Condemned Book 2: A Progression Fantasy LitRPG Series (Lord Valevsky: Last of the Line)

Vasily Mahanenko Condemned Book 2 Lord Valevsky: Last of the Line A Progression Fantasy Series Published by Magic Dome Books Condemned Book 2: A Progression Fantasy Series (Lord Valevsky: Last of the Line) Copyright © V. Mahanenko 2023 Cover Art © Lunar 2023 Cover Design V. Manyukhin English translation copyright © Taylor Elise Margvelashvili 2023 Published by Magic Dome Books, 2023 All Rights Reserved ISBN: 978-80-7619-972-9 This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Amazon.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.. New and upcoming releases from Magic Dome Books: If you like our books and want to keep reading, download our FREE Publisher's Catalog, a must-read for any LitRPG fan which lists some of the finest works in the genre: Tales of Wonder and Adventure: The Best of LitRPG, Fantasy and Sci-Fi (Publisher's Catalog) Table of Contents: Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 About the Author Chapter 1 “I SUPPOSE YOU SHOULD give them names,” said my mentor. Once long ago, presumably in a past life, he had been human, but those days were gone forever. Now the Evil Engineer was one of the four dark beasts officially acknowledged as “purified” by the Church of the Light. A convert who had managed to wrest himself free from the control of the dark god Skron. Nonetheless, much of the Evil Engineer’s former essence remained. Primarily his aura that manifested as a dark fog, eternally gloomy demeanor, lousy mood and indelible desire to dominate everything and everyone. I could also add sadistic inclinations to the list, of course, but these I think he was born with. “Why? They’re just weapons,” I replied, rising from the ground. I wanted to really tear into someone, but managed to contain my emotions. Everyone who’d come running from all over the arena in anticipation of a free healing was significantly superior to me in strength. The Magical Academy of the Zarak Empire was attended by the chosen ones — children from the highest rungs of society, whose parents spared no expense for their precious progeny. Enhancements had boosted their physical stats immensely, turning the young men and women into real monsters. What could I say when my partner, Karina Fardi, could easily bench press a hundred and twenty kilograms? A twenty-year-old girl with a figure like a concubine from a romance novel! “Healing’s over!” the Evil Engineer called out loudly without removing his heavy gaze from me. “Just weapons? You called your katars ‘just weapons?’ Get up, peasant! This obstacle course won’t run itself! Fardi, enough wallowing around! In plank position! One handed, dipstick! Other behind your back. Max, Skron mark me, if you fall off again you’ll be down there with your partner! You have to pass the pendulums! Move it, dead weight!” This was how my training sessions passed, serenaded by my mentor’s encouraging and occasionally motivating diatribes. But I should probably say a few words about myself to explain how I became destined to such a complete shitshow of a life. I’m a doomed soldier by the alias Max, once from the glorious Valevsky Barony. “Once,” past tense, because officially, the barony no longer exists. The Duke of Odoevsky framed my family — there’s not a doubt in my mind — and then had them all executed. No trial, no investigation, although on paper, I was told, everything had been above board. Even the emperor approved of this demonstrative flogging of some insignificant family, just so the whole empire understood: only a chosen few have rights in this world. I was lucky, if you can say that — instead of the gallows, I was delegated to a particular caste of “doomed soldiers.” The qualitative composition of this community was highly specific: murderers, rapists, embezzlers of public funds, those who the highest ranks simply found objectionable — but even here, among the dregs of society, people were further divided into two groups. Those who owned magic stones and everyone else. I fell into the first category and was assigned six months of study at the academy, so that I may at least survive my first encounter with a dark beast. For even among death row inmates, mages had their value. Once I arrived at the academy, I was appointed to a sadist named the Evil Engineer, who for some reason, stubbornly insisted that his bullying was training, as well as a partner who by chance turned out to be the daughter of the very same Duke of Odoevsky. I think that brief summary should catch you up to speed. Although there’s one more thing. Those katars… The weapons had been gifted to me by a doomed soldier who went by the name Countess. It had once belonged to one of her warriors, but the rifts that spawned dark beasts were merciless. Savage, as the warrior had been known, was gone, but now I had these rather interesting swords. Or, more precisely, long knives. As soon as we got back to the academy however, the monitor assigned to me by the Fortress (the highest governing body/building of the Church of the Light) confiscated my weapons and I never saw them again. Fast forward a day, back