World Sphere - 190 - Sibling Support

Chapter 190

The array was much more complex than I had anticipated. Fortunately, the plans had minor artificed devices to help with the alignments. The most useful were paired compasses, which always pointed at each other. This was my first task, anchoring one of the compasses in the center of the palace where the control array would be placed. The second compass would be used to help me align the runic formations on the floors of the towers.

It took me two days studying the tomes to get comfortable with the array before I was ready to start on the first tower. It didn’t feel right to enter the dungeon until I was sure I could complete the task in the allotted time, so that was on hold.

King Nirhaan joined my escort to the tower, which included Tibault and Neoma. Bleiz and Aelyn were tasked with watching and entertaining Freya. The city streets were cleared as our procession moved through the city. Many of the citizens watched their King walk among them with fascinated interest. The worry and hope on their faces told me the knowledge of the World Walker threat was well known.

On the outskirts of the city, the tower was a dark blue stone and looked more like a monolith as we approached. A dozen of the king’s royal guards stood around the base. “We have finished construction on seven of the towers now. We are using aether stone from the dungeon, each tower is guarded by forty men all times.” King Nirhaan explained as we approached.

I turned looking for others and Captain Delilah explained, “Some men are inside guarding the metal for the runes and there are two hired adventurer teams nearby for magic support as well.”

“Are you expecting the towers to be attacked?” I asked, marveling at the glossy blue stone of the structure.

“It would make sense if the Myththorne is targeted by a World Walker to remove the defenses.” King Nirhaan explained.

“How did you mine the aether stone in the dungeon?” I asked, touching the blue stone. It was silky smooth under my touch. Aetherstone was the black stone that my own Black Spire was made of. If it was infused with aether, it was almost indestructible. Mining it in the aether-rich dungeon seemed impossible.

“We are fortunate that the dungeon has the blocks already cut on the deeper layers. We just have to transport them out. We can siphon the aether out of them once outside the dungeon in order to cut them.” An old elf said, approaching. He was wearing dusty workman’s clothes and looked exhausted.

“My royal architect, Sandoval. He is responsible for completing all the towers in the next two weeks so you can artifice.” King Nirhaan introduced the elf.

“My task is nearly as impossible as yours,” he extended his dirty hand to me, and I shook it. “I will give you the copper piece tour before I have to be off to recheck the foundations on towers sixteen and twenty.” All the floors of the tower were covered in soft white marble. We climbed to the top floor, and I produced the compass and checked the direction as there were no windows. It appeared to be working.

The towers did not have any adornments and were as simple as you could get. “Do you have anyone that can assist me in tracing the runes in chalk? If I have to lay out the runes myself for every floor in each tower, it will take me much longer than if everything was prepped for the runic work.”

King Nirhaan rubbed his chin in thought. “A few of the mathematicians at the University should be able to assist. They probably won’t have aether cores, but they can follow the schema.”

“Please have them sent here then. If you don’t mind, I will begin my efforts. Everyone is well prepared; I indicated the stacks of mithril and adamantine on the floor.” I spent the next four hours tracing the top floor runes using tape and chalk. Then I rechecked everything and began to pull the mithril to cover the tracings. That only took an hour. The final step was coating the mithril in the adamantine. That took another hour only because I was trying to use as little aether as possible. Although I had become more proficient with manipulating adamantine, it still cost me a lot of my stores to manipulate so much.

Stepping back, I nodded at the first of five floors completed in the first tower.

Four men stood in the stairway and jumped when I started to walk down. I paused, “Are you the mathematicians?” I received rapid nods. Three elves and a human male who looked like they rarely saw the light of day. I pulled the schema for the other four floors. “Did you see me work?”

“It was an amazing display of magical prowess, master artificer,” the apparent leader said.

I ignored their praise and pulled the schema pages from my dimensional closet. “You can trace the other four floors for me. I will check the work, and then you can see me and move on to the other towers.”

One of the elves took the papers, and I explained the directional compass and the plum line descending from the top floor. Aligning the runic pattern to the central control rune was not going to be as difficult as aligning each of the floors in the tower. While they could be off slightly, it would weaken the array. And if minor mistakes were made across all the towers, they would compound themselves.

My thoughts of making such an array in Skyholme were dashed due to the immense amount of adamantine required for the project. Doing that single set of runes had cost me nearly a third of my total aether reserves. This meant I would have to focus on aether recovery as well as working.

As I sat thinking, Adrial nudged me. She couldn’t have been hungry as I just fed her. Kiara voice rang in my head. She had been quiet even though the connection had been established seeing my need to focus. “Sister. Tell. You. Eat.” I nearly laughed as I hadn’t taken care of my own needs. I retrieved a thick bowl of stew. It steamed fresh as the time slowing in my dimensional closet had kept it hot.

I started doing the math in my head. If the mathematicians prepped all the runes correctly, then it would take me ten hours to complete each tower. My aether capacity was an issue for the first time. I was not going to have the spare aether to finish the repairs on the Maelstrom or do many side projects. If I did delve into the dungeon, I would have to focus on leveling simple tier one spells. My tier five lightning elemental and lightning reflex spell just took much aether to burn in the dungeon.

“Hunt. Now.” Kiara asked, breaking me out of my thoughts. I had promised the cats some dungeon romps, and Kiara read my thoughts about the dungeon.

“After this tower is finished we can go get some exercise.” I scratched her ears and focused on the few techniques I had for pulling in aether faster. My core circulation allowed me to replenish about twice my total aether in a day if I focused. Doing a single tower would take, in my estimation, one and a half times my aether capacity. Then I started to move into the realm of burying my aether channels from channeling so much aether every single day. The expression of biting off more than you could chew was definitely applicable.

Still, this would be possible. Hours passed, and the mathematicians alerted me that the floor below had been completed. I walked down and spent an hour checking their work before spending two hours completing the runes.

Checking their work got quicker on the lower floors, and I only found one error from the mathematicians on all four floors they outlined for me. They had added a connecting rune to both side of the pattern when it should have been on just one side. It was clear they were also tired from their work. Still, we had completed the first tower in a day.

A few of the king’s guards escorted the mathematicians to get some rest, and then they would start on the next tower. Tibault and Neoma were waiting for me when I exited the tower to get some rest myself. I had been in Myththorne and completed one tower in three days.  

Back at the palace, my companions all sat in a private dining room eating. Rippon had completed his portion of the repairs on the Maelstrom. Freya expounded on her day’s adventures while a half-listened and asked questions mechanically. She was having a good time, and from what she was retelling, I expected Aelyn and her to have the cargo hold of the Maelstrom full before we left.

Freya, in her rushed and excited speech, asked, “Are we going into the dungeon soon? Bleiz said I am ready. I want to work on leveling my spells. You promised.”

“I didn’t promise and I need to get a few hours of sleep. But yes, I am going into the dungeon tomorrow for a few hours to exercise Kiara and Adrial.” I replied.

Bleiz surprisingly spoke up for Freya, “She has been doing good with her martial training. I think she can see what a truly difficult dungeon is like.” I looked at my friend, who nodded to me like it was a good idea to let her go.

“Okay, we will see how you do.” Freya jumped up and hugged me. I could imagine mother’s look of horror when Freya retold her tales of dungeon diving.

When we made our way to the dungeon in the morning, Captain Delilah joined us. She would be going into the dungeon with my team, along with two more of the king’s personal guards. She explained, “It is not that we think you are not capable. King Nirhaan needs to ensure the only person who can artifice the aether shield array is safe.” I could agree with the logic.

As promised, the path and access to the dungeon had been cleared for us, and we entered the majestic pine forest in a large group. Adrial darted off to look for prey. I think Kiara was shaking her head in disappointment in a very human-like gesture. Bleiz, Neoma, and Tibault sniffed the air and surrounded Freya. Aelyn also stuck close to my sister, who was awed by the change in environment.

Captain Delilah noted, “Dungeon access has been limited as the focus is on mining the Aetherstone on the lower levels. My report says there are only two other dungeon teams on the first layer, and it is unlikely we will encounter them.”

“Where are all the monsters?” Freya asked, clearly disappointed.

Aelyn laughed, “The entry into a dungeon is always safe. You need to move a little distance from the doorway. Look,” Aelyn pointed. Off between the trees, a giant elk lumbered slowly only to have a black streak crash into it and sink its fangs into neck, causing a bloody fountain of blood.

Rather than be shocked or grossed out, Freya yelled, “Don’t damage the antlers, Adrial! I have a quest!”

“You what?” I asked, shocked.

Bleiz immediately turned away and started walking, not wanting to be part of this conversation. Aelyn answered for Freya. “We went and got her copper adventurer’s card. She already has three pips from doing jobs in the city.”

“What? How could Freya get an adventurer’s card?” I asked, confused.

“This is not Skyholme. Anyone can get a card. It is hard to get pips doing postings in the city as they usually offer coin, so we picked up some dungeon harvest requests.” Aelyn said matter-of-factly.

“We will talk about this later, Aelyn,” I informed her, eyeing my girlfriend warily. They hadn’t even asked my permission. Freya hadn’t even completed her first year at Academy yet. “What quests do you have?” I asked Freya patiently, although I was simmering underneath.

Freya completely missed that I was upset and pulled out a few pamphlets. “I got six quests for the first level and nine quests for the second level.”

“Oh really? Can I see the quests you have for the second level?” I held out my hand, and Freya eagerly sorted them and handed them to me. They vanished into my dimensional closet. “So, what are the first-floor quests you copied?”

Freya’s eyes narrowed at me, but she slowly read the first one: “Cyclops glass eye, one copper pip, and 100 gold.”

I interrupted, “What is a cyclops glass eye?”

Captain Delilah answered my question, “Some dungeon creatures are unique. A Cyclops glass eye is the blind Cyclops that appears infrequently. One hundred gold is a low reward for how difficult it is to find it.”

I nodded and indicated Freya continued. “Trap door spider spinnerets. Four white and one black, one copper pip, and 50 gold reward.”

Bleiz answered my unasked question, “The black silk spinneret is rare as well. Maybe one in ten of the spiders have it. That quest is repeatable but only offers the copper punch the first time.”

Freya looked at everyone before continuing, “Elk horns and meat at fixed prices by the pound. Vulture eggs go for a gold each. These sheets are for local flora that Aelyn said she would help me with.” She held up the remaining sheets.”

Adrial was dragging the massive elk carcass by the throat back toward our group to show off her kill to everyone. I hit her with a cleanliness spell and rubbed her head. It was clearly making Kiara jealous. “Fine, we will hunt elk and spiders for three hours before leaving the dungeon. No cyclops, and we are not heading to the second level with the forts.”

“But that is where all the best loot is!” Freya whined.

“We can always leave right now,” I stated flatly. Freya definitely acted like a teenager, but she knew I was serious. When she acquiesced, I asked, “What spells do you want to practice?”

Freya grinned, “My fire bolt spell. It is already level three!” Fire bolt was her only tier 2 spell. She was still hoping to learn a tier four spell but was having trouble with the complexity of the spell.

“Okay, Kiara lure a trap door spider out for Freya.” Kiara bounded off into the woods and let out a mild roar when she found the green pine needles indicating the location of one of the spiders. We all walked as a group to the location. It was disappointingly easy that the trap door spiders covered their burrows with fresh pine needles. “Okay, Freya, show me what you can do.” She looked confused but nodded.

I sent a message to Kiara, and the white phantom cat raced past the entrance, and the spider emerged, only attacking the space where Kiara should have been. Freya cast her firebolt and missed by a good six feet. The spider seemed confused but turned on our group and Freya missed with her second bolt. It examined our group and quickly retreated into its burrow, pulling the door closed with a thud.

I couldn’t help but laugh. Freya was indignant, “Why is the dungeon spider running away!”

Captain Delilah was hiding her own smirk, “It doesn’t see an advantage in attacking you. It is also anchored to its burrow, and you failed to injure it. If you had done any damage, it would have charged you.”

“The range of your firebolt spell is only about 10 yards unless you used an evolution to extend it, Freya. You are almost thirty yards away from the target. It would be a matter of luck to hit the spider and even if you did, the impact would be much less if you were within the range of the spell.” I explained.

Bleiz tossed her a staff, “If you are going to harvest the spinnerets, you are not going to want to use fire to get your kill.” Freya looked exasperated as she looked to anyone for help. Even Aelyn seemed to get the picture that I was trying to dissuade Freya from wanting to delve into dungeons.

Freya was not deterred and marched closer to the trap door. “Again, Kiara!”

Kiara’s voice echoed in my head, “Sister. Fight. Bad. Need. Practice.”

“Yes, Kiara. Go lure the spider again,” I told her back.

Kiara raced by the den again, and the spider emerged. Freya was closer, and this time, her firebolt landed and tossed the spider five feet with the force of the impact. She then rushed in with her staff and put it out of its misery. She was breathing heavily and smiled triumphantly.

“Good job, Freya!” I praised her and handed her an artificed skinning knife. She looked confused. “You need to be careful when cracking the carapace to extract the spinneret.”

“Why can’t you use your tissue extraction spell, Storme?” Freya took the knife and by the look in her eyes, I knew I was not getting it back if she had to extract the spinneret herself.

Aelyn interceded, “Delve teams rarely have someone with the tissue extraction spell. I will talk you through the process.”

To her credit, Freya proceeded to work out the spinneret herself, getting covered in blue gelatinous blood in the process. I had failed to deter her from this path. When she held up the spinneret triumphantly, I nodded, “Good. Aelyn, Bleiz, Tibault, Neoma, and Kiara will delve with you, Freya. No, floor bosses and absolutely no traveling to the second floor. Kiara will be my eyes.”

“Adrial, Captain Delilah, and the two mages are with me for some exercise.” I drew my falchion and walked away from the group.

I used my connection with Kiara to remain close to the other group as I tried to out-race Adrial to wandering giant elk and spider liars. Due to the cost of aether, I couldn’t use my lightning reflexes, so Adrial usually got there first. Kiara kept giving me updates on the other groups’ progress. They were going much slower than Adrial and me, as they were letting Freya do as much of the attacking as possible. She quickly drained her aether and was forced only to use her staff to attack. She was actually having fun in the dungeon and I was not sure if that was a good thing or not.

After four hours, I called an end to the delve. I approached the group, and Kiara plodded over to me. “Sister. Fight. Better. Now.” I scratched her ears as I praised her for watching out for Freya.

Freya was exuberant. “Storme! My fire bolt spell reached level five, and I extended the range to 20 yards! We also filled three quests!” Freya said happily. “I will get two more pips on my copper adventurer’s guild card!” Freya was earning pips very quickly, and maybe she would become a silver adventurer before me.

“Don’t worry, Storme,” Bleiz said, reading my mind. “The Adventurer’s Guild has a test to go from copper to silver rank. Freya will not advance unless she can match another silver card adventurer in solo combat.”

I nodded as I was not concerned with Freya passing me. I was proud of Freya. She had proved to me she was a neophyte delver. Mother was not going to be happy with me, but I would deal with that when we returned to Skyholme. Having five people watching out for her may have helped, but she had killed twelve of the spiders herself, helped take down four giant elk, and blasted three vultures out of the air with her firebolt spell.

We exited the dungeon, and I headed to the next tower. I checked in with Sana in Skyholme, and Freya was escorted to the Adventurer’s Hall to turn in her postings.