Path of Darkness

by A P Gore

  “How is this useful to us?” Jon asked.

  Mitch pulled out a small plant from his bag that had a glint of red all over it. “This is mirath, a common herb that grows around the farms.”

  Jon cast perception on it.

  Mirath

  Quality: Low.

  Used for hardening nonliving surfaces. Ads 10 durability when applied as a lotion.

  System: Congratulations, you have found a new herb. Herbalism +1

  “This herb grows everywhere around here,” Mitch said. “We use it to protect our hut walls and roofs from hurricanes.”

  Jon’s eyes widened. “Do we get hurricanes here?”

  “Yes, for three months of the year. We can’t grow anything in that time.”

  Jon rubbed the back of his neck. So much for his three months a year of free time. That bastard Baltazar had gotten him good. “Okay, so you want to apply the lotion to the walls?”

  “Yes, but not directly. Once we crush and mix these two, they increase the durability by 30 points. That should be sufficient for twenty walls.”

  Jon arched his brows. “But how does this help the walls?”

  Mitch smirked. “You haven’t seen the walls, have you?”

  Jon shook his head. Quickly walking to a wall, he cast perception on it.

  Simple Palisade Wall

  HP: 1000

  Durability: 10/50 (Reduced due to unavailability of Residence.)

  “Damn, why’s the Durability so low?” Durability was like toughness. Once the Durability hit 0, the wall would crumble even if it didn’t suffer 1000 damage.

  Jon swirled the crystal on his palm. “Where do we get these?”

  “Earth elementals drops them sometimes.”

  Jon smiled, a wicked smile. Suddenly he had an idea. A crazy one indeed.

  Chapter 33

  When the first ray of morning sunlight invaded his hut, Jon jumped out of his bedroll, ready to rock and roll. It was time to walk into the den of the enemy.

  He wore a wicked smile, like an overpowered character from a novel, when he pushed his long hair back.

  Quickly splashing cold water on his face, he jolted his brain to get into action mode. In real life, he was an early morning person, and his mornings were always energy-filled. He would continue his rituals for the next six hundred years.

  He sighed. Even the thought of spending six hundred years in the game gave him chills. What was he going to do?

  As he rubbed his mouth with a cloth, he thought about his future. Six hundred years. Thinking about it made his heart heavy.

  Sighing, he focused on getting ready. He had to get back before Grimish returned from Chinari. Today’s plan was clear. He would kill all the earth elementals living in the small mountain to the south of farm #1.

  When he walked out of his hut, he spotted Kron and a group of twenty players moving out to gather mirath. He had asked them last night to gather as much as they could.

  After charging his flags, he marched toward farm #1.

  Farm #1 was situated at the base of a mountain that provided it ample shadows all year. Shadows were good for weed crop; it grew nearly twice as fast in shadow. The person who owned farm #1 should be a wealthy player, but no, he suffered the most because of constant earth elemental attacks. That unfortunate player was Dave, a level 14 player who had been in the game for five hundred years. He’d seemed nice when they talked last night. His term would be finished in less than a year, so he had volunteered to help Jon find the den of the earth elementals. After all, he’d faced the most attacks and lived through them.

  “Lord.” Dave bowed slightly when Jon met him at the agreed-upon point.

  “Just call me Jon. That’ll be fine.” Jon eyed the man with the white hair and twisted chin. He looked in his fifties. The game didn’t let anyone age, but because of locked classes and stat imbalance, players developed some deficiency or another over time, like white hair for Dave or Grimish’s bald and old appearance. Jon guessed the more they leveled up with locked classes, the more they turned into ugly-looking old people.

  Thank god, he had a class, so he would retain his handsome face and chiseled muscles. Yeah, baby!

  “I understand, Lord. But if I try to say Jon, the game deducts Wisdom from me. I’ve seen high level players treating NPC barons and counts like lords, so I guess it’s written in the game rules.”

  Jon shook his head in disappointment. The game developers must have been sons of high nobility in the past, trying to force their stupid culture in the game. “All right. Let’s get moving.”

  Dave nodded and walked ahead of him.

  In next ten minutes, they traveled along a quite bizarre steep road. It was like someone had bulldozed and excavated the road.

  “The earth monsters come through this route. They’ve done a number on the road,” Dave said, perhaps reading Jon’s weird expression.

  Something moved on their right.

  An earth elemental jumped out of the ground and leaped at Jon.

  Dave made his move and swiftly pulled his shovel out and hit the elemental in the head. -50 appeared above the elemental’s head, and it retreated. “Lord,” Dave whispered. “There must be a small herd out there. Let’s follow that monster.” He headed of in the direction the earth elemental’s had gone.

  Pulling his flags out, Jon followed Dave. He also readied his Healing Space spell.

  They walked between small bushes, following the excavation lines on the ground. After five minutes, they spotted the small herd of earth elementals. They were swimming in a five-by-five-meter pit. Which is to say, they surfaced from the earth, leaped in the air, then dived back into the ground.

  “Lord, there seem to be at least twenty or thirty monsters below the surface. How are you going to bring them up?” Dave asked, his voice wavering a little.

  Jon smirked. “Don’t worry. I’ve got the perfect spell. Just plant these flags at the corners of the area.” He handed two flags to Dave and took two himself. Being a Formationist didn’t mean explosive power, but it meant a proper set up and then annihilation, like an assassin working from the dark.

  That thought actually felt good. Again, badass smile popped on Jon’s face.

  Dave took the flags and vanished in the blink of an eye. He seemed to have put his points in Dexterity like Grimish. In less than a second, Dave had planted the flags at the corners of the pit while it took Jon five seconds to amble in a straight line and place his two flags. Maybe he should put some points in Dexterity. His speed was almost nonexistent.

  When Dave ran back to him, Jon activated the Lock formation. The earth elementals froze. A few monsters hung in the air, while the others were stuck inside the ground.

  “Lord, how are you going to hit the ones in the ground?” Dave asked, looking dumbfounded.

  Jon just smiled.

  One by one, Jon cast Mold Earth on the small patches, shifting the land with every cast, and bringing the bottom layer up. As the monsters got pulled along with the bottom layer, Dave stared in awe.

  The small monsters hissed and stared at the duo with angry eyes, but their movements were completely locked, rendering them paralyzed.

  Waving his hand, Jon cast Acid Vine on four plants and then cast Earth Spike. His Spirit drained like a tap fully open, but the effect it produced was phenomenal.

  One after another, Acid Vines started their barrage of acid sprays while Earth Spike continuously stabbed the monsters, dealing 10-20 damage per hit. Acid Vines targeted each monster, dealing 30-35 damage each, annoying them all to hell and draining their HP fast.

  The earth elementals’ HP drained rapidly. They hissed and struggled, but they couldn’t move. The ultimate combo brought them to their knees—of course, they didn’t have knees, they ended at their waists. Quite weird looking monsters. In less than twenty seconds, half of the twenty monsters were dead and another half were at a critical junction. When the thirty-second duration of the Lock formation finished, only three remained alive b
ecause they were in the air.

  The monsters in the air dropped to the ground when the formation’s effect ended. They quickly sank into the earth and disappeared, but Jon was ready. Casting Mold Earth, he churned them back to the surface. Dashing forward, Dave finished one with three to four shovel hits while the remaining two were bombarded by the acid sprays.

  When the final one dropped, Jon walked into the pit area to collect his crystal harvest, and it was plentiful. Among the debris was a small stick that glowed with blue light.

  Chapter 34

  The streets bustled with players and NPCs alike when Grimish walked through the town’s gate. Every time he came here, he felt ecstatic for the players who lived in this town. In the world’s end.

  Chinari was literally at world’s end. After Chinari, there was nothing. No human lived past Chinari except the wild creatures and crazy druids that lived in the Abomination Forest. It was the end for the players. Anyone who entered the forest never came back alive. They only resurrected back in the town. So, in theory, humankind stopped at Chinari, making it the last city of the Azira region in the game.

  No more. The outpost area where Grimish and the other contracted farmers lived was a special zone established by Laxania for weed farming, but now it had been converted into Epic village by his master.

  The stupid master fella who knew shit about the game had created a village at the end of the world. His end would be epic too, but right now Grimish couldn’t do anything about it. For the next six months, Jon was his master, and he had to abide by his rules.

  This stupid game. Whenever he tried to call Jon by his name, the game deducted one Wisdom point from him for two hours. It wasn’t worth it to lose what little Wisdom he had over that stupid fella.

  Taking the first right, Grimish entered the slums, his go-to place when he visited the town. It reeked of rotten vegetables, thrown away meat, and gutter refuse, but it was the only place he could visit in the whole town. Because he was a classless player, the other areas of town barred him entry.

  Stupid fellas. One day he would show them who Grimish was.

  Soon enough.

  Increasing his pace, Grimish pressed deeper into the slums, avoiding the gazes of assassins and prostitutes. Anyone that attracted attention lost their life in this area, and Grimish had learned that the hard way. At the end of the second street was Kira’s grain shop—one of the two shops in the slum area that bought weed crop from him.

  “Grimish!” Kira, a level 35 NPC, smiled at him. “My esteemed customer.” His one eye glinted with enthusiasm.

  Grimish gritted his teeth. If he had a choice, he wouldn’t have come here at all. This bastard fella robbed him in broad daylight whenever he came here. For starters, the weed crop sold for fifty copper in the high district, but Kira would only give him twenty copper per plant. If it wasn’t for Grimish’s stolen flags, he wouldn’t have made any money at all by coming here.

  “Kira, I’ve got something special for you today. But first, tell me how much you will pay for this?” Slowly, he pulled a golden weed plant out of his bag. It was his master’s harvest. Two thousand Excellent quality plants. That should fetch him a tidy sum, because he had never seen a plant that would offer bonuses to Constitution or Strength like this.

  Kira pulled out his magnifying glass and put it on his only working eye. He had lost the other in some battle or another a hundred years back. Whenever someone new came, he would tell that person the story of his bravery before conducting any business. The self-involved jerk.

  Kira’s chin lifted. His suspicious gaze sized up Grimish from head to toe. “Where did you get this?”

  Grimish smirked. “I’ve got more.” He patted his Bag of Holding.

  Kira sucked his upper lip. That meant he was thinking hard. “I’ll pay you fifty copper for each plant. That’s my final offer.”

  Grimish nearly died from shock. Fifty copper for a plant? He had hit the jackpot. However, he kept his face calm. Why would he show his impatience to an NPC?

  “No deal. Fella, I know the value of this crop in the high district. It’s not less than two silvers for each plant. If you won’t pay me a silver and ten coppers, I’ll go to Masha’s.” Masha’s was the other shop in the slum that dealt in the grains and weed crop.

  “Eighty copper, max.” Kira pulled the plant closer to him.

  Grimish pulled it back. “Not less than one silver.”

  “Ninety coppers.” Kira again pulled it back.

  Grimish chuckled. “Done.” This was the first time he’d succeeding at bargaining with Kira. He placed the whole Excellent quality crop on the table. “Two thousand plants, total.”

  Kira’s gaze jumped to outside before he hurriedly put everything inside his bag. “Do you have more?” Greed lurked in his eye.

  “I can, if you give me some pointers.” Grimish leaned on the table, staring into the merchant’s eye. “I need defensive talismans that can enhance building walls, four sets of blank flags, twenty basic workers, and one master worker who can speed up the work.”

  Kira eyed him like he was asking about an Imperial secret.

  “Come around back. I’ll see what I can do.” And then Kira closed the shop for business. Though Kira dealt with grains and miscellaneous odds and ends up front, he also dealt with illegal smuggling and other side businesses the guards wouldn’t like under the table.

  While he walked through the shop, Grimish calculated his gains. It came to 18 gold. Holy moly. This master fella was the real deal. If only he could enter the high district, he would have nearly doubled his profit. With 18 gold, he could live in the town’s best hotel for three days and enjoy everything—including a woman and meat and so many other things that were beyond his reach until now.

  Although Grimish hated this master fella, he knew it was best to stay on his good side. Maybe he would gain the knowledge of how to grow Excellent crops one day. Once he learned that, gold would rain from the sky.

  Kira vanished inside a room for a minute and then walked back out with a bunch of square papers that glowed with a faint blue light.

  “These are the strengthening talismans. They will strengthen a building’s walls for one day by twenty percent.”

  Grimish cast a quick perception on one of them.

  Talisman of Durability

  Quality: Average.

  Tier: 0

  Can be attached to a hard surface. Increases the surface’s Durability by 20% for 24 hours. One-time use.

  Grimish’s eyes shone with a satisfaction. This was what he needed. Though the number only said twenty percent, the actual effect would be like giving twenty percent HP to the walls.

  “I’ve got four hundred. One silver each.”

  Grimish arched his brows. He wasn’t sure if four hundred would be enough for the work. “I need more, fella.”

  Kira’s white teeth flashed in a wicked smile. “I can ask Misha, but he would charge more. One silver ten copper each.”

  “I’ll take them. What about the workers?”

  “Twenty copper each week and minimum contract is one month. For the advanced builder, I don’t have one, but I’ve seen a woman living at the end of street three. They say she is a master builder. See if you can get her to work for you for a short term.”

  Grimish scratched his beard. That was a chance he had to take. “Do you have the blank flag sets?”

  Kira nodded, pulling four blank sets out of his pocket. “These are one-time use and cost one gold each.”

  Grimish furrowed his brows. The man was fleecing him now. “Are you sure Misha won’t have cheaper than these?”

  “If you buy from me, I can hook you up with a carriage to transfer the workers to your town in one day. That would cost two gold more.”

  “I’ll take that.” Grimish remembered his master’s words. He wanted these at any cost.

  “Good.” Kira’s thick lips curled in a greedy smile. A smile Grimish knew very well. Kira had gotten the better of this deal. �
��Happy to do business with you, esteemed customer. Now tell me, when can you get me more of this Excellent quality crop?”

  A message popped up, surprising Grimish.

  Congratulations, your reputation with Kira increased by 100 points. He will likely show you more goods next time.

  “Soon enough,” Grimish replied.

  Kira pulled a small pouch out of his pocket. “This is the remaining money. 5 gold 64 silver. It’s always great to do business with a customer like you.”

  Grimish nodded and walked out of the shop. His bag was filled with six hundred talismans, four sets of blank formation flags, and an address to a supposed master builder. The workers would arrive at the outpost area by tomorrow morning. The NPCs honored their word. But somehow, he couldn’t get rid of the feeling that he’d been cheated.

  DEATHBLADE SWIPED HIS dagger at the wooden dummy when someone knocked on the door.

  “Come in,” he said in a hoarse voice.

  “Boss.” His lackey, Damaged Horse, stepped in and bowed.

  “Shoot.”

  “Kira’s grain shop in the slums is selling Excellent quality weed crop for 2 silver each plant, and he seems to have nearly two thousand such crops.”

  Deathblade traced his fingers over the sharp dagger in his hand. “Buy it all, and see if you can trace the source. I don’t believe an NPC can produce this kind of weed crop.” He flung the dagger at the dummy, hitting the right eye dead center.

  Chapter 35

  Jon smacked the Earth Spike spell on the locked earth elementals, starting the annihilation of the fourth horde. This was getting fun with the new wand. In the bright daylight, his wand gave off a little blue light, mesmerizing him again and again. After all, it was his first drop from the game.

  Just for fun, he waved it in the air and felt his Spirit rushing through it. With the wind, it was quite easy to cast the spells. The small pain he always felt while casting the spell had vanished, and it felt completely natural to use the new toy.