“Tring.”
[You have been randomly awarded the ability Earth Essence.]
[Earth essence: cost ***- ability to infuse MP with earth essence. Level 1-0%]
Ash had gotten what he wanted but he was curious as to what the other ability was since it had not appeared in his books. In truth, the ability Earth Essence alone was nearly useless. Anyone could use it to strengthen magical armor or weapons but it really showed its use when you used it alongside mana manipulation. Ash could already use mana manipulation to attack with though it wasn’t very effective.
Now that he had Earth Essence Ash wanted to try it. First Ash used his MP manipulation to create a long spear of mana then infused it with earth essence. The MP manipulation cost Ash twenty MP while adding earth essence on top it cost another forty for a total of sixty. Though it was expensive it would allow him to attack in a number of unexpected ways.
Still excited, Ash continued to hunt gnomes until he once again heard the welcomed “Tring.” Sound.
[You have reached the absorption level for gnome. Abilities available; Infuse Earth (active).]
“Tring.”
[You have been randomly awarded the ability Infuse Earth (active).]
[Infuse Earth-cost ***- infuse earth with magical energy to strength and control it. Level 1-0%]
Ash placed his hand on the ground and tried to reproduce the gnome’s wall earlier. Suddenly a thin wall of earth shot up from the ground. Ash struck the wall with his sword and just like with the gnome’s wall it only let a thin mark on the dirt wall. Checking his MP Ash noticed that the wall had cost him fifty-three MP. It seemed that as long as he had MP to use then he could freely control the earth.
“Ready to go?” Ash asked Shina with a bright smile.
Shina yawned slightly and nodded her head. Laughing, Ash walked to the boss’s room and placed his hand on the plaque and warped outside to find that the sun was still up. It wasn’t until he was halfway home that he noticed that the position of the sun was off. It wasn’t that he had finished before the sun set, it was that he had stayed in the labyrinth for a full day.
“Master,” a loud yell sounded when Ash neared his house. Looking up as he tried to keep his eyes open he noticed that Allice was running toward him with a relived expression on her face. “We were worried when you didn’t come home,” Yuki said with slightly reddened eyes.
“I am fine,” Ash said as Allice wrapped in a tight hug. Reaching down he patted her soft hair lightly. “I just got caught up a little when I was fighting. Sorry if I worried you.”
Though Ash was tired, he knew that if he went straight to sleep his sleeping pattern would be completely thrown off so the only option was to force himself to stay awake. After taking a long bath and putting on new clothes, Ash drank three potions to restore his stamina and MP.
Though everyone else had already eaten, Gilda prepared something for Ash. Not only did Gilda bring food, she also brought in a strong bitter drink that helped wake him up though it did make him slightly jittery.
After eating, Ash left the house though Shina stayed behind. It looked like Shina was going to succumb to sleep instead of fighting to stay awake. Ash thought about ordering Gilda to keep her awake, but he felt that was being a little too evil.
Ash headed straight for the city exit so that he could try out his new abilities and see if they could be put to use on building the fort. Just like a few days before, the people were working hard to cut down trees and pull up stumps. Even though Ash could cut down trees extremely fast, anyone could do that work the main problem was the lack of people on stump removal. Walking up to the first stump, Ash placed his hand on the ground and started to try and force the stump out of the ground. After three tries with no result Ash looked around until he found the young earth mage that was working on stump removal.
“Master mage,” Ash called out drawing the young man’s attention.
“Lord Hawkwing, did you need something?” the mage asked with a slight bow.
“Yes I was just wondering just how you remove the stumps from the ground.”
“Well first I sense the area around the stump and loosen the ground around the stumps roots the push up at the bottom of them stump until it comes free. My masters say that it is good experience in learning to increase my control over magic, but after the first few it just becomes monotonous.”
“I bet it is, but both I and the duchess are very appreciative of your hard work,” Ash said with a slight smile before leaving.
With the new insights he had gained, Ash returned to the previous stump and tried again. Just as the mage had suggested Ash spread his magical power into the earth and tried to find the roots of the tree. It was much easier than he had though since it felt like a void to him since only the roots and large rocks escaped his new power. Once he had a rough idea where all the roots were he started to loosen the ground around them while urging the ground directly under the stump up.
Unlike when the young mage did it, the stump didn’t pop out of the ground like a piece of wood on water, but it did slowly come free and after more than a half hour of work Ash could pull it free from its earthly confines.
The overall cost of removing one stump cost one hundred and thirty MP. Far more than what the mage had said it cost him when Ash had asked him a week before. Ash believed a lot of that had to do with inexperience in using the ability and could only hope that the more he did it the less MP he would use.
Ash was able to pull six more stumps free before he had used up too much of his MP to be willing to try again. The last stump had taken him only eighty MP and only a quarter of an hour to pull free.
Even when he was finished, the sun was still only slightly past its midpoint in the sky yet Ash was having trouble keeping his eyes open. As he stumbled toward the town entrance a chorus of shouts drew his attention. When Ash saw a horde of children running toward him, he didn’t know if he should laugh or cry.
“Lord Ash, play with us,” one of the younger kids yelled out.
Though he was tired, Ash ended up playing with the kids for a little over an hour before he was able to take a break. Taking a rest under the shade of one of the buildings, Ash was amazed at how much energy the young had.
“Lord Hawkwing, the children have taken quite a liking to you,” Den said taking a seat right next to Ash.
“That is just because they haven’t had to start fighting yet,” Ash said laughing.
“I don’t think you really understand,” Den said shaking his head. “These kids don’t have anyone to look out for them. In a way you are like a parent to them. They are still young, but as they grow I am sure they will fully embrace the knight’s code.”
As Ash thought of the knight’s code, he stood up and walked a few feet away from the buildings and placed his hand on the ground. Suddenly a small wall about six foot high, four foot wide and about a foot thick erupted in front of Ash. Shortly after the wall was made, deep words started to appear on it. It took most of his remaining MP but when he was finished the knight’s code shone brightly on the small mural. “Now every day the knight’s code will be greet them each morning.”
After the sun had started to set, Ash finally stumbled home and quickly fell asleep.
7-12
The next day Ash woke slightly later than usual. There wasn’t much planned for today but after spending so much time in the labyrinth the day before, Ash wasn’t in much of a rush to go in again since he had already achieved his goal. Ash decided instead to visit Emelia and see if any new news had come in.
Since he was in no rush, Ash took his time walking through the city. With everything that was going on lately He hadn’t had the chance to have much time to shop lately.
Ash stopped in a few stores, but none of them had anything that he really needed or wanted. It wasn’t until Ash was in the fourth store that he noticed the emblems that were put out for show. Looking down at his own guild emblem, Ash remembered that he had just advanced from novi
ce to intermediate which required him to get a new badge. Walking up to the counter, Ash quickly ordered a new emblem and quickly replaced his old one as soon as it was purchased.
Most people reached the intermediate rank in the professions so having a silver emblem wasn’t anything to brag about, but it was still much better than having a copper one. The real mark of excellence was having a gold emblem signifying that one had reached the master stage of their occupation. Even someone who belonged to a weak guild wouldn’t be looked down upon if he reached such a high level since it was not an easy thing to do. The higher one’s level, the more experience needed to reach the next level and yet the amount of experience that one received from killing monsters of a higher level didn’t increase much. From what he understood, Ash needed more than ten million experience to reach his next level, even if he were to kill a monster twice his level, it wouldn’t be enough to automatically reach the next level. Sighing after thinking about the large hurdle to reach level sixty so he could get his next job advancement, Ash left the small stone and continued to look around the large market area.
Other than the large stores, every day there were a number of traveling merchants that would open up stalls as well as adventurer stores that sold rare goods that changed depending on what was brought in and sold to them. Ash spent most of his time looking through the adventurer store inventory though most of it was items that he had no idea how to use or things that he couldn’t use. Thinking that he was just wasting his time, Ash turned to leave when his eyes caught the sight of a small set of rings placed in a small case off in the corner.
None of the rings looked very presentable as they all had a dull look as if they hadn’t been properly cared for. Ash picked up one ring after another reading their description as they came into his mind. All the ones he picked up so far had weak effects such as +1 to strength. It wasn’t until he picked up the sixth ring that Ash got a welcomed surprise.
[Superior mana ring: increase mana by 10%.]
“Sir may I help you?” A wizened old man asked in a businesslike manner.
“Yes I was wondering how much this ring costs?” Ash asked as he held onto the ring tightly.
“Let me see,” the man said, looking at the ring then at the box where Ash had got it from. “This box of rings were obtained from an old adventurer’s estate after his death. The family wishes to sell his belongings quickly. Most the items we have on sale today belonged to him. If you wish to purchase the ring, I am sorry to say that much must purchase the entire box. There are a total of thirty-two rings that the man has acquired during his life. We haven’t had a chance to have them appraised yet so we are selling the box as a whole for the cost of thirty-five silver.” When Ash didn’t respond, the man quickly went on. “I know it sounds like a large sum for such old rings but there is always a chance to find a diamond in the rough.”
“It is true that many of the rings are quite cheap and need maintenance, but this ring alone is worth far more than the asking price,” Ash replied honestly.
“Is that so lord,” the old man said. “Do you happen to have the appraise ability?”
“Something like that,” Ash replied. “You said that the money will go to the adventurer’s family. How much from the sale will they receive?”
“Since it is a commissioned sale the store will receive 10% from the sale of the items and the rest will go directly to the family my lord.”
Ash pulled out five gold coins from his inventory and handed it over to the store owner. It was far more than the asking price but from what he could tell wasn’t even half the price of the single ring in his hand. “I will take the rings,” Ash said pushing the gold into the man’s hand.
Ash quickly picked up the box of rings and left the store heading straight for Emelia’s manor so that he could look over his spoils. He put on the mana ring on so that he wouldn’t lose track of it and after he checked a ring he put it in his inventory.
Most of the rings were ordinary and other than the mana ring, none of them really had much of a use to him, but both Shina and Yuki could use a few of them. Even the weaker ones could be used since one could wear a ring on each finger without problems.
Ash was so absorbed in looking at his new ring that he didn’t notice until he reached the manor gate that something was amiss. Not only did the gate guard seem a little out of sorts, but as soon as he entered the manor proper he found it filled with a number of knights and nobles all talking in hushed whispers among each other. Even though they were talking in hushed tones, it wasn’t hard for him to pick up the meaning of most of the conversations. It seemed that there had been a rather large pitched battle along the western duchy border.
Hearing the news, Ash couldn’t help but turn slightly white as he quickly found one of the maids to find out where his wife was. It wasn’t hard to find Emelia as she was in one of the lower meeting rooms with a gathering of the higher nobles and more trusted knights.
When Ash walked in, Emelia just gave him a weak smile, but she didn’t stop to welcome him. It seemed that more than fifty knights had crossed the border and attacked one of the smaller barons killing a number of people before being forced to retreat.
They had expected some small battles, but a group of fifty knights was far outside what they had expected. It seemed from what everyone was saying that the war would start much faster than expected.
Not having any experience with war, Ash took a seat in the back of the room while the others talked. Many of the nobles wanted to launch a counterattack, but Emelia strongly refused otherwise it would be harder to claim that the attacks had come unprovoked when talking with the king. From the way Emelia was talking, it was obvious that not only did she want to win the war, but to win it while being able to claim freedom from the kingdom.
Ash knew that she had mentioned something like that when they had talked a few days before, but he never expected that it would be her main goal. Listening to her now, it was clear what her goal was. Ash thought it was pushing a little too far and from how the other nobles and knights were acting, they were thinking the same.
After more than two hours, Emelia had laid out her plans and given out strict orders. All the knights in the Duchy would guard the border with the exception of the ones currently training the new squires outside of the capital. At the same time all nobles were to send troops to the border to help protect the duchy. It would give them a ready force and show a strong front which Emelia hoped would keep the other duchies from starting the war as quickly. Every day that passed without war breaking out was one more day for them to prepare and build fortifications.
Once everyone had left Emelia slumped down in a chair next to Ash and placed her head on his shoulder. “Do you think we are doing the right thing?” Emelia asked in a weak voice.
“I don’t know,” Ash said though his mind was screaming something different. “You just have to do what feels right.”
When Emelia didn’t say anything for a long time Ash took a deep breath. “Do you think I should head for the border as well?”
Emelia jerked her head up and looked at Ash with fearful eyes. “Not yet,” Emelia said hastily. “I don’t want you to go at all, but at least wait until the war truly starts.”
“Ok, I will wait for now,” Ash said with a warm smile. “But sooner or later, I will have to go.”
“I know, just don’t mention it too often,” Emelia replied weakly. “Every time I think about you in danger, my heart feels like it is going to stop beating. Even if we lose the war you have to promise to come back to me.” Emelia said with pleading eyes.
“I promise.”
Though it was still early, Emelia and Ash took a small break in the back garden away from the other nobles. With the fighting already starting, the moments they would have alone would become harder and harder to find.
After their short getaway, Emelia returned to meeting with nobles while Ash met with the knights so that he could give out the new orders. Just as they
had planned, Ash would be the face of the knights while she would be for the nobles. Ash might not have any experience with war, but knights tended to listen to other fighters more than they did nobles, even if the noble happened to be one that they had sworn their allegiance to.
Name: Ash
Level: 35
Experience needed for next level: 10,118,220
Race: Human/Demon 70/30
Occupation: Intermediate Gambler
Title: Novice Slayer
Blessings: Blessing of the Reaper
HP: 1400/1400
MP 1320/1320
SP 267/267
Strength: 72 (+10) (+2) (+1) (+10) (+194)
Vitality: 75 (+3) (+202)
Agility: 49 (+9) (+5) (+132)
Stamina 71 (+5) (+191)
Spirit 36 (+10) (+97)
Intelligence: 65 (+175)
Endurance: 38 (+10) (+1) (+2) (+102)
Luck: 225 (+999) (+1)
Abilities
Passive:
Devil’s Luck: 500% bonus to luck.
Fleet Foot: +10 to agility. Max
Wolf Eyes: See in the dark. Level Max
Mining: Ability to use a pick to extract ore from hidden locations. Able to tell where mining locations are located. Level 2: 23%
Poison Resistance: level 2-81%: 10% poison resistance.
Grave Domain: Damage resistance to whole body with the exception of the head increased by 10%.
Spider Senses: able to detect prey that is up to three levels higher within a 200 foot radius. Able to sense hostile intent within a 100 foot radius. Level max%.
[Fire Resistance: 15% fire resistance. Level 3-2%.]
[Natural Armor (small). When fighting your skin acts as a natural armor blocking 10% of physical damage. Level: max.]
[Frost Resistance: 10% resistance to frost damage. Level 2-25%.]
Reborn: Knight's Code Page 9