Gestation
Page 7
New quest: Find the forbidden book
Bernard is looking for a way to get a book hidden in the basement under the main Temple of Teurus.
Reward: Bernard will teach Rachel nine first element spells.
∞ ∞ ∞
I stop to think. I’m no master of stealth, I don’t know how to pick locks, and I can’t see traps in the dark. On the other hand, anyone who’s lived in an orphanage knows how to steal. You have to have someone to stand watch. Also, you need someone to attract attention if you’re discovered, someone to cover your escape. That’s just the usual. But if they catch us…
“Anji, sweetie, please help. I’ve never asked you for anything! Nobody’s willing to teach me spells, so this is such a good chance. I’ll get the guys to join us, too. He won’t even talk to me.” Bernard just grunts and turns toward the window. “See? He doesn’t even want to look at me!”
How do you turn down a girl who’s looking at you so trustingly and piercingly with her light-blue eyes? She’s so close I can smell her perfume, see every thread in her dress. She’s so beautiful! I blush and look down.
“Okay, I’ll help you.”
Bernard turns back, taking that as my answer.
“I don’t care how you get the book.”
You accepted a quest: Find the forbidden book
Rachel’s eyes flash, she jumps for joy, and runs out of the reading room with a shriek. That’s perfect. I need to ask Bernard something.
“Last time, when we were talking about mages and their specialties, you mentioned a 50% damage bonus. Today, I read that you can get 100%.”
“There wasn’t anything about how you can get a 200% bonus? Weird. Ah, yes, there just aren’t many of those nutcases! There really aren’t any mages who go beyond the tenth step. Do you even know what a master swordsman is? They’re mage-killers! They even have mastery levels, and they have class amulets that suppress magic damage. But someone who’s a mage and a master swordsman at once? They’re death machines! Regular mages can’t do anything against them. Your only shot is going in with an epic set of equipment with divine enchantments. That way, you’d have a chance. But even winning your apprenticeship is practically impossible. There are tens of thousands of mages, but only hundreds with a rank. Even fewer give tests, since a third serve the crown. Another third are in security, the rest are in the army.”
“But what about that 200%? Were you joking?”
Bernard starts laughing quietly, then bursts out, practically in tears.
“Almost. You have to beat the academy’s archmage, a Level 750 universal mage. Nobody even knows what his true skills are. If you beat him, you become an archmage, and there have only been two over the past two thousand years. One is our venerable Tiberius Sen, the Academy of Magic’s archmage. The second was Kent, a wanderer like you. He beat Tiberius. There’s even a book about it.”
“What do you mean, a wanderer? We just started showing up two weeks ago. Although…wait, at the fair, you said that you’ve already met some wanderers. How? When?”
“Read the books. All I’ll tell you is that the last time they were here was 1500 years ago. Sometimes, they’re alone, and nobody pays you any attention. Why do you ask?”
I quickly gather my thoughts.
“Three questions. Magic seals: why isn’t there anything about them in the books? What do mages study starting in their fifth year? How will I find the book if it’s in a hiding place?”
“Seals are only used for stationary protection or summoning. In either case, that’s class knowledge. Second, you get a practice assignment. I mean, you do whatever you want or just improve your skills by completing quests. Mage ranks demonstrate mastery, experience, and strength. There aren’t many of them, but they’re a big honor. Third, learn this.”
You have a new skill offer: Perception
Perception lets you find things that are hidden: hiding places, treasure, traps, levers. It also helps you discover those who are using the stealth skill or camouflage. If the level of your skill is higher than the level of theirs, you will spot a trap, or something hidden.
∞ ∞ ∞
“Thanks.”
Ability learned: Perception
Perception: +1
In one of the taverns in the lower city, I find teachers for bandits, thieves, and assassins. They all teach stealth, so I head over into the far corner and crouch down, having entered in stealth mode. Newcomers activate their newly received skill on the spot, meaning that I see them and boost my perception. It’s both perception and stealth for me, and the next evening I finally get a message telling me that my skill is maxed.
Stealth keeps you invisible, and anyone can learn it. Bandit invisibility is the strongest mental class skill, and you can only get it at Level 50.
Camouflage isn’t a skill; it’s more an indicator of your ability to blend in with your surroundings.
Mages also have invisibility spells, though I don’t have access to them yet. You have to keep casting them, too.
It’s fun to sit there for two days, watch grown men drink beer and boast about how many rabbits they’ve shot. A few high-level thieves throw apples at me, calling it my punishment for being spotted. That turns out nice though. I don’t take any damage, and I’m going to enjoy the fruit on the way home, but not today.
∞ ∞ ∞
Rachel was on edge. Everyone involved in the plan was in place, and the last member of the team, the one responsible for doing the job, was about to show up. She was betting quite a bit, with Grunt and Ownie, with no idea about the stakes, her insurance. There was a way out if things went south.
∞ ∞ ∞
Rachel, Ownie, and Grunt were waiting near the temple. The guys take up their position, ready to lead the chase off away from us if we’re spotted, while Rachel and I walk in.
“Give me the dagger—I’ll cover you.” Rachel holds out her hand.
“It’s my knife. Father gave it to me!”
“I’ll give it back.”
The guys wait on the street. If something goes wrong, they’ll write to us in the group chat.
We get into the temple through the basement windows, one of them coming right out of its frame. Yesterday, we figured out the guards’ patrol schedule, and we know that the high priest and his two assistants are the only ones left inside.
Finding ourselves in a corridor lined with monastic cells and leading down to the basement, one door catches my attention. There’s a wheel and a sickle carved into it. Of course, it doesn’t open. Bernard did say that the book is in the basement though, so we got busy looking for the key. Rachel found it in the lectern prominently displayed in a prayer hall.
We both use stealth to move through the corridor. While I’m heading down into the basement, Rachel stands guard outside. I don’t know what to expect - treasure chests, guards, guard dogs, or something else. In the end, around a turn, I just see a small room. One of the walls is ajar. Pushing it aside, I find a secret room. Thanks to my skills, I notice a hidden candlestick and an unusual rock in one of the walls. Was the room robbed, and they just forgot to close it? Just to make sure, I check to see if anyone’s inside. It’s the temple’s main storeroom, after all and this is Teurus’ main temple. Will the god be mad at me if I take more than just one book? I didn’t anticipate a second chance.
Everything is there: five books on demonology, a grimoire for superior necromancer, and three tomes on Shegel’s ritual magic. This isn’t a temple storeroom. It’s where they hide everything they confiscate! The book I’m looking for is lying on a separate shelf and looks really nice. I wonder what’s forbidden about it.
There isn’t much time left. I grab all the books I find and start back, weighed down by a 90% overload - 40 kilograms, only five of which are clothes. It doesn’t matter in stealth mode, but I won’t be able to run if the guards find me. Ultimately, I have to leave some things there: Rage of the Sun epic ritual daggers and two complete legendary sets of darkness. They stay t
here on the shelves, looking awfully intriguing. The daggers smell like blood, a scent I’ve become very accustomed to over the past two weeks.
I don’t see Rachel in the corridor, so I pull up the group chat.
“Rachel, where are you? It’s time to go. I found the book.”
“Come over to the other end of the corridor, the door with the sickle and the wheel. You’ll like what I found here.”
Twenty meters later, I find the door and notice that it isn’t completely closed. A white stone floor glistens in the moonlight. Rachel is sitting on it wearing a light dress and diadem, and she whispers to me.
“Come here. Sit down next to me.”
“What are you doing? They’re going to wake up!”
She giggles. “When else are you going to have the chance to sit in such a cool place? Come on, don’t worry.”
Rachel smiles, practically brimming with happiness. In the silver moon rays, she looks surpassingly beautiful. I sit down next to her. It’s strange - the stone is warm, and the light is somehow surreal and hot. Something’s wrong. Just then, Rachel stands up. I want to stand up, too, but her hand stops me.
“Lie down. I want to show you something.” Rachel looks off to the side.
“Why?”
Girls are weird!
“Do you trust me?”
“Yes.”
“Lie down and close your eyes.”
I lie down and feel the warmth wafting through my body. The light even makes its way through my closed eyelids, and I hear a whisper that makes me want to open my eyes and stand up.
∞ ∞ ∞
Damage taken: 423 (ignored: 421)
198/200
“Ow, what are you doing?”
I open my eyes to see two grown men holding me down on the floor as Rachel aims my own knife at me. Bernard steps out from behind her back.
“Rachel, come on. Let me give you a few buffs.”
∞ ∞ ∞
Damage taken: 447 (ignored: 421)
174/200
It takes me just a couple seconds to heal myself, though the situation quickly changes. Rachel starts stabbing me relentlessly. One of the guys holding me asks a question.
“What’s wrong? You have a ritual knife. Why didn’t he die right away?”
“Who the hell knows?” Bernard replies. Rachel slashes away, trying to reach my heart. The knife doesn’t make it very far, as she isn’t that strong.
“Should I help?”
“No, she has to do this herself.” Bernard waves his staff, and Rachel starts striking harder and faster.
“Why-y-y?” I shriek through my tears, more frustrated than in pain. Helpless!
∞ ∞ ∞
Damage taken: 496 (ignored: 421)
8/200
“Sorry, Sagie. You have to die here.”
Her eyes… Her eyes are decisive. She’s going to kill me. Why am I so afraid?
Bernard waves his staff one more time and says something.
∞ ∞ ∞
Damage taken: 551 (ignored: 421)
0/200
∞ ∞ ∞
Eliza scrolled back through the recordings of the most recent tests in which Anji had participated. He’d answered all the questions correctly no matter how hard they were, even finished the course early. The previous two weeks had been spent having one fight after another with his peers. They beat him up over and over again, the supervisor turning a blind eye and writing it off as a problem with the sound system. This too had all started after their conversation in the cafeteria. The girl turned to the recording she’d made with her personal 3D camera.
She’d turned it on when she stepped into the private area. There was Anji cringing when she talked, there he was when he turned furious. And there was that odd little bit she’d noticed in person. The boy was afraid, but he wasn’t looking at her; he was looking at the cameras. Then, his gaze fell on an empty area with a small black spot.
“Enlarge that area.”
ArtIn Moro obediently enlarged the wall with the black spot.
“You damn bastard!”
Eliza could curse with the best of the loaders on the lower levels. When she checked the other areas Anji had glanced at, she found other hidden cameras.
“Moro, create a personal virtual space for me and Anji Ganet. I don’t want anyone to have access except for us. You can say it’s because the boy needs a series of consultations for social adaptation.”
“Understood, Miss Elizabeth.”
∞ ∞ ∞
My eyes are awash with tears. Watching your heart getting pierced by a dagger isn’t the most pleasant of sights, especially when it is being pierced by the only friend you have in the world… “You have to die here.” It hurts. My heart hurts, my nose is running, my head is throbbing - a brief moment of despair.
∞ ∞ ∞
You were sacrificed during a ritual.
Your soul was sent to Hell.
There is no respawn point. If you die in Hell, your soul will be held in a soul crystal belonging to the Lord of the Domain and used as an energy source.
New world structure: 5th level
Demonification: 0.01%
Your soul is tied to this world, and your flesh is restructuring to match the new world order.
Fifth Sequence Limiter activated
Damage taken: 500 (ignored: 421)
121/200
Tears pour from my eyes and drip onto the ashes. Rage, fury, terror, fear. I’m afraid. The betrayal hurts, my whole body hurts.
∞ ∞ ∞
Damage taken: 500 (ignored: 421)
42/200
Weak healing! Weak healing! Weak healing!
Survivability: +1
Damage taken: 500 (ignored: 421)
84/200
That’s odd. My survivability is improving, and I was already at the max level. If I don’t heal, I’m going to die in three seconds. Where am I?
Damage taken: 500 (ignored: 421)
52/200
Wondering about my survivability distracts me from my mental anguish. Weak healing! Weak healing! I’m in the Fields of Ash, there are rivers and lakes of lava around me, and some trees even scatter the area. Mini map!
∞ ∞ ∞
Current location: First Circle of Hell. Limbo.
Fields of Ash
“Well, how’s that for a quick trip to grab a book?” I can’t tell if I want to laugh or cry. No people… There aren’t any people here. Exactly what I wanted… Hahaha…
I laugh through the tears.
Forced transfer to personal virtual space
Initiator: Eliza Donovan
Transfer in: 10… 9… 8… 7… 3… 2… 1 second
∞ ∞ ∞
Eliza was waiting for Anji in the virtual space she’d created, though his arrival turned out to be…unexpected. As soon as he arrived, Anji collapsed in a fit of hysterics. He cried, he laughed, he rolled up into the fetal position. There he was, helpless, and any attempt to interact with him would have been taken as open aggression.
The space Eliza created looked like the room she’d lived in when she was little. With the flowers and stuffed animals scattered around, patients felt comfortable and at ease, ready to talk. All she had to do was attract Anji’s attention, and her parents’ piano was perfect for that.
She sat down and started playing a melody. The boy needed to relax, though his reaction, once again, was unexpected.
“I despise you women. I despise you with everything that I am.” The boy stood up and stared daggers at her. “You’re weak, stupid, devious, cruel, ruthless, ready to betray everything to get what you want. I will never work with you, be friends with you, or love you ever again. I despise you.”
“I think there’s been an unfortunate misunderstanding,” Eliza started to reply, though the boy had already turned off the sound and was leaving the virtual space.
How could he spout that and walk away? she thought angrily. But it was fine. She’d created the sp
ace, and, as a doctor, she had the right to keep people from leaving it for up to two hours a day (no more than thirty hours a month). At least, the boy had said something to her. That was a start.
When Anji arrived the second time, he turned off the sound immediately and sat down in the corner looking away from her. For two hours, he didn’t respond to anything. He didn’t even get tired. That could only mean that he was online via his capsule interface, so Eliza turned off his access to the infonet.
Eliza knew somebody had been watching them, and she assumed it was Vaalsie with his intrigues.
Anji didn’t react to the infonet being turned off, giving Eliza time to think. The boy had come here from the game, complete with that odd conclusion about women. She hadn’t noticed anything like that from him previously. Could he have been abused? Probably not. Psychological trauma? What was it? With the infonet turned off, she wasn’t able to see what he’d been doing. But the problem definitely lay in Project Chrysalis.
Two hours later, he left the personal room.
“Moro, set another one up with Anji Ganet tomorrow for the same time. You can use the same reason.”
“Got it.”
∞ ∞ ∞
Rachel looked at the sacrificial floor where Anji had been lying just a second before. There were no tears; just a light fear of facing the future. He would delete his character and come back to avenge himself, but she wouldn’t be there.
“Hurry, hurry, everyone into the circle. Rachel, the center. Pour the blood of the high priest over the altar.”
Everyone Bernard had hidden under a canopy of invisibility formed two circles around the altar and took each other’s hands.
“Let’s begin.” Bernard started tracing a complex magical sign in the blood. For an NPC, he wasn’t that talkative and had a nasty personality.
“Rachel, place your hand on the stone. We’re beginning the next part of the plan.”
The girl’s real father stood behind her, the responsibility for executing the next part on his shoulders.