Cyberserk & Vampiress

The Rebirth of Baron Raven

"Tom, how much gold does it take to maximize the level of the Sanctuary of the Dragon ring?" Dan wanted to know his ally's opinion. He thought a lot about the revival penalty and came to the opinion that the penalty didn't seem particularly creepy or unpleasant.

"Thousands and hundreds of thousands of gold coins. A hundred forged level 10 epic items." smiled the clone. "You don't find our situation too scary either?"

"I find this place quite amusing," laughed the young man. "Great training and no worries from the citizens."

"A lot can change about you in five days of your absence from Grossroads," Tom shook his head. "Right now we don't care about our enemies. But I hate to imagine a situation in which we give our enemies ten days to prepare an attack."

Dan imagined for a moment the unpleasant option. The enemy kills him and has at least five days to prepare for a new attack. The young man shook his head.

"Ten days out of the world is not pleasant. But so far I've managed to avoid death. I'm playing a rather boring game. I cover myself with your self-sacrifices and get trophies. Not many normal, honest people want to play like that," Dan admitted with a sad smile to his caution.

Tom laughed and shook his head. His friend's naivete elicited only laughter.

"People get the game skill of phantom summoning at level 50. The locals get the summoning at level 15. I read a book by an elf on how to use Spirit of Nature summoning wisely. In this world, a group cannot exceed twelve members. Throughout a lifetime, each citizen forms their squad of loyal strong allies. Attacks on dangerous bosses are made through the tactic of a swoop. Twelve clones pounce on the boss and then the elves enter the fight. The locals are strange creatures. They remind me of knights from the old days on Earth. No, I said it wrong. The knights were organized and knew how to fight in squads and small groups. Even the ancient Romans developed clever ways of conducting organized combat. Koreima will never support Algrin. During the battle, a vampiress will not spend a single drop of mana to heal an orc. Everyone fights for themselves. Each citizen thinks only of himself and his desire to survive the fight with the enemy. The citizens are very strange individualists. Personal fame is of the utmost importance. When a vampire accumulates a few hundred million experiences he gets a special rank in his clan. And even losing all experience in a bad duel doesn't change anything. Master swordsman Kornelius will always remain Sword of Vampires. Funny neighbors," Tom smiled.

"And beautiful," whispered Dan. "Koreima will eat me up."

"She's a competent manager and a disciplined worker. She has a class with the princess in the morning. Don't worry," Tom noticed that the young man was looking at him with particular attention. "I'm afraid to imagine what's going on at Grossroads right now. The entrance to the castle is locked to you. Dan, while you're out of town no one can get into the castle and that means all treaties are broken! We'll have to pay fines."

"What fines? What violations? It's not my fault, it's Grograb's fault! The gnomes organized the assassination attempt, I noticed the bearded faces of the mages before I died," Dan pounded his fist on his palm and threatened away. "It's all Grograb's fault. I won't give a single gold coin. I want to improve one ring to level 100! That's millions and millions of experience points. We need hundreds of thousands of gold. Not a single coin to these scoundrels! Let the gnomes pay for my absence."

The hobbits nodded respectfully. The gnomes must pay for the Master's troubles. It was not the Master's fault that he was killed.

Phantom scratched his chin and acknowledged the young man's position as insolent but acceptable.

"No one has heard of delayed rebirth. It's simple at this location. You're dead and reborn in a moment and you can hurry to the place where you died.

You are an unusual player with unusual abilities. Our secret allows us to maneuver and fight for our interests. Blame it on the gnomes? I will consider that option. I'll tell you honestly. I like the idea of maximizing the level of the Sanctuary ring. It takes four times as many experiences points to develop the Precious. That's like billions! No amount of power would be enough to create new things with our epic drawing. Ten days penalty time? Dangerous penalty but the prospect of having a big advantage in attributes appeal to me."

Dan was glad to hear the words in support of his plan to develop a ring that could double all a player's attributes. The young man found himself without his cool armor in Gray City, and he appreciated the value of the increased attributes. He had no trouble against level 18 sparring and the man was happy to take advantage of his strength and speed preferences.

The gray city proved to be a place of punishment only in terms of lack of bright colors and variety of life. The swordsman fought and rested and had nothing else to do in this unpleasant place. Weak enemies were annoying with their inability to fight with swords. At the point of a rebirth, the players encountered no fearsome boss!

For five days and nights, the company was bored in the gray city. The hobbits looked very sad. They stopped bragging and were silent. The battles with the gray monsters had lost their spice. The braves were tired of taking part in beating their opponents. Nothing was interesting about the constant tactic of stabbing them in the back and running away from retaliation.

Everyone was happy to get away from the gray city when the moment came to return to the world of the living.

Dan Raven cast a sacrifice spell and released the hobbits into their world of habitation. Tom shook his head and wished his friend a happy rebirth.

"Nasty place. We didn't get a single experience point. We've been stuck here for five days. In that time I could have created a hundred great things in the forge. We could have gone through a couple of dozen dungeons and upgraded our achievements. When you see Koreima, tell her that Tom from the Abyss supports her opinion. You don't have to die, Dan Raven. Go to the world of the living and we'll make sure you don't come back to this nasty place."

[Attention! You have completed the Mandatory Quest. Do not remain dead. Rank Purple - Epic.

Quest Details: Find the Revival Point within 120 hours.

Quest condition: The player can use any skill/spell only 1 time.

Reward: Rebirth. Do you wish to be reborn? Yes/No.

Have a nice game!]

Dan wished to return to the world of the living and immediately felt that Grossroads was a magnificent place. He was dazzled by the vivid splendor of the colors and beauty of the surroundings. The walls of the temple were decorated with paintings and statuettes of various heroes and patrons of the people. The smells of incense and flowers pleasantly filled the air. Dan looked into the auction and saw that he could get a couple of hundred gold coins for the items that the appreciators of rugged armor bought.

The young man gave the gold coin to the priest and wished him well in the service of such a valuable place. The priest thanked the baron and mutually wished the young adventurer success.

Behind the doors of the temple, the player enjoyed admiring the colors of the surrounding nature and the bright building of the palace. He did not expect that he would be met with such attention.

As soon as Baron Raven appeared at the door of the temple several courtiers ran to the palace. King Arador demanded that the baron be brought to an audience immediately. The king wanted to know what had happened.

The unfamiliar nobleman nodded at the young man and smiled an unpleasantly false smile.

"You've got the whole Grossroads worried. Baron Raven you must go to the palace to meet King Arador."

"I am ready to meet the king," Dan agreed. He was a little glad that he had a chance to talk to a nice quiet man. Koreima would not forgive him such a long absence!

The baron walked up the stairs to the second floor and entered a large room. On the throne sat the king. Arador was not smiling. His face was calm and a little worried. Queen Gemma sat on the throne next to her husband and smiled a very unpleasant smile. Dan did not like this queen. He was wary of her and knew she was more dangerous than a huge poisonous snake. A very clever and cunning woman.

"I am pleased to greet you and wish you a good morning," Raven smiled and bowed to the royal family.

Gemma nodded back. Arador smiled and looked at the baron as if he were an enemy of the fatherland.

"The morning is good and wonderful. And that is what you, Baron Raven, have made it. You have returned to the city. Many unpleasant things have happened during your absence. Many blame you for the commotion and problems. Don't you want to tell us what happened?"

Dan Raven didn't like to be blamed for all the sins and problems of the world. With Tom, there was an excellent set of excuses and statements prepared for many occasions.

"An unpleasant and terrible thing happened to me. Count Grograb is undoubtedly the mastermind of my death. In most cases, there is nothing special or irreparable about death. But I found myself under the power of ancient sorcery. After my death, I was given a difficult assignment by the creators of the world. I was deprived of the possibility of being reborn! In a terrible place where there is no color or joy of life, I had to fight an army of monsters. Queen Gemma, you are a master sorcerer. Imagine my horror. In the world of death, you can only use each spell once! I've fought with the trophies that creepy monsters have left me. It seems to me that the world of death is populated by the saddest and most evil criminals that died in Grossroads. I have fought humans and elves. Gnomes and vampires have tried to kill me. Orcs and mice inhabited a gray city with not a single ray of light from the gray sky. Only after several days of searching was I able to find a place in which I was able to come to you. And here I am!" Dan tried to smile sincerely and not laugh at the words of his wild story. 

"Count Grograb left town yesterday. His post is once again taken by Elder Gnograb. But let's leave the gnomes alone. You will deal with the gnomes yourself. The council of the lords of Grossroads wanted to strip me of my crown. The lords deliberated at length. My wife could have the right to rule over humans. I cannot lie to you. I'm not happy that you've become the source of my problems. Congratulations, Baron. My wife did not get the crown. The elves themselves warned that their strong bond with Gemma would force the clans to pressure the human queen. The elves made no secret of their desire to increase their power. Queen Gemma was unable to gain power in the palace. But then a more unpleasant event occurred. Baron Raven, my daughter is very unhappy with you. Your absence was the reason she did not receive the crown and power in the palace," King Arador laughed and his laughter sounded rather natural. He shook his head. "The mice have made an interesting suggestion. The princess is educated by mentors from all the great nations of the Grossroads. All nations have the opportunity to influence her equally. The mice have offered to put an inexperienced girl on the throne and benefit all the nations of the Crossroad. Baron Raven, my family has no good feelings for you."

Dan looked at the queen and saw that Gemma had stopped smiling. Her face was calm and she looked at the young man as if he were an interesting artifact. A useful and necessary artifact. But this artifact cannot speak or breathe. The artifact performs its service and does not cause problems like some rude subjects!

The princess's voice sounded like a pure and tinkling melody within the walls of the hall. But her words killed Dan's calm mood.

"I am not angry with the Baron. I am glad he is back in the city. Now our sweet Koreima can come to the palace again!"

"Koreima hasn't been to the palace? Was she in Zangar Castle when I died?"

"That's right, young man. You prepared yourself for a conversation with the lords who made a treaty with you on the use of Zangar's wealth," the queen said. "For five twenty-four hours no one has been able to enter the castle or the extraction sites of valuable resources. You will have to explain yourself to the disgruntled citizens."

"I apologize. But now I have to explain myself to my manager. Her feelings and grievances concern me more than the discontent of the rest of the citizens," Dan said and bowed.

King Arador stopped the baron as he began to make new claims on the strange nobleman.

"Baron, I will not repeat my former mistake. Tonight I expect you to attend a celebratory dinner in honor of your return. At it, you will tell your story to clever and experienced men. We need to think about making sure it doesn't happen again. You acted as a magnet for trouble and attracted trouble on other people. Many people have been hurt. It wasn't my nobles who got hurt. It was the new citizens of the city who suffered. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"I need to think about what you are saying. Right now I understand nothing but the need to apologize to the daughter of the Kor clan. This is too important to me," Raven replied.

"Your problems are more important to you than those of the kingdom?" Gemma smiled at the young man's naïve honesty.

"I can hide from my problems in the castle of Zangar. I will close the entrance to the castle to all disgruntled citizens. Hiring a team of educators and teachers is a good solution. In a couple of years, I'll be made a model nobleman and aristocrat of Grossroads. I don't want worries and problems. And I don't want to cause trouble to those I care about. If you'll excuse me. It is time for me to meet Koreima."

Den Raven did not bow repeatedly he stood and looked at the king and queen. He knew by their looks that he could leave the room. Dan turned and walked out of the hall. He was transferred to the castle in an instant. He ran towards the vampiress's office.

Koreima wanted to see him. The vampiress was expecting a visit from the foolish human.