The Land: Predators

by Aleron Kong

  First the guy said unhappy and now he was saying angry. Not exactly the way to make him feel better. Richter couldn’t do anything about that now though. “Fair enough, then. We’ll take half the tuskers for the celebration tonight. We will have hundreds more mouths to feed, after all.”

  “Then you do intend to include the freed captives in tonight’s festivities?”

  “Yes,” Richter replied definitively. “I plan on offering them a home in the village, provided they pass Sumiko’s test of loyalty when she returns. That won’t be for several days, however, and I won’t keep them in captivity until she does.”

  “Will you be giving them immunity to the mists tonight?” Terrod asked, concerned for the village’s security.

  “Absolutely not,” Richter replied. He had learned his lesson with Sonirae, the Assassin that had infiltrated the village by posing as a victim. As lessons went, castration was a real powerful encouragement to not make the same mistake twice. “I am going to peel back the mists in that section of the village though. I won’t allow them to come into the western side. We will bring the feast to them. I can’t allow them to know about the Forge of Heavens or anything else, but I see no reason not to make them as comfortable as possible. If any decide to leave the village after Sumiko returns, or are just not a good fit, we will be able to get them to safety without worrying about them divulging our secrets to the outside world.”

  “Except for the Dungeon, which they all know about,” Sion commented.

  Richter sighed, “Except for that. I’m not willing to force anyone to stay against their will or kill them if they want to leave though. We will just have to hope for the best.”

  They all nodded and Randolphus spoke up, “I recommend we leave the Dungeon for now, my lord. The captain’s shield is near useless with that large hole in it and this has been a successful initial foray. One thing that almost always holds true is that Dungeons grow more dangerous the farther in one goes. There is also more to be done before the celebration tonight. We can always return tomorrow.”

  Richer looked out at the forest of blood-red columns with a small bit of longing, but felt that the Spy was right. Even though the tuskers had only been level fourteen or below, they had still been dangerous. It was well past time to upgrade Terrod’s gear. Which reminded him of his enchanting responsibilities in the Forge. The battle with the undead was on the horizon and he had to enspell as many weapons and as much armor as he could before then.

  “You’re right, as always, my chamberlain,” Richter responded wryly. Since the battle had ended he’d been able to summon six mist workers which were now carrying three or four tuskers each. The constructs might not be smart, but they were strong as hell. His Ring of Summoning once again showed its worth by letting him conjure level eight mist workers rather than mere level ones. It drastically increased the already prodigious Strength and stamina of the faceless creatures. With the workers in tow, the four Companions and two small fliers left the Dungeon.

  CHAPTER 27 – Day 142 – Kuborn 32, 0 AoC

  The party crossed back into the Entrance Chamber and then used the Node to instantly travel back to the mouth of the Dungeon. The bodies of the remaining tuskers began to degrade as soon as they left. At first, all that could be seen was hair falling away, but soon the muscles began liquefying and running down into the ground. The earth greedily drank the fluid and the grass itself began to grow into the carcasses, lightly but insistently pulling the tissues apart.

  The bones soon began to crumble and flake as well. Pieces fell to the ground and sank like stones through porridge, slowly but inexorably. In minutes, there was no sign of the dead. The entity that was the Dungeon of Bloody Chaos then turned its attention towards the balls of light left behind, draining the mana from each until they winked out, one by one. After that, it began creating more creatures to replace those that had been lost. It instinctually created a mixture of jenit prowlers and koran tuskers to populate the central chambers this time. The ever-present hunger of the Dungeon spurred it to try new tactics. It did not understand that it was trying to become more dangerous; it just knew deep in its being that it wanted to feed. This instinct would drive it to try different combinations of monsters until it could slay those that entered it.

  The Dungeon could feel the energy pulsing inside of the four beings that had just left its domain. It had a primal craving to obtain that energy for itself. One of the creatures in particular confused it. It had felt like part of the Dungeon, but also different from the Dungeon. Such deep thoughts were beyond its ability or interest, however, and soon it forgot. It would one day consume him the same as any other. Hunger took over again as its overarching concern. Though it had absorbed a small amount of blood essence from two of the Adventurers, it was not nearly enough to compensate for the energy it had lost from the slain beasts. The invaders had even taken half of its creatures.

  A strange stimulus triggered inside of the Dungeon with that errant thought. The sensation was there and gone in a split second. It searched itself, looking for a cause, wondering if it had been attacked. Again, it was not made for such considerations and soon turned its attention to other inner workings. A word had occurred to it that seemed to describe the sensation, but as it had no frame of reference, it disregarded the “irritation” it had felt.

  CHAPTER 28 – Day 142 – Kuborn 32, 0 AoC

  While Richter and his Companions walked back into the village, he addressed the prompts that had come up during the Dungeon dive.

  You have been awarded 8,012 experience (base 91,564 x 0.07 x 1.25) from Brain Drain against Level 13 Koran Tusker.

  You have captured:

  Soul of a Koran Tusker

  Durability: 15/15

  Item Class: Common

  Stone Level: Common

  Soul Level: Basic

  Status: Filled

  Weight: 0.2 kg

  The rewards were modest, but they were still something, Richter thought. There was a time when eight thousand XP would have been something to crow about. It only took a thousand XP to move from level one to level two, after all. Now that he was level thirty-five, even after adding in the eight thousand he still needed more than three hundred thousand points to level up again.

  The souls he had gained were also nothing big, but should be good for simple enchantments or refilling the charges on his already-enchanted items. The enchantment ranks were poor, weak, basic, common, higher, brilliant, special, resplendent, transcendent and absolute. The highest ranked soul he had seen so far was resplendent. It had come from a Cloud Giant and that single soul had cost him six hundred and fifty gold pieces. As far as Richter had been able to tell, the rank of the soul was based on the type of creature and not its level. Unless the Dungeon got stronger monsters, it wouldn’t be of much use for farming higher level souls. Yet another reason why he should grow his Dungeon as fast as possible, he supposed.

  The party quickly reached the gate to the village. The guards posted there brought their fists to their chests in salute. Richter noticed that they held the pose not only until he passed, but until Sion, Terrod and Randolphus passed as well. It appeared that his burgeoning village was indeed developing its own small aristocracy. They all lived together, slept in the same place and ate the same food, but there was no denying the respect on the guards’ faces. The more Richter thought about it, the more he realized that he had been seeing evidence of this over the past weeks. He didn’t disagree or disapprove.

  Each of his Companions had played pivotal roles in the settlement’s maturation. Their responsibilities had become even more important as time went on. Terrod was in charge of more than a hundred fighters these days and Sion had almost a hundred meidon sprites that would follow his every order. Randolphus had been Richter’s number two from almost day one and now would be one of his primary teachers. Some of the villagers gave the chamberlain odd looks, seeing him in his armor and knives rather than his customary robes, but he walked with such surety that th
e battle dress only cemented his authority. It occurred to Richter that a year ago the idea of living with nobles, letting alone almost being one, would have seemed ludicrous. Now though, it wasn’t just something he enjoyed. It felt right.

  Randy took charge of the mist workers. He said he would get the tuskers to the cooks and would see to other preparations for the night’s festivities. The Spy looked at Richter a bit strangely when his lord told him that he wanted the carcasses put on spits that could be slowly turned over fire pits.

  The chaos seed just smiled though and said, “Trust me.” He was getting excited about the idea of some BBQ pork. In fact… “Tell the cooks to put a sweet glaze on it if possible.”

  The chamberlain just nodded with a bemused look on his face and walked off, mist workers in tow. Sion and Terrod both left on their own business as well. Sapir sped off towards the Quickening to brag about his harrowing battle to his brothers and sisters.

  Richter turned his head to look at Alma, *Are you staying with me, little one?*

  *Where are you going?* she asked sassily.

  Richter chuckled inside his own head at her tone, *I need to enchant some weapons.*

  *Yuck! Stinky dwarves.* Without another mental word, she flew off to amuse herself.

  She really was getting feisty these days, Richter thought with a smirk. As he was finally alone, he decided to address his points. They were just begging to be spent, after all. Richter accessed his Profession status page.

  A translucent screen that had a star-filled backdrop appeared in his vision. Two different sets of globes floated above the expanse. The central sphere on the left was blue and it had the word “Enchanter” emblazoned across its surface. Six globes sprouted off the hub and more branched off from each of those. Even more branched off from that second tier. The constellation on the right was much smaller, just one red central sphere and the four radiating out from it forming a diamond. The word “Essence” was etched onto the surface of the red sphere.

  The blue globes on the left were Talents of his Enchanter Profession while the red globes on the right were the Talents of his Essence Specialty. Most of the spheres on the left were glowing, indicating that Richter had purchased at least one rank in them. He reviewed his list of purchased Talents, the information appearing summarized on a table for him under the constellation of blue globes. Next to the name of each Talent was a letter and a number. It was easy enough to follow that the letter described one of the six tier-one Talents branching off of the central blue sphere. The numbers indicated how many tiers each Talent was from the center. Increase Enchantment Potential branched off the central sphere, for instance, while Synergy of Items and Identify Enchantment branched off Increase Enchantment Potential. The ranks described how many times he’d invested points into that particular Talent.

  Profession Talent

  Rank

  Effect

  Increase Enchantment Potential (A1)

  I

  Increases enchantment slots by +10%

  Synergy of Items (A2)

  I

  Allows for the creation of items sets. The base items must have something in common for the enchantments to feed off one another

  Identify Enchantment (A2)

  II

  Allows the enchanter to identify magical items from a distance. Can identify more powerful items.

  Increase Enchantment Success (B1)

  I

  Increases chance of an enchantment taking hold by +20%

  Faster Creation Time (B2)

  I

  Create magic books, scrolls and skill books 10% faster

  Soul Bound Object (B2)

  I

  Creates a weak soul bond to your objects. Only the one bound to a soul bound item can use its enchantment.

  Fortify Health/Mana/Stamina (B2)

  I

  Enchantments dealing with increasing health, mana and stamina are 20% more effective

  Increase Enchantment Strength (C1)

  I

  Increases potency of all enchantments by +5%

  Increase Weapon Enchantment (C2)

  I

  Increases potency of weapons enchantments by +10%

  Increase Armor Enchantment (C2)

  I

  Increases potency of armor enchantments by +10%

  Increase Item Enchantment (C2)

  I

  Increases potency of item enchantments by +10%

  Increase Number of Charges (D1)

  I

  Enchanted items you create have +10% number of charges or +10 charges (whichever is more)

  Increase the Maximum Number of Soul Stones (D2)

  I

  Can use an additional soul stone during enchantment

  Increase Soul Stone Yield (D2)

  I

  Increases Soul Stone yield by 25%

  Macroenchantment (E1)

  I

  Enchantments may now affect larger areas such as buildings, ships, engines of war, and other grand projects

  Deconstruct Items (F1)

  I

  You may now deconstruct enchanted items. There is a chance of salvaging raw materials

  Resize Items (F2)

  I

  You can now alter the allowed size of an enchanted item by one rank. Decreased chance of item being destroyed or enchantment being lost during resizing.

  A similar summary list floated beneath the five red spheres of his Essence Specialty.

  Specialty Talent

  Rank

  Effect

  Unlock Spell Schools

  I

  Unlocks various spell schools to convert known spells into enchantments:

  -Basic Element spell schools require 10 Talent Points to unlock

  -Deeper Magic spell schools require 100 Talent Points to unlock

  -Higher Energy spell schools require 1000 Talent Points to unlock

  Unlocked Spell Schools:

  Earth – Can now convert known Earth Spells into enchantments

  Reduce Mana Cost

  Upgrade Cost: 30

  I

  To translate a spell into an enchantment, a mana cost must be paid. Current conversion cost is 100x spell mana cost

  Purchase Spell Enchantment

  Upgrade Cost: 40

  I

  (STATIC)

  Basic Element spells cost 1 Talent Point per spell level

  Deeper Magic spells cost 10 Talent Points per spell level

  Higher Energy spells cost 100 Talent Points per spell level

  Talent Point Conversion

  Upgrade Cost: 175

  IV

  Can expend Experience Points to purchase Talent Points

  Conversion: 7,000 XP: 1 Talent Point

  Penalty to earning XP back: 100% harder

  The power of his Specialty was that he could turn any spell that he knew into an enchantment. In light of his Limitless ability, it meant that given time and enough spell books, he could make an enchantment for any scenario. The rate-limiting factor was that each spell cost Talent Points to unlock. He first had to pay to unlock a spell school. Each Basic Element cost ten Talent Points each. Unlocking a Deeper Magic school, such as Blood, Thought or Spirit, cost a daunting one hundred TPs.

  Even when the spell school was unlocked, each spell he converted to an enchantment cost him even more Talent Points. The Basic Element spells cost him one TP per level of the spell. Weak Sonic Wail, for instance, as a level six Earth spell, had cost him six TPs. When most Professionals could only count on ten TPs per level and Specialists only another five, Essence would be an almost useless path for most Enchanters to take. One of the Talents of his Specialty, Purchase Spell Enchantment, could be upgraded to reduce the number of Talent Points to convert each spell into an enchantment. That, of course, cost even more Talent Points, however. His Specialty was a voracious monster.

  To compensate for his Talent Point-hungry Specialty, it had an extremely versatile Talent though: Talent Point Conversio
n. He could purchase Talent Points at the cost of his own experience. There was a great deal he didn’t know about Professions, but his Talent seemed unique from what he had learned so far. Even among Enchanters it was rare to become an Essence Enchanter, apparently. It required that someone both have the Enchanter Profession and be Master of a Place of Power. Richter couldn’t imagine that occurred too often.

  He had already invested a hundred and seventy-five Talent Points into upgrading Talent Point Conversion to the fourth rank. It was by far his most advanced Talent, but it had been worth it. Each rank he purchased improved the conversion ratio. At rank one it had cost ten thousand Experience Points to buy only one Talent Point. At rank four, that ratio had improved to seven thousand to one.

  All of these were things he already knew. What was shocking about the prompts were the newest additions. This was the first time he had looked at his Profession since obtaining his new Chaos Magic spell. He could create Higher Energy enchantments now! His excitement lasted for about zero point four seconds, which was when he saw the Talent Point cost. One thousand Talent Points? Were they serious? It was clear he wouldn’t be making weapons with chaotic enchantments anytime soon.

  Still, he had one hundred and sixty-one Talent Points to invest. He needed to decide where they would go. He assessed his Specialty Talents first. He had always been a “late game” player. He had forgone momentary boosts and benefits for large yields once the board was more developed. The downside to that was that it made him easy prey to other players when he was first starting. If he could make it through the fragile early days though, his planning usually made him a powerhouse in the end game.