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

by Thomas Whipple

  A minute later Azzaria finishes up and we both walk over. “I see you finally got it. Are you ready to go to bed now?”

  “Yes! I got to level ten. Now Enora can teach me the Grow spell and it should make setting up the orchard much faster” she tells me.

  On the way back we all chat. Azzaria and I try to get Timbre to speak as much as possible. In the last month her speech has improved a great deal. Before she could only say a few words or simple sentences, but now it’s almost as good as our speech. Her vocabulary is the main issue and it’s getting better as she asks us the meaning of words. During our conversation I bring up something that has been bothering me. “We just made Town status today but I still haven’t officially named it yet. I have been trying to think of what would be fitting, but I’m still undecided. What do you two think?”

  Surprisingly, it’s Timbre who speaks up first. “The people here already have a name for this place. They call it The Roost.” It seems like she has been listening to people when she is roaming around. After the first few days of construction Thia and Timbre got bored following me and started wandering around the village, interacting with the people while I was working.

  When I look over to Azzaria she explains a little more. “With Thia always flying around and sitting on the ledge of the balcony for our suite the locals have started unofficially calling this place Thunderbird’s Roost, or just The Roost for short.”

  I look at the two of them again and ask “What do you think? Should I make it official then?”

  Timbre just shrugs her shapely shoulders and continues walking. Azzaria on the other hand has a brilliant smile on her face. “Might as well. Everyone is calling it that anyway.”

  At that moment Thia, who is flying above us, lets out a screech and I get an affirmative answer from our bond. Of course she would approve. Not wanting to put it off any longer, I open the Land Development Menu and select the name. After I enter then new name and confirm it a new message appears. Opening my message I read what came in.

  Announcement: Congratulations citizens! Your lord, Vol Adare, has officially named this land. As long as this land prospers it shall be known as Thunderbird’s Roost.

  Great! Now this whole lord thing will only get worse, I just know it. With that last thought we enter the keep and head off to bed for the night.

  Chapter 2

  The ribbing started as soon as I came down to breakfast the next morning with Azzaria, Timbre and Thia in tow. Good natured it may be, it’s still getting on my nerves a little. At breakfast I wasn’t surprised that the whole Council of Elders was having a jolly old time calling me lord at every turn. That didn’t bother me too much since they had been doing it occasionally since we got here. What really got to me was the way people on the street spoke to me. On the way to finish the wall I was greeted by random citizens, all of which referred to me as lord. This wasn’t the joking from the council though. These people said it with friendly smiles, but serious respect in their eyes.

  The first time it happened outside the keep I was about to tell him to cut it out when I looked at his expression. I couldn’t tell him to quit it because there was so much trust in that look. That’s when I realized that the people were looking up to me and, when I thought about it, it made some sense. I had helped save these people from slavery. And then I led them to a place that we all believe to be safe. At least it’s more secure than back in Efftin. The sincerity and appreciation makes me shove down my annoyance.

  When we get to the wall we all get started right away, wanting to finally finish this project. It takes a couple hours but with me, Bolden and Beccer all working on it we are able to raise the last section of wall and fuse it to the cliff face. We step back to a look at our work and then take a break. While I’m sitting to regain my mana I take a look around. We are near the area I have been using to train in, and where I want to erect the ranged training lanes. I start planning out the design for the area I’m going to build here.

  Now that I have a little time in my schedule I decide to finally look at the upgrade options for the town. Opening the menu I can see that there is 8 DP for me to allocate. More options are now available, including Defense and Special. I can also read two that say Offense and quests, but they are grayed out at the moment. It must be because the town has no offensive capabilities or quests to take care of yet. Opening the menu for defense I can see there is one option for Self Repair. The description says the wall will be able to repair itself using the town’s mana over time, and normal maintenance of the wall will be done passively from the regeneration of the Town’s mana. This would also apply to the outer and inner defensive walls. It’s a good option and I’ll probably be taking it, but I want to see what else is available at the moment.

  Next is the new Special option. Under this option there are two items that I can choose from. One is called expansion. It simply expands the area I own. This is a little confusing because I don’t have any idea of what exactly I own now. The other option is a little more interesting. It’s called Integrated Mana Automaton or IMA for short. The description is a little evasive, only saying that it’s a cognitive interface designed to assist in administrative efficiency. At the moment it’s two DP to purchase the upgrade, and with my future trip weighing heavily on my mind I decide to give it a try. Hopefully it will help manage things here in my absence.

  A moment after selecting the new upgrade I feel a presence intrude on my mind, much like when Thia is paying attention to me through the bond. It isn’t her though, causing panic to spike through me and a burst of adrenaline that floods my system. I realize it’s a false alarm a moment later when I hear the voice. “Hello Master. I am IMA and I am here to assist you.” It’s the new upgrade. The voice is feminine and has a smooth quality with no inflection to it. It must be some sort of mana based artificial intelligence. That could be very useful if I continue to be away for long periods of time, depending on how well it performs.

  Projecting my thoughts like I do with Thia, I address her. “Hello IMA. I’m curious. What are your capabilities in your current state?” Right away she starts giving me a list of things she can do, from setting an alarm for myself to activating offensive or defensive structures on command. It doesn’t seem like she can make decisions on her own though or communicate with anyone but me. That means it’s almost useless when I am not within my area of influence. “IMA, can you not communicate with others besides me?”

  There is a pause before she responds. “Not at this time.”

  Her hesitation throws me off a little since all her answers were instantaneous before, but the response makes me think it’s only a temporary thing and not an immutable fact. “What would allow you to speak to others besides myself then?” Again I’m given a list of possibilities. One of them does catch my attention though. IMA mentioned the IMA II upgrade. I quickly bring my attention to the menu still in front of me and read the description. This one says it will increase the IMA effectiveness and allow for predictive behavior. It costs three DP, half of what I have left. Thinking about it I believe that it would be worth it. Even if it only allowed me to designate someone to manage things while I’m gone it would be worth it. I quickly choose the option and I’m down to three DP.

  “Thank you Master. My capabilities have increased quite a bit” IMA speaks into my mind. “Would you like to designate what other residents I should communicate with?”

  Already the upgrade is shinning through. The voice also has a little inflection to it that makes it feel more natural to talk to. “Yes IMA. Please set Azzaria as my second in command followed by Enora, Dolan, Hildre, Bolden, Jerick, Faulst and Laurissa in that order. After that you can use your best judgment. Also, in the event of an emergency you can contact any resident that may need your assistance.” I stop for a second to think of anything that I might be forgetting. “One other thing, no one is allowed to use you to subvert my control in my absence or any other time. If this is attempted then I want you to remove them from t
he list of suitable administrators and notify me at the next opportunity.”

  “Done Master, is there anything else I can assist you with?”

  The Master thing is even worse than being called lord everywhere. “A couple things actually, first off call me Vol. The master thing bothers me. The other thing is that I want to know if you have any suggestions for how to use the final three DP available to upgrade the town.”

  “Of course….Vol, I would suggest the Self Repair option under defense.” Having already looked at this option in the past I went ahead and placed the one DP needed. IMA continues as I purchase the upgrade “The Chapel upgrade under Altar would also prove to be efficient. The last DP you have available would best serve being held back. Town level two will unlock an option for something that can be used as a guard force. With my recent upgrade I would be able to more directly assist in a variety of ways.”

  Having pulled up the Chapel option I’m looking at the description. It’s what it sounds like. By purchasing the upgrade the room with the Altar in it would be changed into a chapel to Gwydia. This sounds like a good idea to me, but it’s the side effect that really sells it. The whole area will be affected by the chapel in a way that reflects the god/goddess that the Altar is dedicated to. When I choose and confirm this selection I can see the description of the blessing from the goddess that affects all residents of the town now. It’s a minor boost to all magic effects and increased mana regeneration. Now that is out of the way I ask IMA about the next level. “What is the upgrade you are saying I should wait for at the next Town level?”

  “I am sorry Vol but I do not know what form it will take. It could be gargoyles or stone golems. Anything really but something along the lines of a golem or automaton that can be controlled in defense of the Town or just to help with repairs if needed. With me they can be even more useful.” I can almost detect excitement at the end of that statement. Whatever it turns out to be it seems that it will be extremely useful all around. Just thinking of the possibilities I can see how that would be useful in defense, agriculture, construction and law enforcement.

  So far I like the new IMA and I will follow this recommendation. “Very well IMA. I will hold that one back for the moment. Thank you for the assistance.”

  “It’s my pleasure Vol. Just contact me if you have need of anything else.”

  Now that I’m done with upgrading the land I turn my focus back to the area I want to turn into a training ground. First thing I want to make is the lanes for ranged practice, since it’s what I’ll use the most. Looking at the scorch marks left on the cliff wall I decide to reinforce that, but first I remember my annoyance a couple weeks ago. It was when I was practicing fire magic and it started raining that afternoon. It didn’t affect the construction since the rain didn’t hamper Earth magic, it actually helped by making it easier to raise stone through the softened soil. For my fire magic though there was a tangible resistance to casting while I was soaked. The spell was obviously weaker and the range reduced when moving through the rain. It was then that I started thinking about building a training area that wouldn’t rely on the weather to allow people to improve.

  With a full mana tank I raise my staff in the direction of the cliff and start by raising a roof about 10 feet into the air, supported by pillars of stone every ten feet. The whole thing is rather large since I made it wide enough for ten lanes, each ten feet across. Worried about the stress, I separated the roof in intervals to allow for some shifting if needed. I make the whole thing about sixty feet long from the cliff to where I raise stalls for people to stand in. Here there are walls to separate the stalls on both sides and a low wall about as tall as my stomach to stand behind when firing. The one to stand behind has an opening on the right so that archers can walk down the lane to retrieve arrows. This all required me to take a couple breaks to replenish my mana but I didn’t want to use the town’s reserve of mana yet. I had plans for that mana later.

  After another break I raised walls on the outside and in between the lanes to about four and a half feet. This will allow for spectators and provide some protection in case a shot goes wild from anyone. Last thing I do is raise a couple walls at the end of the range to protect the cliff wall from wear and tear. Each of these backstop walls covered the end of the lane and had a couple inches between them so as not to transfer impacts to the one behind it. As I do that I also raise stone dummies to fire at in half of the lanes. One is dead center at about fifty feet, another on the left spaced about thirty feet, and the last one is on the right at about fifteen feet.

  Done with the practice range I look over my work. Wanting to test it out I fire a few spells off like Lightning and Ice Lance. The crack heard from my lightning spell echoes a little in between the walls but not too bad since the sides are mostly open. Satisfied with my work over the last hour I’m about to walk out when I hear a crack to my right. I look at the targets in the next lane over in time to see a spear of stone fly down the range and impact into the thirty foot target. Walking out the back of the structure I head next door to see Bolden and Beccer in the two stalls over. They both stop throwing stone spears and turn to me. “Looks good, but you might want to enchant the targets for strength so that they last longer” Bolden tells me.

  “That’s a good idea. I’ll take care of it later, or you can do that now before you head off for lunch. I have a few other things I’m planning to do here to get the training grounds operational” I tell him. He says he will handle it and doesn’t even ask about being paid, so I think he is excited about having an official place to train his spells.

  I’m about to walk away to start my next project when Beccer opens his mouth. “Why don’t half of the lanes have targets?”

  “I left those for the archers that wish to practice. There are actually far more of them than there are mages. If I made stone targets then they would break their arrows. We can set up straw targets on the lanes with the stone dummies if need be, but for the new archers the closer targets may still cause damage to the arrows from a stray shot.” Beccer nods to my explanation and then follows his father to start enchanting.

  I turn around and head a short distance away. I start raising new structures all over the area we decided to make use of for training. First is an armory that is a basic one room building about ten feet wide and 20 feet long. It only has one room on the ground floor and one room in the cellar with a support through the middle of both. The idea is that training weapons will be on the ground floor and the cellar will have weapons to arm the population as a militia in case of emergency.

  The armory is connected to the range by a walkway with a slanted roof and stone path. There is also a wall on either side to use as a railing. It’s only broken by the opening in the center to allow people to leave the walkway into the open. I start making these walkways all over in an interconnected pattern. I raise circular little huts at even intervals with conical roofs and sand pits surrounded by a wall in the middle. The stone paths circle these sparring pits under the roofs of the huts. In between the huts and walkways are open air sparring pits the same size as the covered ones, about a ten foot radius.

  I build all the way to the road that leads to the lake in the north from market street. I say road but it’s still just a dirt path trampled by the people who have decided to fish. I decide to walk back for lunch since Bolden and Beccer already left, but having already raised paths in case of rain in the training ground I start to do the same for the roads. I head back to the road that goes from the docks through the new training grounds and build the road on my way back to the keep. I don’t cover the road but I do raise stone tiles from the bedrock below. It makes a smooth path that won’t get muddy. I wanted to start on the art district this afternoon but I change my plans. While Bolden and Beccer continue the housing construction I’ll check on Azzaria and Enora, and then start hardening the roads.

  After I swing by the keep to grab some cheese and bread for a late lunch I head south. When I get to the ne
w orchard I am impressed by the progress already. There are rows of sprouting trees about a foot tall. As I approach I see Azzaria lean over a sapling and shower green energy from her hand atop it. After a second it stops and she looks around before seeing me. She straightens up and waves to me before jogging over. “Hey hun, what are you up to?” She asks me when she gets close. She has dust all over her tight pants, but there is a smile on her face that shows how much she enjoys this kind of work.

  “Hi Az, I was just coming by to see how it is going. Do you and Enora need anything?”

  She nods a little at the question before answering. “Water. Enora says we can’t do much more for these trees until there is a steady source of water. Increasing the growth rate of plants causes them to consume resources faster than usual, so it dries out the soil.”

  I think about it for a moment. Most of the towns water came from magic stones that gathered water out of the air with magic. I found out that this was more efficient here than it was in Efftin because of the large source of water nearby and the humidity that caused. I start thinking about getting a few of those magic stones to enchant into an irrigation system, but then I remember the fields we want to plant as well. That is way to much to water and would drain stones quickly. I would need a ton of the water stones to do the job. Azzaria is waiting there in front of me with her emerald eyes locked on mine as I think. It distracts me for a moment.