3. My Facebook page also has updates on everything.

4. Twitter: @ECastleWriter

5. LitRPG Society, a Facebook group with lots of LitRPG fans and authors.

6. LitRPG Group, the largest Facebook LitRPG group in existence.

I would like to recommend a wonderful series of books by Aleron Kong. This guy is hilarious! In his own words it's like "Warcraft, DnD and Sword Art Online had a sexy baby!" Fair warning, if you start reading, don't plan on having a life for the next week! Lol Cheers! Just click here!

7. Other recommendations

Delves LLC

This is a soft LitRPG; it has gaming elements but isn't a game per se, with all those tables, levels, and whatnot.

A great read and a good way to introduce your friends to the LitRPG genre if you're afraid they might not like something with tables and items descriptions.

Ascend Online

This book is awesome. It gave me the feeling of novelty and adventure that hooked me on LitRPG in the first place.

Give it a try. You won't regret it.

Awaken
Online

Do you want a dark setting and an anti-hero main character?

You'll like this.

There are so many more, but my editor won't let me keep going. :-P Join the Facebook groups and you shall find them!

8. That's it

Thanks again for reading, it means a lot to me.

Don't forget to review the book on Amazon, please!

See you next time! =-)