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Enlarge, Basic Level 1 (0%)
This ability allows the user to enlarge any whole or part of an object by 1% per skill level. An object can only be affected once by this ability. Does not affect sentient creatures.
Size Affected: Affects objects up to 100 pounds. Max size increases by 10 pounds per skill level
Cost: 1 mana per pound. Minimum cost 10 mana.
Range: 20 feet plus 2 feet per skill level
Duration: Permanent
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Harris interrupted. ¡°Do you still have the crystal?¡±
¡°No, my father destroyed it with a sledgehammer thinking it had cursed me.¡±
Disappointed Harris gestured to continue.
After that, I told my parents what happened and they were relieved. Then the next day I tried out my powers. I was going to pick one of the chickens, but my dad said I should use it on the eggs since I could only use it once something. My intelligence at the time was ten, so I only had 50 mana. The eggs were small, so I just had to spend the minimum, which was ten mana per use, I would use it twice before working on my chores and then using it again. Gradually I improved and we could see a noticeable increase in size.¡±
¡°In the years that followed our livestock was prized for its size and we were able to expand the farm several times before I purchased my own farm. People, of course, knew magic was involved, but the effect was permanent, so no one had any cause to complain. I made out fairly well and expanded the Farm over the years to the size you see today.¡±
¡°You have 400 acres now?¡± Harris asked.
¡°Yes, I do.¡± I said with a smile, sighing contently until I remember what we would be talking about next.
¡°Now could you describe what happened last May?¡±
¡°Well it was the end of May after the spring planting when one of the count couriers galloped into town leaving a message, isn¡¯t that right?¡± I said looking at the Mayor.
¡°Yes, the courier dropped off a missive indicating the Count of Northridge was marching his men through the siege out Count of Glasmore. Not that we really cared usually. Other than paying our taxes we have very little to do with our Count. In this case, Northridge would be taking some two hundred men through our village on the way to Glasmore castle. Northridge was known to be a cruel man, so it would no doubt go bad for the village. The problem was he was only a day behind the courier.¡±
Sam nodded. ¡°Yes, that was the problem. It took almost a day to inform everyone and then it was too late to flee. Since I was well off I had several horses and wagons. I loaded everyone up on the wagons and sent them out of town, while I went over to my parent¡¯s farm to get them.¡±
Enlarge : Chapter 2 - A Hero is Born
Harris said. ¡°I am sorry, I can come back again if you can¡¯t go on?¡±
¡°No that¡¯s ok, its best to get it over with now.¡±
I continued with obvious sadness in my voice. ¡°As I came around the turn to my parent¡¯s farm I smelled smoke and saw a group of men on horseback in the yard in front of the house. I heard shouting and men held my parent¡¯s while they set fire to the farm. I could not tear my eyes away as one of the men in a bright red vest ran both of my parents through. I couldn¡¯t help myself as I shouted ¡®No!!!¡¯ at top of my lungs. Of course, the men heard me and several of them turned and started galloping toward me. ¡°
As I was lost in my thoughts of that day, Harris gentle asked. ¡°What happened next?¡±
¡°I saw four of them galloping toward me and I think I considered running for a minute. With my enlarged horse I was sure to outrun them, but after watching them kill my parents I didn¡¯t want to run, so I looked at the men and remembered a trick I pulled on my brother a long time ago. I concentrated on the four rider¡¯s saddles and enlarged them.¡±
¡°I had been using my ability for almost twenty years at that point, so I was at maximum level. This means I could double the size of an object and the saddle with its straps met that definition, so when the riders turned to hit the bridge across the creek their saddle all turned sideways to varying effects. One was thrown clear into the creek, another was unlucky enough to hold on sideways until his head struck the post at the end of the bridge. The other two both had fallen but twisted their ankles in the stirrup and they were dragged by their horses. I then turned thinking about how I can hurt them more for killing my parents.¡±
¡°I race down the road, which cut between a low cliff about thirty feet high and a modest size stream about fifteen across and three to four feet deep. After I got past the cliff I took the trail up to the top, which only my enlarged horse could handle. After I got to the top I took a careful look at what I had to work with. The rocky cliff had several pieces of stone jutting out of the soil at the top of the hill and in some cases, trees grew right up to them. I planned to enlarge the tree roots to split off the boulders and then enlarge the boulders as they fell. Now I just had to wait, but it wasn¡¯t long before the group from the farm came around the turn. There were fifteen of them, so the four I injured and one other rider was missing. As the lead rider made it about three quarters of the way along the cliff I let out a yell as I focused on the ten trees I have picked out and suddenly their roots and trunks doubled in size splitting the stones with sharp cracks and I started enlarging the stone that either broke loose or looked close to separating.¡±Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
¡°Down the years I had found that for inanimate objects I could choose which direction to enlarge the object in. This makes it easy to enlarge the stones so they jutted suddenly into the air over the cliff unbalancing the already unsteady stones to fall below. After the last stone broke loose I tried something I had never done before. I focused on as much loose dirt as I could and enlarged it sending a ton of dirt down below to smash the few that were still standing down. I leaned over the cliff edge and repeated sending down tons of dirt until the last man stopped moving. I was sweating and had a mana headache. I was glad I had used some of my money to hire an endurance trainer years ago to increase my endurance above 50 so that I would not pass out when my mana dropped below 50%. At the time it was just an investment in my ability, basically doubling how much mana I could use, but now I was happy to have it for a different reason. I led my horse back down the steep trail as I didn¡¯t want to risk riding him down. Looking at my combat log I see I killed 16 of them. 15 with the improvised landside and another that hit his head on the bridge post earlier. Listen to me, looking at my combat log. I snorted, I never thought I would be doing that. I also gained another level along with two points in intelligence and one point of wisdom. I place the unallocated point I received in intelligence. I have a feeling I may be needing more mana. Now that my immediate need for vengeance was satisfied, I wanted to catch up with my family in case any of Northridge¡¯s scouts run into them.
Enlarge : Chapter 3 - Reluctant Stand
As I rode to catch up with my family I slowed down as I saw a group of about a dozen riders coming toward me wearing Glasmore colors. A man in his early fifties shouted. ¡°I am Half-Captain Garner. Halt and identify yourself.¡±
¡°My names Sam Warner. I own a farm near here and was just riding to catch up with my family.¡±
¡°Why aren¡¯t you with them already?¡± Garner asks suspiciously.
¡°I went to get my parents.¡± When I did say any more Garner asked. ¡°Well, where are they.¡±
I gritted my teeth as I hissed. ¡°They are dead, Count Northridge¡¯s men killed them.¡±
¡°You witnessed this?¡±
¡°Yes.¡±
¡°How did you get away then?¡±
¡°I got away because I killed them.¡±
That got a bunch of scoffs from the men, though Garner didn¡¯t dismiss it out of hand and instead said softly. ¡°Let me see your combat log.¡±
I shared the combat log with him, which only contained the fight with Northridge¡¯s men.
I waited while Garner finished and then stared at me wide-eyed. ¡°How did you kill someone with a bridge post of all things and then cause an avalanche that killed 15 men and their horses?¡±
The rest of the men were quite surprised at hearing that.
¡°I have an ability at max level, which allows me to enlarge objects. I used it to cause the cliff to collapse on the men. As to the bridge post, that is what happens when you are taking a turn at speed onto a bridge and suddenly your saddle it twice as big around as it should be.¡±
¡°Incredible. Well, I am glad we ran into you. There are a lot of refugees on the road and we were sent by Count Glasmore to try to slow them down. Everyone here is a skilled bowman, so we are hoping to get some good positions and rain down some arrows on them. We could use your help. Anyone with a Sage level ability would be helpful.¡±
¡°My ability is not a combat ability and I just want to catch up with my family.¡±
¡°Well let me put it into perspective for you then. Count Glasmore was called to send troops to Brisban. The city council there is trying to wipe out a group of bandits that have been plaguing the main trade route. As a result, we have very few men to protect Glasmore, which Northridge is no doubt counting on. So, your family is going to be in serious trouble if we don¡¯t manage to at least delay Northridge. You can either fight here or at Glasmore when we are sieged.¡±
I haven¡¯t had a need to curse much, but I certainly tried to make up for it after hearing what Garner had to say.
¡°Ok, I would guess it will take them an hour or so to clear the road near the cliff. I would suggest we head up the road back the way you came for about a mile to the to the Downer farmer. There is a small hill the road skirts around and there are some trees for cover. Your bowman can hit them there and I will see what I can do.¡±
Garner considered it and then with a command we all turned and headed for the farm. After we arrived Garner had the men dig in and they had a low dirt wall up in thirty minutes. They also dropped a sack full of metal caltrops on the road. Garner said he hated to do that to horses, but a lot of people¡¯s lives were on the line.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.
We all waited in silence as a column of troops came into view. The lead elements were twenty men on Taravens, which is a large lizard that runs on all fours and masses about 3 times a good size horse. The Taravens had barding and their claws were shod in metal. There were about 150 troops following them in plain chainmail. Garner cursed when he saw them. ¡°Well men we are not getting out of this, but we should try to take as many as we can.¡±
I looked at Garner and he replied to my unasked question. ¡°Taravens can easily outrun a horse before they need a rest. We won¡¯t be able to get away from them.¡±
I turned to really focus on them and asked. ¡°I forgot to ask do you have any mana potions?¡±
¡°I have two if they will do you any good. They will each restore 200 mana, but there is a ten-minute cool down after drinking one.¡± He says as he hands them over. I put them in my inventory as I described what I would try to do.
He chuckled darkly and said. ¡°We at least this should be entertaining. Alright, boys, Sam has an idea. When they get at 300 feet start peppering them with arrows. We want them to charge.¡±
At 300 feet the twelve archers including Garner started firing with a steady rhythm. I could see all of them were targeting the same rider. The System would allow larger parties to join for a war party, but you had to already be in a military unit, which is why Garner hadn¡¯t invited me. It was obvious to see who he was targeting as all the archers hit that figure who raised his shield and charged. With a cry all twenty Taraven took off at a sprint. Thank Horth I had already targeted them before they started running. As they came into range I enlarge the breastplate on the Taraven¡¯s chests, which was a thick steel plate about three feet high that was only about one foot off the ground at the bottom. You just can¡¯t imagine the sight of a Taraven at full sprint when it¡¯s breastplate doubles in height, plowing into the earth and slamming into their necks. Most of them flipped over crushing their riders.
I pulled out the mana potion and gulped it down, it was the first one I had ever had and it tastes like a cherry jam I was fond of. Less than 11 men survived and per my direction, the archers focused on those with the worse injuries. Several men started running up the hill holding their shields high. They must have the truly monstrous strength to run in plate mail. I targeted the 7 remaining as they got to the tree line and they all collapsed. I first enlarged their legs extending them so they all fell forward. As they fell I enlarged the rest of their armor, which left them with twice the weight and no leverage to turn over as their enlarged arms and legs joints no longer aligned with their elbows and knees. After that, it was easy to chop them down.
We now looked at the remaining troops, which were rapidly turning around. I looked at Garner as he started to laugh. ¡°Look at your notifications.¡± He said and there it was, Northridge was apparently one of the Taraven riders and with his death, in such a spectacular way the rest of the army turned tail.
Sam looked up at the historian who had been avidly listening to the tale. ¡°That¡¯s about it. Of course, Northridge¡¯s wife is much more reasonable and we haven¡¯t had any trouble since.¡±
Harris looked curious as he asked. ¡°I have heard that Glasmore offered you a commission and that several guilds were interested in you joining, but you turned them down. Can you tell me why?¡±
¡°Well, why would I want to join? For gold? I have everything I want here. For fame? I already have too many people stopping by as it is. No, I am very happy living my life right here.¡±
¡°Thank you so much for telling the tale first hand. I know you said you are not interested, but if any of your children or grandchildren are ever interested the King of Jorn would be happy to sponsor them. I know none of your children had an ability, but sometimes an ability will only surface after you have a vigil in a Starter Area Temple of Vera.¡±
As the Mayor and the historian left riding down the lane a small inquisitive figure could be seen peeking through the door. ¡°Did you eavesdrop the whole time?¡± Sam said.
A small figure popped open the door and ran over to their favorite place and plopped in their grandfather¡¯s lap saying. ¡°I always like hearing the tale.¡±
¡°I thought you would be out in the barn practicing?¡±
¡°I was, but I got a new skill progression level and wanted to show you.¡±
Chuckling Sam made a dramatic gesture saying. ¡°Your audience awaits.¡±
The young face no older than eight summers took on a serious focus much beyond their years as a small ball of light appeared in the air in front of them. Slowly the ball flattened and expanded into a small bird that began to flap its wings and flew down to the boy¡¯s outstretched hand.
Sam laughed in delight. ¡°You have outdone yourself this time Justin.¡±
Harrow : Chapter 1 - Origin
The class was excited about the Xiallak visiting today. Xiallak is more a title than a name. They are well versed in the history of the Harrow and are skilled story teller. This would be the day the students get to hear the full story of how their ancestors traveled to this planet. They had, of course, heard whispers and rumors from their older siblings, but remarkably they knew only small fragments.
The class was being held in a large auditorium, unlike regular classes. The tiered wooden seats allowed everyone to see the raised stone bench behind a beautifully carved desk made of the mana enriched Telth tree, one of the few native plants that survived the trip to this world. The desk was for the book of histories, not that the Xiallak would need it, but it was a custom.
The class became quiet as the Xiallak arrived. Two Grand Master ranked guardians materialized by the desk at the same time using their racial skill. The presence of the guardians demonstrated how much the Harrow cherished the Xiallak since only Xiallak knew the arts to awaken a Harrow¡¯s racial ability to manipulate the domain of time. The time domain was both a powerful and difficult skill to master. The Xiallak appeared to be of middle age and of average build, dressed in worn long blue and silver robes that blended with his granite-like skin. His appearance is deceptive since his mastery of time would be even greater than the guardians that protect him. Everyone hardly breathed listening to the Xiallak¡¯s footsteps echoing throughout the hall. When he reached the bench, he gently took the book of histories from his inventory, placing it on the desk to his right.
¡°Greetings class! My name is Folen.¡± His voice resonated throughout the auditorium, sending a chill down their spines.
The class was in such awe they only managed a mumbled greeting in reply. Folen chuckled, knowing full well the impact he was having on the class.
¡°Today we will discuss the tale of origin, but truly it is more a tale of how we came to this world. To begin we must go back a thousand years to the time we first set foot on Burra. At that time the Harrow lived on our homeworld of Talos. We shared this beautiful world with the Yikold. They were not elementals beings, but were so in tune with the Earth Domain, their bodies gradually changed to living rock as they aged. For thousands of years, our two peoples had shared the world, with the Yikold keeping mostly to the vast mountain ranges.¡±
Folen¡¯s demeanor took on a more serious countenance as he continued. ¡°One day much like any other this changed. A Yikold arrived in the town of Hilgurth on the edge of the southern mountain ranges. He was badly injured and nearly incoherent as he told the tale of ferocious creatures that attacked several of their deep places throughout the mountains to the south. These creatures absorbed any spell cast at them. Only by using their mana to propel the earth against the creatures were they able to injure them. The Yikold died shortly after delivering the message. While there had not been a war in recorded history, there were still monsters, dungeons, and natural disasters, such that our people had established a world-spanning network of communication. This was used to spread the word about the danger as guardians and Xiallak like myself prepared to probe the south.¡±If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
He paused and sighed. ¡°Little did we know the problem was greater than we first thought. The warning from the southern mountains was a fluke. The creatures had not just attacked the mountains to the south. We found out they had attacked all the mountain chains of Talos. Later we surmised that the creatures thought the mountains would be the most defensible location, so they took them first. Most of the Yikold race had perished by the time we discovered the depth of our error. As we started to probe the south our Guardians and their Xiallak vanished. Finally, on the third attempt, one of the party remained behind to relay what happened to the group. Even then the entire party was killed in less than a minute, only lasting that long because of the Xiallak put all his power into accelerating time for himself. For a few moments, he evaded the creatures which he identified as Carnos, but on brushing against one he found his power sundered as it absorbed his power.¡±
Folen looked up from the book of history to take in the class, which was utterly silent and still as they waited with bated breath to hear of the downfall of our home world, as Folen continued. ¡°This explained why the scouts failed to report back. Just a touch was all it took for the creatures to absorb and disrupt our control over time, rendering us helpless. Within a week the Carnos began to attack from every mountain. Our people frantically consulted the gods and even demons in our desperation as we fell by the millions. Our strategies changed to using our powers indirectly to kill the creatures, however it hardly slowed their advance. The demons knew the most about the Carnos. They were creatures that feed on mana and lifeforce. The more sentient the creature the more they gained by consuming them. In our horror, we realized that many of the fallen were not dead, but instead now existed on farms where they were kept like cattle to be fed upon.¡±
Folen seemed to shake himself as he continued. ¡°Our greatest mages tried to open portals to other worlds hoping that some of our people might escape. Unfortunately, there was a barrier around our world preventing a gate from opening. Our greatest mage Parul found that this did not block access to demons or the gods. He theorized that since they were on a different plane of existence, it might be possible to travel to another dimension. After nearly a month of battle, the remainder of our forces retreated to a collection of time worn islands in the middle of the Eastern Ocean. The barrier of water with no mountains allowed us to hold out, but each subsequent attack became stronger.¡±
Harrow : Chapter 2 - Desperate Gamble
¡°Parul gathered our greatest mages with priests bolstering the group to open a gate across universes. They knew they could not keep this portal open very long. Maintaining the opening would consume the most powerful mana potions and use mana crystals like water. Since there might not be enough time to transport everyone, the travelers were chosen with careful consideration to carry on the species. They numbered ten thousand strong, though the most important to their survival went first, because the portal may collapse at any time. They carried seeds, dried food, tools, and everything else that could be carried on their bodies. Parul was not sure if their inventory space would survive the trip, as a result they could only take what they could carry. Many had tears in their eyes as they left friends and family behind to a certain death. From the moment the gate stabilized the group sprinted through the opening. The Carnos seemed to realize their prey was escaping and a vast new attack began. Everyone not maintaining the portal or in the group of travelers ran to the defense.¡±
¡°At this point, many of the strongest of our guardians attacked with a new weapon. Parul had created an item that harnessed our power over time to increase the yield of our most destructive device. When it exploded the mana used to generate the explosion was contained in a small sphere of accelerated time and compressed space, which consumed all of the mana in an instant. When the sphere collapsed killing the guardian, the violence of the explosion killed hundreds. Others wore devices constructed to kill the wearer if they became unconscious. All were truly desperate as they tried to hold back the tide of Carnos.¡±Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.
¡°At the end, their sacrifice was not in vain. After all travelers entered the portal, Parul performed his last act. He and the few mages remaining conscious through the mana drain severed their connection with the portal and then powered a final device that caused a rupture in the portal¡¯s integrity. From this tiny rupture, a blade of immense force cut into the earth to the core of the planet as Parul teleported to the small moon that circled his world. Mana was thin here. His wards flickered and he fell to his knees, though he had enough time left to witness his world crack and then explode. As the world ruptured he felt his connection to the party members that traveled to the new universe snap. He collapsed when his wards gave out. He died with satisfaction, knowing his people lived on and were safe.¡±
Folen saw tears in many of the student¡¯s eyes as he finished. ¡°On arrival to Burra, we found that our spells worked differently here. While there are no ley lines the ambient mana is stronger. Most importantly we discovered that our time domain skill required a Sage to awaken it, unlike in our original universe where anyone with patience could learn it. As you know we settled to the north of the Tassan empire and came to an agreement with the Empress to send Guardians to protect her using our unique skill. We built underground for safety and have thrived over the last thousand years. We will never forget the sacrifice that got us here.¡±
Folen gently closed the book of histories. He looked up at the class and said. ¡°This is a sad tale, but also a tale of sacrifice and love. Countless Harrow gave their lives, so that we could be here today. Remember them and let this example guide your life and steel your resolve in times of trouble. We are Harrow!!¡± Folen finished with a shout that rang out through the auditorium. The class leaped to their feet, answering. ¡°WE ARE HARROW!!!¡±
Wall Walker : Chapter 1 - Sara
Frank always enjoyed climbing as a child on everything, which got him into trouble all the time growing up. Everyone just considered it to be a phase he would grow out of until the fateful day. It was a cold and brisk morning in the Harvest month with a several inches of fresh snow covering the fields. Most people were in bed except for a few Traken herders. The Traken were a cross between a goat and a wombat, thick skinned with curly white fur, they would eat almost anything that their wide clawed feet could dig up. They were great at handling rocky terrain and at digging through the snow to reach tubers. A Traken was the only domesticated animal that could handle the harsh winters this far north.
Frank hated the pudgy animals and they seemed to hate him right back. His family wove the fur from the Traken but did not raise any themselves. They also ran a small farm to, as many of the families did, to help supplement the food they traded for. The villages that dotted the North could not afford permanent portals and there was nothing to entice a high-level mage to live there to support performing teleports. Once the snows set in only trappers and adventurers that braved the monster-infested tundra ventured from the villages. Either they gathered their furs to trade with the summer caravans or for those trappers with massive inventories they would make their own way to the southern towns of the Empire of Tassan to trade the beautiful furs they collected as loot.
On this cold winter morning, Frank was out to see a particular herder in the upper fields. Sara would have been out since the sun crested the eastern hills. He had one of his mother favorite dishes, Haljar Stew, in his inventory, hot from the stove. Sara was sure to love it. He had tried to court her for the last year, but she apparently could not make up her mind about Frank or Justin, who was the son of a retired adventurer. Justin was one of the best hunters in the village and at the age of seventeen, he was already level ten. Frank by comparison was only at level four and that was only because of the group hunts the farmers engaged in each fall to clear the area around the wintering pastures before the snows set in.
As he reached the upper pasture, he didn¡¯t see Sara, but did hear several Traken blatting in distress. He pulled a spear out of his inventory and cautiously walked toward the edge of the field. He walked up next to the Traken which edged sideways revealing a fissure where ice had bridged a gap in the cliff. Down in the fissure be could see a motionless Sara lying on a ledge of rock and ice some forty feet below. Her hair was covering her face, but the ice was covered with blood. Frank put the spear back in his inventory and took an ice pick out as he looked at the sides of the fissure. It never occurred to him to go for help. Sara could easily bleed out before help arrived or freeze for that matter. The first twenty feet looked doable, the walls of the fissure were within four feet of each other, but then it widened out. At that point, the cliff walls were smooth with few handholds. He quickly climbed down half way. The last twenty feet took half an hour to make it to her ledge.
When he reached her, he left most of his weight on a foothold and the ice pick wedged in a crack as he touched her leg, which was still warm. What he could see did not look good, she had lost a lot of blood and the ledge she was lying on was mostly ice and was heavily cracked. He was afraid to put any weight on the ledge. After looking everything over, he pulled a rope out of his inventory and tied one end around the base of his ice pick, which had a flared end to the handle for this purpose. Then while maintaining his toeholds he put as much weight on the rope as possible and it looked like his pick was firmly wedged in the crack. Next keeping as much of his weight off the ledge as possible he places one toe on the edge next to the cliff face. The ice creaked but otherwise held as he reached a loop of the rope around Sara¡¯s shoulder gentle lifting her enough to wrap the loop around her under her arm pits. It was difficult, since she was pure dead weight, but slowly to the sound of the creaking ice, he wrapped the rope around her and tied it off.
Now with that done he placed both feet on the ledge and waited a minute before reaching down to slowly pick Sara up and place her over his right shoulder with her legs hanging down his front and her head gentle bumping against his back. As he firmly settled her weight on his shoulder, the ledge gave a sharp crack and lurched under his feet. He desperately grabbed the rope and scrambled to get a toehold when the entire ledge broke lose. Without Sara¡¯s weight on his shoulder, he was sure he could have made it, but instead he lost the one toehold he had and was dangling with both their weights on the rope. When pebbles hit his head, he looked up in shock as he saw the pick break free. As he began to fall he desperately grabbed at the slick cliff face as it slides past and then it happened. His hand seems to suddenly stick to the cliff face and he screamed with the force suddenly place on his right arm until his feet slammed into the cliff and arrested his fall. He looked at his hands and feet on the icy cliff face. They did not rest on any crevasses or toehold. There didn¡¯t appear to be anything holding them there, but as he moved his hand on the cliff, he could easily pull himself up now. It felt like he was just crawling along a floor. There was a small flashing notification in the lower left of his field of vision, but for now, he ignored it as he felt his mana draining.
He was only familiar with the sensation because of his work one summer with the village healer, who could drain mana from another person to assist with difficult healings. At the time, his mother was sick with a bad fever and the healer had needed a volunteer to help supply the needed mana. The drain did not seem as intense as the healing, but there was sure to be a connection between it and his sticking to the cliff. He quickly began to ascend the cliff after looking around. Even though the fall seemed to last a long time he was only sixty feet further down taking him to the middle of the 200-foot cliff face. It would have been better to go down except for the fast running icy water filling the ravine below. Instead, he started climbing by sliding his hands and feet up along the cliff. After he passed the broken ledge where Sara¡¯s body had rested, he continued moving sideways to the fissure. As he started up the fissure his head started to pound, but he made it to the top and pulled both over the edge onto the snow above.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
As he rested on his back, he pulled Sara on top of himself to keep her out of the snow. It was not a good sign that her natural healing had not revived her by now. He waited ten minutes to regenerate his stamina before picking her back up over his shoulder and walking into town to the healer. It would take about an hour to get to town versus forty-five minutes to his parent¡¯s place, but since she was still unconscious, he wanted to get her to the healer as fast as possible. It was a long hour as he tried to juggle his speed versus his stamina to keep at the optimal pace. He was bone tired as he trudged up to the healer¡¯s cottage and pounded on the front door as he yells out for Jessica the healer. The door opened and he almost collapsed inside as the healer grabbed him and pulled Sara off his shoulder.
¡°Hurry and shut the door.¡± she said as she placed Sara on a cot and placed her hands on Sara¡¯s head while her hands glowed with a soft golden light. ¡°What happened?¡±
¡°I went to see her in the upper pasture and found her down a fissure on a ledge. I am guessing the fissure had an ice bridge over it when it collapsed.¡±
¡°Sara should know better than to walk near the edge like that.¡± Jessica said as she continued to hold Sara¡¯s head.
¡°I know.¡± I say glumly. ¡°How is she?¡±
¡°She has a bad concussion and a broken spine, which you¡¯re carrying didn¡¯t help.¡±
I could feel the blood drain out of my face as I whispered. ¡°I couldn¡¯t leave her on the ledge, it collapsed and then I didn¡¯t think leaving her in the snow would be a good idea.¡±
Jessica frowned saying. ¡°It sounds like you did the right thing, now get over here. I need some more mana.¡±
I knelt next to Sara as Jessica rested one hand on Sara¡¯s head and one on my shoulder. I felt a burning sensation as Jessica started to draw mana from me. A notification asks if I wanted to allow Jessica to draw mana, which I accepted. It was the last thing I remember. As I woke up, I realize I am slumped over Sara cot as Jessica is now kneeling on the other side of the cot softly talking to Sara.
As I raise my head, I smile as Sara turns to look at me saying. ¡°Hello sleepy head.¡±
¡°Hi.¡± I say turning to Jessica. ¡°So, how is she?¡±
¡°She should be fine, but I want her to stay here overnight.¡±
¡°Great.¡± I say as I turn back to Sara drinking in her face. ¡°What happened?¡±
¡°One of the young Traken walked on the ice bridge and partially fell through and I was stupid enough to go after it. I misjudged how far the ice bridge extended and fell through myself and that¡¯s all I remember until I woke up here.¡±
I sigh and say. ¡°Yes, that really is stupid.¡±
¡°Hey.¡± She says as I smile down at her. ¡°Can you let my parents know what happened so they can send some up to the pasture to watch the other Traken?¡±
¡°Yes, I will stop by your parent¡¯s place.¡±
I look at Jessica and ask. ¡°Can she eat some food?¡±
¡°That should be no problem. In fact, I bet she is starving after all that healing.¡±
¡°Great then this is for both of you.¡± I say removing two large bowls of stew from my inventory along with spoons. ¡°I can pick up the empties tomorrow when I stop by to walk you home.¡±
¡°You don¡¯t have to do that.¡± Sara says blushing.
¡°Sure, I do, my mother would kill me if I didn¡¯t get the spoons and bowls back.¡±
Jessica snorts a laugh at my behavior and Sara says. ¡°You are impossible, get out of here, but leave the stew.¡±
I am about to open the door when Sara says. ¡°Hey, thanks for saving me.¡±
I smile all serious for a change. ¡°Any time. Take care Jessica.¡±
I open the door and after shutting it I stand in the doorway for a while shivering, but not because of the cold, as I realize how close we both came to dying. I start to slowing walk back to Sara¡¯s parents place as I finally open the small icon gently throbbing at the edge of my vision.
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Congratulations, you have unlocked a hidden ability Wall Walker. This ability allows the user to cling and climb on any surface, even ones normally not climbable, at 50% of normal movement speed. Speed increases by 20% per skill tier past Basic. This ability costs five mana per minute. The ability will function through any equipped articles of clothing on the hands or feet. Five times the users strength is required to forcibly remove the user from a surface.
100 XP awarded. 25 Fame awarded.
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Interesting ability and somewhat useful up here with all the cliffs around the area. With my intelligence at sixteen I had eighty mana and could use the ability for eight minutes before dipping below 50% mana and passing out. If I level it up, I will be able to move faster on walls than the ground. I think I will increase my constitution when I next level up, since I burn stamina at the same time while climbing.
I continue to make my way to Sara¡¯s parents place. After I arrive, I knock on the door and announce myself. Sara¡¯s mother answers the door holding it open just a crack. She really didn¡¯t like me hanging out with Sara. I could tell she much preferred Justin.
¡°Sara is not here.¡± She said as she started to close the door.
¡°I know misses Whitmore. Sara is at the healer¡¯s and needs to stay overnight. She fell through an ice bridge and was badly injured, but the healer said she would make a full recovery. I was stopping by to tell you, so you know the upper pastures need to be watched.¡± I say as she stops closing the door and jerks it open.
¡°How¡ how did she fall through an ice bridge? She was hanging around with you when it happened wasn¡¯t she? You were the reason she fell, weren¡¯t you?¡± She was practically yelling as she poked my chest.
Despite wanting to stay civil to her mother, I found myself pissed at her accusation.
I pushed her back yelling. ¡°I came up to visit your daughter and bring her some food when I found her lying on a ledge forty feet down a fissure. After I got her out, I took her to the healer and gave mana to the healer to help heal her. While I didn¡¯t expect thanks from you, I will not stand still while you lay accusations on me. Good day.¡±
I turned and walked away leaving her sputtering behind me as I cursed under my breath. I was even madder after think of why I went down the cliff in the first place to save Sara. Typically dying while not pleasant wasn¡¯t too big of a worry unless of course you were level one. If you die while level one it will be your final death. Sara¡¯s parents were never letting her level, so she was still level one, which was stupid. When I made it back to my parents I was still in a foul mood, but I stopped to tell my parents the same thing I told miss Whitmore before heading to my room to cool down.
As I lay on my bed in my room I thought about how stupid it was to climb down the cliff to save Sara. It was a miracle I managed not to get us both killed. I should of either run to my parent¡¯s, Sara¡¯s, or the village to get help. In hind sight there is no way I could have carried her out without my ability. I lay there shivering until I fell into a troubled sleep.
Wall Walker : Chapter 2 - A New Man
I was startled awake and looked around in confusion until I realized I was in my room. I remembered falling before I woke up. It must have been a bad dream. I sat up in my bed not really thinking about anything until I hear my mother in the kitchen. I got up to do the chores. I need to feed the few animals we keep and then make sure the barn is handling the weather ok. Finally, I need to bring another sack of Traken fur to my parents.
I had carded extra fur yesterday so I could spend time with Sara. I needed to do the same today, so I could escort her home. After taking the sack of fur into the work room I began the mind-numbing task of carding the fur to straighten the fibers and place them on the spindle for my parents to weave. It felt relaxing for a change. I was not the same person I was yesterday. After finishing twenty spindles I put everything up and tell my parents I am going to the village to escort Sara back to her parents and then will be back to card more fur.
My mom makes me sit and eat before leaving. I didn¡¯t even feel hungry until the plate sat in front of me and then I realized I was starving after missing dinner and breakfast. Feeling a little better after eating I gave my mom a hug before leaving. While walking to the village I see Thomas, a wood and stone carver, with an axe slung over his shoulder leaving the village. He was no doubt on his way to cut some more wood for his carvings. He spent most of the winter carving wood to trade with the summer caravans. I knocked on the healer¡¯s cottage door and called out that it was me.
Jessica answered the door with a frown. ¡°I thought you were too busy to come.¡±
¡°What do you mean. I promised to come escort Sara home so here I am. How is she?¡±
¡°Her parents came last night, got her, and said you told them you were to busy to meet her.¡±
¡°You know her parents suck.¡±
Jessica laughed. ¡°I agree with you. They didn¡¯t even offer any payment for helping their daughter, not that I would have accepted any for helping Sara, but still. I don¡¯t know how such a nice person could come from parents like that.¡±
¡°Well thanks Jessica. My mom gave me some more of her stew for you.¡± I said as I took a pot from my inventory.
¡°I can¡¯t accept that Frank.¡± Even though her eyes told a different story.
Putting on a sad face as I started to put the pot back in my inventory saying. ¡°My mom will feel so sad when I tell her you didn¡¯t want any of the stew. I guess my Dad and I will have to sacrifice and eat the stew so she is not disappointed.¡±
¡°Wait. I couldn¡¯t put you and your Dad through that.¡±
Grinning I put the pot back in my inventory.
¡°Hey, give that pot to me.¡±
¡°Just kidding.¡± I said as I gave the pot to Jessica.
Jessica gave me back the bowls and spoons saying. ¡°I will be stopping by tonight to checkup on Sara and I will tell her that her parents lied.¡±
¡°Thanks Jessica.¡± I said as I put the bowls and spoons in my inventory and took my leave.
As I walked back to my parents I thought about what to do about Sara. Here in the Northern villages it was tradition to join your wife¡¯s parent¡¯s household until you could afford your own place. As I thought on that I became faintly ill. There is no way I could ever stand living with her parents no matter how much I cared for Sara. I realized I was just ignoring the problem before now, just assuming it would resolve itself, which was stupid. I either needed to come up with a plan to get my own place with Sara right away or stop seeing her. Right now, I couldn¡¯t think of what to do. I made it back to my parents and chatted with them while they weaved. They would run some of the spindles through a dye bath to add color and then weave the threads together into blankets, cloaks, and bolts of cloth. A few of the cloaks they soaked in an herbal mixture that was my mother¡¯s family recipe which partially melted the fibers together making it water proof. She did that to some gloves as well.
I spent the whole afternoon with them carding and spinning fur for them. I did about a weeks¡¯ worth in one day, which I could tell both my parents were torn about asking why I was doing so much, but they bit their tongues. We had a great dinner my mom fixed and them I went up to my room where I experimented with my ability. I could climb the wall boards with ease and walked upside down on the ceiling rafters. It was strange, but the blood did not rush to my head and while I had contact with a surface it was just like I was standing on the ground. I tried to be more darning when I just tried walking up the wall and it was just like walking along the floor. I didn¡¯t feel anything pulling me to the floor as I stood out straight from the wall. It was strange, everyone knew that the Gods pulled you to the ground. The further away from it the harder they pulled, which is why you hit the ground harder the higher you fell. When I climbed using my ability it was like I was pulled toward any surface I touched. I practiced until my mana until it was just above 50% and then jumped into bed and touched the head board using my ability. I passed out for about 30 minutes before my mana replenished. This would allow me to level my Endurance as well as my skill. I practiced for about fours hours before going to sleep.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
After waking the next morning, I felt excited. I had thought of a great use for my ability last night while experimenting. Getting dressed I did my chores and had some breakfast. Then I said I was going out for the rest of the day. I am sure they thought I was going to see Sara, but instead I was going to the river. We just called it the river. I think Justin¡¯s dad called it the Salavan River. This far north the river cut through the cliffs and was a mix of white water and calm pools of water. The calm pools host several delicious fish that the Tavern in town would pay silver for. They would then put out the word and people would come in to have a gathering and listen to the bard wintering here in the village. It is hard to get down the cliffs as the river spray coated the rocks with ice. Special spikes shoes and gloves were needed and then it was still hard and dangerous work.
When I reached the top of the cliff, which went straight down to the water below I thought this would be perfect. No one fished here as there was just a small rock two feet across by one foot to stand on. I activated my ability and swiftly walked down to the waters edge. I could see fish lazily swimming below the surface of the water as I pulled out a spear from my inventory and stabbed into the water pulling out a heavy fish that continued to wiggle on the end of my spear as I shoved it into my inventory killing it. It was a trick I learned from the bard. Any non-sentient creature could be stored in inventory if it would fit and could not resist, which would kill and preserve it. Also, since items were automatically stored separately, by placing the fish and spear in my inventory I could pull the spear back out leaving the fish. I spent the rest of the day spear fishing and putting the fish in my inventory until it was nearly full. I then climbed the cliff and pulled a sack from my inventory filling it with the fish. After that I went back down to fishing until my inventory was full again.
I climbed back to the top of the cliff picking up the heavy sack throwing it over my shoulder and I made my way to the Tavern. As I walked I checked out my notification and saw I leveled up gaining +3 intelligence, +2 wisdom, +1 constitution, and +1 strength, which was my best level yet. As I entered the Tavern, I surprised the owner Jack who was chatting with the visiting Bard who I had not met yet.
¡°Hi Frank, what do you have there.¡± Jack asked with a curious look in his eyes.
¡°I have some fish for you if you are buying.¡± I said as I placed the sack on the counter.
Jack opened the sack and gave a low whistle. ¡°Great job, this is a good catch, but why not store it in your inventory?¡±
¡°My inventory is full of fish.¡± I say simply and I grin ear to ear.
Jack counted out the twenty fish in the sack and twenty more from my inventory. They were all large fish, so he offered one silver per fish, which I accepted earning me forty silver, which was more than I have ever had in my life.
The bard spoken up after out transaction. ¡°Mine telling us how you caught all of those fish?¡±
¡°Sorry there is a quest involved.¡± I say, which is what everyone said if they either did want to discuss something or there really was a quest involved. I placed the sack back in my inventory and told them to have a good day while I walked to the Shrine to Barabos. No one took the Shrine very serious here in the village, but it was the source of several quests. As I approached the Shrine I looked at the simple stone slab in front of the seven-foot-tall pillar that served as a quest stone. The stone slab served as an altar and I saw someone had left a small one-foot fish, which was the cousin to the larger ones I caught today.
I knelt in front of the slab saying. ¡°Barabos I give thanks for your watching over us and the luck I have experienced over the last few days. Please help me keep those I love safe.¡±
I take a silver coin from my inventory and place it on the slab and bow. When I look up both the fish and coin are gone. I sit back shocked having never seen the offerings just disappear like that. I bow once more and then rise to walk over and touch the quest stone. Most villages have a quest stone or were built around one. The stone grants repeatable quests of different types and I was interested in the Ice Thorn Harvest quest. The Ice Thorn Harvest quest required you to harvest five Ice Thorn fruit and return them to the stone for a reward of one gold or a soul bound weapon. Very few people took the quest because the Ice Thorn plants only grew on the slick sides of the cliff next to the large waterfall to the East of the village. Also, the plants are surrounded by vines covered with very poisonous thorns. If you touched any part of the plant other than the fruit they would move like whips to hit you. Finally, if you damaged any plants you get nothing for the quest. Hanging from a rope on the windy side of a cliff, while icy spray from the waterfall drenched you, and you must delicately reach into the plant¡¯s center to pluck a fruit is extremely difficult. With my ability, it should be possible. After getting the quest, I was getting ready to head for the cliff when a voice behind me said. ¡°That was a very generous donation to Barbaros. Why would you give that much to a minor god like him?¡±
I turned a saw an older man dressed in furs leaning on a long oak walking stick. ¡°My family has always worshipped Barbaros and when we are prosperous we celebrate that prosperity with him.¡±
The man merely nodded. ¡°Can you direct me to the Frost Caves?¡±
¡°I can, but that is a very dangerous area, there is an ice elemental that inhabits the caves and it has killed several adventures who have fought it.¡±
¡°I think I can handle it, but I would pay you a silver to guide me to the chamber within the caves.¡±
¡°I can do that, but I will not enter the chamber with you.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t worry I don¡¯t expect you to enter the chamber with me.¡± He said handing me a silver coin.
Wall Walker : Chapter 3 - Frost Cave
It took about two hours to make it to the cave. It was also convenient for me because the cave was above the waterfall where the Ice Thorn plants rooted. I lead the man inside saying. ¡°From what I have heard and from walking into the cave before, you will be safe as long as you do not step within the chamber. However, if you step within the chamber the elemental will attack and even follow you out of the chamber into the cave but not outside the cave.¡±
¡°Thanks, good to know.¡±
¡°You do know that the Elemental can change your respawn point to be the chamber right?¡±
¡°Yes, I have heard that.¡±
We stop just outside the chamber, which is a huge circular cave made of ice, about sixty feet across, with a fifteen-foot high roof covered in two to three foot long icy stalactites. I point to the far side of the room where a pillar of ice stood. ¡°As you can see over there something is encased in the ice, but no one has gotten close enough to tell what it is.¡±
¡°It is good you know this, since I am not allowed to tell you much.¡±
I start to turn saying. ¡°What¡¡±
Then he pushed me into the room and I land sliding until I was against the sidewall forty feet from the entrance. I had just enough time to turn to the entrance to see ice seal it with no sign of the old man. I quickly got to my feet and saw the ice in the center of the room start to flow up into a misshapen mound. I tried to inspect the Ice Element, but just saw Ice Elemental: Level ???
I look at a notification flashing in my vision, which indicates exactly what I feared; my respawn point has been changed to this chamber, which means the Elemental can kill me until final death. Some level thirty adventures have tried to kill the Elemental and died in here. The Elemental is ten feet high and fifteen feet wide as it starts to move toward me. I notice I can see rock around it. It looks like it is not creating ice, just using the ice in the room to make up its body. The rocky floor is exposed around it as it moves toward me. The area in front of it is two feet lower indicating it is pulling two feet of ice from the floor around it to make up its body. I wonder if I can get it near the entrance would it pull in the ice that covers the door. Giant whip like tentacles form all over its body as it sweeps one at me. I jump and land on the wall to avoid the tentacle, which is not very fast, but there are a lot of them. As I land on the wall the Elemental stops with the tentacles gentle waving around it.
I watch it for a minute and then run along the wall to where the entrance was and pull out my spear and strike the ice as hard as I can, but it just chips a small piece of ice off. The Elemental is still not moving. I place my foot back on the floor and the Elemental suddenly turns and starts to head for me. I step back on the wall and it stops again. I look around the room, but don¡¯t see anything else to rest on. I have about eight more minutes before I dip below 50% mana and pass out. I look at the pillar near the back wall and run along the wall to it. As I get closer, I see the pillar is ten feet from the wall standing seven feet high and is three feet thick with something dark inside standing vertical. I run onto the floor and up the pillar to rest there. The Elemental turned toward the pillar while I was on the floor but stopped when I climbed on the pillar. I tried driving my spear into the pillar, but unlike the entrance, I don¡¯t even chip it. Looking at the Elemental I think the pillar is far enough from the wall that I could stand by the wall ready to climb it keeping the pillar in between to see what happens when the Elemental approaches it.
Jumping down to the ice I walk over to the wall keeping the pillar in front of me as the Elemental advances. As the Elemental approaches, I start to see rock around the pillar and then slowly the pillar starts to dissolve revealing a black crystal sticking out of the pillar. I move to the right, so the Elemental will go beside the pillar. About two feet of the crystal is revealed as I climb the wall. I try to inspect it but get nothing. I climb above the pillar and can just reach the crystal with my spear. I am not sure this is a smart thing to do but can¡¯t think of anything else. I release my ability and fall on the pillar taking ten points of damage, but my ability prevents me from falling off. Grasping the crystal I am greeted with a prompt.
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You have claimed the Elemental Crystal of Ice. Do you wish to claim its power? Accept: Yes or No?
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I don¡¯t think I have a choice. I select Yes and the crystal changes to a dark vapor that hits me in the chest knocking the breath out of me. My body feels like it was plunged into ice water before numbness sets in. The Ice Elemental slumps and starts to flow back into the floor and I have a new notification.
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Congratulation you have claimed the power of the Elemental Crystal of Ice. You are now 50% resistant to cold damage and natural freezing conditions will not affect you. All damage you now inflict will cause an extra 20% in frost damage. One out of four hits will slow your opponent by 50% for one minute. All Ice related spells cost 50% less mana. Awarded 2000 XP, 100 fame.
Level up!! Level Up!! You have two unallocated stat points. You completed the hidden quest Defeat the Elemental Guardian. This was a level forty-quest line for a group of four to eight adventurers. For completing it solo while 35 levels below the recommended level you are awarded +10 attribute points in the two primary stats used during the battle. You are awarded +12 Intelligence, +1 wisdom, +12 constitution, +1 agility and the skill Jump. The Jump skill increases both the height and distance you can jump by 10% per skill Tier. The Jump skill also allows the user to fall ten feet per skill Tier without receiving damage.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.
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Wow, the System must be considering my mana use and stamina use while wall walking to represent my primary stats. It is nice, but I don¡¯t consider myself out of this yet as I watch the Elemental settle into the floor. As the floor smooths out, I see the Entrance begin to open. After it is fully open, I jump down and run along the wall until I get to the Entrance and exit. There is no sign of the old man in the cave, but I keep my spear out, which has a faint blue glow on its tip now. As I leave the cave, I carefully look around, but don¡¯t see anyone and since the wind blows all the snow off this area there are no tracks to show were the old man went.
I sigh as I put my spear back in my inventory as I hear his voice behind me. ¡°You did very well in there, but I would not assume just because you did not find any enemy that there is none.¡±
I pull my spear back out and look at him as he leaned against the edge of the cave wall. ¡°Why did you push me into the chamber?¡±
¡°Because I knew you could handle it.¡± That was not the response I expected. ¡°You remind me a lot of your great-great grandfather Jason.¡±
¡°Who are you?¡±
He laughed. ¡°Haven¡¯t you guessed?¡±
¡°Barbaros?¡± I whispered as I saw my inspect of him suddenly update. I stand there stunned just looking at him.
He laughs gently. ¡°You pray to me and didn¡¯t think I would ever answer your prayers?¡±
¡°No. No I didn¡¯t.¡±
¡°Well I don¡¯t usually, but this is a special case. You saved a life and as you said your family and I have have a special relationship.¡±
¡°My Dad could never tell me why our family had a special relationship with you.¡±
Barbaros smiled and said. ¡°Jason found a cursed magical item and helped me destroy it.¡±
¡°To get back to you pushing me into the chamber there must be more than ¡®I could handle it¡¯ and how was that a level forty quest?¡±
¡°Very well I can tell you a little. The Frost Cave has been responsible for killing many people and it required either a very strong group of adventurers or someone like yourself that could work around the constraints of the chamber. In addition, you have been devoted in your worship and generous in your offerings, which gave me the opportunity to help you at the same time. As to the level of the quest if you had remained on the floor and attacked the guardian, it had 5000 HP with a defense of 50. Then every 10% reduction in hit points would increase its speed. When it hit 50% health it would reach tentacles to the ceiling and pull more ice into its body until its main body touched the ceiling increasing its hit points by another 5000. When it was reduced to 25% health it would summon four more elemental and they would fight even if the guardian was killed. If any survived they would merge to form a new guardian. Now the Ice Thorns are waiting for you.¡± He said pointing at the waterfall.
I couldn¡¯t help glancing where he pointed hearing. ¡°Have good life Frank.¡±
When I looked back, he was gone. Sighing I stood there for a bit before shaking myself and walked over to the cliff edge. The wind was blowing the spray from the waterfall over to the other side of the falls. After lowered myself over the edge I quickly walked down to the first plant. It was easy to step between the thorn covered vines and reach in to pluck the two fruits. I carefully pick from three other plants before climbing back to the top of the cliff to rest and regain my mana and stamina. I continue to do this until I picked all twenty-three plants, which yields fifty-seven fruits. I may be greedy, but I want one hundred fruit, so I spend an hour going up stream to the narrow rope bridge that spans the river and back. I then start with the highest plants furthest from the waterfall spray on this side of the river. I only pick two plants before climbing back up to rest. These plants have three or four fruit each. I must only pick ten plants out of the thirty-seven to get to one hundred fruits. I stop at that point as it is getting harder to pick the ice encrusted fruit without either damaging the plant or touching it while plucking the fruit.
I rest up on the cliff before going back up stream to the bridge and then back. Then I walk directly down the cliff face rather than taking the trail to save some time as it is getting late. I stop at the quest stone and contemplate the Shrine before walking up to touch the stone and select quest completion on the Ice Thorn Harvest. When it asks for the harvested fruit I give it all one hundred and a new prompt appears.
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Congratulations. You have completed the Ice Thorn Harvest Quest. You exceeded the quest requirements tenfold. Select your reward: Gold or Soul Bound Weapon?
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I select Soul Bound Weapon and get a prompt for weapon type: Sword, Axe, Dagger, Bow, or Spear? After I select spear there is a chime and I get a trade request from the stone and a beautifully engraved Ironwood Spear with a long tapered dark steel tip appears in the trade window. As I accept I see the following.
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Masterwork Ironwood Spear
Durability: 200/200
Damage: 90 (+10) = 100
This decorative Ironwood spear was made by a master craftsman and is soul bound to Frank Weaver. The spear tip is made of dark steel and does +10 darkness damage. This spear is treated as a magical weapon and can hit any creature that can only be struck by a magical weapon. Durability will regenerate at the rate of one point per day unless reduced to zero.
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This is truly a worthy weapon and as I equip it I see it now does twenty points of elemental ice damage on hit with a one in four chance of slowing the creature struck. With a spring in my step I put the spear back in my inventory and walk back to my home to have dinner with my parents and practice my Wall Walking some more before I go to sleep. I also give ten silvers to my parents after explaining were it came from. I am glad to finally be able to contribute more than just carding and sorting the fur. Money is tight as we try to save as much as we can for the harsh winters. All in all, it has been a great day. Tomorrow after my chores I plan on doing some hunting among the cliffs and caves to the North side of the village were my ability should come in handy.
Wall Walker : Chapter 4 - The Northern Cliffs
I practically spring out of bed in the morning as I race to do my chores. I can tell both my parents want to ask about what I am planning today, but the money I brought in is very welcome, so they don¡¯t ask any questions. After eating some breakfast and packing more food away for lunch and dinner I make my way North to the cliffs and caves. The caves are home to the Ice Lizards, which are level seven to fifteen. They are slow, but can easily scale the cliff walls, which makes it easy for them to run away unless you catch then away from the wall. What makes them interesting is their Tarva gland that forms a mana stone. The stone is a crystal that holds a few points of mana that anyone holding it can tap into. If two stones come into contact, they will merge forming a bigger stone. The final stone can be up to ten times bigger than the original stone used as the core. The stones value goes up a lot the larger it is, but of course since anyone can use it they are made into necklaces and added to staffs for wizards, etc¡ When a stone is at the max size it will no longer merge, but if it meets another stone at that point it can drain the stone of mana, which is the only way to recharge a stone once you use the mana in it.
The lower caves that everyone can reach are a steady source of income for the village and are hunted by groups selected by the Headman of the village. The upper caves are different story, because the cliffs go up another three hundred feet and it is too difficult to safely reach the caves above. That is where I am going today. When I reach the base of the lower cliff I am hailed by Robin and Sam, siblings that come from a farm on the other side of the community. They worked the farm with their parents and older brother Hern, but every family had to contribute to guarding the village. They are skilled hunters and I am happy to see them. Both stood guard dressed in tough leather pants and shirts, bundled up under fur lined cloaks. They held stout wooden spears tipped with bright steal and each had a pair of daggers at their waists, attached to thick leather belts.
When I was younger, I had a crush on Robin before I fell for Sara. She has the most amazing blue eyes that remind me of the deep blue of glacier ice. Sam was always over protective of his sister and would always make sure he was around if I stopped by to see Robin. Sam treated me much more casually ever since it was obvious, I had switched my attention to Sara. I don¡¯t think Robin was ever really aware I was interested in her, which at the time was quite the blow to my ego.
¡°Frank, what brings you here?¡±
¡°Hi, I am planning on climbing to the upper cliffs today.¡±
They both look at me in surprise and Sam who has the higher level looks at me intently before whistling. ¡°Weren¡¯t you only level four? You are at level seven now.¡±
¡°Yes.¡± I say proudly.
Robin frowns. ¡°Even so, the Ice Lizards are higher level on the upper cliff even if you can get there and level seven isn¡¯t high enough.¡±
¡°I think it is.¡±
Sam suddenly smiles nudging his sister. ¡°He got an ability.¡±
I smile back. I knew coming here I wouldn¡¯t be able to keep my ability secret and there really is no reason to. However, there is no reason not to keep people guessing about what it is. ¡°Maybe. Well day light is burning, see you both when I get back.¡±
They both say to be careful and I start jogging up the trail to the base of the upper cliff. They watch me the whole way to make sure I am not going into any of the lower caves which have lizards from levels seven to ten. I make it to the base of the upper cliffs and start quickly climbing using my ability, but I am making it look like I am finding foot and hand holds as I climb. I reach the area were the cliff juts out for about fifty feet of the climb. This is what usually would stop all climbers that did not have a skill or ability to overcome it. I continue without a pause until I reach the top of the jut, which has a small ledge I can safely rest on to regenerate my mana and stamina.
After I am rested, I continue the rest of the way to the top where I startle several lizards eating the ice grass and rock bramble growing around the upper caves. They all climb up on the walls and then turn to eye me hungrily. I just sit and rest waiting to see what they will do while I regenerate mana. I inspect the five lizards in sight, which are levels 12,14,13,12, and 14. As one of the level 14 lizards comes down hissing at me, I stand and pull my spear from by inventory, which makes the lizard start to turn back up the cliff as I rush him. He doesn¡¯t seem worried as he is still ten feet up the cliff, but I hit the cliff wall running and am on him in a moment plunging my spear into his side for 80 points of damage. His skin is giving him a defense of twenty and he only take half of the cold damage. I continue to run opposite his turn, outpacing him as I stab again for another 80 points of damage. I figure he has 400 to 500 hit points as the two wounds bleed. I continue to burn stamina and mana to circle him stabbing him again for another 80 points of damage. He pauses and tries to turn the other way hissing in frustration. I stab him again as I switch directions and after two more stabs he dies and drops from the side of the cliff with a thump on the ground. The other lizards all scatter after that into the caves. I walk down pulling out a dagger to skin the lizard and to remove the mana gland, which has a five-point mana stone. I place the skin, mana stone, and five steaks I carve from the body in my inventory before picking up my spear and entering the closest cave.
I walked into the cave, which was dimly lit by the mold that grows in the Ice Lizard¡¯s caves. I let me eyes adapt before walking slowly forward keeping an eye on the ceiling and walls as well as the floors. The cave matches the descriptions I have heard. The floor is covered with gritty glacier sand and small pebbles. The walls and ceilings are rough and covered in numerous claw marks from ice lizards living here. It is even colder in the cave than outside. The cave follows a fairly straight path into the cliffs for about eighty feet before turning to the right.
When I get to the sharp turn, I climb the wall to the ceiling. I surprise the Lizard hanging from the wall, which was expecting to bit me, but at floor level, not on the ceiling. I stabbed it in the head getting a luck hit in its left eye getting a critical for 160 points of damage. It hissed as it snapped at me, but I already moved back before it struck. I stabbed it again in the head missing the right eye getting 80 points of damage. The lizard started to back up as I continued to press it hitting it in the right eye getting another critical hit for 160 damage. Now it started to thrash its head around biting the air and I just had to time my strike to hit the soft flesh in its upper mouth doing another critical for 160 damage, killing it. I could faintly hear more hissing down the corridor. Keeping an eye out I harvest the skin, mana gland, and five more steaks. The mana stone this time is a four-point stone.
I placed everything in my inventory and wait a minute for my mana and stamina to top off before walking slowly down the cave until it gently turns into a wider cavern that has seven lizards. One is an exceptionally large level seventeen bull with the rest level ten through fifteen. The cavern ceiling is thirty feet tall and all the lizards were hanging on the walls and ceiling at least ten feet or more off the floor. They were all eyeing me, no doubt hoping I would walk into the room to meet the bull that is the only one remaining on the floor. They all hissed in surprise as I ran up the wall and stabbed a level fourteen female hanging on the wall twenty feet above the wall. I aggressively attacked stabbing her in the face and neck getting two critical hits before killing her. I watched her body drop to the floor as the bull charged me while I retreated to the narrower part of the cave, while running on the ceiling before turning to face him.
The Bull was outlined in red as he lunged at me from the floor. I let myself drop to my knees on the ceiling and plunged my spear into his neck in a spray of blood. I let him jerk me to my feet as I released by ability only to use it again after I fell on his back. I then plunged my spear two handed into his neck and spine repeatedly. The bull bucked and ran up the wall, but I had no trouble staying on his back. It is amazing that my ability is turning out to be so versatile. With a last stab into his spine the bull dropped, sliding down the wall as I jumped off. I walked down to the floor while watching the other five lizards which now cluster on the far wall of the cavern. I stood by the bull¡¯s body as my mana and stamina regenerated. As my mana and stamina pools filled I calmly walked toward the back of the cavern. As I approached the lizards became more agitated, until I walked to the side and up the wall. So far fighting them one at a time in fine, but I don¡¯t want to back them into a corner were multiple may rush me. I walked up the wall and engaged the only remaining level fifteen.
It only takes me a few minutes to kill it while the remaining lizards continue to hiss at me, but not moving any further away. I realize why while picking out my next target. There is a clutch of ten eggs gathered in a nest below. The remaining Ice Lizards are all females and I engage them one at a time until I finish off the last one. I wait on the floor until my mana and stamina is full and then skin each lizard, extract the glands, and finally the steaks. In total I have nine mana stones with the largest being a six-point stone from the bull. I merge each of the other stones into the six-point stone resulting in a stone with thirty-nine points. I also have nine skins and fifty-six steaks. The skins take up twelve slots, the stone takes up one, and the steaks take up six. I level up to level eight and gain +2 strength, +1 intelligence, +1 wisdom, and +1 agility. This gives me a strength of fifteen now and an inventory size of twenty-five. I thought I was going to have to use a sack to hold the skins, but for now everything fits.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.
I leave the eggs. The Ice Lizards can survive on there own after hatching, which will replenish the caves for future hunting. I move on to the next cave, which has six lizards, but no bull. They didn¡¯t pose me any challenge and I take out twelve skins and put them in a sack to carry. I have time for one more cave, which had seven lizards, but again no bull. Both caves have a nest of eggs, which I leave. I am close to leveling up but want to practice my ability more to make sure I earn enough attribute points when I level up. I use five of the stones to get the large mana stone to sixty points. Then I put the rest in a five-point stone getting it to thirty-seven points. Both my inventory and sack are full and I must keep my spear out. I rest up before climbing down to the trail below.
I make sure I am well rested before walking down to the base of the lower caves because I am guessing there will be trouble. I see Justin and his friend Hank are now guarding caves below. Justin is my current rival for Sara¡¯s affections. His father is one of the wealthiest in town and uses his wealth and influence shamelessly to get what he wants. His son isn¡¯t any better and up to now I haven¡¯t had the levels to do anything about it. I can see Justin has the flashy new sword his father got him for his birthday last month. He is also wearing a Tremar cloak, which is crazy. Even a small Tremar is level forty with claws that can punch holes in enchanted steel. It is obvious from the cloaks size it isn¡¯t from a small one. It¡¯s just another sign of his family¡¯s wealth. I can¡¯t see what he is wearing underneath, but I am sure it will be high grade leather armor. Hank¡¯s family is not near as well off, but Justin has outfitted him in decent leather armor with a sword, though it¡¯s not made with gold and silver like Justin¡¯s. Even though I can probably deal with him and his brown-nosing friend Hank I ignore them and walk to the bottom of the trail. When I turn to continue to the village Justin steps in my way.
¡°Where do you think you are going¡± Justin says with his hand on his sword.
¡°I am going back to the village.¡±
¡°Not with the what you took from the caves you are not.¡±
¡°I took nothing from the lower caves and the upper caves are open to all.¡±
¡°We will be the judge of that.¡± Justin says as Hank moves up to stand beside him.
¡°No, you won¡¯t. I am sure Robin and Sam told you they made sure I was hunting the upper caves. Also, I saw you watched as I climbed down.¡± I dropped my sack and held my spear in front of myself. ¡°If you don¡¯t go back to your posts right now, I am sending you to respawn as you are attempting to rob me.¡±
Justin laughs and Hank is grinning as they both draw their swords. I stab Hank in the chest before his sword is fully drawn doing 105 points of damage, which means his armor is giving him a fifteen defense. Hank is only a level seven and has about 25 to 30 constitution, which gives him 125 to 150 health. After I stab him he collapses, which means my hit put him under 25% health. His endurance isn¡¯t even close to fifty, which means if either his health or mana gets down to 25% or 50% respectively or lower he will pass out, which is why I went for him first. I turn and see a flicker of fear on Justin¡¯s face as he really looks at my spear. I plant my feet and lunge with my spear, which he ducks and then I block his swing with ease. The bard has always said battle is not just physical it is also a battle of wills and I have put Justin on the defensive. I continue to press him but wait for him to use a skill. He is level ten and has a class and several skills his father taught him.
I see a look cross his face and I fall to the ground and sweep his leg with my spear, not causing any injury, but causing him to stumble and disrupt his skill. I then jump to my feet running to the cave he and Hank were using to stay out of the weather. It is empty of lizards and is used as a place for hunters to shelter. I can hear Justin running after me as I enter and run around the corner and up the wall. Justin rounds the corner swinging at the wall thinking I will be there waiting for him. He just has time to look up as I stab deep into his neck for a critical hit causing 160 damage. He has a defense of forty, which is some great armor. I see a blue outline as he is slowed. This couldn¡¯t get any better as I stab him again as he is to slow to dodge or block doing another 80 points of damage. I run down the wall avoiding his strike as I stab his chest again and he passes out.
Now I have a decision to make. Do I kill them both and make an enemy of their families or leave them alive and may be still make them an enemy? I decide to leave him there and drag Hank into the cave as well. I stop to pick up my sack and then walk to Sam and Robin¡¯s place before going to the Headman to explain what happened. As I walk up to Sam and Robin¡¯s place I see Sam chopping wood.
¡°Hi, Sam.¡±
¡°Hi, Frank, you finish hunting in the caves?¡±
¡°Yes, but I had some trouble with Justin and Hank. Did you tell them I only went to the upper cave?¡±
He looked at me for a minute and said. ¡°Let me get Robin.¡± He stored the axe I his inventory and went inside. It was only a few minutes before he and Robin came out.
¡°Hi, Robin.¡±
¡°Hi, Frank, what happened.¡±
¡°Hank and Justin drew their swords on me so I put them down.¡±
¡°You killed both of them?¡± She said in disbelief.
¡°Against my better judgement I left them unconscious, but alive in the sheltering cave. I am getting ready to go to the Headman, but want to ask if you told them I was hunting in the upper caves?¡±
They look at each other and Robin said with a serious expression. ¡°I swear by the System that we told them you had not hunted in the lower caves and we watched you scale the cliff all the way to the upper caves and you had been there four hours by the time we left.¡±
¡°Thanks, that¡¯s what I thought. I had better go to the Headman now before Justin and Hank wake up.¡±
¡°We are going with you.¡± Sam said with Robin nodding vigorously.
¡°Thanks, I appreciate it, let¡¯s go then.¡±
It only takes twenty minutes to get to the Headman¡¯s house and I knock on the door twice before the Headman opens it.
¡°Hmmm, this doesn¡¯t look good, all of you come in and get out of the cold.¡±
We follow the headman into his main room. His house isn¡¯t any bigger than the other¡¯s in the village, which is one of the reasons everyone voted him in as Headsman. He was an adventurer who left the village for over a decade before returning. He gained both great levels and wealth, but used both to help the village grow and prosper. It was largely his work that lead to the trade route to the south that brings in parties of adventurers through the village along with caravans. I find myself looking him over and if you hadn¡¯t grown up in the village hearing stories about his adventures you wouldn¡¯t think he was a fierce warrior just to look at him. He is middle age, though fit looking with long braided hair and hazel eyes. His homespun clothes are worn and comfortable looking, but he takes on a commanding presence at odds with his look when we take our seats around the main room.
¡°Out with it then.¡±
I explained my hunting on the upper caves with Sam and Robin chiming in. I tried to repeat the encounter with Hank and Justin word for word with the Headman asking detailed questions at some points. At the end he asked. ¡°Do you swear everything you said is true by the System?¡±
I said. ¡°I swear by the System everything I told you is true.¡±
He nods in satisfaction. ¡°Thanks, now just some other questions. Where did you get the spear?¡±
¡°I got it from the Ice Torn Harvest quest.¡±
¡°Jessica says you saved Sara the other day.¡±
¡°That¡¯s right.¡±
¡°The Tavern is getting ready for a feast and I hear you are the source of the fish.¡±
¡°Yes.¡±
¡°And now you finish both the Ice Thorn quest and are hunting in the upper caves.¡±
I just nod. During the discussion both Robin and Sam are looking at me in astonishment.
¡°Nothing else?¡±
¡°Nothing I feel like discussing.¡± I don¡¯t want to tell him everything I have done and can do, especially with Sam and Robin still here.
¡°Ok, I judge Justin and Hank were in the wrong and they will be pulled from the Hunters for one year and be ban from carrying weapons openly for the same time period.¡±
¡°Thanks.¡± I say as I stand. ¡°I need to get over to the tanner and then head home before it gets dark.¡±
¡°Very well, however could you please come back mid-morning tomorrow? I have something I want to discuss with you. Robin and Sam, can you stay for a minute?¡±
¡°I will be here.¡± I say as I leave and walk to the other side of the village to the tanner knocking on his workshop before entering. He looks up from the skin he is working on as I walk in.
¡°Hi Frank, got something for me?¡±
¡°Yes, I have a bunch of skins for you.¡± I say taking the skins from my inventory and the sack putting them on a workbench.
¡°Wow, where did you get these?¡±
¡°I got them from the upper caves.¡±
¡°No kidding. What deal you looking for?¡±
¡°Well we both know you can¡¯t afford to buy this many and there is no where I could spend the money if you did. You treat the skins and turn them into leather. I get half and you get half after you are done.¡±
¡°Hmmm.¡± He says while he looks through the skins. ¡°That sounds reasonable, but it will take two months for me to finish this many and do my other work.¡±
¡°That¡¯s fine.¡± I say holding out my hand and we shake.
¡°All right get out of here and see you in two months.¡±
I wave and head back home. When the house comes into sight I sigh in relief. I go in and help my mother finish dinner before going to my room and practicing some more climbing to build my endurance before falling to sleep.
Wall Walker : Chapter 5 - Old Man
I wake up feeling pretty good. Today I want to do a lot of climbing to level my ability and only increase my level with XP from raising my skills. That should get me a nice amount of attribute points with my next level up. I quickly do my chores and give my parents half of the Ice Lizard steaks. After eating some breakfast and putting two cooked steaks in my inventory for later I walk over to the Headman¡¯s place as he requested. I get there and knock on his door announcing myself. He answers the door quickly and invites me into the main room for an old man is already sitting.
¡°I am sorry, you asked for me to stop by, but you have company, should I come back?¡± I say.
¡°Not at all, this is my Uncle Slade.¡± The Headman says. ¡°Please have a seat.¡±
Slade is staring at me intently. I am guessing he is inspecting me or using other similar skills. Using inspect on him I just get some question marks.
¡°I asked you here Frank to more candidly discuss your abilities and what you have done over the last few days. I know you may not want to discuss this in front of me or my uncle, but I swear by the System that this can help you and neither of us will talk about what you tell us with anyone in the village.¡±
I feel better with the Headman swearing by the System, but his choice of words catches my attention. ¡°What about outside of the village?¡±
The uncle snorts and says. ¡°At least he is paying attention. I am member of a guild and I may want to discuss some of this with them, but no one else.¡±
¡°Very well, what do you want to know.¡±
¡°You just recently started to change your behavior, tell us why and what you have done since?¡±
I take a deep breath and start with rescuing Sara. I find it interesting that Slade wanted to know what I thought about my actions now, so I explained my doubts and thoughts on what I should have done. I then explained about getting the Walk Walker ability. Then my subsequent adventures along with why I chose to do things in the order I did. Slade seems very interested in not only what I did, but why. They were both startled when I described how I defeated the Elemental Guardian. Slade asked to see my spear and after thoroughly inspecting it says it is an excellent weapon. As my tale caught up to yesterdays encounter with Hank and Justin I see Slade has a smile on his face as I describe why I didn¡¯t kill them.
Slade looks at the Headman saying. ¡°I should not of doubted your judgement.¡± Then he turned to look at me. ¡°You are no doubt wondering what this is all about. I am¡¡±
Slade is interrupted by a shout from outside. ¡°Headman, get out here! We have something to discuss!¡± I recognize Justin fathers voice, which is going to be trouble.
The Headman sighs and looks at Slade. ¡°How annoying, would you mind? It is Justin¡¯s father.¡±
¡°It would be my pleasure.¡± Slade grins while be walks over and opens the door walking outside.
The Headman stands and says. ¡°Come on you won¡¯t want to miss this.¡±
As we wake outside we see Justin, Frank, and their fathers all dress in full armor with their weapons already drawn. Justin¡¯s father is addressing Slade. ¡°Who are you? I want to talk to the Headman.¡±This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
¡°It doesn¡¯t look like you are here to talk.¡± Slade remarks mildly.
¡°What I am here for in none of your business.¡± Justin¡¯s father says as he sees me and the Headman step out. He is opening his mouth to say something as Slade¡¯s body emits a flash of light and there is a deep boom, which shakes snow from the roof. Justin¡¯s father¡¯s body disappears in a cloud of blood as he dies. This is repeated three more times in rapid succession.
¡°Hardly worth the effort.¡± Slade says as he picks up the dropped equipment and money putting it in his inventory.
¡°How many levels did Justin¡¯s father lose.¡± the Headman asked.
Slade seemed to glance at something only he could see and said. ¡°He lost six levels.¡±
¡°What? How?¡± I asked.
Slade just grinned as the Headman said, ¡°It is a special skill he has that can be used once against any opponent.¡±
¡°Yes, but the amount of loss is higher the lower the level of my opponent is which is why I only used it on Justin¡¯s father.¡±
¡°Well shall we continue our conversation inside?¡±
We all sit down back in the main room. I am glad to sit as I try not to think about how powerful Slade is.
¡°Well as I was about to say. I am looking for an apprentice and my nephew thought you would be a good candidate. I agree with his assessment. So, how about it?¡±
¡°This is a formal apprenticeship?¡±
¡°Yes, it is. I also look forward to seeing how far we can take your ability.¡± Wow, I think. A formal apprenticeship continues until he releases me and I will have to do everything he says for a minimum of five years, but his is obviously powerful and skilled.
¡°When would we start?¡±
¡°As soon as you agree we will go. My nephew will explain to your parents and the rest of the village.¡±
I am torn, to suddenly leave like this. I still haven¡¯t decided about Sara, but this is to good of an opportunity to pass up. ¡°I agree.¡±
¡°This is great I can¡¯t wait to see what we can do with Jump.¡± Slade says.
I frown as I can¡¯t help asking. ¡°Why is Jump so important?¡±
The Headman and Slade look at each other grinning. The Headman says, ¡°Why don¡¯t you answer that, since I know you have done a lot of research on the fundamental skills.¡±
¡°Ok, think about this, during your life you have done a lot of running and even jumping right?¡±
¡°Sure.¡±
¡°Have you ever gained a skill for that prior to the quest reward?¡±
¡°No, but I wasn¡¯t really trying.¡±
¡°Well you could try all you want, but you won¡¯t get it unless it is a reward from a quest.¡±
¡°Why is that, that doesn¡¯t seem right, they should be easier to get than a Basic skill right? You even said they are fundamental skills.¡±
¡°The System prevents anyone from getting a Fundamental skill because many other skills build on them. So, making it easy to get a fundamental skill would greatly change the build everyone works toward.¡±
Seeing my puzzled look, he asks. ¡°Do you know what a build is?¡±
¡°No, I have never heard that term before.¡±
¡°A build is a collection of skills and attribute allocations combined with a selected class that maximizes a characters desired role. For example, a Warrior class could have two builds one for defense and one for damage. The defense build would use skills that stun creatures, increase constitution, and prevent creatures from attacking other members of the party. A damage build would focus on speed and strength, with some constitution, but maximizing attack damage.¡±
¡°I see, so the earlier you decide what your role will be in life the better, so you can focus on getting the right skills and attributes.¡±
¡°Exactly, which is why Jump is a great combination with Wall Walker. You can climb ceiling and drop on your opponent and Jump will prevent you from take damage. You can Jump from one wall to another to switch who you are attacking. When you level it up you can even jump from the floor and flip in midair to land on the ceiling. Using it right will make you incredibly mobile and flexible.¡±
¡°Wow, I can¡¯t wait.¡±
¡°Great.¡± Slade says standing and extending his hand. I grasp his hand and the room around us seems to smear in a swirl of colors as he says. ¡°Later nephew.¡± And we are teleported.
Shells : Chapter 1
Sandy picked the shell up the wet sand that squished between the toes of her bare feet. Her long black hair was tied back in a ponytail against the stiff breeze that blew in off the ocean. She took in a deep breath of salt air and breathed out in satisfaction. The weather was perfect for shell hunting along the beach. The storm from last night had washed tons of new shells up on the beach and the weather now held just a touch of autumn. The skies were clear and the sun kept her warm without getting to hot. It was just perfect, which is why she wasn''t expecting the blow when it happened. She looked down and there was a bolt sticking out of her right hip. She numbly grasps it dropping her sack of shells with a *clink* to the sand. Grasping the bolt with her hand she found it firmly set in her flesh, which meant the head of the bolt was probably barbed. It amazed her how calmly she was handling this as she looked back toward were the bolt came from. She could see a group of five goblins running toward her. A sixth is standing just at the edge of the forest trying to feverishly reload a crossbow. Her good mood destroyed, she was starting to get pissed. Where were the guardians and where had these goblins come from?
She pulled a large spiral shell from her inventory pointing it at the goblins running toward her. Focusing mana into the shell caused it to shatter in dozens of fragments. They stung her hand drawing some drops of blood needed by the spell. Dozens of foot long shards of shell shot forth into the goblins bringing them all down. Only two moved groaning on the hot sand, clutching at the shards protruding from their bodies. Sandy ignored them, focusing on the last goblin who was slotting a bolt in his crossbow. Pulling a palm sized clam shell, she focused mana quickly into it. The bolt was fired a moment later, but it struck a shield and was deflected into the sand at her feet. Sandy pulled a small pearl out this time, which is more than she really would normally spend, but she wanted answers. The pearl turned to dust with a puff of mana that shot out to envelope the last goblin who screamed. Sandy grinned with grim satisfaction as a small bubble encased the goblin. The goblin pulled a small dagger from its inventory and smashed it uselessly against the bubble. It would take far more than that to destroy the fragile looking bubble.
She inspected the other five goblins and they were now all dead as she expected. The shell''s poison finished off the last two quickly. Now after inspecting her surrounding she concentrated on her wound. Pushing mana into the flesh around the bolt the pain faded and she formed a bubble of mana around the head before smoothly pulling the bolt out. The skin gapped for a moment before closing leaving just a faint scar. She inspected the bolt while her body healed. No poison, which made her frown. Goblins typically smeared poison or filth on their blades and projectiles, but this one was clean and the steel head was not of goblin manufacture. Typically, goblin weapons were stone, bone, and wood, unless they were part of a larger force. Frowning she put the bolt in her inventory and picked up her sack of shells. Starting to jog to the forest she pulled on the bubble, which lifted and floated ten feet behind her. The goblin¡¯s muffled yell of surprise could be heard as it was knocked sprawling by the sudden movement.
Pulling on mana to enhance her speed, she made it back to the camp in fifteen minutes. Mel was there cooking lunch, which was two hours away, but Mel made cooking into an art form. Sometimes Sandy thought he came on these outings, just to cook over an open flame instead of in his kitchen. Mel raised an eyebrow at her arriving back early, but when he saw her guest his eyes grew wide as he said. "What happened?"This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
"A group of six goblins attacked me on the beach and they were well armed with steel weapons."
"How did they even get here?" Which was a good question, since they were in Dellmore the kingdom of the elves, which encompassed all land within hundreds of miles.
"I would guess a boat, otherwise the forest spirits would have noticed them. Summon the others, we will need to find them. The goblins footsteps in the sand came from the North."
Mel pulled a horn from his inventory and blew a loud note. Only elves can hear these special horns, so the enemy should not be alerted that their minions had been killed. Mel began to pack up the camp, while I turned to my captive. Sandy pulled a small shell from her inventory. It was the size of a finger nail and has a bright red color that warned other creatures of what it contained. Now it served a special purpose as she filled it with mana and pushed just so. The shell turned to gas, which climbed up from her hand penetrating the bubble in front of her. As the rose-colored gas filled the bubble, the goblin was frantically clawing at the surface before it collapsed. Sandy dismissed the bubble and the goblin slouched bonelessly to the ground. She placed a hand on its greasy forehead with a grimace and gently pushed mana into the goblins body. Her mana connected with the mana the goblin had already inhaled into his body. This gave her disjointed visions of the last few hours he had experienced. After several minutes she got all she could. As she removed her hand, the backlash of the spell breaking caused the goblin to convulse before he died.
When standing from where she was kneeling by the goblin, the brothers Bal and Zack emerged from the woods into the camp and immediately started to help Mel gather everything up. Sandy started to break down the shelter for storage and they were all done within twenty minutes. While they were working she explained the attack and then the visions. The goblins were part of a larger group of more goblins, trolls, and a construct like a golem. They arrived in a boat and were sent out until they spotted Sandy. She got the impression they were supposed to just scout and not attack, but they thought they could take her easily. Bal chuckled when hearing that. She felt a flash of irritation at the goblins managing to ambush her without her detecting them first. She had been enjoying the day too much and felt too comfortable here so deep in their homeland.
"Bal will take point, Mel flank on the right, and Zack on the left. I will bring up the rear. Even though they are mostly goblins, don''t get cocky. Something allowed them to penetrate the wards along the coast." Sandy said as they gathered up and took one last look around the campsite.
Bal, Zack, and Mel entered the woods with their bows out and arrows drawn. Sandy kept her hands free, but when touching the trees, they were strangely silent. Goblins even along the beach should have disturbed the tree spirits, but there was nothing. They walked almost three miles until Bal suddenly stopped and signaled Sandy forward. As Sandy reached Bal she immediately knew why he stopped. The tree spirits were slumbering. They should not be asleep like this unless it was the dead of winter. Something was suppressing them. After discussing this quickly with the others, they decided to continue while maintaining the best stealth they could.
Shells : Chapter 2
Ahead they saw a granite cliff rising above the tree tops, bisecting the forest. At the same time the cliff came into view they could hear chanting. When they approached the tree line they could only look on in horror. Nine trees were obviously dead with their leaves curled and brown on their limbs. When the wind shifted toward them, they could now smell a musty stale odor that must be coming from the trees. The chanting was coming from a human in purple robes, standing in front of the tenth tree. He was gesturing in time with the chant. Streamers of white mist were flowing from the tree into a fist size crystal held in his right hand. When his chant finished, a moment later, the tree split with a crack, the leaves browned, and suddenly fell in a cloud to the ground. The smell got worse as the human carefully lowered the crystal into a small chest at his feet, pulled a new crystal out, and walked over to a new tree. Two goblins waiting behind him lifted the chest carefully to place it by his new position where he began to chant again.
The four of them pulled back with furious expressions on there faces. It took everything they had not to run out there and start shooting at the mage. However, he was just part of the problem. There was a large sixty-foot boat anchored off shore with four smaller boats pulled up on the sand. Four trolls stood by the boats and an eight-foot-tall humanoid creature wrapped completely in metal stood fifteen feet behind the mage. Inspecting the metal man identified him as an Iron Golem. Two small groups of goblins milled around between the boats and the mage. Finally, there were numerous tracks heading to the north and south along the beach tree line. They put their heads together to figure out their plan of attack. The mage was obviously strong, but the monsters could overwhelm them if they just focused on him. Sandy¡¯s mana was full. She decided to handle the monsters and the others would attack the mage. Her magic was the best they had for suppressing a large group. Mel handed each of them a potion of speed, which would increase their movement speed by 20%. Then Bal cast Nature¡¯s Call, which summoned creatures from the woods to help. The creatures would take a few minutes to arrive, but they could not wait. Then each of them cast a shield spell.
Sandy pulled a large spiral shell with yellow and black stripes from her inventory and pushed it through her belt for easy access. It was one of the best shells she has found. It would take half of her mana if she used it. She pulled out two common spiral shell like the one she used earlier on the group of five goblins. She held one in each hand. Bal would lead the attack as he had an arrow of frost, which should greatly reduce the casting rate of the mage if he could hit him. They all prepared to strike. As Bal released his arrow, Mel and Zack were only a moment behind. Sandy focused on the two groups of goblins first. They all had crossbows. They could easily turn the tide of battle if they got in any hits. Mana poured into the two shells rapidly as she released the two spells one after another. This left her light headed for a moment. She felt satisfied as the foot-long shell shards hit all the goblins, killing most and downing the rest.
Sandy pulled out a one-inch pearl. It was a birthday gift from her father. She focused mana into it as the Golem drew a sword and started to rush the others. The pearl consumed a quarter of her mana. The sand under the Golem exploded in all directions, leaving a deep hole, which it fell into. Sandy wished she had enough mana to put the sand back to bury the Golem. However, her mana pool was already getting below half as she swallowed a strong mana potion taken from her inventory. She looked to the mage to see how things were going and cursed. The mage was unharmed though one of the two goblins with him are dead with five arrows in him. The other had three in his chest while he stood panting beside the mage. Sandy realized why the mage was uninjured when Bal fired another arrow. Instead of hitting the mage, the arrow curved in mid-flight to hit the goblin, killing it. The mage had used the time given to him by his minion¡¯s death to cast a spell. A ten-foot-high wall of sand rose from the ground in front of him leaving a pit ten-foot deep and thirty-foot long. She could hear the mage shouting at the trolls, which were already running toward them with large clubs in their hands. Sandy could hear the mage start to chant again. She now faced the dilemma of who to concentrate on. Mel slung his bow around his back and started to climb a tree to get an angle to shoot over the wall at the mage.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Sandy fingered the large shell at her waist, but to use it she would need to be able to see the mage. Instead she pulled a bright red shell out of her inventory while Bal and Zack shot fire arrows at one of the trolls. Trolls could heal quickly from anything except fire damage. However, Bal and Zack didn¡¯t have a lot of mana and would probably run out taking down just the one troll. She focused her mana into the shell that fit in her palm as sweat stung her eyes. By the time she released her spell, the trolls had covered half the distance and were at a full sprint. The spell shot from the shell in Sandy¡¯s hand. It etched a line of fire in the sand which exploded upward in a wall of fire in front the three closest trolls. The trolls were running far too fast to stop. They emerged from the wall of fire drenched in flames. Unlike a normal wall of fire, which only caused damage while passing through it, this one coated anything in liquid fire. The downside was the wall of fire would burn out quickly, but in this case that didn¡¯t matter. Sandy watched coldly as the trolls dropped to the sand, rolled, and trashed to try to put out the fire to no avail. The fourth troll was also down with over a dozen flaming arrows through it.
Sandy turned her focus back to the mage. She was deciding whether she should bring down the wall or run around it when the mage stopped chanting. The hole containing the Golem suddenly filled in, spitting the Golem onto the sand. The Golem was still holding its sword and started to stand when Bal hit it in the head with an arrow. The arrow glanced off its head, leaving a small bright scar in the metal. That was not good. If their arrows did so little damage, they would have to focus completely on the Golem. This would mean ignoring the mage, which was a very bad idea. With a quick decision, Sandy swallowed a pill of greater restoration. It was supposed to be for emergencies. It would increase her mana and stamina regeneration to double its normal rate.
¡°I will handle the Golem, take care of the mage.¡± Sandy yelled. She pulled out a pale blue shell and ran at the Golem as fast as she could.
Each step drained a significant remainder of her mana. The Golem focused on her after she yelled and calmly waited to meet her charge. Directly in front of the Golem, she dived under its sword swing, sliding in the sand. She carefully cupped the shell in her hands, fiercely grinning as she focused on the Golem. Mana exploded from the shell when a torrential geyser of water struck it. The powerful stream of water dented its chest before catapulting the Golem high into the air. The Golem hit the ocean with a huge splash 100 feet from shore. Its sword was sent flying into the waves along the shore.
Shells : Chapter 3
Sandy tried to stand. A wave of dizziness kept her sprawled on the ground. She could turn her head enough to see a furious mage gesturing and gathering a ball of violet light in his hand. He drew it back to hurl in her direction. At that moment, Mel sent an arrow into his arm from his perch up in the tree, causing the mage to drop the ball at his feet. There was an explosion which took the mage off his feet and bounced him off one of the dead trees behind him. He did not get up, but Mel did not take any chance. He put three more arrows into the mage¡¯s body before they all felt safe. Sandy pulled another mana potion from her inventory. After drinking it, the dizziness receded, and she could finally get to her feet. Zack and Bal started checking each of the bodies while Mel stayed up on the tree, keeping a look out.
She noticed movement on the ship. The ship pulled their anchor up and unfurled their sails, getting ready to make way. Unfortunately, even if her mana pool was full she would not be able to damage the ship enough to sink it. She hoped one of the patrols would catch them before they managed to get away. Bal stopped by her to make sure she was ok. Other than a mana headache she was fine. She kept an eye out for more goblins, while Bal went back to check the bodies of the trolls. Suddenly the small chest of crystals emitted a sharp crack. A cloud of white mist poured out and swiftly flew into the body of the dead mage. The mage¡¯s body jerked. He began to get up when Mel put another arrow in his head. The arrow hit him in the temple. It just glanced off, leaving a small furrow in the skin on his forehead, which didn¡¯t bleed. She inspected him and got information that greatly alarmed her.
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Name: Martin Talis, Lich (10% progress)
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If she was reading this correctly, he was in the process of becoming a lich. While she was inspecting him, he finished standing up. There was something wrong with his spine. There were several crackling sounds followed by his body jerking fully upright. It looked like he healed his spine. Bal uttered a spell and shot a flaming arrow. Martin swatted it from the air. Zack fired an arrow, which Martin ignored. The arrow struck his chest and bounced off. Martin gestured and spoke a word, causing everyone to drop bonelessly to the ground. Sandy could see Mel fall from the tree and hit the ground with a bone crushing blow. Mel was still alive in the party view, but only had 17% health left. Sandy¡¯s limbs felt numb and she could not control them at all.
Martin addressed them arrogantly. ¡°Who would have thought a few elves could kill me and cause me to start the transformation early. I was hoping to spend years growing more powerful before I transformed into a lich. Ah well, I should thank you. I feel so much power, I now know I should have done this earlier. It feels incredible.¡±
Martin walked over to Zack who was the closest to him. ¡°However, I can¡¯t forgive you for killing me. Before you die, you will learn the meaning of pain.¡±
A red light formed around Martin¡¯s hand. Sandy tried to mentally pull a shell from her inventory when the mage was knocked sideways. Reinforcements had arrived. Bal¡¯s Nature¡¯s Call hit the jackpot. He had not tried it since he leveled up, but still to get a Dire Bear was incredibly lucky. The bear smashed Martin into the sand, disrupting the spell he was casting and the one keeping us paralyzed. She immediately pulled another mana potion from her inventory and downed it in one gulp. She was starting to feel nauseous from drinking so many potions so quickly, but this pushed her mana over the half way mark. Hopefully that would be enough. She grabbed the spiral shell from her belt and pushed her mana into it with a shaky hand. In her left hand she drew her dagger, cutting the side of the hand holding the shell. Her blood ran onto the shell, which drank it in quickly. Now her health, stamina, and mana were plummeting, but she needed everything she could get for this spell. The bear was continuing to violently maul Martin, but it wasn¡¯t doing much damage. Sandy tried to stay conscious to pick the best time to unleash the spell. It came just a moment later when there was a surge of force from Martin and he hurled the bear through one of the dead trees.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.
As Martin picked himself up, he didn¡¯t spare a glance for her, thinking there was nothing she could do to hurt him now. Sandy saw his progress was now 18% and climbing. She leveled the shell at his chest and released the spell. The shell shattered and a bolt of red lightning shot through the air like something alive and in away it was. Much of her life force was tied up in this spell. It hit Martin high in his chest entering his body. His skin then began to blacken and smoke as he looked at Sandy. ¡°What have you done, elf?¡± He yelled.
Sandy could barely keep her eyes open. He obviously tried to cast a spell and failed. Whatever was happening to his body was blocking the spell from forming. Her spell was called Red Hunger. It was designed to consume all the mana and stamina in a target¡¯s body. Assuming she was correct, a lich¡¯s body was animated by his mana. As she watched, his skin began to flake off. He collapsed to one knee while staring in horror at his hands, which were turning to ash and dust. Even the bones of his hands melted away in front of her eyes. His voice became a gasping whisper when his throat began to dissolve. Sandy made herself stay awake until she was sure he was truly dead this time, before collapsing into unconsciousness.
When she woke up next, she saw Bal¡¯s face standing above her. They were in a camp under the trees again.
¡°Hi there.¡± Bal said with a worried frown. ¡°How are you feeling?¡±
Sandy held her head, which was pounding fiercely with an intense mana headache. Her entire body felt exhausted. She looked at her mana and stamina pools. Both were full, but it looked like draining her whole body with the spell she cast would take more than just filling her pools back up to recover. She gave a weary grin and said. ¡°I have been better, but I should be fine. How are the others?¡±
¡°Mel was the only one seriously hurt. Some healing potions fixed him up, but he is still complaining that his bones are hurting. He broke both legs and one arm in the fall. While you were resting, three goblin patrols returned, but we easily killed them from the trees. Zack dragged the bodies into the trees and offered them to the forest. The trees woke angry and took the bodies quicker than I have ever seen. It only took minutes to pull them into the ground.¡±
Sandy wishes she could have seen that. Typically, when a dead monster was offered to the forest, the ground would slowly soften under the body and roots would slowly take the body into the ground. This process would normally take hours, or if the body was large, even a full day.
¡°We made camp after taking care of the goblins. Mel is using wood crafting to destroy the smaller boats on the shore, while Zack takes care of the bodies. I have been watching the camp. I don¡¯t want you to even think of getting up. We have everything in hand and I used the communication crystal to let the guardians know about the ship.¡±
The communication crystal he mentioned was a one-shot use device that connected to the nearest master crystal and allowed the user one minute of communication. It was intended for emergencies, which this certainly counted as such. She worried what would happen when her father found out. Hopefully, they would get back before that happened. She knew he was busy in the capital, working with the council, discussing a trade deal with the Tassan Empire.
¡°Thank you all.¡± She said as sleep beckoned.
¡°No, thank you. We would not have survived without you.¡± Bal said, laying a hand on her shoulder before getting up to take watch over the camp again.
Sandy felt herself quickly falling asleep despite the aches and pains of her body.
Shells : Chapter 4
When next she woke, it was to an angry voice.
¡°What were you all thinking?¡± Yelled the familiar voice of her father.
She cracked open her eyes and saw quite the sight. The entire camp was surrounded by two dozen guardians. Mel, Bal, and Zack were all standing at attention in front of her father.
¡°You could have gotten killed and my daughter nearly did.¡±
Sandy thought that while it was true, it was a low blow. She could see the impact on her friends¡¯ faces.
Sandy threw off the blanket and said in a rising voice. ¡°Quiet. You do not take that tone of voice with the guard, and you will not take it with us. Yes, we could have died, but ten of the forest were killed and brutally ripped from their bodies. If you even hint that we should not have tried everything in our power to stop it, you are no longer my father.¡± Righteous fury filled her voice.
She could see several of the guardians standing around the camp nodded in approval. That was to be expected, since their whole purpose in life was to protect the forest.
Her father had the grace to look ashamed for a moment before continuing more softly. ¡°I am sorry if that sounded like what I was saying. I allowed my fears to take control when I heard you were unconscious after a battle with a lich. I felt I had let you down. A father is supposed to be there to protect his child.¡±
Sandy sighed. Her own anger was blown away by her father¡¯s soft words. She didn¡¯t reply but instead ran to embrace her father who hugged her back fiercely. ¡°I thought I lost you. I am so proud of you.¡± Her father whispered.
The sound of a throat being cleared brought them back to their surroundings. They both turned to the grinning face of Captain Julius, leader of the Guardians. ¡°I don¡¯t wish to interrupt, but we finished scouting the area and wish to go over our findings.¡±
¡°Of course.¡± Both Sandy and her father said at the same time, separating from their embrace.
¡°The crystals in the chest are Sarak Stones.¡± Captain Julius said.
My father sucked in his breath. ¡°How is that possible?¡±
¡°Wait.¡± Sandy said. ¡°What is a Sarak Stone?¡±
Her father reluctantly said. ¡°One hundred years ago, a human lich, Sarak Thalas, created a stone that absorbed the spirit from a creature. He then used it to increase both his own power and the power of other undead creatures. He lived in the far North. A party of elves, humans, harrow, and dwarves worked together to destroy him and all knowledge of the stones. Now it looks like somehow the knowledge has survived.¡±
¡°Indeed. The only good news we have is the damage was limited to ten trees. He had twenty stones in the chest. Also, we have word from a patrol which engaged and sank the mage¡¯s ship. There was only a minor fire mage on board, which the two water mages on our ship handled with no problem.¡±A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Sandy said. ¡°I don¡¯t understand why this mage would take such a chance to pull the spirits from some trees. Wouldn¡¯t the spirits of many other creatures be a much better and less risky source of power?¡±
Julius answered. ¡°You are correct, if all he intended was to get some spirit energy. We think he was trying something much darker. The spirits of the forest are linked together, even when taken from the trees. We think he was going to use the spirits he took as a channel to draw on the entire forest. That would make him extremely powerful and virtually unstoppable.¡±
Sandy shivered thinking about how close he came to succeeding.
¡°The guardians will be here the rest of the day to cleanse the area and make sure there are no more surprises. You should head back with your father and get some more rest. It sounds like you really stressed out your body with your casting.¡±
Sandy watched as the guardians quickly broke down the camp and handed everything to Bal, Mel, and Zack to put in their inventories. Her father asked Gail, the head of his guard, to open the portal. Gail held her staff forth. The black gemstone in its tip glowed with red fire as a portal irises open in front of them. They quickly moved through the portal. Even a mage as strong as Gail would not be able to maintain it long without a ritual spell circle to anchor it on this end.
As Sandy stepped through into the entry hall in her family¡¯s manor, tension she did not realize she had flowed out of her. It was nice to be home. Her father made arrangements to get Bal and Zack back with their family. Mel saw them out and he would then no doubt head to his rooms in the west wing. Her father asked her to join him in the study for a conversation she was sure she would not enjoy.
After giving Zack and Bal a hug, she followed her father into the study. They both took seats by the window overlooking the garden. Roth, their butler, brought tea and some pastries. After Roth left, they both sat there in silence, enjoying the view and tea. Sandy had the odd thought that a human viewing this scene would find it strange that they would just sit there without trying to fill the silence with conversation. Elves, however, lived for centuries and this spilled over into everything they did, from plans that stretched hundreds of years to simple things like having tea. There was no rush to talk. They both enjoyed each other¡¯s presence and the beautiful setting.
Her father did surprise her when he started talking. ¡°I don¡¯t want to rush you, but I know you are tired and you should rest.¡±
He sighed. ¡°I don¡¯t want to yell at you for what you did. It turned out what you did was more important than your life, which is a hard thing for a father to admit. Especially about a daughter only in her fiftieth year. It is a hard thing to acknowledge that my daughter is growing up.¡± Her father said with a smile.
Wow he surprised Sandy and she found herself tearing up.
¡°Now don¡¯t go tearing up on me now or I will do the same Sandra. I mean Sandy.¡±
Now he truly shocked her. Even though her name is Sandra everyone called her Sandy, since she spent so much time on the beach collecting shells for per ability. Her father had always hated that nickname.
Her father got up and pulled her into another hug holding her as they both cried. They remained like that until Roth cleared his throat, causing them to break apart with a small laugh. Sandy couldn¡¯t remember the last time she felt so close to her father.
Her father let her go and walked her up to her rooms. Sandy went in after saying good night and took a long hot bath before getting into bed. As her eyes began to close, she realized the experience had clarified something for her. She would not be following in her father¡¯s footsteps. Instead she would become an adventurer, at least for a few decades, she thought with a smile before sleep took her.
Craftsman : Chapter 1
Jared had made it. He could see the gate to the dwarven city of Dunfell peaking over the top of the wagon he was walking behind. It had been a long journey from his home town of Westmark in the Domain of Air. It had taken two months travel with three different caravans along with most of his savings. He really hoped he could get an apprenticeship here.
The caravan turned to setup camp outside the city. No one would be allowed to stay overnight in the city but there was a huge tavern and open field for those that could not afford the tavern. Jared ignored both and headed directly to the gate instead. When he got closer, he could make out the detailed stone carvings of rare creatures around the gate. The gates themselves were masterpieces of forged dwarven steel over two feet thick into two doors that span the twenty-foot-wide, fifteen-foot-tall doorway.
A group of ten guards, half in full plate with battle axes and the other half in chainmail carrying oversized crossbows. When Jared approached, one of the axe wielding guards addressed him.
¡°Who might you be and what be your purpose?¡±
¡°My name is Jared and I am here to apprentice myself to a dwarven craftsman.¡±
All the dwarves looked at Jared and then each other in stunned silence before exploding in laughter.
¡°Are you sure that¡¯s what you be wanting? I think a career as a comedian would suit you better.¡± Which set the dwarves off in another round of laughter. Jared waited patiently for them to settle down. Their reaction was expected because it is well known that no dwarf would train a non-dwarf. It just isn¡¯t done, but never the less that¡¯s what he had to do. The dwarf leaned on his axe and spoke as if to a small child. ¡°I see you seem to be serious, so maybe you don¡¯t know dwarves only train dwarves?¡±
¡°I know.¡±
The dwarf scratched his beard puzzled. ¡°If you know that then why are you here?¡±
This is the opening Jared was waiting for. ¡°Because of this.¡± He said while sharing his ability with the dwarf. The dwarf was at a loss for words when seeing the ability description. The other dwarves started to ask suspiciously what is going on, but the dwarf I shared my ability with told them to shut up and then said. ¡°You will come with me. This is not an invitation to hospitality, do you understand?¡±
¡°Yes, thank you.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t thank me. I am going to take you to a council member and we will see what to do with you.¡±
The other dwarves are shock to say the least if their expressions are anything to go on. Jared follows his new guide into the gate, which is one hundred feet long. The ceiling is covered in hundreds of holes from as small as my fist to some that are two feet on a side. He can only imagine the death that could pour out of these orifices. His guide is silent, so he just keeps his eye open and inspects everything he sees, not that many of the things make sense. What is a Marlog wheel assembly anyway? After they exit the tunnel they are in a large circular room that is some seventy feet high. Jared realizes the polished granite walls have windows starting twenty feet above the ground up to the ceiling. They are evenly spaced at ten-foot intervals and all are shuttered by steel doors. His guide waits a minute while he takes it in chuckling at my being distracted by the huge room.
We enter in another gate on the far side of the room. It has even thicker gate doors that outside. These are easily four feet thick. After entering the gate Jared quickly become lost in the various halls, stairs, and chambers they walked through. All had polished granite walls, but none of the drawven carvings I expected.
Jared stops when he is led out into a cavern that is so large, cavern doesn¡¯t do it justice. It must be over two miles across and a thousand feet high. He is amazed the mountain range can encompass it. There are seven large pillars supporting the ceiling and the top half of each gives off a fierce red light and warmth. His guide gives him some time to take it in before he walks down a path that joins a street between the buildings. Jared is amazed by the architecture and murals. This is what he had been expecting. Each street seemed to have a different theme. One included scenes of large battles of dwarfs with all manner of other creatures. Another showed dwarves mining different ores. A final one contained nature scenes including one building whose side depicted a cliff with actual water cascading down in a waterfall to a pool that feed in a stream that was intersected by small foot paths and narrow bridges.
They stopped momentarily in front of a three-story building. This one was different, being composed of a blue veined marble that was lit with more of the lanterns that emitted a red light like the seven pillars illuminating the cavern. Jared had heard that dwarves can see in the dark, so maybe this lighting was best for their eyes. It was certainly giving him a headache. It was bright enough to see things in general, but he found himself continually squinting and straining to see finer detail. His guide approached the large door that seemed to be made of solid silver and pulled a rope next to the door. Jared could hear a bell chime faintly from inside. They waited for nearly five minutes before the door opened. Inside a tall dwarf dressed in leather with matching black leather boots and leather belt adorned with the largest gold belt buckle Jared had ever seen. The guide quickly related my story and must have been able to share my ability description based on the shocked expression the new dwarf had. After a moment the dwarf spoke.
¡°Greetings I am Mal Talorn secretary to the council. Please come in Jared. Daniel thanks for escorting him here. I will take it from here.¡± Daniel nodded politely and turned without another word heading back the way we came. Jared walked in and Mal gestured for him to enter the large foyer. The floors were a deep, rich hard wood, and the walls were decorated with tapestries and several painting.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
¡°This way please.¡± Mal said when he saw me lingering in the foyer taking it in.
Jared follows Mal down a long hallway, which has a thick woven carpet up the center, over the hard wood floors. The walls are covered in decorative patterns carved into the stone, but no murals this time. Finally, they come to a pair of oak doors with two guards who eye me while fingering their axes. Mal opens the door on the right and ushers Jared in. Jared nervously takes in the room Mal thrusts him into before closing the door. There are tier bench seats on the right and left that would easily handle several dozen people, even with the wide stature of the dwarves taken into account. The three dwarfs seated behind a raised desk makes him freeze in his tracks when they break off their conversation to all stare at time. There are two females and a male, which isn¡¯t what he expected. He had always heard males run the clan affairs. All of them have long grey hair woven into complex braids. The male has a long beard that spills over his chest.
The female in the center is the first to speak. ¡°Well, greetings Jared, come forward.¡± Jared approaches the podium positioned ten feet in front of the three. There are no seats, which would have been nice considering his shaking legs. It is comforting to grip the edge of the podium. He can¡¯t believe he made it, but must remind himself that there is no guarantee he will be accepted. The female addresses him again. ¡°I am Jessica Galis, to the right is Damon Fell, and on my left is Rachel Dorvin. We are the council of the Rockwell clan and need to ask you some questions before we proceed.¡±
¡°Indeed, can you explain the meaning of this?¡± Damon says in an angry voice when a blue window pops up in front of him with an only to familiar ability description.
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Ability Name: Dwarven Prowess
Description: Allowing the user to learn the skills of a Dwarven Crafter.
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Jared shrugs. ¡°You know as much as I do. That¡¯s all I have to go on. I thought I could unlock some of the skill by becoming a blacksmithing, but I didn¡¯t learn any skills from it. My development seems to be blocked unless I can learn some of the skills of a Dwarven Crafter, which is why I travelled here.¡±
Damon huffed. ¡°Are you telling me there is no more to the description?¡±
¡°That¡¯s right.¡±
Rachel speaks up for the first time. ¡°Would you allow me to examine your character stats to confirm that?¡± The other two look at her sharply before looking back at Jared. He nods yes. Asking to look at someone¡¯s character stats is taboo and consider to be very offensive, but he really don¡¯t have a choice. He needs them to believe him or he will get nowhere.
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Rachel Dorvin has activated the skill Deep Delving; do you wish to resist? Yes or No.
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Jared selects no and feels a tingling sensation for about five minutes while everyone patiently waits for Rachel to finish. She finally sighs and he feels the sensation disappear. ¡°He is not hiding anything. He is exactly what he appears to be.¡±
¡°Well then we have a problem.¡± Damon says.
¡°Yes. I am sure you are aware we don¡¯t train non-dwarves in dwarven skills?¡± Jessica asks.
They look like they are waiting for a response. ¡°I know, but this is a unique situation isn¡¯t it?¡±
¡°True, but that doesn¡¯t mean we should train you. We have plenty of our own people that require training.¡±
Jared sighs. ¡°I really don¡¯t have anywhere else to turn to, so I am willing to enter a soul binding contract to reimburse your clan in labor for the training.¡±
He can tell Damon is against it, but he can¡¯t tell what Jessica or Rachel is thinking.
Jessica picks up a small bell that was hidden by the edge of the desk and rings is once. Mal stirs from the seat he had taken behind me. ¡°We will need to discuss this, so take him to a guest room. Jared you will be a guest, but you are limited to the guest quarters until we finish our discussion.¡±
Jared bows. ¡°Thank you for taking the time to hear me out.¡±
Mal them leads Jared out the door and down another hall to a suite of rooms where I can spend my time while waiting. There is a nice bedroom, bath, living area, terrace. Food is brought to him and after eating he takes a quick bath. After that he collapses on the bed, exhausted. It has been a long day on top of a long trip. Hopefully they will accept him. It is a good sign that they were even willing to discuss it, but he doesn¡¯t want to get his hopes up. Despite the turmoil he feels it don¡¯t take long before he falls asleep.
It is three days before Jared is summoned before the council. It has been three boring days broken only by meals and nervous pacing. Mal takes him to the same council chamber and Jared find himself once more standing in front of the same podium. There is one new addition that stands to Damon¡¯s right. A very surly dwarf that is staring at Jared with an angry expression.
Jessica interrupts Jared¡¯s staring match with this new dwarf. ¡°Thank you for your patience, while we discussed your situation. We have decided to test you with the same tests given to prospective crafters to determine their aptitude. Simon is going to administer the tests and if you pass all of them we will consider taking you on as an apprentice. However, the tests are not easy and are expensive. You will have to sign a soul bound contract to never reveal anything about the tests and to repay their costs.¡±
¡°Very well, I agree.¡± Jared says eagerly. This is everything he had hoped for.
Mal brings the contract from Jessica to the podium where he signs in his own blood. With that taken care of Simon gestures for me to follow him. We walk out and clear across the other side of the cavern. Simon doesn¡¯t even look back at Jared to make sure he is following, so he must curtail his curiosity and focus on following Simon. They arrive at a large building with an open archway, which leads into a large atrium. Simon immediately turns to a door on the right that leads down a set of stairs to a solid steel door. He places his hand on the door, which glows and eerie green before clicking open. He pulls the door open, which is six inches thick. Jared wonders if that is to prevent someone from getting inside or to prevent something from getting out. When he crosses the threshold, he gets a notification.
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You are entering the Dwarven Craftsmen Entrance Exam. Warning, this exam can only be taken once. Do you wish to take this exam? Yes or No.
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This is what he hoped for. He selects Yes and takes in the large room.
Craftsman : Chapter 2
The room is taken up by three large tables. Two are covered with a cloth preventing me from seeing their contents. The other table an irregularly shaped rock about the size of Jared¡¯s head sits on the desk with the tools arrayed around it. ¡°You can use any of the tools on this table to determine what you can make out of this rock. When you are done I will score you. You have two hours starting now.¡±
Jared tries to Inspect the rock, which just indicates it is an unknown rock. He picks up a small chisel and hammer and tries the chisel on a small protrusion, which breaks off with a small tap. He picks up the pea sized piece that broken off and sees that the stone is full of bubbles. The outside is smooth with a slightly melted look and looking at were the piece broke off the larger rock he sees cracks. Wow, this stone is very brittle. He squeezes the small piece of stone, which crushes into a gritty powder. He touches a small piece to his tongue and gentle sniffs it. There is no odor and no real taste, just the feeling of grit. He picks the stone up, which is lighter than expected. The entire rock must be full of bubbles.
Jared wipes the remaining dust into a small plate on the table. Looks at the array of tools, there are five bottles of liquid by the plate. ¡°What are these?¡± He asks Simon, who reluctantly answers.
¡°They are acids. The clear liquid is the strongest and the dark colored one if the weakest.¡±
Jared considers this while looking over the other tools. There is one he is not familiar with. ¡°What is this tool?¡± He asks holding up something that looks like a clamp with a ratchet on the side.
¡°That is a hardness gauge. You place a sample in the clamp and turn the ratchet to crush the sample, which will give you the hardness rating for the stone.¡±
Looking at the remaining tools there is nothing else that stands out. So, he gets to work. First, he breaks off another small piece and using the hardness gauge he gets a hardness rating of one, which is not surprising. Next making five small piles of crushed stone he uses a drop of each of the acids. Even the weakest acid dissolves the stone with ease. Finally breaking off another small piece he uses a scale to weigh the stone. Then he places the stone in a liquid filled beaker to measure the volume it takes up. This tells Jared how dense the material is. He can tell Simon is surprised me knows how to do this, but there is where discussions with an alchemist pay off. When he was trying to find a way to unlock his ability he worked for many different classes. The alchemist taught him how to figure out the density of an object, which is useful for making some potions.
All of this is telling him that the rock in front of him is useless. At best, maybe it could be crushed and used as filler. He looks at Simon and catches a smirk on his face before he manages to clear his expression. Thinking back to the beginning of the test he only said the tools would be used to determine what could be done with the rock. Also, if this test is to determine aptitude that implies that anyone taking the test would not have any skills that would allow them to craft the stone. After pondering this some more, I turn to Simon. ¡°I am done there is nothing that I can do with this rock other than crush it and use it for filler.¡±
¡°That is your final answer?¡± Simon doesn¡¯t give anything away with his poker face.
¡°It is.¡±
¡°Very well. You next test is over here.¡±
Simon walks over to another table and touches the cloth covering making it vanish into his inventory. This table is very different. It is covered with a collection of stones, which on Inspecting is shows Iron ore. There must be 200 pieces spread out over the table. Simon pulls a sack out of his inventory. ¡°In this test you are to fit as much iron as possible into this sack without leaving the silver border. You have two hours that begins now.¡± He says holding out the sack.
Looking down Jared notices a silver border around the table about four feet from the edge, which should allow him to move around the table easily.
¡°We wouldn¡¯t want you using any of the tools on the other table to break up the ore to pack more into the sack now would we.¡±
Jared takes the sack carefully, so that he does not leave the border and turns back to the table. The sack looks like it would hold about twenty-five pieces. After filling the sack to the maximum possible he fits thirty-four pieces in the sack. Jared starts thinking about what Simon said. Assuming he was correct about the first test there is some misdirection built into this test too. The first test included tools that were useless implying they should be used. This test has a border around the table implying there is something outside that could help with the test. Jared knelt and looked under the desk. Underneath was a set of dusty cobweb covered equipment, along with several sacks. Carefully he pulled the equipment out and sacks out making a clear area on the table. He inspected the equipment and discovered it was a crucible and coal burner. He knew it, he will try to use the burner to melt the iron, then it will fit in the sack.
Looking over he can help but grin at Simon¡¯s sour expression. Jared places three pieces of ore in the crucible and places coal in the burner and uses a striker to ignite the coal, which quickly burns. There is no smoke, which relieves one concern he has. It ends up taking almost the whole two hours to process all the ore and it fits neatly in the sack with some room to spare. I hand it to Simon trying to keep the grin off my face. Simon takes the sack and puts it in his inventory before walking over to the last table. He pulls the cloth off letting it fall to the floor. On the table is a pile of crystal. There are hundreds of pieces. I look at Simon who is smiling. ¡°In this test you must make something out of the crystal. The goal is to use all the pieces. You again have two hours, which begins now.¡±
Jared picks up a piece of crystal. The sides are smooth and have been shaped. Inspecting the piece just indicates it is a piece of crystal. He picks up another piece and compares them to each other. They are different pieces, but both are similar. Absently he asks. ¡°There is no border around this table. Am I allowed to use the tools on the first table?¡±
Simon tries to maintain a poker face, but I can tell he finds the question funny. ¡°Of course, you can use anything in the room.¡±
Jared frowns. Based on his response the tools are a bad idea. He holds the pieces next to each other. Hmmm, one of them curves inward, which would allow it to interlock with another piece he is holding, but it would result in a very odd shape. Then it hits him while he is looking jumble of pieces. This is one of the famed dwarven puzzle boxes. Jared noticed a flashing notification icon and opened it with a thought.
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Congratulations your ability Dwarven Prowess has unlocked. You now have access to the following skills:
Insight - This skill allows the user to determine uses for materials when crafting.
Analysis - This skill allows the user to determine properties of materials when crafting.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Eyes of the Deep - This is an advanced skill that allows the user two abilities. The first is a passive ability to perceive physical objects within sixty feet of the user. Effectively this allows the user to see in all directions without use of their eyes. This will also negate most illusions and invisibility effects. The second ability is an active ability that requires ten mana to activate and ten mana per minute to maintain. This second ability allows the user to sense the flow of mana around them and is focused on their eyes. This means they can only perceive mana in objects they can see with their eyes.
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Jared nearly drops the two pieces of crystal he is holding. Even if he fails the test he finally unlocked his ability and it is incredible. When he closes the notification, he realizes he is now sensing everything around him. He handles the increased amount of information easily much to his surprise, but then he guesses the System wouldn¡¯t give him a talent he could not use. Especially one that is on all the time. It is amazing the amount of details. He can even sense a spider in the outside hallway above the door. Jared mentally shakes himself. He still needs to finish this last challenge. Looking at the pieces again using Analysis, Insight, Eyes of the Deep, and Inspect he gets a much more meaningful description.
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Item: Dwarven Puzzle Box
Number of Pieces: 750
Quality: ???
Magical Properties: ???
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Looks like Jared needs to level up his abilities to get more information. When he closes the window, he feels like he is missing something. He closes his eyes and focuses on the pieces first and then the table. Next under the table and on the floor when he sees it. The cloth that was covering the table has something drawn on it. The clothes are all a dark grey, so the ink did not show through. Jared opens his eyes and walks over to the cloth and picks it up. Turning it over is a diagram of the puzzle box and how it is assembled. Even with this it will be hard putting it back together. He carefully begins to sort the pieces into corner and edge pieces first, since it will be easiest to start there. After a few minutes of this he realizes two things. He has a headache, which is caused by his forgetting to turn Eyes of the Deep off and that he is lucky he left it on. When two pieces of the puzzle that fit each other are brought together they begin to glow brighter in his vision.
He is nearly down to half mana when he figures it out, but luckily his endurance was over 50%, so he would not go unconscious when it went below half. It would just cause a horrible headache. This discovery energized Jared and he began to check edge pieces against other edge pieces. The puzzle box rapidly began to come together. After he got a whole edge done it went even faster. Each piece added was one less to check against. He had to stop using Eyes of the Deep several times to allow his mana to recover. It is better to let it fully recover before starting to use it again, since it cost ten mana just to activate it. Finally, he gets to the last piece and after adding it he gets a slew of notifications.
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Congratulations
You have assembled the Masterwork Puzzle Box of Sheldon Marius. 500 XP awarded.
You have exceeded expectations and passed all three tests for Apprenticeship in Dwarven Crafting. Due to your non-dwarven race and your test results you are awarded the ability In the Heart of the Fire. This ability is a passive resistance to heat, which will lower the effective temperature by up to fifty degrees per skill tier to room temperature. This will allow the user to match a dwarf¡¯s abilities to tolerate the furnace like heat around the forge.
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This is awesome. Jared notices he still has two minutes left for this final test and looking at Simon he sees a mixture of disbelief and anger war across his face before he noticed Jared is looking at him. Simon¡¯s poker face returns. ¡°Very well, we will return to your room and I will inform the council of the results.¡± After that Simon takes me back to Jared¡¯s rooms and takes his leave. Jared spends his time reviewing his new skills and uses his abilities on everything in his room, which levels his Analysis and Insight quickly. He finds he can use those skills on any physical object he can perceive with Eyes of the Deep, which is nice feature. Food arrives with word that he will see the council tomorrow morning. Jared spends the rest of the day out on the terrace using Eyes of the Deep to look at the magical fields around all the building and the great pillars that light up the cavern. He is so excited it is hard to get to sleep, but finally he goes to bed late at night.
The next morning after breakfast is served Mal takes him to the council chamber. Jared is no longer nervous like before and quickly takes his place in front of the podium. Jessica and Rachel seem sad, which Damon is smiling, which seems odd. Jessica addresses me. ¡°I am sorry that you failed the tests, but that is not surprising. We are fair however and you will just have to work to cover the cost of the material used during the test as well as Simon¡¯s time.¡±
Jared is nearly shocked speechless. ¡°What do you mean I failed the tests?¡±
Damon holds up a brick which I recognize. It is a compressed brick of ground up rock from the first test. ¡°Making a fragile brick from the rock in the first test is a failure.¡± He then pulls out an overfilled bag of ore. ¡°Also, you need to do more than just fil the bag of ore.¡± Finally, he pulls out a collection of twelve pieces from the puzzle box just hooked together the wrong way. ¡°This definitely doesn¡¯t get close to what it should be.¡±
¡°Yes, unfortunately not even close to what you would need to pass the test.¡± Rachel chimes in.
Jared looks at each of them for a minute and then asks. ¡°What are you trying to pull? I passed all three tests and until now I thought dwarves were honest, but I see I was mistaken.¡±
Damon jumps to his feet. ¡°How dare you. Mal I think some time in a cell will improve his attitude before he is put to work.¡±
¡°You will have to do more that put me in a cell to keep me quiet about this.¡± Jared shares his last notification about passing the tests with everyone in the room. He sees Mal pause by his side. No doubt he was going to take him to the cell.
¡°I don¡¯t know how you are doing this, but it is a lie.¡± Damon¡¯s face is a mask of fury.
Jessica and Rachel are both looking at each other. ¡°This is a very serious matter, but easy to clear up if you are willing for Rachel to cast a vision spell to show us what happened during the test.¡±
Jared thinks about it for a minute, but it¡¯s not like he will be able to resist if they want to do him harm. His level is to low. ¡°I agree.¡±
Rachel walks over to him and takes him by the hand to sit on one of the benches. She then casts her spell and a projection of the test room takes form around them. Jared got to watch the start and end of each test. It clearly showed his talking to Simon for the first test, smelting down the iron for the second test, and assembling the puzzle box for the last. Rachel released the spell with a sigh and releases my hand. ¡°It looks like we need to talk to Simon.¡± She says looking fiercely at Damon, who is looking uncomfortable. Mal leaves a moment later and returns with Simon ten minutes later. He then takes my place at the podium while Rachel and Jessica pepper him with questions. It is quickly apparent he is lying about the test results. Even Damon begins to get involved in the questions about his obvious lies. It takes some time and spells, but eventually it comes out that Simon could not stand the thought of a human passing the test. Especially after I manage to assemble the complete puzzle box.
After Mal and Simon leave, Jessica and Rachel both look at each other for a moment, probably using party chat. Then Jessica faces him. ¡°The council can¡¯t express how badly we feel over this incident. Simon will be banished, and his household will be seized. Since you are the injured party you will be awarded the money received from selling his estate. Also, you will be accepted as an apprentice. Finally, you will be allowed access to the city library containing all the dwarven knowledge on crafting. I hope that this will heal any bad blood between us.¡±
Jared looks at the three councilors and considers that even Damon looked shocked when he found out about Simon¡¯s lies. ¡°I think we can consider this matter closed.¡±
¡°Very good. You will be assigned the suite of rooms you are currently in until your apprenticeship is over. Simon¡¯s estate will take several months to be sold and then you should have enough money to buy your own place and forge.¡±
While we were talking Mal returned. ¡°Mal will see you to your rooms and we will announce this to everyone, so there is no confusion among the people about your presence.¡±
¡°Thanks.¡± Jared simply says and follows Mal back to his rooms. He has done it. Finally, his ability is unlocked and he will get the training he needs to make the most out of it. He can¡¯t wait to see what tomorrow will bring when he starts his training.
Golden Tribe : Chapter 1
Why did he have to listen to his little sister''s nagging voice? He should know better by now. Listening to her always got him into trouble. Ever since they were kids, she would talk him into saving animals and helping strangers. Many times, people would take advantage of her and through her himself as well. Sighing Patrick tried to think of an away out of this. Maybe if he thought through everything that happened, he could figure a way out.
It all started with his catching the golden fox. He was out hunting and checking on his traps, when he found the injured golden fox unconscious and caught in his snare trap. This wouldn''t have been a problem except he had agreed to take his sister with him today and she immediately ran over to the fox and started to undo the snare. He just stared at her back with a sinking feeling in his chest. A fox with such a beautiful pelt would get a gold or more in town and they could really use the money. Their mother died when he was just eight years old and Jules was only four. Their father never really recovered and died two years ago fighting off an undead bear at the logging camp he worked at. Luckily Patrick was already sixteen and could earn enough to keep himself and his sister feed.
The way his sister was fussing over the fox he knew she wouldn''t let him kill it. Rather than argue with her he knelt beside her as she turned to look at him with sad eyes. He avoided making eye contact and scooped the fox up. He then stood and started walking back to the house. He could see his sister practically skipping along beside him. When they make it back to the house, he took the fox to a spare room that was setup to care for injured animals. He set the animal on the raised table. When he looked it over and he saw the broken shaft of an arrow stick out between its right ribs. He was surprised the fox was alive as the arrow was very close to its heart.
Jules picked up some bandages and an herbal mix to stop bleeding and placed them besides him on the table. Patrick began to take deep even breaths before activating his skill. His hand slide into the fox¡¯s chest with no more resistance than water. His fingertips traced the shaft of the arrow to the arrow head, which was a flat head. Carefully focusing on the arrow, he pulled on the nub of the shaft, while guiding the arrow head with his hand that remained deep in the fox. Sweat pored off his forehead when the tip of the arrow came free and he could remove his hand, which felt numb and tingled. He quickly placed the arrow in a basin only pausing a moment when he noticed the arrow head was pure silver. He picked up a pad to stop the bleeding and then placed his other hand in the fox to feel for any bone chips from its ribs or flakes of wood from the shaft. Finding none he covered the wound with healing herbs and wrapped a bandage around it.
He caught his sister looking at him with an expectant expression on her face and just shrugged. After cleaning up himself and the arrow he the arrow head in his inventory. Then he headed back out to hunt. They still needed food and daylight was wasting. His sister sat down in a chair next to the fox. As he left the house, he heard a soft melody in his mind. It must be his sister singing to the fox. She did that with the animals they rescued. His sister never talked since she was born, but she could send thoughts, images, and feelings into your mind. Unlike his skill Shadow Touch her skill appeared to be a passive skill that was on all the time. She still didn¡¯t say much, but since she could project what she was feeling you really didn¡¯t need words a whole lot.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
After making the rounds through all his traps and resetting them all including the one that caught the fox, he crushed some stink weed along the back trail of the fox to a stream. There he wet the drying blood on the arrow and left a trail of drops heading south along the stream. The arrow was special and was inscribed with runes as well as being silver. He was tempted to melt it down, but instead put the clean arrow back in his inventory. All together he caught two rabbits and three fish in the traps, which should last them until tomorrow even with a new mouth to feed. While making his way back home he ran into two men checking out the game trail. My hand falls reflexively to my knife and one of the men smiles saying. ¡°There is no need to draw your weapon we mean you no harm. As a hunter you maybe able to help us.¡± He flips me a coin, which flashes silver in light as I catch it.
¡°Maybe. What are you looking for?¡±
¡°There is an injured animal we are hunting for. A golden furred fox.¡±
¡°Hmmm, well I did see a spotty trail of blood along the stream that runs about 500 paces south west of here. The trail is faint and flows the stream south.¡±
¡°Great, thanks. If you happened to find it our Lord Sunridge is staying at the tavern in town and would offer a reward for its whereabouts.¡±
¡°Thanks, I could always use some more money.¡± Giving them a wave when they headed south. Good thing he spent the time laying a false trail south. He was worried about the men he encountered. For a lord to stay at the run-down tavern in the village shows he is very interested in acquiring the fox. He took extra caution to make sure he was not followed, which made him late getting back home. He reached his hand through the door using Shadow Hand to open the latch. Entering the house quietly, he knew his sister would be able to sense his presence and why he was being cautious. She sent him a feeling of calm and peace letting him know everything was ok.
Making his way to the kitchen he peaked into the spare room to check on his sister. She looked up briefly before turn back to watching the fox while singing it a song with her mental voice. Laying the rabbits on the cutting table he noticed his sister was busy while he was away. There were three full bowls of vegetables and fruits on the counter from the garden behind the house. A low fire was boiling a pot of water for the soup tonight. He spent some time cleaning and skinning the meat. He just added onion, carrots, potato, and some herbs to the boiling water. After the vegetables started to soften small cubes of rabbit were added with a hand size piece kept for our guest.
His sister set the table and they sat down for their meal. He told her about what he had seen in the forest. How he set a false trail for the fox and his encounter with the men. She had a worried frown on her face, but didn¡¯t say anything. There wasn¡¯t really anything different they could do. If the men came to the house, they would deal with it based on how they acted. They both worked on cleaning up after dinner, getting ready for bed before the sun went down. Magic lights were an expense they could not afford and the lamp, which burned oil was for emergencies.
His sister settled down in the room with the fox. He frowned at her, but she just grinned back at him, so he didn¡¯t bother wasting his breath trying to get her to sleep in her own bed.
Golden Tribe : Chapter 2
While sleeping Patrick had a dream different than any he remembered having before. It was much more vivid. He found himself in the forest, but not the forest around his home. The trees surrounding him were huge. Easily 200 feet tall of more, with trunks that would take four people to encircle holding hands. The ground was covered with small bushes of different type. None of them looked familiar. Turning in a circle there were trees as far as he could see. There was no breeze to speak of, but the air was cool and fresh with a hint of something that smelled like mint.
He spun reaching for the dagger that was missing from his waist on hearing a noise right behind him. Jules was standing behind him looking around in puzzlement. Patrick was just thinking it was strange to have Jules in his dream when he felt her familiar presence in his mind. That¡¯s when he truly began to think this wasn¡¯t a normal dream. ¡°Is that you Jules?¡±
He got a surprised look on her face with a more intense feeling of her presence in his mind before hearing. ¡°It seems we are both here wherever here is.¡±
¡°Can you sense anyone else?¡±
Jules closed her eyes for several minutes and I waited patiently until she pointed to my left. He turned and try to line himself up in the direction she pointed. Picking out a unique branch we could use to keep us going in the right direction didn¡¯t take long. Patrick took Jules hand to guide her while she kept focus on their surroundings. He was looking around himself and while he heard animal calls from deeper in the forest there was no sign of movement around them. Luckily the undergrowth wasn¡¯t that thick and they made it to the first branch he picked out along the path. His sister pointed and he picked out the next unique landmark. The next one was a thick dead branch that had no doubt fallen from the canopy above.
It only took ten minutes until he began to hear quiet sobbing. The source came into view a minute later. A small boy was sitting against a tree trunk with his knees drawn up to his chest. The boy was rocking himself with arms tightly clinching his legs. He seemed to sense them shortly after they caught sight of them. Patrick was just opening his mouth to offer some words of comfort to keep him from running away when he got up and ran straight to them. Well actually straight to his sister where the boy jumped up into her arms. Definitely not what he was expecting. His sister began to sing the same wordless tune in their minds she always used with the injured animals and suddenly two things became clear.
The boy had an ugly half healed scar on his side just like the golden fox and the boy¡¯s hair while dirty like the rest of his body was the same golden color.
¡°So, you are the golden fox we rescued.¡± Patrick said to no one in particular.
A soft ¡°Yes¡± answered him.
¡°Do you know where we are?¡±
¡°Yes, we are in the deep wood.¡±
¡°I am not familiar with these woods. Where are they relative to our home?¡±
¡°Your people call these the Phantom or Ghost Wood.¡±
A chill went down Patrick¡¯s spine. The Ghost Wood is a place that typically only very powerful monsters or mages could get to. It was on a different plane of existence. Only a person¡¯s spirit could enter. It was said to be very dangerous, but also full of very powerful herbs, ores, and creatures.
¡°How did we get here?¡±
¡°I am injured. It is normal for me to come here to heal faster. I am not very good at spirit traveling and pulled you with me. I am sorry.¡±
¡°That¡¯s ok, but it is probably not safe for us to stay here.¡±
¡°Yes, it is dangerous. Creatures here will be able to sense your unprotected spirit.¡±This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
¡°Can you send us back?¡±
¡°I have been trying, but have been failing since we got here.¡±
¡°Hmmm, is there anyway we can get any weapons? I noticed I cannot access my inventory here and don¡¯t have any of my weapons on me.¡±
The boy squirmed in my sister¡¯s arms until she put him down reluctantly. He ran over to a fallen branch, which was about seven feet long and twisted along its length. Suddenly his body glowed and the branch straightened, shedding its bark. A sharp point sprouted from one end right before the boy dropped it from shaky hands. Patrick grabbed it before it could hit the ground. When his hand touched it, he felt something shoot up his arm and into his chest. A notification suddenly popped up in front of his face.
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You have found a Spirit Weapon; do you want to bind with this weapon? Yes or No?
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By Vera, a Spirit Weapon. He had never heard of such a thing. Looking up from the weapon cradled in his hand, he met the young boys¡¯ eyes. ¡°Hurry up and bind with the weapon or it will revert.¡± The boy said.
Patrick quickly thought Yes and got another notification.
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You have successfully bound with the Spirit Weapon.
Weapon Name: Golden Thorn
Weapon Description: Spear fashioned by a novice spirit warrior of the Golden Tribe. This spear is soul bound to Patrick Ericson and cannot be wielded by another.
Weapon Damage: 20 - 40
Weapon Durability: 500
Weapon Spirit Points: 7 (5 base points plus users¡¯ spirit)
Weapon Spirit Point Regen Rate: 1 point per hour
Spirit Abilities:
¡¤ Double Damage, cost one spirit point per successful hit
¡¤ Parry, cost one spirit point to deflect one incoming attack of any type. Only works against attacks targeting the user. One additional point can be spent to direct the attack at a different target.
¡¤ Golden Stride, this is a passive ability that increases all movement by 50% while within fifty feet of a member of the Golden Tribe.
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Wow, what a serious weapon. He dismissed the notification and looked at the young boy shivering in front of him. ¡°Thanks, this is an incredible weapon. I never got your name. I am Patrick and this is Jules, my sister.¡±
¡°I know, your sister told me. My name is Dorian of the Golden Tribe.¡±
¡°Nice to meet you Dorian. Any thoughts on what to do next?¡±
¡°Yes, we need to find my tribe, but I don¡¯t sense any of them nearby.¡±
¡°Well maybe¡¡± Patrick trailed off when the forest suddenly became quiet.
¡°Look what we have here Jacob. If it isn¡¯t our friend the hunter. It looks like you found our fox.¡± It was the two men Patrick had run into in the forest earlier. Both were dressed in green leather tunics and pants. Black cloaks with deep hoods rested on their shoulders. They both had swords drawn and moved with grace through the undergrowth.
¡°I don¡¯t know what you are talking about. Dorian is not a fox, he is a young boy.¡±
¡°Good try, but we have been listening to you for the last few minutes and we know what he is. I don¡¯t know how you got here, but I think the Lord will be wanting to talk to both of you when we take the fox back.¡±
Dorian moved to hide behind me and Jules. I glanced at her and she looked pissed.
¡°I don¡¯t think you will be taking anyone anywhere.¡±
¡°Really? You are all such low levels. If this area wasn¡¯t so dangerous, I would take some time with you, especially your sister, but I think we don¡¯t have the time to play around.¡±
Jacob¡¯s partner gestured with his left hand. Green flames sprang up along his finger coalescing into a ball that shot at Patrick. Patrick didn¡¯t have time to think, although at the same time everything appeared to slow down. His weapon twisted with a life of its own striking the ball of energy back into Jacob¡¯s partner who dropped to the ground motionless. Patrick staggered, suddenly feeling drained. It wasn¡¯t fatigue or stamina exhaustion, however he had trouble feeling alert.
His sister wasn¡¯t idle during this. A bolt of purple light flew from her to strike Jacob, who clutched his head. Then another bolt from Jules hit him dropping him to his knees. A third bolt struck Jacob causing him to drop unconscious to the ground. Jules dropped to her knees wiping sweat from her brow. Dorian surprised him by running over to the downed men. He quickly searched the two men removing two coin-shaped medallions from their pockets. Dorian held them up in triumph running back to us.
¡°They used these medallions to cross over to the Ghost Wood. You should be able to use these to get back.¡± Dorian said handing each of us a medallion.
¡°What about you?¡±
¡°I can make it back on my own. I just couldn¡¯t take you back with me successfully. Both of you try to activate the medallions.¡±
They both focus on the medallions in our hands and got notifications.
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You have found a Spirit Gate Medallion. This medallion will allow the user to cross over to the spirit realm and back. This can only be used once per day.
Do you wish to use the medallion to leave the spirit realm? Yes or No?
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Jules and Patrick select Yes.
Golden Tribe : Chapter 3
Patrick woke up in his bed wondering if it was all a dream when he felt something in his hand. It was the medallion, so the dream was real. He sat up to get out of bed and something clattered to the floor. Looking down it was the spear Dorian made for him. Picking up the spear he rushed to the spare room where he found his sister sitting up in her bed holding her head. The golden fox was awake, laying in the pile of covers looking at Jules.
¡°Are you all right Jules?¡±
¡°Yes. I just have a bad headache. Can you get some tyth root?¡± Patrick¡¯s eyebrows raised in surprise. She never uses her voice.
Patrick grabbed the jar of herbs from the kitchen and handed it to her. Jules opened the jar quickly sorting through packets of herbs until she found what she wanted. She removed a sliver of root and started chewing it. It took a few minutes, then she handed the jar back, and he returned it to the kitchen. He wished the herbs could be stored in inventory, but these were all fresh. Putting them in inventory would kill them, lowering their potency.
¡°Can you communicate with our little friend?¡± Patrick says pointing at the fox.
Jules nodded looking at the fox who sat up to stare back. After a few minutes, she said mentally.
He says that while they made it back to the mortal realm, he is afraid the Lord may be able to find him here. I told him he can¡¯t leave yet with his injuries.
He was worried about Jules. If he hadn¡¯t seen the fox as a young boy in the Ghost Wood, he probably wouldn¡¯t hesitate to make him leave. He just can¡¯t do that now.
¡°I could take him to the caves in the foothills to the North.¡±
We need to all stick together. There is no telling how they are tracking the fox. They may show up here even after you left for the caves.
¡°Very well. We will make a sling so I can carry the fox and we will head to the caves.¡±
Jules nodded and he started packing up everything they would need for the trip. It took them about thirty minutes to get ready. Jules set up a sling that Patrick could wear on his back to carry Dorian. It was early, so they should be able to make it to the caves by midday if they hurry. At noon they stop to eat a quick meal with Jules feeding the fox while he rested on Patrick¡¯s back. They have been pushing themselves and were both sweaty and tired. He hoped Lord Sunridge could not follow them, but there was no way of knowing.
About an hour later, after entering a clearing they got an answer. It¡¯s not the one they were hoping for. Sitting on a rock waiting for them was a large man wearing clothes that just yelled money. He was perfectly groomed and didn¡¯t have a speck of dirt on him. Inspecting him showed he was Lord Sunridge with no other information.
¡°Well you finally arrived.¡± Lord Sunridge said standing up and dusting himself off. ¡°Imagine my surprise when my men didn¡¯t return from the spirit realm, but I find their medallions here moving to the northern foothills. Now you obviously have some skills to be able to handle Jacob and Bishop. There is no chance you can handle me. Give me the fox and my medallions back and we can discuss your employment.¡±
¡°You want to hire us?¡± Patrick asked surprised. This couldn¡¯t get any more surreal.
¡°Of course. You are very resourceful to have beaten Jacob and Bishop. You must have some excellent skills. You will find I can help you develop them quickly. I reward my people well and you can have a bright future. Or you can refuse of course, but in that case, you are not making it out of this clearing alive.¡±
¡°You aren¡¯t worried we can handle you like we did Jacob and Bishop?¡±
¡°Not at all.¡± Sunridge said with a genuine smile.
This guy was not right in the head Patrick thought. He set the fox down gently on the ground and grasped his spear tightly. He thought at Jules wishing for her and the fox to run after he attacked. Hopefully he could deflect Sunridge¡¯s attack like he did earlier with Jacob.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
¡°I can see you are going to be foolish about this aren¡¯t you? Well let¡¯s get this over with. I have important things to get to.¡± Sunridge clapped his hands and when he pulled them apart a ball of fire over a foot across formed between them. In the blink of an eye the ball hurtled at Patrick. Luckily his spear moved on its own and smashed the ball back at Lord Sunridge. The ball struck a barrier around the Lord and exploded scorching the grass to ash in a ten-foot circle. When the fire and smoke were blown away by the wind, Sunridge stood there unharmed chuckling.
¡°Well, well, you have a spirit weapon. What a surprise, but excellent. The fox will be able to give me exactly what I want.¡±
Crap, his weapon only had five spirit points left. Jules and the fox also hadn¡¯t left. He was just getting ready to run when a purple bolt of energy flew out of Jules¡¯ head. Unlike when she hit Bishop, it hit a barrier like the ball of fire.
Sunridge laughed in delight this time. ¡°A mental skill as well. No wonder you beat Bishop and Jacob.¡±
Jules hit him with another mental bolt with no more affect than the first, other than the Lord seemed to be enjoying himself even more.
Sunridge gestured and lightning began to crackle over his hands. Patrick had a bad feeling about this. He ran in front of Jules just as a bolt of lightning leapt from Sunridge¡¯s hands toward Jules to be intercepted by his spear. The bolt swatted him to the side. He landed on my back about fifteen feet away with his muscles spasming. Getting to his feet slowly he shook his head to try to clear it.
¡°Wow, that looked like it hurt. Looks like that weapon only blocks attacks directed against you.¡± Sunridge rubbed his chin with a thoughtful look on his face. ¡°I wonder how it would handle an area effect spell that included you? Let¡¯s see shall we?¡±
A jolt of fear shot through him. Patrick didn¡¯t think they were going to make it out of this. Jules wasn¡¯t going to leave without him. He braced himself when Sunridge gestured again. This time an arc of flame expanded into a wall twenty feet across and ten feet high that roared toward him. He didn¡¯t want to deflect this back to Sunridge, just parry it. This time the spear jumped in his hand when the flames approached. The heat was intense until his spear swept in a vertical cut through the wall, which parted around him. Looking behind him, the opening in the wall closed back up, and the wall continued into the trees igniting them.
Soft clapping could be heard from Sunridge as he was practically dancing. ¡°Truly amazing. Are you sure you both haven¡¯t changed your mind? I am in a very good mood today and feeling generous.¡±
Both Jules and Patrick were silent.
¡°Tsk¡ Well let¡¯s finish this then.¡±
Sunridge began to gesture quickly. Bolts of intense fire ignited in the air in front of him. One after another streaked at Patrick, which he parried until the fifth one, which detonated when his spear struck it. A notification informed him of the bad news.
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Warning: Spirit points exhausted.
Warning: Health below 10%.
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¡°Well looks like that is it for you.¡±
Sunridge turned to his sister and started gathering green flame. Patrick tried to stand and collapsed back to his knees when a wave of nausea hit him. Suddenly there was a weird spitting sound. A round object struck the barrier around Sunridge with a wet smacking sound. Inspecting it revealed something interesting.
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Item Description: Head of Jacob Landry.
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Sunridge just started to look up from the head, when a roaring beam of golden light struck the barrier surrounding him. The barrier only lasted a second or two before the beam cut through it with a resounding crack. The beam hit the Lord high in his chest, dissolving his flesh like butter on a hot skillet. The beam moved up to Sunridge¡¯s head, which simply exploded, then stopped. Patrick didn¡¯t realize how loud it was until it cut off.
Patrick staggered around to search for the source of the beam and found a monstrous golden fox that stood ten or twelve feet at the shoulder. At first, he thought it was staring at Jules, but actually it was looking at Dorian who was crouched at her feet. He held his breath until the huge fox looked up at them all and shimmered. Before he knew it a beautiful woman with golden hair and eyes dressed in a creamy white robe was walking over to Dorian to pick him up.
¡°I am Gabriel and it would seem thanks are in order for helping my son. I see he even crafted you a weapon.¡± She made a lazy gesture and a wave of golden light surrounded all of them. Patrick¡¯s health shot up rapidly to 100%. Inspecting Jules showed she was at 100% as well.
¡°Well you also seem to have medallions to enter the spirit realm. I think we should have a long talk about possibilities, what do you say?¡±
Patrick looked at Jules who nodded.
¡°Excellent, let¡¯s go somewhere more private.¡± With another gesture, a portal opened leading into the Ghost Wood on the other side.
Patrick took Jules¡¯ hand and followed Gabriel through the portal. They were going to survive after all. He couldn¡¯t help the grin that split his face from ear to ear.