Hive Knight: A Dark Fantasy LitRPG (Trinity of the Hive Book 1) by Grayson Sinclair (black authors fiction txt) 📕

crafted out of enchanted sapphires, they’d cost a fortune to create but were made almost unbreakable by white magic—both hefted greatswords in their outstretched hands.

Adam outdid himself with these two. I walked to the door without incident, but anyone deemed a threat by the golems would find themselves reduced to a bloody paste.

The vault door swung open without a sound as I unlocked it and stepped through, pulling the door closed behind me. The room wasn’t large by any means, but we’d made the best use of the tight space as possible. Along all four walls were individually labeled chests for specific types of items, from gold to weapons and even magical ingredients, all neatly organized and stored away─courtesy of Wilson.

The center of the room was nearly bare except for a large crimson rug and a solid brass table. Upon which lay an inordinate amount of gold and items, enough that they spilled over the table and onto the carpet.

I whistled appreciatively. Not bad, not bad at all. The gold was piled high, at least forty thousand coins stacked in chaotic disarray, which was more than enough to pay the guild well for a few weeks. The coin was nice, but it troubled me deeply. Either the money came from the soldiers or the Order of the Dawn, and I didn’t think Richard would be stupid enough to go into battle with this much coin in his guild’s possession. Though the Alliance didn’t pay their soldiers nearly this well. Most only earned a hundred gold a year—a pittance.

This much gold presented a serious problem. I wanted to pin this attack on the Alliance. The backstabbing, political machinations of the Compass Kingdom were nothing new. We could handle them easily enough, but this money hinted at someone else being behind this. A new player on the board could mean trouble for us, especially if we don’t know their identity.

Much as I wanted it to be the Alliance, my gut told me otherwise. Too many things didn’t add up, but all the years of bad blood between our two groups didn’t let me rule them out entirely. Regardless of whether it was our old enemies or a new threat, I didn’t care. They’d provoked us, brought war to our home, and they would pay for that. I’d make sure of it.

The guild would need to be convened, and a plan of action discussed, but right now, I had to sort through this mess.

Without even counting it, I stored the pile of gold in its respective chests. Wilson would make sure each member was paid equally, so I left the unenviable task to him and started sorting through the items, hoping to find a new piece of gear I could use.

Other guild leaders took advantage of their position and took all the best equipment for themselves; I restrained myself to one item, usually a weapon.

But at once, I could see that there wasn’t anything that could outdo my current sword. Hero-tier was the best for a reason. Several high-tier and even a few hero-tier weapons were scattered throughout, but I skipped over all the others that littered the ground. Richard’s armor caught my attention. It was top quality but far too flashy for my tastes. Still worth a hundred thousand gold, at least. Everything here was of exceptional quality and would either make great new gear for the guild or fetch a high price from the Merchants Guild.

However, there was one item among the lot that was out of place. Hidden among the random assortment of gear sat a small green crystal. It was well worn, and upon closer inspection, the crystal itself wasn’t green. It looked to be made from obsidian glass. The green coloring came from the whirling green smoke that twisted and writhed inside it.

It looked similar to the crystal Adam used to summon the void golem, but it wasn’t a summoning crystal that I could tell—the material was different. It was something the like of which I’d never seen before. There were small chips and nicks in the crystal, but the majority was whole.

It was an oddity, so much so that I immediately picked it up. It was small enough to fit comfortably in my hand and was warm to the touch. As soon as my hands wrapped around it, there was a tiny pinprick of pain and when I turned it over, a minuscule sliver of my blood smeared the obsidian. Using my interface, I pulled up its stat screen.

Prison of the Hive Queen: Increases luck permanently by twenty.

 

Trapped inside a Void crystal by black magic ages past. The Hive Queen commands all races of the Hive. However, the method of releasing the queen has been lost to time. Now, this item is little more than a lucky charm.

Some strange flavor text, but no way am I passing up a stat boost. While Luck didn’t play heavily into my build, finding an item that automatically increased it by twenty was unprecedented. I’d rather use this than spend my money at the stat trainers. Fucking highway robbery for a couple points increase.

I took the crystal and stored the rest of the gear in the chests and was about to head upstairs when a thought struck me. If the others find out about this crystal, they’ll mob me for it. Adam and Wilson especially would salivate over the possibility of twenty extra points in Luck since it factored so heavily into their classes.

Removing it from my inventory, it pulsed with warmth, and the texture of the crystal in my hands was strangely smooth, despite the nicks. As I brought it closer to my face, I smelled hints of pine and cedar wood, with a note of something bitter lurking underneath. Brimstone perhaps?

A notification popped into my vision.

Use Item Yes/No

Yes.

Luck Increased by 20!

As I waved the screen away,