I stepped outside of the dungeon, and took a deep, refreshing breath of fresh air. God it felt good! The air in the portion of the dungeon I had just been in was cold enough that you could feel it in your lungs with every breath. I had no doubt that without my thermal shielding I would have had parts that would be fighting frostbite, and I hadn’t even made it up the mountain at all.
I had just taken one step forward when I felt a big, meaty hand on my shoulder. “One moment, friend.” The voice said. I turned to see an absolute beast of a man standing next to me, he had to be pushing nearly seven feet tall. Oddly, he was decked out in a leather armor build and he wasn’t overly muscled. “Guildmaster Farsight told us to come here, and talk with a few people. I take it you haven’t seen the new sign?”
“Sign?” I asked, confused. The giant pointed to the tower, where someone had added a large sign sometime while I was in my dive. “Huh. Thanks for pointing that out….” I trailed off.
“Andre.”
“Andre. Thanks Andre, I’ll check it out.” I said with a nod, heading over.
Temporary Dungeon Rules
Due to the danger of the imminent wave, the guild has agreed to institute the following rules for the dungeon. Failing to comply can have your dungeon access revoked, possibly permanently.
1) All evolutions are temporarily banned.
2) All dungeon drops must be sold to the guild representatives to be used by approved craftsmen. The guild will pay contribution points equal to what the market was for each item before the incoming wave was known.
a) Exceptions shall be made for adventurers that are certified masters in a craft.
b) Premiums may be awarded for pristine drops
c) Gear dropped by the dungeon does not have to be turned in, though any gear turned in will receive a premium of 150%.
3) All dungeon dives will be suspended after a two-week period.
a) Exceptions shall be made for those whose skills will not help with setting up defenses of the city. These will be few and on a case by case basis.
Evolution
Description
Bonuses
Requirements
High Human
A stronger form of human, high humans have twice the lifespan
+4 attributes per level
Clear level five of the dungeon or max out a profession
Elevated one
Midway between a tier two and tier three evolution, elevated ones are deceptively strong.
+5 attributes per level
Clear level five of a dungeon without any help and without clearing it with a group beforehand.
Devout
The devout have dedicated themselves to mastering the spirit
+4 attributes per level, +5 spirit every even level
Clear level five of the dungeon or max out a profession; have 25 spirit
Disciple
Midway between tier two and tier three, the Disciples are a half step above Devout
+5 attributes per level, +5 spirit per level
Clear level five of a dungeon without any help and without clearing it with a group beforehand; have 25 spirit
Locked
Locked
Locked
Clear higher levels and pass further requirements for access to higher evolutions.
Huh. I thought to myself. So that’s what Shalora meant when she said it might help with my evolutions. Curiosity sated, I headed toward the guild table. Even if there wasn’t a ban on evolutions, I wasn’t about to take the lower evolutions. The table was doing a brisk business, so before long I found myself standing across from an appraiser.
“What’cha got?” He asked, looking at me expectantly. I poured my haul onto the table, getting a slight flinch from the man as he saw just how much I had. “Wow, not bad for a solo dive. Not bad at all. Let’s see what we got, shall we?” He expertly sorted through the pile, nodding here and there. “I’ll take back what I said earlier. A very nice haul. We have ten lesser wolf pelts of average quality, 30 average fangs, three pristine lesser wolf pelts with 10 pristine fangs, ten bundles of yeti fur and six leather bandoliers. No equipment, but those axes aren’t worth much anyway. And the star of the show, an ice wolf core. Slightly below average quality, but it is good sized. I can give you a week’s worth of contribution points for the drops, and an extra two day’s worth for the core. Sound good?”
“Fine by me.” I said, handing over my guild plate. He touched it with his own for a second, and handed it back after a flash of magic. “Just, would you mind explaining the core to me? It’s the first time I’ve gotten one as a drop.”
“Absolutely!” He said, getting a bit chipper. “Cores are what allow monsters to utilize advanced magics, and are ranked on three things. Elemental affinity, size, and clarity. For a small core, which is what you had, they can range up to half the size of a chicken egg. The clearer the stone, the better able it is to channel mana, and I don’t think I have to explain elemental affinity to a mage such as yourself.” He chuckled on the last bit. “As for their uses, the small ones aren’t that great. You could use it to store a single journeyman spell, or possibly three apprentice level casts. Most people just use them to give a bit of mana as a desperate recharge. That, by the way, leads to the stone crumbling. The majority of these sized ones are either ground up for use in enchanting or set into beginner equipment to help train mages.”
“Thanks!” I answered with a smile. “That explains a lot, and why they are worth so much.”
“Just doing my job. NEXT!”
I headed back to the inn after that, not knowing what I was going to do for the rest of the afternoon. The streets weren’t quite as busy as usual, and the people who were walking down them all moved with a sense of purpose. I was glad that they were taking things seriously, but a small part of me wondered if they were overdoing it. Then again, we did have the limited vision of the future from the guildmaster, so maybe they were preparing for the worst he could see and hoping to meet something easier. I was lost in thought as to how I would be contributing, only to be jarred from my musings as soon as I entered the inn.
“SEAN!” I startled, looking over and seeing the guildmaster flagging me down.
“Guildmaster.” I said, strolling over.
“Please, call me Brian.” He waved me off. “Glad that Andre managed to catch you, that makes things a bit easier. Anyway, I take it your dungeon diving went well?”
“Fairly well. Made it to the base camp, didn’t want to press my luck. I’m working on a way to take them all out at once.”
“Yeah, it would be incredibly hard to deal with the entire camp at once. Just remember, they can tell when something is causing the wind to shift, so you can’t use anything with mana shields.”
“Not even if they were all encompassed?” I asked, thinking about my original plan. I was either going to suffocate them with carbon monoxide like the wolves, or use the storm to create a wind tunnel effect. Imagine, a double dome of mana, the inner one has multiple holes in it. The outer one has a tube shaped opening near me, allowing the wind access. Fill the inside with a mixture of oxygen and acetylene, slightly heavy on the oxygen, and add a spark. The wind should turn each opening into an amazing flamethrower. While it wouldn’t last long, it really wouldn’t have to considering that flame could get hot enough to melt steel.
“Oh, ho!” Brian chuckled as he stared at me with purple in his eyes. “That is absolutely terrifying! But you forget that the yeti would be attacking your structure as soon as it went up. Do you think you can hold back their onslaught for as long as it would take to create all that flammable mixture?”
“Ah, you’re probably right.” I lamented, letting the image fade. “So, aside from my dungeon diving, what can I do for you?”
“Well, have you given thought as to your role in the upcoming battle?”
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
“Not really.” I shrugged. “I recently got a few new spells, but one of them sounds like it could be a city killer. Not really the type of spell I want to unleash while defending a city.”
“No, I should think not.” Brian said, getting serious. “If you don’t mind, I was hoping to use you another way. I want you to practice your constellation magics, and use them to boost our forces. See how many you can make yourself hold at once, and how far apart you can spread the magic.”
I took a moment to think it through, before nodding. “Ok.” I said. “I can do that, just don’t be afraid to call me forward if you need reinforcements somewhere.”
“Thank Ariana, that was a lot easier than I expected.” He said, and I saw a bit of the tension flow out of him. “You don’t realize how many adventurers expect to be on the front lines, or in the reinforcement groups that move from hotspot to hotspot.”
“Eh, my objective is to survive this. Not only that, but have as many people as possible survive. The best way to do that seems to be by listening to the man who has a bit of clairvoyance.”
“If only more people thought like you. Anyhow, as my thanks, you can have this book, it should help you out. Now, I heard you use a spear as well as wield magic. How set are you on using the spearman profession?”
The Constellations: A Beginner’s Primer. Huh, now that would be an extremely useful book. “Honestly? I’m having second thoughts about it.” I said, still looking at the book. “I originally took it to boost my strength and dexterity, though I haven’t put enough levels in it to really have a huge effect. Why?”
“Well, generally people don’t need them after they evolve, unless it’s something they truly enjoy. Evolutions usually provide enough attribute points to distribute that you don’t have to worry about covering certain bases.”
“I see. Well, to be honest I was thinking something similar earlier. How far could I have advanced my magic if I didn’t bother using a spear in combat? The only problem I see is that once my mana is depleted, I won’t have anything to fall back on.”
“Ah, well perhaps my next issue could help you out. About half a day’s ride is a large lake. It’s odd, in that it just so happens to sit not only on a mana spring, but there is also a bit of volcanic activity nearby. Just enough to turn the lake into something like a hotspring. Anyway, all of this makes for a very dense mana of multiple varieties. Earth, fire, water, and even a bit of air.”
“Sounds like a nice place. Why do I have the feeling that it has a hidden danger?” I asked, smirking a bit.
“Indeed. See, a monster turtle has taken up residence. The abundance of mana actually spawned an incredibly rare variety of monster turtle, an opal shell behemoth.”
“That doesn’t sound dangerous, not at all.” I said, laying on as much sarcasm as I could.
“Heh, yeah. Well, it does get better. As you can tell from the name, the creature is massive. It could likely bite a horse in half. The shell has facets, and each one is embedded with a black opal mana gem. Hit the shell with magic, and you simply charge the mana stones. It’s immune to poison, and can likely hold its breath for over a year.”
“So, you want to send a mage after a creature that is nearly impervious to magic, poison, and will laugh at me if I try and drown it?”
“Yep!” He grinned. “Not right away of course, I hope you will think of a plan. But there is a very good reason why I want you to do this. Those gems have been bathed in concentrated mana for decades. Kill the turtle, and I will have the best craftsmen we have create gear for you from the recovered pieces.”
“Hmmm, and just how much are you wanting to take as payment?”
“Every conversation always has you asking that question. You will get the gems, and likely some of the shell. There are plenty of mages that use bucklers, and the shell will have a bit of opal material running through it making it an amazing focus for a mage. The rest of the creature will go to the alchemists and the blacksmiths as payment.”
“Nope.” I said immediately. “You guys will be getting far more than I would out of that deal.”
“Well, what do you want then?”
“I like the idea of the equipment, so a small buckler from the shell as well as whatever jewelry you were thinking of having them make. In addition, I want someone to make some armor from the turtle’s skin, turning it into leather with plate reinforcement in certain areas made from the shell as well. I’m talking full armor set here. Chest, legs, arms and feet. If they make something like a diadem from the shell and the opals, I can use that as head armor as it will meld with my mana armor quite nicely.”
He stared at me for a minute, eyes going purple as he accessed whatever ability he used. “Ok, I can agree so long as we get the leftover materials. Also, depending on when you get the turtle killed and back here, most likely only the jewelry will be ready. I can prioritize that, as it will greatly boost your ability in combat, but the rest of the craftsmen will be processing the leftovers to boost our chances during this wave.”
“Understandable. I’ll also need a storage device big enough to fit the entire turtle. Mine just won’t do. But do you really think this wave is going to be that bad? I thought they were coming early, so the forces they can bring to bear should be limited.”
“Yes, it will be one of the worst ones. While they won’t have a lot of cannon fodder, you are forgetting what they are using to drive the free monsters towards us. They are shrouded in shadows, but I can feel the power radiating from them.” I sat back at that, at a loss for words. Why hadn’t I thought of that? “It’s fine, we have good defenses, and we are improving them. Several groups are already thinning out the nearby monsters, and in a month we will evacuate the majority of the civilians. They will go to Penultimate, and they have already sent for reinforcements.”
“I see. Well, thank you for the book, and for the assignment. I’ll take a few days to think of how best to take down that turtle, and see if I can’t do it in. Anything else I can help you with?”
“Of course!” He said, eyes lighting up. “Come on over to the guild training yard, I have something I think only you can truly help with!”
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Brian practically dragged me down the street to the guild hall he was so excited. Instead of walking through the building like I expected, we detoured around back. There I was rather shocked to see nearly a full city block from back home devoted to a massive training yard. Around the entire thing was a raised track, mostly so that the archer’s along the north wall didn’t have any stray arrows go shooting through the city. There were eight lanes for shooting, with targets at varying distances. I could see some movement, so they were likely golems to increase the difficulty. Protecting a stray arrow from entering the rest of the yard was a rather thick mana shield. Along the shield were four individual combat rings, though only two were set up for duel style combats. One simulated a muddy battlefield, and the last one had random patches of ice. Near the back of the guildhall was a massive area for a battle royale. It took up half of the remaining area, and it looked like it could be changed to vastly different settings.
The final part was a three-tiered obstacle course set over water in case you fell. The lower portion started out with some angled boards that you would have to jump back and forth with before you came to an area with a few stones. They were set just beyond a normal person’s stride, and so close to the waterline that they were constantly getting wet from any waves. The second tier was above that, set up with a net to prevent you from falling down into the water and anyone working below. A ring set to swing across a gap, though friends could stand to one side and fire blunted bolts at you to make things more difficult. Cross that, and you would have to take one of three lanes. One was a spider climb, where you had two walls and you could only arrest yourself from falling by pressing your hands and feet to the walls at your side. One was similar, only you had two small sticks the size of your forearm and had to move using holes in the wall. Of course, the nearest hole was in the opposite wall, so you were still going back and forth. The final option was to use a bar that crossed the entire width of the gap. It would fit into slots with a slight down angle, and you had to jerk your body upward then move the bar to the next slot before you fell. As sadistic as those choices were, the highest tier was the worst. It was all balance beams. But each one was only held up by a few ropes, letting them swing with your momentum.
“Like it? You get a party thrown in your honor if you manage to complete the third tier. Before you get any ideas though, it is a magical null zone so you can’t cheat with featherlight or anything similar.” Brian chuckled at my gobsmacked face. “BELOR! DORIAN! NEED YOU FOR A SECOND!” He bellowed across the grounds, and three incredibly fit people headed our way. They all had massive sideburns, and were some of the hairiest people I had come across in this world.
“What’s up boss?” One asked.
“Sean, these are our lunar berserkers. Guys, this is Sean and he will be your best friend for the next month.”
“Pleasure.” I said, shaking each of their hands. Belor had red hair while Dorian was black headed, but that was about it for major differences. “So, what did you want me to do Brian?”
“Practice! These guys can only train some of their skills at certain times of the month. I want you to practice holding several constellations at once, for a long period of time. One of which will be the moon phase for these two. I also want you to use your archer’s one, the mana regen one, any you have that can boost magic, and any others you think important.”
“I’ve only done one at a time, and you want all of them? That’ll take a bit.”
“Good. You have a month and a half. Oh, and while you are at it, you should probably read through that primer here. You might find a few to add to our fight!”
“I’m a bit confused.” Belor said, scratching his head. “How can this guy help us out?”
“Well, what is your most powerful phase of the moon?” I asked.
“Most powerful? Full Blood Silver.” He immediately replied.
“Huh?” I asked, confused.
“Full Blood Silver. The moon turns blood red, but still has a bluish silver ring around the edge. It only occurs once every six months.”
“Give me a moment.” I said, concentrating. One of the best things of having such a high intelligence was that I could recall most things fairly quickly, and with more detail. It wasn’t perfect recall, but it was still much better than what I had back home. In my mind’s eye, I first built up the moon of Vitae. It didn’t have as many pockmarks as the one I grew up with, but there was a string of impact craters that cut across the face on a diagonal line. If the moon were two feet across, then the blue ring was half an inch thick. The rest I gave a light red sheen, then used a bit of magic to make it hover over our heads.
“Pretty, but you have the colors wrong.” Dorian said. “The red needs to be deeper, and the blue needs more silver.”
“I’m going to change things, starting with the blue. Let me know when I get it right.” I said, keeping my eyes closed as I slowly changed things.
“Ooooh, that’s it! I’m feeling the tingles!” One of them said, and I immediately stopped. It was far closer to white than blue, but that was fine. I had it locked.
“Stop! That’s it! I feel it! The pull of the bloodsong!”
“Me too brother! Come, battle awaits!” I opened my eyes to see the two enter the battle royale arena, their muscles twitching in anticipation. “ALL WHO WISH TO EARN GLORY, COME BATTLE BENEATH THE FULL BLOOD SILVER! FEEL LUNA’S CALL, AS SHE IGNITES THE PASSION IN YOUR BLOOD!” Dorian yelled out, getting the attention of everyone around us. Each one made a complete circle, then turned to look at each other. After some unspoken signal, they practically blurred they moved so fast. Slamming into each other with such force that it reverberated in my chest like a nearby cannon shot, they unleashed incredible force against each other as they went wild.
“YYYYYAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHA!” Belor cried out in joy. I was stunned, as minor cuts and bruises healed within moments. “How long can you hold this, Sean?”
I checked, and I wasn’t even losing mana. “With just this? Until my mind gets bored.” I said.
“Brother, come. The moon sings, and we should honor her with the dance of battle!” Dorian interrupted, and they immediately clashed again.
“Brian, are they going to be ok?” I asked.
“They’ll be fine. They both have more than enough control to keep things from getting too dangerous, and as you can see their recovery rate is phenomenal. Just don’t do this for them two days in a row. They’ll need tomorrow to recover.”
“Alright.” I said, though I was unsure. They really were unleashing massive forces. “Well, I guess it’s time for me to push my limits as well.” I said, recreating the Confidence of Selene constellation above the archers. I barely managed the Demon Hand Nebula before I started feeling the strain.
“Everyone, if I could have your attention! Sean here is going to be conjuring constellations for you to practice under. As you can see from the brothers here, it is rather potent. Use this to the best of your abilities. If I’m not mistaken, right now we have a boost to archery skill as well as an increase to mana regeneration. Please take full advantage of this, and use the time to grow as much as possible.” With that, he turned to me and patted me on the shoulder. “Excellent job. Don’t be afraid to change them up each hour, and hopefully you will find some other impressive ones to add.”
I spent the rest of the afternoon sitting in the shade, holding two constellations and a simulated moon while trying to read and retain new stories. By the end of four hours, I was more than happy to flop into bed and let Elendria give me a head massage for my throbbing headache.