Escape From Litchfield

by Isra Bhuthimethee

  And with that, he became a Champion and Paladin of the Unishi God.

  "Jare. You are my champion in the world. You represent me. You will go out and do good in my name. I grant you boons. And as your faith and deeds grow, so will your boons. Go now, quickly!"

  A Champion is a mortal servant that is the spokesman for the god. A Paladin is basically a holy warrior that carries out the laws of their God. In a way, Jare was both a lawmaker and law enforcer.

  A great sense of euphoria enveloped Jare, and he closed his eyes in ecstasy, reveling in the boons entering his body. An observer would have seen Jare emitting a golden light as he levitated a few inches off the ground. As he opened his eyes, for a split second, his eyes were the color of golden sunlight.

  Standing in pose he said fervently, "Thank you Unichi! My sword and I will convert millions to your cause!"

  Jare gains a new skill, Divine Heal.

  Jare gained 1 level in Divine Heal and now it is 1

  Jare gains a new skill, Divine Shield.

  Jare gained 1 level in Divine Shield and now it is 1

  Jare gains a new skill, Divine Touch.

  Jare gained 1 level in Divine Touch and now it is 1

  Jare gains a new skill, Lesser Resurrect.

  Jare gained 1 level in Lesser Ressurect and now it is 1

  Jare gains a new skill, !@#$%

  Jare gained 1 level in !@#$% and now it is 1

  Jare gains a new skill, !@#$%'s explosion

  Jare gained 1 level in !@#$%'s Explosion and now it is 1

  Jare gains a new skill, Champion's Prayer.

  Jare gained 1 level in Champion's Prayer and now it is 1

  Jare gains a new skill, Champion's Intuition.

  Jare gained 1 level in Champion's Intuition and now it is 1

  Skill: Divine Heal: Instant cast targeted heal for 200 points. Refresh once every five minutes

  Skill: Divine Shield: Instant cast shield for 200 points. Grants 100% resistance to fire, water, air, and earth while active. Refresh once every thirty minutes

  Skill: Divine Touch: Instant cast touch heal to completely heal the target. Refresh once a day.

  Skill: Divine Lesser Resurrection: Resurrect a companion within an hour of death. Refresh once a week.

  Skill: !@#$%: Targeted combat spell. Refresh once every half hour.

  Skill: !@#$%'s Explosion: Everyone up to 30' from caster is afflicted with !@#$%. Refresh once a day.

  Skill: Champion's Prayer: Speak to your Deity

  Skill: Champion's Intuition: Allow your Deity to speak through your body.

  Name Jare Merta Points 0

  Status Awakened, Well-Rested

  Titles

  Credits 220 Health 100%

  Level 34 Class Warrior

  Experience 77308 Subclass Paladin

  Int 7 Dex 22

  Str 70(72) Agil 38

  Con 85(98) Sync 5%

  Mana 70 M Regen 1.0

  HP 980 H Regen 1.50/s

  Armor Steel Jack's Plate of Strength 65%, Thorny Adventuring Shield 15%

  Skills Inspect 26, Perception 20, Sword 170, Rush, Whirlwind, Cone Wave, Mass Taunt, Threatening Aura, Knuckle Stun, Taunt, Double Strike, Triple Strike, Heavy Strike, Guard Stance, Divine Jester 1, Divine Heal 1, Divine Shield 1, Divine Touch 1, Lesser Ressurect 1, !@#$% 1, !@#$%'s Explosion 1, Champion's Prayer 1, Champion's Intuition 1

  Items Thorny Adventuring Shield, Gravity Sword of Fiery Ice, Steel Jack's Plate of Strength, +1 Ring of Constitution, +1 Ring of Constitution, +1 Ring of Constitution, +2 Ring of Constitution

  The door to the room made an audible click, and the door slowly creaked open.

  He wasn't sure how long he was out learning his new abilities, but when he came to he said, "Wait. What do you mean? How do I increase the boons?" And his questions were met with silence. He was disappointed, but he recalled that Gia's servant told him to leave quickly after finding enlightenment.

  He took a moment to study his new skills. He may need them. Divine Heal was an amazing skill, but it was not a game changer, most fights were quick and brutal. Only the most brutal of fights would last over five minutes. On the other hand, he should be able to cast it once every fight or help top off people after the fight. Perfect for fighting in a dungeon. The Divine Shield was pretty good in certain situations. The thirty minute refresh seemed like a long time, but he could use it when going up against an elemental mage. 100% resistance to elemental magic on top of his natural resistance would make him very hard to kill. It shines when it blocks 100% of elemental damage, but its 200 point damage absorption was a bit weak. However, his allies are also able to reinforce his shield.

  Divine Touch was incredible. This was one of the staple spells of a paladin class, the ability to completely heal any being that can benefit from holy magic. This was one of the spells that could turn the tide of a battle, especially due to the instant use.

  Lesser Resurrection was the game changer. The ability to resurrect a companion was more legend than reality. He would not be able to tell anyone but his closest friends of this ability. The biggest issue was the within one hour of death. The second issue was the one week refresh rate. If he let his ability get out, everyone will ignore the one hour time limit and rush over to beg him for a Resurrection. And if he was to use it, he'd have to wait a whole week for the ability to refresh.

  He had no idea what the ability with the messed up name did. He'd have to test it. He grimaced Auth would love to see him testing things.

  Shaking it off, he quickly left, closing the door behind him. He walked through Gia's shrine to the main church, setting a fast pace. And as he exited Gia's protection, he saw several men clock him, quickly turn around and walk away. Others disengaged from their activities to walk towards him. He was a decently equipped warrior, but he probably couldn't handle more than two or three warriors before he got his paladin class. Even if he was experienced with his new abilities, he probably couldn't handle more than five warriors. That was being generous.

  That's not a good sign, Jare thought to himself. He quickly sped up to a walking speed that was just slightly faster than the traffic but not quite fast enough to draw attention. Glancing over his shoulder several times, he didn't notice anything, but as he came into sight of the exit, several figures spotted him and started walking his way. Shouts behind him caught his attention, and a group of men were pointing at him and running all out. He was caught between two groups of men looking for him. This was not going to be a good day.

  Jare broke out into an all out run for the door. He didn't know what the skill !@#$% did, but he hoped it would help him somehow. He heard the telltale sound of several warriors based adventurers using their Charge skill. Jare was already within 20 feet of the door group, so he activated his new skill, hoping that it would be enough.

  A thin black fog with red streaks appeared within the area of effect, and all the men slowed down to a crawl. Men in the act of casting looked on in dismay as their spell just disappeared. The men charging all tripped and fell down.

  One of the charging men shouted, "All my skills are gone!"

  A mage cried, "My spells aren't working. What's going on!"

  Another recovered warrior shouted, "My stats screen won't show up! And I'm moving like a normie! He's cursed us!"

  Meanwhile, Jare reached the exit, unaffected by his skill. The men trying to pursue him had lost all their speed attributes, so Jare's 38 agility allowed him to run 38 miles per hour, easily escaping his pursuers. If they hadn't been confused and gawking at their stats, maybe they would have been able to catch him when the ten second debuff wore off. Maybe.

  ***

  Auth was sitting down admiring the configuration of his virtual conference room. The nice thing about VR is that the settings and customizations were saved and instantly transferred to any of their VR rooms. In addition to the entire workroom being able to display and alter the world, his new alteration let him track their robotic patrols.

 
; Alex requested a map to display and highlight all the housing facilities in Hopetown and said, "We will need to build more housing soon. Can I get an authorization form with your signature?"

  Auth began filling out the form. "Have you kept in touch with the other leaders of the city? How's our research team doing?"

  Nodding, Alex said, "Our research team has been hard at work learning the tools of the trade. There's a huge gap between what we learned in school and what is required to learn before we make any headway in new technology. That's not to say we haven't made any progress. Just that we're going slower than expected."

  Jare asked, "How big is the gap?"

  "Massive. Massive. What we learned was the ancient equivalent of high school. Many of our equivalents may actually scale down to middle school. So the ancients used a four year college degree as the first tier level of education. The next tier level was called a Master's degree, which varied from one to two years. Then they went to Doctor, which could be from four and up years. We've barely scratched the surface on what we need to know. Fortunately, we have access to the latest teaching methods, so we should be ready to go in a fraction of the time."

  Pausing, Alex said, "We have a report on the particles that Research1 was talking about. High energy explosions created by antimatter create a number of high energy waves that can actually alter materials to create isotopes, which tend to be damaging to tissues. Fortunately, Research1 and our nanocells are automatically filtering and removing the contaminants. We are naturally resistant to the particles due to works by the Ancients. They needed to survive traveling through outer space, which is full of high energy waves. The ancients, without nanocells, would have problems with their DNA behaving badly, eventually leading to death in the worst case scenario. They created the nanobots, which are precursors to our nanocells."

  Auth nodded. "Excellent! We currently have half a million credits from permacrete sales to the capital. We basically have unlimited funding for research. Jare and I will both get a 50K credit fund set aside to rescue Tamara. We're going to need some serious equipment advantages to survive the gap in skill and levels."

  Jare said, "Alex, is there anything that we need to know about?"

  Alex nodded. "Yes. We've created the position, Portal Keeper, as the person responsible for operating the gates. We have also commissioned guards into the position, Portal Guard. In the future, if you are at a Portal that Tamara has added to our Portal Chamber, you can send a magic messenger bird to the Portal Keeper at Hopetown for a request to open a portal at your location."

  Jare nodded delightedly. "That's an amazing feature. That means we aren't as dependent on schedules anymore. Have we discussed a fee to use the portal?"

  Alex shook her head. "No. We are currently allowing citizens and refugees to travel without a fee. Refugees can only come here, but citizens are allowed to go either direction."

  Auth said, "Good thinking. We need to set up a fee. Please check the costs of travel to various destinations and at this time, please make it slightly over that cost. We don't want to encourage people to travel frequently. Also, limit how often our merchants travel to the same destination. We don't want other cities to become curious on why our merchants are traveling the kingdom so quickly. At least, not until we have a stronger position."

  Shifting her feet from one to the other, she said, "We recently received messengers from both the dwarves and the elves inquiring about a potential trade. I forwarded a copy of the messages to you and also to our Minister of Finance."

  Nodding, Auth said, "Did they ask for anything in particular? And what can you tell me about the dwarves and elves?"

  She replied, "The dwarves are taciturn, abrasive, and stubborn, but they are honest and generally good to deal with. The elves tend to have more flowery words, they value perfection, beauty, and negotiation. Both species are long-lived and even their non-combat craftsmen should easily reach the low 100's."

  The mage said, "The dwarves will be straightforward, while the elves will beat around the bush?"

  Alex said, "Yes. Said bush will die of old age before you finish the negotiation. Maybe the bush's offspring too."

  Jare replied, "No problem. I can handle the elves. The mage will handle the dwarves. On that note, none of our Portal Keepers are anywhere near 100?"

  "The highest among the guard are in their 30's, but I see your point. I will start the process to get hidden plasma turrets installed. Even with a hallway full of turrets, level 100 merchants could still storm us easily. I don't think we can do much more until Tamara is recovered. Not only is she our best enchanter, but she built the portal. Knowing the woman, she can give anyone a run for their credits on her home turf."

  Auth and Jare said in unison, "Agreed!"

  Auth and Jare exchanged a look, and Jare ceded the conversation to Auth with a short nod.

  Auth shrugged, then took a deep breath. He wasn't looking forward to this conversation. "Alex. Jare and I need to complete some training, so we want you to completely manage Hopetown in our absence." Alex's face paled, but she looked determined.

  "Auth. I do appreciate the vote of confidence, but I don't really feel up for the job. But I will do my best! Do you have a timeline on how long you expect to be gone?"

  "Alex. The journey to Litchfield is two weeks round trip. Jare and I need at least a full week to train, so expect us to be absent for at minimum, three weeks. We're planning to leave ASAP."

  Alex visibly gulped. "I will try to do my best."

  Jare piped in. "We have every confidence in your abilities. But look at the bright side, in three weeks, we will have Tamara back! Also, you're getting an amazing on-the-job training. We want you to stay here forever, but if you choose to leave us, you'll have experiences that very few people can compete with."

  Nodding at the direction the conversation turned, Alex looked a bit more confident. "You guys are right! I can do this!"

  ***

  A messenger bird floated out of the sky and circled around Auth, catching his attention. Auth called a stop to their party as the bird came down to land on his shoulder. He picked out the message tied to the bird's neck.

  Reading the message, he let out a relieved breath and smiled broadly.

  "Tamara's awake!" He shouted.

  Everyone cheered, even if it was a bit muted due to the unknown destiny that awaited her. Even today, there was a chance that people did not recover from a head wound. It was rare but possible. Most people knocked unconscious would take less than a day to wake up. Even completely regrowing body parts shouldn't take more than a week. However, Tamara had done things that most people wouldn't dream of doing. She stressed her magic, body, and soul to the maximum.

  After the cheers died down, Auth summarized the message. "It looks like Tamara was interrogated and sent to the dungeon." This was a possibility that they discussed. This was probably the best case scenario since Tamara always did the impossible. In the dungeon, she will have the chance to grow and adapt to her circumstances. True, it was dangerous, but Tamara was one of the best fighters he had ever known. Another advantage was that the dungeon method meant that they had plenty of time to rescue Tamara. Jenny wouldn't kill her out of hand, she'd try to weaken and kill her by dungeon.

  Jare sighed in relief. "We're going to make it. This is the best case scenario. She's going to level and skill up. We need to do the same!"

  "Let's finish up our professional quests and anything that can't wait a month, then let's go!" Said Auth.

  Raising an eyebrow, Jare replied, "It sounds like you need to do something? For me, I'm already ready."

  "I have been trying to finish my professional quest, but I am nearly there. There's something I'm missing, but once I find it, it will be quick. I also need to finish my Jeweler quest. If we get a chance to meet up with Tamara, we may need the extra boosts from multi-slot jewelry."

  Nodding, Jare said, "We can wait for you to finish the Jeweler quest, but we're not waiting on the Professional que
st. You'll have to finish it on the way. Go finish it. We're leaving tomorrow morning. Don't forget to make an appearance at the party!"

  Confused, Auth's brows furrowed. "I don't remember any celebration."

  Jare laughed, "Tamara has a lot of friends in this town, so we're meeting up for a few drinks and call it a night."

  Enlightened, Auth said, "Ah. That party." Nodding as he contemplated skipping the party, he replied, "I really want to skip the party, but I know it would be good for morale to attend, so you got me!"

  "Good! I wasn't going to let you miss out on a few beers!" Jare's mood was definitely much improved at the prospect of drinking beer.

  ***

  Maybelle's General Store was packed with all the materials a jeweler could ask for. The shelves lined the walls labeled with all the different materials that could be used. There were boxes of gems, pure metals, alloyed metals, bracelets, rings, bags, boxes, wires, lockets, amulets, and much more. They even had a shelf dedicated to cores and gem slots. Of course, the common supplies had a moderate markup, while the more exotic materials and cores had a markup as high as twenty times cost.

  Jewel Crafting was the craft of creating functional art. The quality of the materials had an effect on the enchantment, but Auth had no idea how. For instance, with all factors (caster, caster level, etc) being the same, an enchanted gold wand enchanted with Firedart would prevail over an enchanted silver wand with the same spell. Better quality materials even affected how many enchanted items you could wear at once. It's different for each person, mostly due to unique choices, quality, and type of enchantment.

  Auth's eyes traveled the length of the store looking for Maybelle. He spotted her helping a customer at the back of the store, so he walked over to her normal position at the cashier station. Credits were one of the most dominant forms of currency for multiple reasons. The biggest reason was portability. It worked everywhere with no setup. It was weightless, and it cost nothing to use.

  The second dominant form of currency was hard currencies like precious gems and metals like gold and diamonds. It had all the normal drawbacks of hard currency. It could be stolen, you need to exchange it for different currencies, and you get change back from transactions.