Maybe he was hiding his skill? He has been looking around as if he senses me. Huh? Why is he not field dressing the elk? Only an amateur would do that, but then how the hell did he kill that elk if he really is an amateur?
She jumped from branch to branch, circling around and heading for a tree to see the man walk back to his home. She could hear him grunting with the weight on his shoulders. He had been thin for a human when he’d appeared. Now he was well built. The weight of the elk was a trouble, but he was a determined bastard; he kept moving forward.
He stopped and put the elk down. “Got to gut him.” The halfling pulled out a simple blade and sharpened it. He talked to himself about the elk’s being overweight and wishing they didn’t smell as much.
Deia watched with an amused smile as the man cut out the elk’s guts. It was slow work and he wasn’t that skilled with a blade, making her once again believe he was a rookie. Though he’d pause from time to time and he’d get better, as if someone were teaching him.
Some time later, the guts were out. He opened his interface, after a few moments the guts started dissipating like a corpse would after all the loot was taken from it. He put the meat inside his bag piece after piece.
Must be a bag of holding to be able to hold that much meat and not expand.
Deia followed him. He didn’t take a break once. She kept her distance since she could feel him sending out searching pulses through the air and ground, thereby avoiding detection.
The man got to camp just as the light started dimming into night. He dumped the elk, using trees to hold it up, bleeding it of its blood. Then he moved to the woodworking area and pulled out tools. The man got to work on the timber.
Chapter 8: Meeting the Neighbors
Bob rose from his slumber. He looked around, finding himself in a stable.
“Well, must’ve been a good night.” He remembered it all in perfect clarity as he removed his hangover and pulled out some food from his bag. With a smile, he rose and stretched. He had an interesting day ahead of him and the oddity had progressed more.
He saw a few people from the night before. Seeing their condition, his hands moved as he spoke an incantation under his breath. Gold light appeared around them as their woes from the night before disappeared.
They waved and smiled.
He waved back and turned for the main road. He stealthed into the trees and cast Perpetual Vision. Nothing appeared around him and he put his real shoes on.
“Daddy’s missed you.” Bob stroked the shoes affectionately before he stepped into the air, his shoes making it feel as though he were standing on the ground instead of ten feet in the air.
He took off like an arrow, headed for where he’d waypointed his mysterious halfling. Neither god nor Player nor NPC saw the grinning gnome as he sped through the air.
***
Zane sat back in his computer chair. Zombie Dave was working on shaping the tree trunks into building materials, and using Touch as much as possible.
While Zombie Dave dealt with those issues, Zane had dealt with his emails. There was only a few today; he’d thought that there would be tens of them, especially with the Japanese delegation around the different facilities.
“Pity the fool who sends Austin Zane emails!” Zane drank a beer idly, putting it down and leaning forward. It was time that he started to figure out this Affinity system!
His search wasn’t in vain. Affinity levels correlated to the types of spells that he was capable of casting. The higher his level in a certain Affinity, the more spells he could learn and the less it would cost in mana. He needed a high Intelligence to fuel the spells. It seemed that the POE’s were limited to a few kinds of affinity unless they went to the mages colleges or guild, but Players could expand on any affinity. Though to get truly powerful spells, it was best to specialize in just one affinity.
Then that’s where things got interesting. So, most people had discovered that having just a single powerful Affinity level, they could use extremely powerful spells. But they could be counteracted by another of the affinities. Also, one affinity did not just rise by itself. Within a spell there was the affinity that was controlling the acting part of the spell. The second affinity which could be the same, modified the way in which the acting part of the spell got to its target.
This brought in the factor of controlling affinities. Healing spells were from light, yet they could be cast at a person, doing so would use the Air Affinity. Health spells that were tied to Earth and Light gave an Area of Effect or AOE, meaning anyone within a certain area started to build Health.
As someone got higher Affinities, they might find new ways to change them. A lightning strike could be combined with an Earth Affinity to create an AOE attack. Spells weren’t just taught; they could be learned with messing around with them. It made for a truly crazy amount of combinations. Though, there were few with more than four Affinities that they had a high level in.
There was also the added bonus of level multipliers. Touch of the Land was a Level 5 spell for both Earth and Dark. Each level over 5 added a x0.2 modifier. With his Earth Affinity at 15 and Dark at 14, he was 10 and 9 levels higher respectively. That gave him a x3.8 modifier, taking his range from 50 meters to 190 meters and lasting 76 seconds instead of 20. It would always cost the same but it meant that spells he got early on could still be hellishly effective as he got higher Affinity levels.
You could earn a lot of levels just by constantly casting spells, though after a while it started to plateau. Attacking creatures sped up the process of leveling, as did using the skills. Meaning you got more growth in your Affinities if you started a fire, instead of just sending fire into the sky. It was how his Earth and Dark had leveled up so quickly with using Touch of the Land.
“Interesting, but not very useful for me.” He accessed his Affinity levels on his computer.
Affinity levels
Dark
14
Light
12
Air
12
Water
11
Earth
15
Fire
12
“Maybe I can use Touch on the water?” He rose from his chair and stretched. “First I’ma finish the damn house. Got to start on making the tiles and the walls aren’t even up!” He sounded frustrated but he smiled the entire time. It felt good to be building again. He dropped into his VR seat and pulled on his helmet to see what else Emerilia had come up with.
He didn’t notice the meal that the robot was holding or the added bulk he’d put on.
The menus passed quickly as he re-entered Emerilia. Zombie Dave had been tapping in the supports that would hold the ceiling and provide backing to his southern wall. The others had already been started and the wood was finished and ready to be put in place.
Dave put in the remaining supports and rubbed his eyes; he was tired from the labors of the past days.
It was nearing dark, so he grabbed a pot, putting it on the kiln’s top and warming up water. He took a bird bath and then tended to his clothes. He’d need to make a run into Omal soon to get new clothes, even if they were the same itchy potato sacks he was wearing.
He checked his notifications as he worked.
Active Skill: Lumberjack
Level: Novice level 9
Effect: 23% increased speed and damage to cut down trees
Cost: 10 Stamina/second.
Active Skill: Maintainer
Level: Novice level 3
Effect: 9% chance to restore durability; at higher levels, possible to increase durability, quality and gain Sharpen bonus to items that have been cared for.
Require: Dependent on gear.
Active Skill: Builder
Level: Novice level 8
Effect: 19% speed making items with more than one material
Required: Tools
Reward: 500 XP
Stat Increase
+2 Strength
+1 Intell
igence
+1 Agility
+2 Willpower
Everything cleaned up and fixed, he crawled onto his sleeping mat and pulling his furs over him.
***
Lox muttered about forests and their damned roots as he and his warband passed through, heading back to the hill.
They had reached the meandering trail of people heading for the hill after a few days of walking. They’d been able to have a mage relay messages back to the lords who ruled the alliance between Elves and Dwarves.
Esamael, the lord of the Kufo’tel Elves, had been interested in the halfling. As was the Elves’ policy, he was more interested in watching the creature than interfering.
The problem was that they were moving onto the hill. Actions were needed more than reports.
Fend, lord from under the mountain, had sent him back; he was to parley with the halfling if possible. Dwarves did not like halflings, especially one who had Dwarven blood tainted with human. Though this one seemed to have an interesting set of abilities and if he was worthy of their trust, he could be a conduit to sell goods to Omal.
“Are you trying to walk through the forest or mine it?” Deia asked, just a few feet away.
“Damn you, points!” Lox growled, his heart racing.
“He’s grown since you’ve been gone.” Deia sounded apprehensive.
“Oh? He been impressing you with his muscles?” Lox laughed; it was deep and rolling.
“He has mastery over five of the six Affinities that I have seen. He’s also been getting stronger—a lot stronger,” Deia said.
“Well, it’s about time we said hello to pretty boy.” Lox moved forward through the trees. It would take another half day with their gear and armor. Lox was interested to see what the halfling had been up to.
***
Dave lowered the tree into position slowly. He hadn’t needed to rest his character for long, but he felt refreshed and bright. The skies were promising rain later, but for now it was a nice sunny day.
He’d left the shirt behind again. The damn thing was insufferable as one got itchy.
The log went into place; the supports were down and the base logs were in place. He’d just finished the second row, interlocking the logs together to make them stronger and fit better.
“I wish I had some damn screws.” He looked at the nail, turning thoughtful. “Well, why can’t I make them?” He pulled out a sharpening tool and looked at the nail and turned it slowly. If I just put a slight spiral in the metal…
“If I had some heat to form it and then some kind of tool to turn and push it.” He looked in his inventory; his eyes fell on the smithy. He still needed 50 more Mana before he could cast it.
“Well, that’s going to take awhile.”
Dave cast Touch of the Land, to get his Mana down and hopefully raise his Intelligence.
Once again, he saw the land and even the materials that made up his own house in incredible detail. He could also feel the odd spherical object buried underneath him.
A pop-up appeared in the top right corner.
A Portal Opens!
In the mystical lands of Opheir, a portal connecting to the Alturaran lands has been awakened. Keep an eye out for Alturarans trying to capture portals into Emerilia! You can now access the Alturaran lands through the portals. Go forward, build cities, and push back the Alturarans!
On Dave’s mini-map, a new green circle with a purple filling appeared, turning grey.
Dave continued his work, and checked the wiki. People were ranting and raving across the site, talking about Alturarans. A massive number of people clamored to join the Gold Sabres and Stone Raiders guilds. They’d opened the portal and now controlled who entered and left it.
They’d carved through hundreds of Draugrs, warriors who had tied their souls to their bodies, which allowed them to survive and fight. It had been a massive raid with over 100 people fighting to clear the Draugrs and open the portal.
There was a general thought that the Alturaran lands weren’t just a simple new area. There was a belief that it was a whole world, of comparable size to Emerilia. Maps were already coming up, showing what people had discovered or found on the bodies of the dead Alturarans, proving how big the new area was.
Dave added all of the maps into his own. He liked his hill, but if he ever went wandering, it would be good to have a look around. With his Surveyor skill, he was able to find points of interest on the newly added maps.
Dave checked through the forums and online hub.People had been off searching Emerilia, with the world just over two thirds as big as Earth there was plenty to see. It seemed that most were focused on Portal locations.
People were banding together. One of the larger guilds had started a nursery guild called Portal Crusaders. Their one purpose was to search out and open portals, putting their founding guild’s name on the portals.
Game news stations were already talking about which of the new groups might be able to get through the raid events around the Portals and what might happen if they did win.
Dave came here to get away from commitments and work. Not wanting to join a guild and add more commitments he couldn’t fulfil he went looking at different ways to level up his magic.
It didn’t take him long to find several tutorials and wlalkthroughs that other gamers had uploaded. It seemed that every person was different, though the more one did an action, the better they got at it.
Others were also figuring out how to use their spells without motions but simply thought, as if the magic was another muscle in their body.
“That explains how I can use Touch with my feet now.” He sent another sense out into the ground, the sphere dragging in the energy.
“Whatever’s down there is hungry for some power, and a lot of it.” He hiked another log onto his shoulder with a grunt and headed back to the house. He was still wearing his pack; it was adding to his strength nicely. Once he was done with the house, he would have to find some other things to stuff his bag with to test his limits.
Strength didn’t just grow from hitting things. As with all of the stats, the more he did something, and the harder something was, the faster it increased.
He thought of his stats like muscles: load them up, going longer and with more weight each time, and they could do more for longer. It was harder to find new things in order to grow his base, but it continued to grow stronger every time.
He continued his work and went through the maps. There were few for his area. The Mithsia Mountains were noted, but there was little to nothing of interest in the area apparently. It was a nice area but there weren’t any cities closer than Omal. Few wanted to go for a three-day hike in hopes of maybe finding a good place to get materials, or a dungeon.
Cities were usually weeks apart, but there was nothing of interest for anyone in this region. Why go to the forests and some mountains when you could see the floating mountains of Per’ush or the magical city of Onta?
It was half of the reason that Dave had picked the spot.
Dave put another log into place, hitting it with a hammer so it was seated with the other logs that ran perpendicular, making the other walls.
He didn’t even think about having to use Touch; as soon as it ran out, he used it again. It was as if he were walking in a bubble of information. He’d become so accustomed to using it that not having it was similar to his burned hands: still functional, but the response wasn’t there.
He saw notifications for Builder increasing, as well as Lumberjack.
“Look at me go—another thousand from cutting trees up,” Dave said proudly. His eye caught the elk. “It’s about time we got that sorted out.” His mouth watered as he thought about some real food. “Need to invent a pizza delivery service.”
Dave tossed the hammer back in his bag and walked to where the elk carcass was hanging. He pulled up a video as he sharpened his knife. He’d been dreading carving up the elk, scared he’d just ruin the meat.
Most of the re
ar of the creature was useless and had gone into the burn pit.
He watched the video a few times before he started. With Touch, it spread out from his body, up through the rack and through the elk, allowing him to see the fine details of the animal, from tendons to muscles.
The first few cuts were pretty bad as he listened to the instructions more. With that knowledge under his belt, he was able to cut the elk apart. He was left with some good slabs of meat and a drying pelt. The rest was in a burn pit that he’d practiced his new fire spell on.
“Time to get some water and get a good old-fashioned stew going!” Dave strolled down to the lake.
He was getting a bit lonely all out here on his own. The more he saw people going on adventures—going to the Alturaran lands, or visiting the multitude of cities and towns that covered Emerilia—Dave’s wanderlust was coming back.
Without thinking, Dave activated his Touch as he kneeled down for the water. He saw through the ground, and then through the water; he could sense the fish there, and he could sense something else. Danger.
Dave jumped back, pulling out his bow and stringing an arrow. A five-foot-long reptilian creature made of muscle leapt for where Dave had been.
Time seemed to slow as Dave knew with his Touch that there were three more of the creatures beneath the water’s surface. He needed to kill this one or get swarmed by them all.
Level 17 Karr
He fired his arrow, catching the first creature in its opening mouth.
Level 17 Karr severely injured (Bleeding)
He strung his next arrow, turning and pulling back as the second leaped out. Anger welled up in Dave. His arrow caught the second in the neck. It was a lucky hit, blood pumping out with the Karr’s heartbeat.
The Trapped Mind Project (Emerilia Book 1) Page 9