Shit.
I sighed. "What do you want in exchange for giving me the information now?"
"I want you to stay here instead of going to Ter'nodril," he said.
"Not happening. Anything else?"
He waved his hand dismissively. "We'll discuss it after you come back. Just one last thing," he said after a pause. "I see you're all much stronger than before, and I can see you've mined this place." He gestured at all the excavated walls. "That was stupid of you; there's no free lunch in this world."
"Oh?” I asked.
"If I'm not mistaken," he said, "and I never am, these stones are Toxic Boosters. They provide quick growth but you won't be able to increase your attributes for a while, except through rewards."
Just as he finished speaking, I received a status effect notification.
Status effect received: Growth Poisoning
Some of your attributes have been poisoned.
The only way you can increase them is by completing quests, finishing raids, and receiving titles or status effects.
» Poisoned attributes: Strength, Agility, Dexterity, Constitution, Willpower
» Time remaining: 56 days, 7 hours, 57 minutes, 23 seconds
Although it was news to me, I wasn't really surprised. I'd done enough work grinding stats during the Challenge to realize the rate of stat growth from mining here was suspiciously high. I'd expected some kind of trap or ambush, but I hadn't even realized something like this was possible.
"Your facial expression tells me I was right," Manhart said.
"Why didn't I receive the status effect before?!" I demanded.
"If people somehow knew it the moment they were poisoned, such things would be rather useless wouldn't they?" He needled me. "Valians receive one week of poisoning for each attribute point that was gained using the Toxic Boosters. You Travelers have it much easier, your poisoning lasts only four days per point gained in the attribute which increased the most. Depending on how much growth the Booster allows, it can even be worth it."
I wasn't really sure how I felt about it. While fifty-six days was a long time, if it hadn't been for the mining I wasn't sure I'd have survived the fight against Oxfiend. It may even be that these Toxic Boosters were here specifically to help an underpowered group; this was a game after all and games are generally balanced in favor of the player.
"Well, what's done is done," I said. "Any other piece of wisdom you want to impart?"
"I can tell you many things, and I shall, but only if you remain here," the lich replied.
I merely sighed, it seemed I did that a lot around Manhart. "That's it, then." I turned, walked one step, then looked back at him. "Oh, I promised the zombies some gold when I completed the quest, but I'm broke. I'm sure you can take care of it since I just provided you with a castle as a playground."
He didn't answer me; instead, he walked toward the still open secret passage. "Come," he ordered the zombies.
"See ya later, guys," I said, waving at them. "Don't forget to charge Manhart or he won't pay you."
"Until later, Armless Emperor," Bear said.
"Armless Emperor!" Someone yelled.
"Armless Emperor!" They all shouted in unison.
Assholes.
They had grown on me.
Out of nowhere, something pushed at me and I almost fell to the ground.
"What the-" I looked back and saw that Daggers was the culprit.
"You are welcome, sir," she said. "I'm always happy to serve."
I looked at her, with confusion and perhaps a little irritation on my face.
"Your gravity spell, sir," she explained.
I sighed. This was going to be a long trip.
I decided to go back using the underground maze to avoid contact with Manhart inside the castle, since I never knew how he might try to cheat me again.
We didn't encounter any monsters on the way back to the exit from the underground maze. It probably had something to do with me being the new Master of the Castle. There were still many monsters listed as my Subjects in my management menu, but for all I knew they had run away or were hiding from me.
Daggers kept pushing me at random intervals and although it was annoying as hell, it did provide the expected benefit of levelling my gravity spell, so I just kept my mouth shut and took it.
It felt weird to walk alone with Daggers after the zombies had accompanied us for so long. While not having her constantly yelling at them was definitely pleasant, the silence also felt strangely empty.
We called it a day in the middle of the stalagmites forest, reckoning it was a safe place for both of us to logout. Even if we were attacked on our return to the game, the tight passage and confusing layout would allow us to properly defend ourselves.
We logged off.
* * *
After taking the VirBridge off, I tiredly rested on my bed. It had been a long ride.
It was time for a bath, and after that, filling my stomach.
Grandfather had no specific preferences when it came to food, so Cadbury took care of provisioning the house. I had to hand it to the butler, he had an eye for the finer things in life. .
I took some coffee and muffins and made my way back to my bedroom.
As I was passing grandfather's study I saw an Army Major leaving. He was clearly deep in thought, and if he was considering anything grandfather had proposed, he must have been an idiot.
I truly pitied the man and decided to impart some of the wisdom I'd gained the hard way, by having to deal with my family all my life.
"Hello, there, one-eyed Army man," I said with a smile "You look like a nice guy, so I'll give you some good advice: whatever grandfather promised you, decline it, run away from him, and never look back." Feeling damn pleased with myself, having done my good deed for the day, I put a muffin in my mouth and walked away.
Back in my room, I called Alice using the phone. I had ordered a holo-projector but it hadn't been installed yet.
"Hello?" She said as she picked up the phone.
"Hey there," I replied.
"Hey, Jack. New number?" Her tone was much more casual in real life than in the game, but there was still a military edge to it.
"Yup. I'm at my grandfather's house now."
"Cool. I wish I had a grandfather. What's up?"
It seemed like a strange response, but I didn't really know what I could say about it either, so I let it go. "Nothing much. I'm just wondering if you're cool with your share of the streaming revenue."
"Definitely. I'm receiving more than Paul, so that's a win."
"Paul?"
"That's Bear's real name."
"Oh," I said. "I didn't realize you two were friends. From the way you fight in game, it seems like you can barely tolerate one another."
"That's a fair assessment. He called to ask me to be less strict with Ted."
"Did it work?"
"What do you think?"
I smiled. "Alright, let me know if you would like an even larger share, I'm sure I could get it for you. They were desperate enough for us to sign that they allowed me to insert an escape clause, so we have a week in which we can renegotiate, or even cancel the contract."
"No, it's ok. I didn't know people could earn this kind of money just by letting others watch them play a game."
"Is it good?" I hadn't checked the gains.
"Yes." Although she said that, her tone was flat. It seemed Daggers' intrinsic coldness was a part Alice's real personality.
"Good. What do you think about Ted?"
"She's jealous of you."
I hadn't expected that answer. "She's what?"
"She's jealous. I can tell she's into Paul but now he spends all his time in the game following you around. It's clear that he has more fun with you than her."
"But she has so much more fun potential, if you know what I mean."
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"I do, and I don't think so. Even if the sex is great, it can't sustain a relationship. People need more than that and Ted is too sheltered and appears unwilling to mature."
"Yeah, I agree with you on that." It was always interesting to see how other people analyzed situations. "Do you think I should call her?"
"Of course. You told Paul you would, didn't you?"
She had heard that? "Yep."
Just as the silence had stretched into awkwardness she spoke up, "I need to go now, see you tomorrow."
"Cool. See ya."
She hung up. This kind of personal interaction was a good way to ensure she stayed loyal, which was critical, I was going to need her soon. I suppose I couldn't pretend I didn't enjoy talking with her as well, even if she was oddly cold. It was too bad she was against what I'd done to V-Soft, I knew it was only a matter of time until it came to light and then we would have to part ways.
And then there was Ted; I knew I'd gone too far with the way I'd rebuked her in front of everyone. I wonder, would I be able to make it up to her by improving the relationship between her and Paul?
I sucked at this kind of thing, but I could try. Was Paul the kind of guy that I could manipulate with money? If so, this would be easy to solve; I just needed to pay him to date Ted.
Just because I had felt betrayed when I found out the girl I was dating had been paid by my parents to do so, that didn't mean I was above doing the same thing. After all I'd already realized I was a hypocrite in many ways.
I took a deep breath. This felt like having friends. The last friends I had were the members of my street gang.
But I wasn't sure if I should invest in these new friends. As soon as they found out about me, they would leave. Even I wouldn't remain friends with someone if I found out they were a stone cold killer who had thrown the country into chaos, and I was pretty tolerant of evil, if I was being honest with myself.
Know what?! It doesn't matter if they'll stick around. I used Ted to get to her dad. I can at least do this much for her.
I called her. "Hello?" She picked up.
"This is Jack. I'm in love with Bear." I said quickly.
No answer. Now that I had shocked her enough to not hang up on me, I could proceed.
"I know I shouldn't. We're just friends. But it happened and he seems to like my presence too. I don't know what to do. Should I tell him? What if he says no? Then again, there's this other guy. He is taking Bear away from me. And I thought I was friends with this guy! How dare he?!
"Obviously, without a doubt, the only way to proceed is to antagonize both Bear and the guy, then disappear from the face of the Earth. That will get me Bear.
"Or!" I said lightning fast so she wouldn't hang up. "Or I could use the opportunity that the two of them are now separated in the game, and that Bear is staying where I last logged off, to show him that I can be a good girlfriend. Not the annoying girl who becomes hysterical when she can't easily get what she wants, but a true partner who waits patiently and acts wisely in order to make her dreams come true, especially when it comes to love."
No answer, but I was satisfied with my speech. I might not be knowledgeable about relationships, but I knew logic, emotional blackmail, and how to make a cheap motivational speech.
"Now, seriously, I'm going to Ter'nodril with Daggers," I said. "Bear is back at the castle with lots of sweaty zombies, minotaurs, and a living skeleton. Even the fairies are gone. Take this chance or don't, that's your choice. But in the world outside your bubble, happiness doesn't happen by itself. It has to be seized."
I hung up.
And that was it for today. Damn, doing something nice was exhausting. That definitely counted as my 'good deed for the day' for the rest of the decade, if not a bit more.
I slept soundly that night.
* * *
The next day, Daggers and I continued our trip to Ter'nodril. Two of my core traits, Controller and Energizer, leveled up.
Without zombies to train, the journey that had taken four days, took two instead. Daggers continued to push me whenever she saw a good opportunity, but the gravity spell didn't level up. I couldn't see her face hidden within the magical darkness but I still got the distinct impression that she smiled each time.
What did happen, was that receiving one point of light damage every single minute for days on end finally paid off.
Resistance to Life element increased to 1% (+1)
After continuous damage, your body has learned how to resist Life damage.
On the end of my twenty-fifth day since I had come back to Valia, I finally passed by the invisible Catacombs, where I had seen the headless ghost horsemen appear out of thin air, after I tried to follow Ted into the Catacombs, about two months ago.
Right after that, I stepped into Serharn, the drow country.
I found myself in a huge cave chamber and looked to where a scattering of villages had stood before. Now there was only barren land, as if the villages had never existed in the first place. It was a sinister reminder of what had happened to the Slums.
She didn't hesitate even a moment before answering.
I raised an eyebrow.
So, Daggers was a Separatist as I'd already believed and was prejudiced against AIs.
Well, that kind of logic only made her a normal girl, I guess. Or for that matter a normal human being.
To my surprise, she put her hand on her hood... And lowered it.
This was the first time I'd seen her avatar's face.
Her long white hair was held in a ponytail. One of her eyes was golden and the other was green, both so clear they almost shone in the darkness. They gave her a unique air.
Her bluish dark skin was like all drow but her face had a beautiful etherealness to it, more like the elves than their evil cousins.
It was clear that, unlike me, she had put a lot of effort into creating her character.
It didn't take long for that to happen. After we walked for half an hour, a dust cloud appeared far away and approached us at high speed. When it was close enough, we saw the horsemen responsible for raising the dust.
Both the headless men on the horses and the horses themselves were translucent. Un
like Ted, they weren't white, but fully colored, which only happened when they got to level twenty or thirty — I couldn't remember exactly. The horsemen had long lances that they kept pointed at us and held shields at the ready in their other hands. On their metal breastplates was the symbol of the Catacombs: a white hand.
There was ten of them and they didn't look interested in talking.
Still, I raised both my arms in the universal gesture for peace, keeping Manhart's Medallion in one hand. Daggers also surrendered.
Even headless, the horsemen seemed to notice my gestures, because they lowered their speed. Their lances were kept lowered as they surrounded us though.
"Hello," I said. "I'm here under Manhart's orders." I shook the hand holding the Medallion. "I have some business to discuss with the Mage Kings."
The full title was 'Ruined' Mage Kings, but I wasn't sure if it was rude to call them that, and I wasn't interested in finding out while their men were all around me.
"Follow us," one of them said. I didn't see who.
I widened my eyes and looked at the horse in front of us. "Sorry, I didn't hear," I said.
"Follow us," the horse said. This time I clearly saw its mouth move.
Holy shit.
There were plenty of magical beasts in Valia that were capable of speech, but for some reason seeing a horse speak, and a dead one at that, was different. And creepy.
"Lead the way," I said.
They turned and we headed back in the direction they'd come from while they continued to surround us.
There was nothing worth seeing along the way, only barren land. The specters hadn't been messing around; they had leveled the entire drow countryside. Literally. There wasn't even a sign cities had existed here.
Eventually our path intersected a river and we followed it down. Some time later, we finally saw one of the cave chamber walls far ahead. The corridor to Ter'nodril in that wall was also in sight. The watchtowers to either side of it seemed to have been erased from the landscape.
Unbound Deathlord: Obliteration (The Unbound Deathlord Series Book 2) Page 40