Ellake

Chapter 47 - A Class Act

Nate didn’t need to get closer to the broken wand. He could read the sigils clearly from where he was, even though it was contained inside the wood of the wand rather than carved into its surface. Soul, the cause of and solution to Kiri’s problem. He could see it clearly now, as he stared into her chest. Her soul, or spirit, or whatever they called it. It filled her entire body, bound to her flesh as it flowed through her in rivers and streams. He could see her Class Core as well...

Chapter 46 - Hated Mysteries

Aisling soared through the sky, the wind rushing around her. Garnet had finally stopped holding back and now she could truly enjoy a challenge as she called on the storm to assist her. Fire blossomed across the sky as Garnet rode another wave in. The flaming wave was just meant to limit her options though. The rain around her was drawn in as she cast Water Sphere on herself creating a spherical barrier of flowing water between herself and the wall of flames. The ball of water surrounding her ...

Chapter 45 - Footloose

Jorge hopped through the trees using Archer’s Step, brushing through the leaves as the storm finally broke above. The mobility provided by Archer’s Step was amazing and right now he needed it, as he was short a foot. He hadn’t expected Vallis to have such a powerful boosting Skill. Most gave a small boost that lasted quite a while. Vallis had instead used one that lasted a couple of seconds, but the boost had been huge, tripling the swordsman’s speed....

Chapter 44 - A Thousand Cuts

Aisling danced across the sky, the wind chasing her as it blew her out of the path of a fireball only for the flaming sphere to change directions, arching around to come back at her from behind. Throwing a sheet of water behind her to destroy the fireball, she heard the wind's words through Wind Reveals its Secrets. She floated downward without turning around as another fireball passed through where she had been. The fireball repeated the moves of the previous one, flying bac...

Chapter 43 - White Men Can’t Jump

Aisling felt them on the breeze long before they reached the clearing. Jorge led the way but they were close enough now that the Wind Reveals its Secrets revealed the location of the cave. The illusion hiding the entrance to the cave was nothing before the wind and from its whispers, she could sense the poor souls in their cages. The wind brought her the scents of their unwashed bodies, the smell of sweat, fear and despair. Her eyes narrowed further, if that was even possible...

Chapter 42 - Storm Brewing

Nate felt uncomfortable in this room. It wasn’t the pressure given off by the Guildmaster. Okay, it wasn’t just that. He just felt out of place as Aisling, Jorge and Deverell discussed their findings and plans in the Guildmasters office. Why had he and Kiri been included in this? It didn’t make any sense to him. Still, he was here, so he might as well pay attention.

“...no sign of Torian or his crew,” finished Deverell.

Nate found he liked the guy. He was a bit cold, but...

Chapter 41 - Stalking the Night

Aisling sat behind her desk. By the Gods how she disliked being stuck behind a desk. When she’d agreed to this favour for one of the Guild Prefects, she’d expected it to be a six month holiday and then she’d be back in the thick of it. That had been a year ago. What was taking them so long to find a new Guildmaster for a smaller town like this anyway?

With a growl, she signed the latest piece of paperwork and moved it carefully to the pile of completed documents. As much as she’...

Chapter 40 - Get Creative

Nate and Kiri sat in her room. The first thing they’d done upon returning was each take a bath. It wasn’t as good as the one at the Oaken Ring, but it had been enough to wash the blood and dirt off of them. They’d not been completely unhygienic while in the forest and had managed to wash in a stream a few times, but much to Nate's chagrin, they’d forgotten soap. Now clean, they could finally relax. Relax, and advance.

At Frick’s suggestion they’d not done any skill evolution...

Chapter 39 - Friendly Hunting

The day had ended up being as long as he had suspected it would be but finally he had completed the case and handle for his rune wand. The young man from the Oaken Ring had acquired the wood, already carved to his specifications from the market. After that, it had taken some trial and error to figure out a rune using the barrier, wood and corrosive sigils that created a barrier that protected the wood against corrosion, rather than creating a corrosive barrier. But even then he’d still need...

Chapter 38 - Titular Art

Nate woke before the sun had started to peek through the window. Standing he could see the first sign of light over the trees of the forest. Glancing at Kiri he stifled a laugh. She was sprawled out over her side of the bed, tangled up in her blanket, with a little drool leaking down her face. That was definitely going to be one of his art pieces. He would title it, ‘We all drool’.

Keeping the noise down he climbed out of the bed and moved towards his mana gems to see how much they ...

Chapter 37 - Cynicism 101

Nate and Kiri sat at the wooden table with Jorge while Rania busied herself a room over in the kitchen, preparing a late dinner for everyone. The walk back from the Guild had been done in silence but now that they had some privacy, the anger was flowing freely and had been for almost ten minutes.

“This is birdshit, Dad! That asshole attacked us and WE get banned from the Guild for two weeks?” Kiri raged, throwing her hands up in the air.

“It is. But Aisling’s hand...

Chapter 36 - These aren’t my Badgers

Nate wandered around the Square, looking over the various stalls. He had gotten up early today and wasn’t expecting Kiri to meet him at the Guild for another hour. So he’d decided, rather than sit in his room and beat his head against the Improve Material Skill, that he would see if there was anything interesting or that might inspire him on display in the market. That was where the morning had gone wrong.

As he walked among the stalls he’d heard the latest news. ...

Chapter 35 - Nightly Visitations

Nate stared out of his open window, eyes wandering over Helmfirth as his unfastened robe flapped gently in the cool late night breeze. The night had taken an interesting, albeit unexpected turn. He’d been up late, working on Improve Material, when the knock had come. He’d thought perhaps Valeria had decided to send up a late night snack. He snorted to himself. He supposed she had, in some ways, even if he didn’t like that term. She’d come to his room herself and said ...

Chapter 34 - Blushing Admirers

It had taken them almost half the day to get to the area that the shadow tassel’s should be. Finding the plants wasn’t too hard once they were in the right area. Between Kiri’s perception and Frick’s ability to float around into little cracks and crevices, they had a good harvest within the hour, more than satisfying the job description from the Guild. There was a little left and the  excess would probably net them a little extra coin which was a nice bonus.

Kiri was doing ...

Chapter 33 - Missed Connections

Nate woke with the sun and after enjoying a quick breakfast made his way across the square. Even at this early hour the square was bustling, with workmen, merchants and shop assistants setting up their stalls and laying out their wares. He could smell some freshly baked bread and almost diverted to see if there were any pastries available. But Kiri would be waiting and though she wouldn’t mind if he was a little late, likely using the time to flirt with Melinda, it didn’t sit well with Na...

Chapter 32 - Making Art

Nate couldn’t suppress the smile that lit up his face as they set up an easel near the window. With the blinds drawn back and the sun beaming in it gave the perfect light for his art. The two workers who’d been carrying things up to his suite at the inn had already stacked a number of canvases against the wall. He also had a full set of what, he hoped, were oil based paints, with paintbrushes, currently sitting on what he was mentally calling the coffee table. Everything he needed to pain...

Chapter 31 - Skill Synergy

Waking up with the sun wasn’t something Nate had ever done back on Earth but it was fast becoming the norm on this new world. He supposed his heightened Constitution and Endurance might be factoring into that, making him require less sleep. Laying in bed, warm and comfortable beneath the furs, he stared at the ceiling thinking about his plans for the day. It was time to develop his Skills in preparation for his Class Evolution. It would’ve been better if he’d been able to do that more w...

Chapter 30 - Not So Subtle

Dinner at the Beaufoy’s, as Nate had learned was Kiri’s surname, had been an amazing experience. Her mother, Rania, had been incredibly welcoming and treated him like a part of the family. It reminded him of his dinners back on Earth at Michael’s house. Michael’s parents had always made him feel at home whenever he came over for dinner.

The food had been wonderful, some sort of homemade meat pie with a side of vegetables, a few of which Nate had recognized as coming from the gar...

Chapter 29 - Acid Burn

The larger goblin, who he was just assuming was the ‘chief’ at this point, charged Nate, tearing up the earth with his clawed feet. Nate responded quickly, recreating his second barrier and putting it at knee height between himself and the chief. The goblin crashed into it and went head over heels, landing in a pile of tangled green limbs on the ground. The chief was uninjured, but Nate was just buying time and getting him to sit still for a moment.

The goblin healed too fast and wa...

Chapter 28 - Goblin on Goblin Crime

Apparently being an Adventurer was mostly about walking. They’d been at it for an hour and he was already bored of it. They had swung by Oran’s farm without a problem. The old man, wisps of white hair still on his sun tanned head, had told them he hadn’t seen anything else, but one of his bellok’s had gone missing the night before. Bellok’s were apparently sheep-like animals. Nate had managed to spot a few in a field from a distance. They did look like they were coated in something ...

Chapter 27 - The Unseen

The Guildmaster’s Office was something between a trophy room and what Nate would’ve expected from some CEOs office back on Earth. It was richly decorated with a huge dark wooden desk and a comfortable chair behind it. Two bookshelves sat behind the desk, with the books mostly neat and tidy except for a few places that looked like books had haphazardly been jammed in. The walls were decorated with trophies from what Nate could only assume were past battles. A sword hung next to the head of...

Chapter 26 - The Guildmaster

Nate woke with the sun's gentle light peeking through a gap in the curtains. He would say it was the best sleep he’d had since arriving on this world, but he would’ve been lying. It was the best sleep he’d had in months, maybe even years. The bed was soft and the furs warm. The fire had burned throughout the night in the fireplace and kept the room a pleasant warmth without being too hot. Best of all, he hadn’t woken fearing for his life, like he had in the Dungeon. Nor had he woken t...

Chapter 25 - The Oaken Ring

Nate smirked as he walked towards the door to the Oaken Ring. He was definitely going to spend a bunch of his coins on silks and baths. Was silk underwear a thing? Surely it had to be. The Oaken Ring stood as tall as the Adventurers Guild, with the top two storeys built from wood. The entryway was a double door, currently closed, with light spilling out of the windows. Beside the door stood what he assumed was some kind of guard or bouncer. He was bald, and stood half a head shorter than Nate...

Chapter 24 - Joining the Guild

Nate, Kiri and Jorge walked through the gates unmolested by the few guards that stood around the entrance. Nate caught the glances they shot at Jorge and a couple of them nodded to him which got a grunt of acknowledgement from the man. The guards armour looked to be mostly brown leather with a few metal studs and the weapon of choice were clubs hanging on their belts, though one guard, who stood a little straighter than others, had a sword on his hip.

As they left the guards behind it w...

Chapter 23 - Meet my Dad

Nate started walking through the field toward what he thought looked like a road leading to the town. He had only taken a few steps when he realised Kiri wasn’t with him. Glancing back at her he saw she had a thoughtful look on her face. He watched as she bit her lip, clearly unsure about something. He opened his mouth to ask her what was going on when she beat him to the punch.

“Nate… you don’t want people knowing right? About your storage?” she asked.

“It would make ...

Chapter 22 - Inn Selection

Nate glanced at Kiri as she finished stripping the second tail of the Razorlash, winding it up like a length of rope before tossing it onto the grass with the other one.

He turned around to look over the remains of the Razorlash. The bloody thing was the size of a horse.

“This was only a juvenile?” he remarked, slowly walking around the dead beast.

Kiri looked up for a moment, before returning to cleaning her knife off. “Yeah, probably one of Shadowscales brood. You fi...

Chapter 21 - Revenge best Served by Others

Nate strolled casually along beside the river. His barrier was preventing the wind from blowing through his blonde hair, which was bothering him. He wanted to experience the forest and part of that was feeling the breeze wash over him. But instead his innate wariness forced him to keep the cylindrical barrier around him. He supposed he could still be attacked, for example if a bird decided to shit on him. That made him laugh which in turn made him wince in pain. Frick had reassured him with a...

Chapter 20 - Hard Choices

Nate woke slowly with a pained groan. Everything hurt and his vision was so blurred he could barely see. Trying to sit up he immediately rolled to the side and vomited the lobster onto the stone next to him. He was so tired, he should just go back to sleep. But there was an incessant gentle tapping on his cheek. Suddenly his vision turned blue. Must’ve been the sky.

“You can’t sleep, boss man. You’ve banged your head. Stay awake big fella. Your meat sack took a beating.”

Chapter 19 - A Fitting Punishment

The construct had spoken. Not haltingly like the Construct Elders, in broken sentences, struggling to get out what little they could. No, this construct, or thing Nate supposed, spoke in perfect, eloquent sentences. Sentences that had basically said she, it, whatever, was going to kill him.

Nate looked at Frick, “Are dungeons normally like this? That construct seems cognizant.”

Before Frick could respond the sickly sweet voice returned, full of even more venom, if that was pos...

Chapter 18 - A Full Set

Nate laughed, still pumped up on adrenaline it took him a few minutes of controlled breathing to get himself back under control. Frick hovered around him waiting impatiently.

“Come on boss man. Look at the Notifications. How’d we do?” Frick asked.

“We? That fight was mostly me. They didn’t care a whit about you.”

“Yeah true! See this is why goblins survive. We’re beneath the notice of you more powerful beings. So you ignore us until BAM, goblin horde. Like a ...