by A P Gore
Path of Light
Glory of Formation Emperor Book 2
A.P. Gore
Patricia Jones
To my lovely Family!
Copyright @ A.P. Gore/Patricia Jones
ISBN:
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Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 1
The east wind blew dirt across Jon’s handsome face, bringing a smile to his lips after so many days. At last, the wind was blowing and dark clouds had gathered around Epic village. Rain was here.
He peered at the clouds, hoping the rain would wash everything away. Even his worries.
Water. Damn, he needed water for his farms.
Thrusting his hand through the first layer of squishy soil, he pulled soil from below. Bringing it to his mouth, he dropped a small quantity on his tongue. An earthy taste covered his taste buds, and the aroma of the soil filled his nostrils. Closing his eyes, he inhaled the vigor coming out of the soil. He would never get enough of this. When he’d worked in the prison mines, he’d missed this smell the most—well, second to his daughter Kiara, anyway.
System: The soil lacks Nitrogen and one more mineral.
Congratulations, for your continuous effort in tasting shit, your Land Testing is improved. +1 to Land Testing.
Keeping his eyes closed, Jon rubbed the soil between his fingers as his mind raced through his choices. The beast tide had finished 4 days back, and he had already harvested 4 rounds of weed crop, each Excellent quality—except yesterday’s. It was Average quality, and now he knew why.
In real life, he’d only feared one thing: poor soil quality. Apparently, the same issue could crop up in the game too. The soil balance had shifted.
In the real world, he used to rotate crops to maintain balance. In general, he would plant fruit after the mainline crops and then low maturity fruit, and so on. That way, he’d maintained and improved his soil balance and kept his land fertile.
Helena, his next-door neighbor, had missed the mark and chased after the high-value crops and ended up f-ing up her land. She not only missed two seasons because of the imbalanced mineral profile, she also had to endure the wrath of the government cause of the low-quality shit she produced.
Even the game seemed to treat soil quality as an important factor. As the weed crop was a leafy crop, it had used too much of the nitrogen from the land. And considering the constant growth of the weed crop for God knew how many years, he suspected the land hardly had any nitrogen left at all. Without crop rotation, he wouldn’t get an Excellent quality crop again, even if he used all the magic he had. His magic simply couldn’t improve the quality of the land.
So, he desperately needed to plant either a batch of fruit or a batch of root crops to let the land replenish its nitrogen. Since the growth cycle of the weed crop was just three to four days without using magic, if he planted two batches of fruit and root crops, it should raise the nitrogen level in the soil in no time.
Jon sighed, a deep sigh of both relief and annoyance. Relief, because he would have to use his brain to get things right. It wouldn’t be just using magic to get a super-crop every time he waved his wand. That was fun at first, but anyone could do that with a druid class. What use was it to be a farmer in real life if he couldn’t use that knowledge here in game? After a couple of times, it wasn’t fun anymore.
The annoyance came because he didn’t have anything but weed seeds or a way to water the land. There was a lake in the vicinity, but it was six miles away from the farms, and he had no way to transfer the water to his farm. The small pond they bathed in was useless for this purpose.
He would have to make a trip to town to fetch some seeds—or get Grimish to go—and get Maggie to work on a water system.
Glancing toward farm #6, he found Grimish harvesting his crops. With Jon’s help, all the players (minus the two his vine had sucked), had produced plenty of weed crop quickly, filling their quota by months.
For all the players in Epic village, he’d implemented a rotation system. Every two days, he would cast Mold Earth on every farm. That alone increased their crop quality to Normal level. For Grimish, Kron, Roth, and Mitch, he cast Mold Earth and Land Heal to increase their crop quality to Good level. This way, he helped them fill their quota two months in advance, and they could sell the remainder in the town, earning money for the future.
The smiles on everyone’s faces told him it worked well.
For his Excellent-level crop, everything went to town, earning him 120 gold for each batch.
Thinking about gold, Maggie had borrowed 50 gold from him to buy a rare temple blueprint. But where was she?
While he waited for her, he checked his character sheet and assigned the spells that had come with level 8. Thanks to his constant use of Mold Earth, it had reached level 4, reducing the spirit strain on his body and deepening the land he could flip with a wave of his hand.
Name: Jon (Level 8)
Class: Arch Druid
Second Class: Formationist
Stats:
Strength 23
Dexterity 10
Constitution 23
Intelligence 6
Wisdom 44
Chance 2
Charisma 4
Health 322/645 (323 reserved)
Stamina 197/395 (10.29/s) (198 reserved)
Mana 30/60 (5.36/S) (30 reserved)
Spirit 220/440 (24.36/s) (220 reserved)
Stat points available: 0
Skill points available: 12
Experience: 34000/34000
Skills:
Passives:
Death Aura
The Circle of Land
Mark of the Formation Master
Formation Painter
Speak with Plants
Mana Manipulation (Level 1)
Land Tasti
ng (Level 2)
Spirit Cycling (Level 8)
Pain Attunement (Level 9)
Formation Painter (Level 2)
Copying (Level 1)
Active:
Mold Earth (Level 4)
Healing Space (Level 3)
Acid Vine (Level 5)
Land Heal (Level 2)
Elemental Shield (Level 1)
Purify (Level 1)
Earth Spike (Level 5)
Conjure Light (Level 1)
Call Lightning (Level 2)
Plant Regeneration (Level 1)
Underground Vine (Level 2) (Disabled)
Vine of Darkness (Disabled)
Vine of Light
Utility Skills:
Perception (Level 1)
After reaching level 8, he had a new tier of spells unlocked, and they all seemed powerful.
One thing he had noticed for his Arch Druid class: the spells that came with it were a mixed bag. They were either utterly useless or completely overpowered. For example, Underground Vine and Call Lightning both had strong effects while Earth Spikes and Elemental Shield were useful in very few situations. But most of them were useful for his profession. Being a farmer, he had use of all those godly spells like Purify, Mold Earth, and so on. He supposed utility depended on perspective. Maybe the battle spells were more important for others.
Glancing at the spells, he had many interesting options available.
Water Wall: Conjure a 10n-foot wall at a target point. The wall can absorb 50n physical damage and halves the fire damage that passes through it. Wall disperses into water after the given time. Time: 1 min. Cost: 200 Spirit.
This spell could solve his water issue. Hopefully. But it would be a quick fix, and he needed a permanent fix. He would have to get the water from the lake to his village somehow.
Dispel Poison: Dispels up to tier 0 poison from the target and heals him for 100 Life. Time: 30 sec. Cost: 300 Spirit.
This looked good too. There was one more he wanted to select.
Earth Mend: Become one with the stone to hide from your enemies. Allows you to pass through stone. The spell can be detected by high-level tracking spells. Time: 10 sec. Cost: 300 Spirit.
This would be an awesome spell for rogues, thieves or assassins, but for some reason he wanted to have this spell in his arsenal.
What should he do? He didn’t want to lose any of the spells, but he couldn’t choose all due to his class restriction. In the end, he chose Water Wall and Dispel Poison as those were the essential spells.
A smile sprouted on his lips as he rechecked his character sheet. He had received Earth Mend as the free spell. The god of fortune had smiled up on him.
A sudden rustling attracted his attention.
“Lord Jon!” Maggie ran toward him, her chest heaving like a machine, breath ragged and clothes tattered, revealing her translucent skin.
Jon arched his brows and jumped to his feet. “Maggie are you all right?”
Maggie grabbed her knees. “Did you...” She wiped at the blood oozing out of the corner of her mouth. “...upgrade the village?”
“No. I was waiting for you.”
Maggie’s curvy body quivered. “God, this is...” Fear rolled in her eyes, and she clutched Jon’s arms.
Chapter 2
Jon pulled a thick brown jacket out of his bag and wrapped it around Maggie. It was soft and comfortable. He had asked Grimish to pick one up for him on his last trip to town, and the bastard had spent 50 silver on it.
Maggie’s face reddened as she stared at her tattered clothes, and then she pulled the jacket closer around her body.
“Thank you,” she said softly.
Jon handed her a small handkerchief.
She quickly wiped the perspiration from her neck and forehead. Something seemed to have gone wrong. A level 30 player didn’t run like a rat if not facing imminent danger. Especially not one who—like Maggie—excelled at defensive spells.
Why did she run here?
“Let’s go inside. Once you’re calmed down, you can tell me what happened.” He pulled a water bag out of his Bag of Holding and handed it to her. Though she should have one of her own, she hadn’t pulled it out. Either she was scared or she’d finished her water on the way back here.
“Those...” Her words caught in her throat as a dust cloud rose in the east.
Glancing through the East Gate, he saw two men sitting on tall war horses, marching toward the village. Wrist-thick metal spears hung on their backs.
As they reached the palisade, they kicked their horses, and the horses jumped over the fence and landed heavily, spraying dust everywhere.
Damn, who were these guys, and how did their horses jump over the fence with such ease? And why the heck did they jump over the fence when they could have used the gate?
A jolt lanced his heart. If any of the monsters he’d faced a few days back had had intelligence or flying ability, he would’ve been done for. He had to increase the fence length.
“Lord Jon, take this,” Maggie whispered, pushing a bunch of old papers into his hand. “Hide it, quick.”
Without another thought, he shoved the papers in his bag.
“Surrender, intruder!” One man roared as their horses closed on them. With red eyes and firm jaws, they pointed their spears at Maggie.
“You can’t run away from us,” the burly one said. He looked fierce and carried an air of authority.
Studying them, Jon’s gaze settled on the red insignias on their light green shirts. They both wore same type of uniform.
When Jon tried to cast perception, a nasty message rebuked him harshly.
“Sir, may I know who you are?” Jon asked respectfully. Since he couldn’t cast perception, these guys were too high level for him. With their matching uniforms, they seemed to be from some kind of guard force. He didn’t want to against a guard force, not at a measly level 8.
Damn that death aura! He cursed inwardly.
The second man, sporting a long mustache, glanced at Jon and then lowered his head a little but stayed on the horse. “Village Lord. We’re the City Imperial guards from Chinari town, and this villager of yours has been caught stealing books from the Imperial Tomb in the Hurricane Empire’s jurisdiction. By the edict of Emperor Juan, I have the authority to cage the convict and deliver the verdict.”
The second guard’s irritating tone and arrogance sent a chill through Jon’s heart. It reminded him of the guards in prison, and they had the scariest personalities.
“Steal?” Glancing at Maggie, he tried to read her, but with her downcast eyes, tattered clothes, and scared expression the guards seemed to have some truth in their words. “What will happen to her now?”
The burly man adjusted his hand on the reins. The horse shrieked; white foam oozed out of the dark brown animal’s mouth. It had run a lot. “She will be charged, and as an Immortal she’ll be imprisoned for six months.”
“Six months? That’s harsh, isn’t it?”
The burly man glared at Jon. “Impudent. If you weren’t a village lord, and this wasn’t your territory, I would’ve killed you for associating with her. Do you even know how grave a crime it is to enter the Imperial Tomb? And now you are obstructing the Imperial Guard.”
So that’s why these guards were respectful to him. A little, but still respectful. Being a village lord definitely had its perks.
Jon shrugged. Though overbearing, he wouldn’t have to fear these guards. “May I know your names please?”
“I’m Jacobson. I’m second-in-command of the 1st company, and this is third-in-command Garret of the 1st company.”
Now Jon cast perception again. It might be a loophole, but once he knew the name of the person his perception on the high-level NPCs or monsters worked.
Jacobson
Level 45 NPC guard
Second-in-command of the 1st company of City Imperial Guards
HP: 8000/14000
Soul Damage status: 10%
O
ther stats disabled due to level difference.
Soul damage status? What was that?
Suddenly, Jon remembered he had two vines that dealt with souls. Vine of Darkness devoured souls, and Vine of Light healed souls.
Maybe he had a way to solve this mess.
“Second-in-command Jacobson. May I ask you a question?”
Jacobson nodded, still carrying an arrogant air.
“Why do you have a damaged soul? Did something happen?”
Jacobson’s face twisted in pain, and his grip on his spear tightened. “How do you know that, village lord?” he asked respectfully, but his voice had a threatening undertone. “Are you a Priest of the Soul Society?” He pulled a red emblem out of his pocket and stared at it. “Hold it, village lord. I must check.”
Jon grabbed the emblem. It remained red, even after a few seconds of holding it tightly.
“No, you are not. Then how can you... Are you from the Continent of...” The guard asked, dumbfounded.
“I have a way to fix it.”
Jacobson’s face burst into a pained smile. “Do you really, village lord? But how?” He blinked, and Jon felt an imperative gaze penetrate through his soul. “Wait, how is this possible? Why can’t I read your character? My royal guard skills are not working.”
So, even the NPCs could cast perception. Interesting. And more than that, his Ring of Darkness worked even on high-level NPCs. That was good. Very good.
“Are you a Priest of the Soul Society?” He paused, tapping on his horse’s neck. “No, that can’t be. Otherwise the emblem would have signaled every guard in the vicinity. And you can’t be from the Continent of Light, as a darkness aura surrounds you. Then what are you?” His brows furrowed.
Jon smirked. The NPC saw that nasty thing shrouding around him—the death aura. “I can help you if you let my villager go.” He glanced at Maggie. By her actions, she had stolen something out of the tomb, yet he would save her because he felt like it. Not for humanity, but for some unknown reason he wasn’t sure of yet.
Jacobson shook his head. “I can’t, village lord. I don’t have that authority, but if you ask the mayor of Chinari, he might be lenient on her. After all, he suffers from the same soul bite.”
“The Mayor?”
“Yes. But if you have a way to cure a damaged soul, he might help you in this matter,” Jacobson said.