Hawke wasn’t sure how to fix the problem. Leaky pipes were easy. Either patch the leak, or better, replace the damaged section altogether. Leaky Chakras were something else. Steeling himself against the inevitable pain, he examined the damaged energy node and went through the steps he had taken to opening it in the first place. Maybe reversing it partway might shut the leak. Even closing it up altogether might be better than being unable to use magic. He could wait until it healed before he tried opening it again.
Okay, I won’t shut it down. Maybe I can tighten the screws a little instead.
Using all the deliberate care he would devote to disarming a complex magical trap, Hawke worked on the Chakra. Undoing the damage without closing the energy junction took enormous patience. The last pieces clicked into place; Hawke wiped cold sweat off his forehead and checked his timer app. Less than an hour until dawn. He had done it, but no notifications appeared letting him know what he had succeeded. Come to think of it, he also hadn’t gotten any messages about the cracked-up Chakra in the first place. That was weird. The ‘system’ always had a notification for any major change he underwent.
He opened his notification list and double-checked it. Nope. Nothing congratulating him for fixing his broken ass. He went and checked the Combat Log. He didn’t do that as often as he should because the damn thing covered every damn variable involved in a fight and spewed numbers and data in endless streams that made his eyes glaze over. The fight with the Terror Tree, which had lasted maybe three minutes of real time, had generated about two hundred pages of data. It was the definition of ‘too long, didn’t read.’ Well, this time he was going to have to go over the whole log.
He scrolled down the floating ‘screen’ that magically appeared in front of him until he found the events he was looking for, the moment when he used Timeless Mind to learn Chaos Magic, finish opening the Chakra and, as if that wasn’t enough, cast Chaos Funnel and stream several thousand Mana through his system.
Chakra Opening – Failed.
Incompatible energies detected: Chaos and Order.
You have learned Chaos Funnel.
You have cast Chaos Funnel on ley line.
You have gained 5,000 Mana.
System Error: Chakra Opening – Failed. Chakra Opening – Succeeded.
Arbitration Requested
Arbitration Granted.
Chakra Opening: Succeeded. Mana Channeling has been raised to III. Bonuses: +10% to Mana Capacity, +1 to Mana Regeneration, +3 to Willpower.
You have a System Message.
“I have a what?” Hawke said, skipping over the regular notifications in the log.
A new icon had just appeared on the floating ‘menu’ that always stayed in the upper part of his field of vision. An envelope-shaped icon that he knew hadn’t been there a moment ago was blinking, demanding his attention.
“Guess I have mail,” he muttered before ‘clicking on it.’
Hawke, you miserable bastard.
Your little exploits with Timeless Mind, Chakra opening, and melding of incompatible Forces, none of which are possible for a noob of your level, should have made you explode like a blood sausage. The favor I owed you couldn’t have saved you, even if I’d tried to, which I didn’t. You caused the whole system to hiccup. The penalty for that is Final Death, followed by something really bad.
Someone upstairs interceded for you. That is the only reason why you didn’t get deleted. Congrats. I had to cover your tracks, however. Otherwise, questions would be asked, questions neither I nor your benefactor (or benefactors?) want to answer. Long story short, you will not get any notifications referring to the events involving that little time slip. The combat log entry will be rewritten as soon as you finish reading it. And this message will self-destruct shortly after you open it.
As to the
The screen disappeared, along with the envelope icon, before he finished reading the message. Speed-reading had never been his thing, and he had just paid the price for it. He hadn’t read to the end, so he couldn’t be sure who had written the message, but by the tone Hawke was sure it had been Vice, the Arbiter who was part guardian angel and part waiting executioner. They had worked out a deal, but Vice wasn’t exactly Hawke’s friend.
“What the hell does this mean?”
“Guess I should feel special. Except that I’m not the only one breaking rules. Greg’s Revenant experiments, for example. Undead Infernals and Fae aren’t supposed to exist. So maybe I’m not that special.”
“I don’t know what any of that means.”
“So not only do I have to master this ‘game,’ the rules, maybe even the entire world, may change before I even make it to the endgame. Is that right?”
“Yeah. Maybe a little too interesting.”
His ass didn’t hurt anymore, but his head was spinning when he finally fell asleep.
Eight
“Didn’t get a lot of sleep and had to make a couple of drop-offs before I left.”
“Did I miss anything?”
“Good. Think we can catch the caravan before lunch?”
After his bad experience with the improvised saddle and harness, Hawke had no intention to taking to the air, but was willing to ride Blaze on the ground, since a five-foot drop was easier to handle than a two thousand foot one. The Drakofox’s land speed was better than a galloping horse’s, and he could keep it up effectively forever, since his Endurance recovery was unnaturally high. The saddle and Blaze’s bouncing run still made the whole thing uncomfortable, but he was beginning to get used to it, and his Riding (Drakofox) skill improved to 2 along the way.
They caught up to the slow-moving wagon train by mid-morning, as they reached a portion of the road that Hawke remembered well. That was the stretch where he and his friends had been on the receiving end of an Area Event, a zone-wide quest that applied to everyone caught in its area of effect: survive and be rewarded, or die. Somewhere out there, the bodies of almost twenty thousand legionnaires from the long-gone Onyx Empire lay in unmarked, unhallowed graves. One of Necromancer Greg’s pet Wraiths had awakened them and sent them rampaging through the area, killing anyone they encountered. Hawke’s party had survived, but it had been close.
No bones anywhere. It’s only been a few months. There should be some.
“Have to do something about them. But I don’t know how to go about locating and properly disposing of twenty thousand bodies.”
“T
wenty thousand, plus or minus four thousand. Better??
“I mean, it’s not as if we don’t have a million other things that need doing. But it’s on my list.”
During their ride, Hawke had examined the area around the Legion’s Highway, making note of places that might serve to build an outpost. If he wanted regular trade with Akila, he would need to set up a few of them, with enough forces to protect the roads and help maintain them. Once an outpost was established, civilians would settle there as well: innkeepers and their employees, farmers to grow food for the garrison and passing travelers, craftsmen to repair equipment, shoe horses, fix wagons. The stuff that would turn the trip between his Domain and the large city into something routine, rather than a dangerous adventure. He definitely needed to find the Legions’ unrestful bodies and dispose of them before he could do any of that, however.
“Yeah, at least somewhere around here, three days out of Orom. I figure the city can meet me halfway and take care of the rest of the road.”
“Orom is already part of the empire, on paper. I figure that if I take care of its expenses and maintain law and order, they can leave me the hell alone.”
“No rush,” Hawke said as he spotted the last wagons out in the distance. Tava, Luna and Rabbit were trailing them. “This visit, I’m just going to deal with the Herders, organize a caravan back, hire a bunch of specialists, and look into getting some settlers to increase our numbers. People in Akila aren’t obligated to stay in one place, are they?”
“I hear you. I’ll try to weed out any troublemakers.”
Tava was riding toward him, and the smile on her face matched his own.
“But we’ll handle it when it’s time. Blaze, you and Luna go keep up with the caravan. Mommy, Daddy and Auntie Nyx need some alone time.”
Tava hugged him. “Saturnyx told me about Nadia. I am sorry she found her status unsuitable.”
“It’s more complicated than that,” he said. “But we’ll still be family. We have fought and bled together, after all.”
“Of course. Those bonds are too strong to break easily.”
They can break, though. Look at what happened to Desmond, Hawke thought. All over two women I will never sleep with again. Monogamy definitely cuts down the drama levels in my life. Or bigamy, I guess.
The world changed, and he found himself on an oversized bed surrounded by a reddish haze. Tava and Saturnyx were there as well, their smiles matching his own. He gently caressed the Fury’s cheek; it was always surprising how tender she could be here, where there were no enemies to slay. Tava leaned over and kissed his neck. The Ranger-Slayer was a deadly in combat, a sexy kitten in the sack, and a good friend and confidant the rest of the time. Who could ask for anything more?
They would be able to catch up with the caravan soon enough, but before that they were able to spend a couple of hours of bigamous bliss.
Interlude: Stats, Progression, and Other Gamer Stuff
Hawke had two days of peace and quiet during the trip. Sure, there were a few minor mishaps and accidents – wagons breaking down, horses getting sick and, in one case, dying before a healer could get to it, people suffering minor injuries, drinking bad water and so on – but for the most part he was able to sit down and examine his ‘character sheet’ and consider all the new abilities he had acquired along the way.
Some might consider this boring; in fact many Adventurers did, and largely ignored their notifications, finding them annoying. Illiterate Adventurers had to hear audio versions of them, narrated by a mechanical, Alexa or Siri-like voice. Marko Clades, who had joined the Path to Power not too long ago, had said the notifications “may be a small price for the power we gain, but it is a price I do not enjoy paying.” A lot of people didn’t like doing math, or thinking about what their stat numbers meant and how to improve them. They assigned new bonuses as quickly as possible and then got on with their lives.
Not Hawke, and not most of the new Eternals in the Realms, of course. Laughing Man had picked his ‘recruits’ (or victims) well: gamers who loved the stuff, or at least casuals who understood the basics. He hadn’t been a theory-crafting genius, but he knew that getting the most out of his abilities and powers was going to play a huge role in staying alive during his – likely permanent – stay in the Realms.
He took his time for a change and studied his current stage of development:
Name: Hawke Lightseeker. Race: Half-Elf, Eternal. Class: Twilight Templar, Monster Trainer. Level: 19
Experience/Next Level: 71,664/100,000
Attributes (All Bonuses Included):
Strength 30(89), Dexterity 30(74), Constitution 45(119), Intelligence 32(61), Spirit 31(63), Perception 25(34), Willpower 32(56), Charisma 20(25)
Characteristics:
Health: 1,547 (30.9/min)
Mana: 4,066 (31.1/min)
Endurance 1,256 (30.9/min)
Identity: 23
Skills
Blacksmithing 6, Climbing 2, Detect Traps 3, Disarm Traps 5, Dodge 7, Lore 4, Riding 3, Shield 7, Spear 4, Stealth 5, Survival 3, Sword 8(23), Swimming 2, Tracking 3
Languages: Common Fey, Vulgate, Lesser Celestial
Perks
Aegis of the Fae, Dark Vision, Fae Stealth, Mana Sight, Sidhe Caster, Sidhe Speed Casting, Speed-Casting (Life and Light Magic), Spell Penetration, True Sight, Undying, Unlimited Potential
Known Elements, Forces, and Schools of Magic
Celestial, Chaos, Darkness, Death, Life, Light, Mind, Nature, Order, Twilight, Undeath
Spells
Animate Shadow, Armor of Life, Army of the Dead, Aura of Light, Blast Undead, Bless Crops, Bolt of Darkness, Bolt of Life, Bulwark of Light, Burning Light, Consecrated Ground, Chaos Funnel, Dark Tendrils, Deadly Roots, Death Cyclone, Death Stare, Enlightenment, Fireball, Gift of the Martyr, Growth, Hammer of Light, Hammer of Twilight, Healing Blows, Healing Wave, In Extremis, Indomitable Aura, Lesser Healing, Mass Blast Undead, Minor Death Curse, Nature’s Grip, Nature’s Guardian, Raise Dead, Sense Life, Send Thought, Shadow Leech, Shadow Step, Shield of Light, Shroud of Darkness, Shroud of Twilight, Simple Spell Inscription, Song of Sorrow, Steal Life, Terror Gaze, Touch of Light, Transference, Twilight Mantle, Twilight Step.
Special Abilities
Alter Magic, Analyze Monster, Create Magical Trap, Disarm Magical Trap, Dispel Magic I, Dual-Casting, Evolve Monster, Greater Bond, Identify Spell, Mana Channeling III, Leadership XI (Chosen Foe I, Command IV, Generalship III, Messenger I, Shared Magic I), Living Shadow, Node Mastery VIII (Advanced Node Travel, Create Node Guardian, Ley Line Portal, Node Recall, Node Sight, Summon Node Guardian), Monster Pet (Level 16 Young Tarakken), Ritual Magic I, Seal Inscription I, Soul Rider, Spell Deconstruction, Spellcraft III, Stop Monster, Summon Monster, Tame Monster, Tantric Touch, Timeless Mind, Tulpa Creation II
&nbs
p; Arcane Vocations
Blacksmith 4, Mining 5, Skinning 2, Steward 5.
Guild Powers (Level Three)
Guild Headquarters, Guild Quests
Getting better, he thought.
His Mana had shot through the roof with the bonuses from his Chakras, plus all the extra power he got from his gear. Of course, Mana Shield cost a whooping ten percent of his Mana capacity, and it didn’t regenerate as long as the spell was on. If he added Tranquil Mind to the mix, as well as a few Gifts of the Martyr and other non-renewable spells, his pool would drop to 3,000 or so. It still gave him plenty of power to throw around. He had sacrificed almost forty Mana points permanently along the way, but those losses were insignificant so far.
His spell list continued to grow, which created problems of its own. Hawke could think of several missed opportunities where using a different spell or ability might have won fights sooner. The preset spell rotation helped a lot, but it had limitations. He still wasn’t sure how to deal with that. Maybe as he went up in levels he would learn some trick to deal with the overwhelming number of options he had.
His access to new Forces allowed him to reinforce Elemental spells. That was something he needed to experiment with. He’d figured out that any spell enhanced with Celestial and Order magic would do a number on Undead. He hadn’t done as much with Mind magic yet, mainly because digging inside people’s heads bothered him a lot. And he’d just unlocked Chaos, which seemed to be almost as dangerous to the user as to the intended target. He had to be careful about playing with it.
He was fine with that. Back when he was merely playing games rather than living them, Hawke had been a completist, always trying every possible class available. He’d settled on Paladin as his main character, but he had played all the others. Maybe he’d never be as powerful in any single Element, but he would be much more versatile. And when magic failed, he could chop someone up with a sword.
Guilds at War: The LitRPG Saga Continues Page 6
