Labyrinth to Tartarus: A LitRPG Saga (The Eternal Journey Book 3) Read online

  If there was no other choice, he would do it, but he didn’t want to.

  “And you do not think we can take her alive, I know,” the Hunter concluded, not caring to rehash the argument.

  Shadow Assassins could pull off many of Hawke’s favorite tricks, which made them impossibly hard to contain. Their short-range teleports alone could ruin a small army’s day. Hawke had proved as much by waltzing into the Nerf Herders’ compound and escaping despite being heavily outnumbered and out-leveled. If he tried to capture No-Name, she would cut a swath through his people, most of whom only had one life to spare. That was another problem with using Communion to zero her out; she had to be rendered helpless first, no easy task.

  Hawke had a plan, and it revolved around an expedition to clear of the Dungeons up north. Girl had volunteered to join in. Once they were inside a Proving Ground, their respawn sites would be moved there, which would allow someone to kill an Eternal without fear they would reincarnate somewhere far away. That cut both ways, of course. If the assassin wanted to take Hawke out, that would be the ideal place as well. Meanwhile, he was working on a Plan B.

  When facing a mortal enemy, there were a couple of ways to end the threat. Killing was the surest. The riskier but more profitable way was turning said enemy into an ally.

  Two

  For a moment, he was nowhere, unable to see anything.

  Teleporting did that to you, messing up you sense of direction and even of self. When he recovered, Hawke saw that he was back at the Death Spire, the Stronghold that in many ways was the Sunset Valley’s main source of power. That was his intended destination, but he sometimes wondered if the process was one hundred percent accident proof. What if something went wrong and only half of him made the jump? He shrugged. His ability to travel between Mana Nodes and other places under his control was invaluable, and he would keep using it.

  The place had changed a lot in the last couple of weeks. Where only a relative handful of magic lights had illuminated the great cavern where the base of the Necromancer’s tower was located, now the place was lit almost as well as a modern building from Earth. The project had cost a good deal of Mana, but the result had been worth it. Several shafts running through the mountain brought sunlight in through a complex network of mirrors, but most of the lighting came from hundreds of magical runes placed on every building in the complex. Most of those additions had been created magically, by spending the energy the Domain produced. Over 15,000 Structural Mana, to be exact, and keeping the lights on had a continuous cost of 250 Mana per day. Worth it, in Hawke’s opinion.

  Despite those efforts, there was a pervasive gloom inside the Stronghold that the lights couldn’t quite dispel. Undeath had a way of doing that, and the nasty school of magic was part and parcel of the entire facility. The architecture was also unpleasant to look at, with vaulted arches covered with disturbing sculptures of grinning skeletons and rotting zombies. Carvings of bones and offal ‘decorated’ every wall, creating a sense of being inside a desecrated crypt. Redoing the entire décor of the Stronghold was going to burn through a whole lot of Mana, not to mention lead to a battle of wills with the sentient Core that kept the place running. Until Hawke took care of it, the collection of buildings still looked like what it had been: a fortress made for Undead entities.

  There were signs of life, however. Out in the distance, Hawke heard the clanging of a hammer beating a hot chunk of metal into shape. Katros the Smith had relocated to the high-level crafting building in the Stronghold, but it had taken a pricey government contract with the Domain to get him to agree. The scary and hostile surroundings were a problem. The long commute was a worse one, however.

  The Stronghold was too far away from Orom and its outlying villages; there were no good roads connecting the two places, and a major river stood in between them. The only way to get there was to use a roughly-cut path that ran through the forest until it reached the Auric River. A small army of laborers had made the road, which was ungraded and barely passable for wagons or horses. Then travelers had two choices to make it across the wide body of water: cross a ford that had been improved but still wasn’t anyone’s idea of a bridge, or use a rope ferry next to it. Once they reached the other side of the river, they had to follow another crappy path through the hills leading to the mountain where the Death Spire stood. After the guards at the magic entrance let them in, they had to go through a tunnel that still wasn’t as well-lit as it needed to be, not to mention barely wide enough for a wagon, and walk or ride another mile to reach the Stronghold. It was a two or three-day trip for most people. Hawke could teleport himself and a few other people back and forth, but unless he wanted to be a magic Uber driver full-time, he couldn’t handle all the traffic. Unsurprisingly, only a few people had relocated.

  The smith had been understandably reluctant to move to Death Spire. To convince him, Hawke had promised that he would personally deliver any items Katros made to their buyers in Orom, plus thrown in a commission of fifty suits of plate mail armor for the Town Guard that had taken a big chunk out of the Orom’s gold reserves. The arrangement wasn’t ideal, but the high-level blacksmithing facility allowed the Arcane Craftsman to make high-quality weapons and armor, and do so quickly and efficiently. Katros’ son was running Orom’s workshop, and by all accounts was happy to be out from under his father’s supervision. Having apprenticed with the smith, Hawke could sympathize.

  Flava the Alchemist had politely declined Hawke’s offer to move to the Stronghold. The Laboratory would be a huge boon for making potions and other concoctions, but she would not live in the Undead fortification. She had agreed to spend a day or two a week working there, but only if Hawke took her home before sundown. Flava claimed the place had an evil aura around it that made it impossible for her to sleep there. Hawke was looking into magically relocating those facilities to Orom, but the Domain, Town, and Stronghold interfaces all had told him that there were a bunch of prerequisites that had to be met first.

  Hawke took one last look at the inner courtyard from the third floor before going back to work. There were a couple of guards heading back to the barracks and a group of Arachnoids delivering food to the same barracks. Besides them and the bear-shaped Nature Guardians that were part of the permanent garrison, there was no other foot traffic. Not exactly a bustling settlement. At least the view was better from the third floor. He had moved the Domain Interface there, on the grounds that conducting business in the basement of the great tower was too depressing.

  The holographic map of the Sunset Valley occupied most of one wall on the room he had converted into his Oval Office. It was oval, of course, with a balcony that looked down on the vast cavern where all the major buildings in the Stronghold were located, and it was now the destination of his Node Travel ability. He opened the Domain Interface to get started:

  Sunset Valley (Level 4 Domain)

  Current Population/Maximum Pop.: 4,892/15,000

  Warning: If its population decreases below 4,000, the Domain’s Level will be reduced to 3.

  Available Mana/Mana Pool: 2,116/17,159

  Mana Recharge/Day: 1,500

  Mana Sources:

  Orom: Level 1 Keep: 100. Level 1 Temple of Shining Father: 100. Total: 200

  Death Spire: Level 5 Mage’s Tower (500), Level 10 Mana Node (Death) (200), Level 2 Death Temple (200), Level 2 Darkness Temple (200). Total: 1,000

  Other: Level 10 Mana Node (Darkness): 200, Level 5 Mana Node (Nature): 100. Total: 300

  Current Mana Expenditures: 850/day. Minions: 400 (Death Spire). Processes: 150 (Light Runes, Death Spire). Enchantments: 300 (Orom: Undead, Demonic and Fae Wards. Death Spire: Undead, Demonic and Fae Wards).

  Enchantments Available: Arcane Appointment, Call to Arms, Demonic Ward, Empower Champions, Empower Defenders, Fae Ward, Undead Ward.

  Hawke had fixed all the damaged structures in the Town and Stronghold. That and improving Death Spire’s lighting had eaten a lot of Mana even with Hawke contributing a
s much as he could. If he spent ten hours a day doing nothing but pumping energy into the Domain, he could nearly double its generating capacity, but he rarely had that opportunity. He did so now, adding 16 Mana to the Domain’s reserves by turning 800 of his personal energy units into Structural Mana that the Town and Stronghold could use. The fifty-to-one exchange sucked, but it was supposed to improve as he raised his level as a Steward, an Arcane Vocation that let you manage Settlements and Fortifications.

  Today, he planned to take care of some old business. Hawke opened the Stronghold menu and scrolled down until he found the Structure he was planning to upgrade:

  Death Temple (Level II)

  A temple provides a link between mortals and the pantheons they worship. The gods gain the devotion of their worshipers, which they can return in the way of Mana and even miraculous gifts. At Level I, the Temple provides the settlement with 100 Mana per day. To raise the Temple to the next level, you need to add four Upgrades. Note: The Arcane Official in charge of the settlement must have no worse than a Neutral Reputation with the deity or pantheon in question.

  Current Upgrades (8): Divine Presence I, Monument III, Power Focus I, Sacred Architecture III.

  Upgrades Needed for Next Level: 8/12.

  Available Upgrades: Divine Presence II (250 Mana), Monument IV (400 Mana), Power Focus II (300 Mana), Priesthood School (200 Mana), Priest Investiture (100 Mana), Reliquary (150 Mana), Sacred Architecture IV (400), Sacred Vessel (250 Mana).

  Hawke opened the individual entries to learn more about each of them.

  Divine Presence II (250): All Temples dedicated to Active Deities contain a fragment of their spirits, which those sensitive to such things can feel. This connection can be strengthened, allowing worshipers and priests to partake on some of the deity’s essence, and the deity to become more aware of and likely to act through the Temple. Increase effectiveness of spells linked to the Temple’s deities by 10% per level. Increase the chances of Divine Intervention by 1% per level, modified by circumstances.

  Monument IV (400): A work of art depicting or celebrating the deity’s likeness or aspects.

  Power Focus II (300): While fighting or casting spells inside the Temple, worshipers of its deity can raise their effective level by the Power Focus level.

  Priesthood School I (200): An adjunct building that allows the Residing Priest to teach Novices. The School can house and raise one Novice per level. Prerequisite: Priest Investiture.

  Priest Investiture (100): Confers a Priest of the appropriate deities with the power to officiate from the Temple grounds. The Priest must be willing to assume the responsibility and must be at least match or surpass the Temple’s level.

  Reliquary (150): A repository of a holy object from the appropriate deity. Requires a Relic of the appropriate pantheon.

  Sacred Architecture IV (400): The Temple is configured in a way that enhances its power and influence. Each level of this Upgrade increases the effectiveness of all other upgrades by 10%.

  Sacred Vessel (250): Summons an item imbued with the deity’s Essence. Each level of the Vessel provides 100 Mana per day to worshipers acting in the service of the deity. It also increases the chances of Divine Intervention by 1% per level.

  Hawke had decided to improve the Death Temple. The trio of goddesses to whom he had sworn an oath of fealty wouldn’t be thrilled, but as long as he stuck to the rules they had imposed on him, he should be all right. He would rather have his benefactresses be miffed at him than deal with a pissed-off Maker and his band of Death Gods. And a number of Arachnoids worshiped Hades, as a god of the underground; Hawke had given them permission to visit the temple, which had helped cement the tentative alliance with the spider people. To improve the structure to third level needed four Upgrades.

  He had the Mana to spend, and in return the improved Temple would increase its Mana generation by 100 points of day; the expenditures would pay for themselves in a couple of weeks. All he had to do was decide which improvements to buy.

  There were no Death Priests in Orom, so he decided against buying Upgrades that required a resident cleric. He bought Monument IV and V for 900 Mana, Sacred Architecture IV for 400, and, because it was relatively cheap, Divine Presence III for a mere 250. As soon as the 1,550 Mana had been invested in the Temple, an image of the obsidian pyramid appeared in the Domain display and began to blink. He ‘clicked’ it and a screen opened up, showing the pyramid-shape temple.

  The ground under his feet rumbled and the cavern where the temple was located began to change before his eyes. The temple was five stories above the Oval Office, but everybody in the Stronghold felt the shifting earth and stone as they flowed like water under the incredible power the Realms could muster. Hawke couldn’t even begin to guess how much energy was needed to increase the size of the cavern, or where the tons of obsidian blocks that were added to the pyramid came from. The sight was so shocking that he almost forgot to turn on his Advanced Mana Sight. Almost. He needed to understand the way things worked if he wanted to eventually learn to control them.

  Through his enhanced senses, he saw how the Mana he had spent into the project was used to open a hole in reality, creating a temporal opening into another world. The process resembled the teleport spells that he used but also had elements of summoning spells. The energy had opened a gate between different dimensions or Realms, bringing even more Mana in. Whoever or whatever was on the other side was doing most of the work, creating or transporting the needed materials and then assembling them into the desired shapes as easily as a mortal could draw a picture or imagine something. Hawke caught a glimpse of the power of a god, and realized how pathetic he was by comparison. The reshaping of the temple took vastly more energy than the combined total of every spell he had ever cast since arriving at the Common Realm, and he felt certain that the whole thing had been routine for the god or Maker involved.

  Got a long way to go, he reminded himself.

  Saturnyx said.

  I know. I’ll keep the dumbassery down from now on, he promised.

  When the magical construction project was complete – the whole thing took a little over five minutes – the pyramid and the area around it had grown significantly. The cavern was twice as big as before, and the pyramid was half again as tall, forty or fifty feet, Hawke guessed, comparing it in relation to the dog-headed statues watching the entrance. The display shifted and showed him the inside of the temple, where the Grim Reaper had grown in size to a height of well over twenty feet, and was now painted colorfully instead of being solid black; the Rolex on its bony wrist gleamed as if made of real gold – no, Hawke realized, it was real gold. A mental command zoomed in on it, and he saw it was an actual Rolex, only much bigger than a normal watch. Its second hand was ticking normally; the hour and minute hands were set on twelve o’clock. Bizarre.

  There were now four statues around the Maker of Death, instead of three. The lesser gods of death were all now depicted in living color, and looked lifelike enough to suggest they might stand and up and start walking at any moment. The new addition was somebody Hawke had never seen before: a sort of centaur, with the lower body of a bear, a furry humanoid torso with a pointy-eared vaguely Elflike head, and twisted horns.

  Saturnyx said.

  The name sounded familiar. It took him a moment to remember Gosto mentioning Akaton; the Woodlings of the Shadowy Foothills and the surrounding forests were his followers. Hawke didn’t think it was a coincidence that he was now a fixture of the Death Temple.

  ring in those lands.>

  “Rarely? I’ve been here a couple months and I’ve chatted with four gods so far.”

 

  “Yeah, I feel real special,” Hawke muttered.

  Three

  Quest Completed: Render Honor to the Reaper

  You have earned 2,500 Experience (-1,500 XP from going against Triune Goddesses, 500 diverted towards Leadership; 500 diverted towards Node Mastery). You have earned 400 Experience as an Arcane Steward.

  You have found: 20 gold.

  You have found: Pauldrons of Thanatos (Epic Quality Death-Attuned Item).

  You have learned new Death spells: Death Cyclone, Song of Sorrow, Terror Gaze.

  You have gained +100 Reputation with all Death-attuned deities as well as the Grim Reaper.

  You have reduced your Reputation with the Triune Goddesses by 100.

  You have failed a Quest: Purify the Temple

  Current XP/Next Level: 17,383 /30,000. Leadership XP: 14,921/15,000

  Current Node Mastery XP/Next Level: 7,723/8,000 Current Arcane Steward XP/Next Level: 2,580/5,000

  “Well, it is done,” Hawke said.

  He had a bad feeling that the goddesses were going to make their displeasure clear to him at some point, probably when he needed them most. Might be a good idea to drop by the Olympian chapel below the Stronghold and see if there was something he could do for them. Maybe improve the chapel into a full Temple. He should discuss his options with his mistress during their dinner date. And he would take care not to harm innocents even by accident. He was playing with dangerous forces, and he had no desire to graduate from Twilight Templar to Unholy Paladin or something like that. Not only would he turn evil, he would probably turn into an angst-filled emo boy and spend his time moaning about his cruel fate. Screw that crap.