Since our conversation, at the end of which Maestro Larindel gifted me the wootz dagger, almost two weeks have passed. And now I was sitting on a stool in the captain's cabin of the "Defector," in front of a gigantic map of the archipelago, and had been thinking for over an hour. Searching for a way out. Initially, everything worked out for me: I managed to clear two dungeons on Quad, then for only three gold, buy the dungeon of the island of Veithiu and Reset it, killing the boss in the process. After such successes, I thought that completing the questers' task, with the help of the Ruby mage, would be no trouble at all. How wrong I was!
I have three days left to accomplish the task within the allotted time. Three damn days, and it's one failure after another for me. During this time, I managed to Reset four more dungeons. I bought two, losing almost all my money. I obtained another one in a way similar to what I pulled off on Quad. And I "stole" the seventh of the cleared dungeons. Moreover, the theft was successful thanks to the carelessness of the locals on that island. They didn't even notice that the dungeon was Reset when the "Defector" was already moving away from their shores.
But that's all. After that, it's a complete string of failures. I roamed the archipelago. Negotiating, trying to bribe, steal, swindle, but nowhere else did I succeed. On most of the islands, as soon as a foreign ship anchored, the tunnellers would place guards near their dungeons that were close to being Refreshed naturally. Or, as on Un, a few hours before the Refresh, a geared group of tunnellers would stand near the dungeon, waiting for the opportunity to clear it as quickly as possible. I joined such groups five times. Not solo, but as one of the regular tunnellers, and this brought me an order of magnitude less Core filling.
As soon as I engage in a brief meditation and turn my inner gaze to my Core, it becomes clear: for Elevation, I need to Reset at least three more dungeons. Three new ones in three damn days! I look at the map and realize that I have nowhere to get these dungeons from. Everything that could be cleared solo has already been cleared by me.
Maestro Larindel is sitting in his chair in this very office. The elf is drinking exquisite wine and looking at me sadly. He could help me. With his resources, purchasing three missing dungeons would be a trivial expense. But he won't do that. Even though the elf deeply sympathizes with me, he won't interfere with the Story. It goes against his very nature.
I spent everything on buying dungeons but then earned a little again by selling the loot to the Sidhe half-blood. I now have four gold and forty-two silver in my pouch. Alas, this is not enough to buy even one new attempt. And going through what I have already cleared once will hardly bring any new achievements.
The most frustrating thing is that, in theory, I have a lot of money! Selling the chainmail, the wootz dagger, and the set of civilian clothes gifted by Larindel, I would have enough resources. But this is hindered by the elf's prohibition on selling his gifts until this Story ends. And selling the chainmail, even at the full price of ten gold, a price that no merchant will give me, will not solve my problems.
I'm rocking on my stool and realize that I have three options left to save myself. And I don't like any of these methods.
First, start killing. The easiest to implement. A victory over five, at most six Iron warriors or mages in fights to death will fill my Core enough for Elevation. I think I can get the required number of duel challenges within the allotted time. For this, I need to go to the capital island of the archipelago and just pick fights with everyone until someone challenges me to a duel. I'm sure, with my ability to get into trouble, it won't take long to happen. This method has two drawbacks. Firstly, I'm likely to make many enemies this way. And as soon as Larindel's protection falls off me, the relatives of the slain might start hunting me. Moreover, they don't necessarily have to take revenge personally; they can hire the Assassins' Guild for my head. And this could turn into a problem. Secondly, I'm still not ready to kill innocent people just to become stronger. However, if I can't find another way out, I'll have to take this step. Too much depends on me for my conscience to get in the way of saving the world. Yes, after achieving Elevation this way, I will hate myself, but I will do it nonetheless.
My conscience is a strange thing. I'm ready to kill people in the Arena, in gladiatorial, essentially, fights, and it doesn't even flinch. Probably because people enter the Arena either voluntarily or as convicted criminals. But inciting a duel followed by murder is, in my conscience's opinion, an excessively dirty trick. With one exception, if the provoked and killed person was a scumbag and a brute in life, then my conscience will swallow it without a wince. Sometimes I am amazed by the twists of my own morals. But it is what it is.
The second way to elevate: buy one of those dungeons that I have already cleared and Reset it on "Three Crowns Solo." The energy gained from this achievement should be enough for Elevation. But I am not sure I can clear these dungeons in such a "format." Tackle the same slimes or goblins without armor, weapons, and alchemy? I don't think I can make it out alive.
The third method is even crazier. Clear a Bronze dungeon solo, even if it's of the first circle. This will definitely boost me to Elevation. Moreover, as in the case of the "Pure Palm of Five Empty Fingers," it will bring the highest density to the Core. But this is absolute madness. Utter insanity. If my current skills were equal to my "future" self, such a thing could still be considered a realistic plan. But now, I only evaluated this third option purely theoretically.
My gaze probably scanned the map for the hundredth time in an hour. Nothing seems right; I've tried everything. Heaving a heavy sigh, I try to relax – maybe that will help me find a new solution? My gaze aimlessly roams across the map until it latches onto one spot. Then it slides further and returns to the same place. Over and over again. My focus is understandable; one of the islands at the western end of the archipelago is encircled in black. The only island bestowed with such a "distinction." A mere barren, uninhabited rock in the ocean. Just two weeks ago, I asked Larindel what this island did to earn such a mark. And the captain of the "Defector" told me that the island was cursed, and he was even going to tell me the story of this curse, but I was busy then and waved him off. Now, as my gaze keeps tripping over this black circle, I can't think straight! I turn to the captain and ask him a bit irritably:
"Maestro Larindel, would you tell me the story of the cursed island of Gnur?"
"Oh!" The elf lit up. "With pleasure! It is a sad, tragedy-filled Tale. A tragedy that continues to affect the lives of others even centuries later!"
"Here we go!" I thought.
The elf knows how to speak clearly, sensibly, and concisely, especially when he's commanding his ship. But! As soon as the conversation turns to a Story, all bets are off. He can turn the most superficial story into an epic saga, and his narration will last at least an hour. The crew is well aware of their captain's weakness and never asks him to tell them about something, no matter how bored they get during a long voyage. And here I am, asking for it. The half-blood got so carried away with the tale that he forgot about his own wine, and the story went on for nearly four hours! If you wring out all the fluff that the Sidhe half-blood filled the narrative with, the tale of the island of Gnur could be recounted ten times shorter.
The island of Gnur is a silent, uninhabited rock. People mainly visited it once a week to clear out the Bronze rank third-circle dungeon located on it. The archipelago has no shortage of such unremarkable rocks. There are probably ten times more of them than there are inhabited islands. And only two things set Gnur apart. First, the presence of the aforementioned dungeon. And second, it housed a hidden true altar of Nulgle[1].
Nulgle is a dark deity. The god of diseases, epidemics, decay. The God of Plague, the Master of the Undead, the Patron of necromancers. But also, at the same time, the deity of rapid changes and positive transformations! Despite Nulgle being the second most potent Dark god of Ain, even after the Fall, his altars were generally not destroyed. This was likely because, despite all his darkness, Eyrat looked favorably upon Nulgle, and he was considered the left hand of Ain's Supreme God. The priests try to downplay this fact after the Fall, but if you ask them directly, they will admit it.
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For many centuries on Gnur, everything went its usual way. Until two hundred years ago, when a passionate young man, who wished to save his beloved from an incurable disease, sailed to the island. Upon finding the true altar, he offered a prayer to Nulgle. And he was heard by the Echo of the deity. According to Larindel's tale, the young man received a task. It was as follows: to take the disease into himself and infect a hundred other people with it. Upon the completion, his fiancee would be cured. The young man was either hopelessly dumb or, as the elf insisted, blinded by love, but he agreed. He took the disease into himself and sailed away from Gnur. He fulfilled the altar's task. More than fulfilled. The Plague brought by the guy from Gnur wiped out two-thirds of the archipelago's population! There were not just a hundred victims; the toll was in the hundreds of thousands!
When the epidemic was defeated, the priests of the Pantheon decided to destroy the true altar of Nulgle on the island. The group they sent out accomplished the task. Five priests of precious ranks gave their lives, paying for the destruction of the altar. But apparently, they made a mistake somewhere in the ritual. It didn't go cleanly. Part of the true altar's power seeped into the island's dungeon and Defiled it.
Before, simple goblins inhabited that dungeon, and the loot was a rare mushroom, very tasty and valuable for alchemy. After the Defilement, the mushrooms inside mutated, and the goblins turned into the undead. For two hundred years now, the three strongest elemental mages of the archipelago gather at Gnur once a month and burn all the corpses that pour out during the Overflow. They burn them because these walking corpses carry a strain of the Plague. And for the undead, it is no trouble to spend even a whole year traversing the ocean floor to reach another inhabited island. And the terrible epidemic would strike again.
For exactly twenty years now, on the twenty-fifth day of each month, the "Defector" appears in the roadstead of the island of Gnur. This is because its captain, a Ruby mage, is one of the trio responsible for the purge, which infuriates Larindel immensely, but that is his agreement with the Council of the Nine Families of the Bastarga Archipelago.
Furthermore, solving the problem in words is easy. One simply needs to enter the dungeon, clear it, kill the boss, and destroy the Echo of the altar. What could be more straightforward, especially since the dungeon is only of Bronze rank, and there are plenty of tunnellers of that level on the archipelago? Alas, it's not that easy. The mutated mushrooms that have multiplied in the dungeon pollute the air. Moreover, this is not a poison but a rapidly spreading Plague. A Plague of the mithril rank! A disease against which there is no defense. No filters, no alchemy can save people from it. If one breathes the air in the Plagued dungeon, they won't live for half an hour, and if a tunneller gets even a scratch, they will die five times faster.
Over two hundred years, the authorities of the archipelago have assembled expeditions of the best Bronze-rank heroes three times. They provided them with everything they could get. The best buffs, the best equipment, the best alchemy. All three attempts ended in failure. None of the heroes came out of the dungeon. And every month, the Plagued Defiled dungeon of Gnur spills out a new threat to all living things. A threat that, for many years, has been nipped in the bud by the elf sitting in front of me. A mage who is as tired of this responsibility as mere mortals cannot imagine, but he cannot break the word given in the name of Kamo.
"And who's the boss in this Plagued dungeon?" I asked when the half-blood finally finished his story.
"An orc warrior of the Wootz rank," Larindel sighed heavily. "This is truly a disaster. I am sick to death of seeing this island every month! No one can clear this dungeon and kill all the undead goblins, let alone the Wootz orc, within the half-hour lifespan allotted by the Plague. It's impossible! Even Jegur, the eldest son of Eyrat, wouldn't be able to accomplish such a feat!"
Standing from the stool, I inquired in a business-like tone:
"Is the boss of the Plagued dungeon, that very Wootz orc warrior, also now undead?"
"Yes," the elf dryly answered me, turning away - to the cabin window.
"What price are you willing to pay for relief from this burden?" I asked nonchalantly.
"What?" He didn't understand me.
"I can solve the problem of the island of Gnur and destroy the Echo of the altar." He hears my words, but apparently, he's unable to process them, sitting there and blinking his beautiful eyes. "It's a matter of price."
"Huh?" The elf asks me again. His wine is spilling from his glass onto his luxurious clothes, but he doesn't notice.
The specifics of Signs of achievement are such that outsiders can only see the fact of achievement itself, but knowledge of what bonuses it provides is inaccessible to an outsider. Larindel simply doesn't know about my immunity to any diseases, even if it's a Plague of the mithril rank. And no, I'm not a madman driven into a corner, clutching at the most unrealistic hope. I am truly capable of clearing the Defiled dungeon!
What distinguishes an Iron dungeon inhabited by goblins from a similar one but Bronze? There are only two differences.
First, goblin archers are added to the pool of enemies. A very, very serious adversary, I don't argue. But! A zombie archer is not even half as good as a living one; it's difficult to hit a target when you don't have eyes or if they're all rotten. Plus, the fine motor skills of decaying fingers are compromised, and a zombie cannot properly draw a bowstring. It turns out that in the case of goblins, turning these enemies into undead only reduces the threat! At least at Bronze, this is exactly the case! At Steel, the situation changes dramatically. Because in addition to regular gobls, goblin warriors, and archers, Steel also has goblin mages. And undead mages are damn liches, which are several times more challenging to kill again! And that is already a threat at least one rank higher.
The second difference is the boss if we're talking about a third-circle dungeon, as in this case. Starting with Bronze, in goblin-populated dungeons, an orc two ranks higher can act as a boss. And a Wootz orc is essentially a full-fledged human warrior of the same rank. A fully sentient creature with its own skills, techniques, talents! And that's scarier than the most terrible monsters. As far as I remember, Ain's tunnellers, even the most reckless, don't take on such bosses. Because twelve Bronze tunnellers may not necessarily kill a Wootz warrior. More precisely, they'll probably kill him, but in the process, they'll lose at least four from their group, and that's if they're very lucky.
So why am I confident that I can handle such an opponent?
It's because of the specifics of the orcs as a race. Their strength and power are built on the energy of the Green Fury of Spirit, a special kind of spiritual energy that is only accessible to this race. When entering battle, orcs immerse themselves in the Green Fury and can perform even stronger special moves and spells than humans of the same ranks. Orcs are genuinely terrifying enemies. The Tyberian Plateau, which was taken from humans by this race as a result of uncontrolled Overflow several hundred years ago, is a living example of this danger.
But! There's a catch.
Any undead is a product of Magic. The very existence of the undead is only possible thanks to necromancy. Mana replaces their blood. And most importantly, the undead are devoid of Spirit. Completely devoid on a conceptual level. Thus, if you discard the irrational fear of the undead, an orc boss, turned into a zombie, who cannot use the Green Fury of Spirit, becomes a much weaker opponent than a similar orc warrior, but alive.
Of course, this undead will be more dangerous than a goblin warrior, stronger, tougher, and even faster. But he won't be using skills, auras, special attacks, and spells. This turns this boss into a danger comparable to a Bronze human warrior. Still a dangerous enemy, but one that is within my reach. Especially if I prepare for a battle specifically with him. Moreover, this time no one will limit me in potions and other alchemy. Therefore, after the elf's "Huh?", I repeated:
"I can solve the problem of the island of Gnur and destroy the Echo of the altar. It's a matter of price and preparation for the campaign."
"Excuse me, Mr. Raven." The Sidhe half-blood woke up. "Something is wrong with my hearing. I must be under the influence of a mental mage! I'm having visions of the impossible. It's as if you, in all seriousness, promise to destroy the Echo of the Plague Altar of the island of Gnur."
"You're not hallucinating, Maestro Larindel." My smile, like a lily-of-the-valley flower blooming at dawn, was just as pure and sincere. "I truly can do this."
"Really?" He still doesn't believe it.
"But there is a question of price and preparation for the campaign."
The elf suddenly rises from the chair, shakes himself, slaps his cheeks, walks over to me, and looks into my eyes for almost a minute.
"You're not joking," he delivers his verdict.
"I'm not joking." My smile does not fade.
"In the name of Kamo?" The captain of the "Defector" asks again.
"In the name of Kamo." Wiping the smile from my face, I answer seriously.
"Are you insane, Mr. Raven?" Larindel inquires.
"What's the difference?" I respond with a question. "Am I insane or in my right mind? I can do this, and only this fact matters."
"How fascinating!" The elf whispered, spun on his heels, and stared out the cabin window.
[1] TLN: Yep, that's a Warhammer reference, and not the only one in this novel. I won't point other others (provided I even notice them).