by Aleron Kong
Welcome, Master of the Mist Village. You have accessed the Rune of Dark Holding. It serves to keep any being of Dark magic within the confines of the spell. Do you wish to deactivate the runic magic?
Richter stepped back and dismissed the prompt. He didn’t want to turn it off until he was absolutely sure that there wasn’t anything else hiding in these caves. If there was another aberration hiding, he wouldn’t risk letting it loose on his people. He looked at Terrod. “Have you searched the rest of the caves?”
“Yes, my lord. This cavern seems to be the center of the cave system. There are no other open entrances that I could see. I did find two other interesting things. One is a cave in the back filled with various items, packs, and bones. I surmised that it must be the remains of whatever poor souls were killed by the monster you vanquished through the years. The other thing was a small metal door set into one of the rock walls. It was made of steel with black swirls set into the metal. It had a clear disc like that one set into it.” He pointed at the activation disc in the center of the rune.
Titan steel, Richter thought excitedly. The only other time he had seen it, or even heard it mentioned before now, was in his own treasury door. If the old Masters of the village had used the powerful material as a door here too, there must be something valuable inside. “Show me the door!”
He had Caulder throw his Mist Light at the ceiling. It stayed where it struck the roof, providing easy light in at least that cavern. After that, everyone followed after Terrod. Only a short time later they arrived in another cavern. Just as the captain had said, a door was set into the rock wall. It was only three feet tall and was set three feet off of the ground, so it looked more like a safe than an exit. Nonetheless, Richter was almost trembling with anticipation when he raised his wrist to the clear circle. A voice spoke in his head.
*Do you wish the door to open, Master?*
He thought back, *Yes.*
A heavy thunk sounded, heralding the moving of a bar, and the door swung open. The inside was not overly large, only about two feet deep, but the entire vault was covered in titan steel. Even if something had burrowed through the rock, it still wouldn’t have been able to get inside. There were several shelves that held a number of items.
You have found: Magic Book. Durability: 12/12. Item Class: Common. Quality: Above Average. Weight: 0.5 kg.
You have found: Magic Book. Durability: 14/14. Item Class: Uncommon. Quality: Above Average. Weight: 0.7 kg.
You have found: Magic Book. Durability 20/20. Item Class: Uncommon. Quality: Superb. Weight: 0.4 kg.
You have found: Small Chest. Durability: 168/204. Item Class: Common. Quality: Above Average. Weight: 3.4 kg.
You have found: Pouch.
You have found: Magic Bottle. Durability 19/54. Item Class: Uncommon. Quality: Superb. Weight: 0.03 kg.
You have found: Magic Blueprint. Durability: 4/20. Item Class: Uncommon. Quality: Well Crafted. Weight: 0.2 kg.
You have found: Soul Stone. Level: Resplendent. Status: Filled.
You have found: Soul Stone. Level: Special. Status: Filled.
You have found: Soul Stone. Level: Special. Status: Filled.
You have found: Soul Stone. Level: Brilliant. Status: Filled.
Richter sent out a mental call to Futen. He would probably need his help to identify these items. Sure enough, looking at the books, blueprint, and bottle revealed nothing more. While he was waiting he opened the pouch. A smile found its way onto his face. The heavy pouch was filled to the brim with finger-length gold bars. They were the first he had seen since he had bartered with Hafiz and each was worth one hundred gold. A quick count showed there were twenty-one bars in the pouch. That equaled 2,100 gold coins! He had just gotten 200,000 grand richer!
He dumped the gold bars into his bag before anyone could really see what he had found. He didn’t think his men would attack him, but no reason to wave meat in front of the bear as his mother used to say. He scanned the bread-loaf-sized chest for the telltale red of traps. Nothing concerning appeared, so he decided to open it. Richter quickly closed it again and hid it in his Bag along with the pouch. The chest was full of multicolored jewels. He would have to count them later, but as far as he was concerned, the same meat waving rule applied.
Richter stared at the rest of the treasure while he waited for Futen to appear. The gold and gems alone were amazing, but the soul stones could potentially be invaluable. The highest level stone he had had before was special. That had come from slaying the crypt mistress. He had never seen a resplendent stone before. It was noticeably larger than the special stone. He couldn’t wait to see what Krom could make out of it. The stones went into his Bag as well. Futen floated up.
Richter indicated the magic items still in the small vault with a motion of his head. Futen flared white, and Richter could see what the rest of his haul was.
You have found: Book of Lightning Bolt I. Fire a bolt of lightning from your hand. Chance to stun your enemy. Durability: 12/12. Item Class: Common. Quality: Above Average. Weight: 0.5 kg. This is a spell of Air, level 12.
You have found: Book of Explosive Lightning Ball I. Shoot a weak ball of lightning forward. It explodes on contact and will strike everyone within five feet. Chance to stun your enemy. Durability: 14/14. Item Class: Uncommon. Quality: Above Average. Weight: 0.7 kg. This is a spell of Air. Must have Air magic skill level 19.
You have found: Book of Greater Air Containment. Create a containment field for a strong Air creature. While the spell lasts, the creature must do as you will it to. If the spell fades or the creature leaves the containment circle, you will lose all control over the creature. Durability 20/20. Item Class: Uncommon. Quality: Superb. Weight: 0.4 kg. This is a spell of Air. Must have Air magic skill level 33.
You have found: Containment Bottle. This bottle contains a great wind demon. Durability 19/54. Item Class: Uncommon. Quality: Superb. Weight: 0.03 kg.
You have found: Blueprint: This blueprint will teach you to build a: Mana Storage. This building will let you store mana to be used at a later date. The capacity of the mana storage is 1,000 mana. You must be within one mile of your mana storage to access the mana. Durability: 4/20. Item Class: Uncommon. Quality: Well Crafted. Weight: 0.2 kg. Must have Construction skill level 56.
Know This! As Master of a Place of Power, if you build the mana storage within your domain, you may access the stored mana within one mile of the boundaries of your domain.
In Richter’s mind, he just heard, “You can hate me now… but I won’t stop now… you can hate me nowwww!” He laughed aloud. This was amazing! He finally had his lightning magic!
Richter put the books that he couldn’t access yet in his Bag, but then wasted no time reading the Book of Lightning Bolt I. He started reading the first page, and the knowledge flowed into his mind and soul. The pages started turning faster and faster until their passage was a breeze on his face. Before he knew it, the back cover of the book slammed shut, and it crumbled to dust. Richter’s eyes widened. He knew!
Congratulations! You have learned the spell: Lightning Bolt I! Cast a lightning bolt from your hand. Chance to stun your target for 1-2 seconds. This is a spell of Air, level 12. Cost: 31 mana. Duration: Instant. Range: 20 yards. Cast Time: 1 second. Cooldown: 2 minutes.
Richter didn’t think for a moment to keep this bounty to himself. He checked Sion’s status page and saw that his Companion had advanced his Air magic skill to level twelve. He took two steps over to Sion and placed one hand on the sprite’s head and the other on his Companion’s heart. Sion’s eyes widened. His breath sucked in. A second later the sprite smiled. Sion half raised his arm and slowly clenched his fingers into a fist as if he could feel the new power coursing through him. Richter smiled back. He knew exactly how his friend felt.
Richter carefully placed the containment bottle with the wind demon into his Bag. Somehow he didn’t think that breaking the vessel would be a good idea. The durability was much less than its maximum. Richter didn�
��t know if that was because it had held the demon for such a long time or not, but either way, he felt much better once it was within the spatial folds of his Bag.
The blueprint of the mana storage was also fascinating. He would basically be able to double the amount of mana he could wield if the village were attacked. Richter planned to discuss what was needed with Roswan as soon as possible. He examined the small vault thoroughly one more time but unfortunately didn’t find anything else. Richter was more than satisfied with the contents, but something was nagging at him. While these items would be very useful to him and his fledgling village, would they really have been enough to warrant a protector like the dark aberration? There was also the fact that this was a second vault built in a hidden cavern. A great deal of trouble had apparently been gone to in order to make the rune as well. It was enough to make him suspicious.
Richter mulled it over. The resplendent soul stone was arguably worth a great deal, as were the other items, but they had just been pushed into the vault together. None had been given a place of prominence over the others. He knew he might be looking for something that didn’t exist, but he had to try. He examined the walls, roof, and floor of the titan steel cubby. He even examined the door, but still saw nothing. His last effort was to remove the shelves. If that failed, he was just going to close the vault and be done with it, but when he removed the first shelf, he saw the smallest glimmer of blue. A spot the size of the head of a pin gleamed azure at the back of the safe!
He quickly removed the other shelf and saw another pinpoint dot of blue. He examined both and didn’t see suspicious red, so he just took two lock picks from his Bag and inserted both into the holes. After pushing each in for an inch, he felt a click. The bottom of the safe popped open like a cigar box. Richter was sure that there hadn’t been a seam there, but now a hidden compartment could clearly be seen.
Richter reached to lift the lid higher but then paused. The men were all looking expectantly to see what their lord had found. Richter wasn’t sure what was in there, but he was sure it was important. That meant he didn’t necessarily want anyone else to know.
“Captain Terrod!”
“Yes, my lord!” The man jerked to attention at hearing the slight snap in Richter’s voice.
“Organize all of the men to start taking the pieces of the aberration down to the area where the hunters clean their kills. It is the best we can do for now. Instruct all of the men to drain as much blood as they can and collect it in closed vessels. Commandeer anything you need. Then leave all of the flesh and tentacles on large rocks to dry. I will send our alchemist over to examine it later. These men are to be given the night off. They have done enough today.”
The men cheered at hearing they would have a break after their dirty day. More than one had started looking sad at hearing they had to deal with the creature’s smelly remains again. The idea that they would be able to join the feast, though, made it all worthwhile.
Richter held a finger up. “Make sure you bathe thoroughly before you eat, though. Ingesting even a drop of this evil creature’s blood could make pieces of you drop off!”
The men paled and one asked, “Could that really happen, my lord?”
Richter forced a grave expression on his face though he was chuckling internally. “From teats to taint, you might lose something! Wash well! Terrod, after you see them off, come back to show me the other room that has the gear.”
The men all snapped a salute and Caulder and Terrod moved them out. Once they were all out of the cavern, Richter finally let a smile cross his face. He had no idea of what would happen if they got any of the flesh or blood in their mouths. Maybe nothing, but either way it would be gross. Hygiene standards were not really a priority in The Land as far as Richter had observed, so he resolved to help correct that where he could. If he was able to get a laugh out of it at the same time… well that was win-win!
“Should I leave too?” Sion asked. “Do you have a task to keep me busy while you open that as well?”
Richter laughed. “Didn’t fool you for a second, huh?”
Sion chuckled back. “I doubt you fooled the captain or sergeant either, but I imagine they are used to taking orders.”
“Well the answer is no, my friend. I have no secrets from you.” A thought did occur to Richter though. He turned his head and said, “Futen, go put mist lights in the parts of the caverns that are still dark.”
“Yes, my lord,” was the monotone reply. The remnant glided out of the cavern.
The two Companions waited for a moment before Sion spoke again. “What was that about? Now you don’t trust your little floating light?”
Richter thought for a second before replying in sprite speak. “Let’s just say I’m learning caution. Futen is a remnant of an old mage, at least that’s what he told me. I have just learned that an old Master sacrificed hundreds, if not thousands, of sentient beings to create that thing that I killed. How do I know that he didn’t serve that Master? How do I know he wasn’t that Master?”
“You’re getting a little paranoid, aren’t you? Futen has been nothing but helpful as far as I can see,” Sion said.
“I trust myself and those who are me. You and I are in this together, so I trust you. Anyone else is on the outside until proven otherwise. That’s how things will be from now on. Okay?”
Sion looked him in the eye and said, “Okay.”
Richter nodded and then turned back to the hidden compartment. He lifted the lid and looked inside. It seemed like his precautions had all been for nothing.
You have found: Map Fragment. Durability: 7/23. Item Class: Artifact. Quality: Superb. Weight: 0.1 kg.
There was nothing else on the prompt. The fragment was about the size of printing paper but with ragged edges. It was written on skin that was light red. The letters were inked in a red that was so dark it was almost black. It showed a series of mountains and what he thought was a desert. There was also a large forest or maybe a jungle on the other side of the mountains. Words were written across the top of the fragment, but to Richter’s surprise, he couldn’t read them. None of that mattered, though. He had found his first artifact! He had no idea what this map led to, but he knew that it must be important. Richter was immensely glad that he had asked everyone except for Sion to leave. He knew with almost absolute certainty that the entire point of all the defenses was this scrap of parchment. It was probably conducive to his long-term health that no one else knew he had it.
“What do you think?” he asked Sion, showing him what was inside.
“I don’t know,” the sprite replied, “but I do know I don’t want to touch that thing. Just looking at it makes my skin crawl.”
Richter moved the fragment away from his Companion. The only time Sion had acted like that before was when he had seen the staff that had housed the pixie chrysalis. That had been because the staff was an utter perversion of good. Basically, it was an item of negative alignment, and it had reacted badly with the sprite because he was positive alignment. Richter had no idea what he was holding, but he was pretty certain it was bad juju. He couldn’t just leave it there, though, so he put it in his Bag.
“Don’t talk to anyone, even your mother about this, okay? If an old Master went to these lengths to keep this hidden—an aberration guard dog, a titan steel safe, AND a hidden compartment—it might be safer if we are the only ones who know this thing even exists.”
Sion nodded. “I’m with you, brother. It stays between us.”
“Good. I’m glad you’re here. Let’s do what we initially came to do.”
The two Companions walked back to the front of the cavern system, to the room where he had initially been attacked. Futen had already left a mist light on the roof of the cave they were standing in, and Terrod was waiting by the hole that led back to the waterfall. Richter didn’t want to plant the Focus Crystal near the room that had the rune. He had no idea about the growth pattern that the garden would take, and if it grew near the rune the re
sults might be unpredictable. Planting it here should buy him some time. Richter walked up to a flat section of wall and reached into his Bag.
When he withdrew his hand, it was holding a pulsing crystal. The eggplant-sized shard shed light on the wall in a soft white radiance. This was the third time Richter had laid eyes on it, and while the size and shape were the same, the pulse was coming slower than before. It would have actually been more appropriate to call the light a flicker now rather than a pulse. When he had harvested it from the chest of the crystal guardian, the prompt had said that the Focus Crystal was a living thing and that he only had one week to plant it again. Between running from the kobolds, recovering from his injuries, and traveling back to the Mist Village, six days had passed. Richter could only guess that the fading of the crystal’s light meant that it was near the end of its life. He knew there was no more time to waste.
Richter placed the Focus Crystal on the wall and a prompt appeared.
Do you wish to plant the Focus Crystal in this location? Yes or No?
Richter selected “Yes,” and the crystal floated from his hand. It hovered in the air for a moment, then slammed against the wall like a powerful magnet attracted to metal. The light began to flicker again and it looked to Richter like the glow inside of the crystal was straining to grow brighter, but was failing. Another prompt appeared.
The life force of the Focus Crystal is faint. You have planted it in time, but it will take a long period of time before the garden begins to bear more crystal. If you wish to restore its power faster, you may sacrifice a soul stone. The level of the soul will be proportional to the amount of healing performed.
Richter’s forehead wrinkled in irritation. Now he had to give a soul stone? Why did he always have to give so much more? He sighed. Mo money mo problems. At least he had more in his pockets than lint. He accessed his inventory to see what soul stones he had available. After gazing at them for a while, he chose to use a special-level stone. He had just gotten two of them, so it wasn’t really like he would feel the lack.