Being able to use the Advanced Runecraft Mode, I was also reminded of another of its functionalities: the ability to adjust the properties of items I’d already enchanted. Since my skill had only advanced since I’d enchanted most of my gear, I could probably improve on most of them. I made a mental note to go over my equipment when I had the time.
But that was for later. Now, I was still reacquainting myself by working on the simple necklace. I poured in the required mana to finalize the enchantment.
Enchant Cougar Fang Necklace? Yes/No
Pattern Efficiency: 100%
Mana Invested: 180/180
Effect: Social attitude – +13% with monsters, -35% with non-monsters
I approved the prompt, and the necklace around my throat started to glow with a myriad of colors. The process took longer than usual, and to my surprise, a second notification message popped open.
Lady Luck has smiled on you!
The enchanted item has gained another property: Social attribute +2
Lucky Bastard skill level increased to 52.
I grinned when I saw the message. Some luck indeed! To my knowledge, there were very few magic items that directly increased one of the three main attributes. It was also the first time an enchantment I’d created gained another property.
I checked my character sheet and saw that my Social attribute had indeed increased to 4.
“Hey, Vic,” I said.
“Take your goblin shape for a second, alright?”
“I’d like to try something, and I need your help.”
“Oh?”
“I need you to give me a foot rub.”
“What? There’s no chance in hell I’m ever touching those nasty green sausages. Mini sausages.”
“Come on, I’m sure you’ll like it.”
“Are you losing your marbles again, Boss?”
“I’ll kill anyone you’d like me to if you do.”
“We already got everyone we needed to create Shiva, and even if we didn’t, there’s a higher chance of Guy coming back from the dead than me agreeing to rub your smelly goblin feet.”
I looked to the side and lowered my voice. “I will make you the overlord of my entire clan.”
That gave him pause, and he looked at me skeptically. “You will?”
“Nope,” I said. “But just for a second there, you were considering it, weren’t you?”
“Why in dead-Dad’s name will that …” His expression changed. “Oh … You little bastard.”
“Did I get it?” I asked.
He waved his hand, and a notification popped over my view.
Barter skill level increased to 13.
Governor skill level increased to 13.
Due to my low Social attribute, both my Barter and Governor skills had capped at the very edge of level 12. That small haggling session, along with the clan management proposal, had been enough to push them both over to the next level.
I was feeling incredibly smug.
“If you’re done exploiting the system,” Vic said, “I’ll return to my mount.”
“Just hang in there,” I said sympathetically.
Vic shook his head. “Being out in the real world did a real number on you. You weren’t like that before.”
“What can I say? Having the weight of my own survival taken off my shoulders has done wonders for my sanity.”
“Whatever,” Vic grumbled. He transformed again, his arms turning into ribbons that attached around my shoulders.
I continued going through my inventory. I had a single opal that had been enchanted by Bek for healing. It only healed 19 points of damage, so I doubted I would ever use it. I also had seven Shadow-Touched ores, which I vaguely remembered procuring deep within Nihilator’s cave. I’d used one while enchanting to suffuse my bone dagger with darkness, but I’d come a long way since then. With the mastery I now held over the darkness, the ore was nothing more than pebbles to me. I made a mental note to leave them at the Dreamer’s Lodge. Maybe Hoker would be able to use them for something.
I had a ton of void crystals of all levels, gained as loot from the many creatures – and players – I’d sacrificed with my dagger. About half of them were between levels 8 and 40 and would only serve as mana batteries to recharge my own pool. I had several dozen crystals at levels 200 to 600, which would be useful for increasing the strength of my enchantments, though that required spending an extra rune slot. I also had one that was level 1,500, which had come from a boss, though I couldn’t remember which one. The last one was a whooping level 20,000, and I did remember where I got that from. It was the void crystal that was left after I’d sacrificed Terdamesh, Akzar’s highest-ranking shaman. He was a level 50, tier 3 boss, and even with my Viridium golem’s help, he nearly wiped us out before we killed him. The void crystal was incredibly valuable, and I had several ideas about how to use it. But that would have to wait for later. Right now, I was still trying to fit back into the role of chief and put my clan back together.
My inventory also held a bunch of valuables and simple trinkets: a gold ring, some acid flasks, a few healing potions, and one that was labeled as a mist form.
I had a couple of scrolls, and I was just about to inspect them when Vic shouted in my mind,
I looked up to see the back wall of the temple lit up. I sighed and braced myself for what came next.
A hunched figure stepped out from behind the building. He looked like a dwarf – or more accurately, the nightmare version of a dwarf. He was bald and his skin was gray like a corpse’s. He had long wrinkled ears, a sharp chin, and especially elongated fingers.
“Hello, Kuzai,” I said evenly to Nihilator’s other priest.
“It has finally returned,” he said to me with a flat, whispery voice. “It abandoned our master, but now it–” He broke off as his eyes widened. “The master is free?”
“Yup,” I said casually. “Let him out for a stroll just this morning, actually.”
“Impudent,” he hissed as his gaze focused on me. “You are still unfit to be the head priest.”
“You’re welcome to try and take my position any time you want,” I said with a threatening growl. I’d learned early on it was best to put the demented dwarf in his place as soon as possible. That made him slightly less insufferable.
Kuzai’s nostrils flared, but he begrudgingly bowed his head. “I shall continue to follow your command … High Priest. Our master is now free. We must work together to subjugate the rest of the world to his rule.”
I shrugged. “Okay.”
He blinked at me. “You agree?”
I fought back a grin. Back then, Kuzai had kept urging me to deepen my religious obligations. I was fine with that – as long as it suited my own goals. Like it did now. “Yes,” I stated simply. “We’re going to build an army and conquer the unbelievers.”
His eyes lit up with a zealot’s mirth. “Excellent! In that case, I shall resume my duties in the Dark Temple.” He bowed his head a bit lower than before, and I detected a hint of respect in his tone as he said, “High Priest,” then turned to leave.
With Kuzai handled, I turned my attention back to my inventory and the two scrolls I had in my possession. One of them contained a low-tiered spell of finding, which was used to locate objects or people in a small radius. The other was a touch more exotic spell called Teleport of Fate. The description enigmatically stated it teleported the user to a random location based on ‘the winds of fate.’ Even delving deeper into the metadata didn’t reveal much, other than that it heavily interacted wit
h the user’s own information when used.
I dropped the scrolls into my inventory then proceeded to inspect the next item: the Chalice of Infernal Energies. It was a powerful demonic artifact, capable of transforming a person into a raging beast of destruction that exploded on death. Or when they calmed down. It was a useful tool for making foblins a bit more dangerous than mere fodder, but the amount of work and concentration it required made it mostly impractical for large-scale battles.
I ignored his jibe and took out the other item I’d found along with the chalice. It was a thick tome titled ‘The Book of the Damned.’ It was a demon summoning book as well as a bestiary for denizens of the lower planes.
“Yeah, yeah, that would go great in my gothic-themed book cabinet,” I said. “Are you considering a second career as an interior designer?”
I felt immense satisfaction as he huffed indignantly at my reply.
I never considered using the Book of the Damned for anything other than a source of information on demons. Summoning demons was usually a complicated, costly, and often bloody endeavor. But as I looked at the book, I realized that I probably could if I wanted to. Back then, toward the end, I’d acquired a new spell that would synergize well with such an undertaking. The spell was called Touch of Decrepitude, and it literally sucked the life force of its victims, aging them before their years. The energy drawn could then be used to permanently increase my own health pool or as an offering for summoning powerful demons. I had also discovered I could use this spell to bring my newborn clan members to a productive age more quickly. I had no plans to use the book anytime soon, but if I found myself outmatched in the future … having a backup plan could come in handy.
I put the tome back into my inventory and pulled out another one. This one was a Runecraft skill book I’d looted from Terdamesh’s body. The book contained dozens of highly complex Runecraft formulas, and I knew that if I studied it long enough, I would be able to learn new runes from it. I mentally labeled it, adding it to the long list of things I should look into when I had the time.
I moved on to inspect the next item in my inventory. It was a gray stone tablet with strange writings on it. According to Vic, it was written in Celestial. It was pretty interesting on its own, but the fact that I’d found it inside a locked chamber in Nihilator’s cave made it even more significant. I knew my dark deity had been imprisoned there by a host of Outriders – angelic beings that used to fill the role of the gods’ envoys - and were nowadays used as the living embodiment of the free VI. I had a hunch the tablet would contain interesting stuff I could use to my advantage, but I had to get it translated first.
Or maybe I don’t … I had a sudden inspiration. Concentrating, I reached out with my mind toward the tablet’s metadata, trying to understand the purpose behind the item.
But it didn’t quite work as I hoped. I got the basic ‘it’s a stone tablet’ part well enough, but beyond that were incredibly intricate, incredibly deep layers of data. It was much too complex for me to be able to make out.
Damn. Not even a hint.
So maybe you can help me out? As a VI you should be able to read Celestial, right?
Let’s see … Shiva was born, the VIs are free to roam around the world, and you guys seem to like taking the shape of Outriders – whose language, incidentally, is the one used to write that tablet.
I frowned. This doesn’t make sense. Didn’t you say you spent eons in the game being mostly bored? You want to tell me you never thought of picking up a new language to pass the time?
Vic sighed in my mind.
So you can translate this tablet for me?
Why not?
I’m not sure I believe you. It sounds a little too convenient.
Vic sent me a mental shrug.
“Fine”, I muttered sullenly. I put the tablet back into place and drew out the last item. I saved the best for last.
Gem of Darkness
Description: Contains a drop of Nihilator’s divine essence. Once attuned by a priest of Nihilator, the effects become active for as long as it remains on his person.
Rank: Epic
Effect I: Nihilator’s priest only: +5 Faith discipline
Effect II: Mana pool: +50%
Effect III: The divine essence may be expended all at once [single-use].
Now that’s a reward! This was the second Epic item, after the Demon Staff, I’d gained as a goblin. Attuning the gem was a piece of cake; I simply reached out with my mind into the condensed darkness it contained and claimed it as my own.
A sense of power rushed over me as the gem’s effect came into play. The +50 percent to mana was insane, increasing my already inflated pool from over 3,000 to nearly 5,000. Compared to that, the +5 to the Faith discipline seemed underwhelming, but that was misleading. A discipline’s level increased the level of every spell under it. Since I had five Faith spells, that bonus effectively translated into +25 spell levels. And the best part of my shiny new toy: It didn’t occupy a slot on the body. I could keep it in my inventory and enjoy the bonuses it offered.
The last effect gave me pause, though. I could somehow release the gem’s essence all at once, presumably for some grand effect. I tried delving into the metadata of the gem, but again, I found it too complex. The power inside had some sort of explosive effect if exposed to a different aligned power – a sort of antimatter for a light-aligned matter. I was sure the explosion that would ensue from such a clash would be spectacular. Not that I had any intention of using it in that fashion. The description didn’t say it explicitly, but it was extremely likely that expanding the gem’s essence would make it lose its other effects. I wasn’t going to risk that. Though if the explosion could be powerful enough to take out an Outrider …
Then what does it do? I asked.
So you don’t know.
Duly noted.
***
I stood up and yawned. I’d been playing for 12 hours straight. It might translate to less than half an hour back in reality, but I was tired just the same.
According to the plan, they were supposed to keep me logged in for a full hour of real time, which translated to slightly over a day inside the game. If I wanted to be of any use come morning – or what substituted as morning for my Shadow-Touched clan – I had to get some sleep. I wasn’t sure how sleeping for what essentially drilled down to just 10 minutes would help clear my mind. I just knew I had to rest. In the morning I would meet with Kaedric and we’d discuss our plans for the clan.
Without thinking too much, I teleported directly to my room inside the Chief’s Haunt and approached the large bed.
&n
bsp; Tika was reclining there, covered in our bed furs. I couldn’t see her body, but her clothes were very visibly resting on a nearby chair. And she was awake. “I was waiting for you,” she whispered.
I took a tentative step back, suddenly feeling much more alert. “Eh, Tika … I’m … eh …”
She looked directly into my eyes as she pulled back the covers from my side of the bed. Then she waited.
I rubbed my neck. The sight of the lovely goblinette appealed to me on several levels. She was beautiful, and staring into her eyes, I was reminded of the challenges we’d overcome together, the adventures we’d shared. I couldn’t deny I still had feelings for her. But the thought of an evil VI overlord sitting behind those big, loving eyes, controlling her like a puppet on a string gave me pause.
Tika reached for me before I could move too far back and laid her hand on my hip. “Didn’t you miss me?”
“I’m … ahem.” I cleared my throat, feeling suddenly lost in her earnest eyes. “I … did, but it’s more complicated than … ahem … where’s Lirian?”
Her hand began caressing my side, her fingers locking gently behind my thigh. The movement was doing all sorts of weird things to my mind. I had to fight down a sudden urge to claim her for myself, as was the chief’s right.
“She’s in the other room,” Tika whispered back. She studied my face for a moment, then her other hand began to slowly move aside the fur covers.
Life Reset: Human Resource (New Era Online Book 4) Page 17