After a sigh she just smiled and shook your head Yes you get a vote And that’s three and the resolution passes I move that we send the Heavy Mages to set up a roadblock a little ahead of the NCC village in case something nasty comes down that direction
Their mage squads were divided into two teams The Heavy Squad which was effectively leaderless without Clarissa They focused on pure power breaking through heavy lines of monsters with fire thunder ice or poison
Meanwhile the Light team was lead by Ptolemy although Glendel featured heavily in their operations They were primarily their healers support spell casters and hexers The communication abilities afforded to them by Glendel and the other Spirit Caller were a nice bonus
Seconded
Donny and Mrs Hamilton spoke at the same time then looked at each other surprised before smiling
Resolution passes Regina said with a flourish and Glendel closed his eyes sending a ghost to whisper in the ear of the second in command of the heavy unit
You know Mrs Hamilton said suddenly Perhaps ask Decklan his condition if he seems fine point him in the direction of the other raid boss You know how much he likes to kill the boss type monsters
Agreed Regina said and then she turned and smiled at Daniel who was shivering And now Perhaps you should explain to us all the new options we have as a Trainee village After all spending large amounts of SP should be a group decision
Randidly finished his hole wiped the sweat off his brow and then moved onto the new spot and began digging again The idea was to dig a defensive ditch around the entirety of Franksburg which was an intimidating notion The process was simple if effective
One person in this case Randidly would dig holes to a predetermined depth at predetermined points Then another person would follow and clear out all the dirt between those two holes working on getting it all down to that predetermined depth A third would follow later and make it even and then another crew would come in and reinforce it either as a defensive trench or fill it with stakes
Randidly raised his hand to his eyes and looked behind him His second man was nowhere in sight long left behind by Randidly’s ridiculous speed at digging holes
It was a rather fruitful activity too Randidly had gotten to level 3 in Manual Labor and Lvl 5 in Digging Even Physical fitness had risen by 1 level
To Randidly’s pleasure these skill levels were enough to finish up his Apprentice Path
Congratulations You have completed the The Apprentice Path Applicant of Ash You have walked a path fraught with danger and ash and climbed to summit of the volcano You peer inside and see a face in the lava with closed eyes And as you watch they slowly open
Be ready traveler for you stand to be tested before the Patron of Ash
Commencing Teleportation in 10
9
Randidly’s eyes narrowed This was unique Did everyone who made it to the Apprentice Path get tested like this He supposed it was possible If he had been warned it would be easy to prepare for in advance In a self mocking manner Randidly looked down at his dirt covered furs
Hopefully the Patron of Ash wasn’t a stickler for cleanliness but Randidly felt like he didn’t really need to worry about that
1
The world around him blurred and he was suddenly standing on a huge slab of black stone suspended over a volcano The surround land was covered in surging lava large waves of cooling rock and liquid metal the only landmarks in the distance
Before him high above the slab of rock hovered a face of stone its eyes white hot and dripping its open maw cherry red and grinning
You It spoke slowly almost surprised None have chosen me as a patron in a long long time Apparently My standards are Too high
The face gurgled and spat up a blob of lava You are Lvl you have no Lvl That is unexpected Thus your opponents will be Lvl 25 Survive for 10 Minutes and you may have my blessing
The platform rumbled and began to descend With raising eyebrows Randidly watched as they neared the lava He might be strong but surviving exposure to actual lava was still a little
But around 2 feet above the lava the platform stopped A bubble of lava grew and popped spewing liquid rock onto the platform The area was relatively big but still The heat was almost unbearable Randidly suddenly wished he had heat resistance
Then a glowing form reached out of the lava gripping the platform slowly pulling itself up It was a Lvl 25 Lava Golem Randidly removed his new Bone Spear from his inventory spinning it lightly He would need to be fast with his strikes because he didn’t want to risk his spear melting
A noise from behind him made him turn curious 4 More Lava Golems were clawing their way out of the lava on the other sides slowly standing and turning to face him with burning eyes
Chapter 69
Randidly grinned and activated haste dashing towards the Lava Golem in front of him He used an normal stab to attack it wanting to see how strong it was in relation to him To his surprise the tip of the bone spear ripped into it rather easily The lava just reformed around it and it continued forward
Frowning Randidly backed off a bit Golems Were made of a substance and usually had cores that animated them On this golem his right chest cavity seemed to glow with heat He looked at the others
Left eye left knee pelvis right hand
Shrugging he turned back to the first Could it really be this easy He slashed with his spear again ripping into the golem’s chest He felt it that time as his spear struck something else other than malleable molten rock and melting metal
The entire body of the golem shuddered but then it continued on incensed
Randidly grimaced The heat was really something so much that he was losing more health per second than he regenerated But
Randidly twisted the spear and then just pulled using the spear like a shovel and separated the core from the rest of its body
The body in front of him collapsed and the small golden ball rolled the ground sizzling Randidly walked over to it and crushed it with the butt of his spear
Then he turned to the rest who were lumbering closer Three more had crawled out of the lava to join them He shook his head sorrowfully
What a tiring day At least it was only 10 minutes long
While the adults of Donnyton ran around working preparing for the influx of monsters to the area the children gathered in a certain clearing There weren’t an overly large number of children in the village but enough that there was talk of installing a schoolhouse which filled them all with dread
Luckily or unluckily there always seemed to be another more pressing project so it had not yet happened But that word yet hung over their heads
Nathan and Kiersty were the youngest at 8 and the rest were between 10 and 16 not yet allowed to engage in any of the combat exercises or obtain a class In a rare show of unanimity the leaders of Donnyton had declared that no one under 17 could obtain a class from their village although they were free to stay here
Most of the older kids thought this rule was dumb especially when Sir Donny was barely older than them but the rumor was that he had received special dispensation from the Ghosthound who the children talked of in reverent voices
They secretly hoped they would run into the Ghosthound too and impress him enough that he would order they receive a class
For that very same reason they found themselves standing in this certain clearing at that moment Because against all odds the Ghosthound had spoken to Nathan and Kiersty and told them to protect and nurture a certain seed And now they stood around that seed which had grown into a charcoal grey sapling
But as they watched a small smoking bud formed on the highest branch
Slowly infinitely slowly that grey and smoking bud twisted and wiggled and writhed
Then it fell still
The bud parted and a single burning leaf
Praise the Dancing Tree Kiersty said rubbing her hands on the sooty trunk and then drawing lines on her face
The rest of the kids their faces strange just looked at her Even Nathan gave her a strange look But Kiersty just smiled and looked at the notification that had appeared in front of her