Chapter 21: I Want One

I had imprinted the cleanliness spell, but when focusing inward discovered I had erred. The first evolution at level one was supposed to extend the range from just the body to include the clothes the caster was wearing.

Instead, I must have focused subconsciously and forced a different evolution. I had been planning on this evolution for the 5th or 7th level of the spell, so I had reviewed the notes on how to do it. The evolution created vanilla aromatics that lasted around an hour after casting the spell. Gareth would roast me with laughter if I cast the spell and couldn’t clean my clothes. I had been bragging for weeks about how I would never have to do laundry again.

I started to spam the spell, my skin tingling with each cast, hoping to push it to level two quickly. And I made sure to focus on the correct evolution this time. It took one-quarter of my aether stores and two hours before the spell hit level 2, and the evolution was correct this time!

I could now use the spell to clean myself and clothes instantly after training, before bed, and on waking up. It was pretty late, but I got my light stone and opened the spell book. I had noted a few evolutions I wanted to research and needed to pick my 3rd. I looked them over and was torn between the mouth cleanse or hair trim. Eliminating bad breath…or…being well groomed and looking good.

I started pushing the spell again. The aura for cleaning extended about 3 inches from my body. This meant my bedding and pillows were immaculate after twenty castings while rolling around, and they smelled of vanilla. Also, I confirmed that I was able to make old coins shiny again! I could use this as my excuse when I spend my new coins from now on. I fell asleep having forgotten all about making coins with my remaining aether stores…not that my aether stores could have made more than a few gold coins.

In the morning, I was in a fantastic mood. Rather than reveal my spell, I decided to hold the secret until after Gareth and I were both filthy. Maybe we would have to run the obstacle course today. This time, I would look forward to it, and I planned to get extra dirty.

Breakfast flew by, then stretching, and after, I prepped some veggie lasagna and a vanilla cream tart for dessert. I rarely made desserts but felt smug with making something with vanilla oil. Conditioning today was weight training oriented. Callem planned no obstacle course training this morning. However, after some needling of Gareth about how I could best him on the B course, Callem decided we should run the course in parallel. The B course was currently an elevated course through some blinds. Callem usually tossed things at us or fired arrows capped with leather bags to distract or knock us off. The very end of the course was a mud crawl, though, which is why I chose it.

I had a plan that I hoped would get me close to Gareth’s time. Gareth was up the ladder and into the course a few steps before me, even with my best effort. My fitness had improved in the last three weeks, but I was no match for my friend. Only his large body gave me a chance, as he had a lot more mass to push down the course.

Callem was helping me to start. Well-aimed, weighted projectiles slowed Gareth down just enough for me to catch up going into the rope section. Gareth pulled away again, which frustrated me a bit. A capped arrow hit my hip, throwing me sideways and letting Gareth open his lead even more. I could curse Callem, but Gareth was getting about eighty percent of his attention.

For the rope descent, I just jumped down the 10 feet rather than climb as Gareth had done. I did my best parkour roll to minimize the landing, but I definitely strained my ankles. We were almost even now as we hit the obstacles in the mud. The final obstacle was a series of eight walls. The area where the walls were was irrigated from the stream to maintain the muddiness. We had to alternate climbing and going under the walls. The walls were just ten feet tall and had plenty of handholds. Being smaller, I was able to get under quicker and push through the mud. The finish was close, but Gareth had me by six steps. It had been one of the closest parallel runs I had with Gareth on this course. We were both caked in mud, and mud was in all our body cracks. Gareth was smiling and grinning at me in his victory under his mud mask.

Callem approached and spoke, “Best effort I have seen from both of you in a long time! I assume there was a wager attached?”

Gareth was facing Callem and said, “Storme’s on dishes tonight!” Oh, I forgot that bit. It was now doctrine that if I initiated a challenge and lost, I had to do the dishes. If it was Gareth’s challenge and I won, he had to do my laundry—which now wouldn’t be much of a reward. I cast my cleanliness spell and reveled in becoming clean in seconds as I funneled aether through the spell. Callem eyebrows rose in surprise, which caused Gareth to spin and stare at me.

His jaw dropped. I inhaled the vanilla scent and smiled as Gareth was at a loss for words. “Well, I am off to study…” Gareth groaned in frustration at being tricked.

“Stormy! Wait! Do me! I concede you won! Do me!” I was laughing at his pleading tone as mud dripped off his clothes.

“Sorry, Gareth. I would need to invest, like, four evolutions to clean up after others, and that’s not going to happen.” I waved as I walked away, leaving the pair behind. Callem, smirking, joked about giving Gareth some time to clean up, and I could hear the humor in his voice.

Inside, I got some water and then spent time healing up. I had pushed hard on the course and had two minor sprains in my ankles, and a bunch of contusions on my body. I had dislocated my right pinkie finger climbing the walls and just noticed. I used my mend flesh spell to correct everything in just a few castings.

I smiled inwardly as I achieved a new level. It was my lucky day as the mend flesh spell hit level 5 and I set my evolution. I choose to be able to extend my diagnose injury to another person. It would allow me to me more efficient in healing other people and with practice, use less aether. With how fast the spell was leveling, I had a lot more evolutions coming in the future.

I decided to cast the cleanliness spell a few more times to work on leveling it and shortly after that hit level 3 too. I choose ‘mouth cleanse’ for the evolution. It probably wasn’t as useful in a world with magic but dental hygiene was important. I had vague memories of being a fastidious brusher in the past. Gareth had an impressive athletic physique and ability. I was a freaking mage!

The rest of the day was normal, and I received praise from Wynna and Callem for my progress in my spells. Gareth spent his time trying to convince me to guide my evolutions toward being able to use the cleanliness spell on others. The lasagna at dinner was a hit, and so was the tart. Callem was the first to pick up the vanilla ingredient in the tart relating to my new vanilla scent, complimenting me and causing Gareth some angst.

When we finally got back to our room Gareth continued asking me about the cleaning spell. He wanted to know about my evolution choices. I told him about the mouth cleanse and my planned upgrades beyond. The hair styling, minty breath, extending the time of the vanilla scent, the bowel and bladder cleanse, and then adding various scents beyond just vanilla.

His reply was expected. With his pleading grin, he said, “And all that that is more important than letting your best friend share in your fortunes?” The compromise we came to was that I would buy him an enchanted item to do the same thing as my spell. I fell asleep after doing my aether core exercises and making a few gold coins.

The next day was not noteworthy. No spell evolutions or spell levels, but I did add to my coin collection, and finally, the day arrived for Freya’s visit. I was torn between the joy of seeing Freya and getting a two-day break.

Gareth went into town early in the morning and returned with Freya and Monty. Monty was growing rapidly. He was already twice the puppy in just a month! We spent the morning playing with the Monty, and I showed Freya how to use tiny food rewards to train him. The puppy was smart and soon had learned to sit, stay, and come, accomplishing the trifecta in just a few hours.

Freya had the town gossip to spread as well. The carnival was the big news. The day after my incident, the Yeti escaped and caused some damage, and injured a bunch of people. The Wolfsguard had also arrested three of the performers before the carnival left. I was shocked when one of them was lead elf actress in the play! It took me a moment to recall her name, Niserie. That news had Gareth upset as he had been infatuated with her.

According to Freya, the mother and father were doing well. Father was up for a promotion. Pascal was annoying as he got closer to entering the Academy, but at least he was nice to Monty. I gave Freya two large silvers for the upkeep of Monty, even though I had given mother some coin already. We were still getting paid five large silvers a week by Callem, and I wasn't going to get the opportunity to spend them anytime soon.

That evening Freya slept in the other bunk on my side of the loft. Monty was desperately trying to find a way to climb the ladder up to her before he calmed down and just kept an eye on her from below, curled up in Gareth’s chair. She was a little annoyed that I studied late into the night with a light stone. I focused on the mend flesh spellbook as I searched for my next evolution.

The next day was much of the same. As we completed our stretching, Freya even joined us. Then we explored the woods around the farm with Monty, who was interested in everything, especially treeing the red squirrels whenever they got brave enough to venture to the ground. I was happy to notice the puppy didn’t let Freya out of his sight while we walked.

Freya tried some of the obstacles on the course and determinedly finished each one she attempted. Sometimes, with a little help from Gareth or me. There were no good fishing spots near the farm, but we went to the small stream and fished anyway. The conversation was now mostly gossip about the town kids. Gareth wanted updates on a few girls our age in town, and Freya was just bragging about how jealous Gwen was of Monty and her successful business empire.

Freya had taken over our delivery duties and was making almost a silver every week on her own. I was proud of her and told her so. Too soon, it was time for Gareth to take Freya home. We went and ate lunch with Callem and Wynna, and then they left. Gareth was pulling a large cart with tobacco leaves for Edel in town to dry for Callem. Callem mentioned after they left that Sebastian, his mage friend, would be visiting soon to fertilize the fields and do the next round of plantings. He would also be recharging the accelerated growth runic item buried underneath both fields.

I spent the evening opening up the bloodied tome, The Complexities of Aether Creationism, A Qualitative Comparison of Dungeon and Mortal Spellcraft. The author was a pompous scientist, and it was difficult to read. The author was infatuated with the powers of dungeons. The book was full of ludicrous hypotheses based on no concrete observations. The few facts that I found were interesting were only tier four or higher spells were able to create anything out of aether directly. Lower-tiered spells could transmute material but not create matter. The aether conversion rate to matter was also terrible.

A powerful archmage emptying his entire aether core could make a little over an ounce of gold. The author hypothesized that mundane aether creation was super inefficient, like using an ocean to put out a campfire. The author then made some theories about dungeons being 100 to 500 times more efficient than mundane magic and also having unlimited aether from the ley lines. It was based on his equations, which apparently were based on little factual evidence, on how much aether dungeons accumulated to make their environments, monsters, and rewards after a delve passed through and the dungeon was “reset.”.

I closed the book. I was over halfway through, but I had enough and shelved the book, probably permanently. I did learn that my tier seven metal creation ability was much closer to a dungeon's ability than a magic creation spell. I made some platinum coins before falling asleep. Gareth was staying with his parents tonight and would be back early, so at least the room was quiet. Gareth didn't snore, he just breathed really loudly.

In the morning, as we were eating breakfast, Gareth returned and told Callem his tobacco leaves were being processed by Edel. We soon returned to training, and the days blended together. Five days after Freya’s visit the most beautiful thing I had ever seen appeared. A copper-paneled skyship came to the farm and landed in the training yard. It was eerily quiet as it flew and moved gracefully like a fish of the sky. It was 60 feet long, 40 feet wide, and 20 feet high. The skyship was enclosed with no top deck like a sailing ship, and after it landed, a ramp descended in the rear. Unlike the bulky wooden sailing ships that docked in Hen’s Hollow, this ship was beautiful!

A well-groomed older man in an immaculate naval uniform walked down the ramp. An older-looking female Wolfsguard soon followed him in a plain blue civilian dress. Sebastian had returned, and all I could think was I wanted that skyship!

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Chapter 22: The Wind Splitter

While Gareth and I gawked at the beautiful, shiny ship, the ramp closed on its own. Gareth was impressed as it was clearly magic—maybe I was too. Callem had entered the house with the newly arrived guests. We walked around the parked ship, getting an up-close view. The landing struts were relatively short and looked like they could retract. The copper plating had seams, but had no rivets, The plates were smooth with graceful curves. We could not find any thrusters, windows, weapon mounts, or other entrances besides the seam for the ramp that had lowered. If we hadn’t known it was the ramp’s entrance, we wouldn’t have been able to find it either.

Gareth spoke first. “This is the finest skyship I have ever seen. It looks like it is really fast.” Gareth’s observation was spot on, in my opinion. It looked like a racing ship with its sleek curves. Most skyships had an open deck on top and sails to help cut through the skies. My best guess was this was not a combat ship. Maybe it was a scout or messenger ship.

Callem yelled from the doorway for us to hurry up. As we walked toward the door, I used my cleanliness spell to remove the dirt, grime, and sweat of today’s training. When the vanilla scent hit Gareth’s nose, he smelled his own pits and groaned but entered the house with his chin held high.

We found a large spread of food being put out by Wynna. The Wolfsguard woman was seated, sipping on some of the red juice. Callem introduced the guests, “Boys this is Sebastian, a very old friend, and an admiral in the fleet. This woman is Nisil, a skilled mage who protects him and ensures he does not get into too much trouble.”

I bowed low to the Wolfsguard, “Thank you for healing me, Nisil. And thank you for bringing her, Admiral Sebastian.”

Sebastian guffawed, “Well, he is polite.” He looked over at Nisil, “She protects me? Well, I suppose that I am her charge. I am not a full admiral anymore Callem, so stop introducing me as such,” Sebastian’s stiff and proper demeanor suddenly relaxed. “I just build ships for the Navy. I mostly do paperwork and work with the engineers on schematics. The only ship I command is the Wind Splitter outside, and she has a massive crew of two!” He gestured to Nisil, indicating the extent of the crew.

I asked the burning question Gareth, and I had, “Can we go inside the Wind Splitter and possibly go for a ride?” I looked hopeful and locked eyes with Sebastian. I hope I wasn’t making pathetic puppy dog eyes and just looked eager.

Sebastian grinned at our youthful fascination with his ship. “Well, Storme, you are looking much better!” Sebastian eased into one of the couches. “I suppose I can do a favor for the boys who will be helping train my granddaughter.” Gareth had a confused look, and that kicked my memory into gear. Callem and Sebastian had negotiated to have his granddaughter come here to learn martial skills. Someone assaulted her, if I recall.

Sebastian explained, “Callem has bartered to have my granddaughter, Cilia, come here and train for a bit.” His follow-up had eased Gareth’s confused look in contemplative thought. He was probably wondering what Cilia looked like,

“After some food, boys, I am sure Sebastian will show you his ship,” Wynna said, joining the conversation. We all took up seats on the large couches, and the food was spread across the large table in the center. We all started eating. I held my manners, while Gareth ate normally, much to the amusement of Nisil, who hadn’t touched a thing.

Callem chewed on some salami. “So what news in the capital?”

Sebastian put down his drink. “No good news, I am afraid. The Sadians have attacked three times in the last month. Only one serious attack, but they are obvious probing attacks for a larger assault. We are rushing out three new Harbinger class warships in the next two weeks. Putting extremely green crews fresh on them. If there is a battle, it is going to be a waste of good ships.”

Harbinger, I recalled from the models and book in Wigand’s bookshop. “Isn’t the Harbinger an old class of warship? Don’t we have anything newer?” I thought my input was insightful and I desperately wanted to be seen as intelligent in front of Sebastian.

The well-groomed mage answered me, “Yes, the Harbinger has been around for a while,” he paused, “We have updated the design seven times over the centuries. It is a solid ship for the cost and size. I tried to switch the construction to the Wasp-class a few years ago. The Wasp is a better ship. It is smaller, faster, just as well-armed, and cheaper to build. However, that was opposed by the families that control the supply chain for the materials used to build the Harbinger. Less materials, less profit for them. I built six Wasps in my time controlling the yards, but the admiralty has incorporated them as scout ships instead of core warships.” He sipped his drink and focused on me, “So, to answer your question, we still focus on building the Harbinger.” Sebastian’s tone was a little bitter. Ok, it was very bitter.

“Yes, boys and their toys.” Wynna quipped, “Well any other news from the capital? That is one thing about having moved out here. It just takes so long for news to reach us unless we use a communication stone.” Callem sipped his juice with vodka and smiled.

“Three things you may be interested in. The Triumvirate has reinstated the Inherited Indenture Law, the dungeon tax has increased by 25% for the next year, and The Blackguard has been assigned to a few Harbinger warships, the Firestormand the Dark Howler. The Blackguard hasn’t been assigned to warships in about 50 years,” Sebastian supplied. “On the second point, that means your next load of dirt will cost 8 gold instead of 6.”

Callem explained Sebastian’s last statement as Gareth and I were confused, “Sebastian is here to revitalize the soil. I contract a team of delvers to haul out soil from a dungeon. It is extremely fertile and has some residual aether properties that help the tobacco grow and maintain its aether effects.” Callem’s face erupted into a grin, “You boys will be unloading four tons of dirt this afternoon for your training!” Gareth was unfazed, but I was already trying to figure out how many wheelbarrow trips would take.

“I could dump it like usual…” Sebastian had started to speak, but Callem waved him off, maintaining his grin.

“Why did they reinstate Inherited Indenture Law?” Wynna asked, turning the conversation.

Sebastian answered testily, “It was Bricios who rallied to get it reinstated. They even reset the limits from one platinum to fifty platinum on damages to be repaid.” Wynna gasped. “And the work rates have not increased, actually for skilled or magical indentures, the rate has been equalized for ‘fairness’.”

Wynna’s face contracted in anger. She put on her lecture façe we had come to know. “Boys, slavery is illegal in Skyholme. Well, it is illegal to have humans as slaves,” she added and looked sadly at Nisil. “However, if you commit a crime or owe a large debt, you can be put into indentured service to the offended party. You are tattooed by a mage so they can track you and can’t hide or escape. The family that holds the indentured contract must supply food, housing, and fair treatment. In addition, the person’s debt is reduced by 50 silver per week. So, at most, a person was going to be indentured for 200 weeks.”

Callem and Sebastian nodded in affirmation. Wynna continued, “Mages used to get two gold toward their debt, but that has now been rescinded to make everyone earn 50 silver per week. Now, it also appears that a very old law allows a family member to take someone's place for a crime or debt. So, a father can put a child in his place. Also, if a person hasn’t paid their debt completely it passes to the eldest born.” Wynna was not at all happy from her tone.

I asked a question, “Can more than one family member take on the debt at once?”

Sebastian’s eyebrows rose, “Yes. I think that is why the Bricios rationalized increasing the debt limit. It allows their indentured enterprises to enlist more family members at once. The Bricios are the ONLY family in Skyholme allowed to buy and sell indenture contracts, and they always sell them at higher rates than they are worth.” A thought drifted to me. Bricio…that was the last name of the cadet that raped his granddaughter. I already didn’t like them, but now I have more reasons.

The food on the table had been mostly consumed. I noticed that Nisil had only eaten a little but drank a lot of juice. As we were cleaning up Sebastian talked with Callem just loudly enough for me to stretch my ears to hear.

“So, Callem,” Sebastian started, “Cilia is looking forward to coming here. I did manage to get her friend to join her. She has a minor healing ability, nothing spectacular, but that should suffice your needs. Oh, don’t worry. I will still provide the list of recovery potions you gave me. With some healing, you can have them train harder, though.” Callem had listened intently and then gave a little grin.

“Oh, I hadn’t realized you would find someone, so we made other arrangements. Storme has imprinted the mend flesh spell.” What was this ‘we’ Callem mentioned? My guess was that he was just needling Sebastian—or maybe bragging about me.

“That boy?” Sebastian was pointing at me now with shock on his face. “At fifteen? Impressive and curious. And you are still training him to fight by the looks of his developing frame. I could…”

Callem cut him off, “No, the boy is just fine under my tutelage. His magic isn’t overly strong.” Callem said with a straight face. “He just has a little skill affinity for healing magic.”

Sebastian nodded, taking the rebuttal and comment. “Well, keep him under wraps. If the Triumvirate gets smart, they will be drafting him for a full term of service as a medic in the Navy.” Yeah, that wasn’t going to happen. Even if they drafted me, I could quickly pay the 100 gold to buy out the draft card.

“What can you tell me about your granddaughter’s friend?” Callem asked, and I slow-walked the dishes to the cabinets to make sure I heard everything. Gareth was leaning in, eager to hear as well. He had even stopped eating.

“She has been Cilia’s roommate since entering the Naval Academy. Her name is Leda Aethen. Her family owns an enchanting shop in the lower city of the capital. She doesn’t have a very strong aptitude for enchanting or magic in general. She has four tier 1 spells, to my knowledge: light healing, light flare, updraft, and air shield. Her sword skills are average, but she is very good with a staff. I haven’t met her personally, but she is a real spitfire, according to Cilia.” He turned to the Wolfsguard, “Nisil, you can show the boys the Wind Splitter and they can start unloading.”

Callem took a moment to think, and I was basically loitering now as the dishes and food were cleaned up. “How are the young women at hand to hand and wrestling?” I didn’t hear Sebastian’s response as I was pushed out by Gareth.

Nisil opened the ramp to Wind Splitter , and we were led inside. The inside was actually white wood with gray growth rings. The white wood helped reflect the light stones placed throughout the ship to brighten the interior. The entire lower level of the ship was just one large cargo deck with two sets of stairs going up. The bay was full of large crates. Nisil indicated the eight crates in the back were the dungeon soil.

We opened the first crate and it was just dirt to me. It had the normal earthy odor and a hint of fresh-cut grass. We got two wheelbarrows and started working. Callem came out after we had already unloaded the first two wheelbarrows, and we learned there was a correct way to spread the soil with the shovel.

The task took a good two hours of constant work. Then we got to watch Sebastian work his magic. The piles of new soil melted and merged into the earth. The field roiled as he turned the soil and then neat rows ready for planting emerged. With his task finished, Sebastian was ready to give us a tour of the Wind Splitter.

We walked up the ramp with Sebastian, and he began speaking, “The ship was unearthed a few hundred years ago on one of the Skyholme islands. It was in the Navy museum as a wreck and curiosity. We learned it was a dark elven transport. Not the dark elves you are thinking of. Just elves that live on the Outer Sphere in the Dark World. The ship was used to take cargo from the Inner Sphere to the Outer Sphere. Before you ask we have no idea how it ended up on Skyholme. The nearest passage to the Outer Sphere is over a hundred thousand miles away.” Sebastian was walking up the stairs, and we followed.

We entered the central room on the upper deck. It was filled with runic markings on floor-to-ceiling panels throughout the room. “This is the engineering room. These panels control the anti-gravity units embedded in the hull. Those over there are the movement controllers. This is the central power core.” He pointed out two eye-ball-sized violet aether crystals embedded in the runes. “Those two stones can continuously power the ship for a week and fully recharge in about a month. The ship can also be sealed and has its own life support.”

He indicated another panel. “But I haven’t restored those runes yet, and finding more violet aether crystals to power them…well enough about my problems.” I ran my fingers over the silvery runic script. “Those runic etchings are made from platinum mixed with powdered green aether crystal. It lasts much longer than the standard silver mixed with yellow crystal. I am not wealthy enough to use mithril, which has the best aether conductivity and would last thousands of years…” He had a dreamy look on his face.

I asked about the white wood. “The bone ashwood? Yes, that is fantastic lumber. It is light, strong, works well with enchantments, and is easily repaired with magic. It is common in the Sphere and also dungeons. The downside is the trees take a long time to grow, so finding a supply of large supply outside a dungeon is difficult. The outer hull is covered in quarter-inch copper alloy plating strengthened with runic inscriptions”

We walked to the forward room, which was the bridge. It had three chairs in the large room and a window. “The window is one-way viewable panel. The pilot’s central chair links to the runic panels in the engine room to control the ship. The external remote viewer is also connected to that chair. The right chair is the navigator’s chair, but I haven’t been able to restore the magitech to functionality. The third chair was the weapon’s operator chair, but alas, this ship has no weapons.” He sighed. The rest of the rooms on the upper deck were not as interesting. Three small crew cabins, a captain's cabin, a small office with books and a comfortable chair, a larder, a small dining room with seating for six, two guest cabins, and a common bathroom that somehow had running water for both hot and cold.

With the tour done, Sebastian took us off the ship and went and talked to Callem. A bit later, Sebastian and Nisil were on board and lifting off. Sebastian promised us a ride in the future when he had more time. It was eerily quiet as the Wind Splitter lifted off. Callem approached us as we watched longingly. “Hope the tour was good. As you heard, we are going to have some guests in a few months. Our training is going to start to include some hand-to-hand, some wrestling, and also some stave work to get ready for them. We are going to teach them to defend themselves in any circumstances.”

Callem went into more detail about how the training would change, and we listened. I was going to lose a little of my free study time, which Callem said was because I didn’t have any new spells to learn. I really needed to get Gareth to the capital to get me more spells.

At the end of the day, in our bunkhouse lofts, we started talking about when Gareth would make his way to the capital. I planned to have 100 platinum for him. The sooner he went, the better. My metal creation ability was close to making three platinum coins a night now. Since I had been using aether to heal during the day and advancing my cleanliness spell, I was stuck at making just two platinum at night. I had also been making some gold coins, but that was only to add to the platinum coins. I fell asleep, dreaming of getting a skyship similar to the Wind Splitter.

© Copyrighted 2024 by AlwaysRollsAOne

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