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

Forcefield dome Righteous Shield successfully installed.

Activation mode: automatic. Activates when sentients who are not in the clan or the clan’s friends list approach within 100 yards.

Mana battery crystal slots available: 10.

Mana battery crystal slots active: 10.

Mana battery crystal type: legendary, volume 100,000,000.

Total available mana: 1,000,000,000.

It seemed the builders had taken even this into account and equipped the fortress with the best crystals! A hundred million in each crystal was the absolute maximum known…

“Scyth, you have to come see this for yourself,” Crawler chirped through my comm amulet in conspiratorial tones. “This is something else!”

“Where are you?”

“The food hall. That is, our own tavern. First floor, east wing.”

“On my way.”

I took a step toward the door, then it hit me that I didn’t have to walk. Opening Depths Teleportation, I saw a dropdown list below Kharinza Fortress: ‘Castle, Level One’ and ‘Castle, Level 2.’ The third hadn’t yet appeared, but I had no time to figure out why.

I jumped to the first floor and used the minimap to get to the tavern, unnamed for now. Its internal decor reminded me of the bright and spacious restaurants of Darant: not broad oak tables roughly hammered together, but small ones covered with tablecloths. Not a dirty floor with creaking boards, but marble. And lots of daylight and panoramic windows.

The boys were gathered at one of the tables in the center of the room, two servants standing behind them with trays. Going closer, I saw on the snow-white velvet tablecloth some shards of stone. They’d been cleaned up some, but still looked dirty.

“Oh, Scyth!” Infect said with a smile. “I didn’t want to say anything until I put it all together, but I couldn’t help it. Take a look.”

I focused on his find. Eight equal shards, all arranged to fit together like a jigsaw puzzle into a single piece. There was just one shard missing — a jagged hole yawned a little to the right of center. Each fragment had the same name:

Structure Design Fragment: Sanctuary of the Departed

Archeological artifact.

Assemble all the parts (requires Archeology rank III) to learn this design (requires Construction rank III).

“What do you think it is?” our archeologist asked excitedly. “I mean, obviously it’s a design for a builder, but what do we get if we build it?”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself, partner,” Bomber said to his friend. “Nether knows what materials it needs!”

“Bomb!” Crawler shot the warrior a reproachful look. “Don’t be a killjoy!”

“What? I just don’t want him to get upset if we end up needing some crazy…”

“First we need to find the missing piece,” I said. “But this is awesome, Infect!”

I hugged my friend and slapped him on the back. Whatever this was, it was definitely something incredible.

“Thanks, Scyth!” Infect said, almost in tears. “I was starting to think that was it, I was gonna be a loser forever! I mean, you’re a Threat, so is Bomb. Crawler’s up to his neck in clan business and even Irita is involved. I’m the only one who…”

“First of all, you’re our bard,” I said, trying to cheer him up. “Second, you’re the only one out of all of us who’s going to the Demonic Games except me! What if you win? And third…” I pointed to the shards on the table. “Are you going to find the last piece?”

“I don’t know. I’ve gone over the whole dig site on Mengoza. There’s nothing left there.”

A memory bubbled up in my head, something from the distant past… or not so distant… That was it!

“Listen, I remember something. When I was farming Smoldering Nether Shards in the Nether, I found two places with ruins of the Departed on Mengoza. I don’t remember exactly where the second is, but fly over the island!”

Infect’s face brightened, he looked a question at me and I nodded.

“I’m going straight there!” the Bard said, disappearing into thin air through the depths.

“Huh, he forgot his shards,” Bomber muttered, scooping the design pieces toward himself with his huge hand.

Then we all sat down for lunch. Olivier, a Grand Master of Cooking hired by Crawler, personally came out of the kitchen to greet his new bosses. He rattled off some long and convoluted names of dishes, which waiters immediately placed on the table. I didn’t remember any of the names, but they were all delicious. Soon Irita joined us and we used our remaining time to discuss our plans and swap news.

“In the mountains in the north of the island there are level 100 mobs,” Irita told me. “The kobolds lost two while hunting for mountain boars. Then the troggs came and clobbered both the boars and a hairy spider that came out of nowhere. Although the spider did still manage to bite off a trogg’s leg. While he was being healed, a giant eagle carried off a kobold cub hanging around nearby. The scream brought Morena’s cultists out. They performed a search ritual, determined the cub’s location and sent off a rescue party. I’ll keep you up to date.”

“Stephanie has taken over the Pig and Whistle, I transferred control to her,” Crawler said. “I refused our share and she agreed to feed the clan workers for free.”

“How’s she supposed to make money?” Bomber asked in confusion.

“I said feed, not water. She’ll make so much money from alcohol that she’ll get to be a citizen. Plus, she’ll make work for our hunting and gathering parties. She’ll need a lot of meat — we have a ton of NPCs too, remember. At least her craft will level up well.”

“All our workers will have plenty of room to grow now,” Irita said. “Fishing, herbalism, woodcutting, construction, hunting, cooking… People in this town can do whatever they want.”

“What about our farm?