“I think at this point I am ready to listen to any idea that might end up aiding us,” Aldwin replied. “Regardless of what the risks might be.”
“Fair enough,” I said, taking a deep breath as I collected my thoughts. “But don’t say I didn’t warn you, because this might sound a little crazy. Even for me.”
“Now that’s a high bar to set,” Sierra replied in a curious tone as everyone’s eyes shifted onto me. “What exactly do you have in mind?”
“To do what anyone who finds themselves with their back against the wall does,” I answered simply as I scanned over everyone’s face. “Find a way to cheat.”
Chapter 57
Thursday, April 25th, 2047 – 7:00 a.m.
Aldford – Léandre’s Workshop
“Æthertouched nails?” I heard Léandre ask from somewhere behind me, his voice echoing throughout the workshop.
“Check,” I replied as I glanced over to the tray that we’d stashed them all in. “Got them right here.”
“Æthertouched tools?” The next question came without missing a beat.
“Chisel, saw, knife, hand drill, and block planer,” I answered, my eyes scanning over each of the darkened metal tools as I called them out.
“Good, good, and then last but not least,” Léandre said, a faint crinkle of paper accompanying his speech, “a dozen æthertouched sprockets.”
“Uh,” I grunted, glancing down towards the various trays and containers that I’d laid out on the workbench, each of them containing the various parts and pieces that we would need for our upcoming build. But as I scanned through each of them, I didn’t find any of the sprockets Léandre had called out for, it taking me nearly a full five seconds before I realized what he’d done, prompting me to turn and glance at the man. “Hey, wait a second. We don’t need sprockets for this.”
“That we certainly do not,” he agreed with a coy smile. “That was me making sure that you’d brought your reasoning with you this morning.”
“Very funny,” I replied with a snort. “And how am I supposed to ensure that you brought yours?”
“You don’t have to,” Léandre said, his grin only widening. “For if I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have been able to trick you so easily.”
“Ha, fair enough,” I grunted back at the man, while turning back towards the workbench. “Anyway, though, unless there’s something else left on our list to check, I think we’re about ready to start.”
“I would agree,” the craftsman replied. “That was the last of our preparations, and since nothing appears to be missing, I believe we are clear as well. That is if you are ready?”
“Oh, I’m ready, all right,” I said in an eager tone, rubbing my hands together. “I’ve been dying to put this thing together since you first showed me the sketch.”
“Excellent!” Léandre exclaimed, matching my excitement by clapping his hands together. “Then let us begin with the weapon’s framing.”
Diving into our work without any further fanfare, we finally began on the new ballista design that Léandre had shown me several days earlier, the project having practically consumed every waking moment of our thoughts since. It was our hope that if we were able to successfully craft the improved siege engine that it would give us a desperately needed superweapon that we could bring to bear against the orc horde—or rather the massive construct at its head.
And if our luck held out as well, it would provide a chance for the both of us to leave the apprentice level crafting tiers in both carpentry and blacksmithing behind and progress onwards into the journeyman tiers.
This would give us two solid wins that we could really use right now, I thought as I followed Léandre to one side of the workshop where several lengths of freshly milled ætherwarped oak awaited us. It had ended up being both a long day and night yesterday in the aftermath of the orc horde’s discovery, the afternoon then devolving into a seemingly endless planning and briefing marathon as we tried to figure out our next steps. By the time that night fell, and I managed to get myself back to the crafting hall, an anxious pall had fallen over practically everyone inside as they learned of the horde’s approach, causing productivity to understandably take a dip for the worse. As such, it was both Léandre’s and my hope that a successful build on our part would go a long way to inspiring all the other crafters in the town before their nerves could truly get the better of them—and while there was also still time for their efforts to make a difference.
“Oof, I always forget that these are heavier than they look,” Léandre said with a grunt as we lifted a thick beam of the ætherwarped wood that would serve as part of the ballista’s frame. “I think if we cast a length from pure iron that it would be lighter.”
“Ha,” I replied as I effortlessly lifted my end up, allowing the other man to lead the way as we carried the beam towards the center of the workshop. “Well, first of all, I’m not so sure you’re right about that. This ætherwarped oak might be pretty dense, but I don’t think it’s quite that heavy.”
“It…is heavy enough,” Léandre replied, exhaling sharply as we set the beam down, angling it so that one end was raised on a supporting bench that had been placed there for that purpose. “And I already know full well what your second point will be.”
“Which brings me back to the question again,” I said with a chuckle as we strode back over towards the pile of wood. “When are you finally going to pick your base class? If nothing else, it would let you get stronger. Especially if you got a few levels under your belt.”
“Yes, but at the cost of losing hard-earned progress should I die,” the craftsman replied, repeating the same argument that he’d used time and time again when I asked him why he never progressed deeper into the adventuring levels. “Not to mention needing to face all of the horrific creatures that I hear you all speak of in order to progress. I am quite happy remaining a novice for as long as possible, at least until being so stunts my ability to craft and build. Then perhaps I may finally take the plunge and make a decision.”
“Which could be soon,” I said as we repeated the same process we’d just finished and grabbed another beam of the magical wood. “Soon as we hit level thirty we’ll have a chance to learn advanced tradeskills. There could be specific requirements there, such as the magic tree skills.”
“I’m certain there will be,” Léandre answered, puffing slightly as we carried the second beam to its new destination. “But at the same time, how can I be confident that any decision I make is the right one until I know what those requirements are? This is why my plan is to use you and the others as my guinea pigs to show me the most efficient path to strive for.”
“And get powerleveling from when you finally find it, right?” I asked as we placed the second beam down beside the first.
“But of course,” Léandre answered with a grin. “You know perfectly how the system works.”
“I suppose I do,” I replied, matching the man’s smile briefly with one of my own before I allowed the expression to drop, turning back towards the task at hand. “All right, what’s next?”
“Measuring and marking,” the architect said, motioning towards the bench where we’d laid out all of our parts. “Hand me the tape and charcoal?”
“Sure thing,” I replied, moving over to grab the requested items and handing over them over to the man at which point the building process rapidly picked up its pace.
Making several quick measurements of the two wooden beams and leaving several marks along their lengths, it wasn’t long until we were carefully drilling the holes that we would need for the later parts of the assembly. Once that was done, we then did the same to the various other pieces of wood that would eventually comprise the rest of the siege engine, taking both the time and the care to make sure that we did the work properly. During this time, and due largely to the large gap in our respective carpentry skills, I mostly followed Léandre’s lead, trusting that he knew what he was doing better than I did. It wasn’t until the l
ater parts of the assembly process involving the æthertouched iron that I felt confident enough to strike off myself, leaving the man to focus on what he knew best.
Little by little, in the hour and a half that followed, the ballista slowly took shape, its rather large size growing to dominate the center floor of the workshop. Easily twice—if not closer to three times—the size of the original ballista design that Léandre and I had come with, this newer model visibly looked an order of magnitude more powerful. From the size of its arms to the size of the bolt that it would throw, everything about the weapon had been scaled up drastically. It was our hope that where the other regular-sized ballista would be able to take down a corrupted construct in two or perhaps three non-critical shots, that this new heavy ballista would be able to do it in one. But beyond just that, the weapon was our best hope in finding an answer to the massive and heavily armored siegebreaker that was steadily making its way towards us.
Because if we couldn’t, either with the weapon or by other means, there was little doubt that the creature would live up to its name, likely with disastrous consequences for us and Aldford.
“Okay, the bracing is done here, and everything else appears to be in order,” Léandre said sometime later from the head of the nearly finished siege weapon. “I think it’s time for us to add the final piece. What do you think?”
“Hell, yeah. I think it is too,” I replied enthusiastically, having been eagerly awaiting this part since I’d first seen Léandre’s design. “Want me to bring it over?”
“Please,” he replied, waving the hammer he held in its hand vaguely towards a burlap tarp covering something large just behind him. “I’ll make sure that the benches are ready for you.”
“Can do,” I said as I crossed the workshop and made my way over towards it, grabbing a corner and pulling it to the side.
Coming free easily, it was a heartbeat later that I found myself staring into the empty eye sockets of the Beast’s skull, the tarp that I’d been holding hitting the ground with a faint flap.
“And he still looks as terrifying as ever,” I commented as I took in the sight, my eyes focusing on all the teeth that still filled the deceased creature’s maw. “I can see why you covered him.”
“And also why I prefer to remain a crafter, too: so I can be safe and far away from monsters such as this,” Léandre replied in a dry tone.
“I definitely can’t blame you there,” I said, taking a quick breath as I mustered up a surge of courage and took a step forward to duck into the skull’s open maw, making sure to avoid the still razor-sharp teeth in the process.
Measuring a little over four and a half feet in height and nearly half again that in width, the Beast’s skull was far from a small thing, and I couldn’t help but feel an anxious itch briefly crawl across my skin as I stepped inside of it. But it was due to that rather large size and corresponding weight that I had to in the first place, the inside of its mouth being the best position to lift it from without the need for additional help. Placing my hands and shoulder carefully against the roof of its mouth, I quickly positioned my legs under me and pushed upwards, slowly lifting the skull from its resting place. From there, I took slow and measured steps towards Léandre and the waiting ballista, making sure that I didn’t overbalance myself by moving too fast. Thankfully, there was only a short distance to travel before I arrived where I needed to be, the other man standing at the ready beside a pair of the adjustable benches he’d spoken of earlier.
“That should be good for positioning,” he said as I maneuvered both myself and the skull into place in front of the siege weapon. “Now lift as high as you are able, and I will get these in place.”
Doing as the man instructed, it was a few seconds later that I was able to set the skull down on the two perfectly placed benches and crawl out from under it, the itchy crawling sensation of being inside the Beast’s maw mercifully fading away. From there, we proceeded with the process of mounting the skull onto the nearly finished siege engine, exchanging a few comments as we did so.
“You know,” Léandre said at one point from the opposite end of the machine, “when I originally drafted this design, I was worried that adding the skull to this would perhaps look slightly…hm. I’m not sure what the best word is. Tacky? Perhaps too cliché? But seeing it now in practice, I think it looks quite fearsome.”
“So do I,” I replied as I shifted to take a look at the skull from nearly head-on. It had been wired open so that every bolt fired from the ballista would have to pass through its open maw before continuing toward its target. “And besides, even if it is a little bit cliché, the day that we decide that we can’t put a badass-looking skull on an equally badass-looking weapon is the day that we stop having fun for good.”
“That is all too true,” Léandre stated with a chuckle. “And being able to find the fun and joy in life is what keeps a soul young. Without it, there is no purpose to anything.”
“Amen to that,” I agreed, giving the now nearly finished weapon one more long glance before checking back in with the man. “Anyway, how are things coming over there? Almost done?”
“Just about,” he replied. “One final mounting point to secure and then I believe we will be done here. Do you want to ready yourself for the final touch?”
“Oh, and how,” I said, feeling a surge of excitement shoot through me at the thought. “Though, are you sure that you’re okay if I do it? I don’t want to steal any of your thunder.”
“Pah,” the craftsman grunted in a dismissive tone. “Rest assured that it will not be stolen in the slightest. In fact, if yesterday was any indication, I think you are better suited for such things than I am.”
“I’ll make sure to do my best,” I replied, my earlier excitement only increasing as I stepped away from the siege engine and walked towards the workbench, which was now notably bare, save for a single wooden box resting on top of it.
Gazing into the container as I arrived at the bench, I was greeted by a faint crimson glow emanating from it, both Garr and I having realized late yesterday that it was the perfect finishing touch for our project. Letting an eager grin cross my face as I reached into the box, I easily took hold of the half ethereal, half-spongey mass within and lifted out the large, crimson-colored essence, its description appearing the center of my vision.
[Greater Essence of Ferocity]
One of our many treasures from after we’d managed to kill the Beast, the essence, along with all the others that we’d found, had always been at the back of my mind, their purposes a complete mystery until Garr had taught us essence melding. Since then, Léandre and I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about the uses for all the essences that we’d accumulated over the last month, wondering just what sorts of benefits or abilities that they would confer on an item after melding.
Or better yet, what sort of benefits it would confer onto something such as the ballista we were crafting.
Well, here goes nothing, I thought as I shifted my grip on the grapefruit-sized essence and turned back towards the siege weapon, already feeling hints of its presence brush my mind. This was the first time that I’d ever be working with a greater essence—something that Garr had told both Léandre and me was an order of magnitude more difficult to master and meld than a regular essence.
But not impossible, I reminded myself as I found myself a place to stand directly in front of the Beast’s skull before calling out to Léandre.
“All right, I’m all set over there,” I said while glancing between both the essence and the empty eye sockets above me. “Let me know when I can start.”
“In just a moment,” he replied, his voice trailing off as it shifted into a grunt followed by a loud click of metal on metal. “I just need to pull…ah! There it is! The skull should be firmly affixed now. You can begin whenever you wish.”
“Great,” I echoed back, exhaling a sharp breath as I shook out my arms to loosen them up. “Here goes nothing.”
With those wo
rds then hovering in the air, I turned my gaze downward and focused my attention on the swirling ball of energy I held, bringing my will to bear upon it as Garr had taught me, instantly feeling the essence respond. Attacking me with a wicked ferocity that belied its name, I felt something from within the orb reach out and attempt to claw through my mind. Flinching at the sheer power behind the sensation, I nearly dropped the essence in response before I caught myself, my body’s fight or flight response triggering on a level that I’d never felt previously. Struggling to hold on, a cacophony of roaring, barking, and hissing, mixed in with countless other sounds and emotions to accompany them, then washed over me, flooding my thoughts completely.
In the moments that followed, I found myself gripped with the desire to swipe at things with claws that I didn’t have or to bite into flesh with teeth that weren’t there. The emotions and desires changed as quickly as they appeared, vanishing into the maelstrom of energy that defined the very concept of ferocity. Had I been any less prepared for the overwhelming assault on my mind, I might have very well lost myself in the meld for ages until I managed to pull myself out of it. But instead, I allowed the essence to do its worst, gritting my teeth as I weathered the storm.
Then, when I was sure that I’d met—and survived—the worst that it had to offer, I collected my will and began the process of taming ferocity itself.
Fighting back against sheer savagery raging through my mind, I worked on channeling the energies that they each represented into something manageable. Into something that I could control. But as I did so, I got the sense that willing them to stop as I’d done with the Essence of Celerity wasn’t the right track to take. So instead, I redirected them away from me as if I were leading a stubborn animal by the nose in the direction that I wanted. As I did that, I also worked to dig my fingers into the orb, my nails somehow finding purchase in the spongey mass and sinking deep into it. Losing track of time as I repeated the process endlessly, I eventually felt the energies settle, enough so that I could begin pulling it apart. Fighting me as I did so, the essence tried to resist the process, but it had already succumbed too far to make it anything more than a token effort.
Glory to the Brave (Ascend Online Book 4) Page 73
