The Land: Forging (Chaos Seeds Book 2) (6 page)

“Only that they are powerful relics, and that several previous Masters have attempted to obtain one
but had no success. They always lamented that the sprites would not provide one.”

Hmmmm
, the remnant’s memory seemed to be improving, Richter thought. “Do you remember anything else?”

“No,
my Lord, many specific details still remain beyond my grasp. I would offer a suggestion, however. I heard the sprite Mother suggest planting the Seed now, but I believe tonight would be better.”

“Why do you say this,” Hisako asked. She was looking at the remnant with curiosity, but also with caution. Richter didn’t understand why she looked so pensive.

“I believe you are operating as if you were at your own Place of Power, Master Hisako. I can sense that you are a Master of Light, Life and Earth. Were we planting the Seed at your seat of power, then this would be
the perfect time
. The Mist
Village, however, is built upon a nexus of Life, Dark, Water,
and Air. The most auspicious time would be when the environment compliments those Powers. I suggest that we wait until nightfall. That will coincide with our Dark Power. The presence of the storm will fulfill the obligation of the Air and Water Powers. The Seed Core itself is Life magic. I believe that waiting will provide the highest chance to obtain a powerful tree.”

Richter looked at Hisako, “What do you think?”

“His reasoning is sound. When I advised
to plant
the Core now, I admit that in the back of my mind I was applying reasoning that would be best for the Hearth Tree. The blessing will easily last until tonight. It will also let me find the best place to plant the Seed Core.”

“Okay then,” Richter said. I will let you all explore and relax after our trip. If you need anything, just ask. I’m going to check in with my people.” He looked over at
Sion,
who, as usual, had not been able to shed Daniella’s company. His Companion looked at him with hope in his eyes, expecting to be asked along. Richter smiled toothily, “Sion, why don’t you show Daniella around. I won’t need you until the ceremony tonight.” He then turned and walked to greet his people. Sion’s glare washed over him with the all of the comforting warmth of
a sunlight.

Richter’s first stop was to check in at the half constructed smithy. He was greeted by his wood elf carpenter
Roswan
. The elf was a gruff
six-foot
tall man, with a somewhat terse manner. What made him truly stand apart was his hair style. Most elves had long straight hair that they wore loose or plaited.
Roswan cut his hair short
and wore it high and tight with a large part on the left. He was also one of the few elves with facial hair, and he sported a thick brown mustache.

“Hello Roswan,” Richter said.

Roswan just made a half
mmmm,
half growl, and kept working on his current project.

Richter gave a sigh. The cantankerous man was not the easiest person to work with. If only he wasn’t so good at his job! “So how are we looking for the forge?” The framework was up, as were the several walls he had seen upon coming back to the village. They had apparently also laid the floor, using slate as opposed to wood. Probably a good idea seeing as how there would be countless sparks and embers from the forge.

The elf gave the same response he had given before when Richter had asked for a progress report, “It’s being built.”

Richter waited for any more information, but as per usual, nothing more was forthcoming. “I love our little talks
Roswan
.”
Grrmmm
was the only response. Richter gave a half sigh, “Where are Hilda and the other dwarves?” Hilda was one of the dwarf elders that had initially agreed to come to the village.

“Grrmmm
, they are poking around in the mountain,” he said gesturing to the foothills and mountains north of the village. “Might be back tonight for dinner.”

“Well is there anything you need,” Richter asked.

“More wood… more help… more bacon and eggs,” the elf said without looking up.

Richter just shook his head at the man. Not even a “
grrmmmm
” that time. Richter walked on. He tried to say hello to everyone. Most just gave a polite smile or wave, and then went on about their business. Luckily, his Analyze skill let him know everyone’s names, or he would have had no clue as to most. His skill did require
mana,
though, which wasn’t limitless, so there was a fair amount of “Looking good!” and “My man!” thrown into his greetings as well.

Richter walked past the walls of the village, out into the newly cultivated farmland. Dozens of people were planting various crops. He had bought corn, wheat, potatoes, some soy like plant called
ifiz
, tomatoes, and a host of others. There were no citrus or other fruit trees, unfortunately. One of the things Richter planned to buy from Hafiz was a series of fruit trees. He had bought several barrels of apples and a type of large citrus fruit that tasted like a mix
between passion fruit and limes, but with no refrigeration,
they would not last long. Richter had wondered about getting a balanced diet. Of course, he might be worrying for nothing. After all, who knew how his body here matched up with his old Earth body. It would be the
bone head move of all time,
though, to become a powerful warrior and mage, and then develop scurvy.

All of his impromptu farmers seemed to be on task and happy, so Richter didn’t rock the boat. He was not one to micromanage people who knew their job better than he did. It was a
well-stressed
point during his upbringing, that a smart leader found people smarter than himself, and then put them to work. Richter had seen no reason to think he had chosen his new villagers poorly. He spent an hour walking among the farmers and speaking with the guards who patrolled the edges of the forest.

It had never been far from Richter’s mind that though the mists were an effective deterrent against most humanoids, wild animals,
and certain monsters would not be affected. Luckily, the guards said there had been no incursions close to the village. They also reported though, that the hunters had spied several cave bears to the north, and a pack of wolves had been close enough to hear their howls a few days ago. Richter decided to start organizing larger hunting parties. The site the village was being built upon had been wild and untouched land for hundreds of years. There was no overestimating the dangers that lurked nearby, and he swore to himself that he would not forget that.

After walking through the fields, Richter then walked to the river that was to the west of village
. His destination was the wooden cradle that had been set up to start building the
village’s first ship. The closest hub of trade was the Kingdom of Yves. On foot, the journey took almost three weeks. With a ship to navigate the countless rivers in this part of the world, the journey could be accomplished in a fraction of the time. If
trade
was to become a regular part of life, the ship was of paramount importance.

Richter had been lucky enough that a high elf adept shipbuilder and her two apprentices had agreed to come to the village. Skill ranks were not arbitrary in The Land.
Novice
was skill level one through nine. Ten through
twenty-four granted initiate level, and levels twenty-five through fourty-
four meant you were an apprentice. Journeymen were levels
forty-five to sixty-nine, adepts were seventy to ninety-nine
, and masters had achieved skill level one hundred and above. What the ranks meant seemed to vary from skill to skill as far as Richter could tell. Magic masters and adepts could teach spells without spell books, and training with someone of a higher rank than you would increase the rate that someone leveled their skills. Other than that, Richter really didn’t have an understanding of how the ranks impacted anything.

“Ho the ship,” Richter called out.

“Very funny, my Lord,” the ship builder
said.
Shivona
was short for a high elf at five and a half feet. She had long black hair plaited to her waist, a petite figure and broad hips. Rather broad and round actually… Richter had noticed that she switched when she walked in a… very distracting way. Richter liked her for her confident attitude and competent manner. When they had first come to the
village,
she had caught him staring a time or two. She never seemed
angry,
though, she just gave him a challenging little smile and then stared right back. He decided to forgo that this
morning, speaking up before she noticed him.

“I’m glad to see that you’ve started on the ship.” The ribbing was well on the way to being completed as far as Richter could tell. “Is there anything you need from me?”

“Things are moving well, but if I could have one of those Mist Workers allocated to me, then things would move a good deal faster,” she said.

“Done,” Richter said promptly. Mist Workers were magical constructs that Richter could summon. They lacked any real intelligence, but they were strong and had good reserves of stamina. They couldn’t be trusted with complicated tasks, but were perfectly suited for manual labor. Unfortunately, he could only summon so many per day, the amount dictated by the 1,000 mana limit on the village’s mana pool. It did regenerate every hour, but only so much. When the villagers had found out about the magical beasts of burden, they all decided they
had
to have one. Needless to say, demand was high. Ship construction was a priority for Richter, though. There
were
no internet or telecoms in The Land. The only way for his village to be connected to the rest of world was to physically travel to neighboring towns and settlements. He had arranged for one of the ships that had brought the settlers to the Mist Village to return to the boundaries of the
Confusing Mist
spell in several weeks’ time. The cost of arranging that had been several gold coins paid upfront. That amounted to several hundred US dollars that were eating into his potential profits!

“How long until the ship will be ready,” Richter asked.

“She should be river ready in three months,” Shivona
said with certainty.

Richter widened his eyes, “That soon? I was expecting it to take the better part of a year!”

“Ha,” she scoffed. “Maybe it would take that long for
ham-fisted
humans…,” she looked up with a stricken look when she remembered the lord of her new village was human. Richter just gestured for her to keep going with an amused expression on his face. She nodded gratefully and continued, “As I was saying, high elves are the finest
ship builders
in The Land. Each of us
are
proficient with a certain type of magic as well. I have
affinity for Water and Earth magic, both at apprentice skill
level. My aides have affinities to Water and Air magic respectively.”

“So you cast spells to make the work go faster,” Richter asked.

“That is part of it, but also,
we just maintain a low level of ambient mana when we are working.” Seeing that Richter wasn’t following, she explained further, “You can cast different types of spells, correct? I am sure you have noticed that right before casting spells of different types of magic, there is a recognizable feeling. For myself, casting Water spells feels different than casting Earth spells.”

Richter nodded, his Earth magic spells made him feel ‘solid’ for lack of a better description. Water magic gave him a cool “fluid” feeling, and his
Ice Dagger
spell made his hands feel cold right before casting, though that may have been specific to that spell.

“Well my Lord, we focus on that feeling while we work, not actually using mana, just accessing it. We have found that the ships will ultimately be stronger and faster by infusing mana while we work. That’s one of the reasons high elves are such excellent craftsmen. In addition to having a high shipbuilding skill, we increase our skill level in magic as well. Of
course, this ship won’t be as strong as enchanted ships and won’t have anywhere near the power of
kytachi
vessels.”

“Just call me Richter,” he said absently. It wasn’t often his Gift of Tongues ability didn’t automatically translate every word. It seemed only to happen when the word expressed a concept he wasn’t fully familiar with.
Kytachi seemed to translate as ‘caught souls.’

“I don’t understand,” Richter said. “Are you saying you can make the ship stronger? Why don’t you?”

Seeing his confusion, Shivona
explained further, “A jewel can be infused with a spell and attached to the ship. An example would be the Earth spell Durability. The spell could be infused into a jewel and then attached to the ship. The ship’s structure would be stronger. The size of the ship usually means that several jewels need to be strategically placed in key
positions,
though.
Otherwise,
you have one part of the ship much stronger than the others. It might not seem important, but the boards of a ship need to swell and shrink together. If one area is much stronger than the others, it creates a stress point that might snap the ship in two. I’m sure you can see that using several jewels for one effect, while beneficial to the ship, would be very costly.”

Richter nodded his understanding. He wasn’t completely disregarding the possibility, though. He still had many jewels in his inventory, and it might be worth using a few to enchant the ship. “What about a
kytachi?”

“A kytachi
vessel is something else entirely, my L-, Richter. It requires that a soul stone that has been invested with a spirit to be irreversibly bonded to a ship. The stronger the spirit,
the stronger the vessel. It is not an exact
process,
though,” she cautioned. “Over
time,
the vessel takes on the characteristics of the spirit. I’ll give you an example. There is a monster called a water dancer that skips over the tops of rivers and lakes on long thin legs. It spreads its weight out so each point of contact only dimples the water, but never actually penetrates the surface. Dancers are detestable creatures, and will use a paralytic poison to stun you. While you’re immobilized, they insert a thin proboscis into your body and drink your blood.” She shuddered for a second before continuing. “As horrible a creature as it
is however, if its spirit was caught in a soul stone and then bonded to a ship, that ship would skip over the waves and move faster through the water than almost any others.”