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

out of the Sea of Monsters. There are plenty of aggressive beasts out there ready to introduce themselves, so there’s no sense getting worked up about this yet.”

***

LJ was running for the second day straight. Millie, unused to the pace, got tired quickly, and was sleeping as she gripped the cat tightly. The constantly attacking monsters no longer worried them—they were out of the Sea of Monsters and looking for the floating cities Millie knew about. They could get the negator bracelets off there.

Running along the River of Life brought back a vague feeling of déjà vu, something about sleepwalking, voices, and children crying. The cat quickly switched to a different topic, forgetting everything he’d been thinking about a moment before. As he just continued to run, LJ lost his sense of reality, no longer knowing where he was. He only came to the next morning when Millie yelled in his ear that they’d just dashed right past one of the floating cities.

Once again, kind humans were there to greet LJ. Nobody asked questions about why they’d gotten to the floating city the way they had, and they helped get the bracelets off without asking for anything in return as soon as Millie told them they were runaways. There was a blacksmith on one of the ships who did the job. They left him the shattered piece to thank him, safe in the knowledge that nobody could find them anymore.

“Hooray! Freedom! Dungeons, adventures, social life, experiments!” Millie shrieked happily, even giving the troll blacksmith a quick peck. LJ wondered how it was fair that she thanked the blacksmith but not him—he was the one who’d gotten them to the ship. However, the joy she was glowing with was enough for him. She was happy, so everything was right in his world. He needed nothing more.

He didn’t care where they were as long as Millie was nearby to pet and praise him every so often. She enjoyed her freedom and started thinking about plans for the future.

“LJ… A great cat like you needs a better name. I’m going to call you Algeron—that sounds more majestic.”

“…”

“Hey, what’s your level, by the way? With new clothes, we’re practically new people. Nobody knows us, and the doors are all open.”

Human, LJ, Level 817

Millie reacted oddly: her face fell when she saw LJ’s level. She smiled, but the cat could sense that she was disappointed. She’d just praised him by saying how great he was, and then she thought he was weak. But could his level really show how good he was? His inner voice told him that it was a plenty high level, that the girl’s disappointment was inexplicable.

Human, Milisandra, Level 1182

The 300-level difference seemed enormous to Millie. Changes were going to be made.

The light breeze, the smell of the sea, and the glistening ocean all seemed so familiar. LJ couldn’t sleep, so he spent the whole night catching fish and other sea creatures. One of the fishermen saw him pulling himself up onto the ship with a large, shining fish in his hands, so he offered to trade it for a fisherman’s bag with exceptional capacity for fish. The cat had no issues catching the local fish, while a bag just for them… He grabbed it and ran off. Of course, he was a good cat, so he left the fish there. He even had time to catch a glimpse of the fisherman’s happy face before he dove back into the ocean. They were both happy with the deal.

Milisandra logged out of the game, but for some reason, LJ couldn’t. He even knew that functionality couldn’t be turned off. His inner voice remained silent, so he spent the night catching the shining fish before heading to Radaam the next morning. Millie had friends somewhere over there that she wanted to see.

Friends? LJ remembered a blood knight and felt a warm, fuzzy feeling. But the more he tried to remember, the more his head hurt, so he decided it wasn’t worth it. Thinking those thoughts meant venturing too close to the pain.

After a week of traveling with six-hour breaks for Millie to rest, the pair got to Radaam. Millie was on edge the whole time—LJ could tell she was trying to make up her mind about something. It was only on the fifth day that she relaxed and made peace with her decision.

It was a rocky shore with steep slopes and powerful tidal waves. Along it ran light sailboats and fishing boats, though nobody paid any attention to the odd pair running along the water.

A torrential downpour broke out as soon as they stepped out onto the bank. They needed to get to the city, which was a day’s journey away on the other side of Hesha Forest. The rain forced them to run in the mud. Millie was slow, constantly falling—she hated the weather, though she bided her time until they could find a tavern, get some good food, and relax.

At one of the intersections, a small group of people stood invisible by a road sign. Two were waiting farther up and one behind. When LJ stopped suddenly and stared at the sign, Millie quickly realized what was going on and assumed her combat stance.

“Moon and crow. Activation.”

The girl no longer looked human. Instead, she took on a demonic or monstrous form, her last word bringing an enormous, man-like crow stepping out from her shadow.

Her outfit molded onto her pale skin; a tall collar unfurled around her neck. Her eyes turned completely red, her pupils, hair, nose, and mouth disappearing. All the ground around her was soaked in her blood. Next to her stood a crow two and a half meters tall with a gigantic beak and powerful feathered armor. He awaited her command.

The outfit significantly boosted his survivability and armor ratings, and it also scared away quite a