The Land: Founding (Chaos Seeds Book 1) (9 page)

 Sion released an arrow, bright
blue with magic at the one warrior in the group, killing it instantly. Where he
had mustered enough mana to
Imbue
another shot Richter
didn’t know, but he was absolutely thankful! In the same moment, Richter ran at
the remaining scouts screaming with the axe raised above his head. This was too
much for the simple minded goblins. The group had just walked over the bodies
of dozens of their people, and it had only been the strong will of the warrior
that had propelled them forward. Seeing a blood drenched warrior running at
them, they squealed and ran, dropping weapons behind them in their urgency to
escape.

 Richter chased them only to the
edge of the chamber, before stopping and lowering the axe. The damned weapon
seemed as much a risk to him as the enemy. As he watched the back of the last
goblin turn the corner, a short gasp escaped him, followed by a loud grunt, and
quickly followed by laughter. The type of laughter that can only come from the
mouth of one who has passed through the shadow of death’s domain and come out
alive. He laughed to release all the tension he had accumulated through the
dark day. He laughed in vain attempt to balance out the horror of the slaughter
he had committed. He laughed at the ridiculousness that he could still be
alive! As the peals of maniac laughter followed the goblin scouts, they ran all
the harder, out of the cave, away from the ruins and into the forest. They met
up with other patrols, and the fear in their faces, convinced those patrols to
flee the forest as well. The goblins never fully rested until they had reached
their marshy homeland. When they arrived, they passed along the horrible tale
of the wild laughing demon that had slain so many of their people.

As his mania left him,
Richter slumped to the floor right where he stood. He barely noticed Sion
coming and sitting beside him. The two leaned back to back, supporting each
other physically as they had come to do in all other arenas of their
interaction. For a while they simply sat. Neither could say how long had passed
as they gazed at the bodies of the dead or simply gazed off into space, caught
in their own musings.

 Sitting there,
Richter became aware of a slow blinking in the corner of his vision. He turned
his head, but it remained stubbornly at the mid right aspect of his gaze.
Puzzled for a moment, he finally realized what is was, and allowing his vision
to relax, he saw an icon like an unrolled scroll. Focusing upon it for a moment
his vision filled with announcements.

TRING!

You have reached level 3! 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!

TRING!

You have reached level 4! 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.

You have completed the Quest: Cleanse
the Forest II. Return to the hearth mother to collect your reward.

You have completed the Quest: Cleanse
the Forest III. Return to the hearth mother to collect your reward.

Congratulations! You have reached
skill level 3 in Archery. +2% bonus to aim. +2% bonus to damage.

Congratulations! You have reached
skill level 4 in Archery. +2% bonus to aim. +2% bonus to damage.

Congratulations! You have reached
skill level 1 in Swordsmanship.

Congratulations! You have reached
skill level 2 in Light Armor. +2% to defense of all light armor.

Congratulations! You have received
racial bonus Level I vs goblins. +3% attack and defense bonus when fighting
goblins. Kill total 100 goblins to reach next level.

Your relationship with your Companion
Sion has improved from distrust to friendly.

All of these status
windows were wonderful news to Richter! They must have been accumulating since
the initial attack on the sickened goblins, but were auto-minimized. Thank god
for that! It could certainly mean his death if a prompt blocked his view in the
middle of a battle. What caused his eyes to widen and his mouth to run dry was
the final prompt.

Congratulations! You have cleansed a
Hidden Village. As owner of the Heart Crystal and because there are no living
descendants to the previous owners, you may lay claim. Would you like to claim
the village? Yes or No?

 Richter’s fingers
started tingling as if he was already counting his riches. And why not? It was
in his name. Focusing on the Yes option, he read the next prompt.

Congratulations! You have claimed
your first village! You are now Master of the Mist Village. Your village is
Level 1. As you increase the level of the village, more powers and resources
will become available. This village is built upon a Place of Power. You now
have access to the
magics
and mana associated with
this particular Place of Power. There are many secrets to any location of
Power, and you must apply yourself to discover and master them! Good luck!

Congratulations! You have won +700
fame points from founding a village on a Place of Power!

 Richter’s mouth
dropped open in shock. How had this happened? He had woken up naked in the
forest barely a week ago! He had only just reached level four! Now he had his
own village?  And the fame was nothing to sneeze at.  In the game
there had been two basic types of reputations: global and local.  Local
reputation would increase or decrease based on your interaction with a specific
group.  Global reputation as a term was a bit misleading.  It did
affect a broad amount of people or an entire region, but to affect another
region there must be some connection between the two like a trade route. 
Reputation was not supposed to be a magic aura that just made people respect
you more.  Even though it didn’t affect everyone in existence, global
reputation was amazing nonetheless.  It opened new quests, allowed for better
treatment and better prices.  It generally just made life more
interesting.  Unfortunately, the only way to increase global reputation
was through fame, and it was almost impossible to earn!

 Questions buzzed
through Richter’s mind, and first among them was:

 “What’s a place of
power,” he asked musingly.

 “A Place of Power is a nexus of
the world’s ley lines. It allows for a magnification of those particular
powers. Sentient beings can tap into this,” answered a deadpan voice. Somehow
Richter could tell it put an emphasis on ‘Place of Power’ that he had not.

 Before the second word was
spoken Sion was on his feet, arrow knocked and drawn. Richter was only a moment
behind him, dagger pointing out to cover the other half of the room.  They
looked frantically about, but couldn’t see anything.

 “Who is that,” snapped Sion.
Only silence answered his question.

 “We both heard you! Who is
there,” Richter asked still looking for a potential enemy.

 “I am the interface for your
village Master.”

 “Where are you,” Richter asked
both exasperated and curious.

 “I am present approximately one
foot to the south of you Master.”

 “Why can’t I see you?”

 “My last Master did not want me
to be seen so I remain invisible. Would you like to see me, Master?”

 “Yes,” Richter replied scanning
the air directly in front of him. “Show yourself.”

 A gray sphere phased into view
directly in front of its face. Its surface rippled like water, and it appeared
lit from within, a steady glow and faint glow being cast from its center.

 “
Gah
,”
Richter exclaimed jumping back. “Not so close!”

 “Yes, Master,” the sphere said
moving back several feet continuing to hover in the air.

 “What are you,” Richter asked,
fascinated by its appearance.

 “I am a remnant. An echo of the
personality of the first chamberlain of this village. He was a powerful user of
magic, and served the first ruler of this Place of Power. Together they built
the Mist Village. At the end of his life, the chamberlain imparted intent to a
fragment of his immortal soul. He tied it to this place to help guide future
Masters.”

 “How long ago was that?”

 “My initial activation was
3,543 years before the removal of the gods from The Land.”

 That’s impossible,” Sion said, his
tone clearly conveying his lack of trust of the floating orb. Of course, who
the hell would trust a floating talking orb? “What do you want?”

 Again the orb floated in
silence.

 “Why do you only answer me,”
Richter asked.

 “You are the Master of the village,
and I will only respond to your commands and questions. This was the policy of
the last Master. It was thought to allow otherwise could compromise the safety
of the village.”

 “Well I command you to talk to
and answer Sion.”

 “As you wish. My goal is to aid
my Master in any way that I can.”

 Staring at the globe, Richter
huffed, “What I really need are these bodies collected.”

 “At the current level of the
village I can summon ten basic worker constructs. Should I proceed?”

 Not really expecting an answer
to his complaining, Richter was pleasantly surprised, “What do you mean
summon?”

 “You are the Master of the Mist
Village. Being built upon a Place of Power, the village, and by extension you,
have access to a certain amount of mana every day. As the level of the village
increases, your access to mana will increase as well. Basic worker constructs
cost 100 mana to summon and each will last one day. You currently have access
to 1000 mana maximum. As Master you have access to all of these options, though
many will not be available until the level of the village increases. You simply
need to access the interface.”

 Richter relaxed his gaze in a
now familiar way. Seeing a new icon in the shape of a small cluster of
buildings he focused upon it. Immediately a crowded screen occupied his view. A
series of pulldown menus were present,

Enchantments, Summoning, Population,
Income, Mana Generation, Defenses, Global
Relations, …

and
a host of others. Staggered by the
amount of options, he simply focused upon Summoning. More pulldown options
presented themselves, most grayed out and illegible. At the top however was:

Mist worker, Lvl 1. Health: 50/50,
Mana 0/0, Stamina 400/400. Able to perform simple tasks of menial labor. Cost
100 mana. Cooldown: N/A. Lasts 24h. The mist-like properties of your constructs
halve all physical damage.

 “You can summon these
creatures,” Richter asked.

 “I can only do as you will,
Master. If you instruct me to do so, I will implement your will.”

 “Very well. Sion and I have to
go back to the home of the Wood Sprites. It may take me several days to return.
You have permission to summon these things daily. All of the dead bodies should
be stripped of weapons, armor, and items. Take the bodies outside of the
village and burn them.”

 “The ley lines which run
through this village are strong in Water, Air, Dark and Life. I have no access
to Fire magic however, Master. The workers can do everything you have
instructed except light the bodies on fire.”

 Richter looked at Sion, “I know
you are eager to return home, but we need to take care of these bodies first.
We could also use a rest. If I leave these bodies to fester, they will spread
disease and pollute my new home.”

 The Sprite nodded, “Even though
they were goblin filth, we do need to deal with the dead. As you have helped me
to cleanse the forest, I will help you to cleanse your new home.”

 Nodding Richter turned back to
the remnant, “What is your name?”

 “I have none, Master.”

 “What was the name of the mage
that created you?”

 “His name was
Futen
Windspeak
.”

 “Then I will call you
Futen
, if you like.”

 “As you wish Master,”
Futen
replied in the same deadpan voice. It might have been
Richter’s imagination but it seemed that for just a moment, the grey sphere
glowed a bit brighter.

 “And enough of this Master
business. That kind of thing could go to a man’s head. Call me Richter.”

 “As you wish, Lord Richter.”

 Opening his mouth to correct
Futen
, he closed it again merely shaking his head slightly.
Not worth it. Besides, ‘Lord Richter’ sounded pretty good.

 “Summon the workers
Futen
.”

 Light grey mist rose from
between the cracks in the stone floor. Initially it was just a shapeless cloud
one foot off the ground. It then began to pool in ten different spots in the
chamber. The mist slowly rose taking on vague humanoid shapes. Each figure grew
distinct but remained faceless. They had no clothing and no sex organs. Under
the skin of each figure were slow moving swirls. The end of each arm was a
round mist filled sphere.

 “How will they accomplish
anything with those blobs for hands?”

 “They can fit any form desired
Lord Richter. Please attend.” And so saying one worker raised its arm and the
sphere became a hand, then a hammer, then a shovel head, before returning to
sphere.”