Ascend Online

by Luke Chmilenko

  “Ho, Lyr.” Jenkins greeted me with a slight echo, half of his upper body thrust into the skull’s maw as he worked on something out of my sight. “There’s a plaque down there on the table, pass it up in a moment.”

  “Plaque?” I asked, spotting a dark piece of wood on a nearby table. Curious, I picked it up and read the inscription.

  The Ætherwarped Webwood Queen

  Slain on Friday, February 8th, 2047

  Amaranth, Caius Vail, Constantine Black, Donovan Kaine, Drace Kross, Halcyon Cats, Lyrian Rastler, Sierra Rain.

  “Oh wow.” I turned the plaque over in my hand and ran my fingers over the inscription. “This is amazing!”

  “Glad you like it Lyr,” Jenkins replied, then quickly addressed his helpers as he pulled himself out of the skull’s mouth. “Looks, good! Set it down slowly and see if it bears the weight.”

  Jenkins’s assistants gradually let go of the skull, letting it settle onto the mounting. As Jenkins made a few adjustments, I took a step back to admire the trophy. With its massive size, it effortlessly dominated the room, looking down on everyone in the Town Hall. Placed in the center of the wall, it would forevermore hold the place of honor, being the first Boss creature killed near Aldford.

  I couldn’t help but look forward to the day when the entire wall was filled with trophies and stories to go with them.

  “Perfect! Thanks for the help guys.” Jenkins dismissed his helpers, grabbing the plaque from my outstretched hand. With their part of the work done, the other villagers gave me a wave as they set off towards their other tasks, carrying their ladders with them. “Just about finished here.”

  “Thanks for putting this up Jenkins,” I said, watching him install the plaque where it could easily be read from the ground.

  “Hey, no worries,” he replied with a shrug. “You had to fucking fight the thing. I’d rather nail a hundred of these skulls to the wall than do that.”

  “Ha! Remind me to show you one of its claws!” I exclaimed with a laugh. “Large enough to make a Greatsword out of it!”

  “Gods.” Jenkins shook his head. “I believe you, even without seeing it.”

  “There!” It didn’t take long for Jenkins to fix the plaque firmly on the wall and hop down from his ladder.

  “Any idea where everyone is this morning?” I asked Jenkins. “I slept in a bit longer than I was expecting.”

  “You needed it.” Jenkins nodded at me understandingly. “Everyone’s already moved on with the day. I saw Sierra, Natasha and Constantine head out this morning, along with your… cat, err, familiar, Amaranth.”

  “Oh,” I said as I tried to send a thought over to Amaranth, but found that he was out of range. I vaguely sensed that he was somewhere off to the east. “They must have gotten an early start.”

  “Early enough,” Jenkins said with another shrug. “Drace and Halcyon were getting set in helping with the digging and Caius oddly enough asked to drill with the Bann and the Militia.”

  “Really?” I asked with some surprise. “I wonder why.”

  “Not sure.” Jenkins motioned for me to follow him as he grabbed his tools and ladder. “Haven’t seen that other mage you brought back today yet. Probably still sleeping.”

  “He’s had a rough week,” I offered.

  “Around here, who hasn’t?” Jenkins grunted with a fair bit of derision. “Anyway, what’s your plan for the day? Your friends hung up all their armor in the workshop, which I can see needs a hell of a lot of mending. But I’m also going to need the space to keep crafting those Tribuli.”

  “I can start on the repairs right now actually, then help out with the Tribuli,” I replied, happy to get that task out of the way first. “We can air the armor out afterward outside.”

  “Don’t you want to grab a bite first?” Jenkins asked me with a raised eyebrow. “You just got up.”

  “Uh.” I stalled, while I assessed how I felt. The regular feelings of hunger or thirst just, not being there. In fact, I couldn’t remember the last time I had eaten something, yet I felt perfectly satiated. All thanks to my new Mana Starved trait. “I’m doing okay actually, plus I’d rather get started on work. I’ve already slept through half the morning!”

  “Ha! Alright, thanks.” Jenkins barked a short laugh then nodded. “I need to go check that house that you partially demolished yesterday anyway, so I’ll be out of your hair for a bit. I just need to grab a few tools from the shop.”

  “That wasn’t entirely my fault!” I exclaimed, fruitlessly. “The stupid thing clobbered me!”

  “Uh huh,” Jenkins replied flatly. “You should have had the decency to miss the house and make less work for me then.”

  “Right, by the way, on an unrelated note, which one is your house again?” I made a mock motion of looking around. “Purely out of curiosity, of course…”

  “Bah!” Jenkins exhaled sarcastically as he rolled his eyes. “Here grab my tool box, I need to set this ladder down. I’ll meet you inside.”

  Our short journey complete, I grabbed the box out of Jenkins’s hand while he set the ladder against the side of the workshop and went inside. True to Jenkins’s word there were four sets of armor hung up on armor racks looking like they’d been, well, mauled by a horde of spiders and in my suit’s case, a puma.

  Guess it served its purpose. The thought crossed my mind as I inspected the battle damage to my suit of armor.

  “Morning, Lyrian!” Ritt popped up from behind a crate, then began pushing it back into the corner.

  “Oh!” I yelped, startled by the young merchant’s appearance. “Ritt, what the fuck?!”

  “Sorry, Lyrian!” Ritt quickly exclaimed, giving me a wave. “Just organizing all the stuff around here a bit better, I sorted your stuff too in case you’re looking for it.”

  Without even giving me a chance to reply, he started pointing out crates. “That one there is for ore, that one for smelted bars, herbs can sit in that one, spider… parts, go into that one there.”

  “Thanks, Ritt,” I said with a bit of surprise, as I tried to quickly absorb the new layout. “Aren’t you awake rather early for your schedule?”

  “I dumped him out of bed,” Jenkins said as he briskly walked in through the door, quickly grabbing a handful of tools.

  “Jenkins dumped me out of bed.” Ritt echoed, rolling his eyes. “The bastard.”

  “Because you had to have him organize the workshop?” I asked, slightly confused.

  “No, because I need his lazy ass to pace off and string the final ditch measurements so we can get started on it today!” Jenkins pointed a hammer threateningly at Ritt. “You’re standing still, did you find that string?”

  “Y-yeah!” Ritt squeaked nervously, holding up a spool of twine.

  “Did you give Lyrian his money?” Jenkins shook the hammer once more, as he turned to leave.

  “N-Not yet!”

  “I will be back here in an hour,” Jenkins called over his shoulder as he left the workshop. “That ditch best be strung by the time I get back. Or else.”

  “Wait, money?” I asked Ritt. “Hold on, why is he, and what exactly did he threaten you with?”

  Ritt sighed as he tossed the spool down onto the workbench with a thump. “He threatened to toss me into the water unless my work ethic improved.”

  “Eh, that’s not so bad,” I said with a shrug as I looked at the lazy merchant. “River’s like what, six to nine feet deep here?”

  “…not the river Lyrian, Crater Lake, from the Ridge.” Ritt shook his head. “I hate heights and I can’t swim…”

  “Oh, I see.” I blinked in surprise. “I’ve done that trip, was a ton of fun. I plan to never do it again. So what’s this about money?”

  “Ugh,” Ritt grunted as he pulled out a bulging sack of coins and handed it over to me, it visibly paining him to let it go. “That Bann told me to give you this as your reward for taking care of the Spider Queen and the Webwood spiders.”

  Wordlessly, I opened the ba
g, revealing one hundred shiny gold coins gleaming back at me, the same instant a quest alert appeared across my vision.

  Quest Complete!

  Cleansing the Webwood

  You have claimed your reward!

  Reward: 10,000 Experience Points, 100 gold pieces.

  Sweet! Halfway to level 11 with just a single quest! If the experience boost hadn’t been enough, my head spun at the realization that I finally had money to my name! Without even trying, ideas began to filter their way into my head on how I could best put the money to use.

  “He threw in something extra in there too,” Ritt said indicating the bottom of the bag.

  “Hmmm.” I shook the bag gently as I reached inside, my fingers finding something that was definitely not a coin. Grabbing onto it, I pulled out a finely cut ruby slightly bigger than my thumbnail. “Oh!”

  “Don’t lose it,” Ritt cautioned. “Probably worth at least fifteen gold pieces depending on demand, possibly more.”

  “Shit, really?” I looked at the tiny little gem in my hand.

  “Yeah.” Ritt nodded empathetically. “They hold value extremely well and as I’m sure you can tell are much lighter than gold coins.”

  I hefted the bag in my hand, still marveling at the pile of coins I’d acquired, finding them rather substantial in weight. “Yeah, I see what you mean.”

  “So, any idea what you’re going to use all that coin for?” Ritt asked optimistically as he began to pile sharpened stakes, markers, on top of one another.

  “Uh, yeah,” I replied without missing a beat, grabbing a sharp knife off the workbench and starting to slice through torn stitching in my armor. “Actually, since you’re here, I might possibly need your help.”

  “Me?” Ritt exclaimed with surprise. “What for?”

  “It might be premature to think about this, but I had a thought to use these coins to kick off Aldford’s economy once the Adventurers get here,” I explained while pulling off a completely shredded piece of chitin from my armor.

  “By doing what? Paying the Adventurers to leave?” Ritt snorted, shaking his head. “Soon as they see that amount of coin…”

  “We’re going to get trouble no matter what,” I said to Ritt while making a stabbing motion with the knife. “And we’ll deal with it appropriately. But not all Adventurers are going to be complete dicks when they get here. Some will be more than happy to work with us. Integrate themselves into our village here.”

  “Say that they do,” Ritt said with a disbelieving grunt. “What then? Pay them to behave?”

  “Don’t be silly.” I began slicing another ragged piece of chitin off. “I’ll pay them to work.”

  “Work?” Ritt asked quizzically, piling all his markers, string and tools into a wooden box with convenient handles for carrying. “What do you mean?”

  “Whatever we’ve needed so far, one of us has managed to find it, or hunt for it.” I used my hands to indicate myself and the absent party members by pointing at the armor. “That’s working out now when we only have a small number of people in the village to support. But if we start adding in a few dozen adventurers or more. What are we going to do for food? For supplies? Hell, what about the village development?”

  Understanding dawned on Ritt’s face. “You’re going to buy their stuff! Make them go out and supply the village. The promise of work will keep them in line.”

  “Damn right!” I continued to explain, making the universal money hand gesture, as I rubbed my fingers together. “A copper or two for every decent quality leather square they bring us, maybe a silver piece if they can cut and deliver a thick enough tree for our palisade. You get the picture.”

  “I do!” Ritt said excitedly. “I see where you need my help with that too. You want me to be your broker in a sense.”

  “You got it!” I nodded at Ritt. “We can sort out all the details when the time comes, but I’d be counting on you to do the buying and selling. We should probably get a village tax in right at the start…”

  “Hang on, selling?” Ritt asked.

  “Well, yeah!” I exclaimed with a nod. “We can’t just keep buying, right? We’ll run out of money.” But if I start selling crafted goods right back to them…”

  “Then we’ll end up with more money and Aldford will grow!” Ritt finished for me, fully on board with the idea. “You’re sure they’ll go for it, though? It’ll be a pretty mindless and repetitive process, just Hunting, Prospecting, or Logging nonstop.”

  “There’s one thing I’ve learned in all my years, Ritt,” I said with a smile. “Adventurers will do anything if given the proper motivation, even if the job is a mindless, repetitive grind.”

  ***

  A couple hours later, I badly needed to stretch my legs and was walking through Aldford with a box of broken and shredded spider chitin destined for the fire pit. I’d managed to repair the four sets of armor without too much of an issue, directly replacing the shredded chitin with new pieces, along with fixing torn stitching and covering any tears in the leather itself.

  Unfortunately, with all the damage that had slowly been accumulating on Drace’s and my armor, I figured it’d be a matter of time before I was forced to craft a brand new set of leather armor from scratch.

  Oh well. Maybe I’ll be able to make something new by that point.

  As I strode through the village, the ever growing azure oak tree caught my eye, having doubled in size and height since I saw it yesterday.

  Is that thing going to ever stop growing? I wondered idly to myself as the full tree came into view. Before long it’ll be a notable sight on the horizon.

  As I made to walk by the tree, I spotted Donovan leaning against it, pressing his ear firmly against the bark. Angling my path towards him to see what he was up to, I cautiously called out.

  “Hey, Donovan,” I started, not to startle the mage. “I… uh, don’t think that works the same way a seashell does.”

  “What?!” Despite my best efforts, Donovan flinched at my arrival. “Lyrian! Good! You may have answers! What in the world is this?!”

  Pausing to glance at the tree, I looked back at Donovan. “By my guess, it’s an Ætherwarped Oak Tree.”

  “I can see that!” Donovan hissed with exasperation. “But, how did it get here? This… shouldn’t be possible!”

  Offering Donovan a shrug, I set the box I was carrying down, then began to explain yesterday morning’s events in more detail. “…and now it seems to grow a hand span every hour or so. Sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less.”

  “That’s…” Donovan shook his head at a loss for words. “I have never seen anything like this before, I don’t think anyone has.”

  “Really?” I asked in disbelief. “No one has tried pouring a vial of Æther on something to see what happens?”

  “Hardly anyone has a vial of Æther!” Donovan exclaimed. “Let alone uses it so frivolously! The effort that it takes to create Æther… staggers the mind.”

  “Hold on, create Æther?” I jumped on Donovan’s statement. “You can do that?”

  Donovan nodded intently. “Certainly! Almost any mage could, if they had enough power.”

  “What do you mean, power?”

  “Well, as I’m sure you are aware… Æther is intently concentrated mana,” Donovan began to explain. “If a mage is able to capture and harness enough mana, it can then be distilled into a liquid form.”

  “How much mana would it take to create Æther?” I pressed out of curiosity. “If it’s that rare…”

  “There is no easy comparison…” Donovan shook his head as he tried to find a way to explain. “It would take at least as many motes of mana to create a liter of Æther as it would copper coins to equal a single platinum coin.”

  At least ten thousand points of mana. Making the mental conversion in my head. “If Æther is so rare in Eberia, then I take it has no Ley Line then?”

  “…no, it does not,” Donovan said after a moment. “And that is most unnatura
l. There is a prevailing theory that something has damaged or redirected the natural Ley Line system that spans across the continent…”

  Like an explosion at Crater Lake? The thought crossed my mind.

  “Leaving Eberia dry in a magical sense,” I finished, receiving a nod from Donovan.

  Now I understand why they were looking for that Ley Line.

  We both fell silent, looking up towards the tree.

  “Lyrian…” Donovan spoke after a moment. “I would ask your permission to study this oak in more detail. Last night, Natasha told me she managed to rescue a pack when she fled our camp. When I looked inside this morning, I found that it contained a handful of arcane tools including an Ætherscope and a Magosphere. I would appreciate the opportunity to get a better understanding of how the Æther is integrating with the tree… this is an unparalleled opportunity.”