Looking at the brain station of Ride-or-Die Village reminded Zarian why it was dangerous for engineers and scientists to get their hands on magic, especially when there was crafting involved.
When the doorway closed behind him, sealing away the bright light of the twin suns, Hannah’s lair looked like a proper place for an evil genius. It leaned more toward magic-futurism with dark blues, deep purples, and so aggressive reds that shone from her self-made equipnt.
She had runic displays that gave her visuals caught on her golem eyes. She had runic keyboard stations connected to various doors, hallways, artillery guns, and more.
Everything that Hannah could do with a mystical whim, she made it so that others could manage without her. And if they needed extra help, there was Magi, Hannah’s magical intelligence that she could summon from a skill.
The slender-man blinked into appearance. He was a little fuzzy at first until his outline solidified in front of Zarian.
“Hello, Lord Zarian. Would you prefer if I had so golem assistants take those precious flowers from you and store them in a proper environnt for analysis and nurturing?” Magi asked.
“Take eighteen,” Zarian said.
“As you wish, milord.” Magi bowed and stood aside.
Para’s tentacles passed off the flowers to cubic golems that walked like midget-sized lego n. Then Zarian walked up to Hannah’s throne once it looked like Hannah had finished up her conversation with Lady Rhea.
He took the remaining flower from Para’s tentacle and offered it to Hannah directly. “A gift to you, because I want you to feel better and I’m still sorry for making you feel bad.”
Hannah blinked her eyes rapidly from behind her round, runic glasses. She opened and closed her mouth.
Lady Rhea remained knelt with a straight face. The woman had impeccable bearing. So far, she had served at hand and foot for Hannah and the other Floridians no matter the task.
Ride-or-Die Village could function administratively because of Lady Rhea, who lifted so enormous paperwork burdens off the Floridian’s shoulders.
Basically, she made sure taxes were collected properly and almost everything was docunted neatly. If not her directly, then her army of Hemlock relatives and servants made sure things were prompt and up to code.
Zarian couldn’t honestly say what the codes were exactly, to be honest. If everything looked alright to him, then he was a happy camper with Rhea’s efforts.
That and Rhea seed to admire Hannah greatly, even if Hannah wasn’t aware. Well, it was hard to notice when Rhea had a solid poker face.
But Zarian didn’t miss how the tension in Rhea’s body relaxed as she remained in place on her knees. It was if she was happy that she could remain instead of being dismissed.
Hannah took the flower by the bottom, sinking her fingers into the dirt-encased roots.
“Also, please co to Grimrock with ,” Zarian said. “It wouldn’t be right without you.”
“I’m coming,” Hannah said stiffly. “I only disagreed because I didn’t think you needed and I can serve you better here.”
Zarian shook his head. “Don’t be that way, Hannah. Please. I an, yes, I am what I am. But never think I’ll just set you aside like that.”
“Am I good enough?” Hannah asked.
“I can’t answer that for you. Because I already know you are more than good enough, but that doesn’t matter coming from .” Zarian turned sharply to Rhea.
The noble woman straightened while remaining on her knees.
Zarian snorted. “Hey, I think Hannah trusts you even if she’s a bit cold about it. I think I trust you too even though we haven’t had much ti to talk. You’re going to be a key part in keeping Ride-or-Die Village running, and we both know serving us will benefit your family more than prior arrangents.”
“This is very much true, milord,” Rhea said.
“Yup. That’s why you’re getting trusted with a lot of power. You already know what will happen if you betray us, so there’s no need to rehash that. Better yet, I have sothing positive in mind. I’d like for you to get our villagers more involved with work and fair paynt.”
“I’ve already drafted such plans, milord,” Lady Rhea said.
Zarian blinked down at the noble woman in open surprise. “Really?”
“Yes, but you’ve been quite busy. I’ve kept them to myself while waiting for a better opportunity,” she said.
“Oh, well, sorry. I approve of your plans. Except for the ones that are dangerous. Those will need the approval of Empress Ruvaria, who is like a secondary leader while I’m gone. If you need help, Lady Rhea, please ask for her. You can also rely on Roland and Lora. Oh, and Magi, too, if he’s staying.”
“He’s staying,” Hannah said.
“ Boom, there, we have a plan going, right, Hannah?”
“Affirmative.”
“Okay, see you outside the north gate. Make an announcent to all the kiddos to get into formation out there for , please. Send the skeletons on standby to fill in on patrol routes,” Zarian requested.
“I can do that for you, My Lady Hannah,” Lady Rhea said. “I believe you have to attend to your next adventure.”
“Yes, I do. Um, yes, thank you.” Hannah remained seated on her throne with the pretty dragon flower in her lap. “Let just have a mont to recollect myself.”
“Can I wait here with you, my lady?” Rhea asked.
“While still on your knees? I guess if Zarian’s saying he’s trusting you this much, then there’s no need for that.”
“I don’t mind being on my knees for you.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really.”
“Hm, sure, I guess I don’t mind it either. It is a little nice for my ego.”
“Then all is well.”
Zarian nodded at the two as he slowly backed out. “Cool, cool, cool. Gilbert just got out of so new girl’s house. I’m going to pick him up now.”
Para reached out with two tentacles and gave Hannah and Lady Rhea so head pats. Zarian waved farewell to Magi, and the slender magical intelligence waved back.
The doorway leading out the side of the tower opened again. Zarian jumped off the ledge with his squadron of flying spiders.
Wings spread wide, Zarian swooped around the village and found Gilbert strolling out of a building where striders lived. A random woman on the street blew a kiss at him.
The Knighted Healer tipped his cowboy hat at her, failing to see the Dark Lord flying down from above.
Zarian swept across the ground from behind Gilbert. Para created a pair of multi-jointed legs with big dull talons. Right before impact, Zarian used Aura Mastery to cancel as much noise as possible.
They scooped Gilbert off the street like a hawk snatching up a bunny and ignored all of his cussing and fussing as they rose sharply. Thankfully, Gilbert didn’t fight them too hard.
Granted, they were going high up now. He probably didn’t want to fall when they were far above the ground.
“Why can’t we do things the normal way, dammit?!” Gilbert hollered.
“Shut up! You’re going to a nice lake I’ve picked out for you!” Zarian yelled back.
“You can’t keep using that on !”
“Do you want to bitch? Or do you want to fish?”
Gilbert let the matter go and relaxed in Para’s taloned grip. They kept flying up higher and higher.
Gilbert stopped relaxing and tensed up as they soared past Empress Ruvaria and kept going upward. The air beca a little crisper and colder. The sunshine felt brighter and a little more aggravating.
There was less aura up in the higher altitudes and Zarian’s flight upward struggled. The flying spiders had to latch on to Para’s wings using strands of webbing to keep going with them.
Then they finally reached their destination. They entered a hover where Bianca sat with legs crossed on a small plane of solidified sunlight.
She was in the middle of her morning ditation. Before Zarian or Gilbert could interrupt, Bianca opened her shining amber eyes. She smiled warmly at them.
“Ti to go?” she asked.
“What do you think?” Gilbert grumbled.
Bianca giggled. “Dale!” The sunlight platform winked out from under her. She waved her hand at them rrily as she entered freefall.
“I bet you one punch she will fly-tackle into Ruvaria,” Zarian said.
“I’ll take it. I hope you know Bianca’s chilled out lately. She’s not that crazy anymore. She’s matured, y’know? She told herself,” Gilbert said confidently.
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Bianca tackled Empress Ruvaria midair and brought them plumting down. Gilbert was gobsmacked. Zarian couldn’t help but smile because of a few factors he knew and Gilbert didn’t.
Bianca could make herself semi-invisible even to surface-level aura senses.
Zarian hypothesized Bianca was bending both light and aura around her when she went invisible. He also theorized having high amounts of Wonder increased luck to a ridiculous degree, making stealth easier, too.
More importantly, Ruvaria had a weak spot for Bianca.
Zarian was very sure of that weakness, because the old elf would let Bianca get away with loads of shenanigans more than anyone else without being her dear student. So even if Ruvaria had known Bianca was coming, the elf seed to play along with the girl just because.
“Oh, look, Gilbert, all the kiddos are forming up outside of the village,” Zarian said, rotating his shoulder around. “There goes Hannah with a big tank of a rune cart going outside as well. Looks like Bianca and Ruvaria are going to make a safe landing there, too.”
Zarian spoke darkly. “I bet you’ll get down there before I do to herald my arrival.”
“Hey, Zarian, I need to tell you sothing,” Gilbert said.
“You want to bitch or fish?” Zarian asked.
“No, seriously, I just need to say this. Being up this high has given a sort of epiphany. It’s like I have to do this for the sake of my god-fearing soul, y’know?” Gilbert blabbered.
“Okay, okay, say it.”
“You rember that bullet that was in your back shoulder from a while ago? You rember that, right? I do because it had stayed there for a long ti until that fight with the bandits,” Gilbert said quickly.
Zarian clenched his fist harder and harder. Multiple abilities poured into his physical power. Excess aura gathered around his fist and made the air wobble. Then the wobbling aura around his fist darkened and beca heavier and heavier.
The grin on Zarian’s face widened as he spoke through clenched teeth. “Yeah, I rember that bullet. I still have it in the pocket dinsion. I’m planning to toss it sowhere in Grimrock to rember it goodbye.”
“I think that was my bullet. Been a while. And a lot has happened since then. But, yeah, that bullet thing just ca to recently, and I never thought about it much, and I just let it be. But now it just ca back to and I have to co clean.”
“So, you’re basically saying you shot and lodged a bullet in . And if your aim wasn’t shit, you could’ve killed .”
“Well, let’s be thankful you’re still with us after all that, right? We’ve co a long way since then and started being like brothers from other mothers. So I bet the punch you’re about to hit with is only going to be a brotherly love tap.”
Zarian landed a thunderous whopper of a punch on Gilbert and sent him down like a teorite. The man hit the ground hard.
While Gilbert dragged himself out of the crater he ford twenty feet into the ground, Zarian hit the ground with a crouch. He rolled his neck around and let out a big breath. Then he turned to the formation of kiddos and smiled at them.
“Hey, everyone, I guess you know what’s about to happen,” Zarian said. “The Floridians are heading out. We have unfinished business at Grimrock. That ans it’s up to you to hold things down for the day-to-day stuff here with our village. However, you aren’t without so heavy guns and ways to improve even more.”
Zarian waved his hand to Empress Ruvaria. She looked regal, shiny, and beautiful. There wasn’t a strand of hair out of place despite Bianca’s aerial roughhousing.
The empress wore a tough mask on her face, however, as she scanned the youngsters like they were fleas at a flea circus.
The kiddos were well trained because of Lady Instructor Washington’s efforts. They kept their bearing and didn’t budge while under the elf’s evaluation.
Zarian continued. “That’s right everyone, you’re going to have Empress Ruvaria watch over you all. Better yet, I’ve asked her to train you and help you grow even more! Isn’t that all exciting? She says she has a way to help you all gain ten to fifteen levels pretty fast.”
“Every day, I will take half of you and play with you,” Ruvaria said. “You must do all you can to fight . You will fail many, many tis, because I will play roughly with you. I will hurt you, break you, and make you scream and cry until you’ve grown enough and earned so asure of my respect. It might take so ti, however.”
The kiddos continued to keep their bearings. Zarian could tell so of them were struggling not to react.
They did react when the Star System sent them all a notification. Zarian noticed a slight magical blip around the heads of each guild mber, which was the telltale sign of a ssage from the System.
He also noticed how their eyes slid out of focus to look at a new side quest ant for them.
“Any questions?” Zarian asked.
Roland raised his hand.
“Yes?”
“The wolf dragons?”
“Officially, once we move far away enough, the event will be forfeited for us Floridians. But it won’t be forfeited for you. If the wolf dragons attack while we’re gone, fall back on your training and use everything that Ride-or-Die Village has prepared for you,” Zarian said. “You cannot, however, lean on Empress Ruvaria too much. She has certain restrictions during these events. So, try not to die, and hold out until we get back. Or win the entire event on your own and make us proud.”
The kiddoes looked at him wide-eyed and in disbelief.
Zarian didn’t bla them. The wolf dragons were scary for them still and they could only grow so fast compared to the Floridians.
Still, Zarian figured having Empress Ruvaria might make a big enough difference. They had all the resources of the well-made village. They could make use of the adventurers in the village. That and they would have another army backing them soon.
“As for the good news, we’re going to link up with Lady Instructor Washington and our bloody friends. The cafe will return to business soon. And I have four gifts for all of you. I just need you to give your consent. Do so ntally.”
He gave them a second to prepare before he focused his aura on all the guild mbers. His aura swam through each one carefully, focusing more on batches of two dozen or fewer before he copied over so skills.
As he did so, he perceived nurous traits that were affinities or similar, along with many unique skills. He could copy into his profile a plethora of new skills as Level 0s if he wanted, but he refrained.
He had so much going on he needed more simplicity in his profile and less clutter. The kiddos had plenty of room to ss around, hence why he gave them Willful Might, Wondrous Speed, Mystic Toughness, and Summon Wizard Hat as Level 0s.
By the ti he was done copying over four skills from his profile to two hundred eighty-nine guild mbers, he got to see all of their distinct wizard hats.
So were more like helts. Others had elental changes to them. Many were hats with or without conical shapes.
There were dapper hats, pitiful hats, combat hats, or very flamboyant hats. Roland’s hat had a lot of rose petals and thorns. Amabel’s hat was all shadowy and oily. Lora’s hat had fluff like cotton.
They were part of the wizard hat gang now, and they could use the Level 0 skills at their lower level fairly well. Now they all had serious buffs that no small army should have, pushing them above the foreign adventurers even more. That didn’t include their advanced gear and crafts that few people had ever seen on this continent.
My little killers are growing up so fast, Zarian thought, grinning ear-to-ear. He loved seeing the shocked expression on their faces and how so of them broke their stance to touch their new hats.
Originally, he wasn’t going to do this. But recent events had changed Zarian’s mind. He really wanted the kiddos to have the best he and his friends could offer, so they could survive whatever might co.
Now he felt a lot better about leaving them on their own for a while.
Zarian cheered. “That’s all, everyone! Now let hear an Oorah!”
“OORAH!” The kids all shouted.
Zarian nodded rrily, feeling happy tingles everywhere in his body. Then he turned away, his shiny cloak flapping behind him dramatically.
He found Gilbert sitting on the edge of the crater. Zarian offered the big man his hand.
Gilbert took his hand and got back to his feet. Bianca frolicked next to them. Hannah sat on the huge, tank-like rune cart as it rolled to their next destination. They left Ride-or-Die Village behind them without looking back.
Three minutes didn’t pass before they heard screams and shouts of alarm. They heard young n and won burst out into horrified cries. They heard roaring hurricane winds, crashing lightning, and other sounds like an entire mountain falling down from the sky. They heard desperate fighting, weapons clashing, magic crackling, and more horrors of a grueling and torturous battle against the unbeatable.
Empress Ruvaria had begun her flea-crushing training with half of the youngsters.
“Don’t look back,” Zarian said through the side of his mouth. “Ruvaria will not be happy if we look back.”
“You’re pulling a fast one, right?” Gilbert asked. “Based on what my ears are telling , that elf is ready to chew on nails and spit out a barbed fence to keep those kids penned up for the slaughter.”
“Abuela Ruvaria is very introverted. So you have to give her ti to settle in,” Bianca said. “She’s fantastic deep down, regardless of alignnts. She’s not as evil as she was before she was absolutely brainwashed, right, Zarian?”
Zarian thought back to their creative discussions on how to torture and eliminate enemies with Aura Mastery techniques. He’d seen a little absolute glee shine through his dear teacher’s eyes and a creepy smile on her face during those unrestrained, brain-storming sessions of wicked mysticism and wizardry.
“Yeah, sure, she’s totally getting better about that absolute stuff,” Zarian said aloud.
They heard a sharp whistle followed by a bomb-like blast behind them. Soone shouted out about their leg among the many who scread for rcy.
Zarian kept walking without looking back, and so did the others.
“Are you going to wait until we link up with Naomi to tell us about your new changes, Zarian?” Hannah asked from on top of the rune cart.
“I’m an Aura Master now,” Zarian said.
“A Jedi Master?” Gilbert asked.
“No, Aura Master,” Zarian repeated.
“Can I be Princess Leia?” Bianca asked. “But instead of being trapped in a cage with only a bikini on, let’s put the bikini on Zarian while he cos to save from the cage. I an, I can wear a bikini too as long as it’s not too tacky. We’re going to a lake, right? Please tell we’ve all brought our swimwear. Hannah, there’s swimwear in that cart, right?”
“Amid the armors, empty storage crates for loot, my golems, and everything else I can fit for a potential siege on Grimrock and return trip back, you think swimwear was a priority?” Hannah asked dryly.
“Of course it is! So, you have the swimwear? Si? Si?”
Hannah sighed. “It’s next to the enchanted rods.”
“Yay!” Bianca cheered.
“Hannah, you’re a doll.” Gilbert pointed up at Hannah before turning back to Zarian. “So, you’re really not a Jedi Master?”
“It’s Aura Master, guys, Aura Master!” Zarian waved his arms in frustration.
Hannah humd. “I guess Aura Master sounds impressive enough.”
“You are all fools,” Zarian hissed. “The dear teacher hears all. Now she’s going to be even more annoyed.”
As if to prove the point of her dear student, Ruvaria turned up the terror and pain factor for the kids. There were the sounds of what could be a whole roaring tornado that was being raised behind them. Inside of that roaring tornado, the screaming of the kiddos resonated out. Of course, there was more thunder and lightning to go along with the monster tornado.
“By the ti we get back, I think the kids are going to need a little extra kick added to their hot chocolate,” Gilbert said. “Any chance we can loot so cellars filled with the magical good stuff along the way?”
“Gilbert, we just started, and you already want to drink?” Bianca complained. “Well, I think we need to walk faster, anyway, hm? It’s too tense around here and I want to breathe in that new adventure air before I have to sll Gilbert’s beer farts.”
Everyone agreed, even Gilbert, so they hurried away from Ride-or-Die Village. Zarian was feeling keen to face the new adventure head on, regardless of the horrible elf monster he’d unleashed on the kiddos.
I should probably bring Ruvaria sothing nice for making her do extroverted stuff for a while, Zarian thought as he picked up the pace until they were officially running away.
When they reached the bend in the road, they found Loner walking back with a group of skeletons he’d taken out hunting. He was Level 74 now, and he was clueless of what was happening.
Zarian used his own hands to snatch up Loner and toss the skeleton onto his shoulder. All while he kept running with Gilbert and Bianca by his side and Hannah behind him on the self-driving rune cart.
“Later, gators!” Zarian waved back at the skeletons he’d left behind. He made a ntal note among many to make more skeletons along the way to Grimrock.
Loner looked back with eyeless sockets and a shaky rictus grin, as if he was second-guessing his necromancer. Then the skeleton seed to give up on thinking and just allowed himself to be hauled away on Zarian’s shoulder.
That would’ve been just fine if Loner kept his eyes down.
But he looked up and noticed sothing odd.
There were spectral spiders riding on surfboards made of webbing. They were surfing strong wind drafts coming from the direction of the village.
Loner seed puzzled about the sight of the flying spiders. But once again, he seed to give up on trying to understand whatever was happening. That was probably for the best.
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