Benvari Mountains (Emerilia Book 2)

by Michael Chatfield

  Another massive door—one that led into the mountain—greeted them.

  One of the three warbands that was spread in front of the gate stopped him. There needed to be three of them just so that they could cover the entire length of the massive door.

  “State your business,” the warband leader demanded.

  “I am David Grahslagg. I am here to meet with Jesal. Kol sent me.” Dave pulled out his necklace.

  “Get Durn,” the warband leader said to the shield bearers under his command.

  One ran off. A few moments later, he came back with a Dwarven mage. He muttered, annoyed about being taken away from his chess game and grabbed Dave’s necklace.

  “Well, seems you’ve come to test your skill,” Durn said. “Come with me.”

  Dave made to move forward.

  The warband leader held up his hand to everyone else. “I am sorry, I cannot let you in.”

  Dave and Deia shared a look.

  “We’ll wait here. Just let us know what’s going on once you talk to your new teacher,” Deia said.

  “Thanks, babe.” Dave gave her a kiss and turned to follow Durn.

  “Half-Dwarves and Elves, ehh? I’m just an old rock biter—don’t mind me.” Durn grinned.

  The massive door opened enough to admit the two of them. The corridor was smooth as they walked through. The glow of the lights made the place seem warm instead of dark and gloomy, even as the door shut behind them, not letting any light in.

  Dave looked over the walls. Not only were they shaped to a polished sheen twenty feet above his head, but they also had intricate carvings on them and several defensive runes designed to bolster friendly forces in the tunnel and weaken enemy forces, or add magical barriers or shoot down fire and spikes.

  Dave nodded at it all before they reached another door. It opened for them and they passed through. They continued through two more doors.

  Dave saw lights up ahead, as if instead of being greeted by another door, he was greeted with Benvari Mountain. Dave looked around and stopped in place.

  Buildings seemed to almost grow from the walls. Houses were stacked on one another; roadways hung between them and hung over others. He could see dozens of levels, all open to the light of the hollowed-out mountain.

  Mirrors directed light into a massive crystal in the roof directly over their heads and others that were spread throughout the massive space. They acted to illuminate the whole place. It didn’t feel as though they were in a mountain, but rather in a city that had been folded together.

  Light came in to feed the crops that were growing in malachite-formed greenhouses.

  Nadorf had been large, but Dave couldn’t even begin to understand the scale of what he was seeing.

  The homes didn’t look like slums of shacks, even if they might have been on top of one another. They were carefully crafted, made from metals that blended together, turning the city into a beautiful landscape. The light of the different mini-suns seemed to make the houses glow.

  “Wow.” Dave had never seen something that was so beautiful or technically challenging. His mind as an engineer and a romantic could only sit there, drinking in the sights.

  “Welcome to Benvari Mountain, young one.” Durn smiled and gave him some time to take it all in. “Now, Jesal is not the kind of person you want to keep waiting. Let’s go find her.”

  Dave followed Durn in a daze. His Touch of the Land extended all out around him, studying the way that the homes had been formed, the architecture of the entire mountain. It was an engineering and artistic marvel the more he studied it, from the floating bridges to the wire suspension that held up some entire floors. Runes made the materials light and durable.

  It was a maze to Dave, though, as Durn took elevators and a rail cart to get to their destination deep in the heart of the mountain. It went from warm to hot as the city fell away and it was clear that they were in the industrial area of the mountain. Metal in all different states was being gathered, refined, and moved through massive machinery.

  “How the hell haven’t you mined everything in these mountains?” Dave asked.

  “Well, they’re massive and the materials keep on coming back—not in the same place but we have to keep constant surveys going as an old mine might have new materials in it well after it has dried up,” Durn said.

  Those must have been from those material-making things that Bob was talking about.

  It got hotter as they passed through areas where massive items were being built to where ingots were being formed and past different smithies, where hundreds of Dwarves were working on different projects.

  Dave’s Touch spread out; he could sense multiple magical forges all around him. The sheer production power was astounding.

  They moved past magical forges, which were increasingly stronger as more magical power had been unleashed upon them.

  It was still getting hotter until Durn came to a room where there were seven people working on different projects. None looked up as they entered.

  Dave looked at the forge. The heat coming from it was immense.

  Holy shit, that isn’t a damned forge—it’s a magma flow being routed through this room and a dozen other forges!

  Coal lay overtop what was a massive metal sheet as the lava flow below heated it. Air was forced into the lava chamber at points, coming out the other side, creating a blowtorch that could heat metals up in seconds.

  Durn moved next to an anvil where a female Dwarf was working on an intricate staff. Her hands moved quickly and precisely.

  It’s like watching a CNC machine work. Dave was astounded at the quality of her work and the speed at which she worked.

  She wove runes and art into the piece, making it appear as if it were a singular rose weaving its way all the way to the bloom at the top. There was a socket space there, waiting for an attuning gem that an enchanter might place within it.

  She ignored Durn and Dave completely, at one with her work as she finished the last flourish. The runes looked to be complete as she pulled out a red gem that had been carved into rose petals. She placed it within the socket at the top of the staff. Using a small hammer and some other fine tools, she secured the central gem into the staff.

  She pulled out a soul gem, muttering a few words as it seemed to leak light. The runes of the staff flared to light as the gem at its peak started to glow. More power filled the staff until the runes projected light and the gem was like a flashlight.

  Then the soul gem was gone, turning to dust.

  It was a work of art as beautiful as it was powerful. Dave could understand the majority of the runes that would enhance a mage’s power. It was a destruction/restoration staff, helping to heal others while it gave a great boost to destruction spells and could pack a nice punch. Even if it wasn’t charged, it would focus a person’s attacks if they channeled their Mana through it.

  Under the white outer material—which could only be Mithril—there was a core of ebony, the two materials working together with the silver-filled runes and detailing would mean that the item would only grow more powerful with continued use.

  It truly was a masterpiece.

  Jesal looked around, as if seeing Durn and Dave for the first time. “When the hell did you get in here, you ornery old bastard?” She looked at Durn, as she took the staff and chucked it on a table covered with weapons, armor, and all manner of items. Each of them gave off a sense of power.

  “Got you a new student, you damned anvil hermit!” Durn said.

  Jesal’s irate glare turned into a snort as a grin spread across her face. Durn smiled likewise.

  “So, who are you?” Jesal looked to Dave.

  “I’m Dave. Kol sent me.”

  “Well then, I guess we better get started. Let’s see your metals,” Jesal said.

  Dave pulled off his necklace and gave it to her.

  She held each between her fingers, closing her eyes for a few moments before moving to the next. “What level is your skill in sm
ithing?” Jesal handed him back the necklace.

  “Master Level 1.” Dave didn’t need to look around the room as his Touch was already showing him all of the work that was going on around him.

  Their work, the different techniques, the way that the metal changed: in his search to create more powerful conjurations, his study of smithing and the creation of different objects had gone well beyond what nearly all others saw.

  Jesal’s eyes thinned as she looked over Dave. “How long have you studied smithing?”

  “Here? I guess, maybe nine months?” Dave replied, trying to pin it down.

  “Show me your associated skills with smithing as well as your Affinities and your character sheet,” Jesal asked.

  Dave complied, checking out his stats and Affinities. It had been awhile since he had.

  Character Sheet

  Name:

  David Grahslagg

  Gender:

  Male

  Level:

  3

  Class:

  -

  Race:

  Human/Dwarf

  Alignment:

  Chaotic Neutral

  Unspent points-285

  Health:

  2,600

  Regen:

  2.10/s

  Mana:

  1,350

  Regen:

  5.65/s

  Stamina:

  680

  Regen:

  3.40/s

  Vitality:

  26

  Endurance:

  105

  Intelligence:

  135

  Willpower:

  113

  Strength:

  68

  Agility:

  68

  His Intelligence was a pain to get up but it was still increasing as he and Malsour had talked and he’d spent many hours to look into the various secrets that were hidden in the forums.

  When I get to actually make something from all those ideas, my Intelligence will probably go up a few points.

  Knowing something was good and all, but actually demonstrating it showed the difference between theoretical and possible. Unless he made it in Emerilia; then his level wouldn’t increase. But like a good math question, he might get points for attempting something that could be possible. A scientist who had their theory proven wrong had still learned a lot going through the process of trying to confirm it.

  His straight Strength and Agility training was slowing to a crawl. He’d upped the amount of weight that he’d been carrying, decreasing the weight toll on his armor.

  Seems that my Agility grew by three points while Strength only went up once. I was doing a lot of tree tag, so maybe it’s not just simple repetition but doing something new and working my way through it. Kind of like breaking through plateaus or constantly showing progress, like I do with inventions.

  Dave bit his lip in thought as he turned to the Affinities.

  Affinity Levels

  Dark

  58

  Light

  35

  Air

  39

  Water

  25

  Earth

  48

  Fire

  37

  They were getting rather high, and the fact that there was only a difference of about twenty between his Affinities was probably why Jesal was frowning, as if not understanding what the heck she was seeing.

  Most had one Affinity that far exceeded the others. Dave was 58 in Dark Affinity; it would make more sense if he was 5 in Light. The two competed yet, somehow, he was skilled in both. In the end, it came to his conjuration as he used all of the Affinities in order to conjure.

  His Dark was higher as he knew the most about elements of the Dark items, such as metals. It also went back to what he knew of back on Earth: he’d tinkered with a few rockets here and there, but he also worked with forges and understood the different effects fire had on different objects. He knew the various states of water, how it could change the compositions of different things, but he didn’t know it as intimately, which was why he didn’t have such a high Affinity in it.

  Air—well, his damned rockets had to make it out of Earth’s atmosphere when he’d been on Earth. Applying that knowledge and showing his understanding of air had increased it.

  His stats were a reflection of his knowledge and his capabilities.

  Once I get them higher, then I can start to look at the real damned projects. He smiled, thinking to himself about the various drawings he’d made on his interface’s notepad, completely secure and away from prying eyes.

  “Soul manipulation?” Jesal asked.

  “What about it?” Dave asked.

  “It says that you have been dabbling in the Dark arts for building your weapons,” Jesal said, not looking pleased. Durn started at Dave oddly.

  “Well, you know how we enchant things with soul gems?” Dave asked.

  Jesal nodded.

  “Okay, well, I kind of went and looked into how to make soul gems. It meant I had to understand the very basics of soul gems, the Dark containers that Dark mages created, then into how it was used like a power source for those with limited understanding of magic. Well, I needed something a little better, so I went and started playing with soul gems, changing them around. Meant that I got to know the ways souls worked pretty well. Then I got to study some daggers that were big ole soul-powered nasties and, well, learned a bit more. Had to delve into the Xelur Demons’ information. Then, when I was fighting at Boran-al’s Citadel, I manipulated the souls of the cultists and the Undead Demon Lord to my use.” Dave left out the fact that he had used the souls of the people on his side.

  He thought that they might get all religious on him. Souls were simply energy here; through everything he looked, only the twisted people thought of souls as people. In reality, they were just a power vacuum. When the cultists had sealed their “souls” to their bodies, they’d sealed their consciousness. When a person died on Emerilia, they were gone but a “soul” of energy was left behind.

  Players were different, as their consciousness was uploaded at the very moment of their death and this was then put into a new body.

  It was just power for the using, but people got all freaked out because it was the Dark mages who found it first. They were just looking for another way to get a lot of power, save it up, and then use it when they needed it.

  Dark mages, always looking to make the biggest and baddest impression.

  “What did you use this on?” Jesal asked.

  Dave scratched his head. “Can we go somewhere?”

  Jesal tapped the hammer at her waist in thought. “Come. Durn, you might as well come—otherwise you’ll be pestering me for decades.”

  Durn smiled as Jesal led them out of the smithies and into a break room. There was food, drink, and safety equipment around. A few people were talking; they waved and nodded to Durn and Jesal as they passed.

  Jesal walked to a workshop that had seats and different furnaces and anvils around. It was a classroom, complete with a forge facing the others and a chalkboard.

  Dave checked the windows and closed the door behind him. “Give me a sec.” Dave opened his interface.

  Jesal’s hand lowered to her hammer.

  “What kind of sensing ability do you have?” Dave asked using quick commands to change his outfit to preset leather pants and cotton shirt.

  “What kind of question is that?”

  “Well, I don’t know if you’ll be able to see through the different layers.”

  “Different layers of what?”

  “The armor. Kind of made it so that it is pretty damned hard to see all the layers.” Dave rolled up his sleeves revealing runes across his arms. Jesal’s eyes went wide; Durn moved closer as they studied the runes across his arms and under the collar of his shirt.

  At least they don’t look too horrible for battlefield tattoos. Probably a good idea not telling them where I was when I added them to my body.

 
; “I don’t even know many of these runes.” Durn looked at the markings.

  “Nor I.”

  “Ahh, well, that’s because I didn’t use just the Dwarven lexicon of runes. I went and found a few different languages of them. It was a pain in the ass,” Dave said.

  “Why did you do this?” Jesal asked.

  Dave smirked. “Check the armor.”

  Jesal took the armor and turned it over in her hands. “Simple steel armor. Rather thick. Trace elements of…” Jesal’s eyes went distant as her face pinched together, as if finding something she wasn’t expecting. “Ebony and silver sheets, very thin, turned into a composite magical rune.” Her face opened up as she shook her head, her eyes still unfocused as her hand moved over the armor.

  “Damn, that is fucking complex. Multiple three-dimensional circuits and formations that can create multiple variations of Magical Circuits. There are a few complete circuits for power draw and release as well as passive defenses, though the majority of the formations and circuits aren’t complete—as if they’re missing a few runes here and there. I don’t understand all of the runes and the way that they’ve been put together. Though I can feel their disjointed Man… Holy fucking tin men.” Jesal’s eyes focused on Dave.

  “Do you want to blow the mountain up with that kind of soul gem! How the fuck did you even find it!?” Jesal demanded.

  “Ahh, well, that whole soul manipulation thing was so that I could better link to the armor, for the power source. What I had found wasn’t good enough for my needs, so I had to go and make a new one. Thus, what you’ve got in your hands.”

  “You made a soul gem?” Durn asked.

  “No!” Jesal cut off Dave before he could explain. “He took the idea of a soul gem, tipped it on its head, pounded it apart with a damned power hammer, and then reformed it together into something that might kind of, barely, be related to what we know of soul gems.” Jesal’s serious face turned into a grin and then a smile. “It’s fucking awesome!”