by Aleron Kong
“Hehe,” Richter startle to chuckle. His laughter ended abruptly when the light in the room grew substantially brighter, eliciting a grunt of pain from the hungover chaos seed. He glared squintily at the remnant, sure that the orb had done it on purpose. Before he could make his accusation though, Futen reminded him that he had asked for a wakeup call to get an early start on his day.
Still glaring, Richter just nodded and said, “Right. Well done. I guess thanks then.” He shook his head to clear the mutton that someone had shoved inside it. “But do that after you find the cooks and have them make two plates of eggs and some of the ham leftover from last night.”
“Would you like mead to go with it?” Futen asked. To Richter, while the remnant’s tone said “I’m a weird deadpan floating light,” his subtext said, ‘I’m a judgy, constipated, floating asshole.’
Richter started to yell at the remnant, but then stopped and thought about it. A bit of the hair of the dog that’d bit him might actually do some good. He told the remnant to have it all set up in the feast area. He’d come out to eat. He also stressed that there needed to be four large pitchers of water. Then he sent Futen on his way. The remnant floated off, still putting out way too much light in Richter’s opinion.
The chaos seed looked back at the bed and the four people in it. On the far side, a mop of red hair made identifying Lorala easy enough. The next two forms belonged to the twins. The woman closest to him was new though. She was laying on her stomach with her head turned away from him. Her skin was a rich chocolate topped with jet black hair that hung straight down past her shoulders. He couldn’t make out many details with only the mist light illuminating the room, but what he saw, he liked.
Richter closed his eyes and cast Simple Light. Easing his eyelids open, he found he could tolerate that level of brightness, so he started slowly pulling back the covers. The black woman’s lithe frame tapered down to an even smaller waist, but then things got… plumper. Her well-shaped ass rose up in a nice swell, more than enough to cup, but not so big she’d knock over cups when she turned. Pert, he decided, was the best word for it after a minute of intense study. Unable to help himself, he slowly drew back one hand, and, maintaining proper form throughout the procedure, quickly brought his palm down in a perfectly executed Jumanji Jiggler. It was a technique his church youth group leader had walked him through long ago.
As he watched the pleasing ripples spread from one cheek to the next, he waited for a response. Richter had expected her to wake up. Maybe turn towards him with either a smile, a frown of annoyance, or some combination of the two. He couldn’t have been more wrong, or more delighted, with the result.
She didn’t wake, but that didn’t stop her from groaning slightly and lifting her hips with a wiggle. Is she asking for another? Richter asked himself, bemused. He looked down at the little minx with a smile on his face. A few moments later, she settled back down and sank deeper into sleep. He covered her back up and used Analyze, and found out her name was Carei. As he got up to leave the room, he allowed himself one final thought: That’s not a moon, it’s a space station.
Richter walked down the hall towards the Great Seal. As he did, he passed an open room and did a double take. His best friend was limping slightly as he made his way to the door. Behind him, still sleeping on the bed, was the gnome woman Sion had been with earlier. The sprite grimaced when he saw him, knowing some smartass comment was coming.
The chaos seed decided to take it easy on his friend. With a friendly grin, he asked, “Good night?”
The sprite looked back with an aggrieved expression, “Just because you find a guy tip-toeing around in his smallclothes, you assume the worst.”
Richter raised one eyebrow, looked at the woman sleeping on the bed and then looked back at his friend.
Sion shrugged and then, with a smile of his own, replied, “Gnomes rule.”
Richter gave a short laugh and fist-bumped his buddy, “Breakfast?”
“Breakfast,” came the satisfied reply.
The two of them left the catacombs and by unspoken agreement made their way to the latrines. Right before they got there, Richter looked side-eyed at his best friend and couldn’t help himself.
“Make sure you wash your face when you’re done, man,” he suggested innocently.
“My face?” Sion asked confused. He raised one hand to wipe away whatever spot Richter was seeing.
“Yeah,” Richter said brightly. “If it’s true that you are what you eat, then you’re clearly a gnome woman with low standards.”
Sion’s confused face slowly shifted to enlightened irritation. He opened his mouth to give a scathing retort, but Richter interjected, “Oh! Looks like one’s free.” The chaos seed beat a hasty retreat into an unused outhouse, chuckling all the way.
The sprite was standing there with an annoyed look on his face. Then, with extreme hesitance, he pursed both lips and took a deep sniff. Now furious, he quietly said, “Gods damn it,” but he resolved to wash his face as soon as possible.
After the necessaries had been completed, though it needed to be done twice in Richter’s case thanks to a false stop, they walked over to the feast area. There were people passed out all over the place. More than a few were naked.
One blond human was just sitting by himself on one of the tables. He listed slightly to the side, but despite that, he still held one of Richter’s clear bottles of moonshine. The two friends shared a disbelieving look when the man tipped the bottle back and took a sip. How could he still be drinking?
As they passed, Richter used Analyze and found out his name was Nic. Richter called out, “Hey, buddy. Hey.” At the second call, the man looked over and Richter asked, “Whatcha got there?”
Nic looked at the booze in his hand as if surprised it was there. The man was bleary-eyed but still managed a bright smile when he proclaimed the bottle’s name, “Breakfast!” Then he took another swig and resumed staring off into the forest.
Sion gave a surprised grunt and just said, “Respect.”
Richter nodded his agreement and they walked over to a table where a village woman had set down food and drink for them.
“Great party,” Sion commented as they looked out over the grounds.
Richter breathed a large sigh of accomplishment, “Yeah.”
The two of them sat down to eat. They talked about this and that. Sion agreed to organize the meidon sprites into strike teams along with the guardsmen. The parties would be limited to five members, as any more people would mean a drop in the XP they gained from killing enemies. A group of two guards, two meidon sprites and perhaps a caster should be able to handle most monsters of the forest. Sion agreed to talk to Terrod about making integrated groups. Richter wanted the sprites and guards to get used to working together.
He stressed that he wanted the archers to use Soul Trap arrows and bring back as many souls as possible. Richter also wanted a list of several integrated teams made of the strongest fighters, but only those who had sworn fealty. These teams would start farming the Dungeon as soon as possible. He didn’t know how large it was, but based on the cavern system he had run through before it became a Dungeon, it was at least big enough to accommodate several teams at once.
Alma flew up while they were talking. She landed unceremoniously and started eating meat off Richter’s plate. He started to pull his meal away in jest, but a deep-throated growl let him know she wasn’t in the mood. That sound triggered a memory.
*Did you shoot a lightning bolt into my face last night, you little beast?* he asked accusingly.
*I healed you after,* she said, sounding not at all apologetic. Alma neglected to say “way after.” She also didn’t look up or stop eating when she added, *You deserved it.* Then she sent him a mental replay of what had happened.
After seeing the damning evidence, Richter just shrugged. He couldn’t argue with her logic. Turning his attention back to Sion, he got his friend to take on the task of organizing the villagers with Herb
Lore skill to search the surrounding forest for any useful plants. They would need protection of course, but that was also good training both for the new integrated strike teams and the village’s noncombatants. Back when he’d been a gamer, escort quests had always been the bane of his existence, mostly because the NPCs being escorted were morons who ran at the sight of every monster. Richter had no intention of his people being eaten because they didn’t know how to follow the orders of his soldiers. Best just to get them in the habit.
Richter thanked his friend for handling the task. Tabia still needed more raw materials to replenish the village stockpiles of health, mana and stamina potions before the battle. Richter also asked Sion to add any useful herbs he found to the Well of Offering. Then it occurred to the chaos seed that Sion might not have access. Checking the interface, he saw that he was right, but it was easily fixed. Richter gave Sion, Hisako, Randolphus, Terrod and a few others access to the Well. It also occurred to him that he could just leave the Well of Offering open to anyone, but then he thought about the potential for abuse. What if someone dropped something down the well that gave the monsters an ability he didn’t know about? That might be enough to finish him. Richter tweaked the Dungeon system to alert him whenever the Well was used, just to be safe.
After a while, other people joined them at the table. Richter had found that he enjoyed the normalcy of breaking bread with his people. He was also pleased to see that at least some of the freed prisoners felt comfortable joining him as well. Surrounded by the sounds of happy chatter, Richter finally felt cogent enough to deal with some of his prompts from last night.
You have learned the enchantment Life Aura, Level I
Enchantment Size: 4
Enchantment School: Life
Effect 1: Life Aura – Each rank gives +1 Damage/5 seconds against Death creatures that come into contact with the enchanted armor. Weaker Death creatures will also be discomforted or turned away by even being near items enchanted with Life Aura. Range: 5 feet.
Richter was not disappointed. He’d just found a way to be radioactive to the undead. This was the kind of awesome enchantment that had led him to his Profession in the first place. He planned to start ranking it up as soon as he got to the Forge. He absently started investing his mana overflow into unlocking the second level of Life Aura, but he didn’t plan on devoting all his energy to it anytime soon. He would need to use his magic to battle and explore.
There were other prompts waiting for him, and new skills. Apparently, he’d put on quite a performance.
Congratulations! You have learned a new skill: Singing. Not all magic requires mana. By raising your voice, you have enspelled your listeners. Not all have the affinity, but masters of this skill can calm the fiercest dragon. +2% to max vocal volume. +2% to breathing capacity.
Congratulations! You have reached skill levels 2 and 3 in Singing. +6% to max vocal volume. +6% to breathing capacity.
Congratulations! You have learned a new skill: Percussion. While some might hear only the clanging of sticks together or the banging of metal, you hear a symphony. True masters of this skill can cause walls to crumble. +2% to drumming speed. +2% to max complexity of beats.
Congratulations! You have reached skill levels 2, 3 and 4 in Percussion. +8% to drumming speed. +8% to max complexity of beats.
Congratulations! You have learned a new skill: Gambling. “I pity those who never know the depths of despair from a bad roll of the bones, for it means they will also never know the high, for that sweet fleeting moment, of being first among men.” +.25% to Luck. +1% to Intuition.
Congratulations! You have reached skill levels 2, 3 and 4 in Gambling. +1% to Luck. +4% to Intuition.
The last prompt gave him pause. He certainly didn’t remember gambling the night before. He wasn’t bothered by the fact, and he couldn’t have lost too badly seeing as how he was still Master of the village. Honestly, one of his favorite pastimes on Earth had been sharing scotch with friends while whiling away a night over a green felt table playing Texas Hold’em. Not knowing if he’d won or lost though did bug him a bit. Anyone who’d ever woken up owing a three-hundred-pound bouncer a stack of weed pancakes and a lotiony foot rub would understand how he felt.
Richter just resolved to ask around to see if anyone could tell him what had happened last night. He wasn’t complaining though, no matter what the story was. Gambling was the first skill he’d found that gave a direct boost to his stats. +1% wasn’t much, but he could see how a highly skilled gambler could really take advantage of the perk. It also favored anyone that decided to invest their precious stat points into Luck.
The secondary boost from Gambling was interesting as well. When he focused on the word “Intuition” a prompt appeared.
Know This! You have increased a Secondary Attribute: Intuition. Secondary stats can be governed by any number of factors, including but not limited to: your primary stats such as Strength and Dexterity, skills, bloodlines, and/or abilities. No one has ever fully quantified the number of secondary stats which exist. Intuition is your ability to assess the “feel” of a situation. Your base Intuition is +1. Most sapient creatures in The Land have a baseline Intuition of +1.
Total Intuition: +1.04
Again, the +4% Intuition boost from his new Gambling skill didn’t mean much yet, but it could add up over time, especially if he found a way to increase his base stat. He put thoughts of gambling out of his mind and thought about his other new skills. Richter started tapping out a beat on the table. As a child he’d played Beats with his friends and had only been middling at it, if he was being honest. Now, however, with his superhuman Dexterity and new skill, creating a complex rhythm was easy. Almost unbidden, he started singing one of his favorite songs from childhood. He got lost in the melody, and didn’t notice that everyone else had fallen silent for minutes.
“What was that language?” Sion asked. “It seemed harsh, but beautiful.” The sprites were a naturally musical people. The first time Richter had heard them speak, it had sounded like soft woodwinds.
Richter had to think a moment, and then he realized he’d been singing in English. “It was a song from my homeland. Just a little ditty about a small-town girl, who lived in a lonely world.”
“Sounds sad,” Sion commented.
Richter shrugged, “All true stories are sad sometimes. It’s what makes them beautiful.” There was silence at the table for a moment, then the conversation picked back up. A few minutes later, two elves began another song. Their voices floated in the early morning air, soft and soothing. It was, Richter realized, perhaps the best breakfast of his life.
CHAPTER 37 – Day 143 – Kuborn 33, 0 AoC
After the meal, the chaos seed felt a bit more like a complete person. The hangover was still there, but as always, greasy food and a little more booze worked wonders. The two friends left the table and started their day. Richter told Sion to gather all of the meidon sprites at the Forge before they went Dungeon diving. Each and every one of the meidon sprites had sworn fealty to him. He had already awakened Life and Air magic in some of them, it was time to awaken it in the rest.
Sion nodded and split off. Richter walked over to the Forge. Alma flew east into the forest to begin her daily hunt. The day was somewhat overcast and he saw darker clouds over the mountains to the north. There would most likely be rain later in the day, but for now the air was pleasantly warm. The dwarven smiths were all present in the Forge, though a few of the human smiths were absent, probably still sleeping off the party. The building rang with the clanging of hammers and the crackling of fires. The dwarves were clearly in a good mood as they went about their work. You could say what you wanted about their taciturn nature, those guys could drink!
They greeted him with cheers. Apparently, he wasn’t the only one who had enjoyed himself the night before. Bowdin walked up and told him they were ready to start enchanting if he was. Richter slapped his hands together and rubbed them vigorously, “Let’s do this.”
You have enchanted:
Shadow High Steel Dagger of Life
Attack: 8-11
Durability: 42/42
Item Class: Uncommon
Quality: Exceptional
Weight: 1.6 kg
Traits:
+10% Damage vs Spell Barriers
Ignore up to 4-5% of armor
+2 Life Damage*
Charges: 196/196
* +100% vs Death creatures
His hair stood out the same as before, and Richter had to focus fully on his task, but he gotter dun. The smith that had forged the blade was extremely pleased that the weapon had been enchanted so well. Richter even gained 7 Relationship Points with the dwarf. It was a negligible amount, but it was something.
Richter kept at it.
You have enchanted:
High Steel Dagger of Frozen Beast Slaying
Attack: 7-10
Durability: 46/46
Item Class: Uncommon
Quality: Well Crafted
Weight: 1.7 kg
Traits:
+10% Damage vs Spell Barriers
+15% Damage vs Beasts
+2-3 Water Damage*
2-3% Chance to Freeze
Charges: 88/88
* +100% vs Fire
You have enchanted: