Tears of Alron (The Alchemist Book #3): LitRPG Series

by Vasily Mahanenko

  Protective aura-II (passive ability). Description: while your companion is near you or your group (no more than 100 meters away), all damage taken is reduced by 1.5 * (companion level) % but no more than 80%.

  ***

  Card requirements modified: Wisdom 30+ more than companion level.

  You do not meet the requirements for Dragon.

  Your companion entered sleep mode.

  ***

  You destroyed more than 100 creatures at least 10 levels above you.

  Frankenstein +1 (2).

  Intellect +1 (10).

  And Tailyn knew all too well that what happened to his dragon could happen to his named equipment. Any feat of bravery would result in him being stripped of Vargot, Matilda, and Raptor. There it was, a downside he’d never dreamed of. He was going to need to upgrade his attribute parameters and levels, and he was going to need to do it quickly.

  But even that wasn’t enough to dampen the boy’s excitement when he saw the familiar ruins.

  “Valia, we’re here! This is the city!”

  Chapter 10

  “THIS IS WHERE the guard blew up,” Tailyn said, pointing at a big black splotch on the ground. Even though quite a bit of time had gone by, the steppe had yet to swallow up the place where the terrifying beast had met its end.

  “And your terminal was down below?” Valia was peering down at the cave-in with interest. “Do you think there might be something else down there?”

  The simple question stumped Tailyn. The last time he’d been there, he hadn’t had time to investigate the underground passageways, limiting himself to the room with the terminal. Checking Raptor, which had already managed to map out three underground layers, the boy could only shrug. Dozens of red dots told him life in the city had gone right on ticking — there were still plenty of snakes.

  “I don’t want to head down there right now,” he said when he saw Valia’s glowing eyes. “First, we need to head around the city and build a map of the underground passageways. We were told to lie low, remember. Let’s just do what our mentor and trainer told us to do.”

  But they weren’t permitted to blend in with the stone. The yaks rushed into the city as if sensing something, and while the kids dashed off after them in an attempt to stop their headlong run, the idiot animals wouldn’t listen. Right on the other side of a big hill at the other end of the city, the even surface of a small lake beckoned to them. The body of water served as an artificial barrier between the city and an overhanging cliff, and it was really just a deep pool. Raptor said it was five meters deep right at the bank. But that was only after the yaks got to the water and began to gulp it down — their journey through the Gray Lands had been a difficult one, and the nearby water had nearly driven them out of their minds.

  Just then, Tailyn and Valia found themselves alone. The whole thing happened so quickly that neither of them knew what had happened, a moment later simply realizing that the water had suddenly gurgled as it released tentacles like the ones the guard had had. They were just three or four times as thick and incredibly long. Each of them grabbed one of the poor beasts and dragged it into the water, not even giving it time to bellow in fear. After momentarily turning red, the water quickly returned to its natural blue color.

  “Tailyn?” Valia whispered in shock.

  “There’s nothing there. Raptor isn’t showing me anything! The lake is empty — even the yaks are gone.”

  The children backed away from the water without taking their wide eyes off it. Whatever the creature capable of polishing off six enormous animals in one go was, it certainly inspired fear. Suddenly, neither of the two had any more desire to go for a swim. Even the idea of staying for a while in a city hiding some mysterious monster didn’t seem like a winning strategy anymore. While the old guard was gone, a new one had apparently shown up, and the kids headed out of Mean Truk without saying a word. That was what the ancient mayor had called the city.

  But they didn’t get far. As they made their way past a large heap of rocks, Tailyn froze. Raptor, which continually scanned the surrounding area, had discovered a large empty space right beneath where the two children were standing. In fact, it looked very much like the metro platform Tailyn had once visited, only it didn’t have the tunnels. The dozens of hefty columns were holding up a thick vaulted ceiling, with a cube the same height as Tailyn right in the middle. And the most interesting part was that Raptor couldn’t penetrate it. It was almost as if the object could hold back the divine gaze.

  The boy swallowed hard — he’d already come across something like that. When he and Ka-Do-Gir had gotten into the room shielded off from the rest of the world, they’d found quite a few valuables. Ancient bodies, in fact.

  “Tailyn, no!” Valia threw ice water on the boy’s excitement when he hiccupped in his hurry to tell her what he’d found. “We can’t stay in the same city as that thing back there! What if it leaves the water at night?”

  “The guard patrolled the city at night,” Tailyn replied, that time intent on holding the line. “And it’s not here anymore. First, let’s check everything out, and then we can decide what to do, okay? We still have three hours left before it gets dark.”

  Valia didn’t argue, though she kept throwing nervous glances in the direction of the lake. For his part, Tailyn began running around the city in an attempt to get into every crevice and build as complete a picture as he could with Raptor. And the clearer the vision got, the more thoughtful the boy became. The city wasn’t that big — just three kilometers long and one kilometer wide. What Tailyn had initially taken to be a hill turned out to be the city’s central square. Time and wind had done their part, with three thousand years’ worth of dirt already three meters deep. As it happened, the stones jutting out everywhere were the upper stories of buried buildings. Thinking back to the battle with the guard, the boy realized why the latter had been able to break through to the lower levels — it had been standing on an old roof, its weight sending it crashing through. The terminal had been in a basement rather than in the depths of some dungeon. And that changed the way Tailyn looked at the map of passageways Raptor was showing him. The strange empty spots popping up here and there were homes intact but underground, with the corridors beneath them a system of basements. There were a lot of them, too. And while they often jumped from empty space to empty space, forming a wide underground network, they didn’t extend as far as the pool. All the tunnels Tailyn could see ended fifty meters from its edge.

  The boy clambered to the top of the highest hill and once more peered off in the direction of the pool. The area around it began to gently descend a hundred meters away, the decline ending fairly far away from the banks. From there, the paving stones were practically untouched by the passage of time. For whatever reason, the wind hadn’t been able to carry sand and soil that far. Tailyn’s perception highlighted a few pathways made out of evaporated water, and that told him Valia had been right — something came out of the lake every once in a while and made its way around the city. There weren’t any structures around the pool because the creature had leveled them all.

  “You were right — we need to go.” Tailyn turned back to Valia, who was right on his heels. “It’s impossible to tell when that thing will head out next.”

  But the System had other plans. The boy had decided to leave the city via a section he hadn’t yet scanned to make sure he had a complete picture of Mean Truk, though he stopped when he came across yet another open space. That time, there were no cubes. It was just a small room connected to the larger network of stone-strewn passageways. And Tailyn wouldn’t have even paid attention to it if it hadn’t been for the message that popped up in front of him:

  You discovered a storeroom of ancient books.

  New mission: Reach the Library. Description: find a way to get into the ancient library. Study the books to see what they hold, and if any are unique, hand them over to the academy library. You are not permitted to leave Mean Truk until this mission is c
omplete. Punishment: death. Mission cannot be declined. Deadline: 90 days. The reward for completing it will be substantial.

  “Tailyn!” Valia screeched indignantly when she got the same message.

  But it was too late to do anything about it, and the boy just looked over in confusion at the enraged girl, not sure what he’d done to get her and the System on his case. The empty space was right on the edge of his scanning range, twenty meters below ground. With all the enormous rocks around, digging straight down to it was impossible — a shovel would have just broken on them. And the pair didn’t have a shovel, either. No pick, no shovel, nothing... How were they supposed to complete the god’s mission?

  “Show me the map of the city,” Valia said in annoyance. “You’re always sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong, and look where that gets us...”

  The girl stared wordlessly at the convoluted network of underground passageways. Finally, she had something to say.

  “Okay, so there’s no way we’re digging straight down to it — those boulders are in the way. We’re going to have to get to it through the basements. If we head down here, go this way, dig tunnels here and here, we’ll end up there. And from there, we can... Are you even listening to me?”

  “Won’t work.” Tailyn hadn’t taken his eyes off the map, though he wasn’t following what the girl was saying. “These are the stones the ancient used, so there’s iron inside them. That means there’s no way we’re getting through no matter how hard we try. Ka-Do-Gir and I already tried, and it didn’t work, so we’ll go this way.”

  The boy drew a path three times as long as the one the girl had found.

  “It’ll mean more digging and crawling around, though we won’t have to deal with the reinforced stone. We just have to explore this area. Okay, let’s go — it’s going to get dark soon, and we need to find shelter. Staying out in the open is too dangerous.”

  Valia wasn’t about to argue with that, though she didn’t like the path the boy was looking at. But still, that was a topic better saved for the next day when they got to work. The last thing they needed to do that day was hide. And the fact that there were snakes in the basements meant the thing in the water didn’t go down there.

  Heading down didn’t take long. Tailyn’s perception remembered the rocks and footholds he’d used the last time, highlighting them for convenience. Up ahead, red dots popped up. The underground creatures had sensed the vibrations and were hurrying over to see who was encroaching on their territory.

  Boo.

  You used Wave of Fire-III 10 times.

  Charges remaining: 490 of 500.

  ***

  You destroyed more than 50 creatures at least 10 levels above you.

  Hacking +1 (4).

  Cartographer +1 (8).

  There were so many snakes, and they were at such a variety of levels, that even Valia earned an upgrade. However, having picked up the loot, Tailyn could only sigh and sell it all off. Skin, fangs, poison...none of it made any sense for him to keep around. Although, the System apparently didn’t need it, either, as the pair only got twelve gold each.

  The black terminal stone jutted out all alone among the scorched bodies. Tailyn had a hard time not unlocking an attribute, as he wanted everything, and he wanted it right away. But instead, he just bought shovels, picks, and a lantern. Of course, he could have bought all that at his own store, only he wanted to show Valia he hadn’t been lying about having access.

  “Okay, there’s our tunnel.” The boy pointed at a passageway packed with boulders. Setting the lantern on the ground, he reared back and landed the first blow with his pick, the echo resounding through the underground world. A rustle broke out as the vipers came slithering over to investigate the noise. Tailyn didn’t even have time to continue working on the boulder before they came at the pair from all sides, every hole hiding two or three of them even bigger than the hole itself. There were so many the kids had to drink salamander potions and fill the whole space with fire.

  You destroyed more than 200 creatures at least 10 levels above you.

  Frankenstein +2 (4).

  Strength +1 (9).

  Concealment +1 (9).

  “How were there so many of them?” Tailyn asked in surprise as he yanked one of the snakes out of an opening. The charred bodies were going to disappear on their own in ten minutes, only he did want to wait. At least, they got more loot — thirty-five gold apiece.

  “And what did they eat?” The situation didn’t make sense to Valia, either. The dead snakes weren’t atrophied or slightly overgrown worms; some of them could have swallowed her whole without even noticing. Finally, Tailyn was able to roll the stone far enough away to open up the passageway. Squeezing through to the other side, he got to the ruined wall marking the beginning of the neighboring basement and gasped — there was something glowing next to it.

  “Valia, get over here!” he yelled. “I found an ancient!”

  That was more than enough for the girl to dive into the hole. While she’d been hoping to avoid going through with Tailyn’s plan, she’d always wanted to see an ancient. Sadly, she ended up being disappointed, a little glimmering box being what had attracted the boy’s attention rather than a great warrior of old.

  Tailyn Vlashich receives enough food to feed 1 person for 10 days.

  “No, not an ancient,” the boy said sadly. “Somebody just forgot their things here. Hungry?”

  “What do you mean? That thing is three thousand years old! Trying to poison me? Get rid of it!”

  “It’s a gift from the god — it can’t go bad,” Tailyn said as he pulled out a portion. Actually, he was scared to try it, though he was more afraid of just falling in line with the girl. Nothing ultimately happened. The taste and freshness of the food was the same as what was sold at the store.

  “Let’s spend the night here,” he continued after pulling up his map. The hole in the wall turned out to be the only way into the space, with everything above them ruined and packed in with rocks. Just to make sure, Tailyn and Valia pulled the boulder back into place to block off the tunnel. It wasn’t the most secure of defenses, though it was going to be enough to keep curious snakes out. Setting up his tent and activating the protective dome, Tailyn collapsed onto the bed. Valia decided not to bother him, heading into the next room over. A week spent riding the stinking yaks made a deep clean a near necessity, the problem there being that the only source of water in the vicinity was home to a terrifying monster. And while the pair’s outfits tried to keep them clean, they couldn’t compare to soap and a washcloth.

  A horrifying metallic roar rang out a couple hours before midnight. Valia leaped out of bed, shaking from head to toe, large drops of sweat beading on her face, and images of nighttime terrors popping into her head. Pulling the blanket up around her, she made a mental note not to sleep without her temperature-controlled outfit again, but that was when the sound repeated. The girl’s body was wracked with pain. It felt like every muscle was clenching along with the roar, each pulling in a different direction.

  Where are you? came Tailyn’s worried thought, and Valia leaped out of bed, her thoughts of bathing completely forgotten. Moments later, she was hiding under Tailyn’s blanket and pressed up against him. Getting dressed and protecting herself was the last thing on her mind. Instead, all she cared about was hiding, squeezing into some corner, and praying to the god for a quick death.

  The roar burst out once again, that time accompanied by dull blows. The earth shook as though something gigantic was striding across it. Rock dust showered down; a crack appeared in the ceiling.

  You need to get dressed, the girl heard in her head. Please, put your outfit on and switch on your hermetic seal. That will help.

  Scared stiff, Valia still obeyed. And no sooner had her face shield slid into place, than she felt a warmth spread through her body. Tailyn’s glowing, healing hands were on her shoulders.

  “What is that?” the girl asked, noticing happily that her teet
h had stopped chattering.

  “No idea.” The glow dissipated, though the boy was in no hurry to remove his hands. And Valia had no problem with that. “Maybe, the wind?”

  “The wind doesn’t roar like that,” Valia replied, and the sound came once more. It really was easier to get through it with her hermetic seal on. All she felt was a quick shiver and a quiver in her teeth.

  Yet again, the dust fell, and Tailyn suddenly noticed Raptor showing him something that shouldn’t have been in Mean Truk. An enormous red dot had appeared on the scanner and stopped a few steps away from where the children were hiding. The only difference was that it was fifteen meters above them.

  I know what it is, Tailyn said, switching to mental communication as if afraid the monster would hear them. And it’s right above us!

  Experiment 14 (monster). No class. No age. No level.