The Curse of Hurlig Ridge_World Tree Online_1st Dive

by M. A. Carlson

  “Next you have to cast the ‘Shape Totem’ spell. I warn you, you must have a clear image in mind of your totem. I advise you avoid giving it any kind of animal motif or you may offend a spirit you wish to enlist to help you.”

  Micaela knew exactly what she wanted her totem to appear, or at least she did until Trinico warned her not to use an animal motif. Then she remembered the Sergeant asking her if she had a totem yet. He’d said he couldn’t train her as she had no weapon, or he did until Bye-bye convinced the man to teach her and Olaf a combat movement style. Still, the original question about her totem, made her think. Didn’t that indicate the totem could be considered a weapon?

  “Can a totem be a weapon?” asked Micaela.

  “Good girl,” said Trinico proudly. “it certainly can and should be. Why do you think you are able to shape your totem yourself?”

  That had just opened up so many possibilities. “You’ve known shamans in the past, right?” asked Micaela, shaking with excitement.

  “Of course, I have known and fought with many shamans, from a great many clans. I have known shamans who use stationary totems to act as spellcasters, and I have known shamans who use weapon totems giving the weapon shamanic attributes and powers. It all depends on the shaman,” answered Trinico.

  “So, if I made my totem a staff, I could use it to cast ranged spells but also fight in melee?” asked Micaela.

  “You could make your totem into a sword and do the same thing. Or you could go the other direction. I once knew a shaman who made his totem a throne to sit upon while he cast spells. It was not a very mobile totem, but it was quite powerful,” Trinico smiled, remembering her old friend.

  Knowledge was good. “How many totems can I use at once?” Micaela asked next.

  Patient as always, Trinico answered, “As many as you can manage but bear in mind you can only carry so many totems and despite what many will tell you, size matters.”

  Micaela snorted at the joke mixed in there, but she understood. She could have a dozen totems the size of a dagger, but they would all be fairly weak or limited in their growth. She knew totems could level. What she was being told now, was she able make weapons capable of leveling up. Then she had another thought.

  “What about armor? Could I make stone into armor and make it a totem that way?” asked Micaela, ideas flitting through her mind like a pixie on a sugar high.

  “I find, I like you very much. You are a smart woman. Something to keep in mind though. Depending on the stone you use, the level of the spirit within will be limited. For armor, using Limestone, which is the softest stone in this world to the best of my knowledge, will only be good to about level 10 or so. It is also not very sturdy as armor goes. Then you would need a harder stone. Hopefully, you will have learned the transfer spirit spell by then or you’ll have to train your new totemic armor all over again, starting from level 1. I should also tell you, totems may not be enchanted, as they are technically already enchanted items,” Trinico did her best to share what she knew of shamans with the young woman.

  “I’m going to be amazing,” said Micaela, mostly to her own surprise, until she got a good knock to the head, courtesy of Trinico’s staff.

  “Do not go getting all full of yourself, shaman. You have potential, but never forget this is a dangerous world. It is filled with plenty of things more than able to still kill you. Also remember, right at this moment, it cost you a thousand mana to infuse one rock. For an entire suit of stone armor, you’d need close to fifty thousand mana, and that is if you only use Limestone. As such, this is something you are not capable of doing just yet. You also have not yet created your first totem, which will also take a considerable amount of mana beyond what you have now,” Trinico chided, bringing Micaela back down to earth from her vivid daydreams.

  “Man, being brought back down to earth hurts,” complained Micaela rubbing her forehead.

  “Good, if it hurts, you will remember. For now, why not shape your first totem?” suggested Trinico.

  Micaela sighed sadly at having her dreams dashed. She focused instead on the rock in her hands. She started by thinking about what kind of weapon she wanted. Knowing it would be a totem meant it could cast spells while in her possession. It would also get stronger the more she used it, but she was getting ahead of herself again. She needed to think about weapons. Swords weren’t really her style and she couldn’t picture herself using a staff or large club or even a spear like Bye-bye did. In fact, she’d always pictured herself wielding two weapons, axes with wicked crescent-shaped curves covering one side of the handle.

  As if coming out of a trance, Micaela found herself looking at the very ax she’d just pictured, made completely of stone, but could have easily passed for wood and steel if not for the coloring which was completely white with a few orange striations running through it.

  “Well done, a very fine ax,” complimented Trinico.

  “I need to make another,” said Micaela excitedly.

  “Duel wielding then, good for you,” said Trinico. “Well, hurry along and make it.”

  It took a little while for Micaela to infuse another piece of Limestone. It wasn’t as special as the first piece she’d ever mined but that was okay. Especially, if they were only good for around 10 levels before she’d have to replace them. After that, she already had the template for the ax-shaped totem in her memory, so it was easy to shape the newly infused stone to match.

  “Good, and now we will go looking for a young spirit to bond with,” stated Trinico, leading the way toward the village gates with a happy and excited Micaela in tow.

  They walked for a while outside the village. Anything approaching Trinico was dealt with instantly, simply falling to the ground. It wasn’t until they found a small hill with a smaller opening at the base, they stopped.

  “This should do. In that hole, you should find a wolf and two cubs. I will deal with the wolf, I want you to bring the two cubs out,” instructed Trinico.

  “Are you going to kill the mother?” asked Micaela worriedly.

  “It is not necessary. We are not killing the cubs, only taking the young spirits that have attached themselves to the pups. You will understand better shortly once you have finished your totems,” explained Trinico. Her kind smile reassured Micaela.

  As soon as Micaela approached the hole, a snarling wolf sprung from the nearby brush blocking her path, but only for a moment as the wolf collapsed as if boneless a moment later. Micaela was surprised, her first thought was that Trinico killed the wolf, it looked just like all of the other wolves they encountered on their way here. However, this was the first time Micaela had been close enough to see the wolf was simply asleep.

  Trinico stopped her before she could touch the sleeping wolf. “Do not touch her or she will wake up. The sleep magic does not always work the second time in, which case we would have to kill her. I would much prefer not to have to kill these poor animals, despite the standing bounty in town.”

  Micaela was relieved. She moved closer to the wolf den until she was at the entrance with a serious dilemma. She would not fit inside. She would have to draw the two cubs out. Thankfully, she remembered she had some Adventurer Jerky in her bag.

  It was relatively easy at that point, she simply set the jerky in front of the den and the two little wolf cubs came charging out a moment later, nipping at each other playfully trying to be the first to the meat.

  “Now comes the hard part,” said Trinico. “Look at the pups and cast your spell, ‘Call Spirit’. Do not be alarmed, do not panic and do not try to run.”

  Micaela swallowed nervously after that instruction, but still cast her spell, looking at the cub with darker coloring a small cut in his ear she hadn’t noticed before while the cub's brother darted around trying to steal bites of the jerky, he was a light brown, almost blonde coloring, starkly contrasted his brother.

  Suddenly, Micaela was no longer in the same forest, or she was, but everything took on a grey misty otherworldly hue.r />
  “It’s mine, I got here first,” said a little voice far too close to Micaela, surprising her.

  “Not fair, let me have some of it,” said another little voice.

  This finally drew Micaela’s vision down, there were the two cubs, still fighting over the jerky. Both of the wolf cubs were wrapped in something completely transparent, superimposed over the cubs but lacking any real form.

  “Hello little guys,” cooed Micaela, doing what she felt was natural to her.

  “Hey, did that big thing just speak?” asked the pup with the damaged ear to the blonde pup.

  “I think so. I did not know those things could talk, did you know?” asked the blonde pup.

  “Of course, I knew, everyone knows. You are just too stupid, so no one bothered to tell you,” stated the darker pup.

  “Liar, you did not know either,” argued the blonde pup, having lost the fight for the meat.

  “My goodness, you two are just so cute,” Micaela cooed again, barely able to hold back from picking the pair up in a big hug. Instead, she settled for petting both of them with one of her giant fingers each.

  “Hey, stop, it tickles,” complained the one with the damaged ear.

  “No, do not stop, it feels so nice,” said the other totally in bliss.

  Micaela looked around again while the little wolves enjoyed or fought off her ministrations. She saw Trinico sitting nearby but seemingly not paying much attention. She saw the sleeping mother wolf behind her, but that’s when she noticed. Neither Trinico nor the mother wolf had anything superimposed over them, just the little ones did.

  “Say, do you know why she doesn’t have a . . .” Micaela started to ask.

  “She is old now,” answered the very content blond spirit pup. “We are fragile things, we latch on to the young where we can be protected, eventually they will grow and will find another. Eventually, we too will grow and when we do, we will find strong wolves to make a pact with.”

  “Would you two make a pact with me,” Micaela asked, not sure if she was doing the right thing or not.

  “Are you strong? Can you protect my brother and me?” asked the one still trying to fight off her finger of ticklish doom.

  Micaela frowned at the question. She wasn’t strong, not by this world’s standards. “We can get strong together,” she offered instead.

  “How?” asked the one with the damaged ear.

  At this Micaela took the two axes from her belt and set them before the two wolves.

  “Totems,” gasped the pair, a new excitement seemed to bloom in both of them.

  “Why did you not say you were a shaman?” demanded the pup with the damaged ear.

  “I am a new shaman. I don’t know everything yet,” she answered. “You two, you want to get stronger, right? Will you partner with me?”

  “Happily, just promise more petting session,” said the happier of the pair, his blonde fur was ruffled but the little guy looked completely content at the moment.

  “I cannot leave my brother alone, I will join you as well,” said the darker pup spirit.

  “Wonderful, do you have names?” asked Micaela.

  “We have never had need of names before. Would you name us?” asked the pup with a damaged ear, suddenly looking vulnerable.

  “You’re Butch,” she said point to the pup with the damaged ear. “And you’re Sundance.”

  “Hmm, I find the name acceptable. Be mindful, names have power,” warned Butch. “You may cast your spell to join us to your totems.

  Micaela wasn’t sure what spell the little guy was talking about but the only other spell she had was ‘Infuse Spirit’. Assuming that was it, she began channeling the long 60-second spell.

  As the spell completed, the ethereal shroud covering the darker colored pup, Butch, ghosted forward landing on the first totem she had to create. The totem was suddenly sucked into him as if it was never there and in its place was the same wolf pup but much less ghostly. “Now we are bonded. Hurry up and join Sundance, she can poke you later.”

  “Fine, cast the spell,” sighed Sundance, reluctantly wriggling free of her masterful ministrations.

  Micaela smiled and began the spell again.

  As the spell finish, Sundance too surged forward landing on the other ax, it too was sucked into his body and reformed back into that of a wolf pup. “Now we are bonded.”

  “Thank you, Micaela,” said the pair in one voice. “You have given us a foot in both worlds to grow stronger. There are a few things to know. Do not ever let a smith try to repair us, we are not this stone nor are we metal. We live and must be healed.”

  Micaela blinked in surprise as she received a notice of learning a new spell, ‘Heal Totem’.

  “You may speak with us any time by simply holding our weapons in the other world, but do not forget, we are here in this world. There is much still for you to learn from us and much for us to learn from you,” they continued.

  Micaela blinked in surprise yet again. Another new spell, ‘Spirit Walk’.

  “Protect us as we protect you,” they said again in a single voice.

  Micaela blinked again suddenly finding herself back in the other world. In front of her were the two little wolves fighting over the piece of jerky. Smiling a little she took out another piece of jerky and giving it to the pups so they each had one.

  “I take it you were successful?” asked Trinico.

  “Yep, meet Butch and Sundance,” she said holding up the twin axes.

  “Interesting names, I take it you wish one to give you strength and the other the power of the sun?” asked Trinico.

  “Nope, just like the names,” Micaela grinned, hearing the pair arguing in her head about something silly.

  Trinico simply shook her head and sighed at the woman’s excitable nature. “We should head back. I am sure your husband and the rude boy are done by now.”

  “Sure,” Micaela replied, grinning from ear to ear.

  The return trip was as quick as the trip out had been, plenty of wolves all put to sleep by Trinico, but no real danger beyond that.

  Returning to the temple they were greeted by Bye-bye and Olaf, having an excited and seemingly happy discussion.

  “Hey, you’re back,” said Olaf, seeing the pair first.

  “How did it go?” asked Micaela, skipping over to her husband, her skip causing one altar or another, to shake slightly.

  “I got +2 Intellect, which maxed me out, for now, need to gain another level to get another 5 points. I also picked up +12 Wisdom and +3 Charisma, so probably the best two hours ever,” replied Olaf, a grin matching his wife’s. “How about you? You look awfully pleased,” inquired Olaf.

  “Meet Butch and Sundance,” Micaela said happily brandishing her two weapons.

  “Are those stone?” I asked, quirking my head to the side.

  “Yep, these are my totems. I’m a fully fledged shaman now,” Micaela said proudly.

  “Congratulations Babe,” said Olaf, give his wife a quick kiss and hug, carefully avoiding the ax blades.

  “Maybe I’m missing something here but aren’t totems usually wooden statues or something?” I asked, slightly confused.

  “I learned some really cool stuff today,” said Micaela grinning happily and very pleased to share what she had learned.

  “I call hax,” I said, grinning anyway. I didn’t actually believe Micaela had actually hacked the game.

  “I have to agree with our boy here, hax, Babe,” added Olaf, also grinning.

  “At least, I’m on your side,” Micaela replied, smiling brightly.

  “And how did your time in the puzzle room go, Bye-bye,” asked Trinico.

  “Not bad at all,” this time I was smiling brightly.

  “Well, out with it already,” snipped Trinico, not liking his smile at all.

  “I gained +35-Intellect, +21-Wisdom, and +16-Charisma,” I answered, causing both Trinico and Micaela’s jaws to drop.

  “What did you do? No, how did you
do it?” Micaela finally voiced.

  “Have you ever heard of the app called ‘Puzzle Box’?” I asked, still grinning.

  Trinico looked confused for a moment before blinking away the confusion, having simply forgotten all about her wanting to question what an app was.

  “I’ve definitely heard of it. Micaela is obsessed with it, even though she still hasn’t made it past level 17. I’m level 32 myself, the room seems to have been based on it now that I think about it.”

  My smile got just a little wider. “I created it.”

  Olaf cursed and called out, “HAX!”

  I only laughed loudly and happily.

  Chapter 13

  “What do you mean you invented it?” asked Trinico. “The Puzzle Rooms have existed for centuries?”

  “I didn’t invent the Puzzle Room,” I said, trying to find a way around this. The NPC’s usually ignored weirdness, but apparently not this time. “I invented something similar when I was younger. It was so much like the Puzzle Room, it made it easier for me to solve the puzzles.”

  Trinico frown then smiled then frowned again. “How many puzzles did you complete?”

  “Forty-six,” I answered which prompted the quest completion notice.

  Class Quest Alert: Training with Priestess Trinico 1 - Completed

  Having put your trust in Trinico and David Butters, they have offered you training to develop your stats as quickly and efficiently as possible.

  Reward: +100 Experience, 46/100 ?????

  That was annoying. I killed it in training today and I was only 46/100 toward learning whatever skill Trinico was trying to teach me. I also took note the number 46 was kind of significant. That was the number of puzzles I had solved.

  Class Quest Alert: Training with Priestess Trinico 2

  Having put your trust in Trinico and David Butters, they have offered you training to develop your stats as quickly and efficiently as possible.

  Reward: Experience, Skill

  The follow-up quest was expected, but still annoying. I still had no idea what the skill was. It did give me a clue to another mystery I’d remember that morning. The Boar Charm.