Berserker: A LitRPG Urban Fantasy Adventure (Apocosmos Book 1) by Dimitrios Gkirgkiris (phonics readers .txt) 📕

He paused. “Alex? I know you don’t want to hear this, but you need to bring Louie with you.”

“What? No way!” I said, surprised he’d even suggest it, and then I lowered my voice so that Louie wouldn’t hear what I was saying. “It’s going to be too dangerous. I’m not going to put him in a situation like this. What if something happens to him?”

“You have to understand that he’s not just your dog anymore.” Leo tried reasoning with me. “He’s his own person with a personality and reasoning. He’s not going to sit back and wait for you to deal with the problem. Especially since he got a spellcaster class. You might not have told me what happened on that day with the fairy but Louie did.”

I stayed silent as I recalled the moment before Louie got his class.

“His exact words were that he wants to save you,” Leo continued, “and that he wants to be with you at all times. To help you through all of your difficulties. Why would you take that away from him? How would he live with himself if something were to happen to you and he wasn’t there to do his best to prevent it?”

This final statement hit home harder than any of his reasoning. I knew damn well how it felt to live with this type of regret. The helplessness and despair of the what-ifs that came with loss. If there was a possibility that something might happen to me, he’d never forgive himself for not pushing harder to come with us. I’d never do that to him.

“You’re right,” I said finally. “I need to learn how to live with that. But I need you to promise me one thing.”

“Sure. What is it?”

“If it comes to the point where you need to make a decision,” I said, more certain about it than anything else in my life. “Between saving me or him, you’re picking him.”

“Of course. He’s cute and fluffy and you’re always grumpy. And even though it’s not your fault, you’re damn ugly too.”

“I’m serious, Leo,” I repeated.

“Okay, okay. I promise,” he said with a sigh. “But there’s no way we’re reaching that point. We’ll be perfectly fine. You don’t need to worry.”

“That’s good to hear. I’m gonna do some more shopping now. See you tonight?”

“Yep. Ciao, ragazzo!”

As I put down the phone, I noticed Louie was now next to my feet, staring at me. I hadn’t noticed him move to that spot, so there was no way of knowing how much he had heard. However, the look in his eyes told me it was more than enough.

“Thank you. For understanding,” he said and buried his face between my ankles.

I immediately fell to my knees and wrapped my arms around him in an embrace that would never have ended if the dwarf hadn’t come back into the apartment from his extra-dimensional workshop. Normally, when his door on the wall opened, there was no sound coming out from the other side. This time, however, a very familiar song was playing: “Lord of the Blacksmiths” by Falconer.

“You listened to my music?” I asked, surprised.

“Only a couple of songs and they were shite,” he said. “But then I took a look at the titles. Turns out this one’s not bad actually.”

“Soundtrack to your life?” I asked jokingly.

“Soundtrack?” the dwarf said, confused. “What are ye yapping about, lad? We got business to do.”

“I bought top-tier equipment for me and Louie. I assumed you’re all set in that department already?” I asked.

“I’m equipped well enough, lad,” he said. “And I doubt ye can afford top C-grade equipment anyway. Much less enchanted stuff.”

“You can enchant equipment?” Louie asked.

“Not just me,” the dwarf explained. “Ye need enchantment stones or enchantment scrolls. There are those for weapons and different ones for armor and accessories.”

“So can you imbue elements into your pieces?” I asked, interested to see what advantage this might give us. “Like, can we get resistance to fire damage or even immunity to it? Or perhaps my sword can deal fire damage as well?”

“What ye’re describing is something completely different. Only smiths can imbue equipment with those kinds of effects. Enchantments will give yer weapon a bonus in Physical and Magic Attack, while yer armor and accessories will earn a bonus in Physical and Magic Defense. The bonus ye get from each enchantment isn’t very big, but it piles up… especially since the bonus doubles or even triples once ye cross the safe enchanting threshold.”

“You’re gonna make me ask what that is?” I said, acting frustrated. “It’s clear that I have no idea what you’re talking about. Okay…What’s the safe enchanting threshold?”

“The stones and scrolls used for enchanting are made of Dark-Energy-distilled mana,” he started, completely disregarding my comment. “Once the enchantment is successful, this mana is permanently infused into the item, giving it an increment—like plus one to its name—and the permanent bonus. But no item can be enchanted indefinitely. If the mana exceeds the item’s enchantment capacity, it’ll break into pieces.”

“It’d explode?”

“Of course not, lad!” the dwarf replied with a laugh. “Life’s not one of yer movies. The mana will be absorbed to the Dark Energy and ye’ll be left with the raw materials that make up the item ye just destroyed. However, all items can be safely enchanted up to a certain point. This is what’s called the safe enchantment threshold.”

“And do you know the threshold?” asked Louie.

“Aye, it’s no secret,” he replied. “You can safely enchant everything up to +3, or +4 for one-piece armor.”

“And after that you run the risk of destroying the item you’re attempting to enchant?”

“Aye again. And the higher ye gamble, the worse yer chances are that the item’s gonna be able to keep the enchantment.”

“Then why do it?” Louie asked, puzzled.

“Because of the thrill of the gamble,” I replied, recognizing this exact pattern from MMORPGs.

“And because ye can show them off,” the dwarf added. “Enchanted items have a certain glow and color. The more enchanted they are, the