Essence Wave Book 2 Chapter 29

*** AUTHOR'S NOTE ***

And two chapters today! Enjoy!

I'm hoping to get the first draft done tomorrow. I have the day off my day job due to the holiday, but it's also Joy's and mine 14th anniversary, so we'll see how much writing time I actually have. 

*** AUTHOR'S NOTE ***

An hour later, David found himself being shaken. He opened his eyes to find Summer pushing at his shoulder. “Mr. Black,” she said when he looked at her, “Josiah would like you to come to the map room.”

“Thank you, Summer,” David said. He stood up, “How’re you?”

“Very good,” she grinned at him. “I made it to level six yesterday! Josiah let me join a group in the Bridge Dungeon, which put me over the edge. I finally got enough Mana to cast Sudden Growth, and was able to grow an apple tree this morning. Chef (name) said he’d make me an apple pie with the fruit.”

“What does Sudden Growth do?”

“Uh, Alexander said it made the tree grow about ten years worth in an hour. It got really big, and then fruit started to grow on the branches,” she grinned at him. “I can only use the spell once a day, and only once on any particular plant, but it’s a good way to get the fruit grove started.”

“Fruit grove?” He asked.

“Uh, a couple of us Druids planted a bunch of fruit trees south of the town,” she said, “between here and Nathrop. Me and (name) keep an aura of Speed Growth running most of the time, so each day counts as about three for their growth, and we all have a bunch of spells that help out too. Of course, most of our time, Mana, and Energy go into the Farms. We’ve all got to eat, ya know?”

“Thanks Summer,” he said. She smiled brightly at him then turned and ran off. David walked into the Mayor’s Manor. Murmuring came from the classrooms to either side of the lobby. He shook off his curiosity before walking up the stairs to the map room.

Inside he found Colin, Aly, Josiah, Alexander, Emily, Spencer, Steve, and Michelle. “What’s the emergency?” David asked when he walked in.

“The Daemons in Buena Vista are up to something,” Josiah said. “Dylan is leading a team of all Scouts watching them, and he reported a massive movement of captives only half an hour ago. One of his Scouts said that a massive amount of Essence was being used for something. Amber is a Scout Mage who specializes in sensing Mana, Energy, and Essence.”

“So, do we go hit them now?” David asked.

“It’ll take a long time to get an attack force up against them,” Alexander said. “We still haven’t been able to get enough horses or bikes for a properly mounted cavalry.”

“Fill the trucks and go up the road to Fortification,” Steve said. “We finished the road last night.”

“That’s still only a hundred people, max,” Josiah said. “Conservative estimates put five thousand Daemons in Buena Vista.”

“Most of them are Gremlins, Grunts, and Imps,” Colin said. “Fodder only now for our highest level people.”

“Fodder can still hurt you,” Michelle said. “And they take Mana and Energy to deal with.”

“Plus there are at least two hundred Grunt Alphas, and Dylan reported three Daemon Lords like the one David barely beat. Their leader must be stronger still.”

“True, but we can’t just let the captives be killed,” Aly said.

“How many captives?” David asked.

“Dylan counted two hundred,” Josiah said. “And reported that there were movements indicative of more, but he couldn’t get into a position to verify without being discovered.” He paused for a second. “Dylan just reported that the Essence is spiking.”

WARNING! Attempted upgrade of a subsidiary portal to Regional Portal is underway nearby your Barony! Stop the upgrade and destroy the portal to ensure your people’s safety.

Reward: One Minor Upgrade for your Barony. Significant credit reward to all participants. Extra City Crystal.

NOTE: Every hour the difficulty increases. You have 72 hours to stop the upgrade.

David held up his hand with a finger extended, the universal symbol of ‘one second’ as he looked through the notification. “It’s a bigger problem than just the captives,” he said, sharing the notification with everyone.

Josiah cursed, “That is a problem. Seventy two hours, but every hour.”

“With one more day, we can have ten more people at level five,” Alexander said.

“Where are the five hundred people from Salida?” David asked.

“They’ll be here in a few hours,” Michelle said. “They had to take shelter from an Essence Storm that swept through south of us yesterday.”

“How many Earth Mages do we have that can make a wall quickly?” David asked.

Michelle pulled a notebook out of her dimensional storage device and flipped it open. “Thirteen,” she said. “With six more that could get a similar Skill if they upgraded their Earth Mage Way one more time. That’d also bring them to level five.”

“Ten hours,” Josiah said. “Use both Dungeons for ten hours to get as many more people up to level five as we can. Focus only on combat capable people. With fifty or sixty people at each to dump their Mana and Energy into them so we can get them to refresh quickly.”

“Colin, can you get Liz and head to the Bridge Dungeon,” David said. “Aly, you and I will go to the Resource Dungeon. Steve, interested in Mining?”

“Sure,” Steve said.

“Good, we’ll mine each time, and just create a pile at the entrance,” David said. “Alexander, Josiah, Michelle, Colin, get teams together. I’m going to go speak with Ben and Jamie. Get to the Dungeons as soon as you can, but spend all of your credits. Josiah, use all of the cities and baronies credits.”

“Let’s go, people,” Josiah said.

“Here’s to the start of the counter-offensive,” Alexander said.

David turned and ran out of the room, being closest to the door. Everyone else thundered out behind him, Running for all they were worth. Colin and Alexander both didn’t bother with the stairs, simply leaping over the railing and slamming to the floor. “What’s going on?” Blake asked, sticking his head out of one classroom.

“We’re going to war,” David said, rushing past.

“Anyone with combat capability needs to meet in the square outside the building in twenty minutes!” Josiah bellowed. “Go to the Market and quickly get ready.”

David Sprinted to the Workroom, saving only a few seconds, but the feeling of time slipping passed was growing stronger every minute.  Every hour the difficulty increases, David thought. They’re probably killing captives to increase the Essence in the portal even now. But if we don’t plan and go in strong enough, they die anyway, and so do we. I hate the apocalypse. He entered the building to see a dozen people working. “We go to war in ten hours,” he said loudly. “Focus only on combat items for now. If you have combat capability and are level four, meet Josiah in front of the Mayor’s Manor in twenty minutes.”

“More arrows,” Lisa said, looking over at a group of two guys who were fletching.

“I’ll get Bobby,” one of them said. “He’s probably with Sophia and Andrew.”

David stopped paying attention, bursting through the room to the Inscription area in the back. “Ben, Jamie,” he said, finding them both bent over a book on the table. “We have to stop the Daemons in Buena Vista from completing a portal. We leave in ten hours. I’m going to need you both to be ready to help us make fall-back fortifications with the Earth Mages.”

“I c, can make a simple Fire Grenade Inscription out of a p, piece of stone in only f, five minutes,” Ben said. “If you c, can get me enough, I’ll keep w, working on it until you c, come and get me.”

“I’ve been working on this,” she said, pushing a metal plate at me.

David inspected it with Scholar’s Vision.

Name: Weak Portable Mana Barrier

Description: Stores Mana and projects it as a two meter tall Mana Barrier when triggered. Able to resist a medium amount of damage before dispersing.

Mana Stored: 110/400

“These look perfect,” David said. “How many do you have?”

“Two,” she grimaced. “I could probably make another ten in ten hours. They are really hard.”

“Hey did you hear …” a young man holding a bow said as he barged into the room. “Oh, Lord Black.”

“Eric or Bryan?” David asked.

“Bryan sir,” he said. “Uh, what should I work on sir?”

“What do you know that will help keep people alive or take down Daemons?” David asked.

“Uh, I was trying to Inscribe a bow with something to make it easier to shoot,” he said, “but I’ve not gotten it to work. Other than that, I’ve been making the traps and selling them.”

“Work with Ben on the Fire Grenades,” David said. “First go to the Stonecutter’s Hut and get them to bring enough stone for both of you.”

“Yes sir,” he nodded sharply before running back out of the room.

“I’ll be at the Resource Dungeon,” David said. “Would copper, tin, or bronze improve the grenades?”

“M, maybe,” Ben said. “But it m, might take longer to make.”

“Numbers are more important,” David said. “We need to take out the Gremlins and Grunts without tiring out.”

“Uh, I had an idea,” Jamie said. “It’s not super strong, but I made this a couple of days ago, with Ben’s help.” She opened a drawer and pulled out an inch-wide dowel that was a meter long. There were a dozen runes carved into it that extended down the line. “I can show Bryan and Eric how to make these for the people who don’t use Mana that much.”

Name: Minor Flamethrower Rod

Description: Channel Mana through the Rod to use the Skill: Flamethrower at the Novice 10 Skill Level.

“Oh, neat,” David said. He looked at her. “Ten hours, do what you think is best.”

“We will be ready,” Jamie said. Ben nodded.

David gave them both a smile before turning out of the building to run to the Market. Upon seeing the line of people waiting, he shook his head. I’m good for now. I’ll stop by in a few hours. With that thought, he turned and Sprinted out of the upper city, blasting down the switchbacks as fast as he could. He ran to the place he’d left his truck.

There he found Aly and Steve with his band of muscle heads, along with a crew of six people all armed with various rifles led by Emily. “Come on,” Aly said. “Hop in and drive.”

David laughed, and they quickly got onto the slowly falling apart pre-Essence Wave road. A few minutes later they were pulling in front of the Dungeon to see an older pickup truck waiting near the opening with a pile of ore in the back. David parked on the other side of the opening.

“Alright, get the ore out of the back of the truck,” David told Steve, who nodded and pulled out a set of shovels. David turned to the Dungeon to see five people dragging the mining cart up the last hallway. “Perfect timing.” Aly and he rushed down and grabbed two open handles, hauling the cart up the slope.

“Thanks,” a woman panted.

“Don’t thank me yet,” he said, pulling the cart off to the side where Steve, Jack, and Barry were shoving the pile of ore. With a grunt, he shoved the cart over, then lifted the bottom and dumped all of the ore out of the cart.

“Why?” the same woman asked.

“We’re about to start speedrunning the Dungeon,” David said. “No time to haul all of the ore back. Just make a pile here. Any of you combat or just crafting?”

“Uh, everyone’s got some combat skill,” she said “But Jonathan is only level three.”

A thirteen-year-old boy lifted his hand. “I just wanted to be a miner,” he said. “I think it’s neat.”

“Okay,” David said. “Every time the Dungeon is cleared, you’ll be helping to mine the walls. I don’t want to lose any resources, but I’d rather not waste any time in getting them. Any of the rest of you level four?”

“We all are,” she answered.

“Good, then get back into the Dungeon and use up all your Mana and Energy as fast as you can,” he said, then pushed the cart back onto its wheels. “Come on.”

They followed him back in to find Aly in the first room blasting away at a wall. Emily was coaching all of her team as they shot bolts of Energy and Mana down into a circle painted on the wall. David looked at the team that had just cleared the Dungeon. “Who’s low on Energy?”

The leader said, “Me.”

“What’s your name?” David asked as he extended his hand.

“Samanatha,” she said, then gasped as David used A Leader’s Gift to drop three thousand Energy into her. With his Skills penalties, it was only around three fifty or four hundred, but that was a decent amount for level four.

“Mana?” David asked.

“Uh, I’m just about out. Jaden, sir,” a teenager said, holding out his hand.

“Here ya go,” David laughed, then dropped three thousand into his Skill. “Now, all of you attack me. I’m training Mana Shield. No headshots.”

“Sir?” Samantha asked, but Jaden just nodded and sent an Ice Spike that shattered against the quickly formed Mana Shield using eight hundred Mana, enhanced with Overcharge. Earthen Bulwark kept his feet still against the impact forces pushing on him.

The rest of the team joined in, and they wore through the Skill after about a minute. David leapt out of the way right as his Shield broke, dodging three attacks. “One second,” he said, then formed another Shield. “Okay.” The deluge of attacks only lasted thirty more seconds before they all slumped.

“Out of Mana again,” Jaden said. “And Energy.”

“All of you, meditate until you’re full,” David said, then leaned against the wall and started his own meditation. “How can I make this work better?” he mumbled to himself while reviewing his usage of Mana Shield.

After five minutes of subjective contemplation, he popped back out and walked over to Emily. “Mana?”

“Sure,” she said. “But aren’t you working with them?”

“They’re recharging now,” he said. “They need to level Meditation too.”

“Then hit me with both,” she said.

David nodded and grabbed her shoulder. He gave her a bit over two thousand of each, then walked back over to the wall. With a thought, he checked his notifications. No increase to Earthen Bulwark or Mana Shield, dang it. At least Leader’s Gift went up to Initiate 2. Whoa, Overcharge jumped straight to Initiate 1. Try again on the defense Skills in a few minutes. Let’s try out my newly combined Skill.

He turned to the wall and engaged Vanguard’s Strike, punching forward and pushing mostly Energy into the Skill structure. The impact shoved him backwards, easily doubling the impact of the non-combined Skill. Sweet! He kept going, using less of his resources than his regeneration rate while waiting for his training partners. Should check on the Dungeon, he thought, then tried to scan the wall. He didn’t get a return, so he ran back to the outside. About halfway full.

Just as he checked, another eight people jogged around the corner of the ravine the Dungeon was in. He waved, and they Sprinted towards him. The frontman was Blake, “Howdy bossman,” he said.

“Inside, use all your Mana and Energy then meditate to recover,” David said, though he grinned to take any sting out of his short words.

“You heard the boss!” Blake yelled, then followed David back into the Dungeon. “This place feels creepy.”

“Yeah, a bit,” David said. “You get used to it.”