I was somewhat afraid that the magical messenger would refuse such a vague address as “River Styx, Charon’s Ferry.” But my order was accepted, which meant the gift was guaranteed to reach the ferryman of souls to the kingdom of the dead. Awesome!
“Then you should give a gift to the goddess Hel as well. She did us a huge favor! And the omniscient goddess might get offended: you bought a gift for Charon, but not Fenrir’s own sister.”
It was a fair note, and my sister and I started looking for a gift. It was a difficult task, so Val and I argued over it for a long time. What did the goddess of death even want? Hel lived a simple life in a huge wooden hut with no luxury to speak of. She wore a typical villager’s dress, though it was massive. She didn’t wear any jewelry. Even the goddess’s feet were bare. By the way... My sister and I exchanged glances. Some flashy, pretty boots! What woman, even if she was a goddess, could resist such a thing?!
But it took us a long time to find big enough boots. Even cyclops or giant equipment might not fit the goddess’s feet. Finally, my sister discovered a pair of unique magical boots in an open auction, which were the exact right size for Hel’s feet. Along with that, they conferred a bunch of bonuses to movement speed and the ability to walk on water, increased Endurance and a few other things. We didn’t need any of that, and it only seriously drove up the purchase price, but I didn’t cheap out. No matter how I sliced it, this was not some gift to any old person. This was for the goddess of death herself!
And I discovered another intriguing little item that I got for myself:
Adamantium Pendant of Time (unique item)
Instantly resets the charges of one magic item, skipping reload time
After one more use, this pendant will be destroyed
Just after reading the properties, I remembered the gong that could summon the goddess of strife Eris, which the ferryman of souls had given me. That gong was basically a single-use item, because I would have to wait a whole hundred years to use it again. But here was a way to use the ancient artifact one more time, and I could afford to spare the seventeen thousand coins it cost to buy the amulet. Yes, it was a huge amount, which my sister and I couldn’t have even dreamed of just one month ago, but being able to summon the quarrelsome goddess two times was worth the money. I mean, what more proof did I need of her destructive abilities than the most epic military conflict of antiquity, the Trojan War!
“There’s a bit less than two million coins left,” I told Valerianna.
My sister closed most of the purchase tabs and started pacing around the throne room in thought. After three minutes of walking, thinking and quietly muttering to herself, she stopped sharply and exclaimed:
“We should spend that money on our three top priorities. First: you need to fill the Gray Pack to its limit, because that is your main weapon as the new Fenrir. The online shop has all kinds of pets and among them are many types of wolf...”
Here I interrupted Valerianna Quickfoot, because I had already looked over the pets on offer and they had left me unimpressed. Forest Wolves, Swamp Wolves, Guard Dogs, Hell Hounds, Wolfdogs... All commonplace and boring. My audience would definitely not like it if I filled the empty slots in the Gray Pack with the first pets I came across. What was more, normal animals had significantly worse combat characteristics than rare ones, and especially unique creatures. For example, the unique Mythical Hound Fimbulthul at his level of 103 was already as powerful as Baron, the rare Alpha Swamp Wolf at level 120. And he was many times superior to Akella and the other Forest Wolves at levels 98-102.
I told my sister about the Ravenous Cur — the rare wolf-like undead creature which Night had dragged here in that wriggling sack, and who was now locked up in a strong cage in my dungeon. Reincarnating the level-210 creature would take a painful 420 Direct Intervention Points. I wanted to know whether it was worth spending all that given how precious the points were. Valerianna Quickfoot promised to find information about the beast, and told me she would check the auctions for other rare and interesting beasts that could join the Gray Pack. After that, my sister returned to our topic of discussion:
“Third: you need new blood samples. Your vampiric skills are very important, but I suspect that given the imminent war you won’t have the chance to improve them much. So you should handle that right now and not spare any money.”
Here I was in complete agreement with my sister. While I had the chance, I needed to rapidly level Taste Tester because that gave my character better regeneration and resistance to sun, and unique vampiric abilities. For that I needed to find new blood. And preferably not in the form of alchemy vials, but living creatures. That way I could kill them with Vampire Bite and level both Taste Tester and Taste for Blood because that highly important multiplier increased my melee damage. My Taste for Blood was now at 34, which made me do 34% more damage in close combat, but I could raise that even higher.
“Well and finally, we have to solve the problem of your warband. Right now it’s simply an unbridled horde of monsters that goes ravenous at the sight of blood. It’s a threat to both to enemies and allies. To turn your wild army into a fearsome, but also manageable force, we need to find experienced sergeants, who can train the monsters in discipline and the like. But I would not want to rely on an NPC for such an important task. I’d look for a decent undying. After all, there are reliable mercenary clans that come highly recommended. You might look there. We cannot do without at least twenty sergeants to train your army. But it would be better to hire a whole three hundred — make them centurions, each of which would answer with their head for a brigade of one hundred monsters.”
Three hundred centurions? They would each know the strong and weak sides of their monsters better than anyone. That way, they could smooth over internal friction and conflicts as well as cement their one hundred wild monsters into a unified combat squadron, guaranteeing its loyalty to the Dark Sovereign. It sounded beautiful and tempting, but wasn’t it beyond our budget?
“That depends where we look,” the sorceress answered my doubting. “If we hire players willy-nilly from ads and contact data on the Boundless Realm forum, it will take up all our money, that is true. But I have a suggestion that gets around all that. I was skimming the forum and saw that the competition on the mercenary market is quite extreme. There are very, very many players who would like to get paid to game. But there are far fewer potential customers. Of course, the most famous mercenary clans like the Mercs , Bregan D’Aerthe or the Battle Cats don’t need advertising and are always in demand despite the high price of their services. But that’s not a problem for us. I figure we can find a few mercenary clans that would agree to work for us for minimal pay, and maybe even for free. No matter how you look at it, it’s pretty great publicity. Just think, the Dark Sovereign personally selected them for a challenging mission!”
“That’s right, Val. But can we trust second-rate mercenaries from unknown clans? For many of them, their squad tag means virtually nothing. But the temptation to betray us and lead the invading army here for some cash and a place in one of the prestigious TOP clans would in fact be very great.”
“But that doesn’t apply to every second-tier clan! Some are made up of army veterans reuniting in their golden years to play Boundless Realm under the banner of their old regiment. And others are proud former special forces. Both will have fought in many military conflicts in the real world. We can trust them. After all, the honor and name of their regiment are sacred to them. Although I actually had one specific clan in mind, the Digital Amazons . I had the chance to meet their leader last night. There are exactly three hundred in their clan, just what we need. They’re seeking employment and are amenable to working for the Dark Sovereign!”
The familiar name Digital Amazons jumped out at me. Come on, just yesterday I heard something about them. Just fifteen or twenty years ago, the former professional female cyberathletes knew no equal in the virtual disciplines from gladiator fights to survival tournaments. But w
ith time, they had to make way for the next generation. So these old friends had gotten together in Boundless Realm ...? Alright, very interesting!
“Is Andre’s mother still leader of the Digital Amazons ?” I asked, and my sister shuddered in surprise.
Val was still filling diapers when I was fanboying virtual gladiator fights and collecting chewing-gum cards with portraits of the most famous e-athletes. So that was why she didn’t know about my interest in the Digital Amazons and was surprised I knew so much.
“Yes, Jeanette has been in charge of the Digital Amazons for a quarter century at this point,” the Wood Nymph confirmed, quickly suppressing her surprise. “Their big professional team fell apart ten years ago because there were too many conflicts. Advertisers started getting younger and prettier stars, they had a string of bad luck and many of the Amazons ended up having kids, so they didn’t have any more time for professional cybersports. But the Digital Amazons are back together now in the most popular game of modern times. And their clan is only open to former Amazons and their most loyal fans, so there’s no reason to doubt their reliability.”
All that was clear, but something else she said had caught my attention:
“So then, Iron Jeanette knows that you play Valerianna Quickfoot, sister of the Dark Sovereign? But I only uploaded the video clip about Goblin Herbalist Amra becoming Dark Sovereign that night, after your date with Andre! That means you must have told them!”
Val got embarrassed and started looking at the ground. Generally, my sister was perfectly aware of the fact that she could not advertise our real-world identities. But clearly she couldn’t resist and blabbed to her new friend Andre, and he shared the information with his mother.
“Yes, Jeanette knows. And although I only told Andre, his mother told me when we met that she was glad to meet such a famous figure from Boundless Realm , and said she sometimes watches your video clips. The Digital Amazons also took part in the Great Hunt for the Royal Forest Wyvern, but they didn’t get to the right part of the world until it was over. But their clan has many major high-level players, and right now we need one another. They can help us fill out and train our army, and we can raise the standing of their somewhat forgotten brand. So then Tim, if you’re not opposed, I’m gonna talk with Jeanette today about a long-term commitment from her clan. Andre will be going under tomorrow to have the bionic arms implanted, so his parents are sure to come visit their son tonight, and that will give me the chance to talk to her.”
Well then, the idea sounded promising. I was not against it, but I did ask my sister not to reveal the size and composition of our army to the mercenaries and potential allies. I told her to just avoid all my military secrets, in fact. And as for financial issues, and there would definitely be some of those, Val could do the negotiating and make an offer, but I still retained the final say. I also asked Valerianna to tell the leader of the Digital Amazons that we would have to sign a treaty or official contract with the gods of Boundless Realm as witnesses.
* * *
ALL THE ONLINE catalogues, auctions and other mumbo jumbo were making my eyes spin. I wanted to close all the purchase tabs and immerse myself in the normal Boundless Realm as quickly as possible. Then I would like to call VIXEN, saddle my beloved wyvern and fly, fly, fly wherever the winds might take us. Everything around was unknown and engaging. I cocked an eye at Valerianna Quickfoot. Wasn’t it time to wrap up this whole purchase process already? Strange as it was, my sister wasn’t the least bit tired and was in fact quite chipper:
“Maybe we should comb the auctions for Ifrit Hearts one last time?” she suggested with clear enthusiasm. “We’ve both got decent equipment on, but we need better stuff. And not just decent rare equipment, we need things intended for characters at much higher levels. But we can only do that with Ifrit Hearts allowing us to remove level requirements.”
“Yeah, but we looked a few hours ago. I doubt there’s been a serious change since then. If a player put an Ifrit Heart up for sale, it would get snatched up in an instant. It looks like some trade bots are set to buy such valuable ingredients at any price, even a million coins a piece. We don’t have that kind of money anymore, so we’ll be competing financially with professional Traders.”
“Yes, that seems very likely...” Valerianna agreed. “Well then Tim, you will have to really bust your hump just to get the last item from Fenrir’s Cursed Regalia on. Either that or level to one hundred twenty-five quickly, which no longer looks like it will take a crazy amount of time.”
“First we need to find it by following the Djinn Sultan’s instructions, then buy it. But it is located in a place where players are not allowed, the Land of Gloom. And if the queen of those lands, Kirra’ellita Huntress of the Night won’t allow it, I don’t even know what to do. I doubt the dragons and harpies guarding the Land of Gloom will let me through the mountains, even on VIXEN. Also it’s a very long flight — almost six thousand miles.”
“I’ll try and have a talk with Kira,” my sister promised, none too confident. “She’s supposed to drop by the clinic today, so I’ll ask about her character in the game. Don’t worry, Tim, I’ll try to be as delicate as I can. I already know from your stories how weird Kira gets when it comes up. By the way... look at the forums. You’re gonna like what you see!”
Valerianna Quickfoot showed me an open tab she had been looking at: “News of the hour! The five strongest players of the Legion of Steel were given a 24-hour suspension and lost ten percent of their experience after an encounter with the goddess of death. Till Quick_Fingers [LEGION] lost two levels and is no longer the highest-level player on the Southern Continent! Boundless Realm tech support are just throwing up their hands and saying game mechanics were never violated.”
Hrm... Hel must have given those uninvited guests a real harsh snub. They’d remember that encounter with the goddess of death for a long time to come. I hoped the other undying were discouraged by that example and didn’t stick their noses any higher up the Styx than the rapids. Although... I walked over to the crystal Eye and demanded to see the Upper Fort on the black river, the last player-made fortification before the dangerous rapids and the lands of the cyclopes. The crystal ball showed a small wooden fortress, which was brimming with life. The colorful banners and pendants of the many undying clans in the fortress waved in the wind gleefully on the tops of the towers. Fires burned in the courtyard. I could hear the clanging of hammers, while all kinds of mounts shifted from one leg to the other.
The undying were making food, repairing their weapons, showing off their pets and ammunition, laughing and making plans for their campaign against the Dark Sovereign. By my estimation, there were around seven hundred players in that fortress, and new ones were arriving every minute. Portals were constantly opening, and reinforcements just kept pouring out. Near the shore there was also a fully-fledged navy. I counted over sixty small sailboats and oar-ships. My attention was also drawn by two huge barges moored to the docks which were carrying huge disassembled siege towers and heavy catapults. The enemy was approaching the war with the Dark Sovereign with all due seriousness and was preparing to storm my defenses and fortifications.
Ugh, I wished I could attack that camp, break all those squadrons apart and burn that fleet... I took a heavy sigh because I understood how dangerous that would be, and most importantly how pointless. As soon as my monsters reached the edge of the player’s range of view, alarm bells would peal throughout Boundless Realm . And soon, instead of seven hundred undying, there would be ten, or maybe even fifty thousand warriors. I would lose my whole army, while the enemies we killed would respawn in one hour at the respawn stone in the very same Upper Fort to continue their campaign as if nothing had happened.
“Upper Fort is two hundred sixty miles away as the crow flies. But considering all the bends in the river and hiking on mountain paths, the enemies will have to travel around four hundred and fifty miles,” Valerianna commented, looking from the map back to our enemies with ra
pt attention.
“One day to the rapids of the Styx. Half a day to portage the whole fleet. Then a day and a half to the mountain ridge and just as long up the mountain paths. If we don’t stop them, that whole army will be here under the walls of my castle in four or five days.”
“That’s right, Tim. But they aren’t going to have to portage their ships. One of the divisions will just walk past the rapids and open a portal for the rest to come through. And they’ll do the same in every difficult section. Fast-moving scout groups can slip ahead, then the heavily armed divisions can follow after them through portals. And every day there will be more and more enemies, because more and more divisions are coming. And the dangerous bots along the river won’t be able to stop them. There are just too many undying.”
As if in response to the sorceress’s words, an alarm bell rolled through the castle halls. Simultaneously some wisps of black mist appeared in the throne room and a semitransparent rider on a black steed emerged:
Gloom
Emissary of the Dark Sovereign
Level-250 Ghostly Rider
Gloom? Not Night, who was keeping watch over the dangerous western approach? Gloom, I seemed to remember, was responsible for my eastern borders.
“Sovereign, invasion! A squadron of undying has been spotted at the eastern frontier of your holdings! They crossed the Border Hills and are already on the distant shore of Frigid Lake! If they make it across that lake, they’ll be just half a day’s travel from the castle!”
To my considerable shame, I was hearing about the Border Hills and Frigid Lake for the first time. But my subjects were under the impression that these were territories belonging to the Dark Sovereign. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a map to familiarize myself with the situation on the border through the Sovereign’s Eye. Yes, I could go with Gloom, asking the sorceress to make the ghostly mount temporarily solid, but I didn’t know the weather there, so I risked being burned up by the sun. And that could be fatal to a vampire like me. I had to fall back on my sister’s help again:
Finding a Body (The Dark Herbalist Book #4) LitRPG series Page 10
