The Phantom Castle (The Way of the Shaman: Book #4) LitRPG series

by Vasily Mahanenko

  The Siren looked me in the eyes and very slowly, emphasizing each word said:

  “I swear with all my powers and invoke the Supreme Spirits and Eluna to attest that during the Dragon’s trials, I never once uttered a single lie!”

  A shimmering aura surrounded the Siren, confirming her words and forcing me into a true state of shock. How was this possible?!

  “I swear with all my powers and invoke the Supreme Spirits and Eluna,” the Siren did not content herself with the effect she’d already achieved and continued, “that the head of the Dragons, whom Mahan calls Renox, personally gave his only son, a mere babe, to the paws of the Tarantulas and then looked on as they consumed his son’s soul.”

  Another glowing aura appeared around the Siren, forcing me to completely reevaluate my relationship with Renox. He looked on as they destroyed Draco? I don’t understand anything at all…

  “I swear with all my powers and invoke the Supreme Spirits and Eluna,” the Siren, it seems, had decided to finish me off, “that for the savagery and iniquity that the Dragons committed, the Goddess Eluna cursed them and stripped them of their ability to hold different classes. From then on, Dragons were only Dragons—never Warriors or Paladins, Priests or Shamans. Thus a Dragon cannot summon Spirits!”

  When the shining aura once again surrounded Nashlazar, I did not know what to do. One doesn’t throw around such oaths in Barliona for nothing.

  “But Renox’s son is my Totem,” I whispered at a loss.

  “A mere Totem—not a living entity. You confirmed your title of Elemental Shaman and learned that a Totem is only a reflection of his owner’s essence. My apprentice tried his best to imbue this truly unique Totem with functions not common to totems: for example, the ability to speak with others apart from his owner, as well as a partial memory. But your Totem will forever remain only your Totem—never the son of Renox. You are a unique Dragon—you have a second essence. It is in that essence that you communicate with Spirits and it is in it through that essence that you managed to complete your confirmation in the labyrinth. And it is to this essence that the Supreme Spirits granted the title of High Shaman, despite the fact that you had not proven yourself. I bow my head before their wisdom—they knew that you would be capable of completing this difficult path. I was incorrect and I admit it. Your human essence may be instructed and may become a Harbinger. But the Dragon cannot. It is unfortunate that your Dragon essence is the dominant of the two…Please accept my condolences.”

  “Dominant?”

  “You are a Dragon and can never escape this fact, but you can be adjusted. In effect, nothing will change for you, except that your human essence will become the dominant one. I must warn you that this is a very painful procedure. If you are unable to bear it, you will remain in the grip of your Dragon essence…”

  “Wait, I can undergo a modification and become a human again?”

  “No—you are a Dragon and shall remain so forever. But, like I told you, you are a unique Dragon who has two essences. At the moment your main form is your Dragon Form, not your human one. If you agree to undergo the adjustment, your Dragon essence will become secondary and the human one primary. I’ll remind you again—as long as you’re a Dragon, you cannot summon Spirits. When you become human, you will have no difficulty doing so.”

  “What do I need to do?”

  “Agree to suffer pain, face it without uttering a word, and reject your Dragon essence.”

  “Reject it?”

  “Yes. As it happens, that is the easiest part of the procedure. I told you about what the Dragons did in Barliona—so all you will have to do is say that you reject their cruelty and their deeds—and that you are not prepared to be a Dragon. A Shaman cannot be cruel and bloodthirsty. Geranika is the best example of this. As soon as you say that you refuse to accept the cruelty of your ancestors, that you condemn all the evil that the Dragons committed, I will begin the ritual and alter your true essence. But I repeat—you can only become a High Shaman through tremendous pain. The change cannot happen otherwise. After that, I will pronounce you my apprentice and teach you everything I know. Tell me, Dragon Mahan, are you prepared to become my apprentice?”

  “But you already offered me the chance to become your apprentice,” I continued to resist.

  “Absolutely correct. Regardless of whether you decide to change your essence or not, you will continue your studies under me. Only, depending on how you choose, I will teach you completely different things: In one case, I will teach you the depths of shamanism and groom you for being a Harbinger. In the other, I will simply make sure that you know how to work with your Supreme Elemental Spirit. The depth of your studies is left to you—and you need to make this decision now. But are you prepared to reject your desire to be a Dragon? It doesn’t seem to me like you are…Like I told you in the very beginning—it is unnatural for Dragons to forgo their desires, so again, accept my condolences. You were a very promising Shaman indeed…”

  Do you wish to undergo the essence adjustment procedure and reject your dominant Dragon essence?

  Two buttons: ‘Accept’ and ‘Decline’ appeared before me, forcing me to think carefully yet again. Am I ready to become a High Shaman and study to become a Harbinger—or will Great Shaman be my ceiling in this game? On the one hand, the ability to teleport all over Malabar. On the other, good relations with NPCs located in another world. The opportunity to plumb the depths of my class versus the acceptance of my race’s history. Self-fulfillment versus a relationship with a filicide…

  To hell with all this!

  “I am a Shaman!”

  “Well…that is your choice,” the Siren said calmly. “Before I render my final verdict, explain your decision.”

  “A Shaman hasn’t the right to reject his history. I am a Dragon! No matter how good or evil my ancestors—they were mine! It is not in my power to change history! I can only accept it: accept it and endeavor to understand it. You are right, the Dragons who lived in the past are strangers to me, but…Forgive me, Nashlazar, it would be an honor for me if you would teach me how to be a true Great Shaman…”

  “I can see now why Kornik was so confident about you,” Nashlazar smiled sincerely and kindly—as far as Sirens are even capable of doing so. “You are prepared to sacrifice yourself for your convictions and ideals. This is exactly how a true Shaman must act—for him there are no greater authorities than his ancestors. And it doesn’t matter one bit who the ancestors were in their lives—good or bad—they are above all, ancestors. Let us go, my apprentice. You have much to learn…”

  Harbinger Nashlazar offers you the chance to become her apprentice. Do you accept?

  The Siren cast me another satisfied glance, turned and languidly slithered towards the labyrinth’s exit. I managed a single step after her, before stopping. Once again two buttons and once again a turnaround in my poor shamanism. It was with surprise that I realized that—in this moment—there were neither victorious harps nor triumphant fanfares playing in my spirit. To the opposite—I was filled with a terrible emptiness and exhaustion. I felt like I had just lost the most valuable thing I had and replaced it with a forgery…

  “Are you coming, apprentice?” inquired Nashlazar, noting my indecisiveness.

  “Forgive me, Harbinger,” shutting my eyes so as not to see the Siren’s reaction, I blindly pushed the ‘Decline’ button. “I can only have one teacher in this world—Kornik. You may assist him in teaching me, direct him, advise him, but you cannot take me from him or him from me. Forgive me again…”

  I expected any possible reaction—but silence. Screams, accusations, insults, sarcasm—but not silence. And the silence was so much worse! Finally I opened my eyes to make sure that the Siren was still there—and she was. She loomed right above me …

  “Oh worthy Foe…!” Nashlazar intoned. “It is too bad that I did not meet you during the war. It would have been interesting to do battle with you…Accept this gift, oh High Shaman…”

&n
bsp; High Shaman confirmed.

  You have received the Dragon’s Rage Pendant. Description: The Pendant is tied to your Dragon Form and may not be removed or altered while in human form. Dragon Form duration increased by twofold. Set Type: Unique to the race. Requirements: Dragon Rank 5+

  You have completed the Labyrinth of Desires.

  WHAT?!

  “Kornik!” said the Siren, and the goblin appeared beside her. “Your apprentice has managed to surprise me. I grant you permission to divulge to him the details of the labyrinth—but only after he renews his Altameda quest. He has only two hours left. Once you tell him, I will be expecting you. There is much we have to teach you. It’s never good when a teacher has nothing left to teach her apprentice. Now go! And—oh Foe—remember: You are an earl…”

  Chapter 13. A Random Encounter

  “Kornik?” I cornered my teacher, intent on forcing an answer from him. “What was Nashlazar talking about?”

  “Can we do this later?” whined the goblin, screwing up his green mug. “You still have a castle to deal with—you don’t have time for such trifles…”

  “Kornik!” I refused to surrender. “What was Nashlazar talking about?”

  “My, you’re an annoying one,” muttered the goblin but then grinned broadly and added, “I’d expect no less! In short, all you need to know is that the labyrinth serves as a test of Shamanic class. Pretty much anyone with a Totem completes it without any problems. No one has become a High Shaman without meeting their Elemental Spirit or merging with their Totem. However, for a Shaman, you have a very particular relationship with your Totem, so…”

  “Stop telling me what I already know!” I interrupted my teacher. “Why wasn’t the Siren punished when she swore that Renox sacrificed his son to the Tarantulas?”

  “Oh…that’s what you’re on about…You see…I can’t tell you this. I’m forbidden. I can say one thing—Nashlazar didn’t tell you the entire truth, only a portion of it…”

  “Take me to Renox!”

  “I’m not a taxi driver!” the goblin puffed up immediately.

  “So if I need to go to Altameda—no problem. To Anhurs—be my guest. But to that ancient green monster—suddenly you’re no taxi driver? Kornik—either tell me the truth or take me to him!”

  “In other words you don’t wish to know about the meaning of the Labyrinth of Desires? Then I have nothing left to do but say my farewells. My teacher is waiting for me.” With these words, the goblin whom I’d cornered into a corner of one of the booths in the Golden Horseshoe, vanished. Not only did he leave me with the check, but he wouldn’t even answer my questions! I don’t think so!

  “Teacher, I won’t let this go! I must have an answer and I intend on getting it whatever the price!”

  “Very well—once you reach your tenth Dragon Rank, you’ll have to travel to unlock your eleventh one and then you’ll be able to ask him yourself! There’s no point in badgering an old, ailing goblin! Enough—over and out! We’ll have to put off our studies a little—I need to figure out what exactly I’m going to teach you next…”

  The mean-spirited little jerk must have changed some setting because none of my subsequent calls would go through—it looked like he had some ability that allowed him to block communication with his student. How little I know! Realizing that I wouldn’t have any luck getting anything further from Kornik, I went to see the High Priestess—it was high time I put an end to the business with the Blessed Ore. You never know when you’ll need it.

  “Mahan, it’s been a while since I’ve seen you!” said Elizabeth getting up from her desk. Glancing at this poor piece of furniture—a venerable representative of that family of giant furnishings—I couldn’t help but smile. The High Priestess’s office had changed a lot since my last visit.

  “What are you grinning at?” Beth pouted her lips seeing my reaction to her desk. “Who could have thought that during the five years of my absence, the position of High Priestess would be transformed to that of a pencil-pusher? Before, the archivist would deal with all the problems and I’d only have to tackle the ones that were unresolvable. Now however—I have to order the wax and the honey and the brushes and even the lumber to make repairs! Even Eluna makes fun of me now. She says that she’s never had such a hardworking Priestess before!”

  “Why don’t you just hire an archivist?” I suggested.

  “Why thank you! What would I do without you?” Beth said wryly. “You’re like my savior or something!”

  “Sarcasm doesn’t become you,” I countered with a hurt expression on my own face.

  “Forgive me. I’m simply so busy that my head’s spinning. Why have you come?”

  “I wanted to ask you a question. You once told me about the dwarves who became a part of Karmadont’s Chess Set. I wanted to find out whether you know of a similar story concerning two giants?”

  “Giants?” The High Priestess furrowed her brow pensively. “Probably…Hmm…Did you try asking at the library?”

  “I did. The librarian told me that all the giants were great and that I’d need to specify my query with concrete names.”

  “In that case, I’m sorry—nothing comes to mind. It’s a little preoccupied with other business at the moment.”

  “You never told me what happened with your archivist.”

  “He disappeared. A month back, he went to the city and never returned. His service amulet is active, which means he’s alive. The Heralds say that he’s in the city and perfectly fine, but they can’t tell me anything else. All in all, I can’t fire him for another four months, so here I am, slowly losing my mind. You can start making bets about what happens first—the archivist returns or Eluna hires a new High Priestess…”

  “Maybe I can help you find him?” I asked, sensing an possible quest.

  “Thanks, but it’s okay. There’s already more than a hundred Free Citizen Priests running around looking for him. And though they’ve already been at it for over three weeks, still, this is the temple’s business and I don’t want to involve a Shaman in it. Nothing too scary will happen to me.”

  “Okay. Listen, is there any way you could order your sisters to make me some more of that Blessed Ore?”

  “Of course—why not? A hundred gold per unit or two thousand for a stack.”

  “Beth!”

  “At the moment, I’m not Beth—I’m the High Priestess! Altering essences is our duty—but I don’t sense any shadow items on you. If blessing won’t increase my priestess’s experience, I’ll have to charge you for the work. I’m already giving you a huge discount as a friend. What do you say? Do you still need the blessing?”

  “All right…” I agreed, reaching for the ore in my bag. “Twenty stacks of iron ore and twenty more of gold…I assume I can pay you on delivery?”

  “Whatever suits you best,” the High Priestess smiled, called one of her sisters and handed the ore over to her. “It’ll be ready in thirty minutes. You can wait here…Oh! I remembered the thing about the Giants—we have several statues here in the city. Check them out—maybe you’ll think of something…”

  The week before Stacey’s and Plinto’s return rushed by in a blink. Twice a day I would travel to Altameda, burning around 200,000 gold on scrolls of teleport and just as much on scrolls of Hiding, which enabled me to approach the castle without being detected and thereby renew my presence there. Owning a castle doesn’t come cheap, it turns out. I’d spent so much money already and it wasn’t even quite mine yet! I was afraid to imagine what would come later.

  I met up with Svard and made a very nice deal for my clan with him. From now on, all my Raiders would be outfitted with ornate, floral armor from the leading Enchanter of Malabar. Chirona and he earned a +1 to Crafting for the statue, as well as several points to their respective professions, so I had to promise that if I decide to form another unity in the future, Svard would be the first to be invited to it. He didn’t insist on forming a unity then and there—he could clearly remember what
the previous violation of the game logic had cost me.

  I didn’t avoid leveling up my Smithing profession either, raising it all the way to Level 129—my current maximum. I didn’t much feel like crafting rings and chains, so I busied myself by casting ingots—initially iron and later, once I reached Level 100, steel ones. The grinding consumed a ton of ore, but as a result I became the proud owner of seven ingots of Tanzanite and two of Peridot. Even if I couldn’t use the latter for anything aside from selling it, at least the Tanzanite offered me the hope of creating the Giant figurines. However, there was one ‘but’—I remained at an utter loss with the Giants. There were nine monuments in Anhurs, and when I learned about their histories, I discovered that any one of them qualified for membership in Karmadont’s Chess Set. To make things more complicated, the scroll describing the Chess Set claimed that the images of the figurines hadn’t been developed yet—so I had to put the statues on the back burner.

  Barsa went on hiring people, so by the end of the fifth day of my forced sojourn in Anhurs, our clan was five hundred strong, of whom 350 were laborers—to the joy of our financial guru, Leite. The Warrior it seemed had found his true calling—of the 17 million clan gold in the budget he inherited, he had already managed to create 23 million, having already paid all our expenditures one month in advance, including my hops around the continent. Leite was constantly buying something, selling it, answering his amulet and mail. He even hired an errand boy to run to the Mage for scrolls and all the other necessities without distracting him from his very important business.

  I lost Clutzer and Eric in much the same manner. Clutzer assembled a Raid Party of his own and began to raid Dungeons 24/7. I’m exaggerating of course, but in the past few weeks he had reached Level 167 and was spending more than 18 hours a day in the Dungeons. Initially the players he hired would argue all the time and their composition would change incessantly, yet at long last the Rogue finally managed to find fifty kindred souls as dedicated to Dungeon raiding as he was. Currently, he was well on his way to overtaking Magdey’s Party.