Isr Kale’s Journal
a novel
by Vasily Mahanenko
THE ALCHEMIST
Book 4
Magic Dome Books
Isr Kale’s Journal
The Alchemist, Book # 4
Copyright © V. Mahanenko 2020
Cover Art © Ivan Khivrenko 2020
Cover Design © V. Manyukhin 2020
English translation copyright © Jared Firth 2020
Published by Magic Dome Books, 2020
All Rights Reserved
ISBN: 978-80-7619-219-5
This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Amazon.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental..
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Table of Contents:
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Epilogue
Chapter 1
You set up terminal access for 4 creatures.
Crystals –4 (6).
“ARE YOU SURE this is going to work?” Forian was staring dubiously at the black stone. The rule about not touching them had been beaten into him so thoroughly that he couldn’t move, and he wasn’t the only one—Valanil and Valia were holding back, as well. Having been there back in the city of the dead, they remembered what had happened to anyone unlucky enough to touch the ancient portal. Death. The loss of their being. And as they were just back from the land beyond the grave, they knew better than anyone what those words meant.
“I trust my master,” Ka-Do-Gir announced as he strode forward. As his paws landed on the terminal, he froze and began work on his attributes and skills. A white light glowed around him every time he unlocked a new one. But most importantly, he was alive and well. With that, Tailyn had a moment to himself, and he looked around at the group.
Valia Levor (resurrected noa). Mage. Level 1. Age 12. Betrothed to Tailyn Vlashich.
Forian Tarn (resurrected noa). Mage. Level 1. Age 22. Deacon.
Valanil Revolt (resurrected noa). Herbalist. Level 1. Age 18.
Ka-Do-Gir (resurrected noa). Ranger. Level 1. Age 12.
They weren’t human. They weren’t even lix. Whatever resurrected noa was, that’s what they were. Their levels were gone, almost all their attributes and skills had vanished (the only ones left were marked with an asterisk: everyone had linguist, Valia had unification, and Forian had faith), and their personal inventory was empty. Actually, even the inventory itself was gone. There was no clothing, no money, nothing. And since they’d all resurrected in roughly the same state they’d been born into the game, Tailyn was forced to spend 20,250 coins buying three complete sets of level one armor. The adults and the lix all got a set. Valia, in turn, was handed the looted level three ranger armor, which immediately turned into mage’s garb, as well as a level three amulet and a bag with an inventory expansion. It was something, at least. But what was really eating at Tailyn was the loot he’d idiotically abandoned over by the server room—the five mages, the shooter, and the soldier he’d killed for cutting off Valia’s foot. They’d presumably been completely kitted out, and... Well, what was there to say? Yes, he’d made a stupid mistake. And yes, he only had thirty-two coins left, enough for just six days of rations. The boy was just going to try not to think about what they were going to do when their food ran out.
All the resurrected quartet had been able to salvage were a couple parameters and their name. They’d even changed their age. As it turned out, you could pick a body from any point in your life as part of the resurrection process, and the group had jumped at the chance to lop half the years off their age.
“Okay, I’ll give it a try, too,” Valanil said when she saw Ka-Do-Gir step away from the stone with nary a scratch to show for it. Closing her eyes, still not believing access to the stone cost just a crystal, the woman placed a hand on it, and that was when the world around her swirled off to give way to the shelves of the virtual store.
“I need regeneration,” the herbalist said and froze in expectation of the answer. It was going to define the rest of her life.
“In keeping with the Crobar agreement, that attribute is unavailable for humans. It can only be given to school representatives ranked magistrate and higher.”
“Don’t try to play me like that—I’m no human. I’m resurrected noa, and the Crobar restrictions don’t apply to me.” While the answer the woman had gotten wasn’t what she’d been hoping for, it hadn’t been a categorical no. It was just a recitation of the rules.
“Request received... Please wait...”
About a minute ticked by. Valanil was already beginning to suspect that there was no answer forthcoming when the System kicked back into life:
Decision reached!
The Crobar agreement does not apply to resurrected noa!
***
You spent 1000 gold to unlock an attribute.
“Also, I need enhancement, protection, card saturation, intellect, wisdom, armor, mysticism, perception, and hacking,” Valanil said. That time, however, the god knew had its reply ready.
“Enhancement and hacking are locked attributes only awarded to players for outstanding achievements. You don’t meet the requirements to receive them.”
“Bastard,” the herbalist spat, though she quickly gathered herself. “Okay, in that case, let’s switch them out for strength and agility. What else...”
Tailyn had given each of the four ten thousand gold and five crystals, everything he had, so they could unlock attributes for themselves. Having checked into the locked parameters, Valanil found she’d been right—the strange race the boy had given her proved an advantage over her erstwhile humanity. She went back to the rest and placed a hand on Forian’s chest before he could head over to the terminal.
“Hold on. Here’s what I found out...”
Just as they’d discussed, Ka-Do-Gir unlocked battle attributes for himself. Valanil and Forian focused on magic, while Valia was forced to give up everything but card creation. After the basic five of regeneration, wisdom, intellect, perception, and mysticism, she went ahead and unlocked ten more that had to do with making cards. The group needed magic; they could get back to her personal progress later. Magic, after all, was in critically short supply.
Pulling out the cards he’d stolen from the advisor, Tailyn divvied the
m up, everyone getting five. All he took for himself were sticky and telekinesis. His icicle and cold ring found their way out of his active deck to make room for the newcomers. As for the rest of the cards, Tailyn was even forced to hand Valia riding lizard, a companion his low integration didn’t let him use since it would have been a second one. There was no way he was going to forget about Li-Ho-Dun.
Telekinesis-I. Description: an epic card that lets you lift nonliving objects weighing up to magic attack kilograms 100 meters in the air and move them Wisdom + Enhancement meters. Lift speed: 1 meter every 2 seconds. Time items can be held in the air: Wisdom + Enhancement seconds. Charges: 50. Each use costs 32 mana. Requirements: Wisdom (16). Can be recharged. Time between uses: 1 minute.
Sticky-I. Description: an epic card that enshrouds the target in an impenetrable substance 3 meters thick that can hold any creature up to level 50 for 12 hours. Duration for creatures above level 50: 1 hour. Charges: 50. Each use costs 32 mana. Requirements: Wisdom (16). Can be recharged. Time between uses: 24 hours.
Tailyn Vlashich’s active card deck
Card type
Use cost
Total charges
Charges left
Damage
Recharge cost
mana
units
units
units
mana
1
Dragon
Legendary
0
5
3
N/A
N/A
2
Force Shield-III
Epic
16
500
500
N/A
49
3
Wave of Fire-III
Ordinary
8
500
500
4050
2
4
Enhanced Shield-III
Ordinary
8
500
500
4050
2
5
Electric Strike-III
Ordinary
8
500
500
4050
2
6
Fireball-III
Ordinary
8
500
500
4050
2
7
Telekinesis-I
Epic
32
50
50
N/A
49
8
Sticky-I
Epic
32
50
50
N/A
49
9
Chain Lightning-III
Rare
16
500
500
4050
2
10
Weakness-III
Rare
16
500
500
N/A
2
11
Dark Strike-III
Rare
100
500
500
13500
2
12
Earth Strike-III
Ordinary
8
500
500
1350
2
13
Cleansing-III
Rare
16
500
500
N/A
2
14
Infernal Summons-III
Rare
16
500
500
N/A
2
15
Icy Rain-I
Epic
32
5
5
675
49
Swiping the table away, Tailyn sighed. It just looked too weak. Of course, he could have added a few summoning cards, but then his group wouldn’t have had any solid damage to do.
“So, that’s all we can do with attributes, yes?” Forian asked as soon as Valia stepped away from the stone. She looked crestfallen. Dropping from level 51 all the way down to level one without the slightest compensation for the parameters she’d built up was a tough blow to her self-esteem. After all, she’d had her sights set on being the first person to reach level 100 by the time she turned twenty, but it was not to be. The mage glanced over at her, sighed, and began pulling off his armor. The rest of the group stared at him in surprise.
“With the situation we’re in, every little bit helps. And since my student knows how to protect us against fire, that’s what we need to make happen. Everyone get undressed—no sense damaging your equipment. Tailyn, shoot me in the leg and use your Frankenstein.”
“Smart,” Valanil replied, also starting to get undressed. “Although... My boy, are you sure you can’t give us protection from electricity? That would be much better.”
Valia, jump into virtual reality. I need you there.
I can’t. I keep trying, but it doesn’t work. My dance hall isn’t replying...
Tailyn was taken aback—that was the last thing he needed. Sending part of his consciousness off into the virtual mountains, he found the smithy right at the top, though the dance hall was nowhere to be found.
“Student, you’re making me wait,” Forian said. All that earned him was a snarl from Tailyn.
“Just hold on! There’s a problem—I can’t do it without her. We need to get out of this hole.”
The cataclysm that had ensued when the experiment died had caved in the passageway leading to the terminal. That had forced Tailyn to spend the remains of his coins on a couple picks and shovels, all of which went to his mentor and the lix so they could dig through to the black stone. At least, the good news had been that the room itself was intact—there hadn’t been much digging to do. But Tailyn was positive he and Valia weren’t going to make anything work underground.
“What’s the problem?” Forian asked. “Anything we can help with?”
Tailyn twitched as he realized his mentor had settled into his normal tone. The knowledge of the world at his fingertips, he was condescending to the level of the ignorant worms squelching around his feet. And the boy had never thought that could make him so angry.
“I can’t heal,” Valia said as she fought back tears of frustration.
“What does that matter? We’re talking about Tailyn.”
“Hold on, Forian.” Valanil stopped the interrogation and peered closely at the young pair. “The boy is right—we have to get up to the surface. Let’s revisit this up there.”
The mage stared in surprise at his newly youthful companion, though he held his tongue. Getting out of their hole underground ended up taking quite a bit of time. Bereft of their strength, both the humans and the lix had a hard time holding onto the rope long enough for Tailyn to haul them up. Climbing to the top on their own was out of the question. Even Valanil could only throw up her arms sadly when she crashed to the ground from just a meter up. Her single points of strength and agility weren’t going to let her get far on her own.
“Tailyn, Valia, come here,” the girl said. Thinking of Valanil as the forty-year-old woman she actually was just didn’t seem possible. She was a girl. Motioning for everyone to sit down, she continued. “Okay, so you can’t heal, right?”
Valia nodded.
“And you can’t enhance people without Valia?”
It was Tailyn’s turn to nod.
“I’m going ask you something now, and I don’t want you to look at me like I’m an idiot. Did you get unification?”
“Impossible!” Forian exclaimed. “That’s a myth! Nobody’s ever gotten it.”
Should we tell them? Valia asked.
Yes, let’s. Maybe, they can help.
Tailyn dipped his head, confirming the herbalist’s guess.
<
br /> “And you got it after you learned how to heal, yes?”
Once more, the pair nodded.
“There’s your problem. Valia’s trying to get into an area she knows about, only it’s no longer there. Yours shouldn’t be there, either, Tailyn. Only one you have together. Something you share. If you find it, that’s when you’ll be able to do the impossible.”
“What are you talking about?” Valia asked with a frown. “I don’t get what I’m supposed to do.”
“What you do best. Dance. But you have to make Tailyn part of it, and you, my boy, need to make your statues. Just try to do it in a way that includes Valia. I’m not sure how that will happen, though I’m positive your unification will guide you. And in the meantime, we’ll step away to make sure you’re alone.”
“I’ve never heard anything that nonsensical in my life. What are you talking about?” Forian asked once Valanil had dragged him and the lix away.
“I’m helping them. Have you still not figured out that nothing is impossible for those students of ours?”
“Of ours? Are you back to that? They’re my students! One mentor per student, which is the way it’s been through the ages and the way it will be until the end of time.”
Isr Kale's Journal (The Alchemist Book #4): LitRPG Series Page 1