Shadow Seer (Rogue Merchant Book #3): LitRPG Series by Roman Prokofiev (english reading book TXT) 📗

Unhurried, I went downstairs, greeted the concierge, and left the building. It was pretty late, but not dark yet. The air was cool and fresh. Our apartment complex had been designed as environmentally friendly, having no cars between the buildings—a square of greenery among the fortress walls of other high-rises. It was full of new trees, ivy-cloaked gazebos, playgrounds, and benches. I sat down on the closest one, pulled out my communicator, and waited.

Ten minutes later, I got a call from an unknown caller. I put the comm to my ear and heard the familiar dry voice of the Magister.

“Hello, Oleg.”

“Good evening. I hope I’m not bothering you.”

“No. But please, try to use this method of contact only in case of emergency. Courier’s protocols can’t be deciphered, but we might be overheard. It would be safer for you to find me in Sphere.”

“I can’t. I’m in Dagorrath. I need some advice.”

“Go on. I’m listening. What’s the problem?”

“Do you know what Dagorrath is? The Isle of Madness where your Svechkin is supposedly hiding is shielded so well that no player had ever visited it. It’s not even on any of the maps! Nobody knows how to find it! Deepwater monsters, max Dread—”

“Did you think it was going to be a walk in the park? I know what Dagorrath is. It’s a dump, a rejected product of the procedural generation. Back in the day, we didn’t destroy it only because this small remote world was the perfect place to hide the Keys. At least that’s what some of us said...” The Magister said, interrupting me. I thought I heard him sneering. “Listen, Cat. I could have easily found a team of professionals and sent them to fetch the Compass. Svechkin’s no fool, and the place he picked is anything but simple. Why do you think it was you who went there?”

“I don’t know.”

“The answer’s in your scabbard. You’re one of the Seven, a wielder of a unique weapon created to overcome any obstacle in Sphere. What are you waiting for? Use the sword as intended! We designed the weapons of the Seven so that nothing created by the procedural generator could stand against it.”

“That’s not true. The Black Weapons without durability—even True Fire can’t destroy them!”

“There are loopholes, yes,” the Magister said, his voice tired. “Unfortunately, players can be very resourceful. When we built the generation algorithm, we had to allow for the option to create items without durability—such as respawn circles or faction crowns. Otherwise, you lot would have smashed everything! The sword’s affixes aren’t limited to True Fire. Develop and use them!”

“In short, you can’t help me find the Isle of Madness,” I concluded.

“I can’t because I have no idea what kind of mess Svechkin made there!” Going by his tone, Balabanov was starting to get annoyed. “Use the Key! You have free rein. Just get me the Compass. We still have some time left but not much. Don’t take too long!”

“One last question,” I said. “What about Svechkin himself? My understanding is that this man was on your team, your second-in-command. What if he doesn’t want to give me the Compass?”

Silence fell. Eventually, the Magister said, “Svechkin’s Key wasn’t activated. He’s not answering any calls. I suspect that his digital copy didn’t wake up. He has the Compass. When you find him...contact me immediately. After that, we’ll see.”

* * *

“Why here?” Pinprick asked. “It’s a bad place. Mancurt’s on edge; he’s about to cry. Says there’s some kind of underwater chasm underneath us.”

“It’s Dread, seven points. Few would risk fighting in such conditions,” Yota explained. “Thrainul thinks it will guarantee their safety. They probably have Estel gear.”

“Do you think it’s a setup?”

“If so, we’ll just cut them all down.”

The Abyssal’s armored dome emerged from the depths, covered in foam. Muzzles of hull guns glared at the Pandas, and a harpoon platform turned around with a screech, its sharpened tip giving off an unfriendly gleam. Nobody there trusted anyone, and the open gun ports, ready to spew fire, made it clear.

Still leaving the armored plates up, Thrainul’s ship opened the side hatch, releasing the tongue-like metal gangplank. A lightweight rectangular box that suspiciously resembled a coffin came out of the depths of the Abyssal, exchanging a few pairs of hands.

“A coffin?” Yota grinned with the corner of his mouth. “A funny Rest Point. Is he really inside?”

“He is!” the white-bearded zwerg who was delivering the box puffed out. “Give me my money!”

“Look, if you’ve double-crossed us, you’ll become our next target!” Yota said through his teeth. “Do you want to say anything?”

“Yes. I have to warn you,” the zwerg said with a nasty chuckle. “Be careful. He has—”

“We know all of his tricks,” Pinprick replied. Thrainul stopped short, gave them a mocking bow, and disappeared into the rectangular opening of the hatch that closed behind him, hissing. The Abyssal immediately started submerging, and a minute later, only the ripples on the water remained of it.

“Why did you let them go?” Ran Dom asked. “We could have killed them all without paying anything.”

“No need. We don’t know their trump card. We only need Cat.”

“I want to see his face when he logs in,” Pinprick said, giggling.

“Prepare yourself. Are all spells on?” Yota asked, pulling out an odd greenish pyramid with elaborate runes on its facets. “Does everyone remember what we’re about to do?”

* * *

“Oleg, let’s take a walk before bed. It’s such a nice night out there...” Alena smiled at me seductively as she left the balcony.

A nice night? I hoped it would be just as nice to me. I looked at the communicator that showed Thrainul’s message “Log in in 15 minutes” and shook my head. Alena glared at the futuristic curves of the open capsule, huffed, and