Going back with Marcy to Hilltop's House, the three of us began talking about the future.
"Did you decide the next evolution, Grendel? Was it the Troll Shaman?" Asks Helen while brewing tea for us.
"Yes, he gets some rare magic skills and a lot of magic stat. It will do well to balance my stats. And we need to be able to reach Colchester in a single teleport."
Helen is getting worried about her parents. And Bertramus' child will be born around the beginning of Spring. I need to set some kind of communication channel.
"I think troll shaman is almost unknown," Comments Marcy. "There was nothing about it in the guild's monster manuals."
Marcy has read every book she could get her hands on during her stay at the guild. And some she wasn't supposed to get too. Like that time she stole one about jobs to browse with Helen at night.
"It requires 75 magic and knowledge in several elemental schools. I can't see many wild trolls getting 75 magic. I think the tier 3 basic troll has around thirty at the level cap, and monster levels carry too little stats to the next evolution."
Helen brings our tea.
"Here is the tea, sorry for the delay but water just refuses to keep warm in this weather!" Helen brings the kettle and the cups and serves the tea. "I had to use improvised fire magic."
"This is a different one. Is it a new kind of tea?"
"Yes, Alvus and I went traveling east a few days ago and found this new herb. We also found other promising herbs too, but we are still studying what we can do with them."
"I'm glad you are able to find something beside dragons in the valley. I'd like to try my luck against that gray one."
"Don't remind me of that. The foot of the mountain is too dangerous."
The main reason Alvus didn't return to Mirfield yet is that he is investigating the herbs around Willow Hill. He is also making a garden with Helen. The girls are taking Alice and him out to power level them. In one of these travels, they ran away from a dragon but found a tribe of humanoid draconic lizards.
"It's Zahariel and Shraaizar's turn to act as the escort now, right? Is he going to visit that lizardman tribe again?"
"Yes. The dragonewt clan," corrects Marcy. "They want to join us here. Shraaizar told she had contact with them before, so she went as a negotiator. And their elders asked to 'bring them the angel'. They spoke with some awe about Zahariel, so I think these two will be able to convince them to come and behave."
"It seems there is another stronger tribe from the eastern part of the valley hunting them down."
"I think we have little time to waste then. I'll commence evolution tomorrow. And when I come out, we are going to host another winter festival after conquering Mirfield. I call that one as a bad rehearsal."
Helen whispers "Thank you."
----------------------------------------
I ordered the goblin artisans to craft toys during my evolution time. Time to evolve, I guess. Back to my evolution basement.
"Don't make those faces, it will be only sixteen days." Helen comes and hugs me. I also pull Marcy in.
"Helen, here is a little project to keep you busy while I am out. Hatch and tame these babies." I hand her the queen and drone honeycomb cells. "Make a nest for the bees. And make sure to tame the queen right after she hatches, or she will fight you."
After a lot of goodbyes, I finally locked myself in the basement. I am curious about how the evolution will affect my stats. I'll write on the wall my current stats.
Prowess: 221 (5801 HP) Agility: 164 (2296 ST) Magic: 199 (1741 MP)
Of whom 103 points are thanks to the evolution of [Status Conversion UP] into [Inactive Job Mastery] evenly spread across all three. I think if I had kept the [Emperor Might] my Prowess for strength purposes would be almost seven hundred, but both Agility and Magic would take a drop. Mastering both Apprentice Magician and Magician boosted magic quite far.
And this is not my final form!
"Activate Evolution: Troll Shaman"
Once again my body feels heavy and groggy. It becomes difficult to keep the eyes open. I feel my body hit the ground, but there is not even the sensation of touch anymore. Everything goes dark.
...
Congratulations. You have evolved into [4] Troll Shaman.
Skill Info:
Skill Healing Magic level UP. Maximum level already reached.
Upgraded to advanced magic.
Skill Restoration Magic awakened.
School of magic that can restore the body closer to the perfect template.
{Minor Restore} learned.
Skill Create Totem awakened.
The shaman can carve and deploy magical wards on the ground. All totems crumble if removed from the ground or if the duration ends.
{Sentry Ward} learned.
Skill Curse Magic awakened.
School of magic that deals with debuffs and bad abnormal status.
{Hex} learned.
Skill Dark Magicawakened.
School of magic that manipulates the dark element.
{Dark Bolt} learned.
Skill Mind Magic awakened.
School of magic that affects the mind.
{Stupor} learned.
Skill Alchemy (crude) awakened.
Allows the user to create enchanted liquids using natural ingredients in a cauldron. Has low precision and a chance of failure.
Skill Earth Pulse awakened.
Allows the user to sense the magic flow of the land and manipulate the level of magic on the land. Altering the energy flow requires a ritual.
Earthpulse Mana Ritual.
Casting time 2 hours. Rituals are interrupted if the user takes any other action or is attacked.
Allows the shaman to either increase or decrease the flow of magic energy
I open my eyes and a sharp hunger assaults me. Once again, it all felt like a nap. My clothes feel big and spacy. Oh, I've shrunk again. But first, the hunger. I ate two eighty pounds bundles of smoked roc meat. Where did all this meat go? Impressive.
Is everyone alright? Party status... all fine. The tame monsters... also good.
I should take a good look at my new me. I get the mirror of heaven from the item box and notice that I've become an old geezer.
My skin is gray, wrinkled, dry. Harsh to the touch and with sparse coarse hairs. My face is rounder, the nose is as wide as the distance between the cheekbones. It is even more of a potato now. The hair is thinner, longer and white. Horns and fangs, gone. The nails are now square, irregular and broken, like a hag's. There are no claws. I am shorter now. If I stand tall I'm about eight feet tall, two less than the other me, but thinner. I think I weigh less than a quarter of what I was before. The legs are too long and the feet are wide. I feel more comfortable crouched. This way I am the same height as Zahariel. I think it would be easier to move if I use a staff as a crutch.
Pic:
[https://i.imgur.com/3zuJ8Af.jpg]
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
How are my stats now?
Prowess: 157 (2747 HP) Agility: 137 (1918 ST) Magic: Magic: 246 (4305 MP)
The amount granted by the [Inactive Job Mastery] skill jumped to 146. The 43 points from the now forever inactive Troll racial 'job' avoided having prowess almost halve.
I'll raise most of these skills to level 5, except curse magic. I don't want to dabble in those 'evil' skills.
Spells & Totems:
Sentry Ward
Enchants a premade sentry ward totem to watch over an area. Covers a radius of 2x
Twilight Totem
Enchants a premade twilight totem to darken an area for enemies and brighten it for allies. Covers a radius of 20 + 2x sqrt[
Snail Totem
Enchants a premade snail totem to slow down enemies in an area. Covers a radius of 20 + 2x sqrt[
Mosquito Totem
Enchants a premade mosquito totem to suck blood from enemies. Covers a radius of 20 + 2x sqrt[
Vermin Totem
Enchants a vermin totem to poison and disease enemies. Covers a radius of 40 + 3x sqrt[
Minor Restore: Basic restoration magic
Can regrow and restore small lost or damaged body parts no bigger than
Dark Bolt: Basic dark magic
Launches a semi-homing bolt of darkness that inflicts dark damage and a debuff that slows down healing and deals a small damage over time. The debuff stacks upon multiple successful dark bolts.
Hex: Basic curse magic.
Reduces all stats of target by 5% of the caster's magic stat. for
Stupor: Basic mind magic
Attempts to stun the target for
Alleviate Malady: Intermediate restoration magic
Attempts to dispel any abnormal status. Target uses the caster magic stat as a bonus on a new resistance test against the status.
Restore Senses: Intermediate restoration magic
Restore the function of all sensory organs of the target. Time to restore shortened by magic stat.
Devouring Darkness: Intermediate darkness magic
Creates an area of pitch black darkness. Deals cold and dark damage to every creature inside the area. Every tick of damage increases the spell's duration.
Dark Tentacle: Creates a tentacle of dark matter that attacks in a range of
Suggestion: Intermediate mind magic
Attempts to plant a spoken suggestion in the mind of the target so it thinks it as their own idea. Resisted by magic.
Thought Whispering: Intermediate mind magic.
The caster can read the target's surface thoughts. Resisted by Magic.
Bewitch: Advanced mind magic
Charms the target to believe caster is a close friend and ally. Target will put caster in a higher priority than former allies. Resisted by Magic.
Mind magic sounds promising. Maybe there is a telepathy spell so I raised it to level 7.
This might be one of the reasons trolls are B-rank monsters. Not only they are hard as hell to kill, but there are also too many variants.
If a troll shaman gets the drop on you, you are toast.
"Grendel, are you awake?" Shraaizar asks over the telepathic link.
"Yes, I am awake, sister. I am finishing my new clothes. Can't just walk outside naked. How is everyone?"
"Everyone is doing well. Come outside quicker!" There is some anxiety in her thoughts. Something is amiss.
Everyone except Kochurearc is in Helen's house. What is going on inside?
"Surprise! Happy Evolution!" Everyone shouts.
"Sorry, wrong house!" Damn, a surprise party! I didn't even know they had this kind of things. "How are you! MIssed me?"
Marcy seems to be the host of this party, "You are surely different. How are you feeling?"
"Like an old man-troll. I need to stretch these bones. Shall we feast?"
"Yes, let's feast."
The shaman is almost eight feet tall, but there are no horns. I had to mind the two and a half feet of space above my head all the time. There was this time I stood up too fast and got stuck to the support beam in the ceiling. And since it is super comfortable to crouch when standing still,
Everyone seems to be in high spirits. To me, it was like taking a nap but you can see there are small changes here and there. Like Marcy, that got a haircut. Her hair now goes only a bit below the jawline.
"ḑ̸̢̨̦̞̩͚̱̱͓͚̼͌̄e̷̛͚͚̘͍̅̀̒̀ ̶̪̘̝̤͍̣͎͉̗̗̋͂͌͋͗̊͒̅̈̌̈́͐̚ä̸̦͍̥̩̞̣̗̞͉̬̪̿̐́͆́̂̊͐̾̉̑͌͜ͅŗ̸̨͇͕̦͉̬͌̽͂̋̀̌̑̾͂̔̇͗̿͜ ̶̛̲̼̯̬͍͓͓̓ṭ̷̨͉̮̬̹͓̔̈́͋͂̈́̊̄̒͊͋̚͝i̵̡̡͕̦̦͓͍̙͇̖̤̗̰̇͑̋̊l̶̖̻̰̬̤͎̍̎͛́̽͜͠l̷̨̦͓̭̣̟̤̝̘̹̤̻̽̔̂̄͊̉̐̏̚̚s̴̼̟̻̱̟̺̑̍͂̿̃̅́̀͘͘̕͝a̵̢̻̩̮̤̟̫͉̫̳̬̘͆m̶̧͉̱̦̤͇̭̞̪͈̾̈́̎̏̇͛̉̇̅̌̄͜m̴̛͚̩̱̣̙̰̖͍͍̣̄͊̌̋̉́̃̍̒̐͝͠ͅā̶̜̥̓̔n̸̛͉͍̉̓̑͂̿̀͘s̴̡̩͕̭̲̳̰̣̠̱͓̤̳̈́̀ ̸͍͂͋͒̚n̴̨̗̮̦͚̮̪̈̾̔̔̐̾̕͘ṷ̵̧̗͍̞͔͚̝͕̗̉̀̔̏̎̚" Uh?
Voices. Whispers from below. Not from the creatures from the party. "The earth is restless tonight," I mumble.
"h̵͈̺̥̲͙̫̙̠̰͋̍̚ö̷̻̋͊̊̔͑͑̈́͠r̴̠̗̪̘̩̤͚̦̮͂́̅̑͆͊́͛͝ḓ̶̨̧͎̤̬̼̝̬͕̯̒̅͛͑̈́͝ȩ̵͙̤̗͇̟͓̩͓̅̀̈́̀ ̸̡̛̥͎̱̤̞̆͒́̔͆́̑͋̍͜h̵͔̺̜̮̪̻̭̰̑̏̐̔̅ͅa̴̡̺͈̭̥̪̗͎̾̈́̃̈́̈́͗̏͒́̉͜ͅn̵̨͈͈͈͔͍̬̮͓̜͇̳̈́͋̾̽̇ ̶̝̲͔͍͈̌̾̽̔̂̋̈́́͗̍̾̍͝o̴͙̜͈͕̜͎̅ͅs̷̢̝̯̖̖̫̠̼̎́̋̆̐̚̚̕͠s̶̼̘͚̣̍̑̀͌̑͋̂̈́̐̊͑̑̄?̸̢͕͙̲̻̥̞͉͚̱̅̃͋̇̊̏͛͂̔̚͠"
Helen sees my strange behavior and asks, "Grendel, are you felling ill?"
"No, Earth Child. Thanks for your concern. The earthpulse is talking a lot tonight."
"Can you hear it?"
"Just now, they talked twice. But now they are silent by force of their own will. It is like there is a will to talk, a pressure about to burst out."
"It is better if we step outside for a while."
"Yes, yes. Wise choice of action."
We go outside under the curious gazes of the party and once outside Helen takes her shoes out and stands on natural stone.
"You are barefoot already. Come and stand in front of me. Hold my hands."
I do as she says. "Your hands are so soft, your skin so smooth. What did you do?"
"It is a surprise, I'll tell you later. Focus."
Nothing happens for a few minutes.
"D̸̤̬͔͇̙̘̞̃̒́̅͝ẻ̴̢̨̨̙̥͍̪͙͈͕͐͋̇͊̈́̈́́̓͝͝͝͝n̴̗̹̺̳̰̝͚̟̫̮͕̣̈́̔̾̃ ̵̡̢̖̣̞̮̫͕͙̙̺́͑̓͋͒̒́͐̍̃͛̈́f̶̛̳͎̪̈̾̋̒̚͠ǫ̸̡̠̦͍̲̈̎̈́͋̋̎̈́̂r̷͓̪̙̣̩̹͖̺̄̈͂̅̄̿͗̚͠͝s̶͙̘̳̲͇͙̝̞̥͚̈́͂̆̾́͋͐ť̷̢͈͍̩a̴̰̯̲͐͊̂͗̈̆ ̷̦͛̎̃̔ḧ̶̡̫̝͚̤̞́̈́̈́̀̕ͅa̶̟͍̥͐͊̑̌́̈́̿͑r̶̛̩̠̗̩̹̃͐͛͋̇̓̚͝ͅ ̵͕̖̠̟̞͍͓͎͕̗͌̽͊͆͛͐̍͗͝͠ͅṿ̸̨̥̰̭̜͚̺̰͔͍̓̓̀̂͗͑̄̈̉̕"á̴̯͓̩͖̲͇̤͌͑̀̏͘͠ͅk̴̭̖͍͚̙̟̪̎̽̃̿̑͑͋͘͠ņ̶̫̥̼͉̥͂̂̀̽ạ̵̟͓͋̿̚͜͝t̷̡̺͈̭͙̩̥̝͆̒̄̌̈.̵̤̳͛̏͋̓͠"
"What was that? The voice was clear but I don't understand it."
"The voice of 'nature' is what I call it. It whispers to me sometimes, but it is very rare to get three messages right after one another. Last time it happened we were in that forest."
"Can you understand that voice, Earth Child?"
"Only sometimes. Most of the time it is not a voice, just a hunch. Like when we were gathering herbs the other day."
"The new tea."
"Indeed."
"The veins of the earthpulse are twisting and moving. It is unusual."
"I can feel that too, now that we are here together."
"Earth Child, there is something we must do. It is no good for the earthpulse to be flailing around like this."
"Guide me, Grendel."
I close my eles and focus on the ground and after a while I can hear the Earth Child's heartbeat. It echoes in the plants around us. Deep down the restless earthpulse goes back and forth and I reach out the hands of my mind into the earth. The heartbeat of the Earth Child floods the ground, and the whole forest comes alive. The strands of the earthpulse gather and we soothe them. They lay to rest in a new path, a new formation. They get together and tangle as one in the middle of the Syrup Meadow.
SWOOOSH!
It bursts up into the surface and a jet of water sprouts up for almost two hundred feet. The night wind carries the water northeast and away from us.
"Whoa. Something burst out there. What are the two of you doing out here all this time?" I blink and Marcy is by our side.
"We just stood out for a moment."
"It seems time really flies when one is having fun. You are out here for a couple hours already. I'll get jealous if you give attention only to Helen. I have waited alone for sixteens days too, you know?"
"Yes, yes. Earth Child, let's go inside. It is cold out here."
"Yes, Grendel. Who am I again?"
"Earth Child is Earth Child. What is the matter?"
She giggles and points at her own nose. "My name! Say my name!"
"Earth... hum... I've behaved just a little strange right now, Helen. I'm sorry."
"Tehe! It was fun, don't worry. Shraaizar warned us you might be a little strange these first days while you adapt to your new evolution. It is normal when the change is a radical one. But it seems we've unwittingly dug a hot water spring in the slime area."
"I felt a resonance. It felt similar to when I was skulking around in Mirfield with the mother-daughter archer duo. Did you feel that too, Marcy? When we were in the manor, how our thoughts were seeping into one another?"
"I was feeling strange, but it was because you were harassing me. That mirrror of heaven thing."
"You know, I didn't tell you that, but when we entered the room with Julius and Helen, I could get your feelings about how Helen was in that dress. For a moment I thought as a girl. Something like 'The dress she is wearing is marvelous. I want one for me.' and 'Her hair is fabulous! What did they put in it to make it that glossy?' Or something like that."
Marcy tomato mode activate! "Those were your own thoughts! Don't put even stranger things in my head than what you already did!"
"But Helen in that dress was really a balm for sore eyes. And her hair, I bet she spent more than two bells' intervals being tortured by the maids to get her hair that way."
Helen tomato mode activate! "I could wear that dress again if you really want. I don't mind spending the time to get my hair done if you thought it was really fabulous!"
"Lets go inside. It is cold here."
"Go ahead, Helen. I want to talk to the shaman here."
"Yup. I am in the mood for some hot cider. Have fun you two."
She goes inside and I caress Marcy's hair. "I like how I can see your long neck now."
"I just cut it because it was getting in the way when it was windy. Aiming with hair flying in your eyes is no fun."
"It is good for you. I didn't tell anyone this, but evolving feels like just a nap. I close my eyes and the next moment it is done. How was it here on the outside?"
"Hectic. We were out hunting every single day. We did as you asked, everyone reached their level goals."
"And I am the liar. How was it here on the inside?"
She throws her arms around my neck. "We need to use some drakeweed oil on your hair. Too coarse."
"I am going to ask a third time, stop running away from the subject."
"At first I was angry because of that mirror stunt you pulled. But the days went by and every time we returned you weren't there."
"I'm sorry for the mirror thing. But it was the best way to get you to talk right that particular moment."
She shakes her head. "I was not angry at the mirror. It was because you started playing with me without me. I... I was actuallly curious about it."
I'm surprised. "What do you mean?"
"That mirror, does it really lead to heaven? Or was it just a bunch of drivel like you usually do?"
"Maybe. I think it can."
"Good. I'll get back to you later. For now, let's go inside. It is too late and this hill is to windy. Maybe Helen will have to grow more trees to shield us."
----------------------------------------
After the feast, everyone went to their lodgings to sleep. I was out without a single desire to close my eyes. It was like I had slept for days and wouldn't be able to fall asleep. Actually, it was probably exactly that.
"I guess I should try some things," I say to no one in particular. Walking down the hill I was greeted by the goblin sentries watching over the palisade gate.
Goblins have better night vision among all monsters in this settlement and are used as watchers. I opened the gate and went out. I think I will make some other sentries and spread them around Willow Hill and the Syrup Meadow and go back to my workshop.
I craft and enchant a totem carving tool, a dagger made out of a troll horn. I can dismantle one of the daggers from the knights, enchant it for precision of carving and hardness so it can carve different materials, even other troll horns. I'll carve 10 of each totem and leave them in the item box for later use. My last task is to cut another quartz orb.
Tomorrow we will need a new Guild Crystal because Beowulf's party is returning to Mirfield to take over the town.
I should get some rest even if I am too excited to sleep.