The Crimson Quest: A LitRPG Adventure

by J. B. Smith

  “I also need gold,” he replied. “I can't just work for free. That's fair, isn't it?

  Before I could answer him, a peasant stabbed him in the back. "Die," muttered the peasant.

  Ronald yelled. “He stabbed me! Why? W hy have you done this? He asked, falling to his knees.

  The peasant turned to the other peasants and put on a pleasant air. “I killed the human named Ronald. He stole my gold, so I killed him.

  The peasants all smiled. What the hell? They were cold-hearted little guys. Hope this was a good indication of what they would look like during the Bandit Raid. My eyes fell on Ronald on the ground. "Help me. Please," he mumbled.

  I grabbed the hilt of the sword and pulled it out of him. Then I realized something. We had a healer. What the hell? What was Sonny doing? "Son! Heal Ronald.

  "Me? Do you want me to heal Ronald? Sonny asked nervously. " Yes. Yes of course. I'll heal him. T hat is what I'm going to do ".

  Ronald did not look healthy. In fact, he looked like he was at death's door. Her face was the color of milk and blood was flowing. Sonny placed his hands on his body, but nothing happened. "Do it! He'll be dead anytime," I shouted.

  Sonny closed his eyes and his body started to shake. Her hands began to glow green. “I see it,” I shouted. "I see your healing energy!"

  His hands were green, but Ronald didn't wake up. Sonny started to cough. Then he fell by his side. "Son?"

  I ran to him and started to shake his body. "Are you OK?"

  His face was red. "My healing energy is too impressive," he mumbled.

  Too impressive? It looked like it didn't bother me. I pointed the finger at Ronald because I knew death was only moments away. “Ronald is not doing well. He's about to die. You must start healing him again before it's too late.

  "And me?" Sonny asked with a roar. "What about my health? Have you ever thought of that? "

  I watched Ronald's body as it shriveled and vanished. It was official, Ronald was dead. I felt bad for him. How did his life come to be at this precise moment? Death by a peasant. It didn't sound like an awesome way to die. I shook my head.

  “I 'm not really happy he's dead,” Johnny said behind me. “But, I never really liked this guy. There was just something about him. But I wish he was still alive. I mean, I do a little.

  "Yes, Ronald wasn't much of a talker," Cosmo replied, throwing dirt on the floor where his body was. “I hate to see him leave us. But what happened has happened. We cannot mourn his death forever.

  Mourn her death forever? It had only lasted 30 seconds. How could we mourn his death forever? I scanned the ground just to make sure Ronald didn't leave any gold at all. No, he had nothing. Only his red leather outfit was left behind. I examined it and realized it was worthless.

  I looked at Sonny. He was still on the ground. "What happened? What happened to your great healing magic?"

  Sonny huffed and huffed before kneeling down. "Damn. I got my dress dirty. Can you believe that? How the hell am I going to get rid of it?

  "Why didn't you heal him?"

  Sonny brushed his cut bowl straight down with his hands. “Because I channeled my energy too quickly. If I want to heal someone, I'm going to need a warning period. You know, like some kind of warning system . Kind of like how they got tornado watches on the weather. Well I need a tornado watch before it turns into a tornado warning. Understand what I'm saying? "

  "What the fuck are you talking about man?" What you just said makes no sense. People die instantly. Like, there is no warning for that.

  “I need a system. You need to alert me before a blade hits anyone. That's all I ask. If you can do this, things will be much better. "

  "Dude, that's pretty much impossible."

  "Does my dress still look bright yellow?" Sonny asked pulling out his stomach. "I mean, it hasn't lost any of its brightness, has it?"

  "It still looks as crappy as ever," Johnny replied.

  "Are you serious right now?" Sonny asked with a puckered face.

  “Oh , let's stop arguing,” Cosmo yelled. “Congratulations to the peasant who killed Ronald. I know Ronald shouldn't have been killed, but this peasant still showed a lot of motivation. We want to encourage that motivation, don't we? I mean, it might be good for the military.

  “Congratulations,” Johnny said as he walked over to the farmer. "I want to shake your hand."

  The farmer looked surprised as he shook Johnny's hand. "Thank you. Thank you very much."

  What was going on here? Was I the only safe person here? Thank him for killing Ronald? It was pure psychopathic behavior. How the hell did he justify murdering Ronald for picking up a gold coin? And why was Johnny thanking him? "What are you doing Johnny?"

  "What? I miss Ronald a bit, but the past is the past.

  “What happened was a tragedy,” Cosmo said. “But, you have to make the most of every tragedy in life. You can't sit and cry all day. You have to get up and come back to it.

  I guess that was one way of looking at it. Suddenly I received an alert:

  Friends request

  Ronald The Great wants to add you as a friend. I accept? Yes No?

  Wow! The request of a friend of Ronald? I almost didn't want to accept it. But I was curious to see what he had to say. So I accepted it. Then a message alert appeared. It was from Ronald:

  "OMG !! What happened to me? Please help !!!! I am with all these other characters and ghosts a guy with a light looking for us. Everyone said that if we found, we are done. They said only live players can help us. Everyone sends a message to everyone they know on their friends list. We are all waiting! Come and get me. I am at this place called UnderDead .

  Ronald.

  “Ronald just sent me a message. He says he's in UnderDead and someone's looking for him. I don't understand, who is looking for him?

  “Yeah,” Cosmo replied. “It's Soul Flies looking for him. If they capture his soul, they will take him to the lowest level in the game world. This level is known as ZeroDust. People don't like to talk about the dark side of BladeDust Online. But, there is a dark side.

  My heart started racing. "What do you mean?"

  “Once your soul is captured by a fly, you are sent to ZeroDust. The place is basically a labor camp. They make you work there until you can't work anymore. You are only fed if you earn more than the cost of the meal. If you get sick or can't work at a productive level, well, they'll seal your soul.

  "Seal your soul?"

  “They put it in a capsule. From what I've heard, it's terrible. You are stuck in a space of "nowhere" where nothing exists except your own thoughts. The minutes look like days. All you have is darkness and your thoughts.

  Was he serious? How could I have never heard of this? I knew being a "lost soul" was bad, but I never knew it was so bad. Now I understood why Todd wanted us to think so badly. "So what happens then? I mean, you can be "unsealed", can't you? "

  “It's possible. But it's not easy. You will have to get another lost soul ready to be sent to ZeroDust. The only motivation for that would be a really good salary. After all, the player would also risk getting stuck in the underworld.

  Shit. That alone was scary, but it was even scarier given the problem. "What if this 'no exit' problem is not resolved?" Will players stay in a dark space forever? "

  "It's possible. Everyone has to be extra careful now. Some players log out and quit the game when they get to ZeroDust. But things are different now. It would be hell to get stuck at ZeroDust with this problem. . "

  Thin. It would suck. Now I realized that saving Todd was more important than ever. But what about Ronald? It seemed like too much savings to me. I could only save Ronald if I saw him on his way to save Todd. If I didn't see him, I just couldn't save him. I mean, maybe it was possible. But, Ronald wasn't cool like Todd was. I knew it for sure. And I had to remember how evil Ronald was when I first met him. Yeah, I wouldn't save it unless it was super convenient.

  I looked at the peasants. They all held swords
and wore iron armor. “Everyone looks good,” I said with a smile .

  The peasant who killed Ronald had a blood stain on his chest plate. He held his sword in the air. "Let's kill something," he cried.

  "It's the spirit," Cosmo replied.

  "Now what? Should we train our army?

  “Have you ever named the army? You can do this in the inventory. "

  Is that so? I did not know that. I quickly opened the inventory and looked for the option. Oh, it was here!

  Create your own army? Yes No?

  I clicked on yes. After that, I had the opportunity to add players to the military. "How to add peasants?"

  “Just type the first few letters. I mean, type them mentally, ”Cosmo replied.

  I did what he said. Then, a selection of peasants appeared. He asked me how much. I looked around and counted the peasants. There were 8 who wore armor and had swords. So I selected 8. Then he asked me to name my army. "What is the correct name of our army?" I asked enthusiastically.

  “Soul Destroyers,” Cosmo cried back.

  “Stray rats,” Johnny replied.

  Stray rats? It sounded like a terrible name. In fact, I didn't even like Soul Destroyers. It almost felt like we were bad guys or something. "I'm not crazy about either."

  I started to think. Shit. It was hard. It was what the world was going to sing about once we became the most powerful army in the world. What did I want them to sing? I continued to think but nothing occurred to me that I liked. Then it hit me. "The blades of tomorrow!" Do you like it guys?

  “It's not a name for an army,” Sonny replied. "How could you be so stupid?"

  “It's a good name. Alright, so what's the big name you came up with?

  "I have to think about it. You always rush me.

  I scratched my head. What would our army be called? It was so exciting and frustrating at the same time. Then I chose another name. "Swords of yesterday."

  "I like it," Cosmo replied.

  “Me too,” Johnny said.

  "I really don't like it," Sonny replied. "But at this point, I don't want to waste my precious mental energy anymore."

  I entered the name "Swords of Yesterday" and was asked another question. It was a question that asked who would be the commander of the army. I looked around. I wasn't even going to ask . The commander was me. Yes it was. I was the true leader of this army and I was going to earn all the glory it received. I entered my name and confirmed it. Then I got a message:

  Congratulations!

  Yesterday's army of swords has been created !

  Wow! It was official. I had an army! “Well, we are now officially the swords of yesterday. What does it do guys? "

  “I don't know,” Johnny replied.

  “It feels good,” Cosmo yelled.

  "Shit," Sonny muttered. “My dress has a little brown stain on it that won't come out. I've spat on it like twenty times. It's a stain, I just know it is.

  The peasants did not respond. They sort of just stood around with blank looks on their faces. I looked at the brown dirt under my feet. The area we were in was quite large. “We have to travel in the right formation. This way the other characters will know that we are an army.

  “Good idea,” Cosmo replied. “The peasants will go to the rear. Two rows of three and one row of two. Me and you will be in the front row. Johnny and Sonny will be behind us.

  "Why am I going behind you?" Sonny asked in confusion.

  "Because that's how it worked."

  "Are you suggesting that I am at the same level of importance as him ?" Sonny asked pointing to Johnny.

  “I'm important,” Johnny replied. "You should feel good next to me."

  Sonny looked frustrated. But, he finally accepted his position. The peasants dispersed behind us and we all took our positions. It felt good. It was really good. "Let's get out," I yelled.

  Chapter eighteen

  We started to walk and left the peasant village. After about 3 minutes of walking, a peasant began to cough. At first it looked like a normal cough. But then the cough lasted too long. I turned my head to look at the peasant. Suddenly he fell by her side. "What's wrong with him?"

  “Old age,” Johnny replied. “He was getting pretty old.

  "Old age? He only seems to be in his thirties to me," Sonny replied.

  The peasant continued to cough. "Do something Sonny," I yelled. "This is your chance to redeem yourself."

  Sonny pulled up his robe just to make sure it wouldn't get dirty again. He leaned over the peasant's body and began to mumble a few words. Her hands turned green, but then returned to normal. The peasant started to shake uncontrollably. Then he died. "What the hell is Sonny?" Couldn't you even cure a peasant?

  "What is that supposed to mean?" another peasant asked as if he was offended.

  “I needed a warning. He was dead instantly. How was I supposed to heal him so fast ? Remember that we have already talked about this. Or have you already forgotten?

  Was this guy serious? Did he really expect me to believe him? “Cosmo,” I shouted. “Tell Sonny that healers can heal instantly. If a character is still alive, they can be healed. Is it not true?

  "Of course it is. A healer would be worthless if he couldn't.

  "I wasn't born yesterday," Sonny replied with a boom. "You just subtly insulted me, didn't you?" And who do you call worthless? I'll tell you what's not worth anything. It is these peasants. How do you expect them to fight anyone when they are in such poor health . "

  Cosmo took a step closer to Sonny. "They are fine. Stop spreading your negativity.

  I felt bad for the peasant, but there was nothing we could do for him. I was starting to realize that Sonny was pretty much worthless shit. How could he be a healer when he didn't even heal anyone? I took a step forward and looked up. “Let's get back to your trainings,” I shouted.

  We kept walking until we entered a fairly dark forest area. Many players ran through the forest but paid no attention to us. The ground was covered in pine straw as tall pines hovered above us. Our footsteps creaked as we walked cautiously through the forest. Then, a group of three other figures emerged from behind a tree. A tall man with a white balaclava on his head pushes Cosmo. "I want everything you have."

  "You won't get it," Cosmo replied.

  The man drew a dagger and threw it at Cosmo. But, Cosmo side dealt the blow with a burst of speed. The man prepared for another attack. He lifted the da gger over his head and tried to stab Cosmo. But, there was an explosion of energy coming from Cosmo that caused the man to recoil. The man fell to the ground, along with his dagger. Cosmo grabbed the dagger and thrust it into the man's head. There was a loud crackle as the blood rushed everywhere.

  The other two men looked at each other. It seemed like they were wondering if they wanted to attack us or not. Cosmo's hand glowed with energy as the two men ran off. But, they couldn't escape. Suddenly, the two men flew through the air and crashed into a cluster of trees nearby.

  Cosmo stood over the body of the first man he had killed. But he didn't say anything. Instead, he watched her shrivel up. "Take the loot," he said before walking away.

  I looked behind us. The peasants just stood with blank looks on their faces. I guess they didn't see the need to help us. I looked at the ground. Yes! Booty? What did this guy have? I picked up the loot and examined it:

  Stone dagger

  Slot: left or right hand

  Level 3

  Value: 0.4 gold

  Weight: 0.29 lbs

  2 gold coins

  Yes! 2 full gold coins? It was the most gold I have ever found. I grabbed the coins, then opened up my inventory to see if the dagger was an upgrade or a downgrade. Damn, that actually took my damage points down by one. Well, I decided to keep it in case I got stuck.

  Cosmo walked over to the trees where the other two guys died. He picked up some loot. “Nothing too great. Typical for some bandit NPCs. "

  I knew Cosmo was a mage, but this was the first time I had
actually seen him do magic. It was so cool. "How did you do that?"

  “It's not difficult once you learn. It just takes time.

  “It was awesome! I couldn't believe how you criticized these guys for the tres.

  Cosmo laughs. “It drained my mana to nothing. It's just something I can do once with my current level. Plus, my magic has limits.

  "Limits? What sort of limits?"

  “I really don't have a lot of physical strength. I really focused only on improving my NightFall Magic levels. Without it, I would hardly be able to do any damage. "