“Why the long face, Alex?”
Irita’s voice made me jump. I hadn’t seen her approach. I turned to look at her and realized: she stood blotting out the sun, casting a long shadow across me, and she hadn’t crept up on me, I was just so deep in thought that I didn’t notice her.
Irita sat down beside me cross-legged and spoke again without waiting for an answer:
“I decided to switch to distance learning. I’ll pass the citizenship tests, but I don’t need anything else from school. There’s so much to do here! I don’t know where to begin.”
“That’s why,” I blurted out.
“Why what?” She looked into my eyes.
“That’s why the long face: I don’t know where to begin either.”
“Two heads are better than one. What are you thinking about?”
“Holdest. How do we survive there?”
“Oh, I’ve already thought about this one! Back in the tavern. I just kept quiet because I wanted to test something first.”
“Huh?” I turned in interest and shifted to sit facing the girl. “What did you come up with?”
“Well… The climate debuff hits in a geometric progression with relative values, right? Meaning that even if you have a billion health points, you die just as fast as a level 1 noob.”
“Exactly.”
“Link me the description of that Sleeping God ability that absorbs some damage.”
I sent her the link. Irita studied the most interesting parts and then said just one word:
“Giants.”
Something clicked in my head. The picture came together. I remembered the hauler giants that had towed the Great Portable Altar in the desert — they’d survived there without Nergal’s blessing! Clapping a hand to my forehead, I shouted:
“That’s it! Giants are an unplayable race with incredible endurance! And they’re immune to climate debuffs!”
“That’s right. And your Sleeping Invulnerability, I quote: ‘Absorbs 20% of any incoming damage. The remaining damage is split between all group members in proportion to their health.’ The giants have the highest racial health multiplier for endurance. For humans, for example, not counting character level, it’s two point seven. The giants’ multiplier is twelve, and the racial bonus triples their health total.”
“Assemble a raid of giants, and… Nether, I have Path of Sacrifice unlocked in Resilience. Even if I had that billion health, I’d still die quick because all the damage would go to me. But it’s still worth testing. Who knows, maybe Path of Sacrifice doesn’t proc from climate debuffs.” I took Irita’s head in my hand, touched my forehead to hers and smiled: “Smart girl!”
I don’t know who made the first move. Probably both of us. The last thing I saw was the glint in Irita’s laughing green eyes.
In short, we kissed. Time stopped and my problems flew away — I lived only in the moment…
“Ahem…” I heard from a yard away. “Top o’ the evenin’, younguns! Enough canoodlin’, lovebirds, time is money! The fun’s over, let’s get down to business!”
Begrudgingly tearing myself away from Irita’s full lips, I turned my glassy eyes in the direction of the hoarse voice and saw Kusalarix’s face in a portal. Having shattered all the romance, the goblin woman smiled placidly, baring her fangs.
“I know you’re young, kid, so please accept my sincerest apologies, but…” she said, then shouted: “Scyth, I get it! You’ve come back to life, stopped smelling like rotting meat, your blood rises, the necessary organs leap into action, but please tell me, on Maglubiyet’s greed, why are you here playing tonsil hockey and not handling the Sleepers’ affairs? This is an outrage! Where is my priest status?”
“Uhm, it’s…” I muttered, rising and helping Irita up. “On Terrastera.”
“What?”
“It’s not a problem, we can get a second temple up in six days if you give us some builders. I have another question — can you get me ninety-nine giant haulers? The fatter the better.”
“Now that’s what I call business!” Kusalarix turned more serious and told Irita: “Go on, girl, take a stroll. Me and your young buck have some serious matters to talk about! Dive through the portal, Scyth. Some things are best discussed face to face!”
Chapter 7. Cruel Snow
I COULDN’T WAIT to try out Irita’s idea, and at the same time ask the goblin woman about Concentrated Life Essence, but as soon as I dove into the portal leading directly to Kusalarix’s office, the conversation shifted to something else entirely. Kusalarix flounced down into her chair, put her legs up on the table, lit a cigarette and half closed her eyes. I sat down opposite and then she stood suddenly, loomed over me, both hands down on the table:
“That was a total disaster! A screwjob! I set my sights high and got influential people involved, including goblins from the very height of the Green League! And then — boom!” She slapped a fist into a palm. “Not a damn thing left.” Kusalarix smoked away her cigarette in one drag, tossed it at an overfull ashtray and narrowed her eyes. “I’m no longer a priestess, and they’ve lost all their bonuses… The bosses are asking questions! What am I supposed to tell them? Is it even it, or am I just gettin’ taken for a ride again?”
Now I needed to calm her down somehow. But while I chose my words and arguments — of which there were few, and all debatable — she continued:
“I brought in thousands of goblins!
