Monster Hunting 401: A LitRPG Fantasy Adventure by Andrew Karevik (best books to read txt) 📕

such an act, without the proper tools and hygiene equipment, could kill me in the process if we weren’t careful. My natural regeneration was not fast enough to stop me from bleeding to death and, as far as I knew, an infection could destroy me like anyone else. Worse yet, if an infection got inside my body while it healed up around it…I’d have no way of observing the symptoms from the outside. At least not until it was way too late.

So for now, I was hobbled. A few long femurs from the bone pile would make for a fine crutch for now. Worst case scenario, I’d have to use Trig’s Ilrex charm to sprout me an extra pair of legs. I shivered at such a thought, however. Physical transformation was…horrific, to be generous. No matter how much therapy I had undergone, no matter what my handler had tried to tell me, it was impossible for me to bring myself to use transformation charms. That didn’t stop Jenevive, my handler, from forcing me to keep my wyvern charm with me, in the hopes that someday I’d get the courage to try using it again. Who knows? Maybe the threat of death would give me the courage to sprout some extra legs or something.

“You okay? You seem a little distant,” Trig asked as he tapped on the gem a few times. There was a faint light coming from within, a blue hue that seemed to shift and move about. As if something was alive within.

“I burned a ton of health, tore the damn thing in half and lost use of my right leg almost completely,” I grumbled. “I am definitely done with today.”

“Cheer up! I think we found the vessel! I mean come on, he’s blue, he gave the beast mind control powers, and he shines!” Trig said, patting the stone once more. “This has got to be him.”

“I don’t think gems are hes,” I replied. “Or shes. Or anything really. Whatever they are…they seem so utterly foreign.”

Trig shrugged. “Well, I’m hearing a man’s voice.”

I turned to look at him. “What?”

“I said I’m hearing a man’s voice,” he replied. Still staring at the crystal. I realized that since he had arrived to this area, he hadn’t left the gem alone. At all times, he was touching it. Almost holding onto it.

“What’s uh, what’s ‘he’ saying?”

“Hmmm?” Trig asked, not turning away from the stone. “Who?”

“The voice?”

“Oh I’m just….” Trig trailed off for a moment. There was silence for almost a full minute before he spoke again. “Kidding around is all. Just having a laugh.” His words were growing monotone, slow and disjointed. As if he was speaking the words without knowing what they meant. Just like the Eldest!

“Okay, that’s enough,” I said, hoisting myself up with my makeshift crutch. I hobbled up to him and put a hand on his shoulder. “You’re done playing with the gem now, let’s get back to the wagon and figure out what to do next.”

Trig did not reply. He merely stared at the gem, face blank. Eyes glazed over. The Fylk charm had its limits. Whatever this gem was doing, its power was far beyond the minor compulsion level.

“Come on,” I said, digging my hand underneath his pauldron. “Let’s go.” I tried to yank him off the gem, but he shrugged me off and slipped to the right, getting further away from me.

“I’m busy,” he muttered. “B…. busy.”

Balancing on my good foot, I decided to repurpose my crutch to knock some sense into the young man. I swung the bone club into the back of his skull, knocking him clean over.

“Ahhhh what the hell! Do you get some kind of commission for every time you cause me grievous bodily harm?” Trig yelped as he sat up, rubbing the back of his head.

“Don’t look at the gem,” I said, standing in between the large stone and himself, spreading out my arms to block his view. “I think it’s hypnotizing you.”

“Is that why my head feels like it’s going to explode?” he groaned. “Or was that just from you trying to kill me?”

“I’m sorry that hitting you has somehow been one of the most effective strategies for advancing my goals,” I said, throwing him my scarf. “Now cover your eyes. We need to load this thing up into the wagon.”

Trig complied, wrapping his eyes in my soaking wet scarf, dutifully avoiding asking what exactly the scarf was covered in. With his echolocation, we were able to gather the remains of the Orphine and then carry the gem to the Stabwagon.

The darkness seemed to recede around the light of the gem. The great oppressive energy that covered our every step, pushing against any source of light as if it were water, trying to break past a dam, had started to give way. Where the light of the gem touched, the darkness avoided for quite some time. For once, we actually saw a trail forged as we carried the large stone to the wagon. The darkness wanted nothing to do with such a power.

But what was it? I was immune to its effects, thanks to that ring but…what in the hell was this gem? Trig had no memory of the voice he had previously claimed to hear, although he admitted that everything was a little fuzzy after he returned to the Orphine’s lair. In fact, he barely remembered that I had summoned him with my telepathic charm. Everything seemed to be a blur the moment he laid eyes on the gem.

I wondered if perhaps I had made a mistake in assuming that the Vessel, whatever it was, would be friendly towards us. If it was a thinking creature, just like the rest of the Masara, it might perceive us as enemies and attempt to defend itself. Should I attempt to communicate with this stone via telepathy? Or would that open me up to its influence?

No, too risky. My leg was busted, Trig’s charm wasn’t strong enough to protect him from