The Land: Forging (Chaos Seeds Book 2) Read online

  Reward: 25,000 (base 20,000) experience points.

  Congratulations! You have advanced to level 6 in Herb Lore. Herbs are 3% more effective. Increased chance of finding higher level herbs.

  Congratulations! You have advanced to level 7 in Herb Lore. Herbs are 3% more effective. Increased chance of finding higher level herbs.

  Congratulations! You have advanced to level 8 in Herb Lore. Herbs are 3% more effective. Increased chance of finding higher level herbs.

  …

  Congratulations! You have advanced to level 38 in Herb Lore. Herbs are 3% more effective. Increased chance of finding higher level herbs.

  You have received 2,500 (base 2,000) bonus experience for reaching level 10 in the skill: Herb Lore.

  You have received 5,000 (base 4,000) bonus experience for reaching level 20 in the skill: Herb Lore.

  You have received 7,500 (base 6,000) bonus experience for reaching level 30 in the skill: Herb Lore.

  Congratulations! You have advanced from Novice to Initiate in: Herb Lore. You can detect two effects from picked herbs. Can negate one negative effect from ingested herbs.

  Congratulations! You have advanced from Initiate to Apprentice in: Herb Lore. You can detect three effects from picked herbs. Can negate two negative effect from ingested herbs.

  Bonus Reward: 20,000 experience points for all of your Companions.

  Bonus Reward: 5,000 experience points for all members of your village.

  Reward: A Quickening.

  Know This! You have successfully grown a Quickening. This is a celestial tree normally seen only in higher planes of existence. Many scholars attribute the overall greater powers and health of higher planes denizens to this tree. It bears fruit that, when eaten, helps to unlock the hidden potential of the imbiber. Your people will surpass their previous potential! Affinities for all skills increased by consumption of fruit of the Quickening.

  Know This! Your Quickening has been built on a Place of Power. Consequently, it is infused with the Dark, Life, Water and Air magic. Consuming the fruit of the Quickening now has a specifically increased chance of increasing affinity for learning these branches of magic in addition to increasing affinities as a whole.

  Know This! All present at the sprouting of a Quickening will have an increase in random affinities.

  Congratulations! Your Quickening has reached level 1!

  Congratulations! Your Quickening has reached level 2!

  Know This! The Blessing of Growth cast by the Hearth Mother of the Wood Sprites has combined with the Life magic of your Place of Power! The strength of the Blessing has been magnified. Your Quickening has advanced to Level 2!

  Know This! It is well known that the fruit of the Quickening can unlock the potential of individuals. The tree can do much more, however. At level 2, it will awaken the potential of your lands. All resources in surrounding area improved in yield by 25%. 25% greater chance to find rare resources!

  TRING!

  You have reached level 11! Through hard work you have moved forward along your path. As a Chaos Seed, you gain 6 points to distribute to characteristics instead of the usual 4. You also get 25% advancement to the skill of your choice! Crush your enemies, honor your allies, LIVE!

  TRING!

  You have reached level 12! Through hard work you have moved forward along your path. As a Chaos Seed, you gain 6 points to distribute to characteristics instead of the usual 4. You also get 25% advancement to the skill of your choice! Crush your enemies, honor your allies, LIVE!

  TRING!

  You have reached level 13! Through hard work you have moved forward along your path. As a Chaos Seed, you gain 6 points to distribute to characteristics instead of the usual 4. You also get 25% advancement to the skill of your choice! Crush your enemies, honor your allies, LIVE!

  You have either characteristic points or skill percentage points to allocate from the previous level. Now that you have progressed again, you must allocate your points within the next week or they will randomly be assigned for you.

  You have unlocked the Quest: Tree of Power II. The emergence of a celestial tree on this plane will not have gone unnoticed! The tree requires care to cultivate it and strength to protect it! Will you protect it and assign caretakers to your Quickening? Yes or No?

  These prompts crowded his vision one after another. He was barely able to glance at each before the next came. He quickly read through each… WHAATTTT?!? He had no idea that you got experience from progressing in your skills! He made a mental note to ask Randy exactly how that worked later. He kept going through his prompts and accepted the quest. When he cleared his vision, he looked at all of his villagers. He hadn’t expected them to receive experience from his quest, but he was sure glad of it!

  From the expressions on their faces, they were stunned too. Some of them were only level one or two. Most people did not advance farther since the two main ways of receiving experience were battle, quests and apparently skill leveling. The last depended heavily on your inherent ability for a skill and how much time you could invest into practicing it. Richter took his fast leveling for granted, but he had the boon of his Fast Learner ability. He had primarily been in combat for most of his time in The Land, and as such his magic and combat skills had leveled quickly. Not too many bakers were fighting, and not too many glass blowers were pursuing large quests. There were always small quests associated here and there Richter had been told, but apparently the experience earned was modest. As such, most nonfighters did not advance their level past two or three.

  The point was, the 5,000 experience points would bump his lower level villagers up one or two levels all at once. Richter just hoped the parents would guide their children to wise point allocation. He didn’t need a bunch of super strong toddlers knocking down walls!

  Randolphus was at the front of the crowd. He looked at Richter with an unreadable expression. Wiping rain off of his face he asked, “Is this experience because of you, my Lord?”

  “Yes,” Richter replied. “It is a bonus reward for planting the Seed Core.”

  A chorus of ‘Thank you’ and ‘Hooray for Lord Richter’ issued from the crowd.

  Your efforts have aided the development of your people! Morale increased +300. Loyalty increased by +150.

  DING!

  The Morale of your village has increased from Neutral to Happy. Your guidance has made the general mood of your village increase! +10% to Population Growth. +10% to Productivity. +10% to Fighting Spirit.

  “Thank you, my Lord,” Randolphus said with his head bowed. Richter just smiled at him and nodded his head. He turned back and took in the sight of the Quickening illuminated by Hisako’s golden light.

  The tree truly did belong in heaven, Richter thought. The base was about fifty feet across, each of the eight tendrils about five feet in diameter. Gaps could be seen in the trunk, the tendrils forming an octuple helix. It wasn’t the width of the trunk that was remarkable, however. The tree had the shine of polished silver. Every surface was smooth without the ridges that were normally seen in bark. Instead, intricate tracings ran across the trunk in smooth whirls. The branches exhibited the graceful bowing limbs of a willow tree, and the tips were only five feet above the ground.

  It was the forming leaves that made the tree truly breathtaking. Each was about the size of Richter’s hand and were a soft white in color. The leaves’ thick velvet appearance made them appear heavy, but they easily shifted in the wind, showing their silver underbellies for just a moment before again presenting the creamy white smoothness of their tops. The effect was mesmerizing. Hisako was walking under the boughs of the tree with her hands cupped to her chest. Just before passing under the canopy she looked back, and then motioned with her head for him to follow.

  Richter and the rest of the villagers walked forward to shelter under the tree. The broad leaves formed a thick canopy which effectively kept all rain off of them. Hisako cast another globe of light that m
ade a cheery atmosphere under the protection of the trees limbs. As Richter joined her, she gave him a brilliant smile with tears flowing freely down here face. Her words were so soft they seemed like an exhale, “We did it.”

  She had been holding her cupped hands to her chest. She slowly and carefully lowered them to show all what she had been holding. An opalescent orb was resting in her hands. As he watched it grew more and more clear until it was gone all together. In its place was a small figure curled up in the fetal position. The creature was wrapped in clear wings that had an iridescent shine. They unfurled and the diminutive person stood, using Hisako’s hands as a platform.

  She, because despite being only six inches tall there was no doubt as to her femininity, was clad in white cloth that looked like a woman’s slip. Her skin was a pale blue that contrasted with the jet black hair. Her eyes were still closed when she tilted her head back, opened her mouth and began to sing.

  There were no words. There didn’t need to be. Images came clear to the minds of all present, produced from the pure light of her voice. She sang of love and family. Of a people dedicated to life and the cultivation of forests. Then the song became melancholy, and imparted a story of death and loss. The melody spoke of an entire people dying out. The music pulled sorrow out of Richter’s soul and he wept.

  The tone became frantic as the survivors struggled to stay ahead of the plague that had savaged her people. The complexity of the song had decreased as the pixie sang, and all present realized that the loss of each tone it represented the loss of a life. Suddenly there were only two tones left from the entire tapestry of beauty they had initially heard. The incalculable loss tore at the hearts of everyone present. It was enough to bring Richter to his knees.

  Out of despair, though, came one note of hope. A hope for a people to one day be reborn. The light and younger tone… a daughter, was overjoyed by the news. The queen mother sang once again of love, and then then sacrifice. A life consumed by a spell to halt time. The two tones became one, and the remaining tone was once again overcome with sorrow and grief. And the then the song ended, not tapering away, but abruptly shut off, as if the remaining life was walled away from the world.

  Richter continued to weep on his knees, but with the ending of the song was able to collect himself once again. He looked around and saw everyone present was weeping freely, many laying down, completely overcome. A warmth wrapped around his shoulders, his familiar drawn to comfort him in his sorrow. Even Yoshi’s gruff exterior was overcome, and tears trailed down his cheeks. Richter’s eyes ached from expressed sorrow, but he could see the prompt clearly.

  HARK AND REJOICE! The pixie that emerged from the Royal Pixie Chrysalis was none other than a queen! Her mother sacrificed her life to keep her daughter in stasis until the plague had died out. The pixie race can be reborn!

  Congratulations! You have won +3,000 fame points! You have brought back the lost race of Royal Pixies!

  CHIME!

  Congratulations! You have advanced to Reputation Level 3! “You seem like someone I should listen to” New quests and opportunities will become available to you!

  You have completed the Quest: Resurgence of Light I. Reward: 6,250 (base 5,000) experience

  You have unlocked the Quest: Resurgence of Light II. Witness the following interaction between Hisako and the pixie queen to learn more.

  Hisako was the only one in the glade that had stayed on her feet. She looked at the small pixie in her hands and said, “Your mother’s sacrifice was not in vain. Hope still exists while you are here. Sprites still exist in many places in The Land, and we will all fight and die for you. You are home my queen!”

  The pixie opened her eyes and looked at Hisako. Each sclera was cornflower blue, but her irises were an intense violent, that glowed in the night. With a flap of her wings she flew up and hovered in front of the Hearth Mother’s face. Her voice was the piping notes of a piccolo, “But I am all alone! I have no one!” The sorrow in those two short sentences was heart wrenching.

  “You are not alone, little one,” Hisako said. Her voice was full with sympathy and comfort. “Though you and your people have been absent from the land for long centuries, you have not been forgotten. We have kept your memory alive through the old stories. Every sprite living has grown hearing the stories of your people’s beauty and goodness. The deeds of great pixies live on in our stories. We well remember the valor of Petanu, the pixie general who held back the gremlin army. We laughed at the stories Eniola, the pixie trickster. And we will remember your mother, little one, if you would only tell us her name.”

  The pixie hovered in the air looking at Hisako. When she spoke, she did so softly, “Her name was Alexandrella.”

  “Ahhh,” Hisako said, “and so we shall remember Queen Alexandrella the Loving. We will revere her for eternity, and share the story of how her sacrifice brought light back into the world. The only question now little one, is will you honor her sacrifice? Will you bring the beauty and wonder of the pixie race back into The Land?”

  Again, the pixie hovered silently before replying. After a few moments, though, her slouched posture straightened. When she spoke, the self-pity was gone from her voice. Though her voice still quavered with sadness, it also had the practiced tones of royalty, “I will. I give thanks to the Wood Sprites for their faith and love through the long years.” She then turned to Richter, “I also give thanks to you. I feel in my heart that you played a large part in releasing me from my chrysalis.”

  Your relationship with Royal Pixie Queen has improved from neutral to friendly.

  “I will happily do my duty and honor my queen’s sacrifice,” she continued. “Will you help me, Hearth Mother? I need protection and a suitable tree to foster my children. It will be several months before my first children are born. Is there a Steelborn Oak or a Silver Elm that you know of?”

  Hisako simply looked at Richter.

  Know this! The life cycle of pixies is intrinsically tied to nature. Male and female pixies exist, but that is not how they reproduce. Male pixie are larger and stronger than their female counterparts, but are sterile. Any female pixie can create more pixies, by binding their spirit to a tree. A cocoon is created that adheres to the tree and after a time, two pixies are born of this union. The offspring have unique attributes that are determined by the type of tree they are born from. Pixie females can only bind their spirit to a tree once per year. A queen pixie is special in that she can generate a great deal more mana, and so each binding will create one hundred pixies. She can also bind her spirit to a tree twice per year. Be aware, the binding between pixie and tree is unto death. Both benefit from the binding, but if one dies the other may as well.

  Update on Quest: Resurgence of Light II. The Royal Pixie queen needs a tree to “foster” her progeny. Will you accept responsibility for this task? Reward: Increased regard of Royal Pixie queen. Yes or no?

  Richter had to read the first prompt three times to make sure he understood. When he dismissed it and minimized the second, he looked back at Hisako. The pixie queen was still hovering in the same place. He thought he understood what the Hearth Mother was trying to silently communicate. Would he allow the pixie to bind to his new celestial tree? On the one hand, if the pixies would truly gain properties of the tree they bound to, it would mean a great boon for the queen. Her progeny might be powerful, and therefore better able to protect themselves. It could also mean another ally for his village. Pixies could even be considered caretakers, couldn’t they?

  The other argument, though, was that if the queen died, the Quickening could be destroyed with her. He hadn’t known what tree would grow out of the Seed Core, but now that he did, could he risk it? The Quickening would make his people, and the very land his village was built on more powerful! Was it right to risk the future of his people on a very small new life, basically alone in this large and dangerous world?

  More thoughts for and against went through Richter’s mind quic
k as lightning. He felt like he was drowning in calculations and moral obligations, both to his people and his conscience. Ultimately, he based this decision on a decision he had made early in his life. Many years ago he had decided that when all things were equal, he would act on what he hoped to be true, rather than on what he feared to be true. His hope was that his village would grow to be a force of positive change in The Land. Bringing a peaceful species back from the brink of extinction… well that was exactly the type of change he imagined.

  “What is your name, my queen,” Richter asked.

  “I am Elora, my Lord,” she said with a bow of her tiny head and a midair curtsy.

  Richter consciously accessed his Gift of Tongues ability, rather than passively let it translate for him. In the pixie language, Elora meant ‘hope.’ Well if ever there was a sign you’d made the right choice, he thought. He pulled up his minimized prompt and selected ‘Yes.’

  “Elora, I would like to make a deal with you. I will protect you and help you in whatever way I can to further the rebirth of your race, and in return…”

  “Yes,” she asked in her small voice.

  “You have to call me Richter,” he said with a small smirk.

  She flew from her position near Hisako to hover before his face. He was able to make out the small details of her tiny expressions. She ranged from confusion to curiosity as she searched his face, then she gave a small smile and said, “I accept your terms.” She held out her small hand to shake.

  Richter gave a laugh that was echoed by everyone present. Elora was speaking in the pixie tongue, so his people most likely had no idea what she was saying. The sight of a tiny flying woman shaking hands with the Master of their village was amusing all by itself, though. He raised his hand and extended his pinky to touch her hand. He bent his finger once slightly up and down, and everyone cheered.

  “Thank you, Richter! Oh, thank you! What tree do you have for me? I promise that I will make it grow tall and strong.”