The Karmadont Chess Set (The Way of the Shaman: Book #5) LitRPG series

by Vasily Mahanenko

  My head had grown so heavy all of a sudden that it felt like it was made of stone and if I moved it even a bit it would fall off and roll away. For some reason, someone had made Barliona start skipping and dancing and I had to take a seat to avoid collapsing.

  A way to freedom!

  “Does your dad know?” I asked an absolutely idiotic question, trying to gain my bearings. On the one hand, Anastaria was offering me a fairy tale. On the other hand, to owe over a hundred million credits to someone…It’s too much…I wasn’t ready for this…

  “Yes. He helped me. As soon as they give final approval to my loan and you’re released, we’ll hire you the best lawyers we can and try to have the case retried. My family lawyer said that you made an enormous mistake by turning yourself in, so there’s remedies available to us. The important thing is to get you out of Barliona. It’ll be easier after that.”

  “In other words this contract isn’t effective yet?” I asked.

  “It’s a draft. We’re hammering out the final details with the payment. As soon as everything’s confirmed, it’ll be given to you for your signature, so I had to warn you ahead of time. Initially, I ALSO wanted to surprise you. I imagine that the details will be taken care of in the next two to three weeks and you’ll be released. But goddamn it, Dan! How could you lie to me?!”

  “Stacey, I…Baby, please forgive me…” I embraced the girl who was on the verge of tears and pressed her to myself. “I’m sorry, honey, I simply lost my mind…”

  “How could you, Dan?” Anastaria couldn’t control herself and tears began to stream down her cheeks. “I’m sure that if I had been in your place that you would do the same thing. We’ve been together only for half a year, but I feel like I’ve spent an eternity with you and I really can’t imagine myself or my future without you…But I never expected you to do this…”

  It was impossible to describe my feelings at that moment. They were completely contradictory—joy and anger, happiness to utter desolation…it’s difficult to find the epithets for the sensations that had flooded my mind.

  “I’m sorry, Dan, I need to sign out to reality. I’ll be back soon.” With a tear-stained face, Anastaria moved away from me and shrugged her shoulders guiltily. “Wait for me here, all right?”

  Anastaria kissed me and dissolved as usual. Wait for her? Am I supposed to pitch a tent here until she returns? How could I suspect this girl? What an idiot I am!

  My feelings were so vivid and contradictory that I wanted to sing, dance, cry, scream, celebrate and do something unreal and impossible that could extinguish the guilt I felt before Anastaria. Submitting to the urge, I opened Design Mode and began to craft. I’m sure that when Stacey returns, she’ll wake me up.

  The Tourmaline War Lizards…the final pieces of the Chess Set.

  I had never seen any war lizards and therefore had no idea what they should look like. But this didn’t stop me at the moment—the greenish Tourmaline took its place before my eyes, all but yelling: ‘Here I am—use me, hurry!’

  What had the lizards done to be remembered? No doubt they had…

  Oh to hell with this! I’m not doing the right thing! I’m filled with so many emotions that I can’t possibly concentrate! I need to find some other way!

  Giving in to my emotions, I lost all touch with reality. Only the sad Tourmaline remained before my eyes. If you were to ask me how I had decided that it was sad, I’d twirl my finger at my temple, questioning my own mental state. But at the moment the stone was sad because I had given it all the joy that had filled my being. The expectation of liberty—Anastaria’s present—the chance to see Stacey in real life. There was so much joy that the Tourmaline became too joyful…Too much of something is harmful, so I imbued it with all the sadness and sorrow that filled me at that moment. My mistrust of the girl, my folly, my desire to hide the truth…The Tourmaline filled with strength and began to glimmer like a light that had been turned on, yet I didn’t like how one-sided its emotion was. In the life of any creature, be it man or jewel, there are many more emotions and more suffering than mere happiness and sadness. And I was about to share all of this with the Tourmaline…

  I gave it the triumph I felt at defeating the squidolphin…

  I gave it the fear I’d felt when I descended to the Oceanic Abyss…

  I gave it the love I felt for Anastaria…

  I gave it the pride I felt for my student who had surpassed her teacher…

  I gave it the pain I felt at summoning the Rank 100 Spirit…

  I gave it all of myself, without holding back, since this was the only way to create a masterpiece. This is not a piece of this world—this is a piece of the player’s Soul, separate from whatever the developers invest in their creation. Without the player, the algorithm remains dead. With the player, with his emotions, desires and feelings the world blooms with colors that make it better, more perfect…

  I don’t need to see the War Lizards. I don’t need to understand their history—that’s unnecessary. I used to think that it takes love to create the figurines—love that the originals had felt for this world…How wrong I was! The figurines are created not through love exclusively—they are created through emotions! Through feelings! Through sensations! The important thing was to share instead of keeping them to myself…everything else would happen on its own…It couldn’t not happen…

  Congratulations! You have continued on the path of recreating the Legendary Chess Set of Emperor Karmadont, the founder of the Malabar Empire.

  You have created the Tourmaline War Lizards from the Legendary Chess set of Emperor Karmadont. As long as the figurines are in your possession, you receive +10% movement speed on any mount.

  Skill increase:

  +1 to Crafting. Total: 15.

  +5 to primary profession of Jewelcrafting. Total: 160.

  You created a Legendary item. Your reputation with all previously encountered factions has increased by 500.

  “Danny, you did it!” I heard Anastaria’s joyful squeal and felt the girl embrace my neck. “You made it! You’re the first in all of Barliona! You even beat the Celestial Empire!”

  Opening my eyes, I gazed at the small figurines in my hands. The Tourmaline lizards…Once, long ago, I watched a movie about dinosaurs—specifically about a T-Rex that ate anything that moved—while anything that didn’t move was moved and then eaten as well. In my hands now I held two miniatures of this very T-Rex, saddled and bridled like horses.

  Quest available: ‘Tomb Raider’ Description: Find the Tomb of the Creator of Barliona, activate the key and complete the unlocked Dungeon.

  Attention to the Creator of the Chess Set. You have found the Tomb of the Creator. Do you wish to activate the key? Attention, this process cannot be interrupted. It takes 30 minutes to open the gates.

  I peered deep into the magically-beautiful eyes of Anastaria and pushed the ‘Activate’ button. Stacey had dreamed of this moment her entire gaming life, so why not make this dream come true for her right this instant?

  The Tomb of the Creator is being opened. Time until completion: 30 minutes.

  “You activated it?” Stacey asked with excitement, giving me another kiss, after which a new message appeared in the clan chat: “The process has been activated, we’re on location!”

  “At last!” After several moments, Barsina appeared right beside us and began examining the gates like they were to her own house. “You were right yet again, my dear…”

  “Naturally,” Anastaria laughed. She looked me up and down and added: “Can you imagine it, mom, he has no idea what’s going on! It’s so easy to manipulate him…”

  Mom?! Manipulate?! What the hell is going on?

  “All right, the activation will take another thirty minutes,” Barsina went on, taking a seat on the boulders. She got out her amulet and made a call: “Magdey, jump on over here with your raiders, we’ll need to protect the entrance.” Thinking a little longer, Barsina made another call. “Hi honey. We’ve done
it. Send Hellfire over to us, please. It’s time we return to the clan…”

  Eyes as big as saucers I looked from Barsina to Anastaria, utterly dumbfounded at what was going on. Barsa is Anastaria’s mother? Our little, one-meter-tall-with-her-cap Druid is my mother-in-law?

  “Stacey, while we wait, do you want to play the villain from a sappy movie?” the Druid asked, turning to Stacey. A portal opened, unleashing my raiders led by Magdey. Mounting griffins (I didn’t even know they had griffins!) the raiders soared up into the sky and vanished among the mountain peaks, leaving two warriors with us.

  “You want to finish him off completely? You really are quite cruel, mom! Sometimes what one doesn’t know is much more pleasant.”

  “Hence my offer!” Barsina giggled maliciously. “You have no idea how sick I am of playing my part…”

  “Ladies, maybe you’ll clue me in about what’s going on here?” I asked, finding the strength to smirk. This was all starting to resemble a really cheap prank, so it seemed dumb to take it seriously.

  “All right, since he’s asking for it himself,” Anastaria said. Sitting down beside me she looked at me and began: “My dear, I must disappoint you—you’re a dummy. The most natural, ordinary dummy! You…Hmm…I don’t even know where to begin.” Stacey seemed to be relishing the situation so much that she could hardly keep from laughing. “Okay, I’ll start at the beginning…In Anhurs, not far from the clan registration office, stands a small house that’s called the Hall of Fame. It contains a gallery with the images of all players who have received First Kills. And it is this place that, one day, received information that four players had appeared in Barliona who had earned these First Kills. The first to approach Phoenix with an offer to join it was Clutzer…”

  “Clutzer came to Phoenix?” I narrowed my eyes. This was no longer resembling a prank.

  “Clutzer, teleport to the tomb entrance, will you?” A message from Stacey appeared in the clan chat, after which she continued: “Surprised? Too bad. Not only did he come to us, but he brought with him the entire trio. Ah! There he is. Clutzer,” the girl said to the Rogue, “I hereby remove all disclosure restrictions from you. We have what we wanted…Now please explain how it all happened.”

  “Mahan, Mahan…I let you know that I was free and asked you to think!”

  “Excuse me?” Anastaria interrupted. “Mind clarifying that?”

  “Forget it,” Clutzer smirked in reply. “Check the Imitator—I haven’t violated anything. As you taught me yourself—you always have to predict all the possibilities, even the least likely ones. So you can chill out—I’m clean as far as the law goes. I’ll pay my debt soon enough. I’ve done everything by the rules of our contract, oh Great Anastaria!”

  Clutzer all but spit out this last word, demonstrating what he thought of the girl.

  “Since this pig,” he went on with a nod in Stacey’s direction, “wants me to tell the whole story, well, why not? As soon as we left the mine, I headed to Phoenix. Starting a clan with four prisoners is utter nonsense. I was welcomed with open arms, taken care of, tested. Basically, they did all the due diligence. Once I passed the tests, I was granted an interview, since the Imitator supposedly determined my skills. Obviously trying to ingratiate myself, I told her everything about the four of us and our desire to start a clan. I didn’t fail to mention the strange behavior of our Shaman who, at Level 12, could draw rings that were quite a deal better than the standard ones. That was when they became curious about you. It was a cinch to entice Eric, Leite and Karachun into Phoenix—the cons of them being in other clans were obvious, but you ended up in Beatwick, so we forgot about you for a while. Or, more accurately, until the pair of oafs from Phoenix encountered you in the forest. At the time, Hellfire mentioned that everyone was already in the clan and you were the only one out, but due to the specifics of the scenario you couldn’t be invited into Phoenix then. After that, you began to interact with Anastaria a lot, who realized that you were the creator of the Chess Set. It was then, at a strategy briefing that I floated a plan that took into account your psychological profile, which I had managed to study while were in Dolma Mine. We were planning on starting a clan by then and I had learned what Karmadont’s Scroll said, so I suggested that Phoenix allow us to make our clan and proposed that we slip in a person from Phoenix. At first that was supposed to be me, but Ehkiller decided that Anastaria would be better—they still didn’t fully trust me…”

  “You joined Phoenix?” I asked him angrily.

  “Of course! I knew you all of several weeks. Why would I trust you? You’re a prisoner—who knows what skeletons are in your closet? My own hide is worth more to me, believe me. But I suggest you don’t get hung up on details and focus on the main points. We decided to create a sister clan to Phoenix and transfer Anastaria to it—for no longer than two months, so that she could receive the tomb quest. Meanwhile, we were all forced to sign nondisclosure agreements. If we violated them, we’d be sent back to the mines, so we kept mum. Karachun was the exception—he felt so indebted to you for the First Kill that he wanted to meet with you. So we had to come up with a fairy tale that he defected to Phoenix, while we three had remained stalwart soldiers immune to fairy tales…”

  “Unfortunately, I hadn’t planned on you becoming acquainted with Reptilis,” Anastaria cut in. “Everything went according to plan at first—the clan, the game with your feelings, which I didn’t even have to predict—I could see your mouth water when you looked at me from a kilometer away. But then, as they say, a force majeure situation arose, which we had to deal with as quickly as possible. So we sent Barsina to you.”

  “Barsa joined the clan before I got the scroll.”

  “Reptilis refused to give us the scroll and threatened to hand it over to the Emperor or to the creator of the figurines, so we decided not to risk it. Mom deleted her former Mage and in several days we leveled her up to Level 147. Clan leveling programs can work miracles. When Clutzer told us that you were looking for an extra player, it became clear that this was our chance. Initially, Barsa was going to be leveled up to Level 250 and then introduced to you—but we had to work with what we had. That’s how Barsina ended up with you.”

  “I guess the first question I’d ask if I were you,” Barsina approached us, “was how a mercenary for whom this game is supposedly her livelihood, was supposedly only at Level 147? Either she’s a crappy mercenary, or she’s no mercenary at all. And yet to my utter surprise, this never even occurred to you! All I had to do was write you a message and that was it—I was one of the gang. Joining the clan was only a matter of time after that. And, what amused me most of all—Mahan never wondered how a simple mercenary would have experience managing personnel. What kind of person does business like that?”

  “When you kept missing out on scenarios in the Dark Forest, I was grinding my teeth, but I kept quiet,” Anastaria began once again. “By that point it became clear that you had acquired the scroll, so we decided that I would join your clan in order to keep Barsina safe. So that you’d never suspect her.”

  “The nonsense with Rick and Hellfire was my fault,” Clutzer shrugged sadly. “By that point, I hadn’t yet figured you out entirely, so…As you see, no one even bothered to come up with some logical explanation for Anastaria’s appearance. As for putting Rick and Hellfire in their place, well, you couldn’t think of a dumber idea, but you ate it up without a second thought…And so my plan came to fruition: Anastaria and Barsina were in the clan and all three of us were ready to pick up the fallen banner of the deputy at any moment—to hand it to Phoenix later.”

  “As I predicted, you read the scroll and began to accuse me of supposedly being with you only for the sake of the Chess Set. In some sense you were right!” Stacey started laughing but then controlled herself and went on: “I summoned the Emperor and looking right in your eyes sincerely swore that I’d never seen the scroll before in my life. Notice that I didn’t say I didn’t know what it said—only that I’d neve
r seen it. Then, I asked you to remove me from my position as deputy. You were so predictable that you did exactly what I wanted—and made mom your deputy. She immediately began play her part as deputy as actively as she could, recruiting players who wanted to join Phoenix and testing to see how good they were. We killed two birds with one stone—we managed to test the new players in the context of a real clan, while meanwhile you were kept from any doubts about Barsa’s abilities. All that we had to do after that was wait two months until she received her buff, force you to craft the unfinished figurines, convince you to activate them and that’s it—your part in this game has now ended. Shaman Mahan is no longer of any use to anyone…”

  “After the Dark Forest, Anastaria signed an agreement with us and Phoenix paid our debts, putting us on an installment plan,” said Clutzer. “Around this time I realized that I didn’t want to be in Phoenix at all and that the Legends had become family for me. I began to look for a way to let you know and even found it in the end—but you didn’t understand…It’s too bad…It’s just too bad…”

  “They paid your debt after the Dark Forest?” I noticed an inconsistency in the testimony of the trio before me. “Leite took out a loan to pay his debt…”

  “Which yet again reinforces the fact that you absolutely do not read the documentation,” Anastaria cut me off. “I almost killed him when in your mournful tone you told me that Leite wasn’t in the game—but then I came up with the story of the loan. And yet if the highly-esteemed (in some circles) Shaman had actually bothered to do his homework, he would have been surprised to learn that the law prohibits prisoners from being issued loans. But you’re too predictable…Take for example the loan contract I told you about—I simply got sick of waiting for you to get to the next figurines, so I found a way to prod you along. Mom sowed doubts about me in your mind, using the pretext of my bet with Plinto. And then I sold you on it by briefly removing the ‘Stunned’ debuff after we’d been sunk by the cargo ship and allowing you to overhear my conversation with dad about the bureaucracy. Et voila! Like a calf to a teat, Shaman Mahan dashes off exactly where I need him to. I had filled you with such emotions that you had no choice but to pour them out into your crafting. And to ensure that you wouldn’t make something abstract, I brought you to the clearing before the tomb first. You had no choice but to create the last two chess pieces.”