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

by Aleron Kong

  “I see you have you returned, my lady,” Richter said with a smile.

  “I have,” she said with joy in her voice. “I have found my Profession!”

  Richter nodded happily. He already knew though because that had been what made him smile initially when he analyzed her. Her status page was the same as before, but with an important addition, “Profession: Herbalist.”

  “It was wonderful,” Elora said. “Auditor Nexus took me to a realm filled with plants. He adopted the form of a beautiful black butterfly, and we flew through a garden the size of an entire world! For weeks, we just floated through the flowering paradise. At the end of my trial, he even told me that because I had not allocated my characteristics points from the levels that I gained while in the cocoon, I would get all of the talent points for each of them. You are truly blessed to have such a benevolent being as the Auditor for your domain, my lord!”

  Richter kept a fake smile on his face, but had to struggle against the urge to scream at her. ‘How can you fall for that? Are you a moron? That’s just a game! He’s playing you!’ He didn’t though, just making small talk for a few more minutes. He was happy that she had so many TPs to play with. Something occurred to him, though, and he urged her to allocate her points quickly before her time ran out and they were randomly allotted. She smiled and just told him not to worry. Apparently, Nexus shared that he could completely control the flow of time in his dimension and he had altered it so that she still had days to decide where to put her points. Richter’s eye began to twitch.

  Ultimately, she broke off the conversation and went in search of Isabel, eager to use her new Profession to help in the garden. Richter left the Quickening, shaking in silent rage about Nexus, and went off to find Beyan and apologize for getting upset about Nexus. The irony was not lost on him.

  He found the gnome in the Dragon’s Cauldron and from what he could hear, Tabia was already asserting dominance. Richter took a sadistic satisfaction from the knowledge that he wasn’t the only one having a shitty morning. As he listened, a faint smile crossed his face as he realized that in one move, he might be able to make up for last night and avoid having to eat too much crow.

  Richter walked into the Cauldron and simply observed Tabia dressing Beyan down for a few seconds. When they both looked over, Tabia with a questioning expression and Beyan with a beseeching one, he simply nodded magnanimously and gestured for them to continue. A look of brutal glee crossed the elf maid’s face, and she unleashed the full force of her sharp tongue on the gnome’s bald head.

  Richter let the beating go on for a few more minutes, then he made his move, “Tabia, I want to congratulate you again on winning the quest!”

  “Thank you, my lord,” she replied with a bow of her head.

  As Richter spoke, he swung his hands in large arcs indicating various portions of the Cauldron, “I think what you have accomplished is amazing! The gaseous potions, not to mention the luck potions that will be coming soon… I just have to say that you are wonderful. I think it is great that you don’t mind sacrificing your own Alchemy progression to serve the village.”

  “Ahhhh, yes. Of course not, Lord Richter,” Tabia agreed. She went from basking in his warm praise to feeling a bit off kilter by his last comment.

  Richter nodded vigorously, “I also want to congratulate you on organizing other villagers with the Alchemy skill to help out. Though I would never want to disrupt the flow of your operations here, I will of course need to take Beyan with me when the war party goes out daily. He is, after all, our only Professed Alchemist. What he can add to the village’s potions is unique and must be endorsed. I am sure you understand, Tabia.” Even to himself, Richter’s tone sounded quite reasonable.

  “Errr, that makes perfect sense, my lord.”

  Richter shook his head regretfully, “I only wish that you and Mimi could find the time to finally go for your own Trials. This really would be the perfect time… but I understand your dedication to the Cauldron. I am sure that Beyan won’t mind taking more responsibility here as his Profession advances.” Tabia opened her mouth again, but Richter just smiled and clapped her on the shoulder before walking out.

  Later that night, both she and her wife met him at dinner and announced that they would like to go for their Trials. A large black disc appeared and Nexus exited dressed like a punk rocker. His golden hair had been shaved on the sides, and the middle strip was a pointy Mohawk that stuck a foot up into the air. He wore blue jeans, red allstars and jean jacket with safety pins in it that had the phrase, “Salt Lake City Rules!” inked on the back with a black sharpie.

  Everyone in the feast area stared at the irascible being in shock and surprise. Nexus just sniffed disdainfully, “If it’s too loud, then you’re too old.” He looked at Tabia and Mimi and said, “Come on babes, let’s rock.” Then he walked back through the black portal, disappearing.

  It was obvious that neither of the statuesque elven women like being called ‘babes,’ but it was also clear that they were smarter than Richter and decided not to antagonize their Auditor. Tabia handed Richter a small wooden box that made tinkling sounds when it moved. Then the two elves walked into the black portal holding hands. It disappeared soon after. Conversation resumed in the feast area, the sight of individuals going for their Trials was now so commonplace that it didn’t cause a great stir.

  Beyan walked over to Richter. One of the gnome’s eyes was blackened from their scuffle the night before, and he had a slight bruise on his cheek. For a few moments later, the two men just stood there looking at each other. Then a broad grin appeared on the Death mage’s face, and he stuck his hand out, “Apology accepted, my lord!”

  Richter grinned right back and said, “I’m glad you got that I did it for you, buddy. Us Death magi need to stick together, right?” He clasped wrists with Beyan, but then tightened his grip and pulled the gnome in close. The smile stayed on his face for the benefit of anyone that was watching, but his tone was deadly serious, “But if you tell anyone that fucking story again, I’ll kill you!” Beyan pulled back with a shocked look. The chaos seed let go of the mage’s wrist and with a manic grin and said, “Huzaah!” before walking off.

  As Richter went to pour himself another mug of ale, he reflected that it had been a good day. He’d apologized to Beyan, gotten more training done, started construction on the level one house of scholarship and, with any luck, in a week he would have two more lesbian Professionals. A solid win in anyone’s book!

  CHAPTER 40 -- Day 121 -- Kuborn 11, 15368 EBG

  All was right in the Mist Village. In turned out that the box Tabia had handed over had been filled with his long-awaited luck potions!

  You have found: Potion of Selak’s Luck. Potion Class: Scarce. Potion Level: Elixir. Strength: Refined. Weight: 0.1 kg. Swallowing this potion will give you the luck of its creator. The alchemist Selak was a middling alchemist, but on an ill-fated trip, he was attacked by ogres, on a ship that sank and trapped him in a town that was decimated by the weeping plague. He survived it all and is reported to have discovered the formulation for this potion while waiting to be released from quarantine! Increases the imbiber’s Luck by +32 for three hours and forty-nine minutes! x 40.

  Richter fingers immediately began tingling as he thought of all of the things he could accomplish now. He dove back into his training with renewed gusto and was able to scribe the last of the level one spells from his Air and Life magi.

  Congratulations! You have learned the spell: Summon Weak Luminous Butterflies! Summons a small number of glowing butterflies. Any creature of positive alignment who catches one of these butterflies will have a boost to their stamina for one day. Total boost equal to 1% per number of alignment. Only one butterfly may affect each individual. This is a spell of Life, level 1. Cost: 17 mana. Duration: 10 minutes. Range: 1 foot. Cast Time: 1 second. Cooldown: 1 minute.

  Congratulations! You have learned the spell: Call Weak Small Creature! If there is a non-sentient creature of ‘S
mall’ size, two to four feet long, in the immediate area, it will be called to the caster, and it will follow simple commands. This is a spell of Life, level 1. Cost: 12 mana. Duration: 10 minutes. Range: 50 feet. Cast Time: 2 seconds. Cooldown: 14 minutes.

  His inner free market American rose up for a moment again, but another part of him knew this was short-sighted. The potential benefit to the village was massive. Also, all of his magi had sworn fealty and so he knew they wouldn’t be leaving at the end of the year. Each and every one of his twenty-three adult Air magi had the spells, Glitterdust, Weak Air Push, Gentle Rain, Weak Haste and Weak Errant Wind. He made sure that the eleven children with Air magic knew everything except the first two. He also taught his thirty-two grown Life casters: Weak Charm, Weak Slow Heal, Weak Cure Poison, Weak Cure Disease, Soul Trap, Minor Life Armor, Minor Life Aura, Weak Courage, Summon Weak Life Wisp, Weak Banish Undead, Minor Stabilize, Summon Weak Luminous Butterfly, Call Weak Small Creature, Weak Detect Hostile Intent and Weak Life Bolts. Richter was stunned by the number of Life spells he had been able to amass, even if they were all low level. He supposed that was what happened when you made allies with a Life Master, though. The children with Life magic were given all of the spells except for the offensive spell, Weak Life Bolts. The one other person he taught his spells to was Elora. Richter passed along the knowledge for all of his level one Life, Dark, Water and Air spells. She beamed when she received his gifts and promised to practice her magic every day. Checking his action log, he saw that he had gained interpersonal points with the pixie queen again, though not enough to increase their relationship rank.

  As the days passed, more sprites showed up and created more meidons. The first silver shells continued to dissolve and release tall sprites and pixies that could use the ability, Battle Form. Those bonded to Water pixies were encased in a pillar of fluid that slowly drained away revealing the meitu’meidons, and those bonded to Dark pixies appeared as a silhouette that drew in all light. The blackness would then slowly be supplanted by light, like a darkened mountain being revealed by sunrise. To the last, every sprite birthed from the silver eggs swore fealty to Richter. The effectiveness of the mist village’s fighting force swelled.

  In addition to increasing the settlement’s martial strength, Richter made an amazing discovery when he was speaking with one of the meidon sprites. The forest sprite revealed that she knew a simple Earth spell, Weak Thorns Underfoot. It was a level one earth spell that would create a thirty by thirty-yard area on the ground that was irregularly studded with thorns for a few minutes. It wouldn’t bother anyone with stout boots, but it would make movement painful for animals or anyone with soft shoes.

  Upon hearing that she had magical ability, Richter asked if she knew any spells. The sprite shook her head and said that she had had to struggle to learn that one Earth spell and hadn’t had any affinity with the other Basic Elements. Richter nodded and was going to walk away, but then on impulse, leaned in placed one hand on her head and the other on her chest. The sprite was startled, but she did not resist her new lord.

  Richter spoke the words, “By the Right of My Power, I Awaken Your Power.” Warmth kindled in his chest and spread down his arms. The feeling passed from him, into her, and magic was kindled in her soul. She looked at up at him with wonder on her face.

  Your relationship with Cettiona has improved from Pleased to Friendly.

  Cettiona told him that she had gained the skill Air magic. Not only that, she had an affinity of 100%. Richter had no idea how strong her skill would ultimately be, but he excitedly sent Futen and two nearby guards to gather all of the meidon sprites. Most resided under the canopy of the Quickening, so he did not have to wait long for them to return. In the meantime, Cettiona told him that she had learned an interesting spell, called Weak Aided Flight. The spell would only be useful to ranged fighters, but it was potentially powerful. The spell took three seconds to cast, a long time for a level one spell, but it lasted for thirty minutes. For the duration of the spells, it made any projectile shot by the spell recipient fly forward 10% faster than otherwise. The gears in Richter’s mind started turning. If force still equaled mass times acceleration in The Land, then the spell would not only make it harder for enemies to avoid arrows, it would also increase the kinetic payload when the blow landed!

  Richter tried to awaken Life magic in Cettiona as well, but nothing happened. He had a theory to test but needed to wait for the other meitu’meidon. Nine others had emerged from the silver shells, three Air, two Life, one Dark and three Water. Once they were all assembled, he was ecstatic that he was able to awaken the corresponding magic in the sprites that had bonded to Air and Life pixies. Even better, each sprite had a 100% affinity! It was true that Sion had enjoyed an increase in his Air magic affinity, but now it seemed that the celestial pixies gave any sprite they bonded to a starting affinity of one hundred!

  He taught the five of them the level one spells he knew. Unfortunately, the rest hadn’t obtained any magic that he didn’t know when he awakened their Powers. In retrospect, he realized that luck might play a role in this. He didn’t have enough luck potions to give each meidon sprite a vial before awakening their magic, but he decided that he would imbibe one the next time he awakened anyone’s magic.

  The Dark sprite he sent to Quasea, hoping she could teach him to use his presumed Dark magic skill. The Water mage he couldn’t help, but he resolved to scribe a Book of Slow at his earliest opportunity. Richter immediately took Cettiona to the scribes’ office and began scribing her Air spell. Over the past several days, his Air magic level had increased to level fourteen and his Scribing ability had reached level eight. With that, his Olde Writ writing technique and his Faster Creation Time Talent, it made the time required to create the spellbooks almost ridiculously short.

  It appears you wish to create the spellbook: Book of Weak Aided Flight. This level one spell will require one hour and two minutes of scribing time to complete. You will have fourteen days to complete this task. Do you wish to start? Yes or No?

  Uhhh, yeah, Richter thought with a smile. He selected ‘Yes’ and got to work.

  Once the required time had passed, he got started on her Earth spell. His Earth magic was only level nine, but it still took almost no time for him to write the spellbook and then learn the spell himself.

  More days passed.

  Richter kept to his schedule of smithing, enchanting, patrolling, building, scribing and skill grinding. The Belt of Sustenance proved to be one of his most powerful items. With the reduced amount of sleep required, he was able to work for almost twenty solid hours each day. Minus the necessary functions of life, of course, and minus a few unnecessary functions when one of his paramours gave him, ‘The Look.’

  His spell skill levels kept advancing every few days. He was finally able to get his Fire magic up to level twelve after burning a large lizard that attacked his war party. It had required fighting almost exclusively with his spell Flame for several days, but it finally happened. With a look of pure glee, he withdrew The Book of Weak Fireball from his bag. Richter started reading and, as always, the pages began to turn on their own as the knowledge streamed into his mind. The book slammed shut fell to dust, and he knew!

  Congratulations! You have reached skill level 10 in Fire Magic. New spells are now available.

  …

  Congratulations! You have reached skill level 12 in Fire Magic. New spells are now available.

  You have received 1,250 (base 2,000 x 1.25 x 0.5) bonus experience for reaching level 10 in the skill: Fire Magic.

  Congratulations! You have advanced from Novice to Initiate in: Fire Magic. +5% Resistance to Fire Magic. +5% Strength when casting Fire Magic.

  Congratulations! You have learned the spell: Weak Fireball! Fires a ball of flame that detonates upon impact. Flames are spread out from this area dousing anyone in a ten-meter radius in fire. This is a spell of Fire, level 12. Cost: 79 mana. Duration: 1 second after impact. Range: 100 feet. Cast T
ime: 3 seconds. Cooldown: 10 minutes.

  “Woot!” Richter said throwing his fist into the air.

  Sion looked over from a rock he was sitting on and arched one eyebrow in question.

  “I finally learned my fireball spell! Back where I come from, people talk about a lot of different kinds of magic and types of spells. There is one mac daddy spell that lets people know how big your nuts are, though, and that’s if you can throw a fireball!” Richter was grinning from ear to ear.

  Sion smiled back, “Congratulations, my friend. I am happy for you!”

  “Thanks,” he replied. He looked around for a safe place to cast the spell, but they were in a heavily wooded area.

  “Just so that I understand, is this a spell that shoots a ball of fire that explodes on contact?” Sion asked innocently.

  “Yeah,” Richter said, still looking around.

  “And then, the flames spread and have a high chance of burning and lighting things on fire, right?”

  “Yeah,” Richter said not liking where this was going.

  “Like all the trees around us?” Sion asked. “Or all the trees that will always be around you, because you live in a forest?” The sprite’s smile was practically glued to his face.

  “Yeah,” Richter said in a slightly disappointed and defeated voice.

  “And you have just realized that you won’t be casting that spell very often because you would risk burning down the forest?” Sion asked gently.

  “Yeah,” Richter said, sounding like he had just heard his puppy was sick.

  “Yeaahhh,” Sion said slowly, then he hopped up from his seat and walked away.