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

by P. Joseph Cherubino

  Najeel chimed in over the phone. “This is a remarkable deduction, Mr. Alger. There is a significant body of evidence to support this. What I arrived at using data, you seem to have arrived at using intuition.”

  Dante rolled his eyes to the ceiling and mouthed the words ‘help me’ before measuring out his answer. “Thank you, Doctor Boussaid. Whatever the reason, I will need your help.”

  “Of course,” Najeel replied.

  “I’ll need you to keep me safe,” Dante said to Doctor Smith, who nodded his head gravely.

  “This is insane,” Holly said.

  “I’m getting used to it,” Dante replied. “Just like you said.”

  Chapter 8

  Aside from sinking into a vat of salt water and going to sleep, getting into the game felt no different than using the xirclet. Kalmond entered the lobby as usual and walked across the stone floor to the save game archway. He popped back a little downhill from the scene of his last fight. The system put him off the trail in a direct line from the place where he killed that jackass elf. The thought made him laugh.

  Climbing up the steep bank to reach the path again wasn’t much of a chore. He somehow thought things might feel different being more closely integrated into the game. Nothing changed, Kalmond thought, as he reached the path and continued. Checking the map again showed he was well inside the quest area, but since he had so many active quests, the area was large. He had some walking to do.

  The path made a switchback and climbed again before reaching a small plateau. He spotted the others immediately. There were three. At a distance, he couldn’t tell whether they were NPCs or adventurers, but the fact that there were three suggested the latter. The dwarf decided to head straight for them and take his chances.

  Details emerged as they neared. They were definitely adventurers, and by the looks of their gear, they were fairly serious. The party consisted of an orc and two elves. One of the elves was a mage, and the other looked like a warrior. The orc seemed like a rogue with two long daggers on each hip.

  “Hey,” Kalmond said, opening a text chat channel when the three were just about at ranged weapons distance.

  “Hey,” replied the orc. Kalmond guessed that was the leader.

  “Wassup?” said the mage elf.

  “Questing,” Kalmond said, adding a smiley icon to the chat that was not returned.

  “So are we,” said the orc.

  “Where to?” Kalmond asked.

  “Lucky 4 us,” replied the orc. “Right here. Bounty!” and he charged.

  Kalmond decided to try out his new lightning sword and no sooner than the thought occurred to him, it was in his hand and flashing out at the orc’s head. The critical hit took a good chunk of health, but the player was a level fifteen. Kalmond was definitely in trouble. He had to choose now whether to fight or run.

  The magic user hit him with a wind blast, followed by a fire arrow. The wind blast pushed the dwarf back, setting him up for ranged attacks. Kalmond had but one chance, so he charged.

  He ran towards the wounded Orc and used the last of his endurance to make a rage stab. The orc blocked it, then followed through with a quick double-slash of his daggers. Kalmond purposely ignored his health bar, but he knew those daggers took a lot out of him. Without knowing how, the dwarf found himself spinning and crouching at the same time, extending his leg as he twirled. He couldn’t help but notice melee move earned him another 58 XP. But watching the points was a distraction. He had to fight and focus or die.

  The leg sweep brought the orc down, giving Kalmond the advantage, which he used to replace sword with axe. He activated a slim reserve of power and brought the axe down hard, scoring another critical. Wisely, the orc got up and ran off, probably to heal. But Kalmond knew if that orc got healthy again, he and his friends would win.

  Kalmond stayed on target while the magic user hit him with two more arrows. Kalmond’s axe blade lopped off the orc’s arm from the side and stuck in his ribcage. The orc fell, but surprisingly, he was not dead.

  The non-mage elf turned out to be a level twelve, who attacked with a one-handed sword. He was fast, and Kalmond managed to block the first hit, but not the second. The enemy was close enough for melee, so Kalmond kicked him squarely in the crotch. The character doubled over for a second, and the dwarf used the spiked end of his axe to score a critical to the back of the head. Two more arrows sprouted from kalmond’s chest and his vision began to fade.

  Taking the biggest chance of the fight, Kalmond turned away from the elf as another arrow found its home in Kalmond’s shoulder. The dwarf made one final, desperate chop at the orc as he still struggled on the ground. Just before a potion bottle reached the orc’s lips, Kalmond’s axe slammed into his forehead.

  He didn’t need to see the XP bubble to know the orc was dead. Kalmond reached level ten with a gong and flash of refreshing light. With his health instantly restored along with his endurance, he turned back to the elf warrior. Kalmond activated his rage attack, scoring a double critical that sent the warrior elf’s head tumbling across the grassy field.

  But the mage was still a problem. She backed away, hitting Kalmond with two more arrows. As Kalmond charged, the elf lit him up with a flamethrower spell. It was low-level, but the flames slowed him down and did non-trivial fire damage.

  By the time Kalmond was within striking range, the Mage had a chain weapon whirling over her head that lashed out thrice in quick succession. The metal tip of the chain weapon stung him like an electric hornet, doing significant poison damage. He’d used most of his endurance to reach the mage, so to buy some time, he tried a kick again. It was blocked. The follow-up punch with his left got through, and that stunned her just enough to score a hit with his axe.

  “How the hell are you changing weapons so fast!” the mage exclaimed, switching to voice chat.

  Kalmond didn’t have time to think about that. His melee moves were more effective now that he was at level ten. Now that he was close-in, the mage was at a disadvantage. She tried to retreat to gain some distance, but Kalmond was ready with his axe that just appeared in his hands instantly. He swung for her legs and down she went.

  He stood over her and prepared to chop her down like firewood. She surprised him with a perfectly-timed wind blast that sent him straight onto his back. When he struggled to his feet, she was already up and away. The mage had taken his health down by more than half. He made a run after her, but she turned and fired a poison arrow that missed but made Kalmond think better of a full pursuit.

  “Damn it,” the dwarf growled as he slugged down his only health potion. It brought his health back up enough to feel frisky, but his enemy was probably healthy again as well. She was a level thirteen and a very good fighter who knew how to use weapons and spells in the best combinations. She proved that. Killing her wasn’t worth the risk. He sent her a message instead. “Keep running. Best tell your friends that I kill all comers.”

  “I’ll see you again,” was her only reply. The name was Fogdance, and she bore the horned icon of Mylos.

  “Then you die,” Kalmond said, grateful the text didn’t betray the tone of doubt so evident in his own voice.

  He turned to looting the bodies. The warrior carried a +3 sword, more health potions and a bag of herbs. The best item from that corpse was a pair of steel gauntlets enchanted with speed and one other enchantment slot open. He donned the finely-crafted items immediately, then turned to the rogue.

  The dead orc was a thief indeed. Kalmond scored a lockpick set, which he could use once he chose his calling. The daggers of flashing were also enchanted for speed but had no other slots open. Coupled with the gauntlets, he might use them in a close-up fight. The rogue carried little else of interest. It appeared these three were traveling light, with just mid-range weapons. It was as if they hoped to do some looting. Kalmond shivered. He encountered four adventurers in two days. Three of those adventurers were looking for him specifically, while the other who happened across him thought i
t a great idea to kill him for the notoriety. The dwarf didn’t know which was worse.

  This all made him worry for the town and what would happen to it if those who liked the idea of Mylos decided to take it over. Kalmond wanted to resolve the next quest to get back to Dundree as soon as he could.

  In all that fighting and looting, he hadn’t bothered to check his stats. He was pleased when he finally did.

  Kalmond the stone dwarf

  Level 10

  XP 9588

  STA 28

  STR 26

  INT 25

  AGI 26

  CHA 26

  MAN 23

  MLVL 525

  Hit Points 9111

  Below the stats, in bold, blue stone letters, two choices presented themselves. The words simply read, “Choose Assassin” and “Choose Thief.” Kalmond punched “Thief,” closed the window without thinking twice.

  Checking his map to reorient himself, Kalmond found that he’d climbed a small mountain from the valley where he played death-catch with the sprites. The land was relatively flat here with only small rises on a stretch of tall grass that led to another, taller set of mountains in the distance. A well-worn path led off in the direction of the quest, so the Dwarf set his feet to it with haste.

  Following the quest marker took him out across the rolling land where there was no path. The ground was thick with wildflowers and lush grass. Here and there grasshoppers and dinner-plate sized spiders scurried away from the dwarven intruder in their land.

  When a rabbit darted out from the brush, Kalmond didn’t hesitate. He brought his original crafted club from his inventory and pounced. The little brown rabbit lay broken on the ground looking like a right tasty meal.

  As the sun went down, Kalmond made a little camp by some low rocks near a stand of woods and examined some of the herbs and flowers around. He found some succulent shoots and added them to his inventory along with some unidentified purple flowers. He’d have to find a potion worktable to find out what they were. He scored 38 XP for building the fire, preparing, then cooking the rabbit. He added the “savory roast rabbit” meal to his inventory for later.

  A rising moon turned the Realm into a shadowy, two-tone world. He didn’t hear the puma until it was screaming and attached to his chest as it raked its claws across his belly trying to eviscerate him.

  Kalmond threw the big cat to the ground and squared off against it in a boxer pose. The cat had only taken a few points of Kalmond’s health, and it was only a level 8, but it was determined. When it launched itself at the dwarf again, he kicked out with his left foot, sending the cat tumbling head over heel. Remarkably, it hit the ground on all-fours, then jumped again. This time Kalmond connected his fist to its face, then its body with one-two punches while the cat was still in mid-air. The steel gauntlets helped out immensely.

  The cat was almost dead, but it didn’t give up. It pounced for the third time, and Kalmond snatched it out of the air by the scruff of the neck and the fur of its haunches. He brought the cat down over a savage knee that crushed its ribcage, sending a spray of blood from its mouth. It was a nasty, personal kill that earned just 74 XP. The pelt had value, and the meat was good for cooking skills. Besides, the puma started it.

  But when Kalmond checked his stats again, he found both stamina, strength, and intelligence had negative signs beside them. It took him a moment to remember that while so deeply immersed in the Realm, he would actually need to sleep. He’d already been playing the game for about ten hours. His physical body was tired before he went into deep immersion.

  The massively parallel nature of the Realm meant that adventurers from all over the lesser realm interacted. Going to sleep meant missing out, and there was no way for the Nine Circles to express the passage of time that would not put the adventurer out of sync with the Realm. That’s why the game had no provision for rest. Kalmond was in uncharted territory. He would have to sleep in real time.

  “I wonder,” Kalmond muttered. Checking the crafting tab of his interface showed several new items under “miscellaneous.” The items were, pillow, sleeping mat, mattress, and bed.

  To make them, he’d need a crafting rack. It had been a long time since the dwarf crafted anything. He wasn’t normally that sort of player. Kalmond searched the forest until he found six young trees just a bit taller than him. He cut each one down and whittled them into standard components. When he added to them to his inventory, then checked his crafting tab, he saw that, with the strangler vines, he had enough material to complete a rack. He built it by the fire, then strung up the puma.

  “Now what,” Kalmond asked aloud. “How do I—”

  Before he could complete the thought, his hands moved by themselves over the puma hide. He had no control over his body as his arms waved around the hide as the air around it grew misty. A cascade of chimes sounded a moment later, and the hide shone with blue sparkles that drifted up a few inches before disappearing. Kalmond couldn’t help but laugh. All he had to do to craft was wave his hands over an object.

  The pelt wasn’t large enough to make a mattress, but one of the possibilities listed for the cat hide was a pillow. For that, he needed fiber or straw. He had plenty of fiber from his collection of strangler vines. His hands waved in a frantic blur over the rack, and soon, a pillow appeared. But what materials in the forest might produce a mattress? Looking down the list of items available to him at his crafting level revealed he could make a sleeping mat from straw, fiber and a medium or large sized animal hide.

  Kalmond backtracked a bit until he came to open ground. He gathered arms full of tall grass, and added them to his inventory, where they became straw. The grass was light, and with his dwarf strength, he could carry a great deal, so he gathered up about twenty sheaves. The grass was also one of the basic materials used to make bricks, which he might need later if he was going to explore more crafting.

  He moved back to his growing camp site and wandered in a half-circle around it and into the woods before he found more strangler vines. Checking his crafting tab again showed him that the vine fibers could be used for making rope and for stitching a mattress together. The rope-making property showed the icon of a workbench beside it, meaning that he’d need a proper worktable to craft rope, but the stitching property had no such icon, meaning it could generally be used for other items.

  But what he needed to complete a mat was another hide or cloth. The latter was out of the question for the moment, but he was sure he could find a large enough creature in the woods to make a nice mat. Kalmond set off to do just that.

  For the first time since choosing the thief calling, he had an opportunity to use the base-level detection spell. It cost him half his mana, but it revealed a faintly glowing yellow trail leading through the forest. Something went that way, and Kalmond followed, using the remaining mana to activate sneak as he drew his axe.

  He came upon another puma crouched down a short distance from a water hole as it stalked something. Kalmond suppressed a snicker at the thought of stalking a thing that was stalking something else. He managed to get within striking distance just as the sneak wore off.

  The axe came down with an overhand swing, but the puma was already aware of Kalmond, so there was no sneak attack bonus. The axe head caught the puma as it turned in shock and fright, taking half its health in the process. A quick right-hand stroke finished the puma, and Kalmond immediately collected the pelt and meat.

  Whatever the big cat was stalking took off into the woods when Kalmond attacked its predator. The dwarf thief cast his detection spell again to illuminate the path of the creature that ran. He followed the path at a run for a short distance, then slowed as the glowing path grew slightly brighter indicating his prey was much closer.

  Crouching down into sneak, Kalmond moved slowly, watching, allowing all his senses to feed him information. He smelled it first, a sweet tang of musk on the cool forest breeze. A few paces later, he saw the fang deer, head down, sniffing around in the brush f
or food. It didn’t see him, but it was still far from striking distance. Kalmond would have to execute a sprint to catch up to it, and he was certain the animal was much faster than he. Kalmond wished for a bow and arrow and resolved to get one as soon as possible.

  Screw it, kalmond thought and burst up from sneak into a sprint. As soon as he did, the deer took off, opening distance between them at an alarming rate. Kalmond had one chance. He planted both feet, and with the last of his endurance points, threw his axe. The fang deer fell dead with a grunt, Kalmond’s axe buried in its shoulder.

  “Lucky shot,” Kalmond said with a grin as he retrieved his axe. “But I’ll take it!”

  He looted the deer meat and hide, and returned to his camp site. More crafting at his crafting stand produced a deer hide, sleeping mat and another pillow. He made some deer jerky over the fire and added it to his inventory. He didn’t need two pillows, but he might sell one, and it gave him extra XP. By the time he was done, he’d earned 54 XP. More importantly, he had a comfy camp site complete with a place to sleep.

  As he settled down beside the campfire, Kalmond realized he’d never lay on the ground in the Realm on purpose. The sensation was strange. As he looked up at the starlit sky at the rising moon, the dwarf smiled and drifted off to sleep.

  Chapter 9

  Kalmond woke to the sound birds and the sensation of a new sun warming his face. His campfire, long cold, provided a forced perspective horizon as he rolled to the side, face inches from the stones of the fire ring. He rose to his wide dwarven feet and stretched his arms, and his vertebrae sounded like popcorn in a heavy pot.

  He was unexpectedly starving. He tore into his inventory, eating the savory rabbit, then the deer jerky before he felt satisfied. He lived completely in the Realm now and would be subject to all its laws, just as he was in the lesser realm. That fact impressed itself upon him soon, and he darted over to the nearest tree to relieve himself. Bodily functions were also new.