Len and Rick trekked back to the Slumbering Willow, passing through the gate and up to their room without any issues, dropping off their gear.
Len took out the enchantment blanks, splitting some of them between the two packs. “Set this one up,” He handed Rick an alarm formation.
“Gotcha.” Rick placed them around the room, either side of the window as well as the door. Len finished unloading most of the enchantment blanks into the backpacks and stripped off his bracers and sword, putting it on his bed.
Feel naked without a weapon and armor.
Wearing only his clothes and a slimmed down couple of coins he snapped his fingers and raised his thumbs.
“Ready for a bath?”
“Hell yeah,” Rick said. “You’re starting to stink the place right up!”
They headed back out, replacing the door jam in its same position as they had the previous day.
Using the guidance of the man at the counter, they quickly found the baths down the street. "Clothes are seven copper, a wash is five," the man at the front said as they walked up.
Len and Rick pulled out their coins, giving them to the man before he passed them a wooden token each. "Take this over to go up through the door, drop your stuff off in the basket, then jump into the baths," he instructed.
"Thank you." Len took them both, passing one to Rick as he led the way through the doorway. Waiting on the other side were racks of baskets. Through the rack, one could see several women washing, cleaning laundry while talking to one another.
Len and Rick stripped down, dropping their gear into the baskets. "Token," one of the women asked from the laundry side.
"Yeah, we've got them," Len said.
"Throw them into the basket," she said back, not looking up from her own wash. Len and Rick did as instructed, continuing through and into the baths. There were several cold baths as well as a few warm baths. Using buckets and soap, they quickly scrubbed down before getting into the cold tubs, then moving over to the hot tubs to sit down and relax.
"Anything else we need to do today?" Len asked.
"I don't think so," Rick said. "We've got all the supplies that we need and well, I think the sooner we leave, the better."
Len nodded, sinking into his own thoughts as he sat back in the tub. "I wonder how strong the beasts are going to be out there."
"Well, with how thick this mana is, I don't think they'll be too strong," Rick said, though he seemed concerned. "Their numbers alarm me. At the end of the day, once we get in there, we'll find out."
“Still need to enchant the blankets,” Len said, the reminder bubbling to the surface.
They passed the rest of the bath in relative silence before collecting their clothes.
"Food and beer before we head off?" Len asked.
"Always up for a beer. I spotted a tavern just down that-a-ways," Rick replied.
The duo quickly found a tavern called The Madhopper. The place was a simple two-story affair with a bar to the left side of the building. It served drinks and had tables waited on by serving staff, bringing food as needed.
Upon entry, Len signaled to a member of the waiting staff. She paused, scanning the room before pointing at a table. Len nodded, weaving his way over to it and sitting down.
Len studied the room of patrons. It had a relaxed air, with people laughing, chatting, and having a late lunch. They were bent closer to their plates than those who had steady food. The lady who had gestured them to the table arrived.
"What do you lads want?" she asked.
"What do you got for food?" Rick asked.
"Smoked meat. Boiled vegetables and potatoes," she said.
"Alright, two plates of that and two beers," Rick said, looking at Len. "What are you having?"
Len shook his head. "I'll go for the same thing, please."
"Alrighty, that'll be 40 copper altogether," she said.
Len and Rick pulled out the exact coinage, having checked with the person manning the Slumbering Willow's counter before. She turned around, leaving them alone.
"How far along do you think it is?" Len asked.
"The ‘Lypse?" Rick asked, glancing at the people in the room.
"Yeah.”
“Well, we know that it's not going to happen for some time still. The mana is not nearly dense enough for the storms,” Rick said.
“Food's starting to get scarce. Beasts in the forests, shutting down all kinds of industry," Len said.
"Yeah, but for right now it only affects the people. It doesn't affect nobility," Rick said. “they won’t start to care till it hits their interests.”
Len grunted in agreement, as the lady returned with four mugs of beer.
"Here you go, lads. Food will be right out." She put them down.
Len and Rick grabbed a tankard each, toasting one another before drinking.
"Weak as piss, but beer's beer," Rick said.
"We don't have any cleansing enchantments to keep the water clean," Len said, taking another sip from his beer, sinking back into his thoughts.
"Even before the apocalypse started, things began to deteriorate," Len said. "People would do anything for food and drink. There were riots in the streets. The Capitol was overturned with infighting."
"Yeah, I remember some of that," Rick replied, his eyes distant. "They began using the students of Valoria as guards against the hungry and desperate. When the apocalypse actually came, it felt like an excuse from the nobility. They started using their powers, pushing down on the people below them. Once they were suppressed, they began fighting amongst themselves, trying to establish a new order. They tore Plynthia apart from the inside while it was being attacked from the outside." Rick shook his head.
"Do you think we should tell them?" Len asked.
"About the apocalypse?" Rick raised an eyebrow. "About everything? About cultivation? About mana? About the apocalypse?"
"Yes."
Rick laughed and leaned back in his seat, bringing his tankard with him. "There are plenty of people saying that the apocalypse is coming. Some of them are even nobility. But no one listened to them. After all, until it happened, there was no hard proof that anything was going terribly wrong. Sure, there were mana-mutated beasts, all kinds of strange occurrences, but people dismissed it or ignored it. It was only when they saw it firsthand, right in their faces, that they understood just how dire their situation was."
Len took a long drink from his tankard as the waitress returned with their meals.
"Here we are," she said, setting the plates down. "Anything else?"
"No, this is great. Thank you," Rick replied.
"Not a problem," she said, turning away to tend to other tables.
"If we don't do anything, history will just repeat itself," Len said.
Rick leaned on the table. "We're already planning to destroy the obelisk to ensure that most of history doesn't repeat itself. Without the God Emperor in place, the limits we had will be removed. Think about all the powerful figures he killed off, all the possibilities he destroyed.”
Len grimaced as Rick continued.
“Even we had to keep a low profile throughout our lives just to avoid his wrath. We couldn't push enchantments or smithing too far, had to make simple, dull things that wouldn't draw his attention or the attention of his agents. We had to keep our cultivation and abilities low. It was so stifling."
Rick stabbed his fork into his potatoes. "Without those limits, think of how much stronger humanity will be when facing the apocalypse?"
“That was all during the apocalypse, we know that its coming and soon. We could get people ready for what’s to come.” Len picked up his fork and started in on his meal.
Rick shrugged. “Sure, though how do we make sure that they don’t turn into scavs, hunters, or other bastards that will use what they learn to lord over others?”
"If we destroy the obelisk and make it through the forest, shouldn't we do something to help people survive what's to come?"
"I get you," Rick said, "but at this point, we should just be focusing on destroying the obelisk. Thinking about everything else is more than we can handle right now. Also it is when we destroy that obelisk, not if.”
They turned to the important business of food, quickly devouring everything on their plates and draining their tankards. Sitting back in his chair, Len picked up his second tankard, draining it down to the last drop.
"Shit!" Rick interrupted, clutching his collarbone and rising to his feet.
"What is it?" Len asked, also standing and scanning the tavern. People glanced over at their quick movements.
"Someone's trying to get into our room," Rick replied, removing his hand from his chest where the Master Enchantment Necklace rested.
"Fuck!" Len exclaimed.
The two of them darted through the tavern, weaving around the patrons who had just entered, and out onto the street.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
People moved out of their way as they sprinted towards the Slumbering Willow. They threaded their way through the crowd, entering the inn and skirting through the gate. The lady at the counter frowned at them as they dashed up the stairs.
Rick held his hand back, signaling Len to slow down as they reached the third floor of the building.
He peeked around the corner before quickly pulling his head back. "Two in the hallway. Looks like more are inside," Rick whispered.
"Rush them?" Len asked.
Rick nodded, holding up three fingers, then two, then one. Rick charged around the corner, Len right behind him.
"What the...?" One of the men at the door turned towards Rick.
"Fuck!" The man yelled, raising his fists. Rick was on him in an instant, landing a punch square in his face that sent him sprawling. Len moved around them, the second man stepping forward as Len, moved around him, focusing on not using too much strength as he punched the man in the ribs.
He curled around his ribs with a grunt of pain. Len swept his leg, hammering his elbow into the side of the man's head on the way down.
He hit the ground in a heap.
"What the fuck's going on?" Someone called from inside the room.
There were three men rifling through the bags and crates within their room.
"Shit!" One of them grabbed Len's sword, still in its scabbard. Rick was the first through the door, a whirlwind of fists and kicks.
Len held back, Too tight I’d just get in the way.
One of the would-be looters came flying out of the room, hitting the wall opposite. He groaned and started to move around.
Len punched him in the head, dropping him to the ground. A second man dropped to the floor in front of Rick.
“Get away from me!” The third man yelled, he’d managed to get the shutters halfway open. Rick grabbed him by the belt, turned, and threw him the length of the admittedly short room. He crashed into the wall, landing on top of the other man who'd been tossed.
Len grabbed him by the shirt, delivering two quick, savage blows that left him in much the same state as his companion.
"Well, that's a bit of nightly entertainment," Rick said, looking around. The men on the ground were groaning and writhing in pain as a burly man who manned the counter ran up the stairs.
"What the hell's going on here?" he demanded, staring at the men, then at Len, and finally at the open room.
"This lot tried to break into our room and take our stuff," Len explained, gesturing to the men on the floor.
"Where's your room key?" the man demanded.
Len pulled out the key, holding it out. The man took it, studying the letters and numbers on its face.
"Shit," he clicked his tongue, handing the key back to Len. "Sorry about this. I'll get some of the lads to help me take this trash out back," he said.
"One more for you," Rick said, dragging the fifth man out of the room and dropping him onto the pile of others.
The man looked at the five well-built men, then at Len and Rick's immature faces.
“Where you learn to fight like that?” The man asked.
"Pick up a few tricks here and there," Rick said, scratching the back of his head.
"Right," the man said, sounding unconvinced.
Three more men ran up the stairs.
"The hell's going on?" one asked.
"These five are leaving our residence today," he pointed at the five on the ground. "Seems they're the looting type. Go call on the guards.” He grabbed one by the ankle and started dragging them towards the stairs.
One of the men ran back downstairs, the other two moving up to help him drag the senseless men.
"Watch your fucking head," the first man said, dragging the first would-be looter down the stairs. The man started cursing, bouncing off the stairs as he went. He cried out as a boot connected with him as he struggled.
Len looked to Rick, who shrugged.
"Might as well pack up for tomorrow," Len said.
"Fair enough, they made a mess of things in here," Rick said, looking back into the room. Food and gear, which had been strictly organized, was now spread throughout.
Len shook his head, following Rick into the room, closing the door behind him. He locked the door and kicked the jamb into place.
"I'll clean this lot up if you want to get working on the blankets," Rick said.
“Works with me.” Len rolled his shoulders.
“Fists don’t even hurt that much,” Rick snorted examining his knuckles.
“Benefits of not being as old as dust,” Len picked through the gear throughout the room, snatching up blankets and his sewing kit, taking them to the lower bunk.
He heard the managers of the building dragging away the would-be looters through the thin door. When he was younger he’d flinch from seeing the cows getting branded. At some point with the death and violence he became numb to violence. It was a tool, something that happened as easily as bartering.
The only way it slowed was when you were strong enough that the threat of violence was enough to terrify others to getting the hell out of your way.
Len laid out his items. “Could you grab me a white pencil from my messenger bag?”
“Sure thing.” Rick moved over to the bag, shifted things around before pulling out a pencil. “Here you are.
“Thanks,” Len added it to his items.
Enchantments didn't have to be confined to metal. They could be applied to other materials as well. All materials fell into different grades. The wool blanket was of the common variety. The process differed slightly when carving an enchantment into metal compared to cloth material; with cloth, you had to sew it.
Len licked the thread before threading it through the eye of the needle, quickly grabbing it on the other side and pulling it through. Unrolling the bobbin, he started to examine the blanket. Being a common material, it could only hold one semi-strong enchantment, but he had only one in mind. For two of the blankets, he would apply a waterproofing enchantment. That way, he could throw one of the blankets over himself and his pack to keep the water off. For the third, he would make it temperature-regulating, allowing him to stay cool or warm when moving through the forest and mountains to the obelisk.
With a plan in his mind, he created a blueprint over the blanket. Instead of using his chisel to mark it out, he took out a white pencil that he'd bought from Timothy. Using his will, he quickly marked out on the material where he would sew the enchantment. Once done, he removed the blueprint and checked his handiwork, then gathered up the needle with his will.
He pulled the blanket out of the bunk bed and kneeled on a part of it, holding the other part away from the bed in mid air to keep it taut. He used his will to guide the needle through the blanket, then up again and down again, moving faster and faster as he got used to his control until it was just a blur of movement. Tracing along the drawn out lines. He moved the blanket around as sections were finished.
Quickly, the enchantment was created. A stylized corner holding the majority of the enchantment with a border running around the entire material.
Harder to hide parts of the enchantment. He had to have the needle go sideways through the blanket to hide pathways and runes.
Finally he connected the enchantment together.
Mana swelled, running through the thread. It was only a small charge, but enough to refresh and power the simple enchantment.
He tied off the thread and cut it, Rick’s cultivation taking another step upwards as he moved to the next blanket repeating the waterproofing enchantment.
It was an ingenious little enchantment, focusing on pushing water out in one direction.
Whenever water fell upon it, it would be pushed out, effectively making sure nothing underneath was drenched.
Sometimes, simplicity is the best approach. Staying dry and warm, not freezing or overheating, was a damn useful thing to have when out in the wilds.
The temperature regulating enchantment was based on a fire element enchantment heating, or drawing the heat out of the air underneath it.
It took Len longer to pull the blanket out and set it, ready for the next enchantment than it took him to sow them.
“Going to cut a head hole in one of the waterproofs and the temperature regulated blankets for me, want me to do the same for you?” Len asked.
Rick pushed the bag he had repacked to the side, the top open, waiting for the blankets. “Sure.”
Len cut the holed, using the needle and thread to sow up the sides of the head hole so they wouldn’t keep growing.
He tossed the finished blankets to Rick who folded them and packed the waterproofs then threw his temperature regulating one on his bunk. Len kept his on his bed too.
“Cultivate?” Rick asked, pulling out the mana gathering formation enchantments.
Len winced. “Yeah I guess that’s the best use of our time.” He held out his hand, Rick passed him the second mana gathering formation.
Rick made the outer one as Len laid out the inner formation.
The mana density of the room rapidly increased. The higher the density the less work they’d have to do compressing the mana to cultivate.
It would also passively increase how much mana they could regenerate.
“Alright you want to go first?” Len asked.
“Sure, thing,” Rick took off his hammer and put it to the side. “Guess you could use that if you needed.”
Len picked it up, threading his mana through the enchantments, feeling the vibration stored at its heart. “We’ll see.” He put it down again.
Rick settled down on the floor. Len drew mana into his eyes, piercing through the world. At first he could only use it to see the flow of mana, as he’d understood the five elements of water, air, fire, earth, and metal he could see their concentrations and movements around him.
He’d moved from mana user to elemental master, to beyond the veil to energy weaver. He saw how it all connected together, each a part of the whole a different facet of the same thing.
Rick’s channels were filled with mana. Len activated the resonating strike technique, hitting Rick.
His mana rushed to repair the damage as Len moved around him, seeing the depth and damage he’d wrought.
His strikes were calculated and pin point accurate, radiating damage through Rick’s body. He was deaf to Rick’s grunts, it was a balance of the body, pushing it to the limit of what it could heal.
As the body was tempered Len could hit harder, faster. Too much and he could cripple or overtax Ricks’ body to the point he’d have to use healing spells to help him.
Seventy to eighty percent. Too much and Rick wouldn’t have the capacity to recover. Too little and it wouldn’t have the effect they desired.
He had to keep a check on the chemically stored energy within Rick’s body, making sure he could repair the damage too.
There goes his metabolism. Rick’s body started drawing in more nutrition to help heal.
Len cracked bones, strained organs and tore muscles, pushing on.
Rick’s mana spread through his bones and veins. If the bone was broken everything else would be useless, if the vein ruptured you lost blood.
“Old iron bones,” Len chuckled.
Rick grunted out through the shirt he was using, in what Len picked up as ‘don’t you fucking forget it!’.
His name had spread wide and far in part because Len and Rick tempered their bodies as far as they could. It was why they had such a meteoric rise in power before they attacked the vault. All they’d needed to do was suck up vast quantities of mana.
In a world where people were judged based on their cultivation. Having a highly tempered body allowed you to get a one up on your opponent.
Never let your opponent know how strong you are. Flaring their cultivation to get praise or others to piss off. Good way to show your hand, and get Dennis’ attention.
Len hit harder, the more sweat spilled, the less blood lost. He worked Rick over, pausing as he saw his energy stores dipping low.
He looked around the room, seeing through the walls and other rooms around them. There was an all-powerful feeling being able to see through the world, the very materials, the energy that infused it all.
He could reach out, just a small alteration, twist the fabric of reality. The true undeniable power of mana, its allure. Len moved his fingers through the air, he felt the agitated water element, blended with heat, mixed with earth. The earth falling as the heat dissipated, the water combining with the earth its changing energy potential causing it to shift as forces acted upon it. “Stare into the abyss and it stares back.”
Rick groaned, dropping onto the floor and pulling out the shirt. “All-seers.”
“Cursed with seeing beyond what they could comprehend till they became insane,” Len turned his eyes on Rick. Knowledge was power, incredible power.
“How’s your body?”
“You can see,” Rick said his breathing normalizing.
“Seeing and feeling are different.” Len withdrew his sight, returning to the world instead of seeing its secrets.
It always interested him how having that much information at his command, made him feel so detached from everything.
“Feels like you’re an arsehole,” Rick held up his middle finger, before letting it fall to the ground.
“Cultivation time now,” Len said.
“Gimme a sec, you beat me seven shades of shit jackass.”
“Farmer getting one up on the noble.” Len produced a sly grin as Rick cracked a single eye open, glaring at him.
“Don’t worry you’re the shittiest noble I ever did meet.”
“That’s better,” Rick smiled, looking proud as he blinked his eyes open. Mana suffused through them, the purple glow of mana spread through his eyes, shimmering with hints of red, yellow, green, silver and blue.
The mana around him stilled, as if lashed into place.
“Here we go.” Rick’s word reverberated through the room as the mana was condensed around him, driving into his gates and channels.
In the vacuum the formation drew in more mana, only to be condensed by Rick and drawn in once more.
His reach lurched outwards, his core expanding from Orange solid to yellow vapor. It surged forward, expanding again, successive breakthroughs rushing through him.
Yellow solid turned to Green. He reached Green liquid and stopped drawing mana in. His body straining with the power contained within.
Rick blinked his glowing eyes open, it didn’t matter if his eyelids were closed or not to see through the world.
This speed, even in the apocalypse it was incredible. If they were to tell someone else they’d have died in regret and jealousy already.
“Its terrifying how strong we’re getting so quickly,” Rick said, his voice resonating with the mana around him.
“Doing creepy deep douche voice,” Len said.
“Ah shit,” Rick’s voice turned back to normal. “Those guys that resonate their voice with mana all the time really are shit.”
“Yeah, usually got something to prove. Real big talkers too.”
“Got its moments to use but like all the time. Urggh I heard of a guy that learned how to do it just to scare off others.”
“That’s kind of a smart move.” Len nodded. “People think you’re a lot stronger if you run around doing that.”
Rick pushed himself up off the floor. “Alright, your turn.”
“Its all for untold power, think of the power, all for the power,” Len mantra’d as he sat down.
“I just say its for all the gold. With the prices that the hunter’s bureau are charging we could really crack the market here and make off like bandits.”
“For power and wealth, wealth and power.”
Rick snorted. “Brace yourself.”
Fuck.