War Aeternus 3: The Culling

by Charles Dean

  Lee’s had used about a third of his mana, which meant that he had to wait an hour and a half for it to fully recover. He still needed to make a shield and a sword, and he knew that there was no way he would have enough mana to make a full steel shield in one go, so he opted to make a mostly-wooden shield and reinforce it with steel.

  Not wanting the wood he used to be inferior, and not even knowing the names of the trees in this world, much less the quality of the wood they produced, he decided to do some rough estimations. He didn’t want to go through the trouble of building an actual scale that would tell him the exact weight of each type of wood, so instead, he used one of the shop’s balancing scales to pit one small block of wood he would cut against another identically-shaped block from a different tree. He did this over and over again until he figured out exactly which wood was best. The winner was one called Morning Tears. The doleful name was due to the fact that the tall tree had broad leaves that were perfectly-shaped to collect dew and rain. The foliage collected water until it reached the tipping point, and then the gathered liquid would slowly trickle to the earth below one drop at a time, making it seem as if tears were falling.

  The wood was heavy by any standard he could remember. It seemed nearly one and a half times as heavy as regular oak, and Lee was rather impressed with the material. He took a good sheet of it and started fashioning a medium-sized shield. He wasn’t sure how thick to make the creation, so he ended up looking up an example from Augustus’s book. Gokstad shields, what Vikings had used, were between a quarter- and a half-inch thick. Lee was tempted to use that as the base model, but then he remembered exactly how hard Meadhbh had struck him. Two of his shields had been shattered--one by the Phouka queen and one by the imps in the arena--so, for safety’s sake, he decided that he needed to make it thicker, even if he was going to reinforce it with steel. With those two incidents in mind, he decided on a 25-inch-diameter shield with a thickness of a little over an inch. The heavy armament weighed in at what felt like close to 20 lbs. as he hefted it into the air, but it was strong. Even without steel reinforcements, a small system notification told him that it was two and a half times the durability of his last shield.

  The next thing Lee did, since finishing just the wooden frame had taken him nearly an hour, was to reinforce it. He ran a strip of steel around the circumference of the shield and then made four strips meet in the middle, where he placed the shield boss. He then affixed a large, sharp spike to the center of the shield to cap things off. It wasn’t necessary--in fact, none of the instructions recommended one--but his instincts told him that it would be a must with his Blood Shield skill. It might limit his mobility in combat, but it would be worth the loss if that extra bit of damage-dealing ability saved his life.

  When he was finally done with the shield, he was incredibly impressed by it. Not only did it have a very high durability, but it also had a stat that the other one didn’t: a shield slam damage of 18, which was much higher than what even the average sword dealt when swung well.

  This is freaking wonderful! Lee smiled down at his newest creation, admiring his work, and only looked away when a system message popped up.

  I would feel remiss if I didn’t inform you that, as the original creator of this exact method and the maker of the shield, you can technically name it.

  Really? Well, it’s a defensive item that I’m probably going to use to launch my first attacks . . . Lee considered for a moment, debating what to name it. Then, he remembered his favorite real-time strategy game from when he was younger, one that involved three races fighting in space. Yeah, that’s the perfect name. System, can you name the shield ‘The Cannon Rush’?

  That name makes no sense at all. It’s not a cannon. However, I do have the ability to assign this item that name. There, your shield stats have been updated.

  Lee beamed with pride. It was a silly name, but it was something he had picked, and it had roots in something nostalgic that he had enjoyed immensely.

  The Cannon Rush

  Durability: 303

  Shield Slam Damage: 18

  The Cannon Rush had taken a little over 2 lbs. of steel as well as the 20 lbs. of wood to craft, making it the heaviest shield he had encountered since he started this competition, but with the assistance of the stat system and his levels, it was not only usable, but it was incredibly strong and provided amazing defense. His last shield, one that he had thought was nearly indestructible at the time, only had a durability of 108. His new creation had nearly three times that.

  Since he had some time to kill before making the sword, he started making pikes as fast as he could. Crafting wasn’t exactly what Jade had been talking about when she suggested they level as much as they could before the fight, but he knew that he could produce the pointed wooden poles faster than most of the other townsmen thanks to his fast-leveling Carpentry, so it’d save them time they desperately needed to use digging. It wasn’t long into carving the pikes that he finally got the Carpentry level-up he had been wanting:

  Your mastery of Carpentry has progressed from the rank of Initiate Level 10 to the rank of Novice Level 1. This skill improves your ability to cut, carve and finish wood quickly and precisely in order to craft a variety of items. The Novice rank reduces the number of wood shavings and sawdust accidentally produced during carpentry by 5%.

  Due to improving Carpentry, you have received +1 Intelligence. Current Intelligence: 221.

  It was incredibly disappointing to see that the only bonus the skill offered was to prevent the loss of 5% fewer shavings and that the skill wouldn’t otherwise function any differently. He had been hoping for something better when he reached the Novice rank, like a durability increase or something similar, and in comparison, fewer wood shavings seemed useless. He didn’t lose much wood to shavings anyway, and he had a nearly infinite supply of material thanks to the fact that the two towns he was living in were surrounded by forests.

  Nevertheless, Lee continued making wooden pikes and sending them to Miller’s crew until his mana reached 100%. Since he had 1,551 grams of steel to work with before his mana was completely deleted, he decided to make a longsword. He crafted a standard double-edged sword that was around forty-eight inches, including the blade and hilt, and then created a small, slightly-curved cross guard, creating two points facing the blade at the end.

  Excellent! Lee happily smiled to himself as he finished the blade and admired his work. It was a work of art compared to every sword he had used before. He didn’t know if it was because he had used top-notch steel instead of iron or the fact that his Spirit Smithing gave him far better crafting ability than the average blacksmith, but its damage was incredible compared to what he had been using. The weapon even had a bonus property, something he hadn’t expected at all. Well, since it’s meant to go with the shield, and it has that nifty bonus, I should probably give it a name that fits . . . System, can you name this blade ‘The Proxy Gateway’?

  First, you wanted to name a shield ‘cannon,’ and now your sword is a gateway? At least this makes more sense. If used correctly, it will be a gateway into the afterlife, but I still don’t understand your naming schema. Fine, I’ll take care of this for you since, at the very least, you didn’t take over an empire just to rename the whole thing after your favorite food.

  Lee shook his head at the system and then inspected his work:

  The Proxy Gateway

  Damage: 25

  Blade is 10% Faster than normal weapons.

  Once those two pieces were done, and Lee had helped his men dig the trench and lay the pikes as his mana climbed back up to 100%, Lee had no idea what to use his restored mana on. He was tempted to tell the system to start making a new upgrade for the town, but instead, he decided to help his friend Miller out by custom making him a pair of Miller-sized spears with heavy steel tips and then making fifty arrowheads for Ling. Neither of these used up his entire mana bar though, as Ling’s arrowheads only weighed roughly twenty grams, but it did boost
his Spirit Smithing to Initiate Level 10. He was one level away from reaching novice, and so he began to make more and more steel with his Spirit Smithing, storing away four kilograms of it as he used his mana only on Spirit Smithing. By the time one of the golems he had placed around the city notified Lee about Meadhbh’s army being only two hours away, Lee had already made several spears, each with a one and a half-pound steel spearhead, and another fifty arrowheads.

  Lee had make sure to eat and rest when he had been able, but he had barely slept as the anxiety of the upcoming fight had weighed on him and driven him to waking up early that day. He couldn’t stop his brain from wanting to prepare more, make more spears, make more spikes and arrows, but now Meadhbh was almost at his doorstep and the time for preparations had nearly run out.

  Welp, they’re here, Lee thought as he saw the army through the eyes of his spying golems. There were dozens of creatures besides the boar-men, but Lee couldn't really identify what they were. There seemed to be bull- and horse-like creatures, and then some that had hooves and horns but weren’t recognizable as any creature he had ever seen before. Additionally, the Phouka were ordered into ranks, differentiated only by color. The army was huge, and if Lee had to guess, he would put the number of creatures in it to over 500 with the majority of them being the boar shifters. Ling had said that the pigs were fairly easy to kill, but the numbers were heavily weighted in favor of the Phoukas. There were barely over one-hundred people left in Satterfield, and most of those remaining were either drastically under leveled or unleveled completely. As far as Lee could tell, Miller had recruited almost every able-bodied man to his paladins, and those were now gone. He had the advantage of only needing to hold a defensive fortification, but even so, Lee had no idea how they were going to survive the assault.

  Lee quickly checked the progress of the town’s defenses and learned that Miller had finished the first layer of spear-filled trenches around the wall, and he now had crews sporadically digging small holes in the fields to slow down a large charge. He quickly purchased a chicken from a nearby farmhouse, renamed it ‘ECSG’ and killed it so that Miller, Jade and Ling would abandon their tasks and start forming up the ranks. The code was one that he had given Henslee and ordered her to pass along, and it was shorthand for ‘enemy coming, south gate.’ Well, at least we have the polybolos, and at least Pelham took out the last of their bears by the look of the army.

  He had never learned any type of archery or marksmanship skill, but he had experienced good success with a bow in the past, and there was no reason that he could see not to fire off as many shots as possible before the Phouka reached the walls. Every single Phouka that he killed or wounded without having to engage and swing his sword or put himself directly in harm’s way was all for the better. Based on the staggering numbers alone, every able-bodied man in Satterfield would have to kill nearly fifteen Phouka each. It was an unreasonable task to ask of anyone, and while there was a wall between them, and that gave them an advantage, the barrier would only last for so long. He already knew that the only way anyone was going to make it out of this alive was if they somehow managed to play their cards right and if he and Dave stepped up and took out the biggest threats.

  The wall should last against at least one wave, right, system? Lee asked hopefully, remembering that the AI had actually given him an answer before to a similar question.

  Please do not ask me questions when you aren’t prepared for the answer.

  That’s not comforting. Lee frowned, watching the army get closer through the eyes of his golems.

  Honesty is rarely comforting to the inept or the unlucky.

  Lee decided not to bother asking the system anything else after that. Instead, he directed his thoughts to the battle plans and ran through them time and again until Miller approached. Lee glanced over at his newly-respawned Firbolg companion as he came nearer and discovered that, while his face was identical, at least one key change had been made to his character’s appearance during the respawn process: he now had a gruff-looking, bright-red beard to go with his flaming hair as well as a moustache that was so large that every 1970s detective on film would be envious.

  “Miller?” Lee asked, not sure how to phrase the question ‘What the hell happened to your face?’ politely.

  “Lee!” Miller exclaimed excitedly. He walked up to Lee and hoisted him off the ground in a crushing bear hug. “It feels like it has been a long time. I thought that tiger had eaten you until I saw your messages. She was fiercer than any foe we’ve fought before.”

  “I hear she actually did succeed with you,” Lee observed wryly. “Did you fully reset?”

  “It’s just the levels. I apparently have kept my skills,” Miller said, seemingly as confused and unsure about it as Lee was. “I will still be useful during the fight. Justice is on my side.”

  “It wasn’t when you died?” Lee asked, and he kicked himself as soon as the words left his mouth. He didn’t know why, but he couldn’t stop himself from being so rude.

  “It was! If I hadn’t died, woe would be upon this town. My death was, as Augustus has said, a blessing. My failure in combat was preordained such that I might lead this town to bolster its defenses and fortify itself against the coming darkness. I only lament that I wasn’t able to save more of my fellow paladin brothers on the mountain. If only justice had been . . .”

  Miller began to spout platitudes, but Lee noticed Ling approaching from behind his large friend. She was wearing a strange, tepid expression that he couldn’t quite read, and after a moment, she slowed her pace and began backing away without ever having actually reached them.

  Realizing what was going on, Lee called out, “Hey, Ling!” and prevented her from running off and avoiding one of Miller’s great ‘Miller Moments.’ “Just the person I was looking for!”

  Ling cringed upon hearing her name, but she took a deep breath and stepped forward. “You needed me?”

  “Yeah, I got some presents for you two.” Lee pulled out the spears and arrows he had made. “I think these will assist in the upcoming fight.”

  Ling looked very happy as she took them. “They are much better than the ones I was using earlier. Thank you.”

  Miller took the spears with a large, face-splitting grin. “I won’t have lost much fighting power with these! This is indeed a spear of justice--a rod of truth and righteousness that I shall deliver into the hearts of . . .”

  Miller kept talking, but Lee had already tuned him out as he watched Ling’s eyes roll upward, and she shook her head. Finally, he decided that it was time to interrupt the Firbolg’s justice-laden rant before it became a runaway tangent. “Just hand them out to the men you’ve trained on how to use a spear,” Lee instructed. “Go ahead and pass out whatever bows we have available, and then get the men up here and positioned on the wall once they’re geared. Make sure there is a man on every one of those automatic ballistae as well.”

  “The will of Augustus shall be completed!” Miller nodded once and left to take care of the task.

  Jade appeared, giggling to herself, as soon as Miller disappeared. “You were so right. He is just like that. He’s the perfect, role-playing paladin. Priceless!”

  “What do you mean by ‘role playing’?” Ling asked. “I don’t understand . . . I only said that he is the embodiment of someone who believes in justice.”

  “Right. I got that, but . . . man, was that funny to watch,” Jade explained. “He just kept going on and on about how great justice and Augustus are. It really makes me wonder . . . Lee, what do you do to inspire such loyalty? I mean, I’ve never seen a Herald have such devout followers before.” Jade turned to Lee, a curious expression on her face, clearly expecting an answer.

  “It’s like I told you, woman: beer and bacon,” Dave said as he walked up behind her. “Maybe if you learned how to cook like Lee, you’d be able to get better followers too. Don’t you know that the key to someone’s heart is their stomach?”

  “Dave, you can’t g
o around telling women to learn how to cook,” Lee admonished him. “You have to show respect to women.”

  “What? I respect her enough to tell her my opinion. Doesn’t that count for something?” Dave shrugged and picked up his flail. “Now, where do you want me? I could stand in front of the wall there or there”--he pointed to two spots--“or you could give me a beer and put me over there,” he said, turning and pointing to the kitchen.

  “I’ll need you on the ground actually,” Lee said. “If a hole opens up in the wall after the boars crash into it, I need you to be there to fill it with corpses so that they don’t pour through.”

  “Don’t want me to fire some arrows at the boars?” Dave asked.

  Lee shrugged. “I just assumed you didn’t really do that kind of combat, but if you can, that’s great.”

  “No, I can’t,” Dave laughed. “Not even going to bother. I like to make sure the beasts I kill get sent off into the next world with the taste of my foul breath still lingering in their nostrils. Makes me feel extra warm and fuzzy like that.”

  “Grandpa is right,” Jade insisted, suddenly rather enthusiastic. “Gotta kill them up close! Or at least let your golem kill them up close.”

  “You’re not just saying that because you’re a terrible shot, are you?” Lee asked, looking at Jade suspiciously.

  “So what if I’m a bad shot? Bobby will grow up and destroy everything anyway. I don’t need to be a good shot!” She stuck her tongue out at him and then said, “Anyway, if I’m off fighting stuff with a bow, I won’t be able to concentrate on the power.”

  “Fair enough,” Lee conceded.” Then you’re with me up here. I’ll keep you safe, so just do what you can.”

  Jade gave Lee a wan smile. “I’d expect nothing less from my wonderful hero. By the way, has anyone seen the tsundere NPC?”