“Let us begin,” said I-Svard.
“We need a plinth. We are crafting the Stone of Light—we need something bright and small in order to concentrate our professions on it…”
“I have something,” said I-Kimrat, an Herbalist. “There is nothing brighter than the essence of the sun…”
“Very well but it needs to be improved,” said I-Svard. “I will strengthen it…”
“I will add light…”
“I will add power…”
“I will add steel…”
The good thing about working in a unity was that the players could sense what they needed to do next at the level of premonition.
“The essence of the sun is not bright enough. Look—there is some dark fissure forming there…”
A wisp of smoke began to stream from our masterwork and gradually went from being light and almost invisible to thick and black as if a tire was burning.
“Stacey, activate the Priests! We have to be surrounded by blessed ground!” As soon as the smoke from our Stone began to cover everything around us, I brought in the Priests.
“On it!” the girl replied and the smoke instantly ceased as if it had encountered some invisible and impenetrable bubble. The outcome of all this was a strange kind of sun—a bright smoky center, then the bulk of the smoke, growing thicker and thicker, and above it all the bubble that the Priests had created.
“Dan, we’re being attacked by some kind of Shadow creatures!” Stacey suddenly warned me with urgency. “They’re coming at us from all directions! It’s as if the entire forest’s lost its mind and is trying to stop the ritual!”
“Tell the Paladins to hold their ground! The Priests can’t be distracted even for a second!”
“I will add the scent of the sea…”
“I will install Imperial Glass…”
“Dan, we’re in the bubble. About a thousand players have fled—they were too scared…No, it’s up to two thousand now…”
“It’s not working,” concluded I-Svard, adding another piece to the Stone. “We made some mistake when crafting the plinth!”
As if it had been waiting for just these words, the core we had made exploded, casting smoke across the entire unity like black ink. As the unity broke, expelling us into the main game world, I caught a glimpse of the bubble that Stacey had mentioned, right before it vanished. Dark and enormous it cast lightning and wind at our Paladins who took the blows on their shields. It looked like everyone outside of the unity had been working hard as well.
But that wasn’t the main thing. The main thing was that our first attempt had been unsuccessful…We had chosen the wrong plinth for the Stone…
“Raid Party, 10 minute break!” I wrote into the chat and took a seat on the ground. I needed to do some thinking.
And so!
We took the brightest thing we had available to us for the plinth—the essence of the sun. However, this turned out to be insufficient—as soon as we began to work with it further, a thick smoke began to billow forth, which the Priests confined to a sphere. And at that point the attack began…
“Stacey, who was attacking us?”
“Look for yourself.” I instantly received a video which showed shadow creatures rising from the earth and heading in the direction of our raid group. Rabbits, wolves, foxes—all the creatures that had once lived and run through this forest and later died, were now rising from the dead and setting out in our direction. At the same time, birds came flying from the sky spurred on by lightning and wind. The Paladins swayed and held onto each other, but stood their ground. Unfortunately, not all of them—a thousand players cast their portals and left the raid. Roughly the same thing happened with the Priests—when the dark bubble formed, a portion of the players grew afraid and ran away.
“Mahan,” Clutzer called me on the amulet. “The wolves have been trapped and frozen in place. What should we do next? By the way, what a scary bunch they are! Pure horror! It’s hard not to cast every fire spell I have at them! I haven’t seen so much anger, hate and bloodthirst in a long time!”
It was like I had been struck by a lightning bolt—that was it! This is what that mad Carliori had done in his experiments—he was trying to distill pure hatred! This is why he needed so many sacrifices—one human soul is incapable of generating so much hate—hell, not even a dozen could! After all, people harbor hope even on the brink of death. But if we use the Gray Death as the foundation for the Stone and all her hate…Eluna! I understood now why she had descended from the skies—the Stone of Light was her way of confining pure hatred! This is precisely why it’s a concentrate of divine light! Because that concentrate encircles and contains an utterly other kind of concentrate! This is also why no two Stones of Light are the same—the level of hate and evil varies every time!
“All right people, we’re about to witness a hell of a light show! Paladins—this isn’t any ordinary security operation. We’re about to be assaulted by the most evil creatures that have ever lived in this forest! You won’t hold out just like that—you have to use your holy powers! Priests—I need a blessing so powerful that it’ll hold even if Armageddon goes off in our midst and tears all of you to little pieces! People—if someone doesn’t feel like putting in some work, better leave now! Abandoning your fellows once the process is underway is out of the question—whether this works depends on each and every one of you. Svard—bring us in!”
“Clutzer, bring the wolves over here!” I called my Rogue on the amulet before Svard brought me into the unity.
“What do you have in mind?”
“Svard, we’re in your design mode right now, right? There should be a pack of wolves nearby. Materialize them…”
“Whoa,” thought I-Chirona. “They’re dark through and through!”
“The poor creatures,” said I-Lastrix. “Sorry, but I can’t watch this—they need to be cleansed first!”
“Hold on! Let’s confine the darkness to a cage!” said I-Zarlatan.
“The cage has to be reinforced,” said I-Svard.
“Remove the darkness from them and I’ll repair their furs,” said I-Rick.
“Bring the darkness over here and put it in the cage. Nice punishment for it, eh? I suggest we reinforce the cage…”
“And then tear it asunder…”
“Dan, we’re under attack again. It looks like the forest sent the kids the first time…It’s the adults’ turn now.”
“The darkness has been separated from the wolves! How is this possible? It’s—it’s alive! Don’t let it escape the cage!”
“It won’t pass! I enchanted the cage myself! No! It’s seeping through!”
“Stacey, tell the Priests to act!”
“It’s stopped!”
“Svard! Try to make the cage smaller! We need to compress the darkness to a point!”
“Got it—I’m shrinking the cage,” I-Zarlatan replied in I-Svard’s place.
“Dan? I’m coming to help! It’s unreal! We’re being attacked by the darkness itself!”
“Everyone—the cage has to be smaller still!”
“It can’t get any smaller! The material has reached its limits!”
“Stacey, tell the Priests to increase their power! We need just a little more! A mere drop!”
“Hurry, Daniel! Half of us have been sent to respawn already! The Priests are falling with zero Energy!”
We had forced the darkness into all but a point, and still Eluna refused to appear. As far as I was concerned, the concentration of hate was already so dense that the darkness was as hard as a stone—more so than smoke or fog…a Stone!
Tanzanite, Tourmaline, Amethyst, Emerald, Aquamarine, Sapphire, Opal—all shattered to dust when I tried to combine them with the concentrated darkness. My Greed Toad was beginning to strangle me, but I refused to stop—the Skrooj Dungeon had earned me stacks of basically every gem in the game, so I could afford to try one of each.
Ruby…
“The Paladins are gone,�
�� flashed a thought from Anastaria when the world stopped.
“Hello, Shaman.” Eluna was so divinely beautiful, as usual, that I looked away. The other hundred and seventy me’s stared at the goddess like god himself had appeared…which, err, effectively is what had happened. The goddess had descended to her children.
“Eluna,” I replied, feeling my consciousness fill with love towards the goddess. Perhaps, it wasn’t mine, but that of the craftsmen who were in the unity with me.
“I already told the High Priestess about your success and the sequence of actions that leads to the creation of the Stone. Don’t bother my daughter right now—she will be busy for the next several weeks. As soon as she manages to create the Stone using the method you discovered here, Elizabeth will get in touch with you.”
“Forgive me goddess, but I wasn’t the only one crafting the Stone.” I nodded in the direction of the heart-shaped, blood-red Ruby that was changing colors. “If it hadn’t been for the craftsmen, I would not have succeeded. If it weren’t for the Paladins, then…”
“I will appraise each member’s contribution personally,” Eluna interrupted. “I am speaking to everyone at the moment, not just with you, although most of myself is right here beside you. Are you still afraid to look at me?”
“You haven’t changed,” I shrugged, only now noticing that every player in the unity was moving his lips. I guess they were all answering their own instance of the goddess. “So I do not wish to traumatize myself. Judge for yourself—it would be blasphemy if I begin to desire a goddess.”
“Who knows, Shaman, who knows,” Eluna replied enigmatically. “I don’t even know how to thank you for discovering the algorithm for creating the Stone…Do you wish to receive a unique Item? That’s too easy though…Perhaps another buff? But that’s too ordinary and it won’t reflect what you have accomplished…Shaman—you are forcing me to think hard!”
“If the goddess permits, I know what I want,” I said, shocked by my own temerity. “Send me to Renox. I need to discover the truth about the Dragons, increase my Dragon Rank and, well, just chat with him in general. I don’t want to ask Kornik to do it—I get the impression that Renox asked him not to bring me there anymore. And I really need to find out why he sacrificed Draco to the Tarantulas…”
“Renox didn’t sacrifice Draco to them,” said Eluna pensively. “Draco appeared much later…”
“But…”
“I will do as you ask, Dragon,” Eluna cut me off. “You are correct—Renox is afraid of meeting you. He knows that you spoke with Nashlazar and is worried that you won’t accept his past. I must admit—his was quite a horrible past. I will come for you in twenty-four hours. Until we meet again—I expect it will be soon…”
‘Stone of Light’ scenario complete. The Malabar Empire can now create Stones of Light. All players who took part in the scenario are granted a reward commensurate to their involvement.
Skill increase:
+1 to Crafting. Total: 13
+5 to primary profession of Jewelcrafting. Total: 134
Your Reputation with the goddess Eluna has reached Esteem status. Points remaining until Exalted status: 12000.
Your reputation with the Priests of the goddess Eluna has reached Esteem status. Points remaining until Exalted status: 12000
The Stone of Light has blocked the Transformer and the goblin ghosts have departed this world.
The unity ended and light auras began to flash around the players—Eluna resurrected everyone who had died and had not signed out and began granting various bonuses to them. As I watched the players around me, I couldn’t help but smile—the players were celebrating like children: Today, the Paladins and Priests had personally seen the one for whom the fought, the one for whom they carried the light to the masses.
Something soft and wet touched my hand and I barely contained a joyous exclamation when I turned—the Gray Death was standing beside me with her pack. They were all in one piece, just as I remembered them after I helped them with the arrows way back when. The she-wolf was staring into my eyes, her ears flattened as if in an admission of guilt. I could read so much in her eyes—a recognition of her guilt, an attempt to explain herself, a request and prayer that I help her or at least refuse to abandon her in this location. It took me a moment to make my decision, so I got out an amulet:
“Viltrius, arrange for a portal to these coordinates,” I dictated my current coordinates, looked the Gray Death in her eyes again, and added: “I won’t be alone. There’s a whole pack coming with me…”
You have completed the ‘Last Hope’ quest chain. Reward—a pack of mercenary wolves of Level 150. Hiring cost—the pack must be fed twice a day…
Chapter Six. The Dragons Chronicle
“OKAY DAN, here’s the deal with Kreel,” said Anastaria, sitting down across from me. “We can’t ignore him. According to the information I have, this person is untouchable. Of course he can be killed, tricked, bargained with—but we cannot ignore him or blacklist him. That would be a bad idea.”
“Why?” I asked surprised. That’s the first time I’ve heard of a player whom you have to handle with kid gloves.
“My source doesn’t have all the info, but the gist is clear as day—this guy is with the Corporation. Either he used to be with them, or he is currently—it doesn’t matter. The important thing is he’s one of their creatures.”
“But I would still like to meet with him. And as soon as today—several hours ago I sent him confirmation that we could meet in the Cross-eyed Angler, today at noon. He even responded already…”
“At noon huh?” Anastaria said pensively. “That’s nice, considering it’s five minutes till noon right now…”
“Yeah, that’s the point,” I grinned at the girl and summon Viltrius to make us a portal. After she had read all there was to read on the forums about the creation of the Stone of Light, Fleita made me promise that I would take her with me wherever I went. She didn’t want to miss another fascinating event like that one, so now we had to act quickly and surreptitiously. I didn’t want to take Fleita with me to meet Kreel…
The portal dropped us off right in front of the doors to the Cross-eyed Angler. Located beyond the Anhurs city limits, you couldn’t call this tavern a popular spot. It distinguished itself neither in terms of its prices, nor its quality of food. It was like a hundred other similar establishments, so when I opened the front door, I had no trouble spotting the table we needed with the two players sitting at it. I couldn’t read Kreel’s class as it was blocked, but he was with Alisa Reyx, a Level 238 Dark Elf Mage. Unlike the giant who had arranged himself at the table with difficulty, the girl’s properties were readily available to be read, which gave rise to certain conclusions. The nice thing about the Cross-eyed Angler was the all but utter absence of any other players. In addition to the couple we were meeting, there were only seven low-level players in the tavern. As per habit, they began recording as soon as we appeared. As long as no new ones showed up, though, we’d find a way to convince these guys to mind their business.
“Greetings Earl and Duchess,” said Kreel, getting up from the table and making a humble bow. Considering that this monster was over two meters tall, I felt like a dwarf looking up at him. An unpleasant sensation and an unpleasant beginning to our conversation—if Kreel had done this on purpose, then he was letting us know that he was the big fish here and prepared to kill anyone who objected. Of course, maybe I was just being paranoid and this player was simply saying hi to me and my wife. “Please have a seat. Shall we order some beer? Despite the condition of this place, the beer here is very tasty.”
“Top of the morning to you too,” I greeted Kreel, trying my best to sound carefree. Sitting down at the table, I added, “I think beer’s a wonderful idea. I never seem to have the time for one. Is there a particular type here you recommend or are they all good?”
Judging by Kreel’s smile, he approved of my response, so he waited long enough for the girls to sit dow
n, lowered his enormous torso onto the chair, and said: “Any one is good, but I recommend the lager. I like it best of all, but as they say, there’s no disputing about matters of taste. Since we know who you are, but you don’t know us, allow me to introduce ourselves. I am Kreel, the Earl of Grotfeld and head of the Stepsons of the Abyss. My companion here is Baroness Alisa Reyx.”
“I have a question, if you don’t mind,” Anastaria said in a voice so odd that I knew instinctually that she was using some kind of Siren ability. I had heard such a sweet, gentle, evocative and pleasant voice only once before—when I had been asked to give up the Chess Set. “I did not know that the Emperor or the Dark Lord granted anyone a title as high-placed as ours. It follows that you are playing for the Free Lands…Where are you from, if it’s not a secret?”
“As Anastaria is right to point out, Barliona is vast and there is plenty of room in it for everything and everyone,” replied Kreel, passing a flagon to Alisa and all but pouring it down her throat. Unlike me or Kreel, Alisa fully succumbed to Anastaria’s charms and began regarding my wife with love-struck eyes. Making sure that his partner had come to her senses and tossing his head several times, Kreel went on as if nothing had happened: “For example, oh daughter of Sirens, my suzerain is Mark I the King of Skyfoal, may he dwell in everlasting health.”
Kreel knows who Anastaria is and judging by Anastaria’s narrowed eyes, she’s not too happy about it. I wonder whether this is Stacey’s way of getting to know people—try out the Siren’s charms on the player and see if it works? She said herself that Kreel is untouchable…
“Okay, let’s hold off on the beer for now. I think we’re getting off on the wrong foot,” I decided to steer the conversation in the necessary direction. “Kreel, you almost ruined my castle for me. Are you aware of this? When I saw that Crystal, I had a real shock—in a place that no one should be able to enter, stands a rock that you had brought there. Are you aware of what followed?”
The Karmadont Chess Set (The Way of the Shaman: Book #5) LitRPG series Page 17