Chapter 17: Chapter Sixteen: Planning Stages for the Settlement

          The ocean breeze blew across Leo, whipping his long, golden hair around his face as he stared out over the milling sailors on the River Darter, the large galley that Leo and his team had managed to book passage on. The docks were bustling as last-minute trades were made between the inhabitants of Veltir—the town they were in—and the crew of the Darter, and supplies were purchased and loaded on the galley.

            Leo had asked around. The ‘Inner Sea’ was about half the size of the Mediterranean, but considerably closer to round rather than long. It rarely suffered strong storms, choppy water, or similar problems. Due to the numerous navigable rivers that fed the Inner Sea and the lack of strong winds, most ships were rowed galleys that made circuits around the Inner Sea and occasionally trading runs up rivers.

            Having nothing to do at that exact moment, Leo instead reflected on recent events. Today was the start of his third week in the world of Toth. After the vault, Leo and his team had taken the Yggdrasil Seed and the three scrolls—which had turned out to be extremely valuable ‘bloodline scrolls’—from the vault. The bloodline scrolls gave a permanent bloodline perk to someone and their descendants, much like Leo’s own Stardew line perk—the power of the bloodline based on the power and focus of the one who would establish the new bloodline. Lily had said that each scroll could sell for three to four thousand gold, potentially.

            It had caused a fight, but Leo had insisted that one go to Hugh, based on their agreement. That would give Hugh a hoard larger than any dragon his age whom he had ever heard of. Leo had also talked for a few hours with Hugh about the dragon’s plans. Hugh didn’t have many, beyond ‘show off my hoard and impress Polly.’ Leo had convinced him instead to stay with them and build his new lair right outside of the new capital Leo would establish. It hadn’t taken that much work—after saving Hugh’s life, helping him negotiate and renegotiate his deal, gaining Hugh multiple levels, and then making sure he got a fantastic payday, Leo had a lot of credit in the bank with the dragon.

            Then had come a boring week and a half of hiking and camping through a forest that, in Leo’s opinion, grew less idyllic and magical the longer he stayed in it. All the while he had felt the magic of the seed in his backpack, pricking the back of his mind with its constant presence. If he was ever too near someone with high ratings in the occult skill, they would easily sense the seed.

At Lily’s suggestion, they had headed south-east along the shore of the Inner Sea, looking for ships or villages as they left Calasti behind. A few days in, when their clothing had been mere ribbons, they had managed to find a small village and buy peasants’ garb to keep them decent, although it had felt superfluous for Lily, given her new powers of illusion.

A week after that, they had arrived at the port town of Veltir, a mixed town of humans, elves, dwarves, and rabbit-kin. Rabbit-kin had been another shock for Leo, who had sort of expected everyone else. Rabbit-kin looked to Leo like smaller, thinner humans with a fine white fur across them, unusually large and muscled thighs, and long bunny ears. Veltir was where they had found the River Darter and her captain, captain Laurel Whitewater—herself a rabbit-kin.

            Over the course of the trip, they had discussed how they would begin rebuilding the empire and settled on a plan. Once they found a ship, they would use the coin they had gotten to buy passage to Steelport.

Steelport was a major city on the southeastern coast of the inner sea, protected by a mountain range from everyone else landward. The fact that isolation, fishing, and some iron mines were its only resources had caused it to develop in a different direction from most of the Inner Sea ports. It had a “no questions asked” banking and trading system, a very loose immigration system that only required coin to get residence and protection, regardless of actions elsewhere, and the city trained, equipped, and rented out mercenary companies. From Lily’s description, the city seemed like a cross between Venice at the height of the Venetian Republic and Las Vegas, including the presence of rich families—families that might want to buy a Bloodline scroll and have the resources to do so.

            In short, they could sell what they had, buy whatever they needed to start a new town, and nobody would ask too many questions about the what, where, and why.

            As to the new town itself, Leo and Lily had hashed that out as well, combining Leo’s deep knowledge of history and engineering with Lily’s knowledge of geography and magic. They had decided that trying to rebuild inside Calasti proper would be too dangerous, given the numerous corrupted rituals around. Instead, they would build the first part of the city on Elgin Isle, the island in the mouth of the Blue River, where it emptied into the Inner Sea, and try to slowly reclaim the true seat of the old empire.

            But first, they needed supplies and settlers. And that was where Steelport came in.

            Leo had also started an intense regime, to make himself all that he could be. He had once been an active amateur MMA cage fighter, and he had gained two doctoral degrees, one in civil engineering and one in electrical engineering. He was used to working hard. Every morning, he got up as early as he could without an alarm, and while everyone else slept a bit later, he pushed himself to the ragged edge with pushups, sit-ups, jumping jacks, curling rocks or sticks, squats… whatever he could find to push himself. In the evenings, he would use up any spare essence, trying to analyze things and guess what he would learn from his magic, to familiarize himself with the feeling of using his magic. After that, he would ask Lily to use her powers so he could feel those.

            If he was going to take this world to glorious, new heights, he needed to start with himself. Just like anywhere, hard work and self-improvement comprised the path to success.

            Today, he had seen the results of his efforts in the form of an acquired perk and the occult skill.

            Lily walked up to the ship’s railing beside him. She ‘wore’—courtesy of her illusions—a long, white dress cinched at the waist, with a shawl over her shoulders and upper arms in green, all of it intricate. Her metallic-silver hair was bound by the same tiara she had maintained from the day Leo had met her, a thin circlet of gold leaves with a tiny diamond in the front. But she had added emerald jewelry to her outfit: bracelets, anklets, and a necklace. Leo assumed they were also illusions.

            She must have noticed his eyes roving because she commented, “We’ll need to get you a crown as well soon.”

            “Not really a priority of mine,” Leo said, cringing at the thought of wearing a crown. “Perhaps when we have a real kingdom I can consider a crown. We’re about to build a village, or a town at best. A crown is premature.”

            Lily nodded, her own eyes looking out across the Inner Sea in the direction of Steelport.

            “Worried?” Leo asked.

            Lily gave a tiny shudder that had nothing to do with the wind sweeping over the harbor and turned back to Leo. “This part should go well, I think. But someday, we’ll have to face the Blood Tribes. They destroyed a kingdom of millions. How can we hope to stand against them?”

            “Work harder and smarter both?” Leo suggested. “My country was once a tiny colony of farmers, and in a couple hundred years, it rose to become a world-bestriding empire. Harder and better is the answer.”

            Hugh spoke out from behind Leo, who hadn’t heard his approach over the bustle of the galley’s sailors. “That’s what she said?”

            Leo’s heart rate slowed back to normal as he turned back to face Hugh. “Nice. I think you’re getting the formula.”

            Hugh smiled his tooth-filled grin at Leo. “I should hope so. This is new Hugh, who levels and learns and is going to be the most powerful dragon the world has ever seen. Figuring out your jokes is basically beneath me now.”

            Leo chuckled, reached out, and scratched Hugh over his eye-ridge, something he had learned the dragon liked…

            Hugh leaned into it for a second, half-closing his eyes, and then pulled back. “Enough of that! I’m not a pet, thank you very much.”

            …but Hugh didn’t like to admit he liked it.

            “Have you picked abilities yet, Hugh?” Lily asked.

            “No,” Hugh said. “I know it’s been two weeks and I should have picked something by now. But at the same time, I never thought about leveling before. I’m not sure what build I should take.”

            “Tank,” Leo said. “You have Earth magic and nothing else. Protection is nearly all you can do, magically speaking, until you can get auras. We’ve discussed this to death with Lily already.”

            “I could be an agriculture mage, make better dirt. You, of all people, should appreciate better dirt.”

Leo gave a small laugh at that. Even though Leo had explained what his world was like by now, Hugh kept making ‘dirt grubber’ jokes.

Hugh continued. “Or I could have some control aspects in combat, like creating walls and pits and shifting the ground under people.”

            Lily nodded along with those ideas, but Leo shook his head. “Not for you, Hugh. You’re a very focused combatant. You tend to just charge maniacally. You need a simple powerset, one that relies mostly on static abilities and not on abilities you have to consciously use. Trust me.”

            Hugh frowned deeply. “You’re calling me dumb, aren’t you?”

            “No,” Leo said firmly. “But there are different kinds of intelligence. Yours is more kinesthetic, and you have great comebacks in repartee. Paying attention to the details of a battlefield would tax you, however. Again, I’ve seen you fight. A hard charge and going tooth and claw with someone is your style.”

            “Hmm…” was the only sound from Hugh.

            “Plus, you already have high Toughness, Health, and Armor. Lean into those stats and become as hard to kill as that golem was is my best advice.”

            Hugh turned and eyed Lily, who shrugged back at him.

            “Fine,” Hugh grumbled. “I’ll pick rocklike skin, rank I, and earthen resilience, rank I. That’ll give me an additional Armor and four Toughness. I’ll think on the other one, okay?”

            “Sure,” Leo said. “I don’t think you’ll regret it. This build has ‘you’ written all over it.”

            “What about Leveling Stats?”

            “There aren’t abilities in Earth magic to raise Strength, right?”

            Lily shook her head no.

            “Then either all six in Strength or until you hit some major milestone, like Twenty, and then re-evaluate.”

            Hugh nodded. “Makes sense.”

            Hugh’s eyes fuzzed out, a sure sign someone was looking at their own invisible stat chart. After a moment, Leo saw subtle changes in Hugh. His scales gained the slightest hint of a deeper, metallic color, and he appeared a touch more solid.

            “Well, that’ll make it extra hard for someone to kill me,” Hugh said with satisfaction.

            Leo nodded and pulled up his own status chart, noting again with pleasure his occult skill and new athletic perk.

Leonard Emmanuel Evans
Level Six	Body, Mind, Soul, Wyld, Metal
Health	13	Stamina	13	Essence	13
Level Stats
Strength	10(12)	180 base pound-lifting capacity, +10% melee damage, +6% running speed.
Agility	20(24)	-70% enemy hit chance, +70% hit chance with all weapons, +28% running speed, +.5 critical modifier.
Dexterity	12	+10% base success for crafting and physical skill success rate, 20% chance to raise base weapon damage roll by one step.
Endurance	10(12)	+2 base Stamina, +20% Stamina Recovery Rate, +20% base Health Recovery Rate.
Toughness	12	+2 base Health, +10% base Health, +10% base Stamina, +1 to resist poison, disease, and physical status effects.
Perception	10
Connection	10
Capacity	12	+2 base Essence, +10% base essence.
Appearance	14	Handsome.
Non-Level Stats
Intelligence	20	+100% skill acquisition rate, may gain rare and difficult skills.
Magic	16	+24% Magic Effects. +1 Maximum affinity.
Charisma	10 You are reading story Elf Empire at novel35.com
Luck	10	The Fates neither dislike nor care for you
Secondary Stats
Birth Perks
Race: High Elf		-2 to Strength, Endurance, and Toughness stats base +2 to Agility and Magic stats base Increased chance for Being magics and Wyld magic. Gain an additional ability at Level 2, 10, and every 10 thereafter from one of those magics if possessed. Lifespan average of 400 years. Maximum of 3 perks positive and negative each, with a standard chance of inheriting or acquiring at birth.
Rank: Natural		May obtain Level 80 without ascension, access to extremely rare or upgraded magical abilities.
Graceful Body		+4 Agility, +2 Dexterity, +4 Appearance.
Predator		+4 Agility, +10% critical chance, +.5 critical modifier.
Line of Stardew		+4 Magic, always start with Wyld, gain 1 additional Wyld ability at Level 2, Auras for Wyld are gained 10 levels earlier and this can exceed maximum level, and may gain 2 higher maximum Wyld affinity.
*Genius		+10 Intelligence, increased magic ability access. May gain +2 maximum Mind affinity.
*Being Arcane		With the appropriate pre-requisite abilities and stats, upon obtaining Level 30, may gain any or all of the Arcane abilities: Kinesthetic, Cognitive, or Empathetic.
*Aura Mastery		May gain auras as if 10 levels higher, including access to auras that are beyond maximum level once reached.
Acquired Perks
Low-Self Esteem		-2 check to resist despair effects. Failure, especially significant failure, can lead to further negative perks.
Athletic Tier-1		The time you spend working out and training has paid off. +20% effective rank to Strength, Agility, and Endurance, round down.

 

Skills	Level	Effect
Athletics	13	+39% to run speed, +13 to check to climb or avoid obstacles Level 10 Special Skill: Burst Fighter: For up to 6 minutes, all stamina expenditures are halved.
Business	2	+6% to expected income, and -2% to expected costs, for operating any business
Dodge	9	+27% to dodge incoming attacks
Instruction	4	+2% increase in learning rate of someone learning from you per point of difference in your skills
Melee Weapons	1	+1% to hit and damage with any hand-held weapon
Mixed Arts Fighting	9	+18% to hit and damage with fists, +9% to dodge, +4 to trip, pin, or incapacitate and avoid the same.
Natural Sciences	19	Extremely detailed understanding of the non-magical components of the world and how they work.
Occult	1	You can sense magic that is not concealed that is connected to you, whose area of effect you are in, or that is within 1 feet of you. Your magic powers have 2% greater effect. You can vaguely sense the purpose of simple magic.
Research	8	+16% base rate to discover information in archives, +16% to daily chance to discover something new while researching, modifying Intelligence rate.
Seduction	1	People find your attempts to seduce them 2% more favorable than baseline, compared to what they are looking for.
Survival	3	+9% hunting and foraging .
Small Blades	2	+8% to hit and parry, +4% to damage, and +4% critical chance with small blades.
Sword	5	+15% to hit and parry, +15% damage with swords.

 

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