Path of Spirit (Disgardium Book #6): LitRPG Series, Dan Sugralinov [the reader ebook .TXT] 📗

“Something happened?” Irita asked, a little disappointed as she put away her morningstar.

“The Travelers don’t have anything to help with the cold. On Holdest, they’re just farming materials in shifts,” I answered, checking the time. “Time for me to go. How about that achievement?”

“Look!”

Infect pointed at Trixie, who was lying on his back. The little man was smiling blissfully and twitching — he’d gotten almost none of the experience, but the final boss kill still took him up to level 9. The pleasure from leveling up was a sweet discovery for Trixie, but the joy of the First Kill achievement… He seemed even more euphoric than after his travels in Darant’s district of ill repute.

Cursed Lich Uros is dead.

Unlocked achievement First Kill: Cursed Lich Uros!

You are the first in the world to kill the final boss of Sinister Mountain Depths — Cursed Lich Uros! This emissary of the Destroying Plague was responsible for opening a Plague Portal to lay a path for the undead to the isle of Kharinza.

Cursed Lich Uros is dead, but before death, he inadvertently transferred a modicum of his power to you.

Reward: Surprise perk (when you attack first, you’re guaranteed to sweep your opponent off their feet!).

Everyone confirmed All Hail the Hero except Trixie and Irita. They had to keep their connection to us secret. The little man didn’t understand what we wanted him to do until I explained that if he made his name public, he could forget all about his beloved Darant. That did the job.

“You get the joke?” Infect asked suddenly, laughing. “Trixie got swept off his feet!”

“Hah-hah, real funny,” Irita said.

“What?!” the bard said, offended. “It’s a good joke. Didn’t you read the description?”

“’Tis sin to mock the afflicted!” Patrick interjected, but his upbeat tone was unconvincing. “But you know… That’s not a bad reward! Like my old pops always used to say: ‘Hit first, sonny!’”

“The perk is useless to me,” I pointed out. “Sleeping Justice doesn’t proc when I strike first.”

“I see you guys are already bored of achievements like this,” Irita said, smiling. “Easy farm to you. Nobody’s even celebrating but Trixie.”

“More like we’re disappointed,” Crawler answered. “The rewards for the last few have hardly been worth it. No special abilities, no cool perks. Even unlucky with the loot…”

“How’s that?” I asked, realizing that I hadn’t even paid any attention to what dropped.

“An epic mantle with Intellect and Cast Speed,” Bomber answered, our leading expert in selecting and distributing loot. “Not much good for Crawler, and useless to anyone else.”

“It’ll fetch five thousand,” Irita declared.

“And a Tome of Basic Undead Magic. For necromancers only. Sell that too?”

“We’ll give it to Dekotra, maybe he can use it,” I answered. “Now let’s figure out how to destroy the Plague Vector and this entire instance.”

Killing the lich hadn’t solved the problem — the reservoir of plague essence was still there. Apart from that, there was still the possibility that Uros and his minions would respawn.

“I get it,” Bomber chuckled. “It’s like back in the cave of the swamp needler queen. Chuff, you remember?”

“So you guys took out Chuff too..?” Irita asked, in a whisper for some reason.

“There should be something like a heart. If we destroy it, the cave will be cleared. Oh!”

Bomber saw his target and ran to a stone about the size of a dog, shaped like an iron. He prodded it with his sword, but the blade slid off. He shook his head.

“That’s not it. Let’s keep looking.”

Bomber helped Trixie up, looked to the side, perked up and pointed out a mushroom-like structure protruding from a wall and emitting a cloud of spores. The warrior drew back his arm and thrust his sword into the strange fungus. It squelched, spraying out green droplets. The plague reservoir began to shrink, drying up before us, and once it had gone, the cave walls and the ground beneath our feet shed their slime. It grew brighter. Echoes of emotion reached me from Behemoth — relief.

“Alright, since we’re done here, I need to log out,” I declared. “I’m going to eat and then spend all night in Dis. Oh, by the way — check out what Hint sent.”

“That angry gnome is Hint to you now?” Bomber raised an eyebrow.

“Yep,” I nodded, giving the boys and Irita the Heat Resistance Potions that Hinterleaf had attached to his message. “But you can call him Uncle Otto, Bomb.”

“Nice gifts from Uncle Otto!” the warrior chuckled.

“Wow! Just wow!” Irita breathed. “Imagine how much one of these would fetch at auction…”

There weren’t enough potions for Trixie and Patrick, and although the guild manager didn’t complain, saying that he didn’t care for the sand anyway, the little gardener got upset.

“What’s there for you anyway, Trixie?” Irita tried to reason with him. “The place is full of strong mobs. You’ll go there later. Here, want some candy?”

Trixie wolfed down the proffered candy, still wailing. He didn’t settle down until we left the mine. Clinging to Irita’s side, he mellowed.

“Alex, we’re going to need to talk,” the girl said.

“Yeah,” Crawler nodded. “Just the core members. About the clan’s income and expenses. We can discuss our ideas.”

Taking a deep breath, I thought for a moment. I knew nothing about finances. Any money matters important to the fate of the clan should be given to someone more competent. Let them figure it out — what help could I be anyway? I’d never wanted to lead, and never been a leader. But there they stood: the boys who had made fun of me since our first days in school, and the girl who had treated me only with pity for a year and a half in the sandbox. There they stood, awaiting my decision.

“Alright.