The Chronicles of Dwynveia – A Slimeling LitRPG

Lilyth

I wasn’t sure what to think about the moon potentially housing an eldritch abomination. I knew I should have been terrified, but I was so used to this kind of existential dread that it barely registered. Like it wasn't any worse than the constant threat of nuclear war, gamma ray bursts, asteroids, pandemics of deadly viruses, chemical warfare, global warming and other threats that were “just there” my entire life.

I looked at my friends, and they also didn't look particularly "impressed”.

‘Damn,’ Aki was the first to comment,’ when I pondered about the cause… I was hoping for something… I guess more? Like, how will it get down from there?’

A valid point. Gravity and atmospheric entry are cruel mistresses.

‘Yeah, at least Earth’s moon was something like four hundred thousand kilometres. That's a long way to go.’

‘And to fall,’ Aki echoed my thoughts. ‘That’s not survivable.’

‘Wouldn’t that thing just keep orbiting the planet following the same trajectory as the moon, anyway?’ Savri mused.

‘Not sure,’ I scratched my chin. ‘My knowledge of orbital dynamics is well… non-existent, but I think whatever that thing is, it must have a smaller mass than the moon. Wouldn't that cause its orbit to shift? Especially since I don’t think it would have its own gravitational field, causing things to get even more fucky.’

‘Damn, I wish Francis were here. He could do the math on this.’

‘Who’s Francis?’ Caei asked.

‘Oh, he was the pilot of the ship we used to travel between stars.’

‘Wooow,’ Aki said dreamily. ‘That sounds really cool.’

‘It was,’ Savri agreed. ‘I am going to miss that.’

‘Don’t blame you,’ Ren agreed. ‘After seeing that “gas giant” in the Corridors… I wish I could see more places like that.’

‘Yeah… space has this raw beauty that nothing can compare to,’ Savri sighed sadly, but then smiled. ‘Maybe we’ll figure out a way to see that moonbeast at least. Someone must have found a way to go there and stop it.’

I suddenly had a crazy vision.

‘I can easily see the monster hatching, realising where the fuck it was and just noping out.’

That caused my companions to burst out laughing - all except Phosi, anyway, who was just staring at us in utter disbelief.

‘You guys are no fun,’ she finally pouted.

‘Were you bullshitting us?’ Ren asked.

‘Maybe a bit,’ the sconryoll conceded. ‘Other than the shadows and the piece breaking off, I haven't seen anything… unusual. I had you going for a moment, though.’

‘You did,’ I chuckled. ‘Alas, I think only Deirdee here hasn’t had any contact with space things.’

‘Not like you guys,’ the assassin agreed. ‘But I have seen my share of big monsters. None of them handled falling particularly well.’

‘I am not going to have any fun with you guys, am I?’ Phosi sighed.

‘Not of this kind, most like,’ I smiled. ‘Plenty of fighting though.’

‘We’ll let you scare some small kids,’ Caei added.

‘Probably eat some too,’ I muttered and got elbowed in the side by my blue-haired cutie.

I tried to protest, but Deirdee suddenly jumped in:

‘If kids are off the table, there is always that womaniser from Dan-Hem.’

‘Now that is a splendid idea!’ Aki laughed.

Phosi’s eyes lit up at that.

‘Tell me more about this womaniser,’ she rasped with a chuckle.

I had no idea why we adopted Phosi as “one of us” so quickly, but she seemed just to fit in. Just another Lost Soul in this world.

Lost vengeful spirit, at any rate.

I looked at Deirdee and Aki telling Phosi about Zanis.

I just hope she knows we were joking about letting her eat him, I thought, but then I remember how it felt to be the target of his “nice guy” schtick.

Mostly joking, anyway.

‘Damn, that is deep,’ Savri muttered as we were finishing examining the elevator shaft Ren and I found.

Aki has sent her [Abyssal Spark] as far down as she could, and we still couldn't see the bottom.

‘Thanks, Captain Obvious,’ I snarked.

‘That’s Master Sergeant Obvious!’ Savri retorted with a chuckle. ‘I work for the living.’

‘Didn’t you spend the past month living in my mom’s house?’ Ren muttered.

‘Details,’ Sav waved the remark away.

Still, the sidetrip wasn’t a complete waste of time as we discovered that the anti-magic field that protected the corridor was gone. It was possible that it was running off the same energy grid as the rest of the fuckery in the Murdergrove. There was also the question of whether this field's disappearance was a bad or a good thing, but, unless we found a way down, that point was mostly academic.

‘I don’t think it matters,’ Sav ultimately concurred and took out a [Rock Burst] scroll from her bag. ‘After we leave the caves, I'm going to collapse the entrance to the complex so nothing and no one will be able to enter. Or leave.’

‘Where did you get that?’ Aki asked.

‘A gift from Nyx,’ our medic said, blushing. ‘When I was discussing this trip with her, she gave it to me to “finish the job”.’

Why the blush? Curious. Still, that scroll would be useful. Too bad it is one…

Suddenly, I felt as if Nyxie struck me with lightning. I quickly called up my character sheet, remembering one of my first successes on Dwynveia.

YES! There it is!

It was the only “skill” I retained from the old system. It got converted into an ability, and in all the excitement, I kinda forgot I had it. I quickly called up the ability’s description.

Ability: Arcane Writing

Type: Crafting - Magical

Rank: Novice

Description: Allows the user to create magical scrolls. The success rate and quality of the resulting scroll depend on the difficulty of the spell, the user’s experience in [Arcane Writing] and the knowledge of the specific Arcana.

Cost: 66% mana cost of the spell transcribed on the scroll

Required Materials:

‘Can I see it?’ I asked Sav, who silently gave me the scroll.

I unfurled and studied it. The wide characters on it reminded me of the [Rock Spikes] rune I found in the Tower of Trials, though they were more complex.

Remember the lessons of old. Do not blow yourself up.

I sat against the wall and took out my notebook and pencil. I checked my spell list again and looked for something non-deadly.

[Flickering Lights] will do.

I quickly called up the spell’s description to confirm it would not be dangerous.

Spell: Flickering Lights

Type: Umbral - Illusion

Rank: Novice

Effect: Creates a series of flashing orbs within a ten-metre range

Duration: 10 seconds

Huh. That could be really useful next time I sneak around.

I activated the [Arcane Writing] ability and focused on the spell. Its rune appeared in my mind. I tried to put it down on paper, but my concentration wavered and I lost it.

‘What the fuck are you doing?’ Caei asked warily.

‘You’ll see,’ I said mysteriously and tried again.

And again. Finally, after four attempts, the sheet of paper glowed and turned into a magical item.

Item: Scroll of [Flickering Lights]

Spell Type: Umbral - Illusion

Spell Rank: Novice

Rarity: Specialist - Very Rare

Quality: Poor

Effect: Creates a series of flashing orbs within a ten-metre range

Duration: 3 seconds

It was inferior in every respect to the spell, but it would work. I handed the sheet of paper to Caei.

‘You can create scrolls?’ she asked, genuinely astounded.

‘Yup,’ I smiled. ‘Well… give it a shot.’

My wife concentrated on the scroll and soon colourful witch lights flickered in the air.

‘Cool!’ Aki exclaimed. ‘Can I try now?’

‘Sure!’ I smiled at her and made another scroll. This one had a duration of four seconds, but Aki’s expression when she used it would last forever in my heart.

Just to get the hang of it, I made two more scrolls of [Flickering Lights] and put them aside. Aki immediately grabbed them. I picked up the scroll of [Rock Burst] again and turned to Sav.

‘With your permission.’

‘To confirm… You want to see if you can copy it?’ she asked.

I nodded.

‘Maybe let’s move away from a bottomless elevator shaft,’ she suggested, and we returned to the fork in the road cavern.

I sat down against a rock there and, with the care of an Ordnance Disposal Technician, began to copy the scroll. This one was insanely difficult. And painful.

Bloody scarred arcane connectors.

I was about to give up, as agony aside, the process was taking too much of my mana, and I was running out of paper. But then, finally, I made a functional scroll. Well... “functional” at any rate.

Item: Imperfect Scroll of [Rock Burst]

Type: Earth - Offensive

Spell Rank: N/A

Rarity: Specialist - Very Rare

Quality: Very Poor

Effect: Causes damage to rocks

Note: Due to the scroll’s creator's inability to use Earth Arcana, the effectiveness of the scroll is vastly reduced, and the spell requires 150% of the normal mana cost to work.

Well… it was worth a try.

I gave it to Caei and returned the original to Sav.

‘Hmm…’ Caei muttered and looked at one of the smaller stalagmites in the chamber. She cast the spell, and it caused the rock to crack, but not much else.

‘I was hoping we would be able to keep the original for an emergency and just use the cheap copy,’ I explained. ‘Maybe use it to teach Caei the spell.’

To my surprise, Caei leaned over me and gave me a peck on the cheek.

‘It was a good attempt,’ she said. ‘Also… I think we can still use a copy for that. Can you make one for me? Please?’

‘Your wish is my command,’ I smiled at her and after two more attempts, another imperfect scroll was made.

Caei, with great care, put it into her bag.

‘Can we stop for a bit?’ I asked. ‘That took a lot out of me.’

‘However long you need,’ Sav said, shaking her head in amazement.

Aki

‘Can I get one of the scrolls?’ Deirdee asked me as we rested. ‘I want to see if I can use it.’

I had that weird “MINE” reaction to those, but I decided to part with one. My foxy cutie could always make me more or teach me the spell.

Deirdee studied the scroll intently, and moments later, a series of colourful lights flickered in the air.

So! Pretty!

I had no idea why I was so obsessed with these. Deirdee also looked enraptured, but I imagined it was more because of her being able to finally cast magic.

‘Thank you,’ she whispered, tears of joy glistening in her eyes.

‘My pleasure,’ I smiled at her.

Moments later, Lilyth walked over to us and handed Deirdee two sheets of paper.

‘[Shadow Weapon]?’ the assassin asked, surprised.

‘Yeah,’ my foxie cutie said. ‘For that sword of yours. Sorry, it is just two, but I ran out of paper.’

Deirdee just hugged my wife.

‘I will use them with care.’

‘Once we are home, I will send out an order for some proper parchment and writing utensils,’ Ren said.

‘Good idea,’ Sav smiled and gave Lilyth a mana potion. ‘My last one. You’ve earned it.’

My foxy cutie began to protest, but Sav cut her off.

‘No. You having that mana might cut down my need to heal us. Also, you just became a massive force multiplier for us, so keeping you safe and happy is now of paramount importance.’

‘It was nothing…’

‘Nothing?!’ Phosi laughed. ‘Morsel, you have no idea how rare Arcane Scribes are, don’t you? Even during the days of the Vandarian Empire, a barely trained hack like you was worth more than their weight in gold. Now… I can't even imagine.’

‘But can't every mage create scrolls?’

‘No,’ Sav shook her head. ‘Maybe one in twenty. No one knows why, but it is one of those things that you either can do or not. I tried to study under an Arcane Scribe back home in the Abyss, but no matter what I tried, it just didn't work.’

‘I never tried,’ Caei admitted. ‘I’ll be happy to check it out with you.’

‘I have no idea what I am doing,’ Lilyth laughed. ‘But sounds like a plan.’

‘Can I join too?’ I asked.

‘Wouldn’t be fun without you, my love.’

The three of us embraced, and then it was time to go.

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