Chapter 18

Antoine returned twenty minutes later, a frown on his face. He went to his horse and took a long drink from his canteen, considering the situation before announcing his decision.

“The dungeon isn’t high level, but the two primary monsters are spiders and asps. They’re both venomous, and I’d rather not expose you to those dangers unless absolutely necessary,” he said.

“So we’re retreating?” Sevin asked, sounding disappointed.

“No. Tom will conquer the dungeon remotely by flooding it with his monsters,” Antoine said. “There’s dozens of them, and it seems like an excellent opportunity for him to gain some experience.”

“Will the three of them be enough?” Tom asked, looking at his minions with concern.

“No,” Antoine admitted. “Tom, I’m not expecting all of your minions to survive this. I hope you’re not attached to them. They’re monsters, after all.”

Tom frowned. He wasn’t certain how he felt about spawning creatures just to treat them as disposable fodder. “What happens to them when I’ve conquered the dungeon? Will you … dispose of them, or what?”

“There’s no need as long as you maintain control of them,” Antoine answered. He shot a glance at Lo and added “And if that changes, then I suppose I’ll have to cull the uppity ones.”

Lo let out a low hiss in defiance, but made no aggressive moves.

“So, you’re officially giving me permission to start Spawning a bunch of monsters again?” Tom asked for confirmation.

“Yes. Just let me know if you feel like you’re starting to lose control.”

“Right, okay,” Tom said, and he began pressing against his Spawn Skill.

Spawn

Worthmus tree

(unavailable underground)

Lum Moss

Available

Burrower (level 4)

Available

Rock Spider (Level 6)

Available

Hilseach (Level error)

Unavailable (Core incompatibility)

Korgoath (level 12)

Available

Gnoll (Level 9)

Available

Tom considered his options, and decided that he wasn’t certain which of his options was the best. “Should I summon more Korgoath? Or gnolls? I can also summon the burrowers and rock spiders that I used in the dungeon you destroyed, but they might not be strong enough for this. They’ll be rather low level when they spawn.”

“It’s going to take a small army to conquer this dungeon, Tom,” Antoine answered. “You have three elites already, with Lo and the other Korgoath. You need foot-soldiers and fodder. I’m guessing that the higher level a monster is, the more Mana it costs. I think in this case you should go for quantity over quality.”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Right,” Tom said. His core had quite a bit of Mana at this point, and he Spawned a Gnoll to see how much mana it would cost. It took about five hundred mana. He could Spawn another with the Core’s current charge, so he went ahead and did that. He had about two hundred mana left over, which proved to be enough to Spawn a Rock Spider. He didn’t bother with Burrowers, he knew exactly how weak those monsters were and figured that they’d serve as little more than a brief distraction for the rest of his minions before being torn apart by the monsters of the foreign dungeon.

“That’s all I can do right now,” Tom said. “Do you think it’s enough?”

Antoine considered for a moment, then shook his head. “I think you should wait and spawn at least three more gnolls and a handful of the rock spiders.”

“Okay, then I guess we’re in for a bit of a wait,” Tom said. He Expanded his core until it had about eight hundred as it’s maximum mana. Because of the relationship between Territory, maximum mana and mana regeneration, the core began charging quite quickly, generating one mana every second. “It will take a while to Spawn an army that size. Hours, probably.”

“That’s fine,” Antoine confirmed. And they settled in for a wait.

Sevin went outside to stretch his legs and gather some firewood. He felt a bit frustrated that Antoine was passing up the opportunity to challenge a new dungeon, but he did understand the man’s caution. He wasn’t frightened of spiders nor snakes, but he did view them with a healthy amount of caution. The wound that the younger Korgoath had suffered continued to pain it, and he wasn’t in a hurry to subject himself to that sort of danger. The wounds that the gnolls had inflicted on him, and the subsequent infection, had reminded him that despite his new class he was not invulnerable.

He was strong, that was certain. He had been a level five Commoner previously, having worked hard to gain experience in the two months that he’d had that class. The effort had given him four points in strength. The system seemed to have continued to use the same base stats that it had used for Commoner once he’d unlocked Warrior, but the class change had by itself significantly increased his strength. He was now more than twice as strong as he’d been as a Child, before awakening the Commoner class.

But that strength wouldn’t do him much good against a snakebite. Or a spiderbite either, judging by the reaction that the injured Korgoath was having to its injury. It was back on its feet, but it was sagging with weakness and looking miserable.

He reflected that a healer would be a nice addition to their little party, but knew that was impractical. Healers were a rare subset of mages, an already rare class. They were too valuable to society to risk in battle; they belonged in the Houses of Healing, tending to the wounds and illnesses that nature alone would not be able to heal.

Tilluth valley certainly couldn’t afford its own healer; it made due with a reclusive Wise Woman who treated the fevers and broken bones of the villagers. Sevin had been less than grateful for her ministrations in the past, when she had prescribed bitter medicines for his childhood illnesses, but he’d missed her expertise when he’d been suffering from an inflamed and infected gnollbite. Fortunately his improved Constitution had been enough to fight off the infection with only the first aid and willow bark that Antoine had provided.

Sevin returned to the dungeon breech laden with firewood and quickly set a small campfire. The ventilation of the tunnel wasn’t particularly great, but neither were they choking on the smoke. They used the time while waiting for Tom’s Core to generate mana to make and eat lunch.

Tom could Spawn a gnoll every thirty minutes or so, and a Rock Spider in about half that time. They waited hours before Antoine judged that their forces were sufficient, then Tom nervously ordered his minions into the breech.

~~~~~~

Vella perched nervously on the Worthmus tree, squeezing one of the fruits to judge its ripeness. It was soft and juicy, just right for the plucking. She added it to the sack hanging from her shoulder, joining the five already there. She was definitely looking forward to the pies that her mother would be making from these!

She was supposed to fetch an even dozen, so she was halfway done with her task. Unfortunately the fruit she had just plucked was the last of the ones that were in easy reach of her perch, and she didn’t trust the branches to carry her to where the remaining fruit waited, higher than she could reach.

She wished she were taller, so that she could reach the low-hanging branches without climbing the trees like the bigger kids, but she was only nine years old. And she wasn’t very tall for her age, either. That was fine though, because she was clever. She knew she was smarter than most the boys her age in her village, and Elder Lukan was always praising her schoolwork.

She jumped to the ground and searched the orchard, looking for another tree that would both be easy to climb, and that had fruit that looked ripe enough to eat. There were plenty of the latter; this particular orchard was a ways outside of the village and the adults hadn’t been by to harvest it just lately.

She was a little grateful for the task. She had been moping the last few days, ever since Tom and Sevin had set out on their adventure. She hadn’t understood when she’d first heard that the boys had left that they wouldn’t be returning anytime soon. It wasn’t until she’d heard talk that Tom’s parents were selling off their business that she had learned that.

She knew it was stupid, feeling heartsick over a boy who didn’t even see her as anything other than a little kid, but she couldn’t help her crush on Tom. He was the other smart kid in the valley, although Elder Lukan never praised Tom’s cleverness like he did hers. Mostly because Sevin was a bad influence on him, and the two boys were always getting into trouble. She appreciated Tom’s mischief, however, and always got a laugh when she heard of the latest prank Sevin had convinced him to take part in. The boys were always caught out, but that never stopped them.

She hadn’t ever told anyone about her feelings. Not until Tom was gone and her mother had found her crying in her room. She’d half expected her mother to chide her for being foolish, but instead she’d been very understanding. Vella had been extremely surprised to find out that her father was not, in fact, the first man that her mother had had eyes for. Well, her mother had been a girl then, and her first crush had been a boy then, rather than the man that Vella knew him as now.

Talking to her mother about her heartache helped, as did her mother’s assurance that the feelings would pass.

It was stupid, anyway. She didn’t know if Tom had a crush on anyone, but if he did surely it was one of the older girls. She knew that it was silly to think that he’d wait until she was older before courting anyone. Not when he was the son of the wealthiest family in the village.

The Weavers never made a big deal of their wealth, but everyone knew that Norman’s cloth sold for three marks per bolt, and that was a lot. Especially when they had so much of the stuff that they needed a separate building just to store it all. She didn’t like Tom for his money, but she knew that other girls in the village would go to great lengths to secure a comfortable life for themselves as his wife.

She disturbed a tree-cat while climbing the next tree. The animal chittered at her, and she made faces at it in return. This tree was a good pick, and she found three ripe fruit in easy reach.

A hissing sound disturbed her from her task. She looked at the Tree-cat, surprised at the noise it was making. She followed the creature’s gaze, and that’s when she saw the monster.

It slipped out of Stealth and prowled towards the base of her tree. It sat on its haunches and looked up at her, licking its lips. She swallowed. Maybe it would go away?

It was bigger than her. It walked on all fours with a feline grace. Its fur was patterned red and brown in a way that made her think of dancing flames. It’s body and movements were feline, but it had a flat face, with an expression that made her think of Elder Yulk’s stern face.

Her mouth was dry with fear, but she tried to swallow anyway. What should she do? She knew what to do if a Burrower confronted her, but this cat-like monster was certainly no Burrower. Was it high level? She was level ten, just like most kids who put any effort into leveling at all. But that didn’t matter too much because Child wasn’t a class that came with any special abilities. Leveling didn’t even grant many stat points, you got way more just for growing bigger.

The creature spent several moments simply sitting there, swishing its tale in the grass. When it moved, it was far too swift for her to follow with her eyes. She heard a crunch, and the Tree-cat that had been in the branches of the tree with her was simply gone. She turned, and behind her she saw the Fire-lynx – not that she knew that’s what it was called – feasting on the small animal.

She peed herself.

She dropped to the ground and took off running, too afraid to be ashamed. She didn’t stop running until she was in her mother’s arms, and it took ten minutes for the woman to get Vella’s story out of her.