Reborn: Knight's Code (10 page)

Ash pulled out a second book that detailed known monster abilities and tried to cross reference not only their names, but how they worked. He had found a number of abilities that had different yet similar names but the descriptions of the abilities had the same effect.

The main reason that Ash was researching the abilities was because of the gnomes. From his research, they had two abilities that he could use. Ash already had Earth Affinity so that was out but the other was very enticing. The books he had read suggested that gnomes had the Earth Essence ability which was also a skill that master earth mages learned. It allowed them to turn MP directly into earth essence. He had a little trouble understanding the books description of the ability, but it sounded like it would be a great aid to him in his current endeavors with building the fort. The only real drawback was that while the book didn’t have the cost for using earth essence the skill had a high cost which is why it was only learned after one had reached the master level as an earth mage.

Even after having found out everything he could about Earth Essence Ash had continued his line of study as he looked for other abilities that could be useful for him.    

7-11

Setting aside the two books, Ash rubbed his eyes and checked his status to see that 95% of his stats had recovered. Stretching his stiff muscles, Ash walked toward the large double doors and pushed them open.

As he walked through the doors Ash found himself in a large open area that looked like a never ending garden. The scent of the flowers floated in the air and was relaxing. The grass and flowers only reached to Ash’s ankles so it didn’t seem as if it would block his view. Thanks to the large open area, Ash didn’t have to go far before he spotted his first gnome.

Unlike the garden gnomes that people put in their yards in his previous world. The gnomes were about a foot tall and were nude with light grey skin. Their faces were somewhat humanoid, but they had a virile and rabid look.

When Ash got close enough that a Gnome spotted him, it gave an evil grin that showed off its pointed teeth. The gnome pointed his hand at Ash and suddenly, three spikes made of earth formed out of thin air and flew toward him. Ash acted quickly, rolling to his side but the gnomes attack was so unexpected and fast that one of the spikes grazed him but his luck shield flashed absorbing the damage and reducing his MP by seventy points.

“Dangerous little bastards,” Ash said to himself as he gripped his sword hard and rushed toward the gnome that was still almost fifty yards away. Before he had crossed half the distance the gnome had easily launched three more attacks each of which Ash had dodged, though each time he had to stop his charge toward the gnome.

When Ash got within ten feet of the gnome, it raised both its hands and a wall of dirt rose from the ground. Ash struck the dirt wall with his sword but it was as if the sword had struck lead as it only left a thin cut on the wall’s surface.

Before he had a chance to think of his next action, five spikes shot out from the wall forcing him to take a step back. Thankfully the spikes remained attached to the wall and didn’t fly toward him. Ash tried to rush to the side to find an opening, but as soon as the gnome saw him a second wall appeared and once again Ash’s approach was blocked. Slightly annoyed Ash let out a string of curses as more spikes appeared in the arm one of them clipping him on the arm though it did little damage.

“If I can’t come from the front or side, let’s try from the air,” Ash said under his breath as he jumped in the air as high as he could. Stretching out the wings on his back, Ash put all of his strength into raising higher into the air. The gnome’s walls were only about seven feet high so it was not hard for him to get over them. If it hadn’t been for the spikes he could have easily climbed over them but now he was only left with one choice.

It only took the time of a few heartbeats for Ash to clear the walls though to him it felt like it was much longer. As soon as he was over the walls Ash pulled in his wings and pointed his sword down and plunged down skewering the gnome with his sword. A purple 602 appeared in the air as the gnome died.

After absorbing the gnome Ash picked up the small bottle of black dirt that was left behind.

[Essence Infused Earth (good quality): earth that has been infused with the purified essence of the earth.]

Ash quickly put the bottle away before continuing his search for his next target. Ash invoked Hide this time in hopes of sneaking up on the next gnome he saw but just like before when he came within fifty yards of it the gnome started to attack. Just as before Ash quickly drew close to the gnome but before he could strike it erected a stone wall to block any of his attacks. Not wasting time, Ash once again used him demon wings to clear the wall and kill the gnome, but his stamina was quickly being depleted. There was no real fear of running out of stamina, but due to his high amount in stamina yet his low endurance if he completely exhausted his stamina, it would take days for it to completely recover.

The next gnome he saw, Ash stayed further back and used Shadow Whip. After the second strike, the gnome caught on and quickly put up its stone wall even though Ash had been keeping his distance. The Shadow Whip had done a lot of damage but with it alone, it would take a minimal of five hits to kill the gnome so Ash was forced to attack from above once again.

Since Shadow Whip didn’t work, Ash tried a different approach. Paying close attention to his distance from the gnome, Ash advanced on his next target and when he was within fifteen feet he used cone of frost and then rushed in close before the gnome could recover aiming his sword at the creature’s thick neck. Almost without any resistance the sword passed through and the gnome died. After having found a way to kill the gnomes without any trouble, Ash mimicked his earlier tactic. Ash didn’t pay attention to the time, his only goal was to kill as many gnomes as he could so that he could gain their abilities, nothing else mattered. He didn’t know how long of a time passed but he nearly yelled when he heard the welcome ringing sound, “Tring.”

[You have reached the absorption level for gnome. Abilities available; Infuse Earth (active), Earth Essence (active).]

“Tring.”

[You have been randomly awarded the ability Earth Essence.]

[Earth essence: cost ***- ability to infuse MP with earth essence. Level 1-0%]

Ash had gotten what he wanted but he was curious as to what the other ability was since it had not appeared in his books. In truth, the ability Earth Essence alone was nearly useless. Anyone could use it to strengthen magical armor or weapons but it really showed its use when you used it alongside mana manipulation. Ash could already use mana manipulation to attack with though it wasn’t very effective.

Now that he had Earth Essence Ash wanted to try it. First Ash used his MP manipulation to create a long spear of mana then infused it with earth essence. The MP manipulation cost Ash twenty MP while adding earth essence on top it cost another forty for a total of sixty. Though it was expensive it would allow him to attack in a number of unexpected ways.

Still excited, Ash continued to hunt gnomes until he once again heard the welcomed “Tring.” Sound.

[You have reached the absorption level for gnome. Abilities available; Infuse Earth (active).]

“Tring.”

[You have been randomly awarded the ability Infuse Earth (active).]

[Infuse Earth-cost ***- infuse earth with magical energy to strength and control it. Level 1-0%]

Ash placed his hand on the ground and tried to reproduce the gnome’s wall earlier. Suddenly a thin wall of earth shot up from the ground. Ash struck the wall with his sword and just like with the gnome’s wall it only let a thin mark on the dirt wall. Checking his MP Ash noticed that the wall had cost him fifty-three MP. It seemed that as long as he had MP to use then he could freely control the earth.

“Ready to go?” Ash asked Shina with a bright smile.

Shina yawned slightly and nodded her head. Laughing, Ash walked to the boss’s room and placed his hand on the plaque and warped outside to find that the sun was still up. It wasn’t until he was halfway home that he noticed that the position of the sun was off. It wasn’t that he had finished before the sun set, it was that he had stayed in the labyrinth for a full day.

“Master,” a loud yell sounded when Ash neared his house. Looking up as he tried to keep his eyes open he noticed that Allice was running toward him with a relived expression on her face. “We were worried when you didn’t come home,” Yuki said with slightly reddened eyes.

“I am fine,” Ash said as Allice wrapped in a tight hug. Reaching down he patted her soft hair lightly. “I just got caught up a little when I was fighting. Sorry if I worried you.”

Though Ash was tired, he knew that if he went straight to sleep his sleeping pattern would be completely thrown off so the only option was to force himself to stay awake. After taking a long bath and putting on new clothes, Ash drank three potions to restore his stamina and MP.

Though everyone else had already eaten, Gilda prepared something for Ash. Not only did Gilda bring food, she also brought in a strong bitter drink that helped wake him up though it did make him slightly jittery.

After eating, Ash left the house though Shina stayed behind. It looked like Shina was going to succumb to sleep instead of fighting to stay awake. Ash thought about ordering Gilda to keep her awake, but he felt that was being a little too evil.

Ash headed straight for the city exit so that he could try out his new abilities and see if they could be put to use on building the fort. Just like a few days before, the people were working hard to cut down trees and pull up stumps. Even though Ash could cut down trees extremely fast, anyone could do that work the main problem was the lack of people on stump removal. Walking up to the first stump, Ash placed his hand on the ground and started to try and force the stump out of the ground. After three tries with no result Ash looked around until he found the young earth mage that was working on stump removal.

“Master mage,” Ash called out drawing the young man’s attention.

“Lord Hawkwing, did you need something?” the mage asked with a slight bow.

“Yes I was just wondering just how you remove the stumps from the ground.”

“Well first I sense the area around the stump and loosen the ground around the stumps roots the push up at the bottom of them stump until it comes free. My masters say that it is good experience in learning to increase my control over magic, but after the first few it just becomes monotonous.”

“I bet it is, but both I and the duchess are very appreciative of your hard work,” Ash said with a slight smile before leaving.

With the new insights he had gained, Ash returned to the previous stump and tried again. Just as the mage had suggested Ash spread his magical power into the earth and tried to find the roots of the tree. It was much easier than he had though since it felt like a void to him since only the roots and large rocks escaped his new power. Once he had a rough idea where all the roots were he started to loosen the ground around them while urging the ground directly under the stump up.

Unlike when the young mage did it, the stump didn’t pop out of the ground like a piece of wood on water, but it did slowly come free and after more than a half hour of work Ash could pull it free from its earthly confines.

The overall cost of removing one stump cost one hundred and thirty MP. Far more than what the mage had said it cost him when Ash had asked him a week before. Ash believed a lot of that had to do with inexperience in using the ability and could only hope that the more he did it the less MP he would use.

Ash was able to pull six more stumps free before he had used up too much of his MP to be willing to try again. The last stump had taken him only eighty MP and only a quarter of an hour to pull free.

Even when he was finished, the sun was still only slightly past its midpoint in the sky yet Ash was having trouble keeping his eyes open. As he stumbled toward the town entrance a chorus of shouts drew his attention. When Ash saw a horde of children running toward him, he didn’t know if he should laugh or cry.

“Lord Ash, play with us,” one of the younger kids yelled out.

Though he was tired, Ash ended up playing with the kids for a little over an hour before he was able to take a break. Taking a rest under the shade of one of the buildings, Ash was amazed at how much energy the young had.

“Lord Hawkwing, the children have taken quite a liking to you,” Den said taking a seat right next to Ash.

“That is just because they haven’t had to start fighting yet,” Ash said laughing.

“I don’t think you really understand,” Den said shaking his head. “These kids don’t have anyone to look out for them. In a way you are like a parent to them. They are still young, but as they grow I am sure they will fully embrace the knight’s code.”

As Ash thought of the knight’s code, he stood up and walked a few feet away from the buildings and placed his hand on the ground. Suddenly a small wall about six foot high, four foot wide and about a foot thick erupted in front of Ash. Shortly after the wall was made, deep words started to appear on it. It took most of his remaining MP but when he was finished the knight’s code shone brightly on the small mural. “Now every day the knight’s code will be greet them each morning.”

After the sun had started to set, Ash finally stumbled home and quickly fell asleep.