He nodded. “Your appeal to the travelers did not go unnoticed. In fact, they were particularly eager to see the arena completed. A dozen of them worked all night like madmen, digging. I think they have proven their worth. They would make a fine addition to our clan.”
So they have hit friendly reputation with Zuban, I surmised. Won’t be long until their reputation with the clan catches up, and I’ll have to let them in.
“This is a fine training ground,” Bob said. “We can get these recruits into real fights in here. Nothing teaches a soldier faster than training with real, sharp weapons.”
I looked at him sternly. “I’m not thrilled at having training casualties.”
Bob shook his head. “That won’t happen. The arena is well-equipped. There will be no fatalities unless the arena master decides otherwise. The travelers who dug the pit said they’d come back later to train here as well. We’ll see how our recruits hold up against them.
Training NPCs by having them spar with real players. I grinned. This was too rich. I half expected to get an achievement for orchestrating this scenario, but NEO had no achievement system in place. Shame. “That’s good to hear. How are the new recruits doing?”
“They learn quickly, but there’s no alternative to real combat.”
In other words, they’d have to get out of the pit eventually and fight real battles to gain XP and level up. I already had plans for doing just that. I glanced at the sparring hobs, checking their individual progress. Everyone had their main combat skill up to level 5 or 6. For a single day’s progress, that was impressive.
“Keep up the good work, Bob. How are our patrols doing?”
“At every given moment, a third of our forces are patrolling the settlement. I believe it is enough to provide good coverage for now. They have already proved their worth by breaking up small travelers’ skirmishes.”
“Good to hear. Let me know if something more serious comes up or if the soldiers need anything.”
“Yes, Dread Totem. Since you mention it, we could use good weapons and armor. It’s best to let the soldiers train using the same equipment they’ll be fighting with. So far, the scouts are the only ones with decent weapons, as we have no shortage of bows. But the melee fighters are using crude, nearly broken swords. Zia had to instruct her trainees to pass the shields between them so everyone could practice using one.”
“Noted. The weapon workshop is already under construction. In a few days, our smiths will start producing better-quality weapons. Armor might take a little longer, but we’ll get there soon. By the way …” I realized some of the new recruits were missing. “Where are the Ogres?”
“Err … Rhynorn Bloodore took them to the forest. He claimed to be the champion and that he’d teach them a lesson.”
That’s what I’m afraid of. Resurrecting the Ogres will be damn expensive. I checked the Shrine Interface and was relieved to find the resurrection list empty.
“What’s the next construction project?” I asked Zuban.
“The new builders have almost reached their Apprentice rank, but until they do, they won’t be able to help with the more advanced projects. I think we should put them to building more cabins; we’re running out of lodging space rapidly.”
“Good thinking. Go ahead.”
“Thank you, Dread Totem.”
I left the pit and made my way home.
I needed to finish Runecrafting my staff.
***
Hours later, I was finally done.
The painstaking connect-the-dots mini-game had left me mentally exhausted, but I didn’t care. I gazed lovingly at my newly enchanted staff.
After I’d finished drawing all the rune lines, I finalized the schema by pouring in mana and then topped it off by placing one of my two most powerful void crystals – a level 200 – inside the runic socket. The crystal powered up the enchantment by a factor of five, making the weapon much more powerful. As an added bonus, my Runecraft skill had risen by two points and was now at level 26.
I picked up the staff and examined it closely. Analyze.
Demon Horn Staff [Runecrafted]
Description: The horn has maintained some of the demon’s infernal powers. It is exceptionally durable and can double as a spear. Three bloodstones and a single void crystal are embedded along the shaft. Mana-based spells may be channeled through the staff to increase their potency.
Type: Two-handed
Rank: Epic
Durability: 640/640
Damage: 95-105
Effect I: Mental +21 for determining mana regeneration rate.
Effect II: Store up to three magical charges. Instant casting. Stored spells are 15% stronger.
Effect III: Spells channeled through the staff are 25% stronger.
Effect IV: ??? [conditions unmet]
My Runecrafting worked wonders.
Epic. The staff rank was now upgraded to Epic. And it showed.
With insane durability, a huge bonus to mana regeneration, and an increased strength of stored spells, this item was stupidly overpowered. The unknown effect was a weird side effect, but the staff was powerful regardless. Not to mention that a single stab of its spear-like tip was now the equivalent of a full head-on smash from Rhyno’s huge club. To top it off, all my normal spells would now be 25 percent stronger.
I caressed the staff lovingly. I wanted to marry it.
Vic chimed in.
“Ugh, Vic!” I grimaced. “I did not need that mental picture.”
I rolled my eyes, and, as always, employed my go-to tactic. I ignored my twisted-minded companion.
I inventoried my staff and took one of the Viridium spheres from the table. I examined the sphere, narrowed my eyes, and murmured, “Now what sort of interesting things can I do with a metal ball …”
Shut it! I mentally shouted as I realized what I had just said. I felt Vic’s smugness and barely beat him to the punch.
Concentrating again on the metal sphere, I mulled over my options. The sphere had eight rune slots – nine with my current skill level bonus. That gave me free rein to do as I pleased. But the question was what, exactly? I could enchant it with various damage bonuses and use it as a projectile weapon, but that was too much work for not enough damage output. Besides, we didn’t have any kind of cannon to shoot it in the first place. I had too many projects on my plate already to start managing the invention of projectile technology.
What then? I pondered, turning the sphere in my hands.
The metal was smooth and durable. Its pinkish sheen made me think of ornamental beads. “Heh,” I grunted. Other than the fleeting thought of fashioning it into a bead necklace, nothing else useful came to mind.
“That would make one cumbersome necklace,” Vic remarked, squatting in his goblin shape in a corner of the house. “The Ogres could probably wear it, though. They could use some prettifying, that’s for sure.”
His words formed a mental image of an Ogre wearing a pink bead necklace. I laughed openly. “Good one, Vic. But you’re right, it won’t be very useful. Unless they somehow use it like a beaded whip … wait a minute.”
Connecting the Viridium balls together as a sort of semi-flexible chain would make a fearsome whip. I chewed my lips. Still, that was more of a job for a smith, not an enchanter, unless …
I opened the Runecraft Design Mode and selected the binding rune. Runic lines spread over the ethereal spherical image, covering half its surface. I added another binding rune on the other half, and the two runes merged together seamlessly, covering the entire surface with snaking, g
lowing runic lines.
I felt, more than I knew, that the runes would make the sphere’s surface a sort of magical slate that could interact with external magic. But that in itself was not enough. The binding runes needed to be anchored to something. I added the ‘Ma’ containment rune at the heart of the sphere, then connected both binding runes together to it using the ‘Te’ connector rune.
Examining the result critically, I wondered if it would act as I had intended it to. It took four runes – half of the available space – just to lay the groundwork. I could add more runes to it later, but I wouldn’t be able to erase them once the enchantment was done. I could probably dismantle it, but success was not assured. In which case, I had just wasted a valuable resource.
I proceeded to finalize the enchantment, pouring in the required 360 mana to power it up.
Utility schema discovered: TeMaGog [Conduit]
Runecraft skill level increased to 27.
Discovering new schemas was great for raising the skill level.
I took another Viridium sphere and repeated the same process. It only took me about a minute to apply the newly discovered schema.
Holding a sphere in each hand, I carefully brought them together. The pieces clinked but didn’t bind. I frowned. Something was missing.
“Well, duh,” Vic snorted. “You just created the framework. There’s no juice flowing through the pipes.”
“How would you know?” I countered. “You don’t have the Runecraft skill.”
“I don’t need it. The rules of this world are consistent, and I happen to be a native. Trust me, just put some mana into it.”
“Alright,” I grumbled and channeled my mana into the two spheres. It moved easily, absorbed by the external binding runes, and flowed to fill the containment rune within. The spheres radiated a faint sense of power.
I brought the two spheres together again, and this time they connected. I released one. It rolled downward while still attached to the one I was holding. Huh, kinda like magnets. I could sense the tethers of mana connecting the two spheres.
“See? Told you so,” Vic said smugly.
“Yes, you’re very smart. Shut up.”
Dark mana thrummed inside and around the spheres. I put them on the floor and directed my will at it. With hardly an effort on my part, the spheres began moving, rotating around each other. I didn’t even have to invest my own mana after the initial charge and could easily control the movements.
“Wonderful,” Vic said. “You made magical, self-rotating Chinese balls. Now what?”
“More.”
I opened my friends’ list and composed a short message to Malkyr, asking him to craft the remaining 12 Viridium ingots into spheres. Then I proceed to enchant the last one I had as well.
With three balls attached, I could make it move in simple patterns; pile up as a column, move around the floor on two while the third one was in the air; or just spin together. The external binding runes kept the spheres connected, but not fixed on a specific point, so I didn’t have to put any extra effort to keep them together. I could concentrate on just directing their movement.
“Ding,” Vic said. “Incoming message, Boss.”
It was from Malkyr, promising to have all the 12 Viridium spheres ready by tomorrow.
“Good, now I’ll just –”
The door opened and Tika came in. Huh, it’s probably later than I thought.
“Hello, Oren.” My beautiful girlfriend smiled at me, her eyes twinkling. “It is a great honor to have the clan Totem waiting for me at home.”
“Hi, Tika.” I smiled back at her. “I guess I lost track of time, kept enchanting throughout the day. How was your hunting?”
She sauntered forward seductively and placed her arms around my neck. She leaned in and whispered in my ear, “I just have one more thing to hunt.”
***
I woke the next day with a start as a flickering message window appeared before me.
His unusual tone had roused me like a splash of cold water. I clicked the blinking message icon.
New Era Online [Internal messaging service]:
From: SuperWolf#23
Subject: It’s on
Hi, Man,
Vatras just sent his forces after you.
He spent a day advertising tryouts for his guild, saying whoever passed the test would be accepted at a sergeant’s rank. I tried to discredit him on the forums like we discussed, but there was still a sizeable turnout. Too many mediocre players couldn’t resist the lure of a steady guild paycheck.
I asked a friend, a casual low-level player, for a favor to become my spy. He applied for the test and was accepted. From what he tells me, Vatras has formed up two groups to come after you.
The first group is made up of low-level wannabes, some might be around level 30, but most are probably less than 20. There are about 50 of them.
The second group is more serious. It’s composed of semi-professional gamers, levels 20 to 40, but there’s only about ten of them.
I’m guessing Vatras is using the first group as cannon fodder to soften you up, then the second group to wipe you out completely. That way he’ll only have to reward ten players instead of 60. He’s a real bastard, that one; how the hell did you work with him for three years?
The first group has already departed. They’re teleporting to the nearest settlement at the fringe of the Deadlands, and from there a guild Spatial Wizard is going to launch them through most of the wilderness.
My friend estimated it will take them about two days to reach you. That gives you around 24 days, your time, to finish preparations.
The second group will launch a few hours later, which ought to buy you a day or two of respite before the next attack.
I’m guessing you’re in for a tough fight. Once you beat them, word will spread. I doubt Vatras will be able to lure more people to do his dirty work then.
I thought at first to get a few buddies and intercept the groups along the way, but they’re being escorted to the final launch point by a few other high-level guild members. We’d be slaughtered.
I may not be able to interfere directly, but I still got your back. My spy friend, TheMarxman, will continue with the first group as a double agent. He’s expecting to hear from you and is willing to cross over just as soon as you’ve made contact.
He’s a melee spellslinger. I suggest to use him at the height of the fight to double-cross his friends and kill the healers. With the element of surprise, he should be able to get rid of at least one of them. You’ll be able to recognize him straight away; he always wears cyan robes and fights using a rapier.
Your status has drawn the higher-ups’ attention and there’s something else going on here that they’re not telling us about. I think me staying in touch with you has drawn their attention. It might be difficult for me to contact you again for the time being. In any case, I doubt I could do anything else to assist you in facing the coming battle. It’s up to you now.
Good luck, Oren.
P.S. - I’m probably worried over nothing. You no doubt have hordes of green-skinned monsters ready to tear apart us miserable players.
All hail our future green overlords! :-)
I breathed out an explosive sigh. It had begun. The attackers were on their way, and now I had a countdown to their arrival.
The preparations for the attack were progressing well. Our food production was high and I could now summon a large force quickly. But they needed training. The new guys were still too weak to stand up to players, even low-leveled ones.
Luckily, I had planned for that. The barracks’ training yard would help put my soldiers into shape, but it won’t be fast enough. I had to expedite our plans.
“Kaedric!” I called out as I exited my house. While I waited for the mandibled hob to arrive, I accessed the settlement’s food production details. I had some numbers to cru
nch.
We were producing 287 various food ingredients per day. Considering recipe efficiency and other bonuses, we could produce about 300 units of simple food daily. Our daily upkeep was 52. We would need about 70 units of food to double the upkeep for all the Physical-oriented workers. That would increase productivity across the board by 20 percent. Seeing as some of our food producers – namely the hunters and farmers – had physical builds, our food production would also increase by about 12 units. So in effect, I’d be spending six units of food to increase my whole clan’s efficiency by 20 percent.
Why the hell didn’t I do that earlier? I lamented.
Next time I’ll let my smartass-seeded companion do the heavy crunching.
I was about to retort when my feral-looking seneschal arrived, coming around from behind my house. “You called, my lord? How may I be of service?”
“Hi Kaedric, I want to take full advantage of the new totem’s ability. I want all Physical-oriented workers to be fed doubly, starting right now. The day has just begun, so we can reap the benefits straight away.
“Yes, my lord. Was there anything else?”
“Have Gandork use all our basic food ingredients to cook simple food, then bring it to the Breeder’s Den.
“Yes, my lord.”
“Next, I want every weapon above crude quality brought to my house.”
“Yes, my lord. It will take some time to locate all such items. Shall I go see to it, or was there something else?”
I mulled it over. “Take care of that now. I want to catch Zuban for a little chat first anyway.”
Kaedric bowed his head and walked away. Several nearby workers stopped what they were doing and followed him silently.
“Tempest!” I called.
As if manifesting from the surrounding darkness, my demon wolf appeared before me. I jumped on his back and directed him toward the northern part of the valley. His light trot was fast enough to make my vision blurry from the wind in my eyes. We arrived at the new construction yard, just past the barracks, in a flash.
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