by Sean Oswald
As had always been the case, while studying a spell to learn it, he had not sensed any passage of time. A quick glance out the window showed that the sun was only just at the horizon. He couldn’t help but wonder if he had somehow been able to learn this spell faster because it built upon another spell he knew or because of his increased Intelligence. Either way, he was grateful it took less than the full three hours. Then he looked at the notification:
Congratulations, you have learned the spell:
Mass Lesser Enlarge
Base chance of learning spell: 50% + 50% (bonus for Intelligence), -20% (highest tier of spell usable by reader), +30% for knowing similar lower Tier spell = 110% success chance. Net result was a 10% reduction in time necessary to learn the spell.
His hands were shaking now due to his excitement. If his theory panned out, he was just one cast of a spell away from gaining access to his own class. This of course prompted him to review the spell description.
Mass Lesser Enlarge: Increase the size of three inanimate objects/or living beings +1 per 5 levels over the minimum necessary to learn this spell. Inanimate objects are increased by up to 150% in all dimensions. Living beings are increased by up to 75% in all dimensions. Duration for inanimate objects is 2 hours +10 min/level, but that duration is divided amongst the number of objects enlarged. Duration for living beings is 6 ticks+ 1/level, but that duration is divided amongst the number of creatures enlarged.
Mana: 150 + 50/object or living being affected
Cast time: 3 ticks
Wow. With this, he could form his own elite squad. He ran the numbers briefly and realized that if it was cast on the minimum number of creatures, it would have a duration of just over 15 ticks, or a minute and a half. So, while it might not be a long-term battle spell, it would certainly create a devastating force for brief assaults. He chuckled a bit thinking about enlarging Rak’kar. The already powerful fighter would become an engine of destruction. Anyway, enough of that. He needed to test this outside and once again, as he tried to put on his britches, shirt, and boots, he felt completely clumsy due to nervousness.
Once he was finally dressed, he gathered up the rest of his gear and snuck out. Emily had rolled over a couple of times, but fortunately, she was a heavy sleeper, and he didn’t want to disturb her until it was necessary. As soon as he walked out the front door, he was greeted by two guards, one elf and one human. They both looked fresh so hopefully that meant that they had just come on duty.
“Good morning, and thank you for safeguarding my family,” Dave said.
He was greeted with a silent bow from the elf and a fist-to-chest salute as the human guard said, “Proud to serve.”
“Well, I need to test out a new spell. I promise that it will be perfectly harmless, but I have to cast it on three targets. I will be one of the targets, and if you both are agreeable, you will be the others. The spell will simply enlarge you for about a minute and a half. It will feel weird to grow that large, but it won’t hurt you. I have used a Tier 1 version of this spell on myself dozens of times. So what do you say?” Dave asked.
The two guards looked at each other, and Dave sensed they felt trapped.
“Certainly, Consort. We live to serve,” the elven guard replied after the moment passed.
“Well step away from the house a bit, so we don’t risk damaging it as we grow,” Dave said Both men were quick to take two steps away as he started casting the spell. Once finished, he felt the familiar growth of muscles and bones just to a slightly greater degree but could tell that both the men were unaccustomed to this, and while he didn’t want to be callous to what they were experiencing, he only had eyes for the notification that just popped up.
Congratulations! You have mastered the final core skill of an Arcane Dreadnought by casting a Tier 3 or greater Shaping spell.
In Eloria, classes are not easily earned, all have significant benefits and equally weighty requirements. Each class has seven ranks known as tiers.
Class offered: Arcane Dreadnought (Epic) - Tier 1
Class Benefits: Combine INT and CON when determining Health and Mana, Combine WIS and END when determining Health/Mana Regeneration and Stamina Points/regen. Self-targeted Shaping and Abjuration Spells cost 50% less mana and have a 50% increased duration. +5 to CON/END/INT/WIS
Class Restrictions: Must keep Heavy Armor skill as high as highest magic school. Only gain class benefits while wearing heavy armor.
Class Purpose: A magic based tank proving that there is nothing a sword can do that a spell can’t do better
* * *
You have now met the requirements to gain the epic class: Arcane Dreadnought.
Do you wish to accept this class? Y/N
Dave would have screamed inside his own head if he could have and couldn’t click the Yes option fast enough. He was immediately greeted by the permanent stat bonuses to the four stats and felt not only his mind expand but also his body’s durability.
Congratulations! You have now gained the class: Arcane Dreadnought.
As an epic class you have gained 5000 XP.
Ding! You have gained levels 26, 27, 28, 29.
Stat Points Gained: 16
Total Stat Points Available: 16
Character Points Gained: 250Total Character Points Available: 322
Total XP: 15,839XP to Next: 281
The urge to shout his victory from the rooftops was almost overwhelming, or at least to run inside and wake up Emily and the kids to tell them. There was one more part of his experiment that he needed to conduct. Dave reached down and pulled out the vambraces which were part of his scale mail armor and slid them on one at a time, pushing up the sleeves of his shirt as he did.
As soon as the first one was on, he felt an immediate surge and then tingling throughout his body, but he persisted in putting the second one on. Once they were both in place, he checked the notification that he received:
Heavy armor being worn: Class stat pooling effect active.
That of course prompted him to check his character sheet. Wearing his back up health ring, since Jackson had his primary one, his new stats were impressive. The increase was made even more dramatic by his zone bonus, which didn’t seem to show up on his base stat page even though he could very clearly feel the difference. Maybe it would display on his Ruler Interface, but it wasn’t worth worrying about now.
Base Stats:
CONSTITUTION: 30
Health: 1060 (80)
Regen Rate: 3.0/hour
Fury: 9
Regen Rate: 3.0/hour
ENDURANCE: 30
Stamina: 15.6
Regen Rate: 5.2/hour
Needed Rest: -52%
INTELLIGENCE: 55
Mana: 1150 (300)
Spell Damage: +110%
Wisdom: 22
Mana Regen Rate: 960 (405)/hour
Faith: 8.1
Regen Rate: 2.7/hour
Once again, he wanted to beat his chest and roar out a cry of defiance. With all of these bonuses stacked, he was a veritable monster, and that wasn’t even considering if he enlarged. He had points to spend, though, and decisions to make. The sun was now well up over the horizon, and the level of activity in the town was increasing. He needed to go inside and wake the family so they would have time for breakfast before today’s dungeon dive. Truthfully, he was still a bit giddy that wearing just the vambraces met his class’s requirement to wear heavy armor in order to get full benefits. It almost felt like an exploit.
No sooner had that thought crossed Dave’s mind, than he got another notification.
Congratulations! You have achieved a fundamental understanding. Eloria is more than a world. Eloria is a system to be worked. There are rules to be followed, and yet, for every rule there is a way to bend or sometimes even break that rule.
Eloria is conflict, and sometimes that conflict is with Eloria itself.
Reward: +3 Luck, +3 Wisdom
After weeks of feeling inadequate, Dave had final
ly turned the corner, and now it was like everything was coming up aces. He couldn’t help but feel like he was well on his way to being OP.
Nervous energy was coursing through him as he walked into the house. He found Sara already awake and snuggling with her giant bunny. The fluffy creature didn’t follow her around the same way that Krinnk did, but whenever her newest “friend” was around, Sara was almost certain to be snuggled up into its fur.
After saying good morning to Sara, Dave went around and woke up everyone else, ending with Emily so that he could give her a kiss as she woke. He wanted to be able to share his excitement with her but knew that she needed time to be alert in the morning, so after making sure she was stirring, he gave her a gentle kiss and headed over to the mess tent to get her a cup of kaf. Never cared for the stuff himself, but she loved it, and so the cooks had taken to preparing large batches of it every morning and even trying to ensure that there was a bit available throughout the day.
Dave tried to use the time that he spent walking back and forth from the mess tent to review his stats and assign the 16 points that he had received on top of the eight he already had from leveling up after fighting the ogres. Normally, he might have wanted to take more time, but given that they were going into the dungeon today, he felt that he shouldn’t hold onto any resources. At least he tried. He couldn’t to make it thirty paces without a villager asking him something. Dave found himself growing annoyed by it all but did his best to rein it in. He had promised Emily that they would be different, kinder rulers. Yet there was this voice in the back of his head. Look at me. This class simply proves how far beyond these people I am. It is fitting that I should rule over them.
He made it back with Emily’s mug of kaf laden with cream and honey; sugar was prohibitively expensive in this world.
She gave him the biggest smile and quickly grabbed the mug from his hands. “Thank you so much. I don’t think I could have handled today without this.” Then after she took a big drink, she said, “Still not Starbucks, but I’m getting used to it.”
“Are you awake enough? I have something I want to tell you, if you are,” Dave said.
“I guess so,” Emily said groggily. As she took a better look at Dave, she added, “Looks like somebody is excited, so tell me.” She set her kaf down on the nightstand and placed her hands on Dave’s thighs, peering into his eyes and ensuring he knew that he had her full attention.
“I got it,” Dave said. He watched as first confusion and then understanding passed across Emily’s face.
“Honey, I’m so happy for you. I know this has been bothering you. No, don’t deny it. I know you too well. You have tried to hide it, maybe even from yourself, but now you don’t have to. Tell me all about it,” Emily said with vibrant enthusiasm.
“It worked just like I had hoped. The final requirement was casting a Tier 3 Shaping spell, and it’s even better than I had anticipated. Even without my main health ring, I have nearly 1100 health and over 1100 mana. I was able to meet the heavy armor requirement by wearing just these vambraces.” Dave ran his hands along his armored forearms as he spoke. “Eloria also deemed that to be exploiting the system and rewarded me with an extra +3 to Luck and Wisdom, which is pretty cool in and of itself.”
“I seem to remember you were always talking about trying to find exploits for some of your games. Honestly, I always thought it was silly babbling and tuned you out, but it makes more sense to me now,” Emily said. When she saw Dave’s crestfallen expression, she added, “Sorry.”
Too excited to be distracted for long, Dave went on to explain about how much he leveled up as well as how close he was to Tier 4 now. Then he asked, “So any thoughts on how I should spend these 16 points before we go to the dungeon today? I think I’m going to save my character points, at least for now, because who knows what I will be able to use them for once I hit Tier 4.”
“So on the one hand, I know you want to increase your spell power with Intelligence, but from what you told me, you still use your sword a fair amount. You might want to put some points into Strength. Oh, and I guess since we are both leaders now, we won’t be able to completely skip Charism,” Emily said thoughtfully.
As Dave listened to her, he felt a grin growing on his face. “Someone better check because I think hell may have frozen over.”
“What? What are you talking about? And why do you have that goofy grin on your face?” Emily asked, perplexed.
Dave just laughed, “Don’t you remember what you said?”
“No, what are you talking about?”
“You told me hell would freeze over before you ever wanted to talk about game stats with me,” Dave couldn’t help but laugh.
“Fine fine, but this isn’t the same thing. This is our life now,” Emily said.
“Whatever you have to tell yourself,” Dave said, still laughing.
“You’re lucky you’re so handsome, or I wouldn’t keep you around,” Emily said with a coy smile. Their discussion devolved because Dave started tickling her, and she lost all control laughing. It took a while till they made it out of their room and to the mess tent. On the way there, Emily was trying to fix her disheveled hair, and Dave couldn’t stop grinning. They kept looking at one another, and Dave thought that though leveling was awesome, his wife’s love was a many splendored thing even after all this time.
Fortunately, Mira had taken the initiative to get the kids over to breakfast. Well, that or Balayria had. Either way, they were waiting for Dave and Emily when they got there. Dave filled them all in on his class. In response, Sara hugged him and kissed his cheek and Jackson high-fived him. The most amusing response was Mira’s, “Good job, Dad,” said through a grimace and crossed arms. Dave didn’t need to ask what was the matter since he had heard her harrumph when he reported his new Intelligence score.
“Mira, I know you aren’t going to be happy, but you won’t be able to go on this dungeon dive. We only have six spots, and right now they are going to me, your mom, your brother, Baron Eikhorn, the royal mage, and Daichi,” Dave said as he braced for the predicted outburst.
“Why does he get to go if I don’t?”
“You would know the answer as well as I if you took the time to think about it logically. Your brother only have a limited time here with us to level up whereas you will continue to have access to the dungeon.” Dave just stared at Mira until she finally lowered her eyes while mumbling, “Fine.”
At that moment, Ozakai and Morganthal came up to their table, walking side by side before coming to a stop with bows and salutes. The two men looked at each other before Ozakai took the lead. “Lady Emiri and Baron Murkwood, the platform has been set up as you instructed next to the sacred ash. Whenever you give the word, we can assemble all but the wall guards and scouts to hear your words this morning.”
Since Ozakai had been the one to speak, Emily answered him, “Thank you Ozakai. Your service as always is exemplary, and yours also Sir Morganthal. Please assemble the people at the platform one hour from now. Daylight is burning.”
Both men seemed to be a bit confused by the expression, but neither chose to say anything about it, and instead bowed. Ozakai said, “It shall be as you say.”
Shortly after that, soldiers started announcing that everyone was to be at the church of Shanelle next to the new sacred ash tree in one hour for an announcement from the lord and lady. Acting like he didn’t hear any of the scurrying going on around him was easier than Dave thought it might be. He just somehow felt like he was above them. No matter how hard he slapped that thought down, it formed in his head every time.
He reached into his bag of holding and pulled out a small wooden box and set it on the table. Taking the lid off of the box, he turned the box over and out spilled something like 50 little wooden rectangles. Picking one of the pieces up, he showed the kids and Emily what it was.
Sara squealed, “Dominoes!”
Dave smiled and said, “Yes, I thought about all the chaos we have had in our lives
recently, and if this is going to be our last day together for a while, I wanted to try to do something mundane. Something that isn’t about life and death or levels. Something that isn’t about goblin armies or storing up food for winter. All those things have to happen, but for the next hour, I want us just to be a family playing a game together.”
Mira and Jackson looked at him with blank expressions, but at least they weren’t groaning. Emily smiled and nodded as she said, “This was a good idea, Dave.”
It took a while to get the teenagers into it, but soon the familiarity of doing something simple from earth swept them up into it, and they all had fun. An hour ended up flying by faster than any of them wanted, but it was still the first truly fun thing they had done as a family since arriving in Eloria, and with Jackson leaving the next day, none of them knew when their next chance would be.
Once the majority of the town was assembled, Dave, Emily, the kids, assorted leaders from each of the churches, and the elven community climbed up the hastily built platform raised up five feet off the ground. It was just big enough for them to be able to speak to the crowd of nearly 2000. The sacred ash tree had grown another sixty feet overnight, and now towered over the crowd gathered in its shade.
“Thank you for coming together like this,” Dave said as he stepped up to the front of the platform. One of the druids had cast a spell to allow Dave’s voice to carry. He realized he was going to need to learn it if he was going to be addressing a growing community.
“I want to speak to you about our town and how it is coming together as well as tell you about some of the challenges that we face moving forward.” Dave then proceeded to give building updates from the ruler interface. He tried to highlight the town’s growth but did not shy away from pointing out their needs.