The next step a litrpg c.., p.1
The Next Step: A LitRPG Cultivation Series (Cultivator vs. System Book 2), page 1
THE NEXT STEP
©2022 VALERIOS
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CONTENTS
Also in Series
1. Erlene’s Daughter
2. Duality
3. Mastik’s Evolution
4. The Demonic Long Fang
5. The New Lonely Mountain
6. The Scorpion Riders
7. What is the Dao?
8. Mastik and Braum
9. Striking Fear in Others’ Hearts
10. The Cultivation Doctor
11. A Kobold’s Genius
12. The Pharaoh’s Teachings
13. An Explosive Situation
14. The Final Heavens
15. The Battle Begins
16. The Terror of Lonely Mountain
17. The Debt is Paid
18. The Kobold Tribulation
19. A Losing Battle
20. The Fallen Samurai
21. Desperate Measures
22. The Might of the Heavens
23. Master of the Skies
24. The Kobold that Refused to Yield
25. Burning the Phoenix
26. God’s Demise
27. Aftermath and Celebration
28. Phil’s Evolution
29. Red Ox
30. Qi-Powered Fighter Jets
31. Judgment of Divinity
32. Combining Forces
33. Road Trips are Fun
34. Waymon, the Impregnable City
35. Rex Emporium
36. Ancient Golems
37. The Price of A Favor
38. Headbutting a Rock
39. Koby’s Challenge
40. The Asuria War
41. Barbarian Ploys
42. Reforging the Dao
43. Featherborn’s Desire
44. High Stakes
45. Long Fang vs. Featherborn
46. The Duel Concludes
47. When Saints Fight
48. In Hot Pursuit
49. Forced to Fight
50. Exterminator
51. Pushed To Despair
52. Unprecedented!
53. For Freedom and Revenge
54. World War
Thank you for reading The Next Step
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LitRPG
ALSO IN SERIES
The First Step
The Next Step
1
ERLENE’S DAUGHTER
The pharaoh had departed, his offer of apprenticeship still hanging over Long’s head like a candy-lined guillotine.
Braum had been teleported away by Phil, but Mastik had unfortunately gone with him. His fate did not seem pretty.
Moreover, Monkedil had informed Phil of an incoming attack against Lonely Mountain.
Given all those, the next few hours passed by in a blur for the artificer. They crawled back out of the pyramid, Kat carrying Long’s unconscious body. Fortunately, she had invested in Strength somewhat. As they passed through the monument, the once-terrifying corridors and hallways now seemed despairingly empty.
They ignored the treasure rooms. On the way out, they encountered a few more people stranded in the maze; everyone followed them out.
The exact path they took was lost on Phil. There were some stairs, some stones, some murals… He did not pay attention. Between his panicked sacrifice of Mastik, the Mumpas’ unfair destruction, and his worries about the Lonely Mountain kobolds, his mind was far too preoccupied. And that was without even mentioning the resurrected god.
They exited the pyramid and found the people they’d left behind. Kat and Monkedil dealt with them, though Phil, again, did not pay attention. As far as he was concerned, they could do whatever they wanted. He simply fumbled along, going where they told him to go, doing what they told him to do.
Some walking and ropes later, they were back in the desert. The sky was orange and pink, illuminated by a red sun that slowly approached the sand dunes on the horizon.
The desert sunset was beautiful; the golden sand, the pleasant breeze, the rustle of silken robes, and a sky that brimmed with colors... Phil faintly remembered Monkedil offering to camp together and Kat refusing him. There was still some time before the sun finally set, and they had to cover as much ground as possible. To save Lonely Mountain, time was of the essence.
Kat and Phil took off, bidding their goodbyes, heading towards the setting sun. Anatolia was directly west of the ruined city, making their orientation easy.
The sun set, and they made camp, erecting a tent behind a tall sand dune. The night winds of the desert were biting, as was the whipping sand they carried. Hiding from them was a wise man’s endeavor.
They did not need, nor have, more than one tent. There were only three of them, after all, and the gender difference mattered little at this point. In a haze, Phil found himself sitting on the sand and staring up at the stars.
The sky was astonishing. Tiny dots of light littered every corner, thousands upon thousands of them. The half-moon hung bright, illuminating the night sky, while a river of stars crossed part of the night sky.
Many had wondered about this river of stars, how it came to be and what it signified. Some claimed that the cosmos was organized into flows and that the many stars they saw were merely part of their world’s river. Theories abounded, but none had a concrete answer.
As far as Phil was concerned, the night sky was the product of a divine painter, nonsensical in its undeniable, encompassing beauty.
On the lonely nights, when he got off work and realized he had nothing else to look forward to, he used to stare at the sky. It helped take his mind off things, the realization of just how tiny he was alleviating his equally tiny concerns.
Yet now, the sky did not help as much. Phil had very few friends, and he’d just sent one of them to his possible death. He did not have a choice, but oh, by the gods, how much it stung…
Another friend was unconscious, taking on the brunt of everything Phil couldn’t face. The kobolds, which he liked, were in danger as well. He was rushing back, but it wasn’t as if Phil himself could do much to help them. Long could. Long was the strong one.
And while Phil wasn’t jealous, he suddenly felt disdain for his own weakness. He needed someone strong to help him. Why?
Hell, Long himself had only been in this world for a very limited time, but his achievements already far outstripped anyone else’s. He made friends and enemies, and made the world revolve around him wherever he went. Simply being around Long was enough to grant Phil an exciting, adventurous life—a far cry from his previous, lonely existence as an insignificant researcher in a tiny part of the world.
And Long was strong. Was it a coincidence that the strong one had a life deserving the envy of others while the weak one had a life so colorless that it might as well not exist?
Phil’s mind said no. Life had many facets, but they were all related. Success in one drove success in the others, while failure only bred failure. And when everything was failure, life became shit.
The artificer let out a sigh, looking at his hands. He had spent twenty-four years in this world, but they were nothing compared to this last month. What am I doing wrong? he couldn’t help but wonder, shaking his head. How did I flush twenty-four years down the drain?
A hand on his shoulder made Phil jump.
"Sorry," came Kat’s voice, "I didn’t mean to scare you."
"It’s alright," he replied, looking back at the girl and the set-up tent behind her. A pang of embarrassment overtook him. The last few hours were a haze, but he was pretty sure he hadn’t helped with the tent. Given that Long was unconscious, Kat must have done it all herself. And she had also carried Long all this way.
"Can I sit?" she asked softly, "or do you want some alone-time?"
<
She nodded but did not speak. Sitting there, side by side, they let the moments pass.
"I’m sorry," said Phil, "for making you take care of everything."
"That’s alright." She waved a hand. "Sometimes, we all need to depend on others. I’m glad I was here to help. Besides, I’m used to it."
Phil turned to look at her, surprise coloring his eyes.
"You’ve changed," he said slowly. "Before, you weren’t this… kind."
She frowned, then shrugged. "Yeah, I guess I did. I mean, shit happened, and that has a way of changing people, doesn’t it?"
"Yeah, I guess it does."
They stayed silent for a moment before Kat spoke again.
"I mean… that was some pretty fucked-up shit. We met mummies, explored a pyramid… Damn, we even fought a god and lived to tell the tale." She laughed, the joy washing away her nervousness. "And Mastik got sent away at the end, but I’m sure he’ll pull through. He said it himself, right? He has a way to escape. We spent some time together in the pyramid; he’s a good guy. I’m sure he can do it."
She hugged her knees to her chest, her heart pouring out of her mouth as she kept talking.
"But you know, I haven’t met anyone I can connect to in ages. And I’m not saying this because he’s a man—I barely know the guy—but hanging around him felt really great. I haven’t felt great in a while; hard to do that between robbing and running for your life."
She snapped her eyes at Phil, realizing what she was saying. "I mean, I'm not saying you’re bad company or anything. I like you, too. It’s just that you and I are, well, different, you know? In the same way that everyone is. Everyone has their flaws and uniqueness, but Mastik… well, he was a little bit like me."
She chuckled. "Less beautiful, that’s for sure, but like me. And it was nice to find someone like that for a change… Why does it have to be so damn rare? After all, I am human, too. I'm not just a thief, you know? I knit, sometimes. And I like reading stories to others. And I enjoy baking, even though I suck at it."
"Really?" Phil smiled. "That’s a weird assortment of hobbies."
"Eh, it’s what life gave me." She shrugged again, too caught up on her words to notice the smile on her lips or the frown over her eyes. "I was a child of the streets. I still am, in a sense, though I’m not a child anymore. But I was the big girl. The others were much younger than me, even the boys."
She looked at the starry sky, her dark hair falling over her shoulders. Phil watched her for a moment. She was beautiful, he noticed, but he didn’t let his thoughts get any further. Mastik liked her, he knew that, and she probably liked him back. Sacrificing Mastik’s life in the heat of the moment was one thing, but he definitely wasn’t going to be that guy.
Kat continued, not looking at Phil. She didn’t want to say these things to him in particular; she just wanted to let them out. He just happened to be likable, approachable, and close-by, plus talking to herself was weird.
"Mother Erlene took care of us after some point. She let us live in her attic and hid us whenever the guards came—robbing stuff didn’t make a good impression on them, as you might imagine. She gave us some of her bread—she’s a baker—and some water, too. Not enough to grow fat, just enough to survive, but it was all she could offer.
"You see"—she took a deep breath before continuing—"Mother Erlene lived alone. Taking care of us… It was not something she could afford to do, but she did it regardless. She used to be chubby when we first arrived. After a while, she wasn’t. I hated that. So I did everything I could to help, even though she never asked. I knit and sewed whenever our clothes fell apart; I helped her with baking bread—though I never got that one right; I took care of the younger children, reading stories to them and helping them eat and poop; I washed the dishes, cleaned the house, I did everything I could to help.
"And at night," she continued, "I went out. I stole things to help our little household. A loaf of bread here, a plate there, a dress left to dry farther down the road. I got better and better at it until skulking in the shadows became my second nature. I even got an Elite Class, the Shadow Witch. Can you believe that? Me, a random girl, getting an Elite Class. Gods."
Kat shook her head. "And when I got too good, I left home. You see, if I started stealing valuable things, the guards would come after me for real. They would find and punish us all. So I left home, and I left Bromden, too—that’s my village, by the way—going to Anest and the nearby cities. I haven’t gone back in a long while, nor have I received letters from them, but that’s okay. I steal things, I sell them, and then I send the money back to Mother Erlene. That’s how we live now. That’s… me."
She stopped speaking, eyes lost in the stars. Phil smiled softly, looking up too.
"That’s quite a life," he said.
"Yeah, maybe… I don’t know. It’s the only one I’ve lived." She shook her head. "Gods, I don’t even know why I’m saying all these to you. I barely even know you, and you’re probably bored as hell with my rumblings…."
"I’m not bored." Phil smiled encouragingly, if a bit awkwardly too. He never was good at these kinds of things. Focus, Phil. What would Long say?
"We are friends now, right? I love learning about you." He beamed at her, and to his surprise, her eyes lit up with relief and hope. It worked!
"I guess we are." She smiled back. "I’ve never had any friends, only family. The other children, Mother Erlene, and I are not related by blood, but we are family; we need each other. Having friends… That would be nice for a change."
"Then it’s a deal." Phil laughed. "And it’s not just me either. Long and Mastik too; they like you. In fact, I’m sure that Mastik is already rushing back here to find you."
"He- What?" Kat’s eyes opened wide. Phil would have sworn she blushed too, but that might have just been the starlight playing games. This was Kat. She couldn’t blush.
Though, admittedly, Phil wished she had. After all, this was a prime opportunity to help his bro. He might be dense at times, but he wasn’t that dense.
"Yeah, I’m sure he’s on his way back as we speak. He said he could escape, right? Then he certainly will. And if you really felt that connection with him, I’m sure he felt the same. He wouldn’t simply discard the feeling, would he? No, I’m sure he’s already rushing back to meet you again."
"That’s- uh, that’s great, sure," she stammered, while Phil had to contain his inner laughter. Now she was definitely blushing.
She froze for a moment, realizing her reaction, before laughing.
"What the hell?" she asked out loud. "I came here to comfort you; how did this turn into me pouring my heart out?"
"It’s alright. Sometimes, we all need to depend on others. Even if we are hardened, professional thieves." He winked, sprawling his legs out on the sand. "Besides, you helped me more than you imagine. I needed this, to see another perspective on life and get my mind off things. Now, I’m sane again. I can handle it. Thanks again for taking care of everything while I was out."
"I see." She smiled and narrowed her eyes, standing up. "Then my job here is done. Thank you for listening to me, Phil, even if I was boring. You’re a great guy. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I am exhausted."
"Sure, no problem. Go to sleep; I’ll join you in a bit."
