by Ivan Kal
Well, that was unexpected, Morgan thought, but he didn’t dwell on the development as he didn’t have the time. A few paces from him one of the goblin chieftains managed to climb up the wall and started swinging its large two-handed hammer, crushing a militiaman. Ves stepped forward and the red aura left her. A moment later, her bear spirit was on the wall and it fell on the chieftain. The goblin tried to swing at the bear, but it smashed one of its paws into the hammer, sending it flying off the wall, before its giant maw opened and closed around the goblin chieftain’s head. The bear raised the goblin in the air and swung its head from side to side, ripping its head off and sending the body flying away.
Then the bear fell on the few other goblins that had managed to get up on the wall, with Ves following behind.
Morgan turned back to the field just as a ball of fire flew over his head and landed somewhere in the town. The goblin shamans had joined the fight. Morgan saw them standing some distance from the walls with their staffs raised above their heads and casting their spells.
“Madock!” Morgan yelled out. The guard captain turned to look at Morgan and he pointed to the town. “Get those water teams on that!”
Madock, covered in blood and grime, nodded and walked off the wall.
Morgan took aim with one of his energy arrows and let it fly. Without drop, the arrow flew straight as a bullet and punched through one of the shaman’s throats. The others stopped their casting as they realized that they were in danger, but before they could move away, Morgan killed one more of them.
The remaining shamans raised their staffs and sent bolts of fire flying at the wall.
Morgan and the rest of the archers were forced to crouch and hide behind the ramparts as the balls of fire hit. In the lull before their second casting Morgan stood up and fired at them again, but now they were paying attention and had moved out of the way.
On the other side of the wall, Morgan could see Lucius fighting the last chieftain. And just as his class name implied, the Roman danced around the goblin chieftain as he inflicted wounds on him, all the while staying out of the reach of the chieftain’s long sword. In the blink of an eye, Lucius had stepped in and put a short sword through the chieftain’s throat.
Then, as he looked over the battlefield, Morgan noticed a large group of goblins moving around the palisade.
“Vall!” Morgan yelled out at the half-elf. “They are trying to flank us!”
They didn’t have enough people to man the entire length of the wall, and it looked like the goblins were smart enough to realize that. Vall looked at the group and then rounded up some of his militia before running over to protect that side of the wall.
Morgan sent a few more exploding-decaying arrows, creating short-lived clouds of dark aura which weakened the goblins.
Another two chieftains rushed at the wall, one of them carrying two large battle axes and the other a massive stone-head mace. The shamans were preparing to cast something, and Morgan knew that they couldn’t hold out for much longer.
The four of them had been doing a lot of work; it was because of them that the wall had survived for so long. They had lost almost half of their militia, and there were still around three hundred goblins out there. But by now every goblin in the army was on the field in front of Terbon, meaning now was the moment to execute his plan.
“Switch to binding arrows!” Morgan ordered the archers as he too grabbed one of the Binding Arrows from the basket in front of him. They started firing them blindly into the goblins, and roots exploded from impact points, rooting the goblins in place. Morgan aimed for the chieftains and managed to root them as well, but he could already see that they were cutting into the roots to free themselves.
Then as Morgan thought that they had fired as many of those as they needed, he issued new orders. “Switch to fire arrows—throw the dust bombs!” Morgan yelled out.
The archers switched to the prepared arrows and lit them in the braziers next to them, while the rest of the militia ran to the baskets containing small jars filled with sawdust and started throwing them over the walls. The jars broke, showering the goblins with tiny pieces of fine wood.
Then he and the archers fired. The fire arrows flew over the battlefield and rained down on the army. Some found goblins, but they were not their true targets—their target was the ground.
The jars filled with sawdust were just a small portion of the sawdust that they had collected. The town of Terbon had survived mostly by trading lumber, and they had a lot of it. The citizens of Terbon had spent an entire day covering the field with that sawdust, making sure that they didn’t place any too close to the town.
The majority of the goblin army was now standing on that sawdust.
The arrows fell and the dust ignited, burning furiously and filling the air with tiny scorching particles. Some of the goblins’ clothes caught fire; some had burning sawdust enter their eyes, mouths, noses; some of the roots binding the goblins to the ground caught fire.
The goblins burned as Morgan and the archers kept firing, setting the field ablaze.
The people on the walls kept throwing dust bombs over the walls onto the now burning goblins. The jars broke and sent more dust into the fire. Lucius stood on the wall and was swinging his swords, sending waves of air into the army, creating a cloud of fire dust which filled the field. The wind picked up the particles, creating a scorching wave of fire. The field burned, and the goblins screamed.
Morgan saw the two chieftains burn, their skin turning to charcoal as they caught on fire. And just like that, the goblin army was broken. Those that didn’t burn turned and ran away.
And the city of Terbon watched.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
The next day was spent in equal parts celebration for the great victory that they had won, and in sadness for those that had fallen. The people of Terbon had lived through a great ordeal. Three houses had burned down, and thirty people had died—a number far less than what it would’ve been, however, without the help Morgan and his friends had provided.
The fire on the field had died off almost as quickly as it had started. Most of the land surrounding the city was farming land, earth which the town folk had been preparing for seeding next month. There was not much there to sustain the fire, and the sawdust burned up quickly. After the bodies of goblins had dissolved into dust, the flames on their bodies had dissipated.
Still, not all of the goblin army had burned up. They believed that at least two chieftains had survived, along with three shamans, and Lucius and Morgan had went out in the night to hunt and harass the remnants.
They had managed to kill quite a few, at least another two dozen by Morgan’s count, but they had left the rest go. There was no more than another two or three dozen of them left. Morgan already had plans to organize the militia into patrols to sweep around the territory of Terbon and make sure that all of them were gone. Some of the militia had shown interest in becoming ascended, and the Skyreachers were teaching them the basics for the classes that they knew. The archers that Morgan had commanded had all shown interest in learning the Hunter class, so he planned on trying to teach them the basics of archery and the rest of his basic Hunter skills. From what Vall had told him, they didn’t need to be all that good at it, but rather just have a grasp on the basics.
The cleanup after the battle was the most tedious part of the day. They had collected all the loot and put it into one large storeroom in the city, and Ves was already cataloguing it and deciding which they would take for the Guild and which could be given to the town. They had found quite a lot of ascension crystals, most of them low quality, but the few that had dropped from the shamans and the chieftains were of a greater quality.
Which left Morgan and Vall in the Mayor’s office. He had yet to speak with the man following the battle, and even though he would much rather drop into a soft bed, the Mayor had insisted on speaking with him before he did.
“We survived, but…” Fennes trailed off.
&
nbsp; “You fought for your lives and won. That is what matters,” Vall said.
Fennes closed his eyes in sadness. “But we paid a steep price for that victory. People I have known since they were children died at the hands of those monsters.”
Morgan reached over and put his hand on the Mayor’s shoulder. “All important things carry a price. For the first time, you took hold of your own destiny, and you prevailed. Their sacrifice was not in vain. Your town survived.”
Fennes nodded in acceptance. Morgan squeezed his shoulder and then stepped back. He noticed Vall looking at him with a frown on his face.
“What?” Morgan asked.
“Nothing,” Vall said. “I’m just not used to such wisdom coming out of your mouth.”
Now it was Morgan’s turn to frown. “I’m wise!”
Vall rolled his eyes. “Yeah, right.”
Morgan scowled at the man. “Don’t know what you are talking about, every word I say is wisdom.”
“Idiotic wisdom maybe,” Vall muttered.
Morgan turned to respond, but the Mayor coughed to get their attention. Morgan immediately felt bad, the man had lost much, and here he was pulling Vall’s chain. “Uh… Sorry about that.”
“No, it is fine,” the Mayor said. “But seeing as you have fulfilled your end of the bargain, I thought it only fair that I fulfill mine.” He cleared his throat and then started speaking. “I, Henris Fennes, swear my services and those of the town of Terbon to Guild Master Morgan and the Skyreach Guild.”
Morgan felt something build up in the air and then a twist in his gut, as if a piece of string had burrowed deep in, and in the next moment it was gone and a notification appeared in front of his eyes.
Congratulations! The town of Terbon is now under the control of Skyreach.
Skyreach’s domain has increased! Skyreach has gained influence!
He noticed more notifications flashing in the corner of his eyes—he hadn’t had the time to look them over since the end of the battle. He shook his head and cleared the screens.
“Thank you,” Morgan said to the Mayor respectfully.
“It is I who should thank you. You saved our town, and have given us a future.”
Morgan bowed his head, and the Mayor returned the gesture a bit more deeply. They then shook hands and Morgan and Vall left the room.
After they left the Town Hall, Vall stopped him. “I wanted to apologize to you.”
Morgan was taken aback by that. “What for?”
“For the way that I have spoken with you. I…I have a hard time believing in people. I haven’t trusted anyone since my parents left us.”
“It doesn’t bother me, I know that I can be…”
“Difficult?” Vall interjected.
“Yes. Difficult,” Morgan agreed. “At times at least.”
“Try all the time.” Vall grinned.
Morgan scowled, but Vall waved him off. “No, I need to apologize for myself.” Vall put a hand on Morgan’s shoulder. “Because of you, both Ves and I are on the path that we had always wanted to tread. And, despite my misgivings, I must admit that you have been good for my sister.”
“Ah… Well… Thank you.”
Vall nodded and stepped back, but then pointed a finger at him. “I will still kill you if you ever hurt her.”
“Right, right.” Morgan raised his hands in mock surrender.
A while later, Morgan was in his room sitting on the bed next to a sleeping Ves. She was in a deep sleep; the poor thing had exhausted herself with keeping the Spirit Bear ability active for so long. Morgan pulled the covers over her and she murmured something in her sleep.
Then Morgan turned his attention to his notifications. He knew that he had enough experience to ascend a level, so he found the button next to his current level and entered his soul space.
“I must say, master, being a part of you has proven to be quite a ride.”
“Hey there, Cortana,” Morgan chirped.
“My name is Sabila,” the soul-avatar-implant-thingy said.
“Oh my God! You were supposed to be made from a piece of me! How do you not know that reference!” This is getting ridiculous, I’ll go mad if someone doesn’t give me some acknowledgment. I am talking to you, Oxy, you jackass!
“I am certain that I have no idea what you are talking about,” Sabila told him.
Wait, is she… “Did you just…”
The avatar gave him a small smile. The thing just got self-aware! Oh crap, Skynet incoming!
“Uh, you know what, I’m gonna check my screens,” Morgan said and turned around, summoning the notifications.
GROUP EXP GAINED!
298x Goblin Warriors killed = 1490 exp
121x Goblin Scouts killed = 121 exp
5x Goblin Chieftains killed = 50 exp
G.F. bonus—traps successful = 400 exp
G.F. bonus—Save the Weak (defend the city of Terbon) quest accomplished = 1000 exp
Morgan Newton LVL 11 — EXP 5027/3000 (ascension possible)
Morgan pressed the ascension button and, a moment later, he leveled up.
Morgan Newton LVL 12 — EXP 2094/4000
The level gave him 3 attribute points, as well as 1 skill and 1 ability point. With the points which he had left over, he now had 4 skill and 3 ability points to spend. A glance at his tables and he saw that his Enchanting, Archery, Alignment and Energy Manipulation skills had increased by one rank each. Fuck yeah! His abilities had gained rank as well: Energy Arrow, Exploding Arrow, and Power Infusion.
And he even had a new ability. Ward: User can charge an enchantment to transform it into a ward—effect depends on the enchantment used (size and potency depend on intellect and will).
Huh, so my arrow accident was actually a ward—I wonder what more I can do with that.
Morgan had given his skills some thought since he realized that upgrading them cost the same as the rank that he upgraded to. It wasn’t efficient to spend those points on that, especially since skills gained ranked when he used them. He realized that those skill points were probably best used to purchase other skills. But since he didn’t think that he needed anything new now, he left those points alone.
His abilities each cost two points to upgrade, but he didn’t want to spend anything now. He could still upgrade them by practicing, so he left those aside for now as well. Finally, he spent his three attributes all on Intellect. He accepted the changes and the familiar rush passed through him as Sabila adjusted his body as his Intellect passed the first threshold.
He felt something happen in his core, the energy there seemed somehow denser. And he felt like he understood it better.
“Thanks, Sabila,” Morgan said. I don’t speak with the soul-skynet-thingy enough, need to give her compliments so that she doesn’t take over.
“Of course, master,” Sabila said.
Morgan took one last look at his tables.
STRENGTH
13
AGILITY
23
CONSTITUTION
15
INTELLECT
(19+3) 22
WILL
21
WISDOM
13
CHARISMA
10
LUCK
10
SKILLS
Hand-to-Hand Combat II
Weapons I
Language-Basic
Elemental Alignment-Nature V(+one rank Guild buff)
Archery VI
Hunting I
Monster Lore III
Skinning II
Herbalism I
Enchanting IV
Inspect III
Energy Manipulation II
Arcane Mark I
ABILITIES
Scatter Shot II
Piercing Shot I
Nature Sight II
Nature Sense I
Power Infusion V
Power Siphon II
Energy Arrow II
Rain of Arrows I
; Exploding Arrow II
Ward I
Satisfied, Morgan nodded to himself. “All right, Sabila, send me out.” A moment later he was back in their room in Terbon. As he returned to reality he realized that the ascension had rejuvenated him, and he did a double take. Somehow he had forgotten about that. He had delayed looking through his notifications because there was so much work to be done, but he could’ve just ascended and been good as new. He glanced at Ves and chuckled as he realized that she had likely forgotten as well.
He stood up. The others were all probably asleep, but he, no longer feeling the need for sleep, went outside now that he had some free time. He could always practice his enchanting, and now he even had a new ability to test out.
Morgan spent the entire night sitting in the area that they had assigned for training, practicing with his new ability. He even got a new skill from it, which confirmed to him that self-teaching was another way of learning and gaining skills and abilities. He got the Warding skill, which utilized Enchanting with Energy Manipulation. He made several different type of wards, some bound to arrows, which would trigger on impact and create an area of effect, and a few others. He even managed to tie one to a cobblestone which would send a burst of energy into the air once anything that had sufficient life came near it. Morgan was pretty sure that he had just discovered an alarm system.
But there were an endless amount of possibilities, although he was limited by his alignment in most cases. His energy was nature aligned, green tinted, and while he could send out bursts of pure energy, he couldn’t really affect any other element. So far he could only use life and entropy. Still, he was excited at the prospect of discovering more. It was mostly figuring out stuff going by a feeling.