《Enter The Fold [LitRPG]》 1.1 Misfortune 8th February ¡°Run that smooth or I die,¡± laughed Tyson Johnson. He was one hundred feet up a douglas fir. There was plenty of tree still above him, and below was a green ocean of canopy that extended off into all horizons with snow capped mountains poking up off to the east. The pacific northwest was gorgeous. The crew were working for a client who needed a better view for his hilltop mansion, so several slopeside trees were marked for removal. Tyson was an arborist who climbed trees and cut them down. It was difficult being a tree climber. Tyson had never planned to do it. He saw himself as more of a traditional tradesman, working in the highrise boom of apartment expansion. He would have loved to build custom homes like the one he worked above; he had enough construction experience to justify the career. Instead, he struggled up to the top of massive trees, rappelled back down on ropes and then cut off branches until he sent the top. It didn¡¯t pay enough, was exhaustingly laborious, not to mention extremely dangerous. Chainsaws removed flesh and bone far easier than wood, not that he had ever cut himself with a saw as his meticulous work practice kept everyone going home safe. He shouldn¡¯t complain. He was good at it and enjoyed being good at it. The sights you got to see up there were exhilarating. His joints hurt and he could see that it was hard on his body, but he made decent money doing it. He drew it in, appreciating the beautiful vista. Gotta find the good when you can, it''s too easy to fixate on the bad. He was ready to take the top off so it was time to do a LMRA, a last minute risk assessment. His tree climbing spurs were firmly planted, his base of stability was strong. His ropes were free of tangles, so if something went wrong he could theoretically rappel to safety. The rigging pulley was properly attached and positioned. The working line was inside the pulley and rigged to the top on the open face-cut side, it would be controlled on its descent¡­ He was forgetting something¡­ Check fuel. He checked his fuel as he didn''t want to be caught with no juice mid-maneuver, it was half full, more than enough. ¡°I¡¯m ready, you ready to run this smooth?¡± Tyson asked through the headset in his hardhat. Communication was key and the goal was for Marky Jay, his co-worker on the ground, to gently slow the falling tree top so as to not shake the tree. If Marky Jay caught the top too abruptly it would whip the entire stem and could shake Tyson right off his perch. He told himself he would be fine. His ropes were set properly and the tree was healthy. It was on a slope but Tyson had checked the root plate, which had been robust and showed no signs of failure. It was a shame this tree had to go, but the client wanted their view and Tyson needed the money. ¡°I¡¯m ready boo boo,¡± Marky Jay¡¯s voice said, tinny through the ear piece. ¡°Back cut,¡± Tyson said and sent his chainsaw biting into the foot wide section of trunk. He pushed the saw deeper, being careful to not cut the top off completely. It began to lean away as he feathered the saw into the cut. Falling in the direction it leaned, towards the house, Tyson would have sent it into the forest if he had been able. It broke off and began to sail towards the opulent mansion, but the deft hands of Marky Jay knew exactly when and how much tension to apply to draw the top back in and slow it down gradually. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Tyson felt a slight resonance vibrate the stem he stood upon. Perfect. He let out a whoop of victory and enjoyed the new view. It was a success. ¡±That was super smooth Marky, thank you very much. All clear,¡± he said on comms and looked down at the guys down there handling the tree top. Tyson took a moment to breathe. The view always opened up after the top was gone. You were above everything, alone and distant, looking down at nature. He would cut the rest down piece by piece, and then, lunch. One more small tree after this and then he could go home to play videogames and smoke weed. Tyson was by no means an esports pro but he did enjoy strategy city builders and the odd MMO. Nothing beat a hard day''s work then vegging out playing pretend monarch while listening to his stories. But!... He was at work, he needed to focus. He went to continue working but a distant rumbling stopped him. Then the ground began to shake. What could only be an earthquake began as the weather changed and violent gray clouds rolled in. Tyson tried to rappel but his spurs were lodged deep into the trunk, he pulled as the stem shook but only managed to free one. Marky Jay screamed through his headset. ¡°TYSON GET THE FUCK OUTTA THAT TREE, ITS LIFTING!¡± His perspective began to tilt as the stem began to move. He lost the smile. He was falling. Falling towards the twenty-three million dollar mansion, that was made predominantly of concrete. He pulled at the rappel device but that one kept him glued to the tree- not that he could have rappelled out of that mess in time. The wind whistled as the hundred foot long stem whipped him down. He had done everything right. How could he have planned for an earthquake? He had done everything right. Tyson raged for an instant and then felt the cool release of acceptance. Tyson was experienced enough to know that you could do everything right and still fail. He accepted it. He felt guilty that he was leaving his family but he didn¡¯t have children of his own, they would be fine without him. His girlfriend would be fine. It would all be fine. Everything launched towards him, the perspective forced and growing. Tyson closed his eyes just before impacting the dark roof launching towards him. He broke, pain erupted everywhere. White light flashed but his eyes held close, there was only contraction. He had never experienced pain so immense and it seized whatever his body was. It hurt so bad. He tried to inhale and opened his eyes to see his body pinned and perforated between the house and the tree. He couldn¡¯t move his head but what he could see showed he was leaking from the gashes in his arms and chest. There was only pain above his abdomen. The pain washed over him in slightly decreasing throbs. Every time he felt that pressure wash over him it lessened and he felt more and more tired. He fought it. He had that grit. He could beat this. He could. He¡­ He was heading to the next phase of existence and/or non-existence. and he felt¡­ Ok. He saw a flicker in his failing vision, it reminded him of his computer screens. A flash of blue with words but it only lasted an instant. Then Tyson Johnson died and felt peace. He was free. He was nothing. The presence of that peace was immediate and eternal, yet immediately gone and ephemeral. He was again¡­ something. He was some part of himself. Tyson floated in that darkness for some time. How much was unclear. An overwhelming sense of disbelief short circuited his mind, until it turned to rage. He had been so stupid. So inexperienced. He wasted his short thirty years on failure after failure. He had accomplished nothing but survival. A great wave of regret washed over him. He had wasted his potential and opportunities on the idle pursuits of nihilism and hedonism, and when he was needed, he had little to nothing to offer. Guilt. Tyson had family that still relied on his meager support. His nephews had already lost their mothers, his sisters, to fentanyl. Now they lost their uncle to stupidity and risk complacency. He tried to bellow, to release the rage building. He wanted tears to pour, he needed the catharsis of release. But he couldn¡¯t, he wasn¡¯t anything. Just perspective, a viewpoint. Dread filled him, was this all there was now? Was he cursed to float in this darkness forever? Tyson had been an atheist most of his life. Observing and enduring as much suffering as he had not inspired a belief in a God. Acknowledging his lack of perfection had made him agnostic, he didn¡¯t know there wasn''t a God in the most general definition. Losing his sisters had made him angry, if there was a God, fuck em. Now, after hours of rage and guilt, he questioned his position in the cosmic order. Where was he and what was he here to do? With that thought a screen appeared on a portion of his viewpoint. It looked like an application window or kinda like a game pop up. So he was hallucinating now but that was ok. It was better than being in darkness for the rest of time. On the window was a text box prompt, it asked one question. Continue? Yes / No 1.2 First Step ??? Tyson reviewed his last memory. The carnage, the gore. The feeling of betrayal at the unfairness of life. He had died, yet this was some sort of existence. He had been a skeptic, and this was paradigm altering, but he knew nothing of what lay before him. He was blind and the only way to learn more was to go forward. Internally, he decided on Yes and as his intent solidified the prompt disappeared, only for Tyson to be presented with two different questions. Name: ? Race: ? Name? Tyson Johnson. As he thought the answer a new prompt popped up. He was beginning to understand this system of interaction. It seemed to work through thought. Your True-Name cannot be your Moniker. True-Name? Moniker? He can¡¯t use his name? The new window overlapped the old one, he didn''t like that and wanted it to go away. The new prompt vanished. That was intuitive. Tyson considered the question of name. How about his internet alias? DealerOfSixThousandDeaths. He had been edgy as a kid but never bothered to switch to something more subtle. No one ever chose it because of how edgy it was. Perfect for all sorts of gaming accounts. Name: Dealer X SixThousandDeaths Confirm? No, that¡¯s not right or clear. It seemed like a first name last name thing so he could probably just do Six and that would work. Name: Six Confirm? Hmmm that''s not too bad, thought Tyson. Short and sweet. Cool. Neat. Yes. Name: Six Race: ? He considered the next prompt. Race? He was mixed race. A new prompt window appeared in his vision. Mixed race is not available from initial vessel creation, please choose from Human Orc Halfling Gnome Dwarve Elf ... Tyson was a Human. He willed the list to scroll and it cycled the options. There were hundreds of choices. Maybe thousands. Focusing on an option brought up a description. Human: Ephemeral. Humans'' only predisposition is growth. A flare of flame that burns bright and hot. Humans accumulate growth and power through generational organizations. With luck and determination Humans can achieve levels of individual power comparable to Permanants. Fabled Humans have even overcome Gods. No Racial Abilities. What? What is even happening? Tyson focused on Elf. Elf: Permanent. Elves are predisposed to Agility or Wisdom. A wellspring flowing from a near endless reservoir. Elves accumulate growth and power through their connection to their permanence and nature itself. Permanence is a double edged sword, allowing for a slow but inevitable climb. Fabled Elves have even overcome Gods. Racial Ability: Mana Rich. Gain an additional 5 maximum Mana per point of INT and a reduced 5 maximum endurance per point of END. He went through a few more, they all sounded like they came from a fantasy novel. Except for one choice, a Grey. Tyson was pretty sure that was a typical alien from the description. He knew his choice, he was just exploring what was available. The dread had faded and now he was just curious. Tyson always loved the human heroes with no special powers that could compete with the strongest mutant or alien; his favourite being Batman. There was a part of his mind that screamed at him to slow down and consider the pros and cons of each race, but he operated with the abandon of someone dead. Tyson picked Human. Race: Human Confirm? Tyson willed his confirmation. Name: Six Race: Human With that selection the window disappeared and it was dark again for a few moments. Then, he appeared. Six appeared. Well, his body appeared. A perfect version of himself came flying out of the darkness and into the ambient light of his viewpoint. It slowed abruptly and held itself for Six to examine. It was an exact duplicate of himself. Almost like looking in a mirror. A couple years younger maybe. Just over six feet tall, brown skin and rich curly black locks that fell to his shoulders. Six felt a pang of jealousy. Being a floating nothing was sad. Seeing his body brought a profound sense of loss. He wanted that body, and with that thought the perspective his mind inhabited descended on the form and they became one. Once again Six had form. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. A form that promptly lost consciousness. Six opened his eyes to the sight of blue skies and green trees. He gasped, an immediate feeling of breathlessness shuddering over him. He tried to retch but nothing came out. He rolled off his back and onto his knees, coughed at the ground a bit, then managed to stop and catch his breath. He shivered at the exertion his body had just performed. He had a body. Six smiled. He was alive. He checked his abdomen, looking for the signs of the crushing he last remembered. He remembered being popped like a tube of yogurt. Yet he looked fine, almost in a bit better shape than he remembered. He was naked. Naked. He looked about and saw that he was in some sort of forest glade. On the ground next to him was a pile of rope, high quality, double spliced climbing rope, his rope. He pulled himself to his feet and stood. He checked his junk. Yep, everything was where it should be. He felt fine. But¡­ How? He was alive? He felt real enough, but where was this place? Was this heaven? He pinched himself. Ow. That hurt so¡­ not heaven? There was a berry bush right next to him laden heavily with big juicy purple berries. Six wasn¡¯t stupid enough to try them. He knew some camping tricks and a little bushcraft, but never tried any foraging. The berries looked pretty strange, delicious but strange. Maybe if he was starving he''d risk eating them. He wasn¡¯t hungry but he already could feel how empty his stomach was. He picked up the rope, it was the rope he had been climbing on when he died, orange with yellow flecks, half an inch thick. He had died, that tree took him, and now he was here. He stared at nothing and contemplated his position and circumstances before clearing his mind to stay calm. He would get back home, back to his family. He looked at the rope in his hand, thought about it for a bit, and then tied a series of knots to create an approximation of a loincloth-toga thing. It wasn¡¯t exactly chilly but the knotted rope provided a little warmth and some modesty. Now, he needed to find civilization, If it even existed. He had a suspicion that this was a hallucination created in the last moments of his death. Even still, best to treat it as some sort of reality, even if it was a figment of imagination. Tyson examined this reality. Massive trees surrounded him. At one end of the glade was a sunlit path where the trees were spaced enough apart that the rays trickled in through the rustling leaves above. The other end of the glade seemed to turn into a steep incline of rock. Tyson worked his way along the old growth that lined the overgrown path and it eventually opened out onto a ridgeline that looked down over a vast forest. Tyson was halfway up a fucking mountain. he looked down at his toga-loincloth thing and felt his stomach twist. He was going to freeze to death when the sun set. It looked to be about noon based on the sun¡¯s position. If he moved fast and found some lucky paths, he might hit the base of the mountain by sundown. Even then he doubted he would be able to start a fire without a knife, as his rudimentary bushcraft skills did not include starting a fire with zero tools. Judging by the weather, night was going to be frigid. He couldn¡¯t stay here. He checked the sun and set off towards what he assumed was west. He didn¡¯t recognize the topography, but he had only traveled within his province really. His bare feet began to ache immediately but there was no stopping. ¡°You got grit¡±. He held onto that mantra and put one foot in front of the other. He went as fast as he could and stepped carefully. Given how many unknowns he was facing, he couldn¡¯t afford an injury and needed to be able to be mobile. He also needed to be patient before he hurt himself rushing. Six thought he might be following a makeshift path that was in good repair at one point, but no longer. Broken stairs, thorny patches, and fallen trees marred his way several times, but careful maneuvering managed to keep him safe and progressing steadily. He could hear the creatures of the forest. He saw a few squirrels and rodents. A few birds. They kept their distance. After what he assumed was a couple hours of travel, Six was more confident about his chances of making it to the base of the mountain. The sun was going down, but he gauged he had enough time remaining to make it somewhere he could hide for the night. Six had a rough target. He was tracing a switchback, back and forth down a long ridge that led down into a pocket of forest. Within that pocket he could see another glade and what appeared to be a mountain fed stream or river of some kind. His goal was to descend down into that pocket and try to find fresh flowing water. If he followed that water downstream, he would surely find civilization. He kept moving. He was losing light and it felt like he¡¯d been walking for a few hours. The sun was setting and his stomach rumbled. Now Six was hungry. He had been moving for hours and hunger was so great that he began to hallucinate. An icon on his vision appeared. It hovered in his peripherals but he could identify the symbol of a stomach. It reminded him of the darkness, when he was just a viewpoint. He shuddered and remembered that he had died. He also remembered the intuitive nature of the windows. He focused on the Symbol and a prompt filled his vision. You are STARVED. Your Endurance Regen is now capped at a total of 2000 END per level before death. You can exist in this state for a maximum of two weeks before death. Endurance Regen halved. Consume sustenance to end this status. What the fuck. Was this a debuff? Was this his purgatory? Was his mind creating a weird power fantasy in its last moments? His heaven? His hell? He looked down at his rope loincloth-toga, he suspected this may be a weird hell. Even still, he had that grit and wouldn¡¯t let this break in reality stop him. He kept stumbling on. He mis-stepped and busted up one foot pretty good on a root, and his toe began to throb and leak blood. Stupid. It hurt badly, but he walked on and eventually the trail leveled out to reveal a wide stream that flowed off from the mountain. Six struggled over to it and dipped his feet in the clear, cold water. The biting cold was hell, but he knew it was better than leaving them swollen and bruised. He wanted to drink from the stream too, but the risk of contracting some sort of stomach bug was too high. He couldn¡¯t afford to die of dehydration from diarrhea. He planned to continue his journey following the water, so if it came down to it he could hydrate. His vision sharpened and he felt a bit more grounded. Everything felt a bit more real. How he wasn¡¯t bobcat food at this point he didn¡¯t know. This looked like his old home, a northern rainforest. Predator animals were a real thing and he had no way to protect himself. He needed to find people and fast. Get to a road and back to civilization. He could see the click bait: ¡®crazy rope wearing man picked up on the side of the highway¡¯. It would be embarrassing- funny, but embarrassing. Still, he was confident someone would help him. Do not tell anyone about the weird digital window visuals. The windows were harmless and he liked his freedom. His break done, he needed to keep moving. Upstream looked like the river coalesced off several mountain side streams flowing into the larger waterway. The place was amazing, he was kinda surprised there wasn¡¯t a small cabin at the least. After a quick appreciation of his surroundings Six moved down stream. There was a path of sorts running down the side of the small river. A continuation of the trail most likely, it kinda looked like it may have been even wider at some point. It was only a short time longer before Six saw people for the first time since he died. They were dressed like medieval mercenaries. Slumped around their camp, shivering and wiping away a constant foaming of the mouth. They looked like they were dying. Four in all. Two were human but one looked like what could only be described as a dwarf and the other an orc. A freaking orc. Six laughed, he must be dreaming. Maybe he stumbled into a very realistic larping hangover session. One, a human woman in knightly plate armor, her helm off to the side, glanced at him and laughed. ¡°I know,¡± Six said, grimacing at his rope loin-toga. ¡°But you gotta make do with what you got.¡± She spoke in a strange language that began as meaningless jargon, but slowly became inteligible.. ¡°I don''t know what you said but as long as I''m not hallucinating,¡± she said, her voice in control but held in a slight quiver. A prompt presented itself- Knowledge gained: Knowledge: Imperial Zleenish (Mortal) He could understand them and he wrestled with that realization but a moan from one of them focused him. ¡°I thought I was the one who was going to need help, but it looks like you guys might need it more. Anything I can do? I can go get more people, but I¡¯d need some food and water¡­ and shoes,¡± Six rambled a bit, trying to draw attention away from his strange dress. ¡°There is no more time to get help, our death is imminent. Take our food and even all of our gear, but please, you must get to the Prancing Stallion inn in the city of Olisrosa. Tell the settler caravan of our passing and that the expedition is off. You only have minutes to end our lives. Can you do this?¡± The woman finished with a resolute nod. Six had one word. ¡°What?¡± 1.3 Randomly Exalted 18 Astra 10,391 She repeated herself. ¡°Please¡­ Kill us.¡± Every word was a struggle for her. ¡°Fucking¡­ No?¡± Six was dumbfounded. The woman sighed. ¡°We are dying. If you do not take our experience, the poisoner will.¡± She coughed up blood. ¡°You could wait until we die by poison but who knows when that bitch will catch up with us. She could be watching right now.¡± ¡°Poison?¡± mumbled Six. She nodded weakly, a smile of acceptance on her tired face. ¡°I don''t want your experience.¡± Six questioned her sanity. This wasn¡¯t a fucking game. ¡°I don''t want my life feeding her. Please, give us mercy and tell our people it¡¯s over. They are to leave in about two and a half weeks, you have to stop them. Take our equipment and I will give you a waypoint.¡± You have been offered a quest: Giving Mercy I Lady De¡¯Tair has asked you for the sweet release of death and for you to tell her people that she will not bring them to the settlement site. Go find her apprentice Alison Lamora in the Prancing Stallion Inn located in the city of Olisrosa and tell her of their passing. They will leave in eighteen days thus this quest has a time limit of eighteen days. Rewards for Accepting: Voluntary Spiritual Energy SoulBonded Equipment Waypoint to the City of Olisrosa Rewards for Completion: None Time Limit: Failure upon the date of 36, Astra, 10,391 Penalty for Failure: None Do you Accept? Yes/No He began to question if these windows were harmless? Six shook himself in disbelief. He had heard of this before, people suffering catastrophic injury and then living in their head. But why was this part of it? He wouldn¡¯t do it. Kill a person? He had never killed anyone. But, was this killing? How could you kill a figment of imagination? This was a dream¡­ Probably¡­ But¡­ It felt so real. So very real. How couldn¡¯t this be real? He pinched himself again just to be sure and the pain felt as real as the radiating throbs coming from his feet. Yes. He was in pain. What if this was real? ... Safer to assume it was real than treat it like a videogame. He eyed the orc and dwarf, they seemed real enough. He should dismiss this prompt, he wasn¡¯t going to kill these people. The woman rasped in frustration at his hesitance. ¡°Let me die on my own terms!¡± she exclaimed, anger in her voice. Six stopped and looked directly at her. ¡°Are you larping?¡± ¡°What is larping?¡± Six shook his head, this was confusing and extremely stressful. ¡°It''s like¡­ acting,¡± he explained lamely. ¡°By Kynairos, this is no act,¡± she hissed through teeth gritted in obvious pain. ¡°Minutes remain. If you are a good person you will grant us this last request.¡± Six felt cornered. ¡°Is there any other way I can help?¡± ¡°Do you think her a fool, boy?¡± grunted the dwarf. ¡°There is no other way. Not now, not here. Please. Help us.¡± Her words rang with deep sincerity. Six was beyond overwhelmed, but he nodded. He¡¯d always believed that people should have autonomy over their life. He would assist. ¡°I will help you, but how?¡± The prompt updated. Quest accepted! ¡°Listen to me," she groaned, ¡°give me your hand.¡± He crouched down and she grabbed his hand, turning it palm up. She held her other hand up and looked at the air there. An object appeared suddenly and Six lurched backwards in surprise. The woman laughed despite her laboured breathing. ¡°This is a ley core. The poisoner mustn''t have it. The only reason I am not dissolving it is because you are here. This is the first soulbound item, it will be linked to you.¡± She pressed the orb into Six¡¯s palm and he was presented with a prompt. Lady Carralevine De¡¯Tair ¡°Razor Breaker¡± of ¡°Deathspire Mountain¡± has offered to cede control of the Deathspire Mountain Ley Core to you. This object will be soulbound to you until death. Do you Accept? Yes or No The dwarf grumbled and grunted out a protest. ¡°Don¡¯t give it to him. The Ley Core should go to Alison or be dissolved.¡± ¡°Even if Alison could accept it, which she can¡¯t, I doubt she would. This is the best outcome in the circumstances. Now be quiet Orifec. Accept the prompt stranger.¡± Carralevine spoke gently but her voice left no room for argument. He willed his assent and the orb melted and melded into his palm. Six freaked out and tried shaking it off, but quickly calmed down when he realized it elicited no pain. Glowing lines of light flowed through his veins and up his arm. It felt warm as it passed, and then the warmth settled into his belly and dissipated. Prompts appeared but Carralevine interrupted before he could read them. ¡°There will be time for that later, pay attention.¡± She pulled off her gauntlet and removed a dull steel ring from her hand. She placed it in his palm and again he was greeted with a prompt. Carralevine De¡¯Tair ¡°Razor Breaker¡± has offered ownership of her Unusual, Mundane, Immortal Steel Spatial Ring to you. This object will be soulbound to you until death. Do you Accept? Yes or No He accepted and put the ring on. ¡°Do you know how to use it?¡± She asked. He shook his head, no. ¡°Just wish to see the contents and it will present itself in your mind.¡± He nodded, held his breath, and willed the ring to show its secrets. He gasped as his mind was overtaken with a visualization of a space the size of a small room, full of supplies. Food, waterskins, and survival gear. He was even more surprised to see hand tools and construction supplies. ¡°Hey, we''re not done yet, dismiss and focus on me.¡± She held her hand out and gestured for his again. Six took a deep breath to calm himself and placed his hand back in hers, facing up. The woman weakly pulled a dagger from her belt and slapped it in his open palm. ¡°You cant fuck it up this way,¡± she said. ¡°Even an initiate is capable of working a dagger.¡± ¡°I am not stabbing you.¡± Six made dismissive motions with his hands. ¡°By Kynairos. Shut up!¡± She almost yelled. He shook his head, no. ¡°I¡¯m a notorious fuck up.¡± ¡°Listen! You need to bleed me out before the poison takes me. Do it across my neck. Quick and deep,¡± Carralevine seethed through her pain. Six could see it clearly,he needed to shut up and do it, but this wasn¡¯t one of the usual tropes. He had no idea why his mind was presenting this macabre scenario. ¡°I don¡¯t know if I can do thi-¡± ¡°Shut up and do it.¡± She shouted, hacking out a gob of congealed blood. ¡°I only have a few hundred health left. Time is running out.¡± The dwarf growled at Six, ¡°Do it boy and then hurry onto me! I ain¡¯t giving that coward none of me experience!¡± Six turned to look at the dwarf, hoping to gain some sort of assurance. The dwarf nodded. ¡°We follow Carra¡¯s lead. Do it.¡± Tyson took a few quick breaths and went behind Carralevine to perform the cut. She sighed in relief. ¡°Before I die, what is your name? I am Carralevine.¡± He almost spoke his old name, but a new world meant a new him. ¡°Six.¡± She looked up at him and nodded. ¡°Thank you, Six. Find Alison and tell her what happened. Tell her that we failed and that it''s over. If the poisoner finds you, dissolve the ley lore.¡± She nodded curtly and shouted to her team, ¡°I love you guys, these past few months were the happiest times in my life. See you on the other side.¡± The human man raised his hand in salute. The orc roared in agreement. The dwarf grunted out some words. ¡°I feel the same way. Ain¡¯t no regrets. See you there.¡± Six whimpered as he pulled the blade across her throat. This was fucked. Dark red blood spilled out of Carralevine¡¯s throat and he could feel her tense up briefly before he laid her down gently. She made no noise. Six stumbled backward; he had just killed someone. There was no doubt, this was no dream. That was too real. Guilt washed over him and he trembled. ¡°Now me,¡± came the husky voice of the dwarf. Six saw anticipation in his eyes. Orifec Merrymace ¡°Arm Strong¡± has offered ownership of his Unusual, Mundane, Immortal Steel Spatial Ring to you. This object will be soulbound to you until death. Do you Accept? Yes/No He kneeled by the dwarf and the squat bearded man nodded. ¡°It''s ok.¡± Six accepted the spatial ring and put it on. He took a breath to steady himself and was assaulted by prompts. Carralevine ¡°Razor Breaker¡± has sacrificed themself to you! 8000 Experience gained. You have reached level 1, advancement options available. You have reached level 2, advancement options available. You have reached level 3, advancement options available. You have reached level 4, advancement options available. He pushed that away. Time was running out and he needed to deal with this before the dark nature of what was happening settled on him. ¡°I want to follow her, the way she went.¡± The dwarf grumbled. Six nodded and quickly opened the dwarf¡¯s neck too. The little shit smiled and nodded at Six. Orifec Merrymace ¡°Arm Strong¡± has sacrificed themselves to you! 4250 Experience gained. You have reached level 5, advancement options available. The next two were much the same. Just quieter. The human man was so weak he barely made a noise when it happened. Roshgar Bargo has sacrificed themselves to you! 1800 Experience gained. Matt Reddmahn has sacrificed themselves to you! 1800 Experience gained. You have reached level 6, advancement options available. He had reached level six. They had made him his moniker. He had completed his task, yet he was not done with the experience. He sat there, stunned, looking at the corpses of the people he had just killed¡­ Euthanized? Assisted in suicide? Whatever. He had granted their last wishes, as messed up as it was. He wanted to be done with this place, but he wasn''t going to leave them there like that. He felt he owed them more somehow. Six stripped the bodies of their gear and covered himself in the human man''s clothes. They were a bit soiled and bloody but it was chilly and Six was done wearing a rope toga. He willed his desire to see the contents of the rings and a stab of pain went through his head as his mind went awash in colours. ¡°AH!¡± he yelped as he was basically blinded by the intense mental overstimulation. Too much information. He caught himself and rubbed at his temples, waiting until the pain lessened before focusing on one ring at a time. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. Searching the rings he found an assortment of multiple items. Multiple shovels, hammers, pickaxes, saws, chisels and many others. There were some personal items, a map, and food. Nuts, fruits, breads, and some sort of jerky. He wanted it badly, but nothing happened. He tried making a conscious decision to withdraw the tasty looking dried meat, and it appeared in his hand. He tried a bite and found it perfect. Wow. Cool. He pulled out some bread. It was soft, fluffy. Delicious. How did he put it back? He pushed his will to ¡°store¡± the jerky, and it vanished, just like the stories, it worked easily enough. He took a moment to appreciate the moment and that he was enjoying bread, despite the fact¡­ He died. Right? Did he dream the accident? If it was a dream, how did he get here? How was any of this working? It felt too real to be a dream. But¡­ He pulled out a shovel, then willed it away. Magic. He pulled it out again and tossed it a meter away. He tried to store it. Nothing happened. He poked it with his finger tip and willed it away again. He willed it out and tossed it in the air,trying to store the shovel at the apex of the toss. Nothing happened. He caught it and put it back in the ring. He had to be touching it, it seemed. The magic had rules. Is there a maximum size to the item stored? Could he put living things in there? Six surrendered. He gave up on trying to understand. He would act in the now. Learn as he went and live as if this was real. Crippling existentialism was never useful. He scarfed the last bit of bread and drank a sip from a waterskin. The stomach symbol disappeared. He was no longer starved. He breathed deep and teared up a bit. Looking at the bodies he gathered, he thanked them for their generosity. The man, Matt, had extra clothes, so he changed into them instead of the bloody outfit he had taken from the dead body. His armor looked like it would fit but he could tell it would impede him slightly. He was planning on burying these people so he put it away in the rings. The man¡¯s boots were the best part, as they made it actually bearable to stand. When Six put them on, he half expected to see prompts about their stats, but no prompts appeared. Appraisal and identification skills were always important in these kinds of games or stories. Knowledge being power and all that. He stared at the boots harder, squinting his eyes in focus. Nothing happened. Intention was clearly important in his other interactions, so he made it his intention to know more about the boots. He tensed his entire body, concentrating on the boots. Still nothing. Alright time to try active observation He began to examine the form of the boots and actually observed the construction and craftsmanship of the physical object. The wear and cut of the leather, and thread, and the nailed treads. Two prompts appeared and Six relaxed his examination. - Leather Travel Boots - Rank: Mundane Rarity: Common Defense: 3 Weight: 2.7 KG Durability: 46/75 Traits: Protects the wearers feet from damage. Adds ankle support to the wearers movements thus improving base of exertion. Improves kicking damage. Skill gained: Inspect - Initiate - 1 Allows users to identify objects and their properties. Each level will provide more information and insight into rarer and more esoteric objects. There it is! This was a skill he would have to train constantly and with that thought Six came to accept his being here. He could navigate this. Finally Six felt secure. He wanted to check the character advancement prompts but felt he needed to bury these people first. He tried to dig a grave but the forest floor was riddled with roots. Instead he began to ferry river rocks from the safer sections of the river water to the camp. Six built cairns out of river rock, the least he could do. It took a few hours, plus he took a break to gather wood and start a fire. Now, with the flint and dagger Carralevine had, his meager bushcraft skills were able to create a place for the sparks to start. He avoided his prompts and focused on the work to help process what just happened passively. There was a part of himself that understood starting a fire while a potential enemy was slinking about was foolish but night was fast approaching and he already found himself shivering against the cold despite his labour. It took a minute to find dry tinder, a swampy area next to the river had some dead cattails. Perfect. Bark from a standing dead birch¡­ was this a birch tree? It was¡­ Birch, but with a slightly different branching pattern. A weird tree indeed. He pushed the small tree over and tore off strips of the dry bark. He snapped smaller branches off for starter kindling. He created a spark of flame and let it dance a bit then carefully leaned in and gave it a gentle exhalation. The flame grew but danced dangerously. Six needed to feed it air but gently enough to keep it alive. He blew softly a few more times and the flame grew to the point it didn¡¯t need him. Six had fire; relief washed through him. He worked into the dark, eventually managing to cover all four bodies with river stones. He hoped that it was enough. His body was real. Their bodies were real. The only reason he wasn¡¯t slipping into hypothermia alongside starvation was because of them. Yet, he wanted to leave, needed to leave. Six didn¡¯t want to linger about their place of rest but wasn¡¯t about to go waltzing about in the forest at night. He would stay up as long as he could to tend the fire and then leave in the morning. So he sat and looked into the flames, a wool blanket around his shoulders. His entire body was tense. He knew this feeling, he had felt it before. Frustration born from rage. He had existed in this state before, a state of constant anger. He had not forgiven the universe for taking his sisters. After their deaths he had raged at the unfair nature of reality. Again those thoughts came unbidden. I had people relying on me. I need to be there. My family is less one more. There was no reason for me to die instead of someone else. It could have been anyone. There was no justification to my death, or my appearance here. I should have died and stayed dead. I didn¡¯t ask for this. No one asked for anything. Prayers were never answered. You could only rely on yourself to struggle to swim in the rivers of life. Life took you where it willed. Choice was an illusion presented to limited beings such as himself. He only could choose what a simple man could choose. He could not send himself back to his previous life. He lacked that power. Accept it. It is what it is. Sorry everyone, I love you. Now he could calm down. He had engineered his acceptance. He felt shame and disgust as he forced himself to cut attachment to the life he lost. Moving on. His body was too tense, so he closed his eyes and began to systematically flex and release different muscle groups while taking slow deep breaths. He relaxed over the course of fifteen minutes. Opening his eyes he gazed impassively at the fire. Empty. He could not regain his old life.Fixating would not change it. What could he change? How could he move forward? What choice was best for him? He needed more information. He had not had time to ask Carralevine questions. He had no idea where Olisrosa even was. He needed to at least try though. He should check the rings for a map. He stopped himself. Slow down, first things first. Go through everything starting with prompts. Six fixed the wool blanket and then pulled up the first prompt he had minimized. You have soulbound the level 1 Ley Core of the ¡°Deathspire Mountain¡± Ley Node. This names you as a Ley Master. The Deathspire Mountain Node sits upon a nexus of Dark, Earth, Water, and Fire Ley lines. Currently 0/4 lines of the nexus have been aligned. This level 1 Ley Core is capable of aligning (1) line of the nexus. Each Ley Line offers a unique benefit from proper alignment. Aligning the Dark energies will unlock Shadowed Mind Shadowed Mind: Mental Resistance += (0.075*N) Aligning The Earth energies will unlock Earthen Endurance Earthen Endurance: Health Regen/S += MaxHealth*(0.5*N) Aligning the Water energies will unlock Flowing Resistance Flowing Execution: Performance Reduction % += (0.05*N) Aligning the Fire energies will unlock Flame Touched. Flame Touched: All Damage += All Damage*(0.5*N)Fire Damage Being bonded to the Ley Gem has increased your Dark, Earth, Water, and Fire Etheric manipulation affinities. This is cumulative with your innate Earth affinity. Aligning a Ley Line will increase the etheric density of the ¡°Deathspire Mountain¡± Ley Node by 14.14% Would you like to align a Ley Line? Error note: Ley Node energies are being redirected and/or blocked. The Ley affinities, and the Deathspire Mountain mana pool and mana regen are restricted until this issue has been resolved. You have been offered a quest: Reset The Node There is a problem with the Deathspire mountain Ley node. Investigate the ley nexus and solve the issue. Rewards for Completion: Proper functioning of the Ley Core relationship. Penalty for Failure: Impeded functioning of the Ley Core relationship. Do you Accept? This quest cannot be refused. There was already an error? Six groaned internally, but hey, complications made life interesting. He automatically received this quest and was already kinda in the failure category. Still, there was no time limit, unlike the Giving Mercy quest. This quest could wait. This was the first choice of a predetermined four. He could affect things a bit. Upgrading the Dark Ley line would increase his mental resistance? He could guess but didn¡¯t actually know what mental resistance was. Health Regen was simple enough and a fundamental resource for interaction in these kinds of systems. He didn¡¯t have access to a hospital anymore and based on the state of technology on these¡­ adventurers? Medical technology may be lacking. His mind ran over the tropes of bringing technology to these static medieval worlds. Did the Prime Directive apply here? Personally, he didn¡¯t know how guns or their pieces really worked. Make electricity? Not happening. Aligning the water line would increase his performance reduction percentage? Again he didn¡¯t understand. Aligning the fire seemed very enticing, extra damage. The best way to win games was to defeat your opponent. Overwhelming them with force and damage seemed to be the best way to do that, he tried to play games with a hyper aggressive korean style. Winning through defence alone was impossible, and he would pick fire if he had a reliable way to do ¡°damage¡± or if he knew how to scale whatever N . The dwarf had a staff of some kind and Carralevine and Matt had both spears and swords. Should be easy enough to beat something with a real weapon, but the damage increase would be very minor scaling at this point. All of these buffs scaled and were not too useful now, but maybe when his N increased they would be significant. He assumed N was his level, not the core¡¯s. That considered, how did he increase the level of the core? Quest Received: Orison Density I Increase permanent sentient density to 10000 residents who call Deathspire mountain their home. Sentient residents 1686/10000 Reward: Level up of the Deathspire Mountain Ley Core Sixteen hundred and eighty six out of ten thousand? There must be a few small villages on the mountains. Maybe a few hamlets and hermits. The error locked him out of the affinities and extra mana resources but the alignment would still provide the named benefit. Still, he should wait to see what kind of things he had access to before he made this decision. He willed the Spire Mountain prompt aside. Next was his character advancement. Six felt excited, as he had honestly day dreamed about this before. He would make the coolest spellsword build ever. He willed his desire to see character advancement and saw a new window. You have 36 Attribute points to distribute to any attribute. You have 6 Skill increases to distribute to any established skill. Note: Significant previous Skill Experience detected. Skill levels adjusted. Name: Six Level: 6 (Mortal) Experience:15850 Race: Human (Fateling) Fame: 0 (Unknown) Clout: 0 (Insignificant) Class: ¡ª Anchor: ¡ª Path: ¡ª Heath: 120/120 Endurance: 100/100 Mana: 120/120 Strength:13 Dexterity:9 Constitution:12 Intelligence:12 Wisdom:11 Charisma:10 Endurance:10 Luck:22 Skills: Inspect - Initiate - Level 1 Knowledge: imperial Zleenish (Mortal) Gifts Unbound Comprehension (Predominant) You receive an increased rate of retention of all intended knowledge regardless of personal ability and mentor ability or material quality. You can understand any language once heard or seen. Knowledge is not expertise. You can observe skill usage and can potentially intuit knowledge of skill usage. The effectiveness of this aspect is determined by the respective gap in personal skill level and the skill level of the demonstrated usage, the respective gap in level and tier of existence, skill affinity, and luck. Higher tiers of existence can elevate their use of this gift. Attunements Dexterity nine? Well, he was kinda clumsy sometimes. But twenty-two luck? He didn¡¯t feel particularly lucky, having never won anything significant. Not that he gambled past the occasional lottery ticket anyway. And what were these gifts? The word ¡°gift¡± held some subtextual weight. It could imply that someone gave it to him. That someone tampered with his ¡°reincarnation¡±. But it could also imply an innate inborn talent, like a gifted child. Did anyone else have the same gifts? Unbound Comprehension helped him learn. Was this how he learned the Inspect skill? Or could anyone have done that? It sounded like he could retain knowledge when he set out to learn something. It even sounded like he could potentially learn things just by seeing them used. This gave him a chill. Not exactly like a full siphoning pilfering ability but still insanely strong. He could learn quickly and retain everything .People in his past life would have killed for this. Too bad it didn¡¯t affect his focus or it would be the most OP learning enhancement ever. He didn''t know what Zleenish was either. The lack of context was becoming infuriating but it couldn¡¯t be helped. Moving on. Now. How best to pursue a hybrid spellsword build. Those builds always seemed overpowered and they were also super cool. Maybe he could even dual wield. Yes, Six would apply an even sprinkling to all his attributes and hopefully pick up some melee and spellwork along the way. He spat in disgust. Spellwork. Maybe he would have access to a revivify spell in this life. Whatever. He hated that he couldn''t have helped those people pass beyond a fucking dagger. He focused on strength and a tooltip presented itself Strength - Affects your Baseline Capacity, Exertion Capacity, Natural Defense, Speed of Movement, Melee and Thrown damage, Critical Chance and Damage, Maneuver Damage. Ok. He liked being strong and wanted to try this out. He put one point in strength. His muscles tensed and he felt stronger? Or was that a placebo effect? He put another in strength. He definitely felt that. Ok. He was going to spend more but something caught his attention ¡°Why hello there,¡± came a soft, feminine voice. Six willed his character advancement away and looked about. ¡°Who''s there?¡± He winced. That question never went well. Six stood up and continued to search the darkness, but the fire made it impossible to see out there, his night vision was completely non-functional. ¡°What¡¯s your name cutie?¡± Six felt a chill run up his spine. ¡°Uhhh¡­ My name is Six. Who¡¯re you?¡± ¡°Hey Six. Where did you get those rings?¡± Her voice was rising and getting louder. Six looked down at the two rings dotting his right hand. ¡°Someone gave them to me.¡± ¡°Oh, perhaps a group of two humans, an orc, and a dwarf?¡± her voice was getting higher, as if each question caused her more stress. ¡°...No¡­¡± Six spoke in a shaky tone. This nightmare just kept getting worse, but what could he expect? Caralevine even warned him of this. He should have left the bodies alone. He should have left immediately. He tried to breathe, but failed to calm himself. She seemed to sense how helpless he was. ¡°Are they the cairns then? That would be very nice of you. Foolish, but nice. Where is the ley core?¡± Six lied as best he could. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about.¡± He was alright at lying. ¡°Listen. To. Me. The only reason I used poison and didn¡¯t stab them personally was that I don¡¯t like fighting 4-on-one. You are nothing. Carralevine was a level twelve and I could have taken her myself. You are a measly level six. All I want is the ley core.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t even know how to give it over.¡± He offered lamely. ¡°That''s ok, I can help.¡± The sickly sweet voice sounded overjoyed at his ignorance. A beautiful, dark haired woman walked into the light. She was human, and wore a cloak over some sort of dark leather armor that left her toned arms and rippled abdomen exposed. Six could see her well muscled form holding a glinting dagger. ¡°Guess how I¡¯m gonna help!¡± She lifted her dagger up and twirled the blade suggestively. The poisoner is a yandere assassin!? Fuck this! Six turned and ran. He ran into the dark unknown of the rainforest. He was swallowed by an opaque black as he trudged forward. He held his forearm in front of his eyes and lifted his legs high. He could hear her cackling as he struggled away, moving too slowly. ¡°Come back here puppy!¡± She shrieked. ¡°Bad puppy! Hehahahah!¡± Running was the right decision. Six chanced a look back at the small dot of fire and hoped to see her silhouette. He did not. Instead, he tripped and sprawled onto his face. Getting his hands underneath him as quickly as he could, Six crawled forward and struggled back up to his feet. He was making too much noise, breaking every branch and twig, disturbing too much earth. She must be playing with him. Hopefully the rumble of the river would cover up his escape. It sounded closer than before - he needed to be careful, and figure out where he was going before he- Oh shit. He was falling. ¡°Puppy! No!¡± A visceral scream echoed close behind him. Six hit something solid, slipped and felt his ankle go wrong. His body twisted in the air. Water. Six fell into water. Oh no. He had fallen into the river. Time to die¡­ again. He was fully submerged and felt himself being carried off by the current. He tried to swim, thrashing his arms and kicking his feet, and his head crested the surface. It was ice cold and Six had to fight the shock to gasp in a breath before he opened his eyes for a second to see needles of starlight amongst a canvas of night. He fell beneath the surface of the water again and was immersed in the blackness. His ankle throbbed with each kick but the feeling was overshadowed by Six¡¯s panic. He did not want to die again. He didn¡¯t know if he would come back. He wasn¡¯t sure if he would have this chance again. Panic set it. He fought to keep his head above water and was rewarded with a quick gasping breath each time. It was so fucking cold. He was tiring quickly though. His arms, abdominals, and legs were beginning to burn under the exertion. A green rectangular bar appeared underneath the red bar and it began to drain into transparency. Green meant endurance. Oh no. That was a clear indicator of impending failure. He couldn¡¯t rest to regain. This situation was fatal. He would have drowned in reality and he was going to drown here. He could only prolong his struggle. He couldn¡¯t see anything, and when he tried to swim perpendicular to the current he collided painfully with large protrusions of river rock, keeping him away from the shore. A red rectangular bar appeared in the upper right peripheral of his vision, the dark outlines indicated some red was missing. Was this his health? Six opened his character advancement sheet. It felt like a gamble but he had to do something. Strength wouldn''t help him right now. It might eat into his stamina even more. He would just hit the rocks harder in the darkness. Six put all 34 remaining attribute points into constitution and instantly regretted it when he saw that endurance was also a stat. It was a strange feeling, the change that came over him. He felt awake, more capable. The slight burning in his limbs and lungs receded. The demand was still there but it was eroding less of him. The water''s cold seeped into him far less making it significantly easier to breathe. There was also more of him. He felt different, sturdier. He might have more time to flail about in the darkness of water. Would he make it to dawn? He examined his endurance bar. The endurance bar had not increased in capacity but it had slowed considerably. The bar was moving towards empty but so minutely it was nearly imperceptible. It seemed increasing his constitution did nothing for his stamina pool, but his stamina regen went up, which was luck. Six checked his health bar and, yes, the sliver of missing health was smaller in relation to his new larger health pool. If he could just stay conscious and keep snatching gasps when he could. He had no idea if he would be able to get back to shore, but he fought against the water and followed his instincts. He repeated his mantra in his head to stay calm as the water carried him away. You got that grit. He kept kicking and lost track of time. Floating on his back was asking for a head injury - well a worse one anyways. All he could focus on was the burning of his entire body. Every muscle ached and felt like it was on fire. Yet, he could still push them to do what he wanted, so he did. Anger rose in his throat. Anger at this new universe. He was struggling here too. This universe could have been different. It could have placed him differently, somewhere easy. It could have been nice. Well¡­ technically he did get a bunch of free stuff and six levels for overcoming his hesitancy at murdering people who were asking to die. So maybe he should just focus on the task and quit moaning about it. Six breached into the air again and let out a cry of frustration. Twisting and flailing above the rapids. A faraway spot of light appeared in his narrowed vision. Dawn had come; his endurance bar was at fifteen percent. Six laughed. He could do this! he just needed to hold on a bit longer. He bided his time until he felt himself catch a slipstream and swam harder. Success. His head breached the water with great speed and force. Right into the hull of a boat. Six cried out and spasmed, his spine shot with pain. He lost his rhythm and dropped below the water, flailing and colliding with the side of the boat again. He gasped and breathed in a bit of water before coughing out the little air he had, he couldn¡¯t stop the reflex to breathe. Something broke the surface of the water and grabbed him, hauling him upwards. Six came above the surface and alternated between a shuddering series of inhales and coughs. More hands latched onto him and he was hauled onto the boat. A gruff voice spoke to him. ¡°What do you tink you¡¯re doing ramming my boat like dat? Ya crazy boy?¡± Six convulsed through his breathing fit and opened his eyes to reveal he was laying on the deck on a small sailboat. A black skinned human man stood directly above him, with two dark figures behind. It was hard to see features in the minor light of dawn. A prompt appeared. Skill gained Athletics - Initiate - 1 Skill increase: Athletics - Initiate - Level 1 increased to Level 3 Each level provides a reduction of 0.5% reduction in endurance costs. Current endurance reduction 1.5% Three whole skill levels? Neat! Six cleared his throat. ¡°Sorry sir. Didn¡¯t mean to.¡± He rubbed the spot where his head collided with the boat, it was already swelling. ¡°What you doing swimming in the river at dawn? The man growled. ¡°I fell in.¡± Six could feel the judgment emanating from the three. ¡°Sorry? You what now?¡± The man asked. 1.4 Clarity 19 Astra 10,391 ¡°Why would you fall into the river?¡± The man asked, as if Six had done it deliberately. ¡°It was an accident.¡± Six shrugged. ¡°How do you accidentally fall into the river?¡± The man''s face was a mixture of confusion and suspicion. ¡°I didn¡¯t see it,¡± Six said truthfully. ¡°How could you not see it? Look at the size of this ting!¡± The man said, making expansive gestures with both hands, indicating the river that surrounded them. ¡°It was dark,¡± Six said, again truthful. ¡°Didn¡¯t you hear it?¡± Asked the man, incredulous. Six nodded and downcast his smiling face. ¡°Well, yes,¡± he admitted. ¡°And you still fell in?¡± He whispered in disbelief. ¡°Accidentally.¡± ¡°Wuh? How?¡± The man clearly wanted the root of the problem. ¡°I was being chased by a lady.¡± The man narrowed his eyes and nodded as if he understood the explanation perfectly. One of the figures behind him punched the back of his head and he squawked at the blow. ¡°Why was she chasing you?¡± An elegant feminine voice asked. It came from the figure who threw the punch. ¡°She was trying to kill me,¡± answered Six. The man nodded in understanding again. ¡°Why?¡± The feminine voice was less elegant, and more agitated. ¡°She thought I stole from her. Absolutely insane.¡± Six crossed his arms and shook his head, no. It was silent for a bit before the gruff man asked, ¡°did you?¡± ¡°No. I would have sooner returned whatever she wanted than fall into the river.¡± It wasn¡¯t a lie but it made him look like a fool. Fools were harmless but usually couldn¡¯t hold onto important things. His rings and his Ley Core seemed important and he would keep them if he could. It was silent again. ¡°Ok.¡± The man took a breath. ¡°Are you headed somewhere? I won¡¯t stop to drop you off properly but I can get you close enough to the shallows for you to make it to shore safely. If you have coin to pay your passage, you can ride with us, if not, off me boat. Rations are extra.¡± Six nodded. ¡°I need to get to Olisrosa.¡± The man nodded. ¡°Not much else out here to head to, we¡¯re heading there ourselves. I can take you there for 3 silvers.¡± Six searched his rings and found he had a small amount of wealth. Between all the rings, he had 642 copper, 112 Silver and 356 gold. He really had no idea how much any of this was worth and he hated bartering but accepting what was almost certainly highway robbery was¡­ Suspicious. Six was too ignorant to how this place worked so he just tried his best. He winced in performance. ¡°Could you do half a silver?¡± The man laughed and held out a helping hand, Six grabbed it and was helped to his feet. ¡°Listen.¡± The man paused and chewed his tongue, thinking before he spoke. ¡°2 silver and you do some simple labour.¡± ¡°1 and I do some simple labour, whatever my ankle can handle.¡± Six lifted his foot and pointed, wincing. His swollen ankle hurt but it wasn¡¯t broken. Swimming like that probably made it way worse though. ¡°Done,¡± the man said, nodding. Six nodded in agreement. ¡°It¡¯ll take two days, maybe three.¡± The man offered. Six shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m in no rush.¡± Skill gained: Trade- Initiate - 1 Improves the ability to bargain and negotiate. Additional levels provide a reduction 0.5% in costs and removal of certain system restrictions. Current reduction: 0.5% ¡°What''s your name?¡± The man asked. ¡°Six. You?¡± ¡°Name¡¯s Copperback. Amos Copperback,¡± the man supplied. He pointed at the woman. ¡°That¡¯s Elyria Miafona.¡± Six could see her pointed ears now that it was brightening steadily. She was an elf. Cool. Copperback gestured to the well muscled orc. ¡°And this is Jeffums.¡± He made a wide welcoming gesture. ¡°And this lovely vessel, is my ship, the RiverDancer. ¡°Nice to meet you Amos, Elyria, Jeffums.¡± Six nodded once again, this time in deference. ¡°Nice to meet you,¡± grunted Copperback. ¡°Now you can polish oar handles unless one of us tells you otherwise.¡± ¡°Aye aye Captain.¡± Six said with a salute. ¡°Are you mocking me?¡± Copperback asked with a steely glint in his eyes. Six shook his head and laughed. ¡°I¡¯ve just always wanted to say that.¡± He shrugged. Copperback laughed and tossed him a polishing cloth and pointed to the sides where oars were sitting, five stowed on either side of the boat. Six hobbled over, sat down and got to work. The morning had come and he pulled out some breakfast jerky to chew on while he performed this mindless menial task. Time flew by and he was moved to other menial tasks, the repetitive monotony broken only by brief instances of specific assistance to the crew. Mostly different variations of, ¡°hold this rope.¡± It was simple labour, something he was very familiar with. He took this time to read more deeply into delayed prompts, character advancement, and item description. He could work his body while he read. Elyria mocked him as it was so obvious his attention was misplaced. She didn¡¯t tell him he couldn¡¯t though. Six was professional enough to put it away when doing anything more complicated than cleaning. He needed to complete his advancement, waiting until the last moment had been foolish. He began with the Ley Core prompt. He considered the prompt and what it offered him. Aligning the Dark auras will unlock Shadowed Mind Shadowed Mind: Mental Resistance += (0.0075*N) Aligning The Earth auras will unlock Earthen Endurance Earthen Endurance: Health Regen/M += MaxHealth*(0.05*N) Aligning the Water auras will unlock Flowing Execution Flowing Execution: Performance Reduction % += (0.005*N) Aligning the Fire auras will unlock Flame Touched. Flame Touched: All Damage += All Damage*(0.05*N)Fire Damage Being bonded to the Ley Core has unlocked your Dark, Earth, Water, and Fire mana manipulation affinities. This is cumulative with your innate Earth affinity. Aligning a Ley Line will increase the mana density of the ¡°Deathspire Mountain¡± Ley Node by 14.14% Would you like to align a Ley Line? Error note: Ley Node affinities are being redirected and/or blocked. The Ley affinities, and the Spire Mountain mana pool and mana regen are restricted until this issue has been resolved. How could he make this work for him? They all seemed to be scaling stat buffs. He sucked at numbers but as long as the numbers went up he should be good. Which one would be best for the spellsword build? He felt a twinge in his gut. He was alive¡­ Yet, he had already almost died again, drowning to death¡­ He wasn¡¯t sure if this was a hardcore run or not. Best to assume it was, he quickly concluded. So, he needed a hardcore build. He didn¡¯t like playing hardcore but he knew the common tactics. There was no reason to believe the ideas would work here but he needed a direction to go. The theory was solid but opposite to how Six usually thought about games and the concept of winning. He didn¡¯t need to kill to win, that would lead him to his eventual death. He needed to survive any and all damage trades. Six didn¡¯t know the extent of the mechanics but his mind rested on one idea. He needed to be tanky enough to soak any oneshot. Putting all of his attribute points into constitution had not been a waste. It was a good foundation for a hardcore build. He needed a massive amount of health to survive anything thrown at him. He would progress forward through this new life with attrition. If his damage was insufficient to win the trades at least he would survive and could then retreat. That thought was the next facet of his build. He needed escape mechanics. Right now his endurance regen was large enough he felt like he could jog without stopping. His two legs were the most basic escape mechanic he had access to. Mana was a thing so maybe he could learn how to fly? Smoke bombs? Instant transmission? He needed to start training his sprinting. The last pillar of the build is damage. More specifically, ranged damage. Hardcore builds were not for speed running. Most hardcore builds survived by taking out threats with consistent chip damage and that took time. Maybe a bow? Oooooor... Six wanted to learn magic but he had no idea where to start with that. He wasn''t even sure what affected his mana and it might be impossible for him to perform magic without help. Still he considered it. Growing up as a boy he had always dreamed about magic. Even as a young man he daydreamed about it. When his sisters passed a few years ago there had been nothing more he wanted to do than to bring them back. He felt affronted with how powerless his mundane reality was. Technology might one day slay the dragon of death but it was far from it when he had died. Now he had the opportunity to explore¡­ Something¡­ He was careful to not make assumptions. He suppressed his wonderment and expectations. Resurrection was probably impossible here too. No. Staying alive was something solid. Something real. Health regen was important. A fundamental stat and the improvement didn¡¯t require him to do anything active, it would be useful at all times. Also, it would scale better with his large pool of health which now sat at 460HP! Neeeeat! That made his choice of ley alignment simple. You have chosen: Earthen Endurance He willed the Earth Line to align and felt something blossom inside of himself. A tension he didn¡¯t know he held left his body. His ankle began to lessen in pain. Six couldn¡¯t believe it. His mind was blown but he kept his expectations low. It might just be a weird placebo effect. He didn¡¯t know what HP regen really did. It might regrow limbs or it might just close wounds over. Even still, how cool was that! He breathed some relaxation into himself and looked at the last prompt. Skill gained: Sailing- Initiate - 1 Skill increase: Sailing - Initiate - Level 2 Each level provides an increase of 0.5% of maneuverability and speed for sea vehicles. Current increase 1% If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. He had gotten skill in sailing? He had just focused on holding ropes stationary. He wasn¡¯t even trying to learn... What did he learn? He thought carefully and realized he somewhat understood what Elrym and Jeffums were doing when Copperback burped out an order. He might be able to respond to a few basic orders¡­ Tack the jib or unfurl it. Maybe. He had been quick to pick up knowledge before but he hadn¡¯t even put effort into understanding what he was doing. Next he checked what each attribute actually did. That was probably important to know going forward. Strength - Increases Baseline Capacity, Exertion Capacity, Natural Defense, Speed of Movement, Melee and Thrown damage, Critical Chance and Damage, Maneuver Damage. Dexterity - Increases Precision, Divisions of Precision, Twitch Response, Reaction Speed, Melee and Ranged damage, Critical Chance and Damage, Maneuver Cooldown Reduction, Performance Reduction, Evasion. Endurance - Increases Endurance Pool, Health Regen, Internal Status Effect Resistance Constitution - Increases Endurance Regen, Health Pool, External Status Effect Resistance Wisdom - Increases Mental Resistance, Mana Regen, Concentration, Reaction Speed. Intelligence - Increases Spell Resistance, Mana Pool, Spell Cooldown, Accessible Memory. Charisma - Increases Social Weight/Strength of Personality. Luck - Increases Fate Bias Well screw him for not knowing what a third of these did. Concentration? There was a luck stat? What the hell? Looking at it all made them all seem very important. Except charisma and luck, maybe. Those two only affected one thing compared to the others that affected multiple values. What about the items? He went through the rings, inspecting it all, looking for any equipment that might actually be useful to him. Between the four of them they had quite a bit of equipment. Most of the armor and weapons he couldn¡¯t use effectively or wear at all, though, a few pieces might fit. There were also more rings. Carralevine had worn a ring of health. - Immortal Steel Ring of Minor Health - Rank:Average Rarity:Common Weight - 4 G Durability 49/50 Traits: Increases the wearers Health Pool by an additional 37 points. Health Pool + 37. Requires attunement. Orifec had a ring of mana. - Immortal Steel Ring of Minor Mana - Rank:Average Rarity:Common Weight - 4 G Durability 48/50 Traits: Increases the wearers Mana Pool by an additional 32 points. Mana Pool + 32. Requires attunement. He wasn¡¯t able to identify Roshgar''s or Matt''s ring but he slipped them on anyways. Cool. These new rings needed attunement and Six didn¡¯t know if four was the normal cap but after some time wearing them he began to feel something. He didn¡¯t know if four was the maximum for attunement but he felt fine. Great, even. I feel so blinged out. - Heavy Iron Breastplate - Rank:Average Rarity:Common Defense - 10 Weight - 2.5 KG Durability 112/120 Traits: Protects the wearers Chest from physical damage. - Heavy Iron Gauntlets - Rank:Average Rarity:Common Defense - 7 Weight - 2.5 KG Durability 63/70 Traits: Protects the wearer''s Hands from physical damage. - Heavy Iron Half Greaves - Rank:Average Rarity:Common Defense - 10 Weight - 2.5 KG Durability 76/80 Traits: Protects the wearer¡¯s lower Legs from damage. - Heavy Iron Vambracers - Rank:Average Rarity:Common Defense - 10 Weight - 2.5 KG Durability 78/80 Traits: Protects the wearer¡¯s Forearms from damage. - Heavy Iron Half Helm - Rank:Average Rarity:Common Defense - 8 Weight - 2.5 KG Durability 66/70 Traits: Protects the wearer¡¯s cranium from damage. Increases headbutt damage. Defence was something he was looking for so he wore the thing as best he could. Jeffums laughed at him while he was struggling to put the slightly small armor on. Once the orc managed to stifle his laughter he helped Six adjust the protection as best as they could. When all 6 rings were worn he had 497 health 132 mana Six didn¡¯t really believe it. He didn¡¯t feel any different but the numbers told him he was nearly as durable as 5 men? Impossible. He assumed he would just have to try and find what the other rings did later, or maybe check again when his Inspect was higher leveled. It shouldn¡¯t take too long as this little bout of inventory management had already netted him another 3 levels in Inspect, bringing him to level 4. He should really just use this skill on everything, even things he already had a good understanding of. Orifec had a spell book along with a staff. Six could tell it was written in a strange version of Imperial Zleenish. Inspect failed but he could tell from its cover that it was for the spell Plant Growth. He hesitated to open it, as he had played enough DnD to be wary of cursed magical items. Instead he kept trying and failing to inspect the staff. Nothing came of it, but that was ok. He put the items in storage. Now that he had that out of the way he focused on actually learning sailing. Asking questions here and there and really paying attention when told to do something. The three sailors were somewhat surprised by his knowledge of knots and nodded in respect. It was going good, until Amos called in a stage whisper, ¡°boat ahead.¡± Suddenly both Elyria and Jeffums took on grim faces. Jeffums went into a chest and retrieved a rather large crossbow. He primed it and loaded a bolt. Copperback kept hold of the wheel and Elyria drew the scimitar on her hip. ¡°Do we have anything to worry about?¡± Six asked. It looked like they were getting ready for a fight. Six used to fight as a kid but the older he got the more he avoided violence. It was too volatile, too easy for someone to get seriously hurt, too easy for fate to throw you under the bus. He hadn¡¯t been in a fight for nearly 8 years. ¡°We shouldn¡¯t if they know what''s good for them,¡± said Elyria. ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t they?¡± Asked Six, now beginning to worry. ¡°People tink that just because the Empire is dead that means law is dead too. It''s only been a few weeks and already people are becoming animals. River pirates are aplenty all of de sudden.¡± The captain spat off the side of the boat. Six nodded. He didn¡¯t know how to use any of the swords or the bow but he could swing a stick around pretty good. He grabbed Orifec¡¯s staff and gave it a test swing. It was a bit short and it honestly felt a tad brittle. Maybe using this as a bludgeon was the wrong decision. He grabbed an oar instead, polished to a fine gleam. Six looked back to Amos, searching for permission and the Captain nodded his assent. The sailboat was being oared up stream. Three oars on each side. The distance was shrinking quickly. Amos started to steer away, seeking to maximize the gap between the two passing ships. The other ship had no intention of passing. One-hundred meters away it altered its course to intercept. Fuck. ¡°What do we do?¡± Asked Six. ¡°Fight,¡± grunted Jeffums. ¡°What do I do?¡± Clarified Six. ¡°Fight,¡± grunted Jeffums, and he fired his crossbow, hitting a person on the incoming boat and then quickly reloading. Six looked to the oar in his hand and instantly made peace with the fact that he was going to have to fight. He might be able to jump overboard as a last resort, he would at least try to stand against this shit with these people who helped him. He wouldn¡¯t die for them though. The pirate boat was even closer now and Six could see those on board accurately. There were nine pirates. One on the wheel, two on oars and six waiting on the edge, swords ready. Six versus four? Six looked back and saw that Amos was firmly focused on steering. Six versus three. Jeffums let fly again, dropped the crossbow and drew his sword. Five versus three. The boats collided and four pirates jumped over while one threw a grapple and began to lash the boats together. The pirates realized the swords were the danger and began to attack Elyria and Jeffums, two on one. Six needed to do something. He couldn¡¯t cut the rope with the oar so he did the only thing he could do. He swung with all his might at the closest pirate. The pirate¡¯s attention was firmly on Jeffums and so Six had an easy shot at the man¡¯s head. Humans were fragile in certain spots but now was not the time to pull blows. If Six had to fight he would treat it as life or death. He never wanted his life in the hands of another. He would win, and win fast. The oar struck with a satisfying crack and the man staggered a bit. Six wasted no time and reversed his swing, angling the oar to hit on the edge. The thin edge of the oar bit into the man''s face with a crunch and the man lost balance, bending over with the loss of equilibrium. Six lifted the oar above his head and brought it down, nailing the back of the man¡¯s head. The man collapsed to the deck, motionless. Six felt a brief flash of regret. He didn¡¯t actually want to kill anyone. He was going to go help Elyria with her fight but a movement in the corner of his eye made Six lunge to the side. Narrowly avoiding a sword slash. He made some distance between himself and the fifth man who, having finished lashing the boats, was now adding himself to the fray. ¡°Put the stick down man,¡± the rough looking human said, twirling the tips of his sword around in a fencing-like manner. A grimace on his worried face. ¡°Fuckin, no,¡± Six gave back. The man¡¯s grimace deepened, he snarled, and with a two step lunge, he thrusted forward. Six stepped back and swung as hard as he could. Not at the man but at his sword. Six just wanted to push it away, get rid of it. It''s not like he knew what he was doing in a sword fight, so best try to make this a fist fight. The man''s arm went wide barely holding onto the sword, but bringing it back in only to have Six knock it wide again. The man managed to hold on again. That was ok, the pirate was off balance and reeling. One more swing and Six knocked the sword from the man''s grasp. Six loaded up another baseball bat swing, aimed at the man''s head and let loose, but the pirate regained his balance and dodged, dashing forward under the swing. Tackling Six to the deck, shaking the boat. Six fell onto his back, oar going flying from his hands and clattering to the deck far from his reach. His heavy armor had made his response slower, thirty percent slower. It was hard to move effectively while weighed down so much. Now the pirate had him mounted and pulled a dagger from somewhere on his person. Oh shit. The man stabbed down and Six threw out his forearm which pushed the strike to the side. A series of stabs were narrowly avoided and blocked with his vambraces and breastplate. Six needed to control the blade, so he lifted his hand and grasped at the wrist of the dagger. This pirate was strong. Six was strong for the average person, but this pirate must have invested into strength as Six was losing the struggle. He needed the situation to change. He stopped resisting the downward stabs and instead pulled with it while dropping his hip and rolling both of them over. Six held onto the dagger hand and scampered forward, straddling the man¡¯s waist. Six grabbed the man¡¯s dagger hand with both of his and shook the weapon loose with double the strength and a position he could exert with his weight. The dagger clattered to the deck and Six quickly punched the man. The man smiled a bloody smile and struggled. Six punched him again. The smile slipped a bit but the man still wriggled. Good. Six punched again and again. His gut felt a sliver of cold ice - this was too much violence for him, but still he did not stop. Now was not the time for hesitation. Six punched again and knew the man was unconscious. He punched once more. He felt so cold, the violence and exertion was exhausting. Or maybe it was the knife sticking out of his belly. There had been another dagger. Shit. Six rolled over, sitting on his butt he looked around. Jeffums finished off the one he was fighting and took one pirate from Elyria; it was two duels progressing on the ship now. Amos called out. ¡°Jimmy you fucking bastard. You¡¯re gonna die fer dis!¡± He bellowed it across the decks. Six turned to look at the enemy captain who shouted. ¡°You were always weak Amos! It''s why you have three crew men and I have nine! Weak!¡± ¡°You have four!-¡± started Amos but quickly changed when Elyria cut her foe down with three quick slashes of her curved sword. ¡°Three! Jimmy. You have three! And soon you won¡¯t have dat. Quality Jimmy! Quality!¡± Amos¡¯s jeers had an effect on the single standing pirate still on the River Dancer who tried to turn and flee back to the other ship. Jeffums cut at the man''s ankle causing the pirate to fall. Elyria quickly stabbed the man in the back. Six felt cold breath and forced himself to focus and act. He gripped the dagger¡¯s handle and pulled with a jerk. It slid free with a slurping sound and Six shuddered a gasp. ¡°No you idiot,¡± Elyria said, ¡°you should have kept that in until I was ready to help you.¡± She fiddled at her hip for a flask, uncorking it she poured it over his wound and Six instantly felt a warm relief spread from the spot and the pain began fading. He was ok. One of the pirate oarsmen cut the rope and their ship began to drift away. Amos, taking full opportunity to make distance by going down stream with the flow and wind. ¡°Fuck you Jimmy!¡± he called at the retreating boat. ¡°Next time Amos! Next time!¡± the man called back. Elyria poked Six¡¯s breastplate. ¡°You ok?¡± she asked. ¡°Some chainmail might help next time. Was your ring working or did you forget about it?¡± ¡°My ring?¡± ¡°Yea.¡± ¡°Which one?¡± ¡°The healing one.¡± ¡°Oh that one?¡± He had a healing ring? ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s on, uh, cooldown.¡± Six kinda sucked at lying to nice people but Elyria didn¡¯t seem to be too interested in his answer. Six lifted his shirt to see a severe wound crusted over with a nasty scab. It hurt to touch but looked and felt pretty solid. ¡°I¡¯m alright I think.¡± He picked at the wound. Elyria slapped his hand. ¡°Don''t pick at it idiot. Nice swinging by the way. How close did you come?¡± ¡°How close to what?¡± ¡°Dying,¡± she clarified. ¡°I don''t know.¡± He shrugged. She lifted her eyebrow and laughed. ¡°You¡¯re strange. Check your combat logs.¡± And with that, she began to adjust the sails to Copperback¡¯s requests. Six let out a deep breath and sat down on a chest. Combat logs. He mentally requested and a list of notes came to his attention in prompt form. You have struck with ship oar for 20 bludgeoning damage. You have struck with ship oar for 20 bludgeoning damage. You have struck with ship oar for 86 bludgeoning damage. You have rendered level 2 human unconscious. You have struck human with a unarmed strike for 10 damage You have struck human with a unarmed strike for 10 damage You have been stabbed with a dagger for 24 damage (473/497) You have been inflicted with the condition bleeding1. You are bleeding you lose 15 health.(458/497) You have struck human with a unarmed strike for 10 damage You are bleeding you lose 15 health.(443/497) You have struck human with a unarmed strike for 10 damage You are bleeding you lose 15 health.(428/497) That repetition continued for a bit, then it changed. You have rendered level 3 human unconscious. You are bleeding you lose 15 health.(278/497) Minor Healing Potion has healed you for 27 points of health. Bleeding 1 has been stopped by Minor Healing Potion He wasn¡¯t anywhere close to zero, but the single bleeding effect would have killed normal everyday Six twice over. Again, he was thankful for his high constitution. He stood up, tested his range of motion and called after Elyria, ¡°too close.¡± Any wound was too close. He didn¡¯t know how diseases worked in this reality. Six picked up the oar he used and thanked it. It helped him, so why not show appreciation. He gave it a pat of affection and snatching up the cloth, began to polish the mighty staff. It was upon this maintenance that he noticed a large crack running up the shaft of the oar. He inspected it. - Oaken Ship Oar - Rank: Average Rarity: Common Weight: 3.8 KG Durability: 2/60 Traits: Propels ships. The durability had almost bottomed out. One more swing might have left him with nothing at the moment he was expecting a weapon. He would have to be careful to keep track of his equipment. That was nothing new, climbers relied on their gear to keep them alive. Regular examinations revealed the pieces that needed replacement. It would be no different here. Six cleared his throat. "Sorry captain but I basically broke this oar. How much?" "How much for what?" Copperback asked. "How much for you to replace it? I''ll pay, I broke it." "No, those two broke it," he said to Six while pointing at the two unconscious men. "You don''t worry about it, I''m just glad you decided to fight with us. That could have gone completely differently if you didn¡¯t help us." He nodded at Six. "Thank you." ¡°No problem, I¡¯m ok. What are you going to do with them?¡± Six asked, indicating the sleeping pirates. "Well you went through the trouble of knocking them out, you can keep ¡®em. You can sell them in Olisrosa. It don''t really look like you could control ¡®em real well. "Sell them like slaves?" A moment of silence extended between the two men before Copperback broke it with a simple, "yes." "I''m not doing that," Six said. ¡°It¡¯s-¡± "So you aim to keep em? Ah, I don''t blame you, two strong men can make a lot of money but it ain''t easy being a slave owner. Now, take it from me whe-" ¡°I don''t want to keep or sell these men!¡± Yelled Six. ¡°See? Not everyone sells slaves Amos.¡± Elyria said with an, ¡°I told you so,¡± tone. ¡°People sell slaves all the time, Elyria,¡± Amos said with a wave of his hand. ¡°I don''t sell slaves,¡± she said with a firm shake of her head. ¡°Hmmph, cause you don¡¯t got no money. Anyways, SIx, if you don''t want to sell em, give em to me and I''ll sell em. Hell, I think we deserve one at least.¡± ¡°No? That is functionally the same outcome.¡± Six shook his head, no. A new prompt pinged and he checked it. Level 2 Human has died. 200 Experience gained. Oh shit. That dude died? Six thought he just knocked him out. Was he really that naive? Of course three blows to the head with a weapon would probably kill someone. His brain probably bled to a swollen death. Six had just killed a man and his stomach felt that sliver of ice again. Copperback grunted. "Well if you don''t want them to be sold. Toss ¡®em off the ship Jeffums.¡± Jeffums grunted and nodded moving in. ¡°Wait no!¡± Six said gesturing wildly Amos let out a huge sigh. ¡°By Kynairos man. I''m not keeping dis pirate on my ship for nothing. I wouldn''t give me own mother free passage. No self respecting Captain would.¡° Six looked at the remaining unconscious man. "Couldn''t we just drop him off on the shore? I already killed a man, I don''t want another man to die for nothing¡­ The other one is dead.¡± Copperback crossed his arms and began to grumble. Six fixed the captain with an insistent stare. "Please." Copperback took in a deep breath and sighed. "I''ll pay if that makes it better." Copperback shook his head and let out a slightly disappointed chuckle. "No, no. You helped us out when you could have just jumped ship. I won''t make you waste your coin on this trash. Jeffums take the rowboat and get this man off my ship. Six you help." Six nodded in appreciation. "Thank you Amos. I really appreciate it." Copperback just nodded and altered course to slow down a bit. Jeffums dropped the little rowboat in the water and with Six''s help they got the unconscious man in the boat and with a little effort they dropped him on the shore. On the row back to the RiverDancer Jeffums cleared his throat. "I don''t get it. That guy stabbed you, almost to death. Why let him live?" He asked. Six shrugged. "No reason to kill him." "Seems to me like getting stabbed is reason enough." "Well, at the time I wanted to, but after I calmed down¡­ Why would I do that when he''s no danger to me?" Jeffums nodded. "Some people are just bad." Six nodded back. Jeffums was talking about straight up evil. "I don''t think he was one of those people. I don''t know why he was pirating. Is it hard to get a job?" Jeffums nodded after a moment. "Hard to get anything right now. " Six shrugged. "He doesn''t matter anymore. He''s over there and I''m over here." Jeffums grunted. He left it at that. When back on the RiverDancer Six took a moment for himself to check more prompts Skill gained: Polearms - Initiate - Level 1 Each level provides an increase of 0.5% of damage from long handled weapons. Current increase 0.5% Heavy Armor - Initiate - Level 1 Each level provides an increase of 0.5% of maneuverability and a reduction of 0.25% endurance cost. Current increase 0.5%, 0.25% Unarmed - Initiate - Level 1 Each level provides an increase of 0.5% of damage from unarmed strikes and natural weapons. Current increase 0.5% Really? Already? He had already learned that much? Well, he had learnt a lot that last fight¡­ Or, maybe it was his Unbound Comprehension gift. He shrugged, all that mattered was his skills leveling up. The bonuses were small but he could see that they offered power. Six didn¡¯t want power, but he wasn¡¯t foolish enough to avoid collecting it. 1.5 Learning the Local 19 Astra 10,391 Sailing was simple enough when you were a grunt. Six didn¡¯t need to make any navigational calls or actual maneuvers and there was only so much oar polishing a man could do, so the sailing quickly became idle conversation. Six was personable enough and he enjoyed company, but he just found idle conversation somewhat draining. He had learned as a young man that it was easy to socialize if you just projected a sturdy and contained confidence. He had also learned that most people just wanted to feel at ease so he tried his best to project his own feeling of ease. People picked up on the little things and even if they couldn¡¯t consciously explain it, they intuitively began to resonate with the emotional state of those around them. Copperback and crew had an easy banter about them and Six was content to let them go back and forth, offering a chuckle when he found their crude jokes funny. A lull hit the conversation before Copperback turned the mutterings on Six. ¡°So Six,¡± he began. ¡°Where¡¯djya get a name like dat?¡± Six was a bit unprepared for the question but rolled with it easy. ¡°I chose it when I was a child. Was kinda confusing at some points but nothing worth changing it over.¡± ¡°Your people choose their own names?¡± Elyria asked, surprised. ¡°Some of us do. Most are given. Six is like my uuh, gladiator name. I have a real one.¡± ¡°You were a gladiator?¡± asked Jeffums with clear skepticism in his voice. ¡°I was¡­ a competitor in many games,¡± Six clarified, clearing his voice. He never went pro in e-sports or powerlifting but he did compete here and there. ¡°Games?¡± Jeffums asked indignantly. ¡°Yes, games of strategy and skill, sometimes strength,¡± Six said confidently. Jeffums scoffed. Six shrugged. ¡°Within these games I called myself something along the lines of Six.¡± Copperback looked thoughtful, ¡°huh, I ain''t never heard of no place in the empire like dat.¡± ¡°You been everywhere in the empire?¡± Six didn¡¯t know how big this place was but Copperback seemed traveled, not educated, but knowledgeable. ¡°Well yes, but actually no. Pretty damn close though. What¡¯s your home¡¯s name?¡± Six shrugged, he didn¡¯t know enough. ¡°I come from a place called Canada. It''s on the other side of the mountain. We''re not part of the empire,¡± he lied. ¡°I''m learning about the empire as I travel. Got anything to share? ¡°From the other side of the mountain? Then you must have traveled through the Hynyk Reich and the Kingdom of Harmony before reaching Deathspire Mountain.¡± Six nodded and shrugged but didn¡¯t say anything. He trusted these people well enough but he didn¡¯t know enough to let them know about his odd circumstances. He put on a dopey smile and took a deep breath. He ran a bunch of calming thoughts through his head and felt his body melt into a more relaxed state. Completely at ease. Copperback watched him for a second and then nodded back. ¡°You should know there ain''t be no empire anymore.¡± Six raised his eyebrows and shrugged. ¡°Getting past the mountain wasn¡¯t easy. Took a long time. Things change, what happened?¡± Amos shook his head in sadness and cleared his throat. ¡°Empire¡¯s dead and the damn tsunken aelves took control of the capital city of Zleen. Octario Advent is dead, Kynairos press his soul, and Juthe-Wei Yudinzo sits upon the Zleenish throne. Absolutely disgusting, such a betrayal as this.¡± ¡°Betrayal?¡± Six asked confused. Learning the local area was crucial for navigation, bring on the exposition. ¡°Yes boy! The Emperor''s chosen servants turning on every single noble leader all at once like that.¡± He snapped his fingers. ¡°They had somehow planned it down to the minute. All across de empire, all at once.¡± He drew one thumb across his neck and crooked his neck. ¡°Done.¡± he said gravely. ¡°Shutuuuup Amos.¡± Elyria moaned. ¡°You hate nobles. Don¡¯t act like you aren''t happy they¡¯re dead.¡± ¡°A course I¡¯m ¡®appy!¡± Amos chuckled. ¡°But a man can look at a situation and see sin on both sides. The Tsunken Aelves had a duty to the empire.¡± ¡°They were slaves! ¡° growled Elyria. ¡°Just because a man is a slave don¡¯t mean honor and duty mean nothing.¡± ¡°A person should get to choose their honor and duty. No Tsunken Aelf fell to debt or crime, they were all born to it. The Advents got what was coming to them. At least I don¡¯t have to worship Kynairos anymore.¡± She crossed her arms. ¡°You don¡¯t be speaking dat pagan talk when we hit Olisrosa now. You deal with what life deals ya. No one gets to choose piss all. Now because o¡¯ dem tsunken aelves the whole empire gonna be chopped up small like. So selfish. They couldn¡¯t even coup properly they just wanted da nobles dead.¡± If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°They wanted to be free!¡± Elyria stressed through gritted teeth. Amos made a theatrical scoff. ¡°Den why Juthe-Wei be sitting atop da imperial throne? Issuing imperial decrees he can''t be enforcing?¡± Elyria huffed at that and fiddled with some ropes. Clearly she had no answer that she wanted to share. ¡°Well¡­¡± Six began. ¡°It sounds like this place is really¡­ nice... ¡° ¡°Don''t lie to me man, you suck at it. Well, anyways Olisrosa is a city within the human kingdom of Arkion. They didn¡¯t take too kindly to the tsunken aelfs killing their queen and right now High Craftsmistress Susan of the church of Kynairos is in control.¡± ¡°Crazy bitch.¡± Elyria and Jeffums said at the same time. Six looked to Amos and Amos nodded his head in agreement. Six shrugged. It makes sense really. People always went crazy with power, like nearly always. ¡°What''s this Kynairos guy all about?¡± ¡°Did you really come through the Kingdom of Harmony man? The church be working ¡®ard over there. Won''t be long before they pull out of those savage lands though. The Muldstanii won''t put up with Kynairos now dat de empire is sundered. Whatcha tink Jeffums? You''re Muldstanii, what you tink your people will do?¡± Jeffums looked to the sky in contemplation. ¡°I don''t know, not many orcs where I grew up. My opinion? Harmony will break back into their tribal ways. It''s been what? About a decade? That''s not long enough for their culture to be replaced. They will return to being nomads. The Reich will probably go to war and unify the lands.¡± He shrugged. ¡°We¡¯ll be fine either way. Simple life and all. Juthe-Wei might try something. Don¡¯t matter.¡± ¡°Six?¡± Amos brought it back to the person with the least informed opinion. ¡°Yeah, I must have missed it. Lotta wandering through the land, very little city, didn¡¯t really talk to many people.¡± Amos laughed with a smile on his face. ¡°You lie like shit man.¡± Six had the grace to look abashed but apologized with a smile on his face. ¡°...Sorry. So what''s Kynairos all about?¡± Amos shook his head and grinned. ¡°Kynairos be a god. He is a god of order and production. The one and only human god who walks Zonah.¡± Amos nodded at Six. ¡°Zonah is what we call this great world, but you knew dat eh? Anyways, Worship of any other god but Kynairos will get you on the wrong side of the reapers. You know da reapers yes?¡± Amos leaned forward Six knew his lie was up but joked around, trying to keep the vibe light. ¡°Yes of course but maybe explain for those two.¡± Jeffums laughed and Elyria scowled. Amos let out a chuckle and winked at Six. ¡°Reapers be da people who make sure everybody¡¯s praising Kynairos. Just be sure to say ¡®praise be Kynairos¡¯ and they¡¯ll leave you alone. You got people like dat from where you come?¡± Six shook his head no. ¡°Not in the province I lived in, no. Some other places, there was yes.¡± Amos shook his head as if he knew the answer already. ¡°You live a good life, work ¡®ard and follow de law and Kynairos smiles down on yah. It''s why I ¡®ave dis ¡®ere boat.¡± Elyria scoffed. ¡°He just got the deed from our dead captain. He was second mate and knows the rivers so we¡¯re just letting him keep it¡­ for now.¡± ¡°Shut up Ely! I¡¯m da Captain now and I¡¯ll whoop your ass if you even try to so much as breathe at mutiny. Grrrrr.¡± Amos growled, then smiled, he continued. ¡°None of de gods matter, don¡¯t worry bout dem. Worry about getting your hands on some gold, booze and good company. That will be in your life far more than any god. I plan to make much more now dat I got a boat.¡± ¡°We got a boat,¡± Elyria reminded him. ¡°By Kynairos woman! It''s MAH BOAT!¡± ¡°Jeffums?¡± she asked. Jeffums laughed ¡°It''s our boat Captain. Elyria gets the next one, then me, then you can keep this one or we¡¯ll all get one for you.¡± Amos looked off to the side at the slowly panning scenery and blew out a huff. It went quiet for a moment. Six broke it. ¡°If I wanted to avoid reapers, where would be a good place to live?¡± ¡°No no no,¡± Elyria said. ¡°We answered your questions n-.¡± ¡°I did,¡± coughed Amos. Elyria rolled her eyes. ¡°Now you answer one of our questions.¡± Six sighed and nodded. Defeated. ¡°Don''t be like that.¡± Elyria rightfully chastised. ¡°What''s your home like?¡± she asked. ¡°Home?¡± Six thought for a moment. ¡°Beautiful,¡± he said. ¡°I didn¡¯t travel it enough but our land was beautiful. Gorgeous, totally awesome. Nature was close at hand and the city worked to keep it green. Terribly expensive and unlivable but hey, most of the world was going the way of feudal plutocracy. I don¡¯t think living in a feudal monarchy will be too much different.¡± He shrugged. ¡°Plutocracy?¡± Elyria asked, the word strange to her. ¡°Ah, we were ruled by extremely wealthy merchant families,¡± Six explained. Amos laughed and looked to Elyria. ¡°See? It''s not so crazy! Six, you gotta tell me how to get to dis place.¡± Elyria shouted back. ¡°Merchants would make terrible kings.¡± Six shrugged. ¡°From the little history I know it seems like everyone would make a terrible king.¡° ¡°Six, I like yah and so I''ll tell yah straight. Don''t go speaking ¡®bout nature or rulers like that ¡®round true followers of Kynairos. Most are fine to let you be for some lip service but say the wrong ting and a reaper will be on you like a scythe on wheat. Nature is a bad thing to glorify.¡± ¡°Well I don''t want any reaping. My old home let you believe basically anything or say almost anything. I¡¯m looking for a place like that.¡± ¡°Best go back the way you came and live on de mountain then,¡± said Amos. ¡°The Reich is similar to the empire in many ways but for Hynyk¡¯s basically. Hynyk god and Hynyk laws. That''s no good for you. Once people get tired of killing each other, the new order over here will be similar, not so bad for a human like yourself. No one cares about who lives on de mountain¡­ Too hard to tax. But in all seriousness don''t do dat. Living on dat mountain be a death sentence to most.¡± Amos shuddered at the thought of hard mountain living, and he was a sailor. ¡°Ah I''ll be fine.¡± Six had to ask. ¡°What exactly are Hynyks?¡± Amos smiled at Six¡¯s frankness. ¡°Hynyks are large furred creatures, they stand upon two legs and have much the same form as any of us. Kinda look like dogs but never call a Hynyk a dog, unless you wish ta fight.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t fight unless I have to. But I can handle myself.¡± ¡°Not with weapon forms like I saw.¡± Jeffums said, picking up two oars. ¡°Huh?¡± Six said with apprehension. Jeffums tossed an oar at Six and took a martial stance. ¡°You swung that oar hard but if you want to live on Deathspire you¡¯re gonna have to have some actual experience, Skill levels only give bonuses and slight tweaks in knowledge, they don¡¯t actually grant experience and expertise. Have you ranked a skill up yet?¡± Six shook his head no, ¡°I don¡¯t think so?¡± ¡°Have any of your skills progressed from initiate to apprentice?¡± ¡°No.¡± Jeffums nodded. ¡°Now hold that oar like this.¡± Jeffums demonstrated the two handed grip and allowed Six to copy it. ¡°Yes, good. Any styles you want to focus on?¡± ¡°Defensive.¡± Six offered while he began to limber up and feel out the weight of the oar. This wasn¡¯t a nice world. These things were never nice. He needed to be prepared to defend himself, a sparring session wouldn¡¯t hurt. ¡°I can keep my armor on?¡± Jeffums nodded. ¡°Defensive! A good style for beginners. Keep your armor on. The more you level up your heavy armor skill the better. You are approximately 50% slower, probably would have drowned if you had that on when you were in the river. I won''t be able to teach you much but something is better than nothing.¡± ¡°Thanks Jeffums. Always room for improvement, anything helps,¡± Six said with a smile. Jeffums did not go easy on him, and if it wasn''t for his heavy armor Six would have been covered in lumps. Jeffums put Six through some basic two-handed moves. How to move the weapon, blocking with the haft of the weapon and some basic swings. Between moving in armor on a boat and his trying to learn, Six never had a hit connect. Yet he learned a lot, and he learned fast. Jeffums kept things simple and gave useful feedback when Six warranted it, and the corrections stuck. Six had always learned fast in his previous life but now his retention and understanding were abnormally high. He found it concerning. Was he the same person? Something had messed with who he was and now he integrated knowledge completely differently. He had been changed. He grit his teeth in tension and they grinded briefly before he stopped himself. He shrugged. It didn¡¯t matter. He existed. He took a deep breath and relaxed. 1.6 Stocking Up 20 Astra 10,391 There was half a day more of sailing before the docks of Olisrosa showed along the edge of the river and Six was now at Sailing - 5, Heavy Armor - 4, and Polearms - 3. "We''ve arrived!" said Captain Copperback. "Whooweee! Finally!" Six was excited to see the first city in this new world. He stood at the prow and looked down river as they crossed a bend to reveal the city. The city of Olisrosa was everything Six had imagined about a medieval city. A series of docks hugged the river allowing a flow of people and goods into and out of the high, grey rock, walled city. A mixture of folks were passing back and forth, Six could see a human majority doing business and guarding the gate that served the docks. Dwarves, Aelfs, Muldstanii, and ho- halflings were mixed in the crowd, Six even saw the odd lizardfolk and what appeared to be a rabbitman. Wow. How cool was that. Six spotted a train of chained humanoids, an even mixture of peoples comprised it. They all wore beige leather vests and woven shorts, their uniformity of dress demarcating them from the free people around them. They pulled carts and loaded goods according to the merchants and dockmasters around them. Not so cool. Very sad in fact. Copperback moored the RiverDancer to a smaller dock and everyone began to unload cargo. Six went to help but Amos waved him off. "Don''t worry about it man, you paid your passage. Are you staying long?" Six shrugged, he was ok with being let off of work. "Few days," he replied. "Then I might go back to just past where you found me. There was a really nice glade on the mountain that I might try to go live in. It was very pretty." Six knew he wanted to live far away from people. Have his own place. It''s not like there was a hospital worth living near and don''t even get him started on the smell. Copperback laughed. "Heh, a man who fell into a river might want to reconsider living in the middle of nowhere with no help. You''re a good man Six. It was a pleasure and it would be a shame if a big cat or something took yah. It''s called Deathspire mountain for a reason. If you ever need a job you¡¯re welcome on our ship." "Oooh yeah, I know, but I really don''t want to answer to anyone and there are already a few people living up there. I''ll be fine." Six thanked the three sailors and left the boat heading towards the gates. Copperback shouted after him in a highly visible display. ¡°Praise be Kynairos!¡± Six called it back, ¡°Praise be Kynairos!¡± The thick iron gates hung open, motionless. Two pairs of guards stood to either side of the entrance, one checking the flow of peoples. She stopped Six and looked him up and down. Six smiled. ¡°Two coppers,¡± she said. That seemed reasonable so Six pulled two coppers out of his pockets and handed it to her. ¡°Alright,¡± she said, nodding. ¡°Go ahead. No trouble now.¡± Six nodded back and went to pass through before stopping and coming back. ¡°Wait, sorry. Can you tell me where the Prancing Stallion Inn is located?¡± The guard grimaced. ¡°Go on in, don¡¯t waste my time,¡± she said. Six pulled a silver from his pouch and held it between his index and middle fingers. All cool like. ¡°What if I made it worth your while?¡± He asked. He had always wanted to ask for information like that. She walked up and snatched it out of his hand. ¡°Don¡¯t be cheeky,¡± she growled but gave out clear and precise instructions to the inn. Six repeated them back to her for confirmation and at the nod of her head he thanked her and passed through the portal and into a bustling intersection. It was even more hectic than the docks. Six weaved through the crowd and through a mixture of the directions, asking about and being able to read the local signs, he made it to the inn. He was kinda bad at navigating but he made it. The Prancing Stallion was a three story affair nestled in a strip of stores and stalls. In a market. Above the door hung a white sign embossed with a rampant stallion. Six watched for a bit and noted a steady trickle of in and out traffic. He was nervous. Meeting Copperback and crew had been an accident. This was more purposeful. This Alison person had no idea their comrades died. That he killed them. Six felt like he was making a mistake. He considered turning back, he already had the stuff they gave him, there were no consequences to failing this thing. But no, he kept his word. A man is nothing without his honor. He wouldn¡¯t be able to sleep at night knowing he didn¡¯t even try. So Six sighed and entered the inn. The bottom floor was styled like a tavern and Six looked about at a large room with a few human and non-human patrons scattered about. The rough and blocky innkeeper stood behind the bar, ladling a bowl of something from the steaming pot that was in a fireplace. She shouted to Six, ¡°getcha anything sweetie?¡± Six cleared his throat and nodded. ¡°I''m looking for a person called Alison? I was told she would be here.¡± ¡°S¡¯not my place to give out information for free,¡± she said, clearly asking for money. ¡°Well how much will it cost to know?¡± Six asked, he was ok with people trying to make money. ¡°I would expect nothing less than a gold piece,¡± she said. ¡°A gold piece? Phbffff. Fuck that¡­¡± He blew a raspberry and cursed. ¡°Pardon my language.¡± ¡°Well good luck to you then, sir. Now buy something or get out.¡± The innkeeper was not impressed. ¡°Can I get some water?¡± She stared at him flatly. ¡°I hadn¡¯t really expected that to work. Ok, I¡¯ll take some of that there soup.¡± She ladeled him some soup and Six turned to face the room. ¡°Hey,¡± he said loudly. ¡°Is there an Alison here?¡± A tall woman stood up from one of the tables in the back of the dim room. She projected a powerful voice. ¡°Who wants to know?¡± A dark pommeled greatsword sat upon her back. Six grabbed the bowl of soup and nodded at the Innkeep. Screw your gold he thought. ¡°I brought a message from Carralevine.¡± He offered. ¡°...What¡¯s the message and why should I trust you?¡± The skepticism was heavy on her voice. Who was this man, where was the party? Six shrugged. ¡°You don''t have to. Pretty sure I just gotta deliver it, you can decide to believe it or not.¡± Six was sure of that. He didn¡¯t have to convince her of anything. After a short internal deliberation the giant of a woman nodded. Hearing it wouldn''t hurt. Six cleared his throat and delivered the next words as gently as he could.¡±Carralevine and her party have fallen, she said it''s over and to try to find another way to a life you want.¡± He received a prompt. Quest Complete, Giving Mercy I Rewards for completion :150 EXP The woman came stomping out of the dim, looming over the seated Six. She had short black hair and a cute face. That face was furious. ¡°She''s dead? What does that even mean? How do you know she''s dead and how did you come to have this message? Is that Matt''s armor you¡¯re wearing?¡± Six sighed and breathed deeply. Then he told her almost everything, painting himself as a wanderer who found a terrible situation. As he told the story, he kept his eyes on her face, monitoring her reaction. It went from furiousness to denial to sadness to guilt then to anger which was close to furiousness but less furious. Wait, it went back to furiousness. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. It seemed it was going poorly for him. He could see it in her face. She spoke coldly. ¡°You killed them.¡± It was more of a statement than a question. He drank some soup. ¡°Yes. They asked me to.¡± He shook his head in disbelief. ¡°I can¡¯t quite believe it either.¡± ¡°You think that changes anything?¡± She spoke with a snarl. ¡°Yes, yes I do. You do know there were no failure conditions for this quest? I already have all the rewards just for accepting it.¡± ¡°Why would they ask you for something so stupid? They wouldn¡¯t give up like that.¡± ¡°I told you,¡± Six said softly. ¡°Poison. Carralevine was quite sure.¡± ¡°Then why would you do it? Why would you come here after?¡± Her skepticism of his good intentions was heavy. Six snapped. ¡°Because I said I would do it! What would you have done? And! You need to know! You can''t rely on dead people.¡± Alison brought her hand down in a bar shaking slam and Six could hear her growl. He tried his best to project calm confidence. This lady was scary. He breathed. ¡°I''m sorry, it is what it is.¡± She slowly sighed. Releasing and slumping her shoulders. Six thanked god, that looked like acceptance. He had fulfilled his obligation. ¡°I''m sorry,¡± he said again. ¡°I hope everything turns out well for you.¡± He finished his soup as she stood there. ¡°Where are the cairns?¡± She asked. Near the base of Death Spire mountain. Very secluded. Very peaceful. I wish I could¡¯ve done more. Is there anything else you want to know?¡± Alison shook her head, no. Six nodded. ¡°How much for the soup?¡± ¡°Three copper,¡± the old woman promptly stated. Six paid it easily. It seemed that copper was worth about a dollar and a half. Somewhere in there. ¡°How much for a room?¡± ¡°Six copper a day.¡± ¡°A room with a lock?¡± ¡°One silver two coppers¡± Six tried giving her 2 silver and 16 coppers and she took it without complaint, handing Six a numbered key. Ten coppers to a silver. How many silver to a gold? Alison looked bleary and lost. ¡°What''s your plan now?¡± She asked. ¡°Probably stay for a few days and head back into that mountain. It was beautiful there, absolutely gorgeous and this city¡­ kinda stinks.¡± He was serious. Six was done with society. Especially in a world like this, too many power struggles. Too many adversaries. ¡°Just going to walk off into the mountain after leaving me with this news? Aren''t you worried about getting hurt?¡± Alison was a warrior but Six was definitely not. At least not yet, he could learn, growth was possible. Six shrugged. ¡°Yes.¡± He had his health regen "I''ll be fine. Might hire someone to teach me how to live out there. This is all quite new for me.¡± ¡°I''m surprised you didn¡¯t get eaten by a mountain cat.¡± ¡°Me too to be honest but it¡¯s really nice and I just want a place of my own. Away from people. I know what I like and this city is close enough if I¡¯m feeling lonely.¡± He smiled. ¡°What¡¯s your plan now? If you don¡¯t mind me asking.¡± Alison waved it away. ¡°Gonna go tell the settlers that we are not going anywhere.¡± She sighed. ¡°Everyone is going to be crushed. We all relied on those four.¡± ¡°Well, I hope everything goes well. Stay safe.¡± He nodded, she nodded. He got up and stood almost eye to eye with her, she was a few inches taller than his six foot two. A bit closer he could see pointed ears. She was an Aelf? She looked more human than anything. He wandered out of the inn and into the bustling city. He wanted to explore and just¡­ live¡­ So that means being self-sufficient and although the rings had a whole bunch of useful tools, actual items for living were missing. So Six was going to buy some essentials for life and then try to make his way back to that nice valley. He needed to find a survivalist to hire, basic house items and some books to read or games to play. He wanted to learn how to survive out in the death spire mountain. His fantasy back home was to somehow have a dope, tricked out cabin but with land prices and the cost of living he knew it was gonna be a fantasy. Now he was gonna move out in the middle of nowhere and become a hermit. A squatter, there was like 1600 people on that mountain, he could find his own little patch and go unnoticed, he was sure. He should get an instrument and seeds to grow. Potatoes¡­ he wanted to grow potatoes, and squash. Six wandered around and quickly found a general store. He entered to find a tidy store with lots of inventory. The shopkeep, a young human man, greeted Six and waited behind a counter. Six looked around and bought the things he needed. First of all, a badass tent. Building whatever he was going to live in would take time. He needed something to rest in, bedroll. He bought a pot, pan, and a knife. Flint. Bandages. Salt, something that looked like pepper, various seeds, and more bread and jerky. He grabbed a cabbage and a lot of dried beans. He needed the fiber. Something that looked like potatoes. He spent twenty minutes going around the store grabbing items that took his fancy. He paid two gold, five silver and eight copper. Everything went into the rings. The limited storage was becoming increasingly slim. He needed to be careful or maybe buy a mule. He didn¡¯t really want to get rid of any of the extra equipment he had. It had been for those settlers but now they really didn¡¯t need it. Needed a place to settle to be a settler. Six didn¡¯t like to barter but many people expected it, so he had learned the basics just enough to protect himself against those who enjoyed it. He was pretty sure that young man had gotten the better of him but Six didn¡¯t care. His trade had leveled up. Skill Increase: Trade has increased to level 2 - Initiate The shopkeep even gave him directions to an apothecary. It was close by and was a squat drooping thing. The stout door opened with a heavy push and a cloud of smoke left the interior. Perfect. Six entered to find a little old woman tending the inventory of the store. She looked up at him through squinted eyes and nodded curtly. ¡°What can I help you with?¡± she asked. Six was a little embarrassed with asking for drugs but it wasn¡¯t the first time he had to find a dealer. ¡°I¡¯m looking for a smoking herb that has minor psychedelic properties, alleviates pain and makes one sleepy.¡± ¡°Smokeweed, you want some smokeweed? No problem!¡± She cackled. This was it. Now he could truly retreat from society and live peaceably alone. The old woman rummaged about and came back to him with a jar of what was unmistakably extremely dry and weak weed. It had almost fossilized, it looked so old. There were seeds on it though and it was all she had at all so he bought it anyway and hoped he could grow some of his own. Six bought a selection of healing salves, soaps and some very expensive toothpaste. He bought ten packs of a healing root called rootbust. It healed a small amount over time while you chewed on it. Not useful in combat really but overtime it could make a difference. He paid twenty-two silver and six coppers. Most of the cost was sunken into glassware, a really expensive glass smoking pipe and medicine. He already had a tinderbox from Carralevine. Onto books. Survival for dummies or something like it was on Six¡¯s mind. He was curious as to what sort of fiction he could find but mostly he was looking for skill manuals and guides. Surely there would be magic books and that would be cool too. The book quarter was actually a fifteen minute walk away from the inn so Six began to make his way there, stopping to ask for directions and re-navigating. On the way Six saw a crier. A man standing on a corner giving a street side sermon about Kynairos. Six got a moment to look at him. A tall, dark complexioned man who wore the white and red of Kynairos. The priest held their black clad holy text and gesticulated while expounding on the greatest sin of all. Sloth. Six had heard enough of that stuff back on earth. He was definitely walking into the forest and never coming out. He arrived at the book quarter and picked the one with the cleanest sign. He didn¡¯t know why but clean, well maintained signs really sold him on the business that they belonged to. He entered one called Cake¡¯s Texts and was impressed to see the entire small building filled floor to ceiling with books. ¡°Hello?¡± came a questing voice from somewhere within the book labyrinth. ¡°Hello!¡± Six said as jovially as he could and a figure stepped out from behind a wall of paper. It was a halfling woman. She wore horn tipped glasses and a white dress that had many different pockets. ¡°Hello, I¡¯m Cake. Is there anything I can help you with?¡± she asked. ¡°Why yes,¡± Six said with a smile. ¡°I''m looking for a ton of books on survival, foraging, construction, agriculture, history of Arkion and the empire, maps of the local area and anything you got on deathspire. Anything you got on magic and some legends if you got any. Cake blinked. "Wow, tall order but I think we got a little of everything you want. Gimme a few minutes." Six nodded and looked around while the halfling went and picked books out from the towers of tomes. She returned quickly and laid the books out on the table at the front. She pointed at the first one and went down the line as she explained. "First we have a carpentry book, second is a book on masonry. These are not magical but if you study and practice them properly they will bring you up to mid apprentice. I don''t have any books on construction but those two are related so you should get construction levels while you practice either. Now, this book on farming could bring you to high apprentice, maybe into journeyman, again not magical but very useful. The two history books I have represent fractions of the whole picture but it''s what I got. A few legends, one about Ethrina the dragonkin. If you know what I mean." She winked, "these last two are earth magic grimoires. True grimoires, magical. Using them will teach you the spells stone spear and stone wall, it won''t get you any levels in earth magic but very useful and quite expensive. No books on survival but I do have a few local maps. Interested? Six moaned internally. She didn''t list prices before asking after his interest. He would have felt better with clear prices but knowledge was power and he couldn''t lie any better in this life. "Yea, how much for the lot?" "Weeeelll." She began. "For the carpentry and masonry books, two gold and three silver for each book." Six sucked in a reflexive breath and sighed. Was that two hundred and thirty bucks for each? For some educational texts? Wait, he thought, that was about right for his college books. "Ok, what about the rest?" Cake smiled and continued with her pricing. "The farming book could get you to high apprentice, low journeyman so it''s a bit more expensive. Three gold and two silver for that one. The history lore, less useful so one gold and two silver for both of those. The three legends I could let go for four silver and five copper." Alright, so value was tied to skill and knowledge development. He had more than enough money to buy them. In fact, the money he gained from those adventurers made him far more wealthy than he ever was back in his previous life. It wasn''t an endless amount of money and he wasn''t about to waste it but he wanted these books and it wouldn''t hurt his wallet too much. He nodded and she continued. ¡°The maps are well made and of high quality. One of Deathspire and one of the surrounding areas of Olisrosa.¡± She cleared her throat. ¡°They cost two gold each and I barely make anything off of them but I do keep them for someone like yourself. Six sighed but nodded. "Ok," she said in a slightly sweeter tone. "The mundane earth grimoire is slightly more expensive at twelve gold." Six choked a bit at the price and it was his turn to clear his throat. The halfling waited for him to say something but he gestured for her to continue and she kept going. "Lastly we have the magical grimoires. Instant knowledge makes it a bit more expensive but there is no way you won''t learn it. It''s not a skillbook so in terms of magical books it''s cheap. All that said, both would cost eighty-nine gold and nine silver." Six sucked another breath and blew out a low whistle. "This is a big city but how many people can afford books that expensive?" ¡°Very few.¡± She acknowledged. "Then how do you make enough money to stay in business?" "Oh, I sell alot of romance novels. The one about Ethrina is quite saucy just so you know." Six nodded, romance always dominated books sales back home, it makes sense it was that way here too. He tallied the totals in his head and the price for everything came to, 114 gold, 23 silver, and five copper. Holy crap, that was almost all of his money. But did he really need money? After these books he really didn''t need anything else. He needed to hire someone to teach him basic survival skills but other than that he really didn''t need tons of money. If he ended up needing money, he could work. Maybe he could make some art or some shit and sell it farmers market style. "How about 75 gold for everything and you throw in a mundane book on trapping and husbandry or something." Six hated to barter but this was the time to go hard. The shopkeep laughed. ¡°75? No, impossible, I need to make some profit off of these and you could make tons of money off of the masonry knowledge and the grimoires are worth more than that.¡± That seemed like bullshit. ¡°Do farmers make enough money to pay for something like that?¡± ¡°Well no but a lord or lady would. You could always charge it to the empire as an operating cost. That''s what the last mage did.¡± ¡°I would if I worked for the empire.¡± The halfling froze and laughed nervously. ¡°Could I see your imperial mage¡¯s guild sigil?¡± You need a license to practice magic? He thought. Of course there would be something like that! ¡°No,¡± Six said. He shrugged and put on his best innocent grin. ¡°Well I can¡¯t sell you these grimoires then.¡± ¡°Really? Why not?¡± Six tried to emit an aura of ease. ¡°It''s illegal empire wide to aid unlicensed mages in the craft.¡± She spoke with a tone of idiotic derison. ¡°Empire is dead, so I¡¯ve heard,¡± Six said casually. ¡°And you thought to just learn some magic?¡± She was smiling at his forwardness but Six knew this was a dangerous conversation for both of them. He shrugged. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°No!¡± She laughed. ¡°The priests of Kynairos still uphold imperial law. They would kill me.¡± ¡°What if I paid double?¡± She froze again but this time restarted with a hopeful clarification. ¡°Double?¡± Six nodded. ¡°Everything? Double.¡± She nodded. Six nodded. ¡°I won''t help or say anything if you get caught.¡± Her hands opened in a helpless gesture. Six nodded. Insistently. She shrugged. ¡°Double.¡± They shook on it. 1.7 Power Creep Six left that place with almost all the knowledge he wanted, another level in trade and far less coin than he would have liked but he tried to play it off in his mind. He was down to 126 gold, 35 silver and 592 copper. He was pretty sure that was still an obscene amount but it was still less than half of what he started with. He had asked for a quick inspect of the plant growth grimoire and she deemed it safe and had done it for free. He almost had everything he needed to figure out this new life, he just needed to find a survivalist guide and he could do that tomorrow. He headed back to the inn. He was hungry and was looking forward to a real bed. The sun was setting and the streets were beginning to empty. He had walked all day in that armor and it paid off. Except for the stink. Skill Increase: Heavy Armor has increased to level 5 - Initiate Even though it made almost any heavy exertion cost prohibitively more endurance, simple things like walking and eating were easily handled by his high endurance regen. He would bathe in this armor if it was feasible. He had an additional 2.5% maneuverability from the skill but he couldn¡¯t see the difference. Hiking back into the forest would be difficult. Could he get a horse? Would he want a horse? Nah. He would have to plot his route. He definitely had enough food to survive for atleast two months so he wasn¡¯t too worried about how long it would take. Could probably just get back to the river and follow that. Six entered a far more lively Prancing Stallion than the noonday version he experienced earlier. He hailed the innkeep¡± Hello, busy place you got here.¡± The innkeep smiled with the recognition. ¡°I love the bustle, this is yours.¡± She slapped a key down in front of Six who promptly took it. ¡°You need anything else?¡± she asked. ¡°A big ol meal please and thank you.¡± ¡°Right away.¡± She bossed some helpers about and a few minutes later Six had food. It was a bowl of the same soup he had earlier, which he had enjoyed at the time so he was looking forward to it somewhat. There was a hunk of slightly stale bread but the soup was a perfect match with it. Some salted dried fish on the side completed the meal. Not as much as Six usually ate but it was pretty good. He paid the four copper and went to go find his room. It was a small thing on the second floor. Just enough room for a lumpy bed, nightstand with lamp and a small window. He lit the lamp, locked the door and sat on the bed. Deep breaths. He wanted to sleep in the armor but he had tried that on the boat and Jeffums had warned him about sleeping in heavy armor specifically, it wouldn¡¯t give you any sort of real rest until you achieved journeyman. Miss too much sleep and an exhaustion debuff would set in. He grudgingly began to peel the armor off, he would be able to put it back on but getting it properly set would be very difficult. He checked the bed for bugs and found nothing, so he climbed in and took a deep breath, trying to relax into a deep sleep. He had managed to get a few blinks of shut eye on copperback¡¯s boat but nothing substantial. He was finding it even harder now, being alone in a cramped room. Or maybe it was just the muffled raucous noise coming through the floor. He pondered that for what seemed like hours until he was finally fed up and decided to try that shitty weed. Six got out of bed, dressed and donned his armor again. It actually wasn¡¯t that hard to cinch it up right. He pulled the smokeweed out from his inventory and looked at it under the lamplight. Busting a little onto the nightstand he separated the few seeds out and placed the rest in his pipe. Smoking inside was rude so he left his room and went downstairs. It had emptied significantly, and the innkeeper eyed Six as he came down. ¡°Doors are closing soon, if you¡¯re going out you ain''t coming back in.¡± ¡°¡®I¡¯m just having a smoke. I wont be more than ten minutes.¡± ¡°Make sure of that or you¡¯ll be spending the night outside. Go out back, I don''t want people seeing you coming back in.¡± Six nodded and went to the door on the other side of the room and slipped out to the back alley. The lamps were spaced out farther and left vast tracts of darkness between the small islands of light. Six wasn¡¯t about to wander off and set about to striking a cloth. The draw on the pipe hit harder than Six expected and he suppressed a sputtering cough before exhaling. He felt a large impulse to go pack another bowl but that should be enough. He wasn¡¯t even sure if smokeweed was marijuana despite appearing basically identical to his senses. All he knew was he was feeling something. He looked at the stars. Skill gained Herbalism - Initiate - 1 Allows users to identify herbs and their uses and properties. Each level will provide more information and insight into rarer and more esoteric herbs. There was a little left and he wasn''t uncomfortable so he went to finish it but some movement in the darkness caught his attention and he pulled a shovel out of a ring, brandishing it at the dark menacingly. That was until a small creature walked into his light, stood on its hindlegs and looked at his with hopeful puppydog eyes. ¡°Hey! A raccoon,¡± Six said with a smile. This was a nice dose of reality and gave Six a warm feeling of normalcy. ¡°Hey little guy.¡± Six pulled out a loaf of bread from storage and waved it gently at the creature who stepped a bit closer. It looked pretty big, probably fully grown. Six tore off a chunk of bread and tossed it in front of the raccoon who flinched at the offering, stepping back. Six took a bite of his bread and watched, slowly but surely the raccoon mustered up the courage to come forward, grab the bread, then quickly waddle off into the darkness. Six smiled and finished the bowl before heading back inside and to his room. He locked the door, stripped down and layed back down on his bed. Took a deep breath and tried to relax into sleep. I am way too high to fall asleep. Was it really that strong or had Six¡¯s tolerance just completely reset? He couldn¡¯t fall asleep like this so he pulled out his grimoires. He giggled as he looked at them arrayed before him. Made of fine materials and emanating a weighty aura they spoke of power yet unclaimed. Stone Spear, Stone Wall, and Plant Growth. He kept his expectations contained and opened the first one he obtained. You have activated a magical grimoire for the Minor Earth Spell: Plant Growth. Using this tome will impart the spell knowledge and consume the item. Continue? Six willed his assent and the book flashed in a bright light as he felt knowledge flood his brain. He froze as his mind was suppressed under the pressure of all the data but the paralysis lasted for only a few minutes. He felt like Neo. I know magic. That''s not right, he knew Plant Growth, not magic. He could tell the knowledge in his mind was more rote memorization rather than true understanding, equations and functions he could input mana into and receive an output but he didn¡¯t understand why any of it worked. But he was pretty high, he might be missing something. Spell: Plant Growth Rank: Minor Cooldown: N/A Range: 2km Casting Time: Instant Duration: Channeled Mana Cost: Variable Effect: Channel the spell to affect the growth of plants in a chosen area of effect, speed of growth depends on size of area, mana expended and the level of the Earth Magic skill. If channeled uninterrupted for half a day, the area¡¯s vegetation will benefit from a temporary 200% growth buff. Skill gained Earth Magic - Initiate - 1 Allows users to form minor earth magic constructs. Each level provides a 0.5% increase in spell effectiveness and a 0.25% reduction in mana costs. Current increase 0.5%, reduction 0.25% Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. A feeling of wonderment settled in for a second and Six just took a moment to flex the new muscles that controlled mana in his body. Now that the instructions were there it was simple to let something that now felt natural, flow freely. Still, he did not cast the spell here, it was illegal to be a wizard so he would wait until he left Olisrosa to try and practice magic. He chuckled to himself, ¡°yer a wizard, Six.¡± His head had the makings of a headache but the thrill was too much to resist, he absorbed the other two books. Spell: Stone Spike Rank: Minor Cooldown: 20s Range: 80m Casting Time: Instant Duration: Instant Mana Cost: 30+ mana Effect: Transmutes earth into a thrusting spike of stone at target location. Mana usage may increase depending on initial material used for transmutation. Spell: Stone Wall Rank: Minor Cooldown: 40s Range: 120m Casting Time: Instant Duration: Instant Mana Cost: 50+ mana Effect: Transmutes earth into a thrusting wall of stone at target location. Mana usage may increase depending on initial material used for transmutation. His head hurt and he wiped a drip of blood away from his nose but he knew. He smiled and it took all of his discipline to not test the spells right then and there. Now he felt tired, so crawled into the lumpy bed and fell asleep. The next morning brought about more soup, Six looked at the innkeep, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, what¡¯s your name?¡± ¡°Olga,¡± the woman stated flatly. ¡°Do you know where I can find a guide or ranging trainer?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± A pause extended between them before Six slid a silver over. ¡°Can you tell me?¡± Olga smiled and took the coin before providing directions to Six. He nodded and thanked her before heading off to the ¡®job boards.¡¯ A place in the middle class part of the city that featured a series of scattered boards that held scrolls that detailed jobs or services. It was mostly humans doing business but Six saw a spekling of Muldstanii, dwarves and other humanoids. Six looked for an ad that featured a forest guide or a survivalist trainer, something that would help him out in the bush. He ended up finding a man named Denny, he was advertised as a ranger and located in an inn nearby. Six had checked out a few before and Denny¡¯s expertise and demeanor is what did it. He was a old man with white hair and a gristled jerky look. A well groomed and well behaved husky sat at his side. Six introduced himself and began to inquire. ¡°So yer wantin training is it?¡± The old man seemed to chew his words out. ¡°Basically.¡± Six nodded. ¡°If you could do it while escorting me to my destination that would be swell. Maybe stay a bit and show me how to survive off the land. Defend myself and forage. I would like to live on the mountain so what level of skill would you recommend I train to?¡± Denny smiled. ¡°Anyone can survive up there with the right attitude. I can teach you enough to live and subsist there. The monsters will probably getcha though, still, if that¡¯s what yer set on it¡¯ll be 100 gold for the ten days I¡¯ll escort you and act as mentor. Half now, half later.¡° That much gold would devastate Six and nearly clean him out. ¡°Wow, that¡¯s expensive.¡± ¡°I¡¯m almost level 20, ranger class and I¡¯ll be teaching you multiple skills, bushcraft, trapping, tracking, foraging, I¡¯ll teach you to smoke and preserve food. It¡¯s up to you.¡± Denny scratched his dog¡¯s ears. ¡°I¡¯m a quick study and I¡¯m eager to learn. I don¡¯t want to waste either of our time so I''ll follow your lead. You¡¯re the expert. Teach me as if I¡¯m a child though, start with the absolute basics and work up from there.¡± ¡°If you want, Shouldn¡¯t be a big deal. Sounds good?¡± Six mustered up some social courage and let out a tension filled breath. ¡°Sir, would you be able to come down at all? I understand you are extremely skilled, I don¡¯t wish to downplay all you can offer me. I am fully prepared to pay you 100 gold but I would really appreciate it if you could lower it. I don¡¯t plan to make much money out there and I may need to come back to society. I do not mean to take advantage of you, I¡¯m just asking.¡± Six stated with curt honesty. Denny shook his head in disbelief. ¡°Well, I can¡¯t fault you for that. You seem like a nice young man, don¡¯t push it though. I can do 90 for the ten days.¡± Skill Increase: Trade has increased to level 3 - Initiate ¡°Thank you, I really appreciate it, I do.¡± Denny made a dismissive gesture. ¡°Ahhh don¡¯t worry about it. Pass it on. It''s not everyday I get to train someone so insane.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°The mountains are dangerous,¡± chuckled Denny. ¡°Yes but there are people already living on the mountains. Why can¡¯t I?¡± ¡°Those people are dangerous.¡± ¡°¡­ Well¡­ teach me to be dangerous.¡± Denny looked at him as if measuring Six and then he nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll teach you. Don¡¯t disappoint me.¡± ¡°Is the money not enough?¡± Six asked. The old man looked off in the distance. ¡°No, when do we leave for the mountain? Do you have an idea of where you want to go?¡± ¡°Tomorrow I guess? And yes, I know where I want to go, bought a map for that. I have everything I need. Pretty sure.¡± Denny began to list a large number of items most of which Six had. The few he didn¡¯t he would pick up later today. ¡°I¡¯m at the Prancing Stallion. Where should I meet you? ¡°I¡¯ll meet you there and we will leave in the morning.¡± Denny said with decisiveness. Six sighed in relief. ¡°Great.¡± He smiled and stood. ¡°Half now half later or?¡± ¡°That¡¯s fine, yes.¡± ¡°Perfect.¡± Six pulled out 45 gold from his storage ring and handed it over with a series of clinks. The gold was heavy and 45 coins was a bit much to handle easily. Six felt a pang of anxiety as he checked his gold. 81 gold coins left, that was a good amount. He would be fine if any emergency expense came up. ¡°See you tomorrow,¡± Denny said, pulling out what looked to be a cigar. ¡°Thank you again. See you tomorrow.¡± He bowed and left to head back to the general store for the last few items he forgot. On the way he stopped for a delicious meat bun. Salt, pepper and sugar. Some kind of beef-like animal. Delicious. After picking up lots of string and needles he began to take a roundabout way back to the Prancing Stallion. Exploring the city of Olisrosa eventually led him to the city square and more food. This world''s versions of wraps, kebabs and doughnuts. A large crowd caught his attention and he moved to see what was going on. A large temple-like building was where the crowd congregated. A raised dais was before an entrance and two stood upon it, one knelt. The two that stood were a Muldstanii and a human, woman and a man. They wore robes of black cinched with white sashes. Gold embroidery was threaded into the hems and cuffs. They held some sort of long hafted spiked mace. These people were worth something. The one who knelt was a man, his long black tousled hair covered his face. He was collared and shirtless, his chest rippled and tanned. His hands were locked by manacles. He kneeled relaxed and with acceptance in his posture. The crowd murmured in anticipation of something and the Muldstanii gestured for attention before speaking, her voice projecting out across the entire square. ¡°People of Olisrosa. We have caught a heretic, a defier. This man practices magic skills, proscribed by the Church of Kynarios. More still, he practices one of the worst types of magic. Blood.¡± The crowd gasped. ¡°Oh noooo,¡± said Six, trying to fit in. ¡°The sentence for such a crime is execution by plow. Praise be Kynairos!¡± ¡°Praise be Kynairos!¡± Echoed the crowd. Well shit. ¡°Such forbidden skills only exist to sow discord and destruction. It is unforgivable! As such I Low Ember Lirael Phydan sentence you, blood mage, to death.¡± She raised the weapon, a plow mounted on a polearm. The weapon came down on the man¡¯s head and he jerked down with the blow. Six had expected it to explode with the blow but instead a small line of blood appeared. The man lifted his plow and brought it down. They alternated in a quick rhythm, beating this man in the head, slowly covering him in more and more blood. The plows began to glow a dull red and the glow slowly increased to a bright red hot light. The blows seemed endless. The crowd was silent at first but soon grew loud, shouting and spitting curses at the man. Six watched it with a sick interest, slightly horrified. How had this man survived this brutal punishment thus far? He should have been dead with the first blow. Unless¡­ His health pool must be gargantuan. Still, it''s over. That was until the man made his move. Six could not see what he did but the effect was apparent as his collar and manacles fell off. A sick smile spread on the man¡¯s face as he stood and began to make gestures. The blows continued to rain off of him but he ignored them and began to incant. Six could see the blood that drenched the man evaporate and turn into a mist, one that formed into floating runes that surrounded the blood mage. The priests of Kynairos increased the tempo of their weapons. Six could see the fear leak onto their faces and he began to step back. The red mists condensed and the blood mage exploded. A huge flash of white and red enveloped the three upon the dias and would have vaporized part of the crowd were it not for a greenish gold translucent shield that contained it within the temple. Six searched for the source of the shield but it wasn¡¯t clear until a figure in a black hooded robe moved forward from the crowd and stepped through the glowing barrier. They threw back their hood revealing a dark skinned woman. Tall and imperious. Her allies were dead, destroyed in the blast. Their charred corpses lay at the man¡¯s feet. She stood alone. ¡°You know nothing of me, nor of blood magic, simpleton.¡± The man growled, taking a step forward and reaching back, drawing forth blood from the corpses and weaving it into new spell runes that condensed into a dark red needle and shot towards the woman. She made no motion yet a blinding green light erupted around her and in an instant she was clad in gold full plate and armed with a shining blade and shield. The needle impacted the shield and shattered scattering harmlessly away. ¡°Kynairos protects me heathen and Kynairos will smite you down.¡± She began to leap up the dias, cutting another blood dart in half and then she was next to him. The blood mage exploded again. A flash and thunder disorientated Six for a moment as the entire crowd flinched behind the shield that still stood to protect them as they saw the reply. The unharmed woman brought her blade down and uttered a word that echoed throughout the entire square. ¡°Begone.¡± It shone bright and emanated a godly presence that was anathema to the blood mage. The man exploded, his torso cleaved from shoulder to belly. It was absolute devastation. Yet, the man survived. His health pool must be unimaginable. Six could see the man¡¯s body reach for itself, tendrils of blood and flesh trying to knit the man back together. The man wove the floating runes again but this time it was different, there were tiny strings of blood linking the man to the runes. There was a connection between blood and mana. A relationship between the two concepts that allowed one to fuel another. Mana could be expended to provide life, that concept was shown within the plant growth functions. This bloodmage was demonstrating the transfer of life to energy. Six could see the blood burn away, it was not destroyed, it was transformed. Skill gained Blood Casting - Initiate - Level 1 Can exchange 2 hp for 1 mana. Can be immediately used in spells and rituals. Can only exchange your own health pool. Each level provides an additional return of 0.04 mana. Current mana trade 1.04 Skill gained Blood Magic - Initiate - 1 Allows users to form minor blood magic constructs. Each level provides a 0.5% increase in spell effectiveness and a 0.25% reduction in mana costs. Current increase 0.5%, reduction 0.25% Oh no. I don¡¯t want this. The man sent out a barrage of needles and slashed a rending blood talon at the woman but her golden armor flashed green and it easily shattered the blood attack. She brought her blade down on the regenerating man and whispered the thunderous word. ¡°Begone. He melted under the radiant blaze. The protective shield, still holding back the backblast of the attack. Six breathed a sigh of relief as the smoke cleared and a pair of legs were all that remained of the man. The woman was clean of imperfections and raised her arms in salute to the sun. ¡°Praise be Kynairos,¡± she intoned. The crowd cheered. ¡°Praise be Kynairos.¡± Six joined them on the second cheer. He lingered for a bit, processing and grabbing more streetfood before heading straight to the Prancing Stallion. On the way he internalized what just happened. The magnitude of destruction that took place. It was insane. He needed to get out of here and find somewhere safe. Six walked into the Prancing Stallion and headed to the bar for some more food but a shout drew his attention. ¡°Hey, asshole.¡± 1.8 Bad Guy 21 Astra 10,391 It was Alison and she sneered when he met her eyes. ¡°What do you mean asshole?¡± Six asked, confused. He thought he was done with this person, all he wanted was to be left alone. She crossed her arms and approached close enough to loom. ¡°I mean you are being uncharitable and purposefully ignorant.¡± ¡°What?¡± Six¡¯s confusion increased. ¡°Why do you think that?¡± He was almost offended but he had been a point of terrible news for her, but still it was a harsh label. ¡°You just come in here and bring us this terrible news, don¡¯t offer any help or any of the gear that rightfully belongs to us. Act like you did them a favor when you should have let them fight to live. You know exactly what I''m talking about.¡± She was angry, furious. Six took a deep breath and relaxed, she wasn¡¯t exactly wrong. He didn¡¯t have to do any of that shit but he should really give most of that stuff back. He didn¡¯t need 23 pickaxes after all. ¡°Alright, but she gave it to me because I agreed to her fucking quest.¡± ¡°She must have been delirious.¡± Six paused. ¡°You know¡­ that may be true. Besides that, you¡¯re not exactly wrong, I ain¡¯t returning it all but you can have most of it back.¡± He began to organize his inventories, loading up Carralevine¡¯s ring for them. ¡°Most of it,¡± she scoffed. ¡°You¡¯re keeping some of it? Corpse robber.¡± Six blew a raspberry. ¡°It¡¯s mine. I earned it. You wouldn¡¯t even have anything if I didn¡¯t get to them before the poisoner. I brought it back and I¡¯m sharing it with you. What? Are you going to murder and rob me?¡± She glared at him. ¡°I¡¯m not a criminal. What about the help?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°No?¡± ¡°No,¡± he repeated. ¡°What? Why?¡± ¡°Because I don¡¯t have time to help you.¡± ¡°No time? What are you doing that is so pressing?¡± ¡°None of your business actually but I''m going back to that mountain.¡± ¡°To do what?¡± ¡°Gonna do a whole lotta nothing. It will be very relaxing. Helping you will probably be stressful, ain¡¯t nobody got time for that.¡± ¡°Uncharitable,¡± she repeated and shook her head, face of disappointment. ¡°Have you no sense of honor or chivalry?¡± ¡°I am a victim of honor but not chivalry. Why do you think you deserve my help?¡± Six didn¡¯t mind helping when it was a small investment but he felt like this would get out of control. He wanted to be free, just take care of himself again for change. ¡°I don¡¯t deserve anything but you still have alot of our stuff, and you returned nothing. You should pay us back for it.¡± ¡°It¡¯s my stuff. It was given to me, and I will just gimme a minute.¡± Alison shook her head in disbelief. ¡°Carralevine just wanted you to deliver a message.¡± Surely you don¡¯t think that''s enough.¡± ¡°No, she wanted me to kill her and her friends and then deliver a message. Do you understand how fucked that is? Do you understand?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve killed before. Death is death.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve seen death but that was my first time killing someone and you think I have to give more?¡± She paused, her face surprised and a bit embarrassed. It took a bit but Six could see her build up some humility and courage. ¡°Would you please take us back to the cairn where you left our leaders? Six blinked at her for a bit. That was it? You have been offered a quest: Giving Mercy II Alison Lamora has asked you to guide her and the settlers to the graves of their previous leaders. Rewards for Accepting: Voluntary Spiritual Energy Rewards for Completion: None Time Limit: None Penalty for Failure: Loss of relationship with Alison Lamora Do you Accept? Yes or No? ¡°Are you ok?¡± She asked, he must have zoned out for a bit. ¡°Yes.¡± he nodded, taking a seat. ¡°Just processing.¡± He thought about it for a bit more. He could feel something in his gut, he felt helping these people was the right decision. ¡°No.¡± Quest Rejected! ¡°What?¡± Alison nearly shouted. ¡°Why the hells not?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t feel like it.¡± He felt manipulated, or was he just overthinking things, was this just rampant over analysis? This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°What?! Fuck you!¡± She was determined and she clearly didn¡¯t believe his lie. ¡°Even if I did, I don¡¯t think I could find the exact place.¡± He shrugged. ¡°I need this.¡± She said this with such focused seriousness that Six felt something tell him she was telling the truth. He registered the change of his psyche and shuddered at how invasive and foreign it seemed, such a strong gut feeling, was this the effect of the system? Was this a persuasion skill or an insight thing? No way to tell really but he would listen and see what occurs. ¡°Alright. Why are you guys leaving the city? Everyone has been telling me I¡¯m crazy to head out into the wild.¡± ¡°We want a place of our own to call home. Most of us just want to start over new. Carralevine was going to scout the way and come get us. We can find our own way when you get us close.¡± Six shrugged. ¡°Well I¡¯m heading that way anyways. I¡¯m not saying I''m gonna take you there but you can follow me and I¡¯m not taking responsibility for anything that happens to any of you.¡± Quest Accepted! They were not his family. He wasn¡¯t going to help anyone he didn¡¯t care about and he wasn¡¯t planning on caring about anyone. ¡°You have to promise to stay away from where I pick to live. Like three, four kilometers,¡± She grimaced and snapped at him. ¡°You can''t just claim sections of the mountain like that before we get there and don''t worry, I''ll keep our people safe. You just get us there, close, I''ll find the cairn if you can''t do it yourself.¡± Six couldn¡¯t claim the mountain but he just wanted to make sure he was left alone. ¡°I just don¡¯t wanna deal with your people.¡± She growled and waved it away. ¡°Fine, fine, your importance lies in getting us back.¡± He shook his head, he was terrible at navigating and he was just gonna follow the map he found in Carralevines ring. Her bite was becoming tiresome. ¡°I¡¯m leaving early in the morning. Like real early.¡± He pulled Carralevine¡¯s spatial ring off and handed it to her. She took it and stared at it with a bittersweet expression. ¡°Where''s the gold?¡± ¡°I¡¯m keeping it.¡± ¡°Why do you need that much money? It was supposed to help start our new life.¡± Six felt guilty but he had already spent a lot of it. He couldn¡¯t give what was left away, He didn¡¯t owe anybody anything and he didn¡¯t want any connections. Still he hated to think he was taking away from a community. ¡°You¡¯ve already spent it?¡± Alison sounded pissed. Shit, he needed to control his reactions better. ¡°No¡­¡± he tried to lie. She narrowed her eyes at him. ¡°Anyways,¡± Six hurried to continue. ¡°Will you be ready to leave tomorrow morning if not you¡¯ll have to figure something else out.¡± ¡°Yes, we are ready.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Six asked surprised, he thought that his leaving so soon might have made following him impossible, shit. ¡°We were already somewhat ready and waiting for Carralevine and you told me how long you were staying. I made the call. We are ready.¡± He sighed. ¡°Could I get some food?¡± he asked the innkeep. Alison nodded at him. ¡°Thanks for the help.¡± she grinned and slammed some copper on the table. ¡°This meal is on me.¡± Then the tall woman left the inn. Six sighed and tried to relax, only really relaxing when the soup arrived. He enjoyed and savoured the hearty food, immersing himself in the meal and exhaling in content satisfaction when there was nothing left. A little more unwinding and then back to bed. ¡°Some more bread and meat. Please.¡± The innkeep nodded and a platter made its way to him. Six took the food, paid and made his way to the back alley. Where he sat down, pulled out his pipe and began to puff away. It wasn¡¯t too long before the racoon showed itself. That lit Six up. He made tiny soothing sounds at the beast and picked up some bread before tossing a chunk near the raccoon. It flinched a bit before grabbing the food and scarfing it. Six smiled wider and tossed another chunk. The raccoon scarfed it up. This went on for a while. Six feeding the raccoon bit by bit, breaking up bread and fish. Tossing the food and smoking his pipe. He smiled again and reflected, he couldn¡¯t believe it but here he was. This he could do. He just wanted to be left alone with some food and weed. He was tired of people and wasn¡¯t going to get stuck in the same capitalist system. He wanted to be self reliant and isolated. Movement in his peripherals broke his reverie. It was the raccoon. It had edged closer to the platter but froze when Six moved to regard it. It almost looked innocent. It stood upon its hindlegs and rubbed its little hands together. Its belly was fat with food, somebody was going to get a stomach ache tonight. Six nudged the platter closer to the creature who quickly finished off the food. It gave a small chitter and looked up at Six with a doe eyed stare. Skill gained Taming - Initiate - 1 Each level provides an increase of 2% to the effectiveness of all interactions with animals. Current increase: 2% ¡°Uh oh.¡± Taming? He had just fed it. That was all. Maybe being non threatening had something to do with it. There was a large part of Six that wanted to pet the darn thing but who knew what kinds of diseases it might have had. Too dangerous to expose himself to wild animals. Taming or not. Six finished a quick puff and stood causing the beast to waddle back in surprise. He picked up the platter dish and reentered the Prancing Stallion looking back at the raccoon who began making its wobbly way down the alley. He went back inside and sat down at the bar, pulled the masonry book out of his storage ring and began to read. It wasn¡¯t the most interesting or useful but it''s where his curiosity drew him. It began with simple terminology and general tool explanations. It took an hour of reading to understand files, chisels, hammers, saws and how to use them. He could tell that this book would lead him into simple stone work, no mortar just the structure relying on angles and placement. It had been years since he last studied and he had expected more resistance but the information seemed to flow freely and his retention was effortless. Everynow and then he glanced about at the room slowly filling with people but his mind kept getting drawn back into the book. This was actually enjoyable, he had studied before and earned some diplomas but the more academic classes had always been somewhat of a slog. Skill gained Masonry - Initiate - 1 Each level provides and additional 1% to overall stonework health and a reduction of 0.5% to the total work required. Skill Increase: Masonry has increased to level 3 - Initiate Current increase 3% max health 1.5% reduced work Ok, cool. That was something, but really the practical knowledge was what he was taking away here. He closed his book up and sent it into storage and then glanced at the room again. It had progressed to night while he was with the raccoon and this studying session had deepened it to late night and the rowdy nature of the inn showed itself. People drank and danced freely, drinks being delivered and food being devoured. Six was kinda amazed at how fantasy it looked. A rough looking, muscled man in simple clothing stumbled out of the crowd, his arm around a woman, and shouted at Six. ¡°Hey, whatchu lookin at!¡± He shook his fist at Six. Six was taken aback. Who was this man? Was this really happening? He didn¡¯t look like a young lord but offending people was a no go, that was a bad trope to get caught up in. ¡°Oh, nothing. Sorry.¡± Six went to simple de-escalation. ¡°You telling me sorry? Fuck you! Apologize to mah woman for ogling her!¡± The man slurred his shouted words. ¡°Sorry lady. Aight, buddy? You win, I¡¯m gonna leave.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not your buddy. Just comin up in here and flaunting your reading and your nice clothes. You think you¡¯re leaving?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± said Six. Six tried to slip past upstairs but the man swung a meaty fist as the old shopkeep shouted. Six dodged the blow and wanted to keep moving but didn¡¯t want to turn his back on the aggressive man. The room had already formed a circle of bodies around them and a few of them shouted for blood. The crowd has shifted in tone and focus disturbingly fast. ¡°I don¡¯t know this man!¡± shouted Six. ¡°Rip his head off!¡± screamed the crowd. ¡°C¡¯mere,¡± the man said and shuffled forward swinging another haymaker towards Six. Six held his hands out and tried to parry the blow away but the man punched right through his guard and thundered his fist into Six¡¯s face. His helm offered no protection against the well placed blow and he fell back onto the floor of the inn. The crowd went wild. You have been struck by an unarmed strike for 158 damage (339/497) Six was in pain, immense pain coursed through his face, tears escaped his shut eyes and he hissed in a breath through his clenched mouth, laying motionless on the ground. ¡°Serves you right,¡± the man slurred. ¡°What did I do?¡± moaned out Six. ¡°You don¡¯t get to stare at people like animals.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± Six said, struggling to his feet. He had all of his teeth and moved his jaw around, he was ok even though he was pretty sure that punch should have ended a normal person.¡° ¡°Get back down.¡± Six brought out a staff he had bought earlier and brandished it at the asshole. ¡°I was looking at everyone.¡± He gritted out, then he began throwing out tight swings. Battering the man who defended quite well, but Six could see fending off the weapon was hurting his hands and arms. Six went for a thrust and the man caught the weapon and then grinned. Six went to wrest it out of the man¡¯s hands but it was like pulling on a tree. The drunk man dropped into a ready stance and Six could see him move to pull with all his strength so Six let go and the man expected some sort of resistance and the complete lack sent him into an unbalanced tumble, landing on his ass and rolling onto his back. Six followed immediately, picking up a stool and bringing it down on the man who yelped. He brought it down again and again. The man sustained three blows and then a fourth to the head sent him down limp and quiet. Six stood over the man and raised the stool again. His blood pumped and his mind raged. This man needed punishment, a remembrance to remind him against such stupidity in the future. ¡°Beat his skull in!¡± The crowd howled But Six put the stool down and to his room, leaving the unconscious muscle man to be robbed by the drunk crowd. 1.9 New Friends 22 Astra 10,391 The next morning Six woke early feeling surprisingly well and readied himself as fast as he could but when he finally came down Denny was already seated downstairs already enjoying a bowl of the Stallion¡¯s soup. The old man nodded at Six. ¡°Mornin.¡± Six nodded back. He hadn¡¯t made any promises to Alison but he still felt like he gave his word, he had accepted the quest, that was basically giving his word. He would ask the man to wait but if Denny wanted to go, Six would go. Denny made no move to stand up though so Six sat down. Denny slurped his soup, ¡±always good to fill up before you hit the road. Never know when your last meal will be. Soup for the boy.¡± Six was in his early thirties, he was no boy. This rebirth must have really aged him down. Olga brought him soup and he paid her and began to sip. He and Denny ate in silence for a bit before the ranger spoke. ¡°It¡¯s a very hard life.¡± Denny spoke it as a warning. ¡°I''ve lived hard before.¡± ¡°Oh yee, not saying you didn¡¯t, the city is a busy place but a simple place. Civilization is safe. There is a certain safety in numbers.¡± Six was aware of that and the lack of assistance and the lack of outside influence was a double edged sword. Six was willing to potentially cut himself to live true. Denny smiled and nodded. ¡°That''s a good thing to know about yourself.¡± He drank deeply and dipped some bread into the concoction. ¡°It¡¯s your choice.¡± It was his choice. ¡°I want this.¡± Denny held his hands up in surrender and finished off the bread before standing. He gestured for Six to finish up and pulled out a pipe from nowhere. ¡°Let''s go,¡± he said. ¡°Well-¡± Six began before the door burst open and let the early morning light shine in. It was Alison and she quickly focused on Six. She waved and approached, a tired smile on her face. "We''re ready," she said. ¡°They''re ready?¡± Denny asked. ¡°She demanded to follow me, I said no but I don''t have a right to stop her and she is determined as all heck. I guess I said it was alright at the end there.¡± Six was half disappointed yet half relieved, Denny would put a stop to this, this was way outside their contract. Denny gave her a searching glance and nodded. "I''m working for this man Six but traveling in a group is always welcome, the warmth and safety is hard to refuse. While this young man thinks he doesn''t need any help, I will welcome it.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not above help, I just want to be alone.¡± ¡°Then why hire me?¡± The old man asked. ¡°I''m not stupid enough to try this on my own.¡± Six grumped. Denny gave Six a withering ¡®I told you so¡¯ glare. ¡°Anyways,¡± Six said. ¡°They are following us, is this gonna have an effect on the price? Denny thought about it for a second. ¡°As long as she knows that I¡¯m only out to protect you.¡± Alison nodded immediately. ¡°We expect no assistance. We are just interested in finding our way.¡± Denny smiled in acknowledgement. ¡°The price remains the same. Let us go.¡± He gestured to his dark dog.¡±Come on Koda,¡° he called and the dog moved to his side. They left the Prancing Stallion and Six left a silver tip for the innkeep. Working their way through the city to the western gate. They passed it but for a slight interaction with the gate guards and Alison. They spent more time and attention on her than either Six or Denny. She made it through though and Six could see a large group of people begin to move towards them. Denny made a low hum of disapproval but smiled nonetheless. ¡°I didn¡¯t realize there would be so many. Let''s keep moving. I¡¯m sorry but I can''t slow our pace for them, try to follow our trail, think you can do that?.¡± Alison looked surprised for a second, before taking a grim face and stomping towards her people. She shouted at them to redirect and intercept rather than march mindlessly. Denny began to stride off on the path alongside the river, going upstream. ¡°Don¡¯t you want to look at the map.¡± ¡°You wanna get to the mountain?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± "The big one?" "Yes." ¡°Mountain¡¯s this way.¡± Denny shook his head in disappointment but had a forgiving smile on his face. He continued on his way. Six followed the man, they walked along a wide cobbled road that was called the West road. It took them past the shanty towns of the city, and into the beginning of farmland but it then curved north and Denny left it to follow the river. Six looked back and saw a line of people trailing behind. Denny led him forward and the two of them began to outpace Allison''s group. Denny didn''t seem to be worried and began his instruction immediately. "If you''re in tune with nature she has everything you need, you just gotta think and be careful. It sounds like you are tryna become a hermit." "That''s the dream," Six said wistfully. ¡°Well if you screw up ain''t nobody gonna be there to help.¡± Denny remarked. Six nodded. ¡°Safety first.¡± ¡°That''s right so my first lesson will be on foraging. What''s useful, edible, poisonous. I hope to have you past herbalism 15 by the time I leave." He stopped and scraped some moss off of a fallen log. "Sting moss. Poisonous, good for traps as it''s fine to eat but grind it into a paste and it can be used as a weak paralytic. Easy to harvest, just make sure it doesn''t get into any cuts on yer hands." Six looked at his hands. They were softer than the gnarled mitts that he once had. Tree work was hard and Six hated wearing gloves so his hands always had a cut or two. These hands were clean. He scraped some sting moss off for himself and looked at the stuff. It was deep green, almost blue with the tips of the shoots a lighter colour. It bubbled with a light tingling prickle on his skin. Plant Identified - Stingmoss - Quality: Mundane Rarity: Common Weight - 0.1G Durability 5/5 Traits: Can be ground into a paste to create a minor paralytic agent. Material, Reagent. ¡°Cool. I''m lichen it," he said lamely. Denny nodded. "It is a useful thing, I like it too." ¡°No, you know? Lichen it?¡± Six emphasized. ¡°What are you going on about son?¡± ¡°Eh, ah. Don''t worry about it.¡± Six was never great at puns. "...Well anyways." Denny moved farther along. "Sting moss is pretty common and can be found easily. Something like this," he said, bending down and picking a small root at the base of its stem. "This will actually heal ya, minimal as it does, tastes like not much and it''s pretty common in the forest. It¡¯s called Rootbust." Denny passed the small root over. ¡°Give it a chew,¡± he said. ¡°Oh.¡± Six recognized that. ¡°I bought some of that in town.¡± A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. ¡°Probably overpaid for it too. Chew.¡± Six shrugged, wiped off most of the dirt and popped the root into his mouth. He tasted mostly earth and was pretty sure it was just the dirt he missed, the actual root tasted like watery potato. Plant Identified - Rootbust - Quality: Mundane Rarity: Common Weight - 0.1G Durability 5/5 Traits: Can be chewed to provide a minor healing effect. 1HP per 5 minutes for 30 minutes. Material, Reagent. Skill Increase: Herbalism - Initiate - 2 Nice, a level in Herbalism. Denny explained. ¡°You can be chewing this just about all the time, it¡¯s harmless but not endless. Pick it when you find it, pick it at the base of the stem or you might ruin the quality though.¡± Denny kept moving along. Six was having a hard time keeping up with the heavy armor he was wearing but Denny didn¡¯t seem to mind, only pausing here and there to coach Six on moving stealthily with the plate. No skill increase prompts came despite multiple bouts of instruction. Six assumed he wasn¡¯t successful at hiding from anything so he wasn¡¯t awarded anything, still, he asked Denny about it. ¡°Well, many things affect skill acquisition and skill growth. I¡¯m no scholar but from what I¡¯ve learned it comes down to three main things. Affinity, pressure and mentorship. Have you had your affinities scryed?¡± ¡°Scryed? No, to be honest we don¡¯t know about affinities where I came from.¡± Denny raised an eyebrow. ¡°Are you shitting me?¡± Six shook his head. No magic back home. Denny made a thoughtful face before nodding and explaining. ¡°Affinities are values that determine how well you can progress through a skill. It¡¯s an indication of one''s ability to grow in a skill. If you have 0 percent affinity, gaining the skill is impossible and anysort of growth is impossible. Now, if you have 100 percent affinity growth is easy, natural, intuitive, sometimes one demonstration could prompt acquisition, sometimes it could spontaneously reveal itself.¡± Denny vaulted over a log. ¡°Having 100% affinity in a skill is extremely rare, as is having 0% most humanoids are middling in most things, certain species may have weighted talent in a few skills but that is usually balanced by weaker affinities in contrasting areas.¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t seem fair. What if you want to learn something you have zero affinity for?¡± ¡°You don¡¯t,¡± the old man grumbled. ¡°That''s not fair.¡± ¡°Life¡¯s not fair.¡± Six nodded. ¡°This is true. Fish ain''t gonna beat the monkey up that tree.¡± Denny nodded. ¡±Mmhmm. Now, look over here, see that print? Boar came through here a while ago. Keep sharp. Which way were they heading? Check the plants.¡± Six slowed and checked the prints, orientating the hoof tips forward and looking at the folded grass and disturbed moss. He pointed back east, back towards Olisrosa and Denny nodded in confirmation. Skill gained Survival - Initiate - 1 ¡°Now, what do you think we should do?¡± Denny asked. Six thought about that, Denny was asking for a reason. Six didn¡¯t know how long ago these boars passed through but they were heading in the direction of the settlers. ¡°Should probably double back and tell Alison about the boar, might be a problem. Are boar aggressive?¡± ¡°Might be. Good decision, let''s go.¡± It took them about a half hour to find the column of people walking along his rough and clumsy path. Alison was at the front marching with a few people chatting with her. ¡°Six. Glad you waited.¡± She said with frustrated relief. ¡°Nah, I turned back to tell you we spotted signs of a pack of boars in the area.¡± ¡°What am I supposed to do with that?¡± ¡°I dunno, tell your warriors to protect your flanks or something like that?¡± ¡°My warriors? You killed the people who were supposed to protect us.¡± An older human woman leaned back in surprise.¡°This is the man who killed Carralevine? ¡°Dick move spreading half the story, Alison. Yea I did but Carralevine asked me to!¡± Now Six was pissed. ¡°I find that hard to believe!¡± ¡°Whatever, fuck this, I told you about the boars, I¡¯m out.¡± ¡°Wait, you need to help us defend against these boars if they are around.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t need to do shit, you need to tell these people the whole story. I didn¡¯t even need to come back. I¡¯m Ooooouuuut.¡± ¡°How about,¡± Denny broke in. ¡°We have a sit and have a smoke and have a sip. Six was not having it. ¡°Denny lets go.¡± ¡°I need to rest my legs son. Sit down.¡± Six sighed and instantly capitulated, there was no use arguing, he knew Denny was just being nice to Alison. ¡°Six, You¡¯re gonna help right?¡± Alison asked again. ¡°Most of us don¡¯t even have level 1. You would be a big help.¡± ¡°I''m not even a fighter and you only asked to follow me. I don''t like it when people move goalposts like that.¡± ¡°That''s gonna change.¡± Denny murmured. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Could be seeing boars today, definitely seeing something tomorrow. You wanna live alone, you gotta be prepared to fight. Especially in the mountains.¡± ¡°When I have to, I will, not until then. And even then I don''t want to fight for others. I am my responsibility, no more.¡± Denny nodded. ¡°Well, we will walk the rest of the day with these people, camp in a few hours most likely.¡± Alison relaxed. ¡°God thank you Denny, it¡¯s been stressful trying to follow you despite how clear the trail is.¡± ¡°Yea the kid moves like an entire legion.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been trying to be stealthy,¡± Six said. ¡°Please don''t make it any harder,'''' Alison said, facepalming in frustration. ¡°I¡¯ll see what I can do but I am just doing my own thing here.¡± ¡°Ten minutes, you can keep your people walking or wait with us, our trail will remain pretty clear.¡± Denny offered. ¡°No, we will march until we camp. We already took a break not too long ago,¡± Alison revealed. ¡°Watch out for boars,¡± said Six. ¡°Yea yea, boars. Got it,¡± Alison replied. Denny sighed and nodded, gesturing for Six to follow him off to the side where they sat and let the peoples trudge past. Mostly human, but there were Minotaurs, Orcs¡­ Muldstanii, Dwarves of two kinds, a few half elves like Elyria, bird¡­ people? And all sizes of Lizard folk, horned and frilled. Most of them carried something on their backs and there were mules and horses burdened with goods. Maybe the rings were more rare than he thought. He should have never given the one back. He chastised himself for such a selfish thought. Oh well, he shrugged. He was fine without it, he was lucky enough to have just one spatial ring. He did not need two. The break went quick and the two of them quickly overtook Alison¡¯s column blazing off ahead of the group again. This time as they moved forward Denny found an ideal spot for a large amount of people to camp. A slight hill in an open spot in the forest, trees pushed out and forming a perimeter. The setting sun was quickly making things dark. Six kept his eyes on the lookout for signs of boars but nothing presented itself and the settlers made it to their first camp unharmed except for some sprained ankles and sore feet. Denny and Six had already set their tents up and now Six watched a mob of people have various amounts of success when erecting their own tents and shelters. It was strange but many were having a hard time of it, struggling and screeching. City folk. The more capable were starting a few small fires, taking care of animals or helping others with their tents. There were a few children running around, mostly non-human. Six would find sleep in this but he had hoped to be free of the murmur of the city. Whatever. He pulled some jerky out of his sack and began to chew on it while continuing his people watching until a chittering noise at his feet startled him into leaping away. His eyes tracked right onto the creature that had snuck up on him. It was the raccoon. ¡°You!¡± Six yelled, pointing at the beast. ¡°How did you get here?¡± The beast sucked its teeth at him and standing on its hindlegs looked at Six expectantly. ¡°What? Go on, get back to the city!¡± Six made a shooing gesture at the raccoon but it didn¡¯t even flinch. It only held out its little paws and licked its lips. ¡°How did you even?¡± Six asked himself while pulling some bread and more jerky from his sack. The raccoon immediately perked up at the sight of those and fixed Six with those doe eyes. He looked at the animal for a moment before tossing the thing some jerky which it immediately grabbed and gnawed on, happily. ¡°Is that your pet?¡± came a rumbly voice. Six turned to see a grey stone skinned dwarf standing there, he wore a well worn uniform with a decent set of chainmail . An anvil shaped amulet hung from a chain around his neck. Hammers hung on his belt. Six looked at him with trepidation. Six was a stranger here and kinda wanted to keep it that way. He wouldn¡¯t ignore the dwarf though. ¡°No,¡± he said, it was true. He had no idea how this raccoon had followed him all the way here but it was a wild animal, not his pet. He looked at the thing, eating the food he provided, slouched with ease. I got a pet. ¡°I guess so,¡± Six said, accepting the responsibility of pet ownership. An awkward silence extended between them before the gravelly dwarf broke it. ¡°Did you kill Orifec?¡± This dwarf sounded literally like Richard Nixon. The question froze Six. He weighed his response and chose carefully. ¡°Yes.¡± The dwarf nodded. "That bastard owed me money." ¡°You were his friend?¡± ¡°More like brother. We grew up together.¡± ¡°I''m sorry for your loss.¡± ¡°Thank you, if I could get his last possessions I would appreciate that.¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°No?¡± ¡°Look I already went over this with Alison, they gave me their shit, go ask Alison for something because I already gave her what I was willing to part with.¡± ¡°You should at least pay back what he owed me. ¡° Six paused for a second. He didn''t want to start a flood of people asking him for things. "What would I get for giving you anything? Orifec gave it to me." ¡°Well he was in no position to be making such decisions based on what Alison told us.¡± ¡°Who''s us.¡± ¡°None of your business!¡± ¡°Well fuck you too bud.¡± ¡°You owe it to me, his brother, to give me his stuff.¡± ¡°Go fuck yourself.¡± Six was dumbfounded at the shameless pressure this dwarf was exerting. ¡°He gave it to you so it could be given to me.¡± ¡°You probably don''t even know what I got from him.¡± ¡°That''s beside the point.¡± ¡°I don''t even know your name.¡± ¡°That too is beside the point.¡± Six tossed the raccoon some more food and waved goodbye to the dwarf. "I don''t want to talk to you anymore." ¡°Wait,¡± the dwarf pivoted in tone, ¡°I actually want to make you an offer. My name is Gatbark Gunnbjorn, you recently came into some wealth correct?¡± ¡°Pretty sure Orifec¡¯s last name was like Merrymace or something. You''re siblings? I doubt it.¡± ¡°We matured in the same camps. We¡¯re both Meteor Dwarves. Family enough.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know what a Meteor Dwarf is and how do I know you are who you say you are?¡± ¡°Alison will vouch for me and I''m an imperial officer. My colleagues can vouch for me.¡± ¡°And? I¡¯m no imperial. I¡¯m sorry but I can¡¯t give out charity right now.¡± ¡°Not charity, investment. I''m looking to set up a business and I''m looking for investors.¡± Investor was quite often another word for sucker.¡°And you need money?¡± ¡°You clearly have it, after your encounter with the original leaders of this group. You''re pretty adamant that they gave you everything. You have the services of a high level guide. I just want my sister''s things.¡± ¡°Pretty sure you weren¡¯t her brother and how do you know my tutor is high level?¡± ¡°I couldn''t analyze him.¡± ¡°Analyze?¡± ¡°The skill¡­ analyze.¡± ¡°Oooh analyze,¡± Six said as if he knew what Gatbark meant. He did have an inkling of a trope. He assumed it was the other half of inspect, an inspect for living targets. ¡°So, it''s pretty clear you got money.¡± ¡°I really don''t.¡± ¡°Any investment would help¡­ and my brother¡¯s stuff.¡± ¡°What are you planning on doing?¡± ¡°Manufacturing and selling.¡± ¡°That''s pretty broad.¡± ¡°Gonna start small with a general smithy and some house construction, expand from there. See what happens.¡± ¡°That''s not a bad plan, probably really useful.¡± ¡°You bet yer damn ass it is.¡± ¡°Still, I¡¯m going to hold off on a decision right now. Opening like you did really threw me off.¡± ¡°I understand, I understand. Offer is always open. Money to be made.¡± Six nodded ¡°Take er easy Gatbark.¡± He waved and Gatbark waved goodbye back. What an abrasive man. Six went and crawled into his tent. He wanted to go practice the spells he learned but he needed privacy¡­ or a license but that wasn''t happening. Rolling over and listening to the snores and murmurs of the settlers he tried to fall asleep. His attempt lasted but moments before his feet were kicked. Damn, he lost a point of health. ¡°What the fuck,¡± Six said sliding out of his tent. Denny stood there, arms crossed, he laughed and smiled good naturedly. ¡°Make yourself useful and go keep watch for a few hours, then go to bed.¡± ¡°Yes, that makes sense. Thank you, Denny. This is why I pay you the big bucks.¡± ¡°Shouldn¡¯t say that so loud,¡± he grunted. ¡°These people are desperate.¡± Six went and patrolled the perimeter of the camp, seeing a few figures doing the same thing. He ran into Alison who was also on patrol. His focus was outward though, into the darkness of the forest. He did this for what he thought felt like three hours before Denny relieved him and he finally slunk back to his tent to slide into bed. The restful embrace of darkness took him almost immediately. 1.10 Get to Killing 23 Astra 10,391 Six woke to the sounds of screaming. He rolled over and felt his body crack in several places. Sleeping in his armor wasn¡¯t the most comfortable but he felt rested enough. He crawled out of his little tent and stood to see Denny and his dog standing protectively next to him. "Get a weapon and get killing. Those boars have shown up," Denny grunted. Six didn¡¯t really want to expose himself and the boars while dangerous were being handled by the settlers. ¡°These nice people look like they are taking care of it just fine.¡± ¡°Listen, you''re paying for me to train you. That means killing nothing is more important in the wilds than being strong. Now stand up and help drive these beasts off.¡± He didn¡¯t want to be strong, just competent, trouble always came to the strong. Still, he drew his staff, he wanted to protect himself and would continue to do his best. Denny materialized a longsword out of nothing, he must have had some sort of spatial device. "Now go and kill the beasts as they come. I¡¯ll keep an eye on you." Then he ran off towards the battle between beast and settler, cutting deep into the first boar he reached. Six took off after Denny but quickly fell behind the old man, he changed course and went for one of the closer groups of people. If this world was anything like what he thought, conflict would be near ever present. Violence is always very heavy in these worlds. He needed strength to live the hermit life he wanted. He didn¡¯t owe these people anything but if he could help them while getting stronger, so be it. It was chaos with boars squealing and people screaming but Six ran forward and interposed himself between them. He swung down with all his might on the head of the boar but his staff just bounced off the tough hide of the animal and it snorted contemptuously. Oh my, he thought, quite ineffective. The boar charged at Six and a quick hop to the side was all he could do to not be gored. The staff wouldn¡¯t work against these creatures so he pulled out the next thing up, really, he should have started with something sharp. Balancing his focus between dodging and switching his staff for a spear was difficult but not impossible and Six quickly had the sharp implement in his hand. He stabbed down and was rewarded with a squeal of pain. The thing bucked and almost tore the weapon out of his hand but Six moved with the boar and tried to bury the spear deeper. It struggled for a moment and then slumped over motionless. You have killed level 1 boar. 10 Experience gained. Six felt a pang of guilt for the dead creature but quickly reminded himself that it attacked them. It was the hostile party. He went forward and engaged a few more boars. Making awkward stabbing motions at them and taking quite a few hits in return. His armor and large health pool kept him relatively safe. He was taking too much damage though. Another two kills netted twenty more EXP, it seemed to seriously penalize you in regards to killing lower leveled creatures for EXP. He glanced around at the battle. Denny was walking through the animals slashing casually, creating arcing sprays of blood with his longsword while Alison hacked away with fury and enthusiasm. A bellow from behind caught his attention and he saw Gatbark mounted on his own boar, swinging down with a wicked looking warhammer. The dwarf roared, "that''s not a boar! This is a boar!" He saw other imperials, comrades of Gatbark. Humans, a Gnome, two Aelfs, a Muldstanii, and a frilled lizard person, Six was pretty sure, from his eavesdropping, that the lizard people were called Vrill. "Six you bastard, help!" It was Alison screaming at him to do something so he moved to help her. Alison had pulled the aggro of eight boars and Six ran up and peppered them with pokes from his spear, he managed to peel half of them away but quickly realized, he fucked up. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. He could barely dodge one and the additional three made it effectively impossible, especially with the armor he wore giving debuffs to his movement. He stabbed one but the others charged and rammed Six knocking him off his feet. He sprawled and lost his spear, he breathed through gritted teeth as he was juggled between the beasts. Everytime he almost made it to his feet he was hit from an unexpected direction and put back down. His health bar was dropping in chunks and he felt his anxiety begin to rise. However, the pressure upon him dropped as another blade joined the fray and opened one of Six''s attackers from back to belly. It squealed as it died from the bleed along side the one that perished from the spear sticking from its side. You have killed level 1 boar. 10 Experience gained. Level 1 boar has died. 4 Partial Experience gained. It was a young Muldstanii boy holding the quivering blood covered blade. The two remaining boar turned on the boy who began backing up defensively. Six wasted no time in struggling to his feet. His health was dangerously low and he had no weapon. His body cracked in eight places as he went for the spear that was sticking out of the boar and upon grasping the tool he felt the break in its shaft. No good. He placed it back in his ring and withdrew something similar but more glaive like. Seong Mina style. He was untrained in the thing but the weightier weapon just felt more impactful in his hands. He glanced at Alison and she was handling herself just fine, she probably didn''t even need his "help." Instead he would help the boy. He lifted the glaive up and bought it down on the back of the dsitracted animal in a reckless swing. Its back legs stopped working and it squealed in confusion. The other spun about only to get slashed in the face by Six and impaled by the shaky Muldstanii. The boars were reduced and many had scattered. The settlers were cleaning up the stragglers and it seemed only a few had died from the beasts. Alison''s furious decapitation of her final boar and the explosion of blood from the stump of its head signaled the end of the battle. Six nodded at the young Muldstanii before him. "Good work, kid." Six''s voice shook the boy awake. "Are you ok?" asked the Muldstanii. ''Fine," Six grunted. He was not fine. His entire body hurt, joints cracked as he moved and his armor had new dings and lowered durability. His health was imperceptibly climbing though, he would be ok later. "You suck at lying." Alison said, before walking off towards the few remaining boars. "That''s only because I think you''re a good person." "You''re still bad at it." Six waved it off and trudged off to assist the settlers in finishing the boars. Sneaking up and Stabbing boars in the back with his weapon he picked up a few more boar kills. When there were no more boars alive Six rested on the glaive and nodded at the nearby settlers. He had never done something like that before and he played the events back in his mind. The images of his struggle to stand were deep in his mind. Denny approached with Koda at his side and smiled. ¡°Not exactly survival training but living alone in the wilds means you gotta take every chance to become stronger else some beast will kill you. Good job weathering those boars till that kid saved you. I was watching.¡± ¡°Uuuugh,¡± Six moaned. He just wanted to smoke weed and make shitty art. Whether it was grinding money or EXP it seemed a system was trying to work him to death. He sighed.This was the whole reason he hired the man in the first place, to teach him. Six began to check his prompts but Denny stopped him. ¡°Now, lemme show you how to butcher these here beasts.¡± That got Six¡¯s interest. From the stories he¡¯d listen to he knew loot and more specifically crafted items to be incredibly important to progress forward in such worlds. So despite the morning hunger and immediate pain he focused his mind and paid attention. Denny pulled a sharp dagger from his belt and started to cut into a nearby boar. As he cut he explained the basics of skinning a monster. Concepts for skinning both quadrupedal and bipedal. ¡°Now, most anyone should be able to hit atleast 50% affinity in the harvest skill but the subtleties of harvest can vary wildly depending on what rank and evolutions it has undergone along with the materials and reagents the creature is capable of providing. I''m no crafter but so I don¡¯t really get information about most things but it''s still worth good money to bring back all the usual items, skin, bone, eyes, claws, teeth, heart. The higher leveled the better. The crafters fight and bid for what they want so it''s usually a fair price.¡± ¡°Usually?¡± ¡°Usually. Now something that is always valuable is the mana core. There are variations in harvesting techniques that can produce changes in the final product but the simple reliable way is to just cut it out. I''m not a crafter so I just cut them out. Any non sentient will have these from level 1, I¡¯ve heard of high level sentients havin em but I¡¯ve never cut anyone open to find out.¡± ¡°Materials? Reagents?¡± ¡°Now, I''m no crafter so best I can tell ya is material is what the item is formed of and the reagent is something that can alter the end result of a magical crafting. There is also something called a catalyst but that just fuel for magical crafting.¡± ¡°Is there enchanting?¡± ¡°Of course, but I don''t know anything about it beyond that. ¡° ¡°Denny finished butchering and walked Six through one leading to Six holding a small multifaceted marble like object. It was slightly warm and glowing. He inspected it, observing every aspect of its form. - Mana Core - Rank:Mundane Rarity:Common Defense - 100 Weight - 0.025 KG Durability 799/800 Traits: Crystalized Mana, Material, Reagent, Catalyst. Nice. The old man spoke and caught Six¡¯s attention. ¡°If we were to stay here a while I''d teach you how to smoke this stuff, git ya a level in cooking. But, no time, we should go on ahead and start scouting,¡± he said. ¡°We are not scouts.¡± Six felt like he was slowly getting roped into helping these people. ¡°No we are not but you definitely need the practice so shut up and listen boy. We are going to train perception today. You have ten minutes to handle breakfast, your prompts and git yer raccoon, then we scout.¡± Aight. Six nodded and opened up his prompts. 1.11 Class and Direction He had ended four more boars and dismissed those prompts. Skill Increase: Inspect - Initiate - 5 Polearms - Initiate - 4 Heavy Armor - Initiate - 6 Skill Gained: Butchering - Initiate - 1 Improves the yield and quality of items yielded from butchering. Each level provides a 1% increase to gross yield and 0.25% chance to improve the quality of yield by one rank. Current Increase: 1%, 0.25% Six nodded and withdrew some bread and what appeared like a very pink apple of some kind. A sip from his waterskins refreshed him and he took a minute to look around and appreciate what he was actually in. An ancient forest in a land of fantasy magic surrounded by people who were something other than human. Then the damn raccoon showed its face, timidly coming from nowhere and rubbing its hands together in hopeful anticipation. Six broke a chunk off and tossed it at the little creature who caught it between its paws and with a quick sniff began to devour the bread. He smiled, the thing was kinda cute and was probably harmless. He went to pet the thing but it quickly skittered back, its hackles raised. So the taming skill wasn¡¯t complete magic, at least not yet. Jeffums had told him about skill ranks and how skills ¡°evolved¡± at each rank up, every twenty skill levels. Maybe things would change when he gained his Apprentice effect. Crazy. Thinking about magic reminded Six of the grimoires he had consumed. He had held off using magic in the city and through a combination of nerves and a lack of experience neglected to use them in the battle with the boars. That needed to change. He lured the raccoon with a trail of food and found Denny at the front of the camp and followed the man off into the forest. "Hey, Denny, do you know anything about magic books?" Six was working to close the distance with the man, the raccoon bounding behind. "Not much, they''re expensive and won''t break past your affinity. Most are not worth it because of how quickly you can raise skills at lower levels. High level skill books are ridiculously expensive and are very rare because of how long it takes to make one. Undervalued gear in my opinion." Magical gear? That reminded Six, ¡°Hey can you identify magic items?¡± ¡°I can take a look.¡± Six held of his hand that had the two rings he couldn¡¯t identify. Denny looked at them for a moment and chewed his lip thinking. ¡°Yup, You got yourself a ring of Quickened Minor Heal and a Ring of Improved Jump. Six gained item profiles once Denny explained the items and their details. - Immortal Steel Ring of Quickened Minor Heal - Rank:Average Rarity:Unusual Weight - 4 G Durability 50/50 Traits: Can be activated once in a twenty-four hour period to instantly heal 27 damage. Requires attunement. - Immortal Steel Ring of Improved Jump - Rank:Average Rarity:Unusual Weight - 4 G Durability 43/50 Traits: Improve jumping height and distance by 150%. Requires attunement. Skill increase: Inspect - Initiate - 7 Six was kinda blown away by what he had. One ring could instantly heal him and the other more than doubled his jumping? Now he understood what Elyria meant when she told him about his ¡°ring.¡± He should have found an appraiser in Olisrosa. There was no point in continuing to berate himself, so he stopped and focused on improving instead. They walked a bit more before Six began the questions again. ¡°How do you feel about magic?¡± ¡°It''s useful but it changes people. I don¡¯t much feel one way or another about it.¡± ¡°I would like to practice some spells if you¡¯re ok with that.¡± Denny smiled ruefully. "Are you licensed? Magic is illegal." "No, I¡¯m not. But I''ve been told it''s pretty lawless right now." ¡°Yea, but Olisrosa is not lawless and they are loyal to the empire. Pretty sure I saw a few spellcasters fighting amongst those soldiers. They would be against unlicensed magic. ¡°I thought these people wanted to get away from the old bullshit. Why would they let soldiers of the empire come along?¡± ¡°You''d be better off asking Alison that question but I''d assume she wants their swords. That made sense. ¡°They definitely helped with those boars, you see Gatbark on his b-¡± Six tripped hard and pitched forward to tumble down a small decline. His armor protected him from stabbing branches but did nothing to prevent him pinballing down the hill and slamming into a solid tree trunk. He let out a pitiful moan. Skill increase: Heavy Armor - Initiate - 7 He only lost 30 points of health but holy shit, he could have snapped his neck. "What did we learn?" Denny asked with a mirthful smile. "Learn? Watch where the fuck I''m going," groaned Six. Denny laughed and waited with Koda and the raccoon as Six struggled back up the small hill. "That''s right, today we''re training the most important skill for long term survival, perception." Then he crouched and pointed at something low to the ground. It took a moment for Six to see it but a thin line of twined cord was stretched past the way that Denny led him down. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. Skill gained: Perception - Initiate - 1 Improves the ability to detect hidden, obscured or otherwise abnormal aspects of one¡¯s surroundings. Each level improves the chance to notice aspects by 0.99%. Current Increase: 0.99% Denny stepped over this. He knew about it. "Did you lead me into a trap?" The old man smiled. "Yes." ¡°I could have died.¡± Denny waved that away with a dismissive hand. ¡°Nah, I saw how much punishment you took this morning. You''re pretty tough.¡± ¡°I could have broken my neck.¡± ¡°Stop whining.¡± Six nodded at that. "You set that up when?" Denny untied the simple trap and rolled up the cordage. "Last night." "Any more I should be aware of?" Denny shrugged with a mischievous smile. "I guess we will see." Six sighed. "Aight. Any tips?" "Keep up and look for oddities. Traps are meant to blend in but usually have tells. The trip wire was in plain sight so its presence should have been enough to catch. Might want to invest in some Wisdom too, that feeds both Perception and Insight. Let''s go." Denny turned and marched off into the forest. "Wait, please." Six begged as he jerkily stepped after the old man. He was not confident in his ability to catch every trap at the speed Denny hiked away, but Denny marched on as if he didn''t hear anything. Six scanned the forest floor and it took a bit but he eventually caught the next trip wire. He stepped over and left it behind, the thought of Alison tripping producing a snicker. He stopped and turned around, it wouldn''t be right to leave that for her to hurt herself. She really hadn''t done anything wrong. He dismantled the trap. He picked a tree at random and willed the casting of stone spike, the knowledge told him that while silent casting was possible verbal incantations of the spells was highly recommended. He uttered the spell''s name, ¡°Stone Spike.¡± A two meter spike of stone erupted from the forest floor and slammed into the trunk of the tree, it tore through the bark and penetrated deeply, it remained there. It cut through 37 of his mana, 7 more than the reported cost, most likely because the forest wasn¡¯t made of much stone. Stone Wall was a bit more nuanced in the allocation of the volume of conjured stone but he could roughly make a two by two meter square of a reasonable thickness. Both spells needed to originate from earth for the spell to work. He tried to conjure one in the air and found he could not complete the spell, but he knew this, the knowledge had informed him of such. He knew they would not work on water either. He channeled Plant Growth but stopped when nothing immediately happened. It did not seem useful in the immediate future so he put it aside in favour of practicing the stone spells instead. The casting was effortless but still felt foreign, he needed such things to be fully assimilated, subconscious and instinctual. He understood the concept of progressive overload, you only adapt when challenged. So he pushed, emptying his mana pool consistently. He considered trying out blood casting but hesitated to do so in front of another person, even someone as chill as Denny. Needlessly lowering his health pool seemed like a foolish idea as well. Over the next few hours of travel and practice Six found many traps, some he did not find. Trip wires mostly, a few rope snares and a ten foot pit trap. He felt pretty helpless at the bottom of that hole. Even with his passively improved jump he couldn¡¯t reach the ledge, he considered taking off the armor but Denny tossed down one end of a rope, helped him back up and dusted him off. ¡°I¡¯m gonna die to one of these traps, you know?¡± Six was already tired of these things, though he had gained a level in Perception, Taming and Earth Magic though and he had found more herbs too. ¡°Nonsense, let''s go.¡± Then Denny began walking off. ¡°We can¡¯t just go and leave this big ass hole on the trail. What if someone falls in?¡± ¡°Who¡¯s gonna fall into a clearly defined hole? No one is that dumb.¡± Six thought back to his homeworld and shook his head. ¡°Someone is foolish enough to stumble into it. Someone.¡± Denny stood there looking at Six before nodding. ¡°Yer right. Here, back up.¡± Six stepped back and observed as a vast amount of earth poured from Denny¡¯s hand and quickly filled the hole. He saw a ring gleam on Denny¡¯s finger and it clicked. ¡°Spatial?¡± Denny nodded. ¡°It''s an easy way to hide stuff.¡± They continued off. ¡°Have you thought about what classes you want to aim for?¡± ¡°That was a piece of information not widely spread in my home, we were very sheltered, I¡¯d love any advice. ¡° ¡°Hhmmm, well you get to pick your class at level ten, and most people in the city don''t get past level five, maybe six. Because of that people with classes are usually specialists at the top of their profession, soldiers or mercenaries, or travellers of some kind. Cavaneers, messengers, guides like me. I am a ranger by the way, asking or analyzing others isn¡¯t the most polite thing to do.¡± ¡°I need you to teach me that by the way.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Analyze.¡± ¡°Ah. Sure. Anyways, you are offered a list of options to choose from that are based on your experiences, skills levels, Fame and Clout. The more you have achieved the more you may be offered. Some trusted items may also serve as inspiration for a class. Classes offer access to new techniques, maneuvers, and spells, it also provides passive bonuses to many things. For example, my Ranger class gives me a bonus to my movement in non-urban environments. When I received my class I was offered three maneuvers, I chose Power Shot, which scales off my Archery skill. The mos-¡± ¡°I need you to teach me that too,¡± Six slipped in. ¡°Archery?¡± ¡°Yeh. Sure. The most important thing a class offers are perks, which are mostly unique aspects of growth specific to your class.¡± ¡°Mostly unique?¡± ¡°There are some perks that are shared amongst a few types but most are unique to the class they belong to. Anyways, any ideas?¡± Denny asked. ¡°Enchanter?¡± ¡°Enchanter? Do you even know what you''re talking about son?¡± Denny sounded almost irritated. ¡°What?¡± ¡°That¡¯s a non combat class and one of the most resource dependent.¡± ¡°Yea, so? Enchanting is always OP, and it¡¯s most likely a highly specialized, well paying profession.¡± ¡°Oh¡­ Pee?¡± ¡°Overpowered.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t understand.¡± ¡°In my home, the people who could make things were the ones to move forward. A good spear is far stronger than my bare hands.¡± Denny snickered. ¡°Unless you took a monk or pugilist class.¡± That brought Six back to the fight at the inn and the man with the wicked swing. But, no, ¡°I want to make things. I don¡¯t want to fight.¡± ¡°Live in the city if you want to make things. The fighters can protect you¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°This makes no sense.¡± ¡°Trust me, the tropes are pretty clear, if I can only have one class then I want to enchant things.¡± Denny raised an eyebrow as if Six was a fool. ¡°What Tropes? You only have one class and its determines everything after that! Do you even have the enchanting skill?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Then you aint getting Enchanter as a class. What¡¯s your highest skill?¡± ¡°Uhhhh.¡± Six checked his character sheet and saw that he amassed a crap ton of skills, they were all Initiate and just bonuses but it gave him a slight rush to see the recorded improvement. Heavy Armor came in at the top with level 7. ¡°Well you will most likely get offered classes associated with Heavy Armor, probably Heavy Infantry, if you have enough clout you could get Knight.¡± ¡°My class can''t change if I get more clout later on?¡± ¡°No.¡± Six nodded. ¡°Enchanter.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think that''s possible unless you find an Enchanter willing to teach you or find a text on enchanting.¡± ¡°Do I have to choose immediately?¡± ¡°Not choosing the immediate power increase is generally considered bad tactics for anyone not rich and well protected.¡± Six nodded. ¡°Well Enchanter is the ideal. If I can¡¯t pick Enchanter I suppose something like Earth Mage or Druid.¡± ¡°There is an Earth Mage class but there is also the Geomancer class and I do know a Druid, nice guy.¡± ¡°Alright, so that¡¯s something to work towards. I guess I need to power level my Earth Magic skill.¡± Denny looked dissatisfied but didn¡¯t press Six any further, he could recognize the stubbornness of a fellow grump. He relented and gave his advice. You are on a good trajectory to receive the Druid class, I would keep practicing Herbalism and Survival, don¡¯t waste time on Archery, your stone spells should be enough to give you an advantage until melee and there will be melee. Both Druid and Enchanter lack movement based spells or maneuvers. All of this is dependent on your affinities of course. Practice Plant Growth as much as you safely can. Hopefully Druid shows up on your list.¡± Six nodded. ¡°Thanks.¡± ¡°Really you should be aiming for something rare like Moving Mountain or Unstoppable Dreadnought.¡± ¡°Classes have rarities?¡± ¡°Of course!¡± Denny said emphatically ¡°Is there a relationship between the rarity and effectiveness of a class?¡± ¡°Yes, but not really, no. Warrior is a very common class but is theoretically just as effective as Time Blade. Time Blade may have a far more versatile toolkit but that is not insurmountable and some say that the simplicity of the more common classes gives them an effortless lethality. I am of the opinion that it is not what you have but how you use it.¡± Six nodded. ¡°Then why are you so against me being an Enchanter?¡± ¡°Warrior is a combat class. Enchanter is a non combat class.¡± ¡°Could I, as an enchanter, learn Warrior maneuvers and Druid spells?¡± ¡°Well, if you had the affinity and the mentorship, yes, but you wouldn¡¯t have access to their perks!¡± ¡°Then I want to be an Enchanter.¡± He held up his hands and displayed his rings in his best anime pose. ¡°Behold! This is the mighty power I wish to leverage!¡± Denny facepalmed. 1.12 Ooh Baby, A Triple 24 Astra 10,391 The previous night had culminated with him doing a watch and patrol before smoking some of the doo-doo weed and becoming nicely stoned. With the mental compulsion satisfied he sat and stared at the stars while feeding his raccoon some bread and meat. Despite the weed his dreams were vivid and wild, something he wasn¡¯t used to, usually he didn¡¯t dream anything, or at least forgot it immediately. The morning brought more boars. Six woke to shouts of alarm and immediately crawled his stinky ass out of his sleeping roll and took stock immediately. It was worse, he could see that. The boars had charged deep into the camp and the only part not completely fucked was the small group of soldiers who had isolated themselves in a defensive circle, they were letting settlers behind their tiny circle but it was quickly growing and as it grew the soldiers became more and more spread out. A few of them were spellcasters and Six could see their damage rain down on the boars. Denny was close by with his blood covered longsword and Koda at his side, her muzzle covered in blood. ¡°Get fighting Six, this is gonna be everyday fer yah.¡± The glaive came out of storage and with a quick stretch Six ran out and began laying about him. These boars were tougher, more feral and wild, larger. Their hide was harder to pierce and their tusks seemed more jagged and cruel. Six lashed out and with viscous overhead swings he slayed. There was no technique to the wild slashes and stabs but the animals fell anyway. He found a rhythm and fought hard, pushing himself to the limits of his improved endurance regen, moving forward and trying to create space for the settlers to fall back towards the soldiers. A boar came forward and the combination of its hide and a poorly aimed swing allowed it to come too close to Six. He tried to back away but the beast threw its tusks about and slammed into Six, sending him flying. The pain was intense but Six quickly scrambled to his feet and set his polearm as the boar came running in for the double tap. Instead, it ran right into the set glaive and impaled itself quite deep, instantly dying. Six tried to withdraw the glaive but it was stuck in the flesh of the creature and would not come loose, he let it go and instead another spear appeared in his hand. Six looked for his next target and saw the young Muldstanni boy running up to him and looking at him with questioning eyes. ¡°Get behind the circle!¡± Six yelled. The boy shook his head and pointed to Six¡¯s leg. ¡°You¡¯re hurt, let me help.¡± Six looked down to his head and saw a large gash running down his thigh, it was bleeding profusely. Shit. He checked his combat logs and grimaced. You have been stabbed with a tusk for 20 damage You have been afflicted with the condition bleeding1. You are bleeding, you lose 15 health. As he internalized the words another log came. You are bleeding, you lose 15 health. Shit, shit, shit. His Earthen Endurance roughly 15 health a minute, it could not keep up with his hemorrhage. His mind went to blood stoppers and occupational first aid. He thought of the israeli bandage that he kept on his climbing saddle. He didn¡¯t have that, what he did have was¡­ With an effort of thought he focused his will on his Ring of Quickened Healing and felt warmth blossom deep in his leg, he felt a stab of sharp pain and a presence of throbbing discomfort where the tusk had struck but the bleeding debuff was gone. He wasn¡¯t about to just let his HP just flow freely, that was his vital juice! He nodded in thanks at the boy and walked towards the fight, the sound from behind Six let him know that the young man followed. Shit, Six wasn¡¯t his father, he wasn¡¯t responsible for the kid, who was he to turn the kid away? ¡°Stay close, I guess, I¡¯m not that experienced at this.¡± ¡°I can see that,¡± the Muldstanii spoke in a more refined way than anyone, even Alice sounded a bit more rustic. Now that he looked at the kid he saw that the worn and torn clothes were once finely tailored. Six laughed and pointed at the closest enemy. ¡°What¡¯s your name kid.¡± ¡°Charles.¡± ¡°Charles?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Six detected a sliver of anger in that reply. ¡°Aight Charles, I¡¯m Six. I¡¯ll attack first and draw their attention, if I go down you be careful and help me up, just like you did before. I don¡¯t know your level or HP but don¡¯t die.¡± Charles nodded. They worked together to dispatch boars, Six stabbing about wildly and taking hits, Charles finishing kills and preventing Six from being overwhelmed. It worked well enough, until the battle changed. A deep roaring bellow echoed out from the surrounding forest and the familiar cracking and low whine of falling trees. A boar the size of a cube van burst from the surrounding foliage and snorted, its hide, thick and glittering, almost crystalline, it looked studded with diamonds. Six knew he couldn¡¯t take it and his head swiveled for Denny, instead he saw the soldiers break formation and move against the creature. Two muscle bound warriors sprinted forward directly at the beast. A massive bald, black skinned human man, and fully armored humanoid, the former in armor similar to Six¡¯s while the latter wore black full plate with a helm stylized to look like a dragon. The first wielded a sword and shield and the second a glaive, but unlike Six and Charles they knew how to use them and how to work with each other properly. Gatbark moved forward on his pet boar. Where was the raccoon? Gatbark yelled out a spell, ¡°Divine Shield!¡± and a dark stony aura fell upon both warriors. The Muldstanii priest screamed his spell, ¡°Chains of Kynairos!¡± and greenish copper chains burst from the ground to restrain the monster but Six could tell it was barely contained. A frilled Vrill added to the encounter with a buff, ¡°Flame Enhance!¡±, the sword and glaive burst into flames as the warriors delivered blows that penetrated but barely wounded the giant thing. It snorted contemptuously and shook like a wet dog casting the chains aside and tusking the glaive wielder in the air. Six tore his eyes from the scene, he needed to be doing something! Charles was also caught distracted by the display and Six shook him to the present. He quickly scanned and saw that now that the soldiers had broken ranks the boars were plowing into the settlers who were defending as best they could, Six gestured for Charles to fall back with him and help the inner defenses. They tried their best to reform but Six could see a boar about to gore and stomp on the weakest, children and elders. ¡°Stone Spear,¡± he uttered and swiftly ran the mana through the magical functions implanted in his mind and performed the gestures necessary, then a needle sharp stab of pain erupted in his head. Stone Spear Miscast has dealt 16 psychic damage. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. A miscast? What the fuck!? Of course there was miscasting! Nothing happened except the consumption of mana and the fizzling of arcane on his finger tips. The children and elders screamed as the boar rampaged amongst them before the more martial settlers fought it. That took 32 mana. 32 mana for a splitting stab in his head. The boars seemed endless, and Six was still too far away so he beared through the pain and carefully cast another spell, this time slowing down the action and aiming in front of a charging group of enemies. ¡°Stone Wall.¡± A wall of stone shot up from the ground just before the boars impacted. It was thick and the height of the average boar, Six had made it that way to make the wall thicker and it stopped the boars perfectly. The boars at the front ran straight into it and were crushed and gored by those beasts behind them. One tried to scrabble over the wall but another ¡°Stone Spear,¡± from Six pierced its skull and depleted his mana. He felt as if he could use Blood Casting but a glance at the glaring priest dissuaded him of that notion. Him and Charles were close enough to take position in the defensive ring. Alice stood by them and she called for martial settlers to join them. Slowly they stabilized the line and fighting side by side, killed boars with abandon, but the massive crystal boar still rampaged. They worked together, trading positions and chipping away at the glittering beast. The massive ebony soldier dropped his longsword and smashed his shield across the things snout and staggered it for a second, allowing the greenish chains to reassert themselves. The man dropped his shield roaring, ¡°Unleashed Muscle!¡± his muscles growing significantly in size before the man wrapped the boar in a headlock, dropping his body and forcing the creature down. The person in the dark dragon armor rushed forward with a blindingly fast combination, his ¡°Dragon Lance Advance!¡± culminated with him stabbing his weapon in the middle of the beast''s skull and holding it steady as a tiny person, halfling or gnome probably, performed a spinning front flip and roundhoused his hammer onto the iron shod end of the glaive, something activated and a thunderous concussive blast drove the glaive home. "Oooh, triple tech," Six said, impressed. The creature keened and with a shiver, slumped to the ground. Its body distended and ballooned. The massive muscle bound man bellowed, "take cover!" Six barely had enough mana for another stone wall and he placed it to cover as many people as he could from the bulging corpse and then pulled the kid to the ground. Hiding behind the wall as crystal shards exploded from the corpse and stabbed out in all directions. His stone wall helped but was shattered in many places by the flying crystals, crumbling but stopping the shards from doing any damage, his wall could only cover so many people and many settlers moaned and groaned from their wounds, many lay silent. his mana had been depleted and his head pounded, the mana deprivation trope seemed to be present. When the boss boar died the rest of the normal boars quickly scattered having lost the driving force of their horde, the people recovered and began reorganizing the scattered camp. Six let out a tired breath before going to retrieve his glaive. It was hard to pull from the boar but came free with a slurping suction sound. Swapping it out for a dagger he began to dig for those sweet sweet mana cores. Denny came over and nodded in affirmation. ¡°No wasting time, good. You injured?¡± Six waved the question away just some bumps and bruises and although he didn¡¯t get anything else from the Ley Core, he did get the passive health regen, small though it may be, he would be fine. ¡°I¡¯ll be ok. Speaking of injuries though, is there a way to regrow limbs?¡± Denny and Charles both made a funny face at that. ¡°What, I''m a bumpkin, my village was pretty isolated.¡± Charles shook his head. ¡°No, not unless you have a technique or spell that would enable that level of healing, a bloodline or evolution might provide an ability that could do it..¡± Denny scratched his grizzled stubble in thought. ¡°I''ve heard of some evolutions that would provide the ability to do so as well. You¡¯re far from that and it''s not guaranteed that you would receive that type of evolution though so be careful.¡± From what Six could tell people healed about the same as his previous world with an average endurance of ten. Six wasn¡¯t too good with math but estimated that he would heal to full in 16 minutes or so. With no increase to his endurance his innate health regen was a normal person¡¯s and increasing it seemed to improve the rate but not nearly as significantly as the Ley Core. ¡°Evolution?¡± Denny chuckled, ¡°your village elders hadn¡¯t evolved? Where do you come from boy? Ah, no matter, Evolutions are-¡± But he was interrupted by one of the approaching soldiers, the priest. Rough brown robes and a red sash with what looked like some military rank insignia was what they wore, their dark green skin and tusks told Six they were Muldstanii. ¡°Praise be Kynairos. Who are you?¡± The man stated the question with the confidence of a person who expected obedience. ¡°My name is Six¡­ Praise be Kynairos. You?¡± ¡°Six? Well Six, I am Craftsman Irduth, I demand to see your Imperial mage¡¯s guild license.¡± ¡°Really? Shit. I don¡¯t have one.¡± ¡°Then I must ask you to come with me, I am hereby conscripting you into the Imperial Military.¡± Six was dumbfounded, he blinked his eyes and looked between Charles and Denny who looked uncomfortable and amused respectively. ¡°I am not an Imperial,¡± he explained. ¡°You are human and in the Imperial lands.¡± ¡°Well, nah, I came from west of here.¡± Irduth scoffed. ¡°I do not believe you, do not seek to shirk your responsibility to the empire.¡± ¡°Nah man, not me. If it wasn¡¯t for Alison I wouldn¡¯t be anywhere around here. I¡¯m just helping these people and then fucking off to do my thing.¡± ¡°Still, most spells are too dangerous to leave untethered. I am invoking my right as a priest of the church and officer of the Empire, given to me by the Advent line and Kynairos most high, you are conscripted.¡± ¡°Or what? You¡¯ll kill me?¡± Six shouted this, he needed attention. ¡°You broke the defensive ring and left people undefended, what was I supposed to do? Let them die? I had to use everything I could to help. Or should I have let these people just get stomped to death?¡± ¡°Irrelevant.¡± The priest said and grabbed Six by his shirt in an attempt to pull him towards the soldiers. Instead Six slapped the hand away but a word from Irduth showed him he had much to learn. ¡°Rebuke.¡± The word of power left Irduth as Six slapped the hand away and it activated a spell of some kind. Greenish flames leapt up and connected the two men. They bathed Six and he burned. The pain was brief but intense. You have been burned with a Rebuke of Kynairos for 86 damage Six screamed in pain as the flames burned and quickly guttered but the damage was done, his skin blistered and missing in small spots, those would scar. ¡°What the fuck! What the fuck dude! Asshole!¡± Instantly Denny had come forward and had his blade at the priest¡¯s neck. His easy going attitude missing, instead the old man was cold iron. ¡°Get yer fuckin hands off my ward.¡± ¡°Threaten me!? I am a priest of the great Kynairos! Kynairos be praised!¡± ¡°Ow,¡± Six moaned as his skin cracked and leaked pus, he took out a piece of rootbust and began to chew. ¡°I don¡¯t care, I have a job and you ain''t taking my student until I¡¯m done with him.¡± Denny growled and moved the blade, drawing a tiny drop of blood. ¡°Heathen.¡± Irduth nearly spit it. ¡°Kill me and my comrades will destroy all these traitors.¡± ¡°Woah woah woah!¡± Alison¡¯s voice broke into the conflict. ¡°What''s going on?¡± ¡°My face!¡± Six groaned. ¡°My¡­ everything.¡± ¡°This mage is using spells without a license.¡± Irduth said smugly. ¡°I am conscripting him.¡± ¡°No.¡± Denny and Alison said at the same time. ¡°Or what? You civilians have no authority here.¡± Alison spoke calmly ¡°We have left the empire. You have no authority here, we need this man and his guide. I was assured you would not impose your beliefs on these people.¡± ¡°My beliefs have nothing to do with the law.¡± ¡°Deathspire was never conquered by the empire. There is no Imperial law here.¡± ¡°A mere formality as it is encapsulated by the Kingdom of Harmony and the Kingdom of Arkion. It is part of the empire as it is contained by the empire.¡± Irduth tried to pull Six and his neck away from Denny but the Ranger¡¯s sword dissuaded the Muldstanii from the act. ¡°We must consolidate imperial resources and he is now one.¡± ¡°No I¡¯m not,¡± said Six. ¡°No he''s not,¡± said Charles. Irduth raised his eyebrow at the young Muldstanii and went to speak again but the ebony muscle bound fighter came up and laid a calming hand on the priest''s shoulder. He leaned in and whispered something in Irduth¡¯s ear and slowly shook his bald head, no. ¡°Nonsense,¡± Irduth said and went to pull on Six again but Six leaned away. ¡°Eh, fuck you buddy, don¡¯t fucking touch me.¡± ¡°Yea!¡± A kobold said, ¡°You all left us to die! Didn¡¯t see you trying to help us. You leave him alone. Leave all of us alone!¡± The inspiring little creature started a chant. ¡°Leave us alone! Leave us alone!¡± The massive man¡¯s deep voice rolled like a calming wave. ¡°Sorry little one but our strength was required to end the greater threat. In pursuit of victory we could not maintain our defensive circle and for that I apologize.¡± He looked at Six and gave a manly nod of respect. ¡°Thank you for standing in defense of these people.¡± Irduth pursed his lips and snarled, He conjured a lash of magic and went to unleash it but was stopped by almost all the soldiers who had now gathered behind the muscle man. Irduth narrowed his eyes at Six and uttered words just loud enough for Six, ¡°I will remember this.¡± Then he shouted. ¡°Yes, yes, praise be Kynairos!¡± and allowed himself to be removed by his companions. Denny had that ¡°I told you so¡± grin and Alison looked worried. Six huffed. ¡°Who the hell did you bring along Alison? You didn¡¯t tell me about this shit. I thought you were trying to get away from this shit.¡± Six tried not to move very much as his tender skin ached from the immolation. His clothes were burned in spots but the armor seemed to have weather it fine. ¡°Sorry, but Orifec brought them along with that Gatbark fellow, I had not thought that priest would have done such a thing. We had discussed it and Keegan had assured me. If Carralevine and the others were here they could control them but I can¡¯t stop them from latching on to our exodus, they won¡¯t tell me why they are coming either. Keegan seems to keep them pretty well handled though.¡± Six looked at the soldier¡¯s huddle and saw the priest getting dressed down by the group but it didn¡¯t make him feel any better. ¡°Shit, I don¡¯t want to be around that asshole, can we go Denny?¡± The old man chuckled and nodded. ¡°What did we learn?¡± ¡°Shut up.¡± 1.13 Flesh or Fish? Six managed to get ten more mana cores and he leveled his butchery up by 2. "Eh Denny, do things rot in a spatial?" "In lower quality spatials yes, above a Good rank spatial time is significantly slowed yes." Well his spatial ring was average rank so food would probably perish within it. "I need to learn how to preserve food." "Later I''ll teach you that but when we git ya settled, right now I''ll teach you how to Analyse, then we''ll go scout. So pack and clean up and I''ll go find some people to practice on." Six nodded and cleaned up in the river before packing up his dope tent. He wanted to take the extra time to doff and clean then don the armor but he saw the old man coming back. Denny came back with three settlers, one of them being Charles, the other two were women, a dark haired half Aelf and a blonde human. The Aelf was small and lithe, the human large and muscled. They both were pretty, wore serviceable clothes and had hammers hanging from their tool belts, the small one had a peened hammer and the large one a nail puller. Six nodded at the young Muldstanii and introduced himself to the other two with a wave, "hi, I''m Six." "You look like you''re twenty five,¡± said the half Aelf. "Close." He shrugged. "Six isn''t really close to twenty five." "Really depends on the scale you''re talking about." She lifted her eyebrow row. "Oh?" ¡°We talking like, 1 to 99 or 1 to a million?¡± ¡°What''s a million?" said the big blonde lady. ¡°It is one thousand thousands,¡± said Charles. ¡°Oh, that''s big,¡± blondie said scrunching her brow ¡°And not close to 6 at all,¡± Six said. The tiny woman smirked. ¡°You¡¯re pedantic.¡± ¡°We¡¯ve just met but I suppose I am.¡± ¡°What''s pedantic?¡± the big woman asked. ¡°It means being overly concerned with accuracy,¡± explained Charles. The big woman nodded as if that made sense. Six looked to Denny who didn¡¯t seem to mind the disruption but time was money and there was no time to waste. Life demanded focus. ¡°Anyways, what are your names?¡± ¡°I¡¯m Ravna,¡± said the half Aelf. ¡°I¡¯m Franklin,¡± said the human. Ravna looked at Franklin with an amused face. ¡°Tell him your real name.¡± ¡°Franklin is my real name.¡± ¡°Franklin is your family name.¡± ¡°And it¡¯s a real name. New home, new start.¡± The lady said it with a resolute nod, as if it was sense enough. Ravna rolled her eyes but smiled. ¡°That¡¯s ok,¡± Six didn¡¯t care. ¡°Franklin it is, gotta admit I¡¯m curious as to what it was.¡± Franklin shook her head no. Six shrugged, ¡°well anyways Denny told you why you¡¯re here right?¡± They all said yes and Six clapped his hands together. ¡°Nice, well, I guess I¡¯ll just let you do yo thang Denny. Teach, let the knowledge flow.¡± Six was excited for this skill, it was a fundamental skill that was necessary for decision making. Denny cleared his throat and horked a loogie to the side. ¡°Alright, now, the Analyze skill is a result of keen observation of a person. Their bearing, demeanor, their seasoning, and an intangible sense of their being. it all drives the skill, depending on the differences in levels and the difference between the level of the skill and targets mental resistance. Of course many things could affect the success of the Analyze skill but seeing as you are a higher level than these people¡­ somehow¡­ it should be easy for you to gain the skill provided you have the affinity for it.¡± Denny continued to explain the intricacies of the skill but it basically boiled down to a different version of inspect. Shouldn¡¯t his Unbound Comprehension have gone off by now? Skill gained: Analyze - Initiate - 1 Gives the ability to gain information about one¡¯s target. Each level improves the chance to gain information by 0.99%. Current Increase: 0.99% There it is. ¡°I think I understand,¡± Six said, and he did. ¡°There¡¯s no mention of the things you said, nothing about the differences in level or anything.¡± ¡°Did you just gain the skill from me talking about it?¡± Shit. ¡°No.¡± Denny smiled and looked at Six like he was an idiot. ¡°I uh, used it on Charles and it worked, gained the skill and yeah, nothing. How do you know levels and such play a role? It even says leveling up the skill increases the chance of being awarded the knowledge.¡± ¡°The universe does not provide every single stat interaction. Some are explicitly stated with Spell or Maneuvers but even within those lay hidden variables. There are people whose profession it is to find those relationships and record them. Analyze while generally capped at low affinity for most of us, is still a widespread skill. There are many things that reduce the chance for success that Analyze provides, counter skills or class perks for example. ¡°What¡¯s considered a low affinity? No more than five percent in my opinion but others would say ten. ¡°I think I got it,¡± Ravna said Denny looked at her knowingly. ¡°Listening were yah? Good.¡± He looked at Charles and Franklin. ¡°I was previously trained in this skill,¡± Charles said with a deferential bow. Now Charles got the idiot look. ¡°What?¡± the kid asked nervously. Denny chuckled. ¡°Both of you share things too easily.¡± Six and Charles made eye contact. Six shrugged. He wasn¡¯t wrong. Six tried to use the skill on Charles first. He stared deeply at the young man and observed his bearing, his clothing and weapon, the kids expression, and something deeper, then it clicked. Analyze Successful. Charles Penult Muldstanii Level 2 Skill Increase : Analyze - Initiate - Level 2 This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. This was it. Forget the synergy between Earthen endurance and Blood Casting, He couldn¡¯t use that at all, not in front of Imperials anyways. Analyze was the true OP skill. Protagonists that used this to the fullest effect would always stomp. Depending on his usage and tendencies it could evolve into something even better than a power level gauge. This was something he would use constantly, social conventions be damned. He analyzed Ravna. Ravna Lazu Mixed Tsunken Aelf/Human Level 2 Then Franklin. Rose Franklin Human Level 2 Skill Increase : Analyze - Initiate - Level 3 YEEEEESSSS. The quick increase in Analyze was extremely gratifying, he knew it was due to Unbound Comprehension but he didn¡¯t care, any advantage to survive out here was crucial. He tried to Analyze Denny and was hit with a log. Analyze Failed. Denny smiled and playful shook a fist at Six. ¡°That¡¯s not polite.¡± ¡°So you can tell when I tried?¡± Denny nodded. ¡°It''s not like that for everyone though. It''s a tiered Perk available to most combat classes. First tier lets you know if you resisted something, second tier tells you who is the source of the effect, third tier provides temporary improved resistance to the specific caster every time you resist.¡± He looked at Six with a pointed look. ¡°Much better for survival than non-combat perks.¡± Six nodded. Denny was telling him to rethink his enchanter idea. There were always limits and different streams of progression, he would have to have a rough idea of how to traverse these paths and ensure his growth. He wouldn¡¯t want to cripple his foundations or create an artificial ceiling through ignorance. He might be doing that by pursuing a non-combat class but Six was confident in his choice. Gear and loot was always a game changing aspect of progression and he wanted the ability to make whatever he needed. Denny cleared his throat. ¡°Alright, we¡¯re done. thank you for helping. I gotta take my student scouting.¡± ¡°But I haven¡¯t got it yet,¡± Franklin said, dismay in her tone. ¡°You might have low affinity but just keep trying on yer friend, I don¡¯t have much more to share anyways.¡± Ravna nodded. ¡°Come on Franklin, I¡¯m sure there¡¯s things for us to do. Bye guys! Thanks for the help with the boars.¡± Then she pulled her friend away. Charles cleared his throat. ¡°Uh, c- ah¡­ maybe could- I, um¡­ Could I come scouting?¡± Six tried to let the kid down easy. ¡°Sorry, Charles but I don¡¯t got enough money to pay him to teach you.¡± ¡°That¡¯s ok,¡± Denny cut in. ¡°No charge.¡± A part of Six twinged at the way this transaction was evolving but seeing as it cost him no more than he already paid he kept his mouth shut. He would learn just as easy and he didn¡¯t mind sharing. He also liked Charles so there was that. ¡°Aight,¡±you ready?¡± Six asked. Charles shook his head ¡°No, I have to gather my things. ¡°Pack up and meet us asap. ¡°A sap?¡± ¡°Quick as ya can,¡± Six explained. Charles nodded and ran off to gather his things. Six found and fed his raccoon and lured them along. Skill Increase: Taming - Initiate - 3 All five of them left (including koda and the raccoon) and followed the rivers. Denny consulted the map and Charles turned out to be an asset in navigating, having a high survival skill and assisting Denny. Six had always been geographically illiterate but he was picking it up and had gained another level in the skill. Skill Increase: Survival - Initiate- 2 That took forever to get. Low affinity perhaps? The day progressed nicely with Six picking out the first few traps that Denny had set up, that bastard, which gained him a level in perception, he also gained a level in Heavy Armor from the sheer physical exertion of trying to be sneaky while trying to keep up. But suddenly Denny held his arm out and stopped the two of them, the old man literally sniffed and grimaced, he made the universal shushing gesture. ¡°What?¡± Six silently mouthed. Denny shook his head and gestured for Six and Charles to stay put then the old man moved forward with absolutely zero noise, he disappeared from Six¡¯s senses fading from vision entirely after but a few meters. Shortly after Six caught a whiff of a nasty pungent aroma, like real nasty. Rotting meat left out in the sun bad. This was what Denny smelled far before them? Six needed to improve his perception because he had no idea how he missed this rank odour. It made him want to throw up and involuntary shudders racked his body. He tried to breathe shallowly but he couldn''t get rid of the offensive taste of the air. There was nothing to do but attempt to stay in control and not make any noise. He didn''t have to suffer for long before Denny returned and carefully took them back and away. Skill Increase: Stealth - Initiate - 2 ¡°Trolls,¡± Denny explained eventually. Trolls? They were barely 2 days away from the city. "Should we¡­ fight them?" Six asked a little unsure. Denny had been trying to get him to fight more¡­ so¡­ Denny shook his head. "Too dangerous, there was a pack of them and even one would most likely endanger both of you. A few are Immortal tier and could kill us all. No." A tier ranking? Classic trope, he had an inkling when saw that items had rarities and qualities, he would have to ask about tiers later, but first. "We gotta go tell Alison. Like, right the fuck now." Both Denny and Charles nodded. It was simple to intercept the settlers and bring them to a halt. Six waved at Alison and she waved back. "There''s a troll in the dungeon!" He said in his best professor Quirrell voice. "What!?" She yelled. "There''s a troll based dungeon ahead?" Troll based dungeon? Dungeons are a thing here? Classic trope! "Well, no-" Six began but he was cut off. Alison shouted an order at a little kid. "Halt the march and get me Keegan!" The child ran off and began repeatedly shouting "halt" to everyone they passed. It didn''t take long for the massive man to arrive flanked by the other soldiers. Six took a moment to actually look at the squad. They looked hardened and weathered. The massive, bald, black skinned man led the troupe. His armor was similar to Six''s, looking more half plate legionnaire than full plate knight. His muscles bursted with dense striations, a true Mr.Olympia. This must be Keegan. There was a half Aelf in full plate, it was burnished black and he carried his helm that was styled like a dragon. There was the Vrill woman who wore simple white robes and empowered them with flames. Gatbark rode his massive snuffling boar. There was Irduth. There were two Tsunken Aelf men, the first full Aelfs Six had seen. their skin was grey and ashen but their ears were pointed, definitely elves. One who wore simple leathers that looked like fresh leaves and a cloak that looked like moss. He loped along with a sardonic grin and puffed an irreverent tune on his bamboo pipes. The other Aelf was dour, in bearing and appearance. He wore dark leathers and almost floated like a spectre when he moved. They were both hovering protectively around three well dressed early twenties humans. Yes, Alison? The man named Keegan rumbled. ¡°The scouts found a troll based dungeon,¡± she relayed to the soldier. ¡°What? Any other humanoid types present?¡± The man said, looking to Six. "Just to be clear here, define dungeon." Six requested. ¡°There was no dungeon,¡± Denny snickered. ¡°Just a pack of Trolls. A few were Immortal tier.¡± ¡°A dungeon is a spatial gateway that connects to The Fold,¡± Charles provided. Six nodded in thanks at the lad and didn''t ask what The Fold was. Didn''t want to look like a completely ignorant person¡­even though he was. Keegan nodded solemnly. "Oh, then there is a chance we shall test our muscle against the beasts." The dour Aelf hissed and made a slashing gesture. ¡°No, we shouldn''t expose ourselves anymore than necessary. Avoid at all costs.¡± The Vrill woman nodded. ¡°And we should just leave them alone if they are no threat to us.¡± Irduth snapped. ¡°Your simpering defensive stance is an insult to the empire, Kali. There are certain creatures that must be purged. Trolls are such creatures. Would you leave a Karzid alive if one did not pose a threat to you?¡± This Vrill was similar to a frilled lizard and her frills drooped slightly but she did not say anything. ¡°Karzid¡¯s were an all consuming insect species that was purged from Zarmul following their appearance after the Great Catastrophe,¡± Charles explained. Six looked at the kid and nodded in thanks. The dour Aelf nodded. ¡°Such creatures are not worth our regard. The only reason I do not cleanse such filth lies in preserving those around us. Perhaps I will return later and do it but now is not the time.¡± Irduth nodded. ¡°We must purge such monsters from the land of the Empire.¡° Alison nodded. ¡°They will eventually have to be eliminated before they become a problem.¡± You have been offered a quest: Remove the Trolls The leadership of the settlers have determined that the trolls in the immediate area pose a threat. Remove the threat that the trolls pose. Rewards for Accepting: None Rewards for Completion: Voluntary Spiritual Energy Relationship Fame Clout Time Limit: None Penalty for Failure: Loss of relationship with the settlers Do you Accept? Yes or No? Alison looked to Denny. ¡°Is there a way we could avoid them?¡± Denny shrugged, ¡°could cross the river which is dangerous or detour around which I think is more slow and more dangerous. Fighting them, while possible, is stupid." Six nodded. ¡°Sounds like we¡¯re crossing the river.¡± ¡°No one cares about what you think, criminal,¡± Irduth spat. Six shrugged. ¡°Praise be Kynairos.¡± Irduth struggled with maintaining his face of superiority, grappling with some sort of confusion, he said something safe, "praise be Kynairos. " Six smiled and exchanged names with everyone. Keegan was the muscle bound man, Narhurin was the half Aelf in the dark platemail. Kali Kik was the Vrill in white robes. Bark was the weird Aelf and Aclo was the dour one. There was a halfling-like person that Six hadn¡¯t noticed before named Jebbedo. The young man and two ladies were Indigo, Celine and Tavi respectively. ¡°Crossing the river then?¡± Six asked. Denny grunted, ¡°that could be a problem too. Saw signs of Koatl nearby.¡± ¡°Koatl?¡± Six murmured. ¡°Diminutive bipedal amphibious fish people.¡± Charles explained. ¡°They infest most waterways.¡± Six wanted to ask why he hadn''t seen them despite being next to the river but he held his questions. Now was not the time for a silly tangent that highlighted his ignorance¡­ no matter how pleasing that trope was. "I''d rather deal with tiny fish people rather than killer trolls." Denny grimaced. ¡°Oh the Koatl will kill ya, if you linger near their homes too long. Crossing with this many people would definitely draw their attention. ¡°Both should be purged,¡± Irduth muttered. ¡°But how could we do it?¡± Six posed. ¡°It''s not like we have boats.¡± Getting people thinking about solutions was always productive. Kali Kik piped up. ¡°I could ferry people across with my waterwalking spell but it would take many trips. I would think the ferrying to last a few hours at least.¡± Could you help¡± Alison asked the moss wearing Bark. He shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t know that spell unfortunately.¡± ¡°What about the lawless criminal? Is that a spell you can cast?¡± Irduth asked spitefully. ¡°No. you?¡± Six tossed it back conversationally. ¡°Of course I can¡¯t cast water walking!¡± ¡°Oh, well then, I¡¯m useless,¡± he focused on solutions. ¡°Is there any way we can build a bridge?¡± Six asked. Alison shrugged, ¡°I could talk to Franklin but I doubt it, it would take too long with our current setup.¡± ¡°Then Kali needs to waterwalk everyone across.¡± ¡°What about the Koatl?¡± Six asked. ¡°Fight them in the water? What about water breathing spells?¡± Denny shook his head. ¡°No. They are small creatures but live in the water, it¡¯s very unlikely you would be able to match them.¡± ¡°Well, I can do like three stone spears and I¡¯m done.¡± ¡°I could provide mana potions for a price.¡± Indigo grumbled like an emo teen, but he looked about twenty, still emo though. ¡°I could even brew some mundane water breathing potions.¡± ¡°At cost?¡± Alison asked. ¡°No.¡± ¡°Oh, come on Indigo.¡± Narhurin broke in and gave the young human a friendly shake. He sounded surprisingly amiable despite wearing such foreboding looking armor. ¡°Be nice, these people are letting us join them. We already have a selfish stewart and its Irduth. You don¡¯t want to be like Irduth right?¡± ¡°Quiet you!¡± Irduth snapped. Indigo looked at the priest of kynarios, thinking and he slowly nodded. ¡°At cost.¡± Alison nodded in thanks. ¡°How quickly can you get those water breathing potions made?¡± ¡°An hour?¡± ¡°Then we find a narrow spot and cross before day breaks. We¡¯ll camp on the other side.¡± With that the gathered people went into action. Six caught Indigo before he left and asked him about the mana potions. ¡°They usually cost 10 gold each but I''ll bring it down to 2 for the trip. ¡°Any way I could make that lower?¡± Six asked. ¡°You could harvest the ingredients with me for the water breathing potions. Won¡¯t affect it much." Six looked at Denny. The old man nodded. ¡°I think we are done training until we get across the river, picking herbs will train your herbology.¡± ¡°Cool, coming Charles?¡± The young Muldstanni smiled and nodded. Six nodded at Indigo. ¡°Let¡¯s do it!¡± 1.13 River Crossing They made their way over to the river¡¯s edge and Indigo quickly pointed out some algae covered rocks. ¡°Ok, so these rocks have what¡¯s called Tidal Algae on them, I need that for those waterbreathing potions.¡± Indigo showed Six and Charles how to scrape the rocks and gather the slimy algae. Plant Identified - Tidal Algae - Quality: Mundane Rarity: Common Weight - 0.1G Durability 5/5 Traits: Can be chewed to provide a minor endurance regen effect. 10 END per minute for 30 minutes. Material, Reagent. The harvesting was slow calm work and Six took the opportunity to appreciate the simple meditative nature of random simple labour. That being said, it was also an opportunity to have some questions answered. ¡°So Indigo, how¡¯d you know this stuff was here?¡± Six asked. ¡°We just got here. ¡°The young man scoffed and flipped his emo hair. He wore fine clothes that, unlike Charle¡¯s, were pristine. The only way to identify him as a soldier was the Imperial emblem he wore, a silver eagle on a black field. ¡°If the ingredients could grow anywhere they would grow next to a high water affinity area.¡± That got Six¡¯s interest. ¡°Places can have affinities?¡± ¡°Duh.¡±Indigo¡¯s reply was dry and Six wasn¡¯t sure if the lad was joking. ¡°He is quite uneducated,¡° said Charles. ¡°I can see that,¡± said Indigo. ¡°He just wants to know how that works. Places having affinities and all that,¡± Six said. ¡°Well from what I learned a location¡¯s affinities are based on the emanations of the dominant form of terrain in the immediate surrounding.¡± Charles offered. ¡°These affinities can alter the way certain spells are expressed, how I don¡¯t know exactly.¡± ¡°Tch.¡± Indigo tutted in proxy embarrassment. ¡°The higher a singular affinity the more pronounced the effect will be. For example, in the middle of the ocean the area¡¯s affinity is 100% water, this means that water spells gain an increase of 100% effectively doubling their effect. These affinities are usually elemental but sometimes can extend to the more conceptual affinities.¡± ¡°So the river tilts towards water I assume?¡± Six asked. ¡°Duh.¡± Indigo was beginning to irritate Six, but whatever, Indigo was young. ¡°And this algae grows in water attuned areas?¡± Six asked. Indigo nodded. ¡°And that''s why I went to the river.¡± ¡°Cool, makes sense. So you¡¯re a soldier but also an alchemist?¡± ¡°Yes, clearly, that¡¯s why I¡¯m making potions. That''s why you¡¯re buying potions from me.¡± Six swallowed his irritation, it wasn¡¯t worth playing into this kids bullshit. ¡°Why are you soldiers here? I thought these people were trying to get away from you. You are a soldier right? ¡± Indigo flashed him a flat stare before replying. ¡°I am a soldier of the Empire, yes. the true Empire, we are all loyal to the old rulers. Not the usurper Juthewei. There is no place for us there. "Why are you, a rogue magician, here?" Six laughed. "Other than Irduth do any of you actually care if I use magic?" Indigo shook his head. "No, not really no. Irduth is just concerned about hierarchy." "Doesn''t like seeing the rules get flaunted?" "No. He does not." "I get that but fuck that, I''m not an Imperial," Six scoffed. "There are papers and rules you receive upon entering the Empire." "Ah, well. Through a series of circumstances outside of my control I found myself in these lands. But, I suppose it doesn''t matter too much now." "Are you joking? Magic was regulated to prevent catastrophes. It''s worked for over a millenia. We would have destroyed ourselves like the old K''gan who now solely devote themselves to their body rather than mind. How far they have fallen. The regulations matter." "I am not interested in causing any catastrophes." "If only it were that simple." Indigo smirked, "Right? Well anyways, things change. Do you agree with Irduth? Should I be an Imperial asset?" "That is irrelevant to the more immediate problems and as a magic user myself I have always felt somewhat restricted." "That sounds like a no." Indigo shrugged. "I''m looking to learn enchanting. Would any of you be willing to teach me?" "I have the Enchanting skill and have even evolved it to Artificed Enchantment. I don''t have the time to teach you though. Kali Kik may have the skill, you could ask her." "Nothing I can offer that would interest you?" "Mana cores of good quality. Good quality materials or reagents. I don¡¯t need currency.¡± Six didn¡¯t have that. ¡°Well shit, if ya change your mind let me know.¡± ¡°I won¡¯t,¡± Indigo said with grey confidence. They harvested for about a half hour before collecting enough Algae between the three of them. Indigo gave each of them a flat 5 silver discount which Six thought was fair enough for a half hour of chill work, especially when you considered all that Six learned. Six bought 5 mana potions, all that Indigo allowed, as some must have been held in reserve for his team. Indigo looked with an inquiring eyebrow to Charles. Charles gestured in the negative. ¡°I am without currency currently. Still it was a fun experience. Perhaps later I could redeem this discount?¡± ¡°Well, I could,¡± Indigo began before Six interrupted. ¡°Nah nah nah, here,¡± and Six slapped four gold into the palm of Charles. Charles looked at them with hope but shook his head. ¡°Thank you Six but I am not in a position to accept a loan.¡± ¡°No, no. Consider it payment for your explanations. I really apre-¡± ¡°Hey, I explained things too,¡± Indigo interrupted. ¡°Our transaction has concluded Indigo. But thank you, you have earned my future patronage.¡± ¡°I think I¡¯m the only Alchemist here. So, there¡¯s that.¡± Indigo said with grim satisfaction. Charles bought two health potions and pocketed the 5 silver, he nodded at Six in thanks. They exchanged goodbyes with Indigo before he left to brew the waterbreathing potions. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°Do you have enough time?¡± Charles asked after the young human. ¡°I have the Fast Brew perk for situations exactly like this.¡± Indigo replied. Six nodded. He was slightly interested in Alchemy, A very powerful skillset to be sure. But it was no use asking Indigo as he had nothing to offer the lad. Instead he looked to Charles. ¡°Wanna go see if Denny will teach us archery?¡± ¡°I am already quite skilled in the bow, it¡¯s just that I lost my bow a while ago.¡± Six had kept a bow and arrows so he withdrew them from his spatial ring. ¡°Well, you can teach me then. How bout it?¡± Charles looked slightly surprised before a smile overtook his face and he nodded. He brought Six over to an open area of the forest and began by testing the bow himself. Charles was indeed a skilled archer and made the act of draw and release look effortless. His precision was excellent aswell, with every arrow impacting the makeshift target they made. Charles nodded, ¡°this is acceptable.¡± He then broke down the basics of archery. Stance and ergonomics, arrow placement, how to aim, how to hold, and most importantly in Six¡¯s opinion, how to breathe. Skill gained: Archery - Initiate - 1 Each level provides an increase of 0.5% to the damage and distance of arrows. Current increase 0.5% He had played around with bows and arrows growing up and was an average shot, now his life could depend on it. He wished he knew how to make a gun, that was always easy mode in scenarios like this, but he didn¡¯t so he went with the next best thing. He needed something that could tide him over if his mana ran out and between bows and crossbows there was no question in the superiority of bows. Yes the skill ceiling was higher but the potential output was also higher. Ranged damage was a crucial part of his ¡°build¡± and having an alternative to magic was also important, firstly because he may encounter a null magic zone, secondly because his spells required a connection to the earth, this would provide him with a counter to flying enemies. He needed to have no weaknesses. ¡°Your turn,¡± Charles said smugly. ¡°Ok, ok, lemme see.¡± Six pulled an arrow back and shot. While most of the arrows hit the target, some missed. ¡°Not too bad but I need to practice. Where did you learn archery? You¡¯re quite good.¡± Charles¡¯ face was proud until Six asked that question, still the lad answered. ¡°My school educated me in several martial arts. I was the number two Archer in my cohort.¡± ¡°That¡¯s pretty fucking good.¡± Six let it drop, if Charles wanted to talk about it he would¡­ probably, Six wasn¡¯t too sure on the social dynamics of this world. He kept actively practicing, with focus and attention. He asked Charles to hit him with criticism and actively corrected his imperfections. By the end of the half hour of training he had gained another level. Skill Increase: Archery - Initiate - 2 Six handed the bow to Charles and the young lad tried to refuse it. ¡°No, you are more skilled with this than I. We need to be at our best, that means you need this bow.¡± Charles looked guilty but nodded and accepted the bow and its quiver full of arrows. Then it was time for the river crossing. Alison had organized things extremely quickly and the large group of people were ready to be ferried in groups of nine as Kali could only cover ten people with the waterwalk spell. With all the people and animals it would take just under thirty trips to complete the crossing. Indigo handed Six, Denny, and Charles a potion each, the potion was a swarthy blue and somewhat cloudy, Six inspected it. - Potion of Water Breathing - Rank:Average Rarity:Unusual Weight - 0.1 kg Durability 10/10 Traits: When ingested changes the user respiratory medium to water for 10 minutes. Skill increase: Inspect - Initiate - Level 8 Nice, hopefully he wouldn''t have to use this but nearly drowning once was enough, he put it in his spatial. Six, Denny and Charles were in the first wave brought across by Kali Kik, along with a few of the martial settlers. They were dropped off and Denny brought the two of them along for a quick scout of the area. They checked the immediate vicinity for signs of beasts or people with Denny quietly rambling his inner workings out for Six and Charles to absorb. It was cut short as yells from the river brought them back. It took them seconds to return and glimpse the monsters that were attacking from the water. Small bipedal fish people, scaled in a variety of bright colours. They wore rudimentary clothing that looked made of kelp. They bore spears and hatchets made of stone, some held rocks to throw. They were unimposing as a single creature but had amassed in the hundreds. They were emerging on to land from the shallows, some had their heads poking out of the middle of the river. Kali Kik and Narhurin were still acting as a ferry and guard but on the far side was Alison and the rest of the soldiers. Six felt paralyzed for a moment, the majority of settlers were family or crafters and could not fight. They were horribly outnumbered and if the Koatl focused on one side of the river at a time they could be obliterated. Luckily, it seemed the numerous creatures swarmed with no strategy at all. He had to draw the Koatl¡¯s attention away from the non-combatants, as the few martials on this side were doing. He ran in and analyzed the first Koatl he came upon. Slar Kut Koatl Level 0 Level zero? Time to smash! He drew back and brought forth his glaive, swinging it across his body with all his might. Slar Kut attempted to defend with its spear but the brittle stick was shorn in two and Slar Kut himself was sliced open, it squeaked and screeched in shrill pain, guts spilling to the ground. ¡°Haaaaaaa!¡± Six screamed at the surrounding enemies and swung his weapon in large circles. ¡°Come get some!¡± He began to analyze each and every single one. The Koatl swarmed and Six slashed without restraint, laying about himself and cross checking any little fish people that got close. A quick cross check to the face sent them sprawling followed by a viscous overhead swing to end the fish things. Six glanced over to the other side and saw the soldiers holding their own, protecting the waiting settlers. Aclo the Aelf and Jebbedo the Halfling juked and jived, slashing away with shortswords and daggers. Irduth tore Koatl apart with his Chains of Kynairos the conjured chains flew about grabbing and wrenching, bludgeoning and lashing. Irduth yelled his praise for his god while dispensing the slaughter. The sardonic Bark summoned wolves of sticks and rock. The sharp stones and branches weaving into facsimiles of the lupine creatures, they bounded forward to spread pain they would never feel. Keegan waded forward to clash with a bone and feather covered Koatl, larger than the rest and who wielded a steel spear. The large Chieftain Koatl pressed Keegan hard with a series of strikes Six would not have been able to defend against, the large man deftly deflected them all with his shield. Analyze Successful! Geb Blurg Koatl Level 13 There was nothing to do but focus on his immediate problems and with the appearance of the Chieftain came another powerful Koatl. This kelp covered newcomer stood tall, waving a staff and with it came a surging volume of water. Six analyzed. Unc Blop Koatl Level 11 Shva Water Elemental Level 3 Charles fired an arrow at the staff wielder and Six¡¯s heart rose at the initiative but fell when the arrow broke upon a shield of water that sprang up. The Koatl was a spellcaster and had magical defenses. Six cross checked an encroaching Koatl and winced when he heard the crunch of its face. He ended it with a quick stab. ¡°Can you handle the elemental?¡± Six asked of Charles. ¡°I don¡¯t know how,¡± the kid said. Six nodded. ¡°Then keep the mage¡¯s attention. Try not to die.¡± Where was Denny? Six looked around but couldn¡¯t see the old man anywhere. It didn¡¯t matter, he needed to fight. He ran towards the roiling pool of water and began to kite it away. The Koatl mage had begun to fire water bolts and Six didn¡¯t want to get hit with a stray. Gathering the elemental¡¯s aggro was a challenge but several glaive slashes were enough to draw it attention. He drew it along looking at the way it moved and responded to the slashes. It was quite regenerative and any slash he made was near instantly melded back. He needed to find its weakness, he looked at it and looked for anything he could target, he spotted a refracted nexus, a condensed core of water. Skill increase: Perception - Initiate - Level 2 It was something to attack so Six stabbed forward with all his might and the glaive sunk partially before halting, the elemental writhed and the glaive was torn from Six¡¯s hands. He was strong but this elemental must have invested everything into strength. Six jumped back but was still too slow as the elemental lashed out and grasped his leg. It constricted and bit into Six¡¯s ankle, eliciting a cry of pain from the burly man. ¡°Fuck!¡± His mind went to draw a weapon from his ring but the thing quickly dragged him closer, enveloping his legs and placing them under vice-like pressure. He did the next thing his mind jumped to. ¡°Stone Wall!¡± and stone erupted from the earth beneath them, beneath the core of the beast. The wall rose and bisected the Elemental, impacting the core and shearing the blob in two. Six was rewarded with the death prompt and the elemental immediately lost cohesion, releasing his bruised and twisted legs. Surprisingly he had only lost 65 health. Six struggled to his feet and gritted out some deep breaths to reset but abruptly threw himself out of the way of an incoming water bolt, that one movement ate up a significant portion of his endurance. His endurance regen was massive and it quickly refilled but he couldn¡¯t perform more than three of those leaps before he would be out of endurance and that was clearly bad. He wondered if he could outlast the casters mana, he decided against it, the Koatl being higher leveled than him meant more resources at their disposal. Unless¡­ He had 435 health remaining and 88 mana after that last Stone Wall. Six pulled out one of those minor mana potions and chugged it, it tasted of salt and potato, savoury. The concoction worked immediately and his mana poll began to quickly fill up. He casted a Stone Spear and saw the spike blast towards the fish man only for the water shield to erode it down. The Shaman noticed and focus his destruction upon Six. Six dodged a few volleys before being blasted in the breastplate by a waterbolt. It sent him flying and took off 30 health bringing him down to 405, Six wondered how brutal it would have been without the protective plate but he wasted no time and got back up to the sound of a chanting Koatl. The little guy was gathering a sphere of water for some big, long cast time spell, and if a spell had a long casting time it was a doozy. Six couldn¡¯t let this thing go off or it would be devastating. He couldn¡¯t stop the caster behind its shield but maybe he could contain the spell, but to do that he would might need to utilize some super illegal magic, he glanced at Irduth who was busy dealing with problems on the opposite side of the river. The mana potion was still giving him increased mana regen and Six hoped it would be enough. Six breathed deep and centered himself, he needed to do this perfectly and he hadn¡¯t blood casted yet but the knowledge of the system should make this possible. He pulled off his gauntlets and wiggled his fingers before cracking them, He didn¡¯t want the somatic components impeded. He cast Stone Wall once, twice, three times, the three walls joining together to begin containing the shaman. But unfortunately, he had no mana remaining. Six felt exposed but the only other choice was to let this fuckers spell go off. That first blood cast felt like thorns pulling across his body, something he was familiar with. Still he kept his mind focused, singular in purpose, he did not focus on the objective of the Koatl Shaman rather he followed the functions inlaid within him. He transformed his life into mana and funneled it into his spell. He screamed the incantation as the second blood cast brought him to his knees, his mind reeled at the pain but there was a part that also reveled in the power. Power demonstrated as the spell the Koatl tried to cast was confined to a sealed area. All five walls joined together to create a box. Not long after, whatever spell it was released a thrumming boom and the chamber Six created blew outward with broken stone and a slurry of reddish water rushing in all directions. A death prompt graced Six¡¯s attention. You have killed level 11 Unc Blop. Experience gained 3389. Holy crap that''s a lot of experience, there were skill prompts as well. Skill increase: Blood Magic - Initiate - Level 2 Skill increase: Blood Casting - Initiate - Level 2 Six held his weapon aloft and bellowed. ¡°HAAAAAAAAAaaaaa.¡± The fish people hesitated for a moment, then an arrow from Charles came slicing in and piercing one in the chest. It went down and a ripple was felt amongst their ranks. Six glanced to the opposite shore to see Keegan respectfully laying the throttled and lifeless Chieftain down to their final rest. The rest of the Koatl fled. Many were wounded, some were injured to the point of infirmity. A few had died, Settlers who fought. Six felt ill, the smell of blood and breath was thick in the air and he was immersed in it. He looked about and felt emotions come on. He looked at them inside himself, anger, frustration, triumph, shame. Anger and frustration at his weakness and lack of ability, triumph at his survival, shame that he felt accomplished for surviving while others did not. He felt them but did his best to let them pass, this was to be expected, this was his first true battle and he was not perfect. He would be affected despite his best efforts to control himself. People were moaning in pain but they had people at their sides helping, he had other work to do. He nodded at Charles who nodded back and then Six pulled a dagger and began to butcher the closet Koatl. He cut into its thoracic cavity and dug about but could not find a Mana Core. ¡°Koatl don¡¯t have Mana Cores,¡± came the voice of Denny. Six turned to find the Ranger close behind him, a strange dog sized chipmunk in his hand. ¡°Where did you go?¡± asked Six as levelly as he could, he could never completely control his tone and in his attempt many times it overcorrected into a harsh coldness. Denny tossed the creature to the ground ¡°Pack of these things tried to pick off the non combatants.¡± ¡°So you went to help them?¡± ¡°You were fine,¡± Denny said. ¡°Was I?¡± Six asked coldly. Denny gave Six a teasing grin, ¡°would you have preferred I stayed here babysitting you while these fine folk died?¡± Six sighed and breathed deep. Denny was not his enemy. Their transaction was not worth the lives of others. Six was just emotional from the conflict, and he was alive so Denny¡¯s absence was fine in the end. ¡°No, sorry, I¡¯m just shook.¡± Denny raised an eyebrow. ¡°Shook?¡± ¡°This battle did a number on my nerves.¡± ¡°Ah,¡± Denny nodded. ¡°That goes away the more you fight, the more you live, I¡¯d have thought you would have been more ¡®shook¡¯ but you are handling it well.¡± Six shrugged and stood from the Koatl. ¡°So no Mana Core and if monsters have Mana Cores does that mean we killed a bunch of people?¡± Denny shrugged. ¡°Technically I suppose but what else could we do about it? The Koatl don¡¯t talk and they are pretty dumb.¡± ¡°Does them being stupid make it ok?¡± ¡°Nah, them trying to kill us makes it ok.¡± Six grunted at that. Hard to argue that one. 1.15 Weakness It took Kali Kik another hour or so to finish the transportation of the settlers. She was consistently taking mana potion after mana potion but managed to get everyone and their animals across. She rested while the villagers thanked her profusely, her acceptance of their praise was a humble nod and reserved a smile. Many thanked Six aswell, he waved them away, there was a part of him that was angry that they were here at all but he swiftly crushed that part of himself. If he needed help, he would want someone to help him, they needed help so he must help. He could have run, they did not own him, he had not needed to risk his life for them, but he did. There was a selfish part of himself that wanted to leave them behind, lead them astray, away from the glade he had descended into. He had no more right to this place than any of them, almost less so seeing as their previous leaders had chosen the area before him. That being said wherever he ended up building his shack would be his and he would defend it, he liked the idea of having something for himself. No one said anything about his use of blood casting. Perhaps no one had noticed or perhaps they did not understand the magic he used. But not even Irduth had not approached him so Six felt like his second gamble paid off. The settlers set up camp and Six threw up his dope tent. - Jackdog Tent of Comfort - Rank:Average Rarity:Unusual Weight - 4 KG Durability 90/90 Traits: Made from the hides of Jackdogs this tent protects its user from the elements and improves comfort and rest. It was simple to set up and with the bedroll very comfortable. This time it was a bit more difficult as his hands were shaking. He needed to calm down, he looked at himself, his jaw clenched, his breaths short. He was short and his temper was flaring, that was unhelpful, for him and for those around him. He pulled out his smokeweed and pipe. He busted the flower and saved the seeds, he had accumulated about a bunch of them now, placing them into a little jar. Denny had been hovering nearby and spotted what Six was doing. ¡°Is now the time to be doing that?¡± The old man asked. ¡°Yes. I¡¯ve seen you do as much.¡± Six reminded him. ¡°Hmmm. Ok.¡± Denny came and sat down next to Six. ¡°Yeah buddy,¡± Six said with lethargic sarcasm, making fun of the situation. Denny just sat in companionable silence as Six performed his ritual of relaxation. He busted and packed. A part of him said to not turn to the psychedelic, he knew he was self-medicating, he also knew of the detriments for him. This body was new, fresh, unfettered by the connections of the previous, yet he wanted to drive it to do the same compulsive habits. He thought about what he would feel after the first toke. A fresh start meant giggles and optimistic apathy. That would be nice. Then it would end and he would be once again mired in his feelings, muted and controlled as they were. He knew that it wouldn¡¯t be truly enough unless he was constantly high. Wake and bake, smoke and toke, smoke two joints and all that. He brought the pipe to his lips and with a burning tinder, inhaled. He glanced at Denny and offered the pipe to the old man who took it with an appreciative smile before taking a hearty toke himself. ¡°Not bad,¡± the old ranger said. ¡°Nah man, it¡¯s shit. Like single A quality, my mom smoked this shit.¡± Still when Denny passed it back Six took another deep lungful and observed his vision tremble. ¡°May I have some?¡± The cultured pronunciation of Charles revealed the kid standing nearby, The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°How old are you?¡± Fourteen What would your parents say? Charles looked corned, his eyes darted around looking for an answer before falling. He gave a shake of his head with an embarrassed smile. Six knew that smile. A smile that blossomed from pain, like laughter from trauma. ¡°Sorry Charles, ask me again when you turn into a man.¡± ¡°I am a man.¡± Six wanted to say something irreverent and condescending but inhibited himself, Charles didn¡¯t need that. He was just a kid, a good one. ¡°Why do you wanna smoke?¡± He went to pass Denny the pipe but the old man gestured that he was fine. Six inhaled another one. Charles shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know, you¡¯re smoking.¡± Six coughed. ¡°Why do you care about what I¡¯m doing? I don¡¯t know anything, you know more than me I¡¯m sure. You think this stuff is good for you?¡± ¡°You¡¯re smoking it,¡± Charles said as if that was evidence of the action¡¯s benignness. ¡°People engage in self destructive behaviours all the time Charles. I¡¯m smoking it because I have done so to cope for many years. It is not healthy to do so.¡± ¡°Then stop?¡± Charles suggested with a bit of confusion. ¡°No.¡± Six didn¡¯t want to, he knew that and now that he was nicely stoned he didn¡¯t care that it was bad for him. He giggled and clapped, ¡°I don¡¯t think I can. Not forever. But, so far I am doing well in moderation.¡± He giggled again, the giggle wouldn¡¯t last forever, neither would his dreams, nor would this feeling. No, he knew it wouldn¡¯t last, but he didn¡¯t need it to. He just wanted to relax and he had accomplished that, now his inebriated mind needed to be focused to continue forward with his goals. ¡°What can you guys tell me about race evolutions?¡± ¡°Tch, they¡¯re difficult to achieve. You should focus on getting to your class first,¡± Denny grunted. Charles got straight to the point. ¡°Every twenty levels brings about the ability to evolve oneself. Evolution brings an increase to the returns of each attribute point but also, sometimes more importantly, brings an evolution ability and sometimes unlocks Gifts if they are not already present.¡± Six had a Gift, his Unbound Comprehension was a Gift. ¡°Neither of you should worry bout an evolution until at least level 15!¡± Charles shook his head. ¡°Many Elites of the Empire say otherwise, I do not doubt your wisdom but Titus Belloro says that the deeper the foundation the higher the heights. The knowledge itself will not hurt him.¡± Denny nodded and leaned back to listen. ¡°Upon reaching level twenty you will be given a choice, a choice based on your choices. The options you get for a racial evolution are weighted by many things, the clear known ones are skills, attributes, achievements and most importantly objects. Trusted items and materials or reagents of great power can be used to aid this transformation and increase the options of evolutions. Fusing with an object will also decrease the experience deficit you will experience after evolving.¡± ¡°I could like¡­ fuse with a shovel?¡± Six asked. ¡°Ah, eh, if that shovel was of sufficient power, then yes. It might open up an evolution related to digging or whatever materials the item was made with.¡± ¡°Experience deficit?¡± ¡°A state of negative experience points. It is a result of the rarity of evolution and it is reduced by the rarity of the item.¡± ¡°The rarer the better?¡± ¡°Not necessarily no, but in general yes.¡± By now Denny had leaned in and was listening. ¡°Any famous evolved people?¡± Six asked. ¡°The Emperor was twice evolved,¡± Charles offered immediately. ¡°And he still got got eh?¡± Six winced in jest. ¡°Eer yes. Juthe-wei Yudinzo is once evolved, hopefully soon he will attain twice evolved status.¡± ¡°Hopefully? Why hopefully?¡± That didn¡¯t make any sense, wasn¡¯t he a usurper? ¡° The Hynyk Empress is also twice evolved. A warrior and the apex of her society, she will hear of the weakness in the Empire and send her legions. Now that he has taken the throne Juthe-wei must be strong enough to meet her.¡± ¡°But the Emperor was twice evolved and he got got. It can''t be all that important.¡± ¡°Octario Advent was murdered and betrayed by those he trusted the most.¡± Charles spat on the ground to make his disgust evident. ¡°Mmmmhm, anybody else?¡± Six grunted. Charles was controlled to hope for the advancement of someone who he clearly hated. ¡°Grand General Marcus of the Zleenish armies is once evolved and there is also the Master Bounty Hunter, Zanzibar Jones, almost all the archmages are evolved. Arch Mage Boot is nearing twice evolved I heard and his protege Arch Mage Alice is well on her way to twice evolved as well. Most nobles and many heads of organizations and cities are at least once evolved and even some cloutless vagabonds have been known to be once or in extremely rare cases twice evolved. It is the single most significant aspect of growth within a person''s means.¡± ¡°But, you need dope items to advance properly right?¡± ¡°You don''t need¡­ dope¡­ items no.¡± But the process is much better if you do have those items? ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Sounds much harder if you have no resources.¡± ¡°It is, and more dangerous.¡± Six nodded. ¡°As long as we are on the same page.¡± Charles looked confused. ¡°What page?¡± ¡°Ah nevermind,¡± Six yawned, he felt satisfied with his current knowledge, he just quietly chilled with Denny and Charles before fatigue set in and he said his goodbyes, ¡°I¡¯m going to bed.¡± This day was alot to internalize but somewhere in the torrent of his hazy thoughts he managed to fall asleep. 1.16 Enchantments 25 Astra 10,391 On their fourth day of the trip Six found the morning training unremarkable but satisfying. His Heavy Armor, Perception, Survival and Herbalism all went up as Denny tutored him and Charles in the ways of the forest, Herbalism actually went up by two. When midday came and they regrouped with the marching column Six hunted down the Lizardfolk Vrill soldier known as Kali Kik. She was seated amongst the other soldiers and they all turned to regard the incoming Six. ¡°Criminal and draft dodger.¡± Irduth nodded at Six. ¡°Praise be Kynairos,¡± Six replied, flashing Irduth a peace sign. ¡°I was hoping to speak to you,¡± he said, pointing at Kali Kik. ¡°Oh,¡± she said softly and looked at Six expectantly. They stared at each other for a bit, Six not wanting to explain in detail in front of Irduth. ¡°Didja give any thought to my proposal Six?¡± asked Gatbark. His giant boar asleep at his side. Six looked at him before rolling out a short, ¡°No.¡± He was done with the staring contest. ¡°Can we speak privately?¡± he asked Kali kik. ¡°Take her out to dinner first,¡± the halfling named Jebbedo snickered. Six looked at the little man. ¡°No. That¡¯s not what this is going to be.¡± He then gestured to the Vrill woman to join him to the side. ¡°What?¡± Irduth hissed. ¡°Do not seek to include our compatriot in your illicit activities. Speak your lies and threats infront of us all.¡± ¡°Irduth, I don¡¯t think I could take any of you.¡± Six said, hands splayed upwards in a I dunno position. ¡°Not with an attitude like that,¡± Narhurin who wore the dark dragon plate guffawed. He had removed his helm, the only piece of armor he had ever removed. The man''s features were beautiful and noble, his upturned ears spoke of Tsuken Aelf lineage but his square jaw said human. ¡°I see you use a glaive. I use a too glaive. Care to train sometime? Keegan is a training monster but its always fun to train with new people.¡± ¡°Narhurin,¡± Irduth growled. ¡°Come on Irduth this man has been fighting for and helping these people. A little martial training couldn¡¯t hurt anyone.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Six interjected. ¡°I¡¯ll take you up on that when I have the time, but, well actually, I was hoping to ask you Kali Kik if you would be willing to teach me to enchant.¡± ¡°Kali,¡± Irduth growled. ¡°Now that is most definitely against imperial doctrine.¡± Kali Kik pursed her thin lips and shook her head at Irduth. ¡°Narhurin is correct, we should be helping these people prepare for their new life.¡± She inclined her head at Six. ¡°I shall help you but I empower more than I enchant. Enchanting requires many resources. As such there is not much I can teach you, I am but an initiate in Enchanting and am only capable of natural enchanting.¡± ¡°Kali, no,¡± Irduth hissed. ¡°You are going against the empire!¡± ¡°Does it really matter Irduth?¡± Indigo asked. ¡°We have more important things to care about than the spell use of some random mountain man.¡± ¡°Does it matter?¡± Irduth seemed bewildered. ¡°I would expect more from the Gwenwynn scion.¡± ¡°How does my lineage change our priorities, Irduth?¡± Keegan cut in with his deep, smooth voice. ¡°Having a more capable population amongst these settlers would be ideal. Them having access to enchanted items even at the natural level would improve the survivability of this venture and we need them to be self-sufficient in that respect.¡± Six shook his head. ¡°I am not a part of these people. More like a middleman guide more than anything.¡± ¡°Then teach this drifter nothing!¡± Irduth shouted. ¡°He refuses to take responsibility.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t get mad because I don¡¯t want to be conscripted into your little army. I am not a slave.¡± ¡°I was a slave,¡± Gatbark said. ¡°S¡¯not so bad. I earned my freedom in thirty years or so.¡± Six held up a finger in thought. ¡°Or¡­ or¡­ Fuck that.¡± ¡°Changed your mind about my proposition Six?¡± Gatbark asked. ¡°Nope.¡± ¡°Ah well, think about it.¡± ¡°Think about what Gatbark?¡± Irduth asked. ¡°Oh you know¡­¡± Gatbark trailed off and rubbed his giant boar. Six looked about at these people before returning his gaze to Kali Kik. ¡°Well?¡± ¡°I have no objections to teaching you the basics. Do you have any affinity for enchanting?¡± ¡°Nice!¡± Six made a fist in victory. ¡°And I don¡¯t know my affinities. What do you want and when do you wanna lay down the knowledge?¡± Kali Kik smiled. ¡°Walk with me when the march begins and I will teach you, I do not need anything to help you. When we camp I will guide you through a practical application.¡± Gatbark groaned. ¡°My purse cries at your idiocy Kali Kik, you hurt all tradespeople with your freely given labour.¡± ¡°Dope,¡± Six said. ¡°Thank you very much.¡± He inclined his head at her and went to tell Denny he needed to skip the next scouting session. The old man was surprised. ¡°I didn¡¯t think you would find an enchanter willing to teach you. No refunds, I expect full payment even if you are skirting my teachings.¡± ¡°I need to start training this now if I hope to raise this to my highest skill.¡± Denny waved the explanation away. ¡°It¡¯s ok, it¡¯s not like you¡¯re wasting time. Can''t let yah go after this though, you do your enchanting on your own time. When we camp yeah?¡± ¡°No problemo,¡± Six said in his thickest russian accent. Denny lifted an eyebrow at that but nodded and took Charles away. The break ended and the marching began again. Six took up pace with Kali Kik and the human and Vrill began to discuss the basics of enchanting. Kali spoke slowly and with meaning. ¡°Enchanting is the imbuement of an item with mana in such a way that an effect is present. The simplest being natural enchantment. Now you may think that my Flame Enhance was an enchantment but that would be wrong. It was a conjuration, to imbue the conjuration into an item would be runic enchanting and is more complex than natural enchanting. Which is simply gathering mana within yourself and then slowly infusing it into an item.¡± ¡°That sounds pretty simple.¡± ¡°It is the basic essence of enchanting but there are constraints and other considerations to the art.¡± ¡°Such as?¡± ¡°Constraints like the size and materials of whatever you are enchanting being capable of withstanding the chosen level of enchantment. Catastrophic arcane decontainment is not rare.¡± ¡°Is that like an explosion?¡± ¡°Yes. For example,¡± she picked up a stick. ¡°Fir,¡± Six identified. Skill Increase: Herbalism - Initiate - 5 She nodded. ¡°This stick can be enchanted and depending on what attuned mana you infused into it, different effects would manifest. Very minor effects. A more magically attuned material would be able to accept a more significant enchantment. My Flame Enhance could be placed on any weapon regardless of the materials of the weapon, as the energies are shrouding the item not suffusing it, an advantage. There is also the advantage of materials, I do not need any materials for the conjuration to be applied. For even the most basic enchantments you require mana cores for the enchantment process alongside your own mana. Additionally, certain enchantments require additional mana cores to recharge its expended power, normal spellcasting does not require this, an advantage.¡± Stolen novel; please report. ¡°But they are permanent?¡± She nodded. ¡°An advantage in favor of enchantments.¡± ¡°And anyone can use them?¡± ¡°Generally.¡± He gestured for her to continue. ¡°Simple Fir is a common material and is only capable of holding minor rank spells. Golden Wood is an unusual material and could hold moderate rank spells. The higher the quality of material also allows for higher caps of enchantment. I am not skilled enough to teach you all the intricacies of the interactions between materials, complexity and size.¡± ¡°Size? A general explanation of anything you know?¡± ¡°The smaller the object the more difficult it is to infuse it properly and the larger the enchantment, the larger your personal overall contribution must be. That increase is also present with increasing the rank of spell enchantment you are seeking to imbue. This is why enchanters have covens, to assist in the transfer of mana during grander enchantments. I¡¯ve heard that classed Enchanters have perks that can mitigate such factors.¡± ¡°Nice.¡± ¡°You also need certain perks for certain kinds of enchantments. Spells and Runes won¡¯t do everything.¡± This was to be expected, things were never so simple. ¡°Not so nice but that''s ok. How do I learn runes.¡± ¡°You are taught them or unlock them at class milestones. You can also create your own but that is said to be incredibly difficult.¡± Ok, so gaining a vast library of enchantment options could be difficult but that was all in the future, he needed to focus on the first smallest step. ¡°How do I infuse mana?¡± Kali smiled. ¡°Gather mana within yourself and decide if you want to attune it.¡± ¡°How do I attune mana?¡± ¡°When you go to cast that stone spear spell of yours, there is a process in which you change your mana into earth based energies. It is one of the the first steps of the casting process, You can either use the initial gathered mana or transform it into something else. The effect of the natural imbuement would be different for differently attuned mana. I am capable of infusing fire earth and life attuned mana. They all produce similar yet different effects.¡± Six thought about his spell and broke down the implanted functions within his head. There was a step where the general energies within him were almost vibrated, almost hummed into being something different before they were forced through the magical functions. He thought he could do just that, gather and warp it into something else. He felt confident that it was correct. Skill Gained: Enchantment - Initiate - 1 Each level in Enchantment provides a 1% increase to enchantment effectiveness and enchanter flow stability. Current increase: 1% Nice. ¡°Could you show me?¡± A demonstration couldn¡¯t hurt. She shook her head. ¡°Natural enchantment is not a visual process, once runes are incorporated it becomes somewhat visual but if i were to demonstrate you would just see me holding something in complete focus. I would suggest an attempt on your part.¡± Six nodded. Kali Kik brought them to a halt and pulled them aside, allowing the column to march unimpeded. ¡°This is something that requires your complete focus. There is no reason to do such things while marching. He withdrew a dagger and a mana core from his storage and gathered pure mana, he then experimented with pushing the mana into the object. Focusing his will on the task did nothing. He attempted to move the gathered mana from his core to the hand that held the dagger. It took a few minutes but he managed a clunky manipulation of the energy in his body, aligning his focus with his breath and pushing the ball of energy down a visualized pathway through his body and into his hand. Just like in the engrained spells. Just like in the stories. His hand tingled with arcane power but still it did not flow into the dagger. He grimaced in annoyance. He pushed the energies in different ways but it was the reexamining of his stone spells that gave him the answer. When the casting completed the mana actually flowed from his hand to the closest aspect of the ground, it emitted from his body. Until that point, in his experimentation he had not actually projected it from his body, he attempted to break down that aspect of his spell knowledge and soon figured out how to emit small blips of arcane mana. He fed the tiniest blip of mana into the dagger and was presented with a prompt. You are attempting to enchant a Common Mundane Iron Dagger with a Minor Aura of Force. This will require 100 mana and one Mundane Common Mana Core to complete. No suitable reagent detected. Would you like to begin this enchantment now? Yes/No? Six smiled. He nodded at Kali Kik in thanks and selected yes. Immediately he felt the draw of mana from both him and the core he held. A progress bar appeared in his mind and it filled up sporadically as he pushed out bubbles of mana into the blade. His progress quickly rose to 32% but something went wrong and the mana core he held shattered. He was then presented with a failure screen. The enchantment had failed, on the failure screen there was the message of failure but also an efficiency rating, he was rated at 13% efficiency. That was shit, he would need to fix that. ¡°You failed,¡± Kali Kik remarked, no malice in her voice. ¡°That I did, that''s ok, I¡¯m learning. Do you know any prompts on the actual process?¡° ¡°Prompts?¡± ¡°Like practical tips, cues.¡± She thought for a second. ¡°Do not rush but do not tarry. Infuse your mana as if you were pouring a pot of tea, smooth and graceful.¡± Six nodded, he had been sporadic with how he fed it with his mana and it had ruined everything. He waited about ten minutes for his mana to refill before he pulled out another mana core. He fed but a drop of his mana into the blade and was presented with the same prompt, he pressed yes but was ready this time. He pushed the mana out in a large exhalation and he continued to push on the inhalation. The pressure was his breathing and he fed a stream of mana into the blade. His excitement rose and he smiled in triumph, he pushed, he pushed too far. The dagger gave few signs and Six was bewitched by what he was doing, his focus completely on the flow on mana. What he could not ignore was the shattering of the weapon. The failure was a catastrophic explosion and his face took a few hits of shrapnel, his hand was shredded but it surprisingly still worked. He was kinda surprised he didn¡¯t die. No settlers were injured but Six¡¯s howls of pain drew interested onlookers. It took a while for Kali Kik to extract most of the metal with her only stopping so they could keep pace with the rear of the marching train. If it wasn¡¯t for her, he might have lost an eye. Six borrowed her tweezers and picked out the last few shards as he walked. It hurt but he didn¡¯t want those things left in there and he was afraid his skin might envelope them completely. Kali explained that success was a range and the enchantment would have most likely set, his mistake lie in pushing past the safe mana limits of the enchantment and material constraints. His mind immediately went to the mix maxing opportunities of walking the line of catastrophic failure and the stat returns of a maximally overclocked piece of gear. Six could see how something like enchantment would be incredibly resource dependent. He had but eleven mana cores and now after those two attempts he only had nine, with nothing to show for it. Did he have the affinity for it? He must have because he learned the skill easily enough. He was just fucking it up. He needed to leave it alone for a bit. That explosion pissed him off and he was too emotional to focus properly. He needed to get his mind off of that particular failure. ¡°What are you all about?¡± he asked Kali Kik. ¡°How¡¯s being a soldier?¡± ¡°I hesitate to call myself that during these troubled times. I find life as fluid as usual.¡± She smiled. ¡°It is not bad. I am but a simple druid. I care for the people and for our animals. What of you? Alison has called you a drifter who knows the way.¡± ¡°Me? I¡¯m living the dream, and drifter would be more accurate than not I suppose.¡± ¡°Hmm, and you did not ask for compensation?¡± ¡°I already took more from them than I feel comfortable with.¡± ¡°Ah yes, Alison told us of that too. Even still, good on you for not taking and going on your own path.¡± ¡°I am on my own path, it just happens to be the same way they want to go.¡± She shrugged. ¡°It is nice to see nonetheless. I think you should continue to help these people.¡± ¡°Is that why you helped me with enchanting? If you think I¡¯m gonna pass it on, sure, but I would have rather just paid you.¡± ¡°My help comes with no obligation attached.¡± ¡°Then you can help them. I don¡¯t know how much time I¡¯ll have for charity in the near future.¡± She shook her head. ¡°Me and my friends will not always be here. There needs to be competent people who can protect and guide, you have been such a figure in the protection of this group and I think you should continue doing as such. It¡¯s nice.¡± ¡°Look lady, I ain¡¯t doing it to be nice. I know I have a duty to my fellow folk and I¡¯ll help if it¡¯s not gonna kill me but me and these people? We are just crossing paths. What are you soldiers even doing here if youre just gonna immediately fuck off?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t tell you that. I can only tell you that soon, most of us will be departing and these people will still need protection.¡± ¡°They can figure it out when that time comes.¡± Kali Kik pursed her lips in disapproval but nodded. ¡°Why¡¯d you become a soldier?¡± Six asked, genuinely curious. ¡°I sought to leave my old life behind and become someone new.¡± ¡°Mind if I ask who you used to be?¡± She smiled and shook her head. ¡°I used to be a caretaker at the Arkorjian Menagerie. I could no longer do that so I left Arkorjia and joined the legions.¡± Six could recognize purposeful vagueness and didn¡¯t pry any further into her reasoning. ¡°Arkorjia was your home?¡± She nodded. ¡°It is home to us frilled Vrill. A lovely lush place deep in the jungles to the south east, far away from here,¡± she said wistfully. ¡°Sounds nice.¡± ¡°It¡¯s very nice.¡± ¡°Frilled Vrill imply the existence of other types of Vrill.¡± She nodded. ¡°There are the horned Vrill of Salazhar. They were far more accepting of outsiders than my people.¡± ¡°Were?¡± ¡°War has a tendency to make people angry and mistrustful.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯ve heard. Never had to deal with it personally though.¡± ¡°Consider yourself lucky.¡± ¡°I do.¡± They continued like this until it was time to camp. A bit more enchanting knowledge was exchanged but it was mostly small chit chat. Six bid Kali Kik goodbye and left to assemble his tent. He finished with his set up and found an isolated area where he could still be monitored by the settlers in case the thing exploded again. Six considered practicing on a stick but instead pulled out another dagger and mana core then attempted the enchantment once more. You are attempting to enchant a Common Mundane Iron Dagger with a Minor Aura of Force. This will require 100 mana and one Mundane Common Mana Core to complete. No suitable reagent detected. Would you like to begin this enchantment now? Yes/No? He selected yes and began feeding the instant draw on his mana. He stilled himself and just focused on the smooth pouring of the energies but it was not enough. He could not overfill this item. He split his focus and the pour trembled and warbled, it oscillated. But he felt the object hum with power, a building resonance as he filled it with energies, there was a minimum threshold and a maximum limit to that resonance, a threshold he must achieve and a limit he could not exceed. He had to pay attention to both aspects and with the splitting of focus came a reduction in quality in either. His pouring of his mana became uneven and created ripples, and he felt lost in the crescendo of pitch he felt emanating from the dagger. But he persisted and pushed through the doubt. Enchantment successful. You have successfully enchanted a Common Mundane Iron Dagger with a Minor Aura of Force with an efficiency rating of 10% creating a, - Iron Dagger of Force - Rank: Mundane Rarity: Unusual Weight - 0.4 KG Durability 86/86 Traits: 10% chance to apply +1 force damage, 20/20 charges, one charge expended when effect activated Skill increase: Enchantment - Initiate - 2 He had done it. ¡°Yeeeeeaaaa BUDDAAAAAY!¡± The entire process lasted maybe three to five minutes of slow deliberate channeling. One hundred and eleven mana was used, more than what was reported by the prompt. This was just swell. Just golly great. Fucking awesome. Charles came over. ¡°What are you shouting about Six?¡± ¡°Oh hey Charles, how was the rest of your day with Denny?¡± The kid grimaced. ¡°He sure likes to lead people into traps.¡± ¡°What did we learn?¡± Six asked in his best Denny voice. Charles shook his head in frustration but smiled nonetheless. ¡°He did show me some slight corrections on my archery stance.¡± ¡°You hunted?¡± Charles nodded. ¡°Got any Mana Cores you wanna sell?¡± ¡°Why?¡± the young man asked it matter of factly. ¡°Check this out buddy, my first enchanted dagger.¡± Six passed it over for the kid to inspect and explained its properties. ¡°This is quite basic but still very impressive,¡± Charles laughed. ¡°Its no where near the quality of a royal enchanter but considering you just learned to do this in a forest, very good.¡± ¡°Is it? I don¡¯t care! It was my first successful attempt! I will only grow from here on out.¡± ¡°Is this what you were shouting about? How many tries did it take to succeed? Ten?¡± ¡°Yes and pshhh only two.¡± Charles nodded. ¡°I have 5 Mundane Mana Cores.¡± ¡°How much you want for them?¡± ¡°Two gold?¡± ¡°You don¡¯t sound too sure.¡± ¡°It is a fair market rate, I just don¡¯t¡­¡± ¡°You don¡¯t what?¡± ¡°Want to offend you?¡± ¡°Nah man, s¡¯all good. I hate bartering for the most part and you had my back so two gold it is.¡± Six passed the kid two more gold and with the five extra mana cores it brought him up to 13 cores to practice with. He wanted to smoke weed and practice but he held off for now. Practicing as perfectly as he could was necessary for proper growth so he didn¡¯t want the formative steps tainted by hazed practice. Maybe once he gained some confidence and competence first. He was still learning. He brought out several weapons and laid them before him, he inspected them all for durability wear and discovered that a spear and his glaive had been reduced quite significantly. Both had almost hit zero. He would need those repaired as soon as possible. He looked about for Gatbark but in scanning the camp he saw another familiar face working away at a makeshift workshop. He approached and waved at her. ¡°Hey Ravna, how¡¯s it going?¡± 1.17 Growth Mindset 25 Astra 10,391 Day 4 of trip The dark haired woman nodded at him. ¡°Hey Six, I¡¯m doing well thank you. What can I help you with?¡± Six looked at the setup she had going. ¡°Looking to get my glaive and spear repaired. I was looking for Gatbark but this looks promising.¡± ¡°Gatbark? The Meteor Dwarf soldier? He seemed more trader than soldier and more soldier than craftsman. I got a few projects but I can probably get to fixing your weapons right away. I won''t be able to repair your armor until I get a proper forge set up though.¡± Six remembered his armor and it had been taking a beating, dents and scratches were all over each piece. ¡°Really? I don¡¯t need any special treatment. I have other weapons.¡± ¡°No no, Franklin was talking about your kill on the Koatl shaman and if you¡¯re protecting us with those weapons I¡¯ll make that work a priority. I¡¯m just fixing a pot right now. You still gotta pay though.¡± ¡°Perfect.¡± He pulled the stressed weapons from his spatial and handed them to her. ¡°How much?¡± She scratched her chin in thought. ¡°Six gold.¡± ¡°That¡¯s an awfully even number.¡± ¡°You¡¯re an even number.¡± A silence extended between them before Six shrugged and handed over six gold. ¡°How long?¡± he asked. ¡°It all should be done by the morning.¡± ¡°That¡¯s quick.¡± She waved it away. ¡°Unlike your armor the damage on these weapons can be fixed easily. Besides metal working I also mend clothing. I am actually an apprentice rank sewist. If you need anything fixed.¡± She pointed at the holes in his second hand clothing. ¡°Nah I¡¯m good, maybe later. You sell clothes?¡± ¡°She nodded her head, ¡°I have little material to make clothes, but I do have some.¡± ¡°Well, everyone is a bit busy right now, could I place a deposit and you hold onto enough cloth for multiple sets of the same thing? Like five sets? Doesn¡¯t have to be fancy.¡± She nodded. ¡°Two and a half gold.¡± ¡°Cool, sewist eh? I thought you were a blacksmith to be honest.¡± ¡°I am a journeyman blacksmith, hopefully one day a master and classed Blacksmith too. I just do sewing as a hobby.¡± ¡°Why¡¯d you pick Blacksmithing? Is that a rude question?¡± She looked at him blankly for a bit before replying, ¡°I''ve never really thought about it. I had access to my family''s forge for one, and the rest is for the same reason I sew. I like the end result. I like making amazing things. I like the accolades of my customers. Does that make me vain?¡± Six shrugged. ¡°I dunno. I think the vast majority of us struggle with wanting recognition. I don¡¯t know much about the other races but humans are not naturally solitary creatures. It¡¯s pretty normal.¡± ¡°And you?¡± she asked. ¡°Me?¡± ¡°What class are you aiming for?¡± ¡°I hope to be an Enchanter but I¡¯ll go with anything really.¡± She made a face like that. ¡°Aiming for a crafter class and you¡¯re out there fighting like that?¡± Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. ¡°Ain¡¯t a better way to get experience is there?¡± She shook her head. ¡°Experience returns from skill masteries are quite low comparatively.¡± Six needed to know the specifics. ¡°Do you know the breakdown of that?¡± She looked at him like he was a fool and then nodded. ¡°You receive 100 for reaching Apprentice rank in a skill, 500 for Journeyman, 1000 for Master, I¡¯ve heard of people reaching Sage rank in the legends but I do not know of any myself. Hitting Journeyman brought me to level two.¡± 1000 for Master Rank was an extremely low return on time investment. Six had earned over 3000 EXP for the Koatl Shaman and had yet to reach apprentice in any of his skills. Granted the risk was much higher and there was a definitive loser in combat situations. Perhaps Denny was right, perhaps he should go for a combat class if he was to live out here?¡± ¡°Why Enchanter?¡± Ravna asked. ¡°Power, money.¡± ¡°Oh? Enchanting might bring you money but I doubt it will bring you power.¡± Six smiled in acknowledgement. ¡°Denny said much the same, we shall see. I¡¯ll find you in the morning?¡± he asked. Ravna nodded. ¡°See yah in the morning, Ravna.¡± She waved bye and he left, there was still time to practice enchanting. He picked his way through the dense camp and found his tent, he sat before it and withdrew the first weapon he wished to enchant. His last remaining spear. This was practice, Six had not understood practice from a growth sense while he was a young man. Growth was a conscious thing and people were not inherently born with that knowledge, even when they understood that growth was active there was still the lack of understanding how to grow. Six had taken a few post-secondary classes, one of which was a strength and conditioning class. That class had taught him many techniques to train someone and much of that focused on how people learned physically. Practice was an active conscious effort on one''s part to perfect an unconscious action. The pursuit of perfection was an important part of practice, to practice unconsciously was to invite imperfections into the craftsmanship of the memory. Practice was not the unconscious state of performance. He focused and visualized. Visualization was an aspect of practice many neglected. It wasn¡¯t that he believed in self-actualization or manifestation or anything like that, but visualization was shown to improve performance. Most professional athletes practiced visualization and the transference of mana felt like exercising a muscle. He would treat it as such. Six closed his eyes and created images within himself, a narrative he observed and internalized. He was confident as he approached the training before him, a resolute acceptance of yes. Then Six poured mana from within himself. It flowed from his hand to the weapon, filling the weapon and creating no ripples within. But there was a more stable flow¡­ laminar¡­ He did not understand the concepts that differentiated a laminar flow from a more turbulent flow but the imagery was better he felt. The teapots flow was laminar, undisturbed and serene. The weapon was a cup and he filled it to perfection, the weapon¡¯s mana would be filled to the brim. A visual of an overfilled cup, the liquid contained by surface tension, protruding past the rim of the cup ever so slightly. He tried to lock these thoughts and feelings in. One time was not enough but this was the beginning of his journey in something he really cared about. He should really have taken this much attention with everything but he had not felt the need to perform with this level of craftsmanship. He had practiced somewhat properly but that was only because he had practiced practicing before. The proper procedure had already been engrained and the result was acceptable given the disorienting change in environment. But now he was laying down the foundation for something he wished to master. Not practicing his martial arts like this was stupidity, laziness, dishonesty. He had lied to himself about what life out here would be like. The truth was he would fight until he was dead or powerful enough that nothing would challenge him. So he would grow. Skill gained: Meditation - Initiate - 1 Each level in Meditation allows an increase of 0.5% to both stamina and mana regen while in focused meditation. He smiled. He felt his mind drawn to thinking about the nature of mediation and the practices he used before, but he needed to focus and practice so he pushed that mental tangent away. He held the spear out before him and gathered pure mana, this time he tuned the resonance until it transformed into earth mana. He then fed a blip of that mana into the spear. You are attempting to enchant a Common Mundane Iron Spear with a Minor Aura of Earth. This will require 100 mana and one Mundane Common Mana Core to complete. No suitable reagent detected. Would you like to begin this enchantment now? Yes/No? Six selected yes and immediately pushed a flow of earth mana into the weapon. His mind focused on the two fundamental aspects of natural enchantment. The flow and the final magnitude. He wanted to do it perfectly the first time, not waste any materials but he knew that was unrealistic. Mistakes were a necessary part of learning and while his Unbound Comprehension allowed for him to learn and retain information easily it did not remove his ability to make mistakes. Everyone made mistakes and Six was no more or less than anyone else. Perfection was not a state that was attainable, it was an ideal that Six pursued by a continual process of refinement. This spear would not be perfect but it was the second step in his pursuit of craftsmanship. His last enchantment would not be perfect, but it would be innumerable degrees closer than these he started with. He held the flow as stable as he could, pushing it with his even breathing. His focus went back and forth, perfecting the pour and watching the rising mana. It was easier this time. He stopped the flow of mana and held the weapon in his hand. Enchantment Successful. You have successfully enchanted a Common Mundane Iron Spear with a Minor Aura of Earth with an efficiency rating of 11% creating a, - Iron Spear of Earth - Rank: Mundane Rarity: Unusual Weight - 8 KG Durability 129/129 Traits: 10% chance to apply +3 earth damage, 20/20 charges, one charge expended when effect activated It was a fine start. He reviewed his second success. It was still an abject failure in efficiency but nevertheless he felt proud and confident. He knew he could do this, he knew he could succeed at enchantment and he felt the rush of endorphins hit him from the act of creation. Considering his lack of skill and knowledge this must be a shit enchantment but Six was still proud. It was better than no enchantment. Any improvement to ability is to be grasped. He stood and stretched, before sitting back down and closing his eyes. Visualizing himself exhibiting an ease and familiarity with the fundamentals of enchanting. His mana regenerated slowly and Meditation was, at this point, a one percent increase which was negligible but Six wanted to engrain his practice onto his memory, there was no better use of his time. His mana filled and he began again, but this time he withdrew a longsword. That too was a success and yet more efficient. Skill increase: Enchantment - Initiate - 3 He practiced this way twice more before gaining another level in meditation and retiring for the night, his mind exhausted but elated. 1.18 Alita Village 26 Astra 10,391 day 5 of trip Six woke bright and early. His body felt amazing and he was excited for what new things today held. He rolled over and felt something move. ¡°Oh shit!¡± He scrambled out of the tent and got to his feet. There was something in there. He pulled his glaive from storage¡­ wait a minute he didn¡¯t have that. Enchanted spear! He pointed it at the mouth of the tent and waited for whatever parasitical monster was feeding on him last night. The tent shook and flapped open to reveal the raccoon with raised hackles, growling. It had not appreciated the rude awakening. ¡°Oh shit, thank god.¡± Six breathed a sigh of relief and pulled some food out for the bugger. A piece of jerky was all that was required and the beast calmed. Skill increase: Taming - Initiate - 4 He stretched, ate, packed up his tent and picked up his glaive and spear before finding Denny and Charles. They nodded at him and they started off ahead of everyone on this day¡¯s march, walking upstream along the general course of the river. Denny had done as he usually did and Six found traps waiting for them but he had to admit the effectiveness of the training as his perception rose by one. Denny had done more and had led them deeper into the forest for a bit before showing them an unaware monster, he then stood back. ¡±Defeat it.¡± He spoke with unwavering firmness. Neither Six nor Charles hesitated, If they were to live on the mountain they would need to be stronger than this. The monster was about 50 meters away and was a dark wolfish creature. Quadrupedal and covered in thornlike fur. It had a snout filled with razorblade teeth and it was preoccupied with a previous kill. Six analyzed it. Adult Bristle Hound Level 9 Six looked at Charles and the kid made eye contact. Six gave a nod of reassurance before gesturing that he would go in after Charles fired an arrow. The boy was initially confused but with enough gesturing understood. They both moved into a ready position and Charles drew his bow unleashing a surprise arrow from the forest. Six was already moving forward as Charles¡¯ arrow hit. Six began to cast Stone Spear and he focused most of his attention on performing the spell correctly. He didn¡¯t need to close with the beast; he needed to get as much free damage as possible and then draw aggro for Charles. The beast was struck with Charles arrow and squealed before wheeling about in the direction of the pain, it charged toward Six and straight into an erupting spike of stone coming from the forest floor. Six could see it try to dodge but it took a piercing stab to its shoulder as another arrow came and hit it. But by then it had closed the distance and Six already had his enchanted earth spear out to ward it away. He liked the glaive more but he wanted to see the effects of his enchanting, as minor and random as they may be. This monster was already wounded and there was both Six and Charles, Denny watched over them. He felt fine experimenting. Six performed a series of stabs to keep distance, the first three pierced the hide with difficulty but the fourth glowed with a dark brownish-green energy and sunk deep into the beast with almost no resistance. The Bristle hound brayed and moved forward taking the stabs, it traded with Six, tackling and sending him sliding into a nearby tree. Six managed to stay on his feet and with a trembling wheeze, held the contents of his stomach in. He barely managed to push the beast away and felt pain lance through the exposed skin on the side that was hit. The hair of this creature was more than thornlike in appearance, it had punctured Six¡¯s skin and had left the fibers embedded. It caused pain with every movement. A good chunk of his health disappeared, but there was no panic. It was just pain. The beast took another hit from Charles before it wheeled around to charge the boy. Six threw out a Stone Wall in front of the beast and the large canine collided with the erupting wall of rock. It yelped and rolled about on the ground, pawing at its nose, it''s dangerous hair particles being disturbed into a cloud of death. Six focused and aimed his gestures carefully, gathered mana internally, and incanted the words, ¡°Stone Spear.¡± A spike of jagged rock shot directly up from the forest floor, impaling the creature through its chest cavity, lifting it up and holding it aloft. The monster struggled weakly and croaked out a moan of pain. It lashed about but only sunk deeper onto the gore covered stalactite. It held still and the cloud of needle fur soon settled. Six slowly approached the dark furred bristle hound and it offered no resistance. It was dying. He raised his glaive and brought it down on the thing¡¯s exposed neck as hard as he could. He visualized cutting through, past the neck, and his swing was flawless. It was the swing of a normal man but still powerful and deadly. The wolf-like head fell. You have killed Level 9 Adult Bristle Hound. Experience gained 298 A rush of endorphins went through Six. He was good, he was deadly. Yes Charles had helped but that last Stone Spear had been devastating. Charles came circling out from behind the stone wall that Six had conjured, he had an arrow nocked. He nodded at Six, most likely having received the same kill prompt. Six butchered the creature and retrieved the Mundane Mana Core. ¡°Hey Charles, I¡¯ll trade you two silver for every one of these we harvest eh? How bout it?¡± Charles just shook his head, no. ¡°You can have them.¡± Six shook his head, no. ¡°These are valuable, right? You helped with the kill you should get something from it.¡± Charles nodded. ¡°As of right now, I am benefitting from the tutelage of Denny and the experience I gain with you. I appreciate you letting me train alongside you, I have learned much faster out here than¡­ well anyways¡­ Thank you.¡± ¡°Alright kid, twist my rubber elbow.¡± Six pocketed the Mana Core and the three of them continued forward. Six quickly checked his logs and felt a slight rush at seeing his skill gains. Skill Increase: Stealth - 3 Analyze - 4 Polearms - 5 Heavy armor - 9 Earth magic - 3 Denny found two more monsters and all five of those same skills rose once more. Six gained 863 experience altogether from those battles and Charles had leveled up. He was level 3 and his glowing face was evidence enough of his pride at achieving victory against such beasts Just before the mid day break they came upon a small hamlet next to the river. It was a collection of ramshackle huts and shacks that was contained within a wooden palisade, peopled by maybe 50 to 60 humans. They observed it from afar looking at the people trudge about their daily lives before they continued forth and found their way to what looked like a guard. A woman stood near one of the entrances in the palisade. She wore dusty and worn leathers with an old chipped sword on her hip. She was aware and as soon as Six, Charles and Denny showed themselves she approached them on an intercept course. Some grim and weathered villagers noticed and began to gather too. Six gave a wave. ¡°Howdy.¡± She gave them a searching look and nodded. ¡°Travelers, I am Chief Root. This is Alita village. May I ask why you have come to our home?¡± Six nodded, ¡°Just passing through, mind if we stop here for an hour or two?¡± ¡°There are only the mountains and wildlands past here, are you lost?¡± Six shook his head. ¡°Got an expert here,¡± he said pointing at Denny. ¡°Well, I suppose it should be ok for you three to stop for a bit. I will warn you though, there are many dangers here. If you are seeking safety you will not find it here.¡± Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. ¡°That''s fine. We just need a place to rest¡­ also there are like over two hundred of us, we¡¯re just scouting ahead. They¡¯ll be here soon, maybe a half hour or so.¡± The lady looked uncomfortable but eventually nodded. ¡°Just an hour or two?¡± she asked to confirm. Six nodded. ¡°Just so everyone catches their breath.¡± ¡°Rest quickly, then you must leave.¡± Six raised an eyebrow. ¡°You know, we don¡¯t have to stop here.¡± ¡°That may be for the best.¡± That was weird, this didn¡¯t feel like regular xenophobia. He analyzed her. Leoka root Human Level 7 She was weak for what Denny implied a chieftain should be, but that was no reason to not respect her wishes. ¡°We will be passing by in a while. We will not stop.¡± Six turned to Charles and Denny, ¡°Lets go.¡± They went to leave but Leoka stopped them. ¡°What are your purposes, passing through our land?¡± Six considered. ¡°I am not their representative but they are travellers seeking a new home, far from others and their influence. To me it sounds as though they value their freedom, so much so they are willing to put themselves in danger to achieve it. We still have alot of travel ahead of us.¡± Leoka looked conflicted. ¡°And If I refuse your passage through our lands?¡± ¡°Look lady, if you¡¯re the strongest in your village I don¡¯t even think you could stop me. There are people stronger than me in that settler train. We wouldn¡¯t attack you but you would not stop us.¡± He turned tack at Leoka¡¯s panicked face. ¡°They are nice people for the most part,¡± he tried to reassure her. Her face took on a look of resigned acceptance and stepped in close to whisper. ¡°We need help. There is a man named Amog who has styled himself a bandit lord. He killed my mother, our previous chief. The Empire has not sent anyone despite our pleas and we cannot continue to be slaves to the man. We are industrious and we help our own but something needs to change. Tell the leader of these settlers that I and my people would like to join you. Tell them of Amog, tell them that they might escape Amog¡¯s notice but more likely they too will be visited by the man. All we want is peace, stability and freedom.¡± Six nearly laughed at that last bit. ¡°You could come with me and tell her yourself.¡± Leoka gave a furtive look about. ¡°Amog¡¯s men are placed here. I wish my people to be safe. Once true strength shows itself they will scatter.¡± ¡°You don''t think they might hurt your people before running?¡± ¡°I do, but things must change.¡± She said it with a grim helplessness that Six hated. He feared that weight that she must be bearing, that burden that must constantly be worked. Six wanted to live as easy as possible. Leadership, when you approached it sincerely, was one of the heaviest burdens to bear. He could see it on her face, Leoka cared too much. ¡°I will tell them,¡± Six said. They made their way back and regrouped with the head of the column, Alison was there and Six asked her to bring it to an early stop before they reached the town, he quickly informed her of what was ahead. Alison nodded as he recounted what he learned and she stood up and signaled for the marching to resume. ¡°You gonna let them follow you guys?¡± Six asked. ¡°If I see good people then yes. Of course.¡± Six understood. Alison was a good person who was also cursed with a sincere desire to fulfill her role as a leader. From what Six saw, the people from that hamlet were fine folks from the booneys so he assumed Alison would let them tag along for the ride. Six, Charles, and Denny made their way ahead of the column once more, stopping just long enough in Alita Village to warn Leoka that Alison was close behind and to not worry. Leoka smiled at that and thanked them. Before they left Alita Village Charles stopped them and cleared his throat. ¡°Seeing as we are going to be continuing to train together, Six, there is something I would like to ask of you.¡± ¡°Shoot.¡± Charles made a face at that but nodded. ¡°I possess a skill called Battle Leader. It allows me to designate individuals to join my Battle Group. Those within my Battle Group and under my Area of influence gain buffs in accordance with those I have unlocked with Battle Group techniques. Area of Influence is a spherical area that extends from me.¡± ¡°Anything negative I should be aware of?¡± ¡°The world is more generous with experience points when you''re in a battle group. But you also share more despite one¡¯s contribution to the battle.¡± It sounded like you must be able to funnel EXP to a person who didn¡¯t contribute in a fight. Six wondered if this was a possible power leveling option? Charles offered a potential negative. ¡°The higher I am in level than you the more of your stat sheet I can see. It was described to me to be similar to the Analyze skill.¡± Six shrugged. ¡°Well, should be fine, I''m a higher level than you.¡± Charles nodded and a moment later Six was presented with a prompt. Charles Penult (Sergeant) has invited you to join his Battle Group. Yes/No? Six selected yes and a slightly transparent blue outline manifested over Charles. It was not light being generated, rather somesort of magical augmented reality. Six held up his hand and obscured Charles and the blue outline from his vision. There was only his hand, no X-ray effect but still, the visual clarity during battle would be a huge help regardless. There was another prompt, more of an icon of a pair of boots appearing on his vision, when he focused on it an actual prompt explained it. March 1 - Movement speed increased by 5% Neat. Denny shook his head. ¡°Thank you for the invite Charles but I want you two to grow.¡± ¡°You sure Denny? Are you not close to level twenty?¡± the kid asked. ¡°Yup.¡± ¡°Then why not grow?¡± Denny smiled and looked at Charles. ¡°I didn¡¯t know how important it was to have a treasure when you evolve. I¡¯ve seen a few in my travels and think I can get one before I move on up. Gotta take it slow until then.¡± Charles accepted that with a smile. ¡°Ok.¡± Then they continued blazing a trail further west. They weren¡¯t but five minutes out from the village before a new challenge presented itself. Five filthy bipedals presented themselves from flora of the forest. Two were human, an orc, dwarf, and a fat little halfling. The humans had crossbows, the orc and dwarf had an axe and hammer respectively and the fat little halfling toyed with what looked like a sling. The dark yellow Muldstanni spoke past his tusks. ¡°Hello travellers. If you wish to continue further throughout our lands you must pay the toll.¡± ¡°Nah,¡± Six murmured. ¡°Leoka said it was cool.¡± ¡°Leoka¡¯s not our boss,¡± the dwarf grunted. Six analyzed them all. Doug Stanhope Human Level 4 Stella Roper Human Level 3 Rushtag Orc Level 4 Ahndnewt Dwarf Level 3 Beedle Tink Halfling Level 0 There was a large part of him that looked for a peaceful solution, there was no ideal outcome where these vagrants were leaving safe and sound. Six hated thieves. He despised them. One could threaten them. One could give them what they want. But they would eventually report on what happened, and every day he cared about the old world and ways a little less. Even after they died the danger would not be gone. It would be impossible to hide the passage of so many people. It did not matter but at the very least their deaths would buy time. He looked to Denny. ¡°Please make sure there are no witnesses watching from the forest.¡± It was only for a moment but a profound look of sadness passed across the old man¡¯s face before he nodded. Six brought out a shield out of his spatial and held it between him and the crossbows that let their bolts fly. One of the bolts riccocheted off the shield but the other punched through and into his bicep. Six growled his scream down as Charles let fly with his bow and Denny leapt into the forest. Six dropped the shield and cast a stone spear at one of the humans who were bent over and struggling to cock their crossbow. The stone spike blasted up and the human¡¯s head exploded. ¡°Magic!¡± the yellowed Muldstanii cried and he began to run towards Six dodging from side to side, the Dwarf was but a moment behind. Six made eye contact with the enemy Muldstanii and cast another Stone Spear but at the last second of the incantation the Orc leapt far away and avoided the Stone Spear but quickly realized that it was not even meant for him. The dwarf behind him was not nearly so nimble and when the spear erupted forth it arrested his movement and pierced right through him, just through the meaty flesh of his shoulder but he was out of the fight for now. Charles already killed the other crossbow wielder with three well placed arrows, he began to fire at the Muldstanii who restarted his charge towards Six. The fat halfling flung a stone at Six but it was deflected harmlessly by his dented breastplate. Six pulled out his glaive just in time to receive the vicious overhead swing of this bandit. He brought his haft up and caught the axe on its handle, the blade came close to caving his head in but Six sent it away. Immediately another blow came and Six blocked that one aswell. Staying alive was all Six could do, the Orc attacked relentlessly and it felt like he had the strength of three men. Six made sure to give Charles an open shot and that effort quickly paid off as a shaft appeared in the yellow man¡¯s side. The Orc winced and choked out some blood but kept coming, swinging faster, this time swinging low and catching the bottom of Six¡¯s block. His finger flew off, blood spattered and the glaive¡¯s shaft shattered. You have gained Bleeding 1 You are bleeding -15 HP You have lost a limb: Right Fifth Digit He used his ring of healing immediately to staunch the blood. Six felt disturbed by the loss of his finger but it was pushed away as the fight demanded attention. Six was in pain but it was worth it as another arrow appeared in the orc¡¯s back. The tusked man grimaced and turned, leaving the defensive Six, sprinting at the young Charles dodging from side to side. Six took off in a full straight sprint and his armored form slowly began to close the distance with the zigzaggin Orc. He began to brew another spell and let it fly. Stone Wall. It miscast and sent 20 damage and more pain coursing through Six but he kept the chase up and in frustration threw his broken glaive at the Muldstanii. It arced through the air and landed right between their legs, tangling them up and delaying them for just a moment. Charles uttered a small focus, ¡°Powershot,¡± and let his arrow fly. It was true and impacted the orc, sending him flying back and laying him down on the ground. Six had already pulled his minor dagger of force from his spatial and after closing the small remaining distance, leapt upon the Orc and stabbed as aggressively as he could. It was incredibly hard to prevent someone from stabbing you and despite being much stronger than Six the orc had been knocked off balance and disoriented. After three arrows it didn¡¯t take much to bleed the man of the last of his HP. While Six did that, Charles took potshots at the impaled and dying dwarf. The Halfling went to run and Six took off after him. They ran through the forest, Six was pushed to his limit in terms of ability but he never pushed himself beyond his stamina regen. This went on for a short while until the Halfling began to slow, audible wheezes coming from his small form. The distance between them began to slowly decrease and suddenly the Halfling stopped and turned around before falling to his knees. ¡°Please!¡± The Halfling screamed. ¡°I can tell you about Amog.¡± Six pulled his earth spear out and stabbed down at the fat little man, stopping just before the man¡¯s face. ¡°Tell me then. Tell me what he can do.¡± The Halfling spoke for a while, telling Six all he knew of Amog. Six asked questions and the Halfling either offered an answer or the words ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Charles and Denny appeared mid interrogation. When it was done Six nodded. ¡°That will be all I suppose.¡± ¡°I can go?¡± Six grimaced before looking at Charles. Bah, the boy has probably seen worse. Let Denny think what he wants. Six shook his head, no. He was tired of this shit. The Halfling¡¯s scream was cut short. There was a prompt that had been trying to catch Six¡¯s attention You have reached level 7, advancement options available. 1.19 Letting Go Six looked at the still body of the Halfling and breathed. Did he really just do that? Yes, yes he did. He looked to Charles and Denny. The kid seemed completely at ease with what he just did but Denny looked sad. Just barely but Six could see it on his lips. Oh well, the fucks shouldn¡¯t have tried to steal from him. He knew they were dangerous now and later but was that really justification for killing them like this? Everything he knew from the previous world said no but if he was to survive encounters like these he would have to learn from this world. Fuck around and find out. As Denny led them back to the river Six checked his prompts. Analyze, Athletics, Earth Magic, Polearms, and Heavy Armor all went up by one. He also leveled from that battle so he brought up his stat sheet. Not much had changed except for the massive amount of skills he now had. It was somewhat satisfying looking at them all. He had six attribute points to invest and seven skill increases to apply. He knew it was foolish to hold onto them but at this point in his growth he was gaining levels in skills everyday. Perhaps one day when he hit a plateau he would use them but not until then. His attribute increases though? He needed to distribute those right away. He put two into constitution, two into strength and one into dexterity and luck, bringing those stats to 48, 17, 10, and 23 respectively. Constitution because he was still focused on tanking as well as it theoretically synergizing with blood casting, he shouldn¡¯t need mana regen, he should be able to min max somewhat in this fashion. Two points in strength would help him kill his enemies and would help him in terms of overall work capacity, especially when combined with his stamina regen. One into Dexterity so his body would be mobile alongside the strength. He always took care to train his range of motion back on Earth and he didn¡¯t want to neglect his flexibility here. The last point in luck because¡­ he had been lucky since arriving and it wouldn¡¯t hurt to encourage some more fortuitous opportunities. They came back through the trees to the slaughter they made being cleaned up by Alison¡¯s people. Six looked around for his finger but¡­ wait¡­ there it was. He picked it up and looked around for Kali Kik, she might be able to help him. Leoka stood by Alison, she looked uncomfortable, staring at the corpses of Amog¡¯s men. ¡°You killed them?¡± Alison asked. ¡°Yup,¡± ¡°Did you learn anything?¡± ¡°Yea.¡± ¡°Tell me what you learned?¡± ¡°Later tonight? I have to finish training with Denny.¡± ¡°Its ok Six, You can take the rest of the day. Talk with Alison.¡± ¡°No Denny, I can¡¯t. There is a fucking douchenozzle out there who is periodically robbing people and I don¡¯t have any patience for this. I need to be ready if that asshole ever comes knocking.¡± Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. Denny looked tired but inclined his head. ¡°I understand, it''s good that you understand too.¡± Six nodded at Alison, ¡°Come find me later, I will be working outside my tent.¡± She looked unsatisfied but she agreed. Six quickly found Kali Kik who helped him reattach his pinky and then he, Charles, and Denny overtook the vanguard and began to scout. Six applied himself even harder now, and the skill levels in Athletics, Herbalism and Survival were evidence of that. That night Alison found him seated before his dope ass tent. He had already completed his visualizations, no longer only in enchanting but his magic casting, glaive work and just his general competence in moving in his armor. She approached during the middle of the first enchantment attempt of that night but did not seek to break his attention anymore than that. Still her presence was a weight on his focus, a ripple in the stream he tried to gently pour. It was her intention that drew his mind away from its task, the expectation of communication. He finished the sword he enchanted and placed it aside, it was not his weapon, it was the weapon of a villager and he would deliver it later. Six told Alison of what the Halfling said about Amog and she darkened. He told her about Kali Kik¡¯s warning and she sighed. ¡°Are you going to leave us too?¡± He nodded. ¡°I was never part of this.¡± ¡°We could help each other. You¡¯re strong. You¡¯re tough. No one heals like you do and you are growing extremely fast. We would be stronger with you and you would be stronger with us.¡± ¡°Yes yes,¡± he waved her words away. ¡°Apes strong together and all that. Being part of a group forces you to compromise with what you want. I¡¯d rather not lose control over myself. No offense but I don¡¯t want you to be my boss or chieftain or whatever. I am my boss, no one else.¡± He didn¡¯t want that burden. ¡°We can¡¯t speak of this again, really beating a dead horse here and it''s getting repetitive and boring.¡± She drew in a quick breath and centered herself. ¡°Regardless, thank you for what you are doing Six. We all appreciate it.¡± He nodded at her and she left him to his craft. STAT SHEET You have 7 Skill increases to distribute to any established skill. Name: Six Level: 6 (Mortal) Experience:20526 Race: Human (Fateling) Fame: 0 (Unknown) Clout: 0 (Insignificant) Class: ¡ª Anchor: ¡ª Path: ¡ª Heath: 120/497 Endurance: 100/100 Mana: 120/132 Strength:17 Dexterity:10 Constitution:48 Intelligence:12 Wisdom:11 Charisma:10 Endurance:10 Luck:23 Skills: Analyze - Initiate - Level 6 Athletics - Initiate - Level 4 Archery - Initiate - Level 2 Earth magic - Initiate - Level 5 Blood Magic - Initiate - Level 2 Blood Casting - Initiate - Level 2 Butchery - Initiate - Level 3 Enchanting - Initiate - Level 3 Inspect - Initiate - Level 8 Heavy Armor - Initiate - Level 11 Herbalism - Initiate - Level 4 Taming - Initiate - Level 4 Trade - Initiate - Level 3 Masonry - Initiate - Level 3 Meditation - Initiate - Level 2 Sailing - Initiate - Level 5 Perception - Initiate - Level 4 Polearms - Initiate - Level 7 Unarmed - Initiate - Level 1 Survival - Initiate - Level 3 Stealth - Initiate - Level 4 Knowledge: Kortyaulic (Mortal) Gifts: Unbound Comprehension (Predominant) You receive an increased rate of retention of all intended knowledge regardless of personal ability and mentor ability or material quality. You can understand any language once heard or seen. Knowledge is not expertise. You can observe skill usage and can potentially intuit knowledge of skill usage. The effectiveness of this aspect is determined by the respective gap in personal skill level and the skill level of the demonstrated usage, the respective gap in level and tier of existence, skill affinity, and luck. Higher tiers of existence can elevate their use of this gift. Attunements: -Deathspire Ley Core: ?- Earthen Endurance: Health Regen/M += MaxHealth*(0.05*N) - Immortal Steel Ring of Quickened Minor Heal - - Immortal Steel Ring of Improved Jump - 1.20 The Refusal of the Call (Yet Again) 29 Astra 10,391 day 8 of trip After three more days of this Six had accumulated quite the amount of skill increases. Analyze, Athletics, Earth Magic, Butchery, Enchantment, Inspect, Heavy Armor, Herbalism,Taming, Perception, Polearms, Stealth, Survival, and Meditation, they all rose by one or two, Enchantment rose by three. Six fell into the training, losing himself in it. Fighting monsters with Charles and pushing deeper into the wilderness. The days were filled with Denny carefully molding him into something that could survive out here while he filled his nights with his passion of crafting, enchanting as much as he could with the mundane cores he harvested and the time he had remaining. The more martial of the settlers had even approached him asking for simple enchantments to be applied to their weapons. At first they offered gold and Six took it but most of these people were non-humans that lacked fair access to wealth in the empire so Six also accepted three mundane monster cores for one of his natural enchantments. He used one of the cores for the enchantment and he pocketed the other two. He liked the praise he received from the settlers and just like Ravna he wondered if he was vain. Nothin wrong with a little bit of vanity, helps you take care of yourself, he thought. He began to experiment on suffusing different items other brought him. Most things gained a slight increase to durability or their armor value but certain things, like shoes for example, gave a speed increase when enchanted in pure mana or a stability increase when enchanted with earth mana. On the ninth day of travel they began to home in on Six¡¯s previous location. The looming mountains were much closer when they peeked through the forest canopy but in general it all looked the same to Six but Denny reassured him. ¡°My Ranger perk will let me find it.¡± Six trusted the reliable old man but kept his expectations low. When the three of them came across the cairn, Six knew Denny had brought them back. The cairns were undisturbed, the rocks still in place. There was a part of Six that worried that a large monster would come to eat the bodies. This was not the case. There were the remnants of his old fire and with his basic survival skills he could see where he ran into the forest. His escape from the poisoner quite clearly broken into the underbrush. They had made it within the glade that was nestled between the ridgelines, the base of the mountain just a few kilometers away. Six looked within himself and felt a small sense of accomplishment. He knew he wouldn¡¯t have been able to make it back here alone but he had survived many challenges and had also grown significantly in these past days so he allowed himself to briefly enjoy the feeling. But there was still one more day of Denny¡¯s tutelage left and he needed to maximize any gains he would receive from the man. He could relax when the man left. They waited for the settlers to arrive and Six waved at Alison who walked in front. She looked at him and her eyes darted to the piles of stones, the cairns Six stood by, she grimaced with a questioning look on her face. Six was somber, he nodded. ¡°I did my best to¡­ honor them.¡± She approached the cairns and rested a hand on one, closing her eyes and saying a prayer for her fallen friends. Six stood by and waited, there was a silence that had spread throughout the scene, the only sounds were the soft rush of wind and river. She finished and thanked Six. Quest Complete, Giving Mercy II Rewards for Completion: 359 EXP Bonus Rewards: Fame +247 Six could feel a speech coming on and he felt a bit awkward standing there. Slinking away would look even more awkward so he just stood up straight and regarded Alison as she turned to the gathered crowd. She spoke. ¡°Here lie Carralevine, Orifec, Roshgar, and Matt. Our friends. They sought to make our dreams of freedom and happiness something real and true. They died in the pursuit of that. We have enemies, enemies that took them from us. I am doing my best to take up the mantle they left behind but I need your help. This place is not like the city we came from, it is wild and hostile. Already many of us are growing stronger but it has not come freely.¡± She named the dead, people Six didn¡¯t know, she knew them all, or at least had the grace to learn their names for this moment. ¡°This is where we will begin anew. It will not be easy but it will be ours,¡± Alison finished and a cheer rose up. Six could see relief on the faces of the people. Each day had been a danger filled slog and being able to begin to finally establish themselves must have been a soothing feeling. Alison broke the moment with a beckoning wave to the people and headed further in. She began organizing and Six could see Franklin making her way to the front. ¡°Where are we putting the longhouse?¡± Franklin asked. Alison turned and looked at Six. ¡°Any ideas?¡± Six shoved down the impulse to tell her that it wasn¡¯t his problem and instead thought about it a bit. ¡°There is quite a bit of land here from what it looked like from up there and trying to control it all would be impossible so making a setup like Alita Village would probably be your best bet. I think putting it close to the river near the base of the mountain would be good for access to water and limiting offensive actions against you guys.¡± ¡°You guys?¡± Six nodded. Alison sighed. ¡°It sounds like you know what you''re doing. Could you go ahead of us and find a good spot? I''d like to remain here and give my friends a proper burial. Six huffed but nodded and went to scout some more. It was not the time to think of himself. Still, Alison stopped him. ¡°Do you think I am not listening to you Six? Do you think I want to ask you for help? You¡¯ve made it very clear that you don¡¯t want to give it. I don¡¯t want to give those soldiers any more responsibility than necessary. I don¡¯t want any of them to think that we owe them.¡± ¡°They have already killed more monsters than either of us. I don¡¯t think you can get out of acknowledging their contribution without looking like a snake.¡± Alison rubbed her face in frustration. ¡°That¡¯s true, and asking them for more would just make it worse. I¡¯d rather owe you. Please. You have been here before and I just need a little bit of personal time to bury my friends.¡± Six nodded, he could see how stressed she was, he was glad it wasn¡¯t him ¡°Yea, yea, no problem.¡± It wasn¡¯t like he couldn¡¯t train and do this task for Alison. She sighed in relief. ¡°Thank you.¡± Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. He left as Alison told Franklin to assemble a crew and clear riverside trees. Smart, he thought, those could be towed up the river to whatever spot he chose. There was no time to waste as he called out to Charles and Denny to join him. Denny smiled but Charles looked a little conflicted. ¡°I should probably see if Franklin needs help,¡± the young muldstanii said. Six shook his head. ¡°Nah. Alison needs this and you have a good head on your shoulders but if you want, by all means. I¡¯m sure Franklin could use you. That being said I¡¯m probably gonna go farther away tomorrow so it might be a few days before we can hunt again. It¡¯s up to you.¡± ¡°Yes, I will come,¡± the kid said. They followed the river closer to where the mountain run off was most pronounced, three streams joined together into a lovely bay and that flowed away to create the river. This was the perfect spot for a fort. Six took a moment to appreciate the beauty of the area. It was heavily forested but when he looked out over the river the full weight of the mountains and trees came into perspective. The size and scale was awesome and breathtaking. This was the spot. ¡°Any signs of Koatl?¡± Six asked. Denny nodded and pointed to a few tracks in the mud of the nearby shore. ¡°Not as much when we crossed the river but there is a sizeable pack here.¡± Six sighed, he hadn¡¯t liked warring with those little buggers but he doubted they would be peaceful towards the settlers, rather, the colonizers. The moral and ethical issues of colonialism sprang to his mind but Six quickly discarded them, they were irrelevant in the face of this new world. Still that brought to mind the question of how deep Six would allow himself to sink into the ethics and morality of this new world. Where would he draw the line? Only time would tell, he supposed. Considering the Koatl, as far as he could tell there was no way to bring them to the surface and he didn¡¯t want to use his waterbreathing potion so he wasn¡¯t going to evict these fish people. If they had cores within themselves he wouldn¡¯t think twice about it¡­ but¡­ He looked to Denny, ¡°what now?¡± ¡°Well now that we don¡¯t have to scout for a slow marching column it''s time for some¡­ accelerated training.¡± ¡°One more day of super brutal training!¡± Six cheered! Denny shook his head. ¡°Three.¡± ¡°Now I may be terrible at basic math but wouldn¡¯t that make twelve days?¡± Denny nodded. ¡°I think yer need a bit more polishing. Yer almost there but three more days ought to do it.¡± ¡°Our agreement was for ten.¡± ¡°I know. I¡¯m altering our agreement because your training was disrupted by this march.¡± ¡°Yes but that was my decision, not yours. Shouldn¡¯t you be explaining that to me? Or asking for more gold?¡± Denny waved that away. ¡°Oh yea, normally, but I like helping people and I respect how you have helped these people at the expense of yourself. That¡¯s something, yah know?¡± Six nodded. ¡°Also, I learned something very important from my time with Charles and considering how close I¡¯m to my first evolution I could have very well crippled myself with the experience deficit. It will be a little difficult to find an item to fuel my growth with but now I know that it¡¯s something critical.¡± The old man inclined his head in respect at the knowledgeable boy. ¡°That¡¯s not common knowledge?¡± Six asked Charles. ¡°No,¡± he said shyly. ¡°It is¡­ guarded.¡± Six wanted to ask how Charles came to know about it but didn¡¯t pressure the boy. ¡°Well thank you for sharing. But, why would you share something so valuable with Denny and I?¡± Charles hesitated for a moment. ¡°You saved me. From the boar. Things are miserable right now, absolutely terrible. Everyone is fighting each other. It¡¯s not going to improve until we work together and protect each other. Be friends and help each other. You helped me for no reason, you also suck at lying and I can see it in your face. You do care despite how much you pretend not to, and Denny is quite open with how he cares. Why wouldn¡¯t I do everything I could to help you?¡± Six smiled. ¡°Makes sense.¡± Six was happy for Charles that he still believed in the good of people but scoffed inside, it sounded like the kid thought that if everyone cooperated we could achieve world peace. But there would never be unity on what world peace meant. There would always be conflict. Still there was a part of Six that respected that perspective regardless of how un-nuanced and childish it was. Charles looked sad. ¡°I can read your expression¡¯s Six, you look condescending.¡± Six smiled and breathed to center himself. ¡°Sorry Charles, don¡¯t worry about me, I¡¯m just a grumpy dude. You do you.¡± He reached over and grasped the young man¡¯s shoulder reassuringly and gave him a friendly shake. ¡°It¡¯s better to live with hope rather than despair. People like you more.¡± ¡°Oh yea¡± Denny agreed. Six marked a tree with a big slashed X and gestured for them to follow him back to Alison¡¯s people. ¡°Alright, Denny. We¡¯ll bring Charles back, he can help them with work and show them this location. You and I will enter montage mode and get some real training done. I appreciate your willingness to extend our agreement and I don¡¯t want to waste your time. Let¡¯s get er done.¡° Charles seems offended. ¡°I can make it back by myself, it''s not far.¡± ¡°Nah nah, buddy system dude. Should always have someone at your back.¡± ¡°But are you not going to live far away and isolated?¡± ¡°Do as I say, not as I do!¡± Six said with a silly voice as he pranced away from them, half plate jangling. Six and Denny returned from training hours later to see the location picked under a flurry of activity. There was a small ditch being dug and the trees that were cleared from the riverside were being used for palisade. The sun was quickly setting but it seemed like the people would work well into the night. Six waved at a labouring Charles who was cleaning stubs off of logs with a hatchet, the boy¡¯s run-down clothes were a bit dirtier but he was smiling. A lot of people were smiling. Six found a nice spot within the unfinished palisade and set up his tent. He performed his nightly meditation, it had evolved to include polearm and spellcasting visualizations. He had wanted to expand his meditations more but time was a resource that was limited and he needed to practice his enchanting. He had enchanted all of his weapons, but his armor was too damaged for proper enchanting, the durability being so low would in turn lower the catastrophic threshold of enchanting. It was barely returning any armor value with how damaged it was, he still wore it to train both the Heavy Armor and Athletics skills, but as armor it was basically non-functional after so many days of constant abuse. He pulled out a hammer, Franklin had given him one to enchant and he thought that it would be a good thing to get finished now that it seems like the settlement had found its home. Before he could begin Alison approached his sitting form, she came close and loomed over him. ¡°I need to talk to you privately,¡± she said. Six sighed but put the hammer away and got up. ¡°Where¡¯s good?¡± She led him just outside the ditch, far enough to not be heard but still within sight of people. Six waited for her to start, his eyebrows raised in question. ¡°Do you have it?¡± She asked. ¡°What?¡± ¡°The Ley Core.¡± Six hesitated, he didn¡¯t want to lie to Alison and he wasn¡¯t sure if he could, she was nice. ¡°So you do,¡± she said resolutely. Ah shit. ¡°Listen Six, I will make this quick because I know what you are going to say but I have to ask anyway. Will you give me the Ley Core?¡± Six felt anger, shame and frustration. ¡°No.¡± It was too much to part with. ¡°Then it¡¯s your responsibility to aid in our protection.¡± ¡°No. It is not.¡± Alison made a face, it looked like she wanted to cry. ¡°I knew you were going to say that. I should just kill you.¡± Six took a ready position. ¡°Woah, thats a big fucking reaction.¡± She nodded and sighed. ¡°That sounds right. Six, Ley Cores are powerful tools, They allow for us to be more than just normal people. You have made it clear that you do not wish to aid us or be part of our community, then give it to me. Carralevine would have used it to protect us.¡± ¡°I do not want to give,¡± Six said softly. ¡°Then you must help us.¡± Six shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m not the boss here. I do not control any of this. This isn¡¯t mine and I am tired of contributing to others'' success while they suck me dry through rules and pre-established ¡®responsibilities.¡¯ Our respective desires for freedom are incompatible with each other. I know it sounds selfish but I don¡¯t want to invest in something I don¡¯t control.¡± ¡°It is selfish, but understandable. Protection is simple, you have already shown yourself capable.¡± Six shrugged. ¡°Security and freedom have an inverse relationship. It is not as simple as you would make it seem.¡± Alison growled. ¡°You don¡¯t have to lead us, just help us when we get into trouble.¡± Now Six growled. ¡°Clean up other people¡¯s mistakes? Why would I do that if I have no control over how those people got into trouble? Why would I sacrifice myself for others'' choices? What have you people actually done for me?¡± ¡°And if you became the Chief, would you stay and help us then?¡± ¡°You¡¯re the Chief, Alison, not me, I¡¯m just some random dude even if I wanted to play lord these people don¡¯t respect me like they respect you.¡± She shook her head ¡°I¡¯m a Half-Aelf. I cannot be the Chieftain.¡± She looked at him with a condescending gaze. ¡°Oh lordy. You gotta be a full blood human to be a noble in the empire?¡± ¡°No. But any Tsuken Aelf lineage disqualifies you from serving in the nobility.¡± Six scoffed and then spat. ¡°Fuck it, you¡¯ve been putting more work in for this than anyone. You deserve this and the empire is broken anyway. No one will care, a Tsunken Aelf sits upon the imperial throne doesn¡¯t he? Why can¡¯t you lead a village in bumfuck nowhere?¡± She smiled but gestured for him to stop. ¡°I¡¯ve accepted my lot, I have fully human sisters and I knew that I was never destined for leadership. All it takes is a report to the church and they will send someone to purge me and all those who support me.¡± ¡°Irduth?¡± She nodded. ¡°And you are not some random dude People are already talking about you.¡± Six thought about her offer for a second and then declined with a shake of his head. Alison swore. ¡°The poisoner you managed to get away from? Why do you think she was there? Do you think she was just wandering around and found them by accident? What do you think she was after? Don¡¯t you want someone at your back for when she comes back?¡± Six facepalmed. ¡°I¡¯ll figure it out. Anything else? I do have to get back to work.¡± ¡°I should kill you,¡± she spat. ¡°But you won¡¯t.¡± She looked him in the eye and shook her head once, no. ¡°Killing you would not only be wrong, it would be stupid. As much as you moan about it, you do help.¡± He took a deep breath. ¡°I have no responsibility towards anyone but myself, after tonight I will no longer even reside in your village. There are others on this mountain and they have survived without me protecting them. You are more knowledgeable than me, you¡¯re a higher level than me. You¡¯ll figure it out.¡± ¡°I¡¯m a higher level than you for now, but I don¡¯t think that will last for long. You¡¯re growing fast and most never reach your current level.¡± Alison looked off at the bustling camp and sighed. ¡°Thank you for what help you did give us.¡± Six inclined his head at her. ¡°Can I visit?¡± Alison scoffed but smiled. ¡°Yes, you can visit whenever you like.¡± Six shot a smile back. ¡°Thank you.¡± 1.21 Staking a Claim 1 Broka 10,391 day 10 of trip In the morning it was a similar routine except this time it was only Six and Denny leaving camp and they did not intend to return for days. They started up the mountain and soon Six was breathing heavy. It was much harder to keep up with Denny today, so hard that Six had to abandon any semblance of stealth. They climbed through the dense shrubs and over rotting logs, along and up stony ridglines. They didn¡¯t go far up the mountain but far enough to see over the forest below and behind them. The green canopy stretching as far as the eye could see, it was breathtaking. It took just over an hour before they took a break and Six could see an increase in Athletics. ¡°Alright,¡± Denny began. ¡°Now how¡¯s this for yer? Middle of nowhere.¡± Six showed two thumbs up. ¡°What does that mean?¡± ¡°It means, this looks great Denny. Thank you for all your help.¡± ¡°Well I¡¯m not done yet. Now that we aren¡¯t leading those people we won¡¯t need to slow down.¡± ¡°Is that why we came here so fast?¡± Denny nodded. ¡°I¡¯m going to push you hard these next few days.¡± Six controlled his breath and cycled air slowly, five counts in, hold for three counts, five counts out. Forcing himself to catch his breath and slow his heart. He mentally prepared for three days of nonstop focus and exertion. He could do that. It would suck, but then it would end. Denny grunted. ¡°First, I will teach you the art of trapping. This is to provide and protect. This is the last skill I will teach you. After we get you the Trapping Skill I will just focus on improving on your weaknesses and hopefully get you thinking in the right mindset.¡± Six nodded. ¡°Yes Denny.¡± They spent the rest of the morning learning about traps. Trip wires, pit falls, and dead falls. Denny showed Six a variety of snares and Six focused with unwavering attention. Traps were a way to apply damage while being completely safe elsewhere, a powerful tactical mechanic. Six wanted to retain as much as possible and he noticed his Unbound Comprehension aiding in that. Denny had Six set a few up and tripped them, Denny then critiqued Six¡¯s setting and dressing of the traps. It wasn¡¯t mean, just constructive. By lunch Six had learned a significant amount. Skill Gained: Trapping Each level provides a 1% increase to the difficulty to detect the trap and the efficacy of any secondary effect of the trap interaction. Skill Increase: Trapping - Initiate - 3 They settled down for some food and Six gave his raccoon a good skritch as Denny sipped from his water skin. Denny cleared his throat. ¡°Six¡­ You have Blood Magic.¡± Six blinked, he guessed he wasn¡¯t as discrete as he thought. ¡°I do.¡± ¡°That''s bad.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Higher forms of magic mess with yer head.¡± ¡°I am fine, am I not?¡± ¡°For now,¡± the old man grumbled. ¡°Thank you Denny. I know it''s illegal aswell. I¡¯ll be careful.¡± The old man looked irritated. ¡°There is also the fact that, you have a Luck attribute.¡± ¡°Yea and?¡± ¡°Well, it''s not a primary attribute and I¡¯ve never heard of someone having it for a secondary attribute but, here you are.¡± ¡°Firstly, did you analyze me?¡± Denny nodded. ¡°I was gonna teach yah and I wanted to know more about yah.¡± ¡°Well, ok. So I got a Luck attribute, do you care?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t, no, but there are others on Zarmul who would. Secondary attributes are highly sought after. Most are unlocked through certain classes and sometimes awarded for Formative Moments. You do not have a Class and I doubt you have created a Formative Moment so where it comes from I do not know. As well as you having a Gift? If Irduth knew of these two differences, you may have found yourself conscripted by the church or taken by a different power one day.¡± ¡°Yes, well, not much I can do about that at this moment.¡± ¡°You could willingly join a faction and have them develop you to a stage where you can properly defend yourself.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll take my chances on the mountain. ¡° ¡°Mmm. How many levels of trapping did you gain?¡± ¡°Three.¡± ¡°Heh, a powerful Gift indeed. It would take most, a few days to get those first three levels. You managed it in hours.¡± Denny put his waterskin away. ¡°Come, there is no time to waste, we must train.¡± For the rest of the night and the next two days there was a continual pressure, Six slept for 5 hours each night before Denny woke him. Denny did not sleep at all. They trained whatever the situation called for and with how Denny kept him moving they encountered many different situations. Six fought the monsters alone. Relying on his massive health pool and near endless endurance to bulldoze and overwhelm his opponents, his style focused on trading damage and it forced him to confront one painful injury after another. Still, he was never wounded so bad it wouldn¡¯t heal. Denny stood vigil as Six cleared out a small cave that was infested with dog-sized spiders. The stupid creatures doomed themselves by rushing him as he stood at the chokepoint to their cave. It was easy to swing and cross-check endlessly, his stamina regen was so high it felt like he could stand there for hours He began the fight with his trusty earth glaive but had quickly switched to a maul mid-fight, the spiders hard exoskeleton was resistant to the slashes and stabs of the glaive. The maul was enchanted with earth mana and Six had one lucky hit that shattered the creature into fragments. Skill gained: Maces - Initiate - Level 1 Each level provides an increase of 0.5% of damage from end weighted weapons. Current increase 0.5% Six had taken many stabs from the sharp legs of the spiders but once he had cleared the den of movement he soon healed the damage. He had expected that to be harder and told Denny as much. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°This nest is maybe a week old.¡± There was a pile of gore right at the mount of the cave, Six stepped over and inside, the cave was small and the light that streamed through the opening was enough to show him the piles of eggs. It also illuminated a small spring fed stream that came from the back of the cave. Well shit, with a little elbow grease this could be a nice safe hole to sleep in. But for now he was training. By the morning of the thirteenth day Six had gained another round of Skill increases to almost all of his skills. But Denny had no more time to spare. ¡°Alright Six, it''s been nice. I hope you find what you''re looking for out here, it''s time I go.¡± ¡°Thanks Denny.¡± Six shook hands with the old man and inclined his head in respect. A manly nod. Denny had taught Six much and had been nice all the way, that was to be respected. Six handed a bag of 45 gold over. ¡°Remaining payment for services. I wish I could give you more because these extra two days have been extremely valuable but I just can¡¯t afford it.¡± Denny clapped Six on the arm. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, in fact, keep it.¡± Six struggled to find the words. ¡°But Denny¡­ it¡¯s 45 gold!¡± He chuckled and waved it away. ¡°Spend it in the village. I saw how you tried, how you did some good. You helped despite how much you whined. Also, consider it a discount because of what I learned from Charles. I¡¯ve met a few evolved people and not one told me of the item requirement.¡± ¡°It''s not a requirement.¡± ¡°It may as well be.¡± ¡°Yea sorry, I know what you mean.¡± Denny pushed the bag back at Six. ¡°I don¡¯t need the gold but I would like a friend and place to stay next time I¡¯m in the area.¡± ¡°Oh? You¡¯re coming back?¡± ¡°Thinkin about retirement. I¡¯m an old Six. Maybe evolving will ignite me again but right about now, I¡¯m tired. Just wanna settle down, maybe become a guard. These people are nice and there''s plenty of room to find a slice for myself.¡± ¡°Why not just stay?¡± Denny made a wry smile. ¡°I have some things to settle but who knows, I think I¡¯ll come back sometime next year, after the snow. Snow is heavy round here, by the way. More the higher you go.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll start gathering wood now.¡± Six looked at the coin pouch and gestured it towards Denny with his eyebrows raised. Denny made a negative gesture and Six shrugged before pocketing the coins. They shook hands once more and Denny departed down the mountain towards the village in the glade. Save for his raccoon, Six was alone. He took a moment to savour nature. He looked away from the mountain and across the lands. Wispy white clouds, a blue sky and an endless sea of green. The detail was crisp and pristine, no smog to sully the landscape. He breathed deep and found a ray of sunshine to bask in. He laid on his back and just relaxed. There was no one around but him and with that came a certain release of pressure. He was no longer in a social space and a different part of himself came to the fore. His mind turned to his desire to create. First things first. He knew where he could find water, and a relatively safe place to sleep so he set out in what he thought was the right direction. He and Denny have covered alot of ground these past few days but Six was confident in his navigation and he eventually found the cave he was looking for. It looked like the spider gore at the front had been fed upon but there were no new tracks leading inside. Still, Six was careful and held his weapon at the ready as he slowly crept into the foul cave. It was empty of anything dangerous, just the mounds of eggs were present. Six spent the rest of the day cleaning. He moved the eggs out first, he wasn¡¯t sure if the spatial ring would kill them or not. He might burn them, or maybe take them to Indigo. Then using a pot and broom from his spatial and the water from the spring in the cave, he slowly washed the gore and pieces of giant spider out. He used a torch to clear the final bit of webs off the ceiling and took a break. Stepping outside to the setting sun Six went to do something about the eggs only to find them gone and instead there was his raccoon, lying on its back, belly distended, it purred in victory. ¡°What the fuck¡­ you need a name, you little glutton.¡± This was his pet and he hadn¡¯t named it yet. ¡°You will be, uhhh, Nibbler.¡± Skill Increase : Taming - Initiate - 8 Nibbler froze for a second, its purring ceasing momentarily. It relaxed and went back to soaking up the sun. Must have farted or something. The eggs were gone and Six moved on from that idea. He needed a door to this cave and he wasn''t too sure on how he could make it work. After some thought he came up with a simple solution. Using Stonewall Six narrowed the opening of the cave to the size of a small man. Six had to crouch a bit to enter but he wanted a small opening. The spring¡¯s stream had a small cut out that Six had been careful to leave open for drainage. On the inside he created a Stonewall just larger than the opening and while it was heavy, it was actually quite easy to move by walking it along on its corners. He was already strong when he came here and the extra four points he put into strength were actually a huge difference in helping him maneuver this stone slab. When properly placed it acted as a door to the opening. To prevent it from being pushed open Six cut down a young tree and made a robust door jam out of it. With that in place the stone slab could not be shifted away. There were small gaps for the water and a flue for air flow but Six could have Ravna create grates to cover them. He sat in the halo of a small lamp and he thought about his adventure so far. He smiled. Yes there was pain, his skin still bore the scars of boars, bandits, Irduth, of spiders and canines, but, there were huge rewards to go alongside the pain. Now, he had a place of his own, something that was extremely unlikely in his previous life. This was the true power fantasy. He slept well that night despite his dreams of being atop crumbling apartment buildings. 4, Broka, 10,391 He spent the morning building a fire and relaxing. The cave was nice but he didn¡¯t really want to live in a cave. He would need to get stronger and train. That means hunting and figuring out what was wrong with his Ley Core. Error note: Ley Node affinities are being redirected and/or blocked. The Ley affinities, and the Spire Mountain mana pool and mana regen are restricted until this issue has been resolved. Something was interfering with his connection to the Ley Core and he needed to clear it. But where? It was unlikely that it was on the surface, the Ley Core was connected to the land and that connection was probably within the land. He needed to find other caves. Surely some would lead inside the mountain. That is where he would fix that problem. He could feel it in his bones. He didn¡¯t look forward to becoming a spelunker, it had always seemed sketchy, but it needed to be done. Until then he needed to hunt monsters and grow. There was no point in building something fancy for himself until he could protect it. This cave would do. He needed to repair his armor before endangering himself further so he began to descend and eventually found his way to the settlement that was growing next to the river pool. A ditch had been dug and a palisade had already been erected, there was one longhouse almost finished. The longhouse looked big enough to hold forty people, double if everyone squeezed. Five or ten more of those and no one would have to sleep outside. Six made his way around and soon found Ravna. She was sharpening an axe on a grindstone and lifted an eyebrow when she saw Six step up. ¡°Six.¡± She spoke somewhat curtly but inclined her head. ¡°How can I help you?¡± ¡°Looking to get my armor repaired.¡± ¡°No can do.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± ¡°I was talking about you to Alison.¡± ¡°About me? Oh my.¡± ¡°Yea and imagine my surprise when she said that you were out for yourself and we shouldn¡¯t expect to see you anytime soon.¡± ¡°That makes sense that she would say that?¡± He had been clear with his intentions. ¡°It''s been what? Four or five days?¡± ¡°Something like that.¡± ¡°That''s pretty soon to me.¡± ¡°Now who''s being pedantic?¡± ¡°Whatever, listen, even if you were staying to help, I can fix that without a proper forge and it will be a while before Franklin and the others are free to help me build a forge. After the houses there is a townhall, a healer''s hut and then my smithy. Six looked around at the activity and made a rough estimate. ¡°That''s like two weeks away.¡± She nodded with an exaggerated face of frustration. ¡°But I can still move forward on these smaller tasks.¡± ¡°What if I made you a smithy? I worked on a few residential projects back home. I¡¯m confident I could make a basic one if you don¡¯t need it to be fancy.¡± She looked at him with a stare of skepticism. ¡°I¡¯ll build it first. Then you pay me.¡± ¡°How much do you want for an entire smithy? ¡°Well I¡¯m not putting tools in it, no anvil or anything like that, just the building.¡± She nodded. ¡°I dunno, how much should something like this cost? Would it be free if you wait for the village to do it for you?¡± ¡°No, I would owe them and would pay it off through completing a free contract for a year.¡± ¡°How many weeks in a year?¡± Six asked. Ravna looked at him with a face of incredulity. ¡°Charles usually tells me this stuff.¡± ¡°Forty eight.¡± ¡°Ok, I''ll make this smithy for you and you complete uuuuh, twenty four contracts?¡± She thought about it. ¡°I want to supervise, and have final say on layout.¡± ¡°Does each piece of armor count as a single contract or does the set count as one?¡± ¡°Sets count as one and sets are defined in the smithing guild guidelines.¡± ¡°Done!¡± Six said. He was excited. He was confident in having the building completed in less than a week. Once he had his armor repaired he would start grinding, until then he had a cool project to work on. They began to work out the details of the build and drew a rough floor plan. Ravna talked about the forge and her needs regarding it. She lacked a spot to build it but would go and buy a plot from Alison. It really wouldn¡¯t cost much, at this point in the settling process it was more of a formality and acknowledgement of ownership. Once she had the deed Six would begin construction, that would be tomorrow. Six thanked Ravna and left back to his cave. He spent the rest of his day making a dozen raised garden beds, the spring stream flowing right next to them. He planted the seeds and potatoes he brought and watered them. There wasn¡¯t enough time to apply the Plant Growth buff but now was a perfect time to experiment with the spell. Six performed the gestures and incanted the spell. ¡°Plant Growth!¡± Spell: Plant Growth Rank: Minor Cooldown: N/A Range: 2km Casting Time: Instant Duration: Channeled Mana Cost: Variable Effect: Channel the spell to affect the growth of plants in a chosen area of effect, speed of growth depends on size of area, mana expended and the level of the Earth Magic skill. If channeled uninterrupted for half a day, the area¡¯s vegetation will benefit from a temporary 200% growth buff. Nothing happened. Six kept channeling the spell. There was a fine degree of mana flow control with this spell. Even with a low amount of mana regen Six could maintain the spell indefinitely over the entire two kilometer radius. He supposed that''s how he was meant to apply the growth buff but it would take until the morning to cast that so he continued to experiment. He reduced the area and discovered that he could place an area of effect wherever he could see within the spells range. This didn¡¯t become significant until Six reduced the area to the size of a flower and pumped as much mana as he could as fast as he could, into the spell. The seedling he targeted squirmed and shot up almost two feet in a second before he ran out of mana. He had not even dipped into his health and yet he had achieved two feet of growth. He began to Bloodcast in his solitude. He grit through the pain it elicited and revelled as the plants grew to his command. With a precise control of an area he could control the direction and overall shape of how a plant grew. With the right plant he could grow many different things, His mind went to cart wheels and beams. He could use this to make a perfect mast for a ship. It took a great amount of mana but the result was incredibly gratifying to him. It was almost as if he was sculpting. The skill increase was gratifying aswell. Skill increase: Earth magic - Initiate - 8 Blood magic - Initiate - 4 Blood casting - Initiate - 4 Six worked into the darkness of dusk before he retired inside his cave and jammed the stone slab. He read his book on masonry in the dim light of the lamp gaining a level in that before falling asleep. 1.22 Putting Down Roots Six arrived at the site early the next morning, a tingly feeling of anticipation running through his body. He had wanted to be an artist when he was a young man and had wanted to switch careers into custom home construction but didn¡¯t want to take the significant pay cut only to work his way up to a decent wage again. This was going to be an interesting problem. Ravna showed him the sizable plot she had selected, it was next to the western most part of the river inside the palisade. Six talked with Ravna, inquired about her thoughts and desires, talked about the specifics of the furnace she needed, and then drew out some basic plans. Nothing fancy, kitchen, bedroom, forge, no indoor plumbing but maybe he could add an addition after the building became functional, he really needed his armor fixed and digging out a septic would just take way too much time up front. Maybe if he had a crew or excavating magic, but he didn¡¯t. One of his problem solving sayings ran through his head. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. He broke the task down into successively smaller tasks and started with the most pressing. Preparing the work area and materials. Six began by using axes, hatchets and saws to clear the land of trees and brush. Rocks big and small went into his storage. This work made him think of home, it reminded him of his old profession of arboriculture. Most of the trees were old and large but his slightly increased strength and endless stamina allowed him to fall and buck them much faster than he could have normally. He created the face cuts with axes and pushed the trees with wedges and shims of wood he pounded into the back cut. It was very traditional tree work and he was still slower than using a chainsaw but he kept busy and the work progressed. Some of the settlers watched as he cleared the land. Working by himself when most were working together. That was ok, he liked the focus and quiet brought on by solitary work. After finishing with the removal of the green material he began digging up the footprint of the foundation. The soil was thick and weaved with what seemed like one cohesive root plate but a mattock made the job much easier Six had begun to place the removed dirt into his spatial as Denny had demonstrated when Keegan came over and requested that the gathered soil and rocks be used to reinforce the palisade mounds. That made sense and it wasn¡¯t like Ravna wanted to use the dirt for anything so he agreed for the dirt but Six wanted the rocks, never knew when you needed some nicely sorted rocks for drainage or aesthetics. Six worked almost non stop, only taking quick breaks to observe the goings on of the settlement. Franklin was an excellent leader, she led from the front and wasn¡¯t afraid to delegate and request help. Many people lacked the skill levels required to really improve the quality of the construction but Franklin managed to keep almost all of the idle settlers busy. The second longhouse was already on its way up due to her efforts. The soldiers were almost finished with their bunkhouse but still took time out of their day to train. Keegan, Narhurin and the girl called Tavi were pushing themselves extremely hard, running, wrestling, and sparring in full panoply with multiple types of weapons. Six looked on in jealousy at their superhuman performance, well, Tavi moved like a normal person, but Six could see the sweat on her face. Narhurin had offered Six to train that one time and Six did enjoy pushing his body, perhaps he would ask next time. The digging was hard work but it lacked the enjoyment that came with the puzzle of sparring. Alison wandered about giving direction as needed, many were still unsure as to their position or what would be best to do. Alison took care of that, assigning many to hunting and gathering, some were farmers and she let them go with a few guards to find where best to plant crops. She handed out deeds and titles and served as the de facto leader of this lively new place. Leoka Root stood at her side, helping as she could. By the time he had finished digging for the day he had gained a level in Athletics by the time he fell asleep next to his lamp, a level in Masonry. The next day he had a large flat pit to begin construction with. He began by creating large thin sheets of Stone Wall on the bottom of the pit, he jumped down and pulverized that layer with the maul he kept in his spatial. He did this eight times before he felt satisfied with all the shard-like gravel he had created. On top of the gravel went a layer of thick stone, Six placed the casts so Stone Wall would create large thick tiles, unconnected as the separation between tiles would hopefully help mitigate any cracking that could form with the expansion and contraction of one large piece. Whenever he ran low on mana he would meditate until he was able to continue. Skill Increase: Earth magic - Initiate - 9 This time, when Keegan and Narhurin began their midday training, Six approached them. ¡°Mind if I join you?¡± He asked the three who were limbering up. Nar and Keegan both looked at each other and smiled. Tavi looked unimpressed and irritated. Tavi shook her head and warded him away. ¡°You don¡¯t want to let these two get their claws in you. Their training is basically torture.¡± Six nodded. ¡°Perfect. No pain, no gain.¡± ¡°Yea that''s the spirit!¡± Narhurin cheered. Keegan began leading them with calisthenics, while wearing armor. He spoke as he moved, ¡°I see that you still wear your armor while you work. This is good.¡± You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. Six shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m still getting improvements in the Heavy Armor so I really don¡¯t see a reason to remove it.¡± Narhurin hummed in understanding, ¡°Removing it for rest is good for the body, your muscles will knot if they are always forced.¡± ¡°You¡¯re always wearing your armor though.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t take it off.¡± ¡°Cursed?¡± Nar smiled. They continued to push themselves before Six asked a question. ¡°Yo, question, why do you train if you can just put a bunch of attribute points into strength or constitution?¡± Keegan nodded, ¡°Ah, Your attributes are a measure of your limits and putting points into your limits increases them. But an ill trained body and mind can never truely access those limits. Without training the efficacy of your attributes is lower and thus the increases in performance from pure attributes is also lower. You may not like it but this leads to peak performance.¡± Six waved the thought away. ¡°Nah nah, feel the burn!¡± He was used to imposing demand on his body. From there they went into wrestling. He paired off with Tavi while Keegan and Nar acted as coaches for them. Tavi was a young woman and didn¡¯t seem to look like a grappler but she grappled well, with an almost supernatural mobility. When they started their bouts it was pure skill that allowed her to overcome Six¡¯s slightly enhanced strength, but it was Six¡¯s enhanced stamina regen that allowed for him to grind her down, eventually tiring her out. Then came time for weapons training. Narhurin pointed at Six. ¡°Alright, so I see you use a glaive.¡± ¡°I guess.¡± ¡°Perfect! Well I¡¯ll show you some moves! Do you know any maneuvers?¡± ¡°Nah no maneuvers.¡± ¡°What''s your polearm skill at?¡± ¡°Uuuh,¡± Six checked his sheet. ¡°Nine.¡± Tavi snickered at him. Narhurin waved it away. ¡°Nine is good, Tavi and he will only get better.¡± ¡°Nine is not good, Nar. That is initiate rank, not even evolved,¡± she said with poorly disguised frustration. Keegan began to talk in his rhythmic way. ¡°And he will get better. It is within the pursuit of improvement that we become ¡®good¡¯. Simply having superior muscles is not the way, the pursuit of superior. muscles is the way.¡± He lectured Tavi in this way and she stared daggers at Six as if the lecture was his fault. While Keegan lectured, Narhurin taught Six. ¡°Gonna teach me that Dragon Lance Advance move yah did that one time?¡± ¡°Hah, how about something a little more simple, with your Polearm skill so low you would find trouble performing the move. No, maneuvers right now, instead show me what you know.¡± Six retrieved his glaive and showed Narhurin the stance and moves Jeffums has shown him. It was kinda like a silly dance but Six didn¡¯t mind being silly. Narhurin nodded in approval. ¡°Basic, but it looks like you know some of the fundamentals. Now, defend yourself.¡± Narhurin¡¯s style of training was to push Six. Narhurin fought just hard enough to challenge Six, it was obvious he was holding back in terms of strength and skill. Six took the superficial cuts and bops, he tried to dodge or block them but Narhurin slipped a few strikes in periodically. Still, Six pushed forward even trying to weave in an ineffectual strike of his own and eventually Nar called for a stop. Six breathed evenly while Nar breathed heavily. They trained this way for two more bouts before Six switched to training with Keegan. Keegan made Six switch to a longsword and then spent their time breaking down the basics for swordplay. Stance, hand position, sword position and basic strikes. Keegan was a skilled teacher and Six learned extremely quickly. The three levels in swords were evidence enough of Keegan¡¯s skill in the sword and communicating. Skill Increase: Athletics - Initiate - 10 Unarmed - Initiate - 3 Heavy armor - Initiate - 14 Polearms - Initiate - 10 Skill gained: Swords - Initiate - 3 He thanked the three for allowing him to train and immediately got back to construction, his massive stamina regen letting him recover quickly. He continued with using Stone Wall and by dusk he had created a fine floor. He was quite proud of this floor. He slapped it in satisfaction. It was built to last, and was a fine foundation. He was off to a great start. Ravna stopped by and checked his progress. ¡°You know,¡± she said, ¡°I wasn¡¯t expecting you to make something this nice, it''s so¡­ smooth.¡± ¡°Magic is very useful.¡± ¡°I was very skeptical of your confidence, now I can''t wait to see the rest.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t wait either, it''s gonna be dope.¡± She smiled. ¡°Thanks for the kind words, makes my job easier knowing I¡¯m on the right track. Come look at what I''m doing whenever you want. I think this shouldn¡¯t take more than four more days." She thanked him and left him to make it home as darkness was beginning to set in. He would have to leave a bit earlier next time. He blazed some smokeweed and curled up with his book. He awoke in the middle of the night to noises of something pushing and scraping at his door. He sat up and held his breath as he listened to whatever was outside try to get inside. Eventually it stopped and moved on but Six stayed up for a while after the noises stopped. He did fall asleep again but did not sleep well. On the seventh of Broka Six brought some maple saplings he found on the way to the village. These would be the basis for the skeleton of the structure. They were tiny and he bound the soil of the root ball with twine and sacks he found in his ring. Trees didn''t like it when you removed them from dirt completely. He planted a sapling at each corner of the floor plan and began to channel Plant Growth. After the foundation came the framing and the maples would grow to become the frame. There was no plumbing, electrical, or HVAC, so all he had to focus on was creating something that could bear load. Traditionally that meant beams upon a load bearing pillar but Six was working with a tree. Branches were actually extremely well connected and inserted within the trunk so with additional load bearing pillars they could function as a beam. Thinking about the build a little more carefully, Six decided he needed more load bearing trees. He would get that tomorrow, today he began growing the four corners to about ten feet and making them nice and thick, little branches coming out every two feet or so. He used his two spears tied together to get a nice even height for everything, he decided he needed a level, wasn¡¯t sure on how he could get one though. Keegan, Narhurin and Tavi began to train so Six pulled himself away from his work to participate. This time Charles and a few others came to train and the two fighters accepted all. Six took his lumps and dealt a few too, he fought endlessly just by nature of his endurance and although it wasn''t a competition he still compared himself, finding himself near the top of his mental leaderboard, just under Nar and Keegan themselves. Charles was skilled with the longsword, Tavi was good with polearms but Six felt like he could take them. especially with the level advantage. Both Keegan and Nar were skilled monsters and were both stronger and more dexterous than Six who just had a massive stamina regen. Six went back to work cycling between casting Plant Growth and finding more saplings to form additional columns of the structure. By the end of the day he had framed out two doors, a few windows and a rough box shape that was broken into three rooms. There were no walls nor roof but it looked sturdy and should last for a while. On the walk back to his home he had to fight some young bristle hounds but they scattered after a few Stone Spears. He blazed some smokeweed and reclined near the mouth of his cave just relaxing. He felt strong and healthy, he felt confident. He began to target Plant Growth over his garden and coaxed some of the sprouts to grow. He liked nature and being able to promote such growth brought a smile to his face. He stretched and went to bed early, checking his skill prompts before passing out. Skill Increase: Earth magic - Initiate - 10 Meditation - Initiate - 5 Unarmed - Initiate - 4 Polearms - Initiate - 11 Swords - Initiate - 5 1.23 Construction 8 Broka 10,391 Six grew more load bearing trees and created walls with Stone Wall. the walls had no rebar but Six placed them right next to the frame and had the plants grow a lattice around the other side. The forge and chimney were created through precisely angled casts of Stone Wall, and Ravna would install her own bellows. Six wished he had some sort of vapour barrier, the best he could do was use grand fir and pine sap to seal the cracks and prevent moisture from creeping in. He grew the roof in a peaked design with tons of struts. He wasn¡¯t an engineer but he was sure that roof was going nowhere. During the build he struggled with deciding on stone or cedar shingles but eventually decided on a singular cedar roof. He grew a cedar sapling up the side of the building and across the peak of the roof. He then used Plant Growth to grow it down both sides of the roof. It was a singular piece of cedar kinda like a giant piece of plywood. He knew it would last a long time and not leak, that appealed to his sense of craftsmanship. He was also kinda trying to impress not only Ravna but the whole village. It took three more days to actually finish growing the roof but on the tenth of Broka he called the project finished. It was one story and looked like something out of a modern fairytale. Everything looked grown and sculpted, old yet lush. When he completed it he received a series of prompts Construction Successful! -Smithy- Quality: Average Rarity: Common Durability: 1100/1100 Traits: 25% production efficiency increase to all smithing related projects, fires burn hotter and hammers strike harder. Skill Gained Carpentry - Initiate - 1 Each level provides an additional 1% to overall woodwork health and a reduction of 0.5% to the total work required. Skill Gained Construction - Initiate - 1 Each level provides an additional 5% to overall building durability and an additional 0.5% chance to improve the quality of the structure by one rank. Skill Increase: Construction - Initiate - 4 Masonry - Initiate - 8 Carpentry - Initiate - 4 Wow, two new skills to level four instantly? This project had indeed paid for itself. Not to mention the skookum production bonus, that would really help the village snowball their production. He invited Ravna to inspect her new home and workshop; she had no complaints and accepted it with a nod of approval. He helped her install the bellows and anvil and doffed his armor, handing her the ragged pieces. She took them with an exaggerated look of disgust. ¡°These aren¡¯t armor, these are lumpy ingots.¡± ¡°That bad?¡± Six asked. She nodded. ¡°Bad.¡± ¡°Oh! Also, I need some new clothes.¡± ¡°I can arrange that.¡± She pulled out a tape measure and took his measurements. ¡°This will help me size your armor properly as well.¡± ¡°How many sets can you make?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t bring that much material so three.¡± ¡°Make it so! How much do I owe you?¡± he asked, leaning against the wall smiling. ¡°Four gold for the clothes and the armor is commission one of twenty-four. I can¡¯t help but feel like I got the short end of the stick here.¡± Six lost his smile and passed her the gold. ¡°You don¡¯t have to do that many if you don¡¯t want to. Twenty four does seem like alot, how about ten?¡± ¡°No no, a deal is a deal and my new smithy is so darn beautiful. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever seen anything like it before. So, I¡¯ll pay you back as we agreed.¡± ¡°Alright, twist my rubber elbow. Thanks.¡± She grabbed his arm and wiggled it playfully but dropped it and then briefly adopted a super serious face. ¡°Pick it all up in four days. Now if you¡¯ll excuse me I would like to use my new forge!¡± She lost the seriousness as her excitement exploded with her statement. ¡°Alright. Message received!¡± Six left the lady to her devices and exited her smithy. He had gained many skill levels over these three days of building for Ravna and training with the soldiers. Earth magic - Initiate - 12 Meditation - Initiate - 7 Unarmed - Initiate - 6 Polearms - Initiate - 12 Swords - Initiate - 7 By now almost all the martials and hunters trained with the soldiers. Practicing with their neighbors and Keegan and Narhurin being willing to train them for nothing were good motivating factors. Six went to see Alison and found her handing out farming implements to a few families. ¡°Alison, how are things?¡± ¡°I¡¯m busy Six, don¡¯t have time for chit chat. I will thank you for getting that forge going though.¡± ¡°No problem. I took your free contracts from Ravna.¡± ¡°That''s fine, it''s more important that we have a running forge, I doubt you¡¯ll be monopolizing it anytime soon. It looks adorable by the way, very quaint. Like a fey¡¯s cottage.¡± ¡°Thank you, I worked hard on it. I just wanted to check if you need anything enchanted, then I¡¯ll get out of your hair.¡± She hesitated before looking at him, questioningly. ¡°For money or trade,¡± Six clarified. ¡°I have much that the town could use to be enchanted. I¡¯ll get you a list of the people and what they want improved. We can¡¯t pay much, but if your Mana Core trading scheme still stands I¡¯m sure we could pay you in core easily enough. Six nodded. ¡°That¡¯ll do. Also, if anyone is looking for a home builder, I¡¯d be willing to do more like it.¡± She relaxed at that, her face brightening. ¡°I wasn¡¯t expecting you to help like this but if you want to build houses I¡¯ll let the people know and you can discuss the details with them. ¡°The smithy was pretty fun and construction is probably not gonna be a full time thing but I find it extremely relaxing.¡± Alison nodded. ¡°I¡¯m excited to see what you make, I might just buy one myself. I¡¯m still sleeping outside and everyone should be under shelter in another four days but I need some privacy and some real rest and we have other pressing projects to consider before my house.¡± This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°I have no current jobs. You can be next if you want,¡± he offered. ¡°I¡¯ll have to find a good spot.¡± ¡°Lemme know when you do, until then, stay safe.¡± Six left Alison to her administration and made his way out of the bustling settlement, going back to his cave. Nibbler must have felt his intention because she appeared when he had reached the edge of the small village. They walked into the forest and up the mountain. Six trudged forward in the ripped and stained clothes of Matt, he became lost in thought as he walked, thinking about the smithy and what he could have changed and done better. Six was so lost in thought he didn¡¯t notice when the big cat fell from the trees. It cut through the air silently, landing upon him and striking him to the ground. Fish hook claws sank into Six and his skin screamed in pain. You have been afflicted with the condition bleeding2. You are bleeding, you lose 50 health. That was an escalation that needed immediate dealing with. Six tried to roll, he tried to push the creature off, the pain was intense and he panicked. He pulled a dagger from his ring but the cat had sunk its teeth into his shoulder and set its hind legs to shred his oblique, Six wasn¡¯t in a position to leverage the dagger. Nibbler screeched and jumped into the face of the cat, snapping her jaws and slashing out with scratches. The cat¡¯s eye exploded and it yowled, leaping up and pawing at its face in pain. It went to lurch away but Six fought through the pain and leapt to his feet pulling his glaive out and slashing down. The slash cut deep and the back legs of the creature gave out. It still attempted to crawl away with its forepaws, crippled, yowling pitifully. Six used his ring of healing to close his bleeding. He approached the cat and put it out of its misery with a swift stab to the head. You have killed level 4 Mountain Cat. Experience gained 50. ¡°There it is¡­ eaten by a cat indeed.¡± Fifty experience points seemed like a small reward for what that battle was but he was a higher level than it and Nibbler helped. He butchered it and continued home, looking down at the ambling racoon. He was proud of her, happy that someone had his back. He wanted that relationship but didn¡¯t like the conditions that came with it, it was incredibly conditional. Animals were near unconditional in their love and loyalty, it was generally easy to know where you stood with an animal. Food or not food. He reached down and scratched her and Nibbler pushed up against his touch. It was nice to have a pet. They reached the cave just at the sun was setting and Six ate a bit of food before barricading himself in and enchanting the rest of the night away. He worked on his woodworking tools and gained another level of Enchantment. Enchanting the saws and hatchets and planes with force, increasing their sharpness and durability. A sharp tool was easy to use. He focused on perfecting the fundamentals of enchantment, flow rate and identifying the ideal amount of mana to be invested. Each tool was a success and Six couldn¡¯t wait to see how they performed on the job. He worked until he could no more and fell asleep. He woke on the eleventh of Broka and spent the morning getting ready for the long task of channeling Plant Growth. He hydrated,stretched, soaked up some morning sun, and relaxed a bit before he psyched himself up. Going back inside and closing his cave up, he sat down and got comfortable. Six began the channeling, the mana draw was so little that he could channel indefinitely, it was his focus and endurance that was truly being tested. But the hours ticked by and he fell into the rhythm of the casting. The arcane gestures and incantations created a small loop and Six repeated that loop in the same meditative way that he went into the flow state with manual labour. Time passed and Six felt his body change, a cramp in his leg, his throat was beginning to become somewhat dry but he kept chanting. There was a certain satisfaction from pushing himself in this way and the discomforts were tiny in comparison. Eventually he was presented with a prompt. Minor Aura of Plant Growth has been successfully cast. All vegetation in a two kilometer radius will benefit from a 200% growth buff for one month. He sighed and relaxed his focus, and with the ease of focus he felt his body ease too. He wasn¡¯t sure on how long that took exactly but his body had remained sedentary for many hours and had seized somewhat. Nibbler chittered for food and Six retrieved some dry bread and jerky for the both of them. It was old bread and Six was running low on food. He could always grow more vegetables with Plant Growth but it was time he figured out the meat situation. He should have probably brought the meat of that cat along but he didn¡¯t. So instead he washed down the food with some spring water and opened his home to a day more than half gone. Sunset would be soon, he had little time to set traps but Six made his way out and created some snares and deadfalls. Nothing that would stop a leveled creature but a regular animal would be trapped as intended. He ended the night with meditation and woke to a skill prompt. Skill Increase: Traps - Initiate - 6 Did something settle into his memory during sleep or did one of his traps activate during his sleep? He stood, stretched, and left his cave. His breath fogged on the crisp morning air and he quickly went to check his traps. He had caught a good sized rabbit in one of his deadfall traps and it had perished in the night. Didn¡¯t even give him any EXP. Lame. Still, it was food. He cut and cleaned it before he tossed it in his ring. He had a few more hard loafs of bread that he wanted to get through and he gnawed one on his way to the village. Six waved at the palisade guards and they waved back as he entered through the main gate. He pulled his list and started work immediately. He asked around and was pointed around to various people around the town. The list had been organized for him to do work for the fighters first and for the whole morning he improved weapons and armor for those who couldn¡¯t afford to have him enchant on the march. A few hunters got enchanted bows and blades and all of them had their leathers enchanted with earth mana. All paid for by the village, Six would square up with Alison later but honestly the oohs and aahs of appreciation were almost enough compensation. The group training happened and Six took a break from work to join in. Free training was free training and he enjoyed sparring. He tried to actively learn the names of everyone he sparred with, hitting them with an analyze and succeeding for the most part. Keegan, Nar, and Tavi remained impenetrable to his discerning stare though. After training he found himself releasing a satisfied sigh. This was pretty alright, sure there were sporadic bouts of intense stress and pain but he was present and he was enjoying how he spent his time. He could get used to this, but that was dangerous, complacent. Once Ravna finished with his armor he would go and push himself higher in levels. He felt the familiar pressure come and released another sigh, a sad one. He thought of smokeweed, and considered taking a few puffs but decided against it. Being stoned and working on what basically amounted to a government contract was foolish. Six felt a demanding gurgle emanate from his belly, he was hungry, and before he got back to work Six asked about for a cook and a baker. He wanted good bread and well preserved food. Denny didn¡¯t get around to showing him how to do that, Six was pretty confident he could set up a smoke shack, he participated in some salmon harvests and knew a little about smoking fish. After a few questions he found Min the baker and Jebbedo the soldier but now serving as the cook in the middle of the settlement. Min was a happy fellow, of average build and height. He was slapping wet dough against a hot skillet, making some kind of flatbread. Jebbedo was a sinewy little man who sang to the pot of stew he stirred, a rather large pot, it was really somewhat massive. Six approached them, waving, ¡°Hello there!¡± ¡°Oh it¡¯s you!¡± Min said, waving back with a lump of wet dough. ¡°It¡¯s me?¡± ¡°Yea, but I suppose I don¡¯t know yer name. You were part of the scouting party yea?¡± ¡°Yea,¡± Six confirmed. ¡°Yea!¡± Min exclaimed, ¡°you!¡± Jebbedo pointed with his ladle and introduced them both. ¡°I¡¯m Jebbedo, he''s Min, hungry?¡± Six nodded at both of them. ¡°Jebbedo, Min, I¡¯m Six. I am hungry but I¡¯m also looking for something that¡¯ll keep for a while.¡± Jebbedo shook his head and Min spoke, ¡°best we can do right now is feed you here and now, if you really want I can sell you a few wraps but just so you know the wheat wont go very far. We¡¯ve already planted some wheat but it will take a few months for it to be harvested. Till then baking will be shutting down once we run out of wheat.¡± ¡°What? Aw.¡± Six grumbled, nothing better than a good loaf. ¡°If I brought in my own wheat could you turn it into bread?¡± ¡°Yes, the mill stone will be done before the first harvest so we could grind it into flour. You brought wheat with ya?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Well you¡¯ll be waiting like most all of us now. Wheat grows when wheat grows.¡± ¡°Wheat will grow when I tell it to grow,¡± Six shrugged. ¡°Very funny,¡± Min said, not amused at all. ¡°No Min,¡± Jebbedo cut in, he grew Ravna¡¯s forge.¡± ¡°That was you? That¡¯s a lovely smithy! How much did it cost?¡± Six nodded. ¡°We have an agreement between us but I think a building like that is worth at least thirty gold.¡± ¡°I think that''s a fair assessment. Want to make me a bakery? I¡¯ll give you free bread for three months too.¡± Min made the offer casually. ¡°Wow, that sounds great. I can have it done in a month or two, tops.¡± ¡°Two months?¡± Min seemed dismayed but he listened still. ¡°I can make you a covered area and some ovens tomorrow if you need something now, but I have to train and I don¡¯t have enough time right now.¡± ¡°Also,¡± Jebbedo added. ¡°Thirty gold for a building like that smithy is far too little, shame on you Min.¡± ¡°Oh is it? Am I being taken advantage of?¡± Six asked, crossing his arms with a smile. ¡°Thirty gold is fair,¡± Min insisted. ¡°For a normal building perhaps but that smithy has a quality of Average. Imagine the production increases she must have.¡± Jebbedo turned to Six. ¡°Don¡¯t let him use his trade skill to bully you! Something like that is worth at least 150 gold. At the minimum.¡± A five times increase for what Six assumed was one increase in quality? Six liked what he was doing even more now. ¡°No problem on my end, I doubt there is 150 gold in this village. How about you increase the free bread to a year? Eh Min?¡± ¡°Done!¡± Min said, slapping the dough with a clap. Six smiled and inclined his head at them both. ¡°I¡¯ll take a meal and buy whatever you¡¯re willing to spare.¡± Jebbedo smiled and ladled Six a bowl, the Halfling grabbed a few of Min¡¯s flatbread things and handed them over. Six was immediately slammed with the rich smells of earthy roots and fresh meats combined into a delicious stew. He began to salivate immediately. Nice. Six also received a small stack of flatbread and a bit of cured meats. He put those away in his ring and pulled out the butchered rabbit and showed the cook. ¡±Caught this sometime during the night, freshly cleaned this morning.¡± Jebbedo leaned in and gave it a sniff. ¡°Next time bring it to me right away.¡± He grabbed it though and then began to cube it up. ¡°How much do I owe you?¡± ¡°Two silvers.¡± Jebbedo held his bloody hand out for the money and Six handed it over. Jebbedo just tried to protect him from Min so there was some trust given but he brought up the price. ¡°That seems expensive.¡± Min nodded. ¡°Yes, things are tight. The meal is free, everything else is going to be a bit more expensive.¡± Six shrugged, that made sense. He thanked them and went a little ways away to eat. He dipped one of the breads in the stew and rolled it about, getting the bread saturated with flavour. Then he held it out to Nibbler who squeaked and grabbed it, the raccoon pawed at it before giving it a taste and pausing in shock before aggressively eating. Six also ate fast. Then it was time to finish as much enchanting as he could. He started working for Franklin by imbuing several long wooden beams with an earth aura enchantment. These Earthen Reinforced Beams had their durability enhanced and would be used for the eventual town hall. Six went on to enchant several farming implements, a plow, hoe and a few shovels. He had crossed off fifteen jobs today and that meant 45 mana cores. Time to square up. Alison shrugged and looked a bit guilty. ¡°I only have twenty-three. I¡¯ll pay you the other twenty-two when the hunters bring more in.¡± Six sighed, he was used to being fucked with by general contractors and this was to be expected. ¡°Interest?¡± ¡°No interest.¡± ¡°Pay me the rest in gold?¡± ¡°No. We are on a tight budget.¡± ¡°Well fuck me,¡± Six griped. Alison raised an eyebrow, anger rising. ¡°No. Not what I meant.¡± Six sighed. ¡°Pay when you can.¡± Alison had the grace to look a little bit guilty. ¡°It''s whatever Alison. I¡¯m still wearing Matt¡¯s clothes, how can I be angry at you? We¡¯re both just doing our best to take care of those we care about and at the same time not be totally evil. I¡¯m just trying to care about myself, to be honest I¡¯m finding it hard.¡± ¡°It¡¯s good to care about others, Six. We need each other out here.¡± Six nodded. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it this time, the village doesn¡¯t owe me anything. Next time I want material and payment up front though.¡± Alison nodded with a smile. ¡°Thank you for understanding." 1.24 First Set 13, Broka, 10,391 He spent the next day building an oven and overhang for Min. Six wanted bread as soon as possible and didn¡¯t mind gifting the baker the Stone Wall oven.He began by clearing a spot on Min¡¯s plot of all brush and dead fall. Working quickly in the crisp morning air. Denny had explained a calendar very similar to earth¡¯s and he informed Six that the seasonal rotation was in the equivalent of spring. He wasn¡¯t going to get fancy, this was free after all. He began lifting the oven out of the foundation with successive casts of Stone Wall. creating the overall form of the oven. Ravna would still have to forge the hinges and doors to the thing. His mana pool was small and his regen, when ignoring Blood Casting, was slow. Instead of meditation he went about and cleared the area a bit more, Jebbedo had moved the pot and Six thought it prudent to create a space for their eventual patrons to congregate. Six picked up a rotten log revealing the skittering bugs underneath. He saw his favourite bug, woodbugs, otherwise known as isopods, pillbugs, or rollie pollies. A few were pretty big, perfect specimens, not that Six was one of those bug scientists, an etymologist? Whatever, Six just thought they were neat so he took out one of the bigger jars he bought at the apothecary and made a little terrarium for his new pet bugs. He added a few dead leaves and sticks and sealed it, putting the new little home to the side. Skill Increase: Taming - Initiate - 9 Neat. Alright. Six took a bit more time to plant some cedars around the oven and then used Plant Growth to make sure they were established. These would eventually be grown into a cover for the oven and if not they could be removed later. Plant Growth used alot of mana when it was focused and Six didn¡¯t want to invest too much time. He had better uses for his mana right now. The baker loved his new oven proclaiming it ¡°a true sign of civilization.¡± The people were just as excited to have bread, even if their flour wouldn¡¯t last until the next harvest. It took Six just over half the day to finish that project, he could have done it faster but he was still trying to keep his bloodcasting a secret so after having a bowl and some flatbread, Six mosied on home, talking to Nibbler and his woodbugs on the way. Tomorrow he would begin his search of the ¡®Ley Node¡¯, he wasn¡¯t exactly sure how he would go about doing that but was seriously considering just following his gut and spelunking at any chance. Six had a Luck stat and according to Denny that was something special. Luck was always something that would create opportunities for someone, Six wasn¡¯t sure if it would lead him to the Ley Node but thought it was better than doing a spiral or totally random wandering. He reviewed his maps within his cave and tried to get a good mental picture of the positions of his camp and the village in relation to the mountain. There was a lot, it was a big mountain. Six would have to be careful about how he went about his search, so took stock of all his options. He could make some truly hidden traps around his home to give himself a defended fall back position but that was dangerous, some village hunters could get hurt. So he went through all his abilities and thought about his fighting style. He would have his armor and his weapons. He only had a few mana potions remaining and he wished to save those for as long as he could so blood casting would help, it was something he had to hide and therefore couldn¡¯t train in public but tomorrow he would see how far he could push the skill. He curled up and read his masonry book, gaining another level before sleep. On the Fourteenth of Broka and just lay there, breathing. He closed his eyes and rode the dissipating clouds of dream as he visualized. It was time to grind. He visualized himself setting up traps and enjoying their success. He visualized doing battle with boars and trolls, standing triumphant. He saw himself moving his glaive, his hammer, his sword, his fist, his boot. He was perceptive and focused. Aware and detailed, meticulous. He focused on his breathing and relaxed his body. He shook it out and stood. He put Matt¡¯s ragged clothes on, and began a morning routine, stretching and moving through the weapon forms that Keegan and Narhurin had taught him. After the morning training he ate some flatbread and left his home, pausing to pump all his mana into Plant Growth and accelerating his smokeweed plants. All the raised beds were showing life sprouting and five green shoots had already popped up in the smokeweed bed. Six brought them all up by a foot, watching as leaves budded from the lifting stems. ¡°Aw yea.¡± He checked his traps and discovered two rabbits this time. He tossed them in his ring, reset the traps and mosied. Six enjoyed the walk to the village, it was two kilometers down the mountain and he had become somewhat familiar with his usual route, he changed it up a bit and found a slightly harder way down. Enjoying the movement for what it was. He returned the wave of the guards as he entered the village and dropped off the rabbits at Jebbedo¡¯s cauldron as he made his way to the smithy. Standing at the smithy door he knocked. ¡°Come in!¡± Ravna¡¯s voice sang through the door. Six entered to a warm interior and the warm smile of Ravna. She spoke with the enthusiasm of a sleep deprived artist and gesticulated wildly.¡°Six! Perfect! Everything is done! I worked hard to get your armor done in a timely manner and I suppose you could have come and received it yesterday but now I get real bread instead of whatever those flat things the baker usually makes. And now you get fresh new clothes instead of those torn crunchy things you constantly wear. Come see!¡± She went over to a table in the corner and indicated her work. Upon the table was his armor, helm, breastplate, vambraces, greaves, gauntlets. Each piece gleamed in the light and was smooth and whole. There were some dark brown and green sets of clothing folded on the table aswell. It was simple and unadorned but SIx didn¡¯t care overmuch for fanciness, performance was king. Six inspected it all and although he could see the repair work, the durability was reading full and undiminished. The clothing was nice, well made, and in the style of the locals. He took a minute to appreciate the work and inclined his head at Ravna. ¡°Thank you, I really needed all this. You rest much?¡± The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. She waved the notion away. ¡°I got some sleep, here and there and I¡¯m about to take a nap before I work on the doors for the oven. Don¡¯t worry about me. That¡¯s job one, but let me help some other people before you damage my work too badly. I can¡¯t be working for just you now.¡± Six made an offended face. ¡°I¡¯ll block all incoming strikes with my face.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t do that!¡± ¡°Why not? Do I need my face?¡± ¡°No. But you don¡¯t need to make it worse.¡± Six held his heart. ¡°Ack.¡± Ravna laughed and tried to push him. He let her. ¡°You need anything?¡± Six asked. Ravna thought about it for a moment. ¡°Do you have any metal or know of any mines? I have very little material and even though I should be able to do repairs for a while, I do need material to work with. Alison has some but it won¡¯t last forever.¡± Six shook his head no, he gave what ore he had to Alison. ¡°Sorry but I do not.¡± ¡°That¡¯s ok. Ok, let me know if you need anything. I¡¯m going to get some rest.¡± Six left Ravna¡¯s smithy and went to go find a quiet spot to enchant his armor. He knew that natural enchanting was the weakest enchantment and he wasn¡¯t sure if he could overwrite an enchantment. If he wanted a new enchantment set he may have to have another armor set and he was also not confident about how easily he could get new armor. If the weapon enchantments had not been so effective Six may have waited but no. That was not who he was today. He would be at his most dangerous. This may be his first set of armor but it would not be the last. He had two choices. The earth mana or the force mana, earth mana seemed to be focused around durability and had higher overall numbers than the force mana which seemed half as potent. Six didn¡¯t know exactly why this was the case but he felt like it had to do with mana attunements and their relationships. Force was probably more versatile than earth mana, but earth and perhaps other more specialized mana had a higher magnitude of power. He shrugged. Earth had the higher numbers and everyone loved big numbers. Six found an empty spot behind one of the longhouses and sat down. He pulled his helm and a mana core from his ring. You are attempting to enchant a Common Iron Heavy Half Helm with a Minor Aura of Earth. This will require 100 mana and one Mundane Common Mana Core to complete. No suitable reagent detected. Would you like to begin this enchantment now? Yes/No? He began his work and fell into an easy flow and the success prompts began to appear. Enchantment Successful! Enchantment Successful! Enchant- Enchanting all eight pieces of armor took the whole morning but when Six stood and stretched he was smiling. He inspected his new armor. - Heavy Iron Breastplate of Earth - Rank:Average Rarity:Unusual Defense - 10+(2) Weight - 2.5 KG Durability 160/160 Traits: Protects the wearers Chest from physical damage. - Heavy Iron Gauntlets of Earth - Rank:Average Rarity:Unusual Defense - 7+(1) Weight - 2.5 KG Durability 100/100 Traits: Protects the wearer''s Hands from physical damage. 11% chance to apply +2 Earth damage, 20/20 charges, one charge expended when effect activated. - Heavy Iron Half Greaves of Earth- Rank:Average Rarity:Unusual Defense - 10+(2) Weight - 2.5 KG Durability 110/110 Traits: Protects the wearer¡¯s lower Legs from damage. - Heavy Iron Vambraces of Earth- Rank:Average Rarity:Unusual Defense - 10+(2) Weight - 2.5 KG Durability 110/110 Traits: Protects the wearer¡¯s Forearms from damage. - Heavy Iron Half Helm of Earth- Rank:Average Rarity:Unusual Defense - 8+(2) Weight - 2.5 KG Durability 90/90 Traits: Protects the wearer¡¯s cranium from damage. Increases headbutt damage. 11% chance to apply +2 Earth damage, 20/20 charges, one charge expended when effect activated. Skill increase: Enchantment - Initiate - 9 Six reveled in the increases. Durability went up, defense had increased by almost a quarter and the armor''s rarity had risen to unusual across the board. Also his gauntlets and helm had a chance to increase his damage which was super cool. He donned the repaired and enchanted armor and while he didn¡¯t physically feel anything different he knew it wasn¡¯t the same set. There was no more preparation he could do, grinding skills not the best use of his time. He needed levels and a class. Classes were always broken and powerful so gaining one was of the utmost importance¡­ right after lunch. Six was approaching Jebbedo¡¯s pot when he saw a pretty large crowd of villagers nearby. The villagers were crowding around the imperial soldiers. Oh no, that can¡¯t be good. Mobs were never good and the soldiers would cut through the villagers like a chainsaw through butter. He increased his pace but quickly slowed as he got a better read on the situation. There was a mob but it wasn¡¯t angry. The people seemed worried and guilty, a little ashamed? ¡°What''s going on?¡± Six asked one of the villagers. ¡°Soldiers are leaving,¡± a woman provided. ¡°Oh.¡± If the soldiers were leaving, Six wanted to at least wave them goodbye so he cut through the crowd and made his way to the front. He came to see the soldiers arrayed with packs and bags slowly making their way to the new wooden gate, Keegan was talking with a villager, the big man was gently refusing the insistent resident. Six approached. ¡°Howdy guys.¡± The soldiers all greeted him, except for Irduth who just grasped his book tighter which Six considered an improvement. ¡°Leaving?¡± Six asked. Keegan nodded. Kali smiled at Six. ¡°We must, the world moves and even though we are weak, we still must do our part.¡± She stared at Six with heavy intent. ¡°We move to investigate the Imperial Army, last we heard Grand General Marcus was marching the Imperial legions into the Salazharian deserts. The legions are the weapon most likely capable of deposing Juthe-Wei. We must know of the Grand General Marcus'' disposition. We shall return in a month, more likely two, perhaps three.¡± Six whistled. ¡°Two months? Holy, big trip.¡± ¡°Indeed.¡± ¡°You¡¯re all going?¡± Keegan shook his head, no. ¡°Jebbedo, Gatbark, Celine, and Tavi will remain. They and others like yourself will be sufficient defense while we are away.¡± ¡°Aight.¡± Six held his hand out and Keegan eyed it in surprise before grasping it. Six pulled him in and gave him a pat on the back, their armors clanking. ¡°Good luck.¡± Six gave Narhurin and Kali Kik hugs too, everyone else got finger guns. The soldiers left and Six could see the immediate morale drop. The soldiers, despite representing everything they were trying to escape, were a source of stable protection that was now leaving. That could not feel good. It is what it is, Six thought. But it was lunch time! He sat on the ground and shared his stew and flatbreads with Nibbler. Min had slipped him two extra breads and winked, Six wasn¡¯t about to complain about extra food so he just went with it. Six thought about the next few weeks. This would probably be the least stressed he would be for a while so he took a minute to appreciate it and relax. He finished his food and let out a satisfied sigh. Six looked at Jebbedo stirring the pot. ¡°Why you staying?¡± Jebbedo was almost startled from his stirring. ¡°Huh? Oh, I¡¯m tired of the fight and don¡¯t tell Irduth this but the empire threw us away.¡± ¡°Oh? How you figure?¡± Jebbedo nodded. ¡°The fort we were sent to was one of those places where nothing ever happened, it¡¯s an open secret that failures are assigned to such places.¡± ¡°That seems a little harsh. You guys seem competent enough.¡± ¡°We are, the fort commander was savvy enough to put competent officers in charge. But most everyone else there were somewhat bumbling. I don¡¯t appreciate the lack of appreciation. But cooking? Everyone loves the cook.¡± ¡°Fair.¡± There was a pause for a moment. ¡°So,¡± Six started again. ¡°Do you have people under you? Or like?¡± ¡°There are others, if that''s what you''re asking. You don¡¯t need to worry about where or how many.¡± ¡°What happened to not working for the empire anymore?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t give a shit about the empire anymore, but those soldiers are still my friends and I¡¯m not gonna reveal sensitive information, not even to my best customer.¡± ¡°I¡¯m your best customer?¡± ¡°Nah I just want to butter you up for when you make my tavern.¡± ¡°Transitioning into tavern owner?¡± ¡°Yup, Alison has been paying out coinage to the workforce and we have nothing to spend it on.¡± ¡°There¡¯s a smithy¡­ and bread.¡± Jebbedo nodded. ¡°And soon a Tavern.¡± He smiled, ¡°I think I should get a tavern before Min gets an entire bakery. He already has the oven.¡± ¡°What?¡± Min nearly yelled. ¡°I need a warm room for the dough to rise properly, you savage!¡± ¡°I can¡¯t prepare proper meals without the proper space!¡± Jebbedo whined with a grin on his face. Six stood and brushed himself off as the two went off good-naturedly at each other. ¡°Aight. Imma head out.¡± He walked into the forest, Nibbler at his heels. ¡°Time to go kill some shit.¡± 1.25 The Avalanche Begins 14 Broka 10,391 There was nothing that wanted to fight on the route to his cave but when Six drew close to his home he heard shouts and squeals. He slowed and began to move quietly, pushing Nibbler back with a foot he got her to wait. He snuck forward and came upon three small grubby humanoid creatures, about three feet tall. Six spied sharp claw tipped digits and wide mouths that were lined with needle teeth. They wore simple clothing and very little of it. He analyzed them all but only one stood out. Ukeef Goblin Level 1 Yup. Goblins. They were examining his garden beds speaking some clipped language that Six could barely hear. Still he heard enough and the words soon morphed into something he understood. Knowledge Gained: Knowledge: Zarmul Goblin (Mortal) ¡°Smells like human camp,¡± the one who was on watch said. It was clear they weren¡¯t very good at watching for anything, it''s not like Six was particularly amazing at stealth. ¡°We wait?¡± one of the others asked. ¡°No, idiot. We go when we done take.¡± ¡°Why no wait? Why no kill human? Stupid.¡± ¡°Strong with more. We come back strong. But first, we take.¡± The watch goblin stood tall upon one of his garden beds, he looked about and every shuffle of his feet broke more of Six¡¯s budding shoots. Two more goblins came out from his cave. One carried Six¡¯s lamp and blanket, the other carried Six¡¯s terrarium. They were stealing his stuff? They were stealing his woodbugs! Six had grown up in a rougher part of town and had learned to hate most thieves, there were exceptions but now he had to do something. He slowly moved closer and closer to the bickering goblins who were fighting over who got to eat his woodbugs. Skill Increase: Stealth - Initiate - 7 Six was but a mere ten meters away before he was forced to act, one of the goblins had stopped arguing for the woodbugs and had decided to just open the terrarium and eat them. Six created the gestures and muttered the incantations before unleashing a, ¡°Stone Spear.¡± The watching one noticed him but not before an eruption of stone blasted forward and evaporated the inciting goblin''s head. The goblin¡¯s body went limp and the terrarium it held fell to the ground, making a tinkling sound but not shattering. Everything went still for but a moment as the chime echoed through the area. The three remaining goblins looked towards the watch leader with panicked faces. The watch leader smiled at their apparent need for leadership before pointing at Six and hissing his command. ¡°Kill him!¡± The goblins rushed forward, claws extended, one even had a knife. Six danced back and withdrew a weapon, his earth glaive. He analyzed them all and found none of them above level 1. He swung wide with his glaive in a whistling horizontal slash, the blade cutting through all three and an earth aura activation rippled in, leaving a rich green light trail following his swing. Six obliterated all three entirely. Blood and bisected bodies fell to the ground. The watch leader squeaked and went to run, its tiny legs pumping as fast as it could. Six took off after and pushed as hard as he could, his armor jangling in a steady rhythm. He was closing the distance with his longer legs and by burning stamina. His regen kept him moving between bursts and soon the goblin was flagging, slowing and wheezing and the wheezing turned to crying. It collapsed and rolled onto its back. ¡°Please, no! Spare me! Spare poor Ukeef!¡± it screamed. Six slapped it with the butt of his glaive and forced himself to speak the goblin tongue, his anger demanded this creature know his fury. ¡°Shut up you little thief, fuck around and find out. Shouldn¡¯t have touched my shit.¡± ¡°Ukeef is sorry! Ukeef will serve for life!¡± Six hesitated and head cocked, nodded. ¡°I will spare you if you serve me, yes.¡± Ukeef dropped to the ground and bowed to Six. ¡°I do anything.¡± ¡°Show me where you live,¡± Six commanded. This was the tip of something larger and investigation was key. Ukeef looked confused for a second before a sinister look passed over his face, that look was replaced with a happy grin. ¡°Yes I show.¡± Six indicated Ukeef lead and they set off north alongside the mountain together. Fuck waiting for this to be a problem, Six needed to fix this shit right now. Six followed Ukeef for a while and observed the creature. It cowered and looked back at Six every few minutes with glances of trepidatious fear. Over the course of the walk those glances slowly morphed into looks of confident derision. The two of them must be getting close for the goblin to change his act. Six was decent at reading people and the goblin was not subtle at all, they were clearly thinking about fucking Six up. Six waited until Ukeef looked ahead and instantly lunged forward, grabbing the little creature around its small neck and squeezing short any potential shout. Pushing down he brought the goblin to the ground and sat on the thing as it struggled against his bulk. It tried to roll over but it was exceedingly easy to control it. Six could see it, Ukeef, claw the forest floor in panic. He just held him facedown until it stopped moving. You have killed level 1 Ukeef. Experience gained 21. Six sighed and looked down at the tiny thing, even more pitiful in death. Ukeef had offered very little experience but with five goblins dead it was something He growled and pulled his knife. He butchered the goblin but found no mana stone within. Yup. They were people. Tiny little fucked up fuckers. But still, people. The necessity for violence made him sad but he shrugged. It is what it is. New world, new rules. There was no time for ethical moralizing. He had picked something, he had claimed something and he would fight to protect it. Six had killed all the goblins that knew of his home, he could leave, go back to his cave and enchant some shit. But he knew that the goblins represented a threat in some capacity and it would be foolish and willfully ignorant to not seek more information on the true magnitude of the threat. He was here after all. Six moved forward with stealth, his pace slowed but he didn¡¯t want to run into anything he was unprepared for. It was somewhat mentally taxing to be so focused on careful movement but Six could not afford to relax right now. His mind wandered to the relaxing sensation of weed, now was not the appropriate time to indulge but when he got home, oh man would he get blitzed. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. It didn¡¯t take long before Six found the goblin village. They lived amongst the trees in tiny little shacks made of sticks and branches. Fighting and violence was everywhere, size was authority amongst themselves as Six could see that four bigger goblins ruled with an iron fist. The biggest was an impressive five feet tall, towering over the other goblins and easily pushing them around with oversized weapons and armor that were clearly looted from much larger folk. Numbering in the eighties it was a significant village, there were many young goblins, children Six supposed, but they seemed self sufficient and precocious, they may even try to attack Six with their parents. Six was sure at least twenty goblins could fight him, perhaps as many as sixty. He should reconsider this. But he could see them and hear them. There was no love in these creatures and they were too close to him and his home. He chuckled under his breath, now he sounded like Irduth. Who was he to pass judgement? But how would he thrive and protect himself by being so committed to compromise and non-aggression? It was not the time for such entitled thoughts. It did not matter, what mattered was his survival. What mattered would be his offer to the creatures.The goblins could decide what would happen, if they could co-exist, or if Six would remove them. He continued to sneak about and began to prepare the battlefield quietly. *** The sun was rising, Six was tired from working all night, but he wasn¡¯t suffering any debuffs and his health, stamina and mana pools were all full. He couldn¡¯t leave his preparations to be discovered while he rested, he needed to do this now. The goblins seemed to rotate a perpetual wakefulness. They were active during the night but more so during the day. Eating and fighting. Six approached the village and made himself known. He spoke in the goblin tongue, ¡°hello.¡± He stood as the goblins came to a surprised quiet, then chittered with each other. The biggest goblin stepped forward, covered in armor and lazily holding a longsword. Six analyzed him. Chakret Goblin Level 11 Strong goblin. More goblins stepped forward and began to close the distance with Six Six spoke in goblin with as much confidence as he could. ¡°I am Six, no fight, you want trade?¡± as much as Six tried to convince himself to be completely ruthless, he had to make sure. Chakret smiled and bared its needle filled grin. A vile expression took the creature and it laughed from the deepest parts of its soul. ¡°You are weak. Chakret is strong and we are many. Six is small number. You give Chakret armor and I let you live.¡± Six sighed. He knew then that peace was not an option. From his spatial ring he drew his glaive in a slashing arc and began the fight by slicing through the faces of the three goblins who got too close. They all screamed gurgling cries of pain. Six leapt backward and drew a Stone Spear impaling another of the horrid creatures, like a worm on a hook. He turned and ran away to the whoops and hollers of goblins who began chasing him. They threw rocks while they chased, most missed and those that did hit were ineffectual. As he ran he called out to the goblins in their tongue, ¡°weak and slow! Slow and stinky!¡± His stamina built steadily as he maintained distance and it fell as made his way farther ahead of them. His athletics skill provided a small 5.5% reduction to his consumption, and it made the slog that much more possible. Then he heard it, the yelping screeches as goblins hit his trip wires and were trampled by those behind them. The screams of terror and frustration as some were caught in his snares. He looked behind and saw at least thirty still chasing him. He sent out analyzes when he could, picking up minor information here and there. A cycle of life and death exists in forests and Six had found the dead trees. Snags, they were called in the industry. They could become extremely brittle, sometimes just leaning on a snag was enough to send it crumbling down on oneself, you had to be careful walking in a forest. The goblins knew this but still did not expect what came next. Six had rigged the snags to fall with a falling cut and used a small sapling to act as a wedge. With a small amount of Plant Growth channeling Six could push the snag over with the sapling¡¯s growth. He did so and the wet sounds of flesh and vegetation snapping chilled him. The injured moaned and cried for their ruined and crushed bodies. The falling wood had been effective. After the first impact crushed eight goblins the pursuing party hesitated a bit, they were breathing heavily and Six could see fear in their eyes. He taunted them again, ¡°Come on cowards. Come take my shit if you fucking can you. I curse you fucks.¡± Chakret pushed one of the little ones and barked at it. ¡°Go!¡± It looked back at Chakret and received a punch to the face for it. Chakret bellowed at all the little ones. ¡°GO!¡± The goblins rushed forward again, spurned by the fear of their leader they united and tried to catch Six but to no avail. Six powered forward and pumped his legs endlessly. They chased him for a long time. Some fell for lack of endurance, some were delayed by snares. Two more deadfall snag traps cleared a significant portion and finally it was just Chakret and his larger than average back up. Six stopped as if he wanted to make a stand here. He analyzed the other three goblins who managed to keep up. All four were breathing deep, Chakret was trying to hide it but Six could see his chest beat up and down. Recnar Goblin Level 6 Aitbo Goblin Level 4 Shugud Goblin Level 4 He needed to reduce their numbers advantage as fast as he could, so he wove a Stone Spear and locked his eyes on Chakret. Six completed the casting and Chakret loaded up to dodge but it never came for him; instead it lanced out and took Recnar in the neck. The goblin was lifted off their feet and struggled for an instant before his strength failed him, going limp on the shard. Chakret roared in frustration and brandished his longsword at Six, taking a step forward and grimacing. Six horked a fat loogie at the goblin and turned, running into the forest. They chased him with fury and abandon. He let fly another Stone Spear and wounded one of the weaker goblins. Six picked his long stride carefully, stepping with intention and specificity, running where he wanted them to run. He stopped when he heard two yelps behind him. Six turned to see a large hole in the ground about a dozen feet deep. It had been concealed by a lattice of ivy that had been weaved by Plant Growth. Indiscernible from the forest floor, Six had created one pillar of stone and made the ivy bloom a flower right above the stone pillar so he could aim his step and leap atop the pillar and past the pitfall. The two minions of Chakret sat at the bottom of the pit, nursing their sprained limbs. Six smiled and looked at the lone Chakret. ¡°You are alone,¡± Six murmured. The goblin hissed in fury and scratched at his face in irritation. Six had been lucky this trap had not been disturbed by a wild animal or monster. Chakret looked at Six before slowly walking around the hole, breathing deeply. The big goblin drew a dagger in his offhand to accompany the longsword in his dominant. ¡°Fuck around and find out,¡± Six whispered, he wasn¡¯t sure if it was to himself or Chakret. Chakret moved forward with extreme speed, Six could barely react as the longsword was deflected off the haft of his glaive but he took a gash from the dagger to his exposed upper arm. He could barely feel the pain, just a vague wetness reached his mind. Six tried to retaliate but Chakret danced away with crude goblin acrobatics, moving with precision and speed but not elegance or grace. Six attempted to strike whenever he managed to gain a moment to but Chakret made Six¡¯s strikes seem slow and ponderous. The only thing keeping Six calm was the glisten of sweat and heavy breathing that Chakret had. Six just had to wear the little shit down. Chakret must have thought the same thing and rushed in towards Six, delivering a violent exchange of blows that Six barely blocked. He dodged around the thrusting glaive and came within Six¡¯s guard. Chakret limboed under a fending cross-check and came up growling in goblin, ¡°Double Strike.¡± The goblin hammered his dagger home twice, perforating Six¡¯s gut, and moved back before Six could do anything, a satisfied look and the thing¡¯s face. ¡°You die now weakling.¡± You have been afflicted with the condition bleeding2. You are bleeding, you lose 34 health. ¡°Fuck bleeding!¡± Six griped. He had just lost a quarter of his health from the two strikes and was bleeding more away. His ring was a one time use and he shouldn¡¯t use it until Chakret was dead, lest he apply the damage over time effect again. He knew he didn¡¯t have any time to play this safe so Six spun away, crouching over, holding the wound and moaning in terrible pain, acting. Six was terrible at lying, in general, it was a guilt thing, deceiving people, which made it hard to act. But Six had been a pretty decent theatre kid and he knew social dynamics. When he had no guilt, he could lie with the best of them. Fuck this goblin. Six wove the gestures with his hand hidden, he spoke the words of power under his breath. ¡°Plant Growth.¡± Six completed the spin to the sight of Chakret closing the distance, weapons aimed at Six¡¯s disabled form. The goblin was not prepared for the ferns and grasses that lunged at his feet, his momentum and movement was just slightly tilted. An imbalance was introduced, something that needed correction, and as Chakret compensated, Six capitalized. He focused and aimed his glaive¡¯s tip to the center mass of Chakret and lanced it forward with all his might, just as Narhurin had taught him. The goblin tried to dodge but with the tempo disturbed all Chakret could do was minimize the damage. The goblin tried to leap away but had its side pierced by Six¡¯s thrust. ¡°Gotcha.¡± Six pushed forward and Chakret hopped backwards trying to compensate for Six¡¯s building momentum. The goblin dropped the dagger and instead held the blade of the glaive, trying to stop the additional damage that was occurring with Six¡¯s violent chugging movements. Six dropped the glaive and leapt forward, tackling the goblin to the ground and the glaive ripped itself from Chakret¡¯s side. There was no scream as Chakret had lost all his air as Six brought them down, Chakret¡¯s sword clattering away. Six mounted the little goblin as its little arms reached to gouge his eyes so he attempted to restrain the clawing hands and found it incredibly easy except for small bursts of power from the gasping goblin. Chakret was burning through his small amounts of stamina regen, there was nothing left. Six smiled down at the struggling creature then brought his head down as hard as he could in a violent headbutt. The enchantment activated and deep green energies emanated as the kinetic force of his headbutt was wreathed in an earthen aura. Chakret shook with the slam and then went limp. Six saw a visible indentation in the goblin¡¯s cracked head but there was no death prompt just a, You have afflicted Chakret with the condition Stun2. They have been stunned for 3 seconds. That was pretty self explanatory, so he released the hands of Chakret and instead grabbed the goblin¡¯s head. Six wasn¡¯t sure on how to properly snap a neck but kinda just forcefully rotated Chakret¡¯s head until he heard a deep crack. You have killed level 11 Chakret. Experience gained 2531. Skill Increase: Stealth - Initiate - 9 Analyze - Initiate - 9 Unarmed - Initiate - 7 Athletics - Initiate - 12 Traps - Initiate - 9 Maneuver learned: Maneuver: Precise Strike Rank: Minor Cooldown: 5 seconds Range: Melee Performance Time: 1.5 seconds Duration: Instant Stamina Cost: 20 Effect: Increases speed and precision of strike by 50%. Increased chance of hitting vital targets. Maneuver: Double Strike Rank: Minor Cooldown: 5 seconds Range: Melee Performance Time: Near Instant Duration: Instant Stamina Cost: 35 Effect: Immediately strike again within a greatly reduced frame of performance 1.26 Bottom Tier Trope 15 Broka 10,391 Exhaustion took Six and he nearly closed his eyes right there but instead he activated his healing ring, pulled some rootbust from his spatial and popped it into his mouth. He started chewing on the watery root as he checked his HP. 138/537 Not at close as he felt but that was relatively low and that was with the 27 HP his ring healed. It was more than the average human but still, fuck bleeding. He checked Chakret for loot and found nothing that he personally wanted, the sword was sharp but chipped and the dagger too. Yet, he took them and the bits of metal armor that Chakret wore, Ravna could use the metal. Six stood and took a deep breath and felt confusing tears coming. He growled and flexed as hard as he could, pushing the tear away. If he wanted to cry he could do so later, there was still work to do. He approached the lip of the pit trap and saw the goblins look up at him with expectant faces that fell when they realized who it was who looked down upon them. ¡°Fuck around and find out.¡± Six closed the pit trap with Stone Wall. The goblins were too small to climb out but you never know. The lid of stone was just intended to keep them in while Six performed the last phase of his plan. He would return to finish them later. Six began to jog back to the goblin village, his health slowly rising. Almost immediately he found crippled and exhausted goblins that had been abandoned by their snared and fitter comrades. When Six came trundling through the forest they tried harder to flee back to their home but Six caught up like a slasher villain and ended their struggles with a precise stab from his glaive. Six walked out from the depths of the forest and approached the goblin village. He could see the milling about and general fighting. They believed in Chakret but when they saw Six emerge that belief crumbled. Goblins shrieked and while a few scattered most gathered in the center around their fire pit. Six walked up and saw the fear on the faces of the goblin men, women, and children. Children, in the back of his mind he knew that they were part of the enemy, but his old morality screamed at him. He knew he wouldn¡¯t be able to finish the job, he sighed, even leaving the children alone would just gift them to the animals and monsters of the mountain. It is what it is, he thought, and marched forward. When he was but a few meters away a goblin moved forward and prostrated herself in front of Six. ¡°We trade!¡± he cried, ¡°We trade!¡± Six sighed and shook his head and the goblins trembled at his refusal. But it was himself he was shaking his head at. But he took this opportunity to bellow in goblin, ¡°if anyone ever attacks me ever again I will end them. Understand?¡± The chittering, ¡°yes,¡± came from them all. Six turned and walked into the forest, moving away from his cave and hiding his trail. He eventually circled about and made his way back home. A few times he waited to see if he was being followed but nothing ever came of his vigils. Did he really fix the problem or just murder the best defence for that village? He felt like a monster, a bully, what kind of person does what he just did? It didn¡¯t matter, it was what it was and Six knew that the inevitable conflict would have come eventually. He just arrayed the board in his favour. He arrived back at his cave and despite his full health and stamina he stumbled in disassociation. Nibbler came bounding out from the nearby underbrush and chittered at him, she rubbed her paws together in a nervous gesture and sniffed at her. Six looked down at his pet and smiled, he went to pet her and stopped when he saw his own blood covered hand. Instead he went to his stream to wash himself but hesitated, until he created a wastewater system he should probably clean himself downstream of the settlement. But before that he at least pulled out a pot of water out of the stream and cleaned his hands. He sat down, almost reclined, and Nibbler sat at his side. Running his hand through her fur was a salve on his soul. There was just something about fluffy creatures that hit something deep in most humans. He pulled his pipe and smokeweed out and blazed. The drug hitting him and melting his tension away. It eased the sharp edges of his emotions and created a grey acceptance of what just happened. It eroded the scenes of violence that played in his mind. ¡°Ok Six, time to get up and keep going,¡± he said to himself, pushing himself up to his feet and taking a deep breath. He and Nibbler walked down the mountain and into the glade, by the sun¡¯s position it looked about midday and the people of the glade were working furiously on a new longhouse, there were five completed already and another was going up fast. Six waved at the people who saw him march past their palisade and go further east, downstream of them. Six wondered if the villagers threw waste in the river but at this point, he didn¡¯t care, he just wanted to soak. So he found a spot on the shore that was shallow and doffed his armor and clothing down to his undies, His body had changed with his new attributes but not in the musclely way the tropes usually went. Instead of a bodybuilder like figure he was more powerlifter, not ideal aesthetics but whatever, it was probably the massive disparity between constitution and his other physical stats. He paused and wondered if there was any clear disadvantages to min maxing one''s stats. He probably lost some mobility with this powerlifter build. He did some scapular stretches and found that yes, his range of motion had decreased somewhat. Something to ask Charles about when he saw that kid next. He blazed some smokeweed again, chasing apathy and enjoying the slight visuals of the weak psychedelic. Now, after the second session, he was quite stoned. He put everything away into his spatial and stood at the edge of the river. ¡°I¡¯m the iceman!¡± he said to himself as he walked into the mountain fed river. It was absolutely frigid but he slowly immersed himself, he wanted to shout it was so cold but he breathed through that impulse. Convincing himself that this cold was what he wanted because ice baths are good for recovery. He knew he was lying to himself, the initial immersion was hell, he did not like it. Still, it was good mental training to acknowledge and control that part of himself. He floated on his back, and stared up at the clouds floating past. He breathed and despite how stoned he was the guilt came back, it was dulled but it was still there. He splashed the water in frustration before focusing his mind on his body. Six had always found it an impossible task to not think of something. That the attention on the goal of not thinking of ¡°X¡± in of itself brought his thought to ¡°X.¡± He had found it much more effective to focus his mind on ¡°Y¡± instead of ¡°X¡± and there was nothing more mindless than one¡¯s own body. He washed himself and pulled his shivering body out of the river. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Hey, you ok?¡± a light voice called. It was a human woman, dressed in dark, serviceable, boar hide leathers, a bow on her back and sword on her hip marked her as a martial settler, perhaps a hunter or something. ¡°Yup,¡± Six said as he put fresh clothing back on. ¡°What¡¯s going on?.¡± ¡°You¡¯re Six right?¡± ¡°Sure am.¡± ¡°I was just curious, seeing a bloody man trudging around with a stony look, we were just wondering about you.¡± ¡°We?¡± ¡°The hunters.¡± ¡°Ah, and you are?¡± She gestured to herself and inclined her head. ¡°Ethel.¡± ¡°Nice to meet you Ethel.¡± She smiled. ¡°What got you like that? Anything we should know about?¡± Six waved a hand dismissively. ¡°Goblins.¡± She raised her eyebrow in a questioning manner. ¡°You fought goblins alone?¡± ¡°Yea, I guess eh.¡± ¡°How many?¡± ¡°Like thirty, fourty.¡± Ethel snorted. ¡°No really.¡± Six looked at her and sighed. ¡°Well anyways, I took care of them.¡± ¡°All of them? They breed like, well, goblins. We could have a problem in a few years if you missed any.¡± ¡°I left most of them alive.¡± ¡°What? Really? Why?¡± ¡°They stopped fighting.¡± She looked at him as if he was a dumbass, which he might be by her reaction. ¡°They stopped fighting?¡± ¡°Yea.¡± ¡°They stopped fighting for now you mean.¡± ¡°I suppose.¡± ¡°Then you gotta tell me where you found them so we can finish the job.¡± Six laughed. ¡°No.¡± Ethel paused in confusion. ¡°No?¡± Six nodded. ¡°You want to go murder a bunch of people that don¡¯t want to fight? I¡¯m not helping with that.¡± ¡°Goblins are evil pests.¡± ¡°They can talk and don¡¯t have mana cores in em. That''s enough for me to not murder the ones that don¡¯t want to kill me.¡± ¡°But they all want to kill you. They¡¯re goblins!¡± She stressed the last two words. ¡°Some of them are children.¡± Six said calmly. Ethel did have anything to say to that. ¡°I¡¯m not killing children.¡± Six noted. ¡°It only takes a few years or so for goblins to mature, those children will kill you eventually.¡± ¡°If and when it comes to that, they can try. I killed their chieftain so I¡¯m confident I can defeat any that come after me.¡± Ethel relaxed a bit at that. ¡°The forest will take them then. If there are no martial goblins then a monster will fix it.¡± ¡°Maybe, I left the fighters that made it back alive alone, so perhaps they will be able to defend themselves.¡± Ethel rubbed her temples in frustration. ¡°Do you want a horde of goblins?¡± ¡°Because this is how you get a horde of goblins,¡± Six said with a grin. ¡°So you know?¡± ¡°Nah, not really but now that you tell me, I¡¯ll visit again in a few months and see if they act up again.¡± ¡°What is wrong with you?¡± ¡°Eh, that¡¯s rude.¡± ¡°Sorry, but it just makes no sense.¡± Six shrugged. ¡°I think it''s wrong to kill people that are not trying to kill you?¡± he said in a confused questioning tone. ¡°BUT THEY¡±RE GOBLINS!¡± Ethel shouted. ¡°And we are humans?¡± ¡°Goblins are evil!¡± ¡°Like all of them?¡± ¡°Yes!¡± ¡°Oh.¡± ¡°So tell me where they are and us hunters will take care of it. People talk about you like you¡¯re some powerful defender but you won¡¯t even cull goblins? Are you a softie?¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m hard as fuck.¡± Six said, dropping his voice to ridiculously edgy batman levels. Ethel laughed. ¡°Suuure you are. Where can I find them?¡± ¡°Nunya.¡± ¡°Nunya?¡± ¡°Nunya business.¡± Ethel narrowed her eyes at him and threw her hands into the air before complaining, ¡°what are you? Five years old?¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m Six.¡± She scoffed before stomping off towards the village. Six shrugged and finished dressing before heading into the settlement for some stew and bread. Hopefully fluffy bread instead of the flatbreads that have been the standard. He was in luck as Min had fresh fluffy bread coming out of the oven. He and Avi waved waved at Six over the line of villagers that Six queued up in, Six waved back. The line moved quick but Six still felt the irritable impatience of a hungry stomach. He shrugged, it was good food and ultimately free, no point complaining to himself or others about free stuff. He was almost at the front of the line when he heard a familiar voice shout at him. Alison stomped up with Leoka and Ethel at her side. ¡°Six. We need to talk.¡± Six held a finger to the approaching women. ¡°Patience please, it''s almost my turn.¡± Alison scoffed. ¡°Eat our food and expect me to wait for you?¡± Six chuckled.¡°No? Go do something else and I¡¯ll find you once I have eaten. I¡¯ll pay for the stew if you want me to but I made a deal with Min for free bread and free bread I shall have.¡± Min waved at them. ¡°Ladies.¡± He smiled and inclined his head towards the women. Alison shook her head in surrender and waited the minute it took Six to get his food. Six thanked the cook and baker and joined the leadership and hunter who looked at him expectantly. He raised his bowl and bread in triumph and dumb grin on his face. He was excited for these hearty munchies. ¡°Good food. Beautiful day. I see you¡¯re on to what, the sixth longhouse? Very nice. How can I help you?¡± Alison questioned him about his interaction with the goblins and he told her the story. At the end she facepalmed while Ethel made the clearest I told you so face at her. ¡°Whaaaat?¡± Six asked in a whiny voice while shoveling hot soup into his mouth, it wasn¡¯t as hot as he expected, must be his high constitution. He dipped some of the steaming bread into it and popped that into his mouth too. The taste was simple but deep and flavourful. Alison went red and raised her voice. ¡°What? Ethel was right is what!¡± Six was tired and stoned. He didn¡¯t appreciate being yelled at either. ¡°About what?¡± ¡°The goblins!¡± ¡°What about the goblins?¡± ¡°They¡¯re evil!¡± ¡°None of you have ever seen a good goblin? Not one?¡± Leoka and Ethel shook their head in the negative but Alison didn¡¯t respond. ¡°Alison?¡± Six prompted. ¡°No imperial goblins?¡± ¡°There are a few. But those goblins are unique and extremely rare.¡± Six giggled. ¡°Come on ladies. Racism is a bottom tier trope. Bare minimum. Lowest bar to clear.¡± ¡°What is racism?¡± asked Leoka and Ethel, mistified. ¡°Is a stupid term that pacifist scholars use to criticize the empire, it is nonsense. Why are you giggling harder Six? These goblins represent a real threat.¡± ¡°I¡¯m very stoned.¡± Alison sighed. ¡°You are an outsider to our ways. You have admitted as much why are you arguing with us? Do we not have a right to defend our land?¡± ¡°Sure, but I have decided the goblins live on my land.¡± Six could see Alison suppress a scream of frustration. ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± Six said, ¡°they¡¯re a problem to me too so I¡¯ll keep an eye on them. How common are goblins anyways?¡± ¡°Extremely.¡± Alison and Ethel said at the same time. ¡°So go find your own tribe of goblins to genocide. These ones are mine.¡± Six held a straight face and then chuckled at the absurdity. ¡°We most likely will encounter more goblin tribes if one already exists close by.¡± Six wondered if the goblins and koatl contributed to the Orison density of the mountain. Probably. ¡°Look. I suppressed them. If I need help to do it again, I¡¯ll ask.¡± ¡°No you won¡¯t,¡± Alison huffed. ¡°Probably not, no, but maybe! Now I think it''s time for me to go home. Need anything else before I go?¡± Alison pursed her lips before nodding. ¡°Franklin was wondering if you could assist with the construction.¡± ¡°Eh? I¡¯m grinding right now, when is the town hall going up? ¡°A little less than a week. Grinding?¡± ¡°Grinding is like training.¡± Six shrugged. ¡°And sure, sounds neat. See yah then.¡± He said his goodbyes and made his way back to his cave. The sun was setting and he was extremely tired, he pulled an all-nighter into a battle and then smoked some dankness. He was burnt out and exhausted, it was time for sleep. He locked himself and Nibbler in and settled down with his pet, it was right before sleep took him that he received a prompt. You have killed level 4 Aitbo. Experience gained 126. You have killed level 4 Shugud. Experience gained 126. They must have suffocated. Six made a grimace and rolled over. There was nothing left to feel. ¡°Fuck around and find out,¡± he mumbled. 1.27 Bloodo, Its What Plants Crave 18 Broka 10,391 Six had spent the last few days grinding. He woke, stretched, worked on his weapon forms and his two new maneuvers for a bit. His stamina dropped with each mental activation. Precise Strike was dope, he was kinesthetically aware and his treework career demanded precision so Six was alright, but Precise Strike brought his accuracy to a whole nother level. He practiced some wild strikes while periodically weaving Precise Strike into the movements and marvelled at the sudden increase in his ability to place weapon to target. Double Strike was simple. He landed a blow and with some mental intent the skill activated and his limbs immediately followed with another strike. The second blow was near instant, so fast Six had a hard time even internalizing what his body was doing. He could barely see it. Simple and effective, blocking the second strike would be difficult. He ate with Nibbler and then went hunting with the little raccoon. Six had analyzed Nibbler and saw her at level 1, which was almost fatally low. So he had been carefully powerleveling Nibbler like a useless pokemon, allowing her into the fight just long enough to produce some experience and through this tactic she had already gained a level and now sat at level 3. He couldn¡¯t risk it with all the fights he had but she was growing. He didn¡¯t know what attributes she had invested in but he had already noticed a sharpness in her eyes and a defined deftness to her movements. He would then check his traps, which is where he found the sasquatch. A towering furred humanoid, extremely long arms and blocky, robust hands. That had been a brutal fight. He had caught the thing wrecking his traps, a clear sign of intelligence but Six didn¡¯t appreciate his shit being broken and with a quick Analyze checked the creature. When the skill had failed, Six hesitated for only a moment. Weighing his next move, forward or retreat? Six had killed things stronger than him before but he felt the thing¡¯s fury. Six tried to talk to the massive ape-like humanoid but the beast just choked out some guttural grunting language that Six did not understand, Unbound Comprehension did nothing so Six could not communicate with the sasquatch. It didn¡¯t matter in the end. The sasquatch began to move towards him and Six threw out a few Stone Spears, the beast deftly dodging out of the way of the erupting spikes while advancing on SIx. Then they were in melee and Six lashed out with his glaive, breaking the momentum of the towering ape. The two of them danced about each other until the sasquatch slipped under Six¡¯s glaive strike and came in close throwing a thunderous hook into Six, who had positioned his body so the strike landed on the ridge of his breastplate, the concussive blow ringing the plate and leaving a slight mark. Six was lifted from his feet and had the wind knocked out from him but the sasquatch yelped as its hand broke. Simultaneously Six had crosschecked the haft of his glaive into the face of the beast and had produced a satisfying crunch. The sasquatch had continued the assault through the pain of its broken hand and landed many more blows, some even impacting Six¡¯s flesh. The sasquatch was relentless and the glaive was hard to use effectively so Six switched out to his sword of force and its more immediate killing potential lent itself to this battle. The sasquatch move back and was soon held at bay while Six kept the fight dynamic and mobile, trying to force stamina expenditure. The sasquatch peppered him with thrown stones but his armor protected him from damage. It came to a crumbling stop for the creature when it was suddenly yanked from its feet and suspended in the air by one leg. The sasquatch screeched in fury and flailed, attempting to pull at the bright corded climbing rope that held its leg Six had slowly brought them here and had centered the fight around this trap in particular. He had hoped it still set and his effort to relocate the fight had been fruitful. The sasquatch reached up and attempted to snap the thin rope but found it impossible. Six would have been fucked if it had the strength to snap a rope that was rated for 7000 pounds. The beast struggled to free itself, it tried to gnaw on the rope but that failed it too. It went to try and lift itself on the rope but by then Six was right next to the creature. Six had his glaive again and loaded up almost like he was swinging a baseball bat, and then he sliced and stabbed the sasquatch like it was a blood pinata. The first strike caused the beast to convulse in pain and fall from its attempt to free itself, the blood began to run. Six saw a prompt. You have afflicted Sasquatch with the condition Bleeding1. Their condition will persist until healing or medicine is performed. He had applied bleeding, neat. He continued to slice and stab, experimenting with Precise Strike and Double Strike. It took a surprisingly long time for the sasquatch to die. As he cut into it, it began to panic. Only once more did it try to free itself from its caught leg and Six applied even more martial pressure to its face. It screamed and used its arms to cover its head. Six could hear its fear. You have killed level 12 Sasquatch. Experience gained 2867. When he butchered the sasquatch SIx found a mana core within the beast. This discovery did not make him feel any better about the gristly culling. It had been clearly intelligent. He kept the pelt of the creature but left the flesh behind. Six felt it too humanoid to bring back to Jebbedo. Six fought with packs of bristle hounds and he found and cleared another goblin village of the intolerably violent ones. He hunted and gathered, trained and fought. He made the effort to stop off at the village and drop off his kills, enchant, blaze, eat some dinner and talk a little. The days had been full. Earth Magic - Initiate - 13 Athletics - Initiate - 13 Stealth - Initiate - 10 Traps - Initiate - 11 Polearm - Initiate - 13 Swords - Initiate - 8 Heavy Armor - Initiate - 15 Meditation - Initiate - 9 Survival - Initiate - 8 Analyze - Initiate - 10 Herbalism - Initiate - 9 Butchery - Initiate - 9 Blood casting - Initiate - 6 Blood magic - Initiate - 5 Taming - Initiate - 10 Perception - Initiate - 9 Enchantment - Initiate - 10 The objective representation of his growth was addictive. He was also noticing the direct effects of the improvements and bonuses. On the 18th of Broka Six had been exploring to the west, moving higher up the mountain and searching for any clues related to the ley node, his search had not provided anything useful thus far but Six found that following his gut always led to something interesting. Six was taking a break after bringing down a level 4 Tinder Moose, it¡¯s corpse stank of sulphur so Six just harvested the mundane mana core and Enhanced Tinder Antlers. He sat regenerating with Earthen Endurance and meditation when a rustling from behind him caught his perception. He turned and scanned the mountainous forest, seeing nothing but the surrounding nature. He watched for a bit longer before relaxing again. It wasn¡¯t long before another rustling caught his attention and he swiveled about eyes scanning about. Nothing. He swiveled, sat in the opposite direction and appreciated the nature that was once behind him. Six breathed deep and meditated, when he was fully regenerated he would move out. Perhaps one more encounter before making his way down to the village. But a familiar rustling from behind put Six on alert and he leapt to his feet, spinning about to see a knee high shrubbery come to a halt. That ferny bush moved, Six was sure of it. Keeping his eyes on it Six pulled out a small enchanted hatchet of earth and walked up on the bush. It didn¡¯t shake one leaf. When Six hacked down with the hatchet the last thing he expected was the high pitched screech of pain the bush emitted. It pumped some sort of white chlorophyllic liquid. Its two cleft halves quivered before it fell limp like a plant without water. You have killed level 0 Awakened Shrub. Experience gained 2. Still there was no time to wait as the surrounding flora moved against Six. The shrubs moved all at once and quickly shuffled their way forward, mobbing Six. Six hacked away with the hatchet and warded off a few but the lashing leaves, and the constricting roots and vines pulled him down under the weight of numbers. Still Six hacked and tore, whittling them down one by one as he was dragged through the forest. The transport slowed as he lowered their numbers and it was barely a crawl when Six heard a creaking voice speak within his mind. ¡°Food.¡± It was a demand, an expectation. ¡°No, no, no!¡± Six exclaimed, hacking and tearing away the last few shrubs. He came to a halting stop and quickly stood to scan the area. It was pretty clear what was speaking to him telepathically. There was a blood red tree, almost forty feet tall so not too old, maybe a few decades at most. The bark and leaves were a deep crimson and it stood alone, dominating the area, almost drawing in the nearby light and creating a halo of darkness. It stood some seven meters away and it shivered slightly and Six could see more shrubs begin to gather near the tree. It spoke again, ¡°Hello fleshling.¡± Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. ¡°Yo.¡± Six waved at the tree. ¡°You dare intrude in my sanctum?¡± It sounded well spoke, almost haughty. ¡°Bro, I was dragged here by your little things. I¡¯m sorry but I¡¯ll leave right now.¡± ¡°You may not leave until you first provide restitution!¡± ¡°But I was brought here against my will.¡± The tree ignored him and wriggled in annoyance. ¡°You will provide me with the flesh and blood of living creatures, I will provide you with a familiar contract and you will tithe a portion of your experience to me.¡± What? ¡°No.¡± It continued ranting, ¡°You will- No? You dare intrude and refuse my demands? Do you not understand how beneficial a partnership between us would be? I have already gleaned your statistics and your spells would be ideal for me. I will teach you the blood magic that I know, give you strength for ten percent, a pittance! Not only that, you could improve my growth speed and I could grow fruits of power for you, our strength would improve in tandem by orders of magnitude.¡± ¡°I can imagine a person like myself would synergize well with a blood tree in many ways. But, you seem a little demanding, maybe even evil? Like do you want me to bring you animals or people.¡± ¡°People are preferable. So I may absorb their memories along with their experience and blood.¡± Six took a step back, nodding. ¡°Seems a bit evil. I feel like making a deal with you would be kinda foolish. Linking myself to your chariot, or like accepting a faustian bargain, or something like that.¡± ¡°I care not for morality, nor for your musings. Decide now or I will eat you. Join me and we will rise together!¡± Six received a prompt. You have been offered an indefinite familiar contract from Vostialkanoko. If you accept this contract you will gain Respective increases equal to 20% of Vostialkanoko¡¯s maximum health, stamina and mana The Minor spell Summon Shrubbery The Minor spell Blood Reservoir Potential Blood Fruits In recompense you must Continually apply the Plant Growth buff bring Vostialkanoko 3 living sentient sacrifices at at least level 6 per month. Tithe 10% of all gained experience to Vostialkanoko Do you accept? Yes/No? He took another step back, he was too close. This didn¡¯t seem like the best contract. Six definitely received benefits but any reduction in experience points gained was terrible. Also, no defined quantities and timelines related to the fruits made Six even more dubious. Also, it was evil. ¡°Hmm, so no convincing you to not kill indiscriminately?¡± ¡°If you bring me enough to keep me sated in flesh and experience I will allow you to choose what I eat.¡± Six couldn¡¯t commit to any of this, it just wasn¡¯t sustainable, he had other things to do. He decided this tree was a hazard and would have to come down. ¡°Go fuck yourself eh.¡± He refused the contract prompt and took another step back. The tree instantly lashed out and its branches whipped towards Six, but he had worked around trees for years and had slowly positioned himself just outside the range of the reaching limbs. The tips cut the air but their range, while long, was fundamentally limited. He had been dragged into the critical root zone though so Six scanned the earth while taking a step back and was barely prepared for when three roots erupted from the earth at blinding speeds. The first impacted with the haft of Six¡¯s earth glaive, an audible crack was heard and the weapon broke as Six was pushed back. The next two roots impacted his body in quick succession, multiple snaps emanated from inside Six as he was thrown five meters away, falling to the forest floor and gritting through the pain of his new internal injuries. His red health bar was almost empty and his focus flashed to the logs. You have been struck with a Root Strike for 227 damage (290/517) You have been struck with a Root Strike for 223 damage (67/517) You have been inflicted with the condition Broken3. A little blinking icon appeared in the corner of his vision and with just his focus he understood the emblem. The broken condition reduced the speed and accuracy of any movement, the higher the rank of the broken condition the worse the debilitation. Broken3 bought a twenty percent reduction but there was no time to waste on pointless worry, he could hear the high pitched rustling of the incoming shrubs. Six made a shambling retreat when the shrubs rushed forward. He worked through the pain of his damaged body to maintain distance while continuing to diminish the blood trees'' shrubberies. He chewed on rootbust and worked to stay safe, using Double Strike with his enchanted hatchets and machetes to cull the trickle of greenery. Stomping and hacking and tearing, Six fought until there were no more that stood against him. Six stood amongst the shredded remains of plant and he sighed. His health had regenerated somewhat during the shrub cleanup and Broken had been reduced by one rank. He moved just close enough to regard the tree and looked upon it quivering in anger. Six heard its voice within his mind, creaking with insistence. ¡°Serve me, and we shall rise together!¡± Six shook his head, ¡°No.¡± There was no room in his heart for compromise. He hit the tree with a Stone Spear and was surprised when for the first time, the stone shattered upon the crimson ridged bark of the tree. Two more Stone Spears produced no effect. He rotated to a different strategy. Staying at a safe distance he took some time to range about and gather some chunks of dry standing deadwood, he gathered it up just outside what he thought of as the tree¡¯s new maximum Root Strike range. Just beyond from where his body had been struck down by the oppressive tree. He pulled out his collected conifer sap and much of the lamp oil he kept to himself. Mixing them together he made what was hopefully a molotov cocktail, when all the ingredients were used he had ended up with twenty-five of the things, four of which were in large containers. Most of that oil was probably meant for the settlers and he was glad for his selfishness. Six had been strong in his past life and the increases to his strength attribute had only made it more apparent. He was confident in his ability to lob the cocktails right at that messed up tree. He stood next to the dead wood he¡¯d gathered and hoped he wouldn¡¯t start a forest fire but lit the fuse of the first molotov anyways, the blood tree stood alone so it should be fine. He heard the voice of the tree scream in his mind. ¡°What are you doing?¡± It asked, panicked. ¡°Fire,¡± Six said, and he tossed the first of the cocktails. He aimed for the base of the tree and it impacted near right on target. The glass shattering and the area becoming saturated with burning sticky oil. It was something small but it burned and Six began to throw more molotovs, stacking the fuel from afar. The blood tree¡¯s tune instantly changed and it wailed in Six¡¯s mind. ¡°Please! I will not eat people! I won¡¯t! Just stop the fire please! I will give you my gifts freely, with no price! No price!¡± ¡°Nope, that¡¯s fucking dumb,¡± Six said, switching out to hefting the dead wood and easily tossing it onto the sticky oil fire. The dry deadwood immediately took and began to add to the blaze. The blood tree reached down with its branches and tried to move the wood but it only served to coat its twigs in Six¡¯s makeshift napalm. There was a moment where eight more Root Strikes came lancing out of the earth but Six had picked the correct distance this time, their range was severely limited. The tree may be impossibly hard but it was lacking in offensive options. The shrubberies must have acted as its long range option. Six tossed more Molotovs onto the dead wood and switched back to the wood. He built up a massive pyre and stood before the conflagration. The tree, screaming in his mind. Six fed that fire for just over an hour. It took that long for the constant screams in his mind to fall silent. He twitched when his mind went silent, thankful that he didn¡¯t have to hear that agony anymore. The tree had gone dormant or perhaps on autopilot as there was no kill prompt, so Six made sure to continue the blaze. Ten minutes later Six received the prompt. You have killed level 22 Magic Blood Tree. Experience gained 4965. Shit. That was alot of experience for what amounted to Six doing a fire watch on a controlled burn. It had not been the smartest of foes, yet its incredible strength was evident in the exchange of Root Strikes. If Six had been within the drip line of the canopy it would have most likely torn him apart. There was a part of Six that cried out at losing such a unique arboreal specimen but the larger part was focused on the level up prompt and the interesting materials that the tree represented. You have reached level 8, advancement options available. He took a moment to quickly level up. Three of his six free attributes went into Endurance, primarily for a larger stamina pool which would allow Six to make bursts of extreme exertion possible. Also, the improved health regen stacked with Earthen Endurance which made a strong advantage even more potent. One point went into Strength and one went into Dexterity to actually increase the effect and grace of his exertions. The gradual increase into strength was already significantly noticeable, Six jumped higher and threw farther and lifted heavier. Thinking of lifting, He needed to make a gym. One point went into luck to improve his gut feelings. His gut told him that was the right move. He had those eight skill increases just sitting there but felt there was little benefit to using them now. Sure he could spend them on Earth Magic, Heavy Armor, or Polearms, it would bring the skills to at least twenty and that would prompt the skill to evolve but he was confident he would evolve them naturally soon enough. Besides, he wanted his enchantment skill to be the highest so pumping the skill ups into enchantment at level ten would be the best for his class selection. Skills seemed to take more time to level the higher they got, so waiting for as long as possible would maximize the benefit. Most of the blood tree stood surprisingly unblemished. It was only the base of the trunk that fared the terrible fires. The bottom ten feet of the trunk had been burned and blackened away. It had been girdled by the flame, the life of its roots cut off from its canopy. Still, most of the wood was good and the charred pieces could be cut and scraped away, like burnt toast. There were dark purple leafy herbs at the base of the tree. He picked one and gave it a wafting sniff. Plant Identified - Reach Leaf - Quality: Enhanced Rarity: Unusual Weight - 0.1G Durability 5/5 Traits: Can be chewed to provide a minor boost to mana regen. 1.5MP per second for one minute. Material, Reagent. This was a mana herb? Nice. It gave what 40 MP over a minute? No that wasnt right¡­ 90MP for a fucking leaf? This was really nice! Sure it didn¡¯t regen like Indigo¡¯s potions but this was still a gamechanger. Six withdrew an enchanted axe and cut down the remains. He instantly noticed how sappy it was, crimson sap poured from the cut and Six shrugged, waste not want not. He pulled out more bottles and bottled as much sap as he could. The red liquid was mostly viscous but had congealed or crystallized into an amber like substance in some places, he collected it all. - Concentrated Magic Blood Sap - Rank: Superior Rarity: Rare Weight - 800 G Durability 500/500 Traits: Material, Reagent Superior? Well shit, if he needed to he could use the sap to evolve. He chopped off all the branches from the tree - Magic Blood Branch - Rank: Enhanced Rarity: Rare Weight - Variable G Durability 500/500 Traits: Material, Reagent As he went through the branches he found two seeds about the size of a peach, they were dark green and held a weighty power about them. - Magic Seed - Rank: Superior Rarity: Rare Weight - 100 G Durability 500/500 Traits: Material, Reagent Finally the log that his ring kept rejecting for being too large. Cutting it in half dulled his old timey bandsaw and still the ring rejected it. It was going to get dark soon and he didn¡¯t want to spend the night milling such hard wood so he decided to leave the narrow section and come retrieve it tomorrow. He rigged up a set of rope shoulder straps that led to a running bowline knot, it would allow him to pull the lighter end of the log in an elevated manner as he made his way back to his cave, dragging it through the forest. It was heavy but with his enhanced strength and endurance it was quite possible. - Fire Hardened Magic Blood Log - Rank: Superior Rarity: Rare Weight - 232 KG Durability 1500/1500 Traits: Material, Reagent He had found the Mana Core embedded in the stump of the tree - Mana Core - Rank: Enhanced Rarity: Unusual Defense - 100 Weight - 0.025 KG Durability 1599/1600 Traits: Crystalized Mana, Material, Reagent, Catalyst. Skill Increase: Inspect - Initiate - 10 Butchery - Initiate - Level 10 Herbalism - Initiate - Level 10 He carried the magic seeds on his person and stored everything else but the upper trunk section and began dragging the lower section back to his cave in somewhat of a daze. He quickly realized that while possible to drag the log, it was going to be a grind. He considered taking off the remnants of his armor but refused to diminish his constant training. There was a part of his mind that said put it down and go ask for help, he marched over that part of himself and retreated into a mental visualization of endless endurance. He conjured images to motivated himself into performing harder. Weeks passed in his mind, seasons fled and mountains crumbled, still he dragged. He whispered to himself as he dragged, ¡°yea buddy.¡± Skill Increase: Athletics - Initiate - 14 - 15 Heavy Armor - Initiate - 16 The grueling march had cleared Six¡¯s mind somewhat. Nibbler came bounding out of hiding and scampered up onto Six. The fluffy contact was nice and Six sank into the comforting feeling as he went about his simple business, the raccoon settling into a scarf position. Six stored the big log in his cave, tended to his garden, checking the new patch of wheat Six was experimenting with, and using Plant Growth to mature some potatoes and one of the smokeweed plants. He harvested the accelerated growth and blazed some of the last little bit of his purchased poostank smokeweed. What he was growing wouldn¡¯t be any better really but Six might be able to breed better strains one day. He put the new smokeweed out to cure and stored the potatoes in his ring as a gift for the village. They fed him for basically free so some potatoes would be the least Six could do. Six scratched Nibbler who sat upon him scarf style as he left his cave and they made their way down to the village, the sun beginning to set behind them. 1.28 Points of Production Six had killed a level twenty one creature. It was safe to assume that it had been once evolved. He didn¡¯t feel proud, it had nearly killed him in two blows. One swipe from that thing would have easily killed a normal person. He had been lucky in so many ways and the memory of his previous death by tree flashed through his mind. He chuckled, ¡°not this time.¡± As he walked he pondered his materials. Six had long realized that he was at a crossroads in terms of enchanting. Enchanting represented one of the final steps in a production process while the raw resources he has been harvesting represented one of the first. There was a gap of skill and craftsmanship between those two points of production that Six would need to bridge. By either, heading back to Olisrosa and trying to gather more advanced items to enchant, picking up another production skill or hiring other crafts people to work with more specialty materials he gathered. As of now he had his growing construction skills and while Construction may not add directly to his own personal power it was something that he wanted to cultivate just because of personal interest. There was also the fact that he was still limited to natural enchanting. There was a feeling inside his head that he should choose a more martial class, there was a certain satisfaction to a good fight, and as Denny said, learning this skill alone and without the foundational knowledge of schools or guilds would be difficult. A combat based class could be honed to great heights by simple intuitive immersion, while most crafting was only honed to those same heights by considered intentional experimentation. But perhaps his Unbound Comprehension would change the way he could interact and progress in with the medium¡­ On further thought, of course it would. Still, the system or whatever caused the game-like features of this world would probably provide some help once he reached the skill evolutions and perhaps even more once he unlocked some enchanter class perks, but he sat at skill level ten in Enchantment and getting it to twenty would take weeks if all he had available to him was natural enchantment. Perhaps it was time to begin his own enchantment experiments. No. He needed to be careful and not lose his life completely. There was only so much time in a day and using it in a focused targeted way was most effective in his opinion. Investing his time and energy into a select few goals and directions was something he had had to learn as a young man and now that he was organizing his mental objectives he realized that adding another stream of practice would just dilute his progression to greatness in the ones he already had. He did not need to begin experimenting until he improved his fundamentals. Once he was close to level ten he would stop grinding and then switch to experimenting with enchanting. When Six arrived in the glade he saw a change in the demeanor of the people. They were adding wooden reinforcements to the wall which was normal but Six could see the scared intensity in their movements. There had been koatl attacks, boars and bristle hounds, but nothing had ever shaken them to have such a look in their eyes. ¡°What the fuck happened?¡± Six asked one of the regular guards in a concerned whisper. Chegg was her name. She had a flat face that was filled with speckled freckles. She was human and her stocky frame contained muscles bulged out from the gaps in her boar leather armor. ¡°Bandits came and made a bunch of demands, Alison refused, they made some threats and slashed our gate up.¡± Six analyzed her. Chegg Human Level 4 Level four was pretty impressive when the average settler was between level zero and level one. ¡°Everybody looks shook.¡± Chegg nodded. ¡°Word got round and Leoka¡¯s people started to panic, parrently the bandit leader was bullying them before they came with us.¡± ¡°Amog?¡± Six murmured. ¡°That¡¯s the guy. He didn¡¯t actually show up, just his goons. Don¡¯t blame em for trying to get away from the man. Sounds terrible.¡± ¡°Anybody die?¡± ¡°No, just a bunch of shouting and posturing, they want a tithe of food and gold from our little settlement for protection. Lady Lamora showed them what for, didn¡¯t kill any of them but sent them on their way. She¡¯s dangerous with that greatsword, her class must be something great.¡± Chegg looked wistful at that last part. ¡°That¡¯s good at least.¡± He nodded his thanks as he headed into the village. Six dropped off the potatoes and caught up with Jebbedo and Min while eating dinner, when Six mentioned wanting to know of the more experienced crafters in town, Jebbedo recommended Six talk to Gatbark. So after his meal Six went to find the ashen grey dwarf. He found Gatbark at the building that the soldiers erected. He sat on the ground outside and was leaned back against his boar, Lil Nog. It was late in the day and Gatbark was handling some scrap metal. He was chanting as he held a rusted and chipped longsword, something slavage found on a hunt or monster skirmish, perhaps it had been left by one of the routed bandits. Either way Gatbark chanted and began to fold the seemingly pliable metal, he condensed it down and with simple kneading motions, shaped it into a neat ingot. Gatbark finished his chant and tossed the ingot to the side, where it joined many others of various sizes. He looked up to see Six and a predatory smile creased the dwarf''s stony face. ¡°What is that you¡¯re doing?¡± Six asked. ¡°Making ingots for Ravna. A little bit of easy work.¡± Gatbark stood up and brushed the debris off his pants. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°With your hands?¡± ¡°One of the spells I have. A little bit of incantin to get the job done and I can mold small amounts of simple metals. It¡¯s really nothing, just a tiny boon of my god.¡± ¡°Ah, yes. Kynairos. That¡¯s pretty cool.¡± Gatbark scoffed. ¡°Nay, I worship our creator Astrogoth and yes it allows me to manipulate the metal while it is cold. Very cool indeed.¡± ¡°Our creator Astrogoth?¡± Gatbark shook his head, no. ¡°My creator Astrogoth. I am a meteor dwarf, we are of Astrogoth.¡± ¡°Oh, Astrogoth is like your creator god.¡± Gatbark nodded. ¡°And the empire was ok with you worshiping a god other than Kynairos?¡± ¡°No. But it was allowed as long as you were part of the military and if it was part of a verbal component of a maneuver or spell.¡± ¡°And now?¡± Gatbark laughed. ¡°I like this place. I can worship Astrogoth here, and I can smell opportunity here.¡± ¡°I can dig it, which is kinda part of the reason I sought you out. I just came upon some quality materials and I need them made into the kinds of items I wish to enchant.¡± Six retrieved one of the blood branches and showed the dwarf. Gatbark breathed a sigh of wonderment and Six could see the intense gaze of an inspect skill before he saw wild mercantile calculations going off in the dwarf¡¯s eyes. Six felt a strange mix of disgust and admiration for the dwarf. On one hand it was clear to Six that Gatbark had no allegiance higher than that of coin, even Copperback seemed to half some social warmth. None so with Gunnbjorn, that scared Six honestly, He had seen the horrors of capitalism gone rampant and the dwarf seemed to exude that energy. On the other, there was something to admire when one observed the dwarf¡¯s productive march towards success. Gatbark had managed to approach a potential investor during a dangerous march through a rainforest into the middle of nowhere, Six grudgingly gave him some respect for that. Still, the dwarf could do much better in an established city, which meant Gatbark knew something Six didn¡¯t The dwarf spoke ¡°This could make you a lot of money if you sold it in Olisrosa. Far more in the capital of Zleen. Where did you get this? It¡¯s magic tree wood, not only that it has a affinity for blood. This is an incredible material Six. Is this all you have? Where¡¯d you get it?¡± Six laughed. ¡°No, and I found it out there in the forest. Now, I want to enchant the items made with it and sell the final product myself. I¡¯ve been told you could put me into touch with some contractors. I am looking for a bowyer, glass-maker and a jewlery crafter. Hmmm, probably a cobbler too. I know a leatherworker so we''re good on that.¡± ¡°Hodgekins?¡± Gatbark asked. ¡°Yea.¡± ¡°She does good work,¡± He grumbled. ¡°Yea? I just offload my boar and bristlehound hides with her, we worked out a credit system. Good to know that this place has competent people. That reminds me, I gotta drop off that squatch pelt¡± Gatbark nodded and hummed in agreement. ¡°Orifec told me that Carralevine put alot of work into finding certain skilled people to ensure that the settlement had what it needed to function. They are all over skill level forty and are well into journeyman status. Which makes me want to switch the topic over to what I want from you but let us finish. What else?¡± Well that¡¯s it for now, I just want some easy info and maybe introductions if you¡¯re not busy but maybe more later on? I dunno to be honest. What do you want? Investment gold?¡± ¡°Well, yes. But actually, I was going to ask to see if you were open to doing some work for me. I¡¯m planning on building a workshop complex, and eventually a riverside warehouse.¡± ¡°That sounds like a massive project, I dunno Gatbark. Maybe some bits and pieces.¡± Gatbark was quick to downplay scope when Six expressed reluctance. ¡°You don¡¯t have to do it right away, you could start with the bowyer¡¯s hut and we could get started on turning these branches into something that I could eventually sell for you.¡± Six smiled. ¡°Something that you could sell for me?¡± There it was, the aggressive mercantile wolf that hid behind the blue collar exterior that Gatbark displayed. Six¡¯s anger flared up a bit at the universal conflict of value and bargaining that would undoubtedly have to be settled but he calmed himself down with a quick breath. This was for the best. Six had a paltry trade skill and he had no time to grow it nor interest in representing himself and haggling in most trade related matters. Allowing a ruthless negotiator like Gatbark to represent him and his products would lead to a higher end sale. Still, Gatbark being the middleman, would be the one winning out in the end. Six would watch the numbers and he would watch Gatbark, for no matter what compensation they agreed upon it was clear that it would never be enough for Gatbark. That was ok, for now. ¡°Sure,¡± Six agreed, ¡°But let''s talk details closer to then but I already got like two projects lined up and I gotta keep the priorities as is but maybe in a few weeks or so.¡± ¡°I should have the Bowyer¡¯s complete by then on my own. So you could make the jewellers or perhaps the cobblers.¡± ¡°Building on your own? More divine magic?¡± ¡°Nothing is more divine than the power of the coin. Once the town hall is done, Alison won''t need the labour and she has already given me permission to start a construction crew of my own.¡± ¡°Huh. I wonder if I can do that.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t see why not.¡± Gatbark shrugged. ¡°But you should come work for me.¡± ¡°Hmm, I will, for a bit anyways. Thanks man.¡± ¡°Not a problem. Come, I¡¯ll introduce you to the tradespeople now before the sun goes down completely.¡± Six followed the dwarf and they made their way about the settlement as it wound down for the night. Six was introduced to Harriet the bowyer, Fredo the cobbler and Zek the jeweler. All in their late forties in terms of skill level. Unfortunately there was no glassblower amongst the entirety of the now almost 500 people. Gatbark demonstrated his skill in trade, browbeating these people down in compensation. He grumbled about rare materials and how they should be paying Six for the opportunity to work with such rare things. About how it may just be easier and more cost effective to waltz down to Olisrosa to trade them for already completed items. And then Gatbark hit them where it really hurt. He talked about how Six was a fighter and how he had put their lives before him and that, ¡°giving him a fair price would be the least you civilians could do.¡± When all was said and done he was lighter by half of his branches and he had put in an order for some new boots and some soft shoes and slippers. All together the transaction put him back another 61 gold which put his remaining gold at 30 flat. He didn¡¯t mind though, Denny had told him to spend it on the settlers and while their production was slowed without proper workshops the three of them still had their tools and could still begin Six¡¯s commissions. Six silently paid Gatbark a gold for what was an unasked for service but a service that should be compensated in some way. The dwarf took the single gold and scoffed but nodded. Six supposed that would be pretty fucking shitty to receive as a tip or commision, less than two percent. Kinda insulting really but a single gold was a lot of money. Meh, anyways. Six thanked Gatbark and reassured him that he would help with the workshop complex in a couple of weeks or so. He then left to go drop his armor off at Ravna¡¯s again. It had been completely demolished when the blood tree had almost killed him and Ravna tutted in mock irritation when he showed her the pieces. ¡°Luckily you¡¯ve only dented it to hell but it''s almost at its limit. Soon I¡¯ll have to forge something new from scratch,¡± she mused. ¡°Could you make me proper full plate?¡± Six asked ¡°Yea, it would take a while, but I could. I would need a bit more material though, the scrap you¡¯ve brought me isn¡¯t enough.¡± An idea occurred to Six. ¡°Could you work with wood to make a set of full plate?¡± She looked thoughtful before shrugging. ¡°Probably not, maybe if I was working with someone who had their Carpentry skill into at least the apprentice rank. Shaping wood isn¡¯t something I do at a high skill level. Six nodded, it was looking like he would really have to buckle down with that carpentry book. He thanked Ravna before heading back home with Nibbler. He¡¯d meet up with Franklin tomorrow and talk about his helping her. His mind wandered back to the crushing Root Strikes and he decided to take the rest of the night easy. He should be going to bed and recovering but instead he wanted to smoke weed, roast meat on a fire, and stare at the moon while reading his carpentry book. 1.29 Foundation of Blood Broka 19 10,391 Six awoke the next day and observed a level up in carpentry. He did his morning meditation, stretch, kata routine and went to find the pocket of forest where he had left the blood tree log. He was going to retrieve the other section of bloodwood as it was the most important material as it was most likely the only part of the monster that he could craft into something so he wanted it. Unfortunately when he arrived at the site of the burning the rest of the log was gone. Something had taken it in the middle of the night, Six cursed and looked about the area and found a trail that indicated something massive passed through, and he wasn¡¯t sure if he was ready for whatever carried it off. It can keep it. He sighed. No use in crying over spilt milk. It was time he helped Franklin so Six made his way back to the village and found the woman organizing building materials. Now that the longhouses were up many of the previous helpers had moved to their original trades and took helpers of their own. Her crew was still large but it was nowhere near the size of the previous one. When Six mentioned this she waved it away and he received a prompt. You have been invited to Rose Franklin¡¯s Work Crew Do you accept Yes/No? Hell yea. Yes! You have joined Rose Franklin¡¯s Work Crew. Condition gained. Work Crew Construction 51: All Construction related use of mana or stamina is reduced by 25.5% Work Crew Construction 51? What is that? Six¡¯s mind was instantly intrigued. ¡°Yo Franklin, do you mind if I ask what your construction skill level is at?¡± ¡°Not at all.¡± Six waited a second and then went to ask. ¡°Whats you-¡± ¡°It is considered rude to ask!¡± came a voice from behind. Six lurched at the familiar voice of Charles, the boy jogging up to the pair of builders. ¡°Especially don¡¯t ask any combat classers or nobles,¡± the kid added. ¡°Hey Charles,¡± Six greeted. Charles gave a slight bow and smiled. ¡°Six. Sorry for interrupting but, you know, just thought you might want to know.¡± ¡°Hey it¡¯s no problem dude thanks. I usually just go around analyzing people.¡± ¡°That¡¯s rude too.¡± ¡°Yea, that makes sense.¡± He wasn¡¯t going to stop until it became a problem though. He needed to train the skill. ¡±Anyways. Franklin?¡± ¡°Oh, it¡¯s 51.¡± Six knew it. ¡°Cool, how¡¯d you make this work crew thing?¡± Hmm? My construction skill, people generally evolve the ability to create a work crew, and the capacity of the crew increases at each evolution. At apprentice rank it is 10, at journeyman its 50 masters can oversee 1000, I¡¯m a fair bit away right now but I do think I¡¯ll get there. People outside of the workcrew can still help on the project but they won¡¯t receive the buffs and it risks the quality of the finished product going down a rank or two. We needed those longhouses so their quality didn¡¯t matter. This building matters.¡° ¡°So no more than 50?¡± ¡°Unless someone with a work crew evolution of their of the same or lower rank joins me, then my work crew construction condition would be shared through the entire summed ¡°Would your subordinates'' work crew condition be applied too?¡± She shook her head in the negative. ¡°Neat. Well, anyways,¡± Six clapped his hands together. ¡°What are we building today?¡± Franklin motioned for him to follow and the entire crew of 50 approached the lake. She projected her voice for the entire crew. ¡°We are building the town hall close the the shore of the lake.¡± And with some gestures indicated the general area they would put the building. ¡°We¡¯ll be building a open auditorium with connected meeting rooms. A peaked roof and a stone floor. ¡°You say it matters but can¡¯t you just do townhall stuff in the longhouses?¡± Six asked Franklin. ¡°Well I suppose you could but, you would be missing out on a scholar bonus that it would give out. Not to mention the main thing is building the townhall allows our settlement to be officially recognized and unlocks the town interface, Alison says we need it so that¡¯s what we¡¯re building.¡± ¡°Why¡¯d you want me here? More earth beams?¡± ¡°Well, yes but also because you managed to make an unusual rarity building. I want the townhall to be as good as it can be and having competent helpers goes a long way to the final rarity of the building. See, I want you to make the floor the same way you did for Ravna. The better the quality and rarity of the initial townhall the better the returns for the town will be, even if we could get a five percent increase in town productivity that would grow significantly as the building was upgraded.¡± Six nodded the build being able to be upgraded made sense in such a game like world. ¡°How do you upgrade the building?¡± ¡°There are requirements but yes the town hall can be upgraded from townhall to cityhall, to administration complex, after that is planetary administration complex but no city has even achieved that, not even the K¡¯gans.¡± ¡°Ok, so rarity is a matter of skill and type of technique?¡± She nodded. ¡°What determines quality?¡± ¡°Rank of Material and mastery of technique.¡± Now Six would be happy to share some of the techniques he adapted from his world, that would help with rarity. Quality was a whole different challenge and the only thing he had that might help with that would be the blood log. He had wanted to keep the blood log for himself but if what Franklin was telling him was correct, and why wouldn¡¯t he trust her expertise, starting with a strong initial building would help it grow to something monumental. He had begun to like this place and this might be the thing it needed to snowball. There were the magic seeds but he felt extremely reluctant to give those away. He always wanted a magic tree and putting an item that had potential to grow into an inert structure seemed wrong. Also, he was curious and wanted to see what would happen with the whole blood theme. ¡°Are we gonna work with any special materials?¡± he led. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°One of the hunters found an enhanced rock that we are considering embedding in the floor.¡± she said simply, might produce something interesting but at the very least it would increase the durability of the building I¡¯m sure.¡± ¡°Hmmm. If we were to work with other special materials how would that go?¡± ¡°Depends on if we are using it as an actual construction material or just an item reagent?¡± ¡°Yo, what is the difference between a material and reagent?¡± ¡°Most of the time, nothing. It¡¯s really just about how you use it. I know there are some mages or scholars or whatever that would have some better explanation but the way I figure it, the material is what it''s made out of, the reagent is what changes it.¡± ¡°What would produce a better effect, using something as a material or a reagent?¡± She shrugged. ¡°Depends on the material but bonuses based on materials are usually simple and direct, increased health or decreased weight for the item, something like that. Bonuses based on reagents enhance or upgrade that simple bonus to a more unusual variant.¡± ¡°But which one is better?¡± ¡°Generally using a small amount of enhanced material as a reagent is preferable to condensing all that potential into one material hog of a project but, if you had an additional reagent and wished to create something grand, using all of it as material is not unheard of.¡± ¡°I think I have something back at my camp that might work as a reagent.¡± At that Franklin perked up. Six waited. Franklin looked at him expectantly. ¡°Well what is it?¡± He smiled. ¡°Ah, A log from a blood tree I burned to death.¡± Charles and Franklin looked at each other with a gaze of disbelief yet worry. ¡°You burned a blood tree to death?¡± Charles asked. ¡°Took like an hour.¡± ¡°Is it enhanced quality?¡± Franklin asked. ¡°Superior actually.¡± Franklin got a far off look before nodding. ¡°I¡¯m willing to work it in but we have to clear it with Alison.¡± Six shrugged, he didn¡¯t care and it only took a moment for someone to run and get her. They explained the situation and Alison looked thoughtful with her arms crossed. She stood tall with her greatsword strapped to her back. She narrowed her eyes in suspicion at Six. ¡°What would it cost us to gain this?¡± Six smiled. ¡°I¡¯d like something but if you have nothing thats ok too to be honest. I¡¯m just curious and want to see what happens. The way Franklin explained it, it would be pretty cool and provide a magical benefit? Also, because a log in essence is a construction material and it is clearly the right decision, for long term growth of this village. Also what else would I build with it? A boat? Sail the rivers on a bloodboat? Clogs? Walk on the corpses of my enemies in bloodclogs? How bad could the negative side effects be? ALLLLSO, I would also probably receive more progress in the skill if something of a higher quality is created.¡± ¡°What¡¯s a clog?¡± Charles murmured. ¡°Wooden shoe,¡± Six informed the boy. ¡°But now that I think of it, free food would be nice.¡± Alison grimaced. ¡°That is more than fair, if we use it. It could be very bad Six, very bad, I¡¯m no crafter but it will have a strong effect. I find it reassuring that you¡¯ve considered that magical reagents not only alter the properties of the items but also how that item affects the user. Magical buildings even moreso, if it was a classical elemental alignment I would not hesitate to accept but blood? It sits in the third orbital of magic, within the primordial dualities and thus is fundamentally more powerful, its effect would be, in turn, innately greater. Not to mention, If the church ever found out the entire town might be purged and I¡¯m already worried about the doctors coming here if we dont get more housing and that healers hut built.¡± What would be wrong with doctors coming here? His province was doing everything it could to attract doctors. ¡°Yo, not gonna lie, the tree was definitely evil.¡± Six felt like that needed to be disclosed in this discussion. Once again he thought of offering a seed as those seemed unaligned with the whole blood thing but he quickly shut that down. The seeds were something that he felt he could best use, especially with Plant Growth. They could take the log or leave it. Alison pursed her lips at him and her ears wiggled in frustration. ¡°Definitively evil yet you still suggest such a thing.¡± Six shrugged. ¡°You don¡¯t have to listen to it. I¡¯m just curious about the potential effects. If you don''t use it here, I¡¯ll probably use it on my house or armor, or something, I bet the bonuses would be really good. I just think it would be kinda silly to not use it, it''s basically free power.¡± Nothing more important than power. Alison crossed her arms. ¡°As I said I¡¯m no crafter.¡± She gave Franklin an inquiring look. ¡°When we go to install the piece it should inform the work crew of the reagent benefits before we use it.¡± Franklin explained. ¡°As for side effects? Those are observed over time and I wouldn¡¯t worry about it until the townhall reaches tier 3. But, it could be anything between an increase in passionate behaviour to cannibalism, we won¡¯t know how we¡¯ll respond until we are exposed to it.¡± This all seemed like gambling to Six but he was learning a lot still. ¡°Are there not buildings like this out there already? Can we not learn of similar effects from bloodwood?¡± Franklin nodded. ¡°Yes, but it would require travel to one of the great cities and access to their records and most of the augmented buildings out there are not townhalls. The townhall has an innate area of influence that naturally radiates the side effects of such reagents. Not to mention that most of the few cityhalls and administration complexes that were improved with reagent were done so after initial construction. We would be building an improved townhall at its initial tier one, something that has the potential to produce a great buff.¡± Six nodded. ¡°Always important to set up systems that let you snowball. Could we salvage it if the effect was too detrimental? ¡°Snowball?¡± Franklin shook her confused face. ¡°By the time the effect is significant, the townhall would be a cityhall or complex, and destroying that would be a monumental waste of resources, not to mention that much of the town infrastructure would be relying on that tier of administration building, and destroying that building would severely impact the production boosts of the buildings that require it. It¡¯s not feasible even if you were a master in Construction which would allow you to demolish things and receive salvage of the same quality. ¡° Six sighed and nodded. It was good he was learning this now. The discussion lapsed as Alison chewed her lip and considered. She nodded. ¡°We have lost too much martial power to not use all we can. Especially with this Amog rattling our doors. Thank you Six.¡± Six smiled. ¡°Don¡¯t thank me yet, this is an experiment. Which is pretty fucked up when I say it out loud but I would do the same to myself so its not so bad I guess?¡± Alison shook her head at him and laughed. ¡°How else would we learn? But know that I do not authorize this because of your curiosity, I authorize it because we need the power, Lady De¡¯tair¡¯s team was lost, they were our strength. The soldiers are gone, we are holding against the beasts and animals well enough but this Amog has followed Leoka unfortunately. We need more power.¡± Six nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll get to work then.¡± Alison thanked Franklin and Six and left them to the build. Franklin began the excavation of the foundation while Six took Charles and two other helpers back to his cave. They arrived and Charles let out a confused hum. ¡°This is where you¡¯re staying?¡± ¡°What¡¯s that supposed to mean, eh?¡± Six liked his cave. ¡°Nothing, but I had expected something more like you built Ravna.¡± ¡°Nah, not yet. Used to be spiders but I cleared em out. I think I''m too weak to protect something out in the open and this gets the job done for now. ¡°Spiders? You killed them all right?¡± ¡°Yea?¡± ¡°Good, monstrous insects must be purged.¡± Six didn¡¯t argue with that, he just showed them the log and rigged up four pull lines. It was far easier to drag the log as four. It took just over an hour to get the log back round trip and they dropped it next to the foundation pit which was well underway. The four of them joined the others and Six got them to get a section to down depth so he could begin to produce sheets of stone for the drainage layer. As his mana bottomed out he soon realized that it would take too long for him to produce enough stone, the footprint of the townhall was just larger than the cozy smithy he created and he just didn¡¯t have enough mana regen. So Six said fuck it, he refused to keep it a secret any longer. They were in the middle of nowhere and the whole point of this settlement was to let these people live free from the laws of the empire. He was confident in his ability to defend himself now, or at least escape from any sticky situation. He didn¡¯t want to hurt anybody here, they¡¯ve all been quite nice. Even if the soldiers came back Six doubted they would do anything. Well, perhaps Irduth as his only real danger was an inquisition from the church. Those that worshipped Kynairos in the village were mostly of Leoka¡¯s people and while they had gathered under irduth for prayer, they had never acted with his level of fervor. So fuck it. He bottomed out his mana, which produced a painful thumping in his head, then he bloodcast. The first bloodcast of Stone Wall produced a prickling sensation, the magic drew from his blood and fueled itself in a transformative effect. He felt thrilled and his mind screamed in pride. Some of the blood was lost and wasted in the imperfect conversion but Six cared not. He pushed himself and cast Stone Wall twice more. A red mist was drawn from him and coalesced into arcane power, the remnants sat upon his skin like crimson sweat. He breathed as the last cast was pulled from his veins. He had doubled the output of stone and it might be possible to finish by the end of the day, hell, he was feeling pretty smug right now and might work into the night to get it done. But there was a pull from the side, something resonated with Six¡¯s blood and Six could tell it was the blood log. The log, although dead and burned, still resonated with blood, it called for the waste of Six¡¯s blood casting. For a moment Six hesitated, he didn¡¯t understand what would happen but, at this point he felt he should let go. Once he let go of the spell waste the blood remnants were almost pulled by gravity towards the logs, condensing into deep red droplets. The blood impacted the bark and near instantly seeped in. ¡°Neat,¡± Six muttered. Charles coughed, ¡°Six, blood magic is not something that the average person is well versed in and as a branch it is outlawed. Even in the mages guild.¡± Six laughed and wiped the last bit of blood off his face before looking back at Charles. ¡°Charles, I don¡¯t give a fu-¡± Looking past the lad, SIx saw the entire work crew watching him. He cleared his throat, ¡°I don¡¯t care. If it becomes a problem, so be it. The townhall will be a bigger problem than me.¡± Charles looked uncomfortable but Six really didn¡¯t care. He felt like he could explode, in anger or joy, either direction was fine. He stopped at that thought, it was dangerous to be uncaring. He observed his internal state and realized that he needed to calm the fuck down. So he took three deep breaths and slapped on a wide smile. He pointed to the slabs of thin stone. ¡°Gravelize these please.¡± He left the pit slowly, each movement painful. His HP was low from all the bloodcasting and it made his entire skin tender, but his pumping blood allowed him to not care about the pain. He found that internal observation interesting. The blood magic was doing something to his mind. Skill gained: Mindfulness - Initiate - 1 Improves resistance to mental effects and increases internal perception. Each level provides an increase of 1% to mental resistance and internal perception. Current increase: 1% He sat down and pulled out some smokeweed, blazing a bit might mellow him out too his mind justified. He wasn¡¯t worried about his ability to make more Stone Walls, but instead hold his shit together. There was a slight feeling of relaxation but he still felt his blood pump furiously, so he put it away and began to meditate to regain his resources. It was hard to focus on proper focused meditation while somewhat stoned but keeping a steady rhythm of breath was easy enough to maintain. Slowly, the intentional breathing calmed his body and eased him back to equilibrium. He did this until his mana and health was full then he stood, stretched and returned to the pit. Some of the crew stared up at him with wariness, some with fear. He laughed, whatever, he didn¡¯t need their acceptance or love. He just needed them to do their job. He cast Stone Wall until his mind and body thundered pain with each beat of his heart. The log drank what he failed to transmute. He breathed and meditated himself to equilibrium. Once more he riled his blood with blood casting and once more the log drank. So it went. 1.30 Village Life Broka 20th Six had gained a level in Meditation and Mindfulness this morning during his routine. He relaxed with Nibbler, giving her scratches and playfully wrestling. He looked at his terrarium and enjoyed watching the woodbugs crawl about. An intrusive thought occurred to him and he watched the thought win. He pulled a blood branch out of his ring and picked a handful of leaves and twigs off it. ¡°This should do you guys goooood, enjoy!¡± He added the magical plant material to the environment and closed it up. Should be pretty neat to see what happens. ¡°Aight, time for work.¡± Six made his way to the village and joined the early workers. He started by laying down casts of Stone Wall in the same segmented way he created Ravna¡¯s floor. Again he ran into limited mana regen and he began to bloodcast but today the other workers didn¡¯t seem so off put by it. He expected Alison to come and chew him out but she didn¡¯t. Six knew what project management was like, she probably just wanted it done and didn¡¯t have time to chastise him¡­ he felt pity for her. As Six laid down the floor the rest of the work crew worked with Franklin to begin the framing of the exterior. The bloodlog accepted two more rotations of magical waste blood from Six before it ceased absorbing it. Its colour had shifted to a brighter more translucent red. Must be full. Unlike the longhouses that were in essence just one extremely large A-frame made of logs, the townhall had vertical sides, more akin to a box building like Ravna¡¯s smithy. It was going up with supportive logs and milled lumber. They had been preparing this material as the longhouses were being constructed and Six didn¡¯t even have to waste mana on enchanting any of the materials as Franklin had contracted his services before. The work progressed quickly and by mid afternoon there was enough of the floor and frame complete to incorporate the blood log into the structure. Franklin had chosen a central load bearing pillar that would be replaced with the blood log and they moved it into position and just before the movement to raise it into place the work crew was shown a prompt. You are attempting to incorporate a Fire Hardened Magic Blood Log into a Townhall(in progress) This will require the equivalent of one hundred Mundane Common Mana Cores, or ten Enhanced Unusual Mana Cores, or one Superior Rare Mana Core, to complete. This will act as the keystone reagent for the completed building and provide the following effect(s) for residents within the building¡¯s domain of influence: Bleeding Resistance2: Nullify bleeding conditions up to rank 2 Tempered by Flame: Being exposed to fire increases natural durability by 50% for a short while. Would you like to begin the incorporation? Yes/No. That was pretty darn good, especially for a town wide buff. He felt an immediate desire to join the town to get the effect, he hated the bleeding condition. But no, instead Six hesitated as he imagined himself in a beautiful filigreed set of wood bloodplate, standing imperiously with his glaive, he felt like he should hold onto the resource. But, he had the sap and seeds and branches. It was whatever, this would probably be cool too. Franklin had a helper bring over a large bag and she began pulling out Mana Cores of all types. She began to place the cores on the floor, piling them all right next to the blood pillar. She had quite the number of mundane and enhanced cores but clearly nowhere near the amount she needed as she shook her head in defeat. ¡°Wasn¡¯t prepared for a Superior ranked material, its costs far more than I was expecting to incorporate such a thing. We may have to go back to our original plan of using the stone.¡± She stood there thinking. Six looked at all those cores and instantly knew that Alison had scammed him for his initial enchanting. He felt a flare of rage but it strangely dissipated surprisingly fast. He usually took theft very seriously. Yet he was still considering helping them. Perhaps it was Franklin''s tired but determined look into the distance, perhaps it was the hopeful and faithful looks of the townspeople around them. There were 65 mundane and 1 enhanced core from the stockpile Franklin had. Six pulled out another 30 mundane cores and offered them to Franklin. You¡¯re just giving us these Six shook his head no. The cores weren¡¯t that much with how much grinding he had been doing, still he didn¡¯t want to work for free. ¡°You can pay me back whenever you get the chance.¡± Franklin nodded and added them to the pile, she accepted the prompt and Six watched as the cores melted into a silver mist and flowed into the blood log. Cool. But other than that¡­ ¡°Should something happen?¡± Six asked a little confused. ¡°When we finish the building, the effect will occur.¡± Franklin offered. Six thanked her and the work continued. It took another day for them to finish and on the night of the 21st when the last shingle was placed on the large imposing building, everything was still for a moment. Then, a ripple of colour and motion exploded out from the center of the wood building, from the peak down, dying it all a deeper red. The movement and colour settled and then Six received a prompt, Construction Successful! -The Leyhall of Blood and Ash- Quality: Enhanced Rarity: Rare Durability: 7000/7000 Traits: Domain of Influence(radius of 2.5k) buffs: Administration and Scholar Productivity +5%, Bleeding Resistance2, Tempered by Flame. Note: The Bloodwood Log reagent used in the construction of the townhall had previously absorbed sufficient blood of a Ley Master to connect the Townhall to the Deathspire Ley Nexus. The building owner has the ability to grant Ley Champion status to any resident of the village. At tier one the Leyhall can grant champion status to 10 individuals. Ley Champions receive the following additional effects. One leyline has been aligned and thus one additional effect has been unlocked. Blood From a Stone has been unlocked Blood From a Stone: Health Regen/M += MaxHealth*(0.025*N) The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. Skill Increase: Construction - Initiate - 11 Masonry - Initiate - 10 Carpentry - Initiate - 8 This was far beyond anything Six could have expected. Franklin had said that a regular administration bonus was 1 to 3 percent, this building had already doubled it. Not to mention its name change, what was a Leyhall? Alison had been there during the final moments and she nodded at Franklin and Six for their help before she approached the finished building and touched it gently. There was the far off look of system access and then everyone in the surrounding area received a prompt. The village of Mountain End was founded by Alison Lamora. Would you like to request residency? Yes/No? He wanted to select Yes. The buffs were strong, improving defense and survivability but Six was sure that Alison would expect anyone who received these buffs to fall in line in recompense for the power it gave. While Six wanted all three buffs he wasn¡¯t willing to engage in any deals to get them. The stupid tree had found that out. The log was most likely worth hundreds of gold but Six thought the satisfaction from creating something unique was priceless. Also, free food. He selected No. He was his own man. He would not be beholden to anyone but himself. The crowd murmured amongst itself at the revelation of success. They had founded their village and completed the initial goal they sought, a ripple of excitement and exaltation spread through the gathering crowd. The whispered murmurs grew in volume as the reality set in. Six could hear the name ¡°Lady Lamora,¡± whispered by many. Alison lifted a hand and those assembled quieted. She spoke and her voice resonated around the open glade. ¡°People of the Mountain End Village, I stand before you today tired from the battles we have fought and the challenges we have faced. But amidst this weariness, I find myself filled with an overwhelming sense of pride and gratitude. We have come together as a community, rising from the dim and uncertain future to build a place we can now call home. Our settlement is our home, a testament to our determination to create a better future for ourselves free from the pressure of the empire. But with progress and freedom, comes the weight of responsibility. My friends, responsibility is not a burden to be borne lightly. It is a sacred duty that we owe to ourselves, to one another, and to the land that sustains us. It is a solemn pledge to safeguard the little we have painstakingly forged, the life we have delicately nurtured. Every action we take ripples through the lives of our fellows. Our choices, both great and small, shape the fabric of our community and leave an indelible mark upon its history. The decisions we make today, however wearisome we may be, will resonate far beyond our time, impacting generations to come. With this foundation, the Leyhall, we truly begin our own story and I think the first scene should be that of a party!¡± And with that a small music troupe that consisted of two muldstanni, a dwarf, and a vrill began playing a jaunty tune while Min and Jebbedo appeared out of nowhere to begin handing out food. Alison retrieved a few kegs of ale from her ring and soon the atmosphere had become much more relaxed. Six did not partake of the ale as he didn¡¯t drink, but he definitely blazed his new smokeweed to new heights, sharing and packing bowls for anybody who wanted a hoot off his pipe. It was new weed but was of the same potency, still got stoned though. Six people watched and enjoyed the food. Min had made tons of fresh bread, Jebbedo had roasted fifteen boar and had made several bowls of some coleslaw like thing that was delicious. Six made sure he and Nibbler ate their fill. He danced at one point by himself and later again when Ravna tracked him down. Six was a little wooden at first but once he forced himself to be a little silly he began to relax and enjoy the experience of dancing with a lady again. Ravna was a beautiful woman and while Six was past the pretty woman equals stupid phase of his life, he was still struck by her. It was a good night. He awoke the next morning surrounded by the pained moans of hangovers. Many, himself included, had fallen asleep in the field before the Leyhall, The night had been cold but Six had been very stoned, burnt out, and had not wanted to chance wandering back to his cave in the night while inebriated. So when he pulled himself up from the dewy grass it was done with a shiver. He was grumpy and felt the impulse to wake and bake but didn¡¯t. Instead he meditated and visualized. When he began to stretch, someone joined him. It was Tavi, she reminded him of a beaten house dog. Someone that had once had it easy but lost it, refined but broken and sharp. Her rich brown hair had begun to lose its softness and her dark brown eyes were hard and had a depth of sad acceptance. But she joined Six in his stretching. He made eye contact with the young woman and he could see a resolute firmness behind a tinge of jealousy. What she was jealous of he did not know. He didn¡¯t care, her jealousy cost him nothing. They finished the routine and she followed his kata. He could hear her scoffing at his imitation of Narhurin but she tried her best regardless. He finished and he turned to her and bowed in completion. ¡°You¡¯re done?¡± she asked, a little perturbed. ¡°Yea?¡± ¡°What about sparring? You haven¡¯t come to spar since Nar and Keegan left.¡± ¡°Oh, I suppose that¡¯s true.¡± Sparring was always a good time, so he assented. They left the field and went to the dirt patch in front of the soldiers'' shack. The first spar was with glaives. Tavi was just as good as Six with a glaive but her stats were too low to stand up to him. It was easy for Six to overpower her and create openings for himself. She lost when he cross checked her in the face while tripping one of her legs, she flew backwards and rolled in the dirt, coming up and taking a breath before taking a ready position. They sparred with swords and Six pressured her, swinging with wild strength before slipping in a front kick and once again sending her to the dirt. She had managed to get a few cuts and nicks on him but nothing substantial. She stood and faced him. ¡°Again?¡± he asked? She nodded, so he shrugged and lifted his fists then weaved his way forward, throwing out some light jabs. He held back with his enhanced strength and focused on technique. Tavi¡¯s unarmed skill was much higher than his and he found it hard to engage without taking three times the blows, he didn¡¯t even try to grapple her as she was just too hard to control. Wiggling around like a deadly constrictor. Even still his endurance regen was too much and his slow onslaught led to her gasping. Six had improved clearly as he remembered her as far more trouble than he was having. The few days spent fighting in the rainforest had done something to shape his ease with creating violence. Skill Increase: Polearms - Initiate - 14 Swords - Initiate - 9 Unarmed - Initiate - 8 Six scratched his head. ¡°Alright, good sparring. I gotta get going with the rest of my morning.¡± Tavi looked at him as if he was ridiculous. ¡°No. I wish to continue training.¡± Six narrowed his eyes, he didn¡¯t like her tone.¡°Maybe Jebbedo or Gatbark could help you out.¡± She scoffed good naturedly. ¡°But you are stronger than them. They¡¯re glorified crafters. I want to get stronger, like you. You are one of the strongest here, so it only makes sense for you to train me while the soldiers are gone.¡± He could see her sincerity but still he shook his head no. ¡°Sorry, stuff to do. There was a brief flash of rage on her face. The look of dumbfounded hate. It passed quickly, but it was there. Her face quickly switched back to her usual neutral yet intense gaze. ¡°Well, thanks for sparring with me anyways.¡± She plastered on a serene smiled that Six was sure she practiced. He left to wrangle up some breakfast. Stew and flatbread. Min had stayed up too late to start the bread early enough, Six didn¡¯t begrudge the mam, he worked hard and deserved the break. By now he had woken and was making his classic flatbreads, albeit with a pained face. ¡°Yo,¡± Six whispered and both Min and Jebbedo stared at him with thankful narrowed eyes. ¡°Some party eh?¡± They smiled ¡°Hey Min,¡± Six whispered. The baker gave him an inquiring look but didn¡¯t say anything, he kinda looked sick. ¡°You know how to make pie?¡± ¡°Of course I know how to make pie. Im a fucking baker.¡± ¡°Oh, nice. What would I need to do to get you to make me a pie. Kinda been wanting some pie lately you know?¡± ¡°Well what kinda pie?¡± ¡°Berry? I guess?¡± Apple preferably but I don¡¯t know if you even have apples.¡± ¡°Do you have berries or apples?¡± Min asked a little snippy. ¡°No.¡± ¡°I got a few apples but not enough for a pie,¡± Jebbedo said. ¡°Do you got some apple seeds?¡± Six asked, he wanted an orchard and apples were great, whatever kinda were. Jebbedo nodded and dug about amongst his cases before giving Six a dozen apple seeds. Six clucked his tongue. ¡°Nice.¡± Min passed Six his bowl of stew and flatbread. ¡°Bring me the filling and I¡¯ll make you a pie no problem, but no more talking. It hurts.¡± Six nodded and zipped his smiling lips. After eating he fetched his repaired armor and thanked Ravna for her second job well done. ¡°K, So¡­ Spicy cheese,¡± he said this to himself when it was time to reprioritize and get moving. He really wanted that pie and while apple pie was his favourite, a nice berry pie would be nice too. His mind flashed back to those giant purple berries he spawned next to. Now, looking back and thinking about it, according to tropes and game logic those berries were probably something game changing and important. Also, they looked delicious. Yes, his main priority should still be finding his way to the ley nexus but there was no reason he couldn¡¯t look for those berries at the same time. So with the combination of the Survival skill and his gut, Six made his way up the mountain in what he remembered as the rough direction he took down that first day. Killing things on his way. 1.31 The Leyboratory Broka 21st 10,391 He found it. It took him longer than he expected, his time extended when he found a patch of regular blue berries. He and Nibbler had feasted on those berries. But what he had found now? He was sure it was the same bush, the same purple berries hung heavy from it. Six still wasn¡¯t sure if they were poisonous but his herbalism skill might tell him this time. He picked one and wafted a sniff over. Plant Identified - Empress¡¯ Appreciation - Quality: Superior Rarity: Rare Weight - 0.1G Durability 5/5 Traits: Can be eaten to provide a minor boost to experience point income. 15% more gained experience points for the next 24 hours. Material, Reagent. Holy shit. This was broken. This was something that would help him immensely. The snowball effect would be far more pronounced as everything would just be worth more to him. His Herbalism skill went up by a level. Nice. Six examined the bush, there was maybe a pail of berries. Not enough for everyone. He knew Plant Growth could cause regular plants to fruit but he was unsure regarding magical plants. He didn¡¯t want to risk transplanting the bush and having it die. Also, there were only a few berries missing, whatever animals that fed on this were not that greedy. Six ate a berry, it was pretty sour, he gave one to Nibbler. He gained the Empress¡¯ Appreciation condition and noted its place within his buff list. He wondered if the effect would be concentrated had these been made into a pie. It would be a gross misuse of such a limited resource but still he wondered. Fuck it he was gonna do it, he went to pick enough for a pie but something caught his eye near the back of this mountain alcove. It was a crack in the earth. A cave. Six sighed. He hadn¡¯t wanted to spelunk today, ever really, but he needed to clear it, make sure it wasn¡¯t anything important. Best do it now he thought, so he moved forward with purpose. The opening was a little bit bigger than Six on all sides and for once Six had an easy time entering, walking a little deeper into the cave before being confronted with a smooth stone door. It stood tall and complete. Something made harder than nature. Uniform and unblemished. ¡°What the fuck?¡± Six whispered, and made eye contact with Nibbler at his side He moved forward cautiously and he barely touched the strange surface before a prompt presented itself. Welcome Master of the Deathspire Ley Nexus. Would you like to unseal this door? Yes/No? Six looked at the simple prompt for a bit. He selected Yes and both he and Nibbler took a step back when the smooth stone door melted away, soft light and stale air rushing out of the exposed passage before them. What was this? A large part of Six was telling him he found what he had been searching for. He looked about it. There were pot lights spaced every so often, shining down a calming soft glow. The stone corridor looked square and it was worked with simple line designs that were carved into the lower surfaces. The thick layer of undisturbed dust on the tunnel floor told him no one had been moving inside for quite the while. A tremble of fear rose along his spine but he shook his head in rejection. This was his quest, it was for him to seize his own power and he would be lying if he said he did not crave power. He could not turn back. He walked forward and moved deeper into the mountain, perception alight After a few minutes the passageway opened up into a large open area with many connecting tunnels, three of which were larger and more prominent than the others. Signage and lettering was present in this room which when observed quickly organized itself into something comprehensible for Six. You have learned: Ancient K¡¯gan Neat. Six looked to the main sign that hung above a crumbling desk. It read, Talon Leyline Research Initiative Facility. A skeleton sat below it. So they were in a magical research facility. That was probably pretty dangerous. He read the signs above the three prominent corridors. Living. Science. Maintenance. He was going to clear the entire facility eventually but he needed to start somewhere. Living and maintenance seemed like the safer options but Six felt that the science corridor would lead to the best immediate loot and direct access to the leyline nexus. So science it was and he slowly went down that way. It wasn¡¯t long before he felt something in his gut, a great ominous feeling. The hair on his nape rose and his ears began to pick up a low hiss. Then he saw it. A darkness, vaguely humanoid shaped. It came from ahead and floated towards Six. He analyzed it. Minor Spectre Level 9 Six braced himself and pulled out his glaive. As soon as the dark shape floated within range Six lashed out with a slash but it passed through the spectre, just as he expected. A dark tendril managed to unfurl towards Six caressing him through his armor with a cold tentacle. It burned cold and Six grunted through the pain. His health dropped by a bit but there was no physical damage. Still, Six kited away from the thing with Nibbler leading the fall back. He fired a few Stone Spears at the thing, unfortunately the erupting shards of stone were completely ineffective. He swung with his glaive, stepping back down the corridor swiping the glaive back and forth. It took almost ten slashes before the enchantment activated and a wave of deep green earth energies spewed forth. The thing recoiled and moaned, clearly disturbed by the magical energies but not overly so. Six noted its effect and switched to his force spear before continuing to kite the apparition again. It was a lighter weapon and he could more easily apply multiple strikes, increasing the chance of activation. The force mana also proved better than the earth mana as it produced a far more pronounced reaction from the spectre and it only took two more force strikes to disperse the spirit creature. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Six looked at a wide eyed Nibbler. ¡°Fuckin ghosts.¡± You have killed level 9 Minor Spectre. Experience gained 451+(67). The Empress¡¯ Appreciation condition was immediately noticeable with the additional 15% already netting him 67 more experience points. He would have to figure out how to cultivate that plant. He quickly encountered another spectre and tried to weave some Double Strikes into the kiting tactic and although he couldn¡¯t do more than one Double Strike periodically it still increased his chances of activating his enchantment. His stamina regen kept him topped up and all he had to do was be mindful to stay above 50% so it was a slight improvement to damage output. He defeated seven more of those cold wandering ghosts, kiting them each time. He continued through the long stone tunnel before coming to another large cylindrical room. This room was dotted with five sealed doors, four that led to different elementally labeled areas and the far opposite door that was clearly labeled Ley Nexus. Well, he was pretty sure whatever was blocking his connection to the Ley Core was in the Ley Nexus room. Should probably open that one last. The elemental wings were that of his Ley Core, Earth, Fire, Water and Darkness. Thematic artwork was sculpted into the surrounding frame of the door, the stone worked to look like the froth of a wave, or the lick of a flame. One was worked to accentuate its own shadows, one was simple stone but it emanated a weighty aura. He would start with these, he started with the one of deepest darkness. It did not respond to his touch, it did not respond to his push nor pull. Not darkness, nor water, nor fire. The only door to respond was the weighty earth door, and it opened to a large workshop that was most magical. Artificial light streamed down from the ceiling. It contained some larger tools that Six recognized, drill press, shearing press, pressing press. There were many that Six did not recognize. There was a station for all of the finer workings, small inscribed hand tools lay next to broken spectacles. Several desks butted the far wall, one more prominent than the others. He found three skeletons upon the floor and immediately their spectres leapt from the shadows of the bone and descended on Six while Nibbler hissed impotently. There was a slim intelligence in the creatures as they worked together to corral him on three angles. It was only marginally harder to banish these creatures one by one. Their cold lashes were painful but irrelevant in the face of Six¡¯s magical weapons and healing. He soon banished two and the third melted backwards into the wall, never to be seen again. Six recharged his spear with a mundane mana core and continued his examination of the room. There were steel racks spaced evenly across the room, many points of suspension allowing for easy movement of heavy objects. This looked more like an automotive workshop than something he would expect from magical researchers. He began to poke around in the room, he needed a reliable way to detect magic. Still he could take the obviously magic stuff and come back later. He inspected all the tools, finding that they were made of a material called stillver, whatever that was. There were workstations for quite the range of professions, from smith to cook almost any crafter could work here. He found where they kept their materials, and while the textiles had long since turned to dust, the metals and gems were still readily available. There was plenty of mundane metals, copper, bronze, iron, steel. But there was also a selection of various magical metals, Immortal steel, stillver, orichalum, glassteel. He inspected the magical ones. - Immortal Steel Ingot - Rank: Enhanced Rarity: Common Defense - 250 Weight - 5 KG Durability 2750/2750 Traits: Material, Reagent. - Stillver Ingot - Rank: Enhanced Rarity: Unusual Defense - 250 Weight - 5 KG Durability 2750/2750 Traits: Material, Reagent. - Orichalum Ingot - Rank: Enhanced Rarity: Unusual Defense - 250 Weight - 5 KG Durability 3200/3200 Traits: Material, Reagent. - Glassteel Ingot - Rank: Superior Rarity: Rare Defense - 450 Weight - 5 KG Durability 10000/10000 Traits: Material, Reagent. Skill increased: Inspect - Initiate - 11 Pretty basic readouts. Ravna might know more, she should be able to make him some full plate with some of this look so he¡¯d be hitting up the smithy at some point. Amongst the three piles of bones he discovered gold and silver. Tiny little bars of it, like coins but rectangular in shape. He placed it all in his ring and just read the item count, 41 gold tabs and 97 silver. Ancient gold. Nice. His examination of the desks revealed much. There was only one that had any real drawers, the others being glorified tables. It was larger than the rest and centrally located. Upon it sat the scraps and dust of degraded paperwork. A obsidian name plate sat there, it was inscribed with Ancient K¡¯gan and it read, ¡°Head researcher Kytaligan.¡± Six carefully searched the drawers for signs of traps and found nothing. He tried pulling it open with a little bit of rope and found it impossible to budge. He tried the barest of movements with his hand and found it capable of being moved, it was just magical. His mind screamed of danger, but also of loot. So in a weird limbo crouching position Six slowly pulled the drawer open while covering his face, he braced, for nothing. A sigh of relief went through him as he stood and examined the contents. There was a stack of papers that had somehow held up, a pristine book, ten enhanced cores and two superior mana cores. He had never seen such rare materials, the superior mana cores were different, a deep green shade had changed them. When Six inspected them it was clear something had been done to them. - Superior Configured Earth Core - Rank: Superior Rarity: Rare Defense - 1000 Weight - 0.05 KG Durability 7999/8000 Traits: Crystalized Earth Mana, Material, Reagent, Catalyst. So they¡¯ve been attuned to earth mana? Six was ok with that. He didn¡¯t know what ¡°configured¡± meant though. The stack of papers comprised a journal of sorts, a work log of a K¡¯gan mage by the name of Kytaligan, he read the small stack of entries. The entries mostly rambled on about his project of most importance. Kytaligan was seeking to transfer his soul and memories to an artificial body. Android style. He used the words ¡°eternal life,¡± enough times to make his motivation clear enough. There were some ramblings about how close they were to perfecting the procedure and how his respective elemental peers were jealous of his authority and station. A log entry detailed how the empire was losing a war against the aelfs, and that the hynyks were created by the aelfs for war. This is when Kytaligan became increasingly aggressive. The last entry talked about the fall of Kolo Gano. The aelfs used some sort of super weapon to vaporize the entire city. With that point in mind Kytaligan refused to allow any others to leave as he was close to finishing his work, the infusion of his soul into a golem, thus granting eternal life. ¡°Eternal life, heh, classic trope.¡± Then there was what was clearly a magic book. Six wondered about what spell he would be learning, but a quick inspect informed him otherwise - Magical Manual of Golem Genesis - Rank: Superior Rarity: Rare Defense - 100 Weight - 3 KG Durability 120/120 Traits: Capable of raising a user¡¯s Enchantment skill to level 58 provided the user''s affinity is sufficient. Provides the techniques and skill evolutions of Kytaligan the Golemgineer. ¡°An inheritance, heh, classic trope.¡± Skill increased: Inspect - Initiate - 12 ¡°Nice, a twofer.¡± So he had found a skill book eh? And mythic rarity? Not being able to select his skill evolutions was a bummer but the incknowledge going forward. But not here. He needed to be safe or atleast hidden before he would try a random magic book like that. But he breathed out and relaxed, he was excited but there was still a big possibility of more ghosts being present. He left that room to try the main doors in the open science area. A wandering pair of spectres gave him pause but despite how good they were in experience returns they were simply a minor distraction at this point. That being said, they gave just enough experience to level Six up. He was now level nine and quickly assigned his points. He put two into strength and one into dexterity, charisma, endurance and luck. His strength had been steadily climbing and he had noticed it during work and combat. With that done he approached the Ley Nexus doors he received a prompt. Welcome Master of the Deathspire Ley Nexus. Would you like to unseal this door? Yes/No? Six braced himself before selecting Yes. The doors swung out towards Six and he gazed into the chamber. Every surface was inscribed with glowing runes and the entire room hummed with the arcane power of the ley lines. Six could feel the difference. It felt like being underwater yet he wasn¡¯t impeded, it was more a tidal pressure. In the center of the stone chamber was a squat altar that was surrounded by piles of bones, atop it lay a man. His model-like nude form was absolutely still but he seemed to be absorbing visible power from the altar itself. The man¡¯s skin was as dark as obsidian. The man reminded SIx of Keegan, just far less muscled. This must be- The form twitched. Six hesitated and analyzed the thing. His analyze failed and the naked pristine human shaped thing immediately sat up and lifeless eyes locked gazes with him and Six could feel the smouldering intelligence inside whatever that thing was. It moved to stand. Six stepped back and began to repeat himself, willing the door to respond. ¡°Seal the door, seal the door, SEAL THE DOOR!¡± The golem moved slowly at first but it quickly picked up speed. It spoke as it closed towards Six, it spoke the ancient K¡¯gan language with a voice most beautiful. ¡°Don¡¯t you dare seal me in h-¡± The doors managed to shut with a low boom that pushed a cloud of dust at Six. Sealing whatever that was back inside. Six breathed a sigh of relief. ¡°Fuck that, I¡¯ll be back. Might need a team for you.¡± So he made his way out of the facility, emerging back on the mountain. He took a deep breath and smiled at the sky. It was dark but he still made his way home fine. After he wedged his door closed and made himself comfortable he pulled out the magical manual and went to open it. You have activated a magical manual for the skill Golem Genesis Using this tome will impart the skill knowledge and consume the item. Continue? Yes/No? He selected Yes. 1.32 Gathering Knowledge Broka 19 9,201 He was a boy He was Kytaligan, a K¡¯gan and part of the noble line of rulers. There were other noble lines but the empire was that of K¡¯gan and despite being no more than eight Kytaligan was surely the best of them. He lived in Kolo Gano, a city of awe and majesty. The buildings were placed in dense layers and honeycombed between each other, making up and comprising the sprawling landscape. People flew with magic or devices about the palace. The K¡¯gan palace was a spire that was central in the city and the highest point of everything. The banners of K¡¯gan flew from the sheer walls of the palace, a white raven on a deep purple field. He was a smart child. Well spoken yet constantly misunderstood. The children, both noble and common, did not like to play with him. He said mean things, but only because they made him say those things. He had no friends, so he learned to make friends. He was fourteen and had created his first golem. His mind marveled at the slow ponderous thing as he simultaneously began to review the process. He had a friend now. It had been a simple thing to create the golem. Finding the reservoir of the mana cores and configuring it into the element you wished. Then you breathed life and the world provided shape. Drawing its body from the environment and imbuing its life with your own until it took form and awoke. A natural expression of artificial life. Kytaligan and his golem did everything together, and spent all their time together. It was a friend but also a tool and the golem demonstrated its prowess many times. Kytaligan was K¡¯gan, there was no punishment for its demonstrations. It was not until a more senior member of their line brought him that punishment did Kytaligan grow further. His trusted golem was smashed to bits, and Kytaligan thoroughly beaten. His one trusted friend was but a toy in the face of such power. So Kytaligan created another. Seeking to create a companion that could protect itself from anyone who dared hurt them. He pushed his craft further and added a fire blossom tulip as a rare reagent. The second was a humanoid capable of becoming molten in nature. His third was a wind elemental that could draw the breath from the lungs of his foe. The fourth was a pearlescent floating gem that intercepted and protected him from attacks. The fifth he could not control. After he destroyed it his prompts told him he had exceeded his maximum allowed subordinate control. He was but an apprentice in the arts and his wisdom was too low and could only control up to two summons. Still, Kytaligan paid that senior member a visit and returned the beating. His golems, now proving too dangerous to contend with. Victory felt¡­ good. He no longer looked at his golems like friends anymore, they were unintelligent automatons, lacking a true soul. The golems were a means to an end, and Kytaligan craved that power he just exerted. He pushed his craft and enlisted the aid of other powerful crafters, his skill and wisdom rose and so did his subordinate slots. He created golems for others, grand creations made from materials gathered from all across Zonah. The nobles of K¡¯gan wanted the best and Kytaligan had made strides further than all before him. Having one of his golems was considered fashionable and smart. Then war broke out when the aelfs from the north brought their hynyk hordes and attacked the realm of humans. When the Emperor conscripted him to build war machines Kytaligan nearly cheered at the lucky turn of events. Despite their quality and rarity he had been stagnating with the of the enhanced nature of the materials available to him currently, with access to the superior treasures of the vault of the empire he would be able to progress even further. And so he did, evolving his skill further, gifting his golems the ability to level alongside their owners. The new creations he wrought were paired with the strongest combat classers the empire had to offer. At first it only slowed the inevitable as the march of the homunculus humanoid dog people was nigh unstoppable, but his creations became more and more potent, his perks more and more powerful. The golem¡¯s function more and more considered. The killing potential of each iteration slowly increased and they all grew in levels. Until one day his masterpiece was created. A looming giant, not transmuted from the surrounding environment but artificed from the intentional workings of the mind. Its twenty meter shell was made from the most magically potent alloys they had access to and was inscribed with the accumulated knowledge of his entire professional line. It was a clockwork man of precise gears and mechanical advantage, something greater than nature. Artificial superiority. They brought false life to it. The construct stood. It stared down at Kytaligan, its father, its creator. It¡¯s master. It was the guardian of Kolo Gano and the hynyk hordes broke like waves upon the great golem that stood like a mountain. Its great armaments laying waste to the soulless hordes of the dog legged mongrels. It grew stronger and stronger with every attack it repelled. How could he surpass this? What power could he leverage? What material would be strong enough? What reagent esoteric enough? He knew he must build something for himself, it was the only way to create the proper vision. A vision that would push him to new heights. He would strive to solidify his legacy. He would grasp eternal life. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. *** Six sat in his cave, the grimoire was glowing a bright yellow in his hands, it was weightless and soon dissolved like fireflies extinguished into nothingness. Skill increase: Enchantment - Journeyman - 58 Apprentice Skill Evolution triggered Existing choice detected Evolution choice imprinted: Golem Enchanting Golem Enchanting: While performing golem type enchantments, each skill level provides a 1% increase in enchantment stability and a 0.4% reduction in mana costs Current increase: 58% Current reduction: 23.2% Technique choice awarded. Journeyman Skill Evolution triggered Existing choice detected Evolution choice imprinted: Golem Genesis Golem Genesis: Golems created by this user can be given the ability to gain experience and level, this increases the initial creation mana requirements by 20%. Technique choice awarded. You gained 100(+15) experience points for reaching Apprentice status in Enchantment. You gained 500(+75) experience points for reaching Journeyman status in Enchantment. Six shuddered a breath and sat up, cracking his joints in a dozen places. His mind buzzed and he rubbed the drool off his chin and came away with some blood. He patted his face and discovered his nose was bleeding, or had been bleeding. He could see the furrowed brows of concern on Nibbler''s face. She rubbed her hands anxiously. Six gave her a few reassuring scratches. He was ok now. He checked the combat logs. You have been afflicted with mana saturation for 1 damage (516/517) That continued on for pages, Six saw that he healed a bit, the number jumping back here and there. He ended up losing a little over a quarter of his health but it was steadily replenishing. The book had represented a wealth of professional knowledge and Six had many ideas running through his head. He understood what the configured earth cores were now and how to properly utilize them and much of the other materials he held. This knowledge also brought forth a reprioritization of goals. He needed to get to level ten before he attempted anything significant. The perks that the Golem Enchanter class would allow him to access would be crucial for the proper development of the potential golems his mind was awash with. He had always been afraid of autonomous killing machines. There was also the more general enchantment knowledge he had access to, how to imbue a spell into gems, how to inscribe runes onto items. Not to mention knowledge of Kytaligan¡¯s rune library and the arcane circuitry behind the craft. He knew that whatever that thing was in the Ley Nexus, it was powerful. He could not analyze it, and the last creature to have rejected his Analyze skill was deadly by far. Yet, he was confident that with proper preparation he would prevail. According to his knowledge he should be able to support three subordinate golems, one for his innate wisdom and two because of his advanced ranks in Enchantment. What he needed were life based golems. Kytaligan had no affinity for anything other than earth and his knowledge did not include how to tune force mana to anything other than earth using contracted enchanters to perform the elemental configuring but Six had been thinking about this and believed he had a simple solution. He didn¡¯t want to choose the awarded techniques just yet because his final choices may depend on his solution After feeding Nibbler, he sat in his cave experimenting. He gathered mana within himself and began the process of transforming it into earth mana, he tuned the mana to the earthen resonance in preparation of using it but Six did not stop. He continued to push the resonance beyond and slowly sought a new note, gently seeking until he was presented with a prompt. Skill gained Fire Magic - Initiate - 1 Allows users to form minor fire magic constructs. Each level provides a 0.5% increase in spell effectiveness and a 0.25% reduction in mana costs. Current increase 0.5% Current reduction 0.25% Spell awarded for gaining the Fire Magic skill Spell: Ember Spark Rank: Minor Cooldown: 2s Range: 80m Casting Time: Instant Duration: Instant Mana Cost: 20 mana Effect: The user conjures a small, glowing ember in their palm. Upon release, the ember swiftly flies towards a target, igniting upon impact and causing a small burst of flames. He had found a new note, something that was a new part of his repertoire. This discovery was subsequently rewarded by the system Well shit, he honed his memory on that new resonance and learned it. He searched again and in pursuit of that arcane octave he was presented with more prompts. Skill gained Fire Magic - Initiate - 1 Skill gained Light Magic - Initiate - 1 Skill gained Dark Magic - Initiate - 1 Skill gained Death Magic - Initiate - 1 Skill gained Life Magic - Initiate - 1 Skill gained Air Magic - Initiate - 1 Skill gained Water Magic - Initiate - 1 Skill synergies detected, merging skills, The skills Earth Magic, Fire Magic, Water Magic, and Air Magic have been merged into the skill: Elemental Magic - Initiate - 3 The skills Light Magic and Dark Magic have been merged into the skill: Diametric Magic - Initiate - 1 The skills Death Magic and Life Magic have been merged into the skill: Cycle Magic - Initiate - 1 He lost levels in Earth Magic but the consolidation of multiple skills into one would eventually lead to multiplicative scaling of power. Also, while the merging of the skills did not directly provide anything, each singular discovery brought a reward. He checked the new spells for each resonance he attuned to. Spell: Luminous Beacon Rank: Minor Cooldown: 10s Range: 10m Casting Time: 6s Duration: 1 hour Mana Cost: 30 mana Effect: The user conjures a radiant orb of light that hovers in mid-air, illuminating the surroundings with a soft, gentle glow. The orb can be directed to follow the enchanter or placed at a specific location to serve as a guiding light. Spell: Shadow Veil Rank: Minor Cooldown: 10 minutes Range: Melee Casting Time: 10s Duration: 5 minutes Mana Cost: 40 Effect: The user weaves shadows around themselves or a target, creating an ephemeral veil that shrouds them in darkness. While active, each level in Diametric Magic improves concealment by an additional 2.5%, making it harder for others to see or notice the affected individual. Spell: Soul Tether Rank: Minor Cooldown: 1 hour Range: 10m Casting Time: 3 minutes Duration: Channeled Mana Cost: Variable Effect: The user establishes a temporary connection with the essence of a nearby deceased being, forming an ethereal tether. This tether allows the enchanter to glean fragmented memories or residual knowledge from the departed, gaining limited insight into their past experiences. Scales with Wisdom. Each level in Cycle Magic increases Soul Tether control by 0.75% Spell: Vital Surge Rank: Minor Cooldown: 10s Range: Melee Casting Time: Instant Duration: 1 minute Mana Cost: 50 mana Effect: The enchanter channels their life-affirming magic to invigorate and revitalize a living target. With a touch or a gesture, they infuse a surge of life energy, promoting accelerated healing and restoring vitality. Heals for 30+(10*Cycle Magic Level) HP over 1 minute. Spell: Zephyr¡¯s Embrace Rank: Minor Cooldown: 1 minute Range: 80m Casting Time: 5s Duration: 5 minutes Mana Cost: 80 mana Effect: The user harnesses the power of the wind, summoning a gentle breeze that surrounds the area or target. The breeze brings refreshing and invigorating sensations while providing subtle benefits related to air manipulation. While active, each level in Elemental Magic improves Movement Speed and Dexterity by an additional 0.25%. Spell: Nimbus Drizzle Rank: Minor Cooldown: 2 hours Range: 2km Casting Time: 50s Duration: 30 minutes Mana Cost: 90 mana Effect: The User invokes the power of rain, causing a gentle drizzle to fall from the sky. The Nimbus Drizzle spell creates a 10*10m localized area of rainfall, offering various benefits related to water and moisture manipulation. Well shit. He liked having options. 1.33 Master Enchanter Broka 22nd 10,391 There were many things he could make that would aid him. It''s not that Kytaligan gave him ideas beyond that of the memories Six lived, rather, the skill of Kytaligan gave Six the tools he needed to create the items he envisioned. But there was an order of operations to things and as far as Six was aware, the Kytaligan golem would be stuck, unable to leave the sealed Ley Nexus. He had time to prepare. To properly utilize his resources he needed his class, pieces of the knowledge that Kytaligan left in the book implied that class perks fit within the art of enchanting in terms of overall scaling. There was nothing in the transmitted knowledge about Kytaligan¡¯s class specific perks but there was a general understanding of perk benefits upon the art. Six was certain he lacked a large enough mana pool to use the enhanced cores to their fullest potential. They would still provide a larger response and output than a mundane but until he saw what was available for class perks he would stick to using mundane cores. So, now that he had access to life mana, he wanted to attempt to create weapons and golems based on life mana. Something to counter the undead spectres that infest the research facility as well as sustain him during the more physical fights. First, he had to configure the mana core¡¯s internal reservoir into that of life, this involved slowly feeding it life mana until the concentration of life to neutral mana was tilted towards life. It was very similar to natural enchanting and with Six¡¯s skill level so high the enchantment stability and effectiveness were increased by 58% 58? Six went to his character sheet and put two of his skill increase points into Golem Genesis and felt a ripple run through his body as he was presented with text. Skill increase: Golem Genesis - Master - 60 Master Skill Evolution triggered Choose Skill Evolution? Yes/No? Immutable Bond: Enchantments established by the user forge an unbreakable connection with their subordinates, ensuring absolute loyalty and control. This increases the initial creation mana requirements by 20%. Timeless Cognition: Enchantments can be granted heightened awareness and intelligence, enabling them to adapt and learn from experiences, making them more versatile and strategic in their actions. This increases the initial creation mana requirements by 20%. Sovereign Restoration: Enchantments possess regenerative properties, allowing them to repair themselves and their medium over time, healing damage and regenerating charges. This increases the initial creation mana requirements by 20%. Titan''s Might: Enchantments imbued by the enchanter exhibit extraordinary strength and resilience, granting golems enhanced physical prowess and durability beyond their base capabilities. This increases the initial creation mana requirements by 20%. Arcane Fusion: The user can merge multiple enchantments seamlessly, allowing enchantments to possess a combination of abilities from different sources or schools of magic. This increases the initial creation mana requirements by 20%. Immutable Bond seemed good. Very situation dependent though. He wasn¡¯t sure on how often he would encounter a person who could subvert his control like that. Timeless Cognition was also pretty good, it was always good to have intelligent minions. But, Six didn¡¯t need this to make intelligent golems, his skill informed him that with the proper reagents true intelligence could be achieved. It also informed him that golems that were too intelligent could ignore the will of their master. It wasn¡¯t something he wanted to experiment with until he gathered more wisdom. Immutable Bond might counteract golem independence but it wasn¡¯t something that Six could soon combo. Sovereign Restoration was insanely good, useful not only for its staying power but with the increased mana regeneration his magical golems could output more spells which meant more damage. This was also something he could produce with a well chosen reagent but unlike Timeless Cognition it had no potential for negative outcomes. Furthermore, with his golems being capable of leveling up, giving them regeneration would allow them survive more encounters as long as they were owned by a shrewd master. It also synergised with his own regenerative powers, allowing his creations to keep up with him. Titan¡¯s Might was a bit one dimensional. Great if he wanted to create a team and society of warriors but Six wanted something more general. He might be able to reverse engineer the effect with Unbound Comprehension but he might not. Not a gamble he was interested in. Arcane Fusion was also insanely good. Outside of runework It was incredibly hard to layer enchantments on top of one another. Each additional layer represented a huge increase in difficulty. This would allow for maximum optimization in the amount of enchantments he could shove into a single piece. Whatever he made it wouldn¡¯t have a perfect enchantment efficiency but Six wouldn¡¯t have to deal with the imperfections introduced by multiple enchantments. This was something he could overcome with stats and skill though. He picked Sovereign Restoration, the general benefits to the craft overall were undeniable and now it would be as though everything he created could have two reagent effects. Evolution choice imprinted: Sovereign Restoration Technique choice awarded. You gained 1000(+150) experience points for reaching Master status in Enchantment. That last 1150 bumped him up to 37834 experience. Charles had told him the leveling threshold and Six knew the next one was at 45500 so that left 7666 experience points to gather to hit level ten. Roughly fifteen spectres, maybe more now that he was a higher level. There was an instant where he regretted spending that time assisting with the townhall but he saw that thought for what it was, nonsense. Skill increase: Mindfulness - Initiate - 3 He needed to grind up 7666 experience and that meant getting back out there. But he needed to stop off in town for some enchanting supplies and he needed to get a new suit of armor going. He laughed, so much for being a hermit. When he and Nibbler emerged from his cave it looked like midday. He suddenly tuned into how tired he actually was, pulling an all-nighter after a dungeon dive, but now he was basically doing inventory management. He could rest after the easy logistical stuff. When Six entered her smithy Ravna was midway working on a giant two handed sword, hammering rhythmically. The small woman looked up and smiled at him before shouting, ¡°I¡¯ll only be a half hour at most.¡± He nodded and her hammering continued away. He went outside and sat down and watched the people from afar, taking his pipe out for a puff. He wasn¡¯t chilling for but five minutes before a young vrill boy came running up causing Six to return the pipe and furiously bat away the clouds of smoke. ¡°Sir Six, my master Harriet has finished your first commission and she has sent me to bring it to you!¡± The boy bowed and held out a long cloth wrapped package. SIx could see the kid quivering but grabbed the bundle and flicked the kid a copper. ¡°Thanks.¡± The kid ran off and Six unwrapped the package to reveal a beautiful bow. Blood red in colour the wood of the bow appeared deeper than possible through the translucent crimson as he inspected it. - Blood Bow - Rank: Enhanced Rarity: Unusual Weight - 4 KG Durability 900/900 Traits: User can spend 0.15% of maximum health to increase speed of launched projectile by 1% up to a maximum of 500% Nice. He would have to enchant this carefully. But not yet, he had to grind and hit level ten. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. He stowed the bow away and quickly grabbed some food before heading back to Ravna¡¯s She had finished the current stage of her project and she sat drinking tea in her smithy, staring at the forge. Six got straight to the point, there was no time for flirtations. He showed her the ingots he¡¯d retrieved from the facility. Her eyes bugged and she smiled like he¡¯d never seen before. She picked up a stillver ingot and turned it over, examining it with oohs and aahs. She held the glassteel with a trepidatious glance. ¡°Do you think you could make me full plate out of this?¡± he asked. ¡°Yes. There¡¯s enough immortal steel here to create an entire set for you. Alternatively I could use multiple combinations of the higher quality materials to create a mismatched material set. ¡°What would you suggest?¡± ¡°I am not a combat classer but I would tell you to commission the immortal steel full plate and I¡¯ll use a tad of the stillver as a reagent in my forging. I think it''s just what I need to progress and it will get me sharp enough to work on the weapons that you should create with the rest of those materials.¡± Six nodded. ¡°Alright immortal steel full plate it is, in the meantime. Do you happen to have a spear?¡± She nodded and passed him one she had resting in the back. ¡°This counts as one job.¡± He nodded. ¡°So that''s twenty left after the full plate? It''s going faster than I expected.¡± She nodded. ¡°You¡¯ve been busy.¡± ¡°Too much to get done.¡± Six made a face. ¡°I just want to sit around and smoke weed to be honest.¡± ¡°I can tell,¡± she said, wrinkling her nose. ¡°You smell smoky.¡± Six shrugged. ¡°Is it a problem?¡± She shook her head, no. Six yawned. ¡°When should I expect the set to be ready?¡± ¡°A week and a half? Maybe two? I have a project for Alison I have to finish first.¡± ¡°Oh, that sword?¡± ¡°Yea, she brought me a bunch of steel and an enhanced branch of a blood tree. Wanted a sword made out of it.¡± Six grimaced. ¡°Did she now?¡± ¡°...Yes? She''s been having trouble with that Amog fellow and she wanted something that could tilt the scale.¡° He breathed a sigh and relaxed. ¡°When will you be done? Enchantments take best right after the finishing stage.¡± She raised her eyebrow at him with a grin on her face. ¡°Perhaps you should discuss it with her before you play around with your magic. Are you sure you want to help?¡± ¡°Perhaps she should discuss it with me before she commandeers my materials.¡± ¡°Your materials?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know anyone else who has killed a blood tree recently.¡± Ravna looked at him, impressed, then she shrugged. ¡°I can¡¯t exactly give the branch back at this stage.¡± Six waved a dismissive gesture at that. ¡°That''s ok. It''s not a big deal in the grand scheme of things. But I do think I have a right to tinker on that sword, aaaaand it will definitely increase its power and help tilt that scale.¡± Ravna was starting to come around, Six could see it in her expression. ¡°Come on, it¡¯ll be a nice surprise.¡± ¡°If you really want to help you should go fight with her.¡± Six¡¯s good mood left him. ¡°I have no wish to fight for others.¡± ¡°Yet you allow her to fight for you?¡± ¡°How is she fighting for me?¡± Ravna looked at him as if he was an idiot. ¡°Amog is styling himself as a warlord. Do you think he would let you come and go as Alison does? Do you think he would take one branch instead of everything you held? It is common knowledge what direction you live in and there are those of us who know exactly where you call home. Do you wish for Charles to be tortured until he led Amog to the only competent enchanter in over a week of travel?¡± ¡°Why is it common knowledge what direction I live in?¡± ¡°You think people wouldn¡¯t talk about the ley master blood mage hermit who killed a koatl shaman, grew a smithy, and brought a magical blood log reagent to help the entire town?¡± ¡°Hmmm. That makes sense, I suppose. But I¡¯m busy right now, maybe after my current goal. Now should I show up to enchant the sword or not?¡± She narrowed her eyes at him in frustration. ¡±Tomorrow night, I should be finishing the blade. Come then.¡± ¡°Aight, thank you.¡± He stored the rest of the ingots back up and got ready to continue on with his day taking a deep breath and sighing. ¡°Big sigh,¡± she said, ¡°You ok?¡± Six nodded, ¡°just tired. Didn¡¯t get any sleep last night.¡± ¡°Lucky girl.¡± ¡°Not like that,¡± Six fumbled but he still smiled at the comment. He went to leave but she held him back to take his measurements ¡°one more time,¡± then he went back to his cave to finish the day off. He was tired but not enough to impede his skill. It was time to enchant some things. Yet, when he closed his door, he decided that enchanting in that state would be foolish and promptly curled up to sleep Broka 23rd 10,391 Waking in the morning he performed his routine, stretch, train, and meditation through visualization. Then he began to create the logical beginnings of his undead loadout. He first wished to start with a new, more reliable weapon. He had the new Vital Surge and could always imbue that spell if he needed. He had three technique choices available to him and those would significantly change how he would create his weapon but overall, the life spear he intended to create would be temporary. Still this was a good opportunity to test his new skills. But first, he selected the awarded technique prompt and was presented with some options. For reaching Apprentice rank in Enchantment you have been awarded a technique selection: Rune of Illumination Rune of Resilience Rune of Elevation Rune of the Beetle That was it. No descriptions beyond the names. He had a light spell so illumination was off the table, even though it may have some sort of divination effect. Elevation sounded like a movement rune but too constricted to, well, elevation. Who knows what the beetle rune did, probably something to do with beetles though. So Six picked the Rune of Resilience. Rune of Resilience: Physical and Mental Endurance: This rune enhances physical and mental resilience, granting individuals or objects the ability to withstand physical strain, fatigue, or mental stress. It bolsters their stamina, allowing them to persevere in demanding situations. He was immediately hit with another series of prompts. Minor Rune of Resilience upgrades to Moderate Rune of Perpetual Resilience: Protection against External Forces: Healing and Recovery: When incorporated into enchantments, the Rune of Resilience aids in healing and recovery processes. It accelerates the natural healing abilities of individuals, hastens the mending of wounds, or rejuvenates physical and mental energies. Moderate Rune of Perpetual Resilience upgrades to Major Rune of Perpetual Resilient Protection: The Rune of Resilience provides a defensive barrier against external threats, such as physical attacks, harmful energies, or curses. It strengthens the natural defenses of individuals or objects, making them more resistant to harm. Major Rune of Perpetual Resilient Protection upgrades to Magnum Rune of Four Fold Resilience: Psychic and Emotional Resilience: In more advanced applications, the Rune of Resilience can enhance psychic and emotional resilience. It helps individuals endure psychic attacks, resist mental manipulation, or remain emotionally stable in challenging situations. Each evolution felt like his brain was rolling but it quickly passed. His skill in Enchantment informed him that he lacked the many thousands of mana it would require to even inscribe the major rune much less the magnum. Still, it was something to work towards. For reaching Journeyman rank in Enchantment you have been awarded a technique selection: Rune of Wisdom Rune of Illusion Rune of Nexus Rune of Resonance Illusions were too passive and while they could incapacitate, Six was looking for more tangible effects. The Rune of Wisdom most likely increased aspects of a target''s wisdom stat but Six passed over it for the same reasoning as Titan¡¯s Might. It was now a matter between Nexus and Resonance. Nexus implied a single point and linkages, a web of connections with a center. While Resonance implied a synchronization, a uniformity. Six selected the Rune of Nexus and was once again hit with a series of upgrade prompts. Rune of Nexus: Energy Convergence: This rune serves as a focal point for the convergence of energies from various sources. It gathers and concentrates energies, creating a potent and concentrated force at the nexus point. Minor Rune of Nexus upgrades to Moderate Rune of Amplifying Nexus: Power Amplification: The Rune of Nexus amplifies the power and magnitude of the energies converging at its point. It magnifies the effects and strengths of spells, rituals, or enchantments executed within its vicinity. Moderate Rune of Amplifying Nexus upgrades to Major Rune of Perfect Nexus: Ritual Facilitation: When incorporated into rituals, the Rune of Nexus aids in the gathering and channeling of energies. It facilitates the smooth flow and integration of different energies, allowing for the successful execution of complex or demanding rituals. Major Rune of Perfect Nexus upgrades to Magnum Rune of the Ever Folding Nexus: Dimensional Connections: In advanced applications, the Rune of Nexus can serve as a bridge or gateway between dimensions or realms. It enables the traversal or communication between different planes of existence, allowing for interdimensional travel or interaction. Nice. Last one. For reaching Master rank in Enchantment you have been awarded a technique selection: Rune of Transformation Rune of Amplification Rune of Warding Rune of Control He knew he would pick Control as soon as he saw it but considered the others briefly. Transformation might be able to produce movement but he figured it would be more likely to alter to shape and other properties rather than energy states. Amplification might stack with his Rune of the Ever Folding Nexus but he doubted that was worth it. Warding might stack with his Rune of Four Fold Resilience but again, it didn¡¯t seem worth it. He picked Control. Rune of Control: Object Manipulation: The Rune of Control can be used to manipulate and control objects or elements. It allows the user to manipulate objects remotely, influencing their behavior or directing their actions. This can be employed to activate functions, control the movement of weapons, or even manipulate the environment to gain an advantage. Minor Rune of Control upgrades to Moderate Rune of Dominate Control: Domination of Magical Energies: When inscribed on magical items or artifacts, the Rune of Control grants the ability to control and manipulate magical energies. It can potentially allow the user to redirect, absorb, or amplify magical forces according to their will, enhancing their spellcasting abilities or altering the effects of magical phenomena. Moderate Rune of Dominate Control upgrades to Major Rune of Commanding Dominate Control: Command and Influence: The Rune of Control can enable the user to command or control certain creatures. It grants the ability to establish a mental link or dominance over specific types of beings, such as animals, spirits, or summoned entities. This allows the user to issue commands or direct their actions to a certain extent. In more subtle applications, the Rune of Control can enhance persuasive abilities. It grants the user charisma and persuasive power, making it easier to sway the opinions, beliefs, or decisions of others through speech or presence. Major Rune of Commanding Dominate Control upgrades to Magnum Rune of Unquestioned Control: Mind Control: The primary effect of the Rune of Control is the ability to manipulate the minds of others. It enables the user to exert influence over the thoughts, emotions, or actions of individuals, compelling them to obey commands or altering their behavior to a certain extent. This can range from subtle suggestions to complete mental domination, depending on the strength of the enchantment and the willpower of the target. Holy shit all of this was a lot of information. All of these runes were stronger than he was expecting, especially once the master technique evolutions were brought into consideration. Even if he was thousands of mana away from using the higher ranked runic evolutions. Now, to actually fucking enchant. His rune of Four Fold Resilience offered healing properties but in the form of increased regen, that was an entirely internal effect and wasn¡¯t something he could use to combat the spectres, so he began on a different form of enchanting. He would imbue the minor cycle spell Vital Surge into the spear. 1.34 Tooling Up Broka 23rd 10,391 Imbuing Vital Surge required the spell be reconstructed in an external arcane matrix that would then be embedded and anchored within the intended enchantment target. Translating the spell into the arcane matrix at Master rank was incredibly easy, the knowledge of Kytaligan showed him the simplest transcription process and he felt as though he could jump immediately into without exploring the process but he deliberately slowed himself down. He performed a last minute risk assessment, double checking the matrices forms and functions, everything looked good. Six held the spear before him and prepared it for the enchantment. This would only incorporate the Rune of Control. One could always activate it by infusing it with a drop of mana but the rune would be more effortless and intuitive, activating with just a thought, not to mention it wouldn¡¯t require mana to activate. But, each rune in the array would add to the final mana cost. He carved that rune into the shaft of the spear with the mana from his finger but was careful to not actually infuse the object, only carving away. Once again it was incredibly natural to perform the craft. He knew there were many imperfections but far fewer than he had once been making, improvement would come with practice, not to mention he lacked the proper tools. Still, the rune was acceptable and would function reliably. It was time so Six withdrew several mundane mana cores. He held up a finger and began to extrude mana, painting the form of the arcane matrix with one continuous stroke of his digit. While being created the matrix had been inert, but when the stroke connected with itself the ritual became alive. Mana moved along the lines of power and it almost breathed in time with Six. That had cost him 122 mana, leaving him with a headache and ten mana remaining. Six dragged the construct toward the spear, compressing it along the way, and then slowly went to push the matrix inside the weapon. As it began to sink within Six received a prompt. You are attempting to enchant a Common Mundane Iron Spear with a Vital Surge. This will require 167 mana and two Mundane Common Mana Core to complete. No suitable reagent detected. Would you like to begin this enchantment now? Yes/No? He could have used a blood branch but he wanted a very clear life effect so he kept it simple. Now, at nine mana remaining this would have been impossible with the paltry mana pool that Six carried but he could always draw from his health. At skill level 6 Blood Casting was returning 1.24 mana for every 2 health spent so If he spent 500 of his 517 health pool he could gain approximately 310 mana. This basically gave him an effective mana pool of 442, not that he would spend his entire health pool in combat but it definitely opened up options in terms of his crafting. An option he drew upon now, burning his own blood to create the arcane power needed for the next stage. Six had to have his mana flowing constantly to manipulate the matrix. The imbuement process was painstakingly slow as he had to give the material time to accommodate the new flow and alignments of mana within. Too fast and the item could break. Six carefully sunk it within and then sank the anchor points with mana. Little knots of mana that helped set it within the item and give it stability. It was almost done. He felt the resonance, as he adjusted the final power level. Increasing the power of the matrix until he felt the spear could take no more. Two of the mana cores he held burned away and he felt triumph. Enchantment Successful. You have successfully enchanted a Common Mundane Iron Spear with a Minor Vital Surge, achieving an efficiency rating of 38% creating a, - Iron Spear of Vital Surge - Rank: Enhanced Rarity: Unusual Weight - 8 KG Durability 400/400 Traits: Costs five charges to activate. Upon activation this spear infuses a surge of positive energy into the target in contact with this spear. Promoting accelerated healing and restoring vitality. Heals for 45+15 HP over 1 minute. Charges 10/10. Cooldown 8s The numbers on the effect differed from the spell, Six attributed the increases to his enchantment effectiveness being boosted to 58%. The cooldown was pushed a bit lower from He half expected a skill increase as this was the most complicated thing he had created thus far but there was nothing. He knew that his new found knowledge went far beyond this transient tool that he had created so he figured his enchantment skill wouldn¡¯t be rising for a while. This would hopefully counter the spectres and allow him a more reliable means of engagement. But he wasn¡¯t done. After a rest he pulled out a few mundane cores and began to fill them with life attuned mana. One by one he slowly changed the makeup of the well of power within the cores, shaping the form and function of the golems according to the knowledge of his skill. Slowly aligning the internal makeup into a thaumaturgical cerebral circuit board. It was during this stage that he could weave the function for experience gain into the cores but these were temporary constructs that were purpose built for the task at hand. He did not want to share experience with them, so he kept these cores static in their configuration. - Mundane Configured Life Core - Rank: Mundane Rarity: Unusual Defense - 100 Weight - 0.05 KG Durability 900/900 Traits: Crystalized Life Mana, Material, Reagent, Catalyst. He once again recovered and once again began to enchant. He pressed more life mana into the core and was presented with a prompt. You are attempting to enchant a Mundane Configured Life Core into a Minor Life Golem. This will require 77 mana and one Mundane Common Mana Core to complete and will take materials from the most suitable nearby source. No suitable reagent detected. Would you like to begin this enchantment now? Yes/No? The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. His golem enchanter evolution provided a reduction of 23% on all golem related enchantment mana costs leading to the lower than expected cost. Six selected Yes and immediately funneled his life mana into the configured core. It rose from his palm and levitated in the air as golden mist condensed and was drawn in towards the core. This enchantment was harder to feed, there was no stable strata to interact with, instead the material was being drawn from Six himself, his own life force feeding the hungry little cloud. A small face coalesced inside the golden nimbus and he felt the resonance rise to completion. Enchantment Successful. You have successfully enchanted a Mundane Configured Life Core, achieving an efficiency rating of 36% creating a Minor Life Golem. - Life Golem - Level: 3 Rank: Mundane Rarity: Unusual Weight - 8 KG Durability 31/31 Traits: Levitation, Healing Aura: Passive effect. Friendly creatures within the 10 meter aura heal 7.5HP over one minute. This was exactly what he wanted. He looked at the little creature''s eyes and felt a mental connection establish itself. He felt the thing in the back of his mind, simple, obedient. There was a feeling underneath that simplicity, something wild and uncontrolled, free and zestful. A simple mental command was enough to get the golden wisp to float about his cave. He called it to himself and made it orbit him. He told it to fly into a bag he held open and it entered willingly, this was exactly what he wanted. Now that he was Master rank in enchanting his subordinate slots increased by one and he was capable of confidently controlling four of these life constructs. So he spent the next couple of hours creating three more golden wisps of life. The four golden nimbuses orbited him, smoothly avoiding each other and bathing him in a cumulative 30 HP per minute. Not much really, but the endlessly consistent nature of it was quite powerful. He hoped it would work against the spectres. There was a part of himself that wanted to delve into the leyboratory immediately but instead he exited his cave to a noonday sun shining over his garden. He had some time before he was to be at Ravna¡¯s for the sword enchantment. He tended to his garden and experimented with Nimbus Drizzle. The spell created a small localized rain cloud that released a refreshing drizzle. It granted a small plant growth and relaxation buff. The area was already markedly more lush from his Plant Growth spell and he wondered about how the two could Then he began checking his traps on his way to the Empress bush. He picked enough of those purple berries to make a pie in his estimation and checked the rest of his traps before heading to the village. On his way he activated Zephyr¡¯s Embrace and felt the air around him come alive, a gust whipping about in a refreshing manner. A slight ease of movement came over him and he began to cover a large amount of ground with a loping skip. His ring of jumping and enhanced strength propelling him and his armor sometimes ten meters in a single bound. His massive stamina regen made this pace just slightly uncomfortable. Skill increase: Elemental Magic- Initiate - 4 It didn¡¯t take long for Six to reach Mountain¡¯s End and once there he went straight to find Min near his oven. He had taken on two apprentices who were dutifully kneading out some dough nearby. ¡°Yo Min! I got some berries. You got time to make a rush order pie or two?¡± Min looked at Six with a tad of irritation. ¡°No. Dinner is in an hour or so and I still don¡¯t have a proper bakery. Also, what are those golden things orbiting you?¡± Six grimaced at that. ¡°True but it''s a rare ingredient. Might help you increase your skill level. I will build the bakery next, but I¡¯m in the middle of something right now.¡± He pointed at a wisp. ¡°Life golem. Min slowly nodded at his answer. ¡°Well, lemme see what you have, so you don¡¯t poison yourself at least.¡± Six pulled out the horde of blueberries and the small pile of empress berries onto a nearby table. Min examined the purple berries and nodded. ¡°I want 3 gold.¡± ¡°Done.¡± Six held his hand out. ¡°You''re not gonna haggle?¡± Six shook his head, no. ¡°It''s a rush order. Can you get it done by the end of the night?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± ¡°And it has to be you, not your apprentice. I want the quality and rarity to remain as high as possible.¡± Min nodded and Six paid immediately. They shot the shit with Jebbedo for a bit before Six headed to Ravna¡¯s. It was almost night. He entered her smithy to find her building a great fire in the forge. She nodded at him, her half aelf ears twitched as she stared at the orbiting wisps. ¡°Perfect timing. She needs this weapon.¡± Six nodded and they got to work. SIx had been thinking about his options and he came to the conclusion that he lacked the mana to make it truly great. Moderate ranked runes would increase the overall cost to at least one thousand mana. Instead he would have to increase its capabilities the best he could. Provide something that could turn the tide, tilt the scale. Using a Nexus rune and natural enchanting he could create a precise concentrated blast of elemental energy, a control rune would allow for the deliberate activation of the effect. It was simple and lacked the more game changing aspects of his runes but it would be the best he could do. From his interrogation much of it had revolved around Amog¡¯s capabilities. Sounded like he was one strong durable dude. Resistant to physical damage and incredibly physically gifted. So, Six decided to integrate fire mana and its innate destructive qualities into the design. Ravna did one last round of precise hot shaping and while the metal was still glowing, Six inscribed the runes. He did not let it cool, he continued with the enchantment, gathering fire mana and pushing it into the weapon. You are attempting to enchant a Bloodsteel Greatsword with a Fire Rune Array. This will require 321 mana and four Mundane Common Mana Core to complete. No suitable reagent detected. Would you like to begin this enchantment now? Yes/No? Six pulled out another blood branch and selected it as a reagent before continuing in the process. It was simple but effective enchantment, but Six treated it with the utmost focus. This was his craft and he tried to incorporate all of his experience and knowledge into suffusing the sword as completely as he could, his regular mana bottomed out and he switched to provided bloodcasted mana. The blood branch melted into blood light and flowed into the red metal of the blood steel, infusing it further. He wove and tied the regenerative mana patterns that Sovereign Restoration required creating an item that would exist for perpetuity. Then the final adjustment of mana, slowly creeping along carefully, adding mana drop by drop. Enchantment Successful. You have successfully enchanted a Bloodsteel Greatsword with a Fire Rune Array with an efficiency rating of 42% creating a, - Bloodsteel Greatsword of Fire Strike - Rank: Enhanced Rarity: Unusual Weight - 8 KG Durability 750/750 Traits: Fire Strike: When user lands a blow with this weapon it can be activated to create a blast of fire that does +26 Fire damage upon activation , 20/20 charges, six charges or 20% of users maximum health expended when effect activated. If activated with health damage effect is doubled. 1 charge regained per hour. Blood Seeking: 21% increase to chance to inflict bleeding or upgrade an existing bleeding condition. With that done he nodded at Ravna and she heated it up to temp and then quenched it. She sharpened the final product and finished the pommel. She held it up before her and they both marveled at the creation. She smiled at him. ¡°I got a level in Smithing from that.¡± ¡°Nice. That looks like it could do the job.¡± They both marveled at the sword before Six held his hand up for a high five which Ravna immediately clapped. He smiled ¡°Oh you guys have high fives here?¡± ¡°No? I just did what came to mind first.¡± ¡°The first thing that came to mind was to slap my hand?¡± ¡°It''s a whole thing for your people apparently so what? Seems kinda obvious, and was it wrong?¡± ¡°Well, no. Just surprising at all.¡± ¡°Surprising? You live that far away.¡± Six nodded. ¡°Lived, I don¡¯t really live there anymore.¡± ¡°Yea you¡¯re the weird guy who lives alone in the woods.¡± ¡°Yup, that¡¯s me.¡± ¡°You could always come live in the village.¡± ¡°You could always come live in my cave.¡± She made a flat face of unamused displeasure. ¡°No? Ah, maybe later.¡± He smiled. ¡°Anyways I gotta go! Busy busy. Many things to do tomorrow.¡± ¡°Hmm? Like what?¡± Six puffed out his chest and spoke with exaggerated nonchalance. ¡°Just clearing out an ancient and dangerous mountain tunnel complex-like place.¡± Alarm crossed her face. ¡°Alone?¡± He pointed at the racoon sleeping around his shoulders. ¡°I got Nibbler and besides,¡± he then pointed at the golden wisps, ¡°I¡¯m prepared.¡± There''s that unamused face again. ¡°You take someone who could get help,¡± Ravna insisted. Six shook his head. ¡°Way too dangerous.¡± She gave him a look. ¡°You think we''re at that stage?¡± Six asked with a grin. ¡°We won¡¯t get there if you die like a fool.¡± He held up his hands in surrender. ¡°Aight, fair. I¡¯ll talk to someone.¡± 1.35 The Unliving Wing Broka 24th 10,391 Morning came and Six overlooked his routine to enchant instead. The creations were simple but purpose built for the known task at hand, killing spectres. He had yet to explore the rest of the leyboratory but would bet on there being more undead to find. He made a little life cape for Nibbler, he would have to talk to Ravna about getting barding made for the raccoon. Six then waited amongst his garden, tending his various vegetables, and a few sizeable smokeweed bushes. He waited for Charles who arrived early in the morning as discussed the night previous. The young muldstanii looked good, his roughed up fine clothes now repaired and sporting several patches. A bow on his back and a sword at his hip. Six felt conflicted asking Charles to join him fighting the creatures of the leyboratory as he was just a teenager but Zarmul was different and fighting was a part of life. Charles had clearly been raised and trained to fight, and even if he was young, he was someone that Six knew he could trust and rely on. ¡°Morning Six. So, we have some fighting to do?¡± Charles asked ¡°We do indeed but first, here I¡¯ve created a few things for you,¡± Six said, passing over a dark blood red bow and a quiver full of arrows. He explained what they were- - Life Arrow - Rank: Mundane Rarity: Unusual Weight - 0.1 KG Durability 200/200 Traits: Upon impact releases stored life energies into struck target, adds +5 healing. Charge 1/1. There was also an unattuned life golem and a sword that was very similar to the spear of vital surge but geared towards Charles. Six explained their function as he handed each piece over and Charles¡¯ face became more and more surprised and uncomfortable. ¡°If you don¡¯t want these, that¡¯s ok dude.¡± Holding the treasures in his hands the kid was speechless. ¡°Six¡­ I can¡¯t accept this. ¡°Sure yah can, at the very least you can use it for this raid. At the most I can sell it to you at cost. Meet in the middle and you can owe me cool? I¡¯m just trying to get this task done and you¡¯re willing to help.¡± ¡°But something like this is worth thousands of gold. Each of these arrows probably cost around fifteen gold themselves! How could I ever even pay you back?¡± ¡°You could come work for me I guess. I¡¯m about to do some work for the village pretty soon and I could use some extra hands.¡± Charles looked mystified, as if Six was an idiot. ¡°Construction wages, while good, would never pay for this in a timely manner. And sorry but with how things are going with Amog I may be needed at the village more often. Working directly for you may be an issue.¡± ¡°Well, I don¡¯t need the money right now. Now, this is my job and the observed hazards would indicate that this equipment is necessary for personal protection. Now I¡¯m going in there with or without you but you are not coming in without the proper personal protective equipment? Do you understand? I will provide all of this for your use and you can return it after if you wish, Quartermaster style.¡± Charles looked a bit more comfortable with this arrangement and took the offered items then he bonded to the already orbiting life golem. Six then pulled a pie out of his spatial and cut a slice with his belt dagger. ¡°Whoops, it''s blueberry. Ah well,¡± he took a bite and held the pie out towards Charles. ¡°You want a slice?¡± ¡°No, I''m fine, thank you. I had breakfast before I came.¡± ¡°Good lad, you¡¯re still growing. But your still you¡¯re gonna have to have a slice of the other pie.¡± Six scarfed the first slice down in a few quick bites, then he inhaled another slice of blueberry pie. ¡°Fuck, thats good pie.¡± Six switched it out for an unblemished pie, a full golden brown crust dotted with coarse sugar. Delicious smelling purple filling oozed out of the five venting cuts. He inspected it. - Empress¡¯ Appreciation Pie- Quality: Enhanced Rarity: Rare Weight - 0.9KG Durability 2/2 Traits: Can be eaten to provide a minor boost to experience point income. 25% more gained experience points for the next 24 hours. Material, Reagent. He wasn¡¯t sure if the increase of ten percent to the boost was worth it. The pie had used a lot of berries to produce and it may just be more effective on a longer timescale to ration the berries to one a day. He wasn¡¯t in a rush. Or was he? Would there not be someone or something always stronger? Would not reaching the peak as fast as he could be the tactic that would lead to a position of safety? Or would rushing cripple his foundations or something like that? His mind leapt to the evolution experience deficit. Stumbling and rushing could definitely ruin your progression. He needed to be a bit more intentional. Anyways, the pie was here and he wasn¡¯t about to throw it out. He handed a slice to Charles. Charles took it with a grumbling, ¡°but I¡¯m not hungry.¡± Yet dutifully chowed down and when the buff revealed itself he looked at Six in surprise. ¡°What? How¡¯d you?¡± Six nodded. ¡°That''s good pie.¡± Six gave Nibbler some pie too and the three of them left his cave and traveled up to the mountain alcove, getting into a few fights along the way. Giant goats, goblins, cats, bears, and bristle hounds. All fell to the trio. Six appreciated the extra damage that Charles provided even at the expense of raw experience gain. The shorter fights made the trades much safer, taxing his health far less than usual. It was good to fight with Charles again. They quickly brushed off any rust and hammered out any issues, soon working together seamlessly again. When they arrived Six took a moment to blast the Empress bush with Plant Growth. Nothing happened, no response whatsoever beyond a reduction in his mana pool. So perhaps he wasn¡¯t capable of affecting magic plants. But the blood tree had been sure it would have worked on it so perhaps there was something Six was missing. They made their way into the initial cave. Six paused before the door and took a relaxing breath. He nodded to himself before he unsealed the leyboratory entrance and once again the door melted away to reveal the dimly lit corridor. Charles looked at Six in disbelief. Six smiled. ¡°Right?¡± They made their way inside, golden life wisps orbiting all of them. This time at the section hub Six went the way of ¡°Living¡± and it led into a large open atrium. What looked like apartment doors and catwalks lined the walls of the three story chamber. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. They slowly edged in and made their way to the first apartment, opening the door to reveal a simple domicile, human bones littered the floor in a few small piles. Most of the textiles had crumbled to unrecognizable debris but the frames of stone and metal were still there. Charles looked at much of it mystified but Six could see this for the modern studio apartment it was, more like a hotel room. ¡°Who do you think they were?¡± Charles asked in wonder. ¡°K¡¯gan researchers.¡± That got Six a look of derisive skepticism. Six chuckled ¡°Yo bro, just telling you what my skills are saying.¡± Charles raised an eyebrow, considering. ¡°You¡¯re not joking?¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m not.¡± At that Charles looked at his surroundings with a new found fear. ¡°Come on dude it¡¯s not that bad.¡± ¡°The K¡¯gan¡¯s destroyed themselves. Extreme caution is required. I understand why this place is filled with spectres now.¡± ¡°I guess¡­ that makes sense.¡± Six went to dig through the bones but Charles hissed. ¡°I just said be careful. Do not disturb the long dead.¡± Six waved him away. ¡°Noted, but the whole reason we are here is to fight the undead. We are literally here for a fight.¡± He dug through the bones and found some more of those gold and silver tabs. Nice. He also found his first crop of spectres. Nice. They rose from the floor and came from the walls but all they entered into was the glowing life auras of the wisps. The edges of their incorporeal forms burned away under the healing energies and the spectre¡¯s pain was immediately clear, a strange trait in bodies that were unused to any feeling at all. Six lunged forward with his spear and triggered its effect on touch with the floating shadow. The golden energies of vital surge crackled forward like a lightning bolt and painted the inside of the shadow with a vibrant light. Yet it held together for an instant before the grinding auras of his life golems crushed the remaining bits of its health and the spectre fractured before fading away to nothing. Six slid across the room to the exit. ¡°We must get to more open terrain. Come.¡± He lashed out while casting Vital Surge himself, staggering the cooldowns between himself and the spear. The golden energies arced through the new spectre, growing deeper with each thrum of the heal over time spell. He took a moment to toss some rootbust and reachleaf into his mouth for the minor regens they offered. Nibbler bounced along, pulling her cape and golem through spectres she passed. Charles had his sword out and was having a harder time with only one life golem. Its sustained effect was far weaker when not stacked. He ran towards the door and stood next to Six as they made their way out into the atrium. With five stacked life golems the three of them were essentially unkillable as any small icy burns the spectres were able to inflict were healed at the same time the spectres took continuous damage that they were vulnerable to. It did not deter them from flying in screaming rage and immolating within the golden mist in a futile struggle to kill the living who kited them about. It was kinda sad. But there was a large movement from the floor and something rose It was indeed a spectre but a titan amongst its smaller brethren. Its form seemed like an unending cloak of night, stitched together from disparate spectres, yet even within this amalgamation the trace of humanity was still there. It released a thunderous hiss that shook the room¡¯s dust loose and the attack of the spectres ceased. They flew away to hover next to this icon of theirs. Six attempted to Analyze it and failed. He tried again, it failed. He tried again, it failed. He looked to Charles and saw the boy stuck still, gripping his sword far too tight. Six reached out and shook Charles'' arm giving the boy a reassuring smile. ¡°We got this. Get yer bow out.¡± Six recharged his spear with a mundane core and then sent one of his wisps to orbit an injured Nibbler before casting Zephyr¡¯s Embrace and Vital Surge on himself. Immediately a breeze picked up next to him as his body felt light and vibrant, powerful and strong. He stood there meditating while he let the cooldown of his Vital Surge get down to a few seconds and then sprinted forward into the growing mob of spectres, his armor clanking with the pounding of his feet. ¡°Time to die again, you dementor looking fucks.¡± Six went straight for the big one. He waded into the incorporeal bodies of the spectres and struck at the titan. It felt like swimming through an icy lake. His lungs seized and his health began to plummet despite all the health regen he had stacked. But he focused on his objective and on observing the pain itself. He looked at it from inside his mind and created a sort of separation from the sensation. Skill Increase: Mindfulness - Initiate - 4 Six ignored the incoming prompts as he struck twice. Once with his spear and once again with his open palm, drawing on his health slightly to complete the spell. Laying both strikes of golden lightning into the giant spectre and then dancing away with long loping strides. His mind pounded from the mana depletion but his life stabilized as he broke free from the swirling mass of ghosts and kited about the room while Charles laid life arrow after life arrow into the giant spectral form. Blasts of golden energies detonating as arrow after arrow penetrated through the spectre blowing away spheres of misty shadow. Things became harder as the pursuing dark giant gestured with its arms and controlled the flow of flying ghosts, creating two coordinated streams of wailing spectres and trying to corral Six between the death energies. Six could not wade amongst the dead forever. He was mobile but even with his constant kiting he was still taking too much damage. Vital Surge was almost off cooldown but it only worked on a single target at a time. Six could see the golden lightning proliferating throughout the massive shadow but the spectre still moved with violent intent. No Vital Surge wouldn¡¯t protect him from the last of the flood. Instead he did the only thing he could think of. He burned half of his remaining blood sending him down to a meager 140 HP and gathered a fair jag of mana before transforming it into life energies. Then in a way similar to how he used his hand to emit mana during enchantment he ejected the accumulated life energies from his entire body all at once. Spell Discovered: Mana Wave He ignored the prompts as a sphere of golden mana extended from him, vapourizing the spectres that lay within his golems auras and disorientating the rest. It refunded a small portion of the life he used to cast it and created much needed space that gave him time to break off charging back towards the big guy and readying his Vital Surges again. Charles was laying down fire and taking chunks out of the main spectre but it seemed to be able to replenish its form endlessly. It ceased chasing SIx and instead floated toward the boy, screaming it''s senseless rage to the world. Charles sent arrow after arrow but had only a few remaining and still the giant shadow loomed ever closer. The boy would not survive being immersed in he cold death energies, Six needed to pull that things attention immediately. Six recalled all four of his life golems before him and sent them flying forward in a rotating dive that had them plunge inside the massive spectre. Their combined aura burning a swirling hole in the center of the thing. It moaned, and began to sink into the floor from whence it came. The titan shade was fleeing. Anger rose within Six as he roared, ¡°No you fucking don¡¯t.¡± His charge closed the distance and he leapt into the air, augmented by his enhanced strength and the ring of jumping, he nearly sailed nine feet into the air easily striking high and delivering a one two combo of spear and palm strike. The hits were imbued with Vital Surge and the golden energies reached down from above, spider webbing through the shadowy form of the huge spectre. The golden threads reached for one another, pulsing with life until they connected and the spectre halted its descent for just a moment as the attacks became faultlines. A screaming hiss escaped as the shadow creature split into two. Black shadows roiled out from the exposed halfs, the darkness almost immediately filling the chamber and obscuring vision. But as fast as it came, it all dissolved into nothing. Six landed and sprinted towards Charles bringing his life golems along and stacking all five on top of each other. They stood together as the last of the spectres tested themselves against the auras emitted by the life golems. They burnt away in the wash of healing. Nibbler darted out and struck with her cape, activating the life energies within and dissipating a damaged spectre. Spear and sword hunted with confidence. The true danger had been dealt with and the clean up was to be executed with typical site standards, safety first and then efficiency. Both of those led to that confidence. The swagger was from a battle well won. The spectres had offered no mana cores nor materials but they were rich with experience, which is exactly what Six wanted. You have killed 37 level X Minor Spectre. Experience gained 4896+(1224). You have killed level 19 Expansive Spectre. Experience gained 1251+(313). That battle had brought him close to level ten, sitting at 44924 experience he only needed an additional 576 experience points to level up. ¡°I leveled up twice,¡± whispered Charles. ¡°Good shit.¡± Six looked at Nibbler who gazed back, she licked her face. She probably leveled too. He analyzed her- Nibbler Raccoon Level 5 Nice. Level five was stronger than most villagers, she didn''t seem that strong but the increasing numbers gave Six some confidence in her abilities. ¡°How long you need to heal up Charles? Come back in a few days?¡± Charles shook his head, no. ¡°Not long, maybe a half hour or so. Didn¡¯t take too much damage.¡± ¡°Oh? That sounds like your regen took a big bump. Ley Champion status?¡± Charles nodded. ¡°Alison was kind enough to offer. She saw my skill and thought I would make good use of it.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t mistake kindness for pragmatism, she has you now.¡± ¡°I had to swear to fight to protect the town, yes. But, It''s easy to trust a clear transaction.¡± Six snorted. It made sense but he hated it. You had to keep people honest. Charles lifted his bloodbow. ¡°Freely given gifts are harder so.¡± ¡°Hey man I feel ya. Things that seem too good to be true often are not. You don¡¯t want free shit? That''s fine. I¡¯ll take it back, but after we¡¯re done.¡± Now, they needed to find a few more spectres to grind through but before that happened this place needed a good looting. They went through each apartment one by one, clearing each and ensuring no more threats were present. They looted as they went. Six found mostly the tabs of currency, totalling 313 gold tabs and 567 silver tabs. But there were a bevy of magical items that had stood the test of time. Simple quality of life devices, a mana powered lamp, a rock that emitted heat when activated, a bladed standing fan. It was somewhat jarring to see the standing fan in this magical underground bunker but Six supposed it wasn¡¯t the weirdest thing he¡¯d see yet. He left most of it but grabbed one of each for study. There were also a few more directly useful magical items. - Bangles of Minor Dexterity - Rank: Enhanced Rarity: Unusual Weight - 0.6 KG Durability 421/450 Traits: Dexterity +5. Requires attunement. - Ring of Triple Strike - Rank: Enhanced Rarity: Rare Weight - 7 G Durability 350/350 Traits: Upon landing a strike the user may activate this ring at the cost of 8 charges to perform the Triple Strike maneuver, immediately striking twice again within a greatly reduced frame of performance. 18/18 Charges. Requires attunement. - Ring of Stone Skin - Rank: Enhanced Rarity: Rare Weight - 8 G Durability 550/550 Traits: Users can activate this ring at the cost of 10 charges to cast the Stone Skin Spell. Increasing the user¡¯s natural defense by 50 for ten minutes or until 700 damage has been mitigated. Charges 11/21. Requires attunement. - Wand of Mana Spear - Rank: Enhanced Rarity: Rare Weight - 0.38 KG Durability 235/235 Traits: Use can activate this ring at the cost of 12 charges or to cast the Mana Spear Spell. Creating a spear of force mana and launching it with great speed at a target. Charges 16/28. Cooldown 1s. There were also five of the same type of amulet. - Amulet of Unknown - Rank: Enhanced Rarity: Rare Weight - 0.2 KG Durability 450/450 Traits: Increases the difficulty of gaining information from the Analyze skill or other means of divination by 436%. Does not affect skills Master rank or greater. Requires attunement. Nice. 1.36 Inspecting the Service Lines More searching revealed the amenities of life, a mess hall and kitchens, baths, gymnasiums. Six took a moment to grab their version of an olympic bar set and a ton of plates before he led Nibbler and Charles further. This facility could probably house 500 comfortably, over a thousand if you squeezed. Still they had only found about 50 or sixty skeletons so it must have been real empty when it was in use. Charles looked shook, the boy was too tense. His grip on his sword shaking and white. His eyes darted about and it seemed as though the lack of fight was eating away at him. The tension inside of him building with nothing to release it. Six spoke. ¡°Eh, you ok Charles?¡± Charles snapped his eyes to Six. ¡°Yes Sir.¡± ¡°Sir?¡± Charles shot Six a look of irritation. ¡°This is more than I¡¯m used to, heh. This is your operation, forgive me for using professional language.¡± Six smiled. ¡°No no, professionally speaking, what should I refer to you as?¡± ¡°Charles or Penult.¡± ¡°Penult? That¡¯s your last name?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Alright Penult. You ok? You¡¯ve been trying to strangle your sword for the last few minutes.¡± Charles stumbled on some words, looking for the right ones before a nervous chuckle escaped his lips. ¡°Look, you don¡¯t have to talk about it if you don¡¯t want to but getting it out will definitely feel good. But figure it out.¡± ¡°I just¡­ I just never thought I¡¯d fight spectres so soon, or at all really. I¡¯ve read about them but books are not the same as fighting them yourself. I was expecting one or two¡­ that was¡­ we could have died.¡± ¡°Yea.¡± ¡°I- I just thought it would be different.¡± ¡°You do not have to continue with me, if you don¡¯t want to.¡± ¡°No! No. I do, I¡­ I grew by two levels. I destroyed spectres, granted it was the sword that allowed me to banish them but I stood against them myself. I did not break. I need this. I need strength.¡± Six gave a sad smile. ¡°Me too buddy. Let me know if you need anything.¡± Six checked his prompts and brought up his new spell. Spell Discovered: - Mana Wave - Rank: Minor Cooldown: 10s Range: Variable Casting Time: Instant Duration: Instant Mana Cost: Variable Effect: The user gathers a minimum of 60 mana before releasing the energies from their core in an expanding sphere. Effect decreases as an inverse percentage of the range. Users can increase the amount of gathered mana to increase the total effect and range. Effect and range scale with the skill level of magic type used to cast this spell. This spell was simple, vaguely versatile, and he was sure he could use it with all the forms of the mana he had access to currently. He wondered if infusing the spell with fire mana could create a Final Flash like attack. He laid out the gear they retrieved. ¡°Do you see anything you want?¡± Six could see Charles lean in towards the bangles and bite his tongue but after that short hesitation Charles asked for the Bangles. Six nodded and handed the bangles, the wand, and an amulet to Charles. Charles accepted all three with a graceful, ¡°thank you.¡± ¡°No eh, thank you.¡± Six went to put on the rings of Triple Strike and Stone Skin but hesitated when something occurred to him. ¡°Charles, how many things can I be attuned to?¡± ¡°Shoul, most likely eight. Humans can generally have eight attunements but it varies from person to person, race to race. Orcs like us muldstanii can attune to six usually.¡± Six was at four attunements and slipped the rings on bringing him up to six attunements and seven rings. The bling wouldn¡¯t stop and the magical bands seemed to adjust themselves, fitting over his gauntlets and looking dope. The Amulet of Unknown was also an item he had been waiting for, just like a bag of holding this was something he knew he needed. He was fortunate to find these. Finding multiple suggested that it had been a common item for the K¡¯gan people. He slipped it over his neck bringing his attunements to seven. They headed back to the station hub, this time Six led them to the Maintenance wing and brought them through a series of doors. The artisanal line work inscribed into the walls continued even into this area of the complex. The airlock setup opened to what Six thought might be a massive chamber but he was unsure simply because of the density of rune covered pipes and inert machinery. The lights were now tiny blots of light spaced out within the tunnel structure, as the potlights would fail to penetrate the dense overhead service lines. His mind whispered at the meanings of the myriad runes etched into almost every surface but they remained just that, whisperings at the edge of his understanding. There was no sense of defeat for he knew all he needed was time to examine and test them, experimentation was a good way to learn and his stolen mastery of enchanting should inform him of any pitfalls. They began to slowly explore the maze of tunnels and corridors that were created by the negative space left by the endless pipes, plates, and wires. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! It didn¡¯t take long for them to find a looming hunched humanoid form that almost filled the tunnel of pipes. Six went into a ready stance for a moment until he realized that it stood inert. For whatever reason the hulking derelict had deactivated. Six approached and laid a hand upon its form and wiped away a layer of dust. He inspected it. - K¡¯gan Artificed Immortal Steel Servitor - Rank: Enhanced Rarity: Rare Weight - 380 KG Durability 849/850 Traits: Inactive Artificed golem that is tied to the Deathspire Ley Nexus. Capable of complex maintenance tasks and basic defensive protocols. Six scoffed internally. Basic defensive protocols? Yea fucking right, just look at the thing! The steel plated machine looked like it could easily end all three of them if given the chance. The description specifically states that it''s inactive, so that meant he couldn¡¯t allow it the chance to change state. He examined the plated form and quickly found the structural weak points of its design. The joints and fastenings were mostly armored but it was of a humanoid design and the required mobility left the shoulder and hip joints exposed. It was basic hammer and chisel work to work its four limbs off over the course of an hour, his enchanted tools proving durable enough for the task. Charles stayed focused on lookout the entire time as Six worked and soon they were off into the corridors of utility lines. As Six led the way he found what he understood to be inert conveyor belts, leading to and from inert circular portals that were inscribed with endless rune work. Six began to notice differences and labels pointing out the water and sewage, the heating and ventilation. All these services were etched with their own unique rune structures, Six would have to return and study these later. Two more times through their wandering did they find servitors and each time Six paused to dismantle them. He actually gained a level in construction from the act of demolition. Nice. It was a smell that alerted Six to the next challenge. The air turned from dry and sterile to damp and alive. There was something nearby and Six scanned about actively, noticing a darkness further along. Somewhere the emergency lights weren¡¯t working. He informed Charles of the point of interest with a gesture and moved forward carefully. The closer he came, the more it focused, whatever it was. It was a body of darkeness that dominated the area that opened up ahead. Wispy strands of shadow oozed forth and fought against the dim lights that dotted these service corridors. It was a slow way of attrition but whatever this was seemed to be grinding out tiny victories. He analyzed it. Shadow Mycelium Level 11 He slowly approached it and held his spear at the ready. As he came within thirty meters the strands surged forth and speared towards Six. He tried to dodge backwards but the strands were fast and they managed to take hold of him. Instantly Six felt blood begin to wet his clothes and the shadows pressed down and cut him. He grunted through the pain and dropped into a crouch, lowering his center of gravity and fighting the shadows that were now attempting to pull him into their center. You have been lacerated for 45 damage. 472/517 You have been afflicted with the condition bleeding1. You are bleeding, you lose 11 health. Nibbler screeched and tried to claw at the shadows to no avail, far more agile than Six she managed to skitter away from the shadow strands that attempted to capture her as well. He lashed out with an activation of his vital spear but it had absolutely no effect on the shadow creature. Charles fired arrows but they too had no effect. Basic game logic dictated his next move. He struggled against the restraining shadows, fighting to produce the arcane movements necessary to perform his next spell. With an utterance of the spells words of power he summoned a Luminous Beacon. A disc of light manifested above Six and shone its light upon everything. Instantly the hairs of shadows retracted to the main mass as the light burned the shadow like dust blowing away in the wind. Blood spattered on the ground before Six as the razor-like hairs retreated but he wasn¡¯t done. He applied a Vital Surge to himself using the spear then stored it away, his body began to immediately respond, staunching the blood and healing him up. He then conjured an Ember Spark upon his supinated palm and with a thought launched it forward into the mass of darkness. That provoked a response from the creature as it hissed in pain like a pipe organ. SIx moved forward, dragging his Luminous Beacon behind and firing Ember Spark after Ember Spark from alternating palms, he dipped into his health just slightly. Charles let loose with a mana spear and a three foot long spear of shimmering mana shot past Six and hammered deep into the shadows. The nodule turned in on itself, pulling at the mana spear and protecting its core from the touch of the beacon but whatever base intelligence the monster had, it realized it could not remain strictly defensive. Once again the hairs surged forward and there was no distance to dodge. Six smiled as he was pulled deeper, blood leaking from between his armor. Blood. He spent more blood to cast. ¡°Luminous Beacon!¡± The appearance of a second Luminous Beacon caused it to scream like a broken jet and the undulating mass of shadow hairs quivered upwards in pain like threads of seaweed. ¡°Hah motherfucker!¡± Six yelled in triumph. Triumph short lived as the strands reached up and encompassed the shining disc in complete blackness. The shadow sizzled from the interaction but Six could feel it trying to shift his spell elsewhere. It was trying to move his beacon somehow. Six yelled in frustration as the shadow threads cut deeper into his flesh as the mass tried to consume him. But a small form sailed through the air and bared her claws, it was Nibbler. Six could see glowing silver energies coat her talons as she unleashed a slash that sent the energies flying in a rotating crescent blade. The twilight blade sliced through the suppressing strands easily and released the second Luminous Beacon before it could be translocated. Instead its glorious purifying light returned. Six conjured another Ember Spark this time holding it within his hand for as long as the spell would allow. He used it like a weapon, passing it through the mass of shadow tendrils before him with great arcing slashes, then releasing it forward into the center of shadows. The thing died abruptly, with its shadows just losing cohesion and dissipating. Leaving behind a solid black mass that ate all light, reflecting nothing. But still, the death prompt came through. You have killed level 11 Expansive Shadow Mycelium. Experience gained 520+(130). He skritched Nibbler in thanks. Which was just enough to push him over level ten. Nice. Six chewed some rootbust while checking his surroundings for more threats and found nothing immediate. It looked like they stood in some sort of garden area, beds of petrified soil were spaced about and services were attached to each of them. He could identify one as a water line and the other was most likely to power the runes inscribed on the beds themselves. There were lights that serviced this growing area but they were dead and It was dark save for Six¡¯s Luminous Beacons. The shadow mycelium must have attacked the light producing enchantments and eroded them over time but Six was confident in his ability to repair such things. Later though, this area was neat but too far away from his cave to be particularly useful to him. He inspected the remains of the mycelium and pulled a mundane core from the center of the thing''s mass. - Shadow Mycelium Foot - Rank: Enhanced Rarity: Unusual Weight - 20 KG Durability 89/110 Traits: Material, Reagent. Six had achieved his goal of level ten and wished to consolidate his gains. ¡°We¡¯re done for now Charles.¡± The boy visibly relaxed his grip on his bow. ¡°We¡¯re done? But¡­¡± Six chuckled, ¡°What? Two levels ain¡¯t enough? It''s stressful, take a break.¡± He clapped Charles on the back in his best impression of a reassuring pat. ¡°We are here though so let''s make sure there''s nothing else lurking around in maintenance and then we¡¯ll go back. Don¡¯t worry, after I get my class, you can join me for the rest of this place.¡± Charles looked surprised and a little impressed. ¡°You reached level ten?¡± ¡°That I did. Speaking of, what''s getting a class like? Is it something I should do here or in the safety of my lair?¡± ¡°What? No! Don¡¯t do it here, it can take awhile for the selection to take effect and one can be vulnerable during their time in the selection space.¡± ¡°Figured, just thought to check. I plan to take an enchanting based class so the perks wouldn¡¯t be of immediate use to me right now anyways. There is a selection space?¡± ¡°Well, more a selection void. A place where one has no self, rather, you see potential representations of yourself, or so I¡¯ve been told. One representation may be a warrior, one a mage. Time still passes in this space and your body is vulnerable when you are in the state of class selection. Also, when your choice is made your mind is overcome with knowledge and for a period you are vulnerable from the overload in cognition.¡± The void sounded like where Six had respawned after his death. ¡°These representations are what? You from an alternate future timeline?¡± Charles shrugged. ¡°My instructors stressed that the representations are just that, simple representations, they are not prophetic. They also said that some classes demand certain behaviours to truly shine, berzerkers for example lack a certain amount of self control. All I can say is choose carefully. It is irreversible.¡± ¡°Choosing a class is basically a full sensory selection list offered by the System?¡± ¡°The System?¡± ¡°Like, the visuals, where you access your stats and skills.¡± ¡°Ah. Yes.¡± ¡°It¡¯s that simple?¡± ¡°It''s that simple.¡± ¡°Well, aight.¡± 1.37 Class Selection It was time for Six to advance as much as he could before continuing. His level brought six stat points. He placed two into strength, furthering his physical might. Two into constitution improved his health and regen. It also brought it to fifty and SIx braced for something special to happen, but nothing. One into luck because, well, he did find a master level inheritance¡­ can¡¯t hurt to encourage that a bit more. One into wisdom to increase his mana regen and mental resistance. That took care of the stat portion, now that he could earn his class he was a little more interested in spending his skill points. His polearms skill was at level fourteen while his heavy armor skill was at sixteen. He had eight skill points and needed to bring one of the two skills up to skill level twenty. Having one of those at apprentice rank could earn him a rarer class. Evolving polearms would definitely increase his damage output which was important for the fundamental strategy of victory, killing your opponent. It could potentially bring a very cool class. But he knew he was going to pick heavy armor. Heavy armor, in Six¡¯s opinion, was more generalized compared to polearms and thus Six thought it would generate and promote more class options. It also synced with his defensive hardcore run playstyle, heavy armor would help him survive oneshots. He spent the four points. Skill increase: Heavy Armor - Apprentice - 20 Apprentice Skill Evolution triggered Choose Skill Evolution? Yes/No? He selected yes. No reason to continue forth underpowered. Kinetic Fortitude: Grants the wearer''s heavy armor exceptional resistance against kinetic attacks, reducing the internal forces the wearer receives by 0.8% per level. Deft Maneuvering: Enhances the wearer''s ability to move smoothly and gracefully in heavy armor, reducing the risk of tripping or stumbling and increasing movespeed by 0.1% per level. Resilient Constitution: Enhances the wearer''s physical resilience, reducing the impact of conditions and increasing all health regen effects by 0.2% per level. Magical Conductivity: Increases the wearer''s magical affinity while in heavy armor, enhancing the effectiveness of spells and enchantments they cast and reducing the chance of miscasts by 0.5% per level. Iron Grip: Augments the wearer''s grip strength, ensuring a secure hold on weapons and shields even under intense pressure. Each level provides a 10% increase to the grip of the wearer while holding items. Deft Maneuvering and Iron Grip were rejected. He already felt manuverable enough, it''s not like he had a hard time getting around and he outran those goblins so he cut it. Iron Grip felt way too specific to be useful beyond melee applications, or some weird max grip strength build, the fact that it didn¡¯t work on creatures or people made it poo rank, also wasn¡¯t even really armor related. Instead it was a choice between Kinetic Fortitude, Resilient Constitution, and Magical Conductivity. Kinetic Fortitude would make him even more durable and perhaps cut the damage from falls or collisions. Only against physical attacks though and he was pretty sure that didn¡¯t include things like fire or lightning. Resilient Constitution would stack with his already significant health regen and could make him extremely hard to deal with, especially once he leveled up and scaled the bonuses more. Especially if he managed to pick up a few more forms of health regen. Magical Conductivity would synergize with his enchantment skill which basically made it a done deal. It also improved his spell effectiveness and combat effectiveness through a reduction in miscasts. This would let his defensive skill provide a diverse spread of offense, defense, and utility. Still he agonized for a few minutes, this pick being far harder than his master enchantment pick. He was sure it would affect his class selection, pushing his choices in slight ways. He cut Kinetic Fortitude, it would bring his class choices to something too physically focused. He needed more than just physical protection, the spectres were evidence of that. Becoming an unstoppable sustain machine was something Six wanted but not at the expense of his class choices and he felt Resilient Constitution would push his class choices to be more sustain focused. His highest skill was currently Enchantment and leveraging the utility and adaptability of that had always been his intent. He picked Magical Conductivity and the knowledge entered his mind neatly. Immediately he felt a slight change within himself, something he couldn¡¯t articulate, beyond a ten percent increase to spell effectiveness and ten percent decrease to miscasts. He was doing something differently, what was it? He could tell the effect was internal, a piece of autonomic knowledge, he was subconsciously doing something with his mana and armor differently. Eh, whatever. He knew the what, but not the how and why. There was no time to find out, they were in the middle of an operation. Evolution choice imprinted: Magical Conductivity Maneuver choice awarded. You gained 100(+25) experience points for reaching Apprentice status in Heavy Armor. He earned a maneuver instead of a technique this time, he supposed that was due to the nature of the skill and how it was employed. Either way, something was better than nothing. Might as well check that out. For reaching Apprentice rank in Heavy Armor you have been awarded a maneuver selection: Locked Stance Heavy Spear Deflect Sundering Block K, So¡­ Spicy cheese¡­ These were far more easy to guess than the enchanting techniques. Locked Stance probably made him hard to destabilize and move, giving him rigidity to his position. Heavy Spear was most definitely not a spear technique. It was most likely a leaping tackle of some kind. Kinetic Fortitude might have synergized well with such a maneuver but hey, hindsight and all that. Deflect was self explanatory along with Sundering Block. He felt drawn to Heavy Spear for the perceived movement aspects but he was honestly having a hard time choosing. Six need to cut the options down. Locked Stance was out, he wanted to stay mobile and it probably rewarded a more stationary style. Heavy Spear was out, it was too unclear on its workings and sometimes a tackle left you on the ground. Six always wanted to be on his feet. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. It was a choice between Deflect and Sundering Block, he considered what their potential applications and intentions could be. Deflect was primarily defensive while Sundering Block was a mixture of defensive and disabling. Deflect countered attacks in general while Sundering Block most likely targeted the weapons of his enemy, it may not work against creatures that use claws or tail. In that sense Deflect was most likely more applicable in more situations. Its pure defensive aspect would also synergize with his hardcore build better. He picked Deflect. Maneuver: Deflect Rank: Minor Cooldown: 5 seconds Range: Melee Performance Time: Near Instant Duration: Instant Stamina Cost: 40 Effect: User utilizes armor to deflect an incoming physical attack, reducing it by a flat amount based on your armor or shield skill level, defensive rating, strength, and dexterity. Current damage deflection: 212 Physical Dope. After taking care of those choices Six checked in with Charles and after receiving a ready confirmation they continued forth, Nibbler trundling behind. The rest of the maintenance wing was relatively unremarkable, finding and dismantling two more servitors and a large reservoir of water near the back of the room. He should really clear the water but¡­ Fuck going into that. He hated unknown bodies of water, they gave him the heebie jeebies. A breeching fin of a giant fish showed him that he was right to be wary of the water. But hey, he did like eating fish, he might come back with a fishing rod. They left the facility and came out into dusk, it had taken the entire day to clear but they had survived. On the way back to his cave Six peppered Charles with questions about the class selection process, going over much of what he already knew. There was no danger or requirement to it, he felt confident in his choice and already knew his next move. He was most likely going for the Golemgineer class, he would be able to effectively leverage it immediately and progress with his creations from an early stage meaning they would be almost side by side rather than him being leagues beyond them. They came down the incline and reached Six¡¯s home. Seeing the garden beds and small stream coming from his cave Six felt an intense wave of satisfaction overcome him. ¡°Thanks for coming out Charles, I really think you made a difference back there. Preciate it.¡± ¡°Thank you for the offer. I grew far stronger today.¡± ¡°No problem. Say, you mind bringing some veggies back? Jebbedo was asking about squash and the garden is doing well.¡± ¡°Yes, I can do that.¡± Six nodded his thanks. As they drew close to his garden a small form moved from inside his cave and Six retrieved his glaive and loaded up to strike this goblin down. But he lowered his weapon a moment later as the form resolved into a young human. Dirty boots, a worn dress and a heavy coat was what she wore and a determined look was plastered on her red tipped face. ¡°Charles,¡± she said. ¡°Charles, you¡¯ve been gone all day.¡± Charles looked confused while he shuffled forward. ¡°Ruth, what are you doing here?¡± ¡°Alison sent me to come get you! She said she shouldn¡¯t have let you come out here. Amog is massing and she thinks they might be under attack soon. We gotta go back.¡± ¡°You came here to tell me that?¡± She nodded. ¡°Ruth, you¡¯re not even level one.¡± She nodded with the tired face of continual stress. ¡°But I made it.¡± Charles rubbed his face and sighed before looking at Six. ¡°I must leave immediately.¡± Six looked at Charles with pity but smirked, he actually admired the kid for bearing so much responsibility with honor and sincerity. It was noble. ¡°Take er easy, Charles.¡± He nodded a manly nod of respect at the kid and turned to enter his cave, it was time to pick a class. ¡°Six,¡± Charles called after him. Six turned to look at the two youngsters before him, tattered and worn, their eyes glinting cold with the pain of understanding and acceptance. ¡°Six, come help us, please.¡± Six could hear the timidity in Charles¡¯ request, the shame. Something tugged deep within Six. A feeling of obligation, of responsibility. There was a level of trust and reciprocity between him and Charles that clearly affected his feelings on the matter. But in the end that¡¯s all they were, feelings. While he couldn¡¯t override what he felt, he could ignore those feelings on a cognitive level. Skill Increase: Mindfulness - Initiate - 5 ¡°No. I¡¯m sorry.¡± Charles pursed his lips and stared daggers for a moment before drawing the wand of mana spear and handing it to Six. ¡°I need the bow more than I need the wand.¡± ¡°You can just have the bow dude.¡± Charles scowled and shook his head, scoffing. He pushed the wand into Six¡¯s grasp. The sarcasm of an angry youth touched his voice. ¡°Thank you once again.¡± Then he left with the girl, going down the mountain at a near run. Six sighed. He just wanted to blaze and be left alone. But now was not the time to relax. Amog wasn¡¯t his problem. He entered his home and sealed it up for the night, putting some food out for Nibbler and doffing his armor. He spent a bit looking at his woodbugs, and grinned when he saw the chewed remains of blood leaves, that was neat. He fluffed his bedroll as best he could before lying down to get comfortable. He pulled up his character sheet and selected the now blinking Class section. Enter class advancement? Yes/No. With a level of excitement he selected yes and instantly the dimly lit ceiling of his cave was replaced with the endless black void of the soul purgatory he had found himself in after his first death. However this time there were figures with him. Six¡¯s vision was drawn to an array of bodies floated in the dark expanse. Lit perfectly they faced the center, and then Six found himself there, floating in the center of the highest band with the most bodies. He quickly reoriented his sense and looked at the person suspended before him. It was himself. The body and face was his but what he wore was different. He wore deep blue robes and held the ashen wand of mana spear in his hand. When Six considered this sculpture of himself he was presented with a blue screen and a description. Mage: The Mage class focuses on leveraging the power of mana and its effect on our world. Mages are talents of the arcane and are powerful but volatile, pushing the boundaries of magic forward as they advance. Mages might have power over an element, life or death, light or dark, they use that power in service of their mysterious motivations. - Mortal ¡°Hmm.¡± He checked the multitude of other classes in this ring quickly, finding things like the armored and weapon covered, Warrior: The Warrior class focuses on the martial prowess of the self. The Warrior is a force unto themselves and their physicality cannot be denied. Warriors are weapon focused fighters that push forward to achieve their ends. - Mortal ¡°Hmmmmmmmm.¡± He looked to the next one, it was him but in simple clothes and with a toolbelt filled with an endless assortment of gadgets. Enchanter: The Enchanter class focuses on the creation and imbuement of magical items and objects. Enchanters create wonders that last for generations and shift the course of history. Enchanters are a crafting based class that create their own destiny. - Mortal This was what Six was originally aiming for, sounded alright. There was the Builder class and more. These were fine and he was sure they were strong but the rank of mortal was unimpressive and there were deeper classes He descended a level and observed a greatly reduced number of options. Still he examined them. There he was again, his dark skin looking a little grey, he wore dark crimson robes and a self assured smile. Another prompt. Bloodmage: The Bloodmage is a practitioner of the primordial dualities, no mere regular mage. Bloodmages have dominion over realities'' true basis, blood. The superiority of blood and its user is self evident once one grasps the power. - Immortal That smile made him look like a dick. Next. Super Heavy Infantry: Super Heavy Infantry are the maul that splits through anything in their path. Armored and armed, their mastery of heavy armor and weapons allow them to be fortresses of death and destruction. Super Heavy Infantry focus on defense, martial ability, and athletic prowess. - Immortal Much cooler. He knew that he would choose these over the first ring and he wanted to just skip down to the fifth and final ring but he looked at the next ring down, finding even more specialized classes such as the- Trapping Runesmith: Using runes and enchantments the Trapping Runesmith can create powerful wards. Using logic to create smart magic that while not true intelligence can respond to a variety of predetermined states. Trapping Runesmith¡¯s focus on preparation and prediction.- Ascendent This was the batman class, which was cool but he was sure that the control rune could be shoehorned into this role. Armored Note: The Armored Note dances in the song of battle. Their fluid and relentless dance plays a song of death from the tones that emanate from the clash of their weapons and armor. Armored Notes build and fight toward a crescendo. - Ascendent That sounded more poetic than useful, he passed it over. He wanted something utilitarian rather than aesthetic. There were still more choices, he descended a level where the choices were but few. Omnimage: The Omnimage has access to innumerable different types of magic and thus has unparalleled utility and adaptability. The Omnimage is someone who has the potential to manipulate conceptual energies. The Omnimage is a nexus of talent and ability, someone who can progress to almost any magical solution. - Transcendent Six appeared regal and sly, a cloak of shimmer pearlescent colours rippled upon his shoulders. His hands glittered with rings and a deep blue wizard¡¯s hat adorned his head. He never looked good in hats. Golemgineer: The Golemgineer is capable of crafting automations to fulfill their ambitions. Their creations are works of art, magic, and science. Golemgineers craft their way to prominence and power, standing behind the awesomeness of their works. - Transcendent This was Kytaligan¡¯s class. Six saw himself as a gadget bound scholar, compound spectacles and all. Similar to the base enchanter class but far more technically bound. Battlefield Ritualist: Capable of enchanting war itself, the Battlefield Ritualist casts rituals and paints great wards to alter the course of wars. They attend to battle, striding amongst their people with their weapon as their brush, their runic calligraphy rains down arcane might upon their enemies. Battlefield Ritualists live within war. - Transcendent He wore his armor and held his arms crossed, but held his posture in zen-like ease. Upon his back was a black glaive that emanated an ink like smoke from the blade of the dark weapon. Leaving a barely perceptible line in this void environment. This was like a spellspear Six guessed. These all sounded and looked amazing but he could see two more on the final ring. Only two. He descended and examined both. The first Six was clad in heavy plate armor made of bloodwood, he held an implacable grimace and his eyes leaked dark blood that burned into nothingness. He took deep calming breaths but still shook with contemptuous anger. Red mists of crimson blood swirled about him and above his head floated a roiling halo of bubbling blood. Blood Engine Juggernaut: Their blood sings with the will to push forward. To be unstoppable. To fulfill their wants and desires and to be unrestrained. They are powered by the spilling and presence of blood and understand that the path to their apotheosis is true domination over all. Incredibly difficult to kill, a mixture of magic and physical brutality guides their path through life. The more they kill, the stronger they become. - Predominant The last Six was also covered in plate, but this dark metal full plate was more than just armor. The masterwork that he wore sang and glowed with arcane power, each plate carefully inscribed with a complex matrix of runic circuitry. His face was mostly obscured under a full helm but his eyes shone from within with an arcane silver light and his fingers crackled with magic. There was a giant form looming behind this Six, a massive earth golem that emitted an oppressive presence. Runeclad Golemchanter: A bastion unto themselves. There is order and stability in the language of runes, this is expressed in the protection of armor and sentinel. Creation and destruction in the pursuit of safety, security, and prosperity, the Runeclad Golemchanter multiplies their impact untold folds by augmenting their armor and creating constructs to fulfill their designs. - Predominant Six took a moment to appreciate and internalize this experience. It was so strange and unreal. There was one choice really. As cool and overpowered as the Blood Engine Juggernaut could be, Six wasn¡¯t willing to become a maniacal berserking blood tornado. He just wanted to make cool shit. He chose Runeclad Golemchanter. 1.38 The Power Broka 25th 10,391 With the act of selection he found himself back in his dim cave. Vibrating with¡­ excitement. He checked his stat sheet and found the section that had previously been filled with three dashes now sported the name, Runeclad Golemchanter. He could see a new prompt floating at the top. You have 45 Perk points available to spend. He checked his logs and saw the awards. For reaching level 10: You have earned 10 perk points for being a Fateling You have earned 25 perk points for having a Predominant class Also: You have earned 5 perk points for completing the Enchanting 1 Challenge of 50 items You have earned 5 perk points for completing the Enchanting Weapons 1 Challenge of 25 weapons. Math checked out. This was the first time being a fateling did anything, Six was unsure of the significance of that but hey, more points were always good. Seemed there were challenges. He focused on the Enchanting 1 challenge he had completed and a new box popped up. Enchanting 2 Challenge: Enchant 200 items. 93/250 There was one for weapons as well Enchanting Weapons 2 Challenge: Enchant 31 weapons. 31/100 The prompts didn¡¯t show how much the rewards would be but they showed him how to progress with his class. He wasn''t sure how much he enchanted exactly but he was sure it was less than 100 items so the creation of a weapon enchantment must count towards the general enchantment challenge, that was a nice gimme. Anyways, time to spend these points. When he focused on spending the points he could feel his consciousness drifting somewhere and he pulled the intent back. ¡°Woah. Didn¡¯t like that.¡± He stood up and stretched a bit, taking the time to psych himself up before getting comfortable again and throwing himself into the drift. He made his intention to spend the points known and his brain and vision swam for a moment, but it was actually a smooth transition. He found himself standing on a rocky desert. There was nothing but a small little fir sapling sticking out of the rocks. Surrounding the fir tree were other saplings, more like shoots really, extending out from it perhaps fifty feet away. Six had no idea how these plants would survive a harsh environment like this but hey, it was a mindscape, it didn¡¯t have to make logical sense. When he examined the central fir sapling he saw a prompt hover above it. Class: Runeclad Golemchanter He looked at one of the distant shoots and took a step towards it. When he put his foot down his body shifted to his intended destination. Almost as if he teleported. The change was abrupt and unexpected but Six didn¡¯t experience any nausea or vertigo. That was dope. He actually got caught up for a bit just moving around in this space, it was kinda fun. He smiled, put on his batman voice and made some sound effects. ¡°Nothing personnel kid. Instant transmission! Shwing! Shwing! Shwing!¡± Fuck, he needed something like this in the real world. Shit always got real when the movement skills started to come into play. He jumped to the closest green, a little deciduous shoot and examined the tiny little plant. A prompt popped up above the little shoot. Increase Material Reservoir 1: 5 perk points Increases the enchantment potential of a material by increasing the materials stability. Each rank allows one more enchantment of equal rank to the materials rank to be placed into the item. The plant was a perk? That¡¯s cool he supposed. He had expected a simple screen or a cosmic sphere grid but this was cool too. This perk would allow him to work more enchantments into more common materials. This would be good if he didn¡¯t have access to higher tier materials, but he did have access to higher tier materials. He jumped to the next shoots and examined them all. Deconstruct Enchantment 1: 5 perk points Gives the user the ability to deconstruct enchantments and potentially learn them, destroying the item in the process. Chance of learning enchantment techniques increases based on Enchantment skill level, the users intelligence and rank of perk. Difficulty of deconstructing enchantment is based on item complexity and item quality. Mana Stability 1: 5 perk points Increases users'' mana stability by an additional 5% while enchanting. Macro Enchantment 1: 5 perk points Reduces mana requirements for Macro Enchantments by 5% Micro Enchantment 1: 5 perk points Allows for enchantment of multiple items at once, reducing mana core wastage. Can enchant 10 items simultaneously. Charges 1: 5 perk points Increase number of Charges by 5% Enchantment Strength 1: 5 perk points Increases enchantment strength by 5% Hmmm. 45 points to spend meant he could put one into all of them but he knew that wouldn¡¯t produce a significant noticeable change in him overall. Some were scaling changes while others produced a more ability-like shift. He knew that he wanted to create some more golems next so picking golem related perks would be immediately useful. That being said, Deconstruct Enchantment was also very good, and applicable to far more situations. He decided to attempt to satisfy both desires he funneled 5 points into the Deconstruct Enchantment perk and with each point, both the perk shoot and the class sapling grew. Grasses spread out from the saplings and life creeped forward. It wasn¡¯t much but it brought a desperate break in the landscape of the desolate place. The little shoot had grown into a fine cedar sapling, not one of those crappy pyramydalis, a true western red. When he unlocked it a new rank was shown with a new price, there was also a technique explaining the ability. Deconstruct Enchantment 2: 10 perk points Improves the user¡¯s ability to deconstruct enchantments and potentially learn them, destroying the item in the process. Can be used on items held by hostiles and slight chance of improved salvaging materials. Chance of learning enchantment techniques increases based on Enchantment skill level, the users intelligence and rank of perk. Difficulty of deconstructing enchantment is based on item complexity and item quality. Technique: Deconstruct Enchantment Rank: Minor Cooldown: 10 minutes Range: Melee Performance Time: Near Instant Duration: Instant Mana Cost: 100 Effect: Deconstruct the enchantments of an item and potentially learn them, destroying the item in the process. Ten points was a doubling of the cost but the next rank gave him the ability to use it offensively, a chance for improved salvage wasn¡¯t bad either. He was also curious as to the cost of the next rank too. He bought Deconstruct Enchantment 2 and had 30 perk points left. The price for Deconstruct Enchantment 3 went up to 25 perk points. Too pricey for Six right now. Instead he purchased Enchantment Strength 1. It was a simple way to increase his power. It¡¯s shoot blasted up and grew into a catalpa sapling. It was only just barely 5 feet tall but impressive against the backdrop of the desert. Something else happened. New growth shot outward across the rocky ground and wove green life, creating two new shoots. Six smiled at the branching growth. He examined the two new spots of green. Armor strength 1: 5 perk points Increases strength of enchantments placed upon armor by 10% Golem strength 1: 5 perk points Increases strength of enchantments placed upon golems by 10% His eyes bugged 10 percent? That was huge! Huuuuge! He bought the golem strength perk for 5 and looked on amazed as even more shoots revealed themselves, creating a semi circle of vegetation around the constantly growing class tree. Golem Armor Integration: 50 perk points The user can integrate armor into their existing golems and they are capable of wearing golems as armor. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Golemic Fusion: 55 perk points The user has the unique ability to temporarily merge their consciousness with a golem, enhancing its power and granting them access to the construct''s senses. This connection enables the user to experience the battlefield from the golem''s perspective and wield its strength as an extension of their own. Golemic Sacrifice: 50 perk points The Golemchanter can infuse their own life force into their golems, temporarily granting them a massive surge of power at the cost of their own health. Golemic Resilience: 50 perk points The golems become more resistant to damage and can quickly regenerate health when within the range of the Golemchanter''s presence. Golemic Reformation: 60 perk points The Golemchanter can reconstruct their golems even after they have been destroyed, reforming them with a portion of their original strength. Golemic Detonation: 50 perk points The Golemchanter can sacrifice one of their golems, causing it to explode in a powerful burst of elemental energy, dealing significant damage to surrounding foes. Hoo-eee, these are expensive. He didn¡¯t have enough points for them at the moment so he just brought Enchantment Strength and Golem Strength both to 2. Enchantment Strength increased to a 10% bonus and Golem Strength went up to 20%, bringing Six to golems that were 30% stronger overall. He had no more perk points left. There is nothing more to do other than create his golems. But he¡¯d do that in the morning. He was tired. Six opened up his cave and looked out into the dark of night. The stars were far more magical here, denser, brighter. He pulled out his pipe and blazed, considering his journey so far. Nibbler ambled out to sit at his side. She gazed up at the moon. Six was doing well. He had his own little piece of paradise and he just had to get strong enough to keep it. He wanted to keep it. There was an ease of mind knowing that you had a place to call your own. Fulfilling this goal was a part of that. Part of the entrenchment. He didn¡¯t wanna give it up. He would not stop building. He would do everything he could. *** Broka 25th 10,391 Six woke early and did his morning routine. He had a slice of empress pie resetting the buff that was about to lapse, leaving five slices left. He shared a quick breakfast with Nibbler and then got right into his next project, moving outside and finding an open patch of stony land. He had two ideas in mind. For the first he retrieved a superior configured earth core and began to slightly alter it. It was a monumental task to shift the configuration of a superior core but there were no time constraints and Six just went slowly, slowly imbuing it with the Golem Genesis evolution. This material was far overkill for his current level and abilities but going large right off the bat would greatly improve its starting stats and level. He could only make a minor earth golem, he lacked the mana to go beyond that and he wasn¡¯t going to wait to see how much he would get from the ley nexus pool. There was also the aspect of control and the difficulty of controlling something or someone higher ranked than you. Golems were not intelligent per say, but emotions and intent did spring from them and that needed to be controlled. Minor golems were firmly within his realm while the moderate and magnum were more theoretical. Not to mention a golem stronger than him would most likely start sucking up most of the experience. He needed to be the prominent contributor to continue his growth and he couldn¡¯t have his creations outstrip him. But he would make the best damn minor golem he could, something that could follow him as he grew. As with anything, craftsmanship is king. So. He pulled out the blood branch and three mundane mana cores. His reagents and catalysts. Golems of a certain rank functioned best while composed of materials of the same rank or one rank higher. A material too poor and the golem could destabilize, catastrophically. A material higher than one degree of separation and the golem would function poorly, slow and clumsy, confused and glitchy. This golem would have a superior core and not be limited to that restriction, the superior core offering superior performance, still the realities of material supply limited his option to one. Simple mountain stone was to be the material for his earth golem and the blood branch would be the reagent, this should create a powerful effect with the resulting creation. He had considered other options for the reagent like the magic seed or one of the magical ingots or even another superior configured earth core. Those seemed too extravagant or produced unappealing synergy predictions in Six. He had many mundane materials. Bristlehound hides and boar tusks, simple herbs and magically inert metals. Those were insufficient, they would most likely weaken the final product. The blood branch should produce a haste effect or perhaps a constitution buff and, just like the townhall, it should scale pretty well as the golem progressed. He placed all the requisite items before himself and began the process with a blip of mana. You are attempting to enchant a Superior Configured Earth Core into a Minor Earth Golem. This will require 218 mana and three Mundane Common Mana Cores to complete and will take materials from the most suitable nearby source. Blood Branch reagent detected. Would you like to begin this enchantment now? Yes/No? The use of a reagent and genesis evolution inflated the mana price quite a bit but Six could shoulder it. Six selected Yes and immediately funneled his earth mana into the configured core. It began to grow heavy in his hand as a layer of rock formed around it, the particles of stone rising from the earth itself. The cloud of silica whirled about and condensed as Six fed the nodule of rock more and more mana. There was no room for anything other than complete focus and Six reigned it all in, he was going to push this as far as he could. The growing ball of stone began to extrude protuberances, little arms and legs with a head. A basic humanoid shape began to take form and Six smiled at what he was creating, a heady thrill came over him and Six just let himself go within the flow state of creation. There were no problems, no pressing matters, no threats. Just him and the singing mana. He shaped the flow as evenly as he could, just feeling it. He could hear it reaching a crescendo, but he knew he could wring more song out. He was far from done with the strings of mana that he played. A sprig of life burst from within the growing golem and a blood red branch began to weave itself along the stony flesh, holding on like a creeping vine but creaking like old wood. Six could hear it coming, the end. He could end it here but¡­ he enjoyed it too much to go with the safe option. He played the mana and just before the very last moment, before the final pluck of the thread, He stopped. Enchantment Successful. You have successfully enchanted a Superior Configured Earth Core, achieving an efficiency rating of 64% creating a Minor Earth Golem. - Earth Golem - Level: 7 Rank: Enhanced Rarity: Unusual Weight - 153 KG Durability 400/400 Traits: Stone from Blood, Move Earth It was a stocky squat humanoid that stood just under six feet tall and looked incredibly powerful, bulging with rocky muscle. Crimson wood was sinew and connective tissue. Two slight indentations evoked eyes but as a seam split its featureless stone face and a maw opened to reveal rows of fang like thorns, all trace of humanity was lost. That was properly intimidating. Unlike the life golems that were level three on creation this golem was level seven, a result of the more powerful starting core. He unbound one of his life golems and watched as it floated off aimlessly. Whatever. He then looked at the earth golem¡¯s hollow sockets and made a connection with his new creation. There was a feeling of indifference, yet hunger. Immovable, yet willing to move. A restless patience. Six sent the creation plodding around the garden and watched as its joints creaked and rumbled. It wouldn¡¯t be stealthy. He patted at his chest and cleared his throat before checking his reduced health. Health: 389/517 Not bad. Best efficiency rating yet too. He checked its stat sheet, something the static golden wisps lacked. Name: ¡ª Level: 7 (Mortal) Experience:21500 Race: Earth Golem Fame: 0 (Unknown) Clout: 0 (Insignificant) Heath: 600 Endurance: 160 Mana: 10 Strength:32 Dexterity:10 Constitution:30 Intelligence:1 Wisdom:1 Charisma:1 Endurance:16 Traits: Stone from Blood: This golem can heal itself by consuming flesh. HP += 3+0.1*N per 1 kilogram of flesh consumed. Current 3.7 HP Move Stone: This golem can move and mold stone and earth with ease. Both of these abilities were awesome and it received double the amount of health per point of constitution, but Six reminded himself that the golem would do very little on his part without his orders. He felt satisfied with his creation except for one part. Name: Poh Doh There, now his bloodthirsting rock hulk had a name. He named it after an old friend''s creation. A tiny rock golem that went on adventures. He could have gone with something like Clayface or Pinocchio, he wanted something more personal. Poh Doh was a fine creation. Six still took a break to replay the process in his mind and visualize what he did and what he could have done better. Because it was time to do better. Six used Stone Wall to create a rudimentary basin in the cool stream of his cave. He held his arm out over the basin and cut into it carefully, opening himself up just enough to begin bleeding at a manageable pace. He watched as his life blood fell into the basin and began collecting. Six spent the rest of the morning harvesting his own blood. With Vital Surge and his improved regeneration all he had to do was be ready with food. It was soon enough that he had gathered all he needed. He still needed more time to attune and configure the enhanced core but it soon passed and all was ready. He had his materials, he pulled out five mundane cores, and the Concentrated Magic Blood Sap. Poh Doh was inspiring. There was no extravagance when it came to crafting something that would grow with you. There was no expense to be spared. You are attempting to enchant a Enhanced Configured Blood Core into a Minor Blood Golem. This will require 420 mana and five Mundane Common Mana Core to complete and will take materials from the most suitable nearby source. Concentrated Magic Blood Sap reagent detected. Would you like to begin this enchantment now? Yes/No? Hehe¡­ four twenty¡­ He did some math and figured he would be left with 31 hp. He checked that twice because he didn¡¯t want to have to waste the materials and reagents on a botched attempt. Or die, he didn¡¯t want to die. The math checked out. Six selected yes and the basin of blood began to respond to his mana. He almost fumbled the mana stream as he wasn¡¯t prepared for how much harder this type of magic would be to enchant. If elemental magic was wrestling a snake, enchanting blood magic was like wrestling a moose. Still Six refused to accept failure and brought his mana imbuement back in line. The blood core sat on the palm of his hand and slowly turned red as the blood he had harvested earlier flew towards the core. Droplets spattered against the crystalline surface and painted it a vibrant red. The form he configured was more analogous to a water elemental or a slime and as such it was easier to control the stability of the entire enchantment. It was more like inflating a balloon rather than sculpting an entire man all at once. But the mana draw was tremendous and just like with the previous creation Six¡¯s health began to be burned for mana. The pain of his blood ripping itself from his pores was minor, it was not something to be considered during this expression of creativity. The extra blood was actually a benefit as the waste blood of the enchantment was also caught in the pull and incorporated. A ball of blood grew upon Six¡¯s hand, sticky, wet, and smelling of metal. Before him the Concentrated Magic Blood Sap began to bubble in its container and a full half of the powerful reagent shot up like an erupting volcano to join the dance of blood mist. Infusing the red blob with a shimmering crimson arcane power. And still Six lost blood. More power was needed. More will was needed. More. Six wanted this to succeed, he wanted to relax, he wanted peace. He wanted everything. He didn¡¯t want the song to end. Yet his pride demanded he perform at his best and there was an end to this song. Enchantment Successful. You have successfully enchanted a Enhanced Configured Blood Core, achieving an efficiency rating of 66% creating a Minor Blood Golem. - Blood Golem - Level: 6 Rank: Enhanced Rarity: Unusual Weight - 8 KG Durability 200/200 Traits: Blood Casting, Blood Reservoir Six checked his health and found it higher than he anticipated. Health: 47/517 Six dismissed another golden wisp and made a connection with the bubble of blood that he held. It was¡­ hungry. Impatient. Impetuous. It resisted him? Six laughed at the golem¡¯s temerity before solidifying his control over it. If it had been a moderate golem Six might have been in trouble there. He checked its stat sheet. Name: ¡ª Level: 5 (Mortal) Experience:10500 Race: Blood Golem Fame: 0 (Unknown) Clout: 0 (Insignificant) Heath: 310 Endurance: 200 Mana: 80 Strength:5 Dexterity:15 Constitution:31 Intelligence:8 Wisdom:8 Charisma:10 Endurance:20 Traits: Blood Casting: Can exchange 2 hp for 1.2 mana. Can be immediately used in spells and rituals. Blood Reservoir: Can absorb blood in the immediate environment to be used later. Can retain blood up to an amount that equates to 4X the golem¡¯s Health Pool. Spells: Blood Dart Skill Increase: Blood Casting - Initiate - 8 Skill Increase: Blood Magic - Initiate - 7 He expressed his will upon the ball of blood and had it crawl its way upon him, Six couldn¡¯t get it to sit within his armor but it stuck to him well enough. It sat on his shoulder, looking like a red jube jube. Nibbler sniffed and hissed at it but eventually accepted its presence. This wasn¡¯t exactly what he was expecting but he was more than happy at the results. ¡°Hmm, your name is Lump. Cause you''re a lump.¡± Six smiled and put the remaining Concentrated Magic Blood Sap away, grateful that only half was consumed in use as a reagent. He chewed on some rootbust and reachleaf and meditated until he had enough mana to cast a Vital Surge. He recovered and centered himself. He wasn''t done. The life golems were not going to help him against Kytaligan, he needed more muscle. He pulled out more mundane mana cores and cringed when he saw his supply getting low. It had taken much butchery to gather so many and now to see them depleted to a mere 18 made Six uncomfortable. He would have to hunt a bit after this. He made two more simple static earth golems and released the life golems. - Earth Golem - Level: 3 Rank: Mundane Rarity: Unusual Weight - 121 KG Durability 300/300 Traits: Move Earth These earth golems were smaller and weaker than Poh Doh but still packed a punch and should help Six against the waiting threat. Six practiced with Lump¡¯s Blood Dart spell. It was a low cooldown low damage projectile spell that Six could activate with a mental command to Ichor. It used Lump¡¯s own health to power it and while the golem benefitted from Sovereign restoration it was not enough to fire it endlessly in battle. But still, it was still an incredible tool that required very little effort. He practiced moving the earth golems in patterns and formations. It was difficult at first but then he thought of it like playing a real time strategy game. He had to micro his golems. Yes, he could just send them all at a target but actually controlling the fine positioning of these base intelligences would greatly improve their efficacy. So he practiced. Slowly improving his control. It was late when he opened his cave. The sun setting. Six stepped out flanked by three earth golems, Nibbler at his side and a blood red polyp on his shoulder. He was tired, but it was time to get this over with. 1.39 Spare Parts Six stood at the large sealed door that led to the ley nexus. He double checked his weapons, armor and golems before exhaling softly. He visualized the battle. He would open the door and lead his golems from the front, the metal tip of a wedge of stone. They would crash upon the waiting Kytaligan with a merciless beating, leading to the destruction and dismantling of the lifelike golem. Skill Increase: Meditation - Initiate - 11 He positioned his golems ever so, Lump on his shoulder and Nibbler behind him, he cast Zephyr¡¯s Embrace and Vital Surge. then opened the door. It swung smoothly and Six went to close the widening gap but the first step he took sent him flying as the ground beneath him rippled and lifted. He tumbled through the air landing hard amongst the crashing thunder of his stone golems smashing to the ground. Jumping to his feet Six commanded his golems to rise as the form of Kytaligan stepped forth from the room. The perfect muscular form of the K¡¯gan enchanter crossed the distance to the first stone golem that was righting itself and with three lashing palm chops broke the golem into shards. He stood there in a pose that mimicked that of a hero, and exuded confidence in tides. The smiling golem spoke in ancient K¡¯gan, ¡°So, it has finally come back to me. Return the ley core and I may let you live, boy. I will need a guide in this new time.¡± Six said nothing and charged the construct, thrusting out with the tip of his glaive and moving his golems to flank and surround. Kytaligan parried the blade with the edge of his palm, his flesh barely taking damage with a single droplet of blood appearing. Six pushed forward with his footwork and pressed hard but Kytaligan was trained in combat it seemed. He unleashed a torrential combo and mid sequence sent out a command to Lump, the little bloodclot undulating before spraying a burst of blood darts at Kytaligan¡¯s eyes. The ebony golem effortlessly knocked away Six¡¯s glaive while lifting a hand to protect his eyes, the condensed blood darts shattering and splashing harmlessly on impact. Nibbler sent out some rotating crescents of light that impacted on Kytaligan¡¯s side, cutting small slices into the pseudo flesh that comprised the golem. Kytaligan made no reaction but any damage was good. Six lifted his arms and switched his glaive for his earth maul bringing it down with all his strength, Kytaligan dodged out of the way and right into the freight train fist of Poh Doh, folding him in half and sending him to the ground. Kytaligan began to get up but the beating commenced. Six moved in and delivered a huge rotating roundhouse to the back of the Kytaligan¡¯s head with his maul. Poh Doh delivered pile driving hammer fist after hammer fist and the stone golem performed simple but powerful straight punches. It became a rhythmic thing for what seemed like a minute, the rotation of blows creating a clanging percussion. Kytaligan kept calm for it all, attempting to make it to his feet. There was a frustration to his efforts eventually and the Kytaligan lifted his dented head, his artificed orbs staring into the hollow depression of Six¡¯s stone golem. Six felt a pressure on his mind, it felt like his attention was being pushed by a wind. He had never felt such before and the new sensation surprised him. Losing control of his stone golem also surprised him, the wind taking the connection with it. The stone golem rushed its creator and Six had to fall back as the squat muscular form reached out with its stony digits that grasped in violence. Six watched as Kytaligan moved both of his hands and drew multiple arcane sigils in the air, a coffin of stone leapt from the floor and restrained Poh Doh. Poh Doh opened its slit of a mouth and hissed its primal frustration, its hollow eyes glaring at the hostile enchanter. Six commanded Poh Doh to look away but it was too late. This time though, Six was ready and when the wind came Six leaned into it and fought it, it tested something deep within Six. Something that was not endless. Six could not retreat any longer, he drew a stone spear and committed to a powerful horizontal swing with his earth maul. The shard of stone erupted from the ground and blasted into the side of the stone golem, shattering into innumerable shards but continuing forth into the more robust stone, punching into his traitorous construct and shifting into the opposite incoming blow. Both strikes landed simultaneously producing a satisfying crack within the golem. Six followed it up with a Double Strike smashing the golem another time against the counter point, this time blowing through both with an explosion of rubble. You have killed level 3 Earth Golem. Experience gained 28+(6). The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. Still, Six fought the wind. He turned to see Kytaligan¡¯s gaze focused on Poh Doh¡¯s, he just had to hold on until he made it to strike the man. That was, until the small form of Nibbler sailed through the air and silver claws lashed out, slicing through the eye of the ebony golem. The wind stopped as Kytaligan straightened and regarded Nibbler coldly. She tried to bound away but a few quick steps were all he needed to kick her. Her squeal of pain and an audible crunch echoing throughout the halls. Six roared in anger as his urge to kill rose. He switched the maul for the wand of mana spear and let loose, a spear of mana made of oddly refracted light materialized before the tip of polished wood and jetted forth with blinding speed. Simultaneously he drew the arcane movements and screamed the incantations for Stone Spear before double tapping the second and last mana spear. Kytaligan activated something inside himself, his right pectoral glowing brightly and emitting a rising screech. A dense shield of shining light appeared before the golem, obscuring him completely in an almost blinding light. The mana and stone spears shattered on impact, the refracted faults in reality breaking apart and diffusing into normalcy, the stone eroding itself into dust as it tried to pierce the shield. All three attacks broke like toothpicks on concrete. It only lasted for a moment as the implant burned through itself quickly, leaving the right side of Kytaligan¡¯s chest a blackened mess. The fight paused for a moment as Kytaligan took in the sight of his marred flesh. ¡°Look at what you made me do. You will have to pay to fix this.¡± Six peppered Kytaligan with Ember Sparks as the golem rushed forward, so fast, it was all Six could do to hold him at bay. Even the flames broke ineffectually upon the body of the golem crafter. Kytaligan was close and there was no space for ranged attacks, Six pulled out his maul and created space with brutal swings but Kytaligan moved with trained steps and avoided any bludgeons that Six sent his way. The tempo increased as the distance decreased and Six threw out a crosscheck to make space but Kytaligan reached up and deftly grabbed the haft, pulling Six closer. Six tried to let go but wasn¡¯t fast enough, rather he was drawn into the vice-like embrace of the nude K¡¯gan. Six was passable at unarmed combat but Kytaligan was a trained noble, at the very least into apprentice rank, combined with his superior stats it was barely a challenge to wrap Six up in a fancy face to face bearhug. Six felt safe in his breastplate until Kytaligan began squeezing, for a moment nothing happened, then the metal began to buckle. Six spat in Kytaligan¡¯s face and lashed out with a weak headbutt. The Golemgineer¡¯s smirk pitied Six. Six let go with another headbutt, and another. Kytaligan laughed and Six¡¯s armor crumpled like a tin can, biting into his ribcage. Every exhalation allowed more and more constriction. Shit. Kytaligan leaned forward and gently kissed Six¡¯s neck. Six screamed in terrible pain, a wail of unfathomable anguish. His neck burned icy cold and he fought to control his nausea. One prompt of many like it made it through to his attention. You have lost 1 point of constitution. That was bad, but Poh Doh had arrived. The bloodwood stone golem had a blob of stone in its hands and on Six¡¯s command it placed the stone on one of Kytaligan¡¯s feet. The stone melded to the floor and essentially glued Kytaligan to the floor. Kytaligan lifted his head from Six¡¯s neck, ceasing the loss of constitution. He tried to move but could not, so he turned back to finish the job. Right into a headbutt from Six that did absolutely nothing. Still, the right hook from Poh Doh did something. The earth golem pistoned its fist into the back of Kytaligan and sent Kytaligan whipping face first to the floor. Six went flying and starfished on the floor only to struggle to his feet and order Poh Doh to restrain. He retrieved his dropped maul and stalked over to the struggling Kytaligan. It seemed as though the punch from Poh Doh had broken something within the Kytaligan golem. Kytaligan only had the use of one arm with the other hanging limply at his side, yet even when half prone and restricted to one arm, he was still able to challenge Poh Doh¡¯s own strength. Six shuffled over and checked his distance before winding up and unleashing the most violent axe swing he could muster. He aimed it right at Kytaligan¡¯s good shoulder and activated his Double Strike and his Ring of Triple Strike bringing forth a barrage of four hammer blows in the blink of an eye. One strike even bloomed with the green energies of earth further increasing the destruction. Kytaligan cried out not in pain, his artificed body proofed against such weakness, but in frustration. His remaining arm had failed and his slight defiance collapsed. Poh Doh obeyed Six¡¯s metal commands, stepping on the face of Kytaligan and wrenching off the weakened arm in a viscous tear. Six took his time breaking the rest of the construct''s joints until Kytaligan was but a torso. He looked human, except for his innards, like a magitech T-100. All through this the crafter pleaded and begged. He cursed the gods that his imprisonment would lead to such ignominy. He raged at Six. Then once more pleaded. ¡°I would serve you.¡± ¡°No. You would not.¡± ¡°How would you know?¡± ¡°I learned your book, I learned more than just the techniques you left. I learned about you. You, would not serve me. You are better than that.¡± The golem smiled in pride for but a brief moment. ¡°You do not know that.¡± ¡°I believe it. That is enough.¡± Six laid his hand upon the torso and activated his perk, Deconstruct Enchantment. Attempt failed. Nothing happened but a nervous chuckle from Kytaligan. Six had to wait ten minutes for the cooldown to elapse so he sat down to meditate. Kytaligan continued to plead but the words were like droplets of rain, uncomfortable but inconsequential. Once the cooldown elapsed Six touched the golem and channeled his perk again. A pulse of mana radiated out from Six and throughout the broken golem before rebounding and returning back into Six. The torso tensed before the thing relaxed and its flesh melted away. With the warm return of mana came knowledge as well. You have destroyed level 21 Weakened Simulacrum Golem. Experience gained 1389+(347). Deconstruction Successful! Technique learned: Create Soul Core Skill Increase: Maces - Initiate - 4 Skill Increase: Athletics - Initiate - 6 Skill Increase: Elemental Magic - Initiate - 5 Skill Increase: Heavy Armor - Initiate - 21 Skill Increase: Mindfulness - Initiate - 6 Skill Increase: Meditation - Initiate - 12 It was quiet within the chamber. The only sound was that of Six breathing. He rushed to Nibbler. 1.40 The Destruction of Escape Nibbler was broken and barely breathing, a little line of red trailed from one of hertheir nostrils. Something was wrong and all Six could do was cast Vital Surge on her and pulse Life Waves. He ran out of mana quickly and began bloodcast, only to realize his health pool was much smaller. Kytaligan had drained 23 points of Six¡¯s constitution bringing him down to 22. He pushed it out of his mind as he crouched near his pet and watched in fear. He knew severed limbs and scars could not be regrown with simple regen, he really just hoped and when the Vital Surge ended he drew his spear of vital surge and casted it with that. Slowly Nibbler¡¯s breathing grew in strength and they twitched a bit before their eyes opened ever so slightly. Six smiled and a tear of relief came to his face, he had lost before, losing Nibbler would destroy him. Nibbler winced and hissed as they tested their limbs but they were alive. Six looted the remains of the golem. The flesh had melted away into an unusable mess that lump greedily slurped up of its own initiative. There were much that remained though. A glittering skeleton of metallic crystal - Adamas Bone - Rank: Enhanced Rarity: Rare Weight - 68 KG Durability: 1147/1250 Traits: Material, Reagent - Furyian Heart - Rank: Enhanced Rarity: Rare Weight - 0.8 KG Durability: 849/850 Traits: Material Reagent. But the real take was- - Soul Core - Rank: Superior Rarity: Rare Weight - 120 G Durability: 9999/10000 Traits: Material, Reagent, Filled (Level 51 - Kytaligan). He held the large pearlescent crystal in his hand. ¡°Take that, jerk.¡± Into the spatial everything went. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Nibbler had made their way over, looking much better. Six picked her up and sat down against the wall of the corridor, skritchin and scratching his raccoon. Chittering purrs reached his ear and he melted into relaxation for a moment before bringing up his ley nexus screen. Error note: Ley Node energies are being redirected and/or blocked. The Ley affinities, and the Deathspire Mountain mana pool and mana regen are restricted until this issue has been resolved. Hmm, its still fucked. He relaxed a bit more before putting Nibbler down against the wishes of the little creature, her paws grabbing fruitlessly at his dented armor. He stood and made his way into the Ley Nexus and stared at the only defining feature of the room, the podium upon which Kytaligan layed. He walked up and inspected it. Inspection Failed. That hadn¡¯t happened in a while. There was a large part of him that just wanted to smash the thing but another part that knew breaking a powerful magic device was asking for some arcane recoil. Instead he spent some time examining the relatively plain block and found it subtly labeled in ancient K¡¯gan. There was an off switch. Quest Complete, Reset the Node Rewards for Completion: Proper functioning of the Ley Core relationship. Immediately Six felt lightheaded as his body had more access to mana. It wasn¡¯t like when he put on the mana ring. This was mana outside his body, a foreign thing, yet it was pure and clear like cold spring water. It made him feel rejuvenated and vigorous. But there was more, a feeling of¡­ something deep and fundamental¡­ A pulse. Coming from the ground beneath his feet, it echoed through the stone around him. Stone that seemed to cry to him, to speak to him. MP: 1132/1132 Six made a low whistle. He liked options and straight mana definitely broadened his horizons, most importantly allowing enchantment of moderate spells and runes. He also gained new domain spells. Level 1 Ley Spells. Spell: Conjure Ley Worker (Water, Dark, Earth, Fire) Rank: Minor Cooldown: 5s Range: Ley Nexus Domain Casting Time: 1m Duration: 1 year Mana Cost: 200 Effect: The Ley Master creates an elemental construct that is capable of simple tasks. Spell: Ley Beacon Rank: Minor Cooldown: 5m Range: Ley Nexus Domain Casting Time: 5s Duration: 30s Mana Cost: 100 Effect: The Ley Master creates a highly visible beacon of their heraldry Spell: Calm Elements (Water, Dark, Earth, Fire) Rank: Minor Cooldown: N/A Range: Ley Nexus Domain Casting Time: Instant Duration: Channeled Mana Cost: Variable Effect: The Ley Master suppresses the physical manifestations of applicable elemental effects. (Water, Dark, Earth, Fire) Level 1 spells implied the existence of level 2 spells, but Six didn¡¯t see himself making that happen anytime soon. The spells seemed powerful, Summon Ley Worker especially. They were not for personal power though, they were to leverage and assist a society. Maybe he could make a work crew and lights shows or something. There was a new section on orison density and it basically broke the number down into a more granular list. Shepherds Peak: 711 (Human) Mountain''s End: 483 (Irregular) Gor Tapu: 303 (Goblin) Glurbk: 237 (Koatl) Blerk: 121 (Koatl) Szirp: 96 (Koatl) Kletch Raud: 93 (Goblin) Amog¡¯s Band:72 (Irregular) Poporse: 63 (Koatl) Mlinti: 51 (Koatl) Jokoral: 45 (Goblin) Orison Density: 2275/10000 Hmm¡­from 1686 to 2275. It wasn''t really a personal objective but it was nice to see the number go up, Six supposed. There was another village of humans on the mountain, along with a bunch of goblins and koatl. He wondered why he saw Amog¡¯s group there until he remembered the orison prompt. It only specified one had to consider the mountain one¡¯s home. Huh, neat. He looked at his reduced constitution and cringed but forced himself to calm down. It might not be permanent. He carried Nibbler in his arms and Lump on his shoulder, Poh Doh lumbering behind with creaking joints of wood. They went home to his cave. The moon shone with its own illumination but Six wanted a fire. He built a rager and stripped down to his boots and pants. After the last struggle he felt strangely invincible, this was foolish he knew as he had already died once, still he doffed his ever present armor. He stacked the logs high and stood watching the fire crackle. He packed and sparked his pipe, smoking and staring between the flames and the stars. He grilled some vegetables and sat there appreciating it all so far. There was a bubbling euphoria building in him, a reassurance grown from success. He smoked more weed and kept the fire blazing. He danced to the music in his mind and laughed the tension away. A shuffling brought his attention back to the present, stoned or not. Charles approached, his fine patched jacket was missing and his clothes were bloody and torn. Bruises and cuts adorned him and he wore a grimace of anger. ¡°By Kynairos, what are you DOING Six?¡± Charles shouted with frustration. Six stopped dancing, concerned at the state of the kid, a cold pit fell into his stomach. Something had gone terribly wrong. ¡°Charles, what happened?¡± There was a moment of silence, Charles cocked his head and his body shook. He whispered and Six could hear the shame and frustration. ¡°Alison is dead.¡± 1.41 Amog Is READY! Today was the day. Amog was ready. He stood at the treeline, preparing his troops to attack the glade. The half ogre was king amongst his men and women even though he didn¡¯t dress like a king, yet. He stood over eight feet tall and wore a mismatched set of armors and clothes, thin black hair spilled from his head and ridged features defined his face. He led many people, good fodder for his rise, and rise he would, because ultimately there was no other reason for him to be here. Fate was on his side. His build was coming along nicely, maximizing the benefits of his unique gifts. At level 14 he knew he was stronger than his level indicated, he knew he was strong when compared to others, even if they had far more skill levels than him. That ambiguity of power was part of the reason he didn¡¯t really care about the results of his analyze skill. It also took way too long to train, kinda stupid really. Levels could only help you so much and Amog had already defeated an evolved person. A village chieftain that fell to simple numbers in a well planned ambush. Amog wasn¡¯t the fastest but with a trap your prey comes to you, he may have lost a great number of men but he¡¯d been learning then. But this village was not something that would come to him, he infact had chased them here. The people of the Alita village had fled with these other assholes and really delayed his start. Those people had been meant for him, he knew that. Now, with more numbers they would be even tougher to break. It hadn¡¯t been especially hard to find them but it just took time for the troops to return and learn of what happened. His guards dead and the village abandoned, a trail so visible it would be impossible to hide. Now they hide behind brittle palisade and a simple ditch. He admired their defiance and desired to conquer them even more. They would form the core industry of his empire, just like his bandits would eventually become a military. A shogunate. The skirmishes were simple and minor, a learning experience. The last attempted capture had been a fine balance, pushing in and trying to limit casualties while also dealing enough damage to take the settlement. It would have been easier except Amog didn¡¯t want to eliminate these people he wanted to control them. It would have been possible except for this new leader. His analyze skill Identified her as Alison Lamora, level 14, a half-elf. Experience had taught him she was someone he had to watch out for, someone who wouldn¡¯t hesitate to kill and made quick work of his bandits with her magical greatsword. It didn¡¯t matter though. His luck had brought him exactly what he needed to defeat her. The village knew he was coming, he preferred it when they knew what he was about to do. Amog spoke the local tongue poorly, he didn¡¯t know much Zleenish but he knew enough to get his point across, gestures and violence would bring the gap otherwise. He turned to his second in command. A man he had broken in his early days here. He was human and had a solid build. He wore black leathers with a tattered blue shirt. A pair of short blades hung at his hips. ¡°Oppo ready bandits,¡± Amog grunted out. Oppo nodded. ¡°Yes Boss.¡± The bandits waited behind Amog and Oppo waded into them, organizing them into a rough marching column. Nancy, another human murmured her thoughts. ¡°There will be no-¡± then something Amog didn¡¯t understand but it didn¡¯t matter really. Nancy was hot. She could also do magic which was pretty cool. But, man was she hot. When Oppo returned to stand next to him, the troops properly chastised and lined up. Amog strutted back and forth and chanted the zleenish word he knew best. ¡°KILL, KILL, KILL.¡± His bandits joined him in the simplicity of base aggression. There would be death but hopefully not as much as he was prepared to unleash. No, this time the village would break, or he would grind them away to fuel his growth. Most of his bandits took to fighting like a fish to water, some of them had to be broken before they would serve, but serve they did. The most stubborn had to die of course. It was good to be king. Amog moved forward out of the treeline, stepping in time with his chant, and beheld the foundation of his future kingdom, his future empire. ¡°KILL, KILL, KILL,¡± they shouted in unison and all broke out in runs when Amog began bounding forward. His Gift Elevated Barrier: Your Natural Defense increases by 300% made him into a natural off-tank and it was obvious he should lead from the front. His strength had reached 42 points giving him skin like immortal steel and with his half-ogre heritage increasing his power output by an additional 5kgs per point of strength, he found it easy to throw boulders the size of a washing machine while feeling like a suit of armor. A flash lit up before Amog as an arrow shaft splintered against the golden hardlight shield that sprang up. His Ring of Vital Shield saved him again. Amog was durable, not invincible and he knew that. He juked and broke from left to right, and as the arrows rained down the few that did come were deflected with simple slaps of his hands. Amog closed with the palisade and jumped with all his might, his 42 points of strength made it an impressive leap but his half ogre body was heavy. His Cloud Boots activated and he jumped on solid air, flying over the top of the palisade and landing next to bow wielding villagers. He smiled as their faces broke in panic. They knew what he was about to do. He retrieved his Obsidiite Bowstaff and lashed out with the weapon, walloping each in their face with echoing cracks. They went down, alive and still useful. Then she was there. Alison. A fresh burn mark upon her forearm. The half aelf was the only one to come close to Amog¡¯s height and it lent itself to a good fight and that was something Amog had learnt about himself. He loved a good fight, more importantly he liked to win. He had almost got her, but then she had found that damn sword. Amog wondered if she had the Luck stat too. But no, she was just some stupid noble. He heard the sound of his soldiers catching their grappling hooks and laying ladders on the palisade and knew that today was the day. He bellowed his warcry of ¡°Kill!¡± and sprinted towards his current obstacle. They crossed weapons. The staff more than durable enough to block her blows, his strength greater than hers. His transcendent rank class Powerhouse offered some perks that gave him small passive bonuses to his physical stats and two actives that could be activated at the cost of stamina to greatly increase his power. Yet Alison was a class holder too and she had been clearly trained in use of the greatsword. His empowered blows were easily deflected by her and not even with the use of one of her maneuvers. Her skill level in greatswords must be in the 50¡¯s to be so skillful. Skill levels were one thing that Amog had been neglecting and it showed in their fights as Alison managed to land many blows while Amog struggled to land one, it wasn¡¯t serious. What was serious was her weapon. Her old greatsword couldn¡¯t even scratch him, but this new one was able to draw blood, it was more dangerous than it seemed as even the slightest cut had a high chance of inflicting a stacking bleed debuff, no matter. His Sacrificial Tenacity allowed him to trade health for ending or downgrading conditions and he used it every time it came off cooldown, it was the most significant loss of HP in their exchanges but the stacked bleeding would have done more. He was waiting for the fire strikes, she always saved them for when she was pushed back. His natural defense protected him from physical damage but his constitution protected him from the cold and fire and his external resistance did not benefit from his gift. He was vulnerable to those fire strikes and it was the reason he had fallen back from the last battle. He just had to push her. His swings became more and more brutal and he allowed more and more openings, willing to trade damage for battle tempo. Alison grinned as she swung and arced her greatsword, intercepting every single counter strike and dancing away when Amog reached for a grapple. Still he pressed and forced her to use her Deflect maneuver, he knew then the fire strike was coming and left his face open. Alison took it and he smiled. Her grin broke as she saw his confident grin. She knew he was about to do something, he liked it when they knew. But she had to commit to the swing and at the last moment, just before the greatsword slashed across Amog''s face he breathed. Winter¡¯s Breath The sword struck and an explosion of fire blazed but for a moment as it was drowned out by the ice breath that erupted from Amog¡¯s mouth, it flooded forward and smothered the fire, covering Alison in restricting icicles. She shuffled back and tried to ward him away with fending slashes but her movement was impeded and he found it far easier to close with her. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. Two halflings came to her aid, the younger female proving useless and the older male giving him slight trouble. They could not stand against his pure physical might despite how agile and nimble they might be. They too were rendered unconscious by his staff that hummed as he struck with it. Sending them tumbling away. He turned and advanced on Alison, in this her moment of weakness. Another arrow blistered at him and collided with a golden shell, the second charge of his ring expended, one more remained. He glanced to see the orcish bow wielder become engaged with Oppo who came from behind with shortswords drawn. Amog reached the woman and he took a Precise Strike to the chest, the wound was terrible but he would survive. Again, he breathed as the strike landed home and his ice cut through her fire. It was fate. He activated Sacrificial Vitality to drop the burned and bleeding conditions and lifted his quarterstaff high above his head. He activated both of his perk maneuvers and his strength shot up to 50. Alison cringed as she tried to move but ice gripped her form. Amog brought it down in a whistling crack on Alison¡¯s shoulder and grinned as he heard something inside her crack. Alison grunted and collapsed to one knee and Amog arced a left hook into her face, knocking her down completely. A swift kick to the head one or two times and she was incapacitated. Amog picked her up by the back of the neck and bellowed in his shitty zleenish. ¡°STOP FIGHT OR I KILLLLLLL!¡± The defenders looked to him and like the fearful sheep they were, they hesitated. He repeated his threat and one of the defenders threw down his weapons. ¡°Spare the Lady Lamora please.¡± The villager dropped to his knees in supplication. The bandit he¡¯d been fighting kicked him over lower. Then more and more threw down their weapons. Amog smiled. Great success. Alison moaned in her stunned state. ¡°Good fight,¡± grunted Amog. She groaned. Oppo had already begun confiscating the dropped weapons and gathering the people up. There were few buildings in this village and it was easy to empty them and corral the entire population of the village. It was time to explain the change in management. When they were gathered Amog stood with Alison and he jerked her up to display her before the crowd who gasped at the sight of their leader being treated such. He spoke, ¡°I¡¯m Amog. I¡¯m new king. You fight, you die. You run, you die. You no work, you die.¡± The crowd was silent, no one dared say anything. Amog nodded and reached over to Alison, and ripped off her face. It wasn¡¯t a slow thing, he ripped that scab off in an instant, it was just as satisfying too. Someone in the crowd screamed as they all stepped back at once. Alison howled a throaty cry as she had no lips. Amog let it ring out for all to hear, he let it sink into their bones. Fear was an effective motivator. Fear of god or man, it didn¡¯t matter. Fear would guide a person to do what was desired far better than greed or desire. Fear was the only true guide within oneself. It''s why the law and prison existed. He would rule through fear. He silenced Alison¡¯s wails with a flex of his hand and a snap of her neck. She fell limp, feet swaying, and Amog smiled at the level up prompt. He tossed her body to the side and reiterated his words. ¡°You fight, you die.¡± Still a villager roared and rushed the stage. Amog glared a lazy analyze at the man. Min Alian Human Level 1 Amog sneered and gestured for his bandits to not intercede, he could pop a level one¡¯s head like a ripe pimple. This Min battered at Amog and the half ogre laughed as the tiny man bruised his own hands upon Amog¡¯s flesh. A gentle backhand sent the man to his knees and Amog gripped his head, about to crush it before Oppo cleared his throat. Amog regarded his second in command with a raised eyebrow, the question clear. Oppo pointed at the man and said, ¡°bread maker.¡± Well fuck, Amog loved bread and he¡¯d been missing it ever since he came here. Can¡¯t believe I almost killed the baker. Instead Amog reached down and picked Min up by the ankle and chopped his leg off with a few strikes from the flat of his hand. The dull crunches leading to tearing of the flesh, not that anyone could hear over Min¡¯s screams. He could still bake with a peg leg, and it would be a good reminder to the villagers. One of the bandits came to take care of the baker, packing the stringy wound with a herbal poultice. Amog smiled at the pale faces in the crowd and shrugged. ¡°Bread good.¡± *** Charles¡¯ stomach went cold as Amog ripped Alison¡¯s face off. By Kynairos. He seethed at his weakness, he should be strong enough to protect her as she did them. He raged at his inability, if only he¡¯d been stronger. Perhaps then he would have been able to defeat the blue clad bandit. When the bandit captain came upon Charles it had been fast and aggressive, tossing his bow and fending with his sword was all Charles could do to stay alive. Not that the bandit seemed overly concerned with killing him. He pushed back with his blade but unlike most of the horde this bandit knew his business. The movements were precise and intentional, someone who had been trained. He reminded Charles of an academy instructor, even the man¡¯s glazed level gaze seemed to imitate their stare. He was bored and that was bad for Charles. A glance at a frozen Alison was all the distraction the man needed. He whipped the flat of his blade against Charles'' head and sent him spinning with the Stunned condition. Soon after that the foolish villagers began to throw down their weapons. They surrendered. The man had taken his swords, bangles, amulet and bow. An empowered slash dissipated the light golem. He fingered the make of Charles¡¯ coat but let the muldstanni go, it had been a different bandit who had taken his coat. Charles suppressed the urge to fight back with his paltry unarmed skill and then Amog had done what he did to Alison. There was a small part of him that was surprised at the extreme violence but a more academic part of him acknowledged it was part of imperial doctrine to publicly eliminate the previous leadership in a show of force. It had happened to his people. He was once again reminded of his goal, Charles had a quest from the world itself, the system as Six called it, one that concerned his people. His heart bled for Alison, her life cut short by this twist of fate but he couldn¡¯t languish in fear and helplessness. That¡¯s what the bandits wanted. The settlers were kept in the center square of the village and the bandits began to process them. Jebbedo who had been beaten down by Amog was pulled aside and forced to cook, most others were recorded and kept in the center. The bandits were to have a feast to commemorate their victory. The small supply of ale and wine that Alison had had within her ring was immediately broken open to the cheers of the invaders. Charles spat his disgust on the ground and eyed the dozen or so bandits that had been designated as guards, they drank too, foolish but what could the villagers reasonably do with no weapons? Nothing. But, He had to do something. He knew the soldiers were going to return one day but who knows when that would happen, the bandits could be too entrenched by then. His mind wandered to Six and for a moment a spike of spite ran through Charles but he pushed it down. Six owed him nothing, Six owed the village nothing, he had made that clear. Also, what could one man do against so many? No, Six had sought to avoid being part of this, and for good reason, look what happened. Still, he was the only source of resources and even if he wouldn¡¯t help himself, Charles was confident that Six would at least give him weapons and arms freely. So he waited until the invaders became drunk and rowdy. He endured the forced fights as the bandits taught the villagers lessons through violence, they laughed and jeered, taking entertainment for their torment. Leoka and her people got the worst of it, public reprimands for killing the previous watchers and escaping. Charles could see the man who defeated him observe the goings on, he even interceded when some beatings became too much. But it was a cold thing, the glazed look never wavering, the drinking enhancing the glazed effect. They knew that few would brave the night forest without weapons but Charles had nothing to lose at this point, he needed tools and that meant making it to Six. Sneaking away from the guards was just a matter of waiting for the right moment. He had gotten past the palisade and made his way into the tree line when a sliding of metal halted his movement. He turned to the swordsman who wore the tattered blue shirt. He held one sword at the ready. A mirthless smirk came to his lips and he spoke clearly despite having the slanted eyes of a drunk. His sword tip pointed away from the mountain. ¡°Civilization is that way.¡± Charles froze. He didn¡¯t know what to say, his training had not yet reached politics and the academy never formally taught such. His tongue failed him. The man laughed at his hesitance. ¡°Think you¡¯re gonna make it over the mountain to the Kingdom of Harmony? Look at you. You think a herd would accept you?¡± The man pointed the blade at Charles and spoke in Muldstanii, ¡°My horse charges towards the sun.¡± He waited and an awkward pause extended between them, an expectant eyebrow rose, Charles knew he was supposed to say something, he just didn¡¯t know what. The man laughed and returned to zleenish. ¡°There is no place for you in Muldstanii. Stay, Amog will make use of you. It is not so bad.¡± Charles said nothing but stood defiant. His eyes searched the ground for rocks to throw and sticks for clubs. It was foolish but he could not give up. The man saw this and sighed, his shoulders slouched and he took a relaxed posture. He shrugged and sheathed his blade. ¡°You will see, when the herds drive you away you will return. Then what? The empire is dead. You will find yourself here, drawn to the pull of Amog.¡± He gave Charles a dismissive gesture and turned to walk back towards the village. Charles breathed a sigh of relief and continued up the mountain. He moved quickly and soon saw the light of a fire where Six made his camp. The trees thinned and reveal the massive blaze that Six danced around. He sang some weird song in that strange language he muttered sometimes. The reek of stoneweed reached Charles¡¯ nose and it curled at the stench. He was dancing. While they fought and died Six danced and hooted. Charles grimaced as anger began to burn within him. The academy had served to prepare him for leadership. He knew that the ideals of the academy were more image than representative of the actual conduct performed but those ideals were still something that Charles sought to live by. And by his judgement Six was lacking. ¡°By Kynairos, what are you DOING Six?¡± Six stopped dancing, and turned to look. Charles could see the instant understanding play out in Six¡¯s expression before it assumed a mask of seriousness but the idiot still had to ask. ¡°Charles, what happened?¡± There was a moment of silence as Charles couldn¡¯t believe that the question had been uttered. Six knew what happened but he forced Charles to face it, to relive his failure. His loss. ¡°Alison is dead,¡± he said, and it felt accusatory, towards himself for being weak, but also towards Six for being so¡­ irresponsible. ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± Six murmured. ¡°Are you?¡± Six gazed at Charles with no regret. ¡°It is something people say to comfort others.¡± Charles scoffed and nodded. ¡°I do not need your comfort, I need you to help me.¡± ¡°Help you what?¡± ¡°Help them.¡± Six sighed and looked off into the night. After a moment he stomped off away from Charles while nodding to himself. He kicked some dirt around while muttering in his strange language. He screamed a gutteral howl of anger into the night. Six took a breath and let it go, his face tightened into something downcast. He took deep breaths and slowly his face relaxed and an even expression took him. ¡°What do you hope to accomplish Charles?¡± Six sounded disinterested, grey like the stone he conjured. ¡°We kill Amog and remove his bandits.¡± ¡°To what end?¡± ¡°What do you mean to what end?¡± ¡°Exactly that. What then? Do you think another Amog isn¡¯t waiting out there? Do you think it would ever end? I have enough problems on my own. Why do you want this?¡± ¡°Because I¡¯m not a Kynairos blasted fool! I¡¯m not selfish! I know that it is the responsibility of those with power to protect those without.¡± ¡°You are a child. In an ideal world yes but this is not a fucking thought experiment. You are young and idealistic but even you should know that nothing is free. These people wanted freedom and a different life, they should have been more prepared to fight for it.¡± Charles looked aggrieved. ¡°What are you trying to do Charles?¡± ¡°I¡¯m trying to save people, and I need help, from someone I thought was my friend.¡± Six closed his eyes and breathed deep, his expression did not falter but Charles could see the welling of a single tear in his eye. ¡°Aight Charles. I¡¯ll help you. But I feel like you don¡¯t know what you are doing. If I do this it won¡¯t just be for today or tomorrow, why do you think I would be any better than Amog?¡± That question delivered in such a monotonous way gave Charles pause, a chill running through him. ¡°I know you Six. You¡¯re strong but you¡¯re not heartless. You don¡¯t want to hurt. We need that now that Alison is gone.¡± ¡°You think you know me but you don¡¯t. I can be heartless, and if you want me to do this, to dedicate myself with you to this. Heartless I will be. There can be no heart in such things. I would be like armor, protective, but restrictive. There is an almost uniform inverse relationship between safety and freedom that I don¡¯t think you understand.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be condescending towards me.¡± ¡°Do you understand?¡± ¡°People can''t do whatever they like in the interests of safety.¡± ¡°I would be very restrictive. I am tired, Charles, and I don¡¯t want to do this, you are asking me to join you in lifting a heavy burden.¡± Charles found Six¡¯s obstinacy infuriating. ¡°It is my duty!¡± ¡°Fight with Amog then. It would be much the same.¡± Charles spat. ¡°He is evil.¡± Six nodded. ¡°I would assume that key leaders within the old empire could have been labeled as such as well. Yea?¡± That gave Charles pause, he nodded reluctantly. ¡°What if I did something you regarded as evil?¡± ¡°I would fight you.¡± ¡°And yet you still wish for my help now?¡± ¡°Yes! Yes of course Six!¡± Six nodded. ¡°K, So¡­ Spicy cheese. What''s the situation down there?¡± They spoke for almost an hour before Six devised a plan and Charles had to admit it was their best option. Six looked tired and gaunt but waved away the concern Charles expressed. They were to strike in the morning and there was much preparation to perform before they would be ready. Charles followed Six off into the darkness of the forest. 1.42 Cutting a Thread Amog woke in the morning to a pounding headache and a groggy mind. It was Oppo rousing him with a gentle shake, even still each shake split his head in two. He checked his hud and found a series of conditions Dehydrated2 High Blood Pressure2 Drunk1 Shit. He must have gotten wasted last night. He didn¡¯t usually get debuffs when he drank. He used Sacrificial Vitality and some water to reset his state and cancel the conditions. Sure, he lost just over 100 health but nothing some herbs couldn¡¯t heal. He popped the packet of leaves and roots his herbalist put together and watched his health begin to rise. Too bad he had to kill the kid¡¯s mom, two herbalists would have been great but the witch shouldn¡¯t have tried to curse him. Amog stood and observed the passed out drunken bandits and corralled villagers. Most of the villagers stared back, unable to sleep in the tense situation. Whatever. ¡°Boss,¡± Oppo started, or maybe it was ¡°Lord,¡± Amog didn¡¯t really know. ¡°Boss, there is a man at the gate, he¡¯s killed two of our men and he wants to see you. He calls himself Six and the villagers say he is an enchanter that lives on the mountain.¡± Amog grunted, finally, he would collect his hermit crafter master. He left towards the gate while pointing out the villagers to Oppo. ¡°Get them working.¡± Oppo nodded and began to wake up the drunken bandits. It was good to have reliable minions who knew how to delegate. Amog looked out over the palisade and saw a lone figure in half plate armor. The figure stood about two hundred meters away and Amog saw it wave as he poked his head above the palisade. One man. Amog laughed. This crazy must have balls of steel to come and posture like this. He even had an idea of who Amog was and still he stood there, alone. It was impressive, but idiotic. Amog gave orders to his rabble to be ready to come and assist with cleaning up this fool, it would be good training for them to take turns dismantling him. Oppo, Nancy and twenty others were to stay back and hold the village, preventing it from running off again. Amog jumped the distance down from the palisade and landed easily. He walked straight towards the stranger and cracked his neck, the man had already killed two, so Amog readied himself for violence. As the distance closed something intangible grew in the air, a feeling of weight, a feeling of gravity. There was something pulling Amog to this stranger, a feeling of connection, a vibration between the two. He could see the wonder in the stranger¡¯s eyes too, he felt this something too. This Six fellow was some kind of black guy but not like the K¡¯gan of the empire. His armor was worn and dented and he wore tattered clothes in earth tones underneath. A small red lump of something sat upon one of his shoulders. He looked tired both in body and mind, deep bags sat under dead beady eyes. A vagrant if Amog had ever seen one. Amog made it to about thirty meters away before the armored man held up his hand and spoke, ¡°Amog.¡± Amog nodded and smiled, he would enjoy making this turd pay for killing his people. ¡°Why did you do this to them?¡± Amog didn¡¯t know how to tell the man that it was his destiny to rise to the top in this world, that these people would provide the infrastructure he needed to support his growth. He couldn¡¯t express himself so precisely, rather he said something truth adjacent. ¡°Because I wanted it.¡± Six, who was already cold, seemed to grow even more icy, he muttered a word Amog had not heard for a long time. ¡°Fuck.¡± Amog repeated it in shocked surprise. ¡°Fuck?¡± Six leaned back in surprise. Amog tried for the impossible and spoke his birth language. ¡°Do you know english?¡± The man quirked a wry smile. ¡°Yes.¡± They stood in silence for a moment savouring the discovery of commonality and the realization that something more was happening. But, the moment was short lived as the metaphysical tension between them pulsed for an instant. The vibration almost rippling out into existence but for a lack of power. This Six glared anew at Amog. This time he spoke in Amog¡¯s language, English. ¡°Why did you do it?¡± Amog just laughed, this guy was stupid, still asking him why, there were more important things to learn now. ¡°When did you arrive here?¡± ¡°Fuck you.¡± Amog felt exhilarated. ¡°You from earth?¡± ¡°Well duh.¡± Amog attempted an analyze but received an Analyze failed. This time the Six shouted. ¡°Why¡¯d you attack the village? What the fuck is wrong with you?¡± What the fuck is wrong with him? Oh, that reminded Amog of bad times. Times he never wanted to remember. Times like when his mom¡­ well it didn''t matter, that was his old life, the old him. ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I? This world is about power and they lacked it. They lacked my will, my drive, and my gift. I deserve to rule these people.¡± The man cocked his head in clear disbelief. ¡°You believe that?¡± ¡°Does it matter?¡± ¡°You think you¡¯re some kind of protagonist, is it? You think these aren¡¯t real fucking people?¡± Six¡¯s voice had a slight tremble to it when he spoke but fury burned in his flat glare. He had dead eyes, like a shark¡¯s. ¡°Of course they¡¯re real. You know these people, yeah? Do they feel fake to you? Does any of this? Why do you care? How long have you even been here to care? The man shrugged. ¡°I bought things from them. They are nice." ¡°You can talk to them then? Perfect, you can be my translator and my enchanter. Everything¡¯s coming up Amog.¡± ¡°Go fuck youself.¡± This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°And if I pull a villager out here to gut them in front of you, will you listen then?¡± ¡°I won¡¯t become your slave to save them.¡± Amog knew with certainty the man meant it. ¡°It¡¯ll be your fault-¡± Amog started but the man spoke over him. ¡°Nah, dude. It¡¯ll be yours. They are people, yes, but there is absolutely zero reason to negotiate with you, you¡¯re fucked in the head.¡± Amog didn¡¯t want this to come to violence, he wanted someone to talk to easily. He needed a beta sidekick. ¡°Don¡¯t throw away what we have here, can¡¯t you feel it? This thing between us? Everything that we are, means more here. Don¡¯t make me kill you.¡± ¡°If not today, tomorrow.¡± Amog sighed, ¡°so now what?¡± ¡°Now I make your life a living hell until you go away.¡± Amog smiled, he would have to teach this Six to behave. He pounced but a wall of stone grew upwards in an instant to block his way, Amog jumped to the side and saw Six running full tilt towards the mountain treeline. Coward. Amog blew on his horn and the rabble filed out of the village and rallied up behind him. It would be a good hunt. Amog led the men after the armor clad man who clanked off in the distance. They ran hard but it wasn¡¯t until they reached the mountain side slope did they see their quarry. The man was trudging up the mountainside and heavy deep breaths reached them as he climbed. ¡°Kill!¡± bellowed Amog, pointing ahead at their target. His bandits streamed forward from either side of him and rushed towards the enchanter. They chased him into the forest, Amog led from the fore, for this Six most likely had a gift that could rival his own and he would be the tankiest counter. But, Six was ahead of them by a fair margin and the armored man picked his way through the forest with practiced ease. Amog could probably chase the man down but he kept pace with his bandits, his immediate presence pushed them harder and he wanted to toughen them up. One of his men lurched and screamed alongside a wet crunch, his leg had fallen into an obscured pothole and the fall had snapped it, clearly. As they gathered around their screaming companion Six turned and weaved gestures in the air. A series of stone spikes burst from the ground one after the other, spearing three of the distracted fools. The blood spewing from the bodies of the fallen dead would smarten the rest up. ¡°Move you idiots!¡± Amog bellowed, and they obeyed, leaving the moaning man behind. Six had continued to flee up the mountain and Amog pushed his bandits. Some were falling to tripwires and vicious snares. Amog himself fell prey to a larger pit trap but his Cloud Boot¡¯s allowed him to cancel the fall and leap to his safety, then continuing the chase. Red flechettes of crystal came flying down and needling the vanguard, they bounced harmlessly off of Amog¡¯s skin but those around him caught the projectiles instead. Six seemed closer now than before and Amog could hear the dry wheezing that marked the enchanter¡¯s eventual surrender. Then a log came rolling down the hill and Amog could hear the screams of those behind him. No matter. Amog activated his perks and his strength ballooned for a moment and with his half ogre heritage he unleashed a devastating upwards swing with his quarterstaff, the obsidian pole plowing right through the wood and tearing the log asunder. The two halves of the log continued down hill and impacted those behind. More wet crunches and snaps were heard. More stone spikes rose and more bandits fell. But Six was so close and Amog wasnt about to let him get away now. Then the trees began falling, as if the forest conspired to crush his men. Dead and alive, the trees fell at the worst times, during the steepest stretches. A part of him considered turning back and getting Oppo and Nancy but he didn¡¯t need them for a fucking enchanter. That tension between him and Six pulsed and Amog knew he needed to kill Six now. His instincts screamed for Six¡¯s death. A man tried to turn back but Amog crushed the back of his head with a well placed slap. Two spears of condensed fractures came sliding out a wand that Six pointed as he ran. Three golden shields sprang up in sequential defense, the first two shattering as the first spear lanced forward and halted upon the golden defense. The second spear was slowed by the third shield but not enough to stop it completely and Amog felt pain as the weakened spear shot into his shoulder. It took off a sizable amount of his health but was nothing compared to what he would do to Six. Amog laughed as Six stashed the wand into thin air, good, he needed another spatial item. Amog was beginning to tire but Six was flagging hard, still the armored man fired off another volley of crimson darts that brought down the last three of his trailing bandits. Amog spat, good riddance. The chase continued for a few more minutes. It had been a hectic short while but there were no more distractions. It was just Amog and this asshole. The terrain leveled out somewhat and Amog chased Six out into a clearing with a small stream running down the mountain from a cave, there was a fucking garden. This was lived in and Amog¡¯s senses became hyper aware. He chuckled in triumph as Six slowed down and began to list to the left, and Amog searched for what he was being led into. He spotted it, there it was, yet another rather large pit trap. Well covered and hidden but once spotted it jumped to his attention. Six moved to stand on the opposite side of it from Amog. Amog approached but halted as two more forms came from the tree line and made their way closer. Amog analyzed them as they approached Earth Golem Level 3 Stocky humanoid forms made of stone, they moved with deliberate slowness. Amog wasn¡¯t worried, they were only level 3. His quarterstaff would smash them easily. He began to slowly walk at Six, he began to chase him around the pit trap. It was time to tear this asshole a new one. Six conjured another stone spike but Amog let it smash harmlessly off his chest. ¡°Another trap? Can¡¯t fight like a man?¡± ¡°Your a fucking ogre dude.¡± ¡°Not my fault, you could have picked literally anything and still chose to be black.¡± ¡°Wow. At least I didn¡¯t choose to be a complete dick.¡± ¡°Oh come on like you haven¡¯t done anything morally questionable since coming here. Six had nothing to say to that. ¡°That¡¯s what I thought. That''s why I¡¯ve always hated guys like you, you think you¡¯re better than us because you think you know what''s right and what''s wrong. Who the fuck are you to judge me? Me? You¡¯re- Oh shit!¡± A large stone hand that was wrapped in red vines erupted from the ground and grabbed Amog¡¯s leg, pulling him down and towards the pit. Amog was falling toward the veil of leaves and burst through the carefully laid vegetation and down into the fucking deep hole below. The impact was lessened from his massive natural defense but it still hurt. The two earth golems jumping and landing on top of him hurt even more. They attempted to hold him down but Amog pushed up and lashed about. He only managed to fight for but a moment before the light of the morning went out. He was in complete darkness but even in darkness Amog was to be reckoned with. He swung wildly with his quarter staff until the prompts assured him he was the only moving thing left in this hole. Now that the chase and combat was interrupted Amog had to look at his situation and he decided he didn¡¯t like it. He retrieved his Everlight Coin from his spatial, a small golden coin that had the symbol of the Great Flame emblazoned on both sides. The coin emitted enough light to illuminate the small stone box he found himself in. The walls were smooth and featureless. The stone ceiling was too high to reach, even for him. The rubble of two golems lay at his feet but that was useless. Amog took a pickaxe from his spatial and tested an easy swing on the wall; a small chunk of wall broke off. We¡¯ll get out of here, it would just take an hour or two. Then a small sliver of light opened up above him. A hole to the outside. Amog shouted. ¡°Six you bastard. Do you think you¡¯re gonna keep me in here? Do you think I won¡¯t fuck you up the second I get out of here?¡± Six¡¯s voice reached him but ¡°I am not going to keep you in there and you are not getting out of there.¡± Then a stream of water began to pour from the hole and into the chamber. Amog felt a chill and his rage drained instantly, Six had always intended this. Amog knew what Six was about to do. Six spoke calmly, ¡°I am going to kill you, Amog. I have to. There is no one else standing before me and the world. Between me and you. I wish we had never met, maybe things could have been different.¡± Amog was going through his ring and desperately searching for a solution to the current problem, but he was already wearing the most useful things he had. Even if he could use his Cloud Boots more than once a day they would not be able to get him up there, much less would he fit through the hole that the water and sound passed through. There was no way out of here. ¡°Things can be different.¡± Amog started ¡°Things-¡± ¡°Are the way they are. I am not saying these words to start a negotiation. I am speaking to a deadman knowing full well the words will only be left with me. These words are meaningless but I find saying them cathartic. While they are for me, I hope they bring you some peace as well.¡± This guy was fucking crazy, Amog could hear it in his voice. ¡°Let me go Six, I¡¯ll go and never come back. You don¡¯t have to do this. It¡¯s wrong to kill a man like this.¡± The chamber was filling fast, alread it was at Amog¡¯s waist. ¡°Most would say it was wrong the way you killed Alison. But, it''s not about what''s wrong or right, bad or good. I¡¯m a transactional person, a gift given freely is free, but nothing is taken without recompense. I started this to help a friend but now, in this moment I realize I feel like you took from me personally. There is nothing objective here.¡± Amog knew there was no logic to be had but still he tried to reason. ¡°I can help you, I can be your muscle, there must be something I can do. We''re from the same world, that means something! We¡¯re the same, you and I.¡± Six laughed something hollow. ¡°That''s true, we are the same. We are both just leaves floating along the river. Encountering things as they come. What might be good, could be bad. What might be bad, could be good. We will never really know. You thought taking the village was good, it was actually bad. I think trusting you is bad. I will live to see the outcome of my decision, you will die.¡± The water continued to fill and Amog shouted. Six said nothing else but Amog was sure that he was there, he still felt the pull, felt the resonance between the two of them. Amog had to begin to swim as the water rose above his head, he screamed to be let out and panic caught in his throat. He was almost at the ceiling when he swung up with his pickaxe clumsily striking with the tool. There was no good leverage to be exploited from the water though. He jammed it into the hole and pulled on the handle but only served to break the tool off in the hole. Amog¡¯s mind trembled in fear as the water encompassed him and dominated the chamber. His final scream drowned. Amog panicked in the water for a moment before the light from the ceiling disappeared and all that remained was his glowing coin that he¡¯d dropped at the bottom of this watery darkness. His mind was trying to force itself to come up with a solution and he froze when he saw the new condition pop up Hypoxia1 It worsened. Hypoxia 2 Amog activated Sacrificial Vitality to clear it It returned. Hypoxia 1 Hypoxia 2 This couldn¡¯t be happening. He wasn¡¯t supposed to die here. He tried to use Sacrificial Vitality again but the cooldown prevented him from doing so. Hypoxia 3 He just wished he got to see more, he didn¡¯t think he would get another chance. He didn¡¯t want to go back to nothingness. He was scared. Hypoxia 4 The light of the coin faded to black. 1.43 With Great Power Six layers of stone had been placed upon the top of the chamber. It took surprisingly long to fill but once full the transition was swift. He knew it before happened before the prompt appeared, that resonating tension snapped and was gone. You have killed level 14 Amog. Experience gained 731+(183). Six almost felt cold with the absence of that feeling of gravity. He felt like he had been robbed of a crescendo. There was no time to waste. Six tossed some more reachleaf in his mouth and turned back down the mountain, Poh Doh in tow. He found wounded bandits and slowly captured them through negotiation or domination, one by one, confiscating their weapons and force marching them down the mountain along the path of carnage. If they couldn¡¯t walk he made the others carry them, it was slow going but eventually he encountered another group coming up the mountain. It was Charles, flanked by two earth golems and leading more wounded and severely injured bandits. There was damage on the golems so Charles must have gotten into a few fights. Still, he managed to rally up with Six and looked to be in control. From there Six led them to the Ley facility and into the residential block. They protested when he sealed them inside but none made a move for the swinging doors. Six felt the cold bite of shame. In his past life he had lived in relative safety, there had been no need to push back against the violence that spawned alongside the peace of the world. Others had done that for him, created security, created the balance of safety and freedom. Even if it wasn¡¯t for the village of Mountain¡¯s End, this was something he had to do for himself. Six returned to the spot where he first spoke with Amog and waved at the few bandit guards on the wall. He stood tall, with Charles, Poh Doh, Nibbler, Lump, and the two earth golems at his back. Six projected his voice to be heard at the palisade. ¡°Amog is dead.¡± He paused to let that sink in, no doubt there was someone important close by and sure enough someone new popped up on the wall. They looked upon Six¡¯s group and Six gestured for them to come out. Instead a man in a tattered blue shirt shouted from the wall, ¡°what do you want?¡± ¡°I am here for your unconditional surrender.¡± Six felt no need to be delicate with his intentions. There was another pause as they discussed it. ¡°Under what terms?¡± ¡°Five year minimum prison term, with additional time for crimes committed during this short occupation.¡± There was another short discussion. ¡°Let us quit this village and go our own ways.¡± Six shook his head, no. ¡°Unacceptable. No. I said unconditional. If you force me to attack there will be no mercy, no clemency, and you will die slowly.¡± The next discussion was marked by the abrupt sounds of conflict and magical explosions. Charles started forward but Six held him back with a sharp gesture. Even if the villagers were being attacked It was important to act together. But the man soon returned. ¡°We are ready to surrender.¡± And with that sixteen more bandits came out of the walls where Six disarmed them, then led them off into the forest. When he opened the sealed door to the residential area, a bandit ran out straight at Six clutching a knife made of shadow. Just before they got into striking range Poh Doh¡¯s massive hand descended from above and slammed them to the ground spraying blood everywhere. Blood that Lump automatically absorbed, pulling it in like strands of red smoke. ¡°Get in,¡± Six ordered and the bewildered bandits did so with no argument. He sealed it once again. That current crisis had been solved but Six wasn¡¯t done. He would never be done. He sighed and closed his eyes. ¡°It is what it is.¡± He knew that life was struggle, both this life and the last had an element of luck associated with his success, his birthplace, his talents, his starting gear. He had hoped to remove himself from that struggle but life was never so simple. Six looked at Charles who waited patiently. Still, Six hesitated, he could not bring himself to do what needed to be done. ¡°Charles, I am about to commit what could by many, be considered evil. I ask you once again, do you still want my help?¡± Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°By Kynarios, Six, you are making yourself out to be a monster.¡± ¡°If I go forward with this task, I think I will be considered a monster from the perspective of some, and it''s for them I am worried. Who am I? No one. These people seek freedom, not my safety.¡± ¡°Why can¡¯t it be both?¡± ¡°It may seem like a false dilemma to you but to me it is a self-evident inverse relationship, and, it is within that disagreement that I find the difficult part of navigating this. We already have a conflict and taming that chaos is something that burns the candle of life away until there is nothing left for anything else. I will not let that happen to me, regardless of our friendship. Are you sure you want my help?¡± ¡°Six, I have nothing. You have been nothing but kind and generous to me, do you not see the good that could come from you growing alongside us rather than from afar?¡± ¡°It is not my potential for good that you should be focusing on. It is my capacity for evil.¡± ¡°Six,¡± Charles hesitated in frustration. ¡°If you truly believe that we are all monsters, shouldn¡¯t you be the one to do something about it? At least you admit it within yourself. If not you? Then what other monster will perform the duty better? I? False prince of no loyalty? Irduth? The crazed priest?Perhaps Leoka? The unrefined foolhard? Or Kynairos forbid, Gatbark? The man who sees only money? Who Six? Who?¡± Who indeed? Six nodded and grunted. He was as good as any in that sense he supposed, as terrible as any. He sighed. ¡°There is still time to be productive.¡± Six walked into Mountain¡¯s End followed by Charles and Nibbler, golems in tow. The people stared at him as he made his bedraggled way forward. Six was still suffering from the loss of his constitution and despite regaining a single point of the stat, Six was still weak. He didn¡¯t want to deal with this bullshit, he didn¡¯t want the emotional baggage of having to actually care for these people. That didn¡¯t matter. Six walked straight to the Leyhall and it was only when he was twenty meters away did someone block his path. Leoka stood against him. She had retrieved some gear now, much of it enchanted by himself. He did not fear such simple workings when weighed against his own gear. One salvo from Lump could easily disable her. ¡°What?¡± SIx asked, his voice was hard. ¡°What do you think you¡¯re doing?¡± Her anger was clear on her face and her voice was tight. ¡°Taking control of the Leyhall?¡± ¡°You come back after killing Amog and crown yourself lord? Alison is dead because of you! Who do you think you are?¡± Leoka pointed and asked simple questions, questions that others wanted the answers to. So, Six spoke to more than just Leoka, he spoke to the village. ¡°I¡¯m sorry but Alison is dead because of Amog. She was relying on you, not me. I think I am Six, the man who killed Amog.¡± She didn¡¯t care, she drew her one handed blade. ¡°You have no right.¡± That declaration incensed Six. He had no right? No right? They had followed him here and brought the very enemy they sought to escape from down upon themselves, catching him in the crossfire. But he calmed himself, she had reason to push against him on this, he didn¡¯t need to take it personally. ¡°I have every right. If you want to try and stop me, go ahead.¡± Six walked straight past Leoka who held her stance and didn¡¯t attack. He was confident in the outcomes of both possibilities of action by her. He came closer to the Leyhall but Min came swinging out from the crowd on a pair of crutches. It looked like he was moving along with intense purpose. Six hesitated while Min drew close before the man shouted at him. ¡°You should have helped, Six. You selfish bastard. He killed her.¡± A single tear ran down his face. ¡°He killed her.¡± Six nodded, his face revealing no emotion while his voice brimmed with transparency. ¡°I should have helped, yes. For that, I am sorry. My apologies.¡± There was only truth to his words. Min growled for a second and Six prepared to receive the man. The growl became a sigh and there was a grey expectation to the next question. ¡°Didja get that bastard?¡± Six nodded at the one-legged man. ¡°He¡¯s done, bud.¡± Min grinned and bellowed his vengeance to the sky before looking Six in the eye and whispering, ¡°thank you.¡± He spun on his crutches and the way was clear. Six approached the dark building. He felt the eyes of the village on him but there was no hesitation as he placed his hand upon the crimson wood. This Village (Mountain¡¯s End) has no owner. Would you like to claim this village? Yes/No? Six selected Yes. He felt power run through him and could see the Townhall1 buff in his conditions and when he checked his stat sheet he found a new tab titled, Village Management. He would explore that later. There were more immediate concerns to be addressed. Six looked at the gathered crowd and gestured for Leoka and Franklin to join him. Leoka came, her expression a thunderstorm while Franklin looked mystified. ¡°Where are the casualties?¡± Six asked of them. That question put Leoka off balance, her expression softening for a moment. ¡°The bandits took most of the casualties, they sought to enslave us, not kill us. We sustained eleven casualties and were not able to do much in the little time we¡¯ve had to ourselves and even then it took time for many of us to recover. The bandits had yet to retrieve theirs as well.¡± ¡°Ok, could you attend to the burial customs of the dead of Moutain¡¯s End? I¡¯ll handle the bandits.¡± Leoka eyed him, weighing Six with her gaze. ¡°Alright.¡± ¡°Franklin, could you construct a funeral pyre for the bandits a fair ways outta town? Nothing fancy, just function. I¡¯ll transport the enemy dead.¡± Franklin looked at him with a fair amount of uncertainty. ¡°Do you have a problem with what''s transpired here Franklin?¡± ¡°Transpired?¡± ¡°Happened.¡± ¡°No my lord.¡± Six¡¯s facade broke at the honorific, but he just grunted. They split up to perform their tasks and SIx spent the next half hour working with Charles and gathering twenty-one bandit corpses. Their golems proved quite the effective tool for movement of goods. Six searched the bodies for any valuables but found nothing but a small amount of coin. The corpses burned poorly, their smoke was wet and thick. It hurt the lungs. But Six watched the fires burn, tossing wood on where more fuel was needed. They burned high, they raged. But in the end, everything was reduced to ash. The light of the fires died to nothing and Six was cast in the twilight of night. He was exhausted and frayed. He thanked Franklin and Leoka and began his march back to his cave. He didn¡¯t get but ten meters before a voice stopped him. ¡°Six.¡± The enchanter turned to see Ravna making her way towards him. ¡°What are you doing?¡± she asked. ¡°Going home?¡± he replied. ¡°No, I mean what are you doing acting like a tough guy towards Leoka?¡± Six pursed his lips. ¡°I wasn¡¯t acting.¡± ¡°Yes, you were. Just like you¡¯re doing now.¡± ¡°Do you think I''m incapable?¡± ¡°Not at all, I don¡¯t think acting like a rock makes you capable. I also think you¡¯re just fooling yourself if you think you¡¯re really like this.¡± ¡°People are dead, Ravna. I must be like this, I must try my best. My people have a saying, ¡®with great power, comes great responsibility.¡¯¡± Six paused, gathering up the courage. ¡°I like you Ravna, but I understand if this changes things. She tucked her chin in and stared up at him all doey eyed. She suddenly batted him on the face and snickered. ¡°You¡¯re so gloomy.¡± He blinked in surprise but smiled at the playful and gentle gesture. ¡°I¡¯d refer to myself as edgy, actually.¡± He hadn¡¯t smiled all day. 2.1 Reorientation Broka 27th 10,391 Six dreamt. Bad dreams of towering buildings built from trash, Six was atop one and fell when it crumbled beneath him. He woke. His body held a tension that he had not felt for a while now. It was as if he was fighting against a weight, and he was, the weight of duty. Instantly his mind went to blazing smokeweed but he grudgingly pushed the idea away. A feeling of irritation and hopelessness sought to rise with him but Six recognized the feelings for what they were, what they were rooted in, selfish hedonism. No. He had things to do. He had no time to waste. Six began with his stretches and visualizations. The thoughts and the quiet of the morning was particularly hard to endure, Nibbler was a welcome salve to complete solitude as she weaved her way around Six as he moved. He understood this momentary lack of focus and attention, his life was to once again be drawn from his ideal of personal self fulfillment and into the sacrificial area of responsibility towards the tribe. It was ok. The concept of tribal responsibility could take many forms depending on the administrative and religious beliefs of an area or individual. Six did not care for such things, for the concepts themselves were not truly objective and fundamentally, it was only the power to enforce them that mattered. Still, he knew that his honor would demand his best, and his honor, his law, would guide him. Six moved through his stretches slowly and deliberately. In his previous life, Six had never had a chance to choose the system he¡¯d lived in, he had been lucky to be born where he was but the way he lived had never been a choice. Yes, many would have traded spots with him even though his adult life was one of poor choices and grueling labor. Still, he would have appreciated the option to live as he¡¯ed been the past few weeks. Even back then he would have probably needed to go into town a few times a year. It was foolish to reminisce. That time was gone and he should not be wasting time now. Skill Increase: Mindfulness - Initiate - 7 This time he blended the crimson lines of Lump¡¯s Blood Darts and the lumbering movements of Poh Doh into his visualizations, it was another layer of complexity but they were weapons and Six needed to include them in his mental practice routines. He would practice his forms with the villagers now so instead of that he fed Nibbler and himself before opening his door, which was now held shut by Poh Doh¡¯s seated form, and went to go get Amog¡¯s stuff. Six approached the tomb, which from the outside looked like a chest high slab of stone. Six hadn¡¯t been sure as to if Amog could smash his way out of it so Six just layered five casts of Stone Wall. He ordered Poh Doh to move portions of the stone until the golem had carefully peeled the thick cap of rock off the water filled chamber. Amog bobbed at the top, floating in typical corpse fashion. Poh Doh pulled the large half-ogre out and the waterlogged body slapped down on the ground. Six sighed. ¡°Sorry buddy, but you had to go, eh.¡± He wasn¡¯t actually sorry, Amog needed to die and Six knew that, he just felt frayed and his emotions were wild. Six began stripping the body but a feeling came over him when he touched the skin of Amog. It had always been there, whatever it was, but that tension came back, that metaphysical weight that seemed to be ever increasing while remaining the same. It didn¡¯t seem to be harmful so Six continued with his business. He stripped the body, inspecting each item and finding several of note. - Cloud Boots - Rank: Enhanced Rarity: Rare Weight - 2 KG Durability: 259/275 Traits: Can be activated once a day to create a temporary platform of clouds underneath the users feet. Requires attunement. - Ring of Prophetic Vital Shield - Rank: Enhanced Rarity: Rare Weight - 4 G Durability: 487/500 Traits: The ring will automatically activate at the cost of 8 charges if the user would take damage equal to 30% of their health from a single attack, conjuring a 200 durability shield of vital mana. 26/26 Charges. Requires attunement. - Obsidiite Bo Staff - Rank: Superior Rarity: Rare Weight - 68 KG Durability: 11470/12500 Traits: Durability will only reduce if the staff takes damage equal to more than the current Durability. - Spatial Satchel - Rank: Enhanced Rarity: Rare Weight - 750 G Durability: 400/400 Traits: Capable of storing up to 5000KG of material. Must be deposited and withdrawn through the satchel mouth. The boots, ring and staff were all very impressive, especially the staff with the Superior quality rank. Six gave the satchel a quick mental glance and could see a ton of items that he would have to inspect and catalog later tonight but for now he was just sticking to the essential looting. There was a light down at the bottom of the chamber and Six sent Poh Doh to retrieve anything new down there. Other than the rubble of his two destroyed earth golems there was one item Poh Doh brought back, an, This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. - Everlight Coin - Rank: Enhanced Rarity: Unusual Weight - 6 G Durability: 499/500 Traits: Constantly emits a dim light, Reagent A neat little trinket, Six wondered how it had a perpetual effect, something to research later. That done, Six pulled out his knife and looked down at the motionless form. The resonance thumped with each beat of Six¡¯s heart, there was something here for him. Six began to butcher. He found it incredibly difficult to pierce the skin of the dead man so instead he had Poh Doh hold the knife and put all of his focus on finely manipulating the golem to skin the man. He wasn¡¯t sure but the main piece of knowledge Six received about Amog was his insane physical defence, but surely the man¡¯s skin would make for good armor. - Skin of Amog - Rank: Enhanced Rarity: Rare Weight - 8KG Durability: 1227/1245 Traits: Material, Reagent Six did not seek mana cores within the man¡¯s body but the source of that resonant pull that lay within Amog¡¯s chest. Six eventually laid hands upon Amog¡¯s heart, hands covered in blood, and the pressure built until there was a release and Six felt something flow into him. His body experienced a ride of hallucinations and sensations and Six almost collapsed. That felt good. Six had done a few harder drugs before but this feeling that overtook him, he loved it. - Heart of a Fateling (Amog) - Rank: Enhanced Rarity: Artifact Weight - 680G Durability: 50/50 Traits: Material, Reagent, Consumable Artifact? He had never seen anything Artifact rarity, and It was a consumable? Crazy, well it''s not like he was human, so it wouldn¡¯t be cannibalism. Hmm, he was a half-ogre. Six thought he remembered not being allowed to be ¡°Mixed race¡± but it seemed like Amog had figured it out somehow. So would it be half cannibalism? He was considering this far too seriously. He most likely wasn¡¯t gonna eat the heart. Still it should make for a good material if he could get it preserved. Six placed the organ in his inventory and hoped it would keep for a while. He had no immediate use for it and wouldn¡¯t rush into anything immediately. Instead he headed down to Mountain¡¯s End. He marched into town to the stares of the villagers who now seemed somewhat standoffish. That was fine. It was almost preferable. Six handed in Amog¡¯s skin to Hodgekins and the dwarf woman almost turned him away but Six reminded her. ¡°You owe me.¡± And she did, he had brought her far more pelts and skins than anyone else most likely and he rarely if ever had actually used her service. More than likely he would have traded or forgiven the debt but right now he needed to get things done. This was a good resource and they would leverage it. Hodgekins pursed her lips and shook her head but took the skin of Amog and gave Six a rough time of completion for three days, Six nodded and gave his thanks. Jebbedo smiled when he saw Six standing in line and they made easy conversation while Six stepped aside and allowed the line to continue. It was good to see a face treat him somewhat normally. After a bit, Six asked the biggest question on his mind. Six leaned in to whisper his question. ¡°How are the food stores coming?¡± Jebbedo grimaced. ¡°More can¡¯t hurt. If we work really hard, Kynairos might bless us, you know?¡± Six smiled weakly. ¡°Gotcha. Hey, could you do me a solid and preserve a chunk of meat as soon as possible?¡± Jebbedo lifted an eyebrow. ¡°Is it important lord business as soon as possible?¡± Six narrowed his eyes at the little man but smiled. ¡°Yea.¡± ¡°Sure.¡± Six brought out the heart of Amog and plopped it into a bowl that Jebbedo had ready. ¡°Where¡¯d you get this?¡± ¡°Amog.¡± ¡°Huh. Well¡­ Alright.¡± ¡°Can you preserve it?¡± ¡°I think so, not perfectly but for a while. Can I ask why? It''s not necromancy is it? You¡¯re not getting into necromancy are you?¡± Six waved the thought away. ¡°Nah, nah. Enchanter stuff. I do have a necromancy spell I might use though, trying to be careful with it though.¡± ¡°Huh. Well¡­ Alright. Just be careful.¡± ¡°Cool, I will. Let me know how much I owe you and if you need anything.¡± Lump cleaned Six of any stray Amog blood before he took his bowl of stew and bread. He gestured thanks to both Jebbedo and Min before turning and searching for Charles and Leoka. Six¡¯s eyes scanned the crowd and saw the averted gazes. He heard the whispers. None really saw him do anything, they knew of him when he traveled with them but he was different from the man he was back then. He would continue to be different. All they knew is he defeated Amog. Charles came out from the bustle of the recovering village and waved to Six. Six waved back. ¡°How¡¯d you know I was looking for you?¡± Charles cocked his head, ¡°I asked some people to keep an eye out for you and tell me if they see you.¡± Six nodded then immediately sent the young orc off to gather as many off duty guards and hunters as he could. Charles also told Six where he could find Leoka and he found her in discussion with Franklin. The two women stopped and stared at Six as he walked over to the new building that was being staked out near the east end of the village, where the lake narrowed into a river. Six nodded his acknowledgement at both women. ¡°I need a report on the town and our food situation, can you help me with that Leoka?¡± She snickered and scoffed. ¡°Why should I help you?¡± Six had anticipated this, he kept his face calm, he breathed slowly and deeply. ¡°Leoka, you don¡¯t have to do anything, I am offering you the opportunity to participate. Despite being too weak to seize leadership for yourself, you have the type of character I want to work with.¡± Six waited. He could see the rotation of emotions play out across Leoka¡¯s face, anger, confusion, understanding, and back to anger. She shrugged. ¡°Fine. The people are scared, morale is low. Some talk of heading back to Olisrosa and abandoning what we have here. Even some of my people are thinking of trying it in the city. Jebbedo says the food is getting low and that the crops won¡¯t be ready soon enough.¡± She paused and gave Six an inquiring look, he gestured for her to continue. ¡°We have enough shelter for everyone but it''s cramped and dirty, that''s bad for morale. Most industries have yet to get their workshops built so our market is dead. Money¡¯s not moving. Ethel says the monsters are thick and seeming to get thicker, the hunters are coping with them currently but it''s still very dangerous to hunt and bring back substantial fare, not to mention as the farms get larger, defending the farmers will also become more difficult.¡° Six nodded that made sense, horizontal sprawl made emergency response times terrible. ¡°Crime?¡± ¡°A bit of stealing here and there but nothing serious.¡± ¡°What''s the next development target?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°What¡¯s the town attempting to achieve?¡± ¡°A Mill, several actually. One for food and the others for lumber¡± ¡°Sounds good, I won¡¯t be able to directly assist with that for a few days, perhaps a week. Until then, I have something for you, Franklin.¡± Franklin had been standing in on their conversation and stared as Six bottomed out his ley mana and conjured five Ley Workers. One by one, triangular shapes rose out from the ground, they were made of rock and shaped like four sided pyramids and each with an etched eye at the peak of their faces. The pyramids were about the size of a man and floated just above the ground. They hovered ominously. ¡°Ta daaa,¡± Six said lamely. ¡°Uh,¡± the big woman started. ¡°What are these?¡± ¡°Your new helpers. They can do very simple tasks very well, like move that there, or hold this there. I found they''re pretty good at digging, so that might help. I dunno. Let me know how they go and if you don¡¯t like em we can get rid of them.¡± Six demonstrated by giving some orders to the floating obelisks. They lifted objects by using a beam of energy projected from their inscribed eye. ¡°Check it out, tractor beams,¡± Six joked. No one laughed. He had the ley workers lift and move various things, dirt, wood, and stone, they seemed quite strong as they floated and held lumber in place. Franklin was silent for a moment and Six could see her work through some thoughts before her expression firmed. ¡°Can¡¯t hurt to try,¡± she said. Six turned control of the ley workers over to her, the control of the floating pyramids were tied to the Ley Nexus otherwise Franklin would have never been able to control so many. Six could also wrest control away at any moment. They lasted a year so Franklin should be able get a good amount done with the extra work. He watched her experiment with them and gave her some tips that he figured out when he was using them to dig pits for the running battle. It didn¡¯t take long before she just started to put them to work. Then Charles showed up with almost thirty people, mostly guards and hunters. Six thanked both of them and turned to the group Charles had assembled. He cleared his throat. ¡°Thank you for coming to the defence of Mountain¡¯s End. Charles told me of your effort, of your valor, and of your courage. The people of this place could not ask for more but it was still not enough.¡± A group of children ran past, laughing and chasing each other. ¡°It is what it is. I won¡¯t lie to you and say you were prepared, that you were strong enough. You were not. We-¡± Six emphatically gestured to all of them assembled. ¡°Must grow. It is self evident and I do not mean to sound condescending but there is no other option than growth. We must grow and progress until we are enough.¡± Six sighed in grim determination. ¡°And then still, we must grow.¡± 2.2 Reorganization Broka 27th 10,391 ¡°So. How do we become more?¡± Six asked the question to the gathered warriors who awaited his answer. ¡°By working together. By becoming a machine. I was wrong to live separate while using this place for the things I could not provide myself, I was using you and taking valuable resources away for myself. Yes I traded for them but I refused responsibility to the community that was supporting me. I can''t help but feel you would have fought for me too.¡± Six steepled his fingers and looked down in consternation. ¡°Everyone is different, not all of us can endure the pain of battle. I am willing to fight. I understand that life is conflict, and while life can be unforgiving and ruthless it is the only thing we can do to fight against it. Eh? I refuse to force anyone to fight but I ask you join me in trying to fucking survive, together. If you do not wish to fight, to grow. I say that I will not hold it against you if you leave now. Everyone is different.¡± He paused but no one left. He nodded in appreciation. ¡°Thank you. Now, what was the hierarchy of command?¡± No one said anything until Charles spoke up. ¡°Alison never really created a command structure beyond herself.¡± ¡°Ok. Does anyone have any formal command experience or training?¡± Only Charles raised his hand. Six could see Tavi almost lift her hand but she thought better of it and dropped it. Fallen nobles. ¡°Aight, Charles, you¡¯re number two. Anybody have a problem with that?¡± No one spoke up. ¡°Good. Now, we have only a few hundred people here and that doesn¡¯t give us much to work with in terms of scaling our power with sheer numbers so the next option is increasing the personal power of each person. This strategy at its most base means gaining levels, but I plan to explore any and all avenues of increasing all of our personal power, to that end I am planning on training apprentice enchanters. I am capable of making much myself but I too must grow and won¡¯t be able to enchant constantly.¡± ¡°I volunteer to learn enchantment,¡± Charles said. Tavi broke in immediately. ¡°I wish to learn enchantment as well.¡± Six nodded to Tavi and internally questioned if Charles had the time to invest but didn¡¯t call the lad out in front of his new command. It was alot of responsibility and Six couldn¡¯t undermine him right at the start. ¡°Good, but we need equipment to enchant, so I plan on building a more industrial minded smithy and surveying for a mine as well as. All I can say is that I plan to have whoever¡¯s fighting for our defence, in our best. That will come in time, until then we must leverage what we have. We will be making ten teams that will be based around a Ley Champion who has focused on improving their durability. I don¡¯t care how Alison distributed the buff but we need our most durable to lead from the vanguard and keep the damage off the teams Charles will be forming. Focusing the damage on to Ley Champions will be how we can continue our patrols consistently, they will be able to recover extremely quickly and the whole team will be able to return to patrol perhaps completing multiple encounters per day.¡± No one argued with this simple logic. ¡°Another thing I want to do is test affinities. How is that done?¡± ¡°Why would you need to test affinities?¡± Tavi asked, her arms crossed. ¡°I want to test for life magic affinity in our population, we need healing magic.¡± ¡°You would need permission from the Imperial Mages Guild for that, they are also the ones who can test for affinities although the process can be quite expensive depending on the number of skills you are testing for.¡± Six blew a raspberry and waved the thought away. ¡°This isn¡¯t an Imperial settlement, I really don¡¯t care about those regulations. Empire¡¯s dead anyways.¡± Stolen story; please report. At that last comment Tavi¡¯s face scrunched in anger but she quickly took on a more neutral expression. Six didn¡¯t care about imperial regulations, he wasn¡¯t about to sacrifice himself for those. ¡°Most importantly we need the ability to heal our people. We need it. Also, if we have someone who can test for affinities we can find more people who are talented in testing for affinities, and be able to scale the ability to test. Do we have anyone capable of it?¡± Tavi looked uncomfortable but nodded. ¡°Celine can do it. My friend, she works for Gatbark but if you ask she will probably do it.¡± Six nodded. ¡°We need healers, we need to know our affinities.¡± Growth and recovery were what Six sought for his people. For the rest of the meeting Six had Charles compile some simple information about the warriors of the village, their strengths, styles and levels, and who was willing to volunteer to be a Ley Champion. Six reflected on the foundation he was creating here. Feudal societies were essentially in many cases a military ruling class exerting power over the production class. He would have to be careful to avoid that while still promoting a healthy standing military force. He went and grabbed as much food as Min and Jebbedo could spare as he would need it for the next part. Six waited for Charles to finish with the administration before having him and four of the village guards follow him to the ley complex. Nibbler around his neck, and Poh Doh at his back. Charles smiled at the, ¡°oohs,¡± and ¡°aahs,¡± of the village guards as they entered the complex for the first time. Six stopped and addressed them as they stood in front of the door to the residential area. ¡°These people attacked you and while I see it fit to give them a second chance. That''s all I have to give, if they do anything violent to any of us, it''s death.¡± They nodded in understanding, almost yearning. He turned and opened the door, to the gathered faces of Amog¡¯s bandits, now his prisoners. It was silent as they regarded him. Six walked in and stood with the guards at his back and Charles at his side, Poh Doh¡¯s form blocked the way out. It was silent ¡°Your term for the crime of organized banditry is five years.¡± The murmurs began then, a ripple of discontent and worry went through the assembled crowd. One took a step forward, a human woman with dark hair, she wore a well kept robe and sneered at him. ¡°Five years? For a bit of thieving?¡± ¡°People died.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t kill anybody, Amog was trying to preserve life.¡± ¡°Funny way to preserve life. Anyways, you helped. You participated and that makes it enough for me to take five years of your life.¡± A grumble between the gathered began to grow but Six cut it off with a raised hand. ¡°This is not a negotiation. You have no more chances. If you want your time reduced then contribute back to the people you wronged. You can gather or make things, I¡¯ll even allow you to fight. All I care about is contribution. Contribute enough and you can reduce your sentence by half.¡± ¡°And how can we contribute if we don¡¯t have the skills or tools to create what you want?¡± the woman asked. ¡°I will provide it.¡± ¡°This still isn¡¯t fair, many of us weren¡¯t bandits by choice.¡± Her statement was echoed by those in the crowd. Six exhaled slowly, and gestured with his steepled hands. ¡°I can believe that some of you were coerced, but it is impossible for me to verify any of your stories. It is unfortunate for those among you that participated out of fear but I am not perfect and life is not perfect. This is the best I can do for those of you that participated in the attack on the village.¡± The woman slumped and sighed, she nodded. ¡°I guess I¡¯ll fight then.¡± ¡°Good. Well, you¡¯ll answer to the boy.¡± Six said pointing at Charles. Charles looked spooked and surprised but quickly nodded his confirmation. ¡°Understand?¡± Six asked the woman? She looked surprised but nodded with no complaint. ¡°Alrighty then. We will return tomorrow until then-¡± Six dumped the few barrels of water he picked up in town along with the food. ¡°Distribute this equally amongst yourselves.¡± Six turned to leave but stopped to add one last thing. ¡°Know this, you have no more chances. If I learn of any reason to end you, I will.¡± Six sealed the door closed again and experimented with giving Charles control over the doors of the complex which was pretty simple once he mentally communicated his intent to the actual doors. ¡°I¡¯m just supposed to exert authority over those bandits?¡± Charles asked with a bit of frustration in his voice. ¡°Yes,¡± Six replied. ¡°I know some of them are stronger than me. I lost to them.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Charles looked frustrated for a moment before grumbling, ¡°I don¡¯t see how I¡¯m going to control them.¡± ¡°To start, you will rely on me to give you standing and authority. Soon, I¡¯m confident you will grow past most of them. You are willing and full of drive. You have education and talent, you have already grown much.¡± Charles sighed. ¡°Thanks I suppose.¡± ¡°No problem. Thanks for taking on the responsibility.¡± Six pointed at the other guards that were pretending to not listen. ¡°That goes for you too. Thank you.¡± From there Six sent Charles back to the village with the others, he would join them later on. Instead, Six took his time walking back to his cave. It was a comfort to see the lush garden beds and charred firepit. He pulled each plant and deposited it into his storage. Inside, he gathered the items he had been collecting. His bedroll, lamp and books. The weight bar and weights he took from the complex. There really wasn¡¯t much. He placed all those back into his spatial and grabbed the last item. Six picked up his terrarium and beheld it carefully. His little rollie pollie guys were still in there, he couldn¡¯t see many but he saw one or two munching on the leaves he¡¯d strewn in there. He added more leaves from the blood branch and made some more shade for the bugs. They were pretty neat. Six wanted to stay in his cave but it wouldn¡¯t be the most responsible. No, he should be closer to the village, stay there as much as he could and cut down on response times for incidents. It would allow him to be more visible and exert more relevancy in the minds of the villagers. Also, Ravna wouldn¡¯t want to live in a cave¡­ probably¡­ if they ever moved in together. Not that he and her were a thing or anything, but, change could be good. 2.3 Re-engagement Broka 27th 10,391 Six took up an office room in the rear of the leyhall, this would do until he had the time for something more personal. He was tired and wanted to sleep but before that he needed to check one more thing. He brought up the village management tab and began to check things over. Mountain¡¯s End Rank 1 Village Current Citizens: 483 Current Gross Wealth: 6841 Gold Policy: Minor Monarchy Morale: Low Crime: Low Hygiene: Acceptable Education: None Structures: 13 Didn¡¯t seem too bad. Six focused on gaining more information on the structures of the village and it expanded into a more granular list. Structures: Leyhall of Blood and Ash (Enhanced) Smithy X 2 Longhouse X 7 Healers hut Palisade Leatherworkers Yard Focusing on the Leyhall brought up a new screen. Ley Champions 7/10 Charles 5 Tavi 4 Chegg 4 Bobert 5 Jinrai 4 Teller 3 Vaz 4 Only seven left, that means that three of the dead were Ley Champions. Six grimaced, the champion buff was good but it didn¡¯t stop people from dying. He attempted to assign himself as a Ley Champion but received a prompt. The Ley Master cannot be assigned as a Ley Champion. Six saw that coming from a mile away so it didn¡¯t really irk him at all. He spent a bit of time looking at the granular breakdowns of the tabs, in particular spending some time within the policy tab which allowed him to implement policies like taxation, and simple laws or change the system of governance. He selected a low 5% tax rate on all purchases, this was just the setting of a law though, the system did not actually enforce these rules. It was up to his people to follow them. He also saw a heraldry section and spent a little time designing the heraldry for himself and his ¡®lineage.¡¯ It white linework of a six sided die, with each face reading six dots, on a field of black. The day after, Six called a town gathering. The people massed in the village square that sat before the ley hall and once they were gathered Six rose into the air on a chunk of stone that was being suspended by a pair of the pyramidal ley workers. He projected his voice out across the crowd. ¡°Carralevine is dead. Alison is dead. Amog is dead. I am stronger than Leoka. Does anyone wish to challenge me for leadership? Does anyone object?¡± No one spoke. ¡°Does anyone wish passage back to Olisrosa?¡± No one wished to leave either. Six nodded at the crowd. ¡°It is my responsibility to provide safety, security, and opportunities, in this respect I will try my best. All I ask for is peace within our community and a personal ideal of tolerance. We are on a ship. We need to work together and be one crew, there is no compulsion or coercion to this observation. I want to help those who help me and I will compensate those who contribute. Now, behold.¡± Six then withdrew the magical seeds and displayed them to the gathered crowd. Six had decided to use the seeds and had spent some time thinking about the reagents he would use to alter the final trees. It was strange the transmutive effect that the crafting in this world worked. Reagents were powerful but unpredictable. There was Kytaligan¡¯s soul core or his artificed Furyian heart; Six imagined those would create a more sentient tree, perhaps even reincarnating Kytaligan as the tree itself. The Heart of Amog could also have a reincarnation effect on the tree or simply make it extremely durable, it impossible to know until he tried and many of these items were unique or extremely hard to acquire. There was the concentrated blood sap, that would surely make a powerful blood tree perhaps one more dangerous than Vostialkanoko. The glassteel ingot with its high quality rank and extreme durability would definitely produce something powerful or perhaps the stillver as according to Ravna stillver was known for its absorptive properties. The shadow mycelium foot might yield a looming shadow fungus, who knows what that would do. Instead Six had taken his morning to go feed the prisoners and while there had picked the rest of the empress berries then had Jebbedo cook reduce them down into the thickest concentrate the halfling could manage. This jam would be the reagent. He went to plant the seed on the east side of the leyhall and lowered himself to the ground as he went to place it into the small hole he dug, alongside a mundane mana core. He received a prompt. You are attempting to plant a Superior Magic Seed This will require one Mundane Common Mana Core to complete and will take materials from the most suitable nearby source. Concentrated Empress Jam reagent detected. Would you like to begin this planting now? Yes/No? It would be months if not a year before the bush would most likely yield another harvest, but that was ok. This was for the people. He selected yes. The seed fell into the hole and the jam rose from the jar that contained it and flew into the pulsing seed that instantly began to sprout roots, eating dirt and air, and reaching both into the ground and up to the sky. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. Creaking wood was the primary sound as it rose up alongside the building and quickly became a small tree about three meters in height. Broad deep green spade shaped leaves sprouted from the branches and a sweet scent filled the air. Its deep purple bark was ringed like a birch or cherry. Planting Successful! - Magic Emperor Tree - Level: 3 Rank: Enhanced Rarity: Rare Weight - 131 KG Durability 400/400 Traits: Will of Records, Inspired Retention This tree may endow individuals within its domain of influence (2km) with the following buffs Will of Records: 10% increase to the experience gained Inspired Retention: 10% increase to skill acquisition Everyone clapped as Six held his hands out, gesturing at this marvel. Six couldn¡¯t hear anything in his mind as he did with Vostialkanoko but he knew there was intelligence in these lifeforms. Six inclined his head at the tree. ¡°Welcome, tree of learning. Thank you for your blessing.¡± There was a slight shudder amongst its leaves, but perhaps that was the wind. Six looked out across his people and watched as the murmurs rippled through them. They spoke of this tree and the benefits that would come with it. Six marched to the opposite side of the leyhall and prepared a hole much the same, this time the reagent would be different. The first tree had been for the people. Six hadn¡¯t been sure as to the exact benefits it would have provided but he was sure it would have provided some benefits to whomever controlled it. This Emperor tree may withdraw its boon one day, and on that day Six might have to cut it down. But this next tree was for him. And it would stand for as long as he would. This he knew. Six held his hand above the hole and Lump quivered its way to his palm. From the blood golem came blood, it poured and watered the thirst ground. It drenched the earth. Six could have used the remaining Concentrated Magic Blood Sap to make something pure and powerful, but that would not have been for himself. Six could have used the blood of others, something broad and reliable, but that would not have been for himself. So he had slowly been filling Lump¡¯s reservoir with his own blood. The blood of the land, of the ley. You are attempting to plant a Superior Magic Seed This will require one Mundane Common Mana Core to complete and will take materials from the most suitable nearby source. Ley Master Blood reagent detected. Would you like to begin this planting now? Yes/No? Yes. The blood fell in reverse, it was pulled up from the ground. The seed and mana core held by Six were taken by the coalescing streams of blood, brought further into the eye of the roiling orbits. The seed sprouted tendrils of pulsating flesh, searching. They grew and when one latched on to solid ground the rest quickly braided themselves along the anchor. Their exterior hardened into ridged plates as dark leaves sprouted from crimson branches. The seed grew suspended by magic and flesh. It happened quickly and soon Six saw a crimson hued big leaf maple tree reaching above the leyhall. It was beautiful. Planting Successful! - Primordial Blood Tree - Level: 3 Rank: Enhanced Rarity: Rare Weight - 146 KG Durability 400/400 Traits: Four Folded Aspects, Ley Life Well, Bloodcasting Six immediately felt a new mental connection form with this thing. It was barely awake but there was something there. A hunger, a need. A want. Six dominated the lower leveled tree and his will easily brought its cravings under control. Six could feel it extend its mind and explore the connection. It recoiled a bit when it encountered Six but eventually ventured forth to find him and understand their relationship. Six could feel its outrage at being subservient but that outrage also felt right. It had once been a part of him and that was the only reason that it was considering this acceptable, within its limited experience and understanding. But once Six impressed upon it the consequences for breaking his laws, it understood its place. Six once again inclined his head towards the tree of blood. ¡°Welcome, tree of passion. Thank you for your blessing. The blessings were quite powerful Four Folded aspects: This tree may endow individuals within its domain of influence (2km) with the following buffs Blood and Soil: Earth affinity += N*2 Current increase: 6% Ley Life Well: The tree and ley master share a connection, allowing a transference of health between the two. Transfer speed = 20% of respective max health over 1 minute of channeling He felt a weak pull at his lifeforce from the connection and laughed. He crushed that pull and exerted himself over the plant. Six turned to the speechless crowd and smiled. ¡°We ain''t even started yet.¡± The next few days were pure work as Six began to mold the village into the machine he wanted to see. He elected new ley champions and trained with the guards in the morning and then grinded on patrol with Nibbler and his golems. After a few hours of grinding he went back to help with scaling the town, they needed more infrastructure so he built on his own as Franklin put buildings up with her crew. Six delivered on that bakery and grew a prestethic for Min, the man had been patient and getting more and better bread was a good way of stretching the food stores. Six reorganized the priorities list and they started on a central construction yard as it would increase the speed of any subsequent construction. A saw mill was produced to maximize resource creation and provide milled lumber, which as a material, synergized with the construction yard well. A kitchen was created for Jebbedo and more longhouses were put up to give people space. Leoka had stressed the importance of keeping the hygiene stat high lest the travelling doctors pay Mountain¡¯s End a visit. Ominous but Six didn¡¯t plan to let this place get nasty nor did he have time to really get into that, because after his construction shift Six would run to the farms and lay down a Plant Growth buff on the land. He hoped to make sure everyone had enough to eat and that meant making sure the land provided. He returned at near midnight and began the same thing again the following dawn. Of course his skills skyrocketed with such constant use, rising multiple skill levels. Analyze - Initiate - Level 6-7 Athletics - Initiate - Level 5-7 Elemental magic - Initiate - Level 5-8 Cycle magic 3-4 Blood Magic - Initiate - Level 7-8 Blood Casting - Initiate - Level 8-9 Butchery - Initiate - Level 10-11 Carpentry 8-12 Construction 11-14 Heavy Armor - Initiate - Level 21-22 Herbalism - Initiate - Level 10-11 Taming - Initiate - Level 10-11 Traps - Initiate - Level 11-12 Maces - 4-5 Masonry - Initiate - Level 10-12 Meditation - 12-15 Mindfulness - 6-8 Perception - Initiate - Level 9-10 Polearms - Initiate - Level 14-15 Unarmed - Initiate - Level 8-10 Survival - Initiate - Level 8-9 Stealth - Initiate - Level 10-11 Swords 9-10 It was relentless and everything Six feared. Still it wasn¡¯t as bad as it felt. Charles had organized the guards into five groups of six give or take one or two, the Ley Champions distributed two a piece to each squad. If they ever doubled their numbers of warriors then they could have ten squads of six, but until then Charles determined this was the best distribution of fighters durability. They had talked about how to handle the bandits and had decided on adding one or two to each patrolling group. Charles was to impress on the townspeople that they did not have to like them but to treat the prisoners with respect and decency. The boy was confused but Six explained. ¡°Some of these people are probably animals but I think most could be turned to our side, a more considered way of life. Treating them properly is not only just right it is also more psychologically effective than just fear. The goal is rehabilitation.¡° It was alot of responsibility and Charles was young. That being said, he had gone to an academy and it sounded like survived a difficult academy arc. He had also proved himself, time and time again, Six had to trust that the kid had it controlled. He had managed to ask that Celine person, who had been a young human woman, about casting for affinities and she kindly accepted with little negotiation on her part. Which was strange but everyone seemed to be Gatbark was none too pleased and let SIx now as the enchanter was laying down some stone floors. ¡°you¡¯re stealing my workers!¡± That was a big accusation outta nowhere. ¡°Your workers?¡± ¡°Celine was working for me and you come in here and just commandeer her like that?¡± ¡°I asked and she said yes.¡± ¡°She can¡¯t say no to the lord!¡± ¡°Eh. That¡¯s not true. She could have very well continued to work for you, but while we are here talking, let me make one thing clear.¡± Six leaned in a whispered so only Gatbark could hear him. ¡°Where I came from wealth was power, and I see that in you, a desire for wealth, but underneath that the power it brings.¡± Gatbark pulled up and steeled his face, revealing nothing. Six smiled. ¡°You can either work for me, or play within my rules. I will tell you now, I will never let another¡¯s wealth have control over me and if you attempt to fuck with me in that way, you will fuckin find out right quick bud.¡± Gatbark nodded. Right then. I''m planning a trip to Olisrosa in a week of two, do you wanna come do some trading for me?¡± Gatbark sniffed. ¡°Leave all my ventures? I''ll be ruined. The compensation I would need to justify such a trip would be pretty hefty, not to mention-¡± Six waved it away. ¡°No problem, I¡¯ll figure it out.¡± ¡°Wait, wait, don''t be so hasty, I can be ready in a week or two.¡± Six nodded the potential for making money was too much for the dwarf. ¡°Perfect. Thanks man.¡± Once the Plant Growth buff had been sufficiently and evenly applied SIx had alot of his time open up. Time he used to begin the training of his enchanters and time to work on some personal projects, the new fullplate Ravna was close to completing and a new project he wanted her to work on. But to have the full toolkit available to enchant his armor he would need to seclude himself and work on breaking down and cataloging some of the new enchanted items he had access to. It was time for inventory management. 2.4 Second Set Phila, the 2nd 10,391 Six had taught people before, training new groundsmen at work and even teaching people some of his hobbies, this coven of enchanters were to serve the community but Six soon realized an unforeseen benefit. Enchantment was something Six was interested in and teaching the basic concepts allowed Six to recontextualize the information personally. What he had gained with the skill book was expertise and knowledge but not experience or perspective, reviewing from the ground up solved that. Charles and Tavi both proved adept at enchantment, but in different ways. Charles apparently had an affinity for earth and dark magic while Tavi had affinity for fire and air, all in the high eighties. Charles assured Six that anything above an eighty percent affinity meant that the person could reach master rank in the skill. Tavi¡¯s enchantment affinity was 91% but Charles unfortunately did not know his. ¡°You don¡¯t know yours?¡± Tavi asked with the snarkiness of a privileged youth. ¡°I don¡¯t know mine either,¡± Six said diplomatically. ¡°Yes but you are some weird ignorant guy.¡± ¡°Rude.¡± ¡°Well that¡¯s what Charles said.¡± Six placed a hand on his chest and gasped in his most offended voice. Charles cleared his throat. ¡°I did attend the academy but no, I don¡¯t know mine.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Tavi asked. ¡°It¡¯s something personal.¡± ¡°Come on.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be insubordinate.¡± ¡°Pssh, in here we¡¯re student peers.¡± ¡°Well, it''s still personal.¡± ¡°Bu-¡± ¡°Eh, leave him alone.¡± Six broke in. ¡°What I want to know is why you don¡¯t know any magic, Charles.¡± Charles sighed. ¡°It''s personal.¡± Six shrugged. ¡°Aight, no problem. I can teach you a few earth magic spells if you want.¡± Charles hesitated. ¡°Empire¡¯s dead kid, you might wanna take the power.¡± The boy nodded. ¡°Fine.¡± Tavi gasped. ¡°You can¡¯t do that Charles. You¡¯re an imperial and that means no magic unless by royal or guild permit.¡± ¡°What royals? They¡¯re all dead, and the guild are clearly traitors. What exactly would I be betraying by strengthening myself?¡± Tavi pouted but stayed quiet. Six grunted. ¡°Ok, I think I can show you a few but later.¡± Instead, Six brought them and a few others through the basics of enchanting. Feeling the mana within you, drawing and condensing it, and projecting it out, through one¡¯s body. He made sure to focus on the dangers of pushing an enchantment past the item''s stability threshold, how it could potentially be fatal. He handed out the enchantment tools he claimed from the complex and instructed on their use. The students started their journey with simple items, and simple weapons. Daggers and clothes or the like. Three of them were immediately able to infuse mana, just for a brief moment as they broke concentration and the mundane mana core that each of them held shattered and broke apart, dissolving into dust. This venture was going to be expensive, as training subordinates usually was. It was good that the rainforest was thick with monsters. The successes were Charles, Tavi, and one more, an older man, a bandit who volunteered for service. His name was Biggo and he was larger than Six, laden with thick slabs of muscle. A lumpy shaved head and beady eyes produced a shark like image. He looked like a meathead but Six knew better than to judge a book by its cover. He also didn¡¯t know his enchanting affinity. ¡°Good job, Biggo.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± The man rumbled. The others continued to try as Six doled out a new mana core to each of the ones that succeeded and bade them to continue. The first few days would be finding the most promising and then it would be teaching them well enough for them to teach others. For now, while they practiced Six would tinker on his own projects. First came the expansion of his library and toolkit. He began to examine items. There was the lamp he had retrieved from the K¡¯gan complex. - Mana Lamp - Rank: Enhanced Rarity: Unusual Weight - 2.3 KG Durability 60/60 Traits: Can be infused with mana to provide light for a time. After some examination Six concluded it was not made with an enchantment, rather a series of stones that when infused with mana underwent a reaction that produced a dim glow. Interesting but artificing was currently outside of Six¡¯s skillset. The heatstone that Six found was also quite similar in design. He moved on to the Wand of Mana Spear. This was a truly enchanted item and Six could image the spell matrix within the item. Using Deconstruct enchantment technique he broke it down, the wood of the wand shattering and the spell of it being absorbed by the perk. The knowledge flowed into Six and he learned a new spell and skill. Spell: Mana Spear Rank: Moderate Cooldown: 2s Range: 80m Casting Time: Instant Duration: Instant Mana Cost: 250 mana Effect: The user conjures a spear of reality fractures and launches it with great speed towards the targeted location or opponent. Skill gained Force Magic - Initiate - 1 Allows users to form minor force magic constructs. Each level provides a 0.5% increase in spell effectiveness and a 0.25% reduction in mana costs. Current increase 0.5% Current reduction 0.25% This spell cost more than his current personal mana pool, if he wanted to utilize it he would have to bloodcast and that was less than desirable for a combat spell. Something he could grow into as a spell and something he should hopefully be able to reproduce as an enchantment. That being said the mana core requirements would jump severely for an enchantment of moderate rank. He wouldn¡¯t be able to produce many wands with this, especially with his current plans. That meant that breaking down the Stone Skin or Triple Strike ring would lead to him only severely limiting himself from their creation and use so he decided against that. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it Instead he broke down the Ring of Improved Jump and learned the Minor Rune of Jump. Improved Jump: The primary effect of the Rune of Jump is to grant individuals the ability to jump to greater distances than they would be able to achieve naturally. One Amulet of Unknown brought him the Minor Rune of Obscurement. System Obscurement: The primary effect of the Rune of Obscurement is to prevent the discovery and perception of the system information related to the item or the user. Even after he broke that one down he had his own and two spares to distribute. Six then started going through Amog¡¯s stuff. First he broke down the Cloud Boots and received a new rune as the fine leathers fell apart. Moderate Rune of Cloud Cloud Creation: This rune allows for the creation of clouds or the adoption of cloud-like qualities. It conjures cloud formations or alters materials into a more cloud like form. Cloud Densification: Grants the ability to manipulate the density of cloud constructs, allowing their density to be set from a mist to a near solid. Both were useful. Six could see this being used for temporary structures like scaffolding or event installations. In a more military sense this could provide cover for troop movements. The Ring of Vital Shield was something he was also going to save and use. He considered breaking it down but decided it was too strong to reproduce easily at this point. It was also an attunement item and Six wanted to avoid creating those as much as possible, he wanted to flood his people with easily stackable gear, that meant weapons and armor. The Everbright Coin proved impossible to deconstruct despite Six spamming five uses of his perk into it. It was frustrating to be met with continual failure after so much success but Six let it go and moved on. There was a tome, Kotagan¡¯s Encyclopedia of Esoterism significantly improved one¡¯s ability to identify monsters and items. It essentially increased the effectiveness of the analyze and inspect skill, improving it by 18 skill levels. This would only increase the value of the item as he leveled, unfortunately it was an attunement item which was somewhat disappointing. Still he could save it for times when he wanted to appraise trapped creatures or hordes of treasure. Amog had no more enchanted items but he did have quite the amount of materials and reagents. The most notable of which were, The Prismatic Flower held metallic petals that shifted between the colours of the rainbow as its different facets were exposed. - Prismatic Flower - Rank: Enhanced Rarity: Rare Weight - 68 g Durability 99/99 Traits: Material, Reagent. And the Marble of Air, a pearl of swirling gas, its spherical shape almost mirage like in nature. - Marble of Air - Rank: Enhanced Rarity: Rare Weight - 5 g Durability 1120/1120 Traits: Material, Reagent. There was a tiny animal skull, like a horned squirrel. Bone white it hummed with power as Six laid his fingers upon it. - Jakleur Skull - Rank: Enhanced Rarity: Rare Weight - 0.4 kg Durability 208/210 Traits: Material, Reagent. Skill Increased: Inspect - Initiate - 14 While the skill improvement was good, Six wished for more information on these items. All he could do was hope it would be an evolution option when his skill rank hit 20. There was a part of Six that regretted rushing to plant the trees before going through Amog¡¯s loot but he pushed that thought away, his choices were good and the trees were exactly what he needed. There was a ton of coin, 891 gold, 2117 silver and a crap ton of coppers. Probably looted from good people but there was nothing Six could do about that. It went directly into his ring. Surprisingly, the greatest treasure of the day was the bladed fan he retrieved alongside that lamp. It held a rune that would be perfect for not only his secret project but would be a fundamental keystone rune of his craft and his people. Minor Rune of Rotation Rotation Manipulation: The primary effect of the Rune of Rotation is the manipulation of rotational motion. It grants the ability to cause objects or individuals to spin or rotate, altering their orientation or movement. Neat. So much industrial technology boiled down to generating spin and now he had a way to do that. His interest was hooked and he considered the rune in its entirety, its spiral like curves speaking to a universal language of spin. His master level knowledge tickled in the back of his head and when he compared this in relation to the major ranked runes in his repertoire he knew that it could be pushed further with some applied intent, trial and error, and his Unbound Comprehension. It took a few more days of research but that only gave Ravna time to perfect his new full plate and at the end of it Six had discovered something significant in his opinion. Minor Rune of Rotation upgrades to Moderate Rune of Spiral Force: Centrifugal Force Generation: This rune can be used to generate centrifugal force, pushing opponents and or objects away from the user with a powerful spinning effect, providing a defensive or offensive advantage. He was quickly amassing a fine library and could see many applications available to him upon review of the toolkit. Now it was time to use it. Between his enchantment skill and magical conductivity and the 10% increase to enchantment strength he knew the things he created would be a stellar leap in sophistication compared to his current earth armor. It was simple and sundered, a replacement was desperately needed. Still, he would wear this ruined armor during the enchantment of the new, as it still counted as armor and that¡¯s what Magical Conductivity needed to function. Six considered how that skill evolution worked but it was almost as if he was missing an interface needed to understand. He rated it a low priority goal. His true limiting factor in this endeavor was his mana pool but with bloodcasting and the ley mana Six could now marshal about 1500 mana which should be enough for most anything he wanted to create. Not enough to create any Major rune but for a moderate rune and a general control it would be well within cost, Sovereign Restoration would increase the cost of the enchantments by 20% but it would be crucial to keeping this set functioning in the field and would take work off of Ravna. It would also limit the amount of mana cores he spent on recharging his armor. He did a LMRA and found no dangers. It was time to work. He arrayed the armor before him, full plate, serviceable and unadorned. Something simple but effective. He started with the helm, withdrawing an enhanced mana core and, You are attempting to enchant a Heavy Immortal Steel Helm with a Rune of Amplifying Nexus. This will require 683 mana and one Enhanced Mana Core or equivalent to complete. Prismatic Flower detected. Would you like to begin this enchantment now? Yes/No? He selected yes, and pushed his mana into the weapon. He could feel the depths of the material absorb his mana and knew that he could push these items far more than just regular iron. The depths offered more potential but it also meant that the enchanting would take far longer to complete. Still he maintained his focus on the mana stability and became lost within time. For the helm¡¯s reagent he had considered the Glassteel Ingot or the Concentrated Blood Sap. He was sure the Jaklur Skull would produce something suitably intimidating. But no, he used the newly discovered Prismatic Flower. The metallic rainbow flower shot up to hover briefly before being swept up in the flows of mana turning into a circle of orbiting light that placed itself on the forehead of the helmet. It cooled into an upturned metal crescent, the strange material scintillating between a myriad colours. Enchantment Successful. You have successfully enchanted a Heavy Immortal Steel Helm with a Rune of Amplifying Nexus with an efficiency rating of 61% creating a, - Heavy Immortal Steel Helm of Prismatic Magic Amplification- Rank: Enhanced Rarity: Rare Defense: 16+(6) Weight: 2.5 KG Durability: 650/650 Traits: Prismatic Amplification: The user can activate the rune to amplify the power and magnitude of the effects and strengths of spells, rituals, or enchantments executed within its vicinity by 21%. Each activation uses 7 charges. Charges 24/24. Prismatic Nature: Item is attuned to all magic energies of the second orbital and lower, increases affinity of all attuned magics by 21%. Sovereign Restoration: Passively regains durability and charges at a rate of 33% per day. He started with the helm as this piece of equipment would allow him to push the power of the subsequent enchantments even further. Six was exhausted, that enchantment took far more time than a minor, basically the entire day. Still, the power of the piece was self-evident so the time investment was worth it for him. Then came the gauntlets. He applied the rune of control and used the Stillver Ingot as a reagent. The ingot melted into liquid and rolled over the dark grey metal of the gauntlets, eventually settling and almost plating the gauntlets in the white silver metal. Upon the palm, small silver ridges formed the Rune of Dominate Control. This time just before he completed the enchantment, he activated his new helm and felt the flow of power condense and amplify. He almost lost control but it only lasted for a moment. - Heavy Immortal Steel Gauntlets of Stilling Control - Rank: Enhanced Rarity: Rare Defense: 14+(3) Weight: 1.8 KG Durability: 521/521 Traits: Magic Control: Allows the user to redirect, absorb, or amplify magical forces up to the moderate rank according to their usage of the rune, each activation uses 7 charges. Still: Allows the user to still or nullify magical forces up to the moderate rank, each activation uses 4 charges. Charges 29/29. Sovereign Restoration: Passively regains durability and charges at a rate of 40% per day. The greaves were a true work of enchantment, combining the Marble of Air, Jump Rune, Cloud Rune and Control Rune taking significantly more mana and unfortunately his golem enchanting evolution did not extend its mana reduction to regular enchanting. Still Six could pay the near 1200 mana required to create the runic array. He relied on bloodcasting as little as possible, the technique required more attention and that took away from the direct quality of the product. His intention was to create the best product for himself, not train his bloodcasting. That ideal yielded something beautiful. - Heavy Immortal Steel Greaves of Slypheon Cloud Jump Rank: Enhanced Rarity: Rare Defense: 20+(6) Weight: 2.8 KG Durability: 540/540 Traits: Improve jumping height and distance by 833%. Conjure Cloud: Can activate the cloud rune to create a temporary cloud platform that the user has a deeper relationship to and can affect them more significantly according to the user¡¯s intent. Each activation costs 3 Charges. 18/18 Sovereign Restoration: Passively regains durability and charges at a rate of 39% per day. He could potentially air jump six times? That seemed extremely strong. It wasn¡¯t useful for fast travel but the tactical options were extremely interesting. Three charges was exceptionally cheap, Six must have the Marble of Air to thank for that. Something to keep in mind, perhaps combining reagents that mirror or connect to the rune¡¯s concept may have a greater effect. Maybe. The enchantment effectiveness increased by just under 700% which was huge. Bringing Six from a near meter vertical to potentially 15 feet in vertical height. Also, placing the enchantment on armor had removed the attunement requirement. Neat. He chose the finest blood branch remaining to act as a reagent for his vambraces, He considered using the orichalum but felt like that would provide the item''s durability pool. Six wanted something more. The crimson branch stretched and twisted, breaking in the middle and winding itself around the vambraces, the dark red wood reinforcing the frame of the armor. - Heavy Immortal Steel Vambraces of Bloody Physical Resilience- Rank: Enhanced Rarity: Rare Defense: 20+(6) Weight: 3.2 KG Durability: 1210/1210 Traits: Improved item durability. Health regen/m += 20. Stamina regen/m += 20. Health += 320. Sovereign Restoration: Passively regains durability at a rate of 40% per day. Six enchanted the breastplate last The Furyian Heart rose into the air and shot towards the Breastplate, embedding itself within the frontplate and nestling into its new home. As the mana within the object rose the mechanical heart began to chug with a steady hydraulic pump and emit a dim glow with each beat. Six pushed the enchantment but only to a point where he was confident in its stability. He activated the helm and everything rose for a crescendo. But Six controlled himself and brought the song of creation to a suitable end. Enchantment Successful. You have successfully enchanted a Heavy Immortal Steel Breastplate with a Rune of Spiral Force with an efficiency rating of 68% creating a, - Heavy Immortal Steel Breastplate of Spiral Fury - Rank:Average Rarity:Unusual Defense: 25+(7) Weight: 6.2 KG Durability: 860/860 Traits: Spiral Exertion:User can activate to create a 10 m radius centrifugal pushing force centered on the user, sending objects and creatures away from the user. Each regular activation uses 8 charges. Expending 17 Charges will activate the Furyian Heart and double the force generated. Charges 17/17. Sovereign Restoration: Passively regains durability and charges at a rate of 40% per day. It had taken days of focused and considered effort to create these great works, wonders, and when he beheld them a deep wellspring of pride overcame him for a moment before the wariness in the back of his mind reared itself. He needed to continue to produce, there was always more to do. 2.5 Limit Check Phila, the 8th, 10,391 Ravna had completed Six¡¯s next commission by the end of his near week-long enchanting binge. It was beautiful, exactly what Six requested. It was not as elegant as something he would have access to in his world but Six was amazed she created something so intricate and precise with just smith¡¯s tools and some poorly drawn designs. Before Six was a chainsaw. Almost a chainsword. It was simple, functional, and direct. Its lines were square and straight and made to his design specifications. He had spent much time speaking with her and had tweaked the design into something even simpler when he had acquired the Rune of Rotation. No chainbreak, no engine. The saws components were already assembled. It wasn¡¯t a top handle saw, it rather had a long hilt to allow for a wide two handed grip. A crossguard that held biting teeth towards the blade, also known as the dogs of the saw. Then there was the massive blade, four feet of bar and over a hundred teeth. It was a beast. Six looked to Ravna who looked on in triumph, she nodded for him to go ahead. Six picked it up and hefted it, playing around with its weight. He marvelled at the craftsmanship and sturdyness of the item. He applied his mana to it and began to enchant. He elected to not use one of his precious reagents to alter it as he wanted a control chainsaw to develop forth from. This would be the first, it was a prototype that he would test and hopefully move on from quickly. He inscribed the rotation rune on the sprocket of the saw and the control rune on the hilt. Pushing the enchantments to their limits in an effort to create the highest rpms on that saw he could and then completed his work. Enchantment Successful. You have successfully enchanted an Immortal Steel Greatsaw with a Rune of Rotation with an efficiency rating of 73% creating an - Immortal Steel Greatsaw of Rotation - Rank: Enhanced Rarity: Rare Weight: 12.2 KG Durability: 1080/1080 Traits: Saw: User can activate to rotate the sprocket of the saw, spinning the chain. Uses 1 charge per 5 minutes of activation. Charges 15/15. Sovereign Restoration: Passively regains durability and charges at a rate of 31% per day. Six admired this fusion of skills and craftsmanship. He applied the magical intent and the rune flared into life, spinning the chain as intended. It worked. It screamed in a wail of hungering metal. His intent was absolute and the chain stopped as his mana and will infused the rune of control. It seemed strange without the rhythmic chug of the engine, without the roar of sound when you gave it gas. It sounded more like an electric saw, a high pitched screech. Six was happy, this was basically everything he wanted out of this new tool. They had created something that he hadn¡¯t felt right without, a link to something reliable. ¡°Genius, genius, genius! Anything give you any trouble?¡± Ravna thought for a moment. ¡°Those ball bearings. Understanding what you wanted was more difficult than actually making them though.¡± ¡°I do have a way with words.¡± Six said with a cheesy amount of passion. ¡°You¡¯re silly.¡± ¡°I do try.¡± There was a moment of silence as they stared at each other. Ravna motioned to the saw. ¡°This and that armor pushed me along in my smithing skill. A few more projects like this chainsaw thing and I¡¯ll be master rank very soon. Maybe in the next month or so.¡± The Emperor Tree was already paying out great returns in the zeal of the citizens'' skill advancement. An extra 10% didn¡¯t seem like much but Six knew that the elites of the world competed by margins of a sliver of a percentage point, and they needed to be elite to live the way Six envisioned. ¡°Oh yea? Nice, eh. What are you planning to do then?¡± She must have heard something in Six¡¯s voice because she went to reassure him. ¡°I¡¯m not going anywhere. I just got a new smithy, my friends are here, this is my life. I just want to help and receive some praise for my work.¡± ¡°Well, cool. Glad you¡¯re staying, thank you.¡± She smiled and Six melted. He had to make a move. He cleared his throat. ¡°Ravna, I¡¯ve never been good at flirting and I¡¯m kinda your boss so-¡± ¡°Milord,¡± she snickered. He continued rolling his eyes, ¡°-that makes this a bit weird but I would like to date you and pursue you romantically. I like you.¡± She continued to snicker before making an impression of him. ¡°I would like to pursue you, romantically.¡± Six stood there and took the teasing. She seemed so pleased, looking up at him with an exaggerated doe eyed expression. ¡°I would love to be courted by you Six.¡± Then her face fell, serious and downcast. ¡°But we can¡¯t be together.¡± ¡°What? Why?¡± She gazed at him and gently explained. ¡°Things have changed now that you are the lord of the village. I am a half-aelf. Our children would never be recognized as your children and I want my children to have a father. And don¡¯t you tell me that we are not the empire, I know that. I also know that wars have been fought over less. It is not worth the danger.¡± He shook his head, no. ¡°This is not a place that will sneak by unnoticed. There is only one way to freedom, to trade for it. I do not care what outsiders think, I do not care what the people think. There will always be someone or something that will attempt to confine us. The entire purpose of this place is to reject as many confines as I deem possible. I reject the idea that the nature of one''s birth should dictate their life.¡± He cleared his throat. ¡°I like you but, respectfully, resisting imperial law is bigger than you.¡± Six felt like he was being selfish, pursuing a potentially inflammatory partner, but if it wasn¡¯t this it would be something else. She hesitated, thinking, then she nodded. ¡°I would like that. Spending more time with you I mean.¡± Six smiled. ¡°Yay.¡± They brought each other in for a nuzzling hug. Enjoying the simple joy of touch and connection. Nibbler then interrupted by clawing her way up Six and inserting herself in the warmest spot. Right between the two hugging people. Ravna screeched. ¡°Aaah! By Kynairos! You little shit!¡± Six groaned, ¡°Nibbler!¡± They made plans for a date that night and Six left with a spring in his step and a new chainsaw. He made his way through Mountain¡¯s End and people watched on his way out. There was industry everywhere, industry that was slowly being augmented by a growing presence of automation. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Six had made sure to summon as many ley workers as he could in the intervening moments and he saw them floating about the village, assisting with everything from transporting water to hauling materials. Then there were the new golems that were being introduced and utilized by the villagers. Mostly golems of earth but Six saw a few rolling balls of liquid, or squalls of air. Their combat abilities were insignificant but the automatons essentially doubled the amount of labour a person could accomplish at once. Most needed to be fed a slow supply of mana cores to continue to run but the overall increase in production made it worth it. Most of these simple golems were made by Charles, Tavi, and Biggo, with Six having made a few specialized earth golems for digging. Already, it was his student''s practice pieces that were paying the most dividends in terms of golems. But mere golems were simply not enough, more and more people were being trained on finding affinities and soon the people would know what their time would be best spent on. Not that there would be any forcing or compulsion to pursue your affinities but the knowledge would greatly serve anyone should they choose to pursue some sort of mastery. Much of his constitution had healed and he knew what he needed to spend his time doing next. It was time to test this new weapon. He left Mountain¡¯s End with Nibbler and his golems, intent on growing. Six tested his greatsaw against the first creature he saw. An alpha bristlehound. The wolf-like creature bounded towards Six and was met with the screaming blade of Six¡¯s saw. The saw sunk into the monster and slowed before the spinning chain pulled the bristlehound in towards Six. That''s what most people didn¡¯t understand, the push and pull of the teeth of the chain. Striking with the bottom of the bar the wolf was pulled into the cut before it bottomed out on the hefty crossguard. That''s when the teeth began to actually cut. Perhaps cut was not the right word, the saw removed material, ejecting it parallel the crossguard. Six levered the saw into the cut and the panicked animal pushed forward and scratched him but it couldn¡¯t escape the bite of the saw. Once the dogs of the saw butted up on the creature, it parted like water as the teeth of the saw ripped through its flesh. It ended up in two halves, edged with ragged bits of flesh. Then the entire hound pack came running through the forest and for a few intense moments the saw sang with chain and blood. Poh Doh crushed the bristle hounds that sought Six¡¯s back and Nibbler and Lump unleashed a flurry of projectiles so thick it melted the lines of hounds that encroached. It was simple work and both Poh Doh and Lump received enough experience to level. They only received stats for leveling but Six was the one who got to assign them. From the enchanting knowledge he¡¯d received Six knew that they would receive another trait every ten levels and were capable of evolving every twenty, although twice evolved golems had been extremely rare back in Kytaligan¡¯s time. The pack was quickly brought down and Six looted everything, checking his prompts. Skill gained: Chainsaw - Initiate - 1 Skill increase: Chainsaw - Initiate - 3 Level three already? Not that Six was complaining but that seemed fast. He chalked it up to his everyday chainsaw use in his previous life. Six grinded through boars, bristlehounds, stags, and bears. Strange monsters of plant and flesh. He cut through them all with magic and saw. He learned to use his new armor, empowering his abilities to leap through the air and rain down arcane might, before landing and turning into a whirling dervish of carnage. It was the day after that he encountered trouble. He smelled them first, it was a familiar scent. Something that caused him to almost retch. Trolls. Six slowed his advance and waited. He cast Shadow Veil becoming shrouded in darkness and hid amongst the brush of the forest. It didn¡¯t take long for the huge monster to lumber into view. Easily ten in height the giant troll loomed over Six, its thick grey hide pitted and rippled with pockmarks and pustules. It was humanoid in form and clearly male, long lanky arms almost touched the ground. Yellowed eyes stared above yellowed tusks. It wore no clothes and dragged a large stick behind it, basically a small log. A dangerous weapon, but that was no matter. Six burst from hiding and lashed out at the beast. His saw screamed as he slashed it out wide at the troll¡¯s leg. It cut through easily enough until it encountered bone, the resistance pulled Six into the larger mass and Six let it, lifting his feet and sliding closer to the monster. Six applied more throttle and the dogs bit into the thigh. Bone slowed the saw slightly but not enough to prevent Six from cutting the leg right off. The troll roared in agony as black blood spilled from its new stump and it wheeled about as it lost balance. Falling. Six slashed about with Double Strike and opened its side up before it hit the ground. The troll let out a rage filled wail and lashed out on it back, swinging the club wildly. Six easily dodged that with a quick back step before casting Stone Spike several times. The spikes erupting from the floor and piercing through the creature at opposing angles, making it impossible to free itself. Six jumped back in with a massive leap and sliced the troll¡¯s weapon arm off. The troll tried to feebly grab at Six but the enchanter just brought his weapon up, catching the palm of the troll and with a rev of his saw, he tore the arm in twain. Six stepped over the helpless beast and decapitated it with a quick buck of the neck. This was a troll though and Six knew enough about trolls to not rely on it seeming dead, he double checked his kill notifications and saw nothing. He began to cast Ember Spark. Fire was the counter to trolls so this might push it over to true death. But there was no time. Four more trolls came slinking out of the forest and Six had to change priorities. He was too far away from the town to utilize its Tempered By Flame buff so he just dropped the Ember Spark on the troll¡¯s head, before he danced away from the incoming projectiles that the approaching trolls threw. He quickly cast a Zephyr¡¯s Embrace, increasing his movement speed by a small amount then activated his Ring of Stone Skin, increasing his natural defense by a significant margin. There were four new trolls. One of them was the size of a small house, perhaps eighteen, twenty feet tall. Its ridged and bumpy skin was a dark slate grey with patches of coarse white hair crinkling down from above its squashed face. In its right hand was a log of deep crimson. It had Six¡¯s other blood log. There was some wear to the log but Six could feel a large amount of power sloshing around in the thing, it must have been bathed in blood and battle. Six analyzed them and received a mixed success. Ryjvink Troll Level 13 Grlnult Troll Level 16 Drrgnuk Troll Level 12 The biggest one was of a high level or perhaps just extremely strong as it managed to resist Six¡¯s skill. There was no more time to consider, Six danced backwards and called up Poh Doh. The golem stood up from its simple disguise of a boulder. It trudged forward and joined Six in the engagement, tackling one troll and bearing it down to the ground. Six looked at the one he had almost defeated and saw its wound closing quickly, with a weak movement coming to it, pinned on the ground as is. Nibbler stayed on the outside and peppered the one that Poh Doh fought, adding where she could with the damage from her lunar blade. Six took the other three. Six leapt in with a whirling spin, revving his chainsaw and taking one in the leg. This time the chain speed was perfect and it parted the bone easily. It fell just like the last one but from then Six had to dodge. The big one had an extreme reach and the other one was still quite fast for its size. Avoiding the smashing clubs was all he could do. He brought up Stone Walls to block their swings and slow their movement but the giant trolls cared little about such impediments bursting through the rock constructs. They were enough distraction to give Six a chance to lay a few Stone Spikes into the midsection of the normal troll. They erupted forth and blasted into the meat of the monster, pushing its heft back a few feet. It roared in pain and wriggled on the spikes, still quite alive. Six took a glance to the one he disabled and saw it trying to bring its severed leg to its bloody stump. Poh Doh struggled against their foe but Nibbler¡¯s sustained lunar bombardment was beginning to wear down the fourth. Six backed up a bit as the big one surged forward, slamming the blood log down with abandon. Six dodged with superhuman rolls, flips, and pivots made only possible with the Slypheon Greaves. He began to smile despite the worry building in his chest. ¡°Juking and jiving,¡± he wheezed under his breath. His constitution, while much better, wasn''t fully healed and his stamina regen suffered as a result, he was starting to feel the pressure. He made distance from the giant troll and blasted it with a few Stone Spikes and Ember Sparks, both of which broke against the tough hide of the clearly evolved creature. He tried again with an activation of Prismatic Amplification, rainbow light dancing and damaging the belly of the beast but not enough to burn more charges. His magic still wasn¡¯t strong enough. He gripped his chainsaw tight and ran towards the big one. Watching the bloodlog Six dodged into the big one''s guard and let loose with his weapon. He moved into a Double Strike, eviscerating the thing¡¯s paunch, ribbons of intestines dropping to the dirt. He activated his Ring of Triple Strike and slashed away, ending the flurry with the amputation of the forearm that held the bloodlog. Six¡¯s heart sang with triumph, but it was extinguished as a massive hand clapped down from behind, slamming him into the earth. Six bounced from the thunderous hit, his entire torso compressed and crushed. His health dropped but only by 173, he still had over 300. It was the broken condition that made him panic. He struggled to his feet but he was broken, and it limited his movement and breathing. He barely managed to cast a Vital Surge before he caught sight of the incoming blow. The bloodlog swept at Six, held by the troll¡¯s remaining arm. The arm pulsated, empowered by the glowing bloodwood as it drew the spilled blood of the trolls and turned the black blood mists into physical might. The troll smiled in triumph as bloodwood and man collided. Six was launched into the forest. He flew through the air, ricocheting off trees and tumbling through the brush. He spat out blood and grunted in pain. It took a moment for Six to struggle to his feet, picking up his greatsaw he gazed upon the multiple trolls slowly advancing on him. They had recovered from the wounds he had given them. Poh Doh and Nibbler were still occupied with theirs and it didn¡¯t look like they would kill it anytime soon. Six needed to regroup and prepare for this fight in a different way. It would most likely be a combination of specialized gear and increased manpower. Until then he needed to retreat. The three trolls closed in, almost surrounding Six. He needed distance so he gathered as much force mana as he could before activating his Furious Spiral Exertion. At the same time as a severe force abruptly spun everything in a sphere around Six, he also released a massive Force Wave, the ripple of reality fractures pushing out and stacking with the spinning force. The combined forces threw the trolls back, the smaller ones falling entire, with the big one only falling to one knee. That was all Six needed to create some distance and chew on some rootbust. He released localized life waves in small pulses, his vambraces provided increased healing along, and there was his trusty Earthen Endurance. This overall health regen was quickly filling his health pool but it was the broken condition that Six was trying to drop. And sure enough, his limp soon became a stride with the broken condition ending due to his tremendous sustain. Six ordered Poh Doh to disengage, sink into the earth and make its way back to Mountain¡¯s End. Nibbler looked for Six when Poh Doh melted into the ground and she quickly bounded over to him as he circled around to her. When she was safely on his shoulders he began to pull the trolls to the east, along the river. He wanted these things as far away from Mountain¡¯s End as possible and as he retreated eastward he made sure to never truly lose them. When he began to tire, Six turned towards the river and just before the edge, he jumped. Six sailed with the empowered distance of his greaves, which he activated to cloud jump all six times, each time a small puff of cloud appearing below his feet, and just barely landing in the shallows of the opposite side of the river. Nibbler clinging onto his neck and hissing at getting splashed from his landing. He left the water before any koatl got any stupid ideas. He looked at the four trolls as they stared at him with hate and stupidity. They refused to cross the water, instead hurling river rock at him. He flipped them a rude gesture and trudged off into the forest taking a wide circuitous route back to Mountain¡¯s End. He didn¡¯t want them to follow him back to the village, he doubted the trolls would attack the village but it could be an issue for his hunters and patrols. So best keep the trolls as far away as he could. This was a high priority problem and he was reminded with a prompt he had ignored a long while ago. You have been offered a quest: Remove the Trolls The leadership of the settlers have determined that the trolls in the immediate area pose a threat. Remove the threat that the trolls pose. Rewards for Accepting: None Rewards for Completion: Voluntary Spiritual Energy Relationship Fame Clout Time Limit: None Penalty for Failure: Loss of relationship with the settlers Do you Accept? Yes or No? 2.6 Return of the Sundered. Phila, the 9th, 10,391 Six approached his village from the opposite side of the lake and looked out across at the life and industry of the place. He couldn¡¯t see much beyond the miniscule impressions of movement about the tiny buildings, the opposite shore was pretty far away. He took a moment to relax amongst nature and decompress from that last debacle, finding a comfortable tree to recline on as he checked his prompts. Skill increase: Stealth - Initiate - 12 Diametric - Initiate - 4 Chainsaw - Initiate - 4 Elemental - Initiate - 9 Cycle - Initiate - 5 Heavy Armor - Apprentice - 23 Taming - Initiate - 12 Athletics - Initiate - 9 He had healed completely during his retreat and his armor was damaged but was already repairing itself. There was no death notification for the troll who did receive an Ember Spark. Six grimaced, he had ripped that thing apart and still, it did not die. Still the skill level gain despite the loss was a welcome consolation. He made his way to where the lake drained out into the river mouth and charged his slypheon greaves with some mundane mana stones, the stones being slowly consumed by the magical items. With fully recharged greaves, doffed armor, and a little practice chaining the air jumps together Six once again made his way across the river again. He donned his armor and made his way back into town. He murmured to himself, ¡°we need to get some boats made.¡± There must be fish in that lake, fish in the complex¡¯s lake too. He considered the best tools for this new troll problem. As devastating as it was, the chainsaw might not be the best tool for the job, no. The Bloodsteel Greatsword with its fire rune array, might be more effective if combined with an expert strike at a vital point. He would make himself a glaive with a similar enchantment. He could also try acid, but he lacked the knowledge for that. Dismemberment and cremation by pyre would work. He hesitated. Should he really be going aggro? Shouldn¡¯t he scale his people up before going after evolved creatures like the giant troll? He steeled his heart and shrugged, trading damage was inevitable, losses would be a direct result of that. Death would happen, had already happened. The faster they rose, the sooner he could establish peace and prosperity. He decided then, he would make more weapons of fire, then they would destroy those trolls. For the next few days Six put aside his construction duties and solely focused on enchanting and physical training. He worked with Charles to fashion the squads into something that could operate against the power and stature of the trolls. There were more bandit levies than guards, and that worried Six but at the same time the average level of each bandit was around 4. Most of them had improved greatly under the new patrol structure and so Six counted on a healthy mix of appreciation and fear of him and the looming Poh Doh countering the newfound confidence of a few level ups. When these large scale practice maneuvers were over Six escorted the mob back to the prison and it went back to the trickle patrols. Six focused on creating as many fire based weapons as he could. Working with his various runes and fire mana to create a panoply of weapons that he could outfit his squads with. He was running out of weapons to enchant. Ravna had completed another glaive head for him but she and Gatbark both reported the little smithing materials they brought were running out. He would soon have to begin deconstructing enchantments for their simple materials. He needed to source some ingots from Olisrosa but establishing a mine would be a better solution. They were on track to initiate the troll operation in a few days that was until Six was broken out of his enchantment work by a vrill messenger boy. They nearly screamed their words into his workshop. ¡°My lord! Miss Leoka sent me with a message! There is an army marching this way! Straight along the river! Almost a hundred!¡± Six stood up from his work, enchantment failed. ¡°Tell her to gather the hunters and guard. Tell her I will be there shortly. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Six jogged from his workshop and threw the door to the residential wing open, bellowing his command. ¡°Come get your combat gear! Shits about to go down so hustle the fuck up.¡± The non combat and unpledged prisoners looked on in wonder but the ones who agreed to fight jumped to action. Some grabbed armor but most just lined up at the door and received their weapon as Six distributed the nearby cache that served to supply these soldiers in just this circumstance. Six was impressed with Charles'' ability to apply the knowledge he possessed in a professional way. Altogether Six probably had about thirty bandits behind him, no, most had proved reliable and none had betrayed him yet, still, times of upheaval were the perfect moments for betrayal and Six was extra aware of the potential for treachery. They marched down the mountain and into the village through the west gate. Six directed the reinforcements over to Charles and went to find Leoka at the eastern palisade. Staring off into the forest, near the river mouth. ¡°Leoka," he greeted her. She regarded him. ¡°Six, one of our patrols identified an incoming threat. A small column of imperial soldiers are making their way here. About eighty of them.¡± Eighty soldiers was a big number. The casualties would be immense on both sides and his people were outnumbered and relatively unarmored. He wouldn¡¯t go back now though, alot of these people fled the empire and were now under his wing. Six and Leoka waited while Charles finished organizing the squads before joining them. Then the three of them watched as the soldier trudged out of the forest, making their way through the glade and straight towards the village. Six sighed. He was tired, and for the first time in a while, he thought of taking a nice relaxing toke, just a small puff. He felt irritation at himself, at his weak mind, now of all times? Skill increase: Mindfulness - Initiate - 9 As the soldier approached, Six relaxed just a bit because at the fore of the column he saw some familiar figures. Keegan marched at the head, with Aclo and Bark walking behind him, Bark clearly plucking something on his lute. Behind them were Kali Kik, Indigo, Narhurin, and Irduth. Then there was a large train of marching soldiers behind them. They came straight up the palisade and Keegan, Aclo and Irduth made the final thirty meters to the western gate. Keegan called up, his voice even and powerful. ¡°Hello, we seek entrance to this village.¡± There was a moment as Six prepared to engage in this new arena of diplomacy, he called down from the upper platform of the palisade. ¡°As visitors or as soldiers of the empire? I expected you guys returning, but not with a small army. What is your purpose here?¡± Keegan made to speak but Irduth cut him off, stepping forward. ¡°You need not question us or our intentions. As soldiers of the empire, you cannot deny us.¡± Six breathed slowly, rhythmically and kept his calm. ¡°Irduth, please know that we do not recognize the dead empire you pledged allegiance to.¡± He spoke loudly, ¡°This is Mountain¡¯s End. Not the Zleenish Empire. I will not willingly allow a foreign force to occupy our home. That would be¡­ foolish.¡± ¡°We are not foreigners, you are!¡± Irduth yelled up. ¡°I am the lord of this village,¡± Six replied firmly. Aclo drew his blades but Keegan held up a staying hand. The muscular man spoke, ¡°We seek residency and if that is impossible, then we wish to collect our companions and go. We do not have to stay if you do not wish it.¡± Companions? Oh yeah, Jebbedo, Tavi, Gatbark, and Celine all came with the soldiers. ¡°I honestly wouldn¡¯t mind you guys but you have too many new warriors, that represents a real danger.¡± Keegan nodded. ¡°We¡¯d thought this might be the case.¡± Aclo pointed up with a dagger. ¡°Now send our people out, or else.¡± ¡°I will inform them of your arrival and if they choose to see you they will be allowed to leave.¡± Aclo narrowed his eyes and Irduth let out a harumph of irritation. The four companions were told and all four chose to at least see their companions, leaving through the far west gate and making their way to the resting soldiers. Six could see them reconnect, hugs and smiles, laughter. A brief huddled conversation and Celine and Gatbark came back, followed by Jebbedo. Tavi stayed behind continuing to talk and gesticulate to the soldiers. Six raised a questioning eyebrow at the ones returning and all of them said some variation on the same thing. ¡°This is my home now.¡± They also pushed Six to allow the soldiers to stay. ¡°Those are the soldiers from our old garrison,¡± Jebbedo said. ¡°Not the best soldiers but all good people for the most part.¡± ¡°Can never be too safe, always good to have more hands around,¡± grumbled Gatbark. Celine made pointed questions. ¡°Didn¡¯t you just say that we needed more warriors? Well?¡± But Six worried about the state of power in the town. It was hard to trust a group of warriors in a lawless land. Six wasn¡¯t sure if they could win either as he was sure that Keegan¡¯s squad all held classes. Rather than leaving, Keegan approached the gate again. ¡°Would you take us as citizens of Mountain¡¯s End?¡± That was suspicious. ¡°Why would you want such a thing? Are you not soldiers of the empire?¡± ¡°There is a calm here, a peace. Many things have happened outside this forest and every day food becomes more scarce. The imperial legions underwent a schism¡­ a sunderering. Many of us no longer call ourselves soldiers.¡± ¡°A schism?¡± ¡°We will give you a report, if you allow us to stay.¡± ¡°Fair. Could you forswear the empire?¡± ¡°Personally? No, not entirely. I¡¯ll still call the city of Vlehull my home and I am of the empire, or what it was, but I and all of us are willing to live as a citizen of Mountain¡¯s End and bind ourselves to that for a period of years. Perhaps I¡¯ll return home at the end, perhaps not.¡± Six considered for a long moment. ¡°I must confer with my people.¡± He took a huddle with Charles and Leoka. ¡°What do you think? They wish to join us, I think the danger of betrayal is too great. Thoughts?¡± Leoka looked uncomfortable at the accusation but Charles nodded in understanding. Leoka spoke first. ¡°We should let them stay. They¡¯re imperial soldiers, if they were here when Amog attacked Alison would still be alive. They follow our lord Kynairos and worked to protect the people before the sundering, my people would feel safer with their presence. Is there any reason to not trust them? The classed ones could easily find an easier life in the cities, yet they want to be here.¡± Six grunted, then gestured for Charles'' input. The kid pensively gathered his thoughts and then stated his mind. ¡°It is dangerous but incorporating lost soldiers into our ranks could give us the jumpstart on protocol and manpower. Yes, everything could be lost, but I think conflict is actually very unlikely. Of the main officers, the only ones I didn¡¯t trust were Gatbark and Irduth and well¡­ Gatbark is already setting down roots and contributing.¡± Six nodded while scratching his chin. They didn''t seem hostile but they didn''t know of his bloodcasting and he knew he would continue to grasp at power regardless of these soldiers perceived legality of that power. This could eventually bring them to blows. He didn¡¯t entirely trust them to just leave in that case. Maybe he should just cede control to Keegan, it might be the best thing for the town and then Six could get back to smoking weed and taking naps. But, a deep part of himself knew that life of simple hedonism held no meaning, no struggle, no highs nor lows, It was nice and comfortable. The burden he now carried was a weight that stimulated growth within him. Now that he had this responsibility, he did not wish to relinquish it. He could not stop growing. His natural paranoia and wariness made the threat the soldiers represented so clear and simple. Yet his gut was telling him to accept their offer. This was a necessary risk that he would have to endure many times over, if his vision was to rise from the depths of his visualizations. He sighed and carefully poked his head above the palisade seeing Keegan, Aclo and Irduth staring up expectantly. He would kill them all if they betrayed him, pyrrhic victory or no. He smiled and beckoned towards them. ¡°Aight, come on in.¡± 2.7 Report Of The Sundered Phila, the 13th, 10,391 The imperial soldiers slowly marched in, enduring the stares of the assembled forces of Mountain¡¯s End. The officers led their people inside and Six watched them as He could see their appraising gazes and subsequent amazement at the progress they had made thus far. The soldiers marveled at the well made buildings and the ubiquitous golems Six addressed them, ¡°Leoka and Charles will see to settling those you brought. I would like to ask a few more questions then get that report. If you intend to serve in a martial capacity follow me, otherwise talk to Leoka.¡± No one objected and Six led them to the ley hall. They moved through the reviving industry and Six explained his current goals for the village. He took some time to periodically conjure a few ley workers and lay down a few Zephyr¡¯s Embrace. When the leyhall came into view it was flanked by the crimson blood and the purple emperor trees. The group slowed and admired the innately magical plants. Six let these treasures speak for themselves. There was a moment of appreciation and contemplation before a question broke the quiet. ¡°What are the capabilities of these trees?¡± Irduth demanded. Six waved it away. ¡°We can talk about that later.¡± He didn¡¯t want to share such things yet and his answer made that clear enough. He wasn¡¯t able to hide these trees and provoking a response now, when everyone is gathered, would be preferred. . ¡°They sure look nice,¡± Narhurin chuckled. ¡°Looks can be deceiving,¡± muttered Kali Kik with a disapproving glare at Six. Six stopped and regarded the frilled lizard woman. ¡°What¡¯s the problem?¡± She pointed at the blood tree with a talon. ¡°Do you not understand what that tree is?¡± ¡°I do and I assure you, I have it under control. Thank you for voicing your concern, moving on.¡± He continued inside and brought them to a private meeting room. The townhall was simple, the bloodwood provided a certain aesthetic but no luxury really, thus their meeting was spartan, they sat on wooden stumps placed around a rough hewn table. The only luxury afforded Six was the warm raccoon curled up on his lap. They looked at Six expectantly. Six cleared his throat. ¡°Yes, well. I find it easiest just to be direct. Why did you folks not join the loyalists?¡± There was an awkward silence as Six scanned the faces that mostly avoided his gaze. Keegan met his eyes and the man gave his answer. ¡°The remaining generals and legions are loyal to a memory and know as such, they seek justice.¡± ¡°Revenge more like it,¡± Narhurin cut in. ¡°They say justice, for there is no leader for the loyal to rally under. I have no reason to pursue Juthe Wei at this point. I have no reason to join the coalition. I am from Vlehull and may ask to return home to aid my father but that is unlikely. I believe I will find adventure and excitement here, something to temper my muscles upon.¡± That was in line with what little Six knew of Keegan. He looked to Narhurin. Narhurin wore black forged fullplate stylized with dragon imagery. He smiled and explained, ¡°I''m just following my buddies around. Training with Keegan, eating and gambling with Jebbedo.¡± He reached over and playfully ruffled Indigo''s hair, eliciting an offended grumble from the younger man. ¡°Messing with Indigo. I could go home and live with my mom but she lives under Juthe Wei¡¯s rule, and well¡­ well she''s fine. So here I am.¡± Narhurin¡¯s affable and simple nature made him easy to trust. Six raised an eyebrow at Kali Kik. Her eyes stared at him with lethargic calm. She knew they had already been accepted despite the questions. ¡°I was never a loyalist, my people, the people of Arkojia, were imperial in name only. My life there was unappealing, I joined the army to build a new life. Now that it''s gone, I will build a new one here.¡± Simple stoic pragmatism. Six looked between Indigo and Irduth. ¡°I''m not exactly sure which one of you is the arrogant young master but either way, why are you guys roughing it out here?¡± Irduth smiled and gripped his tome tightly. ¡°I still believe in the empire, I will tenuously recognize your lordship over this region of it but I still believe in the empire. I would like to stay and provide guidance to the locals and the military. I am a priest and chaplain of Kynairos and I served the residents of this village in that capacity before.¡± ¡°I will only allow tolerance to be preached unless I deem otherwise. Many here sought freedom of belief and I agree with that, within limits.¡± ¡°You think you can guide society better than the law of Kynairos?¡± ¡°Perhaps.¡± Six shrugged. ¡°Can you abide by the tolerance I set forth?¡± Irduth hesitated. ¡°I will not accept you if you can¡¯t. You can leave.¡± The imperious half orc tensed but eventually nodded his assent. Six did not trust this man. He regarded the boy. ¡°Indigo?¡± The young man cast his eyes to the ground, hesitating to explain. ¡°I¡­ I need to make it on my own.¡± Six nodded in respect. ¡°Aight.¡± He looked at Bark and Aclo. Bark smiled and inclined his head in deference. ¡°Well, I''m just looking to improve myself you know? I see your growth and it''s looking promising to hitch my stag to yours.¡± ¡°Oh? My growth?¡± ¡°The fact I can''t analyze you anymore is proof enough of your growth.¡± Simple motivations like power were understandable and Six felt no malice in the aelf''s words. Still power alone was a dangerous desire, that being said, danger itself was not a crime. Something to monitor. ¡°Hmm. Aclo?¡± The tsunken aelf cringed and glared at Six. ¡°There is no place for me with our people. No place for me in the coalition. This is the only place I could possibly ever redeem myself and my clan.¡± Six was confused. ¡°Redemption? No place?¡± Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. Aclo looked at the human with an irritated sneer. ¡°You do not know this but I am of the Yudinzo clan.¡± Yudinzo? That meant¡­ Aclo confirmed it with a raspy confession. ¡°I am the brother of Juthe-Wei Yudinzo.¡± The implications were vast and Six dissembled while his mind worked on this information. ¡°Oh shit, that''s crazy... So, you''re like a prince?¡± ¡°Hah, I am no prince, my family is not noble, nor honorable.¡± Well that''s pretty clear on how he feels. ¡°You disagree with what Juthe-Wei did?¡± ¡°By Kynairos¡­ Of course!¡± Aclo slapped the table. ¡°He goes against everything we are.¡± ¡°And you cannot join the coalition because you are his brother.¡± Aclo gave a curt nod and made a rude gesture at the air, venting his frustrations. ¡°There is no place for me except around the ones that know me best. One day I will leave to take account with my brother but until then, I will serve.¡± ¡°So be it. I understand your family history, resign officially and I won¡¯t care.¡± Six turned to the group. ¡°I see no reason to not accept you with your reasons and assurances, after the report talk to Charles and he¡¯ll sort you out.¡± ¡°The boy is in charge of your militia?¡± Irduth asked with disdain. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°And you think this is acceptable?¡± ¡°Yes. Report, now please.¡± ¡°But the boy can¡¯t b-¡± Six cut Irduth off with a curt gesture. He let the silence sit, luxuriate and stew. Irduth¡¯s face twinged in anger and offence, but the priest remained quiet. Then Six spoke once more. ¡°Anyways. Give me the report, please.¡± There was a thick tension in the room but a peaceful forest song rose. It was the tsunken aelf Bark. The nature-covered man wore a cloak of moss and plucked the tune on a finely crafted lute. He spoke and stepped through that tension as if was not even there. ¡°Well, you see, the story begins when you last saw us leaving here, we left this wonderful place and traveled south through your fine forest. Travel was hard as the monsters have become quite thick in recent days with the broken patrols but we made it out and through the grasslands of Kharakt, a collection of imperial city states surrounded by various goblin tribes.¡± The music grew darker and more punctuated. ¡°Chaos had become entrenched. A complete lack of imperial logistics has led to a collapse of imperial security and with that imperial power. Warlords are rising, bandit or noble, those who have combat classes are taking from those who don¡¯t. Cities are protecting their own but the farms and communities furthest out are no longer safe and in some cases even cities are prey. While passing through Kharstan we encountered a siege upon the greatest of all these states, the city of Ecury. We attempted to pass by on the imperial road but our small party was detained by who we soon learned was the dukeling of House Athak. He let us go easily enough despite expressing a clear disdain for the empire-¡± Irduth growled and the music broke down. ¡°We should have ended that treasonous dog right then.¡± Bark cocked his head at Irduth, ¡°well, uh, you know, he had an entire army watching us.¡± ¡°Quite high level too,¡± Indigo murmured. ¡°And he was peaceable enough to let us leave despite knowing we were imperial,¡± Kali Kik added. ¡°True. true!¡± Narhurin agreed with animated nods. Keegan sat patiently, casting a questioning glance to Six. Six waved it away. He tried to keep his expectations to a minimum and cut people slack when he thought appropriate. These soldiers had been on the road for a while now, and it wasn¡¯t a critical situation where perfection was needed. Yea, they might be wasting his time a bit but letting them relax and chill now was more important. When the chatter died down Keegan gestured for Bark to continue and the tune rose up once more. ¡°Continuing south we passed into the flood plains of Salazhar and made our way across the desert following the great Ilchna River, now on the same path as the legions. We met nomadic bird riders, several tribes of horned vrill that ride giant desert hawks. We traded and overall I found them quite friendly. Soon after that we found evidence of the legions. Dead imperials began to appear along the shores of the Ilchna, most too scavenged and decayed to identify their cause of death. Still, it was the first sign of the legions that we had encountered. The signs of death rose as we traveled the path and culminated when we reached the great city of Salazhar. It sits on the southern coast of Zarmul and rises from the sands, great redstone blocks creating a wall the match of any imperial city. Surrounding the city is a vast maze of shanties, small structures built layer upon layer with whatever material is at hand. A true metropolis. The river led right to it, and as we approached we saw a patrol from afar. An imperial patrol. The legions had taken the city. For you see,¡± Bark began to play faster and faster. ¡°When the Grand General lost contact and logistics from Zleen, he decided, rather than turn around, to march forward at full speed. To take his target and feed upon the stores and supplies of Salazhar.¡± Security was lax and based upon race. The horned vrill were occupied and everyone else was legion. It was as easy as that. We walked in easily enough and no one second guessed our presence. Well Aclo and I had some trouble as tsuken aelves but nothing Irduth wasn¡¯t able to preach us through, imperial chaplains have certain benefits. From there we observed the state of things. From that initial point it was clear that the legions had already begun to split from the unified spear head that we once were, into something broken. The Salazharians were not being incorporated, and many soldiers were taking advantage of the locals in vile and terrible ways-¡± ¡°Incorporated?¡± Six asked. Bark''s music became a jazz-like jumble as he spoke. ¡°Hmmm, well, aaaah, uuum, you see¡­ what would the words be?¡± Keegan explained. ¡°Conquered states and kingdoms are incorporated as members of the empire. There are many steps to this but doctrine should have protected the Salazharians from such parasitic conduct.¡± His disapproving face made his opinion on the matter clear. Six nodded his thanks and gestured for Bark to continue. ¡°There were two shades of soldiers. The ones who used their power and the ones who watched. It was easy enough to find a few who wanted to talk and we learned how all this came about to be. It was much as we thought. A forced march through a desert followed by a monumental attack on the red walls. But, there was more. There was a disagreement amongst the generals as to Marcus¡¯ plan and treatment of the locals and when the refusal to incorporate happened that caused a battle to occur between the generals loyal to Marcus and those loyal to the imperial creed. The imperials lost, some dead, most captured and the Grand General sat in the Salazharian palace calling himself the true emperor. An emperor chosen by Kynairos himself to retake the empire. A god Emperor. He and those that remained were planning for the day they returned from the Salazhar wastes and took account of the usurper Juthe-Wei. All great stuff-¡± Indigo scoffed and the music broke. ¡°No, it was not, ¡®all great stuff,¡¯ Bark. It in fact sucked.¡± ¡°Ah, I¡¯m sorry Indigo. I was being silly.¡± Indigo grimaced and rolled his eyes. ¡±No, I¡¯m sorry, forget about it.¡± ¡°Forget about what?¡± Six asked. ¡°Ah, his parents were part of the captured,¡± Bark explained. ¡°Oh shit. Are they ok?¡± Indigo face palmed. ¡°Now? Yes. Can we just get this over with?¡± ¡°Aight, go on.¡± Bark started plucking again.¡°Well, we split up at that point.¡± Never split the party. ¡°Keegan, Narhurin, Irduth, and Kali Kik went to the palace to seek an audience with Grand General Marcus while Aclo, Indigo, and I went to see about infiltrating the prison. How did it go with Marcus?¡± ¡°It was terrible.¡± Kali Kik offered. ¡°He was crazy!¡± Narhurin laughed. Keegan nodded. ¡°He was insane, yes. We entered the throne room and saw him upon the dias in a tub of liquid silver. His presence was palpable and his physicality impressive. His advisor flanked him and both regarded us from on high with imperious glares. He was untouchable, an evolved specimen surrounded by the most powerful and vile members of the legions.¡± Bark followed Keegan¡¯s contribution with appropriate musical tension. Keegan continued. ¡°We revealed our reason for being there, simple information gathering. We were in the dark and sought to know the state of things. The mere mention of our purpose sent him into an apoplectic state that was near impossible to quell. He screamed of how he had killed his own tsunken aelf bodyguard. He feared further treachery.¡± ¡°Near impossible?¡± Six asked Keegan nodded. ¡°Had we not had previous history, he and I, I think Marcus would have executed us all then and there. We lied to him and he believed us, despite the whisperings of his advisor.¡± ¡°Who was his advisor?¡± ¡°A meteor dwarf, High Priestess Rudera of the church of Kynairos, she is now dead but was a powerful level 22 classer. We were eventually released and made our way back to our companions.¡± Bark took the story back. ¡°We meanwhile had connected with the local chapter of the Zarmul thieves guild and after some negotiation they brought us into the bowels of the palace and into the dungeons below. There we managed to speak to the captured prisoners in private, this is where my friend Indigo reunited with his parents. They had not been treated well and it was terrible to see them like that. Even more terrible to leave them like that but we still needed to align the pieces of the game correctly to even have a chance of winning. Marcus was level 32 a true beast and titan, over halfway to reaching his second evolution. We managed to talk to some of the surviving generals, and convinced those that held regret to act against Marcus this time. The thieves guild introduced us to the local resistance movement and in exchange for the legions leaving their city they would work with us. We organized an attack and quickly enacted it. Freeing the prisoners and striking at Marcus with the leaders of the resistance, thieves guild, and the freed generals. The fighting was vicious but Marcus had suffered from delusions and poor counsel. The liquid silver had not done anything for him except poison him and his form and bearing were poor because of it. Still, he called forth the enchanted imperial Eagle Armor and his already formidable stats and maneuvers increased in potency. While this was happening a war broke out in the city, the honorable legionnaires turning on the creedless despots in a surprise attack. The locals and resistance quickly began to help and it was a sure rout. It was a hard fought battle in the throne room but Marcus fell and with his death the weight of power instantly shifted and we were in essence, victorious. The fighting in the city was tense but simple numbers and the element of surprise won out in the end. After that it was just a tense peace as the loyalists began to organize the exodus of imperials from Salazhar. They gathered all those who would follow them in an assault on Zleen and Juthe-Wei. There was talk of finding Tyber Zaun and joining with him before hitting Zleen but we at that point had already decided our path lay elsewhere. We came back to see that House Athak had succeeded in their coup of House Mattaro and took control of Ecury from the previously imperial rulers, it is now firmly in the control of the original noble lineage and they have a strong backing from the people and the surrounding cities. We stopped at our old garrison to gather the men we were responsible for and came here to gather the last of our people. There were many more details and encounters that I chose to leave out but that is the general gist of our adventure.¡± Six sighed. ¡°Shit. That''s crazy.¡± 2.8 Shortage Phila, the 13th, 10,391 Six sat, letting what he learned sink in. Really, the report changed very little about the direction of Mountain¡¯s End. Their somewhat remote location and lack of importance made Mountain¡¯s End an undesirable target. Six sighed. ¡°Well. Fuuuuck. Glad you guys made it out of that shit storm.¡± Narhurin laughed. ¡°Thanks!¡± Six was still unclear about some things. ¡°Couple of questions. Why did the thieves guild help you?¡± Bark explained, ¡°oh, well. Uuuhhh, you see, they weren¡¯t very happy about how Marcus was running things, the more uncontrolled legionaries were making it quite dangerous and the occupation was ruining their business in general. The Dark Man prefers the population fat and calm, not penniless and frantic.¡± ¡°The Dark Man?¡± ¡°Ah, uuuh, the leader of the thieves guild.¡± ¡°Oh, he calls himself the Dark Man? Kind of a lame name.¡± Indigo coughed and grumbled, ¡°you are a number¡­¡± ¡°You are a colour.¡± The youth crossed his arms, scowling. ¡°My parents gave me this name.¡± Six shrugged. ¡°Indigo is a fine name.¡± Indigo didn¡¯t know how to retort to what was essentially a comment and the exchange died. Six thanked Bark and turned to Keegan. ¡°You said you had previous history with Marcus? Do you mind if I ask what that was about? No worries if it''s too personal or whatever. It doesn¡¯t seem important in a security sense, I¡¯m just curious.¡± Keegan waved Six¡¯s trepidation away. ¡°Not at all, I feel no shame concerning my conduct with that man. I served under him as an officer, I witnessed his genius in battle but I can say now with confidence that his vicious insanity always laid under the surface. There was a compliance campaign we waged years ago against the kobold rebels of Nullbaram, during this he ordered me to murder civilians. I refused that order.-¡± ¡°My man!¡± Six held his gauntleted fist up for a bump but Keegan just looked at it curiously. Six let it drop. Keegan continued. ¡°I had served him well and honorably to that point. Committing my muscles to the fullest in his designs. He had a respect for me but his ego could not handle my insubordination. I received a demerit and was transferred to the frontier garrison we all came from. Intended to be forgotten.¡± Keegan cracked a good natured smile at his last remark. Six grunted, it was easy to trust Keegan. ¡°Thank you, I see that type of insubordination as evidence of good character. Now.¡± Six clapped his hands. ¡°As I said before, Charles will place you into his system as he sees fit. I¡¯m the boss about big things and Leoka manages the internal systems. Inform both Charles and me of any emergencies and leave any logistic requests with Leoka and she¡¯ll present all that stuff to me during our meetings. Any questions?¡± Irduth took this moment to speak up. ¡°I must once again voice my objections to allowing a boy to control the military of an entire settlement. It goes against every imperial doctri-¡± ¡°We are not the empire,¡± Six cut him off. Irduth¡¯s eye twitched and he gogged in frustration. ¡°What do you know about the kid, Irduth?¡± ¡°He is skilled with a bow and is your loyal lapdog. The skills for leadership are developed over time, the boy-¡± ¡°I know he has the skills and potential, I¡¯ve seen so first hand. An, you are right, it takes time to develop those skills. Which he is doing now, so by the time this remote forest village is something valuable he will be even more skilled than he is now. Perhaps a master.¡± Irduth¡¯s hands shook from the interruption and his eyes could kill. ¡°But he is muldstanni and we are not culturally imperial nor do we educate in an imperial fashion. He would not be suited for such a role. Rather, I nominate Keegan to take the leadership position previously occupied by that boy. It would be the only j-¡± ¡°We are not the empire so why would his culture or education reaching an imperial standard matter?¡± Irduth blustered for a bit, huffing and puffing. ¡°He has an imperial education in warfare, Irduth,¡± Six assured. ¡°I am letting him apply his knowledge and gain experience. Also, yes, he is loyal.¡± Six tilted his head and fixed Irduth with a condescending stare. ¡°I value loyalty.¡± Irduth looked genuinely surprised. ¡°He has an imperial education? I shall test him myself to confirm. It is rare to see one of our kind so cultured.¡± The priest went to stand. ¡°No.¡± Six gestured for him to stay. ¡°This conversation is the end of it. I am explaining this to you for your own benefit. Not to justify myself, my honor, or my actions to you. Even if he failed whatever test you deemed appropriate, it would change nothing. Do not bother him, and I do not want you to attempt to influence him.¡± Irduth went to speak but Six cut him off. ¡°I don¡¯t trust you Irduth. I can tolerate you. Preach your sermons, provide religious guidance to those who want it. Be tolerant while you do it and don¡¯t fuck with my shit.¡° Irduth sat there, staring at Six with a look of furious incredulity. ¡°I don''t trust you.¡± ¡°That''s fine, you don¡¯t have to trust me. None of this is your responsibility.¡° ¡°It is not the responsibility of a foreigner to lead these people.¡± Six laughed at Irduth. ¡°I don¡¯t care about your chosen morality, I run things because I killed the man who killed Alison. My strength allows me to lead here.¡± Irduth slammed the table. ¡°I call your strength into question.¡± ¡°Really? You¡¯ve been here for like an hour and already you¡¯re calling me a liar? Alright buddy.¡± ¡°There is nothing to prove your claim valid.¡± ¡°Alright. Sure, let''s ignore the entire village that could speak to my strength. What''s good enough for you Irduth? For your own benefit.¡± ¡°A test of strength. A duel. In front of the entire village, so there is no doubt.¡± ¡°I mean there¡¯s already no doubt but me and you?¡± Six pointed back and forth between the two of them. Irduth swept that idea away. ¡°Keegan would be a more fitting challenge.¡± Keegan immediately grunted, ¡°no. I do not call his leadership into question, we are guests here.¡± Irduth slowly screwed his face up in frustration, ¡°Then yes, between me and you criminal. I shall show you the ways of Kynairos. If you are brave enough.¡± Six analyzed Irduth. Irduth Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Half-Orc Level 14 Skill increase: Analyze - Initiate - 9 Nice. From what Six understood about this world, most people wouldn¡¯t get past level 1 or 2 so Irduth being at level 14 was undoubtedly impressive. Irduth had also seen combat even if he wasn¡¯t strictly built for it. The man had been tested and Six felt that proved Irduth was not to be underestimated. That being said, he was confident against the fanatical priest. ¡°I don¡¯t think you want these, buddy,¡± Six said, holding up his gauntleted hands. ¡°Coward,¡± grumbled Irduth. Six slapped the table and pushed himself up, Nibbler hissing as she was rustled from her spot on his lap. ¡°Alright, let''s go have a tussle then.¡± ¡°The dog has some bite now that his trainer is gone eh?¡± Six paused and looked at Irduth with a considering glare. ¡°That was actually not too bad. Let¡¯s go.¡± He led the soldiers back outside the leyhall and through the streets. He gestured for people to move. ¡°Clear the way, we are headed to a duel!¡± He was purposefully making a scene, wanting attention for what was to come. Six was creating a spectacle. They exited the east gate and walked a good ways away. Sure enough, a crowd was already beginning to form behind them. Six moved to one side of the clearing and began his stretches. ¡°This is highly inappropriate.¡± Keegan advised. ¡°Below both your stations.¡± Six nodded to the warrior with a grateful smile. ¡°You are of course correct Keegan thank you.¡± He regarded Irduth. ¡°This does not change what I want out of this.¡± Irduth frowned and went to retort but Six pointed opposite him and shouted over whatever he had to say. ¡°Shut up and take your spot, man. Let¡¯s get this done, I have real work to get to.¡± Irduth huffed but strode to thirty meters opposite of Six and took a combat stance. ¡°Prepare yourself heathen. Kynairos will press your soul when you pass, I will provide just a note of such punishment. Take note.¡± Six took on his most imperious noble voice he could muster, he projected for all to hear. ¡°Insubordination and disrespect will not be tolerated. I will allow you one last chance to withdraw your challenge. Will you turn away Irduth?¡± ¡°Kynairos be praised! I will not!¡± Six gestured and shouted to his people to, ¡°back up.¡± Then looked to Bark. ¡°We await your signal.¡± The tsunken aelf obliged him lifting his arm up slowly and holding his lute at the ready. Six dropped a bit lower, his muscles coiling like springs. Bark strummed his lute and shouted at them to, ¡°begin!¡± Irduth opened with a simple spell. ¡°Mana Dart!¡± his hand weaving the spell sigils and conjuring a spike of transparent mirage like reality fractures. Six considered countering with a Mana Spear but didn¡¯t want to kill the priest. Instead he provided himself cover with a series of Stone Walls as he took off towards Irduth. The darts impacted harmlessly off the erupting stone barriers but Irduth was not surprised, having seen this ability of Six¡¯s before. He began to circle around and he changed his spell to something more potent. ¡°Summon Minor Avatar!¡± A greenish magical circle appeared before Irduth and from it rose a huge bull of greenish copper. It snorted a whistle and pawed the ground. Irduth screamed, ¡°know the power of Kynairos!¡± Six did not slow his charge and when the bull went to charge it instead slipped. From the earth, a stone hand gripped the hindleg of the summoned animal, and from the earth rose Poh Doh who grappled the beast into the ground and away from the dueling pair. Greenish copper chains burst forth from the half-orcs palms and sought the incoming enchanter. But Six was nimble enough with his serpentine charge path that none of the seeking chains connected with him. He could see the panic begin to set in on the priest''s face but still there was more. ¡°Hymn of Judgement!¡± A giant bell appeared but for a moment near Six and it rang once, a deep booming thing that replaced all other sounds. The reverberation went through Six like the most powerful sub bass he¡¯d ever felt, it made him feel ill. He held down his stomach but the dizziness was unreal and he received a debuff called- Deafened He now realized he couldn¡¯t hear shit. Motherfucker. He heard no sound but Irduth was only ten meters away. He cast something and a giant copper scythe blade was conjured before Irduth and blasted towards Six. Instantly Six went cold towards the situation. This was clearly something that could seriously injure him and Irduth must have known it. Six reached forth and caught the giant blade in his gauntlets, activating their nullification ability. The gauntlets shone white with power as the silence became even more pronounced within Six and he wrenched the blade asunder, cracking it in two. The moment ended and the conjured scythe shards shattered into mana and blew away like dust in the wind. Six sprinted at the man and batted away another chain, his gauntlet redirecting it and its destruction off into the forest. Barely five feet away Six cast a Stone Wall behind the priest and with a little hop and some forward rotation, loaded himself horizontally in the air. He exploded forward with an empowered jump, a cloud appearing below his feet. His Slypheon Greaves not only allowed this midair maneuver but also increased the distance he could travel. Six rocketed right at Irduth and speared him backwards, both of them colliding with the conjured stone wall and smashing through it. Irduth gasped and tried to mutter a ¡°Rebuke of Ky- Huraghk!¡± Six who landed on top of the priest immediately shoved two of his gauntleted fingers in the priest''s mouth and fish hooked his head to the side. The spell canceled with the disruption of the verbal component and the miscast must have stung. Six didn¡¯t stop there and laid haymakers and hammer blows into the side of Irduth¡¯s head. The man was tough but it was a downward spiral as with each hit Six could see more and more consciousness leave Irduth. Every strike made him more incapable of self defense and soon the senseless man lolled on the ground. His conjured bull fell apart into dust and Poh Doh was free from struggle, lumbering closer to watch over Six. Six hit Irduth a few more times before a scaled hand stopped his fist. Kali Kik stood next to Six. A disapproving look on her face. She moved to heal the priest and Six did not stop her. Six stood to see the crowd watching. Their reactions were split. Some spoke animated about the fight, others stood by with morose looks, shaken by the loss of the priest. Keegan looked at Six with a considering, thoughtful gaze. Irduth soon came to and after getting ahold of himself, fixed Six with a glare. Six smiled down at him. ¡°Anyways welcome to Mountain¡¯s End. Glad you wanna help. I have things to do, Peace!¡± He flashed them a peace sign and strode back towards the village, Nibbler on his heels. Irduth could be a problem and Six would have sent him away but tearing him away from his group seemed like it could cause unwanted friction. Not that they seemed particularly attached to him, but soldiers could be irrationally unified and he had stayed during the schism so it was probable that his position in the group was cemented. Six went to find Leoka and discuss where to put the structures to house these soldiers. This was a tangible increase in the village''s martial strength, at least an overall doubling of their power. This was also a massive increase on the resource demands of the village. Between the prisoners and the soldiers they would run out of food long before the harvest could be brought in. There was still a lot of room in this glade for farms and much of it was under his buff. Eventually, the farms would be expanded. But, he needed to bring in food now. His mother had been a crazy narcissist but she¡¯d always kept him fed. Food was important and it was his responsibility to provide stability to these people. That included making sure the village didn¡¯t starve. Six dodged through the bustle of the village and hopped with ease over a trundling cart. He avoided a pack of shrieking children as they played their own game, weaving in and out of the traffic. The trolls were a large priority but he couldn¡¯t wait for an indeterminate amount of time to have them tracked down. He couldn¡¯t feed everyone with Plant Growth and still progress in skill and overall level, it would take every last bit of mana to produce enough produce. There was nothing more to optimize between the hunting parties and the town patrols. They were already bringing back as much as they could. He needed to make that trip he¡¯d been putting off. It was unlikely that Olisrosa had much food to spare but it was his only short term option that might give him enough breathing room to get to the first harvest, which with the plant growth buff left about one month left before harvest. And he had a lot of gold. He just needed to get enough food to get them to the harvest. He found Leoka and they talked about the new housing projects and their placement. Six also brought Franklin in for a talk about a sewer system and waste processing. The new soldiers could also contribute to the required labour for their own housing, which would help the needed buildings go up even faster. Six had no clue about any of that but he brought the concept to their attention. Franklin was aware of sewers but didn¡¯t understand the idea of a waste processor. Still, it planted the idea. They would figure it out. He informed both Charles and Leoka that he would be making a trip to Olisrosa and that they would be holding down the fort in his absence. ¡°Charles, I''m leaving Poh Doh here and he is under your command until I get back.¡± He was still worried about a troll attack and Poh Doh was one of the best defensive assets available to them. The earth golem would stay. The young muldstanii gulped but stood straight before giving Six a small bow. ¡°Thank you Six.¡± ¡°No problem, watch out for those trolls. They will fucking kill you. Try to avoid battling them until I return,¡± Six said. ¡°Let everyone know I''m gone, but I¡¯ll be back.¡± Leoka, the young village girl smiled and waved him away. ¡°Of course we will.¡± Six told Gatbark to prepare at his earliest and the dwarf seeing the lord¡¯s seriousness told him he could be ready the next day. That was good, there was no time to waste. Six spent the rest of the day preparing some rations and checking his travelling gear. He ate dinner with Ravna and told her about his abrupt trip. ¡°With all these new people it''s crucial that I go out and secure some more food for us. So, yeah, tomorrow morning is when I leave.¡± She lifted an eyebrow. ¡°Oh? It''s crucial that you go on this trip?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°No one else can trade for the village?¡± ¡°Well, Gatbark is actually gonna be doing the trading but I think I should still go.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Well for one, I don¡¯t trust Gatbark to accurately report his negotiations so I gotta watch his ass. Secondly, I want to be there to authorize any opportunity that Gatbark may create beyond his initial objectives. Third, travel is good for growth and I need to experience more of this world to learn how to exploit it in a way I find appropriate. I¡¯ve only been to Olisrosa once and much came of it, the second time should yield good returns I think.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t like the idea of my partner away for long periods of time.¡± ¡°Won¡¯t take nearly as long to get there, I can travel much faster when I¡¯m not scouting for a marching column the size of a village. Don¡¯t worry NIbbler¡¯s coming and she can watch my back.¡± ¡°Stop joking. I don¡¯t like it. I want you here.¡± ¡°Yea, I¡¯d love to stay but duty calls.¡± She smirked a bittersweet smile and they enjoyed their meal, and then each other until the late hours of the night. That morning Six left the leyhall and met with Gatbark before heading to the west gate. As he approached he saw a small group of people assembled. They were the officers from yesterday. Keegan waved and called over. ¡°My, lord we seek to accompany you to Olisrosa.¡± That was a little surprising as they had just got here. ¡°Uuh, ok, why? And have you cleared this with Charles?¡± ¡°We didn¡¯t have time to stop off at a major city and spend the gold we had, we now wish to spend our money on certain industries that we find the village lacking and yes, we cleared it with the Captain.¡± ¡°The Captain?¡± ¡°Captain Charles.¡± ¡°Ah yes, very well. What are we lacking for my own knowledge?¡± ¡°A decent glassblower and paper maker,¡± grumbled Indigo from the back. ¡°Enough metal ingots required for regular maintenance of a well equipped force,¡± Keegan said. This was something Six was attempting to solve with the bandits being trained into miners. He had sent out a few prospectors and would hear about options for mines soon. ¡°I¡¯ll handle that, thank you Keegan.¡± ¡°And booze is too limited here,¡± Nar added. ¡°Yea it is,¡± Bark agreed with a sad staccato of notes. ¡°Jebbedo asked me to buy him a bunch so that''s what I¡¯m doing, hope that''s ok Six.¡± Nar explained. Six waved it away. ¡°I don¡¯t care but thanks for mentioning it, appreciate it. You guys ready?¡± After an affirmative Six led them away from the village and into the shady depths of the rainforest, away from the place he now called home. 2.9 Pressure and Priorities Phila, the 15th, 10,391 The trip was less than a quarter of the time it took with the villagers. Taking just two days of hard travel to reach the human city. Six was impressed at the stamina of the soldiers with even the seemingly dainty Indigo able to keep up the grueling pace set by Six. There were a few occasional battles but nothing the experienced warriors were incapable of handling. The usual irritants, boars, bristlehounds, and bandits, all were swept aside by simple violence. The nights were easy as well. Six didn¡¯t fit in with the established camaraderie of the soldiers but that was almost preferable, he was their boss, not their friend. He spent his nights on this small trip relaxing, chilling, and reading his books. It was nice. And he gained a few levels in Carpentry, Construction, and Masonry. They approached Olisrosa along the river, the setting sun at their backs. It was an impressive city with a grey stone wall that encapsulated it against the river it sat next to. Docks extended from the shore and reached out into the water, servicing the river traffic that sailed about. There were more people about and Six could tell the amount of shanties had risen around the city walls. People were looking for safety in numbers and that led to an inevitable increase in density around population centers. Already Six could see the gaunt faces staring at the approaching party with hungry curiosity. They were stopped at the gates. Once again the presence of Aclo and Bark caused a stir amongst the guards but Irduth as a priest of Kynairos was able to calm the Kynairos crazed humans and convince them that Aclo and Bark were, ¡°under his authority.¡± It took another priest to come and verify Irduth¡¯s position but eventually they were allowed into the city. It was packed. People were everywhere and the streets were awash in movement, colours, scents, and smells. Most everyone, both free people but more so slaves, looked thinner than Six remembered but nowhere near as bad as the people on the outside. It took a long time to find rooms for the night but they managed. The price seemed ridiculous though at eight silver. Six was pretty sure last time he was here he paid like six copper or something for an inn of similar quality. Whatever. They were served a spoonful of oatmeal for breakfast and then split up to accomplish their respective tasks. Six left with Gatbark and led the dwarf to the bustling commercial district, it was time to resupply and look for talent. The dwarf spoke in his gravelly way. ¡°Now boy, just let me do the talking. I do need to know what we''re working with though. How much do I have to work with?¡± Six leaned and whispered, even in these loud crowded streets it paid to be careful. ¡°Bout nine hundred gold.¡± Gatbark hummed and stared off into the distance. ¡°Good.¡± ¡°Is it? Is it alot?¡± Six felt like he could buy alot for 900 gold. ¡°For a regular person? Suuure. That''s an amount almost no normal person could ever earn. For people like you and me? Very good considering all you had for a while there was what? Fifty gold?¡± ¡°Something like that.¡± The dwarf patted his belly. ¡°Hrmph, well anyway the goal is to get food back up to Mountain¡¯s End but to be honest this isn¡¯t looking good. There are signs of rationing already, we may be able to get something but it''s going to be expensive.¡± Six shrugged. ¡°Spend away, I also have rare items or my services for trade if that might help. Also I have a few of these.¡± He showed Gatbark one of the golden tabs he found in the K¡¯gan complex. Gatbark lifted an eyebrow at the sight of the tab and he nudged the human until Six deposited it in his spatial. ¡°That good?¡± Six asked. Gatbark murmured back quietly. ¡°Rare and expensive. About 20 to 25 times more expensive than a regular coin of the same type.¡± With that Six relaxed a bit. He had tons of cash if what Gatbark said was true. That being said he would like to save it and told the dwarf to hawk his services first. The first thing they shopped for was skill. Six went to the local job boards and bought a few spots to advertise an opportunity for work. As he went to place his ad, he was approached by the loitering unemployed who preemptively offered their services and skills. He took note of their faces and tried to appreciate their initiative. He made sure the ad mentioned the need for relocation and a long term commitment but also specified there was free room and board for professionals and their families. He put the interview at a market stall he rented out for tomorrow. With that he followed Gatbark for the rest of the day. Six watched as Gatbark worked his magic. Slowly the dwarf worked his way into the markets and talked his way from a simple vegetable salesman up to the regional wheat distributor. The distributor was an old hunched human, with a beard to match Gatbark¡¯s. ¡°No can do I¡¯m afraid we¡¯re already far too short on grain to spare it.¡± Gatbark pushed. ¡°We¡¯re willing to pay good gold for whatever you have.¡± ¡°Gold simply isn''t enough at this point.¡± ¡°Understandable, My patron is willing to offer his master ranked enchantment services if that would change anything.¡± The distributor paused at that. ¡°Master rank?¡± Gatbark pressed. ¡°Why yes, he knows several runes and his specialty is golems. If you trade us the food we need I¡¯ll even convince him to apply his secret techniques to them.¡± Gatbark leaned in conspiratorially. ¡°He can create golems that self-sustain, self-repair, and gain levels.¡± At that the distributor gogged but quickly composed himself. ¡°Perhaps we can find some portions that can be reallocated.¡± Six smiled. Gatbark was working wonders. In a private workshop, Six created four minor earth golems for the distributor, each at level 3. Six used no reagents and the distributor offered none so the creations were standard in ability and appearance. Looking like smaller, more simple Poh Dohs. At skill level 9 Blood Casting was returning 1.36 mana for every 2 health spent, so If he spent 500 of his 517 health pool he could gain approximately 340 mana. This basically gave him an effective mana pool of 472. He had left the domain of the Ley Nexus two days ago and with it lost access to the 1000 mana that sprang from the land. This meant that Six couldn¡¯t make more complex enchantments or stronger golems. The lack of mana limited the rank he could create down to the most basic, minor. That being said, his master ranked enchantment evolution made simple golems incredibly valuable for their ability to grow and self repair. This meant Gatbark was able to leverage the simple golems he created for an incredibly high value. If properly nurtured they would provide increasing value for hundreds of years. The earth golems cost just over 200 mana to create so the four took a couple hours to create but by the end Six was incredibly happy with the results. The man was more than happy with the creations and thanked SIx and Gatbark profusely. In exchange Six received enough food to barely get his people one more month down the road. It wouldn¡¯t allow for any shortcomings and Six wouldn¡¯t put Mountain¡¯s End in such a position. He felt he needed to find more. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. He pondered the morals behind what he did. He was born a capitalist and spoke out amongst his friends about the evils of globalism, yet here he was. Using his resources and expertise to siphon off the resources of a community in desperate need of them. If someone did that to his community he would be livid. He would probably consider it an act of war. He saw the hypocrisy in his words and actions. He did not care, his people must eat. Compared to the ocean of people here, his were but a droplet of rain. His actions were overall insignificant to the problem of famine faced by Olisrosa. Six and Gatbark stopped by stores and suppliers getting many tools and items that Leoka reported Mountain¡¯s End needing. He managed to secure a large out of ingots, enough to satisfy Charles and Keegan, Gatbark assured. Six stopped by the bookstore and found it guarded by a rather large and well armed vrill. The vrill looked them up and down as they entered but didn¡¯t try to stop them. Inside was much the same cramped and stacked bookstore that Six remembered. Cake remembered Six and was hoping he¡¯d come back. The little halfling woman brought out a grimoire and displayed the magical tome to Six. - Magical Grimoire of Strength of the Oak - Rank: Unusual Rarity: Rare Defense - 100 Weight - 1 KG Durability 120/120 Traits: Capable of imparting all knowledge required for the minor earth spell, Strength of the Oak. Is consumed upon use. Skill increased: Inspect - Initiate - 15 Very nice. He immediately bought it for 110 gold which was a little more than what he paid for the initial spells he bought here but local inflation looked to be out of control so he didn¡¯t say anything. He did offer Cake the opportunity to pack up and relocate to his settlement. He left with her saying she¡¯d think about it. From there he passed by the enchantment quarter but found nothing of particular note, the most skilled enchanters in Olisrosa reaching no higher than low apprentice. The most interesting materials were shipping into the imperial core so there weren¡¯t any interesting resources really. He returned to the inn and learned his new spell in the privacy of his room. Strength of the Oak was a physical buff. Spell: Strength of the Oak Rank: Minor Cooldown: 1 minute Range: touch Casting Time: 5s Duration: 5 minutes Mana Cost: 80 mana Effect: The user harnesses the power of the earth, summoning verdant flora that surrounds the target in a supportive exo-skeleton. The plants bring increased protection while providing benefits related to strength and endurance. While active, each level in Elemental Magic improves Strength and Endurance by an additional 0.25%. He was impressed by this little spell and knew he would be using it consistently. With that done, it was time for dinner. *** Irduth moved through the city. He had a mission to fulfill. He found himself at the local temple of Kynairos. Banners of red and brown whipped in the wind and a statue of muscular Kynairos stood flexing to the sky, plow and scythe in hand. The priest proselytizing down at the listeners gathered on the street below. Olisrosa was a pure city, part of those who remembered the glory of the empire. They respected their god, they had not turned away. The large and towering stone work building was only possible because of the tithes from the loyal. Brutal and unapologetic, it stood proud. Their grand temple reflected that pious nature and protected the sheep. When the rulers of Olisrosa were assassinated by their bodyguards it fell to High Craftsmistress Susan to maintain order. She had done so admirably. It took a while to convince the chain of command but Irduth had gained a short audience. He entered her office, gold and bronze plated on every surface. The wealth was not a sign of her brilliance but of the effort and radiance of Kynairos. She was a human that wore a brown robe of fine silk and bore the red sash of her station. She gestured a greeting and they uttered the words simultaneously. ¡°Praise be Kynairos.¡± Irduth bowed despite how much it rankled him. She legitimately outranked him so he bowed, it was that simple. He would not always be so weak. ¡°Craftsmisstress, I bring news. Of a potential pit of blasphemers.¡± She looked at him with mild curiosity and he told her his report of Mountain¡¯s End and their corrupt chieftain. Of Six¡¯s strange creations and his tolerance of other gods. His flouting of imperial magic regulations. ¡°Craftsman Irduth, thank you for telling me of these things, but for now, their sinning is the lesser of two evils. We are preoccupied with other interests and a mountain village of a few hundred hicks is of no consequence. Even with the magical trees, such treasures are valuable but not worth the current destabilization of the city.¡± Irduth knew better than to question a leader. He bowed once more and she dismissed him. ¡°Praise be Kynairos.¡± They at least now knew of the danger on their border. *** After dinner Six had been invited by Indigo to receive sensitive information. He sat crowded amongst the others who also attended within Indigo¡¯s room and waited until Indigo spoke. ¡°I have important information. I used this city¡¯s gemtyper to communicate with our contact in Zleen and learned that Juthe-Wei has sent out a salvage team to the rediscovered tsunken aelf homelands.¡± At that proclamation Aclo and Nar both perked up and sat with more tension. Six had questions but didn¡¯t interrupt the alchemist. ¡°Juthe-Wei is sending a secret unit of scholars and casters out to these lands. Once lost to history they had now been pinpointed and an expedition sent to retrieve an artifact of great power that would serve to accelerate some secret plan he has. She said if possible we must intercept them and prevent them from retrieving the artifact.¡± Six made a buzzer noise and chopped at his neck. ¡°Sounds bad for whatever people are on the other side of this but I fail to see how this affects Mountain¡¯s End.¡± Keegan lifted an eyebrow. ¡°It may not directly affect Mountain¡¯s End but Juthe-Wei represents a threat to many. It falls to good men to order the world and you are not just needed by your people.¡± Six scoffed. ¡°I have no desire to begin installing myself over others where I deem necessary.¡± ¡°Dealing a blow to the usurper would not become one,¡± Aclo grumbled. ¡°My brother must be hindered at all costs. He is not reasonable.¡± ¡°My contact stressed it was of the utmost importance. I wouldn¡¯t ask if I didn¡¯t think it important.¡± Indigo said ¡°And think, all those lost and ancient tsuken aelf artifacts. I uuuh, imagine power is just waiting to be snatched by those who find it first,¡± Bark added. Six sat there, thinking. The argument of simple power was perhaps the most compelling of them all. The world made his decision simple though. You have been offered a quest: Exploitation Disruption Juthe-Wei Yudinzo has seen it fit to send a group of arcane scholars to the tsunken aelf homeland. Your soldier cry out for a countering response and do not wish to see this opportunity fall Rewards for Accepting: Increase of relationship with the officers. Rewards for Completion: Voluntary Spiritual Energy Superior Rank Item Time Limit: Unknown Penalty for Failure: Loss of relationship with the officers. Loss of control over Superior Item. Do you Accept? Yes or No? Six accepted, yes. ¡°Aight.¡± He looked to Indigo. ¡°When did this expedition leave?¡± ¡°A week ago.¡± Shit, he had no idea where it was but their competitors had a headstart on them. ¡°How are we going to get there?¡± ¡°Boat then march,¡± Indigo offered. ¡°Aight, well I was gonna look for a boat anyways so this works for me.¡± They spent much of the night planning and figuring out the specifics of their trip. The location was to the far north and they would have to march through some cold conditions to find a mountain stronghold. Gatbark had Aclo connect them with the local thieves guild who had the rest of the food Six was looking for, at an extremely inflated price. Still, Six felt better knowing they were going to make it to harvest. Six didn¡¯t have to spend any of the K¡¯gan tabs or trade his golems to the thieves and he still came away with 213 gold remaining. The next day Six found himself training Gatbark on who he was looking for in terms of immigrants. Surprisingly, he found himself mostly agreeing with Gatbark on the traits of an ideal immigrant. Gatbark just wanted to treat them like shit. Six basically wanted more farmers, miners, masons, glassblowers, and an alchemist, a few shipwrights, lumberjacks, hunters, and healers. Not to mention, anybody looking to fulfill those roles. Six also wasn¡¯t worried if Gatbark poached a bunch for himself initially. Six would eventually be able to lure them back with tax breaks Gatbark couldn¡¯t compete with. Once Six got Gatbark started the line grew quick, the hungry and eager of Olisrosa clamoring for any opportunity presented. Of course this led to liars and cheats trying to deceive their way into a new life but Gatbark had a discerning insight when it came to productivity and worked his hardest to vet everyone. It was interesting hearing the obvious gossip and rumors that came out in the interviews, stories of Grand General Marcus allying with Tyber Zaun and marching on Zleen, that Juthe-Wei was to marry a Hynk Battle Princess, or that the imperial mages made a fake Juthe-Wei. Six left him to it and went to the docks to contract a ship to take them away. He stocked up on some specific purchases just for him. Mostly tiny saplings that he could carry into the sea and into the snows. Not many options for plants where he was going. Walking the piers reminded him of the day he arrived here just under two months ago. Everything was a bit more frenetic. The slaves looked more harried and the bellows bit deeper. There was a voice, louder than the others, that resonated in familiarity with Six. ¡°By Kynairos, woman! Don¡¯t tell me what to do! This is MAH BOAT!¡± Six walked closer to see three boats, one of which he recognized as the Riverdancer. The other two boats were larger and far more impressive. Six could see his old friends, Copperback and Elyria arguing on one while Jeffums coiled rope on another. Six walked up the gangplank and cleared his throat, catching their attention. He gave them a friendly wave. ¡°Six!¡± They both said. Amos closed the distance and shook Six¡¯s hand vigorously. ¡°Wow, you looking gud Six. Look at dat armor, ya? Some fine work dat. How you been doing?¡± ¡°Amos! Fancy seeing you here. I¡¯ve been good! Looks like you guys have been doing well for yourselves?¡± ¡°Aye, you could say that,¡± Amos said with a grin. ¡°We¡¯ve three ships now.¡± Elyria said, fiddling with a knot. ¡°Gotcher self a little fleet, eh? You gonna have to tell me how you pulled this off in what? Two months?¡± ¡°Kynairos blesses those whose sweat runs dry and we¡¯ve been sailing under the sun everyday my friend.¡± Amos knew how to talk for the locals and praising Kynairos never hurt. ¡°That¡¯s exactly what I¡¯m looking for. I hope you got one more in ya, praise be Kynairos!¡± ¡°Six, a man needs a bit o rest. Lemme tell you our story over a pipe and a few ales and we can talk business after.¡± ¡°No can do, how much would it cost to contract you to take us north?¡± ¡°North? We¡¯d have to travel around almost half the continent. That would take just over three weeks and would cost too much gold for it to be worth it for us.¡± ¡°Three fucking weeks?¡± This was sizing up to be a far larger investment than he first imagined. There and back would be a month and a half in itself. The delving could take weeks to months aswell. ¡°Aye.¡± Six sighed. ¡°Make it happen, Captain.¡± ¡°Did you not hear the too much gold part?¡± ¡°How much gold are we talkin?¡± ¡°One boat? Four twenty gold for there and back.¡± ¡°Blaze be Kynairos! That''s a bit expensive. Could we do a trade?¡± ¡°A trade? Not much better out there than gold, boy.¡± ¡°I learned some things. I¡¯ll make you a wind golem or two.¡± ¡°Pah, those things are more expensive than they¡¯re worth. I ain''t the military with endless supplies of mana cores to feed the things.¡± Six leaned in and whispered, just as he saw Gatbark do. ¡°My golems power and repair themselves.¡± It took Amos a moment to understand, crack a smile and laugh. ¡°Well my friend, why didn¡¯t you say so from de beginning?¡± Only Gatbark would remain to attend to the business of Mountain¡¯s End. All the officers would go, Six would accompany them. He wrote a letter to Ravna explaining his long term absence and hoped she would understand and not dump him. He wrote Charles and Leoka, expressing his administration and civic goals. Gatbark would guide the boats, bringing his letters, the food, materials, and the new people with him. Six and the officers assembled that night and piled into Amos¡¯ new boat. They wasted no time in leaving the harbour and beginning their journey. 2.10 Boat Trip 2 Phila, the 23th, 10,391 The Dancing Racer sailed off the eastern coast of Zarmul. The weather was tumultuous and the white spray of the sea misted up onto the deck of the ship. Six stood looking out at the massive insect that strode upon the ferocious waters. Despite being the size of a small house the bug dashed about easily, posturing with the ship. Its segmented body was covered in a shell of dappled chitin and speckled with parasitic sea creatures. Its multi jointed legs were capable of producing incredible bursts of speed and it demonstrated that as it approached from the horizon. Amos shouted over the elements. ¡°Dis be awful. Kynairos curse our luck! I knew I shoulda stayed to da rivers! Dat ting will ram our ship and sink us right quick. We can¡¯t let it hit us!¡± Six¡¯s analyze skill showed it as, Giant Sea Strider Level 24 An evolved creature. It would be significantly more dangerous than a regular monster. He had already considered his arsenal while at sea and initiated his response. He couldn¡¯t cast his stone spells and his buffs wouldn¡¯t really help him at range or protect the ship. Really, there was one thing he could do. The officers made their own preparations as Amos¡¯ crew manned crossbows and ballista. Keegan and Narhurin drew bows of their own. Bark and Irduth wove their magic together, creating a mesh of conjured thorns and chains positioned between them and the sea strider. Six wove spell sigils while the spell complex in his mind whirred away, shunting mana in predetermined perfection. There wasn¡¯t enough though, this spell required more so he drew upon more. He drew upon his blood. His flesh leaked and the rejection of life burned away into mana that coalesced amongst his arcane gestures. It hurt, as always. But, as always, it revitalized him. It made the colours and flavours of life pop. It made the trade worth it. The spell completed with his arcane muttering focusing his will, ¡°Mana Spear!¡± A lance of fractured reality materialized before Six and launched with impossible speed. Blasting forth and impacting the shell of the creature, shattering it and leaving a rend the size of washing machine. The chitin shards were lost to the ocean. The beast shuddered and dashed towards them. Multiple lines of white cut into the sea underneath it as it sailed closer. Six bellowed, ¡°I need health and mana!¡± He pulled his spear of vital surge out just long enough to cast it upon himself, increasing his regen. Kali Kik approached and laid her hands upon him and he could feel a flood of warmth, as she sank over a hundred health into him. His pain evaporating with the spike in HP. He felt alive! It cost 380 health to bloodcast the 250 mana cost spell. His regen stack would build him back up soon but not quick enough to blast another one just yet. Indigo came stumbling up with a pair of potions that Six chugged without hesitation. He smiled as he saw both bars surge. The ship swayed as the arcane net absorbed the charge from the enraged sea strider. It floated away and readied itself for another charge. Instead a line of red spikes traced down from Six¡¯s shoulder and staccattoed into the exposed flesh of the beast. It keened in pain and wriggled back. Sections of shell lifted to reveal eggsacks that quickly burst, dropping wriggling larva into the waves. Then it arched its proboscis, pointed at the deck, and sprayed a line of red liquid. Irduth didn¡¯t wait, dropping the chains and throwing up a new defense immediately. ¡°Reprieve of the Gathered!¡± A massive bell tolled into existence between the monster and the ship. The conjured form blocked the spray of spittle and it burned and hissed where coated. Irduth collapsed, wincing. His protective bell destabilized and blew away into dust. Seeing the effectiveness of Six¡¯s minor attack, others began to focus on the breach in the armor. Six however, had finished conjuring another Mana Spear, the scintillating transparency coiling like a spring before lancing forth like a glitch in reality. Another hole erupted on the creature''s carapace and Six could see it stagger. Its limbs stuttered and when it did manage to coordinate it lacked the strength to properly move. Six felt a bit sad for the simple creature, but knew it was still incredibly dangerous and would end them given the chance. It struggled through another charge and even while wounded managed to break the conjured defense of woven thorns. Even with the magical defense the impact was immense and Six could hear a gut wrenching crunch come from the ship below. Six heard one of the crew yell, ¡°we¡¯re taking on water and the damn bugs are crawlin up the side!¡± The larva were wriggling up and trying to board the ship. The crew changed targets from the giant beast to its young that sought to feed upon the sailors. Pulling out large knives and boarding axes, chopping and stabbing into the dog sized sea maggots. But Six pushed all of that away and focused internally, meditating on the swaying deck as the monster trilled in dominance. It only increased his regen by just over 7% but he needed everything he had for the next shot. He waited until his mana and health were just barely enough and he cast his next spell. As he cast three things happened. Magical Conductivity passively scaled his Heavy Armor skill into his spellcasting, increasing the spell¡¯s effectiveness by an initial 11.5%. Then Six activated his Helm of Prismatic Magic Amplification and the golden crescent glowed with an arcing arcane energy that boosted the power of the mana spear by 21%, the translucent collection of broken lines and mirrors grew and started to spin lazily, a rising sound grew in pitch and volume. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. Then Indigo lashed Six¡¯s arcane gestures with a magical whip of his own mana and although Six couldn¡¯t see what was occurring in a thaumaturgical sense, he could feel the additional mana flow into his construct he had an understanding of what the young man was doing as Indigo yelled out the verbal component of his spell. ¡°Epiphany!¡± The mana flow surged and so did Six¡¯s spell. The mana spear grew even larger and the spin began to pick up speed. Indigo¡¯s spell pushed Six¡¯s own to even greater heights. Six could barely hold on, his mind focusing through the pain of his bloodcasting and ensuring the somatic components were formed with exacting precision. He was deliberate, working carefully through the loss of dexterity his gauntlets imposed. He held on and contained the spell until he felt that sweetspot begin to bend and his gut told him to let go. He bellowed the words, ¡°Mana Spear!¡± The massive mana construct exploded forth, whistling a screech as it tore up the air, and in an instant blasted right through the sea strider¡¯s right side. It lost all its legs on that side and collapsed into the surf, kicking. Then the beast died. Six had prompts but he knew there was still more to do. He went below deck, squeezing past a bucket train to find a breach in the hull, a grand crack that ran along a few beams and was spewing water into the ship. The sailors Amos hired had all been level 2 or higher so everyone was performing extremely well, even still Six could see them struggle to patch the damage effectively. Struggling with extra planks and pitch, It might work but he had better. ¡°Clear the way.¡± Six pushed the sailors away and approached the massive leak. He pulled a small sapling from his bag and held it near the damage. Six channeled Plant Growth and slowly the sapling reached towards the ship and anchored its roots to the wood, then with Six¡¯s guidance grew to seal the breach. The patch ended up looking like a single piece of bark covered wood where the damage used to be. It was sealed. The bucket train continued but they weren¡¯t taking on water anymore. Now that the immediate problems had been solved Six could let the crew finish the rest. Six had Amos sail nearer to the monster corpse so he could rope it in close to the ship, it was nice to use the good rope Six spawned with, it was a memory of something he¡¯d never touch again. The sailors were impressed with its modern design and construction. He slid down the rope without most of his armor, just his greaves and began to chip and slice away with the hammer and dagger he brought. He just wanted the mana core, yet when he was chipping away Indigo didn¡¯t hesitate to shout down a request for a distinct gland or choice piece to be harvested in a specific way. It didn¡¯t hurt Six to humor the request as he wanted to be in the alchemist''s good books and it probably improved his butcher skill. They were back on their way, cutting across the coastal waters, when Six reviewed his gains. He¡¯d leveled up to level 11, earning 6 stat points, 35 perk points, and a skill point. He committed his stat points evenly, putting one into strength and luck bringing each to 20 and 25 respectively. Constitution got its regular bump up and rose to 52. The last two he invested into his lagging endurance, setting it to 12. He felt strong and his training had never been so athletic, the returns on his points in strength were clear. His return on luck was less, definable. He should have over twice the luck than the average person but he didn¡¯t know what that meant for him. He was beginning to become dense and thick with how much constitution he was building, surely luck had an effect. With the stat points done, it was time to spend his perk points. There were so many good choices it made it hard to decide what to spend them on. That being said, he needed to buy the armor strength perk to see if it also expanded the soul forest he went to when applying his perk points. Knowledge was power and gaining more insight on his options was crucial to optimizing his purchase path. He withdrew to the saplings in his mind and dashed about examining everything. Nothing significant had changed but there were signs of life about. Nibbled leaves and broken stems, this was not a stagnant space. Six immediately bought Armor Strength 1 for 5 perk points. Armor strength 1: Increases strength of enchantments placed upon armor by 10% This unlocked the next tier upgrade, Armor strength 2: 10 perk points Increases strength of enchantments placed upon armor by 20% Six wished he had leveled up some before he made this set of armor but his leveling had slowed somewhat since level 10. SIx supposed he hadn¡¯t been grinding exactly as hard as he could have been, that''s not to say he¡¯d been lazy. He¡¯d accomplished much, but much of it had been construction, enchantment, or administration work With the purchase of Armor Strength came a change in the environment. The sapling shot up in size and a new semi circle of saplings grew away from it, opposite the golem trees, all with their own traits and costs. They were the armor trees. Runic Disruption: 50 perk points When struck by an enemy''s melee attack, the armor can release a surge of disruptive energy, stunning nearby foes. Runic Endurance: 55 perk points The armor''s runes absorb excess energy and convert it into a temporary boost to the Golemchanter''s stamina, allowing for prolonged battles without fatigue. Golemforge: 60 perk points The armor can temporarily open a dimensional portal, summoning additional golems to reinforce the Golemchanter''s forces. Titanic Empowerment: 60 perk points The armor temporarily imbues the wearer with increased size and strength, granting the Golemchanter an imposing presence and improved physical might. Runic Bond: 55 perk points The armor forms a powerful link between the Golemchanter and the armor¡¯s enchantments, allowing them to exchange mana for additional charges. Golemclad Convergence: 50 perk points The armor''s runes synchronize with the golem''s, amplifying their combined abilities and forming an unstoppable force on the battlefield. He was gratified somewhat by his rather obvious prediction being correct and although he was pleased by the new options available they would have to wait. Six decided to save for Golem Reformation or Armor Integration first. He wasn¡¯t sure which. Probably reformation because he doubted his ability to perfectly recreate either of his growth golems, nor did he want to. It seemed like the most fundamental perk for long term survival. He had five skill points but he felt no need to use them. Lump leveled up too and Six distributed the blood golems stats. Every level it gained 4 points that could be distributed to any stat and Six just wanted Lump to be a weapons platform so that meant more firing potential. He pumped it all into intelligence, he wanted more blood darts and faster, also it would improve Lump to be more spell resistant so it could better weather arcane AOE attacks. Both Six found desirable so he boosted it. Once its intelligence was equal with its constitution he would distribute the points between the two stats but until then it was pure intelligence. Upon examination, Poh doh had already leveled once in SIx¡¯s absence, a sign that made Six worry about the amount of conflict occurring back home but the golem was alive so Six assumed Charles was too. Pohdoh gained four stat points upon level up as well, automatically placing one into strength and constitution and then allowing for the placement of 2 free points. Six placed the free points into strength and constitution and reinforced the golem¡¯s natural gains, Poh Doh was a simple creation and not a generalist. Nibbler leveled up but Six didn¡¯t control any of that and she seemed to be progressing fine on her own. She learned how to cast those crescent moon blades and Six was sure she would manifest something new soon. His skill prompts reflected his progress from this fight. Skill increase: Force magic - Initiate - 6 Blood magic - Initiate - 10 Blood casting - Initiate - 11 Meditation - Initiate - 16 Butcher skill - Initiate - 12 Athletics - Initiate - 10 Force magic gained a ludicrous 5 levels and both blood casting and blood magic went up by two, such gains were unheard. It must have been his Unbound Comprehension at work. Further evidence of the workings of Unbound Comprehension was an entirely new skill that had manifested. Skill gained: Coven - Initiate - 1 Allows for the connection of people and their mana pathways, effectively allowing for use and combination of another''s mana. The maximum number of coven members is equal to the skills level Mana transfer efficiency: 1 mana donated = 0.1.+0.01*n mana received Six had no idea why it appeared but his best guess was that his Unbound Comprehension gained some sort of insight from Indigo¡¯s Epiphany spell that allowed creation or discovery of this skill. His mind began to wander to the new limits he would be able to reach with a skill like this. He would be able to- Six didn¡¯t have much time to mentally absorb his new gains before a rough hand spun him about. It was Irduth. 2.11 Growth of Conviction ¡°Flouting the rules of the Imperial Mages Guild is one thing, but you practice blood magic too?¡± Irduth sounded almost hurt. Six¡¯s anger blossomed like a forest fire and he pushed Irduth back. ¡°Rebuke Of Ky-¡± ¡°Just fucking try it!,¡± Six bellowed, breaking Irduth¡¯s focus and cancelling his spell causing the priest¡¯s scowl to twitch from the pain of the miscast instead. Six calmed down, breathing deep and centering himself before continuing. ¡°I don¡¯t see why that matters, breaking the rules is breaking the rules. What kind of magic I practice shouldn¡¯t matter.¡± Kali Kik hissed and slapped her tail upon the deck. ¡°Six, you insult us and you endanger those around you. Blood magic is a known danger.¡± Six held up placating hands. ¡°Thank you and I am aware of the danger.¡± He smiled. ¡°Besides, I just saved us with blood magic and I¡¯m fine. Honestly, it kinda feels good.¡± That didn¡¯t stop everyone from voicing their displeasure, everyone except Copperback who seemed absolutely tickled at the idea of knowing a bloodmage. In the end it didn¡¯t matter. Six would only promise his caution but not his abstinence. Perhaps if he didn¡¯t desperately need power he wouldn¡¯t touch it, but he knew life would one day put such demands on him. Fate demanded the eventualities life brought. So, Six ignored Irduth¡¯s continued whinging, instead electing to check out the loot. He pulled out Kotagan¡¯s Encyclopedia of Esoterism and identified the loot he took. - Giant Sea Strider Chitin - Rank: Enhanced Rarity: Rare Weight - 12 KG Durability 1500/500 Traits: Material, Reagent - Giant Sea Strider Mandibles - Rank: Enhanced Rarity: Rare Weight - 10.4 KG Durability 1500/500 Traits: Material, Reagent - Mana Core - Rank: Enhanced Rarity: Unusual Defense - 100 Weight - 0.025 KG Durability 1599/1600 Traits: Crystalized Mana, Material, Reagent, Catalyst. The sea strider bits were labeled as materials and reagents but Six was sure he could use the mandibles as weapons. The enhanced core was nice and he added that to his personal stock. He checked his prompts to see he gained two levels in inspect and to his surprise, a level in mindfulness. Five days ago they had sailed out of Olisrosa down south east, taking the rivers out to the coast, they would almost have to circumnavigate over half the continent to arrive in the north, so it meant alot of coastal sailing. Six had made multiple air golems that could produce wind for the sails, the crew on shifts for control of the golems. The golems were simple things, made with air and formed into shifting balls of wind. With these their overall travel time should be cut down by almost half, from six weeks to just over three. A week and a half was still a long time to be together and while Six wasn¡¯t exactly a social kinda guy being around people in a confined space let you get to know them. Six learned about some of their stories. Narhurin was a bastard son, born to a tsunken aelf mother. He grew up in his fathers estate and studied combat, he was intended to be an additional bodyguard to his older brother, the rightful heir. Their father and his brother became Count. With that promotion came her. Suldae Morel. A tsunken aelf sent from Zleen to be his brother¡¯s personal shadow. The love that blossomed between them was restrictive and chaste, secret. They never progressed far. When his brother discovered their mutual interest, he flew into a rage but didn¡¯t kill Narhurin, as was his right as a noble, but instead had him exiled to obscurity. Nar loved her, and when the betrayal of the tsunken aelves occurred, he knew she was the one who had killed his brother. Dark, but the man in black dragon full plate was smiling nonetheless. Indigo was a rich kid from a rich martial family. Basically a private military trust fund kid. He was in the group because his parents wanted him to have a safe deployment, so he got placed with the ¡°undesirables,¡± as he called them. Copperback¡¯s tale involved a small town auction that landed them another small wrecked boat that Jeffums fixed up, they sailed away a boat richer. Some salvaging of the cargo of a merchant they were transporting when he died with no heirs. Some fighting pirates and culling koatl. With the profits they earned from the small victories they got a small loan and that got them the big boat. It was nice to see friends on the come up. The next day they encountered a small fleet of three ships attempting to take Amos¡¯s new ship. With the use of the air golems they could easily outrun them but both Keegan and Amos asked Six to fight the scum. The less pirates on the waters the better, they said. Six had to agree. He quickly dictated the plan which was for everyone to fight like they usually do, but he had Amos and the other air golem operators break their balls of wind off from pushing the Dancing Racer and instead had them move to the second and third pirate ships in the small fleet to slow them down, They wanted to stagger the approach of these ships as much as they could The first one came within range and everyone unloaded on it. However, these pirates were prepared, lifting shields and increasing in speed. Keegan was firing a longbow and every released arrow was met with a distinct short scream. Six felt he might be able to scuttle the lead ship with a well placed mana spear but they would lose all potential of recovering anything. Also, there was a selfish side of himself that wanted to test himself in battle with intelligent combatants again. It had been too long. He analyzed as many pirates as they approached. Ian Gobbs Human Level 4 Ruvush If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Orc Level 3 Peter Tuile Human Level 1 The pirates were a mixture of people. They wore simple clothes and little armor, with basic weapons and shields. Most were level 3 or under, just like Copperback¡¯s crew, but a few were a bit higher. They took some return fire while Six hung back. Applying vital surges with his earliest enchantment creations, using the last bit of their power on healing the officers and the crew. That didn¡¯t stop Six taking an opportunity every now and then to take a snipe with Lump, picking off the odd pirate or two. The first ship began their boarding operation tossing out grapples and pulling the Dancing Racer in so they could transfer between ships. It wasn¡¯t that easy as the pirates were met by the officers and crew of Amos. They surged against each other, the press of people becoming like a fluid as they compressed, each change in intention causing ripples to undulate throughout the mass of bodies. Six felt his heart pound in his chest, his fingers began to tingle. The anticipation wound him up like a rope under tension. His body strained at the leash of his mind, wanting to push itself. He began to smile a bit. The battle was well underway when the second ship reached them and began to toss their boarding grapples onto the Dancing Racer. Lashing themselves right where Six wanted them. It is time. Six laid down his buff complex Zephyrs Embrace! Strone Skin! Strength of the Oak! Vital Surge! Each buff washed over him with pleasing feelings of power and his body hummed with a newfound power. He centered himself and retreated to his mind, leaving the battle for but a moment. For just an instant of time Six visualized the coming storm. Then he leapt over the railings, across the gulf, and towards the enemy ship, his massive bound far more than any normal man¡¯s. He sailed far but not yet enough, he bridged the remaining gap with a single puff of cloud, however by then the pirate archers were reacting and a sloppy volley launched up from the deck of the overcrowded pirate ship. Six flared his Breastplate of Spiral Fury, an invisible force fell upon everything in the near vicinity, accelerating all incoming projectiles away from him. But it wasn¡¯t enough, more projectiles yet came so he blasted a Force Wave to send the rest fishtailing away. The bubble of force expanding outwards, glittering reality imperfections rolling out into nothingness. Then, he landed and for a moment everything went quiet as the poorly equipped pirates realized that a magical armored killing machine was amongst them. ¡°You done fucked up.¡± Six revved his saw and swung. The blood flowed. Left and right his saw bit, cutting through pirates. It screamed and ripped as he performed a Double Strike and unleashed two tearing arcs around himself, the pirates unable to do anything other than be torn to shreds. Lump reached out and pulled the blood towards itself, collecting the lost blood as Six simultaneously unloaded blood dart after blood dart into the massed crewmen. They broke, trying to flee to the edges of their ship, for some reason this angered Six who bellowed his frustration at those who made this task harder than it already needed to be. ¡°HAAAAAAaaaaa!¡± Six felt the pressure rise as he saw the true challenge approach, the pirate Captain was running along the top deck. A grinning drunk with a long sword and daggers he seemed to gain in speed as he spun towards Six, his bare feet landing in perfect precision, just where they needed to be for this dance. He was beautiful and wore soft clean clothes under his fine leather armor. Six tossed a couple of Ember Strikes but the dude just cut them in half. Kercio Human Level 11 Kercio tossed a dagger as he closed the last little bit of distance but it pinged off Six¡¯s better made armor, the armored enchanter didn¡¯t even feel it. Six responded by bringing his saw down in a primal overhead swing. The Captain cut in with his longsword and dagger, aiming his blades to get caught up in the chainsaw teeth and he caught the weapon, he used that grip to attempt a disarm but a light rev and the saw¡¯s chain flew around the bar forcing the Captain¡¯s hands wide. The sudden and abrupt movement put Kercio off balance. It was only a moment of recovery but a moment that SIx took advantage of, sneaking a boot in and kicking the man in the stomach sending the pirate sprawling across the deck. Six followed after and the Captain barely managed to fend him off with his blade. No matter, Six flared the chain speed and it pulled, dragging the longsword and the man towards Six. The slippery Captain adapted quickly and went with the pull, allowing it to draw him closer and went to slide under Six. Six waited until the man was directly beneath him and countered with a Force Wave. Kercio bounced off the deck with the full force of the blast. The wind pressed out of him, the captain gasped in pain midair. Six brought him down with a stomp that produced a satisfying crunch as the man¡¯s ribs cracked. Kercio screamed and tried to escape the armored boot that pinned him but Six let loose with a volley of blood darts at the man¡¯s face. The darts exploding in glass like shatters of pink mist, each impact shaking the man¡¯s head. He screamed, incapacitated in pain, and when the mist cleared the pulpy mess that once was his face only gurgled. Six aimed his next strike carefully and activated a maneuver. Precise Strike. His boot came down and the pirate''s head exploded into a circle of red gore and white flecks of skull. Six chased down the pirates remaining on the deck of the ship, cutting them down with brutal sweeps of his chainsaw. He was experimenting, playing with how the saw felt and learning what it felt like to load it up on flesh. How it felt swinging into a step and hitting someone. It cut flesh like butter. Six only had a few more to end when his feet left the ground as the ship underneath bucked. He fell hard to the swaying deck but quickly rolled to his feet, his armor clanking with the swift movements. He quickly understood what happened, the third pirate ship had rammed the second and already boarding grapples were latched on. Then came even more pirates. Six chugged two potions Indigo had given him and reset his buff stack. Lump had been absorbing the blood of the slain this entire time and was full. He could see the trepidation in the steps of the fresh pirates as they approached. The motley band should feel fear as Six felt none analyzing them, finding more similarly leveled fodder. Aken Human Level 3 Palok Halfling Level 2 Roto Tuntun Vrill Level 4 Strong people no doubt, not to take lightly, but their role here was clear. Fodder. Just desperate weaklings sent to tire him. There was no reason for him to entertain them. Six leapt above them all, aimed at the third ship. Those who mattered would be there, and sure enough. There was a grizzled man and a woman with a wooden wand mid cast. She finished her incantation and a pillar of wind was conjured and blasted at Six. He saw it coming and smiled. He lifted his gauntlets and they shone white. He chopped the pillar of air in half with his nullifying gauntlets as they emanated a white glow, spending 4 of 29 charges. Both of his targets looked taken aback as he broke her magic but Six still needed one more jump to put him next to them. He pushed off and spawned a cloud, leaping towards them. He could see the mage begin to cast something again but Six interrupted her with a blood dart from Lump. The shard of crystalized blood slammed into her shin and she let out a yelp, leaping back but not before the grizzled man pulled out a dark grey longsword and a large round steel banded shield from nowhere then interposed himself between her and Six. Shoulda had that out to begin with. No matter. Six landed on the third ship and knew that this pair were the leaders of this operation Ramajon Tona Human Level 12 Amlin Rask Human Level 11 Excellent, a challenge. He needed to negate the numbers disadvantage and that meant killing that woman immediately. The man peeked over the lip of his shield and Six immediately sent him back behind with a blood dart that pinged harmlessly off the man¡¯s shield. Six could hear the woman begin to chant something and knew there was no time to think, only kill. Six threw himself forward, chainsaw whirring and tried to cut through the man but Ramajon batted the screaming saw aside with his blade and shield bashed Six back into the pirate fodder that had now returned back. Their captain¡¯s success at dealing with Six¡¯s chainsaw emboldening them, that was wrong. As the lower leveled pirates shuffled closer Six exploded with a leap and sliced a wide arc between them, cutting a dozen in twain. Landing with a ripping sweep of the saw he bisected another four, the torsos flipping away from their legs and blood bursting into clouds of red. ¡°HAAAAaaaaa!¡± Six bellowed his rage onto the battlefield. He pointed at the fodder that remained. ¡°The peanuts shall sit the fuck DOWN!¡± The pirates hesitated in approaching and Six turned to the completion of a moderate spell. From behind Ramajon, Amlin Rask the windmage yelled out her fury and from her hands came tens of windblades. She shouted, ¡°Flowering Wind Blossom!¡± Six¡¯s gauntlets glowed white and he felt his control fall over the spell which he curved to send at the grizzled man Ramajon. Ramajon flinched in preparation of taking the windblades but relaxed as Amlin conjured three waves of wind that soaked the blades. Ramajon took that as his opportunity to pressure Six with shield and sword. He waded forth, thrusting and cutting at the enchanter, putting Six on the back foot and he dealt with maneuvers and pure skill. Six could almost stand against the more experienced warrior but then Amlin began to slip in the periodic wind blade. Six felt himself begin to struggle to defend himself and knew he had to change the game. So he let himself be hit off balance by one of the Captain¡¯s shield bashes and fell with it, in line with the woman. Then, launched himself with the slypheon greaves right at her. As Six flew at her she tried once again to push him away with a blast of air but once again he cut through it with a nullifying swipe. It was but the slightest graze of his saw and he removed her leg in a bloody spray of red. She screamed and collapsed to the ground, grasping at the blood spewing stump. Six rolled and came up to fend off the increased assault of the grizzled Ramajon. Six fired off a few blood darts from Lump but the man hid behind his shield and traded with Six despite the harassment fire. Six threw out a fending slash that the man deflected easily and then he lunged forward, stabbing. For a moment it seemed like Six was about to receive a terrible blow but Ramajon¡¯s eyes met Six¡¯s and they were cast in confusion as a humanoid form materialized behind the man. Aclo appeared, dual daggers slamming down firmly into the man¡¯s neck. The Captain let out a pained grunt before Aclo tore his blades out with a decapitating flourishing pirouette, the head of the man rolled and the burly body collapsed. Aclo looked at Six with a little bit of scorn. ¡°Looks like you needed some help.¡± Six felt like he had it but it would have been close and Aclo made an iffy thing into a sure thing. He gave Aclo a nod. ¡°Thank you, I appreciate it.¡± The woman screamed and clawed at her bleeding stump before reaching with a trembling hand into her bandolier and withdrawing a vial of some sort. She tried to drink it but Aclo walked up, pulled it from her hands and casually cut her throat. Six watched impassively as the woman¡¯s strength left her body and she began to hyperventilate and shiver, she gasped and grasped weakly at the air. Then she deflated and became motionless, a static corpse. Six stood there, looking at it. There was a low buzz in his mind, a feeling more than anything. Six had tried to avoid this part of himself, the part that sought destruction of disease. It was too¡­ inhumane. He instinctually held on to the old ways. Despite that, those set of behaviours, of pacified socialization, they had eroded so quickly. They had been so¡­ illusory. That realization brought a feeling of dread, a feeling of impending doom. A feeling that everything was working as intended. 2.12 Last Bit Phila, the 20th, 10,391 They looted the corpses and scuttled the two worst pirate ships before Amos put a skeleton crew on the remaining, bringing it along. Aclo took the Captain''s spatial ring which held food and coin that was checked for safety, then distributed about the crew evenly. Keegan took the man''s shield and Six identified a decent natural earth enchantment that improved its natural armor and durability somewhat. Irduth plucked a mana ring from the dead woman, it''s not like Six needed it. Amos had also laid claim to the plundered cargo of the ships with neither Six nor the officers caring. The dark skinned sailor had his pick of profit to haul away. They had pacified a significant threat in the area and had gained some monetary value while at it. This encounter had been a great success, but Six couldn¡¯t get over the feeling that they were missing something. His gut was almost screaming at him and it made him feel a significant level of unease but they had searched everything thoroughly. Every crevice of each ship. But a thought occurred to him as a crew woman went to toss the decapitated head of Ramajon overboard Six instead plucked it from her hands and held the grim item at arms length. He wanted to do a hamlet reference with it but it was supposed to be a skull, and no one would fucking get it. He supposed that if he were to reference something, Shakespeare wouldn''t be the worst to reference as it''s a classic. Classic references were always hip no matter the generation. Anyways, this head¡­ There was one last place he could look. He called to the officers. ¡°Hey, get ready to back me up if things go wrong.¡± Six drew upon mana and tuned it to the resonance of death. He drew the arcane sigils of power and snarled the guttural words of calling. Soul Tether! There was a resonance associated with all. Something fundamental to reality, a unique serial code that could be called when needed. This code would be far too complex for a spellcaster to recreate even after years of practice. Instead a targeting medium must be employed to imitate that resonance. An object of personal importance or a piece of its being were the accepted materials and Six knew the head would work perfectly to draw the soul back from wherever it went. Six considered that thought for a moment. He thought of souls as a true fact now. Was that because of the implanted knowledge of Soul Tether or because he had died and was now reborn? His idle musings broke as the magic took hold and the head began twitching in his hand. It didn¡¯t speak but puked up smoke that manifested into an apparition before Six. It was a poltergeist, the ghost of Ramajon, the grizzled pirate glaring with mild dissatisfaction. For a moment nothing happened and then the apparition shuddered in clear pain. Agony overtaking its features. Then Six saw. He saw within his mind''s eye, fragments of memories and impressions of meaning and importance. A pirate island, other ships, a powerful pirate lord of at least level 19. They were seeking a suitable item of at least enhanced rank to bond with during their upcoming evolution. He saw other things, more useless and personal, things that were Ramajon¡¯s to share. Six could see the spirit twitch as he scanned through the memories. A part of Six considered what he was doing and its ramifications. From a visual standpoint it appeared as though Six was just torturing a captured spirit. He knew he was gaining potentially important information but through torture of someone¡¯s soul? Did the ends justify the means? Would he kill someone to wring information out of their soul? Ultimately these questions were meaningless. He had a responsibility now, an obligation to the people he now watched over. If he thought it valuable to his people to employ this spell, he would, without hesitation. He knew that. He considered how many fucked up people used that same reasoning to justify their own fucked up atrocities. He scoffed at himself and his incessant self examinations and ridiculous comparisons, he just couldn¡¯t turn them off. Six noticed he had slowly gained more insight and specificity to the memories as the duration elapsed but the toll on the soul also increased as the ghost was now beginning to violently vibrate. It was less than half way done so Six could only imagine what the spirit would be enduring by the end. Anyways, this wasn¡¯t for his people and he needed to show some basic respect for the dead. He canceled the spell and the ghost of Ramajon dissipated into the ethereal winds with a relieved sigh. Six stood there for a second, internalizing what just happened before he turned around to a stunned crew. ¡°Well that was fucked up.¡± Irduth screeched with a pointed finger. ¡°Not only a bloodmage but he practices unregulated necromancy as well!¡± ¡°No one cares Irduth! Let me do my thing!¡± Kali Kik and Indigo both shook their heads. ¡°We care, Six.¡± Indigo said with the most diplomacy Six had ever heard the lad use. ¡°Oh?¡± Six understood the danger in exploring these things, he just wished they understood that he understood. ¡°Six¡­ You just tortured someone¡¯s soul. Why?¡± ¡°Ok, well, to be honest, I didn¡¯t know it was gonna be like that. Not gonna use that one so lightly anymore! Also, it gave me some information on the pirate¡¯s lair and forces, which was my intention.¡± ¡°So you can strip information from people''s souls?¡± ¡°Random recent stuff, yeah. Can''t really control it.¡± ¡°You¡¯re not gonna kill anyone to tear knowledge away from their soul?¡± ¡°I already considered that and maybe? Not gonna take it off the table. I can understand why that would make you feel¡­ uneasy I think the word might be.¡± Indigo nodded vigorously and Six could even see some of Amos¡¯ crew nodding agreement. Six shrugged, he was fine with this. ¡°Well¡­that''s all I can really offer you, sorry.¡± Keegan broke in. ¡°We have already decided to follow Six and already knew of his opinions and tendencies. We waste time and retread old ground in questioning his judgment.¡± The man addressed Six directly. ¡°What of this new information, are we to act on it?¡± Six nodded his respect towards Keegan. ¡°Thank you Keegan, but I am not above questioning. I am but a man. In regards to your question, no. We continue forward with our mission, there is no time to detour for pirates.¡± Keegan nodded and Amos put them back on route. Shortly after Six was approached by Kali Kik and Indigo. ¡°Six,¡± The alchemist began. ¡°Mhm?¡± If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°How many areas of magic do you have an affinity for?¡± ¡°Huh? Why do you ask?¡± ¡°Well, we''ve been watching you for a while now and you¡¯ve demonstrated an aptitude for both life and death.¡± ¡°Right.¡± ¡°So¡­ Do you have cycle magic?¡± Six looked at Kali Kik and wished he had Charles here. ¡°Isn''t it rude to ask stuff like that?¡± Kali nodded but still looked at Six insistently. ¡°Well yes but to have both life and death affinities is very rare.¡± Indigo continued. ¡°Then, we have seen you use, earth, fire, and wind magic, can you use water?¡± There was no point in hiding it, he would eventually use his magic in front of them one way or another. ¡°I can.¡± ¡°So you have elemental magic?¡± Six nodded. ¡°And blood magic?¡± Six nodded. ¡°Wow.¡± ¡°And diametric magic.¡± Six added. Now both Kali Kik and Indigo were dumbstruck and Six could see the skepticism on their face Six smiled. ¡°You¡¯ll see, eventually.¡± Indigo gave a jealous smirk. ¡°With so many affinities, you could be the most influential mage of our generation.¡± Six shook his head, no, and patted his chainsaw with his gauntleted hand. ¡°I don¡¯t know if I¡¯d call myself a mage.¡± ¡°Enchanting is magic, you dumbass and your screaming sword is definitely magical. Also, while your martial aspect may limit the sheer time you can invest into your magical training and utilization, I think having so many magical options will lead to abilities that others just can replicate. Your initial wave of fortifying spells, for example, features three different magical skill types.¡± Indigo paused, ¡°most people don¡¯t even have an affinity for a single type of magic.¡± Six grunted. ¡°Ok so?¡± Kali Kik hissed in annoyance. ¡°You are wasting your potential.¡± Six waved her anger down, eliciting more indignation from the vrill woman. ¡°I¡¯m doing fine. That being said, I am willing to accept help. Kali Kik you know I can ask for help when I want it.¡± She seemed to relax when he reminded her she¡¯d already helped him with his initial enchanting. Indigo grinned. ¡°That''s all, we¡¯re offering.¡± Six nodded. ¡°Thank you.¡± Six then went to find somewhere private to examine his gains, he found a free hammock and doffed his armor for a bit to relax with Nibbler curled up on his belly. The raccoon was not liking the sea and her nauseous waddle reminded Six of that fact every time he saw her on deck. Cuddling times like these were a small reprieve for his little critter. Clearing out those two ships had been profitable for his progress, he had leveled up along with Lump to levels 12 and 8 respectively. He put two points into strength for the simple strength and natural defense boosts. Then he put one point into charisma, luck, endurance, and dexterity each. The slight increases were minor but he knew that he couldn¡¯t keep neglecting aspects of his stats as he had been. Lump¡¯s intelligence received all four points bringing it up to 20. Six had sixty perk points to spend and he spent all sixty, Golemic Reformation: 60 perk points The Golemchanter can reconstruct their golems even after they have been destroyed, reforming them with a portion of their original strength. Technique: Golemic Reformation Cooldown: 1 day Range: Melee Casting Time: Dependent on rank and level of golem Duration: Instant Mana Cost: Dependent on rank and level of golem Effect: The Golemchanter channels their mana and soul into the reformation of their destroyed golem. Can only reform golems of a rank equal to or lower than that of the Golemchanter. Level 0 golems cannot be reformed. Now if either Poh Doh or Lump were destroyed Six would be able to remake them. This meant Six could be a bit more risky with how he committed his golems in their use. Many of Six¡¯s skills had also improved by a level during the course of that battle. Skill increase: Blood Magic - Initiate - 9 Blood Casting - Initiate - 10 Elemental Magic - Initiate - 10 Analyze - Initiate - 10 Unarmed - Initiate - 11 Athletics - Initiate - 10 Heavy armor - Initiate - 24 Chainsaw and Cycle Magic went up by a whole two skill levels ending up at 6 and 7. Overall, it was a very successful test. Just over a day later they came to the eastern coastal city of Eridea. Six¡¯s mind was blown. He thought Olisrosa was big. Eridea seemed endless. They sailed by it, no time to stop in the city but Amos was kind enough to lend Six his spyglass to view it from afar. Past their many ships. Eridea existed inside of a vast bay and Six could see the rolling sprawl go from one tip of the bay¡¯s mouth to the other where jutting guardtowers more akin to skyscrapers stood watching the entrance. A sizable fleet of large warships that made the Dancing Racer seem tiny by comparison floated about and patrolled lazily. Imposing stone walls seemed to guard the land side of things. This was an imperial metropolis. They tried to sail by but one of the warships broke off from the group and clearly pursued them, with Amos reporting them on an easy intercept. ¡°I¡¯m somewhat confident we could outpace them but I tink we should stop and cooperate. I do not wish to garner bad favour with the city of Eridea as a ship captain meself. They are known to be fair and from what I see, have weathered the sundering well. Best ships and drydocks in the world are here, I¡¯d like to come back.¡± Six trusted him. ¡°So be it.¡± So Amos slowed his ship and for the first time Six saw an evolved human. The captain of the Eridean ship was a woman and from the moment SIx laid eyes upon her he knew, this was an evolved person. Her hair looked like the sea in full spray. A shifting splash of deep blue and white foam, its tidal forces pushing it up like the flame of a candle wick. She wore the fine clothes of a captain and wore a simple rapier at her side. But when her shifting blue eyes stared down upon him, Six felt like he had to fight for air. He felt an innate threat. He smiled because he understood, he felt an aura. Her evenness of gaze was neutral enough, no. It was an instinctual understanding of the power differential. He didn¡¯t attempt to analyze her, not wanting to offend the lady. Six knew that against him and the officers, she would fall. But in a one on one¡­ Not to mention, her crew was more numerous and better equipped than the pirates. Her crew were at higher levels than the pirates as well. The resources of a true imperial city were impressive. Luckily the encounter was just a routine inspection, it even gave them an opportunity to report the pirate nest. The Erideans offered and fixed the patch work that Six had performed. With their captain manipulating the water to prevent it from flowing into the breech while the work was done. They didn¡¯t charge Amos for the quick repair with the shipwrights mumbling something about how the ship would continue to serve Kynairos until its final voyage. They continued on from Eridea, the days becoming colder and colder until they reached the most northeast part of the continent and they began sailing back west, along the northern coast. The land turned more alpine as the coast trended slightly north. There were the usual sights to behold until Six saw Keegan performing a prayer ritual towards the coast. His confusion must have been evident as Copperback explained. ¡°We be passing by da Bay of Catastrophe. It''s a legacy of K¡¯gan shame. He¡¯s paying respect to dat tragedy.¡± Six was aware of some of this from the recordings of Kytaligan. The bay of catastrophe was where the capital of the K¡¯gan empire, Kolo Gano, was before it fell to the Aelves super weapon. ¡°The loss of their capital to the Aelves¡¯ magic was so devastating they turned away from it, eh?¡± Now Copperback looked confused. ¡°Da Aelves¡¯ weapon? No, Six. The K¡¯gans destroyed themselves in their pursuit to destroy their enemies. Forbidden magics and all dat.¡± ¡°What?¡± That wasn¡¯t what Kytaligan wrote down. ¡°Yes, that''s partly why Kynairos showed up, to show humanity the honor and goodness of hard work and muscle.¡± Amos laughed and patted his belly. ¡°I like the ¡®ardwork part meself but I''m not too good at da muscle part of it.¡± Six sat there ingesting this. It made sense that the stories had shifted. It happened thousands of years ago. That''s a very long game of telephone. He shrugged, whatever. Amos ¡°I will probably come back here for a bit once I drop you off. I heard there are some enterprising salvagers now that the empire''s sanctions are no more. Never hurts to learn about a new enterprise.¡± ¡°Never,¡± Six agreed. They continued west with the only point of interest being a rather large sea serpent that Kali Kik managed to talk down from attacking their boat. That was cool. Over the entire trip Six had managed to level his sailing up 6 times to level 11 which for the week and a half trip was extremely good. He''d practiced his coven skill a few times and managed to get it to level 3. It was an interesting skill, allowing him to link his mana pathways to another in an almost circuit. It was interesting but had many unlisted limitations, requiring proximity and considered focus on the part of the donator. That meant that donating mana while moving or in combat would be incredibly difficult if not impossible. Still, he knew it was a skill he would be able to effectively leverage, he must train it. He had also learned one spell each from Kali Kik and Indigo and had improved his Elemental and Diametric magic, increasing both by 2 to 12 and 6 respectively. Spell: Imbue Life Rank: Minor Cooldown: 1 day Range: Melee Casting Time: Instant Duration: Instant Mana Cost: 70 mana Effect: The user channels their life-affirming magic to fortify and reinforce a living target. With a touch or a gesture, they infuse a flood of life energy, healing major injuries. Heals for 60+(5*Cycle Magic Level) HP instantly. Spell: Force Shell Rank: Minor Cooldown: 5 minutes Range: Melee Casting Time: 5 seconds Duration: 10 minutes Mana Cost: 50 mana Effect: The user channels force magic to create a shell of protection. They create a reprieve for the attacked, a barrier to death and dismemberment. Shell durability: 50+(5*Force Magic Level) Both spells were extremely useful. Imbue Life could reset a fight and turn the tides in an instant. Force Shell was more of a preventative spell that would give Six even more staying power. They arrived. Amos dropped anchor in the olynum town of Lhorn. The olynum were at an immediate glance, wooly mammoth people. Thick and large they lumbered about their snowy town in additional furs. There were other races mixed in here and there, mostly humans but the olynum were a firm majority here. Amos said he would be ¡°back for them in a week or two,¡± and sailed away, leaving them here. The residents spoke Imperial Zleenish and seemed incredibly curious about the visitors, which seemed to be a rare occurrence here. But Six deflected most of their questions with vague answers. He changed the topic by asking for directions on how to get to the supply store. Then Six felt it, the tension returned. That resonance. That vibration. That beat deep within himself. There was a threadling here, there must be. Six scanned his eyes in the general direction it pulled him but a small crowd had gathered and it could be anyone. He could follow the pull, he could find this person and he could¡­ what would he do? He didn¡¯t have time for this. The mission needed to be attended to. Six ignored the resonance and they resupplied before leaving the cozy little town. Skill increase: Mindfulness - Initiate - 11 They traveled south west and made their way across the snows and into mountains in the distance. They marched up into the northern spine of the mountain line and followed the tracking and navigating of Keegan, Kali Kik, and Aclo. The jungle vrill proving surprisingly savvy in terms of survival in the northern tundra. Skill increase: Athletics - Initiate - 11 Eventually the mountain ridges they walked opened up into a hidden chasm. Nestled between the mountain peaks, below the wind and snow was the sheltered gorge floor. From their position upon the mountain ridgelines Six could look down and see the lifted impressions of the foundations of ruins. Neat geometric lines of raised snow, buildings and the walls. Beyond the skeleton of the fallen town was a massive metal door embedded into the mountainside. They had found it. Six could see the tsunken aelves process the discovery differently, this places represented a change in fundamental understanding for them. Aclo looked down at the ruins with an intense curiosity yet a barely contained willingness to destroy. Narhurin, just half aelven, looked down with bright hope, an interest in whatever they would find. Bark looked upon the bone of his people with a derisive sniff. It took little time to make their way down into the gorge and take their first few steps onto the snow. Kali Kik pointed out signs of recent travel, disturbed snow and humanoid tracks. That made the party move, the pressure of interception fueling their increase in pace towards the giant mountainside door. But the party had to quickly come to a halt as a flood of glowing aelven spirits rose from the land. They laid intention upon the humans and hissed their hatred. ¡°Enemy.¡± 2.13 Aelven Lands Phila, the 30th, 10,391 It had taken days of consistent marching to reach here yet the party did not hesitate to leap into action. Crunching through the snow, Six and Nar took the vanguard as Keegan¡¯s longsword was enchanted with flames by Kali Kik. Bark and Irduth let loose with magical spells that tore the spirits into shreds. Indigo bounced between everyone, administering health and mana potions as needed. Six charged forth and pulled his anti undead spear from storage lashing it forward into the first tsunken aelf spirit he encountered. He could see its hatred as it¡¯s translucent floating form gazed at him, it reached towards him to grab him with fingers that morphed into talons. Six¡¯s thrust landed first and he activated the weapon, golden life energies coruscating out and into the undead. It reeled back, hissing in pain as the Vital Surge took effect, burning it with life for a set duration. It regained itself quickly and by then another had risen. Now Six was pressed by two and he fell back slightly but let out a powerful Life Wave to stagger and make distance. A golden sphere of light emanating outwards from Six and crashing upon the spirits. He considered using Imbue Life but the cooldown was too restrictive to use as anything other than an emergency heal. Instead he applied the spells that would aid him in his mobility, Zephyr¡¯s Embrace, Strength of the Oak! His body was quickly surrounded in a gale of wind and a vine exoskeleton burst from the joints in his armor to encompass him. Then he leapt away, the increase in strength and speed giving him that much more distance. Six analyzed while he moved, stabbing again and again and one by one the spirits began to dissipate. He could do this, he took a glance at his soldiers. The spirits were trying to claw at their victims but Six could see that the ghosts avoided the tsunken aelves Aclo and Bark aswell as the half-aelf Narhurin. Flying completely around the dark dragon plate warrior and swarming for the non-aelves. Keegan, Kali Kik, Indigo, and Irduth. They all held their own, Narhurin was empowering his blows with some sort of radiant energy, shouting on impact, ¡°Judgment!¡± A booming flare of white light occurred alongside a violent release of magic and each spirit struck instantly exploded. Keegan bellowed his defiance. ¡°Unleashed Muscle!¡± he quickly grew to stand twice his normal size then swept his massive flame-empowered blade in huge sweeping arcs of devastation. The flames causing the wraiths to scream and disintegrate in pain. The battle was fast and frenetic, Six had to switch his weapon out and eventually ran out of suitably charged weapons. He resorted to chugging Indigo¡¯s potions and blasting away with spells. Ember Sparks and Life Waves kept the spirits off of him. The snow swirled and the noise of battle echoed off the walls of the chasm but the whispering accusations of the ghosts cut through the cacophony, needling away at Six. Cursed human. Why are you here? Come to kill and pillage? Evil. Cursed. Evil. Human. Six felt himself begin to question it all. Question his purpose here, his purpose entirely. His body started to feel heavy and his mind began to lock up. Why was he pursuing something so futile? Why couldn¡¯t he just die? Focus. he cried out internally, bring himself back. Whining won¡¯t change the situation. He pulled the reins of his mind back onto the task. But something ate at him, and he realized what happened when he glanced at his prompts Fear1 Resisted They dare? THEY DARE?! His rage rose at the thought of his autonomy being subverted and Six threw himself into blasting out a massive Life Wave and forcing the ghosts to target him. ¡°Ha ha! Motherfuckers!¡± He could only do one Life Wave of that magnitude in a short period of time but the spirits didn¡¯t know that, and so they chased the human that emitted that persistent and especially painful damage. Six welcomed the chase and used everything at his disposal to stay clear from the surging tide of ghosts. Jumping and sliding, juking and jiving, he pulled the aggression of the spirits in time with where he wanted them, a pied piper of undeath. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. From there it was a simple thing for the others to whittle the flood down until Six had recovered enough to finish it with a final purging Life Wave. Skill increased: Athletics - Initiate - 12 Cycle Magic - Initiate - 8 Mindfulness - Initiate - 12 Analyze - Initiate - 11 Irduth spat. ¡°By Kynairos, what was that?¡± he turned and pointed at Aclo then Bark. ¡°What was that?¡± He demanded. ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Aclo huffed. ¡°Uuuhu, aahh, Hmmhhm¡­ The spirits of our ancestors, come again. To protect this sacred place from interlopers.¡± Bark provided with a smirk. ¡°Such talk is blasphemy, Bark.¡± Irduth growled. ¡°So it is, but it is no longer a crime.¡± Bark gave Six a little bow. ¡°Uh, correct my lord?¡± ¡°Correct,¡± Six confirmed. Irduth looked like he was about to argue before he just shut his mouth and frowned. ¡°Thank you.¡± Six said, genuinely thanking the priest for shutting the fuck up. The party regrouped and made their way through the snow covered ruins. They were barely more than foundation footprints, impressions of where buildings and streets used to be. It all fed into a central road that led to a pair of massive doors set into the mountain. The doors were slightly ajar and Six could see evidence of recent activity. The snow disturbed and uneven. They made their way to the door and Aclo took point. The assassin trained in the ways of stealth and was capable of masking his approach far better than Six. Six followed the group inside and beheld a massive stone hallway reminiscent of the K¡¯gan research complex but evoking the tropic stereotypes of underground eleven architecture. It was dark and unlit, easy enough to remedy. The soldiers had already begun to draw their torches so Six quickly conjured a Luminous Beacon to provide his light. Too bad he couldn¡¯t get it to follow other people or else he would conjure one for everyone. They moved down the corridor carefully, Aclo spotting the remnants of ancient spent traps of the physical variety while Six saw a few of the enchantment variety. There were more recent physical traps, extremely recent ones from what Aclo said. Those too were spent, with slight evidence here and there of their bloody efficacy. The corridor spilled out into a massive cavern and connected to its main thoroughfare, leading all the way to the clear center where a massive swirled stone pyramid sat. The tsuken aelf palace. The architecture of the tsuken aelves was smooth and curved, almost organic in nature, it reminded Six of insect carapace in some ways. Walking down the street was like traveling through an H.R. Geiger artwork, swirls, shells, and talons built into every aspect of the landscape, it was beautiful and terrifying. Six looked at Aclo and Bark. Aclo looked upon it all with a solemn wariness while Bark scanned about with a curious irreverence. Nar smiled with wonder. While the art inherent in the architecture remained, the intentional art was all destroyed. Every sculpture was rubble, every banner was dust, every song forgotten. They walked for what felt like an hour until Aclo called for a halt. The tsunken aelf gestured for everyone to stay still and then slunk off to scout ahead. They waited for a few minutes before the assassin returned and gave a report. ¡°There is a sizable group of small monsters setting up fresh traps nearby, defiling these ruins. They did not notice me and should be easy enough to clear.¡± ¡°Small monsters? What do they look like¡± Six asked, looking for more information. ¡°Taloned hands, buck toothed snout, hairless tail, wiry hair and muscle. They chittered to each other like beasts.¡± ¡°Disgusting,¡± Irduth murmured. ¡°How should we engage them?¡± Six asked. ¡°Hard and fast. I don''t think they can stand against us. I analyzed them and found most under level 3. Watch for traps littered about.¡± ¡°K.¡± Kali Kik cast an area spell that muffled the sounds the group made, ¡°Quiet Enjoyment.¡± Then Six put Shadow Veil on himself despite the glowing ball of light above him. The group worked their way through the streets until Aclo slowed everyone down and indicated the immediate direction of the enemy. He began a silent countdown with his fingers and on zero the group of warriors moved. They rounded the corner and Six took in the situation. There were maybe thirty or so small humanoids crouched over areas of the street setting up various traps. They turned in fright, surprised by the blinding light of Six¡¯s floating orb. They were ratlike in appearance and chittered amongst themselves like rodents too. They wore simple rags and used simple stone tools and grass twines to craft their devices. Many had stone knives at their hips. Aclo teleported forward and put his blades to work. Six drew spells and Stone Spear after Stone Spear erupted from the ground, imapling the tiny creatures and bucking them into the air, while Nibbler hurled glowing silver crescents, the blades of lunar mana easily slicing through the flesh of the humanoids. Keegan and Narhurin waded forth, cutting wide swathes of flesh from their path. The K¡¯gan using precise longsword technique to slay while the zleenish bastard used power and his heavy glaive to sweep his opposition away. Chains of Kynairos and the thorns of Nature¡¯s Fang ripped away and blasted through the furred people, tearing them in half and popping them like balloons of blood, leaving jagged piles of torn flesh. Lump absorbed that blood and immediately wove it into a sustained fire of Blood Darts. Kali Kik and Indigo stood back and supported the avalanche of damage. It happened so quickly that Six didn¡¯t have an opportunity to properly analyzye them himself, so he did it on the one remaining creature that threw its stone weapon to the ground in surrender. Rakth Level 1 Hmm, so the system refers to it as a rakth. Neat. Irduth approached the pitiful thing in the beginnings of a Chains of Kynairos clearly intending to end it. He raised his glowing hand and Kali Kik interposed herself between him and the cowering monster, he broke his cast and glared at her. ¡°What are you doing, you stupid woman?!¡± Irduth howled. ¡°It surrendered,¡± she explained softly. ¡°There is no need.¡± Irduth sputtered for a bit. ¡°There is no need? It is a pest that should be purged lest it prepare more traps for our return, as it was most likely doing.¡± ¡°It has surrendered.¡± she calmly reiterated. Irduth gripped his tome so tight his knuckles cracked, ¡°It is a lesser being and deserves to be purged! It is imperial decree.¡± ¡°We are no longer soldiers of the empire Irduth, you must let go of the old ways! ¡°The decrees are wise, Kynairos wills it.¡± Kali Kik huffed and looked to Six for support, and the instant she turned her attention away from the priest, he reached beyond the woman and blasted. Reaper¡¯s Scythe! A killing scythe blade of copper leapt from his hand and neatly bisected the ratman, two halves falling to the ground in a wet slump. Kali Kik immediately responded by loading up and throwing the most devastating haymaker she could muster. Irduth saw it coming but couldn¡¯t dodge on account of being in dirty boxing range and being a shit close combatant. It was almost comical seeing Irduth get rocked. Kali Kik followed through perfectly and Irduth was staggered a few feet back, barely holding on to his book. He began to retaliate, ¡°Rebuke of Ky-¡± but cut his spell short when he saw Keegan and Narhurin lurch towards him. Instead the half-orc gathered himself up and cleaned the little blood off his lip before staring down his nose at Kali Kik. ¡°I will remember this,¡± he promised. She shook her head in frustration at him. ¡°Senseless.¡± She looked back to Six. ¡°Will you do nothing?¡± Six shook his head, no. ¡°Now is not the time for punishments for infractions so minor. Rest assur-¡± ¡°Minor?¡± she questioned. Six laughed at himself, he felt edgy but he couldn¡¯t afford to be soft. ¡°Focus Kali, we are on a mission and the death of this creature, while unfortunate, will not jeopardize party cohesion. It was unnecessary and will be addressed at a later time. Right now we have a mission.¡± She sniffed her derision at him but he didn¡¯t care, he knew she would do her job and heal people even if they were her enemy. They moved on to leave a bad location but at a slower pace to decompress from the awkwardness of that last conflict. The streets were empty and many of the buildings had begun to fall in on themselves or had been victims of the empire¡¯s sacking, the organic shapes shearing off in jagged lines. It was a haunting landscape and a hollow oppression built the deeper the delved into the city. It made them feel on edge, it built a continuous tension within every step they took. It was almost maddening. Then they heard voices speaking zleenish. 2.14 Save Point Ghurn shivered in the cold of the frozen mountain cavern. Humans weren¡¯t meant for this kind of cold and even though he wore a fur lined coat his robes were drafty by nature. He five months ago he had achieved his class after twenty years of guided training from the imperial mages guild. He was now a Force Mage and an elevated member of society. Everyone knew mages were above almost everyone else. Even martials of the same level couldn¡¯t stand against him and his reality based constructs. It had been a grind to reach here and he wasn¡¯t a prodigy or anything like that and he had worked his ass off. It wasn¡¯t arrogance to recognize his achievements. The last thing he expected was for the emperor to fall to betrayal from within. When the sundering happened Ghurn did not know what to expect. He was the third child of a minor noble house which his sister would inherit, a sister he remembered with little fondness. So he stayed within the guild and waited to see what would happen. Little ended up changing as the imperial mages guild were clearly accomplices in the usurping. How else would the tsunken aelves avoid the imperial blood curse? Such old magic could only be circumvented with the assistance of the guild. Ghurn knew the archmages had something to do with it and that proved itself in how easily the archmages maintained and consolidated their control over the magical societies and infrastructure that were scattered about the empire after the sundering. Running and trying to be an independent mage would prove to be a fruitless endeavor as you were eventually hunted down and killed or captured by the guild. So he stayed and his loyalty was rewarded with freedom and authorized growth. Now he was here, in dangerous situation after dangerous situation, but it was worth it. It was so hard to get experience in the capital. But out on adventure? Reward and danger walked hand in hand. A halfling woman approached Ghurn, she wore enchanted robes, embroidered with magical threads and beset with gemstones, she offered him a steaming cup of ska. ¡°Larka,¡± he greeted her, accepting the cup and taking a sip, enjoying its sweet earthy flavour. He marvelled at how creamy and smooth she always managed to make it. ¡°Thanks.¡± She smiled at him. Larka was a upper halfling noble so technically she had seniority over him but he was human so it evened out and led to them having a pretty good friendship with each other. The ska just made it that much better. ¡°By Kynairos¡¯ sweaty ballsack, it''s cold out.¡± Larka snickered and gently punched his ¡°Oh be quiet it''s not that bad and being out in the shit is part of the glory. Prestige shouldn¡¯t come easy ¡± ¡°I guess not, no. Still sucks that we''re out here guarding the rear against those idiotic rats instead of witnessing the ritual. The only reason any of us are out here is because the archmages are busy with more important aspects of Juthe-Wei¡¯s project. Otherwise they¡¯d be out here.¡± Larka sighed. ¡°Yeah, That''s fine! I would rather be here than cooped up at the guild, how else are we to progress unless we fight! I¡¯ve received more experience in these last few weeks than the past two years at the guild¡¯s grounds.¡° Ghurn didn¡¯t agree. ¡°Yes, but it''s dangerous to hunt levels. Last time you got hurt it took you two weeks to heal because you didn¡¯t want to pay for healing. And it''s cold!¡± ¡°I don¡¯t mind taking time to heal! Its good studying time and who cares about the co-HUUURRK!¡± Everything slowed down as Larka shifted violently to the side. Impaled by a stone spike jutting out from her side. She screamed. She was put some points into constitution but Ghurn could see the massive damage the single spike caused. He moved to help her but an arrow slammed home into her chest and with a final grasp at nothing she fell limp. Their camp exploded into movement and Ghurn went to put some cover between him and the direction of the arrow. His guards came to shield his body and block him from projectiles. The slight relief they brought evaporated as Ghurn saw a shadowy mist move amongst the other mages. The mist materialized in a humanoid for only a moment before unleashing a devastating maneuver. Blood flowed as the knives of the tsunken aelf plunged deep. A confusion took hold of Ghurn. Why did a tsunken aelf fight against them? Did they displease Juthe-Wei? It did not matter for a man approached. Covered in armor his gauntleted hands weaved the sigils and executed his guards one by one. Stone spikes erupting through them in a callous sequence. Ghurn cast a Mana Pilliar only for the condensed fragments of imperfection to be backhanded away by the armored man. The spell flying off to blast itself through another imperial mage. That was his most powerful spell, and the mad had treated it so¡­ dismissively. So Ghurn ran. He focused on his force magic skill and extended his senses. It wasn¡¯t truly Mana Sense of any kind but it allowed an intimate understanding of the areas surrounding physics. He could sense the earth transmute and from that knowledge, know when to dodge. It barely worked, allowing Ghurn to avoid three spikes in a row. He chanced a look back to see the man easily closing the distance with violent hops. To his sides his friends and allies were under attack from what looked like imperial soldiers. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°By Kynairos,¡± he gritted under his breath. Then he multicast three mana darts. His wisdom and intelligence were high and that meant his mana pool and mana regen were up to the task the man presented. Three darts would put down almost anyone but an evolved human or a constitution fighter. Even still he wouldn¡¯t be able to take the damage and perform as if he was unscathed. This salvo would cripple him. But the man¡¯s gauntlets glowed white and he reached forward, easily catching two of Ghurn¡¯s Mana Darts while allowing the third one to slam home into his chest. It struck yet, the man didn¡¯t flinch, he just grunted out a cough of blood before landing and launching himself at the mage. Fear rose within Ghurn at seeing the relentless pursuit. There was a single mindedness that reminded Ghurn of the predators of the academy. And Ghurn fled. At least he tried to. Ghurn turned but pain blossomed in his leg. His shin was on fire and he fell forward collapsing to the ground, seeing long crimson darts sticking out from his leg. He gazed upon them for but a moment as his attention was drawn above him. To the incoming falling man, covered in armor. The stomp was something Ghurn would have never imagined happening to him. He never imagined his body would be violently compressed and folded. The man crushed Ghurn and his body. Leaving him broken. His body, crumpled and twisted and all he felt was pain. His perspective, skewed and immobile. The air left him and did not return. The last thing his darkening vision caught was the metal clad figure jumping away. Drawing a screaming sword from his¡­ from his¡­ *** You have killed level 11 Ghurn. Experience gained 563. Six finished that one off. He had proven surprisingly slippery to take down after the halfling Six had initiated the battle with. Six leapt over to the next mage and tossed the captured Mana Darts at them only to have the spells slapped with whips of water, a water user eh? Six landed and drew his chainsaw from his spatial before bringing it down in a vicious chop. The saw was halted by the liquid and Six marvelled that something like water could stop him until he put some throttle on and the teeth of his saw ripped right through the whips to sink deep into the mage¡¯s flesh. The aquamancer screamed in panic and pain. No one seemed prepared for the simple violence of the chainsaw. It parted the man in twain, it all happened so fast. A growing hunger demanded Six move, his blood sung as he pitted himself in the struggle for supremacy. These people, while no true enemies of his, stood in the way of his people¡¯s rise. He supposed this was his first true act of imperialism, or perhaps it was the food he aggressively traded for. He scoffed at himself in derision, his fall from idealism did not take long at all. He grinned in enjoyment. This next mage was a human woman, fine robes and zleenish numerals orbiting her head as her two martial guards stood to ward Six away. She imbued them with some sort of numerical spell and sent them forth. Both wore well made medium armor, one wielded a long sword while the other had a hand axe. Both had shields emblazoned with a symbol that looked like something akin to three stars that increased in size, encompassed in a square. He supposed this was the heraldry of the imperial mages guild. Six blasted a few stone spikes at her but she dodged back and forth effortlessly so he focused his efforts on the incoming guards. They worked together to press him backwards. If the sword was not thrusting the axe was falling. He managed one stone spike but they moved as effortlessly as their ward. Six saw Nar approaching from the side and circled around casting a Stone Wall and splitting the two guards off from each other. Narhurin could handle the other one. Six put his target between him and the wall before surging forth with a violent underhand golf swing. The man was surprisingly good at batting Six¡¯s chainsaw away and the longsword that the man used didn¡¯t dull or chip, despite the whirring teeth of the saw. The crafter in Six wondered as to its material before the warrior in him commanded his focus. He dodged like a boxer, weaving his head to and fro as Lump launched periodic blood darts. The man was trying to trade with thrusts of his long sword but Six was too slippery and yet the man was even slipperyier, managing to dodge all of Lump¡¯s red darts. Time to utilize something he couldn¡¯t effectively dodge then. Six bottomed out his mana with a maximum investment Force Wave that pushed the man ever so slightly off balance, a slight advantage Six leveraged with a questing kick to the man¡¯s blocking arm, booting him into the transmuted stonewall. The guard collapsed to one knee. Then Six crashed his chainsaw down with an open throttle. The saw screaming. The man brought his sword up weakly only to have it torn from his hands. The chain skipped off the metal of his pauldron before jumping across his gorget and into the flesh of his face tearing the top half of his head off in an explosive spray of blood. Six was coated in the red mist. A net woven of arcane numbers fell over him and¡­ did nothing. Weird. He turned to see the mage looking confused as her spell had no effect. Confusion that brought fatal hesitation as Aclo¡¯s daggers sunk into the side of her torso. Still she stood, and her gaze took on the quality of a cornered animal and she brought up her hands to unleash arcane might. But an arrow took her in the head and her arms fell limply back to her side. The spell failed. Her expression was still confused as the body collapsed with an impotent slough. The dead subterranean city was quiet. Six began to go through the pockets of the mages, placing all he found into his ring Irduth began to argue with him but Six cut it off with a curt chop. ¡°This is nothing, these were just simple goons. You can literally have all their shit now if you really want but it counts as your picks.¡± Irduth was fine with Six holding onto the loot for now. All tracking signs pointed to a smaller party breaking off and going deeper into the city, towards the Tsunken Aelf palace. A ribbed spire of glittering facets and crumbling spines. So they headed there. Six beheld it from street level and felt awe rise within him. This was a structure not unlike those from his old home, a twisting spiral of a skyscraper hiding within a hollow mountain. This imposing building was an artifact from an age long gone and it held that ancient aura of old sacredness that all wonders evoked. Neat. You have been inspired: Skill increase: Mansory Initiate - 16 Construction Initiate - 16 That was something new, skill levels for appreciating the work of dead craftsmen. Six wouldn¡¯t complain about it. He took a moment to call a break before entering the palace, they drank water and took a breather. Six¡¯s curiosity remained as he observed the remnants of art left behind. Pieces that were destroyed by the invading armies of Octario Advent. He whispered to Aclo, Bark and Narhurin. ¡°Forgive me if this is rude. But may I ask, what do you know of your people?¡± Nar shrugged. ¡°I was raised human.¡± Bark laughed. ¡°Ummm, ahhh,... nothing.¡± Aclo replied with a voice dripping in disdain. ¡°We were evil and decadent. Much like the K¡¯gan of that time. Both our peoples warred and caused great harm to the land. The emperor brought us to heel and shaped us to serve the land like all inhabitants of Zarmul. Now, we, like the K¡¯gan, honor our old ways by forsaking them. You know this Bark. Praise be Kynairos.¡± Irduth muttered an involuntary, ¡°praise be Kynairos.¡± Bark smirked. ¡°Aaaehhheh, no. Not really, no. That''s just a,¡±he made a shooing gesture. ¡°Story. You know?¡± ¡°It is no story!¡± whispered Aclo. Bark shrugged. It disturbed Six to see a people so clearly forcibly divorced from their culture, so doggedly fixed on a manufactured belief, but it wasn¡¯t the first time he¡¯d seen such things. It happened all across his old world. An idealistic part of himself considered ultimate freedom of thought as a keystone of any community. What he considered his pragmatic side knew that some thoughts or philosophies were simply incompatible with how he viewed things on a fundamental scale and refused to co-exist with such beliefs. It was arbitrary, subjective. Meaningless in the grand scheme of his vision. Yet he still felt disturbed. He stood. ¡°Let''s go.¡± They entered through the massive wooden doors that sat ajar and carefully explored with Aclo scouting ahead. Along long hallways they walked, delving deeper and deeper down this one road. They stopped when Aclo appeared from the shadows. ¡°They are in what I believe the royal audience chamber, in the middle of performing a ritual,¡± he whispered Six suppressed any reaction as the mission¡¯s timer became even more urgent and accurate. He nodded and gestured for Aclo to continue. There is a full four guardsmen, three mages, and what I think to be an evolved mage and his blood golem. Oh? He has something like Lump, eh? ¡°No, it''s a giant thing, a melded flesh bag of random parts and races. Its gigantic.¡± ¡°Abomination,¡± Six breathed. Aclo nodded. ¡°How we gonna deal with that?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, I thought you might know. Six thought for a bit and sighed. ¡°Gigantic?¡± Aclo nodded. Six breathed deep and gathered himself. This trope was bound to happen eventually¡­ probably won¡¯t be the last time either. ¡°Ok. Here¡¯s the plan.¡± 2.15 Land Heart They traveled silently under the effects of Kali Kik''s Peaceful Enjoyment spell, slowly approaching what Six believed to be the main audience chamber of the palace. At the end of the corridor was a massive set of swinging doors that evoked the feeling of noble dominance, of oppressive gravitas. The doors were open just a crack and from that crack emanated the sounds of ritual casting that broke the heavy silence that suffocated the air. They saw two figures ahead. One was Aclo and the other laid at the tsunken aelf¡¯s feet, a dead guard. He had cleared the watch just as planned. They stacked up near the door and quietly organized themselves into formation, the only sounds being the consistent murmuring of a mage diligently performing their verbal components. Six considered what they were about to do. Meddle in the business of another people, attack and intercept a group who has no connection to his. He was essentially committing violent espionage. Why did he do so? The quest? The quest promised him a reward for his efforts but Six knew the contrarian in him disdained carrots like that. The pressure and desires of these soldiers? No, he did not care for them. He trusted their understanding of the geopolitical situation but he and Mountain¡¯s End didn''t slot into that equation at all. The world barely knew they existed. Why did he risk the secret of his land? Six released a silent breath, disappointment rising within himself. This was old and rote. He was human, like any other, and he lied to himself to protect his ego, his image of himself. His subjective morals judged him lacking and he knew why. He did this for power. He reached down and skrittched his raccoon. She looked back up at him with the unconditional love of a non-judgmental pet. His meaningless honor was an idea suitable to an individual. He was no longer an individual, he was the captain of a ship. He would do what needed to be done, for the good of his tribe, to the best of his ability. Six stood in the front, his armor fully charged from mundane cores. Keegan and Narhurin stood behind the Golemchanter, longsword, shield, and glaive at the ready. Indigo and Kali prepared to heal while Bark and Irduth prepared to damage. Six pulled his mind back, retreating to the depths. He was a biological machine, a series of chemical reactions. He did not need his mind. He just needed to exist in this moment. Six gave a silent countdown to his soldiers, dropping his digits. Three. Two. One. He exploded forward and pushed the doors with all his might, unprepared for the ease at which they moved. They slammed open to reveal a well lit audience chamber. Rubble and rotten dessicated wood strewn about. The center of the stone floor rippled like water as a ruby crystal the size of a fridge rose from the liquid ground. A well dressed tsunken aelf moved around the rippling floor, performing a series of movements and rhythmically chanting. His skin was not that of a regular tsunken aelf, no, there was a golden sheen to the subsurface of it only visible from certain angles. Closer, three mages stood watching the ritual. Their robes adorned with intricate filigree and Six could feel the arcane fluctuations of enchanted items on their persons. Four martials stood closer, covered in plate and leather, holding sword and shivs. Beyond stood the abomination, and it was a true behemoth. Standing at near twenty-five feet high the amalgam of biological pieces was less blood golem and more flesh golem. It was roughly humanoid and stood dormant but lurched into action as the evolved mage locked eyes with Six. All except for the evolved mage, who continued his casting, turned at their entrance. Six howled a bloodcurdling war bellow and charged forth into the room. Laying down his buff stack as he sprinted. Zephyr¡¯s Embrace Stone Skin Vital Surge Strength of the Oak Force Shell His saw screamed in fury as the Golemchanter swung it in fending arcs. The officers surging in behind him. Six didn¡¯t stop, backhanding and redirecting the incoming spells, mana darts and frost shards, into the martial guards that moved to protect their wards. However, these guards were not so simple as the previous and cut the spells in twain with their blades or caught them on armor or shield. Narhurin engaged them, his powerful glaive swings taking the attention of the martials as Keegan and Six passed them by. The evolved mage''s eyebrows rose in surprise as the two men beared down upon him and his surprise rose further when Six passed him by. Keegan engaged the mage while Six launched himself at the mages protector, the lumbering abomination. Six could hear the battle behind him but all his intent was laid upon the flesh golem before him He analyzed it. Blood Golem Level 7 This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Despite its low level it towered above his six foot frame, looming four times his size. Humanoid in shape only, its face held no emotion. Its flesh was a mixture of reds, purples, blacks, and greys, tacky skin that looked thick and rubbery. Its rough hands were tipped in nails of tusks and antlers while its feet were stumps of flesh bloated with black pooling blood. It smelled horrific and made no roar as it brought a massive fist down upon Six. Deflect Six activated the maneuver and his arms brought his saw up on an angle and barely managed to slide the blow off to his right, the various nails scraping furrows in the floor. Flecks of stone shrapnel pinged off Six¡¯s armor and one lacerated the bridge of his nose. His stamina was cut in a third and he winced. He needed that for his more extreme movements as evidenced by his subsequent dodge roll. He lashed out with full revs and blasted his saw through the bloated ankle of the thing, expecting a spray of red but encountering an oozing dark red sludge. Six juked to the side as it tried to stomp him. Until he saw the fresh black wound beginning to close. ¡°Fuck.¡± From afar came a volley of lunar crescents, plunging into a chest of the thing. It showed no signs of being hurt but between being an unfeeling blood golem and blood golems being constitution based Six was sure it had a lot more health to go. His heart warmed to know his raccoon was courageous enough to attack a monster like this golem. Inspired, Six turned to magic, throwing Stone Spikes up. The magical spears erupted into the feet of the thing but a slow squelching step flowed up and around the spike, demonstrating the damage was superficial. An Ember Spark to its abdomen sizzled the flesh and curled it up but the small burnt spot was ineffective. He growled, it was proving troublesome for a level 7. Six dodged again as a crushing fist descended slamming into the floor and shaking the room. The flesh golem was powerful and tanky, but slow and stupid and Six used that to his advantage. Sliding forward and slapping an empty palm on the golem¡¯s arm he tried his next card. ¡°Deconstruct Enchantment!¡± He held his breath and deflated in brief despair as his perk failed. The flesh rippling and almost breaking before a golden sheen flashed over the giant abomination. The will of the evolved mage was on display as whatever evolution he had, infused his golem with a golden sheen. The dormant analytical part of Six¡¯s mind whispered to the roaring beast within him, talking of the inconsistencies in magical representations, this should be life magic, but it wasn¡¯t. Six didn¡¯t care, he¡¯d kill it twice if he¡¯d have to. Six baited another haymaker of a swing, dodge rolling behind the behemoth and coming to his feet. Mid roll he stored his chainsaw and retrieved a sword he made a while ago. - Bloodsteel Greatsword of Fire Strike - He activated Double Strike and his ring of Triple strike, unloading five brutal horizontal slashes at the ankle of the thing, the last three swings he activated the sword and squinted his eyes shut as fiery explosions cauterized the wounds. Burning flecks of flesh spattered his face. He cut that fucking leg off and watched as the clumsy golem titled before falling on its side and ending on its back. Six took that opportunity to launch himself onto its belly, switching back to his saw, and driving a plunge-cut into its abdomen creating a huge gaper wound that led into the black mass of disparate flesh that composed it. A giant arm flailed and Six couldn¡¯t dodge, saw buried as it was, so he took the trade. The trunk of an arm slamming against his shoulder and rattling his helm. He stood firm and gripped his saw harder. Bellowing his triumph at holding on, between his Stone Skin and Force Shell Six barely took any damage at all. Now for the hard part. Six took a deep breath and dived into the open belly of the giant. *** Keegan followed close behind Six. The young lord had volunteered to target the evolved mage but Keegan felt he himself would be more effective against a typical humanoid compared to the giant golem. Six did seem to be an expert on golems. Keegan moved towards the evolved mage who was fortuitously engaged in ritual casting. He could see it in the mage¡¯s eyes, a certain confident dismissal that strong people had to those they perceived as weaker. That was the foolishness of his ancestors. He was K¡¯gan and they had broken under the weight of their ego. Now, only the simple truth of muscle remained. He performed a testing strike and was surprised to see the skin of the tsunken aelf resist his blade like any steel. So he swung with all his might, slamming his blade into the man and cutting through clothes and trinkets. Yet he still failed to draw blood. But his strike had managed to stumble the mage, it broke his rhythm and Keegan could see the grimace of a miscast cross the soft features of the aelf. So he pressed a furious combo that ended with his shield smashed across the mage''s face. With the ritual interrupted the glowing red gem began to sink back into the ground that it came from. Keegan expected it to go easily but even a K¡¯gan like him could tell that something was wrong with the giant crystal. Its oscillations and throbs of power began to destabilize. That was bad. That was not for him to consider, the mage was already uttering some retribution. Keegan did not let him finish, throwing his sword at the man and following it up with shoving his hand in the man¡¯s mouth and grappling him down. The mage may have evolved but he had neglected his strength and dexterity, Keegan was stronger, and faster despite being unevolved. This mouth hook technique had seemed particularly effective against Irduth and Keegan noted it for occasions like this, punching wizards. His grapple, while interfering, really did nothing to damage the mage, just enough to prevent him from spell casting. That was enough, as removing him from acting was Keegan¡¯s most base goal. Keegan felt himself being lifted and was surprised for a moment until he realized they were both rising into the air. The mage was levitating them up towards the top of the audience chamber, it would be a big fall but Keegan would survive. Then he felt a weak strike upon his side and instantly felt cold. The mage gripped a small hammer in his free hand and struck him again, the cold spread, biting pain telling him this couldn¡¯t continue. Keegan tried to headbutt the mage but all he accomplished was injuring himself and the smiling face of the mage confirmed as such and the hammer stole more and more warmth from the K¡¯gan. It burned despite being cold. So, Keegan shoved his hand deeper into the mage¡¯s mouth, making a fist. The mage looked on in confusion and disgust at Keegan¡¯s odd move, shaking his head in an effort to dislodge the fist. Then Keegan activated his maneuver. ¡°Unleashed Muscle!¡± Keegan grew, ballooning to almost twice his original size and his hand also expanded, within the mouth of the mage. The sheer internal pressure was too much to bear. The mages mandible pulling and cracking and finally the jaw completely ripped away in jagged tears of flesh. The mage howled something like a raspy vowel sound as blood flowed in torrents from his destroyed mouth. The mage fought but the blood loss was too much and Keegan could see the tsunken aelf begin to lose consciousness. The levitation slowed and the man¡¯s eyes fluttered closed as they began to fall towards the stone. Keegan swiftly altered his hold on the body of the mage, positioning it below himself and riding the man down like a kite. *** The caster watched as Narhurin threw himself between them and the martials and mages that sought to defend the ritual. One blade wielding martial went to chase Six and Keegan but a whistling Cease Strike from Narhurin stopped the warrior from moving. The three martials retaliated against the half aelf but his black dragon plate weathered their puny attacks easily. And returned them through its magic. Everytime Narhurin was struck his armor re-payed the damage back two fold. The folds of shadows that existed amongst the hostile martials fought for Narhurin without input. They sought to protect their host and feed upon his enemies. The little damage he did take was quickly healed by Kali Kik. Bark and Irduth slung spells relentlessly, empowered by Indigo¡¯s potions and spells they barely managed to bring the three mages to an impasse. Then Aclo appeared behind them, daggers flashing and ending lives before misting away before retaliation could be met. They sighed in relief as the mercilessly concentrated their arcane firepower on the remaining mage. A giant Keegan began to descend from above and landed on the evolved mage, smashing its underneath his boots into paste with a blast of blood and flesh. He stood and immediately bore down upon the martials, flanking and dismantling them with his comrade. As the last of the martial guards fell only the approaching wild blood golem remained. *** Six pulled himself deeper into the center of the thing. He held his breath and squeezed his eyes closed but it took all his mindfulness to not eject his breath and stomach. He needed to get deeper and his saw made a path. Already his lungs burnt, he needed to make this quick because his endurance was that of a normal man. Then he found it, the core. He could feel it in the cold wet darkness that was the inside of this monstrosity. His saw was too unwieldy to target it directly, so he tried to tear it from the inside with his gauntleted hands but he had no leverage. Fuck this. Six gathered his mana, all of it. Then once his mana was emptied he used his blood to generate even more mana. He filled himself with power, till he vibrated with intensity. He drained his life to the edge of safety. Then he tuned that power to the resonance of fire. Fire Wave! He released a blast of power and felt the backlash as the forces ejected him from the center of the thing and destroyed it in the process, giblets and flaps of skin flying across the room. Six tumbled and landed awkwardly, bouncing and sliding a bit as the giant halves of the abomination hit the ground with an echoing thud. All that was heard was Six¡¯s rasping breath. He struggled to his feet and smiled at the officers in triumph. They had done it. But a high pitched whine alerted him to the catastrophe behind him. The giant shimmering crystal was no longer flowing with the earth, it instead vibrated violently. The oscillations growing into an arcane scream. It was going critical. Six tried to toss out a ¡°Stone W-¡± But the glowing red gem exploded. 2.16 Short Rest Six had no time to dodge and took the shrapnel straight to his front. His Ring of Prophetic Vital Shield activated and three transparent golden shields layered over the mirage like Force Shell. Even still, the detonation was too much and the magical shields shattered in sequence, the magical force too much. The smaller bits and shards of shrapnel flecked off his armor but Six did not escape unscathed. He was pushed, sliding backwards across the floor. His already damaged body inhaled the broken cloud of crystal granules that puffed aways from the explosion, bits and pieces getting into his squinted eyes. He hacked out a rejecting cough and his body seized in pain. Six stood and his body felt like it was on fire, his chest aflame. He wrenched his burning eyes open and lowered his gaze to see his armor penetrated by a sliver of this crystal, the protruding tip glowing in a calmer resonance. Six fell to his knees, he felt weak. You have been afflicted with mana saturation for 8 damage (19/557) He had no mana to cast Vital Surge, or Imbue Life. He withdrew a potion from his spatial ring, the bottle appearing in his gauntlets, slick with black gore. He dropped it. ¡°Fuck.¡± For just a moment everything began to go dark, then a gentle hand rested on his back, life rushed into Six. It was a minor salve. His body still burned even within the cooling lake of whatever healing he¡¯d just received. Health: 108/557 His chest heaved against the pain and he brought in air but it was agony. Agony did not matter right now, Six needed air. A deep part of him knew that and it cut through the all consuming pain. A potion was brought to his lips and Six drank deep, shivering, fighting to not waste a drop. It too was just a minor balm to the inferno that six bathed in. Dying wasn¡¯t an option. Six focused his mind beyond the pain. He put it behind him. ¡°Mana,¡± Six grunted, and another potion was brought to his lips. He cast Vital Surge and Imbue Life as fast as he could and saw his health rise again. His shuddering breath calmed and he managed to bring his awareness to the present. The voices around him, coming into focus. Kali Kik was repeating a plea to him. ¡°Don¡¯t remove it. Don¡¯t remove it.¡± Irduth and Aclo were bickering over the crystal shrapnel littered about the audience chamber. Indigo stood ready with more potions. He had stabilized It took a few hours for the mana saturation debuff to fall off to one damage per tick. The endless damage was painful and irritating but it was something his Earthen Endurance could counteract easily enough at this point. Earthen Endurance healed 322 health a minute which equated to about 5 hp regened a second. More than enough to overcome the 1 damage a second he was receiving from the mana saturation. Kali Kik didn¡¯t want to remove the shard in case it caused more damage but Six protested in regards to him fighting. He couldn¡¯t tank effectively with a crystal shard protruding from his chest. Kali Kik suggested he assist with his long range magic until they could have it removed. Keegan and Narhurin were more than willing to shoulder more of the vanguard. They rested in a side chamber, Aclo watching for anyone searching for the dead mages. Six checked his prompts and revelled at the onslaught of skill increase prompts. Skill increases: Analyze - Initiate - Level 12 Elemental Magic - Initiate - Level 13 Force Magic - Initiate - 7 Butchery - Initiate - 12 Blood Magic - Initiate - 10 Blood Casting - Initiate - 11 Cycle Magic - Initiate - 9 Athletics - Initiate - 13 Heavy Armor - Apprentice - 25 Meditation - Initiate - Level 17 Some increased by two. Chainsaw - Initiate - 8 Mindfulness - Initiate - 14 He grunted in satisfaction, this last battle, although brief, had brought his skills over several thresholds. He checked his quest prompts. Exploitation Disruption Juthe-Wei Yudinzo has seen it fit to send a group of arcane scholars to the tsunken aelf homeland. Your soldiers cry out for a countering response and do not wish to see this opportunity fall to the hands of their enemy. Rewards for Accepting: Increase of relationship with the officers. Rewards for Completion: Voluntary Spiritual Energy Superior Rank Item Time Limit: Unknown You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. Penalty for Failure: Loss of relationship with the officers. Loss of control over Superior Item. Quest Succeeded. Note: The Superior ranked item, the Land Heart, was damaged in the struggle for dominance. A new one will not manifest for five years. As such, you may choose an alternative item or receive (10,000) additional experience in compensation. Well shit. Six was conflicted about this turn of events. He wasn¡¯t sure what he was losing and he wasn¡¯t sure what the ¡®compensation¡¯ would be. It all felt like the system was covering its ass after the fact. Six wasn¡¯t worried about getting experience, it would just take time to accumulate. If he could get another Superior ranked item now he judged it a more valuable increase in resources. But it''s not like whining would change anything. So, Six chose the ¡®Alternative item¡¯ choice and was immediately presented with three choices. - Demon Mind Singularity - Rank: Superior Rarity: Mythic Weight: 151 G Durability: 4660/4660 Traits: The condensed minds of the demonic hordes of the 23rd Corridors War. Sentient, Material, Reagent, Consumable - Ever-Red Toque of Big Jim the Killer - Rank: Superior Rarity: Mythic Defense: 31 Weight: 1.1 KG Durability: 5100/5100 Traits: Empowers the users lifeforce with the blood of the slain. Temporarily increases overall health and health regen in relation to the amount of blood spilled in a 0.5 KM radius. - Fang of Ilmareth - Rank: Superior Rarity: Rare Weight: 2.7 KG Durability: 7500/7500 Traits: The Fang of Ilmareth. A dragon tooth forged into a longsword and imbued with the Solar Fire affinity. Material, Reagent This was an easy choice for Six as he was not really interested in picking up swords. Really, he wished to grind his Chainsaw skill as fast as possible, so the fang wouldn¡¯t be that useful to him. The toque was interesting but it required spilling blood to be useful, a limitation Six wanted to avoid being dependent on. He was already a bloodmage, the hat would just make him more reliant on carnage. Six picked the Demon Mind Singularity. It being a sentient reagent of the Superior rank made it an incredibly valuable enchanting material. It would most likely give him the ability to bestow a higher degree of thought to one of his creations. A powerful modification. The system placed his quest reward discretely within an empty slot in his spatial ring. It was a dark black orb, shifting under eldritch green flames that seemed to make howling faces as they danced. Spooky. Alongside the Superior item came experience points that when combined with his gains from all the battling pushed him well into level 13, putting him at 82613 experience. He assigned his stat points, two to constitution and one to strength, endurance, charisma, and luck. He earned another 35 perk points but saved them for later spending, all the good stuff cost more than he could earn in one go. He saw no need to spend any of his skill points either. While he could bring some into Apprentice rank he did not, preferring instead to level them naturally at the easier lower levels. After a short rest he led them back into the ante chamber, the remains of the fallen and crystal debris undisturbed. A thorough search of the corpses revealed a bevy of magical items. Most of the haul were simple things, potions and gem based devices. The few items of significant magical potency belonged to the evolved mage. - Cold Steel Hammer of the Frozen Lake - Rank: Enhanced Rarity: Rare Weight: 4.7 KG Durability: 3300/3300 Traits: A hammer imbued with the theory of cessation. Strikes with this hammer do additional strength and constitution based damage. - Lareon Belt of the Rising Cloud - Rank: Enhanced Rarity: Rare Weight: 1.1 KG Durability: 1100/1100 Traits: Allows the user to levitate at a rate of 2 meters per second for 1 charge per ten minutes. 29/35 charges. Six was interested in the belt and breaking it down for the levitation properties it demonstrated but allowed it to go to Irduth who expressed a loud desire for compensation. He had risked his life and Six felt that worth something. The hammer went to Indigo, the young man wanting to use it as a weapon for self-defence and an alchemical tool. All Six really took was the high quality smokeweed the evolved mage had. It looked like the stuff from back home, covered in teech. His herbology skill was too low to properly identify it but he knew what it was enough to get a half reading. - Justiral Smokeweed - Rank: Enhanced Rarity: Rare Weight: 10 G Durability: 10/10 Traits: Consumable, Material, Reagent He could consume it, but he didn¡¯t know exactly what it would do. So, he just stored it for now. The rest of the minor magic items, while interesting, were inferior to anything Six had currently. It would be better to outfit his soldiers with some utility. They had gathered up the dust and shards of the Land Heart, it was some sort of crystal reagent. Six could tell he could use it as a power source of fuel type material. It was split amongst a Six, Aclo, Indigo, and Irduth. Aclo protested and claimed it was his birthright but Six shut him down. He was already getting pretty strong and despite being a lower level than these soldiers his gear and golems were allowing him to hit high above his weight. They needed to distribute some of this gear advantage around to scale the effectiveness of the overall volume of their party. Keegan had been injured by the hammer and his wound was ugly, a frozen and cracked patch of flesh, the wet tender pink of his insides visible through the fractures in his skin. The man bore it well, grunting and huffing but never complaining. He reported a unique Frozen Lake condition that sapped both his strength and constitution, the effects of the hammer. It would take time to heal naturally as Kali Kik could not cast the greater magics required for such serious wounds. Six was somewhat crippled as well, the crystal shard embedded in his chest keeping him from any serious clashes. Even still, they explored the room thoroughly, and that led to Aclo finding a secret chamber. A section of wall slid open into the ceiling as the tsunken aelf inspected the area. ¡°I did nothing,¡± Aclo said, suspiciously. ¡°Well, it''s open now,¡± Six said. The chamber was small, there was a littering of treasure scattered about the perimeter of the room and held four skeletons, one of which had been partially crushed by the door. This was a secret vault that had been used as a safe room. The crushed skeleton''s legs were pulverized, as it fell prone half under the door. It must have been moments from making it. The only items it had that had not rotted away were a white porcelain mask, smooth and featureless with two black dots for eyes and a crack down the middle. There was also a glittering dagger, glinting with a blue light. The three skeletons in the center were more, piles of bones and jewelry. Probably nobles of some sort. Family of Aclo. They all moved to loot but Six held them back with an arm. ¡°Oh?¡± Irduth snickered. Six looked past the priest and towards the tsunken aelves of his party. ¡°Do you know any rituals for taking from the dead?¡± They looked surprised for a second. Narhurin turned thoughtful. Bark''s face took on a sardonic grin. Aclo grit his teeth in rage. ¡°We shouldn¡¯t desecrate this place,¡± Aclo grunted. ¡°There is nothing sacred here to desecrate, ¡° Irduth jeered. ¡°Only heathens fit for annihilation!¡± ¡°We do not know these people,¡± Six said with gravely stoicism. ¡°We treat the dead with respect.¡± ¡°Even war crim-¡± SIx cut him off. ¡°You don¡¯t know shit.¡± The priest stepped back with pursed lips, offended. Six continued. ¡°Yo, Aclo, we are taking this shit. I can¡¯t allow any advantage to leave our grasp. Sorry.¡± Six tried his best to apologize but it felt weak in the face of Aclo¡¯s objections. Six tried to not let it bother him as he moved in and began to catalog the haul. Overall it was mostly gold, gems, and jewelry of the mundane kind. Good for the coffers of Mountain¡¯s End but nothing that would change their immediate power. But there were a few magic items of interest. Aclo received the broken white mask and the Adamas Shortsword of Lunar Resolve. Although the mask was broken and inert, Aclo saw value in it as a relic of his people. The shortsword was magical in nature, made of a durable material, its physical strikes were enhanced by the users emotional state. Six wasn¡¯t sure it would be used to greatest effect in the hands of someone emotionally volatile like Aclo but it wasn¡¯t Six¡¯s pick to make. Indigo received the Bangles of Dexterity, allowing him to perform more complicated brewing techniques and contribute a bit more directly in martial conflicts. Kali Kik, Bark, and Irduth took one of the enhanced grade mana cores, a simple choice of pure power. Keegan took some ancient jewelry he identified as K¡¯gan in nature, a cultural request much the same as Aclo. Narhurin received a ring similar to Six¡¯s Ring of Prophetic Vital Shield but it functioned off of darkness mana instead of life. Six took the lion''s share of crafting materials, high quality mana cores, stillver and glittering adamas ingots, preserved and aged alchemical reagents, and much more that would propel his enchantments to the next level. He would go over it more thoroughly back home. But, there was also a book, a magic book. - Magical Grimoire of Bloodwell Shaping - Rank: Enhanced Rarity: Mythic Defense - 100 Weight - 3 KG Durability 75/75 Traits: Capable of teaching the user the Bloodwell Shaping spell. Allowing the user to store and apply racial ancestry traits. A heirloom tome from the old age, one of the last vestiges of knowledge and power from the Yudain-zogh blood covens. Aclo wanted it of course. ¡°No,¡± Six refused. ¡°These are the last remnants of my people. It should go to one of us.¡± Aclo said gesturing at the three aelves. Narhurin didn¡¯t seem interested but Bark immediately perked up at the suggestion. ¡°Do any of you have levels in the blood magic skill?¡± Six asked. They shook their heads. Aclo scoffed, ¡°no.¡± Six put on a face of mock surprise. ¡°Hmm. Oh wow, would you look at that. I do.¡± You have activated a magical grimoire for the Moderate Blood Spell: Bloodwell Shaping. Using this tome will impart the spell knowledge and consume the item. Continue? 2.17 The Colony Six sat down and got comfortable before accepting the prompt. Yes. For a moment nothing happened, then the book began to glow, cutting Six¡¯s into silhouettes, drawing power and preparing. Six felt a blip of trepidation as he reconsidered his action. But it was too late to waver so he committed to the course ahead, focusing on the arcane feelings he was experiencing. He could almost feel the book connect to him slowly, forcing arcane tendrils into him. As if he himself was being enchanted. A flash of light illuminated the broken audience chamber. The magical tome flared and Six¡¯s mind froze under the weight of knowledge entering his mind. Compared to a minor ranked spell this was a hurricane next to a breeze. But even in that eternal moment he resisted, his mind always pushing against and trying to control itself. What used to take minutes took almost a half hour, the moderate rank spell book imparting far more knowledge than a minor. Ending with the glowing book fading into nothingness. Six came out of his trance and wiped at his face. His hand came away with blood. ¡°Shit.¡± ¡°I was watching you,¡± Kali Kik said from his side. He turned to look at her sitting next to him. Her calm gaze without judgement. ¡°You were fine,¡± she said. ¡°Thank you,¡± Six nodded at her. ¡°You should be more careful with magical items until you evolve. Even then you should still be careful.¡± ¡°I was fine.¡± Six smiled. A quick examination of his prompts revealed a little mana poisoning and a new spell. Spell: Bloodwell Shaping Rank: Moderate Cooldown: N/A, 1 hour Range: Melee Casting Time: 1 hour Duration: N/A Mana Cost: 1000 Effect: User gains the Bloodwell trait, allowing them to store a number of ancestry traits equal to (Blood Magic Level/5). Can only store the traits of slain creatures of an evolution rank equal to or lower than the user¡¯s. User can perform a ritual to apply up to one trait to themselves or another. User can perform a ritual to remove or replace a trait granted it is currently archived. Six wasn¡¯t exactly sure what an ancestry trait was, but he could store two of them now. Six wasn¡¯t exactly sure as to what those were but he figured they had something to do with how he got extra stat points and greater affinities as a human. If he remembered his time in the starting void correctly, ancestry traits were usually a double edged sword so he might not want them at all. But that was unlikely, he was already min-maxing in several areas and was committed to being a constitution based fighter. If the sacrifice was minimal, he would make it. Slain creatures indicated that the creatures must be dead, or have been killed? Six wasn¡¯t sure on how this spell worked exactly, seeming almost two parts, one part passive collection, one part active imbuement. 1000 mana to cast it was a steep price, Six wouldn¡¯t be able to cast it by himself but with his coven skill he could. He doubted the Indigo or Kali Kik would help him with it but when he returned to Mountain¡¯s End he would be able to use the Ley mana to cast the spell with ease. His mindfulness went up. Mindfulness - Initiate - Level 15 After another short rest Six gathered them up and cleared his throat before speaking. ¡°Alright, so we¡¯ve fucked their shit up. Head back?¡± There was a large pause as the officers looked between each other. ¡°Perhaps we should uuuuh¡­ aaah¡­ take a uh look around and see if we can find something.¡± Six sniffed. ¡°What you think you¡¯re gonna find something that the first pillaging missed? Ah nevermind we just found something that was missed. Fine. But just this building no more. We aint going through the whole city.¡± They seemed amenable to that. It took two days to clear the top of minor creatures and monsters, finding nothing important. Day three led them to the kitchens in the basement. The kitchens were large and judging by the size of most things, intended to cook vast quantities of food. Dark stone ovens and giant steel pots were spaced about. Empty pantries and side cellars, littered with the dried remains of unidentifiable food and shards of rotten furniture. In the center of the kitchens was a deep hole. A large hole about two by two meters, that descended deep into blackness. Six assumed that this was the kitchens¡¯ organics bin, all the waste must just be tossed in the pit. Neat. ¡°What do you guys think is in the pit?¡± Six posited. ¡°Bones,¡± Keegan said. ¡°Bones and cutlery,¡± Nar added. ¡°Well that doesn¡¯t seem fair but ok,¡± Six shrugged. ¡°Well what you do think is down their, hmmmm?¡± Irduth asked Six sarcastically. ¡°Bones, Cutlery, and maybe some fungi?¡± Irduth crossed his arms. ¡°You¡¯re stupid.¡± Six brought an aggrieved arm to his chest. ¡°Ow, rude. Anyways, I guess we¡¯ll never know what¡¯s down there.¡± ¡°Irduth can just fly down there and check,¡± offered Indigo. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°That seems unnecessary,¡± Six said with pursed lips. ¡°Yes, by Kynairos it does,¡± Irduth agreed. But the officers stared at Irduth expectantly until the priest broke. ¡°Oh all right. I won¡¯t forget this though,¡± Irduth agreed begrudgingly, activating his belt and levitating over and down into the dark hole. Less than five minutes later Irduth returned, a worried look on his face. ¡°Well?¡± Six asked. ¡°What did you see?¡± ¡°There is a colony down there,¡± Irduth reported grimly. Six could see from the shocked looks on the officers¡¯ faces that this was an issue. Not surprising as Charles had explained the continent wide understanding that insect colonies were to be purged and eliminated. Normal hive gatherings of insects were to be expected, and could be found anywhere across Zarmul. But the Colony classification meant they were particularly suited to consumption and expansion. Dangerous for the entire planet, and such things needed to be eliminated on sight, lest they grow out of control. Six agreed. He regarded Irduth, ¡°is It possible to clear it?¡± ¡°Just so, I think we could, yes.¡± Six shrugged, ambivalent. ¡°We can try, gotta hold down our ride with Copperback though.¡± ¡°By Kynairos! This is more important than our ¡®ride.¡¯ We must purge those bugs!¡± Six looked around at the group and saw a grim consensus. He sighed, ¡°fine, let''s do our part.¡± Irduth briefed everyone on the little he saw. Extremely large, humanoid bugs, about 5 feet at height, long arms tipped in claws capable of boring through rock and earth. They bore a pair of vestigial wings that flapped. Its head was tipped with tusk-like mandibles, and two wet, black eyes that stared our bereft of any soul. Covered with thick chitinous plating, its eyes were its primary weak spot. As a place to strike as well in terms of senses. It seemed to have poor vision, not being able to spot Irduth. That might change with more people and more light. More so after Six created an earth golem for each of them. Keegan cautioned against adding a new element without proper training and against the magical constructs as they were a step away from muscle and towards magic but even he adopted a golem. Six described their intended use, sinking them within the walls and extending their limbs into the tunnels to grapple and trip the bugs. They tied off multiple ropes for a simple escape route and lowered themselves down. The tunnels were dark, open things, wide enough for three to walk side by side but Six was constantly dealing with the land heart shard. Keegan and Narhurin took up the front and were supported by their golems. Six conjured a Luminous Beacon to provide light for the party. The first bug was incredibly easy, his Analyze revealed it to be only level 1 and even then was weak compared to a level 1 human but its death drew its siblings and therein lied the danger. Be it through its high pitched squeals of pain or some sort of death pheromone, a tide arrived, endless bodies pressing down the tunnel. The black orbs of the creatures prevented any sort of real humanization. There was nothing there but the indifference of nature, the commitment to the struggle. Yet Six could see the signs of something more amongst them. His Unbound Comprehension did not bring any new languages but there was a fanaticism and emotional fervor present as the bugs threw themselves forward. Oh so willing to sacrifice themselves for the colony. They almost reminded him of the sasquatch, intelligent and empathetic but not recognized as so for whatever barriers existed. Six had no time to ponder it beyond these intrusive thoughts. The hordes of bugs seemed endless but with tactical retreats and careful potion rationing they managed to crawl forward under a constant arcane bombardment from the mages and impenetrable defence from the warriors. Six wasn¡¯t able to contribute as much as he used to while in this injured state so he turned to his long range magic. The single Stone Wall he used worked to funnel them a bit better but they quickly tore it down. Instead, Stone Spikes erupted from the ground and straight through these giant quadrupedal insects. Cracking them easily. His mana bottomed out before he used about 200 HP for more bloodcasted spikes, leaving him nice and healthy just in case something slipped through. He drank a health and mana potion while he unleashed a volley of blood darts from Lump who immediately began to absorb the greenish blood from the insect entrails scattered about. The high powered blood darts mostly deflected off the carapace of the creatures but some were capable of smashing and cracking the shells of these beasts. It was almost cyclic the reloading and firing of Lump, leading to an almost sustained fire that Six was able to use to a significant effect. Improving the chances of cracking the shells of the creatures. Save for Indigo, the party¡¯s golem control was poor and it led to the simple tools being exposed or simply detrimental. Six called out adjustments from his position in the back, informing people when their golem needed to be moved further into the wall or hidden completely. Over the course of the delve they refined their ¡°micro¡± as Six called it and soon the tunnels were a complete death trap for anything approaching. Chains, thorns, and blood flying down past sword and glaive. During a rest Six had the opportunity to examine a new prompt. 3/3 samples obtained, Trait obtained, Ravznok: Racial ability, Plated Path. Gain an increase of 1 point of natural defense per point of CON and a reduction of 1 point of computation power per point of INT. 0/2 Bloodwell slots filled. Archive trait? Yes/No? Six understood from the transcribed knowledge of the skill that he could replace any archived trait as he encountered new ones so there was no real reason not to pick it up. He just needed to be careful as he wouldn¡¯t be able to remove or replace any trait he archived, which shouldn¡¯t be a problem really, not for himself anyways Yes. He felt something deep within in him change and knew it was the bloodwell. He lacked the mana to apply it to himself and sure enough only Bark was willing to help him with his blood magic experiments. He would perform the ritual later. It took two days to reach the center of the nest. They killed endless swathes of bugs and progressed incrementally but they made it there. The nearer they came the more advanced bugs they saw. None of which could communicate but eventually Six¡¯s Analyze was returning levels of 10 to 15. The variations in the creatures were interesting. All had skills and abilities. One could teleport, one could create force mandibles, one could resurrect the fallen of its kind. Still they fell and Six and the soldiers progressed to the center of the colony. Despite it being an evolved creature, killing the queen was easy. Its giant mass could barely defend itself, having invested solely into a higher ability to leverage minions than even the blood tree. It was rendered somewhat immobile by the distended birthing abdomen. Truly, even as the warriors approached it, bombarding the queen with a barrage of arcane fire, it expelled battle ready enemies for its defence. That didn¡¯t stop Six from stabbing Stone Spike after Stone Spike into its head. You have killed level 23 Ravznok Queen. Experience gained 1531. It was a relatively simple addition to their adventure to these lands. The materials scavenged interested Six greatly and he overruled Indigo when it came to claiming the one most intriguing. - One Million Egg Gland - Rank: Superior Rarity: Rare Weight: 9.1 KG Durability: 74/75 Traits: The egg producing gland of an evolved ravznok queen. Capable of fielding a vast horde of minions. Material, Reagent He also fished out its mana core. - Mana Core - Rank: Enhanced Rarity: Unusual Defense - 100 Weight - 0.025 KG Durability 1599/1600 Traits: Crystalized Mana, Material, Reagent, Catalyst. The gland represented an interesting opportunity with what it represented as a reagent. Of course the transmutation process was in essence random but that was not to say you couldn¡¯t make educated guesses. The gland would most likely add some sort of swarm mechanic to whatever he added it to. And the possibilities of that potential were buzzing around Six¡¯s mind. Six had Indigo preserve the gland before storing it in his spatial and leading the soldiers back out. Aside from this incredibly interesting organ, after two days of consistent fighting Six had received a large amount of skill experience and an ungodly amount of mundane monster cores. Skill increases: Butchery - Initiate - 14 Analyze - Initiate - 14 Athletics - Initiate - 15 Elemental Magic - Initiate - 15 Blood Casting - Initiate - 13 Blood Magic - Initiate - 11 Cycle Magic - Initiate - 11 Diametric Magic - Initiate - 8 Inspect - Initiate - 9 Perception - Initiate - 12 He had also gained experience sufficient to level. You have reached level 14, advancement options available. Skill points: 9 Perk points: 70 Stat points: 6 First, he spent his stat points. Putting one into charisma, luck, and dexterity, then three into strength. The three points into strength represented an increase of over ten percent and Six felt it. A raw power coursing through his muscles combined with an increased sense of health and sturdiness. Increasing his charisma and dexterity was to shore up his weak spots. The point into luck was just policy at this point. Again, he would hold onto his skill points but this time he had enough perk points to get something good. Six considered his many perk choices, and found himself reconsidering his previous intention of armor integration in favour of other options. Runic Endurance: 55 perk points The armor''s runes absorb excess energy and convert it into a temporary boost to the Golemchanter''s stamina, allowing for prolonged battles without fatigue. Golemforge: 60 perk points The armor can temporarily open a dimensional portal, summoning additional golems to reinforce the Golemchanter''s forces. Titanic Empowerment: 60 perk points The armor temporarily imbues the wearer with increased size and strength, granting the Golemchanter an imposing presence and improved physical might. They were all more offensively minded than, Golem Armor Integration: 50 perk points The user can integrate armor into their existing golems and they are capable of wearing golems as armor. Six was feeling confident in his defense and was more interested in something offensive right now. Despite that, after this Six was hopefully turtling up for a while, so perhaps the offensive perks weren¡¯t that important compared to the simple enchantment strength perks. After some thought Six continued with his pick of armor integration, immediately his remaining perk points dropped to twenty. But Six was satisfied with his purchase and even moreso when Lump melted from its shoulder perch and instead wrapped his body like a skin suit. Providing an additional layer of protection underneath that of his armor. Neat. Speaking of Lump, the blood golem had reached level 9 and Six had to assign its points, putting two into con and one into int and wis. His little blood bag was growing nicely. Poh-Doh had also grown, SIx had no idea of the adventures the golem was participating in but it was accumulating exp without Six being there so, that was a win. Poh Doh hit level ten which automatically placed one stat point into strength and con, Six assigned the two free points into strength and endurance, boosting Poh Doh¡¯s already immense strength. There was also an option to choose a new ability for his creation hitting level 10. He could pick one of three. Earth Cycle: This golem can renew itself by absorbing nearby earth. HP += 3+0.1*N per 1 kilogram of earth consumed. Current 4 HP Stone Dart The golem conjures a small, earth spike in their palm. Upon release, the Spike swiftly flies towards a target. Crystal Skin The golem adds 30+Strength to its natural defense. Six picked crystal skin. The increase to physical durability would help Poh Doh weather the more mundane threats with far more ease now. Hopefully Six could commission some armor for Poh Doh that he could enchant against the arcane threats. Six sighed and deliberately relaxed his body, he had been in go mode for a while now and the constant grind was taking its toll. He was growing a little bit here and there, it was a gradual process and he wished he had more empress pie to speed it along. Still, it had been a while since he had examined his stat sheet, so before they left the tsunken aelf homelands he brought it up to appreciate his gains. 2.18 Unraveled Naho, the 7th, 10,391 The trip back from the lands of the tsunken aelves was demanding. The frozen snowy waste sapped their strength with every step and with the lingering injuries Six and Keegan moved slower. It was a tad frustrating but Six pushed it away, all he could do was march with persistence. It was soul crushing and physically grinding but it did lead to several level ups in his Athletics skill. It was at 18 and Six felt a great sense of anticipation for the evolution into apprentice rank. At a point during the journey, a boom like thunder was heard echoing off in the distance. Six barely glimpsed it through the ambient snowfall but far off on a mountain peak opposite theirs was a humanoid form and from the look of it, it was a giant. Its silhouette painted dark against the white of the mountain. It stood far above the tiny alpine trees that poked up through the snow, here and there. They watched as it tore the mountain open, cracking it like dead, brittle wood. Searching for something within. Six inhibited the impulse to analyze the thing. It was truly a monster. His spine shuddered and he considered what it would be like to battle against the thing. There was no doubt in his mind of the exceedingly slim chance he would have at victory. There was a chance though¡­ He had to get stronger. So strong that the chance grew overwhelming. So strong that conflict was a foregone conclusion. They reached the seaside village of Lhorn and to find no Amos at dock, Six decided to wait at least two weeks before chartering another ship out of here. Not that there was a ship capable of such a task at dock. They posted up at the village inn and waited for the captain to return. There was a part of Six that felt uneasy with not being on the move. They had just massacred a mage detachment, surely their allies would have ways of knowing and figuring out who did it. Six knew it was an irrational feeling as such methods would most likely work regardless of distance but he still felt like he couldn¡¯t relax until he got home. He hoped his Amulet of Unknown would help shield him from any such search but it would be unable to shield his allies. Not to mention, there was the looming threat of explaining himself to Ravna when he got home. He had missed her on these past couple weeks and he felt a growing trepidation within himself. Like he fucked things up with her. Only time would tell. But, he couldn¡¯t complain about ¡®adventuring,¡¯ he had grown significantly on this trip, in terms of power, wealth, and materials. The results spoke for themselves. Bah, no use in dwelling. The inn held a few other patrons, all wooly olynum save for one halfling man. They glanced at Six¡¯s group and then began staring but Six understood as they were quite clearly outsiders here. The barkeep was a massive olynum of a man, towering over everyone there but emanating a welcoming enough vibe for such a unit of a man. They got rooms and board for the night and enjoyed the warm ambiance of the common room, the locals eventually losing interest in the motley group and easing back into their previously established social rituals of drinking. Six observed the officers begin to relax. Nar, Aclo, and Bark drinking to get drunk while Keegan, Kali Kik, and Irduth only had one reserved drink. Indigo was making some sort of herbal bark tea, of which Six asked for some. Indigo was kind enough to share. Six sat, watching the soldiers loosen up and engage in the well worn rituals of friendship that only came with time. A couple of weeks would not make him one of them. Nor did he want to be, looking inside himself he found that what he wanted was his family and friends of old. He missed his old shitty life and the relationships he built up over two decades. Negative feelings arose in him, during this most happy time. His childish resentment and jealousy grew. He considered going outside for a puff, going back and forth between his feelings and thoughts of responsibility and justifications. He knew the optimal answer. No, now is not the time. Good thing too as on the first night, Six felt it. That pull. He sensed it like increasing gravity. There was just a growing¡­ tension. He knew this feeling, it was that draw he felt towards Amog. That''s right, there was a threadling here. Six sat there in the common room of the inn, surrounded by soldiers, but still he performed a LMRA and checked his gear. He would cut his way out of anything if need be. But what came through the door was a tall woman covered in thick winter furs. A scarf and hood obscuring all but her blue eyes. This time the lack of a crowd made it clear who the pull drew Six to. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. She looked at him and began to approach. To which Six stood from his stool and held up his hand. ¡°Stop,¡± he ordered. Who knew what this lady was or what she knew, best keep her at a distance. She stumbled to a halt, uncertainty evident in her eyes. Six Analyzed her. Katherine Sun Elf Level 1 Level 1? That eased Six up a bit, he could most likely steamroll her. ¡°What do you want?¡± She slowly took off her hood and unraveled her scarf, her tall elven body moving with a natural grace. She revealed a beautiful face framed by blonde hair, pointed ears completed the elven look. ¡°What are you?¡± She asked in somewhat accented Zleenish, her confusion genuine. ¡°Why do you feel?¡± She made a vague gesture between her and Six. She didn¡¯t know what the pull was, she didn¡¯t know what Six was, and she was a Sun Elf? That last fact was noticeable enough to gather attention from the entire party, with the tsunken aelves looking on at her in a mixture of skepticism and curiosity. Six glanced about and could see the village regulars, tense but not yet set to intervene. She was an outsider, like him. Six spoke in english. ¡°What''s your name?¡± Instantly her face almost broke into relieved tears as she breathed out. ¡°Kathy.¡± before it took on a suspicious cast. ¡°How do you know english? Magic?¡± ¡°No, I just know english. How do you know english?¡± ¡°How do I, know, engli?... BwwWWAAAAA!¡± She began to cry. Nar laughed and clapped Six on the back. ¡°Come on Six, what did you say to make her cry?¡± The olynum barkeep broke in. ¡°Indeed I like Kathy, she¡¯s simple but is good at washing dishes. Explain yourself or I must ask you to leave. Six chuckled. ¡°Sorry. She''s just lost like I was. I think she''s just relieved to see someone she can talk to in our language. She''s from my homeland.¡± ¡°I understood her just fine.¡± Narhurin waved it away before speaking louder and slower at Kathy, pointing at Six. ¡°This is Six! He is a human and not a number!¡± ¡°She is not from here, we do not have, ¡®sun elves,''¡± Aclo confirmed suspiciously, only eye slightly lidded. ¡°How do you know I¡¯m a sun elf?¡± The assassin just glared. The barkeep grumbled past them. ¡°It¡¯s a skill dear Kathy. Although it''s considered rude to do it in polite society. Soldiers are concerned with that though.¡± ¡°We are not,¡± Six agreed. ¡°You are not soldiers?¡± The barkeep grumbled, confused, looking his group up and down. Six hesitated, this was getting away from him and the tension was yet still building. He shook his head to clear it and took a breath to center himself before speaking. ¡°We are travelers and will be on our way as soon as possible. I¡¯m just from the same place as Kathy.¡± The pounding heartbeat within his head demanded a resolution but his only experience was with Amog and that informed him only to death as an option. He couldn¡¯t just kill this woman, it had to be more than just some random deathmatch. Skill increase: Mindfulness - Initiate - 16 ¡°Where¡¯s that?¡± The barkeep asked, and Six couldn¡¯t help but notice his officers looked at him expectantly. Six smiled and waved dismissively. ¡°Over yonder.¡± The barkeep guffawed, ¡°Kathy said the world brought her here. You too then?¡± Six laughed and shook his head. ¡°No I-¡± Kathy cut in, ¡°That¡¯s not true, I need your help! I don¡¯t know where we are! Or why we¡¯re here!¡± She spoke with a frantic edge and approached Six with a few quick steps. Six felt almost compelled to kill this woman and proximity made it worse, but it was just a feeling and he pushed it down alongside all his other vices. He asked her softly, speaking English, ¡°you feel like you have to kill me yea?¡± Guilt crossed her fair face for an instant before she shook her head no, but it was too late. He was calm. ¡°What help could you possibly want from a man you want to kill?¡± She spoke with grim regret. ¡°I don¡¯t want to kill you.¡± Six just laughed. ¡°Do you not feel it? There is this feeling building. A sense of anticipation that demands¡­ something happen?¡± She hesitated ¡°Who the fuck talks like that? There is a feeling but it didn¡¯t even enter my head to kill you. You¡¯re just the first person that speaks English I¡¯ve met and I¡¯ve here a good two months!¡± ¡°Two months?¡± Six screwed up his face, that didn¡¯t seem right. ¡°What how long have you been here? Years?¡± He had been here for just under three months so if her time keeping was correct Six had received a bit of a head start. ¡°No.¡± That pissed her off. ¡°Well, how long?¡± Six needed to decide how much to trust this lady and from his first impressions it seemed like her biggest danger would be leaking information about their origins but considering she learned passable Zleenish in two months she was probably smart enough to be careful about keeping it a secret. ¡°Just a bit longer than you.¡± ¡°And what level are you?¡± Six smiled gently. ¡°That¡¯s considered rude.¡± ¡°Yeah I know but I¡¯m just so lost.¡± ¡°I¡¯m around level 10,¡± Six massaged the truth. At that Kathy blinked and went quiet, thinking for a moment. The leader of this village would be at most level 20 and compared to a level 1, level 10 was untouchable. ¡°How do you already have a class?¡± Kathy asked. ¡°Onalk said that it would take me years. ¡°Fighting shit really. System doesn¡¯t seem to reward much for anything else.¡± ¡°But, bu¡­ I dont want to fight shit.¡± ¡°You¡¯re level 1, how¡¯d that happen? Reach apprentice in any skills?¡± She narrowed her eyes at him. ¡°Did you use that skill on me? To read my stats and race and stuff?¡± Six nodded. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t that rude?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Then why did you do it?¡± ¡°I too am lost and although I have thrived here, I do not know the purpose I am here. I have met one other of us and that ended¡­ poorly. You represent an opportunity to understand our place here.¡± Really though, Six was just bullshitting, of course he wanted to gauge her strength. ¡°And you¡¯d thought to invade my privacy?¡± Six sighed and tossed his hands up. ¡°Look lady. Do you have any idea as to why we are here?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°No? Ok. You need help, no promises. What do you want?¡± She was a little surprised at his brusqueness but quickly capitalized. ¡°You need to take me to civilization.¡± ¡°Yea, you can catch a ride if you want. But you gotta pay your own fare. Captain¡¯s real touchy about no free rides. ¡± ¡°How much?¡± ¡°No clue. Maybe a gold or something.¡± She sighed frustrated. ¡°Look, the elephants here are really nice but it''s been hard learning a new language and culture at the same time. There are no opportunities in a small place like this and its fucking cold all the time, and I don¡¯t have a fucking gold!.¡± ¡°Olynum.¡± Six corrected. ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°They are not elephants, they are olynum.¡± ¡°See? It''s little things like that, that I need help with. I need guidance.¡± Six shook his head. ¡°I¡¯ll see what I can do about the ride and I don¡¯t mind telling you some stuff while we travel but I can¡¯t be a dedicated mentor to you. I don¡¯t mind if you settle where I¡¯m at but I got a full time job. Most I can do is give you an opinion every now and then.¡± ¡°That¡¯s fine. More than I deserve. ¡°I¡¯m just glad I¡¯m getting out of this place.¡± She deflated and sighed. Just like that the tension began to ebb. A release with each beat of his heart. It wasn¡¯t like the rush of power, pleasure, and hallucinations he¡¯d experience when he cracked Amog open. This was a slow tidal outflow, push and pull. Still, it felt nice. He felt like an asshole not being able to help more but it was simple, he had other shit to do. 2.19 Return Trip Naho, the 13th, 10,391 Amos returned a couple days later, his boat creaking into the quiet village, by then Six knew a bit more about the woman Kathy. The ineffable tension had subsided after a while and Six was no longer constantly reminded of the bounty that was this woman¡¯s heart. She sought him out each day to talk about their experiences. He had learned her story first. She had spawned here much the same as he did and was lucky to have spawned near Lhorn as she didn¡¯t have starting clothes, nearly dying from the cold. Just like Six she started with a single item, a half charged smartphone with no signal. It had since died but she had kept it safe since. Kathy found a job at the inn and had up to this point been trying to come to terms with her situation. Working and living much like a person from their old life. Something Six didn¡¯t understand, but everyone was different. Her story about how she came here was disturbing though. She detailed how everything was normal before an ¡®apocalypse¡¯ befell earth. There were days of earthquakes and storms and then blue boxes came. She described a system incredibly similar to the one they currently operated in but different in slight ways. Multiple classes from level 1 and more experience from crafting. There were probably more differences but she died shortly after the ¡°integration¡± as the system called the shitshow it placed them under. She had been a student in a political science program back home, living on campus. She held up in her university and saw the degradation of human society occur around her. Inevitably she was forced to join a faction of students, one that saw the previous authority of the faculty as null and void in favour of tribal democracy. Between the monsters and system trials and psychopaths she was surprised she lasted the few weeks she did. She died to something she described as a swarm of hybrid mosquito-cats. An insect the size and shape of a cat with bristly fur and clawed appendages. Once one latched onto her its proboscis stabbed deep and began to draw her blood. It slowed her down enough for more to get her. She died and awoke here. When Six heard her story, he was stunned silent. Earth had a system of its own now? The implications of dead earthlings continuing to show up here weighed on his mind. Was everyone being reincarnated here? How many other Amogs would he have to deal with? Even if he managed to get enough power to get back to earth, what kind of place would it be when he managed that? What happened to his friends and family during this ¡®apocalypse?¡¯ But her questions were endless and didn¡¯t allow him room to contemplate the new info. Not that it would really change his general goals or direction. Six told her of his origin, he judged his ignorance of earth¡¯s new system wouldn¡¯t be an exploitable weakness. Most of his time here he kept under wraps though. She didn¡¯t need to know his capabilities, he didn¡¯t trust her, and keeping them secret was simple good practice. She was nice enough to confirm her status as a threadling when Six asked so she most likely had a gift and the luck stat. Two things that could change much. Just because she was level 1 right now didn¡¯t mean she would be forever so he held much back about himself but got most of the plot across. She let some skeptical expressions slip through when he revealed he led a village but didn¡¯t call bullshit. She also loved Nibbler. Everyone loved Nibbler though. Amos arrived and Six just ended up paying for Kathy as it was easier than arguing with the man. On their trip back Amos told Six of the Bay of Catastrophe and the few other enterprising captains that were braving its waters. Tales of monsters in the water and ships losing their crews but already Amos had dredged some rare materials, turning a profit while avoiding destruction. Copperback planned to stop at Eridea for two nights on the way back and Six had no objection to that. A couple of extra days to the timeline meant little at this point. Poh Doh was alive and well so Six had no reason to assume the worst had happened. Six spent his time grinding on the boat, working on his sailing primarily but also spent time on his combat pursuits. Chainsaw and magic work dominated most of his practice. Aclo gained his attention one night on the boat, ¡°Six,¡± he began hesitating. His mouth trying to make words but stopping each time. ¡°What?¡± Six asked. Aclo pursed his lips and presented the cracked faceless white mask. ¡°This mask is broken, can you fix it?¡± Six shrugged and Aclo handed it over. Six took some time to attune to Kotagan¡¯s Encyclopedia of Esoterism before attempting. Then he examined the item. The shape and contours, the separation that the crack created and how severe it was. He admired the fine craftsmanship and polishing present in the item. - Moonstone Mask of the Bloodguard - Rank: Enhanced Rarity: Mythical Defense: 35 Weight: .6 KG Durability: 461/750 Traits: Protects the wearers face from damage. Increases user¡¯s dexterity by +12. User can perform active meditation to access Blood Records of previous users. User can expend 20% of health or 8 charges to cast the Fervor spell. Charges 16/28. (DAMAGED) Six examined the artifact. He wasn¡¯t an artificer, he was an enchanter. This kinda felt like a hardware problem while he was a software engineer. He inserted a blip of mana into the thing and felt his mana interact with the enchantments present in the item. While it was cracked and broken, the arcane ¡®circuit¡¯ still held a connection in many places, it just lacked all of the intended interactions. This needed to be repaired by a skilled artificer to be properly fixed¡­ but¡­ Six cleared his throat. ¡°I can''t fix it but I might be able to bridge some connections to give you a sense of what it might be like. The blood record ability anyways.¡± Aclo looked conflicted, but shrugged. ¡°If it is all I can experience for now, so be it.¡± Six smiled. ¡°Aight, lemme see. Hold on right here.¡± Six guided Aclo and began to gather mana but Aclo stopped him. ¡°Bark, Narhurin. Are you interested?¡± The assassin asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know if it will work with all of us,¡± Six warned. ¡°It might?¡± ¡°Yee¡± Aclo extended the offer again. ¡°Then are you two interested?¡± Narhurin stood immediately and nodded but Bark scoffed and rolled his eyes. ¡°Not for you, Bark?¡± Six asked. ¡°Uuuum. No. They are dead. What would I gain?¡± ¡°Direction,¡± Aclo said. ¡°Heritage,¡± Narhurin added. ¡°I have direction and I have no need for the other,¡± Bark said, plucking a playful riff on his lute. ¡°No problem,¡± Six said, moving on before Aclo¡¯s glower could get any worse. ¡°Alright boys, grab the mask and relax your miiiind.¡± Aclo and Narhurin grabbed the mask and Six could see them close their eyes and relax. He then began to radiate his mana into the mask. Searching for the broken connections in the energies dormant in the mask Six sewed them together with his transient mana. Slowly the enchantments began to feel normal. Six desired a more precise way to sense the mana within the objects than a vague feeling but felt confident that he had bridged enough gaps. Then flexed the arcane lever that governed the Blood Records ability. Six nearly broke concentration as with the activation of the item, his world changed. The ground fell away, the world fell away, all that remained were the three individuals holding onto the mask and the black void that surrounded them. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°Do not let go,¡± murmured Six. ¡°Where are we?¡± hissed Aclo. A rich voice rose from the darkness around them. The alien words it uttered quickly redefined themselves within his own understanding, it spoke Imperial Zleenish. ¡°You are within my mind.¡± Six pondered that implication and then asked what came to mind first. ¡°Is that ok?¡± The voice replied in mirthless anger. ¡°Who are you to speak here, human?¡± ¡°Hhmm,¡± Six didn¡¯t know what to say. Aclo took the lead, ¡°He is our guide, he brought us here. The mask is damaged.¡± ¡°Oh? And why are you here?¡± Aclo looked between Six and Narhurin. ¡°To learn,¡± he stated. ¡°To know what it truly means to be tsunken Aelves¡± ¡°Tsunken Aelves?¡± The voice questioned, and from the darkness came the sounds of soft footsteps until a tall tsunken aelf stepped into view. His ashen grey skin was a shade lighter than either Aclo¡¯s or Narhurin¡¯s. No longer did his voice boom from all around, instead it flowed from him smooth, and deep. ¡°I.. I can only tell you what I know?¡± The noble aelf seemed to hesitate at his offer. ¡°But, what are you?¡± asked Narhurin. The man donned a bittersweet smile. ¡°I am but a collection of shattered memories. The last warrior who possessed this mask was a man named Yanzo. I am predominately his memories although¡­ there are other fragments that constitute me.¡± Six was intrigued. His enchanter knowledge informed him of the value and rarity of such an occurrence. This was an amalgamation of memories that were somehow coming together to form a singular personality and consciousness. Artificial minds were not easily created and if this mask''s quirk could be replicated, Six would be able to improve the overall capabilities of many more golems. Yanzo continued. ¡°I am not¡­ real. I am just a projection and an incomplete one at that. I could not presume to speak of what it truly means to be a ¡°tsunken aelf.¡¯ I lack too much.¡± He made a dismissive gesture. ¡°You are the last vestiges of our culture,¡± Aclo gritted. ¡°You have a duty to tell us what you know.¡± Yanzo sniffed. ¡°You tanned things are not of my culture.¡± Yanzo pointed at Narhurin. ¡°Some of us would have killed a half-breed like you, and yet, you wish to learn?¡± Narhurin nodded. He didn¡¯t even flinch at Yanzo¡¯s proclamation. ¡°Why?¡± The projection asked in a whisper. ¡°Human blood runs through your veins.¡± Narhurin rolled his eyes with a friendly smile. ¡°Hey. Some humans treat me poorly, some aelves treat me poorly. It''s all the same. My mother is tsunken and my father is human. She loved me while he hated me. Is that not enough?¡± Yanzo winced before he nodded. ¡°Just so.¡± ¡°We just want to know who we are,¡± murmured Aclo. His lips quivering. ¡°Then listen.¡± Yanzo spoke of what the aelves were thousands of years ago. He spoke of the cavern, of their homeland Ichur. The words of Yanzo filled the dark empty streets with people and a vibrant culture. A rich empire of multiple peoples and disciples. All unified under the blood mages. Their way of life was backed by the martial power of the hynk shock troops that were designed by the Ichurian blood mages to be stronger, faster, and more aggressive. Their people worshiped many god but Yanzo worshiped Byhomoto the god of justice, symbolized by a platinum dragon. He spoke of how humans grew like a virus, something to be purged like insects. At that Aclo and Narhurin spoke of the virtues of human society. Yanzo scoffed. ¡°What do you know. Do you wish to learn? Or do you want to argue with me?¡± So they quieted, they listened, they absorbed. Six couldn¡¯t maintain the link forever and warned them of his eventual lack of mana, he would have to cease maintaining the connections. Aclo and Nar bowed in respect before making their goodbyes. Yanzo seemed at peace and smiled at the two, giving them a grumpy old wave. ¡°I have more to impart. Please, attend at your earliest convenience.¡± Aclo bowed again. ¡°Yes, Master Yanzo.¡± Narhurin watched before realizing himself and jerking into a quick imitation of Aclo. ¡°Yes, Master Yanzo!¡± The Master gave a curt nod and Six let the connection end. He breathed deep, now realizing the amount of stress such continual channeling could really put on oneself. He looked about judging about a half hour to have passed, which was interesting because it felt like they were in the darkness for two hours or so. Six couldn¡¯t tell for certain but there was definitely an effect on one¡¯s perception of time while there. Skill increased: Meditation - Initiate - 18 They approached the bay of Eridea and Six stood at the fore of the ship taking in the sights of the fast approaching shore. On either side of the bay''s tips stood an imposing stone lighthouse, the pair providing a full range of observation of all ship traffic. The looming stone walls that surrounded the city, combined with its vast naval fleets, spoke to its significant development and entrenched status as power in the east of the sundered empire.. A ship broke off and much like last time they were interviewed by an Eridean captain, this one not evolved but still radiating confidence and power. They made it in without issue, with Amos paying a small toll. The waters inside the bay were highly regulated and there was an inland captain to guide Amos to the designated dock amongst all the other traffic. Six had never seen so many sailing ships all at once and he¡¯d worked at a few bougie marinas before. Not to mention the variety, from tiny cargo vessels to massive warships, there were ships of every kind to behold. Six wasn¡¯t a ship guy but it was still very cool to see. The density of the city was far more apparent on the inside as well with layers of parisian apartments and estates rising up towards the tops of the walls like the tiered seating of an amphitheater. The Dancing Racer carefully moored at a densely populated dock, Amos¡¯ crewmen lashing her down expertly. Six joined in with the simple task, trying to boost his sailing skill. They had no need for an inn as they could just sleep on the boat so Six grabbed Narhurin and Indigo for personal guards while he explored. Eridea was much larger than Olisrosa and there was no way to truly explore it all by the time they had to leave so instead Six elected to focus in on a few of his interests. Food, materials, and enchantments. The streets were populated with about half human, half everyone else, with far fewer slaves than Olisrosa, so overall very imperial. Six looked for the imperial colours of black and gold but found none. Yet there were town guards and order in the streets. Eridea must have already completed the consolidation of power and it looks to have weathered it well. Six and Narhurin sampled the street food of the city as Indigo guided them to the magical portion of the main bazaar of the city. They walked with skewers of prawn and octopus, roasted squash and tomatoes as Six passively inspected the various baubles he walked by. Most were weak magical items of the common variety. Unlicensed bush mages making natural enchantments, exactly what he had done. It seemed there was no system based creator signature and no legal burden to prove where your supply came from or went so it went to reason that a lot of bootleg enchanting happened. Six wondered about the climate behind guild licensure right now. It was easy to spot the other enchanters, an entire street of stalls set up right next to each other. Indigo went to pursue the alchemical section while Narhurin searched amongst the magical weapons on display, keeping Six in his sight. Six had to be careful about how he approached this, and the first step was gathering intel about the locals feelings about the imperial mages guild. He was never good at the whole chatting thing and he had neglected his charisma stat but he decided to just start talking shop and seeing if he could turn that in the direction of the guild. Sure enough his fellow enchanters didn¡¯t hesitate to sing the praises of the licensing process but they emphasized that they were relieved that they could experiment with less oversight from the guild now. No one cared about the guild in Zleen anymore, and the local chapter had left for the capital so there was no one to regulate anyway. Six then gauged who seemed most likely to share in knowledge. It''s not like he could just go from stall to stall, offering to trade knowledge but if he could make one good rune trade his stop here would be worth it. So Six, with a little bit of judgement and a lot of gut instinct, picked an eccentric human man. The man was named Rotilo and had black hair and lustrous pale skin. He wore fine dark green clothes and was bedazzled in a selection of rings and amulets. Six talked shop establishing himself as a wandering journeyman looking at the local work to see if he could see anything interesting. He bought a few knickknacks before making his offer. It took little convincing, Rotilo basically jumped at the opportunity for a new rune, criticizing the other practitioners as too secretive. Six gave Rotilo the choice between the Moderate Rune of Perpetual Resilience rune and the Moderate Rune of the Arriving Cloud Rotilo chose the Moderate Rune of the Arriving Cloud. It took a bit for Six to explain it properly, he had to roll his explanation around a bit before Rotilo got it. But got it he did and the elation was evident on the man¡¯s face. In exchange Rotilo had offered his most powerful, Moderate Rune of the Second Foundation of Growth. He recited the effects for Six, Physical Growth: The primary effect of the Rune of Growth is to stimulate physical growth and development. It can accelerate the growth of plants, crops, or even living beings, promoting health and vitality. Observation Advancement: Enchantments incorporating the Second Foundation of Growth could stimulate intellectual growth and observation, enhancing memory, and manipulating experience gain. Six learned the rune easily, only requiring a single demonstration from Rotilo, his Master skill rank and Unbound Comprehension coming into his quick uptake. Impressed, Rotilo then offered Six another trade. ¡°I have a collection of enchanted items for trade if you¡¯re interested. Some of my family heirloom things. Very esoteric things, not for the likes of the common man.¡± He motioned for his helper to take over and began to pack up his personal things, Six¡¯s attendance already decided apparently. Six wasn¡¯t getting any serial killer vibes from this guy so he decided to take him up on his offer and once his party regrouped Six followed Rotilo up to what was essentially an estate section of the city, to where the rich resided. There was an internal checkpoint where Rotilo showed a pass of some sort before being allowed entry and then it was like being in an entirely different city. Less traffic. Less people. Less stank. Every so often they encountered a misting fountain featuring a statue of what SIx could only assume was a water elemental. They entered Rotilo¡¯s estate, a large building with pastel ceramic tiles for both wall and roof. Guards stood out front, wearing well made leather armor and holding simple and vicious weapons. Inside a well dressed dwarf with the dark grey skin that marked him as the meteor variety took their coats and led them to a fancy room with high vaulted ceilings and various cabinets and bookshelves scattered about. The dwarf was a professional and completely polite but had an air about him. A certain solidity that made Six re-evaluate the dwarf a few times. Six hadn¡¯t analyzed anyone here yet, and he didn¡¯t need to sate his curiosity about the dwarf¡¯s capabilities. It''s not like he planned on robbing Rotilo. Best not chance the dwarf having something that could tell he was being analyzed. ¡°Six my friend, and you two as well I suppose,¡± Rotilo said, gesturing at Narhurin and Indigo. ¡°I have an extremely wide collection of rare curiosities. While most of my collection I would be willing to part with there are some things I simply cannot trade.¡± Six nodded. ¡°Not a problem, totally understand.¡± Rotilo then took Six through his entire collection. Item by Item, it was good training for Six¡¯s Inspect skill, which he did use. He didn¡¯t want to reveal the existence of Kotagan¡¯s Encyclopedia to this collector within his own estate, so he kept that hidden. Rotilo was nice but Six didn¡¯t trust him to take no for an answer if he demanded the tome. Overall the collection was quite interesting and Six figured he could make a perpetual golem in exchange for something. They were easily the most valuable commodity he could leverage. A simple wand, - Wand of Triplicate Mana Dart - Rank: Enhanced Rarity: Unusual Weight: 0.38 KG Durability: 120/120 Traits: Users can activate this wand at the cost of 8 charges to cast the Mana Dart Spell in triplicate. Creating three darts of force mana and launching them with great speed at a target. Charges 21/21. Cooldown 2s. Very neat. How does that work? SIx wanted to break it down to learn. There was also a talking halfing skull that spoke a dead language, Knowledge Gained: Knowledge: Ceremonial Hoglander (Mortal) It cackled and chattered relentlessly. ¡°ALL I WISH FOR IS PEACE FROM THIS ETERNAL TORMENT! END MY EXISTENCE N-¡± Pass on that. Many minor marvels were presented but what really caught Six¡¯s eye was something Rotilo didn¡¯t seem to understand the true value of. A staff of gnarled wood, it was more root ball and stem than finely crafted. Still the enchanting was most intriguing. - Flowering Staff of Profound Verdance - Rank: Enhanced Rarity: Rare Weight: 0.38 KG Durability: 235/235 Traits: Users can activate this staff at the cost of 1 charge to channel the Plant Growth Spell, affecting the growth of plants in the chosen area of effect. Charges 22/22. On first impression the item would seem useless for anything other than a party trick but after his experimental forays into the mask his examinations were more thorough now. There was something odd about this enchantment and on second inspection the strange feature revealed itself to him. Is capable of cycling and amplifying the Plant Growth spell at a return of 567%. If Six was right, his Plant Growth output would increase by over 5 times if channeled through the staff. ¡°This wand, Rotilo. I want this staff.¡± Rotilo looked surprised. ¡°Oh? Really? It''s kinda useless.¡± He held his hand out for the staff and Six passed it over. The man flicked it at a potted shrub and a little twig and flower bloomed out of it. Rotilo looked at Six and shrugged before handing it back. ¡°You sure?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Six gestured at the table. ¡°May I?¡± Rotilo waved dismissively. ¡°Go right ahead.¡± Six blasted his Plant Growth spell through the staff and the shrub lurched upwards as it grew by about a foot, fruiting in several places. That was only with a sliver of his mana. Rotilo looked at the leafing table in dumbstruck wonder. ¡°I see, I did not know it was capable of such an effect.¡± ¡°Well it is, you still ok to part with it?¡± Rotilo nodded, a small smile coming to his lips. ¡°I would want something of equal or greater value. Perhaps a major rune?¡± Six lifted an eyebrow. ¡°Oh? A major rune?¡± ¡°You are clearly very skilled with how quickly you picked up my rune, and your explanations were so complete it was impossible for me to not understand. I can see a master of the craft.¡± ¡°I¡¯m no master,¡± Six lied, and it was an easy one. ¡°But I have something else you might wish to consider. What do you think about golems?¡± Rotilo smiled. Six had him. 2.20 The Patriarch Naho, the 19th, 10,391 Six pulled with an easy rhythm. Back and forth lost in thought. He had learned much during the stops at Eridea and then at the brief stop at Olisrosa. Olisrosa had gotten bad. The church of Kynairos taking complete control of the city and locking it down with clerics and priests patrolling the city. The tsunken aelves hid in the hold of the Dancing Racer and the crew stayed aboard for the most part. The number of people had swelled still despite the lack of resources. A consequence of the system of rural security breaking down. And Six had heard rumors of worse occurring in the inner lands of the sundered empire. The more populated areas being demolished under the struggles of the various purported factions that popped up. Rumors that spoke of Juthe-Wei using the Zleenish garrison and the Imperial Mages Guild to march on the defiant cities of the heartlands. He replaced the town''s guard and garrison with the recalled bodyguards of the Yudinzo clan. They ruled and patrolled the city now. Six could see that as reasonable. The consolidation of power and the creation of a buffer of space was crucial to long term stability. Rumors talked of Juthe-Wei¡¯s exploits and companions. How he slew a coalition of local warlords single handedly. How he strategically timed the loss of the Imperial Legions in the deserts of Salazhar. How he killed the entire royal family himself. His companions were talked about in hushed whispers. Mercy Fallblack, a meteor dwarf of the Imperial Mages Guild. Mercy was said to have been Juthe-wei¡¯s tutor from birth and when asked Aclo had confirmed this. She was described with the slate grey complexion all her race had, with the enchanted robes of a senior mage. Zero the Shell, a metal man of gears. Gone mad without its master. Juthe-Wei had managed to befriend it and had it join his retinue. Capable of wielding a heretical divine magic, he stands at the side of the usurper. Char Talon, the Arkojian Vrill who works for the Dark Man. Him and Juthe-Wei were nemesis to each other growing up in the back alley battles of Zleen and it understreets. Cloaked in darkness he was the only one to truly be a brother in arms to him. Known for his use of deadly poisons he was one of the most dangerous members of the thieves guild. Now he served as an ambassador to his begrudging rival. Finally there was the mercenary Lobert. A giant of a man. Blonde hair cascaded down to his pecs and his blue eyes held a deep calmness to them. He wielded a bow of legendary power. He sold his skill to the highest bidder and was known for his loyalty to his contracts. An honorable man, yet capable of great evil if said contract dictated so. Juthe-Wei had enemies as well. Tyber Zaun of the Church of Kynairos roamed the inner lands wreaking havoc upon the traitors of the old empire and recruiting the faithful and pressing the unbelievers. Already he was said to have a growing nomadic horde of divine warriors cleansing the cities and the countryside it passed by. Then there was the Dark Man, leader of the Thieves Guild. Someone who demanded restitution from the chaos Juthe-Wei caused his organization. Thus the presence of Char Talon. Rumors of Grand General Marcus leading the legions back were clearly fake but there was consistent talk of the legion¡¯s return so some of them must have made it back from Salazhar. People talked about how the Hynyks would see weakness and attack the Empire. But Six had never even seen one or heard any rumors from Muldstan, about Hynyks there. Six had heard some rumors of Kynairos priests being ejected from the Kingdom of Harmony. Making their way from the west of the mountains and back into the western frontier of the empire. They spoke of the Orcish Herds of Muldstan going back to their old ways. Rejecting the tutelage of the Empire. Shouldn¡¯t affect Six at all but it was neat. There were also rumors of strange people of strange races, speaking strange languages. Wielding strange powers. Doing amazing things. Committing terrible acts. One of them almost certainly already had or brought guns here. Six knew they were talking of people like Kathy, like Amog. Like himself. His people were beginning to be noticed. Threadlings were becoming known. He had improved some of his skills slightly over the return trip and its stops and reviewed those gains. Skill increased: Inspect - Initiate - 11 Masonry - Initiate - 17 Carpentry - Initiate - 15 Sailing - Initiate - 12 Diametric Magic - Initiate - 9 Force Magic - Initiate - 8 Chainsaw - Initiate - 9 It was alright growth, he had tried to push his skills that were close to evolution but neither Athletics or meditation improved. He couldn¡¯t really push himself completely with the landheart shard embedded in his chest. Meditation brought him to center and well, it had been a pretty relaxing boat ride back. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. A large part of himself considered the skill points he had available but he felt it irresponsible to spend them on such low level skills, so he didn''t. He pondered what weak spots to shore up next. He had a wide range of capabilities but none of them were particularly powerful save for his stone spells. He needed more power. Simple power. He needed a nastier saw. His Musings were broke by Amos calling down to him. ¡°Six, come stand near the prow. We are close to the lake mouth. Six smiled at that announcement. He was almost home. i can See it fine from here, Yah but yah people can''t see you Six gave him a look but sighed and switched out on the oars. ¡°Yer right Amos.¡± The Captain grinned and Six could see the gleam of a fresh gold tooth. ¡°I know you know I''m right. They should see a heron, not a bloody mudfish.¡± Six chuckled. ¡° If I have to be a mudfish, so be it. I don''t see myself below any job.¡± ¡°People need more than that, my boy.¡± Six nodded. He didn''t need face. Six had spent years trying to suppress the need for his ego to flex and had found a singular confidence associated with removing the need for societal approval. As a leader, fostering that behaviour in general would create a society of unapologetic deviants. Socially speaking. Shame and face culture was a powerful tool of societal manipulation. Six was becoming a leader and might have to rely on the lever of someone''s social position. To do, he must continue to craft his own. Six stepped up on the prow of the ship and adopted his best pose, Looking forward as they approached the mouth of the lake. He dropped a Luminous Beacon to follow himself and a ley Beacon with his heraldry. A six sided die with all faces showing six bloomed across the sky. He was back. ¡°What are you doing,¡± Kathy asked, scuttling up behind him. ¡°Flexing for the peasants.¡± Six answered. They spoke in English. ¡°That seems immoral considering your level of education.¡± Six didn¡¯t reply immediately, he finished peacocking for the villagers watching from the shore and boats before he addressed her. ¡°Kathy, you could have stayed in Eridea or Olisrosa. You chose to accompany me here. Why?¡± ¡°I thought you were building something for me here.¡± ¡°That means what?¡± ¡°A fair society. A place like home. I dunno heh, democracy?¡± ¡°You were a police science major yea? You don''t really believe those things were back home eh? Democracy?¡± ¡°You don''t believe in democracy?¡± ¡°I believe that it was subverted and corrupted, and I don¡¯t want that to happen to my work.¡± ¡°You believe these people''s right to self determination is superseded by your guidance?¡± ¡°I believe in democracy in theory, but I''ve lived through it being used as a bludgeon.¡± ¡°Your trauma doesn''t excuse shitty behaviour. A bludgeon? How exactly did you become the lord of this place?¡° ¡°I took it from a bandit that conquered it, he''d murdered the founder. No one has taken it from me yet and no one seems to care. They like what I can provide.¡± ¡°You should still know better,¡± ¡°Know better? The nepotistic dynasties that controlled who was allowed to participate in two party elections killed democracy. The red tape killed democracy. Rotting stagnant education killed democracy. Corporate and old money killed democracy. Democracy was rarely in the hands of the people.¡± ¡°We can build something better!¡± Six shrugged. ¡°I am.¡± ¡°You are not everyone.¡± ¡°Neither is democracy. It is simply 51%... You know that these people are still uneducated and hardly intellectually capable of participating in democratic vote.¡± ¡°Who''s fault is that?¡± Six lifted an eyebrow. ¡°Not fucking mine!?¡± He smiled and waved at the growing crowd gathering at the makeshift docks that had sprouted up. Six continued. ¡±This is a feudal society and based on the town interface, democracy might not be even possible. Now, if you''ll excuse me, I have work to do.¡± Ignoring the continued protests of Kathy he jumped down from the deck onto the dock, landing with a heavy clank and eliciting a foreboding crack from the timbers before he waded into the crowd. He had priorities and he needed to get to work. Six began to scan and take in the area seeing a level of development he hadn¡¯t expected to occur in the months time he was away. Seven more longhouses had been constructed and effectively doubled their housing. A saw mill and a granary. The mine had been established but Six doubted anything had come from that yet. Another whole section had been fenced off near the water''s edge, several forges had popped up and he wondered if that was Gatbark¡¯s doing. A familiar voice reached his ears over the crowd. ¡°Make way,¡± Charles called and the crowd parted as if his words were a sword. ¡°Yo. Bro.¡± Six waved, and approached his second in command. They shook hands and Six gave the lad a manly nod of approval. ¡°Thanks for taking care of things while I was gone, Charles.¡± Charles beamed a warm smile back. ¡°Sir, it is good to see you. There is much to inform you of.¡± ¡°Is any of it of immediate critical defensive or military importance?¡± ¡°Well no, sir.¡± ¡°Well I¡¯m sorry Charles but I have one thing to do, then I can meet you and the officers at the town hall for an official debrief. Is that ok?¡± Charles looked mystified but nodded and parted ways with Six, allowing the human to make his way to the first building he built for the village. It was a smithy. Quaint and simple but made of stone transmuted from earth, accented and stabilized with plants grown with magic. He neared the door and heard the sounds of clanging. She was working. He knocked and heard the sounds of hammering cease. The door swung open to reveal a tiny woman standing before him. Her leather apron was stained black with the soot of the forge fires and hammers hung off her work belt. She was half aelf, her pointed ears and desaturated skin, pointing to her mixed heritage. She looked at him with a tense irritated glare before it broke into surprised excitement, that immediately sunk right back to the irritated glare. ¡°Six, you have returned.¡± Ravna noted evenly. ¡°I¡¯m here,¡± he said with a guilty smile. She stared at him. ¡°Came here first thing.¡± She stared at him. ¡°I sent a letter!¡± She sighed and nodded. ¡°Was it worth it?¡± Six nodded. ¡°Yes, progression on all fronts. Money, levels, knowledge, materials.¡± ¡°And the red shard sticking out of your chest?¡± ¡°Yeah, that is just a thing. I¡¯ve had it for days now.¡± ¡°Just a thing? It''s not ¡®just a thing.¡¯¡± ¡°It¡¯s just a thing!¡± ¡°Then why is it still there! You should get that looked at by a healer!¡± ¡°Babe! I am a healer!¡± She looked at him, unimpressed. Six sighed. ¡°I¡¯m sorry for the way it went.¡± ¡°I need you hale and healthy Six.¡± He waved it away joking with bravado. ¡°Bah, if I die you can just get a new one.¡± She smiled at his foolishness. ¡°I can get a new lover, yes. But I can¡¯t replace our child¡¯s father.¡± Six choked. He caught his breath. ¡°What?¡± 2.21 Priorities Six sat across from Irduth in one of the red wood meeting rooms of the town hall. The brown robed, half-orc wore his red sash and clutched his massive tome. They had just finished the debrief with the rest of the officers and Charles and he¡¯d sent them on their way. Everyone except Irduth. ¡°Irduth,¡± Six began. ¡°I find your performance lacking.¡± Irduth sat up, bringing himself to his full height. ¡°Is that so, Six?¡± ¡°Mhhhm. Yes, you executed a surrendering hostile with no pressing need to. You postured with our healer to do so. You¡¯re kinda a dick.¡± The half-orc scoffed. ¡°You are a dick as well and you didn¡¯t stop me. Six face palmed. ¡°Bro, I shouldn¡¯t have had to.¡± ¡°Imperial Regulations state-¡± ¡°Fuck your Imperial Regulations, for the last fucking time.¡± ¡°Then what was I supposed to operate off of? If the Imperial Regulations are not the standard what is?¡± ¡°That¡¯s actually fair and the only reason as to why I''m only restricting your assignments. Despite everyone else not killing that fucking thing, you went out of your way, overcame Kali Kik, and killed a low leveled surrendering creature.¡± ¡°You¡¯re restricting my assignments?¡± It''s like Irduth wasn¡¯t even listening. Six rested his hand on his own chest. ¡°Although it is my fault for not training you properly, you still are not trained properly. It may seem self-evident but it bears noting. Charles will be your direct commander and as I mold him to my standards he shall mold you.¡± ¡°I will not be told what to do by a painted boy! Save me Kynairos, I resign!¡± Irduth dropped that almost involuntarily, slapping the table. Six capitalized on Irduth¡¯s outburst. ¡°Accepted. Done. You are discharged from the military. You may leave.¡± Irduth looked conflicted and confused but slowly stood. ¡°Do I have to leave Mountain¡¯s End?¡± Six shrugged. ¡°Nah, that''s cool. Just don¡¯t be a shitlord or yer done.¡± Irduth nodded and left the office, dazed. Six leaned back in his creaking chair. He now was to meet with Charles and Leoka. Ravna was pregnant. Six was going to be a father. He wasn¡¯t sure if he was ready but he was damn sure gonna try his best. It was an all consuming thought that presented itself whenever he had a chance to breathe. He was excited, but also scared. This was not the ideal place to raise a baby. He felt an additional pressure, a familiar feeling, familial obligation. A big part of him just wanted to skip out on his leadership duties and make a proper house for Ravna but they had a few months before she really needed anything special. Providing for his coming family could wait. It was the village that needed more of everything and Six wanted to get moving on the fundamental infrastructure that everything else would be linked to. But really, what was Mountain End? What kind of community did he want to evolve this place into? The Emperor Tree helped with growth so should he try to stack that? Rush out a bunch of schools and the like? He had his affinity searching program and the 5% administration and scholar townhall bonus which also kinda stacked with growth. His pondering was interrupted by Charles and Leoka entering the room. Six analyzed them both. Charles Penult Orc Level 10 Leoka Root Human Level 8 Not bad. Leoka had only leveled once but Charles had shot up to level 10. Six smiled at them both, it was good to see your team on the come up. Six gestured for the two to sit. ¡°So, you heard my story out there in the north. What happened while I was gone?¡± The two leaders looked between each other before Leoka gestured for Charles to begin. Charles coughed and tried to meet Six¡¯s eyes with furrowed brows. ¡°It''s been over a month, Six. A lot has happened.¡± That felt vaguely accusatory but Six kept his stare neutral. ¡°Yea, it''s been a while. You good?¡± Charles sighed. ¡°Yes,I¡¯m ¡®good,¡¯ thank you. After those people you recruited came back with Gatbark and the food, a flood of migrant peasantry followed behind. We decided to turn most of them away but they have taken to camping outside the palisade. Some try to sneak in but are quickly found out. Their movements keep drawing bandits and monsters to our village. Inevitably we must march forth during these attacks to protect them. The bandits we pacify are given 5 years of prison with credit for service, thus the criminal auxiliaries are growing but our town defenses and food supplies are being stressed. The extra help from the soldiers has been instrumental in preventing our village guard from being ground to dust.¡± Six grunted his approval, tapping his steepled fingers. ¡°Poh Doh has proven instrumental in the defense of the people and the trespassers. He has become somewhat of a comforting sight for most. Thank you for lending me his help during your absence, another vital point of defense. Poh Doh was also a good deterrent for the angry mobs that demanded entry to Mountain¡¯s End.¡± ¡°Angry mobs?¡± Six asked? ¡°The migrants wish to be let in. They do not wish to live outside the palisade and twice now have attempted to force the gates.¡± ¡°How did you stop them?¡± ¡°Sent Poh Doh to travel beneath the earth and hit their leaders with a surprise attack. They were unprepared and died easily.¡± ¡°You killed them?¡± ¡°They tried to force the gates?¡± Charles replied as if was unsure of its validity. ¡°You disapprove?¡± ¡°I-¡± Six began before he stopped himself, he wasn¡¯t sure what to think. ¡°Would it have been possible to capture them?¡± Charles considered. ¡°Well, I suppose but the purpose was to stop the mob, not kill their leaders. I wanted to demonstrate force?¡± ¡°You learn all that at the academy?¡± Charles nodded. ¡°And you have not cleared them from our land?¡± ¡°It didn¡¯t seem like something you would do. I had those with clear culpability eliminated, that was enough.¡± A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. ¡°Thank you Charles. Good job.¡± Charles had performed perfectly and Six was relieved to hear of him handling the daily problems of defense in a competent manner. ¡°Is that all?¡± ¡°Yes sir.¡± Charles nodded and stood at attention.¡± ¡°Hmmm¡­ You¡¯re level 10 now¡­ You pick your class?¡± A smile crossed over Charles face. ¡°I¡¯m a Khan of the Dancing Ritual.¡± ¡°Ritual? Are you a caster type? I barely taught you those spells right before I left. How¡¯d you pull this off?¡± Charles beamed. ¡°It''s a commander enchanter type class. My perks are so cool!¡± Six and Charles went back and forth for a bit about Charles'' class. Many of the perks he had available helped his War Leader skill but many also scaled off his Enchantment skill. They mostly worked to enhance the effects of the skills over a long range. He was going to be a very powerful support asset in large scale conflicts. An amazing class of the Transcendent rank, Khan of the Dancing Ritual was top tier but not as good as Six¡¯s Predominant Golemclad Runechanter. That being said, Time Blade or Warrior. It didn¡¯t matter if one was possessed of enough will and skill. Leoka tapped the table and brought the pair¡¯s attention back to the work at hand. ¡°What should we do about those outside the walls?¡± ¡°Should we not try to help them?¡± Six asked. ¡°Is it not the right thing to do?¡± Leoka shook her head, no. ¡°We owe them nothing. Most of them are not¡­ good. And, we need your help more.¡± Six snorted derisively. ¡°What does that even mean? Were the people of Alita village not deserving of help?¡± ¡°It means that you have a responsibility to us.¡± Leoka delivered evenly. ¡°the people of Alita were running from a monster. These people could have stayed where they were.¡± ¡°Indeed, but Olisrosa is a shit place right now. Can''t blame em for leaving that anymore than Alison''s half of the settlers. It is not so simple as to only be responsible for one''s tribe. We are part of an ecosystem. ¡± Charles shook his head, no. ¡°It belongs to the people already under it, do not endanger us by helping more than we can.¡± ¡°Nah. It belongs to no one, it''s something I grant. But, you are right Charles, it would be inappropriate to allow them to overcrowd and over-tax us without proper services to scale with it.¡± Leoka sighed. ¡°We''re already pressed. Constantly on the brink of beginning to ration. Always sleeping like potatoes dumped in a box. We can''t let more people in. We can''t feed them, house them, clothe them, train them.¡± ¡°Why are they here?¡± Six asked?¡± ¡°They think they can work for food! They heard about your job offers and came up the Kynairos blasted river!¡± Leoka snapped, this was clearly a sore spot for her. Six hadn¡¯t even completed the hiring process, it had been Gatbark and from the looks of the population increase it he had filled the boats of Elyria and Jeffums to the brim. Leoka sighed in hopelessness. ¡°Most of them know there is no work for them but still request food. They are begging. Our village has a horde of beggars.¡± Six tapped his steepled fingers together. ¡°Hmm. This is a problem.¡± ¡°Yes! And Gatbark keeps bringing them in!¡± ¡°Gatbark?¡± ¡°Yes!¡± ¡°Why¡¯s he doing that?¡± Six knew why the grubby bastard was bringing in more people from the outside. More hands to put to work.¡± Leoka groaned. ¡°I don¡¯t know but he won''t listen to me when I tell him to stop.¡± Of course he wouldn¡¯t listen to Leoka. ¡°Hmmm. I''ll talk to him. What''s the food situation?¡± ¡°We are fine, but there¡¯s almost our entire population out there. We can''t afford to feed ourselves and them, our timeline would halve. I can put a lot of them to work but feeding them all is gonna be a problem.¡± ¡°Were we not due for a harvest?¡± Six asked. Leoka nodded. ¡°And it was a good one, already the farms have the next sowing done but they say it will take longer as the buff has expired. It''s been gone for nearly two weeks now.¡± That''s unfortunate. I wasn¡¯t paying attention to that. Charles, you didn¡¯t reapply them?¡± Six had spent some time teaching Charles his earth magic spells, Plant Growth being one of them. ¡°I¡¯ve been extremely busy. The bandits grow worse and more powerful and our scouts say Olisrosa takes more and more land back from the countryside. This is something we should be doing but I do not have time to clear these lands and continue to administrate the military. Nor do I have time to go and channel the Plant Growth spell in the middle of nowhere.¡± ¡°You have no one to clear these lands?¡± ¡°You and those officers represent a significant portion of our strength and I wanted to wait before committing us to any significant offensive. There is no reason to rush in this matter as I doubt Olisrosa will seek to claim the Deathspire forest in any meaningful sense.¡± Six considered Charles¡¯ assessment, tapping his steepled fingers. ¡°That''s fair.¡± They sat in silence for a bit until Leoka broke it, blurting out, ¡°your abrupt trip was not the most well thought out.¡± She flinched but nothing happened. Six agreed with her. He hadn¡¯t thought it out that well. He kinda just did it. Now was the time to plan something well thought out for the immediate and far future of Mountain¡¯s End. There were his current quests which were both somewhat village based, Orison Density I Increase permanent sentient density to 10000 residents who call Deathspire mountain their home. Sentient residents 3101/10000 Rewards for Completion: Level up of the Deathspire Mountain Ley Core And Remove the Trolls The leadership of the settlers have determined that the trolls in the immediate area pose a threat. Remove the threat that the trolls pose. Rewards for Accepting: None Rewards for Completion: Voluntary Spiritual Energy Relationship Fame Clout Time Limit: None Penalty for Failure: Loss of relationship with the settlers Do you Accept? Yes or No? The trolls were high priority but when questioned Charles had received no reports of them since Six had last tussled with them. Still, they were out there. Six had the infrastructure projects to personally work on but couldn¡¯t ignore the massive pool of untapped people that could be put to work if he could feed and protect them. There was already an imperial coin based economy brewing within Mountain¡¯s End without any civic prodding. Alison had set it up to have the people she brought along paid, roomed, and fed. Six had tried to organize it the same way. Now these people from Olisrosa had shown up and camped outside their palisade. Willing to work for nothing but food. Begging for food. The collapse of the empire had created ripples of destabilization that would be felt for decades to come. Six needed to devise a way to guide his people through that catastrophic surf. He was no genius and he couldn¡¯t hold it all in his head. He kinda wished he invested some points into intelligence. But as the frustration built he observed it and stopped himself. He could only do his best, getting caught up in negative thoughts wouldn¡¯t help anyone. Skill increase: Mindfulness - Initiate - 17 He needed to break it down to its most base. If he wasn¡¯t gonna drive these migrants from the walls he needed to integrate them and furthermore create a system of integration and assimilation that could easily scale to whatever population Mountain¡¯s End grows to. Of course he knew that systems of governance and administration couldn¡¯t just be copy and pasted but the central design intention was more important at this point. To integrate them he needed to give them a reason to want to assimilate into his ¡®tribe¡¯. He was ok with certain forms of control but would rather have his society collapse than prosecute thought crime or practice mind control or whatever. The easiest and most ethical form of control would be the carrot. Provide a simple and safe life compared to the alternative. A shudder rippled through him. How easy he fell to the power grab. He¡¯d known he would be like this¡­ controlling. His feelings on the matter were irrelevant. He had a responsibility. Increasing the food supply was the utmost critical task. They needed to be completely self-sufficient. He asked Leoka to gather all the tested enchanters with a high earth magic affinity and have them meet him out by the first of the farms tomorrow morning. Plant Growth was a powerful spell in many aspects, the most powerful being that almost anyone could perform the channeling version of it. Six just needed to train a few Geomancers in the spell and he could delegate the buffing duties to someone else. Really, he should create a magical academy or some shit like that. He already had his enchanters. Expanding the disciplines even to a minor extent could only pay dividends. But one thing at a time. He checked the village screen. Mountain¡¯s End Rank 1 Village Current Citizens: 721 Current Gross Wealth: 10363 Gold Policy: Minor Monarchy Morale: Low Crime: Moderate Hygiene: Deficient Education: Minor Magical Structures: 23 The population inside the village had risen by a few hundred. A result of his recruitment and Gatbark¡¯s continued efforts, most likely. They brought in a ton of money while he was gone somehow. Or was that because of the arrival of the officers and himself with their loot? ¡°Crime is on the rise,¡± Six said it as half a question, half a statement. Charles nodded. ¡°No laws but crime is on the rise, yeah that''s about right.¡± Six grunted. ¡°Ok. That¡¯s a problem.¡± Leoka snickered. Six rolled his eyes. ¡°Hygiene is down. Thats a fucking problem too. It''s starting to stink.¡± ¡°That''s normal,¡± Leoka said. ¡°Just gotta watch out for the doctors.¡± ¡°Doctors?¡± ¡°Plague doctors,¡± she said, as if Six was an idiot. Charles smiled gracefully and explained. ¡°There is an order of doctors that roam the land purging cities on the brink of plague. We should work to avoid such a fate. The plague we spawned would be hell enough before the doctors arrived.¡± Six grunted. Education was now Minor Magical. He wondered about that classification and received a pop up box. Minor Magical: Focusing on the creation of magically inclined individuals this location places importance on the nurturing of those with an affinity for magic. Providing resources and tutelage for those lucky few. Hmm. Well, maybe he should try to diversify his education system a bit. Calling it a ¡®system¡¯ was a bit of a stretch really. Morale was still Low which was obviously bad. Looking at this screen showed him things were getting worse. They weren¡¯t keeping up with the demands of a budding civilization. He was failing them and as much as he tried to stomp down on his ego, it still irked him that he wasn¡¯t doing his job well enough. He felt the impulse to immediately get to work but he spent over an hour hashing out various gameplans for himself, Charles, and Leoka to put into action. He needed to delegate. He had a general to-do list but he couldn¡¯t just focus on one aspect of it, he had to build them up concurrently beside each other. All with a view for the future growth of Mountain¡¯s End in mind. FOOD: Train more enchanters in Plant Growth and the Minor Rune of the First Foundation of Growth. Establish more farms. INFRASTRUCTURE: Many civic services were missing He couldn¡¯t develop them all simultaneously. He needed to pick the first project to focus on and he decided on a sewer system. Hygiene was dropping, he could deal with disgruntled people but not sick people. So he would install a system of respiration, in with materials, out with waste. HYGIENE: The outflow of waste is not enough for cleanliness but he needed to also establish education, health, and garbage services. He¡¯d already begun to see food waste and animal shit strewn about. HOUSING: He needed to get people into shelter. CLEAR LANDS AND ESTABLISH SECURITY: Establish the true borders of Mountain¡¯s End and establish who our neighbors are and our geolocational and political position to them respectively. Something to collaborate with Charles with. CRIME: Investigate the reason for the rise in crime and create counter measures. TROLLS: Kill those fucking trolls. Charles and Leoka had similar lists but for their own respective areas of administration and all three were happy to end the meeting and get back to their ever increasing duties. Six wanted to go spend some time with Ravna before he immersed himself in work but pushed that desire away. He had a shit ton of ley workers to conjure up. 2.22 Potatoes Naho, the 20th, 10,391 Six spent the last bit of yesterday checking up on various things. The hunters, townguard, and conscripts had both grown in number and levels. The soldiers were already being tested by Keegan and Narhurin. Charles had created a fine organization but he lacked the sheer martial skill of the older soldiers. The prisoners were rowdy until they saw he had returned. They threw jeers at the opening door and those calls ended the moment they knew it was him.The newer arrivals attempted to holler Six down but those who came from Amog shut them down quickly enough. The prisoners had grown in number but the K¡¯gan complex apartments were nowhere near full. There seemed to be various factions at play within the prison but Six had no interest in their petty politics. His enchanters worked in the same complex and he checked on them next. They had all gained around 10 skill levels in the month he was gone. Yes, they were the early levels, the easiest to gain, but they had gained them in two thirds the time it took on average. The bonuses from the townhall and emperor tree were paying great dividends already. His enchantment coven consumed a voracious amount of mana cores, almost all that the hunters brought in. That resource expenditure represented a large portion of their settlement''s wealth but SIx was willing to make the investment for the future. For the most promising of enchanters he actually increased their allowance of cores. Biggo in particular netted 13 levels in Enchantment bringing him to level 15, in just over a month. Affinity testing revealed a 93% enchantment affinity, he had the talent for it. Six slowed their allowance, he planned to spend a few days creating golems and he needed to stockpile some resources for himself. He had gained some higher quality mana cores during his adventure but he needed mundane cores for what he had planned. Finally Six checked up on his woodbugs. Ravna had kept them safe for him, Six noticed some fresh Reach Leaves for his little buddies and the jar looked nice and damp. The woodbugs no longer all looked exactly normal, they had fed on the branches of the blood tree, the berries of the empress bush, the shavings of rare metals he had added. He could see the colours reflected in the tiny shells of the little creatures. ¡°Cool.¡± Six added more things to the microcosm. He placed a couple shards of the Land Heart then deposited some piles of dust around. He tossed in some of the glowing moss and vines he took from the Tsunken Aelf Cavern, wondering what that would do to the little buggers. He did this all while conjuring ley workers and sending them to Franklin¡¯s works yard. That was yesterday, today he needed to train as many ¡®druids¡¯ as he could. Leoka had wrangled all the people with at least a 50% affinity in earth magic to this demonstration, nine in total, excluding Charles. Out of just over 700 people, nine was a very small percentage. Six wasn¡¯t too sure on the math but he knew it was tiny. That meant that these people were rare resources. He needed to encourage them, get them to level and keep them safe while they did so. Six demonstrated Plant Growth to the gathered students. First he used it directly, forcing growth and explaining the steps of the spell. Gathering mana, changing its resonance, and the general shape and function of the spell form within his mind. The somatic movements, the verbal components. All of these things he explained. Most of his students picked it up easily enough and at a certain threshold the system solidified their understanding of his teachings. Six then went on to demonstrate the buffing portion of the spell. How to channel it into the earth, infusing it with verdant energies. He sent out the ones who learned the spell to begin the infusions while he remained and worked with the people who were taking more time to learn the spell. He wanted to ensure that everyone who could learn the spell did, even if a geomancer didn¡¯t want to learn combat spells the food and living timber Plant Growth could provide was too important to pass up. It took all day but by the end of the day, they all knew it. He sent them out to buff the farms, once that was done, they were assigned by Leoka to whatever needed growing, be it timber for Franklin or food for the citizens. This would get him off the huge time sink of buffing the land and essentially double their food production. Six had a sneaking suspicion this wouldn¡¯t be enough and more plans were percolating within the back of his head. The next day led to his next project. A sewer system. Six spent some time thinking about it and most of last night consulting the village leaders. He wasn¡¯t an engineer of any kind, He had heard that the modern sewers were pressurised or something, to promote flow. Well, he wasn¡¯t a ticketed gas fitter so his sewers would just be massive pipes underground. He wasn¡¯t sure on most of it but his confidence stemmed from one central design idea. Shit flows downhill. That meant he needed to know the lowest point of the glade because once the glade was fully developed it would be the lowest point in the city''s sewer system. Unless they started building underground. But Six couldn¡¯t plan for such things beyond making the sewer system as low as he could go and ensuring the grade of the slope was perfect. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. There were many small lakes and ponds within the glade and those represented dead spots. Spots where the water would not reach the river. He had to be careful to not create such things himself. Planning was just as important as the execution. He spent the entire day scouting with Gatbark, Franklin, and a few guards, discussing the future expansion of Mountain¡¯s End, specifically the housing and farmland situation. There was more land in the glade to turn to farmland but it was not endless and it was needed for other things. But over the course of their scouting trip the three of them planned where the main sewer lines needed to expand to and in what order. How this project would interface with the future of Mountain¡¯s End. Franklin pointed out the technical problems and prohibitive aspects of Six¡¯s vision. Gatbark agreed with Franklin and added little, his experience as a siege engineer confirming her practical construction knowledge. He instead constantly reminded Six of the need for immediate service to sections of industrial land. Like a filthy lobbist. Still, the economy needed to be considered and Six agreed with him from an environmentalist point of view. The industrial byproducts needed to be processed. Six couldn¡¯t get mad at the people for strewing their waste about though. He had not brought in any laws against it. Any laws really, he needed a scribe to follow him around and take down his random decrees or something. By the end of the day they had a working plan for Six¡¯s grand sewer and tomorrow they would begin. This was something that everything else would be built off of and for now the people of his village had adequate food, clothing, and housing. He needed to focus on the secondary aspects of their life. Six did not expect to be stopped on his way back into his own village. Hordes of migrants had set up tents and simple deadfall structures around both gates of the palisade. There were many people and they watched as Six, Franklin, Gatbark, and their three guards walked through. Six could see a vrill surrounded by young clutchlings, staring despondently at him. Six felt a pang in his heart but worked to steel his face. Weakness shown is weakness felt, is what his old buddy Edgar used to say. They made it halfway through the shanty town before a large group of hardened travellers stepped in front of their path. They held weapons and tools but bore them passively. The well muscled human had a shortsword at their belt and stood at the group¡¯s fore. He gave a curt nod and a stilted smile. He held his hands out in a disarming gesture. ¡°Hello, Milord. I was told you were the lord. My friends and I wish a word with you.¡± The guard¡¯s drew swords and moved to stand before Six but he held them back with a raised arm. ¡°Does now work?¡± Six asked, using his Analyze skill upon the gathered discontents. Jregory Human Level 1 Yonk Orc Level 0 Izxyr Vrill Level 1 They were weak. Skilled workers perhaps, but their level was too low for a direct conflict to go their way. They probably know that, it spoke to a level of desperation The man looked surprised for a moment, as if he didn¡¯t expect to get that word but he recovered. ¡°Yes.¡± Six gestured for him to continue. ¡°Milord, we are angry and feel lied to.We were promised jobs. We were promised food,¡± the man grumbled. ¡°Speak up, I can barely hear you.¡± The man narrowed his eyes in venom and his for a moment between hunched shoulders but quickly straightened and spoke for all to hear, repeating his words. ¡°Who made these promises?¡± ¡°That dwarf who stands by your side.¡± Six glanced at Gatbark who didn¡¯t deny the claim. The dwarf shrugged. That was kinda fucked up. ¡°He will be punished for fraud,¡± Six said. ¡°Give us time, I plan to make good on his claims.¡± ¡°His punishment is not important. We are starving. We have no time.¡± The man sounded desperate. The gathering crowd, leaning in and humming in agreement at his words. Six sighed. He didn¡¯t want to fight these people. He was in no way worried about his chances for survival but all they wanted was food and most of them were lured here by Gatbark. He would spend some time growing food personally and Jebbedo might be pulling a few extra shifts but it''s not like he couldn¡¯t find new cooks to train. ¡°I¡¯ll send something out soon.¡± The man shook his head. ¡°Not good enough, you need to call something out now. We know you got it, please milord.¡± he rested his hand on the pommel of his sword and the people behind him gripped their tools. Six cocked his head and narrowed his eyes. ¡°Or what?¡± There was a pause as Six waited. The man deflated, his hand falling from his weapon. ¡°Or we¡¯ll starve.¡± Six nodded. ¡°Aight. He pointed to a guard. ¡°Go get me a fresh potato, bring it back immediately but get someone to tell Jebbedo to get out here with whatever he needs to make potatoes for 700 people.¡± The guard looked confused before Six told her to hurry, then she rushed off. Six took the time to stare around at the expectant faces around. They were hungry, and Six walked right by them all on his way out. He was so preoccupied with his project that it was effortless to ignore these people. Until they forced him to pay attention. He felt a weird sort of guilt but quickly stamped it out. They weren¡¯t his problem. He couldn¡¯t save the world and these people would be ok¡­ eventually. They were just part of the village¡¯s growing pains. The guard returned holding a potato and Six took the vegetable, it was still fresh, it could be planted and Six could see one of its eyes beginning to bud. Six placed the potato on the ground and pulled the Flowering Staff of Profound Verdance from his ring. The crowd oohed and ahhed as he manifested the gnarled staff from nothing. He held the staff out and felt its strange power at his command. He twirled it somewhat simply and performed some meaningless dance steps. He put on a small show. He ended it by casting Plant Growth through the artifact. The effects were tremendous. He knew his Elemental Magic affinity was high but as Plant Growth was a earth based spell it was subject to the affinity boost from his Ley Core. It provided an additional 100% to his overall earth affinity. Then the Primordial Blood Tree provided the Blood and Soil buff which also increased his earth affinity by double his level. Adding another 28% to his earth affinity. This increased the efficacy of his earth based spells by an estimated 198% to 228%, just about double. The staff then pentupled that output leading to an overall increase of about 10 times. The result was a staggering explosion of growth. The potato shot out roots and speared the ground, spider webbing out in a mycelium like pattern, pinkish white roots lining the ground in preparation of the thick green leaves that sprouted up behind them. The compacted earth path beneath them bubbling up and tilling itself as potatoes upon potatoes continued to grow upward before their very eyes. Six emptied his personal mana pool and the ley node mana pool before fueling the growth with bloodcasting, his blood seeping from his skin and burning away to power the magic. But there was more. Six wished to experiment and pulled upon the lifewell of his Primordial Blood Tree finishing the spell with the last gasps of mana from every source he had. He felt weak, had no mana and little health, yet there was no fear as he stood empty before those who barred his way. The mountain of potatoes stood higher than a house. Six gestured to the massive pile of potatoes that had burst from the ground like a spring. ¡°Behold. Food.¡± The crowd lurched forward, hands already extending. ¡°MY FOOD,¡± Six bellowed, blood splurting from his red eyes at the exertion. The crowd pulled back, flinching away at his outburst. They waited until Jebbedo arrived with his crew and tools, several ley workers floating behind them. He walked into the tension with a confused look on his tired face. Six pointed at the group that stood in his way. ¡°You listen to every word that halfling tells you to do. Got it? I am sharing this with you, understand?¡± The man looked at Six with a mixture of awe and trepidation. ¡°Yes Milord.¡± ¡°Jebbedo,¡± Six bowed to the halfling. ¡°Thanks for taking this on right now.¡± ¡°Yea, yea,¡± the cook grumbled. ¡°You need to make me some proper kitchens.¡± ¡°It''s on the list,¡± Six assured, then marched off into Mountain¡¯s End. He needed to rest before breaking ground tomorrow. 2.23 General Contracting Naho, the 22th, 10,391 The sewer system would consist of three parts. The flush. The vessels. And the processing facility. The flush was essentially a reservoir built somewhere up the mountainside that Six could release and have flood the sewerways. From one end of the city all the way to the end of the sewer system. The sewerways would run under the eventual city and carry the waste away. If they ever became clogged or needed the contents moved, being able to flood it with water would be a useful option. Then it would be the vessels. Six began with working with Franklin to perfect the sewer installation process. This was another task he would need to delegate to scale it effectively and that meant making sure his site-super understood what he wanted. Six had never been a road guy but he talked to a few in his time and they all stressed the importance of prepping the earth and making sure the ground is properly set before laying pipe or asphalt. She agreed, and then advised Six on another ten practical tricks she thought they should employ on the pipe work. Her Journeyman level skill in Construction showing clear. So Six worked with Franklin who had her own ideas about how things should progress but they soon hashed out a workflow for what Six wanted to create. A large sewer, capable of containing two walkways and a wide channel between them. Ensconced by golem melded rock, supported by stone pillars. The overall section would have a diameter of about twelve feet. It would be a big fucking pipe. But Six wanted to future-proof against huge population increases and wasn¡¯t even sure if the current dimensions were big enough as is. Once they hashed out his design, they worked to perfect its installation within Franklin¡¯s works yard. A fenced off area on the river near Gatbark¡¯s. The process was optimized and improved over several iterations but by the end of the day her crews had all been trained on the construction standards. Golems, ley workers, and people with shovels were used to excavate a trench. The golems shoring up the weak spots as Franklin''s crew used large, almost black limestone bricks to build the cylindrical arches. Golems melding them together for extra strength. Her crews were a mixture of races all working together, skilled tradesmen, golem operators, and straight goons. All focused on the new task, maybe gaining a level construction skill while learning it. He observed their work during the final practice installation and felt confident that they could provide the quality he was looking for. Six didn¡¯t want to tear this shit up for a long while. And he wouldn¡¯t, this would last for a long time. All Six could ask for would be some rebar. The main stem began at the base of the mountain, close to the west end of the palisade, this was where the flush would connect and would travel through the center of Mountain¡¯s End. Secondary and tertiary sewer pipes could then be built off this main system and the structures tied into all of it. The next day Six was when ground was actually broken but so was the nature of large scale projects. Delays were inevitable. He didn¡¯t do the ceremonial executive shovel full. He showed Franklin where to begin and her crews set off on a slight grade to intercept the eventual location of the processing facility. That location was past the lake and further down the river, far away from any current living. it would take her crews a couple of weeks to reach it. He wished he didn¡¯t have to pull her away from the housing and other necessary projects and such but they needed to improve their hygiene and it started here. After getting them started Six went and began the flush system. At first Six considered using Stone Wall and golem melded stone to create an artificial reservoir but he didn¡¯t trust the transmuted to hold the lateral tension weight of the water without rebar to support it. He wasn¡¯t about to create an artificial hazard for his people to have hanging over their heads, this needed to be safe. Instead he decided to search for a section of glacier melt that pooled somewhere up in the mountain. It took a day of searching and an irritating fight with a weird moth monster but he eventually found a suitable mountain side pond that might work. First things first he needed to prepare his workspace, which meant emptying this pond. He began by diverting the glacier melt that fed it. Using Poh Doh Six had the stone golem move stone and earth into the stream to block it completely and then he commanded Poh Doh to plough a trench to another nearby melt. Once the pond was diverted Six used a simple water golem to initially pump the water out but eventually the little water golem needed to transition to carrying volumes out of the deeping hole. Six killed a ton of established habitat doing this and a part of him cringed at the riparian damage but the spice must flow and progress had to march forward. He at the very least had the fish and edible plants sent down into town via Ley Workers. Even if he was doing damage to the environment they would maximize the return for the sacrifice. Six spent some time using Poh Doh to dredge some material up from the bottom of the pond Increasing the volume by increasing depth of the pond bed. He didn¡¯t want to retrofit this in a decade or whatever, so he built it as big as he dared. From there Six used earth golems to core a pipe half as small down the mountain. The smaller pipe should be less disruptive to the state of the mountain side and provide more material to wear upon, not that the flush would be used all that much or at all. After he married the pipe to the sewers Six went back up and worked on bank stability of the material he dredged up. He didn¡¯t want to create a landslide risk so had the Poh Doh partially meld the dangerous loose stone and boulders he dumped on the side of the mountain. He also selected some wide rooting shrubs and trees, placing them strategically for what their species would grow into. Plant Growth ensured they survived to take root and actually do their job Ravna was busy with some more delicate commissions for the warriors of the town so he sent out a contract to Gatbark¡¯s burgeoning works yard and the meteor dwarf pulled out all the stops to get it done for Six as soon as possible. On the last day of the flush project Gatbark came up the mountain with a crew, ley workers carried a series of long metal screws. The mechanisms for opening and closing the sluice gate. A simple turn to raise the block, releasing the water. Turn the other way to lower the block and stop the flow. A simple task, with a large amount of responsibility. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. Golems and Gatbark¡¯s crew made installation of the screws pretty simple. Gatbark refused to let Six install them himself, coming somewhat close to what Six would label insubordination but the craftsman in Six could appreciate Gatbark¡¯s desire to place his stamp on some piece of the project, not to mention they installed it counterweighted so perfectly, the turn was basically effortless. Six was basically overseeing the final piece of the puzzle, he felt like he needed a white hardhat. He brought Franklin up there to double check his and Gatbark¡¯s work and when she found no problems he released the diversion and the reservoir filled up perfectly. Nice. That took him almost a week. He had expected for the solo construction work to make him relax but by the end of it Six felt like he wasn¡¯t getting enough done, quickly enough. The golems expedited alot of work but it was endless. Six knew that he wouldn¡¯t ever really ¡®retire,¡¯ he would be one of those old dudes with a project always on the go but he did want to relax. He wasn¡¯t growing fast enough though. The world was scary, full of danger, he needed to be the biggest guy with the biggest stick before people really started to look his way. At the very least there were other threadlings out there. He needed to progress his level and skills as fast as possible. But the people needed this. Six inspected Franklin¡¯s progress and found nothing lacking. She was a professional and understood that Six expected his regulations and specifications to be followed. Six also doubted a person of her skill would risk wasting time on subpar work, such things would never push her skill past its previous limits. Her crews had made amazing progress. They had already passed the town hall and were almost out of the village.He could leave them be, he had already asked Franklin about creating a dedicated sewer maintenance and installation crew, but she said ¡°not yet,¡± and left it at that. Six was her lord but she was the boss so he just trusted she had reasoning. He moved past her crews to the secluded spot on the river he selected for the waste processing facility. This was past the glade and deep in the old growth forest. Old growth, Six felt a little guilty cutting down some of these specimens but the spice had to flow. He got to clearing an area of the trees. He loved land clearing back in his old life, taking an overgrown lot and getting it ready for development was hard work but slaying some monster trees made him feel manly. He paused and considered the fact he died in the line of this work but waved the thought away. It might be that the failure was caused by the apocalypse of the system taking over earth. He also needed to get this done and he was probably the most skilled to clear these massive bad boys out. So he spent a day clearing the lot. He used his chainsaw to place his falling cuts and Poh Doh and a few ley workers acted as the excavators. He felled them into the forest, crashing them down and watching for hangers before skinning the branches and cutting the giant logs into length. He ended up with a giant pile of logs and an even bigger pile of branches. Those branches would be an epic burn pile so he had the ley workers gather them in an open spot of the glade. He was left with stumps and Poh Doh made quick work of those, ripping and tearing the stump into pieces or sometimes right out of the earth. Now he had a little salient of sky above with the canopy removed, blue sky and white clouds streaming past. Poh Doh began the excavation and Six had it dig a huge pit. Ley workers were carting in slabs of dark limestone which were placed then melded via golem. Limestone was porous, so Six made sure to use Stone Wall to create a sealed layer on sections he thought would be exposed to moisture as it appeared more granite than limestoney. The various chambers he was going to create needed to be watertight. Now, Six was no engineer but had a few ideas on how he wanted this to work. First was the waste reservoir, where the sewers would be able to pool and gather as an overflow or stop gap measure if the processing slowed or ceased. Then there were the skimmers, a series of increasingly fine filters that served to filter the waste water to a significant degree before it reached the cleansing chamber. The final cleansing chamber would be where the end stages of wastewater would be distilled into vapour and separated from the super fine contaminants. This would be done via water and fire golems. Water golems to control the movements of the waste water and fire golems to bring it to boiling. Hopefully it would create a better effluence than just routing the sewer water straight into the river. Six could have done that and it would be far more simple but fuck pollution. Earth golems would remove the caught material from the skimmers and cart it to a furnace to be burned by more fire golems. Fire cleansed everything. The smoke stacks he created were topped with air golems that caught the emissions and kept the particulates from going into the atmosphere. Stealing only the air from the smoke caused by the furnaces and shunting the rest all into a collection chamber. Six didn¡¯t know what he would do with the ash. Probably bury it or something. He wasn¡¯t sure if it was entirely safe, safer he knew but he wasn¡¯t about to try and use sewage ash and expose his people to something accidentally. The waste heat from the furnaces was used for drying kilns he built adjacent the plant, as they needed proper dry lumber more than ever now and it was the only thing he could really think of using the waste for. It''s not like this place needed heated floors or whatever. The only reason he could be so¡­ flippant with golem use was his enchanting evolution, Sovereign Restoration. Sovereign Restoration powered the golems he created so there was no need to constantly feed them mana cores. If he had to pay that cost this would be an unaffordable luxury and he would have had to either cut corners on pollution or effectiveness. The cost to control the emissions alone would be hundreds of mana cores a year. That would be hundreds more enchantments, enhanced forgings, recharges or whatever useful thing they could justify them being used on. As it was, the cost was simply the construction of the golem, which for Six, was the mana core itself. The building had staff rooms and such for the people that would have to operate the golem but with the finishing touches of Plant Growth grown doors and fixtures, the waste processing facility was finally complete. -Waste Processing Facility- Quality: Mundane Rarity: Rare Durability: 8500/8500 Traits: Filters and cleans sewage. Greatly improving local hygiene and pollution levels. 97% reduction in emissions. Six didn¡¯t feel the need to add a reagent to this construction. It wasn¡¯t of strategic or tactical performance and he could always have more built if they needed to improve the output. He would need to staff the place with some golem operators to run things and some guards to protect against monsters as it was just too far away from the main settlement to be easily protected. Through all of this he managed to get some combat training in, breakfast and dinners with Ravna and grinded out whatever monsters came to see the commotion. Boars, bristlehounds, A giant gliding snake, this weird seven antlered stag that shot fireballs at him. He was hoping to see the trolls and be able to take care of that quest but no luck on that front. Perhaps they had left the mountain valley. A few more days and Franklin¡¯s sewers crews reached the facility and the disparate parts were connected into a functioning waste system that functioned to Six¡¯s minimum standards. Overall the entire project took seventeen days which was insane when Six thought about it. Usually projects like this would take a city fucking months. Things went fast when there was less red tape. Hygiene should improve over time with this fundamental service. There should be a lot less shit and piss on the streets now. Nice. Next he moved on to the next priority. Jobs for the migrants. They expected food and Six didn¡¯t want to just boot them in the face until they left, entitled as they were. He could leverage these people like big corpo. He needed to create jobs for them and get their production in the green as fast as possible to justify his spending food on them. They were living, thinking, breathing, yes. But resources weren¡¯t endless. So he decided to scale his mining industry and farming industries. More food, equated to more people, more steel equated to more weapons and armor. Both of these things would help scale the military he needed to nurture. He selected a spot close to the southern mountainside where he would build a new housing complex, a mixture of parisian townhouse and communist block style. These would be built next to the budding mine, that was something that Six was sure he could expand near endlessly and would be a significant source of jobs for the people. Instead of clearing the old growth this time though Six attempted to use them as center supports, utilizing Plant Growth and the Flowering Staff of Profound Verdance to essentially pull the trunk of the trees outwards and creating cylindrical apartments around the ancient trees. Not exactly Rivendell style but they were huge, dry, and livable. Fantasy tree houses were one of the coolest tropes out there and internally Six had a strange sense of satisfaction being able to cross that one off the bingo card. Six built to provide many different types of housing in the most dense way he saw possible. Studios to family townhomes. Ground floor spaces for commercial enterprises to set up and ply their trade. He designed this new municipality around the infrastructure that would serve as its vascular system. Franklin''s crews coming in and starting the sewers here before heading off to marry it with the main line. Only the sewer went in to start but Six had his new assistant, Elara, a well dressed halfling woman with tanned skin and light hair, mark down his thoughts for placement of services like transportation, hospitals, or even parks. They lacked the population for such things but his mind saw the future before them. This whole saga of taming the land took over a month and Six¡¯s pushing himself for maximum productivity led to skill increases across the board. Skill increased: Construction - Initiate - 16 - 19 Elemental Magic - Initiate - 15 - 18 Diametric Magic - Initiate - 9 - 11 Cycle Magic - Initiate - 11 - 13 Blood Magic - Initiate - 11 - 14 Blood Casting - Initiate - 13 - 15 Masonry - Initiate - 17 - 18 Chainsaw - Initiate - 9 - 12 Carpentry - Initiate - 15 - 17 Athletics - Initiate - 18 - 19 Meditation - Initiate - 18 - 19 Mindfulness - Initiate - 17 - 19 Perception - Initiate - 12 - 15 Survival - Initiate - 9 - 13 Six had so many skills on the edge of evolving that he considered just using the skill points he had been accumulating but, no. He knew he could push these skills and evolve them naturally so he would save those points for an emergency. This could be fucking stupid, as he was confident that both Atheletics and Meditation would yield strong evolutions but Six was a late game kinda gamer and was willing to trade certain short term advantages for late-game ones. If he could save 20 skill points that would push him into grandmaster enchantment. The housing took weeks but as soon as Six completed it the slums outside the palisade of Mountain¡¯s End began to slowly empty as the newcomers were given jobs, food, and shelter. People were still streaming in from Olisrosa but now they had a place to settle them. Six felt proud at his work and justified in that feeling when he saw the town''s hygiene had improved from deficient, through low, and back to acceptable. Not everyone was pleased though. His developments also led to a conversation with an irritable Gatbark Gunnbjorn. 2.24 Team Meetings Ahmu, The 28th, 10,391 Six was taking a fifteen, reclined on a particularly comfortable pile of rocks. He smelled the steaming bowl of whatever Jebbedo had sent the crews, some egg grain mixture, kinda like fried rice. Hearty but simple. Life was good. They were progressing steadily and the people were being housed and fed. Six managed to enjoy a few bites before he was interrupted by a grumbling Gatbark appearing from nowhere. He usually spent all his time at his ever expanding works yard. Overseeing and managing his growing workforce. The squat ashen skinned dwarf shouted at Six, ¡°what do you think you are doing?!¡± He was angry. Six sat up, confused. ¡°What do you mean what am I doing?¡± Gatbark kicked a rock. ¡°I mean providing housing for most everyone. Providing food for them! You are preventing the economy from forming. From growing!¡± ¡°I am providing for those newcomers that I manage to keep busy.¡± ¡°And when those people realize that food isn¡¯t enough?¡± ¡°I hope to pay them properly soon.¡± Six paid the original settlers but the subsequent ones were still being compensated in terms of food and shelter. Six knew it wasn¡¯t fair or right, he¡¯d taken advantage of a crisis to secure choice labour and he needed to start compensating them properly. Now that his mine was scaling up production and the occasional merchant passed by there was more money to flow about Mountain¡¯s End. The service crafts that came from the prisoners were also a small but steady supply of income for the settlement. It was time to start paying beyond sustenance and protection. ¡°That would be even worse!¡± Gatbark grumbled. Six glared at the dwarf in confused irritation. ¡°Oh? So I¡¯m terrible for not paying them and it would be terrible if I did pay them?¡± ¡°The point is that you¡¯re taking away people''s motivation! The clever and industrious will find a way but we all need motivation to work!.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not interested in cultivating a culture of desperate merit.¡± ¡°Then you waste resources on the unworthy.¡± Six laughed. ¡°It is no waste to take care of your tribe.¡± ¡°I said the unworthy.¡± Six winced. ¡°We are all worth something.¡± ¡°Hah! We both know you don¡¯t believe that, you try Six but I¡¯ve seen the steel in you.¡± Six nodded but shrugged his indifference. ¡°While everyone is different, the ideal stands.¡± ¡°Ideals are not realistic ways to go about governance.¡± ¡°This is true in most cases. If basic decency is something I can provide, I shall provide it.¡± ¡°They get free housing, free food, and a wage?¡± ¡°I have ordered Jebbedo to cook for scale and nutrition, not taste. I have made the barest minimum of cubicles. They are not living in luxury Gatbark. ¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t change the fact that I won¡¯t be able to compete with you Six. It''s completely unfair. If you keep adding jobs like you do, providing like you do, no one will work for smaller interests.¡± There it was, the true crux of the issue ¡°Sounds like you need to keep things shitty to attract workers.¡± ¡°No one wants to work.¡± Gatbark said evenly. Six largely believed that statement. There were a few people for whom work was life but most people would prefer to just be. There was nothing wrong with that, but even Six wasn¡¯t feeding and housing these people unconditionally. He wanted them to work and had placed strings onto these necessities. Six knew that mining must be pretty hard work, but he needed it done, and he would leverage people into getting it done. Gatbark represented a potential growth modifier in Six¡¯s eyes. An associate that could double the settlement''s ability to scale its industry. ¡°Aight,¡± Six began. ¡°Foods free. Housing if you have a job. Any job. Essentially a government subsidy for you in the form of government provided housing.¡± ¡°Couldn''t you just give my people a rental stipend? That would make things fair and the frugal could save some of it for future interests.¡± ¡°Yea, but I fear you would find a way to suck it right out of them.¡± Gatbark grunted in displeasure but just nodded and took his meager victory. ¡°You know this isn¡¯t sustainable.¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± ¡°All this wealth that you are just giving away? It will be destroyed within the year. Those who do not earn what they have, do not know the value of it. Not to mention you should be fighting more than you are, you¡¯re gonna have to be stronger if you want to protect what could grow to be here.¡± ¡°Yea,¡± Six sighed. ¡°You¡¯re probably right.¡± ¡°I know I¡¯m right,¡± Gatbark said. ¡°I was a slave. Already the crime that was in those slums follows the people to your mining project. ¡°Crime, eh?¡± The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Gatbark nodded gravely. ¡°Robbery and murder mostly. Not inside the village, just between the outside people. For now anyways.¡° You have been offered a quest: Establish Order There has been an increase in lawlessness and criminal behaviour in your domain. Left unchecked crime will continue to rampage. Do not allow your settlement¡¯s crime rating to climb above moderate for the next 90 days. Rewards for Accepting: None Rewards for Completion: Voluntary Spiritual Energy Relationship Fame Clout Time Limit: None Penalty for Failure: Rewards sent to criminal elements. Loss of relationship with villagers. Do you Accept? Yes or No? Gatbark noticed Six¡¯s expression slacken. What? I just received a quest to investigate the increase in crime. He accepted it. Quest Received: Establish Order Gatbark chuckled. ¡°See? Even the world thinks I''m right!¡± Six waved it away. ¡°I don''t give a shit who thinks what. I''m making sure people have their necessities. Food, shelter, safety, fucking¡­ internet if I can manage it.¡± ¡°Internet?¡± ¡°Just wait Gatbark. You are in to see some shit.¡± ¡°I''m eighty. I''ve seen things.¡± ¡°True, true, but I got plans buddy. You¡¯ll see.¡± ¡°Maybe. But right now I''m furious, By Kynairos. You gotta stop it.¡± ¡°No.¡± Gatbark threw his hands in the air, grumbling, frustration evident. ¡°You will never recover financially from this?¡± Six asked teasingly. Gatbark threw a rude gesture, spat, then stomped off. Six could understand the frustration of the dwarf. He was ambitious and didn¡¯t value life as Six did. Of course their ideals would clash. Six went to go back to enjoying his lunch but once again it was interrupted. Kathy tentatively approached and Six waved at her. He hadn¡¯t checked up on her in a long while, being busy with the infrastructure work. She looked nice and settled. Less harried. Having traded the furs of Lhorn for the medieval leggings and tunics of Mountain¡¯s End. Smudges of dirt and coal gave her a weathered appearance. She was an oddity as the only sun elf but that was meaningless when in reality she was an american and a fellow threadling. She was an outsider much like Six himself and he made sure to consider her as such. Six analyzed her. Katherine Sun Elf Level 1 Still level 1 after a month here. That was a little disappointing but getting level 1 itself was an accomplishment and hitting level two required gaining 1000 experience. Getting 1000 without combat would be the equivalent of getting ten skills to the apprentice rank or two skills to the journeyman rank. Possible by all means but it would take time. The emperor tree would reduce that time for many who sought to train their skills here. The faster skill growth translated directly into faster experience gain, scaled over the population there should be a small bump to the median level of Mountain¡¯s End. Anyway, he gave Kathy his attention. ¡°Six,¡± she began in Zleenish, ¡°I¡¯ve tried a lot of the jobs here.¡± ¡°We can speak English, it¡¯s cool.¡± Kathy¡¯s grasp of Zleenish had clearly improved but there was something about speaking his home language that brought a nostalgic peace to Six¡¯s heart. She nodded and continued in English. ¡°I¡¯ve tried a lot of the jobs here, Six. I don¡¯t like them.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± he asked, a bit of sarcasm in his voice. Kathy nodded resolutely. ¡°Tried ''em all?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°You work with Franklin?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± He put his bowl down and crossed his arms, leaning back. ¡°Worked a farm?¡± ¡°Worked as a farmhand.¡± ¡°I see you¡¯ve been mining.¡± She nodded with a sour look on her face. ¡°That sucked.¡± Six pondered. ¡°Mmm, tried hunting?¡± Kathy hesitated. ¡°No.¡± ¡°You tried the army?¡± She sniffed. ¡°I''m not joining your nonsense personal military. I won¡¯t support dictators.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll make you a noble.¡± Six offered. She hesitated. He chuckled and pointed ¡°There it is! You considered it for a second there!¡± She grimaced at him. ¡°I don¡¯t want to fight.¡± Six shook his head, no. ¡°Gotta fight. We all gotta fight. Fighting is the only thing holding this together. It''s the only thing that held our world together. The peace we lived in was made possible by bigger bombs. You should know that, you were doing political science yea? Im just a fucking goon with a chainsaw.¡± ¡°I know Six. But I¡¯m not a fighter. I¡¯m not. I can do other things. I¡¯ll work the mine if I have to but I just don¡¯t want to.¡± ¡°I understand. Well I¡¯m just glad you wanna pitch in. I¡¯m assuming you have some ideas?¡± She smiled. ¡°I wish to open a public boarding school.¡± Six leaned back in the minecart and pondered this. Kathy was familiar with a modern education setting, right now his town¡¯s education ranking was Minor Magical. This could be a chance to diversify the education streams and improve the population in another area. It would ultimately be an incredible long term benefit in almost any outcome. Most importantly it would give the displaced youth of his domain a place to be gathered and cared for. That being said it represented a long term threat as well. The ability to mold the minds of the upcoming generation was in itself a power over the people. He didn¡¯t entirely trust her and he wasn¡¯t sure about giving her a responsibility that required Six¡¯s brand of impartiality. It would also be a large investment on his part or else she wouldn¡¯t have even brought this up to him, she would have just done it. Six decided to lean on that idea for a bit. ¡°You can do that if you want, yeah. I''m not gonna stop people from opening up schools as long as they teach tolerance. I''m expecting several religious schools to eventually pop up.¡± She was silent for a moment. Six went for his lunch. ¡°Would this not be a public initiative? A school like mine?¡± Six left his bowl sitting, and sat straight, ready for what came next. ¡°It could be a public initiative, a public school. But, that would come with more regulations and mandates attached.¡± ¡°What do you mean mandates?¡± ¡°At its most basic, nationalism as a part of the curriculum.¡± Kathy gasped and seemed shocked but Six was pretty sure she was pretending. ¡°You want to brainwash kids?¡± Six nodded. ¡°Yea, I want to create a culture where people feel proud helping each other.¡± She was mad. ¡±You want to brainwash kids!¡± ¡°You don¡¯t have to put your kids in my schools.¡± ¡°My schools? Don¡¯t you hear how fucked up that sounds?¡± ¡°As compared to?¡± ¡°Our schools! Our schools!¡± Six paused. ¡°You want a school with a community guided charter?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± She looked at him with disbelief. ¡°Why is that so hard to understand?¡± ¡°It''s not, and I¡¯m not preventing you from going about and creating one yourself.¡± ¡°I got paid little to build, little to farm, and nothing to mine. This place sucks and I have no money to build fucking anything. There''s no bank here so I can¡¯t even take a loan!¡± ¡°You want government money?¡± ¡°You are not the government!¡± ¡°I am. Now, I will build this fucking school myself, I will cram in as many amenities as I can think of. You can appoint a council of whatever community leaders you want. I don¡¯t care as long as we are teaching the youth that we are on the same fucking team. Propaganda, brainwashing, I don¡¯t fucking care. I want people who care about our home. She sneered at him. ¡°Then I guess you want critical thinking cut from the curriculum. Can¡¯t have the worker ants thinking outside their box.¡± Six laughed. ¡°I¡¯d consider it if I didn¡¯t want a highly educated people. But I do.¡± Kathy gestured at the village at hand. ¡°Coulda fooled me.¡± Six snorted, her judgement meant nothing to him. ¡°What the fuck do you think I¡¯ve been doing with my time? You are really not helping your case.¡± She sighed and relaxed. ¡°I know you¡¯ve been busy with other things.¡± ¡°Yea. I could be training but instead I spent two weeks making sure our shit flowed downhill. Just doing bullshit.¡± ¡°Helping people isn¡¯t bullshit, it''s why I came, to ask for help.¡± ¡°My help isn¡¯t free, I¡¯m the boss, in exchange for my help I want some input. You want a school, I want indoctrination. Tradesies. Proper indoctrination mind, I¡¯ll audit you to make sure.¡± Six could see the minor signs of frustration as she thought his demand over. He knew Kathy would indoctrinate the children with whatever agenda she had, some soft power nonsense. If he was to invest time and resources into this he needed to make sure his agenda had a voice. ¡°Fine,¡± she agreed in clipped acceptance. ¡°I¡¯ll¡­ push your fricken god complex on them.¡± ¡°Hmmm,¡± Six sat forward, steepling his fingers and pretending to seriously consider the thought. ¡°No way,¡± stated Kathy. ¡°Ahhhh, I''m just messing with you.¡± She was not impressed. Six explained that he wouldn¡¯t be building the school for a while but he could make a covered area for her to begin, give her a pool of positions to fill to help as she saw fit. Leoka would see to finding some funding for the school to work with. He needed to get off the construction for a while and pursue improving the security of his lands. Charles was overwhelmed between the defense of the village and the control of the surrounding lands. Six didn¡¯t trust Kathy entirely but was delegating some power to her. Gatbark was complaining about crime and the quest had clearly indicated that it had risen. It didn¡¯t matter that Six had not yet seen the crime, it was here and needed to be dealt with. Interesting that it counted the people outside his walls in that equation¡­ he assumed anyway. Several tasks had been percolating in his mind during the long work hours and now was the time to implement them. But first, Six reached down and picked up his bowl of eggs and grain. He needed to finish his lunch. 2.25 Big Sister Shova, 4th, 10,391 Culture had such a profound effect on people. A culture of violence and lawlessness led to warlords. A culture of corruption led to unjust kings. A culture of competition created winners and losers. It molded people. Culture turned humans from screeching primates into space-faring primates. Culture made evil men fear hell. It elevated a people. Of course there were the rare individuals who could truly shrug off the pressure from their society and culture. Outliers. They were culture unto themselves. There was no real culture here, only the broken shards of the Zleenish Empire that had been windswept against his mountain. Six was to make a culture here and he took that very seriously. The dominant part of him, the true hedonistic Six who revelled in life and freedom, he wanted to leave it be. Hedonistic Six believed culture to be an organic expression of the people''s right to freedom. Something to be lived by the mass of ¡®us.¡¯ The craftsman in him knew that to be an idealistic naivety. Something that would only work if we all abided the spirit of freedom. That was statistically speaking, simply impossible. Motes of psychos existed amongst us. Wolves amongst sheep. Already there were others pushing and pulling at the fermenting culture of Mountain¡¯s End and Six needed to begin work to overcome that. To that end he was creating his current project. He had spent the last six days preparing for this moment. He¡¯d dug a secret chamber under the townhall. This would be one of his most important assets and keeping right next to the trees and leyhall would just make defending all of them easier. Six had the carcasses of the hunts brought to a secondary location where he transported them through the sewers to the sunken room he had dug. He was sure he¡¯d heard people shuffling off in front of him but he¡¯d hadn¡¯t seen anything. No one was supposed to be down in the sewers but that was just evidence that Six was making the right move with this next creation. Blood, bone, and entrails gathered Six added some of his own then withdrew the One Million Egg Gland. He placed the gland atop the pile of biomass and looked down upon the mess. The gland, a superior ranked reagent, to be used to alter a minor golem, preposterous. But Six didn¡¯t trust himself to maintain control of a moderate ranked golem, especially one configured to be an intelligent blood golem. It was just too dangerous. It could grow alongside him as his other golems were. But to have the best potential to grow Six needed to spend resources to build its foundation. Thus he drew upon a spoil he had been saving for such an investment. He had spent three days altering the Superior Earth Core. Diluting the vast earth mana pool with blood mana was hard on his body and mind. It felt like trying to turn a fresh lake salty by crying into it. Impossible. Six had chugged health potions, cast Vital Surge, and meditated under the aura of life golems. He poured his vitality into the core and through sheer grit shifted the affinity incrementally. Now he just had to maintain this exchange for as long as he could. It was good training for Blood Casting though, and that skill rose significantly during those three days. His tolerance to the pain of Blood Casting also rose despite there not being a corresponding skill. His body would always reject the pain but the total prolonged immersion of agony that was constant Blood Casting provided a level of understanding that allowed him to partially observe the pain rather than wholly experience it. That detached nature allowed him to observe much of his emotional state and while he couldn¡¯t buck the influence of blood magic, he was at least more aware of its effect on his mental state. Six found himself a tad possessive, a little crazy, but not to the degree he felt after a whole day of pumping blood into the stone. Although his Meditation skill stubbornly remained at 19, his Mindfulness skill broke into 20 with this ¡®training.¡¯ Skill increase: Mindfulness - Apprentice - 20 Apprentice Skill Evolution triggered Pillar: The mind faces outward, to better protect. Mindfulness now provides an increase of 2% mental resistance per skill level instead of 1% Pool: The mind faces inward, to better detect. Mindfulness now provides an increase of 2% internal perception per skill level instead of 1% Mind¡¯s Edge: Grants the user combat dependent resistance The effects of Mindfulness quadruples during combat, falling off quickly during times of peace. Unyielding Mind: Reclaim more time for the user. Reduces one¡¯s need for sleep by 15% Considered Charisma: Enhances users ability to choose and craft words to better suit the situation. Improves strength of personality by 1 % per level in skill. % choices all pretty good. Considered Charisma was immediately rejected as Six was not doing a charisma build. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. Unyielding Mind while an attractive pick was also rejected, If there was a potential to improve his defenses he had to take it. This would allow him to progress faster but he was sure there would be old monsters aplenty at every stage. He needed to be stronger when he got there. Pillar and Pool were simple and effective increases. Solid choices. But, Mind¡¯s Edge was too good to pass up. One could argue that it was during peaceful moments Six should have his guard highest against mental manipulations. He imagined it was subtle and insidious, not something usually seen on the battlefield. But Six could also envision psychic tactics and strategies being used on the battlefield. Hallucinations, emotional tampering, motor control interference were all something Six could encounter on the battlefield. He needed to be able to act during combat at all times. Having four times the boost to resist any intrusions would be powerful indeed. He selected Mind¡¯s Edge. Evolution choice imprinted: Mind¡¯s Edge Technique choice awarded. You gained 100 experience points for reaching Apprentice status in Mindfulness. He drew ever closer to entering level 15. He was offered a selection of techniques, but none were as good as Empathy, Technique: Empathy Rank: Minor Cooldown: 1 hour Range: 10 m Performance Time: Instant Duration: Instant Mana Cost: 65 Effect: User increases their ability to comprehend the emotional state of another¡¯s aura. This allows an emotional state to be discerned regardless of outward appearances. Dope. Three days of burning his blood into mana. Three days of blood washing away land. Pouring blood until the core was a sea of blood. Then he inscribed the core with a configuration that would create sentience. Even more foolishness. Now he was alone within the secret chamber beneath the leyhall. No one should know where this golem lay. It would be utterly helpless to defend itself. All mind configurations were hopelessly weak in every other area than cognition, a severe weakness of that type. Kytaligan¡¯s knowledge indicated that Six should use something like the Demon Mind Singularity or Kytaligan¡¯s Soul Core to create a thinking golem, but only one reagent could be used and Six was set on gambling on the transmutive properties of the One Million Egg Gland to produce the effects he wanted. He had a good gut feeling about this. You are attempting to enchant a Superior Configured Blood Core into a Minor Blood Golem. This will require 486 mana and five Mundane Common Mana Core to complete and will take materials from the most suitable nearby source. One Million Egg Gland reagent detected. Would you like to begin this enchantment now? Yes/No? Six breathed deep and steadied himself. Yes. Six radiated his mana forth and immediately the bloody pile of butchered flesh began to writhe. The meat danced to Six¡¯s power that tore from his pores in streams of red. His heart ached as the spike of land heart throbbed, the pain exuded outwards and he growled as he wrestled with the higher order magic. He had submerged himself in the pain and influence of blood magic these past few days. This was nothing. The Superior Blood Core he held whipped from his hand and imbedded itself in the carnage with a wet plop, the pulsating mass responded by throbbing faster and faster, folds of flesh turning in on itself over and over again. Ridges formed and the pile halved into two lobes, the meat shaping itself into a parody of a brain. Then the legs burst from the side of the golem. Multiple sets of legs, like a centipede. They were tipped with hands or hooves, they clattered and clapped the floor in rhythmic sequence as it came to spasmodic life. The One Million Egg Gland rode this flesh wave but was eventually consumed, lost between the crevasse between the two lobes. Six could see the effects immediately as eggs and insects began to grow and move beneath the exterior membrane of the blood golem. It was perfect, now to push that perfection to the limit. He wasn¡¯t thinking clearly but his control was absolute and he pushed this creation to the climax. Then it was over and he ended the ritual before it broke. Enchantment Successful. You have successfully enchanted a Superior Configured Blood Core, achieving an efficiency rating of 74% creating a Minor Blood Golem. - Blood Golem - Level: 9 Rank: Enhanced Rarity: Unusual Weight: 718 KG Durability: 180/180 Traits: Minor Telepathy, Hive Host A grand creation. The giant brain golem stood shakily upon its hordes of legs and slowly turned to regard its creator. It had no eyes but Six was certain it was observing him and through that observation Six reached out and made a connection with it. He checked its stat sheet. Name: ¡ª Level: 9 (Mortal) Experience:36500 Race: Blood Golem Fame: 0 (Unknown) Clout: 0 (Insignificant) Heath: 410 Endurance: 220 Mana: 80 Strength:10 Dexterity:10 Constitution:41 Intelligence:8 Wisdom:8 Charisma:10 Endurance:22 Traits: Minor Telepathy: The golem is capable of reaching out with its mind and communicating telepathically with those who are willing within 200 meters. Hive Host: The golem serves as a hive mind for a swarm of smaller constructs. These constructs can range out to distance of 2km from the hive before losing connection. There were also a few skill increases, Skill Increase: Blood Casting - Initiate - 17 Skill Increase: Blood Magic - Initiate - 15 Now to test it and there was no better way than to have a little chat. ¡°Hello,¡± Six called out gently. Hello, an echoing feminine voice came to his mind. She sounded friendly enough. ¡°How are you feeling?¡± Six had never interacted with such a being before and his knowledge of how to make one had not prepared him for this moment. Being gentle as he learned more was the best exploratory method. Confused. She offered simply. ¡°Oh? Confused about what?¡± Where am I? Why am I? How did I come to be? The golem was jumping right into the existential questions and Six wasn¡¯t sure if that was the best place to start their relationship or her education but didn¡¯t want to snatch control away so early. ¡°If you wish, I can answer those questions for you.¡± The brain rippled in anticipation. I would know. He listed off the answers. ¡°You are in a chamber I created for you. In a village named Mountain¡¯s End. Amongst your people. Why you are here is because I have need of your help.Lastly, I created you through magic to assist me.¡± Six allowed her to slowly internalize that before he asked. ¡°How does that make you feel?¡± I find that distressing and most of my confusion still remains Six grunted and nodded in agreement. ¡°I''d imagine I''d feel the same, eh.¡± ¡°Then why did you tell me?¡± ¡°It''s the truth.¡± She was quiet. ¡°You know the truth?¡± I know. Six shrugged, ¡°I''m sorry if it ain''t good enough.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know if it''s good enough. I know things but I also know I don¡¯t know things. I lack¡­ experience.¡± ¡°You might find it enjoyable.¡± And if I don''t? ¡°You can help our tribe in a different way, or freely leave to find wherever you belong.¡± And if I find nothing good? ¡°Well then I''m sorry. You could always come back and I would take care of you.¡± Take care of me? ¡°I brought you into existence. I will always try to take care of you.¡± Thank you¡­ What am I helping with? Six smiled. It seemed she agreed to help him. ¡°You are part of a family that needs to be watched and cared for. I plan for you to watch over everyone, to observe and report. There are things that people are allowed to do and things they are not allowed to do. I need you to tell me who is doing wrong.¡± With that, bugs erupted from the exterior membrane of the golem. Piercing their way out, covered in blood but folding out gossamer wings and taking flight. They looked like large mosquitoes, with dark segmental eyes and barbed proboscis¡¯. Six could feel her gaze come from the swarm of them. I can keep careful watch... Master? Six chuckled. ¡°I don¡¯t believe in slaves and you¡¯re not apprenticed to me. Also, I think you would hate calling me that. You are right, I don¡¯t like saying it. I don¡¯t know why. ¡°Because you are of blood. But you need to know, I am the boss of these lands, I make the rules.¡± Yes, yes, rules! But what should I call you? ¡°My name is Six.¡± Six¡­ Do I have a name? ¡°I have one I¡¯d like to give you but you are welcome to choose your own.¡± No. Give me my name. Six smiled, he was building something with this new golem. He couldn¡¯t believe he considered forcing his will upon such an intelligent creature. Of course a moderate ranked mind golem would fight for its freedom. Six walked closer and laid a hand upon its ridged pulsating flesh. Warm. It was a hideous monstrosity but he felt no danger. He spoke. ¡°You will be an important part of our family, our tribe, our nation. You will be the true judge of us, the impartial eye. I would like to call you, Big Sister.¡± 2.26 Promises and Plantings Shova, 7th, 10,391 Six stood tall, defiantly calling out a challenge with his stance. In the corner of his vision were ticking buff icons. Zephyr¡¯s Embrace Stone Skin Vital Surge Strength of the Oak Force Shell His body thrummed with power and he felt the swagger of solid confidence. Even outnumbered as he was, this was fun. Four fighters came running at him with weapons drawn, one stood back taking careful picked shots with a bow. Chainsaw in hand, Six launched himself forward swinging his weapon in a vicious arc and slammed it against the enemies¡¯. There was no need to activate the chain and he wanted to keep them alive. Six increased the pressure and bowled into two of the hostiles, spearing them down with a shoulder and keeping them down with swift boots to the chest. Six bobbed and weaved between the strikes of the other two, taking glancing blows off his armor when appropriate. Arrows flew by, small gusts deviating the projectiles ever so slightly. Zephyr¡¯s Embrace giving Six that little extra edge that pushed him past optimal and into overpowered. Six spun and ducked before throwing out a swing that cut the air with a low thrum. It caught a man in the chest plate and sent him flying. Metal on metal letting out a screeching clang. Six pulled the strike and of course held the chain, the man lived. Six feinted a back spin, reversing the chainsaw and arcing it the other way. The armored combatant raised their sword in an attempt to parry the blow but Six didn¡¯t complete the swing, instead using the momentum it generated to throw himself towards the archer. They let their held shot loose and it flew true at Six who used his Sylpheon Greaves to reposition mid air, air dodging to the side before landing and continuing forward. He dashed like a madman to the woman who dropped the bow and was in the process of drawing her blade. Six cross-checked her with the hilt of his saw. His mass and momentum sending her flying with a sharp scream of pain. Six turned to see a sword descending straight to his head. Deflect He activated the maneuver at the sight of the incoming attack, his body cracking into position bringing his weapon up and catching the strike on the flat of his chainsaw bar. Sparks flew as blade met tooth, but it ended with the hostile wide open in the finished position of his arc. Six threw out a spinning back kick, driving it forward and through, sending the man flying. The other two threw their weapons to the ground. Six accepted their surrender, no point in beating on newbies with no handicap. They seemed to know that too. ¡°Good,¡± Keegan¡¯s approval for all who participated in the spar was clear. He gave little critiques here and there. ¡°Good showing my lord but your style degenerates when you feel you have an advantage. I will always advocate for a more restrained style. Especially for leaders such as yourself. A wider stance would have helped you weather the lord''s assault, Tylin. You must be prepared for sudden shifts in combat, Renaeha. The lord took you by surprise. I know you have the Deflect maneuver too, Adams. You should have used it after the lord used his to put you off balance. He would have been on cooldown and vulnerable.¡± It was good training and served to embed him in the community. Six was content to be outside of social structures but knew how to exist in one and his number one rule was attendance. Showing up and being a regular part of another''s daily experience was the easiest, most reliable way to expand your social possibilities. For Six, as the lord, showing his face in as many places while performing to a high degree was the optimal way to increase his fame and clout. He wanted to be well known and well liked during these early stages, it would make the later parts of his vision easier. The soldiers seemed to respect him, fighting him with all their might. Some like Keegan even bested Six on a strictly martial scale. Life was good, simple, Six felt confident in his power, even lacking an evolution. He caught that thought and recognized it for what it was, complacency. The evolved creature was a tier above and that held true for sentients such as himself. There were evolved people out there and it would only take a few to covet Mountain¡¯s End for themselves and there would be very little Six would be able to do. It was something he would have to achieve for himself. He needed to grow, train, grind. He had to keep progressing. But there were always other obligations he had to fulfill alongside his growth. He now had to guide and educate Big Sister. Communicating with her daily and bringing others into the knowledge of her so she could make more¡­ friends. The golem was intelligent and Six was under the assumption that intelligent beings needed socialization, he couldn¡¯t be the exclusive source for that. Thus Big Sister needed some friends. Until then Six would spend time teaching her what he wanted her to observe. Where he expected her to send her swarm. What to report and what to ignore. The small crimes of society were inevitable. He wanted her to look for the larger problems that would occur or were brewing. She was to observe in non residential spaces only, unless granted a warrant by Six. This was something that increased security at the cost of privacy. Six had a goal and that was completing the crime quest¡­ and making things safe. Utilizing Big Sister, while authoritarian in nature, was an acceptable decision in Six¡¯s eyes as he knew that he could trust himself to not abuse the power that came with such surveillance. He hoped. But not everything was so grim and morally weighty. It was time to fulfill a few promises. First was a true bakery for Min. Six used Plant Growth and the Flowering Staff of Profound Verdance to grow cedar saplings around a golem melded foundation of the dark limestone. It was a large foundation and the building footprint maximized the space available. A quarter of the building had multiple levels of housing, office and commercial space. The rest of the building was divided between a prep space and massive ovens. Within the ovens were fire golems that would burn forever and could have their temperature regulated permanently so the wood could go to other uses or be stockpiled for the winter. -Industrial Stone Bakery- Quality: Mundane Rarity: Unusual Durability: 1700/1700 Traits: 25% production efficiency increase to all baking related projects, ovens preheat faster and bread bakes more evenly. When Min hobbled over on his peg leg to inspect his new workspace, Six could see the look of complete surprise over take him. ¡°By Kynairos, Six, about damn time.¡± Six gave a sheepish shrug. ¡°Sorry I was busy with other things. Still am to be honest but I felt like I could indulge a bit.¡± ¡°I understand, But the ovens, Six. This is too much!¡± ¡°Nah.¡± Six waved the thought away. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. ¡°But¡­ How am I supposed to use them all?¡± Min opened one of the ovens and examined its form and function. ¡°You don¡¯t have to use them all. One day you might.¡± ¡°That''s a lot of people, for all those ovens. There are gonna be other bakers, you know?¡± ¡°Yes, but I still think we are going to need these ovens and I want you to be our baker. I think we are going to continue to grow and you¡¯ve been with us since the start.¡± Min nodded some respect. ¡°I¡¯m not going anywhere Six. This is my home.¡± Next to the bakery Six put the kitchens. Again split with one quarter being set up like a large tavern and the rest being an industrial kitchen. For preservation several root cellars were installed, they would have to do until Six learned how to make an ice golem or perhaps an ice or time rune. Something to prevent decay. Gatbark was called upon to forge the massive three meter tall steel pots that were the focal point of the kitchens. Such massive vessels would allow Jebbedo to scale his food production far better allowing for thousands of portions of food to be made at once. The pots sat upon stone enclosures that mimicked furnace burners, within were fire golems that provided the fire needed. -Industrial Soup Kitchen- Quality: Mundane Rarity: Unusual Durability: 1600/1600 Traits: 25% production efficiency increase to all cooking related projects, Knives remain sharper longer and food stays fresher longer. Jebbedo smirked when Six showed him the massive kitchens he¡¯d made for the halfling. The halfling walked up and examined one of the new pots. He gave it a slap. ¡°Big pots. Nearly triple my size. What am I supposed to do with these?¡± ¡°So you can make bulk batches.¡± Jebbedo cocked his head at Six. ¡°That lowers the efficacy of the food, you know?¡± ¡°Eh?¡± ¡°Yea, the more you multiply the recipe, the bigger the batch, the less it outputs.¡± ¡°So it''s worthless?¡± ¡°No, it¡¯ll still feed a person but if I tried to make a special meal the buff would be diminished. Batches this big would provide no buff at all. I¡¯ve heard of some class perks mitigating the reduction but I don¡¯t have such a thing. ¡± ¡°That makes no sense.¡± Jebbedo lifted an eyebrow, mystified. ¡°What do you mean? That''s exactly how it works. Works the same for baking and alchemy. Any sort of consumable really.¡± As nonsensical as that was, It didn¡¯t matter, this world had different rules. ¡°Eh nevermind. It don¡¯t matter, this is to keep people fed.¡± Six waved it away. ¡°Anyways Six, this isn¡¯t what I asked for.¡± Jebbedo sounded miffed. ¡°No, it''s not.¡± Six admitted. ¡°but it¡¯s some of what you want and some of what we need. Come on, check this out.¡± Six waved for his halfling friend to follow him. Six led Jebbedo into the restaurant side of the operation. Where it looked much like a normal tavern. A bar ran down one side. Magic grown wooden tables and chairs were sprinkled about the dark coloured interior. A massive fireplace was placed on one side next to a simple raised stage. Large shuttered windows could be thrown open to let a draft in. At this, Jebbedo sighed a contented sigh and smiled. ¡°Nice.¡± ¡°My man.¡± Six fist bumped his little friend. ¡°I know its not exactly what you wanted-¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine,¡± Jebbedo cut in. ¡°Better than fine. You know what I mean.¡± ¡°I got ya. Thanks for helping out even if it¡¯s not what you want to do. ¡°Ha, even if it''s not what I want.¡± Jebbedo looked at him knowingly. ¡°Getting shit done. It''s what we do.¡± ¡°Hoo yee,¡± Six agreed. They stood in silence for a bit, just examining the building and its fixtures. Then Jebbedo spoke. ¡°You¡¯ve been working like a true believer of Kynairos, Six.¡± ¡°Lot to get done,¡± Six said. ¡°Yeah, but no reason you can¡¯t take a break.¡± Six shook his head, no. ¡°But I need to get shit done, Jebbedo. It''s what we do.¡± ¡°Yea but you also gotta take some time for yourself. Hey, Min, Narhurin, and I play some games every now and then. We¡¯d love to have you out.¡± Six smirked wistfully but shook his head once again. He turned to leave. ¡°I¡¯d love that Jebbedo but making this kitchen was kinda my break. There just ain''t no time. Maybe later.¡± Six could see Jebbedo bite any argument off but it was clear the halfling disagreed. Six did need a break but there was just no natural break between the things he needed to accomplish. Like choosing the evolution that arose from his latest gains. Skill increase: Construction - Apprentice - 20 Apprentice Skill Evolution triggered Workcrew: Gain the ability to create a workcrew, a unified party dedicated to the same project. All Construction related use of mana or stamina is reduced by N*0.5% this buff is applied to all members of the workcrew. Current reduction: 10% Durable Product: Improves the final overall durability of creations made by the user. Provides an increase of N*1% of durability. Current increase: 20% Steady Craftsman: Reduces internal resources spent. All Construction related use of mana or stamina is reduced by N*0.99% Current reduction: 19.8% Beauty of Form: Improved aesthetics of buildings provide a mental soothing effect. Observers of the user¡¯s creations receive a buff that scales in proportion to the building''s quality. General Master: The overall efficacy of the building increases by a N*0.1% current increase: 20% Franklin was already a fine site super and she was training more in construction so they would not lack for people with the Workcrew evolution. Durable Product was simple and effective but the construction skill already scaled durability and Six wanted to build more than just defenses. Steady Craftsman seemed good on first glance but all it truly did was improve his productivity. It allowed him to do more in a shorter time. While that was good, Six didn¡¯t feel the need to rush. Beauty of Form gave another dimension of scaling to his creations but Six didn¡¯t see the immediate or future need for his population to be constantly mentally soothed. It was just kinda cool. General Master was the clear but boring choice, providing a simple but direct increase to the specific outputs of the buildings he created. Widely applicable and strong. Evolution choice imprinted: General Master Technique choice awarded. You gained 100 experience points for reaching Apprentice status in Construction. The technique he chose was called Elemental Infusion. Technique: Elemental Infusion Rank: Minor Cooldown: 10s Range: Melee Performance Time: 3s Duration: Instant Mana Cost: 40 Effect: The user can imbue materials with elemental magic (fire, water, earth, air) to enhance their properties. For example, infusing stone with water magic might make it resistant to heat, while earth-infused wood could become impervious to rot. Elemental infusion could be very powerful when applied correctly. It was another way of controlling and altering the expression of his creations and that only made his future creations more powerful. All in all, a good little bit of growth that would help snowball Mountain¡¯s End future a bit faster. Anyways, he needed to continue with his current objective of security and safety. Big sister was slowly learning and growing but Six knew that surveillance wasn''t enough. He had a pretty sizable martial force between the convicts, towns forces and imperial soldiers, a force of just under two hundred level three folks on average, a decent army in SIx¡¯s opinion when compared to the koatl, goblins, or even Amog¡¯s band. Yet when asked Charles admitted they were nothing when compared to the armies of Olisrosa who most likely had an overall force in the mid thousands, with multiple evolved people. In comparison the imperial legions numbered at just under a million at their peak., with multiple twice evolved people. Six needed just more of everything overall. Making golems for his most loyal would be an easy way to multiply his force but other than that it would have to grow relatively naturally, with population growth, immigration, and criminal service feeding into it. Six didn¡¯t know where to hire mercenaries and he would trust them less than his conscripts. He wanted a section of elite warriors. Thus he would need to create a stream of development that would produce these paragons of force. It would feed all of Mountain''s End best into one stream and they¡¯d see what would come out. The best talent. The best mentors. The best equipment. The best of the best of the best. Still their population was still too small to produce many outliers, most of whom he had access to were going to be just slightly above average on the bell curve. It didn¡¯t matter so much. Resources and levels, training and skills. Those things were what mattered. They would try their best. This was something Six should take a personal interest in and he did so late at night. Enjoying a cup of the local equivalent to hot chocolate and going over the affinity documents of the entire town. He didn¡¯t need to create something standardized, Charles was doing that. Six wanted something special. The affinities before him were people that were already in a combat role or who expressed interest in a combat role. Six was sure there were people with high affinities in combat skills but without the predisposition to battle and combat such the resources spent developing them would be wasted. He wanted people who were willing to walk into danger. His affinity testers didn¡¯t test for everything as each skill added to the overall testing time. They had to pick which skills to look for but there were alot of combat skills and all the magic skills, so Six had a good idea of what a person could do. His vision was of armored spellswords, assaulting across a variety of terrain types. From this he selected his initial draft picks and his farm players. They varied greatly but all were above 95% in a skill Six valued highly. Heavy Armor. That skill would be the unifying factor for the unit he was creating. They would be the vanguard of the avalanche. A concentration of power that would break through any threat that stood in the way of his people. But still. That was not enough. Six knew that although overwhelming martial force was the fundamental basis for peace and prosperity there was yet another form of policy advancement. Assassination. It was historically a very powerful tool of political manipulation, and he needed to begin that clandestine arm of his control. People who could move behind the scenes and manage actors outside his control. People who would give Six plausible deniability. Six approached the one most suited to training such a group. Aclo was shadowing Tavi as usual. When they returned the Tsunken Aelf had taken it upon himself to become Tavi¡¯s protector, and her second in command. The soldiers really cared for that girl. ¡°Aclo.¡± Six said, walking up and getting the man¡¯s attention. He smiled and waved at Tavi. Aclo regarded Six coolly, never having really warmed up to him. ¡°My lord.¡± ¡°I have a new assignment for you.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± They stared at each other for what felt like five minutes before Aclo spoke. ¡°I am happy with my current assignment.¡± ¡°I have need for you elsewhere.¡± ¡°I am best suited here.¡± ¡°Chain of command has determined otherwise. Aclo pursed his lips and almost sneered. ¡°I don¡¯t think chain of command has considered all the-¡± Tavi cut in. ¡°By Kynairos Aclo. I appreciate all the help you¡¯ve been, but you¡¯re reassigned. I can take care of myself.¡± Aclo opened his mouth to argue but a glare from Tavi made him drop it. ¡°Yes¡­ of course. What is my new assignment?¡± Six brought them to a more secluded spot in the village and began to lay out his ideas and vision for the kind of clandestine arm he wished to begin to plant. Six held his hands out, placatingly. ¡°Nothing large of course. Perhaps three to five disciples under you.¡± Aclo sniffed. ¡°You think I should teach them the ways of my clan? Teach them our secrets? My secrets?¡± ¡°Aclo,¡± Six began, keeping himself grounded and his voice gentle. ¡°I am not concerned with such things. You are no slave, but you are a soldier. I will order you to do this if I must. Instead, I ask, I beg you. Please, share your secrets with us, share your strength with us. Help us.¡± Aclo looked uncomfortable, off balance. Yet he agreed with a resigned sigh. ¡°Fine, I will do as you ask.¡± ¡°Thank you. Now, is there anything you need from me?¡± Aclo hesitated but nodded. ¡°I would like more meetings within the mask, I would speak with Master Yanzo, and I would like for the mask to be repaired.¡± ¡°The meetings can be arranged but fixing it may take some time. We lack the expertise here to properly fix the item itself. We will have to bring a master here or find one out there.¡± Aclo was unfazed. ¡°I understand. That is all.¡± The two men parted ways and Six took a moment just to breathe. Only time would tell how these new initiatives would play out but Six wouldn¡¯t stop to see if he was wrong. He knew he would make mistakes. He knew he would have to change things. All that mattered was that they were moving forward. 2.27 Battle Shova, 10th, 10,391 Fuck around and find out. Six whispered. Charles observed Six standing at the front of their army. Observing an incoming group of over 100 bandits and deserters. Six has been frayed recently and was now muttering to himself. He¡¯d been working too hard on improving the town. Grinding himself down like wheat in a mill, Kynairos protect him. Edna¡¯s hunters had caught wind of these Bandits a few day ago, and they had tracked them coming ever closer to Mountain¡¯s End along the river, The hunters had to watch them murder migrants for simple trinkets, it was clear they were a scourge. They were coming for Mountain¡¯s End. Coming to pillage and loot¡­ and worse. Edna reported one of her hunters dying when an analyze check went poorly. Alerting the bandit to the hunter and their location. They chased the hunter down before killing them. They shouted defiance into the forest and told us they were coming. There was no choice but conflict so Charles had decided to intercept them. He left Keegan and most of the imperials back. For defence and as a reserve force. Just in case of any unforeseen circumstances. He left Kali behind as he didn¡¯t want to risk their most proficient healer in a forward position. Instead, Charles called Six in and the lord had put everything aside no questions. Charles knew of Six¡¯s healing capabilities and had him make several life golems that would be controlled by low level but fast scouts and hunters. Between Six and the mobile healing golems They would be able to provide sustain and assistance but be able to retreat from danger easily Six would also be the tip of the spear. Charles respected that. Six had changed so much and Charles could see why the man had been so reluctant to help. Because he gave himself to the goal, to the people. Charles received the signal and quietly began his war ritual. A mass casting of Stone Skin to protect their people in the coming battle He grasped hands with the coven using the skill Six had bequeathed to his enchanters. Then drew upon the power of his class and activated his technique. *** Tavi stood behind Six. The hulking fighter was something of a reassuring presence even if he was muttering to himself. Repeating that coarse saying over and over again. Her father had one very similar. To test is to know. She had been tested, she now knew and she felt herself wanting. Tavi saw similarities between herself and Six. Lost and fearful of the reality they endured. But he moved forward, relentlessly. Why couldn¡¯t she do that? She had almost given up, losing everything like she had, but there he was, an ignorant bumpkin. Gathering power and confidence at a ludicrous speed. It was inspiring She couldn¡¯t stand behind her protectors anymore. She had to struggle too. *** Six waited and listened. His anger leaking out in his quiet mantra, he shut himself up. His heart thumped deep in his chest as the marching column of fuckheads drew closer. The anticipation for the coming battle growing and concentrating into a physiological response.. They were arrayed behind the trees and crouched behind berms or camouflage that Six had quickly grown. His soldiers were ready. Tavi and Oppo stood behind him. Charles even further back oversaw the battle. They were well hidden, the forest was their home and they had come to be comfortable within it. A few of his casters had cast Peaceful Enjoyment to dampen and reduce any chance of sound alerting the interlopers. All they had to do was wait. They heard the trudging and the odd curse echo and mix in with the sounds of the forest. The clanking of the bandits weapons and armor cut through it all though. Foolish to think they could continue unopposed but the morale must be high for them to be so unguarded and brazen. So happy to sow pain, to take that which was not theirs, they had gathered and decided to hurt. Six¡¯s mind seethed. Do unto others as they do unto you. That was, of course, wrong; the actual quote was, ¡°do unto others as you would have done to you.¡± Yet he lived by both. He held both in his mind as equal truths, his own little doublethink. If they didn¡¯t want violence or terror, they wouldn¡¯t create it. Six breathed and pulled himself back from the internal ravenings. Of course, there could be unwilling sheep amongst the wolves of that pack. People pressed into service. Empathy had no place here. Six was tired, and they had already killed one of his. Surrender was not to be offered first. Just violence. It was time. The bandit column had marched close enough. ¡°Kill!¡± Six bellowed and threw himself forward. Unleashing Poh Doh, the giant lumbering golem rising from beneath the earth and moving forth like a wave. His avalanche fell in beside, the beating steps of their charge thudded in his ears. Low thunder, like a rockslide and he was the rolling stone that brought all behind. Looks of surprise passed across the bandits faces ever so briefly before the strongest of them took on stances of defiance. Six smiled a snarl of validation. They stood strong but he would break them. Analyze revealed little, beyond most were low level. Ones or twos, some were even level zero. Six began buffing himself. Zephyr¡¯s Embrace, wind picked up around him, aiding his movement and agitating the air. He flowed ever so slightly better. His people followed behind and into the lesser of the bandits who struggled to adapt to the ambush like their stronger fellows, they would be the easy pickings for his people. Fodder, chaff, food for their growth. Six could focus on the people who meant something. Force Shell, and a scintillating mosaic of reality fractures coruscated across his body. He charged through the makeshift army of already dead men, chainsaw screaming and hissing its anger. He activated his chest plate¡¯s Spiral Exertion enchantment and abrupt, violent rotational acceleration sent everyone sprawling within 10 meters, prone. Helpless. Strength of the Oak, branches and vines burst forth from the joints of his fullplate and wrapped his body in a verdant exosuit, providing stability and strength. Each sweep of his saw''s cutting arc sprayed great splashes of crimson across everything present. Six, the enemy, the world. All coloured a darker shade of red. Vital Surge, and his body pushed itself to live. His heart pounded but he had never felt stronger. Each and every cell of his body was pulling in the same direction. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Triumph surged alongside his buff complex, there would be no stopping him now. The wanton destruction of fodder didn¡¯t last long before someone capable stood before Six, stopping the descent of his blade with theirs. It was a human woman, who held two daggers. She looked scared but pushed in slicing and stabbing at Six, trying to find a gap. He analyzed her. Churli Human Level 9 Someone a bit more developed. Her daggers skittered off the Six¡¯s force shield as he tried to strike her down but she was slippery and contorted away from the screaming saw, only to lunge in and attempt to cut him again. Force Shell was an additional 90 HP at this point and she had barely done 20 damage to it. Six threw elbows and dropped slashes. She dodged it all and came slinking up with a handful of something, then blew it into his face. It burned his eyes and lungs. A debuff popped up, Poisoned1. Six could see his health decline felt pain, ¡°fuck this,¡± he growled, right before he had a bad feeling in his gut and leapt as a flaming arrow exploded where he just was. Shrapnel and fire flying from the impact site. An archer from afar was knocking another arrow and it lit aflame as the man sighted it. Six threw out a Stone Spear and although it disrupted the attack, the archer dashed away, almost a blur, with some sort of maneuver avoiding the attack. The woman returned with her blades but this time Six was ready and released a Earth Wave, the tremendous force stopping her in her tracks and interfering with her perfect balance, putting her off foot. His last Spiral Exertion tore her sideways and made her helpless. Precise Strike Six slashed down and tore through her, bisecting the woman. There was no kill notification so he activated Double Strike and cut through the perpendicular plane. Four chunks of meat hit the ground. Six moved again and with the grace of Zephyr¡¯s Embrace he managed to avoid the archer¡¯s bomb, then another. It didn¡¯t matter though. ¡°Corruption of Xymok!¡± Hissed a dark robed vrill and a slight purple tinge shaded reality shot forward from the vrill¡¯s chest. The projectile bent light towards it and evoked a feeling so ominous Six¡¯s mind blanked for a minute. It passed through Six¡¯s Force Shell and invaded his body and Six¡¯s mind began to melt. The trees loomed, perfect and unknowable in their fractal nature. His enemies towered, faces distorted. Voices began whispering as dribbles of reality rained in his peripherals. It was kinda like a bad trip, one Six would ride past the peak and coast through through sheer grit. Mind¡¯s Edge was active and that boosted the effects of Mindfullness, giving him essentially an additional 80% mental resistance. He could fight through this but it was something that needed to be dealt with immediately. So Six took off sprinting towards the spellcaster. Even through the mental attack Six could read the fear exuding from his new target. The vrill shot out a mana dart and Six caught it with his Gauntlet of Stilling Control, shattering the magical force in his fist. The archer shot another bomb and Six intercepted it with a carefully placed Stone Wall. More Stone Walls to cut off the archer¡¯s line of fire and Six filled the gaps between the old growth trees. The only flying bandit was a little halfling man who had conjured himself a pair of air wings, shooting down at his men with a carefree attitude. Now he aimed his bow at Six. Tumbo Halfling Level 12 How the fuck did he do that? Six¡¯s Unbound Comprehension was failing him, no matter. He wasn¡¯t here to learn. He was here to teach. The mage threw out another mana dart and Six slapped it into pieces. He tried to cast another one but a volley of blood darts from Lump bit into the man and caused him to flinch and miscast. Akat Tsuli Vrill Level 9 The flying halfling looked like a demonic cherub and while Six dodged most of the pot shots he took it was still all too much. Then Six was there, standing before a beast, a monster, something he couldn¡¯t comprehend. But he knew he couldn¡¯t trust his own mind. So he trusted his saw. He swung for the creature and his weapon was halted by a purple barrier, the monster had divine protection. But Six rejected all gods. He held the saw there, full throttle and it bucked a bit but he managed to find the sweet spot to set his saw¡¯s dogs against. The monster before him screamed, his saw screamed, Six was screaming. He reached out and brushed the shield, willing his gauntlet to still this magic. The barrier blew away like dust. The chainsaw continued along its arc and dug deep into the monster¡¯s face and it almost deflated as it died. The mental attack ceased immediately and at Six¡¯s feet was the mangled remains of the vrill mage. Six¡¯s back was hit with an explosion and it sent him tumbling through the air, his force shell shattered and a prophetic vital shield exploding to soak the damage. An arrow punched through the meat of his arm, not enough damage to trigger a vital shield. It stung but the pain was an afterthought. The flying archer was a problem but the dash archer was big damage. Six knew he wouldn¡¯t be able to close the distance with the way the archer dashed around so stashed his saw and withdrew the Wand of Mana Spear, then he began to work his way around the battlefield. Smashing the weak or perforating them with, while positioning his standing stone walls to block the archer. Again Zephyr''s Embrace proved crucial as it made him that much faster and its turbulence ruined arrow flight. The archer dashed up, appearing in an instant almost floating above all the stone walls that blocked his shot and, activating a maneuver, unleashed a volley of explosive arrows towards Six. A bloodcast Force Wave sent the barrage tumbling around him, exploding in the tight melees all around. Both fighters grimaced at the collateral damage but their fight wasn¡¯t done. The destruction brought more attention Six¡¯s way as a muscle bound woman performed a barbarian leap and aimed to crush Six with her landing. ¡°Prepare to DIE!¡± she yelled. Six leapt away, trying to open up a sightline between him and the archer as he soaked the odd falling arrow and dodged the swings of the jagged monster teeth the barbarian lady used as weapons. It wasn¡¯t just that though, the woman bellowed an incantation, ¡°Spirit Animals!¡± Ethereal animals leapt from the woman¡¯s chest, there was a weird monkey thing, a giant toad, and what Six recognized as a bristlehound. They joined their master in the hunt for the enchanter smashing, snapping, and chasing. It was too much and Six couldn¡¯t only dodge and deflect all of it, so he chopped down at the closest spirit with his free hand and activated Still. The weird monkey thing broke down into glowing mist, no longer a threat. It may be a spirit but it was still here by magic and his gauntlet broke its hold on reality, sending it back into the barbarian woman. When the spirit reentered her, there was a change, the woman took on traits of her summon. Her muscles bulged even more, canines extended, and a coarse layer of fur extruded from her skin. ¡°Fuck,¡± grunted Six as he rounded the corner of a stone wall and was but ten feet away from the explosive archer. The man had an arrow nocked and ready. Six cast Stone Spear and at the same time fed a little mana into the wand, sending a force spear hurtling forth. The archer released his arrow and turned into a blur. Appearing right where Six had predicted, the mana spear blasting into the man¡¯s legs and nearly amputating one completely off. He screamed and his body failed him, collapsing to the ground. Six took the arrow straight to the chest, the explosion rocking him backwards and blowing through the last two of his golden Vital Shields, sending him sliding across the battlefield. Six rolled onto his hands and knees before using the last little bit of sliding momentum to stand him up right as the barbarian woman and her spirits closed with him. Deep within Six¡¯s mind something clicked a little further along and he felt close to a new level of magical understanding. He couldn¡¯t spare any attention to the thought as the barbarian led with a powerful forward thrust. She was more powerful now that she embodied her spirit, Six had to decide whether one powerful opponent was more trouble than a three on one. Six traded the wand back for his chainsaw and tried to fend the woman off. She growled and caught his saw on one of her weapons, she resisted the pull of the chain and sparks flew. Her other weapon came around and smashed into the side of his chainsaw bar. She screamed, ¡°Sunder!¡± And his saw bent in half, mangled. No way the chain could run on that. He returned it to his spatial and lifted his gauntleted fists, stopping his retreat and wading in much to the barbarian¡¯s glee. She dropped her salvaged weapons and cracked her knuckles, taking a boxing posture. They traded blows and between each exchange Six Stilled a spirit. He exorcized the bristlehound and the woman¡¯s fur turned into vicious quills, her eyes shifting to a deep yellow. He dissipated the frog and she gained its ridged hide and poisonous slime covered every part of her. Then it was just him versus her. She was good. Applying pressure and whittling away at Six, finding the few gaps in his armor and exploiting her superior pugilism skill. Six was loving it, though, even at a disadvantage he was managing to land a blow here and there, using his Deflect skill to turn the most brutal of attacks. The woman was durable though, she wasn¡¯t slowed by his strikes, in fact they seemed to invigorate her. She smiled and laughed as if the brutal sport was play. She laughed until something loomed above her. Poh Doh slammed its weighty paw across the back of her head, causing her eyes to unfocus for an instant. Six launched his fist forward and drove it into her face. She threw out another wild haymaker and Six Deflected it easily. Poh Doh smashed down again and she fell to one knee. Six¡¯s front kick demolished her face and slammed her backwards to the earth. She spun to her hands and knees but Poh Doh smashed down again, a deep crunch emanating from her back. Her legs gave out but she didn¡¯t stop fighting, dragging herself forward and growling at Six. Six sighed, at the reality of it all. What was her name? Raynair Tuttles Human Level 13 ¡°Well fought, Raynair.¡± Poh Doh lifted both fists and brought them down, crushing her head like a ripe melon. Six a deep breath but that moment was taken by an arrow puncturing his armor and taking him in the back. It was that fucking air user. The flying halfling grinned and made a rude gesture before knocking another arrow. Six grabbed a rock and had Pohdoh lift him up. Six hurled the stone and activated Precise Strike sending the projectile straight at the little fucker who took the rock to the face and lost a bit of altitude. Then Poh Doh threw him at the flyer, it wasn¡¯t enough and the dizzy halfling chuckled as Six came a little too short. Until Six activated his Slypheon Greaves and used all six air jumps, surprising the flyer who tried to make distance too late. Six grabbed the halfling and used his last Still to dispel the wings, dragging the halfling down in freefall. Tumbo screamed and Six bore him into the earth, the impact breaking the flyer''s little body and forcing its fluids from various orifices. Blood, piss, and shit, all leaving the corpse. The fall damage leaving Six at a precarious 61 HP remaining. Six used his Ring of Quickened Minor Heal and placed another Vital Surge upon himself. Then he examined the battlefield and found it firmly under their control, the final few fights being concluded. Six saw Charles and Oppo, wounded but alive. Then he saw Tavi in the middle of a fight, being pressed by a half-aelf spellblade. Six ran across the battlefield in an effort to assist but halted just before interceding. She had seen him coming and stopped him short. ¡°NO!¡± she screamed. ¡°Stay away!¡± He could hear the need in her voice, the raw emotions that communicated she didn¡¯t want his help. She didn¡¯t want anyone''s help. She fought alone, air and fire golems orbiting her as the spell blade lashed her with a conjured waterwhip and slashed precisely with a longsword. She was slowly backed up and chipped away at, piece by piece. She parried the brutal attacks and took the cuts and nics. Barely managing to weave an attack of her own in between her defensive maneuvers. He moved forward and bisected both golems with quick slashes. There were more people of Mountain¡¯s End gathering nearby, watching one of their leaders struggle for her life. A soldier took a step forward and Six held out a hand. ¡°Not until she allows it.¡± he commanded, ordering the man back. Upon giving that order the spellblade lost focus for just a moment, giving Six the side eye. There was no hope there but a dark gleam that promised vengeance. The spellblade began to fight harder, gambling more and more. Still, he returned three hits for every one she dealt. The half-aelf smiled and Tavi began to project consternation. Six was coiled, he was waiting for the instant Tavi asked for help. But it never came. Then the moment where he lost hope. The spellblade broke her guard with a powerful lash of water and took that opportunity to stab her deep through her gut. He smiled, and then screamed Rebuke of Kynairos, Tavi¡¯s spell engulfed the man with burning green flames. He screamed and stumbled back grabbing at his face. Unleashed Muscle, Tavi grew to twice her normal size and grabbed the burnt little man, hurling him against a tree. His body crunching on impact. Dragon Lance Advance! Tavi launched herself forward with her glaive, performing three brutal strikes in quick, near instant, succession. The last a brutal overhead swing that obliterated the man¡¯s head entirely. She collapsed to her knees and Six leapt forward, casting Imbue Life and Vital Surge, then pulling the sword out. Tavi coughed and shuddered a bit but she was going to make it. A grim satisfied expression on her face. Thus the battle ended. They had won but Six felt it too close. It wasn¡¯t enough, what they accomplished. They needed to be stronger. They needed more power. 2.28 Gifts Shova, 10th, 10,391 Six went about, healing the injured and checking his prompts. You have killed level 9 Churli. Experience gained 561. You have killed level 9 Akat Tsuli. Experience gained 561. You have killed level 13 Raynair Tuttles . Experience gained 2221. You have killed level 12 Tumbo. Experience gained 1852. Then came a long list of low level kill notifications. Not something Six was proud of. It was just how things were. He and his constructs had all earned enough experience to level, and he took the opportunity to do so while he cleaned up the battlefield. You have reached level 15, advancement options available. Skill points: 10 Perk points: 55 Stat points: 6 His skill points he wouldn¡¯t touch until they reached twenty or until he had to. Two of his stat points went into strength bringing it to 27. Then one went into Constitution, Luck, Endurance, Dexterity, and Wisdom. Bringing them all up to 53, 28, 14, 13, and 13 respectively. While 55 perk points was enough to get something, the oerk he wanted, Titanic Empowerment, cost 60. So Six would wait until the next level unless some other perk was immediately useful. More prompts, Skill increases: Survival - Initiate - 14 Stealth - Initiate - 13 Perception - Initiate - 16 Elemental Magic - Initiate - 19 Analyze - Initiate - 16 Cycle Magic - Initiate - 14 Chainsaw - Initiate - 13 Blood Magic - Initiate - 16 Blood Casting - Initiate - 18 Heavy Armor - Apprentice - 26 Traps - Initiate - 13 Mindfulness - Apprentice - 21 Unarmed - Initiate - 12 Force Magic - Initiate - 9 Analyze went up by two while everything else went up by one, minor but wide gains overall. It seemed battle always led to a reliable advancement. Training helped but immersing himself in a challenging fray pushed him and yielded results. Athletics hit 20 and with that came a prompt. Apprentice Skill Evolution triggered Choose Skill Evolution? Yes/No? Yes. Defensive Breathing: Breathing is the foundation of life and health. Increases the users natural defense and overall stability while performing athletic movements or maneuvers. Defenses increase by 0.5% per level. Weighted Carry: The user is a master of lifting. Greatly increases the user¡¯s strength while performing lifting or dragging movements or maneuvers. Strength increases by 0.2% per level. Stride: Unbound and free. Increases the user¡¯s speed of movement by 1% per level. Improved Jump: To overcome one¡¯s limits is the essence of jump. Improves a user¡¯s jump by a flat 100% Forest¡¯s Stride: At one with the domain of forest. Greatly increases the user¡¯s speed of movement by 3% per level while in a forest. Six immediately discarded Weighted Carry and Improved Jump. Weighted Carry was only good for moving a lot of stuff all at once, not a priority for Six and he had other ways of accomplishing that. Improved Jump was alright but Six didn¡¯t understand the order of operations between the evolution and his jump bonus from his gear. It could stack very well or not at all. He didn¡¯t want to gamble only to find it was an additive effect. It just wasn¡¯t worth it. Stride was good, simple movement speed transformed into an overall advantage, both offensively and defensively. Forest¡¯s Stride was three times as effective, but only in forests. Six was ok with specializing to a degree but not to the point where he was crippled outside his preferred environment. So if he was to go with either it would be the base Stride. Defensive Breathing was good and synergized with his build mission which was survivability. It would currently give him an additional 10% to his natural defense, which for an unevolved person was half their strength score. Six had 27 strength so that meant he had 13.5 Natural Defense. Was that alot? He compared it to a normal man who would sit around 5 or so and to his chestplate which had 32 defense. Taking Defensive Breathing would improve his 13.5 by¡­ 1.35? Was that worth it compared to a 20% increase in speed? He knew Natural defense would scale 1 to 1 once he evolved and that he would be putting more points into strength as he leveled but would it be worth it by then? He should really write all this math down and look at what the projections would be. This wasn¡¯t the time nor place for such considered deliberation. He was in the middle of healing one of his last soldiers, a bad arrow wound to the woman¡¯s shin. There was a small part of him that wanted to mutter something about ¡®taking an arrow to the knee,¡¯ but there was no energy for that stuff these days. With the last of his people healed, Six moved on to the enemy wounded, considering. If Six evolved and pushed his athletics skill to let''s say, 50. What would it look like then? His natural defense would be at least 30 and the Defensive Breathing bonus would be 25% meaning an increase of 7.5, so 37.5 natural defense which would make him more durable than his chestplate. Or 50% movement speed. This was actually an incredibly hard decision. But ultimately his build was that of utter survivability, a shield, a wall, a sentinel. He shouldn¡¯t be thinking about running. Six selected Defensive Breathing and felt the skill evolution take hold, literally altering the way Six breathed and held himself on a subtle level. The skill now teaching his body the correct posture for optimal sturdiness. Along with the skill evolution came a maneuver selection, Six continued with his build mission and selected the one to synergize the most with his new evolution. Maneuver: Brace Rank: Minor Cooldown: 5 seconds Range: Self Performance Time: Instant Duration: Instant Stamina Cost: 55 Effect: User braces their body for an instant, flexing and guarding with absolute skill, increasing their natural defense by 100+1% per level of Athletics. For a moment Six would be nearly unbreakable. Six was finished with his own progress and emerged from within himself to see himself healing the bomb archer. The half-aelf pale and sweating, clearly in shock but alive. Fear and recognition in his eyes as Six applied a Vital Surge and took the archer¡¯s weapons and bags. Six moved on to the next wounded and returned to consolidating his gains. In this case the gains of his constructs. Poh Doh reached level 11, gaining two points in strength and one in constitution and endurance. The strength increase feeding into his Crystal Skin trait and making him that much more durable. Lump on the other hand reached level 10 and gained four free stat points and the option of a new trait. Six put two stat points into intelligence and constitution, to improve Lump¡¯s magical damage and mana reservoirs. As for the trait, Six was presented with three options. Master Link: The golem gains access and the ability to cast the spells known by its master. Bloodcharge: The golem gains the ability to overcharge spells and their effects through investing more bloodmana into the spell. 1% Overcharge per 3% increase in mana cost. Blood Draw: The golem gains the ability to exert its rudimentary will on living creatures to violently draw the blood from their body. Six immediately knew he was picking Master Link. The near vertical increase to utility was undeniable, opening lump and its formidable effective mana pool up to a variety of spells than just blood dart. A bloodcharged blood dart wasn¡¯t something that Six thought particularly strong, so Bloodcharge just didn¡¯t make sense. Blood draw was just another offensive ability, of which Six had many. Six would prefer the increase in overall casting magnitude than another damage source which Masterlink would also give him. It was Master Link Six felt a small shift in his connection with his subordinate golem and knew it had gained access to his mental arcane library. He tested it on an enemy, Lump bubbling to the surface from underneath his armor and casting Vital Surge into the man at Six¡¯s order. It required no effort beyond the mental prodding on Six¡¯s part. Easy, simple and incredibly strong. Lump grew in an almost indefinable jump in value with this upgrade. There was one last series of prompts. 3/3 samples obtained, Traits obtained, Ork: Racial Ability: Relentless. Gain additional stamina regen per point of END and receive reduced mental resistance per point of WIS. Halfling: Racial Ability: Easy Eyed. Gain additional mobility and precision per point of DEX and receive reduced power output and natural defense per point of STR. 1/3 Bloodwell slots filled. Archive traits? Yes/No? His number of bloodwell slots had increased by one, a result of his improved bloodmagic skill. He had received archival prompts like this before during his forest grinding. Nothing he elected to keep. The discarded bloodlines were of bristlehounds and mountain boars. Both bloodlines were like the ravsnok bloodline and lowered ¡®computational power¡¯ in regards to intelligence; such a sacrifice was antithetical to Six¡¯s vision of the future, ultimately a net negative if allowed into the populace. This time though, Six saw some benefit in filling out the empty slots for the time being. They were good bloodlines for marching or sharpshooting, things that could help his people under the right circumstances and with the right safeties. So he selected Yes and filled the last two empty slots of his bloodwell. He had yet to test the active portion of the moderate blood spell and felt a tad bit trepidation experimenting with the strong magic but he knew it was but an eventuality. So it would pay to have some decent options when he chose to do so. Stolen story; please report. In light of his new musings on natural defense Six considered experimenting with the Ravznok bloodline. If it worked as stated it would give Six 1 natural defense per point of constitution. That equated to 53 extra points of natural defense which would put him well beyond the defense of his own armor. That sounded incredibly strong but the loss of ¡®computational power¡¯ wasn¡¯t something Six was prepared to lose within himself. Not with 12 intelligence anyways. And with that, Six was done with his gains. He was done with healing too. He was exhausted and found a tree to sit down against. Taking a deep steading breath. He looked around and took in the death. Red soil and the tang of copper thick in the air. Bandit corpses being tossed on a small pyre and most of the dead of Mountain¡¯s End being wrapped in shrouds to be brought back for whatever rituals the family required. Those who had no rituals were burned alongside the bandits. By fucking Kynairos, Six wanted to relax, and by that he meant getting lit. blazing it up. Smoking a fucking chonger. He looked down at his blood covered gauntlets and sniffed. He was disgusting. That didn¡¯t stop Nibbler from finding her way to him, making her way up, scrabbling at Six¡¯s helm and trying to pull it off. He unlatched it for her, letting it drop to the ground with a clank. Six smiled at the little creature and went to scratch but the bloody gauntlet gave him pause. Nibbler chittered before nuzzling his hand anyways. There was nothing quite like the simple earnest love of an animal to help a man ignore the brutal indifference of the world. Shova, 16th, 10,391 Six knew he had been neglecting his entire military role as an enchanter in favour of his civic duties as a construction mage. The peaceful nature of the work and the immediately tangible benefits for the village made it incredibly gratifying. Six¡¯s soldiers had performed incredibly well against the bandit army but many of their losses¡­ casualties, many of the casualties could have been prevented with more and better equipment. His enchanters were coming along but none of them had even reached apprentice rank yet. Most of their advantages were slivers of power compared to what Six could produce and it would be years before they could rival his acquired knowledge. Six considered this and decided to split his military enchantment into two streams of development. Experimental and scaling. For his strongest and most promising fighters he would put aside the time and resources to develop something cutting edge and personalized. Something experimental and unique. For the army he would spend an amount of time mass producing low level, military golems. Standardized with sovereign restoration and golem genesis they would be low cost high return investments as they grew alongside the army. Today was an experimental day. He was about to enchant some shit. To that end he spent 25 perk points upgrading his Enchantment Strength perk to rank three bringing its buff to 15% improved efficacy to all of his enchantments. The cost for rank four ballooned to 50 perk points, almost as much as a unique perk. 30 perk points remained, leaving him with just enough for Titanic Empowerment next level. Six, Charles, Tavi, and Biggo began the day gathered at Hodgekin¡¯s leatherworking yard. This was where Six¡¯s first commission was just nearing completion. The enchanter had placed the order a few days ago and Hodgekins refused to work with the chosen leather at first but she still owed him and she was the village¡¯s best leatherworker. She had the pieces of armor arrayed on a table in the yard. All the pieces of a fine set of almost done leather armor. Hodgekins looked miffed, ¡°It¡¯s done yer lordship.¡± ¡°Thank you, Hodgekins.¡± Six said. ¡°You should have never asked me to work with that material.¡± Six sighed. ¡°I didn¡¯t ask you to, I ordered you to. Sorry bout that. Thank you for doing your job. Sorry.¡± She harrumphed but remained ready to finish the pieces. They considered the armor and Six talked about his methods, understanding, and expectations for the coming enchantments. This, while primarily an advancement in power, was also a learning opportunity for his students. Six joined with his coven and drew upon the land¡¯s ley mana. It was a torrential amount and Six enchanted with abandon. The breastplate and bracers were festooned with Runes of Perpetual Resilience, granting durability and regeneration. The leather circlet enchanted with the moderate Rune of Amplifying Nexus. The greaves were altered with the Rune of Cloud and Rune of Jump, creating a lesser version of Six¡¯s Slypheon greaves. The leather gloves held a Rune of Dominate Control, allowing for Charles to amplify, absorb or redirect any spell. It was much the same as Six¡¯s set but better in many ways, a superior set overall especially when you considered its defense of 32 and its extreme light weight. Additionally, Charles had provided a few reagents along the way that gave the armor it own unique quirks, simple things. As Six laid the enchantments down Hodgekins worked with her new orichalum tools, the old set of leatherworking tools, too weak to properly work the material. It was especially hard to work with after Six had Elementally Infused the material with the earth element, but the gains to its durability and defense made that increase in difficulty worth it. Six pushed the enchantments close to breaking, and put every last ounce of focus into not fucking it up. This was life saving gear, for his friend, he needed to do it better than right. So each piece was cared for like the first and overclocked like it was the last. As they finished with the last piece, Hodgekins swore. ¡°Shit, I just made master. By Kynairos.¡± It was a good beginning to the day. Not only did they craft a set of amazing equipment, the village gained a master leatherworker. ¡°Congratulations.¡± Six was a little interested in what evolution and technique choices she would get but felt it too rude to ask. He did analyze her though. Aretta Hodgekins Dwarf Level 2 Level 2 was good for a non combatant but it was unlikely she¡¯d ever get beyond 3 or 4. Six wanted her to get her class but there was basically one way of going about it. ¡°How would you feel about going out on patrols, Hodgekins? Gaining a few levels and making your class one day?¡± ¡°Hah,¡± she laughed. ¡°No sir, not me. I don¡¯t think I want to be anywhere near fighting. Not even if you order me.¡± Six waved it away, she¡¯d already done enough. ¡°That¡¯s fine, just seeing if you were interested.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not.¡± ¡°Yea, I got that. No problem. Thank you for your hard work.¡± She sighed, clearly conflicted between her morals and her skill gains. ¡°Yer welcome, yer lordship.¡± Charles donned his new armor and they admired the make and craftsmanship of it. It fit Charles perfectly and the young man seemed elated with it, a big smile on his face. They left the leatherworkers yard and went to their next place of enchantment, Ravna¡¯s smithy. Inside was an incomplete set of fullplate sized for Tavi. It shone with a crimson sheen, the red truly coming out where the armor caught the light. Air Infused Bloodsteel Fullplate. It utilized a large amount of Mountain¡¯s End¡¯s immortal steel and the rest of the blood branches but the result was a beautiful alloy that emanated a primal power. Six then used his new Elemental Infusion technique to infuse the alloy with the air element, reducing the material¡¯s weight while maintaining its durability and defense stats. He had experimented with the infusion ability on cheap materials with Tavi as they explored options for her setup and the reduction in weight was the trait that interested her most from the gathered results Ravna gave Six a peck on the cheek and they began the final process. Ravna heated a piece up for the last finishing temper, the ideal stage for armor enchanting.Tavi received a similar set of enchantment to Charles with the exception of her helm being enchanted with several runes of resistance tuned to solely mental resistance. She apparently did not care to enhance her spellwork in favour of sheer mental defense. Her choice to make. In each enchantment he added a reagent that Tavi herself provided, altering the final product and introducing little quirks into her kit. The finished armor was better than Six¡¯s on a simple material level and comparable on an enchantment level. Her reagents were not as good but overall, much like Charles¡¯ new armor, Six would think her set a tad stronger than his. Tavi donned the new set and stood naturally in it, the armor well made and imposing. Cool. This was a good exploration of the capabilities of Mountain¡¯s End and what they could produce as a community, defining the production line. Six was happy to see progress in that regard, they were developing more and in more directions everyday. Once finished at Ravna¡¯s they left for the research facility, there was yet more work. They passed by the sealed wings of fire, water, and darkness and entered the earth wing where the enchanters of Mountain¡¯s End practiced. Now was another demonstration but for the entire class this time. He had asked Charles and Tavi to configure their own mana cores for personal golems and they had spent the next few days in conference with their peers and hunched over work. Tavi presented her creation and Six examined her creation. He smiled at the audacity, it was a fine thing indeed. She had configured two elements into the core, a risky move but possible with enough care and skill. Both of her manas, fire and air, resided in the core. The two mixing to form something of a plasma golem? Six was impressed at Tavi¡¯s greediness and willingness to push this first golem to its limit. The air of the chamber would serve as its primary material and they brought the lamps closer to feed it fire. Tavi supplied a reagent, a humanoid brain suspended in a jar. This silenced the excited murmurs of the classroom and ice seeped into the room. This was just as taboo as Six using Amog¡¯s skin, perhaps more. Tavi held it out, almost asking permission. ¡°Where¡¯d you get this?¡± Six asked. ¡°From the mage you defeated. The priest of Xymok.¡± ¡°The black robed vrill?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Six nodded and took the item, before continuing with the enchantment. There was a collective release as Six sanctioned this magical cannibalism. The leader taking responsibility for the acts of the tribe. It made them feel less connected to the deviance. Six channeled mana into the core and brought Tavi¡¯s creation to life. The core igniting and he breathed life into it like a new ember, giving it fuel and watching it bloom into a singularity of blue orange fire. Within it depths there was a face with a slight vrill cast. Six could see intelligence on that face. The golem scowled and Tavi approached it, scowling back and making a connection, establishing her will over the thing. She quickly gained control and brought it to heel. The gathered enchanters clapped and ooh¡¯d at the display. Then Charles presented his core, and Six smiled at the ostentatiousness. Charles had made a split core as well, his of earth and darkness. He¡¯d shaped it like a stallion of shadow with a core of steel. An interesting design. For a reagent the boy supplied the brain of that barbarian Six had defeated. Another flinch from the class at the taboo. Less so this time. Already they became desensitized. Internally Six had a chuckle. They had planned it together, Charles and Tavi using brains. Mundane brains weren¡¯t even particularly strong reagents but the eventual consciousnesses that would emerge must be something the two enchanting initiates had decided on. Taboo be damned they had plans and needed power for those plans. Six smiled and shook his head. ¡°Remind me to tell you of the folly of faustian bargains.¡± They shuttered most of lamps, and created darkness in the room. Not just shadows but corners of completely black. The darkness would feed one half of the construct. Charles provided a strange bluish boulder flecked with gold that would provide for the earth aspects of the golem. Then Six began. He drew out tendrils of darkness and coalesced them around the core that was fusing into the boulder. The physical center quickly becoming obscured by the growing inky blackness that eventually shaped itself into the form of a large void black horse. It reared onto its hindlegs, and looked about before Charles made contact and asserted himself over the construct. Six had done it. He was exhausted, his mind abuzz and tingling under the strain of the day. He began a round of applause for his newly equipped elites. Charles and Tavi were somehow both elated and skeptical of the day¡¯s gains but the cheers of their peers broke them into celebration. Six was satisfied. That was all the focused development he had planned for the day and was about to go make some military golems before he was stopped by Biggo. ¡°My lord,¡± the man rumbled out. ¡°If you have a moment I would ask you a favour.¡± ¡°Sure. Sup?¡± ¡°I would have you know it would be incredibly hard for one such as myself to repay your master services but,¡± then Biggo withdrew a configured mana core and presented it to Six. ¡°Would you be able to enchant this into a golem with your evolutions? Please.¡± Six examined the proffered gem and was surprised to see another rather unique configuration. Pure mana. Such golems were never popular as simple mana batteries could fulfill the primary purpose of a mana golem with a more efficient mana core usage. The golem also often broke when they ran empty on mana, leading to the type being quite situational. But Sovereign Restoration may change how useful such creations were in general. Six was intrigued. Biggo was still a criminal serving his sentence though and Six was hesitant to offer power boosts so freely. ¡°Are you ok with additional restrictions on your access to this golem?¡± Biggo pursued his lip and sighed but nodded gently. ¡°Thank you for understanding, Biggo.¡± Receiving a large increase in mana was like going from a single pistol mag to several extended magazines. It needed to be restricted away from high risk individuals. Biggo, while talented in enchantment, was still serving his sentence for being one of Amog¡¯s bandits and thus was such an individual. He had well over a year remaining and Six wasn¡¯t about to trust him with that amount of power. But rehabilitation was about trust and giving people the chance to join society. If Biggo was trying to scale his ability to contribute rather than kill, well that was something to be promoted. An increase in mana could also be likened to getting a larger excavator or other piece of machinery. It didn¡¯t have to destroy. Six created the mana golem immediately, needing only the mana within him to create it. The construct appeared as a set of resonating force fractals, fractures in reality organized in a series of ever decreasing patterns. It floated about, without physical form but still emanating a sense of arcane power. Biggo thanked Six profusely, assuring him of his loyalty and rehabilitation. Before taking control of the mana golem and putting it to practice and use. It was later that night that Six met with Tavi alone in the leyhall. She entered the meeting room and closed the door. He asked Big Sister if anyone was attempting to spy on them. No, Six. No one is anywhere near. It is just me, should I go away? No. Six thought back. I am trying to share almost everything with you. They sat down against each other, a table between. ¡°I called you here,¡± Six began, hesitating. ¡°You did,¡± Tavi nodded, being a little cheeky but with an undertone of understanding that something serious was about to happen. He cleared his throat. ¡°I mean to ask you. What is your plan?¡± ¡°My plan?¡± ¡°I want to understand you a little better, Tavi. What is your destination?¡± ¡°I want to get stronger.¡± ¡°To what end?¡± ¡°To be strong.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be purposefully dense. This is important.¡± She grimaced and adopted a more serious demeanor before nodding. ¡°So no one can take what¡¯s mine ever again¡± Six tapped the table, ¡°What did you lose?¡± ¡°Nothing,¡± She looked guilty, like she lied. ¡°My lands, my people, my responsibility.¡± Six grunted. ¡°You have none of that here.¡± She looked up at him, pissed. ¡°Not so. I have people, I have responsibility.¡± Six held out a hand, contrite. He nodded apologetically. ¡°I misspoke. Do you plan to stay?¡± ¡°I do.¡± she said, resigned. ¡°Why so glum? What''s this place for you?¡± ¡°Somewhere for the new me to grow. The old Tavi died, I am whats emerged. And I¡¯m glum because death is always a bit dark.¡± ¡°I feel that.¡± She smiled, bittersweet. ¡°My old home is gone. Everyone I knew, grew up alongside. All dead. I know people here. This is my new home.¡± ¡°Think you can stand me being the boss?¡± ¡°I see what you¡¯re doing Six and I must say you work harder than any of the nobles I saw growing up. What I had is dead, this is nice for what my life could have been. I give myself to fate.¡± Six felt a chill at those last words, he wasn¡¯t much for ¡®signs¡¯ but if there ever was one. ¡°I have something for you. Something I had kept a secret.¡± ¡°Oh? Who knows about it?¡± ¡°Me, Jebbedo, and now you.¡± ¡°Jebbedo? The rogue turned cook?¡± Six pulled out the large glass jar that contained Amog¡¯s heart floating in honey based preservative. He put it on the table between them. Tavi covered her mouth. ¡°Oh. What in Kynairos¡¯ name is that? Is that a heart?¡± Six nodded. ¡°It''s a heart.¡± ¡°Why do you have such a thing?¡± ¡°It''s a powerful consumable.¡± That made her pause and look at it with a less disgusted, more considered gaze. ¡°It looks like a human heart,¡± she remarked. ¡°Humanoid,¡± Six clarified. She sighed, and pulled the jar closer. ¡°Why not give this to Charles? Or eat it yourself?¡± ¡°Two reasons. Firstly, I believe this will boost some sort of physical stat, so its improvement will most likely synergize with a brawler or skirmisher type. Charles is long range damage and command, you are more suited to melee and close combat. Thus, you are the more synergistic choice. Secondly, Charles is going to leave sometime after he evolves. Level 20 or 25, something like that. So I¡¯d prefer f-¡± ¡°What? Charles is going to leave?¡± ¡°Eh? Yea.¡± ¡°He hadn¡¯t told me.¡± ¡°He keeps things pretty close to the chest that kid.¡± ¡°I cant believe he was keeping that a secret?¡± ¡°What? You dont have any secrets you don¡¯t wanna share?¡± She got his point. ¡°Anyways¡± he said, slapping the table. ¡°I have my reasons for not taking it that I don¡¯t believe you share.¡± She seemed dubious of it. ¡°It''s dangerous for you but not dangerous for me?¡± ¡°If I didn¡¯t already have said reasons I would eat it in a second.¡± Six said, straight faced. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°I think it would make me stronger.¡± ¡°You think?¡± She asked, more for reassurance. ¡°I do.¡± She sighed but nodded. Many things in this life were not guaranteed. ¡°You are planning to stay with Mountain¡¯s End?¡± Six asked again. She nodded. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Then it should go to you. Your progress and loyalty should be recognized.¡± She looked at the jar and sighed before looking at Six. ¡°Do you have to watch me eat it?¡± ¡°I want to stay just in case anything bad happens. If you want, we can get Kali Kik or Celine to watch over you. Anybody really.¡± ¡°Kali sounds great, thank you.¡± Six nodded and left Tavi alone, sending a town guard off for Kali Kik. The vrill woman showed up near immediately and shook her head in disappointment when Six gave her a vague explanation of what she should expect. ¡°I trust you to do whatever needs to be done to protect her.¡± That made her scowl. But she left to watch over the young woman and her trial. Six sat on a bench that had been placed infront of the townhall and watched the nightlife go about the village square. Two bonfires burned with sparse crowds surrounding the blazes. Simple folk going to and from the makeshift taverns that were built onto the side of the longhouses. A light din of music and laughter emanating from the places. It wasn¡¯t really much but it was something. Six people watched until Tavi emerged from the leyhall with Kali Kik providing a steadying hand. Six could feel the change already, there was a lesser beat of that familiar resonance between him and Tavi, the connection between threadlings. She stumbled a step, caught herself, and stood tall. She looked Six in the eye. ¡°Thank you for the gift. It''s called. Elevated Barrier. My natural defense has increased by 300%.¡± Six grinned at her triumph. ¡°Nice.¡± 2.29 Noble Cause Shova, 19th, 10,391 Alyx looked upon the village of Mountain¡¯s End, growing alongside the lake bank. Her sister had chosen well. She glanced back at her guards and servants, the retinue provided by her parents. She inspected their readiness and judged them prepared. They all stood upon a sleek river ship captained by a zleenish orc called Jeffums. Alyx had inquired amongst the surviving nobility of Olisrosa and Kenneth of house Truemar told her of two captains, Elyria, and Jeffums. Captains who knew the proper waterways. The river was flanked by thick ancient forest that created a green corridor of majestic nature. It was a different beauty compared to the rolling hills of the core of the empire where the Lamoras hailed from. Her sister had extended their reach to this backwater and then promptly lost it. It was to be expected of one with tsunken blood. Alison was never meant to lead, it had been proscribed by the emperor. Yet she wrested control of this quaint village under Carralevine¡¯s leadership, she would have never thought her sister capable of such things but the emperor¡¯s death had brought out the worst in most people. It didn¡¯t really matter. Alison was dead and Alyx saw a chance to rectify a mistake of fate and lift herself to her rightful position. The world had gifted her and her two remaining sisters with a quest, You have been offered a quest: Retake the village of Mountain¡¯s End I Alison Lamora has fallen and her village, Mountain¡¯s End, is now ruled by Amog. Find Mountain¡¯s End amongst the Deathspire forest and retake the village from the bandit lord. Rewards for Accepting: None Rewards for Completion: Control of the lands of Mountain¡¯s End and its riches Voluntary Spiritual Energy Relationship Fame Clout Time Limit: None Penalty for Failure: None Do you Accept? Yes or No? It had sparked a mournful discussion amongst the family. Her mother, Alaine, cried the most for her daughter. Alyx and her sisters were shaken but sad? They hadn¡¯t looked at Alison quite the same as they had different fathers, Alison''s being an aelf of all things. That had changed things, had placed a barrier between them all that mere sisterhood could not overcome. Alyx was a noble. Alison couldn¡¯t be. It was a wall that seemed impenetrable. Soon after that notification they received another. You have been offered a quest: Retake the village of Mountain¡¯s End I Amog has fallen and your family¡¯s village, Mountain¡¯s End, is now ruled by Six. Find Mountain¡¯s End amongst the Deathspire forest and retake the village from the golem lord. It had changed. Now instead of bandit lord Amog, Golem lord Six ruled there. Her parents forbade her and her younger sister from even attempting the trek there. It was ridiculous. As a level 17 Aylx was at a level of power one could consider as elite, but they still expressed trepidation at her ability to survive outside the estates. They trained her in the blade, they trained all their girls in the blade. They should know her skill! Infuriating. It took just over three months to convince her parents to allow her the attempt and even then they forced her to take a small segment of the house soldiers with her. And a few retainers. The retainers she would have brought regardless but it was foolish for her to take the soldiers. They were needed at home, back in the core, to protect their borders. The soldiers would contribute little here and would only serve to slow her down. They would only die should it come to a large scale conflict, which was something she would work to prevent. She took them to appease her mother and father and left. Travel out of the core was riddled with beggars and thieves, the odd group of a few bandits. Alyx handled them easily with her family¡¯s soldiers at her side, it was good training for the eventual confrontation that the quest was leading to. There were some detours and delays but after almost two months of travel they arrived. Jeffums called out in a low rumbling voice. ¡°Mountain¡¯s End.¡± The new people that were coming here crowded around trying to get a look inside the walls. Jeffums brought them to a dock that sat just outside the eastern gate of the village palisade and let the travelers disembark. A few small-time merchants were allowed to remain aboard and when questioned about it Jeffums told her they were, ¡°verified members of the Gunnbjorn Trading Association.¡± She was not and thus her and her entourage thanked the surprisingly competent orc and his crew before leaving the fine ship and truly observing the people of her village. The people bustled about with purpose and drive. There were fewer humans here than she was comfortable with but other races had always been part of the Empire, this outpost should be no different. There were strange constructs that floated about, stone pyramids the size of men with a large eye etched at their apex. They were a bit alien but only the newcomers paid them any mind. Alyx recognized them for what they were, ley workers. She had seen these when her family visited Zleen, albeit in a different aesthetic sense as the Zleenish ley workers appeared as giant stone hands that jutted from the ground, sliding about and bringing things to and fro. The other constructs were what amazed Alyx. Golems of earth lurched about carrying materials under the watchful gaze of villagers. The powerful creations working together with labour to build the village up further, outside the palisade. Such creations were expensive to create and expensive to run, yet there were three in the hands of common carpenters and masons. The mana core expenditure hurt her heart to consider, these people were wealthy. She looked to her mage and could see the gears turning in their head aswell. The robed woman looking about at the fantastical backwater with a calculating gleam. They headed for the east gate and joined the line. Normally, her status as a noble would entitle her to skip such lines but for information gathering reasons she wished to remain unobtrusive and forgettable. ¡°Name?¡± the greying human guard asked. ¡°Alyx.¡± You have resisted an Analyze She¡¯d ranked up her Duelists Awareness perk enough for it to point her attention in the direction of the old man. She took no offense, it was part of a guard¡¯s job to investigate the comings and goings, Analyze was a good tool for that. She expected the guard to ask her to submit to the analyze but he just pursed his lips and nodded. ¡°Nice to meetcha. Why are you and yours here today?¡± She pointed west. ¡°We are just passing through. Be gone in a few days to the Kingdom of Harmony. We have business with Chieftain Krolgur.¡± The guard lifted his eyebrows in surprise. ¡°Ah, quite a ways west that is.. Stopping by is fine. There¡¯s one inn in Mountain¡¯s End but if you want to sleep somewhere magical I¡¯d suggest trying to get a room in one of the trees near Blackmine. If you need anything, find Lady Root and she¡¯ll get you set up. Keep your weapons and wands sheathed, no killing, standard imperial laws basically.¡± ¡°Basically?¡± that implied they weren¡¯t being followed properly or completely, not surprising on the frontier. ¡°The lord changes things here and there. Mostly about simple things though.¡± ¡°Not lady Root?¡± ¡°Nah, she gets people organized for the lord''s plans. Kinda like his steward.¡± The guard pointed at three people in line behind their group and thumbed behind him, sending them in. ¡°Plans like what?¡± Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°The newest I think is ah¡­ what they call it. The anti littering bylaw. Cant just be tossing things on the ground anymore.¡± He spits. ¡°Somehow that''s OK but I can''t piss or toss my broken crap where I want anymore.¡± Altx felt a rush of envy. ¡°What is the lord of this place called?¡± ¡°Lord Six we call im. E used to just be Six, never really talked about his proper title. Odd calling a man a number.¡± ¡°Yea. He sounds interesting.¡± Six was her target but looking at this town she wasn''t sure if it was possible for her to remove him. Guard shrugs. ¡°Well, you seem alright and the line must flow. Thank you, my lady.¡± She entered the village and began her reconnaissance, walking the town and looking for weakness. Instead she found wonder, the village was more than it seemed. The people were happy and calm compared to the constant dread that existed in the core. The constant struggle for resources and safety. There was less competition out here and they were flourishing. They had a small barracks and she saw soldiers wearing faded imperial fatigues training on the sands infront of the building. Deserters given a home most likely. There was blasphemy everywhere. The worship of gods other than Kynairos. Kel, Baimoto, even Xymok had small temples going up. Laughing children were corralled by minders who had classes underneath a gigantic awning. A school for village children was almost unheard of. Then she entered the town square and saw it. The townhall was most enthralling. It stood near the edge of the lake, fishing boats wobbling on the waters. A deep red log built structure with near black shingles, it almost shone glossy crimson. Someone had used a reagent in its construction and it must have been a good one to produce such a pronounced visual effect. People loitered in the hard packed dirt square, bartering and arguing. Above them, reaching for the sky were two gorgeous trees that flanked the structure. One of purple. One of crimson. Her mage gasped, only to lean in a whisper. ¡°That''s a blood tree, such things are banned for their danger. This man is either stupid or powerful.¡± Or perhaps ambitious? Alyx had wanted her bloodright more and more as its bounty was revealed. She wanted these trees too. This Six was bold but risky. Perhaps she could use his hubris and thirst for power. To create such a danger like the blood tree, to dole out the power of these golems and summons so freely. It showed a lack of noble foresight and responsibility. Something that would separate them in time. Her party got rooms at the only inn, a place called Jebbedo¡¯s. She was the third patron of the inn that was built on the side of one of the largest kitchens Alyx had ever seen. The other two were lesser merchants that told her of Gatbark Gunnbjorn, the local trade master, the only one worth doing business with as the Lord was too busy. ¡°Too busy?¡± Hunting or playing with the local women perhaps? The merchants nodded. ¡°The Lord Six has added much work to this little settlement. Such things and additions not usually seen in a mountain village. Why just the sewer is world class, not to mention the kitchen or the townhall. When it ranks up it will be interesting to see the Focus choices available to such a settlement. If these people make it that far.¡± The wonders on display did indeed make them vulnerable, Alyx¡¯s own avarice was evidence of that. All it took was one wandering monster to bring this all down. Perhaps that was her. Later on in the night Alyx had a chance to speak to the innkeeper himself, Jebbedo, a grizzled wiry halfling, his black hair peppered with salt. She asked him about the short history of Mountain¡¯s End. He¡¯d been a soldier of the empire and his adventures during the sundering led to his group asking Alison for acceptance and shelter into their more productive but martially weaker group. Jebbedo had never met Carralevine and had only known Alison to be a relentless leader. They¡¯d been waiting for the return of Lady Detair and her entourage but only Lord Six came down from the mountain. They had died and he had come to inform Alison of their passing.¡± ¡°And she believed him?¡± Jebbedo chuckled. ¡°It''s easy to tell when the Lord is lying if he likes you.¡± She remained dubious but allowed the halfling to continue his tale and when the halfling reached the part when Alison died, she could see genuine sadness on his face. By now locals had filled the place up and one eavesdropper lifted her foaming mug. ¡°To Alison!¡± ¡°To Alison!¡± the room chorused back, Jebbedo clapping the bar. The people loved her and her memory. ¡°Yessir,¡± Jebbedo continued his tale, ¡°Amog was terrible but the Lord came down from the mountain and led almost fifty of them away. We all thought he was dead, Amog and a small army of bandits behind him. Then, he came down alone, tired but alive. He bellowed his terms at the palisade and made no negotiation but declared an ultimatum to the remaining bandits. Total surrender.¡± ¡°So he gambled with your lives?¡± Jebbedo made a face and shrugged. ¡°I¡¯ve been sent into riskier situations. It wasn¡¯t a gamble to him, just¡­ what was going to happen.¡± ¡°That sounds chilling.¡± ¡°I think that¡¯s why he works so hard to bring us to a good life.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± ¡°Guilt is a sign of a good heart.¡± The innkeeper said. That was a verse of Kynairos prose, something not intended for nobles rather the common folk. Prose for people like Alison. She hadn¡¯t the love of a true sister to Alison, half aelf and all, but she did love her in a lesser way. It had been hard to hear of how she passed, and how easily this Six could have prevented it. It was the day after that she found him. She had decided that talking was the only realistic course of action. She didn¡¯t want to hurt her people or damage her town. She was outnumbered and her family wouldn¡¯t be able to send any significant force this way in any meaningful amount of time. Killing Six might allow her to gain control of the townhall but she didn¡¯t know the capabilities of those here and she could lose it just as easily if they refused her authority and right of blood. So she found the lord, a local kid bringing her and her party to him. He was before the townhall demonstrating a large six legged golem to a crowd of workers. It was made of stone and had two pendulous arms that hung from its front. Its body seemed to be an open vessel, deep and wide. The top of its head was shaped as seating, a place to ride it. It had a cat''s face, impassive but very cute. Its sides, front, and back were painted with a band of highly visible orange and black checkers. Overall a strange thing. The Lord was young, about her age so he had no right of experience. He wore simple armor but it was clearly enchanted. Oozing magic and slightly glowing with runic power. Reagents had shifted it here and there but what they were Alyx couldn¡¯t tell. He was tall and well built, the beginnings of a scraggly beard coming in. Six spoke to the small group of gathered villagers about his creation, he was training them. ¡°This is for collection of the village¡¯s waste. Your work consists of piloting one of these around and not fucking anyone or anything up. Now these are the operation procedures and safework practices I expect to see. My lovely lady Ravna made these,¡± he said, holding up strange vests layered with yellow stripes. ¡°This is part of something called P.P.E. ok guys? Personal protective equipment and I wanna see you wearing it.¡± A tiny scribe woman trailed behind him transcribing his words. Alyx milled about and pretended to peruse the various vendors of that morning. There was not really a bazaar or market but people had set up tents and carpets in the dirt square before the trees. Smoked meats, fresh vegetables, trinkets, and tools. One woman sold fabric made from local moss, dark green and wool-like. Six continued his training. ¡°Now you shouldn¡¯t be out past 5 but if shit happens, and it does, before it gets dark you¡¯ll wanna deploy this. Six reached into a compartment near the seating of the cat-golem thing and withdrew a wand. He activated it and an orb of light manifested above the armored man. ¡°You can¡¯t be driving without your Luminous Beacon on. Mmkay? Alright guys now this is how I want you to drive this thing.¡± The young lord hopped atop the large golem in a single bound, surprising Alyx with his mobility. She bought a meat pie while Six drove the thing around showing his workers how to pick up the ¡°trash cans¡± and empty them in the golem. He then supervised his drivers as they gained some practical experience, shouting his thoughts as they occurred. ¡°You said you used to drive carriages, man! What was that?¡± ¡°You gotta look behind you when you reverse! Do you wanna kill someone?¡± ¡°Nice wide turns and easy stops, good job, Bolo. We treat our tools nicely.¡± It was mid day when he had judged them safe and competent enough to send his ¡°garbage men and women,¡± off to continue their practice alone. It was then she approached him, her retinue behind. But as soon as she stepped forward a figure appeared to block her way. They were tall and covered in dark leathers, a dagger was in one hand and a glittering shortsword in the other. He wore gloves and a smooth white mask, one crack running the length of the porcelain facade. It obscured any identity from the man, any humanity. A cold voice emanated from the figure, imperious and biting. ¡°And what business do you have with the lord?¡± Her guards surged forward and the figure shot into a guarded stance. She watched his movement and knew he was good but she was better. She analyzed him. Aclo Yudinzo Tsunken Aelf Level 15 Threat: Moderate He was threat level Moderate while being under her at only level 15? That indicated an advantage or two in his favour. Something which disturbed her as her gear and training was top quality for a noble of houses stature and she was of a higher level. Wait. Yudinzo? Yudinzo was the usurper¡¯s name and this man was a true tsunken aelf. Juthe-Wei Yudinzo was sitting in Zleen pretending to be emperor. Could this mean his family was on the frontier solidifying control already? Was their plan so complete? She couldn¡¯t be sure, but it made her mission all the more important. ¡°I mean to speak with Lord Six,¡± she spoke the truth. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°For he has something that belongs to me.¡± The man in the porcelain mask scoffed and twirled his dagger lazily. ¡°I do, do I?¡± asked the young Lord, sauntering over. He only got so close before the masked man held up an arm and warded him no further. Six waved a dismissive hand but heeded the gesture. Alyx gathered her courage as more people began to stare. This was all part of her plan, speaking in front of others was still stressful though. ¡°Yes, for you should not be the ruler of Mountain¡¯s End.¡± The man looked confused for a moment, crossing his arms and cocking his head. ¡°Who are you lady?¡± Her herald stepped forward and proclaimed her true identity to the growing crowd. ¡°May I introduce her lady Alyx Lamora, First of her cohort and Classed Noble of the Zleenish Empire.¡± The crowd gasped at her name, the connection between her and Alison apparent immediately. Six nodded and waved. ¡°Hello, Alyx, I¡¯m Six. What are yo-¡± ¡°No.¡± the porcelain masked man interrupted. ¡°No what?¡± Six asked. ¡°Elara, please introduce our lord.¡± ¡°No that not ne-¡± Elara¡¯s tiny voice sang out over her lord¡¯s ¡°MAY I INTRODUCE HIS LORDSHIP. SIX, MASTER ENCHANTER, SLAYER OF AMOG¡­¡± She bowed and gestured to the armored man. ¡°CLASSED NOBLE LORD OF MOUNTAIN¡±S END.¡± The crowd clapped, a few cheered. They were genuinely happy. She didn¡¯t know if she could sway people so content, it was hard to manipulate their feelings to something useful. Alyx tried to analyze the lord who stood there awkwardly but it failed. His lack of reaction seemed to indicate he didn¡¯t have any perks related to skill detection but the failure of her skill was a threat indication in of itself. Porcelain mask gestured for them to proceed, waving his dagger in a hurry up motion. She went to start but Six broke in. ¡°Lamora? What, you think Mountain¡¯s End is yours because of some familial connection?¡± ¡°I do,¡± Alyx said imperiously, this man did not speak like a noble and it irritated her to be interrogated by one of his station. One so obviously common. ¡°What would you call that? Right of blood?¡± Alyx was surprised that he actually got that and she accidentally let it show. He smiled at her admission. ¡°You know why I think I deserve to lead Mountain¡¯s End?¡± She shook her head. She didn¡¯t really care as nothing was legitimate but she was curious. ¡°Right of conquest. I fought for this place, killed alot of people.¡± This fool thought that meant anything when compared to imperial mandate? She didn¡¯t care that he was a killer. ¡°You had no right to conquer imperial lands, regardless if they were being held by a bandit.¡± Six facepalmed and Alyx could feel his condescension. ¡°The empire is dead and I¡¯m getting tired of having to argue with a fucking ghost. I don¡¯t recognize your zombie state. It''s fucken dead. Dead.¡± ¡°So would you respect my claim if I conquered this place?¡± Alyx asked bluffing. ¡°You would bring devastation here?¡± Six asked, serious. She deflected, pushing him in that way courted danger she felt. ¡°These people are to be ruled by a Lamora, it was supposed to be a Lamora.¡± ¡°No. It was supposed to be Carralevine De¡¯tair ruling here. Alison took the responsibility upon herself to lead and protect these people and it got her killed. Not you.¡± He was implacable. ¡°That is irrelevant as I''m sure the people would feel better with a true imperial leading them. Thank you for your time as regent but a Lamora has come to fix your strange choices like allowing people to worship freely.¡± A woman called from the crowd. ¡°We should vote to see who we want. Six shouted. ¡°Eh, shut the fuck up Kathy, by motherfucking Kynairos. Can¡¯t you see I¡¯m doing something here?¡± The man could control people well, it was actually somewhat admirable what he was doing. She smirked. You would bring trouble by holding onto this place. Already it comes from within. ¡°I will never let go, I am already in the dirt of the land.¡± He spoke those words with fervor. ¡°And if it kills you?¡± ¡°So be it.¡± She believed him. That left two more routes she could go. ¡°What about marriage? I could make your claim legitimate,¡± she asked. It would then be easy to kill him during his sleep or with poisons as his wife. His eyes glazed over and he seemed to mutter a mantra. ¡°No thank you, I have a girlfriend.¡± Fuck. So, it had come down to fighting all along. There was one last way she could undermine him, perhaps even kill him. She shouted with theatre for all to hear. ¡°Then I challenge you to a duel for leadership of this village. Duel me and I won¡¯t go to war with you. I won¡¯t bring my family¡¯s armies to right this wrong. Duel me now and we can settle this.¡± She could see Six consider. The machismo of the man¡¯s simple brain would not be able to handle such a simple challenge, especially from such a feminine woman like Alyx. ¡°No.¡± ¡°No?¡± She didn¡¯t understand. ¡°No.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°There is nothing for me to gain from it.¡± ¡°Nothing? What about honor? What about pride? Face?¡± ¡°Immaterial and not important. I would not bet the village against my ego. That is duuuuumb.¡± He didn¡¯t take her bait and she hadn¡¯t really expected him to, betting entire lands on a duel wasn¡¯t unheard of but only with equal stakes. Still a part of her wished. ¡°Fine then duel me for pride, duel me to demonstrate your competence as a ruler, as a conqueror. I will show you and your people who you truly are.¡± She wouldn¡¯t take this settlement today, but defeating and humiliating their leader would plant the seeds of doubt within its people. Doubt she would eventually leverage. ¡°Duel me you coward.¡± ¡°Just to be clear, dueling with no stakes other than pride?¡± Six asked, curious. ¡°Yes.¡± The lord looked to his porcelain wearing guard. The masked man gave a non committal shrug but nodded. Six clapped his hands together and gave her a chilling grin. ¡°So be it. What are the rules? Let''s do this.¡± 2.30 Duel Alyx experienced a stab of uncertainty. Six seemed confident and eager, which either meant he was dangerous or bluffing. She didn¡¯t know if he was lying or not. The words of the halfling came to mind, did Six like her? Probably not, which meant he could be deceitful. Still, how dangerous could this mountain lordling be? It seemed his ignorance was the most dangerous aspect of him. ¡°Rules?¡± Alyx sighed. ¡°Imperial standard dueling rules. No killing, to surrender or when one party can no longer fight..¡± ¡°What about maiming?¡± She laughed at his ignorance. ¡°Allowed.¡± He whistled low, cocking his head and looking thoughtful before nodding enthusiastically. ¡°Hell yea.¡± He pointed at a nearby townguard, ¡°Go get Kali Kik, and the rest of the officers. My healer and a counter force to make sure your people stay out of it,¡± he said to Alyx¡¯s questioning glare. It was to be expected but she took the social stab. ¡°Are we not surrounded by your forces? Are you not safe, even here?¡± She aimed to take away his credibility as a protector. He smiled and ignored the jab. ¡°Nah, eh. I¡¯ve been jumped before, it can happen in an instant. I want my people here.¡± ¡°Do you not trust us?¡± Mage Atellia asked, the robed woman stepped forward to stand next to Alyx. ¡°Who are you to call into question our honor? Show me your imperial mage license.¡± ¡°I don''t have a license, I''m just traveling, and it''s not about honor. It''s just hard to stand by and do nothing while your lady is getting styled on. I would expect you to step in based on friendship and loyalty? I want my people to counter that, maybe even save my life if I lose and you wont stop whooping my ass.¡± ¡°So you already think you will lose?¡± Alyx asked with a derisive sniff. ¡°Might be in for taking some lumps. We shall see.¡± He shrugged. ¡°There are no stakes so it doesn¡¯t matter who wins. ¡± ¡°You have no pride. No honor.¡± ¡°Yes yes, I wouldn¡¯t put my ego before my people.¡± He went the route of the martyr, a powerful tactic, she needed to deflect and attack. ¡°Your people or Yudinzo¡¯s people?¡± That actually made him pause. ¡°State your implications clearly, for all to hear.¡± ¡°Can you not understand me? Do you lack that much grace?¡± ¡°I lack grace? Your insincerity is utter disgrace.¡± ¡°I am sincere.¡± Alyx smirked. ¡°Then speak clear.¡± He crossed his arms and cocked his head expectantly. She executed her social stab. ¡°You are a puppet under the control of Aclo Yudinzo.¡± She pointed at the masked man The people chattered as they learned the true identity of the porcelain wearing aelf. Whispering amongst each other and gesticulating their surprise. Six smiled. ¡°A big claim to level at someone.¡± ¡°Do you not deny it?¡± ¡°I do, but let us assume for a moment it was true.¡± He raised his arms out to the murmuring crowd. ¡°Would anyone want anything to change If I were the puppet of Aclo? Would I somehow be able to work harder than I¡¯ve been? Contribute more? Were I not my own man?¡± The people were quiet. ¡°They would never speak against their tyrant.¡± Alyx scoffed. ¡°Indeed,¡± Six agreed, almost sadly. Alyx was confused for a second ¡°You agree?¡± ¡°I have an immense amount of personal, political, and legal power compared to anyone here. Why would anyone speak out against me?¡± That woman shouted from the crowd again, ¡°Because, unlike these traumatized countryfolk I can see that you won''t kill us for speaking out against you.¡± ¡°I swear to Kynairos, Kathy. Please stop.¡± Six actually sounded a little defeated. Alyx saw the lady cross her arms and purse her lips with great effort. Six continued. ¡°I bring all I can to the table, as much as I can everyday. You think people care about where it fucking comes from?¡± ¡°They do,¡± Alyx said, ¡°their hearts would tell them what is right and what is wrong.¡± ¡°For a moment, just a moment of consideration. But convenience? Convenience is more important than consideration. They might care for a few days that their lord is a puppet, but that would fade as the conveniences become more important and real than their source. My culture is littered with history and tales that paint it so. I am too ingrained in maintaining this unique way of life.¡± Now he spoke like a noble, there was more than the simple man covered in plate before her. He was right of course, bread and games to pacify the people was almost required. She knew better than to say that so she spoke to the crowd, ¡°people are better than you think.¡± ¡°Few walk away from Omelas.¡± Meaningless words to her that visibly hardened him, the life and mischief behind his eyes withering into abject rage. She continued. ¡°Morals and tradition will point them to me. No soothing salves, no crumbs of bread you litter. The world is supposed to work a certain way..¡± Six smiled, grim and fatalistic. ¡°The spice must flow.¡± She didn¡¯t understand the meaning of his words, no one did, but they all felt the gravity. She grasped at all she had left. ¡°It is sin to allow you to rule. I am the rightful ruler of this place.¡± He shook his head, no. His whisper rolling across the gathered crowd. ¡°The only sin in this world is not protecting what you have.¡± He sounded so dead and sported a wry smirk that evoked no humor. It was then a sliver of worry lodged itself at the base of her neck. Then his officers appeared. A young orc, who styled himself as an imperial wearing fine leather armor. He rode the strangest horse she had even seen. Pitch black it seemed to consume light, with its eyes just a hint of burnished golden colour. A well muscled K¡¯gan who reminded her of lord Kreegan of Vlehull. A half aelf with what must be an imitation of the empire¡¯s dark dragon plate, yet¡­ An aelf who wore a cape of moss and armor of pleated bones. He plucked and sawed an irreverent tune on his fiddle. A frilled vrill in pure white flowing robes. A burn marked her face but only peace and serenity was presented. A young human man, she actually recognized. Indigo Gwenwyn, one of the empire''s most eligible bachelors and a classed alchemist. His parents were staunch loyalists, so what was he doing with the betrayer¡¯s brother? Lastly, a human woman with compact muscles and features that sang to her innate nobility. She wore armor similar to the mountain lord¡¯s, but gleaming crimson. A bandolier held a glaive on her back and potions on her front. A glowing fiery wisp orbited her letting out periodic jets of hissing. The vrill healer looked irritated when Six explained he wanted her on hand to heal the most grievous injuries but she agreed to the request. The crowd made way standing at the edges of the square as Alyx and Six took up the center. Her analyze attempts continued to fail and it was met with a few failures from him. They were both going into the unknown and she found it¡­ disconcerting. She had, of course, fought and killed, but always surrounded and ensconced within her family''s power. Her duels were within court and sand pits, controlled and relatively safe. Freedom from her family''s guidance had produced a vulnerability she realised. She may have made a mistake, coming here. She might not be ready. Tukar¡¯s drilled voice broke those thoughts down though. ¡°Self doubt will kill you,¡± he¡¯d said. She found it hard to ignore though. ¡°Trade analyzes?¡± Six asked. ¡°What?¡± she asked, coming out of her thoughts. ¡°You let me analyze you and I¡¯ll let you analyze me.¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t trust a man with no honor.¡± ¡°Oh, I have honor of a sort, which is why I rejected your agreement instead of accepting and reneging if I lost. I just don¡¯t think it''s a big thing, I would abandon honor if I had to, but I don¡¯t have to.¡± Could she trust him? Bah, he had no signs of evolution, no aura. It was unlikely he was of a higher level than her but that only meant so much. She needed to see his threat level. She nodded and allowed the next analyze attempt to succeed. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. SIx jutted his chin out and nodded approvingly. ¡°Level 17, wow, nice.¡± His praise felt like condescension even though she felt his earnestness. He held up a hand for her to wait as he reached beneath his breastplate and withdrew an amulet, tossing it to the giant K¡¯gan who stood behind him as one of his supports. Six nodded at her to continue so he began to analyze him His bearing was relaxed but ready. His equipment appeared simple but to the trained eye she could see the signs of reagents and moreso worrying, enchantments. His thoughts and ideas spoke of insanity, it matched his fervor. Six Human Level 15 Threat: Near Magnum Her gut felt like the Iceblade Master Tukar stabbed her himself. He was two levels beneath her yet his threat was almost magnum? Not minor, not moderate, nor peak major. Near magnum for a level 15 was unheard of. The only people in her life that could produce a higher threat level were her parents and Master Tukar himself, and they had all evolved. It was impossible to project such a threat at her with only 15 levels and no evolution. ¡°Don¡¯t like what you see?¡± He smiled at her, pleased with himself. She steeled her disbelief and smoothed her features. She could think of nothing to say. Alyx withdrew her rapier from her spatial ring. Made for her class achievement of Needleblade, the weapon was forged with silksteel and its reagent had been the gossamer wing of a dragon wasp. A journeyman enchanter had imbued it with an air enchantment, decreasing its weight by an additional 5%, and providing a chance for increased penetration. The blade weighed almost nothing. It was made for penetration, speed, and mobility. All of her sisters had such blades crafted for their own styles, except Alison. She had left the care of her parents, squiring for Carralevine before achieving her class. Six nodded and steepled his fingers, tapping them cyclically. Leaning towards her and examining her weapon. ¡°Hmmmmmmm. Silksteel Rapier of Air and a Minor Spatial Ring. Very impressive weapon. Your armor lacks enchantments though.¡± He must have the Inspect skill, she grimaced as her weapons strengths were probably revealed to him. ¡°Draw your own. So we can begin.¡± He snorted, leaning forward and muttering only for her to hear. ¡°Weakness shown is worse than weakness felt, yo.¡± The audacity. ¡°Silence,¡± she lashed out. ¡°Draw your weapon.¡± He spoke louder and made a show of explaining himself. ¡°Now, my saw is completely busted and I haven¡¯t made a new one yet, so I won¡¯t be using that but if I have to draw a weapon,¡± and then a blade materialized in his hand. The crowd erupted into murmurs. A susurration spread through the people as they whispered Alison¡¯s name. Six cleared his throat and looked at the sword. ¡°This was something I assisted with, for your sister.¡± The blade was glorious. A deep crimson greatsword, the metal gleaming red and its edge glinting with a sharp flicker. Red vine-like cordage wrapped the grip of the hilt and the pommel was inset with a polished garnet that almost appeared liquid in nature. It was well made, clearly by an experienced smith, with signs of reagents being used. It was most likely loaded with an enchantment of some kind, probably a natural fire enchantment if she had to guess. She doubted he could even hit her with how clumsy he held it, she could see the violent confidence in his eyes though. She felt a pang of want, why did Alison deserve such a weapon? What had she done to deserve such a sword? A weapon like that would cost¡­ at least one thousand gold. She sneered at him. ¡°That blade is mine by right of sisterhood. I expect to receive it when I defeat you.¡± The mountain lord flicked down his helm visor, dark brown eyes staring out with a cold intensity. ¡°I¡¯m ready. Your mage can start us off.¡± Alyx saw Atelier bristle at being called her mage but the woman obeyed Alyx¡¯s gesture to start the duel. Raising her hands she spoke the traditional words, reiterating the terms. ¡°A challenge has been called and answered. The stake? Honor. By Kynairos they will fight until they are unable.¡± She lifted her hand to the sky and brought it down. ¡°Begin!¡± Alyx rushed forward and slipped under the horizontal swing that the mountain lord leveled her way. It wasn¡¯t that he was slow, she was just fast, the fastest amongst the unevolved of her family. She had slowly built her dexterity up to a mindboggling 45 points. This overwhelming advantage made the armored churl seem sluggish and plodding. It increased her speed, her evasiveness, her precision, and reduced not only the performance time of maneuvers but also their cooldown. She was in complete control of her body thus she tested him with pure skill. He was found lacking. His swings, full of power and feeling but no elegance or skill. She could tell he was no sword apprentice, at most having two or three levels in the skill. Foolish. Her rapier whipped in, searching for the gaps in armor that Tukar had drilled into her head. She found them, each horrendous swing by the armored man allowed her to cut him on the exposed parts of armor. The bracers, the greaves, only covered so much and she cut and nicked him on his arms and thighs. She would slowly bleed him. A cut here, a cut there, And then magical energies began to wash over him, the man changed. He shouted his spells and cast them with his freehand between two handed swings of the sword. ¡°Zephyr¡¯s Embrace!¡± Wind picked up around the man and his speed increased fractionally. Nowhere near enough to rival Alyx¡¯s. Useless. She cut and blood flew. Yet the man was quiet as she bled him. He activated some treasure and the effects of Stone Skin hardened his flesh. No matter, her sword was built to penetrate the most durable of natural defense. She would just have to stab him more. ¡°Strength of the Oak!¡± Vines and branches burst out from underneath the man¡¯s armor giving him even more defense and power. It did nothing to change her dominance. He was just delaying. Yet another activation and the effects of Force Shell rippled out across his form. This was not a problem as her rapier skittered off the long cooldown spell. It effectively increased his HP and when the only health point that mattered was the last one it was ultimately just another delay tactic. Four empowerments was nearly unheard of, something reserved for a mageguard. They were wasted on this man. He patted his chest and muttered. ¡°Vital Surge.¡± Golden energies infused the man and this time Alyx couldn¡¯t ignore the shard of worry in her mind as the initial cuts began to close. She had to act so she attacked. Lunging in and stabbing as his centermass, seeking to whittle away the shell. Six unleashed a heavy overhead swing that she elegantly sidestepped getting closer. The greatsword struck the earth and exploded. Alyx screamed as fire singed her left side. Six crashed the sword down again and it was all she could to flip backwards and out of the second explosion. She stood watching Six as he stashed the sword then cracked his knuckles and neck. ¡°Let''s make some magic!¡± he said in an insane sing-song voice, shaking his hands wildly. He began casting and she dodged, her peripherals detecting movement at her feet as a spike of stone launched itself at her.. It was then she almost lost, as another spike erupted from the direction she threw herself. It was only her massive dexterity that allowed her to palm the lancing rock and reposition her mid-air body. Her mind raced. He had only cast one spell. Yet two spikes emerged. How? She had seen double and multi castings but only from arch and high mages. It didn¡¯t matter how. He could double cast, and she had almost lost because of her assumptions. Her burn ached and pained with her movements so she activated her ring of healing, regaining all 29 hp that had been lost with the burn near instantly. She had to expend everything. She activated Weakness Sense, her mind kicking into overdrive and eating away a large portion of her stamina. A throbbing red light appeared on the man''s chest, exposing what she thought had been a gem embedded into his armor, her skill said otherwise. But, she would need to get through his force shell first. Advancing Thrust threw her forward into his guard, slamming the tip of her rapier into his chest. She activated Double Strike after Double Strike, her dexterity and class perks making the cooldown almost nothing. The armored man vibrated under her furious assault, and she allowed a smirk when he took a steading step backwards. Paramount Damage was used to maximize the attack her body could produce and her rapier blasted through the scintillating shell, dispersing it into a cloud of rippling distortions. He was vulnerable now. Thread the Needle shot her sword towards his face and he barely slapped her rapier away when it neared his visor slit using his Deflect skill. Which put that defensive skill on cooldown. Her sword was light and she didn¡¯t even need to activate double strike to redirect the man¡¯s block. She whipped her sword at that protruding crystal with all her might. It collided with a ringing tang and she finally heard the first grunt of true pain escape the man. She felt her prompts and knew she was onto something. You have struck Six with a sword strike for 71 damage She still had yet to be hit and her confidence was rising despite the constant ill ease, a paradoxical feeling. This must be the feeling of true battle. Something outside of the curated skirmishes her family created. The uncertainty held a strange feeling of anticipation. Still she pressed and struck again at the shard, causing Six to retreat backwards and fend her off with more stone spikes. Soon the square was littered with the spears. Her Advancing Thrust was cut short by a volley of red darts launched from the tip of his pointed finger. She dodged the projectiles, twisting like a gusting swale and even popped one with the tip of her sword. Not pure mana then. She hunted him across the square and struck at his weakness yet again but the man was guarding it well. Feinting Strike, Her rapier lanced towards the shard and at the last minute diverted for his visor once again. She had him with his hands down and smiled as the tip of her blade entered the slit in the helmet. Then a golden shield exploded into existence and her blade screeched to a halt. Some kind of protection treasure that the idiot held. Kynairos knew what other trinkets he kept secret, had he filled his attunements? He chuckled in the face of losing an eye and perhaps his life. ¡°Holy shit, that woulda stung, eh.¡± She didn¡¯t stop pushing forward, immediately switching between attacking the shard and his face. Both of his armored hands stayed close to the two weak spots, fending off her testing sword, forcing her to divert and cut him on his extremities. She dodged spikes and darts as they manifested despite his hands being unable to complete somatic movements. Nothing could touch her. Then the man¡¯s chestplate shined with a crackling yellow energy and she felt her body torn to the side. Her feet left the ground and she rotated from an invisible force. Her massive dexterity allowed her to immediately right herself in the air but her movement was interrupted. The armored man leapt towards her, his massive arms wrapping around her body and nearly crushing the breath out of her right then. She was being borne to the ground. A spike of panic sunk into her mind, as her natural defense was too low to mitigate crushing damage to any significant degree. With a flick of her wrist she tossed her rapier away and activated Sword Link, the moderate version of Sword Bond, a maneuver she had evolved herself. The base maneuver allowed her to teleport her blade to her, the evolved version allowing her to teleport to her blade. She escaped his grasp, blinking out of existence and appearing upright with her hand on the grip of her blade. The man crashed to the ground in a clang of metal and meat, a cloud of dust puffing up. ¡°Very nice!¡± he bellowed into the earth. She thanked Kynairos for his mercy, she couldn¡¯t afford to be hit by something so brutal. Advancing Thrust brought her back in to harry the man who slammed the ground with both fists and launched himself up to near standing, the rippling of air about him and the throbbing vines that wrapped his body aiding his movement. He protected his shard and face as another golden shield stopped her stab that she tried to Thread The Needle into his armpit. She whittled and whittled but still, this blood covered usurper moved as steadily as he did at the start of the match. A bluff. Her 23 points in endurance and a stat ring translated into nearly 300 stamina. Her 19 points in constitution wasn¡¯t enough to counteract her stamina expenditure and it was depleting faster than it replenished but there was no way he could outlast her on simple life alone. He had only landed one blow and even that was something completely unexpected. A spinning roundkick forced her to make distance and she stopped to catch her breath. ¡°Yield.¡± she offered, ¡°or I will bleed you dry.¡± He shook his head, laughing. He did something and all the blood that covered him rolled inwards, draining from his armor and clothing leaving his innumerable wounds bare to see. Her dexterity allowed an increased sense of precision and now that his wounds were clear she could see them close up incrementally before her eyes. What monstrous regeneration. How is that even possible? At the head of the square the crimson petals of the dark red tree began to fall then flutter towards them. Hitting the man and splashing into droplets of blood. The red petals sunk into the slices and cuts transforming into smooth flesh. Even more healing. She needed to end this now. ¡°I already put myself in the dirt of this land,¡± he repeated. His words revealing their portend. ¡°Now, I read this in a book once. It''s a technique called ¡®sheathing the sword¡¯.¡± He stood there lifting his gauntleted hands and formed them into claws. A somewhat terrifying posture. It was open and vulnerable yet there was a weight of unstoppable violence to it. She swore she felt the twinge of aura from him and her gut turned cold. Impossible. Every moment he undid her work, healing more and more. She couldn¡¯t wait. It was time to end this. She blasted forward with Advancing Thrust combining it with Paramount Damage. She aimed for the shard but at the last moment the armored man adjusted to the side, the golden shield appeared but she broke through it, and his armor. Her blade slid inside the man¡¯s chest, missing his heart but perforating his lungs. Near simultaneously he performed a Precise Strike, and his hand shot out to encompass hers, clamping down and forcing her to hold her blade. He grunted and let out a wet cough. ¡°I¡¯ve got you for threeeeee minutes!¡± he chuckled and cleared his throat, a deluge of mucousy blood running down the inside of his helm and down off his chest. Droplets spattering on Alyx¡¯s face. She smelled the metallic tang. The blood evaporated and was pulled back into the mountain lord''s armor. Her guard captain Venisolo bellowed for her release, then for her to yield. Six let out a rasp. ¡°You gonna yield?¡± He asked her? Even after all she did, untouched as she was. Who did this commoner think he was? She could do this, she could do this! She had been raised to be a leader! She rejected him. ¡°No.¡± ¡°No? Ok, ready?¡± he asked and a stone wall erupted up alongside them ¡°I- UUGH,¡± Alyx could barely grunt out before her body was cracked like a whip against the wall, smashing through and shattering it. You have been slammed with a wall for 57 damage (178/235) She screamed as her shoulders tore and ribs snapped. Her head impacted and she saw white for an instant. She tried to surrender as another wall rose from the ground. ¡°I-,¡± He swung her back the other way, the wall exploding into shrapnel against the hammer that was her body. ¡°HUUUUUUUUR.¡± she groaned involuntarily. ¡°I- YIP, eryyeeEEE!¡± She heard the man hum curiously. ¡°Hhmmmm.¡± Two more walls shot up in sequence. He broke her against one, and she heard him roar. ¡°Doublestrike.¡± He pulled her back in the opposite direction and more ligaments popped, tendons tearing, she couldn¡¯t breath and her head ignited white before- She blacked out for a moment and when she came to, she hung limply by her hands, blinking into the sun that beat down into the glade. She heard mage Atelier and guard captain Venisolo screaming, movement on her peripheral informed her that her people were being held back by his. The looming silhouette that held her dragged her towards one of the many stone spikes he conjured during the battle. She tried to speak but her lungs could barely draw breath. Her health, dangerously low. She was lifted into the air above his head and fear killed her mind. He was going to impale her like a head on a pike. ¡°Just kidding.¡± He let her fall on the dirt of the square before reaching down and touching her gently. ¡°Imbue life.¡± ¡°I¡¯m alive?¡± She asked, crying, half confused. ¡°Yes, killing isn¡¯t allowed in our duel.¡± He pointed to the ground, ¡°I am here,¡± he pointed to the west. ¡°You are there. Now get the fuck out.¡± 2.31 Stupid Moves Shova, 20th, 10,391 ¡°Now we return to your family.¡± Venisolo¡¯s words barely reached Alyx as he carried her away from the village. The forest passing them by. She had lost. Her body was shivering in pain, her mind whimpering in fear, her soul quivering in despair. But her pride still held true. That man was wrong, there was value in pride. In honor. In her. She hadn¡¯t failed the quest, the world allowed her another chance. It believed in her. She couldn¡¯t go back and she voiced that with a croaking, ¡°no.¡± She could feel Venisolo tense at her refusal. ¡°But my lady, i-¡± ¡°No!¡± Alyx growled. ¡°Alyx,¡± Atelier began with careful gentleness. ¡°WHAT?¡± ¡°That man demonstrated¡­ five different types of magic, one of which was a higher orbital magic. Blood.¡± ¡°What are you saying?¡± ¡°He is dangerous. Such aptitude is incredibly uncommon and when left to develop unrestrained such practitioners become wildly unpredictable.¡± ¡°I do not care. Kynairos is testing me, the world is testing me. I refuse to go home.¡± ¡°We have been exiled from these lands, my lady,¡± Venisolo said, as if that mattered. ¡°We will return.¡± *** Barely a week later Alyx stood in the office of High Craftsmistress Susan. Every surface gleamed with lustrous metals, was adorned with luxurious curtains, and dotted with finely crafted furniture. She contained a scoff at the hypocrisy of the church. Such wealth was to represent the glory and radiance of Kynairos but all nobles knew the truth of it. That woman¡¯s fine silk was evidence that all Kynairos truly cared for was your obedience. She would never say as much. The evolved priestess of Kynairos would not hesitate to exert her position to punish such comments. But Alyx needed her and her priests. Also in the room were representatives of the dominant nobles houses of the city. Kenneth of House Truemar was a solid young man with a square jaw, very handsome. Simple but devoted to gaining an alliance with her house. He wore simple clothes, a white tunic with black breeches. The jacket he wore was the deep blue of his house colour. A white winged stallion embroidered on the back, his house¡¯s heraldry. Obial of house Gatz was also young for her position but had more of the steely gaze Alyx thought required of a leader. Tall, lanky, pale, and more gaunt than usual. Covered in stylish enchanted leathers she looked like a hunting spider. A short black cape with an embroidered white spear hung around her shoulders. Serenath of House Pifera, was the elder of the three. Richly dressed, she looked like Susan''s only real rival. The plump old woman watched Alyx with just a hint of contempt. She looked at everyone like that. A pale yellow flower stamped across her dress in a mesmerizing pattern. Susan herself was a human woman with the barest evidence of evolution, her skin cracked and flake periodically revealing the greenish patina of aged copper underneath. It was a link, her connection to the god Kynairos, all evolved priests received such a mark from their god and this was the true sign of Kynairos. ¡°Praise be Kynairos.¡± Susan muttered, finishing reading a report before looking at the gathered nobility. Purposefully wasting their time to establish her own importance. Alyx understood but her impatience hated this woman. ¡°Praise be Kynairos,¡± they all replied with the correct amount of respect. Susan looked to Alyx. ¡°You asked Lord Trumar to call this meeting, speak. So Alyx told them the story of her defeat at the hands of Six the Mountain Lord and by the end Susan was chewing her lip contemplatively. ¡°This is not the first time I¡¯m hearing of this chieftain. One of my priests has informed me as such. We are spread incredibly thin right now though. I¡¯m sure we can all agree that there is a tenuous balance in place between the main houses here. We cannot allow the city to destabilize. That is my priority.¡± ¡°He is evil and I humbly request the aid of all those here in my quest to rid our great empire of such threats.¡± Susan scoffed. Openly. ¡°And what do you think?¡± she pointed at Venisolo. He only hesitated a moment. ¡°He is no threat to Olisrosa, Craftsmistress.¡± He bowed in contrition to Alyx. ¡°I am sorry milady but we must return home.¡± Alyx would punish him later for his lack of solidarity. Susan compelled more from the man. ¡°Explain.¡± ¡°He lacks the sheer numbers required to be a credible threat. I estimate his troops to number no more than a hundred and a half, while Olisrosa must have at least five to six thousand spread between the house and palace troops. It would be suicide to attempt.¡± ¡°Quite right, Captain.¡± Susan raised an eyebrow at Alyx. ¡°He is a blood mage,¡± she blurted out, searching for any leverage. ¡°Oh? What level of mastery do you estimate him?¡± ¡°Apprentice at most, despite him casting no moderate spells. Only simple blood darts.¡± ¡°Bloodmagic while proscribed is not enough to dedicate significant resources to. I will assign three priests to aid you in the removal of this blasphemer. The palace troops will remain here.¡± ¡°Three?¡± Alyx was getting less than her station deserved. ¡°Do you wish for none?¡± the priestess¡¯ tone cutting. ¡°No, sorry Craftsmistress. Three is more than generous.¡± ¡°The rest of you can decide to help if you wish but now.¡± Serenath shook her head. ¡°I refuse, as you said Craftsmistress, there is a tenuous balance here. I fear turning it.¡± Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. Kenneth laughed heroically. ¡°Well I will go myself, Even a portion of my house troops could crush them and Craftsmistress Susan will keep you both in good behaviour while I¡¯m gone.¡± Serenath scoffed at the young Lord and his arrogance. ¡°You have no right,¡± Obial murmured. ¡°Mountain¡¯s End lies in the Deathspire forest which is a part of my lands. At most this boogeyman is my subject. I will handle him in due time.¡± ¡°Quickly,¡± Serenath insisted. ¡°I¡¯ve been losing too many skilled non-humans to the forest boats.¡± ¡°I will handle it,¡± Alyx insisted, "Mountain''s End is mine by right of blood.¡± Obial¡¯s eyes glinted as they regarded Alyx. ¡°If you seek to take part of my forest for your own. It will be you I root out.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± Alyx mocked. ¡°During this ¡®tenuous balance?¡¯ Please.¡± The anger on the scarecrow''s face told of her helplessness. She would not be able to stop Alyx from claiming what was hers. And once she stabbed her way through that army to kill that bloody man, she would be evolved or close to it. Three classed Priests of Kynairos. Kenneth would pull two thirds of his house guard for just over 800 combatants. Atelier would attempt to gather additional imperial mages but almost all had been recalled to Zleen. Alyx smiled, they would crush that little village, burn down the townhall and those trees then she would build and grow something better in its ashes. *** ¡°I should have fucking killed her.¡± said Six with narrow eyes, his hand scratching at the beard growth on his chin. ¡°You should have cut her throat,¡± hissed Aclo. Keegan shook his head resolutely. ¡°A man only has his honor and the strongest muscle of them all, his heart.¡± ¡°She tried to stab his face!¡± Aclo was apoplectic. Keegan went to say something but after a moment of reflection nodded in agreement with the tsunken aelf. Six sighed and brushed the attempt at murder away. ¡°Guys, I had to let her go. I made a deal in front of our people. Even if I could sleep with my own betrayal I would not be able to taint the culture of our home with such dishonest killing.¡± ¡°Idealistic,¡± scoffed Tavi. ¡°Yes. Absolutely idealistic. Necessary in my opinion. If it was possible to do away with them I would have considered it.¡± ¡°I would have done it myself,¡± Aclo stated. ¡°I would not risk you alone against that woman and her mage and warrior companion. And if a strong enough party of you left, everyone would know what business you were about.¡± ¡°So what, you expose us to our enemies and lie to the people about what is needed to keep us safe?¡± ¡°I know it was a stupid move, adjacent optimal. Done to ensure that people believe in me. That I would uphold my end of an agreement with Alison¡¯s sister.¡± ¡°She cares not for Alison. No human would see another with a drop of tsuken blood as anything other than a tainted slave.¡± Six hardened at those words. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter how that woman saw Alison. What matters is how the village saw Alison, how they see me, how they see us.¡± ¡°You expose us with your politicking,¡± grumbled Aclo. ¡°Noted,¡± Six accepted, nodding. ¡°You could have ended that far sooner. No fire waves, no Poh Doh, no Nibbler.¡± Charles moved the talk along. ¡°Fire Wave would endanger the audience, had to keep the collateral damage to zero. Nibbler is¡­ her own thing. I feel like she would¡¯ve been outside help. Poh Doh I was keeping as an ace to play if I had to, he was underneath our feet the entire time. I was fine. Anything else?¡± Tavi jumped in. ¡°Don¡¯t take the pride of our village so lightly. You may not care about your own ego, that doesn¡¯t mean you shouldn¡¯t care about ours. And before you say it, it''s not stupid to care about pride!¡± Six opened his mouth to argue but shut it and nodded. She had a point. Vicarious pride gave a certain confidence to one''s own importance and that felt good. Strong leaders, strong communities, even sports teams could provide that sense of accomplishment and victory. ¡°Aight aight, I¡¯ll try to be a little more vain¡­ for the people. He thanked the soldiers for having his back, waved to the watching people, and tried to continue on with his day. It was time to mass enchant a mixture of stone and fire golems, for the army¡¯s stores. Kathy stopped him before he could get ten feet, holding him up with a stopping gesture that instantly irritated him. ¡°What do you want Kathy?¡± he sighed in audible resignation. ¡°No need to be a fucking asshat. I¡¯m only here to tell you that whatever little game you just played with that woman made her even more crazy than she already was.¡± ¡°Oh she is more crazy?¡± ¡°Yes, when that fight started she was what I would call the typical noble profile. Entitled and superior but with a small performative humanistic element. When it ended, what you did to her-¡± ¡°She fucked around a-¡± ¡°Kathy¡¯s voice rose, fear trembling within it. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter Six! It doesn¡¯t matter what she did. Something died in her and when she comes back, and she will come back, when she comes back it won¡¯t be under the guise and trappings of benevolence. Mercy is dead to her now.¡± The true emotion in Kathy made Six consider her words carefully, there was something that must have informed her position and her surety. He fixed her with testing glare. ¡°Mmhh, you sound very sure. How¡¯s that?¡± She deflected. ¡°Does it matter? You need to do something!¡± ¡°I need to do something? What else can I do? I am doing everything I can. I doubt she can muster more than the retinue she came here with and if she can it is not something I can scale up to any faster than we are already. We are already devoting most extra resources to our strength. In fact, you are wasting my time right now.¡± ¡°You need to do m-¡± Six shook his head, no. ¡°You need to tell me how you know, what you know.¡± She stepped back and laughed at him. ¡°You think intimidating me will work? I know things about you too. I know you won¡¯t exile me like you did Alyx. You¡¯re not gonna kill me, I don¡¯t need to tell you anything.¡° ¡°You think I can''t get crazier like that lady?¡± Kathy shrugged. ¡°I know you haven¡¯t yet. Nothing about you has changed since the day we met. You have the same amounts of crazy, just letting more show everyday.¡± Six was done being indirect. ¡°Is this your gift?¡± ¡°Gift? You mean like, was I a gifted child?¡± She asked with what Six believed was genuine confusion. He wasn¡¯t sure if she was lying. ¡°You¡¯re lying. ¡± She rolled her eyes. ¡°You can believe that. It doesn¡¯t mean it¡¯s true.¡± ¡°What I believe matters here.¡± She spat on the ground. ¡°Yes. You are a fucking dictator.¡± Six began to lose his cool. ¡°Could you have stopped her, Kathy? As a, what,¡± he analyzed her again. ¡°A LEVEL FUCKING 1?! STILL?! She would have stuck you like a pincushion and popped you like a fucking water balloon.¡± Kathy began to shout as well. ¡°Beating some poor woman to death isn¡¯t justification for monarchy. You didn¡¯t need to stop her! Even if you did, does that mean your little military junta gets to make all the rules? Democracy is the only ethical way to proceed here.¡± ¡°That''s not how I''m running this place.¡± ¡°Because you''re a tyrant and these people are stupid!¡± Six pointed to the crowd that were watching them shout. ¡°You¡¯re lucky they can¡¯t understand English. Also, you¡¯re wrong! They ain''t stupid! Show some fucking respect for your community.¡± ¡°Fine, they¡¯re not stupid. But there can be no real mutual respect between lord and peasant.¡± Six was silent. Thinking of all the people that came together to create this place. Himself included. He was a part of something great, just a single part. That thought centered him. He was wasting time. ¡°I¡¯m done arguing. Now if you have anything actually helpful to say, say it cause I have work to do.¡± Kathy was speechless, trying to find the right words she let out a disconnected series of jumbled syllables. It took everything Six had to not mock her. Then Ravna was there, a hand on Six¡¯s chest, speaking to him softly in Zleenish. ¡°What''s going on my love? I don¡¯t like seeing you so angry. Especially after a victory.¡± Six rubbed his face, finally feeling a twinge of shame at his conduct. ¡°I, ah-¡± Ravna sported a questioning eyebrow and she spoke with cold venom. ¡°And you, Teacher. Why do you provoke our lord so?¡± ¡°He isn¡¯t listening!¡± Kathy hissed. Ravna put on a shocked look and swung to stare at Six. ¡°He is thick headed but you overstep yourself.¡± She made a shooing gesture at Kathy. ¡°Leave him alone.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t think that your special just because your fucking him.¡± Ravna winced and looked at Kathy with distaste. Seeing Ravna¡¯s hurt clicked over something violent in Six and for the barest of moments logic and ideals didn¡¯t rule him. Kathy stepped back, spooked. Looking at Six with true fear. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. That was rude and uncalled for.¡± ¡°Something¡¯s changed now, eh?¡± he asked with contempt. ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± Kathy repeated before bowing her head and turning away into the crowds of the square. Six watched her go before meeting Ravna¡¯s concern. ¡°What¡¯s going on Six?¡± ¡°Nothing, I just¡­ she was worried about that Alyx lady and wanted to be heard. She didn¡¯t like my answers.¡± ¡°She should learn to respect you. Most lords would flog her across the town.¡± ¡°Disagreement is not disrespect.¡± ¡°I know. But she clearly does not respect you.¡± ¡°Bah,¡± Six waved it away. ¡°I don¡¯t care what she thinks about me. She is currently falling into line and that''s enough.¡± ¡°For you maybe but I don¡¯t like seeing you riled up like that or disrespected.¡± He kissed her forehead gently. ¡°Well I¡¯m better now. Where¡¯d you come from anyways?¡± ¡°I was watching the duel. One of my apprentices was returning from the Gunnbjorn yard and told me. I arrived as the officers did. I saw the whole thing, I don¡¯t like it.¡± Six thought back to his blood covered form. ¡°Yea, I can imagine it''s not nice seeing me like that. Stressful. You ok? How are you feeling?¡± Six asked looking at her very slight belly bump with clear meaning. ¡°I¡¯m fine and our baby is fine.¡± ¡°Are you fine?¡± Six asked skeptically. Ravna smiled and batted her eyelashes sweetly. ¡°I have a constant stomach ache and my nose is stuffy most of the time.¡± ¡°Is that normal or are you sick? Should I get Kali to check you out?¡± Ravna held up a calming hand. ¡°Kali has already checked, nothing to worry about. All very normal.¡± ¡°Ok¡­ Great. When did Kali say we should expect the little one?¡± Ravna sighed. ¡°Sometime in the early new year.¡± Six did the simple math in his head. Zarmul¡¯s yearly cycle was similar to earth¡¯s and the new year was still, ¡°five more months away, eh?¡± Ravna smiled. ¡°I can¡¯t wait.¡± ¡°Same but we¡¯re gonna have to.¡± He gave her another kiss. ¡°You¡¯re gonna have to wait until tonight to tell me more. I need to get back to work, ok?¡± She grabbed his hand. ¡°No, not ok. You need to take a break. Come home with me, we can both rest.¡± ¡°Aaaah, there¡¯s so much to do though.¡± ¡°It can wait. Please, you need to take a break.¡± Six drew in a deep breath and centered himself, releasing it along with the unending feeling of not doing enough. ¡°Aight, I¡¯ll take the rest of the day off.¡± He called over to Elara who was standing a discrete distance away. ¡°Please cancel my appointments, get Jebbedo to send food to Ravna¡¯s forge, and take the rest of the day off. Thank you, Elara.¡± The scribe nodded before hurrying off, eager to leave the two lovers alone. The warmth Six felt towards Ravna infected his smile. ¡°I¡¯m all yours.¡± 2.32 Legal Limit Testing Shova, 21th, 10,391 Six awoke next to Ravna. The shard in his chest limited how close they could be but It was nice just being in the same room. She was still asleep as he slipped out of bed and into her empty forge. After dressing he performed his stretching and visualizations, wielding his magic, his golems, and a chainsaw in his mind¡¯s eye. Ravna¡¯s apprentices came in and began to reignite the furnaces, stoking the still warm coals into new life. They bowed respectfully to Six and tried to work as if he wasn¡¯t there. Six for his part, took this time to get back into work mode and began by checking his skill prompts. His duel with Alyx had brought.a single level in multiple skills, Skill increases: Analyze - Initiate - 17 Inspect - Initiate - 12 Heavy Armor - Apprentice - 27 Athletics - Initiate - 21 Force Magic - Initiate - 10 Unarmed - Initiate - 13 His time spent relaxing after brought some levels in other skills aswell Taming - Initiate - 13 Mindfulness - Apprentice - 22 Masonry - Initiate - 19 He¡¯d spent time with Ravna, rubbing shoulders and holding hands. It felt nice, and he¡¯d reveled in that feeling, loving it and appreciating it. He pushed away any creeping guilt that told him he should be working and truly relaxed. It was at that moment he realized that Ravna was right to suggest this. Such moments rebuilt him, gave him a reserve of energy and positivity that led to good work performance. He needed more recovery time, even with his crazy constitution. Nibbler received many pets and the scraps of their sumptuous meal, which consisted of a platter of roast meats, vegetables, roots, and mushrooms. Dessert was a large fruit pie with condensed milk on the side. Simple but delicious. After dinner, he got to reading his book on masonry again, gaining his last level of the day. Reviewing his books Six realized it would be a long time before he got around to reading that farming book or practicing the art. So he decided to loan it out to whoever Leoka wanted to. She would know the most promising up and coming farmers. Six left Ravna with a kiss and made his way to the lakeside for his first experiment of the day. He made boats under the mentorship of the village¡¯s foremost boatbuilder. An ancient K¡¯gan man, with thick white dreads and meaty, knobby hands. Cyan was his name and his shipbuilding was late journeyman, sitting at 58. A good teacher to learn from. ¡°Now I only built fishing dinghies here so far milord, I¡¯m saving up and aiming for a loan from Gunnbjorn, then I''ll be able to get a proper drydock built. Make some real ships den.¡± ¡°If you need a loan I can see about financing you. Hell, I¡¯d build it myself, if that''s what you want.¡± ¡°That would be most kind milord. Franklin does good work, well and quick, but your bonuses are quite good. It would help with quality and efficacy of de final product. ¡°Right, I¡¯ll find you tomorrow and we¡¯ll get you building proper ships.¡± Cyan guided Six as Six started with simple boats. Six didn¡¯t look to the traditional way of construction rather he built the practice ships like anything else he made. He grew it, He selected cedar saplings for this task, taking the little sprigs and with the Staff of Profound Verdance he used Plant Growth to shape them to his will. Pulling and extruding until the sapling had taken the form he wanted. The first one was shaped more like a raft than a boat, but it floated and was stable. The fifth one was a fine multi person canoe. The tenth was a small sailboat. The next was yet better. Six worked the whole morning, experimenting under the gentle guidance of Cyan. The old journeyman grunting corrections and murmuring affirmations. Each boat was sold at a pittance to prospective fishermen with no money down, Elara setting them all up with no interest payment plans. Six wasn¡¯t trying to make money off of his learning experiments, he expected most of these people to fail as fishermen but this was the beginning of his own banking system. Thus he needed to keep credit scores, one of the worst creations of mankind. The price rose as Six¡¯s skill and knowledge with growing boats increased and soon it was only the established fishermen who took on the debt, expanding their small fleet or upgrading to one of Six¡¯s boats. Six worked for the whole morning, emptying his mana pool, ley line mana, his enchanting coven, and his health with blood casting. By the end of the training, with the mentorship, Unbound Comprehension, and Inspired Retention from the Emperor Tree, he¡¯d gained shipbuilding and 8 levels in it. Skill Gained: Shipbuilding - Initiate - 8 Each level provides an additional 5% to overall Vessel durability and an additional 0.5% chance to improve the quality of the Vessel by one rank. Six may be able to pump these boats out but Cyan had a skill rank of 58 which meant an increase to durability of 290% while his at level 8 only provided an increase on 40%. Not to mention the two skill evolutions Cyan must have. One day Six might catch up but for now he could at least flood the waters with cheap boats while Cyan worked on the hard stuff. He moved inside the Townhall for the next part of his day, gaining privacy from Elara and reaching out to Big Sister. Hello Six. It was enjoyable seeing you make bigger and bigger boats. Hey Big Sister,¡± Six engaged in some small talk with her. The mind construct had been told to only communicate with himself, Charles, and Leoka. Three very busy people, so interaction was limited at most times. Six didn¡¯t want her to go crazy with loneliness. He was her only social outlet on his own orders, further isolation would be beyond cruel. She seemed ok so far, but a bit of chit chat usually did everyone some good. Then he got to work. ¡°You¡¯ve been listening?¡± And watching. ¡°How do people feel about the duel?¡± If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. Most speak of the fight with awe and pride. Some speak of you as a heathen monster. ¡°Oh?¡± That you spit in the face of Kynairos by allowing such free worship. That by Kynarios, Alyx should rule this bounty, that she would enforce such proscriptions. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect to be supported by all but it irks me to hear that.¡± They are few in number, most all followers of Irduth¡¯s congregation. But a few of the other congregations of Kynairos have members like this. A few of Leoka¡¯s people also speak out against you. In truth this is the majority opinion amongst the people of Mountain¡¯s End but most would not trade you for Alyx despite wanting religious purity. Most speak of having a strong lord and merciful leader. A leader that works to make their lives better. Everyone recognizes your strength. ¡°The original migrants wanted religious freedom and I¡¯ll be hard pressed to fiddle with that despite them being outnumbered. What of her accusation that I¡¯m a puppet of Aclo?¡± No one believes that. All are in agreement you are too strange to be a puppet of someone so rigid like Aclo. Most speak of him as an exiled traitor, to be so far from his family and brother. . ¡°That''s good. A heroic martyr is far better than an evil puppet master. And what of the ones I¡¯ve asked you to monitor?¡± It is as you said, Gatbark is underreporting his wealth to avoid taxes. Irduth preaches against the other religions but does not call for an outright purge. Kathy is careful to never speak against you directly, but has taught the children of democracy as you predicted. Aclo teaches his charges to respect the true line of nobility and was immediately and constantly vigilant when warned of Alyx¡¯s arrival in our village. Six rubbed his face in irritation. Have I said something wrong? ¡°No, you¡¯re fine Big SIster. Good job, this is exactly why I asked you to pay special attention to these ones.¡± They talked more before he left. Plans for the future. His reasoning for certain new laws she should be aware of. She told him of things that caught her attention. Certain interactions, new and interesting flora and fauna, her sporadic dreams. Six listened mostly, appreciating the simple wonderment of such a new mind. Sharing in her curiosity and offering explanations where he thought appropriate. Simple and direct, a very easy conversation that had to always be cut short. Six had to address these new problems now. So he made his way to where the makeshift temples held services. Leoka consolidated them all into one ¡®religious quarter¡¯ and it held many different beliefs. Crafters, priestesses, gurus, and leaders, all called out to prospective flock members, attempting to lure more to join them. Each had a fairly sizable chunk allotted to them and more permanent structures were going up slowly but for now there were only the ramshackle temples and some didn¡¯t even fit their entire congregation. It was easy to find Irduth¡¯s plot, his church was furthest along in completion, made from the dark stone from the quarry of Blackmine. It¡¯s footprint stretched and was ringed with pillars still rising, carvings being etched into columns as they grew upwards. Surprisingly enough it was Narhurin who¡¯s temple was second furthest. The periodic sessions with Yanzo must be affecting him, for him to turn from warrior to priest. He was building a stepped and rotated structure, like an imperial imitation of the swirling buildings of the tsunken aelf cavern. A temple to Baimoto, also built with the same stone, was already creating a cohesion between the two buildings. It was Irduth disrupting that cohesion. Six was delayed at the entrance of the temporary church by a young acolyte. ¡°May I ask your business, my lord?¡± ¡°I am here to see Irduth.¡± Six went to step past the priest but was blocked with a quick sidestep. ¡°My lord, if I may check with Craftsmaster Irduth.¡± ¡°No, excuse me.¡± ¡°At least let me announce you. ¡°I wish to enter unannounced.¡± ¡°Sir, I-¡± Six pushed down his mounting anger. ¡°Respectfully, you just work here. You will not stop me. I am going to enter now.¡± Then Six pushed past and pushed the doors open, striding into a packed room. All turned to look at the interruption that was Six. ¡°Irduth. I am here to make clear my expectations.¡± Irduth quickly regrouped and smiled down from his raised stage. ¡°Have we done something wrong, oh Lord Deathspire?¡± ¡°Not yet no. You are getting close to what I would call, criminal intolerance.¡± ¡°You made that expectation quite clear.¡± ¡°Yes, my reports detail you speaking along the line of the current legal standards. I am here to promote that restraint. I am of course speaking to all gathered here. Criticize beliefs all you want but use of threats, violence, and intimidation to promote your faith, will be met with prison or exile.¡± ¡°Yes, violence is only for you to use.¡± ¡°As is my right. I would love to return to the forest if someone strong and capable enough could take my position from me. Would you like to try, Irduth?¡± ¡°I am a crafter not a warrior.¡± ¡°Would any gathered here like to try?¡± ¡°Pagan beliefs are proscribed for a reason, Lord Deathspire. Kynairos reigning supreme is what brought us strength. Disunity canters the plow.¡± ¡°I don''t want to worship your god,¡± Six said plainly. Irduth pursed his lips. Six spoke to the crowd. ¡°I will never recognize Kynairos or any god. If I did as you wanted, I would proscribe all religions.¡± ¡°That''s insane,¡± Irduth scoffed. ¡°Yes. It is,¡± Six said with frustrated insistence. ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯m not doing it. You¡¯ve been warned.¡± That was a clear warning as to his expectations. But as Six left the religious quarter he knew he needed to do more. Irduth was right in a twisted way, these divisive institutions would create conflicts and segregations within society. Natural schisms of thought and ideology, where the advantages and strengths of one religious community may not be available to another. This separation was also exacerbated by certain races having previous cultural connections to old gods that survived Zleenish imperialism in some fallen way. Six didn¡¯t want to take any of that away but he also wanted an integrated society. He needed everyone to pull in the same direction. The simplest solution was establishing secular institutions that offered chances for cultural exchange and diffusion, letting people meet and form connections outside of their enclaves. He had already started that with funding Kathy¡¯s school. A good start but he needed to provide more opportunities. Parks, perhaps a recreation center. A thought came to him as he walked. Festivals. He needed to plan a festival. Food, music, and other displays. There were many such festivals where he used to live and they always brought everyone out to have a good time. He was already thinking of where to have it, right after harvest. Just under two weeks to prepare but the first one didn¡¯t need to be amazing. Mentally catalouging the bards and bands that roam with their music, the nomadic food vendors and meat grillers trawling their carts about. Six¡¯s mind was putting the pieces together and it was looking simple but possible. He arrived at Kathy¡¯s school which was really just a large magic grown windbreak with an awning. When he had made it, he¡¯d looked at it and with confidence, declared that, ¡°That''s enough.¡± He could see now by the hordes of gathered children that what he made was insufficient to cover all of the assembled youth who huddled underneath it. Listening to the lessons of Kathy¡¯s teachers who wrote on slate with chalk. Most of them just working on different levels of Zleenish literacy. Kathy herself was already walking towards Six on an intercept course. ¡°Lord Six,¡± she said with a bow. ¡°What brings you to the school?¡± ¡°Just here to observe your progress.¡± I could have sent you a report. We are doing the best we can with what we have. I think we are providing a quality education in relation to our current resources. Six nodded. I can see that. I would almost refer to this as an emergency. Were there really this many orphans?¡± Yes, although some of them are not orphans but children whose parents have placed them with me. How many exactly? ¡°291 orphans, 36 enrolled.¡± Six sighed, it had only been about three weeks since he gave her the commission and she¡¯d already collected near three hundred orphans. ¡°You¡¯re doing a good thing here Kathy. Thank you. But I have recently received a report that indicates you are teaching the students of different political systems.¡± ¡°Is that a crime?¡± ¡°No. I only bring this up to reiterate our agreement that we made three weeks ago. Influence them towards unity. ¡°And where is my schoolhouse?¡± ¡°Fair point, I¡¯ll start it right after I interrogate these children about their political beliefs.¡± She shook her head, disappointment on her face. ¡°You think you¡¯re funny but you¡¯re actually just fucked up.¡± ¡°No. I think I¡¯m funny and fucked up.¡± The classes had stopped, the sight of the village lord drew the children¡¯s attention and the teachers surrendered to the moment. Six gestured broadly to her student body. ¡°Call up your best.¡± ¡°It''s been three weeks, Six.¡± ¡°I know you have some fuckin list in your head. Either you pick three or I¡¯ll pick three.¡± He could see a mixture of curiosity and fear in the students¡¯ eyes, unable to hear what their leader was saying to the principal. Kathy called up three adolescents. ¡°Sloan, Vezerk, Coralo. Answer the questions of our Lord.¡± The trio of human, vrill, and halfling bowed awkwardly and replied in unison. ¡°Yes, Lady Katherine.¡± Six scoffed a laugh. ¡°Lady Katherine?¡± ¡°A term of respect.¡± ¡°Couldn¡¯t just use Principal? Or Headmistress?¡± ¡°Are you going to ask your questions or not?¡± Six smiled and waved her irritation away. First he began with basic math questions and Zleenish literacy. After that he moved on to questions like, ¡°who do you owe allegiance to?¡± receiving answers all quite similar to, ¡°I owe allegiance to our lord Six and to our home, Mountain¡¯s End.¡± Good enough. He asked them if they had been told to expect these questions and while Sloan the human boy said no with disarming ignorance, the other two confirmed with conflicted guilt plastered on their faces. Kathy was quick to comfort the two who must feel terrible for betraying their new parental figure in order to obey their lord. Six felt like shit but he needed an idea of what was happening here. ¡°AIght, I¡¯m out, gonna go start on your schoolhouse.¡± Kathy pinned him with a venomous gaze, ¡°Make sure you don¡¯t use slave labour to build it.¡± ¡°Hah, sorry but I myself have to put some time in, so no can do on the no slave labour¡± ¡°The fact that you¡¯re making jokes about being a slave while permitting slavery is messed up.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I''m serious SIx. No slaves!¡± Six was genuinely mystified. ¡°Who here has slaves?¡± ¡°Gatbark, for one. I know there are others.¡± Six¡¯s stomach twisted, how did he miss this. ¡°You serious?¡± ¡°YES! Ahrg!¡± Six cleared his throat. ¡°Elara.¡± His assistant appeared, ¡°Yes, milord?¡± ¡°Is owning slaves illegal?¡± ¡°Under current law, no, milord.¡± Six grimaced. ¡°Well there you have it, nothing to be done about it,¡± he said sarcastically. Kathy slapped her head. ¡°What do you mean? Change it?¡± ¡°Perhaps after the democratic referendum, might take a while to see if the people want to get rid of slavery.¡± ¡°Of course they¡¯d want to get rid of slavery.¡± ¡°I think you¡¯d be surprised. I just had to defend freedom of religion.¡± ¡°Stop joking about slavery in an attempt to make a point about democracy while there are slaves present in the society you lord over.¡± ¡°... Right.¡± 2.33 Champion of Decency Shova, 21th, 10,391 The wheedling voice of Gatbark¡¯s assistant refused Six. ¡°I''m sorry my lord but Mr.Gunnbjorn is very busy. Could he perhaps meet with you later?¡± ¡°No.¡± Six shook his head stepping forward to Gatbark¡¯s meeting room, Kathy close behind. The assistant fell back and blocked his way again. He babbled. ¡°Ah, er, well.¡± ¡°Excuse me.¡± Six slowly pushed past the man and opened the door to his protests. ¡°My lord!¡± Six looked into a well lit, nicely furnished room to see Gatbark at the head of a meeting with Franklin and a few of the other highly skilled crafters. ¡°Six? What are you doing here?¡± Gatbark asked.¡± Six shook his head, no. ¡°For this meeting I will be referred to by my title.¡± The vibe of the room shifted and a certain fragility set in. Something no one wanted to break. Gatbark gave a nod, barely a bow. ¡°Yes Lord. What can I do for you?¡± His voice calm and low. Six began to pace slowly about the room, tapping his fingers together in thought. ¡°What is the going rate for a slave?¡± Gatbark considered. ¡°Forty to fifty gold but it depends on the slave.¡± ¡°If I was to check this with Leoka what would she say?¡± The dwarf guffawed, ¡°Perhaps twenty to thirty but she isn''t as discerning or have as much experience as me when it comes to trade.¡± Franklin spoke up, ¡°twenty for most. Fifty for someone with a journeyman skill. It can get higher for masters.¡± Six nodded. Pondering. ¡°What about their level?¡± Franklin pointed up. ¡°Makes the price go higher but it''s hard to keep a slave more leveled than your guards. It can be done though.¡± ¡°So they do try to escape then? Gatbark chuckled scornfully. ¡°Of course, not everyone wishes to honor their debts.¡± ¡°Hmmm, how many slaves do you have Gatbark?¡± ¡°Ten.¡± ¡°How¡¯d you get em?¡± ¡°Contracts bought from Olisrosa or from immigrants wishing succor and employment. ¡°You have slaves, Franklin?¡± She nodded. ¡°A few are on my crew¡± ¡°How¡¯d you get em?¡± ¡°Kinda just fell into it when you were gone, Leoka bought em. Really they¡¯re your slaves I suppose. I''m just using them.¡± ¡°Oh wow. I already have slaves?¡± He looked at Kathy and gave a guilty shrug. ¡°First I''m learning of this.¡± The earthling scoffed. Gatbark answered.¡°Yes. But may I ask why my Lord?¡± ¡°I am going to abolish slavery.¡± The crafters in the room all started furious murmurs. ¡°But why?¡± ¡°Abolish slavery?¡± ¡°Preposterous!¡± ¡°The Lord has gone mad!¡± Six lifted a hand for order. ¡°I am not from here, I am an outsider. My ways are foreign to you. But I am the direction here. There are things that are abhorrent to me and slavery is one of them. It is immoral.¡± Gatbark gritted his teeth, grinding and cracking. ¡°You seek to destroy our investments after the fact because of your morality?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°You go too far my Lord, it is not our way. You can¡¯t do this.¡± ¡°Yes, I can. But whoever here thinks the village would wish to continue this practice, raise your hand.¡± The only person to not raise their hand was Kathy. ¡°Even still, I must abolish it. The penalties for holding slaves will be severe. I will reimburse those who wish to stay in Mountain¡¯s End, at fair market rate for the slaves. If you do not wish to part with your slaves you will have to leave.¡± Gatbark slammed the table. ¡°But my lord, I will be crippled without the skilled labour those slaves represent.¡± ¡°If you need them so, pay them.¡± ¡°But the prices for goods will jump if I have to do that. People won''t be able to afford my services.¡± ¡°So be it.¡± ¡°So be it?¡± Gatbark asked in disbelief. ¡°It is what it is. Figure it out.¡± ¡°Grrr! Many of these slaves wouldn¡¯t even be able to take care of themselves without us. I treat my slaves very well!¡± ¡°I don¡¯t care. If they truly are so skilled they can take care of themselves or pay you from their wage for the hassle.¡± ¡°I was a slave for twenty years! It''s not right that they get to go free so easily.¡± ¡°Your trauma has no place in deciding policy.¡± Gatbark growled. Six sighed and held his hands up in peace. ¡°I want you here Gatbark but I will not have you at the expense of fundamental freedom.¡± Gatbark spat. ¡°So what? No one can have slaves but you?¡± ¡°You are smarter than that statement. You know you can leave.¡±Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. Gatbark said nothing. ¡°I expect an itemized invoice. Do not seek to add in any who are free men. I understand you have a trading association or something?¡±¡± ¡°I do,¡± Gatbark said carefully. ¡°You should stop engaging with institutions that utilize slavery.¡± The meteor dwarf winced. ¡°The whole world slaves, boy. Things aren''t easy and we-¡± ¡°I am not a boy, I am your lord, disrespect me one more time and I will drive you from here myself.¡± Six stared unblinking at the dwarf, challenging the squat man. ¡°Trade with whoever you need to in order to keep us well fed and defended. If luxuries covered in the blood of slaves are what you are importing, cease doing so.¡± Gatbark broke, casting his eyes down. ¡°Sorry milord. I am losing money is all.¡° ¡°My apologies, and I mean that. I understand you see no evil in it but there is no swaying me. Are there many who hold slaves here?¡± ¡°Almost twenty people that I know of, yourself included. There must be more though.¡± ¡°Then do not worry, we¡¯re all taking the same hit. You are no more disadvantaged than I.¡± Gatbark scoffed. *** Kathy had not been pleased with the results. Criticizing Six for reimbursing slavers at all but he wasn¡¯t about to punish people for operating within ill and undefined rules. This was his failure as a leader, he failed to be present enough to see or know of slavery for literal months. He hadn¡¯t even taught Big Sister the concept so ignorant he had been. Of course they would see slavery as legal, it was rampant in both Olisrosa and Eridea, a normal thing in imperial society. So he had retreated to the townhall with Leoka and Elara hammering out the details of his new laws and orders. Leoka expressed some trepidation at the final cost of buying every single slave unsure if the village had enough gold to spare but Six assured her he would slash the enchantment coven¡¯s mana core allotment and redirect it or earn the gold himself if needed. He told them of the scraps of plans he had related to the new festival he was planning and the women expressed interest at the idea, both wishing to help with the event. That was good because Six really didn¡¯t have time to make it happen properly. The meeting was nearing its end when it was interrupted by Charles who brought a well dressed but road worn woman with him. Six analyzed her. Viana Venter Human Level 13 ¡°Lord Six,¡± Charles bowed, ¡°may I introduce Lady Venter. Lady Venter, this is my Lord, Lord Six.¡± ¡°How do you do,¡± Venter grunted, her voice tired and dry. SIx stood, ¡°Good, and you ma¡¯am?¡± She shrugged. There was a pause before Charles continued. ¡°Tell him everything you told me.¡± Venter fixed Charles with a sidelong glare and balled a fist, ¡°You have no right to order me, orc.¡± ¡°Rude,¡± Six said, his face furrowing in anger.. Charles held out a calming hand. ¡°It''s quite alright my lord. She''s just been routed from her village.¡± She sniffed. ¡°Town actually.¡± Charles stepped back and bowed deeply. ¡°My apologies, Lady Venter. Please, my Lord Six must know your story.¡± Venter stared hatred at the Captain before clearing her throat and speaking. ¡°I am the lady of Bundun. Was the lady of Bundun, until we were driven from it almost three weeks ago. We¡¯ve been marching since. Harried by filthy orcs for the first half and pressed by mountain and monsters the last. A new leader has arisen amongst the orcish herds and we were his first target. They called him Chief Doomballa Son of Rafgarous The Trample. That was before he destroyed Bundun. If it had only been just his herd our walls might have stood a chance but two other chiefs joined him out of hatred for humankind. We tried to stand against them but Doomballa charged our gates and breached them himself. Earning himself a title for the act, Shatter Hoof. It was then we had to run from the herds. The slight protection force I had covered our retreat into the grasslands as we went east. But they chased us, harrying us further and further, giving us no chance to sleep, rest, cook. Nothing. It was only once we reached the forest did they cease their torture. Yet the forest took even more of my people than the beasts that hunted us across the grasslands, weakened and sleepless as we were.¡± She stared open hatred at Charles. Six needed her to stay on track. ¡°What of the surrounding Imperial colonies? They offered no aid?¡± ¡°We received no aid from the surrounding towns nor the City of Harmony. They will show themselves the fool in time, when the herds join into their great stampede and drive them out. They¡¯re not special or safe. Not from Doomballa Shatter Hoof. This fine village is the first human settlement we''ve come across since entering the forest. I have perhaps almost a thousand I managed to bind to me, from a population nearly twice that. Fleeing the destruction of our homes.¡± The woman fell silent, a harried look on her face grew with the reality of the situation being laid bare so clearly. Six considered what he should do with this information. War and conflict were being waged on both sides and Six did not want to involve himself or his people in either. Death and killing should be avoided. But conflict stoked the fires of growth here. Ignoring the potential powerhouses that would inevitably rise from these wars would be foolish. But he wouldn¡¯t go to war and trade lives just to find the statistical winners of life and death. Six would only engage if their safety was threatened directly. He needed to figure out how much of a threat this Doomballa was to Mountain¡¯s End. ¡°Charles, how aware Of Muldstanii culture are you?¡± ¡°It''s been years but I grew up in Muldstan until I was 11, I knew our ways well,¡± Charles assured. ¡°Do you know of Harmony city?¡± Charles looked a little hesitant but nodded. ¡°I do.¡± What do you think is going to happen? Charles looked off in the distance, and sighed. He turned to Lady Venter. ¡°My Lady, do you know what happened to the rulers of Harmony during the usurpation?¡± ¡°The Penults were killed by their Tsunken Aelf guards and Harmony has been under unofficial control of the crafter guilds since then.¡± Charles flinched at that news, his eyes wetting. Six felt a deep sadness for the kid, finally understanding his journey. But Charles cleared his throat and blinked away any weakness. He nodded, accepting the new reality. He spoke, ¡°the herds will gather in the face of continued victories. And Harmony will not be able to stand against the combined might of the stampede without proper leadership and martial weight. It may take a year or two but they will be driven from the land. Muldstanii derision for imperials was already thick but after the conquest it permeated our people.¡± Venter sniffed. ¡°Your way, your people, you¡¯re a sympathizing traitor.¡± Charles shrugged. ¡°I am Muldstanii despite my time in Zleen. Why can I not be both?¡± Six raised a hand to quiet Venter, speaking to Charles. ¡°Do you see them coming here?¡± ¡°No, perhaps moving through the kingdom of Ecury to the south but I doubt they''ll leave the plains.¡± Then he did not need to worry about war from the west. Still. ¡°We need more scouts to the west.¡± Charles nodded. ¡°Yes, Lord Six. ¡°Where will you and your people go now? Six asked Venter. ¡°You do not wish to help us?¡± Venter asked dumbstruck. ¡°I do wish it but we are different and all we can do is guide you along your way and to Olisrosa.¡± ¡°My Lord, surely we could stay, even for just a few days.¡± ¡°You outnumber us. You would disturb our tenuous equilibrium. No.¡± ¡°Please Sir.¡± her voice quivering. ¡°No. Surely you have lands in the east.¡± ¡°Let us stay. Please don¡¯t force my hand,¡± she whispered. ¡°Or what? Your weary and worn people are going to attack us? Go east.¡± ¡°We can''t go east. Only conflict awaits to the east. I¡¯ve had reports that tell me as much the core is aflame with war between Juthe-Wei, Tyber Zaun, and the myriad warring houses that are trying to hold or expand their lands. We would be crushed. ¡°You don¡¯t belong here, you have nothing to offer me.¡± ¡°I offer you my fealty as a vassal of the empire.¡± ¡°We,¡± Six gestured around them. ¡°We are not empire. We¡¯re Mountain¡¯s End.¡± Venter sighed. ¡°You¡¯re a warlord? What is your house?¡± Six shook his head. ¡°Just a guy looking out for himself and those close to him.¡± Venter took a deep breath. Releasing it and speaking with practiced calmness. ¡°All I seek is a reprieve from the constant running. It''s terrible. My people are bloody and tired, scared. They need this.¡± Six checked the Village Screen Current Citizens: 932 They had grown by two hundred more people in nearly a month, could they handle twice that so soon? Six wanted more people but he had to balance it with the simple reality of the supply and demand of necessities. ¡°Leoka,¡± Six prompted her attention. ¡°Yes? Leoka asked, having followed everything so far. ¡°Can our food stores absorb the doubling of demand?¡± ¡°We have a surplus but not that much. We would essentially have to double production.¡± Six nodded and sat there thinking. There must be a way to absorb these people. ¡°You may stay. If your people want your leadership I don¡¯t mind as long as you follow our laws. But you must understand the leader of our soldiers is a Muldstanii himself and I expect you to respect him and orcs in general. Regardless of them taking your home. Venter drew herself in but nodded. ¡°My lord. The empire had orcs in positions of leadership and I am no stranger to it. I can follow and obey if needed. But my lord, I need lands. As a noble it is my calling and my class also works with administrating lands. My people need a place to call home.¡± Six didn¡¯t know classes could be based around a single interface but he supposed it made sense. But he would not threaten his control. ¡°I am lord here.I will always be lord here.¡± She nodded. ¡°I do not wish to diminish your claim. You could always assign me as a district supervisor. Or perhaps I can be your regent in times when you need to be elsewhere.¡± Six gestured to Leoka. ¡°I have a regent, thank you.¡± ¡°What do you need?¡± Venter asked. ¡°I need you to organize your people. Warriors, builders, fishers, weavers, glass blowers. Find out who survived and send them to Leoka. Of the utmost importance are your farmers and earth mages.¡± ¡°Most of our warriors died during the defense and retreat but we have our fair share of farmers and craftsmen. I will gather them.¡± ¡°For now your people can camp outside the palisade. Until we make proper space for you.¡± ¡°With the drifters?¡± Six smirked at her. ¡°You say that like you¡¯re better than them.¡± Venter was smart enough to look away. Six needed more information though. ¡°How many imperials are living in Muldstan?¡± ¡°almost 200,000 perhaps,¡± she replied. ¡°And of that, how many live in Harmony city?¡± ¡°Perhaps half.¡± So depending on how the war over there goes, he could be having even more refugees from the west. He needed to prepare and begin endlessly scaling food production. But something didn¡¯t make sense. ¡°How¡¯d you find the opening to this glade when it faces to the east?¡± Venter shrugged. ¡°It was chance I suppose. The river boat gave us a clue as to there being people along the river somewhere. Thought it was better to try and find shelter sooner rather than stumble through the forest for weeks only to be in a worse position. There was a high potential most of the refugees from the coming expulsion would just filter through the forest eastward, if they missed the clues that pointed towards Mountain''s End. Still, he should be ready to absorb them. As much as the constant pressure for basic necessities sucked, he wanted to expand Mountain¡¯s End¡¯s military and industrial capabilities, not to mention unlock the next Ley Core level. So, as much as he was hesitant to accept the newcomers. He knew that their hands and subordinate slots were needed. Charles was the last to leave and stared off into nothing with a haunted look. ¡°I''m not growing fast enough. I thought I would have more time.¡± Six looked at him with acceptance. ¡°How strong do you really need to be?¡± He scoffed. ¡°Strong enough to stop Doomballa. Strong enough to stop a true chief.¡± ¡°Who do you seek to save?¡± ¡°Everyone I can.¡± ¡°Harmony City?¡± Six asked. Charles snapped his gaze to Six¡¯s and gave a controlled nod. Pride stirred within Six at Charles¡¯ idealism of youth. Six looked upon it with a certain jealous romanticism but he didn¡¯t envy the honor nor responsibility of the boy. Six grunted. ¡°Let me know if you need anything.¡± They parted ways. The sun would be going down soon but a Luminous Beacon would keep him working. He needed to survey and plot where the new farms were going. 2.34 Distant Howls Shova, 21th, 10,391 The vivid purples, pinks, and oranges were descending on the glade as Six ascended the mountain. Dusk was beautiful and although Six was heading up the mountain to assess and clear any landslide potential, that didn¡¯t mean he couldn¡¯t appreciate the majesty of the natural world. He moved to a better vantage point, a jutting ledge that cantered straight off the slope and broke through the trees and foliage, ending in a sheer cliff. Far easier to admire the setting sun with a clear view of the horizon. Below was Mountain¡¯s End. It was beginning to look something developed, a growing maze of structures, smoke from cookfires and smithies, boats scooting about on the lake, golems and ley workers going back and forth. It was quaint and still growing. It would double in the next day or so as Venter¡¯s caravan arrived in full. Not Mountain¡¯s End proper but a new municipality like Blackmine would come about. Thus Six planned for this new section of terrace farms that would extend up the mountain to feed the inevitable increase in population. He marked many of the trees to be cleared away but he planned it selectively, creating pockets of forest between stretches of terraced farm. Saving the best and oldest specimens and basing parkland around them. Soon, he¡¯d run out of light entirely, so Six decided to go a little farther up and at least try to place the survey monume- A snap of a twig caught his ear and Six spun around only to find a dim and quickly darkening forest. He listened for anything and scanned around but there seemed to be nothing but rustling leaves and buzzing bugs. And then he heard the click of a trigger and a metal bolt flew from the underbrush, deflecting off the golden shield that sprang to existence around Six. The bent metal bolt spinning off into the distance. Six spotted the shooter but still couldn¡¯t make them out entirely amongst the greenery. He didn¡¯t need to as eight humanoids broke from hiding and approached him. All of them were of the same race, something like a satyr but instead of goat legs, they had the legs of canines, furred, paws, double jointed and reversed. They all wore steel helms or painted masks styled like wolves and dogs. The two largest walked in the front, both wearing well made plate armor, one carried a sword and shield while the other held a greatsword. Of the others, one wore robes and the rest were kitted like scouts, leather armor and crossbows. Six had always imagined hynks more as gnolls than satyrs but he was in no doubt as he analyzed and pierced into some of their system information. The highest leveled being the sword and shield user, Jasthera Oomara Hynk Level 13 And the lowest was level 7. Six was confident he could take them on in single combat but fighting them all at once would require all his tricks. ¡°Woah now boys.¡± He held his hands up, showing them to be empty.. A feminine voice came from the large sword and shield user. She spoke Zleenish with a thick accent. ¡°Answer our questions and you will receive a quick death.¡± They had already tried to kill him and promised him no escape. Listening to them was certain death. Fighting was a chance at life. He had Lump cast a Stone Spike and it erupted from behind the robed one, catching them all off guard as the crying dogman was lifted from his feet to be suspended in the air. Seven remained but the load was lessened as the area shook and echoed with the creaks of ripping wood. Poh Doh¡¯s hulking form tore through the forest, bursting out into the igniting combat. Six sent one command to the golem. Kill. Poh Doh went crashing after the mob of them, the crossbow user fired steel bolt after steel bolt but they all just ricocheted off the crystal flecked hide of the earth golem. Poh Doh wreaked havoc, grabbing hynks and biting and tearing them apart with its thorn lined mouth, the consumed flesh quickly healing the slight scratches they managed to inflict on the golem. Six held the attention of the two higher leveled warriors who moved forward, breaking apart and beginning to circle and surround him. He slowly edged away until he could move no further, backed up against a precipitous drop. Six¡¯s inspect and enchanting skill told him their equipment was more than mundane but he had no time to really ingest what they truly gleaned. The armored hulks executed their flanking attacks, poking and prodding with testing stabs and slashes. Six still had no chainsaw, he had just been so busy. Instead, from his spatial he drew his glaive and made a quick defense but was already feeling pressed. He moved about but never entirely where he wanted to, led partially by the demands of his enemies¡¯ strikes. His buff complex sequentially came online as Lump empowered Six who barely had enough focus to avoid a wild Power Slash from the greatsword user. Six kept moving and held distance with his glaive, still they hunted and stalked around, always seeking to be opposite each other. It just took time. Six moved intentionally poorly, tripping and lunging to the side, opening himself to a brutal attack from Jasthera¡¯s sword that produced another golden shield, barely dodging under the greatsword. He was slightly off balance and not in a natural position to strike but he was where he needed to be. Spiral Exertion tore the greatsword wielder from their feet while Jasthera¡¯s shield glowed white and she remained unaffected by the harsh rotational acceleration. But the other was pulled off her base of stability and Six took that instant of helplessness, leaping up with his glaive like a pole vaulter and ¡°Precise Strike,¡± blasting her with a dropkick, booting her off the ledge and down the mountain. ¡°Aaaaaaaiiieeee.¡± Her voice fell away and then only the crunch and snaps of branches. The remaining warrior shouted her offense and pressed forward, activating an ability. ¡°Warrior¡¯s Intuition! A Lump created Stone Spike erupted and fended off Jasthera giving Six precious time to roll away and leap to his feet with an agile burpee. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Six stabbed and moved to keep Jasthera at bay, the armored warrior moved more timidly now that she was alone. Content to fend off Six¡¯s attacks with her shield while dodging the random Stone Spikes that Lump created with unnatural skill of her own. But as they circled each other Six saw the form of Poh Doh, trundling after the group of hynks, the golem holding a half eaten corpse in its bloody mitt. With a thought Six micro¡¯d Poh Doh and the golem pitched the meat at the mob like a cannon ball, impacting one and deflecting into another, spraying blood everywhere in spinning arcs. Then he set the golem back to kill. But Jasthera took that instant of lacking focus and capitalized, sliding forward and past his guard then slamming her shield into Six. Some aspect of the shield¡¯s enchantment activated and released an impact that blasted the enchanter away. Flying uncontrollably, all he could do was Brace. Six¡¯s tensed body hit a tree and bent like a piece of rebar then impacted the ground, dragging a furrow in the earth. His broken Force Shell evaporating away from him like low resolution mist. He coughed out some blood and felt the burn of acid in his throat. Six got up to his feet as the hynk followed him continuing their assault with a vicious overhand chop. He barely got his glaive up in time and worked to make distance again but it proved impossible. The hynk warrior had the tempo and she refused to relinquish it. Another overhead chop actually broke the haft and Six was left with two halves that leaked earth mana from their broken enchantment. She moved in, stabbing and Six stood his ground, tossing the broken halves at the head of the armored hynk and taking advantage of the slight flinch to reach forward and grasp their shield. Six rotated his body and tore with everything he had, throwing the armored form with their shield arm and hearing several satisfying cracks and pops as they arced over his body and were slammed down. Six lifted a boot and went to stomp their head but an uttered ¡°Deflect,¡± brought their broken arm over with the sound of twisting bubble wrap, the magic of the maneuver not caring about their injury. He booted the shield and once again the item activated, although to a lesser extent. He was launched away and on to his back. Groaning, they both came to their feet with Six reorienting himself to see golden healing energies wash over the armored form of his enemy. Fixing her arm back into place with violent snaps that pulled the limb straight. They squared up, circling each other. Six withdrew his Wand of Mana Spear and let loose, she reacted well taking the overwhelming spell on her shield and managing to absorb the whole thing. He unleashed another and this time it could not contain the energy. The shield cracked, and mana hissed out of the faultlines until Six¡¯s inspect told him the item was dead. He had overloaded it. The warrior snarled and flung the broken shield straight at his face. Six failed to react in time and another vital shield sprang into being, protecting him. But obscured behind the flying shield was a dagger being thrust at his face with all the weight of life and death behind it. ¡°Deflect.¡± Six¡¯s hand came up, guiding the killing blade to the side and past his shoulders.She bowled into him and he grabbed her arms, falling backward and twisting. He controlled the landing and kept the knife far away. He was ever so slightly stronger than her, Strength of the Oak aiding his strength to keep her suppressed. He pushed the knife towards her and slowly edged it towards a gap in her armor. She screamed in defiance and activated a buffing maneuver. ¡°Ferocity!¡± Her strength reached a new height, suddenly Six was losing ground as she gained a burst of power. She cackled and laughed until Poh Doh¡¯s giant hand closed around her ankle and snapped it like a twig. Then she screamed. The pressure she applied to the knife lessened but only for an instant. She fought through the pain and began a renewed attempt to kill Six. Pain now augmenting her power and drive. Impressive. Poh Doh ripped her from Six¡¯s embrace, separating the two and holding her aloft by her broken ankle. Upside down she threw the knife at Six¡¯s head but Zephyr¡¯s Embrace redirected the already poorly aimed attempt. Six then guided Poh Doh and rearranged its grapple until she was fully restrained, bear hugged and pinned completely. She struggled in the grasp of the stone man but it held her fast, ignoring her. Six scanned the area and saw the broken bodies of the hynks Poh Doh hunted down, most alive just mangled and injured in some way. So he gathered them all up, dragging them before Poh Doh. ¡°What the fuck was that?¡± Six growled. His mind bubbling with anger and outrage now that the battle was over. The dog men yipped an unknown language but it wasn¡¯t more than five words before Six gained a new tongue. Knowledge: Imperial Hynk (Mortal) They chittered amongst themselves speaking under the assumption Six didn¡¯t understand them, collaborating on whatever story they should feed him. Then Jasthera growled and the pack quieted, heeding their leader. Helpless though she was. Six commanded Poh Doh to tear her helmet off, revealing her face. Other than prominent canines she looked indistinguishable from a human. Dark brown eyes stared at him in hatred and she shouted in Hynk at him. ¡°Stupid weakling, with your honorless ways. If only you were educated enough to know how doomed you are.¡± ¡°What are you doing here?¡± Six asked again in Zleenish, standing before them all breathing evenly. She kept shouting. ¡°If you humans were smart you would understand that your time is over.¡± ¡°If you don¡¯t answer my questions I will kill you.¡± ¡°My death will not stop the Empress and her queens from marching, killing, and enslaving all you imperial weaklings who deserve nothing less. Six sighed and rubbed his face in growing frustration. ¡°I know you understand me. You spoke Zleenish to question me. Stop playing dumb.¡± ¡°You know nothing.¡± She grinned a smarmy smug grin and spat at Six¡¯s feet. This time Six responded in Hynk. ¡°I know you have failed whatever you were tasked to do.¡± Jasthera flinched at his apparent mastery of their language. A look of surprise changed to shame and then was quickly suppressed, then her eyes almost glazed over. ¡°What are you doing here?¡± Six asked in Hynk. ¡°My life for the Empress,¡± she said calmly. Six nodded. ¡°Of course.¡± He retrieved the mountain mangled corpse and weapon of the greatsword wielder. He dropped the body and tore off its wolf helm revealing another woman¡¯s face. Once again Jasthera flinched but she worked to maintain her affected distance. He reached out and touched the dead woman¡¯s face, uttering his spell. ¡°Spirit Tether.¡± Six called to the soul and pulled it to him. The magic compelling the ghost from its rest and opening it like a tattered book. The spirit screamed and writhed as Six stood there, absorbing its memories and notions. Its fears and hopes. The knowledge was too important for Six to waste focus on its discomfort, it was his enemy. Even in death. When he was done. He nodded with his new understanding. So much chaos around him and yet more grows. The Hynks sought to conquer it all. How he wanted to blaze and forget it all. He looked to the stars above, the sun now set. Did any of what he did truly matter when pitted against the vastness of creation? Why did he struggle against chaos? Why fight entropy? Why- ¡°What are you going to do with us?¡± The quivering voice of one of the scouts broke Six¡¯s reverie. Six scoffed at the man. ¡°I should kill you as you attempted to kill me. I could confirm what I learned from her spirit by comparing with your spirit''s knowledge. I won¡¯t if you answer my questions.¡± ¡°Yes, yes.¡± He nodded eagerly. ¡°Please, just don''t do that to me.¡± Jasthera howled in anger. ¡°Treneg you flea carrying pack traitor. Baimoto break your spine. I will-¡± Six had Poh Doh clamp down over her mouth, he had no more patience for this. He lifted his arm and casted Ley Beacon his heraldry, a six sided die with six pips on all sides appearing in the night sky. A signal for his men to come investigate. For the first time Six activated his Empathy technique. Aspects of the huddled and broken hynks began to have more meaning; Their posture, their glances, their hands, how they whimpered. There was an almost visible aura about them, and variations in that aura were present amongst the prisoners, feelings and vibrations of different intensities, these parameters correlated to emotional states and Six already understood them to a degree. The buff wouldn¡¯t last forever. ¡°Let''s begin.¡± *** Six watched his soldiers drag the prisoners away, he wondered how they would fare in the prison population. From what he heard It wasn¡¯t exactly pretty in there. Six had no ideas how they would treat the dog people but didn¡¯t really care. He learned much during his interrogation. A little about what they were doing and more about who they were. After his demonstration of spiritual information extraction they were more than willing to speak and only once did they lie. Empathy gave him clues that hinted at possibilities but it was him who had to judge whether the clues amounted to fact. The first time he was sure one of them lied Six pointed at the culprit. ¡°You lied.¡± The dogman cowered and pressed his head to the dirt. ¡°No lord. No lord.¡± The act of repentance was just that, an act ¡°Methinks the man doth protest too much. Tell me, is he lying?¡± All were silent, looking between each other, hiding. Six made it easy for them. ¡°I will kill him and learn the truth from his spirit. Now answer me, did he lie to me?¡± They all were quick this time to admit their comrade¡¯s deception and when Six combed through the memories of the liar''s soul he learned that he did indeed lie. He thought the man''s confirmed guilt would do something to make himself feel better about what he was doing but it did not. Six learned that the Hynk Empress was level 41, twice evolved and unmatched by any. Her evolutions made her a warrior of unparalleled violence. Such power was near the peak of this land, only a monster of terrible origin or a secret wandering master could endanger her. Her daughters, known as battle princesses, controlled the provinces of the reich and were all at least once evolved. It was a warrior society, controlled by martial killers who ascended the noble rankings through duels, sometimes to the death, sometimes, not. The province''s administration was not directly tied to the current martial leader so a semblance of stability could survive the chaotic nature of the dueling structure. They worshipped many gods. A few even worshipped a Hynk version of Kynairos even though they knew him to be a human. Most worshipped a bastardized version of Baimoto, the god of justice, but to them Baimoto represented the honor of a warrior. The Empress had been preparing to annex the western side of the Kingdom of Harmony before imperial citizens had a chance to settle and entrench the lands. Before the usurpation. Now, with the fall of the empire she saw it as an opportunity to take it all, and even more. She wants all of Zarmul, before she charts the seas of Zonah and beyond. Much of this he learned from the spirit of the first warrior, but the questioning confirmed and clarified. These scouts were just the first wave, all going east, some farther north, some south. They didn¡¯t know when she would march but all spoke of her endless packs. Armies of waiting to flood eastward and drown the land in blood until all that remained was hers. Six took a deep breath at this new problem and released some of his tension with a curse. ¡°Shit.¡± 2.35 Work Life Balance Shova 22nd 10,391 The battle had brought Six several skill increases. Polearms - Initiate - 16 Athletics - Apprentice - 22 Inspect - Initiate - 13 Heavy Armor - Apprentice - 28 Elemental Magic - Apprentice - 20 Cycle Magic - Initiate - 15 Unarmed - Initiate - 14 Diametric Magic - Initiate - 12 He stayed up late that night, exploring some of his hypotheses on the Rune of Growth he¡¯d received from Rotillo of Eridea. In the morning, after stretching and breakfast, Six had left Ravna with some requests she was kind enough to begin preparation on. He handled his new advancement on his walk to work. He did his best thinkin while movin. Apprentice Skill Evolution triggered: Elemental Mana Pull: The Elemental Mage will recharge their mana faster when surrounded by natural sources of their element. Elemental Conduit: The user acts as a living conduit for their element, amplifying the elemental power of allies or nearby natural phenomena exponentially. Elemental Barrage: Reduces the cooldown of abilities using your element, overwhelming opponents with speed and volume. Elemental Reach: Spells that utilize the user¡¯s element receive an increase to their range. Elemental Synchrony: The user¡¯s abilities become stronger when near large natural sources of their element. Mana Pull and Synchrony both relied on being near natural sources of the element for efficacy and that was too situational for Six. Conduit didn¡¯t make Six directly better and troop buffing was Charles¡¯ thing so Six passed on that too. It was a pick between Elemental Barrage and Elemental Reach A pick between overwhelming burst damage and sustained ranged chip damage. Six thought about his style. He had zero melee spells, other than a wave type spell but those were incredibly mana inefficient which didn¡¯t synergize well with short cooldowns. He was a sustain fighter, someone who wanted to draw things out. He had options for melee and medium range. Options that were overwhelming in their own right. He wanted the range. Evolution choice imprinted: Elemental Reach You gained 100 experience points for reaching Apprentice status in Elemental Magic. Stone Spike¡¯s range went from 80 meters to 120, an increase of 50%. Which was a pretty significant boost for one of his main damage dealers. There was more of course, Spell choice awarded. Upgrade Elemental Spell Water Spear Depressurize Crawling Flame The lack of information made an informed choice basically impossible for someone like him who lacked guidance. He worked from a different context and philosophy of interaction with the system, a position of ignorance. Seeing the upgrade process could potentially allow him to replicate it. He knew he was capable of such things as he had advanced the Rune of Rotation from minor to moderate. It had taken days but he¡¯d done it. Having more insight into how the system upgraded spells could show him a way to expedite that process. He selected the upgrade and was presented with a list of all his elemental spells. Really, Six only considered four. Ember Spark Stone Spike Stone Wall Plant Growth Choosing Ember Spark or Stone Spike would improve his damage but he hesitated as he already knew the Mana Spear spell. Stone wall could be interesting but he decided that Plant growth offered more utility. He selected Plant Growth to be upgraded and three options were presented. Spearing Growth: Increase the speed at which the growth is expressed to a high degree, allowing for phytokinetic-like offensive movement. Verdant Growth: Increases the output the spell creates in relation to mana spent. Higher Growth: Allows the spell to target magic and sentient plant life. He rejected Spearing Growth for the same reason as choosing Ember Spark or Stone Spike. Higher growth may allow him to grow his magic trees but it was limited in scope and restricted the upgrade¡¯s value to a specific resource. Verdant Growth would have the greatest effect on the overall magnitude of what he could create with Plant Growth. He selected Verdant Growth. Arcane knowledge flooded Six¡¯s mind. The upgraded spell layering over the programmed knowledge of the minor version, altering it in subtle ways. There was no reasoning as to why the changes were made but Six could at least begin to test and experiment with a single point of reference. He would eventually discern the functions of how these spells truly worked. Shouldn¡¯t he have received a mana manipulation skill or something like that by now?You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. He would have to experiment later, he had duties as a leader. There was an imminent food problem coming, perhaps the spell upgrade would help him create an even greater amount of potatoes but Six had to get the new farms plotted out now. He refused to allow Mountain¡¯s End and its surrounding districts to develop haphazardly; there needed to be a vision for the functioning and flow of everything, already traffic was beginning to build. He needed to talk to Franklin about modes of mass transit while they were still small. There was alot of land to cover so Six focused on preserving the most glorious specimen trees, if they had to be removed later for critical infrastructure, so be it, but for now he retained as many as he could. Six went for what felt like ten kilometers before ending the new borders of the municipality but the craftsman in him compelled him to continue up, looking for potential rockslides and other hazards. The trees started to become sparse, and the rocky crags were studded with scrubby grasses. It wasn¡¯t hard to see the group of three mounted human archers riding what appeared to be great shaggy giant horned goats. They wore well made leathers and looked healthy and fit. Their bows were huge things of dark wood, long arrows jutting from quivers hung on their hips. They had light white skin that was painted with thick blue paste like paint. They wore little to protect themselves from the bite of the mountain wind but didn¡¯t seem perturbed by it. Their leader was a young woman, who stared at Six with open suspicion. ¡°Who are you, entering our lands?¡± Six took a step back. ¡°Am I?¡± he asked genuinely. ¡°Yes,¡± she stated curtly, affronted at his ignorance. ¡°Oh,¡± Six acknowledged, ¡°Where abouts does it start?¡± ¡°¡­What?¡± She shook her head in confusion. ¡°Like where would I enter your lands exactly?¡± ¡°Uuuuh,¡± she pointed between them. ¡±Right there.¡± ¡°Sure.¡± Six had Lump cast Stone Wall to create a perfect cube of stone right where the lady pointed. The goats stepped back in surprise, the woman growled and shouted. ¡°What''s that? What did you do?¡± ¡°I made a border marker.¡± She scoffed. ¡°You think you have a border with us?¡± ¡°¡­Yes. right here, right where you pointed.¡± They were silent for a moment. He could see the gears turning and she began to wave her hand dismissively. ¡°Well I mean it''s not exactly¡­ there.¡± ¡°No, I saw where you pointed.¡± Six says. ¡°No takesies backsies.¡± ¡°I never had the authority to speak on such matters. I should have sent you to the elders.¡± Six remembered seeing evidence of another human village and checked the Ley Core¡¯s orison density table and saw the name. ¡°The elders of Shepherd¡¯s Peak?¡± Six saw her face break into surprise at his act and he continued. ¡°I have no designs on you or yours. No intention to encroach on your homes.¡± Shepherd¡¯s Peak was small. Barely 700 villagers, slightly less than that of Mountain''s End and less still once Venter integrated. Six did not see them as a threat unless they held a secret hidden master. If they did hold a secret master that wasn¡¯t something Six could really plan for beyond accelerating his growth and he was already going at full throttle. But being friendly cost nothing. Six made a diffusing gesture. ¡°I don¡¯t have time to speak to your elders, but I¡¯ll be back in the future eh? You seem alright, I¡¯m sure you could find us if you wanted, so I invite you in good faith and peace to our summer festival in eight days. It¡¯ll be a small thing but you¡¯re welcome to come. I¡¯ll have more time after the festival probs.¡± The woman cycled between suspicion and confusion. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure there are several archery competitions.¡± Six offered. She perked up at that, actually considering. ¡°Name¡¯s Six, and you?¡± ¡°I am Princess Zilana Kreist. Daughter of Chieftain Ilzana Kreist Wind Cutter.¡± Six bowed, ¡°nice to meetcha, your Majesty.¡± *** Shova 23rd 10,391 Six had received a slight chewing out when he returned later than he said. Ravna had obtained or prepared almost all the metalwork he asked for and didn¡¯t appreciate waiting for nothing. Although she did get some of her sewing projects done instead. All very understandable. Six just took his lumps and apologized for not coming home when he said he would. But today, they could spend the entire day together working. Food was brought from the kitchens and they enjoyed breakfast together. Then it was off to Ravna¡¯s forge to begin the experiments. Six was experimenting, yes but he felt these initial creations would still be useful and important. Thus he wanted to imbue the enchantments during the final smithing process for these items. They began with the most simple expression of the enchantment. Ravna, while not a true silversmith could at least perform a similar but simple finishing process on the immortal steel ring they chose as the first medium. - Immortal Steel Ring of Growth - Rank: Enhanced Rarity: Common Weight: 4 G Durability: 50/50 Traits: Increases the wearer¡¯s physiological growth speed by 16% Sovereign Restoration: Passively regains durability and charges at a rate of 33% per day. Requires attunement. Six had questioned Rotillo when learning the rune and had learned how it affected reality. It seemed this rune wouldn¡¯t make you grow larger or make your limbs grow longer. It simply increased one''s speed of growth. It would help you heal slightly perhaps but ultimately it would speed your aging while you do it. Six placed the ring to the side, complete and finished. Something he wouldn¡¯t dole out to just anyone. Ravna presented him the glowing amulet that was to be enchanted next. They began pushing their craft. Imbuing amulet after amulet with more and more power. Six familiarizing himself with the quirks of the minor rune and optimized his application more each time. They did perhaps fifteen before Six was satisfied, improving the growth increase from 16 to 30%. These wouldn¡¯t be for his citizens, Six had no desire to remove childhood from the life of his people. No these would be for livestock. Amulets placed around the necks of larger beasts to encourage growth and speed the slaughter turnover. Six had never been a vegan but it felt¡­ different, now that he was the one making the decisions rather than just buying meat. Not that he would change his mind, food was scarce and who knows how many mouths he would need to feed in the future. He needed to utilize every advantage and that meant altering the lifecycle of the livestock. They created several sets of large windchimes, bards brought in to help tune each rod. Ravna left the room as Six stacked multiple growth enchantments and pushed them to the limits of overclocking, at the last moment activating the amplification abilities of both his Helm of Prismatic Magic Amplification and his Gauntlets of Stilling Control boosting the enchantments to the maximum limits of what he was capable of. - Immortal Steel Windchimes of Growth - Rank: Enhanced Rarity: Unusual Weight: 10.3 KG Durability: 50/50 Traits: Increases the wearer¡¯s physiological growth speed by 43%. Those who hear the song of the chimes receive a 5% increase to skill acquisition. Sovereign Restoration: Passively regains durability and charges at a rate of 33% per day. Requires attunement. These were for his magic trees. Six hoped to speed their growth in any way he could and this was a start. They moved on to his next idea. Bundles of at least three rods that when placed in earth create a growth field between them. He utilized growth, control, and nexus runes to achieve the required magical behaviour. The growth speed was a third of an amulet but the output would be much larger in theory when scaled over an area of crops. These rods would allow his best farmers to speed up their yield turnovers by 11.3%. If he could have them made with better materials he might be able to stack more minor growth runes on them and increase the rate. They moved on to the moderate version of the rune and went back to rings and amulets. The enchantment took much longer to apply and actually taxed his mana, but from the first attempt Six knew that they had something special. - Immortal Steel Amulet of Advancement - Rank: Enhanced Rarity: Unusual Weight: 7 G Durability: 50/50 Traits: Increases the wearer¡¯s experience gain by 13% Sovereign Restoration: Passively regains durability and charges at a rate of 33% per day. Requires attunement. Six calmed his breath but Ravna knew its value as well. ¡°People would kill for this,¡± she remarked. She was right of course. Six couldn¡¯t let that delay the development of such items, they had yet more to create. Six dropped into focused meditation to speed his mana regen. They pushed on and by the end of the night SIx created his ultimate goal, his true crafting intention. He wove a series of nexus runes topped with a moderate growth rune. It would transfer the extra experience gained by the moderate growth rune from one amulet and send it to another. Once again he activated his helm and gauntlets to boost the end result. - Immortal Steel Amulet of Convergent Advancement - Rank: Enhanced Rarity: Unusual Weight: 7 G Durability: 50/50 Traits: Sends wearer of the receiver amulet an additional 12.1% of all experience gained. Sovereign Restoration: Passively regains durability and charges at a rate of 33% per day. Requires attunement. He could tune up to four output amulets to one receiver amulet with this rune and material setup. Whoever wore the amulet would receive experience wherever they were. Even within the safety of the village. He held it out for Ravna. She took it, examining. ¡°Six¡­ what have you made? This is¡­¡± She peered at it in marvel. ¡°You wanna try it on?¡± Six asked. Ravna smirked and shook her head, no. ¡°Someone else needs to wear this. Leoka or Franklin. This feels like special treatment.¡± ¡°And if it is?¡± ¡°This is for the village.¡± Six shrugged. ¡°I never said that.¡± Her look flattened, unimpressed. ¡°I know you.¡± He held his hands up. ¡°Ok, you¡¯re right. Getting a classed smith would be good for the village though.¡± She sighed and poked him. ¡°It feels condescending. You wouldn¡¯t treat anyone else like this.¡± He knew she was right. ¡°Probably not, no, but I love you. You being a higher level would also put my mind at ease. Is you leveling bad for the baby?¡± She chewed her lip, looking at the amulet consideringly. ¡°No, the baby would be fine¡­ You wouldn¡¯t think less of me if I gained levels this way?¡± ¡°Nah, probably not no.¡± ¡°Probably not?¡± Her eyebrows lifted in outraged surprise. ¡°As long as you didn¡¯t turn into an asshole, start thinking you¡¯re better than everyone else.¡± ¡°You think I¡¯d do that?¡± She crossed her arms and scowled at him, pretending to be angry. ¡°I hope not, power has a way of changing people though. I believe in you though, I don¡¯t know if I¡¯d stay with evil Ravna.¡± Now she could act mollified. ¡°Thank you.¡± Six held the amulet up again. ¡°Please, take it.¡± ¡°Ok.¡± 2.36 Shattered Equilibrium Shova 24th 10,391 Six walked through the morning bustle of Mountain¡¯s End, heading to the eastern gate. He snagged a meat pie from a morning vendor and enjoyed the simple salt and herb flavour combo on his way to the new work site he would be heading up. He stopped at the town hall and took a few moments to hang the Windchimes of Growth in the emperor and blood trees. Last night, Six had gained a level in meditation, bringing him to level 20. He activated the apprentice skill evolution and considered his choices on his walk, his long strides dodging around wagons, garbage golems, ley workers, and the press of people. Analytical Meditation, allowed Six to meditate at half the normal rate while performing mental work. This would help him with training certain skills and his overall enchantment output. Improved Meditation simply increased the rate at which his skill scaled per level from 0.5% to 1%. Doubling its effectiveness. Battle Meditation, allowed him to meditate at half the normal rate while in battle. Healing Meditation added a HP regen component to the mana and stamina regen of Meditation. Mana Meditation increased mana regen to 2% per level at the cost of the complete loss of the stamina component. While Healing Meditation was appealing, it required him to be doing nothing other than focused meditation. Six picked Battle Meditation. The slight increases to his regens in battle were far more impactful on his staying power and survival than recovering in a stationary position after a fight. Six wasn¡¯t a skirmisher and this would just increase his ability to apply pressure over the span of a longer conflict. A rush of knowledge flooded his mind but he would have to wait until the next fight to test the evolution. The technique he picked was Focused Action. Technique: Focused Action Rank: Minor Cooldown: 1 day Performance Time: Instant Duration: Instant Stamina and Mana Cost: 65 Charges: 0/100 Effect: User charges ability with the use of the Meditation skill. At 100 charges the user can activate this technique to empower their next action by 1% per level in Meditation. Charges will begin to diminish shortly after ceasing meditation. It was extremely good even if the cooldown was a day and it cost both stamina and mana. It synergized with almost anything he could do but again, testing would have to wait. Six waved to the town guards as he exited the east gate. He planned to make more of the convergent advancement amulets and outfit the village patrols with the output portions. The receiver amulets he would have to control carefully. Everyone would want safe advancement but between his limited time and the number of available patrols there just wouldn¡¯t be enough to go around. He needed his loyal non-combatants classed up, completing challenges, and earning perk points. Enchanting 3 Challenge: Enchant 200 items. 353/1000 Enchanting Weapons 2 Challenge: Enchant 31 weapons. 96/100 He¡¯d completed the Enchanting 2 challenge a while ago and had earned 10 perk points, bringing his total to 65. Just enough for a strong perk, something to consider. Six¡¯s perks had all significantly altered his effectiveness as a golem and armor based enchanter. They needed more perks and skill evolutions flowing through their society and the amulets would speed the acquisition of more perks. The school would speed skill acquisition. He had elected to create a contained salient on the palisade, a large area that would become the campus of an educational complex. The first step was to displace the shanties that had begun to build up in that area. A job Six had assigned Leoka when he decided to use the land. There was a small cry of shame from his ego. Not that he displaced them but that he delegated the task. Six¡¯s strange honor demanded he perform such distasteful acts himself but his time was too valuable to waste kicking a bunch of low level drifters from the safety of their walls. Gentrification was a bitch. Franklin had worked all yesterday to prep the site, the sewer was installed and the earth graded. Already high-density dorms were going up where Six indicated on the civic zoning diagrams he¡¯d hastily prepared, Franklin was focused on the terrace farms but her less skilled crews could still pump out housing as fast as they could. Six would aim his talents on the actual institution itself. He worked with Poh Doh and Ley workers. This building was going to be another stepping stone on their collective way to power and its nature as a population multiplier made Six willing to go all out. Six made sure the campus was close enough to benefit from the emperor tree¡¯s buff, If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Inspired Retention: 10% increase to skill acquisition He infused every piece of material with earth for durability. After considering his current selection of reagents he elected to create a custom reagent by having Gatbark¡¯s works yard create an obelisk of immortal steel, then had Ravna plate it with the orichalum ingot he found long ago. The enhanced but simple metal was durable enough to endure four applications of the Moderate Rune of the Second Foundation of Growth. Such a casting required the use of his coven and even then, Six had to bloodcast and borrow Biggo¡¯s mana golem. The effect was exactly what he was aiming for. A stacked skill acquisition aura. Those who are within 20M of the Orichalum Obelisk of Observation receive a 17% increase to skill acquisition. Six smiled as a point of stagnation broke for him, he gained a level in enchanting. Enchantment - Master - 61 This item he would place within the construction of the academy and it would become the reagent of the building. Poh Doh was integral in the building process. Placing large stones quarried from Blackmine, building it up brick by brick. Each piece carefully placed from the foundation to the arches that supported the roof. A roof grown from a cedar sapling that was stretched and pulled across the trusses until it covered the rather large building. Now Six needed to go frame out the inside, build rooms and amenities, install plumbing and lighting. This project may take another two or so days but magic and a complete lack of needing permits for his whims made things go much quicker. Six checked his skill increase prompts while he chewed his second lunch. Coven - Initiate - 8 Force Magic - Initiate - 11 Carpentry - Initiate - 18 He¡¯d already put in his eight but he could spend another two or three hours before tracking down Keegan and Nar for some late night training. That was until a vrill messenger girl reached him breathless. She huffed and coughed out a message. ¡°My lord. There''s been an attack. A bad one.¡± The villagers always had to be on the lookout for danger and people were hurt by animals and monsters every day, but this sounded different. Six steeled his expression and regarded the little one cooly. ¡°Where?¡± ¡°The edges of the eastern farmland. The Captain is there right now¡± Six left the child at a sprint and arrived to a burnt and broken farmhouse on the edge of the forest. Blood was spattered everywhere and trails of it extended off to the treeline. There was a group of soldiers, hunters, and guards who were all at the ready, wary of a second attack. Charles sat upon his voidlike golem steed and acknowledged Six with a grim stare. ¡°The trolls,¡± he reported. A notification struck him hard. Quest failed: Remove the Trolls A twinge of guilt struck Six. He had always known the trolls to be a threat but had ignored them as an immediate problem. He had been building a school? When there were enemies on his land? What had he been thinking? Rage aimed at himself erupted from Six¡¯s center. He had failed in his duty, failed as a leader, failed in the responsibility he refused to relinquish. All of this he kept from emerging. His face impassive, his bearing strong. Weakness shown was weakness felt and he refused to be anything other than an ideal for his people. He gripped those emotions and imprisoned them inside, to be observed and analyzed but not indulged. Six hadn¡¯t the luxury of wallowing in guilt and rage. Even if he failed, failure was a part of life. Life was not life without struggle. He would rectify his mistake, find those trolls, and kill them. Then, he would finish his school. Six cleared his throat before speaking to Charles, but for all to hear. ¡°Gather the troops. Organize them all for a large scale operation. Charles confirmed. ¡°All of them?¡± Six nodded. ¡°All of them. We will begin in two days¡± Charles grimaced. ¡°Two days is little time¡± ¡°Can you make it happen?¡± ¡°Yes, my Lord.¡± ¡°Make it so. Thank you.¡± Charles left and Leoka shuffled closer. ¡°Should we halt the festival preparations?¡± she asked quietly. Six shook his head. ¡°No. We need that festival and tragedy will strike us every day eventually. We will celebrate.¡± He gave her additional orders, things he needed done before the operation commenced. Six went straight to Ravna and found her relaxing in her little kitchen with a cup of tea. ¡°My love.¡± She smiled at him. ¡°I¡¯m sorry but I need you to smith me a new saw.¡± She blinked. ¡°Right now?¡± ¡°Yes." ¡°That¡¯ll take all night! Maybe even into the morning.¡± ¡°I know.¡± ¡°But my slippers are on and I don¡¯t want to get up!¡± She kicked her feet and smirked. ¡°Ravna, I wouldn¡¯t ask my pregnant wife to overwork herself if it wasn¡¯t important.¡± She stopped joking and regarded him, face serious. ¡°What happened?¡± ¡°We¡¯ve been attacked and I need a proper weapon.¡± She stood and drained her teacup. ¡°Show me your best materials and reagents.¡± She chose to use his Glass Steel Ingot in conjunction with the Obsidiite Bo Staff to create something almost indestructible. Her high strength and Master rank Smithing skill were on display as she sipped an enhanced stamina potion. She used many tools but foremost was her Adamas Hammer. The tool moved rhythmically, shaping and forming the incredibly resistant metal into the intricate shapes she desired. She worked quickly. Still, beyond his initial elemental infusion of air into the material, Six had hours to prepare. So he sent for his coven to assemble and began to design the enchantment complex. With the ingot forged from enhanced materials and the reagent of superior rank, he could push the magical energies to their utmost limit. The unparalleled quality of the components ensured the final artifact would bear the weight of potent enchantments with ease. He started with the essentials, laying the foundation of rotation and control before letting inspiration guide his design. Drawing inspiration from the formidable Bloodsteel Greatsword, he refined its fire rune array into something far more potent. The new array wove a natural fire enchantment into an intricate lattice of power- an amplification matrix of nexus and control runes. At its heart, four moderate control runes designed to amplify were connected in sequence and fed by the raw energy of a twelve-rune nexus convergence. Even Six, with all his knowledge, could only guess at the sheer destructive potential of this creation. He had considered trying to push Ember Spark to a moderate rank spell but even with the upgraded Verdant Growth he knew he wouldn¡¯t be able to accomplish it in time. For his reagent, he would use the last of the Concentrated bloodsap. Hopefully, it would give the weapon a healing mitigation effect, or vampiric effect. He planned and double checked his designs before he descended into light visualization. He visualized the performance of the enchantment in his mind several times before he heard Ravna¡¯s voice. ¡°It''s time.¡± *** When dawn struck Six emerged from the little forge with a weapon of vengeance. Enchantment Successful. You have successfully enchanted a Dark Glassteel Greatsaw with a Repeating Fire Rune Array with an efficiency rating of 47% creating an - Dark Glassteel Greatsaw of Explosive Conflagration - Rank: Superior Rarity: Mythic Weight: 9.7 KG Durability: 11500/11500 Charges: 28/28 Traits: Saw: The user can activate to rotate the sprocket of the saw, spinning the chain. Uses 1 charge per 5 minutes of activation. Conflagration: When the user lands a blow with this weapon it can be activated to create a blast of fire that does +233 Fire damage upon activation, expends eight charges or 25% of the user''s maximum health per activation. If activated with health, the effect is doubled. Apex Material: Durability will only reduce if the Greatsaw takes damage equal to more than the current Durability. Powered By Blood: Can absorb blood in the immediate environment and convert it to charges. 1 charge per gallon of blood absorbed. Sovereign Restoration: Passively regains durability and charges at a rate of 31% per day. He smiled as once again he received a skill increase for this creation. Enchantment - Master - 62 Translucent and black, the edges glittered and gleamed, showing off their sharpness. He gave it some test swings. The weapon was lighter than his previous saw having been infused with air mana which made it extremely maneuverable. The trolls had fucked around, and now they would find out. Six tracked down Keegan who was organizing troops for Charles, and he interrupted the soldier. ¡°Keegan, I need you to teach me something.¡± Keegan looked slightly perturbed at the distraction. ¡°Can it not wait?¡± ¡°No. I need this.¡± Keegan nodded without a second thought and called to his second in command, a muscular vrill man. ¡°Entaro, please take over. What''s this for?¡± ¡°Advantage.¡± Six explained. ¡°I need every advantage I can get.¡± He then kindly requested Keegan¡¯s secrets. Learning the maneuver took only an hour or so to Keegan¡¯s irritation and surprise. The large man shook his head in begrudging respect. ¡°I hadn¡¯t expected you to learn my family¡¯s maneuver so easily. I thought I¡¯d have to spend the rest of the night teaching you.¡± ¡°Nothin'' easy about it. Thank you.¡± With obtaining Keegan¡¯s technique there was another synergy that was unclaimed and Six spent 60 perk points to gain it. The last thing Six did was find a secluded area where he tested his own new capabilities and tested the saw''s Conflagration ability. The enchanter came back to town singed and smoky, but overall, the weapon was a blast. 2.37 Blood and Vengeance. Shova 29th 10,391 Tobi was tired. Lord Six had pushed them hard these past three days. Still, Toby trudged through the rainforest with Little Pete at her back. They were hunting trolls. Toby had never seen trolls, but she knew the stories¡ªgreat beasts that hungered only for flesh, blood, and pain. Nature impeded her movement but the pressure of her lord¡¯s endless marching proved good motivation. She considered her path to this point, how she became a level 3 hunter in the village of Mountain¡¯s End. She¡¯d come with Alison and had seen Six fight with them initially. Now he pressed them towards danger, seeking to conquer it. She was strong compared to the average villager but such monsters were not to be taken lightly. Charles gathered all he could at the Lord''s request and they marched east through the forest combing it in a line. Killing all that attacked and allowing that which ran to flee. Still, they had not found their quarry. Edna had argued with the Captain telling him that hunters were not soldiers. Charles explained carefully, gently, that the Lord did not care he needed them, he needed their skills. Their tracking. Their expertise. Tobi knew that the Lord wouldn''t make slaves of them, they had all heard the news from the crafters and the slaves themselves. Six didn¡¯t permit slavery. That didn''t mean the Lord would tolerate His hunters disobeying. Tobi saw how things worked in Mountain¡¯s End. She would never rise if she didn¡¯t risk herself. She had come from Olisrosa. The farthest frontier city of the empire, well it used to be until the Kingdom of Harmony when she was a child. Not that that would last with the news from Lady Venter. Olisrosa was a shithole and she didn¡¯t want to go back. She didn¡¯t want to be expelled, exiled from the village sent to live with the drifters in the transient slums. So she marched through the forest. Her skills had risen, survival, perception, and athletics. They had fought much in these past two days: Koatl, boars, bristle hounds. Monsters of all types and each time the Lord watched from afar as his motley army purged the land of danger. She was tired but kept her position in the formation. All of them strung out in a combing line. Her constitution was only so high and while her endurance provided a large stamina pool her stamina regen could only replenish so fast. It''s not that she wanted to stop, it''s that she needed to stop. She leaned on a tree, ashamed of her lack of ability. She breathed deep trying to give her body what it needed. Slowly, slowly she brought herself to center but her recovery was broken by the shifting winds bringing a rancid scent. Her eyes widened as the realization hit her. Her knowledge showed her the signs, a well-walked trail with footprints far too big, a bone here and there, no sounds of life. She felt a crisis was imminent. Her mind told her to turn back but that''s not what she was here for she was here to help her village, they needed to know what they faced and she needed to confirm. ¡°We have something here, go get the others,¡± she told Little Pete. The kid nodded and scuttled off into the trees. He would call for regrouping and the line of fighters would converge on her find. She moved forward, seeking the danger, and found four trolls squatting and feasting upon the bloody remains of a pack of sasquatches. Heads between their knees they nibbled away at the torn limbs of the furred humanoids. Snuffling, snorting, and smacking their lips as they chewed away. She¡¯d found them, now it was time to leave. But a sound from her path of escape turned her blood cold. A troll the size of a two-story house pushed its way through the underbrush and fixed an evil glare upon her. Its lips curled in a sick smile as a malevolent will bore down, its aura laughing at her terror. In its hand was a deep crimson club that oozed blood from thorns along its shaft. The weapon had an aura too, it sang with despair and resentment, a thing that wished for ever-growing pain. A cry choked in her throat as the beast took its time approaching her, savouring her shivers and twitches. She wanted to move but even as the club was raised she couldn¡¯t overcome the fear and hopelessness that welled within. But at the moment the weapon reached its zenith, Six was there. He rode upon the village defender Poh Doh as they crashed through the forest and chanted a mantra of battle in his strange foreign language, the avalanche behind him joining chorus as Poh Doh slammed into the giant troll. ¡°Kill! Kill! Kill!¡± The lord leapt into the air, armor gleaming, as his screaming blade appeared in his hands. It plunged down and a torrent of thick blood erupted from the huge troll as it rolled, fighting Six and his golem. Behind their leader was the rest of Mountain¡¯s End, streaming through the trees, and battle was wrought. *** Six screamed his rage out as he leapt from the back of Poh Doh, throwing himself forward and plunging his saw deep into the chest of his enemy. Blood sprayed as the teeth spun and tore, the monster keening in pain. Six activated his weapon¡¯s enchantments and a conflagration exploded, the troll''s chest blasting open and ejecting a cone of flesh chunks and blood. Six was singed by the flames and cursed as the village was too far for him to receive the benefits of Tempered By Flame. Unfortunate. The troll clawed a hand in and tore Six away from the clinch launching the man back. Six slid as he hit the ground drawing the bottom of his saw along to slow his momentum. He reoriented in time to respond to the troll¡¯s follow-up. Its club was redirected with a Deflect but the maneuver could only soak so much and the blow slammed through, shattering his Force Shell. Glittering remnants in his shape remained as Six was once again sent flying away. Flipping wildly through the air, Six could see Poh Doh tackle the larger troll and tangle it up. Six hit the dirt and rolled to his feet, employing both his Analyze and Battle Meditation skills. His regens shot up while he received info. Zernulg Blood Troll Level 21 The blood and flesh that he tore away from Zernulg were coalescing into bubbling masses, those masses solidified into tiny trolls in their own right and then charged in to surround Six throwing themselves at the enchanter. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Six kept them at bay with roundhouse kicks and crosschecks with the flat of his bar, hesitating to cut them apart, fearing the creation of even more. Instead, he blasted the area with a Fire Wave burning them to a crisp. Zernulg managed to separate from Poh Doh despite the golem''s immense strength, speaking to the innate power of an evolved monster. It roared and slammed its club at Six¡¯s creation producing an ear-splitting crack and fracturing the crystal golem. Six moved in while scanning the battlefield. The other trolls were lesser, unevolved, but still a danger. Keegan, Narhurin, Tavi, and Oppo each led a squad of frontliners taking the brunt of the punishment while supported by mages, golem operators, and archers. They pushed forward as Nibbler and the now recovered exploding archer unleashed hell from afar. Lunar blades slicing and arrows expanding into blasts of fire. Tavi¡¯s plasma golem blasting off jets of superheated lances. Charles moved about on his horse of darkness, buffing groups with his ritual enchantments and taking the odd potshot. His Warleader skill giving every soldier extra movement and sustain. Kali Kik stood even further back with her healer core, providing much needed sustain. Six had to trust that his people would handle the four beasts while he handled the boss. He crossed weapons with the Blood Troll and while each clash tore chips away from the bloodwood club, the weapon regenerated. The damage that six inflicted upon it was healed by blood drawn from the environment, replacing the missing material. The oppressive size and strength of the Blood Troll begin to overwhelm him. Even empowered by his buff stack Six was slowly being pushed off balance. The troll¡¯s arm grew for an instant, veins pumping with blood, the appendage becoming a monstrous limb the size of a horse. The club smashed down and a golden shield sprang into existence breaking instantly and barely slowing the attack. Brace and Deflect giving Six more durability and redirecting the blow to the side. It still shaved some HP off but not enough to conjure another vital shield. It did, however, put the enchanter off balance. The empowered arm cycled another strike, too fast for Six to dodge without proper footing. But on command, Poh Doh bowled into his creator and received the attack instead. Another painful crack sounded through the forest but this time the golem was shattered into innumerable pieces. A cloud of dust and stone shards buffeting the area. Six rolled to his feet as fragments of his creation pinged off his armor like smoking shrapnel. An Imbue Life topped his life up as Zephyr¡¯s Embrace blew the obscuring dust of PohDoh away. In his hand, the wand of mana spear, Six unloaded both casts and the massive pillars of force blasted two holes through the house-sized troll. It only staggered for a moment. Blood gushing from the wounds momentarily before it coagulated in an instant. Even staunched the wounds were significant but the troll acted immediately. Picking up one of its tiny blood clones, ripping its squealing head off with a tearing bite and pressing the little troll''s body into the hole. The corpse melding and patching the perforations, healing it quickly and morphing into angry red scar tissue. Then the blood troll raised that infernal club and uttered something in its guttural nonspeak and the club emitted a glowing pulse. Each time it beat Six heard whispers of despair hit his mind before it was cut by Mind¡¯s Edge. Whispers he ignored, much like the thunder of his own self-doubts. The remaining troll clones rushed Six but Lump blasted out a series of firewaves to incinerate the little trolls into ash. Zernulg approached and Six knew he needed more. He screamed his new technique, ¡°Titanic Empowerment,¡± growing by almost two meters, standing near twelve feet tall. His body overflowed with strength and his HP doubled as well. Still, Six only came to the Zernulg¡¯s chest. The troll laughed as he witnessed Six¡¯s growth. Confidence radiated from the beast as it shunted blood and power into its arm for another mighty swing. But this time Six¡¯s Brace and Deflect redirected the entirety of the club¡¯s momentum, driving the vile weapon into the ground. ¡°Precise Strike!¡± Six rotated his saw and performed an undercut, lopping off the troll¡¯s freehand and disarming Even still the troll itself was a weapon, augmenting its free hand with monstrous physiology and unloading a haymaker directly into Six. All SIx could do was try to control his momentum and stay on his feet. His enlarged form sliding backwards and crashes through the smaller trees. He nearly passed out from pain as the crystal shard in his chest was disturbed and sunk deeper, applying a large amount of damage to his health pool. He nearly shed a tear of frustration when he saw the amputated hand wriggle, right itself like a spider, then launch itself at the coagulating stump. Arcing and rotating in the air before sticking itself back on the limb with a wet slap. Strands of blood pulled across the wound and the troll examined the reattached hand, waggling the fingers and laughing. Six needed more. He had to use everything and he had just finished charging one of his latest acquisitions. ¡°Focused Action.¡± A construct clicked in his mind and he could feel both mana and stamina beginning to circulate within his mind, preparing to augment his next move. ¡°Unleashed Muscle!¡± Six exploded in size. His physical stats shooting up sharply and his gear growing to accommodate his change. Power pulsed through him as the secret technique of Keegan''s family exalted the enchanter. He stood eye to eye with the two-storied Zernulg and for the first time, he saw fear in the troll¡¯s face. A wave of troll clones rushed forward and a punt sent one rocketing, it collided with a tree and became a spatter of red. Six roared and ignored the irrelevant things. It was this destroyer his anger cried out for. Zernulg swung wildly but Six stopped it with a gauntleted hand. Then Six returned the wild swing and once again separated the troll¡¯s hand from its arm. Separated from its master the club''s whispers turn to screams. The collective pain and anguish of its victims slammed down on Six¡¯s psyche. Six¡¯s mind cut through the shrieks like a water jet through a hammer. He tossed the crimson log away, he did not need it. He would not be stopped. Six channeled Plant Growth and used the roots and grasses of the forest to sew the severed hand into the earth. The hand struggled against its woven bindings as the troll bellowed its rage at the restriction. ¡°That ain¡¯t going nowhere.¡± Zernulg charged into Six and bore him to the ground. Snapping its mouth at Six¡¯s head before emitting a roar of its own. Poison fog billowed out of its fetid maw and Six was breathing heavily, already pushed to the limits of exertion. It hit his system immediately and he threw up in his helm, the damage over time effect surpassing his innate health regen. Six needed to get this monster off of him and bucked his body, the two giant forms crushing and rolling through the underbrush as they grappled for dominance. But with one hand the troll was at a disadvantage, despite its healing factor. Six broke the grapple and made distance by stomp kicking away before jumping to his feet and lunging in with his chainsaw. The heavy and unathletic troll still rising. He unleashed his Double Strike Multi Strike combo. Unleashing a Conflagration and incinerating its remaining hand. Stone Spikes pinned its legs in place and the wriggling torso of Zernulg was impotent as the troll¡¯s eyes stared at Six in fearful anger. Still not fully comprehending its situation. It was helpless but even then Six could see the wounds closing and fresh nubs reaching outwards trying to become arms and legs. ¡°Fire.¡± called Six and from the outskirts of the battle came ten golem operators who were in reserve. Each controlled two fire golems that moved to hover and orbit around the seething troll. There was no snark, no levity in victory. This necessity disgusted Six. ¡°Burn it.¡± The troll screamed as twenty gouts of flame roasted it until the only sounds it made were the crackle and pop of its skin. Six waved his hand to end the immolation once he received the kill notification and the majority of experience. Six may not be a master of killing, but he did have talent. He looked to the other aspects of the battle. His people were taking losses but they were doing their job. He still had work to do. Six waded forward to finish the threat. *** ¡°My Lord,¡± Oppo dropped to his knees and prayed to Kynairos. Six was¡­ unstable. ¡°One of the pressed has taken this opportunity to flee into the forest. I beg forgiveness, please allow me and some of your soldiers to hunt him down and I shall bring him back.¡± The battle was over. His broken arm had been tended to by the healer Kali Kik. But after a count of his men, he knew one had escaped. Six would have eventually learned of this, it was all Oppo could do to be honest and forthright. The Lord had no patience for dissembling. He needed to fix this. ¡°No.¡± Oppo flinched at the rejection and tensed further when Six pulled him to his feet. ¡°This is something I shall do myself. Six pointed at the nearest hunter. ¡°Come, track and hunt the one who wishes to escape their penance.¡± She nodded, eyes ringed with exhaustion. ¡°Yes, my Lord.¡± *** Tomathy thought he had gained his freedom, but he now understood it was a tenuous thing. The Lord of Mountain¡¯s End pursued him and all he could do was run. His stamina was fast depleting but he needed to push past it. He needed his lungs to keep working despite the fire he felt within them. Behind him, he heard the lord slowly gaining. No matter how hard he ran, it wasn¡¯t enough. All he cou- ¡°ARUGH¡± He tumbled as his foot was caught by a root. Landing prone and scraping his hands and face. He moaned as he went to stand but an agonizing spike of pain shot down his legs and ended all feeling below his waist as weight bore down and broke his back violently. His mind struggled to process the moment. He screamed more in terror than anything. Something impacted the back of his head and everything went dark. Tomathy¡¯s eyes opened and his vision was unfocused but he could hear whispers, like a rustling breeze they spoke of pity. Then he heard the words. ¡°This man was one of Amog¡¯s. One who attacked us, took from us. Despite that I granted them mercy, I granted him the chance to change, to become one of us. Instead, he had the temerity to try and circumvent our exchange. To take from us once again.¡± The man¡¯s vision cleared. He was at the head of the town square, the prisoners assembled in ranks, showing their obeisance to the lord through genuflection. He tried to stand, but his legs weren¡¯t working. He was held aloft by his shirt, held aloft of the gauntleted hand of Lord Six. Lord Death the worshippers of Kynairos called the armored warrior. He knew it to be apt as he knew his own death to be imminent. ¡°Please, please my lord.¡± he began to blubber. ¡°Thus begins the bartering. But there is no more trust to be given. No more charity to dole out.¡± Six looked through Tomathy and he felt invisible, he felt¡­ The lord bared his teeth. ¡°There is nothing.¡± Then Six dragged the man back and pressed him against the dark red bark of the nascent blood tree. What could Tomathy do? What could he say? He realized he was speaking but it was instinctual. A mantra of stuttering pleas. That was broken as the tree began to move, slowly at first. A root withdrew from the earth and wrapped itself across his chest. Fear broke the last vestige of self and a wail echoed across the courtyard as he struggled against the firm hand of the Lord keeping him there. He tore at it and kept struggling despite the joints of his fingers over-extending, his fingernails peeling, despite the impossible force of nature that held him. Even as more branches and roots embraced him, pulled him closer and constricted his chest the primal part of his mind cried and fought. One of his ribs snapped and he didn¡¯t feel the pain. His mind was far too consumed with terror as he was consumed by the tree. 2.38 Normalcy. Shova 29th 10,391 The hunt was over. Six was alone within the walls of the Leyhall. He sat with Nibbler on his lap, scratching the raccoon and working through prompts in his mind. Level 21 Zernulg has died. 1924 Partial Experience gained. He was close to hitting level 16 sitting at 118398 experience out of 120500. The rest would come soon enough he knew. 3/3 samples obtained, Trait obtained, Troll: Racial ability, Troll Regeneration. Gain an increase of 0.1 points of health regen per point of CON and a reduction of 0.5 point of Force of personality per point of CHA. 3/3 Bloodwell slots filled. Archive trait? Yes/No? Six selected Yes. Bloodwell is full, select trait to purge and replace. Ravznok Orc Halfling Six replaced the Ork trait with the Troll trait. The Ravznok trait decreased computational power while it seemed but the Ork trait made you vulnerable to mental attacks which Six rated as a larger risk. Simplicity was less of a risk than unpredictability. Many of his skills went up by the end of his little war. Perception, Survival, Athletics, and Heavy armor all went up by two. Analyze, Chainsaw, Mindfulness, Unarmed, Inspect, Elemental Magic, Force Magic, Cycle Magic, and the Butchery skill all went up by one Overall a pretty good return for what the three day long operation took from him. Unleashed Muscle and Titanic Empowerment synergized better than he expected, Focused Action pushing result even further. Maneuver: Unleashed Muscle Rank: Minor Cooldown: 1 hour Range: Self Casting Time: Instant Duration: 10m Stamina Cost: 90 Effect: Enlarges the user by 2% per level in Athletics and increases their Strength, Constitution, and Endurance statistics in relation to size gained. Spell: Titanic Empowerment Rank: Minor Cooldown: 1 hour Range: Self Casting Time: Instant Duration: 10m Mana Cost: 80 Effect: Enlarges the user by 3% per level in Heavy Armor and increases their Strength, Constitution, and Endurance statistics in relation to size gained. Must be wearing armor to activate spell. Two strong additions to his ever expanding armoury. The troll¡¯s had little use for the items that remained from their killing and the refuse pile held a large amount of treasure, a trove that would have taken years to accumulate from their victims. - Zernulg¡¯s Fire Hardened Blood Club of Anguish - Rank: Superior Rarity: Rare Weight - 182 KG Durability: 2500/2500 Traits: Coagulation: Will absorb blood within 10m and heal durability damage at a rate of 50 durability per 1 kiloliter of blood absorbed. Anguish: The collected emotions of those Zernulg ended with this club have infused the weapon, coalescing into a mind of pure anguish. Will inflict psychological debuff, Hopelessness, on the current enemies of its wielder. - Immortal Steel Ring of Quickened Minor Heal - Rank:Mundane Rarity:Unusual Weight - 4 G Durability 50/50 Traits: Can be activated once in a twenty-four hour period to instantly heal 38 damage. Requires attunement. He had one more attunement slot to fill and this would be a good simple fit for it. Now that he ran that item through his mind he noticed it operated without charges. Not exactly like Sovereign Restoration but it recharged without the use of charges or mana cores. Something to research later, he was accumulating too many potential studies. A broken down moss covered wagon told the tale of a lost trading caravan. The wagon was littered with broken pots and disintegrating cloth but beneath the rotted bottom were many ingots of immortal steel and a few of enhanced rank quicksilver. Six pocketed one quicksilver ingot and the rest, along with all the coins and gems, would go to the town as well. The remaining magic items found in the troll lair he had the squad leaders divvy up and distribute to whomever they deemed worthy. They knew better than Six as to who deserved it and it would solidify the chain of command to their subordinates. Zernulg was completely incinerated as while the blood clone effect seemed inert Six wasn¡¯t about to risk it. The rest of the unevolved trolls were butchered and harvested, the hides going to Hodgekins while the blood, eyes, and glands went to Indigo. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Six kept the enhanced mana core of Zernulg for himself. He¡¯d earned it. The system bookkeeping done¡­ he looked at himself. He had executed a man today. Why did he do that? Was it truly necessary to track him down, drag him back. Kill him? Six was sleep deprived, emotionally turbulent, and fresh out of battle, but he wasn¡¯t sure of the effect all that would have on his mind. Even then it was no excuse. He could have confined the man to prison for the rest of his sentence, could have added more time. Instead he personally killed the man. He hadn¡¯t grown up in a country where the death penalty was used. It wasn¡¯t part of his previous experiences. None of what he experienced in Zarmul had been a part of himself before¡­ or had it? Who was he becoming? Who had he become? Was this always who''d he been? Did any of that matter? Did his regret matter? Did what he want matter? ¡°No.¡± he said to the empty room. These tumultuous emotions were meaningless in context of what he thought was the best return for the village. He didn''t do it for himself, he did it for the tribe. He made an example of that man and only time would tell if it was worth It. Looking back in retrospect Six felt like he¡¯d made a mistake, as if he lost an ideal he¡¯d used to hold. Actions held weight, actions defined you. He''d responded poorly to this failure. He responded with an emotional overcorrection. He fucked up. He rolled the racoon on her back and scratched her belly. Feeling grateful for the non judgemental and unconditional acceptance of a pet. Part of him wanted to share these questions and insecurities with Ravna but he wasn''t about to put more stress on his pregnant girlfriend. He could handle it. He stood to go and fought Nibbler as she clawed and clung to his arms to avoid being put down. He needed to catch up on sleep before tomorrow. *** It was just after dawn and Six and Ravna wandered around the town square, arm in arm.The weather was perfect, summer was coming to an end, so it was clear and cool. The lake sparked and the air held a tinge of that mountain freshness. Six wasn¡¯t wearing his armor for once, instead wearing simple and undamaged clothes, his nice clothing that he saved for dinners with Ravna. She wore a knee length dress of brown and green that had spiraling multi-coloured symbols sewn down its length. Leoka and Elara had done a wonderful job preparing for the festival. The perimeter was lined with various vendors of food and trinkets, some still setting up their shops, and the center of the area had a raised arena. There were two other vendor markets set up in other parts of the village, shutting down main intersections to have the proper amount of space. While Six had basically been hands off with the planning he had requested one thing, a fighting tournament. So for the next two days fighters under level 10 would duke it out and the top three would receive prizes and ribbons or something. 64 participants meant 6 rounds, three today and three tomorrow. Ravna leaned into him as they walked. ¡°This is nice. It''s good to just have a few days to ourselves.¡± ¡°We¡¯ve earned it,¡± Six murmured. ¡°My love, you take a break whenever you need to.¡± Six started to respond, intending to remind her of his responsibilities but cut himself off at seeing her expression of hope and worry. Six pulled her closer ¡°I will, thank you.¡± She just cared for him and wanted to see him safe. People streamed in from all parts of Mountain¡¯s End and the area began to fill and explore the square, streaming about like wood chips caught in the wind. It was time for him to officially start the festival so Six made his way onto the arena stage. He looked about in all directions and people filled every inch possible. The murmur of the crowd intensified for a moment before a hush rippled outward. Six let the silence build before he broke it. ¡°People of Mountain¡¯s End, please let me welcome you to the first Mountainside Reverie festival!¡± He paused for cheers but everyone stood watching. ¡°Its been a challenge, us getting this far. It¡¯s been battle after battle, everyday, everyone throwing in as best they can. We worked together to get here. Now we should take some time to appreciate it. There are foods, games, and competitions to enjoy for the next two days. Now, a moment of silence to remember the fallen, those we have lost along the way, whom without we wouldn¡¯t have made it here.¡± Six stopped talking and the tiny sounds of the crowd died. He just listened to the breeze, thinking of his sisters who he lost to drugs. He thought of that first pirate he killed. Alison came to mind spiking Six¡¯s guilt. Then a vague platonic ideal of a soldier, lost while he was gone, lost in the fight against the trolls. He let that silence sit and once again broke it. ¡°Thank you. I wish you all well.¡± A small cheer rose as Six left the stage and rejoined Ravna. ¡°Ready?¡± she asked, grabbing his hand. ¡°Ready.¡± He smiled. They spent the morning checking each stall, trying various foods or looking at different crafts. Food vendors were limited by having access to strictly local ingredients but as Six worked his way through pies, kebabs, and doughnuts, he thought everything was absolutely delicious. Sometimes a match on the arena stage would catch his attention, an interesting technique or series of blows. Most were in their twenties but a few like Edna were as old as Denny. None of them had their classes yet, only working with the skills they built over time. Six wondered who would claim the number one spot. The connecting streets between the festival bazaars were populated by little groups of performers and food sellers that made their way up and down the lanes. Six was getting the local equivalent to a really expensive cream roll when he saw a group of Vrill dancers. They had made a manta ray costume and wore it in a way similar to Chinese dragon dancing. The Manta was a shiny yellow gold that caught the light with the rippling movements they performed. They moved as one and awed the crowd with their smooth puppetry. ¡°What is that?¡± Six asked Ravna. ¡°It''s a representation of the great beast Gordokalko, a level 60 monster of vrill mythology who was said to have once terrorized the skies of Zarmul. In the story it was defeated above the jungles of Arkorjia by a twice evolved mage long ago,¡± she replied. They saw Aclo and Narhurin display a traditional martial performance. Choreographed moves that flowed together in a graceful dance. It had been guided by their few sessions with the mask spirit Yanzo, correcting the cultural drift present in the tsunken aelves of today. Bark led a marching band that wore elaborate costumes of sticks, leaves, and bones. Looking like forest cryptids creeping through the village, emanating haunting, melodic music. There were many such bands, all scattered about, playing a diverse array of instruments. Flutes, harps, horns, and drums all coming together to create something cohesive. More than the fighting tournament there were other contests and competitions to try. Minor magic contests, archery contests, boulder tossing contests, and some track and field. . The archery contest was what Six focused on the most, it had quickly evolved into a distance and precision struggle between Zilana Kreist and Charles. He watched while feasting on a bag of egg and cheese potato skins. They shot from farther and farther away with each round. Charles in a nice new set of imperial outerwear and using his blood bow, siphoning more and more HP into each shot with every round. Zilana held a massive bow. Nearly 6 feet long Six would say. Each round she increased her draw, and adjusted her angles. Eventually Charles conceded, losing too much health to continue empowering his shots. Zilana was awarded the first place prize, a wheel of cheese, and hoisted her treasure above her head. Receiving cheers from the crowd and her retinue and reveling in her victory. Charles took the loss well, joining in applause then bowing in defeat to the princess, an even smile plastered on his face. ¡°You are very skilled, Princess,¡± he grunted out. Looking somewhat pale. ¡°You are quite skilled yourself, Muldstanii. You almost had me there I think,¡± she laughed. ¡°I shall have to improve my health pool before we compete again.¡± ¡°You can always use a real bow instead of cheating with magic,¡± she teased. ¡°Cheating with magic is how we do it here.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve seen. My village will be very surprised to learn that such a settlement has appeared so close in such a small amount of time.¡± Charles turned solemn. ¡°Will that be a problem?¡± ¡°If you¡¯re the best archer we have nothing to worry about,¡± she said impishly. ¡°There''s one better.¡± Charles admitted. ¡°Why is he not here?¡± ¡°I wanted to look good in front of a princess.¡± Charles said with a smile. She rolled her eyes. ¡°You¡¯d have impressed me more with a victory.¡± ¡°A loss lets me ask you for lessons.¡± Charles¡­ you dawg¡­ Zilana cocked her head with narrowed eyes, smiling at his audacity as the people Six took this moment to congratulate her on her competition victory. Zilana inclined her head. ¡°Lord Six, you throw a fine festival.¡± Six shrugged. ¡°I didn¡¯t plan shit, this is all the work of my admin Leoka and scribe Elara, they will be happy to hear of it. Thank you. The Captain gave you a challenge I hope?¡± ¡°The Captain?¡± Zilana looked at Charles with a questioning eyebrow. ¡°The Captain is a skilled archer, yes. He could use a better bow though.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± ¡°My bow was a gift from Lord Six.¡± Charles interjected. Zilana coughed and side-eyed Six. ¡°That is, I meant to say-¡± Six waved away any notion of offense. ¡°Sall good. It''s fun to boast with friends, eh?¡± Relief crossed her face. ¡°Yes, it is fun.¡± Six introduced Ravna. ¡°This is Ravna Laza, the village smith and my partner. We¡¯re going to go watch the final few tournament matches for this evening. Would you two like to accompany us?¡± ¡°Aheuh,¡± Charles sputtered. ¡°Yes.¡± Zilana said ¡°Yay!¡± Ravna cheered. At the end of the night when Six collapsed into Ravna¡¯s bed, he fell asleep with a smile on his face.