Zeal of the Mind and Flesh: A Cultivating Gamelit Harem Adventure (Spellheart Book 1)

by Marvin Whiteknight

  “You were the one who concocted those elixirs. The ones that enhance the potency of spellhearts. You had me believing it was the prisoner.”

  “I did,” I answered slowly.

  “From now on, you will be responsible for producing one hundred such vials of elixirs each moon, for me to distribute amongst those most worthy of such an honor. I will provide the elixir components needed.”

  I nodded slowly. “Very well. While I’m at that task, would you like me to arrange for some food and celebration for after you defeat the three clan chief’s tomorrow? Nothing lightens the mood after an execution like good food.”

  Yulli nodded in surprise, a note of good cheer coming back into her voice. “Fine. I’m glad you’re acting more amenable, Theo. You’re an important asset to this clan, Theo. In more ways than one now. I will see to it that all the contributions you make are well rewarded. As I rise, so shall you.”

  “Yes, matriarch,” I bowed in the fashion I’d seen others do, then immediately turned to leave.

  “Oh, and Theo? Do not plot against me again.”

  I bowed again but said nothing. I wouldn’t make a promise I was already planning to break.

  “A cake, you say?” the Songstone Clan cook asked.

  “A duel to the death between cultivators is a solemn occasion. By tradition, the winner should respect the life they have taken by entering secluded meditation, and thus cannot enjoy any cake. The loser is dead, and thus cannot enjoy any cake either. So, tell me again, why should I waste what little flour we have baking a cake?”

  “We are not celebrating a duel to the death. We are celebrating the conquest of three neighboring tribes by our matriarch,” I said, trying to mask my annoyance. It had been much easier to convince the others to treat the events tomorrow as entertainment. I’d arranged for banners to be hung and tables to be set up. Many of the other elves would even bring some of their own dishes, so we could set up some food buffet style. There would be music and dancing, and most importantly, drinking.

  The cook snorted, despite my explanation. “Sweet rolls. No cake,” She was on the heftier side, as far as elves went, and she had a large wooden spoon that she slapped against her palm in an intimidating fashion.

  “Fine, but make them dry. I want everyone to be thirsty. I want the alcohol to flow freely tomorrow. It is a party after all.”

  I got Sava to ask Melise to requisition what we needed from the clan coffers. That was enough to pay Grotkins for some supplies. I also visited other clan members specifically to get the rest of what I wanted.

  Although we were all set up in tents, most of the craftswomen of the clan brought their tradable goods with them so their tents doubled as sales stalls. Besides them, there were many rogue elves who were not part of any tribe or clan present to hawk food or goods that weren’t available from within the Songstone Clan.

  After I arranged for some salted fish to be served as well, I visited one of the Songstone servants who’d taken to being the clan brewmaster to acquisition some alcohol. They were no less eager to part with their stock than the cook, but I convinced them that everything was on Yulli’s orders. Which they technically were. She hadn’t given me any specific instructions, so I was able to freely expand the scope of the feast as I wished. And so, the bigger the event the better.

  I ended up agreeing to owe the brewer a favor in exchange for giving me a single bottle of her best brew. It was a type of fermented fish and berry drink from the stock that had been commissioned by Yulli. Apparently, she loved the stuff, but their supply was running low because she’d drunk so much of it.

  To me, the important thing was that the drink was strong. Strong enough to cover up the scents from any unusual herbal blends I might choose to adulterate it with.

  Not long after I had Sava fetch a bundle of those body soothing herbs we’d tested on Illiel. Nela herself was in seclusion, working on her ascension to mage acolyte, as she had been since Yulli had shown up. Rumor had it that Nela had already succeeded, or was at least at the very edge of fusing her spellheart.

  After I’d made arrangements for supplies the next day, I got to work on the bottle of fermented fish and berries I’d collected.

  The stuff was naturally high in life zeal, and that probably played a large part in Yulli’s enjoyment of the drink. I’d be adding my own touch to it tonight while everyone else slept that would hopefully boost the life zeal even higher.

  As the elves around me went to bed, I settled into a meditative stance, legs crossed, and eyes closed. I focused on the zeal accumulation technique and gathered up the zeal I needed, plucking it from the minds of dreaming elves. Bit by bit, I concentrated it into the bottle of alcohol before me. Soon, the bottle was nearly as high in mind zeal as it was in life zeal.

  I pushed it as far as I dared. The two zeals appeared to sit together quiet easily, which I was thankful for. Zeals like water and fire did not mix together without great effort, but mind and life zeal mixed effortlessly. Still, I didn’t want to raise the concentration of mind zeal higher than the life zeal. Illiel had told me balance was important in alchemy. Judging by how she ate, I didn’t think Yulli was a connoisseur of fine drinks, and she likely wouldn’t be able to pick out a change in flavor due to the addition of mind zeal. Tea brewed from the body soothing leaves was mostly flavorless on its own, so the bottle tasted largely as it always had. Only a very well tuned nose would be able to sense any changes.

  After that, I concentrated the drink a little by evaporating off a little of the water. I lost a good portion of the alcohol that way, but not the zeal. This made the taste a bit stronger in flavor but lacking in potency. In the end I decided to mix it with a cheaper distilled brew to bring the alcohol content back up.

  And then I tried my new trick. I tried to turn the mind zeal to a specific aspect. In this case, trust. I’d discovered this to be true with earth zeal, so why wouldn’t it be true with mind zeal. To take on an aspect all it took was earth zeal spending a bit of time in contact with a certain type of earth. By that logic, if mind zeal spent a bit of time near trusting thoughts, it should take on the flavor of trust.

  It was a theory that I was still developing. I had no way to measure success with it, but I gave it a try anyway. And so I sat there, thinking about the things I trusted. I was still getting the sense that I was trying to dip my toes into something profound and beyond my understanding, but I tried anyway.

  I struggled quite a bit trying to figure that out. In the end, I had to resort to thinking about things I knew to be true without a shred of doubt. My own name and that two plus two makes four. Lame stuff.

  After more than an hour of thinking trusting thoughts, I noticed no signs of success. Maybe something had happened, maybe not. Either way, I set the bottle aside to let things settle after all my efforts and give it a chance to cool down a bit.

  I’d salvaged a panel of ironwood that had been treated with cold flame, which had probably been taken from somebody of the Myriad Hues of Flame Clan. It had a bit of chill left in it, so I wrapped the bottle in a sheet to keep it cool.

  And with that, my secret surprise was ready.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  A GONG AWOKE everyone in the in the vicinity the next morning. It was made of a torso-sized disk of brass, but whoever was banging on it must have had something against the little metal disk, because it was ringing loud enough to wake the whole clan.

  When I looked around nearly everyone and everything had been gathered and packed away from our encampment. Almost everything was packaged into carts, and those that weren’t loaded with goods had tarps and linens to assemble tents. I couldn’t believe the elves had much to trade, having just settled in the area after fleeing for their lives, but I think Yulli’s idea for this gathering was more a show of power and force. She’d already succeeded in subjugating the weaker half of the Hearthwood forest, and the only remaining rival of note was the Crimson Dragonfly tribe. Now was the time for Yulli to prove that she was
strong enough to rule over the entire Hearthwood.

  I was given a place on one of the carts. The ride didn’t last as long as I thought it would, partially because horses in this world were exceptionally fast. As in, nearly the speed of a motorized scooter. Not that the elves on foot had any trouble keeping up with the beasts of burden. They kept up the pace of a sprint all day long and acted as if it were nothing more than a light jog. Before the day was half over we’d arrived at our destination.

  By the time my cart was set down and a tent set up for me, many of the elves were already outside and wandering around a large grassy area, in the center of Queenshold which presumably would be the location of the duel.

  In the light of the new day I realized that it wasn’t just the Songstone Clan attending. The sea of golden-hair was interspersed with bits of green from Riverweed cultivators who’d survived and joined up with us, but off to the side there were brown haired Ironwood tribe elves, orange-yellow haired Myriad Hues of Flame tribe elves, Purple haired Hidden Serpent’s tribe elves, and blue haired Waterbeetle tribe elves. According to Sava, elves change hair color depending on the concentrations of zeal in their body, which meant that hair color for elves was a good indication of the type of magic they practiced.

  In small tribes like these, most elves in a tribe practiced whatever magic their tribe specialized in, but in more powerful clans there were a variety of hair colors because there were a variety of cultivation techniques and styles available to them.

  The primary demographic being represented in our area was the Songstone Clan survivors, with their hair in various shades of gold and tinged with sunlight zeal. Mixed in was the occasional green-haired Riverweed tribe elf, but the other clans were loitering nearby, casting curious glances at the tables we were setting up.

  I was worried that I’d have to harry the people I’d asked to bring food and press somebody to help me start setting up tables, but thankfully my instructions had been taken seriously. Many tables were already set up and it appeared there was more than just the food I’d requested from the tribe’s larders out in the open. Some people must have been inspired by the feast set up and donated some food of their own.

  The three clan chiefs were at the back end of the field, under guard by Melise, and three of Yulli’s other warriors, though from a distance.

  Chief Antgut of the Ironwood Clan was consoling an older woman, holding her shoulders as she appeared to be crying into her chest.

  Chief Conadur and Chief Wisdom were meeting with groups of elves of their own. Chief Conadur had a brush in hand and was writing quickly on a long scroll of papyrus. Chief Wisdom was lecturing a young woman with purple-blue hair, whose eyes were red, with features locked in a furious gaze.

  The older woman from the Ironwood tribe and the younger woman from the Waterbeetle tribe would be ones to watch. If they ended up taking any sort of leadership position, their clan would remain opposed to Yulli’s rule. There didn’t seem to be anyone like that in the Myriad Hues of Flame tribe, but they would still bear watching as well. I still cursed my inability to interfere. Yulli had told me this was the way those of higher cultivation asserted their power, but I believed in building stable foundations for the future. Yulli could make them fear her, but that wouldn’t stop them from plotting against her when she wasn’t around. Only true loyalty would do that.

  “The girl with the blueish purple hair is named Assyrus. From what I’ve heard, she’s a tremendous young talent. Already a mage acolyte at the young age of eighteen, not including time spent as a wisp. She’ll make the true mage rank someday if things keep going as they are.”

  I turned to see Sava standing behind me.

  “It would be unwise for Yulli to allow a potential enemy to grow up under her nose.”

  I made a mental note to ask around about this Assyrus later.

  Sava shook her head. “The Songstone matriarch is many things, but she adheres to the old traditions. When two cultivators fight a duel, the outcome is not questioned, and all thoughts of vengeance against the winner are put aside. To hold a blood vendetta would negate the point of such an official gathering.”

  “Somehow, I doubt that girl cares too much about tradition right now. She knows that Chief Wisdom is about to die. Her mentor, I assume?”

  “That’s right. Once Chief Wisdom found out about the talent Assyrus possessed, she took the young girl under her wing immediately.”

  “A smart move on Chief Wisdom’s part. If you’re going to have somebody important growing up under your influence, it’s best if they’re groomed by your own hand. I can’t imagine her not causing problems for Yulli in the future though. What about the older woman?”

  “I believe that’s Chief Antgut’s beloved. The first among the women of her harem. She never reached the mage acolyte ranks, like Chief Antgut did, which is why she looks so much older than her chief. It’s said that she manages most of the Ironwood tribes’ commercial affairs. Chief Antgut is basically the muscle and the face of the tribe, while she handles the details.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “Two women in a relationship?”

  Sava shrugged. “What’s strange about that?”

  “Nothing, my homeland is a bit weird in some ways is all,” I sighed. “But this woman? Another problem for Yulli it looks like. If she manages to stay in power after her spouse’s death, despite her low cultivation base, she’ll be certain to cause more problems for us.”

  “Maybe,” Sava said hesitantly. “But Yulli’s power as a true mage is undeniable. That’s what this whole duel today is about. She’s proving that she can crush the best fighters their tribes have, and she can do it with impunity. Surely that alone will cow the other tribes.”

  I gave her a shrug in response. “Maybe it will. Maybe I’m wrong. But my intuition is telling me that neither of them will be quelled easily. They might not be up front about it, but they’ll resist in little ways. Mainly what I’m worried about is something happening to Yulli. She’s made herself the linchpin for her entire set of conquests. None of her warriors are good enough to take her place if something happens to her, and we know how she likes to run off by herself. This wild plan of hers to kidnap the chiefs of three of the neighboring clans proves that. What if she dies or disappears? Or simply is wounded and unable to fight? Then we have three pissed off clans looking like cats with their tails stepped on, ready to claw our eyes out while we’re vulnerable”

  “Mhhhhmm. At least she didn’t try to kidnap the Chief of the Crimson Dragonfly Clan. Rumor has it she’s reached the rank of true mage as well.”

  I nodded and was about to give a response when the overly zealous gong-banger went to work again. The pounding reverberated through the air, even louder than last time. All conversation died as one of Yulli’s mage acolytes took a position before the grassy area.

  “Attention all members of the new Songstone Clan!” The mage acolyte announced loudly. I winced at the name. I’d picked out the perfectly good name of the Hearthwood clan and Yulli had to go and use her old clan name. That was practically begging old enemies to come knocking. From some quiet grumbling around me it appeared I wasn’t the only one to have that train of thought. Good, they’d taken my warnings to heart.

  “We are gathered here today to bear witness to a duel between your matriarch, Yulli Songstone, and these three tribal chieftains. These fights shall be to the death. The winner will claim great honor for themselves and their clans, while the loser shall die with grace. They shall be given all appropriate funeral rituals and their bodies and souls shall be handed over to the representatives of their respective tribes.”

  This announcer wasn’t even trying to hide the fact that Yulli’s victory was a certainty.

  “An agent of the crown from Queenshold shall stand as witness and arbiter, and a record of these duels will be sent to the capital, along with your Songstone Clan’s request to once again be recognized as an official clan of the kingdom.”

  The mage acolyte stepped
back, allowing an older elf wearing long azure robes and a royal crest to take her place. As soon as she did one of the chief’s shouted to her.

  “Arbiter,” Chief Antgut called out. “I would like to propose that all three duels be enacted simultaneously. The three of us will last longer if we are allowed to work together against Matriarch Yulli.”

  The mage acolyte glanced at Yulli.

  “Fine by me. I’d like to have this done with quickly,” Yulli said with a shrug.

  “Your opponent has accepted your proposal. Normally, this would break with tradition, but seeing as matriarch Yulli is a stage ahead of each of you, I’ll allow it.”

  There was a light cheer from the opposite side of the dueling arena, where the representatives of the opponent chief’s clans were standing. It wasn’t very loud though.

  Before I even realized that it was starting, the duel had begun.

  Yulli stood on one side of the field, and the three chiefs stood on the other. Chiefs Antgut, Conadur, and Wisdom all bowed from the waist. Yulli returned the gesture, but not to the same extent as the three tribal chiefs. She was of higher standing than the three of them after all.

  The chiefs took a few moments to exchange words. Though each of them were bitter rivals, they knew that they stood no chance against a true mage. Still, none of them wanted to embarrass their clans with an easy death, and the three of them came to an agreement. They would work together to last as long as they could.

  Yulli, for her part, simply walked towards the center of the arena. Not too quickly, but not too slowly either. She simply walked forward and took her stance, daring her opponents to make their move.

  And then the same gong that woke me up that morning rung again, except this time it was a single loud and clear note. The three clan chiefs burst into action, moving in a semicircle and trying to quickly surround Yulli.