“Then how the hell do I not trip the Earth AI?” Dave asked.
“You’ve become a stabilizing and prominent factor on Earth. The AI has overridden you. You know Jackie? Well, she was studying you, in case you were in the game too long and what not. She could control the simulation to keep Austin Zane going and the Earth simulation stable. Losing the head of the most powerful company in the world to video games is not a good idea,” Bob shrugged. “I told you the truth, nothing but the truth and I always will, Dave,” Bob promised.
“How is any of that real? How can I know for sure?”
“Well, if you do die there, then someone will put together the pieces. If you stay here, well then, it will be a relaxing end to your days.” Bob shrugged and stood.
“In six days, I will return. By then, in Earth’s simulation, you would have died from starvation if it was real. If you’re still alive, then you’ll know the truth.”
“Who are you?” Dave asked.
“I am the builder. I am the destroyer. I am all; I am neutral and the blancer. I am the Grey God.” Bob tilted his head slightly. If Dave wasn’t wrapped up in his own confusion, then he might have seen the sadness and weariness in Bob’s voice.
“But now onto other things. I see that you haven’t tried out Shadow Conjurer again!” Bob’s excitement came back.
“Well, I don’t know—haven’t had any real need to.”
“Take out your axe,” Bob said.
Dave did so.
“Okay now, use your Touch on it.”
Dave did so, sensing the wood and the metal head.
“Don’t just touch it—know it. Make a map of it in your mind,” Bob said.
“Really?” Dave asked. “I was about to go to sleep and you want me to map an axe?”
“What are you going to lose? A bit of sleep? Come on.”
Dave sighed but he focused on the axe. He felt the grain of the wood; he could understand the strength of the wood; he could understand the metal alignment of the head. The way that the axe head fit with the wooden handle and the metal.
“Imagine if it was all metal.”
Dave thought of the metal growing from the axe head to the shape of the handle.
“Hold your left hand as if you were holding it. See it in your hand, feel it there—will it there.” Bob’s voice was melodic and powerful.
Dave pictured the cold metal, the weight of the axe. It was mentally draining in the extreme.
“Open your eyes,” Bob said.
“What?” Dave looked at Bob, yet the weight remained in his hand. He looked to the left, seeing a mirror image of the axe in his right hand. But it was made of metal and thin wisps of shadow came off it like smoke.
“The hell?” Dave dropped the axe and it thumped into the ground.
“Just conjured an axe, my boy.” Bob picked up the axe. “You should see a timer on your interface.”
Dave saw a sword marker with a round timer around it. It was at 17 and counting down every second.
“Now this is really crude, but with practice and control, you’ll be able to make this and other things no problem. You can even bind them to soul gems, using the gems instead of your power to sustain them. They could last for years with that kind of power behind them.” Bob put the axe down as the timer reached zero. It turned to vapor and drifted away.
“What if something was enchanted?” Dave asked.
“Well, you’d need a lot of power to do that. For now, you can just conjure simple objects. You don’t know them enough to make higher quality items or enchanted items.” Bob took his seat.
“How would I learn?” Dave asked.
“You could practice every day for the rest of your life conjuring items, or you could go to the source,” Bob said.
Dave looked at him, confused.
“Sorry, been a while and this is kind of complicated. Okay, so, you’re conjuring these things—you’ve got the final form down. Though you don’t know how that wood was formed, or that axe head was hammered out. The more you know about how the item was made, the more you will know how to tweak it. How do you know that the metal will be the strongest unless you’ve actually molded and changed metal? You might be conjuring it, but once conjured, it takes on the attributes of the materials you’ve used in your mind.”
“So, if I enchanted something then I could have enchanted weapons?”
“Possibly. All depends on your proficiencies.” A smile spread across Bob’s face.
“What’s so amusing?”
“Well, I’m excited to see what you’re going to do. Though, be warned, you might be able to make weapons, but they’re not going to last long right now. Also, they’re not going to carry your ass to victory. Shiny gear and cool enchantments only augment what you’ve got originally. Practice your conjuring and learn. You’ve got eons of learning and talents to learn. It’s going to be an interesting time.” Bob smiled and turned to leave.
“How will I find you?” Dave asked.
“I’ll be watching.”
Bob’s smile was the last thing Dave saw as the gnome disappeared once again.
Dave was filled with questions, anxiety, and fear.
He’d come to as Zane, watching television and drinking a beer. That wasn’t possible. He should have been attached to the chair with his helmet.
Dave sent out a Touch of the Land, the way that he could feel everything. The land felt as if it was true, that he could believe in it, thought a part of him. Another part of him was exhilarated with the idea that this was a land of magic and possibilities. How could it be real?
“Must have closed my eyes for a second,” Max said. “If you’re not going to have the last of the stew, you mind if I have it?”
“Huh? Oh, uh, yeah, sure,” Dave said, confusion on his face.
“You okay?” Max asked.
Dave studied Max—his beard, the braided hair, simple clothes. The interest and simple care in his face.
Although Dave remembered the people he had been friends with when he had started Rock Breakers Corporation, he couldn’t remember their names. He didn’t know their faces. They were generic and simple. All he remembered was Suzy. Here, he could picture all of the people he’d met, from Brenna the trader he met in the market, to Darryl and Siven.
I hadn’t talked to them just because I was lonely in real life; it was because for the first time, I felt a connection with them. As if I was opening a door to real communication. As if I had heard of friends before but I had never really had one.
“Dave?” Concern entered Max’s voice.
“Sorry, Max. Just something on my mind.” Dave gave Max a smile.
“We all go there sometimes. But about that stew?” Max glanced at the pot.
“It’s all yours,” Dave said with a genuine smile.
Even if this is all real, the only person that you have back on Earth is Suzy. Everyone else will be fine, even if you drop off. Sure, you don’t want to die, but if you go three days without eating—well, Jackie would never let that happen and she can kick me out of Emerilia as soon as she senses something wrong. I’ll be fine.
Dave grabbed his sleeping furs and pulled them up against the night air, sure he’d just imagined the odd little gnome. He just needed some sleep. All this working was making him see things!
***
“Well, it looks like we’re nearly done,” Dave said. The last timbers had been laid and the Dwarves were happily putting planking onto the main floor and lathering clay between the logs.
He was up on a ladder, laying down the tiles and putting on a liberal coating of resin that Tounk knew of as well as clay.
“Just need to get that fireplace done!” Joko said from inside.
He didn’t need to look to see Gurren and Lox with his tools, cutting into the rocks that Dave had used for gravel. They were sending chips everywhere, but a form was coming into fruition. They said that they weren’t the best miners but in one go, they were cutting out an entire chimney st
ack out of the rock outcropping.
Dave focused on the outcropping, feeling something he hadn’t before. A vein traced through the rocks; it was deep but the vein was rich. Dave closed his eyes, looking for similar feelings like the first. The sphere lit up like ingots did when Dave looked at them with his Touch.
He sensed some other veins at the limit of his reach. Then he felt a disturbance at the edge of his reach. He opened his eyes to look for the disturbance. He could pick it out: a large black bear moved through the trees and headed for Lox and Gurren.
Dave jumped from the ladder, landing as if the ten-foot drop was nothing. His bow was pulled from his bag, an arrow following it. He fired the arrow, knowing there was little chance of it hitting.
“Watch out! There’s a bear!” Dave yelled as he ran for the quarry.
Gurren and Lox didn’t hear him as they were still cutting a chimney out of the rock. Tounk, Max, and Joko heard him; they grabbed their ever-present shields and followed Dave.
Dave grabbed his quiver and let his bag of holding drop. His speed jumped as he sprinted. They were nearly 700 meters away, a distance that Dave was quickly crossing. Lox looked up, seemed to notice Dave as the bear crashed out of the forest.
Lox grabbed Gurren as they moved to their shields.
Dave fired another arrow, now only a few hundred meters away—still a long shot with a bow. He thought of a dozen spears raining down with the arrow. He could imagine the spears, simple metal rods with sharpened tips. Dave staggered as twelve spears followed the trajectory of the arrow.
They came down. Four hammered into the bear.
Holy shit! That Conjuring thing is real!
Its Health dropped barely five percent as Dave executed a sneak attack.
Fuck me sideways!
It hit; the bear’s aggro turned onto Dave.
FUUUUUCK! Fuck, fuck, fuck!
He used Analyze on the creature.
Level 73 King Bear
This was so much better in my head.
Dave didn’t try to focus on the bear’s stats. The highest he’d taken down was a level 17 and it had taken out a ton of his Health in a single hit.
The bear roared, but the hit wasn’t close to taking the creature down. Hell, its Health bar barely showed the hit. Still, it paused the bear, giving Dave aggro on the creature. It turned from Gurren and Lox towards Dave.
Dave held his ground and pulled out another arrow. He breathed, extended and released. He copied the arrow, giving it three partners and lowering the time they lasted for.
They made the bear roar in pain.
“Shield wall!” Joko said. She, Max, and Tounk moved around Dave, slamming their shields into the ground. “Dave, stop firing. Let us take aggro,” Joko said.
Dave wanted to argue but they were the fighters. He pulled out his two-handed axe, but soon saw he wasn’t really needed.
He looked at the stats of his axe.
Simple woodcutter’s Axe
It’s not elegant but it will do the job.
Quality: D
Damage: 8 (+4 sharpness)
Durability: 32/50
He hoped that the description was right. He got a good look at the bear; it was down to a quarter of its Health. The Dwarves were hacking the bear apart.
Maybe I don’t have to make a whole new thing, if I can bind the Conjuring to the item.
He understood the metal of the Dwarves’ blades. He imagined it bent along the axe’s head, feeding all but five percent Mana into the creation.
I’m going to need a bigger Mana pool at some time.
A new timer appeared on his interface as the axe head seemed to grow and sharpen.
“Max, aggro that big bastard,” Joko said.
Max was the center shield. He pulled the spikes out of the ground and slammed the side of his sword against it. “Come on, you big pile of fur! Come and get me, you tree-climbing bastard!”
The bear seemed to increase in speed; it was like watching a runaway train.
Max planted his shield again, using Tounk and Joko’s shields for support.
The Dwarves were two-thirds of Dave’s size, about the same size as one of the bear’s legs. They were strong as hell, but the shield wall seemed to tilt dangerously. Dave’s sneak attack had taken five percent of the creature’s Health, but the Dwarves made its Health bar fall steadily.
It was trying to climb the shields, leaving its belly unprotected to the Dwarven blades. The bear got some hits in but the Dwarves barely flinched, their shields protecting them from the worst damage.
It pulled off, bloody and only with ten percent Health left. The bear came in like a train again. Dwarven blades continued to tear it apart, slashing at its face instead of its belly.
Lox and Gurren had been sneaking up on the thing. As one, they rammed their blades home. The big creature yelled out in agony before it fell to the ground.
Joko stabbed it again just to make sure it was truly dead.
Lox buried his blade up to its handle in the bear’s eye. It didn’t do so much as twitch. “Well, looks like we’re having bear for dinner tonight!”
“Dave, what the hell was that with the spears and arrows?” Max asked.
Dave felt drained as he felt a headache coming on. “I can conjure weapons and other things. I didn’t think it would work. I was just imagining different things and it happened.”
“Well, whatever it was, it’s pretty damn cool, and useful!” Gurren slapped Dave on the back.
Joko and Lox were having a discussion about creatures in the area.
It looked as though Dave’s notification bar was having a seizure. His eyes instead went to the status bars he saw on the side of his screen. They listed the other Dwarves; it was titled Warband and that guy Dave.
“So, I’m ‘that guy Dave’?”
“Yeah, unless you’ve been having magical surgeries and need to tell us about something,” Gurren said. The other Dwarves grinned, tired and bloodied but alive.
Dave laughed, feeling alive and happy his friends had made it through their fight.
Tounk sat down; he was at twenty percent Health and quite pale.
Dave moved to him and touched him.
“Buy me dinner first!” Tounk complained.
Dave focused his energies on the wounded areas, pulling them together.
“All right, maybe we can forego dinner,” Tounk said.
“Tounk.” Dave’s eyes closed in concentration on his work.
“Yeah?”
“Shut up.”
“Right.”
The Dwarves gave a hearty laugh, backslapping Dave, who thought he might get a broken bone from the slaps.
“Well, if you ever want to travel with me and my warband, you’ve got an open invite,” Lox said.
Dave grinned.
“Though, first you’re going to need to learn how to fight like a real dwarf!” Joko said. “We’ll have a talk later.”
The Dwarves walked around the bear as Dave spent the last of his Mana on Tounk.
“Give us a hand.”
Dave helped the dwarf up; he was still looking pale but his major injuries were sorted. Dave opened his notifications, which cascaded down his screen.
Active Skill: Builder
Level: Novice level 12
Effect: 27% speed making items with more than one material
Required: Tools
Reward: 1,000 XP
Active Skill: Lumberjack
Level: Apprentice level 4
Effect: 31% increased speed and damage to cut down trees
Cost: 10 Stamina/second.
Active Skill: Maintainer
Level: Novice level 7
Effect: 17% chance to restore durability; at higher levels possible to increase durability, quality and gain Sharpen bonus to items that have been cared for.
Reward: 500 XP
Active Skill: Archery
Level: Novice level 7
Effect: Critical Hit chance increases by 7%
.
Cost: 10 Stamina
Active Skill: Sprint
Level: Novice level 7
Effect: 17% increased speed
Cost: 5 Stamina/second
Active Skill: Stealth
Level: Novice level 8
Effect: 19% chance to remain undetected (reduced in direct light).
Reward: 500 XP
Active Skill: Sneak Attack
Level: Novice level 10
Effect: When you are undetected in Stealth, attacks will hit with 240% increased damage (Massive increase when hitting Critical area).
Cost: (Attack 50 Stamina)
Reward: 1,500 XP
New Active Skill: Two Handed
Swords? Bah, you’re an AXEMAN, DUDE! Shit’s not just for cutting down trees. With much-needed training, you might be able to wield the damn thing a bit better than a simple woodcutter.
Some people like shield with their blade or to hit with a big-ass something (making up for something, I’d say). You like two weapons for extra slice and dice. Not the safest way to go about things, but fuck if it don’t look BAD ASS. You do, bro.
Level: Novice level 9
Effect:9%armor penetration on target..
Cost: 10 Stamina
Reward: 3,000 XP
Affinity levels
Dark
18
Light
16
Air
13
Water
14
Earth
18
Fire
13
Stat Increase
+3 Willpower
+4 Strength
+4 Intelligence
+3 Agility
+4 Endurance
The Trapped Mind Project (Emerilia Book 1) Page 13