by Arthur Stone
Chapter 39
Winning Plans
Degrees of Enlightenment: 0 (335/888)
Shadow: 335
Attributes:
Stamina: level 7, 350 points
Strength: level 4, 200 points (200+50)
Agility: level 5, 250 points (250+26)
Perception: level 3, 150 points
Spirit: level 2, 100 points
Energy:
Warrior Energy: 150 points (+4.89)
Mage Energy: 100 points
ORDER Talents:
Extreme Boatman (tier 3): 10/10
Fishing Connoisseur (tier 3): 10/10
Cure Wounds (tier 3): 10/10
Throwing Knives (tier 3): 10/10
Apprentice Navigator (tier 3): 10/10
Chaos Talents:
Mark Monster (tier 3): 10/10
Free Talents:
Spinning Rod Master (tier 3): 10/10
States:
Equilibrium (15.44): level 15
Enhanced Enlightenment (0.79): level 0
Shadow of Chi (0.69): level 0
Measure of Order (3.28): level 3
This kote was not a common fish. I had selected a larger lure and aimed for the middle specimen. It had weighed 25 pounds, give or take. Slowly the fish had made its way past a large underwater rock. That had been my target—but then this alligator-sized fish had leaped out of nowhere to seize my lure. My intended fish had correctly evaluated the situation and escaped.
I had already lost one of my beloved shiny lures less than an hour before. Some unknown beast had torn it off, along with a decent length of line. I could not let myself lose this one too. There were no traders in this region. I had to rely on the stock of hooks and lures that we had brought with us.
Few remained.
Had a fishing encounter like this one happened some 15 days ago or so, I would have ended fighting for my life in the water. The monster would pose a serious challenge even to an adult. Now, thanks to both the ORDER and Chaos, I had four Strength attribute levels, comprising 250 absolute units of Strength. Not counting my amulet, whose exact parameters were still a mystery. So that particular attribute was about as high as the Strength of a well-developed commoner at 4th Degree Enlightenment. That wasn’t incredible, but it was enough to fight this river giant on equal terms. Thankfully, the strength of my line and ruggedness of my spinning reel allowed me to maintain the upper hand.
There was one important nuance though. The raft was not anchored, so the fish dragged it along, gradually exhausting itself. I only had to keep it from snapping the line with a desperate jerk—or unreeling it too quickly. The boat’s mass helped cushion the strongest maneuvers, making the fight much easier.
Our old fish scoop had been lost in the shelf rapids. I had made a new one quickly, out of the top of a tree in the river and a homemade net of repurposed lengths of anchor rope. The result was too rough and too small, especially for prey like this. Thankfully, I had a sharpened stake at the ready. I just had to get the kote close enough.
Once I did, I jabbed and heaved the fish up so powerfully that I cut deep into its side. Pulling my prey up to the raft almost caused my hands to get dislocated. Holding the crazed predator on the platform, I stabbed it through the head.
I knew that the brains were best treated gently, yes. But there wasn’t anyone to sell them to. I wouldn’t mind if they were lost entirely.
My activities had gone far beyond poaching now—I was destroying the riches of the river. One fish would have been enough food for us both. A small garpike had yielded enough sustenance and spice for us for two days. Today, I had killed and then tossed back dozens of medium- and large-sized fish.
To be sure, I was all for the conservation of nature. But first and foremost, I was for the conservation of myself. And I sure as hell needed all kinds of rewards from the ORDER to get to the next part of my plan: a talent that let me work with artifacts. Time was running out. Soon, the Claw would lose its charge, and I had to learn how to sustain the enchantment’s effect by then.
I did not want to lose so many attribute levels, even if they were poorly developed.
Activating the Artificer talent would cost 600 chi. Raising the 1st tier of the talent to level 10 would take another 1000. That was the point at which a new talent blossomed with possibility. 1600 chi was several times more than I had ever used. Thus the wanton destruction of the river biome.
Now, if I used all of the chi symbols I had and melted down all of the other reward items, I would have enough. Perhaps the full 1st tier wouldn’t help me out much, but I had to start somewhere. I would not have the patience needed to accumulate enough chi for the standard goal of 3rd tier. That would cost an additional 2000, after all.
A colossal sum, one I could hardly wrap my head around. My mother could never have dreamed of such wealth. Come to think of it, less than a month ago, ten marks of chi had seemed like a fortune.
Now, I was operating with thousands.
Ah, the price of progress.
Unlocking the talent and pushing it to level 10 caused me no ill effects. My body was used to such dramatic changes—only the Chaos element in the last talent acquisition had managed to put me under.
As I examined the talent, my feelings were conflicted. There were both good sides and bad.
Worst of all, it didn’t help my situation. There was no way to bolster my amulet with this new knowledge. In this regard, I might as well have thrown all of that loot into an abyss.
One plus, though, was that at level 10 I could fully discern the effects an artifact had—and also notice items which could be imbued with magical effects. This did not cost any Shadow of Chi. It was like a second sight.
Noticing active or potential artifacts was valuable in general but utterly unhelpful in my position. But discerning all of the attributes of my amulet? That alone might render the chi cost worth it.
Black Claw on a String A body part of an unknown creature of Chaos. Amulet. A chi vessel which has absorbed part of the power of Clan Crow.
Active Effects:
Caster: unknown caster. Powerful chi surge.
Provisional Enlightenment Degrees +2 (with your current talents, this has one effect: others may conclude that your Degree of Enlightenment rank is 2 higher than its actual value)
Stamina: +9 attribute levels, +90 absolute Stamina points (days remaining: 35)
Agility: +6 attribute levels, +60 absolute Agility points (days remaining: 35)
Strength: +3 attribute levels, +30 absolute Strength points (days remaining: 35)
Effect from the shadow talent of the Enlightened Treya of Clan Crow: this amulet is invisible to others (days remaining: 35)
Due to your extended use of this amulet, and your experience of the chi surge, you have bonded with this item. Even if you take it off, its effects will continue to apply to you for a time. However, the amulet must remain close to you. Conversely, no other person who puts your amulet on will immediately receive its effects.
The description was much more detailed now. At last I knew how much the amulet added to my attributes, in absolute terms.
I nearly burst into tears. My worst fears had been realized. The Claw’s attributes were at their lowest possible values. Each attribute level gave me only +10 absolute attribute points. With a Strength level of 3, for example, I had a miserable 30 Strength.
Chaos take this amulet! Only 18 attribute levels.
No wonder that, before I had managed to boost my “native” parameters, I had been afraid of a stiff breeze.
Encountering one might have killed me!
However, the amulet’s paltry boosts had allowed me to survive my first, most difficult days here. It was thanks to them that I had become the first alpha zero in the history of Rock. I had consumed more treasure in this one “degree” than most nobles ate in the course of their lives. Some managed to match me, but only in adulthood, at the cost of great deeds and great expenses, poured into boosting their Equili
brium.
And so, I did not want to give the amulet up—not even now. However, this talent at tier 1 did not allow me to recharge an artifact—and I didn’t have any chi to even get started towards tier 2. Collecting enough would take several days of fishing.
As sick and tired as I was of catching kotes and garpikes, I had no other choice. After all, I had seen one very promising option in the development path. Boosting tier 2 to level 10 would unlock a bonus: the ability to use amulet properties that increased states and Degrees of Enlightenment.
Meaning that my provisional +2 would do more for me than just let me mess with people’s heads. The ORDER would allow me to boost talent tiers that required 1st or 2nd Degree Enlightenment. Currently, tier 3 was the ceiling for all of my talents. I could not go beyond that unless I upped my talent levels.
But unlocking this amulet property would let me develop my talents further without ending the good times. Or so I assumed. I could even boost my healing talent high enough to handle serious wounds. Or, I could choose a branch that healed poisons, preventing Beko’s prolonged paralysis from recurring.
I began to wonder what Tier 3 Artificer would give me. I couldn’t figure that out, but I could dream.
Now, do I really have to spend two more days decimating the local aquatic populations? At this rate, I risked bringing ecological disaster to the whole of Blackriver. Kotes and garpikes alike hurled themselves at my shiny lure. They had no defense against my fishing methods, and they might never acquire one at all.
Perhaps I could come up with a better plan. We did hope to get out of this area as quickly as possible, after all. Extending my time meant nothing if it was just burned away in a swamp filled with monsters.
* * *
From atop the flat rock, Beko watched me start a fire in the raft’s hearth. “No, Ged, don’t. The monsters will smell the smoke. Put it out, quick!”
“Hush,” I reassured him, “they won’t. They have a terrible sense of smell. But they have excellent hearing, so I wouldn’t yell if I were you.”
“I wasn’t yelling, but how do you know that?”
“I’ve been thinking a lot. And I’ve killed a lot of them. Along the way, I learned some new things—you know how it goes. Well, today is full stomach day!”
“What?”
“We’re going to have a hot meal. Water and fish! No salt, no breading, not even wild leeks. But it’s the best fish you can catch in all of Blackriver, let me tell you. Rich garpike bellies! I’m tired of eating raw, aren’t you? It’s time to eat like decent people. Almost, anyway.”
“Are you sure they won’t smell our fire?” Beko worried.
“I’m sure that the wisps and rukhs won’t. They won’t let anything else through their land. This is like a safe little island! Probably.”
“Probably?!”
“I don’t know everything, you know. Nobody knows everything. There are always risks. But this is just a tiny little fire. I have here the thinnest branches from the driest trees. They haven’t been so much as splashed on. There will hardly be any smoke or smell.”
“Did you find your knives?”
“No. But I know where they are—I’ll get them later.”
“I’m glad you didn’t go back there. I was worried.”
“Don’t worry about me, Beko. We’re going back there, for certain. Together.”
“You think I want that, do you?”
“I doubt it. But I wasn’t asking, in case you didn’t notice. Sometimes, my friend, life makes us do things we don’t want to do. We can’t go up the river. We can’t go down the river, unless we want to face a whole new class of rapids. Or even the waterfall. You don’t know how to avoid it for sure, do you? So we have two options: either we live here, waiting for someone to decide to come this far down the Blackriver, or we cross the lowlands infested with wisps.”
Beko shook his head. “No one’s coming down. There was just that one time. Merchants of the Sevens hired the best rivermen. They wanted to see the whole of Blackriver. Of the three boats they took, only one reached Redriver. Nine of the twelve perished. After that, no one attempted it again. Plus, they saw nothing of interest down there.”
“See? You just admitted that we have only one option.”
“The wisps will kill us,” Beko muttered.
I gave him a sinister smile. “I’ve already killed about a hundred of them, if you are counting the ones we killed together.”
“You’re lying!”
“Now why would I do that? I’m going to kill more. And so will you. I have a plan. It’s a good plan, a plan for winners like us.”
“What kind of plan?”
I suspended the pot over the fire before climbing up onto the rock and arranging pieces of moss into two intersecting circles on the tarp. “See these circles, Beko?”
“I see you getting the tarp dirty. Also, the circles.”
“I’ve been watching the wisps. Plus, I found out a few things about them. That led me to realize something. This—” I pointed in the center of the circle on the left—“is where the rukh resides. Like an emperor on his throne. He only leaves for the most important of campaigns. The wisps he commands scout the territory around him. Some stay closer to their master, others venture farther away. They listen, and they feel vibrations in the soil. If they detect anything, they quickly fly in and paralyze it—leaving it there for their masters. It is very difficult to pass these small creatures without being noticed. Here,” I pointed to the center of the other circle, “is another rukh. The neighbor of the first. He has his own wisps in circles all around him, too. You and I were lucky to enter here,” I said as I pointed to a place barely inside the circles. “We heard a strong buzz to our left, to our right, and in front, but we were not attacked immediately. When we encountered the wisps, there were not many of them. The farthest wisps found us—the ones who take a long time to complete their circle. Those at the center didn’t know we were there. Do you follow so far?”
“Follow what, that you’re going to kill wisps? I didn’t need the drawings to know that. You love killing. You’re always killing. Are you evil?”
“Not always,” I objected, “remember when you and I settled things peacefully, using just a couple of pails?”
Beko smiled cheerlessly. “Right. You were just afraid that Ash would get mad. You’re not afraid of the wisps. You want to kill them all so that we can get out of the lowlands. But you’re forgetting something important, Ged.”
“Which is?”
“If everything really is arranged the way you say, we have no idea what the ‘emperor’ in the center of the circle will do. I doubt he will be fine with you killing all of his wisps. Nobody likes it when useful allies are slain. So take this massacre out of your plans, OK?”
I returned a carefree smile. “Don’t worry about the rukh. We’ll kill him first of all.”
Beko’s face twisted darkly. I thought it was a wonderful plan.
Apparently, he didn’t agree.
Chapter 40
Beko’s Secret
Degrees of Enlightenment: 0 (337/888)
Shadow: 337
Attributes:
Stamina: level 7, 350 points
Strength: level 4, 200 points (200+50)
Agility: level 5, 250 points (250+26)
Perception: level 3, 150 points
Spirit: level 2, 100 points
Energy:
Warrior Energy: 150 points (+6.48)
Mage Energy: 100 points
ORDER Talents:
Extreme Boatman (tier 3): 10/10
Fishing Connoisseur (tier 3): 10/10
Cure Wounds (tier 3): 10/10
Antidote (tier 3): 10/10
Throwing Knives (tier 3): 10/10
Apprentice Navigator (tier 3): 10/10
Artificer (tier 1): 10/10
Chaos Talents:
Mark Monster (tier 3): 10/10
Free Talents:
Spinning Rod Master (tier 3): 10/10
States:
Equilibrium (15.76): level 15
Enhanced Enlightenment (0.98): level 0
Shadow of Chi (0.84): level 0
Measure of Order (3.49): level 3
The evening of the third day after our memorable conversation, I returned to the camp. I managed to get back on my own two legs. I couldn’t crawl through the swamp, so I had to somehow find the strength to reach Beko and the dinner he had ready. I was exhausted. Horses after a full week of plowing could not be as tired as I was.
I had been busy every minute from sunrise to sunset. Wisps dropped by the dozen, so their presence on the outer circle was now a minimum. After returning to the raft, I exterminated the kotes and garpikes with equal barbarism, greedily grabbing those talent-pumping trophies.
Mostly, though, I dug. I dug like a miner on a massive payroll. I dug so hard that the powers that be noticed. I received a couple of dozen talent marks for the Digger talent and one for Miner. The last was awarded when I pulled some kind of ugly rock out of the red soil. The ORDER was feeling kind enough to count this as the extraction of a mineral, so I was immediately compensated.