Edge of the Abyss (Respawn Trials Book #1) LitRPG Series Read online

  I looked up. Bingo. There were cracks in the ceiling through which the carnivorous plants grew down. Beside the cracked masonry, I could see a collection of dully glowing cocoons of various sizes, which dripped a bitter juice. I bet there weren’t even bones left over from the prey.

  A system message appeared as soon as the thought came into my head,

  You have discovered a hitherto unknown type of plant altered by the Abyss. Would you like to name it, describe it and add the information to the Game Encyclopedia?

  Reward +1 to Fame.

  …

  I thought for a second and then agreed. I’d be unrecognizable in the image but it’d be like a message to Savage that I was alive and continuing to develop successfully, even gaining more Fame. Plus, the eliminated pack of rats had given me 1,200 Exp. Twenty creatures worth 60 experience points each. The heightened realism had really bumped things up. I was close to going up a level.

  …

  You have access to additional information gained from experiments. Do you want to add it to the description?

  …

  I agreed again. Perhaps my Wiki article would save someone from a horrible death or warn them against using the glowing threads. This was the result:

  Carnivorous moss. Found in the dungeons of the Dark Frontier. Has the ability to mentally lull its prey to sleep, cocoon it and slowly kill it.

  Can be used as a source of light with care. The makeshift torch has a weak necrotic aura which is projected onto its owner (+10 response from the undead and -50 response from living creatures).

  …

  You have gained 375 Exp. Your Fame has increased by 1.

  You have reached a new level. You have one free characteristic point. Would you like to spend it?

  …

  I increased Adaptability like Sasha had recommended.

  I’d have to find out what the benefit of Fame was when I got the chance.

  …

  Recommended skill: Naturalist. You will be able to study new types of plants and animals more quickly and effectively, and to note their special features.

  …

  I declined for the moment. I understood that a character’s development had to be carefully thought through and planned.

  The short break really helped. Firstly, I regenerated my Stamina and HP. Secondly, I made a discovery and gained a level. Thirdly, my mood improved. Moreover, a very tempting idea had come into my head but I would have to prepare before I could carry it out. At a minimum, I needed to deal with the enemies lurking near the respawn point.

  I took a risk, exited the game for a short while and called Sasha. “Hi. I’ve got a question.”

  “Yeah?”

  “How do mobs respawn?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Let’s say I kill all the enemies around a respawn circle, how soon will they reappear?”

  “The typical interval for NPCs is four hours, but if there are no other players nearby, the location responds to you. It’s simple, the mobs will only respawn if you die or if you leave the dungeon for ages and then return.”

  “Got it, thanks.”

  I returned to the game. This meant that I had a chance to clean up the hall. The most important thing was not to rush or I’d need to start anew.

  * * *

  I ran through the toxic fog again.

  I rolled when I reached the edge of the cloud — just in time as the zombie was waiting nearby and jabbed forward with his spear but missed me.

  I leaped to my feet and cast a glance to either side. The centipede was far away and I couldn’t see any rats.

  My opponent had already turned around and was advancing towards me. He had a strange nickname, Jeber_Arium. Level 12. There was a sinking feeling in my stomach. Shouldn’t an NPC be labeled differently? Something like Ancient Zombie, Level 12?

  What could a player be possibly doing here, especially looking like this?!

  I probably didn’t look any better, wearing my shabby leather armor, my face smeared with dirt and wrapped in rags like a mummy. A fragment of a rusty sword in my hand. I wonder how he perceives me?

  Jeber_Arium attacked. Remembering Sasha’s advice, I avoided the stabbing thrust, leaped to his side and chopped twice with my sword.

  What a howl! There was genuine pain in that scream. Damn it. Could he really be a player?

  I rolled over a mound of compressed garbage. My ‘combat acrobatics’ (if one could call my desperate attempts to avoid being hit that) were rapidly using up my Stamina so that I was almost exhausted. The muscle memory that Sasha spoke about was there but I was out of the habit of moving like this and hadn’t practiced in a long time... I became disoriented at times and the somersaults brought on waves of dizziness.

  I suspected things weren’t going to end well,. My opponent hadn’t landed a single hit but he’d preserved his strength. The inflicted damage had taken away about a third of his Life points. The long spear let him keep me at arm’s length. He thrust the spear forward as soon as I paused.

  My Dexterity level left a lot to be desired. I got caught at the next short roll. The zombie predicted my move and imitated a stabbing attack but then switched to a spinning strike.

  The tip of the spear slashed through my right shoulder. Blood gushed from the wound and the zombie didn’t waste any time, performing a series of spamming attacks that produced a Shock debuff.

  Here it was, the true price of realism! I could have handled the pain if I was on the recommended 10% but not on 50%. My legs gave out from under me.

  Everything swam before my eyes. The menacing, hunched-over figure blurred. I was rapidly enveloped in a reeking gloom and a second later, the pitiless thrust pierced my chest and my mind went dark.

  …

  YOU HAVE DIED.

  75 Exp lost.

  …

  The VR capsule opened with a rustle.

  Max and Sasha helped me drop over the edge and dragged me to an armchair. A door opened and someone else ran inside. I wasn’t thinking clearly but I could feel the person give me an injection.

  “Well?”

  “He’ll live. Did you idiots put him on 50% of realism?”

  “We recommended it,” Sasha grumbled.

  “Like I said — imbeciles! You’re destroying people with your accelerated leveling up! Is he having a cuddle party in there? No? Then what the hell? No more than twenty-five percent! Let him work for it slowly, let the experience dribble in bit by bit but without any fatalities, got it?”

  “Yeah, we got it.”

  “Hey, it’s all good...” My mind cleared a bit and I decided to interrupt.

  “Sure, buster,” the unfamiliar guy just shook his head and left. It seemed like these incidents weren’t a rarity for him.

  “You did well,” Sasha got comfortable in the chair opposite me. “Avicenna’s right, we’ll have to drop the realism. I watched the recording. I’ll jot down a leveling up plan for you. You’re a quick one. You’ll aggro the rats and then draw them into the toxic cloud. You’ll quickly gain three levels that way. Meanwhile, I’ll figure out how to kill Jeber.”

  “Is he a player?” I asked hollowly.

  “Yup, but don’t worry about that. Talking to him is pointless. He’s a ‘drowner’, I bet.”

  “A what?” I took a sip of mineral water.

  “He played a lot at high realism levels and went nuts. He doesn’t leave the VR capsule and has forgotten about the real world. He must have been a relatively successful player but bit off more than he could chew and entered a hardcore location. He must have died again and again, losing levels as he went. Right now, he’s not that different from an NPC.”

  “But he’s a person!” I exclaimed.

  “He WAS a person,” Max clarified gloomily. “You occasionally meet them in the game. For him, the dungeon is the only reality. He’s forgotten everything else. I’m not sure if he’s capable of normal communication at all. Usually, you can’t get through to them. You’r
e just going to have to kill him.”

  I was silent. We’d see about that.

  * * *

  Over the next few hours, I got acclimatized to the gloomy atmosphere of the Dark Frontier dungeon.

  It was gradually turning my stomach. Hanging out at a garbage dump and leveling up using rats was not what I’d call enjoyable.

  “Come on, chill,” Sasha had developed an optimal route for me and explained what I had to do, based on yesterday’s recording. “Farming’s always like that at the start. Suck it up.”

  I had insisted on keeping the level of realism at 50%, though.

  I didn’t cross paths with Jeber since he was not in the habit of wandering through the tunnels. He mostly sat on the shore of the reeking creek and tried to fish something out of the murky water.

  I had no food. No clean water. I constantly raced through the toxic fog, drawing hordes of rats after me, all to gather crumbs of gaming experience. Wasn’t that just a reflection of our normal, fussy lives?

  …

  You are suffering from thirst.

  You are suffering from hunger.

  Your Stamina has been reduced by 10%.

  Speed of natural HP regeneration has been reduced by 10%.

  …

  Where was I supposed to get food and water? There was plenty of rat meat but I wasn’t yet ready to eat it raw.

  It had grown noticeably darker. The muted light seeping through the crack in the ceiling was gradually fading. It must be evening up above.

  The night was for monsters. This was particularly relevant for the underground.

  The thought produced an ironic smile. My old, long-forgotten attitude to life was coming back to me: I grinned recklessly at a huge rat that had followed me through the toxic cloud and plunged my sharpened sword fragment into its brazen snout.

  One shot!

  I was surrounded by a weak golden glow. I had finally gone up to the next level!

  I returned to the resurrection circle and dispatched the centipede but got slightly poisoned myself and had to wait for my Life points to recover.

  According to the leveling up plan, I had to collect a pile of rocks, annoy the rats from afar and drag the next pack through the toxins.

  It took a whole hour to go up another level.

  Pure hardcore, no fun. It was more like exhausting hard labor. I was tired, I had breathed in heaps of fumes and my leather armor had lost half of its Durability and was covered in dirt. My face stung and my arms were covered in scratches.

  My Life bar flickered at half-full. It kept increasing slightly due to natural regeneration but then dropping from time to time due to the poisoning. I decided I better wait until the debuff wore off.

  I sat exhausted and breathing heavily. My throat was parched but I wasn’t going to risk drinking from the puddles.

  The darkness gathered around me so that I could see faint reflections of a pulsating, deep violet glow through the crack in the wall. Could it be the portal through which I was sent here? I hadn’t had time to see anything before my instant virtual death and then I had woken up in the respawn circle.

  It was worth checking, even if to just glance at it from a distance. The farming was done for today anyhow, since I doubted that I could level up effectively in the dark. I didn’t have night vision and it would only take one wrong step or a trip and I’d fall or simply get gnawed to death.

  The muted glow went through curious changes in color from lilac to almost black.

  It had to be the portal! It was probably located in one of the tunnels that I hadn’t yet explored. I guessed that its gleam was barely noticeable during the day, when enough light came through the gap in the ceiling.

  I was going to risk it. I was thoroughly sick of the dungeon. There wasn’t a single safe corner here where I could leave my character and exit cyberspace. Max thought that I only had one option, to farm non-stop until I could confidently kill any mob that I encountered, but where was the guarantee that I wouldn’t meet even stronger opponents on the surface?

  I needed alternative exit routes, so there was no reason to sit here and wait for sunrise. Onwards, to explore!

  I crossed the creek, stopped and listened carefully.

  The quiet steps paused immediately. Was Jeb creeping after me? I glanced behind me often and briefly spotted the hunched-over figure. He didn’t seem to be planning an attack but who knew what was on his mind?

  The hole was wide and uneven as if an explosion had blown out a section of the wall. Chunks of brick protruded from the edge like broken teeth. Apart from the emitted light, I could hear something resembling a child’s cry coming from the tunnel depths.

  My surroundings changed dramatically as soon as I climbed through the gap. The low stone vault was supported by thick columns that reminded me of melted candles. The comparison was due to their gently undulating shapes and the yellow streaks covering their surface. I touch one and a hint popped up,

  Amber gum. A rare alchemical and magical ingredient. Highly valued for its properties. Gradually absorbs elemental forces, which can then be released. Used to strengthen weapons (elemental damage), create levitation and flash potions, as well as to power certain devices created by dwarves.

  Amber gum is difficult to obtain as it is found only in very dangerous places with strong energies emitted by the Abyss.

  …

  I understood the warning but this didn’t change my plans. I tried to break off a piece of the amber gum but my sword fragment wasn’t a suitable tool for this. I did manage to find several small fragments of the unique mineral at the bases of the columns, though.

  The crying and wailing grew louder. The cave floor began to slope downward. It was covered in a network of wide cracks, emitting... a black flame! Yes, I had been right. It wasn’t smoke, it was fire, purple in the center and charcoal along the edges. It fell back and flared back up again, casting forward long, flickering tongues.

  I circled around the most dangerous areas and tried to cross the cracks in places where the effects of the Abyss were least noticeable. My face and arms started to tingle.

  A wide fissure crossed the farther cave wall. The pulsating light was coming from there.

  …

  You are observing a unique phenomenon. Would you like to add its description to the Game Encyclopedia?

  Reward +5 to Fame.

  …

  I stopped, unsure. The smoky rabbit and a colony of carnivorous moss was one thing. But a place where the Abyss had erupted, with large deposits of amber gum and something mysterious ahead of me, was information of a very different kind. My logic was this: there was a lot of gum here. If I published my Wiki article, people would start looking for me. Many would want to get their hands on my map.

  Delay publication.

  The system didn’t insist and so I kept going.

  Chapter Six

  THE FISSURE was short and led me straight to the next cave.

  I hid behind an outcropping of stone and observed the scene in front of me.

  Up ahead stood a half-destroyed dwarf village, which was obvious from how squat the structures were. I could see it clearly from my higher position. It was an incredibly unusual and creepy place. In the center, where the market square used to be, glittered an oval-shaped mass of black-purple energy, pierced by bright streaks of red and green.

  Terrifying creatures wandered through the streets. The crying and wailing were coming from the underground inhabitants, their bodies twisted and fused together. How could I accurately describe them? Imagine that a mad, enraged sculptor had slammed his creations together, combining several figures into one shapeless mass, with fragments of bodies, arms, legs and heads sticking out of it. This terrible creation continued to survive and moved around however it could.

  There were dozens of these fused, mutilated balls of flesh. Some emitted a green aura (I now understood what the city guards were so afraid of), plumes of smoke came from others and yet more were surrounded by a dull
reddish glow with streaks of darkness.

  …

  You have found a working Abyss portal.

  +10 to Fame (if a video is published).

  You have found sentient beings altered by the Abyss (name the mutated species).

  +15 to Fame (5 for each species if the materials are published in the Bestiary).

  …

  I replied ‘Delay publication’. There was a lot to think about. I first had to find out what were the benefits of increased Fame versus the risks.