Zeal of the Mind and Flesh: A Cultivating Gamelit Harem Adventure (Spellheart Book 1)

by Marvin Whiteknight

  “How old are you, Theo?” She asked curiously.

  “Well, this year I’ll be twenty-three... twenty-three hundred!” I managed to tack on two extra zeroes. Women like older men, right?

  “Over two thousand!” Sava said in surprise. Then she shook her head. “I think not. If you were that old I’m sure you would have at least fused a spellheart by now. No, I’m pretty sure you’re quite a bit younger than me.”

  “Fine, you caught me,” I grumbled. My best lies were always being saved for when they actually counted anyway. “I’m actually twenty-three.”

  “You’re a little baby!” Sava giggled. “I knew it. Wow, you must have grown up inside a mana well to have left the wisp stage so quickly.”

  “Humans are adults at eighteen!” I complained. “And we don’t go through a ‘wisp stage’ like elves.”

  Sava rolled her eyes. She still didn’t believe my story about hailing from a race of magical beings that would pop out from between their mothers’ legs already in physical form.

  “Fine then. How old are you?” I asked, bracing myself for a number that would put her over my great-great-grandparents age.

  “This year, I’m twenty-six!”

  She couldn‘t get me to stop laughing for a full fifteen minutes.

  For the next half hour, I told Sava more stories about earth, which she continued to dismiss as fantasies made up by my ‘little baby head’.

  “No, I’m serious. Back on earth there were huge tall buildings filled with lots of tiny boxes called cubicles. In the old days they used computers, but now with VR input terminals it’s so much faster.”

  “You can’t fool me, Theo! A wizard’s tower doesn’t work if you have more than one person using it, and you’re trying to convince me that hundreds of pe…”

  Sava froze mid-sentence. I blinked.

  “Sava? Are you there?” I waved my hand in front of her face. It was like she’d completely zoned out.

  Then a large green figure burst through the tree line. It was Yorik, the orc.

  “You, strong elf!” Yorik said urgently with a note of panic in her voice. “Before you offered Yorik a place in your tribe. Yorik accepts! Yorik swears her hammer to the chief!” Yorik knelt down on the ground before me, hammer outstretched in supplication.

  “Whoa, slow down, Yorik. First, unfreeze Sava here.” I grabbed her by the shoulder and tried to pull her up. But I saw I needn’t have bothered. Sava was struggling out of Yorik’s spell on her own. Did previous exposure make her more resistant? Or is it because she’s become stronger?

  Yorik stood, eyes not meeting mine as she fidgeted with her mind spellheart. Sava blinked. After a long moment her eyes suddenly snapped into focus.

  “You!” She glared at the orc.

  “Play nice,” I told her, though really it was directed at them both. They glared fiercely at each other despite my warning.

  After a bit of coaching I separated the two and got Yorik talking.

  “So why the change of heart? You refused my offer just a few days ago. Now all of a sudden you want to take me up on it. What gives?”

  Yorik looked uncomfortable.

  “Yorik just realized what a wise and talented leader the strong elf male called ‘Theo’ is.” The orc woman gave a forced smile, showing far too many teeth. “Normally elf men are soft and weak like little girls, but not Theo! Yorik thought about this and realized Theo would make a grand chief, destined for countless conquest and a grand harem of countless females...” Yorik continued on with more shameless flattery, and the more I heard the more suspicious I became.

  My eyes scanned over Yorik’s form. It was obvious that she was looking worse for wear. Her clothes were worn, and one shoe was missing its sole. There was a bandage on her left leg. Bits of thorns were still stuck in her clothes, and there were scrapes on her hands and knees. Lines above her eyes indicated she’d been awake for a while.

  “You’re running from something. Or someone.”

  Yorik stopped her babbling immediately. Slowly and cautiously she nodded her head.

  “I may be inclined to help you. But if I do, I’d like to know who exactly I’d be making enemies with.”

  Yorik proceeded to tell me about a cult of super-secret cloak-wearing wizards who all wore pendants with the symbol of an open eye in them. She was quite frightened of them. Apparently, they were also users of the mind magic spellhearts. And they didn’t like the fact that Yorik had one and was flashing it around for petty robbery.

  That caught my attention. I’d always liked the idea of having the power for mind control at my disposal. It could make so many hairy situations disappear, as the situation back in Queenshold proved.

  “How many of these guys are there? And how much firepower can they bring to the table? What magic are they wielding?”

  “Only mind magic, oh great chief! Yorik has only fought one of them. But she has a mind spellheart five times the size of mine! The tricky elves do not fight fair.”

  My eyes glittered. In retrospect, I’d been quite envious of Yorik’s mind magic spellheart, diminutive and deformed as it was. A spellheart five times the size and also of the mind magic affinity was very attractive.

  “Alright. Maybe I can do something. I’ll lend you a hand.”

  Yorik’s face lit up. “Hail, chief Theo! May his reign be long and glorious! May his axe always be wet with the blood of his foes and his bed always warm with his concubines!”

  Strange, her elvish got better as her enthusiasm rose. Perhaps she knew more of the language then she was letting on? Downplaying her intelligence so others would underestimate her? I could tell just by Sava’s reactions that there were stereotypes about orcs around here, and Yorik was playing right into them.

  “Alright, easy there. Here’s the plan.”

  I was feeling confident thanks to the fact that I had for some reason proved immune to mind magic. That was something that I could certainly use to my advantage. More than that though, I was kind of getting the feeling that I was strong in this world. Way stronger than I had any right to be. Every day I spent ingesting the zeal that naturally permeated this world my physical body grew more powerful. I was confident that if I had run into those purple-haired elves at this point I would have been able to put up a much better fight.

  Congratulations! Your bond with your spellheart has allowed you to begin the path of cultivation! Because of the work you’ve done, you can skip right over the first level of the zeal accumulation and enter the second level!

  500 points have been awarded!

  I could feel my body shift and change as it attuned itself further to the power of the spellheart in my hand. Earth magic would come easier to me now and I would be stronger with it. I immediately tried using the scanner on myself and was met with a satisfying message.

  Theodore Waltz (Level 2)

  Human male. Chaka and magical mason.

  The next thing I did was purchase the next level of the scanner using my newfound stash of points.

  Upgrade Scanner to level 3 [400 points]

  Even at level 3, Mac’s voice did not appear in my head again. Now that I was free to roam around, I needed to start trekking up the creek and see how long it would take for me to get into contact with him again. In the meantime, I did my best to convince Sava to help Yorik with me.

  “But why? She’s an orc!” Sava hissed.

  “So?” I asked, wondering what the big deal was. Sava had been fine dealing with Grotkins the goblin. I didn’t think she was as racially biased as the other elves acted.

  “She’s an invader! The orc home world only collides with our world every ten years, but whenever it does, they send countless war-bands over. In some regions, the elves still haven’t managed to push out the orc’s strongholds, meaning they have permanent strongholds here. This region has been safe from an orc raid for many generations, but I know of the devastation they can cause!”

  I frowned at that. It looked like there was a lot of stuff
about this place I still didn’t know.

  “Okay, but I don’t think Yorik is part of any organized group. If she was, she wouldn’t be off running alone like she is, she’d be running back to her stronghold. Just look at her, she can barely dress herself, let alone equip herself for a raid. Besides, I’m not helping her out of the goodness of my heart alone.”

  It was Sava’s turn to frown as I explained my ulterior motives.

  “Based on what she’s said, whoever is after Yorik is from an organization of elves who also use mind magic. And they have spellhearts of the mind aspect, like Yorik used on you! These are actual wielders of mind magic. You personally experienced how well those powers worked on you. Imagine what it would be like if we could wield such abilities! Or at least have the opportunity to study them and learn how to fight against their powers.”

  Sava wasn’t happy with my plan, but eventually she agreed to play her part in our ambush. I think she was partially motivated by her own apparent weakness to mind magic. I promised her that with Yorik’s help I’d be doing some extensive experimentation, which would hopefully yield some effective defenses against the stuff.

  With everyone agreed, the only thing left to do was to lay our trap and wait.

  By sundown I was starting to grow impatient. Judging by how anxious Yorik had been I expected her pursuer to be no more than an hour behind him. A few hours at most. And yet here I was, crouched behind a bush for nearly a whole day.

  Eventually I gave up waiting and decided to get back to practicing with earth magic. Yorik soon joined me. She was in much better spirits now. When I asked her about it, she said that now that she was sworn to a chief, she no longer needed to worry about things like enemies or invaders. That was for the chief to handle. I might have bitten off more than I expected when I agreed to be her tribal chief.

  But it wasn’t all bad. Yorik told me she had inherited some secret orc clan magic. One of which was an earth zeal-based body strengthening technique. I was instantly intrigued. Earth zeal was apparently famous for its many uses in increasing the body’s innate defenses. The technique Yorik knew was just such a technique. Yorik’s version didn’t actually take an earth spellheart to use, but she assured me having one would only help. I decided to try it, since Sava only had general skills to use with an earth spellheart, no real spells and techniques. I was on my own for that.

  “So, I just have to... eat this dirt?”

  Yorik nodded vigorously. “‘Tis needed, chief Theo. Eating of the earth helps your body grow in power. You must take it into you and let it become one with your form.”

  I stuck my tongue out, tasting the brown soil in my hand. It was not very appetizing.

  “Strong orcs devour mountains, swallow titan’s bones, and chew through diamonds to feed their flesh. Do not taste good, but they do make you strong. Very strong. So strong swords and spears are like dry leaves blowing against a boulder.”

  I sighed. It sounded beautiful. I took a small bite of dirt and swallowed it down, nearly coughing it back up. “This Blackgorge body technique is a start in that direction. It may not be able to take me all the way there, but it always pays to have good defenses.”

  Yorik nodded vigorously once again while I choked down another mouthful of dirt.

  Sava approached silently from behind. Neither of us noticed her until she spoke.

  “Are you... eating dirt?”

  I blushed. “It’s for a technique Yorik has been teaching me—“.

  Sava held up a hand. “I see how it is. You’ve gone full savage on me. This is some sort of orc bonding ritual.”

  “It’s not a bonding ritual, I’m training.” I grumbled, but I stopped when I saw the glint in Sava’s eyes. She clearly knew exactly what was going on. She was just teasing me.

  Yorik frowned as she looked at Sava, and shifted to unconsciously pull her top lower, revealing more of her hefty green breasts, which she jiggled intimidatingly at the elf.

  Before I could come up with a witty comeback, the entire camp started shaking. A portion of the earth berm wall I’d spent so many precious hours creating collapsed. If that was all that happened I would have suspected an earthquake. Instead, a fireball descended from the sky. We were under attack.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  I GLANCED AT Yorik. “These your friends, Yorik?”

  Her expression portrayed surprise and confusion. “No chief! They not use fire magic! Yorik would not be afraid of fighting. Only those who hide. Those who strike from shadows.These attackers be different, but Yorik will defend her chief’s territory!”

  I figured as much. “Well then, time to fight for your new chief! When I give the signal, do that thing you did before to daze and confuse everyone!”

  My earth berm wall cracked. My earth magic was only strong enough to harden the outermost layer. Once that was broken through, the mud and dirt inside started falling apart. A few more blasts and my wall would be finished.

  I wasn’t about to stick my head over the wall to see who was attacking us, but I was able to gauge their relative location from the sound of fireballs hammering against dirt. They didn’t hit with force, but with a whoosh of hot air and the crackling of a bonfire.

  My earth spellheart favored building things over direct combat so flinging dirt wasn’t as effective as I hoped. Luckily, I’d taken the time to produce a number of sharp, disk like rocks made from compressed mud and dirt. They were just about as heavy as I could practically throw with the strength of my magic.

  I telekinetically picked up a half dozen of them. With a heave, I blasted them off in the general direction of the enemy. There were no cries of pain, but the fireballs stopped coming. That was good enough for me. Now that the enemy was taking cover from my return fire, I was willing to stick my head out and see who was attacking us.

  I recognized one of the attackers immediately by their clothes. We’d run into them a few days ago while in town. The quality of their badly damaged professional equipment revealed their wealthier origins. It was those people from the Songstone Clan, fallen from grace.

  What were they doing here? Could they be after the black spellheart again? Or worse, after me?

  “Alchemist! We know you have that chaka inside there! We’re requisitioning him! Hand him over to the Songstone Clan and you’ll be well compensated! Fail to do so and we’ll take him by force!”

  So, they were after me. Yet again, I proved to be a valuable commodity. What a pain. But still, it was an asset I could use.

  Sava was stringing some manner of unique bow. It had a cup where the arrow would normally be knocked, and Sava was in the middle of placing a corked clay vial into the cup. Doubtlessly it held something nasty for whoever it spilled on.

  The clay pots sailed through the air. Then they hit the ground, shattering and splashing a large amount of viscous green fluid everywhere. Green smoke began to billow out in the air, which I hoped would draw the Riverweed tribe warriors out to defend their territory. At the very least, it was causing the Songstone Clan warriors to sputter and cough.

  “I have no quarrel with you, people of the Songstone Clan. Know that you are trespassing on the lands of the Riverweed tribe! You don’t want to make an enemy of us!”

  A familiar figure stepped out from behind the Songstone warriors. “I am Nela Songstone, now the matriarch of the Songstone Clan. I am truly sorry for what we must do today, but my clan is in dire straits. Our home has been destroyed and our numbers have dwindled to nothing. We need that male you have with you if we hope to rebuild our flagging strength.”

  “Hold up!” I shouted. “Don’t I get a say in this!?”

  “Theo!” Sava hissed. “You just let them confirm you were here!”

  I waved my hand. “I want to try talking first, Sava. Maybe we can work this out with words. We’re at a disadvantage in a direct conflict, just look around.”

  Sava looked at me doubtfully, but she must not have liked her odds against so many enemies, even with newfound strengt
h pulsing through her spellheart. “Fine. Try and talk.”

  I nodded and raised my voice. “Listen Nela, and you Songstone people! If you want me, this isn’t the way to do it. Don’t come here armed and dangerous and expect me to be fully cooperative. How about we sit down and have a little chat?”

  Instead of responding with words, a fireball bigger than all the ones that had come before it sailed through the air, shattering my wall into pieces.

  Through the gap, two dozen Songstone Clanswomen broke through. Some of them carried shields, some carried swords, but all of them wore matching armor. I noted again that much of their armor, which looked to have once been beautiful and decorative, was now worn and in some cases had holes punched all the way through it. Clearly, recent days had been rough for the Songstone Clan.

  The Songstone Clanswomen that had been responsible for launching the fireballs retreated to the back line. Nela stepped out from the gap last and two fire-wielding warriors flanked her, clearly acting as bodyguards.

  Sava tossed her bow to the side and picked up an ironwood hatchet. It was nothing but a woodsman’s tool, however, in Sava’s hands the wooden handle lengthened and twisted until it was long enough to call a war axe. It bit down on one of the warrior’s shields, which was batted to the side from the sheer strength of the blow. I wasn’t the only one to make cultivation breakthroughs thanks to our nightly activities. Sava had progressed as well, reaching the seventh layer. She was putting her newfound superhuman strength to use.

  As her foe approached, Sava reached out with zeal. I could just barely make out a tuft of grass standing unnaturally firm around a back-treading foot, sending Sava’s foe stumbling.

  The warrior tried to retreat once her defenses were compromised, but Sava was too quick. She mercilessly struck down with another blow of the axe, catching her opponent in the collar bone. Though that area was armored, the axe was sharp, and Sava was strong. She pierced through a good portion of the armor and there was a sickening crunching sound. The warrior didn’t topple over, but she was forced to drop her weapon and quickly withdraw behind the line of her allies.