Emerilia Series Box Set 2

by Michael Chatfield

  They were stopped by a prompt appearing in everyone’s vision.

  Quest: Survival of the Fittest

  Together with the Dwarves of Aldamire, the Aleph, and the DCA, you have protected the people of Devil’s Crater and defeated the Dark Lord’s Demon Horde.

  Rewards:

  100,000 gold to the Guild’s treasury

  Increased reputation with the creatures of Devil’s Crater

  The Stone Raiders’ Guild are seen as: Allies

  You are personally seen as: Trusted Friend

  750,000 EXP

  Rights to use the dungeons and raid events within Devil’s Crater and in the Devil Crater’s controlled land.

  Dave dismissed the quest and looked to his classes that had leveled up.

  Class Quest Completed: Friend Of The Grey God Level 3

  Completed the Quest: Survival of the Fittest

  Rewards: Unlock Level 4 Quest

  +10 to all stats (Stacks with previous Class Level)

  +300,000 EXP

  Class: Friend of the Grey God

  Status:

  Level 3

  Effects:

  +30 to all stats

  Access to hidden quests.

  Class Quest Completed: Bleeder Level 2

  Completed the Quest: Survival of the Fittest

  Rewards: Unlock Level 3 Quest

  +10 to all stats (Stacks with previous Class Level)

  (???)

  +200,000 EXP

  Class: Bleeder

  Status:

  Level 2

  Effects:

  +20 to all stats

  (???)

  Class Quest Completed: Weapons Master Level 3

  Completed the Quest: Survival of the Fittest

  Rewards: Unlock Level 4 Quest

  +20 Vitality

  +10 Endurance

  +15 Strength

  +15 Agility

  (Stacks with previous Class Level)

  +300,000 EXP

  Class: Weapons Master

  Status:

  Level 3

  Effects:

  +60 Vitality

  +30 Endurance

  +45 Strength

  +45 Agility

  The effects of the new stats started sinking in as Dave gingerly took his arm back from around Deia and slowly lowered himself to the ground.

  “Another stat boost?” Deia sounded distorted by the slight time difference that was making itself known.

  “Yeah.” Dave was pretty sure he wouldn’t wreck anything in the next minute or so.

  Deia also slowly moved to lie down on the bench.

  “Seems I’m not the only one,” Dave said.

  “This crap is annoying!” Deia complained.

  Dave snorted. A new notification appeared.

  Level 221

  You have reached level 221; you have 496 stat points to use.

  Dave grinned. With his classes increase, he’d been able to gain more levels. He went to check his character sheet.

  Character Sheet

  Name:

  David Grahslagg

  Gender:

  Male

  Level:

  122

  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:

  Neutral Good

  Unspent points: 496

  Health:

  28,000

  Regen:

  9.60 /s

  Mana:

  7,550

  Regen:

  23.40 /s

  Stamina:

  2,990

  Regen:

  20.35 /s

  Vitality:

  280

  Endurance:

  480

  Intelligence:

  755

  Willpower:

  468

  Strength:

  341

  Agility:

  407

  “So, now you’re stuck in one place for more than five minutes, when do you think we should plan to have the wedding?” Deia asked.

  “Wah?” Dave asked, surprised by the suddenness of her question. The others laughed as he forced himself to relax and not accidentally use the new stats he hadn’t adapted to yet.

  Chapter 26: A Time To Build

  “Send out the next load.” Kol wiped his forehead with a rag. He looked over his forge, actually looked at it. To many Dwarves, it might be lacking without the massive bellows and tools that a Dwarven smithy in the mountains might have.

  Though he had more orders than he could count and commissions for Master-tiered weapons and items to work on, he constantly found himself closing his eyes when working with the metal, only to open them and not only sense the beauty of what he had made, but to see it.

  Those Stone Raiders aren’t a bad lot, and Jules has certainly come a long way from being one of the troublemakers to open Boran-al’s Citadel.

  Kol shook his head, lest the others working in the smithy see his smile.

  He jumped on a wagon leaving down toward the teleport pad. Crates filled the wagon, each holding dozens of swords, arrowheads, or spearheads. It was up to the people of Devil’s Crater to add the wooden sections.

  The ride didn’t take long before Kol was level with the teleport pad.

  He knew that he was traveling nearly around Emerilia, so thoughts of what he would do if he was stuck there filled his mind. He came up with a number of ways that he’d find his way back to his smithy if the teleport pad didn’t work.

  Then, the wagon was passing through the teleport pad and he was in the middle of a city. There were clear signs of damage everywhere on the buildings and roads, though the rubble had been cleared away for the most part and repairs were underway. Although it was nighttime in Cliff-Hill, it was early morning in Devil’s Crater.

  There was an odd mixture of sadness and hope in the air. People walked with their heads down, but nodded at the incoming wagons appreciatively.

  The wagons didn’t have far to go before they reached a large barracks. It was built like a fortress. A wall around a large open courtyard split into different training areas. Sleeping barracks lay along walls as the main keep was being built.

  Square shaped formations of Demon and Beast Kin waited, eyeing the wagons as they approached.

  Quartermasters showed the wagons where to off-load their gear. Soldiers of the Devil Crater’s Army moved to assist in pulling off the weapons. They opened the boxes, laying them in different areas. Off to the side, there was a small yard where arrow shafts and wooden poles were being fitted with arrow and spearheads.

  Kol got off the wagon, seeing that everything was in order. He moved to one of the officers overseeing the whole process.

  “Where’s yer smithy, lad?” Kol asked.

  “Smithy? Uh, I think it’s down that way. Bunch of smoke coming out of it all the damned time,” the Demon said.

  Kol grunted, his eyes thinning. A smithy put out a lot of smoke, but from the Demon’s tone, it sounded as if there was a lot more than what a normal smithy might let out into the air.

  Kol strolled through the courtyard, watching the DCA square formations. Soldiers filed past tables where weapons had been deposited minutes before. They eagerly took their weapons, treating them as if they were Weapons of Power, not just simple steel weapons that Kol’s smithy had churned out en masse.

  He paused as he saw levitating carts funneling through from the teleport pad. He didn’t need his eyes to understand the carts. His breath caught in his chest as he looked at the carts and the automatons with them.

  “Aleph?” Kol whispered to himself in awe. The ancient race that had been so smart that they had threatened the knowledge of the Pantheon? Now they walked freely among the people of Devil’s Crater.

  It had been a shock to learn where his weapons were going, and Dave had
said that the Ela’s were both Aleph. They certainly had the markings and clothes of Aleph that Kol had heard about, though it was only now, seeing an Aleph cart in working order and their marvelous automaton machines, that he truly believed Dave.

  He remembered Dave’s odd request to have a wagon team to move an oversized cart.

  Dave had brought him in on the secret of the seeder and the portals held within. It was Kol’s job to make sure that no one found them while Dave was away.

  The cryptic language Dave was using made sense as he thought about it more.

  They were moving a portal from the seeder to the Aleph’s care. Kol’s mind worked on its own. He knew that the Aleph were the creators of the teleport pads and that many believed it was from their learning about portals.

  If they were able to unlock the full knowledge that came with the portals... Kol felt energy return to his body, the energy he had felt when his eyesight had returned, a joy that made him want to yell out and jump in excitement for the future and what might be.

  Kol continued to watch the carts and the Aleph as they worked. Automatons dropped off crates filled with dozens of swords. They were simple and efficient like Kol’s, though with his senses, he was able to see more than most.

  “Interesting. They’re all practically identical and they’re not old. They churned out all of them in a week? How is that possible?” He talked to himself, his eyes closed, not caring for the people who looked at the Dwarf with his eyes closed and muttering to himself.

  “They must have one of those factory-like things that Dave was talking about. If they do, then they can probably beat the cost it takes us for the different items.” Kol stroked his beard. After the healing, it was no longer a patchy mess but now a decent scruff turning into a thick beard. He continued to look at the Aleph, deep in thought.

  “Well, there’s nothing for it. While the Aleph control the market for mass-producing items, we will have to focus on making items made for the user. Get Dave to take contracts on higher level weapons, things that are made per person instead of by the group. Imagine what they could do if they could make magical artillery?” Kol stopped stroking his beard for a moment. “I think it’s time that Dave, the head smiths, and I got together and started to think about how we could start on adding a factory for certain items.”

  He pulled up his interface, starting to send messages out as he wandered through the town. Here and there, Aleph in their simple yet comfortable clothes worked to repair old homes and streets.

  Kol turned a corner, finding himself face-to-face with a half-dozen warbands.

  The war leader made to yell at Kol before he closed his mouth and saluted the Master Smith.

  The other leaders did the same, their warbands marching on in perfect silence as their commanders rendered honors.

  Kol nodded to them as they passed. He looked a lot different with his repaired face, but the necklace that denoted him as a Master Smith was visible.

  Dwarven engineers were talking with a number of Beast Kin and Demons and having a rather large and colorful discussion about the layout of the city.

  “Look, whoever made your first damned layout made a damn good job of it. Then, you lot gone and fucked it up by letting people build everywhere. You’re going to have people with basements in the damned sewers if you keep building like you are,” an engineer yelled.

  “So, you want us to tear down these people’s homes?” a Beast Kin yelled.

  “Look, you either take them down now and then you’re well set up for later on. Or, you keep building like you want to live on top of one another and you start having people drop dead from all the diseases. Then, you can’t get food and water in and out of the city because your roads look like some kid chewing on sugar cane and then rolled around on a piece of paper with a piece of charcoal in their hands!”

  “But, these initial plans, they don’t make the best use of the island,” a Demon chimed in.

  “They might not, but they make it so that you’re not stepping on one another, have open streets and sanitation works that actually bloody work!” the Dwarf yelled, slamming his fist on the table.

  “Also, these plans are made to be expanded. Look at the roads and the water works. Later on, if Unity gets too big for the island you’ve made, it can be extended outward with another river to cover it,” another Dwarf said.

  “How are we going to house all our people on this small island?” the Beast Kin yelled, throwing her hands up in despair.

  “You’ve got seven keeps. Sure, one of them is broken, but it’s being fixed. An eighth is being built. They’re going to house a lot of people and you can be sure that they’re going to hire a lot of people who aren’t in the DCA to help with the running of things. Then, you’ve got the small communes in the different sectors. Got your farmers, hunters, and lumberjacks. They’re not going to come back to Unity all the time to just live here. Sure, it’s nice to have a home here, but most people who live in a city are crafters and traders. Nearly everyone else lives somewhere else to get away from the mess of cities and make a living. You’ve got miles and miles of area that people can use to make a living. You might think that you’ll have a lot of people in Unity, but I wouldn’t doubt more than fifty thousand are going to live here, if that,” the first Dwarven engineer said.

  “So, what about those people we’re evicting? You going to just make them sleep on the streets? We just barely won against the Demon Horde. We have losses to mourn. Throwing people out at the same time is not going to go well,” the Demon growled. If not happy with the situation, he was at least placated by it.

  “We can have them a new place built within an hour. We’re also going to be adding running water to every building. None of that crap in a bucket and bathe from a bucket malarkey,” the first Dwarf engineer went on.

  Kol smiled to himself as he headed in the direction the DCA officer had pointed.

  “Running water in houses? You can do that?” the Demon said, his shock clear.

  Kol continued through the streets, showing progress. He reached a part of the city that showed the open and undeveloped ground that more houses, estates, and shops would lay upon. Past it was the untouched lands of the valley.

  The early morning sun looked down upon the valley. A small farming land was being prepared. Greenhouses were starting to sprout up. Trees and forests ranged across the land. Kol could hear lumberjacks cutting through trees that rested on Unity, clearing them for the growing city.

  The sight reminded him of Cliff-Hill before its roots had been planted and the city built up.

  There was but a trickle in the moat around the city, but it was growing in size.

  Kol scanned with his senses, finding the smithy he had been looking for easily enough. He frowned. His keen senses already picked up issues with the facility. He passed through a grove of re-planted rare trees but it was little to smooth down his frown.

  Smithing was an art to him and whoever was running this smithy was manhandling it badly.

  ***

  The Demon Horde was no more and the people of Devil’s Crater could now get back to the task of building up their home. With winter fast approaching, houses were going up every day in Unity. Thankfully, Dave had called upon a number of Dwarven engineers to assist the Unity city planners.

  It was quickly becoming clear that they had ignored the plans that Fornau had given Alkao. Demons rarely stayed in one place long and most of the Beast Kin cleaned themselves daily out of their beast habits.

  For a bid to make shelters, they’d built everywhere and anywhere, something that the Dwarven engineers pointed out would hinder rather than help in the future.

  The Dwarven Warclans had all retreated except for one, asking permission to scout the area themselves. Alkao had happily agreed. Lady Kragr had also asked to meet with one of Alkao’s representatives. He’d sent Malkur to meet with the lady of Aldamire Mountain.

  It was clear that the Dwarves were feeling them out to talk about a p
ossible alliance between their groups. Alkao did not know what power Dave held with the Dwarves, but it seemed to be enough to gain them audience and interest. The trading head of Devil’s Crater had also gone with Malkur to talk to Dwarven traders.

  Devil’s Crater was now a million gold richer, but it was not an infinite supply. Alkao had issued a stipend to any families who had lost someone in the fighting. Then, there were the weapons on credit from the Cliff-Hill smithies. Although the simple Aleph weapons were cheaper, they didn’t have the craftsmanship or the finer abilities of the Cliff-Hill’s smithies.

  He looked down at the contract on his desk, outlining the needs of the DCA and an open spot for the cost of such armaments. He still needed to find someone to make bows for his DCA. After seeing them in the sky, he knew their best use was for hit-and-run tactics. Finding weapons he could use to amplify their natural abilities would be of great help in the future.

  Winter approached and it was already becoming cooler. Alkao had placed massive orders for food, clothes, tools for the fields and lumberjacks and greenhouses. If the trade delegation was successful, he might be able to get more glass for his greenhouses as well as the seeds and implements for growing his orchards and farms.

  His DCA were strong with their weapons, and, when fully armed, they were fearsome opponents. Yet, he was unable to shake what he had seen when the Demon Horde had met the Stone Raiders’ magic.

  Magic gave fearsome power and long range, something that the DCA lacked.

  Alkao’s eyes drifted toward a request on his desk. “A request to go to the mage’s guild to learn the way of magic,” Alkao said, resting his elbow on the arm of his chair.

  “I didn’t think the day would come where we would have our people learning from the mage’s guild.” Alkao shook his head. He opened his interface, sending orders to the generals, and giving permission to allow people to attend the mage’s college. However, only in limited numbers, so that they weren’t left with a skeleton fighting force.