Chapter 12: Vengeance.

  Hammering (Novice) Rank up (Expert) Str 2

  Smithing (Novice) Rank up (Expert) Str 2

  Mining (Novice) Rank up (Expert) Str 2

  Grinding (Novice) Rank up (Expert) Int 2

  Metallurgy (Novice) Rank up (Expert) Int 2

  Smelting (Novice) Rank up (Expert) Int 2

  Whittling (Novice) Rank up (Expert) Int 2

  I watched as the experience orb flickered and dimmed but didn’t go out entirely. I wasn’t sure how much I had left and cursed the system for its obtuse experience gauge. With a mental sigh I hazarded a guess of about three to four counts of large experience, pretended to shrug my non-existent shoulders and checked my character sheet.

  Name: Oscar Hollow

  Race: Human

  Level: 1

  Class: None

  Linked familiar: Anansi

  Attributes.

  Strength: 32

  Dexterity: 32

  Constitution: 18

  Intelligence: 34

  Wisdom: 31

  Charisma: 26

  Luck: 2

  Status conditions: Anxious.

  Resistance: bladed-weapons 50%

  bug-type 50%

  Weakness: Threat to Panthera.

  I understood that everyone started off with their level one base stats at ten and would gain five percent to each of those numbers each time they levelled, with luck being the exception. Looking at my stats, my new base was almost equal to that of someone somewhere over level twenty, although my constitution was embarrassingly low. What I didn’t understand was the class system or what skills were available for me to target, luckily, I now had a mentor that could fill me in on everything I had been confused about so far.

  Opening my eyes to reality, I was surprised to see Bigmin’s heavily bearded face looking down at me. The eagerly excited giant dwarf was smiling so wide that his eyes were practically closed, and he was so close that his hot breath was steaming up the resin that shielded my eyes. When I rubbed away the remnants of his breath, Bigmin stepped back but still creepily stared at me with that giddy look on his face.

  “Mantis, you did it.” Bigmin choaked out through tears of joy. “I wasn’t sure it would work but all my skills are available to master, and my class has changed.”

  With a quick scan I saw that his class now read as master blacksmith. “So, what do we do now?” after uttering the question I realised what he just said. “What do you mean, available to master?”

  “I’ve hit the prerequisites to move past expert in the skills connected to smithing.”

  “What happens when you master a skill?” I asked matching half his excitement as I stood.

  Bigmin patted my back. “You receive an additional plus two to the linked attribute.”

  “Bigmin.” I said grabbing the massive man by his boulder-like shoulders. “You’ve got to tell me everything you know about skills and how to rank them to master.”

  “And here I was thinking your apprenticeship was over.” Said the big man, with a fatherly chuckle.

  Bigmin was so grateful for my hand in the swift ranking up of his class, that he excitedly went into his explanation of how classes worked. The guy spoke so quickly and threw so much information my way that I had to stop him and ask him to slow down. After that I asked if we could discuss the whole class system while we worked on the interior of his shop. Honestly, I always found it easier to take in information while my hands were busy and if we were going to earn some credits we needed a functional shop.

  Fixing the broken furniture and counter tops was as easy as glueing the pieces together with the dreadwood sap adhesive that I still had in my inventory and with the use of it as lacquer for each thing we fixed saw fit that when which ever guild inevitably tried to repeat their vandalism they would be more likely to to damage their weapons before they damaged Bigmin’s furniture.

  While we worked the huge dwarf explained the basics of the class system. As it turned out, most people were given a class at the age of five with the exception of nobles that lived in high level zones.

  “But wouldn’t it be better to gain as many skills as possible before taking a class.” I asked, unsure of the reasoning behind his explanation.

  Bigmin chuckled. “That would only work in a high level zone. The only skills a classless ranker like you can gain in a place like this are from an apprenticeship and that would only work with materials of rare scarcity or higher.”

  “So, you’re telling me no matter how much I train I could never get a skill off my own merit as long as I’m in this zone?” a strange beeping sound distracted me for a second.

  “Is this really you’re first time in a low-level zone?” Bigmin eyed me curiously. “are you sure you’re not a noble?”

  Hoping he wouldn’t dig further into my past I changed the subject. “How do you gain a class?”

  “It depends what class you want. You can gain a class from a master classer or a guild master and there are certain settlement buildings that can assign classes.” Bigmin’s eyes brightened with a thought. “Take the artisans guild I’ll eventually be forming because of you. With an artisan’s guild I could assign any non-magical crafting class and as long as we have the resources, the guild wouldn’t need to depend on the corrupt merchant’s guild.”

  “I still don’t understand what the benefits are of gaining a class over skills.”

  Bigmin face palmed. “I’m level twenty-eight and I’ve never had to risk my life to get there. Is that not benefit enough? As a blacksmith I gain experience from using my class skills. Granted, the majority of the experience is funnelled into those skills at first but once I hit expert in them, I was free to level as and when I wanted.”

  “And now that you’ve mastered your class what’s next?

  “I can take another class, or I could gain skills from a mentor and use my class skills to gain experience and rank them up.”

  I heard the beeping sound again and lost my train of thought. “What if I taught you some skills?” I said pulling out some dread wood. “This is a rare material so in theory you can learn carpentry from it.”

  “I wouldn’t mind giving that a go.” Said Bigmin taking the large log from me.

  We shaved off the bark and with the use of my artificing skill I shaped the wood into the desired pieces. Bigmin then took over and assembled them into a neat little money box using a mithril hinge I made from the scrap left over from the crafting of my kukri. While we worked, I heard the odd beeping sound a few more times but really couldn’t work out where it was coming from. Bigmin finished inscribing the box with the word ‘Tips’ in stylised calligraphy and smiled through his bushy beard.

  “It’s official.” He said inspecting the box. “I can pick up new skills now.”

  “So, you could theoretically become a ranker like me.”

  “What makes you think I want to do something as insane as that?”

  “I saw the light in your eyes brighten as you gained that skill. You could come out to a high-level zone with me and gain a bunch of experience. I’ve got plenty of materials to make you armour and weapons and I might be able to help you out with the artisan’s guild.” I like the guy and desperately needed a friend in this town, sure I was being pushy, but I could see us becoming fast friends.

  “You would freely give me artificed gear and take me to your home biome?”

  “Well, there is one slight issue.” The beeping rang in my ears and I paused to look around.

  Thinking I was being secretive Bigmin leaned in closer. “Would you like me to swear a system oath?”

  “Hang on, what?” I said unsure of his meaning.

  “I’ll just do it.” Bigmin put his hand out. “I Bigmin Runetank swear to the system that I shall never reveal anything deemed a secret by you Oscar Hollow.”

  I took his hand and shook it before I realised what he just said. “Wait how…”

  Bigmin Runetank has sworn an oath of secrecy.

  The notification tipped my already overwhelming thought over the edge, and I felt my heart pound in my chest. Had I been set up. Was this just an elaborate trap. I almost pulled out my machetes when I felt a calming sensation flow over me from Anansi. The spider hadn’t moved an inch until now and I was grateful for his action as his mind-bending ability washed away what was surely a panic attack.

  Bigmin chuckled. “I have access to all of my apprentices’ character sheets. I’ve never seen so many expert skills and to top it off you have a unique skill and zone authority already.”

  “Why did you wait until now?”

  “I wanted to see if you really could make me a master and to be fair, you’re so quick to jump to your next activity that I struggled to find the right time to tell you.” He peered out his window. “Would you like to tell me your story over a drink?”

  I agreed to a drink and Bigmin took off for the tavern. While I was alone, I decided to search for the source of the beeping sound that went off once again. I looked high and low, searching every cupboard and drawer to no avail. In the fifteen or so minuted Bigmin was gone, I heard the two tone beeping three times and each time it sounded like it was right next to me. eventually I had to give up as the half-dwarf had returned and he had brought a small keg with him.

  “Why are you wet?” I asked noticing the vinegary aroma wafting from him.

  Bigmin placed the keg down and filled a couple of mugs. “Just the adventurers letting of steam. They’re jealous of us crafter classes as we can gain experience while they’re stuck inside the town on the lord’s orders.”

  “That’s no excuse for pouring wine over someone.”

  “Oscar, I was flayed alive last night, a drop of wine on my tunic isn’t much of a bother.”

  I winced at the thought of it. “I’m sorry Bigmin that must have been…”

  “it was certainly something to repress with alcohol abuse, I’ll say that much. Now, if you don’t mind, I would like to hear your story.”

  I started with a description of earth. I didn’t go into too much detail of my past; he didn’t need to know about the deaths of my family members or how I found myself adopted by my step dad or the work I found myself doing for the British government. Instead, I kept it vague and led the story quickly to my abduction by the system. Bigmin guffawed at my explanation of how I crawled out of the Blade mantis that I now proudly wore and was amazed at my description of Shumi village and it’s Panthera inhabitants.

  “I’ve never heard of a person having a monster as their inheritor.” He said glugging down the amber ale.

  I only sipped mine. “It’s the orcs that are monsters. Berlioz is a brother to me and the Panthera are family, we could go see them if you like.”

  “I can’t leave the town. Lord thickhead Thane has the zone set to remove the citizenship of anyone that leaves.” He mumbled the next bit. “Anyone except the S-rank adventurers.”

  He went on to explain that if he lost his citizenship, he would lose his right to sell wares in the town, the merchants guild along with his rival blacksmith Frimlay, would have their way and the torture he had gone through because of his rivals would have been for nothing.

  Listening to his reasoning I suggested. “Why not become an adventurer?”

  “if you hadn’t noticed Oscar.” He lent in close. “I’m a crafter.” He leaned back and downed his ale. “I have no combat skills or abilities; sure, I could craft some weapons and armour, but I would be as dangerous as a pebble golem.”

  “I have an Idea.” I said downing my ale to match him.

  He didn’t have the skills required to fight, but he didn’t need them. With the materials in my storage and my newly acquired smithing skill, I was sure I could outfit Bigmin with gear that surpassed the need for skills and abilities. I already had a weapon in mind for him, so all I really had to do was craft the big man some armour that would make him invulnerable in this low-level zone. We took to the forge outside and while Bigmin fired it up, I went through my available materials. Resizing a pair of the spider monkey boots would be easy enough, so I left them to the side and pulled out a few boar hides. The armour was going to be made up of a mix of fire tusk and iron hide boar hides, giving it immunity to fire, slashing and piercing damage. The only thing I wasn’t sure of was what metal to use.

  “Bigmin, what’s the best ore out of these lot?” I asked displaying my rare ores.

  The master blacksmith eyed the chunks of metal curiously. “If you sold these to the merchants guild you could buy half of the residential row, are you sure you want to waste them on my armour?”

  “Fuck the merchants guild. I’ve got a plan for your revenge against them, but right now I need your expertise.”

  “It all depends on what you want to do with them.” He picked up the mithril. “This is great for holding enchantments.” He replaced it with orichalcum. “I’m not a fan of the murky green hue but orichalcum is almost dense enough to be called indestructible.” Bigmin handed me the dullest of the ores. “Voidite was my pa’s metal of choice. This black metal doesn’t only absorb the majority of light cast on it, it also negates a significant amount of magic.”

  Bigmin didn’t say any more, he just turned around and took the Voidite to the forge.

  “Hang on.” I said withdrawing the rest of my Voidite ores. “I’ve got two more of those.”

  I couldn’t believe how giddy the massive dwarf was while he smelted the ores. His chubby cheeks lifted his bushy beard as he grinned wider and wider. While Bigmin did his thing, I laid out the rest of the materials and got to work. While I cut and shaped Bigmin processed the ingots. We worked in relative silence, with only the sound of the blazing forge, the tearing of fabric and the annoying beeping filling our ears. We received the attention of passers-by as the armour began to take shape and at one point, while I was using Anansi’s webbing to stitch together the gloves, a hooded woman with skin as pale as bone watched me. She wore a tight-fitting black leather armour that accentuated her slender frame, and I’d have said she was appealing if it wasn’t for the psychotic look in her eyes. When Bigmin came to me with the Voidite plates, she slinked off and I felt relieved as if my danger sense had just worn off.

  I had just been preparing the materials until now, which had little effect on my mana bar but with everything together even the beeping couldn’t distract me as I entered the trance like state that came with artificing. My hands moved autonomously while my mind focused only on putting everything together. The dull black Voidite plates fused with the deep sanguine leather of the fire tusk boar hide, the smell of burning flesh twinged my nostrils as I sewed the iron hid with the corrosive tipped web needle before attaching the acid spitter pauldrons and with my mana draining rapidly, the whole ensemble came together in what felt like a matter of moments. When I came too, I realised that the sun was setting but the sky wasn’t the same as the sky above Shumi village, for one it was actually dark and surprisingly, those massive planets weren’t at all visible.

  “Hey, where are the planets?” I asked distracted by the darkening sky.

  Bigmin picked up the top of his armour. “What planets?”

  “There’s three planets in the sky above Shumi, but here there’s nothing.”

  “Do you mean the mana cores?” Bigmin dropped his shirt to the floor and donned the armour. “I guess being in the level one hundred zone they would look like planets wouldn’t they.” He pressed his hand on the rest of the armour pieces individually, placing them in his storage. “Pockets of holding are amazing and as it’s a set I can still store the trousers in the tops pockets without the system stopping me.”

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  I wanted to ask more about these mana cores above my zone but seeing Bigmin don the full set of armour made me pause in awe. He stood resplendent in the heavy black and red armour; his bulky frame suited the plated leather perfectly and with the entire set in view I activated god’s eye.

  Big Man’s armour set.

  Scarcity: Rare

  Damage Resistance: Piercing 100%, Slashing 100%, Fire 100% Acid 80%, Magic 50% Bludgeoning 50%

  Effects: 25% chance to reflect Magical effects, Huge defensive bonus, Danger sense, Pockets of holding.

  Abilities: None

  I wasn’t sure how the name came to say Big man’s armour but honestly, I didn’t care. The red and black heavy armour was beautiful, stunning, nearly indestructible and fucking effective. The few Voidite plates I had attached gave the gear a decent resistance to magic and a chance to actually return a spell to sender. I imagined a fire ball hitting Bigmin only to bounce off his chest and blast a Shaman in his face. Looking at the stats of the armour I thought for second that it was better than mine, but my armour was really light weight while the Big man set was so heavy I’m not sure I’d have been able to move in it, let alone zip through the tree line.

  “This is amazing.” Cheered Bigmin. “Let those blasted thieve come now.” He turned to the street and yelled across to the other blacksmiths shop. “You hear me Frimlay. Send every scum licker you’ve paid off. My friend Osc.. Mantis here has made me invincible.”

  “Whoa.” I said pulling the passionate Dwarf towards me. “Let’s not invite more trouble than we can handle.” As close to him as I was, I noticed he was swaying slightly. “Are you drunk?”

  “No.” He said confidently. “Not drunk, just a little pissed.”

  “How much of that ale did you drink? I only had one cup, and I can feel it.”

  “I didn’t drink much, did I?” Bigmin said walking over to the keg with a slight wobble in his step. “Oh, no, you were right.” He shook the empty keg. “I must have gotten carried away while you were crafting. I should lay down before the drink creeps up on me.”

  “Did you gain much XP working on the Voidite?” I called out while wobbled towards the door.

  Bigmin opened the door and gave me a giddy grin before walking in and smiling. “Three counts of large experience seven more and I can rank up the smithing skill to master.”

  “Hey wait.” I said following him in. “you should rank up carpentry and get the extra two points to intelligence. We’ll have plenty of chances to get XP when we visit my village.”

  He headed straight for his room without looking back as he replied. “I’ll do just that.”

  When he closed the door, I heard a heavy thud and when I tried to open the door it became evident that he had bared it shut. Suddenly, I was alone in the shop with nothing to do. Looking around I saw that there was definitely room for improvement and with the amount ale Bigmin had just drunk, I didn’t expect to see him until the morning. I wasn’t going to display anything in the shop overnight, but I did take to building display shelves and counters. I even cleared out the broken glass in Bigmin’s windows and replaced them with the nigh indestructible tinted dreadwood resin. When I was finished the sky was filled with stars and the planets, mana cores, or whatever they were, twinkled up there still green but smaller than any of the stars that shared the infinite black.

  With all the work I had put in I was tired enough to ignore the beeping that seemed to follow me around and made my way to bed. Laying on the blood-stained mattress, I kept my eye on the door, wondering if I should have built a reinforced bar to block it from intruders. As my eyes grew heavy and my blinks lasted longer, I projected a feeling of insecurity to Anansi. In reply to the friendly neighbourhood spider god made me feel as safe as a coddled infant. The last thing I felt before sleep took me was my little eight-legged buddy crawling off my wrist.

  The moment I woke in the void I dismissed it. when I opened my eyes, it was still dark, the beeping was still there but there was also another pretty annoying sound. Guttural screams, masculine but muffled came from the corner of the room where I found a man stuck to the wall and bundled up in webbing from the top of his lips to the tips of his toes. The veins on his forehead pulsated and his pointed ears burned red with the effort he put into his struggle. I have to admit that I found his predicament hilarious. The would-be assassin had made it into my room only to be captured and packaged up for me to interrogate.

  When I approached, the male elf ceased his struggling and attempted to assassinate me with his eyes. “Too bad looks can’t kill.” I laughed.

  “Fuck you.” He muttered through the web.

  If I hadn’t loved south park in my teens, I probably wouldn’t have understood him. “I don’t care who you are, so I’m just gunna call you Kenny for now. Is that alright with you?”

  “Just kill me already.” He screamed, the veins bulging again.

  I poked his forehead and smiled beneath my mask. “Why would I kill you? We just met.

  The Elf squirmed at my sinister tone, and I decided to test an idea out. I had been wondering for a while whether I could alter the results of gods eye based on what I wished to see. In the future I might try gaining more info but this time I just wanted to see three things.

  Qildor Tarathiel

  Race: City Elf

  Class: Assassin

  I wondered what living in a city had to do with the guy’s race but was sure that asking a question like that, when Elves seemed to be the dominant race in the system would instantly out me as a human and so far I had failed to hide my identity from any of the people I had met.

  “So, Qildor. What should I do with you?” I asked withdrawing my Kukri.

  His eyes were trained on the curved blade as he mumbled. “Give me a quick death.”

  “You know all this mumbling is a bit annoying. Buddy, could you free his mouth up.”

  Anansi lowered himself down from the ceiling and absorbed the webbing around the city elf’s face. Able to move his neck, Qildor rolled his head clearing a few kinks that had formed through the hours of struggling against his restraints. Now that I could see his face, I noticed that the elf looked like an anime character. His smooth triangular jaw and almost feline features depicted a youthfulness that his dark eyes belied.

  “Thank you.” Qildor coughed. “Thank you. I didn’t expect you to be so reasonable considering…”

  “That you attempted to kill me.” I said cutting him off. “I totally get it. can’t blame a blade for slitting a throat, can you?”

  “Exactly. You know everyone looks at us as Dirth worshiping murderers.” The elf’s demeanour brightened with his thought of finding a kindred spirit. “Obviously Dirth is our patron deity but that doesn’t make us evil, we’re just fulfilling a contract at the end of the day.”

  “That’s exactly why I haven’t killed you.” I got in close pressing my blade against his crotch. “But I do have some questions, as you’re not just a blade are you.”

  Anansi’s webbing may have been close to indestructible but the cold mithril blade could still be felt through the thin silk.

  Qildor’s eyes went wide. “Hey there’s no need for that.”

  “It’ll grow back when you die wont it?”

  “I’ll answer you’re questions. Please, just don’t do anything rash.”

  I pulled back and slowly inspected my blade. “My predecessor had his penis cut off and was forced to eat it while my master was skinned alive. I would like the name of the assassins that did this.”

  “It was the Durothil siblings.” Spat Qildor, his breathing steadying with relief. “Naevys has it out for any man she comes across, she’s done much worse than that before and Nym is a blighting psychopath that’s aroused by the screams of his victims.”

  “Thank you” I said depositing my Kukri. “Now how do I get this contract annulled?” Qildor went to speak but the beeping happened again and this time I snapped. “For fuck sake, where is that coming from. Can you hear it? I swear to god what the fuck is it.”

  “Umm excuse me?” The Elf looked at me as if I was crazy.

  I wanted to pinch the bridge of my nose, but the mask was in my way so instead I just clenched my fist. “The beeping. It’s like a beep boop. Comes really fast and repeats every like, five minutes.”

  “That sounds like a PM.” Qildor’s eyes narrowed. “have you never answered a private message before?”

  “I’m from a deserted zone in the exile lands.”

  “Just think about listening to the message and it will play.”

  “Right.”

  “And you can stop the beeping by thinking about ignoring it.”

  “I was going to kill you after you gave me the info I needed but, I think I’ll let you go now.”

  “Really?” Qildor looked shocked. “Do you still want to know how to end the contract on your head?”

  “Yes please.” I said feeling embarrassed. “Anansi can you free him please, I don’t think he’s a threat anymore.”

  Anansi scurried over and absorbed the cocoon that entrapped the elf before returning to my wrist. It felt awkward for a second while Qildor stretched out his aching joints but soon enough he spoke again with a relatively jovial tone.

  “It’s quite simple really. To end the contract, you must kill the one that placed it. once they are dead, they won’t be allowed to place a similar contract until the following cycle. Now legally I can’t say who it is, but I can tell you that there’s only one other smith in town.” Qildor extended a hand. “No hard feelings, right?”

  I took his hand and shook it when suddenly I was pulled towards him and felt something hard hit my chest with enough force to bruise me. “Did you just try to stab me?” I said holding the elf in a clinch.

  He stuttered with shocked embarrassment. “I, but how?”

  “Dude, I thought we were cool.” I said withdrawing my dagger. “I really was going to let you go.”

  He couldn’t struggle against my movement as a slid the blade through the black leather of his armour. I felt the blade exit through his chest, heard him gasp in my ear and as his heart fell still, his body evaporated into red mist.

  Congratulations, you have killed Qildor Tarathiel.

  I wondered what happened to the body when someone protected by a cemetery died. The red mist was creepy but also kind of fitting, part of me expected rainbow smoke or some kind of flashy teleportation but the mist made the gravity of the immoral act feel as dark as it should.

  Standing in the now empty room, I had to make a decision. I could have gone back to bed, answered the private message or woken Bigmin to explain what had just happened, instead I decided to visit the other blacksmith in town. His shop was larger than Bigmin’s and luckily for me, someone had left a window open on the top floor. With a quick zip I was whisked through the air and climbing through the window without anyone laying eyes on me. seriously though who in their right mind sleeps with a window open on the same street as the assassins and thieves guild.

  I found myself staring down at a barrel of a dwarf as he slept. I had to kneel to be low enough as the bed was as high as a toddler’s bed and as I withdraw my dagger and aimed for his heart I realised I hadn’t confirmed who I was about to kill.

  Grareth Opalcoat

  Race: Dwarf

  Class: Expert Blacksmith

  “Oh shit.” I whispered halting my thrust, but it was too late. The dwarf opened his eyes and I panicked. I stabbed down into his chest but I must have missed his heart because the next thing the dwarf did was scream out.

  “Help me.”

  At the sound of the dwarf’s desperate plea, I stabbed again, but he still didn’t turn to sanguine mist, instead he just screamed louder and coarser, thrashing about in a panic equal to my own. I stabbed again and again, crying out, “disappear, please god disappear,” and on the either the seventh or eighth stab he finally popped spraying intangible red mist into the air.

  Congratulations, you have assassinated Grareth Opalcoat.

  Wondering if anyone had heard my inefficient murder, I crept towards the bedroom door and pulled it open slightly. Peering into the long narrow hallway, I saw at least four doors opening each letting out a dwarf armed with a crossbow.

  “Anansi, this is going to get messy. Go out the window and seal the exits.” Anansi popped of my wrist, and I summoned the shield Berlioz had made for me. “Fuck it, I’ll do it live.” I said taking in a deep breath as I pulled the door fully open. “Rampage.”

  Upon my battle cry I ran into the hallway and felt the first bolt hit my shield. There was only a few feet between me and the first dwarf, so it was easy enough to charge into him knocking him down and slamming the sharp base of the shield through his neck. The notification sounded and I mostly ignored it as the dwarf’s body dispersed under my legs. Two more thuds hit my shield and one of the dwarfs yelled out. “We’re under attack.”

  “I’m here for Frimlay.” I tried diplomacy. “Nobody else has to die.”

  “Go suck off a golem, you big green mud lover.”

  Two more thuds hit my shield as my diplomatic dreams turned into a nightmare of attrition. I really didn’t want to kill everyone that worked for Frimlay but part of me knew it was going to come to this when I fumbled the assassination. Without hesitation I activated the shields ignition effect expecting a jet of flames to wash over the hallway, instead the front of the shield blazed with a heat that instantly made me sweat beneath my mask. Running into the next dwarf made my stomach churn as the smell of singed beard hair and burnt pork accompanied the hopeless screams of a man wishing to die faster. his screams died out and he disappeared as a dwarf fired a bolt into his burning compatriot’s head and I shut off the flames as I couldn’t stomach doing that to another innocent person, instead I charged forward.

  The third dwarf didn’t go down as easy as the first. He braced for the impact and as he fell, he managed to kick my legs from under me, I slipped and leant into my shield bring it down onto the dwarfs body. The bladed bottom bisected the dwarf, and the hall filled with even more hopeless sobbing as the dying man pounded the floor as he bled out and eventually disintegrated. Getting to my knees I found that I couldn’t lift my shield as it was securely embedded in the floorboard and as I popped my head to the side the last dwarf in the hall fired upon me and missed my head by an inch. I didn’t have time to think or pull the shield up so instead I withdraw my spear, dashed to the side and threw it as hard as I could. If I were in a higher levelled zone I would have received the javelins skill, instead I got another murder notification with the wrong name as the spear tip flew through the Dwarf’s head causing him to pop in a display of red mist.

  With the hall clear I stood and yanked at my shield bringing it up and depositing it into my storage, I did the same for the spear that was stuck in the wall, before withdrawing my machetes. I practically jumped down the winding staircase and discovered that there were seven more dwarves waiting for me, all armed with an arrangement of hammers, swords and clubs. With a quick scan I saw that none of them were Frimlay, but I did recognise Torek, Bigmin’s old apprentice.

  Focusing on my predecessor I said. “Hey, I’m Bigmin’s new apprentice. I’m only here to kill Frimlay so the assassins won’t bother us anymore.” The Dwarves all looked at me as if I was crazy. “Put your weapons down and…”

  I couldn’t finish what I was saying as the all charged in. a hammer swung at me, and I blocked with my left while my right twisted to disarm offending dwarf. I grimaced as the dwarf gripped the bleeding stump where his hand used to be and pushed forward, popping the sobbing foe with a clean thrust into his skull. Two more went down as the blacksmiths lack of fighting oriented skills showed from their pitiable attempts to stab at me. I felt awful putting the innocent crafters through the pain of being murdered but I had given them the option to surrender. A club came at me from the side and I slashed out cutting the wooden weapon in two and then using both machetes I sliced it’s wielder in three.

  Something hit me in my side, it hurt but did no real damage and when I looked down, I quickly thrusted my sword through Torek’s surprised face. I was distracted for a second while I looked to see what the dwarf had used to hurt me, and I paid for that distraction as I was taken off my feet by a particularly heavy, opportunistic little shit that proceeded to stab at my neck with a dagger. Sure, the blade couldn’t penetrate but the bludgeoning force made me choke as I returned the favour by sticking my machetes through his ribs on either side of him. When he dispersed into mist I got up and found that there was no one there. I did a quick count and ran down the next set of stairs after the remaining two.

  On the workshop floor I found my prey trying to ram open the front door. I laughed as there was no way they were going to break through Anansi’s webbing. The best part was with the two cowardice dwarves stood Frimlay, bellowing at them to ram harder. I willed away my machetes and pulled out my bow. The first arrow struck true, popping the one of the two dwarves that fled, the other survived my second arrow but was down and gasping for air as it penetrated his jugular. Soon enough the dwarf drowned in his own blood and disappeared like the rest of them, leaving just me and Frimlay.

  “Oh, I’m sorry snow white, looks like your merry little dwarfs aren’t here to help you.” I wanted to scare the fucker, but I think my reference just confused him.

  Frimlay didn’t arm himself instead he just put up his hands and said. “I surrender. Kill me and end the contract on your master.”

  “I don’t know about that bud.” I said closing in on him. “You put the big man through a lot of trouble. He’s lost days of production, been tortured, had his shop smashed up and his wares stolen.” I placed a machete on each of the dwarf’s shoulders. “Why should you get an easy death?”

  “I only hired the assassins.” Cried Frimlay as he wet himself. “The merchants, it was the merchant’s guild that hired the thieves to trash his store.”

  “And why would they do that?” Bigmin had already told me, but I hoped to get a name. “Who do I need to kill to get the thieves guild off our backs.”

  “What? There’s no contracts with the thieves guild they were just tipped off that the store would be unoccupied.”

  “So, they just have free reign if the owners of a shop are dead.”

  “Exactly.” The white bearded dwarf looked me up and down. “Did you not go to school?”

  “Hey buddy,” I said, pressing my machetes against his neck. “Remember who’s about to kill who.”

  “Are you going to do it, though?” Frimlay pushed into the right blade, drawing a slither of blood. “Hurry up and end this foolishness.”

  I deposited my machetes and withdrew my dagger. “How about I take my time with it.”

  “Wait, wait, wait.” The dwarf panicked. “I’m sorry I forgot place for a moment.” He backed up against the door. “You obviously want something more from me so how about a deal. I’ll help you and you make my death quick.”

  “And how can you help me?”

  “You won’t be able to get into the merchants guild building without permission from the guild master unless you enter through a specific place.”

  I had passed the building earlier and noticed that none of the windows could open. “It’s the chimney isn’t it.”

  “Oh.” Sighed Frimlay defeatedly. “I, umm. I can tell you who tortured Bigmin.”

  “I already have the Durothil siblings on my hit list.” I said with a sly chuckle.

  Frimlay rubbed at his brow as he spat. “Fuck.”

  “I’ll tell you what, I’ve got some poison.” I pulled out the vial that Chef had prepared. “I’m tired so I’ll let you have the easy way out.”

  “Thank you.” Said the Dwarf snatching the poison vial and downing it. “Atleast it didn’t taste of anything. How long until it take affe…”

  Frimlay’s words cut off as he went stiff, his cheeks drooping with foamy dribble spilling from his lips. I had no idea what the effects of the poison were, so I pulled out another vial and gave it a scan.

  Nerve agent.

  Scarcity: Rare

  Effects: stomach pain, nausea, incontinence, seizures, death.

  I winced at the description. Watching Frimlay fall to the ground as his body convulsed while his bowls emptied and bloody foam spewed from his lips, I had to remind myself that the dying bastard had put Bigmin through a literal flaying over jealousy. Sure, I felt bad for the rest of the dwarves I had killed but Frimlay fully deserved this particularly gruesome death.

  I waited by the dwarf’s writhing stinking state for a few minutes but couldn’t stomach any longer than that. Instead, I retraced my steps and took to the open window on the top floor. With his return to my wrist Anansi made me feel impatient and hungry so I stopped to feed him one of the few cores I had in storage. Realising it was the core of a fire tusk boar I asked him what effects it gave to his webbing, and he just made me feel stupid and hot. Shrugging off the abusive feelings I left the blacksmiths shop behind and traversed the firston roof tops. I had something special planned for the merchant’s guild, something they would never expect and hopefully not be prepared to defend against. Looking down the chimney I realised that the blackness I looked into was similar to the opening of a bag of holding or dungeon entrance. Was a guild building a dimensional space, if so, I had to get one for my village.

  I had Anansi secure a web to the chimney stack and lowered myself down, hoping to god that the point between the outside world and the dimensional space didn’t cut the web as I passed through. There was the slightly nauseating feeling as I sank into the blackness, but I was able to ignore it as the feeling of relief from the web staying intact superseded any discomfort I felt in my gut. Once I was inside the merchant’s guild my goal was as simple as lowering myself down to their basement. The whole thing felt a little too easy, as it turned out the chimney was unused and had an empty flue where an industrial sized furnace should have been. the basement was being used for storage and contained mostly food stuffs encased in large boxes of holding.

  I wasted no time filling my pockets with the resources my Panthera would greatly appreciate and wondered if Chef was going to gain a baking skill if he could figure out how to successfully bake bread from the tonne of flour I had just stolen. My next step was simple, I still had just over forty of the bulbus spider monkey eggs in my inventory and Lachi had explained that once the timer on them expired the monsters would emerge fully grown. It took over an hour for Anansi to secure each of them to the ceiling and while he did that I sat in a corner and finally opened the private message.

  Berlioz Hollow. “What do I say?” I could only hear one side of the conversation as Berlioz spoke to someone. “But we haven’t done much to fill him in on.” He huffed and sighed. “Fine. Hey Oscar, I just found out that we can message each other because of the shared authority. There’s not much going on here, we’ve started building houses for everyone and Lachi has let the new guardian spirit attach itself to the vitalaberry tree.” He paused awkwardly. “Ok, ok I’ll say it.” he let out another sigh. “Hope you’re doing well. Kali’s worried about you and would like to know what’s happening in the town.” I heard him react to being hit. “Ouch, ok, ok. I know it’s only been a day but everyone’s missing you here. Umm, yeah. Speak soon. Oh, it’s Berlioz by the way.”

  The message cut off abruptly and I chuckled at how awkward my cat bro was being with the unfamiliar messaging system. While I waited for Anansi to finish up, I sent Berlioz an update of everything I had learned and done since entering the town and hoped he would enjoy the description of my short rampage through the blacksmiths shop. I also stressed the importance of having a cemetery and requested that he look into building one as well as a smithy. I was hoping to convince Bigmin to move to Shumi when we were done with Firston. Before I ended the long rambling message, I explained that there was some Panthera being held for their safety in the Firston dungeon and were more out in the level twenty zone still enslaved by the orcs. I told him that we weren’t able to leave town just yet so I couldn’t give any more info, but I would make saving the Panthera my main priority now that I had avenged Bigmin.

  Ending the message with a miss you too buddy, I felt Anansi return to my wrist and made my way back through the chimney. Sealing the large opening with some webbing, I couldn’t contain my laughter. In approximately thirty something hours that basement would be filled with murderous spider monkeys and if they too decided to take to the chimney, they would have access to every floor the dimensionally expanded building had. It was the perfect crime. My maniacal laughter gave way to a deep yawn as I realised just how tired I was from the nights events and when I returned to my room I was greeted with two surprises. The first was a woman standing by my bed and the second was a system notification.

  Congratulations, you have successfully killed Frimlay Hammersmith and have gained the following: Poisoner.

  The terrifyingly beautiful woman with the dead eyes, was none other than Naevys Durothil. I was just about to react when she looked at me sideways and tutted.

  “You lucky little boy.” Naevys’ voice was as darkly alluring as her image. “It looks like the contract has been annulled and I was so looking forward to violating you.”

  In a puff of black smoke, she vanished, and I shivered with undeniable fear. I hadn’t given her a full scan, but something told me if I had I would have seen that I was completely outclassed, artificed gear or not. I struggled to sleep after that but the thought of those berserk spider monkeys hatching and completely wrecking the merchants guild gave me solace enough to dose off.