End of an Era (Project Chrysalis Book 2) by John Gold (popular books to read .TXT) 📕

bar, and get rid of those gifts. They can use them to find us.”

Even riding piggyback on Femida, I don’t slow her down at all. She empowers herself and dashes off across the square in the direction of the slums. At least I don’t need a mount.

The tough part is that she then starts jumping from roof to roof like she has wings.

“If there are trackers, they’ll lose our trail. I’ve gotten away from lots of people this way before.”

“Get into a lot of fights?”

“Yes, because of the armor. It’s hard not to notice it, and the protection for children leaves when you’re allowed to start picking up levels. The bastards all try to take my armor. They don’t get it if they kill me, so they try to force me to hand it over.”

“Why don’t you just take it off?” We fly across another road. “Ooph, you’re going to kill me. Do you happen to have inertia dampers in your armor?”

“Idiot! What are you talking about? We’re being chased, and you’re cracking jokes.”

I’m forced to heal myself, otherwise I’ll die just by bouncing around on her armor.

“Where are we going?”

“I know a flophouse we can stay at.”

“That’s no good. They’ll be keeping an eye on all the guest houses and public places. Let’s just stop in some back courtyard.”

We log out of the game and come back exactly twenty-three hours later. I’m completely helpless. First, I need her to get me to the bar, and then we’ll see.

Nothing changed in our absence. This time, nobody tries to kill me or get in my way, at least that I notice. They’re already waiting for us at one of the tables.

“Ah, and here are our guests.”

The trio are all sitting there, wearing different clothes: cloaks and hoods. Ready to go. A man in a green cloak starts, the one who spoke for the group twice. There are two daggers sewn into his cloak.

“Congratulations on joining the Hunters. Fem, right? And what’s your name, young man?”

“I don’t think I’m going to say. I’m not sure who our enemy is.”

“Smart move. You learned the lesson Urius was trying to teach you.”

“Urius? The administrator?”

“Yes. I’m one of the judges responsible for the trial. As you can see, I’m also a player, and my job was to get a first-hand view of what happened. Quality control, so to speak. These two young men were going through the trial just like both of you.”

“Curiouser and curiouser.”

“You’re telling me. A mage without a class uses spells without a cooldown time and kills undead 500 levels above him. And, for the grand finale, he attacks a god.”

“Let’s skip all that. I’m not going to tell you about myself.”

It sure is nice to hear though. I haven’t had this much praise in a long time.

“Why didn’t you let Leon remove the debuff and give you the buff he offered?”

“Because I’m not going to depend on someone else’s help, especially when that someone is a god.”

“Fem, what about you?” The man is trying to find out everything about everyone. You sly dog! Although, I need something from him, too.

“He told me not to,” she replies with a nod in my direction. “He doesn’t do anything without a reason, and I suspected that the buff and the gifts were more a beacon or a mark anyway. And who needs that?”

The man just nods, agreeing with her conclusions. His smile widens with every word she says.

“Okay, let’s get down to business. The League of Hunters has a division we use to prepare killers, the best of the best. It doesn’t matter what class you are; it just matters what you can do. We teach how to kill, how to use everything you have to the best of your ability: your opponents’ weaknesses, your surroundings, your strengths, combination attacks, teamwork. Formally, you’re both a fit. Fem, you can get started whenever you’re ready; you, young man, will receive access when you become a Hunter.”

“Are there other divisions in the League?”

“Lots of them: diplomacy, crafting, cartography, investigation, finance. The league receives many orders, each requiring different professionals. Killers, though, are taught how to move correctly and how to best use what’s available to them. Those are universal skills.”

There’s quite a bit lying under the surface of what appears to be a very simple world.

“Are there divisions for finding information, people, or items?”

“Yes to all of the above. The league hands out very highly paid but difficult quests, though they don’t give you experience like all the other quests in Project Chrysalis. There’s an auction in every town, and you, Fem, will see a tab with information from the league when you visit them. That’s how you’ll get access to quests. And remember your alias. You’re Death Shield as far as we’re concerned. There’s information about your rank in the organization, too. It’s universal and reflects your level according to the specialists we have who study your profile.”

“But I didn’t show you my attribute panel,” Fem replies in surprise.

“The portal you took to get to the trial calculates everything. Nobody besides the local judges have access to it, and the League of Hunters itself has broad access to the information from the portal network so it can keep your information up to date. No other Hunters know anything about you besides your rank and position in the league.”

Yet another reason to stay away from portals. I’ve only used them twice, and they’ve already brought nothing but problems. First, it pulled my profile, and then the other one sent a squad of trackers after us. My thoughtfulness apparently speaks for itself, because one of the killers sees where I’m going and explains.

“You get access to specific types of quests in keeping with your rank. Your specialization also