There were two problems, though. First, Elijah would need money to buy a delving spot for the rift. And secondly, there was the question of him being strong enough to delve into the rift. He would ask the boys about the rift, they had probably heard of it before.
Finishing his food, Elijah bought two maps from one of the stores. The first map showed the kingdom of Eldrid while the second was a depiction of Whisperwind and the surrounding cities. After that, Elijah went back to the inn and practiced reading for an hour or two with the help of the book he had bought before he decided to experiment with his abilities.
Chapter Begin
Elijah put his book on the table before he stepped in front of the mirror. He had already used his abilities extensively but all applications of them had been spontaneous. It wouldn’t hurt to prepare a few alternative applications for future fights. He opted to avoid trying out [Wooden Thorn] in the small room as he wanted to avoid damaging anything. The same went for [Devastating Blow].
First, Elijah repeated the feats he had done during the first days on the floating island. With a flex of his will, his hands increased in size. His wooden body obeyed easily and Elijah looked at them in the mirror. The sight was yet another reminder that he had changed. His hands looked disproportionate to the overall image of his body.
They reverted to their original size before Elijah tried the same with his feet. He had taken off his leafy boots and put them near the door since he wasn’t sure if they would survive his feet changing in size. While Elijah wasn’t sure what use bigger feet would have in a fight, it didn’t hurt to try out. Maybe I can stomp on enemies. He thought as he looked at his twice-as-big feet in the mirror. He looked like a cartoon character and couldn’t help but laugh at the sight. Amused, he tried to take a step forward but was thrown off balance by the different feeling and stumbled forward. With a thought, his feet returned to their old form and Elijah caught himself before his face hit the wall.
With a mental command, his minions slithered off his arms and changed into humanoid forms before they took a few steps back. Their beady golden eyes concentrated on their creator as Elijah tried to thicken his arms next. It worked but he couldn’t think of any benefits of having bigger arms as the change didn’t even increase his strength from what he could tell.
Next, Elijah tried something different. He clenched his right hand and turned his fist into the head of a mace. With a thought, spikes grew from his hand and he swung his arm a few times. It’s good to have this option but I feel more comfortable with an actual mace. He thought and glanced at the mace leaning against the wall to his left. He hadn’t carried it on him during his time here in the city.
More ideas came to his mind and Elijah repeated the feat of elongating his arms. It had worked well against enemies until now when Elijah suddenly increased his reach mid-fight. He tried the same with his legs and felt like walking on stilts as he took a few steps through the room, his head nearly reaching the ceiling. The steps felt clumsy, though. He would have to practice walking like that more if he wanted to use that skill in fights. He probably won’t.
His fingers turned to claws and his teeth became sharper. Blades grew from his elbows and his face morphed into a wooden mask. A shiver went down his spine as Elijah looked at his image in the mirror. Fuck. I look like a monster. He fought the urge to snap his body into its former appearance but pushed ahead. On a whim, he grew a set of wooden horns from his head. He had more ideas and thought about different forms he could take. The possibilities were endless and only his imagination was the limit. And his willingness to walk around as a monster. I’ll need some time to adjust to the feeling of walking around as a monster, probably.
Elijah looked at all transformations before his body snapped back into its old form, leaving him disoriented for a moment. He looked at his hands. They were the same as always. His gaze lingered on the wooden texture of his skin before he moved to his minions. He already knew that it was possible for them to absorb wood to increase their size but he never tested the degree to which they could change their form. The fact that they could coil around his arm was proof enough of their flexibility.
Root looked him in the eyes as Elijah stepped in front of his first minion. He willed it to change its form and he watched as the minion fell forward, moving on all fours. Its hands and feet turned into wooden paws and its face elongated, taking on the form of a snout. Not even a minute later, Root looked like a hound.
Elijah commanded it to move around and contrary to his expectations, the movements weren’t clumsy. While its movements weren’t as fluid as a real hound’s, it was moving at a decent pace. He also added sharp teeth to the minion, giving it more weapons apart from the wooden claws it had formed.
The other form is more practical. Elijah thought as he took the mace and put it against Root. The minion increased in size as it absorbed the wood of the mace and returned to its humanoid form, growing to the height of Elijah’s hips. Root was twice as tall as Timber now and Elijah had a new idea when he compared the difference in size between both minions.
He commanded them to merge into a single being but it turned out that one of them was unsummoned when the other absorbed it, only increasing the size of one of them instead of giving one body two consciousness. Elijah felt how Root took control over both bodies and used all the wood to increase its size to the height of his shoulders.
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After splitting Root’s body into three and reforming the mace and resummoning Timber, Elijah practiced manipulating his mace. It hovered around the room as Elijah took note of the usage of mana it required from him. Manipulating his own body was the cheapest, mana-wise. Changing his minion’s forms was slightly costlier but also needed less mana than the manipulation of external wood such as his mace. He also noticed that changes to his body or his minions could last for as long as he wanted to as keeping them in that form didn’t require any mana or concentration on his part.
Numerous ideas passed through Elijah’s mind before he decided to go to sleep. He was tired from the long day and would continue experimenting or trying out new ideas during fights or on other days. Tomorrow, he would look for ways to make money and find out more about the Tier 2 rift in Ravenholm.
***
A couple of hours later, Elijah awoke in the middle of the night. With a groan, he got up from his bed and looked outside. I still have to get used to sleeping only a few hours. I can practice reading for an hour or two before I start the day.
After a quick shower, Elijah slipped into the same outfit he wore yesterday and sat at his table. He was slowly getting used to the new alphabet and was getting more fluent with each sentence he managed to decipher. The book was rather dry, though. It covered the history of Eldrid, as Brisk had told him.
According to the book, Eldrid was a prosperous and influential kingdom located in the heart of the continent. King Eadric was the successor of a long line of wise and just kings and if Elijah read correctly, the royal family almost always inherited the ability to read thoughts. King Eadric had fought several wars, each of them with its own name, before he expanded the kingdom to its current size. Elijah only wondered what tier King Eadric was, though.
After his reading session, Elijah unsummoned Root and had Timber coil around his arm before he took his pouch and went downstairs, locking the door behind him. He talked with Thyme a bit before he had a quick breakfast and left for the guild. He almost went back to grab a cloak when he noticed how cool the morning hours were but decided not to, as he would have to carry the cloak around during the day.
Elijah spent the time during his walk to the guild reading everything he could. He even managed to read the sign of the inn he was staying at and even slowed down a few times to decipher longer texts such as “ Wandering Wyvern Tavern” or “Mystic Moonlight Inn”. Elijah glanced inside those buildings and found the names unnecessarily exaggerated considering their humble facilities.
He only had to ask for the way once, becoming increasingly familiar with the city’s layout before he arrived at the guild headquarters. Elijah saw Aric from afar when he approached the building but didn’t bother to call him as the man was clearly in a hurry, and would probably simply wave at him before continuing his stride.
Doesn’t he have anything else to do? Elijah thought as he saw Mark standing behind the counter again. He was sticking his nose in a book again and Elijah wondered if it was pure luck that he had met the man the first time when he wasn’t holding a book. Mark never looked up even once despite Elijah being the only other person in the spacious room. He only looked up from his book when Elijah greeted him.
He blinked a few times, taking a few moments to register Elijah’s presence. “Oh, what are you doing here this early in the morning?”
“Are you always here?” Elijah raised an eyebrow.
“Not always, but often multiple days in a row. I’m an avid reader and the only times I leave this room is to get new books or spar against people.” Mark put the book down with the cover facing upwards as he raised his fists and asked with a grin, “Up for a fight?”
Elijah shook his head in disbelief and smiled at Mark’s antics. “No way. I wanted to ask you something.” Mark gestured for him to continue. “I heard about a Tier 2 rift in Ravenholm yesterday. Do you know how many credits I need for a slot and how I can get there?” Before Mark could answer, Elijah added, “And how strong should I be for the delve?”
“While I don’t know your strength, it is recommended to delve with a party of four people at the same tier as the rift to clear it. But there are always exceptions.” Mark looked at Elijah’s wooden arms. “I could imagine that you have quite the advantage because of your wooden body. Your constitution is probably higher than that of an average Tier 2.”
“And the slot?” Elijah asked.
“Should be about 2500 to 3000 credits. Usually, it's more but the rift is under the control of the Eternal Flame guild. They are Tier 6 and on friendly terms with us. Their leader is a good friend of Alex and agreed to give our members a discount for the rift slots. There are lots of merchants going back and forth between Whisperwind and Ravenholm. You should be able to find someone who takes you there for a few credits. But don’t spend more than 200 credits for the way,” Mark explained.
Looks like I don’t have to take any quests. The money I have should be enough to get me to Ravenholm. I’ll see if the credits I have are enough to buy a slot. If not, I’ll see what I can do to earn some money there. Elijah thought, relieved that he didn’t have to take any quests. From what he heard, they were mostly miscellaneous things that needed to be taken care of and the guild simply provided manpower.
“Where can I find the merchants?” Elijah asked, ready to set off.
“At the East-side of the city. They are loading up their crates every morning before they set off. Should be in two or three hours,” Mark pointed to the direction Elijah had to go to.
Elijah thanked him and hurried back to the inn where he took his mace, a cloak, and another set of clothes with him before he told Thyme that he would be gone for a few days and paid for a week in advance. He also made a short trip to the market where he bought a proper backpack made of leather for his belongings.
He also made another stop at the old man’s candy stand he had been to and bought sweets and a few fruits from another store for the way. His backpack rapidly filled with all kinds of delicious food Elijah couldn’t resist buying before he made his way to the East-side of the city with a weird fruit in hand, which tasted like a mix between a watermelon and an apple but looked like a banana.
This world is weird, Elijah thought as he took a bite.