* * *
When it was nearing midday, we decided to take a break until the next morning further down the river. As a matter of fact, other than Mee and myself, everyone in our troop had the Driver skill. Even Maya. Due to my level, I couldn’t use the doubtless important and useful tablets. But the gremlin decided to fill the gap in his abilities. Maya and he were taking turns at the reins of the wagon at the back of our sleigh train.
Midori and Hedgehog were sitting in that sleigh with the immobilized female whipsnake. Gino and I meanwhile were lying in back of the big covered wagon, which was driven by Tusk.
While the old man snoozed I, wrapped tight in an old sheepskin coat, decided to furtively study the amulet I got in the drop. Cautiously, my hands shivering, I removed the artifact from my knapsack and started looking it over with my heart aflutter.
Heh... I recognize this shape... The double fishhooks. And at that, unlike Ava’s sophisticated bracelet, the amulet of the great Gunnar the Destroyer, legendary founder of the order of monster hunters was made of simple iron and looked fairly low quality. I even saw a few rust spots on it. Based on the commonplace leather cord threaded through its bent eyelet, this amulet was meant to be worn around the neck.
I chuckled. This was so like the real Gunnar, a common fisherman who’d lost his family and taken up arms to defend his city from otherworldly beasts. Okay then. Nothing much to look at, to put it lightly. Let’s see what’s under the hood.
Amulet of Gunnar the Destroyer.
― Type: One of the seven Great personal artifacts from the True Armor of the Founder collection.
― Rarity: Legendary.
― Will +50.
― Wisdom +40.
― Special effect:
― Searches for Places of Power (not active).
― Requirements:
― Rank: Senior hunter and above.
― Mind: 15.
― Note:
― Weight: None. Takes no space.
― Attention! Collect all items from the True Armor of the Founder collection to receive an additional reward!
I reread the artifact’s description closely a few times and cautiously put it around my neck. The first lines made it clear that the item I’d just gotten my hands on was unthinkably rare. Honestly, by the middle of the description I was totally lost. Although I understood the Wisdom part just fine, I was not quite sure about the Will characteristic. That would require a consultation. And seemingly I knew just who to ask. I’m sure that, if I question Midori delicately, she’ll explain everything. At the very least I was hoping the dryad would know a bit more than me even though she’d lost her magic supply.
When I reached the “Special effect” line, I turned catatonic. What exactly does it mean by Places of Power?! I’d never heard of anything even remotely like that. And why won’t the effect activate?! At first, I thought it was because the amulet was in my hands but no – when I put it around my neck, nothing changed.
Maybe it’s all to do with the requirements?
Hm... Nope... I meet all those. I wracked my brains a little while longer and came to the conclusion that the forty points of Wisdom were enough to justify the amulet on its own. Although, hand to my heart, the words “great personal artifact” didn’t impress me. Maybe the other items in the collection would be more useful. I gave a crooked smile. The hard part is over, now I just have the small problem of collecting six more of these items.
I set the amulet aside and decided to open my message archive. I read through it one more time, stopped on the last line and agreed.
― Attention, Hunter! Choose the path you will follow:
― Ferocious Beastslayer.
― Eagle-eyed Tracker.
― Skilled Tamer.
― Lucky Tracker.
― Vanquisher of Darkness.
Despite the icy wind whistling out of every crack, my forehead and hands started to sweat. I understood my misadventures were about to take another turn, and that this choice would define my fate.
In order to rid myself of the whole-body tremor and concentrate fully, I took a few deep breaths in and out. So then, let’s proceed...
I’ll start from the beginning. The Beastslayer.
― Ferocious Beastslayer — this is the path of a strong hunter. With high health and endurance figures. Beastslayers have attained mastery over melee weaponry. Thanks to their ferocity, the damage of their attacks is increased many times. Beastslayers have solid defense and are practically unbeatable!
I studied the list of bonuses, active and passive abilities, and concluded this was not the path for me. Yes, it did offer excellent bonuses to strength, health and endurance. The two active abilities gave a significant boost to melee damage as well. And the constant protection against physical and mental attacks was above all praise. But alas, there wasn’t a single word about magic.
From there I familiarized myself with the tracker path.
― Eagle-eyed Tracker — this is the path of a fleet-footed hunter. With high endurance and speed figures. An accurate shot, as well as a master of ranged weaponry. Thanks to their powers of observation, they can read tracks like an open book.
Hm... Still not it. No magic.
Next was the tamer. That one was a clearly magical path with large bonuses to wisdom and intellect. And that was fine by me, but I was bothered by the fact that this role basically had one thing at its core – taming a pet then powering it up with two active abilities and one passive one. And that would have made an attractive path for me and Gorgie if not for one “but.” It was just painfully limited. I would not like to be relegated to the role of some mere supplement to my pet.
My arsenal already contained many spells that did not depend on Gorgie. Without a doubt, if the Great System were to offer me this same choice of paths just after I domesticated the harn – I’m sure I’d have agreed without a second thought. But now it’s a totally different matter.
Approximately the same story with the trapper. Its focus was too narrow. Something like a mage that hunts monsters using standard and magical traps. An excellent addition to my arsenal of spells. I even considered it briefly. It must have been hunters on this path who made the traps around Stonetown and Fort Stout. I made a mental note: if I didn’t like the vanquisher, I’d most likely go with the trapper. At that moment, it was the most attractive to me.
That left one final path...
― Vanquisher of Darkness — this is the path of a hunter with high wisdom and intellect figures. The vanquishers’ indomitable will allows them to repulse any mental attack.
― Effect:
― Wisdom +20.
― Intellect +20.
Passive abilities:
― Shield of Will.
― Effect:
― Provides the hunter constant defense against mental attacks.
― Mana expenditure 1 to 1.
In comparison with the other options, this path was strangest. If you ask me, the name didn’t match the contents one bit. Other than that, it felt a bit skimpy – it only raised the value of two characteristics. Beyond that, unlike the rest, it only conferred one ability and a passive one at that. But what an ability it was! When I finally realized what the Great System had just offered me, my throat ran dry in a flash. So, if I’d had this ability when I first met Master Chi, everything could have gone differently. This passive, modestly described ability alone was enough to justify capturing the rare northern snake!
Not thinking even one more second, with a smile on my face, I made my choice in favor of the Vanquisher of Darkness. And I think I also realized what the Will characteristic governs.
Chapter 15
AFTER CONFIRMING my choice, a whole new set of messages rained down on me. At their core, the basic idea was that the path of a vanquisher of darkness would be “challenging and perilous” and that, from that moment on, I would become the archnemesis of all “spawn of Darkness.”
A-hem... Quite a nasty pros
pect. Now every dark beast will prioritize killing me specifically. After I read that part, I felt a vile sinking sensation in the pit of my stomach. My heart can sense this won’t be the end of my story with the monster hunters. For the umpteenth time I wished the late clever foxman a “fond farewell.”
But there was also good news – I could now unlock a whole three active abilities!
― Attention, Hunter! The Higher Powers smile upon you! You are the first member of the order to choose the path of a Vanquisher of Darkness in 700 years!
― Congratulations! You receive:
― Early activation of Darkness Absorption ability!
― Early activation of Darkness Purging ability!
― Early activation of Enchant ability!
Still, the Great System just had to put a fly in the ointment. Giddy at my unbelievable luck, I decided not to dillydally and immediately tried to activate the new abilities, but there was a nasty surprise waiting. When I opened the description windows for the new abilities, they were all marked by the following proscription.
― Attention! To activate this ability, you must ask a higher-ranked commander of the Order of Monster Hunters (Prior or above).
When it finally hit me what it was saying, I wanted to curse loudly with all my heart. But at the cost of an unbelievable amount of effort, I was nevertheless able to hold back. In other words, the Great System was telling me, seemingly the only member of the dead order, to go find whatever a Prior was. And most likely, there hadn’t been any of them in the world for centuries.
I was just about to swipe all the notifications into my archive and lie back to sleep when suddenly a strange new message appeared before my eyes followed by another and another...
― Attention! System error number %?#!
― Finding solution…
― Finding solution…
― Finding solution…
Despite the ghastly cold, I was overtaken by fever. To say I was frightened would be a huge understatement. Without wanting it myself, I had just caused the Great System to make an error! It wasn’t enough for me to visit tragedy on my whole family with my birth, now there was this!
I frowned, but the last short sentence was still hovering there before my eyes. I felt like I’d just been charged with a crime and any minute now the merciless judge would hand me down a death sentence. And that made me all the more surprised when I got the following notification:
― Attention! Alternative protocols engaged! Solution found!
― Because you are the only member of the Order of Monster Hunters in this world, from this point forward, you may activate locked abilities all by yourself.
It felt like my heart didn’t beat the entire time I read the message. My throat ran dry. My arms and legs went numb. Gorgie appeared instantly, reacting to my changed state. An uneasy inquisitive growl from outside the wagon cover let me know the harn was ready to fight at a moment’s notice. I had to mentally reassure my friend running next to the covered wagon and send him back to finish his hunt.
My friend’s concern brought me back to my senses. The frozen world around me came back to life. I took a deep swallow of icy air. It burned my throat and lungs. I delved back into the messages.
― Attention! Activation cost for magical ability Darkness Absorption with 60% discount: 2000 Monster Hunter tokens.
― Attention! Activation cost for magical ability Darkness Purging with 60% discount: 2000 Monster Hunter tokens.
― Attention! Activation cost for magical ability Enchant with 60% discount: 2000 Monster Hunter tokens.
I felt my lips stretch out into a smile. My unexpected joy was explained by the fact that the Great System was back to talking to me in a language I could understand. And that soothed me a great deal. Any other time I’m sure I’d have been outraged at the exorbitant prices but now, continuing to smile happily, I easily gave my assent to spending six thousand tokens.
The Great System immediately congratulated me on activating the new abilities and told me there were just over thirty-three thousand tokens left in my backpack. I meanwhile got to studying my new abilities.
Darkness Absorption
― Effect:
― Absorbs Dark energy.
― Description:
― Monster Hunters that have chosen the path of the Vanquisher may absorb a portion of the energy of dark entities they kill by creating an Orb of Darkness.
I gave a slight shiver, unwittingly detecting a nonexistent taste of rot on my tongue. Next came the description of the orbs I could now make.
Orb of Darkness
― Description:
― A magic sphere confining a cluster of dark energy.
― Orbs come in different sizes depending on the level of the dark entity slain – small, medium, large and concentrated.
― Effect:
― Used by monster hunters in extreme circumstances to power up spells and abilities.
― Used by Vanquishers of Darkness to create Sparks of the Otherworld.
― Requirements:
― Rank: Senior monster hunter and above.
― Note:
― Weight: None. Takes no space.
― Warning! Frequent use of Orbs of Darkness to power up spells and abilities will lead to loss of reputation with the Order of Monster Hunters!
Trembling in excitement, I quickly moved on to the next ability.
Darkness Purging
― Effect:
― Cleanses Dark energy.
― Description:
― Monster hunters that have chosen the path of a Vanquisher may create Sparks of the Otherworld by purging the dark energy confined in Orbs of Darkness.
Spark of the Otherworld
― Description:
― An exceedingly rare and exceedingly unstable magical substance extracted from an Orbs of Darkness by Vanquishers of Darkness.
― Number of Sparks of the Otherworld obtained depends directly upon dark-energy saturation of the Orb of Darkness used.
― Effect:
― Used by Vanquishers of Darkness to perform the ritual to activate the Enchant ability.
― Requirements:
― Rank: Senior monster hunter and above.
― Path: Vanquisher of Darkness.
― Note:
― Weight: None. Takes no space.
― Warning! Because Sparks of the Otherworld are an unstable substance, Vanquishers must be rigorous in their choice of object to be enchanted. Otherwise the consequences could be extremely unpredictable, right up to destruction of the object.
Enchant
― Description:
― Monster hunters that have chosen the path of the Vanquisher can conduct a ritual using one or more Sparks of the Otherworld to Enchant. This ability may be applied to any object. For example, clothing, jewelry or armor.
― Effect:
― Confers a random characteristic on an object or significantly improves a pre-existing one. Confers a special magical effect under very rare circumstances.
― Warning! Because Sparks of the Otherworld are an unstable substance, Vanquishers must be rigorous in their choice of object to be enchanted. Otherwise the consequences could be extremely unpredictable, right up to destruction of the object.
I spent a long time digesting that heavy flood of information, but the effects of the previous evening and sleepless night were starting to manifest themselves. To the measured rocking of the wagon’s smooth forward ride, I drifted off to sleep.
* * *
The next two weeks flew by like one day. The farther west we made it the more refugees we saw on the river. Although we spent the first few nights on alert, the nearer we came to Borg the more we came across the local baron’s patrols.
The Dark Continent (Underdog Book #3): LitRPG Series Page 14