“It is good to know I have something to look forward to then. Do you know the extent of what I can do with earth magic?” Arthur asked.
“I know that earth magic can control any stone or dirt. It can also move most things connected to the ground, such as trees or plants. It can also be used to move metals and sift them from the ground, but it cannot be used to shape or mold metals in any way due to the hardness of the metal. As I stated before, though, much of it evolves with your magic level and your imagination.” She said.
“From here, I would suggest we get moving again. It would be good to recover my items and return to a village for safety. It is still early enough now not to be a worry, but there is no point in taking chances. You can use the time to let your mana regenerate. I also encourage you to keep casting that spell to level your skill and increase its mastery.”
“Sounds like a plan to me. Let’s get a quick drink and keep moving.” Arthur told her.
Arthur waved at Rowan and let him know it was time to get moving. Rowan grabbed the cart, and they were off on their way again. They kept moving through the trees in the general direction Allendria was leading them. After another half hour of walking, she came to a stop.
“We are close, and I now recognize the area. The cave I was in is in that general direction.” She said as she waved her hand to the East.
They continued for another five minutes, and Arthur was able to see cliff sides through the trees. He also noticed that his mana had fully recovered. The last time Arthur had used it, he was distracted with what needed done next and never paid any attention to it. This time he was able to judge he had a reasonable mana regen rate of 5 mana every minute. Figuring it was foolish to waste mana regen for no reason, he decided he needed to cast his Earthen Wall spell again.
He looked to an area beside him and then froze. He realized he had no idea how to cast a learned spell, either. There must be a quicker way to do it instead of the way he learned it. He decided to wing it and held his hand out in the general direction he wanted to cast the spell and just said, “Earthen Wall.” He looked around in bewilderment when nothing happened. When he looked toward Allendria and Rowan, they looked at him with confusion.
Rowan looked like he had no idea what was going on while Allendria looked like she was trying to keep from either breaking out in laughter or crying desperately. Honestly, it might have been a bit of both.
“You are a bit special, aren’t you?” Allendria asked him with a chuckle. “I assume from the little performance there you were trying to cast your learned spell?”
“I was trying, but, as you can see, nothing happened. Care to enlighten me on the correct way to do it?” Arthur said, while looking at his feet. He was sure his embarrassed flush was as bright as the noonday sun.
Allendria let out a soft sigh, “You would think you would learn to ask before making a fool of yourself, but then again, I am new to traveling with humans. To cast a spell you have learned, you envision the effect of the spell on your specified area. For instance, to cast your wall, picture the completed wall to the correct dimensions wherever you wish it to be. When you have this image in place, you simply will it to happen. When you initiate this process, the cast sequence will automatically start and will take the specified time for the spell. Depending on the spell, it can be interrupted by another, and the spell will fail mid cast. I gave you the basic idea of this when we last spoke, but I guess I truly needed to explain it fully.”
“Thank you, Allendria, I will try and remember to ask first next time,” Arthur told her.
He turned to the area he had been looking at for his previous attempt and this time envisioned a foot tall, foot thick, and three-foot-long stretch of wall. He noticed while doing this, the image came quickly and appeared to be to the exact dimensions needed even though he had been horrible with estimating measurements before. He willed the wall into being, and his body took over as Allendria had told him. His arms started flowing in a quick set of weaves and circles before finishing 2 seconds later.
Arthur looked on in wonder as the wall he envisioned quickly rose from the ground into shape in less than a second. He was elated now that he could see the results of real magic he had cast.
You have gained 60 experience in Earth Magic for successfully casting Earthen Wall.
Arthur reflected over his fight with the goblins and subsequent magic use in wonder. The experience gained from killing the goblins seemed to be much higher than animals of equal levels. Arthur assumed it had something to do with them being sentient creatures.
Looking at it, he also noticed a rather startling fact, the goblins they had been fighting lived past when they collapsed and appeared to die. He had seen this in the logs before but never quite noticed the importance of this. It seemed that dealing a blow that would kill most people or animals would disable them until they bleed out from bleeds unless it struck either the heart or brain. It wasn’t as noticeable since he had blocked most of the knockdown and bleed notifications from showing.
Arthur decided it was an excellent time to take a look at his character sheet and see the recent changes.
Name: Arthur
Level: 7
Age: 26
Race: Human
HP: 150/150
MP: 80/100
Stamina: 150/150
Strength: 8
Agility: 8
Intellect: 5
Wisdom: 3
Endurance: 8
Charisma: 5
Luck: 5
Experience: 1350/3200 (5 stat points available)
Skills (50% boost to any skill for level up)
Combat Skills:
Archery: 5 (315/1900)
- Aim Shot: 1 (225/500)
Block: 1 (180/500)
Parry: 1 (100/500)
Small Blades: 2 (575/750)
Stealth: 1 (370/500)
- Detect Hidden: 1 (50/500)
Swords: 1 (135/500)
Unarmed: 1 (25/500)
Magic:
Earth Magic: 1 (360/500)
- Earthen Wall (1)
Professions:
Barter: 3 (100/1000)
Cooking: 2 (400/750)
Farming: 4 (650/1400)
Firemaking: 2 (700/750)
Herbalism: 4 (560/1400)
Skinning: 3 (500/1000)
Well, hot damn he had leveled up and didn’t remember it. Thinking back on it, he realized it was back when he had turned in the quest with Dalia. He vaguely remembered hearing the trumpets, but he had his attention on other things at the time. Now was as good a time as any to allocate a few points.
Now that he fully understood a bit more about the benefits of using his magic, he desperately wanted to beef up his stats to support it. To start, he decided to throw a point into Intellect to see what it did. He wanted to know if it had a similar effect as it did when he reached five intellect. He was happy with what he saw. His Intellect had indeed gone up to 6, and his mana had risen another twenty points as well, bringing it to 140 total. He was elated at the extra mana, especially since it meant he would be able to discover some more advanced spells, but wasn’t sure why he had gotten it. He assumed it must have been a common occurrence for stats every point after five.
Trying it once again, he added another point to Intellect, bringing it to 7. Arthur was thrilled to see his maximum mana raise to 160. It was good to know that Intellect gave him 20 mana per point. It appeared to only happen after 5 points, though. To test this theory, he decided to throw 2 points into Wisdom to bring it up to 5. Not only did his Wisdom raise, but he gained another 10 MP to his maximum pool. He found that this augmented his mana regen by an additional 3 per minute on top of his default 5 per minute.
He was doubly excited now. Wisdom seemed a great boon if it would increase his regen as well as his mana pool. Intellect also increased his maximum mana by 20 per point, so it was always a good option. He was also sure that Intellect affected the power of his spells. At least it usually d
id in games he had played.
With these new details in mind, he decided now may be a good time to shift some of his focus. Currently, he was more of a ranged archer style build, but after a taste of magic, and an understanding that the sky may indeed be the limit, he decided now was the perfect time to shift his stats toward a caster style of play. With him trying to help out the town, he knew deep down that his magic would be instrumental in helping there as well.
With this in mind, he decided to put his last point into Intellect to bring it to 8. He looked at look at his new stats.
Name: Arthur
Level: 7
Age: 26
Race: Human
HP: 150/150
MP: 178/190
Stamina: 150/150
Strength: 8
Agility: 8
Intellect: 8
Wisdom: 5
Endurance: 8
Charisma: 5
Luck: 5
Experience: 1350/3200 (0 stat points available)
Skills (50% boost to any skill for level up)
Combat Skills:
Archery: 5 (315/1900)
- Aim Shot: 1 (225/500)
Block: 1 (180/500)
Parry: 1 (100/500)
Small Blades: 2 (575/750)
Stealth: 1 (370/500)
- Detect Hidden: 1 (50/500)
Swords: 1 (135/500)
Unarmed: 1 (25/500)
Magic:
Earth Magic: 1 (360/500)
- Earthen Wall (1)
Professions:
Barter: 3 (100/1000)
Cooking: 2 (400/750)
Farming: 4 (650/1400)
Firemaking: 2 (700/750)
Herbalism: 4 (560/1400)
Skinning: 3 (500/1000)
“Allendria, any idea how far we may have to go?” Arthur asked.
“I believe we are about ten minutes away.” She told him.
“Sounds good. I’m going to cast a few more Earthen Wall spells while we travel. Going to start grinding some magic experience.” Arthur said.
“Please do, you need to always work on improving your skills.” She told him.
Arthur went into a bit of autopilot while daydreaming about the possibilities of his new magic while following Allendria and randomly casting Earthen Wall. He wanted to ensure he had a bit of mana left when they got there in case of an emergency.
Chapter 14
Allendria’s Request
They continued and followed Allendria through the winding trees and knew they were getting close when they could see the cliff face getting larger in their view. From a distance, Arthur had thought this cliff was only fifty or sixty feet tall, but as they kept getting closer, he quickly realized he was wrong. From where they currently were, it looked closer to two-hundred feet high.
Arthur cast his Earthen Wall spell four more times up to this point and decided to cast another five as they kept walking.
You have gained 540 experience in Earth Magic for successfully casting Earthen Wall (x9).
Congratulations, you have reached level 2 in Earth Magic. Increases the effect of your earth magic spells by 3%. More playing in the dirt? Wasn’t farming enough?
With his regen, he was still able to get close to 100 mana by the time they reached a small cave in the cliff.
Allendria approached it carefully while continually scanning the trees around. Arthur assumed she was worried that some goblins remained in the area. They were able to reach the cave without any issues and quickly ducked inside. Arthur discovered his early assessment was incorrect. It looked like a small cave from the outside, but on the inside, it was rather spacious. The opening for it was narrow and was barely big enough for their cart to fit, but once inside, it quickly opened up for them to travel. The cavern itself looked to be about one hundred feet wide and half again as long.
The most puzzling part was some of it appeared to have been carved out and was not naturally forming. Smooth cuts covered much of the edges of the cavern toward the back. Everything, past the twenty-foot mark from the entrance, looked to be worked. The cave itself had nothing of interest in it except for a small cloth bag in the back corner. Allendria took off for the bag as soon as she saw it.
Arthur decided to take Allendria’s previous advice and take a closer look at the stonework here. She had told him he would be able to use his magic in many ways, and one he vaguely remembered was detecting metals. He decided now was a good chance to check this out. He was now up to around 110 MP, so he had plenty to experiment a little.
Arthur stepped to the back wall and placed his hand on one spot on the wall. Allendria had told him to examine the structure of the stone and compare it to the construction of the earthen wall he could create and use that comparison to try and advance the spell. He was sure that being able to analyze this stone would be the starting point for his detection spell, as well.
He closed his eyes and ‘felt’ with his power into the stone. His awareness slowly moved into the rock, and he could see the granular structure of the stone and its mineral composition. The stone itself appeared to be a variation of granite, although he was no expert to know precisely what variety. Now that he had been able to determine this, he decided to try the detection spell he wanted. Since he had already used some mana in the initial investigation, he might as well continue instead of wasting that mana. Not sure how to proceed, he decided to quickly push his awareness of the stone directly away from him in a cone type pattern.
As he envisioned this and pushed his will into it, he felt as though he could see through the stone in the direction he had willed. It was a slow-moving process, and it felt like he was crawling through at a snail’s pace. He could feel his consciousness expanding into the stone, but it was more like a spectral ghost slowly floating through the wall. He expected to get information on the rock as his magic moved, but so far, it just felt like trudging through a muddy swamp. He didn’t receive any information from his spell. He felt his mana bottoming out again and grit his teeth to keep pushing his awareness forward.
The magic finished, and a flood of information came back to him. He instinctively knew everything that had been in the rock in front of him for one hundred yards. He now understood why he hadn’t gotten any of this information when performing the spell. It sent out the magic that would crawl and identify everything in its path and then would compile all the details and deliver it back to the caster in one fell swoop.
Congratulations, you have discovered the Earth Magic Spell: Magical Prospecting. You have gained 250 experience in Earth Magic for discovering a known spell.
You have gained 100 experience in Earth Magic for successfully casting Magical Prospecting.
Congratulations, you have reached level 3 in Earth Magic. Increases the effect of your earth magic spells by 6%. What’s next, pottery?
Spell: Magical Prospecting
Requirements: Earth Magic
Mana Cost: 35 MP
Cast Time: 5 seconds
Description: Sends out a pulse of magic that can identify any earthen elements in a cone for 30 yards. The details return to the caster upon completion.
Mastery Level: 1
Arthur looked toward Allendria with a big smile plastered on his face. He saw her reverently pulling a bracer from the small bag and decided to keep quiet for now. Arthur walked over to talk to Rowan.
“You wouldn’t happen to have anything with you that could dig through rock, would you?” Arthur asked in hushed tones.
Rowan gave him a sidelong glance, “I guess that depends on the reason. Just for fun, no. For something important, I would probably make an exception.” he told him.
“Well, my new spell just told me that there is an iron ore vein about two yards in that wall,” Arthur told him with a vague wave at the wall.
Rowan eyed him curiously, “I suppose I could use the backside of my axe to attempt to break into the stone. I cannot guarantee it will work, but for iron, I will try. We desperately need it.” he
told Arthur.
“Give it a shot.”
Rowan walked over to the wall and flipped the axe around backward while taking a firm grasp on it. He reared back and swung into the stone. Chips of rock and dust flew from the wall as Rowan continued to pound. His physical prowess from swinging a hammer at the smithy helped him keep a steady pace of swinging the axe.
Dodging stone chips as they flew, Arthur walked around the cave while Rowan worked. He didn’t want to get in the way and get hit by him. Rowan was doing an admirable job of slowly widening his original hole while continuing to push deeper. Arthur wasn’t positive, but he believed Rowan must have the mining skill. It would make a bit of sense with his profession of blacksmithing.
Arthur randomly glanced at Allendria as he was walking around. She was murmuring to the bracelet she had pulled out. Arthur wasn’t about to interrupt her at whatever she was doing. He assumed it was some religious ceremony for her people. Allendria finally rose, and she had put the bracelet back in the bag and secured that bag to her waist. He decided to talk to her while Rowan was busy swinging an axe at a wall like a mad man.
“I hope everything of yours was still here?” Arthur said.
“Yes, it was. Thank you for your assistance in the matter. My apologies for taking so much time when we got here. I know you have other things to do, as well.” She said only to notice the loud smashing sound in the room from Rowan’s methodical swings slamming into the wall. She gave him an odd look and turned back to Arthur. “He does know there are better tools for that? He is bound to cut himself with the sharp side of that axe.”
Dravincia Page 16