Ruthless (The Completionist Chronicles Book 5) Page 10

  What he found was that both his class as well as how he gained the characteristic points played a role. If a player crossed the threshold for strength by mostly doing characteristic training each day, they got a flat bonus. If they were a fighter and gained their points by fighting and training, they got the option to play a kind of inner mini-game for higher rewards, like Joe had when increasing his wisdom.

  Class had an impact mainly because players tended to do class-related things with greater regularity. For instance, Joe had asked several ‘tank’ classers what they got at the threshold for constitution, and most of them had doubled the amount of health they gained per point. Some had even tripled it, and further discussion revealed that they had managed to pull through really tough situations, keeping their party alive for the great majority. After learning this fact, it was almost too easy to point them out. As could be expected, they tended to have impressive dents in their armor.

  Charisma had a different effect, and Joe wasn't sure if he liked what had happened. He had increased charisma fairly naturally, and only since receiving the new energy sight ability from the Queen had he begun actively training it.

  Charisma has reached the fifty point threshold! New effect added: Dark Charisma.

  Dark Charisma is a characteristic shift, neither a skill nor title. Looking into the deep dark has fundamentally changed how you look at the world, and how the world looks at you. All active effects now contain a hint of the deeper aspects of existence. Those who are looking to solve a mystery or find a dark companion will gravitate toward you, but there will always be some that cannot handle what your existence evokes in their own minds. Tall, dark, and… something like handsome; since you do have solid charisma now. Still bald though.

  Caution! Pushing for darker or more emotional reactions from people may cause this shift to become more drastic.

  Joe had also been working on his skills, managing to bring Acid Spray to Beginner five, Dark Lightning Strike and Knowledge to Novice nine, Architectural Lore to Novice three, Alchemical Lore and Ritualistic Alchemy to Beginner one, Exquisite Shell to Beginner four, Corify to Novice six, and—after one unlucky encounter where Poppy got crushed between two Neigh-Bears—Resurrection to Novice four.

  He was exhausted. Between all the training, studying, mana draining, and research into protective rituals for the town, he was barely sleeping at all. Nonetheless, all of his outstanding debuffs had been cleared, except for luck. He had been managing a few games of chance, but they certainly had not been not enough to make up for the low stat. Also… the ‘luck’ trial in the test dungeon apparently had the highest mortality rate of all the tests, and he couldn't risk losing a bunch of experience at such a crucial time. Which… the lack of risk taking perhaps explained why his luck stat was so low.

  Something needed to change, or Joe was going to be locked into a cycle of repetition until he started to lose his mind. Then… something did change. On the eighth day of his intense training cycle, a letter arrived.

  Chapter Fifteen

  The letter was from Boris, and it held the information he had promised Joe weeks ago. Joe ran his eyes over it again as his team walked along, pleased as punch that he had come this direction before; it would help him gain an edge over someone else that had caused trouble for Boris.

  Joe,

  It appears that there may be an item that will allow you to specialize your current class into a higher one. It may be a type of book, a stone tablet, or another similar item that holds knowledge. There is only one thing that I am certain of:

  This item is single use.

  If you don't get it first, there is a strong possibility that someone else will. I am sorry to say that after finding this information, I returned to my desk and found that someone had gone through my notes. I suspect a group called the ‘Upright Men’ or some such nonsense. They are a guild of thieves that have been a plague on this city for decades.

  There is more. I think that I am being watched, and I don’t know by whom, or for what reason. But the fact of the matter is that this information was found stolen too quickly for it to be a coincidence.

  I have included a small map that should get you close to where this item has been hidden. It will be up to you from here on out.

  Best of luck, Boris.

  “Hmm. Hope Boris is doing alright…” Joe muttered with great concern.

  “Ya know, Joe,” Bard grunted around a slab of meat he had pulled out of a sack, “Ah think it’s odd that tha Guild is givin’ us quests and fat rewards for helpin’ ya get yer class upgrade.”

  “I think they really want him gone!” Jaxon cheerfully stated, giving Joe a thumbs-up. “When he gets to the next Zone, he can be his usual workaholic self and he won't have to worry about stepping on the toes of the Guild’s investors. They will never go to the next area, so they might as well be totally separate guilds!”

  “You know what, Jaxon?” Joe grinned conspiratorially, “I think I like that idea a whole abyss of a lot. Oh no, they want me to go to a place that only competent people can even get into! Not that! Anything but being surrounded solely by the hard-working members of the guild…!”

  “I think that I found what I need to do to get into my next class too, which means that we should be able to go together!” Jaxon continued after nodding along gravely. “I got a job in the palace learning from the Royal Masseuse and the Royal Tamer! If I can get all of those skills and find a good way to combine them, I’m sure that I’ll be able to get my next Specialization.”

  “I have plans for my class as well.” Poppy let a wicked smile spread across his face. “But you’re just gonna need to wait and see.”

  “I’m totally stumped on how to proceed,” Alexis admitted carefully. “I think Bard is, too. We’ve been looking for ways forward, but either there isn't someone on our same path, or they are hidden pretty deeply. I think that a likely progression for me is into an Assassin class, and they aren't showing up and making an offer.”

  “Ahm still banned from the Bardic College.” Bard grumbled. “Apparently, I got the attention of the Deity of Bards, and since he likes me… ahm not allowed back into the place.”

  “That’s some backward logic, isn't it?” Joe spread his arms in anger. “If the freaking God of Music likes you, you get banned?”

  “Nah. It’s the Deity of Bards.” Bard explained, “Apparently the guy hates Bards. So, they use tha’ knowledge as ah litmus test. He likes ya, yer out. He hates ya, you are clearly doin’ sommat right.”

  “Weird.” Jaxon chimed in.

  “I heard that he didn't want to be the Deity of Bards, he was forced into the role.” Alexis told them. “Apparently Hansel was some form of Assassin that got immortalized in song, and somehow gained a ton of power from that.”

  “Wait… is this the same one from the song I keep hearing in taverns?” Poppy furrowed his brow, then snapped his fingers, “Dangerlicious! Is that the one?”

  “Yup.” Bard sighed dramatically. “Cause o’ that, ahm stuck in my spot with nowhere ta turn.”

  “Don’t worry, Bard.” Joe patted the man on the arm. “I’m sure we can get something with the Pathfinder’s Hall. Eventually the Bardic College will come in range, and we’ll get all the information on every current classer in there. Same deal with an assassin ring, Alexis. It’s only a matter of time.”

  “Where are we going right now anyway?” Jaxon questioned Joe directly. “I know almost nothing about this trip.”

  “Ah. Let me gather my thoughts.” Joe pulled up his status screen and ran over the information he had available. “Looks like we are going to the south-eastern coast, and we need to find a temple that held ancient secrets. Likely, that means we are running straight at a dungeon, but whatever. Right now, we are going to swing by the guild we rescued when we came to the forest of Chlorophyll Chaos, the… Golden Greens. Yeah, specifically, I want to see what Teddy is up to these days.”

  An hour later, they found signs of the land being worke
d, and there were some impressive fields that had been plowed and planted. The crops were growing at a pace that was noticeable, and Joe had to assume that there was magic involved. Par for the course in Eternium. They met with a few people guarding a small village, and after a few messages were sent back and forth, the group was given a place to stay and Joe went to talk with Teddy.

  They discussed how things were going, and made plans to talk more in the future. The Guild hadn't seen anything odd in recent days, which gave Joe hope for getting ahead of whoever else had this information. Since they were already fairly close to the coast - so long as they went east to the water and not south to the forest - another point of interest came up.

  “We found a small shrine just off the road, about halfway from here to the sea.” Teddy leaned in and gave him a knowing look. “If we can guide you there, you think you could go ahead and convert it? It’d make a good respawn location, way closer than the other one where you saved a bunch of us the last time we met. Also, that would knock a huge amount of time off our trips to Ardania.”

  “Of course.” Joe was surprised by her earnestness. “Is this such a huge issue for you?”

  “Yup.” Teddy sat back with obvious relief. “Most of our guild is composed of noncombatants, so that walk means that a death can lead to three more for them. Oh, I also have a slew of clerics that follow Tatum now, and they were hoping you could find a place for them?”

  “What!” Joe almost jumped out of his seat in his excitement. “Where! I, oh, right. Yes, I have huge positions for them. I have a mid-sized temple that needs a permanent person, and a Cathedral that is sitting empty in the middle of nowhere that really needs people in it to run things.”

  “Perfect, because I have a few introverts that want to hang out in lonely buildings,” Teddy informed him seriously. “They avoid people to such a degree that they are having trouble out here, in the farmlands. I’ll have them guide you to the shrine, and then you can show them to their new stations? As long as they can come visit every once in a while, they’ll maintain their position in the guild.”

  The night came to an end a short while later, and the two parted ways. Joe slept excellently, and in the morning, the party set off with a small contingent of people that were dressed in robes. Jaxon was distrustful of them, and kept making biting motions at them with his hands. Since none of the new people had any idea what that meant, they simply stayed away from the strange man.

  Converting the shrine was easy with so many clerics, because it seemed that they could all pool their mana for the event. Even better, after doing it once, they all got a skill that allowed them to convert structures for Tatum on their own. Joe was almost jealous, as he only had a static ability to do so: no skill appeared that would make it easier over time. From there, Joe popped them to the Cathedral or the temple, based on their preference.

  After finishing up at the Cathedral, Joe was about to leave when one man stopped him with a question. “My apologies, but I am wondering how I can get a sigil like the one you wear?”

  Joe simply returned a confused glance, then followed the man’s pointing finger. Above his heart was a small rotating hologram that was a combination of his guild icon and Tatum’s symbology. “Oh. That was pointed out to me by Tatum, but I think any of us can equip sigils in our sigil tab.”

  “Sigil tab?” the man repeated. His eyes grew wide, and then he winked at Joe. “Got access to it! Nice and sneaky way of keeping people from knowing everything. I’ll make sure the others know to keep it to ourselves.”

  “No, I’m not trying to hide information-”

  “After all, double reputation with a deity is hard to get.” The man was lost in his own world already, and Joe was suddenly glad this one was staying at the Cathedral. “We’ll get so many more options for spells when we level up than other clerics will!”

  “I… hadn't actually thought about that.” Joe nodded slowly. “Perhaps that is a good call.”

  Contemplating the different buildings he had converted made Joe wonder about his quest to free Tatum. He brought up the quest tab and nodded. Solid progress.

  Paying a Great Debt. Current progress: 1,080,550/13,000,000. Current sources of divine energy: Altars: 5. Shrines: 11. Temples (small): 0. Temples (mid-sized): 1. Temples (grand): 1. Champions defeated: 1. Followers: 182.

  “Hmm. I wonder how I can speed that up?” Lost in thought, he selected to teleport away. In the next instant, Joe was back with his party in front of the newly converted shrine. “Looks like we have a nice way back home now.”

  “Sounds good to me.” Poppy turned and led the way back to the road. To Joe’s great concern, a new group of people was traveling along the dirt path. One man looked almost like a member of the Three Musketeers, with fancy clothing and a foppish feathered hat. The remainder was composed of an obvious mage, monk, assassin, and heavy close-range fighter.

  There was something about this group that made Joe’s senses tingle, and a primal part of him was screaming at him to kill these people before they got too close. Before he could make a choice on what to do next, the man in the foppish hat waved at them and called out. “Hello there! I’m Sam! Nice to officially meet you! You wouldn't have happened to see any temple ruins around here, would you?”

  “Officially? Because we saw each other on the road?” Joe narrowed his eyes and looked the man over. Something about his smug face just seemed so… punchable, and Joe decided to test the waters. “Hello, Sam. I’m Joe. Can I say, you really look like a fine, Upright Man.”

  Sam’s face shifted, and Joe knew that he had been correct. These were the people that had gone through Boris’s papers… and a dark feeling in his heart told Joe that they would end up fighting to the death sooner or later.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “Joe, is it?” Sam greeted him in a feigned affable tone. “I’ve met so many people named ‘Joe’ in the last few days that I feel like it is going to get listed as the number one name in Eternium any day now!”

  “Ah-ha… yeah.” Joe nodded at the group and stiffly turned away. They started walking, but stopped short when Sam called out to them.

  “By the way… Joe. Something tells me that we might be looking for the same thing, and I’m going to tell you this right now. I will be the one going home with it.” Sam was staring at Joe with a small smile on his face. “Though I feel like I have another book that you would love as a replacement. Just like my plan to win the day here, the information inside it is… explosive.”

  Joe’s stare turned to ice. So this was the guy that had sent a bomb home with him? Even more reason to destroy him. They got a good distance away before Joe turned to his group and explained what he knew about Sam. Really, there wasn't much to tell, as the man seemed to know about him, whereas this was the first time that Joe had directly met Sam.

  Poppy turned and half-drew his rapier. “That fool sent a bomb along with you? Into a random populated area? He could have hurt dozens of people with that stunt! Let’s put that rabid dog down!”

  Bard held him back, shaking his head. “Poppy, yah can’t jus’ attack. You’ll get a player killer aura, an’ then everythin’ll turn inta ah right mess.”

  “He attacked Joe without provocation! I say we return the favor!” Poppy snarled as he pulled against Bard.

  Joe was touched that Poppy was ready to go to war for him, though still he shook his head. “We are here to collect an item, not to fight over being in the area. If it comes to that, I’m glad to see that you are ready to fight, but let’s hope it doesn’t. If we are able to get in, get out, and walk away with the prize, we win long-term.”

  “Sometimes, don't you think the correct thing to do is the one that is not logical?” Jaxon wondered thoughtfully. “If they die, they have a long way to go to get back here, which gives us time to search and prepare. So, let’s wreck them!”

  “I…!” Joe met the serious stare down that he was getting and reluctantly nodded. “I think that you both made a good point�
�� I just… okay. Let’s get ready and ambush them.”

  They crept around the area, keeping the road in sight. After about ten minutes of searching, they found that the other party had vanished entirely. Alexis looked around and groaned, “Ugh… I bet they had the same idea and went hunting for us. We’re probably circling each other and don't even know it.”

  “At least we don't know where they are.” Jaxon ominously uttered. The silent plains around them suddenly seemed much more ominous. “Since, you know, this grass is almost neck-high, we could be completely surrounded and not even know it. Nature is crazy like that.”

  “Let’s get down closer to the coast,” Joe ordered with a dry throat. “The vegetation is sparse there, and we should get on with the hunt.”

  “Good call,” Bard readily agreed. The group moved as silently as possible to the waterline and pulled out the map Boris had included with his letter.

  Joe opened it up so everyone could see it. “We’re gonna need to account for hundreds of years, and it’s also possible that this place doesn't even exist anymore. It is entirely likely that someone else has been here before us and walked away with whatever scraps remained. It's equally likely that this place is buried. Luckily, if it is hidden, I actually have a better chance of finding it and raiding it successfully.”

  The group offered their own ideas, finally deciding that they should start by figuring out exactly where they were on the map; then they could look for inconsistencies in the area based on the differences. They started walking, but Poppy came to an abrupt halt and peered back up at the top of the hill they had just descended to reach the waterline. He pulled out his weapon and pointed with it. “They posted one person to watch us. I bet the others are sitting and having a picnic while they wait for us to do all the legwork.”

  “Then all we need to do is figure everything out and get the goods before they can react to it.” Joe was starting to get a little snippy from the constant concern the other party had created by their mere presence. “Does anyone see anything that we can use as a landmark? I can't get a read on this map at all.”