The Land: Forging (Chaos Seeds Book 2) (48 page)

“What else was I supposed to do with time to kill and an entire village mana pool to play with,” Richter said laughing too. Then he sat down next to Sion, and the levity left his face, “That just leaves your key. After we
pulled
you out I tried to crawl into the tunnel to get to the chamber on the other side. When I put so much as a hand
inside
though, the tunnel starts closing shut. I looked at the writing around the hole again, and it had changed. Now it says, ‘Only the proven may pass.’” He looked earnestly at his friend, “I know you have been through
lot, but will you try to get the key again?”

Sion nodded, “I don’t think there is anything left to fear. Let me try now.” His health and stamina were back to full strength; the pile of
salt
icon had disappeared after the first day.

Sion walked over to the open hatch
and climbed into the shaft. He couldn’t lie and say that his heart didn’t start pounding harder when he reached the halfway point, and he couldn’t help but steal a glance
backwards
. The tunnel remained
open though, and the roots remained
in place. He made it to the end of the
shaft and saw a brown key hanging from
the wall. There was nothing else in the room. He climbed back into the
tunnel
and was soon standing with his party again.

Richter took the key
and put it with its brothers in the pipe. When the last key was in place, all four moved of their own accord and locked into
position
perpendicular to the pipe. Two keys stuck out from each side. They all walked up to the banded door, Alma draped over Richter’s shoulders. He held one end of the pipe up to his eye as indicated and looked down the length, through all four keys holes. Richter gave a surprised
grunt
and walked up to the right side of the door. Choosing a spot somewhere in the high middle, he raised one hand, the other still holding the pipe up to his eye. After moving his hand back and forth slightly as if looking for the exact right spot, he pushed his bare palm against the door.

Both Daniella and Sion reached forward in protest. Clearly Richter had forgotten about the deadly shriek venom. He didn’t fall to the ground
screaming,
though. In fact, his hand seemed to disappear into the metal of the door up to his mid-forearm. Richter strained for a
second
and then gave a grunt, turning his wrist slowly the right. He kept up this slow rotation until his wrist had turned ninety degrees, then pulled his arm back out. Immediately a large clanging could be heard. Richter quickly stepped back.

The bands of metal vibrated, and then the entire door started turning to the left. The grinding sound of metal continued. The movement of the door acquired an upward component, and it became clear that what they were seeing was a giant sphere. After minutes
of watching the slow rotation change direction several times, it finally stopped. A doorway was set into the part of the sphere they were finally presented with.

Four key holes
were present in the door. Each one followed the next making a diagonal. The keyholes were distinct colors making it easy to see which key went where. After removing them from the pipe, Richter placed each key in the correct slot. When all of them had been turned, there was a loud
thunk,
like a bolt drawing back and the door swung open.

Congratulations! You have finished the quest: Unlock your Power II. As you have already mastered Air Magic, you may now choose another of the Powers that comprise your domain. Your options are Life, Dark or Water. Which path will you choose?

Reward: 11,250 (base 9,000) experience.

Choosing a Power will give you a +50% effectiveness increase to spells of that branch. You will also have +50% resistance to spells of that Power. Unique to being a Master of a Place of Power, however, is your access to each Power’s specialized ability.

Life Ability: “Bounty of Life” +30% growth for the physical manifestation of your Place of Power
Dark Ability: “Hidden Treasures” +30% yield from treasure
Water Ability: “Tranquil Soul” -30% mana cost for spells

Richter had already made his choice before he started the quest. Tranquil Soul was obviously tempting. He wouldn’t always be able to rely on his village’s mana pool. In the upcoming fights with the bugbears, it would be a real boon to be able to cast more spells. Water magic was not his
choice,
though.
Similarly, Hidden Treasures was a hard offer to pass
up. What
mattered
though, was preparing his village, and the people in it, for the future. He chose Life.

You have chosen Mastery of Life!

Congratulations! You have obtained the Ability: Bounty of Life. +30% growth for the physical manifestation of your Place of Power.

Congratulations! You are a Master of Life Magic. All Life spells cast by you are 50% stronger. You have 50% resistance to Life magic. You can teach the skill Life Magic to anyone with over a 50% affinity for the skill. You can teach specific Life spells to anyone with the appropriate skill level to learn them.

Congratulations! You have learned the spell: Courage! Improves your Fighting Spirit by +50. This is a spell of Life. Cost: 25 mana. Duration: 15 min. Range: self. Cast Time: 1 second. Cooldown: 15 min.

Congratulations! You have learned the spell: Minor Life Armor! Defense of all armor pieces increased by +1 (+4 vs
Death attacks). Cost: 40 mana. Duration: 30 min. Range: self. Cast Time: 1 seconds. Cooldown: N/A

You have been awarded 12,500 (base 10,000) experience for your new Mastery.

Congratulations! You have unlocked the Quest: Unlock your Power III. Your village will increase your power, but you must care for it in turn. 
Currently, there is a local dungeon that needs to be cleared out.  Reward: Unlock one of the Powers. Yes or No?

TRING!

You have reached level 18! Through hard work you have moved forward along your path. As a Chaos Seed, you gain 6 points to distribute to characteristics instead of the usual 4. You also get 25% advancement to the skill of your choice! Crush your enemies, honor your allies, LIVE!

You have either characteristic points or skill percentage points to allocate from the previous level. Now that you have progressed again, you must allocate your points within the next week or they will randomly be assigned for you.

Richter didn’t know what was more exciting. The boost his village was about to get, all of the new points he had to allocate or the fact that they were finally getting out of this dungeon. Freedom! The idea of it almost made him giddy. All of the
party
was ready to see blue skies again! He quickly chose ‘Yes’ to accept his new quest, and got moving. He would ask Futen about it later.

They wasted no time and started walking down the narrow hall. Richter was pulling up the rear and was about to enter, when Futen spoke.

“Are you sure that you wish to leave the column behind, my Lord?”

Richter looked at the remnant from the doorway, “You mean I can take it with me?” That thing would pay for the portal construction all by itself if he melted it down! “Hold on guys,” he called out.

He walked over to the column, and lowered his center of gravity by bending at the knees. His dad had warned him early and often of the dangers of lifting with your back. He wrapped his arms around the column, and then heaved!

“My Lord,” Futen began.

“I got this,” Richter wheezed. He stopped his pull, and reset his body. Taking a deep breath, he tried to pull the column out of the ground again. Veins stood out in his neck and his face turned red. The other members of his party delayed their exit to watch.

Richter tried one more time. If this didn’t work, he would invest his twelve free characteristic points into Strength. “Cooommeee onnnnn!” He pulled with everything he had. He felt like he was squeezing the column so hard that something was going to shoot out of it. Turns out, he had it backwards. He straightened quickly, just hoping no one had heard.

“Futen! How am I supposed to take this thing? It weighs a ton! It’s like when you asked me to grab the altar…,” Richter’s lips pressed together in an embarrassed moue. “Never mind. I’ve got it.”

He simply placed his hand on the column, and willed its interface to come up. Now that they had defeated the dungeon, at least this level, he should be able to give it commands. At least that was how it had worked with a Dark Altar from the first quest to unlock his power. Sure enough, when he focused, he could now access the column’s prompt. He chose ‘Remove Core’ from the available options.

A hole appeared at the top of the column. The Core rose out of it, and hovered six inches above the column. When he picked it up, the column lost its gold color becoming nothing more than the same grey stone of the walls. For the first time in days, the central chamber wasn’t bathed in golden light. None of that mattered to Richter though because of what he now held.

You have found: Magic Core. Durability 15,000/15,000. Item class: Epic. Quality: Masterwork. Weight: 12.7 kg. Magical Cores can be used to power any number of devices.

Richter held the clockwork sphere above his head, its red and white internal light painting the walls. He aimed a huge smile at Sion. Sion smiled back and said, “I heard you, stinky.”

Richter’s grin slipped into an expression of mild irritation, “Let’s just get out of here.”

“Whatever you say Captain, Toots,” Sion said happily.

He tried to brush past the sprite, but Sion stopped him, an aggrieved expression on his face. “What are you thinking,” he asked Richter. “Don’t walk try to walk past me while you trailing fire!” Sion took point and the other sprites followed leaving Richter to pull up the rear. When he arrived at the other side, he saw a second staircase leading down that hadn’t been visible from the central room.

Sion and Daniella hadn’t even paused and were already climbing the stairs to get out. Yoshi had stopped though, and staring down the dark staircase. His hand was slowly opening and closing into a fist. The adept didn’t seem aware of the motion. Richter walked up beside him.

“I know what you’re thinking. I haven’t forgotten about the eaters either, but we are beat all to hell. We need to have our disease cured, and,” Richter pulled Yoshi’s shoulder to make the man look at him, “I know that whatever spell you got hit with at the end of the fight took a serious toll on you.”

Yoshi looked back at the stairs again, still unconvinced. Richter tried another tack, “Someone once told me there was no honor in pushing through a bad position. The faster we leave this dungeon. The faster we can mobilize both of our peoples to deal with this threat.”

Yoshi stared at the stairs a while longer, then nodded, “You are right, Lord Richter.”

Richter raised an eyebrow. “Lord,” he asked.

“I didn’t know what to make of you when we first met, but we have fought side by side. I now know you are a man of honor, strength and courage. I call you Lord Richter because you deserve it.”

Richter was taken aback by the sword adept’s praise. He reached out his hand, and Yoshi extended his own, both men gripping the other’s wrist. They gave a small squeeze then Yoshi said, “But don’t think this gets you out of sword practice.”

Richter struggled to keep a grin off of his face, “Of course not. Tomorrow morning bright and early. You, me, and our cankers.”

Yoshi nodded and released his grip. He walked past to the stairs, but not before Richter saw him crack a faint smile. Richter followed after. The stairway wound like a corkscrew going ever upwards. They also moved somewhat at an angle however, so the ascent took longer than it otherwise would have. After walking for almost an hour, Sion called out “I see a door!”

“Yes,” Richter shouted. His enthusiasm made his voice echo loudly in the confined space of the stairwell, but everyone was so excited to be outside again that no one complained. “I’m ready for bright blue skies and sunshine! Now who’s with me?”

Daniella and Sion cheered, and even Yoshi had a bit of pep in his step. They hurried to open the door and rushed outside… and it was nighttime… and it was raining. Richter looked up at the sky and said, “Universe, you’re a dick.”

Despite the fact that it was raining, they still decided to make their way back. With Futen hovering above, there was more than enough light. They all had reasons to hasten back to the Mist Village. Richter was somewhat concerned about running into something big and bad at night, but Alma flew over watch. He felt better knowing that she should be able to detect the psychic emanations of most predators or humanoids, and there weren’t any flying predators that should be a threat to her. That’s what Richter hoped anyway.