Path of Dragons-Chapter 11Book 9: : Proper Defenses

“You don’t ever just want to explore?” Elijah asked, sitting close to the hearth. He’d stopped wearing his Cloak of the Iron Bear, so he didn’t have the benefit of Temperate to keep the effects of the clammy weather at bay. He knew he was functionally immune to all but the worst cases of exposure, but that didn’t mean that he was comfortable in the damp cold. “You know, see the world? Or the multi-verse?”

Kurik, who sat across from him on a camp chair next to the fire, answered, “No. I’m happy in Ironshore.”

“But –”

“I ain’t a coward, but the world is full of dangerous things. Folks that go out explorin’ usually end up dead, one way or another. I learned that the hard way when we were exiled,” Kurik explained. “We started out with more’n a few thousand. When I came here, there were only a coupla hundred left. That’s what traipsin’ around through the wilderness’ll get ya. And that was on a civilized world. This place ain’t that.”

Elijah couldn’t really disagree with Kurik’s assessment. Certainly, as a Druid, he didn’t really have to worry about dangerous wildlife. Aside from monsters, they mostly left him alone. Even when they didn’t, he had enough power and experience to survive just about any encounter on Earth.

And that was the problem.

If he wanted to progress, he needed to challenge Primal Realms or towers. And the latter, he’d recently discovered, wasn’t as viable an option as it once might have been. Towers, he’d found long ago, scaled in difficulty to match the highest-level entrant. However, they were constrained by two factors. The first was the ambient ethera surrounding the tower. The power of the scenario inside was limited by the energy available. Second, the grade of the tower was important.

Elijah had read a guide explaining how it all fit together, but the end result was that he’d outgrown the current maximum difficulty on Earth. He could still use them for progression, but it would be incredibly slow.

And easy.

More distressingly, if he gained even a few more levels, he would be cut off completely. So, in order to continue to progress, Elijah only had two other options. The aforementioned Primal Realms, which were still viable. Or he could hunt monsters in the wild, which was hit or miss in terms of potential experience.

“What about going off-world?” Elijah asked. “You ever think about that? Like going back to your home planet?”

“Nothin’ for me there,” Kurik answered. “And I got all I need here. Why? You thinkin’ ‘bout it?”

Elijah shrugged. “I was invited to the Empire of Scale.”

Kurik took a deep breath.

“What?” Elijah asked.

“You go there, things’ll be different. I ain’t heard much ‘bout it, mind you. They’re not a secretive bunch, but dragons…they’re better’n us, and they know it. Can’t imagine they’ll treat you right. Maybe I’m wrong, you bein’ part dragon yourself. But you go there, you better be prepared for the worst. S’all I’m sayin’.”

Elijah had thought the same thing himself. He was well aware that he was probably the strongest person on Earth. Maybe some of the settlers had him beat in pure levels, but he expected that his cultivation and high-grade class evolution would set him apart. However, he also knew that he was functionally a big fish in a small pond and if he went out into the ocean, he would encounter some true leviathans that would dwarf what little power he’d managed to accumulate.

He hoped that Kirlissa’s endorsement – or patronage – would help shield him, but he had no idea how their culture worked. They were entirely alien creatures to him, and though he hoped there would be some familiarity there, expecting it was probably folly.

But he knew he needed to go.

There was too much in the multi-verse that he just didn’t know. Too many variables of which he wasn’t aware. And on top of that, he’d very nearly reached the limit of what Earth could support, in terms of power. If he didn’t leave, he would stagnate.

And Elijah couldn’t stomach that.

Over the years since Earth had felt the touch of the World Tree, he had become addicted to adventure and progression. He never felt more alive than when he was exploring some new place or investigating ancient ruins. He would even include fighting monsters and powerful entities in that mix as well.

To suddenly be cut off from that – or rather, the challenge associated with it – was something Elijah couldn’t stomach.

“You’re still goin’ ain’t you?”

Elijah leaned back, his chair creaking with the movement. “I think I’m going to have to. Eventually. But I won’t go until after the Primal Realms are taken care of,” he answered. “I still need to plant a seed in Hong Kong, but I can’t do that until I figure out how to protect that tree.” 𝑅ÄＮÖВЁ§

He also wasn’t certain he could get it to grow without the dash of Primordial Loam he’d used on the Chimera Tree up above. He could feel it, pulsing with power as it dragged ethera in through its roots, drained it of much of its power, then expelled the remnant into the atmosphere. The result was a mixture of the heightened ethereal density that came with such close proximity to a Primal Realm and what he usually associated with his domain. He could even sense an echo of a locus around the tree.

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Would that grow?

He’d asked Nerthus about it, but the spryggent had no idea. However, there was some hope that the tree – even with as much as it had been altered – would connect to its progenitor at the heart of the grove. If that happened, Nerthus would be free to visit and study its effects.

But that was assuredly a long way off. For now, Elijah could only rely on his instincts and the many weeks’ worth of study he’d performed before growing the tree.

“Once Earth is no longer under threat of excisement – or being overrun by surging Primal Realms – yeah. I’m going to go,” he said. “There’s too much to gain to do otherwise. Does that make sense?”

Kurik nodded. “Everybody wants to progress,” he said. “That ain’t unique to you. And goin’ to the Empire of Scale gives you that opportunity. I just hope it doesn’t bite ya in the beard.”

“Me too,” Elijah said, running his hand through his hair and looking around. The subterranean levels of the outpost were complete, and now the Builders were busy constructing the above-ground facility. Which meant that the project wasn’t far from being done, and a little ahead of schedule, too. Even the construction of the ship – dubbed Unyielding – had been completed, and it was on its way.

In short, Elijah knew his time on Chimera Island was coming to an end. He had a couple of other tasks he wanted to complete before he got back to work on the Primal Realms, but he was painfully aware that it wouldn’t be that long before he once again set off into the wilderness in search of adventure.

And all that came with it.

Levels and new equipment were nice, but he would have been happy not to end up in as dire of straits as he’d experienced in the Chimeric Forge. Some nights, he still woke up sweating and with the formless terror that came with a forgotten nightmare. But at least he wouldn’t be reduced to eating monster meat anytime soon. His Arcane Loop was full of grove fruits and barrels of water, and it would remain so just in case he was pulled back into another deadly adventure.

“Did you finish your traps down below?” Elijah asked.

“Aye. I’m done here. The defenses are as strong as I can make ‘em in the time we got. I need to get back to Ironshore and get back to the real work,” Kurik said.

“I thought you had the mine pretty well finished.”

“I do,” Kurik agreed. “But the topside defenses are lackin’. And once I get done there, I’m goin’ down to find the closest entrance to the Hollow Depths. Carissa’s pretty well convinced we’re close to one.”

“Makes sense. The dark elves had to have come from somewhere.”

“Illythiri. They don’t like bein’ called dark elves.”

Elijah frowned. He’d recently learned that Miguel and Colt had somehow made contact with the elves down below. Colt and most of the rest of their expedition had returned to Ironshore via the Branch Teleportation Network – an expensive proposition, considering how far away the elven city was – and the two societies had begun diplomatic relations.

But Miguel had stayed behind, and of his own will.

“You really think they have a Primal Realm down there?” Elijah asked.

“Probably. From what I understand, they’re bein’ pushed pretty hard. And they brought along a whole civilization. If they can’t handle it, it must be bad. Only a Primal Realm or another group of settlers could do that,” Kurik explained.

That was Elijah’s read on it as well, and he expected that he would go down there to see for himself soon enough. After all, it wasn’t just a dangerous situation that could spill out onto the surface. In addition, it was one of the few Primal Realms whose location they knew. Not exactly, but getting into the right area was enough for him.

“Do you trust them?” Elijah asked.

“Not one bit,” Kurik stated, toying with one of the rings he’d made as keys for his traps. They were much smaller than the giant medallions he’d used early on, so he had no trouble getting the workers or soldiers to wear them. “But just ‘cause we have a rocky history doesn’t mean we can’t band together and fight a common enemy. That’s how diplomacy works. You don’t have to like your allies. You don’t even have to trust ‘em. You just need to trust that they’ll do what’s in their best interests and adjust accordingly.”

“But you need to be ready in case those interests shift,” Elijah added.

“Aye. And besides, an alliance comes with information. We’ll learn their weaknesses.”

“They’ll learn ours, too.”

“Bah. Won’t be any weaknesses once I’m done. They want to come at us, they’ll have to pay a mighty big price.”

Elijah couldn’t ignore the glint of danger in his friend’s eye. But he didn’t really need it to know that Kurik was an extremely dangerous enemy to make. He hadn’t been able to use his class to its fullest extent in the Trial of Primacy, but now that he had time and resources, he could truly devastate an attacker.

Already, the mines were much safer just because no errant or dangerous wildlife could get past his traps. And those same defenses would work just as well against a more sapient attacker like the Illythiri.

As a result, Ironshore was safer than it had ever been.

After that, the two fell into a comfortable silence. That was one thing he’d always liked about Kurik. The dwarf was more than willing to speak his mind, and about a wide variety of subjects, often offering valuable advice and context. However, he was also perfectly fine with letting Elijah stew in his own thoughts.

A little while later, Donogal joined them and detailed the progress of the outpost, announcing that it was basically finished. Now, all they needed was to furnish it, let the Envoy use her spell to connect with the World Tree and grow a Branch, then wait for the ship to arrive.

As it turned out, that all happened within the next day. The Unyielding was a massive ship with a multitude of sails and the ability to carry hundreds of tons of supplies. More importantly, it had made it through the maelstrom without losing a single person or taking any damage, which was something of a surprise for her goblin captain, Murk.

“You thought you’d lose some people?” Elijah asked as the pair watched the crew unload the supplies.

“If I’d tried that even a few months ago, the boat would’ve sunk,” Captain Murk answered. He was tall for a goblin – maybe four feet – with slightly darker skin than normal. His eyes had taken on a bit of a reddish tint as well.

“New skills or something?”

“Yeah. Held the fancy girl together, but only barely. Like I said, if we’d tried to do this any sooner or with even a slightly worse ship, things would’ve gotten messy. Even if the ship would’ve stayed afloat – no guarantee there – we’d have lost a few of the crew,” Murk stated. “But now that we’ve proven we can do it, things should get easier. Got a good bit of experience, too.”

“That’s great,” Elijah said.

Then, he joined the crew in unloading the valuable supplies. Once they were finished, Chimera Outpost would be almost entirely self-sufficient – at least for as much as a year at a time. The rotation of personnel would be more frequent, and that would come with a resupply each time, but the idea was to prepare for the worst.

In an emergency, someone would use the Branch to contact Ironshore. And if that failed, the Teleportation System was available. At that short distance, it would only cost a small fortune.

A day later, Elijah stood looking at the structure. It was built along the same architectural philosophy as Ironshore, which meant that it wasn’t just functional, but quite striking as well. However, even as he took it all in, he couldn’t help but realize that now that it was finished, he needed to move on to the other tasks on his list.

So, after bidding everyone goodbye and thanking them for their help, Elijah teleported back to his grove to get started on the next project.