A Mage Rising: (The Chronicles of Herst 2: A LitRPG Saga)

by Thomas Whipple

  “I get it. It was not right of me and I apologize for my behavior. I was out of line and will definitely help our people.” Watching him for a few seconds after his apology I can tell that he is remorseful of his actions. I take a few slow breaths to dispel the anger he caused with his momentary lack of judgment. “Ok then. I also want to mention that we will be functioning as a community here. You may be using your abilities to build, but others will be hunting, building and doing other things too. Until we are settled here and a normal economy is established we will be pooling our resources.”

  A few moments pass before Dolan breaks the little tension in the air. “Great!” He says loudly and claps his hands, drawing everyone’s eyes to him. “Now we should talk about how we are going to lay out all the buildings as we build. Vol, you mentioned before about wanting a say in the placement. What was your idea?” With curiosity, the council is looking to me. Already Laurissa has an unhappy look. I ignore it and lay out my ideas for a defensible community. The first thing is that I want the keep here to be the last fallback position for a defense. That means that the entrance is fortified with its own small wall and gate.

  Another thing I suggested is three main roads leading from the keep to three key locations. These main roads would also be set with village squares that will allow defensive positions to be set up in case of invasion. One would go straight from the keep entrance to the river. At the river I would build another bridge but with a gate and towers at both ends. The wall will have the gate on this side of the river incorporated into it. During talks about this road, the council decided that this should be where all the shops are located. Not having any objection to it I happily agree with this decision.

  The next road would run at a diagonal from the keep entrance to the middle of the southern wall. At this point in the wall there will be another gate that lets out into the plains between the cliff and the river. Everyone agrees at this point that there should be a main route leading to what will be future farmland. The main roads will lead to the keep but there will be a few streets that aren’t as large. They will still be big enough that the produce from the farms can get to the market street. Smaller streets will be built in between everything for residential housing and rear access for the shops on Market Street.

  The last major street will lead to the center of the north wall along the shore of the lake. The reason for this is the docks for the lake. They haven’t been built yet but I am planning on it so we have a place for fishing boats. When the council heard this they got a little excited. There wasn’t much fish in the village of Efftin before they left. The brief discussion that followed brought some good suggestions that I hadn’t thought of. One is that we should build warehouses in the area near the north gate. The other idea that we went with was that we would use a few of those buildings as a small fish market.

  After we all agreed on this Dolan voices something that I didn’t think of when planning it all in my head, building size. “I have two suggestions when it comes to building size during the building phase” he tells us after getting everyone’s attention. “The first thing is that we should make sure there is a village square where the three main roads meet in front of the keep. This will keep separation from the wall there and the buildings. These should all be the tallest and we would build the shorter ones closer to the wall. This makes sure that defenders always have the high ground. Next to the wall there should be only one story buildings and nothing against it.” This was all solid advice for our defenses.

  Everyone agreed to Dolan’s suggestion and we moved on. We deliberated a little but decided on an overall plot size for buildings with a small yard front and back for residences. No yards for the shops, but they will have access to the back for deliveries and such. “What about the square that will be located at the entrance to the keep?” I was looking at what we planned as Bolden drew out the basic plan on a sheet of paper. I just didn’t see anything there. The others start to look at it and after a moment they seem to realize what I mean. “It seems like there should be something special planned for those buildings instead of just residences” says Enora.

  There was one thing that I noticed Efftin didn’t have that every village and hamlet in all the video games I played had. “An inn! No. Two inns.” I get skeptical looks from those around the table, except for Dolan. I point at him as his eyes light up. I knew the dwarf would see the advantages. A moment later I clue the rest in. “I know we aren’t expecting anyone to need to rent a room, but that might not be the case in the future since we have the only Altar to Gwydia. The point is that they would mainly be drinking establishments. Not only that, but a place where people in the community can mingle socially and get something to eat. We could build them on either side of where the center road meets the keep’s square.”

  Now there are some excited faces. As they discuss it a little more I realize something. “Who are we going to get that can brew spirits and run an inn?” They go silent when I say that and then they all look at each other and grin. Either there is an inside joke here or they already know the right people for the job. “Don’t worry Lord Vol Adare, we’ll take care of that. What should we do with the other buildings in the square though?” This came from the wood elf council member Jerick. “I was thinking of making it where your shops would be.” I respond to him and look to all the council members. “I would like to open an adventurer’s guild at some point as well.” I point to a spot at the very southernmost portion of the square that is drawn in. “There should still be enough room to do that here and the other shops spread out around the rest of the square. Of course I would need to find someone capable of running it, but that is a problem for later.”

  We discuss a few more minor details before the meal is ready. With that we call it a night and plan to meet up in the morning to get started on the new town. I help hand out meals to everyone and sit to eat a meal with the council, Hildre and Azzaria. There is some light conversation in the main hall while we eat, but I am mainly thinking about what I can do to help Zia learn Mana Manipulation. I finally give up on most of my ideas and just decide to try and teach her how I visualized it. With all the construction work that is being planned I expect to be very busy in the near future. Not wanting to put it off and have it get delayed I excuse myself early from dinner to find Zia. When Azzaria looks to me questioningly I just wave to let her know it isn’t anything to worry about.

  It took me a little while to find Zia and her parents, but it could have been worse if I had to search through the camp outside. I asked a few people in the halls as I was walking through and eventually found the right door. When I knocked it was Nira that answered. “Oh, Lord Adare! I wasn’t expecting you.” She seems a little flustered but still happy to see me. It feels weird to see her show me such deference. She is older than me and it’s different than how she spoke to me previously. She definitely respected me after helping her and saving her daughter but this is more subservient than before. “It’s good to see you Nira. Please just call me Vol. We are friends after all. I know I’m going to be pretty busy for a while and since I had a little time now I wanted to take Zia to see something. You and Derl can come along. I know there is a lot to do as you settle in here but I think you will enjoy it.” She looks torn at first but ultimately caves to my request.

  A few minutes later Nira has gathered her daughter and husband to follow me up the stairs. Back in the hall I wave at everyone to keep their seats, leading the little family to the middle door at the end of the large main hall. I give them a second to look at the door and I open it with a thought. As we walk in I watch their expressions. They’re priceless. The small family is transfixed by the Altar and walk forward as if they are in a trance. “What do you think?” My voice brings them out of the stupor and they all look to me. “This is the Altar to Gwydia. I would like to see if it can help me teach Zia Mana Manipulation.”

  At my words Zia’s face lights up and she starts bouncing around. I wave my hand and tell her
to calm down. “You need to be calm and focused if you wish to wield magic” I tell her. A minute later, and several deep breaths from Zia, she is no longer bouncing. Taking on a look of determination she tells me “I am ready.” I like the attitude so I lead her the rest of the way to the Altar and stand in front of it. “Now Zia, place your hands on the Altar and ask the goddess of magic to help you.” I wait for her to do as I ask. When I see the lights in the Altar itself brighten a little I continue. “You can sense your mana correct?” She nods with her eyes still closed. “Now find where your mana gathers in your body and focus on that.”

  Her face scrunches up and she gets a frustrated look on her face. “I feel it, but when I try to make it move like magus Bolden told me it just slips away” she tells me. Remembering the way that I learned the ability and how similar my first attempts were I can sympathize. Maybe this is one reason why only a few people can learn the ability. If she was told that is how she should do it then she would not have tried other things. If the experience is different for each individual then a structured lesson won’t work for everyone. “Relax. Don’t try to grasp the mana inside you. Release it. Guide it but do not try to force it.”

  I stop talking as she considers my words and tries to work out the meaning. “It feels like it wants to move but can’t. Like something is blocking it” Zia tells me. Encouraged by what seems like some progress I give her a little more guidance. “Give it a path to flow through. When I learned it I imagined digging a channel from my mana to my hand. It’s like I was trying to divert a river. Imagine something like that.” Zia’s parents and I wait, watching her, for a long time. Eventually she hops a little like she is surprised. Then she holds up her hand and opens her eyes to look at it.

  I cast Mana Sight so that I can look at her hand. I can see the mana build up there and I get a little worried. I remember when I did that and my hand itches a little from the healed burn that I got from it. “Good job Zia, but you need to imagine the path back to where it came from.” She shakes her hand a little before she speaks again. “It’s getting hot.” More worried now I use a more authoritative tone with her. “Zia. Listen to me. You need to create the path back to where your mana came from. If you let too much mana pool it will start to burn you.” This time the words seem to get through to her and her face takes on the concentrated look again.

  When I see that the mana in her hand isn’t increasing anymore I let out a sigh of relief. The mana isn’t decreasing though. I think about it for a second and realize what is happening. She didn’t cut off the flow and is circulating mana through her hand and back. “Ok, almost there Zia. Now I want you to close where the mana is leaving your pool and cut off the flow. Watching again with my Mana Sight I can see when the mana in her hand starts to decrease. When it has all been directed back to her mana pool Zia turns to me with a determined look. “What now?” She speaks her question in an excited tone.

  Her enthusiasm is infectious and I can’t help but give her a wide smile. “Why don’t you check your messages before we do any more?” Her face goes blank for a second and she stares at something in front of her that no one else can see. A moment later there is a squeal like a tea kettle that is boiling. It’s at this point that a furry missile hits me in the stomach and knocks the wind out of me. “It worked! The message said I got the Mana Manipulation skill.” Her voice is muffled since her face is buried in my stomach but she is yelling so I can understand her. “Thank you so much uncle Vol!”

  It takes a minute for me to regain my breath after the good natured attack but then I pick her up and give her a hug. “You’re welcome Zia. Now, when you get to level 5 you can pick the mage base class if you want to.” Again she lets out a squee sound. I look over to Nira and Derl to see some truly ecstatic faces. The meeting in the Altar room quickly devolves into hugs and other forms of thanks from the happy family. Eventually I’m able to extract myself and lead the family to the stairs to put Zia to bed. Good luck with that! I think. She is so excited that her parents may be cursing me before the night is out.

  It must have taken almost an hour and it’s getting late, but none of the council has left yet. They are all looking at me expectantly along with Hildre and Azzaria. Schooling my features I look at everyone seriously and ask “What?” It takes about two seconds before Bolden explodes. “Bah, you know what we want to hear about. So were you able to teach the girl?” With a big shit eating grin for the frustration I caused the mage I answer. “Yes I was.” After that I tell everyone what happened. I even go over how I learned Mana Manipulation for Bolden and suggest to him that he should try multiple ways for helping children learn the ability. Hopefully a more flexible curriculum will allow more children to unlock the mage class. That and being in close proximity to an Altar of the goddess of magic.

  After I tell them everything it’s starting to get late. Tired, I head back upstairs with Azzaria, Timbre and Thia. In the master suite we head into the main bedroom. There I unload the furniture we brought from the master bedroom back in Efftin. Timbre finds a spot to lay down next to the bedroom door with Thia in her favorite spot on Timbre’s back. Azzaria and I both lay down in the bed and she curls up to my side before going to sleep almost instantly. I spend a few minutes just watching her sleep. Her blond hair splayed out next to her and her arm draped over me. Not quite ready to sleep just yet I check why my message icon in the bottom left of my vision has been blinking to get my attention.

  Congratulations! You have increased the live in population of your land. For a population over 100 permanent residents your land is upgraded to a Village. New options are unlocked in the land development menu. You are awarded 1 DP. This can be used from the land development menu. You gain the title Lord.

  Seeing this message I am reminded that I never did check out the land development menu when I was here last. After fighting the Corpse Driver Beetle Queen and the long day we had I was so tired I didn’t even try to look at the land development menu. The next day I had forgotten about it. Giving it a try now, I will the menu to open like I do with my status menu. What I get is a menu with the status saying Village lvl 1 at the top. Next to it is a space for a name, but that is blank as we haven’t named it yet. There is also a box for mana, which is currently sitting at 10,000/10,000, and another for DP with one in it. Under that is a list of options that has most of them blocked out, making it impossible to read what they are. What is readable is Altar, Population, and Structures.

  Going through the options one at a time I start with Altar. Mostly what I find in there is information like who is in possession of it, me, and what goddess it is to, Gwydia. One other thing in there is a possible upgrade to the Altar’s mana storage. I guess the reason my village has a mana stat is because of the mana fount and Altar. The upgrade costs one DP, which I discover means development points, and would double the mana storage and regeneration of the village. Before I make a decision on whether or not to use the one point I have on this I want to test something and check if there are any other upgrade options.

  Next I move on to the Population selection. This gives me information on population numbers. I can view how many adults or children are on my land and even their general health and moral. Turns out there are a total 376 people of different races on my land now. That doesn’t include me, Timbre and Thia. I will look into what effects everything has in here later. Currently there don’t seem to be any bonuses, but there is a warning about lack of housing and possible issues stemming from that. The general health is good and the moral is neutral. Hopefully we can get everyone situated comfortably before this starts causing any problems.

  In the Structures section there are more possible upgrades. The keep is the only structure at the moment, but within the section there are upgrades for increasing the number of rooms or the size of those that are already there. Like the main hall, master bedroom or entry hall. One of the rooms eligible for an upgrade is a Mana Crystal Garden. My guess is that is the room with all the mana crystals, but I
don’t need to enlarge it at the moment. There is another option for it though. For a daily amount of mana from the village I can boost the crystal growth.

  None of the structure items interest me right now since there isn’t much other than the keep, and even that is a little bare at the moment. I go back to the main menu and try to get more information on the mana the village has. All of the sudden I know the information I was trying to find. Like the instinctive information that comes with learning a new spell from a spell book the information unfolds in my mind. I think that it came from the connection to the land I gained when I claimed the mana fount. Turns out there are a number of things that a village can use the mana for. Defensive and offensive structures can use the mana. There may even be upgrades for self repairing walls and such. There is another way the mana can be used and this is what I was hoping for. I can tap into it myself if I concentrate.

  That settles it and I take the upgrade to increase the village mana. This way I can use the village mana to aid in the construction effort. I also learned that the mana regenerates a total of its full capacity over one day, or 24 hours. Done with the issues involving my land I look into the new title I gained. It isn’t a particularly useful one. It just increases my relationship with other lords and nobles. Somehow it makes them view me more favorably. I don’t know exactly how that is supposed to work in the real world but I’m too tired at the moment to think about it too much. There is one more message that tells me I have completed the quest The Promised Land. Other than the residents added to my land I also got a significant chunk of the way to my next level. With nothing else calling for my attention I will it all away and lie back in bed. Putting my arm around Azzaria I close my eyes and let sleep take me.