City of Fallen Souls: A LitRPG Adventure (UnderVerse Book 3) by Jez Cajiao (fb2 epub reader .txt) 📕

girl said, reaching out hesitantly. I turned to look at her, and she shrugged, shame clear on her face. “About before, when I slapped you… I understand now. I was just in a lot of pain, and you... well, you sounded like you didn’t actually care to help…” she faltered, staring at her hands.

“Shit,” I said succinctly. “Seriously, it wasn’t that. I was trying to do the best for everyone at the time, and I needed to make sure we all survived that’s all. Still, I am sorry. I’d have just given it to you, happily, if the situation had been different.” I shrugged and turned to her grandfather after she nodded in acceptance. “So, is this sorted now?” I asked, gesturing to the smuggler, who glared at me. “Look, I don’t need you to like me, I just need you to get this done, and then you and your group can fuck off into the sunset, for all I care.”

“You’ve a real gift for people, haven’t you?” Tang murmured, his lips curling into a sardonic smile.

“We saved that dick, losing one of our own in the process, and haven’t gotten so much as a thank you from them yet, just complaints and demands.” I regarded him seriously. “How would you feel towards them?”

“Fair enough,” Tang admitted as he made his way to join Yen.

“So, if everyone’s stuck inside your Enclave under house arrest…how did you three get to me?” I asked them, leading them off to the other side of the cave where the smugglers couldn’t hear, and they both grinned.

“We’re scouts, L…”

“Please, just Jax, okay?”

“Okay... Jax... but we’re scouts; we’re sent out to hunt monsters and find enemy armies. A bunch of townie guards have no chance.”

“Fair enough. Think you could get back in?”

“Probably, but why?”

“To send word to the Legion to prepare, and tell them who I am. I came here to free people, to recruit for the Tower, and to get supplies. I’m thinking the Legion can help with that tenfold.”

“I can fly in and out of the Enclave,” Amaat said proudly, displaying his golden wings. “All I need to do is escape the tunnels.”

“Don’t they have ships on guard?” I asked and got another doglike shake of his head in response.

“They had a single Airship that floated above; it was easy to avoid when we left, and I doubt it’s gotten smarter.”

“Good. Will the Legion follow me?”  I asked Yen, who seemed to be their leader.

“Yes…” she said hesitantly, drawing the word out.

“But?” I prompted, and she grimaced.

“The Legion will follow you, but they’ll need to meet you. You’ll need to convince the Legion Prefect.”

“So, I can’t just send them orders to get ready, despite all this?” I asked, exasperated.

“Amaat will tell the Prefect that we have formally recognized you as a Scion of the Empire, and that you hold legal authority over Dravith. This will help, but you need to do whatever you did before, and reach out with the Oath. We felt it become active, like the old stories said it used to be, but only those of us nearby could feel it. There are hundreds of Legionnaires in the Enclave, and they will swear to you, when you swear to them.”

“Yeah, minor issue there; each single person I pull in costs me a fuckton of mana. I passed out and had to be put into a coma when I connected to  the eleven Imperial Citizens that were within range, including you three. Hundreds of people will probably kill me.”

“The Tower, Jax!” Oracle said excitedly. “You can use its mana to do it!”

“Can I? I thought I’d have to be at the Tower…”

“Oh, yeah... sorry, my bad.” She casually shrugged one shoulder.

“Seriously?” I shook my head. “Oracle, you can’t tease a solution like that to me and then just toss it off! With a ‘my bad’… fuck’s sake.”

“You do…” she said, looking at me askance.

“Yeah, well… look, that’s not important. Gods… just give me a minute, okay?” I walked over to lean against the back wall for a few minutes, far back from the torchlight, and closed my eyes.

I thought back over the last few days, how everything had been a mad scramble. Hell, the last six or seven months had been nonstop. Ever since that prick Daphne had kidnapped me, I’d never had a damn day off, or seemingly five minutes to myself to just…stop and think.

I stayed there for a few minutes, recalling a technique used by one of the chefs I’d worked with ages ago, when a day was going to shit.

No matter what was happening, when it was all balls to the wall, he’d shout ‘Stop.’ Just ‘stop.’ Then he’d flick a switch on a little ancient egg timer he had just for that purpose.

The entire kitchen, even me as the pot washer, had to stop for the full 60 seconds. You could look about, but your hands stayed where they were.

It was weird, now that I thought about it, and it’d sound even weirder to try to explain it to someone I knew, but that 60 seconds was all you needed. You stood and planned your next move, you figured out where you were and what you could do better, then ‘ding,’ the timer would go off and the kitchen would explode into movement as we all ran like we were batshit crazy, getting things sorted.

It sounded mental, but inside of five minutes, the kitchen would be running smoothly again. It shifted from chaos to organized chaos, and that was a massive step up.

I used that same trick now; I thought about my goals: where I needed to go, what I knew, and what I didn’t, where my weakest points were. I went over it all, and then I took a deep breath and turned around. Walking back to the group, I felt in control, more or less.

I had a plan, anyway.

Chapter Two

“Okay, people, gather round,” I said, a cold calm filling my voice as