Guild Master: A LitRPG adventure (Tower of Power Book 1) Read online

  “Oh…” Morgan said. “Good thing that we are skipping that boss, then.”

  Emily’s lip curled up, which looked weird with her tusks, but he managed not to comment. They gathered their gear and then walked out of the town of Terbon and headed east, toward the mountain range.

  They walked mostly in silence until Morgan couldn’t take it anymore and he approached Lucius. I have to know.

  “So…what’s the deal with the Roman getup?” Morgan asked.

  Lucius’s eyes widened. “You have heard of the Imperium? Of course, you are chosen. Tell me, how is Rome doing? Grandfather was a chosen like you, he told me that there had been some problems with the colonies across the ocean when he died. He got an arrow in the eye from one of the remaining native tribes. A good way to die as he says.”

  “Uh…” Morgan blinked. He didn’t know much about history, but he was sure that there were no Roman colonies across the ocean. Right? “I… As far as I know, the Roman Empire collapsed a long time ago.”

  “Collapsed?” Lucius said, offended. “There is no force, divine or otherwise, which can take down the mighty Imperium! It spans four continents, and has been expanding heavily into the fifth. You must be mistaken.”

  “Four continents? What are you talking about?” Morgan asked.

  Lucius looked as if he was going to argue, and then his eyes cleared. “Ah… I see, you are not from my grandfather’s world. Of course.”

  “Say what again?” Morgan asked.

  “You did not think that all the chosen come from your world? There are countless different worlds out there, where different events occurred. In the home of my grandfather, the Imperium had expanded to rule most of the world—just as in yours it had collapsed. A pity. I would’ve welcomed news of the homeland…it would have given me something to relate to my grandfather the next time I visit his shrine.”

  “Uh… Sure,” Morgan said and then moved away back to Vestella, who was in the back of their group. Alternate realities, multiple worlds, ‘cause why the hell not. Damn you, Oxy!

  “So, you know anything about this dungeon?” Morgan asked Ves when he fell into step with her.

  She nodded her head. “There are three floors, and the boss chamber, and it is populated by kobolds.”

  “Small, draconic kind of things?” Morgan asked—he had seen them represented in some games.

  “Yes,” Ves said. “How did you know that? I thought that there were no other races on your world?”

  “Uh… Well, I learned from video games.”

  “What?”

  “There were these things on my world that… Hm… How do I explain this? All right, you know what an invented story is. You have those here, right?”

  “Yes,” Ves said.

  “All right, it’s like that. Stories that aren’t true, but in a game form. Where people could pretend to be someone else in another world. Usually these worlds were populated by other races.”

  “But there are no other races but human on your world?”

  “No, people invented them.”

  “But they exist,” Ves said, confused.

  “Well… Yes, they exist here. But not there, so over there they are invented.”

  “Hm…” Ves hummed and then grew silent. Then after a while she spoke again. “Did you have any siblings, back in your world?”

  Taken aback by the question, which had come out of nowhere, Morgan paused for a moment. “No, it was just me and my mom.”

  “She didn’t find anyone, after your father? Here it is allowed for mated to find another amri if one of the pair dies.”

  “There was one person, when I was young,” Morgan said awkwardly. White floors, red blood. Nope, back in the box, pesky memories. Stupid trauma. “It didn’t last.”

  “I don’t know what I would do without Vallsorim. I can’t even imagine a world without him.”

  “You are lucky,” Morgan told her.

  She gave him a dazzling smile. “And I have you now, as well.”

  “You do,” Morgan said. She really has a beautiful smile.

  They walked the rest of the way talking about Morgan’s world. He told her all about the technology that they had over there, and the fact that there wasn’t any magic. He told her how people lived their daily lives, what mattered to them. He could tell that she hadn’t really understood half of what he told her, but she still listened. And he was grateful for that. He hadn’t realized how much he missed home. It wasn’t because of any real reason—his mom had died two years ago, and he didn’t really have any family left. His friends were, if he was really honest with himself, people who hadn’t been that deeply connected to his life. Sure, he missed them, but he didn’t have anyone who he could call his best friend.

  It was just everything put together. He missed the conveniences of everyday life. This world was full of struggles, of fighting to survive. It was not something that Morgan was used to. Still, he had been lucky to find the twins. Without them he would’ve died the first time he encountered an enemy. And he did like them, even Vall with his “I’ll kill you if you hurt my sister” speech.

  And Vestella… Ves was something special. He could see it now, after a few days of being together. She was very innocent, naive even, but she was a good person—and Morgan could see himself falling in love with her.

  They spoke for a while more, and then they reached their destination.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  They had reached the base of the mountain, and a tall wall of smooth rock stretched before them—and just in front of them were large doors seemingly carved out of the stone itself. It was ornate, and Morgan as they approached closer he could see something that looked like murals on them.

  He did a double take once he really managed to get a good look. One of the shapes looked suspiciously like a god-not-god that Morgan had met before. Is that… What a narcissist. He even has people carving out depictions of him… One side of the doors held a depiction of what looked like Oxylus, while the other side had a woman with flowing hair and a long dress. On the arch above them was another shape…

  Morgan blinked several times as he looked at it. There’s no way…

  “Is that a spaceship?” Morgan asked, bewildered.

  “A what?” Ves asked.

  “A ship that travels through space,” Morgan clarified, pointing to the sky. His explanation was met with only blank faces.

  “I have no idea what you are talking about,” Emily said, and then she looked at the shape above the doors. “That is the symbol for fate and destiny.”

  “Well, it looks a hell of a lot like a spaceship. Look, it even has stars around it!” Morgan pointed.

  Emily shook her head and stepped away. Vall rolled his eyes and went over to Lucius, who was checking his gear a few steps away.

  Ves put a hand on his shoulder and patted him softly. “It’s okay, you’ll learn in time.”

  That is a frickin’ spaceship. I stand by it! “Goddamn fake gods and their spaceships,” Morgan muttered as they joined the others.

  “We will be clearing all three floors, up until the last boss chamber. I will be going in with you, but I will not be looking out for you. If you live, you live. If not, well…” Emily shrugged. “Show me what you got, and if you impress me I will let you join the Guild. Understood?”

  A series of affirmatives came from the rest of them.

  “Good. Now, I am inviting you to join my group,” Emily said.

  Suddenly a window popped out in front of Morgan’s face.

  Do you want to join Emily Dor’s group? Y/N

  Morgan mentally pressed yes.

  Dungeon group formed! (casual group disbanded)

  “Cool,” Morgan said.

  They each started getting ready. Morgan strung his bow, readied his arrows, and prepared his short spear. He had experimented some more with his nature alignment, so he prepared those abilities as well.

  A few minutes later they were all ready, and they stood in for
mation with Lucius in front with his two gladiuses, and Vestella next to him. Next came Emily with a large mace in her hands and Vallsorim, followed by Morgan. They approached the doors and they slowly opened. That is not creepy, like at all. They entered inside, and Morgan was surprised to see that there was light inside. The ceilings had some kind of white-blue lines or cracks crisscrossing the rock, which gave off enough light to see.

  “Now then, let’s see what you are made of, recruits,” Emily said as the doors closed behind them. Morgan had been told that the doors would lock behind them until they cleared a floor, so that they could choose to leave the dungeon before every level. And the boss chamber was considered a level in itself. And if they left early, the dungeon would close for about a day until it respawned and reset.

  Lucius took the lead, with Ves following close behind. They moved from the entrance through a door at the other end and stepped into a large round room with rock pillars. Almost immediately Morgan heard a high-pitched chittering sound followed by footsteps. Short lizard-looking things gave their battle cries, and a dozen of them charged at the group. Morgan was surprised at their appearance—they looked like tiny dragons without wings. They maybe came up to his waist, slightly shorter than the goblins, but these things had better weapons—iron, if he was seeing correctly.

  Quickly Morgan used Inspect on the closest one.

  Kobold Warrior LVL 6

  Morgan was surprised that they were such a high level. There were no stats that he could see, which probably meant that his skill was too low to see anything more.

  Ves met the first one, catching the kobold’s strike on her shield and then skewering it with her sword. Lucius darted forward and stabbed one, then pirouetted and slashed the other. Morgan nocked an arrow far faster than he had ever before. The threshold of 20 agility made him more dexterous than any human could ever be, he remembered. He let the arrow fly as Emily and Vall stepped forward and to the sides of Lucius and Ves. Each swung their heavy weapons and Emily pulverized the head of one, just as Vall cut another in half. Morgan’s arrow flew true, between his allies, and struck one kobold in the chest, making him stagger, and Lucius finished the job.

  The last six slowed, and then after a few words were exchanged they stepped into formation, three in front and three behind. They raised their weapons and charged. Vall stepped forward and raised his sword, which caught on fire.

  Morgan looked on in amazement as Vall swung his sword and a small wave of fire left the edge of the sword. The three forward kobolds ran into the wave, the flames scorching them slightly and making them falter. The flames disappeared quickly, leaving the front line of the kobolds broken. Lucius and Ves ran forward and started slashing and stabbing, killing the three kobold warriors.

  Morgan raised his bow and took aim, the world around him almost slowing down—not quite, but close. He fired on one of the three remaining kobolds in the back. His arrow found its mark and the other two turned to run away. Before they could get away, however, Emily stomped on the ground and the rock beneath the two kobolds cracked, making them stumble and fall. Lucius then ran forward and finished them.

  “We don’t want them to run away and warn the others,” Emily said as the rest of them were looking around for more threats. “I won’t help you again. Make sure that you plan accordingly for the rest of the encounter.” Emily seemed almost bored as she put her massive mace on her shoulder and looked at them.

  Morgan knew that she was right, that they hadn’t really planned much for this. He moved over to the now disappearing forms of the kobolds and he started taking back his arrows. Then he saw a short sword which had dropped from one of the creatures and picked it up—it was far better than his short spear.

  “Leave the loot,” Emily said as she noticed them looking it over. “No point in carrying all that inside. We’ll pick it up on our way back.”

  “Wait, can’t someone just like, come and steal it?” Morgan asked.

  “Not likely,” Emily said with a blank look on her face. “There aren’t many ascended in these parts which could force open dungeon doors.”

  “But you said that the doors will unlock after we clear the level? Couldn’t people just walk in then?” Morgan asked.

  “Unlikely,” Emily answered dismissively.

  “Good decision, Sub-Commander,” Lucius announced.

  Kiss her ass some more—I’m still taking the sword. He used Inspect on it to see if there was anything special about it.

  Rusty Iron Short Sword LVL 4

  Of course it isn’t anything special. At least it’s better than a bone-tipped short spear. Then a thought occurred to him, and he frowned.

  “Wait, why didn’t we get any experience for this?” Morgan asked.

  Vall stood from where he was inspecting some of the loot and turned to face Morgan. “We are inside the dungeon, so it counts as a single encounter. We will get experience once we leave the dungeon.”

  “Well, that’s a stupid rule,” Morgan said.

  Emily snorted. “It’s a rule to prevent people from gaining a level between the fights and healing their wounds. Dungeons are tests, and that would be cheating. Unless you have a healer or healing items, of course.”

  Morgan pouted. “Frickin’ god-not-god forces and stupid ass rules…” he murmured. Belatedly, he again realized that death was a real possibility here, especially if they couldn’t heal between fights. Did that orc get us here unprepared on purpose? Morgan shook his head. No way, she doesn’t need dead recruits. Maybe it’s a part of the test.

  Still, Morgan knew that they needed at least a semblance of a plan. He stepped forward. “We should’ve planned for this some more, but I guess that we should do that now.”

  “What do you mean?” Lucius asked. Emily just looked at them, disinterested.

  Of course she didn’t bring that up before—she is here to test us. Right, need to see how we act under pressure and all that crap.

  “We shouldn’t just run in and kill everything in sight, we should have a plan. Like for those kobolds that were running away,” Morgan said.

  “Makes sense.” Vall nodded.

  “Very well,” Lucius said with a glance at Emily. “What do you propose?”

  “Well, I know nothing about this dungeon or these kobolds, other than the fact that they don’t seem to be obsessed with candles,” Morgan told them. His beast lore didn’t seem to include kobolds for some reason. Maybe I should’ve upgraded that skill?

  Ves blinked at him. “Candles?”

  “You no take candle!” Morgan said in a high-pitched voice. The rest of the group looked at him like he was insane. Right, they don’t know the reference. “Nothing, forget it.”

  Vall shook his head in defeat, already accustomed to Morgan’s nonsense. “I know some from what I’ve read in my parents’ books. Not much, though.”

  “Anything is better than knowing nothing,” Morgan said.

  Vall gathered his thoughts for a moment, then spoke. “Well, they are a draconic race, said to be distantly related to the dragonlings. They are somewhat resistant to fire, but as you’ve seen, they are not immune. They live mostly underground in loose groupings somewhat like goblin tribes. They are however a bit smarter—they know how to make iron weapons and usually have long mining tunnels reaching deep into the mountains. I believe that they also have some magic users. I believe that they only have fire and metal alignments.”

  “That’s good,” Morgan said. “So, from what we now know we should make any magic users a priority, should we encounter them. Our formation so far seemed good… We should just make one small change: Vall should join Ves on the front line. If we encounter any ranged kobolds or magic users, I shall attempt to snipe them from the back. Lucius, you are probably the fastest one of us, so if there are more than two ranged, Ves and Vall should try to make an opening in the kobolds’ ranks for you to run for their back line, and I’ll support you from afar. So Ves and Vall are our tanks and front line; Lucius, you shoul
d run around and help where there is need; and I will support from the back,” Morgan said. He knew that Lucius was a Soldier/Rogue hybrid, so he should be able to move quickly enough to support everyone. That was a good plan with their limited knowledge, he thought—he glanced at Emily, who studied him with narrow eyes, but didn’t add anything.

  “Anything to add?” Morgan asked the orc.

  Emily shrugged. “I’m only here to observe. I’ll not help you much.”

  Morgan nodded, then turned to the rest of the group. “Do we know anything about the dungeon itself?”

  “Not much, aside from the fact that it is very dangerous and that the boss hasn’t been defeated for a long time,” Ves said.

  Vall nodded. “The first level is supposed to be occupied only by kobold warriors, if I am not mistaken. The second is their workshops and everyday chambers, and the third is supposed to lead into their mines.”

  “So any idea where we will encounter their magic users, if they have those here?” Morgan asked.

  “Probably after the first floor,” Vall said.

  “Good, so is everyone in agreement with the plan?” It wasn’t the best plan Morgan could’ve come up with, but it was the best he could do on such short notice, and without more information about the encounter and his teammates.

  Everyone nodded their agreements and they started moving toward the large doors leading into the next room. Ves and Vall were in front, their weapons ready, followed by Emily, Lucius, and finally Morgan. They opened the next door and entered a large room with a small water fountain on the side of it.

  They were attacked almost immediately—the other kobolds seemed to have heard the battle in the other room and were waiting ready for a fight. Two kobolds jumped at them from both sides of the entrance, and the twins reacted immediately: Vall slashing the one on his side, and Ves catching hers on her shield. Morgan let an arrow fly and hit the one on Ves’s side, and she then finished him with a slash of her sword.