Clans War
Clans War
a novel
by Vasily Mahanenko
The Way of the Shaman
Book#7
Magic Dome Books
Clans War
The Way of the Shaman, Book # 7
Copyright © V. Mahanenko 2018
Cover Art © V. Manyukhin 2018
English translation copyright © Boris Smirnov 2018
Published by Magic Dome Books, 2018
All Rights Reserved
ISBN: 978-80-88231-58-5
This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Amazon.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
This book is entirely a work of fiction. Any correlation with real people or events is coincidental.
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ALSO BY VASILY MAHANENKO
The Way of the Shaman LitRPG Series:
Survival Quest (The Way of the Shaman: Book #1)
The Kartoss Gambit (The Way of the Shaman: Book #2)
The Secret of the Dark Forest (The Way of the Shaman: Book #3)
The Phantom Castle (The Way of the Shaman: Book #4)
Shaman's Revenge (The Way of the Shaman Book #6)
The Hour of Pain (The Way of the Shaman Bonus Story)
Dark Paladin LitRPG Series:
The Beginning (Dark Paladin Book #1)
The Quest (Dark Paladin Book #2)
Galactogon LitRPG Series:
Start The Game (Galactogon: Book #1)
Short Stories:
You're in Game!
(LitRPG Stories from Bestselling Authors)
The Hour of Pain (The Way of the Shaman Bonus Story)
Table of Contents:
Chapter One. Return to Barliona
Chapter Two. Unforeseen Difficulties
Chapter Three. Erebus
Chapter Four. The Harbinger
Chapter Five. The Hermit
Chapter Six. A Friendly Visit
Chapter Seven. Betrayal
Chapter Eight. Lait the Reborn
Chapter Nine. The Bard of Shadow
Chapter Ten. The Chess Set of Karmadont
Chapter Eleven. The Burden of the Creator
Chapter Twelve. The Arena
Chapter Thirteen. The Pryke Copper Mine
Chapter Fourteen. The Tomb of the Creator
Chapter Fifteen. The Greater Evil
Epilogue
Chapter One. Return to Barliona
“Welcome to Barliona. While the capsule configuration is in progress, please review the latest update notes…”
A soothing female voice began to list off the updated game mechanics and their particularities; however, I’d already examined these back in reality. Stacey had summarized the major changes to me: The level of the Emperor NPCs had been raised from 500 to 1000, which meant that even a dozen scrolls of Armageddon wouldn’t pose any danger to these characters. The levels of Advisers and Heralds had also been raised to 900 and 800 respectively. Meanwhile, the developers had played a mean trick on the players and removed the max stat cap entirely. Now, the most stubborn among us could increase their stats infinitely. At the same time, the stat points gained from every new level had been decreased. The gaming forums immediately burst into flames with the outrage of high-level players who had long ago reached their maximum stat points and therefore lost the bonuses from all the levels they had gained since. Still, the Corporation stayed firm and no one would be receiving any extra bonuses. The greatest concession here was that players were still permitted to allocate the unused stat points they had saved up, and at least now everyone knew what the deal was. We’d have to be happy with that at least.
There weren’t any other global changes to the mechanics, aside from several new classes and races as well as locations for them. Likewise, the continent’s area grew due to some kind of earthquake caused by an island ramming the land mass. I believe it was this island where the new races appeared, though I was only half listening to the update notes. Instead, my eyes were fixed on the 3D image of my character, decked out in sumptuous Shamanic armor. I hadn’t looked like that before blowing up Geranika. It didn’t occur to me to com
plain, however. The violet glow of Legendary items radiating from my new gear let me know that I would be happy when I got around to checking their properties.
After all, my former Thricinian gear lost its efficacy after Level 300.
The Corporation had decided to resurrect Geranika and his army. It turned out that my five Armageddon scrolls destroyed not only the Lord of Shadow and his attendants, but also the new Shadow Dragon that the devs had placed so much of their hopes in. This time James and his team didn’t bother reinventing the wheel and simply asked Mr. Johnson to restore Barliona to its state an hour before the global disconnection. They wrote mountains of explanatory letters and assessed the compensation they would pay the players for their loss of an hour’s worth of grinding, after which Mr. Johnson personally pushed the big ‘Reset’ button. Geranika and his Dragon of Shadow sprang back to life, the players received their due compensation, but the Corporation didn’t bother touching my character. Mahan retained all the XP he had earned. Moreover, the Corp outfitted my Shaman with such loot that every time I ran into their representatives all they did was smile mysteriously and remind me to return to the game as soon as possible in order to personally see their generosity.
In the meantime, after leaving the capsule, my life had become one big fairy tale. Three days in the rehab center was all it took to get me back on my feet. This was followed by a week of court where I testified as a witness instead of a suspect. Then there were unique agreements with the Corporation regarding my character; Anastaria’s appearance and her speech; our half-hour-long silence as we sat and simply looked into each other’s eyes, unwilling to say a single word; the tempestuous and passionate lovemaking that followed; the mad and foolish words of apology and confessions of love…My disconnection from reality. Tears. Happiness. Love.
If it weren’t for Stacey’s father insisting that we return to Barliona, perhaps our fairy tale would have gone on forever. But all good things have to end at some point, so…
Enter!
Quest list updated. Please review it.
The first thing that appeared before my eyes when Barliona replaced reality was a notification that my quest list had been updated. This enormous notification refused to be swiped aside, telling me one thing — until I open the quest list and review it, this notification won’t be going anywhere. Making sure just in case that I had spawned in a safe location — the main hall of Altameda by the looks of it — I took a seat in my beloved rocking throne and began to peruse my to do list. Something tells me that until I familiarize myself with all the changes that have been made to my Shaman, I won’t even be allowed to leave Altameda.
‘The Creator of the World.’ Description: Speak with the hermit living in the foothills of the Elma Mountains. He shall help guide your craft in the proper direction.
‘The Pirate Brethren. Step 3: Аrmward Ho!’ Description: Assault the capital of the Shadow Empire with the pirates. Destroy the Heart of Chaos (15 days until expiration) or plunder the city. This quest must be done on your own ship.
‘Training: Level 2.’ Description: Complete the training grounds of the Vampire Patriarch. Training duration: six weeks. Reward: +60 to all stats, +5 Levels.
‘Audience with the Emperor.’ Description: You have earned Exalted status with the Emperor and the Empire of Malabar. The Emperor wishes to see you in order to grant you your reward.
‘Audience with the Dark Lord.’ Description: You have earned Exalted status with the Dark Lord and the Empire of Kartoss. The Dark Lord wishes to see you in order to grant you your reward.
‘The Emperor’s Reward.’ Description: You have earned a First Kill and received two tickets to an audience with the Emperor. The Imperial audience will be held in five months.
‘The Tomb of the Creator.’ Description: You have received the Original Key to the Tomb of the Creator. Any items acquired in this Dungeon will be Unique or rarer. The minimal level of monsters in the Dungeon is equal to that of the highest-level player on your continent. All clans of Barliona have received this information.
‘Tight-knit family. Step 1.’ Description: Meet up 30 times over the course of 3 calendar months, spending at least 1 hour together in questing or speaking to one another. Quest type: Unique, family. Reward: +2000 Reputation with the Priests of Eluna, +1000 with Goddess Eluna and the next quest in the chain.
Ok…Look at all these new things I’ve learned, reading a simple old list. First of all, the quest descriptions have been adjusted, since there was never a reward of five levels in the Patriarch’s training quest. Second, my Reputation with Malabar and Kartoss had reached its ultimate peak. Feeling a twinge of curiosity, I opened my list of unlocked Achievements, but didn’t see anything new about being the first to reach Exalted status with two Empires at once. Someone had earned it before me. It’s too bad. Third, the list now omitted several social quests, which I had received in times immemorial, and which I hadn’t gotten around to or didn’t feel like doing. It seemed that the Corporation’s people had deemed these quests unnecessary and deleted them.
Character updated. Please familiarize yourself with the changes.
The next step of familiarizing myself with the changes to my character involved the statistics and equipment. I had actually wanted to check them out in the very beginning, but the quests thing popped up first. Opening the properties I instantly encountered the first item and pulled up its properties before me. Let’s see what Legendary items the devs had gifted me.
Edka’s LXXII Breastplate. Description: One of the founders of Shamanism, the ancient troll Edka was renowned for his taste in armor. Hard to please, Edka either didn’t like the description or the item didn’t offer sufficient bonuses or the item didn’t look convincing enough. Then one day, the troll came across the LXXII Breastplate and had a nervous breakdown because of how perfect it was.
Bonuses: +2500 to Stamina, +3200 to Intellect, +600 to Strength, +900 to Agility, +40 to Energy. +3400 Resistance to all damage types.
Stacking bonus with 2 set items: +5000 Intellect.
Stacking bonus with 6 set items: +5000 Stamina and +10000 to Intellect.
Bonus for equipping the entire set: +30% to all base stats.
Item class: Legendary Set. Restriction: Shaman, Level 300+.
I swallowed hard and glanced over at my Hoarding Hamster and Greed Toad, who had collapsed in a fit on their backs. I hadn’t expected a present like this — nine Legendary items. Edka’s full set. The devs had kindly stored my old Thricinian items in my bag — and that’s where they stayed after I compared their stats with my new gear. At Level 300, the gap between the Thricinian items and the new set was monstrous. It was almost twofold. The only item that even stood up to the new gear were the boots the Emperor had given me and if it weren’t for the set bonus, I’d probably wear them.
All my other equipment remained unchanged. For example, I still had some Minor Copper chain on my neck, granting me a mere +12 to Intellect and serving as a bold reminder that it was time to do some crafting. I closed the window with the equipment and stats, wishing to move on to my mail, when a new notification popped up before me:
Please allocate your free stat points.
There was no other choice. As hard as I tried to close the window that had popped open behind the notification, the system insisted I do its bidding. Even popping out to reality didn’t help the situation. As soon as I returned to the game, the stats screen reappeared covering everything in sight and insisting I distribute my 1500 free stat points. There was no way out…
“Master!” No sooner had the stats screen closed, than my majordomo, Viltrius, popped in to visit me. The system had decided that it had completed its mission of informing me about Barliona’s new update and finally allowed me to swipe away all the other annoying windows and deal with the game itself. “Do you have any orders?”
“Fill me in on what’s been going on with the castle lately.”
Viltrius adjusted his jacket’s lapel in a serious m
anner, as if gathering his thoughts, and then proudly raised his green mug and began to speak with feeling, sense and composure. I could hardly contain my smile, since all the goblin was missing was a small podium. That would complete the image of a small boy who was being forced to recite verses at Christmas dinner to get his present from Santa Claus.
There hadn’t been many changes to or happenings in the castle. Considering the relative remoteness of Altameda from the places that NPCs lived in and the fact that its current location was designed for Level 180 players, Viltrius allowed himself the liberty of letting the Gray Death and her pack out for a stroll in the castle’s surroundings. It’s unclear how he communicated with the wolves, but the goblin managed to assign several conditions for the stroll — such as that 30% of the Experience gained from the killed mobs would be channeled to the castle’s account, while the loot would be delivered to its treasure vaults. The Gray Death agreed and several days later, an enormous area around the castle had been entirely cleared of any monsters. And I mean entirely — even the frogs and crickets, to say nothing of the bears, elks and other fauna. Moreover, several new wolves joined the pack. The Gray Death found them in the forest surrounding the castle. And on top of it all, several of the she-wolves in the pack bore cubs. Thus the overall level of the pack had increased to 240, while the Gray Death herself had become a mature Level 280 she-wolf. Here it hit me that I had effectively acquired a substantial and quite powerful army of NPCs, which unlike my guards, wasn’t bound to my castle. Vimes, my head of security, and his warriors were assigned to the defense of the castle, which meant that using them as mercenaries on raids was a risky and expensive venture.
Viltrius also surprised me with the news that it had been three weeks now that Spiteful Gnum was in my castle. The gnome had appeared before the cataclysm and was currently driving the vaults keeper insane. Cataclysm was the term the Corporation had assigned to the period that Barliona had been down. The updated lore explained that a strange meteor had passed near our world and in so doing had stopped time for an entire two weeks. For the living creatures as well as for all the phenomena and events. I’m not sure why they did this, since they could’ve easily resumed the game from the moment the servers had gone down, but the meteor was necessary for their internal goals I guess. Thus, Spiteful Gnum had made good on his promise and repaired the gates of my castle, expending basically all of my reserves of Imperial Oak for the purpose, after which he locked himself in his workshop and remained there for the last two weeks. At times, you could hear his muffled laughter, explosions, curses, laughter again and periodically, one of the demons would emerge from the workshop to hand Viltrius a list of all the ingredients the gnome needed next. Very high level ingredients, at that. Considering my direct order to supply Gnum with everything he needed, the majordomo couldn’t say no to the gnome, but you could tell just by glancing at the goblin that he was entirely against this new tenant.