The Land: Predators

by Aleron Kong

  Though the decisions he made in The Land were life-and-death, he still thought his tactics were sound. The only problem was that ignoring the “now” didn’t mean just getting frustrated and having to buy his friends a beer. Mistakes he made now could cost the lives of hundreds of people who relied on him. His capabilities as an Enchanter could mean the difference between life and death for his people. That was a responsibility that was never far from his mind.

  He decided to break with tradition and buy something that would give a short-term boost. When he had first gained his Specialty, upgrading the Reduce Mana Cost Talent had seemed frivolous. Even after he had gone through all the steps to convert a spell into an enchantment, it was still unavailable to him initially. He had to invest a large amount of mana to “unlock” it. The cost was one hundred times however much mana the spell cost to cast. Weak Sonic Wail, for instance, cost twenty-seven mana to cast. He had needed to invest twenty-seven hundred mana to unlock the associated enchantment.

  Put another way, all it required to unlock an enchantment was mana and time. With his hefty forty-five points of Wisdom, he regenerated almost two thousand mana an hour. The thirty Talent Points required to upgrade Reduce Mana Cost had seemed like an idiotic waste. All he needed was patience, right?

  That was until he learned that after unlocking the first level of an enchantment, he could then unlock level two. When he had unlocked Sonic Damage, it had been rank one and level one. The rank had increased from one to three as he had practiced the enchantment at the Forge of Heavens. Increasing the rank had increased the base damage from +1 to +3 and had also made it more likely for the enspelled weapon to trigger the special ability of the enchantment, Disarm. Disarm did exactly what it sounded like. It could force an opponent’s weapon to shoot right out of their hand. More than a few of his enemies had died a moment after that happened, shocked looks on their faces.

  The more he used an enchantment at the Forge, the more likely it was that he could unlock higher ranks to enspell with. No matter how much he practiced though, it would remain at level one. He wasn’t sure exactly what a level two enchantment did, but that just put it in the same category as a foursome with triplets; he knew he wanted one.

  What he did know was that while unlocking the first level of an enchantment cost one hundred times the spell cost, unlocking level two cost ten thousand times the spell cost. He had been working on getting to level two of Sonic Damage for more than a month. While twenty-seven hundred was not much, needing to allocate two hundred and seventy thousand mana to unlock the enchantment was a major commitment. Considering the fact that Weak Sonic Wail was also one of his cheapest spells… Richter spent the Talent Points.

  You have purchased the Talent: Reduce Mana Cost for 30 Talent Points. Conversion cost to unlock known enchantments is now 80x the mana cost of the root spell. You now possess Rank I in Reduce Mana Cost. Progression to Rank II will cost 60 Talent Points.

  You have: 131 Talent Points remaining.

  As soon as he purchased the talent, Richter received an awesome surprise.

  Know This! Purchasing Reduce Mana Cost, Rank I has decreased the mana necessary to learn the enchantment Sonic Damage, Level II from 270,000 mana to 216,000. As you have already invested this amount, you have successfully unlocked the second level of your enchantment. The 45,834 excess mana points you invested have been lost to the ether. Plan better in the future.

  That last part seemed completely unnecessary to the chaos seed. Also, just kind of a dick thing to say either way, but he didn’t really care. He had a level two enchantment! More prompts appeared in his vision, the same green color as Earth magic. A smile graced his lips as he started reading.

  Congratulations! You have obtained your first level two Enchantment: Sonic Damage.

  Know This! Your progression in Sonic Damage, Level I to Rank III is sufficient to advance you to Rank II in Sonic Damage, Level II. You may practice either of these enchantments but it is significantly more difficult to advance in rank for higher level enchantments. Advancing higher level enchantments also advances the corresponding lower level enchantments at the same time.

  You have learned the enchantment Sonic Damage, Level II, Rank II

  Enchantment Size: 4

  Enchantment School: Earth

  Effect 1: Increased Damage – Each rank increases Sonic (Earth) damage by +2

  Effect 2: Disarm – When triggered, opponents may lose their weapon. +2% chance of enchantment triggering on successful strike per rank. Higher ranks also increase the likelihood of weapon loss when enchantment is triggered.

  Effect 3: Shatter – The sonic vibrations caused by this enchantment can now destroy the cohesion of whatever is struck. This effect can destroy a weapon or a piece of armor. The shards from the ruined item will shoot back towards the unfortunate soul that was attacked causing massive damage. +1% chance per rank. Higher ranks also increase the damage of shattered weapons and materials of higher density can be shattered.

  Requirements:

  Novice rank in Earth Magic

  Initiate rank in Enchanting

  Richter was beyond excited, but was also surprised. This was the first enchantment he’d ever gained that had requirements. Luckily, he fulfilled both easily, but it did add another factor to consider. It would suck he invested a month of time and mana into unlocking a higher-level enchantment only to find that he couldn’t use it. That was a concern for another time though. For now, he had more prompts to read.

  Know This! Unlocking the second level of this enchantment has increased the damage to its opposite:

  Damage vs Air increased from +100% to +200%

  Damage vs Crystalline increased from +150% to +300%

  You have now unlocked the enchantment Sonic Damage, Level III

  Enchantment Size: Unknown

  Enchantment School: Earth

  You are currently at 0/21,600,000 for the mana cost to learn this enchantment.

  Effects: Unknown

  There was a part of Richter’s mind that multicolored lights danced in. These lights represented the enchantments that he knew. He had always found it odd that the way he envisioned them was the same way they physically looked in the central elementum anvil in the Forge of Heavens. Upon gaining his level two enchantment, one of the green motes split into two. These two green lights continued to dance, but now they circled each other, as if they were binary planets revolving around an invisible sun. The chaos seed only noted this anecdotally however, because he was engrossed in just how powerful his upgraded enchantment was!

  For starters, the first two effects had doubled in strength. That, by itself, made the second level of the enchantment worth the time and mana he had invested into it. The only downside was that the enchantment size had increased. Captured souls powered every enchantment, but each soul was only so powerful. Each Soul Point they provided equated to one Enchantment Point.

  Poor souls came from small animals such as rats, fish or sparrows and provided only one Soul Point. Common souls came from weak monsters and provided ten points each. Higher level souls provided even more but were much, much harder to come by.

  Every rank of an enchantment made it more powerful but also cost substantially more Enchantment Points. He had long ago compiled a simple chart for how much successive ranks cost based on their initial enchantment cost. The difference between a cost of three and four, for instance, grew extremely pronounced as the ranks progressed.

  Rank of Enchantment

  Enchantment Cost: 3

  Enchantment Cost: 4

  1

  3

  4

  2

  6

  8

  3

  12

  16

  4

  21

  28

  5

  33

  44

  6

  48

  64

  7

  66

  88

  8

 
87

  116

  9

  111

  148

  10

  138

  184

  While there wasn’t much difference in the early ranks, the cost at higher ranks built on the initial enchantment cost.

  Even with the increased enchantment cost, the second level of Sonic Damage was worth it as far as Richter was concerned. It might cost +33% more Enchantment Points to reach rank five, but the damage from the enchantment would be increased by +100%. Moderately higher cost for a substantially better reward was an idea he could get behind. It was the same slogan he’d seen for a Vegas whorehouse once.

  Even outside of the increase in power for the first two effects, the third effect alone was worth the mana he had spent. Shatter was incredible. The fact that it could remove an opponent’s weapon and harm him at the same time was powerful. The idea that it could do the same thing to a breastplate though was a game-changer. He could envision a chestplate shattering and the shrapnel flying back through his enemy like a shotgun. He couldn’t wait to try it.

  That speculative part of him stopped again, wondering if The Land had turned him into a sociopath. The idea of making weapons of war that could turn sapient creatures into sausage was something that would have bothered him once. At the very least, it would have given him pause. A small part of him thought that his excitement over his new enchantment was cause for concern. Every other part of him didn’t care or didn’t have time for whining though, so once again, the speculation was shut down. There was work to be done.

  Richter considered for a second starting to unlock level three of Sonic Damage, but twenty-one million mana was an insane amount of magic to invest. At his current mana regen rate, it would take more than a year of him devoting every point he could make to unlock it. That was even taking into account the fact that a year in The Land was much longer than a year on Earth. It was clear that he would need to upgrade Reduce Mana Cost several more ranks if he was serious about evolving his enchantments to level three. The chaos seed dismissed the green prompts still hovering in his vision. He was about to access his Talent page again, but another notification appeared.

  Well done, Essence Enchanter! You have progressed along the path of your Profession. Far too many call themselves Professionals with no real concept of honoring their calling. To have a Profession is to hold power, but also to be burdened with responsibility.

  You have uncovered and completed a hidden Quest of your Profession: The Depths of Enchantment I

  Reward: 10 Talent Points.

  You have: 141 Talent Points remaining.

  You have been offered a Quest: The Depths of Enchantment II

  Success Conditions: Continue to grow in power by learning 5 Level II enchantments. Current Count: 1/5.

  Reward: 20 Talent Points.

  Penalty for Failure: None.

  This is a Quest of your Profession and cannot be refused.

  He really did love it when a plan came together, he thought with a smile. With his TPs bolstered, he turned his attention back to his Talent page. The first thing he had to decide on was what new enchantment to purchase. Time was passing, and every minute he wasn’t unlocking a new ensorcellment was mana going to waste. With over seventy spells at his fingertips, there were a myriad of options. He already knew Life Attack and had even reached rank three in it. His Weak Flame spell would almost definitely give the Fire Attack enchantment which could also do some serious damage against the undead they were about to fight. Weak Paralysis Beam was attractive for the same obvious reason. Even if the paralysis lasted only a second, that would be enough to turn the tide of almost any fight. He was also geeking out with curiosity of what enchantments his summoning spells would give.

  As always, his practical side won out… when it didn’t come to women or whiskey. He chose the spell that he probably should have picked first.

  You have purchased the Talent: Unlock Spell School: Life Magic for 10 Talent Points. You may now convert your known Life Magic spells into Enchantments.

  You have: 131 Talent Points remaining.

  He would definitely be converting more of his Life spells into enchantments to prepare for the battle against the lich lord, so buying this Talent was inevitable. After paying one more TP, he received another notification, but there was a surprising difference to when he had purchased a spell for conversion in the past.

  You have chosen to purchase the enchantment for: Soul Trap. This enchantment can be applied to multiple mediums: Items, Armor, and Weapons. You must choose which medium you wish to unlock. Unlocking further mediums will require separate purchases with Talent Points.

  When Richter had obtained his Sonic Damage enchantment, he had seen a line that said the enchantment could only be applied to weapons. He had been so excited to start enchanting he had barely paid attention. It had also made sense. Why would he want to put the enchantment on a chestplate or a helmet? In retrospect, a gauntlet might work for punching, but still, he had had other things on his mind. Now that he was faced with the choice of items, armor or weapons, he wasn’t sure which one to pick. He had initially thought to learn the weapon enchantment.

  If he could spend a few hours enchanting several hundred arrowheads, he could give them out to his hunters. The greatest limiting factor in mass producing enchantments was a lack of captured souls. Only a handful of his hunters had Life Magic and they were the only ones that could cast Soul Trap before making a kill. That meant they were the only ones that were bringing him filled soul stones on a regular basis. While their efforts were greatly appreciated, it was a trickle. What Richter needed was a river. With the enchanted arrowheads, and with the help of the sprites, the chaos seed knew he could solve that problem.

  His natural curiosity couldn’t help but consider what enchantments he could get if he bought the enchantment for “items,” though. Could he make a ring that cast the spell? And what about “armor”? Did it mean that any creature that hit him was risking its very soul? That sounded insanely cool to Richter. Like Pulp Fiction, Sam Jack, cool! “Don’t touch me bitch, I’ll snatch the soul outcha body!” He had heard people say that at various times in his life, but he would be the first person to actually mean it. He knew he was grinning like an idiot, but he sooo didn’t care.

  Still, “Practical Richter” reared his ugly head. There was work to be done and time was “a-wastin.” He chose “weapons” and additional prompts appeared.

  You have now purchased the (Weapons) enchantment: Soul Trap

  Enchantment Size: Unknown

  Enchantment School: Life

  You are currently at 0/2,400 of the mana cost to unlock this enchantment.

  Effects: Unknown

  You have: 130 Talent Points remaining.

  Richter allocated his mana regeneration to unlocking the enchantment once his pool was full. He also invested five hundred points of the village mana pool to get a jump on things. With only nineteen hundred mana remaining, he should be able to unlock the enchantment within an hour. He wished that he could take more from the village stores, but ever since the bugbear attack he just wasn’t comfortable if there wasn’t a healthy buffer in the pool at all times to maintain the defensive mists around the settlement.

  He was about to purchase another Talent when a wonderful thought occurred to him. He sent a mental call to Alma. The dragonling immediately complained, but with a firm tone, he told her to bring her scaly butt back pronto. With a petulant tone, she said she was flying back. With a smile on his face, both because of his idea and because he enjoyed messing with his familiar, he tried something for the first time. He waited until she was within two hundred yards of him then accessed her Psi Channeling ability.

  It was by far her least used ability, but it offered up very interesting possibilities. Even a novice magician could do some real damage if they knew the right spells, but there were serious limitations as well. Most spells had a cooldown time which meant they couldn’t be cast back-to-back.
Magicians were essentially neutered if they ran out of mana. Compounding those two major weakness, low-level offensive spells seemed to have a fairly short range. Weak Flame, for example, only worked within five feet.

  Even his Weak Fireball spell, which required an initiate rank in Fire Magic, only had a max attack range of one hundred yards. Any reasonably decent archer could pick a mage off at a distance before the caster could bring his spells to bear. Psi Channeling fixed that problem. It allowed him to use Alma’s position as the focal point of a spell as long as she was within two hundred yards of him. That meant he could hit an enemy up to three hundred yards away with his Weak Fireball now. When he had upgraded the ability to level two, a new facet had appeared. They could now transfer mana to each other, albeit at a loss of three to one. Despite the crap conversion rate, she had eight hundred and twenty points of mana and her regen rate was almost fifty a minute.

  He siphoned off her mana, which elicited the expected mental cry of protest from the dragonling. Richter didn’t even bother to respond, just excited that he had gotten another two hundred and forty MPs to invest into his enchantment. He could have taken more, but would have felt bad giving his little familiar a mana headache. As she continued to complain in his head though, he amended his sentiment to “he’d feel bad even if she wasn’t just an annoying flying rat sometimes.”

  He did a little math and realized that even with the transfer penalty, she could augment his own mana regen rate by another sixteen points a minute. He would be done in… just over half an hour. Richter had arrived at the Forge while dealing with his prompts, but there were no items ready to be enchanted. It was with a light heart that he turned his attention back to his Talent page.