Path of Dragons

Book 4: Chapter 71: Multi-Tasking

Book 4: Chapter 71: Multi-Tasking

Surprisingly, getting Wilhelm’s equipment back wasn’t difficult. It helped that word of Elijah’s deeds had already spread throughout the city of Khotont, but he suspected that the gambling den let the items go mostly because they had no use for the esoteric equipment. They were bound to Wilhelm, so even if someone else could figure out what they did, no one else could even use the pieces – at least until he was dead. Because of that, Elijah only had to pay a couple of silver ethereum to obtain the bundle of items. He also recovered the Explorer’s bicycle, which cost a few more coins.

The whole ordeal was completed while Wilhelm slept near the fire. To ensure the man’s safety, Elijah had deployed the tent he’d gotten from Lars, and when he got back, he was reassured to find that it had worked as advertised. Only then did Elijah climb inside and allow himself a little rest. He could keep going for quite some time without eating or sleeping, but it was never comfortable. So, the night’s rest – even if it was only for a few hours – was definitely beneficial.

The next morning, Elijah awoke just after dawn and quickly boiled some water for his daily cup of coffee. He had no intention of sharing with Wilhelm, though. Coffee was a limited resource, and Elijah knew he’d need the buff it provided when he participated in the Trial of Primacy. Perhaps there would be another harvest before it began, but until he was certain, he intended to preserve his store as much as possible.

Thankfully, he finished the cup before Wilhelm even awoke, so there were no awkward conversations about hospitality. When the Explorer finally did wake up, he was more than surprised to find that his equipment – and more importantly to him, his bicycle – were back. He thanked Elijah profusely, and soon enough, they broke camp, smothered the fire, and set off across the prairie.

As he had done outside Argos when he was searching for an appropriate place to build his first dolmen, Elijah followed his instincts. He couldn’t perceive ley lines, but he could feel the subtle variations in ambient ethera well enough that, at least subconsciously, he stood a good chance of finding the intersections. Still, it took almost the entire day before he felt something – just a twinge – that guided him toward the east. After that, it was only one more day before he reached the confluence of energy that came from intersecting ley lines.

Or the World Tree’s roots, as he preferred to think of them.

“What does your skill tell you?” Elijah asked, glancing at Wilhelm, who’d been riding his bicycle the whole time.

The Explorer closed his eyes, clearly focusing as he said, “This is close. Not ideal, but...it is worth marking.”

“No.”

“What?”

“Not here. I’ll help you find another spot,” Elijah said. “This one’s mine.”

“I don’t understand,” Wilhelm admitted.

“You will.”

While it might make some sense for Wilhelm to mark the spot and move on, Elijah had other plans for the location. It might not be strong enough for the Conclave’s purposes, but for Elijah, it was more than adequate to power one of his dolmens. And while it was a bit frustrating that it would leave him with only one more potential dolmen – at least until he upgraded his core – it would give him the ability to bypass the swamp and access Khotont, which was the largest settlement in the expansive steppes.

Hopefully, he wouldn’t regret it.

After explaining what he intended to do, he shifted into the Shape of the Sky – which garnered quite a bit of shock from Wilhelm – then set off in search of appropriate materials for the structures. At first, he worried that there would be nothing available. After all, the region wasn’t particularly rocky. However, he only had to fly south for a few hours before the territory became a bit hillier. It wasn’t a huge change, but it wasn’t long after that that Elijah found a lonely butte formation that towered over the surrounding area. Upon further inspection, he found that it was composed of sandstone, limestone, and some sort of igneous rock he didn’t recognize.

“Perfect,” Elijah said, having shifted back to his human form. He ran a hand along the wall of limestone. It wasn’t a high-grade material like the dragonstone, but he didn’t need it to be, either. The dolmens drew their power from the ley lines, so the materials were far less important than with other important structures. So, while it was mundane, limestone was indeed perfect for his purposes.

So, he got to work quarrying appropriately sized blocks. Fortunately, it was a far less difficult process than it had been with the dragonstone, so it only took a couple of days – during which he periodically returned to the camp site to check on Wilhelm, who was perfectly content to monitor the ley line intersection with his equipment. Meanwhile, Elijah quarried the stone he needed, then proceeded to carry them across the plain.

In the end, Elijah gathered everything he’d used and shoved it in his Ghoul-Hide Satchel. It barely fit, which just told him that he needed to return home sooner rather than later. Once everything was accounted for and camp had been broken, he completed the dolmen by using Roots of the World Tree. The cast took quite some time, but when it finished, he got the expected notification.

Congratulations! You have created a unique structure: [Circle of the Boar King]

Overall Grade: Growth (Current: Complex)

Enchantment Grade: D

Then, the next notification came:

Roots of the World Tree

Empower a dolmen, connecting it to your grove.

Teleport to any circle in your network. Cooldown: 3 Days

Additional Effect: When inside any circle, create a persistent gateway to any other circle. Duration: 1 Minute. Maximum Capacity: 4. Cooldown: 6 Days

Possible number of circles dependent on core cultivation. Current: 5 (4 Used)

The name of the circle wasn’t surprising, but he was a little disappointed that the enchantment grade was lower than the Circle of Spears. Obviously, Carmen’s contribution had helped quite a bit.

As soon as the circle was completed, Wilhelm let out a yelp and stumbled to his backside. “What was that?!” he cried, staring at his equipment.

“My spell.”

“Can you do it again?” he demanded.

“Not here. Did your equipment get your measurements?”

“It...it will take some time to go through the data, but I think so...”

“Awesome. Now, do you want to try it out?”

Predictably, Wilhelm’s answer was an enthusiastic affirmative.