by Dakota Krout
Joe’s head was rocked against the hill, dazing him. He thought it was over, but instead, the cold zone began expanding faster so that it could provide enough heat for the second stage of the ritual to activate again. More shards of stone, metal, and quartz flew into the air, hissing as they cut into the magma or pinging as they ricocheted off the solid surfaces. The wind began to pick up again, and he covered his ears when he realized that this was exactly what had happened just before the plasma beam had last fired.
*Zzzap-Booom*!
The concentrated heat of thousands of gallons of magma struck the wall after racing along the molten tunnel it had carved previously. Joe settled in to wait for the next repetition, but was instead yanked off his hill as the pressurized contents of the room were blasted into the new tunnel that had breached into open air.
His body slammed into the sides of the tunnel as he was dragged along. He, gasses, and magma were whipping along the hole, and the human was sent careening into the open air at hundreds of miles per hour. Joe broke the sound barrier, which was the only thing allowing him to survive the small volcanic eruption he’d just caused. He leveled out into an arc, managing to look back to watch the volcano. The inane thought of ‘it really does look like a shoe’ crossed his mind.
He wasn’t entirely certain how fast he was moving, but his eyes locked on a disturbance just in time to see a line of plasma tear through the debris. His parabolic descent dropped him below it, yet even so, the heat dispersed into the area would have cooked him if his shield hadn’t been resistant to elemental effects. After all the commotion, his Exquisite Shell was dangerously close to breaking yet again.
The ground was coming up fast, and Joe’s enhanced perception allowed him to see the shocked looks from all the Dwarves he was sailing over. He only had one thought before he hit the ground and was sent to respawn.
“Made it.”
Luck +2. You’ve made some wild choices. I love it.
You have died! Calculating… you have lost 31,200 experience!
Joe opened his eyes and was met with a clean white room and a beanbag chair. “Never thought I’d be happy just to get sent to my respawn room. Now… let’s take a look at the damage. Status.”
Name: Joe ‘Tatum’s Chosen Legend’ Class: Reductionist
Profession I: Arcanologist (Max)
Profession II: Ritualistic Alchemist (1/20)
Profession III: None
Character Level: 18 Exp: 188,179 Exp to next level: 1,821
Rituarchitect Level: 10 Exp: 45,000 Exp debt: 9,600
Reductionist Level: 0 Exp: 876 Exp to next level: 124
Hit Points: 0/1,642
Mana: 0/3,173
Mana regen: 45.37/sec
Stamina: 0/1,381
Stamina regen: 6.39/sec
Characteristic: Raw score
Strength: 133
Dexterity: 133
Constitution: 129
Intelligence: 138
Wisdom: 119
Dark Charisma: 80
Perception: 123
Luck: 62
Karmic Luck: -4
Joe almost gagged as he saw that he had been tossed down to level eighteen. “That hurts, Eterium. I feel like I should get a break? That was a pretty wild escapade… wait, I got a luck boost there at the end. Fair enough.”
At that point, the only thing he wanted to do was take a nap. He had been awake for… he didn’t rightly know how long, actually. Did his tiny deaths count as sleep? Did it help his mental state at all? Certainly didn’t feel like it. He hit the bean bag chair and was unconscious in moments.
He awoke to a portal humming cheerfully right next to him, and Joe scrambled to his feet. There was an invasion coming, and he needed to warn the Dwarves that the enemy was basically hiding behind the curtains in their living room.
Chapter Forty-Seven
Joe stepped out of the portal and directly into the new Grand Temple in the Dwarven capital. He went over and hugged the altar to Tatum, having a sudden realization that without Tatum, he would have been trapped on that small island until the Elves chose to let him go. There were very few times when he really thought about it, but he owed his start as a Ritualist to Tatum, and every success since then stemmed from that point in time.
“If being stuck away is anything for you like my time in that volcano was for me, I need to hurry up and get you free,” Joe sighed as he slapped the altar good-naturedly. His ears twitched, and he looked over to see that someone was singing a bawdy tune near the altar to Hansel. He tried not to laugh, hoping that the deity preferred the not-family-friendly tune over what he had been stuck hearing on Midgard.
Remembering that he actually had an important, time-sensitive mission, Joe got to his feet and started hustling toward the door. He didn’t know who to tell except for Havoc, and he was pretty sure that the Dwarf would be able to open the doors that he needed in order to mount a major offensive. In fact, he was almost certain that the Major General would mobilize more than even the Council would, given the chance.
“Joe.” The human in question paused as the feminine rasp reached his ears. Calling a Dwarven voice ‘feminine’ was a misnomer, as it was deeper than all but the deepest of human male voices, but it was still… he met High Priestess Dawnesha’s gaze as she walked toward him, her blonde mustache fluttering gently in the breeze her movement created. “Occultatum tells me that I need to speak with you. That you have found much, even more than you know.”
That brought him to a screeching halt, all plans of leaving the area put on indefinite hold. “Tatum sent you?”
“Not exactly something that I'd lie about,” the High Priestess stated haughtily. “‘You’re moving too fast, and you need to prepare yourself with what you have gained. You have much hidden within’. Those were his words, sent to me during a group session just now.”
When a literal deity told you to take stock of the situation, it behooved you to listen. Joe’s bald forehead furrowed as he pondered what had changed for him recently. “Dawnesha, I’m going to use you as a sounding board.”
“As you need, Champion.” Her answer startled Joe; it was far from the arrogance that she had displayed during their first meeting, or even at the start of this conversation.
“In the last few days, I’ve learned that I can create potent effects with more than just the base materials I have access to… I can empower them beyond the scope of their original purpose by adding in additional… I suppose ‘intent’ is the word for it? They are still aspects, but their purpose is singular, and not quite as clinically correct as I wished them to be. They seem to mutate what I create. Those are the biggest changes, and only time will tell what all I can do with them. What I can create… what I can change. Time for experimentation that I don’t have right now.”
Dawnesha said nothing, only closing her eyes in silent contemplation. It was then that Joe remembered that she was the third princess of the Dwarven Oligarchy. “Oh, and I found a major fort hidden in Gramma’s Shoe. There’s a massive invasion that has been hidden behind an illusion, and now that I’ve escaped, I can’t imagine that the war will slow down so I can run some quality tests.”
“They’re where?” At this, the Dwarves’ eyes snapped open, filled with fury, not the concern that he had been expecting. “You’re certain? You are. They dare to desecrate our memorial to Gramm’mama! Dwarves!”
Her last word rang through the temple, capturing the attention of everyone present. “We move to war! The Elves have invaded and have stepped into Gramma’s Shoe! Their trespass has inflamed her ankle, perhaps even being the reason she erupts so violently! This atrocity will be repaid with what, in more peaceful times, would be war crimes! Alert your closest Legion, and upon the words and authority of Candidate Joe, backed by my own as Princess… I hereby mobilize the Dwarven Oligarchy!”
The room exploded into noise, shouting back a singular phrase that Joe hadn’t been expecting them to cheer:
“War Crimes!”
It was an… odd choice for a rousing battle cry, but Joe could get behind it. Mostly. Slightly uneasily. Probably wouldn’t be his first choice when going forward. Not exactly a slogan you could put on a shirt and wear in public.
Dark Charisma +10! Your words have incited violence on an unprecedented scale! Better hope you’re not wrong! If they can’t find someone to fight, they’ll turn on you in an instant.
“Well, that’s foreshadowing if I’ve ever seen it,” Joe grumpily acknowledged the message. “I need to assume that the illusion is still active, and that it will turn away the Legion if we get close. I need to start making contingency plans.”
“Joe,” Dawnesha’s voice halted him once more, “I didn’t understand all of your talk on ‘aspects’, but… I don’t think that was exactly what Occultatum was talking about. I cannot be certain, I think that there was a subtext of a thing. Not a revelation.”
“That.” Joe paused and thought for a moment, unable to come up with anything she could be speaking about. “I don’t know. Perhaps I need to work on my Ritual Orbs?”
She shrugged helplessly. “Anything I know, you also know at this point. Occultatum is an enigma wrapped in a mystery, and his words can be difficult to parse.”
Joe thanked her, then paused as he saw something on her robe. A sigil. Specifically the sigil of Tatum, that gave favor when gaining experience. Then he realized that he had never equipped it after getting a new outfit… back on Midgard. Screaming internally, he opened his menu and activated it, and the silver book appeared on his chest. Dawnesha smiled at that, calling after Joe as he left, “May knowledge find you, wherever you may hide.”
“I don’t know what that means!” he called back, hurrying to get to the door. The human rushed along the streets of the capital, somehow feeling… slower. He frowned down at his bare feet, only protected thanks to a shimmering shell, and realized that he had once again had an enchanted item destroyed only a short while after gaining it. Perhaps an awkward trip to the Odds and Ends was in order in the near future?
Dwarves were zipping past him on the roads, but Joe didn’t allow his mind to wander. He needed to get to Havoc and let him know what was going on. After skidding to a halt in front of the estate, he pounded on the door and waited for the inevitable retribution from the golems composing the door. As he expected, a spike drove out of the door, aimed directly at his face. An orb slammed into it, breaking off the weakened metal and causing the door to whimper like a kicked dog. “Wait… do golems feel pain?”
Havoc slammed the door open and glared at Joe. A cloud of cigar smoke billowed out with the sudden change in air pressure, and the Dwarf’s bloodshot eyes dug into Joe. “No. They are made to make sad noises like that so that some moron will sympathize with them long enough for the golem to get another attack in. You have one chance… what?”
“Quest complete?” Joe nervously told the Dwarf, who looked to the side and off into the distance. He recognized that stare. “Wait, do you have access to a status screen… nevermind. Stupid question.”
“No stupid questions.” Havoc thoughtfully absorbed whatever information he was reading, then turned his attention back to the human. “Only stupid people asking them. What is the information you found? You didn’t kill Elves, and you lost levels like a moron, so it can’t be those.”
Joe wasted no time in explaining. “I found a major fort hidden in Gramma’s Shoe. There’s a massive illusion set up to protect them from discovery, and they are planning a full-scale invasion.”
“Is that all?” Havoc shrugged and closed the door a small amount. “I already got the notification. The Legion is mobilizing. I don’t need to do anything about that. Good job, I suppose. You can come back in. Rewards… yeah… I guess I can allot you some experience or something.”
This wasn’t the insane Dwarf that Joe had been counting on finding when he got back. Tired short guy tinkering with toys wasn’t enough. Joe needed Major General Havoc, the Lord of Slaughter. His eyes brightened as he realized that he had the perfect catalyst, “Havoc. There’s more.”
“What is it, Joe? I’m almost done replacing the tile with mimics, and-”
“The fort is controlled by Lady of Light Elfreeda. That’s the one you call Francine, right?” Joe stared at the Dwarf, who froze. “She’s the one maintaining the illusion. I damaged a bunch of the stabilizers, so I’m sure she has her hands full keeping that building together. She’ll be there.”
“Building…?” That wasn’t what Joe had been expecting the Dwarf to focus on. “This building… was it crystal? Lots of light in it? Looked like a pine tree, but shiny?”
“Yes.”
Havoc’s eyes started to glow, and he lifted a shaking hand to his lips, taking a deep pull from his cigar. “She abyssal did it, huh? We were led to believe that those plans were entirely theoretical. The misinformation to our spies… they must know every. Single. One of them. I’m sure they’re dead by now.”
“What plans? Havoc, what are you talking about?” Joe felt like he was only hearing a single person talking on a phone. He was missing too much information. “They know your spies?”
“It’s an Artifact. It’s called the ‘Prismatic Evergreen’, and if they really built it… it represents a significant investment from the Elven Theocracy.” Havoc started to laugh maniacally; his hands were shaking in excitement. “So significant that there’s no way she can run and leave it undefended. Francine… I’m coming to murder you so that we can finally be together again!”
Chapter Forty-Eight
Havoc was shockingly lavish with the quest rewards. Joe stared at the small pile of Cores that glowed so brightly that his eyes were taking damage. Even so, he couldn’t look away. “One Unique, five Rare, ten Uncommon…”
He took a deep gulp, unsure about the other item that he had been given. Joe picked up the metal pass and turned it over in his hands. “One permanent access pass to enter and leave the landfill at will. I guess I was given an exit pass the last time?”
At least he wouldn’t need to drop down the garbage tubes again. Joe remembered all too clearly what it was like landing on broken glass and seeing the sheet of debuffs appear. Doors were nice. You could just go in them, or out of them. Very few surprises. Joe stared at the Unique Core and steeled himself against using it right away. It was a powerful Core, worth nine thousand, five hundred and fifty-eight experience, if he wanted to waste it by absorbing the power.
“Ten percent of its capacity… add on another ten percent of that to account for any wastage… a minimum of a thousand and fifty-one Unique aspects. That’s enough to build… create… I can’t even imagine.” Joe sighed and inspected the others. Two of the Rare Cores were potent ones worth above five thousand experience, while the other three were in the four thousand range. “Assume roughly five hundred aspects each to use these. I could do Common or below, but what’s the point? I need Rare or better.”
“I should set up a powerful mana battery ritual, though. I’ve only got the ‘overmorrow’ before the troops are mustered, whatever that means. The best way to support the assault is going to be by making sure my side doesn’t blow itself up.” Joe pulled out his notes on the ritual and started reviewing what he needed to do. “First off, I need to increase the efficiency of this diagram. I did a decent job when I first got going with this, but my lore skills have all increased fairly… knowledge! Architectural Lore!”
His mana drained away, and Joe grimaced as Architectural Lore reached Beginner two. He needed to set a timer or something; that skill needed to be used. “My understanding is higher than it used to be, and the components needed are different. I need to translate it over.”
Joe lay on his bed, poring over the formulae to differentiate what was a good idea, and what was a necessary detail. “I can pull this component, but this needs another decimal…”
Three hours later, he had pulled apart the data and condensed it down into a sleeker design. The next step was putting it bac
k together and ensuring that it ran with the same power and efficiency. What he needed was not something that could be run on higher power Cores, but something he could mass produce without going insane or broke. It took a few more hours, but then Joe was ready to test the new design.
Congratulations! Your dedication to perfecting your craft has resulted in a successful revamped ritual, lowering the requirements to create it without sacrificing the potency!
Ritual efficiency increased! Ritual of Enchanting (Mana Battery) (Expert) has been converted to Ritual of Enchanting (Mana Battery) (Journeyman).
Skill increase: Ritual Magic (Expert IV).
Skill increase: Ritual Circles (Expert IV).
Skill increase: Magical Matrices (Apprentice V).
“Oh.” Joe stared at the notifications, suddenly overcome by a deep-rooted need to improve everything he could possibly get his hands on. “Sometime soon, I am going to sit my happy rear down and run experiments for a year.”
That wasn’t today, sadly. Today, he needed to make this ritual and determine what all was needed in terms of aspects. The ritual itself would be embedded within metal, the best that he could replicate at his current rank, but for that… “Time to go see McPoundy.”
He stopped himself before he could rush out the door. “No… need to make sure everything works correctly first. I can use this. Step one: make a low-powered mana battery. Step two: convince McPoundy to help me, at least if I can get in contact with him. Make a battery, use it and my position as a Candidate to make him help me, mass produce new, non-damaging power sources for the Legion. Step three? No idea, but step four is profit.”