“You’ve only been here a few days. Aren’t you tired from whatever raid you were on? From what I’ve heard, it wasn’t easy.” Alkao didn’t try to pry at their secrets; it was clear that whatever they had done, they were keeping a secret for someone else.
“Yes, but the Stone Raiders love to challenge themselves. Raiding, being in a fight against impossible odds—that’s what we live for.” Anna smiled.
Alkao nodded. “I can understand that. As a younger Demon, I was always challenging my other brothers to fight and searching out the hardest of dungeons. There were several times that my bullheadedness got me into trouble.” Alkao chuckled and rubbed a scar on the side of his head.
Anna looked amused. “To the Players, this is but a game. Only Dave and Suzy know the truth. The rest of them see this as just entertainment; they can die, but they come back again. Sure, they lose a few levels and some gold, but where a POE would swear off fighting after a close encounter with death, they feel the thrill of almost dying, rally and go and do it all over again. If they know they’re going to die, you can bet that they’re going to charge the enemy instead of sitting back.”
“I would not like to fight them in battle,” Alkao agreed, looking them over. They were a happy-go-lucky bunch, but the power they demonstrated so easily was amazing; their magic, strength, and prowess in battle was nothing to be looked down on. They might be mercenaries, but they’re well worth the gold.
Josh walked through the city, headed toward him and Anna. “Alkao, what’s up, mate?” Josh grinned. Looking at him, you wouldn’t think that he was the leader of the Stone Raiders.
He was a good-looking man with dark-brown hair and a lean build. Although he was built more for speed than strength, the way he walked and the weapons sheathed in the small of his back spoke of his skill as a fighter. His aura suppression was very good, another one of the skills that the Stone Raiders were grinding out.
Alkao couldn’t even sense his aura unless Josh wanted him to. Alkao didn’t doubt that Josh’s aura was nearly as strong as his.
“Josh.” Alkao smiled; it was hard to not like the man once you got to know him.
“Sorry I can’t chat for too long. I’m supposed to meet the Golden Sabres in Cliff-Hill. It seems that they want to talk about merging their guild with ours and they have some questions. They want to meet there so that the other Players don’t see us openly talking and start making their own conclusions. Ugh. I didn’t think I would have to worry about press and public opinion.” Josh shook his head. “Well, anyways, I’ll be gone for a few days, but when I get back, I should have the rest of the Stone Raiders in tow as well as, hopefully, the Golden Sabres, rebranded,” Josh said with a cocky grin.
“Aren’t you scared that they’re going to have more spies in their ranks?” Anna asked.
“I am. That is why I’m only taking the established veterans and E-heads of the Sabres. Anyone else, well, there are plenty of guilds out there.”
“Bit tough joining standards.”
“Yes, but we’re not dealing with your run-of-the-mill raids. We need to protect our allies as much as our guild. Having members we can rely on is more important than having thousands of them.” Josh’s tone became serious.
“You do surprise me sometimes with your rare moments of genius,” Anna chuckled.
“Being the one in charge isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be.” Josh shook his head and looked to a grinning Alkao.
“I wish you luck, friend. When you return, hopefully the Demon Horde will have entered Efri’s area,” Alkao said.
“Poor bastards,” Josh said, a massive smile on his face.
Alkao laughed at the look.
“See you later!” Josh waved and headed for the teleport pad.
“Well, I think it’s time that we started getting these weapons into the soldiers’ hands and see what they can do with real weapons,” Alkao said.
“Sounds like a date,” Anna said.
Alkao looked to her, a confused look on his face. Her playful smile did nothing to help his confusion.
She led the way to the nearest open area, where soldiers of the Devil’s Crater Army were receiving their new weapons.
***
Sparks flew around Dave. Although there were several others working on higher quality blades and custom orders, Dave seemed unaffected by it all. His hand seemed to be covered in Mithril as he pulled out a red glowing piece of metal.
When Dave moved over to an anvil, work seemed to slow as they watched Dave at work. All of them were contract bound to not reveal any secrets they learned at the smithy to anyone else but Dwarven Master Smiths, but they were still fascinated by it.
Dave put the piece of Mithril on the anvil. He pushed his soul energy into the piece of metal, breaking the bonds that held the ingot together. His soul energy moved with his thoughts. The metal turned and formed.
A clay arm seemed to grow from the ground, grabbing another ebony ingot out of the furnace and placing it down on the rough chest piece of the still glowing Mithril. The ebony sheeting seemed to flow almost like a liquid, layering itself over the Mithril. Runes appeared over its surface in short, terse lines. Pieces of sparkling soul gems pervaded the ebony metal. A small ingot of silver came out of the furnace, falling onto the surface of the armor and moving to fill its runes. A sheet of soul gem formed, like the breastplate that was forming, applying itself to the back of it and attaching to the rear ebony metal.
A steel ingot was pulled from the furnace.
Dave was sweating heavily from the effort. His left hand glowed as he placed it on the back plate of the armor, all that was left of his armor. Runes along his arm lit up with power as he drew stored soul energy into himself, relieving the pressures on his chest as he pushed it into the metals he was using. The steel ingots were placed on either side of the armor; one side was pitch-black with glowing soul gem shards looking like stars while the other side was a glowing sheet of a vault-classed soul gem.
Dave destroyed the constructed arms.
The steel ingots flowed over the different sheets of metal and soul gems that had come to form a breastplate. They wrapped around the armor, covering it.
Dave opened his eyes. Sweat poured off him as he looked at the cooling breastplate in front of him. It looked like some simple steel construction. Unless someone had an extremely high evaluator skill, they wouldn’t know what lay under the armor.
The smithy was silent, with the apprentices in awe of what they had seen. One of them walked over and handed Dave a cup of water.
Dave nodded his thanks, downing it.
The smith looked over the breastplate. “What is that?”
“It’s a replacement. Blew up my last breastplate and I’m going to need a new one for my next battle.” Dave looked at the Abscondita armor breastplate and back plate.
His notification bar blinked at him.
Quest: Dwarven Master Smith Level 3
You must craft 10 weapons of S quality with your Smithing Art (Currently 5/10)
Rewards: Unlock Level 4 quest
Increase to stats
His envelope messaging tab was also blinking; he opened it up.
Private Message: Jules
Jules> Just got into town, heading over to your place.
Dave> Be there soon. In the smithy right now. I’ll bring Kol with me; do you need anything?
Jules> I’m here already and I’ll be good.
Dave> See you in a bit.
“I’ll see you lot later.” Dave tucked his new armor into his bag of holding before he dismissed his metal glove.
They said their good-byes as Dave got out of his portable smithy and jogged for one of the larger smithies, where Kol was.
“What you in such a rush for?” Kol asked as he arrived.
“We’ve got you an appointment to keep,” Dave said.
“Appointment?”
“For yer damned face!” Dave said.
“You ever heard the part about b
eing respectful to your elders?” Kol followed Dave out of the smithy.
“I can’t see you being much of the respectful kind when you were my age. I heard the stories of what you got up to as a kid.” Dave smiled.
“Gurren?” Kol asked.
“Who else?”
“Damned grandkids—always ruining a perfectly good and presentable image,” Kol harrumphed.
Dave patted him on the shoulder.
“How did the breastplate go?”
“Have a look.” Dave pulled it out of his bag of holding. It had cooled considerably while inside the bag. Dave didn’t understand how, but it had.
Kol’s hands rubbed over its surface as they walked. He tapped it in places, listening to it. “She’s a beautiful piece. Might be an idea to make a few more of them, seeing as you keep destroying them,” Kol grumbled as he handed it back.
“Good to know you care.” Dave grinned and put the breastplate back as they got onto the road toward Omal and Dave’s house.
“My next project is working on some rings to augment my Endurance and Intelligence. With this armor, I’ve got my Vitality pretty much covered unless I run into another damn magic suppressing asshole. If that happens, then I’m going to stay back and hit him with arrows. Otherwise, with my Mana shield and my Health regen on my armor, I’m good to go. That means I can work on my Agility and Intelligence. With rings to increase those stats and Endurance to keep me awake for longer while needing less sustenance, well—I’ve got my bases covered.” Dave smiled to Kol.
“So, you are going to be what? A conjuring warrior?”
“Something along them lines.” Dave shrugged.
“Well, that would be one hell of a thing to see.”
Ela-Gal and Deia were sparring in front of Dave’s house. Esa, Gurren, and Lox were talking to one another and watching the two spar with interest. Jules was checking her bag of holding’s inventory on her interface.
“Ah, about time you two showed up. Let’s see what we can do!” Jules said, seeing Dave and Kol.
“I don’t expect much, missy. Done this too many times for me to get my hopes up.” Kol sighed.
“Ah, don’t be that way, Gramps,” Gurren said.
“Well, let’s get this over with,” Kol said.
Knowing his house was too small and cluttered with his projects, Dave conjured a large tent with a bed in it to provide Jules a sterile environment and prevent her from running into things as she worked on Kol.
“Better make sure you don’t destroy it halfway through and drop my ass on the floor,” Kol warned, walking in after Jules.
“I’ll try my best,” Dave said, following them.
***
“Table please, Dave,” Jules said.
Dave created a table next to the bed.
She pulled out various herb remedies, needles, and other medical equipment, laying them beside one another on the table. “I’m going to put you out; then I can get started.”
“Damn, you Players are upfront, aren’t you? Haven’t even got my pants off,” Kol said, nervously.
“You can keep your pants on, you old nut.” She laughed and put her hand on his forehead. She poured her Mana into his body. Within seconds, he was out cold.
“Now, we move onto the real reason we’re here.” She cast Detect Wounds. The damage was extensive.
A smile passed over her face as she finally faced a project that she could really devote herself to.
“Hand me the blood bag and the purple-looking concoction. They’re in my bag of holding there, which I’ve given you access to. It’s time we got started.” Jules pulled off the bandages that covered Kol’s face.
It took a force of will for Dave to look at Kol’s naked face. It drove home how Emerilia might be fun, but there was the very real possibility for POEs to get hurt or die.
Jules looked to Dave. Her look seemed to ask whether he was going to be okay.
“Blood bag and purple concoction,” Dave confirmed. He grabbed the items from the bag of holding next to him. This was his world and his mentor; he wasn’t going to back out now.
Thankfully, Jules had already given him permission through her interface for him to access her bag of holding.
Jules went to work, asking for different tools. Dave stayed with her as she went to work. She opened up Kol’s face, removing the worst of the damage so she could rebuild it from the inside out.
First, she removed the areas that were burnt the worst around the neckline, exposing the fresh skin underneath. Once that was complete, she used her magic to force Health potions into Kol’s face to supply it with the materials she needed to work, using them to bolster her own healing spells
Next, she created the foundation and structure for his face. She rebuilt the bone, creating a scaffolding for his face.
She then rebuilt the muscles and other soft tissues. She placed the basic nutrients that the Health potions would need to form the muscles, fat, and skin tissues. She then recreated his nerve endings, tendons, and blood vessels through her healing magic.
Throughout this process, her interface was open above Kol as she checked and rechecked her progress and the anatomical structure of the different parts of Kol’s face.
She moved to the hair, cutting away the scar tissues to allow the healing potions to do their work.
“Now, for the hardest part.” She looked at Kol’s slowly rebuilding face, which looked like an anatomical model. The basics of the face were there, with the under layers steadily growing and connecting it all together.
With a deep breath, she started using her scalpel on the inside of his ocular cavities, cutting away the scarred and ruined tissues that lay there. She used her different spells to check them and see the damage. It was severe. She drew on the power from the vault-classed soul gem stored in her bag of holding.
Dave let out a sound of shock as the ocular nerves and eyeballs started to form within the ocular cavities.
Jules double-checked the information on her interface’s windows that rested in mid-air. Any time her spells deviated from forming something she needed, she would alter the spell to successfully create the complex structures that made up Kol’s eyes.
She was panting by the time she finished. Twin brown eyes looked upward as skin started to form across all of Kol’s face. The skin followed the now fully formed brow, slowly growing into eyelids that shut over Kol’s eyes.
Jules looked over her work, both visually and with her spells that allowed her to see through Kol’s face. She applied some more Mana to his face.
Hair started to sprout from his head: eyebrows, eyelashes, and across his face. He looked younger, as if he were just twenty years old with patches of white in his black beard and hair.
“He’s quite handsome all fixed up,” she said, once again checking him and her work over.
“I’ll remember to not tell him that.” Dave put his hand on her shoulder.
She looked up to him and saw a thankful expression on his face.
“Thanks, Jules. This...I know it will mean the world to him.”
“Ah, well, he helped us out a lot and I owed you a favor or five. Plus, it was a good challenge to see what I can do with mixing modern medical science with magic. Wish this was a reality on Earth.” Jules sighed.
“One day, you’ll see that what you can do back on Earth doesn’t matter all that much.”
“What the hell does that mean? Have you been smoking something funny?” Jules smiled.
“No, Doc.” Dave rolled his eyes. “Just saying that one day, Earth won’t matter because all we’ve got is Emerilia.”
“I know...Josh said something similar when I announced that I was becoming an E-head.” Jules rubbed her leg unconsciously. Being able to stand on two legs and be seen as someone who can do something, not just some invalid—it’s the real reason I wanted to help Kol. I could see the same signs of anger and depression in him as I saw in myself before Emerilia.
“Well, shall we get the others
back in here and wake his ass up?”
“The potions and spells should be done shortly. He should be good within a few minutes.” Jules put her hands on Kol and used another spell to check her work.
“Sounds good to me.” Dave moved to the tent’s opening. “Hey, gross stuff is done! Get back in here!” Dave hollered.
***
Kol felt his consciousness return to him as if he had come out of sleep. His face was a bit tight but it was okay. He blinked up at the tent’s tapered roof, stretching on the bed, and looked to the people around him.
He stopped midway.
I blinked?
He used his phantom muscles again, darkness falling. He jerked his eyelids open.
“Mirror!” Kol said, not believing it.
Dave handed him one. Kol looked into the polished steel, finding his face looking back at him.
“I have a beard, a nose.” He turned to a smiling Jules. “How is this possible?”
“Just needed to put scaffolding in. I guess most people who tried to heal you used straight spells. I used spells and my knowledge of the body to remake the superstructure of your face. Once that was in place, everything else kind of came together,” she said.
Kol got off the bed and hugged her. He felt a dampness in his eyes at it all.
He had his face back!
His legs buckled underneath him. Gurren and Dave supported him.
“Damn, what magic did you use? Feels like I got hit by a hammer press!” Kol said.
Jules laughed. Looking at her, Kol could now see the strain on her features and the toll her magic and work had cost her.
“With magical healing potions, they use your own Mana and whatever materials you have in your body to help rebuild you. Makes you extremely tired. Drink this!”
She gave him a green potion he took down in a few gulps. His tongue was no longer a tattered mess as he felt his cheeks; his scarring and gauntness was gone.
Emerilia Series Box Set 2 Page 33