“However, you should make sure that they understand that any and all materials that you trade to them are to be prioritized for repairing their gear. The council turns ingots of value into a commune object, delegated and passed out on a project-by-project basis. With Cliff-Hill, we are outside of that commune, so any resources we get we can use immediately for our own projects instead of Dwarven projects. Meaning if a Stone Raider comes in with a chunk of Mithril, we can use it to fix their Mithril weapon,” Kol said.
Josh nodded. It made sense: Cliff-Hill was a business while the Dwarven smiths were a council made to lead their people.
“Okay, moving away from resources. If you had your way, what is your plan with the city going forward?” Josh asked.
“Once we have the power station up and the refinery, we don’t make any more miners but create another two power stations as well as vault soul gem reserves. Then we get to make growing areas and fast.” At Josh’s confused look, Dave continued. “We have to have our teleport pads open nearly constantly to not only add air down here, but cycle the air. The plants love all the carbon dioxide but we need a ton more to keep the air clean. Once we have the farms up, we have the miners cut out the cylinder and start spinning the city. We have the automatons finish cutting out places as we need them. Add in teleport pads and start building a true ley-line power station. Once we have that in place, then we can start looking to any more expansions and opening up things, like a summoner’s hall.”
Josh looked out over the rough shapes that covered the rounded-out cylinder. Miners worked in the distance, their lasers illuminating their bodies as they worked. Josh snorted as he looked out over it all. “So, we’re really building a city?” Josh said, his voice a little shocked.
“It’s pretty awesome,” Dave agreed.
“Fastest damned thing I’ve seen. I know my people are interested in borrowing some of those miners. We’re having something of a population boom and we’re looking to expand,” Frenik said.
“Well, I think we can work something out,” Suzy said.
“Is this anything like the space stations you made back on Earth?” Josh looked to Dave.
“How did you figure out who I was?” Dave asked.
“Well, Suzy Markel—not a regular name and she does have the same face.” Josh smiled.
“Was bound to happen sometime,” Suzy said.
Dave snorted. “Well, I added in air locks to the entire place. We’re deep down here. If there’s a fire or someone attacks, I want a way to shut down areas. I’m also working on a type of canister to hold air in an emergency. Can’t be too safe.”
“It sounds like you have everything in hand. Okay, I’ll ask for people to up the amount that they are bleeding off from their Mana, so that we can keep the soul gems charged. Could you update me every week or so, and let me know if you need anything else? In the meantime, I think I’ll have a talk with Florence and see how everything is going with her.” Josh clapped Dave on the back.
He made to turn around, pausing as he did so. “If you don’t mind me asking, how are you able to play so much? I heard you two are doing a ton back on Earth at the same time?”
“That is a question for another time.” Dave’s smile turned into a dark frown. “Hopefully, a day much further in the future.”
Chapter 31: Train Like You Fight
“Good! Good!” Denur barked as Deia drew in more ambient power from the surrounding area.
Fire felt something clench in her heart, in her very gut.
Deia started to rise from the center of the volcano, pulling in more and more ambient power from the surrounding stones and lava. Her hair whipped around like living flame. Her eyes closed in concentration, a whirlwind of Fire circled her.
Fire stepped through the angry air that howled in complaint at the Mana and heat that spread through the volcano.
She’s going to be dangerous, Fire thought with pride, looking at her daughter.
Fire hadn’t realized just how strong Deia was. She had been limited by her spells, using her knowledge of Earth and Dave’s lesson on spell formations to create more powerful spells.
Her raw power was nearly unmatched, other than by Dragons and the gods themselves. With her Fire spells, she was nearly as powerful as Jelanos, Alamo, and Mal. The three of them had instincts of battle mages and the spells and smarts of century-old men who had been fighting the things that went bump in the night.
Dragons from the Densaou Ring poked their heads through the different holes in the volcano, all of them looking at the Lady of Fire’s daughter and the queen of Dragons’ sister.
Fire felt her body tingle. The Mana ignited within her, wanting to be released. She calmed herself, a smile on her face as her own hair whipped in the air and her eyes glowed with inner power. In another time, I would have given in to that desire. She shook her head, reminiscing about her older self.
Deia called upon the molten core of the planet. Heat rose, slamming through the base of the volcano; the cooled base of the volcano turned to magma shooting up fifty feet. Fire barely noticed the few thousand degrees Celsius that came with being inside an active volcano.
She looked to her Dragons. They looked mildly impressed by Deia’s work.
“Hah! We’ll have you popping these volcanoes like nothing soon enough, sis!” Denur whooped as she flew around inside the volcano.
“I only got it fifty feet. How is that at all impressive?” Deia looked at the Dragon.
“Most would be panting or passed out at this point. The fact you aren’t shows that you know your limits and don’t want to use all your Mana in one go. Sure, you’ve got another four hundred feet to go, but with some refinement and a bit more juice, you’ll get it easy,” Denur said.
Deia started to come down to rest on a ledge.
“We don’t have time for that. Come on. You said that armor allows you to save some of your Mana—put it back in you. In a fight, you’re going to be using everything you have. So, let’s give it everything you have. Back in the center!”
Deia moved over to the center of the volcano again.
“Ulka, could you fix the bottom, just how it was before?” Denur asked.
The black Dragon seemed to glow slightly. The temperature in the room dropped as the top of the magma pool below turned to a stone plug.
“I’m going to get some books, Denur. Let me know when you’re done,” Fire said.
Deia either didn’t hear or was too focused on what she was doing.
Denur nodded to Fire and then looked back to Deia.
Fire disappeared in a flash of heat, smiling at her two girls working together.
***
Malsour looked at the fields in front of him. Gelimah and Fornau had been interested enough to come and join him in turning Devil’s Crater into a true city.
It had taken Gelimah a few weeks to get his butt into gear and over to Devil’s Crater, but the recluse only liked one thing more than his treasure and that was building.
He happily whistled, wandering through Devil’s Crater. Roads formed behind him. Magnificent houses were created with a gesture of his hands. Each he made was different from the last, incorporating what Malsour taught him.
The information on the different housing needs, including sewers, water systems, heating and the rest, were the bribe to get his brother out of his mountain home.
Now all of them stood in what was going to be the location of a new keep.
“Let’s begin, shall we?” Malsour looked to his brother.
“I was only waiting on you,” Gelimah said, somehow forgetting the three hours that he had debated Malsour’s techniques with him.
Malsour chose to say nothing. He extended his reach down to the bedrock that lay deep below the cliffs that rose around Devil’s Crater. From that bedrock, he pulled metal from beneath; weaving it into the rock, he fused them together into a solid base. Rock was compacted and used, metal extruding through it to add strength to it.
Geli
mah banished and cleared out an area through the cliffs to create a path through the sheer cliffs, working through where the keep would lay. He cleared out the peaks in the area as Malsour’s foundation formed. A shining block of granite with metal moved out of the stone like live snakes. The foundations met with the path through the cliffs. Walls grew upward along the foundations; granite created a polished surface, bowing out to make mages’ balconies. Stairs ran up the walls and doorways formed. Twin gatehouses with overlooking arrow slits and holes for a destruction staff looked down upon the entry to the large stone doors.
Malsour weighted the doors so that a man could easily open them, but when locked they would drop down into holes, creating a five-ton stone wall.
Two stories of walls, overlooking the surrounding peaks, finished off in simple crenellations of a castle, continued to grow.
The keep was two hundred meters wide and a hundred deep. Away from the gates and the road that meandered through, a barracks and the keep’s castle grew. It was a rounded rectangle with a large area out front for the forces in the keep to train and keep busy. Walls of granite with metal reinforcement created a mess hall, armory, large defensive doors, and a waiting area for units going on duty or ready to reinforce their friends. The floor above held the main barracks, with a large sleeping area and bathrooms. The top floor was an upright cylinder instead of a rounded square. Metal weaved into the second floor’s roof. Here, artillery could be mounted with spotters on top of the tall, round third and fourth floors. Stairs wound up the floors on the outside, with doors and windows for the defenders to look out in any direction. Offices for the leaders of the keep were on these two floors.
The whole thing took up two-thirds of the keep, ready to house two companies of DCA soldiers.
Malsour added in overhangs for the walls and a sewage system running through the granite and metal foundation to run down inside the mountain before coming out away from the road that led to the keep.
Cisterns were added to the castle as runes flowed across the inside of the massive walls. Another series ran through the foundations: a place for a soul gem with connecting runic lines in the top of the castle’s tower and another hidden in the deep foundations.
Malsour ran walls out of the keep, high over the peaks, creating solid foundations once again as they extended to the walls on either side. They were perfectly level, allowing for soldiers to run and move easily across the wall. Malsour grew overhangs over the walls. Soldiers weren’t the most attentive if they were getting rained on.
Malsour and Gelimah panted as they finished their work.
Malsour looked over the barracks. “Damn. Well, I bet anyone who is stationed here is going to be pretty happy.”
“I do take pride in my work,” Gelimah said, happy with what he’d done. There were not only runes to keep the place defended but more to regulate temperature. Another to have a breeze coming through, so that it wouldn’t stink in the castle. He’d also added a small plot to the side of the castle, right near the rear of the keep. With an Earth mage, they could get some dirt in the plot and grow some fresh food for the soldiers to eat. A small pen was located next to it, for animals. Coming back from patrols, soldiers would look forward to a fresh meal prepared in the keep.
“Okay, the walls are decent but they were rushed, most of them are just simply remolded peaks. We need to fasten them to the bedrock so there’s little chance of movement. Seems everyone was doing their own thing, so we need to go around, straighten everything out into just one style of wall” Gelimah smiled, it was a daunting task, but it had been so long since he had a project that allowed him to flex his magical muscles. “Well let’s get started!”
“Okay,” Malsour said. “I’ll root the foundations into the bedrock if you banish the peaks around the wall and standardize the layout of the walls. I see you’ve been looking at the other’s runes with your heating, cooling, and Air runes.”
“Well, when you sent me that book by Dave, I did get rather interested by the concept and his magical coding skill. Brilliant! I was finally able to make that thing I was telling you about!”
“The Yacozi?” Malsour said.
“Jacuzzi, yes!” Gelimah said, his excitement not even slightly dulled by Malsour’s inability to remember the name.
Malsour smiled, as the Mana depleted headache creeped in. Raising an entire keep and a barracks with just two people was not easy on the Mana usage.
The more I use it, the stronger I’ll be with it, Malsour thought as Gelimah rambled on. In power and strength, Malsour might be the strongest Dragon other than his mother with all he had gone through with the Stone Raiders.
Still, he had been shown that not even a Dragon’s power was absolute.
***
Dave looked around the seeder’s bridge. Nothing had changed since he’d last brought Ela-Dorn and Gal to the portal storage. He moved to the elevator, taking it to a slightly scarred and burnt room.
“Well, looks a bit worse for wear with all the experiments Deia and I put it through.” Dave smiled as he looked at the different soul gems that were suspended in mid-air by glowing runes beneath.
He checked over his Magical Circuits in the room, wiping them clean by conjuring over them and removing the conjured item. Once they were all cleared, he started conjuring into the metal of the room. For his next experiments, he was going to need some more powerful shielding.
He created an inward Mana barrier as well as power taps for the barrier to the vault soul gem he’d left charging off the wide area runes collecting free Mana. The barrier appeared around the center of the room, containing Dave and whatever destruction he might create.
Dave pulled out a piece of steel Dragon scale armor. His eyes glowed silver as his Touch of the Land allowed him to see into the basic makeup of the armor. He laid it down on a workbench and looked at it.
“Well, I’m decent in close combat, but long range, not so much. That redirection thing I had with the gauntlets was pretty cool. Though it’s overkill for anything but a massive army and it kind of gives away my position.” Dave continued to look at the armor. “Okay, I’m decent at throwing a spear and if I add in those explosive shafts, then it would get caught or hit something and then explode. I could make it optional if I wanted to take someone down quiet or just blast an area. Though, sometimes I won’t get enough time to throw a spear.”
Dave stood and walked around, eyeing the armor.
“Steel and silver—it’s not going to be strong enough for what I need. I’m going to need Mithril and silver; Maybe a core of ebony.” Dave tapped his chin in thought, conjuring what looked like a wrist band, not too dissimilar from the bracelets the Dwarves wore to show their time in the Warclans, or whether they were married.
“Okay, so, if I can’t always throw a spear, why can’t I make one? Just like Malsour’s metal spears he sends flying. Though if I modify the spear, I could make all of the power that makes it into a Mana bomb. For that, I don’t need a massive spear. I could just have a smaller one—be faster to create and could fire at speed.” Dave sat down at his table, pushing the Dragon scale armor away. Nervous excitement filled him as he looked at the simple band in front of him.
“Well, let’s get started.”
Dave’s body started to glow with runes as his perception of time sped up. As he worked, silver runes slowly formed in the lined white surface of the Mithril. He pulled out a soul gem with a variable power output. He activated it; a slight humming filled the air before settling down. The runes engraved into the Mithril glowed with power, creating long lines of magical coding around the band.
He made a quick line of coding under the band, making it float in mid-air. He activated the different runes. A spearhead formed in mid-air, racing across his experimental warehouse and burying itself into a wall.
“Crap.” Dave destroyed the conjured spearhead and activated runes around the large warehouse he used for his experiments. He also changed into his own armor.
“That would have been risky with the exploding spearheads,” Dave muttered, changing the settings on the band’s runes.
Another spearhead launched out ahead of the ring. It slammed into the surrounding Mana barrier. The Mana making up the spearhead turned into pure energy, tearing at the barrier, resulting in a sudden and violent explosion.
“Well, that’s awesome.” Dave grinned as he looked at the Mana barrier. He closed his eyes, his mind allowing him to think back on what he had seen.
“Okay, so, bit too close to the hand. Put it forward an inch or two—don’t want to conjure it inside my own hand.” Dave opened his eyes. The runes changed slightly. Another spearhead shot out ahead of it.
“Perfect. Now let’s see how fast this thing is.”
A dozen spearheads shot out in a matter of seconds. Dave stopped shooting, whooping and jumping around in excitement.
“Okay, now for the full-length spear.” Dave activated the band. A spear appeared, parallel with the band’s opening.
“Far enough away. Okay, let’s give this a try.” Dave put his hand in the bracelet. The spear disappeared.
He cocked his hand backward as if he were about to throw. Nothing happened.
Dave continued to move his hand around, trying to find the sweet spot. Finally a spear grew out of thin air, starting in his hand and spreading out into a shaft and spearhead.
“Okay, so, going to need to fix this whole activation thing, but other than that it should be okay.” Dave threw the spear and it hit the barrier.
Dave pulled off the bracelet, modifying its command circuit before he put it back on. He cocked his hand back. Another spear started to form. Dave threw it before it had fully formed. It continued to grow in mid-air but quickly fell in height with the added weight.
Emerilia Series Box Set 2 Page 61