Wild Era 2, Ch 8: Fealty

Verasun’s Perspective.

Silas Crest, known more often by his title as Baron Verasun, was standing on the edge of his balcony looking out at the city below.

He sipped wine in a golden cup as he watched people go about their lives, but he was not in a good mood.

His most loyal retainer, his butler Kolburn, was dead, and his youngest daughter had betrayed him and joined the guild.

He knew well enough what had happened in the Rising Mist dungeon, thanks to his heavy investment in scrying. Kolburn had carried a special artifact on him that reported everything up to the moment of his death. 

He knew what had happened with the mercenaries he’d sent, the young adventurer who’d killed them, and that Kolburn had nearly killed the boy in return.

It was too bad he’d failed.

If he hadn’t, things would have corrected themselves and Isla could have finished the dungeon and claimed it.

Unfortunately, that guild captain had arrived just in time and Kolburn had committed suicide to cover his tracks. 

Then Isla had been arrested and forced to choose between him or the guild. 

She’d believed Kolburn’s words about being disowned, so Silas was willing to leave her to her choice.

If she’d been smarter, she would have finished the job and then come back to beg him for mercy. Then he would have reassured her that family came first, as long as they came with results.

He shook his head.

If she’d been his only child, he might have worked a bit harder to bring her back, but he had half a dozen others. By choosing the guild and letting them take her away, Isla had made her choice. 

She was no longer part of his concerns. 

Normally, he would make sure anyone who left his area of influence only did so dead, but he would give her that much.

He dismissed her from his thoughts as he considered Kolburn’s history.

The man had been a true vassal to the end. That was fealty that had to be rewarded.

Silas would have to make sure that his family was taken care of, or it would tarnish his name. He also owed him revenge.

Fealty and power. 

It was his personal motto. 

One led to the other, and only together could a nobleman rise.

Fealty was different from loyalty, something that the weaker nobles in the country didn’t understand, although they paid lip service to it.

Loyalty was a bond of trust, and it was weak.

Fealty was a promise of life and death.

Both could be bought with power and rewards, but only the latter was truly worth having. Fealty also came with greater responsibilities. 

If he didn’t give Kolburn the revenge he deserved, his other vassals would see it and think less of him.

He turned his thoughts to the adventurer, Kelin, who had escaped from him three times now. Not all of them had been intentional, but Silas wasn’t one to ignore the confluence of destiny.

The first time had been when the Wind Hunters collapsed that mine at his command, intending to turn it into a dungeon. Somehow, the boy had been there and survived, and then he’d come out stronger.

Second, when Silas sent a real assassin after him, and despite that it should have been an easy kill, the Level 112 assassin was the one who died.

Somehow. 

The scrying spell following the man hadn’t recorded what spell killed him, but there was more to the adventurer than met the eye.

And then the third time, when Kolburn tried to kill him. 

Kolburn had been a Level 192 mage. That he had failed as well, with more than a hundred level difference...that staggered belief. 

Even though it had been the guild captain’s interference at the end, it still counted.

This Kelin should have been dead several times over.

Kolburn’s death made it personal.

Silas tapped his finger on the side of the goblet as he studied the people of Highmist and considered his options.

The Decennium was coming up in three months and everything was prepared for his advancement in influence, but he’d hoped to have another dungeon or two to smooth the way.

It would be useful to intimidate the other nobles when they all met to vote on who got what.

Unfortunately, the mine and Rising Mist had both been claimed by the guild now, so there was no chance of getting them under his name.

Even he knew better than to push too hard on that.

The guild was a slumbering beast. It was thin in Celadon, which was why it mostly kept to itself, but its strength was limitless.

One country and even one world was nothing in the vast scheme of things.

Despite that, he didn’t fear them. They were only worthy of respect.

He glanced across the room at the letter from the guild captain, which accused him of a number of things, and flicked his hand as he turned it to ash.

He would deal with that.

The guild was constrained by its interests and as long as he didn’t tread on them directly, they wouldn’t cause him too many issues. At worst he would lose another dungeon or two, and while that would sting, he could always make some more.

At the same time, he wasn’t a man inclined to forgive those who crossed him. He’d long ago learned that if they did it once, they were more inclined to do it again, and that was damaging to his reputation.

He couldn’t blame the guild, but he could blame Kelin, both for interrupting his dungeon plans and for taking away his daughter.

He had competent seers on hand and knew roughly where Kelin was, but the adventurer was staying at the guild and a direct assault there was out of the question.

It also couldn’t be traced to him.

He would have to use other means.

He sent a pulse of mana into a dark blue ring on his finger, and a moment later a message returned. He glanced at it and nodded in approval.

The assassin’s guild had accepted the contract. 

He didn’t expect they would manage it, but they might get lucky. They could try while he worked on another plan.

He had a number of rare artifacts and other items from the dungeons under his control. They were expensive, but they existed for times like these.

Some of them were almost impossible to track.

He spent a little while considering which to use, and then he sent a couple more messages.  

The remains of that Wind Hunter group could handle it. They were already associated with Kelin, so there was little left to hide, and they were all expendable.

He had to make sure there were no overt connections to him, but that wasn’t hard with enough cut outs.

After that, he went back to looking out the window, studying the people passing below.

Their lives were full of endless mysteries, all of them humming with the tune of wealth and power, if you knew how to listen.

***

Kelin’s Perspective

When Kelin woke in the morning, it was well before dawn. It had only been a few hours, but he had slept enough. 

He set about his usual training, circulating his mana in intricate arcs and compression exercises to train his meridians and his physique. It took an hour, but the practice was important to condense his mana, which helped it to become stronger over time, and to condition his body to channel it.

Abilities like Mana Control provided a foundation, but there were many ways to do more.

It was like two warriors who had similar levels of strength and training, but if they fought, the one who had better reflexes and speed would win most of the time.

Over time, that advantage would continue to grow, until somewhere down the line, people would marvel how that warrior’s blade moved so quickly it couldn’t even be seen.

And so legends were born.

Mana was pure energy, but there were a thousand variations that could make it stronger, starting with your physique, its speed in your meridians, and whether it was pure or aligned with an element.

There were ways to train your body and your mana to enhance all of them and to master specific spells so that you could cast them at the speed of thought.

You could also reduce the mana cost over time, due to establishing a deeper affinity, just like that warrior could move his blade with barely any effort. 

It was a gradual process.

His current training was a pattern he’d created to bring together the foundational skills and to refine his body to handle faster and denser mana than he would normally be capable of.

The end goal was to do what Blaze did, while retaining a greater flexibility and a better mana cost. 

The training would also make it easier for that ability to advance in the future.

As for the spells to cast instantly, his spells were already quick, but there was room for improvement. He was focusing on projected and shaped mana for spells like Soulfire Bolt and Soul Arrow, as well as Wildfire.

In the terms that the mages of Irian had used, this training was part of the school called Evocation, with spells for force and damage.

Most elemental mages were evokers to some extent, since the elements were well-suited to it, but there were a dozen other schools as well, ranging from Abjuration with shielding magic to Divination for communication and scrying.

When he was finished with the practice, he used some basic elemental manipulation to shower in a wave of fire and water, and then he cleaned and pressed his clothes with a mix of similar spells.

Using magic for small tasks was efficient and a good way of training the underlying skills. It took a light touch not to burn things.

Once everything was presentable, he headed out of his room and down to the guild’s business level on the main floor, which was finally awake and bustling.

The first thing he did was to head for the crafting shops, where he checked to see what materials were available. 

He picked up an enormous pile of things for talismans and other crafting practice, including some drake scales and new sets of clothing.

He also examined the pricing of a variety of dungeon materials, working to get a broad perspective of what was available in the city. 

There were over 200 dungeons in Celadon and thousands of different materials flowed through Highmist on any given day. The guild had records of most of it, and better information was available for a small cost, which was worth spending a few gold on.

He made a few purchases and then he headed to the guild’s information section, which was a polite way to describe their spy network, and put in a targeted request.

If he was going to deal with Verasun, he needed to know more about the man and his business.

His rank at Low Steel and as a sergeant allowed him access to most information that wasn’t secret, but the information section had taken a liking to him after he brought them news about the Sarathians messing around with dungeons, so they were happy to oblige when he asked for the rest too.

Eventually, he found himself with a detailed list of everything the baron was known to deal in, from the products he most frequently bought and sold, to the dungeons that he got his wealth from.

For another twenty gold, he also bought information on the baron’s history, people, shops, and every other point of interest. As one of the major nobles in the city, Verasun was of interest to the guild, so there was a lot of it.

He sat down at a spare desk in the information section’s library and sipped a cup of hot coffee that he’d just bought as he began to go through it all.

Like many of the Celadon nobility, dungeons were the baron’s main source of income. 

His wealth was based on a widespread network with thousands of people and close to a hundred private adventuring teams, mostly between Levels 40 and 150, which repeatedly ran the most lucrative dungeons that he had access to.

As part of the laws of Celadon, the baron also received a ten percent tax from around twenty dungeons scattered throughout the region, many of them close to Highmist.

It was a strange tax in that it only applied to the teams that other nobles sent into the dungeons and not to regular adventurers, but that was how Celadon had designed their system of nobility and the wealth that supported them.

Those dungeons were ones that Verasun and his bloodline had cleared before any other Celadon noble could make a similar claim. Now, they got to charge the others whenever they ran it.

It wasn’t always a First Clear in the Path’s eyes, but it was good enough for the sake of the local laws. It made Kelin shake his head as he studied the details. 

He was adamantly on the side of the Path and saw the entire arrangement as a very strange concept, but it was undeniably a mercantile one.

Twenty was a high number of dungeons, almost ten times the average for Celadon. Most noble families had two or three that they were proud of and that acted as their main source of income.

The baron was a very wealthy man.

According to Sandren, he had a habit of manufacturing dungeons, like with the mine where Kelin had regained his memories.

He memorized the information and then returned the files to the guild, since there was no need to keep them. One advantage of his old soul was a perfect memory.

It was approaching a normal hour of the morning, so he let ideas for how to disrupt Verasun’s business brew in the back of his mind as he headed to see the kids. 

He’d sent them a note earlier to tell them he was back. It was one of the off-days for guild training, so they should be waiting for him.

Their room was a suite with warmly polished wood floors and pleasant stone walls covered in a light plaster.

There was a central room that had a kitchen, fireplace, and table with a seating area, as well as two arched windows that let in cheerful light from the central courtyard, as well as two attached bedrooms that let them have some privacy.

It was an easy place for them to stay, with the feel of a private apartment rather than an inn room.

Yao opened the door as soon as Kelin knocked. Naomi was right behind, crowding him.

“Kelin!” they shouted as soon as they saw him. 

Then Yao tackled him while Naomi jumped right after, until both kids were hanging off his neck and shoulders. 

Kelin laughed as he swung them around, lifting their weight easily. For all that he was a mage, he was well built.

They started talking over one another, telling him all about what they’d been doing the last few days, and he grinned as he herded them back inside the room.

“Come and tell me,” he said easily. “Let’s catch up.”

He listened to their stories about the guild and their classes as he set out some food on the table and began heating some jasmine tea in the fireplace. 

Coffee was his preference, but it was a bit strong for the kids.

“Kelin, we made you something!” Naomi said with a grin as she ran to the edge of the room and came back with a package, which she set on the table.

“What’s this?” Kelin asked with a laugh as he looked between the two.

“It’s the first day of summer tomorrow,” Yao said quickly. “It’s traditional! That’s why there’s no training for a couple of days.”

“Ahh, so it is,” Kelin said thoughtfully as he considered the calendar. “I brought you something as well, but we’ll get to that in a moment.”

“Open it,” Naomi insisted as she pushed the package toward him. “We spent the last few days on it, ever since you left.”

It was a square item covered in brown paper, and Kelin slowly unwrapped it as the kids watched. It was only about six inches across, but it had a solid weight in his hand. 

As the wrapping came off, it revealed a polished wooden frame surrounding a painting. 

Depicted on the front was a young man standing in front of the guild hall, his body surrounded in waves of golden flames that made it look like he was half a fire elemental.

The painting was artfully done, but in the quick style that suggested one of the guild’s artists or a local crafter had done it in a spare moment.

“It’s you,” Yao said helpfully. “It’s called The Lord of Flames.”

“We had it made specially,” Naomi said, grinning. “When we thought of you and how you rescued us, it all came together. You were amazing covered in all those flames. And the guild is in the background as our new home.”

Kelin felt a slight stinging in his eyes as he took in the portrait and the two kids. It was the first time in this new life that anyone had given him a gift.

It had probably cost them most of the spending money he’d left with them. 

“Thank you,” he said simply. “You didn’t need to, but it’s wonderful. I’ll keep it safe. I’ll give you your gifts in a moment. Let’s eat first.”

Then he tousled their hair and waved them to the table.

They had a pleasant breakfast as they caught up on the details of life at the guild. 

They were part of a number of basic adventuring classes, from survival, to monster identification, magic use, basic weapon skills, and more, everything that the guild believed was essential to new adventurers. 

The quick series of courses took six months, while the more complete version could take two years, including guild-supervised dungeon runs.

Kelin could have taught them all of that himself, but it wouldn’t have been anywhere near as efficient, not for his time or theirs. 

This was the safest way for them to train and it had the advantage of dedicated classes and teachers, as well as a structure that was difficult for him to provide.

It hadn’t been very long, so they were still testing out the waters to see what suited them the best, but there was no rush. 

After growing up in the orphanage and then nearly dying a couple of times when the Wind Hunters tried to hunt them down, this type of stability was exactly what they needed.

The classes mixed them together with guild recruits and a few private students like them, which gave them a chance to broaden their perspective on life.

Eventually, breakfast and the chatter wound down and he moved on to more specific things.

“I’m glad to hear you’re fitting in well,” he said with a smile. “I have some things for you, and then we can talk about your training for a while. I hope you’ve been keeping up your practice with mana circulation.”

“Of course!” Naomi said fiercely. “Twice a day!”

“Morning and night,” Yao agreed seriously. “Even if we’re tired, we don’t forget. We keep each other accountable for it.”

“Good,” Kelin said, “it’s the foundation of greater things. I’ll work with you on it today and test your control, but before that, these are for you.”

He pulled out the two spatial bags that he’d bought and set them on the table. 

“One for each of you,” he said as he pushed one to Yao and one to Naomi. “Normally, I believe you should work for most of your gear, so that you appreciate it properly, but some things are basic, and this is one of them. I will provide this type of thing to you.”

Yao’s eyes were wide as he stared at the bag, but he didn’t touch it. Instead, he traded glances with Naomi. Both of them looked hesitant. 

Naomi reached out gingerly to touch the bag and then snatched her hand back.

“Is that...a spatial bag?” she asked cautiously. 

“Yes,” Kelin agreed. “The most basic type. It has about three feet of space in every direction, about the same as a large backpack. That’s what it’s for, to carry your potions, basic gear, and some food while adventuring.”

He paused and pointed at the bags.

“This size is not really enough to carry dungeon loot, so I recommend storing a couple of large packs inside of it when you eventually do go to a dungeon. You can fill them with loot and carry them separately until you can afford more spatial bags.”

“But...aren’t these bags like fifty gold?” Naomi’s words were a hushed whisper. “That’s so expensive. Only nobles get things like that.”

“Now you do as well,” Kelin said with a smile. “Having a small spatial bag like this is too useful to not give you one. It’ll save you a lot of effort, even if you just use it to carry your books, weapons, and other training gear for now.”

“But...” Now it was Yao’s turn to interrupt and look worried. “Kelin, are you sure you can afford it? These are so expensive. What if you take them back and then you can buy something else that you need?”

His and Naomi’s eyes were both locked on the bags, clearly wishing they could have them, but she quickly nodded in agreement. 

“You’re the one who needs expensive gear, and to stay safe in dungeons,” she said.

Then the two of them pushed the bags back toward Kelin and snatched their hands back as if they’d been burned. They looked away from them, not daring to let their eyes settle.

Kelin took in the stubbornness and the worry that was evident in their features and he paused for a moment.

His mood flickered between exasperation, pride, and absurdity.

“Alright, I see,” he said, chuckling. “You think I’m sacrificing to give you these, don’t you, and that I can barely afford it?”

“Aren’t you?” Naomi asked. “These are fifty gold each! That’s enough to buy fifty basic mana potions or a decent enchantment.”

“You need that money more than we need spatial bags,” Yao agreed, crossing his arms. “Can you take them back for a refund?”

Kelin was silent for a moment as he looked at the two of them, shaking his head, but his smile was growing.

“You two...” he said, shaking his head. “Let’s talk about finances a little then, so you won’t worry. Trust me, those bags are not causing me a problem. You can take them.”

He pushed the bags back toward Yao and Naomi, who both crossed their arms and refused to touch them.

Kelin stared at the ceiling for a moment, trying not to laugh.

“Apprentices shouldn’t be so disobedient,” he said, exasperated. “I just sold off more than four thousand gold in dungeon materials to the guild. This is a drop in the bucket and I can easily cover it. It’s just your master taking care of you as apprentices, and nothing is difficult about it.”

He pointed at the bags.

“Those and other similar gear are no problem any longer,” he said. “Take them. Another reason I’m giving them to you now is that opening and closing them takes a bit of mana control and it’s good practice for you. It will be hard at first, and it’s likely to give you a headache or worse, but it’s good training.”

The kids were staring at him, their expressions frozen ever since he’d said the words four thousand gold.

“This is the advantage of levels,” he said, seizing it as a teachable moment. “At Level 9, I could barely afford a few silver a week for the old inn. Even when I awoke my old memories, it took a while to earn some, but I’m at Level 94 now.”

He tapped himself on the chest, chuckling as he saw their eyes widen again.

He’d forgotten for a moment that they couldn’t analyze him, and so they probably thought he was still Level 30 or something.

“That’s stronger than most of the Wind Hunters and above the average level of adventurers in Highmist. A single dungeon run around Level 50 is usually worth at least a hundred gold, and I have some advantages when it comes to clearing them quickly.

“You do not need to worry about basic living expenses any longer, nor basic gear like these spatial bags. I promised once to take care of you, and I will live up to that. Now I am at a level where it’s starting to be possible.

“You will never have to worry about food or a safe place to sleep again. Nor do you need to worry that you won’t have what it takes to rise through the levels or to survive a dungeon. These spatial bags are only the beginning.”

He paused as he looked at both of them.

If they hadn’t met him, they probably would have had a similar fate to his younger life, dying in a mine while trying to make a living, but things were different now. 

He would make sure of it.

“But you have to promise me not to take it for granted and not to become complacent,” he said. “That is how adventurers turn arrogant and corrupt. Never leave the regular world behind or forget where you come from. It is what grounds us and reminds us of what is important.”

It was a critical lesson, one that had saved or ruined many people as they rose through the ranks, and there was never a bad time to teach it.

As he had come from Irian, so should they remember that they came from Highmist. And if the world was not what they wanted, then they should set forth to create it.

Yao and Naomi looked at each other, and then at him, as if searching to make sure he was telling the truth, and then they slowly nodded.

“I promise,” they said, their words blending together.

“Good,” he said approvingly. “Now let me show you how to use those bags. It’ll be a test to see if you’ve been keeping up with your training.”

The next little while was spent going through the uses of the spatial bags, how to access them, and how best to carry them without letting anyone steal them. 

It was difficult for anyone without a class to use spatial items, but if they manually trained their mana circulation, not impossible. It just took channeling a trace of mana into the bag’s enchantment.

It would leave them exhausted at first and with a pounding headache, but it would be good for them and a way to drain their mana so they could learn to meditate properly.

While they practiced, he also added some pointers about what types of gear to keep in the bags and he stuck a few basic healing and mana potions inside of each one, as well as some of the food he’d brought for them.

He gave them a strict warning not to use the mana potions for regular training, since it was important to meditate, and that they were there only for emergencies.

The healing potions were a different type of backup in case they were ever injured. The guild trainers would keep an eye on things, but it was best for them to have some reserves of their own.

On top of those, he added extra potions for poison antidotes and other common things that might be useful to them, completing part of what he thought of as a common adventuring kit.

He had quite a few random small items like that from the assassins he’d dealt with, and the kids might as well get used to carrying it around.

Before too long, they’d both managed to open their bags twice, but they were pale and staggering on their feet from mana exhaustion.

“Good work,” Kelin said with approval. “You’ve been practicing.”

They perked up at his words, and he gave them an amused look.

“Now we see how your meditation practice has been going,” he added. “Have a seat and start circulating your mana slowly, focusing on an even path through your meridians.”

It was barely midmorning, but at this rate, they would be unconscious soon if they didn’t restore some of what they’d just used.

Mana exhaustion was a terrible headache that was often combined with body chills and wracking shudders, especially when the mage lacked control or had a weak physique.

As they started to meditate, he added touches of his own mana to guide them and push their mana along the correct path.

Then he had them practice opening the bags again, until they looked even worse than the first time.

Kelin pulled out two golden-red rubies from his storage space and held them in his hand, rolling them against each other as he studied the kids.

These two rubies were some of the Sandfire Rubies that he’d obtained in the Coralfire dungeon. They had potent but beneficial qualities for healing and negating poison, as well as strong affinities for Life and Fire.

He had six of them total, as well as two special versions called Royal Sandfire Rubies, and using a couple of them now would go a long way to help Yao and Naomi.

A flare of mana flowed through his hand as he swiftly refined each of the rubies. He eliminated all the traces of the dungeon monsters they’d come from, as well as all chaotic energy, and turned them into basic physique supplements.

“Put these on your tongues, close your mouth, and start meditating again,” he said as he gave them each one. “They will melt and help to restore your energy.”

The kids hesitated at the unfamiliar concept, but they did as he said. 

As they started to meditate again, a red flush of vitality and Life energy spread from the rubies and flowed through their body.

Sandfire Rubies could be consumed directly as poison antidotes and weak healing potions, but Yao and Naomi’s physiques weren’t quite up to the challenge yet.

He kept a close eye on the process, reaching out now and then to guide the energy into the right meridian and organs.

There was more vitality than they could easily hold, so he channeled the extra energy into their bones, where it would slowly be released over the next few days.

By the time the rubies had completely dissolved, both of them looked much healthier. 

Their skin was touched with a vigorous red, their skin was steaming slightly, and a fog of old impurities was dissipating into the air around them.

Kelin waved his hand, incinerating the impurities in a wash of flame, and then guided them out the window.

The kids had had a rough life, with many small injuries and poisons in their bodies, and a lot of it had just been burned away under the power of the rubies.

He still needed to turn the two Royal Sandfire Rubies into necklaces for them, since those had potent healing and antidote effects that would benefit them over time, but using the lesser rubies now went a long way to improving their basic physiques and clearing their meridians.

It would make it easier for the artifact version to help them later.

The kids looked up at him, their eyes flashing with new energy as they took in the changes.

“What’s next?” Yao asked eagerly.

“Now you sleep,” Kelin said with a laugh as he stood up. “We’ll stop there for now. Although you feel like you have energy, if you push yourself too much more, you’ll end up hurting yourself. 

“You need to eat and sleep a lot. Spend the rest of the day doing that. No more mana practice until that flush has faded from your skins. After that, you should find that it’s a bit easier than before.”

He reached out and tapped Yao and then Naomi on the foreheads. 

“I’ll be around for a while, mostly in the training and crafting halls, but I’ll make time to see you at least twice each week. For now, go take a shower and then off to bed. Don’t take too long. You’ll probably pass out otherwise.”

With that, he headed for the door. 

“One last thing,” he said as he looked over his shoulder. “I’ll open a bank account with the guild for each of you. It will have funds in it, starting at 50 gold each. Don’t take it all out at once, and don’t waste it, but don’t worry too much about spending it either. Buy the things that you want, if they’re reasonable and you can use them.”

They’d probably hesitate to spend the money, but that was why he was giving it to them. They needed to start thinking about what was worth spending money on. 

And if they did waste it, it was better for them to do it now than when they had even more. 

Before they could give him more than a look of shock, he closed the door behind him.

They really were likely to pass out shortly, so hopefully they followed his advice, but either way, it would be a learning experience.

He still had most of the day left and Sandren wasn’t back yet, so he checked his stock of materials and then he headed toward the training halls.

It was time to get started on his own work.