The Land: Predators

by Aleron Kong

  The Tree of the Senzu was intriguing. If it really did replenish every one of his stats instantly, that could be amazing, but it only made four beans a year. With the bonus from his Bounty of Life ability, that should go up to five, he reasoned. The boost from the Quickening and Isabella’s spell, Virol’s Blessing, could also increase the yield of each bean by 130%. He had no idea how that would work, either growing two beans in a pod instead of one or maybe just making them bigger, but all in all, he could increase the yearly “dose” from four to eleven or twelve. It made the option more tempting, but he already had the Dragon’s Cauldron to heal him. The potions weren’t instantaneous, but they still restored over four hundred health, mana and stamina each. He was sure that, in time, Tabia would figure out even stronger formulas. While the senzu beans were tempting, the tree just wasn’t worth the sixty-three Chaos Points. He wasn’t a super saiyan after all.

  Richter looked over the other two choices, but ultimately decided on Eyes of a Death God. He wished it would show his own number of respawns, and it would have been nice if it showed who was a chaos seed when he first saw them, but it was becoming clear that something was protecting the identity of chaos seeds. His Analyze skill was rare, yet still Heman had only registered as a half-gnome, half-human. Richter needed all the information about other chaos seeds that he could get. At least with Eyes of a Death God, if he had to kill another chaos seed, he would know how many more times he’d have to kill them in the future.

  He made his purchase.

  Total Chaos Points: 128

  For once, there wasn’t any pain. His eyes just felt “funny.” Richter used his Light magic to summon a mirror. What looked back at him was his face but with glowing red eyes. After a few moments, they faded away and his normal visage looked back. God, he thought, I really hope that doesn’t happen every time I try to use them. I looked like a goddamn demon.

  Richter didn’t even stop and think about it, he accessed the sea again and dove straight to the fourth stratum.

  Total Chaos Points: 121

  4TH STRATUM OFFERINGS

  Offering

  Chaotic Cost

  Traits

  Tear of the Rainbow

  51 points

  “In a time of darkest night, the bearer of this tear may find their way to salvation.”

  Silver Harp

  53 points

  The haunting melody of this harp forces even the strands of fate to bend their ear. Playing this instrument may cause momentous events to occur nearby. It can be used three times before it will be destroyed.

  Fairy Water

  52 points

  Sprinkle this upon the ground and a ring of toadstools will appear. Under the right conditions, this may offer transport to a random fey realm. The potential portal will also slowly increase the ambient magic of the surrounding lands.

  The customary warning that the options would disappear in seven minutes or less followed his three choices. Richter dismissed it, barely noticing. He had no idea what any of these were really worth. Again, he felt like he was missing something, some common thread binding the three offerings, but he didn’t know what so he just focused on his choices. The Silver Harp appealed to the adventurer in him, but honestly, momentous things were already happening around him all the time. He could use a vacation.

  One of the other options was the Tear of the Rainbow. What was he supposed to do with that trait description? “Salvation” was always a good thing, but what did “darkest night” mean? Did that mean that whatever the tear was that it would only work at night, but not if there was a moon in the sky? If so, that was kind of a crap qualifier seeing as how The Land had seven moons, and anyway, he had never been a fan of riddles. The last option didn’t seem that great either. All he remembered from stories back on Earth about fairies was that they couldn’t really be trusted. Not the Disney ones, the old-world stories. They always described creatures that stole children and delighted in torturing mortals. Not really the kind of creatures he wanted running around his forest. Richter was getting ready to just chalk these seven points up as a loss, but then he read the last prompt again, a random “fey” realm. A smile crossed his face. Elementum!

  Richter made his purchase and a grey disc appeared in midair. Reaching through, his hand found something with the texture of smooth glass. He pulled it into the world, and saw he was holding a rose sculpted from pure crystal. It was hollow, and the interior held a liquid that shifted from red to orange to purple depending on how it caught the light. His Identify Talent triggered.

  You have found:

  Fairy Water

  Alchemy Class: Epic

  Alchemy Level: Philter

  Alchemy Strength: Pure

  Durability: 2/2

  Weight: 0.1 kg

  Traits: Pouring this upon the ground will create a toadstool ring. Under the right circumstances, this can open a passageway to a random fey realm. This will also allow fey magic to seep into the surrounding area, increasing the ambient magic level.

  Total Chaos Points: 69

  Richter had been hoping his theory about each stratum was right, but it looked like his guess might have been too modest. He’d thought this stratum would have rare, fifth-tier, items, but the pink background of the status window only came with the sixth rank. This was an epic potion! He never even seen a potion with a philter level or pure strength!

  The container that held it was so delicate that Richter immediately and carefully placed it into his Bag of Holding. The prompt remained in his vision and, rereading it, he had a wonderful idea. While he didn’t want any fey creatures running around his village or forest, at least until he learned more about them, there was one place where he wanted as much battle fodder as possible. The toadstool ring would be the perfect addition to his Dungeon. Richter still didn’t fully understand the importance of an area’s ambient mana increasing, but if the ring of magic mushrooms continually leaked fey magic into the Dungeon, it just might fulfill its Limitless Power motivation and unlock a new Power in the barrow! Richter shook his head with a smile. The fourth stratum was awesome!

  While he was spending his Chaos Points, he’d made it to smithy. From the flickering fire light and ringing of metal, Richter knew someone was working in the Forge of Heavens. He decided to wait out in the darkness of the night for a few more minutes. By his estimation, he should have just enough points to dive into the fourth stratum again and make a purchase. So far, he’d only gotten things that could help in the long term. He was hoping that this last dive into the Sea of Chaos would help in the coming battle.

  Total Chaos Points: 62

  4th STRATUM OFFERINGS

  Offering

  Chaotic Cost

  Traits

  Weapon Schematic

  55 points

  Provides an innovative (4th Tier) Schematic for either a mace, sword or bow. Only a Professed Smith can construct these weapons.

  Skill Boost

  58 points

  Will provide +2 skill levels to your two most advanced skills or +4 skill levels to your most advanced skill.

  Expertise Book

  61 points

  Reading this book will teach you the expertise needed to reach the 4th rank of weapon mastery in one of the following styles:

  Bladesinging - Dawn Elves of Vinastra (Long blades)

  Shadow Skimming - Gloom Elves of Whisper Woods (Small blades)

  Granite Breaker – Mountain Dwarves of Firetip Mountains (Maces and Clubs)

  Sundered Heart – Leopard Beastkin of the Havandt tribe who dwell in the Plains of Gold (Spears)

  Hole. Lee. Crap.

  Richter couldn’t believe what was hovering in his vision. These were the best offerings he had ever seen. The Schematic was 4th tier! That meant it might have three extra attributes than the base model of the weapon. The skill boost was amazing too! At worst, if would mean two more skill levels in Enchanting and Herb Lore. He had many bonuses helping him power level through his skill,
but at level forty-nine, he’d be lucky to move 2% towards his next skill level after an entire week of work. Those two levels would let him save weeks, months, or years’ worth of time and bring him that much closer to finally becoming an adept.

  It was the third option that stole his gaze though. It was an expertise book. While magic books taught him spells and while his skill book had made him an apprentice in Crafting in just a few hours, neither actually made him “good” at anything. When he was in battle, his high stats coupled with awesome gear let him overcome many of his enemies, but in a straight-up fight he might still have lost even to the lowliest soldier. He’d learned a great deal from more than five months of almost constant combat, but Richter never forgot that he had almost no formal training. The few times he’d gone up against trained fighters they’d either kicked his ass or he’d won because he’d prepared traps in advance.

  This expertise book would actually give his body the capability to fight as if he’d been training for years! He didn’t understand the rank system for weapon mastery, but he knew that Yoshi trained every day to advance his fighting prowess. Though he had been training for months to learn the sword forms Yoshi had taught him, he still hadn’t even broken into the first rank of the sprite blade style. The other two options were tempting and the Schematic could help his entire army, but he couldn’t help himself. He’d never seen an expertise book and only knew about them because one had been mentioned in his Lore book.

  Richter bought the book. Once more, a grey disc appeared in midair. He retrieved his latest acquisition from the Sea of Chaos. His fingers were almost trembling with excitement! With a broad grin on his face, he examined the item.

  You have found:

  Expertise Book: Granite Breaker

  Book Class: Rare

  Book Quality: Exquisitely Scribed

  Durability: 21/21

  Weight: 2.6 kg

  Traits: This book contains the secret fighting techniques of the Granite Breaker weapon expertise. Their battle style focuses on crushing blows with maces and clubs that can even sunder solid stone. A true master of this style can crush the strongest earth demons beneath his mighty blows.

  BE WARNED: Some might react negatively to seeing you use these techniques

  Requirement: To reach the first rank, novice, of this fighting style, you must possess:

  Strength: 15 -MET-

  Mace Wielding Skill Level: 10 -UNMET-

  Richter could have screamed in frustration. He had just spent all his remaining Chaos Points on this damn book and he couldn’t even use it yet? He hadn’t planned to open it immediately, not after what had happened with the skill book. He couldn’t afford to be trapped in some dream state for hours, not with the attack happening in mere hours. Now though, he couldn’t help himself. Richter cracked the book, but couldn’t read a single word. Flipping through the pages, it was all the same. He looked at the book sourly. Looked like his Luck wasn’t up to the task this time. It went into his Bag of Holding.

  He dismissed the final prompt with an annoyed wave of his hand.

  Total Chaos Points: 1

  Nothing he had bought would make the upcoming battle any easier, but every purchase did open interesting opportunities for the future. All of that got pushed to the back of his mind as he walked into the Forge of Heavens. He took in the scene.

  Despite the fact that the sun was still hours from rising, more than a dozen smiths were working on his armor all at once. Two were putting the finishing touches on each of his boots. Another two worked on his greaves and one each was managing his gauntlets. The others were helping by feeding more wood into the furnace or standing by with tongs ready to take hot metal from their colleagues.

  Fires burned merrily in the hearths, and the ringing of hammers on anvils filled the air. Richter’s attention was captured by the man standing at the central anvil. Krom was hammering on the skeeling scales, putting what looked like the final touches on his new armor. That was exciting, but what was fascinating was the glow surrounding the dwarf’s hammer.

  A green glow surrounded Krom’s instrument and each blow rained sparks down on chestplate he was forging. Richter had never seen him use magic like this when smithing before. He had to assume it was another Talent the dwarf had bought.

  Krom kept working for another five minutes before picking his head up and shouting, “Where the hells be our noble leader? If he dinna move his black arse here soon, this here armor will na be enchanted!”

  “Uhhh, hello!” Richter said waving his hand.

  “Ah, yer lordship! Ay dinna see ye there.” The twinkling mischief in Krom’s eyes put lie to the statement. “Ye still plan ta use Life enchantments for yer new armor?”

  “I do indeed, buddy,” Richter responded with a grin. “I do indeed.”

  “Well now, ay suppose it be time ta have her dun!” Krom replied, a broad grin creasing his salt-and-pepper beard.

  For the next two hours, piece after piece of his new skeeling armor was enchanted. Richter sprinkled powdered crystal onto each and enchanted them. He also spent extra captured spirits to soulbond the items to him. The breastplate was the last piece and it was enchanted as successfully as the rest. Both Richter’s skill and his expertise had advanced so that what had once been difficult now came easily. He did not let it go to his head however, and gave his complete attention to each task. When the chest piece was enspelled, Richter was going to lift it off of the anvil, but Krom stopped him, saying he had one last thing to add.

  “For this here breastplate, milord, ay have something special in mind.”

  Then he reached his fingers into a belt pouch and pulled out a shining yellow jewel. Richter could identify it as a sun sapphire, but not its clarity or the number of carats. Something that was starting to bug him. Only for a second though, because Krom dropped a bombshell!

  “It took the very last of me Talent Points, but ay were able to buy two more Talents. The first be Gem Forging. Yer pal Sion got this yellow beauty from the vault after ay told him what ay had planned. Now, any dwarf worth his cock and ores be knowing the values of gems, but seeing as how yer not a dwarf, yer lordship, let me tell ye that a one carat sun sapphire be worth ten gold coins if she be average clarity. This here stone be vibrant though, and that increases the value to thirteen gold crowns. That also goes up another 75% when ye factor in that the gem cut be smooth pear. Are ye following?”

  “Not at all,” Richter chuckled. Krom had just said ‘smooth pear.’ Hearing that in the dwarf’s brogue and seeing him almost bouncing with excitement would be enough to make anyone smile.

  “Har har,” Krom belted out. “Fair enough, yer lordship. Ye can talk to that new Jeweler to learn the ins and outs of gem cutting, but believe me when I tell yer that this here shiny bauble be three and half carats and so be worth at least eighty gold.”

  Looking at the small rock, Richter was again astounded by just how expensive jewels could be. It was a bit pretty, but the sun sapphire was only about the size of his pinky nail. The fact that he could sell it for the equivalent of eight thousand bucks was just crazy. It also made the “frugal” part of him start paying attention. “Just, ah, just what are you going to be doing with that ‘bauble,’ Krom?”

  “This!” With an insane grin, the dwarf put the gem on the anvil and swung his hammer down with all of his might.

  “No!” Richter shouted. It was actually a scream, if he was being honest with himself, but he wasn’t thinking about such nuances as he flung a hand out to stop his insane Smith. The hammer smashed down with a resounding clang… to the side of the yellow jewel.

  “Har har har! Just fucking with ye, milord. Dinna feel bad. We dwarves know that losing gems be harder than losing an itch in a whorehouse!” That colorful commentary aside, Richter was staring at him like he was crazy. Krom winked back, “Ay be sure yew’ll forgive me when ye see what me new Talent can do!”

  The dwarf’s face grew serious with concentration and he was stared intently at
the gem. A moment later he spoke a word of Power. His hammer glowed green again and he pointed it at the jewel. A green glow of the same hue surrounded the gem and it floated into the air. Krom moved his hammer and the jewel followed the path of his tool until it hovered above the skeeling breastplate.

  The gem slowly dropped down until it touched the center of his new chest armor. Richter was a bit embarrassed at having screamed in front of all the manly smiths, but he got over it when he saw the surface of the chest piece ripple. The material in the center flowed back, creating a divot that the sun sapphire nestled down in. The white material of the scales flowed back and over it, leaving it shining and embedded. A moment later the gem disappeared, covered by a layer of the whatever material made up the scales. All that remained to mark the location was a small bump.

  Richter looked at Krom, who nodded in understanding to the unspoken question, “It still be there, yer lordship, but ay had it concealed. Some have left gems shining on the armor, but ay know, milord, sneaking and stealth be important. Ye can always reveal it yerself if ye choose though.” So saying, the dwarf touched the nodule and the yellow jewel was revealed. Taking his finger away, the scales of the armor flowed over it again.

  When Krom spoke next, he did it with all seriousness, “Ay told ye about me Talent Gem Forging. It lets me bond a jewel and me forged armor and weapons as one. It also opened the other options for me sweet self. Ta do this next part ay still needed one more Talent, Jeweled Essence. Ay wouldna had done this for anyone else, yer lordship. Ay wouldna have bought these Talents for any other chief, but ay believe in ye. Ay am with ye for life.” There was no levity in Krom’s voice as he met Richter’s eyes. The chaos seed knew a thank you would make the dwarf uncomfortable so he just gave a manly nod in return. It was enough apparently. Krom nodded back and spoke again with excitement and merriment in his voice.