Chapter 21_Double-Blind: A Modern LITRPG

Chapter 21

 How did you get here? Audrey sent a sh of irritation at me, even as she conveyed my words in her nasally, stilted tone. She was clearly unhappy to have her binge interrupted. But Brett had intended to leave, and I needed more information.

 Brett was leaning against the wall near the elevator, constantly checking to ensure the newly appeared buttons were still there. A Tribal Gnolls dius hung from his hipthe same one hed used to y the Clip-eared gnoll, and as far as I was concerned, hed earned it. Brett crouched down to talk to my summon on her level, his hideous neck tattoo still holding vignt watch.

 Dunno. Had a crazy dream. Lots of questions about philosopher kings and shit. Kind of out there for me, havent done much philosophy since college. He nced at Audrey with amusement, then. Might still be dreaming. Im chatting about college with a nt. Havent done that since college, either. Feels real, but maybe its not.

 Interesting. The Philosopher King. A then concept of a more knowledgeable, well-thought-out leader originally explored in tos Republic. And, apart from the fact that they were both rtively well known philosophical topics, had as much inmon with the Trolly Problem as sliced bread to a beached whale. Unless you wanted to get really into the weeds. What was important was that Bretts questions had likely been entirely different. Different person, different questions, different ss.

 Did you choose? Or did they choo-oose for you.

 Bretts nose wrinkled. They chose for me. All things I think I would have said, but some were totally off the mark, you know?

 So, that part was the same for him as it was for me.

 Audrey shook her head. It is real. The sooner you ept that, the better.

 Brett pointed above them. Toto, Im no expert, but the stars arent that clear where I live. Pretty sure were not in Texas anymore. eptance is one thing, but I have no clue what to do.

 I thought about it. He clearly had some natural abilityand possibly a special ss. The leaderboard had shown him as a Duel-Singer. The worst oue for me was if, upon leaving, Brett fell immediately into the hands of Daphnes group or someone worse.

 Das is there. First floor. Some people still normal. Others like you. Many of them dangerous.

 Brett looked confused, then down at himself in realization. Oh, its all gone fucky, then. He nced at Audrey, gave her a wide smile. Want toe with me? I know I made that sidekick crack earlier, but you can handle yourself, and you saved my life to begin with.

 Audrey sent me a sh of rm. I sent her back a wave of calm, and tried to think of what to say to get the message to Brett.

 This is my home. Please dont tell others that Im here. I stay you go no following. Audrey said, motioning to the elevator.

 It only urred to me btedly that I stole the final half of that line. But Brett didnt catch it. If anything, he looked a little sad. Ill take your secret to my grave, little flower friend. Stay safe. Enjoy your dinner. He looked a little queasy as he stepped into the iron cage and waved goodbye to Audrey, who waggled a thorned vine back and forth in return.

 As soon as Brett disappeared, an image of a half-eaten gnoll shed in my minds eye.

 Hungry.

 Well, despite my stomach gurgling loud enough through the previous exchange that I feared Brett might hear it, now I definitely wasnt.

 Still, Audrey had been incredibly useful. I left my spot in the shadows and crossed over to her, patting her gently on the head. You learned and applied almost everything I taught you. But be more patient. If that encounter with the pack-leader went badly, we probably wouldnt be having this conversation. Still, you did well. Id be lying if I said that the thought of Audrey eating gnollswho were stupid, but no less so than primitive humansdidnt make me queasy. But Id explicitly bribed her to the contrary. Be careful not to damage their gear. But go for it.

 Audrey slithered away, chanting meat to herself, and I couldnt help but shake my head. If I was right, and PVP became unavoidable, Id need to start packing extra food for her. And buying it for that matter.

 Whatever I summoned next, I hoped it was considerably less hungry.

 Dismantling the gnolls campand the gnolls themselves, in Audreys casetook some time. Between the training grounds and the bodies, there were twelve All the moremon variety. No mention of them being a dius or dius rted.

 Id take them all, of course, but only if I still had room.

 The was less appealing. Most of it was in tatters, with or as their rarity designation. Audrey had listened, and was stripping the gnolls before she ate them, leaving small piles of discarded goods next to their bodies.

 Clip-ears sword was a standout.

 

 Description: This unyielding de hungers for the blood of its enemies, and will strive to keep the bearer alive to achieve that need. The debilitating effects of injuries will be drastically reduced as long as the bearer is inbat.

 

 Huh. So, that was how he kept going like something out of a horror movie, despite taking significant damage from the fight with the magic user and the grunts. If Id had it during the scuffle with the pack leader, I wondered whether it would have allowed me to shake off exhaustion simrly. Unfortunate that the effect only worked inbat. Without that inbat use, I could easily imagine myself using it as an enchantment-stick. I imagined myself taking a serious injury, whipping out a stupidlyrge sword, and running away. It would be confusing as hell.

 I prodded my chest, finding it still tender from where the pack leaders foot had mmed me against the wall.

 Was it still worth using despite thebat use? I tried to raise it, and the tip immediately dragged downward, the weight of the sword far heavier than its short andmon counterparts. Probably not. Especially if the adaptive dungeon was factoring in my gear. as abat skill was specifically tailored to smaller weapon use, short-swords, daggers. Themon version of this sword was only a few inches longer than my dagger. I guessed the only reason Clip-ear was able to use this sword so sessfully with the style was because he himself was massive. This was a small weapon for him.

 Still, as my first rare weapon drop, I hoped it would sell for a decent chunk.

 Then I made my way over to the headdress gnolls body.

 To say his staff was crude was putting it lightly. It vaguely resembled a miniature wooden telephone pole, a grainy, splinter-ridden rod rising to a lower-case t, shape, with sparkly bits and bobbles glued in consecutive segments along the top of the crossing resembling tiny power converters.

 

 Description: A catalyst focus for magic users. Can be used to magnify the users natural ability, or for a magic user unattuned for direct magic.

 Item ss: Umon

 My eyebrow shot up. Was it possible I was in that camp? I wasnt a traditional caster, but the argument could be made.

 First, I waggled the stave in the general direction of the gnolls buildings. Then I focused, the same way I did when I used probability spiral. I reyed what little Id seen of the fight between Clip-ear and Headdress in my mind. In a sort of dawning sense of doom, I realized that every time Id seen Headdress cast, hed been saying something.

 Please dont make me test it.

 With exactly zero enthusiasm, I held the staff out and said the words.

 Lightning bolt.

 To both my great relief and disappointment, nothing happened. From somewhere across the clearing, I was pretty sure I heard Audrey, snickering.

 Were leaving soon. Sure hope youre almost done! I yelled, my voice echoing. Theughter was reced by panicked nt noises.

 Once I finished threatening Audrey in a manner that felt entirely too simr to how my parents used to cajole me into things, I noticed something was different. Headdress had been wearing a mask. I looked around for it, finding it face down a few feet away.

 

 

 Theck of description was mildly suspicious. It called to mind an endless litany of game items that looked insignificant at first, only to end up being importantter. The outside was a mess of jagged red lines, with a protrusion to fit over a gnolls snout. I flipped it over. The inside was entirely white and smooth, with no cut-outs for eyes.

 Experimentally, I ced it on my face. For a moment, I saw nothing but white. Then the white blurred, disintegrating slowly away. Wearing something like a paint-ball mask or ski-mask almost always means you lose some peripheral vision. But I had a full view of the castle before me, including the enhancements from .

 That seemed more than a little useful. Even if the mask itself was too eye-catching for my purposes, it would certainly be useful for someone.

 Among the rest, I was delighted to find a draw-string sack filled with what looked like clinking silvers, squirreled away under one of the grunts sleeping rolls. It wasnt directly unidentifiable, but when I put it in my inventory, my meager number of Selve more than doubled.

 There was no pending notification for a level upEither I was right on the cusp of level 7, leveling had slowed down significantly, or the pack-leader that boosted me to 6 was really a cut aboveand far drunker than he seemed. My Willpower had increased by two for the bonus, but for some reason Id barely felt it the way I had the level-ups and other stat bonuses. Maybe it was a quirk of Willpower.

 Things were slowing down a bit in terms of leveling, but that was fine. The gnoll camp had been infinitely moreplicated to deal with than the Flowerfangs, and it had be more than obvious I still needed to find a safe ce to test the more subtle aspects of and . Especially thetter. I knew it had far more potential applications than the rather rudimentary way I was using it.

 Between the Selve and the half-decent haul, I was generally satisfied. But the haul was missing some oomph. I wandered into headdresses quarters, finding it decorated in a mix of animal skins and leather. Nothing really stood out.

 Until I found the Altar.

AliNovel

Chapter 21