Usually, after every bigger event that affects the company and-slash-or the guild, they would have a strategy meeting to ‘realign the objective’ and ‘synergize the processes’. In practice, it was mostly one of them bitching about something that annoyed them. Oddly, it was mostly Lucy who was doing the bitching.
Currently, they were discussing the Glorious Artefact issue. Normally, they would do this either at Sam’s or at Lucy’s apartment but the weather was beautiful, so they decided to head to one of those small cafés that had a small garden where guests could enjoy a small slice of nature in the middle of the city.
“I think it’s a trap,” she stated, not even looking up from her device. “A guild that anybody would love to have just shows up and offers themselves up on a silver platter? You’re ridiculous, Sam, but this strains the boundary of believability.”
“I looked into it,” he said while reaching for a pastry. Or rather, he asked Isabella to look into them. He would give Lucy the report later. “They rather undersold the animosity between Darell and his relative.”
“How much?”
“Just send Katie in… They have the money and the numbers, but from what I saw, nothing special.”
“Just to clarify: you want to crush them?”
“Want to? Not particularly. But they’ll come after us if we take in Darell and his ilk. Charles, the relative in question, has a hate boner that could replace a space elevator for Darell.”
Hearing that Lucy looked up, interested. She was always a sucker for a good drama.
“What did he do? Did he steal the girl he was pining after but never talked to? Did Darell dare look at him?”
Sam had to snort at that. It seemed Lucy was also noticing certain patterns. “What have you been reading?”
Lucy blushed and looked away. Sam cleared his throat and continued. “Well, from what my source gathered, the actual issue is that while Charles is a pretty competent engineer and such, he is over thirty. Darell, by the time he was fifteen, achieved more than Charles ever had.”
“Ugh… one of those…” Lucy spat, her desire for drama forgotten. “We have to do something about that. People like that don’t really change… Anyway, who is your source?” she asked curiously, no doubt already putting together a plan.
“Izzy.”
“I hate you. Send the documents over later.”
“Sure thing. But what about Artefacts?”
“Knowing about Charles helps. We can use the threat of that guy to chain them to ourselves. With a little creative restructuring and cross-training between our crafters and theirs, plus having them work on stuff that Liz developed, I think we can successfully integrate them into Chrysalis."
“Not AFK?”
“Not for now. Maybe later. First I want to see what happens. Having them near Chrysalis is already big enough bait…” Lucy answered with a serious look on her face.
Sam nodded in agreement, not really seeing anything bad in testing their new ‘allies’. His gut told him that the Darell guy was on the up-and-up, but it never hurt to double-check.
“What about the contract?”
Lucy shook her head. “We’re still negotiating. They really want to squeeze out every ounce of profit from this one…”
“But you’re not letting them, right?” Sam asked with a grin.
Lucy snorted in response. “Who do you think I am? The lawyers had fun putting together some really ironclad conditions into it.”
“Good luck with that then. Tell me when it is concluded. I want to be there when Liz and Darell are introduced,” he told her with a mischievous smile.
“I can already feel that headache forming…” Lucy replied with a small glare before it morphed into a smile. “I’ll make sure Tim is there. Should be fun.”
“It was my luckiest day the day I ran into you…” Sam said with a laugh.
The savanna was rather empty.
Of people.
There were countless numbers of animals, both terrestrial, arboreal, and aerial, all calling the endless savanna their home. Most of them were harmless, just living their lives as best as they could, being the productive members of the life cycle, but there were a few monsters here and there.
As expected, Sam's mana sense had already identified several giant vultures circling in the air, radiating deadly and anticipatory necrotic mana.
‘Ah, Necrotures…’ he mused. ‘Let’s make sure to thin their numbers. Annoying to fight necromancers that have them as pets.’
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
With that thought finished, he raised a hand holding his sword and unleashed a furious spear of wind that sailed through the air and hit one of the circling carrion-eaters, vaporizing its head.
Nodding in satisfaction and watching as several lesser creatures instantly descended on the corpse, he continued his journey.
Necrotures had some instinctual control over necrotic magic, so instead of eating corpses, they would find a corpse, animate it, then have it hunt for them. That wasn’t a big issue when they were wild, as a wildebeest zombie wasn’t exactly a world-ending threat. However, necromancers loved to have them as familiars as with some training, enhancements, and direction they would be able to let loose on the battlefield.
Giving them, and the necromancers, the opportunity to create self-propagating zombie armies.
And nobody liked that…
Thus, as he journeyed through the savanna, he made sure to kill every Necroture he spotted.
It was his civic duty.
Other monsters that he saw were wild dogs, roaming in packs, ready to tear anyone to pieces to satisfy their hunger, while giant herds of gazelles sometimes sped past, running far faster than they had any right to.
They were called Velozelles, and their hide was particularly valuable as it could withstand tremendous friction. Another valuable part of theirs was the blood, used to create potions that increased reaction time and the magical equivalent of the drug, speed.
Thankfully, they were fast enough that catching them was annoying and they were almost impossible to domesticate. Their runs usually took them from one end of the savanna to the other. Creating a corral that big was almost impossible. And if the Velozelles were prevented from running, then soon the magic inside them would weaken, making the entire domestication effort worthless.
Luckily, due to his mana senses, he had some warning before the great herd of zooming Velozzelles approached and managed to put up a razor-sharp wind wall that caught a few necks. He made sure to take care of the carcasses, skinning them and harvesting all available materials for the future.
There were also giant trap spiders and tiny snakes that hung from trees in bunches and fell on unsuspecting victims as they walked by. He spotted a few elephants in the distance, their hides sizzling with heat as they lumbered along a path only they could see. Scorchphants were herbivores and fiercely protected by all the other denizens of the savanna. They took in any kind of water, even from the very air, and used the heat to evaporate and clean it.
Attacking one would aggro every animal and monster in a several-mile radius.
As he headed toward the first town he knew about, he even spotted a few more predators. Brownish green lionesses stalked in the tall grass, each of their tails ending in razor-sharp bone protrusions, and each lioness sporting two and sometimes three separate tails.
Soon, he had Lucky slow down, as the first sign of civilization came into view. While there weren’t many roads leading through the savanna from the Emerald Kingdom direction as everybody felt that traveling on a boat to do business was much more comfortable – with fewer drop snakes to boot – there were still a few towns scattered around in the wilderness near the border that would make sure that anyone who tried to cross the distance to the first major city would have places to rest and recuperate.
And to spend their money.
Even now, there were a lot of forum posts about the price gouging and the artistic levels of scamming that happened in those small towns scattered around.
Their favorite scam? Taking the adventurers on a hunt, then ‘accidentally’ spooking or annoying a strong local monster, getting the adventurers killed. Then, when the adventurer resurrected, they would helpfully sell them tools, potions, tinctures, wards and everything they could think of that would help them defeat the monstrous ‘local nightmare’. Meanwhile, they would have one of the local maidens, in appropriately pitiful, but enticing garb, feed the players some sob story about the monster eating their family and promising riches if they could defeat it.
Very industrious…
‘I wonder if I could scam them…’ Sam wondered idly as he continued his journey.
As he crested over a small hill, he stopped Lucky with a gentle nudge of his heel and surveyed the area.
The town was still in the distance, almost hidden by the horizon, but Sam could see several shapes that hinted at intelligent construction methods, as opposed to the meerkats who liked to copy human houses. They were excellent with earth magic, but not so with architecture.
Using his mana sense, he cast his gaze in the direction and was relieved to not see the angry haze of blood magic.
Most of the forums were full of players crying about the unfairness of blood magic, but the developers were silent. Oh sure, they put out a statement that it wasn’t cheating, hacking, and voodoo magic, but they claimed that it was a conflict between players, thus they were staying out of it.
There were a lot of posts on the forums, mixed with a lot of trolls just fanning the flames, but from what he knew most of the towns that were razed and left with desiccated bodies of both players and NPCs were even more south.
Sadly, the southern part of the continent wasn’t united under a kingdom. Instead, it was littered with countless city-states that were one of the most powerful groups in the area. The closer to the ocean, the more powerful they were, thanks to trade.
The other powers were nomads moving through the savanna and desert, never staying in one place too long. Though a few oases had towns sprang up around them, but from what he knew and remembered, the people living there were considered lower class by the nomads.
The city-states didn’t care as long as they had money. Or power. Best to have both, then they would be your friend.
Small towns, like the one he was heading toward, usually belonged to one of the city-states or alternately serviced the nearest nomadic caravan, which would give up their ownership as soon as they departed. Until then, however, you either served or else…
Otherwise, most of the denizens of the savanna and the desert were friendly folk, superstitious, and placing greater and greater importance on guest rights the deeper one headed into the desert.
The moment he reached yelling distance from the town wall, he jumped off Lucky’s back, the familiar giving him a friendly lick and vanishing into his shadow as Sam began to walk toward the gate adorned by countless bones of the animals found in the area in various configurations hinting arcane purpose which was confirmed by his mana sense as the walls shimmered with defensive power.
As he got even closer he saw that the ground was stamped down by countless feet, showing that the area was pretty popular.
“Halt, stranger!” came a call from the top of the wall.
Looking up, he saw a man, covered up to his neck by traditional garb adorned with green, brown, and gray colors, with a few splashes of gold-yellow and ruby-red denoting some rank.
“Do you seek death or life?” came the traditional question.
“I seek life and rest,” answered Sam, keeping his hands visible.
The man took a moment to scrutinize him, looking for any deception before nodding.
“Then come and rest, traveler, and may the winds carry your words!” he called out, vanishing behind the wall, probably heading to open the gate.
“And may the earth provide for you,” Sam finished the traditional words, even though he wasn’t sure the man heard him. Better to be safe with superstitious and traditionalist people.
The gate opened silently, showing it was cared for, enough for Sam to slip in and he did so, the gate immediately closing behind him, equally silent.
Owed bonus chapters: Three (3)
Titles:
[Apprentice: You are an apprentice learning under a master. Increased experience point gain in the key skill of the apprenticeship.]
Magical Items:
[Ring of Minor Health Regeneration: A small ring, made from subpar materials, with a low-quality magical gem. As long as the gem holds mana, it aids with health regeneration. Can hold 100 Mana Points, and regenerates 10 Health Points for every point of mana consumed. Current Mana: 100/100.]
[High-quality Troll Leather Armor: Created by a journeyman crafter employed by your own company. They worked extra hard to make sure to return your goodwill. Excellent quality, given the materials and the crafter. Enchanted to decrease the sound it makes during movement, as well as has increased durability. Thanks to the substance it was impregnated with the troll leather it lacks its customary weakness to fire.]
*Not actually bottomless.]
[Ring of the Shadow Fang: Made from shadow metal and accented with white moon-silver, this ring allows the wearer to summon a dagger made from shadow. The strength of the dagger depends on the wearer’s shadow mana control. The distance the dagger can move from the wearer depends on the mana control of the individual.]
Quests:
Active quests:
[Just walk in there!]
[Prove yourself!]
[Peaceful land, peaceful mind]
[Deli-Very!]
Finished quests:
[Monster Parade!]
[Topping the tree!]
[Reap what you sow!]
[Seaside opportunity]
[Another seaside opportunity]
[The booty of mystery!]
[Demonic demonstration!]
[The Test of the Survivor!]
[To the city you go!]
[Eternal Vigilance!]
[Returning Champion]
[Volatile Valley]
[Ride forward to be not killed in nasty ways!]
[Location, location, location!]
Skills:
Mana Skills:
[Mana Body: Level 7/100 (21%) (Passive) Your mana permeates your body, enhancing and improving it. The better your control of your mana is, and the more mana you have, the bigger the effect is. For every 100 Mana Points, it grants you 1 Base Health gain. For every skill level, it increases the Health Regeneration by 0,1.]
[Mana Shield: Level 99 (99%) Using mana, you can form a simple shell around yourself, which decreases the damage you take. Damage decrease depends on the amount of mana invested. For every unit of Mana invested in the spell, the shield will protect you from 9,9 (physical) damage.]
[A/N: Currently: WIS: 55 / MAG: 50 = 1,1 --> +2,1 Mana Regeneration per skill level]
[A/N: Currently: WIS: 55 / MAG: 50 = 1,1 --> +3,1 Mana Regeneration per skill level]
Neutral Mage skills:
[Mana Unraveling: Level 14/25 (19%) (Active) You can spot even the smallest imperfection in the weave of the mana. If your control is better than the one who wove the spell, then you can attack those imperfections and unravel the spell or magic in front of you.]
[Spell Matrix: Level 40/100 (4%) (Passive) You mastered layering spells as very few have before. You can layer ( or connect any other way) together as many spells as you can. The cost of this action is increased by 5% (cumulative) for every two layers or spells.]
[Solid Spell Foundation: Level 5/5 (MAX%) (Passive) Your foundation is solid and unshakeable. The stability of layered spells is increased.]
[Mana Construct: Level 84/100 (22%) (Active/Passive) You can create mana constructs over your weapons. These constructs cannot be separated from your weapon. You have total control over their shape and size. For every level in the skill, the mana cost is decreased by 1% and the damage inflicted by the skill is increased by 1%]
[Simplicity: Level 5/5 (MAX%) (Passive) The simpler your creations, the less mana it costs.]
[Infusion: Level 5/5 (MAX%) (Passive) Infusing different mana types into your mana constructs becomes easier.]
[Complexity: Level 1/5 (11%) (Passive) The complexity of your creations doesn’t detract from it. Usually, mana cost would rise when the complexity of your creation increases. For every level of this skill this increase in mana cost becomes less and less.]
Elemental Mage Skills:
Wind Mage skills:
[Wind Blade III: Level 9/10 (99%) (Active) A spell that allows you to launch a blade of wind. The cutting power and speed of the blade are increased. You have greater control over its movement after creation. Allows you to slightly control its path after launching the wind blade.]
[Wind Blade Storm: Level 6/10 (7%) (Active) A spell that unleashes a storm of wind blades around you. The damage of the released Wind Blades depends on the Wind Blade spell and your mastery over it.]
[Wind Bullet III: Level 9/10 (99%) A spell that allows you to launch a bullet made of concentrated wind. You have excellent control over the projectile’s speed, size, and path.]
[Wind Explosion: Level 3/10 (21%) A spell that allows you to create a singular bullet of wind mana, and then fire it, which will, upon impact, detonate. The strength of the detonation depends on the amount of wind mana channeled into the bullet and your mastery over the Wind Bullet spell!]
[Wind Movement: 39/100 (19%) (Active) You can use your mastery over wind to move in any direction you wish. Your movement speed is increased significantly. This speed boost is increased by 1% for each skill level.]
[Wind Edge III: Level 9/10 (99%) (Passive) A spell that allows you to enhance the edge of any bladed weapon you wield with the wind. Thanks to the spell, the speed of your strikes will greatly increase. The power and reach of the blade will be greatly increased further.]
[Wind Affinity: Level 61/100 (17%) (Passive) You have a good affinity for the wind. Beings born of the wind will be more favorable to you. The cost of the Wind-type spells and skills is reduced and their power is increased by 0,5% for each skill level.]
- Wind Flurry
- Wind Bullet Barrage
- Healing Wind
- Wind Jump
- Wind Drill
- Wind Blade I-III
- Wind Blade Storm
- Wind Bullet I-III
- Wind Explosion
- Wind Movement
- Wind Edge I-III!
Utility skills:
Companion skills:
Shadow skills:
(Shadow Cloak triggers this benefit.)]
[Shadow Affinity: Level 30/100 (14%) (Passive) You have a good affinity with the shadows. Beings born of the shadows will be more favorable to you. The cost of the Shadow-type spells and skills is reduced and their power is increased by 0,5% for each skill level.]
Physical skills:
[Basic Armor Mastery: Level 91/100 (6%) (Passive) You learned the basics of wearing armor. Decreases the Stamina consumption slightly while wearing any kind of armor.]
[Clean Armor: Level MAX (MAX%) (Passive) Your mana got used to a certain spell, so the waste mana radiating from you will, over time, permeate and clean your armor.]
[Resistant Armor: Level 5/5 (MAX%) (Passive) Thanks to your practice, you can fully utilize everything that your armor provides, granting you increased resistance against the environment. Grants 2% increased environmental resistance per skill level. Environmental resistance protects against environmental effects only.]
[Durable Armor: Level 0/5 (0%) (Passive) You learned how to roll with the punches. This includes knowing when your armor can take a hit and when it can’t. Increased durability for any armor you wear from incoming damage from non-environmental sources.]
[Epic Breathing Technique: Level 9/10 (99%) (Passive) You breathe, and the world breathes with you. You move along your own rhythm. Decreases stamina consumption even more during any activity and further increases stamina regeneration when not in a fight. Gain +2 Stamina Regeneration for every skill level.]
[Tranquil Heart: Level 11/100 (54%) (Passive) Your heart beats to the same rhythm as your body. It’s efficient and harmonious. You have an even easier time resisting mind-altering effects and a portion of of those effects are reflected back to the source. The portion is 1% per skill level. You also radiate an aura of tranquility that confers the resistance portion of the skill to your allies near you.]
[Flow: Level 77/100 (9%) (Passive) Thanks to being a natural sensor, you can read the flow of the mana. Increases your stability and the bonuses any movement or martial art skill provides by 1% per level in the skill.]
[Focused Flow: Level 5/5 (MAX%) (Passive) When focusing on any enemy beyond what is normal, your ability to read their flow becomes clearer and more precise.]
[Controlled Flow: Level 5/5 (MAX%) (Passive) Your read of the flow is more controlled, allowing you to see the flow much better. Increases the flow visibility by 20% for every skill level.]
[Immersed Flow: Level 0/5 (0%) (Passive) When you start reading the flow a counter starts. After every ten seconds, the effect of the Flow skill increases by 1% for each skill level. Maximum 600 seconds.]
Parry: Level 24/100 (13%) (Passive) Decreases the stamina consumption of defensive weapon movements. It allows you to more efficiently and accurately parry incoming attacks. Decreases the damage of the blocked attack by 0,5% for each skill level at the moment of blocking.]
[Cleansed Body: Level MAX (MAX%) (Passive) Your body has been cleansed of impurities, giving you a more charming aura. NPCs and players will treat you slightly differently depending on their tastes. Gives a flat increase of +3 to STR, AGI, END. You can upgrade this skill by further cleansing your body.]
Resistance skills:
General skills:
[Dwarven Language: Level 5/10 (1%) (Passive) You managed to learn the basics of the Dwarven language.]
[Elven Language: Level 7/10 (8%) (Passive) You managed to learn the basics of the Elven language.]
[Dark Elven Language: Level 5/10 (1%) (Passive) You managed to learn the basics of the Dark Elven language.]
[Sarkan Language: Level 3/10 (42%) (Passive) You managed to learn the basics of the Sarkan language.]
Crafting skills:
Pet skills:
[Strong Jaw: Level Max (Passive) The jaw of the wolf is strengthened.]
[Lucky Aura: Level Max (Passive) Those who are in the same party as the wolf receive a buff to their luck. It depends on their luck how big the increase is.]
[Animalistic Mana Control: Level Max (Passive) The wolf controls the mana inside him based on animalistic instinct.]
[Animalistic Shadow Control: Level Max (Passive) The wolf controls the shadows around him just as easily as it breathes.]
[Shadow Spirit Body: Level Max (Passive) The body of the wolf is part shadows and part spirit, which makes it much more malleable.]
[Shadow Strike: Level Max (Active/Passive) All attacks started from the shadows receive bonus damage, and the wolf can clad itself in shadows, making its entire body into a weapon, while striking at an enemy increasing its range of attack.]
[Shadow Jump: Level 20/20 (MAX%) (Active) The wolf gains the capability to dive into your shadow and emerge from a different shadow. Range: 200 meters. Cooldown: 30 seconds.]
[Shadow Dash: Level 20/20 (MAX%) (Active/Passive) Wherever the wolf steps, he can leave small pools of shadows that the wolf can use to jump into. When diving into the shadows, the wolf can travel at an even greater distance with his speed increased by 2% for each skill level.]
[Shadow Claws: Level 20/20 (MAX%) (Active/Passive) Your companion’s claws are infused with the shadows. There is a low chance to leave behind shadow mana with each attack of their claws. Alternatively, they can actively increase this infusion of shadow mana and strike at their enemies with giant shadow claws.]
[Shadow Bite: Level 20/20 (MAX%) (Active) Your companion enhances their bite with shadow mana, increasing the area and strength of the bite.]
[Shadow Steed: Level 21/50 (3%) (Passive) Your companion has learned how to run while being ridden. Stamina consumption is decreased when being ridden and can carry bigger loads.]
[Shadow Bleed: Level 41/50 (8%) (Passive) Your companion’s claw has been enhanced by a chaotic shadow field which rends the area where the claws strike, causing extra bleeding.]
[Weakening Strike: Level 15/50 (21%) (Passive) Every strike of your companion's claw weakens the enemy's armor. The maximum stack of the effects is 3+1 per 5 skill level.]
[Shadow Heal: Level 21/50 (37%) (Active) Your companion can absorb the shadows hiding them to heal itself.]
[Runic Weapon: Level Max (Passive) The wolf’s claws and teeth are clad in runes that grant him a certain amount of ability to pierce through the impenetrable. Grants a 13% chance to do True Damage with the claws and teeth.]
[Runic Strike: Level 20/20 (Active) Lucky gains the ability to channel mana into the runes of his claws and teeth to enhance the damage theydo. The damage type depends on the type of mana he channels into it. Current natures are available to use: no attribute, shadow, or spirit.]