by Paul Kite
The wizard was mumbling something about someone setting all those monsters on Kraven’s group, running after the pack of monsters that had followed them into the forest. They rushed to the clearing in all their agility. The aggression of the local fauna was too focused. The animals in the forest usually never behave in such a coherent manner, attacking only a specific pray.
On the move, Anax activated one of his favorite spells. The wall of fire rose right in front of the pack to a height of about five yards and three times wider. It instantly burned the animals who were at the head of the group and those mobs that did not have the time to stop.
The wizard grinned and gestured with his hand as if beckoning the fire wall to himself. The flames moved toward Anax, burning everything in their path — trees, monsters, and even earth. It left only a solidified petrified crust behind it.
“The roast’s served, sir!” The wizard commented, grimacing from the unpleasant smell of scorched fur and burnt flesh.
After dispelling the fiery wall, Anax finished off the surviving monsters with simpler spells based on ice and lightning.
But then one of the tracking spells worked and for a moment, closing his eyes, the wizard considered the new data received through the system.
“Those strange squirrels again. Well, I have something to take care of you!” The wizard then activated a spell, creating traps for the unsuspecting foes.
“That’s much better.” And without checking how many of the sarkans he’d killed, Anax hurried to the clearing where Kraven and the monk from the monastery of Ardal were fighting off another attack of the mobs.
Putting the illusion on himself on the way, the wizard approached the edge of the glade, deciding to watch what was happening from afar. He would have intervened when it was necessary. But the man handled himself rather well. Kraven quickly killed five reptiles that walked on their hind legs and had practically atrophied forelimbs. The rest of the mobs left the battlefield hurriedly.
“Livion, when I return, you’ll owe me a huge bonus!” Anax grinned smugly.
* * *
We ran through the forest. We stopped only occasionally if, on our way, there were insurmountable obstacles in the form of wild, poisonous bushes, fallen trees, and unknown marshes. Then we hurriedly searched for a safe path to go around and continued moving.
A pair of expensive and best bottles (there was no idle inventory in my inventory. Zorkhan supplied me with the most high-quality specimens on the mainland) of an endurance potion were enough for us to go on for more than two hours of tireless running. I’d even developed my agility. Moreover, I got the skill ‘Acrobatics’, and leveled it up to the third level.
Having drunk the second pair of potions, we ran again. And the monk, in spite of his fat build, didn’t lag behind, and sometimes was ahead of me.
I had no idea how he oriented himself in that forest and knew exactly where the mountain range and the Ardal monastery were located. But the long chain of high mountains covered with a green carpet appeared in the distance two hours later.
“How many potions ... do you have ... left?” Breathing hard, like a galloping horse, the Ardaler asked on the move.
“Four,” I replied after a brief stop, checking the inventory.
“They... should... be enough.”
“Yeah.”
Dodging a branch growing at the level of my head, I pushed off the ground and jumped over the rotten trunk of a fallen tree.
A monk cursed from behind, trying to repeat my acrobatic trick on the fly.
“I am ... not so young ... to leap ... like a mountain goat,” the monk chided me as he came along. “Choose a ... more even ... road.”
A tree, bushes... again a tree... a small, muddy stream... That forest was going to hunt me in my nightmares for a very long time. I’d remember it and the local inhabitants for the rest of my life.
I noticed a snake at the last moment. It was sliding along a branch in our direction. That didn’t stop me from snatching my sword and cutting off the creature’s head with a single swing.
Although, it turned out it was not a snake ... I saw hundreds of moving pairs of legs on a long body that was writhing in agony. They were twitching, trying vainly to catch on to something. It another hybrid mob of that island.
It was getting dark. The light of the sun that was setting on the horizon turned the terrible forest into a real live horror movie.
Suddenly the trees of the nightmarish forest parted to reveal the rapids of a powerful, violent river.
“The Vilaya,” pointing to the river, the monk said enthusiastically. “We need to cross to the other side and follow it upstream. We’ll come across an abandoned path and climb it to the monastery.”
We sat right next to the water, deciding to take a short break. The important thing was to have time to get to Ardal before my last potions of stamina ran out, and their effect subsided. After all, quite a hard and unpleasant withdrawal was waiting for us after that. That was a debuff that completely weakened the character for the whole day, inducing drowsiness and low reaction rate. Yes, the abuse of some potions in the world of Noria was very harmful to health, despite the fact that it was just a game.
“Swim?” I specified.
“Why not? Although the current’s strong, there’s nothing else besides the fish,” the Ardaler shrugged.
“I hope it’s not predatory fish,” I grinned.
“No,” the monk didn’t understand the humor. “Ordinary river fish. Tasty by the way! You can’t find it on the mainland. I don’t know why, though.”
“Ok, let’s go swimming. We’ve had enough rest.”
I dived into the river.
The water was ice cold. I moved my hands faster, wanting only one thing — to get to the opposite shore as soon as possible.
“I forgot to warn you,” the monk shouted to me, “it’s cold! Its source originates high in the mountains!”
He slowly eased into the water, getting used to the low temperature, and then swam behind me with precise, measured strokes.
We got to the opposite shore wet and chilled. The best choice was to start running again, in an attempt to warm up somehow. The monk, of course, was running in front of me, so as not to miss the path, since he was the only person who knew where it began.
That didn’t help though. He missed it. We had to circle back. We went deeper into the forest, then returned to the river and walked more slowly, carefully examining the surroundings.
Finally, we found it. The trail was heavily overgrown with young trees and bushes. An unusual vine reached their ubiquitous branches. I would never have thought that it was the path we were looking for if the monk had not exclaimed with joy.
Then it was time for me to go first, as the only possessor of a weapon. I used my sword instead of a machete, although it was much heavier. And where we could not squeeze between the branches of the plants, the sharp blade was set in motion. I cut our way through the thickets.
We walked uphill for a very long time. Night came, and it was pitch-black. I had to use a scroll of the ‘firefly’ spell. It was a small luminous ball of energy, which I had to use despite the possibility of being detected by the dangerous mountain inhabitants. The monk, of course, looked at me with displeasure, but nevertheless said nothing, thus agreeing with the fact that we had to light our way.
Quite unexpectedly the trail suddenly broke off, and we stopped right at the base of a high cliff. I raised my head up and barely saw the vague outlines of buildings located on top of it far away.
“I can’t even imagine how to get up there,” I said disappointedly.
The monk didn’t seem to hear my words. He approached the bare stonewall and looked at it carefully. Then he moved five steps to the side, to where many small cracks were visible, forming a rather strange unnatural pattern. His fingers gently felt a couple of cracks in the very center of the pattern. A shout of the satisfied monk was heard and somehow a small piece of a flat stone appeared in the
hands of the monk. He pressed his hand to the cavity and closed his eyes.
A quiet rustle sounded at first, as if someone rubbed two stones between them, trying to strike a spark. Then the part of the wall between the cracks jerked, throwing off dust and sand, and revealed an entrance into the cliff.
“Are you surprised?” The monk was smiling happily. “It’s a dwarven mechanism and a bit of magic. Only the people who know this spell can open it. No one else can do it, no matter how hard he tries.”
I had already taken a step forward, as the Ardaler stopped me, blocking the way with his firm hand.
“There are traps! Wait!” He looked at me in alarm.
“Got it,” I agreed to wait. It made sense because hardly anyone would create a secret entrance without proper protection or hidden mechanisms.
“I’ll go first, and you follow me at a distance of five steps. If I stop, don’t come closer, until I say so. Traps aren’t neutralized quickly. I’ll have to bring them into a good working condition again,” the monk sighed with distress. “Okay, as we go up to the monastery, I’ll immediately send someone to do it.”
“Good, good,” I hurriedly agreed with him.
We walked along a dark corridor for about thirty yards and the monk had neutralized as many as five traps. I did not go into the essence of their functioning. Then we came to a spiral staircase going vertically upwards. Its steps were carved right in the stone around the walls of a wide well. If it weren’t a game, I would have felt bad for those who were engaged in such difficult and tedious business of chiseling a passage through molten rock. With a good mage, those steps could have been built in a month, or even faster.
The staircase led to a room as dark as the lower corridor. There wasn’t a single source of light. It was a very big room. Only a new ‘firefly’, which I activated soon, saved us from an accidental fall into a seemingly bottomless well. It wasn’t even surrounded by a fence.
It was a completely empty room, without a single window or furniture. Only a double door was visible on the outermost wall. That had to be our way out. I noticed one rather strange feature. The walls of the room were lined with more or less rectangular stones of different sizes. The color scheme was very different, ranging from black to almost white. But the floor of the room was lined with perfect 5x5 tiles. They were of gold and silver color and lay strictly in a checkerboard pattern.
“Stay where you are,” The monk warned me. “Don’t try to step forward. The first row’s safe in all directions, but further…” he waved his hand, not wanting to describe the possible options for the destruction of uninvited guests. “I need to try and recall the order of passage, then reach the door and deactivate the trap.”
Of course, I obeyed his advice. I cautiously stepped away from the tiles towards the top of the stairs. I felt safer there. In order not to stumble and fall, I firmly pressed myself against the wall next to them.
I didn’t see which squares the monk stepped on to get to the door. After hearing him shout to me that everything was fine, I stepped forward and cautiously stepped on one of the tiles. The first row, the second, the third ... every second I expected that some kind of trap would spring. But fortunately, I reached the monk safely; he had already opened the door by that time.
We found ourselves on the street. Two young men were standing at the door. They were dressed in exactly the same robe as my new acquaintance. At first, they looked alarmed a bit, but then they recognized the obese monk. The guards bowed low, welcoming the eldest and highest-ranking monk in their local ranks.
“You,” the monk pointed to one of them. “Find Narco, the trap wizard. Tell him not to dally and start to reactivate the secret traps immediately in the secret passage.” “You,” he addressed the second guard, “Lock the door and wait for the master.”
“Yes, Eldest!” They both barked in response.
The monk forgot about them instantly and led somewhere hastily along the dimly lit, narrow streets of the monastery.
“You’ll spend this night in my chambers, and tomorrow we’ll find you someplace else.” The monk brought me to one of the tall stone buildings.
“Here we are,” he let me into the small room of a true ascetic.
There was a rough bed made of a straw mattress, a blanket, but there was no pillow at all. A small table with a stool pushed under it stood at the headboard.
“I’m going to look for someone from the council, I must tell them about what happened,” the monk said yawning, “before the withdrawal effect from your potions hit me. It would be wise to get some well-deserved rest after our adventure.”
He was absolutely right. The best option for us was to go to bed and sleep a little longer than usual. That could make it easier for us to deal with the debuff itself. After I woke up, I’d have less time to suffer.
First, I wanted to look at my levels and new skills.
Chapter 8
Name: Kraven
Level: 35
Race: Human
Class: Shadow
Clan: absent
Guild: ‘Elghinn Dal Veldrin’
Characteristics:
Major:
Strength - 40
Agility - 70
Intelligence - 23
Secondary:
Life - 400
Endurance - 700
Mana - 230
Distribution points: 9
Skills:
Acrobatics - 5
Crossbow - 3
Class skills:
Vampirism - 9, Double strike - 17, Paired Weapon - 21, Bleeding - 9, Shadow - 1, Spurt - 15, Invisibility - 9, Silent Death - 2
Specialties: Gardener - 2
Achievements: ‘At death’s door’ - 2, Researcher - 2
Sensitivity: 70%.
Binding: The Daggers of Chaos, The Black Wolf Totem ‘Zuraval arn Rar’
The researcher achievement was puzzling. The description wasn’t available at the moment. Why did I get that achievement? Logically, a researcher was one who finds new types of animals, new lands, in general, everything new and unknown. However, he would have to be the first of the players to discover it. Or maybe one of the first ten people. I would have liked to know what benefits that achievement gave me.
Unfortunately, it had to wait. Having rejoiced at the raised levels of skills and characteristics, I immediately distributed the free points I had received.
So, I saw the Ardal monastery in all its glory. I was standing on the very last floor of the central tower of the Airnas temple. He was a human patron god. I was looking at the picturesque view from the window of an ancient structure.
There were multi-story stone buildings, designed for the habitation of the numerous monastic brethren. They were located on the edge of a perfectly smooth sheer cliff. Transitions and additional non-residential buildings connected the buildings. The Airnas temple with five towers stood in the very center of the monastery. Many other variegated buildings dotted the monastery grounds. An armory, barracks of warriors and archers who were working for the monks, canteens, and training and meditation halls were among them.
The monastery was located in an inaccessible location. Only one road led to Ardal, an isthmus of rocks hanging over the abyss between the monastery and the island. A narrow path led across the isthmus to the top of those rocks. In the event of an attack, the natural eaves could be brought down on the heads of the opponents. The stone shower would block the path and kill a large number of warriors. It was possible to drop down heavy stones, hot tar, and activated spells.
That monastery was like a virtually impregnable fortress. In the world of magic though, complete inaccessibility was out of the question. There would always be some genius, a clever man who had managed to find an approach to a seemingly ideally protected structure.
I had to become one of those clever men. I needed to enter the prison located under the monastery and release the wizard. But I still knew neither the location of the entrance nor the principles of its prote
ction.
It turned out that Ra-Lam (I learned the elder monk’s name from one of the young men) gave me a week to rest. Then I was obliged to take the oath to service for the first circle of the council of the monastery of Ardal in the Airnas temple. Thus, I was going to get the title of a junior novice and go into service of one of the masters of battle for further training. This, of course, was not part of my plan.
It was good that I was allowed to walk around the territory of the monastery and enter the local buildings and structures. Of course, I did not have access to the guarded premises, like the place where the secret passage led through the heart of the rock. So, I was up in that tower, but I needed to explore the area and see how everything was arranged in Ardal.
I succeeded partly, being able to see the monastery perfectly from the height of the tower. But I could not find out where the entrance to the prison was from that position. It was unlikely that it was hidden in residential buildings. It wasn’t in the temple either. I checked it first. I also investigated all the numerous doors and rooms behind them.
Going downstairs, I nodded to the old man, who was mumbling some prayer on his knees in front of the statue. Then I headed straight for the exit from the temple.
It was strange that they did not attach spies to me. No one cared that I constantly popped my curious nose into every hole. No, of course, some monks graced me with suspicious glances, but it was their only reaction to my curiosity. Although, the security guards were watching me closely. When I tried to look into the armory for the first time, two sturdy security guards with short swords on their belts warned me calmly that it was forbidden to enter that room. Well, I was just trying to find out if the secret passage to the prison was there, but it’s not like I could have told them that. When I tried to enter the armory for the second time, the guards promised to send me to the punishment cell to atone for my sins. And they didn’t care that I wasn't a novice. Unfortunately, it wasn't the cell that I needed. I thought at first that it was located in the prison. But, they wanted to send me to the nearest punishment cell which was situated near the temple for my re-education. I didn’t dare to appear there for the third time. One of the guards watched me carefully from then on, with a hand on the sword hilt.
