The Curse of Rion Castle (The Neuro Book #2) LitRPG Series

by Andrei Livadny

  "Sorry, Sir. I apologize for my indiscretion. I'm too nervous."

  He was definitely keeping something back from me. Was he waiting till I could prove my power?

  I saw no point in playing hard to get. Mr. Borisov had been right: I couldn't keep my identity under wraps for much longer.

  "We don't need Master Togien," I said, reaching into the inventory for the obelisk fragment and laying it on the table amid the bowlfuls of delicious food.

  The fragment was opaque. It seemed covered in some sort of murky veil constantly trying to solidify its surface.

  The Elf tensed up. His fingers twitched as if trying to grab the item. He jerked his hand away, overcoming the urge.

  How strong was the Blood Elves' memory of their servitude to the Dark forces! This was an ingrained, challenging legacy which promised supreme power without revealing its cost, harboring countless temptations.

  As he was struggling to overcome his dark urge, I inconspicuously slid the Replication Ring on my finger. I should have used it last night instead of wasting the precious obsidian. "Let's do it," I said.

  My voice awoke Lethmiel from his trance. For him, the Founders' magic was a sacred mystery lying outside the realm of logic. For me, however, it was infinitely easier. The moment I focused on the crystal, its 3D model appeared in my mental view.

  Using my eye movements, I shifted it around until I placed it inside the fragment of transformed matter.

  That was it. Now all I had to do was use the Replication Matrix spell to, as he'd eloquently put it, "liberate the statue trapped within a block of marble".

  Slowly and unhurriedly I uttered the spell.

  The murky veil surrounding the dark obelisk fragment seemed to have thickened. My mental energy bar began to shrink. My regeneration rate was still too low.

  I struggled to maintain concentration. After three seconds, the outline of the 3D model began glowing. The surface of the obelisk fragment in front of us erupted in a fine net of cracks.

  An explosion thundered, showering everything around in cascades of broken stone. A light cloud of spectral dust rose into the air, settling onto the finely served table.

  Lethmiel's cheek twitched as one of the fragments grazed him. Blood trickled down his chin.

  I enunciated the last word of the spell. The gray crystal turned transparent. A tiny fiery dot glowed at its center.

  Lethmiel sneezed. "Apologies, my lord!"

  My lord? Oh wow. My status, whatever it was supposed to mean to the Blood Elves, seemed to have considerably elevated in his eyes.

  "Hey, what're you up to?" Platinus' voice came from behind me. "You can't breathe in Spectral Dust, it's not good for you! That was some explosion, I tell you!"

  Lethmiel sneezed again.

  "Drink this, quick," Platinus offered him a vial.

  A teleport flashed open inside the castle building. The two Guards of Gloom ran out onto the terrace, followed by Arwan and the kobold.

  My makeshift rapid response team had reacted admirably to the emergency. I motioned them to stay put: no harm done.

  The finished crystal lay before us amid a bunch of smashed tableware. It looked like the spitting image of the real thing.

  Lethmiel wiped his weeping eyes and nodded gratefully to Platinus. "I do appreciate your help."

  He then reached out without actually touching the crystal and froze.

  Was he casting a spell? No way!

  He wasn't. His lips didn't move. Still, the crystal began to glow from the inside.

  Lethmiel heaved a labored breath. "That's it. Excuse me, my lord. I couldn't help myself. I should have warned you."

  I couldn't believe it. "Did you just enchant it?"

  "This is a modest ability of mine, one I've taken all my life to develop. I can only perform it once a day. Oh... I'm sorry, I need to sit down."

  "You sure you're okay?"

  "Enchanting is very strength-consuming. I'm not young anymore," he picked up a wine goblet powdered with a fine layer of Spectral Dust. Its intricate silver had turned black; a purple film had formed on top of the wine.

  "Give it here," Platinus took the goblet from him and poured the wine into an empty vial. "I'm sure it's some new poison!" he announced with all the gusto of a born researcher. "Or a potion with some interesting properties," he added, opening his inventory and squirreling away everything tainted by the transformed matter: the food, the wine and the tableware. He used a special brush to collect every speck of Spectral Dust and every crumb of the stone's fragments.

  By the end of his manipulations, there was only one item left lying on the table:

  Magic Crystal

  Made by a Neuro

  Properties: unknown

  Purpose: Unknown

  Requires activation

  I packed it into my inventory, then decided to finish off what I'd started.

  I relieved the kobold and the Guards of Gloom, ordering them to check the outer walls and set up sentry posts wherever they thought fit. None of the three warriors would be any good where I was supposed to go. The east tower — or rather, one particular floor of it that used to billet the Disciple wizards — was well protected against brute force, be it cargonite or cold steel.

  I opened the chat. "Raoul, where are you?"

  "I've found myself a room. Chambermaids are gorgeous here. I'm helping them dust my place," he chuckled. "Did you hire them?"

  "Quit loafing about. Time to get back to work. I've sent you a map marker."

  "Coming."

  Almost straight away, a teleport flashed open. Raoul walked over to me and cast me a questioning eye.

  "We're going to check out the east tower," I explained. "But first, could you please give Lethmiel a heal."

  As Raoul cast healings and blessings on the Elf, I turned to Platinus and lowered my voice, "What do you think is going to happen if you make a potion with Spectral Dust and drench arrowheads in it?"

  "I can try," he replied softly. "I've no idea how it might work though. One thing I can tell you: I wouldn't want to eat a rabbit killed with one of those."

  Which set me thinking. Transformed matter had proven to be an even more valuable resource than I'd originally thought. It looked like our deal with the dwarves was actually a bargain for them. I had to make good on my initial promise but I definitely wasn't going to enter into any more deals with them. I had to go careful with our strategic supply — at least until we knew more about the unique substance and its properties.

  "Off we go," I said. "Lethmiel, you're coming with us."

  * * *

  THE EAST TOWER was bathed in gloom and silence. The floor plan here was entirely different from that of the donjon's west wing: the teleport had delivered us to an enormous vaulted hall.

  The darkness was filled with weird crackling and humming noises. Our footsteps raised clouds of fine dust, revealing the complex ornamental design of the tiled floor.

  "Mind your step," Lethmiel warned us. "I suggest we have a good look around first."

  "Raoul, could you please sort out the lighting," I said. "Lethmiel, whassup? What got your alarm bells ringing?"

  "It's the tile pattern. I can see some geometric figures but also some floral designs. And here," he pointed under his feet, "are some Elemental symbols."

  "Do you think they're traps?"

  "I don't know," he shook his head, peering at the complex pattern of entwined lines. "They could be. Or it might be a floor scheme for performing certain complex rituals."

  "I think it's the latter," Platinus echoed. "Somehow I don't think the Disciples used to walk here in zigzags."

  He leaped over onto a tile covered with a pattern depicting a coil pipe and a test tube.

  Nothing happened.

  He heaved a sigh. "Shame."

  "Wait! Don't move!" suddenly I knew how to check the patterns' purpose. "Lethmiel, would you please step onto that tile with a plant motif? Raoul, where's our light?"

  "Sorry. My ability do
esn't seem to work here."

  "Never mind. Can you see the tile to your right covered in healing symbols?"

  "How do you know?" he sounded doubtful. "I've never seen those symbols before."

  "Just do as I say, will you? Think you can jump over onto it?"

  "Well, whatever."

  That still left us with the tiles marked with the four Elements: Water, Fire, Earth and Air. The tile design seemed to lead toward one large tile at the room's center.

  "I don't think my racial identity allows me to claim the role of a druid," Lethmiel said. "Also, I can't see the sign of Chaos anywhere. We must be missing something. If this structure is indeed a defense mechanism against invaders, then the idea seems too simple."

  He had a point. Still, I'd received no prompts: the castle interface seemed to be testing my limits. The floor plan showed no active traps at all here.

  Just to be sure, I clicked the Show and Disable All Defense Apparatus button.

  Nothing changed. Could it be that the complex pattern of ancient magic had lost its potency over the centuries of oblivion? In the absence of a source of power, that was more than likely.

  I really didn't feel like getting killed again. Two respawns are a bit too much for one day. Still, just standing there peering into the darkness wasn't an option, either.

  "I can see some ash and bones here!" Platinus exclaimed.

  "What's the symbol like?"

  "As far as I know, this is Fire."

  Everybody else stirred, looking watchfully around them.

  "Someone's drowned here!" Raoul announced.

  "Can you see the sign of Water on the tile?"

  "Nope. It's blank. Covered in water, actually, yeah. A Moor Goblin is lying right in the middle with his eyes popping out as if he's just drowned."

  "There's one over there, too!" Lethmiel exclaimed. "It's too far to see him properly but I think he was turned to stone!"

  I could see one now, too: some remains of a creature which must have been torn to pieces by a powerful storm.

  The others went quiet, waiting for me to do something.

  Should I have come here on my own? What if there was no secret passage here, after all? The hall might be perfectly safe for me but deadly for any strangers.

  "I want you to go back to the teleport pad," I said.

  "Why?" Raoul asked.

  "Because it's a safe zone," I pointed at the blank tiles surrounding the portal.

  "So how do we cross the hall?"

  "I think I have to do it on my own."

  Platinus frowned. "How do you know? Your landlord status didn't help you much against that golem, did it?"

  "I might still try."

  "Okay," Raoul handed me the torch. "You do what you want. I'm gonna heal you."

  * * *

  BRACING MYSELF, I began walking toward the center of the hall. The tiles formed a concentric pattern which might mean that all the really cool stuff was located at the hall's center.

  A pillar of fire roared up unexpectedly, singeing me and showering me with sparks and embers.

  My life dropped somewhat but the effects of both the Charm of the Sovereign and my armor set bonus (+10% to Elemental protection) managed to keep it within safe limits.

  Raoul got so scared that he hurried to cast a heal on me. The moment the spell's aura touched me, my hp dropped to 50%, triggering an acute pain. The heat promptly scorched the skin on my hands, covering it with bursting blisters.

  "Stop it!" I yelled.

  "You'll burn to death!" Raoul shouted.

  "Stop now!"

  "All right, all right!" he interrupted the next spell he was casting.

  Slowly but surely, my life began to climb naturally back.

  I chose to grin and bear the scorching fire, inching toward the room's center.

  A gust of freezing wind assaulted me next, putting out the flames and enveloping me in unbearable cold. My teeth were chattering. My armor was covered in fancy frost flowers. Clouds of misty breath escaped my mouth.

  I kept going. A dozen feet or so further on, an almighty ocean swell rolled over me.

  I managed to take in one last gulp of frosty air and kept walking against the water pressure until my lungs protested, sending cascades of tiny bubbles out of my nostrils up toward the non-existing water surface.

  I began to choke and splutter. My life bar kept shrinking in leaps and bounds.

  Then the water was gone.

  Breathing fitfully, I stepped on the next tile.

  My feet sank deep into jellified rock. My physical energy counter began spinning as now every step demanded all the strength I could muster.

  I was almost there.

  When I finally made it to the center, I had virtually no life left.

  The round tile at the center kept metamorphing: sometimes gushing fire, then freezing, now clenching my feet in its rocky embrace only to open up as a bottomless whirlpool.

  Chaos, the forefather of the Elements, didn't deal me any damage; but suddenly a new icon sprang up in my interface: a countdown timer.

  What was I supposed to do?!

  I racked my brains for a solution, all the while burning, drowning, freezing and turning to stone, until finally I knew what it was. The answer was so simple I should have known it straight away. Frozen into the solidified rock for the umpteenth time, I finally saw it: a shallow oval depression at the center of the tile.

  Overcoming the deadly cold, I pulled the Charm of the Sovereign from my neck and waited for the water to subside. Just as the timer counted the last clicks, I laid the artifact into the depression.

  The Elemental metamorphosis stopped.

  An unknown force pushed me up to the surface, leaving me exhausted and breathless on the flat stone devoid of any patterns.

  A multitude of crystal lamps in cargonite mountings lit up all around the hall, dispelling the gloomy veil and revealing dozens of doors that lined the room's walls, all of them ajar.

  Hall of the Elements: access granted!

  The magic depository of Rion Castle: access granted!

  Please enter the names of the beneficiaries to be granted access to the living quarters, the Hall of the Elements, the enchantment rooms, the spell plane and the chemical lab.

  The familiar screeching sound of stone blocks moving around echoed around me. I promptly shrank back. The central tile dropped, transforming into a spiral staircase which led to the floor below.

  Enough adventures for one day.

  I hurried to add the names of Platinus, Raoul and Lethmiel to the beneficiaries' list. "You can come here now," I called them. "You're good with the system."

  Lethmiel ran up to me first and helped me back to my feet. "Your resistance to the Elements is impressive, my lord!"

  "Can I heal you now?" Raoul asked, casting puzzled glances at me. He knew nothing about neuroimplants and was probably asking himself what I was doing, sitting lifeless on the floor with no debuffs to show for it. Why wouldn't I just spring back to my feet and hurry on to face more adventures? Life in the red, big deal. Experienced players were known to smoke mobs while literally expiring themselves.

  A warm healing wave wiped away the pain, filling my aching muscles with a new energy.

  I promptly sprang to my feet. I didn't want to overcomplicate things for him, potentially triggering unwanted questions. "You have a look around. I'll just check what's down there."

  "Can I come with you?" Raoul asked.

  "If you wish. Provided the magic veil lets you through. I haven't worked out how to switch it off yet."

  "I'll try. I'd love to know what's down there. Plats, you coming with us?"

  "No, thanks," Platinus waved his offer away. "I'm fine here. The lab must be here somewhere, I can feel it! You sure there're no more traps?"

  I shrugged. My map didn't show any. "Lethmiel, are you coming? Or would you prefer to stay here as well?"

  "I'd rather come with you if I may."

  "Off we go, then," I sa
id, leading the way down the spiral staircase.

  Ten or so stairs down, we came across a protective veil. You could confuse it for a stream of hot air rising up, slightly distorting the outlines of the objects behind it. But when you touched it, it felt harder than rock.

  "Won't it let you through?" Raoul asked, anxious.

  "Wait a sec," I peered at the obstacle, trying to trigger its interface or at least a prompt. Nothing.

  Now why would a defense mechanism identical to the one in the Practice Hall fail to recognize me?

  "We need a wizard," Raoul concluded.

  "That's me. I'm multiclass, don't forget."

  "Then why won't it let you through?"

  So impatient! I opened the castle control tab. The decision had to be pretty simple. Problem was, I hadn't had enough time to study all the menus.

  Got it. Protection veils came in two types: regular and reinforced. The latter had their own access system. Apparently, the names of those granted access had to be entered into the spell that created it!

  Was this the end of the line, then? "Lethmiel, did you ever come across this type of protection spell?"

  "Oh, yes. I've traveled a lot and studied the ancient ruins."

  "The names of those granted passage here were apparently entered into the spell that created the veil. Any idea how to rectify it?"

  "Oh! Admittedly, I once came across something very similar. This is the oldest branch of magic imaginable. You don't see it at all these days!"

  "Cut the crap, will you?"

  "In order to get through, we wrote our names on the obstacle."

  "Did it work?"

  "To a degree, yes. I survived. But the warriors who accompanied me were consumed by flames. I'd venture a guess that it has something to do with one's race."

  "Very well. Let's try it."

  I touched the veil and drew my name in fiery letters which flared up, then disappeared, consumed by the flowing air currents.

  "I don't think I feel like coming," Raoul took a step back. "I'm gonna check on Platinus."

  Fair enough. After all his recent tribulations and login problems, his character was too important to him.

  "Lethmiel?"

  This one needed no encouragement. The ancient magic was calling his name. Unhesitantly he touched the veil and wrote his name which too flared up, consumed by the currents of power.