Path of Darkness

by A P Gore

  "Boss, it’s not that he's level 30+, but he has powerful allies. I bet someone cast a shrouding spell on him."

  Deathblade's eyes snapped up. "A shrouding spell?" That was one of the classic spells used for concealing once appearance and other information, but it was a quite costly spell to learn. Even the head of the Chinari town division, himself, at level 24, didn't have that spell. Then how did this country punk have it?

  "Yes, he had a classless guard who detected my presence, and that builder Maggie also worked near him." His face twisted in pain as he spoke that name.

  Deathblade wore the same pained expression. That bitch. She was the most elusive person in Chinari. A level 28 lifestyle player. Should be easy to handle right? Instead, she had access to unique spells that gave her a major defensive boost, making her untouchable in this town.

  "Prepare the teleportation device. I'm calling in the Death Hounds for this operation. I want them both, the plant-grower and that woman. With Death Hounds behind me, she won't be untouchable anymore." He chuckled.

  Damaged Horse's eyes filled with fear. Cold dripping fear. "Boss, the Death Hounds? Is it worth the cost?"

  "Who cares once I get that plant-grower in my hands." A wicked smile appeared on Deathblade's face. Death Hounds were his guild's elite assassin team. Though he wouldn’t get access to the top players—those were in the level 35+ league—he should be able to hire few level 25+ players from Death Hounds for his aid. Even though they were level 25+, their battle prowess rivaled that of an independent player of level 26-28.

  Soon enough, that bitch would be in his bed. Even if she logged out, he would make sure she suffered badly. Unless she deleted her character.

  Chapter 44

  Maggie halted, her leather shoe pressing inside the soft soil because of her sudden stop. What did he just say?

  "A proposal?" She turned back to face the mundane-looking village owner, Lord Jon. The only good thing about him was his long silky hair. It actually suited him. "What are you suggesting?" She arched her brows. The guy seemed different, because he cared for those plants like his own babies. When he touched them, caressed them, she saw that look in his big black eyes. It was the same thing she felt when she touched her own buildings. It was a rare trait, to love what you did in the game. All the morons who played the game for blood or to satisfy their hormones... she despised them all.

  Lord Jon stared back at her without flinching. The mysterious feeling, she got when she cast perception on him came back to her. It’d needled her to even think that a guy with starter clothes could be level 33+, five levels above her. There was no other way he could hide his information from her level 10 perception eye.

  Unless he had some unique spell to shroud himself from perception.

  Did he?

  "Yes, I'd like you to consider a position in my village." He paused, taking a long breath. "As you see, we are just starting and I could use your help in building things."

  "No," she said simply. There was no push and pull in this relationship, because there was no relationship between them. Not even an employer-employee relationship. She’d joined the game because of her love of architecture and freedom, so she wasn't going to work under a village lord whose future seemed rife with assassins and monster heard attacks.

  "I'll pay you handsomely." His big black eyes stared at her, filled with hope. "Four gold per building."

  She sighed. "Listen, Mr. Lord. I appreciate your offer, but I can't stay. I decided to help because I hadn't built a residence yet. For other buildings, I suggest you find a Novice or Advanced builder from Chinari. I bet there will be many willing to join you for a quarter of the gold you offered me." The gold was good, but the shackles were not. If it wasn't for the Ruins of Shenron situated near Chinari, she would have been long gone to more prominent cities. Perhaps on another continent. But unless she got her hands on the set design for Shenron's unique buildings—namely, the Tower of Shenron, Palisade of Shenron, and Palace of Shenron, forming the perfect defensive trio—she wouldn’t be leaving Chinari.

  The Ruins of Shenron not only held the key to her next level ups, but also contained her path to wealth. But her time was limited. In the next twelve game years, she had to reach level 30 and find a way to treat her infection.

  She sighed. It took her sixty in-game years to reach this level. How many more it would take? But what else could she do?

  "May I know the reason?" The guy asked respectfully. The guy had shown respect from the start, she’d give him that, while his subordinates were staring at her like they hadn't seen a woman in ages. The hungry dogs.

  "We are not friends Mr. Lord, so I don't think you need to know that."

  As his expression changed from hopeful to hopeless, she curled her lips into a weak smile. "But I'll tell you this. All the tier 1 and tier 2 town buildings are beneath my specialty. I don't get a single point of experience from building them, nor do they increase in my proficiency. I hope you understand what I mean." That's all she could offer as an explanation. Not that she owed him or something.

  "Miss Maggie." Lord Jon's tone changed to a softer stance. "Do you like buildings?"

  She eyed him intently. The faint moonlight made his black eyes sparkle a little, making him look intelligent. At least in theory. Then why was he asking such a stupid question?

  "I assume you do,” he continued when she didn’t answer. “How about I ask you to build this for me?" He pulled an old yellowed paper out of his bag.

  From just a glance at the paper and a whiff of its musty old smell, she knew it was from an ancient book. Old books in BlackFlame Online could contain a myriad of information, like skills, blueprints, and so many other important things. That thing looked like it contained some information about something important. That got her attention.

  "What's that?" She carefully let herself sound dull and bored. If she showed enthusiasm, he might drive a hard bargain.

  He flashed the paper in front of her eyes, and then dropped it in his Bag of Holding. "It's a blueprint for an advanced building. Tower of Balegost. Do you want to have a look at it?"

  Maggie's hands quivered with excitement. An advanced class building. Wow! It had been ages—forty years, to be exact—since she’d gotten her hands on a precious blue print. Even that time, her mentor only showed it to her in passing, or else she wouldn’t have seen one before at all. "I don't believe you have that. Let me see and decide."

  "Let's sign a simple contract that you won't try to learn it right away and give it back after looking it over. Shall we?"

  Cunning man. She’d had every intent to learn it and take off. If he hadn’t put it away, she would’ve taken it from him. "Okay." She agreed, nevertheless. What was wrong with just having a look? It wasn't like selling her soul to the devil.

  "System, initiate a contract. Contract terms: Miss Maggie will just look at the papers and give them back to me. And she won't try to steal them from me."

  A contract appeared in her vision. Signing it with reluctance, she extended her hand. Once the contract was in place, the system wouldn’t let her steal or consume the blueprint. Bad, cunning man.

  The paper appeared in her hands.

  Blueprint for Tower of Balegost

  Building Class: Advanced

  A replica of the Epic tower. Although a replica, it possesses the strength to shroud a five square mile area around the tower in a shroud of darkness. Enemies entering the darkness will lose the ability to hear anything, and their vision would be reduced by 50%. Allows the owner to set multiple parameters from inside. Can be upgraded up to Unique Level. Requires an Associate builder to build it.

  Material Needed: Root of the undying tree, dark gold stone, 50 copper, 2 crystals of darkness type monster, a thousand-year-old yellow marble. 10000 blocks of stone, 5000 wooden blocks, 500 iron blocks.

  Epic. That was the only word came to her mind. This was an Epic-class replica. The last advanced building she had seen was just an Advanced Archer Tower, and it w
as just an Archer Tower. If she built this tower, her profession level would definitely shoot up, and once she reached level 30 in her character class, she would get access to the passive skill of her unique class. Money would fall from the sky after that.

  "What do you think, Miss Maggie?"

  Maggie flashed a sweet smile. "Call me Maggie. How much do you want for this one?" Glancing at her inventory, she had around one thousand three hundred gold coins collected over the sixty years of playing the game. It wasn't an easy task to collect that much money, but she was willing to give it up for the replica of an Epic-class building. That single thing would push her toward the threshold of her next class promotion – Journeyman.

  Lord Jon shook his head, his hair swaying. "I don't need your money. I need your help. I want you to work for me. Not for long, just until I build sufficient defense and that tower in my village. I believe you'll be able to build that tower multiple times once you obtain the knowledge from the blueprint. Right?"

  Maggie took a breath to process everything. The tower was an advanced-class building, so it required a level 2 town at minimum. Lord Jon could upgrade his town to level 1 by tomorrow. He should be able to advance to level 2 in a month or two. As for building the Tower of Balegost for him... She didn't have the materials, but she knew where to get them. So, in all, she might have to spend three months in the village building some low-level buildings. Not a bad deal to advance to the next level in her profession. She had spent years for the same before.

  Yes, she was ready for this.

  "I want to add few conditions,” she said. “First, you have to prepare the materials in the next three months. Second, you have to get your town to level 2 in the next four months. Third, if your town is destroyed, you have to give me that blueprint. Fourth, I can wander anywhere I want. But rest assured, with the basic builders you hired, I can initiate the building, and they can continue without my intervention."

  Lord Jon smiled. "Sounds good. Let's sign the contract, and the blueprint is yours."

  Her mouth hung open for a moment. The guy was giving her the blueprint, just like that. Well, good for her!

  After she signed the contract, he handed her the blueprint. Carefully, she studied it without consuming it and made sure it was the real deal. It was. Then she placed it in her bag and breathed a deep relaxed sigh. Finally, she had something that intrigued her.

  "It's good to have you in the village, Maggie." Lord Jon extended his hand with a sincere smile.

  This time, Maggie grabbed it and shook it with a warm heart. The guy wasn't that bad.

  Chapter 45

  Jon studied the players standing in front of him—his key allies for the battle to come. There weren’t many. Only five, including Maggie. Though he hadn’t asked her to come, she came anyway. Maybe out of curiosity.

  Kron, Roth, Mitch, and Garry were the formation experts he would be deploying along the wall. Their job would be to activate the Lock formation and let other melee attackers kill as many monsters as possible. Thankfully, they didn’t need to kill all the monsters. The beast tide only needed to be repelled. If he had to kill them all, he would have no choice but to let them come and take the village. Since he didn’t need to kill them all, he had decided not to use the defense talismans Grimish had bought for him.

  He took in the men’s scared faces. “Relax. I only need you to activate the Lock formation from the safety of the guard towers. Grimish and the other two will take care of the actual fighting.” Out of the forty players at his disposal, only these four were capable of suppling 200 Mana for the formation. The rest were either too low level or had invested their points in Dexterity. These four had balanced character stats.

  Also, the number matched with the number of sets of blank flags he had, which were blank no more. They were one-time use flags, unlike his own. Once drawn a formation, that would be permanent. “Once we save the town, I’ll gift you these flags.”

  It would hurt him to part with his all-nighter, but what could he do? At least he had gained +2 to Formation Painter, proving to the system that he was a painter. Not a copier.

  The men’s eyes shone with greed.

  “Lord, do you think this will work?” Mitch asked, his voice tinged with doubt and fear.

  Jon chuckled. “Why wouldn’t it? The residence has been built.” He glanced at Maggie with gratitude. She had kept her promise, and the residence was finished before sunrise, providing him access to many more stats he hadn’t seen before. Most importantly, the wall’s Durability was raised to 50 points. “So, the wall is stronger, and with the lotion they have 80 Durability. With 1000 HP they should last for more than four hours against level 5-6 monsters.”

  System: Underground Vine evolution is complete.

  Jon was taken aback with the new notification, but Kron’s words pulled him back to the current issue.

  Kron nodded. “And we have this Lock.”

  Jon tapped on his own blank flags. “We have five sets of Formation Lock. Each one locks the monsters for thirty seconds. Don’t forget to give Grimish and the other melee fighters permission to enter the formation. Just will it to happen like we practiced.” He waited for everyone to nod their understanding, and they did.

  Thank god, they didn’t chicken out.

  Jon took a deep breath. “Remember, our goal is to defend for three hours. I’ll take care of elite monsters. Once I kill them, I’ll join you to massacre others. After a few hours, we should all have gained a few levels.” He threw his hands in the air to cheer them on.

  They all cheered back.

  System: +1 to Charisma for inducing confidence in your villagers’ hearts. Though it doesn’t matter if it will last long, you gotta keep making false promises to make them ready for slaughter.

  Damn, this game developer must have worked at a butcher shop before developing the game. F-ing bastard.

  Ignoring the nasty message, Jon turned to face Maggie who sat on a large stone, watching them with curious blue eyes. She was wearing a tight leather jacket today. Was it armor?

  “Are you sure I don’t have to upgrade the village?” he asked.

  “Yup. That’s an optional choice. If you survive this, you’ll have time to familiarize yourself with the town skills and menus. It’s a very important decision, and if you choose wrong, it will alter your all future decisions. So, get familiar with everything and then choose. Even if you upgrade, the walls won’t receive any bonuses until you actually upgrade them. And that would be a huge hole in your wallet.” Her mouth curved in a half-smile, one side higher than the other.

  She was right. He didn’t have an infinite supply of materials. After the beast tide was over, he would need to address that issue as well.

  Damn, so many things. Why did he choose to become a lord of a village? Couldn’t he just have asked for a nicer farm?

  Glancing at his resource production, he wondered how he was going to gather the material needed for other buildings.

  Current Resources:

  BP: 155

  Wood blocks: 4800

  Stone blocks: 1950

  Iron blocks: 500

  Food: 1920

  Resource Production:

  Current BP Production: 35/day (Village buildings:5, Population:5, Associate Builder:15, Basic Builders: 10)

  Wood blocks: 0. Stone blocks: 0. Iron blocks: 0. Food:0.

  Other than BP—thanks to Maggie for that—everything else was nada, and that was a big concern for him.

  Right now, he didn’t have to worry, but to upgrade his town further he needed more resources, and his current supply wouldn’t last long. Especially the food. The more people he recruited, the more food he needed for them.

  He rubbed his face. God! There were so many things for him to consider for the future. Town management wasn’t an easy job at all.

  “Let’s go, guys. Let’s team up so we’ll get plenty of bonus experience.” He cast his worries aside for now. Right now, his focus needed to be on the beast tide.
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  Grimish ducked inside the hut. “Master, we’re ready.” He had been practicing melee combat with two other players. They would be using their shovels to kill the monsters. Now that he thought about it, Jon regretted not asking Grimish to get some swords from town.

  “All right, let’s get a move on. We have only thirty minutes, and wer have to set up our flags beforehand.”

  Everyone cheered and joined him in heading off toward the small towers set along the Palisade.

  Chapter 46

  Dust rose on the horizon, so high that it threatened to swallow the sun. The rhythmic thumping sound of hundreds of monsters marching on his village echoed in the air. The birds that generally chirped around the village flew up and vanished in opposite directions.

  Jon's heart thudded against his rib cage. Thinking about the beast tide and seeing it were two different things. No matter how prepared he’d thought he was, right now sweat trickled all over his back. Doubt creeped into his mind. All the things Mitch, Grimish, and others had told him about the beast tide, were they really true? Those guys had lived in the outpost for hundreds of years, not facing anything like this. Then how did they know all this?

  What if more than a thousand beasts came? Or their level was above 10?

  His heart shrank to the size of a pea. He wasn't the only one having second thoughts. Everyone’s face held the same anxious expression. Everyone except Maggie, anyhow. She stood next to him with a calm demeanor. What level was she? Or did she take some sort of calming herb?

  Pushing the thought away, he focused on the thumping ground. There was no going back. The beast tide was here; the counter in his vision raced toward zero.

  First, a small dog showed up. A cute little puppy with two overgrown fangs. Damn, he wouldn’t pet anything like that ever. Then his friends showed up, including a big two-foot-tall dog boss. All the small dogs were level 4 while the boss was level 5.