by Jez Cajiao
17
Governs stamina and stamina regeneration
STM +70, regen 7pts per 30s
28/100
Intelligence
15
Governs base mana and number of spells able to be learned
+50 mana spell capacity: 7 spells (-20mp due to soul bond)
31/100
Luck
12
Governs overall chance of bonuses
+20%
23/100
Perception
18
Governs ranged damage and chance to spot traps/hidden items
+80% Ranged damage, +18% chance to spot traps/hidden items
47/100
Strength
19
Governs damage with melee weapons and carrying capacity
+9 damage with melee weapons, +90% carrying capacity
54/100
Wisdom
20 (15)
Governs mana regeneration and memory
+100% mana recovery, 2ppm, 100% more likely to remember things
87/100
“Jax?” Oracle said, hesitation clear in her voice.
“Yeah, Oracle?” I answered, my attention still mostly on the screen before me.
“I know you said you want to find Tommy, but what are you going to do after that?”
“Well, I don’t know. He’s been here for five years, so he’ll know what’s going on. Maybe get a job, or something…why, what do you think we should do?” I said, my instinctive reaction to find a job sounding silly, now that I thought about it.
“Well, before I can advise you, Jax, I need to know your plans. We’re in the wilderness. Before the Cataclysm, we were at the edge of the Empire, one of the furthest-flung outposts at the very edge of the Wilds. Your ancestors decreed that this tower be built in order to bring supplies and troops through the portals to begin conquering these lands. With the destruction of the local area, the tower barely survived. This tower could be your refuge; we could rebuild it and begin to bring order to the surrounding lands, or you could abandon it and try to reach the Empire, or whatever has survived of it. I can sense that others have accessed the tower in the centuries I have slept, but I know not who or why. I know little of this world I find myself in, and much will be as new to me as it is to you. You must decide our path before I can advise on our next step. Will you act alone, or do you plan to recruit followers? Will you set out to conquer the Empire and serve as its leader, or‒as many of your ancestors have‒will you leave it to find its own way and instead dedicate yourself to hunting evil and vanquishing it? Others in your position have chosen the path of domination instead, sacrificing all to become the most powerful in the land. Only you can choose, Jax. I will serve you in any way you command.”
She stood there, barely a handful of inches tall, and laid my life out before me. I took a few minutes to think about what I wanted, really wanted, besides to find Tommy. I had magic here, and I wasn’t going to give that up. Just the little taste of power I’d found had me hungering for more. I wanted to stay in this world, for now at least, and I wanted to learn a fuck ton more magic. To do that, I needed somewhere safe to live, or a base to return to at least. I also needed to find somewhere to buy better gear, as well as some beer and more boring supplies. If I was going to start my life over, I had already decided to take the opportunity to be a better man. I’d do my best to be one, anyway, remembering a favorite book from my childhood, where a strong man was advised to tame the darkness inside all men by a hero’s code. I couldn’t remember all of it, but something about ‘protecting the weak from the strong’, and not ‘stealing, lying, or cheating, as those were for lesser men’. I was a realist. I’d never swear not to lie, or cheat. Occasional thievery, well… it depended on the circumstances, and no way was I swearing off seduction. I wanted to aim for a mix of the King in the North and the Cimmerian Barbarian, showing kindness to the weak and protecting them, doing right whenever I could, but also kicking ass when I needed to. Failing that, I would try not to kill too many people that didn’t deserve it, and to hell with the rest of them.
“I don’t know, Oracle, if I’m being honest with you.” I said to her. “I’ll be the best man that I can be, I’ll find Tommy, and then we will look at the world together and see where we want to fit in it. However, if I see injustice, or evil men and creatures preying on the weak, then I’ll deal with it however I can. Beyond that, we will have to see. What do you think we should do?”
“We need to awaken the other wisps, and clear out the SporeMother, yes?” she asked. I nodded, so she continued. “Once that is done, we can set out to search the nearby lands, find the nearest city or town, and go there to find news of Tommy. In the meantime, if we can bring the Tower back online, it can begin repairing itself, building sentinels, and preparing to support you.”
“Whoa, Oracle, stop right there! What the hell is a ‘sentinel,’ and why haven’t you mentioned it before?”
“Well, Jax, the Tower is normally manned by living soldiers of the Empire, but this structure is two miles high. The sheer numbers of servants, builders, and general staff needed are huge. The Tower can maintain its overall structure through its magic, but specific constructions, such as tables, chairs, and glass, are built by craftsmen, and they, in turn, are supplied by Golems. The Tower was designed to maintain an army of various support creations, but over the millennia, they have failed, falling apart due to lack of mana.”
“I thought you and the others purged the Tower of mana when it fell to the SporeMother?”
“Yes, we did, Jax. That also removed the mana that would have maintained the constructs, unfortunately, so it hastened our end as well. My point in all of this, however, is that we also had Sentinels. These were specially constructed warriors, the guardians of the Tower. They are designed to follow the Master’s commands, and cannot act on their own, but if we revived them, they could aid you in your battle with the SporeMother. They were built in the Genesis Chamber below the Tower.”
“Where the third wisp is; damn. Yeah, you mentioned it earlier, and then I got distracted thinking about something else. There’s too much I don’t know!” I took a deep breath and stretched. “Okay, let’s think about this logically. We need to repair and reclaim the Tower. It’s too valuable, and potentially too powerful, to leave in this state. I have you, so I now need to reawaken the wisp at the top of the Tower, then the Genesis Chamber wisp. From there, I can hopefully get some help to deal with the SporeMother, right?” I asked, looking up at Oracle.
“That is correct, Jax. The SporeMother is likely to be in one of the subterranean levels, as far from the light as she can get. Reclaiming the Genesis Chambers will likely cause her to come after you with everything she has, if she’s not emerging already. If we reawaken the wisp at the top of the Tower first, it will be able to tell us more about what is happening inside its walls.”
“How come that wisp can, but you can’t?” I asked curiously.
“That wisp is the Tower’s controller. Where I spent my time cataloging and protecting the magic of the Tower, it spent its time subsumed into the Tower itself. That wisp had very little personality left, being only an extension of the Tower itself. It was able to respond to commands and queries, but was no longer able to think for itself.”
“ Didn’t it have a name? Even amongst yourselves?” I asked.
“Not really. We each have a magical signature, if you will, to identify ourselves to each other, but it relies on senses you don’t have, so to describe its identity to you would be like explaining the taste of yellow. I’m sorry, I just don’t know how to. I’m not trying to be offensive…” She wrung her hands together as she floated before me. I just shrugged and went on, dismissing the issue of names entirely.
“Okay, so we awaken it, take control of the Tower, and it can help us, right?”
“Yes, Jax.”
“And you say it can control the tower, tell what’s going on within its walls an
d such, yeah?”
“Well, yes?”
“Can it alter the Tower at will?” I asked, a plan coming to mind.
“It can; however, it is a slow process, taking many hours for small changes, and days or weeks for larger ones. Growing the Tower took many years.”
“Well, it’s miles high, so I expect it took a fuck ton of power to build. I just want some small changes…”
“Such as?”
“Not fully sure yet, but if it’s possible, it’ll make the fight a hell of a lot easier. Let’s get our gear and head for the top of the Tower. Do you need me to do anything to allow you to come with me, or do you want to stay here?”
“I’ll come with you, Jax! I’ve got some of your mana to sustain me. I’m... uh… sorry about that…” I waved her apology aside and gathered up my gear. Sealing the Hall of Memories behind me, just in case, I set to searching the corpses to find the strongest of those that remained after Bob’s valiant dash into the sunlight. It took a few minutes to put one body together that was mostly intact, taking the legs from one, and an arm and head from another. As I finished, Oracle spoke up again.
“Jax, why are you doing that?”
“The skeleton? I need another minion, Oracle, it can take some hits for me, distract my enemies, and make it easier for me to win a fight; why?” I asked distractedly as I looked over the corpse I’d sort of constructed.
“Yes, I understand that bit, but why are you making it the same way that it was?” I looked at her then, then back down at the corpse at my feet.
“I don’t think I follow; what do you mean?”
“You can control a skeletal minion. It doesn’t have to be human, or more to the point, human shaped….” Oracle looked at me sideways, and I looked back at her, before considering the corpse at my feet. It could have been human, or an elf, or something. I hadn’t thought about it, just assuming it was a human, so when I put it back together, it needed to be the same. She had a point. I’d already found that I could substitute skulls or reattach them. The force that animated the skeleton didn’t seem to care what it had been before; it made my enemies work for me, and the bones stayed together despite some of them having no flesh or muscles to connect them…. Fuck! Facepalm moment!
“You’re saying I can change the shape of the corpse, and give it more arms or legs, aren’t you?” I asked her, chagrined.
“Yes. Jax, it’s your magic and will that matter, not the form.” She looked at me with one perfect eyebrow raised, as though she’d just caught me licking the windows and asking why they didn’t taste of strawberries.
I stood for a while, studying the piles of bleached bones and desiccated flesh, before grabbing some more parts and building a new skeletal minion.
“For now, the bonds that join the bones together will be as weak as normal, but when you have healed enough, there are books on necromancy in my Hall. With that knowledge, you will be able to meld bones, strengthen them, or even add abilities to them. High level Necromancers can even bring forth new life to possess the forms they create, if this is your passion.”
“‘Passion’ is not the word I’d choose, Oracle, definitely not ‘Passion’, but yeah, it seems useful. How is necromancy looked upon here?” I asked as I worked away.
“It is simply another school of magic. Some dislike it, but most people aren’t concerned, as there are good and evil people in all aspects of life. Necromancers are often given certain rules in a city or town, such as leaving the dead to rest, and only using corpses obtained from official channels, such as criminals or those without families to mourn them. Necromancers also allow communion with the dead, so while the use of corpses may be unpopular, the ability to commune with the deceased is highly prized and respected.”
“I bet it is. Hope they’re better than the charlatans back home.” I muttered, pulling the last bits together. I took a deep breath and cast ‘Raise Weak Skeleton’ on the bones I’d laid out on the floor. It took almost double the mana, but as the corpse rose to its feet, I got notifications immediately, as well as a much more robust minion.
Congratulations! You have gained a level in ‘Summon Weak Skeleton.’ More information will be displayed when your skill reaches level ten. Increase this or other Death spells nine more times to reach Level Two in Light Magic.
Congratulations! You have raised your spell ‘Raise Weak Skeleton’ to level two. Once this spell reaches level ten, you may choose its first evolution….
Congratulations! You have raised your spell ‘Raise Weak Skeleton’ to level three. Once this spell reaches level ten, you may choose its first evolution….
Congratulations! You have raised your spell ‘Raise Weak Skeleton’ to level four. Once this spell reaches level ten, you may choose its first evolution….
I dismissed the prompts as soon as I’d read them and grinned at my new tank as he towered over me. I’d used the adventurer’s corpse again. Despite its blackened state, it was still the biggest of them, but now it was the base of the creature. The new minion stood on four legs, like a centaur, with an upper body composed of heavier interlocking ribcages to make it as sturdy as possible. It had four arms in two sets, upper and lower, with the lower pair holding maces, the upper holding swords. It walked unsteadily at first but slowly grew more stable, and I ordered it to spar with me after giving it very specific orders not to harm me. I had visions of it slaughtering me because of a mis-phrased order, but the commands worked well. At first, it was slow and unwieldy. The weapons missed more than they connected, and the feet became entangled, causing it to trip more than once, but after an hour, it seemed much surer of its capabilities. I ordered it to lead the way, and we set off for the upper reaches of the Tower, with Oracle flying alongside me.
It took most of the rest of the afternoon to reach the top. We paused each time we entered a new floor, just in case, before we reached the garden level. I was also constantly funneling half my mana to Jenae as soon as it filled. I’d decided not to let it drop below half while I was exploring, instead using the chance to work on my total. I ordered a halt, both because I was out of breath and needed a break, and because I wanted more alchemy ingredients, food, and water. I scoured the garden outside, but with the sun growing low on the horizon, I decided to cheat slightly, casting ‘Weak Lightning’ at the pool. As soon as the spell had dissipated, I sent my new ‘Bob’ into the water to get me a fish, which I gutted and cleaned before packing it away, and running around picking what ingredients I could. We resumed our run, level after level flashing past, until at last we approached the pinnacle of the Tower.
As we passed the final bend, the top floor came into view and Oracle landed on my shoulder, one hand resting on the top of my head as she guided me.
“The wisp that controlled the tower is in deep hibernation, Jax. I can sense him, but only faintly. He may take badly to the state of his home.”
“Really? Believe me, I’m not exactly fucking ecstatic about it either.” I groaned as we slowed to a walk. Crossing the floor towards the pedestal, I ordered Bob to take up position at the door to the stairs and warn me if anything came.
With aching thighs and heavy breaths, I climbed the last few steps to the throne, which stood before the great windows. My workouts were clearly working, triggering a notification to flash away merrily. I grinned and dismissed it as soon as I read it. Yup, definitely working, but damn, it was a pain in the ass to have to run up and down the stairs constantly.
Congratulations! Through hard work and perseverance, you have increased your Agility by 1 point. Continue to train and learn to increase this further.
I slumped into the throne, wincing as my ass hit hard stone, before examining the wisp mana well that stood by my side. Now that I knew what I was looking at, a prompt appeared instantaneously.
Congratulations! You have found a Wisp mana well. Mana required to reawaken this wisp: 0/400.
I took a deep breath and started to channel my mana into it, draining myself down to ten percent
before sitting back to let my mana recover. I had planned to exercise through the regeneration period again, but after that run up the stairs, I dismissed the idea as madness. Instead, I went into the side room and sorted through my gear bundling up my bedroll to make the throne a bit more comfortable, as well as getting some food out.
I enjoyed the meal, washing down some strong nutty cheese, heavily seeded bread and dried meat with fresh water I summoned, deciding I’d save the fish for tea.
As soon as my mana had refilled fully, I drained it into the well again, then carried all my gear back into the adjacent room and set up a sleeping area before setting off to wander around the floor again. I needed something to do while my mana refilled, and I was bored of exercising.
On a whim, I grabbed my weapons and ordered Bob to move out. I remembered the floor directly below me held several locked doors. I had a lockpicking kit in my gear, so it was time to make the most of it! I explained my plan to Oracle, getting an excited squeak, so we headed down a floor. Bob clattered across the hall to stand at the top of the far set of stairs on lookout, as I investigated the floor properly. I’d barely glanced at it last time I’d come through, and besides trying the doors and finding them locked, I’d never really looked at them twice. The floor had four rooms, with two on either side of the corridor, and no apparent names or signs on them. Apparently, everyone was just supposed to know whose rooms they were.
I picked the first door on my right, crouching down to examine the lock and test the handle again, just in case. Nope, definitely locked.
I pulled out my lockpicking kit, spreading the roll on the floor and sorting through the contents. There were a few training locks, a dozen different picks of various shapes and sizes, and another half dozen levers. I picked up the simplest practice lock. I’d played around with it before, but I had never really tried beyond fiddling. It was encased in clear plastic, letting me see the tumblers as I slipped the pick in. I found I could easily lift a single tumbler up and out of the way, but moving onto another, I’d often shift the lock minutely, causing the one I’d just moved to drop back into place. After a few minutes, I closed my eyes and concentrated on doing it by feel, slowly lifting first one, then another, then the third into place. With the pick holding the third up, I slipped the lever in and slowly twisted……YES! The bolt came loose, and I couldn’t help but grin at the freed lock in my hands. My notifications window started flashing, and I pulled it up, knowing what I’d see…