097, 1/2

A young orcol girl, taller than Erick, bounded out of Irogh’s office and into the arms of her sister, saying, “I qualified for Seeker! Let’s go find some ruins!”

Her sister, named Ferai, who was older and taller by at least a foot, caught the girl and twirled once, as she set her down, saying, “Mother would be proud, and I am too.” She nodded over to Erick, and said, “Thank you, sir. I apologize for my sister for taking so long.”

“It’s no worries, really,” Erick said, smiling to see the happy sisters. “Good luck in your searches.”

The younger sister did a quick look to Erick, and frowned, not understanding what Ferai meant. Who was this stranger in their midst? She hadn’t taken that long, had she? There were a lot of options up there! Who would begrudge someone their time in communing with Rozeta? Was this little human truly that rude?

Erick grinned as all those questions and minor angers crossed the young girl’s face.

Ferai, for her part, just said, “Archmage Flatt has graciously shown—”

The younger girl’s eyes went wide, in sudden recognition. She glanced down to Erick’s shoes, then away, her face going from a darker shade of green, to something much lighter, as she lost all minor angers and fleeting joys, and stood beside her sister like a soldier falling in line.

“—us many promising spots around Spur.” Ferai said, “We’ve got lots to search.”

Erick’s appointment with Registrar Irogh had been for twenty minutes ago, but Irogh had been occupied. So he waited outside the blue door, with Ferai, who was waiting for her sister. Ferai instantly recognized Erick.

An apology on behalf of another quickly turned into a friendly chat. Ferai was a Seeker. She spoke of the monsters they were searching for around Spur, listing off ten that Erick had seen, several of which he had killed himself, and five that he had never heard of before that moment, most of them being very small monsters, with minor rads inside of them. [Withering] skipped right over those. Erick offered a [Cascade Imaging] to search for ‘holes’ in the dirt, if Ferai wanted a few places to start; a lot of her target monsters made burrows.

Also, Erick had seen Mog going over reports of unexpected holes in the ground, yesterday. Now was as good a time as any to investigate that strangeness, or at least help out someone with a request that was right in line with what he wanted to do, anyway. He didn’t tell Ferai that part, though.

Ferai readily agreed. So Erick popped up an Imaging to the north of the city, and left it searching for ‘holes in the sand a foot across and five foot deep’. That seemed to be a good enough search, because in a minute, blue dots began popping up all over the map. Ferai had seen the map, through [Scry], and gave a heartfelt thanks.

“I’ll leave the map out there for a while.” Erick added, “Good luck.”

The younger sister, Taroga, gave a slight ‘eep’, and nodded, as Ferai gave a heartfelt ‘Thank you’, and vacated the space in front of Irogh’s office, along with her suddenly quiet sister. Erick smirked, to watch them go, then turned his attention to the blue door in front of him.

Erick entered Registrar Irogh’s office. He said, “Hello, Irogh.”

The man behind the counter smiled, as Erick sat down, and the door closed behind him. “Good afternoon, Erick.” The door clicked, and the walls shimmered, as godly privacy magics took hold of the space. “How can I help you?”

“Can I see those Class Ability options, again? The ones I considered last time? And any new ones that might have appeared.”

Irogh tapped the air. A shortened list appeared to the left, hovering on the wall.

After Erick had made [Greater Lightwalk] using Jane’s suggestion, he gave her a call. A short, happy talk later, and she instantly teased him about how he did not need to humor her; she was perfectly aware that he would have done it that harmonizing way, eventually. Erick did not argue that point. Jane then congratulated him, and told him all about her own recent experience with Prismatic Polymage.

It was a good conversation. Jane did not promise to call more, for, in her own words, how could she? Erick was the one with the chain of [Familiar]’s, and able to send telepathic messages across a large part of the world. Erick almost gave her a hard time about that, but she was right.

That conversation and the transformation of [Lightwalk] to [Greater Lightwalk] had led to Erick hoping for something in his own new Class Options that Jane had mentioned that had popped up in hers. And yes, there they were; Dedication and Efficiency. The only reason he hadn’t gotten a Quest for one of these the last time he had been here was because he was conflicted on what to pick, and now, that problem had been compounded.

Honestly? They all looked good. And there were even more additions than the last time he was here.

 

 

Force Savant was new. So was Spatial Cohesion. Accomplished Dispeller was old; he had gotten that one when he made [Spell Breaker]. He didn’t really want that one, but it was here because it was new.

“I thought I knew what I wanted. Um.” Erick asked, “What’s ‘Force Savant’ from?”

Irogh explained, “Particle Mage is very close to Force Mage, in that both Classes deal with the fundamental building blocks of life. Particle Mage was also based off of Force Mage, and then you went and remade more than ten basic Force spells. Bolt, Beam, Bomb, Crash, Wave, Trap, Shrapnel, Platform, Wall, [Conjure Armor], [Conjure Weapon], [Telekinesis], and [Detect Magic]. Through these various factors, came Force Savant.”

“What does that affect?”

“Almost every single spell is a creation of Force magic, somewhere in its construction, but Force Savant is not an all powerful ability. You might get anywhere between 1% to 5% more effectiveness with all of your magic. Those spells closer to pure Force, like [Pure Force Beam Bolt] or [Conjure Armor] would get as much as 20% more effectiveness.” He added, “Range, damage, duration, resistance to dispelling, damage absorbed or mitigated. Even lowered costs. Force Savant is one of the starter Abilities of the Force Mage, but many other Classes are capable of accessing this Ability, if they pursue and understand Force Magic.”

Erick looked up at the list, and considered. Force Savant sounded good; great, even. He looked to another Ability, and asked, “Only 25 percent for Spatial Cohesion?”

“You’re not a Spatial Mage.”

Erick asked, “So. Blood Mana. Is it frowned upon? Is it actually blood magic? Does it increase my mana pool how I think it does? How did I qualify for that one? That Ability was there well before I made [Cascade Imaging].”

Irogh smirked at the barrage of questions. He said, “Blood mana is used by many, but usually kept out of open speech and discussion. It is also one of the most basic Blood Mage abilities, and will not drain your physical self, but when in use, it will drain you Health for more Mana, effectively giving you—” He looked to the air, then said, “2460 more mana. Increasing your total effective mana to 10,680. Like all of your Abilities, you can choose to forgo using the Ability, at will. You qualified for Blood Mana because of your knowledge of anatomy, blood, and the basic building blocks of life, supported by your general knowledge of particles.”

“If I was a Blood Mage… What would my Class Ability list look like?”

Irogh stressed, “Heavily expanded from the norm, but I cannot give you a list for Blood Mage, since you are not a Blood Mage.” He added, “Since you have already unlocked Force Savant, and Spatial Cohesion, I can tell you that you would face a similar phenomenon were you to become a Force Mage, or a Spatial Mage.” He added, “The same holds true for Dispeller, and Light Mage.”

He wasn’t about to become any of those Classes, but knowing there were options was nice. Erick looked up at the blue board, and thought.

He had already spoken to Irogh about a few potential exploits regarding some of these Abilities, the last time he was here with Irogh. Regarding False Health for Blood Mana; that combination did not work how Erick thought it would work. One could not spend False Health like they could Health; he would not be able to cast any spell he ever made, just by virtue of throwing a [Withering Slime] into the Crystal Forest and then having all that subsequent False Health.

Erick moved on to considering the defensive nature of False Health. Having a few thousand more practically automatically healing Health, would be great for a fight.

But would it, really?

Health and [Personal Ward]s were a lot more flimsy than they appeared. When Teressa Raged, she had managed to tear through all 25,000 points of Erick’s [Personal Ward] and most of his meager Health, twisting his arm out of his socket. If he didn’t have the 70 Strength he had at the time, to physically resist her backhanded, shield bashing attack, he might have lost an arm. If he hadn’t have reacted as fast as he did, to take away Teressa’s [Prismatic Ward] permissions, she would have gone through Poi and all of his defenses, and on to much more killing.

Erick’s shielding was great against lesser beings like monsters and most any random rookie adventurer on the street. Against those types, Erick was practically untouchable.

If Erick ever remembered to use his [Defend] skill, then maybe Teressa’s casual attack would have been mitigated.

… But even with [Defend], if a Shade got a hold of Erick, and he wasn’t slippery in some way, like Jane was with her omni-elemental form, he was dead. Standing and taking a hit would end in his death. Therefore, Erick did not need Sapping Particle. What were defenses in the face of overwhelming power?

Particle Healing would be ‘good’ for large scale healing with some spells like Erick’s [Control Weather], but Irogh had explained the problems with that, as well, the last time Erick was here. Particle Healing was effectively reduced to nothing if the area and the targets were too many. But besides that, all that healing used up the spell’s duration and power. Erick might spend 1000 mana on a [Control Weather] that should last a full day, but if there were a hundred injured people in there, then they’d get maybe a 100 Health apiece over the course of 10 seconds, and the [Control Weather] would vanish.

Theoretically, he could spend his Health on a spell that was just around him, and then heal himself with the spell’s power, effectively getting magic for free, but it would also use up the spell’s power to heal him. That whole process seemed like playing around in edge cases. What was the point? Besides: his Mana Regen was great.

But, using an Ability was an optional thing; Erick could heal a lot of people in a Super Large Area, at his discretion, if needed.

And on the smaller side: spending a thousand mana on a spell that only reached ten people, would probably grant those ten people each a thousand Health.

But… Against Shades, each of them also acting as archmage-level threats… Particle Healing would not do a lot.

But then again, Particle Healing would do quite a lot, if Erick invented a spell that targeted non-monsters only, and gave those so affected by that spell some sort of empowerment against monsters… Such a theoretical ‘anti-[Withering]’ spell would then also restore Health, if needed. If he invented a stationary, [Ward] like Particle spell, he could make healing stations for a theoretical war with the Shades.

But then again… In a war, Erick would be forced into an offensive role. He doubted, of all the actions he could possibly take to thwart a Shade attack, that healing a few dozen people would ever be the best option.

So he thought on Particle Healing, but that Ability was not a real possibility, either.

Thinking back to spell damage, though: a generalized reduction of spell damage taken to 75%, seemed like a good idea. More damage done seemed superfluous, but maybe not? More area, though, that seemed really good. A bunch of area modifiers was likely how that Poisoner Archmage from the Wastelands got her orange cloud to be 30-plus kilometers in diameter. Spells like that would be important for the eventual assault on Ar’Kendrithyst, and for clearing out monsters.

Duration also seemed great? Sure?

Erick looked upon the list, and knew he was unprepared for a real fight against real threats. He needed more experience with all of that, but he wouldn’t get that experience sitting around at home, in Spur, fiddling with enchantments.

He asked, “What does Light Dedication affect? And Efficiency? Why are they separate? And without exact effects? Is it the same vein of Ability as Force Savant?”

Irogh said, “Dedication and Efficiency affect everything with the Light descriptor, or that is related to Light in almost every way. They’re separate because they are the ultimate Abilities for any and all Light users, with effects that are not quite quantifiable with a simple ‘times two’ description.” He said, “If you must put their benefits into numbers, they offer somewhat similar bonuses as Force Savant, but on a larger scale, split rather definitively between the choice for power, or the choice for efficiency.”

That was all well and good, and made those two Abilities stand out a lot more than they had a moment ago, but as Erick thought about his choices, he thought toward the future. He was currently at 7 out of 8 Abilities. With 2 more Ability Slot Increase Quests possible, for 20 more points, he was close to capping out at 10 Class Abilities. He kinda knew what he was going to get now, but what about in the future? Maybe Irogh would have an opinion?

He asked, “Which should I pick for killing Shades?”

Irogh said, “We’ve already gone over all the options; all of them are good. This is a choice you must make for yourself.”

Erick smiled. Registrars often seemed like social workers or lawyers; they often spoke in clarifying speech, giving long, expansive answers to the mechanics of most any ability, skill, or spell you already had, but they would never answer ‘what was best’.

Erick confidently said, “Blood Mana, please.” He added, “And another Ability Slot Increase Quest.”

Irogh nodded, as he tapped the air. “Done.”

Blue boxes appeared.

 

 

 

Erick asked, “Weird Quest. Is there a comparative warrior Ability?”

Irogh answered with a non-answer, saying, “Highly likely.”

“Thanks, Irogh.” Erick got up to leave, saying, “Till next time.”

Irogh said, “Farewell, Erick.”

 

– – – –

 

Erick had dreaded going to the Adventurer’s Guild because of his unintentional foray into Red Dreams with Mog, and Al, but now he had a reason to go to the guild; he needed one of those [Strike] leveling rocks Jane got, way back when they first got to Spur. He also wanted to ask if anything was happening with the holes outside of the city, if anything, so he had two reasons to go to the Guild.

Three reasons, if you counted asking for help with [Strike], which Erick bought for a point.

 

 

Hopefully Mog wouldn’t be too put out with him. Erick genuinely liked the woman.

Apparently, Erick needn’t have worried.

On the fourth floor of the log mansion Adventurer’s Guild, where drinks and quests were served to the powerful and skilled, Guildmaster Mog held her rough and tumble court in the corner, near the rails, overlooking a good chunk of the building. Erick blipped into the Guild in the designated [Teleport] alcoves, and instantly locked eyes with the woman in question. Her big brown eyes got bigger as her ample chest heaved and one of her arms, which would put any bodybuilder to shame, shot up, in a wave. She laughed.

A human girl and a human woman sat on the other side of Mog’s table; they had been talking to her when Erick blipped into the room. Those women looked to Erick with questioning eyes, then sudden passivity. They had recognized Erick, with the woman being slightly faster than the girl. He had no idea who they were, though.

“Hey!” Mog yelled, over the general hubbub of the busy Guildhouse. “Erick!” She waved him over, smiling, revealing huge lower fangs. “Come! Sit with us!”

Erick returned her smile as he walked closer, saying, “Hello, Mog. Glad to see you.”

Mog pulled out a chair at her table, by her side, as she gestured to the woman and the girl, saying, “Gwynewyn Clayfield and her daughter, Alandria Clayfield. Baroness and Lady, from the Republic.”

Erick paused, right as he was getting into the chair. He unfroze, as a smile came unbidden, and he sat down, saying, “A pleasure to meet you? From…?”

He had not truly noticed their clothes until this moment, for they were mostly unremarkable creations of brown leathers and white cloth. But now that he was closer, he saw that the white fabrics were also slightly silvered, every few other threads replaced by something stronger than fabric, but just as flexible. The leathers themselves were heavily tooled, and likely highly enchanted. Or maybe minimally enchanted, so it would last longer? It was crafted with Ancient Script writings in some of the whorls and straights, and some of it looked like [Ward], or a variation on [Ward], but Erick still wasn’t knowledgeable enough to identify magical equipment at a glance.

Of the two women themselves, Gwynewyn was an older woman, around Erick’s age, with dark skin and dark hair tied back in a bun, and bright blue eyes. Hers was an odd look to see on a person, but she was quite pretty. Her daughter was slightly lighter of skin, and maybe not yet twenty. She matched her mother in most ways, and especially in the eyes.

Gwynewyn nodded cordially at Erick’s question, then said, “Always a pleasure to meet an archmage, especially one that helped our people in Odaali. My daughter and I are from a small holding under Greendale, known as Steelbend, across from the Fin river, from Redder.”

“Apologies. I have only the vaguest idea of where that is.”

Gwynewyn said, “There are many places like ours scattered all over the Republic. It would be impossible to expect anyone to know of them all.” She added, “But we’re a little over a [Teleport] east of Odaali.”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Ah!” Erick said. “Okay.”

Mog spoke up, “They’re thinking of moving their Adventuring Branch from Frontier to Spur.” She smirked, saying, “They might be your neighbors, Erick.”

“Oh?” Erick’s smile remained for a moment, entirely due to emotional inertia. And then he lost his joy, as his thoughts turned to paranoia. “Oh.”

Mog noticed, and chuckled, saying, “It’s nothing nearly so sinister—” Her tone switched to teasing, but with an undercurrent of actual danger, as she looked to Gwynewyn, saying, “Unless it is?”

Gwynewyn rapidly said, “It is not.”

“I joke! I joke.” Mog lightly nudged Erick, saying, “Ever since your windstorms, I’ve been meeting with potential noble houses that wish to come to Spur, to take part in our bounty and our protection.”

Erick’s paranoia did not leave him, but he did feel slightly better at Mog’s words, and her friendly touch. His thoughts returned to the moment, as he found himself asking, “No one has started building any houses nearby?”

Gwynewyn said, “Silverite has already imparted to us that your presence in Spur is much more important to her than any possible noble connections to any other part of the world.” She looked to Mog. “But I was not expecting this meeting to happen right now, either.” She said to Erick, “We’re still laying groundwork; attempting to contact you has not yet been approved by any of the powers of Spur.”

Mog laughed. “I did not expect it either, but I’m happy this is happening in my presence.” She reached over and patted Erick on the shoulders, with her fingers reaching all the way to the center of his back. “Erick is important to us.” Her hand lingered for the barest moment, before retreating. She eyed Gwynewyn, saying, “You are a wildcard, as are all your kind.”

“I accept this designation, but I hope to prove you wrong in time, and right now.” Gwynewyn said, “The Clayfields have been housed in Spur before, and we were valued members then. We look to regain that status, due to current world events and power proven, yes, by Archmage Flatt, but also in the face of what is to come.”

“What’s wrong with Frontier?” Erick asked.

“That’s what we were discussing.” Mog said, “Go ahead and say it all again, Gwynewyn.”

Gwynewyn said, “Viscount Helix is a man experienced with mortal wars, but Silverite is something more than that. When the conflict against the Shades begins, we wish to be inside the proper command structure, in order to assist, and to take our fair share of the bounty afterward.”

“A rush for gold?” Erick asked.

“Artifacts, gold, prestige, experience, physical power and magical might. The downfall of shadow. All of it; like anyone else in the adventuring business.” Gwynewyn said, “But most of all: Frontier is stifling. They have no Forward Base. They enter the Dead City by climbing over the wall, causing many to die in their first entering. I was lucky. Twenty years ago, I survived a dozen trips within, killing enough monsters in there to gain level 50 and a Class. I brought that power back to my part of the world, back home to the Republic. But the survival rate of wall-hoppers is steadily decreasing.

“The average survival rate for first timers has been around 45 percent, for several decades. Spur is around 45 percent, so it’s not much better. But ever since Candlepoint popped up from the sands, Frontier’s survival rate has dropped to 20 percent. Even in the last year, a few groups have been wiped out, to the person, including every single veteran.

“Therefore, the only option for my family— for my daughter’s survival and for her to eventually take over my position as Baroness, is for us to open a branch in Spur, and gain entrance to the Dead City, from this city.”

Erick glanced from Gwynewyn to her daughter, Alandria. The young girl sat straight and strong, but turned slightly to face Erick’s eyes. She averted her forward look after half a second, returning to a casual, regal posture. Maybe she was nervous, and hiding it, or maybe she was exactly as calm as she appeared, while the discussion of her death hovered around her like a dark cloud? Erick wasn’t sure.