I sighed, “I think so too, but I’d been thinking that’s what ice wall and summon is for, not to mention my more physically inclined group members. I can’t learn everything, and I like all three spheres.”
Anlyth nodded, “Understandable, many do choose the mental disciplines only, just as Wynn chose the physical disciplines. To answer your question, we were caught in one of the first raids. I live in a small elven village just inside our forest. I felt safe there, and I wasn’t as wary as I should have been. As for holding us, the cages were enchanted to keep our mana drained.”
“Enchanted?”
Anlyth explained, “Enchantments are spells maintained by a gem or crystal. The more perfect the crystal or gem, the faster it collects ambient mana, and the more powerful the spell it can contain. The concepts to create such things are given at the apprentice level.”
That… was bad news.
I frowned, “That means some of the goblins are above level ten?”
Anlyth nodded, “Yes, not many. The chief and a handful of his closest advisors, as well as the tribal shaman. We shouldn’t have to face them though, we don’t need to invade and destroy their whole tribe, we just need to decimate them enough that they withdraw from conquest and focus on rebuilding.”
I felt a little relief at that, but not all that much.
“Except, if the orcs and giants call them to war, they will join in battle. If we want to take them out fast enough, eventually we will need to invade, won’t we? Otherwise they’ll be whittled down on the Chief’s own timeline as he sends out raiders, which means it will take longer.”
Anlyth tilted his head, “What are you suggesting?”
“If we want to do it quickly enough, we’re going to have to ride a fine line. We need to raid their fortifications and kill their outer guards often if we’re to kill them quickly enough, but not so much that the tribe is fully mobilized.”
Anlyth nodded, “You might be right, we should discuss it at dinner. However, before the outpost is set up we should remain here to defend the glade. Otherwise, we might arrive back here only to find the place burned out. The goblins will track us here.”
I nodded, “Fair enough, let’s get the other two cottages done?”
He replied, “Sure. It’d be nice to have a place to sleep tonight.”
I said, “Oh, that metal thing you do, I don’t suppose you could build a cast iron pot?”
He laughed, “Your Gwen already asked that question, when you were cutting wood all morning. It’s over by the new fire pit and smoker. I also took the liberty of doubling the size of your garden.”
My Gwen? I liked the sound of that, but it wasn’t true. Not yet, maybe not ever. Still, the idea he thought us a couple was heartening.
Lyre came in while we were building one larger bed for the two of them. We’d already finished Wynn’s cottage, and were just about done with the third.
Her voice was melodious, but tentative, and she looked unsure as to my reception.
“Jason, I watched the fire attacks you sent last night, and I have a suggestion as far as mana management?”
I smiled, “Don’t be shy, I’d never turn down new knowledge.”
She nodded, and relaxed slightly, “The spells are most effective at their base form, because the damage comes from our intelligence and fire sphere level, plus the mana invested. So, you have to spend almost over five times as much mana, just to double the damage.”
“That sounds about right.”
She said, “A cheaper way to increase damage, is to incorporate control fires into your spell.”
I tilted my head, “Control fires does very little damage.”
She nodded, “But it adds up over time. Say your initial fire blast does twenty damage. If you incorporate just five more mana into the spell using control fire concepts, the explosion and burning will linger for five seconds. Each second will only cause twenty percent of the initial damage per second. But… the spell when it’s over will double the amount of damage, over time. It will take five seconds, but the cost will be ten mana, instead of thirty.”
I frowned, “Or if I added ten mana, it would do three times the damage in ten seconds, and I could kill most goblins with one spell, for a measly fifteen mana.”
I’d known I’d been throwing away a lot of mana, but at the time it had seemed important enough to end the fight quickly. Clearly, I should have given it more thought.
She smiled, “Exactly. There is a downside to it. A lot can happen in ten seconds, and if any of the enemies have control fires they can put out your spell, or water could douse the flames, or a wielder of light could dispel the effect or cast protection from fire. But, with goblins they don’t exactly care about each other all that much.”
“Still, I get your point, to triple the damage immediately I’d have to use over half my mana in one spell. At fifteen mana a pop I could cast a lot more spells. That won’t work so well with exploding area of effect spells though.”
She said, “No, you’d need to put in double the amount for every target you wanted to keep burning. So, fifteen, then five per enemy in the effect. It probably wouldn’t be worth it, especially on the edges of the area of effect. Oh, and if we’re fighting in a forest, or highly flammable area, the control fires will stop the splash damage from lighting anything else on fire. Even if the goblin rolls on the ground in pain, the fire is controlled and focused on the target, and won’t set fire to even dry brush.”
Wow, that last tidbit was very useful, I’d been worried about setting the forest on fire, or splash damage on my allies.
“Thanks for that, any other advice?”
She shrugged, “My husband already told you that you should learn a weapon?”
She tapped the bow over her shoulder.
Damn, I was starting to wonder if I should cave on that, but I didn’t want to lose any of my spheres, they were all useful. Then again, I just wasn’t a physical oriented person, and everyone is different. Maybe it would be better for some, or even most, but it wasn’t who I was. I was more tempted to take a fourth magic sphere than I was a weapon, and I probably would when I hit level sixty. Hell, I’d take three more spell spheres, since Fire, Water, and Life would be maxed out. Or maybe one, which I could level three times every level. I’d have to decide later. Though, that seemed like an impossible distance away right now.
I nodded, “He did.”
“Meditation is the only other thing. It takes a long time to improve a stat, but it’s worth it. Your wisdom determines your mana gains, and intelligence determines your spell damage and mana regeneration rate. There are also items that will boost those stats, when the outpost is up in a few days, there should be some to look over.”
“How long does it take?”
She replied, “A long time. An average elf will increase ten points over a lifetime if they pursue it. Your mind is mostly set, it isn’t easy to improve something determined by your life pattern at birth. Usually it’s the combination of meditation and one of the major skill advancements that triggers a point being raised, like between initiate and apprentice. Your mind may expand and grow with your power, if it was prepared ahead of time with meditation. There are other benefits as well, a clearer understanding of concepts, and intuitive leaps in magic use while meditating. It may be worth doing just for that. Just an hour a day should work. If you want to gain points when earning apprentice, you should start now.”
That was a bit daunting, a lifetime of meditation effort to increase my damage by ten? Or my mana gain by another percent? Sure, the damage will increase by sixty if I ever made it to grandmaster, I supposed that wasn’t so shabby. She also had a good point on the spells and concepts, I’d missed a couple of things that should have been obvious, in both Fire and Life. Equipment that raised stats would help as well.
“I’ll give it a try, wake up an hour early in the mornings. Thanks. I’m actually familiar with several forms of meditation from my old world, I just haven’t don
e any since I got my three spheres.”
In truth, I’d been worried my wandering mind during meditation would pick up one of the other five magical spheres, perhaps more than one over time. The initial granting from zero to initiate level one didn’t take a skill point. Still, I supposed even if that did happen, as long as I didn’t use the sphere, they’d never be chosen to be raised when I leveled. I’d just have to make sure I practiced my three chosen spheres only to master the new concepts before I leveled again.
Still, I knew I’d be tempted by all that new knowledge and new concepts, and not being able to use it would drive me crazy. No doubt I’d cheat and get myself into trouble. Technically, it could be managed so that I only used my three spheres more than the other five which would sit at initiate level one. But… I had a feeling that would bite me in the ass if I tried.
She nodded, “Dinner is almost ready. Gwen’s making venison stew.”
I smiled at the thought.
Anlyth replied, “We’re almost done here, and we’ll be right out.”
Lyre nodded, touched her husband’s shoulder fondly, and then left us to finish.
Chapter Nine
We spent dinner to get to know each other a bit better as we ate around the fire. We could have taken the bowls of stew inside one of the cottages and ate around the table, but the bad weather had cleared, and it was a beautiful evening, so we all ate outside.
Wynn was definitely the leader out of the three elves, both Lyre and Anlyth obviously looked to him for guidance. His path was a weapons master. It required all three skill points to level once, but it covered every known weapon, melee or ranged. It made me wistfully wish there was an equivalent for all magical spheres, but there wasn’t.
Wynn was also a couple of levels above the rest of us, he was already level five and close to level six. He was part of my party now, but he would also be the commander of the outpost when it arrived. He was a serious man… elf, dedicated to protecting his people. That second one could apply to all three of them though. He informed us in thanks for the rescue, both Gwen and I would be able to pick out an item each once the outpost was set up, as a gift. Either robes, or some other item to help with my magic. I assumed Gwen would pick out a weapon or armor, but time would tell.
Hopefully, I’d have enough coin to pick out something else. I figured it would be a good idea to focus on protection, and anything that raised my intelligence or wisdom.
Anlyth was level four, and fought melee as well, often incorporating his magic into his strikes, much like Gwen did with shadows. He was far more easy going and cheerful as I’d learned while building the cottages with him, but hardly frivolous.
Lyre was a bit shy and hard to get a read on. So far, she’d gone along with her husband’s lead, but I wouldn’t dare say she was weak. I was sure when it was important enough to her, she’d take a stand. She fought with a bow, fire, and air. Distance fighter like I was, except she’d be able to parry blows and defend herself with her bow if any enemies closed with her. It was her I would stand with in battle, while the other three rushed into melee range.
They were all from the same village in the forest, and part of the elven militia. The elves didn’t have a standing army, their fighters had day jobs. Anlyth was quite handy with building, and even an initiate level blacksmith. Lyre was an entertainer, she sang and played an instrument, and Wynn was a low-level trainer in weapons for the rest of the community.
Having them with us would ensure Gwen and I never took chances too great. If we died we’d come back, though I wasn’t sure what that process would be like, and what it would cost us, but I was happy to avoid it as long as possible. If any of them died, they wouldn’t be coming back. It was a heavy thought, and responsibility.
When we finished dinner, the small talk tapered off, and we started to discuss our plans.
Wynn said, “We need to stay here until the outpost is set up, and we can leave this place guarded. I imagine the goblins know where we are by now, have scouted us from a distance, and are planning an attack. We might see one as soon as tomorrow, and it will be at least a few days before my people return in force to set up an outpost.”
I nodded in agreement, “Will they join us in our attacks?”
Wynn shook his head, “About sixty elves are coming, twenty of them will be support, blacksmiths and the like, another twenty will be ten two-person scout teams, the rest will be needed to guard the outpost from attacks.”
“So, once they set up, and we’re better equipped, should we take out their fortified outside encampment?”
Wynn nodded, “That, and take out patrols, and larger forces that our scouts sniff out. We need to balance moving fast against being reckless. I wouldn’t recommend attacking their home more than a couple of more times. We don’t want to draw out a full out invasion. Better to bleed them a chunk at a time.”
“Alright, what should we be doing the next few days, should we put up some of our own fortifications, and traps around the glade?”
Wynn said, “Goblins don’t care about ground. They want us dead in their cookpots, or as slaves. If we aren’t here, they’ll burn out our homes out of spite, which is why we can’t move yet, but if we are here they’ll ignore our buildings and infrastructure to come for us first. They’re bloodthirsty, and tactically denying comfort to the enemy won’t occur to them. So, it’s better to just remain mobile when they attack. If we hole up in the glade behind defenses, they’ll just burn us out.”
I frowned, and tried to adjust my thinking. Humans would never do that, ignore our cottages and infrastructure I mean, but they weren’t human, they were goblin.
Gwen asked, “So what do you have in mind?”
Wynn said, “We’ll set up some fortifications for ambushes, but not here where we live, in the forest. Anlyth and Jason can make them on the spot if necessary, but we should set up the first ambush tonight before we go to sleep, and discuss tactics of how best to work together. When they come for us, we’ll move north. If they start to overrun or flank us, we can retreat a quarter mile and reset. It depends on how many they send after us.”
I shook my head, “Umm, won’t they be in the north, and past any ambush points before we even know they’re there?”
Wynn and Anlyth exchanged surprised glances.
Anlyth asked, “Can you not feel the steel oaks around us?”
I nodded, “They feel welcoming. Steel oaks?”
Anlyth nodded, “The two of us can feel them. I thought you already knew. This glade and the steel oaks are the heart of this small forest. They’re… sentient trees, and connected to the whole forest. We’ll both feel it, as soon as they sense evil stepping into this forest. We’ll have plenty of warning to get to the ambush site, or to create a new one if necessary.”
Well, that explained a few things.
“Why steel?”
Wynn said, “Steel oak weapons are as strong as forged steel. They make excellent staves and bows, the best available. The thing is, they have to be gifted by the trees themselves, and grown into shape by a Life sphere wielder. It can’t be forced, and weapons made from a dead steel oak are brittle. Only those of good nature are welcomed by the trees, an evil life wielder would find themselves very uncomfortable in their company. It also takes an expert Life wielder to work the wood.”
Gwen said, “Well, if they might attack in the morning, let’s set something up now.”
We got up, and cleaned up the bowls, the stew left in the pot would be left simmering, and make a good breakfast.
Then we headed north of the glade, and picked an ambush point.
We kept it simple, staggered and slightly separated short stone walls were made, while I grew thorny thickets in front of both. Gwen, Anlyth, and Wynn would be behind the fortification in the front, and use arrows and spells, while Lyre and myself would be behind the second fortification fifteen feet behind and slightly staggered from the first. We’d cast spells, and she’d shoot arrows. If the first fortific
ation was breeched, either Gwen, Anlyth, and Wynn would go to melee weapons if there were a few left, or if they still had overwhelming numbers we’d call for a retreat and fall back a half mile to secondary fortifications where we could bleed them some more.
I thought that might be difficult if they were in a full charge, so I suggested we place random pit traps between the first and second fortification area. A few falling into pits and being impaled, might slow them down and make them more cautious. That took a while to set up, and it was quite late by the time we all took baths, and retired to our cottages for the night.
I just hoped if they came in the night, the Steel oak trees changing the emotion they fed me and Anlyth would be jarring enough to wake me up.
I’d expected Gwen and my growing closeness to make things a bit awkward that night, as we moved into the cottage to sleep in it for the first time. It wasn’t though, awkward I mean. She did give me a shy look when she took off her armor and weapons, but she passed out as soon as she laid down on the bed. That kind of put my earlier conclusions to doubt, maybe I’d been projecting and reading into her innocent touches. It was possible she was a casual toucher, but only with the people she trusted. Maybe all I’d done was win her trust, and there was nothing else there. Or, she was attracted but the sexual tension between us didn’t throw her off as much as it was doing to me, maybe because she felt safe with me? It could be a thousand different things and reasons.
I shook my head, and closed my eyes, I had more than enough to worry about with the goblins, and this new world. I was overanalyzing it, time would answer my questions and where we stood, and there was no rush. Tomorrow was another day. Unfortunately, easier said than done, I was falling for her more and more, the more I got to know her. It would really suck, if it was one sided.
The next morning I sat Indian style on the moss bed, and I’d only been meditating for about five minutes. I’d meditated before, on my spheres to learn the concepts, but that had been more free association thinking than true meditation. True meditation is the emptying of the mind, or at most focusing on a single concept, not many concepts. It helped to find my center, calm, and was relaxing. Thoughts flittered in and out of my mind as I suppressed them, but they were less focused. The image of Gwen’s smile for instance, had popped in my mind several times more than anything else. True meditation was about all my knowledge, wisdom, and the mind in totality, not just a specific subject of group of concepts under a sphere. I supposed I would still need to do that too, to learn and master the new concepts as I advanced in the three magical spheres, but now I’d meditate on the whole of who I was while emptying my mind as well, in an effort to increase my stats. It was something I used to do in the old world as well, it helped stave off the madness of the pointless years of life as I studied scientific and other knowledge.
Gaia's Gambit: Evolution Online I (A LitRPG) Page 8
