A hushed silence filled the room as Brand and Zorea took in Saul’s words.
They’d all known Baraz Karak was back in the world, ever since the trickster god Sarkur had managed to tell Saul about it after the battle at the Tall Tree pool. But they hadn’t had any way of knowing where Baraz might be, or even what he might look like, and so they had chosen to sit tight at Jillin and await developments.
“I was wondering when you would have an idea about that,” Brand said, grinning. “What are you thinking?”
Saul looked at the School of Metal spell, spinning serenely round and glowing brightly in the spell tree.
“The School of Metal was always his favorite,” Saul said. “Though he was no mage himself, he always enjoyed my use of the spell. After the Faction Wars, Keldor was a broken realm of starved, infighting territories. Baraz always said we needed to forge it into something better, as one might forge a broken blade. I agreed with him. The first thing we did after we’d raised an army and decided that we were the ones to do the reforging was to go to the Citadel of the Bright Dukes and take it for ourselves.
“The Bright Dukes had been destroyed in the war, and the tower was occupied by bandit mercenaries, but there was a lot of magic still within the tower that the mercenaries couldn’t use and didn’t understand. We drove the mercenaries out, rebuilt the tower, gathered the surviving magic workers from the Bright Dukes’ mages, and built up the magic again. This time, we kept control of it and made it a training academy and put it to our own use.”
“Sorry, Saul,” Zorea put in, “but how does this have to do with finding Baraz in this timeline we’re currently in?”
Saul smiled. “It’s very simple. If Baraz has been given a System as well and sent back into the world, as I have, I believe he will make for the Citadel of the Bright Dukes. If I want to find him, I should go there, too.”
“But the Bright Dukes are incredibly secretive!” Brand protested. “There’s no way we’ll be able to get in there!”
“Oh, I think I might,” Saul answered. “That’s one of the many advantages of being able to remember forward in the way that I can. With my knowledge of the future, I can anticipate the strengths and weaknesses of the world and act accordingly.”
“What are you saying?” Zorea asked. “You’re speaking in riddles.”
Saul laughed. “The Bright Dukes are powerful magic users, as everyone knows, but there’s one area of magic they are not blessed with. They are weak in the Magic of Metal. I had no way of influencing the Bright Dukes before now, so there was no point in going to the Citadel, but there is no question that if I show up with a set of metal spells, I will be able to get them interested enough to allow me into their sanctum. From there, I may be able to influence them to help me.”
Brand nodded thoughtfully. “I’ve heard something of the Dukes’ desire for Metal magic. Yes, I think you’re onto something there. And if Baraz will go there, too, then that’s what we must do.”
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“And even if Baraz does not head straight for the Citadel, there are devices in the control of the Bright Dukes that will allow me to find him. If I can play it right, there’s a great deal in the Citadel of the Bright Dukes I can put to use, if only I can get them on my side. Before, that would have been absurd. Now that I have unlocked the School of Metal, an alliance with the Bright Dukes and access to their magical craft is a real possibility.”
“When will you start?” Brand asked eagerly.
“Not until the next portal has been unlocked,” Saul said. “There are a few things I want to do before I go to the Citadel. First, that portal on Sprite’s Corner hill must be brought under my control. Once that’s done, I want to use the portal to travel north, back to Harkin’s Holdfast so I can visit Captain Jerryl again. He has something that I’d like to borrow.”
This was mysterious, but the others didn’t ask more about it. They knew Saul would tell them in his time, and they trusted him.
“What’s the third thing?” Zorea asked.
“The third thing,” Saul said, “is that I want to get in a fight or two. This Metal magic will need to be used so I can get the Metal XP and unlock the next levels. I’m looking forward to getting to the Citadel, but I’ll need more than two spells if I’m to impress the Bright Dukes enough to get them to let me in.”
* * *
As it happened, however, there was very little in the way of fighting to be had over the next month. Saul sent a message to the queen’s castle at Blackrock, and she sent a group of soldiers to stand guard over the standing stone.
The soldiers guarded the standing stones diligently, but nothing happened. The weeks passed, and Saul and his friends passed the time working at the rebuilding efforts in Jillin. The new well was completed, and a row of new warehouses were built. A road for bringing timber in was created and improved, and at Saul’s recommendation new sources of wood for building were found that did not involve going near Sprite’s Corner hill. It was his opinion that the woods there were better left untouched, and after the stories they’d heard, the villagers were happy enough to agree.
So, the Builder XP stacked up as the town improved, and Glade XP came in small amounts for potion creation, and both activities also added a trickle of Gold XP, but the large amounts of Gold XP and Squad XP gained from fighting, not to mention Metal XP from the use of the new magic, did not come in.
He tried to experiment the new Molten Death spell in practice but was annoyed to find that he couldn’t use it out of real combat. He could use his other combat spells anytime, but the School of Metal was different. For its first use, the Tier 2 spell needed a genuine aggressor to be present.
As for the Tier 1 spell, Steelskin, this also wouldn’t function yet. Unusually for a Tier 1 spell, this was an armor boost geared toward combat rather than crafting or scouting and was also locked at the moment.
Saul was initially troubled by this; he had to fight if he were to build up the resources needed to complete levels. However, the more he thought about it the more he realized that there would be plenty of opportunities for battle magic. If he were going to head to the Citadel and meet up with Baraz, he would be sure to be getting himself into plenty of opportunities for trouble.
The thought made him smile. Much as he enjoyed helping the villagers, and satisfying as it was to seek potion ingredients and craft them with Brand and Zorea, he was, at his heart, a fighter. He had no desire to seek out the old wars again; in fact, he wanted to avoid them if possible, though he did miss commanding soldiers.
No, the thing he missed most was personal combat, pure and simple.
He missed being able to use his fighting skills against challenging opponents, face to face. The more he could do that, the more he would be able to fulfill his ultimate destiny—the defeat of the seven elemental gods themselves.
And, of course, it was just fun.