Running across the slick grass, Cassius slid down an embankment keeping his legs out in front of him. Reaching the bottom he kicked off the side, making a lunge roll forwards giving him the maximum distance as a large bolt of lightning crackled behind him. Chunks of dirt, grass, and rocks flew overhead as he focused his gaze on a grove of trees in the distance. With a push of his feet, he quickly turned into a shadow leaving a puff of mist. Appearing behind one of the trees, he popped one of the health potions he had stashed on his belt and chugged it down, making sure his health never dipped below fifty percent.
The bolt didn't even hit him, and he is already down to sixty percent,” Don said, watching him weave the wyvern back and forth.
“How long do you think he can kite it?” Kain said, itching to join the fray.
“Bet you a thousand credits he dies within ten minutes,” Kyle said.
“You're on.”
Don, looking over at the two, shook his head. “How the hell you were able to survive the Leviathan while G.J. and Vencer both died, I will never know.”
“I got skillz to pay the billz, yo.”
“Are you sure I can't just gut him?” Harriet asked.
“Honey, for the fifth time, no. Just bare with him, he might be a bag of bricks in the head, but he can handle himself in a fight. Besides we're already down to less than half the group.”
System: You have been affected by [bleed]
System: Health: 1%
Starting at the large wooden beams that crisscrossed the ceiling, I watched as my health bar dipped down to one percent. With a woosh, one of the iron chandeliers swayed back and forth, the iron chains holding it up creaking with every movement. What the hell was that? Taking a look outside the large window, I saw the wyvern moving away from the building as it directed its wrath on another target. It must be hungry. Keeping my eyes trained on the large beast I notice a person running across the ridge line of the far off hill, the bright morning sun behind him obscuring any details. With a puff of smoke, the person disappeared leaving the monster bewildered. To the east of the large hill was the pond I had floated out off, along with what looked like a small blob of shadows. That must be them. Rushing outside the door, I started shouting trying to get their attention.
“Over there,” Kain shouted pointing towards the large wooden building. The group picked up their pace while also keeping their heads low as not to attract the wyvern’s notice. A loud rustling could be heard behind one of the many bushes dotting the vast open terrain. Hoofbeats reverberated, getting louder and louder as a tremendous boar-like creature the size of a car came stumbling out. Two metallic horn stretched four feet out in front of it, each out vertically flat and shaped like a large meat cleaver.
Kain, being in the front of the group, met the monster head first, ramming his large broad shoulder into the snout of the beast, taking care to avoid the sharp horns. “I got this,” pulling a standard broadsword out from his inventory and driving it deep within the monster's' face.
System: Creature: Blade Swine
System: Type: Normal
System: Level: 149
Taking a step back the monster lowered its head, the sword like horns aiming directly at Kain. Charging forward, the horn made contact with Kain’s armor. The sound of a ripping metal could be heard as the blades lodge themselves into Kain, each one dealing thirty percent of his life bar.
“That things seven levels higher than you,” Don said, rushing up behind Kain. Grabbing onto Kain’s shoulder, Don ripped him back, unlodging him from monster’s grasp. “Keep moving, I’ll keep him occupied.” Holding up his shield, Don slammed into the monster, sending it into a short daze.
“Fat chance, I wasn’t able to kill the Leviathan, and Cassius has the wyvern all to himself. I am at least going to tear this thing in half. Stowing the sword, Kain pulled out a flail. At the end was not a generic spiky metal ball, but a freezing chunk of ice. Waving it around above his head to give it momentum, he slammed it down on the monster making sure that the block of ice made contact with the ends of the horns. With every strike of the flail, the horn was encased in a thin sheet of ice. On the fourth hit, a loud shattering noise could be heard as the horn snaped, the blade falling to the floor with a loud thud.
Rushing in behind Don, Kyle jumped over him, using his dwarven frame as a springboard. Lading on the writhing monster, Kyle pulled out a sword and slammed it into the boar’s large muscular back. The monster let out a large howl as it thrashed back and forth trying to get the unwanted pest off its back. “This is what they mean when they say everything is bigger in Texas,” Kyle shouted, putting one hand above his head like a cowboy.
Kain, taking the opening, slammed his flail into the other horn. A bolt of lightning cascaded close to the group as the wyvern flew across. Jumping next to Melina, Cassius held out a dagger and threw it towards the wyvern trying to regain its attention. “The hell are you guys doing?”
“Kain wants to kill something,” Melina said, pointing to the mock rodeo show.
“Kain, choose another time to have a power trip, I’m having a hard time as it is keeping this thing at bay.”
“Fine,” Kain said, grabbing the end of his flail with both hands. Pressing one of his feet forwards, he charged the flail, dumping a massive amount of his stamina into the next attack. The block of ice at the end expanded growing larger and larger as a sea of frozen fog dripped down. With a heavy swing, a large crack reverberated as the block of ice let loose scatterings of frozen ice chip with the impact. The boar toppled over with a thud as its feet swayed back and forth in a stupor.
“Let’s go before we get roasted,” Kyle said, pulling the sword out of the monsters back and pointing it towards the Wyvern who was making a u-turn back towards the group. The group ran as fast as they could as the wyvern got closer, its mouth opened for another blast of lighting. About fifty meters from the door, a guttural snarling sound could be heard as the light bolt ripped across the boar's body. Opening its large talon, the wyvern latched onto the boar, dragging its bloody carcass into the air. Throwing the bloody chunk of meat up into the sky, the wyvern gobbled it up like a piece of popcorn.
“Keep running,” Harriet said, grabbing Rachel feet to help Sen move faster. Rocketing through the door, I greeted each member making sure no one was left outside.
“Here,” Harriet said, handing me two potions. Walking into the large dining hall, she laid down on the wooden floor taking in a deep breath.
“What’s this?”
“A staunch and max potion. Drink it or your going to die in about fourteen minutes.”
Heading her advice, I popped open the bottle and started to chug. Looking over at the girl with a weird looking golden hoodie, I notice Rachel draped across her back. “Hey is she okay?”
“No, not really. She has potion poisoning and the only thing keeping her alive is that woman sprawled out on the floor,” Melina said.
“Is there anything I can do?”
“No, the only way to get rid of potion poisoning is either waiting out the timmer or dying.”
“How long does it last?”
“With this many stacks probably about three days.”
“Three days? How are we going to keep her alive that long?”
“Short answer, we don't. She has about another thirty minutes before Harriet runs out of mana, after that the poison ticker kicks in and she will die within a few minutes.”
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
”There has to be a third option,” I said pacing about the room.
“I mean if we had a statue to the gods we could bind her to this area, but crafting one take tons and tons of resources.”
“Like what.”
“Don, what do you need to make a revive point?”
“Um… let's see,” Don said opening a large binder.
Firstly a statue can only be placed within a regional influence of a server building, which this inn meets. Next is the cost. It depends on the deity, but the amount ranged from between three and four units of marble. After that, you will need to get a celestial stone, sunstone, moonstone, something to that matter depending on the deities alignment. The last thing is an offering that will satisfy the chosen god.
“What kind of offering?”
“Hmm… I know for Vendor, the god of wealth and prosperity, you have to offer stacks of rare ore or legendary weapons. I have also heard that since he is a dwarven god, you could also get away with offering barrels of fine wines and ales. Vek-sen, the god of shadows and the watcher of the night is also pretty fond of gold. Cassius, don't you have a shrine to him in your guild hall?
“Yeah, he’s pretty low key. Instead of building the statue out of marble, I made it out of gold.”
“How is that low key?” Melina asked.
“That’s the joke,” Cassis said, giving her a smirk.
“Okay yeah, so all I need is some marble, a celestial stone, and an offering, that doesn't seem that hard to get.”
“Keep in mind that it takes a player almost an hour worth of cutting to get a slab of marble. It takes a hundred marbles to make one stack, and each stack is extremely heavy. Kain and Don are probably the only two here that could even carry a stack and that's with them having nothing equipped and no items in their inventor,” Melina said, doing some quick calculations. “I mean you could buy it second hand, but the supply is so low, it's impossible to get four to five stack within a month let alone a day. Keep in mind that not even counting the five to ten maxed out artisan you're going to need to carve the statue.”
“Don’t forget the celestial stone, those things have less than a hundredth of a percent to drop from a celestial dungeon,” Kain said.
“He would know,” Cassius quick added. “He’s probably done that dungeon like ten thousand times by now.”
“I might have something that could work for that,” I said opening my inventory. Pulling out the Starlife Seed, I presented it towards the group.
Sen, with Rachel dangling off her back, ran up to me gazing at the glowing seed in my hand. “No,” she said in amazement.
“Didn't you tell me the developers removed that from the game?” Melina asked.
“Yeah, they stopped showing up like three years ago. But him having one now makes total sense.”
“I’m not following,” Melina said.
“It was two years right after the last few were used up. You message me asking why they stopped spawning. I told you that the dev either removed them for being too strong, or they changed the timers of the spawn rate.
“Yeah it was a strong item, but they only worked a tenth of the time, and that still does explain why he has one now.”
“Well in the second part of our conversation I theorized that the Starlife Seed could only spawn one at a time.”
“Ahh...” Melina said in a slow and understand tone. “So the Starlife Seed spawned in the undiscovered area making it impossible, until now, for someone to find it.”
“Exactly,” Sen said.
“Uh… So what does this thing do?”
“It’s basically a shortcut to make a goddess statue, but instead of a statue its a tree,” Melina answered.
“Okay, cool, how does it work?”
“First you need to plant it.”
“Any advice on where I should plant it?”
“Why not right here?” Cassius pointed, his feet dangling off the second story balcony. “You have a pretty open floor plan, why not just place it right in the middle.”
“Can I do that?” I looked at the two women curiously.
“Yeah, just open your building UI screen and go to the tab that says floor layout,” Melina said.
Doing what I was told, I open the menu and pressed on the icon of a hammer. My UI went all crazy as the building turned shades of green and red. Focusing on the middle of the room, a sub window open up asking if I wanted to edit the room. Pressing yes, a series of other sub menu drop down asking me what I wanted to change about it. “What do I press?”
“Harriet, how do you plant something in a zoned building?” Melina asked. “Harriet, hey.” Walking over to the woman laid out on the floor, she got up to her face and was bombarded with a puff of warm air. “She’s passed out.”
“Oh, she probably really tired,” Don said. “She’s usually not a night player, so she probably hasn't slept for over thirty hours. I’m going to go put her to bed.”
“Wait, what about Rachel?” Sen said.
I’ll leave Harriet’s character logged in, but the system will auto kick her in about ten minutes, that should give us about fifteen minutes total which should be enough to try to get this plan going. Be back in five.” Don face lit up with a dark screen as a black bar scrolled across his face letting everyone know he was away.
“Use the edit button,” Sen said, coming up next to me. “Do you see an option to add a planter?”
“Yeah, it cost a hundred credits and two stacks of wood.”
“Kain, you have any leftover wood?”
“I do, but I need them to craft more bolts.”
“Well this is more important,” Sen said, giving him a glare.
“Alright, alright, no need to give me those eyes,” Kain said. “I get that enough from my wife.” Walking over to me, he initiated a trade, putting several stacks of logs in the screen.
Thanking him profusely, I look back at the icon of the planter and notice that it had turned green. Clicking on the button I was hit by a ghostly image of the planter, its location moving around the room as it followed my vision. Zooming in towards the middle of the floor, I pressed the accept button. The wood was instantly removed from my inventory as the wooden planter magically assembling itself in front of me.
“No,” Sen said in a soft but stern voice, her hands reaching out towards the planter.
“What,” I said, looking back at her. “Did I build the wrong one?”
“No you idiot,” Cassius said. “It’s crooked. That’s one of Sen’s pet peeved.”
“So what do I do?”
“Go back in the menu and press the edit button.”
Going back in the menu, I place my gaze over the planter which gave off a yellow outline. Pressing the edit button, the ghostly image of the planter reappeared. “What now?”
“You see the image of a grid near the bottom of the UI?”
“Yeah,” I said pressing the button. The planter immediate snapped onto the square, its alignment shifting making itself parallel to the walls. Hitting the save icon the planter snapped into place. Taking the few steps up to the wooden box, I opened my inventory, placing the Starlife seed in my hand. Dropping it over the mound of dirt, a notification popped up.
System: Would you like to plan [Starlife seed]?
Pressing the yes button, the seed disappeared from my hand.
“Back up,” Melina shouted.
Taking her advice, I took a few steps back as a tiny sprout of a plant emerged. Sounds of snapping could be heard as the wooden crate budge back and forth the side bulging out making it look like a lopsided barrel. With a resounding crack, shards of wood splintered across the room before vanishing. Roots that were over a foot thick rammed themselves into the floor, each one getting bigger and bigger until a sturdy base form. The trunk of the tree shot up hitting the wooden ceiling before shattering it all together. The top of the tree kept climbing higher and higher before the roof sealed itself back up blocking any view of the tree. After a few minutes, I had a tree in the middle of my inn that had a circumference of almost sixteen feet. “What the hell?” I shouted looking at the large tree that just made a large hole in my building.
“Uhh...” Cassius said scratching the back of his head. “Melina, were they always this big?”
“No, they usually get about ten feet high, but this thing is absurd.”
“I was right,” Sen shouted.
“About what?” Melina asked.
“I told you the tree’s height depended on how long it stayed in the ground gathering energy.
A bloop echoed across the room as Harriet avatar slowly faded. “We need to hurry,” Sen said, watching Rachels health starting to dip.
“Okay, Okay, what do I do now?”
“Go up to the tree and make an offering,” Melina said. “A god will answer based on what offering is made.”
“Can I offer anything?”
“Yeah, it's usually a formality to summon a specific god, but pretty much any item will do.”
Going up to the giant tree, I place my hand over its rough outer bark.
System: Would you like to make an offering?
Pressing yes, a small box appeared in my UI. Opening my own inventory, I hovered over my credit, pressing a small pouch icon at the bottom.
System: How many credits would you like to deposit?
Entering a one, I proceeded to add several zeros. This is stupid. Removing the credit from the box, I looked through my inventory, ahh maybe this will do. Pressing on the player's handbook, I place it inside the box. Fuck it, I might as well go all out. Taking the book out of the box, I hovered over the Luminaria, placing it in the box, I slammed the accept button.
The giant fish dropped down in front of the tree, its bright blue aura lighting up the room like a fluorescent bulb.
“The hell?” Kain and Cassius said in unison.
“Is that a Luminaria,” Melina said, her eyes glazed over with its pure blue light.
“Take this,” Sen said, dropping Rachel unconscious body in front of me. Opening her UI, she threw a small orb in the sky, its lens focusing on the giant fish. “How did you...” she tried to say before a rumbling shook the room. The fish started to float, its tail wagging back and forth as the offering was accepted. The trunk of the tree unfurled, the interior twisting out making a spherical gap as the many wooden columns spiraled around. The Luminaria floated towards the middle of the spherical gap as a haze of dark fog swallowed the fish. Small dots of floating light appeared, their crystalline pattern resembling the night sky swirled within the interior of darkness. The Luminaria swam back and forth within the large darken space its skin becoming almost a translucent white before it disappeared within the galactic mist. With a low rumble, the Luminaria darted out of the bubble, its skin now the same darken pattern of the night sky. It floated about the room, its fins leaving behind a beautiful trail of a night sky that shimmered as small stars appeared and disappeared all within a few seconds.
“What the hell, ”Don shouted, coming back online.