“Random? I can’t control who the second target is?” I asked.
“Unfortunately no,” the Goddess Issara answered. “Just be glad that the Holy energy you are imbuing in the lightning guides it to seek out your enemies or your companions could be injured instead.”
“Yeah, striking only enemies is a very good thing,” I said, nodding my agreement as well. It also solved the problem of ‘Boar Charge’ hitting everything in its area of effect, friends included. For a moment, an image of lightning striking Rose flashed through my head followed by her beating the tar out of me.
“Last one,” the Goddess Issara said, holding out the final scroll.
Scroll of Lesser Holy Blast – Teaches the spell ‘Lesser Holy Blast’
Would you like to learn ‘Lesser Holy Blast’
Yes
No
I mentally pressed ‘Yes’ again.
You’ve learned the Holy spell ‘Lesser Holy Blast’
Lesser Holy Blast
Level: 1
Experience: 0.00%
Spell Damage: 100-110 Cone: 30⁰
Spell Cast Speed: Instant Cooldown: 10 seconds Range: 5 yards
Spell Mana Cost: 300
Spell Effect (Active): Unleash a blast of holy bolts piercing everything within 30⁰ in the direction of the spell cast increasing physical damage received by 100 for 5-seconds.
I was already thinking about how to mix ‘Lesser Holy Blast’ with ‘Beginner Holy Fire’ into my basic attack rotation. It was very tempting to cackle madly, but the fact my Goddess was there made me think it wasn’t such a good idea.
“Excellent,” the Goddess Issara said, the rest of the Justice Shop vanished leaving just the Goddess Issara and me. “Now, you said you and your companions will be going to the ‘Endless Savanna’, correct?”
“Yes, that is the plan. We can supposedly find a grootslang there for the next step in constructing my spear,” I said.
“Be careful with that. A grootslang is not to be trifled with easily,” the Goddess Issara warned me. “But that is not what I wanted to talk about. The ‘Endless Savanna’ is a good province for you specifically. There is a great deal of injustice there, an excellent place for me to give you class quests, starting with this one.”
Class Quest Alert: Endless Savanna or Endless Injustice?
The Endless Savanna is a place where law and order hold little sway despite Orishas pantheon claiming the province as their home. Gain access to the Bazaar of Beasts and the Temple of the Orishas.
Reward: Experience, 5-Sigils of the Goddess Issara
Do you accept this Quest?
Yes
No
I accepted.
“It will not be easy for you to gain access to the Bazaar of Beasts. I hope I do not need to tell you that sneaking in or deceiving the people to gain access to the town is unacceptable. You must earn their trust. I also hope that I do not need to tell you that time is of the essence and I cannot give you further class quests related to the province until you have the support of the people,” the Goddess Issara added. “Now, I have already stayed far too long with you. Be safe.”
I didn’t have the chance to say anything before I was back outside the doors to the inner cloister, dozens of guards staring at me. I gave them all a friendly wave and ran away. I didn’t want to deal with any hero worship or whatever else the guards might come up with.
Next stop, library. I promised Rose I would wait for her there if I finished first.
Chapter 6
It was kind of nice to see Sirac again. The Snakeman librarian appeared to be in good spirits and even seemed pleased to see me, though admittedly his facial expressions were difficult to read. After talking to him and catching up on library gossip, he informed me of his promotion by the Root City Association of Librarians. It was in part thanks to my contributions last month. With some direction from the Goddess Issara, I had uncovered the secret of reading the information of the World Tree portals, information I shared with Sirac. Of course, he rewarded me quite nicely with blueprints for the fourth iteration of my Spear of Gungnir.
Anyway, after catching up with him for a few minutes, he provided me with a few books. To start, ‘Provinces of the World Tree: Volume II’ was just as much light reading as ‘Volume I’ was. This book provided information on provinces ranked Level 15-30. It gave details like the Root addresses, all of which were between the Fifth Ring and the First Ring, right up to the trunk. He also provided me a book specifically about the ‘Endless Savanna’ called the ‘Never Ending Hunt’. According to Sirac, the province was highly prized by the Hunter’s Union for the wide variety of beasts that roamed the expansive province. Sirac also forced a book on me called ‘Extreme Outdoorsman’. He said if I planned to survive in the ‘Endless Savanna’ then I would need it.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to provide any books on Chaos. When I asked why not, Sirac informed me that such books were restricted and that I would need someone with a lot of pull in the Royal Court to be able to gain access. I was quietly cursing myself for faking Mardi’s . . . Marie’s death. I was sure the former Duchess would have been able to get me access otherwise. I made a mental note that I needed to stop thinking of the former Duchess as anything but Marie Tuesday, a Paladin of the Goddess Mardi.
“What about in your private collection?” I asked desperately. I needed something . . . some information.
“Hmm, now that is an interesting idea,” Sirac said, hissing oddly. I think it was a chuckle. “But, the things in my private collection are not free. I cannot just give them to anyone.”
“How much?” I asked. It was never far to a World Tree Bank and I had plenty of money.
Sirac sneered. “Money? You offer me money? How insulting!”
“Sorry, sorry, I’m desperate. What can I do for you? How can I earn such knowledge?” I asked, hoping he wasn’t too insulted.
Sirac’s tongue jutted in and out several times, showing he was agitated. “I can taste your fear . . . and honesty. I suppose we might still come to an arrangement. Perhaps . . . you would like to exchange the blueprint you won from me last month?”
“I can’t do that,” I said instantly.
“Oh, why not? You could not have possibly found any of the other pieces,” Sirac said condescendingly.
“But I have,” I said, taking my spear from my bag and presenting it to the Snakeman.
“Impossible,” Sirac whisper hissed, a single hand gliding over the spear but not touching it.
“Nothing is impossible,” I said. “So, as you can see, I cannot exchange it. But I do need the knowledge.”
“Hmm,” Sirac hummed. “Very well, I want the story.”
“What story?” I asked, not sure what story he was talking about.
“I want the story of your spear. I want the story of how you found the first blueprint, the materials, the blacksmith, same for the second blueprint and any others you have found,” Sirac elaborated.
Quest Alert: Story of the Spear of Legend Reborn 1
Librarian Sirac is willing to trade you something from his private vault, something that might help you research Chaos, in exchange for the story of your Spear of Gungnir
Reward: Experience, ‘Lore’ Experience, Item from Librarian Sirac’s Private Collection
Do you accept this Quest?
Yes
No
“Very well,” I said, agreeing to his terms.
“Good, please provide me the written story as soon as possible. I cannot wait to read such an epic tale,” Sirac said, smiling . . . I think he was smiling. “I hope you tell a good tale. It would be disappointing otherwise.”
Professional Challenge: Lore and Writing in Combination
Journeyman Librarian Sirac Massif has presented you with a challenge only someone with the profession of Lore and Writing could possibly complete.
Reward: ‘Lore’ Experience, ‘Writing’ Experience, Experience
Will you take up t
his Challenge?
Yes
No
Not that I would have refused the challenge, but I needed to ask, “Can’t I just tell you the story?”
“No, I have work to do. And when I do have free time, I would rather be reading than listening to your horrible voice, it is very unpleasant to my delicate hearing,” Sirac replied.
That wasn’t very helpful. “Fine,” I said accepting the challenge, “but it might need to wait until after I finish whatever I need to do in the ‘Endless Savanna’.”
“That is fine. It will give me time to finish this wonderful epic I just began, ‘Aeternus of Terra by Grey Stone’. It is quite enjoyable,” Sirac replied.
“Alright, thanks,” I said. If I couldn’t get a book immediately from him regarding Chaos, then there must be something else that I would find useful. After a moment of thought, I remembered my other enemy. Bushy Bunny, Jinn Sade, or whatever she was calling herself now. She was some kind of Demon. Surely Sirac would be able to provide me some reading on Demons.
And that was it. The last book I was able to get out of him, provided I finished the book on the provinces before I left the library. ‘Demonology: A History of Fear’ was the recommended reading. I figured it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have some knowledge of Demons just in case I ran into Bushy Bunny again. Especially if it gave me a subskill in ‘Lore’ granting me some kind of advantage when fighting demons. Plus, it would give me something to read on the side if I had time. Books in hand, he shooed me away.
Sitting down to wait for Rose, I had barely cracked open ‘Provinces of the World Tree: Volume II’ when two arms stealthily wrapped around me from behind, scaring me half to death and making me dive over the desk, escaping the hands that tried to capture. Back on my feet with my spear at the ready I was looking around for an attacker. Instead, I found the culprit giggling uncontrollably.
“Ha, ha, very funny, Rose,” I said to my girlfriend, trying to get my now rapid heartbeat and the flush of embarrassment creeping up my neck under control.
“It so is,” Rose said through her laughter until a ‘Sshh’ hissed from the front desk.
“Ssorry, Ssirac,” Rose hissed to the Snakeman.
“Forgive me, I did not know it wass you, Misss Rosse,” Sirac hissed in return. I wasn’t sure how I felt about Rose receiving such preferential treatment. On the other hand, I was usually the one receiving such treatment due to my connection to my own Goddess, so I suppose I shouldn’t really complain.
“I’m going to see about finding some reading material,” Rose said, kissing me on the cheek as a way of apologizing for startling me. I watched her walk away, her hips swaying as she made her way over to Sirac to begin a hissed conversation with him. I probably stared after her too long, but could you really blame me?
I could only shake my head and will the remaining flush in my cheeks to fade. I was way too jumpy, I kept expecting Chaos to suddenly appear and attack. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying desperately to calm down. As for Rose, I would get her back for that later. For the moment, I needed to focus on the book.
‘Provinces of the World Tree: Volume II’ was exactly like ‘Volume I’. It listed a province, gave a brief description of the province then gave the Root address, the location of the portal in Root City, specifically the ring, compass direction, and district number. I didn’t count the number of provinces, but I guessed there were well over a hundred, at least as many as ‘Volume I’ listed, maybe more. I thought it was a good idea that the number of provinces increased as levels increased. As players got nearer the level cap, if there even was a level cap, the player population would grow larger and larger at the higher levels, having the content to support such a large high-level population would be imperative to the success of World Tree Online.
Anyway, it didn’t take much more than an hour and a half to finish the book. It was somewhat comforting to see the all too familiar wall of text noting stat gains. Gaining +6-Intellect and +7-Wisdom was a very welcome sight, it seemed the boon the God Ivaldi had awarded my friends and I was already paying dividends. It was a boon that was well deserved after the God Ivaldi messed with my stat gain experience. Prior to the new boon, I would have been lucky to gain even one point to either of those stats after an hour of reading. Still, the boon was only good to the level 20’s cap of 300 points of Intellect and 200 points of Wisdom, and I was still more than a hundred points from both of those level 20 caps for the two stats.
Nice as the stats were, the most important notification was the update to my subskill.
Your subskill ‘Provincial Portals I’ has evolved to ‘Provincial Portals II’
Lore II
Level: 37
Experience: 12.14%
Professional Skill: Lore is the study of the history of the World Tree and its denizens.
Subskill: Provincial Portals II
Your knowledge of World Tree portals magic, mythos and science has granted you the ability to read the portals for destination information up to recommended levels 1-30. Chance to glean additional information: 13.70%
It was exactly what I was looking for. And I had the book on the ‘Endless Savanna’ province to read, hopefully before leaving Root City. It would depend on how much extra time I had tonight or tomorrow morning.
“I’m ready to go,” I said to Rose, she was sitting across from me with her own book open. A glance at the spine told me it was ‘The Hasty Enchanter’.
“Okay,” Rose replied with a smile, closing the book and slipping it into her bag.
I returned the ‘Provinces of the World Tree: Volume II’ to Sirac on the way out of the library, leaving me with the three books I would work through slowly over the next week before they were automatically teleported back to the library.
“What’s ‘The Hasty Enchanter’ about?” I asked as soon as we stepped out of the library. I guessed it was either some kind of warning about not rushing enchantments or maybe just the opposite.
“It’s supposed to teach me to enchant faster,” Rose answered. “Enchanting is very time consuming. It can take hours to enchant just one item. I’m trying to find a way to go faster.”
“Is that why you still haven’t enchanted anything for any of us?” I asked.
“Partly,” Rose answered, wincing a little as I reminded her. It was something I had been pestering her about for nearly two months. “The other part is that the enchantments I currently know are mostly Vampiric. Somehow, I ended up evolving my ‘Enchanting’ professional skill to ‘Vampiric Enchanting’. It makes them all kind of dark magic related.”
“Which doesn’t react well with holy or nature magic,” I said. Basically, as my magic was Holy, the Dark magic of her enchantments would probably react badly with me. Same for Baby’s Nature magic, though probably not as bad.
“More or less,” Rose replied. “I have a few enchantments I could use for you . . . but, they are pretty bad. For example, I have a few crafting enchantments that are considered neutral. Things like ‘Improved Needlework’ for ‘Tailoring’ and ‘Leatherworking’, or ‘Hot Hands’ for ‘Cooking’. Nothing for ‘Writing’ or ‘Drawing’ unfortunately.”
“Just how is ‘Hot Hands’ related to ‘Cooking’?” I asked with a chortle at the name of the enchantment.
“I didn’t know either, but when I asked Micaela, she said it dealt with baking or kneading dough or something like that,” Rose answered, adding her own laugh when she answered.
“So what have you got for yourself?” I asked.
“I just got a new ‘Enhance Drain’ enchantment from the Goddess Lilith,” Rose answered excitedly. “I spent all 30 sigils on it, but it was totally worth it. I’ll be spending the next few weeks applying it to every inch of my armor and shields that I can.”
“What does it do?” I asked. I still didn’t know much about the ‘Enchanting’ profession and how it worked. All I knew was that it applied various effects, things like ‘add fire damage’, ‘add fire res
istance’, or as she said before, ‘Improved Needlework’. I didn’t know much about the actual application of the profession. I assumed that whatever I read on the forums was at least half filled with lies.
“It increases any ‘Draining’ effect or spell I use, spells like my ‘Drain Magic’ and ‘Drain Life’ but more importantly, it works with my ‘Exsanguination’ spell. Anyway, for each completed enchanting formula I add to my equipment, it adds +1 to any ‘Drain’ effect,” Rose answered.
“How does that work?” I asked. That sounded unbelievably over-powered to me.
“Okay, each time I place the enchanting formula on the item I’m enchanting, it gains that effect. So, if I can place the same formula ten times, then that item will get plus ten to that effect,” Rose explained. “Unfortunately, chainmail is almost impossible to enchant. The rings or links are just too small to hold a full formula. But, with the Dark Fired Chainmail armor I got from the God Ivaldi, there are plenty of plate surfaces to fit the formula on.”
“Is that still considered chainmail?” I asked.
“Yes, even with the few thin plates covering my vitals, the majority of the armor is still chainmail,” Rose answered. “I’m not far off from having enough strength to equip light plate armor.”
“So, how many formulae do you think you’ll be able to enchant?” I asked.
“With my current skill, I should be able to add around twenty formulae, maybe more. The armor, maybe one or two per plate,” Rose said.
“Okay, and if you are able to get a stronger version later, would you be able to replace the enchantments?” I asked.
World Tree Online- the Endless Savanna- 3rd Dive Page 10