Shadow Seer (Rogue Merchant Book #3): LitRPG Series by Roman Prokofiev (read ebook pdf .TXT) 📕

Feeling like a complete idiot, I went inside, stretched in the cradle, and tried to relax, constantly glancing at the timer. If I carried on like that, I risked losing my wife. You couldn’t really have a family and play like an addict. I caught myself anticipating logging into Sphere like a junkie waiting for a fix. It wasn’t even money or business. That world simply pulled me in with tremendous force. I wasn’t playing; I was living there. I didn’t like those thoughts, so I suppressed them. It wasn’t the time for introspection. I recounted my actions once again, looked at the timer, and slammed the capsule lid, activating the neural interface. To battle!

The first minutes after logging in were considered the most dangerous. Sphere didn’t really have any lags or timeouts due to network bandwidth or desynchronization issues (those were a thing of the past), but enemies could easily anticipate my movements. After all, response time was something the pros had perfected. In a second, I could be sent to the nearest resp point.

And so, as soon as my eyes saw the inside of the coffin, I activated the Greater Shield of Shadows, surrounding myself with an impenetrable screen capable of withstanding ten million hit points of damage.

Without delay, I threw open the lid, jumping out with Aelmaris like a jack out of the box—there was a small chance that one of the Pandas had been standing close enough to me to get into the shield.

However, I was lucky. Several spells immediately splashed against the shadow dome, reducing its health bar by a hair’s breadth. When the rainbow vortex dissipated, I squinted, almost blinded by a bright light and barely managing to make out the dark silhouettes around me.

Three...five...seven! The Pandas and their pawns surrounded me from all sides, some just a step away and some aiming at me from behind the ship’s armaments. Several dazzling Circles of Light were aimed at the patch where I was standing.

I looked around, ignoring the arrows bouncing off the shadow shield. I was on the long narrow deck of an oblong ship that didn’t resemble the Abyssal in the slightest; vicious broadside curves, a sharp bow in the shape of the fanged maw of a fish. Was it the famous Barracuda? We were above the surface, and despite the blinding light, I could see the black mirror of water overside.

It was time to begin. I aimed my blade at a large structure with two Pandorum pawns sitting behind it and activated Flaming Bolide. So you wanted a battle? I’m going to smash your ship into atoms!

An orange-blue ball rapidly swelled on Aelmaris’ tip, gaining power, and finally broke away, shooting a fiery bead at the target. I expected an explosion, screams, and bodies rolling down the floor, but instead, the Bolide bounced off the structure and flew back. A flash and a roaring fire made me stagger back, and shadow shield’s health bar decreased by several percent at once.

Flaming Bolide was reflected by Mirror Skin!

All right. So the Pandas had prepared a surprise for me? I had never heard about any Mirror Skin! I quickly searched the Net and froze—there were almost no results, only two lines mentioning some kind of legendary archetype. I had no time to study and analyze it, as Yota came closer to me. It seemed like he wanted to talk.

“Surprised? Did you think you would come out and crush us with your miracle sword?” He grinned. “No dice. There are many things in Sphere you have no idea about. Say, this.”

He showed me a small green pyramid with weird symbols on its facets. They reminded me of Kann-Elo, the language of the Ancients.

“See? You can find unusual stuff in Ancient caches. This one, for instance, can resurrect a player right after death, not letting him respawn. You could play with your victim for a while, killing him time and again before he drops all of his loot.”

I carefully examined him, ignoring the spotlight effect that the Pandas had tried to create with their Circles of Light. A strange glowing veil covered the bodies of Yota and his team, shrouding the entire ship. Was it Mirror Skin? True Fire couldn’t be stopped or resisted, but it didn’t mean that it couldn’t be evaded or reflected with unknown magic. A loophole, like the Magister had told me. Pandorum analysts had done their job studying my abilities.

“Ninety-six percent chance of reflection,” Yota said as if reading my thoughts. “True Fire cannot help you. You’re stuck here.”

The son of a bitch was right. I frantically went through my remaining options. I couldn’t escape into the Shadow Plane—too much light everywhere. My trump card was the avatar of Blazing Warrior, but it could only be used in melee. The Pandas probably expected it and wouldn’t let me get close to them.

So what was I to do? My Plan A was using the shadow shield and kicking the enemy’s asses with Flaming Bolides while trying to avoid damaging the shield. I didn’t like Plan B, but it didn’t seem that I had a choice.

“An unfortunate situation, isn’t it?” Yota concluded. “I honestly have no idea how you can escape this. So sad.”

Why was he telling me this? If the Pandas simply wanted to reskill me, talking would be pointless. However, it really was an unfortunate situation, and they were quite capable of making good on their threats. Even if I logged off, my avatar wouldn’t disappear immediately during battle. I would also lose my buffs, get killed, and they would follow me to the resp point via a Long Jump or another trick.

“However, there are two options. Option one: you die as many times as we want,” Yota continued. “Option two: we make a deal. Fifty thousand ransom, we cut off your ears ten times or so, and you