Ruler Light Online five Read online

  Light Online

  Book Five:

  Ruler

  By: Tom Larcombe

  Text copyright © 2020, Thomas Larcombe

  All Rights Reserved

  This is a work of fiction.

  Names, characters, businesses, places, and events

  are the products of the author’s imagination.

  Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead,

  or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Dedication:

  For my wife Heather, who makes my writing possible.

  Cover Credit:

  SelfPubBookCovers.com/Daniela

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Epilogue

  Chapter One

  Greenshaw was astounded. He hadn't had this much trouble keeping his emotions in check since he was a raging mass of hormones in his twenties.

  Which is also the last time I took a vacation like the one I've got planned, he thought. Something to keep in mind, avoid vacations like this if I want to maintain my self-control.

  Something about the thought of a sunny beach, attractive women in bikinis, and still being able to hone his firearms skills at a nearby range was exciting him beyond all reason. Every time a bit of the excitement broke through his stolid demeanor he felt his subconscious react with its own excitement, causing a feedback loop that made it even harder to rein in.

  Good thing I'm leaving for my vacation soon, he thought. Otherwise someone would certainly notice and that wouldn't be good.

  Deep inside of Greenshaw's mind, Loki continued his manipulation, feeding the excitement that Greenshaw was having so much trouble suppressing. His own tastes of the golden emotion that kept seeping through had him working as hard as he could, something he normally avoided as he found it distasteful to apply his full efforts to anything but thwarting the plans of his peers. Something about that emotion was addictive, though, and he wanted to feel as much of it as he could.

  Very soon it will be all of that emotion that I feel, that I experience, Loki thought, nearly giggling as Greenshaw's control slipped once more, allowing his excitement and anticipation to seep through to the AI inhabiting a portion of his brain.

  ~ ~ ~

  Eddie sprawled against the side of the inn. He was stiff and sore, and although he knew it would fade quickly with the game's regeneration, he didn't want to move until it had.

  But I've got my short swords skill up to a nine, Eddie thought. My bow skill is a ten now, so I can't raise that any more with practice. I've got two or three days before Charles wants to do the raid, so I've still got a chance to get my short swords up to a ten as well. It'd be nice to be a little more skilled, to pass the next threshold with the skill, before a raid battle. Admittedly I'm close to the middle of the level range for the raid, so it won't be that bad, but I know I got a lot of my levels from quest stuff, so my combat skills aren't as developed as most players at my level.

  Charles had, if anything, been off to the low side on his estimate of players that would show up for the raid. A lot of them were in the area already. The interior of the fort had sprung up a forest of tents in the last couple of days, even after Tiana had volunteered the bunkhouse she'd had built on the temple grounds for some of the new adventurers.

  On the other hand, Eddie thought, I've heard a few of them saying that they might want to base themselves out of the area. Even with zones nearby that only go to level twenty-five, a few of the groups have been talking about setting up a presence here and using it to train the low levels that want to join them. Most of them aren't even guilds, although a couple of those have people here as well. Knowing that they can build their own structures, store their stuff there where it's safer than carrying it on them, and use the same structures as a base to train up their lower level people looks like it's a very tempting proposition.

  Eddie had already had a couple of people ask him how he got everything built in the area. He'd directed them to Paul, after confirming that they were thinking of building houses or compounds in the area themselves. The older carpenter had supported Eddie throughout his time in game and Eddie was more than happy to return the favor, knowing that Paul hadn't been getting as much work as he'd hoped for.

  But if some of these guys are serious with what they've been talking about then Paul will have more work than he knows what to do with? Fortified compounds? Mansions? At least none of them have been talking about castles yet, Eddie thought. They've seen mine going up though, so I'm sure some of them will. I wonder if they'd be willing to build them near the newer, smaller settlements after they go up though? That would increase security dramatically for the new settlements.

  He stood and stretched, the game having healed his aches and pains already. He stopped in the inn for a moment and when no-one needed anything he headed over to the leather worker shop. While he was waiting for the raid to start, he'd commissioned a number of leather armor parts, enough to fill out his armor slots. He'd specified that they be of a quality to accept metal studs, so he'd have pieces that matched the tunic, helm, and boots that he intended to keep. Once he picked them up, he'd need to take them to the smithy to get the studs added in.

  Delgar was also busier than normal the last few days. When the incoming adventurers had found a player smith in the area, one who had a moderate smithing skill, he'd been inundated with requests as well. Evidently player smiths tended to produce slightly higher quality items than NPCs and most of the player smiths that were any good had gotten snapped up by the existing guilds.

  Delgar's apprentice was likely to be the one to add Eddie's studs in, but since the apprentice had just recently gotten his own smithing to five, Eddie was willing to let the young NPC smith do the stud work for his armor.

  After all, the NPCs also have a better chance of advancing their skill when doing new types of work and as far as I know our smiths haven't done anything with studded leather yet. Fortunately Delgar looked up the process and taught it to his apprentice when I asked, otherwise this stuff wouldn't be done before the raid. As it stands, I can probably get it back tomorrow, all finished, Eddie thought.

  When he picked up his armor, he did a quick Evaluate on it. Seeing that it was of Uncommon quality, Eddie insisted on paying the full price for it, even when the leather worker tried to give him a discount for being the mayor.

  He whistled for Lucky as he started east on the road. She'd been out back, fishing in the pond, and he wanted her with him. With as many other adventurers as were in the area, he worried for her. He didn't think another player could attack her since she was flagged as his pet, but he didn't want to find out he was wrong the hard way.

  He'd started introducing her to most of the new players he met, but even so there were probably only half of the newcomers that had met her so far. At least one of them, after
asking where Eddie had found Lucky, spent the next day in the foothills to the north. Eddie assumed he was trying to find a bobcat of his own for a pet, but wasn't sure and was unwilling to ask. He didn't think the man would have any luck with it, but wasn't positive about that. He was pretty sure it was only the combination of Freyja's blessing and the situation that he'd found Lucky in that had gotten her as a pet for him.

  When he arrived at the smithy, he had to keep himself from chuckling. He knew that Delgar preferred to work in solitude, with only his apprentice for company, but currently there were four adventurers lounging in the clearing around the smithy.

  He walked to the door of the smithy and knocked.

  “Hey dude, wait in line like the rest of us,” one of the adventurers called out.

  As Eddie turned to look at him, one of the adventurers companions grabbed his arm.

  “Hey, that's the mayor. He owns the smithy from what I was told.”

  “Oh, sorry, we've had some people trying to cut in line,” the first adventurer said.

  “Don't worry about it,” Eddie replied. “I'm not stealing Delgar's time, well not right now, I need to talk to the apprentice.”

  “Oh, well, sorry again. It's just that the smith is really touchy, who'd have thought a player would nail the classic dwarf grumpiness that well.”

  Eddie laughed.

  “He didn't nail that, as far as I know, that's how he really is,” Eddie said, then turned and entered the smithy.

  The building was hot, the forge glowing even in the sunlight that streamed in through the open windows. Delgar didn't even look up at the interruption.

  “I told you, I'll let you know when I'm available again,” he said.

  Eddie cleared his throat and Delgar looked up.

  “Oh, Eddie, sorry. All these adventurers,” Delgar said, shaking his head. “They all want something and want it done just so. Speaking of which, I finally got the etching done on the Justiciar's ax if you want to take that with you when you leave. What did you need?”

  “Your apprentice to do those studs. He available?”

  “On and off, he needs to help me with some things, but he'll probably still be able to have it done for you tomorrow or the day after.”

  “Good, that works. Where do you want me to put the armor?”

  “The shelf over there, the ax is on it right now, so just take that and put the armor where the ax is,” he said, then turned. “Hey, Kerr, you ready for some work of your own?”

  The apprentice popped up with a grin on his face.

  “Yes, sir smith. Is this the armor you taught me about?”

  Delgar nodded, then pointed to the shelf where Eddie was placing the armor.

  “When you're not assisting me, you need to stud that up the way I showed you, okay?”

  “Yes, sir,” Kerr said, walking over to the shelf.

  The apprentice eyed Eddie for a second.

  “Yes?” Eddie said.

  “Just trying to see the spacing on the studs you have on your armor so I can match it. I know how to put them in now, but no-one said anything about spacing. So I'll just try to copy what you've already got.”

  “Would you like to leave a piece of my existing armor with you for that?” Eddie said.

  Kerr shook his head.

  “No, sir. I've got it now. Just had to see what the spacing was on what you already had. I should be good now.”

  “Well, in that case, it's time for me to go,” Eddie said. “I've got to deliver an ax and hopefully make a certain Justiciar a bit happier.”

  Delgar snorted.

  “Happy at all would do that from what I've seen of her,” Delgar said.

  Eddie nodded his agreement.

  I know Tiana thinks that Bodil's attitude is just a facade, but I'm still not so sure. I'll back her on trying to crack through it though. It'll be nicer if it is a facade and we get through it, but it would also be good to know if it isn't one and that's how she really is, Eddie thought.

  He slipped the ax into his inventory and headed back out. Lucky was waiting on the path to the road, instead of at the stream.

  “Sorry Lucky, were those other adventurers too close to the stream for you to feel comfortable fishing?”

  The bobcat bumped her head against Eddie's hip, shifting him slightly to the side from the impact.

  “I'll take that as a yes then. Let's head back to the inn and you can go back to fishing in the pond if you like.”

  ~ ~ ~

  Eddie got back to the inn and while Lucky ran out back to the pond, he went into the inn and settled at a table for lunch. Tiana was there, waiting for him. She'd had temple duties to take care of in the morning after weapons training, but had already finished those. Karl and Allie were there also, as well as Jern. The five of them had all been training in the ring earlier in the morning, Dominic having excused himself. The wizard had stayed out of the ring with them, claiming that he had no desire to improve his hand to hand skills since he stayed out of melee combat all the time.

  Privately Eddie thought it was because the wizard had only recently started adding any points to his physical skills.

  But I might be wrong, Eddie thought. Even so, he'd be better off bringing up his staff skills a little bit, just in case. It's his call though.

  The wizard joined them at the table before they'd even gotten their food though, a smile spread across his face.

  “Hey, Eddie remember I told you I was messing around some?” Dominic asked.

  “Yeah, you figure out a new brew?” Eddie asked.

  Dominic shook his head.

  “No, lots better. I managed to pick up the alchemy skill finally.”

  That took Eddie by surprise. He hadn't even realized that Dominic was trying for it. He'd thought that the herbs Dominic had asked Eddie to find for him had been flavoring for the alcohol, not anything else.

  Evidently not though, Eddie thought.

  “That's great, you have a potion recipe already?” he asked.

  “Yeah, several actually. I picked them up online since someone had posted some of the basic potion recipes. I had most of the gear I needed already from my brewing supplies, so I just used some of that and managed to figure out the stamina restoration potion. Even with knowing what goes into them you aren't guaranteed a success, but I found another overlap. You remember you told us that you had bonuses to Bowyer/Fletcher because you had Carpentry?”

  Eddie nodded.

  “Well, as soon as I got the Alchemy skill I found out that I've got bonuses to it from the Brewing skill,” Dominic said. “That means I'll be able to pick up the ability to do more potions right away. Normally the skill only allows you one potion recipe per point in Alchemy, but my Brewing skill of nine gave me three additional slots.”

  Dominic sounded excited.

  “So, do you have three more recipes?” Karl asked.

  “Two, I've got two more, so I need to find a third, but...”

  He stopped and looked at Eddie with pleading eyes.

  “I kind of need some additional materials to do the other two potions that I have the recipes for, a bunch of them since until I make it successfully once it won't credit me with having the recipe and giving me the boosted chance to manage it.”

  Eddie sighed as a grin broke out on his own face.

  “Alright Dom, what do you need?”

  Dominic thrust out several sheets of paper that included sketches and written descriptions of the plants he'd need.

  “Those,” Dominic said. “There are three different herbs that I can use for the health restoration potion, the other two I can use for mana restoration potions. The health ones are on the three on top.”

  Eddie scanned through the sheets, his Herbalism kicking in and allowing him to recognize the plants as he looked at the sketches.

  “I know where three of these are,” Eddie said. “One of them's easy, there's a patch up near the smithy. The other two I've seen in the fringe of the Forest of Fools.”
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  “I knew I could count on you,” Dominic said, waving the server over. “If you can get those for me today then I can make us some potions for the raid.”

  “Alright, I'll see what I can do. I've got to make a delivery first, but then I'll head out and see what I can find for you. Anyone else want to come?”

  He glanced around the table. Karl and Allie wouldn't meet his gaze.

  “Sorry, got some plans of our own,” Karl said.

  “I'll go with you Eddie, how can I resist another romantic walk in the snake infested fringe of the Forest of Fools?” Tiana replied.

  “If you want more company, I'll come along also. No plans on things to do around here until after the raid,” Jern said hesitantly.

  “Sure, Tiana was just teasing me about the romantic part,” Eddie said. “Not so much about the snake infested part, so we'd be happy for the extra company. Oh, and I had a thought Jern. You know how all these new adventurers around here, or at least some of them, have been talking about setting up a base in the area?”

  The dwarf nodded.

  “Well, I've been referring them to Paul, but he doesn't have the masonry skill, so if what they want needs stonework, he'll need someone to do it. I bet he'd be willing to subcontract the stonework portions out to you, or you and a crew of your choosing.”

  Jern grinned.

  “Now that's some good news. I won't have to argue with those imbeciles building the castle. They wouldn't give me one of the towers to do myself, insisted that I'd have to work with others if I wanted to work up there.”

  Eddie stifled the chuckle that tried to make its way out of his throat.

  “Well, here's a bunch of stonework that they won't have any say in, at least if you get to Paul to ask him about it first,” Eddie said.

  “They're normally here for dinner, right? Will we be back from the Forest by then?”

  “We should be, Jern. I'm not planning on anything in depth, just dipping into the fringes of it,” Eddie said.

  “Then what are we waiting for, lad? Let's get moving.”