The Trapped Mind Project (Emerilia Book 1) Read online

  He took another step and lights started to turn on. Dave looked around in alarm but nothing shot him. Then he saw the panel to his side. It was a bunch of flowing characters but most of them were red. Just three were blue, in the form of a triangle. Dave pressed the three at the same time; there was a click and the red colors of the pad disappeared.

  “I don’t want to know what the hell I just disabled.” Dave exhaled as he looked around the room in more detail now that the magical orbs of light were on, patting himself on the back for his work with Perception. “Cozy.”

  Along the wall in front of him were tools of various kinds, including diagrams and schematics. Dave looked them over. They seemed like various components of something large—and powerful by the amount of soul gems it needed.

  “Well, no one else is going to use it.” Dave pulled off his bag and threw the various tools and components into his bag.

  “That’ll be useful.” He found refined ingots of iron, steel, as well as one gold and ebony ingot. He found some petty, lesser and common soul gems as well. Not a bad haul at all!

  Soul gems contained pure energy they could be used to charge all manner of magical devices.

  Some higher-level bosses had been reported as using the soul gems to regenerate their Mana pool. Once all of the power from a soul gem was used, it would shatter, as the forces that held the power within it at bay destroying itself.

  They went in the bag as well as he looked around. All that was left was the tables and the mirror thing. Dave tipped his bag upside down on top of the mirror. He pulled it down the mirror and it went into his bag.

  Mirror of Communication

  Can allow people to talk across long distances instantaneously. Your magic level is too low to understand more.

  Quality: S

  Durability: 5000/5000

  Charge: 123/400

  Dave whistled. He didn’t really see the need for it when he could talk to any Player he wanted to with his chat function. Sure looked cool, though! And it will sell for a few gold, even with only a fourth of the charge!

  He looked around the room with a pleased expression, looking at the wall where the mirror had been. He saw a blue hole lower down. He looked through his inventory. He pulled out some keys he’d found and started working through them.

  After a few different keys, a panel in the wall pushed forward.

  “Breaking and entering—come on, Dave.” Dave grinned and put the keys in his bag.

  Dave paused as he pushed the panel to the side, looking out for traps. There was a simple drawer behind the panel. Again, Dave took his time with the drawer.

  “Found you.” Dave saw a thin wire coming from the side of the drawer and going inside; it looked like spider webbing. It was surrounded by a red halo. He thought of pliers and pulled them out of his bag.

  “The blue one or the red one?” He shook his hand as if he were nervous, snorting before he cut the flimsy wire. The red halo disappeared. His notifications blinked. Dave checked for any other traps and slowly opened the drawer.

  “Fuck me sideways,” Dave said.

  There were four grand and two greater soul gems just sitting there. Pure energy moved through the perfectly translucent ovaloids. They seemed to dance slowly. The mesmerizing light was a dance of all the colors. Like a pearl shined to perfection, moving around in a wave of light and beauty.

  Dave shook his head and put them into his bag with care. They were the highest-tiered soul gems. With them, he might be able to recharge the mirror.

  He pulled out a chest filled with coins. He grinned and poured it into his bag. The coins auto-sorted. If there were ten silvers, then they’d turn into a single gold; same for if there were a hundred coppers.

  “Wish I had this back home to deal with spare change.” Dave sighed, coming to the last belonging in the drawer. It was an intricately carved box. On the front, there was an anvil; around it, there were People of all races, beating on a piece of metal. There were more scenes with people working the bellows or the final product. The box was a masterful work of art by itself.

  Dave opened it slowly. There weren’t any traps, so he opened it all the way. In his hand, there was a snow globe with a forge in it. It was incredibly detailed. Dave grabbed it.

  Portable Smithy

  The portable smithy shakes with power. Do you want to use it?

  Cost: 250 Mana (You do not have sufficient Mana)

  Dave looked at the little globe with an awed look.

  “Check out abandoned cabins,” Dave said as he put the forge-snow globe back in its case. He patted the case, admiring the artwork again, and dumped it into his pack. He was about to leave when he looked at the lights. It would be nice to have some light orbs instead of fire to light his way.

  “If you’re going to steal, might as well rob them blind.” Dave pulled out his pickaxe and went to the closest light.

  “I’ve been working on the railroad.” He chipped around the magical orb. It came free after careful excavation.

  “Now how the hell do you turn off?”

  The light turned off.

  “Handy.”

  The notification panel blinked again.

  New Active Skill: Mining

  You return to your Dwarven roots, breaking rocks and being rewarded with ore and the distinct smell of sweaty nuts for your labors. Honestly, you can build empires but you can’t take a damn bath?

  Level: Novice level 1

  Effect: You cut through rock easily, finding ores and gems beneath. 5% chance to get higher yield of materials from ore vein. 5% faster at mining.

  Cost: 10 Stamina/second.

  Racial Bonus: Dwarves are the mining powerhouses of Emerilia. +15% Chance to get higher yield of materials

  New Spell: Touch of the Land

  You are in touch with the Earth. When your pick hits stone, it seems that you’re at home. You can look at an area and feel out the area’s materials. At higher levels, people will think you can sense Mithril.

  Level: 1

  Effect: Ability to sense mineral deposits or disturbances in the ground around you. (Touch) Lasts for 20 seconds.

  Range: 50 m in every direction

  Cost: 40 Mana

  Affinity: Earth, Dark

  “Duh duh duhhnnn. Got a freaking spell—bah bah BAhh!” Dave did a little dance and put his hands to the floor. He closed his eyes. A word of power fell from his lips.

  The earth reacted to the old language, forgotten through time. It was like an echo. Dave felt a ripple emanate from him, spreading out to the surrounding area.

  A prompt filled his vision.

  Magical Circuits

  You have found a complex series of magical circuits. Are you interested in trying to learn from them?

  Cost: 100 Mana, Destroy Magical Circuits you study

  Reward: Unknown

  Y/N

  Dave had spent 40 Mana; it would regenerate in six minutes, bringing him up to the necessary 100 Mana. He looked through his inventory. The soul gems could restore his power, but they were too much power for him to handle. He’d waste potentially thousands of Mana points. He went to his notifications again.

  Passive Skill: Perception

  Level: Novice level 5

  Effect: 15% chance to find hidden details.

  Passive Skill: Night Vision

  Level: Novice level 3

  Effect: 9% increased night vision. (+25% Racial Bonus)

  He went back to his character sheet. “I still have 5 points for reaching level 3.” He looked over the stats. He put 2 into Intelligence, 1 into Strength, and 2 more into Agility.

  Character Sheet

  Name:

  David Grahslagg

  Gender:

  Male

  Level:

  3

  Class:

  -

  Race:

  Human/Dwarf

  Alignment:

  -

  Unspent points: 0

  Health:

&nbs
p; 1100

  Regen:

  0.28 /s

  Mana:

  120

  Regen:

  0.50 /s

  Stamina:

  150

  Regen:

  1.00 /s

  Vitality:

  11

  Endurance:

  9

  Intelligence:

  12

  Willpower:

  10

  Strength:

  15

  Agility:

  20

  With the new points to Intelligence, he gained 20 Mana points instantly. It took him another impatient minute until he was at 100 Mana.

  He focused on the magical circuits that he felt in the ground. His magic connected to them, using his Touch of the Land to understand their structure. It started to pull it apart, piece by piece, faster and faster. Dave saw how energy was transferred through magical circuits. How circuits could be used and manipulated. The circuits were destroyed with the passing of his magic.

  Magical Circuits

  Disassembling the magic circuits led to more knowledge than you thought possible. These traps were made by a powerful practitioner of the six Affinities. As they knew of the six, you, too, now know.

  Reward received: You have learned how to form Magical Circuits. You have unlocked the Affinities: Dark, Light, Air, Water, Earth, and Fire.

  +6 Intelligence

  +3 Willpower

  You can now view Affinities

  New Active Skill: Magical Circuits

  There ain’t no wires in this place. Magical power is untamed power; with magical circuits, you can tame that power into other items. Like a coffee maker. Too bad Emerilia doesn’t have coffee. Oh, and screwing up Magical circuits. Boom.

  Level: Novice level 4

  Effect: 11% chance of creating better Magical circuits and understanding them.

  Cost: Dependent

  As there had been traps from all of the Affinities, it seemed that it had crossed over to activating his own magic Affinity levels.

  “I really don’t want to know what those traps were.” Dave’s head hurt from the massive amount of Mana he’d poured out of his body. The circuits must have been a high level to give him those stat point boosts.

  Overall, he was feeling pretty damned good about himself.

  He took another look around before he left the weird basement and headed out of the cabin. It felt good to be out in the sun. It was getting chillier as night was quickly approaching.

  He checked his location, found the hill he was looking for, and took off. He still had quite a distance to go. Again, he got into the rhythm of sprinting for as long as possible, and then jogging when his Stamina got low. The pack weighed considerably more; even with the reduction to 40%, he’d thrown in a lot of refined metals and the big-ass mirror.

  Day transitioned into night. Everything took on a slight green tinge as Dave’s night vision kicked in. His Stamina was draining faster than before. He continued running since he was only a few hours away. His pack rubbed into his shoulders, causing them to chafe. He tried to hold them to try to reduce the friction.

  “Thank you, Siven.” He panted as he looked at his boots. His feet hurt, but he hadn’t got blisters yet. He wished he had something other than the cloth pants and shirt to wear. They were itchy normally; now they were actively trying to erase his nipples off.

  “I never want to run a marathon in my life,” Dave whined, even though he kept going.

  A few hours later, he stopped at a river. He used Touch of the Land; there wasn’t much in this area other than some berries. He grabbed them and started munching. He took off the bag and started tending to his ailments.

  I should have grabbed a healing spell.

  He pulled his feet out of his boots. They were raw from all the walking and he could feel blisters forming.

  “That’s the good stuff,” Dave sighed as the cold water soothed his feet.

  He opened up the notification about Agility; he got a point there. It was only after he accepted the notification did it go toward his stats. Even with the extra points, he showed as level 3. It seemed only quests and levelling up his various skills would allow him to increase in overall level.

  It was more incentive to do quests and follow along with the game. Dave wasn’t interested in that. He thought of the globe and his hill. He pulled his pack on; the poultice was pushed into his chest by the weight.

  At his best speed, it took nearly three days from Omal to the hill.

  Dave grabbed a piece of bread from his bag, munching on it as he sprinted off. Once the sprint died, he continued to eat, energy coming back to his tired limbs. Even though his Stamina was recharging, his body continued to hurt, as though he had lactic acid buildup.

  “Need one of those foam rollers—a small tree might work.” He continued his eating and running until the land started to rise. He looked at his mini-map and zoomed out. He was nearly at his hill!

  He took his time. At any rise he found, he used Surveyor and Touch of the Land. He looked at the scrolling information: a good number of herbs to make food from and some dens for various animals. He wandered to the small stream. It was fifteen meters wide and one meter deep at its lowest, moving at a good pace. It curved around the hill, leaving a nice plain to one side of the hill. It would be perfect for fields. He looked at the rising hill; it was covered in trees.

  The hill gently sloped upwards along one side. Along all the other sides, there were sheer cliffs. He jogged up the hill, taking in the sights as he got higher. His Stamina recharged; once he had about 30, he activated Surveyor.

  To the south, there was a large gouge in the land that led to the sloped side of the hill. To the east, there was the river and the plains. In the north, there was a large mountain range that extended to the west side. It was a number of kilometers away, about the same distance as Omal.

  Information on rock formations, different animals, caves: all of it filtered into Dave’s mind and onto his map.

  By reflex, he reached down and felt the area around him. It seemed to stop, hitting something at the edge of its range. He sensed magic draining into the thing he’d touched. Curious, he sent out another pulse. Again, he found that same odd creation and its hunger.

  Affinity levels

  Dark

  10

  Light

  10

  Air

  10

  Water

  10

  Earth

  10

  Fire

  10

  Quest: What Lies Below

  You sense an item as old as Emerilia.

  Reward: Unknown

  Will you investigate?

  Y/N

  “Maybe later.” Dave dismissed the prompt.

  For now, he didn’t want to deal with it. Instead, he looked around, judging the grade of the hill. It was large, nearly ten kilometers across at its peak—more than enough room for what Dave wanted.

  He wandered around, finding a nice place near the edge of the rise that faced northeast. He could see the river and the mountains in one glance. It was above the tree line, so he could see for kilometers in every direction.

  He cast Surveyor again and new information appeared.

  “I’m going to need a fishing rod!” He laughed, taking off his pack, and sat down to take in the beauty of the place. No cars, nothing to pull his attention: just him and Emerilia.

  It felt as if the pressures that had been pushing him into the tight hole for the last couple of years were fading away.

  “First, camp. Then we’re going to start seeing about this damned house!” He pulled out his small tent, which was little more than a waterproof skin, two poles, and pins. He put his sleeping mat down and looked around. He pulled out the shovel he’d bought from Brenna after going to Siven’s and Darryl’s. Having a bag of holding made it a lot easier to grab the extra gear.

  He started digging when an alert appeared on his view.

&nb
sp; System Message

  You have been playing for eight hours. As per regulations, you have twenty minutes before mandatory log off. Please preselect actions to occur when you log off.

  Dave felt as if more than just a few hours had gone by. Still, he wanted to play more. Dave sighed and dismissed the prompt. He went to the logout menu.

  Log off commands

  You might be leaving but your character is still here. Leave commands for them to complete while you’re away.

  (Beware: if you have your character stray into danger and they die, it will count as a normal death. Only soul-bound items will stay with you.)

  “Okay, I want you to dig a hole from here, to here, to here, to here.” He walked to the four corners of his area. “The sides are to be clean. It should be four feet deep and level. Once that’s complete, start stripping down trees and cutting them down. Whenever I am gone, remember to eat and drink from the bag. Whenever your Stamina is at full, use Surveyor; whenever your Mana is at full, use Touch of the Land. Once it’s depleted, continue your job until either your Stamina or Mana replenishes. Mark the closest rocks that you find.”

  System Message

  Are you happy with your commands?

  Y/N

  We advise sleeping (Saving) before exiting.

  Dave laid down on his bed mat. A revolving circle in the corner of his sight showed for a few seconds with a SAVED icon glowing. Dave logged off and came to inside his shrine. He sat up and looked around the room. The robot was waiting nearby with a beer and sandwiches.