For The Guild (Emerilia Book 2)

by Michael Chatfield

  “Hey, close the door!” Dave yelled, covering himself up.

  “Wouldn’t want anyone else seeing what’s mine.” She grinned, enjoying his half-nakedness as she locked the door and moved over to him. “So, have you?” She moved close so it was difficult for Dave to get dressed.

  He gave up and pulled her close. She giggled, tracing out the tattoos on his body.

  “Not yet,” he admitted.

  “Well, get on that,” she admonished, hitting him playfully.

  “Maybe in a bit?” Dave pulled her closer. She put up a paltry fight before she kissed him. They both smiled as their lips met. She pressed her leather jacket up against Dave. Her well-endowed chest made his heart beat faster; his pants constricted as her hips pressed up against his.

  All too soon, she broke away.

  “Tonight!” she promised. She kissed him one last time and pulled away, biting her lip in excitement.

  “Uggh, damned firecracker.” Dave brandished his fist and narrowed his eyes, as if cursing his mortal nemesis, before he pulled on his shirt.

  “We’re jumping around a bit from different parties and stations. First, we’re going to be teaming up with a couple of parties, clearing out and then working on a power station. Then, we’re helping with a forge or an automaton workshop. We’ll head to whichever they clear first. Once we’ve finished at that location, we’ll switch to the other—again, helping to clear if we need to, but our main job is to look over the different systems and make sure everything is working. You’ll have people tagging along to see what you do and learn your tricks. Now, check those notifications!” She pulled out an apple from her bag and cut it with a knife as she sat at the table.

  “Wait, why are we doing all of these places and have all these people shadowing me? There are plenty of smart people around,” Dave said.

  Deia paused in cutting her apple and looked at him as he pulled on his boots.

  “Dave, you’re the most advanced blacksmith Player, ever. You wrote most of the book on Magical Circuits and changing out different runes. You’re now not even using Magical Circuits but coding your enchantments. No one else is doing that but you. You are one of the leading creators of rune-based magic and you’re bringing about changes to the smithing world that no one can see the far-reaching consequences of right now,” Deia said.

  “Ah, I’m just a dude.” Dave shrugged. He wasn’t one to deal with praise easily. There was always someone smarter than him. He didn’t care how good he or anyone else was; he always wanted to get better and he didn’t think that he was the best by far. If someone who had done coding on Earth got hold of his book of runes and put two and two together, the things that they could create would be crazy.

  “Do you know if we have any coders in the Stone Raiders?” Dave asked, mentally sidetracked.

  “Coders? I don’t know. Lucy probably will know,” Deia said. “That’s not the point. Do you know what kind of a resource you are?”

  “Babe, I’m—”

  “Yes, you are a dude, but you’re not like everyone else,” Deia interjected. “The kinds of things that you have done will and probably have garnered attention from all manner of people. Just your ability to form Mithril as well and as fast as you can with your soul smithing would make you a valuable person to have on anyone’s retinue. Add in the fact that your ability to enchant something is beyond anything out there and you can conjure, a magical skill never seen before—you’ve become a symbol of power. Thankfully, you are a Dwarven Master Smith, so that will shelter you from people trying to kill you to deny you access to their potential enemies, for the most part. Others won’t care who you are—they will try to own you. Being down here allows us time for you and the guild to grow in strength. Once people start knowing more about you, more people will begin vying for you.”

  “I hoped I left all of that shit behind on Earth,” Dave complained.

  “We have many friends and allies who can help us, but we must watch out.” Deia gave Dave a sad smile, knowing that he wasn’t happy with it all. As he sat at the table, she reached out her hand. He put his hand in hers; she squeezed gently, a smile on her face.

  “Thanks, babe.” Dave smiled; he pulled her close and kissed her gingerly, letting it get a bit more heated.

  “Tonight, you horny Dwarf!” She pulled back, giving him one more kiss and trying to hide her wide smile behind a cut piece of apple. “Now check those stats!”

  “Fine!” He surrendered and opened his interface.

  I didn’t think of how my actions might make people try to see what they can get from me, like back on Earth. Dave snuck a glance at Deia, who looked out of the window at the Aleph city, eating her apple in peace. At least this time it won’t just be me and Suzy.

  Dave smiled as prompts cascaded down the side of his screen.

  Active Skill: Archery

  Level: Expert Level 5

  Effect: Critical Hit chance increases by 35%. Ranged targets take 15% increased damage

  Cost: 10 Stamina

  Passive Skill: Dodge

  Level: Expert Level 8

  Effect: 75% chance to evade objects.

  Passive Skill: Perception

  Level: Master Level 2

  Effect: 89% chance to find hidden details. 10% chance at better loot

  Active Skill: Two-handed

  Level: Journeyman Level 5

  Effect: 25% armor penetration on target. Stamina costs reduced 10% while fighting.

  Cost: 35 Stamina

  Active Skill: Dual wield

  Level: Expert Level 6

  Effect: Attacks are 36 % faster. 25% reduced damage with off hand weapon.

  Cost: 15 Stamina/second

  Active Skill: Inference

  Level: Journeyman Level 1

  Effect: 45% increased chance of using moves you’ve read in books.

  Active Skill: One-handed and Shield

  Level: Journeyman Level 7

  Effect: Weapons damage increased by 27%. Defense increases by 10%.

  Cost: 20 Stamina

  It wasn’t as impressive as what he had got from fighting other Players, but he was more than happy to take it. He wanted to level up his different fighting skills as fast as possible. It was clear to him that he would need to fight in the future. Aleph was the perfect place to develop those skills in secret.

  Stat Increase

  +2 Strength

  +1 Intelligence

  +2 Agility

  +1 Vitality

  +1 Endurance

  Dave checked out the changes that had happened to his character sheet.

  Character Sheet

  Name:

  David Grahslagg

  Gender:

  Male

  Level:

  10

  Class:

  Dwarven Master Smith, Friend of the Gray God, Bleeder, Librarian

  Race:

  Human/Dwarf

  Alignment:

  Chaotic Neutral

  Unspent points-316

  Health:

  10,000

  Regen:

  3.38/s

  Mana:

  2,200

  Regen:

  9.75/s

  Stamina:

  1,550

  Regen:

  8.35/s

  Vitality:

  100

  Endurance:

  169

  Intelligence:

  220

  Willpower:

  195

  Strength:

  155

  Agility:

  167

  He felt stronger than ever before, but it looked as if his growth was at an end. He was about average human height now. His dense muscles made it so that he looked shorter than he actually was, causing many people to disregard him.

  Always good to look like the least threatening dude in the room.

  Dave smiled to himself, closing the interface as Deia tossed him his bag of holding. Dave grunted with the weight. He hadn’t unloaded
much from his bag—he had ores of all kinds and had purchased more materials from Shard to experiment on.

  “How did the meeting go with the Dwarves?” Deia asked as she led the way out of the room.

  “Good. I gave them a periodic table and unleashed wiki pages on them of mining and material information. Most of them looked at it as if they had found the Holy Grail.” Dave smiled as he thought about their faces and expressions of awe as they had flipped through the books with increased interest.

  Not a single Dwarf had been talking as they moved through the pages. Dave had broken up the silence simply because he wanted to get back to bed. One thing was for sure: the Dwarves would be working around the clock to try out the information Dave had supplied.

  “So, what happens now?”

  “Now they experiment a whole bunch—we get different kinds of materials and we see what happens,” Dave said.

  “Dave, I was wondering if you could share the same information with me.” Shard’s voice came through the hallways.

  “Sure.” Dave pulled up the information and shared it to Shard.

  Deia shook her head at his actions.

  “What?” Dave asked.

  “This information will change the face of Emerilia, could change everything, and you’re passing it out like it’s worth nothing,” Deia said.

  “Well, what else am I going to do? Hoard it to myself?”

  “That is what most people from Emerilia do, the mages guild being an exception only due to their rules and guidelines,” Shard said.

  “This information is power. Spreading it around will make you a target.” Deia sounded worried.

  “But every other Player is capable of getting this information as well.”

  “Yes, babe, but they’re not the ones who started it, are experimenting with it, and can do something with it.”

  “Deia is correct. With your alliances, connections, and your wealth of knowledge—both theoretical and practical—you are becoming a powerful person,” Shard interjected.

  Deia gave Dave a hard look.

  “The more people know, the better. Ignorance and the lack of academic pursuits breeds stupidity and a people without options. I am giving Emerilia more options. There will be more jobs, more needs for resources. The possibility for anyone to advance themselves. That will bring stability to Emerilia. Add in the common enemies of monsters and people through the portals, you would be surprised what humanity, no matter their sub-race, can do.”

  “I hope you’re right,” Deia said. Her hand wormed its way into his.

  “Ready?” Induca asked as they met up with the rest of their party, heading for the lifts that would take them to their operational teleport pad.

  “As we’ll ever be.” Deia smiled, looking between Suzy and Induca, who were also holding hands.

  “Suzy, you look like crap! I know you’re new lovers and all that, but there still is a time for sleep!” Dave shook his head, a wide grin on his face.

  “Oh, shut up. I was working on different projects last night,” Suzy said, blinking as if the light offended her.

  “You’ve got to get more sleep, babe. Pushing yourself like this isn’t good for your health,” Induca added, continuing before Suzy could protest. “It also leads to not taking advantage of being young nubile lovers.”

  Malsour let out a shocked cough, choking slightly as Induca gave the red-faced Suzy a saucy wink.

  “Very interesting color of red,” Anna commented, grinning at the helpless Suzy who looked as if she wanted to melt into the floor.

  The lift came to a stop and they walked out.

  “Parties going to power station three, please move to the teleport pad.” Shard’s voice rang through the halls.

  “Looks like we’re just in time.” Deia led Dave by the hand and the others followed.

  The teleport room was just like the ones they had seen in the housing substation. Three control rooms overlooked the teleport pad. Doors led in from under the control room facing the teleport pad. The teleport pad was moving; new runes rose into place before the whole pad moved, new runes moving in and out of position.

  “Stand clear. Connecting to power station,” Shard said.

  Deia and Dave let go of each other’s hands. Everyone checked their gear. Dave hotkeyed his gear. His armor appeared on him, making him look bulkier and more threatening.

  The two other parties waved to them in greeting and made small talk as the teleport added runes that turned blue. A portal opened, showing another room identical to the one that they were in. The magical lamps were only slightly lit, most flickering, showing a lack of power.

  “Connection established with power station three,” Shard declared.

  “Let’s move!” Deia said, the leader of the expedition.

  One party stepped on the teleport pad and then appeared on the other side of the image. Party Zero shadowed them, with Party Nine following.

  Dave looked around the room as the light from the teleport pad faded.

  “Looks like someone turned off the lights,” one of the other party’s members said.

  “Fuck, it’s warm in here,” another said.

  “We’re far enough down in Emerilia’s crust that we’re being heated by the planet’s core,” Malsour said.

  Dave closed his eyes and sent out a Touch. It spread out, making a map in his mind and updating everyone’s mini-map with the latest information.

  “I’m not sensing anyone here, though I’m picking up…holy shit.” Dave’s eyes snapped open.

  “What?” Deia asked.

  “Sorry, just—never thought on the kind of scale that the Aleph do. Whoever made this place is either a madman or a genius.” Dave started to get excited.

  “Why?” Suzy asked.

  “You’ll see.” Dave led the way, smiling to himself, not finding anything trying to attack them, yet.

  If turning on the tower attracted the natural residents of the city, this place has got to be a hub with the kind of magical energy running through it.

  Chapter 28: Secrets of the Aleph

  Dave opened his interface and checked out the quest that had updated.

  Quest: Aleph Homecoming

  You have reached an Aleph power station. Clear it of all threats and restart the power station.

  Rewards: Increased power usage to assist in other activities.

  “Okay, Dave, what is it that has you acting like a damned nervous cheerleader?” Suzy asked.

  Dave smiled, warring between telling them or not.

  The facility was huge and it was taking them some time to move through it. Massive soul gem carts waited on tracks that led through the facility and to a teleport pad that would take them to some other Aleph installation. Dave wasn’t picking up anything living other than the three parties as they headed toward their waypointed destination.

  “What do you know of magical ley lines?” Dave asked.

  “Aren’t they supposed to be a source of ever turning and changing power that allows us to use magic?” Suzy said.

  “They are lines of plasma and ionized particles that circulate through the planet’s mantle in streams. They give off electrical charges, which are used to charge the nanites in our bodies, to be used as what we perceive as magical power,” Anna said.

  “Correctamundo! So, magical ley lines are like swirling masses of pure energy, all kinds of massive power. It’s a rare situation and I think that the process was started by the Jukal.” Dave looked to Anna, who nodded.

  “It was either set up as an underground natural system of power creation, or to install massive wireless reactors. We could have hidden them but it took more resources than we had to make them. Maintaining them would have also raised questions and broken people out of the immersion of Emerilia.”

  “So, some of that energy escapes through tunnels and places that get close to the surface of Emerilia. These are magical ley lines. Now, they’re just a huge mass of charged particles running through the planet. It
seems the Aleph had a similar idea to Benjamin Franklin. Instead of using a key and a kite, they used really big rune-enhanced metal.”

  Dave looked at the others, who looked mildly interested.

  “This entire power station is one big power socket, plugged right into the magical ley lines of Emerilia. Some of the deepest, most concentrated streams. There is so much power circulating this planet that it would rate as type one on the Kardashev scale. There is the power to control our planet. From volcanoes to glaciers, this power would allow us to change Emerilia completely, and more. No wonder your father took the Aleph under his protection and made sure that all their homes were hidden. If someone pissed off the Aleph enough, they could shift the entire planet to eradicate them.” Dave’s little talk made him glassy-eyed and stare off into the distance in thought.

  They stepped into a massive room, where there were two metal prongs extended up twenty floors and were three meters wide at their tip, expanding upwards and to twenty meters wide at the base. Runes glistened over the pure ebony two spikes.

  “Holy shit,” Suzy whispered as they looked at the massive power spikes.

  Dave moved to the end of the catwalk, looking the five floors down before the bottom of the power station. A shutter was closed underneath the massive spikes.

  “So, what do we have to do?” Deia turned to Dave.

  “We plug it back in,” Dave said.

  “If there’s anything alive in here, then it is going to come running. All life on Emerilia has adapted to the currents and power of the magical ley lines. As we turned on the tower, they were all attracted, using it to fuel themselves. The same thing will happen here,” Anna said.

  “So, we’re going hunting.” Deia touched the bow over her shoulder.

  “Yeah,” Anna said.

  “I’ll stay here and check things out.” Dave looked over the different consoles and control rooms scattered about, as well as the rune work. He had never thought of something on the scale as this.