The Chain of Resonant Authority, that is what the sect and faction phenomenon has always been known to me as. It wasn’t Until I went out into the world and spent time among more superstitious societies that I heard it referred to as ‘Faith’.

  -Lady Clataire Astley ‘Lab Journal book #3’

  Chapter 83: Loot [Swamp Mansion-Green House]

  Darius

  Darius Knots was feeling confused and more than a little conflicted. Neither he nor Alley had broached the subject of what had happened in the courtyard and while it was inevitable, Darius didn't really want to have that conversation right now.

  At least not until he had sorted his own thoughts on the matter.

  He had checked his collection and found Dawn Shot in its normal form with no sign of The Black Dawn; the Card it had briefly become. At least Darius was pretty sure that was what had happened, his memories from after his body began to fill with that strange foul Resonance were fragmented at best.

  Still, it must have happened, Darius could feel his body, feel the way his insides ached, and his veins seemed to feel almost wider. That was before he truly looked within himself, once he had there could be no debate. Darius had grown to rank 10, he could feel the open lock within himself.

  For a Trials Deck Wielder to go from rank 11 to rank 10 meant they had to have evolved a Card, so that meant the strange transformation must have taken place.

  That raised more questions the hunter would deal with when he felt less nauseous. While he had managed to put on a brave face in front of Denderra and Alley, every chance he had gotten to be alone Darius had snuck off to try and force himself to throw up.

  That was the sort of feeling he'd been left with since awakening, like if he could just vomit he would feel better. The problem was nothing was coming up, he could force himself to wretch till he could barely breathe but at best he managed to spit out a thin stream of bile. So for Darius, the nausea remained.

  He steeled himself and pushed on towards the glass structure and the fortune of crystals within. In typical Alley fashion, Darius’ friend had already vanished into the library wing of the mansion claiming he wanted to secure the more important items first and foremost. The funny thing was as far as he was concerned Darius was doing the exact same thing.

  It took a little while for the hunter to reach the hidden courtyard and the weird structure within. Especially since he and Alley had split up Darius felt no need to keep up the facade that he didn’t feel like complete shit. So his feet dragged, and he frequently stopped to rest his slightly feverish forehead against cool things like walls, especially when he finally did make it to the courtyard garden.

  Eventually, he made his way back to where the tree lady’s body hung lifeless if he hadn’t seen her before Darius would have thought her some sort of creative carving done upon a still ‘living’ tree. A tree that somehow bore fruit in the form of dozens of Undeath Crystals.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  Darius had traveled much of the known world. He had visited relatives in both the Frostlands and Simmurgh Country; the homelands of his parents respectively. He had been to the ShatterWood and crossed the Flatpeaks, he could say ‘hello’, ‘goodbye’, and ‘fuck you’ in six languages. Suffice it to say Darius felt like he had traveled extensively in his short life as the son of adventurous hunters.

  In that time he had seen Undeath Crystals for sale no more than ten times, and they had all been at least one Black Chip each. Considering his parents might make five Black Chips in an average year of hunting this place was a treasure trove. He had a sudden flash of fear that the Crystals might have broken or otherwise lost their Resonance due to the death of their creator or something.

  A tired smile crossed his face when Darius pushed open the door and was almost blinded by the purple glow of the fallen crystals. They were just as they had been, undamaged and filled with pulsing purple light. Of course as happy as his incoming half-fortune made Darius he had to admit there were a few issues he and Alley were going to need to overcome.

  First was transporting the Crystals, while not individually heavy each was about the size of an apple and quickly they had filled Darius’ backpack past the brim and he had probably collected a third of them. Even once they got them to the boat the boys had rented there was just no way they could safely transport all of the Crystals away from the mansion in a single trip.

  That brought Darius to issue number two; Selling the Crystals. While the hunter had no doubt his friend would want to keep a few for himself since he was connected to Undeath Resonance and likely could empower himself, perform some experiment, or create something powered by the crystals that would aid him.

  He also knew the real value in these Resonance Crystals was their…well value. If the boys could get them somewhere that had a decent population of scholars and other mystic or scientific types they would be able to sell them for, as he had thought earlier, at least a Black Chip each. The closest settlement was still Rak Town where he and Alley had rented rooms.

  Considering Darius was pretty sure the closest thing to a scholar Rak Town had was that drunk lady in the library, he didn’t think there would be much of a market for the Crystals there. So that meant transporting them even further, to somewhere they could actually sell them. Somehow Darius didn’t think the various little hamlets and island towns that dotted the Muck Lands would be a whole lot better.

  “Medius maybe?” he mused aloud. The largest of the River islands and the de facto capital of the Muck Lands had things like guilds, scholars, and framers. The sorts of people who had uses for rarer and more esoteric types of Resonance.

  Medius wasn’t close exactly, though it was almost certainly the closest city that could serve their needs. It would still be a journey of at least a week or two, and that was if they were lucky enough to find passage on a boat heading upriver. A week or two of lugging those crystals around, making sure they didn’t get lost or, roll off, or even really get seen by people unless they wanted to risk attempted thieves.

  Uncharacteristically weak Darius grunted when he hefted his bulging backpack. Then there was of course the final issue concerning him. The Resonance sickness; Darius was almost certain that is what it had to be. His body had been flooded with enough of an unfamiliar Resonance that he had artificially gained a rank. There was no way that hadn’t left some sort of mark on him internally. What if this nausea never went away? Would he be able to help Alley on his quest like he had sworn? Would he even be able to keep being a hunter?

  There was so much about this Darius didn’t know, his parents had taught him that Resonance sickness existed, but beyond ‘ don’t consume Resonance that isn’t Pursuit and it won’t matter’ he hadn’t really been briefed on how it worked. He couldn’t really blame his parents, to the best of anyone’s knowledge you had to willingly accept that sort of infusion and you just…didn’t do that.

  It's not as grim as it seems I swear.