Still fixated on Sazar’s jewelry set. And he hadn’t disclosed why they were so important.
No matter—Rowan will find out one way or another.
“Water Mage’s spire in the east coast,” he casually lied, “We heard rumors they’ve got some Ice-Dark jewelry items locked up there.” They’d meticulously crafted the contract terms so it’d allow for lies like these. They couldn’t actively act against Zaine under the non-aggression-type alliance but it had been worded to allow for ample leeway.
Zaine’s small head tilted. “Plausible. The jewelry’s ambient ice mana can be converted to water under the right conditions. Though filtering out the dark is harder.”
Good. He was buying it.
“Well, you’ve been sealed for a long time,” Gabrielle said, “They could’ve figured it out by now. Ya know how the Mages are. They oh so love their mana!”
A slight frown pulled at Zaine’s eyes. He hadn’t gotten used to Gabrielle’s personality after an hour and half of negotiations. Whether he was disturbed or confused wasn’t clear. She hadn’t even been mad at her death at the boy’s hands. He slowly said, “How long have I been sealed for? It felt like less than ten hours for me.”
Rowan shrugged, masking his surprise. Every scant advantage counted. “Could have been hundreds of years. Maybe thousands. The inscriptions on the seal had faded.”
Zaine grumbled something inaudible, then said, “Does the Undead Citadel still stand?”
Undead Citadel. The words were musical in Rowan’s ears.
“Huh?” Gabrielle blurted.
“I’ll take that as a no.” Zaine closed his eyes and shook his head. So unlike a boy. “This is unexpected. Ill will have to follow your lead… for now. Till I relearn this world.”
“Yay!” Gabrielle chirped, “Let’s move soon. That world event alert was global so they’re probably rallying troops around here.”
Rowan nodded. She’d informed him on that little Tibet halfway through the negotiation. “We should attack the Water Mages by lunch-time. They won't expect an attack there instead of Greenwood Capital. What do you need to summon your demon army?”
Their demonic army. Zaine was the absolute commander of the army while Rowan and Gabrielle were mere second-in-command generals, much to his annoyance. The boy wouldn’t budge on that clause.
Zaine eyed Gabrielle. “I will need the following small structures built—”
“Oh?” Gabrielle interrupted, “You know what an Occult-Engineer does?”
Zaine lifted an eyebrow. “Of course. There’s over twenty constructing the…” His features froze, his eyes widening. His eyes turned black for a second. “I have been sealed for far longer than I thought.”
“There are only six dark class adventurers out of hundreds of thousands,” Rowan said, “Including us and Ambiguous. She will return to us shortly from the divine realm. The pirates and bandits are the only others and they’ve been forced into corners of this world. They only have a slight affinity for dark mana.”
The Divine Realm—that was what NPCs thought adventurers went when they logged out. That they had business with the gods which they were forbidden to reveal. Hilarious in a way.
“Yup! It’s just us,” Gabrielle said.
“I see.” Zaine took a breath and held out his hand. Ten glass marbles sparkling with dark mana flared into his palm from wherever he stashed his items. “I will need the following structures. Demonic portal generators and siege weapons. Demons can either be summoned through sacrifices—or portals for a mana cost.”
Interesting. The boy was speaking like this was common knowledge during his time. Like there was a dark empire in the world.
“Gimme gimme.” Gabrielle cupped her hands and accepted the marbles with glee. She plopped one into her mouth.
“What are you doing?” Zaine asked.
“Isn’t this how I consume building recipes?”
“No, you buffoon.”
“Oh.” She spat it out and wiped it on her robe before she attempted a myriad of consumption techniques. None worked. “Ah… Hmm... Hehe, I don’t seem to know how.”
Typical Gabrielle. Rowan smirked at her cuteness. Only she could act this around a demonic demigod. “Maybe one of your worker dolls knows.”
“Worker dolls?” Zaine asked.
“Yup. Worker dolls!”
“They didn’t exist in your time, I assume?” Rowan said.
“No.” Zaine’s face pinched in greater confusions and concern. “A lot has changed. Draesear and Ione have been busy.”
The way he spoke Ione’s name was bitter but affectionate at the same time. As if he had some kind of connection to a god.
Which he obviously did, Rowan realized at once. Zaine was a demigod. Ione had to be his mother… or a distant relative. He was just a tier eight world boss. Rowan had read the maximum was tier ten and the various good gods were of tier ten-point-five power. Zaine was probably a distant cousin.
“Yuppers.” Gabrielle stood and stretched her limbs kind of like a cat. “Anyway, I don’t have the materials to craft one right now. Do you? Here, take a look at the recipe!”
Zaine blankly stared at the ruby wall. “Mmmm… Follow.” He waved his hand, glowing red, and a different hidden door swung open, revealing a set of descending, spiral stairs, all dark ruby. He disappeared in a fiery swirl.
“Kay.” She puffed away.
“Wai—” Rowan hesitated, debating whether to follow her down, unsure if they’d left out something crucial in the contract. He reviewed the terms once more, searching for weaknesses, searching for ways Zaine could turn on them. For all they knew, Zaine could be thousands of years old and his child body was one of many forms, hiding his true level of knowledge. Demons were like that according to Ambiguous. Deceptive and full of lies.
But the contract was airtight—airtight as Rowan could tell with his puny amount of experience. Most of it had been coughed up by Gabrielle, guided by her decade of experience in this game. This was her third binding contract and she’d studied countless others in Ambiguous’ lore tomes.
Every possible loophole, double-meaning, and crack had been sealed. Or twisted to their advantage. Luckily, Zaine didn’t appear as knowledgeable in binding contracts. The kid was really was a kid in this regard. Either that or studying this kind of stuff wasn’t popular among demons. They really preferred to idle in dungeons and do nothing all day like in other MMOs.
A ping trilled below the party list.
Gabrielle requests your presence
The sound effect sent a wave of adrenaline up Rowan’s body, his mind programmed from previous games with ping systems. The high-pitched, sharp alert was always used for situations of danger but Gabrielle’s health and mana bar hadn’t dipped—yet. She could simply be calling from him to come and get something—or really be in need of assistance. Which meant the contract wasn’t airtight.
Rowan stood and settled on a cautious approach. He drew his wand and summoned his demons. Owls, stalkers, and a Colossus smoked into the hall one by one.
Zaine whirled into the doorway. “What are you doing?”
Damn. He had a powerful detection ward. Though it didn’t look like he was in battle with Gabrielle. His brain dispensed a lie, second nature. “I was thinking to spar with some of my minions. Accidentally called them to me.”
Gabrielle puffed to Zaine’s side halfway through his sentence. “What? Not a spar now! There’s stuff down here for ya. Didn’t you get my ping?”
Rowan purposefully looked at the fading ping. He dismissed his minions and coughed a breath. “My mistake. Need to tune my interface”
Zaine laid a disparaging look on him and disappeared back downstairs.
Potential crisis adverted. Rowan took a breath and slipped his wand back into its holster, giving silent thanks to Gabrielle’s contract ability. Signing a binding contract with a World Boss orders of magnitude stronger than him was… unnerving to say the least.
Gabrielle gigg
led and poked his ribs, reading his face with apparent ease. “Have more confidence in my contracts.”
“It’s not that.” He huffed, brushing away her steel finger. “I just don’t trust the demon kid.”
“Neither do I.”
Good. At least she had some sense. “Then be more careful around him.”
She spread her arms wide. “I’m super duper careful. This much careful.” She laughed and puffed away before Rowan could comment.
He chuckled and sauntered down the stairs, slipping his bone wand back into its holster. The stairwell was narrow and deep, descending below the chamber’s ground level, a crystal lamp radiating at the bottom. Over fifty steps. Gabrielle and Zaine had traversed the distance in an instant. Thrice. Lacking a short-distance blink skill gimped him far too much. He was currently the weak link by far, an easy, high-priority target for assassins. Though he could transfer minion control over to another character, lessening the impact of his death. It’d only rob his army of supporting fire and a blizzard at the moment. If only he had more dark scrolls—
Like the ones he had nicked from Alastor. The ones that had been sitting his inventory this whole time! “Dammit.”
Gabrielle’s head poked into the stairwell at the bottom. “Huh? Did ya trip?”
Taking two great breaths, Rowan shook his head as he sprinted the remainder. “I forgot about seven dark scrolls I stole from the mage shop yesterday.”
Puffing, she suddenly wrapped around him from behind, granite legs around his waist and a fist at the top of his head. “Grrrrrr! Ya dummy!” Her knuckles rapped at his skull. His whole skeleton vibrated upon each hit. “Dummy dummy dummy!”
You have taken 1 physical damage
You have taken 1 physical damage
You have taken 1 physical damage
The alerts filled the side of his interface.
Whether this was play-acting or another psychotic episode, Rowan couldn’t discern. He couldn’t only feel his brain squishing back and forth as his vision blotched. He couldn’t help but snap at her, his dark mana boiling in the assault, “Ah! What the hell, you crazy bitch?!” He twisted and heaved and pulled at her slender limbs. Why didn’t the freaking Mana Shield stop her? “Get off!”
“How can ya forget about seven dark scrolls?!” She whacked and smacked with those granite knuckles. His health bar approached the halfway mark, a blaring pain at the top of his head. “Dummy!”
"Stop before you kill me. Look, I forgot. A lot happened!" He pulled her legs and arm with all his strength. She didn't budge an inch. A trail of wetness dripped down his ear. Blood. His health hit 50%. "Stop!"
She finally cut it out, then said in a colder voice, “You’re not as smart as I thought, Rowan.”
Her tone stabbed a different, numb pain into his heart. Draesear’s vision flooded his mind. Those cold, dead eyes of hers glared at him.
He shook it off, both the anger and hurt, and said, “Sorry. A lot happened. I just forgot.” Just accept the fucking apology you dumb bitch, he stopped himself from saying.
Gabrielle remained glued to his back for the longest seconds as all warmth drained from Rowan’s feet. The silence and shallow breaths said it all. He’d let her down again. Those scrolls could’ve made a massive difference and he’d forgotten about them like a piggy-idiot. All thanks to his own stupidity. His own fault. He’d disappointed his beautiful Gabrielle.
But this reaction was completely over the top! He’d been trying his best with a crippled brain. She knew of his condition very well. “Come on!” he snapped, “It’s just a little mistake. I bet you forget stuff all the time!”
She flinched at that. Then her hand struck his behind, spanking him. "Hmph." She puffed off him and cool relief washed over his wound, his health bar back to full. "From now on if ya find anything important, make a note on the social interface. It's what I do." She sighed and gave him a tiny smile, thawing Rowan's chest, before turning to—
Bloody hell.
This was a warehouse of supplies and building materials. Stacks upon stacks of wood, stone, metal, glass, and gems of all colors piled to the ceiling for hundreds of meters. Boxes, cabinets, shelves, and cases of items which Rowan didn’t recognize lined the close wall. It was a miracle this hadn’t been looted by whoever had sealed Zaine.
Zaine who stood at a line of tables. He watched the pair curiously, almost a sad expression on his face. He grimaced when Rowan caught his eye, then pointed at a cabinet and said without emotion, “There’s a couple of Ice-Dark scrolls in there which Zar already knew. Common, low-power duplicates.” His finger shifted to another. “And some of her old, low to mid-level gear. Take whatever.”
After peeking at Gabrielle, who stood at shelves of fabric and jars with a happy expression, Rowan said, “Take whatever? Didn’t you want her old gear?”
Zaine blinked. “Just that jewelry set.”
So the set was something else. Something extremely important for the boy to make so many concessions in the contract. Something far more powerful than just a unique jewelry set. Perhaps the set effect was hidden and god-like. "Fine by me," Rowan said coolly and tucked away this information for later.
He first stepped to Gabrielle. That slap still burned on his behind. “I’ll get you back for that spank. This isn’t over,” he whispered into her ear, patting her behind softly.
Her jovial expression returned and she swayed her hips. “Ya better not disappoint, boy.”
He mentally sighed in relief. She was still alive and here—with him. “Definitely not.”
“Hmph, so you say.” Her swirling eyes challenged him. “We’ll see if you’re limp or not.” She fanned her fingers. “Now shoo and read those scrolls before ya forget. I gotta craft some cute little worker dolls!”
Damage mitigated. She wasn’t leaving him anytime soon. She needed Rowan as much as he needed her. He’ll make sure she knows that—one way or another.
The mana in his blood calmed as he strode to the cabinet by Zaine. He was rummaging through them at a comical speed. “What are you looking for?”
“My gear.” He flared to another cabinet. “I think those adventurers looted it. It dropped to the ground when I was sealed. Only managed to save the katana.”
Six million health with only a Katana? The boy was demigod through and through. Rowan didn’t know what to say, so he settled on, “A shame. If only Soulbound applied to non-adventurers.” And let the boy search while he fetched Alastor’s dark scrolls from his pouch.
Scanning the skill name on each, Rowan chucked the non-Necromancer scrolls onto a table. Onyx Skin would be good for Ambiguous and Paralyzing Totem was in Gabrielle’s domain. Three were for other dark classes. Two for Fallen-Angel and one for Blood Mage. Intriguing names.
By some lucky chance, the remaining two were for Necromancer or Death-Knight. He consumed the first without reading the descriptions and knowledge appeared in his mind.
New Active Skill: Consume Minion
Consumes a minion to restore health, mana, and stamina.
Skill Level: 0, 0%
Skill Tier: 0
Effect: 1 maximum target. 0% increased restoration
Tier Effect: Each minion restores your health, mana, and stamina equally based on remaining minion health divided by ten.
Not a bad skill but not a superb skill. It could save Rowan in a tough spot but if he was in a tough spot it’d likely be a losing battle anyway. Decent, but not too useful.
Then the next.
New Active Skill: Create Bone
Create new bone from your mana. Picture the bone you wish you create and describe it with the dark language.
Skill Level: 0, 0%
Skill Tier: 0
Channel Duration: varying
Mana Cost: varying
Effect: Creates a bone from your imagination. 0% reduced mana cost.
Tier Effect: Each cast is limited to 1 whole bone weighing at most 5 kilograms.
A crafting skill. Looks like Necroma
ncer was also a hybrid crafter class like Gabrielle’s Occult-Engineer. Though it was already clear from his world boss bonuses. This skill merely cemented the fact.
But still no movement skill. That was arguably the most important skill apart from raise.
Rowan hardened his jaw and opened the cabinet, praying to the in-game gods for a frosty blink skill or just puff. Gabrielle had mentioned puff was a generic dark-class skill but the scroll was legendarily rare and couldn’t be crafted. Most skills scrolls couldn’t be crafted.
On the shelf labeled Ice-Dark, Rowan found over twenty scrolls. He gulped and retrieved them like the old papyrus could crumble on touch.
Please. Just one movement skill and the rest can be worthless. He skimmed the name of each, many duplicates, and found—
Aeon Chronicles Online_Book 1_Devil's Deal Page 36