The First World Sphere

The second floor had large flowing trees with red fruit hanging from the branches. I turned to my two companions, “Ullmark called this the orchard. The fruit is edible but extremely bitter. Ullmark said they sometimes harvested the fruit for livestock.”

Talia walked to the nearest tree and pulled one of the fruits like a small red apple. She bit into it and immediately spit it out. “Bitter? It takes almost like vinegar!”

Of course, I had to try one and chewed on it for a few moments. I spit it out and said, “That is exactly what it tastes like. If it is vinegar, then it is not completely useless.”

I motioned to the field, “The trees are haphazard, and the leaves and flowers won’t give you a line of sight more than forty feet. The two monsters wandering the woods are blink dogs and kobolds.”

Delphia asked, “Blink dogs are pretty easy to handle. Just normal dogs that can teleport up to forty feet. The reset for their ability is usually over a minute, so just kill them before then.”

“That is what I learned at the Academy as well. They are smarter as well. The only danger comes when there is a large pack, but Ullmark told me at most, there will be two attacking in an area. The kobolds are a bit more of a problem. They always appear in threes and use slings. I read about them in my tier one creature manual, but we have not gone over them in the class.” I paused to add two dozen of the apples to storage. I had an apple press at the farm. Maybe these apples had fermented to vinegar. It was not very profitable, but still useful.

I turned to the two women, “The challenge monster that guards this floor is at the center of the orchard. It is something called an owlbear. It is a large bear with the head of an owl. It is a difficult opponent, according to Ullmark. It is a tier two creature, but it is as difficult as they come. We will travel around the edge of the orchard and circle back to the portal. The orchard is about three miles across, so we have about a twelve-mile walk ahead of us.”

The edge of the dungeon floor to our left was a rocky downward slope. I looked down at it as we walked, and Delphia commented, “That is typical for floors that have open skies. You can climb down the rocks and find the outer wall. Sometimes, it is stone, sometimes painted, and rarely a swirling wall of colors. That means it is at the very edge of the ley line.” I was almost curious enough to check, but we kept walking.

The air smelled sweet from the blossoms, and was a pleasant walk. The first pair of blink dogs charged out of the flowing trees. Dark brown coats and long jaws barking at us. They had a much longer range than the blink rabbits, so my arcane web spell was not useful. My lightning spear dropped one in its tracks at fifty feet. The other dog blinked behind me and attacked Talia.

Talia had her aether armor active. The dog knocked her to the ground and bit into her forearm. She had her aether armor spell active so it could not break the skin. Delphia planted two daggers in its neck and dragged it off of her.

Talia got up cursing, “Stupid ass mutts. It should have gone for you as the front-line threat.”

I helped her up with a hand, “They are smarter than normal dogs. They are known to blink behind people so they can attack the back.”

Talia griped, “I never took a class on dungeon creatures!” I used my tissue extraction spell to take the small tier-one aether crystals from the corpses. Each one was about two units and worth about 40 silver coins each.

Finished with the blink dogs, I stood, “If you want, I will pay for you to change to the Dungeon Academy in the capital.” I offered as Delphia pointed out movement in the orchard.

Talia considered, “Maybe I could take a few classes. Am I going to be given charge of my own team?”

“If Ullmark does not return, then you will be in charge of all the delvers,” I replied as the first stones pinged off my aether shield. The three kobolds directed a steady stream of sling fire at us. Delphia was standing behind me, and I had two aether shields up.

“Okay, I am going to use my exchange ability. I am going to exchange places with one of the kobolds,” I announced.

“You are going to do whaaa…” I disappeared before Delphia finished her question and appeared next to the kobolds. With a two-handed grip, I cut one diagonally. Its eyes were wide in shock as its life left it. The other kobold did not fare better as my falchion removed its head form a horizontal slash. Delphia and Talia handled the one that took my place.

I knelt and pulled a tiny aether crystal, half the size and value of the one I harvested from the blink dog. Even though these crystals were small, every creature had yielded one. I walked back to the group and got the crystal from the one I had sent here in my place. Delphia asked, “What was that?”

“It allows me to exchange places with another being. The only limitation is that it must be between fifty and five hundred pounds and have its own aether core. You agreed to keep my secrets, Delphia. This is one of them.” I looked her in the eye, and she licked her lips, studying me.

Talia pushed me to start walking, “We do not have much time left. We are already going to exit past our allotted time, Storme. We should move quickly.”

In fact, we only made it about a mile before my clock said we only had fifteen minutes remaining. We turned around and walked back to the portal to exit the dungeon. Talia walked closely to me on my left, while Delphia was close to me on my right. Delphia mentioned, “If you ever want to run a dungeon by yourself again, I would be happy to serve as your spotter.”

Talia answered for me, “If I am in charge of the delvers, then that will be my decision who to send with Storme.”

Delphia snorted, and I could sense some tension. I took the air out of both of them. “I am picking up Bleiz next sixth day. He will watch my back if I delve again to level my spells.”

My response had Delphia huff, but Talia grunted satisfiedly.

When we exited the arch, there were four guards in the Blackguard uniform. These were not wolfkin, just the humans who had replaced them. One walked forward, “High Mage, the delvers entered twenty minutes ago. The first level was reset, so we did not think it was an issue.”

“You did the correct thing. I am sorry I was a bit late in my departure,” I said.

“As long as the first floor is open, I do not see it as a problem. The first team we send in on seventh day only works the first floor of the dungeon.” He said respectfully.

“Thank you. That is good to know,” I said, leaving to board the Maelstrom.

In the cargo hold, I emptied my dimensional space of the loot I had gathered and walked to the bridge. The two cats assaulted my legs playfully as I told Leda and Cilia to return to Aegis City and then land the Maelstrom outside the Spire when they returned. I would leave sometime later today.

I walked through the woods alone in the very early part of the day. The short, dark night had passed and was somewhat dark as I walked. Kiara and Adrial explored the woods to my side but could not scare up any prey as my pace was fast.

When I arrived at the Spire, no one was there. The massive structure was empty. I walked up the steps and the delvers had all used the bedroom suites. I could not find a single bed untouched. These accommodations were also a little too fancy for my delvers. I did not want to spoil them this much. On the second floor of the Spire were the Bricio offices and meeting rooms. I would have them converted in the future.

I opened up my dimensional space and spooked the two displacer beasts. I usually just pulled items in and out of the space without actually opening it. The space had two levels. On the second level was a bedroom I had not used. I anchored the space to stone in the wall and entered carrying the cats. I closed the doorway behind me.

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The two cats panicked until I fed them and went through the training routine with them. They then went about exploring the space. I cleaned myself with my spell and lay on my bed. I started to review my gains from the day.

My absolute time spell reached level ten. It was a handy spell, and with evolutions, I could set timers, alarms, and I always knew the day and time.

Aether shield had reached level 17, and with the compounding evolutions, I could now mimic arcane armor spell. The aetheric armor around my body was also much stronger than that spell. This would save me from establishing a directional shield with the spell. The only down was it consumed all three aetheric shield discs I could cast.

Arcane web had reached level 6. For the level five evolution I just increased the strength of the strands again. That was so next time, it should be able to hold the hippogriff.

Lightning spear, one of the two spells I used the most, reached level 11. I increased the range from forty feet to seventy feet. The spell quickly lost power at forty feet, and that made hitting the flying hippogriff difficult.

The other spell I cast quite a bit on the rabbits was lightning sphere. This spell went from level one to six during the delve. I increased the speed of the ball when thrown at level three, and the level five evolution turned the ball invisible. This was more to confuse future opponents. The paralyzing effect was not strong but had a good radius effect.

The only other spell to gain a level was tissue extraction. Reaching level seven, the evolution focused on being able to do multiple actions with a single cast of the spell. This would save time and aether in the future. If I was going to delve for loot, then conserving aether would be a priority so I could go deeper with each delve.

The cats curled up on the bed, having finished exploring and ensuring the space was safe. I rubbed Adrial’s head absent-mindedly as I did my own aether exercises. Her purr was more like a low growl as she pressed her crown into my hand. Kiara, seeing her sister getting attention, forced her white fluffy head into my other hand. Her purr was much lower and more of a soft rumble.

I feel asleep and woke to my internal alarm after seven hours. It was mid-morning when I stepped out of the space. I had a lot of prepared food in my dimensional closet. Time passed one hundred times slower when the space was not open, or I was not residing within it. It was time to clean out the old food anyway. The spell was at level twenty and I was going to have a hard choice at level twenty-three for the evolution. Make the space large or slow time even further.

As I walked out of the Spire with the cats in the rear screen, the Maelstrom was outside with the ramp down, and Cilia immediately asked, “Where were you? We searched the Spire and could not find you.”

“High Mage secrets,” I said, smiling. “Is Isla with you?”

Leda came out of the Spire behind me, “She is with the stone mage at the Wolfsguard town. They are laying out the new construction and setting up dump sites for the stone they are ordering. Storme, where were you?” She repeated Cilia’s question.

Cilia answered for me, “High Mage secrets.”

Leda dodged Adrial’s attempt to play with her. “Storme, where are we needed today?”

I pointed at the Harbinger on the rebuilt cradle. “I am going to finish that, and then we are going back to Stonefell Island. I hope to be back at the Shiny Platinum before dinner, but I am not certain when we will depart.”

I started walking and paused, “Go bring Isla to me while I work.” I continued on my task for the Triumvirate. This Harbinger was in much worse condition. It also had the same ridiculous aether cannon. The Navy did not have the aether crystals to power them. I started my work, and an hour later, the cats alerted me to Isla descending the stairs.

“Storme? You asked for me?” She asked, bending down to give the cats some attention.

“How is the staffing coming for the Spire? I also need a rush on the conversion of the second floor to rooms for my delvers,” I stated.

“I have a free people I am interviewing to manage the grounds. As for inside the Spire itself, you told me to prioritize the new tow for the Wolfsguard,” she said with some annoyance.

“Just hire more people. The second floor needs to be converted to for, say, twenty-four delvers and some recreation areas as well. I do not want them to utilize the luxury suites on the third floor when they come the next sixth day. Hire some maids to keep the Spire clean and the luxury suites for the guests,” I gave her the orders.

“I thought the second floor was going to be converted for the fifty guardsmen?” Isla asked, taking notes,

“No, build a barracks by the skyship cradles instead,” I decided.

“Out of stone?” Isla asked reflexively. I definitely preferred the more permanent structures.

“I think wood would be built faster, and I am struggling with finances for now. After we deliver the blood marble and I do the trade run to Llorth, I may change my mind. For now, wood.” I finished and turned my back to Isla.

“How many servants did you want inside the Spire?” She asked as I continued my work.

“Ten? That should be enough. But they need to live on-site. I think most of the luxury suites had small servant rooms. They can stay there.” I announced, trying to focus on replenishing the runes.

“When you have guests, they will bring their own servants, Storme.” Her response was met with a dead gaze from me. “Okay, I will figure it all out,” she muttered. “I will need more coin.”

“When I return from the trade mission next sixth and seventh day,” I said calmly. “You can raid my funds at the Exchange in the meantime. Remy has access. There should be maybe a thousand gold left in those accounts. If Remy can sell the harvest from yesterday, it will be another hundred gold.”

I was referring to the accounts that Wynna set up for me before I entered my first year at the Academy. That was my personal account, and I had not touched it. The Shiny Platinum and Shiny Platinum Delving account was separate. I was not going to touch that account as it was used to pay for supplies and salaries. Last I checked, it had about twelve hundred gold in it.

“I will stretch it for the week,” she announced. I pulled four platinum from my space and handed them to her. “This should help a lot. You want me to keep your delver rooms simple?”

“Definitely. I do not want them to get too comfortable.” She nodded at my statement and finally left me to work. It was late in the day when I was finished. After all the work, I only had about twenty percent of my aether remaining. When I started the project, my core had been over half full. It had taken me longer than the first Harbinger, but I still used the same amount of aether.

I walked up on deck, had been working for over ten hours, and was nervous about my next stop. Was Ullmark going to leave the delving operations? Would I add more Wolfsguard to the estate? The Maelstrom was waiting for me. The two cats chased after me as I had accidentally left them on the ship in my focused state. They were getting bigger, gaining about half a pound a day.

I boarded the ship and found Cila on the bridge, Leda came out of the cabin, having obviously been sleeping. We were soon in the air and headed for Stonefell Island. When we landed Asger, Pakkam and Jaesmin came to meet me. No, Ullmark.

I smiled diplomatically and asked, “Has there been any resolution since I was last here?”

Jaesmin smiled coyly, “There has been a number of productive discussions. We three are going to travel back with you to see if what Asger has advertised is true.”

“Understood. Where is Ullmark?” I asked cautiously.

Jaesmin lost her politeness with a low growl but got it under control, “He plans to atone by helping here. How long he remains is up to him. If you wish, you can speak with him before we leave.”

“No, we can leave immediately,” I said, moving back to the Maelstrom. I was happy that Ullmark was not dead. My other fear of losing him from running my delve team was prophetic.

We all entered the bridge, and the two displacer beasts did not know what to make of Jaesmin. Her scent was too foreign to them, but their training held, and I used the hand sign for them not to attack. Pakkam was extremely curious about the two displacer beasts and asked me numerous questions about them. It helped the flight proceed quickly.

We landed at the shanty town by the orchards, and thankfully, Isla was still here with the stone mage, setting ground markers for the buildings. I let everyone do the selling and worked on creating long swords in my cabin on the Maelstrom.

Three hours later, they came for me to continue negotiations.

Jaesmin opened, “The consensus is many Wolfsguard would like to have children. In exchange for this privilege, the pair will serve as your guard for five years before utilizing the dungeon to consummate the bargain.” I could tell by her body language and stress on the word dungeon that she did not like this.

“I can agree to those terms. I am even open to letting them use the dungeon during their service,” I replied.

Jaesmin looked and Pakkam, who nodded. “Acceptable,” Jaemsin said. “As to your Wolfsguard community and training your guards—we have twenty-seven who would move here immediately to begin a life of farming.”

“That is agreeable as long as they realize it will take time for the town to be constructed. How many pairs want to have a child?” I inquired.

Pakkam answered, “It is in flux. There are more males than females, and finding those willing is a—process. In the first year, I expect around thirty couples. The problem is it will cause our staffing on the new skyships to fall short. We will need to talk to the Triumvirate.”

I nodded and was smiling inwardly at the headache this might cause Loriel. I might not have to hire any guards next year if I had enough Wolfsguard. I still needed the skyship, but things were working themselves out.

The three of them decided to remain with Asger for a few days. I took the Maelstrom back to the Shiny Platinum as I had class tomorrow. It had been a very productive last few days.

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