“Woohoo,” Dave said with a half-hearted fist pump.
“Come on, you big oaf.”
“Hobbit, now a big oaf—what’s it going to be? You know I can only have one nickname, Firecracker,” Dave teased.
“Maybe I’m still playing around with them.” She smiled and carried her books back to the shelves. It took them a few minutes to put the books back and then make it to the waypoint where everyone else was waiting.
“Well, let’s go kill some rabbits. It’s like three coppers a rabbit, bit more for larger creatures, then we can skin them and sell their parts on the market here. I know someone who would be interested in them if we could turn them into jerky,” Suzy said.
“Been a bit busy?” Dave asked.
“Been a bit broke. Just wined and dined a possible client without a credit card,” Suzy said.
“Ouch. Well, you never knew how to stretch a dime when it came to sealing a contract,” Dave said.
“I always sealed the damned contract though.” Suzy smiled.
“That you did, Sealer Suz!”
Suzy winced at the name, making it look as if she were shuddering. “I forgot how bad your nicknames were.”
“Tell me about it,” Deia said.
“You too! Ah, it must be love!” Suzy smiled.
“Did you ever figure out a good one for him?” Deia sidled up to Suzy.
“All right, let’s go kill some fucking rabbits!” Before these two get enough time to conference and come up with a truly terrible nickname!
“How was the library—anything good?” Malsour asked.
“Not really. I’ve just been looking at information on martial arts. Deia has a theory that I might be able to store the information and use it better than other people because I have a higher Intelligence stat.”
“Hmm, I have heard people with a higher Intelligence stat are able to assimilate information faster. They are usually found in the mages colleges and deal with information that is not about fighting.”
“Well, I hope that I’ll be the first one, though reading a bunch of books about people fighting isn’t bad.” Dave smiled and looked around as they exited SC. “Sometimes it’s hard for me to think of this as a game, other times I’m just blown away by the fact that this is the real world and how much better it is than Earth’s simulation. Like, look, I’m a freaking Dwarf and I know how to craft blades, how to fight—not very well but I can still do it—and I can use a bit of magic.”
“We do live in an interesting time,” Malsour agreed.
“Even got some old bastard who likes to give out corny one-liners.”
“Dick.”
“And the student becomes the teacher.” Dave smiled proudly.
Malsour laughed, shaking his head as they headed toward the waypoint Deia had created for their quest.
As they left the city, Suzy threw out some cores. They rolled on the ground, two Earth golems and five metal golems appearing.
“I’ll have the Air creations move out and scout to see if we can’t find some fun things to do. I’m sharing the quest with everyone,” Suzy said. It was her quest and her show. Unless something went seriously wrong, then she was in the driver’s seat.
Quest: Cleaning Out the Hills
There have been a number of creatures too close to Selhi’s capital. Farmers are complaining of their food being eaten and people are finding creatures eating their wares. Go forth and kill creatures that might be in the area.
You will receive a reward based on the number of creatures you and your party kill.
Rewards: Loot and gold according to number of creatures killed
Do you accept?
Y/N
Suzy had already accepted it, so Dave just waved it away from his vision. Another notification showed the prices of the different animals; the bigger and more aggressive, the bigger the payout. It would be active for two days, so they had to do as much as possible.
“We’ll split up into two-person groups so that we can cover more ground and get more creatures. Malsour and Dave, Induca and Anna, Suzy and myself. Keep your party chat open and let us know if you run into anything that you can’t handle by yourself.” Deia looked to everyone. “Well, let’s go make some gold!”
They headed in three different directions.
Dave spread out his Touch of the Land and looked for any good spots that might allow him to use his surveyor skill. Usually it only picked up possible landmarks and areas that larger creatures lived in. Dave was hoping that he’d find a few hides and maybe find some other creatures due to it being connected to his quest.
“Malsour, you keep them pinned. I’ll stick an arrow in them.” Dave held his two batons in his left hand. Shadows seemed to spread out from them into a compound bow. In Dave’s right hand, he conjured an arrow.
“You’re getting much better.” Malsour glanced at Dave and then faced away from SC. He didn’t need to use Touch of the Land with his ears and ability to sniff something out.
Dave saw a rabbit moving within a hundred meters; shadows moved over it. Within seconds, the rabbit was cold.
“That’s new.” Dave looked at Malsour.
“Shadow technique. I don’t use it much, but out here there is enough shade that I can make use of it.”
Dave nodded, his eyes continuously searching. His Touch had not found much more than a few burrowing creatures.
Selhi Capital was between a forest to the north, a swamp to the west and south, and farmers’ fields to the east.
“I’m happy we’re going in the forest instead of the swamp,” Dave said, trying to ease the mood as Malsour killed any rabbit or creature that came within two hundred meters.
“Why? There are more creatures in the swamps.”
“Cause I hate mud and I hate swamps—just smells nasty and the trees are just weird.”
Another shadow killed off a rabbit.
“That spell is just freaky.”
“I’m just using the shadow to extend my Touch, then applying a draining spell. Their Health is so small that it takes a few seconds for them to die,” Malsour said. “I would be killing a lot more in a swamp, though they do smell like ass.”
Dave smiled at hearing Malsour coming close to cursing. “Oh, ’tis a proud moment.”
“What?” Malsour turned to Dave.
“Nothing, nothing at all. I’m going to see if I can’t find somewhere with a higher elevation and pick out some creature’s hide in the area.”
“Very well. I am interested in seeing your progress with weapons.”
“Thought you said that magic was the way to fight?”
“It is the best way to fight, but during Boran-al’s Citadel, I saw that mages are not infallible to warriors and other melee classes. After that, I have been thinking of asking Anna to teach me some more.”
“You, my friend, are a glutton for punishment.” Dave put a consoling hand on his shoulder.
“Go climb your damned tree and find us a real opponent.”
Dave found a good tree, but the lowest branches were too high. He used a smaller one to scale up and then jumped from it. It didn’t take him long to scramble to the top.
“Well, looks like the old Agility is paying off, even if it hurts like hell after Deia’s done helping me train it up.” Dave used his Soul Smith ability, adding runes to his bow that would make him lighter and get higher.
He looked out over the area. He felt as if his vision shifted over as he started to pick out things he wouldn’t have noticed by himself. His mini-map updated with a slew of markers, from caravans that were moving from SC through the swamps and on to Donsk Mountain.
“I can see why banditry is kind of easy. This skill points out all possible things you can interact with, from animals’ territories to good ambush spots. You’d need to have someone constantly up here to keep track of the caravans and pick it out for the people you’re working with. Also, it is really useful for map building and knowing things in your area,” Dave muttere
d to himself.
“Anything good?” Malsour asked in voice chat.
“Well, it looks like I’ve got a few farms and caravans—there’s an abandoned dungeon that might be interesting. A few caves and two animal territories, one bear and one other thing that my surveyor skill doesn’t recognize. Don’t know what’s going on with it.”
“The more you know about different things, the more your surveyor skill will be able to pick up. Say those caravans—if you knew more about goods, then you might be able to guess what they are carrying. Or, if you knew more about bears, you would know if they were looking for a mate, hunting, or going into hibernation.”
“The more you know, the more it reflects in your other skills. I am seeing the value of books and learning more and more.” Dave used his skill two more times before he ambled back down to the forest floor.
“Bear first, the unknown creature, the caves then the abandoned dungeon?” Dave asked.
“Do you want to go first to try out your bow?” Malsour asked.
“You just want a meat shield,” Dave said as he moved forward, expanding out his Touch of the Land and advancing on the waypoint he’d made to the bear’s territory.
“Well, that is also another factor.”
“Glad I can be of service.” Dave lowered his voice as he’d picked up the bear. With their UI linked through the party service, Malsour could see the red outline of the bear as well as the rabbits. The rabbits quickly turned into blue blinking icons, showing that Malsour had once again killed them off.
Malsour grabbed them and casually threw them into his pack if they came near them.
“Okay, just in the clearing ahead. You ready?” Dave moved up to a tree that was just twenty meters from the bear.
Malsour nodded.
Dave took a breath, slipping around the tree while trying to stay low and undetected.
The bear was scratching its back on the tree, leaving its body open for Dave.
His perception, knowledge, and Touch of the Land worked together, showing him different critical hit spots. Dave let loose his arrow.
The air cracked as the arrow slammed into the bear’s heart. It looked at him dumbly, even as Dave conjured a new arrow on the string. Dave thought that it was going to charge but instead fell forward.
“Good shot.” Malsour threw out a piece of metal next to the bear. The piece of metal grew into a spike and stabbed the bear. It didn’t even fidget.
“Holy crap! This weapon mastery stacking stuff works pretty damn good.”
“That it does.” Malsour moved to the body and pulled out a knife. They’d have to cut the bear up to get it into their bags of holding.
“Nice little one gold bounty and then three gold for the rest of it. I’m feeling good about our money situation.” Dave moved to help, his analyze skill kicking in.
Swamp Bear
Level 89
“Damn. It used to be hard to kill a level 60 bear and I took this one out with one shot.”
“Welcome to the land of leveling bonuses. This bear wouldn’t have been an issue to us even if he charged. He’s actually a pretty low level for this area. Must be because he’s near the city and most of the bigger bears stay away as hunters and fighters go searching for them and the larger payoff for their hides and meat.” Malsour worked his blade through the bear.
“Well, I didn’t think that it would be this messy,” Dave complained, cutting out the parts of the bear that they didn’t need and then portioning it and throwing the portions into his or Malsour’s bag. Once it was in a bag’s storage, then it seemed to be held in whatever state it was placed in there, meaning that meat could stay fresh in a bag of holding forever and only aged when it was pulled out.
“I think that’s all for now. Shall we move onto that other creature?” Malsour used his water skin to clean his hands.
“Yeah. I want to know just what the hell it is. I’ll take point.”
“Very well.” Malsour fell in behind Dave as he moved up. More rabbits died in their wake; they would get the coppers for killing them, though they would need to get their corpses for any extras they might get for the meat, eyes, and hide.
“The fuck is that?” Dave looked at the rough outline of what looked like a huge mantis.
“Giant Mantis,” Malsour said.
“Well, someone didn’t put much thought into naming these things.”
“Unless the admins announce new creatures, then whoever finds the creature first gets to name it. There are some really dumb ones. Like Pink Poof—it’s a type of carnivorous plant that excretes knockout gas, then lashes out with its vines to pull its knocked-out prey into its mouth. Most people wake up with half of their body being digested by the creature’s stomach acid.”
“Now, that I think about it, Giant Mantis isn’t a bad name.” Dave rose out from the bush they were hiding behind and let loose his arrow.
“Son of a bitch,” Dave muttered. Even with all the bonuses, he’d only just cracked the mantis’s carapace and dropped its Health by ten percent. It let out a clicking war cry as Dave let loose another arrow for the same spot. It lost another twenty percent Health. Dave fired his third arrow, missing the mantis as shadows tried to jump onto the mantis, draining bits of Health here and there.
Dave destroyed his conjured bow, pulling his rods back, and turned the left rod into a shield and his right into a sword.
The mantis’s front legs came down, two scythes looking to tear him apart.
Dave threw up his shield in time to block it as Malsour threw out metal blocks that stabbed upwards and into the mantis. Dave saw the mantis’s left arm come down; he smashed it to the side, stunning the creature long enough for him to stab his blade into the creature’s side.
It came back, enraged and clicking. Dave blocked and attacked, remembering the training that Joko had given him so long ago. The way that the Dwarves had fought at Boran-al’s Citadel, the different moves he had seen in his travels and even the techniques from the different books he had read on one-handed and shield-work flowed through his mind in that instance.
Dave slapped the claws away; his blade darted out, feinting and slamming into the creature.
His shield was a steel wall, stopping any attack from making it through. Dave got past the initial shock. He had fought people who were stronger and faster than it before. Now, it was just a very large garden creature.
He laughed as he fought. The mantis tired quickly from its wounds and the fight. Dave continued to dance and weave. It was much easier than running all day or beating metals and ores into submission.
The creature swung wide, leaving its neck open. Dave stabbed forward, digging his blade into the creature’s neck. He used soul smith; a metal spike came out the top of the creature’s head. He destroyed the conjured sword, returning to its rod form as the mantis let out a few clicks before it fell over.
“So, anything useful happen?” Malsour asked as he grabbed his metal blocks and moved to the mantis.
“Well, it seems that I can recall things in the heat of battle. Makes it a lot easier. I don’t know what the limits are but I think that increasing my Intelligence just became my biggest goal,” Dave said.
“Now, how the hell are we going to get this back?” Malsour looked at the mantis.
“In bits?” Dave asked. His right rod turned into an axe as he cut the mantis’s forward leg off in one hit.
“Give me a sword, will you? I don’t think I have a blade sharp enough to get through this thing’s carapace.”
Dave destroyed the shield and turned it into a sword, handing it to Malsour.
“I feel like I’m in some weird horror movie or one of those ones where everyone gets shrunk so everything looks massive,” Dave said as he worked.
“Well, there are potions that can make you smaller and larger,” Malsour said.
“That’s just weird. Why would anyone use that?”
“Well, people who want to get into hidden areas, for one. It’s a lo
t harder to see someone who’s the size of a pin instead of a full-grown human.”
“Yeah, but the chances of getting stepped on must be so damn high.” Dave looked at Malsour, the two of them covered in green blood as they put the limbs into Malsour’s bag.
“Well, no one said it was a safe profession.”
“I prefer this hunting stuff a lot more.” Dave cut the mantis’s main body apart to fit it in his bag. “Caves next?”
“Looks like a good hunting ground to me.”
“Don’t dragons have large caves filled with gold and all sorts of expensive things?”
“We do, but Induca and I didn’t bring much. Didn’t want people asking where we got all that wealth from so early in the game. We sold soul gems and the like. Now, with the vault soul gems, saving that power for later when we might need it in battle is worth more than the gold we would get otherwise.”
“Why don’t you just pull more metal from the ground and sell it?” Dave asked.
“I can do a bit of that—though again, too much and it starts looking suspicious.”
“Well, I won’t tell if you don’t—can just say that it was loot drops or we found it in the caves after killing something. Maybe in the dungeon.” Dave stretched his Touch out, noticing a number of metals that were around. “Got a decent vein of silver near the dungeon as well.”
“Well, then, it will be perfect for you to pull it out of the ground.” Malsour smiled. “I’ve done it hundreds of times, though you’re still relatively new to the skills of moving metals and items with your mind and magic. It’ll be good practice.”
“I swear, you lot should start up a boot camp with all the training you want me to do.” Dave sighed.
“You want to take point?”
“Damned slave drivers,” Dave muttered as the last of the mantis was stored away and he started forward toward the caves.
***
Dave and Malsour looked at the entrance of the caves.
“I can sense thirteen creatures inside. All of them seem to be pretty big,” Dave whispered to Malsour as they watched a wolf wandering around outside.
For The Guild (Emerilia Book 2) Page 4
