by Elian Tars
However, I didn’t sleep well. I was bothered by the mysterious girl sleeping in the next room. I wanted to return home to the quiet, civilized world and let my nerves rest.
It was still dark when I got up and went into the living part of the forest. I walked about five hundred yards, had a snack and then, making a circle, went out to the edge of Decay. Ilsa was still sleeping when I left, but her bear was following me and Vella with a watchful eye.
Surprisingly, I found inner peace on the territory of Decay. Not needing to think about what to do and how to live was very convenient. You saw a creature, you defeated it, you went back to the other riverbank, restored your stats, and then started all over again.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have a way of measuring the distance traveled, except relying on my own instincts. I couldn’t even pinpoint where I was. The map was not that detailed. However, as I thought, late in the afternoon I walked a third of the way from the river to Jason’s mark. It took me two days to get that far. However, that didn’t mean that I would reach my destination in four days. The levels of monsters we defeated along the way went up to 30. If their level continues to grow faster than mine and Vella’s…
My thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the inscription that appeared before my eyes:
You have gone deeper into the territory of Decay.
The effect of Decay has weakened. You’re getting 1 point of damage every 4 seconds for the next 5 minutes.
At first I froze in amazement, but quickly took a few steps back. Upon doing so, I saw the previous system message about “getting 1 point of damage every 8 seconds”.
Well, I guess the farther you go into the forest, the stronger the effect of Decay becomes. And though it said “for the next 5 minutes”, as soon as the countdown reached zero, a similar curse appeared. Sometimes it would fully block it, but sometimes the effect of Decay would pass through. Since I was constantly on the cursed land, it “attacked” me every second. Fortunately, the territory of Decay couldn’t cast more than one effect.
So, now even with the accelerated regeneration, if I kept going, I would lose 1 HP every 8 seconds.
What was the conclusion? We couldn’t walk forward. Of course, I could ride Vella and get as far as I could... But I had tried this method yesterday. The dog couldn’t go full speed due to my weight and the fact that my Riding was only level 2. Creatures of Decay could easily catch up with her.
I only had one option. I needed to upgrade Dark Part of the World and Tranquility of Darkness to level 4. It was a good thing that I would need “only” two skill points to upgrade each of my abilities. That was four points altogether. So far I had one saved point. I would get four when I get to level 29. Well, I guess that I’ll have to go grinding!
“We’re going back, Vella,” I turned to the dog, “let’s go home and expand the cleaning area!”
“Woof!” she barked willingly.
Simple grinding... What could be easier? But this world surprised me once again.
Making a short detour, we defeated a couple of bears. I jumped onto the dog, quickly returned to the territory clear from enemies and ran toward the river to restore my stats.
Not far from the shore Vella suddenly stopped, and I miraculously stayed on her back.
“What is it?” I whispered softly, looking in the same direction as the Bullkorg.
She jerked her snout, but didn’t growl or even cling close to the ground. It was weird... But there was definitely someone out there. However, I had never gotten such a reaction from Vella. One would think that it was not an enemy. But who was roaming the decayed lands then?
I got off her back of the dog and pointed at the river.
“Go to the river and walk along the shore,” I whispered in her black ear. “I’ll take the other side.”
The dog gave me a look with her clever eyes, nodded and, without a sound, ran to the right. I turned to the left.
I moved, bending down, carefully choosing the place where to put my foot. Winding among the decayed trees, I walked around the geysers with caustic green goop. Five minutes later I saw a man.
I immediately recognized his clothing: black scaly armor, a cloak, and a helmet with a mask covering the lower half of his face.
It was one of the Iron Faced. What the hell was he doing so far in the territory of Decay?
Chapter 19
The Message
Grace
Level 52
HP: 81/1182
He was barely moving his feet. He tottered and almost fell, but kept moving forward. There were gaping holes on his armor, some of which were framed with the caustic green slime.
“A-a-a...” I could just barely hear poor Grace moaning faintly. I took a chance and got a little closer to him, and winced when I caught sight of his unmasked face’. His skin was covered with large ulcers, and his eyes... I wasn’t sure, but it seemed to me that they had burst and became a mess of blood and greenish slush.
I took out the pitchfork and dashed forward. Hearing the rustle, Grace froze and helplessly shook his head.
“Who’s there…?” he whispered. “Please, answer... Who are you? Are you like me? Speak up!”
“No,” I said quietly, getting behind the exhausted man. “I’m not an Iron Faced. But don’t worry… I’ll put you out of your misery.”
Vella saw me and, having left her hiding place, was already standing a few feet away from Grace. We had him surrounded. He was definitely not going anywhere now. A blinded, dying enemy... As cynical as it sounded, it was just what the doctor had ordered — a great chance to get information and experience. Even if he turned out to be a “Gleam”, he couldn’t see my face, and I could change my name if something happens.
Hell, it was too easy for me to talk about torture and murder... But this was definitely a bad time for introspection.
“Not an Iron Faced?” I was surprised to hear joy in his faint voice. “What a relief…”
Suddenly, the man’s legs buckled, and he fell flat on his face into the rotten grass. He rolled onto his back with great difficulty and said:
“They were after me... So I got hold of...their armor to somehow...increase my chances... But I...had to run...through the territory of Decay... I did not plan... They got me in too deep, and... cough-cough…” he coughed and his breathing became ragged. “I was late...ten hours... But I shook them off... But… The mission... has failed... Here... Take it…” an envelope with a black seal appeared in Grace’s trembling hand. “If you open it... It will explode... If you deliver it to the mayor...in Ekheim…you will receive an award... COUGH!!! COUGH!!! COUGH!!!!” the man convulsed; the ulcers on his face began to burst and the caustic-green liquid flowed from them and the holes in the armor.
I swore, took the letter and began to cast Tranquility of Darkness. There was so much that I wanted to learn from this man!
It did not work... Again! Didn’t work again... Another one!
You have used the “Tranquility of Darkness” on Grace. Grace feels “Terror”. Grace wants to run away from you while he is “Terrified”.
“AH!!! AH!!!” the unfortunate man yelled as he tried to get up. “COUGH... COUGH…”
What the hell?! He wasn’t loyal to the Darkness and I couldn’t accelerate his regeneration?! How long would the effect last? When would he calm down?
Grace didn’t get up, but I had a new idea how to delay his death. I snatched one of the health potions from my inventory, uncorked it and poured it down his throat.
The man stopped twitching. For a couple of seconds he laid quietly, and then he started to shake violently, as if he grabbed high-voltage wires with his bare hands.
You have defeated Grace.
XP received: 948 (50%)
You can use the slaying skill on Grace.
For a few seconds I stood there like a statue. What a genius I was, huh? I hastily overlooked the most basic thing — the poor man was clinging to his life and probably would not have gone on a mission wit
hout a health potion. It was logical that he had already managed to drink it. But you could do it only once every twelve hours…
And now there was no way to make him come back — my Tranquility wouldn’t work, I didn’t have any other healing abilities and the territory of Decay would not allow the man to recover at least one HP.
“Finish him, Vella,” I said helplessly, thinking about who got the other half of the experience. Maybe it was the decayed earth with its negative effects?
The dog tore through ’Grace’s throat with an indifferent expression and moved aside. Having overcome the slight disgust, I began to undress the corpse, hoping to find something valuable under the armor.
It was all decayed; there was nothing interesting, just a mutilated, messy body. Too bad... But what had I been hoping for? Still, it was very convenient that, in an ordinary MMORPG, all you needed was plainly displayed and that the corpses disappeared after a short period of time.
“Okay, let’s cross the river,” I said to the dog, deciding not to take the leaky armor. The hell with it! That piece of junk was not worth falling over myself trying to sell it to the merchants.
I was in a very lousy mood — it was not every day that a man died because of me. Yes, I knew that it was not my fault. To some extent, I even helped him by ending his suffering, but the aftertaste remained. It bothered me that I could not extract anything of value except for another possible link to the mayor of Ekheim. Also, I had more reason to believe that the mayor was not associated with the Iron Faced. Plus, it could be concluded that he did not skimp on equipment for his agents — Grace said that he didn’t have time to go through the territory of Decay in ten hours. Therefore, the scout who died a painful death must have had a Glozeysk Crystal, which could work for ten hours. And according to the merchant Tayon, such thing cost a thousand of gold pieces... Was that a lot or not? Hah, the Ilsa’s parents had less than eleven gold pieces saved up…
I also got a letter.
Sitting on the dog’s back, I took the envelope out of my inventory and began to fiddle with it. I wished that I could open it... But Grace’s warning about the explosion might be true. Although, there was a high possibility that the professional spy had lied. However, I was not going to check if that was the case.
I was going to Ekheim. Yes, life had finally given me a sign. I was ready to meet the mayor and talk to him on equal terms. Not because of my level and strength, but because I suddenly had a trump card in my hands.
Right now, I was on my way to the biggest city in the area. Yes, that was where Ilsa had come from and where she also planned to return, but I should visit the mayor before her. I didn’t know if the apprentice ranger could easily get an audience with the mayor, but I ’didn’t want to take that risk. She was too suspicious, and was able to tell too much about me.
As soon as I had finally decided to become a messenger, a system message appeared before my eyes:
Attention!
Quest available: “Message to the Mayor (modified)”
Quest giver: Secretive Bale
Quest objective: Deliver the letter to the mayor of Ekheim.
Reward: XP and maybe something more
Attention! Reward depends on the time of completion.
Submit quest to: Mayor of Ekheim
“I accept,” I thought, skimming over the lines. I wondered why was it “modified”? And why was I the quest giver? It must be because Grace had died before I decided to visit Ekheim with the letter... What a complex system... If I had made a different decision, would the quest have been different, too? And if I hesitated, then wouldn’t I have got the quest and, along with it, the experience for its completion?
Also, this part about the time of completion... Could it be that the information in the letter would no longer be of relevance if I was late? Would the reward then be symbolic? But how could I find out the time limit? The system didn’t bother specifying if the task should be performed in, say, five days.
I pulled out the map and checked it. At the beginning, we would ride the familiar road to Bon’s native village, through that part of the wood where I had already defeated the wolves. ’Should we continue along the road or go straight after that? The first option was faster, but the second one was more convenient — we could avoid unnecessary meetings, and grind along the way, “calming down” the animals.
As a result, we spent the next two days rushing through forests and fields. Unfortunately, we were not able to level up. The closer we got to Ekheim, the weaker the predators that we met were.
Stopping at the edge of the forest, a few hundred yards to the south I saw the high walls of the city, divided into sections by big towers. After thinking for a while I climbed the nearest tree to increase my field of view. Fortunately, Ekheim was partly located in a valley.
The view I saw was a picturesque one — red roofs of the neatly lined up houses; the tall spire of the town hall in the center; the square in front of it; and another one next to it... Hmm, there were some kinds of temples in the residential areas. Weren’t there too many of them?
After travelling through the forests and the territory of Decay and visiting destroyed villages, and even after Trikuni, with part of its population having gone to war, Ekheim, and the area around it, seemed unusually busy. I saw trade carts entering the eastern and northern gates almost simultaneously and a small ship sailing down the wide river to the western part of the city.
I climbed down the tree and approached Vella.
“Well, girlfriend,” I scratched the dog behind the ear, “for now I cannot take you with me to the city. I have no idea how they would react to such a big Bullkorg. So, stay in the woods. Hunt only wild and decayed animals if they wander too far from their lands. Don’t show yourself to people. If you feel threatened, better go back to the hunting lodge.”
The dog lowered her ears and softly whimpered.
“Don’t argue,” I said sternly. “It’s for your own good. If we’re lucky, we’ll meet tomorrow.”
Even though we would be apart for a short time, it was still hard to say farewell. Vella was the only creature in this dark game that I could truly trust.
“All right, go to the woods now!” I told her, patting her head once again. She ran a few feet and turned around, staring at me with sorrowful eyes.
Understanding that it was time to end this tearful scene, I turned around and confidently walked to Ekheim’s north gate, feeling the dog’s look on my back. It was all right. We would see each other again…
The guards at the gate looked at me with obvious disgust, but said nothing, allowing me to enter the city in silence. I did not ask them where to find the mayor, rightly judging that it would be better to go to the town hall and ask questions there.
The town people shied away from me. Some pointed with their fingers and whispered, while others just looked away. It was quite a familiar reaction and it was even something that I was used to by now.
“Hey! Out of my way!” I heard a hoarse, booming voice behind me.
“Huh?” glancing over my shoulder, I saw an old cart driven by a level 20, fat and dirty man. I don’t know if he saw my angry face under the hood or read my status, or maybe even felt the effect of Gloominess, but the man hunched over, almost shrinking to twice his size, and hastily turned away, staring at the gray walls of the nearest house.
“Hey! Don’t scare the people! Follow the rules, scarecrow!” a guard with a mustache approached me wearing a leather armor that looked exactly the same as the one his two companions in Selbera wore.
“What rules?” I asked, eyeing my new friend. His name was Lin, level 51, armed with a sword and a shield.
“You must give way to carts,” he said, clutching my forearm and pulling me to the side. The fat man immediately pulled the reins and quickly got away. I followed him with my gaze and noticed that dozens of curious eyes were looking at us.
“Look, they caught a nasty one! He must have stolen something!”
�
�Or maybe he killed someone?!”
A few more equally brilliant assumptions reached my ears before I realized that Lin was no longer holding me but was looking at me with a frown.
“Take your hood off!” he told me.
“What?” I was surprised.
“Take off your hood! Are you deaf? Show your face!”
I did as told. Lin observed me for a few seconds, then exhaled and scratched his bald head covered with a couple of nasty scars.
“All right, put it back on and go.”
I put on my hood, but I was in no hurry to leave, trying to understand what had just happened.
“Did you mistake me for someone else?” I asked cautiously.
“No,” chuckled Lin, “just decided to find out what kind of a stinker was disturbing the peace… In case you were on the wanted list.”
His explanation seemed pretty idiotic to me.
“Do you know the faces of all of the wanted people?”
The guardsman grimaced and spat onto the pavement.
“Better go before you get thrown in jail. And don’t draw too much attention to yourself. You might run into someone that’s not as kind as I am, and then…” he nodded meaningfully and dragged his thumb across his throat.
“Alright, I’m leaving,” I raised my hands in a conciliatory gesture, “but before I go, maybe you could tell me what rules I should follow? I’m just a traveler and this is my first time in your city.”
“Rules?” the guardsman grunted in surprise. “They’re the same as elsewhere: do not steal, do not bug others, don not block the road and do not go into other people’s temples,” he thoughtfully scratched his head.
With the corner of my eye I noticed a figure approaching us. I turned my head and almost swore, seeing a familiar face. I immediately checked the system, hoping that I was wrong.