Raze (The Completionist Chronicles Book 4)

by Dakota Krout

  Joe grinned as he did the math on the cost difference of using iron with a silver core instead of using High Steel; he didn’t even want to think about what he would have needed if he went higher up the rare metal chart. “I think you just saved me about a thousand platinum.”

  “More like ten thousand,” Terra smugly informed him. “Your building grows and only by feeding it more material to grow around.”

  “Frightening.” Joe handed over his small Mana Battery. “This is for you.”

  “Excuse you. Pretty sure I’m taking the big one.” Her arms went on her hips just before she made a ‘gimme’ motion.

  “So, you’re going back with something only Master Mages have, and you want one with triple the capacity as them? I feel like that’s going to be a bad idea,” Joe told her equally smugly.

  “Not triple.” She seemed to realize she wasn't taking the larger one, and her arms dropped. “Looks like however you did this, this one only has half the capacity of my Master’s. The big one only holds about a thousand more.”

  “Huh.” Joe looked at the sky. “That’s true. Doing this by hand would give a better result, hmm? Ah well, I can mass produce them, so it doesn't matter as much to me. Although… if we worked together on the diagram, maybe we could figure out a perfect solution, and there wouldn't be any loss.”

  “You have an enchant template? Did you make it somehow?”

  “More like reverse engineered, then improved upon.” Joe shook his head and got back to work. “Making a totally new spell diagram is way harder. Someday, not now though.”

  Joe looked at the last component, the Flawed Greater Core, trying to put together the last pieces of the puzzle. “How about this? What happens if we use a better or worse Core?”

  “Worse? Nothing.” Terra stopped him before he got too excited. “Actually nothing. The building becomes a house made of glass with really expensive walls. That level of Core is needed to power all the functions. If you use a better Core, either the building will function faster than before, or it will overfill with mana and break down or destroy itself. You’d need to check all the materials again to make sure that they can handle the throughput, and the cost will likely rise exponentially.”

  “Now… this might increase the rarity of the building, perhaps even becoming a new or unique structure, but, just a thought, do you want to make that happen?” Terra shook her head. “Pretty sure you want to feed people in a hurry. Progress is great, but a stable foundation is the key to success.”

  “Woo, the College has been doing a number on you, huh?” Joe grinned as she stuck a tongue out at him. “That's more like it! Thanks, Terra. Feel free to bring enchantment diagrams over, and I’ll see if I can help you improve them.”

  “You want me to bring along thousand-year-old, unchanging secret documents to you… so you can improve them.” Terra shook her head. “You’re either going to get me killed or promoted.”

  “A sign of good faith then.” Joe pulled out the leaflet he had made for Mana Batteries and held it in the air. “Promise me that this stays between us only. At least unless I give you permission to share.”

  “Sure? What is it?” Terra took the leaflet and looked through it, her eyes going wide. “You… how did you compensate for the aetheric… oh, I see. That’s smart. How did you know to… Joe, seriously! Do you even know what this is?”

  “Mana Battery enchantment.”

  “No! Well, literally, yes.” Terra smacked the table. “Joe, if this is usable and so stable… even with the power loss, this is a revolutionary way to do all sorts of things! Slot one of these into a staff or wand, and you have a way to cast spells outside of your ability. Into armor, and a warrior has a mana shield! Into buildings, and you could create the equivalent of artillery or defensive systems! You think you can improve this more?”

  “Yes, because when you were going over it, I had no idea what I was doing in ways of standardization. You said ‘aetheric’ something and not a clue. I’m doing this all with magical and mathematical proofs.” Joe shrugged when she looked ready to throw things at him. Luckily, she didn't want to let the papers go. “If I had someone who knew the quick conversions, the proper tools, we could make this process way more efficient.”

  “Triple or more, potentially.” Terra took a deep breath and handed back the paper. “I can't take that; the temptation would be too much. Can I talk to my Master about this?”

  “Sure, because I’m keeping the template. It's as good as holding a patent.” Joe knew that there was no way someone else was going to be able to easily replicate this, or they would have in the last hundreds of years. Cleric-Mage-Ritualist-Occultist combo for the win!

  A ritual you created has been activated! Deactivate? Yes / No.

  Oh, so that was how that function would work at a distance? Joe hadn't known what it would look like. There was only one ritual of his that was out in the wild right now, and he had given it to Jess to reduce the cost of hunters trapping a rare animal for him. Delegation for the win! He really hoped that they had used the ritual intentionally; it was single use, after all.

  “Joe? Hello? You there?” Terra poked him in the ribs.

  “Gah! Clip your nails, Wolverine!” Joe rubbed at his side. “Sorry, got a notification about a quest I have in progress right now. Where were we?”

  “Let me see… I am leaving after popping in to randomly help you with a project you had,” Terra indifferently informed him.

  “Right, you totally don't seek me out because you know I am always tinkering around with magical stuff, and you want dibs on the cool stuff I find and make. All my benefit. How’s that enchanted elevator diagram keeping you?”

  Terra blushed, and Joe knew that he was on the mark. “So, we use each other for personal gain. At least we both benefit, right?”

  “You don't have a quest to get info from me, do you?” Joe jokingly questioned. Terra fully flushed, and his mouth dropped open. “From who? You little spy!”

  “Oh, stop. Nothing like that.” Terra turned and walked away, refusing his follow-up questions.

  “Now I know why she kept looking for me.” Joe was somewhat disappointed, but he tried not to be. She was fun to be around, no matter how annoying she was. Looked like he would need to make sure she always stayed at arm’s length; even if he had been playing around calling her a spy, he still lost a lot of trust with her just now. She was feeding someone information on him, and no matter how innocent it might be…

  Joe decided to set aside his concerns for now. He pulled out a square foot of glass and started to pour mana into it. He glanced at the amount of glass he would need to imbue to create the initial structure and tried not to get frustrated. That was a lot of glass. It was going to be a long couple of days. Joe glanced at his status sheet and had an idea.

  Name: Joe ‘Tatum’s Chosen Legend’ Class: Mage (Actual: Rituarchitect)

  Profession: Tenured Scholar (Actual: Arcanologist)

  Character Level: 15 Exp: 134,813 Exp to next level: 1,187

  Rituarchitect Level: 2 Exp: 2,990 Exp to next level: 10

  Hit Points: 270/270

  Mana: 1,012.5/1,012.5

  Mana regen: 27.9/sec (Base 25.37/sec increased by gear)

  Stamina: 235/235

  Stamina regen: 5.64/sec

  Characteristic: Raw score (Modifier)

  Strength: 25 (1.25)

  Dexterity: 34 (1.34)

  Constitution: 32 (1.32)

  Intelligence: 81 (2.31)

  Wisdom: 70 (2.2)

  Charisma: 31 (1.31)

  Perception: 54 (2.04)

  Luck: 30 (1.30)

  Karmic Luck: +1

  His idea was simple and fairly straightforward. If he could get his intelligence up to the next threshold—one hundred—his mana pool would likely boost a large amount. That would let him use all of his abilities better and more frequently. There would also likely be benefits that he was unaware of. Joe needed nineteen points, which meant almost a month of ju
st characteristic training. Viable, and he would use that as a supplement, but what he really needed to do was work on complicated things.

  He decided to follow a simple regiment. Start the day with coffee, do his characteristic training for the guaranteed point, a few hours of imbuing glass, tinker with spell diagrams, and start producing scrolls and enchantment diagrams. The varied and difficult work would likely boost his intelligence, and Joe hoped to find the threshold in under a week.

  “Excuse me, Joe?” Joe looked at the messenger as he continued, “I have a building request for you from Lord Mike?”

  “Barracks again?” Joe got a nod in return. “Sounds good. Can you go round up the same people as last time?”

  “I… we haven't met before.” Joe did a double take, and sure enough, he didn’t know this guy.

  “*Ahem*. Sorry, the uniform and all…” Joe sputtered to a stop and gave the information on the people he needed. From there, he walked over to the guild hall and started the preparations. “How are they getting all this building material? Seriously, I couldn't buy a plank from Ardania.”

  After setting up the holographic building, he waited. After ten minutes, no one showed up. Joe didn't see anyone, and he was tired of waiting. “Time to see if I can use these in a ritual.”

  He placed the Mana Batteries to form a triangle with him and activated the ritual. If this didn’t work, this was going to be a bad time. Joe lifted into the air smoothly, as did the Mana Batteries—to his great relief. That gave him a total of five thousand mana to use at the outset of the ritual, excellent. With his regeneration, he’d be able to do this entire ritual on his own now.

  The drain switched from him to the Mana Batteries, and as they drained down, the building was slotted together. Nails went smoothly into wood, the frame had walls placed along it, and overall, the building came together nicely. As Joe was being set on the ground, the smaller of the Mana Batteries popped and fell to the ground as a powder. “Feces!”

  At least the larger one held together, but was that luck or due to the higher quality? Joe hated that he didn't know. He cursed as the ritual diagram for the barracks went up in flames, turning into ash in an instant. Ah, right. This was the third time he had used it, and it must have had the durability reduced to nothing. Well… at least all the barracks since the very first he made would have shingles.

  Class experience +100!

  Class Level up! You are now a level three Rituarchitect! New ritual learned: Raze.

  Chapter Thirty-seven

  Raze (Expert): the second major ritual granted to a Rituarchitect; this ritual allows the user to convert a previously built building into the resources used during construction. Not all resources will be reclaimed, as the wear and tear on the resources will be fixed using the material, but all resources reclaimed will be in perfect condition. Perfect for gentrification! Time to Raze target structure is dependent upon rarity, complexity of the structure, and how well-built target structure is. Using a higher-quality Core in this ritual increases the amount of material available for reclamation and the speed of destruction! This ritual can be interrupted by the destruction of the item containing the ritual circle. Components needed…

  Joe grabbed his head as information was crammed in. This was like learning four years of architecture… and engineering… and sapping all in the same day. “Ow! What! This is… so much information!”

  “An Expert-ranked ritual to tear down a building? Really? Why is that so much harder than scanning a building or just smashing it?” Joe looked over the information in his head, as easy to access as seeing a file on a computer and saw what he was missing. “Oh… it repairs all the material reclaimed? Okay… not a huge fan of not knowing how fast this process would go, but it is good to know that a better Core means more stuff and faster process.”

  “It’s already getting dark? How long was I out? Hope this ritual at least piles everything neatly,” he grumbled as he got to his feet. Joe was coated in dust and sweat, and his Coven still hadn't shown up. He grabbed his Mana Battery and walked into the guildhall, nearly colliding with Aten, who was sprinting toward him.

  “Joe! Emergency!” Aten picked Joe up and sprinted away, carrying Joe with no apparent effort. He kept running, almost getting to the salt mine before stopping and putting Joe on his feet in a clearing. “I really don't like how easy it is to abduct you, Joe. You need to protect yourself.”

  “You think I liked that?” Joe sputtered, face red from Aten’s unfair words. “If you were an enemy, you would be chunks of meat by now!”

  “Joe!” Mike stepped into the clearing, the suddenness of his arrival getting him a Shadow Spike in the leg. “Ow! What the heck, man?”

  “Sorry!” Joe healed him with a wave, then glared at him. “Startling people who are in combat all the time is a bad idea, Mike.”

  “Sheesh.” Mike looked at the hole in his pants and visibly calmed himself. “Listen, Joe. We have an informant from the Architect’s Guild. At great personal risk to themselves and a huge amount of money from us, we are getting a tier-two building. We need you to do your thing and make a copy. If this isn't back by morning, people are going to come looking for it.”

  “What’s the building?” Joe looked at the two of them. “The fact that you’re not answering the question is making me oddly nervous.”

  “We don't know, alright?” Aten stomped his foot, making a crater and also making Joe wonder about his actual age. “The informant only told us that it was guaranteed to be beneficial. Just so you know, once we build it and people know we built it, they are going to be pretty mad.”

  “Why build it, then?” Joe looked at the other two. “Tell me!”

  “The builders have a pretty serious rule.” Aten snarled. “If you build a building above the tier of your town, they won't allow you to work with them. Ever. Only they are allowed to build more than tier zero buildings. Anything ranked Common or above? They build it. Total monopoly. Even the King can't force the issue since their failsafe makes sure the blueprints they have would be destroyed if they hit the button.”

  “Then there would be no one who could make them.” Joe nodded in acceptance. “So… we are out, my bad. Will they come after us?”

  “Nah, the Kingdom has a ‘fair use’ law now.” Mike chuckled at that. “Apparently, it is in place thanks to your work with the Archmage. All Mages were Nobles, and the Nobles get a vote on certain laws. Now, anyone who makes something has the legal right to use or make it if it’s legal to have and use. No more forced joining of Guilds or Colleges to cast spells and such.”

  “That’s awesome!” Joe high-fived Aten.

  Aten nodded. “Yes, but what we are doing right now is definitely illegal, corporate espionage and all that. But! Here’s the thing: if we build this, there is nothing they can do about it anymore. So, can you make this ours in time?”

  “Probably.” Joe looked back at the Pathfinder’s Hall towering above the tree line, the beacon at the top outshining any star in the sky. “Would have been a lot easier back at my desk. Where all my materials for making blueprints are.”

  “Him?” Yet another voice reached Joe’s ears, but at least this time, he wasn’t the only one to jump. “That’s your ‘wunderkind’? Are you sure about this?”

  Joe only needed a single glance to realize that he knew this person. She was the guild representative that had denied him all building materials. “Oh, hey! Good to see you again. I hope that in the future we can have lots of positive interactions.”

  She stared at Joe, then glared at Aten. “Did he just threaten me? Are you trying to blackmail me? I’ll leave right now if this is–”

  “Nothing like that!” Aten assured her, pulling a huge sack of clinking coins apparently out of thin air. “He’s just an idiot.”

  “Here.” She pulled a tube off her back and handed it to Joe. “You have four hours since it’ll take me an hour to get back to Ardania and I need to sneak this back in. If you are late, at all, I’ll be
telling my boss about the ‘thief’ who broke in. He’s bald.”

  “Joe, hold tight!” Aten picked Joe up and started running. “Where is your gear?”

  “Hall!” Joe shouted over the wind and pounding feet. Aten veered slightly, blowing past the guards and dropping Joe when they got indoors. “Follow me, Aten!”

  “Where are we going?” Aten looked around the huge, open space. “I’ve seen everything here. There’s no office.”

  Joe smirked at Aten as he led him to a small booth. “You really haven’t, Aten.”

  The door closed behind them, and the wall started to warp and open. A ramp leading downward appeared, and the Guild Commander gave Joe a look. “This goes where?”

  “My office!” Joe laughed outright at the frustrated look on Aten’s face. “Time’s wasting. Let’s go!”

  They got to the true core of the building a moment later: the Grand Ritual Hall. Aten was sent to sit in the corner while Joe started doing the preparation work for converting the blueprint into a ritual. “Alright, let’s see what we have here… tier two building, also known as an Uncommon building. You know that the barracks I’ve made are tier two, right? Moving past that: seriously, pick a nomenclature system, Ardanians!”

  “What is it? The building? Anything good?” Aten had a lot of hope in his voice, and Joe could understand why. That bag he had handed over was full of gold coins, and he had no information otherwise.

  “Looks like… oh neat.” Joe started drawing out the plans with a pencil, his enhanced intelligence allowing him to come along and scrape away mistakes with a nearly autonomous razor made of solidified shadows.

  “Joe!”

  “Let me work, Aten! Oh. Right, it’s the plans for a gatehouse.” Joe kept moving along.

  “Gatehouse…?” Aten sounded crushed.

  “Gatehouse. Thing you put in a wall around a city,” Joe told him absentmindedly. “Since this is an Uncommon building, it also includes the plans for the wall it fits into, all sorts of crenellations, defenses, and a drawbridge. Everything we need to have in order to make a full defensive wall around our town.”