Chương 29: Book 2 Chapter Twenty-Six: Final Preparations

TWENTY-SIX FINAL BID: 9, 867 CREDITS" Not bad." Roan didn't say anything as he continued to slowly etch the enchantment into the climber's short sword. The man had wanted a bleeding enchantment on it, something to stop coagulation when the climber cut something. It was a rather simple enchantment, but it had still taken the better part of three hours. He finished the last of the lines along the middle of the blade and smiled when they flared for a brief second.

Roan spun the blade and offered it hilt first to the climber who took it with a wide smile.

"Poor-grade?" the man asked a moment later.

"I'm new to it. Not bad for only twenty-five hundred," Roan said, shrugging at the climber. The man nodded along and offered his fist which Roan bumped and saw the transfer of credits. At the same time his old warhammer popped out of existence, the same sound that indicated something being bought on the market place. CURRENT BALANCE: 63, 391 CREDITS Roan nodded over the line on his balance sheet. He'd had to pay Jerry a thousand in licensing fees, and had lost ten percent to the auction before that.

Then the steak as well, which Roan thought he was going to start needing to eat a little more balanced of a diet. The restaurant was just much cheaper than meal rations from the market. ENCHANTING TIER: 2 ENGRAVING YOUR WILL THROUGH SYMBOLS WITH IMBUED MANA TO CREATE LASTING EFFECTS. CAN CREATE POOR-GRADE ENCHANTMENTS WITH REGULARITY Roan grinned at the alert and dismissed it as he stood up, stretching his back and feeling things pop.

He'd been hunched over enchanting for hours now, first on the warhammer and then on the sword. The enchantments themselves didn't take long, but the learning curve on how to etch the steel properly had taken time." Nearly doubled the price of a common-grade weapon with a single enchantment. Wish I had kept more of those weapons I'd secured earlier." It had been getting difficult enough to carry around his current kit without adding all the weapons on top of it.

Roan left the restaurant and headed toward the showers. He didn't know how much longer they'd have the village. If their plan went right they'd have one more day, but if it didn't they'd be evacuating tonight. He couldn't let the chance to shower one last time go. He was quick with the shower, buying another set of cheap robes rather than put on his stained and bloodied ones. It felt good to scrape all the gunk off of himself, the water turning black as he scrubbed.

When he left the shower he found the others waiting for him. Moira, Taoya, Darren, Tyler, and Harris were all sitting outside of the barracks, looking fresh and clean themselves. Others were circling around them, alchemists who worked with Moira. Roan was surprised to see Billie there with two others.

"There he is, our enchanter himself," Taoya said with a laugh. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"You saw the auction?" Roan asked. Harris and Tyler both shuffled to create space for him and he joined their circle.

"We all saw it. Don't know who bought the thing though," Moira said.

"When we get some breathing room, would you be willing to do some enchanting on our gear?" Darren asked.

"Asking and not telling me?" Roan asked, smiling a bit. He could feel the shift in the group, his status among them rising.

"No, not telling. But it'd be nice. Just like how Moira and Tyler will be giving us support elixirs, and Billie has said she'll work with us for support."" He already got to Billie. He moves quickly." Roan didn't let the news affect him as he saw Billie turn her head a bit and kick at the dirt. She'd gone around him and secured further patronage with the association.

"I'll do what I can when I can," Roan said, non-committably. Darren nodded as if it was a done deal.

"Everything is prepped and we have a few hours to prep. Have you decided what position you're going to take?" Darren asked.

"Dragon hunting," Roan said, tapping his brand new weapon. Taoya smiled and laughed, slapping his shoulder.

"That is what I like to hear. Moira and Harris will be rigging the other village and using the shaman staffs to trigger the explosion. Defense here will be led by Darren and Tyler. Billie will be leading out all the non-combatant specialists once we start the dragon fight," Taoya said.

"Darren and Tyler going to be enough to handle the hobs?" Roan asked. Tyler hadn't been able to hold her own on the last fight and while Darren was skilled, he wasn't enough to kill one on his own. He lacked the raw power needed to kill the powerful mobs.

"We bought a poison and antidote. We'll dose everyone with the antidote, including the defensive mobs. Tyler will release the poison across the entire village once the hobs come in. It should weaken them enough that we can kill them. And if not, well, we have some leftover explosives and more shaman staffs," Darren said.

"Smart."

"Glad you approve, Roan," Tyler said dryly.

"If everything works out then the hobs will be cleared out, the dragon will be dead, and we'll have one more day to train in the chambers and collect quest rewards," Darren summarized.

"We still don't know when the general or the hordemaster will show up. Based on the escalating nature of this level, I think it'll be the final night," Moira cut in.

"If they show up tonight, we're going to be in trouble," Taoya said. Everyone winced and nodded. The jump in power from the shamans to the hobs was tremendous and they could only assume the general and hordemaster would each be more powerful.

"Run if they show up. Evac point will be the cave. Taoya, you'll have to take enough people to secure the cave when you're done with the dragon. Fighters, but not the top-notch guys. Dig in where you can with shaman staffs and whatever explosive we have leftover," Darren said.

"We're running low on bodies, Darren. There's only so many fighters to go around," Taoya said.

"Everyone here is a fighter. Just might not be as good as others are at it, but they can fight," Billie cut in.

"You volunteering?" Darren asked.

"Yeah. We can work on building fortifications around the cave. Ditches, spikes, stuff like that. A few shaman staffs and other equipment would be needed though. Along with payment," Billie said. Roan felt an irrational swell of pride at her saying they needed payment.

"We can figure that out later," Darren said.

"No, we can do it now. We're working to establish ourselves, we need manuals and guides for training. The alchemist guide you have would be a good downpayment," Billie said.

"That's fine. We already have a bunch of us who've earned the skill and it'll take longer for us to tier up to use the more advanced techniques. I'd prefer to focus on other things than being stuck in an alchemy lab all day anyways," Moira said.

"Which is what our guild will do. We just need to build ourselves up," Billie said.

"Again, this is beyond the scope of our conversation. We can focus more on this on the next level." Roan had to admire Darren's ability to steer the conversation away from what was likely going to be an expensive conversation.

"Billie, go and gather your people and we'll hand over the alchemy manual along with my personal notes. Buy anything you think you need to make a defensive position and we'll reimburse you." Moira gently guided the woman and her two helpers away, but Roan saw the fist bump that was likely a large transfer of wealth.

"Come on, Roan. We have a trap to make," Taoya said, slinging his arm around Roan's shoulder and leading him toward the gates.