The Second Betrayal: A Fantasy LitRPG Adventure (Divine Apostasy Book 2)

by A F Kay

  It did look nice. It smelled nice too.

  “Is that lavender?” Ruwen asked.

  “Yes!” Hamma said. “Blapy mimicked my perfume. She did such an amazing job. With her attention to detail, it’s no wonder she’s so powerful.”

  “This is very nice, Hamma,” Sift said.

  “I think it’s fantastic,” Ruwen said.

  Hamma beamed. “Thank you! I’ve been fighting with my mom over getting my own space. And now I have one.”

  Ruwen remembered how embarrassed Hamma had been when she’d revealed she still lived with her mom. Ascendancy marked you as an adult, and most people got their own space soon after. Ruwen felt happy that something good had come from all the trouble he’d caused her.

  “You deserve it,” Ruwen said.

  “So, what are we going to do now?” Sift asked.

  “Sleep?” Ruwen asked.

  Hamma and Sift both nodded.

  “Okay, how about we meet back in the chapel at 3:30 AM. Sift and I will bring food for breakfast. Then I thought we might give level five a try. How do you feel about that, Hamma?”

  “It scares me a little, to be honest, but I want to try,” Hamma said.

  “Okay. We’ll see you in a while,” Ruwen said.

  Ruwen and Sift walked back through the chapel. Ruwen’s legs almost felt normal, but his arms felt like they weighed a thousand pounds, and he moved them back and forth across his body.

  “No way,” Sift whispered and ran forward.

  Ruwen looked through the chapel doors, and past the open doors of the room they’d just left. But the room had disappeared, or to be more precise, the doors now led to someplace else. Ruwen tried to move faster.

  He stopped at the open doors of their practice room and stared at what had minutes before been a debris-filled space. Mountain peaks stretched into the distance, partially covered by grey clouds, and the right side of the room reached fifty feet before ending at a cliff. Blue sky had replaced the ceiling. The space now appeared to be hundreds of feet larger than before, and small stone buildings dotted the packed pebble ground.

  Sift had run to the far end of the area. Practice dummies stood along the left side of the space, which now ended in the granite face of a mountain. Three large circles covered the back of the area, each ring outlined in a different color: blue, red, and black. Sift stood in front of a waist-high pillar next to the rings.

  “Are you kidding me!” Sift screamed.

  A moment later, Ruwen tensed as a six-foot Clapping Brawler appeared in the middle of the blue ring. It had four arms, green skin, and brown ridges on its hairless scalp. Ruwen ran toward Sift as fast as his exhausted legs would move. Ruwen reached for his Void Band to remove his staff but slowed when Sift laughed.

  Sift stepped into the ring and bowed, and the Clapping Brawler did the same. Ruwen neared the pair, and his Perception finally had enough information to display some details.

  Name: Clapping Brawler, Bruiser (Level 12)

  Health: 421

  Mana: 0

  Energy: 337

  Spirit: 0

  The Bruiser spoke, and Ruwen’s Hey You deciphered it.

  “We miss rings. Glad them back. Now smash ugly face,” the Bruiser said.

  Ruwen laughed.

  “What?” Sift asked as he circled the Bruiser.

  “Nothing, it’s just he’s a good judge of looks. And it seems like this is something they used to do before. They’re glad it's back.”

  “My mom told me about this, that’s why I recognized it. The tablet on that pillar lets you pick opponents to spar with from the dungeon. This is going to be great for your training.”

  Ruwen suddenly became a lot less enthusiastic. The Bruiser jumped at Sift, who weaved in between the four punches of the Bruiser.

  A gong sounded, and Blapy appeared just outside the ring Sift fought in. She spoke to Sift. “You can be the Sisen here if you like.”

  Sift stoop up straight and faced Blapy. “Would that mean you win?”

  Ruwen shook his head at Sift’s irrational contest with Blapy. His friend never took any loot from Blapy, and she had taken it personally. She continually increased the value or amount of his treasure, but he never budged.

  The Bruiser landed a punch to Sift’s chin and another to his stomach. Sift did a backflip and rubbed his chin. The Bruiser leaped at Sift, but this time Sift sidestepped and struck the Bruiser on the temple. The Bruiser fell to the mat unconscious, and the floor swallowed him.

  Blapy pouted. “No, this isn’t loot. It’s a privilege. But you need to spend time here. I know you have a room above, but you’d have quarters here as well. When you aren’t using the ring, the occupants below would like to. I don’t allow much fighting for sport, so they have all missed this room being active.”

  “And they won’t attack anyone?” Sift said.

  “No, there are strict rules. They are only allowed in the rings,” Blapy said.

  “Okay,” Sift said.

  “Does that mean you accept the position as Sisen here?” Blapy asked.

  Sift turned and looked at Ruwen. “It will really speed your training,” Sift said and then faced Blapy. “I accept.”

  Instantly the black ring expanded to three times its size, and a bull, eight feet tall and standing on its hind legs, emerged from the ground. Another creature followed. It looked like a cross between a ferret and a cobra. Ruwen’s Perception couldn’t sense anything about the pair. As soon as they entered the ring, they bowed and started fighting.

  “Your room is near the front, and its door is in the cliff face. The fighting back here will go on nonstop. Whenever you want to use one of the rings, just open the tablet,” Blapy said.

  They walked back to the front and found the door to Sift’s room.

  Sift looked inside. “This is great. Staying down here, my parents won’t even know I’m back.”

  Blapy looked at Ruwen and whispered. “If that boy thinks he can hide anything from his parents, he’s dumber than you look.”

  “Hey!” Ruwen said.

  Blapy laughed. “Come on, you’re the only one left.”

  “See you later,” Ruwen yelled.

  “Later! Good job today,” Sift yelled back.

  “Your illusions are fantastic,” Ruwen said. “That really felt like being on a mountain top.”

  “My illusions are good. But nothing compared to my control of space,” Blapy said.

  Ruwen stopped, but Blapy kept walking.

  He jogged to catch up. “Are you saying that really was a mountain top?”

  “I just agree with you. I’m fantastic.”

  Ruwen followed Blapy into the library. Books still covered the floor, and they threaded their way to the back of the room. The shelves here were partially filled with books, but Ruwen didn’t see a door, and he looked at Blapy.

  Blapy reached past Ruwen and pulled a small black book shelved between two tall white ones. A click sounded, and a door shaped part of the shelf swung outward.

  “A secret room, in a dungeon library. Are you a mind reader?” Ruwen whispered.

  Blapy shook her head. “No, I just know the type, unfortunately.”

  Ruwen stepped into the room, and it looked very similar to Hamma’s, without the lavender smell. There were more plush chairs as well. Perfect for reading.

  Blapy stood at the door and didn’t come in. “You’ve started the Ink Lord quests. You probably don’t know much about them. They're a secret group of arrogant, knowledge-hungry intellectuals, many of which would sacrifice their mother for a rare book. Well, that’s my opinion, anyway. If you complete the quests, you’ll earn the title of Ink Lord for this branch, which will give you the right to attend their meetings. If you think your life is complicated now, you should stop, because the Ink Lords are another level of crazy.”

  Ruwen stared at her with wide eyes.

  Blapy shook her head. “Let me guess, the only things you heard were a secret group and rare book. You a
re all the same.”

  Ruwen held up his hands. “No, I’m not. I love my mom. I’d never harm her for something as dumb as a book.”

  Blapy raised her eyebrow. “That’s what you all sound like in the beginning.”

  Then she disappeared.

  Ruwen closed the door. A secret room in the library. He tried not to grin as he headed for his shower.

  Chapter 26

  Ruwen sat in one of his three plush chairs, his hair still wet from the shower, and stared at the empty bookshelf across from him. He would need to fill it. His body ached, and he almost cast Campfire. Instead, he opened up his notifications.

  The Falcon Gloves of Training continued to show their value. His three hours of trance-like practice had increased his Unarmed Combat another six levels to sixteen.

  Shing!

  You have advanced a skill!

  Skill: Unarmed Combat

  Level: 16

  Effect: Increase unarmed damage by 8.00%. Increase chance to deflect or dodge a blow by 8.00%

  The next two notifications made him sit up straight.

  Ting!

  You have completed the Quest – Learning to Crawl (Bamboo – Step 1)

  Like bamboo, you are strong and flexible.

  You have gained 100 experience.

  You have gained +1 Armor Class!

  You have gained 1% to Dodge!

  Ting!

  You have completed the Quest – Learning to Crawl (Viper – Step 1)

  Like a viper, you are quick and deadly.

  You have gained 100 experience.

  You have gained 1% to Haste!

  You have gained 1% to Critical Strike!

  These were the quests he’d received when he’d been accepted into the Bamboo Viper Clan of Sift’s parents, and they went up to ten. Opening up his Profile, he looked at the values that had changed.

  Experience: 2,892/15,000

  Armor Class: 83

  Critical Chance %: 3.50%

  Haste %: 4.00%

  Dodge %: 14.00%

  He had made real improvements in his capabilities, and he closed his Profile with satisfaction. His Unarmed Combat training had especially made a difference.

  Taking out the rule book he’d gotten from Blapy, he flipped through the pages. He glanced at the page for the chapel and focused on a paragraph on statues. He learned that Uru stood at the altar, and not one of the other deities, because the Mistress or Master of the Black Pyramid belonged to Uru. Another paragraph detailed how to have your deity added to the chapel temporarily.

  Ruwen turned to the pages for the library. The paragraphs on borrowing were interesting. The type of mark you had dictated what books you could check out. Fines seemed reasonable although they did eventually become fatal, as Ruwen’s quest proved.

  He found it interesting that the monsters here in the Black Pyramid liked entertainment just like humans did. Blapy displayed live battles happening deep in the dungeon for them to enjoy, they could access replays of old fights, and now it appeared they could check out books. Evidently, another library deeper in the dungeon had books more catered to the tastes of the creatures here.

  He had thought of the creatures here as dumb animals, only around for him to kill and gain experience. But the truth seemed to be something different. They were living their lives, performing a job, dying, and being reborn as they gained experience themselves. Maybe Blapy used adventurers to level her creatures, not the other way around.

  Ruwen shook his head and focused back on the rule book. If he did become the Ink Lord here, he would control the lower library as well. The return policy for both libraries was identical and seemed convenient as well. As soon as a book became due, if it touched any surface of Blapy or entered a dimensional space, Blapy would reclaim it.

  Ruwen stared at the last sentence. It probably meant any dimensional space in the Black Pyramid. Blapy probably had book drops on different levels where creatures could return their books. It would be impossible for Blapy to be connected to every dimensional space. Everyone he knew had a Dimensional Bag or Belt, and the idea that Blapy had access to them all was laughable.

  He flipped a few pages and came to the Harvesting room. There were strict rules around viewing something called Harvester forms. You could lose your mark or even be executed for unauthorized viewing of another’s form. Did Harvesters fight? This didn’t make much sense.

  Two memories immediately surfaced. The first was something Sift had said yesterday: Each Meridian is associated with a part of the body. There are secret forms you can use that channel your Spirit around them, which Refines your Spirit.

  Then later that same night, Tremine had said this: The paths used to move energy through the different Meridians are tightly held secrets. Wars have been fought over gaining a more efficient pattern to Cultivate with.

  So that explained why this Harvesting room had so many rules centered on privacy. Ruwen closed the book and placed it back in his Inventory. He knew he needed to go visit that room, despite how anxious it made him feel.

  If he gathered more information, it might make him less fearful of the power inside him. More data almost always helped. Sift and Hamma would be asleep for hours, and the fact that he couldn’t sleep anymore was all the more reason he needed to go research that room. He needed to understand what had happened to him. And maybe the room would contain a clue on how to open his Harvesting book.

  Ruwen stood and left his room. In just a couple of minutes, he stood in front of the arched doorway to the Harvesting room. He took a deep breath, pushed the doors open, and forced himself to enter.

  The room had very little debris as if it had been mostly empty to begin with. Ruwen knelt and brushed aside the dust that covered the floor near his feet. Part of a circle became visible, and Ruwen realized a large design had been drawn on the floor. He brushed more of the dust away when another idea occurred to him.

  In the lake on level four, Ruwen had sucked in water and propelled it out the other side of his Void Band. It had allowed him to move quickly through the water. Could he do something similar with air? He opened his Void Band to the size of a hand, and the one Energy per second didn’t even make his bar move.

  Ruwen focused another one Energy per second into pulling the air in one side of his band and out the other. Not a lot happened, and he increased the Energy to three. He felt a little air movement from the bottom of his band. Underwater, three Energy had been significant, but he realized the air was far less dense and he would need more Energy to compensate.

  Slowly Ruwen increased the Energy to five and then ten. A powerful column of air now shot out of the bottom of the Void Band. Ruwen moved his hand and added a little more Energy to tilt the Void Band, so the column of air pointed in the same direction as his hand. Then he moved his arm back and forth over the floor.

  It worked better than he’d imagined. The dust flew away like he had a gigantic broom, and in the span of a few minutes, a circle twenty feet across had been cleared. What Ruwen had initially seen on the floor formed part of a larger circle. One that Ruwen had seen before.

  He stopped the Energy flowing to the Void Band, and his air blower stopped. Reaching into the band, he removed the book A Worker’s Guide to Harvesting. The symbols on the book’s cover were stylized differently, but their intent remained clear. The two diagrams were the same.

  Tremine had called it the Divine Circle: twelve fundamental energies. Ruwen closed his eyes and recalled precisely what Tremine had said: Cultivators can somehow pull Energy into themselves. They then process it through these twelve Meridians, which is called the Divine Circle, and somehow Refine it. I’ve seen pictures where the Meridians are associated with areas of the body.

  The symbols on the cover were mirrored by the drawing on the floor. The answer to opening the book must be in this room. Ruwen sat in the middle of the Divine Circle and stared at the locked book. The book’s contents were about Harvesting, so it stood to reason that opening it involved S
pirit. But not just any Spirit as Sift had proven. It must need to come from Ruwen.

  He bit his lip in worry. When he’d tried to move the Spirit contained inside him, nothing had happened. It had felt like trying to move a cloud. In the mine, though, he had watched Workers condense gas into a solid. He had no desire to actually create a solid inside his body. For all he knew, that would probably kill him.

  And if Spirit and terium were related, or maybe even the same thing, it meant creating a liquid might be impossible. Without knowing the correct pressure and temperature to turn it into a liquid, the variations were infinite. But if he wanted to try to force some of the Spirit out of his body, he didn’t need a liquid. He just needed to make the gas denser than its current state.

  Ruwen knew what he needed to try next. He had known in the mine as soon as he’d seen the gaseous terium. Removing the Worker Textbook from his Inventory, he flipped to the Energy spells available at level three and read the details for Harden.

  Spell: Harden

  Level: 1

  Class: Worker

  Effect: Increase the density of inorganic substances.

  Cost: 1-100 Energy

  Type: Object (within 3 feet per spell level)

  Casting Time: Instant

  Duration: Channeled

  Description: Transition from disorder to order, in defiance of natural laws.

  The symbol looked like a puddle of water condensing into ice. From the alchemy Ruwen had learned in school, he knew organic substances contained a mixture of carbon and hydrogen. So Harden wouldn’t work on anything living or even things like sugar, but that left a lot of things it would work on. Even if this didn’t help with the Spirit inside him, taking the spell wouldn’t be a total waste. The ability to make things denser seemed like it could be valuable.

  Similar to Scrub, there was a table detailing different substances and the combination of spell level and Energy required. If terium and Spirit were linked somehow, then the table specified Ruwen would need to use almost a hundred Energy per second using his level one Harden to have an impact. Increasing the level would decrease the required Energy and time.