And we haven’t even reached the level of some of the more famous POE adventurer groups. Dave smiled. There was always someone stronger. He had but stepped upon an incredibly long path.
The Council of Anvil and Fire had been meeting nearly every day with the ongoing Dwarven tournaments. He had been watching some of the fights that his fellow Master Smiths talked about. It seemed as if the hidden stars of Emerilia had come out to show off their strengths.
Some of the arenas had needed to be rebuilt after some of the preliminaries.
Dave had wanted to join in on the fights, but he had too much work to do and he didn’t want to give away his new fighting style.
An orb seemed to materialize in his hand.
He had multiple metal orbs circling him at all times, but with their stealth runes, he was the only one who could sense them. He’d been working on the magical coding more and more, trying to reduce all signs of them.
The orb disappeared again, floating around Dave as he once again looked to the fight.
Some of the Stone Raiders had been able to get into the tournament. Steve, Kol, and Gurren were off watching it while Malsour was working with Dave on their secret projects with Suzy. Induca was off in Devil’s Crater visiting with Fornau, Quindar, and their children.
Alkao entered the side of the arena. His eyes found Dave and he waved to him. Dave waved back to the large Demon King. He waited at his spot as Alkao made his way over.
“Come to see your girlfriend duke it out?” Dave asked as Alkao got close enough, the two of them clasping forearms.
“It’s fun to see her beating up other people.” Alkao grinned.
“Yeah, I’ve heard that you two have been having private training sessions.” Dave grinned.
“A man has to keep some of his dignity. She beat my red ass across the damn arena.” Alkao sighed.
Dave clapped Alkao on the shoulder. “That I can understand—the trouble with going out with a strong woman. Damn stubborn and one hell of a fighter!” Dave laughed.
Alkao chuckled. “The strength of your partner reflects well on you. Better to rise together than dominate the other.”
“Damn, looks like she might have actually knocked some knowledge free in there, or do you have a concussion?” Dave looked at Alkao as if he were injured.
Alkao rolled his eyes. “I saw that you are now making those floating orb items. What are their uses?”
“My cast time with complicated objects takes a long time, like with the armor. Hell, nearly fried my damn brain making everyone armor back in Devil’s Crater.” Dave’s voice turned sober at the thoughts of all those who had died. If only I had been faster—if I could have come up with the idea before...
“It was a great loss, but without you, many more of my people would have died.” Alkao seemed to read through Dave’s thoughts, his voice neither condemning nor carrying pity.
Dave looked to Alkao. The two of them shared a moment before Dave turned to the fight.
“Well, much like the bracelet, I needed to have things set up that I could call in an instant. I used the idea of Shard and Steve’s runed spheres. With a little movement, the orbs can carry out multiple different spells and orders. With the originals, I conjured them.” Dave had one of the orbs appear. “These, I made out of real materials and placed a soul gem core at the center. All I do is conjure metal inside, move the inner parts to the correct formation and send it off to carry out what I want. Instead of memorizing and casting a huge spell, I just need to change a few runes and move a few pieces.”
“Never fight Dave, even when it seems there’s nothing around. Got it,” Alkao said, releasing the orb. It faded into nonexistence.
“We’ve fought some powerful enemies and I’ve recently figured out just how powerful some of our opponents are going to be.” Dave turned thoughtful. “Our path moving forward is not going to be easy. We’re going to need every trick that we can come up with.”
Alkao nodded in silent agreement.
They watched Deia and Anna fighting. Their powerful attacks cancelled each other out. The air around Anna was distorted, taking on the white windy appearance of the sky guardian that she had used against Esamael’s forces.
Deia’s flames seemed to make wings from her back and under her feet.
After seeing the strength Anna gained with augmenting her body with Air, Deia had been working harder on her augmentation. Denur’s lessons had sunk in: use less Mana, but in a focused way, to alter her battlefield and the way in which she fought.
“Deia is powerful when attacking, but lacking in defense. Whenever her momentum is halted, she tries to attack harder instead of waiting for an opportunity to regain the offensive,” Alkao said.
Dave doubted that the Demon King would have said that a year ago.
“Anna is calm and calculated, but she is using the same attacks and feints as before. Her movements are really simple when you break them down, but she constantly uses them in different combinations. With her processing power, it’s hard for someone to beat her unless they have overwhelming power. I wonder if this is the power of an artificial intelligence inside the body of a Beast Kin?” Dave said.
“It does make for an impressive fight, but there are always people beyond the predictable.”
The two fighters sped up and their blows rang out. The barriers flared slightly from the fallout of the two women’s attacks.
“If someone is able to fight faster than Anna or just faster than her mind, then her plans would be thrown into chaos.”
Dave nodded. “You raise a good point.”
It made Dave think about his own stats. He had a really high Intelligence, but his Agility was comparatively low.
At first, he had been fighting on the front lines with Steve, Anna, and occasionally Deia, but since Lox and Gurren had joined Party Zero, there were five, sometimes six melee fighters, out of the nine party members.
Dave’s strength was his ability to support others. Add an enchantment here. Give a person a weapon there. Drop a Mana bomb there. While he was fighting, he needed to split his thoughts, to focus on fighting.
He wanted to be at the front, to be fighting toe-to-toe, but as he continued to ponder on this, he came to the conclusion his biggest impact would be as a rear support.
My Vitality hasn’t ever been the strongest. Now Deia and Anna can take it out with two hits. What’s going to happen if something we fight gives me three hits?
Steve was a pure tank. His hit points were high and his Mana barrier was stronger than Deia, Suzy, Anna, and Dave’s Abscondita armor combined.
Gurren and Lox had been training hard. Although their Strength and Agility were still less than Dave’s, their Vitality, training, gear, and classes were all directed to make them stronger fighters. They were specialized Dwarven tanks.
Dave could trust them to take the front. He wasn’t going to try to change his weapons master class. It was still a great boost to his stats and if he did stay back, there might be a time when he needed to run forward and cut down those who put pressure on his frontline teammates.
“You look rather deep in thought,” Alkao said.
“I just thought that I should stop fighting at the front. Sure, I’m decent at it, but with my orbs and my knowledge, I’m better at conjuring items to support my people. I’m a walking, talking, magical coding and enchanting machine. ’Bout time I started thinking and fighting like it.”
Alkao grunted. “I’ve learned that sometimes it is harder to stay in the rear than be among the fighting.”
Deia’s blow went too high; Anna jetted from one side and then back in and under the attack in a blur. Her sword stopped just centimeters from Deia’s front.
Deia jumped back, pausing before she lowered her weapons. She bowed to Anna slightly. She was showing now. Dave had altered the armor so that it would change with her as she and the baby inside her continued to grow.
Wish she would take it easier. Dave frowned.
Anna an
d Deia looked over to where Alkao and Dave stood in the bleachers.
Alkao and Dave waved.
“Guess we should get down there.” Dave made his way to the stairs leading down into the arena.
“After you.” Alkao followed him down to the arena floor. Deia and Anna were talking and gathering up the gear that they had put to the side.
“How did the meeting go?” Deia asked as Dave greeted her with a kiss.
“Good. Looks like the mage’s guild and college are happy with us. Also, seems like Alkao and Devil’s Crater are going to be getting a lot of laborers in the near future,” Dave said.
“It won’t be long until winter is gone. There’s plenty of work to be done,” Alkao said.
“You decided to come and watch, trying to pick up hints on how to beat me?” Anna teased.
“One day, I will get through that stubborn shell. Though, for today, I will settle for taking you out to get some lunch.” Alkao smiled. The two of them only had eyes for each other.
Dave wrapped his arm around Deia as she rested her head on his shoulder.
“What are you two looking at?” Anna said, noticing their looks.
“Will you go out already!?” Dave said. Deia gave Anna a look that agreed with her fiancé’s words.
“This again?” Anna groaned.
Alkao smiled and put a teasing arm around her. She let it settle there and the corners of her mouth curled upward.
“Will you join us for lunch?” Anna asked.
“No can do. We’ve got a checkup,” Dave said.
“Looks like you’ve got him well trained.”
“He remembers this stuff more than me. I feel like I’m some kind of prize-winning cow!” Deia said.
“I would never say such a thing!” Dave looked to Alkao for support.
“You best not or else I’d be kicking you out of bed,” Deia threatened, nestling her head into his neck.
“I don’t think you can sleep without your body pillow,” Dave said with quiet confidence.
Deia looked up at him with thinned eyes. Dave’s stoic expression broke into a smile and Deia’s lips quivered for a moment before she looked away, trying to hide her amusement.
“All right, well, we’ll get together sometime later,” Anna said as she and Alkao started to walk away.
“Have fun!” Dave led Deia in another direction, toward their apartment.
“I thought we were going to the appointment?” Deia intertwined her fingers in Dave’s.
“We are, but you’ve been fighting with Anna for a few hours.”
“Oh.” Deia sniffed her pits. “You might have a point,” she said, blinking as if she were about to pass out.
Dave shook his head at her antics.
***
Jules looked up from her desk. She had been working for four days straight after the battles in Gudalo. There were wounded streaming in from everywhere it seemed, from their allies and Stone Raiders, to Esamael’s people who were found broken on the ground.
With magic, they had been able to save a great number of people, though not everyone had survived. The streets and apartments of Terra had been filled with the worst cases. The Stone Raiders’ allies sent their healers to help.
Jules had turned to looking after the people left in her care or taking time to recover. Those with lost limbs took more time to heal due to the cost of magic and the toll on the person regrowing the limbs.
When Dave knocked on her door with Deia in tow, Jules’s face lit up.
“Come in!” she said with a wide smile. Dealing with so many injuries had put her in a rather somber mood. Having Dave and Deia there with her expecting brought some much-needed happiness into her day.
“Hey, Jules.” Deia walked into the room. Dave closed it behind them.
“Hello, Deia. How are you feeling?” Jules moved to the examination table, tapping it.
Deia jumped up on it as Jules rubbed her hands together to get them warmed up.
“Good. The nausea has reduced. I’ve been training some.” Deia paused at Jules’s severe look.
“Oson’Deia, I told you to calm down on the training. You do it or else I’ll damn well hound you down at the arena!” Jules’s eyes bore into Deia.
“Okay,” Deia said in a small voice.
“Good. Simple exercise is fine, but heavy strain on your body is only going to hurt you and your baby. You Elves give birth faster so you’re nearly halfway through your pregnancy. Just another three months and your boy or girl will be out and ready to bug you two.” Jules pushed Deia back onto the table and moved her shirt out of the way as she ran her hands over her stomach.
A smile reappeared on Jules’s face as she could see the tiny baby within Deia moving around. The baby gave a slight kick, making Deia and Jules smile and giggle a bit.
Jules’s eyebrows rose as she examined the child. “Do you want to know if it will be a boy or girl?”
“No, we’d like to keep that a mystery,” Deia said.
“Very well.” Jules nodded, checking things once again and then taking her hands away.
“Okay, well, you both look healthy as far as I can tell. Also, the baby is going to be pretty damn powerful on the magical side.”
“Good—need someone to compete with Deia.” Dave smiled.
Jules moved to her table; Deia and Dave took seats in front of her table.
“Okay, for the next three months, take it easy. Don’t use more than fifty percent of your magic. Try to keep away from big fights, definitely not on the front lines. Also, tone down the training. Stress on your body and the baby is doing no one favors,” Jules warned Deia.
“I’ll tone it down on the rigorous stuff and the fighting.”
“I’ll make sure she does,” Dave reassured Jules.
“Good!”
“What am I going to do for three months?” Deia moaned.
“Well, could see your family some, read, visit the Aleph and Demons. I know that they’d be interested in learning some fighting skills from you. Also, we can go see the Dwarven tournaments or go on a few scouting trips,” Dave said.
“Okay, maybe a break would be fun,” Deia said, touching her jaw.
“Could see your mom and your sister as well. After all, your mom’s in a similar situation.” Dave grinned.
“Still weird how Elven mothers and daughters will be pregnant at the same time as if it’s natural.” Jules shook her head.
***
King Sigaird finished signing the final proclamation. Lord Orkan of the Orcs and Gnomes to the southwest and Lord Fea’Iso of the Elves to the southeast put down their own quills.
The pieces of paper seemed to turn together; light filling the room as they combined into one single scroll.
A pop-up appeared in front of the leaders and their people.
People of Gudalo! A treaty has been signed between the Gnomes, Orcs, Elves, and Humans of the continent, revoking the borders to the south of the country. All hostilities will cease immediately. A forum made up of the best and brightest will be made from the citizens of Gudalo.
Applications and testing will begin in one month.
Together, Gudalo will become stronger than before!
“Well, it looks like we’re finally done!” Sigaird looked to the other leaders.
“What will you do now?” Fea’Iso asked.
“Well, make sure that it is a smooth transition from my reign to the new leaders of our nation, clean up any of the remaining mess left behind by Esamael and then retire as a King.” Sigaird stood. “Oh, and start adventuring again with my wife.”
Sigaird grabbed Lady Merguine’s hand. She let out a shriek as he pulled her close and kissed her. To any who were analyzing her, her last name fell away, changing to Sigaird.
“Strong man does what he wants, not what he is told,” Orkan said with approval.
“How were you able to hide your identity that well?” Fea’Iso asked Merguine.
“Think of it as a blessing.” M
erguine smiled.
The Lady of Air had been the one to bless her. Her aim had been to unite Gudalo, but Esamael had started to move. Still, she had not left her two champions to their own devices. It seemed that she had a role to play in getting the Stone Raiders to act.
With the information that the Stone Raiders were able to gather on Esamael and his people, little effort was needed to root out his supporters among those with power and positions of nobility.
Once they were gone, there were few who openly opposed this move to unite the continent. Sigaird’s hope was that with the unification of the people under one government and the integration of all cultures, Gudalo would never again return to such polarity.
I never thought that I would be happy about Esamael’s greed, though it will certainly aid in paying the Stone Raiders.
They had saved Gudalo and given them a path forward. Esamael, who had been taxing all of the people around him, as well as the businesses selling to Per’ush and the teleport pad in Emaren, had amassed a large amount of wealth—wealth that was returned to the crown.
Sigaird had lowered the cost of entering Gudalo and people were flooding in.
Gudalo had seen the darkness of greed, but now with the rot cut away, they could once again grow and prosper into something that would make the world look at them with respect.
Chapter 2: Projects’ Room
Malsour sighed and tapped his jaw in thought as he looked at the items in front of him. He had been spending the last week modifying the lab. Now, it was one large room, two stories tall.
There were tables and different workstations around the room. In one corner, there was the humming sphere that Dave was calling his mini-sun. The damn thing gave off enough power to make Malsour pucker up and he’d been around Lady Fire for a large part of his life.
Then, there was another machine that took in heavy metals and then pushed out diamond crystal Mana wells. They were moved to another machine that took them and put them into control boxes that could safely drain power from them.
Then, there was a soul gem growing factory, magical coded pieces of various kinds, bags of holding, different bracelets, rings, and necklaces over four tables, and then a suit of armor that had no visible way to get into it, right next to one that had been taken apart and cut open. Some items were together, others apart and strewn across desks.
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