“Thanks, buddy! Just what I needed.” Dave grabbed the cup, about to take a drink.
Malsour took the cup instead.
“Dude, I need that,” Dave said.
“Dave, you need some sleep, a shower, and then you can tell me what you’re doing,” Malsour said in a measured tone.
Dave looked as if he wanted to argue. He looked around and sighed. “Okay, get someone down here to deal with this. I’ve got everything programmed into the bots for the most part. Thankfully Shard’s helping me out on that side of things. Makes things a lot easier.”
“Hello, Malsour,” Shard said from a speaker above.
“Hey, Shard, you okay by yourself?” Malsour asked.
“I will be able to continue Dave’s projects. I have been trying to get him to rest, but as he has become more reliant on Xer, he’s refused the need for sleep.” Shard sounded exasperated.
“Thanks, Shard. Okay, Dave, let’s get you some food, a shower, and then some sleep.” Malsour guided Dave away.
Chapter 36: Two Too Alike
Fire appeared in her home. Mal stood beside her, watching as Deia stood on top of the boiling magma of the volcano.
Mal doubted that he could break her concentration, nor did he feel he wanted to with the aura and strength that permeated the air around her.
Denur poked her head up next to Mal and Fire’s balcony, her large eyes focused completely on Deia.
“They grow up so fast,” Fire complained, resting her head on Mal’s shoulder.
He wrapped his arm around her, smiling as he kissed the top of her head. “That they do.” He looked back to Deia, using a Mana sight spell, and augmented his eyes to see the Mana in the air, running through Deia and the mountain. He let out a rush of air as he saw the amount of Mana at his daughter’s fingertips.
“When did she get so much more powerful?” Mal complained.
“Well, she does take after her mother,” Fire said proudly, preening like a cat, looking up at Mal.
“Yeah, you two are troublemakers.” Mal kissed Fire before she could say anything. She made to try to break his embrace, giggling like a little girl at his antics.
They parted. Fire relented and leaned against him again.
“Here we go,” Denur said, concentrating completely on her sister.
Mana that had been coating the volcano now reacted to its mistress’s call. Deia’s hair flared up around her; the entire volcano shook as she raised her hands as if they were weighted down by Emerilia itself. The cold core at the bottom of the volcano started to shift and break, the mantle showing fissures and cracks as superheated magma rolled and shook, excited by Deia’s Mana.
More power poured out of Deia. The magma rose itself higher and higher, expanding under the heat Deia was conjuring inside it. With her Mana, she was pushing the volcano to erupt.
She rose up higher. It seemed as if she were dragging the magma up with her. As it became more excitable, the amount of Mana she put into the volcano was staggering. She rose like some angel of fire, her eyes closed the entire time as the volcano responded to her commands.
Fire’s arms became tighter. Mal looked over Deia’s Mana. She was feeding it outward but her spells seemed to be degrading as the extra Mana seemed to dissipate and run chaotically through the magma or escape into the air. Deia sweat, not from the heat of the volcano, but the level of concentration it took for her to carry out her task.
Mal put up a heat barrier, the temperatures getting too high for his body to completely annul.
Deia let out a primal yell. Her Mana came back under control as she surged upward, forcing the magma up by changing it and driving her Mana to work.
Magma started to exit through holes in the walls.
Mal knew that the outside of the mountain would be leaking magma, or blowing out a hardened flow in an attempt to escape. Deia made it eighty percent of the way up the inside of the volcano.
She let out another yell. The magma pushed upward again but then sagged as Deia’s Mana fled her.
She wobbled in air, falling slightly, clearly unconscious. Mal was about to rush forward when he felt the air lurch. Denur easily plucked Deia out of the air with her hand, circling around the inside of the volcano and came back to Fire’s balcony.
Denur changed from her Dragon form to her Human form, carrying Deia as her wings retreated and she stepped onto the balcony. “Well, she’s going to need some rest after that.”
She really does look like Fire in a lot of ways, Mal thought as Denur put Deia down on a couch.
Denur looked to be in her mid-twenties while Deia looked like she was just entering them. They both had the same fiery red hair and eyes. Their bodies were also similar in shape. Deia was taller, with Mal’s pointed ears, sharper chin, and almond-shaped eyes.
“She always pushes her limits every chance she can get,” Mal said proudly.
“Well, she’s growing a lot faster than I thought she would. She keeps on talking about thermodynamics and Earth terminology, but she keeps growing stronger. That said, she needs a break. I think a trip to the mage’s guild for some reading, a bit of relaxing might be a good idea,” Denur said.
“We can take her with us. I thought that Dave was meeting us tomorrow anyway, so that will work perfectly.” Fire smiled.
“Seems like someone approves of the boy,” Mal said gruffly, mixed feelings about letting his daughter go.
“I’m not the only one, especially when someone starts opening one of those fire whiskey bottles he was gifted by a certain son-in-law.” Fire poked Mal in the side.
“Fine, he’s not too bad,” Mal complained.
Fire rolled her eyes and sighed, looking to Denur, who simply laughed and shook her head.
“Mind if I tag along? It’s been awhile since I saw some of my kiddos,” Denur asked.
“We’ll need someone to carry her.” Fire smiled.
“Saying I can’t carry her?” Mal asked.
“Saying that you’ll start to think of her as a baby again and won’t let her out of your sight if I let you carry her!” Fire said.
Mal pouted but didn’t say anything.
***
“Ugh, damn. An Intelligence headache is even worse than a hangover,” Dave complained, equipping his armor and laying back down on his bed. The armor worked to remove his aches and pains.
“That happens when someone overloads their brain with enhanced Intelligence and then doesn’t sleep for a few days,” Malsour said from the living room, moving to the bedroom and sitting in a nearby seat.
“Hey, buddy.” Dave grinned at his friend.
“Hey, Dave. I see you’ve sped up the work on the city.” Malsour grinned, passing Dave two rings he’d pried from his fingers.
“Yeah, well, you know me, always impatient. Just building up the infrastructure we’ll need here. I want to make the guild hall to be a hub of sorts: food, smithies, weapons training, magical coding—all of it in one place. With the teleport pads, tons of people can reach us and we can reach others. When the war comes, I want this city to be ready to act as a rally point, a place to re-arm and resupply and be a launching pad from which to send counterattacks at our enemy.” Dave looked up at the ceiling, thinking of all he had to do in order to get to that point.
“Well, then I think it’s about time you figured out the science behind teleport pads and portals. Don’t know when else you’re going to be stuck in one place,” Malsour said, getting comfortable.
Dave put the two rings on. “Okay, so, I understand how wormholes are supposed to work. You have normal space in a straight line. Then you have a wormhole that folds that space like a piece of paper and you poke a hole through it. You go through one side of that line and out the other, which, when laid down, is a massive distance in real space.”
“Good, that’s the basics. Now the teleport pads here work a little differently. They not only make wormholes, but they make an area of gravity resistance, the part that takes the most amount of powe
r. The constant force on the universe is gravity. These spells counter the gravity where you want to make a wormhole, taking it out of the normal laws of gravity. It weakens the fabric of space and time. If you’re next to a black hole with a ton of gravity pull, spending two minutes there could be twenty years back here on Emerilia. If you take away gravity, you take away the coefficient of time. The teleport pads sync up to one another; they exchange the complete information of their points of origin, basically inverting the two teleport pads. So, when you’re entering the teleport pad in Cliff-Hill, the universe, wanting to fix itself, thinks you’re actually in Devil’s Crater. The teleport pads are like split atoms: what happens to one, happens to the other, much like ansibles that you Humans talked about for long-range instantaneous communications. Two split particles resonate with each other, so that when you walk into one, you walk out of another. Action to one teleport pad means the same reaction in the other. When a teleport pad calls up another, they again resonate together completely, allowing instantaneous transmission between the two,” Malsour said.
“Damn, that’s pretty smart, and complicated. How the heck were they able to get the teleport pads to harmonize to such a degree?” Dave asked.
“Factories. You saw them—they’re all made identically.”
“Damn, okay, so, with the annulling of gravity, they remove the aspect of time affecting just a small space. Then by attuning the two teleport pads completely, they act as ying and yang: what one does, the other does the opposite—one person walks in one way, they come out the other way.” Dave nodded, his mind making different connections.
New Active Skill: Teleportation
Well, look at this guy! Long time, no new skills! Now you’ve earned, wait, what? Ugghh, come on, dude: teleportation, math, numbers, coding, wormholes, space and time… I was thinking it was something cool, like, I don’t know, pickpocketing or horse riding? Nope, just want to punch holes in reality! (Hey, there’s a cool skill, hand-to-hand man—could be like some of those monk people, all chi, balance and kicking the other man in the balls!).
Level: Journeyman 2
Effect: Understanding of basic teleportation theories and teleportation systems
Dave looked at the skill. It didn’t say anything about bonuses or extras.
“Did you finally get the teleportation skill?” Malsour asked.
“Yeah, just didn’t get any bonuses,” Dave said.
“I think that it doesn’t give any bonuses because it’s all mental. The realm of teleportation has got to a certain stage and stopped. The portals work forever and don’t need to be replaced going from one place to another. The Jukal Empire doesn’t like dealing with innovations unless they have complete control over it. With the people of Emerilia knowing more about teleportation, it makes them look weaker. It could also disrupt their carefully balanced economy that keeps them in power,” Malsour said.
“Control the flow of information and goods and you can control the people.” Dave rubbed his head in frustration.
Malsour nodded.
“Well, then we’re just going to have to break that. How is Devil’s Crater? Can I borrow you for a bit?” Dave asked.
“Well, Gelimah, my brother, is here, but he’s really enjoying making stuff in Devil’s Crater. I think he might set up a lair nearby if he can.” Malsour smiled.
“Isn’t he the one who likes to hide away from the world?” Dave asked.
“Yes, but he also loves to make things, so Devil’s Crater is a ton of fun for him. Lots of people with new ideas and tons of room for him to use his magic freely.”
“Okay, with him looking after that, I’m going to need your help in turning this cut-out city into a hub.” Dave propped himself up.
“What do you need me to do?” Malsour grinned.
“Well, first I’m going to need to talk to Josh about buying a teleport pad and then we’re going to make a power station.” Dave smiled.
“Damn, you don’t think small.” Malsour laughed, excited for the challenge.
“Ah, small is boring.” Dave stood.
“First, take a damn shower. You smell nasty, dude.”
Dave sniffed his pit. “Oh, okay, yeah, might have a point,” Dave agreed. “Wait, I’ve got another notification.” Dave clicked the blinking bell at the corner of his interface.
Quest: Librarian Level 3
Conduct research that allows you to understand how teleport pads work.
Rewards: Unlock Level 4 Quest
Increase to stats
Class: Librarian
Through tireless research, you have taken the written word and used it in a practical sense. Beware the nerd who studies: they’ve got a dozen ideas others haven’t even thought of yet.
Status:
Level 3
Effects:
+30 to all stats
Read 15% faster
Understand 14% more of the information that you read
Dave laughed to himself.
“Something funny?” Malsour asked.
“Kind of cheated my class upgrade. Seems as long as I figured out how teleport pads worked and the theories behind them, I gained a class level.” Dave read the new quest.
Quest: Librarian Level 4
Contribute to someone’s research topic
Rewards: Unlock Level 5 Quest
Increase to stats
“Having extra classes does make it a lot easier to continue growing in strength,” Malsour agreed.
“Well, I would like to get a trader or maybe talking class sometime soon,” Dave complained.
“Oh, why?” Malsour asked.
“Easier to deal with contracts, and it’s going to be a pain trying to wrestle all the resources of the guild hall away from Josh, so we can get this place running.” Dave waved his arms to encompass the city they were in.
Malsour nodded his head seriously. “Maybe we should call Suzy to help us out?”
“You want to interrupt her and Induca’s vacation?”
“On second thought, that wouldn’t be the wisest decision,” Malsour agreed.
“Hopefully he doesn’t know all of the resources it’s going to take to get this place online.”
***
“You want to what?” Josh sounded more tired than alarmed at Dave’s words. He’d become used to Dave’s eccentric ways.
“I want a teleport pad. We have a ley line that we can tap for power. Malsour can carve out space for the drop pad; I can send through some miners; they start cutting it all out. It’s going to take a bunch of power, but it should be a month or two and we can get it up and running everything we have here with energy to spare,” Dave said.
Josh opened up his interfaces, going to his treasury pages as well as his buying page. He tapped his chin in thought, looking over the savings the guild currently had.
As much as I want to just save this or invest it into companies and businesses, this city could become one of our greatest assets. If we can get control of more portals and a few teleport pads, we could directly supply anyone entering or leaving a portal.
With most cities being hours or days away, having us just a teleport away would allow us to be the first group people trade with. With Dave and Kol, they can get any weapon repaired and get any supplies in minutes and be back on their way through the portals.
Also, it will make us be able to deploy our forces anywhere with the coming war events.
“Okay, we can do it, though we’re going to be a bit short on gold. We need to have power if we want to keep this place going. Let me know when you want me to get it and have the drop pad in the right place,” Josh said.
“Can do. Also, with the power output, it will be way more than what we need for a while, so we can probably charge up vault-class soul gems and sell them to nations to supply their magical power needs,” Dave said.
Josh knew commodity trading intimately. His old stockbroker mind started to work, thinking about all of the resources that he now had at his disposal.
Loading them onto the market in one go could make it crash, but if done right, they could keep the markets stable and still continue to make a good amount of gold and profits.
“You’ve given me quite a bit to think about,” Josh said.
“So, is that a yes?” Dave thinned his eyes. Even Malsour leaned forward, an expectant look on his face.
“Fine, go for it before I regret it,” Josh said.
“You won’t regret it!” Dave yelled as he and Malsour ran for the door.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen them move that fast,” Josh said into his now empty office.
***
Malsour was back in the city once again. This time, he wore a ring that glowed faintly. It was connected to the sensors Dave had put together. He leaned against a wall and closed his eyes. He reached out with his senses, connecting to the ring.
The world around him seemed to explode into detail.
Malsour looked around with his senses. The sensors were highly detailed in what they saw. Their range grew by the minute, traveling through every medium they found to find more information. Malsour felt tiny with everything he could sense, but he also felt powerful. A god surveying all that was under his control. Is this what Dave feels when he looks at the world through his Touch of the Land?
Malsour focused on the ley line that the sensors had found. He remembered how the Aleph power stations were laid out. Dave wanted to alter the power station to get more out of it, but they both agreed to go with what was tried and tested instead of Dave’s prototype.
This is Our Land (Emerilia Book 5) Page 36