Gestation by John Gold (love books to read .txt) 📗

was a welcome relief to him. Neither she nor Anji had said a word at any of the last ten meetings. He just sat there motionless, and then went back to playing the game happily and actively. At least, that was her impression.

The previous six months, she’d asked Moro to collect the recordings of his gameplay, though she didn’t keep an eye on him. She needed a break and more information before she made a decision. Anyway, she decided that it was a good time to check in on him right then.

∞ ∞ ∞

It took me three weeks to get my carpenter and blacksmith skills to 250. Then, I spent another three getting my artifact skill to the same level. Today, I can finally get to work on what all of that is for. I break down all of the items I’ve created, leaving just my spikes. I need metal! So much metal! And lots of spikes.

The strongest of the blood magic seals I have access to is a three-level seal for 85 sacrifices. Fifty of them go in the outer ring, 25 in the second ring, and 10 in the third ring. In the center, you put the item you want to cast the spell on. The magician needs to be holding onto it, and the artifact you create will become yours, powerless in the hands of others. Then, the item grows along with the owner’s level until it hits its limit, at which point, it is destroyed. That’s basically how blood magic attaches items to their owners.

For that reason, I look around to see what kind of valuable materials I have. Everything highlighted silver in my inventory is made out of mithril, something I figured out after breaking down my first ring. Forty-seven rings, two swords, and ten necklaces go toward making eight rings and a chain.

I decide not to reset the gems in the rings. I don’t want to look like a girl! They attract attention I don’t want, too. All I leave is a bloody malachite, grinding it up and adding it to the heated metal. Even though you can barely tell that it’s there, the finished product has slight flecks of a cold white color. If the ritual works, I’ll have to wear gloves. I don’t want to attract attention to myself with something that beautiful.

I spend another hour making gloves out of the leather cloak I got from Cerberus. Now, I’m ready. The seal lasts four hours before disappearing, so I need to find some victims.

Finding and catching them is easy. Leaving part of them in the outer circle, I go back to the rest. They all have to be pinned to the ground with spikes and stun runes. One spike stuns for an hour, four for six.

The next part is both the simplest and the most complex: I have to kill my victims in a particular order, gradually increasing the flow of energy to the rings. The problem is that the ritual is designed to be carried out by at least two people, so I have to hold the ring with one hand and use my second to kill the sacrifices with magic. As the lines of the seal glow red, a hum breaks out, and suddenly, the space inside starts to flicker a dark red color. Evidently, the mana itself changed color and became visible to the eye.

As soon as the first part of the ritual is complete, the concentration and astral transfer runes activate. My victims and I are supposed to be taken to an island of calm in the astral, though the danger lies in the fact that I don’t know what will happen there. Will I be just as strong, have all my stamina? Happily, it works. I turn out to have my same body and even the same equipment. I just have to run away from the crowd of angry men. They’re all at Level 280, too, so that’s pretty scary. Their number thins quickly, however, as I turn magic damage and destruction spikes on them. As soon as I kill the last one, I’m sent back to reality.

Forced transfer to personal virtual space

Initiator: Eliza Donovan

Transfer in: 10… 9… 8… 7… 3… 2… 1 second

∞ ∞ ∞

“Miss Elizabeth, you should see what Anji Ganet is doing right now.” ArtIn Moro was polite, always telling Eliza when there were problems with her wards. They didn’t have that many in the game, though there was the odd occasion.

“What’s going on? I’m in a meeting.”

“From what I can tell, he’s conducting a mass sacrifice that equates to the level of a blood magic master.”

“I’ll be done in ten minutes. Bring him to my virtual space. Kids can’t do that! The rules of the game don’t let them.”

A minute later, Moro addressed Eliza again.

“I’m sorry for interrupting, but the situation just got complicated. According to the Project Chrysalis ArtIn, no rules have been broken. The boy is in another world, one without those restrictions, and the ArtIn is refusing to force him into the personal space until the ritual is complete.”

“What’s going on over there?! Okay, I’m leaving for the personal space. Bring him there as soon as the ritual is done.”

Eliza waited for almost twenty minutes. When Anji showed up, he was practically glowing with joy, even smiling at Eliza. Is that how a boy who has sacrificed almost 85 intelligent creatures should look? she thought.

“What are you doing? Why are you torturing people? You decided to use blood magic, and now you’re doing mass sacrifices? You think you’re going to get away with this? Your karma’s going to be terrible as soon as people realize you’re a blood mage. Do you have any idea what’s going on? There’s a war! And all you can think about is knifing people by the dozen. They can see where any item came from! Any! If an item has anything to do with black magic, the owner is either executed or sent to the mines. How did