by Phoenix Grey
"What makes you think that adding someone to our party will keep someone from dying?" Lonnell gave him a queer look.
"Safety in numbers. The more people, the better our overall chance of success and survival."
"The less money we'll make," Lonnell quickly pointed out.
"I'd rather walk away with my life than a few gold coins. That should be apparent from the last dungeon we were in." He thought back to when Gaia had said that one of them would have to make a sacrifice of life. It had not been worth it to Azure. Not for the staff or all the coin in The Realm.
The two men stood in silence for several moments, mulling the idea over. No matter how he spun it though, Azure didn't feel comfortable entering another dungeon without backup.
"Listen. You go to our room and wait for Uden. I'll see if I can find someone at the tavern who is interested in joining our party. It's the only tavern in town, so it's the only place where Adventurers can go besides the pleasure house to relax after a long day of questing. I'm sure I can find someone reliable who can take care of themselves and will also be a boon to our team."
Lonnell shook his head. "I'm not willing to split my loot with some stranger whose skills we're unaware of."
"Then I'll split my half," Azure said finally, feeling sick from his decision even as the words left his mouth.
That shut Lonnell up. Though he still didn't seem to approve of the idea of bringing someone new into their party, he didn't argue further. "Just remember," he pointed at Azure as he began to walk backwards toward the stairs, "if you end up picking someone weak and inexperienced and they die, that's on your conscience."
Azure couldn't possibly pick someone weaker than Uden, and Lonnell was perfectly fine with bringing him along, he thought bitterly as he turned to head to the tavern. As Azure waited for his meal to be served, his eyes scanned the room. The patrons were a mix of Adventurers, most dressed like warriors or rogue-types. Every once in a while, someone in a robe would walk in"presumably a mage of some sort"but they were almost always partied up with other people. That's what Azure's party really needed, a dedicated spellcaster.
Now that he thought about it, Azure really didn't have a class. He was a bit of an archer, a bit of a battle mage. Lonnell was...well, a fighter of sorts with his staff. Uden was definitely a rogue-type with his swift, stealthy attacks. But Uden wasn't here now, and there was no telling if he would ever return. Some gratitude for bringing him back from the dead.
There were no spellcasters in the tavern right now as far as Azure could tell. Now that he was thinking about it, he wasn't even sure how to approach someone to ask if they'd join his party. The level ranges of the people around him were so vast, and most were already partied up.
It took a good hour and a half before someone entered the tavern alone who seemed close to his own level. Even then, Azure struggled with the idea of approaching them. The person in question was a dwarven woman barely four feet tall. She was decked out in mismatched armor with an axe hanging from her belt and a shield on her back. Her hair was pulled away from her face in a long red braid that extended beneath the shield. Taking up an empty spot at a bench at the far corner of the room, she promptly ordered a mead. Azure thought he had seen her around before, though she'd never really stuck out.
She's obviously seen battle or she wouldn't be carrying a weapon. I could either give recruiting her a try or wait for Gods know how long until someone else comes in. If I had more time, I'd definitely rather do that. But I have to recruit someone before tomorrow.
Azure cast a glance toward the door as another group of Adventurers entered. It was already dark outside. Still, he waited a bit longer, praying for a mage or even a lone warrior who might be willing to join up for the quest, even if it was just a one-time thing.
But soon the dwarven woman was done with her meal and her mead. Azure watched her pay the barmaid, and he knew he had to make his move before his only viable prospect disappeared.
He reached the bench she'd been dining at just as she was about to stand. "Hi there," the awkward greeting left his lips.
The dwarf jutted her head back, clearly confused and wary. "Hi there."
"My name is Azure Galvan, and I'm an Adventurer." He held out his hand to her in greeting.
What the fuck am I doing? This is an introduction, not an AA meeting.
She looked down at his hand but made no move to shake it. "Okay..."
Realizing he was probably coming off as a creeper, Azure dropped his arm and got straight to the point. "Judging by your weapon and armor, I'm assuming you're a fellow Adventurer. Correct me if I'm wrong." He waited for her response.
"Yeah," she replied with a bit of hesitation.
"I know I'm coming off as weird, but I honestly wasn't sure how else to approach you." Azure rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "My friend and I just accepted a bounty quest. It's categorized as Hard and will probably involve a dungeon. I'm looking for someone to join our party. It can be a one-time or ongoing thing, depending on how well we all jive together. I'm willing to split half of my loot with you if you choose to accept."
A smirk crept across the dwarf's face, and there was a seed of laughter behind her lips.
"What's so funny?" Azure asked, not getting the joke.
"You said jive."
Quickly, he realized that it was probably a foreign word to her. "Oh, sorry. It means to""
"I know what it means," she cut him off. "I just haven't heard it since coming here. It seems...misplaced." The dwarven woman looked distant for a moment.
"Apologies." Azure shifted his weight. "Anyway, would you care to join us?"
"Hm." She thought for a moment. "How many people are in your party, and what's in it for me?"
"Currently it's me and one other," he began to rattle off the details. "A fourth member may be joining us, counting you, of course. But I can't be certain. He's gone AWOL, I suspect to complete his prerequisite quest for The Adventurers Guild. We arrived here before he did," Azure tried to explain. "Meaning, his brother and I came here and became Adventurers before he later followed." Noticing that she was giving him a queer look, he stopped talking.
"Did you just say...AWOL?"
He cringed inwardly, wondering why he was messing up so much. Clearly, she didn't understand his strange terminology.
"Sorry. It means—”
"I know what it means," she cut him off once more, her brow furrowing in frustration.
“Oh, good.” He smiled. “Anyway, the current loot is 3 gold, 4 silver, 1 Small Skill Token, 1 Ring of Fortune, and 1 Strike Ring. And as you're probably aware, I'm sure we'll pick up more loot along the way. As a general rule of thumb, whatever you land the killing blow on you get to loot, but we occasionally make an exception if someone did more damage to a monster than the person who killed it.” These were all his own rules, rules they'd all followed up to this point. It seemed fair enough, and he doubted that Lonnell or Uden would argue. “As for the main loot, I'm currently entitled to half of it.” Here is where the math got tricky. “I will make sure that you get a fair, equal percentage to the number of people in our party.” Even though it will come from my portion. The thought of losing so much of his earnings pained Azure. Now he was banking on dungeon loot. Even if he only brought in half of what he earned from the last dungeon, it would still be enough to purchase his Teleportation Prisms. That was all he cared about.
Azure was a bit annoyed to see that the dwarven woman had zoned out. It was as if everything he had just said had gone right in one ear and out the other. Maybe he didn't want her in his party after all. If she couldn't even pay attention to the answer to a question that she had asked, then what good would she be?
“I'm going to ask you a strange question,” the woman said suddenly, her eyes boring into his as if she were searching for something.
“Sure. Shoot.”
“Have you ever heard of a place called Earth?”
His mouth fell agape for a moment. No one
since Azure had come to The Realm had acknowledged Earth's existence. It was strange to even hear the word spoken aloud.
“Yes,” Azure responded after a moment.
A sigh of relief left the woman's lips, and her entire body seemed to relax. “Good. Then I'm not crazy,” she muttered to herself.
“Excuse me.” Azure leaned to get her attention, now incredibly interested.
She looked straight at him. “I said, 'Then I'm not crazy.'”
“What made you say that you're crazy though?”
“Because ever since I...woke up here, no one seems to have heard of the place.”
More shock took over. Did she just say that she had woken up here?
“How do you know about Earth?” The question was tearing at his reason. Long ago he had accepted this new life as his reality—that perhaps he had just been delusional in thinking that he had ever lived another life, though he remembered it clearly.
The dwarven woman took a step forward, lowering her voice so that the other tavern patrons couldn't hear her. “Because that's where I'm from.”
The adventure continues in book four. Coming soon...
To further support this author, please post a review after you finish reading this book.
Phoenix Grey is the super secret nerd pen name of a USA Today bestselling author. She currently lives in a secluded podunk town outside of San Antonio, Texas where she can hermit away while working on books and playing video games. When she's not busy plotting her world domination, she can be found hosting game nights at the local comic book store or checking out the latest recommended anime.
She loves hearing from and interacting with fans, so feel free to stalk her in the following ways:
1. Phoenix Grey's Mailing List: http://www.subscribepage.com/TheRealmBetween
Sign up to learn when the next installment of The Realm Between is coming out.
2. The Realm Between's Facebook page: fb.me/TheRealmBetweenLitRPG
3. Phoenix Grey's Reader Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/PhoenixGreyReaderGroup
4. Phoenix Grey's YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjxdU4nqGlBTLX05tjPq1sw
Azure's end of book stats:
Name: Azure
Race: Human
Level: 10, 4% of the way to next level
Health: 270 / 270
Mana: 240 / 240 (260)
Stamina: 270 / 270 (290)
Vitality: 17
Intelligence: 14 (2)
Strength: 17 (2)
Agility: 14
Dexterity: 12
Charisma: 11
Luck: 12
Skills: Archery Lvl 4; 43% of the way to next level
Stealth Lvl 3; 93% of the way to next level
Analyze Lvl 9; 87% of the way to next level
Cooking Lvl 5; 52% of the way to next level
Alchemy Lvl 4; 38% of the way to next level
Foraging Lvl 9; 42% of the way to next level
One-Handed Weapons Lvl 9; 8% of the way to next level
Tracking Lvl 2; 40% of the way to next level
Two-Handed Weapons Lvl 6; 0% of the way to next level
Fishing Lvl 3; 0% of the way to next level
Drinking Lvl 2; 5% of the way to next level
Land Magic Lvl 2; 30% of the way to next level
Languages: Common Tongue, Sprite, Goblin-Tongue, Elvish
Adventurer Rank: E
Lonnell's end of book stats:
Name: Lonnell Namud
Race: Human
Level: 9
Health: 240
Mana: 190
Stamina: 240
End of Book Shit
Hey guys and gals,
Phoenix here again! It's been another hectic past few months. Since the last book was published, I've moved and started a new podcast. But first, let's talk about some of the stuff that happened in Book 3.
This book wrote itself in many ways. Sir Nash Thornton didn't even exist in the outline, yet he ended up playing a large role. Uden's revival also wasn't planned. I came up with the idea when designing the dungeon quest. While the entire series has a rough outline, I panster all of the quests, which means that I don't actually plan them out until I'm writing the book. That leaves a lot of room for expansion of the series and plot twists that I don't even see coming.
The end of this book introduces the first character clearly in a similar situation as Azure. As you can probably imagine, this is going to change how Azure sees and thinks about The Realm. I can't really say much else without spoiling the next book in the series, which I hope you guys are all looking forward to.
My biggest side-project during the past few months has been starting a podcast to help promote other LitRPG authors and spread the word about their books. It's called LitRPG Happy Hour. Basically, what I do is read the Amazon sample of a LitRPG book(with the author's permission) and play a drinking game along with it. You can check it out at the link below. Also, if you're interested in having me read the sample of one of your other favorite LitRPG books, feel free to send me a message on the page.
https://www.facebook.com/LitRPGHappyHour
I'm hoping that the next book in The Realm Between series will be longer. For some reason, I always cut tons out during editing. Having said that, there will once again be a free Cut Scenes book available for those signed up to my mailing list. If you haven't joined yet, you can subscribe here:
http://www.subscribepage.com/TheRealmBetween
Anyway, I hope you guys have enjoyed reading The Realm Between: The Adventurers Guild.
Much love,
Phoenix Grey
Recommendation
Endless Online: Oblivion's Blade
By M. H. Johnson
Val had returned from his latest tour of duty scarred in body and soul. Barely able to walk and drugged to the gills for pain, he thought his killing days were finally behind him.
He couldn't have been more wrong.
Endless Online, a hyper futuristic game where players could truly live another life.
Val loved the idea of starting over in virtual reality. But when someone he cares about turns up missing after chasing that same dream, Val quickly learns that Endless is no simple game.
And if Val can't figure out the dark secrets behind this realm of wizards, warriors, and intergalactic conquest, then it's game over. For everyone.
Get it on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07CSVWFNP
To learn more about LitRPG, talk to authors including myself, and just have an awesome time, please join the LitRPG Group.
You should also check out these other Facebook Pages and Groups
LitRPG Happy Hour (Owned by Me)
LitRPG Books
LitRPG Forum
LitRPG. Fantasy. Sci-fi