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

by Thomas Whipple

  Dragged out of my ruminations by her gaze, the warm feeling in my chest reminds me of the conversation I had with Bolden yesterday. Determined now, I take a deep breath to calm my nerves and say what I have known for so long. “Azzaria, I have to tell you something.” At my words I can see her tense up a little and a complicated expression flits across her face before it goes serious. “I love you. I think I have since the first day we met.” My words seem to please her because a smile grows on her lips with each word. Then she laughs. I can feel my face scrunch up in consternation at her reaction. “What is so funny?”

  “Nothing” she yells. Then she jumps forward and hugs me so tight I can’t breathe for a second. When she loosens her grip and leans back I take a breath. Before I can say anything her lips meet mine and the kiss takes my breath away in a different manner. When our kiss breaks off she tells me “I love you too.” She steps back from my stunned self and she is back to business. “I never doubted it Vol. Now put your mind to it and tell me how we are going to get water to the orchard. The crops you want to plant here will need water too.”

  I finally break out of the dazed state she put me in and respond. “One moment, I was on to something when I got distracted.” Back to thinking about the water issue I think of irrigation. I can bring water from the river through the wall from the river and use sluice gates to regulate the water flow. From a defensive standpoint it isn’t too bad but in case of a siege the gates could be blocked easily. That’s when it hit me and I get a little excited. I always wanted a castle with a moat! “I know what to do. I was going to pave the roads this afternoon but it looks like I will have to get started on a moat. I’ll bring the water from the lake and make it travel along a canal I’ll create against the cliff face. Now that I think of it I’ll need to make a small wall to keep the kids out. The water will flow in front of the keep wall in the main square to make it a moat there. Then it will continue until it leaves the southern wall to travel along that too meet up with the river.”

  Azzaria seems to get it and joins in with the planning. “Then we can create gates that can be opened to water the different fields.”

  I nod to that and start thinking out loud. “I wonder if IMA can take control of the gates to set a routine for watering everything.”

  I start, as IMA addresses my question, and from the little jump she makes I think Azzaria is hearing her too. “Vol, I can take over the gates but they will need an enchantment to lift them. I can control them through the enchantment. If they are heavy enough then I can just stop lifting them to turn off the flow of water.”

  “What the hell is that?!” Azzaria apparently hasn’t met IMA yet.

  With a chuckle I tell her about the upgrades and IMA, then address the disembodied voice in my head. “IMA, please inform the other possible administrators that I mentioned by name about yourself so they will be aware of you and your capabilities.”

  “Of course Vol, I’m doing so now.” Her statement is followed by a curse that comes from Enora, who I can see approaching us. She stops as if listening to something. After a couple of minutes she says something that I can’t hear from here and starts walking toward us again.

  “So are you here to take care of the water issue?” she asks me briskly

  “I have a plan. It will probably be tomorrow sometime before water is flowing though. You should commandeer a couple of the farmers to start carrying water from the river here so that you can continue.” Enora nods seriously and walks off toward the south gate. I can only assume to grab a few people to help.

  “I haven’t seen her as focused as this in a long time” Azzaria tells me. “I can tell she really likes doing this sort of thing.” She then turns from watching Enora leave and gives me another long kiss. “Go on, get started on your moat” she says playfully. Running her hand down my chest “See you tonight” she tells me and walks off.

  I watch as she goes, distracted again by the extra swing she puts in her hips as she walks. Shaking my self free of pleasant thoughts, I start off to the south gate. There I start the whole thing by making a stone bridge to the entrance and paving the road through the gate itself. At this point it just looks like a paved road, but the arched bridge is revealed as soon as I start creating the stone canal that runs in front of the wall. When I get to the cliff wall I don’t make the canal go through the wall. Instead I create a little pipe that loops behind the wall through the cliff itself. Then I start working my way north along the cliff.

  It’s tedious work but I’m used to it after the last month of similar activities. At the main square I get some looks when I pause there. Then I create another bridge in the road leading up to the entrance of the wall here. I then wind the canal on the outside of the wall and under the bridge. As I am recovering mana people are coming to take a look at what I was doing. Sitting there against the rail of the bridge I made while everyone is looking over my work I am suddenly hit in the chest with a striped missile. Instinctively I wrap my arms around my furry attacker and give her a warm hug. “Hi Zia.”

  She starts to bounce in my lap “Hi Vol. I did it! I’m a mage now!” Looking at me, Zia’s smile is as big as ever.

  I look toward the square and see Nira walking my way. “Sorry Vol” she tells me. “She just leveled up and wanted to come see you.” She said sorry, but her smile tells me she’s not.

  No problem, I don’t mind Zia’s hug attacks. Her enthusiasm always brightens my day. I just wish I had that much energy. I could finish the moat today if I did. Wait a second; I do have a lot of energy to use from the town. I forgot because I was only using it to work on the wall over the last month. First I address Zia. “That is great! Did you get the Mana Bolt spell then?” To her nod I take on a serious tone. “That spell is dangerous Zia. You need to make sure you only use it when supervised or in self defense of yourself.” Looking over to Nira I address the next part to her. “I just created a range for spell casters and archers to practice their skills. I’m sure she is anxious to try out the spell. You should take her up there where she can be safe while she practices. It is north of here and uses the cliff as a backdrop.”

  Zia bounces right off my lap and then looks to her mother. “Can we go pleeeaaasssee.” Her mom gives a chuckle and we say our goodbyes before she leads Zia to the training grounds.

  Now that I start using the mana from the town I don’t have to take breaks to replenish my mana as I work. Trading off between using my own mana and the town’s, like I did building the wall, I get all the way to the north wall. I make a pipe in the cliff behind the range and then the wall the same way as I did for the south wall. When I break though the cliff opening into the lake I remind myself to have Dolan make the sluice gates and grates for the pipes. Deciding to have a little fun and train at the same time I start running south. I used folded space as much as I can, trying to beat the water to the south gate.

  My lungs heaving, I lean against the rail I made for the bridge here while I catch my breath. Then I get started on the last leg of the canal to the river. By the time I am done the whole canal has water running from the lake to the river. It will be dark soon so I start heading back to the keep. I wave at the people I see as I walk through town and note the smiling faces. Everyone seems happy here and it makes my chest swell a little with pride. These are good people. It was rocky at first, but I don’t blame them after having seen what the humans around here are like.

  At the new bridge leading into the keep I see Zia and Nira coming back from the range. I stop and wait for them to walk up. “How did it go?” I ask as they get close.

  Nira, looking exhausted, opens her mouth to speak but is interrupted by Zia. “It was great!” then I see her enthusiasm wane a little “but I can’t shoot very many before I get low on mana and get dizzy.”

  “Don’t worry Zia, that will improve as you gain levels and put more into intelligence. I am sure your mother can help you when you allocate SP as you get stronger.” This seems to cheer her up. We all exchange a few
words and go our separate ways to get dinner.

  In the keep I find everyone there for dinner. We all talk about what we have been doing for the day and our future plans. It seems like the economy is back to what it was, mostly, and already we have some fish making it to market. It turns out that the Inns are popular and among the most profitable businesses so far. The council members who have returned to tending their shops tell me that everyone is happy with the new official name of the town. After dinner my companions, Azzaria and I all head off to the training area like usual. This time I get to show Azzaria what I did with the place.

  “This is great!” she exclaims when she sees the covered training areas and range. She then runs down one of the lanes that has no targets and sets out a couple straw targets from her special armband. She places one a little off center to the left at about twenty feet and then another at fifty feet a little to the right of center. I take the lane to Azzaria’s right while Thia lands on the low wall in the lane to my right. The others start firing off arrows and spells. I’m about to join them when there is a tap on my shoulder.

  Turning around I see Timbre in her alternate form. She steps in close to start nuzzling my neck, like usual, then she reminds me of something. “Where do I train?” Now that I closed off the lane she knows she isn’t supposed to fight the targets here. I tell her to follow me and head over to the nearest open air sparring ring. I then raise a few stone people for her to bash on while she trains. I take a moment to watch Timbre bash on the dummy before I head back to my lane and start training like I always do, by reviewing the spells I have already. Then I practice Space magic again. By the end of the training I’m quite surprised that I gained another level in my Space type magic since I recently got one. It must be because of the extra practice I got racing the water across town.

  Done with practice for the night we all head back to the keep. On the way up I stop to talk to Dolan, who is in the main hall talking to Hildre. I tell him about the pipes I need grates to seal and what I need for the three sluice gates I plan to install. When we are alone in our room I sit on the bed next to Azzaria. “If we are going to go to the human kingdom I will need to outfit myself with better gear. My staff is amazing, but everything else I am wearing is just normal clothes. Is there a disadvantage to wearing heavy armor as a mage?”

  She looks at me for a second and then cuddles up next to me as she talks. “There are a few things to take into consideration. First, not all metals conduct mana the same and can be restrictive when you try to cast magic through them. This isn’t a problem for skills because with those the mana is used internally. Now you could create a suite of armor with something like starlite that wouldn’t restrict you, it might even enhance your spells more. The downside for that is that an entire set of armor would have strength requirements that are pretty high, even for a rather light metal like starlight. On the other hand, anything that is made of organic materials won’t hinder your casting. My suggestion would be to bring some high quality metals to Jerick and ask him to make you something, incorporating the metal into everything. He will bring it to Dolan to do the metal work but will know what Dolan needs to shape it into. Other than that you should have Dolan make you some arm guards with starlite. Then you could block with them if you need to and they won’t hamper your spells.”

  “Thanks babe. Good night” I tell her then get comfortable with her in my arms. Like that, a sense of pure contentment fills me. After a few minutes Azzaria’s hands start to rove and I’m filled with a different feeling.

  Chapter 3

  The next couple of days pass in a similar manner. I used my Shape Earth spell to press the grates Dolan made directly into the stone around the pipes for the canal/moat, and set the three sluice gates. I then made the irrigation system to feed the orchard and two different fields for crops inside the wall. Unfortunately I had to pay Bolden to enchant the heavy iron sluice gates with levitation since I didn’t have anything that would work. With the irrigation separated into three parts it would allow IMA to water the orchard and two different crops appropriately for each plants specific needs.

  That took the majority of the first day after I paid Jerick and Dolan a visit about making me gear. The second day I finally got started on the roads. I started from north to south and paved the main roads. When I got to the south part of the road that runs from the docks to the south gate I looked at the farmers fields. They are being prepared for planting to the east and the orchard is coming along nicely to the west. I got distracted after that, making a covered farmers market that took up most of the remaining day.

  On the morning of the third day I was eating breakfast. It was just me, Azzaria, Timbre and Thia in the main hall. We got a little bit of a late start to the day because of…reasons. It was then that a young dwarf comes running in shouting for me. “Lord Adare. Please come quickly” he gets out between his labored breathing.

  “It’s alright. Just take a moment to catch your breath so I can understand you” I say. After he recovers enough to talk I ask “What is your name?”

  “Taynor my lord. I am master Dolan’s new apprentice.”

  “OK Taynor, what is the emergency?” I’m not too worried because I told IMA to alert me if there ever was an attack or some threat to the town. But she did say that she would need observation enchantments in the defensive towers along the wall to be effective.

  “Master Dolan sent me to fetch you. He said it’s almost time for you to enchant your new bracers.”

  I almost forgot I asked him to make those. He couldn’t get to it the first day I asked because I told him to make the grates and sluice gates first. Then I had to have him push it back further when the carpenters told me they needed metal banding to make the gates. Wanting the gates to be strong I told him to take care of the banding for the three gates before my bracers and gave him enough high steel from the vault for the job. At the news that he was working on them this morning I jumped up and walked briskly towards the room on the bottom floor. That is where Dolan has spent much of his time ever since he had the forge installed and the room outfitted as a smithy.

  It’s dead quiet on the bottom floor since it’s mainly used to house the single guards for the town. All of them are out on duty or asleep after their shift change. The silence is also due to the fact Bolden enchanted the room to prevent sound from leaving it. He got fed up with hearing Dolan working late most nights and caved to doing the enchantment for free. I still find it a little weird because the enchantment even works when the door is open.

  At my destination I open the door and as soon as I cross the threshold I am bombarded by the clanging of a hammer on anvil. It may be quiet outside of the room, but inside it’s practically deafening. I cover my ears and walk up to see what Dolan has for me. I wait for a minute and he sets what he is working on off to the side on a workbench. “That one be ready for ya. The other be done shortly.” After that he goes back to work.

  I walk over and take a look at it. It’s a bracer that covers the whole forearm. It is made from two separate materials, each only half of the whole. The two separate halves are joined with a hinge. Makes the piece look a little like a wide handcuff. When closed there are a couple of hooks on one half and small pegs on the other half which allow for the hooks to pivot and latch the two halves closed. I gave him enough orichalcum and starlite to make one bracer of each, but it looks like Dolan had a different idea. From the coloration I can tell that it’s made from both metals. The other bracer is probably the same. I would have liked to use blessed metal from the Alter but it seems like that can only be done so often since nothing happened when either Azzaria or I tried since returning.

  Getting down to business, I start enchanting. I have been thinking of what I should do for this the last two days so I already know what I want to do. Taking out some Mana Crystals I set them next to the almost completed bracer. Holding my hands over the hot metal I focus on defense and my magic cloak spell. The two magical metals drink in my man
a like the desert soaks up rain. Meanwhile, Mana Crystals are liquefying and flowing into the bracer. When it all ends I take a seat while I wait for Dolan to finish and my mana to regenerate. A few minutes later I’m doing it all again with the next bracer.

  I haven’t spent much time in here because of the noise, but as I wait for my mana to recover again I wonder if I can help that, if not just a little. I start shaping the walls and ceiling. I make it so that everything is covered in little pyramids like I have seen in soundproofed rooms back on earth. I make sure that the pyramids aren’t sharp to prevent anyone from injuring themselves and then listen in as Dolan starts on the hammering again. I think it worked. It’s kind of hard to tell since it is still pretty loud, but I think there is a noticeable decrease in echo.

  My work done here I get up and walk out. I’ll check in on everything around lunch. It sure is nice to have a few people around with high proficiencies in crafting. I should check in with Jerick about my armor this afternoon as well. He said he had some leather that was decent, though not as good as the Stone Tortoise hide, that can be studded for added effect. When he told me about that I gave him some orichalcum to stud the leather with, since it will hold enchantments well. I didn’t give him starlite because I want to save it for the best projects to go with the best materials I can find. I plan to try and finish up paving the roads today, even the residential areas that don’t have houses built yet. With thoughts of what I want to accomplish today I head for the exit of the keep.