Wild Era 4, Ch 7: Allies

Kelin spent the better part of two days with Yao and Naomi, helping them to become familiar with their subclasses, and then he sent them back to their regular training.

The crafting room looked a bit battered from what he’d put his apprentices and their elementals through, so he cleaned it up with a wave of mana and set it back to rights.

Among other things, he’d taught his apprentices the basics of mana reinforcement and got them started on a mana lattice to strengthen their bodies. They needed to work on it for a while, but it was a good beginning.

Once their elemental physiques woke up, maybe around their First Evolution, the process would accelerate.

The guild trainers would have to adjust their instruction to accommodate the new abilities, but they were used to that.

Meanwhile, Kelin had another place to be.

Maro, Galin, and Serai had returned from their latest exploration. 

They were waiting at the same private hall connected to the guild tavern where they’d met before, and when he walked in, laughter and a boisterous dwarven voice met him.

“You really are on fire!” Galin’s rumble of laughter carried across the hall, making it seem like the walls were shaking. 

There was more strength in his voice than there had been the last time Kelin saw him. The earth essence in his aura surged with the words.

“So I hear,” Kelin agreed, chuckling as he took a seat at the table.

“That is an intense Fire aura,” Serai agreed. “Amazing. You and Maro will get along even better now.”

She gave the Fire-aligned berserker an amused look before she pushed a pitcher of ale across the table toward Kelin.

“I’m glad you’re here,” she added. “It’s been too long. We keep missing each other.” 

“How have you three been?” Kelin asked as he poured himself a cup of ale. 

When he set it down, he analyzed the three of them. They were all at Level 159 now, a bit above his expectations.

Serai. Winter Sylph. Level 159. Spirit of the Falling Snow (Epic)-Winter Enchantress (Rare). 

Galin Shieldmount. Mountain Dwarf. Level 159. Earthbreaker Fortress (Epic)-Earth Warder (Rare).

Maro Toren. Human. Level 159. Axe of Rage (Epic)-Weapon Smith (Rare).

They were much stronger than they had been in the past, and with their Epic classes, the additional attributes from each level were helping to remodel their bodies.

It was lucky for them that they’d gained the classes fairly early at the First Evolution.

It would make a difference in the future. 

After Kelin poured himself an ale, he ordered some dishes from the tavern and a strong red wine that was better suited to his taste.

The four of them spent a while reminiscing and joking, as well as catching up on everything that had happened since they last met, but eventually they got down to business.

It didn’t take long for Kelin to fill them in on all the details of what he’d seen while rescuing the hostages and the latest news about what Sarathia was up to.

“So Sarathia is causing that much trouble,” Maro said, his eyes narrowing. “We all have a reason to hate them after they killed Sarella, but this is on another level. I can’t believe they killed that many people.”

Flames surged around him as he slammed his fist onto the table, making it shudder. A crack ran down the center of the wood, its edges smoking.

“We must punish them and make them pay for that,” Galin agreed, his expression serious. “It’s good that it wasn’t the entire empire, since it’ll be easier to deal with them.”

The dwarf didn’t seem daunted at all by the magnitude of what he was suggesting, which made Kelin nod in approval.

A fierce pride was the defining feature of many dwarves, as well as most of those Kelin counted as his friends. 

They were the type of people who wouldn’t let you down.

“It is necessary,” Serai agreed. Her voice was calmer, but her eyes were as frigid as the north wind, shining with a crystal blue ice. 

“Sarella’s death cannot go unrevenged. This cult must answer for it, as well as for the pain they caused with their assassinations, the dungeon breaks, and now the hostages and thousands of people they have murdered for their rituals. Their crimes are staggering.”

“They have been spreading their corruption outside their empire,” Maro said. “It’s time to take it back to them. We will show them the same pain they caused others, break the cult, shatter their rituals, and hang them from the walls for everyone to see.”

“Vengeance!” Galin roared, his voice rumbling. “The debt must be returned.” 

He slammed his fist onto the table, creating an echo even louder than Maro’s. This time, the wood buckled and half of the table crashed to the floor.

The impact was heavy enough to make the room shudder. The dwarf’s mana resonated from the walls, making them tremble.

Kelin rescued his wine with a deft hand before it could fall, but Maro was not so lucky and his mug crashed to the ground with the table.

The berserker sighed as he glanced at Galin, but he retrieved another free mug from the table and filled it from the pitcher, which had been luckier and survived.

Everyone glanced at the table and silently decided to ignore it.

It wasn’t uncommon for things in the guild hall to get broken, especially when high-level adventurers got together.

The guild would just add the cost to their bill.

“They will pay,” Kelin agreed. He was just as angry about the Sarathians’ actions, but he controlled his temper with an old skill that left his voice clear.

“Thousands of lives have been lost at their hands,” he added, “perhaps even tens of thousands. The guild might not be able to see what’s happening clearly, and Celadon clearly wants to play politics more than respond directly or they would have already done something, but neither of them will stop us from doing it for them. Not with the Path behind us.”

“But we still lack the strength,” Serai said. “So how do we do it?” 

Her words were just as fierce as everyone else’s, but the cold clarity in them brought the table back to a discussion.

“Why can’t the guild help more?” Maro asked, frowning deeply. “They are the ones who usually deal with criminals like this.”

“That is a key question,” Kelin agreed. “They should have noticed long ago and acted, but the Sovereign of Undeath’s power is hiding the Sarathian’s activities from the Path, which has slowed down their response. Even when things are reported, his influence is ensuring that some of the events are forgotten or lost. The reports become confused or never end up in the right location. It’s our quest that is revealing more of it to them. 

“That is why the Path gave the quest to us. We’re acting as its agents to uncover what’s going on, and that means we know more of the cult’s activities and who is to blame than the guild does. I’ve shared the information with the Path and with the local forces, but they haven’t put together a large enough response yet. 

“Now that they know some of it, they will prepare their forces and back us, but they need to know where to strike.”

He paused as he looked around the table.

“That is our main job. We don’t need to deal with every hideout or ritual the cult has. We need to uncover their locations, report to the guild, and do what we can. If we find a good target, we can call in their forces.”

“So we’re scouts,” Maro said, nodding once. “I can live with that.”

“Scouts can do a lot,” Galin agreed. He raised his fist to pound it on the table again, but then he looked down at the broken chunk in front of him and stopped. 

“Yes, we’re scouts,” Kelin agreed, “but that doesn’t stop us from dealing out our own form of justice when we have a good reason. Officially, we were tasked to look into the increase of undead dungeons and the rise of negative-energy classes in Sarathia. 

“The Path’s quest told us to find out what was happening, to collect information for it and for the guild. Now we know this cult is responsible, as well as their rituals to Undeath, so the quest is changing to a question of how to respond and where to strike.”

He turned his hand over in the air and gathered flames inside it that leapt in response to his will.

“Even with the information I gathered,” he explained, “I only know a few locations and part of their structure.”

He nodded down at the flames, which moved with his words and created an outline of Sarathia and the border of Celadon. 

Smaller flames of different colors gathered to create a larger image as he mapped out the places he had learned about.

“I also know that they’re not part of the old royal powers in Sarathia. They’re a group of nobles and wealthy merchants who are working independently. Finding out more is the next step.

“They probably have at least one member of the royal family backing them or they wouldn’t have gotten this far. My guess is that it’s one of the dozen or so princes in the empire, but they still aren’t willing to go directly against the Sarathian army. That’s why they’ve been acting outside of their own borders.”

“So we find them,” Galin said, looking stern. “We kill them if we can and we tell the guild the details so they can strike hard and fast on anything we can’t handle. Without dying ourselves.”

“A key point,” Serai agreed. “It is worth the risk, but I am troubled by how we seem to be alone in this. Doesn’t the guild have scouts of their own?”

“They do,” Kelin agreed, “but most of the guild members on this world are in the Basic or First Evolution. Lareth is not that advanced yet. The guild doesn’t have many Second Evolution scouts or fighters capable of doing the job, nor adventuring teams who are willing to take the risk, and it would take someone at that level to have a guarantee of success. That’s why it’s been able to happen. 

“The main ones who are capable of handling this are the guard captains and the guild council, and they have other obligations. Hugo Whitestar is a good example of the flaws in relying on them. He seems to be closely related to Sarathia and is possibly helping to cover up their actions. That, plus Undeath’s influence, has slowed things down and is why the Path assigned the quest. 

“The Path could call in forces from off-world to investigate, but the Chaos War still rages and Lareth is only one small world. Sparing a Silver Naga or an extra Fourth Evolution guild commander to come here and eradicate things might seem simple, but not if they have to waste months to find out what’s going on. The stronger beings have bigger issues to deal with.”

“Information is the king of battle,” Serai said with a nod. “So we are the best bet.”

“Yes,” Kelin agreed. “The biggest problem is that our enemies have shown a significant number of Third Evolution fighters and they might have a Fourth Evolution backer as well. Perhaps more than one.

“If we aren’t able to take care of it soon, this will be a problem that Lareth can no longer contain. Then the Sovereign or the Silver Nagas will deal with it, and there’s no telling how that will take place. It would not be the first time the Sovereign has destroyed a world and rebuilt it.”

That was the extreme end of what might happen if the problem wasn’t dealt with, but it had happened before.

The Sovereign tried to save the people if he could, but there was no telling how the civilization here would end up afterward.

The cities and all the advancements of life would be reduced to wild energy and rubble.

Then Lareth would be born again, in the same state as it had been before anyone settled it.

“We all have family here,” Galin rumbled, followed by a glance at Maro and Kelin, “or at least we were born here. 

“We can handle it without relying on outside forces. I can report this to the dwarven kingdom and Serai could tell the Sylvan Enclave. With the guild backing our words, they will answer.”

“I can do that,” Serai agreed immediately. “I don’t know exactly what my people’s response will be, but they will not stand by and do nothing.”

“They never have,” Kelin said, nodding, “nor have the dwarves. They should both know what Sarathia is doing and what to watch out for, so feel free to tell them, but keep in mind that we’re discussing what could happen, not what has happened already. 

“I expect their responses will be cautious, since they won’t want to offend Sarathia. It is ten times bigger than both of them put together.”

Serai and Galin both nodded at that.

“So our job is to do what we can before it becomes a bigger issue,” Maro said. “Let’s focus on that. Those rituals sound like they could get even worse if the cult keeps trying to create powerful fighters. When do we leave?”

“A few days from now,” Kelin said. “I’m going to take care of some local things first. Take the time to prepare.”

“We were planning to spend that long in town anyway,” Maro agreed. “We’ll be ready.”

“Advance your subclasses if you can,” Kelin added. “They might be useful when we come up against more rituals or encounter wards.”

The three of them had enchanting, warding, and weapon smithing subclasses, which made for a good foundation, and the skills combined well. It meant they could support each other.

Weapon smithing was a broad skill that could be used to forge ward-breaking tools, enchanting gear, and other things, not just weapons for combat.

“I can help you fund new gear and materials,” Kelin added. “Make sure to stock up on potions and other supplies.”

He took out a stack of guild bank notes, each of them worth 10,000 gold, and set them on the table. There were fifteen notes, which was about half of his wealth.

“I don’t want those back,” he said as he stood up. “Use whatever you need and pretend they weren’t here.” 

He picked up his glass and raised it in a toast, which they echoed. 

“Next time, we’ll drink properly.”

He drained the wine and set it back down on what was left of the table. Then he headed out of the room.

Plans ran through his mind as he headed for the guild shops.

What his friends hadn’t realized yet was that even at Level 159, they were already in the upper tier of levels on Lareth and near the top ten percent in strength.

Most people on this world were at the Basic Evolution and could only look up at higher things, which were a distant peak.

The higher Evolutions were few and far between, but they had the power to change the entire world.

The cult might have only a few people compared to the entire Sarathian empire, but with the ability to create Second and Third Evolution fighters quickly, they might end up stronger than the entire country. 

If they had a Fourth Evolution leader, they already were.

It was a dangerous scenario where a few powerful fighters could turn the tide of a war, and right now, Kelin’s side wasn’t strong enough.

He needed to change that, and it would take time.

Until then, it was a question of how much above his own level he could fight and how much he could rely on the guild to do.

When he arrived at the sales counter, he flipped through the inventory for a few minutes and selected what he needed.

He ended up spending over 100,000 gold, but the result was worth it.

“Is that enough?” he asked silently, directing his words to Gaius as he looked inside the spatial bag the clerk handed him.

Inside, there was a small mountain of rare ores, including some runic silverflame ore.

“Yes,” Gaius rumbled in confirmation. His voice was eager.

Kelin felt the elemental’s excitement radiating through his bones and the runes that marked his skin, which began to glow.

“Good,” Kelin said. “I’ll give it to you as soon as we get outside.”

He tucked the bag away and purchased a few more teleportation scrolls and potions, as well as some materials for both the Second and Third Evolution.

Then he headed out of the guild and the city. The cobbled streets disappeared quickly under his boots.

It was time for Gaius to finish his Evolution.

Then they could prepare for Sarathia.