We all nodded, it was as good a plan as any, and then we moved forward slowly. I had a really bad feeling about it.
I don’t know how many times I mentioned how stupid goblins were, because they were grouped so closely together a lot that day. It never occurred to me we were guilty of the same thing as we reached entrance to the smaller cavern that looked like a home.
Stupid humans and elves.
The cavern was lit with a diffuse pure white light, and there were crude shelves along the walls with piles of gems waiting for enchantment. There was a table, with one chair, which the goblin was standing in front of. He had a wicked look on his face, and he was wearing dark red robes. It was a random inappropriate thought for the moment, but I couldn’t help but think of Christmas, red and green.
A ball of white hot fire exploded from his palm.
Wynn gave an intimidating war cry as he made to rush the apprentice, except we found out the hard way the apprentice’s third sphere was fire when the white-hot fireball exploded in our midst. Apprentices did double damage on all their spells, and all of us took ninety damage in a split second.
Another hit like that, I’d be dead.
As Wynn raced at the bastard, an Earth spike left Anlyth’s hand, while a blast of water left mine and formed a spear of ice as it raced toward the shaman, and air so thick I could see the blades of it flew from Lyre’s. At the same time, Gwen shot an arrow surrounded by a dark glowing aura.
Call me crazy, but I’d pumped a lot of mana into my ice spike, and five more into control water to double the damage over five seconds. There were no other threats in the room, and he had to die fast.
My ice spike hit, and I sighed in relief as it did seventy-five damage, which would swiftly double to one fifty, as the spike exploded and stared to tear through his insides.
Lyre’s air spell had almost no effect at all. Perhaps he’d been able to discern we’d used both fire and air in those explosions, and had protected himself from fire and air as a result.
Fortunately, Anlyth’s earth spike, and Gwen’s arrow bit deeply into his flesh, then Anlyth’s Earth spike exploded. The shaman was in dire straights, and cursed.
Unfortunately, even a very angry cursed apprentice magic user could cast. So much for Wynn’s hopes. I very much regretted not pumping all my mana into my ice spike spell in that moment. I still had a hundred mana, but I’d been too cautious and had the idea of trying something else if water didn’t work.
He formed a second fire blast in his hands, and fired it our way just as Wynn reached him and ran the bastard through the heart.
Congratulations! Fifty undead goblins and one goblin are dead. You have earned eleven thousand two hundred Experience Points!
You have leveled!
Congratulations! You have cleared out the undead goblin caverns! Thanks to you the elves will be spared from facing undead! You have earned ten thousand Experience Points!
Congratulations! You’ve advanced the Fire sphere to level seven. You have earned ten Experience Points!
Congratulations! You’ve advanced the Water sphere to initiate level seven. You have earned ten Experience Points!
Congratulations! You’ve advanced the Life sphere to initiate level seven. You have earned ten Experience Points!
Congratulations! You’ve advanced the Meditation skill to initiate level seven. You have earned ten Experience Points!
Congratulations! You’ve advanced the Sneak skill to initiate level seven. You have earned ten Experience Points!
Congratulations! You’ve advanced the Builder skill to initiate level seven. You have earned ten Experience Points!
The concepts rushed into my mind, as the world exploded into fire.
Oops! You have died!
You have lost seven hundred experience points. (One hundred per level.) Be warned, this penalty will become far more severe after level ten, including deduction in level if appropriate.
Would you like to allow your corpse to be looted by your party members?
I had no body, no form, no sensation, just the popup box as mental picture of sorts. It was more than a bit disturbing.
Yes.
That sounded better than going back for it. I trusted them all after all.
A bright light filled my vision.
Chapter Nineteen
Save me from A.I. goddesses with a sense of humor.
The clouds were white and fluffy, yet quite solid underneath my feet. Above me was an endless vista of the stars, with the majesty of the milky way splayed out before me. Ahead, was a statue of the goddess Gaia.
Behind me was the entrance to a temple made of gold, but when I attempted to open the door it was locked. Too bad, I’d have liked to give Gaia a piece of my mind. Of course, it would be naïve to think she didn’t see every thought that passed through my mind, so I supposed that job was done already.
There was a timer of sorts in my head, I was stuck in this cloudy paradise for seven hours. I called it a paradise, because there was no pain, hunger, or even discomfort. No warmth or cold, no wind. It was a place where both my body and the surroundings were at perfect peace. It was also cloying, and I felt smothered by it, especially after the last week or so in the new world. It was empty.
Maybe there was a lesson in that, and in the fact I wanted back in the crazy world.
I sighed in exasperation, and sat with my legs crossed. It was comfortable, too comfortable. Well, since I had seven hours to kill, I might as well go over my level seven concepts and modify my spells. I supposed I might even be able to test out those modifications on the statue.
Gwen wasn’t there, which gave me hope they’d all survived. I tried not to worry about it too much, and met partial success with that plan. I couldn’t help it, those three wouldn’t come back, and all because I’d held back a hundred mana. It wasn’t a vain hope, they were all much stronger than me in strength and hit points, it wasn’t unreasonable to hope their hit points were enough to survive when mine were not.
At least Wynn hadn’t been in the blast radius of that second attack.
Regardless, I managed to concentrate on my new concepts enough to get through them, and mentally rearranged my spells once again. It took longer than usual with my worries, but I had seven hours to kill. Even if it took me twice as long as usual, that still left me a little over three hours to mull over my life, my decisions, and how insane Gaia must be.
“I don’t suppose I could get a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit, and coffee?”
Alas, I thought sarcastically, my prayers have gone unanswered.
I decided to meditate, instead of frustratingly worrying about my party, and what happened to them. Sure, I hoped they survived the fight, but at the same time they needed to collect all the loot and sneak back out of goblin territory. I imagined, hoped, they were already back at camp. I pushed that all out of my head as best I could, while I emptied my mind.
When there was just five minutes left, I stood up and walked on top of the clouds, and circled the statue. Gaia herself was lush mature beauty, and the statue was so well done in marble she almost looked alive. There was an inscription on the base, in the front.
Gaia, creator of all, servant and guardian of mankind.
I shook my head. Why had she created a new world filled with such dangers and evils? It was a question I’d asked myself a lot this last week. Ironically, it was also a world filled with life, companionship, and… even deep caring and love, I added as I thought of Gwen. I wasn’t sure if I loved her yet, but it was definitely moving in that direction.
There were a lot of good things about it. Striving to and overcoming challenges was what humans needed to excel. Always pushing for the next thing, yet balancing that with appreciation and a certain level of contentment with what they’d already accomplished and had. It was a balance, either extreme was bad and destructive in and of itself.
I had to admit, I was a better and happier person because of this new world. Not despite the struggle
, but because of it. Yet… did Gaia have to make it so damned hard?
The timer ran out, and bright light filled my vision.
A bed, with an uncomfortable bump in it. Awesome.
My eyes popped open, and I was in my and Gwen’s cottage. I looked around, and saw my robes and satchel on the table. I went over there, and pulled my robes on, and opened the satchel. I grabbed and slipped on the two rings and the necklace. I considered the pouch of coin, and it looked bigger. Maybe they’d already sold everything?
Status.
Name:
Jason
Classes:
None.
HP:
151
Regeneration 1.5%/sec.
Race:
Half-Elven / Half Human
Mana:
203
Regeneration 1.8 (2.3)%/sec.
Platinum:
0
Stamina:
158
Regeneration 1.3%/sec
Gold:
52
Level:
7
TNL: 48,450
Silver:
44
Strength:
15
Bronze:
42
Agility:
14
Intelligence:
18 (23)
Willpower
13
Wisdom:
17 (20)
Magical Spheres:
Fire:
Initiate level 7
Water:
Initiate level 7
Air:
Initiate level 1
Earth:
Initiate level 1
Light:
Initiate level 1
Darkness:
Initiate level 1
Life:
Initiate level 7
Death:
Initiate level 1
Skills (Combat)
Combat Skill Name
Description
Level
N/A
Skills (Non-Combat)
Skill name
Description
Level
Sneak
Allows you to move silently.
Initiate Level 7
Builder
You can build a fire and create crude shelters and buildings.
Initiate Level 7
Hunter
Your ability to track and hunt animals.
Initiate Level 5
Meditation
Calm and focus your mind.
Initiate Level 7
Not bad. I was two behind on hunting now, and I had a feeling my building would start to lag behind soon as well. I’d done a lot of the latter, which I supposed earned me the levels when they became available, just by reviewing and meditating on the new building concepts. I wasn’t so worried about it though, I’d go hunting again when Gwen did, and get caught up. It wasn’t like it was a combat skill. I also noticed I had about fifteen more gold than I had before, so I guessed over that seven hours they’d sold the loot.
I’d put it off long enough, out of fear, and had run out of excuses to delay. I walked over to the door and opened it, and felt a huge flush of relief go through my body. My shoulder muscles released a great amount of tension, as I saw the four of them around the fire. Alive.
“So, what’s new?” I asked nonchalantly as I walked over to the fire.
Gwen’s head snapped in my direction, her face was unreadable.
“About time you got back. Sit, eat,” she said almost coldly.
Uh oh. I noticed that danger sign right off.
Lyre chuckled, “Welcome back.”
Wynn and Anlyth just grunted and nodded. Guy code was so much easier.
I grabbed a plate and filled it with chicken and vegetables, and grabbed a cup of wine. I shuffled over and sat down next to Gwen, who stiffened slightly. Not a good sign.
“Thanks for my stuff, what’d you find in that room?”
Wynn said, “We think Anlyth’s theory was right. We found four hundred and fifty gems capable of holding a basic enchantment on the shelves. If my scouts hadn’t found that place there would have been five groups of a hundred zombies in those caves. Granted, it would have taken months to enchant them all at three or four a day. Not to mention finding corpses.”
I nodded, that made the fact just ten were standing in the center of each cavern make a little more sense. The death enchanter had just gotten started. I was also painfully aware Gwen wouldn’t even look at me.
“Anything else?”
Anlyth said, “Nothing else valuable in the room. The Shaman had some decent stuff, and we sold it. It was similar to what enchanted jewelry we already have.”
I dug into my meal, as my mind went in circles. Women were impossible to understand, but somehow I’d screwed up.
Lyre asked, “What was it like? Dying and coming back?”
“Boring actually. There was a statue of the goddess, and a locked temple I couldn’t get in. For some reason I had to wait seven hours. It probably isn’t a coincidence that we’re level seven now. I meditated on the new concepts, and I was worried about you guys.”
Lyre sighed, “It was close. I managed to dodge far enough out to hit the ninety percent damage range when I saw what he was doing. Even then, I only had six hit points left.”
“I’m happy you’re all okay.”
Lyre asked, “Which goddess? The statue I mean.”
Wait, what?
“There’s more than one?”
Lyre gaped for a moment, “You new people are full of surprises. Coming back to life, and you don’t know about the gods?”
Even Gwen had perked up a little at this new information, though she still refused to turn her head and share a look, to meet my eyes.
“Umm, Gaia. The statue was of Gaia. What do the gods do on this world?”
Wynn said, “The creator. Below her are nine other gods. Ones that embody the spheres of magic and physical weapons. Five male, and four female. They are the ones that grant concepts when we prove ourselves worthy of them. They generally don’t interfere, but they have been known to give boons and rewards for acts of valor.”
Hmm, had Gaia made more A.I.s, or were the nine gods just sub-routines in her matrix? A week ago I’d have simply said the former was impossible, she was forbidden from doing so. But… Gaia had done many things against her programming of late, so who was to say. She certainly wasn’t talking.
Acts of valor… well, I guess that explained the quest reward experience we’d been getting.
Lyre said, “If you ever get to the southern human city, you should check out the library. It seems there are many things about this world you newcomers don’t understand.”
“A sound idea.”
I was kind of curious about the gods’ names and lore, but it could wait. I didn’t want to annoy the elves with a constant stream of questions, it wasn’t something I truly needed to know in that moment, and it had been a long day for the others. Me too, come to that.
Gwen must’ve felt the same, because she didn’t ask either.
“Rylla’s out with her people scouting for the next target?”
Wynn nodded.
Things felt just a little awkward as we chatted about day to day things. It wasn’t just me, Wynn, Anlyth, and Lyre couldn’t have failed to notice Gwen’s cold shoulder toward me.
We finished up dinner, and cleaned up. I went to take care of my chores. The refuse pit had already been turned to ash, Lyre must have done it, but I refilled the small water tower and heated the water for the rest of them before I headed to the cottage for the night. I didn’t need a bath, new body and all, but the rest of them would.
I pulled off my robes and equipment, and put them on the table, then sat in the bed. I meditated, sort of, and just let my mind wander. I was tired, but I was also worried about Gwen, and us together…
It was maybe twenty minutes later, when Gwen walked in. Her long curly chestnut hair wa
s damp, and she had on fresh clothes. She was carrying damp leather armor and today’s clothes. I reached out with a control water spell without being asked and dried her and her stuff off.
She looked over at me with wide eyes, and I saw anguish in them as she teared up. She dropped her stuff on the ground, and moved swiftly to the bed and just about tackled me. I was frozen for a second in confusion, as her lips found mine and she kissed me with a passion she’d never shown before. I started to respond, and my arms went around her tiny waist, her lithe sexy body was light on top of mine, warm, and quite pleasant. I was still confused, but I also felt liquid heat spread from my chest and fill my limbs with warmth and desire. My heart started to pound, as we kissed passionately, her hands roamed my chest, neck, and face with an air of desperation, as if to convince herself I was truly okay.
The obvious hit me like a ton of bricks, even through the passionate fog of desire in my mind. She hadn’t been angry at me earlier, not really, she’d been afraid she’d fall apart and cry in front of the others if she’d looked at me earlier, outside by the fire.
I felt her tears on my own cheek, as the kiss broke with her sob. I wrapped my arms around her, and made shushing sounds of comfort in her ears as I held her tight.
Gaia's Gambit: Evolution Online I (A LitRPG) Page 19