CRAFTING DEATH
©2021 NEPHILIM NIGHT
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ALSO IN THE SERIES
BEGINNER QUEST
CRAFTING DEATH
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
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Epilogue
Bonus: Current Progression
Thank you for reading Crafting Death
ALSO IN SERIES
LitRPG stuff!
LitRPG
Chapter One
The world around me disappeared. First to go was the main building, then the two on the sides, the ground, the fountain, and then our little group. I closed my eyes as a strange feeling washed over me, almost as if I ceased to exist, but then I was back again with my eyes wide open.
A strong and flowery scent hit my nostrils, just like when Melina put on too much of her perfume. The bright light that assailed my eyes disappeared and was replaced by twilight. The tip of a sun peeked out behind distant mountains, washing us in its orange and yellow glow. Grass and flowers were everywhere. To the left of the ryokan a forest, while to the right a stream.
“Is this heaven?” Melina whispered as she put her hand in mine.
“I don’t think so,” I replied in an equal state of shock.
It was truly beautiful, but it all looked wrong. So very wrong.
“Vik? Look up, will you?” Mark said from behind me.
I did as he said and looked up to the sky and gasped.
“Shit, what the hell?” I cursed as I saw three moons orbiting the rift. No, not a rift. This was an entire world! “This is much bigger than what they led me to believe!”
“Sure is, but also much more—heavenly?” Melina added.
She was right. It sure did look heavenly. I looked around to see if everything else had traveled over to this place. Donald and Rita looked fine, but a bit shook. They sat on the fountain’s edge and looked up at the moons. Sarah, Laney, and Mark looked fine as well, so did Melina.
I lowered my weapons and then stashed them away. The one thing we didn’t have anymore was a wall and gate. Only the buildings had come with us, the stone yard, the sakura, and the fountain.
“Welcome, Viktor. Welcome, Viktor’s friends. My name is Veles.”
The God’s voice came from everywhere at the same time and was much more imposing than I remembered back up there. Or wherever it was we met first.
“Veles, welcome. It’s good to see you’re here with us,” I replied with as much respect as I could. After all, Veles was the only one who offered direct help.
“Tell me, Viktor, what kind of shape would you like me to take? I have no gender, and I have no real form. How do you want to see me?”
“A beautiful woman!” Melina exclaimed.
“Oh? Something like this?” Veles asked as an almost identical copy of Melina appeared out of thin air. This copy, however, was stark naked and, from the looks of it, also identical to her body.
“Wait, do I really look that good without clothes?” She laughed, trying to play it off despite her face turning bright red.
Luckily, there weren’t many of us here, and both Donald and Mark looked away quickly. I didn’t for some strange reason. Either because it was a copy of Melina or because I was stupid. Who knew?
“Even better than you can imagine,” I whispered to Melina before I walked over to the Goddess. At least that’s how I would think of Veles anyway, as a she. One without a single flaw.
“What kind of outfit do you want me to wear, young Melina?”
“Hmm, how about—”
She stopped halfway as a very revealing yukata appeared around Veles’s body. Her hair turned platinum blonde instead of the dark mane atop Melina’s head. Great. At least I’d be able to differentiate the two.
????? Scan
NAME: Veles
RANK: Major God
HEALTH: ?????
ENMA: ????
SPEED: ???
PHYSICAL ATTACK: ????
Enma Attack: ????: Defense: ????
ENMA SHIELD: ????
I closed the screen, as it didn’t give me anything tangible other than that there were many question marks. I sighed and shoved the thought aside.
“Now, please have a sit. There’s much to talk about,” she said as our eyes met, and she winked.
A single wooden bench appeared in front of her. It was wide enough for all six of us to sit with ease. I took my place at the center with Melina to my right. Sarah sat to my left with Mark on the far end while the older couple sat to our right.
“Where do we start?” I asked curiously.
I was all about information right now, as I wanted to know what we were going to be dealing with here.
“I will dumb it down as far as I can, but I won’t repeat myself. Understood?” We all nodded. “You’re all weak compared to the monsters in this zone. I’ve chosen a slightly worse starting point because it will help you grow faster, but you’ll have to be very careful once you’re inside the woods or enter the plains, even the deep water over there.”
Her hand pointed toward a big rock that sat next to the stream.
“It’s deeper past that point?” I asked curiously.
“It is. Monsters won’t enter past there because of the barrier. You’ll have a square mile of grassland to plant fruit and vegetables, and you can use the
rest of the grass for cattle.”
“Cattle? Like cows and sheep?”
Veles let out a deep, rumbling laugh. “Cows? No, Viktor, not cows. Monsters. You’ll have to capture and domesticate them.”
“Domesticate?”
“Yes. Am I stuttering?”
“No, Veles. I’m sorry, but it’s just strange to hear someone tell you to domesticate a monster.”
She frowned. “Isn’t a cow also a monster to someone from another world?”
She had a point there.
“You’re right, I’m sorry. What about water? Are there any fishlike monsters out there that won’t kill us?”
“Now there are,” she replied and snapped her fingers. The slow and shallow part of the stream exploded, drawing our attention. Hundreds of small, finger-sized fish jumped up and down. It was a damn school! “Now, anything else?”
“No,” I replied. “Wait, you were telling us about this world and—stuff?”
“Oh, right. Sorry, I’m not used to being so pretty.” Veles laughed. Melina joined in on the laughter, as it was partially her doing. “Now, you’ll be getting new quests every cycle. A cycle lasts seven of your days. Every quest carries a reward that is generated randomly by one of the Gods throwing the dice. You’ll either get equipment, skills, levels, or even a boon. It all depends on your luck.”
She stopped for a moment as if telling us to ask something, but seeing no one did, she opened her mouth to go on.
“What about equipment, Lady Veles?” Donald asked. “I can do some tailoring, and my father used to be a smith. Can we make equipment ourselves?”
Her eyebrows rose along with the corners of her mouth. “Well, look at this. You’re the first human to ask out of all three rifts. Yes, you can make gear, but only after you complete a chain of quests to get it. The same goes for tailoring, breeding, fishing, and anything else you can think of. You want it? There’s a quest for it. The more important to your daily life and survival, the harder it is.”
“And where do we get these quests?” I asked. “And is there a list of available jobs? Or whatever they’re called?”
“Yes, they’re jobs, and they can level as well. The higher the level, the faster you can finish, the better the quality and stats on the item. As for where, hmmm—why not over there?”
She snapped her fingers again, and a big wooden noticeboard appeared next to the sakura tree. It was about eighty inches in width and as much in height. Pieces of paper appeared all across the board. I couldn’t see clearly from this distance, but there were about twenty of them. I’d have to check them out later.
“We just read the requests and accept?” I asked as I turned to stare at the Goddess.
“It’s as easy as that. You have basic weapons, and you know how parties work. From here on out it’s trial and error, so don’t be afraid to look stupid.”
“Say, can I ask one last thing?”
She nodded. “Go ahead, Viktor, but watch what you ask for.”
It was almost as if she was warning me about something in particular.
“How do we get back to our world? And how do people get here? What do we do with them?”
“What? Start a business, for all I care. Charge them to stay at your ryokan or eat your food. I don’t care, really. You can kill them if you want, or you can help them.”
“So they can kill us as well?”
“No, they can’t,” she replied and shook her head slowly, then pulled at a loose strand of hair and plucked it from her scalp. Shit, that looked incredibly painful. “As the owner, you have complete control over the dome. Here, I’ll make it slightly more visible so you know where the boundary is.” She snapped her fingers again, and a red and black glow appeared all around us.
“So we can defend ourselves without any repercussions?”
She nodded. “That’s right. Kill anyone you wish, and no one will bat an eye. If they try to kill you and you kill them instead, you get their belongings, or whatever drops, anyway.”
I let out a deep sigh and scratched my stubble beard as I sat there.
“As for how to get here and go back, through there.”
She snapped her fingers again, and a small rift appeared, the size of a barn door. Pure darkness lay beyond and was only disturbed by the occasional flash of lightning.
“We just walk through?”
“It’s that easy, but trust me, you won’t want to once you see the benefits of this place. Besides, you can only use it once every day. It resets at 08:00 every morning. Both ways.”
I closed my eyes and rubbed my temple. This was a lot to take in, too much for anyone sane enough to believe it. The worst part? I believed all of it.
“Lady Veles?” Melina asked. “What is our endgame here? How does this stop?”
The corners of Veles’s lips rose slightly before turning into a full-blown grin. “You die, you lose. Other than that? To grow the largest rift possible and defeat the other owners, of which there are three now. Once there are twenty, you’ll be allowed to hunt each other. The one who survives until the end gets to make any wish imaginable.”
“What about the tower, then?”
“Same principle. The tower has over five hundred floors, and every floor is a mini rift where ordinary monsters spawn constantly. Rare and higher-ranked monsters don’t spawn so often and can take anywhere from hours to days to reappear.”
“So it’s like a public rift in the sense that no one owns it?”
“Exactly, but the point is that you can only visit the tower an hour a day, while you can stay in here for weeks without worry, but let’s stop here.”
“Wait, please. When will we see you again?”
“Need-to-know basis. Don’t get too used to seeing me anyway, as I won’t be helping you from here on out.”
“Right, I understand. We owe you, so I’ll be sure to make it up,” I said and nodded.
“You can repay me by winning. Anyway, here’s to surviving your next seven days. Don’t die now, you hear me?”
Veles disappeared into thin air, leaving us in mute silence. A new world, a new and shitty situation, and far greater stakes than there had been so far. Why not?
Chapter Two
The first thing I did was check the gate. A message popped up saying it was on cooldown for the next seven days. A wave of relief washed over me as I realized we’d have some time to get used to this place before we had to deal with anyone else.
“Why do you seem so relieved?” Melina asked as she put her arms around me.
“No one will bother us for seven days at least. It’s not working yet.”
“The gate?”
“Yeah. Gives us time to prepare for guests.”
“Pfft! Guests? I don’t want no damn guests!”
I pulled her in for a kiss and squeezed her hard. “We don’t need no damn anyone.”
“Got that right!” She chuckled and pushed me off her. “Come on, the oldies are watching.”
I let go of her and turned toward the rest. They weren’t staring, but I could see an amused glint in their eyes.
“I think we’ll need to delegate jobs between ourselves. Is everyone alright with that?”
Donald and Rita joined us at the noticeboard first and were followed by Mark and Sarah moments later. I leaned in closer, and a pop-up screen appeared before us.
JOB QUESTS:
SURVIVALIST
HUNTER
TANNER
BUTCHER,
FORAGER
FISHER
FARMER
BREEDER,
BREWER
COOK
BAKER
ALCHEMIST
HERBALIST
WEAVER
OBBLER
MINER
SMELTER
SMITH
ARMORER,
MASON
CARPENTER
“We should read through the available jobs and decide who does what,” I said after reading up.
I didn’t know all of the things written there, but I had an idea. The best choice would be to learn all of them so we were self-sufficient, but not right now, as we didn’t have the time.
“Cooking, baking, brewing, and foraging for me,” Rita said first.
“I’ll take—bah, whatever. I’ll take most of it on myself. Butcher, tanner, farmer, breeder, and cobbler,” Donald said.
Mark and Sarah were next. They stared at the noticeboard and then whispered for half a minute while the rest of us waited.
“Foraging, cooking, herbology, and weaving,” Sarah said.
Mark coughed and leaned in once more to read one of the job notices and then spoke next. “Fishing, survivalist, carpenter, and mason.”
“That leaves me with all the ones about minerals and ores.” I laughed. “Guess I’ll take miner, smelter, smith, and armorer for the group, and survivalist, hunter, and butcher for myself.”
“I’ll do foraging, cooking, brewing, herbology, alchemy, and weaving,” Melina declared. “I want to prepare stuff when I want it without waiting on the others. That alright?”
I shrugged. “Why not? I think doing them all over time is the best option. It’s just that we don’t have the time to do them all right away, Mel.”
“Yeah, and I’ll focus on the missing ones for now, but after they’re done, I’ll start working on the duplicates.”
“Anyone have any issues with that?” I asked and looked around.
No one protested, which was a good thing. After all, having her doing mining or smelting or whatever would be stupid. It didn’t make sense, and to have her do just one or two things was a waste of time as well. Optimally we would always be around so we could fill in the gaps, but no one knew what tomorrow would bring. Especially not in such a strange place.
Crafting Death: A LitRPG Cultivation Series (Towers & Rifts Book 2) Page 1