Realm of the Nine Circles: The Grind: A LitRPG Novel

by P. Joseph Cherubino

  A closer look revealed some sap was dripping from thick vines climbing the rock. It was sticky. He examined some of it and found it had no known properties.

  “Duh,” he said to himself. “I haven’t bothered to examine anything for properties since I started questing.”

  Kalmond cut the vine open and let the sticky sap ooze into his palm, then he sat down and coated his right foot with it. He hopped over to the first rock, stood on it, then tested his grip on the second. He didn’t slip. With a huge smile, he cut open more vines and smeared the sap liberally over his boots. The sap worked so well that it took great effort walk over to the rocks. He was able to cross the creek easily.

  On the other side, he examined the sap again. This time, a description floated in the air. “Strangler Vines: adhesive, unknown, unknown.” An XP bubble announced 35 points earned, and he’d learned that strangler vines had three possible uses.

  “Hot damn!” Kalmond shouted. He found several more vines and added more sap to his inventory. The discovery put a spring in his step, and moving downstream on the other side of the bank led him to a branch of the creek that filled a small pond.

  The air was cool there, and the fresh, pure water reflected white light from glowing water lilies floating on the surface. He moved forward nearly hypnotized by the beauty. Just as he bent down to fill up the vial given to him by the alchemist, the pond surface exploded into motion. A wave of cold water threw him back on his rump. Two water sprites stood over him with water staffs shimmering.

  “Stop!” they yelled in unison, and even that sounded like a chorus of angels.

  Their long, slender blue limbs allowed light to pass through, making them seem as if they were made from water. Kalmond thought it would be a shame to kill them, but he was prepared to do what he must.

  “I just came for some of your water,” Kalmond said, remembering the quest specifics The Alchemist needed water directly from a sprite. He hoped to try to fill the vial directly hadn’t altered the parameters. “I need it for an old man,” Kalmond added by way of persuasion.

  “We don’t know you,” said the tallest sprite, moving forward. “How do we know you are worthy?”

  “I’m one of the Noble Four,” Kalmond replied. “In these parts, they call me the Bear Dwarf.” He hated the “Bear Dwarf” moniker but thought it might come in handy. He had no such luck.

  The tall sprite harrumphed a sound that made Kalmond smile in spite of himself. Sprites came in all shapes and sizes in the game. They were friendly and often funny unless provoked, and then, a character had better be strong and savvy to defeat them.

  “I know a way to tell if he is worthy,” said the small sprite, stepping forward. “Let him pay the game!”

  More than twenty other sprites rose up from the water, some young, some old. “The game? The game…” they echoed one another.

  There was no way in all the Realm that Kalmond the Dwarf, or any other quester, was likely to take on twenty sprites and live.

  “Sure,” Kalmond said. “I’ll play the game.”

  The pretty sprites made approving noises in their tinkling language that sounded like otherworldly music.

  “You must best our most skilled sprite in a game of catch,” said the tall sprite, who was obviously the leader.

  “How do you best someone at catch?” Kalmond asked.

  “By not dropping the glass ball, silly,” the leader sprite said. “You must catch it three times. Our champion must also catch it three times. It is a test.”

  A shimmering ball of blown glass flew at him out of the crowd. Kalmond leaped up and grabbed it before it passed over his head completely. To his horror, the ball shot out of his hands. He scrambled for it, but the surface was covered in some kind lubricant, and he couldn’t get purchase. Finally, after the ball popped up from his grasp a third time, Kalmond stretched out the hem of his shirt and caught the ball with it.

  “Ok, then,” Kalmond muttered. Carefully guarding the ball, he squatted to the ground. He applied the sticky sap he’d collected earlier, but he quickly ran out, and the ball was still slick. Growling, Kalmond held it in his shirt with both hands and searched his mind feverishly for a solution.

  “Aha!” he exclaimed, then raced around until he found some strangler vines. He used his mouth to hold his shirt, making a pocket for the ball. Retaining the ball that way made stripping the vines awkward, but he made it work. When he had a big mass of vine leaves, fibers and sap, he painstakingly wrapped it all around the ball. When he was done, the shiny glass was completely covered by tacky globs. The messy crafting operation earned him 23 XP.

  The sprites showed no reaction to the doctored ball. Instead, they drew back, leaving one tall, lithe female standing alone.

  “It is time to play catch, Dwarf!” she called, then taunted him by dancing in a circle in the little clearing in front of the pond. “As a guest, the first toss is yours. Throw if you dare!”

  Kalmond threw gently. The leader said nothing about his opponent catching the ball, just that he must catch thrice. He didn’t want to waste his time having a cutthroat game of catch. The sprite caught the ball, then twirled a curtsy.

  A moment later the sprite threw hard and fast. So much for a friendly game, Kalmond thought. He jumped high, and the ball thwacked him in the gut, doubling him over as he fell back to the ground. Kalmond rose with a growl and winged the ball back in anger. The sprite giggled and plucked it from the air with a single hand.

  An underhand return toss sent the ball sailing high into the branches, where it bounced around before dropping back down. Kalmond had to shade his eyes from the bright sun slashing through gaps in the branches as he tracked the ball’s path. He shuffled left, then right. At the last moment, he threw himself forward into a baseball slide, catching the ball with two upraised palms. He stood and prepared to throw the ball again.

  “Stop!” cried the head sprite.

  ‘What?” Kalmond said, alarm spiking his voice. The sprites grew solemn.

  “It is time for the final toss!” the leader sprite announced, at which all the sprites began to chant “ooooo-caaaaa-tchaa-ooooo-catchaaa-ooooo”

  The expert sprite moved over to the edge of the pond and Kalmond followed. To his horror, the pond water receded, leaving broad lily pads standing up on slender stalks. Far down below, impossibly sharp stalagmites pointed up toward the forest canopy. The bones of many adventurers lay strewn in the mud between the deadly spikes.

  “I thought this was a game of catch,” Kalmond exclaimed as the athlete sprite hopped nimbly onto a lily pad.

  “Yes,” she replied. “It is a game of catch to the death!”

  Kalmond balked. “You never said this was to the death! Your leader said catch three times.” He cast pleading eyes at the quest giver.

  A blank expression crossed the sprite’s face. “This is how we play catch,” the sprite said as if that simple explanation should suffice. “Do you refuse the game?” The sprite asked, and in response, every other sprite moved forward, angling their weapons towards the dwarf while still chanting their death-catch mantra.

  “OK, then,” Kalmond said. “Let’s get this over with,” and hopped on to the opposite lily pad.

  He cursed his choice of stone dwarf and its low agility stat as he used all of his concentration to keep from falling to what would certainly be a quick death. He had no more resurrection credits until level ten, so he’d lose level 9 completely if he died now. If this was to be a catch to the death, he needed to win. Kalmond sighed, realizing there was only one choice. He threw the ball high over his competitor’s lily pad.

  The champion sprite jumped at the ball. Her slender form shot out like a blue spark and her translucent skin cast wondrous blue light on Kalmond’s face. She flew far out over the deadly pit without a lily pad to land on. She caught the ball in mid-air and gave a triumphant squeal as she began to plummet.

  “No!” Kalmond bellowed, making a mighty jump of his own. It was just a stupid game
of catch. Why should this sprite die just to catch a dumb glass ball? Kalmond took the chance that he wouldn’t die, but he had to try saving this sprite. For some reason, he just couldn’t watch the pretty creature die. As he caught hold of the sprite and his arms made contact with the ball, he wondered if he was getting too invested in the game. Oh well, he was committed. He might not hit any spikes.

  When he caught her, she turned to him with an angelic smile as his burly dwarf arms wrapped her tight. Kalmond turned his back to the ground as they fell and prepared for impact with eyes clamped tightly shut. The impact never happened.

  An instant later, Kalmond found himself standing on wobbly knees back at the edge of the pond that was a pond once again, and not a hellish muddy death pit. The athlete sprite extracted herself from the dwarf’s arms took the ball back, then curtsied. The ball seemed to cast off a spirit as an XP bubble rose up from it declaring Kalmond just earned 184 points.

  “What just happened?” Kalmond asked, blinking rapidly.

  “You caught the ball!” The sprite leader exclaimed to his prize athlete.

  “Can I get some water now?” Kalmond asked. “Because that was seriously fucked up.”

  “You may have the water, Noble Bear Dwarf,” the sprite said. “Not only have you won the game, but you spared the life of your competitor. You are indeed worthy of favor.”

  Kalmond shook his head and held out the alchemist’s vial. He only wanted to get out of this forest and away from water sprite blood sport. “Water, please,” he said. “Fill this up.” The leader sprite complied, and Kalmond put the vial back in his inventory.

  “Wait, Bear Dwarf,” the leader sprite said. Kalmond turned back to see all of the sprites except one had disappeared. The leader stared at him with mournful eyes.

  “What is it?” Kalmond asked.

  “Please… we need your help.” She drifted closer to him, her feet dangling in the water as she hovered. “Something is not right. The sprites here were born into water pure as virgin snow, like the breeze on an untouched mountain. But now the water is impure. Something sours it.”

  “Yes,” Kalmond said. “I am on a quest to find the source of this poison. Is that what you want me to do?”

  “I am afraid my task for you is a little more dangerous. The corruption has created a new water spirit, one with a soul born from darkness. It lurks in the waters just to the north and spreads its poison into our home. If it is not destroyed, my people will need to leave our home and drift south until we find clear waters again.”

  “And if it keeps spreading?” Kalmond asked.

  The sprite shrugged, eyes haunted. “Then, we keep moving until we are swept into the great seas and torn asunder by the salt tides. It is not our place there, but we cannot risk our own souls being taken by this creature.”

  Something about the phrasing triggered a memory. Virgil also talked about agents stealing souls. The fact that the sprite also used such specific language made Kalmond wonder.

  “OK, then,” the dwarf said. “I accept your quest.”

  The quest notice scrolled by between dwarf and sprite: Poison Water: Destroy the Evil Water Spirit

  With the Alchemist’s water collected, Kalmond set out to find the source of poison. The source wasn’t far away, but travel was slowed by winding forest paths and steep climbs. Due to the remoteness of the area, he wasn’t expecting to find another adventurer heading down from higher ground on the path ahead.

  The name tag hovering over the adventurer’s head was free of any tags at all, so Kalmond was relieved this one wasn’t one of the Mylos groupies. Also, with a name like “BurritoBandit,” he guessed the person had a sense of humor. Those were usually decent signs that someone was not a player killer. Kalmond decided to take a chance with the elf, who wore armored mage robes.

  “Hey,” Kalmond said, opening up a text channel.

  “Yo,” came the clipped reply. Burrito stopped a cautious distance ahead.

  “Relax,” Kalmond said. “I’m not a player killer.”

  “How do I know that?” the elf said. “Heard that before.”

  “Am I attacking you?” Kalmond replied. A long pause stretched between them.

  “U R one of those Noble Fours,” the player said. “Just looked u up.”

  “Yeah,” Kalmond replied, gladly unable to transmit the reluctance of his reply.

  “Your reputation score is off the charts,” said BurritoBandit.

  Uh, oh, Kalmond thought. “Don’t…” he said, just as the elf fired on him with an ice spike.

  The attack revealed BurritoBandit was a level twelve. The Bear Dwarf was in trouble. The ice spike froze him, and he hit the ground and tumbled down the slope, away from the rising path. His fall was the only thing that saved him, but he knew that wouldn’t be for long unless he thought of something quick. At the sound of the elf crashing through the forest, Kalmond activated sneak and crouched down exactly where he lay just a moment before.

  In his rush to make a finishing attack, the elf went right past Kalmond. As soon as he saw his enemy’s back, Kalmond activated his power attack and lunged. The axe blade scored a critical, taking the elf down to Kalmond’s health level. The successful sneak attack also earned him 35 XP.

  “We’re even now,” Kalmond said, squaring off against BurritoBandit, axe held across his body in a defensive position. “Just walk away.”

  “No way,” Burrito said. “I need some reputation points to join the Army of Mylos.”

  “That’s a losing team,” Kalmond said, stalling for time as his endurance bar crept back up. “You can join the Nameless Clan,” he lied.

  “Maybe,” the elf said, and fired another ice spike.

  Kalmond was ready with a block that didn’t help much at all. The spike took his health bar down a significant notch, but he powered through and scored a decent hit on Burrito’s arm. The elf was quick with a lightning sword that flashed out and slashed across Kalmond’s shoulder even as the axe swing continued. The elf hit him again before Kalmond could reverse his axe.

  The dwarf took his left hand off the axe and pulsed his power attack to deliver a backhand across the elf’s face. Blood and spittle flew as the elf whirled around in a half circle. Kalmond decided to put away his axe and go hand-to-hand, more for the satisfaction than anything.

  A follow-up right cross nailed the smug elf squarely in the nose as he turned, regaining control of his lightning sword again. The sword delivered significant stun damage, taking Kalmond’s health dangerously low. It turned out that the Dwarf’s kickboxing skill had the last word. A savage kick to the elf’s midsection doubled him over. When BurritoBandit’s face came down, Kalmond’s knee came up, and two strong dwarven hands, placed on the back of the elf’s head, helped compound the force.

  “I tried to tell you,” Kalmond said, as a big XP bubble floated away, announcing 374 points. He was surprised that didn’t bring him to level ten, but thought he must be close.

  “Bummer,” BurritoBandit replied. “Thought I had you with two lvls on u.”

  “I might have gotten lucky,” Kalmond admitted.

  “So who do I talk to about the Nameless clan?” Burrito asked.

  “Nobody,” Kalmond replied. “I lied.”

  “Dick!” came the reply.

  “Yup,” said Kalmond. “I’m takin’ all your stuff, too.”

  Kalmond ignored the stream of juvenile threats and insults. Fighting the adventurer yielded a bonanza of loot. The one-handed lightning sword was a +9 with stun damage, but the robes were mages only and a level 11. Etiquette sometimes meant that a player might leave some of the better loot if a fair fight was involved. This was not a time for etiquette. Kalmond looted the elf of everything he had. The dwarf came away with 275 circs, three health potions, a stamina potion, a satchel of herbs, two diamond rings, a ruby necklace and a silver cup. Kalmond even took BurritoBandit’s level 2 leather armor for good measure, in case he had any resurrection credits and decided to spawn back at th
e site of his death. Most players did that, but if this guy decided to go that route, he’d be running around the forest in his elven skivvies.

  Kalmond put on the leather armor for a +2 bonus. It was far better than his padded shirt and would hold him over until he got back to pick up his iron boar leather armor. The questing was taking him longer than he thought, so he needed all the armor he could get.

  “See ya,” Kalmond said, closing the chat window while the elf raged.

  That seemed like as good a place as any to take a break, so Kalmond saved his progress and left the Realm.

  Chapter 7

  When the xirclet finished slowly granting him back his vision, Holly was nowhere to be found. Her xirclet lay on the coffee table. Dante stood, feeling tired. Immersion no longer made him feel as if he’d had a nice nap.

  He was surprised to find no angry texts from Martin. Surely, his second four-hour gaming session had to show up in the lab. The engineer had to know he and Holly were back in the game in immersion mode. Dante decided to go back to the lab, thinking it better to head off trouble before it came to him. Martin tended to fire more flack if Dante tried to avoid it. He’d learned that about Martin early in their relationship. In fact, it might have been week one.

  The inner office door opened behind him as he moved to the door. Dante turned to see Holly in shorts and a loose tee shirt, emblazoned with the Plexcorp logo. Dante’s cheeks warmed at the sight of Holly in athletic clothes draping her curves perfectly.

  “Where are you going, couch potato?” Holly asked, and tossed a gym bag at him.

  Dante fumbled the catch, and the bag hit him in the face, then fell to the floor. “What’s this?” he asked.

  “And I just proved that you wouldn’t know a gym bag if one hit you in the face. We got busted. Martin put his foot down and says we have to exercise at least an hour a day.

  “Exercise? Like, go to the gym?”

  The Plexcorp campus had two full gyms, an Olympic swimming pool and on the roof, and a running track. The track, however, was often closed as it formed a ring around Gideon’s helipad. People couldn’t run when the boss wanted a ride in his own personal chopper.