They made their way over to the river’s edge and Indigo quickly pointed out some algae covered rocks.
“Ok, so these rocks have what’s called Tidal Algae on them, I need that for those waterbreathing potions.” Indigo showed Six and Charles how to scrape the rocks and gather the slimy algae.
Plant Identified
- Tidal Algae -
Quality: Mundane
Rarity: Common
Weight - 0.1G
Durability 5/5
Traits: Can be chewed to provide a minor endurance regen effect. 10 END per minute for 30 minutes. Material, Reagent.
The harvesting was slow calm work and Six took the opportunity to appreciate the simple meditative nature of random simple labour. That being said, it was also an opportunity to have some questions answered.
“So Indigo, how’d you know this stuff was here?” Six asked. “We just got here.
“The young man scoffed and flipped his emo hair. He wore fine clothes that, unlike Charle’s, were pristine. The only way to identify him as a soldier was the Imperial emblem he wore, a silver eagle on a black field. “If the ingredients could grow anywhere they would grow next to a high water affinity area.”
That got Six’s interest. “Places can have affinities?”
“Duh.”Indigo’s reply was dry and Six wasn’t sure if the lad was joking.
“He is quite uneducated,“ said Charles.
“I can see that,” said Indigo.
“He just wants to know how that works. Places having affinities and all that,” Six said.
“Well from what I learned a location’s affinities are based on the emanations of the dominant form of terrain in the immediate surrounding.” Charles offered. “These affinities can alter the way certain spells are expressed, how I don’t know exactly.”
“Tch.” Indigo tutted in proxy embarrassment. “The higher a singular affinity the more pronounced the effect will be. For example, in the middle of the ocean the area’s affinity is 100% water, this means that water spells gain an increase of 100% effectively doubling their effect. These affinities are usually elemental but sometimes can extend to the more conceptual affinities.”
“So the river tilts towards water I assume?” Six asked.
“Duh.”
Indigo was beginning to irritate Six, but whatever, Indigo was young. “And this algae grows in water attuned areas?” Six asked.
Indigo nodded. “And that's why I went to the river.”
“Cool, makes sense. So you’re a soldier but also an alchemist?”
“Yes, clearly, that’s why I’m making potions. That's why you’re buying potions from me.”
Six swallowed his irritation, it wasn’t worth playing into this kids bullshit. “Why are you soldiers here? I thought these people were trying to get away from you. You are a soldier right? ”
Indigo flashed him a flat stare before replying. “I am a soldier of the Empire, yes. the true Empire, we are all loyal to the old rulers. Not the usurper Juthewei. There is no place for us there. "Why are you, a rogue magician, here?"
Six laughed. "Other than Irduth do any of you actually care if I use magic?"
Indigo shook his head. "No, not really no. Irduth is just concerned about hierarchy."
"Doesn't like seeing the rules get flaunted?"
"No. He does not."
"I get that but fuck that, I'm not an Imperial," Six scoffed.
"There are papers and rules you receive upon entering the Empire."
"Ah, well. Through a series of circumstances outside of my control I found myself in these lands. But, I suppose it doesn't matter too much now."
"Are you joking? Magic was regulated to prevent catastrophes. It's worked for over a millenia. We would have destroyed ourselves like the old K'gan who now solely devote themselves to their body rather than mind. How far they have fallen. The regulations matter."
"I am not interested in causing any catastrophes."
"If only it were that simple." Indigo smirked,
"Right? Well anyways, things change. Do you agree with Irduth? Should I be an Imperial asset?"
"That is irrelevant to the more immediate problems and as a magic user myself I have always felt somewhat restricted."
"That sounds like a no."
Indigo shrugged.
"I'm looking to learn enchanting. Would any of you be willing to teach me?"
"I have the Enchanting skill and have even evolved it to Artificed Enchantment. I don't have the time to teach you though. Kali Kik may have the skill, you could ask her."
"Nothing I can offer that would interest you?"
"Mana cores of good quality. Good quality materials or reagents. I don’t need currency.”
Six didn’t have that. “Well shit, if ya change your mind let me know.”
“I won’t,” Indigo said with grey confidence.
They harvested for about a half hour before collecting enough Algae between the three of them. Indigo gave each of them a flat 5 silver discount which Six thought was fair enough for a half hour of chill work, especially when you considered all that Six learned.
Six bought 5 mana potions, all that Indigo allowed, as some must have been held in reserve for his team.
Indigo looked with an inquiring eyebrow to Charles.
Charles gestured in the negative. “I am without currency currently. Still it was a fun experience. Perhaps later I could redeem this discount?”
“Well, I could,” Indigo began before Six interrupted.
“Nah nah nah, here,” and Six slapped four gold into the palm of Charles.
Charles looked at them with hope but shook his head. “Thank you Six but I am not in a position to accept a loan.”
“No, no. Consider it payment for your explanations. I really apre-”
“Hey, I explained things too,” Indigo interrupted.
“Our transaction has concluded Indigo. But thank you, you have earned my future patronage.”
“I think I’m the only Alchemist here. So, there’s that.” Indigo said with grim satisfaction.
Charles bought two health potions and pocketed the 5 silver, he nodded at Six in thanks. They exchanged goodbyes with Indigo before he left to brew the waterbreathing potions.
Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.
“Do you have enough time?” Charles asked after the young human.
“I have the Fast Brew perk for situations exactly like this.” Indigo replied.
Six nodded. He was slightly interested in Alchemy, A very powerful skillset to be sure. But it was no use asking Indigo as he had nothing to offer the lad. Instead he looked to Charles. “Wanna go see if Denny will teach us archery?”
“I am already quite skilled in the bow, it’s just that I lost my bow a while ago.”
Six had kept a bow and arrows so he withdrew them from his spatial ring. “Well, you can teach me then. How bout it?”
Charles looked slightly surprised before a smile overtook his face and he nodded. He brought Six over to an open area of the forest and began by testing the bow himself. Charles was indeed a skilled archer and made the act of draw and release look effortless. His precision was excellent aswell, with every arrow impacting the makeshift target they made. Charles nodded, “this is acceptable.” He then broke down the basics of archery. Stance and ergonomics, arrow placement, how to aim, how to hold, and most importantly in Six’s opinion, how to breathe.
Skill gained: Archery - Initiate - 1
Each level provides an increase of 0.5% to the damage and distance of arrows. Current increase 0.5%
He had played around with bows and arrows growing up and was an average shot, now his life could depend on it. He wished he knew how to make a gun, that was always easy mode in scenarios like this, but he didn’t so he went with the next best thing. He needed something that could tide him over if his mana ran out and between bows and crossbows there was no question in the superiority of bows. Yes the skill ceiling was higher but the potential output was also higher. Ranged damage was a crucial part of his “build” and having an alternative to magic was also important, firstly because he may encounter a null magic zone, secondly because his spells required a connection to the earth, this would provide him with a counter to flying enemies. He needed to have no weaknesses.
“Your turn,” Charles said smugly.
“Ok, ok, lemme see.” Six pulled an arrow back and shot. While most of the arrows hit the target, some missed. “Not too bad but I need to practice. Where did you learn archery? You’re quite good.”
Charles’ face was proud until Six asked that question, still the lad answered. “My school educated me in several martial arts. I was the number two Archer in my cohort.”
“That’s pretty fucking good.” Six let it drop, if Charles wanted to talk about it he would… probably, Six wasn’t too sure on the social dynamics of this world. He kept actively practicing, with focus and attention. He asked Charles to hit him with criticism and actively corrected his imperfections. By the end of the half hour of training he had gained another level.
Skill Increase: Archery - Initiate - 2
Six handed the bow to Charles and the young lad tried to refuse it. “No, you are more skilled with this than I. We need to be at our best, that means you need this bow.”
Charles looked guilty but nodded and accepted the bow and its quiver full of arrows.
Then it was time for the river crossing.
Alison had organized things extremely quickly and the large group of people were ready to be ferried in groups of nine as Kali could only cover ten people with the waterwalk spell. With all the people and animals it would take just under thirty trips to complete the crossing.
Indigo handed Six, Denny, and Charles a potion each, the potion was a swarthy blue and somewhat cloudy, Six inspected it.
- Potion of Water Breathing -
Rank:Average
Rarity:Unusual
Weight - 0.1 kg
Durability 10/10
Traits: When ingested changes the user respiratory medium to water for 10 minutes.
Skill increase: Inspect - Initiate - Level 8
Nice, hopefully he wouldn't have to use this but nearly drowning once was enough, he put it in his spatial.
Six, Denny and Charles were in the first wave brought across by Kali Kik, along with a few of the martial settlers. They were dropped off and Denny brought the two of them along for a quick scout of the area. They checked the immediate vicinity for signs of beasts or people with Denny quietly rambling his inner workings out for Six and Charles to absorb. It was cut short as yells from the river brought them back. It took them seconds to return and glimpse the monsters that were attacking from the water.
Small bipedal fish people, scaled in a variety of bright colours. They wore rudimentary clothing that looked made of kelp. They bore spears and hatchets made of stone, some held rocks to throw. They were unimposing as a single creature but had amassed in the hundreds. They were emerging on to land from the shallows, some had their heads poking out of the middle of the river. Kali Kik and Narhurin were still acting as a ferry and guard but on the far side was Alison and the rest of the soldiers.
Six felt paralyzed for a moment, the majority of settlers were family or crafters and could not fight. They were horribly outnumbered and if the Koatl focused on one side of the river at a time they could be obliterated. Luckily, it seemed the numerous creatures swarmed with no strategy at all. He had to draw the Koatl’s attention away from the non-combatants, as the few martials on this side were doing.
He ran in and analyzed the first Koatl he came upon.
Slar Kut
Koatl
Level 0
Level zero? Time to smash! He drew back and brought forth his glaive, swinging it across his body with all his might.
Slar Kut attempted to defend with its spear but the brittle stick was shorn in two and Slar Kut himself was sliced open, it squeaked and screeched in shrill pain, guts spilling to the ground.
“Haaaaaaa!” Six screamed at the surrounding enemies and swung his weapon in large circles. “Come get some!” He began to analyze each and every single one.
The Koatl swarmed and Six slashed without restraint, laying about himself and cross checking any little fish people that got close. A quick cross check to the face sent them sprawling followed by a viscous overhead swing to end the fish things.
Six glanced over to the other side and saw the soldiers holding their own, protecting the waiting settlers. Aclo the Aelf and Jebbedo the Halfling juked and jived, slashing away with shortswords and daggers.
Irduth tore Koatl apart with his Chains of Kynairos the conjured chains flew about grabbing and wrenching, bludgeoning and lashing. Irduth yelled his praise for his god while dispensing the slaughter.
The sardonic Bark summoned wolves of sticks and rock. The sharp stones and branches weaving into facsimiles of the lupine creatures, they bounded forward to spread pain they would never feel.
Keegan waded forward to clash with a bone and feather covered Koatl, larger than the rest and who wielded a steel spear. The large Chieftain Koatl pressed Keegan hard with a series of strikes Six would not have been able to defend against, the large man deftly deflected them all with his shield.
Analyze Successful!
Geb Blurg
Koatl
Level 13
There was nothing to do but focus on his immediate problems and with the appearance of the Chieftain came another powerful Koatl. This kelp covered newcomer stood tall, waving a staff and with it came a surging volume of water. Six analyzed.
Unc Blop
Koatl
Level 11
Shva
Water Elemental
Level 3
Charles fired an arrow at the staff wielder and Six’s heart rose at the initiative but fell when the arrow broke upon a shield of water that sprang up. The Koatl was a spellcaster and had magical defenses.
Six cross checked an encroaching Koatl and winced when he heard the crunch of its face. He ended it with a quick stab. “Can you handle the elemental?” Six asked of Charles.
“I don’t know how,” the kid said.
Six nodded. “Then keep the mage’s attention. Try not to die.” Where was Denny? Six looked around but couldn’t see the old man anywhere. It didn’t matter, he needed to fight. He ran towards the roiling pool of water and began to kite it away. The Koatl mage had begun to fire water bolts and Six didn’t want to get hit with a stray.
Gathering the elemental’s aggro was a challenge but several glaive slashes were enough to draw it attention. He drew it along looking at the way it moved and responded to the slashes. It was quite regenerative and any slash he made was near instantly melded back. He needed to find its weakness, he looked at it and looked for anything he could target, he spotted a refracted nexus, a condensed core of water.
Skill increase: Perception - Initiate - Level 2
It was something to attack so Six stabbed forward with all his might and the glaive sunk partially before halting, the elemental writhed and the glaive was torn from Six’s hands. He was strong but this elemental must have invested everything into strength. Six jumped back but was still too slow as the elemental lashed out and grasped his leg. It constricted and bit into Six’s ankle, eliciting a cry of pain from the burly man.
“Fuck!”
His mind went to draw a weapon from his ring but the thing quickly dragged him closer, enveloping his legs and placing them under vice-like pressure. He did the next thing his mind jumped to. “Stone Wall!” and stone erupted from the earth beneath them, beneath the core of the beast. The wall rose and bisected the Elemental, impacting the core and shearing the blob in two. Six was rewarded with the death prompt and the elemental immediately lost cohesion, releasing his bruised and twisted legs. Surprisingly he had only lost 65 health.
Six struggled to his feet and gritted out some deep breaths to reset but abruptly threw himself out of the way of an incoming water bolt, that one movement ate up a significant portion of his endurance. His endurance regen was massive and it quickly refilled but he couldn’t perform more than three of those leaps before he would be out of endurance and that was clearly bad. He wondered if he could outlast the casters mana, he decided against it, the Koatl being higher leveled than him meant more resources at their disposal. Unless…
He had 435 health remaining and 88 mana after that last Stone Wall. Six pulled out one of those minor mana potions and chugged it, it tasted of salt and potato, savoury. The concoction worked immediately and his mana poll began to quickly fill up. He casted a Stone Spear and saw the spike blast towards the fish man only for the water shield to erode it down. The Shaman noticed and focus his destruction upon Six.
Six dodged a few volleys before being blasted in the breastplate by a waterbolt. It sent him flying and took off 30 health bringing him down to 405, Six wondered how brutal it would have been without the protective plate but he wasted no time and got back up to the sound of a chanting Koatl. The little guy was gathering a sphere of water for some big, long cast time spell, and if a spell had a long casting time it was a doozy. Six couldn’t let this thing go off or it would be devastating. He couldn’t stop the caster behind its shield but maybe he could contain the spell, but to do that he would might need to utilize some super illegal magic, he glanced at Irduth who was busy dealing with problems on the opposite side of the river. The mana potion was still giving him increased mana regen and Six hoped it would be enough. Six breathed deep and centered himself, he needed to do this perfectly and he hadn’t blood casted yet but the knowledge of the system should make this possible. He pulled off his gauntlets and wiggled his fingers before cracking them, He didn’t want the somatic components impeded.
He cast Stone Wall once, twice, three times, the three walls joining together to begin containing the shaman. But unfortunately, he had no mana remaining. Six felt exposed but the only other choice was to let this fuckers spell go off.
That first blood cast felt like thorns pulling across his body, something he was familiar with. Still he kept his mind focused, singular in purpose, he did not focus on the objective of the Koatl Shaman rather he followed the functions inlaid within him. He transformed his life into mana and funneled it into his spell. He screamed the incantation as the second blood cast brought him to his knees, his mind reeled at the pain but there was a part that also reveled in the power.
Power demonstrated as the spell the Koatl tried to cast was confined to a sealed area. All five walls joined together to create a box. Not long after, whatever spell it was released a thrumming boom and the chamber Six created blew outward with broken stone and a slurry of reddish water rushing in all directions.
A death prompt graced Six’s attention.
You have killed level 11 Unc Blop. Experience gained 3389.
Holy crap that's a lot of experience, there were skill prompts as well.
Skill increase: Blood Magic - Initiate - Level 2
Skill increase: Blood Casting - Initiate - Level 2
Six held his weapon aloft and bellowed. “HAAAAAAAAAaaaaa.”
The fish people hesitated for a moment, then an arrow from Charles came slicing in and piercing one in the chest. It went down and a ripple was felt amongst their ranks. Six glanced to the opposite shore to see Keegan respectfully laying the throttled and lifeless Chieftain down to their final rest. The rest of the Koatl fled.
Many were wounded, some were injured to the point of infirmity. A few had died, Settlers who fought.
Six felt ill, the smell of blood and breath was thick in the air and he was immersed in it. He looked about and felt emotions come on. He looked at them inside himself, anger, frustration, triumph, shame. Anger and frustration at his weakness and lack of ability, triumph at his survival, shame that he felt accomplished for surviving while others did not. He felt them but did his best to let them pass, this was to be expected, this was his first true battle and he was not perfect. He would be affected despite his best efforts to control himself. People were moaning in pain but they had people at their sides helping, he had other work to do.
He nodded at Charles who nodded back and then Six pulled a dagger and began to butcher the closet Koatl. He cut into its thoracic cavity and dug about but could not find a Mana Core.
“Koatl don’t have Mana Cores,” came the voice of Denny.
Six turned to find the Ranger close behind him, a strange dog sized chipmunk in his hand.
“Where did you go?” asked Six as levelly as he could, he could never completely control his tone and in his attempt many times it overcorrected into a harsh coldness.
Denny tossed the creature to the ground “Pack of these things tried to pick off the non combatants.”
“So you went to help them?”
“You were fine,” Denny said.
“Was I?” Six asked coldly.
Denny gave Six a teasing grin, “would you have preferred I stayed here babysitting you while these fine folk died?”
Six sighed and breathed deep. Denny was not his enemy. Their transaction was not worth the lives of others. Six was just emotional from the conflict, and he was alive so Denny’s absence was fine in the end. “No, sorry, I’m just shook.”
Denny raised an eyebrow. “Shook?”
“This battle did a number on my nerves.”
“Ah,” Denny nodded. “That goes away the more you fight, the more you live, I’d have thought you would have been more ‘shook’ but you are handling it well.”
Six shrugged and stood from the Koatl. “So no Mana Core and if monsters have Mana Cores does that mean we killed a bunch of people?”
Denny shrugged. “Technically I suppose but what else could we do about it? The Koatl don’t talk and they are pretty dumb.”
“Does them being stupid make it ok?”
“Nah, them trying to kill us makes it ok.”
Six grunted at that. Hard to argue that one.