Collecting The Goddess (Chronicles Of KieraFreya Book 1)

by Michael Anderle

  Hold on, MP increase, too? What did that mean?

  KieraFreya answered, It means your MP has increased, genius.

  Chloe loaded her character sheet, marveling at the huge increase to her MP points.

  Bio

  Character name: Chloe (click to select a new character name)

  Level: 11

  Class: Battle Mage (Novice)

  Race: Human

  Stats

  HP: 325/325

  MP: 540/540

  Stamina: 375/375

  Active effects: Null

  Boons: +15% luck to experimental magicks

  Attributes

  Strength: 22 (+21)

  Intelligence: 10 (+33)

  Dexterity: 20 (+17)

  Endurance: 25 (+18)

  Etheric Potential: 9 (+32)

  Skills

  Languages: Human

  Acrobatics: Lv 3

  Armed Combat: Lv 3

  Charismatic: Lv 4

  Cooking: Lv 2

  Crafting: Lv 1

  Creature Identification: Lv 4

  Dark Vision: Lv 4

  Dual Wielding: Lv 2

  Experimental: Lv 1

  Fishing: Lv 1

  Hand of the Gods: Lv 1

  Herb Identification: Lv 2

  Sneak: Lv 4

  Swimming: Lv 1

  Reckless: Lv 4

  Available Points: 4

  “Damn!” she said, her smile returning. “Have you seen this?”

  “Yep. I can see what you see.”

  Chloe couldn’t believe it. Not all that long ago, she had been concerned at her lack of etheric potential and intelligence. Now at 43 and 41 points respectively, they were right back up there with the rest of her attributes, only topped slightly by her strength and endurance, which held strong at 43 points each.

  Chloe chucked one of her available points into intelligence, and the other three into etheric potential, feeling the magic course around her body as she looked smugly at her updated stats.

  Attributes

  Strength: 22 (+21)

  Intelligence: 10 (+34)

  Dexterity: 20 (+17)

  Endurance: 25 (+18)

  Etheric Potential: 9 (+36)

  “So much for the game capping my etheric potential early on,” Chloe said, resting her head against the wall. “Proof once again that Chloe Lagarde can take whatever this damn game throws at her."

  Chapter Fifty

  Mia froze, feeling as though someone had dropped an ice cube down her back. She stared at the screen, her coffee cup steaming between her hands.

  ‘Proof once again that Chloe Lagarde can take whatever this damn game throws at her.’

  Chloe had said that.

  Shit, she thought.

  Mia crossed the apartment that she had spent all morning cleaning up and grabbed her laptop. The storm had now passed, and a steady stream of sunlight filtered through the blinds. After days of little to report to Demetri, she had grown restless, deciding at last to surprise the man she had fallen for by making the apartment presentable.

  Which had also made the laptop a lot easier to find.

  Bonus.

  Level up.

  Typing her password, Mia loaded the Obsidian website on her browser. It was a little after noon, meaning it would be some time before Demetri came home after another day filled with meetings and psych sessions.

  “Come on, come on,” she mumbled as the website struggled to load. A surge of new viewers and commenters had been testing the website’s servers, and conversations with Praxis’ developers had highlighted a need to increase the capacity of the servers to handle the load.

  Now the CEO’s “we’ll upgrade as and when we need to” seemed like a stupid idea.

  Eventually, Mia managed to find the live-stream section. She hammered in Chloe’s username with eager fingers and pulled up her stream.

  The display icon in the corner showed that 28 viewers were now watching Chloe play her game. That meant that 28 viewers (27 if you excluded her) had heard Chloe reveal her true identity.

  Mia pulled open the comments section, her heart in her throat.

  The most recent comment:

  WhizzeeWizard15: 12:07

  Ha! What a noob. Who gets themselves trapped in handcuffs in a deserted prison?

  Princ3ssCapric0rn: 12:07

  Leave her alone. Sometimes shit happens, okay?

  WhizzeeWizard15: 12:08

  Is that what your mum said when you were born?

  Princ3ssCapric0rn: 12:08

  That’s what happened when you cacked your pants at school, Phil

  WhizzeeWizard15: 12:08

  Who’s Phil, you weeping toad?

  Princ3ssCapric0rn: 12:09

  I know it’s you, dickwad. I can tell from that lame-ass username. It’s the same as on your Spotify account you shared with me, remember?

  And so the comments went. Mia scanned them all, seeing no sign that anyone had caught the Lagarde comment. She hoped that meant the users had been too involved in their argument to pay any attention at that point.

  In fact, it sounded like these two users knew each other. Could that mean that the entire population of views for Chloe was currently limited to a consortium of people within a small community? A school group, maybe?

  She breathed a sigh of relief and closed the laptop, watching Chloe on the screen as she returned to her feet and started back through the old abandoned prison block once more.

  “You stupid girl,” she mumbled, running a hand through her hair, trying her best to think of a way to reach her so she could tell her to be more careful.

  It wasn’t just Demetri and Mia anymore. The world was waking up. Over five thousand eyes now watching the streams and soaking up the realm of Obsidian.

  Chloe worked her way through the prison, KieraFreya acting as a divining rod to track the magical power, which grew stronger with each step. They turned corners, fought off the remnants of more zombies, and battled onward until they reached a place where a large hole in the wall had been made at some point in the prison’s history.

  They stepped through, emerging into a large chamber in which knotted and gnarled roots had broken through the walls and created what Chloe could only compare to a replica of the thousands of wires tangled up under her desk at home, only these were wood.

  “It’s a mess in here,” Chloe said, clambering over a large root with some effort and hopping to the other side. She imagined herself as a tiny bug skittering across the forest floor. “Hey, look at me. I’m an ant.”

  Chloe fell to all fours and scuttled along, giving her best insect impression.

  Despite herself, KieraFreya laughed. “Again, you’re an idiot,” she said playfully.

  “Again, I don’t care,” Chloe replied, scratching her head as she got back to her feet. “Where to now?”

  KieraFreya pointed Chloe’s arm. “That way. See that greenish glow up ahead?”

  Chloe craned her neck, just able to make out the glow KieraFreya was talking about between the thick knots and tangles of the roots.

  “Why does your stuff always glow green? If it wanted to remain hidden, surely it shouldn’t glow at all?” Chloe asked, stepping up to another root and failing on her first few attempts to jump. On jump number four, her fingers found some grooves and gripped tightly as she used her strength to pull herself up.

  “It was never true that I wasn’t supposed to be found,” KieraFreya said. “It would be a cruel punishment indeed to make my pieces so difficult to find that no one ever would. No, it’s about making the worthy come for me. Creating intrigue. Though the armor glows and reveals my locations, it doesn’t mean ways weren’t built in to test the strength of those who found me.”

  Chloe straddled the root, now able to see the hovering piece of armor spinning on a raised dais some distance away.

  “So this is the challenge? See if the worthy can conquer the roots of the great tree?” Chloe asked. “Seems a bit dull compared
to the last place I found you. Remember? Platforms hovering over the abyss, giant trolls, a massive tumble into darkness.”

  “Not forgetting the realm of fire, the unforgiving lake, and the fractal labyrinth of death. Oh, wait. You skipped all that, didn’t you?” KieraFreya remarked.

  “Screw you.” Chloe winked at her bracers.

  “It’s not like the heroic were being tested or anything. It’s not like the actual challenge was in conquering those tasks. Imagine how much stronger you’d be if you’d completed those challenges.”

  “How much deader I’d be, you mean? Remember, I was only level 1.”

  To her surprise, KieraFreya laughed—a genuine laugh, at that. “I know. I still can’t believe it. Maybe you can find a way to cheat yourself out of this situation too? What do you think? You couldn’t defeat a black mage, but you can certainly find a way to scramble over roots.”

  Chloe ignored her comment, making slow progress toward the armor. The pull of the etheric grew stronger with every step. Bells tinkled as the hovering armor rotated in its green glow.

  At last Chloe cleared the final hurdle—a root that took her several attempts to best. It was so high that she had had to take a running start, and climb by using her initiative, embedding several ice shards at intervals along its length. She climbed her makeshift ladder and laughed as she hugged the top of the root.

  The trip down was far more uncomfortable.

  “Ouch,” Chloe said, bringing up her health and seeing the loss of 15HP from her jump to the ground.

  “If 15HP is all you lose from this venture, I’m going to be very impressed,” KieraFreya told her.

  They crossed the final section and stood before the armor. Chloe paused, admiring the incredible craftsmanship of the ornate greaves that floated lazily before her.

  “It’s a shame, really,” Chloe said, the pull almost magnetic as she fought it to stay still. “Could’ve really done with a piece of armor that covered my chest. I swear to the gods, if I can find a way to stop my boobs from going on display every time I die, I’d throw all of my coin at that method.”

  KieraFreya tugged at Chloe’s arms. “Real funny. Now, stop fucking around.”

  Chloe tugged back, her hands just inches away from the greaves. “Hold on. Good things come to those who wait. You’ll appreciate it more if we wait just a few moments longer.” A playful smile appeared on her face.

  “You’re a bitch,” KieraFreya said, tugging again but not getting very far since Chloe was ready this time.

  “Just a little longer,” Chloe urged. “I’ve enjoyed sharing this time with you. The last thing we want to do is rush. What if we put on these greaves and...I don’t know. You turn into a colossal—” beep.

  “Bitch?” KieraFreya said.

  “Sure. Whatever word you want to put in there. Mine was a lot stronger.” She winked.

  “Thanks for the lesson in using language to degrade,” KieraFreya offered. “Can we stop fucking around now and get me my armor?”

  She pulled Chloe once more, grunting as she did. It was needless, however, since Chloe was more than ready for this and allowed KieraFreya her moment.

  Her hands fell on the greaves. One minute they were floating in the air, the next they had attached themselves to her legs. The archaic shin guards gleaming with dazzling emeralds and golds, matching and complimenting the bracers.

  Chloe closed her eyes, feeling the magic wash over her. She felt a streak of electricity, as though the bracers and greaves were communicating down a powerfully charged wire. She grimaced as the process reached its climax, opening one eye once it had passed and looking down at her feet.

  “How are you feeling, girl?” Chloe asked.

  KieraFreya responded by taking control of her legs and kicking them up and down one after the other. “I feel great. Wonderful. Powerful!”

  The goddess gave another kick of Chloe’s legs before she summoned her strength and pulled them back to earth. “Enough of that,” Chloe ordered. “Stop trying to take control of me. I’m only trying to help you.”

  KieraFreya ignored Chloe, raising her leg again. For a good few minutes, Chloe wrestled with the movement, walking in strange goosesteps in a circle, grabbing on the greaves whenever they got high enough and shoving them back down.

  A flash of inspiration struck and Chloe dropped to her knees, sitting atop her legs and weighing them down. They struggled and her arms joined the action, then KieraFreya sighed as she resigned herself to another defeat.

  “You suck,” KieraFreya shouted. “This isn’t how it was meant to be! How could I be overpowered again by a mere mortal!”

  Chloe rolled her eyes. “You realize that the more you say stuff like that, the less likely I am to help you on this quest? I’m starting to feel like you’re just using me. Is that the case? Am I just a piece of meat to you?”

  “No,” KieraFreya mumbled, sounding like a chastised child. “You’ve got bones that the meat holds onto, too.”

  Chloe shuffled onto her butt, bringing her knees around and clutching them tightly. Her bracers were only a small distance from her greaves.

  “Here’s the deal. You want to get back to your other pieces of armor. I want to grow stronger and beat this quest. For the last time, if we’re going to do this, we’ll be doing it my way. You’re next to useless if I just let you control my body. You know, I could just kill myself, and you’ll be stuck in the abyss waiting for me to respawn again...and again...and again.”

  “You wouldn’t. You’d feel too much pain.”

  “Wouldn’t I?” Chloe said, raising an eyebrow. “For the sake of being in control of my own character and not being overrun by a fragment of a goddess? I think I might.”

  KieraFreya fell quiet. “Good, that’s better.” Chloe flicked open her flashing notification and read:

  Item obtained: Greaves of KieraFreya

  You’ve found the lost greaves of a fallen goddess. Made from metals forged by the gods, these greaves are virtually indestructible, though some say they have a mind of their own.

  Bonuses: +5 strength, +10 dexterity, +5 etheric potential

  Rarity: Mythic

  A pretty concise description, not dissimilar to the bracers, but oh, well.

  Chloe smiled and checked out the bonuses, then exhaled and got back to her feet, staring at the labyrinth of roots before her, not looking forward to clambering her way back.

  She looked forward to the journey even less when she heard the clicking of mandibles and saw the dozens of glinting black eyes that stared at her from the tops of the roots.

  Chapter Fifty-One

  “Oh!” Chloe complained. “Why is it never easy?”

  The insects scuttled forward, their beady eyes shining in the light of the purple orbs Chloe had summoned into each hand.

  It would have been fine if they were actually bug-sized—tiny creatures she could stomp out. If there had been a swarm of tiny bugs, it might have been an issue, of course. But as they slowly advanced, Chloe felt her heart drop. The smallest of the strange-looking insectoid creatures was roughly the size of a small car.

  “I don’t suppose you brought your insect repellent?” Chloe asked KieraFreya.

  “I find you repellant enough. Now quit bugging me.”

  “Oh, so you’re funny now as well as mean? Those greaves gave you back your funny bone?”

  KieraFreya remained silent.

  “Oh, screw you,” Chloe said, building the fireballs in each hand to their maximum size and launching them one after the other at the bug leading the pack. Mantis-like in shape, it had great wings that spread out as it reared up on its back legs, its razor-sharp mandibles clicking angrily as its leg caught on fire and the flames began to trail up its body.

  “So, bugs are flammable. Duly noted.”

  “You needed someone to tell you that?” KieraFreya quipped.

  Rather than retreat, the mantis launched itself at her, crossing the gap between them in a single pounce. Chloe roll
ed out of the way just in time, a flash of purple fire blinding her temporarily as she summoned an additional two fireballs and targeted the other approaching bugs.

  A hulking stag beetle towered over her, its legs, thin compared to the rest of its body, still the density of saplings. It reared up, crashing down on the spot where Chloe’s body had been, a strange gurgled roar coming from somewhere deep inside its body.

  “Any advice? I’ve never been to a stag party before,” Chloe said, sprinting out of the way as several more of the bugs crashed into the earthen arena.

  “What’s a stag party?” KieraFreya asked.

  “Never mind.” Chloe huffed. “You see any weak spots? Vulnerabilities? Anything that might help me here?”

  “Maybe some speed would do you well? You could always run.”

  Just then a deafening buzzing sound came from above as a wind kicked up and swirled dust and dirt particles into a sort of storm. Chloe tried to block her eyes as the enormous humblebee hovered above her, its eyes trained on her as it dropped into a dive, stinger-first.

  Chloe rolled, but the stinger caught her greaves. The impact was monstrous, so Chloe was surprised to find that she felt fine, her HP only showing a slight reduction at the shock. The humblebee flew backward angrily, its stinger bent and snapped off near the barb.

  “Wow, you really are strong,” Chloe said, admiring the fact that there wasn’t even a dent in her shins.

  “True, true. But so is he.”

  The stag beetle scraped the ground beneath its front legs, lining up a charge like a cartoon rhino. It began to run head-down as the mantis sprinted from behind.

  Chloe about-faced and fled toward the nearest root. She changed direction just in time to hear the beetle crash head-first into the root, concertina-ing its dense body. She didn’t even bother looking back, just cast a quick bout of Healing Hands to top up her HP before she reached a crevice that was just large enough to offer protection.

  Chloe poked out her tongue, a thumb in each ear, then quickly ducked back in as the mantis reared angrily into the air, taking a swipe at the spot where Chloe had been,