Sleeping Player (Project Chrysalis Book 3) by John Gold (novel24 TXT) 📕

It lost its status as an altar, though its special features remained. Animals still brought their gifts to the half-dead tree. Players were still able to resurrect their pets, though the resurrection ritual was a bit different.

The interface window talking about how the gift needed to be equal in value disappeared. Instead, players just buried gifts at random and asked the nameless god to resurrect their pets. If that didn’t happen, they knew their gifts hadn’t been enough.

Half the city fell under the Spirit Forest’s sphere of influence, and spirits poured out of the ground for days in a row to rise up into the sky. The air glistened silver constantly. Even though the place of strength had lost its power, it had become a unique area belonging to the spirits of nature.

The tree that had served as the altar to the nameless god hadn’t died despite the damage it had taken. The unknown mage had been able to split it in half from tip to root with just one attack. One of those halves had died along with Sagie’s lich, petrifying after the battle and losing all its leaves. It even featured ten contorted bodies also made out of petrified wood. But the second half had survived, covering its part of the field with shade from its leaves. A meter-wide gap separated the two halves, and the wood on both sides was charred.

The Golden Hand offered to buy the homes of everyone living in the area so they could move somewhere else. Everyone who took them up on their offer was given double the value of their destroyed homes, so there wasn’t much hesitation. The locals were all more than happy—only Leon had his eye on the future.

The legendary Forest of Spirits, the location of Bloody Sagie’s latest battle, the nameless altar… just two days later, the infonet was flooded with articles about the spot. That meant that it was about to become a cash cow, and even Merlen broke into a smile when he heard the plan. Leon was a master of generating income no matter what the situation. Having lost the battle, his focus was on winning the war.

Most importantly, he didn’t want Sagie to have anywhere to come back to.

Yes, it was a war, and Leon was prepared to do anything he had to do to win. Even Femida would receive a fabulous reward if she helped him catch Sagie, though the girl just laughed at him.

In the real world, they started going back through everyone they suspected of being Sagie. One tiny message, an easily-missed request sent to a psychologist about a dead boy, grabbed Leon’s attention.

***

I’m awakened by Femida yelling at Slender. He got it into his mind to jab the sleeping blacksmith with a stick, and the wild shrieks tell me he got what he was looking for.

Isaac is watching from around the corner, practically breathing down Femida’s neck. Slender disappears before the blacksmith can grab his hammer.

Once all our problems are solved, we finally get down to work on Femida’s sword. The process takes about nine hours, as we add layer after layer of metal. Flatten, combine, form, flatten, combine, a thousand times over. Isaac has nerves of steel, never saying a word the whole time. Femida only falls silent when the blacksmiths focus on her sword.

Day turns to evening; evening turns to night. The hours stretch long, though the work is almost done. We can finally see the outline of the sword we’ve made entirely out of palirin. The guard, hilt, and blade are all made out of the same piece of metal. It’s an enormous longsword with an extended hilt that almost makes it look like a flambard. But no, the center of gravity and balance are designed for use as a longsword.

The old master puts away his hammer, leaving the finishing touches to Isaac. Immediately understanding what needs to be done, the latter starts to mold the hilt to match the shape of his gauntlet. The sword still looks rough, though its lines gradually take on more definition and symmetry. When the time comes to sharpen it, Isaac steps into the utility room and leaves the blacksmith to close and stand guard at the door. It’s a simple, clear sign that nobody is supposed to go in until the job is done. An hour later, Isaac walks out with a razor-sharp sword.

Valkyrie sword

Two grand masters of the smithing art poured all their skill into this sword. Many years ago, it was used by a Valkyrie who always knew which side to take in order to emerge victorious. Nobody remembered her name, though they all remembered her sword.

Effect: 10000-18000 damage

Requirement: Unique item

Durability 500000/500000

Not enchanted

Femida has a hard time picking the monster up. In fact, it is only when she gets into the living armor and uses her amplification that she is able to work through a combination move with it.

The weapon is as long as Femida is tall, and it does incredible damage. Just to see what it can do, I ask her to use it on a tree that grew up where I slept. It’s a sprawling oak that’s already spreading its branches over the two neighboring houses. The trunk is so thick that two grown men couldn’t wrap their arms around it.

The girl puts all the anger building up in her behind the blow. The sword buries itself up to the hilt in the trunk, splitting the tree in half, ending up full-length in the ground between Femida’s legs.

“What was that for? I asked you to try out your sword, not chop the poor thing in half!”

“Oh, shut up, I didn’t even put all my force behind it. I basically just let the sword fall on its own.”

Damn, Isaac, what did you make? She could chop us all up into salad, and