The Land: Forging (Chaos Seeds Book 2) (26 page)

One of the other dwarves piped in loudly, “That is why we should not wait around for something that we will probably never find!”

“Quit flapping your sausage wrappers,” Krom shouted back. Turning back to Richter, he asked in a respectful tone, “Can you get us a
high quality metal, my Lord?”

You have been offered a Quest: The Right Tool for the Job. Your smiths are arguing over which base metal to use when making the Magic Forge. You have been put on the spot to solve the problem for the fractious dwarves. Weapons and armor made on the forge will have special properties based on the type of metal that is used. The benefit of gaining a better
forge
must be weighed against the difficulty of finding a higher metal and delaying the production of arms to defend your village in a dangerous world. Failing this quest will lower the regard the smiths have for you. Reward: A Magic Forge that gives better traits. Do you accept? Yes or No?

Richter thought about it for a moment, and ultimately based his decision on the boon
of the Quickening. The level 2 bonus provided a 25% greater chance of finding rare resources. There was a real chance that they could find a
high-quality
metal in the surrounding lands. Richter k
new
he would always kick himself if he just took the easy path that was right in front of him, to get a quick result. If he only applied himself, he could get something so much better. It was the same reason he never paid for sex. It wasn’t really so much about being moral, as it was about believing in himself… and having good fiscal sense.

“I agree with Krom. There is a good chance that we might find what we need around here. Search the iron mine. We might discover a previously unseen vein of precious metal. Also, carefully go through the
armory
Krom. There might be weapons made of what we need. If we don’t find anything after a time, we will reach out to our trader friend in Yves and see if he can help.” Richter quailed at thinking about how much the tubby, but shrewd, trader Hafiz would charge. It didn’t’ matter. The Magic Forge was worth investing it. It had to be invested in.

The dwarves seemed comfortable with that decision, and they walked off still good-naturedly
grumbling amongst themselves. Richter stared after them. Now he was getting quests from his own villagers? That possibility hadn’t really occurred to him before. In some ways, he had just viewed the village and the people now living here as macro extensions of himself, like an arm or a leg. Even though he knew that this wasn’t a game, his thinking had unknowingly shifted back to those thought patterns. He supposed it would be good to remember that each new member of his community was an individual, real and distinct.

Richter resumed his jog over to where everyone had gathered to eat. A large bonfire had been made from the wooden remnants of the longhouse, and the villagers circled it. The overall demeanor was not joyous, but neither was it depressed. The people ate and spoke quietly. Richter was pleased that he saw a few smiles here and there. He was pleasantly met by his people who made room for him to sit. He begged off, saying there was no rest for the wicked, which earned a few
good-natured
laughs. He piled some food on a wooden
plate
and made his way up to the Great Seal.

Sumiko and Gloran were sitting in a small room that had also had a table set into it. They seemed to be laughing about something, but both rose quickly at Richter’s approach. He waved them back down, futilely tell them again that things like that weren’t necessary, and then came to the reason he asked to see them. Sumiko readily agreed to teach him the spell
Soul Trap
.

Congratulations! You have learned the spell: Soul Trap! Binds the soul of the target to this plane, preventing passage to the beyond at the time of death. They will instead be pulled
into
any nearby empty soul stone you possess of appropriate size. This is a spell of Life Magic. Cost: 30 mana. Duration: 2 minutes. Range 10 feet. Cast time: 1 second.
Cool down: N/A.

Richter was thankful for the new spell, but the short duration and range were not ideal. Sumiko told him that there were other spells like
Soul Trap
with increased stats, but his level in Life Magic was still too low to learn them. She further told him that the basic
Soul Trap
spell only lasted sixty seconds if learned in another school of magic besides Life and Death. Richter thanked her
again
and spoke to Gloran.

The high elf had already prepared several dozen low level soul stones using pieces of the marbled quartz he had found near the cliffs. Apparently it served as a better template than he had thought it would. Gloran explained that there were multiple levels of soul stones: Weak, Basic, Common, Higher, Special,
Resplendant
, and Absolute. The marbled quartz had made ‘basic’ soul
stones
when he had only been expecting ‘weak’. Each level captured higher level souls. Gloran couldn’t give him a specific breakdown of which monsters went into which
category, but he did tell him that ‘resplendent’ level stones were required to capture high level angels or demons, and ‘absolute’ could capture anything.

When Richter asked if an absolute gem could capture a human or elf, Sumiko’s face tightened. She said in a scolding
tone
that only the most perverted magic could be used to make a gem like that. Richter took the rebuke easily, but he still thought about it. Call him cold, but he knew that at some point he would face other Chaos Seeds. If he needed to put one down, Richter wanted him to stay down.

Richter took the basic soul stones from Gloran and looked at them. None
were
overly large, and Richter could fit several in one hand. He had expected them to look like the original stones they were created from, but none resembled the white stone of the cliffs. Each was the color of amber and formed a perfect
six sided
gem. Holding them made his hand tingle. Richter pulled some gems from his Bag that he had put aside earlier. He had taken
Shivona’s
reaction to heart, and wouldn’t be flashing the contents of his whole chest again… not that he expected Gloran to start whispering sweet nothings into his ear and make a move, but better safe than sore. He put several jaspers, a turquoise, a topaz, and a few
opals
on the table. He also placed one ruby, sapphire, emerald and diamond on the table with the other gems. “What can you make these into?”

Gloran’s eyes had widened at seeing so much wealth so casually strewn in front of him, “Are you sure that you want to use all of these, my Lord?”

“Wealth should serve a purpose,” Richter told him. “The primary purpose of my wealth is to make us safer and stronger. So what can you do with the gems?”

Gloran pushed the diamond, emerald and ruby back towards Richter, “My old master told me that these can be turned into resplendent soul stones, but my skill level in enchanting is too low to make them. I can turn the sapphire into a special soul stone, and the other gems into common or higher level stones.”

“Can you have it done by the morning,” Richter asked.

“I can do it now, my Lord. It is a simple spell of Light magic. It just also has the requirement of possessing the enchanting skill.” Gloran placed his hands over the
gems
and murmured a few words. A green glow shone down from his palms, and the image of each gem wavered, like air over a hot desert. Each gem grew a bit larger and when the glow vanished, more amber jewels sat in their place. Gloran identified the largest as the special stone, the slightly smaller gems were higher level soul stones and the common gems were smaller still. Easy enough to figure out which was which.

“A soul will go into the smallest appropriate soul stone available. Be careful not to run out of
low-level
gems or a weak soul will use up a valuable higher level gem,” Gloran cautioned. Richter asked if he could turn more quartz into soul stones by the morning. The enchanter bowed his head in agreement.

Richter had one more question, “I want you to look at something else.” He reached into his Bag and pulled out the depleted Wand of Dark Bolts. He placed it in front of Gloran, and said, “I found this on one of the attackers. It doesn’t have any charges left, can you fix that?”

Gloran picked up the wand, examining it, “The procedure to recharge the wand is fairly simple. Just place a filled soul stone next to it, and will the wand to be replenished. This
wand, though, is not completely empty, my Lord.”

Richter frowned and took the wand back from the enchanter. When he examined it, he saw that Gloran was right.

You have found: Wand of Dark Bolts. Attack 4-6. Durability 17/17. Item class: Uncommon. Quality: Superb. Weight 0.2 kg. Casts spell Dark Bolts. Charge 2/50.

“I don’t understand,” Richter said. “I was sure that it had zero charges when I examined it earlier.”

Gloran nodded in understanding, “The enchantment that made this wand was a ‘charged’ enchantment, my Lord. That means that unlike your armor which gives a constant bonus, the wand has a limited number of uses. After
that,
it just becomes a stick with a weak attack. The charges can be restored by using filled soul stones as we discussed, but it will also slowly recharge over time.”

“So if I just wait, then my enchanted items will replenish?” Gloran nodded
again
but warned that it could take a long, long time.

Richter thanked them and said goodnight. His muscles had started locking up from his sparring session, and he wanted nothing more than to fall asleep.

CHAPTER 15

Richter’s dreams were full of shouts of sword forms, and the pain of Yoshi correcting him when he made a mistake:

‘Forest Wind! No, left leg back!’

Crack!

‘Argh, you bastard!’

‘Cat Swatting at Mouse. I told you to find your center!’

Crack!

‘Son, of, a, Bitch!’

Richter blinked the dreams away, waking in the barracks. He thanked god for the improved healing of The Land. When he had finally laid down for the night, his body was wracked with pain from the numerous bruises he had suffered while sparring. This
morning
though, he barely felt stiff. The villagers filled the other
bunks
, most still sleeping. A few spoke softly to one another, but no one had left their beds yet. At the start of the tunnel leading outside, there were three large bundles and a cloth bag. Checking the bundles, he saw the arrows he had asked Hisako to create. The sprite arrows were still the best projectiles he had
encountered since coming to The Land with their +1 to damage and accuracy. The bag was full of basic soul stones. He slid the three bundles of arrows and poured the soul stones into his Bag of Holding, and then walked outside and greeted the day.

Alma had swooped down from the arches above the Great Seal
and settled on his shoulders in what was becoming her customary perch. The darkness of night had just fled, and the clouds above were lit with peach and orange hues. The forest was waking up around the village, and distant animal calls could be heard. He had always enjoyed the stillness of mornings. He just stood there with his
familiar
and watched the sky lighten over the tree tops.

After a time, he saw three figures walking from the meadow north of the village, and the forms resolved into Sion, Yoshi
and Daniella. It was time to go. Richter was wondering how to find Futen when the remnant floated along.

“How do you always seem to appear when I want you,” Richter asked.

“Because you will it, my Lord. I can sense your desire.”

Well that’s not at all creepy, Richter thought, but still, good to know.

“Take us to the quest site,” he said.

“Yes, my Lord.”

Alma rose into the air as the four adventurers started following the remnant out of the village. They went east following the foothills of the mountain above. The path was initially the same as that which Richter had taken to unlock his first power, but after an
hour,
Futen began to move in a more southeasterly direction. They walked in
relative
silence. One of the things
that Richter shared with the sprites was an appreciation of nature and its beauty. After fighting a pitched battle barely a day ago, the forest’s sounds and scents were a form of spiritual healing.

Sion handed out the potions he had been able to make. Everyone got two healing potions. He gave Richter three restore mana potions, keeping two for himself. Everyone also got a restore stamina potion. The potions were all classified as minor, restoring a base 43.6 points over 6 seconds. Sion explained that the potion had a base healing of 40, but the bonus in his Alchemy skill made his potion 1.5% more effective per level.