Tartila Mine (The Alchemist Book #5): LitRPG Series Read online

  But that was what had happened. His Valkyrie-laden arm began raising to turn Tailyn’s body into nanoparticles. Apparently, he was going to have to shake the information out of Valrus, though Mark couldn’t stand so much as the idea of talking with the backstabber. It had been his fault Mark had lost his humanity, the part that had empathized with all things living. It had been the reptiloid that turned the Absorber in to the mages and transformed him into the alchemist Alron. It had been his fault that Mark had been forced to turn his back on Fang. Having left Valrus to waste away on the pathetic planet, Mark had assumed he’d gotten his revenge. But the creator apparently liked playing jokes on its children. It had spared the reptiloid’s life and brought the pair back together once more.

  That was fine, however. The old mistake could still be rectified, though Tailyn needed to be handled first. The human couldn’t—

  Mark didn’t have time to finish his thought before Tailyn attacked. The man’s brows shot upward when he recognized magic, the very same magic that had been ripped out of the world when he’d stolen the dragon’s blood. Back then, the creator had taken his revenge by robbing everyone of their direct power, replacing it with cards. Still, Tailyn’s spells licked harmlessly at Mark’s level 1244 Vargot without doing a single unit of damage. Just for a moment, Mark thought about sparing the boy’s life long enough to find out how he’d gotten his hands on something that had no right to be on the planet, though that was when he shrieked in unimaginable pain. Neither his armor nor his resilience had helped. His left side had been reduced to a chunk of roasted meat, and his maximum regeneration told him it was going to need another two hours to get him back to peak condition. That was when his protection kicked in—the remains of the dragon dropped to the ground. Suddenly, he realized the absurdity of the situation, his perception going back over his logs and reminding him why the flying lizard’s name had been so familiar. Li-Ho-Dun. That had been the name of the first dragon he’d destroyed on his native planet, the son of the release owner who’d decided to destroy Earth-1. What was going on? Why all the oddities on the planet?

  Your companion was destroyed. Dragon card charges remaining: 2.

  Tailyn didn’t react in the least to the news. As the attack had failed, Valia was going to be spending one of their concentrated noas very shortly. Time slowed down. The boy watched detachedly as Mark’s arm slowly raised, a fiery red bolt flew out of Valkyrie, and the bolt eased its way through the air before cutting deeply into Tailyn’s body. A million little fragments flew into the air, dissolving immediately into black dust. The shock wave formed. Valrus was picked up and hurled against the far wall only to slide slowly down it. The Absorber, despite the impact blocker, took it hard, too—he barely maintained his footing. And then, he lifted his other arm, presumably to launch something even more deadly at Tailyn. But that was when he flickered and disappeared as if thrown into a portal.

  It was only then, after all that had happened over what felt to Tailyn like a century, that an explanation popped up in front of him:

  You were attacked by an Absorber-level being. In keeping with the rules in accordance with which the Absorber may find himself on planets after the exodus has taken place, the first three attacks aimed at his main target are blocked by the System.

  Attack 1 blocked. 2 blocks remaining.

  The Absorber has been transferred to the farthest point away from you on the planet. Approximate arrival (considering his current speed): 7 days.

  ***

  Note!

  You tried to fight back.

  Your determination is noteworthy. The decision has been made to give you a weapon capable of evening the odds in your coming battle with the Absorber.

  Would you like to become the owner of Fang?

  Tailyn didn’t hesitate for a moment. It was hard to admit his mistake, though deep down he had indeed believed the Absorber was coming with good intentions. He’d hoped Mark would help figure out his problems, let the boy find his place in the cruel world, maybe even assist in fighting back the empire’s attack. Most importantly, he’d been looking for an ally against his main enemy. But no, almost as if the head of Mean Turk didn’t have enough problems as it was, the Absorber turned out to have showed up on the planet not at all to bring him a peace offering. He was just one more enemy looking to take him out, and that meant Tailyn had every right to try a preemptive strike. The System said Fang would help take on the absurdly strong Vargot? He was all for that.

  With the pressure on his physical body gone, Tailyn didn’t have a problem taking a few steps backwards. His hand slipped right through the protection—there was no more resistance. The System recognized the boy’s right to his new weapon. As his hand gripped the dagger’s handle and pulled it out of its millennia-long captivity, the two stone teeth shivered and disappeared into black dust along with their metal tips. There was new food for the Cleaner. Tailyn took a closer look at the weapon, staring in amazement at the snow-white blade. He’d never seen bone that color. A moment later, the System responded, filling the space around the boy with text:

  You took ownership of a unique weapon with no equal in the entire game.

  Level +1 (101).

  All your attributes and skills increased by 1.

  Named item level +1 (16)

  ***

  Loot received: Fang.

  Fang. A ritual dagger linked to player Tailyn Vlashich (cannot be stolen or used by anyone else). Current Fang level (FL): 16. Ignores all types of armor. Does necrotic damage. Cannot be blocked in the game world. Requirements: Melee Weapons (100), Agility (100), Strength (100), Monster Knowledge (100), Anatomy Master (100), Resilience (100), Necroticism (100), Expanded Consciousness (100), Absorption (100), Executioner (100) (Note! You don’t satisfy the requirements and cannot use this item).

  ***

  Note! A discrepancy was discovered between a gift from the System and your capabilities.

  Analyzing options...

  Solution found!

  Modifying functionality...

  ***

  You can use Fang for the next 24 hours. In that time, you must find a way to satisfy the requirements for your new weapon, otherwise it will be deleted from your list of available devices.

  The messages filled Tailyn’s vision almost faster than he could read them. For a while, panic gripped him thanks to the requirements for Fang, though the temporary reprieve let him breathe again. The System was giving him a day to figure out a solution, and that was nearly an eternity in his shoes.

  The free parameter point went to integration—Tailyn needed to pick up one more consciousness. As experience was showing, that was critical to survival, and he was also realizing how important across-the-board parameter bumps were. All his attributes had leveled-up, and that included the ones he already had at 168. As it turned out, working his way through divinely blessed missions was incredibly valuable. But that was all secondary. In the moment, he needed to understand what was going on with Valrus and where the Cleaner had gone. There was no doubt the energy field that had once protected Fang had disappeared with the dagger, and that meant the monster would have picked up two tasty morsels if it had appeared right then.

  The boy’s mana level plummeted in concert with the golden dragon appearing in front of him. Li-Ho-Dun only had two deaths left, the second of which was going to be final. Wagging its tail merrily, the companion stuck out its tongue—it was ready to do its master’s bidding. Tailyn took off and had the creature fly him over to the unconscious reptiloid as some of the traps were still in place despite how the Cleaner had occupied the area. At least, that was what Raptor told the boy, and he wasn’t about to double-check.

  Valrus had really taken a hit. He was alive, though he’d been reduced to a chunk of well-marbled meat almost ready to be roasted. One regeneration potion later, and it was only then that the additional timer popped up to show six hours. The ancient wasn’t the best of allies—he spent most of the time unconscious. There was no kno
wledge imparted, no stories about strange traps, nothing. Only a few words about how they needed to get out of there along with the doubts about the way through. What had been the point of bringing him along? At least, he’d gotten the door open.

  Raptor began flashing red a few seconds after Tailyn finished dealing with Valrus. A few moments later, the boy figured out what had his accessory so upset, and that elicited a foul curse—every single corridor leading to the hall they were in was filled with a mass rushing toward its target. The Cleaner had figured out that the Absorber had left the lab. It was time to deal with the pests once and for all.

  The only thing Tailyn had time to do was grab Valrus and fly up to the ceiling, letting the first attack flash by below him. The monster slammed into the construction that had once stored Fang, and strange squelching sounds filled the air. To the insatiable monster’s delight, the mountain of black ash disappeared, though that was far from the end of the story. With each passing second, the level of dough in the room rose a few dozen centimeters, striving to reach all the food it could. It was like the blind monster knew there was someone else there.

  Tailyn picked that moment to attack. There was nowhere to run—Raptor made it all too clear that the passageways were all blocked off by the Cleaner’s body. With just seconds left before the monster got high enough to touch the boy’s leg, the latter had no desire to see what was going to happen when it did. Perhaps, nothing; perhaps, he would be stripped of life with no chance for resurrection. And that was why he had to act. Fang was able to damage the Absorber, so it was presumably a match for a simple monster, as well.

  Gripping the reptiloid between his legs, Tailyn flipped upside down and held out the hand holding Fang. The knife was just a few centimeters short of the creature’s body, though that problem was quickly remedied. Tailyn didn’t even have time to blink before the dough rose high enough to impale itself on the long blade.

  For an eternity lasting a thousandth of a second, nothing happened, but then Tailyn’s hand spasmed so hard Fang nearly slipped out of his fingers. Vargot and its vice-like grasp holding the dagger in his hand saved the day. But the knife was taking on a life of its own, cutting loose a forest of black strands that reached into its victim. The whole thing happened so fast, in fact, that nobody had time to react—neither Tailyn, who turned off his flight in surprise and fell like a rock toward the monster’s waiting “maw,” nor the Cleaner itself, its pliable mass having turned into something frozen and stiff. It took Fang just a moment to encircle the Cleaner’s body in dark strands, after which the second phase began.

  Necrotic energy stepped in.

  The charge itself looked like black lightning to Tailyn, assuming something like that even existed in nature. Coming from the snow-white blade, it ran along the strands piercing the Cleaner, and the monster’s stiffened body began shrinking at an astonishing rate. It was being sucked dry. The once-enormous mass was turned into a thin film, Fang’s already white blade glowing whiter still. As Tailyn let himself gently down to the ground, he touched the remains of his adversary with a palm, ready at any moment to pull his hand back. Nothing happened. With the exception, of course, of the System handing him a reward.

  You destroyed the second embodiment of the Cleaner, one of the four parts of Experiment 1.

  Level +1 (102).

  Named item level +1 (17).

  ***

  You used your free attribute points.

  Integration +1 (55).

  ***

  Loot received:

  Middling Core. Would you like to place it in your dragon’s blood storage?

  ***

  Not enough material to complete the Dragon’s Blood mission. Mission progress: 30%.

  Not enough material to upgrade a named item. You have 30% of the material needed.

  Tailyn turned a shocked gaze on Fang, a blood-thirsty grin creeping over his face. The System had been right. The weapon he’d gotten really was unique, and the most important part was that Tailyn knew how he was going to spend the coming twenty-four hours. With the time finally at hand to complete the god’s mission, he was going to rid the world of experiments, the Cleaner and Griala included. It was even a good thing Valrus was unconscious—setting the trap was much easier when the bait didn’t resist.

  Chapter 12

  You destroyed the first embodiment of the Cleaner, one of the four parts of Experiment 1 (2 remaining).

  Level +1 (103).

  Integration +1 (56).

  TAILYN GLANCED OVER in disappointment at the remains of the Cleaner’s first embodiment and deactivated Fang. The snow-white blade returned to its spot on his left wrist next to Raptor. For whatever reason, it had picked that arm despite the fact that Tailyn was righthanded, not to mention the boy’s best efforts—the knife lost all its parameters the moment he picked it up in his right hand, becoming a useless if gorgeous little bauble. That made things a bit awkward and just about fed the boy to the Cleaner. Happily, the terrifying dagger’s active blade just needed to touch the dough in order to cut loose showers of dark strands that brought forth instant, final, and irrevocable death.

  It didn’t take any particular strength or power to wield Fang. With that said, there was one downside that forced Tailyn to think long and hard about how much he actually needed it. Fang completely blocked his flight ability. No matter how hard Vargot tried, and no matter how hard the little wings on the sandals flapped, they were powerless to get Tailyn and Fang into the air. But that all changed the moment the boy unstrapped the dagger and placed it on the floor. Oddly enough, there wasn’t anything in the descriptions or logs about something being blocked—it just wouldn’t happen. The boy’s magic worked perfectly, however. Fang didn’t keep him from teleporting, moving right along with him. And that was what swung things back in favor of Tailyn hanging on to the blade. Moving along the ground was impossible with the traps refreshing every hour, so he had to use the dragon to fly his stone as far away as he could jump. Then, Tailyn grabbed Valrus and teleported to the stone. The blockers keeping him from using portal cards had nothing to say about his teleportation ability.

  “The other parts are probably in the lab itself,” Tailyn said as he collected another 25% of the dragon’s blood. The silence that had fallen was starting to get to him. Having assumed he would use Valrus as bait to lure the other Cleaner embodiments over, the boy had found the creature too clever by half. Not only did they each have their own territory to cover; they were holing up in the far reaches of their respective territories. Somehow, the Cleaner had figured out it was being hunted, reacting instantly. It was only thanks to its animal stupidity that Tailyn was able to find one of the embodiments—he’d shown up in the very first hall, the one with the technical bots, found nothing, and been about ready to leave when the ceiling came to life and dropped down on him. Apparently, the creature had decided to rid itself once and for all of a strange and powerful enemy. Taken aback, Tailyn still had time to throw a hand up, and Experiment 1 worked with gravity to do the rest, swallowing Fang along with the hand. Vargot, even at level seventeen, didn’t even think about putting up a fight. The Cleaner immediately broke down its defenses, ate through the boy’s personal shield, and engulfed part of Tailyn’s hand, all within a fraction of a second. If it hadn’t been for Fang... But Tailyn shoved away that unpleasant thought. He needed to focus on the positives instead of worrying about what might have been.

  Valrus said nothing in reply despite the fact that he’d woken up. At least, he’d woken up insomuch as he was moving around on his own two legs, in all other respects having turned into a zombie from the old books—twitchy, lifeless, silent. It was like the strength had been sucked out of him, turning him into a limp sack of bones. And that unnerved Tailyn even more than the silence.

  Although, even Valrus was shaken back into the present when he saw the technical bots. The reptiloid cast thoughtful glances at them before returning his gaze to the ground.

  “You know what they are?
” Tailyn asked when he got tired of watching his partner’s strange behavior. Not particularly expecting a response, he got one anyway.

  “Once upon a time, they were my personal guard, only the military confiscated them. They’re useless now since I don’t have the activation codes for their new brains.”

  “You tried to get them running?” Tailyn asked in surprise, suddenly looking at Valrus differently. His quiet companion turned out to have quite the stunner up his sleeve. Tailyn just couldn’t say if he was happy or not about the turn of events.

  “They’re my machines!” the reptiloid shot back emotionally with a jerk of his tail. “The troops had no right to take them! And actually, they aren’t even all here—there used to be three of them. Apparently, they drove one right into the ground.”

  Tailyn swallowed the urge to mention how the System had been the one to take the third, instead asking a different question.

  “How would you link with them remotely? Device control isn’t working.”