Second chance swordsman.., p.27
Second Chance Swordsman (A LitRPG Adventure, Book 1), page 27
I can’t let him get away, Sam thought.
Somewhere deep down within the frenzied minds of the mana-corrupted beasts, they were clearly thinking the same thing.
A mana-corrupted hawk sliced the back of the scientist, toppling him over.
Oh crap, Sam thought. I don’t want him to die!
Sam rushed towards the scientist and made quick work of the mana-corrupted hawk and then turned back around to face the incoming beasts.
The mana-corrupted animals were far lower in stats compared to Sam and so he was making quick and easy work of them, but there were so many they still had the potential to overwhelm him.
A large bear rushed at him and stood up on its haunches to swipe him with its claws.
Sam was faster than the mana-frenzied bear, however.
He thrust his sharp berzerker sword forward, causing it to stumble backwards.
The scientist cackled on the ground. “You won’t be able to stop them all, fool!”
They were overwhelming him.
Sam at first didn’t think he needed to use Pain Ring, but decided better to get it going, in case he really needed it.
Wolves, bears, and hawks descended on him en masse.
Sam sliced them to bits and triggered Blood Flame.
But the monsters just kept pouring through the flames.
“How many bloody monsters did you experiment on?”
“Enough to kill you,” said the scientist on the ground.
As Sam sliced the unending horde of monsters, a prompt suddenly appeared in his retina.
Congratulations! Blood Flame has leveled up!
This might be helpful, Sam thought.
A smile crept on his tired face as he read the evolution of his death lord class’s Blood Flame ability.
Oh yeah.
Sam sliced the incoming monsters and then triggered the evolved Blood Flame ability.
First, the crimson flames filled the laboratory, roasting many more mana-corrupted beasts, but then Sam felt with his empty palm the ability to manipulate the crimson flames in front of him.
It was very similar to higher-tiered mana manipulation.
He couldn’t do much to alter the flames. The only thing he could do was draw the Blood Flame into the palm of his hand, where he could form a large crimson ball.
He then pushed the ball forward and the Blood Flame projectile flew across the room and obliterated the head of another vicious bear galloping towards him.
Sam grinned.
With this power any doubts about winning the fight disappeared.
He sliced the incoming mana-corrupted beasts with his sword, while shooting down the ones further afield in the large laboratory.
The ranged attack was also great against the attacking fliers like the mana-corrupted hawk.
There was a greater bonus to the new ranged power, as well.
He could trigger Blood Flame once more, creating the devastating flames far beyond him.
Within minutes, all the experimental mutant animals were destroyed.
He immediately turned his attention to the scientist on the ground.
He materialized a healing potion.
“Drink this,” said Sam.
But as he put the potion towards the man’s lips, he moved his head to dodge it.
“You can’t save me,” spat the scientist. “As soon as you found this lab, I was a dead man. They won’t keep me alive. I’ve served my purpose.”
“Who are you working for?”
The scientist grinned a blood-stained smile and offered no answers.
Sam’s heart raced. They didn’t have time to waste. If this man was going to refuse to be healed, he only had minutes—maybe seconds to live.
“Why are you experimenting on these animals?” Sam asked. “How did you develop your own dungeon orb!?”
The dying scientist shook his head and chuckled.
“I’m not the only one working on these experiments,” laughed the scientist, as blood gurgled up from his mouth. “There are others! Watch out!”
“But what about—”
With that, the scientist’s eyes took on a faded hue and Sam realized the man was dead.
He wouldn’t get any more answers, certainly not from a corpse.
67
Sam stared at the dead scientist in disbelief.
He got up and investigated the rest of the lab.
After thirty minutes of searching, he couldn’t find any worthwhile evidence of what had gone on down here in the laboratory.
Sam sighed.
He didn’t like what he had discovered here.
Experiments.
Dungeon orbs.
This was bad.
He looked to the ground where the scientist had smashed the dungeon orb. No artificial dungeon gate had appeared in that moment. Of course not. To unleash an artificial gate required intense amounts of mana—normally from more than one person.
From what Sam had gathered looking around, the scientist and perhaps others that he had been working with, had indeed created an artificial gate that they kept hidden and then used to corrupt animals in the surrounding area to create extremely dangerous and hostile creatures.
Then, the experimenters set the mana-corrupted animals loose on the town, probably to observe how much damage the animals could dish out, and how much they could be controlled by other means of mana manipulation.
Bad, bad, bad, Sam thought, shaking his head. The implications of this are not good at all.
He’d have to go tell Guildmaster Redfield about it at once.
Sam walked out of the laboratory and headed back the way he came.
He’d jumped down that well in search of answers.
He’d found his answer to where the mana-corrupted monsters had come from.
He hadn’t expected, however, to discover more uneasy and haunting questions.
The sky was a pinky orange as the sun was just starting its morning rise.
Sam headed back to the inn. He didn’t see anyone on his way.
Perhaps the townsfolk were still sleeping, or still fearful of leaving their homes for the day.
When Sam got back to the inn, he settled his affairs and got his horse from the stables.
“Before I head back to Resfall,” said Sam to the innkeeper, “I just wanted to let you know that the creatures will no longer be haunting your town. There was no haunting or any of the superstitious activity you guys came to believe. You don’t have to believe me, but wait and see tonight. I made sure that none will emerge.”
The innkeeper crossed her arms and scowled, “I’ll believe it when I see it.”
Sam shrugged and then headed on his way.
Five minutes later, he was at the edge of the town and contemplating the best route back to Resfall when he heard shouting from the way he had come.
“Wait!”
Sam turned around.
He couldn’t believe.
A crowd of people were coming towards him led by a woman.
It was the woman from the night before.
“I told everyone how you saved me last night,” said the woman.
She approached Sam and held out a candle.
“This candle will help you cultivate your mana more,” said the woman. “My husband and I are candlemakers and that is one of our specialties.”
Sam was overwhelmed by the gift.
Such a candle was very expensive, used mainly by Travelers of noble birth.
It was a truly generous gift.
“This is too much,” said Sam.
The woman shook her head. “You saved my life. That candle is nothing compared to that.”
Sam blushed and nodded in thanks to the woman.
Then, the entire town erupted in a huge cheer.
“Thank you for saving our town!”
Sam looked at the crowd of townsfolk. He recognized so many of the faces that had once been full of fear and superstition who were now full of cheerful, warm, and happy faces.
Even the innkeeper who’d scowled at him only a few minutes before was grinning and clapping her hands in praise of Sam.
Sam wiped a tear from his eyes and thanked the townsfolk, before mounting his horse and riding back to his home in Resfall.
A few days later, Guildmaster Redfield was barking at the masseuse that was rubbing his shoulders as he sat behind his desk in his office.
“You’re only making my back feel worse,” he grumbled.
“Well, if you laid down like I asked—”
“I have a whole guild to run! I don’t have time to lie down and have you rub your palms into my back. It sounds like a colossal waste of time if you ask me—”
His assistants had gotten so fed up with his grumpy demeanor they had gone off and hired this masseuse without his permission, hoping it would make him less cranky.
Sadly, the masseuse had only made the old man grumpier.
“Be gone!” shouted Redfield. “I’ve had enough of this charade.”
The masseuse did not protest and quickly hurried out the door of the guildmaster’s office.
Redfield then leaned back in his chair and sighed.
Finally, I can relax without that annoying woman hovering over me.
He looked out the window of his office at the midday sun.
It had been over a week since he had sent Sam on that unofficial mission.
Did I give the young man too hard a task, Redfield wondered. If it were an official mission it probably would have been a one-star journeyman level mission.
So, it was a quite a stretch to send the kid on his own.
But there was something in the kid’s eyes.
He was strong. Thoughtful. Powerful.
If the kid came across a danger that was too much for him, he was smart enough to retreat and look for assistance.
There was something about the boy. He was wiser beyond his years.
Another Traveler his age would be more aggressive, more narrow-minded in his pursuits.
The guildmaster referred to such behavior as the stupidity of youth.
Yet, for whatever reason, the young man didn’t possess the ailment that plagued so many others his age.
Still, Redfield thought. I hope I didn’t put too much pressure on the young man.
He stood up and looked out the window, grinning at what he saw.
The young black-haired boy sat on his horse, trotting along towards the guild.
Why did I even feel a moment’s concern, Redfield thought. This kid really is something else.
68
After Sam had returned from Creekdale, he filled in the guildmaster on the details of his mission and how it went.
He walked Redfield through the experiments and the scientist’s use of artificial dungeon orbs.
The guildmaster only had more questions after what Sam had told him.
Sam wasn’t sure how much about artificial dungeon orbs he should go into.
The discovery of artificial dungeon orbs would have a big impact on Westria—one that brought opportunities, technological innovation—but also hundreds of thousands of deaths.
It was not something to take lightly.
“So, they created dungeon gates out of thin air?” asked the guildmaster.
Sam had a slight understanding of how the process worked, but figured he didn’t need to get into it with the guildmaster now. The important thing was simply to explain the dire implications behind it.
“I’m not sure,” said Sam in answer to the guildmaster’s question. “All I know is that it has the power to easily corrupt animals and create a widespread mana leak. The list of devious and dangerous ways an artificial dungeon orb could be used is very long. The implications of all this is incredibly dire.”
“Who do you think might be behind it?”
“The scientist said there were others working on similar experiments and that he’d shared his findings with others. I don’t know who, though.”
“Do you think it might link to the Spectral Church?”
Sam crossed his arms. “Possibly.”
He couldn’t say for certain, but Sam knew that there must have been a back-up plan if the assassination of Princess Alice Grace hadn’t gone smoothly.
Something involving artificial dungeon orbs might very well be a part of that back-up plan.
The post-mission meeting soon came to a close and Sam got up to leave.
“Have you already forgotten your reward?”
“The winter ball isn’t for another month or so,” said Sam.
“I can’t have a two-star novice-tier Traveler being the front man for the newly created Young Travelers of the Future Brigade attending the Royal Winter Ball,” said the guildmaster.
Redfield then pulled out his drawer and walked over to Sam and placed a third star on his Traveler’s badge.
“Three stars just has a better ring to it,” smiled Redfield. “Doesn’t it?”
Before Sam went to bed that night, he lit the special mana-cultivation candle. He figured he’d share it with Klara and Toby and the other orphans, so that they could all improve their magic affinity together while they slept at night.
The next day, Sam was ready to get to work on a new mission and keep training, only to find more than half the guild lounging around the common room.
Brock and Klara were playing some kind of slap game with their hands, while Curtis and Toby were playing chess.
Even Guildmaster Redfield was sitting in the common room reading a book with his not atypical curmudgeonly face, scowling down at the pages of the book as if they were directly insulting him.
At that very moment, General Olivia Reeves walked into the common room and looked as aghast as Sam was.
“What’s going on?” they both asked.
“We’re taking a day off,” shrugged Curtis, moving one of his chess pieces.
“But what about the dungeon gates and the missions?”
“There’s plenty of people working today,” said the guildmaster. “People similar to you two.”
“What the heck does that mean!?” balked Sam and Olivia.
“Workaholics,” they all answered in response.
Olivia and Sam turned to one another in shock.
“Can you believe this?” said Olivia.
“No,” said Sam. “Should we maybe do a mission toge—”
“I’ll show all of these lousy Travelers that I can be the best non-workaholic person there is!”
Sam rubbed the back of his head and laughed nervously. “That wasn’t what I was expecting you to say—”
“C’mon, everyone,” shouted Olivia. “We’re going to Hilly Valleys.”
Hilly Valleys was a small village a couple of hours outside of Resfall, known for its large hills. It was a popular winter vacation spot for the nobles of Volsungar.
Despite trying to prove her supposed non-workaholism, Olivia managed to hire a large horse-drawn carriage and organize a big group to take a trip all within the hour of her declaration to prove she was the least addicted to work within the group.
When they arrived at Hilly Valleys, they rented toboggans and went sledding down the largest hill in the valley.
“I don’t know about this, you guys,” said Toby as they dragged their sleds to the edge of the hill. “What is this hill called again?”
Olivia turned and looked at the boy with a sinister expression. “Killer Hill.”
“Why would any of us voluntarily visit somewhere called Killer Hill?”
“Cause it’s fun you goof!” shouted Klara pushing Toby onto a toboggan and heading down the steep snowy hill.
“Ahhhhhhh!” screamed Toby, tears rushing out of his eyes.
“Weeeeeee,” Klara exclaimed with glee.
Olivia turned to the rest of them and said, “Race?”
And without a moments hesitation they all shouted in agreement and pushed forward with their toboggans, rushing to the bottom of the hill.
At the bottom, they ended up working together to make a snow fort, only for the guildmaster to betray them all and start a snowball fight.
This then turned into a more organized game of snowball capture the flag.
With the guildmaster as referee, the two teams faced off against one another.
Team-1 was Klara, Olivia, and Toby.
Team-2 was Sam, Curtis, and Brock.
Sam’s team ended up losing because Curtis and Brock couldn’t agree on a strategy.
By the end of the day, the group was laughing and giggling at all the fun they had.
Before returning home, they had a hearty meal at a pub nearby in the warmth and comfort of a fireplace.
They got back into their large carriage and returned to the guild late in the evening.
As everyone fell asleep and rested on the carriage ride home, Sam watched as Resfall and the royal keep came back into view.
The day off had been good.
He felt refreshed.
Starting tomorrow, he could start preparing for The Royal Winter Ball.
69
A week later, the last month of winter finally arrived.
Febriaire.
Rather than a gentle warming into spring, Febriaire was winter’s last bite on Resfall. The streets were mostly empty but for patches of thick ice as frost crystallized its grip on every door knob, windowsill, roof, and statue.
There was no escaping the cold of Febriaire.
Even the hope of spring just around the corner didn’t do much to warm people’s hearts.
There was one thing, though, that brought a level of excitement that the cold weather could never diminish.
That was the Royal Winter Ball and the holiday that came with it.
The holiday known as Lovespell Day.
Edgar Redfield was standing in his office, looking out the window, and shuddered just thinking about the approaching holiday.
Just beyond his door, he could hear the rushing of footsteps, the sounds of whispers, and the giggles of delight.
My gosh, he grumbled to himself. The whole week of gushing love letters and gossip has begun then, has it?
