Benvari Mountains (Emerilia Book 2)

by Michael Chatfield

“Sounds all rather simple,” Jesal drawled. She and Gorrund shared a look.

  “So, what does this do?” Gorrund asked more forcefully.

  “You place this on the ground, then you channel your power into it as if you were a summoner. I made it multi-faced so that each face could hold a different Earth element. Make a rock snake, or a tentacle thing, or a golem. The summoner thinks of the shape and the core molds to it. They have to apply starting power to it but then it should be good for about a day or two until it falls apart if just relying on its power. You can feed it your own Mana and it keeps going, or use a soul gem.”

  Jesal and Gorrund looked at each other.

  “How did you know what a summoner might need for this?” Gorrund asked.

  “Well, I’v been talking to my friend the entire journey here, wrote down her issues and then referenced what other Players have done to come up with solutions. Some used more powerfully linked soul gems to Earth materials. I was thinking that while working with the most Earth akin element that a smith gets, that it might be an idea to mess around with it.” Dave realized that it didn’t sound at all very technical or as if he wasn’t taking the whole smithing thing very seriously.

  Jesal’s expression was unreadable as she placed her hand on the core. After a minute, her eyes widened as she looked up at Dave. “There is silver and ebony weaved into this rock.”

  “Yeah, that was difficult. I wanted the core to grow with the abilities of my friend, so I had to find rifts within the core and insert ebony and silver.” Dave shook his head. “That was a fucking pain in the ass.”

  He’d had to talk to Malsour. He’d been able to move the metals in a large fashion; moving them in just minimal ways meant he had to heat the metal up to make it more pliable but then keep certain areas cold on both the rock and the metal so that the whole thing didn’t just explode.

  “I guess we know what happened with the first rock,” Jesal said.

  “Yeah.” Dave scratched his head. “I cut it all out. Then, as I was putting metals into the structure, it turned into a bit of a bomb.”

  “What did you change the second time?” Gorrund asked.

  “I put the metals in before I formed the core. It was stronger in its larger form and capable of more heat changes without turning into a big bomb. Once I was done, I just cut it out and then did the engraving, whipped up the runes and magical circles and here you go.”

  Gorrund turned to Jesal. “I don’t know enough about summoners to know if this would work.”

  “Well, I was going to give it to my friend. She can try it out and we’ll see if it works. I’m kind of interested myself.”

  “You didn’t tell me that there’s something growing in it,” Jesal said.

  “What would you say if I said it was a trade secret?”

  “I’d say it feels like a damn soul gem.”

  “Exactly.” Dave gave her a sly smile.

  “Holy shit.” Her eyes widened as she ran her fingers over her tied-back hair.

  Gorrund placed his hand on the core for a few moments. A grin spread across his face, turning into a laugh. “Well, Kol knows how to pick ’em, I’ll tell you that. I say we go and see what this thing is capable of.”

  “You’ve got four apprentices working away,” Jesal said.

  “They got to this stage—they don’t need me standing over them while they pound metal. We both know this is more about pushing people in the right direction than instructing them.” Gorrund shrugged.

  “You just want to see if it works or blows up,” Jesal said.

  “Maybe.” Gorrund laughed.

  “Fine, grab your big block of rock. Let’s go see if we can’t put a hole in the keep’s floor,” Jesal said.

  Dave put his bag of holding around the soccer ball-sized piece of rock, causing it to disappear.

  The three of them headed for the elevators. Dave saw the reverence and respect in everyone’s eyes as they nodded and waved to Gorrund and Jesal.

  The Dwarves weren’t big on the whole bowing thing. They saw one another on a level playing field. Bowing was the highest form of respect that a Dwarf could give another. If it was done without reason, though, it was seen as a great insult.

  People cleared out of the way as they walked. Gorrund and Jesal seemed different up here, as if their masks had descended. Dave remembered it from his time as Austin Zane. They were no more or less than the Dwarves around them. Yet, because of their achievements, people thought that they were something else.

  Dave pulled up his interface.

  Party Chat

  Dave > Hey, Suzy, I’ve got something that I want to test out. Can you meet me at the keep in the Dwarves’ training area?

  Suzy > Sure. Might take me a bit to get there.

  Dave > Yeah, that’s fine.

  ***

  Suzy looked to Anna and then looked at the mountain wall that they were climbing. Going up was okay; going back down was the part that she hated. It became clear that her Intelligence was going up in leaps and bounds but a strong summoner needed the Willpower to control their various beasts and call upon more. So, Anna had taken it upon herself to ask Suzy when she was a few drinks in what her greatest fears were. From spiders to heights, Anna had started to go through them all. Suzy hated it and even putting on the climbing harness she’d copied from her interface’s Internet made her Willpower go up a point. She hated heights more than anything. Now, she was about a hundred meters up as she looked at the drop below her. Cold fear gripped her as she pulled herself closer to the wall of the mountain.

  She had demanded that grommets and other climbing equipment be made. Even though she would come back after dying, she did not want to die from falling off a mountain. I already had nightmares as a kid. I don’t need to do it for real and know how much it’s going to suck.

  “Okay, now we just work our way down, nice and easy,” Anna said.

  “Fuck, fuckety fuck fucker fuckington FUCK!” Suzy said into the rock.

  Anna climbed down to her as if going up and down mountains was as easy as walking. “Are you okay?”

  “Are you a fucking mountain goat?” Suzy shot back, staring at the wall and holding on to the line around her like the lifeline it was.

  “Nervous?” Anna asked.

  “’Bout near shit myself.”

  Anna laughed.

  “Shut up.”

  “Sorry. Just didn’t expect that from you!” Anna continued to laugh and not even Suzy could keep a smile from her face.

  “Okay, now you watched those videos on how you get down. Just tilt back and grab that line running down parallel with you. Pull it back behind you to add friction and stop you; otherwise, just hop down the wall,” Anna said, as if it was the easiest thing in the world.

  “For fuck’s sakes, why couldn’t we have done something, anything other than confront my worst fears?”

  “It’s said that some of the Demons that a summoner calls on will use their fears against them to test their master. If the master fails, then the summoner can expect to be eaten by them.”

  “Great, fall down by gravity or get eaten by a fucking Demon.” Suzy sighed. “Why the fuck did I come to this goddamn fucking planet?”

  “Bit more lively than the office, no?”

  “Not helping, Anna.”

  “Come on, let’s do this nice and slow. The first time is the hardest. Remember how we tried this out at ten meters up? This is the same thing.”

  “The fact that we’re going all over this mountain and I’m relying on a fucking magic rope is just skeeving me the fuck out.”

  “Come on, what’s the worst that could happen?”

  “I never stop having nightmares of falling a hundred meters and making a small crater in the ground?”

  “See, not that bad. Now come on.”

  Suzy glared at her teacher but started to tilt backward so that she stood on it. She started to move her feet down the mountain’s face slowly, letting out her rope bit by nervous bi
t. “I fucking hate this shit.”

  “Come on, you’re a big girl now. Let out some more. Stop trying to imitate my tail,” Anna said.

  Fuuuck fuck fuck fuckfuck FUCK fuck. Slowly, Suzy started to descend a bit faster, getting used to it as Anna continued her mountain goat routine.

  “Try that jumping thing,” Anna said.

  “Shut up, will you?”

  “What, never wanted to live on the edge?”

  “No, I’d rather keep the fuck away from edges and live in a nice padded goddamn cell where there are lollipops and unicorns farting rainbows.”

  “Wow, that’s pretty graphic.”

  “I’m pretty much shitting myself.”

  “Oh, come on, just a bit of a hop,” Anna said.

  Suzy didn’t want to, but she had seen the videos. She knew how much faster it was to do the jumping thing instead of just walking down. She pushed off the mountain wall, letting out as much rope as possible. She came back in about five feet lower than Anna, the mountain goat. Suzy did it again before she had time to think about what she’d just done. She jumped, five feet at a time, and quickly dropped down the mountain.

  She looked down and there was just ten meters to go to the ground. She sped up, dropping and collapsing on the ground. Her legs shook from the rappel.

  “Suzy, you okay?” Dave moved to help her.

  “Yeah, in a minute.”

  “The hell made you want to go up a mountain? You hate heights.”

  “Increase my Willpower. Tell Demons to go fuck themselves.” Suzy pulled herself together and stood. “Anna’s training.”

  “Okay,” Dave said.

  “Is this your fiancée?” one of the Dwarves who was following Dave asked.

  “Nope.” There was a resounding boom as flames appeared over the wall of the Dwarven training ground that was tucked against the mountain and away from passing travelers’ wandering eyes. “That is.” He grinned.

  “Hurry up, Anna, you old cat!” Dave yelled up to Anna, who was quickly descending.

  “Shut up, you damned mole!”

  Dave just grinned and looked to Suzy. “So, how did the training go?”

  “Uhh…” Suzy opened up her blinking notifications.

  Stat Increase

  +3 Strength

  +1 Intelligence

  +7 Willpower

  +1 Endurance

  +2 Agility

  “Wow, pretty good, I guess.”

  Seems that this conquering fears thing might have some validity to it. Though, fuck if I’m going to tell Anna that!

  Dave smiled knowingly as Anna finally joined them.

  “Well, what did you want us for?”

  “Well, let’s go to the training ground, then I can get Suzy to show you all,” Dave said, being as mysterious as ever.

  Anna tried to get more out of him but he deflected it. Suzy just waited; she knew how Dave was when he wanted to make something a surprise.

  They entered the practice area to find Malsour and Induca going at it with fire, fighting inanimate objects and shadows. Induca was having to stay aloft with her fire in her hands and shoot at the same time while Malsour was throwing up shields for her fiery hits and sending errant spikes and weapons at her, making her fight to stay aloft.

  Deia walked over to Dave, grinning like an idiot as they got close. They kissed briefly.

  “You must be Jesal and Gorrund.” Deia looked to the two Dwarves.

  Suzy analyzed them.

  Jesal

  Level 179

  Dwarf

  Gorrund

  Level 161

  Dwarf

  “Good to meet you.” Jesal focused her eyes before they went wide. “Oson? Do you know a Oson’Mal?”

  “I feel like that is becoming an all too common question,” Dave muttered.

  “Yes, he is my father,” Deia said.

  “I am sorry that we left you out here. If I knew that you were his daughter, I would have invited you in right away!”

  “Don’t worry. I know how Dave needs to focus on his work and it’s best if I do my training out here in the large open area than in somewhere where we can do damage,” Deia said.

  Induca got too close to the ground; a shadow jumped up and grabbed her one foot as a pillar of metal rose out of the ground, trapping her.

  “Aww shit!” Induca said.

  Malsour let Induca drop to the ground. The rest of the area returned to normal, rough but flat.

  “So, what is this that you want to show us?” Malsour looked at Dave.

  “Anything with runes or magical tech and you go full nerd fest.” Suzy looked at the two of them, drawing too many parallels between how Dave interacted with engineers back on Earth.

  The two just shrugged, not denying the accusation.

  Dave reached into his bag and pulled out what looked to be a soccer ball. “This is for you, Suz.” Dave held out the ball to her.

  Suzy took it, almost falling over. “How heavy is this thing?” She got some support on it so it didn’t drop to the ground.

  “Not that heavy,” Dave said.

  “Seems we have a new weight with which to train you with,” Anna said.

  “Hey! Don’t go throwing around my core!” Dave said.

  “Core?” Suzy asked.

  “Think of this like the engine for the car. Everything else comes from it.” Dave seemed to disregard Anna’s words instantly as he turned to Suzy. “Just like we talked about how you think of a shape and then it forms—think of a shape and imbue it with your Mana and soul.”

  “Fine.” Suzy started the process.

  “Put it on the ground. It uses the materials around it to grow into what you’re thinking. A golem might be nice.” Dave winked.

  “Suave, boss.” Suzy smiled, putting the “core” down on the ground.

  She thought of a rock golem, just a really big damned Human made out of rocks. Her power moved into the core and it reacted to her thoughts and energies. She felt as if she were putting it into one of her previous creations but it was completely malleable. There was no definite shape. She could expand the size freely without needing to make multiple dolls or call different elements to come together into a creation.

  An image developed in her mind. She imbued it with her soul, her consciousness and Willpower, and sent it toward the core. She opened her eyes. Nothing had happened other than the runes glowed silver. “Well, did it work?”

  “Might want to take a step back,” Dave said, doing so.

  Suzy took a half-dozen.

  Not a moment too soon as a rock seemed to encase the core. Rocks in the rough shape of a Human’s back took shape for the legs, arms, and head as a stone golem raised itself out of the training square’s ground. It slowly rose to its full height, rocks forming into crude hands. There were no facial features, only smaller rocks around where the golem’s joints were. It stood at two meters tall and half a meter wide. It turned, facing Suzy before it lowered itself to one knee.

  “I am yours to command.” Its voice passed through her mind.

  “Holy crap,” Suzy said.

  “What?” Anna looked from the golem to Suzy.

  “It just talked to me, in my mind.” Suzy looked at Anna, shocked.

  “It is indeed a powerful golem. Few are able to talk to their masters. Doing so shows that you are an expert, or at the very least a high-classed Journeyman.”

  “What level are you in creation summoning?” Jesal asked.

  “Apprentice 8,” Suzy said.

  “Well, see, told you I make good stuff—bumped you up an entire category. Going to have to work on making smaller ones. With time and use, this one’s going to get pretty darned powerful though. I’d suggest training with it from now on.” Dave looked to Anna, who nodded.

  “Very well.” Jesal threw Dave a stone ring. “I believe you have earned this. I think it’s time that we moved on to malachite. Take the night off. We’ll talk more tomorrow,” Jesal said.

  “Th
anks.” Dave waved to her and Gorrund as they turned and left.

  Quest: Of Anvil and Fire

  After meeting with Jesal, she has decided to accept you as a candidate to be a Dwarven Master Smith.

  You will need to:

  Master the material Stone

  Master the material Malachite

  Master the material Gold

  Master the material Mithril

  Find your Smithing Art

  Reward: Title of Dwarven Master Smith

  Do you accept?

  Y/N

  ***

  “I didn’t know such things were even possible,” Jesal said to Gorrund.

  “Nor I.” Gorrund shook his head.

  “An aide for a summoner? I thought that there was nothing to do but to make stronger bodies but he went right to the focal point. He might be my student but I will admit to being the one taught something more than once.”

  “I am interested what his smithing art will take the form of.” Gorrund looked to her.

  “I’m almost scared to know. If he has something similar to Quino’s internal cutting skill, he could add multiple layers of runes to items without them ever being visible to his opponents.” Jesal shook her head. “Quino’s going to freak if he hears about this and Dave’s understanding of runes. That old codger is always trying to figure out something new to use his techniques on.”

  “Two more materials and then we will find out his true smithing art.” Gorrund broke into a grin. “You’d better invite me!”

  Chapter 22: Train Like You Mean It

  Suzy looked at the others in her party angrily. There was Malsour and Induca, who were talking about their last fight. Deia was also talking with Anna; it seemed that she wanted to get some sparring in later. Deia’s two-handed weapons against Anna’s one was one hell of a show.

  It wasn’t the fact that they were walking without her. It was the fact that they were all chatting away as if it was damned Sunday brunch! Climbing a damn mountain and they make it seem like they’re going for a damned hike!