Before I had a chance to say anything in response, the cave faded and threw me out back to the Academy. Annoyed, I kicked the former portal which had now turned into an ordinary stone. At some point I’d have to learn to keep my mouth shut if I wanted to receive information. Maybe there’re some courses for that? For example, “Special skills: fishing for information” or “Interrogation: Theory and Practice”. I’d need something to help me understand what was going on a little better.
Actually!
The thought that appeared was so unusual for me – for what I used to be‒ that I almost forgot to touch a guiding line. Only when the nearby boulder moved it reminded me that I was surrounded by a dangerous forest full of monsters. One of the teachers had called me a follower of Darkness, telling me with regret that some “Light” was closed for me. If so, why was I behaving like a follower of the Light? I needed information and I knew a rather effective method for obtaining it; I just needed to receive my ability for defense. That’s what I needed to do right away!
“Welcome, recruit, I will be training you. Now harken to my wisdom!”
Learning progress: You have reached teacher 5 of 10
With the defense abilities everything was even simpler than with the attack ones. Only one defense was taught in the Academy; it was charmingly called “Energy armor”. The ability required 20 Energy for activation and 1 Energy unit per minute to maintain it. Not really a cheap deal for those who had no elixirs or food. It was simple to upgrade the defense as well: you needed to activate and maintain the armor for 5 minutes; then the Game added +1 to its use. Over the free six months of training that I spent in the test range I was able to reduce the activation cost to 18 Energy and increase “Armor resistance” from 15 to 16 percent. That was all I was able to achieve; nor was I successful in getting the teacher to talk. Either the teachers communicated with each other, or I ran into a particularly reserved and withdrawn representative of the profession, but he would say nothing beyond the standard phrases. Could it be a feature specific to hidden teachers? Talking less and doing more?
In any case, I decided to implement the plan I had developed during the half a year of training. I needed information and I was going to get it.
“Paladin!” A player shouted as soon as I stepped out into the clearing with the teacher. In my sector there were two more teachers available in the open, and one hidden teacher; by now I’d abandoned all hope of finding the latter. However, I was not going to neglect the training: I needed to be prepared before arriving at the Labyrinth, whatever that was. I looked over the clearing, spotted the mages among other players there, and slowly, inexorably like fate, moved towards them. My knees were shaking, my chest was tight with fear, my hands were trembling, but I clenched my teeth, made a poker face and walked on, holding my head high. I needed to test everything I learned, and the only way I could see for it was a good fight with the players.
“Stop right there,” the mage ordered, but seeing that his words had no effect he screamed hysterically: “Kill him!”
“I am the Templar’s blow”! I answered, dealing a straight blow to the warrior who rushed at me. The player was one of those select few who’d chosen a weapon for an artifact, so I didn’t bother dodging his blow, taking it on my energy armor. I understood very well all the risks I was taking – whatever protection I had it would not have withstood a simultaneous hit from a hundred players. That’s why I chose the furthest clearing from the attack abilities teacher. The number of players capable of enhanced attack should be minimal here.
Silence fell over the clearing when the warrior who attacked me dissolved in the air like fog in the gust of wind. Enhanced hit on the head proved fatal for the player while he in turn only took 1 Energy unit off of me. That’s what it took to block the sword. What saddened me most was the amount of experience received: a mere 10 points. Apparently, the player who attacked me had been at level 1, and if he hadn’t been initiated that mean that I had just completely killed a living being. What did I feel? Regret? Sadness? Remorse? Phh! The warrior knew what he was getting into trying to stuff me with steel, so it was his own fault. I am the truth!
There were no volunteers among the rest of the players to repeat the feat; practically immediately a wide path formed between me and the mages. A few more arrows hit on my shield, but they petered out fairly soon: the players made a collective decision to give me to the four mages. If they needed a Paladin, they’d have to take him themselves.
“Die, you bastard!” The leader of the local mages shouted with such hatred it sounded as if I’d killed all his kin, having maimed and raped them first. Four lightning bolts hissed off the mages hands, and impotently licked my protective shell. The A-hour had struck; that was the moment I feared the most; however, the reality proved not so terrifying. 10 Energy for each lightning, and neither of them was able to penetrate my “Enhanced defense”. I allowed the mages to strike again, then took another Energy elixir and, finally, rushed toward the mages. Now it was my turn to attack.
“I am the Templar’s blow”!
Six months of training and destroying the trees hadn’t been in vain: I needed to use my attack ability only once. The mages didn’t have an active defense, so my precise blows of the spiked knuckleduster reduced their heads to a bloody pulp: the mages had no skills for close combat. The physiology of players and NPCs were the same, and the appearance of a piece of steel inside the brain never made anyone better off. One after another my opponents dissipated, sent to respawn; however, my plans were a bit more extensive than a simple massacre. Dolgunata had taught me that in the game it was possible not only to be killed but also to be knocked out. So I used my spikes to crush both legs of the local mage leader so that he wouldn’t run off. Then I took off my artifact and socked him one in the eye to put the guy to sleep.
“Bleagh!” I whirled sharply, hearing an unfamiliar sound. The statues, pale as sheets, that used to be players, froze in righteous terror from the sight. Some particularly impressionable ones who hadn’t expected such a bloody payback were retching where they stood. However, no one hurried to help the mage sprawled in the middle of a bloody puddle. My opponents had leaked a fair amount of blood, but I took it in stride. They had wanted to kill me. I killed them as I fought back. I would never have thought that I could be so bloodthirsty and untouched by the pain of others. Perhaps the world, after all, managed to kill the naïve and humane Yaropolk, who had come to the Academy wanting to conquer the world, and it would take me a long time now figuring out who had appeared in his place.
“Any more volunteers to stop me from training?” I growled, addressing the “statues”. There was silence. Recruits who’d become players just a few days ago were still not used to the realities of the Game. Not everyone had had a chance to think all the events through. It took me a year, so now I looked a lot more mature than the rest of the present company. “Guys, work on your own development! Stop listening to the mages! If you don’t train with the teachers, you’ll simply croak without reaching the next level!”
The statues revived and startled to grumble something in response, but I wasn’t listening to them. Grabbing the mage who was still unconscious I dragged him towards the teacher. Before I worked on obtaining information I still needed to train.
Welcome, recruit, I am going to teach you your specialty presently. Now harken to my wisdom!
Learning progress: You have reached teacher 6 of 10
You have already completed specialty training; this teacher does not count
Learning progress: You have reached teacher 5 of 10
“Why do you need the mage, recruit?” the teacher asked as soon as the space around us turned into the training range.
“He’s my source of knowledge,” I scowled bloodthirstily. “I never had a chance for decent training prior to the Academy; this gap needs to be filled. The recruit I selected is quite suitable for this.”
“I don’t like what you’re planning to do with him,” the old
man sighed. By inflicting pain on someone you consciously drive yourself into Darkness.”
“Darkness. Light. Aren’t those two names for the same thing?” I wasn’t going to give up. “What is meant by 'allegiance to Light'? What is meant by 'allegiance to Darkness'? Following some rules and traditions? But they don’t exist!”
“You’re mistaken!” my musings had affected the old man. “The Game defines clearly what is Lightand what is Darkness! What the Light ones can do and what the Dark ones can do! I’d like you to know that ever would a single Dark one be able to enter the gate of Vargolag! A unicorn would never accept a Dark one‒ never!! Never will a single Dark one touch the hand of the great Iurm!”
“You have some problems with the Dark ones?” I guessed after hearing 'never' a few times too many.
“Dark ones killed all my kin!” The old man tried to retain control, but it was obvious that he was shaking with rage. “They shouldn’t exist!”
“You still never told me what’s the difference between Light and Darkness!” I wasn’t going to surrender. Just because the old guy had trouble communicating with the Dark ones didn’t mean that it was a bad path. It was simply different.
“My duty is to teach you a specialty, Paladin.” The teacher seemed to have regained self-control and turned into a block of ice. “If you want to find out about the difference between the Light and Dark development paths, talk to the Chancellor. He’d be glad to reduce you to dust, Dark one!”
There was a pause. The old man was standing with his head raised high, showing with his entire appearance that there was no way I could extract from him any additional information I needed so much. All that was left to me was to sigh heavily and say, suppressing my pride:
“I’ve got nothing else to do here …”
Having come back to the Academy, and seeing that the players in the clearing still hadn’t regained their composure, I dragged the unconscious mage further into the forest. I needed to justify being called “Dark”…
“Noooo!” the mage’s wild scream could probably have been heard throughout the entire sector. He was trying to crawl away, but his broken arms and legs prevented him. It was funny: his emotions didn’t affect me! There was a half-maimed living being lying right in front of me, and all that concerned me was when the mage was finally going to talk! I perceived the torture not as something outstanding, but rather like a normal game process. Once I killed the mage (and there was no doubt that I’d kill him), he would respawn safe and sound again. What I had been able to find out from him by now was his level: level three.
“Arius, do understand: you have no choice,” I repeated one more time. “Until you tell me everything I want to know, I won’t let you go.”
“Go to hell, you!” The mage had blurted out, overcoming the pain and attempting to attack me with lightning yet again. But not so easy! Knowing very well that the player could have used the key phrase several times, draining his own Energy and going for respawn, I had broken both his arms. And legs, just in case. Moreover, I had done it so carefully that even though he didn’t have a single unbroken bone, Arius did not bleed to death: the artifact allowed me to retract the spikes. Besides, after some training sessions I had learned to extend them at will, instantly or slowly. Certainly, that did not add any pleasant sensations to my subject: no one would enjoy sharp three-inch spikes piercing his flesh slowly and inexorably like an approaching train, ignoring any obstacles.
“Oh well, to hell with hell,” I sighed, extending the spikes to pierce the mage’s shoulder. It was horrible even to imagine what this player must feel right now; personally, I wouldn’t have been able to hold on for so long. To prevent the mage from escaping, I periodically applied some ointment to the pierced area to stop him from bleeding. That was an expensive method, but I saw no other choice — I needed information! Another scream of pain echoed through the forest and the mage fainted. He was lucky this time.
“Enjoying yourself?” Dolgunata’s appearance was so unexpected that my heart jumped in my chest. I constantly monitored the Paladins' movement on the map, but couldn’t see the druid’s location. I had supposed she was with them and had forgotten that the panther could use her speed to outrun the guards. Apparently, I’d have to pay for being careless. “Decided to take your anger out on this poor soul?”
“This ‘poor soul’ was trying to kill me,” I shot back, jumping to my feet and activating my protection. The druid should’ve killed me outright: she might not get another chance. “Now it’s time for payback.”
“You could’ve just killed him. Why all this bother?”
“I need information. He refuses to talk, so I have to extract it. Did you want something?”
“You owe me,” the druid started her same old song.
“It’s too late, beautiful. I’ve visited the trader. Shall we dance?”
“How did you…”, Dolgunata tensed, but a moment later shifted from a panther into a person. “Listen, I’m fed up playing those games. Let’s talk?”
“Oh, we’ve graduated to an urge to talk,” I quipped, extending the artifact spikes and extracting an Energy elixir from the inventory. Dolgunata is not a mage — you have to be careful with her. “Don’t you think it’s too late?”
“It’s never too late to talk,” the druid returned, sighed, and then blurted out, practically gluing me to the spot: “For the past seven years I’ve been Archibald’s personal student. He sent me with this particular group of recruits so that I could help you graduate from the Academy. Whatever you did affected him; he even broke the rules casting a complete stun on you. I think that’s the reason you can see the guiding line. Teart also was hit with a full mental block before he reached the Academy. In this way you’re similar and, I think, that’s why both of you can see the way. There’s no other way to explain it. Archibald gave me clear instructions: to provoke you constantly, thus making you develop. He considers that’s the only way you’ll survive. You should agree: he was right and I was able to needle you above and beyond normal. You’ve covered practically all the teachers within the sector; the next quest is the Labyrinth. It’s impossible to complete it alone. I propose that we cooperate until the end of the Academy. I need to complete my teacher’s assignment; you and the Paladins need to survive. I lost my head when you… touched me, and so sent you to respawn. I had to tell everything to the team, hoping that I wouldn’t have to tell you anything. I supposed that you’d be scared of death and would start playing nice. It’s my mistake: I’m ready to accept punishment, but only after we return. What do you say to that?”
“Why didn’t you explain everything from the start?” I frowned. I had never expected any help from the catorian; so Dolgunata’s story was that much more surprising.
“It’s Archibald’s condition. If I had been able to help you pass through the Academy without telling you anything about myself, my reward would’ve been a lot higher than what I can count on at this stage. That was the reason why I didn’t want to enter into any agreements with you until now. I could’ve betrayed myself in some way.
“So in addition to all of that you get a reward?”
“Naturally.”
“Why did you decide to be so frank now?”
“Because the mages have figured out how to fight Monstrichello. The Paladins barely got out alive from the last teacher. Alone they won’t make it to the Labyrinth.”
“Why, all of a sudden, such affection for our class?”
“Have you read Saint-Exupéry? I do agree with what the Fox said about those things.”
“You become responsible forever for what you’ve tamed...” I drawled, but immediately it dawned on me: “How much were you promised for each Paladin?”
“A granis per non-initiated head,” Dolgunata responded defiantly. “You protest against your brethren surviving?”
“Far from it. I support that entirely. After the next teacher I was going to rid them of you, supposing that you had taken them under your control agai
n. But you didn’t‒ right?”
“After I was sent to respawn I didn’t use my abilities on Paladins‒ I swear by the Game!” Dolgunata said and for a few seconds a light glow shimmered around her. The druid was telling the truth.
“ …”
“It’s simpler than trying to prove something to you,” she said in response to my silent question. “You never said... shall we continue together?”
“No!” I answered after thinking a while. “Our paths part from now on.”
“WHAT?!” Dolgunata was astonished to the extent of being unable to hide her emotions.
“What you heard. I now know how much a granis is worth, so I realize that you’re vitally interested in making sure that Teart, Refor and Dirion graduate from the Academy. There’s no point in taking them away from you. It’s your problem now. Logir, Sartal and Мonster are already initiated, so they aren’t in danger. So they’ll kick the bucket a couple of times: big deal… They are no one to me. So you say the mages figured out a way to fight the tank? I’ve been down there and seen the mages fight. They can’t put up a good fight against you. Take the Paladins around to the remaining teachers, make sure they get the training. I’ll give you the location of another hidden one‒ make sure everyone learns defense, I don’t need to tell you how important this is. That’ll help you survive. But we’ll go down different roads. You can report to Archibald that you didn’t just fulfill your task, but have overdone it: now I don’t believe anyone. Did you really think I’d trust a creature who wanted to frame my entire team, and who killed me twice? That I’d trust you just because of a connection to Archibald‒ a freak, whose tail I look forward to breaking as soon as I get out of the Academy?”
I told Dolgunata the hidden teacher’s coordinates; after that we stared daggers at each other for about a minute. Neither I nor Nata wanted to look down first, like two teenagers fighting to establish who's tougher. Finally, the druid gave up, dropping her gaze, but only to immediately look at me, not with the eyes of a teenage girl, but an experienced and cunning woman. The change was so drastic that for a moment I was taken aback.
The Beginning (Dark Paladin Book #1) LitRPG Series Page 23