Star Paladin: A LitRPG Space Fantasy (Sword of Asteria Book 1) Read online

  “Same,” one of Dolnir’s men said, also tapping one of the floating magical pages.

  “Level 5!” yelled another.

  Xanthe looked at the human bandits as they celebrated. “Level . . . five?” she asked.

  They laughed at her.

  “Let us get down to business, shall we?” Dolnir said to his men with a big grin. “All right, boys, who wants shadow angel pussy tonight?!”

  She heard cheers from the men, about four of them. As for the three who did not cheer . . . Xanthe faced one bandit, who remained neutral with arms cross as he leaned against a tree. She shut her eyes and smelled the air around that bandit. His pheromones entered her nose and told her a story that none of Dolnir’s men knew.

  A big grin stretched on her face. “Oh, please, Dolnir? Was it?”

  Dolnir winced. “Oh please, what?”

  “Do you even know what your men want?”

  “Of course I do!”

  “You there!” Xanthe barked at the bandit leaning against the tree. “Which do you prefer? Sucking cocks or licking cunts? No need to reply. I know that you and that gentleman over there have been fancying each other for quite a while.”

  The bandit pushed away from the tree. “Lies!”

  “Him too.” Xanthe gestured to the second bandit and took in his pheromones. “Come now, Dolnir, you are offering my cunt to your men when three of them enjoy blow jobs from other men.”

  “Sir! You cannot believe her!”

  “Shadow angel sorcery . . .” Dolnir said and stepped toward Xanthe, lowering his sword. “Her kind always know what your desires are.”

  No, we are simply better at sensing pheromones than your people. But keep believing the rumors we are cursed and vile. It makes it so much easier to instill you with fear.

  Dolnir continued. “You know, this gives me an idea. I got a use for you, shadow angel.”

  “I presume it is not for a blow job?”

  “Give the shadow angel her dagger back.” Dolnir sheathed his sword. “Care to walk with us?”

  Xanthe snorted and looked at the arm that gripped her steady while another hand offered her blade back. “It would seem I do not have a choice . . .”

  Dolnir traversed the forest as his men followed, while the one who held Xanthe forced her along.

  “We have a . . . passenger aboard our carriage,” Dolnir said as he led the way out of the woods. “She needs to leave our world.”

  “I see you are like me then,” Xanthe said. “A land-dweller who knows a thing or two about star-dweller truths.”

  He pointed at the carriage in the distance, its twin horses standing and waiting for its masters to return. “Our . . . passenger gave us a strange request. Use your shadow angel sorcery to learn if she is keeping secrets from us. I want to make sure this job is going to be worth it.”

  “And it just so happens the star-men that brought me to this world are shopping in the city. They will not leave until they have purchased items they could bring to their people.”

  “Excellent,” Dolnir said. “So, get this fae girl to talk, then help us get her—”

  “Back where she belongs, I hope.”

  That was a woman’s voice. Xanthe doubted it was the fae woman Dolnir spoke of.

  “Oy! Who the fuck was that?” shouted one of the human bandits.

  Everyone had stopped and redrew their weapons, this time against a target who stood on two legs.

  Was standing on two legs.

  Six armored faes had levitated and surrounded them. The fae wore cuirass with oval-shaped gaps in the backs to give space for their buzzing wings. A woman was among the armored fae—short red hair, long leather boots, miniskirt, and jerkin that exposed her milky pale skin on her belly. She was dressed in strange symbols, shimmering with light. Xanthe spotted additional symbols on the woman’s left and right arms and upper thigh, and looking at the fae men, she noticed their cuirass lacked sleeves, exposing arms covered in similar glowing symbols.

  The woman held a peculiar bow in her hands, and Xanthe could not see a quiver of arrows strapped to her back, let alone an arrow ready to be shot. The woman just carried a bow and nothing else. Hardly a threat, yet the humans panicked at her sight, holding their blades tightly. Perhaps it was because of the glowing symbols on their bodies?

  “Imperials!” one of Dolnir’s men shouted.

  “Worry not, boys. We can take them out,” Dolnir said. “You just leveled up, right?”

  “Hmm, boss?”

  Dolnir grimaced and faced the bandit. “What?”

  The human bandit pointed at the flying fae woman holding an arrowless bow.

  “She is just like us . . .” he said with fear. “They all are.”

  Dolnir narrowed his eyes at the bow-wielding fae. “A level 14 Ranger . . . fuck me! How is that even possible?!”

  The fae woman with the bow smiled. “Kill them all!”

  She pulled the string on her bow as an arrow magically appeared.

  Chapter Six

  The Ranger shot one bandit in the arm and the blow hurled his body to the ground. He never got up. Dolnir and the remaining members of his men dashed into the fray, swinging their weapons at the fae. They inflicted minor damage.

  Xanthe had a feeling she would be next. Guilty by association. Might as well fight and kill the fae before they do the same to her. Xanthe grabbed her dagger and entered the skirmish, making her wings flap. Xanthe was flying now, not exceedingly high though. That would take up too much of her strength. She was high enough to be level with the six faes. She met the nearest armored man, drifting behind him to target his exposed back and flapping wings. Like an eagle, Xanthe flew to the fae, dagger pointed outward, and stabbed his back. He didn’t scream or flinch, and like the beast she had fought, her blade drew no blood and did not leave a deep wound. The imperial spun and laughed at her.

  “You are not afflicted,” he said.

  Xanthe grimaced. “With what?—”

  An armored boot kicked Xanthe’s stomach.

  She fell to the ground, her wings too tired to get her back up. Three of the imperials descended, aiming their swords at her, laughing and taunting her.

  “Leave the shadow angel,” one imperial said. “She is not worth it.”

  The three imperials buzzed their wings and flew to harass Dolnir and his men, or what was left of them. She struggled to comprehend what was going on. Dolnir had taken two direct stabs to the chest and remained standing. Meanwhile, the fae had enough strength in their wings to stay flying, diving with their weapons to slice the bandits. The woman, who Dolnir called a level 14 Ranger, lingered in the skies, firing off arrow after arrow in a never-ending barrage, using arrows that magically appeared in her bow. That is why the Ranger had no quiver. She had an unlimited invisible supply—

  Footsteps trotted away, traveling into the woods behind the slaughter.

  Both parties were focused on the battle and had not taken notice that someone had left the carriage. Xanthe followed them, not knowing what else to do. The imperials and the human bandits possessed a level of power she did not know, power related to what the beasts had, power Xanthe lacked.

  Whoever it was who had escaped the carriage was not moving fast. Xanthe caught up with them by walking. From what she could tell, it was a fae woman—short red hair, typical of the female fae, autumn-colored wings bound to prevent flight, and her legs and arms tied to avoid escape. That is why she failed to run fast and why she had tripped and tumbled to the dirt road as Xanthe neared.

  Xanthe stood above the collapsed woman, then kneeled and rolled her over. She was a fae woman all right, an unbelievably beautiful one, wearing makeup and jewelry on a youthful face that would make any man hard in their pants. Xanthe took in a closer glimpse of the stunning woman.

  “You are the one those bandits wanted to take off the planet . . .” Xanthe said to her.

  “She is not here!” yelled a man from behind.

  Xanthe spun around but saw n
o one.

  “I heard someone run!” That was another voice, another imperial.

  “Search the forest.” And that was the level 14 Ranger.

  The imperials were coming for her. Dolnir and his men were dead. Xanthe and the woman would be next. She picked up the woman, delighted that she weighed less than a sack of potatoes. Xanthe carried her on her shoulder to a small river reflecting the greenery and twin sunlight from above. She stopped at the stream, then looked back to where she expected the searching imperials to emerge. Xanthe did not see them but heard the buzz of fae wings, their sounds getting louder. Xanthe faced the river.

  “I hope you can hold your breath longer than my people,” she said.

  The fae woman gasped. “Well.”

  “I shall take that as a yes.” Xanthe tossed her in.

  Splash.

  If they had not tied the woman up, she would imagine she would flail her arms and legs about. Since that was not an option for her, the woman sank as Xanthe pushed on her chest. A trickle of bubbles floated to the surface—

  “You there!”

  Xanthe stepped away from the river’s edge, her hands raised to the sight of three imperial faes slowing the speed of their wings as they came to land ahead of her. With their weapons still drawn, the armored men spread out while moving their heads left to right. They saw nothing of interest and returned to Xanthe.

  “Found our runner, I see,” said the Ranger.

  The level 14 Ranger landed behind the three men, slung her bow over her shoulder, and watched Xanthe with intense scrutiny while holding her hips in her leather miniskirt. After that, the Ranger waved her hand and conjured a floating page, just like the one Dolnir had. The page looked like a map of the region.

  “I see nothing,” said an imperial.

  The Ranger nodded and tapped the map, making it vanish. “Keep searching. There is a path going north. She must have fled on that.”

  “And for her?” the imperial said, gesturing to Xanthe. “It sounds like she was working with those bandits.”

  “Looks like a slave girl doing what it takes to not get fucked and slimed on by those men,” said the level 14 Ranger. She smirked at Xanthe. “Is that not right, shadow angel?” She gave no reply, and the Ranger returned to the imperials. “Besides, she is untainted by the affliction. Let her go. She is not worth it, and we are wasting time.”

  The imperials nodded and walked up a hill, venturing to the path the Ranger had talked about. One had angled their gaze at Xanthe. “Looks like it’s your lucky day, shadow angel,” he said. “For now.”

  Xanthe heard bubbles in the river. The fae were superb at staying underwater for an extended period. She waited until she could not see or hear the imperials, then ran to the carriage. There were six imperials, and she had only seen four. There were two more at large, two more she had to locate before pulling the woman out of the river. She hid behind a tree when she neared the carriage, then peeked around its enormous trunk to observe what became of Dolnir and his bandit crew.

  As she suspected, the bandits lay face down in the dirt, their bodies staining it red. The remaining two imperials held their weapons, then drove their blades down into the dead bodies, pricking them repeatedly. They must have really wanted them dead. The first body they mutilated evaporated, leaving behind a large crystal.

  Xanthe gasped. What is going on?

  She watched as the imperials repeated the action for the remaining dead bandits, stabbing them until they evaporated and turned into crystals. Other corpses had changed into various weapons, potions, or pieces of armor. There were no dead humans on the ground, only crystals and items. The imperials collected the crystals, then stopped to pick up one item, a curved sword.

  “Rank D items,” the imperial said. “Trash. Do not waste your inventory space with it.”

  “Now this,” said the other as he held the crystal to his face. “Now, this is worth it.”

  The two imperials reached out and touched magical floating pages that appeared ahead of them. They tapped the pages and made the crystals they gathered vanish into nothing. Off to the side, Xanthe’s ears picked up the roar of star-dweller machina.

  Dropping past the treetops were another set of armored men. They differed from the imperials as the armor they wore covered their body from head to toe. Strange lights glowed across their arms and legs as a burst of flaring light ejected from their back. It was star-dweller machina. The newly arrived armored men had the same machina that allowed star-dweller ships to fly, just a smaller version. It would not surprise Xanthe if the men turned out to be living machina since they looked more machine than anything else—machine men.

  The two imperials stood ahead of the machine men as they extended their hands out. The machine men wanted something from them. After tapping new floating pages, the imperials pulled out the crystals Dolnir and his men had turned into, and gave them to the machine men. The pages . . . they were like magical bags used to store their belongings. This must have been the inventory the imperials spoke of.

  They handed the crystals to the machine men, and then the machina on their backs grew with brilliant light, sending them off into the skies. The two imperials buzzed their wings and flew out of sight, likely joining the level 14 Ranger and her party. Xanthe was alone now and crept to where Dolnir’s body had fallen, pocketed the sack of denars he had, and stared at the curved sword that appeared after he evaporated.

  It looked sharper than the dagger she carried and figured something infused it with the same magic the humans used to kill the beasts. She would need the sword if she were to get out of the woods alive, along with the woman the imperials came seeking.

  Xanthe grabbed the sword then blacked out.

  Astral circuit wiring commencing.

  You have selected the Blade Dancer class. Please standby until astral circuit wiring completes.

  Chapter Seven

  A cluster of tutorial screens circled Guy, each one demanding his attention. He grabbed and pulled the closest one to him while reading its contents.

  As a Paladin, you must use your sword to defend the vulnerable and your party members. To do this, ensure that hostile targets focus on you while utilizing your defense to remain standing. Paladins are unique as they have access to AP skills and can cast spells from a small selection of abilities. The best way for you to carry out your duties is to form a party with allies. Look at potential allies and focus, then select the Invite to Party option.

  If Guy weren’t alone, surrounded by tutorial screens, he’d try it.

  As you may have noticed, you now have access to various attributes.

  He thought back to that first screen he saw in the hospital—strength, dexterity, vitality, agility, intelligence, wisdom, and charisma.

  Attributes will affect your performance while enabling you to equip special armor, weapons, accessories, and affect all your combat stats except ranged attack.

  Combat stats . . . what were those again? He thought for a moment and remembered the list after his attributes: Attack Bonus, Magic Attack Bonus, Healing Potency, Defense, Magic Defense, Critical Hit Rate, Attack Speed Bonus, Persuasion, and Ranged Attack. His attributes powered those, sans ranged attack.

  Your combat stats enhance your combat powers while your flight stats affect your ability to fly. Currently, you do not have any wings equipped.

  He viewed the next screen demanding his attention.

  To gain new magic skills or techniques, you must equip sigils. Select the Party option from the main menu. With a quick thought, Guy made the main menu screen appear and selected Party.

  A list appeared.

  Guy (Paladin) | HP: 100/100 | MP: 20/20 | AP: 0/100

  This is a list of those in your party. You are solo right now, so it’s just you! Please select your name, then view your passive traits.

  So he did.

  Equip Sigil: Guardian

  Enables use of the Guardian sigil.

  Born a Star-Dweller


  Enables the use of star-dweller-only items and technology.

  The Will to Stand

  Human racial trait – knockback and knockdown resistance

  As you level, you will acquire new traits automatically. These will enable the use of specific abilities or passives. As you can see, you have the Equip Sigil: Guardian trait, allowing you to use guardian sigils unique to Paladins. All Paladin skills require the base Guardian sigil. Please select it from your inventory.

  To access your inventory, bring up your main menu and select Items.

  Guy found and selected the Items option on the main menu. A list appeared, displaying the contents of his inventory.

  Guy’s Inventory - 01/50

  Sigil: Guardian

  Here you will be able to view your item storage and use consumables. Please note the requirements before using them. Let’s take a look at magic.

  It forced the next screen into his face.

  This is a list of all magic spells you can use with your selected class. This will consume mana points or MP upon use. Currently, you haven’t learned anything. But that will change as you acquire new sigils. Next up, Techniques.

  And the Techniques screen appeared, listing everything he had.

  These are your learned techniques that will consume action points or AP. Equip your Guardian sigil now to acquire your first skill. To do this, open your Inventory, select, then pull it out from the screen!

  Guy opened his Inventory screen and tapped Sigil: Guardian. A glowing symbol came to life within the center of the floating screen.

  Place the sigil on your body.

  He reached into the item screen and pulled out the sigil. Guy rolled up his sleeve and placed the sigil on his left arm, etching a shimmering symbol onto it: the sigil of the Guardian.

  New technique learned: Storm Slash

  Please note that you cannot cover sigils with your clothing, armor, or anything else. This will disrupt the flow of astral energy to them, preventing your astral circuits from correctly communicating with the sigils.