Star Paladin: A LitRPG Space Fantasy (Sword of Asteria Book 1)

by Eddie R. Hicks

  A Voyage to the Autumnfall Empire – Quest Updated

  - Travel across the ocean to the eastern continent [Complete!]

  - Infiltrate the imperial capital Tanashia [Complete!]

  - Help Rachael hijack a sentinel ship.

  “Fuck . . .” The two flicked their screens away quickly, then turned their heads from side to side, hoping nobody spotted the fact that the affliction touched them. Nobody pointed fingers. The roaming servants and guards continued their duties.

  A quiet corner in the halls provided a spot to chat, free of unwanted ears.

  “That was close,” Rachael said.

  “They must think Leafblade paid you to sell me to him.”

  “Now what?”

  She thought back to the sentinel ships above. A few landed on the castle’s towers, likely to exchange troops for boarding it, maybe resupply. “Now, we find a way to the towers.”

  She had no clue how to do that. The halls were a maze of passages leading to different staircases, and not one connected to the towers. Concern grew when they walked past the same patrols three times. One guard eyed the duo as they sauntered, likely starting to become suspicious why Rachael had not sold her slave shadow angel. Their time in the castle was limited.

  They climbed an additional flight of steps and stepped into another gold and black hall. The two approached an armored man blocking the path to a second staircase. Burgundy carpets draped the middle of the stairs, and looking above, you could see elegantly crafted balconies with their rails made of glass.

  Xanthe whispered to Rachael, “We need to get up those stairs. Perhaps that is where we will find the towers.”

  Rachael concurred. “Agreed.”

  She approached the guard and Xanthe followed behind, projecting a fake nervous look with her body language.

  “Leafblade sent us,” Rachael said to the lone armored man. “I am here to sell him the shadow angel.”

  He nodded. “Follow me.”

  The guard led them up the stairs, marched to the top, and guided them to what felt like the castle’s top floor. Somewhere on that floor was the entrance to the towers. With the guard’s back turned to them, Rachael angled her lips to Xanthe’s ear. “He’s going to take us to Leafblade, you realize that, right?”

  Xanthe whispered back, “Yeah.”

  “And then what?”

  Kill him, of course.

  Killing Leafblade might throw the guards into a frenzy and send the sentinels away. Then there was escape, something the White Dragon failed to inform them of. Xanthe would need to strike Leafblade when the time was right and when a path to flee was available. And that time was not now. Right now, she had to get Rachael back to the stars. That meant she had to remove the guard escorting them to Leafblade.

  Xanthe glanced at the guard, looking to see what his level was. He had none, nor a class. Easy kill. Xanthe checked the rear and saw nobody. She looked to the left and right, and only saw walls. Xanthe shoved Rachael aside, withdrew her Steel Edge from her summoned Inventory screen, tiptoed behind the guard, placed the edge of the weapon on his neck, and slit his throat. Blood dripped, so she pulled his body toward her, ensuring his wound faced the ceiling, then covered his mouth and waited for his life to fade.

  Rachael leaped up and down, panicking and flailing her pale hands. “Jesus! You could have warned me!”

  “No time.” Xanthe dragged the corpse into a servant's chamber, ready to kill any witnesses. Thankfully, there were none. “Help me with this, will you, darling?”

  Rachael grabbed his limp legs, and together they approached an open window. “He didn’t turn to a crystal.”

  “Not afflicted,” Xanthe said. “He died a normal death.”

  Holding the dead man carefully, the two counted to three, heaved him up, and tossed his corpse out. It hit the garden below with a thud, coloring the plants red. They peered out the window and down at the body with blood gushing from its neck.

  “Someone is going to find it . . .” Rachael snorted.

  Xanthe nodded as she moved from the window. “Then we better hurry.”

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  The wood burning in the fireplace crackled, providing heat for those seated at the farmhouse dining table. Guy, Zuran, and Kam were the guests for the night. The farmer Laurence and his son and daughter, Dave and Dianna, sat opposite of them at the table.

  It didn’t surprise Guy to learn that Laurence had grilled the chicken they ate on the barbecue Guy sold the family days earlier. He wasn’t sure who made the salads and roast pork—a chef by the look, smell, and taste. But no one among those seated had fit that description.

  “Thanks for inviting us,” Guy said to the farming family.

  “You have been stuck here for a few days now,” Laurence said. “Figured we should give you the chance to eat outside your spaceship.”

  “Is everyone afflicted?” Kam asked.

  “We prefer the term ‘blessed by Asteria,’” Dianna said. “Let’s face it, this is a blessing. And Asteria has blessed most of the town.”

  “Not everyone has a class,” Guy said. “Well, from what I saw, at least.”

  “Asteria selects those who touch one of the sacred arms to be a class,” Dave said, after finishing his meal. “People who touch them become blessed with a class.” He grabbed an apple from the basket of fruit on the table. “This apple, for example, is blessed. A friend of ours ate one the other day, fell, then woke with a magical blacksmith hammer in his hand. Now, he forges blades out of thin air if you give him special crafting materials.”

  Crafting, eh? I think I remember seeing that option.

  Guy opened his Menu screen, scrolled, and found the Crafting option. He viewed the list of crafting professions he could learn and browsed the items one could create with them. He shut the screens and returned to his meal. “It seems I can craft too,” Guy said.

  Zuran conjured his menu, narrowing his eyes at the list. “Yeah, same. But it looks like we have to level it up.”

  “Not our friend,” Dave said. “When he woke, he had access to everything.”

  “I guess that’s the catch,” Guy replied. “If you’re selected to be a class, you can craft, but have to level it. For everyone else, they get no class, but master the profession right away.”

  But enough talk about that, Guy and the others had delicious food to eat that wasn’t berries and cream, though Zuran got a bowl full of that. Guy reclined on his chair after they emptied their plates and filled their bellies. He reached for a toothpick. There were small bits of chicken in his teeth.

  “Excellent food, thanks,” Guy said. “Ulysses and Arn are gonna be so pissed. They went back to the ship and stayed there.”

  “Is that the two other star-men you talked about?” Dianna asked.

  “Yeah,” Guy replied while using the pick. He pulled it away to speak again. “Hmm, I guess we should have saved something for them.”

  “Oh, don’t worry about it,” Dianna said. “I can make more.”

  “It’s fine.” He put the pick back into his mouth and got the sucker! “It’s their loss.”

  “No, it wouldn’t take much time.” Dianna stood up.

  Her father wiped his mouth clean. “Show the star-man what you could do, dear.”

  With a bright smile, Dianna trotted into the kitchen. Guy shrugged and followed the sight of her curly blonde hair as she rummaged through the cupboards. Dianna accessed one of her screens, flipped through them to access the crafting options, cooking to be exact. From there, she browsed through the ingredients list and pulled a small crystal from her inventory. While holding the crystal, she tapped each of the ingredients with it. The ingredients vanished, causing the crystal to emit light. Once done, she lay the crystal on the counter and stood back.

  The crystal spun around on its own, then melted and reforged itself as a plate of roast pork.

  Dianna presented the meal to Guy. “And we’re done!”

  He examined the plate
of food. It smelled, looked, and felt legit. “Incredible.” Guy grabbed a loaf of bread and a stick of butter. “May I?”

  “Sure.”

  He opened his Crafting menu and selected Buttered Toast.

  Buttered Toast

  Cooking level required: None

  Thermal Crystal x1

  Loaf of Bread x1

  Stick of Butter x1

  Dianna offered him a thermal crafting crystal. He held the crystal and felt its heat warm his fingers, then tapped the bread and butter with it. The ingredients vanished while the crystal glowed. His Crafting screen informed him he was ready to perform the synth. Guy hit the confirm button, placed the thermal crystal on the counter, and watched it melt and shift into twelve golden-brown slices of toast glistening with a layer of butter.

  Guy has attained cooking level 1!

  “They will never rot either,” Dianna said. “Well, so long as you leave them in your inventory.”

  He took a bite of the toast and shut his eyes to indulge in the buttery taste. It was perfect. “What if I left crafted food outside?”

  “They’ll spoil just like normal.”

  “Where do you get crystals like this?”

  “Beasts we kill sometimes turn into them,” she said. “Sometimes, blessed item merchants can sell them. Others we can gather in the field with our harvesting skill.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “Harvesting?”

  Dianna giggled. “Oh, goodness!” Still giggling, she pulled a harvesting sickle from her inventory, held it with one hand, and tugged on Guy’s wrist with the other. “Come! Let me show you!”

  She dragged him to the back door. While moving with her, Guy shouted to the dining room, “Hey, Kam and Zuran!”

  Zuran responded first. “Yo?”

  “I’ll be back.” Guy gestured to the crafted food in the kitchen. “Give that to Ulysses and Arn to eat. They’re probably hungry after making those repairs. And I kinda ate the last of the frozen spaghetti.”

  “Hey, wait,” Zuran said and approached Guy while pulling off one of his sigils. Zuran handed Guy the sigil. “Take this.”

  He glanced at the glowing symbol Zuran offered. “Your sigil of Light? Why?”

  “There’s no point in me having it,” Zuran said. “Sure, the new light elemental spells look flashy but do the same damage and cost the same MP as my fire spells. The difference is fire spells sometimes set enemies on fire.”

  “And that burning effect ticks off extra HP.”

  “Yeah, and the light spells do not have that effect. They do something else, but it has no effect on my damage output. I think this sigil will be better for you, Guy.”

  “How do you figure?”

  “I saw how your sword flashes with light. My guess is, Paladins are a light elemental-based class. So keep the Light sigil on you. Who knows? Maybe it will save your life one day.”

  Dianna brought Guy to a path leading away from the city and into the thicket beyond its gates. The sun had set now, bringing out the twinkle of stars in the black sky and a lot of weird monsters. She pulled out a chakram, then turned to look up at him.

  “The best harvesting points are down here,” Dianna said. “You have that sword, right?”

  He withdrew Asteria’s Sword from its rest on his back, gripping it tightly in his hands. “Yep.”

  “Good. My combat skills are lacking since I’m a Bard.”

  Guy stepped ahead, grinning. “I got you covered!”

  They traveled through the darkness of the forest, meandering past a cluster of trees and bushes native to the planet. Some of those bushes sprung up with life, plantlike monsters lying idle to trick passersby like Guy and Dianna.

  Carnivorous Plant | LVL: 15 | Rank: D

  Guy had gotten used to seeing monsters making open fields their domain—and the loot and experience they gifted when killed. Monster encounters weren’t a threat or nuisance anymore. They were a chance to grow his power and make him wonder just how far the affliction had spread through the galaxy.

  Bards, as Guy learned, were lacking in the offense department. Dianna used a chakram as her primary weapon, swinging it to slice or tossing it like a boomerang for a single-hit ranged attack. Guy was glad he was still using strength asteriarite in his gear. He had been debating replacing it with vitality to boost his defense.

  The second encounter with the Carnivorous Plants radically changed his opinion on Bards. With full AP, Dianna could play her instruments and weave together a three-second song, brimming with astral energy. The song placed a status effect icon near his name on the Party screen.

  Requiem of War I

  Attack Power is increased by 3.

  Dianna also received the effect of the song. Guy swung Asteria’s Sword at the Carnivorous Plant, inflicting more damage than usual. Dianna’s chakram slashes had more pep, too. They killed the monster so fast that it would have been a waste for Guy to use any AP on it.

  Guy sheathed Asteria’s Sword to his back. “Holy shit.”

  Dianna stood beside him, smiling, and held the chakram behind her. “You like it?”

  “Hell yeah.”

  Three Carnivorous Plants met them farther into the forest, and the duo whipped out their weapons—

  The effect of Requiem of War I has faded.

  Guy and Dianna lost the buff from the song, and their attack power returned to normal.

  “My charisma isn’t high enough,” Dianna said. “So, the effect fades faster.”

  He gave her a nod then led the charge into the fight, opening with a twirling cut from Storm Slash. Guy knocked the three plant monsters back with the edge of Asteria’s Sword. “If you had more charisma . . .”

  “The magic from the music would last longer.”

  Guy resumed his attacks. “Why not just keep playing music to keep the effect going?”

  Dianna joined him. “I need AP for that.” The two cut down the first monster before it got to its feet. “Each song consumes AP.”

  “And that means you got to fight.” Guy spun and attacked the second Carnivorous Plant, then rushed the third with an upward swipe. Both monsters hated his guts, and he positioned the Carnivorous Plants so that their backs would face Dianna, giving her the chance to attack them from the rear. “Was wondering why you didn’t let me handle all the fighting.”

  “Even then, me helping you fight would make this faster.” She got behind a Carnivorous Plant and used the chakram like it was a blade. “Now, if my brother were here, this fight would have been over. Dave is an Assassin and just learned the dual-wield trait.”

  A second Storm Slash killed one Carnivorous Plant and knocked the third back, bringing its HP to 25 percent, low enough to inflict grievous wounds. Guy gave Asteria’s Sword a twirl and bolted toward it. Before he got to the Carnivorous Plant, Dianna tossed her chakram and took its head off. Guy spun around just in time to see the chakram return to Dianna’s raised hand. Her smile put his head in a dreamy state.

  By the time they encountered another set of monsters, Dianna had enough AP to play her instrument, granting them the power of Requiem of War I. Carnivorous Plants started dying faster again.

  Damn, if only Dianna could attack and get AP quicker. Bards could make a party unstoppable. And Requiem of War was just one of her songs . . . I wonder what other songs could do?

  The duo claimed another victory, and Guy put Asteria’s Sword to rest on his back as the plant monsters fell over dead, evaporated, and left loot behind for collecting.

  Obtained: Sigil: Transmogrification

  The sigil yielded nothing of importance for Guy when he tested it. He lent it to her and she got the same result. Transmogrification did nothing for the two. Dianna gave it back to Guy, and he stuffed it in his inventory.

  It might be useful for Zuran or Kam.

  “Say, Guy, what kind of asteriarite are you using?” she asked him.

  “Strength right now. Been debating using vitality so I’d take less damage.”

  “
Have you tried HP asteriarite?”

  “Never seen those.”

  “Here.” She opened and pulled four asteriarite gems from her inventory and offered them to Guy. “Take them. I got more HP asteriarite than I need. I think it would be better for you, being a Paladin.”

  Guy accepted the trade.

  Obtained: Asteriarite: HP +10 x4

  “Thanks, I’ll mess with them later. How close are we?”

  “Not far,” Dianna said and pointed her index finger forward. “Just over here.”

  She led Guy to a small tree radiating with golden energy and particles. It stuck out from the rest of the trees in the area. Dianna held a harvesting tool and approached the afflicted tree, sized it up, and cut off a branch. She held the tree branch in her free hand, showing it to Guy as it morphed into three red apples, shining as if someone had polished them.

  She offered him the tool. “Try it.”

  So he did, taking the tool to the tree as she had done. Guy sliced off a branch, and when he held it, it shifted into two apples.

  Obtained: Red Apple x2

  He repeated.

  Obtained: Red Apple x3

  A fourth attempt wasn’t possible, as the tree’s magical glow had faded. Guy placed the five apples into his inventory.

  Guy has attained Gathering level 1!

  “So that tree was afflicted, er, I mean blessed?”

  “Yes.” She led him down the path and pointed at a large rock, also gleaming with the strange astral energy. “So is that.”

  Dianna opened her Inventory screen, yanked out a pickaxe, and gave the radiating rock a good hit. She broke off a piece of the rock, and when picking it up, it melted in her hands and turned into metallic ore. According to the label in Guy’s vision, it was iron ore.

  “And what you see here is my mining skill at work,” she said.

  They could mine afflicted rocks for ore without having to go into a real mine. If that’s the case, I wonder what an afflicted mine could yield for metals? A planet changed by the affliction could change the galaxy's economy with its ability to produce unlimited resources. Is that why the sentinels are here? Change planets to exploit them? If so . . . why are they called sentinels? The name sentinel means guardian or something . . . What are the sentinels protecting?—