Chapter 201: Rewards and Danger

The treasure hunt was far from over, and Mercury had already received two great boons. And he would wager that he was far from finishing the hunt.

Knowing that, Mercury took the short moment to gather himself, the forest around him being rather peaceful for once. Of course, the peace did not last long. Lesser faeries, colourful sprites, began gathering around, and casting magic.

Before the spells could land, Mercury took a step, gently accepting and twisting the guidance provided to him by the courts.

Trees flashed by, and a moment later, his feet landed on hard ground. It was dry and hot, cracked, white rock - salty rock. It was a salt desert. Desolate, dried up ocean beds, full of gigantic bones from ancient leviathans, valleys and crevices providing the only shade from the brutal sun above.

Of course, Mercury was safe.

More safe than ever, really. promised a brief warning, but the sensation was quickly snuffed out. Silence fell heavily on the flats. The bones around had begun to rattle for a moment, but then cracked and splintered into dust. The desiccated flesh of mangled, dried plants was torn to bits.

Every living or otherwise animate object near Mercury found itself torn to pieces by a calm, peaceful spring breeze. It was… a little terrifying, Mercury noted, but lady Whisperblossom had promised to protect him. He should have guessed she would take the promise rather seriously.

But since he landed here, there must be some kind of treasure nearby. In the gentle wind, which seemed to dispel even the rays of the sun, Mercury focused on the sensation from . It offered a tiny tugging on his mind, a little like it was taking him by the hand and guiding him.

The path was not far, and seemed rather simple to follow. Mercury walked up to one of the ravines, descending by jumping from one salty outcropping to another. He reduced his muscle density with the strength milestone to become light, and used the agility milestone to manipulate his speed, slowing down right before impacting the shelves. That, combined with and made his descent graceful and noiseless.

He smiled a little, thinking he was a bit like a cat-shaped ghost haunting the landscape, following the tug of into another crack in the side of the ravine, and into the bowels of the earth.

The air in the dark cave smelled so strongly of salt that it stung Mercury's eyes and nose, so he drew on a little more. Despite the discomfort, he journeyed deeper. There seemed to be a whole world underneath the salt desert, with vast open caverns, and dark, abyssal underground lakes. The domain of Salt was varied and rather terrifying.

But he knew where he was headed. A thin crack from above led to a ray of sunlight illuminating the darkness, cutting down and illuminating one place in particular. The shape of a wyvern’s body.

Mercury knew it was a wyvern, since Appy told him so, which was how drakes evolved. It must have been a B or A grade monster. Additionally, the body was preserved rather well. Really, it was as if an expert had treated it. The hide was dried and leathery, and Mercury could spot bits of flesh that looked more like jerky through some open wounds.

The issue with the treasure was that the beacon light was attracting small fae and parasites like the plague.

Mercury quickly hurried up, propelling himself further and faster with each jump, with making sure his path was etched into reality itself. He soared through the dark cave, and when he approached the body, any fae that was there either left or had their shell broken and splintered.

With the smell of flowers, Mercury found himself next to the body.

It was strange, seeing how large the wyvern was. Its skull was easily as large as Mercury himself, and from its rhinoceros-like horn to the base of its spiked tail, it was easily longer than even the biggest elephants. The thing was emaciated now, but it must have been packed with dense muscle in life.

Since he had time, he walked up to the corpse almost reverently. In the darkness of the cave, its blue-yellow scales gleamed brightly, still holding some of the brilliance the thing must have had in life.

[Unlooted processed Wyvern detected. Loot?]

That… was a new prompt, but not entirely unexpected. He still asked Appy to explain.

[The wyvern succumbed to environmental circumstances, largely, so that no kill credit was given, or the loot was not claimed. Then, the corpse was prepared by some craftsman, using Skills to allow someone else to loot it. These types of pre-system processing Skills can be useful for upgrading raw materials before having them assessed by the system and thereby occasionally increasing yield.]

Right, so at leasts, the fae didn’t kill the wyvern. They did prepare it, of course, environmental conditions would not do such a good job at that. ‘Loot,’ Mercury confirmed.

[Wyvern looted. Get: 10 Gold, , , .]

Huh. Mercury had definitely been expecting to receive the hide, or the core. But… jerky, huh.

The bones were rather simple, they had been bathed in lightning essence for decades and embodied that storm. Whenever mana coursed through them, it would automatically be converted into magical electricity, shocking whatever they touched. They would make excellent javelin if crafted.

And while the jerky was strange, it was… just that. Food. It wouldn’t permanently enhance anything, but it was rather dense food and a single bite of it could probably feed a regular human for about a day. He got a lot of jerky.

Those first two items filled out his inventory, and so, the sigil dropped onto the ground in front of him. It also instantly began making Mercury’s hair stand on end, and he heard the crackle of static electricity in the air.

Before the thin, metallic disk had the chance to unload a lightning strike into him, Mercury quickly spent 2000 Gold on another inventory slot using . The cost for the next slot was 4000. So it doubled every time. Mildly annoying, but oh well.

Rather than focus on that, he quickly drew the item into his inventory, letting Appy assess it for him.

[: The essence of a draconic creature, attuned to lightning and storm, has been condensed into this sigil. It may be applied to an item recognised by the system to raise its grade by a single numeric evaluation to a maximum of A grade. Grants storm-related powers. Grade: Unique B.]

Mercury could almost feel the dracoleather cloak call for this upgrade. He didn’t hesitate, and applied the token.

[Dracoleather Cloak has been enhanced by a Sigil.]

[Grade increased to: Unique B]

[Growth aspect proficiency carrying over. Grade increase milestones applied.]

The cloak changed. Its leafy green went a bit darker, with blue accents around Mercury’s shoulders, while the golden trim intensified with a radiant yellow. He could feel it getting far tougher, granting him more protection. The cloak felt like it was beginning to project a thin barrier out that would simply make it harder for him to be affected by magic.

It also simply felt far more durable and almost hummed slightly with power. He felt like he could almost hear the faint crackle of electricity.

[: A cloak made from the leather of a lesser dragon. It channels leftover magic from the dragon to increase the wearer's Agility and Dexterity (+15 -> 30), protects them from bad weather, and has strong protective qualities. In addition, it is "growing" equipment, meaning that it will grow alongside its wearer and become more powerful as it is imbued with stronger Magic and the user earns new Blessings. Blessings: (enhanced!), (enhanced!), , , (New!). Proficiency: 589/1000. Grade: Unique B]

[: A blessing belonging to the dracoleather cloak. It can be activated once per day. While active, it greatly enhances the user’s agility and dexterity, additionally granting them the ability to glide in the air, significantly slowing any fall. The duration and severity of buffs depends on the user’s proficiency.]

The wings had gone from once per week to once per day, now additionally providing him the ability to glide. That second part especially seemed promising - another upgrade and he might just become able to fly.

Gliding, by itself, was also rather useful, though. It would certainly have made getting to the wyvern a lot easier, and might even help him in his further exploration of the fae realm. He could already see that and would like this.

[: This passive blessing is any traveller's first choice. It grants increased resistance to the elements, warding off rain, snow, hail, storms, wind, and anything else more effectively, keeping the user warmer and happier. This effect is so significant, that with some mana, the user can create a bubble of protection around themselves. Additionally, these effects provide some resistance against elemental magic, reducing damage from elemental sources by 15%]

Shelter had gained the ability to create a bubble of calm weather around himself, while also getting an additional 10 percent elemental resistance, which was what he had been feeling before. This was a little like an extension of , which made his life overall much nicer.

But Mercury was most excited about the new enhancement.

[: A reservoir of lightning energy is created within the cloak, filling itself at a rate proportional to the user’s resource regeneration. This reservoir fills faster when the user is exposed to outside sources of electricity. Any gathered charge can be chosen to be released in the shape of a lightning bolt, or electricity empowerments of future attacks. 1/100 Charge. Additionally, the user is granted a small mastery over storms, gaining the ability to control ambient lightning with severe mana expenditure.]

This would be the crackling he felt building up in the cloak. The tree embossed in the middle seemed to be where the charge was stored, and Mercury could feel a sensation of how far along it was without reading the notification.

It was another good addition to his combat arsenal. In fact, he could imagine that studying this reservoir might even let him learn a lightning magic type Skill. He was really collecting elements now, wasn’t he?

With some amusement, Mercury took stock of the upgrade, feeling rather happy with it. The amount of blessings gained in the tier increase this time was far lesser, but he also saw that his proficiency was already beyond half. That was rather good to see, and also rather reasonable, given all the fae realms he’d seen.

He was interested to see where the cloak would go in the future, since it was a rather versatile bit of clothing. Hopefully, he’d be able to bond it in the future. Maybe that was another thing to negotiate with the fae for?

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“Mercury. My patience is running thin. Do not abuse my protection for too much longer than necessary,” lady Whisperblossom chided.

“Ah, yes, of course,” he said, getting ready to move again. The increases in agility and dexterity made him feel limber and spry, and overall rather comfortable in his body. Mercury smiled. “I shall be off, then.”

“Have fun, Yr’enzel. I look forward to our next exchange of secrets.”

“I am certain of that,” Mercury replied neutrally, ignoring the cackling that echoed in the cavern as he stepped forward.

The path was laid out, and he followed, deeper into the cave.

- - -

Within three hops, he was plunged deep into the darkness again. After another seven, it was so dark, he couldn’t even see anything anymore.

A moment later, he emerged in a land of darkness. The depths of Salt had apparently bordered the domain of Shadow - which was a strange land.

Everything was upside down, after all.

Mercury found himself standing on what he struggled to perceive as the floor, a malleable, damp darkness that seemed to ebb and flow around his feet. Disorientingly, however, was that there was a sky. Below him.

Whenever the darkness ebbed away, he found himself standing on spongy, soft rock, but there were rivers around. In those, the sky itself flowed. If he raised his head to look “upwards”, where the ceiling should be, there was the floor. A citadel stood there, with dozens of black spires, and glass windows that should perhaps have been stained but were cast in monochrome.

Attempting to approach it, Mercury felt a spout of dizziness. He’d stepped forward, but then moved backward, then his Skills kicked in, demanding he move forward, clashing against the fae magic, resulting in a profound sense of nausea.

For a moment he stumbled to the side - the wrong side, and that feeling of sickness intensified. Quickly, he tuned down those effects of and . His world slowly stopped spinning.

Shadow sure was disorienting…

It had also been dangerous. The sky was all around him, running in rivers of blue. He would really rather not touch that.

Rather than rely on his regular Skills, Mercury leaned on , letting the ability guide him into ihn’ar. His world suddenly shifted.

Mercury found himself linking, then having changed. Rather than hanging on the ceiling, he was now a shadow, cast by the cracks. Thin light sifted down from the sky above, and he stood on the cavern floor.

Except, stood was hardly accurate. He was a shadow. Two dimensionally painted there. It was a strange experience, a bit more intense than previous shadow diving shenanigans, but he could dive deeper. This way, after all, his entire world was two dimensional, which made the tall citadel rather strange.

So, Mercury dove deeper into the shadows, returning on the other side, in an even darker world, where he was also cast in monochrome. His fur was a facsimile of itself, wispy shadows trailing off him, and the light from the sky was no longer blue, but instead took on shades of lighter gray.

Briefly, he wondered how many layers there were - then realized the question was pointless. Shadows were illogical, he could probably dive as deep as he wanted to go, into ever mirroring worlds.

Instead of that, he noticed he was not alone.

For a while now, he had been kind of cruising, simply running through the treasure hunt without being caught, but it seemed like his luck was up now. The domain of shadow was deep, and vast, and absolutely infected with little specters.

Mercury had trouble describing them since they were made of malleable darkness. They shifted and twisted, approaching him with swift steps through the landscape. In fact, they were so sneaky, that the first ones to get him he hadn’t noticed.

He simply felt a pinprick at the back of one of his shadow-legs, and when he looked down, shadowy blood flowed around razor-sharp teeth.

“Crap,” Mercury muttered, quickly using to destroy the first creature, but dozens were already there. These were the simple manifestations of the courts approaching him, but there were already true fae coming. The kind that had multiple shells and attended the meetings of the courts.

The kind that would kill him.

Mercury could not afford to get stuck here. While a second and third set of teeth dug into him, he called upon ... only to find it smothered. It was weakened here, shadows weren’t stormy. He could press past that resistance, but would find himself shunted out of this mirror realm.

‘How annoying,’ he thought, triggering a few more times to free himself from the wispy imps. His ihn’ar wasn’t properly able to work here, unless he substantially damaged or changed this reality - which would be contesting one of the fae rulers directly. Something he was not yet ready for.

Instead, he began himself, dashing forward, and past the little monsters, even as he received dozens of pinprick wounds. In this form his sense of pain was rather muted, but he could tell that despite the lean appearances of the critters, those teeth bit deep.

Worse, he was not used to the movement in this place. helped a lot with that, turning his mind malleable, but he also began leaning more heavily on to understand everything.

With the Skill more active, it became easier to see the outlines of the critters, his sight enhanced, and their auras suddenly clearer. With deft steps borne from , Mercury began avoiding their mindless attacks.

Then he lost a leg.

It happened in an instant. The area darkened, downright becoming an abyss. The fae that had been approaching shrank back and cowered. Then, a gust of stygian wind blew, and Mercury’s front right leg was blown clean off.

“Aaaaah, it has been oh so long since we last had a visitor,” a voice spoke from the darkness.

No, that wasn’t quite right. It was the darkness that spoke.

The entire citadel Mercury had been watching seemed to shiver and grow darker, the shadows in the area deepened as a vast and ancient present settled down. The voice was sombre and vast, sounding as if it came from everywhere at once, but still distilled itself into a figure in front of Mercury.

“We’re very sorry for the poor reception,” they said, the darkness boiling and bubbling as it built a body. “But we rarely go far from here, you see, so this hunt is a rather pleasant pastime.”

A moment later, the shadowy figure snapped into focus. It was not human, not even close. The figure was too tall, easily over three meters, and clearly still morphing. Everywhere across its body, maws sprouted from the darkness, often attached to the likenesses of dark hounds, but not always.

Compound eyes, each tiny segment a pinprick of blood-red in the dark sprouted all over the body, too, as well as some humanoid ones, though the sclera and the pupil seemed to alternate in rings of black and red into an infinitely fine point. Occasionally, thin proboscis stuck out from the creature.

“Would you… introduce yourself to us?” the voice had changed, now high pitched, as if from a butterfly. “Properly, please,” one of the hound-maws said.

Mercury swallowed heavily. This was the kind of fae he had not wanted to meet; the kind that was just underneath the rulers in strength. “You may call this one Mercury,” he said.

“Mercury,” the dark, deep voice said. “How pleasant,” the high pitched one replied. “Will you dine with us?”

“Dine with you?” he asked.

“That is what we said,” the high pitched voice replied, chittering as if in laughter.

“What would that entail?”

“We would tear you limb from limb then serve you to yourself,” the deep voice replied.

Mercury shivered. “I decline.”

Another high pitched chitter followed. “Good! We were told this by the court leader. Mercury, Yr’enzel. That if you come here we must at least show you Hospitality.” - “And what is more hospitable than food?!” the dark voice added with a laugh.

“Of course, yes,” Mercury said hesitantly.

“But you were never supposed to come here.” This time, both spoke at once, dozens of eyes in the darkness suddenly fixating on him. More had opened, entirely separate from the figure. Mercury saw the eyes on the floor around him, on the walls, even dotting the ceiling like crimson stars.

“Who taught you to waywalk?” they asked.

“I cannot say, I do not know what waywalking is,” Mercury stated simply, leaning on to keep himself calm. His blood felt like ice in his veins. It was cold.

They barked out a roaring laugh, deep and terrifying, sounding like a hyena. “Huahuahuahua! Lost little lamb. Come to the hunter’s castle.”

“The hunter?”

“Oh, we are not, lost little lamb,” the high pitched voice assured him. “We are the castle’s keepers. Guard and gardener.”

Mercury breathed, quietly and slowly. It was a little hard to balance with three legs, but shifting his muscle mass was making it more comfortable. “I see, and this hunter… will they return?”

The high pitched chitter followed, full of amusement. “No, not for a pitiful event. You ask much, yet say little, lamb. It is our turn to know, now. What brings you here?”

“Greed,” Mercury said. “I relied on my Skills to twist the path laid for me, to defy the ruler.”

“The lamb is defiant,” the deep voice said. “It-”

“He,” Mercury corrected.

For a moment the figure paused and looked at him. “Of course,” they said, after a moment. “He does tell us things, then. He wants a treasure for the treasure hunt. The rulers hosting the event.”

“I will leave, simply, if that is what you will.”

“No,” the deep voice quickly replied, hound-fangs twisting into a smile. “We hold treasure - suitable for a hunter. Prove yourself.”

“There has been quite enough ‘proving myself’ in my life recently,” Mercury replied.

A small pause followed, then the high pitched voice spoke again, the one Mercury guessed was the Gardener. “We see. The rulers and their trials. An endless chain… We keep the mansion. Improve it, and we shall give you a reward. Safe passage will be granted.”

Those… were a lot of concessions. “And if I fail?”

“You will pay for any damages. Then you will leave.” The words were spoken in unison.

Mercury thought. The building, part mansion, part citadel, part castle, was in need of improvements. Could he do so? There was a garden, apparently. Maybe… with ...? It was worth a try.

“Acceptable,” Mercury nodded.

“Good,” the deep voice growled, and the darkness lurched. A dozen maws sunk themselves into Mercury, and for a moment he felt phantom pain - but his body was fine. He opened his eyes and found himself somewhere else, in an open courtyard of monochrome grays.

“This is the place. We will watch you,” the deep voice said. Then the high one added, “Impress us.”

And with that, the Guard and Gardener vanished into the shadows, leaving Mercury all alone.

From up close it was clear why the building had been called so many things. It was made of shadow - for a shadow, having a single identity was unthinkable. It was shifting, everchanging. Windows appeared, then vanished again, walls changed, spires became towers, and the facsimile of stone shifted to wood or glass.

It was a strange, almost dizzying display, and Mercury decided to rather not go inside. It seemed like a recipe to get lost in twisting tunnels.

He still only had three legs he noted, though the pain from the missing one was somehow not sinking in. He got the feeling that it would begin to be rather unpleasant once he was no longer a shadow.

For now, he grit his teeth and disregarded it. The strange person - or pair, he was still not quite sure - that had welcomed him seemed like their challenge was manageable. Taking deep breaths, Mercury centered himself.

This was fine. This was manageable.

After a few moments passed, he opened his eyes again, to see that the courtyard had shifted. Or maybe he had moved, unconsciously.

Regardless, Mercury found himself in what he could only describe as a garden.

There were shadowy figures of butterflies, greyhounds and spiders all over the place. It was strang, frankly, since they were there in all sizes.

Some butterflies, carved from shadow-stone, sat atop tiny, delicate flower stalks, while others were as large as the full-sized dogs. He breathed, and stepped forward. The garden was strange. It was from shadow, clearly, and parts were carved from a facsimile of stone, but Mercury could feel a rather real response from the plants.

Gently, he reached out with .

The response he got was truly strange. Alien almost. The sensation was dull, as if he was feeling flowers coated in shifting cotton. It felt almost plasticy, but yet real. Like something shifting between a fake flower and a real one all the time.

Clearly, this was not quite right. Mercury sunk into ihn’ar, shattering the golden veil of reason, and saw. The castle/mansion/citadel was a dozen things at the same time. The flowers/grass/graves were the same. An overlaying interplay of reality and falsehood.

It was multiple things at the same time. And for a moment, Mercury was tempted to try and stop that. Force it into grass. But that wasn’t right.

Shadows didn’t have anything enforced on them. They simply were.

Mercury breathed. Finicky, so very finicky.

Careful to not misstep, he reached out, his mind vast and clear. He started small, taking a single blade of grass into his perspective. It shifted and changed, becoming a flower, or a statue, or a hunter’s trophy, or a grave, or a-

Mercury breathed.

It became a blade of grass again. Whatever else it was, that was okay. Grass was many things, after all, it was wonderful and multifaceted, so he could accept all that as part of the grass.

But he could not speak to a grave, or a statue, could he? No, what mattered is that there was something living to be tended here. ‘So, little stalk, grow a little for me, will you?’

Something in the air shifted, and Mercury grinned. That had worked.

[Your understanding of has increased! (medium)>]

Did it matter that he was making fake grass? A shadow of its true selves? Or were shadows some sort of inherent quality?

Mercury’s mind twisted a dozen ways, all to accept the ever-shifting reality in front of him and still see it as grass, and he cared for it. He fostered it, grew it.

The garden flourished.

When the grass was prettier, no longer as stunted and a little more realistic, he still added more. A tiny hint of wind, if only a facsimile. A small, shadowy pond.

He did not make those things big, simply adding tiny decorations, and that was good. He smiled. “Gardener? Is this better?”

Darkness settled down, and the figure, full of eyes and maws and proboscis appeared again. They remained silent for a long while. “It is,” the high pitched voice replied, eventually. “You tend well.”

“Indeed,” Mercury graciously accepted the compliment.

“Then you shall have our kept treasure. May the rulers lose interest in you soon.” The figure vanished, leaving only a token as dark as night behind.

[: Borrow the Hunter for a moment. Toss the token, call upon them, and be granted one wish. You may ask them to find something, or to hunt it. The job will be done.]

Vague, and strange, but good if Mercury ever needed to find someone again. In fact, he almost had something in mind. For now, though, he stashed the token within his trusty log, and then looked on.

This part of the hunt was done.

Gritting his teeth and bracing for the pain, Mercury stepped forward. The world blurred, and soon, he found himself standing on top of a fluffy, white cloud. Soon, it was stained red, as blood poured from his lost limb. Mercury endured without a whimper. He would not let the rulers enjoy his screams.