Path of Dragons

“You know we can’t just babysit him, right?”

Elijah glanced at Carmen, unsure of how to respond. One thing that had almost immediately become clear after Earth had been touched by the World Tree was that leveling was weird. Some things that seemed like they should have given multiple levels barely gave a trickle of experience, while other actions resulted in a flood of progress. He was aware that there were whole classes dedicated to charting the most efficient leveling path, but he’d never actually met anyone like that. Probably because Scholars, by their very nature, tended to be quite vulnerable, and the situation on Earth wasn’t settled enough to guarantee their safety. As a result, compared to most other archetypes, few Scholars had survived.

Whatever the case, he’d learned that watching over Miguel while he tried to level would result in quite a bit less experience than if the young man acted alone or with a group of similarly leveled people. It brought to mind how slowly he had progressed when he’d first been stranded on the island. Over the first few months, he’d killed dozens of crabs, and while they weren’t particularly high-leveled, they should have given much more experience than they had. Except that, the entire time, he’d had the panther watching over him, providing him with a safe environment and ready to step in if it looked like Elijah was going to die.

Maybe.

Elijah wasn’t entirely certain how it all worked, and he didn’t think that would change anytime soon. All he could do was keep going and hope things became clearer as he gained power. Regardless, it wasn’t as if gaining levels had ever been the goal. Sure, he liked the way progression felt. He liked getting stronger. But the vast majority of his choices were based on other factors, and leveling had usually been a byproduct of seeking out other goals.

“I know,” he said, knowing that Miguel would never progress if he had Elijah as his guardian angel. “It just sucks.”

“It does,” agreed Carmen, taking a sip of coffee. “I wish he would have chosen something non-combat.”

“I don’t think he had the option.”

“He didn’t, but that’s my fault, too,” Carmen said, glancing at Elijah. “Ever since the world changed, I’ve let him pursue a future as a fighter. At first, I just looked at it like it was a new sport, like he’d taken up football or something, but with the added bonus of letting him protect himself. Then, everything with Alyssa happened…”

“It really is,” she argued. “I could have brought him into the forge with me. He might have enjoyed making things. But I was so scared. So focused on everything else. And I just pushed him off to Colt. That sealed it.”

“I could see that,” Elijah contributed. For better or worse, Colt was invariably cool. He wasn’t the most powerful person in the world – far from it – but few children could look at a cowboy samurai and not want to emulate him. That was compounded by the fact that Colt was a good, loyal person who took to the mentor role quite well. It was inevitable that Miguel would end up idolizing him.

Carmen leaned back in the chair and gazed across the grove toward where Miguel was going through guided meditation with Nerthus. It was the first step in preparing the young man for cultivation, which would take up the next month of his life. Only then would Miguel step out into the world and start leveling. Thankfully, there was a large enough population of children in Ironshore who’d recently come of age that there was an opportunity to form parties. Once they did, they would venture out into the local wilderness and hunt the relatively weak beasts in the region. Then, after they’d gained their classes and established teamwork with a static team, they would be given a slot to run the local tower.

Elijah wished he could just take Miguel in and escort him through the tower, but the level difference was far too great, and as a result, Miguel would never survive the run.

“It really is frustrating, isn’t it?” he said. The system seemed to want people to rise or fall on their own merits. Sure, there were exceptions. They could load Miguel up with high-grade equipment, but even that wasn’t foolproof. If the gear was too powerful, he wouldn’t be able to support it. So, the help they could offer was limited, mostly to training and preparation, but that could only go so far.

“More than you can know.”

“Are you going to make him some armor? A weapon, maybe?” he asked. Thinking that Miguel would eventually choose to become a Ranger, Elijah had been on the lookout for a good bowyer, but those plans seemed a bit silly now that the young man had chosen to become a Warrior. “You know I still have the spear you made for Alyssa.”

It had been incorporated into the statue back in Argos, but it wouldn’t be difficult to replace it.

“No. Leave it where it is. I intend to make something special.”

“How’s your forge project going?” he asked, changing the subject. They would get nowhere by going in circles about their impotency concerning Miguel’s development.

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Carmen answered, “It’s going. I’m about a third of the way finished with the bricks, but there’s a lot more to it than something like the Temple of Virtue.”

Then, she went on to describe the process, which involved incorporating the high-grade sun copper and blood tin, as well as their alloys – into the entire building. Moreover, the structure would take on the shape of a series of enchanting runes Carmen had learned via a guide. And finally, she intended to make every smithing tool from those high-grade metals. The project wasn’t something that could be finished in a few weeks, so Carmen expected to be working on it for quite some time. Months, at the very least. However, given the high density of the ethera in Ironshore – due to the ancestral tree in Druid’s Park – Carmen thought the final result would be quite powerful for both cultivation and for crafting purposes.

“What about you?” she asked.

Elijah just leaned back with a sigh. Sitting on his balcony overlooking the grove, it was easy to forget how much work he had ahead of him. Three issues demanded his attention, and he didn’t know which one he’d focus on first.

First, there was the situation in Hong Kong. Elijah still intended to help rid the city of undead, but given that the source was a Primal Realm, he knew it wouldn’t be the work of a few days. Instead, it would likely take weeks just to fight their way to the Primal Realm, then an unpredictable amount of time to conquer it. Likely, it would be a dangerous and deadly months-long endeavor.

Then, he needed to help the survivors of the plane crash, though that presented a host of issues as well. The largest problem was reaching the atoll, but Elijah had fought – or run from – the harpies, so he knew precisely how much danger their presence added to the mix. Exterminating those monsters would be at least as difficult as conquering the Primal Realm in Hong Kong.

And finally, he needed to prepare for the Trial of Primacy. He’d never considered not going, though he suspected that eschewing the Trial was probably the most prudent course. But Elijah knew it was important. He wasn’t sure exactly how, but he was certain that it would be a formative experience for Earth’s future elites. Not going would cripple his position.

Fortunately, the only time-sensitive issue was the Trial, largely because the most recent visit to a Branch resulted in yet another announcement from the system. It read:

That solved the Hong Kong problem, at least for the time being. And according to John and Gwenivere, the crash survivors could survive indefinitely. They’d have to do so underground, but they’d managed it for more than four years, which meant that their plight wasn’t nearly as urgent as it seemed at first glance.

“I think I need to get ready for the Trial,” Elijah said. “It feels important.”

Carmen agreed, though she still refused to participate. According to her, she had more than enough on her plate, what with the construction of the Great Forge, equipping her son with as high-grade gear as he could handle, and satisfying the terms of her obligations to Ironshore. But Elijah knew that much of her reticence was due to simple fatigue. She’d had enough danger for a lifetime, and she wanted nothing more than to remain safe and sound in her smithy.

Elijah understood that sentiment. For many people, challenging towers and fighting powerful monsters seemed like an adventure, but that only lasted until they actually had to confront those dangerous situations. That was usually when they started to see the value in a safer existence.

He wasn’t like that, but he recognized that his attitude probably made him a bit of an anomaly. Sure, there were plenty of other people like him, but they were the clear minority. Normal people didn’t relish repeatedly risking their lives, even when that path had the potential to lead to immense power.

Regardless, Elijah understood Carmen’s perspective. He even agreed that it was probably best for her. But it didn’t apply to him.

With that in mind, he itemized his plans for his preparation. The first step was one he’d been working on for quite some time. He knew he was close to progressing his Core to the next stage of development, and the ambient ethera in his cultivation cave had grown so dense that he thought it would be enough to push him over the edge. That was the first – and by far, the most important – step, but it wasn’t the only one.

He wanted to prepare some more soap. He also needed to commission a cook to make rations out of the meat he’d gotten from the boar. In addition, he intended to hire a leatherworker to create some armor. And finally, his preparations for creating a new staff had reached an acceptable point, so he needed to do that as well.

Once he’d explained all of that to Carmen, she asked, “Have you told the castaways yet?”

Elijah shook his head. He also needed to let Sadie Song know about his plans, and he wanted to help Wilhelm find a powerful intersection of ley lines so the German Explorer – who he’d left in Argos without an explanation – could take the first steps toward building a teleportation apparatus near Argos. That wasn’t quite as important as the other tasks on his list of priorities, but he knew just how beneficial it would be for the city. Perhaps it would one day become something of a trade hub. A crossroads, so to speak.

That was a long way down the road, though. But the first step was easy enough to take, and if Elijah planned everything properly, it would only be the work of a day or so. That was a small price to pay to ensure the prosperity of the people of Argos who’d been so welcoming to him.

And finally, there was a party on the horizon. After all, a young man only came of age one time in his life, and it was an event worthy of celebration. So, with that in mind, Elijah headed to Ironshore to buy some supplies. He didn’t intend it to be a city-wide carnival like what had happened in Argos at the completion of the Temple of Virtue; instead, he knew Miguel would prefer something with just family and close friends.

Elijah could handle that, but afterwards, it would be time to get to work.

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