Emerilia box set, p.97
Emerilia Box Set, page 97
part #1 of Emerilia Series
For not only starting the power systems of Alephir, but actively teaching Shard how to maintain them and showing him your trust by sharing the information you gathered from Boran-al’s Citadel, you are rewarded: 1x Book of Portal Creation – Journeyman Level.
The position of trusted ally of Shard.
(This may lead to new quests and opportunities with the Aleph people and Shard.)
For going beyond the Quest’s necessities, you will be awarded with the position of sub-commander. Shard is one entity. He cannot control all of Aleph’s forces by himself. In certain situations, he will give command of Alephir Guardians to his trusted companions. All Alephir locations are revealed to you. You are counted as a citizen of Aleph; their home is your home.
20x Ingots of Mithril.
Dave looked at Shard as he saw the two books added to his bag of holding.
“Is something the matter?” Shard asked.
“Dude, this is...”
“Awesome!” Induca yelled out.
“Is everyone a sub-commander?” Deia asked.
“That is correct. It will allow me to give you permissions that you did not have before in your fight to clear out the Aleph lands and allow you to communicate and take command of any rogue units that might be in the area,” Shard said.
“What is an experimental behemoth?” Suzy asked after looking at her quest rewards.
Anna’s head practically whipped around to look at Shard.
“Well, as you know, I’m kind of stuck in place. At the end of the Aleph Master’s term, they were creating something new. Something we hadn’t tried before. We were putting an AI into a behemoth. We found, however, that the AI had a strong personality and could only be commanded by someone with a strong Willpower. We had to take it apart but it is still waiting for a master.”
“So, a summoner who has a really high Willpower might be able to control this thing?” Anna asked dryly, rubbing her face. “Didn’t I tell you lot to stop messing with AI?”
“Well, he is rather rambunctious. I found him entertaining. It was just that with all his computing power, it was hard for him and others to exercise control over him. He needed a calming hand of someone with a stronger Willpower.”
“Well, we’d best go and see this creation then.” Anna sighed.
Malsour bowed deeply to Shard. “I thank you deeply for your gift.” He held a necklace in his hand.
“I noticed that you like to read and lugging those books around is boring. The necklace will adjust to you even in dragon form,” Shard said, clearly pleased.
“About the whole dragon form thing...” Induca trailed off.
“Do not worry. I have classified the information as requiring the Aleph council to ask me about it to reveal your true identities. The dragons are an honorable race for the most part and my interactions with you have made me come to trust you as I have trusted few others.” Shard looked to them all.
“Dave, you might want to read your portal book while having Malsour’s necklace on. If he lets you,” Shard hinted.
“Malsour, ole buddy, ole pal, mind if I use that there trinket?” Dave asked.
“I get something new and you want to use it almost immediately,” Malsour complained.
“I’ll let you check out my big book of runes and things. Shard gave me another book with all the runes he knows as well!”
“Deal!” Malsour said. The two of them moved to the side.
Anna and Shard were talking in low voices. Anna walked away after a few moments, tapping Shard’s ebony home before she went to the window, happy tears in her eyes.
Induca and Deia were talking to each another and thanked Shard, asking him about the different information and gear he had given them.
Dave gave Malsour the big book of rune combinations as Malsour gave him the necklace.
Necklace of Librarian’s Bliss
Quality: A
Durability: 170/170
Read 30% faster
Understand 20% more
Able to absorb books, copying them and adding them to the Aleph records (Rewards given based on book’s rarity and knowledge).
Able to access the Aleph records, including spellbooks (You can access: Apprentice level books).
All books that you read while wearing this necklace will be saved for later use (not including spellbooks).
Price: Unknown
“This is incredible!” Dave said.
“That’s not all. As our relationship with Shard and the Aleph people increase, we can get more access to their records. The more quests we complete, how we contribute to the records—it all increases our standing and ability to read higher-level items. Now, the spellbooks take longer to read as you don’t have a physical copy in front of you and the absorption possibility is lower, but you can keep on reading them and have a higher chance with this necklace to access the information,” Malsour said, clearly excited.
Dave pulled out his Journeyman book on portal building.
Malsour took a sharp intake of breath.
“Well, let’s try this out!” Dave said, about to open it on a console when Malsour’s hand slapped the cover back down.
“Are you a bonehead?” Malsour asked.
“What? I want to learn portals!” Dave said.
“I guess you need a little lesson on information books. For basic spells, you can take a spell book, read it and understand it. For something as complex as portals, reading the Journeyman level, you’ll get some of it but you won’t understand it all as you don’t know all the building blocks. My advice—read through the Novice and Apprentice books, you’ll understand more. They can give you the basics, the building blocks, so that when you read the Journeyman book, you get the most out of it. You know how much that thing would cost?”
“Okay now, that does make sense and I don’t know—forty gold or so?” Dave asked.
“There are no books on building portals in all of Emerilia and that is a Journeyman-level book. Easily four hundred thousand gold. Thankfully, with the access we have to the Aleph records, you have not only the Journeyman book but can also read the Novice and Apprentice level books,” Malsour said.
“Holy crap.” Dave looked at the book and then put it away in his bag. “But wait, how do places get teleport pads then if there is no information on the runes?”
“They buy it in their building interface. When you own a city or a country, you get an interface that allows you to control the entire continent to varying degrees, such as giving out quests to build homes or a smithy or a teleport pad. Teleport pads are the most expensive resource.”
“But who builds them?”
“We do,” Shard said, inserting himself into the conversation.
“How?” Dave asked.
“When they place a teleport pad icon in a place, then they contribute energy, materials, and all the rest. It is transferred to an Aleph installation, which then teleports a new teleport pad into the location that the owner of the area has picked. The materials are used to make new teleport pads. There are always a number of them in storage, ready to be bought. The installation is supported by Anna’s father. As it is an integral part of the game, he was able to bend the rules a bit to assist that installation and get me enough power to stay on standby mode until someone helped me.”
“How do I have a feeling that finding that substation was not a mistake?” Dave asked.
Shard simply smiled.
***
Deia and Induca were talking about the different properties of their Fire element as well as information on all manner of elements that they were trying to call upon and manipulate.
“So, what was your reward?” Suzy asked Anna as the elevator they were in descended, heading for the waypoint Suzy had been given for the quest.
“Something that I didn’t think possible,” Anna said softly. A smile appeared on her lips.
“So, what is your relationship with Shard anyway? It seems that you’re more than just friends,” Suzy asked.
“No fair, I wanted to ask her!” Induca said.
“Always get more information when the other party has had a few celebratory drinks,” Deia agreed, the two of them stopping their conversation to listen.
“Well, I gave Shard part of the coding he needed to stabilize and not go rogue. It’s a lot easier to do than you would think. He’s the only other AI on the planet and we have spent a good amount of time together.” Anna blushed and scratched her head. “Well, if I’m being honest, he’s probably my best friend other than you guys. We’ve spent a lot of time together just doing AI stuff. Combining information—integrating it. It’s fun being around him. The Aleph were also thinking of giving him his own body like I have mine. I guess that is where this behemoth experimental project came from.”
“If you were to relate it to us biologicals, what would you say your relationship is?” Deia asked.
Suzy laughed at Anna, who seemed to be looking for a way to escape the situation.
“Well, we have talked about creating a new code together.” Anna rubbed her hands together.
“So, like make an AI baby?” Deia asked.
“Kind of,” Anna said, almost as red as the inside of Induca’s cloak.
“Oh, this is so exciting! So, what are you two? On-again, off-again? Boyfriend, girlfriend, a crush?” Induca squealed.
“Well, we just kind of made the decision, you know, we like each other’s company and it would be interesting to create something.” Anna smiled, looking at her girls.
“Hmm, definitely sounds like proposal territory there!” Deia smiled.
“Well, have you and Dave talked about having kids?” Induca asked.
“We have and we didn’t think that it would be a good idea having kids when Emerilia is as hectic as it is,” Deia said with a sad but understanding smile.
The lift stopped; the doors opening as lights came online.
“Fuck-a-doodle-fuck.” Suzy stepped out of the lift and looked at a two-story machine lab. There were behemoths in four workstations at every corner, with more stored on the second level of the machine shop.
A behemoth was as big as a giant but made from steel plate armor, runes, and a smaller version of Shard’s spherical rune server. They could rotate all of their limbs in any direction, by using runes instead of the hydraulics and pneumatic systems that an Earth-created version might have. There were no clear weaknesses. The joints had less armor, if you counted one-inch thick armor easier.
In the center, there was a behemoth unlike the others that were in various state of assembly.
It didn’t have steel armor; it had Mithril to fit a much larger ebony spherical server inside the behemoth. It stood in a massive charging cradle. Unlike the other behemoths that didn’t have a head, this one had one with what looked like clockwork pieces that would allow it to shift and move its face.
The behemoth was taller than the other behemoths and carried a two-handed war axe which was as big as Suzy. Its blade was as long as a sword’s. It would cover one of the behemoth’s hands if it wielded it.
“Impressive.” Anna put her hand into the behemoth’s open chest and touched the core inside.
“Seems that they did learn something,” Anna muttered to herself.
“How in the hell am I supposed to command this thing?” Suzy asked.
“This would not be a creation summoning, but a soul binding summoning if you chose it. What is your stat in Willpower right now?” Anna asked.
“One hundred and fifty-eight.”
“Okay, I’m going to need Dave to put some new runes into this thing’s core but once that’s done, it should be easy enough to command it, though it will take up 10 Willpower points at least. I don’t want to know what the power consumption on this thing is going to be,” Anna said.
“You sure you want to soul bond yourself to this?” Deia asked.
“I really want to, but we should wait till we can get Dave down here to check this out.” Suzy wondered whether it would be an aid instead of a nuisance.
“Sent him a message. He should be down in a bit—he’s trying out those tubes.” Deia shook her head.
“I can answer any questions you might have on the behemoth in its current state.” Shard appeared, in holographic form. After the additional power, he had stopped lagging. His image now held more color and allowed him to appear more life-like.
“What is the energy drain on this thing?” Suzy asked.
“It has soul gems integrated into it that will allow for about one million charge points, or ten million Mana points. I am currently charging it so that it will be at full charge, which will work for approximately two weeks. I believe that Dave, with his knowledge on soul gems, combined with my computational abilities and resources, will be able to create an upgrade to increase the amount of power that it can hold. I have an abundance of energy at this time. I would be happy to charge the behemoth if you brought it to any Aleph location. I would only ask that you upload its data logs and ask me any questions you might have on the behemoth’s interactions. I am interested in the development of another AI.”
Suzy looked to Anna, who had her head inside the behemoth.
“What maintenance issues are we looking at?” Suzy asked.
“Much as how you have all taught me how to fix different things, this behemoth should learn to fix itself and indeed grow in strength with time,” Shard said.
“Can it share experience?” Anna asked.
“Yes, there is a setting for that. Right now, it is unleveled, but I believe that will quickly change as it has already been uploaded with various safety programs that the other guardians have. With time, it will gain levels and increase its basic statistics. It is the hope that the more that this behemoth learns, the stronger the rest of the guardian fighting force will become.”
“That would be a scary damned army to fight,” Deia said.
“That is the hope.” Shard smiled.
“Wow, okay, yeah, this is cool.” Dave looked around the room. His eyes glowed as they settled on the experimental behemoth.
“Shard, your people—love their work. Just damn!” Dave said, his armor fading away as his smithy belt ran around his waist.
Looks like they rolled the Mithril into sheets. The power it must’ve taken to do that without infusing it with Willpower... Dave shook his head as he studied the material. When a Dwarf formed Mithril, they broke the bonds, altered the metal and new bonds formed. Here, the Mithril’s old bonds hadn’t been broken and were, after centuries, still changing to meet the new pattern of the Mithril, making it much weaker.
“Do you think that you can make the soul gems hold more power?” Suzy asked as he climbed up the side of the behemoth.
“Am I the man or am I the man?” Dave asked, hanging off the cradle with one hand.
Suzy crossed her arm and tapped her foot.
“Of course I can! Will need to gut the poor bastard in places.” Dave looked the creature over.
“If you give me the specifics, then I can machine most of the systems and even the new soul gems so that it would be a simple switch out,” Shard offered.
“Okay, well, this is going to take some work.” Dave scratched the back of his head, leaning toward the behemoth and looking at different things.
“Do you think it would be worth bonding to?” Suzy asked.
Dave balanced between the cradle and the behemoth’s hip, looking at its arms. “What’s the cost?”
“Ten Willpower, to control it. Then, it needs charging every two weeks, one million soul gem charge points, or ten mil Mana points for two weeks of being active.”
“Honestly, I would. Sure, that two weeks will probably go down if you are fighting. That said, we’ve got all of these runes that are training up our Willpower constantly, so it’s not hard to think that we’ll be able to support him if need be. Then, I can also enchant his blade with soul trap. He kills things, he gets charged. Shard, do you have a base stat sheet?” Dave glanced at Shard.
“Certainly. Sorry for not bringing it up before. I have started sending out the fifth round of scouts and the first have come back from their different areas.”
A screen appeared in front of Suzy.
Name -
Class: Warrior
Vitality: Level 3
Armor: 3,000/3,000
Endurance: Level 2 (0/14 days)
Mana Barrier: 0/1,200
Aleph Server: 10/10
Strength: Level 5
Agility: Level 1
Left Arm: Standard attachment
Right Arm: Standard attachment
Left Leg: Upgraded soul gem capacity. Standard function.
Right Leg: Upgraded soul gem capacity. Standard function.
Skills: Armor repair, mental link, Behemoth Guardian program, Mana barrier
Charge: 0/1,000,000 Mana points
Owner: Unclaimed
Race: Aleph Guardian (Experimental)
“Why are the arms and legs displayed separately?” Suzy asked.
“Because they can be upgraded,” Shard said.
“I could give him my lightning ball of shocking!” Dave said.
“You still need to work on your naming skills.” Induca looked to Deia, who just shrugged, defeated in trying to get him to not give everything a ridiculous name.
“Wow, okay, damn,” Suzy said, just starting to see the possibilities of the behemoth. No wonder it is the only thing I got other than the sub-commander status. “All right, well, it would be rude to refuse.” She smiled.
“I think it might be best if you go and get some rest before trying this all out. We’re all tired from being down here. Getting a night’s rest and being there for when the rest of the Stone Raiders arrive would be a good idea,” Anna said.
“Agreed,” Dave said. “If you want this dude under your command, then I can think of a few ways to get him in much better shape for the coming fights.”
“So, you and Anna will stay here while we go back to SC?” Deia asked.
