Nix never made it to his old room. By the end of the night, his Taxidermy skill has climbed to 402 and he was left with 17 Ashobel Revenants. He had managed critical crafting twice more, without which he wouldn't have had the numbers he needed.
Nix covered a yawn. He'd been sleeping on and off while the queues cooked. "Let's do it Raka!"
Nix placed the 8 Revenant Ashobel in the queue.
[Queue 1 Emperor Ashobel?]
"Yes." Nix looked at the tir and the success rate. "Better than I hoped, nearly 40 percent. It should take ten minutes, usually, failures happen before the halfway point."
Raka was perched on Nix's shoulder, carefully watching the progress bar. Five minutes slowly passed. "Hey Nix, the percentage is increasing."
Nix nodded. "As it progresses, the chance of success slowly increases. Don't get too caught up. I've had fails in the last minute before when the percentage was in the high 90s."
Raka turned on Nix's shoulder so he couldn't see the progress bar. "I can't watch."
"I'll keep an eye on it." Nix turned his head to look at the perched bird. "These Ashobel have been exposed to your Ice Artifact?"
"I suspect so, the feel of it perates from the pelts."
"Let's assu you're right. Take a guess as to how it played out."
The Ice Sparrow hopped onto the table and faced him. "Neptiphago stole my artifact, however, she would have been greatly weakened."
"According to the Cabal, the Dragon City Aquarius is sowhere the eastern part of Everspire. Could Neptiphago has moved it before it landed?"
"If the Ice Artifact here, then Neptiphago and her City are here also." Raka shook his little bird head in frustration. "So version of her anyway. She was greatly depleted when her city began to fall."
"Let's assu she made so sort of plan. What would she be looking to do?"
[Critical Crafting Feat: 1 Ashobel Emperor]
Nix clapped his hands together in jumped to his feet in excitent. "F*ck Yeah!"
Ashobel: Emperor [Platinum Rated]
[Na your creation?]
"Tharaka." Nix ignored the bird's stare when he said his na aloud.
Tharaka: Emperor
1) Self-Destruct
2) Dominate (Up to 1000 Ashobel)
3) Stealth
4) Ice Halberd
Immune to Ice Damage.
"Ice Halberd." The Ice Sparrow hopped up on Nix's shoulder while he inspected the Ashobel-doll. "That's a skill given by the Artifact! It can't be a coincidence, they've been exposed to it."
Nix nodded in agreent. "Does that an you can wield a Halberd?"
"Of course, it was my artifact after all."
"Let's do it then. Prey waits." Nix started setting up the last queue. He was going to attempt to use his Tailoring skill to enhance the Ashobel-doll. "If I tried this with the Colonial crafting interface, I'd probably blow up the entire Icecap."
"That won't happen with the new interface?"
Nix shrugged. "Probably not."
"What should I do?"
Nix held out his hand and waited while Raka hopped on before placing him with the other items. "I have to place you with the rest of the materials."
Raka looked at the other items in the bin. "You been killing dragons Nix?"
Nix laughed. "Only the ones that attack ."
[Ashobel: Emperor] [Ice Sparrow: Embibed with Ice Dragon Soul] [Ice Dragon Leather] [Dragon Blood] [Dragon Scale] [Enhanced Camouflage Clothe]
[You are attempting a new Animating procedure that combines Tailoring and Taxidermy. Do you wish to proceed?]
"Yes."
[All costs are waived. Loss of two mythical items and an infinity soul will occur in the event of failure.]
Nix glanced at the ssage, his eyes watching the select icon. "Small problem Raka."
"I'll die if this fails?'
Nix nodded. "Fraid so. I don't have a percentage either. It could be 2 percent for all I know."
"Or it could be 100 percent. Do it Nix."
"Yep. Let's go." Nix selected the craft icon.
All of the items disappeared at once. A sinking feeling in Nix stomach. "Mother..." A mont later the mouth of the Ashobel doll opened as he took his first breath. "Holy Crap."
Tharaka: Emperor
Race: Ashobel
Level 100
Strength 188
Endurance 155
Intelligence 81
Dexterity 30
Perception 115
Mana 48900/48900
Weapon Skills: Halberd
Primary: Pole Arms
Secondary: Path of the Ice Dragon
Skills
Dominate (Up to 1000 Ashobel)
Camouflage
Ice Fla Aura
Ice Halberd
Magic Skills: [Unavailable:Level Restriction]
New Title Unlocked: Animator
Nix whistled softly as Raka sat up, his huge furry hands touched his chest and then his head. Unexpectedly he threw back his head and howled loudly.
"Nix!! I am back again!"
"Looks that way. You dragon days are over I'm afraid."
The Ashobel swung his feet over the side of the bench and then stood up. He stood a bit over seven feet and was heavily muscled. "My magic is locked. It makes sense since my level is so low."
Nix nodded in agreent. Dragons were from Everspire, the level cap there was 150. "Don't forget about the Ice Fla skill you're going to teach ."
Raka's huge toothy maw split into a wide smile. "It will have to wait until I level up since I can't do magic yet."
[Ice Halberd]
A long sharp looking Ice Halberd appeared in Raka's hand.
"Very nice. With this, I can at least defend myself." He waved his hand and it disappeared.
"Take it easy until you get used to things. Rember you aren't a dragon anymore."
"What about your Ice Sparrow? And the other items?"
[Ice Sparrow]
Nix's Ice Sparrow appeared on his hand. He nodded in satisfaction and then put it away.
"No worries. Stealth out of here and I'll et you at the Ice heart where the Ashobel was buried in four hours."
"You an Nix's heart." Raka placed a giant hand on Nix's shoulder. "I won't forget this."
"Find sothing to hunt and get used to your form. We'll catch up to you later today." Nix left the crafting room and walked directly to his old room. The couch had been made up nicely with linens, blankets, and a pillow. Without another thought, he laid down and went to sleep.
The ssage woke him up three hours later.
[Whisper Fabri to Nix] Fire Palace Champion, we need your help.
[Whisper Nix to Fabri] Who is this?
[Whisper Fabri to Nix] Fire Palace Champion, please help us, I take you to Heart of Winter.
New Quest Available: [Heart of Winter]
Quest: Heart of Winter
Requirent: Group Quest
A powerful Ice Mage has requested
your assistance. Go to the Icewind Wall
and find Fabri.
Nix dressed and walked down to the common area where he found Chiba, Locas, and Floyd having breakfast with a handful of Acolytes. Neither Cyan or Shi was present. "Gear up, we're going to hunt up so trouble."
/Gemini: Chiba: Bout ti.
[Direct Contact: Zinu]
A mont later a holo of the mud-covered cleric popped up. Her grimy face showed obvious surprise. "Breach Commander Nix."
"I have need of a cleric. Be ready in one hour, dress for extre cold." Nix cut comm without speaking further.
*****************
"This place reminds of ho." Locas followed closely behind Nix who was leading them single file across the Ice fields.
"We're eting Tharaka in a few minutes. He's an Ashobel ally, don't underestimate him." Nix decided he'd let Raka decide his own backstory.
Chiba had tried to pass Locas several tis while they were walking so she could talk to Nix, but each ti the Ranger captain had stopped her. "You have a lot of secret allies Nix. Where do you find the ti?"
Nix shrugged his shoulders. "You tell and we'll both know." He brought up his hud and shared the quest with them.
Quest: Heart of Winter
Requirent: Group Quest
A powerful Ice Mage has requested
your assistance. Go to the Icewind Wall
and find Fabri.
/Gemini: Floyd: This why we are here Nix?
/Gemini: Nix: I'm guessing they are related. The Heart of Winter was an artifact belonging to the City Master of Icaraphet. It was stolen by Netiphago, the City Master of Aquarius.
/Gemini: Chiba: Great... More dragons.
/Gemini: Locas: I've never heard of either of those cities.
/Gemini: Nix: This Neptiphago may have done sothing that increased the strength of both the Aquarions and the Ashobel.
/Gemini: Floyd: A few hundred years ago, the Earth Temple was ruled by a Naga King. They were strong and held quite a bit of territory.
/Gemini: Nix: How do you know that?
/Gemini: Floyd: Racial mories of the Naga.
/Gemini: Chiba: Wait... Are you a King?
/Gemini: Floyd: Only one Naga exists at any ti, we are always Kings. A Naga egg won't hatch until the previous one dies.
/Gemini: Chiba: So you are! Do you like older won?
/Gemini: Floyd: I like Sorli, she is older. I find you unpleasant.
/Gemini: Chiba: What? You don't know what your missing, I'm absolutely beautiful.
/Gemini: Floyd: I know. I was referring to your shitty personality.
/Gemini: Nix: What about the Naga?
/Gemini: Floyd: The Temple was taken by the Aquarions, the Naga king was slain, and his people were enslaved.
/Gemini: Nix: Could be related. Were the Aquarions strong back then?
/Gemini: Floyd: The only reference I have is that my predecessor thought them weak and primitive.
/Gemini: Nix: A hard lesson learned about underestimating your enemy. We taught the Aquarions that sa thing on the 12th floor of rmaid City.
/Gemini: Floyd: I won't forget Nix.
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