Raze (The Completionist Chronicles Book 4)

by Dakota Krout

  Joe wasn't sure what the man meant, at least until he saw a flash of a gold-and-black backstage pass from the Grand Zoo. Ah, so that is where they got whatever was used to knock out his guild. Good to know. As the guards finished their coffee, the other riders returned with darkly jubilant looks on their faces. This didn't escape the notice of the Royal Guard, and he set his cup down with a heavy sigh.

  “I am afraid that I will need to ask you to come with me.” The cart was connected to a horse, and they started walking toward Towny McTownface.

  Class experience +250!

  Joe felt his mana start to trickle in—no longer devoted to a ritual—and he glanced at his feet. No glow. No ritual circle. Great timing.

  Chapter Forty-six

  There were three people sputtering obscenities as the group got close to town. A few buildings, knocked over trees, damaged landscape… but no wall even closely resembling what was around Ardania.

  “Something… the matter?” Joe hid his grin and sniped at the others as they started converging together on their horses, “Where is this wall supposed to be?”

  The Royal Guard spread out to surround everyone but continued moving at a brisk pace toward the town. They left no openings that someone could use to dart away, and their glistening weapons and caffeine-enhanced stare left the group without hope of escape. A walk to glory was over, and the Architects knew it to be true. The Royal Guard was just happy to have the Guild Leader, sub-leader, and main assistant in hand already and not hiding behind heavy defenses. Next on the docket for the three was an attempt at damage control.

  “Who reported this to me?” The Guild Leader barked at his subordinates. “I was told in no uncertain terms–”

  “Don’t even try it!” the assistant hissed at him. “This was all you from the start, and there’s no way I’m taking the fall for this!”

  “You’re both–”

  “Each of you has confirmed treason, and all of you will be on the hook for lying to the Crown if there is no wall,” the Guard Captain lazily mentioned. The pace never slowed.

  “You! How did you do this?” The Guild Leader pointed a shaky finger at Joe. “The wall was there less than fifteen minutes ago!”

  “I’m sure I have no idea what you mean,” Joe stated blandly. “As you were present to see, I was with these fine gentlemen for the last long while.”

  They looked amongst themselves, at a loss. The assistant hissed, “Who could have helped them? Did the Zoo set us up?”

  “Silence!” the Guild Leader snarled. Too late.

  “Why would my guild have needed help with something? What does the Zoo have to do with anything?” Joe’s voice was extra-loud, just to be sure he was clearly heard.

  “You know as well as I do that your guild can't do anything right now!” once more, the assistant opened her mouth and stated something she shouldn’t know.

  Joe turned and looked at her dead-on. “Did you three do something to my guild? When we get there… are we going to see them attacked or some foul play?”

  She paled, and her mouth worked like a fish on land as she tried to explain herself. The Royal Guard kicked the sides of the horses, breaking into a trot. Something sinister was at work here. They rode into town and came across the first of the sprawled bodies. The Guard Captain was on the ground in a flash, feeling for a pulse. “Alive but nearing death from exposure, at least a second-tier debuff of ‘chilled’.”

  He waved various powders under the nose, poked the man with a dagger, but nothing got a reaction. “Sleep of the Dead? No… who would waste such a potent weapon on such a small area?”

  The captive Architects were squirming. “If someone is using such a thing, perhaps it would be better to come back another time?”

  “No need. The people will awaken twelve hours after inhalation, and almost all items of this nature are single-use and have a very short time to affect people,” one of the guards firmly stated. They rode to the Guild Hall area and looked around. “What is that?”

  “Oh, a greenhouse!” Joe told him casually. “We plan to begin producing food for ourselves and the Kingdom as soon as possible!”

  “What is all this?” The Captain waved a hand at neatly stacked rows of stone, wood, metal, and a small vial that Joe cheerfully tossed in his ring. It was good to have his Troll Blood back.

  “Looks like the guild was planning on putting together some more buildings when we were able, but from the look of things, whatever this will be could take weeks to put together!” Joe nodded sagely at his own words.

  “This is…” The Architect Guild Leader looked around, and his eyes lit up. “This is the material needed to build the wall!”

  “Oh?” Joe looked at it doubtfully. “I guess I wouldn't know! I mean, if this wall is so secret… who really does know? Surely there are other buildings that can be made out of stone? Is having rocks and wood treason now?”

  “Of course not.” The Guard Captain motioned at the Architects, who were dragged to the ground and bound. “I will be bringing you all back to the Kingdom… eventually. I would like a rest after being dragged out of bed for a false claim! At least we have evidence of your attack on a guild in good standing.”

  When the Architects were secured, the guards helped Joe collect people and get them into safe, warm locations. Joe pulled out some food, more coffee, and even used Cleanse to hydrate the guards before sending them on their way. They promised that he would hear from them soon.

  Joe looked around the empty area, not sure what to do while waiting for people to wake up. “Well… wall. Can't use the Kingdom’s, for obvious reasons.”

  His eyes turned to the forty-foot-tall, black, twisted stone wall that had been formed by the area turning into a punishment dungeon. Only one section of the wall had been left standing after the massive blast during the battle with the Wolfmen, but… “I wonder.”

  By one o’clock, he had created an Architect’s Fury ritual and scanned the section of wall. To his great excitement, the blueprint that formed was the full wall that had originally been in place around town. Joe started making adjustments to the formulas, tinkering with it until three in the afternoon when Aten suddenly jumped to his feet and looked around in confusion. Whew! Joe had been about to give up and go get some sleep.

  “Joe…? What… the wall! We need to– what time is it? I fell asleep?” he shouted in fear and turned to run.

  “Aten! We’re good!” Joe shouted at the wide-eyed man. “I took care of everything.”

  “What? Then… the wall?” Aten looked into the distance, looking through his status screen. “We’re still a tier-one town, though? The wall is gone? You’re sure?”

  “Yup.”

  “How are we a tier-one town then? Did you make a bathhouse? Cistern? Sewers? Warehouse-restaurant combo?” Aten may have continued, but Joe stopped him.

  “Greenhouse doubles as a sewer system—not sure how, but it does,” Joe told him easily. “Just needs some time to grow, and it’ll cover the entire town.”

  “It… then we really need a wall…” Aten’s head was spinning; too much had happened, and he had been asleep!

  “Working on it.” Joe waved at the sprawled documents. “We were attacked with some kind of sleep spell or something, just so you know. Not your fault, everyone was knocked out. Well. Not me. I was underground, and I think this place has a separate air supply? That or I should really get some plants down here.”

  Aten didn't know what else to say, so they walked out into the main area and were swarmed with people. “Aten! The wall! It’s gone!”

  “We were attacked!”

  “Someone raided my food cart!”

  “Oh, that last one was me.” Joe flushed, and Aten sighed. “Mind taking care of that for me? It was the only way to save the guild. Stole a lot of coffee grounds from the coffee shop too.”

  “Yeah, sure, fine,” Aten grumpily muttered. “Coffee was the key to success my butt. You’re lucky you are so integral to our success.
”

  “Aren’t I though?” Joe preened, breaking into a chuckle. A messenger ran up at that moment, just as the area began really getting going. People were rather upset at losing a day of grinding because of sleep.

  “Message for you, Joe. It… it has the Royal seal on it, and I was ordered to give it to you today if you were ‘still around’?”

  “Thanks.” Joe took the letter, knowing that it was likely from the Prince. He had mentioned that his help didn't come freely. Joe stepped into a secluded area and opened the letter with a grim expression.

  Joe, it is good that you have managed to foil this plot, but I also know that the ‘false charges’ were actually true. No matter how you got the plans, you had them. That means someone else might as well, and the Kingdom could be in danger. In exchange for your freedom and to maintain a clean record, I am assigning you a quest. It will appear as soon as you read this message. I have transferred twenty platinum to your bank account to be used for this task only. Best of luck.

  From Her Majesty, Queen Marie the Battle Tyrant.

  P.S. I finally found out what they were doing.

  [Mandatory] Quest alert: Black to Purple. Queen Marie has learned that the Grand Zoo of Ardania is a front for a Black Market and possibly the headquarters of a non-sanctioned Assassin’s Guild. There is a unique building that has been observed by informants, but there is no known way to reach this area without assistance from the Zoo itself. Find the building, and either 1) Create a blueprint for the Kingdom to use. 2) Secure a way to and from the location without outside assistance. 3) Destroy the building.

  Rewards: Dependent upon number of objectives completed. 1) Record remains clean, this issue goes away. 2) Act of Nobility recorded. 3) All other rewards, plus use of the building’s blueprint for your guild.

  “Well… this creates a lot of questions for me.” Joe sighed and watched as the parchment lit on fire and burned itself. “Was the ‘failure’ just implied? There wasn't a fail condition. How much does she know about my abilities? I guess I kinda fell out of secrecy mode, huh? Lastly… I wonder if I can get all of those rewards?”

  Joe didn't want to waste any time. Frankly, he wanted a long nap and a bubble bath. Right now, he was supposed to be enjoying the fruits of his hard work, not getting another difficult task out of the gates. Still… this was a chance to go back to the Zoo and get a whole bunch of great things done in one fell swoop, and he had the Kingdom bankrolling it.

  One last thing was making him hesitate. “What does it mean that the Zoo is a non-sanctioned Assassin’s Guild?”

  Chapter Forty-seven

  “How is everyone doing?” Joe wearily posed the question to his current Coven members. Six hours of sleep just wasn't enough after a day like that. “It’s been all emergencies and instant need on my end. I think you’ve all more than earned some training if you want it. Anyone?”

  Joe was pleased by the reply; everyone had a project they were working on. As a reward for the past few days, he unlocked some of the most minor features of the room, allowing them to make the stone morph into the shapes they needed for ritual circles. He retained full control, of course, but they all got a small section to work in.

  For the next few hours, he helped everyone with their projects. Joe winced at first when he saw what people were trying to pack into Novice rituals, but he remembered that he had tried the same thing when he was at that rank. He helped them iron out issues, create interesting effects, and essentially, just helped them learn.

  Skill increase: Teaching (Beginner I). Woo! Look at you, stepping into your role as a class trainer. You were going to get a bonus when you started the Coven, but I figured that all your bonuses to increased skill level were enough already.

  Joe did his best to ignore the extra-snarky messages, and soon, his minions had energized rituals just waiting for a target. When they seemed done, Joe cleared his throat and dramatically threw out his arms. Four circles appeared in the center of the room, and he informed them that he was going to be in a very dangerous area soon. He wanted some safeguards in place, and they were going to hopefully help with that.

  “Only thing, this is an Expert-ranked ritual. I’ll see you all in a few hours. Take a break, nap, whatever.” Joe dismissed the others, and he just knew that they were going off to put their new rituals to good-ish use. He was especially interested in seeing what Big_Mo would do. Joe tried to think what the man would use a blood collection ritual for but… failed.

  Flipping open his notes, Joe tried to figure out what sort of ritual he was going to need in the Zoo. What he really wanted was a summoning or teleportation ritual, but if wishes were fishes the whole world would stink of rotting fish. He had nothing even resembling that and had no idea where to start. So, he turned to the rituals he currently had and got to work picking through them.

  There were only two valid options: Stasis or Ghostly Army. Even then, the point was to escape. The Ritual of Stasis might protect him for a short while, but the Ghostly Army would make a massive distraction. Mind made up, Joe got to work on the ritual. Instead of the four rings made by the room being used for the ritual, they formed into a seat, a back support, a desk, and a footrest. Was he using the Grand Ritual Hall as intended? Probably no. Could anyone call him on it? Also no.

  Joe pulled out a new bottle of ink that Jess had purchased for him, but before he tried to turn it into Imbued Ink, he pulled out a glass bottle and started working with that one. He had made the mistake in the past of letting the ink remain in a standard glass bottle while he altered it, and his self-repairing robe was still working to get rid of the stain from when the glass exploded. He held the glass gingerly as his skill got to work, and in a few minutes, he had created a ‘Natural Imbued Glass Bottle’. Good. He poured the ink into the bottle and started massaging mana into the liquid. Then he saw something that he had never noticed during previous failures. The ink flashed red for a bare instant.

  Item altered: Natural Reversal Ink. Anything written by this ink must be written in reverse-mirrored form or be completely useless and unintelligible. Caution! Keep out of the reach of children.

  This… this was mocking him; Joe was certain of it. Even though it was considered a failure, he decided to keep the ink. Maybe it would come in handy someday to write something backward. He created another imbued bottle and tried again with the ink. This time it flashed gold, and he got excited. He held up the bottle, looking at the ink within.

  Item altered: Natural Fire-Resistant Ink. Anything written by this ink will withstand fire up to the Expert-ranks.

  “Cool… but only the ink is fire-resistant? Good to have… I guess?” Joe tried a third time, creating a standard Natural Imbued Bottle and standard Imbued Ink. Then he was finally able to get started on the actual work he needed to complete. Six hours later, Joe stumbled out of the area and began the hunt for food. The ritual had been far more complex than he had expected, easily a mid-late Expert ritual.

  He had messed up twice so badly that he needed to restart entirely and had needed to heal as his material turned into a fiery ball of released mana. This was a turning point for him, as until this moment, he hadn't realized how different the difficulty could be even within the same tier of ritual. Joe hadn't even gotten a rank in his skill level, though he felt that he had to be getting close at this point.

  Joe chewed numbly on a salad, not really thinking about his nutritional needs until the flavor hit him. Rabbit food! Why was it so tasty? Why was he eating salad? He bit into a cucumber and moaned. What was this? So good! He looked around and saw a sign:

  All vegetables are now locally grown! Sign up now to gain daily gather quests that you don't need to travel for! Special farmer-related classes available upon request.

  “Already? It’s been a day at best.” Joe saw someone swagger into the area with an armload of cabbages, only to be accidentally knocked over by a bald young adult and two people sprinting after him.

  “My cabbages!” The man dropped to the
ground to collect them before they were smashed.

  Joe took a sip of water and shook his head. “That was rude.”

  “There he is!” Kirby’s voice made Joe’s ears twitch, and he looked over to see his Coven walking over. “Joe, you shut the tunnel. We couldn't get in.”

  “Ah. Here…” Joe opened his permissions and gave Hannah permissions to allow entrance to the area. “Hannah can get you all in now. Be discrete please. Only Aten and my party members know about that area.”

  “You ready for us, or should we go do other things?” Big_Mo was covered in blood, and it took Joe a moment to figure out how to respond.

  “You… want that blood off of you?” Joe waited only for the start of a nod before Cleansing him. Much better. “Yes, I’m almost ready, but I need a few reagents that I don't normally carry, and then we need to go find a lake. I’ll pop over to Ardania and come back shortly.”

  “Sounds good.” Taka nodded at the salad bar that had been set up. “We are just about to have dinner. If you’re back in an hour, we’ll be here.”

  It was nice to see that the five of them had become close. Then again, they had a diverse enough setup currently that they were likely a party. Joe nodded, trying not to feel jealous over them having commonalities at such a low level. He was already on his second party, and even so, he had no idea where all of them were. Their training and off-hours were just too different.

  Joe went to the temple, then to Ardania. It was time to bite the bullet and go to the place he wanted to go the least. Jake the Alchemist. For the life of him, Joe couldn't remember the shop’s name; Jake the creepy man had taken point in Joe’s memory of that place. The crowds in the town square were far less dense, which made Joe both happy and morose—happy that his travel was easier, sad because there was no way that eight billion people had shown up here. There was a good chance that only about ten percent of humanity had come through what must have been an apocalypse.