Blessed Time 3: Dakkora's Legacy: A LitRPG Adventure Page 3

  “The provincial government in Red Sands offered us one hundred and twenty attunement to clear the emerald scarab infestation out of the Clearwater Oasis.” Drekt frowned. “We just picked up that contract yesterday; how could you not remember? Unless—”

  The big warrior stopped, his eyes narrowing as he looked at Micah flipping through the pages of the folio.

  “Clearwater,” Micah mumbled to himself, finding the entry. “The mission will be a success, but the oasis has a concealed mirage shade population and we will end up spending more resources than expected dealing with them after they attack us mid-delve into the scarab warren.”

  “You’re reading from the Folio,” Drekt stated flatly, a slightly accusing tone to his voice. “What happened?”

  “Why is it strange that Uncle Micah is reading from that book?” Eris asked, leaving her twin sparring blades partially buried in the sand. “He usually sits around in his tent reading books all day.”

  Esther planted the butt of her spear into the desert sand, walking over to where Drekt and Eris were talking to Micah. The years had been kind to her. Once the Silver family fled Pereston, she had fallen fairly naturally into the mercenary lifestyle, training daily with her spear while puberty gave her a slim and athletic build.

  When she finally received her blessing, no one was surprised that the gods saw fit to reward her hard work by making it Uncommon. Almost half of Karell’s population didn’t receive a blessing, and of those that did, the vast majority only received a Common blessing. Enough for them to function as skilled tradespeople or civil servants, but not enough to place them amongst the elite.

  Micah’s only concern was that she didn’t receive an affinity. Still, the blessing itself was nothing to sneeze at. Esther had woken up on her sixteenth birthday able to sense everything that occurred within ten paces of her in fine detail. Perhaps more importantly, she could spend her otherwise useless mana to give herself bursts of speed. The combination of the two abilities had the potential to turn her into a formidable warrior.

  And warriors they were, Micah mused as he looked around the camp. After ending the Durgh incursion and saving Basil’s Cove, they had fled Pereston, traveling southward through its more temperate climates until they reached the deserts of Sandrovok. His parents had established themselves in Red Sands, a regional hub located on the banks of the Leel, a massive freshwater river that flowed from Pereston through Sandrovok’s capital of Daasmar and eventually out into the ocean.

  As for Drekt, Trevor, and Micah, they had tried to settle down as well, but the sedentary life had never stuck. Instead, they'd formed a small guild, using Micah and his enchanting abilities as the core to bring in a number of lower-ranked blessed in search of work as they traveled from oasis to oasis, taking on jobs and clearing dungeons that local groups were unsuited to handle.

  In a year and a half, they would finally make their reputation, slaying an entire nest of sun wyrms and saving a favored niece of Saravok’s empress in the process, but at the moment they were only known in the Red Sands province. Specifically, they'd confused the local government by appearing out of nowhere with a core of elite and high-level blessed mixed with the refuse that had trouble finding a place in other guilds.

  Over the years, Drekt had managed to whip their trainees into shape. Most had poor classes or blessings unsuited to combat, but through hard work and constant struggle against the desert’s dangers they had evolved into an auxiliary arm capable of going toe to toe with the rank and file of any of the larger guilds.

  Micah opened his status, scanning through the recitation of his abilities quickly while he waited for Drekt to return with Trevor.

  Age 21 [ERROR] / 35

  Class/Level: Divine Candidate 47

  XP: 103,017/850,000

  HP: 7242/7242

  Class Specialty

  Chronomancer, Enchanter

  Attributes

  Body 51:

  Agility: 51

  Mind: 103

  Spirit: 102

  Attunement

  Moon: 97

  Sun: 65

  Night: 84

  Mana

  Moon: 7385/7385

  Sun: 7321/7321

  Night: 7359/7359

  Affinities

  Time: 10

  Tier V - Foresight 17, Time Echoes 3, Temporal Transfer 2, Haste 16

  Tier VI - Temporal Vortex 14, Temporal Stutter 7, Stasis 6

  Tier VII - Time Leash 6, Weave of Fate 3,

  Tier VIII - Deja Vu 4

  Wood: 8

  Tier I - Refresh 14, Mending 13, Plant Weave 21

  Tier II - Augmented Mending 20, Root Spears 14

  Tier III - Heal 13, Paralytic Sting 6, Explosive Thicket 11

  Tier IV - Regeneration 14, Healing Wave 6, Poison Fog 14

  Tier V - Panacea 6, Coma 2, False Life 3

  Tier VI - Binding Vines 9, Infest 3

  Air: 7

  Tier I - Gale 11, Air Knife 24, Air Supply 6

  Tier II - Wind Shield 11, Sonic Bolt 18

  Tier III - Updraft 5, Pressure Spear 15, Sonic Orb 14

  Tier IV - Flight 12, Wind Blade 9

  Tier V - Vacuum 4

  Blessings

  Mythic Blessing of Mursa - Blessed Return

  Ageless Folio

  Skills

  Anatomy: 10

  Arcana: 15

  Enchanting: 34

  Fishing: 2

  Herbalism: 5

  Librarian: 5

  Ritual Magic: 33

  Spear: 39

  -Wind Spear: 13

  -TITS: 21

  Spellcasting: 48

  He’d used his time in exile wisely. Outside of improving his skills and performing the costly and difficult ritual to raise his Wood and Air affinities, Micah had focused primarily on increasing his magical repertoire. Mostly, this meant researching new Time spells, but when the chance arose he made sure to trade, buy, or steal new additions to his Air and Wood repertoire.

  The status was still missing a couple of the spells he’d learned in his run up to the campaign against Baron Hurden, but for now it was more than enough to deal with the day-to-day threats lurking in the desert sand.

  “Micah!” Trevor’s voice pulled him out of his woolgathering. His older brother flashed him a smile, a sliver of white contrasting with his sun-bronzed skin. “Drekt said that you just came back from using your blessing. How bad are things?”

  “Wait.” Esther’s eyes glinted. “What do you mean ‘came back?’ Everyone is always so mysterious about Micah’s blessing. We all know exactly what everyone else in the group’s blessing is, but I don’t even know anything about what Micah can do beyond that it involves that magic book of his. Why won’t any of you even tell me what its rarity is?”

  “Because, Esther, it’s a secret, and whenever you learn a secret, the entire camp knows it by the end of the night,” Trevor replied smoothly, walking up to Eris and rustling her frizzy hair.

  “Come on, Dad,” Eris begged her adopted father. “Please tell me what Uncle Micah’s blessing is. I promise not to tell Esther. In fact, I promise that I’ll lord over her that I know it while she doesn’t until the end of time.”

  Trevor’s severe expression cracked as he broke into a smile. He removed his hand from her hair, forming it into a fist before gently knocking her on the top of the skull as if she were a door.

  “Enough of that,” he chuckled. “You and Esther can take a break from training. Run along and get into trouble while I talk with Micah.”

  “She will, you know,” Drekt rumbled fondly, watching the two seventeen-year-old girls scurry off into the camp. “I don’t know why you encourage her to make mischief, Trevor. She’ll manage to find enough of it on her own.”

  “I read a book on leadership and governance in the last town,” Trevor replied with a shrug. “It said that you should never give a command that you know will be disobeyed. She’s going to get into trouble no matter what I say. This way I’m the cool and fun dad while you get to discipline her for whatever prank she pulls. It’s all part of my master plan.”

  Micah smiled and motioned for them to follow him into his tent. This is what the last year had been missing. After the disastrous battle where Baron Hurden’s daemon horde had defeated the bulk of Sandrovok and Pereston’s armies, things had gotten grim.

  Drekt and Esther’s death as they held the gates so that Red Sands could be evacuated had only made the problem worse. Trevor had survived to fight alongside Micah until the end, but there hadn’t been much joy in that struggle.

  Still, even if he only had one more chance, that would be enough. The gods had a plan, and it would be enough to change things, to sever that timeline before it ever had a chance to get started.

  This time, Micah could change things. He didn’t have another choice.

  4

  BEFORE VENTURING FORTH

  “That’s a heavy tale to take in before your morning bitterroot tea.” Trevor leaned back into the pile of cushions with a shake of his head. “Dungeon breaks and wandering monsters are one thing, but I’m not sure how I feel about squaring off against a daemon lord. It doesn’t sound like the sort of endeavor that a man who wants to live a long and healthy life undertakes.”

  “Prince of Elsewhere,” Micah corrected quietly, his eyes buried in the Ageless Folio. “Daemon lords are summoners that have gone mad with power, not actual daemons themselves. The Princes are worse than any daemon. Most entities from Elsewhere are incredibly powerful, but ultimately they’re creatures of instinct. They stalk and destroy because that’s all they know. A Prince can actually plot and reason.”

  “Oh, good,” Trevor grunted unhappily. “It’s significantly worse than I initially thought. That has improved my outlook on this venture entirely. I am now all smiles and buttercups about the prospect of squaring off with an immensely powerful being that can apparently also strategize and plan against us. Seriously, Micah, just give me a drake or a colossus. That’s a hard opponent, but at least one I can contemplate fighting.”

  “Honey,” Drekt replied with a sigh, “I can make you some bitterroot tea if that will cheer you up, but we’ve talked about this. When Ankros puts a task before you, trying to run from it will only cause suffering. It’s a heavy burden to bear, but the gods would not have given it to Micah unless they had a good reason.”

  “I can second that point about suffering,” Micah mumbled to himself, paging through the Ageless Folio. He frowned slightly, trailing his finger along the pages of the book as he read through the information Mursa had inscribed in the magical book while he was talking with the deities.

  “I’m not sure bitterroot will fix the fact that we can’t just drop everything and go gallivanting off to some ancient ruins to save the world.” Exasperation weighed down on Trevor’s voice as he picked up one of the pillows and threw it into the air before catching it on its descent. “We have obligations now. Never mind the entire guild that relies on us, Esther and Eris need our help and guidance. There’s no way I’m leaving them behind while we run off to fight some sort of apocalyptic evil. At the same time, I’m not going to feel comfortable putting my little girl and kid sister at risk while we fight some sort of monster beyond imagining.”

  “It might not even be that far,” Drekt interjected, putting one of his massive mitts on Trevor’s forearm as he tried to soothe the man. “Karell is a big place, but historians placed Dakkora’s fall on this continent. It would make sense if—”

  “The gods moved it,” Micah corrected, slapping the book shut. “They didn’t want adventurers finding it and accessing powers beyond their control and comprehension. It’s on the other side of the world.”

  Drekt and Trevor stopped arguing for a moment, both of their faces falling at Micah’s revelation.

  “The good news is that Mursa has provided me with a route to get there,” he continued, fighting off a sigh. “The bad news is that her itinerary involves traveling across the Emerald Ocean in the next three to four weeks, followed by crossing the Grass Sea en route to the Dalima Wastes once we get to Okkadan. Dakkora’s Tower is buried deep under the wastes, and there are pages of directions on how to navigate the tunnels and defenses once we get there. The journey will take at least a year.”

  “That’s barely enough time to complete our current mission,” Trevor groaned, dropping the pillow he had been tossing. “It certainly doesn’t give us the time we’ll need to prepare for the journey and get things set up for our absence.”

  “The Serpent’s Teeth are going to erupt in just over a month and make the entire Emerald Ocean unpassable for half a year,” Micah replied, tapping the Ageless Folio. “Unless we head out now, the Third Prince has a good chance of beating us to Dakkora’s tower.”

  Trevor frowned, looking from Micah to Drekt. “Serpent’s Teeth?” he asked hesitantly.

  “Trevor.” Drekt shook his head in exasperation. “They’re a range of volcanic islands that stretch across the Emerald Ocean. The nations bordering the ocean have any number of minor wars over putting supply stations on them, but once every thirty or forty years a wave of eruptions wipes the supply depots out and fills the sky with soot. Never mind the lack of supplies needed to cross the ocean—the air itself turns toxic and the constant eruptions destroy any ship foolish enough to make the attempt.”

  “Of course.” Trevor’s eyes lit up.

  Micah smiled at his brother. Trevor wasn’t always the most aware of what was going on, and it had certainly cost the two of them from time to time, but there was no question that his heart was in the right place.

  “If no one can sail across the ocean for half a year, that’s going to do a number on trade,” Trevor continued enthusiastically. “We can use your book of future predictions there to put together a list of trade goods that are going to explode in price and have Mom and Dad stockpile them. That way the guild will have enough attunement to not fall apart in our absence.”

  Micah’s thoughts screeched to a halt as he just blinked at Trevor.

  “That…” Drekt began heatedly, only to catch himself. “Honestly, that makes sense. If we have to drop everything to follow the gods’ plan, we will follow Ankros’ will. Of course, if there’s a way to protect those that rely on us, we should.

  “But Micah would have more experience with this sort of thing.” The big man nodded somberly toward Micah. “He would know more about how time loops interact with trade and economics.”

  “Why do you say that?” Micah asked. “I’ve never done this sort of thing before. When I’ve traveled back in time in the past, I had to keep a low profile to prevent the Royal Knights from enslaving or murdering me. I spent most of my time living in a literal cave in the woods next to a teleportation formation.” He raised his hands to ward off Trevor and Drekt’s incredulous glares. “Seriously! I don’t think the blessing is designed for that. It’s meant for serious concerns, not me traveling back in time and putting bets down on dog races or something.”

  “Open up your little book, then,” Trevor replied, nodding at the Folio. “There’s one way to find out if this is a workable option.”

  Reluctantly, Micah picked up the Ageless Folio. A moment of concentration later he opened the tome, instinctively knowing what page to flip to. He traced his finger along a line of text, mouth moving silently, only to slam the book shut with a groan.

  “It’s in there, isn’t it?” Trevor questioned, not even trying to hide his smirk. “This entire time, you could have had thousands and thousands of attunement, but you never bothered to look.”

  “It’s there,” he acknowledged grudgingly. “The Ageless Folio only records things I see and react to, but that includes when I take a walk through the market. I don’t have anything like daily results, but I do spend a lot of time shopping for reagents for enchantments. At least once a month there’s a fairly extensive writeup of the prices, advertisements, and announcements that I took note of while shopping.

  “And yes,” Micah finished, his voice heavy with defeat, “that does include the outcomes of a number of dog races and gladiatorial battles.”

  “You see?” Trevor crowed. “Me spending my free time at the dog tracks and forcing Micah to pick me up in person was beneficial after all! Without me, he wouldn’t have the knowledge we’ll need to pull this off.”

  “That is some of the most tortured logic I have ever heard leave your lips,” Drekt snorted, shaking his head fondly at Trevor. “And I am including the time when you were trying to convince me to go on a griffon ride as a ‘relationship-building’ exercise for our anniversary despite knowing that I hate heights.”

  Trevor blushed, face turning red as he mumbled to himself, “I thought it would be fun.”

  “It’s better than him drinking,” Micah intervened. “Trevor didn’t lose all that much attunement at the tracks, and more importantly, it kept him out of trouble.”

  “That’s true,” Drekt agreed with a curt nod. “I’m not thrilled with it, but it's better than him falling into his old vices. Plus, his visits to the track give me some time to spend alone with Eris. As much as I enjoy training her in swordplay, it’s good to just… talk from time to time.”

  “That brings up a final point,” Micah responded, closing the Folio for a second time. “I can put something together for Mom and Dad to take advantage of my knowledge and set them up for life. That said, what are we doing with the girls and the guild? Are we bringing everyone with us or—”

  “Eris and Esther come with,” Trevor cut in. “If the gods are going to demand that we gallivant off to save the world, I’m not giving up years of their lives. We can keep them safe while leveling them up along the way.”

  “But Trevor,” Drekt began worriedly, “think of the risks. We’ll be traveling across some of the most dangerous spaces on Karell before delving into traps and dungeons designed by the gods themselves.”