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A Soldiers Life - 190 - New Routine
🕑 Added 2024-05-04 04:46:47 +0000 UTCChapter 190: New Routine
The entry room of the dreamscape hadn’t changed. Rather than walk to the scorpion room, I willed myself there like a teleport. Being able to teleport would be a spell form I hoped to learn eventually. I needed to get my aether attribute close to forty before working on that spell form due to the aether demands. Tonight, I planned to review the earth affinity spell forms in-depth and start on the road to learning one.
I held up my hand before Konstantin could berate me, “I will practice with you in a bit. I even have a small upgrade for you.” I focused and incorporated what I observed in the Imperial Legion practice yard into Konstantin and Xavier. Better teachers would make me better.
I hopped into the plush leather chair, and Oscar joined me so I could rub his head while I studied. I glanced at the index before starting.
Earth Affinity Lesser Spell Forms
Shape Stone (10)
Imbue Glowstone (10)
Shatter (25)
Earth Affinity Major Spell Forms
Earth Speak (25)
Earth Glide (25)
Stoneskin (30)
Earth Apex Major Spell Forms
Manipulate Earth (50)
Earthquake (70)
Quicksand/Liquify Earth (70)
The first entry was for shape stone, requiring a minimum of a ten in the earth affinity. It was the exact same ability that Maveith had. The spell form channeled aether to create an aura around the mage’s hand. Turning the stone into clay. The higher your affinity, the wider the area. The clay would return to stone about sixty seconds after the aura no longer affected it.
This is what allowed the masterful sculptures I had seen with different tones of stone to give life-like appearances. Maveith used this to build his residence.
The second option on the list was to imbue a glowstone. Glowstones were special stones mined in dungeons and could also be found above ground over a Ley Line nexus. Certain minerals would become saturated with aether and emit a soft glow. Another way was to craft a light stone. This was accomplished by shearing a stone in half, inscribing the light rune, and put the stone back together. Dungeon glowstones were natural, didn’t require a rune to function, and could be broken apart into smaller glowstones. The brighter the emitted light, the more it cost. Artificed stones were generally more valuable because they were brighter but needed to be feed aether more often.
This spell form circumnavigated the use of the runic inscription—making glowstones typically formed in dungeons. It could also affect any type of stone. The mage forced his spell form on a stone, which would glow for about twenty-four hours—the more aether, the brighter the light emitted. A side benefit of the spell was a stone repeatedly used in this manner would eventually become a glowstone.
If a single golf ball-sized glowstone sold for one gold, then this spell had a lot of possibilities for monetization. So far, both options were appealing to me. I moved on to the last of the suggested lesser options for the earth affinity.
Shatter was at the upper range of low-tier affinities. Requiring a twenty-five affinity, it should still be within my final range. Shatter magnified imperfections in stone to break it apart, but there was more. Over time, the mage could control where the shatter lines were, effectively making construction stones or, as an example in the text, initiating a landslide or destroying walls.
With a fifty affinity, the shatter spell form could also affect metal, but the spell form required touch, so you better be sure you could shatter a sword about to strike you. If you were wrong, then it would be a painful final attempt. Also, it noted the shatter spell form couldn’t affect runic weapons or runic armor.
These were all strong options, and I was hopeful for even better options moving onto the mid-tier spell forms. Earth speak seemed amazing on reading it. If you physically touched the ground, you could get an image of everything within the earth within a spherical range out to five yards. Things like birds in the air would not appear. Living objects, like people and trees, in contact with the ground would be blurry.
It appeared to be like a three-dimensional radar. Finding underground passages would be easy. Although you need just 25 affinity points to imprint it, the higher your affinity, the better the range. At 35, the range doubled to ten yards. It doubled again at 45, increasing to twenty yards. At 55 affinity, you could see out to forty yards.
This would be extremely valuable in dense woods or in a stone fortification if you were locating enemies. One note that made this extremely appealing was it functioned normally in dungeons. It would make scouting a dungeon room extremely easy—not that I wanted to see the inside of a dungeon again anytime soon.
The earth glide spell was a movement-focused spell form. It sounded like it would look amazing to see. The ground pulled the mage forward, using aether instead of the mage’s legs and stamina. The speed was controllable, with the fastest speed determined by the earth affinity. At 30, the speed was noted as walking speed, doubling every 10 points of affinity. It cost one relative aether for every minute the spell form was activated. I started to calculate my relative aether pool.
My aether pool attribute was 21/26. My aether pool should be 34, then. The rough formula was one point up to ten, then two points from 11 to 20. It jumped to four points for each point from 21 to 30. That meant the five points of unrealized potential could add 20 more aether points to my pool. But right now, I could maintain earth glide for 34 minutes. It was a good spell form, especially if I was running away.
The next spell form was one I was familiar with. Boris Angella used the stoneskin spell form when we dueled. The description was exactly as expected. The spell hardened the skin to prevent slashing attacks and spread the impact of bludgeoning attacks. The higher the affinity, the tougher the mage’s stoneskin spell form. There were even elemental protections with this spell form, but interestingly, the shatter spell could disrupt the stoneskin spell and even damage organs.
It was an expensive spell form to activate, costing around five relative aether. Its effectiveness slowly faded over a minute, but you could reset it by investing another five aether, but you needed to wait at least twelve heartbeats between activations. This information would be useful if I were fighting someone else with the spell form.
That was probably the last of the spell forms I would have access to after consuming my essences. I wanted to get them all, as they all would grow with my affinity. Each one had its own situational utility. I would have worked to imprint stoneskin if I knew I was going to remain in legion. The only downside of the spell form was it changed your skin tone, alerting enemies you were using it and probably making you a target.
I discounted the glowstone spell form since I had a few glowstones and didn’t need revenue. Earth glide was also reluctantly crossed off my list. Shatter was crossed off next, even though it was tempting. I would have loved to fight First Citizen Boris again and use it on him. That left me deciding between earth speak and shape stone.
Building a dwelling like Maveith’s could be done with my dimensional space. I could become a sculptor and make spectacular statues. Actually, probably not, as I didn’t have a single artistic bone in my body. Earth speak appeared to be my best option and would be useful when I joined the Hounds. The only negative was the short range of the spell at my lower affinity. Maybe before I completed the imprinting process, I would change my mind, but for now, I would start working on earth speak.
The remaining spell forms were also extremely powerful, but I didn’t delve too deep into their descriptions. Move earth was likely the spell the storm giant used when creating the crater in the swamp. Earthquake was the spell the Telhian mages used to destroy the walls protecting Macha. The last spell seemed useless, but quicksand had a wide area of effect and could sink a wall or tower around a town or city in a siege.
I reviewed the spell form for earth speak for just a few minutes before joining my dreamscape population for some weapons practice. I switched between my best three runic weapons: the magebane short sword, the longer black blade, and the black-tipped spear.
Of the three, I preferred the black-tipped spear. I was sure the powerful runic weapon had additional properties as well. Maybe I could sneak into the lower city and get a revelation scroll to use on it.
I woke well before sunrise and continued my routine of predawn physical training in the real world. Not long after the sunrise, a knock came at the door. I was shocked to find a massive delivery of meats, eggs, produce, cheeses, and casks of various ales, juices, and wines. It was ten times what I had written down.
Six men carried it up the stairs and helped me put everything in the pantry, and I activated the heat sink in the cold room. What was Zyna thinking? This was enough food to feed ten people for a month, and a lot of this would spoil in a week. Was she planning to make me her personal chef and host dinner parties? I knocked on Zyna’s door, but she had already left, or maybe she had not even slept in the tower.
I caught one of the porters as they finished the last run, “Can you bring me some recipe books?” His face twisted into annoyance. “Will twenty large silvers be enough for five different cookbooks?” That was two gold coins worth enough and should have been more than sufficient.
I was not a good cook and would need some help if I was going to prepare decent meals for the Chancellor. The broad-shouldered middle-aged porter considered, “I will ask my wife to procure them for you.” He took the silver reluctantly.
“Get a variety of cooking books, and you can keep the surplus,” His demeanor instantly changed, surprise and delight in his eyes. Maybe he had thought I was asking him to do it for free? I had no shortage of large dungeon silver coins, but I would be more frugal in the future.
I spent some time moving the ingredients around to organize the pantry and then prepared an omelet with something like parmesan cheese. I crisped the parmesan before cooking the eggs. The eggs were slightly overcooked and crispy, too. I didn’t need a lot of food with the ring of sustenance, but I hoped to cook better than this.
I wandered the suite and stopped in the alchemy lab. Cleaning this room was a massive project, as I guessed many of the flasks and beakers had been overcooked, and cleaning them would be next to impossible. Maybe I could convince Zyna to get me some alchemy books. I attacked the alchemy lab, cleaning the easiest glassware first and moving to the increasingly difficult glassware.
Zyna walked in as I was trying to scrap material off the bottom of a beaker. “You don’t need to clean this room. I don’t think it has been used in over fifty years. I never touched it in my last stint as the Chancellor. I don’t have the patience for alchemy.”
I made my request with some hope. “Could you get me some basic books on alchemy. If I am going to be your tower slave, I need a hobby like Rapunzel,” I quipped.
“Who is Rapunzel? Never mind, it doesn’t matter. I thought you would want to feed the mage aspirants and Renna. They will be here an hour before dinner for their punishment.” She looked over the partially cleaned laboratory. “I will requisition the books for you. I never thought much of Imperial Alchemists’ work after consuming a few dungeon potions. Once your armor arrives, you will attend my class with me in the morning six days a week.”
I surmised with the massive food deliver, Zyna was hinting that I shouldn’t cook any meals for the three with what was left of my dungeon harvest.
“Do you want lunch now?” I asked.
“No, I have a meeting with Master Mage Janus. We are going to discuss essences, and I will get your answers. I do expect dinner an hour after sunset.” I nodded and couldn’t believe how quickly I had accepted my role.
Zyna left me alone in the tower again. I was planning out my daily routine. It started with two hours of studying in the dreamscape, and then weapons practice for two or three hours there as well. Five hours in the dreamscape was more than enough ‘sleep’ for me with the sustenance ring.
I would work on my physical training until sunrise, then spending time in the alchemy lab, cleaning, and trying my hand at the profession. I would direct Livia, Flora, and Renna, and while they cleaned, I would then prepare a large dinner for all of us.
After they left, I would spend some time in my room paging through the metal smithing books to add them to my dreamscape. Then, I would begin the cycle again with the dreamscape amulet. A knock at the door had me find the two mage aspirants smiling at me. “We got punished again by Chancellor Zyna,” Flora said happily.
I chuckled at her happiness at being punished. “Come in. There is still plenty to clean.” I said, but it only seemed to enhance her happiness. The two mages headed toward the nearest bedroom to start. Renna arrived shortly after with a bright smile, and I started to prepare a feast for dinner.
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Comments
B P
Doesn’t need revenue but wouldn’t let someone he fought with for 6 months borrow a sword… love the series but hate that choice
Erick Thiemke
fixed. just send me a note. it is a cut and paste thing with Macs. if even one word is in italics, they all come out that way. before it all showed normal to me but i was able to see italics in this chapter so maybe patreon fixed it
Labola
I think I saw another comment on this but it’s still italics on iPhone and pretty annoying. Has anyone found a way to fix this?
Brianna Stormcloud
Well at least he might end up a better chief and part time alchemist. He can Also add the books to his dreamscape for study during eventual sleep periods wherever he ends up
Raelik
would have worked to imprint stoneskin if I knew I was going to remain in legion. In the legion
Robert Biederman
This comment by scientist valsi is exactly why I turn the MC's mentality as that of a dragon hoard I doubt even the author will remember everything that's going in there and bring it into the story at some point
Scientist Valci
Hello?! He still hasn't checked what the old mage had on him other than the rings! There is a spacial item among them as well, because he couldn't put it in his storage space. He has privacy so he can finally go over them.
cnjsd dsjncsdk
Dude everything except how generous he acts is realistic, no normal person shares dungeon food so extravagantly, maybe a bit of preservation should come into his mind
Abdullah Abdulhameed
I am still mad he did not choose blink for the time affinity spell form.
A B
Yes.
Erick Thiemke
is this one of the chapters?
A B
Ah. I've seen it on other authors patreons, too. Will do. Ty
Erick Thiemke
It is an error in the Patreon code when I cut and paste. I can’t see it on my apple computer. Please just post a note saying it’s in italics and i will fix it
A B
Is it just me or are a lot of chapters showing up in all italics? Is that a patreon thing?
Jason Long
Tear for year
Karnnie
They absolutely send the hounds after one person, and especially a mage. But vanishing into thin air... Cant track that.
Karnnie
I would then prepare a large dinner for all of us while they cooked. I would then prepare a large dinner for all of us while they cleaned.
Karnnie
Zyna walked in as I was trying to scrap material off the bottom of a beaker. Zyna walked in as I was trying to scrape material off the bottom of a beaker.
Karnnie
“Will twenty large silvers be enough for five different cookbook?” “Will twenty large silvers be enough for five different cookbooks?”
Karnnie
The remaining spell forms were also extremely powerful, but I didn’t delve too deep into there descriptions. The remaining spell forms were also extremely powerful, but I didn’t delve too deep into their descriptions.
Grayson
I would prefer to get more early release chapters--I understand these are 1st drafts--expecting good editing is not realistic...
Silver Beard
The problem is the weakness after he stashes someone away. Mavieth is definitely a good choice as he might not be missed but anyone one else would be. TBH I was hoping he'd stash a way Castille and make a run for it. Nobody send the hounds for one legionaire and he could keep her in stasis for a decade... folks would stop looking/wondering. Alas- author got his plan...and this isn't it
Erick Thiemke
He sort of fell into the trap on the first draft of these chapters. He thinks they need him and he can trust them because of that fact. They also know some facts: he is out worlder, he has a large dimensional space and he has the collector
J H
After digesting 30+ chapters in one sitting, Ive been thinking about how eryk could best use his storage space. The very best thing he could store in there is powerful allies. Imagine having Mavieth pop out of nowhere in an important fight - he would have force multipliers no one could account for. There are definitely people who might be interested. Imagine someone who is on the run from the law (or the hounds??), where better to hide than in the storage space of a man who will live 25,000 years? Or imagine someone that might have a degenerative disease - they could be stored and used briefly on the hopes that a cure might be found in the future. Or Eryk could store and save someone on the promise that they be his ace in the hole for a period of time.
Steven
💯 agree, getting help from Zyna only makes sense.
Silver Beard
And if he runs into some aspirants that need give him trouble... oh- that sucks his space if FULL... guess he'll have to just suffer whatever they cast on him. Deserves it too after not relieving himself on purpose.
Silver Beard
ROFL.. that wasn't the point at all... the 'original' books are still taking up space in his 'space'... What's been his MO so far..taking bits and pieces...sometimes whole people into his space. BUT at the moment it's stuffed with books! Lose some of the dead weight already!
Otto Kovar
I won't deny that that may be an incentive for myself or others to offer the help xD. In the long term you would benefit, freelancing as is provides some monetary gain but may not be very lucrative for the one offering the work, important is that you gain more free time, which should give you more breathing room or the ability to further expand.
Erick Thiemke
Thanks for the idea. I will put something together when I get back to states. Are you sure you just don’t want to get chapters even earlier by editing? 😅
Erick Thiemke
After he copies them he will always have them and can get rid of them
Erick Thiemke
That is a definite possibility. She understands how the amulet works and there are two at the mage academy
Otto Kovar
I agree with Silver Beard, partially. You have a small community of very passionate readers, they do pay 24,50€(here in Austria) to get chapters early. In your discord make a post adressing all Seraphim Tier Supporters. You are looking for a freelancing editor. within a week they have to edit 5 Chapters(4 for the weekly release and an additional for editing those that are already released). Like the first 5 chaps of book two for example. You choose which one you like and negotiate what they will be paid for. I would suggest pushing for a week or two hard to get a headstart and buffer for the unreleased chapters or reduce the amount you release for a time(the supporters will understand). This will give you time to review the suggested changes and if the editor gets sick or goes on vacation you could for a time still release chapters. Also you have to make clear that you are not employing them, only paying the agreed amount and it is on them to register their additional income for taxes(or what ever their country/state needs of them). The agreed upon pay should be a per chapter pay(they have to make the first suggestion, you can ask the other submiters and see what kind of pay is expected) and you retain the right of refusal if the quality is not up to snuff. I would also only reach out to the Seraphim Tier Supporters as they are already up-to-date on the story and are probably very interested in your work. Other prequesits must include Word or something that produces .docx files so you have an easy time comparing and compiling the changes you agree to. Something like that... I hope you make it work. PS: if you would go for idea, i would submit a draft ;)
Silver Beard
Off note- if he can win Zyna's trust... he should absolutely get her into his Amulet and have her create a copy of herself there to teach and perhaps other things if that's what's needed.
Silver Beard
How does adding books from his space into the amulet create more space?! IT doesn't. What- will he burn them after?
DimpleDipper
Eryk has been running nonstop for awhile. If he relaxes here, it might be nice to see some of the pent up emotions come out from surviving so much.
Erick Thiemke
Publishing companies give an author a flat fee for a manuscript. Then after they sell a certain number copies you start getting royalties. For audio books Amazon takes 60%. Then the author and voice actor split the remaining 40%. Since I paid the voice actor upfront, I get the 40% and don’t split it
Silver Beard
the prices you list are seriously over-inflated. WTF! Leverage your readers for proofing. One less chapter a week will be the cost though until you can find a publisher that won't constantly screw you over. I've got a novel I'm working on... but holy shit if this is what it takes to publish... no wonder Kong didn't get his disastrous last book proofed. You do know you are supposed to pick a 5-6th page publisher... not the first one?!
Silver Beard
I agree. I just got tired of pointing out mistakes since you've made almost no move to fix them for the published bits. Could save you down the road though when you want to publish. Just b/c- I don't do audio. I'm not deaf I just get used to the voice I attach to a character and don't care for someone else's opinion on what he/she/it is supposed to sound like.
Silver Beard
I totally agree that he needs to come clean with Zyna on his Aether burn and how he got it. Give up the Robe. Ask for help. They are in it together for now.
Silver Beard
Surely the application division of the Mage College has a solution for Aether Burn. Eryk's got the means...it's fitting all the pieces together to get the final product that's going to be a challenge
Silver Beard
He should get Renee, status of Mage should give her access to the city, to get him the revelation scrolls... once he has the belt figured out...and possibly cleaned out; he might have the wealth and leverage to get what he needs.
Otto Kovar
it was a good listen, but i already made the comment on it that it sounded more like i am being read a fantasical saga(like the hobbit or lotr) than the hard and gory viewpoint of a soldier. I felt the narrator was overselling some lines but he has a nice voice and good range in depicting many voices. I did pay for it using my audible credit as those had been piling up. I started listening but midway through I decided that the style was not for me and I dropped the audio book.
Erick Thiemke
Was the audio book bad?
Otto Kovar
I see... I hope you had fun in South America, there are some sights to behold.
Erick Thiemke
The audio book was $3200 to retain my rights
Erick Thiemke
My parents took me to South America to tour the Galapagos and Amazon. I have not been able to get Grammarly to work on the tablet I bought for the trip which has been frustrating. The trip has three days left. As far as content editors they are out of my price range right now. $5000 to $10,000 per book. I paid a grammar editor through Fivver for book 2 and she did a terrible job.
Otto Kovar
I know you have been writting a lot and your efforts are commendable, but as of late and with your releases on payed plattforms and audiobooks and should say you need to invest in a proof reader and editor, I and others do not mind pointing out errors, but we are paying to get early releases and some influence in future chapters. I love your work but also think using grammarly will at one point not be enough for the releases. I do not know how much you make on this but paying a freelancer a few hours a week to do some correction and catching any mistakes you made may up your quality by a lot. I am not demanding it but i am also not obligated to point out any errors. I love this book a lot and i would only want it to improve going forward and in terms of world building, characters and plot you are delivering, but in terms of grammar and consistency there is room for improvement.
Alex
“I would prepare a large dinner for all of us while they cook.” You probably meant while they “clean”
Erick Thiemke
As a Baronesss, First Citizen, High Mage and Chancellor she could possibly get such an essence. But if I wrote it correctly the monsters needed to get a magic attribute were dangerous. Very dangerous. So their value is as much as as an apex magic affinity essence. It will come up eventually.
Otto Kovar
I believe Eryk should leverage some of his goods to Zyna for some Aether Channeling Essences. Coming clean on that part will help him greatly and there is nothing to loose for him as it would reveal very little about him, though he may incidently reveal that he killed the summoner by himself. He may even get access to some other essences. As it is told minor affinity essences are needed in larger quantaties to raise points but Eryk can do so with probably only one. If Eryk revealed his Spellform for Convergence maybe Zyna would want to invest into him, she is planing to have him help with some exveptionally tough shit. But I understand him not wanting to reveal something so monumentally OP of an ability.
BubblyGhost
'not that I wanted to see the inside of a dungeon anytime soon.'. Psh, as if any respectable loot goblin can resist the allure of essence and artifacts!
Erick Thiemke
2 of 4 for cycle.
