Congratulations, you have reached level 5 in Fire Magic. Fire Magic spells now have a 12% increased effect. The roof is one fire! Well, maybe not.
The wall was looking fantastic on each side of the road now. Granted, it didn’t span very far away, but Arthur decided he would make the rest of the wall only six feet tall as he went around the village. That would let him do nine-feet of wall every half hour or so. He at least hoped he could get this side of the city surrounded before the gang showed up. He also decided to use the 2 talent points he had saved. Reflecting back, he didn’t think holding onto them was a good idea.
He hadn’t unlocked the third tier yet, so he still had the same options to choose from in his Earth Magic. He dumped one point into Solid Foundations bringing it to 5/5, and the bonus jumped to 75%. He also put one point into Earthen Will. He then decided to get a look at the Fire Talent tree.
You have 2 unused Talent Points.
Talent
Description
Tier 1
Furious Fire (0/5)
Increases effectiveness of Fire Magic spells by 5%
Superheating (0/3)
Decreases the base mana cost of Arcane Forging spell by 5 mana per rank.
Flame Blade (0/1)
Ability that creates a blade of pure fire that is two foot long for 30 seconds. The blade deals damage based on Intellect. (Base damage = 0.75 x Intellect)
Cost: 25 Mana
Cooldown: 2 Hours
There were some good options in there, and he seriously considered getting the Flame Blade, if for no other reason, then he wanted to be a Sith Lord with a red lightsaber. He ended up going for the option that would probably be best for the village and chose to put a point in Superheating.
You have 1 unused Talent Point.
Talent
Description
Tier 1
Furious Fire (0/5)
Increases effectiveness of Fire Magic spells by 5%
Superheating (1/3)
Decreases the base mana cost of Arcane Forging spell by 5 mana per rank.
Flame Blade (0/1)
Ability that creates a blade of pure fire that is two foot long for 30 seconds. The blade deals damage based on Intellect. (Base damage = 0.75 x Intellect)
Cost: 25 Mana
Cooldown: 2 Hours
Tier 2
Power of Flame (0/6)
You gain a deeper knowledge of the Flame. This ability decreases the required mana for your fire spells by 5%. For every 2 ranks you also gain 1 Intellect.
Fan the Flames (0/5)
This ability increases damage done by your offensive fire spells by 5% per rank.
Arthur liked the new options, but he went ahead and spent the second point in Superheating as well. That would be the most beneficial in the short term. He was also pretty sure that this wall would get him a large number of skill points by the time he finished it. He knew he was going to be burning mana like crazy for the next few weeks.
His mana had returned yet again, so he decided he wanted to give the gate a top. The trick was going to be how he would do it. The span across the road was left at a respectable sixteen feet to make sure any large carts could get through without issues. His spell would only cover eight feet of it at a time, and he knew the stone would snap off at the wall if he tried to let it hang freely.
He decided he would have to cast the first spell and then use his raw earth power to support the weight while he proceeded with the second spell and fused it solidly between the two. He cast the first spell, and as soon as it completed, he pushed out his will to hold the edge of the stone.
While he burned raw mana holding the stone in place, he started the next cast and stretched the piece from the other side and fused them in the center. He then did the same thing to the backside and ended up with a top part of the gate that was sixteen-feet across and a little over two-feet-high. It covered the full four-foot width of the wall as well.
He was rather pleased with how it looked. It was a smooth dark gray stone and was somewhat intimidating. If they could get some wooden doors made for it and installed, they would be set.
You have gained 360 experience in Earth Magic and Fire Magic for successfully casting Combination Spell: Raise Stone Wall (x4).
Arthur decided to give himself another boost, and this time set a work order to create a stone gatehouse for the village. He made the dimensions match what he had already created and finished the order. Once again, he listed himself as the supplier of the materials and only one token as the reward. The rewards were astounding.
Congratulations, you have completed the Work Order: Stone Gatehouse for Alem’s Crossing for the following rewards: 1 Meal Token, 1500 Earth Magic Experience, 1500 Fire Magic Experience, and 750 Character Experience.
Congratulations, you have reached level 9 in Earth Magic. Increases the effect of your earth magic spells by 24%. Beautiful looking stones you have.
Congratulations, you have reached level 6 in Fire Magic. Fire Magic spells now have a 15% increased effect. Doubt thou the stars are fire?
That was an incredible reward. Arthur did suppose it was a lot of magic, though. It meant he couldn’t turn in the wall sections on either side of the road that made up the gatehouse, and its large dimensions were probably a significant factor for the immense rewards. With the gatehouse in place, he decided to just spend time with Allendria and keep casting spells as possible.
They spent the next four hours chatting and casting spells as needed. After Arthur finished casting all of the spells and completed all the sections, he created one work order to encompass them all. He was able to perform eight sets of these spells resulting in a wall that was eighty-feet-long. His Earth Magic bonus didn’t seem like much with each spell, but when you added a bunch of them together, the inches you gained with each spell added up quickly.
You have gained 4320 experience in Earth Magic and Fire Magic for successfully casting Combination Spell: Raise Stone Wall (x48).
Congratulations, you have reached levels 7 and 8 in Fire Magic. Fire Magic spells now have a 21% increased effect. Life is the fire that burns.
Congratulations, you have reached level 10 in Earth Magic. Increases the effect of your earth magic spells by 27%. Can’t even dig for shiny metals? Spice it up a bit?
Congratulations, you have unlocked Mastery level 2 for Raise Stone Wall. The mana cost for this spell has decreased by 10.
Congratulations, you have completed the Work Order: Stone Wall for Alem’s Crossing for the following rewards: 1 Meal Token, 1800 Earth Magic Experience, 1800 Fire Magic Experience, and 900 Character Experience.
Eighty-feet wasn’t a very long span, but it did look impressive with a wall that was six feet of solid, seamless stone. If nothing else, he was sure it would intimidate the shit out of the enemies that they expected.
The sheer amount of experience he gained from keeping his work order criteria at large dimensions but with little in the way of reward was a great way for him to boost his skills. He would have to let Daniel and Rowan know about it. They may wish to sacrifice token rewards for more significant skill experience as well.
“I appreciate you spending the day with me today. I know it was probably pretty boring, but it was good to have someone to visit with.” Arthur told Allendria.
“I didn’t mind at all, Arthur. It was nice to have a day to just walk and talk. Having some time with no real worries is nice.” She told him.
They joined hands and made their way back to the village. It was already the middle of the afternoon, but Arthur knew he had plenty to do still. As they walked toward Alem’s Crossing, he glanced over at Allendria’s smiling face and decided he wasn’t worried about whatever needed to be done. This had been one of the best days he ever had.
Chapter 24
The Toil of a Village
Arthur and Allendria made their way back into the village to be greeted by a hustle of activity. The whole place seemed to be alive. Arthur stopped at the ed
ge as they approached. This village would need to work toward increasing its quality and level. To do that, they had some items on their list to accomplish. Arthur decided now was a good time to do some work on one thing.
The road situation would be the easiest to improve. Now that Arthur understood the magic behind transforming stone, he could make a fantastic road in the village.
He initially thought about making a solid stone road through the village as they walked, but decided against it. If it was solid stone, there was a good chance it would end up wearing smooth and get slippery. Instead, he decided he needed to make the road in a cobblestone style. He could use his magic to create larger pieces of stone and put finely ground gravel, bonded together, in between them to form a functional and elegant road.
He told Allendria to hold up for a second because he was going to try a new spell. He poured his focus into his Earth Magic and used it to follow a section of the road in front of them. To anyone looking, it appeared as though a wave of fresh gravel and dirt was sweeping away from Arthur and smoothing into a perfectly flat road that was slightly taller than the ground around it.
When he reached what he thought was the max distance possible, he weaved his fire magic into the power. A wave of Fire Magic rolled over the earth and started transforming it into the stone pattern envisioned. It reminded him of when he was using his arcane smithing. When he started, it was just a rough dirt and gravel road that was slightly elevated, but as soon as the wave of magic passed by, it turned into the perfect cobblestone pattern. He let the power fade as the spell completed and sagged a bit. He looked up with pride in his vision as he received a new spell.
Congratulations, you have discovered the Combination Spell: Raise Cobblestone Street. You have gained 250 experience in Earth Magic and Fire Magic for discovering a known spell.
You have gained 80 experience in Earth Magic and Fire Magic for successfully casting Combination Spell: Raise Cobblestone Street.
Raise Cobblestone Street
Requirements: Fire Magic and Earth Magic
Mana Cost: 40 MP
Cast Time: 10 seconds
Description: Creates a slightly elevated stretch of road that is 30’ x 4” x 10’
Mastery Level: 1
The spell was pretty nice for the distance he made it cover. With magic that included that much space, he would be able to fix the roads in town without too much trouble. He was drained of mana from discovering that new spell, but he could put it to good use before long. Rowan would be ideal for him to go bounce some ideas off of, though.
With that thought in mind, he and Allendria made their way toward the blacksmith. They were pleased to see people out in the streets and even received some smiles and waves. The changes had been slow coming, but they were finally starting to show. They hadn’t done much more but get them some food so far, and they had already turned things around. Arthur couldn’t wait to see how they reacted when he started making improvements.
As they approached the blacksmith, Arthur was surprised to see Daniel talking to Rowan at the shop. This worked in Arthur’s favor since he also needed to discuss plans with Daniel. The problem was so many areas of the town needed his attention that it was almost impossible to keep up with. He approached the two men with a friendly wave.
“Hey guys, what’s going on up here?” he asked.
“Oh, just talking to Rowan about where to focus our attention on the village,” Daniel told him.
“Then I arrived just in time. I also wanted to discuss the same thing. I’ve been out working on the wall this morning. I am happy to report we now have a twelve-foot tall stone gatehouse and about eighty-feet of the stone wall that is six feet tall.” Arthur told them.
“Wait, stone? How did you manage a stone wall? Not only that, but it sure is a large amount of work for just over half a day.” Daniel said.
“I managed to gain some levels in Earth Magic and discovered a talent that taught me how to transform them into stone. I was able to use this new knowledge to discover a new spell to do it all at once.” Arthur told them.
“Damn, man, what are you going to do next? Tame a unicorn or something?” Daniel said with a laugh.
“Are there any around? I might give it a shot.” Arthur said with a smile.
Daniel shook his head, “We were trying to come up with some major priorities for what we needed before our upcoming confrontation. We know the basic necessity of food but, with what you guys brought in yesterday, we are pretty set on it for a while. This village only has about seventy-five people total in it, and with what you guys brought back, I could stretch what we have to feed the entire village for around two weeks.”
“That is good to know that we are pretty safe on food for the moment. I don’t want you to skimp on the food, though. Cook and serve only good portions of food. That is the biggest benefit we can offer the town now. It should also help with one of our village upgrade criteria for increasing the health of the village. I just discovered a spell earlier to create good roads and already did one small part of the road. When I get time, I will go through the village, converting the main roadways to this better version. That should meet the criteria for that on the village upgrade list.” Arthur said.
“So do we want to focus on village upgrades, or do we need to focus on combat?” Daniel asked, confused.
“I have been considering that option myself. I honestly believe our best option is to do both. Now before you start telling me why we can’t, I want to stress that it is because of the people we have. I know good and well, most of the villagers are not going to take any role in defense of this city. Most of them have no skills to do so. I honestly believe that Rowan, Samson, Vana, Allendria, and myself can probably hold back whatever they decide to bring, but just in case, I do want to make sure most of the men in the village at least have basic proficiency with bows. We should be able to take a few of them into the woods for a bit of archery work.” Arthur explained.
“The city itself will need to be advanced as quickly as we can, and that means repairs and improvements. I hope to work on some of those items myself as I get time. The blacksmith shop here will play a large part in all of this. We will need many different items for repairs and improvements. I plan on trying to spend a decent amount of my time here as well, helping you forge and enchant items as necessary. We will eventually have to focus on getting a sawmill up and running. I also would like us to get a gate made for the gatehouse I just erected. We should be able to find the wood in the forest nearby, and we can use thin iron bars to band the door for strength and make hinges. I am sure I will need to go on a couple more hunting parties to mine more ore as time goes on, but we have a good stock of materials at the moment.” Arthur said.
“I have those nails I completed, and I had already thought of some of those issues myself,” Rowan told him. “I also managed to make a couple of saw blades for hand saws and another basic mining pick.”
“All useful items that should help with our supply. I also need to experiment with my magic a bit and figure out the best way to melt that copper and get it into proper coinage. Would anyone happen to have a copper coin stashed away? I need to see one to know what I need to make them look like.” Arthur asked.
“I have one you can use as a pattern when you get to it,” Rowan told him.
“Another serious issue I would like to address is hygiene. This village’s residents seem to all be rather filthy. I know most of it is due to their circumstances, but it needs to be fixed. I’ve never even noticed, but where does the village’s water come from?” Arthur asked.
“There are a few wells scattered through town. We drop down our buckets and fill them up there.” Daniel told him.
“So when I take a bath at your inn, someone had to lug the water there, in individual buckets?”
“Of course. How else would it all get there? We don’t completely change the water that often, though, because of it.”
Arthur blanched at that statement.
That meant he had been washing in dirty bathwater a few times. After hearing that news, work on a bathhouse quickly jumped to the top of the list for tomorrow. He even had an idea of how to make the place rather efficient and clean with a few of the sapphire chips he found and a bit of clever enchanting.
“I’ll work on getting a functional bathhouse tomorrow then as my main priority. That should help improve everyone greatly. Can we find a few people who can use the saws Rowan makes to start cutting the wood we have been harvesting into lumber? I know it hasn’t had enough time to dry and cure, but it should get us one step closer. I am positive I can use my fire magic to do a quick cure on the wood and get it usable.” Arthur told them.
“I’ll see who I can find. Our resident father and son team of woodcutters have been busy. They have a few more loads ready for you to turn in. We have a few people who want to take advantage of the multiple turn-ins you mentioned.” Daniel told him.
“I also discovered something else interesting with the system today while working. For one, I was able to accept and turn in work orders myself, but that isn’t very surprising. The best thing I found out was that if you decrease the rewards gained and word it, so the materials are to be supplied by you, it will increase the amount of experience you gain proportionately. If you guys decide you want to forgo some of the smaller rewards and just get more skill experience, then let me know. When you want to turn in items, I can customize the order to fit your needs. Hell, I have gained multiple levels in Earth Magic and Fire Magic today alone.” Arthur explained.
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