World Tree Online: The Order of Epic Grinders: 4th Dive

by M. A. Carlson

  “So, where are they?” Micaela asked.

  “Root City, but they can be delivered here by tomorrow,” Marie quickly explained.

  Micaela took a deep breath as she mentally prepared to ask the last question. “How much?”

  “That is one bit of good news,” Marie replied. “As soon as I found out just how short of funds I was, I was able to talk it through with Bye-bye. I explained what I needed to build the forge and how much it would cost. We were able to reach a fair agreement. As I am sure you recall, we hunted the grootslang in the first place to get a Diamond Heart for the next stage of Bye-bye’s spear. After getting the gem cut, there were several leftover shards, I held on to them intending to return them to Bye-bye along with the extra heart. Bye-bye said I could use the extra heart to build the magic forge. And with Bye-bye’s blessing, I sold some of the shards to pay for the forge materials . . . well, the enchanted materials anyway. I ran out of time and wasn’t able to sell a few of the shards to purchase the stone.”

  “Anyway, I got a good deal. Only 100-Gold per Enchanted Stone and 200-Gold for the Enchanted Control Panel,” Marie said. “I just need to send the message to have them delivered here. Will the rest of the stone be an issue?”

  Micaela breathed a sigh of relief. She just didn’t have that kind of Gold laying around. “Thank the Gods and Goddesses for that man,” she said. “Okay, please have them delivered here tomorrow. I can build everything and just lay those in last. And I don’t think the stone will be an issue but stick around for a minute and I’ll find out.”

  “Thank you, Micaela, you will not regret this. I promise, your Order House will be the talk of the World Tree because of this forge. Plus, the rental fees . . . the Order will be rich in no time . . . well, after Bye-bye is paid back anyway,” Marie said.

  Micaela shook her head ruefully at the mention that Bye-bye should be paid back, but she supposed it was more than fair for him putting up the initial investment.

  “Alright, where do you want the forge?” Micaela asked.

  “Against any of the walls should be fine, Preferable in a place that is more open to allow more smiths to work,” Marie answered.

  “And why doesn’t this blueprint say anything about anvils?” Micaela asked as an afterthought.

  Marie rolled her eyes. “Anvils can be added later once you know the layout of your forge.”

  Micaela supposed that made sense. “Great, do we need to build the Magic Source first or can it wait?”

  “Source first, it should be placed in the center of the basement,” Marie answered.

  Micaela nodded and moved to the center of the floor and activated the blueprint skill. A transparent blue stone monolith appeared in the center of the floor. There was a hole in the center of the stone and a gem floated in the middle of it. The stone itself was intricately carved with runes or symbols she couldn’t make heads or tails of.

  “Neat,” Micaela said. Looking around for Willis, she waved the man over.

  “What’s this then?” Willis asked as he approached.

  “A Magic Source,” Micaela answered. “Do we have the stone to spare?”

  “For this, we should,” Willis answered, studying the image in front of him.

  “And if we are going to build a forge over there?” Micaela asked, pointing to the west wall and activating her ‘Blueprint’ subskill again. This time a long translucent blue rectangular box appeared, standing about three feet tall, four feet wide and eight feet long. In the center was a trough where Micaela could see engraved stones lining the bottom, the enchanted fire stones if she were to guess. And on one end was another engraved stone, different from the others, she guessed it was the air stone. Above it all was a stone hood that narrowed to a point and a square opening near what would eventually be the ceiling, the vent for the heat.

  Willis hummed and rubbed his chin. “That might cause a problem. Not sure how much of a problem yet.”

  “So, we need more stone,” Marie said matter-of-factly. “Okay, I will work on getting more stone. I am sure Bye-bye, and your husband would love another quest.”

  “I’m sure they will,” Micaela said.

  “For now, build the forge and the source and keep building. I will secure more stone blocks to finish your construction,” Marie promised.

  “Then I suppose we have work to do,” Willis said, then looking to Micaela. “I will get Dirk and Clive working on the forge hood. You will need to provide the infused stones for the rest. I assume you have already purchased the enchanted stones. Either way, you should get to infusing stone for the Magic Source first, the bonus mana regeneration it will give to anyone in the building can only help.”

  “Bonus mana regeneration?” Micaela asked.

  Willis snorted. “Oh yeah, depending on the source stone, you could gain anywhere from a hundred or two hundred to as much as five hundred or six hundred. I have even heard that the Magic Source used in King Leopold’s castle gives thousands of mana points of regeneration. I have also heard he has dozens of Magic Sources in his castle, so who knows if that is true.”

  “How much do you think a Diamond Heart will give?” Micaela asked greedily.

  “No idea,” Willis replied with a shrug, deflating Micaela in an instant.

  “Right, I suppose I should give this to you then,” Marie said, holding out a large rough diamond about the size of one of the stone blocks used for the walls to Micaela, it was the extra grootslang heart. It sparkled as much as the first time she had seen it.

  “Hey Marie, you said you sold the shards from the other diamond to purchase the materials for the forge, right?” Micaela asked as she held the stone and admired its luster.

  “I did,” Marie replied.

  “Did you sell all of them?” Micaela asked.

  “Most, why?” Marie asked.

  “If there are a few decent sized chunks left, I might be able to use them for my Shaman spirits,” Micaela answered.

  Marie nodded and dug into her bag. She produced four shards about the same size as the ones currently embedded in her armor.

  “Those are perfect,” Micaela cheered. “Can I have them?”

  “Certainly,” Marie said. “I have no use for them anymore. I am no jeweler.”

  Micaela added the precious stones to her bag with a promise to herself to see if she could use them later.

  “I better go chase down Bye-bye or your husband,” Marie said, starting to leave.

  Before Marie got too far, Micaela said, “Olaf went to Root City, he should be back either later today or early tomorrow. I think Bye-bye and Rose are out working on that quest.”

  “Great,” Marie complained. “Then I suppose I will rejoin Sooty and Loral with that dirt business by the moat. And I just got cleaned up to come speak with you.”

  Micaela giggled as Marie complained the entire way out of the pit. She was surprised when she looked back at the center of the floor, stones had already been stacked for her. She just needed to fuse them, shape them, reinforce them, and finally infuse them.

  “Alright, time to work,” Micaela said to herself. If she wanted to finish this floor today, then she had a lot of work to do.

  Chapter 10 – Olaf

  Root City looked the same as the last time Olaf had been there just a few days earlier. Smelled the same as well, but that was the ninth ring for you.

  “Now, where do I go to look for a party?” Olaf questioned under his breath.

  Root City was massive and sprawled for miles in every direction. It could take days to walk from one side to the other. Finding a couple of players around his level should be a simple prospect. Except that it was not. There was no ‘Looking for Group’ channel to spam. No built-in system for it. Ultimately, it meant he would actually need to talk to people.

  The portals were arranged to steadily increase the recommended levels of difficulty as you got closer to the trunk of the World Tree. It should have been easy to move to the right ring and just start asking around.
Unfortunately, the rings were separated based on the services they offered, which could and often did, contradict that basic level progression. Beyond that, while it was generally true that the recommended level increased as you got closer to the trunk, there were random portals that had a vastly different level recommendation from those near it. Hurlig Ridge was a perfect example, normally a Level 1-5 province, it was currently a Level 1-30 province.

  Which meant Olaf could not count on just looking in an area with roughly the right level portals. He would need to pick the area where he was most likely to find what he needed. A spell casting damage dealer and a holy powered healer. And he knew where to find holy powered healers.

  With a loud bellowing shout, Olaf called out, “Need a portal to the first ring!”

  Olaf gave it a minute before barking it out again, “Need a portal to the first ring!”

  “Two blocks toward the trunk, dude. Look for Martin, he’s there selling portals,” another player offered helpfully. He was an Elf, his complexion suggested he was a Wood Elf.

  “Thanks,” Olaf said, looking at the players nameplate, he added, “Smarmy . . . really?”

  Smarmy laughed. “Mum always told me I was too smarmy for my own good.”

  “Good game, mate” Olaf said, giving the Wood Elf a friendly nod.

  “Same to you,” Smarmy replied before continuing on his way.

  Olaf followed Smarmy’s directions and found standing on a street corner, barking a sales pitch. “Portals to any ring, 5-Gold for each Ring travelled, per group.”

  Olaf cringed, that was a bit on the expensive side, especially considering he was able to get a portal just a day earlier for 5-Gold flat per person.

  Olaf was about to bite the bullet and pay the cost when he heard someone call out, “Looking for a group to split the portal cost to the crafting ring.”

  At the same time, another woman called out, “Anyone going to the government ring? Looking to share a portal.”

  There were more people like that. He supposed if they were travelling as a group, it made sense to split the cost if they could, especially with Martin’s prices.

  “Group to the Holy Ring,” Olaf yelled, joining in. He could afford the cost on his own, but why spend the extra money if he did not need to.

  “I’m heading that way,” a man in heavy armor with a high-pitched voice said, drawing Olaf’s attention. was a human player . . . or Olaf thought he was. It was hard to see under the chainmail armor that covered him from head to toe. If his voice was any indication, he was also noticeably young. Maybe too young to be playing this game in his opinion but if the boy’s parents allowed it, who was he to interfere? Then again, he and Micaela allowed Daphne to play for her summer hols, maybe other parents were doing the same thing.

  Realizing Dark was waiting for an answer, Olaf quickly said, “Sure,” then invited him to his party.

  “Think you can find three or four more to split the cost?” Dark asked, sounding a little nervous.

  “Should be able to,” Olaf answered, then barked out again, “Looking for more, portal to the Holy Ring.”

  A woman in red robes with orange-red hair and a hairstyle straight out of the 50’s approached, nodded to Olaf then asked, “Hey, we’re heading to the government ring, is that close enough for you and your group?”

  “Dark, you okay walking from the Government ring?” Olaf asked.

  Dark shrugged. “Better than walking from here, so sure.”

  “Yeah, that works,” Olaf said.

  “Awesome, drop group and I’ll invite you both,” Hells said.

  Olaf disbanded his party and quickly accepted the invite, his periphery filling with the names and icons for five people which was quickly joined by Dark.

  “Alright, that should be enough,” Hells said. “Everyone is just over here,” she added, leading Olaf to another group of players. All of them with wildly different levels, the lowest a level 3, though Hells was clearly the highest level at level 57.

  “Wait! Wait for me,” someone called from behind Olaf, drawing both his and Hells’s attention.

  It was a girl. A flying girl with white bird’s wings wearing white robes. She had dark hair in a short bob style that shifted slightly with each flap of her wings. And flap as she did, was struggling to catch up to them, her flight dipping every few feet. When she got closer, looking to Olaf, she asked, “You said Holy Ring, right?”

  “Government ring actually,” Hells said. “Close enough?”

  “Oh, that would be great, thank you,” Arch replied, her wings flapping one more time and letting her settle back on the ground.

  Dark chortled, then teasingly asked, “Bit on the nose with that name, aren’t you?”

  Arch Angel was a bit on the nose. Still, Olaf couldn’t let Dark off that easily. With a laugh, he said, “Like you have room to talk.”

  Dark chuckled. “No, I guess I don’t,” he said with a grin.

  Arch just pouted and lowered her head, her cheeks tinged with pink.

  “Now I kind of feel like I kicked a puppy,” Dark said, looking remorseful about his teasing.

  Olaf though, saw the little girl smirking and barely kept from laughing when he did.

  “I’m Olaf Crushhammer, nice to meet you, Arch,” Olaf said, offering one of his hands to the small birdwoman.

  The little birdwoman took one of Olaf’s fingers, it was all the diminutive girl could grasp. “Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

  “Right, there are more than enough of us. We’ll be taking a portal to the second ring. That’s eight rings, 40-Gold split eight ways, 5-Gold each,” Hells said, holding out a hand and motioning for everyone to pay up.

  Olaf paid his share.

  “Okay, follow me,” Hells said, leading the way over to Martin.

  “Ah, Lady Hells, so good to see you again. Have you my 40-Gold?” Martin asked, speaking as if he was a prim and proper gentleman.

  “Just open the portal, Marty,” Hells said, depositing the coins into the man’s waiting hand.

  “Excellent,” Martin said. It barely took a moment, and a portal was opened into the second ring. “There you are my lady.”

  Hells rolled her eyes and started to walk into the portal.

  “You know, Hells, if you want to get dinner with me later, I might be persuaded to give you a discount,” Martin offered before Hells finished crossing the threshold of the portal.

  Hells laughed derisively. “In your dreams portal boy. I don’t date Gold farmers.”

  “Your loss,” Martin sneered, waving her away. With a sharp turn, he glared at the rest of the party and snapped. “Well, don’t just stand there, hurry through. I have other customers waiting.”

  Olaf did not need to be told twice as he followed the others through.

  “Well, looks like everyone made it,” Hells said as soon as the portal closed. “Thanks for the assist. Have a good one,” she said, and just like that the group was disbanded and she was walking away.

  “Not the most sociable, is she?” Dark asked.

  “Not so much,” Olaf agreed.

  “I guess this is where we go our own ways,” Dark said, unmoving.

  “Seems like,” Olaf agreed, starting to turn toward the trunk.

  “Unless you want to walk together? Just for the company,” Dark said, stepping in line with Olaf.

  “What are you, ten?” Arch asked, fluttering into the air, and starting to move ahead.

  “No, I’ve just heard that there can be some of the less than savory sort around here. Unlike you two, I am basically still a noob,” Dark defended.

  “It’s fine,” Olaf said. “We can all go together. That is, if Arch doesn’t mind the company.”

  “Fine,” Arch said, not exactly walking with them, but moving toward the World Tree towering in the near distance all the same.

  Olaf followed and Dark scrambled to keep up with Olaf.
r />   They walked in silence for a while before Dark broke it. “So, why are you going to the Holy Ring? You don’t look like a Priest or Paladin,” he said, looking at Olaf.

  “I’m looking for a mercenary Priest,” Olaf answered.

  “Mercenary Priest? Is that a class?” Dark asked.

  “No,” Arch answered before Olaf could. “He’s looking to hire a Priest.”

  “Oh . . . oh,” Dark said briefly, the second ‘oh’ extended as he understood. “Isn’t that kind of . . . you know, not very holy?”

  “Depends on which God or Goddess you serve,” Arch answered. “If you serve the Goddess Fortuna, she might approve. Same for the God Loki, though he would probably expect you to betray your employer at some point . . . trick more likely.”

  “Oh,” Dark said. “Well, I’m a Paladin of the God Anubis. He takes deals really serious, you know, being a God of Death and all.”

  “I don’t care,” Arch said, already having grown tired of talking to Dark. Instead, she looked to Olaf and asked, “What do you need a Priest for?”

  “Zombie horde,” Olaf replied.

  “Ooh, undead, very exciting,” Arch said, showing a little life. “Suggested level?”

  “20-30,” Olaf answered, thinking he might have already found the solution to his healer problem.

  “How many days?” Arch asked.

  “Three or four days, just waiting on our regular healer to rejoin us. She’s away training,” Olaf replied.

  Arch hummed in thought then asked, “And how much are you paying?”

  “How much are you asking?” Olaf countered. Bye-bye had not really given him a set price. He only asked that Olaf try to keep it reasonable.

  “Let me talk to the head priestess of my temple first to see what she thinks about it,” Arch said. “If there is a quest involved, it might not cost you a thing. What’s the province?”

  Olaf couldn’t believe his luck. Here was a Priestess of the right level that might not cost him a penny. Although, it sounded like she might want in for the entirety of the quest and not just a few days. That said, an extra healer would not be remiss as far as Olaf was concerned. Besides, what God would say no to slaying a horde of the undead? “Hurlig Ridge,” Olaf answered.