End of an Era (Project Chrysalis Book 2), John Gold [ebook reader online txt] 📗

sweetie, he’s just the harbinger of change. There are lots of ifs in his quest; if he finds information us gods spent the last thousand years trying to destroy; if he can get there; if he can destroy the altar; if Miridia lets him do it. I haven’t seen that recluse in a millennium, and she’s probably still beating herself up, believing she’s in the wrong. By the way, what’s Sagie’s level?”

“Level 310. The kids helped clear Silvana Swamp. The location doesn’t have any undead anymore.”

“Still a bit weak, but apparently capable of dealing with the undead.” Bernard shuddered as he thought about how strong the boy must be if he could take on the undead even at his low level. They didn’t have enough information about him. The god decided to watch one of the battles himself.

The old friends chatted for another ten minutes, gossiping about the latest news. The first Level-600 players had appeared in the world. There weren’t many of them, but they were there. Four young gods were the favorites to ascend to the large pantheon. Three had announced themselves as triune, combining their power, while the fourth, Leon, had grown so quickly with the Ovidius dwarves under his wing that he was well ahead of the pack. A little more, and he would join the large pantheon.

***

With access to the dwarves’ oldest records, we spend three days leafing through it all. Even these books barely mention Miridia’s cult. It’s only with the help of the old librarian, long since retired, that we shed light on the past. He and Fem read half-rotten books the dwarf saved from a fire and was able to keep his hands on.

The librarian is more than five hundred years old, well up there even in dwarf terms. His lips are dry, and deep lines crease his face, but it still looks like he was hewn out of rock. He’s old, strong, and very wise.

“Miridia’s forgotten cult and the history of our kind intrigued me when I was young. I was an inventor who dreamed of becoming as great a wizard as she was. But just over a thousand years ago, Miridia started creating an artifact of immeasurable power that was meant to be used exclusively for good. The dwarves never learned what it was. During one of her experiments, there was a devastating explosion, a global catastrophe. The entire planetary climate changed and ice covered its surface. The dwarf continent suffered under the power of the cataclysm brought on by the magic.”

But that doesn’t make sense. There are just four continents, none of which are covered in ice. And how could you possibly keep that kind of information hidden from everyone?

The old dwarf continues.

“I see your doubt, young man. I’m talking about the south pole and the small continent of Ferengar, which is enclosed in ice. After the explosion, that area became an anomaly. Powerful monsters appeared, and the air became so cold that the air you breathe out instantly turns to ice crystals. Mountains now reach unimaginable heights there. After the catastrophe, only a third of the continent’s population survived, with the dwarves heading off to their neighbors in Ovidius and Radaam. Only those outside the capital were able to save themselves.”

Interesting. So, something happened that the gods all decided to keep a lid on. They wiped all mention of it from history, leaving time to eat away at the memories. And whatever it was, it was done by Miridia in Ferengar, the old capital.

“Okay, so Miridia’s main altar is on the south pole? Is it even possible to get there?”

The dwarf broke into a bloody cough, almost as if his body was punishing him for spilling the beans.

“It should be, yes. It should be there! Nowhere else in the world was Miridia’s strength sufficient to build her main altar. She still has believers, even if they are pariahs and renegades. Before the catastrophe, there was a great underground highway connecting Ferengar and Radaam, with another between Ferengar and Ovidius. The dwarves used them during the great migration. They aren’t usable anymore, so you can only get to Ferengar on the surface. You’ll have to take the mountains from there.” The dwarf smiles. “I’ll bet Miridia’s temple is all that survived the blast.”

That’s the information we’ve been looking for. The old man marks the probable location of the old capital on my map, and I see that our path is going to take us to the coldest lands in the world: the anomalous south pole. The bad news is that the monsters there are at least as strong as the ones I had to deal with in Hashan Desert.

We’re still not using portals, though the most important buildings for players are right next to the portal in the city - the auction and the bank. I recently learned that the banks in Project Chrysalis will lend you money, though they don’t accept deposits. Each has their own storage cells separate from the general network. That makes sense, too, since the first player banks appeared before the banking system and buildings were well-developed. The higher the rank of the banking system and building, the more opportunities there are for players. The larger its storage cells, the more there are and the more the bank can hold.

Fem takes charge of putting our goods out for auction. She knows more about the in-game economy than I do, something I figured out awfully quickly.

“Sagie, see that check mark to the left of the price?”

“Okay?” It was barely visible against the background of the interface.

“If it’s activated, you’re seeing a simplified interface, and the price includes taxes, services, and payments. If you uncheck that box, you can see the real price that goods are being sold for. Not what you’ll get.”

When I do that, I see three columns of activated services. Lunar