Shard Warrior Read online

  Contents

  Title

  Prologue

  Chapter 1: A New Reality

  Chapter 2: The Village

  Chapter 3 Town Hall

  Chapter 4: Karma

  Chapter 5: Ties that Bind

  Chapter 6: Redirection

  Chapter 7: Pitstop

  Chapter 8: Dungeon Dive

  Chapter 9: Goblin Queen

  Chapter 10: Falling

  Chapter 11: Friend or Foe

  Chapter 12: The Board

  Chapter 13: Greater Good

  Chapter 14: Lakota

  Chapter 15: Where’s the beef?

  Chapter 16: The Feast

  Chapter 17: Gina

  Chapter 18: Type_Unknown

  Chapter 19: Stormwall

  Chapter 20: Enemies at the Gates

  Chapter 21: Bathtime

  Chapter 22: King Braxus

  Chapter 23: Surf and Turf

  Chapter 24: Judge and Jury

  Chapter 25: Shinobi Shodown

  Chapter 26: Escape from Stormwall

  Chapter 27: The Short Straw

  Chapter 28: Rookie

  Chapter 29: The Silken Hollow

  Chapter 30: Witch Spider

  Chapter 31: Death.exe

  Chapter 32: Rest and Reconciliation

  Chapter 33: Wakeup call

  Chapter 34: Reunion

  Chapter 35: Level Up

  Chapter 36: Into the Wild

  Chapter 37: Escape

  Chapter 38: Secrets Told

  Chapter 39: House Call

  Chapter 40: Preparation

  Chapter 41: Shadow King

  Chapter 42: Guilt

  Author’s Note

  Shard Warrior

  A LitRPG Novel

  Crystal Shards Online Book 2

  By

  Rick Scott

  Cover Art and Design by Alberto Besi

  Copyright © 2018 by Rick Scott

  All Rights Reserved.

  VER 1.00

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of very brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  * * *

  Acknowledgments

  My thanks goes out to my wife and kids. This is all for you guys!

  And special thanks to all my beta readers:

  Elias Dantas

  Ezben Gerardo

  Zach Goza

  Norman Meredith

  Tarcha Saleeba

  And to all my alpha readers and supporters on RRL who watched me bring this book together from scratch and helped me do it!

  You guys did wonders for the book!

  For more great GameLit/LitRPG reads, check out

  https://www.facebook.com/groups/GameLitSociety/

  Will you leave me a review? Your feedback and thoughts really make a difference, especially for people who want to know what the book is about. If you can, please consider leaving a review on Amazon.com.

  My eternal thanks in advance if you do so!

  -Rick Scott

  Prologue

  Bruce Peters was numb.

  His blood chilled as the technicians closed the lid to the stasis chamber and sealed his daughter’s body with a pneumatic hiss of air. His Jill, his little Gilly, was now a barely living husk that would be preserved and stored; awaiting the moment, if and when her consciousness finally returned. If ever. The thought gutted him.

  And it was all his fault.

  Barbara hadn’t stopped crying since the technicians entered their home early this morning. But Bruce had known they were coming long before his wife. As the board chair, he’d gotten the call at 2 a.m. from Dennis. The latest figures to undergo transition were in.

  He should have known something was wrong when Dennis hesitated.

  The software engineer was typically matter of fact with his reports, but this time he told Bruce to brace himself. When he heard the news that his own daughter was amongst the numbers, he had nearly collapsed.

  “We should have paid more attention to what she was doing.” Barbara sobbed into his arm. “We should have watched what she was doing with that boy…!”

  Her words pierced him. Even though he knew she wasn’t blaming him directly. But she should be. Bruce knew everything about that boy now. But it was all in retrospect. He’d been too preoccupied with keeping the city afloat to concern himself with it before. But now the warning signs were blinding in his rearview.

  Ryan Roberts. Mike Roberts’ younger brother. Bruce had only been vaguely aware of the resemblance when they’d met a few days ago, but now it was painfully clear. And the chances were too slim for coincidence. What was this really? Some kind of message from Mike? Insurance perhaps? Luring his daughter to the surface, to ensure he came through with the treatment for his mother in the end?

  Or was this simply karma?

  Payback for everything he’d put that family through all those years ago.

  That thought shook him.

  Whatever this was, the damage was done and the outcome firmly out of his control. But that wouldn’t stop him from trying to change it anyhow. This was his daughter. His only child.

  “I want to see the others,” Bruce said to the technicians as his heart hardened with resolve. “I need to know who’s up there with her. I need to know who’s going to keep my little girl alive.”

  Chapter 1: A New Reality

  I wake up to the unusual but pleasant feeling of Gilly nuzzling into my side. For a moment, I think I’m back home in my tin can habitat, buried miles below the ground, and that Gilly is somehow sleeping next to me on my dirty mattress of a bed. But as my consciousness stirs I realize that I’m as far from there as I could possibly be.

  I’m on the surface. In the real world.

  Yet still in the game.

  I bring up my character stats on my HUD, just to make sure I didn’t just dream it all. A window opens in my vision, superimposed over my naked eyes.

  Name: Reece

  Class: Ninja

  Level: 75

  Strength: 6+25

  Dexterity: 80+5

  Agility: 80+5

  Intelligence: 4

  Mind: 6

  Vitality: 16 +20

  HP: 902/902

  Stamina: 247/247

  TP: 149/149

  I pull up my gear next.

  Koga Mask : +5 Shadow magic +5 TP

  Koga Scarf: +5 Dodge +5 Evasion

  Koga Gi: +75 HP +10 STR +10 VIT

  Koga Tekko: +25 HP +5 STR +5 DEX

  Koga Hakama: +75 HP +5 STR +10 VIT

  Koga kyahan: +25 HP +5 STR +5 AGL

  Darksteel Kunai: +3 Damage +10 Dex

  Darksteel Kunai: +3 Damage +10 Dex

  Yup, it was no dream. I’m still a ninja.

  Ever since my brother Mike dropped the bombshell an hour ago—that the world is nothing like we thought it was, and that our home is in danger and that we’ll all be dead in six months unless we do something to save it—it’s pretty much all I can think about.

  But no one has really said anything about it yet.

  Everyone is still trying to process. Dealing with it in their own way.

  Even Val Helena, who has been here before, seemed taken aback by what my brother, the PvP king Maxis, had to say. The eight-foot-tall, goddess of a half giant, retreated to her own thoughts in solitude, sitting on the bank of the stream to watch the water trickle by.

  Maxis and his friend Rembrandt, who seemed to know as much as my brother, took off
to go scout through the forest; or perhaps to just get away from us all, before we could ask more questions.

  Gilly and I, meanwhile found a pine tree to sit against, but we didn’t talk either. After five minutes of silence I realized Gilly was asleep, perhaps overcome by the ordeal we’d just gone through to reach the safe zone, or the shock of learning that back home we’re soon to become living corpses, and that this world, the one we thought was a game, is now all so very real.

  With Gilly asleep, I had dozed for a bit myself, but now I’m wide awake.

  And full of questions.

  Coarse bark itches me though my ninja armor as I lean back on the tree to gaze up at a night sky full of stars. In that moment I realize I’ve never actually seen them before. Not for real.

  Yet here they are.

  I wish my mother could see this, and then I wonder how she’ll react when they come to take my body, like Mike says they will. My heart sinks when I think about the agony she’ll go through enduring that. I need to get back to her as soon as possible. To let her know that I’m all right. To save her.

  We all need to get back—with these nanites, or whatever we need to find—to save her and everyone else. But as for how, I just don’t know yet. There are still so many questions that need answering.

  A rustle of underbrush draws my attention and wakes Gilly at my side.

  I stiffen for a second but then relax when I see it’s my brother Maxis and Rembrandt returning.

  “We need to roll out,” Maxis says, looking at me over his dark shades which are now hanging at the tip of his nose. His black scarf is still securely around his mouth and neck and his red karate outfit is stained with mud on the hems. I’m not familiar with the class he plays, so I bring up his stats on the party list and then check out his gear to see exactly what it does.

  Maxis Level 85 Karate Master

  HP 2392/2392

  STAM: 430/430

  TP: 380/380

  Onyx Shades: +0 Stats

  Hero’s Scarf: +50 Block +50 Parry

  Infinite Challenger Gi: +450 HP +30 Block +30 Counter +30 Parry

  Black Belt: +20 Block +20 Counter +20 Parry

  Dojo Trousers: +250 HP +25 Block +25 Counter

  Master’s Sandals: +0 Stats

  What the heck?

  Some of his gear doesn’t even have stats? Does he just wear it for looks? But the rest of it looks pretty interesting. I guess Karate Masters focuses more on blocks and parries. His level seems consistent with the classes from Nasgar too, the game world that I come from, which must mean all the games must share some kind of common architecture, which makes sense, since we’re all here together now.

  I check out Rembrandt next. He too is wearing shades, but the mirrored variety and is from a cyberpunk-based game. His long black leather trench coat conceals a black armored vest and fatigues underneath. He has a goatee like my brother, but it’s just barely visible against his deep ebony skin.

  Rembrandt Level 85 Gunslinger

  HP 1247/1247

  STAM: 830/830

  TP: 290/290

  Mirror shades: +10 Critical +20 Aim

  Kingpin’s Chain: +10 Dex +50 STAM

  Grade 5 combat Vest: +50 HP +40 Dex +30 Aim +250 STAM

  Flak Fatigues: +50 HP +20 Dex +250 STAM

  Survival Boots: +25% Sprinting Speed +100 Stamina

  Tec 12 Autopistol: +30 Dex +20 Aim

  Tec 12 Autopistol: +30 Dex +20 Aim

  Wow! He barely has more hitpoints than I do, but way more stamina, but I guess that’s to be expected from a purely ranged class that fires a hundred bullets a second. And he might be min-maxed like I am too, but with all his stats put into Dexterity and offense where mine is placed into agility and evasion.

  “Hey, you paying attention?” Maxis says to me again. “We need to go. Saddle up.”

  “Where are we going?” Gilly asks as she rises next to me. She still has sleep in her big green eyes and her short dark hair is matted on the side from where she was sleeping against me. Her dark blue mages robes are creased and her witch’s hat sits crooked on her head, just above her slightly pointed half-elf ears—all things that remind me that we’re not exactly in the game world anymore. Still, disheveled as she is, Gilly is still one of the prettiest girls I know.

  Both in game and out.

  “We need to find a village or something,” Maxis says. “I think I got my bearings. There should be one further north of here if we skirt the perimeter of the wild zone.”

  “What after that?” I ask. “How do we get more nano stuff and then get them to Citadel?”

  “I’m still figuring that out,” Maxis says and then he points to us. “But you two are staying in the village. Where it’s safe.”

  “What?”

  “No way you two are getting killed out here on my watch. And that’s final.”

  “We need to talk about this some more,” a deep feminine voice booms above us. “Don’t you think?”

  I look behind me to see Val Helena in all her glory. Her neck length platinum blonde hair still looks perfect, and even her iron crown sits level on her head. Her red leather “sports bra” like armored top and leather stripped skirt look less vibrant than they did in the game world, but they still have the same effect; making her already imposing, muscle ripped body, stand out even more.

  It must have that effect on my brother, because, for once, he seems at a loss for words as he stares up as her.

  Val Helena smiles at him, perhaps sensing her advantage and presses on. “As important as your mission is…to everyone here, it wasn’t my reason for bringing your brother to the surface, Maxis. I have something else I need to accomplish and I need his help to do it.”

  That one gets an eyebrow raise from Maxis and one from me as well. Since the very beginning, since Val Helena gave me the opportunity to use my scroll of Shadow Copy to become a Dodge Tank, she has mentioned that she needs my help with something, but never explained exactly what.

  “I need to take him to the Vale of Sorrows to tank the Shadow King,” she says.

  I got no clue what she’s talking about, but it sounds scary as heck, especially in a world where dying means actual death now. Maxis however seems to have somewhat of an inkling and he gives her a scoff.

  “You’ve got to be kidding.” He then points at me. “He’s only level 75 and barely has any experience at all and you want to take him to take on something like that? That thing’s supposed to be ten times stronger than a world boss!”

  Ten times stronger…? My skin gets goose bumps at just the thought of it. Holy cow!

  “He’s a Dodge Tank with Shadow Copy,” Val Helena retorts. “He’s the only one who can take it on!”

  “I don’t care what he’s got. It ain’t happening.”

  Val Helena folds her large arms across her chest. “You were singing a different tune before you knew he was your brother.”

  “Well, he is my brother!” Maxis shouts up at her. “And I’m not going to get him killed out here.”

  Anger builds in my gut. It feels like mom and Mike pulling the adult card on me again. “Hey, I can decide for myself! I made a promise to Val Helena and I’m keeping it. That’s the whole reason I came here.”

  Maxis darts his eyes to me. “You don’t know what you’re talking about, Ryan. Stay out of it.”

  “It’s Reece!” I shout, anger flaring. “That’s my name here and that’s who you have to think of me as. I’m not you’re crippled little kid brother anymore. I beat a world boss!”

  “Oh yeah?” Maxis says coolly. “And how many times did you die doing that…Reece?”

  I open my mouth to say something, but go quiet. Val Helena does as well.

  “Exactly my point,” he spits. “This isn’t a game anymore. There is no respawn.”

  “We’ve got a healer,” Val Helena says. “And she can level up fast here with our help. That’s a huge advantage and you know it.”

  “That’s true,” Gilly says. “It�
�s the reason I came. I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get stronger. Plus …maybe my dad can help us somehow, as well.”

  Uh oh…I haven’t figured out how that dynamic would play into all this as yet. But the cat’s out of the bag now.

  “Your dad?” Maxis says, furrowing his brow. “What are you talking about?”

  “He’s…” Gilly pauses and I can tell she’s hesitant to say it, probably due to what Mike has told us already. About the city’s central government knowing all about the surface and what happens when people are sent here, but that they keep it all a secret.

  “He’s the chairman of the board,” I say for her and the three of them look at Gilly like she’s some kind of alien.

  “That’s right,” Gilly confirms and then she continues almost shamefully. “If what you said is true, then my father knows about all of this. And he’ll know that I’m here as well.”

  Maxis’ face is deadpan. “You’re saying that Bruce Peters is your father?”

  Gilly nods. I know as well of course, but I’m not supposed to know his connection to my brother; that the two of them met in secret to discuss these plans a few days ago. I still need to figure out if I’ll ever let that little secret out. Maybe it’s not so important anymore.

  “I never knew about any of this stuff, okay?” Gilly says defensively. “But maybe if I can get a message to him somehow, he can send more people to help us.”

  “It doesn’t work like that,” Maxis says dismissively before muttering to himself, “Bruce’s daughter…holy hell, man.”

  “Said that right, mate.” Rembrandt lets out a low whistle. “This one’s got handle with care written all over it. And to think we might be up against a bloody builder this time too.”

  “A builder?” Val Helena says. “You’re telling me you’re here to fight a builder?”

  “Maybe,” Rembrandt says. “One is close to Citadel, we think. And the nano shards are getting scarcer from boss drops. It might be the only option we have to save the city.”