The Gene of the Ancients (Rogue Merchant Book #2): LitRPG Series by Roman Prokofiev (top books to read TXT) 📕

Aelmaris the Blue

Flaming Sword of Seven Brothers

Quality: key.

Material: star metal, mithril, true fire.

Sentient item. Scalable. Personal. Undetectable. Soul Eater.

XP: 14456/100000 Souls eaten: 18

Damage: 30–50 (piercing, slashing)

One of the Seven: +10 to all attributes of the owner

True Flame: +3500 true fire damage (rank 1)

Soul Eater: consumes and holds the soul of a defeated creature.

Destroyer: destroys durability of enemies’ items.

Star Metal Wrath: reveals true form of all creatures in a 10 m radius.

Fiery Lightning: bestows Fiery Lightning ability to the owner, 12 charges per day.

PICK A LEGACY

HIDDEN LEGACY (requires more experience)

HIDDEN LEGACY (requires more experience)

Slots: 2 (Soulbinding Stone) (empty)

True owner: HotCat, ID G58620789

Well, well, well. I had completely forgotten to level up my sword! I could pick a new legacy — apparently, that was something akin to a property. Let’s see.

Yep. I could either increase the rank of an affix I already had or choose a new one. I had two options:

Dancing Sword: the sword can act on its own, destroying the nearby enemies. 30 seconds/day

Blazing Warrior: the wearer’s flesh transforms into true fire, making them invulnerable. 1 min/day.

I’ll be damned! Now I had to choose between good and great. I needed to hold my horses and consider the question.

* * *

While waiting for Abel, I went down into the hall. I had to have lunch, or rather dinner.

The mug of beer that cheerful Kirana added to the meat stew seemed like divine nectar. How could it be that a bunch of neurons, instead of real alcohol, could make one intoxicated like a fool?

“Sir Cat, there are rumors going on about you!” the innkeeper’s daughter bent to me and started whispering in my ear, like a conspirator. “After the young Err returned... They say you all but saved the city!”

“Nonsense,” I dismissed her. “That’s just gossip.”

“Gossip or not, you are a Friend of the Nation!” Kirana laughed, her curls tickling my neck. Suddenly, she gave me a loud peck on the cheek and continued, “In any case, Father and I decided to let you live here for free. It’s such an honor for us!”

Yes, after getting rewarded in the castle and gaining the amulet, I would become a big man there. The NPCs’ attitude had clearly changed for the better. With my faction rep with Eyre at Revered and the title of a Friend, I wondered if I would be recognized on the streets.

“I’d rather you tell me if your chests are locked secure enough,” I asked the innkeeper’s daughter. “Can anything be stolen from a room?”

“Who do you think we are, Sir Cat?” The girl frowned. “We are a decent establishment! We never had a single theft!”

“What did you hide there, pray tell?” I heard from an empty spot on the opposite side of the table. In a second, a short guy appeared, dressed in a green doublet and a beret worn askew and decorated with a bunch of pheasant feathers.

“Are you going to order something, sir?” asked Kirana, seemingly unsurprised. She was probably used to players’ antics. “Should I bring you something?”

“Two beers, dark,” Abel ordered. It was him.

“And how long have you been spying on me?” I asked.

“Not long. Listen, a thief with perfect skills can pick the lock on both your room and your chest, so be careful. If it’s something valuable, you’d better send it to the bank or the clan warehouse,” he recommended. “So, what’s that?”

“It doesn’t matter. Personal stuff,” I said, wincing. “To what do I owe the honor, Abel? It’s unlike you to visit without a good reason.”

“You’re right. Well, I have two pieces of news for you, and both bad. Which one do you want to hear first, the bad or the very bad one?”

“Any of them, I don’t care,” I replied, yawning.

“Then first, the bad one. Unfortunately, we were unable to defer you from the exam into the Watchers.”

“But Komtur promised that for Tao — “

“That was before the rollback, during the battle, and I got the impression that Tao pretty much owned all of you back then. But that’s not the issue here. In short, we had a conversation and decided that that’s how it would be. You must pass the exam, just like the others. All of us have gone through it, all Watchers, and there will be no exceptions. It’s an initiation, get it?”

“What if I fail?”

“Then, you won’t become one of us!” Abel cut me off sharply. “But you’ll make it, Cat.”

I shook my head. It was hard to understand the logic of the Watchers’ leadership. They were both stubborn and very calculating. Komtur was no fool; was he prepared to lose a player with an imba sword just to observe the traditions? It smelled fishy.

“The second piece of news, the very bad one, arises from the first,” Abel continued. “As you remember, we hired Pandorum to kill HELL. Now we owe them a hundred souls. You promised Komtur to help with this, but there’s a catch: we have a contract with HELL that says — “

“...That the Watchers leave the faction war, blah blah blah,” I finished the sentence. “So what, Abel?”

“It appears that you can’t join the clan until you farm souls and give them to Pandorum. To break it down, you’re neutral, clanless, and you have to do it now. To sum it up, we decided to reschedule the Liberty exam for after we pay up the Pandas.”

“So am I understanding it correctly?” I started, trying to keep the boiling rage at bay. “You want me to farm a hundred souls and give them to the Pandas,