The Skull Throne: A LitRPG novel (Kingdom of Heaven Book 1)

by J. A. Cipriano

  “What shortcomings?” I balked, feeling like she’d just stripped me naked and was laughing as she pointed at me. You know, the typical high school nightmare scenario. “I’m a knight, in case you’ve forgotten. Max Level with a damned high Attunement, if I might add. I have a magical sword that cuts through anything when I have enough juice, and enough healing potions stocked up to keep my capable ass up and running for the foreseeable future.” In a quasi-out-of-character show of force, I slammed my fist against my chest, listening as my chest plate clanged. “And I paid for the heavy armor.”

  “Good for you,” she sneered. “Too bad that doesn’t help with the weakness of the soul inside your body.” She rolled her eyes. “Anyway, shall we talk about your magical abilities? What about Speed, Stamina? What about Special Skills or Defensive Attributes? Do you have any of those, Iron Jack? Or have you wasted your riches building up things like Physical Strength and Swordplay Skills?” She shook her head. “We both know the answer to that. You’re top heavy. You’re a one-trick pony, as the people on your Earth would say. Hecate might have been right to say you’re the greatest knight in the realm. I won’t deny that, but it’ll take more than a knight to sit on the Skull Throne. It will take someone who is well rounded in all areas.” Right there. She knew I wasn’t as good as I wanted to pretend to be, and it hurt.

  Her wings flapped, sending a rush of wind right into my face. She lifted into the air, looking down at me, with her feet right in my face.

  “You relied on your guild in the past. You used their skills and their heart to cover for your own lack of expertise in certain areas.”

  “Everyone does that,” I said, looking up at her and trying really hard not to stare too hard at her thighs. Given how close they were to my line of sight though, it wasn’t an easy task.

  “That may be true, but it wasn’t what any of us were expecting from you.” She turned to Hecate. “Your ogre friend here sold you as a great savior. She spoke of your adventures and the quests you’ve won. She led the Principalities to believe the Avenging Angels were little more than your backup, that – if anything – being without them would free you to reach your full potential.” Well, that wasn’t exactly true, now was it?

  “I said what I saw, Ori,” Hecate answered, doing a much better job of not staring at the woman’s bare skin than me, though that would have been awesome. “Which was potential and talent. If the Principalities read more into that than I meant them to, it’s only because of how desperate we all are. The Skull Throne sits empty, and the worst creatures in the entire world are after it, including the great Shadow. We needed a savior, and now we have one. But that doesn’t mean he won’t need help or guidance. You didn’t really think you were going to get out of this without having to lift a finger, did you?”

  Ori’s eyes glowed with bright blue energy and her face twisted into a mask of anger. She flew down to meet Hecate, her mace moving to her hand and – just as quickly – to the ogre’s chest.

  Above the pair, status bars flashing into existence. Ori had much more Energy than Hecate, along with a capped Sanctity bar, but she was no slouch either. Still, the fact I could even see the representations of their life force meant they were about to fight, and that was the last thing we needed.

  “Come on now!” I yelled, rushing toward them and watching my own Energy bar appear overhead. Where Hecate and Ori’s were purple and full, mine was low enough to have dipped into “red bar” territory.

  Instinctively, I reached into my satchel, calling up a healing potion from my stash and watching as the bar went purple, filling up to three-quarters. Just like when I did this back at home, I heard a slurping sound and saw the 51 at the top right-hand corner tick down to 50, letting me know just how many potions I had left.

  If only I could fill up on Sanctity that easily. I’d be able to wield the sword properly, and things would be easier.

  “We don’t need to fight each other!” I said, putting a hand on each of their shoulders.

  Ori shrugged away from me, though neither of them turned their attentions away from the other.

  “This ogre dares to question my honor!” Ori said, pressing the mace into Hecate’s chest. It mustn’t have been too hard though because, in addition to her not responding, her health meter remained unchanged.

  “That’s not what I’m doing,” she answered calmly.

  “That’s not what she’s doing,” I repeated, though the idea of a catfight didn’t seem horrible in my frantic mind right about now.

  “I simply meant to state the nature of our situation,” Hecate added, ignoring me.

  “She simply meant to–”

  “I don’t need your help, Iron Jack,” Hecate said, looking over at me. “Ori knows the truth here. We’ve been friends for too long for us to come to blows over something as trivial as this. Especially given the fact we’re both on the same side.”

  Ori’s eyes softened, the energy in her eyes flickering away. Slowly, she lowered the mace, fastening it against her leg again.

  “He is of no use to us here, Hecate,” she said, her voice softer and her tone holding one of the fire it had just seconds ago. “The Principalities ran back to the Upper Level where they knew they'd be safe."

  "The Upper Level?" I asked, thinking of the place of legend, the place I'd always wanted to go in game. "Are we going to go there?" I asked, trying not to sound too excited. "Maybe find the portal that takes us there?"

  The portal to the Upper Level had never been found by any player I was aware of. If not for the manufacturer's insistence it existed, I'd have assumed it was an old wife's tale. It wasn't though. It was real in every sense of the word, and I was about to go to it.

  "No. We're not finding the portal," Hecate snapped back.

  Okay. Well, maybe not.

  "You're a Level 50 player, but your Attunements are stupidly one-sided. We need you to gain more, and we need you to do it in a very specific way. Otherwise, even if we took you to the portal, you wouldn't be able to travel through it. Worse, without the Principalities, we won’t be able to make a play for the throne. The Shadow will undoubtedly take it over, and what will become of us then?”

  That was the second time I’d heard that name “The Shadow.” I knew every inch of this game. At least, I thought I did. Still, I had never heard of a boss named The Shadow. Who the hell was he?

  Before I could ask, Ori turned to me, her brows scrunched together in barely contained fury. “Do I even wish to know if you have any magical Attunements whatsoever?”

  I sighed heavily. Magic had never been my thing. I liked being a knight. I liked the idea of having a sword in my hands. Being able to cast spells and wearing long robes and all that; it was never something I wanted. As such, I didn’t focus on it too much. Ori had been right. I was a one trick pony.

  “I have someone in my guild who can help. She’s an amazing wizard, the best I’ve ever seen,” I said, ignoring the specifics of her question. “She’ll help us.”

  Ori shook her head. “Not the way we need her to.”

  “She will,” I said. “I know her. She’s–”

  “Not here,” Hecate chimed in. “There’s a reason we pulled you into this place. We wanted our savior to be invested, to know this wasn’t a game. Your wizard friend might love this place, but because she’s not actually here, she won’t be able to help us. Not truly, anyway. This is real for you now, and since neither Ori nor I are capable of channeling an Orbiter stone given our races, it has to be done by you.”

  “I’m not a wizard,” I said, leaning against a tree and looking at the pair. “I don’t know the first thing about casting. The best I’ve got is a decent Celestial Attunement and even that’s just so I can use my sword.”

  “Then we’ll have to change that,” Ori said, flying upward again and looking down at me. “We’ll have to help you Rank up…quickly, as well as recharge your Sanctity so your ‘mighty’ weapon can actually hurt a fly. I know just the way to do it.”
/>
  As she looked down at me, a blue bar appeared in my line of sight.

  Orgina, Guardian of the Void, is offering you a quest. Will you accept it? Y/N

  Sighing again, I mentally moved over to the “Y” and pressed it. Not only did that add a new Side Quest to my tracker, another, bigger one updated.

  Quest “Hero of the Principalities” updated!

  Objectives updated: Complete Orgina's quest to learn Magic!

  The Principalities smile on you! You gain 2 Attunement ranks!

  You gain 2 Essences of the Principalities! 2/100 Essences until a new Attunement unlock.

  Instinctively, I put the two Attunement ranks into my Knight Attunement. Now, it was quest time, bitches.

  9

  As I walked with Ori and Hecate through the woods and into the small gnome village of Grass Root, one prevailing emotion seemed to rise above the rest.

  This felt right.

  For the first time since all of this happened— No — it had been longer than that. For the first time since Amanda had thrown me out, I felt like I was comfortable in my own skin. The fact that this wasn’t my own skin was an irony that was not lost on me.

  Why? Because I had done this before. Time after time, I had gone on missions to level up or garner some kind of needed treasure. This was comfortable, familiar like an old shoe. That this was happening in Grass Root, a town I knew like the back of my hand, was just icing on the cake.

  Also, the fact that I was surrounded by two of the most insanely hot and formidable characters in the entire game was a mind blowing additive.

  We stopped at the entrance to the small town, and I looked it over. No surprises here, I surmised as I took in the small, humble houses near the outdoor fountain that served as the hub of the town, and the store where I’d bought the very shoes I was wearing right now.

  Confidence practically rolled off me in sheets. The denizens of this town (NPCs anyway) were mostly a peace-loving people. As gnomes, they were big into nature. Seriously, these bastards were a step away from living in those oversized mushrooms the Smurfs used to rock back in the day.

  I had been through this place over a hundred times. There was never much real action here, no matter how much some douchebag players would want to do otherwise. There were always jerks that wanted to be wasteful and petty by picking on people smaller and weaker than themselves. If they couldn’t do it in real life, doing it in a game was almost as good. Fortunately for the gnomes, though, every settlement in the dangerous world of Kingdom of Heaven was protected from untoward harm by holy shrines, powered by the Principalities. The lore of the game said these shrines could be breached, but only by the darkest of powers. No player had ever done it.

  That fact made me wonder if this Shadow was such a danger because he was that darkest of powers. Could he breach even the safe zones here? I told myself I’d definitely ask Ori and Hecate about that later.

  I took the place in, my newly “in game” vision showcasing a bright green diamond floating over the store, letting me know where I could spend my money.

  “Do I need anything to start this?” I asked, turning to Ori with one hand on my sword. My Sanctity was still low (16% now) so there was little point in wielding it, and unless Ori had completely changed her tune, I probably wouldn’t be during this quest. Swords, even enchanted ones, were for Knights, Barbarians, and other skilled melee fighters.

  To my credit, I had the hand to hand stuff down. She wanted me to focus on my Magic Skills. Unfortunately, she might as well have asked me to say the Chinese alphabet backward for all the good it would do me. I’d have to learn though. If I wanted to get to the Principalities, if I wanted to use the energy of the Skull Throne to get back home and see my family again, I was going to have to be Harry freaking Potter by the time this was over.

  Lightning bolt scar and all.

  “That’s up to you,” Ori answered. “What sort of magic speaks to you?”

  “The ‘none’ kind,” I answered, glaring at her and pursing my lips. ‘That’s why I never did any of it, and even if I did, I don’t have any unused Attunement points to learn.”

  Looking up at my notifications bar, I checked to see if Ember was online right now. If she was, maybe she could help. I knew Ori had a point when she told me this wouldn’t mean as much to anyone on the outside as it did to me. Still, I had known the woman for months now. We had never been in the same room, but we had spent hours together literally every day. She’d have to help me out. She’d just have to.

  “You’re going to have to do better than that,” Ori scoffed, raising a perfectly sculpted eyebrow at me. “As part of your quest, I will grant you the starting Attunement for the path you decide on, such is my power. Any magical denomination will work for our purposes. I just need you to choose the one you think you’ll be able to excel at the quickest.”

  I looked at her, a blank expression on my face. To me, magic was like algebra, a bunch of nonsensical numbers and letters thrown to together. A subject I’d be a happy clam with if it stayed far away from me.

  “Oh, come on, Jack!” Hecate said from my other side. “There’s Nature Magic, Darkforce Magic, Spectral Magic, Rune-”

  “I know the different kinds of magics, Hecate,” I snapped back. “I don’t need you to tell me.”

  “But I need you to tell me,” Ori huffed. “Different paths call for different preparations. For us to continue, you’ll have to–”

  “Nature!” I said quickly, running a hand through hair that was longer than T had ever allowed me to grow mine. “I mean, I spent a summer at my Uncle Randy’s farm up in Iowa once when I was a kid. I even milked a cow.”

  “What’s a cow?” Hecate asked, and when no one responded, she added, “I’m just kidding.” Then she looked at her shoes and absently kicked a tiny pebble sixty feet into the air.

  “Fine,” Ori said. “We’ll make a Woods Mystic of you yet.” Raising one perfectly-formed hand at me, there was a soft, white glow that spread out from it and washed over me.

  Quest objective complete!

  You have chosen to pursue Nature Magic by the angel Orgina’s bidding!

  You gain Rank 1 Woods Mystic Attunement!

  You gain the Passive Power “Apprentice Mystic”!

  You can now learn Grade 1 Nature Magic!

  New quest objective: Learn your first Nature Spell!

  She started toward the store without another word, and I didn’t need to be told to follow her. Hopefully, she’d give me a chance to figure out what the new Attunement and Passive actually did, even as a new resource bar was tacked on to the other two I had labeled “Balance,” sitting exactly at 0 … but with a range from -50 to 50 instead of 0 to 100.

  Trying to keep up with the angel, I marched through the familiar town, locking eyes with various local NPCs I’d run across while playing.

  They all looked strangely at me, as though they could see something was different than before.

  “Can they – can they tell I’m really in here?” I asked, looking over at Hecate.

  “Either that or there’s toilet paper on your shoe,” Hecate answered. “Don’t worry though. Gnomes are particularly sensitive to that sort of thing. I doubt you’ll stick out so much anywhere else.”

  We walked through the door of the store – with me actually checking my shoe for toilet paper, and my vision shifted jarringly. I adjusted fast, though, as I realized I was entering straight into the familiar shop interface from the game.

  In the bottom right-hand corner of my vision, my purse appeared, letting me know how many coins I had to spend.

  26,550 coins.

  I took a deep breath, hoping Ori didn’t ask me about my financial state.

  While I wasn’t a pauper by any means, 26k wasn’t a huge amount for someone with my amount of experience and my number of hours online. I huffed. I knew I shouldn’t have bought that Celestial Steel Belt of the Lion last week. It had been an upgrade, sure, but I didn’t need it. There were
plenty of things I probably needed to save up for that were more important, but I just couldn’t resist.

  The old gnome shopkeeper whose name I couldn’t remember for the life of me nodded, greeting us into his place of business.

  “Iron Jack!” he exclaimed, clasping his hands together in delight. “How wonderful it is to see you again. I’ve thought many times of our last meeting since you left here.”

  “Me – me too … dude,” I answered, shuffling uneasily and hoping he didn’t notice I had no idea what to call him.

  He didn’t seem to, though he did notice something much more important.

  “You…” he said, staring at me with ever increasingly narrowed eyes. Gnomes were already ugly in this game, with hollowed out cheeks, sallow, yellow skin, and eyeballs that were more black abyss than anything else. The way his face twisted unnaturally as he stared at me made the poor guy even homelier. “You are not as you were. The distance between us has been breached in the most severe of ways.” His hands rose triumphantly into the air. “Surely this is an omen of the glorious days which lay before us! If a hero such as you is here, then we can only grow in prosperi–”

  “Calm yourself, Gnome!” Ori said, slamming her hand against his counter. “You embarrass yourself, your town, and your entire species with this unadulterated and misplaced show of affection.”

  He turned to her, his face losing the color it had. “I-I have?”

  “We have not come here to be showered with meaningless, half-hearted compliments. You are a business owner. We expect to do business.”

  The gnome turned from Ori to me and shook his elongated head. “I don’t think I like your friend.”

  “I am not his friend,” she answered sternly.

  “It’s true,” I muttered.

  “And whether or not you like me is neither important nor relevant. Iron Jack has come to peruse of your goods, and he will not leave here until he has been given the opportunity.”