He’s cute once he gets an idea in his head. She was happy to see her man so motivated.
They rode in the odd creation that Dave called an elevator.
Bob was passed out on his chair, Dave’s book on his chest.
“I didn’t know it was that boring!” Dave said, loud enough to startle Bob.
“Do you know how tiring it is to deal with all this?” Bob stretched and yawned.
Deia still couldn’t believe that Bob was really Lo’kal, the Jukal scientist who had made Emerilia and become its caretaker. He seemed rather harmless. The power that it must have taken to do such a thing…she couldn’t even start to imagine it.
“I had a question about something.” Dave pulled a large silver mirror from his bag.
“Nice, good ole Mirror of—well, that’s odd.” Bob stepped off his chair and studied the mirror.
“What is that?” Deia asked.
“It’s a Mirror of Communication. You can link it to any other Mirror of Communication and have a little talk. That is, as long as you have the correct codes. They’re untraceable and can reach anywhere in real time. We’re talking true faster-than-light communications.” Bob looked over the back of the mirror.
Dave looked impressed but Deia didn’t understand what the heck he was talking about.
“This, however, is an oddity. It shouldn’t exist,” Bob said.
“Why?” Deia asked.
“These runes—they don’t follow the Jukal method. They’re damned beautiful—elegant, slimmed down, and functional. The Jukal make these mirrors with a ton of runes and Magical Circuits. This kind of power is pretty strong. This—” Bob touched the back of the mirror. “It wasn’t made; it was manufactured. You sly, sly bastards. Oh, this is great. Where the hell did you find this? Show me on your map!”
Dave showed Bob as Deia shook her head, waiting for the two of them. She’d seen Dave when he’d got something interesting in his mind. We still need to have a talk about the distilleries in our house. Since when did I start thinking of it as our house?
“Damn sneaky Jukal. They tracked down the power draw. I hadn’t filed a report on it, so they snuck in and took whoever was there. Well, I’ve been looking for proof for generations and here it is.” Bob tapped the mirror affectionately.
“Proof of what?” Deia asked.
“That there are Humans still out in the galaxy. This was not made on Emerilia or by the empire. This was manufactured by Humans. Maybe a sub-race, but Humans.”
Silence fell over the room.
“So not all of humanity died and they had operatives on Emerilia. Interesting,” Dave said.
“It’s a mystery for a later time. I’d leave that here or put it in your bag. Have you taken control of the seeder yet?” Bob asked.
“Uhhh, no,” Dave said. “Been a bit cautious about accepting quests.”
“He’s a smart one—should keep him around.” Bob grinned to Deia. “Well, accept the damn thing, and here.” Bob pulled out a thick book and gave it to Dave. “You’re going to need to understand this to get back down here.”
Dave took the book from Bob and looked through the pages.
“Now, Oson’Deia, I have a proposal for you,” Bob said, his humor falling away as he clapped his hands.
“Oh?” Deia asked.
“Would you like to become a Player?” Bob asked.
Dave’s head shot up from his page, looking to Bob and Deia.
“How?” Deia asked. The added connections on his interface that Dave talked about sounded like it would be worth it, not even including the parts about the experience gained from quests and the ability to respawn. It was impressive, but she did not think that the process would be a simple one.
“That…that is a bit tricky. Basically would have to give you a new body. Then grow you a new one with all the implants and consciousness—link to the Altars of Rebirth,” Bob said.
“Bob—” Dave started, his voice angry.
Deia put a hand on his shoulder. “Are you sure it will work?” Deia asked.
“Been doing this for a while. It will work.” Bob gave her a reassuring smile.
“Won’t someone notice that?” Dave asked.
“Not unless you tell them.The People of Emerilia only know who are Players and not by their actions. If you act as you always have then whose to know? It might make things like other Players messing with the two of you happen less. Players see the People of Emerilia more as items to be used. Sure, there are a number of people that are running around talking and interacting with them. Most, however, are coming from games where they’re a tool to the end. They just think its interesting and the coding is cool, but unless they don’t have a quest or they’re relaxing, Players always have somewhere to be. Talking to the People of Emerilia that they don’t see as being all that useful yet hasn’t come about. Given time more of the Players will see that the POE’s are useful to progression and start making friendships. Until that happens, Players and POE’s aren’t going to give much of a crap about one another,” Bob said.
Deia nodded. “Very well.” She accepted before she was too nervous or came to her senses.
Bob grew so that he was her height. “Okay, let’s begin.” Bob held his hand on Deia’s face. His face screwed up in concentration.
She felt his power moving into her mind, spreading through her veins. There was a sudden pain all at once. Light burned her eyes before falling away. She blinked and looked around.
“Babe?” Dave hugged her.
“Dave, I’m all right,” she said, as he studied her.
“I was so worried. He just put his hand to your head and then—”
Bob cleared his throat behind them. “I do one body transference and everyone loses their minds,” Bob muttered, raising his voice so they could hear him. “Dave, teach her the ways of a Player. She’s got all of the skills, the character sheets and everything. Keep the seeder a secret—the Pantheon would do anything to get control of this place. Right now, they just think that it is an untapped magical line. I’ve put runes to hide any more power output. Finding unconnected portals and an Altar of Rebirth—it would change the balance of power up there,” Bob said.
“So, why are you telling us?” Deia’s head ached from the various screens she was having to wave out of her view.
“This is your planet, your people and you’re the only two to not only pierce the veil but to believe me. I’m done making decisions for people. You have free will; do with it what you will.”
Chapter 25: Experiments
Dave used his Touch of the Land, checking the composition of the smelting metal. He put in a few other items. Today he’d start with the first part of making his and Deia’s new armor.
Kol hammered on his work; he didn’t need to look up to see what Dave was doing. He’d looked over the plans Dave had come up with. The armor would be a lot of work but his apprentice was eager to get started and he would need it in just a few short months.
Dave had also talked about the ebony layer, asking for Kol’s help. Kol had agreed. Ebony was a hard material to use; for what Dave was proposing, it would be even harder.
He’s come far in his learning. Not only showing that he was ready to start his own experiments but that he was willing to accept others’ guidance. It showed that he had come far.
Kol paused in his hitting, sensing the shield that Dave had forged, showing his ability to combine materials. Kol had pushed him well beyond his skills needed for the shield before he even attempted it. Dave didn’t rush, taking his time in planning before execution. Too many of the youngsters jumped in right away and made something passable instead of something that showcased their skills. Good work took time and many wanted to just finish the task and move onto the next.
Dave also aspired for that upward mobility, but he did not allow even his nails or the new screws to be anything but the highest quality. He’d melted the shield down twice before he was happy with the final product.
Kol
hammered on the blade he was fixing. Dave had powered the enchantments and Kol had a hard time keeping the shock off his face. Dave had veered away from the Dwarves’ shield runes. Kol had consulted an enchanter who confirmed that there would be nothing harmful in the runes. Kol had watched, feeling sorry for Dave, knowing that the runes would falter and the shield would fail.
As Dave powered the shield, the runes had worked into their Magical Circuits. Kol wasn’t a master enchanter but he knew more than enough to repair any type of enchanted armor. His time spent with enchanted items meant he could understand the power that was coming from the runes.
The enchanter Kol knew nearly fell over in her chair as she held the shield when Kol brought it to her. She’d talked to herself for a good twenty minutes, rubbing her hands on the runes as if they were a holy text.
The main enchantments usually allowed a shield wall to connect. Durability and armor increased with the more shields attached. These new runes took some of the latent Mana in the area and fed it back into a Stamina buff. The weight of the shield had been decreased slightly. It would mean that the shield wall could hold for longer without having to switch first ranks out.
It was hard work holding up your shield and getting pounded on, even if nothing could penetrate your shield. It wouldn’t make the Dwarves invulnerable but it would mean that they could fight longer without fatiguing.
Kol had talked to Dave about the enchantments. Dave said that he’d been dabbling in them, trying to make more sense of them. Kol asked why he’d want to be a smithy when he could be a great enchanter.
Kol looked to Dave, remembering the halfling’s words.
“Well, I find enchantments nice, but binding an enchantment not only to a weapon but to the very ore that it was made from, working with the workmanship that brought it together—each item deserves a different enchantment. Working with the item instead and strengthening it with an enchantment—that is something that you’ve taught me. I might be good at playing with magical runes, but they enhance the item. It would be like putting a Health stat on a spoon. Some weapons are better suited for fire damage, others for poison.”
Dave made a lot of sense but Kol was left wondering where he had been learning about runes. He had been sensing a lot of power from Dave’s porch when he got off from the smithy. He must’ve been working on enchanting logic then.
A number of people had come already to check out the shield. The runes weren’t overly complex; their arrangement had changed and larger circuits had been replaced with simpler and easier ones. Dwarves had been adding enchantments to them for years. Dave had taken the overlapping enchantments, broken them apart and pulled them together into a single set instead of warring enchantments.
Kol grinned. He was excited to see what Dave’s final armor would come out like.
***
Deia looked at her interface. Dave had given her lessons on how to access items like her messages, use the net, and connect to the forums. She’d spent hours just looking at different ways to train with Fire magic, and then she’d stumbled onto a news site.
She closed her Internet browser, trying to come to terms with what she’d just seen. A world with close to twenty billion people. They were stretched from Earth to Mars; Venus and the Moon had massive settlements: Venus with their floating research stations; the Moon and its settlements and factories; Mars with ever-expanding colonies. Buildings that rivaled Mithsia Mountain grew into the clouds. People moved about in transports that could cross a world bigger then Emerilia in a matter of hours.
There wasn’t a touch of magic; instead, they used machines powered by electricity, which came from many different sources.
She looked around the cavernous room that had held material converters. Now it had a bench with Dave’s experiments on it and a big sparring area.
Deia had been trying out the different magical techniques that she had found out about on the forums and net. It had showed some interesting results.
She called up her character sheet.
Character Sheet
Name:
Oson’Deia
Gender:
Female
Level:
66
Class:
Blessed by Fire, Weapons Master, Archer, Elven Ranger, Fire Battle Mage
Race:
-/Elf
Alignment:
Chaotic Neutral
Unspent points-0
Health:
5700
Regen:
1.74/s
Mana:
2300
Regen:
5.15/s
Stamina:
1050
Regen:
3.60/s
Vitality:
57
Endurance:
87
Intelligence:
230
Willpower:
103
Strength:
105
Agility:
72
She’d looked at other people’s stats and information. Her Mana pool had always been large and she hadn’t ever put anything into Intelligence, just allowing it to grow.
Certain people got a boost in stats when they started off, but her magical level—it was as if she’d taken all her stat points and stuffed it into intelligence.
Her mana pool was massive.
Maybe it has to do with how my father is a powerful mage and my mother. She looked at the -sign that stayed in her race description. Over the days, she’d become curious about just who and what her mother was. The stats only served to make her curiosity rise.
A light blossomed off to the side of the room. Dave appeared as the light dimmed.
“Hey,” he said, a tired smile on his face.
“Hey to you too.” She walked over to him. “You’re all covered in smithy!” she complained as he moved closer.
A malicious glint entered his eye as he picked up his pace.
“No! No no, no, no, no!” She turned, just starting to realize what he was doing as he grabbed her and gave her a kiss, the dust and smoke lines rubbing off onto her face. “Ughh! Go take a shower!” She squirmed in his grasp.
“Okay.” He carried her with him.
“You beast! Vagabond! Kidnapper!” She laughed as he walked through the crew quarters and to the shower. He didn’t even let her get out of her clothes before he walked into the shower. It was still cold, making her shiver. It turned warm and Dave pushed her against the wall. He pressed his lips against hers.
His tongue entered her mouth as her body molded to his, feeling the reaction that their kiss was having on his anatomy. She pulled at his shirt as he pulled at her jacket. Her breath caught as his rough hands moved slowly down her chest and into her pants; she arched and moaned. She kissed him.
I will not lose this fight! She pushed his pants down and shook herself free of her own. She pulled away from the kiss, putting her arms around his neck and wrapping her legs around his waist. She lowered herself slowly, a shiver going up her as Dave looked ready to burst. She moved upward, biting her lips.
Dave might be shorter, but his height put him at a perfect height for her chest. She pulled her chest toward him as a new moan escaped her.
Maybe it’s okay to lose the occasional battle. She eased down, Dave letting out a shudder and a slow grunt as he kissed from her chest to her neck.
It’s not just the metal you can hammer. She held the shower head above her as she bit her lip, writhing and moaning as he moved inside her.
***
Dave lay down in the shower; Deia fell on top of him, their breathing hard and fast.
“Teacher, I think that I might be too tired to fight tonight,” Dave said.
“Ohh?” Deia sat up, giving him a great view, her jacket disheveled and open as she traced lines on his chest and bit her lip. “I think I can give you a break for tonight. We’ll just have to do some other exercises. I have a few things that I found on that net of yours.” She smiled an
d then stood. “First, you’ve got those soul gems to mess with and to get in and have an actual shower.” She pulled off her remaining clothes.
“I could skip the soul gems.” Dave got up.
“You could but I know that you would regret it. Also, you’ve only got a few weeks until you’ve finished forming the steel shell,” Deia said.
“Did I ever tell you how sexy you are when keeping me on task?” Dave moved toward her, grabbing her ass and kissing her.
“Well, you better make up for it tonight.” She smiled and tapped his ass.
“With pleasure.” He kissed her again.
Chapter 26: Mobilization
Josh Giles looked around at the dungeon where the raid was supposed to be happening in just a few short months. Close to two thousand Dwarves and a good number of Elves wandered around.
They had cleared out an area of the forest, raising stone walls around it and the cave that led into the dungeon.
Josh leaned down on his sabre cat, Sally. “Well, we’ll have to give that a close look, eh, lass.” He patted the beast. He turned, looking to his closest friends and commanders: Lucy, Kim, and Dwayne.
Lucy was a mage in her robes, riding an elemental horse. Kim lay back on a floating carpet, reading a book; she was a cleric with the ability to beat the hell out of people and heal others. Dwayne wore heavy armor, with a massive sword by his side. He didn’t ride anything, not because they couldn’t stand his weight but because running meant he leveled up his Stamina and Agility stats more. He might not be the fastest runner, but he and his tanks could last hours holding a line.
Josh clicked twice and Sally moved; her powerful build turned them away from the dungeon and toward the ragtag group who were joking, laughing, and moving on the road from Omal to Cliff-Hill.
The Trapped Mind Project (Emerilia Book 1) Page 38
