Emerilia Series Box Set 2

by Michael Chatfield

  “He certainly has turned the world upside down. I know that Ela-Dorn and many of the Aleph who attend our college see him as an almost holy figure for giving them access to an unconnected portal,” Koza said.

  “If you think that’s something, ask him about the summoner’s hall.” Anna snorted and shook her head.

  The generals gave their deep thanks to Kol and Dave, discussing the weapons with an excited air. Suzy and Oxul were off in a corner, having a rapid conversation. Kol and Frenik were talking to each other about different ideas they had, both of them deeply interested in the other’s process.

  To Anna, she felt as if she was seeing the birth of one of the strongest alliances in the history of Emerilia.

  Chapter 30: To the Guild Hall

  Josh stepped through the teleport pad and into the guild hall. Automatons, Aleph from all races, Stone Raiders, Dwarven groups, and people from Devil’s Crater were walking around the teleport control room, waiting to go somewhere or admiring the Stone Raiders’ guild hall

  Josh weaved his way through the crowds, thankful for Cassie, who handled most of the talking and getting them through without making others think that they were ignoring them.

  “Damn, you’re good at that,” Josh said as they left the room.

  “A few hundred different events where everyone wants an autograph or you to endorse their brand without going through your manager and you find a way to small talk like a boss.” Cassie winked.

  Josh laughed and shook his head. He saw Lucy talking to a group of her leaders inside the first housing facility.

  “Well, look at you two. Looks like the date was a good idea. Hope you got walls that were a bit thicker than the Cliff-Hill guild hall’s.” Lucy gave them both a look. Josh grinned as Cassie turned an odd shade of crimson. “Well, I bet that you want to know what’s going on here. We’ve got a bunch of groups who are in Devil’s Crater looking for dungeons and helping clear out the nastier animals in the area. Dwayne and Kim are out there. We’ve accepted three hundred more people to be Stone Raiders. We’ve got most of them off training in Cliff-Hill, in Devil’s Crater, or at the mage’s and Aleph colleges. I didn’t want to get many more lest we have more recruits than veteran Stone Raiders.”

  “Makes sense. We don’t want to lose our identity with all of these changes,” Josh said.

  “Good, because we have another three thousand applicants,” Lucy said.

  Cassie whistled as Josh developed a twitch at the corner of his eye.

  “Don’t worry—we’ll turn this lot into true Stone Raiders quick enough. We’ve got a lot of open contracts that we need to be finished. I’m going to do half-and-half parties. One veteran Stone Raider party with another new Stone Raider party—get them out there fighting and seeing what it takes to be a real Stone Raider,” Lucy said.

  “That’s a good plan. I know when the Golden Sabres took in a whole bunch of new people, we started having disputes about the proper direction of the Golden Sabres. The older members and the younger ones wanted to do different things and it created tension within the guild.” Cassie sighed and shook her head. “Damn shame, but happy to be here now.” She looked to Josh and gave him a smile.

  Josh returned it before he looked to Lucy.

  “In other news, Dave is in. Suzy is here as well, talking to Florence. Verlun is booming right now. We’re buying foodstuffs by the ton and selling it off to the Aleph and the people in Devil’s Crater, and there are talks to open trading outposts in the Egas Nation and the Orun Free States. They’re getting gouged for food and with the difficulty to grow it in Ashal, we can undercut their current suppliers and still make a good profit.”

  “Also opens possibilities for us to go to their lands and access the dungeons that they know of.” Josh nodded. “Damn, this is getting a hell of a lot bigger than I thought it would.”

  “Yeah, we’ve got the backing of some of the most powerful groups in Emerilia. We’ve shown that we’re reliable and we can act as a middle ground for everyone. If we were just a group of POEs or Players, then it wouldn’t have worked out. We have a balance of both. Makes the groups we’re dealing with feel at ease,” Lucy said.

  “I knew that the Stone Raiders had a lot of friends and were strong, but this is more than just a guild now. It’s more like an adventuring empire. You’ve got alliances with nations and sects that few people gain access to. You’ve got military might and trading clout. I doubt most people know the full reach of your guild.” Cassie shook her head.

  “Good, because it’s going to need your help.” Josh smiled.

  Lucy shared in the smile as Cassie’s eyes thinned, looking at them both with clear suspicion.

  “What are you two thinking?” Cassie asked slowly.

  “Well, we thought it would be best to tell you once you got back,” Josh said.

  “We’re getting a lot bigger and while we can manage the fighting and trading side of things,” Lucy continued.

  “We aren’t the best at public relations. We were wondering if you could help deal with the different groups we’re allied with?” Josh finished. The two of them stared at Cassie.

  Cassie cocked her hip, holding her chin with her hand. “Would I be pulled from fighting?”

  “Nope, you fight and do as you want. You could hire people as you want. Both from the traders and the fighting Stone Raiders. Florence is great in dealing with trading contracts but we need someone to talk to those who we not only trade with, but have a mutual defense treaty with,” Lucy said.

  “You have that?” Cassie’s eyes went wide.

  “Yeah, we had them drawn up instead of money in some cases. Put us in a better light and opened us up to more raids,” Josh said, as if it were of no consequence.

  “Those treaties are basically declaring that if you, or any of the signatories, were attacked, you would assist one another, right?” Cassie asked, a confused and slightly shocked look on her face.

  “Yes, we wrote them up when we learned of the events that are supposed to start next year,” Lucy said.

  “I’ll take the position. You don’t understand how big that is. You could levy less taxes in some places as well as a higher reputation with different groups for your statuses. Like damned children with nuclear codes!” Cassie muttered the last part to herself.

  “Told you we needed someone for the job sooner rather than later.” Something caught Lucy’s eye. “Excuse me, just have to meet with some people from the Council of Anvil and Fire. Seems having just Dave here isn’t enough for them to be happy with our contract. I feel that they’re just excited to see an Aleph city being built.” Lucy sighed.

  “Good luck!” Josh waved to her as she wandered away. “Well, talking about Dave—we should go and see what he’s done with the rest of the guild hall.”

  “Just how powerful is Party Zero?” Cassie asked as they walked.

  “Well, that depends.” Josh looked thoughtful as they walked through the first housing complex. The vertical gardens were growing, lights bathing the area in warm light as Stone Raiders lounged around a tavern that had been made out of a few homes on the bottom floor near the middle of the courtyard. Josh waved to them, looking at another apartment on the bottom floor opposite that was run by the traders, taking in gear to be sold as well as giving out gear and selling different items to their fellow guild members.

  There was a relaxed, jovial atmosphere to the housing complex. Like a bunch of friends renting out a house together for the summer and relaxing. People yelled to one another from the balconies above. It was busy but no one was rushing around, taking their time and enjoying themselves.

  Aleph and Stone Raiders gardeners used a series of pulleys and seats to move up and down the vertical gardens. Automatons moved goods and items around.

  “Well, it seems a lot more alive than when I was last here,” Josh said with some pride, waving to a few people here and there. The veterans called out to Josh and Cassie, inviting them for a drink or a mission they were
going on. Josh declined, saying he was heading off to find Dave.

  They gave directions and extracted a promise for him to join them in a drink at a later time.

  “The strength of Party Zero depends on where they are and what they’re doing. If one of them is in danger or the guild and their friends are,” Josh’s eyes darkened, “then nothing could stay in their way. They will tear down the gods and drive armies before them to protect one another.

  “Looking at their levels is not an accurate measurement of their abilities. When they’re not together, they’re two, maybe three times more powerful. When together, they’re four or five times stronger. If incited, they’re an army onto themselves.” Josh frowned. I don’t know how Malsour and Induca did it, but I’m sure that they’re related to those Dragons who were at Boran-al. Their aura—the only person similar to it is Deia, and I can never penetrate Anna’s suppression. She makes it seem that she’s in the high 200s, but the way she fights—I can’t help but feel that she’s much more powerful.

  Another person might demand to know their secrets but Josh counted them as his friends. He trusted them and their judgment. He wouldn’t pressure them in telling him their secrets.

  Cassie seemed satisfied with his answer.

  “They’ve come far since Boran-al’s Citadel. It’s going to be hard to catch up with them.” She had a smile on her face.

  “Oh, up for the challenge?” Josh smiled.

  “Well, it would be pretty fun. Going to need to do some dungeon grinds.” She looked to Josh.

  “I’ll always go dungeon diving with you.”

  “Oh, so romantic.” Cassie snorted as her fingers interlaced with his.

  They passed through the second housing complex, which was less rowdy than the first. Crafters were all over the place, talking to one another and looking into the new passages off to the sides of the housing complex. It was a lot warmer in the complex.

  Josh looked to the right, where there were two refineries working overtime. Automated carts waited, being loaded up with refined materials and driven to several apartments that had been knocked down to make a holding area for the materials.

  They continued through the complex and entered a long corridor that went left and right, with entrances facing forward.

  Josh took a right and went to the farthest entrance. The noise of grinding and large machinery could be heard in the background as Dave, Frenik, and Kol talked to one another, pointing at different things in the pitch-black darkness ahead of them.

  “Looks like you’re up to something,” Josh said, making the trio turn around.

  “Yeah, making a city. Come look!” Dave said in an excited tone, waving them over.

  The lights were turned off, so Cassie held onto Josh’s hand tighter. Josh’s night vision was in the master levels, allowing him to see in the darkness. It was still hard to see anything at the end of the corridor that extended into darkness.

  Lights turned on at random points in the darkness beyond.

  Josh’s jaw dropped as Cassie breathed in a surprised breath. In front of them was a massive cavern, easily four times longer than the housing complexes that they had walked through and two of them tall, cut out into a cylinder.

  Closest to the entrance, an elevator led down to the edge of the city. Miners littered the city, working to cut out more of the city.

  Josh watched as a steel box glowed, pushing out a miner. Instead of grinders on its front, it held lasers. It moved forward to help its fellow mining automatons. Automated carts followed it as it started cutting.

  “It looks like reverse 3D printing,” Josh said. The miners cut out different buildings, giving them shape as they passed.

  “Pretty much. Just put in the plans and watch them go. We’ve got some Air mages and runes working to collect all the dust and debris in the air. Then we’ve got automated carts that travel to the refineries, break down everything into useful and not. What can be burned is sent to our fledgling power stations down there. I removed the power sources that are in the housing complex. We can run everything on ambient energy collectors I set up and some of the vault-classed soul gems,” Dave said.

  “How long until we run out of that as a power source?” Josh asked.

  “Well, we’re working on putting in an automaton factory to help out with the finer detailed work needed in the city. The power source will last for about two months.” Dave held up a hand, stalling Josh’s angry words.

  “We’re going to have this power station up in two days with dedicated work. Our Dark mages are down there, making the larger changes. Might even be tomorrow at the rate they’re going. They love making things.”

  “Okay, but how long until we don’t need the vault soul gems to keep going?” Josh asked.

  “Well, that depends on what you want,” Dave said. The Dwarves looked on in interest.

  “Explain,” Josh asked.

  “So, my plan is to make a proper refinery and then another power station. If we have this power station up and running, it will be able to power our housing complexes, build that refinery, keep up miner and Aleph automatons in about a month. If we instead used the vault-classed soul gems, then we could get that done in about a week,” Dave said.

  “Those soul gems are a limited resource. I really don’t want to lose them.” Josh looked to Dave.

  “Not really. We can recharge them off our guild’s amulets. We just up the amount that we draw from people who are off duty, train them in having their reserves reduced. We could fill up a vault-classed soul gem in a day or two. Josh, we can buy more of them from the Aleph and use them as backups for our power stations, added redundancies.” Dave gestured to Frenik, who nodded. “Right now, we’re filling up our chests of holding with materials that I know Cliff-Hill smithies and the Dwarves would love to buy. Once we have that refinery up, we will triple the amount of resources we can process—more for the power station, for trade. With it, we can increase the amount of miners we make and the speed in which we increase the city’s size, as well as gain the resources we need to make our own separate power station.”

  “Separate power station, like the Aleph?” Josh looked from Dave to Frenik.

  “The lad doesn’t think small,” Frenik said. Kol grunted in agreement.

  “Okay, so, talk me through everything that’s happened so far and I’ll decide.” Josh sighed.

  “I’ll leave you boys to it. I have some things I need to deal with. Keep up the good work.” Cassie smiled. She glanced at the growing city, shaking her head before she kissed Josh on the cheek and walked back toward the housing complexes.

  “Ah, about time you figured out what the two of you were doing.” Dave grinned.

  “Feels good to finally know where we stand,” Josh agreed. “So, now, explain.”

  “Okay, so, we had that one miner at work and we were having to try to buy more from the Aleph. They don’t have any and they’re busy working on their own cities and homes. I used my abilities to create a small factory that makes an upgraded miner.”

  “Wait.” Josh held up a hand and stopped Dave. “So, you’re powering that entire factory?”

  “Okay, well, I had a sort of breakthrough when we were fighting at Devil’s Crater. I was conjuring things and imbuing them with my power. At Devil’s Crater, I realized that I could make the rough designs of the conjured item. Then I create a power tap from the conjured item to my soul gem. The conjured item was powered by the soul gem, rather than me. It meant I could use a tenth of my power on conjuring—then the costs of keeping it active and using it went to the soul gem instead of through me. I made the factory down there, attached it to the power grid and it draws from that, instead of me. As long as it gets power, then it can keep the other miners going. If that was to be broken or its reserve power source goes out, then the miners would have their own internal conjured soul gems to use. Enough time without power resupply and they’ll fall apart,” Dave said.

  “I was wondering how you were able
to do all of those powerful attacks and then you weren’t even tired after,” Josh admitted, looking at the twenty or so miners that were cutting out the city with their powerful lasers. Carts filled up behind them and added themselves to a backlog of carts headed for the large refinery by a direct tunnel.

  “How much are we refining down into usable ingots?” Josh asked.

  “We’re producing about a hundred ingots every hour or so. We moved from iron to steel because it’s worth more and we don’t use iron for really anything anymore. We also have a decent amount of ebony, a tiny bit of Mithril; silver and gold are also low. Maybe ten ingots every two hours for all of those ingots.” Dave shrugged.

  “That doesn’t sound like all that much,” Josh said.

  “With the new refinery, we could put out a thousand ingots an hour. That’s possibly an ingot worth of Mithril every four hours, if we can find some good veins of it,” Dave said.

  “Okay, I just finished talking to Florence.” Suzy sighed, entering the conversation. “Hey Josh, have fun on your vacation?”

  “Yeah, I did. Dave was just getting me up to date on everything that’s going on,” Josh said.

  “Oh, good.” Suzy smiled to Dave.

  “What did Florence say?” Dave asked.

  “She’s going to have a look at it. We’ve got a ton of the materials we need for Cliff-Hill smithies and with your projections for materials the city will need, she believes we’ll be fine for resources,” Suzy said.

  Dave nodded in thought.

  “Okay, so, the not many ingots thing. We’re getting a ton of ingots. We don’t have a forge here, because we scrapped it for more refineries to get really working on the city. All of the Stone Raiders come to Cliff-Hill or a Dwarven mountain to get their weapons worked on. Sure, we can start people working on their craft here, but Kol is a Dwarven Master Smith. Better to have them learn from a master than try to figure it out themselves. We already have a large group of Stone Raiders working for the Cliff-Hill smithies to learn. We can use the ingots to build different things and for that purpose, I think keeping all of the ebony, silver, and five percent of the steel would be a good idea. We can use those for the greater number of facilities. Now, I am biased, but the rest we can trade away. I am the only person in the Stone Raiders who can form Mithril. The Aleph can turn it into big sheets after a lot of work. For all it’s worth, trading with the Dwarves is the best,” Dave said.