The dwarf came inside. The two remaining goblin adepts I had recently summoned followed, and behind them, eyes darting everywhere, came Bek.
“The other acolytes and I will lodge here and maintain the temple,” Kuzai declared.
I rolled my eyes. Like I hadn’t planned on it anyway. “Sure, go ahead.”
The goblins spread out, checking the windows and touching the shrine reverently.
Bek came over to me. “Dread Totem,” he squeaked. “Bek go out now. No room for all goblins. Bek used to sleep outside.”
I gave him a steady look. He was wearing my old gear; the kilt, the headdress, and the feathered skull-staff.
“Bek,” I said slowly, “after Kuzai, you’re the strongest one here. You can leave if you want, but as a priest of the master, it’s your right and duty to claim your status. You need to do it on your own, I cannot assist you.”
He looked at me helplessly.
I placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “You can do it, Bek. I believe in you.” I turned and left the goblins to decide on their sleeping arrangements.
It was still dark outside. Eternally dark. My clan could now work freely during the entire day if I wanted them to.
I teleported down to the valley and went looking for Zuban. I found him and his builders at the construction yard hauling in the last day’s resource yield.
“Dread Totem,” he greeted me. “Constructing the Dark Temple with magic in mere seconds was a spectacular display. It makes me and my workers seem irrelevant.”
I shook my head. “That little display took a lot of energy. If I did that with every building, we’d soon run out. Better to save it for special occasions.”
“I understand. Now that the temple is completed, what should we build next?”
I’d already decided on the answer to that question. “The weapon workshop.” My troops needed good weapons so they could start training. Armor would come second. “Build it between the barracks and the smithy. I plan on building all the future workshops there; we have plenty of space and that way the workshops will have easy access to metal and be able to trade resources between themselves.”
“Very astute observation. We shall begin immediately, Dread Totem.”
I left the construction yard and made my way back to my house. Now’s a good time to Runecraft some –
My musing was cut short as I nearly ran headlong into someone.
“Whoa there, Chief,” Malkyr exclaimed good-naturedly. “I was just looking for you.”
I looked up at the giant, noting that his Greataxe was strapped across his back. “What’s up?”
“I know you wanted me to use the Viridium to craft weapons you can enchant, but I’ve been slaving on it all day and all I was able to produce are these.” He showed me three balls of Viridium, each about the size of a goblin head. “Sorry, but the system keeps slapping me with ‘skill too low’ messages when I try to craft anything else. I assume I’ll need to reach Master rank before I can make something better out of this stuff.”
That was a bit of a letdown. But at least he gave it a try. “I appreciate the effort, my friend.”
I took the Viridium balls from him and checked them closely. They were perfect spheres and heavier than they looked.
Viridium Sphere
Type: Ammunition, component
Runecraft viability: 8
Rank: Magical
Durability: 200/200
I looked at the pieces and had to resist the urge to rub my hands together. Even in this very basic shape, the Runecraft viability was the highest I had ever seen. The possibilities were endless. I was itching to try some new ideas. “Thanks, Malkyr.”
“No problem, Chief, just doing my part.”
“I’ll see you around.” I put the spheres in my inventory and went home.
Back at my house, I placed everything I wanted to work with on the table: the Viridium spheres, my new staff, the giant Stalker Pins, and as an afterthought, the Chalice of Infernal Energies that was still blazing with green flames. It was a powerful magical item, sure, but it also livened up the place.
With everything laid out in front of me, I sat down, selected my staff, and opened the Runecraft Design Mode.
The holographic representation of the staff appeared. It hovered before me, a straight horn with a wide bottom and a sharpened tip with three bloodstones embedded in its upper half. The staff could only hold four runes which was a bit disappointing; it didn’t leave much room to get creative. Still, the staff was powerful enough on its own, so even a slight improvement would be significant.
I stared at the staff and pondered the possibilities. What should I add to it? The strengthening rune would obviously have to factor in, to enhance the existing magical enchantment. That would mandate the use of the connector rune, which would leave me only two open slots to play with. Let’s see what we’re dealing with here first, I mused and added the ‘Ko’ rune of strength. I watched the rune’s glowing sigils spreading over the staff, then I added the ‘Te’ connecter rune to it. The translucent representation of the staff flickered, and instead of the expected view of the durability points, I saw something very different.
A veritable galaxy of dots appeared within the staff. Hundreds, thousands of dots in various colors. My heart sank in my chest. I had enough trouble in the past trying to connect a dozen dots. There was no way I could ever connect so many as this.
I scowled. Something here felt off. These are not durability points!
I concentrated, reaching for the information, letting my mind absorb the data. Ah, the points represent the staff’s existing enchantments, I realized. The colors differentiate which dots belong to which enchantment.
The ability to store magical charges had the most dots by far. The enchantment that improved mana regeneration had about 20 dots and the demon-summoning bonus had a few hundred. There were also the standard durability dots, ten of them.
Okay, let’s get the priorities in order. I organized my thoughts. I can’t directly enhance the spell-storing ability, so what can I do? I thought for a moment then smiled. Of course, instead of affecting the enchantment itself, I can manipulate the spells that are fed to it, or more precisely, the mana that empowered them. That called for a socket, so I’d have to use the ‘Ma’ containment rune. I tried to think of what else to add. It had to be something simple, as I only had one open slot left. The only thing that came to mind was to augment the staff as a melee weapon by using the binding rune on its tip. The strengthening rune should then improve its base damage. It wasn’t ideal. I wasn’t planning on using it much as a melee weapon, but I guessed it was better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.
I grimaced. More like a gun.
“Okay then.” I cracked my knuckles, ignoring Vic’s humor. “Let’s go.”
I put on the containment rune first, drawing it just below the first bloodstone. Then I added the strengthening rune followed by the connector rune. I took a deep breath and started the long and arduous process of connecting the dots.
It was maddening. I spent an hour at first, just trying to locate the dots I needed. After some trial and error, I discovered I could ‘tune out’ the colors I didn’t want. The galaxy of points vanished and a much more achievable goal of 30 dots remained. It was still more than double what I had ever tried to connect before. I spent several hours trying to link them all, having to restart a few times when I ran out of room.
The hours flew by. I only realized the workday had ended when I felt a gentle touch caressing my cheek.
“Oren, I am here.”
Tika had returned.
Damn, it must be really late if she came to sleep. I massaged my neck tiredly. Then I spotted something from the corner of my eye while the design mode was still open. Up until now, I was so caught up in the process I blocked everything else from my mind. Now, through the partially translucent interface
, I noticed something glowing in the chalice before me. I leaned in closer, and my eyes opened wide. There was a rune carved on the chalice!
I got to my feet and disengaged design mode, careful to save my progress first. I embraced and kissed Tika. “How was your hunting today?”
“Good, better than other days. Darkness helped. Can sneak better, move better, more easy hunting.”
Good. That meant the Eternal Night blessing was working as intended.
Tika leaned to my ear “I want to go swim in pond with you,” she said in a mischievous tone. “Make you feel better, make me feel better too.”
I smiled at her. “That sounds great, you go ahead. I just need a few more minutes here. I’ll join you shortly.”
She nodded, leaned her bow against the wall, and went out.
I returned to the table and picked up the chalice. “Where the hell is this rune?” I murmured as I checked it from all sides but saw nothing.
I remembered that I hadn’t spotted any runes when I accidentally used the chalice. I reactivated the design mode again and the rune became visible, though hazy. For a second I contemplated disassembling the chalice but then thought better of it. My Analyze skill would have informed me if it was Runecrafted and could be disassembled. There was something else here. With a sudden spur of inspiration, I closed my eyes and activated Mana Sight. I hadn’t used it since I regained both my eyes. The room around me shone with the blue and black tints of mana. I looked at the chalice again and this time saw the rune.
Someone had drawn it on the vessel with magic, making it invisible to regular sight.
I peered closer, taking in each line of the rune, etching its shape into my mind.
You gained knowledge of a new rune: ‘Mag’ (The Ward Rune)
It worked!
I closed my eyes and directed my thoughts inward, looking for the purpose of the rune. I found the relevant information thread and absorbed it.
That’s interesting … The rune in itself was meaningless. It only served as the groundwork for other runes, namely elemental types, so together they added protection from that element. I could also read hints of other uses for Mag, but those were too far for me to see clearly. I would have to find out using trial and error, as always.
I deactivated Mana Sight and put the chalice back on the table. I was tired, and my head was pounding. I’d done enough work for one day. Runecrafting could wait for tomorrow.
Besides, I thought as I reached for the door, I have a date.
24 – Portent
Tika and I woke up the next morning after a night of invigorating swimming followed by an even more invigorating indoor activity.
Being back at the clan was great.
I lay next to my beautiful, sleeping huntress and let my eyes roam over her naked body. I hadn’t lost myself again; I was well aware that I was a player and this was just a game. It simply seemed that my personal preferences didn’t align with the common consensus. Which was a fancy way of saying I thought the woman sleeping beside me was smoking hot. Sure, she was green, and a goblin, but she didn’t look anything like the old school goblins. Tika’s body was well toned and had curves in all the right places. She looked damn good, even by human standards.
He had a point there. The ultimate goal of NEO was to make money, and sex sells.
Well, I was bought. Even if I disregarded her physical appearance, Tika was a marvelous woman. Our nightly swim brought us even closer together, and we’d had a pleasant, if a bit halting, conversation afterward.
I sighed. Too bad her speech is so limited. It wasn’t that she was stupid, far from it. But the goblin’s native lowered Mental attribute manifested in her case as a limited vocabulary. It’s not like she could invest points in Mental as she leveled up, I mused. As a forager, Tika’s main attribute was Social. While it certainly did wonders for her womanly charm, it didn’t contribute much to her conversation skills.
Wait a minute … Something sparked in my mind. Wasn’t there something in the Zone Blessings menu?
I opened the interface.
Zone Blessings (affect all religion followers in the zone of influence):
…
Mental I: Increases the MentaI attribute of all creatures in the zone by +1. Cost: 100 FP
There it was. That blessing would increase everyone’s Mental attribute by one. Productivity-wise, this blessing was useless. Most of my workers used either Physical or Social as their main attribute. Only the researchers and the clan’s casters would benefit.
But it might just improve Tika’s conversation skills … I had to try. It might be impractical, but after spending 1,000 FP on Eternal Darkness, I still had over 600 FP remaining. Using 100 on a whim seemed reasonable.
I selected the blessing and approved the follow-up prompt. I could feel pressure emanating from the direction of the Dark Temple. An instant later, a wave of dark energy rippled through the valley.
“Hey, Tika?” I gently nudged the still-sleeping huntress.
“Oren?” She blinked a few times then sat up. “What’s going on?” She turned her head back and forth, her eyes darting everywhere. “Something is different.”
“How do you feel?” I observed her closely. She looked the same as always, but there was a difference. Her large anime-like eyes had changed. They still reflected innocence, but there was a new glint in them now.
“I feel … goo– … well,” she corrected herself with a tone of decisiveness.
I felt a chill fill my heart. I was afraid I had overdone it, afraid her old personality was gone, afraid that –
Tika cupped my face gently. Her hands were warm and soft. She looked deep into my eyes and smiled. “Thank you, Oren.”
***
I left my house feeling like an idiot with a huge grin plastered on my face, but I couldn’t bring myself to stop. My fears were unfounded. She was the same Tika as always, only now she had the means to express her thoughts. Nothing else had changed. We stayed awake until the late hours, catching up, talking, and re-sharing our past experiences.
I stretched laboriously and, still grinning, took in my surroundings.
It was the start of a brand-new day, though one wouldn’t know it by the ambient light. The sun was barred from shining over my settlement. Goblin workers and hobgoblin soldiers were everywhere, many walking in and out of the mess hall.
A single Shadow-Touched mastiff came strolling from behind a building. Thanks to Eternal Night, Nihilator’s guardians were now free to roam my valley.
“Breakfast sounds good about now,” I said, feeling drained after last night’s exertion.
“Dread Totem, welcome!” Gandork greeted me excitedly. “I have great news, please sit, I will fetch your breakfast.”
Bemused, I sat and watched the now fat goblin cook run to the kitchen and bring me a steaming plate. “Meat pies!” I exclaimed with delight. The hearty, savory dish was a personal favorite, but it required mushrooms, which we had run out of a few weeks ago. I took a large bite of the dish Gandork had set before me. “Wonderful! Did you use the mushrooms that started growing everywhere?”
The cook’s eyes widened in alarm. “In Nihilator’s name, no – those are poisonous. No, our two no-good farmers have finally justified their existence and started growing mushrooms. Loads and loads of mushrooms,” he said happily.
It looked like the Eternal Night had even more benefits than the flat numeric bonuses. With a flick of my mind, I accessed the farmers’ daily yield and found that they were now producing 54 mushrooms per day. The heavy plow I’d recovered had added ten percent to the yield.
I finished the small slice of pie in a few bites and found I was completely full.
Looking around me, I realized everyone was eating less than usual. That was a
nother boon of the blessing, reducing our need to eat by half. Great start to the day so far, I mused. We had tapped into a new food source and had reduced our upkeep. Vic, how much raw food are we producing in total every day?
Most recipes resulted in more food than the sum of their ingredients, and considering Gandork’s cook skill and the mess hall bonus, our daily food production had reached an all-time high. I could finally start recruiting en masse.
I left the mess hall and circled it, making my way to the barracks. I still had a lot of Runecrafting to do, but I wanted to check in on my soldiers.
I entered the barracks’ courtyard and noticed that the training yard was surrounded by a low stone wall.
The area within the wall had been dug out and was now two meters below ground level, transforming it into a pit. The stone wall extended down into the pit, reinforcing its flanks. Benches encircled the pit in concentric rings, giving ample room for spectators to enjoy the duels below from the comfort and safety of their perch above.
Looking inside the pit, I saw the dozen new hob soldiers. They were divided into three groups with a veteran hob leading each one. Zia, one of the tanks, had two of her hobs straining against each other’s shields while the other trainees watched. Yulli, the scout, had her six pupils shooting arrows at several training dummies while she yelled at them to do better. Bob was demonstrating proper sword technique to his three students. The pit was large and could easily accommodate twice as many soldiers as were training at the moment.
I descended into the pit using a narrow staircase that ran along the wall. Zuban stood by his workers as they placed the last few bricks in the nearly complete wall.
New building expansion added to your settlement: Arena
What the hell?
My foreman made his way toward me, followed by Bob, the hob lieutenant.
“Dread Totem,” they both said, bowing their heads in greeting.
“The arena is complete,” Zuban declared.
I stared at him, puzzled. “I thought you just started yesterday. This was supposed to be at least a four-day project.”
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