Login Re:Coded: A LitRPG Novel (Incipere Online Book 2)

by R J Triveri

  And that is what led them across the continent to the southern-most edge of Unum’s realm, Rayemor.

  In a dark tavern nestled within a corner booth, Dante and River sat more relaxed than they should. The town was notorious for its ruling guild, Dweller Dark, and with their reputation for being more lenient with the laws that governed safe areas, it had been the perfect place to start their mission in its entirety. That is, if the rumors were true. Having people that bent the rules daily meant having people that knew how to deal with others and not push things too far.

  Being an arena fighter, River already had enough of a reputation to garner attention, but after clearing her fight schedule, with the approval of the arena and a god, until her return after being given a divine quest… well, that created a new set of attention, and she loved it despite the negatives it brought along. Seeing how the others gave her a wide berth now and how few even thought about bothering her wasn’t quite what she expected. It was amazing what invoking a god’s plan could do for someone’s social life.

  Despite it all, the pair sat happily as their feeds established contact with the SIFS for the first time in what felt like forever.

  There’s something poetic here, Dante thought to himself as he sat with the cloud kit on his shoulder. After setting up the start time for today’s festivities, his stream began to populate with both familiar and new names. Realizing his newfound popularity from the waiting number of viewers, he quickly went about setting up filters and anointing his favorites as moderators. As the stream began in administrator mode, Dante began simply.

  (SIFS Chat: Dante Rior) Dante Rior: Alright, let’s get a few things straight before we start today. Jynx and Melon, you’re in charge when I’m out or too busy to deal with the streaming. Second, don’t ask us to tell you what we’re doing with the quest. We can’t say any more than what’s already been leaked. Clear? Also, limit chat functions to those that have attended for at least the last month. If any important questions come up, forward them to the front of the line.

  (SIFS Chat: Dante Rior) [Mod] Jynx: Glad you’re okay, Dante! We thought the worst, and yes, we’re clear.

  (SIFS Chat: Dante Rior) [Mod] Melon_Ocelot: Got it boss!

  (SIFS Chat: Dante Rior) SyLph: Aww, I didn’t get modded.

  (SIFS Chat: Dante Rior) xXToppeXx: Can I be a mod too?

  Dante sighed, but smiled at the four familiar names and shook his head before upping the count of his mods to four. Quickly, his new moderators began to set the new rules in place, blocking those that ignored them, and leaving him with a much slower chat than when it began. He returned his attention to the screens before looking over at the seemingly overwhelmed River.

  ***

  Despite the newfound acceptance of the responsibilities that came with fame, she wasn’t used to so many people that were even now asking so many things of her.

  (SIFS Chat: River Hexi) River Hexi: Whoa! Slow down, I can’t read that fast!

  (SIFS Chat: River Hexi) Dead_Love: What happened? Where have you been?

  (SIFS Chat: River Hexi) Keyed_Fic: Why’d you cut out?

  (SIFS Chat: River Hexi) Bloo-haw_72: Are you guys okay?

  (SIFS Chat: River Hexi) Do_Or_Don’t: What’s he like, Unum?

  (SIFS Chat: River Hexi) Raven_Dark: Pics or it didn’t happen!

  (SIFS Chat: River Hexi) Zeiav: What the hell?

  A bit slower on the take than Dante, River not-so-quickly switched it into administrative mode and began filtering things out.

  “Trouble?” Dante asked with a knowing smile.

  She shot him a rather annoyed grin and replied in tone. “They were waiting,” she simply stated as she picked a pair of moderators and blocked any non-subscriber from commenting.

  “You’re famous now,” he replied just as easily. “What did you expect, oh mighty Champion of Unum?”

  Her eyes narrowed at him. “You can be a real ass sometimes. You know that?”

  He nodded before forwarding her his settings for the stream controls. “I’m more than just that.”

  To support his statement, or tear it down, his moderators were quicker to reply than River could.

  (SIFS Chat: Dante Rior) [Mod] Jynx: The ladies in chat would like you to know that we’re okay with that ass.

  As his cheeks flushed, River groaned. “Do I even want to know?”

  He shook his head. “Nothing you probably haven’t already heard a thousand times in SIFS.”

  “On a scale of one to ten?” came the response complete with a cocked eyebrow.

  “About a three.”

  “Psh, amateurs.” She smiled, nodded, and looked back at her chat.

  (SIFS Chat: River Hexi) River Hexi: Alright, new rules. Bloo, you, Keyed, and Dead are in charge. Keep it civil or else. If there’s something I need to see, flag it. You’ll all know soon enough what we’re up to.

  (SIFS Chat: River Hexi) [Mod] Bloo-haw_72: Got it, boss.

  (SIFS Chat: River Hexi) [Mod] Dead_Love: K.

  (SIFS Chat: River Hexi) [Mod] Keyed_Fic: Can we ban people?

  (SIFS Chat: River Hexi) River Hexi: As many that piss you off.

  (SIFS Chat: River Hexi) [Mod] Keyed_Fic: Awesome!

  With a smile, River looked back to Dante. “Thanks for the mod rules.”

  The cloud kit jumped from his shoulder and seemed to smile as she curled up in his lap. “What am I good for if not thinking ahead?”

  “Being a good friend,” she answered honestly before turning her attention back to the stream. “What have you told them?”

  “Not to piss us off or ask too many questions.”

  “Good. Mind if I lead us in?”

  He shook his head. “Go right ahead and explain our master plan.”

  She nodded, looked around, and smiled the truest smile she could muster. With Dante’s focus on her, she opened up the streams to the public. As the floodgates opened in earnest with the moderators in charge, both streams and anyone close enough to overhear got the lowdown of the day’s plan. “Alright, SIFS Stream viewers. You know us, and you know what we did. That’s why we’re here today in Rayemor. You need to know a few things before we get started.” River thought carefully before choosing her next words. “Unum has given us a quest about that Alchemical Arm you might have glimpsed before things went south during our Pits run. He’s a serious boss, and we need help.” There was no pain yet, so she must be on the right track. Dante’s nod of approval seemed to only spur her on. “He isn’t Inciperian, so if you’re worried about us going Red, don’t. We’ve been granted new skills specific for our quest, and even had our ranks raised to twenty for it.” As if to confirm their remarks, River brought up her status screen and turned it to face the stream’s frontal view. “We’ve heard about a few good delvers looking for action here, so we’ve set up a meeting with the pair. Whatever happens, you’ll be the first to know.”

  Despite her promise, they were not the first to know.

  “We’re not looking for action.” The scratching of a chair interrupted her train of thought as the first of her guests took her introduction as an invitation and sat down. A small, portly man with a red-gray beard that waggled below his stomach took to the table and sighed. Setting his spear to the side, he looked over the two. After considering the pair, his words were frank and irritated. “Don’t look surprised. I could hear you from the other side of the bar. Damned SIFS users can’t shut the hell up if you paid them.” The pair waited a moment, but it didn’t seem as though his anger was going to ebb as he followed up with, “How the Hell did you find me?”

  River took the lead as Dante nodded to her. “Well, there were rumors and whispers from nearly everyone that sent us requests. Not to mention that people in the arena spread ‘em worse than old women. When I asked for possible teammates, one name kept coming up for a healer, Allen Lee. The healer that takes on hopeless cases with a death wish seemed like a perfect fit for what we need.”

  Placing a few bytes on the table, the currency
converted quickly into a tall, frosted mug of something that smelled as foul as it looked, and the man began to drink. A moment later, the mug was emptied of everything but a few white suds. “Don’t believe everything ya hear. I don’t have a death wish, youngin.” His eyes narrowed slightly as he looked the two over. “I’ve heard rumors about you two as well, and the only reason I’m here is because ya have my curiosity by the balls,” Allen explained, looking from her to Dante.

  (SIFS Chat: Dante Rior) [Mod] Jynx: Well, he’s pleasant.

  (SIFS Chat: River Hexi) [Mod] Bloo-haw_72: I love this guy!

  Dante laughed under his breath, but River did her best to hold a straight face. “Then I’ll get straight to the point. We have a divine quest and need help.”

  “That much is obvious,” the dwarfish man said as his hands moved behind his head. “Can’t do dangerous quests without a healer, right?”

  She nodded. “Right. People said you’ve dealt with… strange things before.”

  If there had been any joy or excitement around the table, River’s words would have shattered it. In an instant, she gained the ire of the life mage as his eyes lost any sense of mirth. Allen’s hands crashed to the table with a resounding thud to punctuate his answer. “No.” His eyes narrowed dangerously at the implication.

  River wasn’t ready to let him go yet. He was too valuable. His reputation and skills were too good. “But didn’t your previous guild…”

  “No. We didn’t!” his voice bellowed at her as he hoisted himself from his chair.

  River’s face flushed with anger. She knew his story, the story of what his guild had done. The Moon’s Aura’s world boss defeat was spoken of in hushed tones around the outskirts of Oenus and whenever a dungeon went Wild, rare as it was. What the guild had done wasn’t easy to find information about, and what it had slain was even more of a mystery. However, a meeting with a slightly drunken Guardian in Graywall had given her more than enough of the story for her to refuse his rejections. “Your patron guild said differently.”

  Energy seemed to crackle across his eyes in challenge to the woman as his hand wrapped around his spear. “Tread lightly with your next words.”

  “I was only trying…”

  “I don’t want anything to do with ya if ya can’t even listen!” Armed and irate, Allen made the universal gesture for telling someone off before he took a turn to leave. “Come on, Mac!”

  (SIFS Chat: River Hexi) [Mod] Keyed_Fic: Punch him!

  Her stream followed quickly with:

  (SIFS Chat: River Hexi) [Mod] Bloo-haw_72: No, don’t punch him! Shut up, Keyed!

  Without taking another step, a hand seemed to materialize out of the booth next to the group and sat Allen back down. “Take a seat, partner. I haven’t even gotten to speak to them yet.” The face of the newcomer was much smoother than a man’s taut face, but not nearly defined enough that it could be called a woman’s features. The person’s gray hair was trimmed enough that it could have been a man’s, but long enough that it could have been a woman’s. The body had no defining features one way or another outside of the shadowy gray woven chain armor and unnaturally gray claws pulled back like a bracelet to give a greater hint to the individual's identity.

  (SIFS Chat: Dante Rior) [Mod] SyLph: Check it out! It’s a neutral… I think.

  (SIFS Chat: Dante Rior) [Mod] Jynx: I think they use they or he for their pronoun, not it, SyLph.

  (SIFS Chat: Dante Rior) [Mod] SyLph: Well, he does look more like a man, so why not? He it is!

  In that moment, Dante was glad to have trusted those two with mod privileges as Allen growled again.

  “They don’t know anything about respect, Mac,” Allen said to his friend. “Making accusations about what I’ve done and not. I’ve got half a mind to just curse them and leave.”

  (SIFS Chat: Dante Rior) [Mod] Jynx: Ooo, isn’t it cute. He thinks that he’s scary.

  “You must be the Talon Guard we were waiting on,” Dante quickly added as Allen began to fume in the seat.

  Mac nodded and took the final seat in the booth next to Allen and River. “Mac Null, Rank 20 Talon Guard. I apologize for just listening in and not joining the conversation, but it was hard not to with his personality. If you see anyone else willing to stand shoulder to shoulder with him, I suggest you take ‘em.” The voice was low like gravel, but held a lightness to it that confused Dante as much as River. As if understanding their confusion, Mac smiled. “I know it seems odd, but shoulder to shoulder is just an expression. He doesn’t magically grow taller.”

  Allen growled to himself as the pair of delvers snickered. “We’ll see who saves your ass next time you’re being poisoned by Belladonnas.”

  Dante smiled at the out, as did River as she picked up the conversation. “I was just explaining why we came looking for you two of all people.”

  While Allen sulked, Mac nodded. “It’s because we have skills you need.”

  She nodded back, choosing her next words carefully. “And rumor is you’re both followers of Unum as well as experienced in the unknown.”

  “It’s where Allen gets his best bonuses from,” Mac confirmed, giving Allen a friendly pat on the shoulder. “Makes him the best healer on Incipere in my humble opinion.”

  “Only because of how many times I’ve picked your ass out of the fire the past few months.”

  “Does that make it any less true?”

  The pair looked at each other, Allen’s face contorted in anger while Mac’s just grinned. A moment later, the mask of his stoicness cracked, and the gruff, older man couldn’t help but bluster out a laugh. Remembering what the pair had to do, Allen’s face returned to the grump of a stone it had been.

  (SIFS Chat: River Hexi) [Mod] Dead_Love: Holy shit, he laughed!

  River cleared her throat and looked at the pair more seriously than before. “Unum is calling you to a great mission. Until you agree, all I can tell you is that it’s vital to the survival of the world itself. Nothing will be off limits to you, but you’ll need everything at your disposal to defeat what we’re after.”

  Putting on his best business face, Mac turned to the pair again. “What is it? I’ve heard rumors, but I can’t find the SIFS recordings from your Tenebrae run a few days back that started them.”

  Weird, River thought to herself but shook the thought away before she continued. “We’re hunting something. A divine quest Wild One with classes, skills, and an intelligence stat higher than any we’ve ever come across outside of a dungeon boss. It cleared an entire dungeon floor on its own and put us out of commission before moving to the end of a second floor.”

  “Sounds dangerous,” Allen added, unable to hide a curious smirk at the mention of a new danger. “What is it?”

  The name began to form on her lips before a shock ran through her system. Forcing her from her chair, River collided with the floor. “Son of a bitch!”

  (SIFS Chat: River Hexi) [Mod] Bloo-haw_72: And she’s down!

  “River!” His words came quickly, but Dante was too slow. Mac was already helping her up.

  (SIFS Chat: Dante Rior) [Mod] Jynx: She’s okay, Dante! Whatever it was didn’t damage her.

  “That isn’t normal for her, is it?” Mac asked as she was helped back into her seat.

  “It’s fine,” River stated with more than a slathering of annoyance and began to explain. “It’s a safeguard Unum put in place just in case I’m giving out too much information to someone that hasn’t accepted the quest.” Her annoyance reached a saturation point as she continued. “Sure, I can talk about the class to the SIFS, but nooo. The Wild One’s name is a step too far.”

  Mac sighed, followed by Allen a moment later. Looking to his partner, Allen took the lead. “So, we’re going to be hunting a Wild One that acts like an Inciperian and is a danger to Unum?”

  Happy that she seemed to have piqued Allen’s curiosity, River nodded. “The entire world according to Unum, but yeah, that’s the long and short of it.”

  He s
ighed, weighing his options mentally as his eyebrows raised and lowered for a few moments while looking back at Mac. Finally, his gruff voice took shape into something civil-sounding. “Normally, I wouldn’t ask ya much more, but after seeing that display, are there any restrictions we should know about before we take ya up on this quest?”

  (SIFS Chat: River Hexi) [Mod] Keyed_Fic: Chat agrees. We’d all like to know that!

  River thought for a moment. Of course, there was always another catch, but if they knew before they accepted, they might not take it. “One.”

  Mac’s eyes rose curiously. “One?”

  “Oh, just one?” Allen piped in after his partner’s questioning word. “Are we going to explode if we don’t complete the quest or just have damn fits if we speak the creature’s name when someone’s in earshot?”

  (SIFS Chat: Dante Rior) [Mod] Jynx: He does have a point.

  River thought for a moment and brought up her window. Reading the quest description in detail again, she did her best to translate the meaning of the quest’s punishment. “No. It says your memory will just be altered if you don’t accept or abandon the quest. At worst, you’ll just forget we ever offered it.”

  (SIFS Chat: River Hexi) [Mod] Bloo-haw_72: I wonder how that will affect us.

  (SIFS Chat: Dante Rior) [Mod] Jynx: Will the forums and wiki be monitored too?

  As the chat argued amongst itself, Dante made no mention of the thinly veiled threat that Unum made about the loss of its protections. He was in for the long haul now, and whether or not he liked it, they needed help any way they could get it. “For better or for worse, that seems to be it.”