Hack, Slash & Burn 2: A LitRPG Fantasy, page 25
When the plans for the city were announced, volunteers were asked for. People who could help build walls. While it would be far better to turn everyone Touched and have them build the walls after the exodus, even if Calder could afford to do that, they simply couldn’t wait that long to begin the process.
Besides, Kashan had at least a million people currently residing within its walls—if not more, considering how many refugees had flocked to Lorilan’s capital—half of which would most definitely stay behind. The logistics of how to make this all work were a nightmare, but fortunately there were enough people to volunteer their help in that department.
Not all of the city’s officials were entirely useless, it seemed.
And so, all they needed to do was gather enough materials to expand the wall even farther out than it already was, as there simply wouldn’t be enough room within the city to house eight million people.
Not comfortably, at least.
They would also need the extra wall to defend the city. Kashan had more than one wall within it already. Much of the city could be sealed into different sections if there were invaders. But all of those walls were normal, unenchanted stone—meaning, absolutely useless in their post-Weapon Stone world. Having an extra wall surrounding the main one would buffer the entire city from the orc threat. If the orcs got through the main wall, they couldn’t even form a militia with rudimentary weaponry from the citizenry—only Touched would be able to fight them, meaning the orcs would tear through the populace as though they were nothing.
The logistics were doing Calder’s head in. Peter, however, seemed to be in his element. Considering he had been tutored since birth on these things, that didn’t surprise Calder much. Still, it was a massive undertaking.
It had taken Luceen a whole day to sell off all of the soulstones. She’d had to go to dozens of different merchants, as none of them wished to take on so much stock all at once. Acquiring the Advanced Proximity Scanner had, fortunately, not posed any difficulties. She had communicated this fact to Calder on her return to Berring, at which point Calder left Kashan in Peter’s hands.
Luceen and Yesna awaited him in the mayor’s house. They took him to his room, were Yesna instructed him to lie down.
“This is a little too reminiscent of the time I died,” Calder muttered, doing as he was told.
Yesna pursed her lips. Luceen avoided his gaze entirely.
Calder sighed. “How painful will this be?” Integrating the Weapon Stone hadn’t exactly been a pain-free experience, neither had integrating the Proximity Scanner in his forearm, for that matter. He had to imagine this would be at least as bad as one of those.
Yesna looked to Luceen. “You understand this better than I do.”
The Saint bit her lip. “Well, apparently it does feel a little bit like dying.”
Calder closed his eyes. “Of course it does. Well, I suppose it will be worth it in the end. Besides, after actually dying, I’m sure this won’t be worse.”
“Mmm.” Was all Yesna managed as her reply. Luceen didn’t say anything.
He opened his eyes as Luceen took something from out of her pouch of holding. It was a small crystal, no larger than an egg. It didn’t look threatening. The crystal glowed purple and was perfectly cut into the shape of a pristine diamond.
“All you have to do is imbue it with your mana, then it will… connect with you,” Luceen said.
“How long will the process take?”
Luceen bit her lip again. “That’s where I’m not sure. Apparently that depends entirely on the constitution of the Touched who uses it. The person who sold it to me said that high-level users tend to take at least a day to integrate it into their bodies. He wasn’t sure about lower-level Touched, as they don’t tend to have access to these.”
Calder narrowed his eyes. “And what did he consider high-level?”
“Anything over 150.”
Calder pinched the bridge of his nose with thumb and forefinger. “You mean to say that this could take me longer than a day to integrate? We’re already short on time as it is.” He frowned, thinking of another idea. “As much as I want access to the powers this upgrade will provide, should we give it to someone else? Someone…”
Luceen raised an eyebrow. “What? Non-essential?”
Calder nodded.
Yesna glanced at Luceen. “That wouldn’t be a good idea. Though the merchant hadn’t heard much about low-level Touched using this upgrade, he did warn that it might… kill someone too weak. You’re the strongest of us, Cal.”
He sat up in bed. “It might actually kill me?”
Yesna sat at his side. “No. Not you, Cal. You’re far stronger than any of us, especially since you became an Avatar of Light.” She looked at the crystal, still sitting in Luceen’s palm. “I doubt something as small as that could do you in.”
Calder dipped his head back. He hoped she was right. Either way, they needed this if they were going to bring the world together. Besides, he was sure it would help him in more ways than one.
Luceen forced a smile. “I have absolute confidence in your survival.” She offered him the crystal.
Calder sighed again as he took it in hand. He was worried, now. Not about the pain he was sure would come. Not about the possibility of dying. He was worried that this thing would take him out for far too long. That by the time the exodus happened, he would still be asleep and powerless to help when the orc army ultimately amassed.
He needed to be awake to help with the preparations. With a eleven different cities to travel to, with him the only one having access to the Advanced Proximity Scanner… he needed to help get his people in position so they could usher the remaining citizens of Halanor to Kashan.
Without him awake, their plan would simply fail.
Which meant there was no time for hesitation. “See you two on the other side. Keep an eye on things for me while I’m gone, yeah?”
Yesna put her hand on his arm. “Though we’re sure you will survive this, I won’t be leaving your side the whole time.” She smiled weakly. “I’m the strongest healer we’ve got. If anyone can ensure you pull through, it’s me.”
Calder almost protested. He was sure that she would have better things to do than sit at his bedside while he writhed in agony. Then again, if he was really so crucial to their plans… perhaps keeping their strongest healer by his side was the best way to go.
He didn’t reply, simply nodding at the woman who had helped raise him. The crystal in his palm felt oddly cold. Like ice. He eyed the purple, diamond-looking rock that was about to cause him considerable pain.
Here goes nothing.
Calder imbued his mana into the crystal.
Chapter 29
Pain coursed through every inch of Calder in an instant.
The moment he had imbued his mana into the crystal that would advance his Proximity Scanner, a purple light had rushed up his arm, making his very veins glow beneath the skin.
It hadn’t stopped there, either. It had rushed to his chest. When it reached his heart, the pain spread.
Calder gritted his teeth through it, tensing in his bed, the purple crystal slowly dissolving in his hand. He knew that Yesna and Luceen were still in the room with him, but he could no longer focus on them.
His vision blurred. The purple light overwhelmed it, bit by bit, until all he saw was that one solid colour and nothing else.
Though his vision disappeared, the pain only intensified. He had been wrong before, to say that this couldn’t be worse than dying. When he had died, it had lasted for less than a minute, then he hadn’t felt an ounce of that pain in the place he had ended up.
How long would this pain last for? A day? Two?
A week?
He didn’t know.
Calder had been through a lot. He had felt his fair share of pain in his life. Pain was a daily part of being a soldier. Then when his leg had been injured, pain was with him every second.
Even when that pain had finally disappeared, his leg having healed when he had attained the Weapon Stone, it wasn’t as though his life became pain-free. It wasn’t easy fighting orcs every day, after all. He might have healers with him, health potions and his Berserk skill keeping him alive—not to mention his health regeneration.
But losing health? That always hurt.
Still, even after all he had endured, he wasn’t sure how he was going to get through this. The pain was immense. It was all he could feel. All he could think about. He pushed through it with every ounce of his being, remembering his sergeant’s words.
One step at a time.
As he lay there in pain, unable to tell how much time was passing but feeling as though it must be an eternity, he began to get a better control over his mind. He pushed himself to do so. This pain might have been unimaginable, but did that mean it was unbearable?
He could endure this. He would endure this. And… if it killed him? Well, then he would be dead, and there would be nothing more to worry about.
At that thought, he couldn’t help but remember something Luceen had said to him, when she had first been using her healing powers in the Dark World: Pain is a part of life. Once we accept that, it can no longer hurt us.
Using healing powers tended to hurt the healer as much as the wound one was healing did when it was inflicted, so every time a healer used their abilities they were inflicting pain upon themselves. Calder remembered that quite clearly, when he had come into the mayor’s house the day after he had gotten his Weapon Stone—the day after the orcs had invaded Berring.
He had healed Darren, Jerem and Petra. In doing so, he had felt an incredible amount of pain.
Calder figured he had accepted pain as a part of life by now, especially given how much he had been through, but that didn’t magically make the pain go away. Still, perhaps the knowledge of that made it easier to endure. He didn’t know. He didn’t know how someone else in his position would take this.
All he could do was keep going.
He had no idea how much time had passed when he finally woke—though, maybe woke wasn’t the right word, considering he felt as though he had been conscious the entire time.
Yesna sat at his bedside, just as she said she would, her arms outstretched, palms facing him. A bright white light emanated from her hands and her eyes were shut. Her mouth was a thin line. She opened her eyes moments after he did and let out a long breath. “You’re awake.” Sweat dotted the woman’s brow, and her eyes looked tired. Which was quite a feat, given their advanced constitution since becoming Touched. “How are you feeling?”
Calder closed his eyes. His body… the pain was gone. Completely. He didn’t feel rested, by any means, but it felt damned good to be free of that pain. He opened his eyes and looked at the Mystic. “Better. Much… much better.” He frowned, staring at Yesna. “You’ve been healing me this whole time, haven’t you?”
Yesna dipped her head in a nod. “I told you I wouldn’t leave your side.”
Calder sat up and leant over toward the woman, enveloping her in a hug. From the look on her face, the sweat, the tiredness… it was clear that while she had been healing him, she had been suffering the same pain he had. “You… didn’t need to do that.”
Yesna huffed, but she hugged him back. Tightly. “I’ve been looking after you since before you could swing a sword, let alone walk.” She chuckled. “Of course I needed to.” She patted his back, then held him by the shoulders, a stern look adorning her face. “A simple thank you would suffice.”
Calder smiled. “Thank you.” He couldn’t help but wonder how much worse the pain would have been without her there, or how much longer it might have taken to recover… speaking of which. His eyes widened. “How long have I been out?”
Yesna bit her lip. The woman usually wasn’t one to hold back, but she hesitated. “Three days.”
Calder burst out of his bed. “That leaves… two days until the exodus.” He took a deep breath, calming his now racing heart. There was no need to panic. Two days wasn’t as much time as he wanted, but it would have to be enough. “How goes the progress in Kashan?”
“I’m sure Peter would be better to ask.” Yesna touched her head. “I haven’t been… able to concentrate on the communications.”
That made Calder feel even worse for what the woman had been through. Though, he knew that he would have done the same for her if he could. He put a hand on her shoulder, squeezed. “You get some rest if you need it, okay?” The woman looked as though she was about to protest. Calder raised a hand. “I could make it an order.”
Her lips thinned once more. “You know you can’t order me around, Cal.” She sighed. “But rest… rest does sound like a good idea.” She stood. “It’s something you need, too.” Yesna gave him a severe look.
Calder shook his head. “It’s not something I have time for. Not right now.” He headed out of the room without another word. Graham, you here?
The ghost appeared beside him. “Always.” Instead of walking at Calder’s side, Graham floated eerily. Usually, he tried to appear as though he were walking as normal. This was a new development, something Calder couldn’t say he liked.
“Before I find out what’s happening in Kashan, I need to figure out how to use the Advanced Proximity Scanner.” He eyed the ghost. “Something tells me you understand its usage?”
Graham nodded. “I do. I had… forgotten about its existence, but this whole ordeal has reminded me of it.”
“Let me guess, it was one of your inventions?”
Graham shook his head. He became silent for a moment. Something that wasn’t unusual about the man. Finally, he spoke as they were exiting the bottom floor and heading into the courtyard. “My wife invented it.”
Calder stopped walking. “Your… wife? Wait, you have a wife?” He put his hands on his hips. “You never mentioned that.”
Graham didn’t look his way. “There are many things I haven’t mentioned to you. Having a wife while I was alive is merely one of them.”
Calder grunted. He supposed he couldn’t expect to know much about the man, especially when his memory wasn’t even intact. It wasn’t as though they sat around chatting about their lives… there was usually far too much going on for that. “Well, uh…”
“No need to ask what happened to her, Calder. I know you have more important things to attend to.”
Calder ran a hand through his hair. He wouldn’t have put it in those words… but he couldn’t argue with the ghost. With as much time as they had left, he couldn’t stand around and talk about the ghost’s feelings. “The scanner. How does it work? How do I… scan the planet?”
“As with anything involving the System, it is fairly simple. All you must do is will it.”
Calder frowned, but he supposed that was how he activated the Proximity Scanner in the first place, and how he looked at his own attributes, scanned an enemy, or interacted with the System when choosing his class or skills…
He stood in the middle of the courtyard and thought of what he wanted, thinking the words, Scan Halanor.
A screen appeared before him. Not how his Proximity Scanner appeared above his forearm. This was different. It was like a massive blue square of canvas suspended in mid-air a few feet in front of him. “Can you see this?” he asked Graham.
“I can, but only because I am your Spirit Construct. Others will not be able to see this screen. To them, it will just look as though you’re staring into space like an idiot.”
Calder glanced at the ghost. Clearly, he wasn’t in the best of moods. Perhaps Calder shouldn’t have ignored that crack about him having more important things to do, and instead asked further questions of the ghost. Later. When this world isn’t going to hell.
Though who knew when that would be?
Text appeared on the screen, much as it did across his vision.
Scanning the planet designated Halanor…
Loading scan…
Loading scan…
Integrating local location names…
Scan fully loaded.
The text disappeared. In its place wasn’t a map like Calder had assumed. Well, it wasn’t a standard map. This was a sphere. He frowned. “What is this?”
“Your world. It is round, after all.”
Calder reached his hand out to the “map.” Text began to appear, showing the names of different places in the world. “How does this work? How does it get the local names?” He saw the Lorilan Kingdom on the map. When he touched it, the kingdom expanded on the screen as though he were zooming toward it.
Graham shrugged. “Honestly? I’m not sure.” He crossed his arms. “The technology us humans have created to interact with the System only gives us information it already has access to, this is simply a stronger method of gaining that information than a Proximity Scanner with its mini-map.
Calder frowned. He only vaguely understood what the man meant. He touched his chest, where his Weapon Stone was beneath his armour and, not for the first time, wondered how other beings saw the System.
“We once thought it gained local knowledge from Touched in the area, though once we scanned planets without any magical beings or human Touched, we found that couldn’t be true, which… shows that the System is connected to even non-magical beings, in a way.”
Calder raised his chin, considering the ghost’s words. It was intriguing information, but it didn’t help him right now.
He managed to find the town of Berring and “zoomed” right into it. What he got was a bird’s eye view of the village. It wasn’t a particularly detailed view, but what he could make out was rather astounding. He saw the wall around the village, saw the different houses and other buildings that lay inside those walls. The Broken Mug Tavern. The Sentry Towers. The road. The forest.
