“He’s been building up his Creatures of Power and his champions. I wouldn’t doubt that he’s spent all of his saved Mana on his creatures and champions. With his aggressive strategy, he’s going to gain rewards from his power rather quickly,” Bob said.
Fire and Water nodded their heads, knowing the kind of power that came with investing heavily in those who would level up quickly and have such a large Mana pool as to increase the power devotions they gave to their lord or lady of the Pantheon.
Fire and Water didn’t keep devotions that people devoted to them, drawing from their Mana and thus training up their Intelligence and Willpower. Although the rest of the Pantheon kept this power, Fire and Water gave the power right back to the POE and Players.
If they were to keep that power to themselves and not give it back to those who gave them devotions, then their power would compete with the Lady of Light and the Dark Lord.
“What will the Jukal Empire do with these new changes?” Fire asked.
“I don’t know. They’ve been watching everything through the Stone Raiders’ live implants; they know that the Aleph are back—the Demons and Beast Kin as well.
“From my feelers, it seems that they are excited for everything happening. The emperor could try and get them put away, but it would go against popular opinion. Emerilia keeps the people entertained and not thinking about their lives as drones. Making changes that would piss them off and make them look to the emperor in anger are not likely avenues. It’s harder and harder for me to talk to my friends with all of the empire tuning in to try to catch a glance of them. I have to make time while Dave is using the Mirror of Communication.”
Fire went a little pale. Bob looked away, so as to not draw Water’s eyes.
“You said that we couldn’t be watched by the empire, though?” Water asked.
“Well, we don’t have the same implants as the POEs and Players. Though any interactions with Players or POEs can be recorded, your Creatures of Power cannot record this information since they’re made from your own Mana. We need to start thinking about the kind of information that we want the empire to have and not,” Bob said.
“You’re scared that they’re going to see how powerful Emerilia’s residents are and start adding in factors to bring them back down?” Fire guessed.
“Something like that,” Bob admitted. “We’re going to have some of the biggest fights we know happening. We’ve got a few months before portals start opening on their own to different lands. Then, we’ve got a war coming that will either destroy the people of Emerilia or have survivors who are the strongest beings we have ever seen. What do you think that the empire is going to do when the race that tore through their fleets now have power to rival the minders that they put into place?”
“They’ll clear the slate and reseed Emerilia,” Water said.
“They’ll try.” Fire’s determined eyes found Water’s. He nodded in agreement.
Bob saw the fierce stubbornness in the two gods’ eyes. A smile passed over his face.
“To quote a very old series: I love it when a plan comes together!” Bob said, getting confused looks from Water and Fire.
Chapter 15: Revelation
Dave woke up in a rush and tossed off the sheets that restrained him, looking for a threat, looking for the impending Demon Horde. He staggered slightly, finding that his perception of time was off once again.
“Dave, aura.” Deia’s voice slightly was strained.
He pulled back in his aura, suppressing it as he realized that he was in a fort that had been placed at the base of the steep path to Alkao’s keep.
“What happened? Did the enchantment work?” Dave’s notifications bar blinked at him angrily.
“It worked. All of the DCA fighting with us and up in the keep got those soul gems that made weapons and armor,” Deia said in a calming voice. She sat on a chair facing Dave as he sunk back onto the cot.
“Good, good.” Dave still felt tired but his mind was a whirlwind. His higher Intelligence buzzed through his mind; information started to bleed through his memories as he made connections and began to understand more.
“Wow, I should have done that from the beginning. I didn’t put in the right control system. I would need to have it much bigger to do that, though. Huh. I guess those mega mecha animes might have been onto something.” Dave snorted and lay back down as his mind continued to race.
“Dave, are you okay?” Deia asked, her concern clear. Dave conjured wheels under her chair, and slid her chair forward. She let out a surprised squeak as she came to stop next to his bed.
He grabbed her arms, smiling as he pulled her onto him and the cot.
Their armor clinked together.
“Better.” Dave sounded content as he wrapped her up in a hug.
Deia rolled her eyes and kissed his forehead.
“Though, the damn armor’s in the way. Unless there’s something you haven’t told me, I think your knee guard is jabbing me in the leg,” Dave said.
Deia laughed, relief clear as she gave him a real kiss. Dave returned it and sighed.
“You want to know what happened?” Deia asked.
“One second. Need to write a few things down. Got an Intelligence high from all those stats,” Dave said, writing down notes on his interface.
“My Dave, the ever constant crafter,” she purred, kissing his cheek and laying on his breastplate. Nothing had gotten through his Mana barrier, leaving it unmarred.
Dave smiled and looked to her. He squeezed her gently with his left arm that was still wrapped around her. She had made him a better man and was willing to deal with his eccentric and quirky ways. He kissed her hair briefly and continued his hurried note-taking.
“I don’t know of anyone who had put in over sixty levels of stats into themselves in one go. Why did you do it?” Deia asked.
Dave continued to write as he explained. “I knew that there had to be a way to change the tide of the battle. The Demon Horde was nowhere near as effective as the DCA’s soldiers one-on-one. The problem was that the Demon Horde had so many more people. Everyone underestimates the power of even simple weapons and armor. They let the user worry less about little wounds, to take a hit to take down their enemy. A sword will take down someone much faster than claws. I wanted to make weapons for everyone but just straight conjuring them would drain me of power and knock me right out. I put in the Intelligence to slow down my perception of time more, giving me the time to figure out what the hell I could do to conjure as many weapons and armor as possible.”
“So, you came up with soul weapons? How do they work?”
“The soul gem has inside it a set of instructions, basically a magical coding of conjuration. I built the cores, allowed our armor to channel power into them and then sent them out to the DCA. I imprinted instructions on my armor to act as a factory for the things. It created the soul gems and I picked out where they went to. Fueled with the power of our armor, the soul gems turned from just looking after themselves to carrying out the magical coding within them. They turned into armor, shields, and swords. If I did it all by myself, then I would have fallen apart. I simply made a very complex set of magical coding on my armor to make magically coded soul gems and then feed power through my armor, kind of like me sending instructions to a 3D printer to make another printer that prints a picture.” Dave closed his notepad.
“You’re crazy.” Deia kissed Dave. “But you’re my crazy.” She looked into his eyes.
“Wouldn’t want it any other way.” His arms encircled her in her armor. They kissed once again.
“I’ll tell the others that you’re up, though I don’t think many people missed your aura seeping out. Make sure that you get those notifications sorted out. You’ve got two more classes you have to pick. If you’re good for it, the DCA needs people to help them hunt down the six hundred thousand remaining Demons who are trying to get over the cliffs and into Devil’s Crater.” Deia rose.
Dave made a compl
aining noise and pulled her back down to him.
“I’ll be back soon enough.” She kissed him.
“Uh, fine, better be fast!” He pouted.
She gave him another quick kiss and smiled at him. Dave couldn’t keep up his pout anymore, and it turned into a wide grin.
She laughed, getting off Dave and heading out of their tent. “Remember to check those notifications!” she yelled back.
Dave grinned and opened his notification bar.
Active Skill: Inference
Level: Expert Level 7
Effect: 77% increased chance of using moves you’ve read in books.
Active Skill: One handed and Shield
Level: Master Level 4
Effect: Weapons damage increased by 44%. Defense increases by 22%; shield bash is 20% more likely to stun opponent.
Cost: 20 Stamina
Active Skill: Spell formation
Level: Master Level 1
Effect: You use 25% less Mana and your spells are 80% stronger.
Active Skill: Soul Manipulation
Level: Master Level 4
Effect: Tools you make to manipulate souls and their energy is 90% stronger. Able to use Soul energy to fuel spells. 20% increase to soul energies reserves (can only be used for spells; does not act as extra Willpower points).
Cost: Dependent on creation.
Active Skill: Magical Circuits
Level: Master Level 10
Effect: Upon breaking down Magical Circuits, you understand how they function. 50% Reduction of cost in making Magical Circuits.
Cost: Dependent
You have created a new skill
Upon reaching the mastery of a requisite skill, you are recognized as a master of Magical Coding, a subset of Magical Circuits. For this, you gain the class:
Skill Creator
New Active Skill: Magical Coding
Level: Master Level 1
Effect: You remember every magical code you’ve made or seen and have and encyclopedic knowledge of the runes you’ve seen.
Cost: Dependent
New Class: Skill Creator
You have gone beyond regular skills, mastering them in the pursuit for more. You have created a new skill in your endeavors
Status:
Level 1
Effects:
+20 Intelligence
+20 Endurance
+20 Willpower
Class: Champion Slayer
Status:
Level 2
Effect:
Relationship with Affinities Pantheon:
Dark: Hated
Light: Favorable
Fire: Trusted Friend
Water: Favorable
Earth: Angered
Air: Neutral
+2 to all stats
Quest: Champion Slayer Level 3
Kill 10 Champions (0/10)
Rewards: Unlock Level 4 Quest
Increase to stats
Increased/Decreased reputation with Affinities
Level 217
You have reached level 217; you have 511 stat points to use.
Stat Increase
+1 Strength
+2 Intelligence
+1 Endurance
+1 Willpower
Pick a new class
Upon reaching level 50, you may pick one more class or change your old classes.
Pick a new class
Upon reaching level 100, you may pick one more class or change your old classes.
“Well, okay then.” Dave rubbed his hands together as he looked through the all-encompassing list of classes. There were quite literally hundreds of them.
Most of the ones that could be gained by actual work increased the person’s attributes levels. The ones that could only be bought with each class had other options. There was Herb Gatherer, or Mine Manager. Each of them got a certain amount of resources from different sources. Leveling them up meant either putting in more class points or spending gold on them.
With Dave’s burst of knowledge, he had come up with an idea, one that too many mecha animes and a love for heavy armor had brought about. Added with the functionality he remembered from Rock Breakers space suits, he was going to need a ton of resources.
Then there’s the other fact that the Dark Lord has painted a target on my back.
He needed options to deal with whatever the Dark Lord sent. His idea went a long way to doing that.
With a half-second of thought, he grabbed the Miner Manager Class. He used most of his gold to put it to the second class level.
You have earned a new class: Mine Manager
You have become a manager of a mine! Provide more gold to this class in order to increase productivity! Items will be delivered to you once a week.
Status:
Level 2
Effects:
Every week you gain:
10 Steel ingots
1 Silver ingot
1 Ebony ingot
Chance to get 6 random ores
Happy with that, Dave looked to his character sheet and Affinities.
Character Sheet
Name:
David Grahslagg
Gender:
Male
Level:
115
Class:
Dwarven Master Smith, Friend of the Grey God, Bleeder, Librarian, Aleph Engineer, Weapons Master, Champion Slayer, Skill Creator, Mine Manager
Race:
Human/Dwarf
Alignment:
Chaotic Neutral
Unspent points: 511
Health:
21,100
Regen:
8.42 /s
Mana:
6,960
Regen:
19.45 /s
Stamina:
2,770
Regen:
15.15 /s
Vitality:
211
Endurance:
421
Intelligence:
696
Willpower:
389
Strength:
277
Agility:
318
Affinity Levels
Dark
241
Light
173
Fire
193
Water
142
Earth
218
Air
172
“Okay, so, I’ve got one more class. My stats are high as hell and I should get some bonuses once we finish clearing out the Demon Horde. My Affinities are damn high, though my Light is low, especially if I’m going to be fighting the Dark Lord. Ugh, this is complicated.”
He continued to stare as a million ideas raced around his brain.
“Okay, first—my attribute shortcomings, I can make up with my armor. Affinity, well, I can conjure something to deal with whatever I face. Unless it’s a damn magic suppressor.” Dave muttered the last part darkly. “Now our biggest advantage is our maneuverability. To get from one place to another. It’s why no Dwarven mountain has ever been conquered. All of them can link to one another, mutually supporting. The portals will open soon and we need to have support ready to go through and smash them up, so we can continue to level up and make the creatures coming out of Bob’s freezer have a bad time.”
Why do I feel like I’m just trying to support the decision I’ve already made? Dave chuckled to himself and went down the list, clicking on a class he had seen the first time he checked through the list.
Class: Master Summoner
Filled with the knowledge of creatures from beyond the physical planes and Emerilia’s borders, you create links between planes, pulling creatures through and binding them to your will.
It was a class that Dave couldn’t work toward and gain in a reasonable amount of time, unlike Suzy. He didn’t want it for the soul binding techniques of master and creature contracts. He wanted it to understand more about breaking into different realms and planes.
&nb
sp; He chose the class.
You have earned a new class: Master Summoner
You have picked the class Master Summoner.
Status:
Level 1
Effects:
Soul binding will not fail on creatures thirty levels higher than you.
Able to understand which planes you are connecting to.
+30 Willpower
Dave laid there, looking at it all.
He sighed and switched to view his character sheet and his new Willpower stat.
Character Sheet
Name:
David Grahslagg
Gender:
Male
Level:
115
Class:
Dwarven Master Smith, Friend of the Grey God, Bleeder, Librarian, Aleph Engineer, Weapons Master, Champion Slayer, Skill Creator, Mine Manager, Master Summoner
Race:
Human/Dwarf
Alignment:
Chaotic Neutral
Unspent points: 511
Health:
21,100
Regen:
8.42 /s
Mana:
6,960
Regen:
20.05 /s
Stamina:
2,770
Regen:
15.15 /s
Vitality:
211
Endurance:
421
Intelligence:
696
Willpower:
419
Strength:
277
Emerilia Series Box Set 2 Page 46