BT- Book 1 - Chapter 83

“Seven eternal embers,” Drekt put the glass jar filled with small red gemstones, flickering with their own internal lights, down in front of Micah.  “A matching number of plain lavasteel rings, and four portions of obsidian powder.”

“Good,” Micah responded, legs still crossed as he steadied his breathing, “That should be everything from town.  Jo’s helped me gather the remaining reagents from the forest and nearby mountains.”

Drekt frowned slightly down at the carefully arranged piles of dust, minerals, animal parts, and candles made from exotic ingredients.  Micah turned another page in the Ageless Folio as he went over the planned enchantment one more time.

Neither of them spoke.  Drekt just looking at him while Micah did his best to ignore the distraction.  The upcoming ritual would involve splicing earth and fire magic together, neither a subject that he was overly familiar or confident in.

The century old descriptions of the enchanting ritual that Micah had copied from the Royal Academy’s library left a lot to be desired.  The author skipped over some parts, considering them ‘common sense,’ while obsessing over others that he could do in his sleep.  Parts of the methodology were old, antiquated and obsolete in light of modern innovations in sigil drafting.  Still, it was all Micah had.

“They were asking around about a Micah in Basil’s Cove,” Drekt spoke up.

Micah sighed, closing the Folio and looking up at the big man.  He loomed over Micah, worry on his face as he clenched and unclenched his massive hands.

“I bet they are Drekt,” Micah’s knees popped as he unfolded them and stood up.  “There’s a reason why Jo and I aren’t going into town for a little while.  The person we ran into heard Jo’s voice say my name and got a glimpse of what I can do.  I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s released a basic description of my abilities too.”

“Baron Hurden has put a bounty out on a Micah skilled in wood and air magic that uses a spear,” Drekt confirmed.  “Ten attunement.”

“Oh that’s all?” He chuckled, rolling his shoulders to work any kinks out of them.  “Ten attunement is a small fortune to a low level adventurer, but anyone who would be moved by that sum isn’t really someone I have to be worried about.”

“Ten attunement isn’t going to stop them from making an attempt,” Drekt frowned.  “No matter how capable you are Micah, you still look like a child.”

“And I think that’s the point,” Micah sighed.  “The bounty isn’t to kill me or capture me.  It’s to set the desperate and hungry on my tail so that the people who actually have a shot at capturing or killing me can follow them.”

“I’m worried for you Micah,” Drekt crossed his arms.  “This trouble for Trevor and you just keeps growing.  We need to get it under control before things get completely out of hand.”

“Ooh!” Jo’s voice called out from the other side of the grove as she wandered in with Ravi padding at her heels, “Drekt’s back!”

She ran over, all smiles and cheer as she disrupted the tense moment.  Ravi flopped sideways into Micah, drawing a quick smile and grunt from him as he had to support the entirety of her weight.

“Drekt,” Jo pestered him cheerfully, “did you get the Small Scale Adder venom that I wanted?  Ooooh! What about the alchemical blinding powder, I’ve only read about what it can do, but I can’t wait to give it a try in person.”

Micah smiled at her.  Drekt was half glowering, the previous conversation incomplete, but Jo bouncing from foot to foot demanded immediate attention.

“It was two night attunement,” he responded uncomfortably, digging out a package wrapped in thin brown paper, “and the alchemist only had four portions of the blinding powder, not five.”

“I was only expecting three,” Jo touched his wrist transferring the attunement to him.  “Thanks a bunch for that Drekt.  Even with all of the monsters out here I’ve been going a bit stir crazy, especially once Micah started working on this ritual.  There’s just nothing to do.”

“Jo,” Drekt took a deep breath, “I was just talking to Micah about-”

“It involves her too,” Micah cut in, waving a hand.  “Even if the Baron hasn’t put out a bounty on Jo’s head, the fact that he has my name means that the blessed we fought is still up and feeding him information.  Neither of us can go back to Basil’s Cove until we’re more or less strong enough to level the place.”

“Wait,” she looked back at Micah, “I’m missing something here.  What’s going on?”

Micah just nodded to Drekt.

“I was telling Micah that there is a ten attunement bounty out for someone with his name and general description,” the big warrior sighed.  “Baron Hurden put it out and his crowd of fighters and hangers on are making sure everyone in Basil’s Cove knows about it.  I don’t think either of you could make it more than an hour or so in town without getting jumped by someone looking to get rich quick.”

“That’s only if they could catch me,” Jo winked at him.  “Thanks to Micah’s necklace, I could just fly away.”

“There will be people who can fly on watch,” Micah sighed.  “They saw us escape via Flight last time.  If you try and fly away, they’ll simply trail you back here and come after all of us in force.”

“Fuck,” Jo deflated slightly.

“In short,” Micah inclined his head toward the pile of reagents.  “We’re stuck out here until the Baron and his pet overpowered wizard die.  That means making the rings and visiting the Cavern of Rust until we’re strong enough to not be at her mercy.”

“As much as I like new presents,” Jo squinted slightly at the half drawn enchanting circle encompassing where Micah had been sitting, “are you sure we have to wait for you to finish all of this up before we give it a try?”

Micah chuckled, shaking his head at her impatience.

“Maybe if we want to die,” he smiled slightly.  “The Cavern of Rust is higher level than anything you’ve ever experienced.  Even with the Luoca doing most of the fighting, about a third of the monsters have a heat or flame aura that will boil someone of your level just for being in the same room.  I could probably keep you upright with constant healing magic, but then I wouldn’t be able to help the daemon fight.”

“Are you sure Micah?”  She winked at him.  “It’ll be a fun adventure and plus, you won’t know how resilient I am until you give me a try.”

“Innuendo aside,” Micah chuckled as he summoned the Ageless Folio, “I don’t think either you or your sister are ready to handle a bonfire elemental or a molten automaton and the first room has between one and three of each.  The second room involves a narrow trail of basalt through a lake of magma infested with Lava Skimmers, a nasty breed of heat adapted shark that can live in molten rock.”

“The Skimmers will try and knock you into the magma,” he shrugged.  “You’re agile enough that you might be able to avoid them, but I find it best to not rely on ‘maybes’ and ‘mights’ where being cooked alive is involved.  Frankly, I don’t think any of us should set a single foot inside the dungeon unless we’re able to to take a magma bath for at least a minute or so.”

“Wait,” Drekt frowned slightly.  “That’s what all of these materials are for?  I know you said you wanted to make rings of heat resistance but I thought the enchantment would be more in the ‘allow us to run through a bonfire’ range.”

“Bonfires don’t scare level forty guild chiefs,” Micah snorted.  “If that was all I was planning on doing, I’d have only needed a couple garnet chips and a twist of copper.”

“I don’t know any of this shit Micah,” Drekt snorted, the first hint of a smile on his face.  “All I know is that you gave me a bunch of attunement and a shopping list of items that involved me meeting with some fairly scary merchants.  Honestly, I’m not used to seeing craftsperson classes that have almost as much in their body attributes as me.”

“How do you think they gather this stuff?” Micah raised an eyebrow.  “Eternal embers come from steeping chunks of amber in a forge for at least a year.  Lavasteel is literally steel forged using lava as part of the tempering process.  Only the most powerful of smiths with fire affinities can even make the most impure versions of it.  It’s not exactly what top tier equipment is made out of, but it isn’t something that even a high level blessed in a city like Basil’s Cove will have access to.”

“How long do you think this will take anyway?”  Jo kicked a clump of dirt.  “Even with Ravi helping me find things, you’ve already picked over this area of the forest pretty thoroughly.  There just isn’t anything fun to fight.”

“Probably a week,” he replied with a chuckle.  “The reagents are expensive enough that I’m not going to risk a casting until I have the enchantment memorized inside and out.  Plus, I’m sure the quantities we’ve requested have already been noticed.  Going back for more would convince people that someone is setting up a shop as a fire enchanter and bring Drekt unwanted attention.”

Jo slammed a foot down, pouting at Micah but he remained unphased.  He’d let her lure him into more than one dumb escapade in his previous lives, and if it would have been even a moderate risk, he might have bent.

“There will be plenty of challenge and adventure in a week,” Micah rolled his eyes.  “Even if you’re able to survive the heat, the Cavern of Rust is also an Earth affinity dungeon.  I believe you overestimate me if you think that I am capable of crafting an enchantment that would make something like the Cavern of Rust easy for a blessed of your level.”

“But what in the name of the Sixteen am I supposed to do for a full week,” Jo threw her hands up in the air in frustration.  “I’m going stir crazy enough that I’ve started secretly working on a saddle for Telivern.”

Across the clearing, the stag’s head snapped up in distress, its wings fluttering slightly as it stared at Jo.

“Just think of the honor our forthcoming delve will bring to Ankros and ourselves,” Drekt patted Jo on the shoulder, trying to cheer her up.  “Challenging a dungeon this far above our level is sure to bring his favor.”

“Ankros may be onto something,” Jo smiled at Drekt.  “The rest of the deities just want us to sit on our asses, learning and crafting, but at least Ankros knows how to have some fun.”

“I wouldn’t exactly call Ankros’ teachings ‘fun,” Drekt frowned slightly, “but if you’d like to know more I’d be happy to teach you more about his tenets.  One such as yourself that walks the path of constantly testing yourself would be a good fit for the father of night and struggle.”

“Maybe,” Jo snorted.  “My mom taught us that Mursa made our people, and I’ve struggled to follow her teachings, but I’m not exactly as big on research and study as Micah over here.  There’s just something about sitting alone with a book and a pile of materials that makes cobwebs grow between my ears.  I swear I can feel my soul dying.”

“If you’re that bored,” Micah just rolled his eyes as he returned to his seat, the Ageless Folio still in his hands, “why don’t you go get drunk with Trevor.  I’m sure keeping him from shaving a bear or whatever it is he does when he drinks juusht out here in the forest will be all of the adventure you need for the next week.”

Drekt just groaned, head in his right hand as Jo’s eyes lit up.