Marching troops appeared onscreen. Two-pronged banners with white crowns fluttered in the wind above Irchi shock troopers, the skies above dotted with endless drax swarms. Narrow warships with dragon-shaped snouts and birds of prey plowed the grey waves, and the stern faces of sailors loomed above the umbos of their raven-emblazoned blue shields. Furiously screaming, an avalanche of cavalry poured over the ranks of footmen with interlocked shields.
“Eleventh castle in one week,” Abel said, stopping the newscast. “They’re forging ahead like tanks—a sight to behold.”
“Yeah, everybody who didn’t succumb to the House is done with. They’re fleeing south, to the Long Sea and the Fairs,” Olaf agreed, contemplating the freeze-frame. “There are thousands of them already, dozens of clans. Mostly farmers, but...”
“They’re running to the Reds, and the Reds are worried. They are next in line to be attacked,” Komtur said. “Phoenix have contacted me twice, suggesting that it is time for us to remember the old treaties.”
“And you?”
“I promised our support, of course. We need to stick to our word. Can you explain how they’re doing it, demolishing everything in their path? That’s real heavy.”
“It is. Still, it’s simple,” Olaf spoke up. “I’d even say, primitive. The player coalition around the House of Darkness grew to a thousand players, but naturally, our dear PROJECT is playing the first fiddle.”
“That’s not that many. We could rally the same numbers, and Phoenix even more.”
“True, but Ananizarte made them stronger. The entire war engine of the House of Darkness is in motion. Twelve hordes, not including the auxiliary ones. For each attack, they concentrate the maximum number of forces in a small area. Other than players, they’ve engaged elite NPC troops, veterans of the Three Continents War. But that’s not the point. Even the hierarchies of the House fight in battles! Two or three of them have been noticed at each taken castle. These creatures are half-divine, able to boost the others while being as powerful as an entire raid.”
“The dragon couple?”
“Not just them. There were almost a dozen various offspring and minions of the Lady, but some of them either escaped or disappeared. It doesn’t really matter. In short, they support each assault. The Silver Guards knew everything and prepared for an attack.” Olaf nodded at the image of the destroyed castle. “They’ve assembled more than five hundred people but didn’t even stand a chance.”
Komtur grunted, perplexed.
“Now I see why Phoenix are so worried. How can we even stop this steamrolling?”
“Harness our forces,” Olaf replied without hesitation. “Fight them across the board. Create an alliance of southern NPC Kingdoms, form a united front. But this is utopia; nobody will bother with that.”
“Is it even possible to neutralize the House of Darkness?”
“It’s extremely hard. In the entire history of Sphere, there were only two successful attempts at fighting off gods. Well, three, if we count the Pandas defending their Astral stronghold from Ananizarte. Each time required colossal effort and concentration of troops.”
“How do they move their forces so quickly?” Balian the Raccoon asked. “There are hundreds of leagues between the castles.”
“Right. This is their Achilles’ heel,” Olaf said, nodding. “They’re using players, constantly jumping through pentagrams most likely created by PROJECT’s portal masters. They even cast a Great Pentagram to get to Black River and Cardeval. Ingredients for portal rituals have gone up in price—PROJECT are buying so much that local markets already have a shortage. We could pull the plug on it by cutting off the supply.”
“A trade war? Did you get bitten by Cat?” Komtur asked, snickering.
“This is a realistic way to stop the expansion,” the Prophet insisted. “I need Cat! He’s the only one who can do it. Order him to return, pressure him. He’s not listening to me.”
Chapter 18
HALF AN HOUR LATER, I boarded the Abyssal. I was alone. The ship was in turmoil, and the crew was searching every inch. Thrainul and Fayana immediately walked up to me.
“HotCat, are you back? We’re in trouble—Rocky’s missing! We’ve looked everywhere, but he’s nowhere to be found! Have you seen him onshore?”
“Alas, I have bad news,” I said with a sigh, touching the jade figurine of a fencer inside my pocket. “I haven’t seen him, but on my way back, I found this next to a group of ghosts...”
I gave Thrainul the Gravekeeper’s hat and rapier. The captain stared at them for a few seconds and finally clenched his large hairy fist.
“What a blockhead! Dammit, why did he go there?”
“I have no idea,” I confessed. “But why are you worried? He’s an NPC. In a day, he’ll respawn at the circle he’s bound to. Will you keep his stuff?”
“Fine... How are you, anyway? Did you find what you were looking for?”
“We’ve seen the global message,” Fayana added. “Could it be it’s connected to your quest?”
I gave her a silent look, not saying anything. She stared back, undeterred. Her eyes were piercing blue, her expression stubborn. A curious lady with an attitude to match. I winked at her and replied,
“No. It’s not.”
“A funny coincidence,” Fayana said, musing.
“Don’t ask me what the quest’s about and what I did there, or I’ll have to lie,” I said. “It’s not my secret to tell. Actually, forget what you saw and that you met me. It might backfire.”
“Olaf already suggested I don’t poke my nose into that,” Thrainul grumbled. “I’ve already forgotten where we’ve been and what we’ve done.”
“A secret agent on a covert mission?” Fayana gave me a provocative smile. “You’ve sparked my curiosity, HotCat! I won’t sleep until I learn everything!”
“Take sleeping pills,” I recommended to her. “Thrainul, what are our plans? My business is almost over.”
“The hold’s full of precious loot from the Guardian, not to mention the stuff on the bottom. We need to get it to the upper worlds to sell it. I’ll go to Ironguard; I have connections there.”
“Is it the only port in the Hole with a portal to the outside? I’ve heard it’s controlled by Pandas. They must have blacklisted us. Won’t we get caught?
“Don’t tell me how to live, all right? They don’t have a chance!” The captain puffed. “It’s on me, fine? Where should I send it, the Bazaar?”
“Yes. Just don’t put me as the employer; I’ll send you the nickname. I’m counting on you. Half of the profits from the second batch are yours.”
“It’s a deal. What else?”
“Can you show me our route?”
Thrainul frowned and sent me a file with the screenshot of the map. The serpentine line of our route was marked with dots. I nodded, pleased—just as I had expected, the Abyssal was bound to go past the Crown of Ice.
* * *
Half an hour earlier on the Isle of Madness
“Pay you? Hmm...” Rocky said, puzzled. Apparently, he wasn’t prepared for such a turn in our conversation. “What do you need, anyway?”
I dramatically rubbed my fingers.
“You must realize that I can’t transfer real money to you. However, many things in Sphere can be turned into cash,” the Gravekeeper continued. “Well, I can repeat my offer—we should go and wake Romanova together. First of all, she’ll confirm my words. Second, she has something you should like.”
“Which is?”
“We were preparing for a Sphere-wide apocalypse. The Magister wasn’t the only one to get an impregnable fortress and a pocket faction. There is a hidden citadel able to move between worlds—the control center that we planned to use as our headquarters and stronghold in case the Seven Brothers were activated. It has everything: a special faction devoted to the Seven Brothers, protections, lots of blueprints, recipes, and items unseen in Sphere. Right now, all of it is frozen on one of the islands in the Hole.”
“The Crown of Ice!” I guessed. So there was a reason why the mysterious island was shaped like a frozen fortress. It was a castle with unmatched defenses, hiding a great many secrets... Curiosity ate away at me.
“Exactly,” Svechkin said, nodding. “This is where Romanova—the keeper of the citadel, the head of the faction, our Cerberus, and our idea woman—is sleeping. Alone, I have no hope of getting inside, but together, we’ll be able to unseal the Crown.”
“Let’s be specific. What will I get?”
“You can have your pick of one item from the citadel’s treasury. I’ll tell you right away—all of them are completely imbalanced. That’s why we never released them into Sphere. The Balance—”
“Three,” I interrupted him.
“What?” Svechkin asked, confused.
“I’ll pick three items from your fortress’s storage,” I replied. “It’s my payment for not selling you out to the Magister and helping to awaken your girlfriend. We’ll discuss our further cooperation after I get my reward. Seeing as you have no choice, I’ll take your silence as consent.”
Svechkin slowly nodded, acknowledging my demands.
“Now that we’ve dealt with that, let’s continue. We can’t be seen together, you must realize that. The Magister’s no fool, and I can’t give him any cause for suspicion.”
“Agreed. I can’t return to the Abyssal. I must disappear. Wait a second. I have an idea.”
Your reputation with Rocky (Gravekeepers) increased by 10,000. Current value: 10,000/10,000 (Admired).
“Thanks, but why?” I asked, surprised.
“Select me via the interface. You should get a new tab. I hope you have at least a hundred points in Leadership.”
A golden icon with a handshake appeared next to Rocky’s portrait. When I clicked it, a message popped up.
You have reached maximum reputation with Rocky (Gravekeepers)! Rocky (Gravekeepers) wants to become your companion! Warning: refusal might cause unpredictable changes to reputation!
“Click yes,” Svechkin commanded. “I’ll become your pawn so that you can hide me in your inventory via Compress Artifact. Got it? Release me when you get to the Crown.”
“Give my stuff to Thrainul,” he said, pointing at the lonesome hat and the rapier lying on the pile of rocks. “Tell him that you found it next to the specters onshore. Is everything clear? If you don’t release me in twelve hours, I’ll remove the reputation and leave the figurine. Convince the captain to go past the Crown.
* * *
While we were leaving the Sea of Terror, I used my free time to hole up in a corner of the hold and sort out the loot dropped by the Pandorum warriors. There was so much of it that my inventory was almost full. As I opened the bag, I started pulling items from the extradimensional space.
Six bottles of various elixirs. The Pandas didn’t use standard-issue potions—all of them were rare and epic. I fiddled with a light blue vial of Dolphin’s Breath, a flaky black Darkvision, and a crimson Bear’s Blood that boosted Strength by 15 points for 30 minutes. One of the flasks turned out to contain an alchemical poison, Devil’s Kiss, and another, a flaming oil used to coat weapons.
There were four scrolls: Arrow of Luck—a buff for archers, Circle of Light, Cleansing, and Ice Needles. Only the latter was of any value, being a fifth level AOE water spell, but I didn’t have enough mana to cast it. However, what caught my attention was a special scroll bandoleer that allowed me to keep up to eight scrolls at hand—a must-have for a wizard. Unfortunately, as a character with no skill points in magic and low mana, I could only use basic scrolls of levels one and two.
The next items to be exposed were pieces of gear. Six of the seven turned out to be epic. Three used to belong to Pinprick and three to Ran Dom. All of them were parts of sets—cloth and heavy armor. Truly, Tormis had a good laugh at my expense. I couldn’t equip any of that. It would have to go to the clan storage or the auction. Yota’s prayer bead bracelet was the only exception. It was an epic item that gave a hefty boost to Constitution, Dexterity, and Luck, as well as Poison Immunity and Meditation, an ability that increased stamina. I’ll take it! I pulled off my old bracers and carefully wrapped my forearms in shining brown trinkets.
A rare skillbook. Reading it would teach me an absolutely useless skill, “Ballistics,” that allowed a player to control catapults, trebuchets, harpoon guns, and other such stuff. Why were the Pandas carrying such dumb crap? I returned to studying the trophies.
A well-worn tent for four people with only half durability left, a spyglass—I should probably give it to Thrainul—a sword belt similar to mine, a gonfalon—a clan banner... I unfolded the cloth and admired the black-winged skull against a crimson background. As far as I knew, such items could be used by players with support archetypes such as Captain or Stalwart Leader, giving their team a nice buff. This banner was unique and custom-made; most likely, it worked for the entire clan. The Pandas would probably agree to buy it back, as well as their set armor. I decided to put this issue on the back-burner. I still had to allocate new attribute points.
After defeating the Guardian, I had twenty-two of them. An ordinary player earned 2-5 points per month when starting out and 1-3 after getting into a groove. Thanks to my weapon and unique achievements such as killing the Guardian, my growth was different—sharp and uneven. If I counted all points invested into archetypes and attributes, I was already ahead by two months, give or take. However, my mana was still at the basic level, just a bit above seven thousand points. So what did my character look like? Mediocre melee abilities, low riding and shooting, and trade skills level seven or eight. My best stats were Dexterity, Intellect, and Charisma. Most likely, any real expert in builds and archetypes would have found my profile ridiculous. Thankfully, it wasn’t fatal—attributes could be reassigned with a special token.
Once again, I met a dilemma. Should I strengthen my character by allocating points in attributes, or should I develop Proxy abilities? After a moment’s hesitation, I opened my archetype tab.
The Proxy of the God of Shadows
Rank 2: Shadow Listener (level up skills to increase rank)
Passive abilities:
Shadow Sight (5/5): you can see the Shadow Plane and its items and inhabitants just as clear as the material world. You don’t have to travel to the Shadow Plane to interact with them. You are able to find caches and secret passages in the Shadow Plane.
Shadow Talk (5/5): you can hear and fully understand all shadows. You can order them to stay silent or speak up. Both lower and supreme shadows respect you, cannot lie to you, and will obey your orders. You can read text of any complexity in Shadowspeak.
Active abilities:
Shadow Eyes (5/5): you can find and sense shadows within a thousand-step range. You can use their eyes and contact them. You don’t have to be in the Shadow plane to use this ability.
Shadow Travel (3/5): you can enter and move through the Shadow Plane for up to 3 minutes / 45 minutes.
HIDDEN (rank 3 required)
HIDDEN (rank 4 required)
Talent:
HIDDEN (rank 5 required)
HIDDEN (rank 6 required)
Basically, the legendary archetype was my only weapon capable of surprising a powerful enemy. Few would expect a trader to have shadow abilities. To unlock rank 3 and a new skill, I needed to put two more points into Shadow Travel. Unwavering, I did it, transforming Shadow Travel into Shadow Run—a copy of the ability of Tormis’ cloak. Well, being able to teleport to the Shadow Plane twice a day for five minutes each time wasn’t bad.
You have reached rank 3: Shadow Whisperer! Ability unlocked: Summon Shadow (0/7)
Summon Shadow (0/7): you can summon one lesser shadow, materializing it in the physical world. Summon density: low. It will obey your commands, defend you, and fight on your side. 1 attempt/24 hours.
Wow! Summoning a shadow creature here? I wondered how powerful it would be. Lesser shadows, the common residents of that dimensio
n, didn’t seem dangerous to me. The increased limit was an unpleasant surprise—I needed as many as seven points to unlock the next rank!
I heard steps from above. Someone was coming down. Elegant boots, a blue cloak, long dark hair—Fayana Fly found me!
“There you are, HotCat!” The Pioneer chuckled as she saw me and the stuff lying around. “I was looking for you. So what about the video with shadow dwellers? Or did you forget your promise? I’ve already announced it on our website!”
“I have a better idea,” I said, winking at her. “I could summon a shadow right here. Would you like that? You could film it for all you want!”
Shadow Seer (Rogue Merchant Book #3): LitRPG Series Page 23
