Jjhutto_Son of Flame
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B3 Ch. 10 Seven Days
🕑 Added 2024-06-10 20:15:47 +0000 UTCTilly actually ended up really enjoying the hour or two they left him there to guard against a surprise reemergence of the dragon. He went through his character sheet with a fine-toothed comb and got a good feel for where he wanted to go next with stats. It was a given that he would keep his imbalance, but the cost of such a low Strength stat when he swapped had been eye-opening. He spent the first half of his time thinking through how he could test the other combinations of his Bracelet without getting himself or someone else killed.
Which basically came down to:
Devise a measurable test for each boosted stat and still to be discovered Title.
Find a large open space to run the test.
Have any of the new priests on standby for when things inevitably went wrong.
Until he understood what he was capable of with this new ability, it represented a significant danger to him and his surroundings.
Once he finished processing just how intense his new capabilities were and their implications, his thoughts inevitably went back to the events that had transpired the day before. He read back through the notification log to try and make sense of what had happened at the end with the cleansing of his Corruption and Kindle’s sacrifice.
Thinking about her hurt and as he scrolled back through the System log, he reflexively reached for her bond again. An explosive sigh escaped his lips as he found the connection easily, but felt no response to his mental inquiries.
He read through line after line, allowing what he remembered of those last moments to play out in his mind as he searched for new answers. She had activated some sort of Pheonix ultimate attack while benefiting from Tilly’s Titles, [Origin’s Champion] and [Divine Wind], boosting her Ability, Sun’s Final Descent by 225%. He couldn’t read a description of the Ability itself because it wasn’t his, but he imagined it must have already been very powerful.
He scrolled down a few more lines about Amelia partially immobilizing his opponent and boom, the notification log just stopped as his health ticked to zero. His fragmented memory didn't serve him much better, leaving him with a vague impression of a world turned white, and a flash of such intense heat, that it seemed to sear him down to the bone. Whatever Kindle had done, it had eliminated all Corruption near the point of impact. This had destroyed what was left of the Prime Dirge and wiped out the infection hiding within both the nearby human bodies…
Considering he must have been dead at the time, he did not remember the next part. But something about the event had mingled the two Primal powers within Amelia for just a moment completely healing any damage she had sustained and leaving her brimming with a strange magical potential. In her words, she had crawled over and, “Shoved as much of it into your body as possible.” Which explained the next line in the log after his apparent death.
The Primal energies of Flame and Growth have fused with the power of Rebirth through your bond, restoring a spark of life to your fading soul, and completely clearing all Debuffs from your body.
Then there was nothing, nothing on Kindle, nothing on the bond, just a slow role of Constitution Regen notifications, as his body clawed its way back from the edge of death one percentage point at a time.
The bond was still present. In fact, it may have even grown in strength over the last day, but it seemed to lead to… blankness. In momentary frustration, he threw his will against the emptiness,
but felt no resistance, no response.
Nothing
Last time she had started as an egg, but now, all he had was his bond, and he had no idea how to bring her back from wherever she was. His instinct told him she wasn’t gone, but without any sort of guidance, he was stuck.
Hitting his head against more of his ignorance was getting old.
So he started to come up with a list of anyone who might have an idea of what he could do differently, the top of which was Erash. Someone he honestly couldn’t stand, but he had heard enough about how she had stood against the enemy magics almost single-handedly the whole time to reconsider his position on the snobbish fairy. Something like that earned you a second chance in Tilly’s book, and if she couldn’t or wouldn’t help him, then maybe he could join heads with Franklin and come up with some other ideas.
Then a voice exploded in the distance behind him, interrupting his thoughts with its characteristic unpredictable priorities, “IS IT TRUE BABY MAN? DID YOU STRIKE DOWN A DRAGON?!”
Gorrock’s voice echoed off the quarry walls emphasizing the urgency with which he demanded an answer. Tilly rose to his feet and turned to find Gorrok with three other Bastions moving at the head of a line of miners. Gorrock was practically straining to move out of formation, holding his spear in one hand and his sword in the other, as if hoping that there was still some fighting to be had.
Level 62 Wallbreaker.
Tilly couldn’t keep the tired smile from his face as he answered the large warrior in the most frustrating way he could think of, “Sorry, Gorrock. I’m actually not allowed to talk about what happened here…”
The other Bastions formed up loosely around the cavern entrance with one hanging back at the mouth of the quarry, while the miners started to mutter amongst themselves, examining the new substance that now littered the floor of the quarry. Gorrock however, stopped in his tracks, bristling with anger, before suddenly changing pace and launching forward. Tilly kept his expression aloof as the Wallbreaker pulled up just short of stabbing him, and snorted in his face.
“Just tell me human… No one else has to know.” He demanded breathily.
“Sorry, can’t” Tilly answered smugly.
“Leave him be, you big Oaf!”
“We have our orders, now shut your trap!” The other Bastions called over.
“GGRRAAHHH” Gorrock shouted in frustration, sheathing his weapons and glaring at the entrance to the heart of the mountain as if it had stolen his ice cream. Tilly patted him on the shoulder patronizingly as he walked by the rigid warrior.
“Next time buddy. Next time.” TIlly then walked through the crowd of miners who were already loading up carts with the loose, cooled slag, and beginning to discuss how best to extract the riverlike veins of Dragon Glass that were now frozen in a pattern that seemed to flow up from the tunnel and into the quarry.
“Should we pull it up in large pieces?”
“Ney, they hav’teh to melt it, so small’s best.”
“Did they tell you that, yeh daft block? Or are you just having a go?”
Tilly allowed himself a small thrill of pleasure at the argument, realizing this was the closest he had been to the group of dwarves that called the Alliance home. Part of him wanted to stay and get to know them. To satisfy some of the burning questions that had plagued him since he learned that there were dwarves on the plane. Like, why the Scottish accents? Or how in the world did they keep up with grooming so much facial hair?
But the arrival of a relief guard and the fact that Tilly hadn’t slept more than a few hours in the last three days was suddenly weighing him down. Maybe it was Hiro’s advice to get some rest while he could, or maybe it was the fact that the Alliance had a small amount of breathing room now that someone wasn’t actively trying to destroy them... Whatever it was, Tilly’s limbs felt like cement as he moved tiredly past the workers.
Tiredly nodding to the other Bastions and the Miners, Tilly moved past the entrance to the quarry and started trudging down the road. His mind was whirling with all the things that had to happen in the next seven days, but without any of the orderliness that his meditative state had brought. He just found himself rehashing the same scattered to-do list as he put one leg in front of the other. There was a lot to do before he got started tomorrow, but first things first… sleep.
Halfway around the bend in the mountain road, Tilly spotted a small figure hurrying toward him. The little guy didn’t seem to be paying much attention to the road ahead of him. Instead, he was constantly looking down and fiddling with a bundle of cloth he held gingerly in his hands.
Level 7 Thaumic Munitions Specialist
‘Who the heck is… wait-’
“Cog?” Tilly sputtered interrupting his train of thought as the gnomish child looked up from his package and jumped as if Tilly had appeared out of thin air. Tilly heard the clink of glass, and the already pale gnome's face drained of any remaining color as he looked back down at his package with a mixture of fascination and dread.
“What do you have there buddy?” Tilly asked him, shocked to find one of that crazy group of kids had not aged up into a Class… but wait, he did have a class now, so that must mean-
“Mr. Tillman? How did you recognize me?” Cog asked after a moment’s pause to watch the bundle.
“Uh-”
“Oh, of course! I’m still wearing the close you saw me in yesterday. That was silly on me.” He said, affecting a new more adult /business-like tone. Tilly’s tired mind took a moment to catch up to the situation before it finally clicked. Cog had aged just like the others, but unlike the others, he physically looked the exact same… something that he did not seem to have realized.
“Yeah, that’s what it was… So what exactly do you have there? Also, what is the deal with your new Class? It looks powerful!”
Cog looked down at the bundle mournfully, before his expression resolved to sturdy resignation and he stumbled through an obviously spontaneous explanation, “I… um… was actually… bringing this to you! Yeah, I figured with your fire Abilities, you would be able to get the most use out of these. While I know they are all functional, I would love for you to run a few tests on their effectiveness so I can make them even better.”
Tilly took another look at the Class glowing faintly above the Gnome’s head, then back down at the bundle that Cog was now attempting to hold casually.
“Those are explosives… aren’t they?”
A sudden smile cut through the boy’s discomfort and he definitively answered, “Yes! I knew you would understand! They are not nearly as potent as I would like, but without a good understanding of their effects, I am afraid any attempts to strengthen them would likely fail…” He then seemed to trail away in thought, muttering the names of strange-sounding ingredients and ideas for recipe substitutions.
“You want me to test them? How stable are these things?” Tilly asked dubiously.
“Oh, totally stable in their current state… However, a few are designed to activate once exposed to air and I didn’t want to use the workshop's nicer equipment without permission, so I only used the cheapest glass vials for these initial attempts. So yes, I would be careful if I was you.” He concluded lifting the cloth sack up to Tilly.
Tilly considered it for a moment, reluctant to take it, but afraid of the consequences of leaving it in the gnome’s care. After a few moments of hesitation, he gently scooped it up from Cog’s tiny hands and cradled it in the crook of his arm.
“Ok, I’ll take these and give them a try. But no more experimenting without and adul-... a more experienced crafter to supervise!” Tilly admonished. As soon as he agreed to test them, Cog’s face split into a grin, and he began nodding.
“Great, let's go right now!” He answered almost at the same time Tilly finished his demand. Tilly was suddenly suspicious that the gnome had completely ignored his warning and was about to repeat it when the familiar creaking of a cart appeared behind him. They both turned to look and spotted a few Miners pulling a cart piled high with the Dragon Glass slag that had littered the quarry floor.
“You think Hamish was right about the new furnace?” One of them asked the other as they came around the bend.
“We’ll have to see, won’t we? I’ll say this. That Patron of ours hasn’t skimped us on rewards yet. I mean I’ve gained…” Both dwarves trailed off as they saw the road blocked by the odd pair.
Tilly stepped out of the way at the same time Cog gasped, and sprinted up to the pile, clamoring up the side of the cart like a squirrel after a nut.
“Oi! What are you doing your little mongrel?” One of the dwarves shouted as Cog scurried to the top of the pile.
“Dragon Glass! How did you- Where- I could…” The gnome seemed completely lost in his own world as the dwarves began hollering at him to get off.
“This is Alliance property!”
“Get off, before we knock you off!”
Even Tilly got in on it, some sort of long-dormant parental instinct coming to the fore, “Cog! Get down, now!”
The gnome looked up as if coming out of a dream, “Oh, sorry! I just got a bunch of crafting notifications.” He said, hopping down from the cart and walking backward toward the camps.
“Yeh, well get in line. Every crafter worth their salt is gonna want a go at this stuff, and it looks like it might be a while until it's your turn!” One of the dwarves stated dismissively.
Tilly’s eyes narrowed in suspicion as the gnome continued to walk backward down the road, creating space between him and the cart.
“Sorry about that, new Class! Just excited… Any way I have to be going.” He said turning and beginning to jog off. As he turned, the pockets of his robe spun heavily and Tilly couldn’t help but snort in bemusement at how sneek the little gnome was.
“Wee-uns… No respect anymore for the order of things…” One of the dwarves grumbled.
“...Oh, ai” The other answered, pulling a tarp out from a side compartment of the cart and belatedly covering their load, before continuing on down the road with respectful nods to the human champion as they passed.
Tilly was left holding the bundle of dirty cloth with a bemused smile on his face.
“Interesting Class to give the kid.” He muttered to the open air, before shrugging and following after the cart, deciding that this, like the many other problems he had to deal with, could wait until after he had gotten some sleep.
Comments
Wyatt Hilbert
Thanks for the chapter
A Lost Robot
Thanks for the chapter!
