*Groan* *Crash*
A dismayed shout could be heard from the team assaulting the gate.
“This is not working! Like the last ten times I told you!”
“Pull back, pull back!”
Summer yelled at the head of the alliance leaders, Gustav, while Carvall, one of the two free agents like Summer, called back his men (and women). If Summer wanted to hire a professional mercenary, he would contact Carvall. He looked the part too, tall, heavily-muscled, intimidating height and features. A large, thick-bladed battle axe was strapped to his back. His voice was impressively loud and clear, too. Something Summer knew Winter would envy, as somehow his voice translated in Royal Road, from real life. His shouting could never have penetrated the loud battlefield like that.
Those were the only words Summer heard from Carvall for the day. Everyone was executing general retreat protocol, which was “Run Like Hell and Do Not Look Back!”. Odette, who was included, like in the previous assault attempts for her great defensive ability, crossed the marked distance that denoted the furthest distance that could be shot by an archer atop the wall.
Gustav, Mackey, Mendel and the rest of the alliance leaders, all seven to be told, looked increasingly nervous. Another one day in-game had passed. The catapults they had assembled were hurling rocks summoned by shamans, but to no avail. The walls were thick and as secure as it could be. The defender’s shamans dissolved the rocks when it threatened to fill up the moat. It put to ground Summer’s basic idea of filling up the moat. Winter wondered if the spell would work on naturally quarried stone. It seemed somehow, it should not.
“What do you want me to do! We are losing no matter what! Stop yelling at me and give me a good idea!” Gustav, who finally snapped, shouted back to Summer.
Summer gave his best flinty stare, that cowed Gustav instantly. It was the sort of silent stare that made Julianne, who was pretty stout-hearted. nervous. Ronald hd been at the receiving end of that stare a few times, and it was not pleasant at all.
They pulled back, though it was only early morning. The newly minted battering ram was showing results, probably too much, which was why the defenders collapsed the stone bridge. The heavily-armored warriors had to unequip most of their gear to swim to the surface. It was also the reason why Mendell, the third free agent, was not around. He perished after his swim. The defenders shot a barrage of magic and arrows, when he surfaced and made a run for it. Unequipped, Mendell was not pot-bellied like Summer thought. He was actually on the skinny side. With barely any armor equipped, followed by a barrage of focused fire, Mendell did not stand a chance.
The Ranbell Castle Wizard above was probably laughing his ass off at the show. He was probably the one responsible for the death of Mendell, by tagging him as the assault leader. The man was solid, and even came up with a good plan for his own attempt. He was fed up enough with Gustav and the rest to try it, despite objections from Carvall and Summer.
Gustav’s own allied guild troops were listless, drifting around without purpose. They stood at a safe distance, watching their assault repelled again, and with every survivor that did not manage to return, their morale sank even further.
It should be what they had done since the beginning. They would lose less men, and found out about the rigged bridge foundation much earlier.
Mendell planned a covering fire with archers and wizards, to make the defenders keep their head down. They then rushed forward with the battering ram at a dead run, not the slow shuffle walk kind they tried before. They had shamans, mages, and any volunteers, make a long downward sloping ramp. The overall effect would be the ram speeding up, multiplying the damage in one go, instead of standing still and becoming a sitting duck, while they tried battering the gate down like before. The reverberating boom of the impact was loud enough for Winter and Adria, who were at the furthest distance from the battle, to hear, and imagine the moment where the wood and steel met with the gate.
They managed this twice more, before the stone bridge was dropped, plunging them into the moat with the ram. The three hits actually cracked and splintered the wood and iron bound gate. Another once or twice might actually do the job. Whoever stood in command behind the wall had to be commended for its solid and creative defense methods.
Winter could see Summer and Carvall huddling together, arguing or planning, he did not know. The battle was suspended for the moment. One of many figures that survived the swim walked to where Summer and Carvall were. Judging from the height and gender, it was likely Odette. She was pretty much the only barbarian player around the camp. She also looked mightily unhappy. The shield strapped on her back was riddled with arrows, and could expect serious repair effort.
Winter felt a slight poke on his left hip. Adria’s earthen hand now looked sinuous and beautiful, unlike the rather rough one before her transformation. They were practicing combats using magic, and she overmatched Winter every single time. Then again, somehow his recent spell multiplication bonus was maximised to two, at most. Adria was holding back too, after their first combat ended up with Winter embarrassingly laid flat, after he got tossed high on the air.
She taught him a new magic though, <
Stone Coffin (Tier 03)
A solid wall of earth will rise up and take a set amount of damage, before dissipating. It is a magic with great defensive capability, but almost no offensive strength. You can, however, rely on this spell to defend up to Tier 04 offensive spells. Also disappears naturally on its own after two minutes. Dismissing has to be done while touching.
Mana Consumption: 6
Maximum summoned amount: 8
2.0s Cooldown
“Rise up! Stone Coffin!”
Increasing proficiency increases maximum quantity summonable, height, length and thickness
Winter had had his eye on this magic since he saw it during his jaunt with Minalan and Adria to Fueno’s lair. He only had the chance to learn it now. It was just too bad that she could not teach him Minalan’s impressive shockwave spell. She seemed to have other spells in her repertoire aside from the two Winter knew, but he did not ask.
Unlike real traveling, where they could stop for rest, the game depended on Stamina for fatigue. Adria was the only one that felt the fatigue physically, while Winter remained fresh until his mind gave out, or he was unable to move due to depleted stamina. That was how they traveled up to Harine and here, which left them no time to practice, and barely any time for social conversation after dark.
With the decrease of their numbers, Winter was relieved from cooking duty. They were loathe to lose Adria, but had no choice, since she was not even supposed to join in.
“You got me,” Winter raised his hands in defeat.
“You are not paying attention, Uncle Winter.” Adria pouted her lips a little.
“Sorry about that, dear. I was just thinking that we better leave this place soon before the bad guys come.”
The reason for Winter wanting to leave was not for his own sake. It was Adria he was worried about. Winter could die once and lose a level, logging back in four days later in-game. Adria, being an NPC, might not have the same benefit. He began to think it was a big mistake to bring her here. He would talk to Summer later about leaving the party to send her back to safety.
Adria herself appeared nonchalant to the violence around her, but Winter knew better than that. There were quiet moments between them, when Winter saw she was uncomfortable with the slaughter between two intelligent parties out of anything else besides self-preservation. She told him so. She had killed monsters before with Minalan, but only out of self-preservation. She could not reconcile the violence here with the teachings of Freya she believed so strongly. Winter did not know what to say on that count. It was all a game for him. It was a game world.
xXx
Adria understood war as an abstract concept. But seeing it in person, it completely baffled her why the outlanders had to battle against each other. Was it not enough for the grace of Freya to bring peace to everyone?
Adria followed Winter not out of interest to see how the violence would play out. It was to confirm for herself what she had felt growing inside. When she woke up suddenly all grown up, she felt her prayers were answered by Freya. But she had no idea why she wanted to suddenly grow up. Her mind was too young to interpret her feelings, but she knew it was related to the sour-faced older man that treated her kindly, despite her constant mischief.
xXx
“Daniel, do you have any time?”
I sat beside him without waiting for his response. He knew I had something important to say, since I used his real name.
“What do you need, Ronald?” Daniel used my real name too, to acknowledge that he understood.
“I need to leave before the reinforcement arrives. No. It is not for myself,” I stopped him when he was about to speak.
“Its about Adria.”
It immediately dawned on Daniel what the problem was.
“You are worried for her safety I assume. And with just cause. NPC can only die once. They disappear for good forever when they do,” Daniel simply confirmed my suspicion. Instead of calming me, it worried me even more if I would make it out with her unharmed.
“Okay. I will be leaving with her in the morning. I think you should do the same, like what Mendell’s men did.”
Since Mendell perished, his men saw no reason so stick around. So they deserted in groups. The alliance were sorry to see them go, since they made the bulk of the heavy armor section, that were further demoralised after their latest attempt, that showed good results were repelled. The rumors said that approximately 200 left. I would tell them to check with the chefs cooking their meals to know the exact number. But who cares, right?
Ronald felt it was nigh time to leave too, since he was bored from constantly cooking. His mood had improved now that he had more time to spend with Adria and Odette, but he thought it was time to leave when he saw Summer busy yelling profanities to the deaf, dumb, ears and brains of Gustav and six others. He half expected Carvall to fly into a rage and hew everyone down, judging from his recent black moods and violent outbursts. Earlier, he even trounced Summer, for which Summer replied by shooting him at his crotch. They got into it for quite a bit, and then walked away with arms over their shoulders, walking side by side.
“No, Ronald, I think I will stay for a bit. I refuse to acknowledge I cannot topple this castle. I must have it. I already lost 50 men.”
Ronald had only seen Daniel this resolved once. It was an event of both joy and tragedy for Ronald and Daniel. His avatar conveyed that same sense of resolve as back then. Ronald was annoyed that Daniel felt that emotional over a game.
“Dammit! Just go over the wall!” He said in annoyance.
“It does not work that way, Ronald. You either fill in the moat, breach the gate or climb over the wall here. There is no option of going over the wall!”
“Tell that to the Wizards up there!” I pointed to the sky, even more annoyed now.
“Well, they are Wizards,” Summer answered, as if that explained everything.
“Look. This is a game. You have options that are not available in real life, like Magic.”
“I already thought of that. I cannot think of anything. I think I need one of your crazy plans now. Think you can give me one?”
Winter laughed at that. Summer hated his crazy plans, since it was crazy. He was more often successful than failed in his execution of the crazy plan. But the collateral damage was... well, let’s not mention that. Daniel still steamed when Ronald mentioned the exploding cake fiasco that occurred when they were ten. He sent the exact same birthday cake without the extra bang when he was particularly displeased with Daniel that year.
It might be an appropriate time for a crazy plan now, since they were desperate. Winter relaxed his mind and looked over the battlefield to the tall wall that still stood, despite the continuous bombardment from the catapult. He then looked at the wizards flying in the sky. From his vantage point, he could not see what the inside of the city looked like. The command tent might have an accurate map for it. Then suddenly it hit him. He might have a plan after all.
“I might have one, Summer.” Winter’s smile might be a little maniacal. Summer was suddenly unsure whether he should have asked.
“Okay. Here goes...”
“That is impossible! No way that will work!”
“What do you have to lose, Summer? Your life?”
Summer quieted down. He was ready to hurl the whole party in desperation. What else could he do besides dying over his principle? This plan proposed by Winter was pure dumbness, that crossed the boundary of what would be possible. But everyone inside the tent had worked on their plan upon the assumption of a real life situation. They forgot the most crucial fact. It was not reality, it was all a game. The plan of a madman might have a better chance of working than a sound, intelligent realist in Royal Road.
“You are a madman for even thinking this up!”
“Will it work?”
“I don’t know. This is one crazy ass plan! Whoever heard of this sort of plan before!” Summer still raged at the impossibility when Winter put his foot down.
“Well, just do it! You wanted a crazy plan and I got one here. This is crazier than my usual standard, maybe. Well, okay. Yes! It is a lot crazier.” Winter increased his self-assessment upon his plan good two notches up, when he saw the accusing stare that Summer threw at him.
“But if it works, you stand a good chance of conquering the castle before the help arrives, right?”
“True.”
Summer ran the possibilities through his head. It was one hell of an audacious plan, topped by crazy, and on top of crazy, an extra serving of really scary. If the whole plan worked, the usual scheme of Royal Road castle assault methods might be based on this plan, which was based on a madman’s imagination. The situation was desperate enough that they could use a madman.
With that, Summer set to work. He needed to convince the rest of the leaders. If he had Carvall in the bag, the vote was half won, maybe. If Summer promised to forget the latest debacle he embroiled Summer in, Summer thought he could get Haskel to play along. With renewed purpose and a thrice crazy, but workable plan, Summer called for a meeting. Something he had never done before.
The command tent was louder than usual that night. The ensuing eerie quietness was making the camp nervous. Some speculated it might be a bloodbath inside the tent. In the morning, all exited the tent with determined looks on their faces. Gustav rallied and briefed his guildmates on the plan, at least the part they needed to know. The six others followed suit, executing their part of the plan. For the first time after their continuous defeat, the players felt the beginning of hope.
xXx
’What are they doing? This silence is making me nervous.’
Preston was talking to himself, while looking beyond the empty field to the attacker’s side. There seemed to be a flurry of activities, but he could not say what. A small quantity of the force had left right after the failed morning assault. Preston was enjoying it thoroughly, when he ordered the bridge’s foundation to be weakened and to be knocked out completely, when the new battering ram tactic was surprisingly effect. Preston had filed it away for future use and reference. The force was so strong that it cracked the gate in three blows, though the recoil likely injured the warriors manning them, too. Because they did not linger after they struck, but pulled back to repeat the action, Preston’s wall troop did not get the chance to drop more alchemic liquid fire upon them. It got him a little nervous, alright. Just a teensy bit.
A concerted effort managed to kill off one of the assault leaders marked. A measure of good success. Their morale was high, which was why Preston was careful. He knew of two directly experienced cases where overconfidence was the main cause of defeat. Luckily he was on the winner’s side.
’Half the force left now. Our Wizard could not follow them before he had to land. They are not back yet. Wonder what they are up to.’
He had a measure of respect for the current battle commander, which seemed to have changed from the bumbling idiots before. Covered work tents were erected, negating air surveillance. Another page Preston planned to save if he was ever again in attacking position. The tent made no noise at all. He expected sounds of hammer and sawing. Curious.
’They are making something. That is for sure. But what? A bridge? A special battering ram? A larger catapult?’
Where other commanders should be relaxing, Preston was thorough, constantly worrying until the battle was done, and victory confirmed, not presumed or anticipated. It was what made him very good at what he was doing, despite his young age.
’What are they planning...’
Preston’s imagination was going into overdrive when Wilen’s hailing brought him short.
“Commander Preston, Sir! Arvel is back. He brought new information, Sir!”
A crisp salute from Wilem, and he stood at the ready. Preston nodded, moving to the base of the West Tower where he told Arvel, the only Wizard the castle had to return when he was done with the long range reconnaissance. Preston decided it was worth the risk even if they lost Arvel, as long as he managed to convey the intelligence before he died.
’This whispering function is sure convenient. No chance for information to be lost or intercepted, and instantly received, too. No wonder real medieval siege takes forever. Figuring out what each side does takes forever. Sending reinforcements through enemy lines would be a risky proposition at best, too.’
“Arvel. What do you have?”
Preston immediately got to the point. His worrying was getting ahead of his self-confidence and preparations.
“Hay and rocks,” came the succinct reply.
“That’s it? There must be more.”
Preston pressed for further details. He could not believe a commander that had thought to negate air surveillance, was spending his valuable time and resources playing with rocks and hay, the staple of old siege methods.
“Well, there are also catapults hauled there, and a lot of excitement, a lot of people seemed to be scribbling and talking, arguing.”
’They are measuring the load and distance to go over the wall. Burning the city? What for? They cannot get in either way. Just to spite us before they are done?’
Possibilities ran around his head. He accounted and dismissed them in rapid succession.
“Oh. I also saw a lot of players chopping down trees. No idea what it is for.”
“Likely for another battering ram or bridging attempt. How many trees are we talking about?”
“No idea about the collected quantities, as I did not stay long enough to find out. There were maybe some forty players doing it.”
Preston ran a rough calculation in his head, and consulted his internal map. The trees within a day’s distance from Ranbell were not abundant or large. At most, they would harvest some three hundred cubic meters. Enough to make about three bridges worth, by his conservative estimate. Also possible to double the amount of their catapult force. But late afternoon, and there seemed to be no catapult unveiled. Now what?
Arvel looked like a typical wizard. The triangular hat, long white beard and hair, wizened-looking look, robe and all. He also carried a wand, rod, or staff, depending on his mood. He sat down on a chair nearest to him, while waiting for further orders.
He had risked death by flying out so far, though Wizard’s <
Flight (Tier 06)
Available only to second job advancement of mainly Magician. Also possible to be obtained through special methods. It allows the caster to fly freely, defying the pull Gaia imposed upon all living creatures. An advanced wind magic, this spell is easy to cast, maintain and control for any that managed to get this far to learn it, though the speed leaves a lot to be desired. Almost no focus is required after the initial need of leaving the ground. Be careful when you are up high!
Mana consumption: 500 initial, 100 mana for every minutes on air
Additional Effect:
Unable to fly for 600 seconds after landing due to exhaustion
Unable to cast any other spell while in flight
Improving this skill reduces your mana consumption per minute and increases your flight speed.
“Grace of the wind shall carry me far! Flight!”
The spell required the caster to stop for ten minutes the moment they touched ground. With his mana pool, and spell mastery, Arvel could stay in air for almost three hours. The enemy’s wizard was still too new, and had less flying time. During his reconnaissance mission, he was forced to stop after two hours, leaving him with a sizable mana pool, in case he was seen and confronted. But it was a needless worry. He was spotted and was duly ignored. He followed them around for six hours, before heading back.
There was also the issue of the inability to cast any spell while flying, or else all Wizard and Witches would be doing ‘bombardment and run’!
He loved being a Wizard. It had a lot of perks aside from flight.
“Okay. This is what we will do, Arvel.”
Arvel snapped his head back when Preston spoke. He respected the commander, a lot. He was instantly alert.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
“We can expect them to try something tomorrow. So I need you to stay on the wall. There is no more need for you to do anymore flying. If they fail the next assault, they will be a little short on time to try another one, I think.”
Arvel grinned happily. This was the first time he had the chance to stand on the wall and play with his spells. As the only Wizard in the whole castle, he was too important to be flinging magics. He was the only one out of everyone left that could fly. That made him the most important person aside from Preston here.
“Finally! I have been itching to kill a few of those dumb idiots,” Arvel rubbed his hands gleefully.
He had seen the previous attempts the enemies had done. It was laughable at best, and entertaining at the least.
xXx
Summer was inside the large, covered tent he had thought up. It was something to negate the air surveillance. The plan, after it was properly thrashed out, seemed to be beyond bulletproof. Summer could say it was blast proof, if he chose to be proud about it. Winter was seriously twisted, but also amazing for thinking it up. Winter was indeed right. Summer was too set on his way, not fully seeing Royal Road as a game.
Players were materialising the timbers they quickly gathered in eight hours. It was more than enough for the purpose. The blacksmiths had materialised it after shaping each long blocks of different width, though the thickness and length were equal.
Normal players could materialise any wood they gathered as small blocks of 20cm x 20cm x 20cm, that could be stretched into any length or thickness, as long as it adhered to the total volume. A blacksmith with woodworking capabilities, however, could do much more. Like joining the small blocks to make larger blocks. The better their blacksmithing skill, the larger the resulting volume allowed, and more shapes they could create. At the moment, they were practicing so they could assemble something Winter thought of. Winter mentioned it to Summer as an afterthought. But combined with the initial plan, that was already beyond absurd, it made perfect sense. Winter was truly looking forward to rain on the smug bugger's parade above the wall there.
“Summer. We are good with the catapult and calculation. We can cover the distance easily. But we have size limitation, due to the basket having a set size. Any larger, and it would mess with the balance of the throw.”
Gustav lived out to his name as someone with serious logistic capabilities. Aside from organising the timbering expedition, he also organized the catapult team, the current blacksmith team, special assault team and direct assault team, on top of the mage corps, that now practiced in near darkness, off a considerable distance from the camp. Haskel was won over easily, when Summer promised not to hold the debacle against him, since he might have to come up with a plan to win the battle. Haskel even supported his prompt appointment as the field commander. He was in charge of the group leaders for each section organised by Gustav. Being the most sociable and politically savvy, he made quick decisions on the matter, with not a single voice raised.
“As long as it works. How are the mages doing?”
“Orval, who is supervising, just said that they could use a little more practice to synchronise better. Aside from that, I think we are doing fine.”
“How about the special assault team? We have enough volunteers?”
Summer was included in this special assault team automatically. He had an important role to play, if he survived the first minute.
“They are off at that tent there. We have too many volunteers ,and have to leave it to Haskel to do the picking,”
Gustav was pointing to a tent a little distance from the one he was standing in. From the open flap, he could see that there was a long queue of mixed professions of melee and magician. They needed several of each profession, but mainly just someone stupid enough to volunteer. He was glad they were not short on that kind at this juncture.
“By the way... I thank you for stepping up, Summer. I am definitely not the leader I thought I was.”
After strings of failures, Gustav, as the figurehead of the expedition, was a wreck. He was truly grateful for Summer to come forth with a sound plan. Gustav was humbled, after he saw how Summer worked the whole team. It showed well -ordered thoughts with foresight.
“Don’t mention it, Gustav. At the moment, I just want to take down the castle.”
Summer dismissed the acknowledgement of his superiority easily. He had a lot to worry about. If they failed even a single aspect of the plan, there would be no contingencies. It was a rush for victory or death.
“I do not even remember now why I wanted that castle. It seems too pointless after my failures,”
Gustav sighed to himself. Was it greed? Was it just because he could do it? Or was it because it would be the fun thing to do? After he gave it a little thought, he would pick the combination of the three.
“Never mind that. I am not even sure this will work. I truly wants more time, but we are pressed for it. Reinforcements will arrive in four days. I do not know how long this is going to take. Hopefully not very long.”
“Still, it is a very strange plan. Crazy even. I never expected that from you.”
Summer laughed, long and hard. All work stopped, as they were puzzled by his behavior.
“Keep going! You all need to do it as fast as you can!”
One of the blacksmiths might have muttered something like “Crazy bastard” or something. But the man was directing the word to the wrong person though it was not said with malice, but amusement. They were doing something nobody ever thought of before.
“Well, you are right. This is a plan that I, in normal circumstances, will never think of. But recent times have caused me to be a little more creative.”
Summer took the credit, since he knew Winter would not be interested. Besides, it was Summer that spent time to refine it with everyone else. Winter would not be patient enough to sit down and talk it out. He would steamroll over everyone’s objections, or attempt to, which would set everyone off to bouts of long heated arguments.
“Amen to that, Summer. I will check back on the catapult team. They should be back now.”
Summer nodded to Gustav, and he quickly left the tent. They have a lot to do.
xXx
“Men! Do it like you mean it! Three steps distance at the same time. If you misstep, it will mess up the whole thing! A little gap is fine! But that much is unacceptable! Do it again! One two three!”
At the count, the whole team of mages cast their spell at the same time. They were casting identical spells in concert. Orval was depressed, since last year, after his girlfriend broke up with him. But he might have found a new love. Never mind if she was an NPC. Real life women were overrated, anyway. He should know, because he was dumped by one for no obvious reason. He spent time with her on weekends, went to movies together, went on dates.
Their break up confirmed what he had thought for a while now. That he should stick to 2D girls. They would never betray you. His girlfriend constantly complained about him watching his favorite series. He could not understand why she was unhappy whenever Orval - real life name Adam Sanders - invited her over to watch it together. With the appearance of Adria,a three dimensional, beautiful, innocent and not high strung, he was able to pull over his depression. When he and his girlfriend broke up, she trashed his collection. But now, he had something else to look forward to collecting. He just had to think of how to get Winter away from her.
Odette was disappointed that she could not join the special assault team. Instead, she was put into the direct assault team. A consolation prize. Rock was rejected too, but was not against it. The rest of her schoolmates were mostly rejected too, as there were others with higher levels than them. The exception was Aloine, that was chosen. Odette suspected there was more going on there, as she was sure Aloine’s level was not so far ahead of the rest of her friends.
“Don’t be disappointed. We have our own role to play. As important as those at that line there.”
Carvall turned out to be pretty chatty, once you got him talking. Odette was the closest to the close mouthed player. The man was taller than Odette by a good ten centimeters, probably. She wondered how tall the man was in real life.
“I know. But I cannot help it. It sounded pretty darn exciting, if you ask me.”
Odette, who had never seen Carvall smile before, saw it for the first time. It was a lopsided smile, barely a smile, yet it changed his whole serious countenance, into one of civility and possible humor.
“I wanted to join too. But I prefer rushing forward with my friend here.”
Carvall patted the large axe strapped on his back. He was the leader of the direct assault team, no contest with Odette, the secondary leader. Out of the whole plan, they were the ones with the most free time, for now. She wanted the next afternoon to arrive quickly.
“I will logout for now. I will see you tomorrow afternoon.”
Nodding his acknowledgement, Carvall stood still, watching the standing body of Odette turn into pure white, transparent crystalline. It was the natural state of avatars that did not log out in a designated safe zone or city area.
“Uncle Winter! You need to sleep!” Adria tried to tell her sole protector for the umpteenth time.
“Not a chance. We cannot be sure that there is no assassin!”
Winter was yawning, but still alert enough. He was overly paranoid, but in this case,it was way better to be safe than sorry.
“Really, what will an assassin be doing running into a full battle camp?”
“You can never be too sure.”
Winter replied with the same words that Adria had heard so much the past seven nights. It was almost like a chant.
“Okay. How about this. I will stick close to Orval there.”
Adria waved her hand to Orval that by chance (?), passed close by. It was late night, almost midnight, in Royal Road. The mages finally worked in near perfect coordination. Orval doubted that anymore practice would be helpful.
Winter paused, suddenly very alert. It puzzled Adria that Winter was more worried about Orval, than an assassin seeking her for reasons unknown.
“Tolan! Ho!”
Winter hailed Tolan that was trailing behind Orval. Both paused, but only Tolan walked to them with slumped shoulders. Orval walked on after observing for a bit. Were his footsteps a little too slow, there?
“What do you need, Winter?” Dejected-looking Tolan was recovering, but still looked pretty bad.
“I need to get out and brew a little lifeblood for myself out there. Look after Adria here for a bit?”
Tolan was silent for a moment, then of all things, burst into sobs while fleeing from the two.
Adria was puzzled. while Winter could only sigh, with “Oh, dear” echoing inside his mind. Seemed like he had to stay awake the whole time, after all.
xXx
The morning came quickly. Winter left Adria in the care of Summer, who was done with every preparation, but worrying, logged back in after sobering himself up with coffee. Daniel’s avatar might not look like it, but his real life body should be looking a little worse for wear. A good number of them had been awake for nearly two days straight in real life. But the wait was finally over. At least for Winter. He would leave before noon, after finishing up his cooking.
Rainbow Fish Bun
A unique creation by Sella. This recipe was created from her intent to let the common folks enjoy a small taste of great food, without concern of the price. It is mostly filled with other ingredients, with a decent quantity of Rainbow Fish’s unique flavor, that will override other ingredients’ lesser flavor. One part in four must be of Rainbow Fish, with the rest of any available meat. Will not work with rotten meat! A single fish will be enough to make sixty buns if you are stingy!
Consuming this food grants 100 Vitality for six hours
Eating more than one will not give additional benefits!
Rainbow Fish Soup
A unique creation by Sella. This recipe was created with whole Rainbow Fish eyes as the main showcase, while the rest of it are finely diced and tossed into the soup. Supposedly, this soup grants clarity of mind and temporary mental fortitude. Not for the weak-hearted! Each fish can be used to make twenty even servings. The lucky ones get the eye.
Consuming this food grants 50 Wisdom, 50 Intelligence for six hours
Consuming more than a bowl might give you nightmares!
Grilled Rainbow Fish
A unique creation by Sella. This recipe was created for quick preparation without losing its intricate taste. Each skewer is dipped in thick soy sauce and cooked over an open fire. A simple dish, yet elegant in its taste, and practical for an adventurer. This preparation method also allows the dish to be mass cooked. Each Rainbow Fish will yield 16 skewers on average.
Consuming this food grants 50 Strength, 50 Agility for six hours
Consuming more than a skewer is just greedy! You will lose your money!
Smoked Rainbow Fish
A unique creation by Sella. This technique of preparation allows the fish to be stored for long distance travel. It takes two days for the dish to be finished, but it can be mass produced. The fish turns a little hard due to the cooking process, but has amplified, concentrated taste! Fragrant wood must be used to prepare Rainbow Fish using this method! A single fish shall make enough for meals for twelve people on average!
Consuming this food grants 50 Defense, 50 Magic Defense for six hours
Consuming more than a single person’s share might makes your body a little rigid! Beware!
Winter cooked every dish except the last one, since it took too long for him to prepare, and the plan he came up with would be set into motion in less than a day in Royal Road. He had about 300 people’s worth of the Smoked Rainbow Fish, courtesy from Sella, when she was done with the experiments. Winter planned to share 200 servings of it. For the rest, Winter cooked 200 servings of each dish. Due to how the fish was split, he exceeded the number a little here and there. He made the most out of each fish, as any leftover parts of the fish would disappear. Something he found out from his time with Sella.
He was not the only one furiously cooking. Adria was cooking the exact same dishes as Winter, with the fishes from him, and approximately the same quantity. Any cook that could put any little buff on the table was furiously cooking too. There would be no going back today. They would assign each dish to the respective classes, with a serious warning not to stuff themselves. They needed to be buffed up, but not slowed by the stuffed effect!
Winter was amazed that Summer could make so much progress within such a short amount of time. He was a little bit sad that he would not be joining in the fun. Adria’s safety came first. The plan was untested, there was no confirmation it would work, no matter how good it sounded in theory. Well, it was crazy in the first place, so it sounded crazy too. So, not taking any chances, Winter would leave after he was done cooking.
“I am done here!” Adria shouted across the space between them. They were separated by an array of large stoves and grills. It was their cooking station. Other chefs were mostly done, with a few still cooking complicated-looking dishes.
“Me too, for now,” he called back.
Winter checked the quantity of the dishes he could cook with Sella’s cookbook. He was left with 9278, after cooking a total of 648 worth of dishes. He expected his cooking and handicraft to level up the moment the dishes were done, which would be... now.
Ding!
A shape of a rainbow rose over the skewers lined on the grill.
You finished cooking Grilled Rainbow Fish
Mass cooking benefits! 10% proficiency increase for Cooking Skill and Handicraft Skill!
Intermediate cooking ingredients used
Your Cooking Skill expertise rating rises by 26.4%
Your Handicraft Skill expertise rating rises by 19.8%
Keep it up!
Winter quickly turned off the grills by shutting of his channelled mana. His problem with iron did not surface here, as he was technically not equipping it. Adria,who had much faster cooking skill than him, had already pulled out most of her dishes and began serving it on a set table. With each section marked for the buffs available. Summer was that organised!
Ding!
Every steamer had a small rainbow appearing on it.
You finished cooking Rainbow Fish Bun
Mass cooking benefits! 10% proficiency increase for Cooking Skill and Handicraft Skill!
Intermediate cooking ingredients used
Your Cooking Skill expertise rating rises by 17.6%
Your Handicraft Skill expertise rating rises by 18.7%
Cooking Skill Level Up!
Your Cooking Skill is now Beginner Level 6!
Winter had to get a lot of help to take off the numerous steamers. It was done in quick order, set beside Adria’s own steamers.
Ding!
That was the last of the dishes, and also the first he prepared, since it took the longest to cook. A full rainbow arc slowly manifested on the mouth of the cauldron. Somehow,this dish always appeared this way when it was done cooking.
You finished cooking Rainbow Fish Soup
Mass cooking benefits! 10% proficiency increase for Cooking Skill and Handicraft Skill!
Intermediate cooking ingredients used
Your Cooking Skill expertise rating rises by 22%
Your Handicraft Skill expertise rating rises by 17.6%
Chef’s privilege, of course, allowed Winter to taste the food first. It was of lesser quality than Sella’s and Adria’s. But nobody would ever say it was terrible. Fragrant smells were wafting around the table. Everyone was lined up neatly, taking each food to be eaten in their own corner with the rest of their temporary teams. All the food would be eaten right before the incoming battle.
Winter quit figuring out how the dishes that was finished in a pot appeared in the form of bowls inside his inventory, when he approached the finished soup cauldron. Or how cut fishes suddenly grew skewers. He had seen enough weird quirks of the system to leave it alone.
“We are done with everything, Uncle Winter. I am ready to leave.”
“Good. I think we can set off now. While everyone is still busy.”
“Leaving without saying goodbye, Uncle Winter?”
Odette,who approached from behind him without being noticed, spoke out from her squatting position. It made Winter nearly jump, as he was unprepared.
“Geez, Odette! Don’t surprise me like that! I almost throw a fireball there!”
Winter lied. He was conditioned to use <
“I am going to miss you, Adria. It was good to know you. Take care of him.”
Winter pretended he did not hear the last part.
“I will, Odette. You can rely on me,” replied Adria.
Both of them released each other. Winter walked away quickly with Adria in tow. He disliked this sort of emotional parting. There was no need to say goodbye to Summer. Adria had already did that much earlier, while Winter was not interested in hugging Summer.
“Ah, Uncle Winter. Here.”
Winter stopped to look sideways at Adria, who walked to his left. She was holding out his purse! Everything had gone so fast in a whirlwind, that Winter forgot that he had left his purse with Adria. Coolly, he picked it up, hoping against everything that Adria had not picked up bad shopping habits like “Celine the Shopaholic”, Ronald’s nickname for his daughter.
“Thank you, Adria. I completely forget. Did you spend it on anything back in town?”
“Yes. A few things here and there.”
Winter had no idea what she spent it on. But he noticed that the contents had only decreased by 10 silvers. What a frugal girl! Winter would never know that Adria spent the money to buy a bag of sweet candy.
With the massed camp and Ranbell’s castle as the background, both Winter and Adria walked away from the impending battle.
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Author's Note:
1. Credit to -The Slacker- for the diligent PR
2. Special Credit to Veresliosi and Vim1inc for bouncing stuff around. Not to forget Ramzicmain that joined us.
3. Do let me know of mistakes you find. Try as me and my PR to spot them, we might miss some.
4. As promised folks, chapter 18. Next Monday sees the conclusion of the castle siege, and also the only chapter I will release for the week.
5. Do let me know what you think, everyone.
6. Enjoy!