There was a long silence in the room, then Saul stood and slapped his hands down on the table.

“If this is true, my old friend Baraz Karak has been tricked,” he said. “He’d never come after me, not if he knew the truth. But you’re right, Elman, Baraz with a System is the only person that could win against me, I think, and a System is the only way that anyone could hope to level quickly enough in magic to challenge me. After all, I’m racing toward my goal, and with the new Metal magic and these recent fights, I’ll be leveling again soon. My eyes are on the god fight. If Baraz is out there, I’ll find him and show him the truth.”

“Speaking of fighting,” Jerryl said, “I’m glad you showed up, and with Armsmaster Elman as well, that’s a stroke of luck.” He slapped a stack of paper on his desk. “I was just finishing this report. I was going to send one of my quickest Raptor Riders south to Blackrock Castle with it to ask you, Elman, for some reinforcements. It’s good luck you’ve come, but even better luck that you’re in the company of Saul Kramitz and his friends. I’ve been thinking of getting some way that we could communicate more quickly with the south. It would be useful to be able to get in touch quickly.”

“What’s up, Jerryl?” Zorea asked with interest. “We can’t stay long, but if you need help, we will do what we can,”

“Of course, we will,” Saul agreed.

“You mentioned fighting?” Brand said eagerly.

Jerryl laughed. “You are all keen for a fight,” he said, “and I don’t blame you, but my men and the villagers are much less willing to get into danger. They don’t get XP for fighting, you see.”

They all laughed.

“It’s these damned tombs,” Jerryl said, pulling a map of Xorn from under some other papers and pointing to a spot on the edge of the Northwood and the mountains, northeast of the Eastwood Clearing portal. “Ever since we chased the warlocks from the Northwood, we’ve had no end of trouble with monsters. We traced some of them, and they’re either coming from inside the tomb, or they’re hanging about nearby and being changed in some way by it.”

He pointed again at the map. “The entrance to the tombs is up east of the portal you opened, northeast from Eastwood Clearing. I’ve been up there myself, and I’ve sent a few patrols, but we don’t dare to get too close. The warlocks used to keep the monsters from the tombs and the mountains in check, but now there’s all kinds of horrors coming out into the forest. The hunters and trappers and woodsmen fear to go out and do their work, and we’ve even had a few of these shambling ghouls down here at the village.”

Jerryl shook his head and looked at Saul. “There’s some evil magic in that place, and it’s having an effect on the environment around it. There are strange lights up there, and smoke’s coming from the entrance. Those who have ventured to actually go inside have reported there are tunnels leading off into the mountain, and voices and noises of movement to be heard inside. They all feel a presence in the tombs and, to tell the truth, it’s given me the creeps when I’ve been up there.”

“Would you mind going to have a look into it? I’m sure with the four of you, you’ll be able to make an impression. Perhaps you could even close up the entrance to the tombs or something? There might be treasure in there, as well. We’ve no idea how old those tombs are, but there are many stories and legends about them.”

Saul reached into his pouch and pulled out a small, almost forgotten item. It was a little red crystal, well-cut, with a small shape inside; a dark, curled up shape almost like a tiny creature of some kind.

“We think this came from the tombs,” he said, holding it out.

They’d taken the gemstone from a crypt ghoul they’d fought in the forest, back when Saul had opened up the first portal.

“It looks like the kind of thing you’d find there,” Jerryl said.

“Well, I’d be happy to help you out,” Saul said. “Zorea? Brand? What do you think?”

“Definitely,” Brand said, and Elman spoke up, too, “Count me in,” he said gruffly. “I’ve not had as much fun in a fight for a decade as I did when we destroyed those spiders. I’ll stick with you three the whole way!”

* * *

The next morning, replenished by a solid breakfast and a good night’s sleep, the four of them held a council of war in the private quarters that had been granted them in the barracks.

“We should get what upgrades we can before we go,” Saul said. “Elman, I think I know how to grant you permanent membership of the Fire Squad—you were only a temporary member before, and that only happened out of necessity at the time, I think. But if we go to the Workshop now, I think I’ll be able to manage it.”

They transited to the Workshop, and Saul found that, though Elman was no longer a Squad member, he could be transported to the Workshop with the rest of them. He had gained Ally status, and that was enough to allow transport.

However, Ally status wasn’t enough for Elman to keep his spell. He’d enjoyed his magic and was keen to have it back again.

It didn’t take long for Saul to get the Squad XP from the Resources Display Table and use it to craft a Body Sigil at the anvil. He applied the Sigil to Elman and was rewarded with a level up of the entire Squad, plus a respectable amount of Gold XP into the bargain.

Elman had joined the Fire Squad, filling the vacant slot, and the four of them reviewed the new Squad stats together.

Fire Squad: Level 3

Leader: Saul Kramitz

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Members:

Brand Of Harkin’s Holdfast

Zorea the Healer

Armsmaster Elman Tell

Select: View Member Details

They looked deeper into the information available, finding that their Squad inventories had changed dramatically. Before, they’d all had separate, individual inventories where they could store weapons, potions, and gear without having to physically carry any of the items around with them. Though this had been useful, it wasn’t particularly groundbreaking.

Now, everything had changed.

Squad Inventory: Fire Squad (Level 3)

Weapons: 7 of 12

Potions: 10 of 15

Outfits: 0 of 4

Crafting Materials: 0 of 25

Misc. Items: 1 of 15

“The inventory is shared!” Zorea exclaimed.

“And there are more items available, too,” Brand added. “Saul, go into the Weapons category, and let’s have a look.”

Saul did so.

Squad weapons:

Saul’s Fire Squad:

Brand:

The Father’s Sword (Fire Enchantment)

Zorea:

The Soulstone Sword of Kryll Myr (Fire Enchantment)

Saul:

Xornian shortsword

Sigilized Staff of the Warlock

Black Longsword of the Thrall

Elman:

Xornian Officer’s Blade

Darthornian Dagger

Before they had unlocked inventories and Squad magic, there had been no way of bringing weapons or other gear into the Workshop at all. It was pretty much an immovable rule that all weapons, bags, pouches, and equipment vanished on transit. The only thing that remained was a person’s clothes.

Since the discovery of Body Sigils, and the development of Squad magic, personal inventories had become part of their arsenal of tools. Now, when they transited to the Workshop, all their carried gear, including their weapons, went into the inventory and could be brought out again in the Workshop.

“You know,” Brand said thoughtfully as they looked over the list of weapons they had in the inventory, “we’ve never actually tried bringing a weapon or item out of the inventory while we’re in the Workshop, but don’t you think there might be some reason for this being the way that the inventory functions? The System doesn’t seem to do anything without a good reason. Shall we try now?”

Saul shrugged. “Yeah, that’s a good idea,” he agreed. “You’re right, there must be a reason for it. Let’s give it a go.”

Glancing over the inventory, he selected the Black Longsword of the Thrall from the items available, and the blade shimmered into existence in his hand, much like the way that the Gladesword appeared when he summoned that in battle.

The weapon was long, slightly curved, with a blade that was as hard and sharp as steel but made from some kind of black metal.

“Never seen anything like that before,” Elman said with great interest.

“I took it from a thrall at the first battle of Harkin’s Holdfast,” Saul said. “I believe it came from El-Alun. The thralls the warlocks had enslaved appeared to be magically controlled living dead from El-Alun. They had that armor from the far western lands, and they looked like the mummified corpses that the people of El-Alun sometimes make of their nobles after death. When they died, their souls rose from their bodies, and they were the souls of El-Alun people by the look of them. They had dark skin, tight curly hair, and brown eyes.”

Saul thought for a moment, then continued, sounding sad. “They had been taken from their homes and sent far over the sea to fight on behalf of the warlocks,” he said. “I thought at the time that it meant someone from El-Alun was funding the warlock rebellion. Now, I think it’s this Keljek Ministry that’s behind it all. I know little about El-Alun in these times, but I suspect we’ll have to save them as well before all this is over.”

He put the longsword on the anvil, held a hand over it, and sought some potentiality there, but nothing came. He had a strange feeling, as if there was something he could do with it, but not yet.

“I don’t think we can quite upgrade weapons in the Workshop yet,” he said. “But I think it will come. For now, let’s concentrate on what we can do.”

Saul moved to the resources display and inspected the Gold XP that was available for leveling.

“What about that Sigilized Staff that you took from the warlock during the Harkin’s Holdfast fight?” Brand asked. “You’ve never managed to do anything with that, but it seems like there might be something to it.”

Saul replaced the black sword into the inventory and brought out the staff. He looked at the strange item. “I don’t know what it is,” he said, “but there doesn’t seem anything to be done with it here.”

He returned it to the inventory and looked back at the Resources Table.

“There’s a lot of XP!” Zorea said, looking at the large gold coins piled in neat stacks on the black velvet.

Saul smiled. As he’d increased in his abilities, levels had come to cost more and more. But this was balanced by the fact that the enemies he defeated also gave more rewards, as fate continued to put him in the path of stronger and stronger foes. The coins had gotten larger, each one representing more XP than when he was dealing in lower levels.

He hefted the coins. “There’s enough here to jump a few levels,” he said speculatively. “Spider broods, portal openings, even building and upgrading the Squad—it all gives Gold XP, and it all adds up.”

At the Sigil Crafting Table, he set to work. The Gold XP was enough to power through three levels, up to Level 28, and as Saul crafted the Sigils and absorbed them, he felt the immense sense of satisfaction that came from the leveling process. His base spells, he knew, would be upgraded, but there was one more thing he wanted to do.

He moved to the resources and picked out the Metal Magic XP that had been collected since their last trip to the workshop. There was nowhere to create a Metal Magic Sigil on the Crafting Table, so he tried the anvil. Here, he was rewarded with success.

Crafting Options: Lore of Metal

Select: Craft Lore of Metal Level 2 (2 of 2)

“All right!” Saul exclaimed. Now they were getting somewhere. He was about to add the second Lore of Metal level to his list of spells.

There was enough XP here to craft two Lore of Metal Sigils. He went ahead and crafted both Sigils, then looked around. What to do with them?

Then, it struck him. Of course, he should apply them to the sphere in the spell tree.

Placing the Sigils on the spell tree sphere caused an explosion of gleaming light and a crackling sound. Bolts of metallic lightning blasted out from the sphere as the Sigil sank in, and Saul stepped back as the results of his work presented themselves. The Tier 1 spell had to be unlocked first and, as usual, this wasn’t a spell that would be much use in combat. Since he was likely to be going into a serious fight, Saul was glad he’d been able to craft two Sigils and unlock the Tier 2 spell of the second lore as well.

He opened his spell list and looked at the results with satisfaction. He had unlocked two new spells in the School of Metal.

School of Metal: Level 2 (Lore of Steel)

Metal spells: Tier 1

Steel Skin (Armor)

Smelter (Crafting)

Spell (Locked: Achieve Lore of Metal Level 3 to Unlock)

Custom Spell Slot (Locked: Achieve Lore of Metal Level 4 to Unlock)

Metal Spells: Tier 2

Molten Death (Melee)

Metal Mage Minion (Summoned Creature)

Spell (Locked: Achieve Lore of Metal Level 3 to Unlock)

Custom Spell Slot (Locked: Achieve Lore of Metal Level 4 to Unlock)

“We’ve upgraded the Squad and added some important new abilities to the Metal magic,” Saul said. “We may not be able to work with the inventory weapons here in the Workshop just yet, but that will come in time. Let’s go, my friends. We have an infested tomb to fight.”