Gauntlet: A LitRPG Journey (Legends Online Book 5), page 1
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to locales, events, business establishments, or actual persons— living or dead—is entirely coincidental.
Gauntlet
Legends Online Book Five
Jonathan Yanez
Ross Buzzell
Contents
Stay Informed
1. Sacrifice
2. Across the Barrier
3. Monstrosities
4. Betas
5. Chichevache
6. Long Since Dead
7. Packs & Potions
8. Cost of Magic
9. Basilisk
10. Dunwich
11. Behind the Facade
12. Barber
13. Level Up
14. Boxing Day
15. Guilds
16. Kidnapped
17. Vampire
18. No Good Deed
19. Life of the Party
20. The Bet
21. Prisoners
22. Reunited
23. Outta Town
24. Horse Sense
25. Family Ties
26. The House
27. Swordplay
28. Out of the Fog
29. Troll Toll
30. Wolves and Dogs
31. Ostia
32. King of Surprise
33. Levels and Armor
34. Boots on the Ground
35. Recharge
36. Not Alone
37. Cost of Invasion
38. Khastar Fatuma
39. Minotaur
40. Griffin
41. Nothing Left
42. Springs
43. Old Friends
44. Encampment
45. Raid
46. Pressing On
47. Gauntlet
48. Beast Tamer
Epilogue
Stay Informed
Stay Informed
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1
Sacrifice
As he focused on the YES presented before him, the trophy in his hand warmed up. It didn’t burn but glowed and cracked with fissures of light shining down its edges. The other trophies rattled as they did the same. Illume dropped the platinum trophy, shielding his eyes. The room exploded in shards of light that faded away like glistening fireworks.
A soft ping rang out as the lights flickered into nothingness. A series of menus jumped to life. One filled his vision completely before shrinking and swiping off to the side. One by one, the lists swiped off to the side until they overtook his field of view. When Illume tried to blink them away, he couldn’t.
He turned and tried to walk to see if they’d disappear with movement. They didn’t.
THUD.
A lightning pain tore through Illume’s body with the intensity of a thousand suns. He stopped dead in his tracks and held back a scream of agony. His eyes stung as tears instinctively flooded his vision. His chest burned from the spike in his heart rate, blood pressure and the fact that he held his breath.
Illume considered few things in life worse than death, but this was truly one of them. Turning his attention to the source of his pain, he let out a whimpering cry. Staggering back, he fell to the ground. Sitting, Illume crossed his left leg over his right and instinctively gripped his pinky toe.
“I told her that table didn’t belong down here,” he murmured to himself through the pain. “By the gods, I think I’d prefer a spear to the side!”
Illume grumbled. As the pain in his toe dissipated to a dull throb, he turned his attention to the menus before him. There was one for his levels, another for his attributes. Several were lined up for his skills, one for each tree. Four stood in line for items. Illume focused on the first menu.
Levels:
Levels can’t be taken with you. 99 Levels sacrificed.
Ticking backward from one hundred, his level meter stopped back at one. The menu disappeared from blocking his vision. No weakness gripped him. It was strange; he could’ve sworn dropping every level he’d earned would’ve incurred some form of debilitation. He turned his sights to the next menu.
Attributes:
Menu One:
Health: 500 regenerates 18% of max health a second while not in battle.
Mana: 633 regenerates 20% of max mana a second while not in battle.
Stamina: 310 regenerates 5% of max stamina a second while not in battle.
Do you wish to keep one of these attributes?
YES | NO
Illume looked over his attributes. They weren’t exactly something he’d need for sure in the new land he’d unlocked. When he focused on NO, the menu shattered and vanished.
Attributes:
Menu Two:
Charisma: +30, A higher intelligence prevents charisma drop
Strength: +150 Hey there, Hercules.
Dexterity: +70 superhuman levels.
Intelligence: +30 above average for a human.
Constitution: +100 Without Armor rating superhuman
Wisdom: +83 +100 mana
Getting close to Solomon
He scanned the second half of his attributes. Charisma, Intelligence, and Wisdom weren’t required to help improve survivability. Dexterity was useful to traverse the battlefield, but ultimately, it boiled down to Constitution and Strength.
Illume juggled them for a few moments. Constitution would help him survive being hit by things. Strength, on the other hand, could be used in and out of battle. It could also supplement Constitution through counters and parries. He focused on Strength; all the other attributes vanished. Strength slid off to the side.
Skills was the next section to come up. Just like the Attributes, it came in different menus. Magic was the first menu he cycled to. Passing by the Restoration selection of the skill, he stopped at Destruction. Opening the tree, he was greeted by his invested skill set.
Destruction:
Flame/shock/ice (deals 5 points of damage costs 1 point and 3 mana per second costs 1 point)
Enhanced flame/shock/ice (Magic deals 25% more damage for 2 points costs 3 mana costs 1 point)
Spike Magic (flame/shock/ice turn to a projectile dealing 15 magic + 10 physical damage costs 20 mana per cast costs 1 point)
Impale (flame/shock/ice turn into a spear dealing 20 magic +15 physical damage costs 30 mana per cast)
Dual Casting (Able to dual cast adding an extra 5 points of damage, costs 2 points and 30 mana per cast)
Like a Hammer (dual casts have a 7% chance of knocking an opponent down costs 3 points)
Not wanting to surrender his cryomancy skills, he selected the Destruction skill tree. A sharp buzz struck the back of his mind. His vision blurred as if he’d been electrocuted, only without the pain. Illume tried to select it again. The same buzz, only this time, the buzz left an echoing migraine throbbing at the back of his skull.
Magic can’t be used in Suddengard.
All magical skills are to be sacrificed.
With that, Destruction slid to the side. Restoration was pulled up next then vanished, followed immediately by Poison Control. Anger flashed within Illume like oil in a hot pan. Magic was his most powerful skill; why couldn’t he use it? His heart rate and body temperature spiked as he frantically searched the remaining menus. He tried to find anything with magic in it. Nothing was left to save.
Illume’s blood pressure dropped, his jaw clenched tightly as he relinquished the fact that he’d lost his magic. He shook his head. The pain in his toe lessened as he climbed to his feet. He looked through his other menus. How would Speech work in this new land? Would it even make sense to keep it? What about Armor, should he choose Heavy or Light? Was that even a useful ranking for armor class in the Suddengard?
Weapon Combat, Single Hand/Double Hand, a lot of that added damage and helped early on. With the Strength attribute, he didn’t imagine it would give him much of an edge early on and so he deleted those skills. Archery and Spear were the next to go. Unlike his other lost skills, however, he actually felt as if something was pulled from him. As if he’d misplaced his keys, unable to ever find them.
Sneak and Alchemy were on the chopping block next. He never used Alchemy, so that was an easy skill to sacrifice. Sneak, on the other hand, was like giving up his favorite Pokémon card in exchange for something that might be better. This left two skill trees intact: Speech and F
Both were highly useful skills. Illume imagined he’d be able to save a lot of money and earn a lot of money early game with a higher speech skill. How would that translate to defense? Without Constitution and Armor, would the forgers of this new land be of the same caliber as in Valka? He did have Nari, who was a smooth talker. With a shrug, Speech was deleted, and Forging slid off to the side to be saved.
He slid over to Items and saw several sub-menus were attached. Potions, Armor, Weapons, Books, and People were visible in smaller tabs. Illume dismissed Potions and Books right away, as most of them had to do with magic and wouldn’t be available to him anyway. He spent a considerable amount of time switching from Armor to Weapons, comparing benefits of one and the other.
After stripping away their enchantments, they were little more than hunks of metal and leather. Shaking his head at their abysmal traits, Illume opened up the People menu just to peek inside. Instantly, his decision was made for him. Cycling through, he selected the most desirable person he wanted to come with him.
As he made his last selection, the menu disappeared and unobstructed vision was returned to him. Looking down at his toe, he found the nail was already black and purple from stubbing his toe. Extending his hand, he reached deep within himself to summon his healing magic. A soft, warm light formed around his hand. His mana bar faded into view. The throbbing of his toe coursed numbly through his leg.
Nothing.
The mana bar vanished, his healing spell dissipated and his toe remained throbbing and slightly swollen. Illume took a step. The dull throb turned to a sharp pain, causing him to stumble forward and sit on the low table, on which he stubbed his toe again.
“What’s going on down here?” Nari called down.
Her voice echoed down the steps, accompanied by her descending footsteps. Illume turned his attention to her as she entered the room. Her eyes darted left and right, up and down as if she were reading the same menus Illume had just gone through.
“Well, I stubbed the crap out of my toe,” Illume replied.
“I’m talking about why am I being informed I have to give up all but one of each of my skills?” she probed in a slightly ticked-off tone.
“I was looking at the trophies and was offered a chance to enter DLC,” Illume replied. “I didn’t know it’d make you surrender your skills as well.”
“Did you know it won’t let you keep any magical abilities?” she questioned.
“I do now,” Illume replied. “I kept my strength, forging, and selected a person instead of an item to bring with me. You may want to select something else just to keep us balanced.”
Nari looked around for a few more seconds before focusing her golden eyes on Illume. Her brow arched as her arms crossed over her chest. It was a scolding look if he’d ever seen one.
“Why’d you choose to surrender your cryomancy?” Nari asked.
Rubbing his toe, Illume shrugged. He let out a sigh and rose to his feet once more.
“I don’t know,” he replied. “I’ve been seeing the same thing in my mind over and over again. Every night, it plays in my dreams on a loop.”
“What does?” Nari probed.
“Ingrid,” Illume replied. “I keep seeing her being grabbed by Anoobys and slammed with her hammer. She hit something, something that shattered like a digital barrier of sorts. I think she may be in Suddengard.”
Nari’s brow furrowed. Her stance relaxed at the name of Suddengard. She stepped toward Illume and inspected him closely.
“Suddengard wasn’t ready for release when I was pulled in here,” she replied. “It’s DLC that amounts to little more than barren code. IF she survived that hit, she would’ve been deleted the second she crossed the boundary.”
“John said they’re releasing a beta for the game,” Illume countered. “When I touched the trophy, I was told that Suddengard would be unlocked upon sacrificing my skills. I sacrificed them, and apparently, so did you. Would it really hurt to at least go to see if we can cross the boundary?”
Nari hesitated. She shifted her weight from one leg to the other as she pursed her lips. Sighing, she nodded.
“Fine, I’ll go gear up. You grab what you can and we’ll head out to see if the boundary’s down,” Nari relented. “IF it is, I guess there’s a chance Ingrid may still be alive. Even if she isn’t, we can bury her. We owe her that much.”
“That we do,” Illume replied.
Nari leaned in and gave Illume a gentle kiss on his lips before climbing the stairs once again. Turning to follow, Illume saw a set of clothing folded on the table that wasn’t there before. Leaning over, he grabbed the cotton shirt and bright blue pants.
Suddengard peasant rags added.
Weight: +.01 Armor: +0 Worth: 1 Drachma
These are the clothes worn by peasants and homeless, hope you enjoy!
“Always got to get a jab in, don’t you,” Illume murmured.
He changed into the rags. The shirt sat loosely on him; his pants were a little on the tight side. Adjusting himself, Illume climbed up the steps, entering the main hall. Khal stood in the middle of the room wearing similar attire to his.
A look of confusion was strewn across his face. Khal held his potions case tightly in his right hand,with a foldable table slung over his shoulder. The young man stepped back and looked Illume up and down.
“What just happened?” Khal asked.
“Pack what you can. Nari and I are taking you east,” Illume said.
A soft smile tugged at Khal’s lips. His arms dropped to his side as his head tilted to one side.
“Are you serious?” he asked, brimming with excitement.
Nari emerged from their room. She wore a cotton dress with blue trim and her engagement ring sat snugly on her finger.
“Looks like we’d better go,” she mused before the three left their home.
2
Across the Barrier
There wasn’t much left of the woods next to Cryo’s Quarry. What was once a thick, dense forest with trees as thick as Illume’s waist was now filled with saplings. Thin trees that were no more than three to four fingers in width and barely ten feet tall.
The one trail that he’d taken through Valka, was now fifty trails that spider-webbed all over the recurring forest.
Illume passed through the other side and stopped on the road. Before him were rolling hills of grass, behind him all of Valka. He glanced back at the empty kingdoms, once more hoping the handful they’d left behind would be all right. As he turned forward, he paused. To their right was an old abandoned cart. The cart was broken down with a chest thrown open in the back. There were no corpses, no bodies, just an abandoned cart.
“Dad,” Khal called out.
His voice brought Illume’s attention back to the party.
“You okay?” the boy asked.
“I’m fine, just reminiscing,” Illume replied.
He pressed forward, taking his place between Nari and Khal as they moved off the roads and into the knee-high grass.
