Regicide

by Dakota Krout

  The real question here: was this enough? Joe supposed that if he were healing a smaller group of people it should be plenty. He spent about ten minutes helping the people in the temple out, not maximizing their health but stabilizing them to a point that they could function. He could select up to twenty targets and dump his mana into them before it became too much for him, bringing all of his targets up two hundred health. Joe found this far less tiring than going to each patient individually and fixing every little thing. Much easier on the emotional draining aspect, especially. Eventually, though–and far sooner than the people he healed would have liked–Joe really needed to get to work on his other projects. Leaving the temple, he went directly to the ritual hall area, finding the solace intensely satisfying and refreshing.

  With the barest hint of a thought, the room began to shift, and he was soon seated in a comfortable chair with his notes and books in front of him. Joe started walking through the steps he needed to take; the first and most pressing was cleaning up the shoddy spell diagram of ‘Mass Enchant’. He went through it meticulously, copying over what he knew to be correct first, then adding new lines and scraping them off with a shadow-made razorblade if they were shown to be incorrect. This process took several hours, and Joe was certain that it was night outside by the time he felt that he was ready. By intentionally leaving a small sequence that he knew to be correct out of the diagram, Joe was able to finish everything else without the whole thing spontaneously combusting. Doing it this way, he was able to check his work and make adjustments until every other part of the sequence was also correct.

  Pulling out a scroll, ink, and quill that he had prepared at the College, Joe started drawing out the transcribed spell that he had redesigned. This was a bit simpler with the template that he had made, but he needed to be sure to go very carefully. Even so, Joe’s fingers were burned and healed over and over as the paper he had been working on went up in flames from his failures. Getting to three-quarters finished, Joe yelped as he got overconfident and the paper erupted in purple flames again.

  Thanks to the mana invested into it, the more ink on the page, the more dangerous the flames would become if his transcription failed. Thinking it over, Joe reluctantly decided that his Exquisite Shell was keeping him from writing the scroll properly. After weighing his options, he dispelled his armor and tried once again. He got to the end of his notes and added the final small chunk that had been missing, wincing as the ink seemed to vibrate three times on the page after completion. “Don’t explode, don’t explode…”

  You have created a spell scroll! As your skill ‘Words of Power (Written)’ is at the Novice rank, the most powerful scroll you can make is the Novice version of any spell.

  Spell scroll created: Mass Enchant (Novice). This scroll teaches the spell ‘Mass Enchant’ at the Novice level, which allows the caster to enchant a compatible known spell onto multiple items. Cost: Variable. Exp: 50.

  Skill increase: Words of Power (Written) (Novice VII). Wow, you made a scroll on your first try! Oh, wait, the first one burned. You know what they say, second… third… eighth time’s the charm!

  “It worked!” Joe jumped around and whooped when the paper retained its integrity. He looked back over the notification and got serious. “I get experience for this too? I think it’s time to invest some of my skill points into my skills.” Since his class had disallowed the input of skill points into Ritual Magic when he specialized, and Ritual Lore could only be learned by study… this was a pretty solid spot to add some points. He had… whoops.

  It looked like he had forgotten about his skill points for a good chunk of time. There were twenty-three points waiting for him, almost half of all the points he had gained. If he was going to participate heavily during this war, Joe decided that he needed to commit to it fully. Taking a deep breath, he dropped six points into Spellbinding and twelve points into Words of Power, leaving him with only five for a rainy day.

  Skill increase: Words of Power (Written) (Apprentice 0). Congratulations! You have met the requirements to be considered an Apprentice in truly powerful written word! You can now create magical documents up to the Apprentice ranks! Based on your use of the skill so far, a new effect has been added: Autocorrect. By investing three hundred points of mana at the start of writing a scroll, three errors will be automatically corrected if you make them. When you make them, be honest with yourself.

  Skill increase: Spellbinding (Apprentice I). As an Apprentice of Spellbinding, you get nothing extra. You thought that just because you normally do, you’d get an extra effect all the time? This skill is already potent. Go use it instead of whining.

  “I hadn’t planned on whining,” Joe growled in a slightly whiny tone, getting right back to work. It took all freaking night for him to make a single Apprentice ranked scroll of Mass Enchant. As soon as he had the scroll in his hands, he brought it down and stored it in his… codpiece. That was going to take some getting used to. Joe stood there staring or blinking at the floor for a few long moments… minutes… hard to tell. His eyes were bloodshot, and bags were showing under his eyes. The only consolation he had for his exhaustion was that he had the scroll and both the skills had increased three times.

  All he needed now for the ritual was a… scroll… of the spell he wanted to use to mass enchant things. Dang it. Joe had a day or two left, right? He could rest his eyes for a moment… Joe blinked and woke up, looking around at the reconfigured room. Had he made the floor into a bed while he slept? Dangerous effect, that. What if he had a nightmare about the walls closing in and…? Joe shuddered with primal terror. No more sleeping in the easily-shifting room.

  All he needed to do today was create a spell scroll. Simple to say… harder to do. Joe spent the next few hours turning his knowledge of the spell ‘Shadow Spike’ into a formula. Yes, he had used the spell to create his shaping skill, but a simple spike was a part of shadow manipulation that was easily translated. Another few hours went into turning that into a spell scroll, but it was far easier with his increased skill and some practice. He had even been able to recognize some signs of the contained mana losing its stability and dodged the resulting flames.

  For lunch, he ate some dried meat that had been stored in his codpiece. He grimaced and shuddered; that hadn’t been a fun thought. Joe decided right there that he would never tell anyone what part of his outfit was the spatial storage–just in case he ever needed to give them some food. Checking his notifications, he saw that he had gained one hundred experience for each Apprentice scroll he had made. Not bad. Just under seven thousand experience to the next level.

  Now he needed to create the ritual itself. He had everything he needed except for the required mana. Joe was going to need a hand with the actual activation of the ritual because this was a Journeyman ranked ritual even though it was only going to be adding Apprentice ranked effects. Turning toward the door, Joe paused. Might as well get the ritual created, right? Staring at the ritual diagram, he willed the floor to rise up and shape itself in the same way the diagram required. This took about half an hour to get correct, but it was still far faster than drawing it out by hand. After inspecting it and fixing any errors he could find, Joe pulled out his chalk and moved forward.

  Once again, Joe stopped himself. He had a better method now, didn’t he? He directed the room to add a sheath around all the lines, magical symbols, and diagrams. Once they were all fully enclosed and the same thickness–Joe grinned maniacally as he started the next step–he solidified the darkness that was enclosed within the tubes. He returned the room to a simple empty circle and manipulated the shadows, convincing the silhouette of a ritual to float before it fell to the ground. Then he set it down gently and walked out of the room to find ten thousand mana worth of people to help him out. He really needed to get a dedicated cabal together. Scavenging for help every time he wanted to do something was annoying.

  There were strange echoes in the ritual hall, but they were coming from the entrance so he didn
’t need to change course to investigate. People were moving in and out of the building at a run, and it seemed that anyone coming indoors was wounded. Oh right, there was a war on. Joe checked the countdown timer; there was another day before the main forces of the Wolfmen arrived. Were the advance forces really pushing their defenses this hard? That didn’t exactly bode well for the main battle…

  Booming noises rang out as large-scale spells were launched over the walls like artillery. As much as he wanted to go and take a look at what they were up against, finishing the ritual should be the priority. He wasn’t going to be much help in battle, even if he could skewer a few Wolfmen if they got too close. War was not his specialty, though he kicked himself as he remembered that it literally could have been. Joe made a beeline for the magical artillery, meaning that he had to twist, turn, change direction and go the wrong way a few times in order to reach them. As it turns out, bees don’t fly in straight lines.

  “Trouser snake! You stuck around!” Joe called as he got close. “I need a favor, buddy.”

  “Why is it that you always show up at strange times after vanishing for days on end? Where have you been? Also, I can’t spare any help right now. My entire guild is working in shifts, and we are still almost getting overrun out there.” Snake spoke with severe distraction and fatigue in his voice, so Joe didn’t take the refusal personally.

  “Look, I found a way to help out melee fighters. It’ll take about ten minutes to get this going, and I think I can convince Terra to join in.” Joe’s words must have hit the mark because Tim… Snake, seemed to perk up like Joe did after downing a triple espresso. Joe tried to remember to call the man by his in-game name; it was possible that some people might come after him in real life if they knew too much about him.

  “Find her, bring her back here. If I see that she is actually with you, I’ll join you with a couple of my top guys.” Snake waved Joe away, “Right now, though, I need to get back to making giant balls of liquid fire fly at seven-foot-tall werewolves. Ahhh, things I never thought I’d get to say as an adult.” Five people stepped forward when he did, and their mana joined together to create a ball of what appeared to be plasma. After five seconds of each of them pumping mana into the group spell, Tim stepped forward and made a tossing motion. The ball of fiery death flew away to find a new home, and soon after, a *boom* echoed back to them.

  ~ Chapter Forty-five ~

  Joe started asking around for Terra, but apparently, no one in the general population had seen her recently. When he eventually did learn her whereabouts, he was confused as to why she was there. He went over to the smithy and found her working on creating an enchanted blade, which not only was his goal but also satisfied his curiosity. Interrupting her–much to her displeasure–Joe was only able to convince her to join him by sharing half the screenshots of the magical elevator that had led to the third floor of the prison dungeon. He promised her that she’d get the other half, but only after helping him out.

  From there it was back to Snake, followed by a five-minute hike to collect the ritual diagram and bring it to the rest area. By the time it was in place, the people he had collected were shifting uncomfortably, knowing that they were missing out on experience and the battle. If he didn’t do something soon, they were definitely going to wander off to go do other things.

  “Alright, let’s get set up.” Joe started directing people into place, positioning the first four in a square pattern and getting himself, Snake, and Terra into a triangle pattern closer to the center. “Seven of us, perfect. Prime numbers help keep the magic from going wild.” He placed the components for this ritual into position, and Terra began to get excited.

  “Is that a spell scroll? Holy happy cows, where did you find those? And two of them?” She was staring at the scrolls intently, and her already large eyes went comically wide. “Apprentice ranked scrolls? You are telling me that I could take that and have a spell that I could use at the Apprentice ranks right away?”

  “Yeah, but this is better in the long run. Trust me.” Joe declined to answer her first question; he hadn’t known that scrolls were that rare. At least not so much that the other participants were whispering ‘quietly’ amongst themselves of taking the scroll when he wasn’t looking. “Here we go people, a drop of blood each, please.”

  The small silver chalice he had purchased to replace the massive tarnished one he used to use was quickly passed around and added to its spot. Joe pushed his arms out to each side with his palms facing outward and lifted the ritual focus into the starting position it required. With a burst of mana directed into the diagram, it stayed in place in midair and even began to spin. The ritual had begun. Slowly and carefully, Joe began the associated chant. Mana began to flood into the ritual and out of their bodies, making the weakest among them groan softly.

  Pitch-black circles spun at dangerous speeds above their heads, and the components were absorbed into the whirling gyroscope of shadow. Seeing the scrolls disintegrate and vanish, Terra seemed to get a bit choked up. They passed the threshold of required mana and the ritual became operational, but Joe kept that to himself and had the others continue to pour mana into it as long as possible. One by one, the others took a knee and gasped for air, leaving Joe to hold the burden alone as long as he could. Finally unable to bear it, Joe dropped his arms and the ritual slammed onto the ground around them, solid rings of shimmering darkness that seemed to have a heat-haze coming off of them.

  Ritual created: Mass Enchant (Shadow Spike). Weapons left in this ritual will gain the on-hit effect ‘Shadow Spike’. By hitting a target, a shadow spike will come out of the target’s shadow and attempt to deal additional damage. Damage dealt will be increased by four points per minute that it remains in the ritual, up to 260 potential damage. Each additional ten minutes in the ritual will increase the number of spikes generated (one per hit). After thirty minutes out of the ritual, damage possible will begin decreasing by two per minute until the enchantment fails entirely. When activated, this ritual will last for eight hours. Additional mana can be invested: one hour of activation per two thousand mana. Activate now? Yes / No.

  Joe chose ‘no’ and looked around with a wide smile. He explained the effects and that it was likely that they would all get contribution experience whenever the weapons were used. That turned a few frowns upside down! Joe thanked them all, sent the promised screenshots to Terra, and turned away to look for someone to help out with the weapons that would surely be piled into this spot pretty soon. He was stopped by Terra who had a strange look on her face.

  “Joe… you made those scrolls, didn’t you? These rituals, too… you know I specialized into being an enchanter, right? Yet I can only make one enchantment at a time. Sure, it is a permanent effect, but this is cool, too. Can you teach me how to do this stuff or make me a scroll of Mass Enchant?” Her face was troubled, an expression he had never seen on her happy-go-lucky visage before now.

  Looking at her, Joe thought quickly. He did want to make more Ritualists, but maybe now–when tension was high–wasn’t the time. With her work ethic and mana pool, she’d definitely be a good choice. “I can do both of those things but after the war, okay? If you just want the scroll, realize that I worked on it for hours and getting the skills needed to make it normally costs over a thousand gold. At the apprentice rank like that, I’d likely sell a single scroll for a couple hundred gold on the market, but… I bet we could work something out.”

  “In a non-creepy way, yeah? I want the scroll, but not that bad.” Terra glanced over Joe, her words a direct assault on his self-confidence.

  “Yeah, thanks for that.” He rolled his eyes. “We’ll catch up later!” Joe asked around and finally found the command tent, patiently waiting for the meeting to end before finding Aten. After explaining the use of the ritual, Aten rubbed his chin and looked away deep in thought.

  When he looked back, there was glee on his face. “Does it have to be swords or weapons like that?”

  “Any w
eapon should work; I don’t think adding it to armor would be a good idea,” Joe smirked and shook his head. “Enemy hits your shield, you get spiked. Bad plan.”

  “I was thinking arrows, actually.” Aten’s smile stretched as he saw Joe’s jaw go slack. “Oh yeah, Joe, I think tactical. I’ll talk to a guy. Expect enormous bundles of arrows to arrive over there soon.”

  After returning to the ritual circles and waiting for a bit, a group trundled over and set up a large tent around the darkness-stained ground. Then people that had obviously invested heavily in strength began carrying stacks of crates into the tent until it was full. Another man walked over to Joe and bumped him with his foot to wake him up. Joe had fallen asleep in the sunshine, and the explosions were actually oddly soothing without screaming accompanying them. “You the guy that’s going to turn all these normal arrows into magical arrows?”

  “Yeah, that’s me.” Joe covered his mouth and yawned, finishing with, “My name is Joe.” He held out his hand and got a brusque handshake in return.

  “Great, I’m the quartermaster for the guild. I’m in charge of all of this stuff, so my question is this: do you want me to assign someone to take care of these, or are you going to sign for everything?” The quartermaster had a far too hopeful expression.

  “No chance of me taking those.” Joe shook his head and denied him instantly. An important lesson he had learned in the army was never sign for anything if you didn’t have to. That was a good way to get in debt really fast when things started to vanish. “I’m here to press the button, then you can hand them out as needed. It’ll take an hour and five minutes for them to get to max damage, and damage will start to fall after half an hour outside the circles. Swords and stuff should stay in there for a long time; every ten minutes after reaching max damage lets the effect happen another time.”