World Sphere - 83 - Laying the Keel

Chapter 83: Laying the Keel

We tore through the dungeon, planning to record our largest harvest of honey and wax. After we killed the first queen bee, I found that my spell couldn’t lock onto the poison gland. Gareth’s overly aggressive attack had ruptured the sac. When the spell didn’t find a viable target that I was visualizing, it wouldn’t trigger.

We were much more cautious about the second queen bee, and I was able to cast the tissue extraction spell. All I needed to do was focus, and the spell removed the stinger, freed the gland beneath from tissue, and cut an incision to make collecting easier. I retrieved the rubbery marble-sized sac. I dropped it into a jar and placed it inside my dimensional space, easy peasy.   

Our pace picked up, and we were able to collect three out of four glands from the queen bees. I was getting decent spell advancement for neutralize poison and tissue extraction. We got a little reckless with our pace and had a few stings among the group. 

My tissue extraction spell reached level five by the time we reached the clearing for the goblin settlement. My spell evolutions were skinning at level 2, which would completely detach the hide of an animal. At level 3, the evolution was butcher. This evolution let me extract one cut of meat from an animal. At level 5, I took the bone extraction evolution. This cuts all the tissue around the bones and allows the caster to remove it easily.

Each spell cast could perform all the evolutions at once, so I could get an aether stone, piece of meat, the hide, and one organ with each cast. It was the ultimate harvester spell for delvers. Since it normally took four slots to learn, many mages were reluctant to learn it since their aether matrices were so small.

Clearing the frost goblin camp went smoothly as well. When we were ready for the hobgoblin chief, I was kept in reserve this time to handle any unexpected issues. Aelyn and Gimble were on the flanks when the boss and his support appeared. Once again, the shaman delayed his entrance. Now that we knew about the ice ball spell, it was easy to dodge it.

After two guards were taken down, Gimble moved to engage the shaman, and I joined the attack on the hobgoblin who had taken multiple wounds from Ullmark. The fight was surprisingly more organized compared to our first attempt, and Ullmark said it was closer to a normal clear. Once you understood what to expect in a dungeon, it rarely changed.

My spell quickly harvested the small aether crystals, as they were classified as an organ for the tissue extraction spell. After the goblins and hobgoblin finished, the spell reached level 6. I was unsure why this particular spell was leveling up so fast. It must be because I was using it on dungeon creatures we had fought. When I asked Gimble and Ullmark, they just shrugged, unfamiliar with mage spell leveling. I plan to ask Selina during classes tomorrow.

Gareth asked anxiously. “Gimble, who is opening the chest?”

Gimble looked at me, and I pointed at Aelyn. Gimble nodded and announced, “Aelyn is going to open it.” Aelyn, hearing her name, looked up, confused. Gimble rumbled, “Get to it, girl.”

Aelyn held up the frostskin boots and the three gold and three silver from the chest. I smiled, “Aelyn, they are sized to your feet, so you can put them on and keep them.”

Ullmark added, “If we ever venture to the fifth floor, Aelyn, you will want to wear those. The fifth floor is a frozen lake, and those make moving on the ice easy.” After the excitement of the chest, we collected the salable items that Ullmark indicated.

Ullmark looked at me, and I nodded, so Ullmark announced, “We were going to the second level and try our hand at some boars.” Gareth was probably the most excited.

We entered and arrived at a different location than last time. Instead of a straight hallway, the hallway went about 30 feet into a T intersection. Once everyone was through, Ullmark took over.

“Alright, everyone with the boars on this level needs a pair in front to soften their charge. If the boars get a head start, we all need to fall back around a corner. They can’t turn when they’re charging. Once they gain speed, they become impossible to stop,” Ullmark explained to the group. I saw Gareth smirk, and I knew he was thinking about trying to bring down a charging boar.

We started wandering the maze, and Ullmark was leaving chalk marks pointing us back to our door. He told the group the dungeon would eventually erase the marks, but if we had to flee, we would follow them to the exit.

We turned the corner, and a boar surprised us—well, it was a mutual surprise because the boar was unsure what to do before lunging with its tusks at Gareth.

The boar was not small, its shoulder coming to Gareth’s waist, and the tusks were six inches long and thick. Gareth blocked with his sword, but was thrown off balance by the beast’s power. Sammie cut into the boar’s shoulder with her axe, managing to keep hold of it and immobilize the boar, which allowed Gareth an easy slash at the spine, disabling it.

Gimble called out, “Nice work! We have one more coming from this side passage, so retreat to the intersection.” We all moved together, and when the boar reached the corner, Ullmark and Gareth engaged it. This fight was bloodier as it took multiple blows to bring down the beast.

I was permitted to harvest the aether crystals from the boars, including their livers, hides, tusks, and some specific cuts of meat. The spell guided me, but I had never butchered a whole boar before, so I knew I was only doing an acceptable job.

The tusks were the same ones that Antal had shaped into the handles of my first daggers that Gareth and I wore. Antal was an excellent bone shaper, and he had crafted my small bone carvings of monsters that I cherished growing up. Maybe he would be interested in making models of monsters depicted in the Shiny Platinum to sell. He could display them alongside my bronze figurines in the curiosity souvenir shop.

We started moving carefully through the maze and backtracked a few times when Ullmark told us to. When I was paired with Ullmark, I asked him if the boars were the only monsters on the floor, since I remembered something about rats. “No, Storme, there are traps on this floor that fall into a chamber below. In that chamber are usually about half a dozen large mole rats. The trap is obvious because the floor gets steeper as you get closer to it. The mole rats are hard to deal with because their mouths have an acidic glue that lets them latch onto you, and then their sharp claws easily tear into flesh.”

“There is always a small reward chest for clearing the trap room, but the danger is not worth it,” Gareth added from the front of our procession.

We had taken down six boars when we finally found a second arch. Ullmark pulled out a map and thought for a bit, then said, “Ok, Gimble. I know where we are. We are in the northeast corner of the maze. I can lead us to the floor boss or another exit.”

Gimble pulled out his time-keeping device, “It has been over eight hours. Let us head back.” I just nodded, and everyone did look tired. My dimensional space was stuffed with honey and boar parts. We used the gate to exit.

The guards acknowledged us, and our group returned to the Shiny Platinum. The restaurant was packed with a short line outside as well. I dropped off the honey-filled wax cells in the brewery, the boar meat and livers in the walk-in freezer. The boar hides, tusks, and miscellaneous items in the warehouse. I found Remy in his room studying the Wind Splitter manual. I sent him off to log the harvests, knowing he would be impressed.

I went down to the kitchen and showed a cook how to set up a smoker. We decided to replace the least popular menu sandwich with a BBQ pulled pork sandwich. I had concluded the menu would never have more than 23 items. After a few quick casts of the cleanliness spell, I was back in my room. With Gareth’s room next to mine, I could hear them celebrating a successful delving run. I cast my alarm, arcane locks, and privacy spells and opened my lightning spear book on my comfortable couch.

I was interrupted by Remy an hour later. Remy just handed me the catalog of the harvest and potential values. It looked like we had done well, maybe a twenty gold profit after paying the team and expenses, not including the honey to be made into mead. I created a two large gold coins in my palm and flipped them in the air. All that work for something I could produce in just seconds but I could see when Adventurers were drawn to it.

I returned to studying. It was late in the evening, and I decided to take a skyship back to Solaris City in the morning, then walk back to the academy barracks. That way, I could sleep here tonight without Gareth nearby. After creating my mithril and going through all my mental and aether exercises, I snuggled under my soft sheets when suddenly, a loud knock on my door triggered my spell alarm.

I didn’t recognize the old man that the alarm spell flashed into my head. I opened the door ready for anything. “Storme Hardlight?” The old man asked. I nodded. He held out his hand to shake wrists. “Rippon Kirkwood. Sebastian said you needed a wood shaper.”

I shook his hand excitedly in realization. “Please come in,” I said. The man was clean-shaven and had messy shoulder-length white hair. His body seemed wiry and strong as he entered in some unfashionable clothes. Rippon looked around the apartment and decided on the couch instead of the hard seats at the dining room table. “I was not aware you were coming. Sebastian said he would track someone who might be interested, but didn’t say when or who.”

The old man grinned. “Yeah, I went to Hen’s Hollow after talking with Sebastian this morning, and your parents said I could find you here. They were discussing moving to Aegis City.”

My focus on Rippon drifted, “My parents were talking about what?”

Rippon smiled knowingly, “Your father received a reassignment yesterday. They were discussing his modest raise and if they should move to the city to make it easier for his new duty.”

I nodded; Tessa must have come through—rather quickly. Was she trying to impress me? I dismissed the thought. “Rippon, tell me about your qualifications as a wood shaper.”

The old man settled into the cushions. “I've built over a hundred merchant and transport ships in the civilian yards. I retired five years ago and have been feeling pretty bored since. When Sebastian asked to meet with me, I might've even agreed to help out at the naval yards.” He winced, clearly not liking the Skyholme Navy for some reason. “Then he told me some young guy was planning to build a high-speed light transport. I decided to meet you for myself.” He motioned with his hands, indicating here we are.

If Sebastian sent him, then I thought I could trust him, and he also indicated he didn’t like the navy for whatever reason. “I am trying to stockpile the materials now,” Rippon fidgeted, “but I would be willing to hire you starting immediately. What are your terms?”

A small grin appeared on his face. I could tell the old man was eager to start building skyships again. He paused for a moment and said, “I will need an apartment in the city. Nothing fancy. A gold a week and an aether battery once we start construction.” I nodded. People with small aether cores used an aether battery so they could cast more spells. It was very inefficient and took time to recharge your core from one.

I countered, “You can have one of the apartments in this building. I own the building, and there are multiple open apartments. You can have as many meals as you want for free at the restaurant and bakery below. I will pay you three gold a week.” I pulled a platinum from my storage and handed it to him. “For your aether battery. If you remain with me until the skyship is complete, you can keep the aether battery.”

The man’s eyes widened as I continued to speak. He shook his head. “I have been using my skills to make furniture these last few years. I would have probably paid you to let me build another ship! Don’t worry, I am an excellent shaper. One of the best in Skyholme, but it's no longer the fastest. I accept your offer!”

“Fantastic! Let me give you a tour of the facilities and find you a room,” I said excitedly. Maybe we could speed up my timeline if I could get Rippon and Remy working soon.

We started the tour in the hangar. Rippon was slightly stunned by the space and asked for extra lighting to be added, but aside from that, the space was perfect. We then moved into the adjacent storage room, which held our recent dungeon harvest. I told him that most of the apartments were for my dungeon team. I introduced Rippon to our guards. We headed up to the brewery above, where no one was present, but we sampled some ale Mera must have made earlier today. She was improving quickly.

The next stop was the large recreation and training room. We then moved to the apartments. I found an open one and gave him the keys. The apartment was fully furnished, and he was very happy with it. Our next stop was Remy’s room. We found Remy counting out silver coins from the restaurant. The manual was open on his dining room table with pages and pages of notes.

“This is Remy. He is going to be training to be the engineer for the build,” I said with a smile. The old man looked skeptically at the young Remy. I reassured him, “Trust me, he is more than capable. Since you have connections, maybe you can bring him by the civilian shipyards and show him around?”

Rippon appeared to be observing Remy, who had gained significant confidence in his managerial role and was no longer hesitant. Finally, Rippon said, breaking the tension. “I haven’t been to the yards in a while. It would be good to reconnect with some old friends. Do you want to tag along, Remy?”

Remy nodded, clearly excited. I stood. “Great! I will leave you two to get acquainted.” I pulled a few large silvers from my pockets, “For your expenses. Also Remy, Rippon is going on the payroll starting today, and his rate will be three gold per week. Make sure to introduce him around so the restaurant staff knows who he is for meals.”

I returned to my room eager to get some sleep but had trouble as the excitement of hiring a wood shaper kept me awake. I eventually pulled out my spellbook and fell asleep studying it.

I was late returning to Hens’ Hollow because I overslept and missed the transport to Solaris. I spent a gold coin to get private transport to Hens’ Hollow. Aelyn apologized because she hadn’t realized I was in my room when everyone gathered to fly back in the morning. Since I hadn’t attended the party in Gareth’s room, they assumed I had already gone back on my own.

I was punished by Callem for being late by having to help with dishes after breakfast. It actually gave me a chance to talk with Freya. Freya relayed the good news I was already made aware of. Father had been called to Aegis City to serve as the east dock captain, his station was a few minutes walk from the Shiny Platinum.

He was getting a pay bump but was actually going to have to do less work. He was just in charge of six men who logged all skyship arrivals and departures. He was still working on convincing our mother to resettle in the large city. I told Freya that I would charge our parents a very reasonable rate for an apartment—free.

Freya kept asking me how I managed to get our father the promotion. She wasn’t dumb. I had asked her just last week how to get our parents to move to Aegis City. I told my younger sister that I had made significant sacrifices.

In lessons with Selina, I asked about the rapid spell advancement of the tissue extraction spell. She didn’t think the dungeon environment played a role. “Combat definitely plays a role in rapid advancement, but not the dungeon itself,” she said thinking. We spent some time puzzling it out, and eventually, the answer was simple. I had been subconsciously using my mend flesh evolution of diagnose others.

This gave me a clear mental map of the creature and made the tissue extraction spell work more efficiently. It was not unusual for two spells to synergize like this. To achieve rapid leveling, you needed to cast both spells in succession. I had been so used to casting the diagnostic aspect of my mend flesh spell that I didn’t even realize I was doing it. Selina was impressed when I told her I had leveled tissue extraction to six in just eight hours and planned to write a paper on it.

During the rest of the week, Gareth couldn’t help but talk about his upcoming date with Loriel. He alienated Fera and Mera again. We were both going to meet Loriel and Tessa at Loriel’s apartment next to the Skyhold Citadel. We would then be escorted by a half dozen Citadel Wolfsguard to the Sowing Festival in Skyhold.

On the 3rd night of the week out at Twin Rocks, my aether shield spell reached level 13 and got an evolution. I added a third shield. What was great about this evolution was that Elora and Elijah didn’t realize I was working with three shields most of the evening, and I surprised them multiple times.

On the 5th night, I wondered why Gareth had not joined us tonight. Elijah and Elora decided to get some revenge for my trickery two nights before with the third aether shield. I managed to surprise them again, imprinting my lightning spear spell in combat as I was reaching for a ranged combat option as they circled wide from me.

I caught Elijah in the chest and burned a hole through his leather chest piece. We stopped and looked at the circular hole. It had burned his leather armor and singed his shirt underneath—a completely underwhelming result from such a cool-named spell. The armor was made from a dungeon beast, which made it more resilient, but I was still disappointed he was unharmed.

The first evolution of the spell was to increase the speed from 75 mph to 150 mph. With Elora and Elijah, we worked on dissecting the spell. It looked cool—a blue-white lightning bolt speeding toward a target. It didn’t have much impact on a tree, with just a burn ring in the bark. At the second evolution, I increased the energy of the bolt. Now it burned about an inch into the tree, and left a smoldering fire.

I kept casting until I reached the third evolution, increasing the power again. Now, the hole was almost two inches deep. We tried the spell on a boar’s tusk, and it burned about half an inch into the tough bone.

Elijah encouraged me to continue increasing the power of the spear so I could eventually burn through a skull. A headshot would be an instant kill if I could reach the brain. The problem was that the aim was not easy. There was a lot of deviation after five feet. I could see why the mage who owned the spell before I had been frustrated.

We ran out of practice time and returned as a group. I was definitely going to work on leveling this spell in the future. The next spell I planned to work on was absolute time. It was a very simple spell, and should only take a week.

The rest of the week flew by quickly, and we were ready to leave. Gareth had us skip dinner so we could reach the capital earlier. We took a skyship to the lower city of the capital and then walked to the upper city. Gareth used the communication stone to call Loriel. Bylura arrived and escorted us to Loriel’s family’s entrance at the Skyhold. I couldn’t believe I was really doing this—attending a party hosted by the Triumvirate.