Lion's Quest: Trinity: A LitRPG Saga

by Michael-Scott Earle

  “Ms. Zerne, our men have swept the facility. This was the last of them,” one of the armored guards said to her. He took off his helmet, and I saw that it was Roger Finn, the CSO of Arnacript. I’d only met him once, but he seemed like a decent guy.

  “Good,” Zarra said, but her voice didn’t sound happy. The beautiful woman looked back at the corpses, and then her purple eyes settled on me. “Leo, can you go back to your room, please? I am going to be up all night figuring out what happened, and I know you have a major prep day in the game tomorrow.”

  “I want to help--” I began to say, but the woman cut me off.

  “You did help. I need you to focus on your job. Every day is precious. I can give you an update tomorrow night. Over dinner, if that is okay with you?”

  “Yeah. I guess,” I said as I looked back at the corpses of the men at the vault.

  “Good,” the woman nodded at the ten men who Chip had just asked to escort her back to her own room, and the men instead turned to me.

  “I need to check on my parents,” I said as I thought again about the gunmen running through the hallways. “I also want to check on Daisy.”

  “None of the attackers made it into the Hospital wing. It seemed that their objective was the AI room,” Roger told me. “I’ll have the men go with you to double check, then you can return to your room.”

  “Okay. Thanks,” I said as I nodded at Roger, Zarra, and Chip.

  “Right this way Mr. Lennox. We’ll take you back,” one of them said, and then I followed the group past the carnage in the hallways and into the hospital wing of the Arnacript facility.

  Chapter 19

  I didn’t think I would sleep that night, but the events of the day in and out of the game had exhausted me, and dreams took me as soon as my head touched the pillow. I woke up at my usual time the next morning, did some warm-up exercises, took a shower, brushed my teeth, and then walked into the VRIU room a bit before 7:00 AM. Ky and Jennifer were waiting for me, but they did look a little uneasy.

  “You both heard about last night?” I asked as soon as I saw their faces.

  “Yeah, man. Scary shit. I’m kind of glad I got home before all of that started,” Ky said.

  “I was in my office. Had to lock the door and hide under my desk,” Jennifer said. Her pretty blue eyes were opened wide. “Rumor is that you killed them all? Is that true?”

  “No,” I replied. “We ended up going to the server room. It was a fight. I don’t want to talk about it. Have you spoken to Zarra today?”

  “No,” they both said.

  “I did get an email from her instructing us to continue with your testing,” Jennifer followed up.

  “Yeah. I’ve got a lot to do today, and then the second challenge is tomorrow. By the way, did you have a chance to review my session? Do you have any advice about Bolverk?” I asked.

  “I did review it last night,” Jennifer said with a slight nod. “I can see your predicament. Ms. Zerne has asked that we do not give you specific game strategy advice that doesn’t have to do with playtesting, but…” her voice trailed off and she looked over at Ky.

  “I’m not saying anything to anyone!” He laughed. “I want the champ to kick some ass.”

  “Elves can be really great in parties, but they just don’t want to fight.” Jennifer shrugged. “If you can get one to agree to party with you, you’ll have an amazing ally.” Jennifer leaned in a bit closer to me, and her voice dropped to a whisper. “You weren’t able to see the part of the game where Bolverk fought. I know he seems a bit unhinged to you, but he has extremely high attributes and a lot of Body abilities. I think you were right to pick him for tomorrow, but you should also work on adding Allurie to your party.”

  “Okay, that was what I was thinking anyways. Thanks, you helped me out.”

  “Or… I didn’t because you were already planning on doing that, anyway.” The pretty blonde woman winked at me, and I laughed.

  “Let’s get it going then. Should be almost dawn there,” I said before I walked into the privacy alcove. A few seconds later I’d taken off my clothes and climbed into the VRIU. Ky didn’t need to help me get the mask on my head anymore, but he did anyway. Then I floated in the black liquid, closed my eyes, and waited for the game to boot up.

  I opened my eyes in my room in the palace and moved to put on my clothes. Someone had laid out a fresh teal colored outfit, and it looked like the armor I borrowed from Sharles was clean. I thought about leaving the armor off while I went about my day today, but the leather suit had been easy enough to move in, so I decided to put it on.

  “Leo!” Allurie shouted a second before she jumped on me. “Good morning! You look so handsome in the new uniform and armor!”

  “Thanks. Did you get me the new one and clean my armor?”

  “Yes! Do you like it?” she asked as she fluttered her silver eyelashes.

  “Yeah. You did a great job. Is Cornalic around?”

  “I am here, dearest Leo,” my friend said from behind me.

  “Everything good?” I asked.

  “Yes, I’d like to have a little sleep, but I can do that once you return from buying new skills. I do not think the Lady is awake yet.”

  “Has the sun risen?” I asked.

  “It is just starting to. You will probably make it to the healer Taran at the moment when he opens. Then I can take a nap when you return.”

  “Great, I’ll hurry up,” I said.

  “Can I come with you?” Allurie asked.

  “Ahhh, sure. You can help me count the gold.” I turned to the half-orc. “Do you have the bag?”

  “Aye, friend.” The muscular man handed me the Medium Bag of Holding.

  Allurie and I walked toward the lobby of our suites, and I saw Bolverk sitting cross-legged in front of the door. The man’s oversized axe was lying across his lap, and he ran his fingers along the haft as if it was a long lost lover.

  “The gods demand that I accompany you,” he said when he saw us.

  “Okay,” I replied as the man stood. As soon as I said the word both Allurie and Bolverk’s face icons appeared on my UI’s party window area. It was kind of weird that Allurie was showing up there, but I was happy that Bolverk wasn’t hijacking it anymore. The client might still be a bit buggy, but at least it was moving in the correct direction.

  The guards outside our doors asked if we wanted an escort into Tylue, but I wanted more guards with Chrysa, so I refused their help and let them know we’d be back in a few hours. The three of us made our way through the expansive palace and out onto the city streets. The sun filled the gold city with a matching colored glow, and the avenues were filled with a thousand different NPCs setting off on their morning duties.

  Allurie hadn’t been out of the palace since we’d originally arrived, and she pointed to all the interesting buildings and people we walked by. The amount of conversation flowing from her mouth convinced me that my friend had been suffering from cabin fever, and I did my best to comment on her observations. Bolverk didn’t say anything until we made it to Taran’s shop, and then he only grunted when he opened the door for us.

  The receptionist led us to the interior lobby, and the healer met us at the counter where the books were located.

  “Hello, Leo and Bolverk! Who is this sparkling elf?” the young man asked.

  “I’m Allurie,” she said to him with a short bow.

  “I’m happy to meet you, Allurie.” The healer returned her bow and then turned to me. “Were you able to help your muscular friend there? What did the rune mage say?”

  “It was just as you said. I’ll have to keep looking to find help for him. I'm here today because I wanted to see if I could buy any more protection or healing ability tomes from you,” I said.

  “Of course, what is your budget like?” he asked.

  “Uhhh. I’ve got 7,500 platinum, but I’d kind of like to keep some of it.”

  “Well,” he said with a laugh, “you are in luck. I don’t have
anything more expensive than that. The question will really be about how much Light, Mind, and Body you have. Have you been tested?”

  “Yeah actually,” I lied a bit since I didn’t need anyone to figure out what my attributes were rated. I could just open my UI to look. “I have 33 Body, 31 Mind, and 69 Light.”

  “Ahh. You found someone to give you exact numbers. How recently did you have them look at--”

  “Really recently,” I told him with a smile.

  “Ahh. It’s a shame you don’t have a 70 in Light. I have a great ability, but you won’t be able to use it,” Taran said.

  “Can I see it? Maybe I can learn it later.” I had 14 unspent attribute points, and my Perception was still at 13 so I could get my Light (Overall) up to 70 if I needed to use a cool ability.

  “Sure. I’ve got six abilities that you might find useful. Let me get them for you.” The healer turned to his shelf and ran his hands down the spine of a few of the thick tomes. It took him about half a minute to find the half dozen he wanted.

  “This one is a better heal than the one I sold you the other day. This one is a group healing rune you can set on the ground. This one is a heal that is almost as good as a Medium Heal, but you have to touch them, and it has a long reset,” Taran said as he touched each of the first three books.

  “What of the other three?” I asked.

  “Protection abilities. This one will remove a negative enchantment from you or a friend. This one will prevent any negative enchantments from being cast on who you want. This one,” Taran gently tapped the last book, “Is the one you need 70 Light for. It will make it so that every time you enchant someone, they get an immediate heal. It is quite powerful for adventurers.”

  “Ohhh, sounds great. Let me take a look at it.”

  The healer passed me the book, and I held it in my hands so that the UI could show me what it did.

  Shroud of Divine Light - Light 70, Mind 30. Enchantment Spell. You are enchanted with Shroud of Divine Light for seconds equal to your Mind attribute (31 seconds) and all your Light ability mana fatigue is reset. While enchanted with Shroud of Divine Light, you move at half speed, cannot speak, and feel four times the mana fatigue from any ability that does not use Light Attribute. All enchantments with Light attribute used while you are enchanted with Shroud of Divine Light heal target for 25% of their health in addition to the effect of the enchantment ability. When Shroud of Divine Light ends, you are healed for 100% of your health, but cannot use another Light ability for 200 seconds - your Light attribute (130 seconds). You can end Shroud of Divine Light before the (31 seconds) have passed.

  As I held up the book, Taran explained the details of the ability. He didn’t leave anything out, and I thought about the possibilities when I set down the book. With this buff on, I’d be able to be a serious healing machine. The obvious downside was not being able to move quickly, or talk, and I couldn’t use any other abilities without getting my ass kicked. It would also be awfully bad once the enchantment left me. I wouldn’t be able to heal for over two minutes. That could be all sorts of rotten.

  “How much?” I asked.

  “You said you have platinum? It is 4,000 or 40,000 gold.” He winced when he spoke.

  “Ouch,” I said with a laugh.

  “It is a difficult ability. I actually do not know it. I traded the book for some service work a few years ago. There might be a few adventures in the city that know the ability, but not many.”

  “I agree. It is powerful. Can I hold the other ones?” I asked.

  “Sure,” he said, and I went through the other five books.

  Light Heal - Light 40, Body 15. Spell. Target is healed for 25% of their total health.

  Mark of Healing Drip - Light 40, Body 15. Area of Effect enchantment. Lay a mark on any surface that lasts for seconds equal to twice your Light rating (138). All living creatures gain 1% of their health per second when they stand within a 10 foot radius of the mark. Undead minions lose 1% of their health for every second they stand within a 10 foot radius of the mark. Healing effects of Mark of Healing Drip stack with other healing effects.

  Healing Touch - Light 40, Body 10. Touch Spell. Target other than you is healed for 50% of their total health. You must touch target. Target cannot be healed by you again for the amount of seconds equal to your Light attribute (69).

  “This one is interesting,” I said to Taran. “Can you explain to me how it works?”

  “Sure. It is just like a Major Heal, but there you can’t heal the target again for a few seconds,” he explained.

  “How many seconds?” I asked.

  “It gets longer the more powerful you are with your Light ability,” Taran said with a shrug.

  “Huh,” I said as I thought about the spell. Part of the challenge with Zarra’s development team would be balancing all these skills against each other and mana fatigue. Since the abilities didn’t cost mana, it meant that a player would get exponentially more powerful when they put more points into attributes. Healing Touch looked to be vastly superior to Light Heal when I compared the attribute requirements. Granted, you had to touch someone to use it, but that wouldn’t be much of a hassle to get a heal that was twice as effective. The penalty was really what made the Healing Touch interesting. It was beginning to look like Ohlavar Quest was about acquiring as many abilities as I could so that I could juggle mana fatigue.

  If I had four different skills that all healed, I could just use them after each other and then not feel any issue with mana fatigue. The fact that some of these heals had drawbacks to them meant I needed to be a bit more careful about using them. I couldn’t start off a fight using Healing Touch because it would mean I wouldn’t be able to heal someone for half a minute, but I could use it close to the end of a battle when I was confident that there wasn’t going to be much need for any more healing. The description also didn’t say anything about protection type abilities, so I guessed I would still be able to use those on a target.

  I moved on to the last two books.

  Remove Curse - Light 40, Mind 20. Spell. Removes single hostile enchantment/hex/curse from target. If multiple are on target, the last to be applied is removed first.

  Stainless Virtue - Light 45, Mind 30. Enchantment Spell. Target is enchanted with Stainless Virtue for half of Mind attribute in seconds (15.5). While enchanted with Stainless Virtue, target cannot suffer from the effects of negative magical effects, enchantments, hexes, or curses. If an opponent attempts to enchant the target with such an ability, they will fail and suffer twice the usual mana fatigue. Once Stainless Virtue has ended, target cannot be enchanted by another Stainless Virtue spell for 10 minutes.

  “These are fascinating,” I said after Taran explained the last ability to me. “What is the cost of each?”

  “Light Heal is 10,000 gold. Mark of Healing Drip is 9,500 gold. Healing Touch is 11,000 gold. Remove Curse is 14,000 and Stainless Virtue is 15,000,” Taran said.

  “Okay, let me think about it for a few moments,” I said. The young man nodded, and I started to consider my choice.

  Remove Curse and Stainless Virtue were both somewhat redundant. Stainless Virtue seemed like a harder ability to use since I would have to know an enemy could use hostile enchantments. But then again, if I did know that, and I used the ability at the right time, it would be able to counter an opponent’s strategy. Still, if I could only have one, I’d have to pick the reactive skill that I could use multiple times if I needed. Remove Curse was the winner between the two skills.

  I turned my attention to the heals. Both Light Heal and Healing Touch seemed great, but I had learned Minor Heal already. Did I need three instant heal abilities right now? I thought about the battle in the arena and the mana fatigue I suffered by trying to keep Cesnie alive. I could have used one Healing Touch on her instead of the half dozen Minor Heals. That would have saved me a lot of fatigue. Healing Touch’s negative effect was quite bad though. If I made a mistake using it, I could run into a situation
where I wouldn’t be able to heal someone when they needed it. The ability would have to be a last ditch move I only used when I had too much mana fatigue with my other spells. Did I want to bother buying an ability that I might only use in rare circumstances?

  Mark of Healing Drip also seemed like an ability I would only use every once in a while. The description seemed to indicate that it healed everything within the radius, so even enemies would be healed. It might be useful if I was fighting undead or in some sort of massive army situation, but it wouldn’t help with the battle tomorrow.

  Or would it?

  “Hey Taran, do you know anything about the golems that the royal types use to play Castles with?” I asked.

  “The clay golems?” he asked.

  “Yeah. They are animated, but not alive. Will Mark of Healing Drip heal them?”

  “No. They aren’t alive. They can be healed by the other heal abilities, but Mark of Healing Drip specifically says it only works on living creatures.”

  “Great,” I said as I thought more about my selection. In some ways, Shroud of Divine Light had the same issue as Healing Touch. I needed to be damn sure that I wasn’t going to need to heal once I was done with the enchantment. While it was going, I’d be a powerhouse and bring some serious healing might. If the battle lasted longer than 31 seconds, I’d not be able to do any healing.

  “When I use Healing Touch, I can’t heal the target afterward?” I asked.

  “No, not for the length of your Light rating,” Taran answered.

  “Does it count for the healing that happens when I use an enchantment on the target while I have Shroud of Divine Light on myself?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.

  “Huh. I never thought of that. Hmmm,” Taran put his hand to his chin and rubbed his fingers across his bit of stubble. “I have no idea. What an interesting idea. I think the heal coming from Shroud of Divine Light originates from the enchantment you are using, not from you directly.”