Sleeping Player (Project Chrysalis Book 3), John Gold [free e books to read online .TXT] 📗

down in pitch darkness under a floating island—very romantic. Working on our resistance together in the unique climes of the Far North…what could be better?

I don’t hold back with the bolts of lightning, firing away with 20-25 million damage so I can turn around and heal the same amount. My resistance climbs faster thanks to the fact that my lightning seals hit me with a 10% recoil. Because of that, we’re able to get our resistance to electricity where it needs to be in just ten days. Femida doesn’t say a word the whole time. All she does is collect fish silently, probably envying them their quick fate. They die in the first second; she has to suffer for ten long days.

Isaac clowns around the best he can. Even the penguins get so tired of him that they kick him out of their waddle, and I can tell he kind of misses Slender.

We aren’t able to get to the North Pole. About a kilometer away, the cold skyrockets, so we stop there and grow an enormous pine tree. I use my panacea spell once every two hours to give it powerful growth spurts. My own strength is enough to heal us both no matter the damage being thrown at us, so I spend my astral source on the panacea.

I like watching Femida spend days training in the snow. Isaac, on the other hand, just has fun. He makes snowmen, build snow forts, and throws snowballs at us. Once every ten minutes, Femida has to put him on so he doesn’t rust and the metal isn’t ruined.

I have two days left until my meeting with the archmage, and we finally have our resistance to cold up to 100%.

There’s just one more debt I need to pay in Kkhor. Femida decides that she’s going to spend the rest of the time right next to me, though it takes us more than thirty hours running around the astral to find a portal close to Kkhor. Finally, we’re dumped out a hundred meters from the port, so it takes just ten more minutes to get where I need to go.

My favorite supervisor is sitting at the reception desk for the Academy of Magic. He’s wearing the same clothing he was six months ago, and he’s looking just as happy with the world as ever.

“Oh, it’s my wonderful student! You decided to come back for a visit? Maybe, you’re ready to duel for your next rank? You should be a master by now!”

“No, Anri, I’m here to see you. Have you thought about removing your curse?”

The mage smiles sadly, his emotions laced with regret. The curse has his internal organs, his limbs, and his sensory organs occasionally failing, and it’s a miracle that he, just a normal person, has even lived this long.

“I’m only telling you this so it will be a lesson to you. Yes, I’ve thought about it and would love to remove it. But when I was young, I forsook the gods when they didn’t want to heal me. I believed in nothing but strength! In magic and in collaboration, yes, but not in blind adoration of the gods. Then, I grew older and wiser. I wasn’t able to find a woman who would accept me and my curse. My children would inherit it, after all. The entire island I lived on died more than thirty years ago, and Life Magic was the reason I was the lone survivor. Basically, what I’m trying to tell you is this: take what’s offered. Relationships, even with the gods, are built on trust that grows gradually over time. They may one day agree to do for you what you most want in the world. But now, I’m an old life mage with a curse hanging over my head who can but guide young mages along the path of truth and joy. It isn’t much, but it’s a life!”

“Do you want to get rid of the curse?” I hold my hand out, almost as if I’m concluding a deal with the devil.

The mage misunderstands me—he thinks I’m saying goodbye.

“Yes. Good luck to you in your search for the truth.”

“Panacea!” A life-giving warmth floods from my arm. “As a life mage, I already found the truth.”

The pallor vanishes from his face; hair sprouts from the top of his head. Instantaneously, he starts losing weight until he looks around forty. His life mage robe drapes over him shapelessly, and his emotions… Confusion, happiness, real joy. He smiles.

“Anri, eight months ago, right here, I met someone who let me become a mage. He gave me shelter, friendship, and a job. It was you who gave me the ability to realize my dream, the most important goal I have in this life. You’ve shown thousands of mages in the academy the way to the straight and narrow. Don’t think of yourself as useless—you’re just forty! You’re enjoying the moment of your greatest power. I’ve reached the heights of magic, heights no other wanderers could even dream of, thanks to Life Magic. Panacea, the spell I used to lift the curse and heal your maladies, it is highest spell. Believe in your own strength, not in the gods.”

He wants to give us something, but we quietly leave as soon as he turns away. My last debt is paid. Now, it’s time to start collecting.

***

There hadn’t been a single serious crime in Airis Castle over the previous six months. Leon had toughened the penalties in place at the clan’s main stronghold, and Airis had actually become a city. Thousands of locals and other players started showing up. The new measures were precautions taken during the invasion of the undead that helped tighten the bonds the clan enjoyed with the other gods. Trade flourished, and new channels connecting Airis with the other cities were built.

Over that time, Leon had a new mind