The Guild Core: The Complete Saga Boxset: A LitRPG Dungeon Adventure

by TJ Reynolds

  The news was grim, and something that should be digested alone.

  Wishing his friend well, Kai decided to keep himself busy by finishing the final task of his ascension. His increases from Crimson 1 to 2 and from 2 to 3 had granted him a single attribute point each time. He’d assigned one attribute point to Intelligence and the other to Wisdom.

  He brought up his Interface once more.

  ___

  Family Name: Kaius Unterinan

  Alias: Kai

  Level: Amber 1

  Elemental Affinity: None

  Accolades: Core Mender

  Attributes:

  Strength - 11 = Base 11

  Dexterity - 10 = Base 8 (+2)

  Constitution - 12 = Base 12

  Intelligence -11 = Base 9 (+2)

  Wisdom -11 = Base 10 (+1)

  Charisma - 7 = Base 7

  Unassigned Attribute Points: 4

  Spells: None

  ___

  4 Attribute points! Kai nearly shouted mentally, but he restrained himself. They could celebrate when it felt appropriate.

  The dungeon surprised him though, his voice filling his mind and sounding nearly as cheerful as before. Congratulations, Kai. The added bonuses to your base attributes will make for an impressive change in your character. Hold off on assigning your points for now, though. There is something I need to show you. Something you can now access at your current ascension and the reason I was so distracted earlier. They were not at all easy to reforge. Look at these, Kai. Aren’t they truly amazing?

  When Ban’s voice cut off, Kai noticed the faint shimmer of four objects forming before him. They were small and nearly flat, each the size of his hand. As the ether materialized, he squinted to make them out. All were the same shape, an irregular diamond with smooth sides and pointed tips. Each was concave, though colored differently from one another. Kai picked up the nearest, a hard, crimson chip of stone, or some other material. It was lighter than it should have been, like a plate of steel joined with a feather.

  “Okay, Ban. I’m interested. They look like flattened gems. What are they?” he asked out loud, lifting the item up to inspect it closer. As he did, he saw an intricate pattern that rippled across its surface. When Ban answered, Kai understood.

  Dragon scales, Kai. Spell Scales, to be precise. One of the oldest traditions of the dragons was how to pass on their knowledge to a younger generation. Learning the complexity of a single spell can take a year or a century. Spell Scales enabled dragons to imbue one of their scales with hard-earned knowledge and pass it on quickly and efficiently.

  Kai blinked at the object with renewed wonder. So it’s a dragon’s version of a skill book, then?

  Just so. Except potentially far more powerful. I’ve searched my memory a thousand and one times over, and I believe I’ve only ever had these. It’s a miracle I recalled them at all. And they can never be replicated! Each Spell Scale was once earned over extensive study. The dragon who gave these up lost the knowledge, and therefore the ability, to perform this spell.

  Feeling grateful and overwhelmed at the vast treasure before him, and not wanting to look a gift turnip in its roots, Kai asked the only question that mattered. How do I use it?

  Turned out, it was a simple enough process.

  Ban explained, Bring up your Etheric Interface, Kai. And when you do, see if you can access a new section for Spells. I’ve only ever seen Yorick do this once, at least that I can recall. When you are there, the rest should be self-explanatory.

  Kai did so, and sure enough, he found a new portion of his Etheric Interface labeled Spells. When he focused on Spells and opened it, he found an image of himself sitting down. His body was positioned as it was now, every surface and angle outlined in bright ether blue. When he moved his arm, he saw that the image in his Spells interface did too. The only real difference besides the burning outline of his form was the shift in perspective. It almost looked as though he was seeing himself in the mirror.

  He noticed a flashing message in the corner of his vision. Activate Spell Scale?

  He mentally prompted Yes, and immediately, the scale in his hand warmed to the touch. The message then read Select Spell Site.

  In the interface, Kai’s forearms were covered in glowing lines, each with the distinct shape of a dragon scale. He counted them and found there were six such locations on each arm.

  Placing the scale on the back of his left forearm, he felt it melt and congeal to his skin. A searing sensation followed that was oddly pleasant. The smell of singed hair filled his nose, and when he opened his eyes, Kai watched as the vermillion scale sank into his skin completely.

  The sheen of the scale remained, though muted by his own skin, and its wave-like pattern and silhouette did as well.

  He’d been branded by the thing!

  The addition of color to his skin was perhaps the most shocking thing of all. It was beautiful!

  Well don’t just stare at it! Get back into your Etheric Interface and read what it does! Ban demanded, his tone indicating he was more excited than impatient.

  Diving into his Etheric Interface once more, Kai again found his Spells menu and pulled it up. A single spell was described in detail at the top of the scroll.

  Flame Dart - A spell of Yugos’ Fire, the Flame Dart condenses ether into a fiery projectile that causes minor damage. Spell damage may be increased by channeling more ether. Cost: 5 AE. Casting Time: Instant. Charged Spell Cost: Up to a maximum of 20 AE. Charging spell takes 2 seconds for each additional AE.

  Speaking from inside his Etheric Interface, Kai shouted his excitement. Ban, can you see this? Not only can I shoot fire, but I can charge it up and blast things. We need to try this tonight!

  I saw the Spell Scale’s description when I absorbed it. What does it feel like to be able to light your fire from a distance? Ban asked, then added quickly, Please don’t try! That was just a joke.

  Kai considered doing so, just to tease the Earth Core. Instead, he turned to the remaining three Spell Scales, and with a great deal more respect—if no less enthusiasm—took up the next.

  Kai assigned each in various places on his forearms. Then he opened his eyes to appreciate their unique markings on his skin. One was a murky black, opalescent and gleaming dully in the flickering light of the fire. Then next was a deep cobalt blue, the color of the ocean at dusk. The final scale seemed to be purple when he peered directly at it, though he noticed its color seemed to shift between blue and green as he moved his arm.

  He then opened his Etheric Interface and read the description of each new spell.

  Shadow Shroud - A spell of Angut’s Abyss, the Shadow Shroud summons a veil of concealing abyss ether. Visibility of all party-members within the shroud is greatly decreased. Sounds produced within the shroud are moderately dampened. Visual concealment is reduced when spell is used in broad daylight or without the addition of cover. Cost: 10 AE. Casting Time: Instant. Duration: 10 minutes.

  Restoring Tide - A spell of Briga’s Water, the Restoring Tide calls upon the healing nature of the ocean’s endless tides. Spell causes minor healing of injuries and a modest restoration of stamina and mental clarity. Spell also stops minor bleeding and may stifle the onset of infection as well. More severe ailments like poison, fever, and serious infection are unaffected. Cost: 20 AE. Casting Time: 60 seconds.

  Confounded Core - A spell of Niama’s Soul, the Confounded Core manipulates the ethereal flow within a target enemy’s core. When the spell takes hold, one or more effects may result: Confusion, a mental state which causes an enemy to attack one of their own; Confounded, an inhibition of ether that prevents the casting of spells or activation of skills. Cost: 20 AE. Casting Time: 15 seconds. Duration: 5 minutes.

  Kai marveled at his newfound powers, and for an experiment, decided to cast Restoring Tide on himself. The spell took a full minute to release, and each second it felt as if his core were filling up with heavy, potent energy. Eventually, his hands began to glow blue, with
the marking on his arm emitting the same color and growing chilly.

  He felt a wave of cold wash over him as the ether spilled out of his core and coursed through his limbs. Every ache in his tired body was suffused with the spell, and soon he felt perfectly healthy, though still in need of a night’s rest.

  That’s insane, Ban! I can heal myself now, Kai exulted.

  An infinitely useful improvement. Ban chuckled, adding, Now I won’t need to stitch you up every time you go and get bitten by a viper.

  The excitement of his new spells lingered, but exhaustion fought to overtake him, so Kai focused on the remaining task for his ascension. Attributes, Ban. What do you think about putting 2 points in Intelligence and 2 in Wisdom?

  I would put most into Intelligence, yes, Ban agreed. It is especially important when you are such a low level. The more Intelligence you have, the more potent your spells are and the greater pool of ether you’ll be able to use. There’s also that little detail about Charisma though. You know that I care deeply for you, Kai, but you’ll be leaving the dungeon soon, and you want people to have an easier time liking you. My recommendations are to put 2 in Charisma and 2 in Intelligence.

  It just seems like I’m spreading my Attributes out too much. Shouldn’t I be focusing primarily on one attribute? And why would I be leaving the dungeon? Kai wondered. I don’t want to stay in here forever, but I’m leveling up so fast.

  Ban hummed in his head, processing Kai’s questions. Well, yes, eventually you’ll focus primarily on one or two attributes. I think it wise, however, to at least achieve an average capacity in all Attributes before truly specializing. When you ascend next, there will be a great shift though. Don’t worry. As to your leaving the dungeon, let’s just leave that for another time. Will you take my recommendation or not?

  Kai simply assigned the points, knowing the dungeon had a much better grasp of such things than he did. Then he returned to his Etheric Interface to scan his spells once more, and he noticed something that he’d skipped right past the first time. It gave him pause. Ban, what’s AE?

  Available Ether. It just tickles me thinking that we both have pools of AE now. I draw upon my Available Ether to create things, and you use yours to do neat tricks.

  Well, if I spend all of my AE, how long does it take to refill?

  Ban hummed, sounding somehow proud of Kai’s question. Look on your Etheric Interface again. It will show you your pool of AE. At your current Intelligence rating of 13, you should have 110 points of AE. Below that, you should find your AE regeneration rate.

  Kai looked in his interface where Ban had indicated and frowned. Only 20 AE per hour? 110 points sounded like a large reserve, but when he considered the cost of some of his spells and how dismal his AE regeneration was, he felt rather restricted. It would take nearly six hours to restore his fully depleted AE reserve.

  I know, that doesn’t sound like much, Ban agreed, but that will allow you to drain your entire store of ether more than twice in a day. There are also herbs and other items that can enhance your regeneration rate. Don’t worry, Kai, you’ve chosen well.

  Rather than concentrating on his limitations, Kai decided to focus on his gains. Nodding to himself, Kai opened his eyes and activated Flame Dart. He grinned savagely, lifted his hand, and just like he’d intuitively known how to use weapons after reading the skill books, he launched a fiery bolt of ether at the wall.

  It scorched the stone in a flash of crimson. A tiny pocket of the stone was blasted away.

  Kai ignored Ban’s protests as the night waned. As soon as the dungeon smoothed over the burnt patch of wall, Kai launched another bolt to throw him off. It was all the entertainment Kai needed to relax after the ordeal of his ascension. Finally, Kai stopped annoying his friend, lay down on his pallet, and embraced sleep with all the enthusiasm of a soldier freshly returned from a victorious battle.

  There was another talk coming, Kai knew. The questions raised by his vision were daunting, hinting at mysteries neither of them could fetter out. But that would come another day.

  At the moment, Kai simply needed to rest.

  20

  To Be Thy Adam

  Bancroft

  While Kai had been occupied with ascension, and again during the long night while he slept, Ban had thought to build a small room lower in his dungeon.

  At first, Ban had wanted to make a brand-new room, but then he remembered the long-collapsed tunnels that branched off of the passageway that led to his core chamber. One branch used to lead to his master’s wine cellar, filled both with spirits and elegant vintages.

  That must be what had caused much of the destruction during the fire and made the tunnel collapse in the first place.

  Ban thought it clever to slay three heroes in a single trap, as they say, and dug out the old tunnel to forge himself an experimental monster lab.

  Having a solid list of distractions proved comforting. Of course, Ban thought of that odd meeting between the three elder dragons Ban had once hosted in this very same dungeon. Why they asked Yorick to lie to Ban, where they’d gone, what ‘sacred task’ the four were about, he might never know.

  So rather than mull over the myriad possibilities of his master’s final days, Ban fell to the tasks he considered sacred: making his dungeon divine.

  He began a dozen or so feet back from the opening of the collapsed tunnels. Kai was busy resting, and the crash of stone and scree might disturb him. The work was even quicker than eating away the depths of the mountain because the space was riddled with pockets of air. What took him much longer, however, was filling, strengthening, and reinforcing the collapsed ceiling with clean and respectable stonework.

  It was with great joy that Ban discovered not everything had been destroyed. Fragments of some of the old spirit kegs had been delicious rubble to consume. They also jogged his memory on how to create with ash, cedar, and oak wood.

  Broken glass was another treat. It tasted like nothing, more of a texture than a flavor really, but the chandelier that Ban had been dreaming of would be much more elegant with a proper application of this new material.

  A few gold and silver coins, likely fallen after the thieving Brintoshi savages took the better part of his master’s hoard, made their way into his ever-growing vault of material designs.

  By now, Ban had converted much of his Intermediate Material to Advanced Material. Consuming the remains of an old suit of armor and several decorative, though masterfully crafted, weapons increased his reserves even more.

  All of these finds had Ban’s core twinkling with delight. Though when he discovered the chest, a small but significant find considering it had survived the fire entirely, everything changed.

  The chest was simple oak and its bindings were iron.

  Nothing unusual about the item presented itself until Ban discovered the series of runes marking the chest’s lid. He would need to spend considerable time studying the runes, perhaps even craft a few items with the symbols in order to decipher their use.

  The chest was also covered in a sticky pitch. Rather than act as an accelerant, Ban sensed the resin resisted flame. After consuming it, he knew it to be called ‘Blizzard Sage Resin’.

  Within, Ban found a pouch filled with an assortment of gemstones. A ruby the size of a quail’s egg took the prize in Ban’s opinion, but the others were of equal beauty. Nine in all, each of a different variety. These, I’ll be sure to show Kai. He’ll love them. For safe keeping, however, why don’t I see how they taste.

  When Ban consumed them, he noted they were unique items, like the skill books and the Spell Scales. He could summon the stones once more, but only once. Perhaps they have magical properties then! Ban conjectured excitedly.

  Moving on to the other contents of the box, Ban found a handful of gold coins and another metal. It was more pale than silver, almost white, and when he absorbed it, he remembered its name. Platinum! My, aren’t we getting rich.

  Finally, Ban fell to consuming the scroll tha
t remained. Wanting to enjoy the moment, Ban began by nibbling a corner. Parchment was a simple yet utilitarian substance. Countless individual fibers of some plant had been threshed for its making.

  The taste of the ink intrigued him, stirring old memories of absorbing Yorick’s discarded letters. His dragon knew the value of communication to society and the importance of a well-crafted letter. They’d spent hours together at night, playing with words and phrases. Oh, and let’s not get started on poetry! I really should give it a go again soon. Few in this world can spin out a quatrain quite like I can. And I’m not boasting, no. Even Yorick used to say as much.

  As Ban finished the scroll, he froze. The nature of the information it held changed everything. He quickly recreated it, laying it flat on the dungeon floor to allow him to gaze in wonder. The image was familiar. He’d seen this before, the entire continent laid out in the lines and features of a proper map. Yet what stoked his passion and filled his heart to bursting were the names.

  They were everywhere, over a hundred, dotting the mountains mostly, but sprawling out to every corner of the world. As he read them, memories flashed in his mind, times with Yorick or with those who had come to visit.

  What is this? Ban wondered, his emotions pouring through his core like never before. How many? And how much pain? He wanted to cry. The questions, he knew, were unanswerable. The knowledge he had stumbled upon had ignited every fiber of his soul.

  All of them, or most I should think, shivvered as I was. Oh, Briga save them! Then he knew the god could do nothing. Gods were not of this world. But men and dragons and Earth Cores were!

  I can’t just sit here and gawk then, there’s much to do! How else am I to be prepared in time?