Emerilia Series Box Set 2

by Michael Chatfield

  “Saying I can’t carry her?” Mal asked.

  “Saying that you’ll start to think of her as a baby again and won’t let her out of your sight if I let you carry her!” Fire said.

  Mal pouted but didn’t say anything.

  ***

  “Ugh, damn. An Intelligence headache is even worse than a hangover,” Dave complained, equipping his armor and laying back down on his bed. The armor worked to remove his aches and pains.

  “That happens when someone overloads their brain with enhanced Intelligence and then doesn’t sleep for a few days,” Malsour said from the living room, moving to the bedroom and sitting in a nearby seat.

  “Hey, buddy.” Dave grinned at his friend.

  “Hey, Dave. I see you’ve sped up the work on the city.” Malsour grinned, passing Dave two rings he’d pried from his fingers.

  “Yeah, well, you know me, always impatient. Just building up the infrastructure we’ll need here. I want to make the guild hall to be a hub of sorts: food, smithies, weapons training, magical coding—all of it in one place. With the teleport pads, tons of people can reach us and we can reach others. When the war comes, I want this city to be ready to act as a rally point, a place to re-arm and resupply and be a launching pad from which to send counterattacks at our enemy.” Dave looked up at the ceiling, thinking of all he had to do in order to get to that point.

  “Well, then I think it’s about time you figured out the science behind teleport pads and portals. Don’t know when else you’re going to be stuck in one place,” Malsour said, getting comfortable.

  Dave put the two rings on. “Okay, so, I understand how wormholes are supposed to work. You have normal space in a straight line. Then you have a wormhole that folds that space like a piece of paper and you poke a hole through it. You go through one side of that line and out the other, which, when laid down, is a massive distance in real space.”

  “Good, that’s the basics. Now the teleport pads here work a little differently. They not only make wormholes, but they make an area of gravity resistance, the part that takes the most amount of power. The constant force on the universe is gravity. These spells counter the gravity where you want to make a wormhole, taking it out of the normal laws of gravity. It weakens the fabric of space and time. If you’re next to a black hole with a ton of gravity pull, spending two minutes there could be twenty years back here on Emerilia. If you take away gravity, you take away the coefficient of time. The teleport pads sync up to one another; they exchange the complete information of their points of origin, basically inverting the two teleport pads. So, when you’re entering the teleport pad in Cliff-Hill, the universe, wanting to fix itself, thinks you’re actually in Devil’s Crater. The teleport pads are like split atoms: what happens to one, happens to the other, much like ansibles that you Humans talked about for long-range instantaneous communications. Two split particles resonate with each other, so that when you walk into one, you walk out of another. Action to one teleport pad means the same reaction in the other. When a teleport pad calls up another, they again resonate together completely, allowing instantaneous transmission between the two,” Malsour said.

  “Damn, that’s pretty smart, and complicated. How the heck were they able to get the teleport pads to harmonize to such a degree?” Dave asked.

  “Factories. You saw them—they’re all made identically.”

  “Damn, okay, so, with the annulling of gravity, they remove the aspect of time affecting just a small space. Then by attuning the two teleport pads completely, they act as ying and yang: what one does, the other does the opposite—one person walks in one way, they come out the other way.” Dave nodded, his mind making different connections.

  New Active Skill: Teleportation

  Well, look at this guy! Long time, no new skills! Now you’ve earned, wait, what? Ugghh, come on, dude: teleportation, math, numbers, coding, wormholes, space and time... I was thinking it was something cool, like, I don’t know, pickpocketing or horse riding? Nope, just want to punch holes in reality! (Hey, there’s a cool skill, hand-to-hand man—could be like some of those monk people, all chi, balance and kicking the other man in the balls!).

  Level: Journeyman 2

  Effect: Understanding of basic teleportation theories and teleportation systems

  Dave looked at the skill. It didn’t say anything about bonuses or extras.

  “Did you finally get the teleportation skill?” Malsour asked.

  “Yeah, just didn’t get any bonuses,” Dave said.

  “I think that it doesn’t give any bonuses because it’s all mental. The realm of teleportation has got to a certain stage and stopped. The portals work forever and don’t need to be replaced going from one place to another. The Jukal Empire doesn’t like dealing with innovations unless they have complete control over it. With the people of Emerilia knowing more about teleportation, it makes them look weaker. It could also disrupt their carefully balanced economy that keeps them in power,” Malsour said.

  “Control the flow of information and goods and you can control the people.” Dave rubbed his head in frustration.

  Malsour nodded.

  “Well, then we’re just going to have to break that. How is Devil’s Crater? Can I borrow you for a bit?” Dave asked.

  “Well, Gelimah, my brother, is here, but he’s really enjoying making stuff in Devil’s Crater. I think he might set up a lair nearby if he can.” Malsour smiled.

  “Isn’t he the one who likes to hide away from the world?” Dave asked.

  “Yes, but he also loves to make things, so Devil’s Crater is a ton of fun for him. Lots of people with new ideas and tons of room for him to use his magic freely.”

  “Okay, with him looking after that, I’m going to need your help in turning this cut-out city into a hub.” Dave propped himself up.

  “What do you need me to do?” Malsour grinned.

  “Well, first I’m going to need to talk to Josh about buying a teleport pad and then we’re going to make a power station.” Dave smiled.

  “Damn, you don’t think small.” Malsour laughed, excited for the challenge.

  “Ah, small is boring.” Dave stood.

  “First, take a damn shower. You smell nasty, dude.”

  Dave sniffed his pit. “Oh, okay, yeah, might have a point,” Dave agreed. “Wait, I’ve got another notification.” Dave clicked the blinking bell at the corner of his interface.

  Quest: Librarian Level 3

  Conduct research that allows you to understand how teleport pads work.

  Rewards: Unlock Level 4 Quest

  Increase to stats

  Class: Librarian

  Through tireless research, you have taken the written word and used it in a practical sense. Beware the nerd who studies: they’ve got a dozen ideas others haven’t even thought of yet.

  Status:

  Level 3

  Effects:

  +30 to all stats

  Read 15% faster

  Understand 14% more of the information that you read

  Dave laughed to himself.

  “Something funny?” Malsour asked.

  “Kind of cheated my class upgrade. Seems as long as I figured out how teleport pads worked and the theories behind them, I gained a class level.” Dave read the new quest.

  Quest: Librarian Level 4

  Contribute to someone’s research topic

  Rewards: Unlock Level 5 Quest

  Increase to stats

  “Having extra classes does make it a lot easier to continue growing in strength,” Malsour agreed.

  “Well, I would like to get a trader or maybe talking class sometime soon,” Dave complained.

  “Oh, why?” Malsour asked.

  “Easier to deal with contracts, and it’s going to be a pain trying to wrestle all the resources of the guild hall away from Josh, so we can get this place running.” Dave waved his arms to encompass the city they were in.

  Malsour nodded his head seriously. “Maybe we
should call Suzy to help us out?”

  “You want to interrupt her and Induca’s vacation?”

  “On second thought, that wouldn’t be the wisest decision,” Malsour agreed.

  “Hopefully he doesn’t know all of the resources it’s going to take to get this place online.”

  ***

  “You want to what?” Josh sounded more tired than alarmed at Dave’s words. He’d become used to Dave’s eccentric ways.

  “I want a teleport pad. We have a ley line that we can tap for power. Malsour can carve out space for the drop pad; I can send through some miners; they start cutting it all out. It’s going to take a bunch of power, but it should be a month or two and we can get it up and running everything we have here with energy to spare,” Dave said.

  Josh opened up his interfaces, going to his treasury pages as well as his buying page. He tapped his chin in thought, looking over the savings the guild currently had.

  As much as I want to just save this or invest it into companies and businesses, this city could become one of our greatest assets. If we can get control of more portals and a few teleport pads, we could directly supply anyone entering or leaving a portal.

  With most cities being hours or days away, having us just a teleport away would allow us to be the first group people trade with. With Dave and Kol, they can get any weapon repaired and get any supplies in minutes and be back on their way through the portals.

  Also, it will make us be able to deploy our forces anywhere with the coming war events.

  “Okay, we can do it, though we’re going to be a bit short on gold. We need to have power if we want to keep this place going. Let me know when you want me to get it and have the drop pad in the right place,” Josh said.

  “Can do. Also, with the power output, it will be way more than what we need for a while, so we can probably charge up vault-class soul gems and sell them to nations to supply their magical power needs,” Dave said.

  Josh knew commodity trading intimately. His old stockbroker mind started to work, thinking about all of the resources that he now had at his disposal. Loading them onto the market in one go could make it crash, but if done right, they could keep the markets stable and still continue to make a good amount of gold and profits.

  “You’ve given me quite a bit to think about,” Josh said.

  “So, is that a yes?” Dave thinned his eyes. Even Malsour leaned forward, an expectant look on his face.

  “Fine, go for it before I regret it,” Josh said.

  “You won’t regret it!” Dave yelled as he and Malsour ran for the door.

  “I don’t think I’ve ever seen them move that fast,” Josh said into his now empty office.

  ***

  Malsour was back in the city once again. This time, he wore a ring that glowed faintly. It was connected to the sensors Dave had put together. He leaned against a wall and closed his eyes. He reached out with his senses, connecting to the ring.

  The world around him seemed to explode into detail.

  Malsour looked around with his senses. The sensors were highly detailed in what they saw. Their range grew by the minute, traveling through every medium they found to find more information. Malsour felt tiny with everything he could sense, but he also felt powerful. A god surveying all that was under his control. Is this what Dave feels when he looks at the world through his Touch of the Land?

  Malsour focused on the ley line that the sensors had found. He remembered how the Aleph power stations were laid out. Dave wanted to alter the power station to get more out of it, but they both agreed to go with what was tried and tested instead of Dave’s prototype.

  Malsour held an image in his mind of the Aleph power station, moving it around to see the best way it would take advantage of the ley line. After a few minutes of altering, he finally knew where it was going to be.

  Malsour placed his hands on the ground, willing his Mana through the rocks, down toward the point he had marked in his mind. His Mana raced downward at first, slowing after a few minutes. It became harder and harder for it to push onward and downward.

  Malsour lost focus on time as it moved through different materials under Malsour’s control. Finally, just a thread of his Mana reached where he wanted to create a drop pad. Malsour continued to push Mana through the link he’d made. It was painfully slow and hard work, as if he were carving out a letter in Mithril with a mountain on his back.

  Malsour grunted and sweated, focused totally on his task. If he were to take a rest, then he would need to make a new path to the drop pad’s location. He welcomed the stress on his body, smiling. With the Stone Raiders, he had come to welcome the harder tasks, pushing himself further and harder.

  ***

  Dave had his eyes closed and floated around in his chair in a lazy pattern.

  Inside his mind, he was looking at the different spells he had seen battle mages and the Aleph mages using, as well as those he had seen used in the fields of Cliff-Hill.

  There was a beauty to the spell formation, a weave through different factors to come to a final creation. Though, to Dave, it felt as if something was missing from the spells used on the vertical gardens. He compared them, looking at how they coaxed the plants to grow more. It was a stimulation of chemicals within the plants that made them grow.

  Dave thought back onto fights he’d seen Earth mages using plants. With his near photographic memory, something tugged at the edges of his mind.

  A little saying that one of the Aleph gardeners had said: “Although Earth magic is good at growing plants, slow and steady is the way to do it. You’ve got to let the plant talk to you and tell you if it’s ready to grow, and then you only grow it to just before its limit, else it might not give that good of a harvest.”

  Dave pondered the words.

  “Okay, so, plants live off a few things. They need carbon dioxide, water, sun, and nutrients in the ground, so...” Dave smacked himself in the head, groaning at his idiocy. Inside his mind, he was remembering glimpses of plants that had fought for Earth mages. After a fight, they were withered and dead, all of their resources and fuel used up to fight. Earth magic commanded plants, and supplied them with nutrients in the soil. It might draw in more water from the surrounding area, but they were used up in a quick fight. They didn’t have the endurance of, say, Earth golems, or Dark mages’ metal and stone.

  It didn’t take that much energy from the Earth mages to command great swathes of forests because they were using the forest’s energy.

  Dave opened his eyes and his interface, moving to his notepad and the 3D sculpting tool.

  “Okay, so, what if we were to supply them with water, the proper light lamps and maybe some fans to keep the air circulating if they have a huge growth rate?” As Dave talked, he added in a sprinkler and irrigation, and then light lamps, altering them, so that they covered the entire area. Fans would circulate air through the area.

  Now with a basic structure, Dave looked at the different components that he needed to make magical coding for. The lights needed to be the right wavelengths of light so they wouldn’t burn the plants, or give them the wrong light. That was a bunch of researching online and finding the best places to grow crops across Emerilia and comparing farmers’ notes.

  Then irrigation just needed a simple rune to keep the water moving and a sensor in the soil and air, so that the sprinklers would keep the area at a certain humidity without needing someone there the entire time. He added in Earth runes that would keep the soil nutrient-rich; he added in the ability to alter the composition of the soil’s layers and nutrients as well as the growth rate put on the crops.

  The air fans were complicated in figuring out the best way to have the air moving over all the crops in a manner that wasn’t too fast to blow them over but enough that they would be saturated with carbon dioxide.

  “I’m going to need to set up a circulation system that pushes the carbon dioxide into these growing areas,” Dave muttered as he looked over the rough 3D scul
pted area. It was a basic greenhouse with different systems and magical coding off to one side.

  “Later I can maybe try to automate the whole thing, but that will work for now. Have to see what the gardeners and farmers think.” Dave sent the plan off to some who he had talked to get a better understanding of what they needed.

  He checked on the city’s progress. It was about a kilometer wide from floor to opposing floor and four hundred meters deep. It was a ton of work to carve out the different places and although they had a bunch of miners, it still took time. They were also having a problem with the two refineries in the housing complex not being able to handle all of the material going through it, so there was a backlog of materials waiting to be processed.

  Dave’s smaller miners and repair bots were working on carving out places for the runners in what would be the outside of the city. Once they were in place and the city was five hundred meters long, Dave would start powering the runners and cut out the city with a one-hundred-meter-thick floor. Once the runners took the load of the city, then Dave could start the rotation cycle and get the city turning and open up access to all sides of the city.

  “So many things to do.” Dave smiled to himself. He reached out through his sensors, taking in the information that they were relaying back. He used them to find what Malsour was working on.

  The drop pad was coming along slowly. Hundreds of kilometers away, through compressed stone, Dave wasn’t surprised it was so hard for even a Dragon to manipulate.

  He opened his eyes from using the sensors and opened his interface to check the building progress of the refinery. “Forty-seven percent.” Dave bit his lip in thought. “Well, I guess there is really nothing that I can do right now to speed things up. Everything’s in the miners’ and repair bots’ hands. When the farmers get back to me, I can see about working on that, and Dark mages are better with speeding up forming the different facilities.”

  Dave looked over to the doorway as Matt, one of the Stone Raiders’ artificers, stepped into his workshop.