Battle for the North (Rogue Merchant Book #4): LitRPG Series by Roman Prokofiev (the dot read aloud .TXT) 📕

“What are you going to do?”

“We’re deciding. Follow him, most likely.”

Svechkin replied reluctantly, using ambiguous phrases, and quickly changed the subject to the siege of the Bazaar. He wondered about my role in the madness that had paralyzed Sphere’s main marketplace. So what about me? As usual, Cat had almost nothing to do with anything, simply using the opportunity to make some money.

Half an hour later, Romanova returned together with Cey-Rus and clearly in a dismal mood, as she pulled off her bloody gloves and angrily threw them into a corner. The First Maiden’s silver mask clattered on the stone tabletop.

“If only I got my hands on that idiot...” she hissed. “Doctor Frankenstein, for Christ’s sake!”

She was really beautiful while angry. She wasn’t my type at all, but I could finally understand Cey-Rus.

“How about my loot?” I asked casually.

“How about paying for the work of a max-level skinner?” she retorted. “What happened here, anyway? How did they appear? There was a global breach of the Balance? Why?”

“I’m not a hundred percent sure,” I replied, carefully picking my words. “But the admins were here. The new admins, I mean. And I think they killed Ananizarte.”

“The Goddess of Darkness?” Cey-Rus quickly asked.

“God, those fools...” the First Maiden groaned, her head falling into her palms. “How can they be so stupid? Don’t they realize that they’re fighting fire with oil?”

“They don’t, Lena!” Svechkin spoke up. “Neither did we. It only started to dawn on us after Taerland, remember?”

“All right. We’ve managed to identify this...being,” Cey-Rus interrupted them. “We’ll fill out the autopsy report, the creature card, and its profile later. The point is, it’s a member of a secret NPC faction. They call themselves Nomads, Doomguards, or Purifiers.”

“So is it a ship or an NPC?” I asked.

“Neither. It’s closer to a living shell, like an organic armor for an implanted pilot. They’re linked like symbiotes and cannot exist apart from each other. The structure’s pretty interesting, like a normal body turned inside out.”

“What do you mean, inside out?”

“Well, ordinary creatures have their bones inside their bodies, like a frame. This one has its bones outside, using this exoskeleton as a thick, durable shell. The rest — the organs and the connective tissue — are inside, including the controlling NPC. Actually, it’s not even an NPC, more like an artificial entity. We studied it in detail — it’s barely damaged despite you having used true fire.”

“I’ve never seen such a travesty done to NPCs,” Romanova slowly said. “Just thinking about the procedures required for this fusion is revolting. They definitely used an ordinary NPC as the basis, a human male. It’s as if he was dismantled and reassembled, turning him inside out and making him a part of this quasi-organism. Meanwhile, the controlling AI was driven mad, its algorithms and priorities changed.”

“Can you elaborate?” Svechkin frowned.

“As you wish. Its vocal tract was removed, as well as the heart and the lungs. Instead, there are gemstones with unusual affixes. Actually, this NPC is so augmented that it has more foreign objects than flesh: more than twenty slots. Instead of blood, it has an ichor similar to the one used by necromancers while building chimera. The nervous system is fused with the exoskeleton. I’m sure he perceives it as his own body.”

“That’s why they’re so good at flying?”

“Possibly. Overall, the methods used by this Nomad are absolutely unknown. A wild mix of necromancy, Ancient technologies, artifactory, and magic augmentation. I’d love to take a look at the lab where they were created and the blueprints!” Romanova frowned. “Something like this shouldn’t exist in Sphere! Disgusting!”

“What’s the summary? Where do you think they come from?” Svechkin asked. “Any thoughts?”

Romanova fell silent and finally said, reluctantly, “It’s hard to tell. Considering that they appeared after the Balance was breached, they’re probably the dogs of the procedural generator. Somewhere, there’s an extremely powerful conglomerate of factions working in secret to build weapons against transgressors. We already theorized something like that.”

“We did. So it’s starting? Do we have time? What do you think?” the Gravekeeper asked.

“I think we do. This Nomad is equal in power to a rank five or six NPC, a leader of an ordinary faction. However, modification, augmentation, and creating the exoskeleton requires high-grade ingredients, many of which can only be found in the Astral Plane. Their mass production involves a tremendous amount of resources!”

“They’re buying them from the Pandas!” I suggested, but Romanova shook her head.

“It wouldn’t be enough. Something else is at play. We need to think. Nothing — not even the procedural generator — can create resources out of thin air. They must be taking them from somewhere! If we find that place, we’ll find their lair.”

“I’m confused. What’s going on?” I said, frustrated. “Could you maybe explain? Why would the admins kill Ananizarte? Why would the procedural AI spawn these spiders in response?”

Svechkin, Romanova, and Cey-Rus exchanged looks. Then Gravekeeper started talking, his tone patient.

“Because they’re idiots — I have no other word for it! They’re probably thinking they’re removing the unbalance by killing the crazy goddess! She did burn down an entire city in your world, didn’t she? Or maybe they want to gain her power — that’s also possible. But they don’t realize that they’re triggering processes that should never be triggered!”

“I don’t get it.”

“In Sphere, any action affecting gameplay causes a reaction. This is the Law of Balance. A stupid thing, honestly, but there’s no other way to limit a self-developing system. Do you understand me? The players and NPCs are, in essence, two global powers of Sphere. The division became especially pronounced during the Taerland crisis when the generator actively disrupted our attempts to restore peace. In the end, Taerland, then the most populated world of Sphere, had to be