Having Shamash spell it out so clearly made me realize that I’d come close to using one of the stipulations of our contract—that he would’ve had to save my life which he would only do once. Thankfully, I hadn’t had to use it. “Should I have said no to his help?”
“No. That would’ve been unwise. You aren’t powerful enough to defend yourself in case he were to change his mind. Though Kulnath may have chosen not to take offense, most sentients you run across wouldn’t be so kind. He seems like an exception to the rule, but it’s impossible to read someone’s mind.”
“If I were to become powerful enough, when he sought out my help, couldn’t I just say no?”
“Yes. It’s not like the contract between us. But, in doing so, you could make an enemy of his people and they could start actively hunting you. It’s doubtful he would request anything indecent or dangerous. He’ll likely just ask you to upgrade his core when you reach a higher mastery. I just want you to be aware that kindness in the Underworld always comes at a cost.”
Chapter 15 – What’s Up?
Shamash asked us both again if we wanted to change our minds and learn the school of fire magic. We both declined. As convenient as it would be, there was no reason to rush our decision. From the lich’s own mouth, it looked like we were about to visit numerous dungeons to significantly raise our levels.
This one had been no exception. I’d gained 17 levels since the swarm of spiders, bringing me to level 870 with a Wisdom of 5,556. It was a good take, but Travis had outdone me. He’d entered the dungeon at level 561 and left at 672. It was a ridiculous jump, but, except for the swarm of spiders, everything we’d fought had been of a higher level than him, and the Hell Hounds were two to three times his level. His Constitution had reached 1,000, so he now had the accompanying bonuses at all times and was well on his way to getting his Strength there too.
The lich insisted we leave the area quickly if we weren’t going to utilize the vein to learn Fire Magic. The reason was obvious even if he didn’t say it aloud. As kind as Kulnath had been, he was still dangerous.
We ran for an entire day before Shamash let us stop. During our run, I practiced Core Creation by repeatedly trying to create orbs as we went. With all my focus, creating an orb was easy enough, but while running and scanning the environment for danger, it became a real challenge and I failed more than I succeeded. My failures weren’t exactly explosive but seeing 400,000 MP dissipate into the atmosphere was disheartening.
The lich only allowed me to use Mind Buff at a Novice Level to keep my presence limited. It gave me some additional mana, but I was still dangerously low after each cast. That limited my number of casts because I had to wait for my mana to replenish. Using Light Mana to create orbs surprisingly didn’t have a large mana presence because the entire process was an exercise in focusing mana into a small compact space. When we finally stopped, I’d only managed to successfully create three orbs and two were flawed—even if I didn’t understand how.
We stopped, not because we needed food or rest, but because we needed to check in with the others. Shamash seemed to understand more than I would have guessed that we needed to stay connected with the others to stay sane. Travis would soon transform as well, and I was interested in seeing how he responded to Queen Degima while in Werewolf Form. We found a cave that dead-ended off the main path, and the lich cast his territory to block off the area.
The queen took a seat outside the amber barrier as if keeping watch with my overly large golems. She was much smaller than before but still seemed to be the one in charge of them and not the other way around. As before, Travis and I were given our own barriers each with different characteristics. His was as much to keep him in as to hide his mana use. Mine wouldn’t even keep something out, but it was great for hiding my presence.
I contacted Aeris. “I’m available to talk whenever you are.”
It was more than a minute before she responded. She sounded like she was out of breath. “Elorion. How are you? I’ve got news.”
“I’m good. What is it?”
“I reached level 1,000!”
“What… That’s great,” I said, genuinely taken by surprise.
“Don’t be jealous. Please. It’s cheating, I know. The other girls will reach 1,000 in a few days. They’ve been feeding us monsters to kill while they’re bound, so it's not dangerous. It feels dirty, but the results speak for themselves.”
I began to pace. It seemed so unfair, but I couldn’t bring myself to feel bad about it. Their quick progression was only a positive for Sanctuary. The only drawback was that they might run into the problem of their spells and abilities being outpaced by their level. At least many of the casters had already reached the Master Rank.
“How can I be jealous?” I said. “Less princess-sitting for me.”
“Very funny,” she said with a false chuckle. “One last thing.” Her tone changed for the worse. “A few of us saw the new humans that belong to Mistress Nava. Instead of taking them to the dungeon level, they are staying in her personal palace.”
I shook my head. It was hard not to feel responsible. Our success had doomed others. “How many are there?”
“Ten that we saw. And they’re not like us, Elorion. They looked rough and older. Like they’d pulled them out of a prison. Even the women looked like bad news.”
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. Just keep focusing on getting stronger. Who knows what Nava has planned for them... If we’re lucky, we can find a place for them in Sanctuary eventually. If not, superior power will allow us to keep them in check. This isn’t the surface world.”
“I know. No it isn’t.” Her laugh was a tad dark, fluttering like a woodwind instrument. I’d almost forgot she was no longer entirely human. “So how are you?”
I began telling her about the dungeon and what we’d experienced. I didn’t leave anything out. She was fascinated hearing about the Faeastein Queen, and a bit perplexed about Kulnath. She wasn’t as excited about my ability to create orbs as I was until I explained that I could place them inside of humans so that they could use them to further refine their mana.
We talked for over an hour. The conversation ended with Sanctuary. We were both worried. I was the elected leader but Aeris was the glue that held everyone together. At least the girls had her while they were away.
After saying our goodbyes, I turned my attention to Travis who had ended his conversation with Kylie only minutes before. He was waiting for me at the edge of his barrier.
“I’ll be transforming soon,” he said. “I’d like to stay here for a while and test my control if you don’t mind.”
“Not at all,” I replied. “There is much I need to work on as well. I’m going to contact Richard and get an update on Sanctuary. I’ll let you know if there’s anything I find out.”
Before reaching out, I considered my next steps. I’d mostly been traveling while in my Ultimate Form. The Smoke Mastery connected to my partial Rog Form had already reached level 8. There’d been little change, but I wanted to keep its progression steady. I could power level it faster, but I didn’t want to give it all my attention because I felt Core Creation should be my primary focus until I was able to create my own core.
I ramped up my Master Mind Buff and took a seat with my back against the barrier-covered wall. Shamash was outside the barriers, speaking with Degima. I knew he could probably hear everything we said, but it was at least a semblance of privacy. I channeled ten times the mana into Rog Form as a part of my Ultimate Form. I felt my body stiffen in the condensed mana shell that it formed. It wasn’t something I’d ever do in a fight, but for now, it would help the form level faster and still left me with plenty of mana regeneration to play with. I began casting Core Creation without giving it much thought and contacted Richard.
“Yo!” he responded. “How goes it?”
“Elorion. What up?!” Russ replied as well.
“Hey,” came Skyler’s voice.
“
Whoa. All three of you?” I said.
“Yup,” Richard said. “I brought them in on the conversation because they threatened to feed me to the pigs if I didn’t when I heard from you.”
“Oh really…”
“We’d never feed you to the pigs and corrupt our food source, man. That’s ludicrous,” Skyler replied. “We’ve just got stuff that needs to be said is all.”
“Okay. What’s going on?”
“Russ found the spare DP to upgrade the Dungeon Aura to Rank D. We’ve been battling mobs around level 1,000 for two days now. Our army is growing more powerful.”
I wasn’t about to tell him that seven or eight guys weren’t exactly an army, but the fact that they’d upgraded it and were somehow managing with such a small group was impressive. Especially when a number of them were focusing on other tasks as well. “How are you guys managing with so few of you?”
“Discipline. And we’ve repaired and locked a number of the doors in the Outer Perimeter to funnel the mobs into fewer rooms. When we need sleep, Mel takes care of the rest. He’s started sleeping during the day. Everyone is leveling up like madmen. Even Richard.”
There was a groan that was suddenly cut off as if someone didn’t want everyone to hear.
“Can you give me a brief update on how everyone’s doing?” I said.
Skyler proceeded to go through each person’s progression. Their levels were all nearing the 600s, and a few were already there. Skyler and Steve were the highest melee fighters. Trevon had the advantage of magic which propelled him up into the mid-600s.
Steve, who had spoken to me about his mix of stealth and Lightning Magic, had decided to take the more difficult path of spending his stats on his magic and physical abilities. It seemed he could cause more one-hit damage than anyone currently in Sanctuary thanks to it. With what Shamash had said about Travis needing a school of magic, I wondered if I had counseled Steve incorrectly. He’d already had Lightning. I’d have to ask for the lich’s advice.
With Trevon’s Ice Magic during the day, it sounded as if any creature that gave the group any major problems would end up frozen or trapped in ice and everyone would bash it to death. It was a very traditional use of Ice Magic from a gamer’s perspective, but it seemed a frozen creature was harder to kill because the ice was like adding layers of armor.
When they all went to sleep, then Mel happened. Even though he hadn’t been able to find a new place to level, it seemed he’d finally gotten his wish. Because of their limited numbers, he was put in the position where he had to guard Sanctuary on his own overnight. From Skyler and Russ’s impressions, he’d never been happier. His level was an exception and was already in the 700s. If we didn’t get a move on, he’d probably pass me in a matter of days. His necromancy was perfectly designed for his current situation.
When Skyler was done, he said farewell, and Russ took over the conversation.
“How goes it, man?”
I first gave him a summary of what we’d been up to and made a point of mentioning Core Creation and Firazite Manipulation. “So besides the Fire Orbs we found, we now have an unlimited supply of Light Mana Orbs. Can you experiment with one of the orbs you have to see if you can create some kind of mana filtration system for our crops?”
“I have a few ideas already on how it might work,” he said. “It’s not Arcane Engineering exactly but adding orbs to weapons and armor is not a new concept. We just haven’t had the orbs for me to work with.”
“That’s great. How’s Sanctuary? And Olivia?”
He was quiet at first. I hoped something hadn’t happened between them. He started to give me an update on Sanctuary first. Our use of the Mana Cannon hadn’t caused as much damage we’d thought. The mana-catch above the filled-in Maze had survived mostly unscathed. Clarissa had done her job well. It was the mana channels that needed the most work, and the focal lens had been cooked in the process. Russ admitted that it was probably the fault of his resister. He’d tried to apply what he remembered of Ohm’s law, which was at best a starting point—for mana didn’t work in exactly the same way. Each element had its own variations on the same principles. We’d gotten lucky that it had worked at all. Perhaps, if he had more than just his memory and a high school level education to work with he’d be able to better utilize it. With the ability to experiment, though, he’d make it work. I let him know I didn’t have any doubt.
I had to ask him again about Olivia.
“She’s having trouble adjusting,” he said. “They’re making them kill creatures that are bound up and she’s really struggling with it.”
“Should I mention it to Aeris to see if she can help?” I replied.
“No,” he said immediately. “I’m afraid she’ll stop talking to me about how she feels if all of a sudden Aeris comes to her and she suspects I told you. Besides, that girl’s incredibly tough. Just because she doesn’t like it doesn’t mean she won’t get through it.”
“You’re right. I wouldn’t want her to send a vine, or something, all the way from the Succubi city to strangle you.”
“Thanks, man. I really appreciate that.”
We shared a laugh.
“How much longer do you think you’ll be on your quest?” he said, asking the question that even Aeris and I had chosen earlier to ignore.
“It’s going well, but I don’t know. If I had to guess, six months. Maybe even a year.”
“It sounds like the girls may be back before you are… Elorion, you don’t have anything to worry about, you know? I’ll be sure to build this place up into a fortress the likes of which the Underworld has never seen.”
I could hear the anger building in his voice the more he spoke. His goal was noble, even if it was impossible. What mattered was that I knew he would do everything he could to make it a reality.
“I know you will,” I responded. “After we reach the dungeon we’re looking for so that Travis can learn Metal, we’ll be heading back in your direction and I’ll have a truckload of orbs for you. It will probably be a few months. Do you think you’ll be in good shape between now and then?”
“Of course. Do your thing.”
Chapter 16 – Magic Indigestion
Travis’s Werewolf transformation was completely different than it had been when we left Sanctuary. His fur had lightened until it was dirty blond and his size had increased in every direction making him a head taller and nearly twice as thick. With a Constitution and Strength over 1,000 to match his Dexterity, he didn’t just look more formidable, but he seemed to have better control. I wasn’t sure if that was because he was finally starting to master it or if his stat and level increase made a difference. Probably both.
When he transformed in the evening, he looked around blankly for a minute before pulling out one of the Firazite spears. He channeled mana into it to ignite its flames before cutting them off as if testing it. Turning around, he saw me sitting there with my back against the wall looking over at him. He twisted his head to the side—a bit confused—then nodded as if he knew what was going on. Turning his back on me once again, he crouched low. With an unnaturally quick lunge, he activated his spear wall, holding the phantom spears in place longer than he normally would.
As if pleased, he spun around then repeated the process, except this time he didn’t let his ability spread out as wide, drawing it into a smaller area the size of three large men standing shoulder to shoulder. It seemed like he was going to train.
I’d been assuming we were going to move on, but if he was planning on power leveling for a while, I wouldn’t complain. I dropped all my forms but Rog and kept the smoke compressed into its hardened state over my human body without reducing the amount of extra mana I was using for it. My attention turned to Core Creation.
With my full focus, I was finally able to try creating an orb without all the distractions. I drew my Light Mana around, creating the outer loop and slowly began to wind the thread tightly against the border until it wound tight and the process sped
considerably. Mana Sight at full power made the process much easier. I succeeded in creating a Minor Light Orb on the first try. It reached level 4.
I pulled out the two flawed orbs I’d created to see where they’d gone wrong. From the outside, I could see no difference between the three. Using Forced Learn, I examined the good one first. My consciousness delved into the orb and I was suddenly swimming in the depths of a lake of hardened mana. It swirled around in gently flowing channels. If I’d seen this before I’d learned Core Creation, I’d have simply thought that that was all there was to see. Now I knew better. I swam toward the surface of the orb but didn’t emerge from it when I was nearly there. Instead, I followed the channels of slow-moving mana and soon found myself at the outer ring of the orb’s core. Letting it push me along like a mighty river, the outer ring was slow but powerful. It pulled mana from within the orb’s outer shell, but mainly from outside the orb itself. It seemed that even when the orb was full, it was always pulling at the world for more. That meant it must lose mana over time. I drifted down the river until it began to speed up. It only took a few minutes before I neared its center spiral and it felt like the entire world was closing in on me.
After I’d reached its center and was tossed back into the orb’s lake of excess mana, I cut the flow to Forced Learn. I did the same thing to the other orbs. It was only when I reached the spiral that I saw what had gone wrong. Both of the orbs took the same path that the first had taken, but it was like riding in a car where the wheels were unaligned. There were multiple swerves toward the edge of the lane before it corrected itself. How either of these orbs hadn’t been destroyed during creation, I could only guess.
Underworld - Vampire Gate: A LitRPG Series Page 12