by Dante King
Empire Builder 2
Breed, Populate, Conquer
Dante King
Copyright © 2021 by Dante King
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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Contents
Contents
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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
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Chapter 1
Ben cradled the unrefined mana crystal in the palm of his hand and concentrated, practicing what Melody had taught him.
“That’s it,” Melody said. She sat across from him on the top floor of the tower, leaning forward excitedly. “Stay focused.”
The sun shone through the transparent glass ceiling, and Ben adjusted his position to stop himself from getting too hot. They were way up in the stratosphere, right at the tower’s zenith. It was the best place for this kind of work.
After some experimentation, they’d found that Ben could use Healing Touch – the spell he’d drained from Lexi the hawkwoman – to refine mana crystals. He could have used Melody’s wand, and he had used it for his first few attempts at refining, but he found that he was more effective when using the Healing Touch spell to remove impurities.
Using the healing spell, Ben channeled his mana and focused the energy on the cloudy white crystal in front of him. Bright golden energy flowed out of his fingers and into the crystal, breaking the substance down and sloughing off the white slag.
“You’ve done well learning how to refine mana crystals,” Melody said, watching him intently from the other side of the marble table. “You’ve only been practicing for ten days, and you’ve already come this far. Only a few magic users in the Arcanarium could boast such an impressive rate of improvement.”
“Has it really been only ten days since we killed those mages?” Ben asked. “It feels like longer than that.”
“You have accomplished much in that time,” the catgirl said, twirling a lock of purple hair. Her tail swished idly behind her.
“That’s true,” Ben agreed. He was working constantly on trying to improve his mastery of spells and other skills that were necessary in this new world. Refining mana crystals was one of those skills.
The mana crystal shrunk as Ben refined it. It came from a gravel ghoul that Ben had summoned and then slain for its crystal. It was essentially recycling, since he had to spend mana to produce the monster, which he then recovered using the crystal. Some mana was lost in the process, but it was worth it to acquire this new ability.
“There, that does it.” Ben sat back in satisfaction as Melody inspected the newly refined crystal.
“Perfect,” she remarked. “You’re getting faster too.”
“Still not as fast as you are with a wand,” Ben said. When he had used Melody’s wand, he was much slower. It seemed that, whatever magical item or spell was used, the supernatural laws that governed this world required a long and dedicated process to master them.
Melody scooped up the wand sitting beside her with her tail, absent-mindedly twirling it near her shoulder. “You can’t help that. We all received extensive training in such skills at the Arcanarium.”
Melody was one of the lucky beastkin born with noble blood, which granted her entrance to the prestigious academy of magic in the capital of the Xurian Realm, the Arcanarium.
“So if you can refine those crystals using your wand, does that mean you have a spell like Healing Touch too?” Ben asked.
The catgirl sat back with a claw to her chin, thinking. Her position amplified the swell of her large bosom, which was barely restrained by a top at least one size too small for her. Her fur clad fingers, tipped with claws, were a telltale sign of her beastkin origins, which she did nothing to hide now when they were alone in the tower.
“When we refine crystals using our wands, we are not using the same spell that you acquired from Lexi,” Melody explained. “I’m not sure how best to explain it. I think the way we channel mana through a wand allows it to refine these crystals without the use of a spell.”
“Will I ever be able to use a wand as effectively as you?” Ben asked.
“It’s possible. As with using a sword, this requires much training. Perhaps you will need to find a master to instruct you in using a wand. As we’ve seen, my abilities to teach are not particularly special. I could show you a little, but only the basics.”
“Maybe I can find an old master in the dungeons,” Ben reflected aloud. They’d been delving in the dungeons for the past week, and had recovered certain relics of his former strength there, but none that unleashed the masters of power he had locked up in there before his defeat, eons ago.
“Training you would be much easier if you had your own wand, crafted to synchronize with your unique magical signature.” Melody gave Ben a cheeky grin as she pointed out the obvious.
“Strange that the mages didn’t have wands on them,” Ben said. “We could’ve used those. Can’t be that hard to retool a wand that’s already been made.”
Melody tilted her head to the side, as if she’d considered his suggestion and found it wanting.
“That’s not the best idea. Sure, you can use wands that have already been made. But it’s far better to craft your own. That way, it’s fully tuned into your magical essence. Not to mention, there’s always a risk of mages leaving magical traps in their wands. Most are very possessive of their wands and would rather them blow up and take their would-be thief with them rather than let them be stolen.”
“Makes sense. Still weird that they didn’t have any wands on them. I mean, how did they replenish their mana?”
“There’s a very good chance that mages like them didn’t bother to refine their own mana. Some feel the refining process is…beneath them. Mana potions are expensive, but for a mage with money, potions allow them to avoid spending time on refinement. Not to mention, using potions instead of refinement is a way for mages to show off their wealth.”
“Not even mages are above stupid status games.”
“Some mages seem more concerned with status than magic.”
Ben sighed, thinking it all over. “I’ll have to stick with a sword for now,” Ben acknowledged.
“You’re improving with the sword very quickly,” Melody said, her gaze shifting to the wall behind Ben, where his scimitar glinted in the ample light of the tower’s zenith.
Ben turned to look at the weapon. The scimitar he’d recovered leaned against the wall of the round room containing the elevator shaft. He’d taken th
e scimitar from a mountain ogre he’d killed when he first reached this world, and he’d been using it ever since.
“Sir Gallant the Elder is a good teacher,” Ben said. “But I can’t help feeling I’m progressing too slowly. I need to find that swordmaster in the dungeons.”
The vision he’d had when he first touched the scimitar – of an old swordmaster beckoning to him – still dogged him. He still had many tasks to accomplish as ruler, even before expanding his borders beyond the tower he had recovered.
There was, of course, the matter of the other towers, like his own - save for their colors. But that was a problem too big to deal with at the present, so he pushed it aside for now, focusing on the moment, as he had done countless times in the past ten days since the giant structures had first appeared.
Ben’s stomach growled. “I wonder when the nymphs will be ready with lunch,” he mused.
“It shouldn’t be too long,” Melody said. “It was good of them to take care of the meal while you train up here.”
“It certainly was,” Ben agreed. “I’m famished now though.”
“Not as hungry as our prisoners in the cells under the tower, I imagine.” Melody grinned slyly.
“No doubt you’re right,” Ben said. He could see the catgirl was gaining satisfaction from the suffering these mages were experiencing. He, on the other hand, wasn’t sure how to think about them.
It wasn’t as if the mages were innocent, by any stretch. But ever since Melody had brought him to this world to take his place as the Forgotten Ruler, she had been guiding him in a direction that struck him as morally dubious. Only a few weeks ago, he would have balked at the idea of personally imprisoning two people. But then he had never come face-to-face with murderers and slavers like these mages. If he were back on Earth, he might have called the police and let them deal with it. But in this world? In his tower? He was judge, jury, and—if Melody got her way—executioner.
There was a bloodthirsty streak in this catgirl. But it was not sadistic, nor was it without justification; she believed in exacting vengeance on those who truly deserved it. In fact, if Ben were being honest, this tendency of hers could prove useful in his quest to rebuild the Empire of the Forgotten Ruler. Ben was starting to see how Melody’s peculiar brand of justice ultimately served his people better. All the same, it took some time for him to get used to.
Melody cut into his thoughts. “When will you be paying a visit to our prisoners?” she asked him, not for the first time.
“Soon,” Ben assured her. “Maybe today. I just needed time to work out how to deal with them.”
“And how will you deal with them?” Melody asked, suppressing an eager smile.
“I will question them; I need to know what they know.”
“Just questioning?” Melody asked.
“Yes, just questioning,” Ben insisted. “Uzax probably deserves worse, but I’m not prepared to make that sort of decision just yet.”
“Uzax definitely deserves worse,” Melody retorted, her bright purple eyes flashing.
“I will see about that,” Ben placated her. “With Lexi I’m not so sure. She doesn’t seem like the others. That’s why I have to question them.”
Lexi had not seemed as comfortable with barbarous cruelty as Uzax, the vicious Pyromancer, and Adremor, the Force Mage, whom Ben had been forced to incinerate with a fireball. It was a pity in some ways. He would have loved to drain whatever telekinesis spell Adremor was using and take it for himself, but when the mage had cast a death curse, threatening to level the tower, he’d been left with no choice.
“You have other reasons for questioning the mages too, of course.” Melody gestured toward the southern wall of the tower, where they could see the tops of four giant towers like his own in the distance.
Ben nodded. “I have to find out what they know. If someone has recovered my relics and managed to activate them, it could be very serious. Who the hell could be behind something like this?”
Melody gave the matter a few moments’ thought. “It would have to be an organization of great power. And not only that, it would be an organization that desired even more power. It’s quite possible that the Xurian Realm is pulling the strings.”
Now it was Ben’s turn to give the situation some thought.
Ben had recovered a great relic from the dungeons, which had produced this tower. But then four other towers had appeared just ten days ago. Ben had assumed that he was the only one who was able to activate his relics. But it appeared that wasn’t the case. Somehow, someone had found the relics and worked out how to activate them. Had they preserved a portion of the Forgotten Ruler’s corpse and used that? If so, Melody didn’t know anything about it.
Ben brooded as he turned his gaze from the four towers in the distance to the garden surrounding him and Melody on this top floor. Vinata, the forest nymph whom they’d rescued from the mountain ogres, had been busy beautifying the tower according to her tastes.
With the help of Lulu, the water nymph, who’d created a constant supply of fresh water on the upper levels, Vinata had planted all manner of trees, shrubs, and flowering ground cover throughout the top level.
Imogen, the mountain nymph, had filled the garden with sculptures as well, some of them statues of beasts or warriors, fair maidens or terrible warlocks. Other sculptures formed gothic archways, henges, and other monuments. In the very center of the garden, she had created a statue of a regal warrior, his sword held high. A fountain, powered by Lulu’s arts, gushed from the tip of the sword, spraying the surroundings in a liberal waterfall.
Vines clung to the glass ceiling above, drooping their tendrils to meet the tops of carefully manicured trees. Bushes sprouted up all around them, some trimmed to resemble great beasts. Horses, rhinoceroses, great cats, and some animals Ben didn’t recognize, kept vigil in this chamber, so full of life.
Ben was fairly sure they were nothing more than bushes, but he did sometimes get the distinct impression they were looking at him. Vinata had always been vague about the limits of her forest magic.
As Ben returned to his work, refining the mana crystal, he wiped sweat from his brow. The top of the tower reached into the stratosphere, where the clouds provided no shade. The sun streamed in through the glass roof, creating a humid, almost tropical atmosphere inside the crown.
Ben finished refining the last mana crystal. It was his second for the day and the process was noticeably faster than when he’d first started.
As he extracted the last of the impurities, the glass door of the elevator room behind them opened with a soft hiss.
“At last,” Ben exclaimed. “I’m properly hungry now.”
Melody smiled and shook her head. “I hope you won’t be eating our children,” she said with a laugh.
Ben turned to see who was coming through the doors. It was Pearl and Nipper, the children who’d hatched from eggs produced by Ben’s union with Melody.
They’d both grown in the last few days, as they’d been delving the dungeons with Ben. Nipper’s stone armor was hardening, to the point where he could nearly use himself as a battering ram. Pearl’s claws were long and sharp enough to rake the intestines out of any foes made of flesh.
Both cat children were licking their lips in satisfaction as they bounded across the rooftop garden toward them, Nipper on four legs, and Pearl on two.
“You got to eat before us, did you?” Ben asked, a note of dissatisfaction in his voice. “After all the monster corpses you’ve devoured in those dungeons, you don’t even need the scraps they’re giving you in the kitchens.”
Both children looked at Ben with innocent eyes as he spoke, before running to Melody to greet her affectionately.
“Don’t give me that innocent look,” Ben said. “I know it’s all a ruse.”
Nipper turned to Ben and stared at him with wide purple eyes. Then he snapped his jaws at Ben’s hand, his giant saber teeth slicing the air an inch away from Ben’s hand, living up to his name. The nip
ping wasn’t so cute anymore, given Nipper’s size, but he never made contact now; he was careful not to actually bite anyone in the tower. The monsters in the dungeons, however, hadn’t fared so well.
Ben scratched under Nipper’s chin, the one spot that wasn’t covered in stony armor, as Melody simply laughed at their banter.
When Pearl also turned to rub herself against Ben like he was a scratching pole, he too had to laugh. He couldn’t stay mad at his new family for long.
“Well, if you two have been fed, our food shouldn’t be much longer in coming,” Ben remarked.
Melody’s tail swished as Ben said that. She tried but failed to suppress a growl from her stomach. “I must confess, I’m getting quite hungry myself.”
“I really should find a way of allowing us to communicate with the nymphs in the kitchen from here,” Ben mused aloud. “That elevator is fast, but I still don’t feel like traveling all the way to the bottom of the tower just to find out what they’re doing.”
“I’m sure you’ll find a way to do that,” Melody said. “You’ll just have to explore the tower controls a bit more.”
The tower allowed Ben to control many of the rooms remotely, and to communicate from a distance, but he had to be inside the control room on the ground floor to do it. That was something he would have to change before long.
“That project can wait for now, though,” Melody said, looking at the doors behind them as they opened again with a hiss. “Here comes Vinata. You can ask her yourself about dinner.”
Ben turned to see Vinata walking through the open elevator doors. The brown-skinned, green-haired dryad, clad in a leafy bikini, approached the bushes by the fountain, every dainty step carefully placed. She moved through her garden with ease, as if she were being carried along by the breeze.
“You look lovely today, Vinata,” Ben remarked, suppressing one hunger as another was awakened by the sight of the graceful wood nymph.
Vinata’s cheeks turned a slightly darker shade of brown. “Thank you, Ben. Lunch will be here shortly.”