A Soldier's Life - 392 - Compounding Interest (finished second half of chapter 5-17-25)

Chapter 392: Compounding Interest

The great thing about dungeon artifacts in general is that you are not required to have a specific affinity to use them. The artifact itself converts the raw aether into the required affinity for the spell form. Artificers can do the same thing with manmade artifacts, but can never approach the conversion efficiency of a dungeon artifact, making dungeon artifacts much more desirable.

Some ancient dungeon artifacts studied in the book lacked this conversion capability. The user needed to channel the correct aether into the artifact to activate it. The book noted that a lot of these ancient artifacts were now used to teach young mages how to purify their aether to write out true spells. Laeroth made a footnote that all dungeons stopped producing these specific aether-affinity required artifacts at around the same time. He noted that he planned to conduct another study to explore how dungeons managed to communicate with each other.

One of the brilliant studies Laeroth Sylceran conducted was to determine if a mage purified their aether to match the artifacts' spell forms, thereby increasing the artifacts' power. The answer was very minor: a ten affinity yielded a fraction of a percent improvement. This enhancement doubled with every ten affinity. Laeroth had been frustrated with obtaining accurate measurements but assessed various artifacts with numerous mages over many years. Of course, this study was only possible because the Telhians invented the assessment tablet some two thousand years ago to accurately evaluate a mage’s exact affinity.

Affinity

Enhancement

10

0.33%

20

0.66%

30

1.32%

40

2.64%

50

5.28%

60

10.56%

70

21.12%

80

42.24%

90

84.48%

100

168.96%

Why wasn’t this common knowledge in the books I had read from the Telhian Empire? Did Castile know and not tell me? I think some of the disinterest was that mages with affinities over fifty were very rare. As Laeroth indicated, even measuring a five percent increase in an artifacts effect was difficult. Castile’s two highest affinities were illusion at 62 and energy at 49. Finding a dungeon artifact to match your affinity was difficult for mage commanders who were not First Citizens, so maybe she never had the opportunity.

Maybe this knowledge was common among other nations in their mage education, while the Telhians only shared it with their First Citizens? That seemed very plausible. This tome was first published over seven hundred years ago, and this copy was just over two hundred years old if I was interpreting the dates correctly. 

What excited me was that I had several affinities over fifty. I recalled reading that the dungeon essence collector used runic arrays for the convergence affinity! My convergence affinity was 74, which I estimated meant I could increase the artifact's power by nearly 33%. I wondered if my random funneling of aether to the device had occasionally been channeled through the convergence aspect of my core, resulting in a better essence as a result by pure accident.

Thinking back, I recalled the times Konstantin used it; he had been less fortunate than I. He always liked to joke that it was because I was Fortuna’s bastard son, but this scientific reasoning made more sense.

I checked my room’s security and went into my dreamscape to confirm that the essence collector was, in fact, converting aether to the convergence affinity. I emerged from the dreamscape smiling. The collector appeared in my hand, and I ran my fingertips across the runic patterns covering the artifact. Numerous scratches and tiny blemishes adorned the device, with the largest dent being from the time I was almost killed by the blizzard lizard in the Shimmering Labyrinth. 

I sent a pulse of earth-speak aether into the metal, and since it was completely metallic, I received a clear image of its dizzying array of runic patterns throughout the device. Unlike a man-made artifact that layered runes and connected them like discs, this device was a twisting, three-dimensional maze of runes. How anyone was ever able to study the spaghetti patterns I was looking at and reproduce one of these devices was a mystery.

The question I had was if a 30% increase in efficiency for the device was enough to yield better essences. If it was, how much potential had I wasted in the last three years? I didn’t dwell on it and returned the device to study my other dungeon artifacts.

The magebane was abyssal magic, so I could not enhance the poison it created, and the artifact also seemed to steal my aether when I struck an enemy, rather than waiting for me to supply it. The ring of sustenance used my body's aether naturally, so no benefit there. The channeling ring functioned similarly. My earth drake bracers definitely utilized the earth affinity, but only activated when I was struck, dispersing bludgeoning attacks across my entire body.

Heartseeker, the back spear, had no references in any of the books in my dreamscape, but I was fairly certain its cutting ability came from the void affinity, but I never felt the artifact draw aether from me. Boris’ dungeon artificed blade, which enhanced strikes in combat, used celestial magic, and when I dripped the hilt, I felt it pull a trickle of aether from me. According to my references, the dreamscape amulet was a mix of three affinities: mind, illusion, and space, but when activated, it caused you to lose consciousness in the real world and fed off a tickle of aether from the user. I do not think my shaping was good enough to feed three different streams of aether anyway.

The amulet of insight used the mind affinity. With my mind affinity at 22, that meant I could enhance this artifact by about 1%. Even if that were not a noticeable enhancement, it would still be beneficial training to flow aspected-aether subconsciously.

My other dungeon artifacts—the demon bowl, Corvus’ dagger, and the elven brooch had no references in the dreamscape library, and my attempts to decipher the complex, minuscule runes with a mix of aether sight and earth speak were unsuccessful. All my other artifacts had been made by men.

I had been up all night and heard the galleys’ bell ringing for breakfast, surprising me. The passengers would eat before the crew, but my group would come to my cabin to break their fast. Then we would head on deck for weapons practice. For the first time, I was actually anxious to fight a creature and see if I could improve the essence yield with the collector. I would have to discuss it with the group, but I was already thinking we should travel to the Restless Mountain Dungeon to get the essences to fortify Evie’s attributes. I guess we should do the same for Lesna since she had attached herself to us.

Benito was chewing on some barbecue meat on a stick as he talked, “You know, everyone in my village never thought I would make anything of myself.” We all looked at each other, surprised when Benito didn’t continue.

“And were they right?” Blaze asked with a smirk.

Benito licked his fingers of sauce, “Probably. I am not famous or anything, but I have traveled around the planet and killed way more dangerous monsters than anyone back in my village. Now, I am off to become a Death Hunter.”

“We are not joining the Death Hunters,” Blaze said, amused.

“Not how I see it,” he said, taking the last of the meat. I think it was rat meat, but it was tasty with the glaze. “We are protecting Evie,” he gestured at her. “And she is becoming a Death Hunter. So that makes us Death Hunter guardians, right?”

“Yeah, something like that.” I interrupted Benito’s amazing logic. “I want to detour to a dungeon in the Nausis Kingdom. It should have a large number of physical essences we can harvest for Evie and Lesna.”

Lesna perked up. “Why for me?” She asked cautiously, but excitedly.

“We have all fortified our attributes with essences. That allows us to not only get the most from our training, but also ensures our bodies don’t revert if we cannot train. I am assuming Evie’s training is going to be physical, mental and magical. We will do what we can to help her prepare.” I snagged some fruity gum drops and sipped my water and waited.

Blaze was the first to agree. “Evie cannot go into the dungeon, so I volunteer to watch her.” He was already chuckling and grinning, knowing that was not going to happen.

“I want to go into the dungeon!” Evie protested. “I can pass for a halfling,” she added.

“Oh, child—you could not pass for a halfling,” Lesna laughed. Evie was not only taller than Lesna, but also had a child-like, innocent face.

I ended any argument with a firm voice. “Evie is not going in the dungeon. If there are no objections, I will tell you about the dungeon.”

No one objected, so I relayed the dungeon as simply as well as our plan. We are going to land in Nausis, the capital of the Kingdom of Nausis. We will spend two or three days researching the Death Hunters and whether they would be willing to take on Evie without revealing ourselves.” I nodded to Evie, reassuringly.

“From there, we will travel to Mubearos, about 250 miles northeast. The entire town is dedicated to harvesting copper and iron ore from the dungeon. The dungeon allows twenty delvers at once. The local Adventurers’ Guild sends in ten adventurers to guard ten miners, every twelve hours. They typically only mine one of the large chambers each delve. After it is cleared, only a few adventurers are needed to watch the miners, and the remainder have the option to tackle another room.”

“What type of monsters inhabit the dungeon?” Blaze asked thoughtfully. Evie leaned forward, her eyes wide with fascination. Although she had a rough time since arriving in Desia, she had been fortunate not to confront some of the more dangerous creatures.

“There are seven chambers. The dungeon is shaped like a hexagon with a seventh room in the center. To reach the central room, you need to travel in either direction to the far side of the hexagon. The first chamber has myconids, but no iron or copper. The adventurers usually harvest this room after getting the miners settled. No matter which direction you go, the next room has types of swarming beetles, none of which are very dangerous. The most profitable room is on the right path, with copper and some silver ore, has something called a hook horror.”

“What a terrible name,” Lesna chirped.

“Yes, well, they are bipedal avians the size of a goliath, but instead of wings, their arms are bony hooks. They like to hang on the ceiling and drop on their enemies. Their most dangerous attack is when they can hug you with their clawed arms and pull you to their body. Then their sharp beak can engulf your head and close.” I clapped my hands together, and Evie jumped.

“I just want to reiterate that I am willing to volunteer and watch Evie while you have all the fun,” Blaze said a little more seriously.

“On the left path, after the beetle chamber, is covered in blood pools. It is not really blood, just looks like it because of the high iron content. Venomous snakes swirl in the thick red pools with scales as hard as iron. It is impossible to avoid the pools to reach the other side of the chamber.” I said.  

I took a moment to sip some water, as my companions remained fixed on me. Evie was absorbed in the imagery, and it was like I was reading her a bedtime story. “The chamber before the floor guardian is probably the most difficult. The chamber has little streams of water falling from the ceiling into deep pools throughout. These pools contain a creature that resembles a jellyfish but can float in mid-air. Their tentacles have a long reach, and if they hit you, they pull themselves to you and wrap you up with their other nine appendages.”

“Then they eat you?” Benito asked.

“No, they spray a digestive acid from their bell-head. It is an excruciating way to die. No need to say it, Blaze,” I beat him to announcing his willingness to guard Evie. “The final room in the center of the dungeon has smoldering vents coming from the floor. It is not only hot, but it also makes it difficult to see, and the clouds are caustic to the lungs. A single large smoke drake guards the room. It has a cloud breath weapon that cannot be escaped in the confines of the room after the dungeon seals you in. The cloud burns the eyes and skin, and sometimes ignites the air into an incendiary cloud.”

“What about the reward chests?” Benito asked eagerly, not deterred by my descriptions.

“There are good. But remember, there are ten adventurers total, and usually the first two rooms that are cleared for the miners, the guild-assigned leader takes the prizes. If we can separate from the group, we should be able to use the collector and claim the reward chest from rooms we clear alone. That is the overview, but things might have changed since the book I read about it was over fifty years old.” I fielded questions from the group for the next few hours before we headed on deck for some training.

Lesna participated, and I think she thought she was going into the dungeon. After training, I sat with Evie and brought out the two books, “These are yours to help you practice your written Elvish.”

She took them reverently and opened them. There were only a few illustrations, but those were the pages she went to. Once she paged through both books, we were about to start our lessons for the day, when she hugged me fiercely and muttered, “Thank you.” Today, Evie had a laser focus during our lessons, perhaps realizing how much we were risking to help her.

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