by Dakota Krout
“Celestial healers are called clerics, and are usually a part of the church. They are actually the most effective healers, but traveling with them comes with strings attached. Infernal users… I doubt they would heal anyone but themselves, but I think their version of ‘healing’ hurts worse than getting the wound originally would.”
We watched the men cultivate for a while before eventually getting up, stretching and leaving. They were the last group of the night, allowing me to focus hard on cultivation and the concepts I had acquired over the last few days.
That was the night when I broke into F-rank nine.
~Fourteen~
Dale woke up quickly, feeling something amiss. Something was wrong; there was a threat to him in the area. For several weeks his team had been going into the dungeon at first light, and Dale was becoming stronger, his battle-trained senses more aware to impending danger. Slipping from his bed, he moved stealthily to the tent flap. It began to slide open, and the grinning head of Hans slowly peeked into the room. Stepping into the room fully, a bucket of ice-cold water became visible.
Dale shuddered internally, he had only been woken up a few time with that water, but each time it was worse. Last week the water had ice in it somehow! It was mid-summer! Ice! Dale’s eyes narrowed as he prepared his counter attack, he carefully reached down and flipped the water back onto the startled Hans.
“Gotcha, you bastard!” Dale yelled, following up by attempting a brutal slapping combination attack on Hans.
“I’ll get you, ya brat! You got lucky today, but you can’t stay awake forever!” A drenched Hans scampered off yelling threats, leaving a cheerful Dale to get reacquainted with his armor. The full group met again at breakfast, the team having decided to eat together each day. Unexpectedly, the chef decided to swing by again as they were finishing their meal.
“MORNING lads!” His voice faltered and dropped a few decibel levels at their wince, “Did it again, sorry. Listen, I’m gonna be makin’ the herbs that are available in there a daily request. They tasted so darn good on my foods that I had them examined by that there apothecary that showed up and has been making those fancy potions. Turns out they are jam-packed full-a Essence, and help with all sorts of minor health issues that I’ve been seeing recently. So I’m gonna be cooking with ‘em a lot.”
Looking Dale in the eyes, “Since y'all are the first to go in every day, I figured you’d be able to grab the best bunches. Get ‘em for me, and everyone around here’ll eat better, and I’ll be sure to tell ‘em yer ta thank. Or, the food’ll get worse, maybe I’ll ‘accidentally’ burn yours every day, and I’ll still tell the other men yer ta... thank.” With that, the oddly well-muscled chef walked away whistling off key.
“Sure is a fan of the carrot and the stick.” Dale murmured. “Shall we make sure to bring back those herbs?”
“Yup.”
“For sure.”
“Agreed.”
They moved to make their way into the dungeon, Dale in the lead. With the good tutors, clean Essence, and constant work, Dale had progressed to the F-rank six rather quickly, as well as put on some solid muscle. Now not only was he able to keep up in his heavy plate armor, he had a good handle on the skills and abilities he needed to decidedly defeat the deadly denizens of the dark dungeon. Within an hour of hard work, they had cleared the dungeon and were finishing off the Boss. As they did daily, each sat and cultivated, but an oddity in the behavior of his friends made Dale look up, noticing the men staring at the Silverwood tree.
“What’s going on guys?” He inquired dreamily, almost in a trance as he worked to gather the loose Essence into his center.
“The tree has been growing a lot recently. We are wondering if that is normal.” Craig let him know, frowning at an internal thought.
“We’re also trying to figure out how this tree will help us move into the B-ranks.” Hans stated. “It isn’t exactly a common thing to have access to, after all.
“Sadly, we won’t know until the Elves start making an appearance.” Craig derailed the conversation with a hand wave. “Well, let’s head on out, nothing more to do here. Dale you should work on integrating what you have absorbed into your Chi spiral, don’t fill up too much or it will be harder to process.”
Carefully making their way back to the surface, they were startled to see that the place was bustling with movement, people running around and shouting orders to each other. They noticed that Guild Master Frank was in the largest, loudest group, shouting at another, somewhat taller, man.
“No, you can’t have that space! We’ve had it roped off and claimed for the Portal Mage’s to build on for weeks now!” Frank was red in the face, spittle flying from his lips.
“You are going to deny the holy church an area that will be able to best serve the people? This will be the center of the goings on in the area, and who better to guide people than the church?!” The taller man angrily intoned, voice ringing out clearly in a manner trained to catch attention.
“The PORTAL MAGES!” Frank roared, throwing his hands into the air. “That is their exact job! They guide and send people where they want to go!”
“Well the church sends them where they need to go!” The tall man boomed back, unimpressed.
Frank saw Dale’s group walking over and visibly worked to calm himself. “It’s a moot point, the man who owns all this land is here, he’ll make the decision.” Frank declared smugly, knowing that Dale was a friend.
“Excellent, where is he?” The taller man demanded. Frank pointed at the group, and he walked over. Going directly to Hans, whose face he could see was grinning, the man introduced himself. “I, am Father Richard. A humble cleric,” Frank snorted at that pronouncement, “who has been promoted to run a church in this area, as it is obviously sorely needing guidance. That man,” he jabbed his finger at Frank, “has been trying to place travel and leisure over divine teaching, and I demand that you tell him that this is the perfect location for a church!” He finished in a ringing tone that reached every ear.
Hans looked from father Richard to Frank, “Well then. Frank, it is the perfect location for a church.” Hans told his Guild Master, and nearly burst into laughter at the look of triumph on Richard’s face, and the wry look on Frank’s.
“And. There. You. Have. It!” Richard crowed, throwing his hands in the air and beaming.
“Excuse me Father but-” Dale began, unfortunately he wasn’t able to match Father Richards pealing voice.
“The Lord provides, and we will have a beautiful place of worship and-”
“Hey!” Frank barked, thrusting his finger at Hans. “He isn’t the landowner.”
“He-” Richard whirled on the now maniacally laughing Hans and fixed him with a glare.
“Father, it is the perfect place!” Hans laughed so hard he fell over, “I… Ha-hah… I told him, just like you asked!”
Everyone was chuckling except the crestfallen priest, so Dale decided to speak up. Lifting his visor, “I own the land here, Father Richard.”
“Oh. You? Well. Right, lad, listen,” Richard quietly muttered, “I need this, I think my promotion to this place was a punishment. My branch of the church displeased the bishop, and when I was finally up for promotion to a location based diocese instead of being a wandering minister, I was told to come here and build a worthy house of worship. I can’t be put to the side, I just…” He sighed sadly, looking at the chunk of land he wanted. “I need to make something memorable here.”
“Does it need to be that exact spot?” Dale looked around and saw nothing really special about the area.
“It looks like all the other flat land around here is claimed. All these tents, I’m sure people have plans to build. How much of this land do you own? A few acres around the dungeon entrance?” Richard searched.
“Not exactly. I-” Dale began with a smile, only to be cut off again.
Richard interrupted with a frustrated growl, “Not even that? Rats, the land price here must have skyrocketed when this was found, I’ll never be able to afford to build a church near here-”
“Father!” Re-gaining his attention, Dale grinned. “I own this mountain.”
“What?!”
“When I discovered the dungeon, I originally did buy only the land directly containing the dungeon, it took everything I had. When the scouting team showed up, they left me with enough gold to buy this entire mountain, since there had never been anything useful found on it. And, well, since it is a contested mountain range, the price was right.” Dale revealed with a grin, adding on accomplishments to drive the price of renting land up subconsciously in Richard’s mind. “I bought the land from both the Lion and the Phoenix Kingdom, just in case. It helped that my intelligence as a sheepherder was somewhat underestimated. Both Kingdoms assumed I wanted uninterrupted grazing pastures, not a valuable resource like a dungeon.”
“Brilliant!” Frank whispered. He hadn’t realized the forethought Dale had put into his good fortune. When land was purchased, any deeds were signed with Mana-infused ink that was impossible to fake or forge. The contracts had to be honored by both Kingdoms, when before the contested nature of the mountain would allow one of the Kingdoms to attempt a hostile takeover if he had only bought from the other. In fact, the contract for the land would also be enforced magically, Frank wondered if Dale knew about this aspect of his purchase.
“Listen,” Dale tried to placate the priest, “I think you should move further away from here. What if beasts are drawn to this place and attack your church? What if something breaks out of the dungeon? Will you stand in the way and fight when creatures are attacking your followers? Will- “
“Yes.” Richard told him seriously.
“See-” Dale sputtered to a stop, train of thought derailed. “Wait, what?”
“Yes, I will.” Richard calmly promised. “I will protect them.”
Dale tried again, rubbing at his temples as a headache threatened, “Look, Father, praying at a problem won’t make it go away, it-”
“Yes, it will.” Father Richard chuckled darkly.
Dale tried again with a sheepish chuckle, seeing why Frank had gotten so angry, “Father, you aren’t understanding me.”
“No, you aren’t understanding me.” Father Richard grinned, and bowed his head. Murmuring a short prayer, he gestured at the empty lot that he had been after. For a moment, nothing seemed to happen as the sun rose higher in the sky. A word came out of Father Richard’s mouth that shook the air and made no sense to Dale, followed by a beam of light that tore from the heavens and settled into a perfect square on the entire lot for several glorious seconds. The sound created was amazing, a cross between a choir singing… and rock exploding. When the light faded several moments later, the ground had been fused into perfectly clear glass, three feet straight down. The heat coming off of the molten land was enough to singe Dale's eyebrows, even from this distance.
The Father turned back towards Dale, “You see, young man, I am a rank-A priest. If someone were threatening my flock, I would be more than willing, nay, I would cheerfully send them to the creator.”
Dale watched the clear liquid of the ground steam, all impurities apparently burned away. “Well. The spot, ah, is yours it... seems. Let’s make a lease shall we? What are you willing to offer as payment?” Dale tried not to be stunned by the casual display of apocalyptic destructive capabilities.
Father Richard snorted at Dale's attempt to seem nonchalant. “Many things. Firstly, I will build my own building. I will provide healing to people as needed, for a small offering. With this many people, families are bound to arrive, it won’t always be the simple military camp it is now. A church in the area will alleviate many concerns families may have. I will teach and train youngsters for no charge, and accept any into my order who are gifted with an affinity for celestial Essence.”
“I will be able to provide them a means to gain this Essence, in the proper ways. Often, children with celestial affinity are small or weak because they cannot gain any Essence, I will teach them how to properly cultivate through their prayers.”
“Finally, I will provide a bank to the community that will not be corrupt as a non-morally guided bank would be. We will only take a small amount in fees that will provide the bulk of our income, and our rent to you, which will be determined by a percentage of the gross amount we earn.”
Dale was impressed by this man’s knowledge of the world, but realized that as an A-ranked person, he could be several hundred years old. “Father, you seem very knowledgeable and wise. I do agree to these terms, though I must ask, why did it take so long for you to be given a church? You obviously have the power and wisdom to stand alone.”
“We, my sect of the church that is, are in disfavor with the Bishop due to our favored practice of worship.” Father Richard disclosed brightly, happy that the land was his.
“Why? What do you do?” Dale was genuinely curious.
“We do the lord's work as our penance, our service to the world. We hunt demons and the undead. Pardon me, I have work to do!” Father Richard jauntily stated, moving toward the small market area to find craftsmen.
~Cal~
Dani had been correct, wiping out a party every week or so caused no undue attention, as the amount of dungeon divers increased. Apparently, the promise of long life and vast riches caused people to ignore the danger inherent in this occupational choice. Go figure. Only a month and some change since they arrived, now a sea of adventurers waited on a line for the Guild to grant them permission to enter, only the first group of the day showed up on a regular basis. They seemed to have some kind of precedence, maybe? That didn’t really bother me though. Thanks to the constant Essence gains I was making, I had gained enough power fast enough that six of the Beast Cores around me held their own Chi spiral. They weren't sentient stones of course, I spiraled their Essence manually. Thanks to keeping these Cores charged, I was able to fill the rooms with Mobs nearly as soon as the humans vacated them, allowing multiple groups to enter in staggered time frames. I would eventually use or absorb the Essence accumulated in the Beast Cores, but I would have choked on the amount of energy I was gaining, I could not just take it all in. Similarly, the corruption stones were also becoming full, but try as I might, I could not make them spiral, they just sat there, glowing with their corruptions respective color.
Thanks to the massive group of people moving through me, and the large amounts of deaths that occurred seemingly by their own stupidity, just a few short weeks after entering the ninth rank of the F series, Dani was coaching me on how to move into the D rankings.
“Let me explain to you what needs to happen, Cal. The reason it is called ‘breaking’ into a new rank is that you need enough knowledge and power to further ‘break’ your Essence, and the mental barriers to advancement. I need to warn you - it hurts. A lot.” She started seriously, “To get into the D-ranks, your Chi and Essence spiral needs to shatter into a ‘fractal’. This means that each part of the pattern has the same statistical character as the whole.” She took a breath as I attempted to understand her meaning.
“In other words,” she clarified,” your Chi spiral needs to become a spiral, made of spirals, which are further made of spirals. The Essence swirl that it draws from needs to become a swirl, made of swirling Essence. This will, when you manage it, allow you to astronomically increase the Essence you can hold and absorb at any given time, at least a hundred times more at any given point.”
I kept pace with her lecture, making affirmative noises as she spoke.
“It is, and it will take a lot of your Essence to break down the other Essence, the payoff is absolutely worth it though. I’ve been making you practice splitting your focus, which is why we waited until you had those Beast Cores swirling
with energy. Spinning multiple spirals is really good practice for this, also it is a benefit that humans will never get to use.” She made sure I was paying attention and told me something rather unexpected. “Now, achieving a breakthrough may take a few days to do, and will require all of your focus, so I suggest that tonight when everyone is out and going to bed, you grow a wall of stone to block them, and keep them out while you do this.”
It turned out that she had a very good reason though. “People may get, hmm, upset? When they are unable to find monsters to kill and loot, that is. Since your attention will be focused inward, Mobs won’t respawn if killed. Adventurers may look for... other ways... to get money, or find a new source of energy to cultivate from.”
Waiting for evening was torture when I was this excited, but I was able to gain more energy from cultivators by pulling refined Chi from them, as well as when a lucky shot from a thorn staggered a man and a Basher crushed his skull. When the sun disappeared behind the mountain range, a soft grinding of stone could be heard if one were close and paying attention.
Before attempting my breakthrough, I etched in the enchantment for protection and durability I had gained from a shield after a lucky kill some time ago. At the activation portion of the Rune, where I would normally deposit Essence into, instead I placed the corrupted Core, which was full of earth, and created a shunt that sent its energy into the Rune. The energy oozed into the pattern, slowly filling it to completion, until with a dull flash and an awkward flatulence-esk noise, it successfully activated the Rune!