Path of Darkness

by A P Gore

  Jon shrugged and walked toward farm 36. His stomach was growling, and he needed to eat something.

  Kron greeted him with a smile when Jon reached his hut.

  “Welcome, Jon.” He pointed at the porridge he had prepared for Jon.

  Jon’s stomach replied with a noisy growl. Though the porridge didn’t taste awesome, it wasn’t bad either. He dived in and filled his stomach.

  “Did you get Mana Manipulation?” Kron said once Jon finished eating.

  Jon smirked. “I got better than that. Run a perception check on me.”

  Kron blinked, and after a moment he nearly fell back. “How— How did you get a class?”

  Jon’s smirk deepened. “I stumbled on something in the forest.”

  Kron rose hastily. “That’s bad... You have to keep Grimish from finding out, or he’ll keep killing you until you respawn in the city.”

  “Why would he do that?”

  Kron stared at him, his lips curling downwards. “He hates anyone that has a chance to get stronger than him. Just stay away from him, and don’t use any spells or skills in front of him. Got it?”

  That was surprising. Not Grimish’s petty nature, but the way Kron said so much in one go. “You used long sentences.”

  Kron smiled shyly, rubbing his neck. “I ramble when I get nervous. Don’t mind. But don’t let Grimish see you in action. He’ll mess with you.”

  “Do you know what level he is?”

  “Level 20. He can dish out 400 damage with his shovel alone.” Kron’s face darkened. “He once killed a level 6 earth elemental with one blow.”

  Again, Kron’s sentences turned longer.

  “Don’t worry. I won’t show off. I doubt he’ll come visit, anyway.”

  Grimish had stolen his flags, so he wouldn’t have any further interest in Jon... unless he wanted to revel in Jon’s misery. But there would be no misery, going forward. He had a way to turn the tables.

  “Let’s sleep. Tomorrow we will see your farm,” Kron said, pulling out a roll of sheets for himself. He then threw one at Jon. “Use it. A friend left it when he left game.”

  Jon smiled back with gratitude. Kron was a nice guy, and he would definitely pay him back in the future.

  The night passed peacefully, and on a full stomach, Jon slept like a baby.

  The morning rays fell upon them along with the now familiar smell of weed and a hunger debuff. Thank god Kron had cooked enough porridge to vanquish that hunger.

  When they finished eating, Kron stood. “Let’s go.”

  Jon nodded and followed him to farm number 43. His farm. As expected, it was a barren tract of land filled with all sort of plants he would consider weeds—different, of course, from the weed crop everyone raised here. It was a strange plant, and he would like to know more about it.

  A hut with empty room waited for him too. A quick glance revealed that it would need a lot of work to make it usable.

  “I don’t have any extra pots. Until you save gold, eat with me,” Kron said.

  “Thanks.” Every time Kron fed him, Jon imagined Kron glowing with a holy ring around his head. After a while, Jon might start treating Kron like a god. The one who provides is always a god.

  Kron turned his attention to the barren land. “Do you have anything to fix the land? Or are we doing it the hard way?”

  Jon smirked. He had a perfect spell to work on it.

  Holding his breath, he muttered Mold Earth.

  A sudden tremor emerged from his heart and spread toward his hand, like someone was forcefully pulling something out of his body. The thing that moved through his heart fought against the flesh of his body, and every time it encountered an obstacle, it tore it up. Two seconds later, Jon was rolling on the ground, crying and yelling in pain.

  Something was terribly wrong with his body.

  A red warning popped up in his vision.

  System: Your spell has backfired, as you don’t have the Spirit Cycling passive skill. You take 20 damage per second for the next 30 seconds.

  As the spell tore his flesh inside the body, Jon yelled louder and louder. Even though he couldn’t do the exact calculation in his current state, he knew 20 damage per second would kill him in no time.

  This was bad. Why the heck couldn’t he use the spell? Why did it backfire?

  Chapter 13

  The sharp pain increased as the spell tore apart the flesh in his palm, and a small greenish-blue energy oozed out of his hand before vanishing in the air.

  “Jon, are you all right?” Kron dropped to his knees and held Jon’s convulsing body tightly.

  Jon cried out in pain. “Spell back...fired. Need Spirit Cy—”

  A message popped up.

  System: Congratulations, you have learned Spirit Cycling the hard way. Even I didn’t know one could do this. +1 Spirit Cycling.

  You keep doing stupid things to learn skills, don’t you? -1 to Intelligence for the next four hours.

  Jon glanced at his Health bar, which was sinking like a stone. Four more seconds, and he would be dead.

  Healing Space. Yes, it could save him.

  Jon quickly dumped his saved skill point in Healing Space, bringing it to level 2, and then he cast it.

  What’s the worst that could happen? He might die from another spell backfiring, but if he lived, he would learn how to cast a spell.

  Without a second thought, he cast it on the ground below him. Once again, something shot out from around his heart and entered his hands, but this time it went much smoother than the previous experience, and a strange power filled the surrounding area.

  System: You are standing in Healing Space area. You heal for 20 points per second for one minute or until your sprit runs out.

  The pain eased. It didn’t stop, but at least the tearing of his muscles stopped. The Healing Space effect matched with the debuff damage, and when the debuff dropped off, he had 20 life remaining in his Health pool.

  “Thanks god,” Jon said, closing his eyes. The pain was still there, but at least it wouldn’t kill him. For the first time, he felt the energy-filled cold hard dirt below his back, and it provided him much needed calmness.

  After 22 seconds, his life started climbing back up. When it reached 220, he stopped casting Healing Space. Thanks to his Spirit regeneration of 6 Spirit/sec, he survived the debuff and the Healing Space cost without losing his life.

  The best part? As his life climbed back up, his muscles automatically patched themselves together like new. Even the pain vanished like it’d never happened. Investing points in Healing Space was the wisest decision he had made, and keeping a spare point for emergencies like this was a close second.

  “Wow! The spell casters really shine.” Kron let out a rare emotion-filled cry.

  Pushing his hands against the ground, Jon jumped to his feet. He felt like a new person.

  “Now, see the magic.” He smirked, and if anyone had seen him now, they wouldn’t believe Jon had nearly died a few seconds back.

  Mold Earth.

  The piercing feeling emerged near his heart and something slipped inside his hand, like ants crawling under his skin, and then the 50-square-meter area in front of him changed. The land rolled itself like a large automatic machine had plowed it two meters deep. The layer two meters below the surface lifted and the upper layer went down. The weeds on the surface area mixed in the land and vanished in the ground—something that would only nourish the soil further.

  It was perfect. He had just done a huge plow operation. The spell seemed to be made for farmers.

  Kron squatted and touched the soil. “This is awesome. I want this too.”

  A small grin formed on Jon’s face. “Of course. I’ll help you, my friend.” He patted Kron’s shoulder.

  “This brings the good soil up. Your yield will be good.”

  “Wait until you see the other spell. Let’s plant the seeds first.” Jon smirked and squatted down to push his seeds into the soil. In less than ten minutes, he’d plan
ted all of his seeds with a farmer’s efficiency.

  Now it was time to cast Land Heal and see the magic.

  Again, the prickling sensation shot from around his heart and moved through his hands to cast the spell on the half of the land they had prepared.

  Nothing changed for few moments. Anxiety ran down Jon’s spine. Did he forget something?

  He was about to cast it a second time when something moved below the soil.

  Hundreds of sprouts rose from the soil and continued rising until they were half a foot tall. Golden light reflected from their shiny surface. A slow wind came from the west, waving the crops in a subtle rhythm.

  A notification popped up.

  System: Congratulations, you have learned the way of plants. You have gained the Herbalism utility class. Do you want to set it up as your second utility class? Remember, you can only have two utility classes active at a time. Yes/No?

  Jon selected Yes. When he was researching farming on the forums the last time he was in the respawn room, he had come across this utility class. Herbalism dealt with plants and herbs, so it would prove to be a good choice for the future.

  “This is...” Kron dropped to his knees and touched one small sampling of the weed crop. “This is golden crop. This is top quality already.” His chin lifted, and he gave Jon a strange look.

  Jon arched his brows. “What? Is there something wrong with it?”

  “Do you know what the quality standards for the crops are?” Again, Kron used a long sentence.

  Jon couldn’t understand what there was to be nervous about. He just shook his head.

  Kron explained, “The crop quality starts out Low then Average—which are the crops we produce, unless we use Mana to enhance them. Then there is a Normal quality which requires fertilizers to be used. If we use a little Mana on every seed, they will produce Good quality crops. The Good quality crops can have effects like stat additions for a couple hours. After Good quality crops comes Superior quality.” He rubbed one seedling gently. “This is a Superior quality crop.” He breathed hard, like he had just run a ten-mile race without stopping.

  Jon squatted and ran a perception check on the plant.

  Superior Weed Crop - Used in ale making. Provides +1 Constitution for 5 hours when consumed raw and +2 Constitution when converted into beer.

  Damn. He was making grains for beer production.

  “What comes after Superior?” Jon asked.

  “Excellent, Magic, Rare, Unique and Legendary. I’ve heard that Rare plants can provide permanent bonuses. As for Unique and Legendary... No one knows what those would do.”

  “A plant that provides permanent bonuses? Wow!” This was epic. He had never thought there would be so nuance to the plant and farming.

  Someone coughed behind them, and they turned to see Grimish with his shovel out on his shoulder.

  This was bad. Grimish must have heard or seen him casting the spell.

  Chapter 14

  With a scowl, Grimish stepped forward and squatted next to Jon. He stared at the crop for a moment and then touched one seedling, pulling it out of the ground.

  Dirt sprayed around when he pulled out the seedling, a testament to the strength of the roots. The spell seemed to strengthen the small plant.

  Jon watched Grimish with caution, his hand pointing toward a seedling, ready to cast Acid Vine at any time. One wrong movement from Grimish, and he would cast the spell on at least two plants.

  Grimish slowly turned his face toward Kron. “Did you have to go overboard and use your flags with Mana? If you teach something like this to a noob, he’ll just keep starving to death.” He jumped to his feet and turned to face Jon. “Just use the normal method for planting, and you’ll survive. If you try to get fancy, you’ll end up dying too much, and one day they’ll throw you back in the prison you came from.” An evil smile spread across his smug face. Jon could smell the stench of alcohol on his breath from several feet away.

  A chill ran down Jon’s spine. Yes, there was a clause in the contract that said he would be thrown back in prison if he didn’t produce a sufficient quantity of weed crop for five weeks in a row.

  “I thought I’d see someone working hard, but Kron had to mess it up. As usual.” He slapped Kron’s head lightly and took off toward the outpost. “Fella, don’t get this kid kicked off because you fucked him up,” he called as he walked away.

  Jon’s jaw relaxed as Grimish left. It was hard to stay sane around the jerk. If he had the strength, he would have attacked Grimish already.

  “A few more days,” Jon muttered.

  Kron patted Jon’s shoulder. “He won’t come back again. Good for you. Now just plant the rest of your seeds. You’ll get enough for your quota.”

  Jon nodded.

  “I’m heading back to my farm. Come for lunch in few hours.”

  Jon stared at Kron’s firm back as he moved along the dirt road built between the farms.

  He sighed as Kron disappeared. He had work to do and a crop to raise.

  Starting from the right corner of the farm, he commenced the planting.

  For the next few hours, he worked tirelessly. First, he plowed the farm with Mold Earth, then he planted the seeds in a perfect line, and then he cast his favorite spell: Land Heal. It was exhausting, and after a couple of casts his Spirit ran out, so he had to take breaks in between. Sometimes he had to take a break because his Stamina ran out.

  By the time he finished planting all two thousand seeds, he had gained +2 Wisdom and +1 Strength. When he went through the game wiki during his last respawn break, he read that the game awarded stat bonuses to low level players. Which was fantastic. Low level players always liked the games with quick progression.

  When Jon cast his last Land Heal on the final patch, he squatted in exhaustion and looked around at his farm. He had only used eighty percent of the total area, so in theory he could plant more, or grow something better in the remaining land. There was an opportunity to make something out of this.

  He wiped the dust from his forehead and wondered how Kron managed to plant two thousand seeds every week.

  Wait, the weekly quota was one thousand. That old man had increased his quota. Damn that old fool!

  Sighing, he rose to go back to his hut. Before going to lunch, he wanted to clean it up a little so he could sleep there tonight.

  But it seemed the game-gods didn’t want him to do anything peacefully.

  When he was about to enter his small hut, he heard a rustle from his farm.

  Swiftly turning back, he glanced around, but saw no one. Maybe it was the wind. He turned back, but again he heard the rustle.

  Again, Jon turned around and found no one there. The only movement was the weed crop waving in the westerly winds.

  Jon squinted, trying to see through the golden seedlings spread across his farm, observing the terrain in detail. Thanks to the game, his vision was as clear and focused as a 2x optical zoom camera.

  Seconds passed, then minutes, but nothing changed. The wind blew like normal, the seedlings smelled like the weed, and sweat trickled down his neck. Nothing changed.

  He was about to turn back when he caught it. Movement under his free land patch.

  He cast Mold Earth on the patch where he had detected the movement.

  The land moved. The soil from the bottom layer came up, and the upper layer went down. Along with the soil, an Earth Elemental flowed to the surface.

  The scary-looking creature stared at Jon with bloodshot eyes, glaring at him with pure animosity.

  Jon swallowed as he cast perception.

  Earth Elemental

  Level 5

  Life: 350

  The creature rumbled like a thunder. The harsh sound pierced Jon’s ears so hard that he covered them with his hands.

  A red notification popped up. The creature’s squeal had taken twenty life from him.

  This was bad. The creature was level 5—4 levels above him—and it had 350 life. He had seen Grimish
kill one with a single hit, but Grimish was level 20. How was Jon supposed to take on such a creature at level 1?

  The creature leaped at him, extending its fist forward. It was like watching a seven-year-old boy jumping at him, but this boy had stone hands, and they were pointed at his face.

  Jon stood rooted in place as the creature zipped through the air.

  Fear clawed at Jon as the creature’s fist closed in on his face. Moment after moment, it became more detailed. The sharp stone spikes, the moving stone particles... The fist looked like death.

  At the last moment, Jon shook off his fear-induced paralysis. The creature was inches away from him, but somehow he ducked and avoided the punch. The creature’s body brushed past him, dealing 30 damage, and crashed to the ground behind him.

  Jon pointed at the nearest seedling. “Acid Vine!”

  The prickling sensation emerged from near his heart once more. This time, the Spirit flowed through his hand like a tap let loose, and the seedling shot up to waist height, gaining sunflower petals and a narrow mouth with sharp teeth.

  It stared at Jon for a moment. Correction, it had no eyes, so Jon only thought it stared at him. Maybe it was staring at the creature behind his back.

  The vine stretched like a water pipe before spitting out a jet of water.

  Damn.

  Jon jumped to his left, and it was good that he did.

  The vine sprayed a jet of acid at the creature behind him.

  But the elemental had already vanished inside the ground. The acid hit the ground, penetrating the soil and leaving a black mark on the ground.

  The patch of soil gave off a thin layer of fog when the last drop of acid penetrated the hard-packed dirt.

  Jon’s body shook when he imagined what would have happened if the acid had landed on him.

  No way. He shook his head and looked around for the creature.

  The elemental popped back up ten feet away.

  The Acid Vine struck again, spewing a stream of acid at the creature. It tried to slip beneath the surface again, but Jon was ready and had already cast Mold Earth on the patch where the creature was.