The Land: Catacombs (Chaos Seeds Book 4) (31 page)

Richter smiled and selected “Yes.”

The Core and bottle of clear blood rose from his hand.  The glass holding the blood suddenly shattered with a loud crack.  Richter and everyone else threw up their arms to shield their faces, but the force that sundered the bottle was so great that all that was left were tiny particles.  The explosion still distracted everyone enough that no one saw a single drop of the blood fall onto Richter’s left forearm.  It oozed through the small holes in the straps that secured Richter’s bracer to his arm before the clear blood soaked into his skin without leaving a trace. 

When everyone looked again, they saw that the blood had formed into a sphere equal in size to the Core.  The two spheres began to follow the track of an unseen circle, tracing a matching orbit as they descended towards the alchemy equipment.  The circle they followed grew tighter until they were so close that they merged and became a shining ball of light.  It grew in intensity until it was almost blinding.  Even when Richter blinked, he could still see a red and orange afterimage. 

The brilliant globe touched the alchemy set and infused it with the same light.  The globe disappeared.  The set just stood there shining for a few seconds, but then spherical pulses of light began to come off of it like it was the nucleus of a slow-moving explosion.  The light washed over Richter, Sion, and everyone nearby, then it swept through the meadow past the city walls and into the forest.  As it washed over everyone, they rocked back slightly.  The pulse had the same resistance as a slow moving ocean wave.  Once the first pulse was gone, another two came in swift succession, then three, then four.  Despite the fact that each pulse barely had any force to it, the frequency increased until it felt like it was a steady push.  Everyone standing with Richter was slowly bowed down, until they knelt before the majestic birth of The Land’s newest wonder.

All of a sudden, the light vanished.  Everyone had closed their eyes against the sea of light that had washed over them.  A host of prompts cluttered his vision even with his eyes shut, but Richter just minimized them all.  He had to see his new awesomeness! 

Richter looked up, blinking quickly to clear his eyes of sunspots, and saw that he was standing in a building made of pure glass.  The walls were faceted and cut like a gemstone, and the sun made faint rainbows on the inner surface as it shone through.  Just as with the birth of the Forge of Heavens, the building had grown up around them.  The villagers with him exclaimed in wonder as they examined the many parts of the Dragon’s Cauldron.

As Richter looked around, he was astonished not just by the beauty of the building, which was larger than the Forge of Heavens, but by the fact that many parts of it looked like a twenty-first-century lab.  Beakers and cylinders of various sizes sat against the walls, all made of glass.  Against one wall was a vented hood that looked just like the one in his tenth grade chemistry class.  There were even streams of water coming down from the ceiling in each of the corners.  Richter walked up to one of these streams and saw that inside of a nearby wall, water was being funneled up from the ground and then released to fall back down and drain out through the floor.  It was plumbing!

Alchemical sets of various types were in discrete stations around the room.  Some were large and others were small and Richter even saw one that was in a case.  He checked it and it registered as a portable alchemical set of Core-level quality.  He closed the lid on the case and placed it in his bag.  Who knew when something like this might come in handy?

In the center of the building was the cauldron itself.  It was perched on four waist-high pillars that curved in a counterclockwise spiral.  The cauldron was the size of a large pumpkin and had a wide circular mouth.  The entire thing was built of glass which refracted the light beautifully, but what was amazing was that through the thick walls of the cauldron, he could see clear blood vessels tracing through it.  On closer inspection, each of the four pillars also had vessels as well.  As he watched, the vessels slowly pulsed, growing larger, then smaller as they pushed the glass blood around the circuit of the cauldron and up and down the columns.  Standing next to it, he felt like he was actually standing next to the beating heart of a dragon.  As close as he was, without even touching it Richter could feel the slow vibration of the blood coursing through the cauldron like the rumble of a far-off train. 

Richter’s inspection was interrupted when he heard a feminine exclamation of delight.  He looked to the right and saw that attached to the main building of the Cauldron was what looked like a greenhouse.  Scratching absently at his arm, he walked over to Isabella and the other gardeners who were running around the spacious attachment.  The greenhouse was about twice as large as a two-car garage.  Once he had walked in, he could see that at one end, the glass was completely frosted over so that much less light would filter through in that section.  He supposed that would make it much easier to grow a wide variety of plants.  If this was meant to grow anything an alchemist might need, though, what about plants that could only grow in darkness like the lichen in the catacombs?

Terrod shouted out, “I found a trapdoor.”

Well ask a stupid question, Richter thought.  He walked over and drew his sword while Sion nocked an arrow to his bow.  He didn’t think that anything would come out and attack him once the door was opened, but he hadn’t expected a greasy black tentacle monster to almost rape him when he went into the waterfall cave either.  Caution was definitely called for.  Everyone else stood back, and at Richter’s nod, Terrod grasped the ring handle and yanked the door open.

There was simply a series of steps leading downward.  Sion chuckled and then Richter and Terrod joined him.  Richter’s heart rate slowed down, and he exhaled in a short, forceful huff.  The levity died quickly, though, because they all realized the job wasn’t done.  Alma flew up and landed on his shoulder, her neck extending past his face.  He figured he was as ready as he was going to be and he walked down the stairs. 

The steps were made of glass just like the rest of the Cauldron, but it was pebbled to have the texture of fine sandpaper, so he didn’t need to worry about slipping and breaking his neck.  It seemed that whatever cosmic architect had made the Cauldron had thought of everything.  The stairs crossed back on themselves three times so that at the bottom, it was near pitch-black.   After the last stair there was a short hallway and a door.  Casting
Darkvision I,
he opened the door ready for violence… and saw the inside of an empty room. 

Smiling at his own paranoia, he called up that it was safe and looked around. There actually wasn’t too much to see, just a series of alcoves that looked like scalloped wall lamps built into the walls.  He could see them being the perfect spot for potting plants.

Chuckling to himself, he saw that the only other things in the room were three long glass tables that grew out of the floor.  Turning around, he squeezed past everyone on the stairs and headed back up to the sunshine.  When he got back up, he saw a mist worker carrying eggs and decided to sneak off while everyone else was still busy.  

He cast
Haste I
on the mist worker and then quickly moved off towards the banks of the lake.  A mental call to Futen brought the remnant floating along behind him.  The roar of the waterfall grew louder the closer he got, and before long, he was at the edge of the lake.  The guard that he had ordered stationed here was walking the perimeter of the lake.  When he saw his lord, he began to jog over, but Richter waved him away.  He then hunted around for a few minutes before finding a nice muddy patch of earth that was hidden from view by a small overhang of turf that extended over the lake by about a foot. 

Richter had the mist worker give him the eggs one at a time.  Taking a break only to try and dig his fingers under his bracer to scratch an itch, he carefully worked each one into the mud until they were half buried, just like they had been when he found them.  He didn’t really know if he would be able to tame these things, but some of his favorite games had been when he was a beast master.  If he was able to harness the baby skaths’ potential, he could grow them into an aquatic strike force or maybe even attack mounts.  It was probably a long shot, but he had no idea what was possible in The Land.  It didn’t hurt him to try.

His efforts were rewarded.  After he placed the last egg into the mud, Richter received a prompt.

You have been offered a Quest:
Beast Tamer I
!  Every creature in The Land struggles for survival.  Conflict is not the only way to survive, though.  Even the most violent monster can be turned into an ally if you have the skill.  Will you protect this clutch of skath eggs until they hatch?  Yes or No?  Reward: Baby skaths.  Reward for accepting the Quest: The spell Tame.

Richter smiled.  It looked like he was on the right track.  He selected “Yes” and was about to head back to the Philosopher’s Cauldron when more prompts appeared. 

Know This!  Not everyone has the skill to breed the dangerous creatures of The Land.  As you possess the requisite affinities, however, you are awarded the skills:
Beast Bonding
and
Blood Magic
to aid you in your quest.

Congratulations!  You have learned the skill:
Beast Bonding
.  The types of life that fill the various planes and realities of The Land are more numerous than the stars in the sky.  Masters of this skill can cause even the mightiest creatures to heed their call.  Be not fooled, the roads to bonding are many and total dominance is only one. 

Congratulations!  You have learned the spell:
Tame!
  Bend the will of a creature to your own.  Creature level must be less than or equal to your rank in the skill: Beast Bonding.  At the rank of Novice, you may attempt to tame weak-level souls and may use the spell once per day. If you tame the same creature for a required number of days in a row, then it will be loyal to you til death.  As a novice in Beast Bonding, the required time is six days for every level of the creature you have tamed.  Betray the sacred trust with your bonded beast to your peril!  This is a spell of Blood Magic.  Cost:100 mana, 100 health, 100 stamina.  Duration: 40 hours.  Range: Touch.  Cast Time: 5 seconds.  Cooldown: 12 hours.

Know This!  Your close bond with a psi dragonling gives you an advantage in taming reptiles.  At Psi Bond level 4, you receive +8 skill levels to Beast Bonding when taming reptiles. 

Know This!  The likelihood of taming a creature is based primarily upon its level compared to your effective skill level (not including specific resistances).  Each time a creature is successfully tamed their effective level is decreased by one for the purposes of your chances of successfully taming again.  Their actual level remains unchanged by casting Tame.  Leveling your creature will make repeat tames more difficult. 

Congratulations!  You have learned the skill:
Blood Magic.
  

Know This!  Blood magic is a form of Deeper Magic.  The path to Power is never without cost.  Beware using your power without thought, there could be consequences to such reckless pursuit of your goals.

Richter read through the prompts several times.  A spell that had a stamina, mana, AND health cost?  And a hundred points of any one of them was no small thing.  If he had tried the spell when he first came to The Land, it would have killed him!  It never entered his mind that he wouldn’t pay the spell cost, though. 
Tame
opened up too many possibilities.  The collar of submission had been burning a hole in his proverbial pocket, but he hadn’t wanted to waste it on a low-level monster.  Now that he had
Tame,
though, he could start bringing some monsters over to his side.

He looked at the skath eggs again and this time there was more information on the prompt. 

You have found:
River Skath Egg
.  Health 9/10.  Durability: 4/4.  Item Class: Common.  Weight: 0.5 kg.  Trait(s): Will lose 1 HP per day unless properly cared for.  Will hatch in fifteen to thirty days. 

Well I guess I can’t just leave them here, Richter thought.  He thought about it for a moment.  Maybe they’re just dry, he reasoned.  They are “river” skath eggs after all.  He dipped his hand into the lake and poured some water on top of the white shell.  There wasn’t any physical difference, but he did get another prompt. 

You lack the necessary skill to care for:
River Skath Egg
.

“Damn,” Richter said quietly.  He had to hope that someone in the village could do it or maybe one of the sprites.  If none of the villagers could help, the six-day round trip to the Hearth Tree would still let him help the eggs before they died.  “Futen, tell Randolphus to go through the knowledge tablet and see if anyone has the skills to care for some skath eggs.  I have Beast Bonding.  None of the villagers have that skill, but maybe they have another that will work.  Make sure he knows where the eggs are hidden.  I also want you to summon a mist worker to watch these eggs twenty-four seven, at least until we can find someone to care for them.”  The last thing he wanted was for a skath to hatch and harm one of the village children.  “Also tell Randy to have Roswan build a small paddock around the eggs.  It’ll serve to protect them and keep them penned in if they suddenly hatch.” 

“As you command, my lord,” came Futen’s typical monotone reply.