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

I activated my Faded Coin to talk to Kusalarix. Her face appeared and I spoke first:

“The temple site in the desert is free. I’m going to put down a portal beacon.”

The goblin woman stuck her head through the hole in space, looked around and gave a thumbs up.

“You did this on your own? Nice! I’m sending a building crew. They’ll work in shifts, otherwise they’ll bake in the heat, ya know how it is…”

“Got it. At least the undying won’t come.”

“Still, that place is full of critters,” Kusalarix said doubtfully. “They say I got a garbage can for a heart, but still, I’d rather not feed my builders to the beasts…”

“My Diamond Worm will stay here to protect them,” I reassured her. “Some allies might come too.”

“Thanks, Scyth,” the goblin woman said seriously, looking into my eyes, then winked. “Sorry for shoutin’ at ya. You’re a stand-up guy! Good luck to us all. And may the Sleepers save us from Nergal’s rage…”

Muttering something incomprehensible, she disappeared and the rift in space slammed shut.

I called Hinterleaf through my comm amulet:

“I have news.”

“I’ve heard plenty! You’ve been up to no good! Darant and Shak are boiling, everyone’s talking about the undead…”

“On top of that,” I interrupted him. “I’m in the Lakharian Desert right now. Sure, this wasn’t part of the plan, but now a place of power is lcear. And I couldn’t miss the chance to annoy the radiant god. Anyway, there are ruins here again, and the League is going to rebuild the temple to the Sleepers here. We need protection.”

“Great news!” the gnome brightened up. “But will they hold out for long there?”

“That depends on us. With two temples, I’ll be able to make Modus and the Travelers followers of the Sleeping Gods. As priests, you and Horvac will get maximum bonuses.”

“Things really are picking up speed…” the gnome sounded thoughtful. “Alright, let’s go step by step. I’ll send two battle stars of immunes. Warn your devouring worm not to touch them.”

I smiled as I watched Sharkon happily splashing in the sand around Crash.

“He won’t hurt them; Modus is friendly to the Awoken.”

I ended the call and thought for a moment. The minimum plan was complete. Now we could go further, but how? Go find Grand Master Oyama, or first hand in Fortune’s quest now that I’d finally completed it? The second option seemed easier, but Uncle Nick always used to say that you should always start with the hardest thing first. Anyway, it really annoyed me that my hand-to-hand combat leveling had ground to a halt, and the old man’s skills were amazing — he’d thrown back the Alliance, Shazz and Deznafar all on his own. Pepper the hamster fell to his knees and prayed for the same power! So first I’d find Oyama, and then…

“Oh, how cute!” someone cried from above.

Raising my head in confusion, I saw an old friend — Kitty Spitfire, the gnomish explorer from the Dangerous Game Hunters guild. The gnome girl sat astride a golden gryphon lazily flapping its wings, hidden from the sun beneath a forcefield umbrella. She and I had met during the battle with Ervigot the Ravager, and then she’d told me where to find the cultists of Morena. I was still in the guise of the Supreme Legate, and it was too late to change it now.

“Hey, Mogwai,” she chirped, crossing her arms. “I’d love to know how you got so many amazing cute pets! Are they all yours..? Hold on a sec!”

Kitty jumped off the gryphon, falling into the sand up to her knees, then trampled over, aimed an instrument on her wrist at me, pulled a string with a needle on the end out of it and jabbed it into my shoulder. Equanimity didn’t even bother activating, letting the needle into my flesh.

Flinching, I watched her actions in wonder, not knowing what to do — run away or stay. The option ‘take care of the witness’ didn’t occur to me — I liked Kitty.

After studying the instrument’s readouts, the gnome girl’s eyes widened. She pointed at me and shouted:

“Whoever you are, you aren’t Mogwai! I know who you are!”

“Who?”

“You’re Hammer-22!” Kitty announced in triumph and giggled. “Magic, magic… Science! My UPASI-18 told me…”

“UPASI-18?”

“Unique Personal Astral Signature Identifier,” Kitty explained. “It’s an experimental prototype from our guild’s engineering lab. The point is, you have the same astral signature as Hammer-22, which means you are Hammer-22! Hmm…”

I leaned down to her and saw a screen on her device with lines of text on it. Kitty read the latest lines and shook her head:

“Although, maybe the device is wrong — the heat seems to mess it up.” She shook the thing as if it was broken, shrugged. “Unfortunately, all the other UKIIs don’t match up!”

“UKIIs?”

“Units of Key Identifying Information. Sex, race, appearance, all that… Could the UPASI-18 be lying?”

“You said yourself, it’s an experimental prototype.”

Persuasion gave me conversation options, and the best one turned out to be honesty again. It seemed best to stick to that strategy.

“Alright, I won’t torture you. Yeah, I’m Hammer-22. My secret is that I can change my form.”

“So that’s it…” Kitty said thoughtfully.

“Want to see what I really look like?” Kitty nodded furiously and I removed Imitation, smiling broadly. “Hey, Kitty. My name is Scyth.”

Kitty jumped back and ran away, nearly falling over in the sand, but then stopped and carefully approached. She touched my face, felt my nose and chin, then suddenly screeched:

“Eeeeeee!” and jumped up and down on the spot. “Scyth! THE Scyth? Oh my gods, it’s really you? In the flesh? Hold on…”

She threw back her head and frowned.

“Right. You’re Scyth. You’re Hammer-22. And you’re Mogwai? No, Mogwai is attacking the Commonwealth right now, which means he isn’t you. You fought