Webwood Adept Armor Set
Slots: Arm, Chest, Feet, Hands, Legs, Head, Shoulders
Item Class: Magical
Item Quality: Good (+15%)
Armor: 125
Set Bonus (7/7):
+5 Intelligence
+5 Willpower
Armor Type: Light
Weight: 5 kg
Favored Class: Any Arcane or Divine
Mana-Infused: +15% Resistance against Arcane spells and abilities.
Level: 10
“Oh man, awesome!” Halcyon exclaimed with Caius adding, “This is great, Lyr!”
Lastly, turning to Drace. “And this last one here is for you, man. The Webwood Defender Armor Set.”
“I went a bit crazy on this one, extra carapace all over, Bronze Shin Guards, Bronze-Arm Guards, Gorget as well as a-“
“A shield!” Drace cut me off as he hefted a massive piece of spider carapace, covered in thorny spikes. “Oh man! Thanks so much, Lyr! This is great!”
“No worries at all, man!” I beamed at the large warrior’s happiness, calling up his armor set information for one last look.
Webwood Defender Armor Set
Slots: Arm, Chest, Feet, Hands, Legs, Head, Shoulders, Shield
Item Class: Magical
Item Quality: Good (+15%)
Armor: 300
Set Bonus (8/8):
+5 Strength
+5 Constitution
Armor Type: Medium
Weight: 12 kg
Class: Any Martial
Mana-Infused: +15% Resistance against Arcane spells and abilities.
Level: 10
“What are the other things over here, Lyrian?” Constantine asked, having gone as far to dress himself in the new armor already.
When did he even take his pants off? I wondered before snapping back into the moment.
“Oh! Right!” I quickly walked over to Constantine while motioning Sierra and Drace over to the bench. “Hey, there’s more for you two over here!”
“What?” Sierra asked a bit numbly. “More?”
“I didn’t stop at just armor!” I said with a smile, grabbing a massive pair of spider fangs off the bench, handing them to Constantine. I then picked up a massive spider claw from the bench and very gently handed it to Drace. Last but not least, I then picked up a smoothly finished bow, strung with a faintly glowing string, giving it to Sierra.
In addition to being able to use the spider carapace as armor reinforcement, my Improvisation skill also allowed me to make slight modifications directly to some of the spider parts I’d found on the Webwood Horror. All it took was scratching away some unneeded chitin on an already sharp claw or fang, then sinking a makeshift hilt deep into it to give a good place to grip.
“So…” I prompted everyone as I double checked the item stats I had just handed out. “Happy?”
Webwood Daggerfang
Slot: Main Hand or Off Hand
Item Class: Magical
Item Quality: Good (+15%)
Damage 13-20 (Piercing)
Agility: +3
Durability 120/120
Base Material: [Massive Mana-Infused Spider Fang]
Weight: 0.3 kg
Favored Class: Any Martial
Level: 10
Webwood Bladeclaw
Slot: Main Hand or Off Hand
Item Class: Magical
Item Quality: Good (+15%)
Damage 15-25 (Slashing)
Strength: +2 Agility: +2
Durability 120/120
Base Material: [Massive Mana-Infused Spider Claw]
Weight: 0.5 kg
Class: Any Martial
Level: 10
Spruce Silkstring Bow
Slot: Main Hand and Offhand
Item Class: Magical
Item Quality: Good (+15%)
Damage 20-35 (Piercing)
Agility: +6
Durability 120/120
Base Material: [Spruce Stave]
Weight: 1 kg
Class: Any Martial
Level: 10
“If I didn’t know better…” Constantine said as he made a show of checking the time. “… I’d say it was Christmas!”
“It’s awesome, Lyrian!” Drace exclaimed as he tested his grip on the Bladeclaw. “Just plain awesome!”
“I love it,” Sierra exclaimed as she ran her hand along the bow, then hugged it close to her chest. “It’s perfect!”
“Great!” I clapped my hands together, before calling over to Halcyon and Caius. “Unfortunately… I don’t have any new weapons for you two unless you want a new melee weapon at some point?”
“Nah, I’m okay.” Halcyon shook his head. “Rather not be any closer to critters than I absolutely need to be.”
“Yeah, I’m cool too.” Caius shrugged. “Any idea if you can make magic staves?”
“Maybe,” I said after thinking about it for a moment. “I’d need to have magic infused wood of some sort most likely, though. Plus some time to work on my Carpentry, I outright stole the wood for Sierra’s bow from Jenkins pile.”
The moment I said the word ‘magic wood,' it was as if I shocked everyone in the room.
“Shit!” Constantine cursed as they all remembered what had them looking for me in the first place.
“Lyrian, we have something to show you…” Halcyon began.
***
“Huh,” I grunted as I arrived to at the Town Hall, looking upwards in awe. “Neat.”
“Neat?” I heard Halcyon say, everyone else electing to stay behind and get dressed in their new gear. “That’s all you have to say?”
I turned to frown at the mage with an eyebrow raised. “Uh, Neato?”
“I was expecting something with a bit more gravity,” Halcyon said with a sigh as he shook his head in annoyance. “Let it be known… the first words said by Lyrian when witnessing a true wonder of magic was ‘Neat.'”
“Oh.” I turned to look back at the oak tree that had erupted from the same patch of ground that the Horror had died on and assumed a mocking pose. “Astounding!”
Smirking back at Halcyon. “How’s that for gravity?”
“If it weren’t for the armor you made me today, I’d be telling you to go fuck yourself right now.” Halcyon flipped me off as he turned on his heel and strode back towards the workshop. “I’m off to get dressed, be back in a bit.”
“Hah!” I barked a laugh before I turned my gaze back to the tree, happy to have a chance to annoy the mage.
True to his word, Aldwin had buried the glowing ichor while planting an acorn atop it, and over the course of the night, the seed had taken root. Now, next to the very heart of Aldford, stood an eight foot tall, oak sapling.
This in itself would not be a very troubling or even unexpected development, given that I now knew of the magical properties of the Webwood Horror’s ichor. But the fact that the tree happened to be faintly glowing blue, as well as radiating magic in my Arcane Sight… made it an interesting development and another link to the Ruptured Ley Line.
“Ho, Lyrian.” Aldwin strode over, seeing me circling the tree. He indicated the tree with a nod, seeming slightly at a loss for words. “So… this is…?”
“Quite.” I agreed, still watching the magical aura shine across my vision. “Though I suppose you did get your wish for a tree… people should quickly forget about the Horror now…”
“Perhaps… though I hadn’t expected that it would grow so quickly…” The Bann’s eyebrows rose as I strode forward to place my hand on the tree. “…something wrong?”
“No…” The tree was slightly warmer under my palm than I expected, but as far as I could tell… it was just a simple tree.
It also just happened to be glowing tree.
“A bit warmer than I expected… but I think it may also still be growing?” I said with a shrug as I took a step away from the tree.
“It is,” Aldwin confirmed with a slight sigh. “About a hand span over the last
hour.”
“I’m curious to see how large it will get.”
“Oh?” The Bann looked at me hesitantly. “You don’t want to cut it down right away?”
“No! Why should we?” I shook my head quickly, then realized that I hadn’t told Aldwin about discovering the Mana-Infused Ichor earlier in the morning.
“I don’t think the tree is a danger to the village.” I quickly explained what I’d discovered about the glowing ichor that the spider had left behind when it died. “I think that whatever mana there was left in the ichor fueled the growth of the tree the same way it fueled the growth of the spider… and why it turned out blue.”
My explanation ended with a deep sigh coming from the country knight.
“Life was so much simpler when I was still in Eberia. Magic was left to the mages and the fighting to the knights,” Aldwin spoke softly while staring blankly at the tree. “Very well, Lyrian. We’ll leave the tree be then… at least until it appears dangerous. Thankfully, it’s rather pleasing to look at in the meantime.”
“Is there anything else I should tell any villagers that ask about the tree?”
“I don’t think they have anything to fear,” I said as I shook my head, then broke into a slight smile. “Though it may be a good idea to start making shades for windows to keep the glow out.”
“Ha!” Aldwin let out a snort. “That may not be a bad idea actually…”
We watched the tree silently for a moment before I spoke. “Are you sure that you’ll all be okay for the day today?”
“We’ll manage,” Aldwin said confidently. “Thanks to Drace, I’ve never seen Militia in better form. We’ll keep the village safe and keep working on the digging.”
“The Militia!” I exclaimed as I knocked on my head with a fist, remembering the armor and weapons I’d spent a good part of the night crafting. “I have a new set of armor and spears waiting for them in the Workshop.”
“Ah!” the Bann exclaimed. “Thank you, Lyrian! They’ll be even more effective with better equipment!”
“They aren’t on duty just ye-“ Aldwin’s voice fell flat as he saw Drace, Constantine and Halcyon approaching all decked out in their new Webwood Armor. “Good gods, Lyrian! What is that?!”
“Ah! A new type of armor I made!” I replied excitedly, still happy to boast about my accomplishments.
“Good morning, sir.” Drace greeted as he entered conversation range. “Great armor, Lyr. Barely feels like I’m wearing anything!”
“Is that… spider chitin?” The Bann’s closely inspected the armor. “What…?”
“It’s an excellent fit, sir! And the protection is unmatched!” Drace continued to sing my praises as he slowly turned to show the Bann the full view of his armor.
“Never would I have even tried to use chitin as armor…” The Bann shook his head in awe.
“We’re just about ready to go, Lyr,” Constantine told me while Drace and the Bann continued to talk between themselves.
“Sierra and Caius went to grab some Hollyleaf and food from Ragna, just to make sure we’re properly stocked up before we go stick our dicks into a spider den,” Halcyon explained a little sourly.
“Uh, thanks for that mental picture,” I said as I tried to shake it out of my head. “I could have gone several lifetimes without imagining that.”
“Yeah… well. It’s pretty obvious that I fucking hate spiders. So I’m going to do my best to make all of you as uncomfortable as possible today.”
“Oh good. It’s going to be that kind of day today.”
“You should go change, Lyr,” Constantine cut in with a sigh. “He’s just going to keep going.”
“Doesn’t he always?” I waved a quick goodbye as I jogged over to the workshop to change into my armor.
***
A few minutes later I was on my way back to the tree and saw that Sierra and Caius had returned from their errand. With them, however, was Jenkins, Shelia, and Natasha as word of our impending departure had spread.
“Hey, Lyrian.” Jenkins greeted me as I got close. “We’re just here to see you off. Ritt would say bye too, but he doesn’t usually wake before ten…”
“Of course.” I laughed.
“You guys be careful today…” Natasha started. “I really wish I were coming with you all…”
“You’re more needed here, Natasha,” Sierra said shaking her head. “If something were to happen, you’re the best scout the village has.”
“Yeah…” Natasha still didn’t seem overly happy, but clearly understood what her role was. “Come back as soon as you can!”
“Definitely!” Sierra agreed as she gave the younger woman a quick hug. “Don’t sweat it!”
“We are more than able to manage for a day!” Shelia said with a smile. “So don’t go worrying about us. There’s plenty enough work to go around without adding extra onto your plates! Just… be safe!”
“Do your best to sort whatever may be happening out there, Lyrian…” Aldwin spoke to me softly as he offered a hand in farewell. “We won’t be as lucky a second time.”
I nodded to the Bann as I clasped his arm and shook firmly. “We’ll get to the bottom of it.”
The rest of the party quickly bid farewell and within a few minutes we were past the ditch we’d dug yesterday and out into the wild.
Despite having only five hours of sleep this last night, I was excited as we set off towards Crater Lake, feeling ready for anything the day threw at us.
“So… I’ve been thinking,” Halcyon started. “Since we all match in this armor… shouldn’t we have some sort of cheesy team name?”
“Like what?” I heard Caius reply hesitantly.
“I don’t know… Spider Dungeon Force or something.”
“That doesn’t even make sense!” Constantine said.
“Your face doesn’t make sense!” Halcyon retorted.
“Oh my god, are you twelve?!” Sierra exclaimed. “Who even says that anymore?!”
I sighed to myself. This was going to be a long day.
Chapter 24
“Damn it!” I swore in pain as mana coursed through me, filling me with the feeling of being burnt, frozen and electrocuted all at once. Yet another attempt to raise my Alteration skill spectacularly failing. “Fuck that hurts!”
Ever since we left Aldford, I’d been steadily practicing my new Blink-Step spell whenever my mana allowed.
Unfortunately, though, the process was proving to be just as painful and frustrating as I anticipated and I hadn’t even managed to successfully cast the spell once. The frequent failures had me trailing behind the party a few dozen steps as we made our way steadily downhill towards Crater Lake, with only Halcyon hanging back with me.
“You’re still doing it wrong,” Halcyon said with a bit of frustration. “You’re not properly accounting for the trans-positional variables.”
“What… the hell does that even mean?” I barked a bit testily. For whatever reason, after a few failures, Halcyon had taken it upon himself to tutor me in magic.
“It means exactly what I said!” Halcyon retorted, struggling to find words to explain. “When you hit level 10, didn’t you get a huge injection of magical knowledge?”
“Like the bit about Spell Mastery?”
“No… not just that… I mean… literal knowledge about magic.” Halcyon waved his hands around as he tried to find a way to explain. “When I hit level 10, it felt like something stuck a fire hose into my brain, then turned it on. That’s why I crashed to bed so early the other night.”
“Now when I cast a spell, I need to and I’m able to account for every single piece of what the spell is going to do as I cast it.” He continued to explain. “That includes where the spell is taking effect, how far is it going, along with how fast it is moving. I think with enough practice, I might be able to start doing little things like changing the colors of certain spells, hell… give me enough time and I can maybe even change the element of the spell!”
> “No, I didn’t get anything like that at all…” I shook my head slowly, a little overwhelmed at Halcyon’s excitement. “I just, think of the spell… then it happens.”
“Like this.” I raised my hand as I conjured a Flare. “I think of the Flare in my hand and poof.”
“Okay, and when you think of the Blink-Step spell… do you still think of your hand?”
I glanced at Halcyon as we walked frowning. “Well… yeah. That’s how I always cast magic… I figured I’d cast the spell, then choose where to go.”
“Well, that’s your fucking problem right there!” Halcyon exclaimed with a laugh. “No wonder it’s not working, you’re trying to Blink-Step right into your palm! You’re basically trying to dismember yourself with the spell!”
“Are you fucking kidding me?!” I growled as I triggered the spell, this time focusing on something in the distance. “It can’t be that easy!”
Ascend Online Page 23