I launched myself at the leader. I had slung the shield over my shoulder and was clutching the sword in a two-handed grip, aiming for the back of the animal’s neck...
“Dan, watch out!”
The smoky wolf had sensed the danger somehow and spun around sharply, showing more complex behavior than ordinary NPCs.
We struck at the same time. The tip of the sword sunk noisily into the wolf’s chest, while he managed to tear my shoulder with his dying effort.
I didn’t feel any pain at first. My left arm dangled uselessly. I was overcome with dizziness and the sword dropped into the blood-splattered grass.
…
Heavy bleeding. Damage 5 HP/sec.
Painful shock. Negative effect: your Strength, Stamina and Dexterity have been reduced by 2 points.
…
I staggered but the minor healing cast by Jeb helped to keep me conscious. Everything swam before my eyes as I searched for my weapon by touch, with only one thought pulsing in my head, ‘I’m surrounded, they’re going to tear me apart.’
Despite my dread, the four wounded animals suddenly dropped dead where they stood.
What the hell was going on?!
A scarlet mist ran from the mobs’ wounds towards the pack leader. The smoky body suddenly convulsed. His eyes opened.
My hand found the sword hilt, sticky with blood.
The pack leader convulsed again and raised himself up on unsteady paws. Death was leaving his gaze...
…
You are observing a mutation of the Abyss.
Name it and add the information to the Encyclopedia. (+5 to Fame)
You have discovered a new type of Abyss-altered creature.
…
The lines of text wavered before my eyes. Jeb used up the crumbs of the mana that he had gathered to cast another minor healing spell on me.
I got up, leaning on my sword and croaked “Falling strike...”
He understood me at once. Holding the spear in both hands, Jeb leaped straight down, pinning the smoky wolf to the ground.
A terrible howl echoed across the forest.
…
You have gone up a level.
* * *
“Dan, we have to go!”
My HP bar was in the red. The health bar didn’t recover when one gained a level at the Edge of the Abyss.
“Wait, I’m being offered to publish the new information.”
“Do it later!”
“No, I have to do it now. If I have no free experience points, I’ll lose my new level if I die!”
“What did you get?”
“Twenty-nine.”
“Oh, I went up two levels in one go! Dan, will the publication count for me, too?”
“I think so. Let’s check. We’re part of one party, remember?”
“Fine.” he agreed reluctantly. I had no idea what awaited us next but I didn’t want to lose the level. “I’ll heal you a bit in the meantime. I bet the pack didn’t have any competition around here,” Jeb said but nevertheless kept a wary watch around him.
I opened the field diary tab. I knew from past publications that the system would create a brief description with an accompanying illustration.
That’s right. A new page had appeared in the diary. There was a sketch of the wolf, made with a few deft strokes, as it tried to get up after dying, smoky red plumes stretching toward him from all directions.
Why did I suddenly decide to publish?
The information about the wolf wasn’t so valuable. I thought there were plenty of such creatures in these forests and somebody else would soon make a similar discovery. It was pointless to keep this knowledge ‘up my sleeve’. I also wanted to protect myself from losing a level, and confuse the Dark ones as well. Jeb and I wouldn’t stay here for long. I wouldn’t mention the portal — let them try and figure out where we’d ended up. The illustration showed a forest thicket and they all looked the same.
I quickly composed a description, editing the offered option so that there was no hint of our true location.
…
Twilight Wolf. Inhabits the wooded foothills of the Dark Frontier. Obtained its mutation from the noxious influence of a nearby portal that hadn’t been closed after the invasion of the Abyss.
Possesses increased Stamina.
Vulnerable to fire.
Unique ability: Second Chance. Can revive itself after death by stealing the remaining lives of the other animals in the pack.
Recommendation: first kill all the regular wolves so that their leader can’t use Second Chance.
…
Great! I published it. Now the Dark players wouldn’t be able to find us any time soon. After reading the article, they would first prowl around the active Abyss portals, not suspecting that this one — I involuntarily glanced toward the golden glow — was now operating in normal mode.
…
Your article has been published.
You have gone up a level.
…
“Dan, I also have a note in my traveler’s diary!”
“About the wolf?”
“No. When I climbed up that tree, I saw a roof. I thought that I had imagined it.”
“Can you show me what’s written in there?”
“Well, it’s not a discovery. It’s a link to a Wiki article.”
“What does it say?”
“Any structure, even a dilapidated one, can serve as a safe shelter for the traveler, providing an opportunity to rest,” he read aloud.
“Do you remember the direction?”
“It’s downhill. We can’t miss it.”
“Let’s take a look. That’s it. I’ve published the article. Did you know that we’re in the foothills of the Dark Frontier?”
“In the foothills? So we got out?” Jeb looked delighted.
“Wait, we first need to find a respawn point and change our anchor point. Well, did you get any experience points?”
“Yeah! Two and a half thousand.”
“Excellent! Then let’s go and search for the hut.”
My Life bar was back to half-full by this point. My shoulder was hurting but the wound had already closed, thanks to the frequent minor healing spells that my companion kept casting on me.
Chapter Twelve
FOR THE LAST few minutes, Jeb and I had been carefully making our way along a sloping ravine. The bottom was covered in a thick layer of rotting leaves with moss-covered branches poking out of it.
The forest rustled overhead and birds were chirping.
We didn’t have to go far. Soon a picturesque view appeared before us: the outcropping of rock had formed a low cliff with water trickling from the cracks. A little further down the slope stood a cluster of long-abandoned buildings, dark with age.
…
You have discovered the location The Old Mine.
…
Another building stood level with the cliff, a primitive cage lift. The rotten decking and a winch with a rickety wheel all spoke of long abandonment.
“Jeb, I’ll go first. If anything happens, you can cover me with your magic.”
He nodded and made himself ready. The salamander skin glove smoldered on his left hand and in his right, my companion held his makeshift staff.
I jumped onto the top platform. The boards creaked alarmingly yet held my weight, but it was the cobbled-together ladder that tripped me up, several rungs crumbling into dust so that I just managed to grab the vertical bar and slide along it.
There was nobody around. The birds continued chirping, accompanied by the bright splashing of water on the rocks.
“All right, now you go!”
It was getting dark. The mountain slopes seemed to be covered in green velvet, while above, standing out against the sunset sky, rose the bleak and weathered cliffs of the Dark Frontier.
Jeb descended hurriedly, peering anxiously around him.
“Dan, look!” he exclaimed, pointing to a few roughly hewn slabs barely rising
above the ground. “The respawn point!”
We dashed over to the sunken stone circle. Alas, we were in for a severe disappointment as one segment was missing.
“Wait,” my companion looked around distractedly in search of the missing fragment but to no avail.
“Let’s go into the house.”
“But...”
“Jeb, do you really think that you can repair the respawn circle?”
“What do we do?” he asked dejectedly.
“Come on!” I pushed him towards the ‘miner’s hut’ as my minimap had named the rickety structure.
It was empty inside. Rays of light penetrated through the cracks in the boards. The interior consisted of a rough table, low benches and piles of musty straw.
“We’ll spend the night here and decide what to do in the morning.”
I even had enough time to glance through the article, whose link Jeb had sent me. According to the rules, any structure in the Wild Lands, even such a dilapidated and abandoned one, could become a temporary safe zone for the weary traveler. I wondered if it would work in the foothills of the Dark Frontier. Let’s check...
I closed the door tightly, and a faint green aura immediately appeared around the perimeter of the walls.
…
You have activated the safe rest zone.
Duration of protective aura is 6 hours. Repeat use is possible after 24 hours (absence of enemies nearby is a prerequisite for activation).
…
“Get comfortable. Tomorrow is another day.” Jeb didn’t quite understand my utterance and looked at me questioningly. “Let’s go to bed.”
He nodded. I could barely remain upright, the fatigue overwhelming me as soon as we found ourselves in relative safety. We had to rest. We had no idea what tomorrow would bring.
Jeber_Arium approached the task with all seriousness. When he saw how I had collapsed on the bench, he quickly went through all the straw, dragged the rotten parts away to the far corner and laid the remainder out on the ground. Yet he didn’t stop there. While I was trying to get comfortable on the hard and prickly bedding, he took a strange item from his inventory. It turned out to be a ball of thread-like moss from the underground. Jeb shook it out and it unrolled like a carefully folded mist net.
He threw it over the doorway and the net clung to the cracked boards, pulsating jerkily.
All right. I hoped he knew what he was doing. Some extra protection wouldn’t hurt.
I couldn’t keep my eyes open and yet I didn’t succumb to the staggering weakness. There was still more to do. Unfinished business. I wouldn’t go out into the real world since the process took too much precious time but I’d try something different.
In the age of high tech, movement between IT environments was instantaneous. I hadn’t forgotten about the chip that Max had given me but had been afraid to use it since the device had belonged to the Mongooses, and my relations with the Clan leadership were rather strained. But now I wasn’t risking anything in terms of security.
The personal virtual space met me with gray murk. Several lines of text glowed against the bleak, indistinct haze.
I quickly figured out the settings and activated the ‘standard background’ option. There was no time to dabble in the delights of design, I needed functionality.
The haze transformed. Now I was inside an ordinary apartment. I wouldn’t have been surprised if it was the same one as the apartment where the VR capsule was located. That’s right. My communicator lay at the edge of the table...
Connect to the device.
…
You have two missed calls.
I frowned. Both were from the hospital. Well, that was the reason why I had gone into the personal virtual space, to find out how Sasha was doing and whether Max had turned up.
No word from Maxim. I rang the hospital back.
“Andrey Dmitrievich, I presume?”
“Yes, that’s right. Sorry, doc, I couldn’t get in touch earlier. How are things going? I was inquiring about Alexander, if you remember?”
“Of course. He’s the reason I was calling you. His condition remains the same,” the doctor said before I could ask. “However, we are facing some serious problems.”
“What kind of problems?”
“Of a social nature. Are you aware that Alexander was officially listed as unemployed?”
“No.”
“He has the minimum health insurance package. We haven’t been able to find any relatives. It’s why we called you, because there is nobody else.”
“What does he need?”
“Regenerative treatment. Immediately.”
“The health insurance doesn’t cover such procedures?”
“No.”
“I’ll think of something. What kind of figure are we talking about?”
“For a full recovery, he needs at least thirty days in the bioreconstruction chamber. This includes regeneration of the respiratory system, skin, and some severely damaged muscles. We have the necessary equipment, but…”
“Doc, let’s get to the point.”
“It’s a paid procedure and costs 1,100 credits per day.”
I couldn’t help but shudder. It was an impossible amount for me. Several options flashed through my mind. What could I do? Sell the house. Construction companies would transfer the money quickly and without any questions. I’d be able to get 17,000-18,000 credits out of them. Personal savings? That was another few thousands. That was it. Dead end. Denis wouldn’t be able to help me.
“You can’t cover that?”
“I’m going to send over copies of the documents,” I replied mechanically. “Please accept them as warranty. It’ll definitely be enough for two weeks.”
“Sure, I’ll wait. Send them over. Right, got them... Are you sure that you’ll be able to make the deal?”
“Yes.”
“Good. We’ll start the treatment, but you must make the first payment within the next day. I’ll prepare the contract and send it to you.”
* * *
All I needed when dealing with the auto real estate agent was a digital signature on the documents. The metropolis had come right up to the village and offers for the urgent purchase of my house and land (which I had inherited from my parents) had been coming in regularly.
Where could I get the missing amount?
I’d have never thought that my sensible and steady life would be turned on its head in only a few days.
Right, I couldn’t touch Denis’ VR capsule. I needed it as a safety net. The future was now utterly uncertain.
I’d be able to get some money for teleport coordinates. It was a shame that I had nobody to ask for advice.
Although... What about my nephew? It was time to give him a call.
Denis replied at once.
“Hi! How are you? Have you settled in?”
That’s right. Less than a week has passed. In his mind, I’d been performing the simple work of a mule and admiring the beauty of the safe region.
“I have. And I’ve screwed up your character.”
“Did you level up?” He sounded genuinely freaked out.
“I can’t sum it all up. Do you have time? I need your advice.”
I had to lay out everything, albeit briefly.
Denis sat in shocked silence for a while, then asked, “Listen, have you completely lost your mind? How am I going to pay off the capsule loan? And what about you? Do you realize that you’re now homeless?!”
“That’s not your concern. I’m trying the save a guy’s life. I need advice right now, whom can I contact to sell the portal coordinates? Someone who won’t screw me over and will give me a decent price.”
“That’s beyond my level of contacts,” Denis muttered. “Once you get to Anchor, approach the Mapmakers Guild. You won’t get the highest price but it’ll be a safe deal. They’re interested in this sort of information.”
“Middlemen? Will they resell the coordinates?”
“Why
do you care? Anyway, sorry, I’ve got to go.”
Edge of the Abyss (Respawn Trials Book #1) LitRPG Series Page 18
