by Scar, Rick
“Um. Maybe you would like to learn about your descendants or… or those of your apprentices?”
“Don’t tell me about my descendants!” A raging peal of thunder resounded through the cave, conveying the demonic lord’s fury. “They used my dagger for the wrong purpose, staining it. I will never forgive them.”
“Huh? For the wrong purpose?” Will remembered the video by Soul Crushers that mentioned the descendants of heroes, those who had closed the portal. What could have been so bad about it?
“Are you completely unaware of those events?” the hero asked, taking the shape of a female figure again. Now she had light armor on and looked rather majestic. She brought her sparkling face closer to the rogue’s.
“I’m afraid I am. History is written by the victors. Or by those who have nothing to do but describe all they see going on around—or they use their imagination to create fake records.”
“Um…” The maiden straightened up. “Then I can tell you a thing. Sure, our descendants have saved the world, but it was them who brought the giants here. Craving for immortality, they heard about the forbidden rite that could grant it, and they performed it using our heroic items, having our powers. The rite summoned the Gaharadjas from the Forgotten Shores. The giants who devoured flash and souls alike. Our descendants made a treaty with them, buying immortality for millions of souls. The giants could use the devoured souls to create the Stone of Life. In exchange for this item, our unworthy descendants let the Gaharadjas into our world.
“But the rite was forbidden for a reason. The Gaharadjas break any treaties they make. Realizing that, our descendants tried to save what little still could be saved by performing another rite: the one that separated the worlds, transformed their souls into keys, and drove the giants back into their own world.”
The maiden waved a dagger made of lightning. “Now you know the whole story, messenger. While telling it, I realized you can do something for me.”
Giving up his hope of getting a special quest from the hero, but still not regretting his attempt as the story was interesting to hear, Raven responded instantly: “I’m listening to you. I will do anything I can.”
“You won’t have to do much. I just want you to take a walk to the Forgotten Shores and bring me the Stone of Life.” The hero kept waving her dagger without looking at Will, apparently recollecting the fighting techniques she’d used before.
“Er… Excuse me? Did I hear you say I wouldn’t have to do much? Is that not much?” Again, Will remembered the video about giants. Meeting them was the last thing he wanted to do.
“It is. Just find a way into their world, steal the stone, and bring it to me. I’m not asking you to bring any of the giants alive. That would have been a bit difficult, but I don’t need that. So? Do you accept?”
Attention. You meet all the conditions to receive a hidden over-legendary (out of levels) quest chain:
You are the first player to visit this tablet;
You have completed the tablet challenge;
You have been baptized in lightning at 100% sensitivity, which reminded the legendary hero of her past;
You have stayed in this area for 10 minutes;
You have talked the hero’s residual mind into accepting your help.
Attention! You have been offered a hidden over-legendary (out of levels) quest chain: A Walk on Forgotten Shores.
Level required: 300+
A legendary hero’s mind entrusted you with this mission. Find a way to the Forgotten Shores and obtain the Stone of Life.
Rewards:
?? XP
??;
??;
??
Accept: Yes/No?
“S-sure I… I accept!” Will whispered, looking at the over- prefix to the quest’s rank. It was the first time he had ever seen any task have it.
Chapter 121. The Flying Island… Island?
T he Rollin’ Dice clan eventually came up with a way to lift four players to the flying island, sometimes appearing in the sky. They’d tried a variety of ways before: from building the catapults that consumed lots of resources and money (the bulk of it used to pay the NPC engineers) to erecting a tall stone tower, also using NPC labor.
The memories of those failures still gave Mollie shivers. The catapults could not shoot the players that high, and the tower had been destroyed by the guard once it had spotted this structure being erected right beneath its home.
The working solution was a couple of gliders requiring very rare and specific materials to be constructed. A blueprint of those had been auctionized by a player who’d come across it but had no idea what to make of it. He must have been bewildered when his initial price had soared to the automatic sale threshold in just a few minutes. Rollin’ Dice, like all the other clans, constantly monitored the auctions and, unlike the other clans, they knew where those gliders could be utilized.
The gliders had already been constructed and tested, and the mountain top to fly them from to hit the opening passage had been found. Today was another day when the flying guard was to open the passage.
The Rollin’ Dice players that knew about the plan were excited, and those who were to hit the giant bird’s nest just had their hearts in their mouths as they stood on the edge of the tall mountain they’d been ascending for a week. Fortunately, transporting the gliders was no problem: they could be disassembled and carried in inventories.
Despite their extensive real-world skydiving experience, these players had had to spend lots of time getting used to these strange, old-fashioned gliders. They’d also had to die each time—as wasting a week to just reach the mountain top each time would have been utter stupidity. So, the players had saved on the mountain ledge they’d been jumping from. Upon landing, they would get killed by their clan mates to respawn again on the mountain top. The posthumous de-buffs did not matter as the players’ only task was to jump off the ledge and pilot their gliders.
Upon reaching the island, two players had to save there, while the other two were to distract the guard that now had reached Level 70. Guards levelled up faster than regular mobs. As a rule, those on locations levelled up slowly, seldom getting a substantial increase in stats. Rabbits at Level 100 were no threat to a newbie player at Level 1. The exceptions to this rule were the mobs doing critical damage to players or stealing their XP—those leveled up fast.
Kingmaker, now Level 43 and one of TOP-50, was standing on the glade right beneath the hidden island. Scattered all over the glade were her clan mates guarding this area; their confrontation with the Faceless Army had long developed into a full-fledged war. Knowing the Army’s passion for breaking the others’ plans, Rollin’ Dice had to stay on the alert at all times.
However hard Mollie and other clan leaders tried to keep it a secret, a thing like that was sure to get out, so she had placed the clan’s best players around the mountain, re-locating them from a dungeon. She’d rather take all possible precautions than miss an opportunity like this.
The flying island was a fifteen-minute flight from the mountain. The passage was to open in half an hour. Everyone was counting down the remaining seconds when Mollie got a message that the Hurst Mountain was under attack. Reading that, she smirked and flashed her middle finger to where that mountain was located.
“Ahahaha. They bought it.” The Hurst Mountain was a bait, and it had worked just as intended, distracting the enemy.
“Kingmaker. Seventeen minutes till opening.”
“Check our pilots out.”
“Done. They’re ready. So happy they can use their real-world skydiving experience here. And these ancient gliders make their hearts thump.” The coordinator smiled.
***
The bird appeared exactly when expected. The passage started to open when the glider pilots were approaching it—all four of them ducked in before it closed behind the guard.
The clan leader and all the rest counted time till the report. Ten minutes passed; the chats were silent. None of the pilots
responded to any requests by Mollie or their coordinator, and that was really unnerving.
***
The first message came after an hour.
Uh… I’m unsure how to put this. We were wrong. It’s no island. It’s a piece of another world. Here’s the link. I died. I can’t reach the others who are still inside. I failed to save in there.
“Another world?” Mollie and the coordinator exchanged glances and swallowed simultaneously.
Opening the link, they saw a rocky land strewn with castle ruins, piled skeletons, and rusty weapons, stretching all around for many, many miles up to the horizon. And the sky… was the open space, black and creepily close, with shattered meteorites and faded stars. The eternal night pressing on this place looked to devour whatever remained of it.
They saw the system message received by the player who’d filmed it:
Congratulations! You have discovered a separated shard of one of many ancient worlds once communicating with the world of Ascension.
+40 Influence points
+2 Intelligence
+3 Luck
Attention! While the barrier is up, you will not be able to communicate with those players who remain outside it. Please be advised you will not be able to leave this place until the barrier is removed.
This location is for 60+ level players.
As the first players too discover this place, you and your team are offered an epic quest chain: A Shard of Another World.
Part I: Find out the reason why the guard is here.
Rewards:
+80 000 XP;
+1 unique Ancient World skill appropriate to your character class.
Warning: You have 6 months to complete the whole quest chain. After that, the space gravitation force will tear the barrier currently keeping it at bay and reduce this location to dust.
“Huh?” Mollie was dumbfounded. Six months? Too little time for a team of three. More had to be sent there, and that meant soaring costs. The gliders were expensive to construct—even for her clan. But they had to do it. They had received this quest. Victory above all.
Glancing at the coordinator, she looked up to where the flying shard of another world must have been crossing the skies. “We must prepare twenty more people. I don’t think we can send more.”
“I agree. We’ll start the preparations immediately.”
Chapter 122. Long Live the King... Kill Him!
W ill left the Shadow Order with Daltaro, but only after learning a few handy skills from the adepts. He had to pay his teachers for each skill, just as he would’ve had in the real world. A regular skill came at 50 gold and a rare one at 150, which made Raven very selective. Eventually, he picked two regular skills and a single rare one:
Defense
Passive skill: Apprentice
Increases your physical attack protection by 4%.
Sharp Sight
Passive skill: Apprentice
Increases the range of your Identification skill by 10%.
Night Mask
Active skill: Apprentice
Creates a shroud of darkness concealing your face and name
+25% Stealth
Energy required: 1/sec
Cooldown: 5 min
Note: You can regulate the size of the facial area covered
Restrictions: No effect on Shadow Order members
They were teleported out by Rinnah, who then spent a long while saying her goodbyes to the archer, giving him a farewell kiss before vanishing into the flash of the portal. Will did not interrupt them; standing aside, he scrolled the list of available missions. He was unlikely to get down to those any time soon, although the time restrictions of Safeguarding the Worlds prompted him to hurry. He’d already started on that one by contacting Pak. The Korean player had once mentioned their clan had a crazy game history geek. Hearing Will’s story, the lore-obsessed guy got hooked and started to dig for info. Will did not pin much hope on him, but still, it was better than nothing.
They were back to Adamarona’s capital. The clamor and noise of a big city, the delicious smell of freshly baked bread filling the air, and troupes of actors performing on squares.
Taking an unhurried stroll to the palace, Raven, for the first time in a long while, truly enjoyed his Ascension workplace. He recalled everything he’d been through, and all the races and creatures he’d met on his way. All of them were real and living, pursuing their own ends—winning and failing.
Breathing the city air in, the rogue stopped and turned around slowly, watching everything that came in sight.
He stood on a large square with a fountain in its middle. The square was full of humans and Elves, Dwarfs and Horghs, not to mention the Orcs, the Nagi, little flying fairies, and some unknown races that Will didn’t know the name of. A vivid world rich in fantastic adventures. You could come up to any of these creatures and start a conversation. If your luck was good, you would hear the whole story of their life. The life lived, say, by this well-dressed old man, with a sword on his back, leading by the hand his little granddaughter in a cute green dress, with a tiny ponytail. The girl glanced around, marveling at the variety of goods being sold, a bright-red lollypop in her other hand.
How is that possible? What technology could have created that?
As Will stared at that, a realization crept over him. Why hadn’t he seen that before? Since his very first day here, he’d marched for his dream like a mechanical toy soldier, missing the whole new world around him.
Not even the world. The worlds!
What he already saw was but a single floor. What awaited him next? New amazing battles and treasuries, adventures and encounters. A rich, bright life.
I must bring Leah here.
This idea flashed in his mind suddenly, blazing up and up. Will looked at his hands. And, lifting one hand to the sun, he clenched it into a fist.
Here it is. The world that is almost pure. A place for her to be happy. A place of peace for her mind and soul. And no one would dare kill her, because her brother…
…he would conquer this whole floor for her not to meet any evil, lust, aggression, or vice here wherever she went. And he would start with this country, Adamarona. It was time to ascend to its throne.
Making their way along some narrow, twisting alleys, the two were suddenly stopped by a crowd of people. Some in this crowd stood out through their expensive and neat clothing. One pressed a kerchief over his nose, glancing around with disgust.
“So, we’ve been told truth.” Ahead came a man in an expensive velvet doublet threaded with gold. “Hey, gentlemen. Here’s our ruler-to-be. Long live the King… Kill him!” The man’s face twisted into an evil grin. Waving a hand, he hid behind the backs of the other men armed with clubs and swords.
“Daltaro.” Smiling broadly, Raven turned to his friend. “Here’s the welcoming committee. As gentlemen, we must greet them back. Just don’t kill the dressed-up ones.”
Leap.
The rogue’s figure twitched. In a moment, he stood next to one of the attackers, piercing his head. Then he wheeled around, sending Air Knife into another hand that held a sword.
In the meantime, the archer shot at those trying to attack him. All his arrows hit the enemies’ arms or legs, immobilizing them.
Will activated Lightning Copy; he had to try his new skill. He felt like being plunged in a motionless world. It was different from when he’d used Dancing of Time: Cerberus had retained the ability to move back then, but now everything and everyone within three hundred feet around him froze still.
The ticking timer aside reminded Will he had no time to enjoy the sight. He instantly selected the four targets, and each was marked with a lightning icon once he selected it.
The time ran out. He stood face to face with a man with a double-edged sword frozen in his run. A momentary blow pierced his throat, and Will was transported to another man, aiming his crossbow at Daltaro. The dagger plunged into his weirdly unarmored chest. The next enemy.
&
nbsp; No blood came from the wounds inflicted by Raven as time stood still. Another blow left a flat, round hole in the skull of a fully armored (except for the helmet) follower of the rebellious nobles.
His last target was the man in the gold-threaded doublet. Will stuck the dagger in his thigh to prevent him from running fast—and returned to where he’d started his invisible race.
Time started again. Three men collapsed suddenly, blood gushing from their wounds. The noble clutched at his thigh, howling hysterically.
“If you don’t get it, I can provide some explanations.” Lifting his hands, Will grinned and started to dissolve into the shadow.
The apparently perplexed warriors stopped and started to come together, covering each other’s backs.
“That’s dark magic!”
“He’s a sorcerer!”
They murmured, and yet they made no attempts to attack.
“Ha, ha. Ha, ha. Ahahaha!”
The noble with the kerchief over his nose turned around—and recoiled in fear as he saw a dagger at another man’s throat. The one standing behind him was cloaked in darkness, his glowing bestial eyes covered in small golden scales.
“What should I do with you, brave ones?” The voice coming from his throat sounded like a happy monster’s roar.
“Kill him! Fast!” the man with a pierced thigh squealed. “We’ve paid you! Now do your job!”
The soldiers (initially twelve, and now only five able to fight) considered the situation. Everything had happened really fast; they’d been taken aback by the attack, but they still could fight if not for one of their employers being held hostage.
“Don’t listen to him,” the hostage noble rasped, minimizing his moves. “I’ll have a talk with you later, Galaker. Now listen! You king-to-be, please let me go. We can settle this in a peaceful manner.”
The speaker apparently differed from the others. Even with a dagger at his throat, he remained put together—no ordinary NPC at all.
