He grunted and went back to the other Dwarves. They started to walk on.
Jules and Esa followed. Jules healed Esa, and Mikal disappeared off into the forest. One of the Dwarves kept looking back at Jules as she healed Esa.
She put it down to curiosity and they continued on.
***
Dave settled down on a branch; his Touch sensed something in the area. It took awhile for him to find it. There was a stone gully, which ended in a cave. In the gully, there was a large creature he had never seen before. He moved to a new tree. He was nowhere close to Deia’s skill, and he was a bit slower, wary after having his family jewels be victims of gravity and trees.
He squinted at the large creature. It was about eighteen feet tall, covered in muscle. He could smell the hundreds of bones that littered the gully.
Level 87 Earth Troll
“We’ll report it to the outpost and come back with two warbands,” Deia said.
Dave nearly fell off his branch, shocked by the Elf’s appearance beside him. “I’m going to have a heart attack with you creeping up on me like that,” Dave said. Deia had taught him how to talk without his voice carrying.
Deia gave him one of her amused smiles and looked around the gully more.
“It’s a lower level than some of the things we’ve fought.” Dave focused back on the troll.
“Not everything has to do with levels,” Deia said.
Dave waited as she finished her survey of the area.
“Trolls have some innate Earth magic; strong ones can buff themselves and have the ability to heal. That gully is five feet wide and the troll can easily smack a dwarf back, even if they are part of a shield wall. If you have two ranks of Dwarves, then there would be twice the strength behind every shield. A lot harder to hit them back. Trolls might look like dumb creatures, but they are strong. It would be hard for five level 70s to defeat a troll in its home.” Deia looked at Dave.
Dave nodded at the truth in her eyes. He looked to the troll and used his Surveyor skill. Deia had taught him how to limit it just to a small area, giving him more information about that one region.
He saw the symbol for a cave behind the troll. Dave used his Touch to investigate the cave. It was quite old and untouched. Some kind of barrier stopped him from seeing much more than the entrance.
They’d come back to finish off the troll sometime and then they’d go and see just what the heck was down in the cave. His inner adventurer was interested.
“Let’s get back to the group. If we move fast, we can be back at the outpost just as it reaches night.” Deia jumped from branch to branch, as if she had been born in the trees.
Dave followed. Symbols on his mini-map showed where the rest of their party and the Player hangers-on were trudging through the forest.
“We’re missing one person,” Dave said.
“No, he’s just watching us. Might do you some good to not only use your skills to move around silently, but to recognize others who are trying to do the same in order to see you,” Deia said.
Dave looked around. He couldn’t deny that the skill would be useful. He didn’t doubt Deia’s words that there was one of the Players watching them.
Must be the rogue—Mikal, was it? I should ask him more about sneaking and moving undetected.
***
Jules watched as Mikal and Dave talked. Mikal looked animated; Dave looked intrigued. Somehow, they were keeping up their conversation even as they were jumping through the trees or working through the shadows.
The trees fell away as the land started to rise. Up ahead, Jules could see the signs of trees that had been cleared. They came out of the forest and into what was a growing settlement.
There was one standing house off to the right, a few feet away from the edge of the hill that turned into a drop. Behind it was a smithy, as well as the foundations of a few homes. Most of the homes seemed to be around a large cleared area where twenty or so Dwarves were toiling away.
People waved to the warband as they approached.
Lox led the party toward the large foundations. More than one group looked at the Players as they took in the ten or so growing buildings.
Dave peeled off and went in the direction of the single home. Jules and Esa followed. Mikal wandered through the area.
Dave wandered into the smithy. Jules went to the house and walked in. It was simple: a single bed, a bookshelf, and a fireplace that doubled as a cooking fire.
“This is a lot better than what we saw in Omal,” Esa remarked as they went through the room, picking up different objects. There was little of value so they didn’t take it.
Dave walked in through the door. His face clouded as he saw Jules and Esa.
“This house is different but these people don’t seem that rich,” Jules commented, holding up what was a book on smithing.
“This is my house. I’m sorry but I didn’t invite you in,” Dave said.
“Oh, how did you buy it?” Jules asked.
Esa tested the bed and sat on it. It creaked heavily.
“I don’t think you get this, but this is my home. Would you be okay if I barged into your house, said that you were poor and continued to sit on your bed and talk as if breaking and entering was no big thing?”
Dave was getting angry, Jules could see.
“Man, it’s a game. Calm down. We’ve just never seen a—” Esa stopped as a dozen metal spikes appeared in the room, pointed at Esa and Jules.
“Please leave my house. I’ve been traveling for nearly a week and I want to have some peace,” Dave said.
“Okay.” Jules looked at the gray metal bars. They’d come from nowhere and he hadn’t even used any words of power.
“Look here.” Esa stood. “This is a game and while this is your house, there’s nothing stopping us being—” Esa poked Dave at that moment.
Dave grabbed her hand, turned it and put her into a stress hold.
“All levels and no smarts.” The metal bars disappeared and Dave pushed Esa out of the door.
Jules ran out after her. “Are you okay?” Jules asked her lover, who was staring daggers at Dave.
“This is my reality—knock next time,” Dave said from his doorway. He slammed the door.
“I’m fine. That guy is such an arrogant prick,” Esa said.
“Is he?” a dwarf, his face horribly disfigured, said.
Even Jules recoiled at the damage of the man’s face. She had seen people with terrible injuries but this was something else.
“You two are still blind to the realities around you. That man lives here; he’s accepted us and become one of us. You walked into his home as if you owned it and then proceeded to attack him. He just wanted to sleep and you were flagrantly breaking into his home.” The dwarf might not have eyes and look like a melt statue gone wrong, but Jules still felt shame worm through her body.
“You learned that here you might really need to fight. Emerilia isn’t what it appears.” The dwarf turned and headed for the smithy.
“The hell is this place? Feel like I’m in the twilight zone. Get thrown out by a pissed-off Player, then the damn NPCs start trying to teach me a lesson,” Esa growled. She started toward the center of the town. The ground rippled below her as she stepped in a hole. She went tumbling and cursed.
Jules caught the look on the dwarf’s face. This game really isn’t like the others. Jules bent down and looked to repair Esa’s foot.
She wanted to see what else she could learn from this odd town. It seemed like the NPCs here didn’t look to try to moderate their personalities.
If we can learn half of what Dave knows, then it will be a lot easier to get some good gear to pay for the medical bills.
Chapter 17: Long Time, No…Training
Dave woke up and stretched in his bed.
A stray thought ran through his mind as he sat up and looked for someone trying to poke him awake. Dave slumped back onto his bed with a sly smile on his face.
Finally,
a day where I can sleep in! Just as he rolled over, there was banging at the front door.
Just a figment of my imagination, Dave promised himself.
“Oi! Get up! We’ve got training to do, boy!” Lox continued his banging.
Dave moaned as he flopped around in his bed. The injustice of it all—he had almost slept in!
He stood up and went to the door.
“Mornin’, Sleeping Beauty!” Lox handed Dave a concoction that tasted something between salted chocolate and an espresso.
“Morning, Lox. Thanks for the coffee.” Dave took the drink and took a sip. Much better than coffee, but I can’t help but miss the bitter stuff.
“It’s Xer, not coffee—how many times do I have to say that?” Lox complained, taking a seat.
“How did the meeting with the other warbands go?” Dave grabbed clothes and pulled them on.
“We’ve decided to keep a watch on the creature. We’ll wait till we have reinforcements or have a considerable advantage.” Lox’s eyes studied Dave.
“What?” Dave grabbed his Xer/coffee again.
“Your conjuring ability—the warbands are of the mind that we will do whatever we can to aid you in growing your ability. You’ve proved yourself and stood with us in battle. You showed us in the Goblin cave how useful your magic can be. Word is being passed back to Mithsia and Kufo’tel. I have a feeling that there will be a good number of people who are interested in your abilities. Even in the tales there has not been a person capable of conjuring items.”
Lox paused. Dave could tell Lox wanted to say something but didn’t know how to say it. Dave indicated for him to go on.
“I wouldn’t show these Players the full extent of your abilities. Maybe not even the people from mine or the Elven clan. It is powerful new magic and a lot of people would be willing to get their hands on it if they could.”
“Yeah, I think you might have an idea there, Lox,” Dave said.
“In the meantime, you’ve still got a lot to learn about fighting! We’ve also got some more books for you to read!” Lox grinned.
“Sadist,” Dave said into his cup.
Lox’s grin only grew. “I’ve got you till mid-morning, Joko has you to midday, Deia’s got you in the late afternoon, and Gurren’s grandfather Kol says he wants to meet with you.” Lox’s voice took on a respectful tone talking about Kol. “Been few smithing masters as good as Kol. He’s a hard taskmaster, but if he decides to teach you the way of anvil and hammer, you’d be the second after Gurren since the accident. That man has metal in his veins.”
Dave nodded; he knew he needed to know how to fight better. Bob had said that to get stronger with his conjuring, he needed to better understand what he was working with. Fighting the Goblins had showed him just how much Mana it used to conjure items and the versatility of conjuring. Pockets of air had been more powerful than all of his metal spikes.
Lox finished off his Xer in a swig. “Well, let’s be about it then. I’ve also got a gift for you.”
“Okay.” Dave finished off his drink. Lox’s smile made him a little scared.
Lox led him out of the house and to the smithy. The rest of the warband was outside in the clearing between Dave’s house and the kiln that had tripled in size to meet the needs of others in the village.
A dwarf was forming bricks and putting them into one of the three kilns that were blazing away. Dave entered the smithy. It was hot from the constant fires, with metal ringing.
“Dave, is this what you were talking about?” Gimlie, one of the Dwarves, asked as he held up a rough screw.
Dave took it, studying the spiral. It was crude but it would work. Having screws didn’t sound like much, but it would make structures much stronger and there would be less of a chance that they’d slip out, like some nails.
“Yeah, now just need to put in a square at the top so you can twist it into place. Here.” Dave imagined a screw in his hand. He put Mana into the form; smoke seemed to appear in his hand, revealing the screw. Dave put more Mana into it so that it would stay conjured for a day instead of a few hours.
Gimlie looked over the screw with a careful eye, making interested noises.
Dave formed a large digging screw, the kind that he saw on the back of excavators on Earth.
“What the hell are you going to use that for?” Lox looked at the five-foot-long bladed screw.
“Well, if Gimlie here can make those screws, then he can make this. You could get a few people at the end to turn it and it’d break right through rocks.” Dave noticed that work around the smithy had slowed and more than one dwarf was looking at the drill.
He had a number of ideas of how to improve the Dwarves’ productivity. He also knew of Emerilia’s rules on making various items. If you came up with a plan and submitted it to a city’s manufacturing office, then you owned the rights to the item. You could set a price and people would have to buy the plans from you before they could make it. There were always knock-offs but cities wouldn’t use them.
“I’m just making up a rig now to improve the uniform spiral on the screws. With this, I should be able to get you something by the end of tomorrow,” Gimlie said.
“Good. Once we have a working prototype, remind me to tell you about factory processes,” Dave said.
“Will do,” Gimlie promised.
“Now onto the other surprise.” Lox moved through the smiths who were crowding Gimlie, his screw and drill bit.
Lox went to the back of the smithy to an armor rack. It was made from iron, not the steel plate that the Dwarves used. It was crude, heavier but it was still well done.
Iron Helm
Quality: B
Defense: 239
Durability: 20/20
Iron Cuirass
Quality: B
Defense: 239
Durability: 20/20
Iron Greaves
Quality: B
Defense: 102
Durability: 20/20
Iron Gauntlets
Quality: B
Defense: 65
Durability: 17/17
Iron Sabatons
Quality: B
Defense: 139
Durability: 15/15
Dave admired it. A full suit of armor in Emerilia was no cheap thing. “Lox, I can’t accept this,” Dave said.
“Well, if we’re going to take down that troll, I’d rather like to have you by my side. If you’d be interested in standing with us?” Lox asked.
“Of course! This is my home as well. I wouldn’t just leave you to fight that thing by yourself. There’s no telling what is in that cave. Can’t let you get all of the loot.” Dave grinned.
“Sneaky bastard.” Lox grinned. “Get changed into it. The day’s a-wastin’ and we have plenty of training to do!”
Dave quickly equipped the armor and went out to the cleared area that was fringed by the smithy, his house, and the kiln. Standing there was the rest of the warband and Deia. They commented on his armor, a few pointing out different things and giving advice.
Dave found that he would not be training by himself today. Now he would be training with the entire party to get better. He’d been truly accepted by them; they’d bled together and they trusted one another with their lives.
They fell into formations. Dave got a larger shield to fit his growing halfling dimensions. He was nearly five and a half feet tall now.
Lox called out different positions and they switched, turning from fighting mobs to fighting sentients, or creatures that would actually fight instead of following Emerilia’s programming.
A new notification made Dave smile.
New Passive Skill: Heavy Armor
When you looked at a tank, you got a little bit jealous. You grew up always wanting to be a tank. Well, you might have the armor—ya still swing like a blind ox!
Level: Novice level 3
Effect: 9% increased armor.
They were tired and sweaty from their exertions, and took a few minutes to drink
water before Joko took over. Everyone was sparring and trying out different techniques. The sparring partners would call out how the other might do better, working on their strengths and weaknesses.
Dave was matched with Deia. He noticed Jules, Esa, and Mikal appear in the middle of the village, returning to where they had logged off.
Deia hit him with the flat of her blade, making his head ring.
“Focus here, not some flashy lights,” Deia said.
“That won’t be hard.” Dave realized what he had said and went beet-red as Deia’s eyebrow arched. He thought he almost saw the corner of her mouth turn upward as she brought attack after attack down on him.
Dave forgot all about the Players and fought with everything he had. She had experience and speed. But Dave was stubborn and—well, Dave.
Others turned to watch as Dave threw his shield at her; she dodged to the side as Dave grabbed the axe from his back. She brought her blade at his side; he blocked it with his right sword, turning her blade. She danced out of the way as he brought an axe toward her.
She pulled the blade from him. He jumped backward, pulling his right axe free. She didn’t give him time to know his surroundings. She moved in with both blades, moving with ethereal and cruel beauty.
Her blades came in. It was all Dave could do to counter the attacks and use his Touch to move backward without falling over.
She moved under an axe swing with his left and came upward with her left blade under Dave’s chin.
“Ugh, crap!” Dave lost his balance and fell over. He held his axes to the side, closing his eyes and hoping Deia didn’t stick the blade through his head.
He fell in a pile of armor. Deia fell on top of him.
“Ow,” Dave said.
“At least this time you didn’t hurt anything useful.” Deia gave him a smile before she regained her feet.
Wait, what? Did she just make a sexual reference? Dave stared at her, confused to his core. Deia winked, extending a hand. Dave took it and she hauled him to his feet.
The Trapped Mind Project (Emerilia Book 1) Page 19