Ring of Promise: A LitRPG novel (Elements of Wrath Online Book 1)

by J. A. Cipriano

  Kayla’s Holy Rain hits the Grand Rider! He takes .1% (-3.9% resistance) Water Damage and 20% (+10% vulnerability) Light Damage! HP 75.6%

  “Come on, you son of a tropical fruit basket,” the Sorceress yelled as the Rider snarled, swinging his barrel to aim right at her. As he caressed the ebony trigger, the explosion of spectral energy filled the air … and only blasted Kayla. It was close, to be sure, the air not three inches from Crysta’s face full of ghostly death, but close only counts in horseshoes and atomic bombs.

  Far less injured than Burndall or Crysta, Kayla took the entire burst with a tortured cry but didn’t fall, planting her staff to keep herself from being blown off her feet, down to a little over a third of her Health. It was also right at that moment that the canned animation finished, letting me swap the Light Gem from my banner into the Guardian’s Fragment shield, right next to Shield Slam.

  Grade S Shield Slam modified into Grade S Solar Shield!

  The Rider chuckled as he spurred his boar on, the massive slab of shadow bearing down on Kayla. It wouldn’t be fast enough, though, as Kayla’s trust in my ability paid off. She looked right into the Rider’s flaming eyes and grinned. “Better look behind you.”

  The Rider did, in fact, turn in his saddle for just a moment, long enough to see me raise my golden shield and invoke the linked Gems. “Feel the full Power of the Light, you monster!”

  A burning, blinding corona of sunlight surged out, enveloping the Grand Rider and his beast of a mount, highlighting every twisted shade of darkness that made up his form. Shadowstuff burned off him and his boar in wisps and most importantly, the Rider roared in agony as he threw his arms over his face and eyes.

  Your Solar Shield hits the Grand Rider! He takes 12% (+6% vulnerability) Light Damage and is Blinded! HP 65.6%

  Three seconds in the world of Elementalis can be the difference between getting a Gem switch out and not, casting a clutch heal or killing a group member, and life and death in general. It’s also the time it takes to cast Celestial Comet, apparently, and the remaining time for Ring of Purity to come off of cooldown. As Crysta staggered back, firing off a Greenlife Arrow into Burndall to ensure he stayed up, a now-familiar rift opened above the Rider as he and his mount stumbled around, still burning from the consecutive Light attacks, as Burndall thrust his blade into the ground once more.

  The monster opened his eyes just in time to see the icy comet hurtle down and the coils of purifying flame race towards him. “That’s for all the poor souls you led astray, you kumquat,” I managed to spit out as the two big spells collided with his murky form.

  Kayla’s Celestial Comet hits the Grand Rider! He takes 32% (+16% vulnerability) Light Damage and 1% (-12% resisted) Water Damage! HP 38.6%

  Burndall’s Ring of Purity hits (critical) the Grand Rider! He takes 1% (+13% critical, -25% resisted) Fire Damage and 36% (+12% critical, +12% vulnerability) Light Damage! He dies!

  The Rider unleashed a hollow, guttural scream as the shadows and darkness were burned off his bones and the glowing ice and starstuff of the comet cut what remained into ribbons. He was thrown from the remains of his mount, the immense skeleton collapsing into a charred heap and for a split second, I thought we were about to enter phase two of the fight as the Rider grasped up towards the heavens.

  Instead, it marked one last desperate grasp towards the sky, maybe clutching at the last shafts of sunlight that cut through the clouds overhead. With one last echoing gasp, the Rider, now merely a twisted skeleton, collapsed in on itself.

  Quest ‘In the Shadow of Crystalfire’ updated!

  New objective: Search the Grand Rider’s remains!

  Crysta managed to collect herself, still rubbing at her breastbone where the Rider’s lance had pierced her. “I’ve never hurt so bad from a MOB, even when I’ve died.” Kayla came up beside her, putting an arm around her shoulder.

  “I know how you feel, Crys, and I took the least of it,” she soothed. Looking up at me and Burndall, she continued. “But we’re not quite done. Shale?”

  I nodded, ironically the least hurt of the entire crew (an odd situation to be sure) and went for the one loot globe that hovered over the grim remains of the Grand Rider. Gingerly reaching out for it, it sparked at my touch and spun into position, the Loot UI popping into existence as we gathered around it, nursing our hurts.

  The Grand Rider’s remains contains:

  Keystone to Crystalfire Keep (Quest Item, lootable by all)

  We’re aware that there are some folks who are really burning through the lead-in quests for Crystalfire Keep, and we’re okay with that. If nothing else, it shows how smart and resourceful our players can be. There might even be a bit of a surprise in store for them to show our appreciation.

  Kyle Patruski, EO’s lead developer

  All the Firsters are awesome! What I really think is cool is that they’re not all hardcore raider-types. If someone like Mr. Shale, who plays a Class people don’t think is cool and wasn’t even level-capped, can lead the way like this, then anybody can do anything in EO!

  Nahma, guildmaster, FFC-WUSA guild

  21

  We were all speechless, even Burndall, as the Key popped into our inventories. For a journey that I had thought would be so much longer, if I even got to the end to it, to have to go by so lightning fast, was mind-blowing.

  Quest ‘In the Shadow of Crystalfire’ completed!

  Return to Sir Copperholt in Granholm for your reward!

  Kayla translated the moment for us all well enough, the shock still rich in her voice. “I can barely believe it, but it’s real.”

  Crysta snapped back to reality first, the most of her usual self I had seen all day piercing through the real-life worries haunting her as she summoned up the keystone into her hands to peer at it. It was a shard of the same strange crystal as comprised the keep itself and the same fiery energy pulsed in the depths of it.

  “HOLY CHOCOLATE CREAM PIE!” Burndall’s exultation echoed across the Shadowyard as he began to jump around, waving his sword about like a very happy idiot. “We did it! We really did it!”

  I finally managed to shake myself back to the moment. “Almost, kid.” Glancing about, I found my eyes attracted like a magnet to Kayla only to find her already staring at me. That had to mean something, especially when we both broke into smiles. “We have to turn this sucker in first … and hope there isn’t one more part to this hiding out there.”

  Kayla shook her head as she started to work up a Teleport. “If there is, I am seriously going to find and punch K-Pat in the nose.”

  As if a spell had been broken, Crysta sighed and put the keystone away. “Vanni should have been here for this. I should have waited.”

  I knew how she must have felt; heck, if you have even the smallest shred of empathy and understanding, you would know. I wouldn’t beat the Teleport, and I didn’t want anything to be spilled publicly (Kayla had been right about that, I knew now), so I switched to group chat as Kayla’s watery portal shimmered into existence and swallowed us up.

  Shale: Don’t beat yourself up, Crys. She would have wanted you to do this, and I bet you know that.

  She didn’t have a chance to respond as we were whisked away back to Granholm, but I know that I saw her lips perk back into a slight smile as we dissipated. A few blinks of an eye later, we emerged slightly soggy but victorious back at the Granholm Life Crystal. What awaited us shouldn’t have been surprising, but after the harrowing battle in the bleakness of the Shadowyard and the impact of having the keystone in our mitts, we weren’t quite ready for the explosion of applause from our adoring fans.

  There were more of them now to the point I suspected a Game Master would blip in to break things up a little before the Crystal Hall was so crowded, no one would be able to get in or out. The Ember Shadow was there again, and I knew now that it was Nahma, mainly because the silver outline around him outed him as being on my extremely sparse friends list. The other thing I noticed was that many of th
em had a guild now, FFC-WUSA, whatever that meant.

  Kayla: I am never going to get used to this.

  Crysta: Let’s get through them quick. I don’t want to deal with them, not right now.

  I agreed with the ladies this time. I was starting to warm to the attention a little bit (wouldn’t you if you’d gotten the short end of the stick most of your life?) but right then, I wanted to get this turned in. I needed to know if this was the end, if we really were the ‘Firsters’ these people assumed we were.

  “Mr. Shale,” Nahma waved above the cheering mass, “are you Firsters back from another adventure? What happened?”

  Raising my hands, I beat Burndall to the punch by addressing the crowd. “Uh, hey, thanks for bringing all these people here to cheer us on!” The last thing we needed was the kid to start playing to the crowd and making this more of a party than it already was. “And I’d be glad to tell you what happened later, but we really need to get to Champion’s Hall and to be fair, you guys are kind of making it hard for people to, you know, play the game.”

  A murmur of gossiping voices rippled through the crowd, though not as many as you’d suspect. I think a lot of the roaring crowd from the other day was now confined to guild chatter that was going a mile a minute. The gist I could pick out was wonder over what our merry little band had been up to, and if we would tell them the full story or make something up.

  Nahma blinked slowly before cracking a smile, his wild hair rippling with fiery excitement. “Oh! I understand! You’re totally right!” He turned in one neat little hop to the crowd and waves his hands. “People, people! The Firsters need to get through! Move it on out!”

  Well, I had to grant Nahma one thing: he seemed to have mastered the ability to herd cats (or EO players in this case). The mass of avatars starts to break up or at the least shift positions to accommodate travel. A good number moved out into the much more open plaza to gawk at us as we moved through. Still, it was an improvement so I did the right thing by sending Nahma a private message as we made it through the crowd.

  To Nahma: Thanks, man. I will get back with you, I promise. We’re just in a super rush right now!

  Nahma: Oh no, Mr. Shale, thank YOU! I can’t wait to hear all about your adventures!

  A nagging thought worried at the back of mine that maybe I shouldn’t be encouraging this sort of thing, but I cast it aside. While I didn’t think I had it in me to play to the crowds like Burndall did, I might very well need these people to be on my side in the long run, and the best way to do that would be to get to know the guy in charge. Any last shreds of that worry were gone as we hurried into Champion’s Hall, almost to the point of activating Sprint mode.

  The place was surprisingly sparse. Maybe people were finally getting off their butts to do the research and follow up on the same clues that we did to get this far. Okay, so that was a little harsh to say, but it had a kernel of truth to it. Whatever the reason, our group made quick time across the hub toward Copperholt’s desk, the princess standing as always off to one side.

  We all came to a halt in a rough semi-circle. Well, this was it. The moment of truth, as they say.

  Shale: Who wants to do the honors?

  Burndall: I’ll do it!

  Crysta: Of course you’d say that, Burndall! No, Shale should do it.

  Kayla: I agree. The fact of the matter is that we’re here because of him. Shale started it; he should get to finish it.

  Burndall: … yeah. You’re right. Go for it, boss!

  I looked at the rest of the group for a final reassurance. Crysta nodded with a trace of a smile, Burndall gave me a thumbs-up, and Kayla patted me on the shoulder.

  “Okay, here we go,” I said as I mentally opened the NPC interaction interface with Sir Copperholt.

  Unlike his normally staid and business-like self, the elder knight almost launched out of his seat at our arrival. “Champions! We had feared the worst! Shortly after you left for Crystalfire Keep, a contingent of the border guard returned from a routine patrol of the Rift … via the Life Crystal, if you understand my meaning. The Keep has been taken and no doubt there was an ambush set for you at the Shadowyard.”

  I nodded slowly. “Your suspicions weren’t wrong, Sir Copperholt. When we arrived at the Shadowyard, the leader of the Dark Riders attacked us with powerful dark magic. Sir, he was able to animate the dead and send them against us.” I produced the keystone. “We defeated him, though, and recovered this.”

  Kallisandre stepped over and glanced at the knight. “May I, good sir knight?”

  “Of course, your Highness,” Copperholt replied with a slight bow.

  With his leave, she took the crystal from me, holding it up to her eyes for a closer look. “If you have not already deduced, champions, this shard is filled with Primal Darkness and there are faint traceries of some warding ritual here. It is likely a key of a sort, the sort that can open holes in warded doorways and entries.”

  Carefully, the princess handed the keystone back to me. “To desecrate the dead is an unholy power that we all thought to be legend. However, as you yourselves have shown us when you discovered the Light in the Needle, we should pay attention to those legends. The path forward is obvious now.”

  Copperholt jumped in at this point, tapping Crystalfire Keep on his map. “We must retake the Keep before the Flames of Conflict pervert the Warding Gem there to shatter our entire defensive barrier. However, there is only one group of champions that can undertake this quest.” He then gestured to our merry band. “You. These ‘keystones’ are the only way through the seals on the Keep. Until we can replicate them, you are our only hope.”

  Kallisandre cleared her throat. “In due time, Sir Copperholt.” She looked to us and frowned slightly. “Not that I doubt your skills and bravery but what you will face in the Keep will be more terrible by a measure, I fear, than what you have faced thus far. Stay your hand for a brief time and let us finish deciphering the power of the weapon you recovered. The Elohjin knew it was critical to stave off the Elements of Conflict, and I doubt you will succeed without its power.”

  Copperholt nodded, his lips pursed, as he grudgingly agreed. “I suppose, your Highness, just as I am sure the Mountain King would agree with you.” He sighed and shook his head. “I pray it is not too late, though.”

  Quest ‘In the Shadow of Crystalfire’ concluded!

  Quest successful!

  50% Experience awarded!

  Grade S Royal Knight’s Breastplate awarded!

  Title 'Chosen of the Elohjin' added!

  Keystone to Crystalfire Keep added to your Keyring!

  Congratulations! You have gained a level and are now a level 42 Warlord!

  Strength increases by 1 to 178!

  Agility increases by 1 to 63!

  Power increases by 1 to 41!

  Infusion increases by 2 to 328!

  Vitality increases by 2 to 332!

  Health Points increases by 20 to 3440!

  Elemental Power increases by 20 to 2600!

  You will be contacted via in-game mail when Crystalfire Keep is officially open!

  I didn't even remember closing the NPC interface. We had actually done it and my brain just couldn’t process it. As if my mind wasn’t already completely blown to pieces, the chunks that remained entered meltdown a moment later when my Herald blew a royal fanfare, the default sound alert for a GM or Developer message in my inbox, accompanied by the sudden burst of a server-wide announcement, showing up in the center of vision in large, clear letters.

  SHALE, KAYLA, BURNDALL, AND CRYSTA HAVE COMPLETED THE QUEST TO UNLOCK CRYSTALFIRE KEEP!

  Shale: Did that happen for everyone?

  Kayla: The leveling or the GM alert?

  Burndall: No on one, yes on two. What the penguins is going on?

  Crysta: We did it, that’s what’s going on. I don’t know about the second, though, but I got a message too.

  I barely acknowledged that there were more and more people crowding int
o Champion’s Hall as I mentally swiped over to the messages. In gold type, glowing brighter than the other message headers, the top most message stood out like a forest fire.

  From: Havoccore , Subject: Congratulations!

  “I almost don’t want to open it,” I murmured as my fingers moved on their own, summoning up the message. It was written on thick, cream-colored paper, bordered with blazing gold leaf, and written in a neat, professional hand.

  Congratulations, Shale, from the entire EO developmental team! You and your group have done what we thought would take even the best raid guild longer to accomplish, completing the unlocking quest chain for Crystalfire Keep, and for that, you and every member of your group deserve a special reward!

  While the grand prizes for clearing Crystalfire Keep were announced, what we didn’t announce was a series of smaller prizes for those who figured out and completed the quest chain leading up to it. As among the first on your server to earn your keystone, you are entitled to a monetary prize worth the equivalent of $5,000 USD.

  Thank you for playing Elementalis Online and good luck when Crystalfire Keep opens!

  I wasn't sure how long I stood there staring at the letter in my hands. I was sure that I didn’t snap out of it until Kayla grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me a few times. “Shale?!”

  I blinked and looked up as I swayed slightly back and forth from the shaking. “Huh? What?”

  “Are you okay?” She was looking me in the eyes and the concern was plain.

  I started to realize that there were people all around us, and we somehow had made it back out into Granholm Plaza. Cheers, applause, dancing, drinking, eating, fireworks, a party around us raged that I hadn’t seen the likes of since the last Anniversary event. Burndall was mingling with people and flirting with the ladies while Crysta had managed to find a perch in a tree away from the heart of the crowd, busy staring up at the sky. There was a little circle of open space around us, there being enough civility to give me room while I was, uh, spaced out.