Wild Era 3, Ch 29: Hints of Sarathia

When Kelin landed on the ship, it was filled with chaos. Shouts, screams, and tears filled the air in every direction.

Almost everyone had been injured in the earlier collision with the necromancer’s Ocean of Bones and they had been dealing with it for close to three hours. 

Thanks to his work earlier, most of them had freed themselves from their chains in the hold and now they were scattered across the deck, but they had almost nothing in the way of supplies.

The pirates hadn’t bothered to feed them much either and many faces were pale and thin.

There were over a hundred people who had survived and most of them were on the deck, but he could sense some who were still down in the hold and others who had gone to hide in the cabins.

A few were also ransacking the pirates’ rooms and looking for wealth or food.

There might have been trouble brewing with some of the angrier ones, but his display had terrified all of them, as had the massive Spirit of the Dark Ocean that was watching over the ship.

That had kept things in line, but there were still currents of trouble simmering under the surface.

Now that he was here, he would put an end to it.

His feet landed on the wood with an echo of mana that rolled out across everything, bringing a sense of heat and life, as well as suppression. 

It was like the flames of the sun had descended and touched the ship, sending a sense of sizzling potential across everything. Tiny golden flames flickered in the air from his mana field, twisting as they leapt like spirits or wisps and then disappeared again.

A thread of Wildfire was still there as well, spreading throughout his mana field and giving it a prismatic depth that made it seem as if everything around him was shining with saturated colors and energy.

Silence fell across the ship as shouts died away and everyone turned to look at him. Children huddled near their parents and those who were arguing with each other stepped back and gave him a careful look.

“I am a Knight Commander of the Path,” Kelin’s voice carried across the deck and made the air shake. “I will ensure this ship returns to the coast and work with the guild to return you all to your homes. 

A wave of his hand summoned tables from his storage and he filled them with food he’d collected in Highmist and from various enemies. 

There were roasted meats, savory vegetables in sauces, bowls of grains, loaves of steaming bread, pitches of ale, wine, and water, as well as endless shining fruits from all regions of the world.

He set them up in three different places around the deck, widely spaced to make sure there would be no crowding.

“For now, follow my orders and I will see you healed and fed. Bring everyone wounded to me. Children and those in the greatest danger first. There will be no fighting or rushing. 

“If you need immediate help and cannot move, call out and I will come as soon as I can. My elemental ally will watch over things as well. Do not cause trouble for him.”

Gaius, he thought, you watch over the food and make sure there’s no fighting.

Gaius formed in the middle of the area, appearing as a humanoid whirlwind.

“You, you, and you,” Kelin said, picking out two women and a man from the crowd who looked healthy and calmer than the others. “You handle the food distribution to everyone who can’t come here themselves.”

Then he pointed at half a dozen more nearby who were relatively uninjured. 

“And two of you help each of them,” he said, pointing to three different pairs as he told them where to go. “Make sure everyone eats who needs to.”

Then he turned to another group of mostly healthy individuals, ones who didn’t have children to watch over nearby. They were some of the stronger men on the deck.

“You four,” he said, “I’ll make sure you eat and recover. For now, help me find those who are most injured and bring them here. Children and anyone dying first. If they can’t move, carry them here or come and tell me.”

There was a brief nod from the people he’d appointed and then everyone began to move. There was almost no argument, something for which he was grateful.

That was all due to the force he had shown, as well as his mana field. 

If he’d pulled these people out of a crowd and given them similar orders on a random day, things would not have gone so easily, but after freeing them, killing the pirates, and then killing the necromancer, they were already terrified of him.

That fear was suppressing their conflicting desires and keeping them on a more productive road. It also mattered that they knew he was helping them.

It didn’t take long until a rough form of order appeared on the ship, led by the people he’d appointed. Lines for the food appeared at each table, but they were spread far enough apart that there was minimal crowding.

Those who were the most injured gathered around him, carrying children and anyone near death. 

A wave of healing swept out around Kelin and a phoenix appeared above him. The phoenix turned on the wind, its wings shedding flames on the people below. 

He directed the phoenix to fly toward everyone, one after another, as he did the same, targeting the ones who were the most injured.

Each time he healed someone, soulfire radiated around them, delivering some healing to those who were nearby.

That was the effect of the Illuminate and Flare runes he’d learned at the First Evolution, ones that gave an area effect to his spells. It was only about 25% of the original force, but it was enough to do a lot in a crowd like this.

For those who were the most injured, he activated healing talismans and used them as well, layering the different types of power to speed things along.

It took him over an hour to get everything on the ship under control, but he used those he’d appointed to help him maintain order. With two elementals and his mana field everywhere, there was little room for argument, so conflicts were minimal.

Before long, everything was moving smoothly.

Most of the people let out a sigh as they were healed and sat down with their food, finally letting themselves relax. 

Those with children were the most grateful and all of them came up to thank Kelin in between getting food and other things for their kids.

Kelin simply nodded at them and promised to help them get back to their homes.

Despite what he was doing for them, he couldn’t help seeing the blood that covered the ship’s hold and the hole in the side where the necromancer’s spell had struck.

The most heartbreaking were the families who had lost one or more of their members to the necromancer. They accepted his help, but they sat off to one side, staring into space or crying.

Nothing he could say right now would help them, so all he could do was leave them to it.

Eventually, a few messages arrived and he checked his guild badge to read them.

Then he snorted.

It seemed moving the ship would be on him. The guild didn’t have enough Third Evolution dimensional mages here to send one to help. 

Given the current state of the ship, however, it wasn’t going to last long enough.

If he’d had a better Wood affinity, he probably could have regrown the wood for the hull, but it wasn’t his speciality and the usual basic repair spells wouldn’t be enough for the Ocean of Storms. The enchantments that protected the ship were too important and those had broken as well.

Rather than spend the time repairing this one, it would be easier to just get another one. 

He dismissed the message as he looked toward the shore.

He’d already decided on a solution. There was another ship similar to this one at the docks and he could see a few pirates moving around it. 

He just had to go and get it.

His water elemental was already guiding this one toward the docks, but he’d told it to move slowly. He didn’t want the pirates there attacking the people he’d just saved.

As for what was going on there, he’d learned quite a bit from the necromancer’s memories. The information had been fragmented, but enough.

He checked over the ship and left a few instructions to the people he’d appointed to look. He also gave them some more healing and defensive talismans, but he refrained from adding any offensive ones.

“Keep protecting the ship and the people on it,” he told the Spirit of the Dark Ocean. “Make sure it doesn’t sink. Bring it to the dock once the area is clear.” 

Given the amount of mana he’d poured into the summoning, there were a few hours before the spirit would dissipate. It should be enough.

With that, he jumped off the prow and began walking through the air toward the shore.

It was still some distance away, so as he moved he checked his notifications. There were quite a few from the necromancer’s death.

He focused on only the most important ones.

Congratulations, Lord of Wildfire.

You have gained five Levels.

You are now Level 205.

You gain 150 Intelligence, 50 Wisdom, 50 Aura, and have 75 free attribute points to assign.

You have gained the Innate Resistance: Bone (Basic).

Due to absorbing a powerful source of energy, the strength of your Tempered Bones has improved. 

You have gained 40 Constitution.

Kelin nodded at that. 

He looked at the free points for a moment and then he tossed all 75 into Constitution. With the extra 40 from the Trait’s improvement, it took it to 863. 

Having good durability had just paid off for him, so he might as well add a bit more. With the 75% bonus, it took his Constitution to an effective amount of 1,510.

He was already pushing into the middle of the Third Evolution in terms of raw durability, but if he could get it to 2,000 or 3,000, it would significantly lower his mana expenditure on defense and his resistances should develop faster.

The resistance to Bone was useful. It had appeared late in the fight and had been critical in helping him to break down that source of energy even faster than before and to take it for his own.

Once he’d incorporated it into his bones, they had become much stronger.

They’d been like iron before, but now they had turned into steel. They were both harder and more flexible, able to endure significantly more damage.

The fact that the trait could upgrade itself was rare, but not unheard of it. It was clearly some type of alternate body refinement path, one that he’d lucked into from that Altar of Bones.

He’d seen skeletons with amazing durability before, ones with bones so hard they could shatter a world with a punch, and he had no doubt that the Lord of Bones was at the Seventh Evolution with a skeleton that was eternal and indestructible.

But the Lord of Bones was not a Sovereign. He didn’t have true command over all the bones in existence. He had only followed a path to power, and that path could be learned and used by another.

Bones were a vital structure of life as well as death, so Kelin had no qualms about using the Trait. He was curious what the limits were, but it didn’t seem like he would hit any for a while. 

He’d have to keep looking for more energy to take as his own.

To a lesser extent, the energy had also infused throughout his body on a comprehensive level, which was the boost to his Constitution, but the amount was miniscule.

Constitution had wide-ranging effects on lifespan, vitality, resistances, and recovery. It was much more generalized and this trait was too specialized to increase it by much.

With that said, the improvements were worth a huge amount in terms of defensive ability. 

The skeletal system supported the body and when a person’s bones were strong, more force could be channeled into blows, redirected, and endured.

Combined with his Soulfire Physique, which offered overall improvements to his physique and a vast vitality, it was like adding wings to a tiger.

It was almost too bad that the necromancer had died before Kelin could get even more of that energy from him, but he had been too dangerous to leave alive.

If the man had kept using other spells, he might have survived or gotten away, but he’d made a fatal mistake. He should not have used a fire spell, especially one that he could barely control. 

Kelin had gotten lucky in having an item that countered him.

It was a reminder not to be overconfident. 

There were many forms of power and an enemy might have a single thing that could turn the tide of battle and let them seize victory.

Luck was when preparation met opportunity. As for the fire that was now trapped in the Ember of Ash, that was something the necromancer had found on the island.

Kelin glanced toward the shore and the temple beyond.

He would investigate more once he got there, but from the man’s memories, he knew the entire ritual was based around an undead dungeon that was almost certainly a True Remnant, one that was linked to the Lord of Bones.

It was Level 240, and in order to keep the power available for the ritual, the necromancer had never cleared it.

In fact, the dungeon itself was something he had been sent to investigate by Sarathia, on the orders of his superiors. 

He was not alone in this pursuit, but his memories hadn’t revealed too much of the people behind him.

All Kelin knew was that there was a large and powerful group supporting him and that they were intermingled with the nobles of Sarathia and vast political forces, perhaps even the royal family.

That assassin guild Kelin had dealt with before was also tangled up in it. He couldn’t see all of the threads, but there were enough fragments that he knew the necromancer had dealt with them and had their support as well.

How the necromancer’s backers knew about this dungeon and that it was a True Remnant wasn’t clear, but the necromancer believed they had access to some ruins or relics that were somehow pointing them to new ones.

It was something Kelin would have to follow up on.

He felt the quest from the Path updating as he added the new information to it, but none of what he’d just discovered was conclusive yet.

He turned his attention to the bit of information about the Bonefreezing Hellfire. The necromancer had found a seed of it in the dungeon, from a Challenge he cleared.

It was actually a variant of Wraithfire, which was a type of necrotic flame that Kelin recognized, but it was a version he hadn’t run across before.

Wraithfire was a flame from the Dominion of Undeath, part of the powers that belonged to that Sovereign. 

It was a flame that had been changed by necrotic energy until it had an element of undeath in it that twisted life. 

Wraithfire could come in almost any color, but it was invariably fatal to living things and would burn apart their mind, soul, spirit, or flesh and convert it into necrotic energy before raising them as the undead. 

It was a dangerous power, one that was usually only seen at high levels.

This type was a specific variant favored by the Lord of Bones. 

Things killed by it would have their bones burned away and they would end up as a formless wraith unable to maintain a skeleton of their own. All they would have left was resentment and an unliving spirit. 

It was a twisted thing.

Fortunately, it was safely confined by the Law of Ash and would eventually dissipate into nothing or else Kelin would have had to find a way to destroy it.

The Sovereign’s words about finding a Law of Death to use made him consider it for that possibility, but at the moment he didn’t see a direct way to absorb it, so he set it aside.

It did leave him with an idea for making some type of contrasting flame one day, something that might belong to him as the Sovereign of Souls.

Perhaps he could change the nature of Wraithfire and create a Flame of Cremation, something purifying instead of destructive, that would burn away resentment and karma, preparing a soul for reincarnation and a clean slate. 

That flame would be holy and sacred instead.

For now, that was just an idea, so Kelin dismissed the thought and went back to reviewing the notifications. 

There were still a few left.

You have learned the Spell: Spatial Seal (Basic). 

You have demonstrated an ability with Spatial Energy that is above your Evolution. Your ability has been recognized. This spell requires a spatial crystal as a component until you reach the Fourth Evolution.

It was the enchantment he’d used on the Ember of Ash to seal it. It was nice that the Path had recognized it, and it would make it slightly faster to use that seal in the future, but it didn’t change much, so he waved it away.

The next notification was much more interesting.

For your elimination of a significant enemy of the Path and your rescue of innocents, you have earned a Mark of Favor from the Path. 

You may redeem this favor at your next Evolution.

That would be useful later, so he was glad to get it. The last one had been very important during his Second Evolution.

The final notification was from his use of Wildfire.

You have refined soul energy from the battlefield and gained 53 Aura.

Most of the necromancer’s undead minions had been in the mid 200s, with an average of about sixty levels on him, so when he killed them, it was a decent amount of soul energy.

Now that he was at the Second Evolution and was gaining a lot more attributes per level, it looked less impressive, but it was still important.

It just meant he’d need to eliminate even more enemies to keep his Aura increasing at a steady rate. Fortunately, there was no lack of undead ahead of him.

He dismissed the rest of the notifications as he focused on the island, which was swiftly becoming larger.

It was time to disrupt the necromancer’s ritual and then he could take a look at the dungeon.