Sleeping Player (Project Chrysalis Book 3)

by John Gold

  Oh, no, this is it! LJ is scared out of his mind.

  Our peaceful little gathering is interrupted by the academy’s archmage. Tiberius Sen has a magic shield up before his feet touch Katain soil, a staff in his right hand and a light longsword in his left. He’s wearing dozens of single-use amulets; there are two belts lined with potions around his waist, a crown is on his head, and his shoes give out so much power that I feel like I was just hit with a divine attack. His four-elemental shield, six lizard familiars, and fire aura are impressive. Just a glance is enough to realize that the mage is giving us time to prepare for battle.

  LJ reacts first, throwing out a maximum shield. By the third second, I’ve already left our little picnic area. Femida finds herself being hurled toward the castle wall, which she breaks right through. It’s a neat trick, throwing the ground your opponents are sitting on.

  Ekron uses her Petbe ability to absorb the first six attacks. The fact that she can ignore the damage gives me time for a counterattack, and I shoot off a swamp, freezing, and a maximum dead sun. Just the aura is almost enough to kill me. But the archmage hurls enormous strips of soil at the black sphere, and it’s gone five seconds later. Ekron switches to her Beelzebub visage and starts peppering away at the mage’s shield. The latter looks me in the eye, paying no attention to the rampaging demonologist. It’s just when Ekron takes a leap in the air, aiming to squash her opponent, that he looks away. She’s big enough to squish the whole castle, not to mention the mage.

  But he looks back at me and just waves a hand. A titanic boulder slams into Ekron in midair, pinning her against the remains of the castle. One more lazy gesture, and an entire barrage of gravitational blows rains down. I’m not sure what kind of survivability she has in her demon visage, but the sound of bones crunching turns my stomach. The archmage just raises an eyebrow when he sees my reaction.

  Femida leaps out of the cloud of dust to land a blow so hard that the mage’s shield is demolished immediately. Crossing his staff and sword, Tiberius blocks her next strike, and gives her a kick that sends her flying back to the remains of the wall. My dwarf hammer should finish off the defenseless mage, but all it ends up doing is shattering a few of the amulets hanging on his combat mantle. While he’s busy with Femida, I unleash a string of spells, but his amulets absorb them all. It turns out that he’s protected against all kinds of magic, and that buys him enough time to get his magic shield up. His familiars keep him safe from the recoil, and his powerful shield is going to protect him from quite a few attacks. My mana will run out before I can break through it.

  Femida is covered in stone and rubble, and that’s followed by cooling and fortification spells that lock the girl in a stone tomb made up of the remains of the wall.

  The sound of stone cracking is coming from the castle courtyard—Ekron is starting to come to. The archmage looked up at the sky and uttered a spell. In the west, something red flashes as Beelzebub pulls herself to her feet. Six battle flies are rushing in our direction.

  The archmage relaxed to the point that he even turned his back to me. How’s that for confidence?

  I almost miss the moment the castle is obliterated. A Galileo comet, the third and most powerful meteor spell, slams into it from orbit. Its power is on par with at least forty meteors, and there’s nothing left of the walls or main keep, just an enormous crater. For fifty meters in every direction, the ground is littered with the remains of what were once fortifications.

  The battle isn’t in our power to win, no matter how hard we try. Five minutes, and we’re no better than little children. Femida is melted into the wall and can’t move; Ekron in her Beelzebub visage lies at the bottom of the giant crater left by the Galileo comet. She’s alive, though she has hundreds of debuffs that are going to keep her out of the picture for a good while.

  Even without turning around, the archmage starts using a sphere of darkness followed by dragon breath and a dwarf hammer. My legs and arms are broken; my ribcage is crushed by a blow from his staff. My whole body is encased in stone up to my neck. And that is how the archmage of the Academy of Magic for all the human lands fights.

  Human, Tiberius Sen, Level 3201, archmage

  I didn’t take any debuffs, unlike Ekron, so I come to pretty quickly. The archmage just stands there watching as I get myself fixed up.

  The crown and the long gray beard, the comfortable doublet with the mountain of amulets and convenient pockets—he’s wearing three non-level items, he’s a universal mage with a +200% bonus for all types of magic, his level is absurd, and he has battle experience coming out of his ears. We didn’t stand a chance. In this moment, I feel like the thought that my journey is going to end here is driving me out of my mind.

  The archmage looks at me dubiously, telling me something I wasn’t expecting to hear at all.

  “Five years ago, there were rumors of a boy who could use meteors at Level 0. He wounded a god the next day during probation with the Hunters, and half a year later, he killed two gods with one attack before finishing off Margul, the dragon god, in close combat. But what do I see? Six years have gone by, and that inexperienced kid has nothing that can stand up to me! And here I am, far from a god. You dare call yourself Bloody Sagie?”

  “I never called myself Bloody Sagie—you all came up with that.”

  The archmage thinks to himself. A variety of emotions fight for the upper hand, but the strongest is hope…in me.

  “My god left this world, and I want to follow him, but I can’t do that as simply as others might.” Tiberius steps closer. “Look at me very carefully, Sagie. Feel it? I’m 1572 years old, the oldest and strongest mage in the world. I’ve studied you, your story, and your abilities, and I know what you can do with the forbidden magic arts. Even more, I know that you practice them. You wounded Talamei using a simplified self-sacrifice ritual. You made scalable items by sacrificing thousands of intelligent creatures. And there’s more than that you’re hiding inside. Yes, I sense it all!”

  Something alien, evil, and all-devouring lurks in the archmage, and I notice that his muscles and ligaments all look poisoned or even dead. But he continues. “But forget that. The secret to my long life isn’t alchemy or Life Magic, like the rest. You can sense what’s inside me—yes, I’m cursed, and I can’t just die. I’m half-living, half-undead. If I die, a lich will take control of my body in whatever condition it’s in, and it has to be destroyed to completely kill me. I saw the recording of the battle in Kurg, so I know that your lich can do the same thing as mine. But I have yet to meet the person who can stop mine. And so, I’m here to talk with you as the strongest dark mage alive today. You have the best chance of killing me as well as the lich who lives inside me.”

  I realize why the archmage has placed his hopes on me.

  “You have the evil death curse? Why do you want to die? Just remove the curse and live your life.”

  “It isn’t that simple, young man. My soul won’t leave this world until the lich is killed, as it’s irrevocably tied to the curse. That was the main condition for my long life.”

  “So, talk to the gods. I’m sure they’d be happy to find a replacement and help someone of your status with the curse. Why can’t they just remove it?”

  The archmage sighs and shakes his head.

  “That was the condition my god laid down. I have to die at the hand of a worthy adversary before I can rejoin him. I’ve followed him all my life, and I will follow him into the kingdom of the dead. There’s no way you can understand the depths of my belief in my god and my devotion to him.”

  I have suspicions eating at me that need to be confirmed.

  “After death, you’re going to be reborn just like your god, right?”

  The mage responds well. Not a single muscle on his face twitches, though the tempest of emotions whirling through him tells me I’m right. At least, it’s what he’s hoping for.

  “I can’t say what will happen after my death. All I want to do is follow my god, and I ask
you to help in making that happen. Defeat me in a fight to the death and become the archmage. There isn’t a single mage in this world who is my equal, but I’m convinced that’s just a matter of time for you. You’ll be ready soon. How much time do you need?”

  The archmage looks weary and tired. The anticipation of death and the fear of the curse he feels have pushed him far, and he hasn’t yet found anyone capable of assisting him.

  “Half a year. I definitely can’t do it in any less.”

  Once again, he stays so calm I can only tip my hat. A trickle of happiness does seep through, however.

  “I’ll wait half a year, and I will come for you then, Sagie. Half a year, and not a minute longer. If you don’t succeed, I’ll make your life a living hell.”

  The archmage’s words don’t bother me in the least. Six months is more than enough time to get to his level, and I’ll even be able to find a good spot for the battle.

  Tiberius Sen leaves via a portal, leaving us all alive. Smoke streams out of the crater left by Galileo’s comet, and Ekron, already in human form, is climbing out. Femida stops pretending to be a rock and pulls herself out of the molten wall. Only Isaac is thrilled by how he just got to watch the best movie of his life. It’s hard to blame him—the archmage himself just took out three incredibly strong players.

  As we all recover, chatting about what just happened, the trial time draws to a close. Ekron asks us to call her Roni, and she’s been making eyes at Femida the whole time. I can’t help but be surprised at the way Fem straightens up, thrusts out her chest, and starts talking highbrow. Usually, there’s a curse after every other word, but now it’s just girlish chatter. Apparently, I’m understanding the people around me less and less. What, they like each other?!

  Ekron tells us how she became a demonologist and picked up her set of unique abilities. Yep, Sagie, don’t underestimate her. She’s older than she looks, and she has experience living in a world rife with ambushes, a world where you never know which way the next attack will be coming from. She has a strong personality, she values friendship, and she’s responsible in her decisions and actions. Really, she thinks like a grown woman with no need of male care or attention. But she’s a strong opponent, so I keep in mind how dangerous it would be to trust her implicitly.

  Six months ago, she was in a mining clan that forayed regularly into the Inferno for rare ores. The alliance the clan was in offered them protection while the miners were working. But as soon as the job turned sour, the battle group took off through a portal, leaving Ekron to cover the miners’ retreat. She was taken captive and forced to change her respawn point. After two months spent waiting in prison for her clan to come and break her out, she learned that the alliance had turned its back on her. The clan decided to do the same in order to maintain a good relationship with the alliance, and she ended up being the only one left in the lurch.

  She spent the next two months having heart-to-hearts with the highest demons in the Inferno, not to mention developing her skills incessantly. Satan offered something nobody else could: revenge. And Petbe told her how she could get it. With that, the plan for the demon invasion into the Project Chrysalis world was hatched, and Ekron picked up her demonologist subclass from Satan himself. He was the one who taught her magic. When she shows me her magic seal textbook, claiming that it’s the only one in the entire world, I pull out my own copy. Yes, it’s a demonstration of power, and we’re both satisfied with each other.

  We write down each other’s contact information and part ways when the judges, somewhere in the sky, announce the end of the probation period. The girls say goodbye sweetly, promising to see each other again as soon as possible. The judges open the portal back, and I leave Katain and its welcoming inhabitants behind me. Femida decided to find her own way back.

  Absolutely everyone wants to kill me when I get back to the room where they are gathered.

  The three unsuccessful Hunters who were on my team told everyone that I’m Sagie, and that I’m colluding with Ekron. The judges, who watched the whole thing, explain to everyone that I didn’t violate any of the rules. On the contrary, the fact that Ekron didn’t help in the defense saved the lives of many local Hunters participating in the attack.

  Finally, it’s time for the award ceremony.

  “Almark, your code name is White Lamb,” the administrator says as everyone laughs, “for your ability to blend in with the crowd. You’re like a wolf in lamb’s clothing who can guide the rest of the hunters. Which skill would you like?”

  “Manipulation.”

  With that my trial ends, and I’m a Hunter. Not counting my acquaintance with Ekron and the promise I made to the archmage, it actually went pretty smoothly. There were no gods attacking, I wasn’t killed, and I got exactly what I wanted. Femida is already at the south end of Katain by the time I managed to lose my tail and head to our meeting point in a remote village at the north of Radaam.

  It’s warmer here than in the central and southern parts of the continent. There’s only snow in the mountains.

  With my new manipulation ability, I start pouring everything I can into my life aura. It now extends thirty meters and costs a thousand mana per minute. Ten simultaneous auras have the same effect as a weaker healing for anyone within that radius, and my mana restoration speed means I can overcome the enormous cost and develop both skills at the same time. My mental body modification doubles my mana restoration speed. The fact that my morale is maxed out thanks to my achievements means that I recover 14000 mana a minute. In other words, I have 4000 mana I can use to work on my manipulation skill. Soon, I have it up to 400.

  My dear supervisor Anri Diuval told me that Life Magic is only as effective as the power of the spell you create. The problem is that it dissipates quickly, only part of it reaching your target.

  There’s also a maximum amount of Life Magic that target can absorb, and it’s different for different creatures. Life auras with higher density and strength can mitigate the dissipation effect and intensify the effect the aura has on trees and plants.

  As soon as we get everything set the way we want it, we head for the Sea of Madness. I picked up a few tons of medicinal herbs at the auction in a backwater town, though Femida has to carry most of them in her enormous bag.

  At an alchemist’s stand, we bought five sets of test tubes, a master alchemist’s set, a giant alembic, and a retort, too. The owner was happy to give them to us at half price, so we walked away having spent just shy of two hundred thousand credits.

  I’m getting ready for the time I’m going to have to spend in the astral while my body is recuperating. The nurse from the health resort told me that I won’t be able to do anything that puts pressure on my nervous system during the procedure. That’s kind of funny, what with the search, the shapeshifter, the archmage, and the two psychos following me around. The only way I’ll be able to get through a month in the game without overloading my nervous system is if I spend it in the astral. At least, that’s what I’m thinking.

  The timer is counting away my last hour in the game when we finally find an eddy in the magic space. Twenty minutes in the astral later, an enormous amount of time there, the path we’re on takes us to a tiny island. It’s a rock thirty meters in diameter. This is where I’m going to have to spend a month in real time?

  Given the fact that it’s the ninth layer in the astral, that will be nine months of in-game time. I’m going to have to find a new island as soon as I get back into Project Chrysalis. The timer counts down my last minutes, and I wake up in my room at the Azure August resort.

  My body is much healthier now that I’ve spent the intervening time in the med capsule. I can walk normally, and my skin isn’t translucent anymore. Judging by my motor skills, my salt balance is back to normal, too. I stand for a little while, though my muscles, which haven’t had exercise in a while, quickly tire. My head buzzes. That’s really bad. I have to wonder if I had a ministroke or if the blood vessels in my brain are wearing out
faster than the capsule can restore them. The resonance didn’t kill me, though my brain is in a highly vulnerable state.

  I barely have time to change into dry clothes when Claude walks in with an aerochair. He takes me to the main building before handing me over to another doctor, and the two of us continue on together.

  It turns out that the resort has an enormous basement where the clinic is located. I’m led down a corridor lined with doors, behind one of which something is giving off powerful electromagnetic waves. Could they have a transformer hidden down here?

  We walk past the room, and I make a mental note to peek inside some time and see what’s hiding there.

  My chair is pushed into an office at the end of the corridor. There isn’t a single surgeon there, neither human nor robot. The same doctor places me in a capsule with a thick, silvery solution.

  Oh, nasty! It moved!

  Before I can ask a single question, I sink into sleep. There are no dreams, just darkness and a light shining somewhere off in the distance. Time goes by, though I’m not sure how much, and I wake up to find myself in Project Chrysalis on the same island I logged out from.

  By the time Femida gets back, I’m already inventorying all the items I have for brewing potions.

  The last thing I take out of my bag is MoroKrai’s heart. The enormous piece of blood malachite with diamond veins pulses a light red color, and the crimson waves wash over the crystal in time with the heartbeat. Femida whistles in surprise.

  “Where did you find something like that? You’ve been trying to save money, saying you don’t have any, and then you pull a stationary mana storage out of your pocket. Please don’t tell me you’re going to experiment on it…”

  “No, I’ll probably sell it at the auction as soon as the recovery procedure is done. I want to go with a twelfth-generation neuronet for multi-stream work with the infonet, and twelve pairs of modifications are going to run me around six hundred thousand credits. With how much I’ve spent over the last month, I’m down to about ten thousand credits from four and a half million.”