Eden's Gate_The Sands_A LitRPG Adventure

by Edward Brody

  You have gained 900 XP!

  The flames were growing stronger, and a small piece of wood fell from the ceiling and down to the floor nearby.

  I leaned down and looted the mage.

  You’ve received: 120 Gold Pieces

  You’ve received: a small bandage. Durability: 5/5. Quality: Average. Rarity: Common. Weight: 0.1 kg. Useful for healing light wounds.

  I ran for the stairs and stormed up to the second floor. There was a door that I tried to push open, and when I gave it a shove, it opened only about an inch or two; someone had stacked furniture in front of it to prevent anyone from getting inside. I gave it another shove, and then ran back and slammed my shoulder into it, causing a bit of the furniture to fall and the door to slide open a few more inches. I ran back one more time, and slammed my shoulder into the door, and most of the other furniture fell and the door opened enough that I could easily step inside.

  There were two beds on the top level and more books lying all around the floor, but right in between the beds was another green-robed man, and he held his hands out to me as I approached.

  Name: arcane adept

  Race: human

  Level: 19

  Health/Mana/Stamina: 120/200/130

  Status: aggressive

  I knew I had to be careful. A level 19 was still in the dangerous zone for me, and I knew that if I didn’t play my cards right, I could end up losing my life.

  “Please wait,” the man said. “Don’t kill me.” He backed up, still holding his hands up towards me. “I don’t want to fight you.”

  “The place is about to burn down,” I said. “You’re going to die either way.”

  The man shook his head in fear. “Just let me go, please. I’ll give you anything you want.”

  “I can’t do that,” I replied. “If I don’t kill you, the others will kill me.”

  “I saw them ride away,” the man said, exasperated. “You can let me slip away now, and they’ll never know.”

  I bit my inner lip as I pondered the idea.

  “What do you want? Magic? Here.” The man reached into his robe and threw three scrolls towards me. “No?” he asked and began shaking his head. “Gold?” He reached into his other pocket and threw a sack of gold. “Take it. It’s yours.”

  I sighed, and looked towards the top-floor window that flames were starting to overtake. It would’ve been easier for me to let the man go. With Dryden gone, I could’ve always said that there was only one guy inside.

  “Not enough?” the man asked. “I’ll tell you what. I have connections in Scotia. If you let me go, I’ll get you another 2,000 gold. In fact, I’ll give you a magic item as well and I’ll have your weapon enchanted for free.”

  You have been offered a quest: Begging for Freedom

  The cabal adept would like you to allow him to freely escape burning building.

  Reward: 2000XP, 2000 Gold, unknown magic item, weapon enchantment.

  Do you accept this quest? Accept/Decline

  Wow, I thought. That was quite the reward offer, and I was going to save myself a fight as well.

  “Gunnar!” I heard Dryden yell from outside over the burning fire. “Are you in there?!”

  I couldn’t believe that Dryden had already returned, but given his power, I wasn’t sure why I was surprised. And as much as I wanted to let the mage go, I knew that with Dryden outside, there was no way I was going to be able to do that. I had plans to try to sneak Maleena out of Bloodletter’s Keep that very night, and risking a questioning or punishment just wasn’t something that I could do.

  I shook my head. “I’m sorry. I can’t do that.” I held my sword up on front of me and ran towards the man.

  You have declined the quest: Begging for Freedom!

  The man’s eyes went wide, and he immediately held his palm out at me, shooting an Arcane Missile that grazed my shoulder as I tried to dodge. I did my best to ignore the pain and continued to charge, but when I was in range, I swung out, and the adept dodged my strike and shot another Arcane Missile that struck me in the shin.

  I groaned and fell to my knee, grabbing my chin, and the adept ran past me in an attempt to get out of the building. His effort to flee jerked my attention back from the pain, and I turned to shoot a Fireblast, that landed in the back of his calf, causing him to fall.

  The two shots that I took from the adept and the attack that I absorbed downstairs had knocked my health down to 75%.

  I pushed myself up and hurried towards the fallen man, and he rolled onto his back as I approach. He looked helpless on the ground, and I thought that I had an easy kill, but when I raised my sword and slammed it down towards him, he held his forearm out to me, and a blue, translucent shield appeared, absorbing the brunt of the blow.

  I swung down three times, and each time, the round magic shield blocked my attacks, and after the third attack, he reached his other hand up and an obscenely bright flash of light appeared, blinding me and consuming everything around me with white.

  I held tightly onto my sword and swiped at my eyes with my other hand. The light was so bright that I couldn’t see anything. I swung my sword around me as I heard something fall, and then my senses heightened, and I could hear the flames and the subtle sounds of destruction that were about to kill me.

  Divine Sight, I thought, and immediately the white that blinded me speckled away. I could see again, even better than before. The mage that had blinded me was just starting down the steps.

  You have gained 1 point of Intelligence!

  I took two long strides towards him and dove forward with my sword ahead of me, sinking the blade deep into the center of the man’s back. He gasped, and his mouth went wide as he did a backbend into the point of impact.

  “I’m sorry,” I said again as I pulled my sword out of his back and swung at him, slicing diagonally across his body.

  The man fell and didn’t move an inch more.

  You have gained 1200 XP!

  More pieces of the ceiling were falling all around me, and I could see that the fire had fully reached the ceiling. I reached down and looted the man I had just killed.

  You’ve received: 190 Gold Pieces

  You've received: Arcane Amplification Ring. Requires 20 Intelligence. Durability: 6/10. Quality: Exceptional. Rarity: Rare. Weight: 0.1 kg. Increases Arcane Magic Damage by 10%.

  The ring had an obvious, immediate use, so I quickly slipped it on my finger.

  The stairs had yet to catch fire, so I ran back to the second floor to see if I could gather the loot the mage had thrown to the ground.

  When I arrived at the top, my skin was starting to sweat from the incredible heat that was emanating from the walls. I knelt and swiped the bag off the ground.

  You’ve received: 300 Gold Pieces

  Two of the three scrolls he threw were still lying in between the bed, and one was off to the side and halfway on fire from the flames that were starting to spread on the ground. I grabbed the two scrolls that were still intact and ran.

  You’ve received: Scroll: Arcane Slash. Release an arching wave of magic at the swing of your weapon. Requires 20 Intelligence. Arcane Magic Lvl 10. Weapon Mastery lvl 10. Durability: 10/10. Quality: Average. Rarity: Uncommon. Weight: 0.1 kg.

  You’ve received: Scroll: Divine Zeal. Increases your critical hit chance for 5 minutes. Requires 15 Intelligence. Divine Magic Lvl 5. Durability: 8/10. Quality: Average. Rarity: Uncommon. Weight: 0.1 kg

  A burning hot piece of wood fell and struck my shoulders as I ran down the stairs and when I reached the bottom of the steps, a wall of flames was blocking the busted out entrance that I had walked in from. I took a few steps back and ran as fast as I could, jumped, clearing all but the top of the flames, and landing outside in a hard roll, snuffing any minor flames that had caught on to my gear.

  I pushed myself up to knees and looked back at the building as the bits and pieces continued falling to the ground. Embers and ash flew into the sky, and chunks of wood thunked as th
ey fell.

  “You made it,” Dryden said from a few feet away. I glanced over to him and saw that he was once again covered in blood, and in his left hand he was holding Tagul’s severed and bloodied head. His other two men were standing behind him, splatters of blood covering their gear.

  Before I could respond to Dryden or process the nasty image that was in front of me, there was a loud creak, and I turned back around to see the desert shack collapse loudly and the flames shoot brightly into the sky.

  “Gunnar?” Dryden asked.

  “There were two inside. I took care of them.”

  Dryden smiled. “Very well. Let’s head home.

  We returned to the keep, and I immediately started for the room I had been assigned.

  “Over here,” Dryden said as I was about to head down the hall.

  I turned, and Dryden waved his hand for me to follow.

  I sighed and followed as instructed. I was getting tired of playing the part of Bloodletter, playing the part of Dryden’s loyal bitch boy, tired of seeing blood, and killing people that I had no desire to kill. I just wanted to move on and get the hell away.

  Dryden led me only a couple doors down to a closed door and unlocked it with one of his keys. He popped his head inside for a moment then pulled out a pair of dark grey bracers. He immediately handed them to me.

  You’ve received: Bloodletter Bracers. +11 Armor. Durability: 7/10. Quality: Below Average. Rarity: Common. Weight: 0.6 kg +1 Strength

  “I wanted to reward you before you ran off. Another one or two quests, and you’ll have your Bloodletter’s chestpiece. You can have a helmet too if you prefer.”

  I forced a smile as I accepted. “Thank you, Lord Dryden.”

  I was tired of calling him ‘Lord’ as well.

  Dryden returned my smile and placed a hand on my shoulder. “You’re one of the best recruits I’ve had in a long time. Tomorrow at sunrise, meet me again at the front gate. Perhaps we can go on a duo quest together. The quicker you gain XP, the quicker I can give you more important jobs.”

  I wanted to roll my eyes, knowing that I’d either make my way out of the keep that night or end up dead, but I smiled and gave a nod as Dryden expected. “I’ll be there.”

  “Good,” Dryden said and gave me a pat on the back.

  I turned and hurried back to my room.

  When I made it back to my room, I immediate equipped the bracers I had been rewarded. They might have been given to me by someone I hated, but they were still better than what I was wearing and would help me escape that night.

  I pulled out the two scrolls that I had looted and scanned over them again.

  I had been incredibly lucky as both scrolls weren’t too high level and were in two of the three schools of magic that I could use.

  I opened them both and started absorbing them as quickly as I could.

  Congratulations! You have learned the spell: Divine Zeal.

  Congratulations! You have learned the spell: Arcane Slash.

  I raised my palm to cast Divine Zeal and found that it cast just as quickly as I thought about it. There was a low hum and then an icon appeared below my stat bars that was a yellow arrow pointing upwards. When I focused on the icon, I received the additional details.

  Divine Zeal: Your divine powers give you the ability to more easily find your mark. Your critical hit chance is increased by 10%. Spell duration: 5 minutes.

  Not a bad spell, I thought. In fact, it was an incredibly useful buff as many fights lasted for more than ten attacks, so a 10% increase was almost guaranteeing a critical on someone during a long fight. I usually only got critical hits when using Snipe Shot with a bow or backstab with a dagger. A 10% critical chance of spells and weapon attacks would be amazing. It didn’t mention if the effect applied to physical only or magic as well, but since it didn’t mention it, I could only assume that it worked for both.

  I wasn’t sure how Arcane Slash worked, but from the description, it was something that was cast with weapon attacks. I stood up straight, grabbed my sword, and aimed it for the wall. At first, I just thought of casting the spell to test the waters, but nothing happened, and then I swung my sword while simultaneously thinking to cast the spell. A long trail of thick energy snaked out of my hands, found my weapon, and then blinked out of my blade in a long, almost half circle arch as it flowed forward. The energy slammed into the wall creating a huge, 2-inch indentation and making a much louder noise than I expected. I was surprised when the guards didn’t come to see what was going on.

  “Oh shit,” I said, and walked up to wall to inspect the damage. Good thing I was planning on getting out of there that night. I wasn’t sure how I’d explain the damage to Dryden.

  25% of my magic had been wiped out from the Arcane Slash, so I knew it was a mana hog and wasn’t something that I’d be able to cast frequently. Still, it seemed like something that would be very useful and might even be a godsend when going up against the multiple enemies we’d face trying to get out the keep.

  I shook my head and sat down at the foot of the bed. I wasn’t sure if or how we were going to get out. I hadn’t thought to inspect any of the guards when Dryden took me to see the dragon, since I didn’t think I’d have to fight them at the time, but if they were anything like the guards at the front of the keep, I was in for one of the hardest challenges I had faced thus far in Eden’s Gate.

  I didn’t even know what skills Maleena and Rina possessed.

  Hopefully something or I was in for one hell of a disappointing night.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  1/24/0001

  I sat crouched in the same spot I had the evening before, staring up at the spiders bouncing around in their web. I had been there for over two hours and watched as a moth that had flown into the room when I opened the door smack into the web and got itself stuck. It only jerked one or two times before one of the spiders pounced on it and begin devouring its head. It wrapped the rest of the moth’s body up in a cocoon … I assumed to eat later.

  A parallel for what was about to happen, I wondered?

  I shuddered at the thought.

  The door cracked opened, and Rina, followed by Maleena slipped inside. I exhaled loudly, glad that they managed to make it.

  “Okay,” Rina said. “Fifteen minutes and the whole place goes on alert.”

  I scanned the pair up and down, surprised they were carrying nothing at all and still wearing their thin harem outfits that exposed the center of their chest and accentuate all their other womanly assets.

  “You didn’t bring weapons or anything?”

  “Weapons?” Rina asked. “There’s nothing like that in our room, and we sure as hell didn’t have time to try to sneak something here. What you see is what you get.”

  My throat tightened as I realized my error. I shouldn’t have assumed that they’d be prepared in any way. If I had considered that they were helpless, maybe I could’ve stolen the weapons from the rack in my room or lifted some while sneaking around. I looked down and rubbed my chin as I tried to figure out what to do.

  “15 minutes,” Rina reminded me again.

  “Fuck,” I cursed, realizing we’d just have to make do with whatever we found on the way. “Let’s go.”

  We slipped out of the room and quietly tiptoed through the hallway until we made it to the dining area. A soldier was just walking away from the area and down the other hall, but thankfully, no one was sticking around, and Dryden wasn’t there.

  I held my hand out to the girls, indicating for them to stay where they were and rushed behind Dryden’s throne. There were a few discolored stones, but remembering the two that Dryden had pushed, I placed my hands in the same position and the hidden passageway started to slide open.

  I waved my hands at my companions, and they immediately followed.

  All three of us hurried through the passage door, and I quickly touched the discolored stone on the inside of the passage to close the door behind us.

  “What?”
the guard said, standing from his chair. “What are you women doing here?! Where’s Dryden?”

  Clearly, there wasn’t going to be any time to strategize or talk.

  Name: Bloodletter Guardsman

  Race: human

  Level: 22

  Health/Mana/Stamina: 220/100/180

  Status: unknown

  “Dryden sent us here,” I said, taking my chances that I might be able to manipulate the guard and avoid a fight. “You remember me, right?”

  “You liar!” the man yelled, completely ignoring my words. He started running towards us and drew his sword on the way. I pulled my sword out as well, turned to the girls and held out my palm, signaling for them to get back out of the way.

  The guard swung his heavy sword at me, and I blocked it with mine, the power of the blow reverberating through the blade and into my wrist hard. His swing felt more powerful than any previous enemies I had encountered, and while I had grown in power as my levels progressed, the block still hurt..

  Our swords screeched as I tried to use my strength to push him back with my blade, but he slid his weapon down and in a clockwise motion only to pull back and hammer his weapon at me again. He was slow with the attack, giving me time to lunge forward and slash my blade against his chestpiece and simultaneously move out of the way of his swing.

  My strike clanged and barely affected him through his hard plate breastplate.

  The guard kicked his foot out at me, smashing me in the side of ribs and causing me to stumble back a few steps. As soon as I regained my balance, I shot an Arcane Missile at him, connecting with his shoulder hard enough that he stumbled. Despite my accuracy, his armor once again seemed to protect him from my attack.