by Ivan Kal
Morgan coughed lightly, forcing Lucius to look at him. “Karissa, this is one of our Guild Leaders, Lucius.” He turned to look at the Roman and gestured at Karissa in turn. “Lucius, this is Karissa, former Mayor of town of Jarul. She and her people have decided to all join us. I am sure that you will be seeing a lot more of her, as I plan on putting her in charge of dealing with all the non-ascended newcomers,” Morgan said.
Karissa looked taken a back, which was understandable seeing as Morgan hadn’t let her in on his plans—but during the journey, her actions had convinced him that she was the right person for the job. They desperately needed people like her to help around here. Morgan wanted the rest of them focused on leveling up.
Lucius bowed. “It is my utmost pleasure to make your acquaintance. Lucius Aurius Corvus, at your service.”
Morgan still remembered Lucius’s grand introduction in the inn in Terbon and couldn’t help but chuckle at the look Karissa had on her face. She was completely taken aback by Lucius’s performance. I wonder how she would look if he hadn’t shortened it to only his own name. Lucius was very proud of his family, but Morgan knew that most people in this valley didn’t know much about the Guilds beyond the pass. The name Corvus didn’t mean much to the non-ascended here.
“Ah…likewise, Guild Leader Corvus. I look forward to working with you in the future,” Karissa replied, getting her expression under control quickly.
Lucius inclined his head. “Just Lucius is fine.”
Ves stepped forward. “Where is Vall?”
Lucius grimaced, but quickly cleared his expression. “He is…up at the Guild Hold. He is overlooking the training of the new recruits.”
“He knew that we were coming?” Ves asked, her expression worried.
Lucius shifted uncomfortably under her gaze. “He did… He is just a bit lost, Vestella. I am sure that now you have returned, he will brighten up.”
Morgan grimaced. He had known that Vall was taking the loss of his hand hard; but that had been only a few days after it had happened, and he had hoped that some time alone would let him come to terms with it. Morgan still intended on keeping his promise to either get Vallsorim a new artificial arm or a potion that could regrow it, but until then…
Ves turned around to look at Morgan. “I’m going ahead,” she said before walking away quickly, and Morgan decided to let her go. She would know her twin better than anyone, and was probably the only person that could help him.
Morgan turned back to Lucius, who gestured to the side and spoke with the Sky Guard, giving them quick orders. “I have several buildings ready for your people, Ms. Karissa,” Lucius said. “They will unfortunately have to share for a while, but we should be able to build more houses soon.”
“Great. Thank you, Guild—ah, Lucius,” Karissa said with a genuine smile that brightened her entire face.
Morgan noticed Lucius’s attention on the woman and just shook his head. They moved quickly, then—the guards brought workers, who helped the people of Jarul move their things into three long, barn-looking buildings that were actually dormitories. Morgan and Lucius helped out, all under precise orders from Karissa, who took charge of the process and accelerated it greatly.
After they had finished, Morgan caught Lucius looking at Karissa as she took care of her people. “She is an incredible woman.”
“I’m sure she is,” Morgan said.
After Morgan had settled Karissa in and spoke with her and Lucius for a while, they agreed to meet tomorrow morning at the Great Hall to discuss her new position and responsibilities. After that, Lucius took Morgan on a tour of the town. There were three separate districts so far, the first being the Merchant District, where all kind of goods were sold among both the non-ascended and ascended—and the Guild, of course, got a small cut out of every transaction, but both Lucius and Morgan had agreed to keep the tax low. The second district was the Crafting District, with several shops set up that took orders as well as crafted tools and necessities for the merchants to sell for the Guild. The third and last was the Residential District. All the non-ascended lived there: the workers and miners that worked in the mine a few hours away from Reach, as well as all the other citizens of what was now called Reach Town.
Morgan wasn’t sure about the name, but seeing as people had already been calling it that for a while, he decided that he had no choice but accept it. The last place Lucius brought him to was a communal bathing house, which Morgan appreciated the most. The two of them soaked in a large pool for a few hours as they talked about a few more pressing issues, that they then agreed to talk more about during the meeting that Morgan had planned on holding tomorrow with the original party.
After that the two of them walked up the winding road, which was now paved, and that led to the Guild Hold proper. The first thing that had been changed, Lucius told him, and which he had already seen, was the wall and the wooden gates. The top of the road now stopped at the stone wall that covered the entrance to the plateau, and was capped with two round towers on each side of the arched gate. The stone wall was basically just the gate and the towers, as there was no need for a wall to surround the edges of the plateau, which were cliffs—not now, at least. Once they finished with their more pressing concerns, however, Morgan planned on having it built regardless.
The gate was currently open, and they stepped in with no problems, entering the plateau and the Guild Hold. The plateau was wide and long, about several hundred meters long and about two hundred across…and it was filled with activity. The most dominant building was the Great Hall, the Hall of Myths, which looked almost exactly like Meduseld, the hall of Rohan from The Lord of the Rings movies on Earth. The other buildings were all in a similar style, with tall roofs and built out of dark wood. There were a few buildings adjacent to the Great Hall, and a stream of water with a small dam and a water-carrying system that brought it up to the hall. To his right was the training ground, which had been expanded a bit—but it remained just a simple, cordoned-off area with a few pillars and a covering above them.
Morgan’s eyes were led to the new buildings. The dormitory had been expanded and now looked like a long, three-floored barn, and from what Lucius had told him it was where all the Sky Guard slept—those who didn’t have families, at least, as the ones who did had houses down in the town. Next to it was a short, square building that Morgan knew was Sky Guard headquarters, from where Lucius worked.
On the other side of the plateau and next to the mountainside was the new forge, expanded and built into the hole that looked like a natural, open cave in the mountain. It had been created when the hearthstone harvested the stone in the mountain to build their Great Hall—and even from across the plateau, Morgan could hear the pounding of metal.
There was another building built across from the Sky Guard dormitory, and this was where all the other ascended lived. The Guard was intended as the Guild’s army: they kept the Guild Hold safe and patrolled the area. The other ascended were divided into several groups that included hunters, crafters, farmers, and gatherers. From what Lucius told Morgan, even in the other Guilds there were always ascended who didn’t like the constant risk of death, who preferred to stay safe.
The problem was that in order for an ascended to survive, they needed to consume ascension crystals. That meant that they were supported by the Guild. Thankfully, Skyreach didn’t yet have a problem in that department. The battle with the goblins had provided them with quite a lot of crystals, enough that they were safe for a while, and Lucius had been very insistent on setting up dungeon runs for the Sky Guard in the Mountain’s Heart, both to farm crystals and raise their levels. Currently everyone in the Guard, as well as some hunters and other ascended, were rotating in groups that were going through the dungeon at least once a week. That provided them both with loot and crystals, but also with ore that was being mined by the dungeon’s denizens.
Morgan took everything in as he stood just inside the gates. This was his Guild, his home. Somethin
g that he had started. It had changed, but more than anyplace he had ever lived in, this felt like home. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
Yes, I am home.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Lucius left Morgan and went to the Sky Guard Headquarters to take care of some things, while Morgan headed toward the training grounds to look for Ves and Vall. Once he reached it, he found it filled with people—a few archers were standing to the side and firing arrows at targets on the other side of the grounds, while a group of people in Sky Guard armor sparred with wooden training swords on the other side. But he didn’t see Ves or Vall.
Morgan frowned as he looked around; most of the people here were unfamiliar to him, as they had probably arrived after he’d left. Suddenly, one of the archers noticed him and immediately turned, giving him a salute with a fist to her chest.
“Guild Master!” she greeted, and the rest of the people in the training grounds stopped what they were doing and turned to look at Morgan. He heard a few whispers among them but then they, too, followed with a salute.
Morgan shifted, uncomfortable with the attention, but returned the salute nonetheless. He walked over toward the woman, trying to remember her name. She was one of the first recruits from Terbon, and had been with them from the start.
“Herda, I see that you chose to become a hunter?” Morgan said. Lucius had clued him in that different factions all wore small wooden badges, and hers clearly showed a bow, meaning that she had joined the hunters—who, for now, went out to hunt game and feed the Guild. In the future, Lucius had plans on having them form parties with the Sky Guard patrols to hunt the stronger monsters that held the mountains. For now, however, they too were focused on leveling.
“Yes… I tried the Guard, but it wasn’t a good fit. I am not good with standing guard. I would much rather be out there in the forest, tracking and hunting,” Herda answered.
“I understand,” Morgan said. A small group had gathered around him, and both Herda and he could feel their eyes on him, judging and weighing him. They were his, and yet he didn’t know them. He took a deep breath as he decided that that needed to change.
He put a smile on his face and turned to look at the closest person, and he started asking for their names. He chatted a bit with the group, having to suppress the desire to make jokes, which he was certain they wouldn’t understand. I should probably try to avoid looking like an idiot in front of my underlings, Morgan told himself.
After chatting with them for a while, he turned back to Herda. “I was looking for Ves and Vall. Lucius said that Vall should be here overseeing the training.”
Most of the people around him grimaced, but didn’t say anything. “Uh, they had been here, but after lady Ves came, they headed to the Great Hall,” Herda said at last.
Morgan noted their expressions; most seemed uncomfortable, but he didn’t comment. Instead, he nodded and thanked them for the information, then turned and walked out of the training grounds, toward the Great Hall.
As he approached the sounds of the forge grew louder, and Morgan paused at the stone steps leading up to the Hall. He decided to head toward the forge instead, figuring that he should give the twins a bit more time alone. He approached the large open cave in the side of the mountain and saw a large stone-and-wood building to the side that looked like it was a warehouse of some kind, as Morgan could see through the wide doors that were now open. Inside a few people were walking about, but he didn’t pay them much attention. Instead, he looked to the left, to the large forge. It was out in the open, only hidden from view behind a wooden wall that obscured much of it as it rose up to the ceiling of the cave, and had just a openings to allow smoke out. There were four anvils and two furnaces, and one of the walls was filled with tool racks.
There was only one person currently working at the forge, and Morgan walked over to him.
The man bought his hammer down one more time and then took the long blade off the anvil before quenching it into the water close by. A few minutes later, he was finished and looking at his work. Then, finally, he turned his eyes to Morgan.
“Nice forge you have here,” Morgan said.
Artos’s eyes crinkled with laughter and he approached, grabbing Morgan’s hand. His hands were filthy and stained from all the work, but Morgan didn’t mind.
“Guild Master, welcome back! I hear that you were very successful in your mission?”
“We were,” Morgan confirmed. “We’ve brought a lot of people. I see that you have been expanding as well?”
“Yes, well, the former forge was useful, but once I leveled up a bit, we needed to expand so that I could bring in more apprentices.”
“What level have you reached?” Morgan asked. Artos was one of the few ascended that didn’t go out to hunt monsters, and did not gain exp in that way. His crafting did give him some exp, but a lot less.
“I’m level eight now, a Soldier/Knight, but I don’t really focus on the combat skills outside of mandatory training once a week. My combat abilities are few and low leveled. I have, however, managed to increase my smithing to level seven!” Artos said proudly.
“That is great to hear!” Morgan said. Getting to level eight with only the small amounts of exp he received from finishing items was impressive. That he had raised his smithing to level seven was excellent news, and his skills had already proven useful from what Morgan had seen—all the Sky Guards had armor and weapons, which had been one of Morgan’s priorities.
“It is, except that now I spend all my time in the forge! I need to get a few of my apprentices leveled up so that they can take some of the load off of me. I have a feeling that with you back, my job is only going to get harder.”
Morgan chuckled. “Sorry.”
“No matter, Guild Master. We’ll make you proud, you’ll see.”
Morgan again felt a touch of discomfort at people wanting to make him proud. He nodded nonetheless and then said goodbye, letting the smith continue with his work.
He walked back toward the Great Hall. Passing by one of its adjacent buildings, he heard a shout come out of it. Morgan frowned and looked at the small square building that had been built just next to the Hall—it was the magic workshop. Morgan had hoped to get some time and set up in there to practice his enchanting and engraving. He walked over, opened the door, and found himself looking into a long room with three tables set up on each wall. There were tools arranged on each table, along with several shelves next to each one—but only the table directly across from the entrance was occupied. There, Morgan could see a man hunched over a piece of metal on a desk and swearing loudly into his beard. Morgan scowled at the man for a moment.
“Titus?” he called out, and the man turned around to look at Morgan, surprised.
Morgan took a long look at him. He was pale, more so than he had been the last time Morgan had seen him. Titus had been one of the first people he had encountered once arriving on this world, although they hadn’t really met until much later. During their first encounter, Titus, Ves, and Vall had been in combat with a small goblin party, with Titus having been injured and Ves and Vall desperately attempting to fight their enemies off. Then Morgan had interfered, nearly getting himself killed in the process—and, as they say, the rest was history, though Titus did not remain with them.
A while after, Morgan and his friends created the Skyreach Guild, and they returned one day from a trip to find Titus, Clara, and Orden inside their Great Hall. Morgan felt a pang of regret as he remembered Orden. He hadn’t known the man well, but he seemed like an all-right dude in his opinion. His death during that battle was something that he still thought about often, but the part that terrified him was what happened after he had died. Orden had dissolved into tiny blue particles, the same way that monsters did when they died. Morgan had known that most of the monsters were similar to the ascended, and that they could level, too, but that moment and the manner of Orden’s death had never left him.
“Morgan?” Titus asked as he
blinked at the light shining into the dark room from behind the Guild Master. “You are back?”
“We are,” Morgan said, and stepped inside the room. “What are you doing?”
Titus grimaced, and turned back to pick up a small, palm-sized plate of metal with something that very much looked like an engraving on it. “I’m attempting to engrave this piece of metal with a simple fireball ward. Lucius had this idea to have every patrol have something with them that they could use if they ever get into trouble. They could channel just a bit of energy into it, and it would fire a small ball of fire into the air that would then explode. That way, other patrols nearby could see it and know that someone needs aid.”
“Oh, like a flare gun? That’s actually brilliant!” Morgan said. His decision to put Lucius in charge of most of this stuff had proven correct yet again. “So what’s the problem?”
“My Engraving is only at level one, so while I can engrave the ward onto the plate, it isn’t all that good. I can’t seem to get the amount of energy required right! The amount needed for the ward to fire anything that would be visible from afar is too much for it to be used at a moment’s notice,” Titus spat.
Morgan frowned and stepped closer, looking at the plate as he thought. His knowledge of Engraving was only theoretical, as he hadn’t yet had the chance to try it out, so he only knew what Sabila had transferred to his mind. As he looked at the plate, though, an idea occurred to him.
“You don’t have Enchanting, do you?” Morgan asked.
“No, only your class has it,” Titus answered.
“All right, how about this?” Morgan said and pointed at the plate. “Instead of trying to make it work by feeding from the user, why don’t I enchant the entire plate to gather and store ambient energy? Metal can’t really store much, but it should be enough for what we need. Then you adjust this ward with your engraving here and here, so that instead of it pulling energy from the user, it just needs a bit to activate the ward and then empty what is stored? These flares are just for emergencies, so they will not be used often—there’s no need for anything more complicated. We can have patrols carrying several of them on hand to use if they need more than one.”