How to Steal from a Fantasy Deathworld - Chapter 9 (Patreon)

Relief blew through his body, running down his leg like cold water putting out a slow burn. Pain he hadn't noticed before faded away as the wave passed through. Wounds that had been stinging now only felt like a three day old issue. The throbbing in his neck he'd ignored up to now relaxed as the wave shook the seized up muscles until they loosened up.

He laid against the wall of the damp cavern, simply existing in the moment next to a dead skeleton, and he'd never felt this good in his life.

It was one point. Wade's eyes shot back up and he nearly dumped the other point into vitality right then and there. The relief and escape from pain was so vicarial, so all-encompassing, he couldn't think of anything other than the end of it. His finger hovered over the golden flashing plus button next to vitality, and only sheer willpower kept him from mashing the button down all the way. He took a few deep breaths, before he lowered his finger back down, in control again.

Leveling up jumped from a nice bonus to an absolute mission critical item for him to survive out here.

New personal quest: Powerleveling - Defeat your prior record of two level ups within one fight. Rewards: One storefront coin.

Looks like the system could read his mind and give him a quest about his thoughts. Interesting.

He took another deep breath, shook his head, and tried to think this through logically. If he was going to dump his other point into vitality, it had to be for sound reasons.

He stood up, and jumped lightly a few times. No pain shot through his leg. He lifted it up, stretching it into a kick. A twinge came from it, but nothing he couldn't manage. The dull ache was still there, buried under several layers now.

He checked his stats. It had upped his health by twenty five, both for his total and his current health. Overall mana also increased to 125.

If it was this much for a single point of vitality, what about strength? Would he suddenly be able to actually fight and deal damage to the skeletons? If that was the case, adding another point into vitality to just to avoid a manageable amount of pain would have been a waste if he could have used that point into becoming actually effective against the enemies here.

No, he'd save the other point for later, to be spent if he ended up really needing it. If it turned out to be vitality in the end, then he'd have run around in mild pain for no reason but at least he'd kept his options open at all times.

Plan in mind, Wade closed his stats and forced himself to move on. The leg no longer bothered him much, letting him kneel down as he rifled through the skeleton's remains. Honestly that was such a change, Wade almost felt happy Play had sent him here. And if he could find the means to heal people back on earth, then he really would be happy he'd been sent here.

He was still fighting for his life right now so that was a bummer.

Nothing else was on the dead corpse beyond the dagger he'd already looted and kept in hand. The stool was awkward to carry… except it had proven effective at keeping threats away from his face. He decided he'd bring this with him too, and if it was too heavy to carry around, he'd ditch it as he went. A shame he hadn't had the foresight to bring the picks or hammers down with him when he ran earlier, they might have come into good use. But, he had been wildly panicking with good reason.

 With nothing else on or in the skeleton, he turned to the rest of the room items.

The crystal lamp on the table drew his attention. The glow pulsed steadily, like a heartbeat trapped in amber. His money-gathering instincts kicked in - it did describe this lamp as 'high quality', he might be able to sell it later on. More money meant he could delay the debt collectors for a little bit longer, and now with his new personal quest there really was a possible light at the end of all this.

New personal quest: Greed is good - Carry an item of value from Azdrial back to Earth and sell it for a profit. Rewards: One storefront coin. Some American currency.

Wade laughed, looking over the text. The quest was nice, but what he was mostly paying attention to was one mention:  More evidence there was a way back from this hellhole, and he could find it.

Wade slapped his cheeks, rallying himself up. Just don't think about it for now. That's how he'd made it this far, he could keep on going. If Play was going to drag him down here again in the future, he'd deal with it as he got there. But right now, he needed to lock in on his goal: Get the gear he needed, and get back home in time before things got bad.

As for the lamp, he could hold onto it for the quest and to save phone battery, but carrying around a glowing 'I'm here' target seemed like asking for trouble. He gave the lamp a more critical look. "Identify."

Mana-crystal Lantern (High Quality) (Quest Item)

System recognized the lamp as a quest item now too. Well… the quest didn't technically say it had to be this lamp, just anything of value here. And he could use his upgraded identify to find quality goods. He looked down at the next item on the table, scattered all over.

Mana-preserved papers (High Quality) (Quest Item)

Yep, looks like anything he set his mind to potentially selling would be considered a quest item. As for the lamp… the thought of being stuck in complete darkness made him hesitate on leaving it behind. But it was a little big to carry around. "Maybe just a small piece?" His fingers traced the metal sconce, looking for loose fragments or if he could make a few chips fall off with the dagger.

He pulled back. For all he knew the entire thing might just wink out if any crack appeared. Then he'd be screwed in pitch black. And that's when the monsters came out to eat.

Still, he had one more thing he could do. Out went his phone, and he disabled the do not disturb mode. "Play, how do these lanterns work? Can I break off a piece to carry with me?"

Bruh. I'm the god of games and stories, not tech and magic, you gotta stop asking me all these annoying questions already (￣ ￣|||)

…What did he even expect? He would have wanted to throw the phone away, but recent discoveries about mana and what it could do left him feeling a little… charitable to Play. Fine, he wasn't going to badger the god. He decided to leave the lantern alone, the chance it broke was too high for his liking.

His gaze fell on one piece of paper on the desk. The edges were worn but looked otherwise solid, text fully visible.

It was gibberish. Of course. He blinked and something in his head clicked. One moment the words looked like scribbling with a vague pattern to it, and the next moment it was perfectly legible, if somewhat bad handwriting. A completely different language that he just… understood.

To anyone reading this, security found this shaft. DO NOT continue here. I've ordered everyone to leave me behind and bring the supplies with them. Don't waste time searching around. You will find no food, medicine or shelter here.

Gods be with you stranger, one of us has to make it out of this cursed city alive.

The writing was clearly wobbling, specs of dried light red dotting the page. The language wasn't english, but he could sense a sort of intellectual nobel writing style to it. The way the words described things were… high and mighty? Words used by a leader and not allowed to be written by a follower.

He didn't know why he knew the rather strict cultural rules behind a language he didn't even know the name of. But whoever this letter was written by, either other people recognized them as a leader or they were deep in self-delusion. People simply weren't allowed to write this way without recognition by more than friends. And Wade just knew that.

He turned his gaze behind, where the skeleton remained limp, bisected in half. Was this the one who wrote the letter? Might make sense why it was a higher level skeleton?

Then he realized he did have a way to figure that out. Wade took his phone out. "I killed that skeleton Play. You technically owe me some answers on what's going on in this world now."

Fine, fine, but you're gonna have to be specific, this is Azdrial after all~ We got like, twenty different apocalypses going on right now.

Twenty different apo- Wade shook his head. Not his problem. He had one thing he wanted and one thing only: "How do I get out of here - and I mean specifically out of this shelter and back to Earth? You said something about winning the game, but what exactly do I need to do to win?"

Michael, Michael! Are you still thinking of ending the game early? That's no fuuuunnnn~
o(〒﹏〒)o

Once more, Play refused to cooperate with him in any direction that would lead him home early. Wade narrowed his eyes, head thinking through the issues. Play was a god of rules as they already said. Asking for what those rules are might be something he'd get further on. "Tell me more information on this game then. I can't even read how much damage my boon does, I don't know how many coins I need for anything, and I'm still not clear on what winning means. Give me something concrete to work with here."

Now that's the spirit ᕙ(‾̀◡‾́)ᕗ But maybe the better way is to ask YOU the questions first. What makes a game fun Michael?

Wade felt mild rage roil a little under his veins. "I didn't ask for a deep dive session about my gaming opinions." He took a deep breath, trying to calm down. This was his chance to get answers, if he pissed off Play, he wouldn't get anything. "Look, I'm in some underground shelter with skeletons everywhere trying to kill me. Just... what is all this? Where did you send me? It's not some random video game generated dungeon, what am I up against? What's Azdrial?"

Azdrial's my homeworld. And I said be specific in your questions, here you go asking twenty million of them again. I ain't typing that much (＃`Д´)

He sighed, pinching his nose. Play wasn't going to tell him how to end whatever this was early until the god was entertained. "Fine. What's with these skeletons? They're using mining tools, wearing gear, and acting way too smart. Are they being controlled by something, or is there something else I need to watch out for down here?"

Generally if you leave dead bodies around without destroying the soul, they raise up all crazy after a few months. Happens everywhere. As for here… well, nobody's ever seen the inside of Nathir Shelter-Cities so I dunno if it's a necromancer or not  ┐(￣ヮ￣)┌  

"Wait - nobody's ever been inside these cities?"

I didn't even know they're called shelter-cities until you stepped into one lolol

 "Then… how did you even send me here in the first place?"

The System asked where I wanted the starting location to be. So I picked here just to see if it'd work. And it did! o(≧▽≦)o

"You're telling me you threw me into unknown territory - that even GODS haven't seen inside of - just because what? You were curious?"

Yep.

"Did you know it was going to be lethal difficulty down here?"

Nope.

It was taking some serious willpower to keep trucking along with all this bullshit. If there wasn't a chance to nab magical healing in the process, Wade would have set his next personal quest to murdering Play somehow. "What if I ran into something in here strong enough to kill me you didn't know about? Like strong enough to kill a god, and released it out into the world. Sealed shit is sealed for a reason."

For one, that monster would be wrecking things on Azdrial, and I'm all safe here on earth. For two, well, then good thing they'd be killing you and not me, right?
(b ᵔ▽ᵔ)b

"You absolute piece of-" Wade bit his tongue and paced around in a circle, trying to calm down. He took three more breaths, walked around a few more paces and only then felt centered enough to keep going before he pulled the phone out again and stared at the screen. "What exactly is the system?"

There wasn't any answer. Not for the next ten seconds. Wade sighed, "I thought we had a deal."

I'm still typing it out, give me a minute (＃`Д´)

Wade considered, and then decided it was important enough to wait. He put the phone back in his pocket and went to experiment with the lantern again. Picking it up was find, it had a handle for that on the side and the top. The crystal was sturdy, though he didn't test more of it. If he messed up, the only source of light he'd have here would be his phone. Which had batteries and was the only way to talk to Play.

Too important to waste. He didn't know how long he'd be in this world, or how long Play's 'round' would last.

The phone finally buzzed just as he set the lantern down, as if Play had been really taking their time. Or gotten distracted.

I don't think anything on this world could stop the system, wards or no wards lol, maybe it'd be better to explain the system in scale. If the system's a giant whale, then the entire world of Azdrial would be a tiny little bacteria, maybe living inside a random kidney or something (￣▽￣)

"Okay. Let me be VERY specific then: If no one's ever been in here before, how do I get OUT? Are these wards going to trap me inside when I try to leave?"

Like I said, nobody knows! We're the first in centuries to get past the Nathir wards lmao

Maybe he'd know more about what defenses this city have if he knew what he was up against? "Then, just what are the Nathir?"

Hmmm…. They're an ancient civilization of giants that pissed off every other ancient civilization to the point they hid underground here to wait things out.  ┐(︶▽︶)┌

Wade sighed, "What did they do?"

They destroyed the sun lol

He stared at that text for a few seconds, re-reading.

"Wait, what?"

Was way before my time, so idk if that's all accurate or not.

"Play, I can't tell if your serious or fucking with me."

Oh no, they really DID blow up the sun. Had some wild wars in the past between the ancient mortals and the old gods.

"How is this world even alive without a sun?" Was Azdrial just a frozen over rock floating in space now? If he left this city, would he just freeze to death immediately outside whatever was keeping this place warm? "Are you fucking serious? You told me if I left this city, I'd be able to go home. And now you're telling me the moment I walk out, I'll freeze to death?"

The answer came by after a second, and Wade realized Play was slow to respond because the god was actually typing back the answers.

You won't die, no need to be dramatic~ There's a placeholder doing the job right now. You know your planet Saturn has those giant rings right? We got that, except the rings are the last of the sun's power. But it's a patchwork solution, the divine wards are breaking down over the centuries. Once they're gone… well RIP ✖╭╮✖

Wade considered this, feeling a twinge of actual sympathy for Play. "And the rest of your solar system?"

All gone. No sun, no planets. We got a few moons and that's it lol

"Can anyone… fix your sun rings?"

The followup text came, wiping out the first.

Nobody has any idea how the old gods made those in the first place, so probably not.

“Wait, why? Aren’t you a god yourself though? How do you not know how it’s managed?”

I did say it was way before my time. And before you ask, nobody can ask the old gods about it because they're all dead lol

There's a reason I'm staying right here on earth and never going back. ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

Wait.

Some part of his head finally clicked to one possible direction: Market was also on Earth. The so-called god of fortune. "How do I trigger Market's buff? It says in my quest log I have to help him smuggle people back to Earth, how do I do that?"

The text block on his phone vanished, as a new message came.

brb, nxt episode of Yo soy Gabriela is finally airing rn in colombia.

"What? Next episode of what? What the actual fuck?"

No texts returned. Play didn't even wipe the screen with the final text.

"Goddamn it Play." Wade was left alone in the chamber and his thoughts.

He waited for anything to come from the phone, but nothing else. Just that final message left.

Fine, if this was some kind of dying fantasy world spinning around aimlessly in space with a dying sun-ring thing, that's on them. He was on a time crunch and he was going to make it back home no matter what.

Would absolutely suck to survive through all this, only see himself fired from all of his part time jobs due to a week's long absence or something. He'd get new jobs, but all the progress he'd done for Hobby Froggy's would be gone down the drain and Wade didn't know if he had enough in the tank to keep going through that kind of crushing disappointment. If he could get out with a healing item, it'd be worth it but if he couldn't?

Future Wade's problem to deal with, when he got out. And speaking about getting out, he realized one big issue: If there were wards around the city that stopped anyone from coming in… would they also stop him from going out?

New Regional Quest: The keys to the city - Find and attune to a master wardkey rune. Rewards: Free passage within Nathir Shelter-Cities.

Wade reread that quest three times over. It hadn't appeared earlier, but only when he'd considered the actual wards of this city and how to pass through them. There was something there, about how quests were triggered.

Wade's thoughts were halted midway from a sound of some kind. A chittering squeak, wet sounds of mud and frantic pitter patter. It got closer and closer, from the opposite side of the room.

There was someone else here.

"Identify." Wade whispered, keeping his stool in attack mode, taking a step back and ducking close to the table.

The sounds came closer, and then a red health bar showed up.

Level 2 Blackrot  Rat - 100%

It was charging without any hesitation into the room.

"Ah, Remy. Good to see you little chef." He whispered out.

Then he spotted another health bar stalking behind it, speeding up.

Level 4 Blackrot  Weasel - 100%

A weasel?

Moments later, he saw the two animals as they scrambled out of the cavern gloom and into the lantern light. He could see the one behind his rat was way larger, with the same unsettling negative image effect - this time a weasel's shape carved in pure darkness, occasionally outlined in white.

The weasel moved like a fish in water, incredibly quick and agile, its body low to the ground. The rat tried to juke left and right, but the weasel reangled itself faster than Wade could blink.

Left, right, caught.

The rat never stood a chance. In one fluid motion, the weasel bit the tail, yanked the rat backwards, then bit straight for the back of the neck.

A shrill cry of pain, an attempt by the rat to kick against the ground, and the weasel thrashed it's head like a maniac. Wade heard a snap.

Level 2 Blackrot rat - 0%

The health bar had gone from 100 to 0 in that head thrash.

He didn't dare move. Right now, becoming part of the furniture seemed like an excellent survival strategy, because whatever that weasel was on, Wade didn't want to find out.

The monster weasel tore into its prey and Wade watched, horrified, as both creatures' darkness seemed to merge where teeth met flesh. The white outline flickered more rapidly during the feeding, like a strobe light effect that made his eyes water. Those black particles swirled faster, almost excited.

What was left behind was a regular looking rat, half-eaten. Dead. All of the black had been sucked out into the weasel. It continued to eat the dead rat, but with far more calm, as if it's hunger had been mostly satisfied.

Then the weasel's head snapped up, whiskers twitching. Wade hadn't moved, hadn't even breathed loudly, but somehow it sensed him. Its head turned with mechanical precision until it faced him directly.

Wade slowly waved his hand at it, as if trying to calm a giant bear. This thing was ten times smaller than he was, but it looked like it would bite the shit out of him, and Wade didn't want to find out if that was true. He felt the hilt of the dagger in his left hand, and used it to calm himself. The rodent was ten inches or less, tiny, and other than the weird black fog around it, looked like a regular weasel.

"Hey buddy, it's okay." He crooned. "Just let me pass by or go back where you came from, noth-"

Of course, the weasel lunged at him.