The Way of the Clan 7

by Dem Mikhaylov

  It was a lottery - the award varied. Ideally - you would receive four percent of mana and lose only one percent of life. The worst option is to get one percent of mana and lose four percent of life. I got almost the worst option.

  I did not intend to fall to the very bottom, and so I took out a teleport scroll from my pocket and whispered the name of the next destination.

  Where did I go?

  Oh ... from the very top, down into the dirt underground.

  I went to the bog creatures… I was burning with the desire to learn as much as possible about everything connected with Tantarial. I am just like that from childhood, you see. Pass a test in literature? Unlikely. But to penetrate a seemingly securely locked cabinet of chemistry and try to create some kind of special reagent - this was my forte…

  And so, from here on out, I followed the trail like a bull terrier. And I would get there soon…

  Yes ... I got there indeed.

  Everything was in its place. Everything just as usual. Almost….

  The gigantic room, the island half-submerged in water, the large earthen mound protruding from the dark ceiling ditches dug in the mud. The stingray — the huge creature swam up to me, carefully studied me, and then gently brought me to the shore. Recognized me, as it were. Quietly howling, the old Mohrusha was sitting on the bank, now and then drinking from the pot of swill and eating a ceiling cucumber.

  It was hard on his heart. The elder shoved mud around in anger with his heel, scaring away the dibilids.

  “Everyone's gone!" I stared at the red-rimmed woeful eyes. “Everyone!”

  “Where did they go?”

  There was no need to ask “who left.” On the vast island and there were no more bog creatures.

  “SHE forgave them,” explained Mohrusha, and drank for a long time. When he tore himself away from the suspicious drink, he looked hopefully at me. “Will you live here? Hm? Friend Rosgard?”

  “Hmm .... “ I said, clambering out onto the mossy shore and stepping into the mud. “This is unlikely. It is not for me. Mohrusha, do not worry about it. Soon, other bog creatures will come here. After all, you kick someone out of your ranks every day. You are strict. All goes according to the procedure - put the party fish on the table, mess around and feast, and then a kick in the ass with the exclamation "govosyuk matyuk!” Isn’t that right?”

  “This is tru-u-ue,” he became animated. “That we can do!”

  “So do not worry. Just wait a bit, and new exiles will come, and you will be tormented by them.”

  “Yes - yes!” Joyfully nodded old creature. “True! You’re right! It is true what you say! We are strict! Quickly kick them out! Maybe my old woman will be sent far away again! But then they forgave her, too. And she's gone!”

  "Mohrusha, why didn't you leave?" I could not resist asking the question. “Did she not forgive you?”

  “How could she not forgive me? She did forgive!” Said the skinny breast. “She did!”

  "So why did not you leave? I heard you celebrate. They had fish, danced, consumed all sorts of special drinks.”

  “Yes! And there was fish here! And I danced!”

  “.... But why stay here?”

  “Do you know who I am here?”

  "Who?"

  “A chief! And who am I there?”

  "Who?"

  “No one! An old stranger, needed by no one .... It's better here.”

  “Hmm …."

  Something makes me uneasy. I am indirectly involved in this. And at first I was very happy when I heard that all the outcasts had received divine forgiveness…

  "But your old lady has gone with them, has she not?"

  “Right! Ahead of all of them!”

  "Well ... she was not frightened."

  "Do not compare me with her, Rosgard! Who is she? And who am I? My old woman stomps her foot on the river bottom - and fish floats to the surface belly up. And I’d give it a go - but what's the point? I will stomp my foot ... my foot will get stuck in the mud. I am better here! I will wait! Soon, somebody will swim in!”

  "Yes, yes," I nodded. "It will be so. Mhm.”

  But I kept silent about one important detail - if some healthy young bog creature comes here, and if Mohrusha does not have his nearly all-powerful wife, the old woman, then the power dynamic on the island would change abruptly.

  However, this truth did not bother me — and after a momentary thought, I asked:

  "Mohrusha, do you have mail here? Can you, for example, send me a message in case of something?”

  “Of course! We are not backwards! Civilization is upon us!”

  "If you have a hard time, if something happens, immediately write me a letter. And I will certainly try to come to the rescue,” I promised, quite seriously.

  And the old man understood my seriousness, the truth in my words. He nodded just as seriously.

  “Of course, friend Rosgard! If something happens— I will send one! I am literate!”

  "If something happens, you need to pray, you mossy, wet, shabby stump!"

  The old man stared at me. I stared at him. And we looked out to the ti-i-iny snake of green-red striped color peeking out of the water.

  "Sit here and continue to look after the dibilids!" The snake continued to give commands. Behind it, a huge manta swam in the water.

  “Goddess!” Murmured Mohrusha, having collapsed flat on his back and with a drunken grunt into the liquid mud. So many bubbles…

  Finally the elder figured out who exactly was giving him orders through the mouth of the snake.

  “I will!” Said he, more audibly. “Oh Great one! O powerful one! Divine one!”

  Given the microscopic size of the snake, the names sounded ridiculous.

  "Yes," snarled the snake. "And your little old lady will be back soon. Rosgard!”

  “Good day,” I smiled and opened a flask of wine. “How are you, oh great Snessa?”

  “Terrible,” the snake responded, and in a split second turned from a tiny creature into a huge snake, about whose size it was possible to say something like "Her mother was a dinosaur!"

  The monstrous scaly creature leaned forward and sharply wrapped around me and Mohrusha, taking the form of an imperfect sign of infinity. A flat head with flaming evil eyes and a trembling bifurcated tongue leaned toward the gray ear of the old bog creature, and softly said:

  "My words are much more important than your life, Mohrusha. Sit on an old stump and pray earnestly. Let the sanctuary be here. And the other creatures are too early, or too late, but they will come here. I will direct them. But you cannot blunder!”

  “Y-y-y-yes,” the convulsive scream of the frightened little soul escaped from Mohrusha.

  I myself looked with apprehension at the tight rings of the snake’s body sliding around me. One contraction - and instant death. It is good that I do not have a phobia of snakes.

  “Ros-s-sgard,” the snake's head came closer to me. Somewhere in the distance, old Mohrusha flopped into the lake in four second’s time, no more.

  "Yes, O great goddess.”

  "You're looking for everything, everything, you’re saving and saving it," the goddess remarked. "Greed does not give you peace?"

  “Who knows,” I tried to shrug my shoulders, but they were being too tightly squeezed. “I will not hide it, I became richer — but I have also found more adventures and problems.”

  "You people, es-ss-pecially foreigners, love that sort of thing," she hissed without reproach, rather bewildered. "Once I offered a worthy knight a generous gold fee for doing a little errand. But he refused. Then I offered to s-send him to a swamp full of deadly creatures, where he would surely be killed, and where the death would be terribly painful ... and he immediately agreed to my proposal. What kind of contamination is in your hot blood? What pushes you farther and farther? After all, you have a lot of money, you must care for your daughter, but you continue to take on new burdens …."

  “I am definitely not an ideal father. An
d not the best representative of my world,” I answered hurriedly, without being modest. “Snessa, do not think I am being rude, but these hugs .... I am really uncomfortable.”

  “We snakes love and kill, with hugs,” hissed Snessa with a sneer.

  “I think that now, it's not about love, am I right?” I remarked cautiously. “Are you angry that I came here? To Mohrusha?”

  "I am not angry. What did you want to learn from Mohrusha?”

  “If he saw other passages under Algora, under the ground— a corridor lined with a red and yellow stone,” I blurted out in one fell swoop.

  "And what about this corridor?"

  “It may lead to Tantarial," I gasped, and squeezed my eyes shut.

  The rings of a huge snake body shrank sharply, an exhale came out of my chest, and my life points quickly ran down. I was crushed like a rotten tomato ....

  But Snessa managed to stop.

  “You want to get there, and then .... Truly, you want only death,” chided the flat head of the Snessa. “I do not understand strangers .... Do you know who is c-contained in the abyss-ss of Tantarial, Rosgard?”

  "The fallen gods," I responded, quietly applying healing spells to myself. "Those that are a bit ... out of it.”

  “So you know,” Snessa nodded in satisfaction. "So maybe, it's better to leave them in peace?"

  "If not me, then others will,” I said with absolute certainty. "Outlanders will, sooner or later, reach the divine hell, Snessa. This cannot be stopped.”

  “You are speaking the truth…. Well! You have not yet found the way to hell, but are striving to go there ... and this is the thought of a father of a young daughter! Is the father's share so difficult?”

  “Ha-ha-ha,” I grumbled. “Yeah .... Well, I try to be a good father.”

  "And that's why you send your daughter on insane adventures atop a battle mammoth in the company with a bald prankster, whose cunning can be compared with the treachery of my brother Snes .... Yes, you really so try to be a good father …."

  "Nothing is hidden from your keen eye."

  “Snakes .... little, big, tiny, huge snakes .... They are my eyes and ears, they are my sense of smell and touch. I am not omniscient. But I know a lot .... Rosgard, you really are becoming a good father…”

  “How?”

  "Do not bother Mohrusha. He has other worries, important cares. He feels gratitude to you and therefore wants to help, to go in search of the red-yellow corridor. But it will take a long time, many long days. The catacombs under Algora are monstrously huge and deep. It's a whole different world! A wet, dark and very dangerous world. Are not you ashamed of sending a helpless old man over there?

  “I just wanted to ask! Maybe he was there already…”

  "We'll do it this way … Two steps. Two simple steps ... Step one!”

  T-S-S-AP!

  Approximately this kind of sound was heard when the snake-goddess Snessa bit me in the head.

  Yes, in the head. Not even in the throat, in the ear to retain my dignity, or as a kiss on the lips, so that everything looks more cool and sexy. Hell no. I just got a snap on the head - judging by the length of the sharpest snake teeth, I was bitten in the skull and poison was injected into my brain. Fuck … a snake bit me in the brain!

  Dozens of panicked red lines ran before my eyes, and then they were replaced with a perplexing yellow, and then a peaceful green. After that, came was a surprising result: I received an increase of ten percent of mana to my natural limits. And not only this. There was a lot of amazing information.

  Wow….

  You got the "Poisoned Brain" effect.

  Your mana reserves are increased by 10%.

  Your resistance to all natural poisons is increased by 10%.

  Your Intellect is increased by 10 points.

  Your Dexterity is increased by 10 points.

  Your Stamina is reduced by 10 points.

  Your Wisdom is reduced by 5 points.

  Additional Information:

  This effect does not affect other players.

  The effect lasts while the light goddess Snessa has her divine throne.

  The effect is valid until the light goddess Snessa removes it - for example, in case of damage to your relationship.

  The effect is valid as long as the goddess Snessa has a sufficient supply of divine energy.

  You got the effect of “Prey of Snessa".

  Henceforth, no snakes in their normal state will ever attack you. Why? Because the goddess Snessa has marked you, meaning that you are her supper, her meal, her prey.

  I definitely was injected with some toxin into the brain.

  And I had rapidly mutated and gained some new abilities.

  Everything had happened at once.

  Overall, I could safely call myself, from now on, the fifth ninja turtle.

  "Unexpected," I said aloud, staring at these most amazing lines.

  "My poison is deadly. Dreadfully deadly,” the snake smile. “But my poison is also a medicine.”

  “I see …"

  "But my poison is good for something else," continued purring Snessa, squeezing me in her coils, her tongue wandering over her black snake lips.

  “What?” I asked cautiously.

  "My poison is an excellent marinade," the divine serpent confided.

  Perfect. My brain was marinating in a very spicy sauce. From now on, I am a walking shish kebab. I just have to be thrown onto a spear and tenderly brown my sides.

  “But what for?” I could not restrain myself.

  “I know about your search for energy, Rosgard. And I helped you a little. From now on, you owe me, Rosgard. And from now on, you will always remember that the advantage gained from me will give you strength only as long as I keep my throne.”

  "Is your poison still in my head?"

  "Oh yes ... your delicious little brain literally floats in it."

  About the “little," I did not comment. About "delicious" too.

  "Now your poison gives me strength. But if you want to, then …."

  "One thought from me— and that poison will mean death. Or it will become boiling hot water that will welds your brain right into your skull. Or into an acid, that instantly …."

  "Yes, yes, I understand, thank you," I nodded hastily.

  “And now the second step,” continued she, and the coils became even tighter. “Rosgard …."

  “Yes?”

  “Do you have friends who are just as curious, but with much more p-power than yourself?"

  "Even too many," I answered.

  “Alright .... So, Rosgard .... Since today I am feeling so kind, I will tell you the f-fresh knowledge that you can exchange for the knowledge you need about Tantarial - of course, if you are not deceived.”

  "I am listening very carefully, O great goddess Snessa!" I responded, and bowed my head respectfully.

  The giant reptile began to whisper softly, tickling my ear with her forked tongue. She whispered for three minutes, maybe four. Then she looked at me, and I nodded, letting her know that I remembered.

  "It's time for you to go, Ros-sgard. Where would you like to go?”

  “Algora! Restaurant Royale de Cannes!

  A light punch of the tail. And a magical flash sent me the hell out of that place. Farewell, Mohrusha. I think you're not up to talking with me right now anyway ....

  A terrace lined with mosaics. I was again on the roof of a memorial building. A couple of steps away, sitting at the table, were a few players of the Sleepless clan who were discussing something, trailing their fingers along the blue map. The map was huge ... and it was directly flooded with blue, with a few inclusions of brown color. This was probably something about the ocean ....

  “What the fuck ?!” Screamed the first player when he saw me— he was a half-orc in yellow-gray armor. “How are you here ?!”

  The map disappeared but I managed to notice a handful of tiny boats carved from wood lying on the table.

  "How impolite," I an
swered, sinking down onto the expensive wicker chair and throwing my muddy feet over the table covered with a snow-white silk with exquisite embroidery. “Is Busia in Valdira? If so, tell her to come here.”

  ”You really … wait ... Ros?"

  “Yep, it is me.”

  "Have you decided that the Baroness will run to you at the click of your fingers?" Said a hot looking elf in a tight black suit made of leather and with such a hairdo, with such behavior, that it did not take much intelligence to understand - she was a big fan of Blueberry Busia, diligently copying her every move.

  “You look similar,” I noticed, gazing at the girl. “But not completely.”

  “ ... what is different?” the elf with the nickname Smile of Death could not help asking.

  "You are beautiful and you have breasts," I answered. "Guys, I did not come here for nothing. I really need the Baroness. It is important. Very important for the sleepless, I believe. Just a few minutes. Will you call her? I will wait no more than five minutes. Then I will leave for another clan, because I do not want my information cake to cool. Decide! Should I wait, or jump from the roof?”

  “Wait,” said one of the severe looking, gray-bearded gnomes “We will inform her. Will you drink some wine?”

  “Already got some,” I grinned, taking a flask from my belt. “Or do you have specific rules for this establishment? Can’t I have a beer?

  “Whatever,” said the player with a bleary nickname.

  “I am waiting,” I smirked, but took my feet from the table. “Waiting… but not for long…”

  Chapter Twelve.

  Mind-boggling news. All hands on deck! Payment for betraying your kin!”

  “You have enough to say to be driving me up the wall?” The Black Baroness asked, gently entering the hall.

  “My father always said - if you have to see the master at home, instead of empty words, it's easier to sink a couple of his ships, or slaughter a squealing pig on the lawn in front of his windows. And the owner would be immediately announced. My father was a fighting admiral. And it worked, if you would believe it. And it worked with you,” I said, throwing my feet back up on the table. “Come on. We have to talk. Urgently!”