Star Paladin: A LitRPG Space Fantasy (Sword of Asteria Book 1)

by Eddie R. Hicks

Journey to the East - Quest Complete

  Obtained: 500 Experience Points

  That did it.

  “I’ll give you a free Inn room upstairs too,” he added. “It will make it hard to be late for work.”

  The owner left her to serve drinks to a duo of travelers who entered, triggering a new quest screen to appear.

  New City, New Job

  Objective: Work as a dancer until Slather arrives.

  Issued by: White Dragon

  Reward: 250 Experience Points

  Accept quest? Yes/No

  Until Slather arrives.

  Slather was the name of the fae she was dying to meet, the last name on a list of crossed-off names. The White Dragon knew that and helped guide Xanthe to him.

  “Whatever you are, White Dragon, I owe you, and I shall do anything you want if you give me Slather.”

  Ahead, the faun named Kam stopped and stared at Xanthe.

  He had been watching her use her charisma’s power the whole time.

  Chapter Twelve

  “Rachael!” Guy shouted for the fifth time. On the sixth, Rachael opened her blue eyes and gasped like she had come up from being underwater.

  Rachael had sat up quickly too, almost pushing Guy backward. An array of screens orbited her, each one displaying information about Rachael and her stats, with the last screen being a quest awaiting her attention.

  After looking at her long enough, Guy saw a screen that made his jaw drop.

  Rachael (Medic) | LVL: 1 | Rank: D

  Guy groaned. “Oh no . . .”

  Recruit the Medic - Quest Complete

  Obtained: 500 Experience Points

  Guy has attained level 2!

  His gloomy tone changed. “Oh yes!”

  HP +54

  MP +14

  Strength +3

  Dexterity +2

  Vitality +4

  Agility +1

  Intelligence +1

  Wisdom +1

  Charisma +1

  Guy raised his fists in triumph as he felt his power growth flow through his body. Rachael looked at him and grimaced, eyes wide from the flash of white light that had briefly enveloped Guy. He held the pose. She had no idea what happened.

  Lowering his hands, he said, “Damn, Rachael. You’re just like me now.”

  She sat on the grass and nodded. “And the townspeople . . .”

  The two sat together in the tropical forest and took turns viewing each other’s stats across various hovering screens. Rachael stopped at one screen.

  “I have a tutorial quest . . .”

  “Ah, fuck.”

  “Should I accept it?”

  “Yeah, but just like skip all the words and shit.” He stood and yanked Asteria’s Sword from its rest on his back. “I can explain it faster.”

  Rachael tapped the screen, accepting the quest, then sat up and went through the first tutorial. When finished, she received the second tutorial and Guy got a good grip on his sword. Three wolves were going to maul her, and he doubted his childhood friend had the defense he did. Guy stood at a clearing in the forest where he expected the wolves to spawn.

  “Ready?” he asked her. “Or do you want to go back to the fleet?”

  “Eh.” Rachael hesitated to answer and clenched the Oak Staff she equipped. “Let’s find out more first. Something tells me my medical equipment isn’t going to give me those details. It didn’t even point out the changes the astral circuits made to your body.” She stood with him. “And according to those screens, I have magic now!”

  “What do Medics do?” he asked.

  “A hybrid between melee combat and spell-casting healing. This will make work so much easier!”

  He stared at Rachael as she held the Oak Staff, and an option to invite her to a party appeared. Guy sent her the invite, and the UI in the top left corner of his vision adjusted.

  Guy | HP: 154/154 | MP: 34/34 | AP: 20/100

  Rachael | HP: 65/65 | MP: 50/50 | AP: 0/100

  “This is like those RPG stories mom used to read,” he said as the two ventured into the jungle.

  “Those games humans played on their homeworld?”

  “Yeah. Something is changing reality and the laws of physics, making us become a part of it. This planet, especially.”

  “A game using its rules to overwrite Faeheim?”

  “I know it sounds fucking crazy, but here we are, seeing it happen.” He stepped under a low-hanging tree branch. “Remember those quests I talked about? One asked me to come here specifically. That’s why I landed on this island.”

  “I don’t have that quest.”

  “Here,” he said, bringing up his Quest menu. “I can share it with you.”

  And he did. Rachael now received the quest Investigate the Land-Fae, proof that Guy wasn’t going nuts.

  She nodded and tapped the screen to accept it, making it fade away. “Anything I should do before I start this tutorial?”

  “Did you equip a sigil?”

  Rachael shook her head. “I didn’t. I kind of skipped that part, like you told me to.”

  “Open your inventory and find your class-specific sigil.”

  She did, pulling the glowing symbol out from her Inventory screen. “Got it,” she said. “It’s called the Triage sigil.”

  “Put it on your body, some place not covered by your clothing.”

  Her nurse’s uniform didn’t allow much of that. She had long sleeves and wore white pantyhose. Holding the sigil, Rachael sighed, reached behind, and angled it to her lower back, just below her fae wings, placing the sigil there.

  “Is that okay?” she asked.

  Guy examined the symbol radiating on her lower back. He flushed and turned away fast. She’d knock his ass out if she knew what happened. “Uh, yeah, all good! Let’s get this show on the road!”

  Rachael started her second tutorial and the usual three wolves appeared out of nowhere. The fight was less of a threat with the two participating as a team. She learned how to cast her first spell, Medica, releasing a blue and green energy wave from her body if she remained still for two seconds. Guy’s HP increased by 37 if he stood close to her. She also recovered HP.

  “Nice,” Guy said as he swung his sword. “That will come in handy since I can’t heal.”

  “It used half my MP though,” Rachael said, smashing her staff against a wolf’s head and cracking it open to release the blood within.

  “My max MP went up after I hit level 2.” He beheaded a wolf. “I guess the same will happen to you.”

  “Meaning I’ll be able to cast it more as I level.”

  They approached the one wolf left alive. Guy used his body as a shield, and Rachael lunged the wolf from the side. The damn thing didn’t stand a chance as Rachael smacked right to left with her Oak Staff until it slumped over and stopped breathing.

  The fight was over, earning the duo 25 experience points from the wolves, while Rachael got experience points for finishing her tutorials. The three dead wolves evaporated into loot for the two.

  Hypospray: MP

  Recovers MP equal to 20% of your max MP.

  Useable by: Star-dwellers

  The other two items were a sigil and an asteriarite gem, glinting with blue light, wisdom +1.

  “Take those,” Guy said to her. “I haven’t gotten around to using asteriarites, but I’m guessing you have to place it on the slot on your weapon.”

  Guy held Asteria’s Sword out, looking at the single slot on it. She did the same with the Oak Staff, found the slot, then collected the asteriarite and the hypospray.

  “You take the sigil,” she said.

  “Eh, you need those to learn new abilities.”

  “And you helped me with that fight.” She laughed. “Take your cut!”

  So he did.

  Obtained: Sigil: Voice

  “And hey,” Guy added, opened his inventory, and pulled another wisdom asteriarite from it. “Take this wisdom asteriarite. Wisdom is one of my lower stats, and th
is isn’t good for me.”

  “Wisdom’s my highest stat.” She took it—

  “Aouvnir!”

  The voice of a fae man screamed and reverberated across the tropical canopy.

  “You hear that?” he asked her.

  Rachael nodded. “Yeah.”

  Another voice yelled out, a fae woman. “Aouvnir, where are you?!”

  The calls echoed over and over in the jungles. Following the cries, the two found a young fae couple, dressed like the townsfolk they had seen earlier, their voices frantically calling out the name Aouvnir, their faces wrinkled with worry.

  The woman shouted in a new direction, the direction of the path Guy and Rachael stood on. She didn’t yell the name again, and just looked at the two star-dwellers. “Have you seen our son, Aouvnir?”

  The man spun to them. “He went to play in the woods.”

  The woman continued. “Normally, that is not a problem. But with the afflictions happening . . .”

  “I think I saw some kid wandering about when I flew in,” Rachael said.

  The fae couple’s eyes opened wide with hope, both running toward Rachael. “Where?!”

  Rachael aimed her slender finger forward, aiming at the direction she had flown when she was searching for Guy. “Over there.”

  Everyone turned to where she pointed and grimaced. Strange creatures had lurked. They looked like armadillos, only they were as large as men, altered by the same astral circuits that changed Guy and Rachael, and patrolled about like they owned that section of the jungle.

  “Oh, crap,” Rachael said. “Those monsters weren’t there when I came.”

  “The number of afflicted beasts has been increasing day by day,” the man said.

  “Or in this case, hour by hour,” Guy said drily. “This ain’t good.”

  “Hey, wait a second,” the man said, facing Guy. “You are that Paladin, right? Can you find our son?”

  Guy made an innocent cringe while rubbing the back of his head. “Well, I was kind of—”

  “Yes,” Rachael cut in. “Yes, we can.”

  Guy slowly angled his gaze to her. “Rachael . . .”

  She looked right at him, smiling with shut eyes. “There’s no way that kid will make it home in one piece, Guy.”

  “Thank you so much!” bellowed the woman, her hands clasped as if the two were deities. “So Asteria did send us a Paladin! Oh, praise be!”

  “Here, let me make this easy for you,” the man said as a screen appeared in front of him. The man tapped it twice and forced Guy and Rachael to receive a quest.

  Lost Boy in the Jungle

  Objective: A child named Aouvnir has gone missing in the jungle. Find and return him safely to his parents Joeirn and Castinya.

  Issued by: Joeirn

  Reward: 250 Experience Points

  Accept quest? Yes/No

  “Great . . .” Guy grunted.

  Rachael giggled and gave him a soft nudge with her elbow. “Looks like we have to now.” She trotted off in the direction she had seen the kid. With her hands behind her back, she turned around and smiled at Guy as he stood still. “Come along, Paladin! You have a quest to fulfill!”

  Guy selected Yes.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Muruai was not ready for the harvest.

  Then again, according to projections, no city on Faeheim was. Somewhere close, yes, but not where they needed to be. Wylume Sheer glanced at the island city once more, namely its fae citizens rummaging about. No one cast their eyes on him for longer than three seconds. They did not notice he was human, thanks to the massive black cloak over his body. They could not tell if he had wings or not. He would rather not explain why a human, like himself, was there.

  The more Wylume traversed the city, the more he noticed that something else had drawn the attentive eyes of the fae. Something that lie in the city’s main square. A stone pathway led Wylume to what had the fae standing in awe, his concealed Nocturnal Blade at his side shaking with each footstep.

  Wylume stopped when he reached the square. A star-dweller ship had landed. That was not supposed to happen. He glanced to his left and right quickly and saw nobody who looked like a star-dweller. They had landed and left. When no eyes were on him, Wylume approached the ship, searching for its main entrance. He could not open it and lacked the knowledge required to remove the star-dweller machina used to lock their ships.

  It was nothing like the machina the sentinels used.

  Wylume groaned. The presence of star-dwellers might be a problem for the harvest.

  Footsteps echoed on the stone path, their thumps nearing Wylume as he remained at the starship. The steps stopped. Another black-cloaked figure stood behind him.

  “Star-dwellers.” It was the voice of Curtakis.

  Wylume spun to meet Curtakis, a fae of the Autumnfall Imperial Army, his black cloak concealing his daggers and sigils. Wylume nodded to the fae. “Yes . . . star-dwellers are here. Have you spotted them?”

  Curtakis shook his head. “No.”

  “Let me know if you do.” Wylume looked up at the starship again, his lips curling into a frown—

  “. . . a Paladin!” yelled a fae from behind.

  “What?”

  “Paladin?”

  Several faes from the town had engaged in a conversation with loud, jubilant voices. Wylume and Curtakis followed their voices and stopped when they found a fae couple speaking with a merchant at his shop. The two black-cloaked men listened closely and pretended to not notice.

  “Yes!” the woman added. “A Paladin and his partner are searching for my son, Aouvnir, now!”

  “I told you!” said her husband. “These are not normal star-people. Asteria sent them!”

  They clasped their hands and pointed up to the skies. “A Paladin from the stars!”

  A Paladin . . .

  Intrigue flared in Wylume’s head, and he strode to the chatting fae, double-checking that his cloak continued to hide the fact that he was human. It did.

  “Excuse me,” Wylume said to the fae. “Did you say a Paladin from the stars?”

  The woman spun, her eyes wide with joy. “Yes, one of the star-men is afflicted!”

  Her husband added, “He has the class of Paladin.”

  “Did they come from that ship?” Wylume pointed at the star-dweller ship parked in the town square.

  They followed his finger-pointing, nodding. “Yes, they did.”

  Wylume’s face twisted with a grin hidden under the cloak’s hood. “Fascinating.”

  Wylume left with Curtakis following behind. The two cloaked men approached two others wearing the same black cloaks, Leafblade and Emeraldal, both members of the Autumnfall Empire’s Army, both using their cloaks to cover their weapons and armor.

  “I will return,” Wylume said to Emeraldal and Leafblade. “Curtakis, with me.”

  Emeraldal smiled with her green-painted lips. “What shall we do in the meantime, Wylume?”

  “Ensure that these wonderful people are prepared for their harvest.”

  She nodded. “Of course.”

  Wylume turned to the tall fae warrior. “Leafblade.”

  “Yes, master?”

  “You know what to do.”

  “Ready, Rachael?”

  Guy yanked Asteria’s Sword off the scabbard on his back, aiming it at the armadillo monsters whose red glowing eyes fixed onto the two.

  Demonic Armadillo | LVL: 2 | Rank: D | HP: 100%

  Rachael held her Oak Staff steady at the same monsters. “After you.” She giggled. “Paladin!”

  She was going to tease him about his new class forever.

  Guy charged, hoping his swift strikes would piss the Demonic Armadillos off to the point they hated him more than anything. Guy had the most HP, highest defense, and a higher level than Rachael. She wouldn’t last long if they had targeted her. His plan worked. The two beasts circled Guy, snarling, taking turns to headbutt him. Guy held his ground and slashed to the left, striking one of
the armadillos. Meanwhile, Rachael leaped in, bashing the beast from behind with her staff. It ignored her.

  The second Demonic Armadillo did something unexpected. It rolled itself into a ball, making Guy wince. He turned just in time to eat its special attack to the face. The balled-up Demonic Armadillo smacked Guy with its body, the blow hurling him back and down to the jungle’s ground.

  Guy | HP: 102/154

  It knocked off a good chunk of his HP, too.

  “Guy!” Rachael yelled.

  “I’m good, I’m good!”

  Guy stood and readied his sword—

  The other armadillo did the same, balled itself up and launched at Guy. He was down on the ground now, and the two monsters turned to their next target: Rachael.

  Shit!

  She kept the weakened Demonic Armadillo in her sights but didn’t move. Instead, Rachael watched them, waiting for them to roll into a ball, and when they did, she dove and rolled from their ball attacks, both of them. As Guy returned to his feet, Rachael stood beside him and shut her eyes as she cast Medica. Her body pulsed with green and blue light, releasing the magical wave of healing energy, restoring Guy’s HP.

  Guy | HP: 139/154

  He was back in business and went for the Demonic Armadillo that had the least HP. Two armadillos ran for Rachael, ignoring Guy.

  Fuck, not good!

  Rachael rolled aside from one ball attack but got smacked by the second. The blow sent her down. Guy thrust into the nearest armadillo, building up the last AP needed to use Storm Slash. He spent his stored AP and spun around with his sword out, hitting and knocking the two Demonic Armadillos away from Rachael. Their bodies tumbled as they hit the ground.

  Rachael got up, making her body glow again with the light from Medica, restoring her HP. He looked at his party status.

  Guy | HP: 139/154 | MP: 34/34 | AP: 0/100

  Rachael | HP: 42/65 | MP: 0/50 | AP: 100/100

  She was out of MP, he was out of AP, and he was pretty sure she had no abilities that used AP. The two made an all-or-nothing dash to the armadillo still on its back, its legs fluttering about. Guy cut into it, and Rachael leaped up and came down with a bash. Blood squirted up, and the duo continued striking it. The Demonic Armadillo stopped moving and breathing, and its body evaporated.