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

by Vasily Mahanenko

  “Where are you going?” Their path was blocked by a guard, and Tailyn’s stomach sank. He’d forgotten that the empire’s servants were even inside the academy. Forian gave him a shove.

  “We’re t-turning in b-books,” the boy said. “We have a m-mission!”

  The guard gave the group a once-over before stepping aside.

  “Go ahead!”

  “You two finish your mission; we’ll be waiting for you at your residence,” Forian said, eliciting confusion from both Tailyn and Valia. He had to explain. “Our department dean’s residence. As long as you’re studying at the academy, it’s yours — that’s the provost’s order. I’ll write your stupidity off to being happy you’re back, but you’ll earn yourselves a punishment if you keep that up. Okay, off to the library!”

  Slipping Valanil’s arm under his own, Forian headed off, still limping on his right leg. The woman was officially wearing the snow-white robe of the academy, having received status as a mage’s assistant. It was a childhood dream fulfilled. Still, she wasn’t particularly pleased, as the more time she spent around mages, the more she sympathized with Crobar. With a few exceptions, they needed to be destroyed...

  “Follow me.” The keeper met the children right at the door. Without looking to see if they were following him or not, he shuffled away from the main room. That time, Tailyn’s interest got the better of him, and he looked around at the pictures, carved frescos, and incredible sculptures that decorated the hallways. Even Valia was impressed. What there was to see in the library halls had no parallel anywhere else, and the old man noticed the children’s gazes.

  “The sculptures and paintings belonging to the ancients need to be preserved just as much as their books. If you ever come across one, the reward will be substantial. Nobody has brought us anything new in the last hundred years, and many people think there’s nothing left to find. But that’s not true. There’s quite a bit out there. It’s finding it that’s hard. Okay, come in and have a seat.”

  The keeper opened the door to a cozy office. Everything was trimmed with wood, the incredible workmanship making it clear that it all came from the ancients. Sitting down on a chair that looked throne-like, the keeper gestured the two children to simpler thrones. Clearly for guests.

  “If you’re so sure there are sculptures and paintings out there to be found, give us an idea of where to look for them,” Valia said as she sat down. A tray of sweets appeared in front of her.

  “It’s not that simple, young lady. And don’t give me that look — turning your back on the Carlian clan doesn’t rob you of your pedigree. You’ll be a duke’s daughter until the day you die whether you like it or not.”

  “Then, what’s complicated about it?” Tailyn asked.

  “The fact that there’s a direct prohibition from the System. My function is to preserve the cultural legacy of the ancients, not expand it. But that’s enough of that. You’re here for a different reason.”

  Mission complete: Book Delivery.

  Eighteen shimmering books appeared on the table. Fourteen were from Tailyn; four were from Valia. Carefully, as though he was handling a fragile treasure, the keeper took each book, paged through it, breathed in its scent, and practically tasted it. They were ultimately divided into two stacks. The first had nearly all the books; the second had just two. One was from Valia, while the other was Tailyn’s.

  “When you found the ancient storeroom and got the reward, you were probably surprised,” the old man said when he finished his inspection. “There was something about a substantial reward, after all, and all you got was one level. This is why.”

  He pointed at the two piles.

  “Ancient books are valuable for the information inside them more than just the fact that they exist. And these two are truly unique — for some reason, the ancients didn’t see much value in textbooks on quantum mechanics, although they’re what make up our most fundamental knowledge of the world prior to the god’s arrival. That’s why the System actually does highly value them. But I won’t try your patience — let’s get to the rewards.”

  Tailyn had just enough time to see the level-up glow around Valia before a series of messages grabbed his attention.

  You received access to the academy library.

  From now on, everything you read in the library will be added to your bookshelf.

  Level +14 (25).

  Named star +1 (2).

  Tailyn decided against spending his fourteen free points. He was going to need some time to check Vargot and Matilda before he was ready to do that. Suddenly, he noticed that the two piles of books had been replaced by two new tomes.

  “I strongly recommend that you both read these two books. They’re fairly interesting if you ask me. And I’ll hasten to add that I wrote one of them, basing my work on ancient texts and my own research. Systematizing information is my hobby.”

  The first book was entitled Art Galleries of the World: Addresses and Phone Numbers. The second was Cities of the Ancients and Their Current Locations.

  “You can only read in the main room, so you should head that way.” The old man stood up to show the meeting was adjourned, and while Valia collected the books the keeper had given them, Talia made no move to get out of his seat.

  “I have a question about the books. Valia and I have different bookshelves, so how do we synchronize them? How do I get her books, and how does she get mine? We haven’t been able to figure it out on our own.”

  “You can’t synchronize bookshelves,” the keeper replied, though he said it so quickly that even twelve-year-old kids could tell he was hiding something.

  “We can go without synchronizing them,” Valia said. “Really, we just want to be able to exchange books.”

  “And you just so happened to get unification, the only skill that lets you do that,” the keeper said, a note of incredulity creeping into his voice. “You need to understand that books are the ancients’ greatest treasure. Each individual is supposed to study them, otherwise they’ll lose their value! As soon as people start exchanging books, chaos will ensue.”

  “But...” Tailyn stopped, trying to collect his thoughts. Valia stepped in.

  “You’re right, Keeper. Everyone should read on their own, but Tailyn and I aren’t separate people. We’re unified. Like you said, we have unification, and that isn’t something you just pick up. The fact that there’s no integration for bookshelves gets in the way of that unification, doesn’t it? Does the god really want people who just came together to slowly grow farther and farther apart with each new book they read? If that’s the case, what’s the point?”

  “I can’t make that happen,” the keeper said, giving in. “Yes, it’s possible to combine your bookshelves, but only the emperor has the right to turn on synchronization. Maybe, the provost, too, I’m not sure. But not me. Right now, you need to head into the main room and read the books I gave you. They’re important. And they’re especially important to people like you who travel the world, particularly when they have a map as detailed as Tailyn’s.”

  Tailyn realized what the keeper was getting at when he finished the second book. The first, the one with the list of addresses, was dull and uninteresting. But the second translated the names of the ancient cities into their modern names — the abandoned city by Culmart, the dead city by Santir, and so on. The boy’s map filled in with new points, the coordinates for ancient galleries. Of course, most of them were close to the capital, and Tailyn assumed they’d long since been explored, but some were in the Gray Lands. Even Mean Truk had its own gallery. Tailyn showed the dot to Valia, and the girl’s eyes lit up — it was the very same spot with the cube Raptor hadn’t been able to penetrate. Apparently, the kids were going to be heading back to the dead city on their first break.

  Not looking to stay in the library longer than usual, the pair left. The guards just watched them go, making no effort to grab them and deliver them to the viceroy. Still, the kids picked up their pace, soon getting to the dean
’s residence and finding Forian and Valanil sitting on rocking chairs right outside it.

  “Level twenty-five, level forty-two. What, did you loot an ancient library?”

  “Yes, there were...” Tailyn stopped when he saw his mentor’s upraised hand.

  “Not here — inside. You two are the only ones with access, so you have to invite us in. We’ll talk there. I can’t wait to hear how Valanil and I picked up three levels.”

  “And then, there’s the matter of the card you used against the guards,” Valanil said as she stretched. “You both have it, I guess?”

  Valia, I need to tell you something, the boy said as soon as they were inside. Raptor scanned the area as usual, the difference between that time and the previous one being that it was able to build a network of underground tunnels leading to Tailyn’s terminal. The interesting part was that the tunnels weren’t on the map the boy had gotten from the investigators.

  Like any hospitable host, Valia offered their guests tea. Of course, she had to figure out where the dean’s kitchen and dishes were, but that afforded her the opportunity to mentally berate Tailyn even as she went about making and serving the drink with a smile on her face. Another terminal, and he’d forgotten to tell her. How much more had he forgotten to tell her? What other surprises could she expect? Was Tailyn a father with a whole brood of children?

  The one thing the pair did agree on was that they weren’t going to tell the adults about unification or the terminal right below their feet. The last thing they needed was an appointment with Sadil. Forian listened to their story with an implacable expression on his face, while Valanil permitted herself a few interjections. Still, they were remarkably repetitive. What could possibly have made you go there? What were you thinking when you did that? It was only when they got to the guards that Forian deigned to explain that the phrase they’d heard was the one used to activate a local armageddon. The final resort of anyone serving the emperor, it wasn’t available to mages, for example.

  “Three months in that tiny room just about drove us crazy, but we didn’t give in,” Tailyn said as he wrapped up. “Then, there was the portal, and you saw the rest.”

  “Show me the card,” Forian said, taking it carefully with two fingers as if afraid it was going to bite him. “How many left before level three?”

  “I could make mine right now, but Tailyn and I decided we’re going to combine them and go to level three together. We just have two cards to go,” Valia said after checking her stock. “But Tailyn doesn’t have enough mana to charge them.”

  “I’ll take care of that. Go ahead.”

  “Is it really something that valuable?” Valanil asked. “I could tell right away it was intriguing. What’s the description?”

  It took Valia a few moments to make the last two cards, after which she handed one to Tailyn.

  You combined 3 Force Shield-II cards into Force Shield-III.

  Force Shield-III. Description: epic card. Creates an energy shield with a surface area of 1.5 x 1.5 meters 1.5 meters away from the outstretched arm of the card owner. The shield can absorb 5 * magic attack damage of any kind. The shield can withstand enchanted weapons through level 5. Physical objects no more than 4 times the mass of the card owner can be pushed back. Does not let any kind of liquid through. Works until completely exhausted or until the card owner drops their arm. Includes 500 charges. Each use costs 16 mana. Requirements: Wisdom (32). Can be recharged. Creator: Valia Levor.

  “The final exam for seventh-year students at the academy is creating their own card,” Forian said slowly as he stared down at his student’s creation. “The only requirement is that it has to be at least rare. But what you did... Our department has nothing left to teach you, Valia Levor. I’m going to petition to have you promoted to mage ahead of time.”

  “Easy, Forian — she still has to learn healing,” Valanil said. “You saw her aptitude for it. If she figures out the mechanism, she’ll be a great healer. What, already? Why didn’t you say anything? That’s important!”

  Valanil’s exclamation was a response to the girl’s eyes dropping. And the latter was taking in a breath to talk about what she’d been able to accomplish, only that was when the door banged open. Sadil and his deputies walked in.

  “Great, he’s here! Tailyn Vlashich, you’re being detained for questioning. Take him to the fourth level so I can have a chat with him personally. Forian, stay out of this — the provost is keeping an eye on it. Your former student used dragon’s blood.”

  Chapter 13

  FOLLOWING SADIL through the twisting corridors and strange staircases, Tailyn was hit by an incredibly interesting truth: the academy map he’d gotten from the dead investigators was a fake. Solid walls stood where there were supposed to be doorways; a long corridor opened up where there shouldn’t have been anything like it. Raptor did its best to correct the discrepancies, though the deeper Tailyn got, the clearer it became that it was going to be easier to build his map of the academy from scratch rather than adjusting what he already had. The best part was that there was even a sixth level the map had said nothing about. Sadly, the boy hit the button to delete his map of the academy, something Forian had once recommended he do. The mage had apparently known it was a fake, and that meant the terminal under the dean’s residence wasn’t the huge secret Tailyn had thought it was.

  The boy was brought to Sadil’s personal office. A nearly empty stone cell, it was outfitted with a simple chair and desk that looked more suited to a craftsman than the academy’s head of security. Sadil sat down at the desk, glanced at a couple pieces of paper, set them aside, and turned a steady gaze on Tailyn.

  “I need your logs. Everything that has anything to do with the dragon’s blood. You have one minute, after which we’ll take them ourselves, only I can’t guarantee you’ll live to see the end of that process.”

  Tailyn felt Sadil’s deputy’s hand on his shoulder, a gentle reminder not to make a mistake. Or perhaps, the boy thought, to make it easier to hack him if needed. But with no desire to make that a necessity, Tailyn just copied over an enormous pile of logs. He knew, of course, that he was exposing himself — the same logs included how he’d used crystals to boost his hacking.

  “There you go. From the moment we discovered Experiment 14 to when I used the cores.”

  Tailyn added the yaks disappearing just in case Sadil knew how the monster ended up so far away from Tartila Mine. A silence fell. The mage studied the data, skipping past the parts that didn’t matter, finally reaching and going over the battle several times in an attempt to figure out how the creature was destroyed. However, the logs contained neither its appearance nor any algorithms. Back then, Tailyn hadn’t had any idea how the guards were attacking the beast.

  “One, you’re free to go. Tailyn, you’re staying here. Get him a chair.”

  The boy felt his shoulders being pressed downward, and he was forced to bend. Instead of falling, however, he found himself settling into an exact copy of the chair Sadil was sitting on. The stranger’s hand left his shoulder, and the door closed. The pair was alone in the room.

  “Any time a creature on our continent uses dragon’s blood, the provost is informed. That’s the agreement we have with the god. Because we couldn’t have you showing up here too early, you weren’t sent for immediately, but possessing blood is a violation of the law, Tailyn Vlashich. And the fact that you didn’t know any better doesn’t absolve you of responsibility.”

  “If I hadn’t used the core, it would have evaporated a minute later. You saw the logs.”

  “Yes, and that’s why you’re sitting here rather than in one of the isolation cages you were so kind as to deliver to us. I had to make sure. Using dragon’s blood to upgrade named equipment is the worst thing you can do with it, though you didn’t have another choice. It’s okay — we’ll fix that. From now on, you answer to me. Your training, the attributes and skills you boost, all of it will be done exactly the way I tell you. No more acting on your o
wn. And by the way, you did the right thing spending crystals on your hacking. If you hadn’t, you wouldn’t have had a shot at beating that monster. We’ll ignore that clear violation of imperial law. But moving forward, I see you have fourteen free points available. Spend them all on hacking right now.”

  “I can’t,” Tailyn said, taken aback. “I need to get my named equipment back.”

  “I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that and give you another chance, Tailyn Vlashich,” Sadil said so harshly that everything inside Tailyn suddenly went cold. “You’re not getting out of this office alive as Forian Tarn’s student. Either you give in and work for me of your own free will, or you find out what happens to criminals. The blood and crystals make for two capital crimes, so decide for yourself. Investigator or corpse. Those are your only two options.”