For The Guild (Emerilia Book 2) Read online

  “I will have to talk to my guild. This is a very interesting proposition. What about the keys to different teleportation pads—would you be willing to give us recommendations?” Florence sipped from her drink but Suzy knew she was being watched and gauged.

  “No. Unless you are part of our guild, then we cannot in good faith extend that recommendation to you. At Boran-al’s Citadel, we learned that people are already acting as spies and assassins. We are working to be on good terms with the People of Emerilia. If we start giving recommendations to groups that we kind of know, it will look bad on us if they start making trouble.” Suzy ate another cracker combo.

  “I can’t say that I’m not disappointed, but I understand. I also find the relationship that you have with the NPCs interesting.” Florence frowned.

  “We just think of them as other Players—treat them how we would expect to be treated. You would be surprised what they are able to do if you allow them a chance. I know a number of POEs who are much stronger than me. A few of them have taught me how to be as powerful as I am.” Suzy held Florence’s eyes.

  After a moment, Florence looked away, thoughtful as she grabbed some fruit. “How much are you willing to pay for ten percent of Exdar’s profits?”

  “Seven thousand,” Suzy said.

  “Gold?” Florence’s eyes bugged out; Bronx stopped eating and looked at Suzy.

  “Yes,” Suzy said.

  Florence took a shaky hand and passed it through her hair. “Wow, okay, I know that later on people will have a lot of gold, but right now even a hundred gold is a large sum. I will have to talk to my people more to see if they are interested in the deal. If they agree, then we can talk over the small details later, if that works?”

  “Certainly.” Suzy smiled.

  “Thank you for the food, but I would like to get back and see what the others think. I should have word to you as soon as possible.” Florence stood; Bronx rose with her, munching on a sandwich he had made. Florence tapped out a few things on her interface. “We will have a decision by tonight. I just added your contact details so I can let you know our decision as soon as possible.”

  “I look forward to your response. It was good talking, Florence.” Suzy shook her hand.

  “And you, too, Miss Markell.” She moved to the tavern’s exit. Bronx had to move fast to keep up with her quick-moving form.

  Suzy sat back down.

  Quest: Trading Alliance

  You have met with Florence Guitterez. She seems agreeable to your terms but must take this back to her guild. You may talk to other trading guilds that could assist the Stone Raiders.

  (There are no more guilds that Lucy listed as current possibilities in Selhi’s capital).

  “Well, shall we go and deal with those swamp rabbits?” Malsour asked.

  “Eat the damned food. You know how much this is going to cost me? Uggh, you guys want to start Selhi’s annual monster hunt tomorrow? I feel like my purse is going to need it after this damn meal.” Suzy sighed.

  The monster hunt was called once a year when the monster population from the swamps and woods gave birth to a great number of creatures that flowed outward, throwing trade and business into chaos within the kingdom.

  “Why were you flashing your gold everywhere then?” Induca asked.

  “Well, I wanted to show that even a level 1 didn’t have to worry about being out of coin. Looks cool, all right? I hate being broke—reminds me of my ramen and sweater years.” Suzy piled the food up, not wanting to let it go to waste while Malsour and Induca chuckled at her misfortune.

  “Damned dragons. Bet you’ve just got caves filled with riches,” Suzy said.

  The pause made her look up at the two of them.

  “Oh, come on. Help me out here, guys. It’s your clan as well!”

  “Well, we didn’t really prepare to be away from our homes this long,” Malsour said.

  “So, you left it all in your cave. Have you ever heard of a bank?” Suzy growled.

  “Well, moving that kind of wealth is annoying.” Induca shrugged.

  “That kind of wealth, she says!” Suzy sighed, muttering about how unfair the world was. “I have a credit card!” She smiled to herself as she went to her interface, opening her billing options, and realized that she had never put it in.

  I’d have to go back to Earth to do my credit card info… Screw it. I’ll kill all the damned monsters I can find instead. Not worth the hassle.

  Chapter 3: Monster Hunting Pays the Bills

  “That’s good for now,” Deia said.

  Dave’s great sword transformed into his two rods as he fell back and landed on his back, groaning.

  Deia laughed at his antics.

  “Even though you’ve been off hammering metal for months, you’re picking this all up rather quickly.” Deia squat down next to him and handed him a water skin.

  “Thanks.” He drank from the skin.

  “I think that because of your higher Intelligence, you are able to pick up skills faster. I’d like to check out something, if you’re willing?”

  “Does it include beating me with sharp things?” he asked, warily.

  “I’m not going to kill my fiancé off this early.” She smiled.

  “Oh thanks, babe.” He sighed. “So what is this idea?”

  “Let’s go and get some books. I want to see if you studying books and then watching people fight will increase your fighting skills.”

  “Fine.” Dave got to his feet. “But first I need a damned bath.”

  ***

  Dave rolled his shoulders, trying to ease the tension in his muscles.

  He opened the notifications that had piled up after training with Anna and Deia over the last couple of days.

  Active Skill: Dual wield

  Level: Expert Level 2

  Effect: Attacks are 32% faster. 25% reduced damage with off-hand weapon.

  Cost: 15 Stamina

  Active Skill: Two-handed

  Level: Apprentice Level 7

  Effect: 17% armor penetration on target. Stamina costs reduced 5% while fighting.

  Cost: 35 Stamina

  New Active Skill: One-handed and Shield

  Well shit, so you didn’t want to cut your leg off so now you’re fighting like the human multi-tool. Either this is gonna work, or be one hell of a messy ending. I’m getting the popcorn—should be a good show!

  Level: Apprentice Level 1

  Effect: Weapons damage increased by 11%. Defense increases by 5%.

  Cost: 20 Stamina

  Active Skill: Archery

  Level: Journeyman Level 5

  Effect: Critical Hit chance increases by 25%. Ranged targets take 10% increased damage

  Cost: 10 Stamina

  Stat Increase

  +2 Strength

  +1 Intelligence

  +1 Willpower

  +2 Endurance

  +5 Agility

  +3 Vitality

  “Character sheet.” Dave pulled on his jacket.

  Character Sheet

  Name:

  David Grahslagg

  Gender:

  Male

  Level:

  3

  Class:

  -

  Race:

  Human/Dwarf

  Alignment:

  Chaotic Neutral

  Unspent points-295

  Health:

  2,900

  Regen:

  2.24/s

  Mana:

  1,470

  Regen:

  6.60/s

  Stamina:

  740

  Regen:

  3.65/s

  Vitality:

  29

  Endurance:

  112

  Intelligence:

  147

  Willpower:

  132

  Strength:

  74

  Agility:

  73

  “How are your stats looking?” Deia asked, already dressed and ready to leave. />
  “Good. They’re going up slower. However, because I’m still learning something nearly every time or activating something different than before because of my increased Intelligence, I’m still growing well. I think that I’m going to plateau soon with smithing all done and shift my focuse to just fighting,” Dave said as they left the room.

  “I’m an Expert at dual wielding and Apprentice with one-handed weapon with shield. I’m still learning. It might take me a few weeks to get new stats from it, but usually when I do, it marks some kind of breakthrough in my fighting style. Even as a Master, there is so much more to learn. Bonuses might fall away but stat points are still there.”

  “And stat points can really change how you fight, to make you even stronger.”

  “Yeah. I’m thinking about that the more I think about smithing. I’ve always got a constant stream of ideas that I want to do and try out going on in my head,” Dave said.

  “There’s also the fact that there are other skills that you can work on that influence your different Actions. I have made it to Mastery level 7 for archery but I am an Expert level 7 with dual wield. While training will improve your skills up to the Journeyman level, you need to go out and hunt living creatures to advance further, or get into fights with other people to train up. It is what makes sparring better as a training partner. I am wondering with your high Intelligence if you will be able to learn a lot on different fighting techniques and use it in battle,” she said as they were leaving the adventurer’s guild inn where they had been staying.

  “So, kind of like uploading new skills and techniques into my mind? Essentially, giving me a whole bunch of information to go off and seeing if my mind will pull it up at the right time?”

  “Exactly. If you can, then it would create a whole new way of training—well, for people who have a very high Intelligence. In fact, you might even need a higher Intelligence or more knowledge of fighting for it to be useful.” Deia tapped her lip in thought.

  “But you don’t know, so I get to be a guinea pig.” Dave looked to her.

  “A cute guinea pig,” she said with a winning smile.

  “I feel all warm and fuzzy inside.” Dave rolled his eyes. “You were talking about skill augments, like one skill affecting another. I guess that is similar to how the building skill can be used with the smithing skill, allowing me to use less material?”

  “I didn’t know that was possible, but along those lines. I know that it works with different fighting techniques. With the bow, you gain a bonus for hitting targets at range, which can be stacked with one-handed and shield to increase the base damage. Then that’s compounded by the stealth skill. Add in the two-handed’s ability of armor penetration, and your one arrow can hit for a decent amount of damage. With most skills, there is just one bonus or two. With weapons there is a main bonus, a subset and then specialization at Mastery level.” Deia looked to him to see whether he was following.

  “Okay, but how do they stack?”

  “So, if you’re using dual blades, the effects of two-handed, archery, and one-handed will only add a total of ten percent of their overall skill. The armor penetration of forty percent on the two-handed would mean four percent armor penetration with the dual wielding. This changes when you reach Master of the weapons you’re using. If you’re a Master of dual blades, you gain a twenty-five percent effectiveness. Your armor penetration of forty percent with the two-handed would mean when you’re dual wielding, you gain an additional forty percent.”

  “Okay but it says it’s an active skill…” Dave trailed off, confused.

  “Let’s think about this as a game system, then real world. Open up your two-handed skill.”

  Dave did so, sharing it with her.

  Active Skill: Two-handed

  Level: Apprentice Level 7

  Effect: 17% armor penetration on target. Stamina costs reduced 5% while fighting.

  Cost: 35 Stamina

  “Your first main bonus is the armor. It is calculated at your overall level, so if you’ve risen seventeen levels, you have a seventeen percent modifier. Also, because you are an Apprentice instead of a Novice, you gain your sub-skill, of Stamina effect reduction. You gain this at the Apprentice level; at Journeyman, you gain an extra five percent. This occurs every time you pass into a new named level. Now, while you become better at using your two-handed, your levels will increase, though you are learning how to fight by yourself, not with the Action command system. If you know how to gain armor penetration with your great sword, could you not adapt that over to your dual blades or weapon and shield? The subsets are listed for fighting or against your target; unless it is stated that you have to be using that specific weapon, it will mean any target.”

  “So, wait. If I was just using these as Action hot buttons, they wouldn’t cross over. However, since I am fighting with these weapons and not just button mashing, I have a bleed-over of skills. Fighting with multiple weapons gives me more options with them. With arrows, I would have to be accurate; dual blades, faster with my hands and faster at moving. With the increased dexterity in my fingers from shooting a bow, I can be more accurate with my blades.” Dave thought of the ramifications, thinking on the times when he had blocked with his axes and used what he knew with the shield to deflect the attacks.

  “Correct—bleed-over. It’s an active skill, as you still have to use it, though weapons skills are one of the only set of skills that have a bleed-over from one to another.” Deia smiled.

  “Damn. I can now see why Josh and Dwayne wanted to train everyone with all kinds of weapons and have a school going in Cliff-Hill.”

  “If someone can master all of the weapons, even by simply grinding it out, then they can be a damn scary adversary on the battlefield. If you can get to even Journeyman level, added to the fact you can change out your weapons at will, it’s going to be very interesting.” Deia smiled as they reached a building.

  “What’s this?” Dave asked.

  “The library. Now come on; we have some research to do!” She smiled.

  “Oh, you could definitely pull off the sexy librarian look.” Dave followed behind. He looked around the room.

  Over time, he had finally grown back into his original height of just under six foot. Deia was still a bit taller than him, but he didn’t mind. He was a giant of the Dwarven race, but about average for humans. He wasn’t growing upward anymore, though his Dwarven build made it easier for him to pack on dense muscles.

  There were runes and books all over the place. Books were stacked one upon another. There were a few dozen people around on different balconies or studying cubbies, reading all kinds of material.

  “Hello, how can I help you?” a teenage boy asked Deia as she stepped up to the desk.

  “I am looking for books on fighting techniques,” Deia said.

  “Oh, very well. There are books in the far back left, Section Training, Sub-section Melee.” The boy gave a friendly smile and started to lower his head toward the book he was reading.

  “Do you know of anything that might make reading faster?” Dave asked.

  “Well, there are magical glasses that are rumored to be capable, though the ones I have seen were twenty to fifty gold coins. Otherwise, there are potions of increased recollection, speed, and so on. Stacking several different potions will give you bursts of increased intellect as well as speed,” he said.

  “Thank you.” Dave smiled and let him get back to his book.

  Dave and Deia wandered toward the section they wanted.

  “We need to go hunting if this works,” Dave said.

  “Oh?” Deia asked, looking over different tomes.

  “Well, we’re going to need some coin in order to make these potions, and fighting things will increase my melee levels.”

  “Why not smith something?” Deia asked.

  “I could, but with us going to fight something with the rest of the guild, I don’t want to be relying on conjuring some powerful ass weapon to make up for my
lack of skills.”

  Deia gave Dave a smile and a kiss. “I knew I didn’t just make you my fiancé for your rugged good looks.”

  “I have rugged good looks?” Dave grinned happily.

  “Yes, you look like a freaking hobbit.” Deia held in a laugh at his expression.

  “I’m not a bleeding hobbit!”

  “Sssh!” one of the people reading nearby said, glaring at them.

  “I’m much bigger!” Dave whispered.

  Deia couldn’t hold in her laugh, making a half snort, half grunting noise. “They’re taking the hobbits to Isengard,” she whispered back.

  “Last time I watch movies with you,” Dave said, trying and failing to hide his smile.

  “Don’t say that. Suzy said that we’ve got to watch these things called rom-com movies,” Deia said.

  “What monster have you made, Suz?” Dave asked, shaking his head, as he pulled out more books.

  Deia simply smiled and grabbed her collection of books. Dave gathered his together and they headed for one of the reading tables.

  ***

  Dave stood up, cracking his back and rubbing his eyes. He heard a message ping, but took a few moments to finish rubbing his eyes.

  “Seems that Suzy spent a few more gold coins than she was expecting. She’s asking if we want to go hunting,” Deia said.

  “All right. I checked out the potions that the guy at the desk was talking about. Should be able to get most of the ingredients from the surrounding area or from the market. I really don’t want to go and deal with that alchemist store again,” Dave said.

  “Upset at the old lady who wanted to fleece you for money?” Deia stood and gathered up the books they’d been reading for a few hours.

  “Uggh. Fleece? It was downright highway robbery.”

  Deia chuckled. “Well, I think that has been enough for today. Guess we can try to see if any of this reading has helped you.”