Eden's Gate: The Sparrow: A LitRPG Adventure

by Edward Brody

  “True, but it could be a trap…”

  Aaron glanced at the girl again. “Look at her, dude… If she’s a trap, then damn. That’s one hot trap.”

  I gritted my teeth and threw a light punch onto Aaron’s shoulders. “Not that kind of trap. I mean the set-you-up-and-kill-you kind of trap. I’ve got my house key. They kill me, take the key, they take everything.”

  “You’re being paranoid,” Aaron said.

  “There’s a difference between paranoid and smart,” I countered, remembering the words Jax told me right after we first met.

  “If Donovan’s cool with her, then just go with it. I’m going to go back home to start crafting. Hopefully, by the time you’ve returned we’ll have a little bit of furniture.”

  I took a deep breath and glanced over to the runestone. “Yeah, and I guess worst case scenario is I’m bound close by now.”

  “But if you find out she’s a trap, let me know.” He raised an eyebrow. “I’ve never really tried anything like that, but for her, I would make an exception.”

  I threw a hard fist into Aaron’s gut, and he coughed and grabbed at his stomach.

  Advancement! You have learned the skill: Unarmed. It’s not always necessary to find a weapon. You were born with several already. Unarmed fighting is linked to the base stats Strength and Dexterity. Increase your Strength and Dexterity to increase your Unarmed damage.

  “You dumbass,” I barked.

  “What the hell?” Aaron looked up at me with confused eyes. “It was just a joke.”

  I swept my foot at Aaron’s ankle and tripped him. He landed hard on his back with a thump, and I slammed a half-hearted fist into his jaw. In the corner of my screen, I could see that he was down to 40% health.

  Aaron held his hand out to block, and another hand gripped at his jaw. “Gunnar! What the fuck?!”

  I grinned and reached my hand out to help him to his feet.

  He looked at me in horror and dismay as I pulled him back to a standing position. “I said it was just a joke, dude…”

  “I know,” I cooed and winked. “But I just remembered that I owed you one from when you beat the shit out of me in Gramora.”

  “Oh, you asshole...” Aaron looked pissed, but it seemed like he was trying hard to hold back a smile at the same time. He knew it was all in good fun.

  I started to walk back towards the elves and waved my hand comically. “I’ve got a good memory, man. Now go craft us up some furniture, Mr. Sizzler.”

  “Fuck you, Gunnar!”

  I chuckled. He wasn’t the only one who could mess around. As I approached Donovan and Keysia, I rolled my shoulders in a stretching motion. I was starting to feel a lot more comfortable in Eden’s Gate and a lot more comfortable in my own skin altogether.

  “What was that all about?” Donovan asked. “You were battling with your friend?”

  “Just some friendly roughhousing,” I said. “Nothing serious.”

  “Friendly?” Donovan asked.

  “You knock your friends to the ground and attack them to be friendly?” Keysia turned to Donovan with a worried expression on her face.

  I smiled and wrinkled my nose as I spoke. “Yeah, sorta… But only close friends attack each other for fun.”

  “Interesting…” Donovan hummed.

  “Fun?” Keysia asked. “You humans certainly are strange.”

  Chapter Nine

  01/09/0001

  I cast Divine Sight on Keysia after Donovan added her to the party, and Donovan led the way into the mine.

  The inside of the mine looked much like a plain cave, with rough brown walls and a low ceiling that was only a few inches taller than Donovan. The entrance sloped downward gradually, and other than small reptilian footprints that were on the ground, there was no sign of any monsters at the front of the cave. As we moved further in, however, the sound of metal crashing against rock could be heard in the distance.

  The slope leveled out, and we reached an area where there was a wall in front of us, and a long, large passage that stretched far to the left and far to the right. Running along the length of the passage was a small mining track, and sitting on top the track was a wide wooden cart filled with rocks.

  The three of us crouched down as we approached the fork, and in both directions, there were several kobolds swinging pickaxes at the walls. They looked exactly like the kobolds outside, and right behind each one was a small, crude, lantern with a candle inside, lighting the area immediately around them.

  Name: Kobold Miner

  Race: kobold

  Level: 13

  Health/Mana/Stamina: 140/0/170

  Status: aggressive

  To the right, the track ran for a good 100 meters or so before reaching a dead end, and to the left, the track continued further than I could see. Another kobold was walking up and down the length of the passage, picking up anything useful that the miners found.

  Name: Kobold Runner

  Race: kobold

  Level: 14

  Health/Mana/Stamina: 130/0/200

  Status: aggressive

  We retreated the way we came and hugged the wall as we strategized.

  “I count about six on the right side, and I can’t tell how many are on the left,” Keysia briefed. “At least ten that I can see.”

  Donovan nodded. “I guess it doesn’t matter which side we attack first. Given the close quarters, they’re all going to hear us after our first strike. But we have to move quick before the runner sees us.”

  “Let’s make the runner our first target,” Keysia suggested.

  “I may be able to one-shot the runner,” Donovan said then looked towards me. “But if you shoot him at the same time, that should leave us with nothing but miners to take out.”

  I pulled my bow off my back and readied an arrow. “Got it.”

  “And I’ll…” Keysia paused. “I’ll do what I always do...”

  Donovan nodded and smiled before peeking his head around the corner, then back to us. “Now!” he said sharply. “The runner is about to see us.”

  I pulled my arrow back just as Donovan was unsheathing his swords. The runner stepped into our view and looked startled the moment he saw us. Donovan raised his gauntlet towards the runner and let a tiny bolt fly just as l let an arrow fly, casting Fire Arrow on it right before it made impact.

  Donovan’s bolt caused the kobold runner to cry out and grab its throat, but the shot from my arrow caused it to fall backwards and die. Immediately, the sound caught the attention of the miners. One of them cried out, and the kobolds all started running towards us from both directions.

  Keysia boldly stepped forward and turned towards the largest group of kobolds that were running our way and spun her staff in her hands like a baton twirler in a parade. She slammed her staff on the ground and held out a hand as bolts of electricity sprung out of her fingertips, striking the first kobold in the group then branching out to connect to the other ten or so in front of her.

  The wave of kobolds wailed, and jittered erratically as the energy attacked their bodies, and I could see Keysia’s mana slowly dripping away in her status bar.

  The light from her spell was incredible, and I almost got caught up in just watching her in action, until Donovan called out, “Over here, Gunnar!”

  I turned and traded my bow for my sword as Donovan danced between six kobolds that were surrounding him. He slashed a kobold with one of his swords, cut another with the other, then rolled and shot an arrow at a third. His speed was incredible.

  I dashed forward into the fray of kobolds, driving my sword into the back of one that was focusing on Donovan, then shot a Fireblast into another that was about to drive his pickaxe into Donovan’s head. Donovan stepped forward and slung his sword against the throat of one of the miners, decapitating it in the process, and I slashed my sword against two kobolds that the elf had already injured, finally ending their lives.

  You have gained 1600 XP!

  I looked back to
wards Keysia and saw her swing her staff in a wide arc, knocking down six or seven kobolds, then jumping backwards and shooting tiny blasts of blue magic to the miners that were still standing.

  I focused a Fire Curtain on the thick group of fallen kobolds and they all started screaming and flailing on the ground as the flames burned their leathery skin.

  You have gained 1 point of Intelligence!

  Keysia pulled back her staff and held a hand out again, shooting another strong web of electricity that seemed to connect with all the kobolds. The ones on the ground shook and died, while the ones who were still further away jerked uncontrollably, convulsing from the shocks.

  Donovan held out two fists, and tiny bolts soared through the air, connecting with the skull of two electrified miners. Keysia stopped casting whatever kind of lightning spell she was using to send another bolt of energy from the top of her staff.

  One miner remained on the floor, moaning from its severely charred skin but after a couple seconds, it fell silent.

  You have gained 1550 XP!

  Keysia leaned on her staff and caught her breath. “See now? It’s been too long since I’ve had a good fight. We should’ve cleared this mine out a long time ago.”

  “Good job,” Donovan said. “But that was just kobolds at the entrance. I don’t suspect it will be any easier as we progress deeper into the mine.”

  “Let me know if you’re able to salvage anything of use,” Keysia said as she returned her staff to her back and sat on the ground, closing her eyes.

  Donovan and I started rummaging through the fallen miners.

  “Tired from the fight?” I asked in Keysia’s direction.

  “No,” Donovan answered for her. “She’s meditating. Your mana recovers faster when you meditate, based on how skilled in meditation you are. Your health recovers a little faster as well.”

  I glanced up to Keysia’s status bars and saw her mana replenishing rapidly. “Nice…” I considered sitting down and meditating myself, but I figured that I’d have regenerated enough mana for the next fight naturally by the time we looted-up and made our way to the next group of whatever else was in the mine.

  You've received: Blank Runestone. Durability: 10/10. Quality: Average. Rarity: Rare. Weight: 0.1 kg. A mysterious stone with lots of potential.

  You’ve received: 120 Gold Pieces

  You’ve received: Gold Bracelet. Durability: 100/100. Quality: Exceptional. Rarity: Common. Weight: 0.1 kg.

  I saw Donovan looting more gold off the other kobolds, but there wasn’t much else of value. Aaron had already bought himself a pickaxe, but if I wanted to pick up a lantern or a couple more pickaxes to bring back home, I could grab them on the way out.

  “Find anything good?” Keysia asked after she finished meditating.

  “Nothing of interest,” Donovan said.

  I shook my head. “A gold bracelet is all.”

  We headed further down the path of the tracks, and the mine gradually curved to the right and started sloping downward. Deeper and deeper we went without seeing any additional kobolds until we grew closer to an area where the path opened up with the sound of miners picking away inside.

  Donovan snuck forward to scope out the area before returning to us and breaking down the situation. “About 8 miners and nothing else.”

  We stormed the opening and swiftly took down the miners. None of us took any damage, and Keysia didn’t even need to use her magic. She just used each end of her staff to club the miners to death.

  You have reached level 5 in Archery!

  You have gained 600 XP!

  You’ve received: 50 Gold Pieces

  The circular opening had only one way forward, which was another small path. As we trod through it, there were several lone miners picking away at the walls. Donovan sneaked up to and executed them all without drawing out a major fight.

  The smell of something smoky hung in the air and grew stronger the further we went.

  Eventually, the small passage opened to a massive cavern with a sloping path leading down to a floor several stories below. At the bottom, we could see quite a few miners lining the walls, and two larger kobolds walking around, a sword draped at one side and a whip on the other, inspecting the miner’s performance. They were too far below for me to inspect, but it was apparent that they held some sort of authority over the miners

  Another runner could be seen walking around, picking up stones and rocks, placing them in an empty mine cart, and another passage could be seen at the far wall.

  “That’s a long way down without us getting noticed,” I whispered.

  “Yeah,” Keysia agreed. “And it’s not a good idea for us to fight on the path leading down for risk of falling off.”

  “Well, we can—” Donovan began before quickly stopping.

  A kobold screamed, and we looked down to see a miner covered in soot running out of the tiny passage at the bottom of the mine. About a meter away from the passage, he stuck his fingers in his ears, and a loud explosion could be heard, powerful enough to cause the running kobold to fall to the ground. A massive puff of dust shot out from the passage where he ran from, and small rocks started falling from the ceiling of the mine. The kobold got up and started brushing himself off, while one of the head kobolds gave him an approving nod.

  “What the hell?” I asked.

  “Looks like they’re using explosives to mine faster,” Donovan said.

  “Yeah, that’s obvious,” I agreed. “But judging by the size of that passage and the amount of rocks that fell from the ceiling, this mine doesn’t have enough integrity for explosives.”

  “Kobolds aren’t smart,” Keysia said pointedly. “If the mine collapsed, they would dig through the fallen debris and keep mining.”

  Donovan huffed. “Let’s go ahead and take them out. The air here is hardly breathable.”

  Keysia and I nodded, and we all crouched and started sneaking down the path.

  We were only a few paces from the top of the path when a loud squeaking sound could be heard behind us, growing louder by the second. We all paused and looked back before Keysia whispered, “What is that?”

  An empty mining cart sped from the passage where we had walked from and was rocketing down the track, heading straight for us.

  “Shit!” I spat.

  The cart was wide enough that it took up the entire small path we were standing on, and even if we tried to run down the path, the cart would’ve still smacked into us given how fast it was going.

  “Jump!” Donovan yelled.

  The kobolds at the bottom of the mine immediately heard Donovan’s voice, and all of them stopped what they were doing. They started yelling something unintelligible, and when I glanced down, I saw one of them run back into the dusty passage where they had just set off an explosion.

  As the cart approached, Donovan stepped forward and jumped right before the mining cart smacked into him, landing in it with a thud. Keysia and I jumped immediately after, and I smacked my knee on the edge of the hard frame of the cart, yelling when I landed on top of the two elves.

  “Fucking A!” I grunted as I grabbed onto my knee. I squeezed my eyes tight and moaned at the pain coursing up and down my leg, but I tried my best to block it out, as I knew that we were on the verge of fighting several kobolds.

  I opened my eyes and took a deep breath, noticing that I was way more comfortable than I should have been. I tilted my chin up, and realized that my face was buried right between Keysia’s soft chest, and I was practically kneeing both elves in the groin.

  “Sorry!” I said as I tried to pull myself up, but my movement only served to drive my knee further into Donovan’s crotch.

  “Ahh! Careful!” Donovan yelped.

  Keysia didn’t look amused but she didn’t look particularly angry.

  I flailed my arms around, trying desperately to grab the edge of the mining cart without hurting the elves, and right as I managed to pull my head above the edge of the cart, we stopped, and
the mining cart was pushed over.

  A pickaxe swung for my head, and I tried to duck, but it connected with the side of my neck, the impact so hard that blood spewed out of my skin, the pain so intense that I could hardly focus on anything else.

  I wasn’t sure if I’d ever get over the pain of battle in Eden’s Gate. How can you keep your composure after taking a blow like that to your neck? Willpower was the stat to help with the shock of that kind of pain, but having a willpower of only 13, the effects of the injury were dramatic.

  You are bleeding and require medical attention. Bleeding is a damage-over-time effect.

  I writhed on the ground as I grabbed on to my wound, and Keysia pushed me out of the way as another pickaxe slammed into the side of my ribs.

  I heard the sound of Keysia’s spells as Donovan shoved me further out of the way, and then I heard bolts being shot from his gauntlets along with swords slashing against flesh.

  I swallowed hard, and looked at my stats bar in the corner of my screen. I was at 10% health, and if I didn’t do something soon, I knew I was going to die. I reached for my bag with bloody hands as I scanned my surroundings with blurry eyes. I could see Keysia shooting electricity out of her hands and Donovan swinging swords at anything in his proximity.

  As soon as I found my health potion, I poured it in my mouth, and immediately felt a little better. But with a minor health potion only restoring 50 health, I reached for a second and drank it as well to bring my health back up to a little more than two-thirds of full capacity.

  A kobold screamed as it ran towards me and swung its pickaxe at my head. I leaned back, avoiding the blow and shot a Fireblast at its face.

  You are bleeding and require medical attention. Bleeding is a damage-over-time effect.