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

didn’t have enough mana to cast it. However, what caught my attention was a special scroll bandoleer that allowed me to keep up to eight scrolls at hand—a must-have for a wizard. Unfortunately, as a character with no skill points in magic and low mana, I could only use basic scrolls of levels one and two.

The next items to be exposed were pieces of gear. Six of the seven turned out to be epic. Three used to belong to Pinprick and three to Ran Dom. All of them were parts of sets—cloth and heavy armor. Truly, Tormis had a good laugh at my expense. I couldn’t equip any of that. It would have to go to the clan storage or the auction. Yota’s prayer bead bracelet was the only exception. It was an epic item that gave a hefty boost to Constitution, Dexterity, and Luck, as well as Poison Immunity and Meditation, an ability that increased stamina. I’ll take it! I pulled off my old bracers and carefully wrapped my forearms in shining brown trinkets.

A rare skillbook. Reading it would teach me an absolutely useless skill, “Ballistics,” that allowed a player to control catapults, trebuchets, harpoon guns, and other such stuff. Why were the Pandas carrying such dumb crap? I returned to studying the trophies.

A well-worn tent for four people with only half durability left, a spyglass—I should probably give it to Thrainul—a sword belt similar to mine, a gonfalon—a clan banner... I unfolded the cloth and admired the black-winged skull against a crimson background. As far as I knew, such items could be used by players with support archetypes such as Captain or Stalwart Leader, giving their team a nice buff. This banner was unique and custom-made; most likely, it worked for the entire clan. The Pandas would probably agree to buy it back, as well as their set armor. I decided to put this issue on the back-burner. I still had to allocate new attribute points.

After defeating the Guardian, I had twenty-two of them. An ordinary player earned 2-5 points per month when starting out and 1-3 after getting into a groove. Thanks to my weapon and unique achievements such as killing the Guardian, my growth was different—sharp and uneven. If I counted all points invested into archetypes and attributes, I was already ahead by two months, give or take. However, my mana was still at the basic level, just a bit above seven thousand points. So what did my character look like? Mediocre melee abilities, low riding and shooting, and trade skills level seven or eight. My best stats were Dexterity, Intellect, and Charisma. Most likely, any real expert in builds and archetypes would have found my profile ridiculous. Thankfully, it wasn’t fatal—attributes could be reassigned with a special token.

Once again, I met a dilemma. Should I strengthen my character by allocating points in attributes, or should I develop Proxy abilities? After a moment’s hesitation, I opened my archetype tab.

The Proxy of the God of Shadows

Rank 2: Shadow Listener (level up skills to increase rank)

Passive abilities:

Shadow Sight (5/5): you can see the Shadow Plane and its items and inhabitants just as clear as the material world. You don’t have to travel to the Shadow Plane to interact with them. You are able to find caches and secret passages in the Shadow Plane.

 

Shadow Talk (5/5): you can hear and fully understand all shadows. You can order them to stay silent or speak up. Both lower and supreme shadows respect you, cannot lie to you, and will obey your orders. You can read text of any complexity in Shadowspeak.

 

Active abilities:

Shadow Eyes (5/5): you can find and sense shadows within a thousand-step range. You can use their eyes and contact them. You don’t have to be in the Shadow plane to use this ability.

 

Shadow Travel (3/5): you can enter and move through the Shadow Plane for up to 3 minutes / 45 minutes.

 

HIDDEN (rank 3 required)

HIDDEN (rank 4 required)

Talent:

HIDDEN (rank 5 required)

HIDDEN (rank 6 required)

Basically, the legendary archetype was my only weapon capable of surprising a powerful enemy. Few would expect a trader to have shadow abilities. To unlock rank 3 and a new skill, I needed to put two more points into Shadow Travel. Unwavering, I did it, transforming Shadow Travel into Shadow Run—a copy of the ability of Tormis’ cloak. Well, being able to teleport to the Shadow Plane twice a day for five minutes each time wasn’t bad.

You have reached rank 3: Shadow Whisperer! Ability unlocked: Summon Shadow (0/7)

Summon Shadow (0/7): you can summon one lesser shadow, materializing it in the physical world. Summon density: low. It will obey your commands, defend you, and fight on your side. 1 attempt/24 hours.

 

Wow! Summoning a shadow creature here? I wondered how powerful it would be. Lesser shadows, the common residents of that dimension, didn’t seem dangerous to me. The increased limit was an unpleasant surprise—I needed as many as seven points to unlock the next rank!

I heard steps from above. Someone was coming down. Elegant boots, a blue cloak, long dark hair—Fayana Fly found me!

“There you are, HotCat!” The Pioneer chuckled as she saw me and the stuff lying around. “I was looking for you. So what about the video with shadow dwellers? Or did you forget your promise? I’ve already announced it on our website!”

“I have a better idea,” I said, winking at her. “I could summon a shadow right here. Would you like that? You could film it for all you want!”

“The same as the one that attacked me?” Fayana flinched back, fear in her eyes. “Don’t...”

“No, that was a supreme shadow, a predator,” I said, trying to assuage her. “I’ll summon a small one. It won’t bite unless I tell it to.”

Honestly, I wasn’t quite sure of that, but I couldn’t resist the