Skye is the Limit by Phenomenal Pen (best time to read books txt) 📕

Elf looked at Hordo as though he was speaking a foreign language that not even Mage could translate. She was familiar with the health meter that each of them carried like unangelic halos but she didn’t know there were so many other variables.

Hordo, sensing Elf’s discomfort like a finely tuned radar, was quick to sneer: <Did you think your actual physical strength and speed had any bearing in this realm? You’re a long way from home, dearie. Mark my words: if you left it all to your physical forms, you wouldn’t last five minutes in dream world.> 

<What about these?> Warrior asked, referring to a shelf near the entrance which was full of vials, bottles, jars with pickled organs in them, and herbs.

Hordo flitted to Warrior with surprising nimbleness. <These are potions and elixirs prepared by witches, fairies and alchemists from all over Erebus. For a limited time, they do everything the charms do and more. They can increase the multiplier for your XP and Gold. They can make you invisible, freakishly tall, as strong as an ox, as tiny as…>

<OMG, guys!> Warrior said. <We gotta get some of these.>

<Yes, yes,> Hordo urged like a cherub-faced angel that had switched sides with the devil. He touched Warrior’s bulging muscles. <We can work with this and increase your mass exponentially.>

<No,> Blacksmith said. <There’s a reason why cheap, open-the-wallet items are placed near the entrance. What we need is a strategy.>

Hordo hissed at Blacksmith like a vampire glimpsing sunlight.

<I second Blacksmith’s proposal,> Mage said. <We must not focus on the short game but plan long-term.>

<All right. What do you suggest we equip ourselves with?> Ranger asked Blacksmith.

To the innkeeper, Blacksmith asked: <Do you also carry ancient maps?>

<Perchance,> Hordo answered, the lashes of his reptilian eyes fluttering. <Which dungeon do you seek to raid?> 

<The Orc Mother’s Nest.>

Hordo spat like a cougar and, from the walls of the Blue Room, wispy and semi-transparent Sylphs swooped in. They picked up whichever weapon was closest and pointed every one of them at the Dreamwalkers.

****

<My brother-in-law is an Orc!> Hordo screamed, his face so irate it looked like his chubby cheeks were going to burst.

<Stay your hands,> Mage implored both sides, raising his hands like the arms of a cross, the head of his wooden staff pointed forward and keeping the barmaids-turned-assassins at bay.

Elf had also materialized her auric bow and a single arrow from her Anima bracelet, and Blacksmith a katana. Warrior and Ranger tried to summon something by willpower but failed, and so they resorted to raising their fists in the stance of Irish bare-knuckle boxers.

On the other side were seemingly unassailable Sylphs because they were only half-visible. Their weapons, on the other hand, were very solid. The Dreamwalkers were outmatched and outnumbered.

<We come in peace,> Mage tried to placate Hordo.

<… and with a lot of gold!> Blacksmith blurted out.

His eyes were shut because he was expecting to be impaled by a spear. He had already resigned himself to waking up back at the rolling hills, at game start all over again. To his confusion, the fatal strike didn’t come. He warily opened one eye.

All the Sylphs had vanished back into the walls of the Blue Room, leaving only an amiable Hordo.

<How much exactly?> the troll asked with a shrewd grin.

****

Blacksmith handed the charmed satchel to Mage. He wasn’t expecting anything and thought that Mage, for all his knowledge and mystical talents, was no instant coin counter. But his eyes popped because, as soon as the sorcerer received the item and with a simple brush of his hand, Mage manifested an optical virtual UI right next to the satchel. The most amazing thing was, the auric UI was being projected on nothing but air so they could see its transparent back with the characters flipped backwards.

<1,609 gold,> Mage announced while swiping and scrolling,  <plus various items including chapel materials, books, exchequer records, clothes and food for the blue-bloods, bottles of wine, gifts, and jewels.>

Hordo was rubbing his palms together like a kid to whom Christmas had come early.

<Very well then,> Hordo said. <We can do business.>

<But…> Elf hesitated to bring up the topic again but she just had to ask <… what about your Orc brother-in-law.>

<Bah!> Hordo interjected with a disgusted wave of his hand. <I’ve always known my sister married beneath her. Can you imagine the dowry I had to pay just so he would take her off my hands?>

No response from the dumbfounded Dreamwalkers.