You've received a new level!
You've received a new ability: Blood Ties. From now on, your future is bound to that of Rion Castle. No matter where you are, once in every seven days you'll be allowed to instantly transport to the Castle.
You've received Achievement: Centurion. From now on, you'll be able to instantly summon any of the Cohort's legionnaires for the duration of 30 sec+3 sec. per level.
Cost: 100% of your complete Mental Energy capacity.
You've received a new ability: Legacy. From now on, you can control the ancient blood magic which exists in synergy with nature. The Founders' artifacts will reveal their secret properties to you alone.
Any acquired spells will be available 3 levels earlier than required.
-5% to Mental Energy required to cast a spell.
The Rion Castle interface has been unblocked.
Your Reputation with the Forces of the Dark has deteriorated.
Current Reputation status: Animosity
The system messages flashed past my mental view. We had only a few minutes left till sunrise.
The five legionnaires still stood between us and the hordes of the undead. These top-level warriors had already awoken from their thousand-year stupor, shaking off the haze of the ancient spell.
They charged at the undead at once, their merciless blows decimating the spawn of the dark.
By the time the first sunrays illuminated the hall, it was all over. Silence fell.
The five legionnaires crumbled to ashes.
A crystal screen appeared in the brightening skies,
A new force has arrived in our world!
Today Rion Castle has become the seat of the Black Mantises clan!
All our previous achievements pale into insignificance in the face of this feat which has brought back to life one of the Founders' strongholds!
A new system message superimposed it in my mental view,
You've received Achievement: Exorcist.
+500 to Popularity
+2 to Intellect
+2 to Spirit
New spell available: Exorcism. Deals 20 pt. damage with magic of Light to all creatures summoned by your enemy. Those of them whose levels don't exceed your own will be immediately removed and cannot be summoned for the next 60 min. Range: 100 ft.
All ghosts and spirits are instantly disembodied.
Cost: -10% of your complete Mental Energy capacity
-10% of your complete Physical Energy capacity
-10% of your hp.
The above stats revert to normal after 30 min.
Warning! If the attacker spirits' levels exceed your own by more than 5 levels, the probability of their disembodiment will drop to 80%, with a random chance of increasing the cost of casting Exorcism.
Warning! A frequent or incompetent use of ancient magic can kill the unskilled caster!
Enea let go of my hand and began walking amid the dead bodies, searching for Christa. She was still breathing. Her leathery wings spread listlessly on the floor. Her chest was heaving, her gaze dull with pain.
Enea crouched next to her, whispering something.
Christa struggled to focus, then gave a barely noticeable shake of her head.
Refusing to give up, Enea tried to cast a heal on her. That only made matters worse: the spell's golden aura brought blood bubbling to Christa's lips.
"Charity is a weakness..." she mouthed, forcing her head up. "You should remember that..."
Enea's eyes welled with tears. "That's the way I am."
"Don't feel sorry... for me..." a smile touched Christa's mangled lips. "This is a respawn... not death..."
Her body shuddered, convulsing, then went limp.
Chapter Two
The Crystal Sphere
Rion Castle. The donjon's outer walls
THE MORNING turned out sunny, quiet and remarkably warm.
Enea and I walked out onto the balcony.
"Gosh, it's beautiful," she gasped.
A soft wind tousled her hair. Alpha the Mantis crept out onto her shoulder, looking curiously around.
The clouds seemed to be only an arm's reach away. A green expanse of woodland lay below, dotted with occasional gaps of glistening water and threaded with meandering streams.
I touched the wall. It felt cold and rough, the stonework cracked in places. The faded murals once adorning the masonry crumbled under my fingers.
Never mind. We'd restore Rion to its original glory.
I looked around me and congratulated myself on my initial choice. If the truth were known, the screenshots of the castle hadn't looked like much: just some old ruins lost amid the moors.
An impulse buy? You could say that. Still, I didn't regret one penny of it.
Packed with monsters, the surrounding quagmire offered excellent natural protection from any curious intruders. It might take our clan quite some time to find our feet.
I had zero experience in management, whatever that was supposed to mean here. Enea was the only person I could trust. The prospects of becoming a paper-pusher supervising the rebuilding of this behemoth didn't interest me in the slightest. My heart craved adventure.
"I'll be off, then?" Enea broke the drawn-out silence.
The pressure of the previous nerve-racking night released me. I didn't feel like talking. "Go get some sleep," I looked her in the eye. "And please speak to your father."
A smile touched her lips. "Leave that to me. I'm a big girl. How about you?"
"I might grab some sleep too. By then, the others will respawn."
We lingered, unwilling to say goodbye.
Enea took my hand. "I'll be back, I promise. Even if the implant doesn't work next time... I'll find a way to come back. Don't worry about me, okay?"
This conversation was quickly becoming awkward. So I just kissed her. "Go now. I'm not going anywhere."
Her avatar vanished.
Immediately I reached into my inventory for the scroll Mr. Borisov had given me. I tried to break the seal. As if! I pressed harder: to no avail.
Warning! You cannot use the scroll. Activation requirements are not met.
Oh really? Was it their way of letting me know the situation was still within the realms of gameplay?
"Leave it. You can't break the seal."
I swung round. Mr. Borisov stood behind me in a dark archway.
"Why did you call me? It's night in real life, by the way. I'm not some petty demon to run your errands for you. I hope I'm making that clear."
He leaned over the parapet, taking in the scenery. "Beautiful."
My blood boiled. I was too worried about Enea to control my impulses. I took a swing and gave him a hearty thump.
My fist went through his avatar, punching the merlon behind him so hard that I grazed the skin on my knuckles.
You've been injured!
"Oh, do me a favor," Mr. Borisov gave me a squinted look. "It's not my fault that you're feeling grumpy. Go and smoke a few mobs, that might make you feel better."
"Why did you have to get Enea involved in your testing?"
He didn't even flinch, just pursed his lips and shook his head. "No one's done anything to her."
"She's got an implant!"
"Impossible. Wait a moment. I need to check something," he zoned out temporarily.
Soon he resurfaced.
"Any results?" I asked formally, forcing myself to stay calm.
"There's been a planned expansion of the experiments. About a thousand devices have been built," he admitted grudgingly.
I pinned him down with my glare.
"Well, I'm sorry!" he snapped. "I may be a senior manager but I'm not God Almighty! Other departments don't report to me. Enea just happened to be among the target buyer group," he said, fiddling with the wedding ring on his finger. "Just an unfortunate coincidence. She shouldn't have been so darn pigheaded shopping for cutting edge technologies."
"I don't believe in coincidences."
"Neither do I. So
I'll look into it. Just promise you won't do anything stupid, okay? I can tell you one thing: the implants are our future. They've already been fine-tuned. Stop glaring at me like that! Look at it from a different perspective. Enea seems to like you. Aren't you the lucky ones?"
"Lucky?"
"Of course. You're both young and living in a beautiful brave new world..."
"So you think it's normal forcing Enea to experience a full range of emotions?!"
"Alex, please. The implant can't force anyone to feel anything. All it does, it processes in-game events. You can't digitize love, I assure you! In actual fact, you should be worrying about a whole different set of problems."
"Which are?"
"Are you really so stupid?" he finally lost his patience. "Can't you see what you've gotten yourself into?"
Seeing my incomprehension, he began to explicate,
"In your desire to raise some Spectral Dust, you bought this ancient castle packed solid with Founders' artifacts. You've also removed the curse which has been keeping looters at bay. How long do you expect to keep it under wraps? Rumors spread fast. It won't be long until some opportunist or other wants to check if they can mug you for a couple of artifacts. The Moors are no place for lone players so they'll start making groups. And even a group can't make it here which means you should be expecting a well-trained raid. Say, fifty players, how about that?"
Oh. Never thought about it.
This Mr. Borisov seemed to be an expert in manipulation. He continued pressing on all the right points, pretending to change the subject,
"Think about it. All you have now is a bunch of ruins, no one to defend them, a handful of quests to complete and a bank loan. How are you going to juggle all that? Have you ever been a leader of a large group? You have any idea how to make an economically viable and battle-worthy clan?"
I shrugged. "Nothing money can't do."
"You're such a noob sometimes!" he snapped. "Okay, money is war's blood, I agree. So let's say you have a couple of million to spare. You think that's enough for all this?" he swept his hand over the magnificent ruins. "That might allow you to fix a few breaches in the walls and post some NPC guards, maybe. You sure you can hang on to what you've just claimed? You realize that tomorrow someone might come and try to do the same?"
I didn't say anything. He had a point. His harsh tone didn't offend me anymore.
"You'd better start thinking about how you can attract more players here," he continued. "But don't forget: what they need is adventure, a strong leader, a possibility to level up and a safe citadel. Do you see what I'm driving at? First of all, you'll need some suitable farming locations," he began unbending his fingers. "After that, you'll have to start looking for some dungeons and instances where your future clan members can practice raid tactics and farm unique items. The castle has to be rebuilt ASAP. It has to be populated, but not by NPCs alone. I'd say the optimal ratio of NPCs to players should be 50/50. I should hire some NPC vendors who could buy up any excess loot. Next," he'd run out of fingers and switched to his other hand, "the clan's raid groups should be constantly busy reconnoitering and mapping out the area, looking for any resource deposits and promising locations. The moors must be absolutely packed with unique ingredients, provided you know where to look for them. Such locations should be used regularly to ensure your crafters, herbalists and such can level up too."
He stopped abruptly, gazing at the misty horizon. "Rion is a truly unique place. You should be using this fact to your own advantage. You need to think of various ways of attracting more players. Once that's done, you might find you don't need major cash injections. Oh, and one more thing: this place is bound to become the center of all sorts of developments. You should be ready for surprises. The Crystal Sphere is a very young world full of potential. Here, lots of things are happening for the first time. Did you notice the sheer number of the unique achievements you've received?"
I nodded.
"So there you have it. At the moment, anyone can become a legend or fade into obscurity. Grab your chance. Claim your moment," he gave me an encouraging slap on the shoulder.
"What's gonna happen to Enea, then?"
"I'm sorry but I can't 'erase and rewind'. I just don't know. It's up to her now. She might need to make some difficult decisions. Just please don't be such a killjoy. Just concentrate on the gameplay. This is what's vital at the moment. Leave the rest to me, okay? If Enea indeed reconsiders, we'll find a way to help her without her even knowing. I can promise you that. Agreed?"
"Okay, but what about her father?"
My question remained unanswered. Mr. Borisov's avatar had already vanished into thin air.
Oh great. He'd fed me a lot of promises, given me a pep talk and disappeared without actually telling me anything.
* * *
MY SLEEP was gone.
I had a long list of things to do, and every item on it was a priority. Still, I had to begin by unblocking the castle control interface.
The castle's holographic model unfolded in my mental view.
Rion Castle
Clan affiliation: the Black Mantises
Owner: Alexatis. Level 27. Neuro
Current status:
Defense, 2,137,964 pt.
Damage to the walls, 62%
Magic defense, 14,357 pt. Key elements missing from major runic chains. Source of power: not found
Attack potential: 137 pt (1 warrior)
Auras: not found
Passive shields: not found
The Element of Air: runic chain broken. Remaining runes: 12 out of 130
The Element of Water: runic chain broken. Remaining runes: 54 out of 130
The Element of Fire: runic chain broken. Remaining runes: 32 out of 130
The Element of Earth: runic chain broken. Remaining runes: 130 out of 130
The Element of Chaos: runic chain unfinished. The creation of the runic chain has been interrupted.
How weird. If the earth chain had all of its runes intact, why wasn't it working?
I focused on the message. A prompt popped up,
Requires an active source of power.
A glowing sphere formed around the castle's 3D model.
The castle's source of power (a Founders' artifact) couldn't be moved outside the indicated area.
The restoration of the existing runic chains is impossible. Power required: 10,000 pt. mana per minute.
Warning: the backup power source (the main accumulating crystal) is discharged. Currently only one defense function is being supported: the deflection of all incoming teleports. The remaining power is sufficient for 24 more days.
New quest alert: The Renaissance of Rion!
Find or recreate a source of magic power. The last known location of the old source of power is marked on your map.
Restore the runic chains in order to gain access to the Elements of Earth, Water, Fire and Air. Each element brings +250,000 pt. to the castle's passive shield and +100,000 to its attack potential.
Rebuild the castle's magic tower in order to gain access to spell scrolls and to be able to hire NPC wizards.
Rebuild the barracks in order to be able to hire NPC guards (warriors, level 50+).
Restore the training grounds in order to be able to hire NPC archers (levels 50+).
Restore the market and supply depots in order to gain access to trading activities.
Restore the surrounding villages in order to supply the castle with food stocks which in turn will attract new settlers.
Restore the inn, the tavern and the main square in order to attract travelers to the castle.
I opened the map. Now I could see twenty-four portals. I already knew that the castle's source of magic power could move through them randomly during an attack which prevented it from being seized or disabled by the enemy.
What I really didn't like was that the place marked as the source's last known location was situated high above the ground. If the enemy had indeed managed to disable
the portals, the source of power could have simply tumbled down like a sack of potatoes from a great height and was now lying around somewhere in the brambles — or had even been swallowed up by the quagmire.
I didn't even look at the impressive lists of the materials and work force required to restore all the buildings and the outer walls. I simply didn't have the money.
At the moment, I focused on the map of the dungeons. There were three underground caves located right under the castle. Judging by the prompts, they must have been the ancient mines. At the moment, they sported nothing but question marks.
They were our priority. I only had five days left to raise two cartfuls of Spectral Dust!
* * *
AN ICON lit up on my interface.
It was Zander back from his respawn point! I didn't expect him so early. Our respawn times must have reverted back to their original values.
Oh well. No peace for the wicked. I might have to grab some sleep some other time. I ported back to the Resurrection Hall.
Zander swung round to my teleport's pale flash. "Alexatis!" he looked worried and relieved at the same time.
"I'm okay," I shook his hand. "The curse is lifted!"
"Did you do it on your own?"
"Enea helped me. Still, there's plenty of work for everyone. Where're all the others?"
"They're on their way. A seven-hour respawn! What are they thinking about! Plus the debuff! It's a good job it didn't work. Sorry about the wipe, man."
"It won't affect your group's reputation," I hurried to add, cutting short any unwanted questions. "The quest was for me and Enea alone. You were meant to be killed, anyway."
"You sure?"
"A hundred percent. You can't do anything with brute force here, trust me. So let's do it this way: we'll go down now, check the dungeons and see what mobs they have there. If we're up to it, we'll purge the dungeons and close the contract. Agreed? We'll count this morning as twenty-four hours. Enea and I promised an exclusive to the media," I swept my arm around the room, conjuring up the holographic footage of the castle walls engulfed in Infernal flames and hundreds of ancient warriors rising up from the quagmire. It looked impressive.
The Curse of Rion Castle (The Neuro Book #2) LitRPG Series Page 5