The eldritch artisan fat.., p.14
The Eldritch Artisan: Father of Constructs: Book 3 (LitRPG), page 14
“Are those pickaxes?” Milly asked.
“Sure are,” Tabitha said proudly. Then, seeing Reacher’s furnaces lighting up, said, “Oh, good! I was hoping he’d still be able to use those in here. Let’s all take a step back. He’s going to use his breath attack.”
Everyone backed away as Reacher moved to stand over a spot on the floor. Furnace fire flared in his central mass, then he lunged forward, opening a single hatch. Melted gravel shot into the floor with enough force to pummel a fist-sized hole. He struck out with one of the two pickaxes. Softened by the heat and hammered by the incredibly strong construct, the rock beneath his strike practically dissolved.
In a few seconds, Reacher had a rhythm going between his two pickaxes and a steady stream of his “breath attack.” When he ran out of gravel, he had plenty of stone shards to pick up and replace the fuel with.
“That’s…incredible,” Lyssandra said over the roar of Reacher’s work.
They all huddled against the wall, away from the backsplash of fire and stone shrapnel.
Felodin tapped Harvey on the shoulder. “How does he do that? It’s not like he has a mouth.”
Smiling brightly, Harvey explained. “The core of that Esoteric Processor is basically a big empty space. His first father put a series of mobile, movable segments inside, and used magic to wire control of them directly to Reacher’s minds. He can manipulate the temperature and volume inside that furnace with enough precision to melt rock in one chamber, and keep frozen water cool in another, right next to it.”
The mage’s eyes widened in amazement. “He’s using pressurized steam and motion.”
“Precisely. Isn’t he just so cool?”
“Ahem.” Lucas cleared his throat. “Harvey, I adore you, but I swear if you don’t explain literally everything that happened in the last five minutes, I’m going to get cross.”
“To do that, I’ll need to give some context. Do you mind if I start with Crystal Bay?”
“Sure, whatever gets us to this moment.”
Over the next hour, Harvey and Tabitha explained what they’d experienced in Crystal Bay. Starting with their discovery of the puppets and the Voices in Laldodem, they told the group about the corrupt leaders. They went over the reaction between konovium and esoterica. Finally, they talked about Saito, and what had gotten them to this point.
As it turned out, Wren had already filled the party in on most of it. When they got to where Reacher killed the Winter Witch, Felodin started laughing so hard he shed tears.
“It’s about time,” he said, cackling. “The last time I saw that upstart, I tried to upset her enough to duel with me. It would have been worth it, even if I hadn’t earned any experience.”
Lucas motioned for Harvey to continue.
In the end, Harvey told them about the safe room.
“And basically, we bribed the DM to help us find you all by offering to get Lucas involved in a Delve,” Tabitha finished.
Everyone in the group laughed. Everyone except Lucas.
“I knew it,” Lucas snarled. “I just knew it. Somehow, they always find me. As soon as we went underground, I knew it was just a matter of time.”
“He did say he could feel the walls watching him a few times,” Milly said.
Crack!
Rubble shifted loudly to one side of their prison, near where the Continuum people had been. Rock started to peel apart, revealing a cloaked figure. Brown and yellow magic rolled across the rock, as if trying to force it apart. The figure stood on the other side of the barricade, one four-fingered hand lifted to direct the magical force.
The rock slammed shut again.
“There must be a Nail nearby,” Harvey observed, then quickly clarified at Lyssandra’s curious look. “That’s what I call an Oasis with a Control Collar. The Continuum has figured out how to manipulate them. I figure that’s what’s maintaining the cloche.”
Lyssandra looked to where Reacher had vanished. He’d dug a pit eight feet across and over thirty deep. “If a Delve Monitor is involved, it means an Oasis is taking a direct hand to get Lucas inside. I think we’re seeing two Oases fight for control of the same terrain.”
“That can’t be good,” Milly said.
Taking a few steps over to the hole, Harvey glanced inside. “We’re getting deep. Reacher can clear six cubic feet of stone every twenty minutes. Double that with two pickaxes. We should be able to get low enough to access esoterica again before too long. That’ll mean sandwiches and freedom.”
Milly rubbed her stomach. “Sandwiches first, please.”
Still orbiting near Felodin, Tabitha asked, “What happened to get you all here?”
He scowled. “It was a trap. A member of the Transit Authority Council came to us almost as soon as we got to Saito. Before we had a chance to get an update from Wren, they issued a mandate for us all to take a train to deal with a boss monster. We think the food and drink on the train were poisoned.”
Lyssandra continued the story. “We woke up here. It’s been this way for weeks now.”
“Which member of the Council did it?” Harvey leaned down, grinning as he saw a glint of blue appear beneath Reacher’s strikes. “Also, I think we’re about to be free.”
“Turpal Singh, the head of Security,” Lyssandra answered, moving over to peer down the tunnel.
Reacher, along with the rubble at the bottom of the tunnel, abruptly vanished through a glowing blue tunnel opening. There was a gentle thud, and a moment later his hand appeared through the opening, thumb raised.
The slender woman observed, “That’s not a way to freedom. That’s a Delve entrance. When we go into that, we’ll be at the whims of the DM until we complete the Delve.”
“I wouldn’t worry about that so much,” Harvey said.
“Why not?”
“Yeah, why not?” Lucas said, voice strained.
“The DM wants to make things interesting. I’m sure it knows you all are starved and don’t have any of your equipment. It’s not like we’ll have to fight something right away, is it?”
Lucas groaned. “Never tempt the DM.”
Librium Esoterica Entry
Name: Milly Westbrook
Class: Wall Breaker (Epic)
Inherited Levels: 10
Acquired Levels: 2
Effective Level: 12
Hit Points: 37 (Physical score (16) + ½ Toughness(19) + Level (12))
Acquired Experience: 118,210 (You qualify for level 14; obtain 160,000 to qualify for level 15)
Note: Due to your Nobility Pact, you may not gain experience points from killing people.
Pillar: Physical (16), Mental (8), Spiritual (11)
Class Attributes
Acrobatics- 13
Combat Insight- 14
Esoteric Resilience- 9
Reflexes- 16
Toughness- 19
Violence- 16
Class Skills
· Survival (All), Level 7
· Melee Combat, Level 11
· Battlefield Tactics, Level 10
· Esoteric Theory (Combat), Level 6
Class Abilities
Combat Momentum: Each time you strike an opponent, your combat speed increases by 10%, up to a maximum of 100%. This bonus diminishes by 10% after 6 seconds pass without making a successful attack. This benefit stacks with other speed enhancing effects.
Projectile Interception: If a projectile would strike an ally within 10 feet of you, you may choose to intercept it. This completely stops the damage to the ally. If you have a shield, you may interpose the shield with the projectile. If your Reflexes are sufficiently high, you may attempt to catch it. If your Combat Momentum is above 50%, you may immediately attempt to return the projectile as a free bonus attack. You may intercept a maximum of 1 projectile every 2 seconds. This benefit increases by 1 additional projectile per 20% of your Combat Momentum. Thus, at 100% combat momentum, you could intercept 6 projectiles every 6 seconds.
Stalwart Resistance: All damage dealt to you is reduced by 30%. This increases to 50% if your Combat Momentum is at 100%.
Break Walls: Your critical attack range and critical damage is increased by half of your Combat Momentum. This counts as a bonus that stacks with other effects. You, and any equipment you wield in combat, are immune to suffering damage from striking any surface. This includes ones with elemental effects or reciprocal spells.
Chapter 11: Harvey Tempted the DM
The Delve entrance was a short, thirty-foot-long tunnel with no exit. Once they were all inside, the exit to the cloche vanished and there was a brief, sharp sense of motion. Before anyone could comment, an arched opening appeared at the end of the tunnel. A space, illuminated by torchlight, was visible from where they stood.
Their screens all appeared, popping crisply into space to hover next to their faces. Even Reacher’s, which was on a slab of reinforced metal at the bottom of his Esoteric Processor, lit up briefly.
“Here’s where I come in,” Milly said, moving to the front of the group as soon as she saw her screen appear. Her sluggish, laden motions made it clear she wasn’t feeling at her best.
“Take this,” Tabitha said, passing her, Lyssandra, and Felodin sandwiches from her Monroe’s Pocket.
Harvey fetched several for Lucas, along with another water cask. “Maybe we wait here and replenish a bit before we walk in?”
“Good idea.” Lucas bit into the sandwich, then washed it down with water. “I can’t believe this is still so delicious. This is from our last Delve, isn’t it?”
“Ayup.”
“I thought you said that didn’t count as a true Delve?” Milly called from the front, between bites.
“It didn’t. The underground didn’t change around us. Not that I noticed. If there was a Delve Monitor, it wasn’t messing with us.”
A moaning, clattering sound came from the chamber ahead, and a skeletal creature in glowing armor appeared at the tunnel entrance. It was carrying a frost-covered sword, and its eyeless gaze was locked on Lucas.
Throbbing metal music abruptly filled the air, as text appeared above the monster’s head.
ARMORED GUARDIAN SQUAD LEVEL 8 (Experience reward: 64)
“Squad?” Harvey asked an instant before seven more of the creatures appeared behind the first. Each of the creatures wore a subtly different kit, although it all looked as if it had been made by the same hand. A couple wore leather armor. One wore a robe covered in magical glyphs. Another even had a bow, which it drew. As it did, a magical arrow appeared to fill the string.
Every Guardian was looking at Lucas.
Milly, her sandwich between her lips, moved forward to intercept the first creature. She slapped its sword aside, completely ignoring the icy puff that threatened to engulf her hand. In the opening, she punched it. Her strike was fast but lacked strength. The Guardian’s hit points might have dropped by a point or two. An aura of swirling energy appeared around the Wall Breaker, and her next attack was slightly faster.
Jaw dropping, Harvey watched as, with practiced ease, Milly essentially slapped her opponent ten times in quick succession. Each time, the aura around her increased, granting her more speed.
The monster swung its sword at her again, and again she batted it to the side.
With a clamorous noise, the archer behind the line of Guardians began firing conjured arrows.
Milly’s hand snapped out, catching the first arrow, and slamming it into the front Guardian’s sunken eye socket. It fell backwards, its hit bar flashing down by a third.
Another arrow flew, then another. Each time, she intercepted them, using them as weapons to carve through the Guardian’s hit points.
The Guardians behind the leader shoved forward, stabbing at Milly. One with a spear poked her in the side, earning a muted sound of discomfort as she lost three hit points. She reached out, using leverage to wrench the spear from the Guardian.
Harvey admired the woman’s precise mechanical control, recognizing something similar to Maywen’s fighting style. Where Maywen was overwhelmingly brutal, however, Milly was precise.
Then Milly slammed the spear against the lead Guardian and text appeared in the air.
CRITICAL STRIKE, DAMAGE MULTIPLIED BY 200%
The Guardian crumpled. Milly took a small step. Rotating the spear, she slammed the butt of the staff against the unarmed one’s head.
CRITICAL STRIKE, DAMAGE MULTIPLIED BY 200%
It staggered back against the wall. In that opening, Lyssandra moved into position. Kicking the hilt of the fallen sword into the air, she caught it and brought it down on the staggered Guardian. Frost covered the Guardian’s neck just before the monster fell.
“She is amazing,” Tabitha said, peeking around Reacher’s protective bulk.
“She is!” Harvey echoed.
Felodin, lounging against the wall and taking alternative bites from his two sandwiches, gave them both an indulgent smile. “This is the first room of the Delve. Just you wait.”
CRITICAL STRIKE, DAMAGE MULTIPLIED BY 200%
Milly’s hit point bar was down by a quarter. Harvey guessed she’d taken maybe eight or nine points of damage. Despite the injuries, she’d become a blur of devastation. The captured spear had become an extension of her hands.
Whack!
A Guardian had a sword covered in fire, and it struck at just the right angle to shear through the spear. Adapting instantly, she used the halves like batons, both hands flying as she beat the monster to the ground. Without missing a beat, she stomped on the handle of the fire sword and kicked it backwards.
Lucas was waiting. Scooping the weapon up, he waded into the action, taking up Milly’s right flank while Lyssandra handled the left. He lunged, spearing the bow-wielder in the space below the leather breastplate.
The monster shot him at point blank range. It made a “bonk” sound and stole a quarter of Lucas’s hit points. A sign appeared above his head.
CRITICAL STRIKE, DAMAGE MULTIPLIED BY 105%
“A hundred and five percent?” Tabitha asked.
Felodin, finishing the first sandwich, snorted. “Yeah. Delves hate Lucas. It should have only been a hundred.”
With a cry of incoherent rage, Lucas tackled the monster. Mounting the Guardian’s chest, he grabbed the dull side of his borrowed sword. Holding both the hilt and the blade, he pushed it down on the Guardian’s neck until the bones separated. Its hit point bar, which had still been a little over a third full, vanished.
“Some attacks just work differently, even with a hit point bar,” Felodin said, pointing at the scene with the crust of a piece of bread. “Normally, a critical strike will double your damage, at least during a Delve. Up above, it’s a bit more variable. Once your hit point bar is up, you become incredibly durable. But some things just ignore that. Remove someone’s head, or heart, or whatever, and it’s the same as attacking them when the bar isn’t visible yet.”
“Maywen explained that,” Tabitha replied, wincing as the last of the Guardians, totally ignoring both Milly’s and Lyssandra’s attacks, kicked Lucas in the head. The man’s hit points dropped to half, just before the last monster fell. When it did, all the monsters in the room vanished in a glowing puff of esoteric magic, leaving behind only their gear.
You have all earned 64 experience points. This room will close in 8 minutes.
Milly Westbrook Time to Natural Recovery: 12 hours.
Lucas Crow Time to Natural Recovery: 18 hours.
Tabitha rushed forward, her Discrete Monroe’s Pocket flashing open as she reached for ointment and bandages. She waved Lyssandra away as she kneeled next to Lucas, beginning to tend his wounds. A new message appeared over Lucas.
High Velocity Medic Applied: Healing Rate Increased 25X (5 Hit points/Hour)
Lucas Crow Updated Time to Full Recovery: 3 Hours
Once she was done applying the treatment, she used some of Lucas’s own blood to draw esoteric symbols on his skin. The symbols glowed as they drew in esoterica and activated. A few seconds later, they burned away, and his hit points increased by a little over twenty percent.
Lucas Crow Updated Time to Full Recovery: 90 Minutes
With them out of combat and her initial healing complete, his hit point bar flickered and collapsed, vanishing. The music trailed off with a final, mocking sound that seemed aimed at Lucas somehow.
After tending to Lucas, Tabitha went and repeated the process to the less injured Milly.
No notification appeared over Milly. She gave Tabitha an appreciative grin as she said, “My screen says I’ll be back to full in eighteen minutes.”
“Oh, wow. We’ve got a real healer in the party now,” Lyssandra said, sounding relieved as the health report appeared. She bent to grab the bow. Her screen appeared at the contact. “Not as good as my old one, but it should do.” With a flicking motion, she sent text into the air above the weapon.
+1 Bow of Endless Ammunition.
“Plus one?” Harvey asked, confused.
Tabitha followed his question with, “How did she make the words pop in the air?”
Felodin waved for them to move into the room. As he broke into explanations, he grabbed the discarded robe a Guardian had dropped. “The flicking motion works while we’re in a Delve and in a party. The DM automatically put us in a party, since we’re all on the same team and in here at the same time. That makes sharing options automatic. There are spells and some classes that get to use it in the normal world, too, but they are rare.”
“And of questionable usefulness,” Lyssandra added, testing the bow with a couple of rapid shots. She moved with a grace that felt equal to Milly’s technical prowess. The arrows rebounded off the wall, shattering. A few seconds later, they vanished into esoteric dust.
“Endless ammo is always good,” Felodin said. “It’s got some limitations. The Oases don’t want people manufacturing limitless mass, so always read the fine print if you get something like that. Anyway, back to the plus-one thing. That’s a measure of the maximum magic the weapon can hold. Think of the number as shorthand. It tells us two things. First, how much more effective a weapon is. That’s all based on math the Oasis does behind the scenes. Second, it tells us just how powerful an enchantment can be.”
