The Land: Swarm: A LitRPG Saga (Chaos Seeds Book 5)

by Aleron Kong

  “No?” Sion asked looking at him sharply. “How many characteristic altering items have you found since coming to The Land? How many of them are created to work for someone of my size? Even these bracelets you gave me are so big that I have to wear them like arm bracers. I couldn’t wear that belt you gave to Caulder unless I used one hand to keep it up the whole time.”

  “There is no shame in needing to use a hand to keep it up,” Richter said lightly. The look Sion gave him made it clear that the sprite wasn’t in a joking mood. “Okay then, my friend. I can see this is a sensitive topic. Let me say that no matter how tall you are, I wouldn’t have anyone else watch my back. You and me, til death.” Richter reached out his hand.

  Sion looked at him, then ruefully smiled. He clasped wrists with his friend.

  “Is there anything else I should know about your… stature?” Richter asked delicately.

  “Small creatures also get a bonus to Agility and Dexterity and my dodge is increased overall.”

  Richter nodded. Knowing that there was an inherent alteration of characteristics due to certain sizes, it further explained why the rock giant’s Strength had been so high. He would have to keep that in mind. He brought the conversation back to the potions, “Well these are totally awesome man! Thank you so much. If you don’t have anything else to do, can you try to make some health and stamina potions too? Tabia seems…” a feminine curse came from the back of the building, “busy. So now that Beyan is gone, you’re all I have. Tomorrow we are going to get that shiverleaf frond.”

  “I’m on it,” Sion said. “You should know that I was also able to gather a large amount of ectoplasm from the remains of the tortured spirits. With a bit of experimentation, I might be able to make a spiritual poison out of it.”

  That was music to Richter’s ears. “See what you can do. If you get a good recipe, we will get Tabia to make it, so it’s as strong as possible. Also, get Fudave up here and talk to Randolphus and see if any of the other villagers have the Alchemy skill. I want a stockpile of useful potions.”

  “That is a good idea. I saw Fudave helping out with the farmers and herb gathering near the outer moat. I was meaning to discuss bringing him up to the lab. ”

  Shaking his head in self-recrimination at not utilizing his people to their full capabilities, Richter reached out to the central cauldron to give Fudave user permissions. While he was at it, he made sure that Sion could add whomever he might find useful. “I’ve added him,” Richter said. “You can now give anyone else permission that might be helpful.”

  “I will take care of it. Before you leave, you might want to put this away in your bag as well.” Sion untied several pouches from his waist and handed them over. He told Richter that three held the rest of the concentrated crystal. The last two he didn’t speak about, just looking at Richter meaningfully.

  Richter opened one of the pouches and saw red crystalline granules. They were filled with powdered blood crystal. A prompt told him that there were nine measures of the stuff. He looked at Sion with appreciation and nodded. Sion just gave another smile. The two friends high-fived again and Richter walked off. He had another stop to make before he left the meadow.

  *Where are you, my love?* Richter sent out.

  *Hunting,* she sent back happily.

  He wished her luck, but it set him to thinking. If she was outside of the village walls, then she would be too far away to capture the souls of anything she killed. Soul Trap would only work if an empty soul stone was within a certain distance. Richter was all for her keeping down any dangerous wildlife, and he was reasonably sure that she could take down most anything that she came across. He also knew that she was smart enough to avoid any large packs of dangerous animals or opponents she couldn’t handle on her own. Seeing as how he hadn’t come up against any flying monsters yet, Alma should be able to evade anything out there. No, he wasn’t really worried for her, but he also didn’t want the souls to go to waste. Luckily, he thought he had a simple fix. He sent out a mental call to Futen and let his familiar have her fun.

  Richter walked to the lake on the western side of the meadow. Between the waterfalls and flowering lake plants, it was a beautiful sight. He appreciated it for a moment, and it reminded him that he hadn’t just relaxed for a long while. After the stress and sweat of the fight, he decided there was no time like the present.

  He removed his armor, one piece at a time, and placed it inside of his bag. Then his sweaty clothes came off, and he let them drop into a pile. All he was left wearing was jewelry and his dagger tied to his thigh. He summoned a mist worker and gave it instructions to carry his dirty garments to the section of the river where the washer men and women cleaned clothes.

  As the worker walked away, he looked after it and reflected on how summoning the grey helpers had become commonplace since he had invested heavily in Wisdom. Before, he had always summoned the workers from the village mana pool and usually had left that task to Futen. He had seriously underestimated just how important the magical constructs were, and with his new summoning ring, they were stronger and more versatile than ever. If he had his way, the mist village was about to experience a boom in productivity akin to the industrial revolution. He turned back to the lake; those thoughts were for later.

  Richter reached into his bag and took out his Fish Ring. It allowed him to breathe underwater for up to three minutes. One of his rings of health took its place in the spatial folds of the bag, which he then dropped on the embankment. As the bag fell, he also discarded his worry over battles, deaths, stress, responsibilities, and the innumerable enemies that were out there waiting for him. If only for a few minutes, he was pushing the Pause button. Right now, he needed to relax and become one with the land and water that comprised his dominion. The only other thing he did was to cast Weak Haste and to load his Ring of Spell Storage. Richter took a deep breath and, with a running jump, dove into the lake. His body slid under the surface that reflected the sky and surrounding cliffs like a mirror. In a few moments, the ripples from his entry faded away, and there was no evidence of his passing. All was still.

  That only lasted until Richter came back up with a loud curse, “Holy fuck, that’s cold!”

  CHAPTER 24 -- Day 112 -- Kuborn 2, 15368 EBG

  Despite his initial outburst, Richter’s body quickly acclimated to the cold water. He swam out into the lake, his form strong from countless childhood afternoons spent at the “Y” and his body strong from leveling. His fluid and sure freestyle strokes took him away from the shore quickly, and he aimed towards the center of the lake. He didn’t swim the entire way, but the lakebed dropped quickly. When he judged that he was far enough out to have a good dive, he tread water and raised one hand above the water, casting Simple Light. It was no easy feat twisting his fingers into the right configuration while he kept himself afloat. It occurred to him that this might actually be good training to increase his concentration. After a simple word of Power, a golden ball appeared in the air beside his head. Richter dove.

  He kicked down from the surface, aiming for the bottom. The light stayed behind his head, illuminating the water in front of him. Richter maintained a strong breaststroke, and soon the ambient light from the surface faded. He kept swimming. Fish swam away from him, startled by his presence in their domain. Pressure built in his chest. His air was running out. Steeling himself to trust the Fish Ring, he took a breath.

  Richter hadn’t known what to expect, but the wait was anticlimactic. The ring grew cooler on his skin, but that was the only strange thing that happened. His breath came as easily as if he was standing on land and the pressure in his chest disappeared. He kept swimming. After another final stroke, his hand hit the muck on the bottom of the lake. He held onto the bottom for a moment and then looked up. The surface of the lake looked like a large, shimmering portal to another world. The sun shone in the middle, a diffuse golden disc.

  He stayed there, encapsulated against the world. Hundreds of feet of water stretched
above him and countless liters surrounded him. Richter enjoyed a moment of being perfectly alone. All sounds were muted, and he just floated. A small smile crossed his face. For a few brief seconds, he simply was.

  A fish swam by his face, breaking his meditation. As he turned his head to follow it, he noticed that there was a faint light off to his left. Several breast strokes later, he was in front of the glow and discovered it was his Herb Lore skill coming into play. Several of the plants along the lake bed were glowing to indicate they were useful in some way.

  You have found: Toadmore Ochre. Herb Class: Common. This common plant has bulbs that will act as a lubricant. You have a feeling that it could also replenish your stamina if properly prepared. The roots of this can make a pleasing dye.

  More herbs began to glow as Richter swam along the lake bottom. He collected a few of each, but then he saw an herb that glowed brighter than the rest. His chest was getting tight again, the magic from the fish ring nearly expended, but the strong orange light drew him on. A few short strokes later and it waved lazily in front of him, moved by faint currents.

  You have found: Stillwater Lantern. Herb Class: Rare. This delicate plant can be used to create a shield potion. It can also make a salve that when applied increases hearing or as a spell component to make summoned Water creatures stronger.

  There was an entire patch of the lanterns. They looked like small orange tomatoes at the top of green stalks. What made them interesting though was that surrounding each “tomato” was a sphere of fronds. The wire-thin fronds were crocheted together into a loose cage, leaving large holes that made visualizing the inner orange globe easy. He reached out and grasped a stalk.

  The green stem the lantern was attached to was surprisingly tough and well-anchored to the lake floor. Richter had no doubt that he could have uprooted the thing easily if he had been standing on land. Underwater though, with his chest already becoming almost painfully tight from his rapidly diminishing air supply, was another matter. He knew he didn’t have much time left, but just yanking the plant free would most likely have destroyed it. Forcing himself to remain calm, he closed his eyes and connected with the energy of the plant. His Herb Lore skill told him in seconds that the head of the plant was the only viable part, so he took his +3 moonstone dagger out of its sheath and started sawing. The strong blade cut through the stalk easily. When he moved onto the second frond however, his skin brushed against the wicker frond.

  A painless but clearly felt pulse emanated from the orange fruit. It radiated outward in all directions, a quickly moving distortion in the water. It had no immediate effect that Richter could see, but that meant little as his visibility in any direction but up was limited to only a few feet. Whatever it meant, he was pretty sure it would suck for him. He braced his legs against the lake floor and pushed off, the stalk of one of the lanterns clutched in his hand.

  The discomfort in his chest started to become actual pain, and he knew that soon his stamina would begin to fall. If the green bar reached zero, his red health bar would plummet as he actually drowned. This brought an uncomfortable sense of déjà vu, reminding him of his frantic underwater swim while he was unlocking his Life magic. Richter wasn’t overly worried though. His stats were much higher than they had been at that time and he had mentally worked out that he should easily be able to make the surface before he was in any real danger.

  A distant part of his mind replayed what Charlie Murphy had said about Rick James. Wrong! WRONG!

  Before he was halfway back up to the top, he started seeing large numbers of fish. A second later, he was drowning in them. The shock of being swarmed by hundreds of small pescados was almost enough for him to ignore the fact that even when faced with situations both odd and dangerous, he was still friggin hilarious. Drowning in fish indeed!

  Silly as it may have sounded, Richter began to realize he was in actual danger. The pulse, which was obviously the stillwater lantern’s defense mechanism, appeared to summon every aquatic animal within the vicinity and made them extremely aggressive. Each of the fish began to bite and nibble at his naked body. This would have been cute in certain circumstances, but with his pecker dangling like the world’s most tantalizing bait, Richter suddenly lost his sense of humor. It didn’t help that some of the little fuckers had teeth!

  Even the bites would not have been a real problem if not for the sheer volume of fish that were around him. They were so plentiful that he couldn’t effectively swim and his ascent had slowed to a crawl. As the pain in his lungs magnified and his stamina bar dropped below the halfway point, he started feeling the first pangs of panic. On land, he could have cast any number of spells, but underwater, his inability to perform the vocal part of his magic made him essentially mute. So he did the only thing he could. He unleashed the power of his ring.

  Happy that he had never forgotten the lessons from his boy scout days, Richter used his prepared spell, Weak Sonic Wail. The duration of the spell was only three seconds, but that was enough to instantly stun and kill many of the fish around him. He whipped his hand around him in all directions, taking care not to point the ring at his own face. The fish scattered.

  Richter’s stamina had fallen beneath the one quarter mark and he was still only halfway to the surface. He wasted no more time. Doing a frog crawl upwards for all he was worth, Richter swam with a frantic need to live. With his stamina nearing zero and his arms feeling leaden he finally broke the surface with a gasp. He looked up and saw Futen floating above him and Alma flying towards him across the water.

  “You called, my lord?” Futen asked in his deadpan voice.

  *My love! You’re bleeding!* Alma thought to him with concern. A golden glow surrounded her and his small wounds healed.

  Richter put his head back in the water and squeezed his eyes shut while he treaded water. When he opened them, he had a furious look on his face, “What the fuck! Does everything on this planet have to try and kill me? Those were fish! Little, cute fish!” As he spoke, the bodies of said swimmers started floating to the surface. The fact that he had become a mini-ecological disaster didn’t improve his mood. Maybe it really was the nature of Earthers to destroy whatever they touched. Then he thought, fuck those fish. A couple had taken bites of his balls!

  “I believe you should be concerned about what is happening on your left, my lord.” Futen said.

  What, Richter thought. He looked to the left and saw a bubbling and broiling on the water’s surface, a couple hundred yards away. He had no idea what that was, but he sure as shit wanted no part of it. A fish leapt out of the water in the middle of the disturbance and Richter realized that what he was seeing a conglomeration of maybe thousands of fish. Then it started moving towards him. Quickly.

  “Blast it, Alma! Blast it! Wide beam!” he shouted.

  Richter started swimming as quickly as he could towards the bank. Alma flew past him towards the disturbed water. She shrieked in defiance at the numerous fish coming to mob her master. Richter just kept swimming. He channeled his internal Sam Jack, using the anger to propel him on while he went through a mental mantra, “I’ve had it with these muthafuckin fish, in this muthafuckin lake! I’ve had it-” He would have moved faster if he let go of the lantern plant, but he’d be damned if he had almost become fish food for nothing.

  Alma crossed the distance to fish and let loose with her Psi Blast on it broadest setting from the highest altitude that would still make it effective. Every fish in the aggressive school was stunned or killed. A few minutes later, Richter was safely back on land. He lay on his back, the lantern clutched in his hand, breathing quickly to catch his breath. His stamina was already refilling quickly thanks to his high Constitution. After a bit he looked out over the lake. A few fish floated dead at the top, but Alma’s psychic attack had apparently only stunned most of the rest because now they were nowhere to be seen. His familiar had already grabbed one of the dead fish and was consuming it on the grass next to him.

  *Thank you, love. Enjoy th
at fish. You deserve it,* he thought to her fondly.

  *I know,* she thought back smugly.

  Smiling, Richter stood up and started walking back to where he had left his bag. As he walked he reflected on how crazy it would have been to be killed by a couple hundred salmon. It would have been the curveball of all time. Weird or not though, there was no denying that those fish had been all over him. In fact, they’d been practically swarmy!

  CHAPTER 25 -- Day 112 -- Kuborn 2, 15368 EBG

  Richter made it back to his bag and pulled out a fresh set of pants. He put nothing else on, allowing his body to dry in the air. He also put his Ring of Health back on, putting the Fish Ring in his bag. Futen was instructed to get the weavers to fashion a bag that Alma could carry. He also told the remnant to gather the scribes to wait for him near his office. The glowing orb floated off.

  Richter looked at the plant in his hand. The lattice-like cage around the central orange bulb had been torn and misshapen, but the bulb itself was unharmed. The entire thing went into his bag. Richter thought about the field of these things that was at the bottom of the lake and resolved to get more later. He thought he might be able to avoid its defense if he just didn’t touch the lattice. That was a concern for another day, though.

  The day was getting late, and he had several more stops to make before the feast that night. When he had come to the lake, his primary goal had not been to go swimming or to search for plants. It had been to check on the skath eggs. So he jogged over to where the eggs were kept, leaving Alma to her meal.

  Richter heard voices before he saw anyone. The clutch of skath eggs was partially hidden from view by the bank of the lake, so he didn’t see anyone at first. Several feet down from that lip, the eggs were nestled in the mud. Once Richter was closer, he saw two naked figures, covered in muck, laughing with each other while they slowly turned the eggs.