-Callen-
The big scare of a local sea serpent passed by the town, and luckily this time it seemed that it was only hunting the shores along the northern coast. The waves it had created didn’t reach our town, and the alert was lifted without any loss other than a particularly large wave washing over the planks of the harbor. In the meantime I got to have an in-depth and interesting session with the earthkin crafters about their approach to problems. I’ve noticed in human society the solution is typically trying to create a specialist or assign someone with a high enough level to stamp out the problem.
In particular, the nobility and foundational structure of our kingdom seem to rely on small villages and towns functioning as a warning system to alert high-level nobles of dangerous beasts. The noble would then go out on a hunt if it was convenient or a threat. We have even lived through an instance of convenience over threat when the great bear attacked and no major response was assembled. While it could also be attributed to whatever had sent the baron on a rampage in our region, the truth is the Great Bear is a known threat that doesn’t roam much beyond its territory. In truth the bear also functions as a deterrent from more active monsters further north. If the issue had been deemed a threat, then it could’ve even escalated to the surrounding nobility, who would’ve arranged a hunting force to stop the beast from pushing any deeper into human territory. Of course such a response is almost certainly far too late to save the people of the town or village. Instead, new settlers would be sent from the overcrowded cities.
I shake my head, clearing my thoughts of the matter. It’s rare enough to be sustainable, and it wasn’t something I could change in the near future. From what I learned of the Earthkin communities, unlike humanity, which controlled extensive territory and bred much faster, Earthkin are much less confrontational. Instead, when a threatening monster is in the region, they seal their homes and activate a variety of deterring runic weapons. The strategy is more akin to a porcupine promising any predator regret if it insisted on attacking them. For the most part this strategy worked, but it also meant they struggled to reach levels as high as humans because they weren’t hunting high-level monsters. The grand council among the earthkin cared more about the level of someone’s skills than their total level. However, they do acknowledge that raw stats are necessary to achieve more complex creations. In level they can be compared to a mid-level noble around 110-120.
From an outside perspective it seemed the earthkin strategies would work for human communities, but humans care a lot more about vitality than mana. The focus on vitality is in part to offset our comparatively short lives and also to survive living on the surface. Even more important was the technological difference. The power of mana crystals could be redirected from community amenities towards active runic weapons.
The biggest take away I got from all of this is our town was uniquely qualified to blend the two cultures in the way most advantageous to us. Everyone else seemed particularly interested in my designs for a pair of options for shelter. The plan ended up being a castle built alongside the cliff above the harbor with underground access for the earthkin and storehouses for ships and aircraft that we could use to evacuate. Protection from high tide, from monsters, defenses against land-based predators, and escape options as necessary. This didn’t mean we planned to abandon our normal walls, but a shelter like this would’ve been useful for the children who couldn’t fight. If the monsters had breached the wall in the various cracks the Great Bear had breached, then Mom would’ve been the last line between anything that got in and the children of the town.
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For now, however, the mayor set aside a fund to gather materials for the eventual project. It wasn’t something that the community urgently needed, but it was a worthwhile public project that we planned to work on over the next year. It would also be something I planned to add on once I had more time to dedicate to the project. In the meantime it was my week to train Callia's magic. Previously we got distracted sorting the void space, but now I planned to focus on her own unique circumstance with the abundance of affinities she had.
-Lexia-
At first I had planned on walking the girl all the way back to Port Town, but after my ankle had sufficient time to recover, I gave in and started carrying the girl on my shoulders. She seemed excited, but I had to repress the displeasure of having to deal with a companion who was so slow. As I reached the gate, the soreness in my leg made me hold a vague jealousy for healers and those with regenerative skills. Sadly, shadow affinity wasn’t known for regenerative skills.
The girl, meanwhile, seemed to be rather excited to ride me while I led us out of these woods. Her cheers of excitement drew more than one monster, and her low-level ambush predators thought they could snatch her from my protection, which made me even more irritated. Finally I saw the gate standing just ahead after 2 weeks of roaming. I felt an unfamiliar sense of comfort. The girl herself seemed impressed by the construction. That was fine and all, but the guard's reaction to the elf child felt a bit excessive. Instead of letting me through, he ran off crying out for the captain.
The girl herself seemed to think of the reaction as some kind of hostility and thought glaring at the guards would make matters easier. No, instead I ended up getting caught in a day of endless questions and was let in after a long debate. The townspeople didn’t seem to be able to comprehend the idea that the elf girl had come intentionally without the plan to murder or burn down the town. The other argument that I had stolen and somehow deceived the girl was equally frustrating because the cowards in the town seemed to be terrified of a retaliatory attack. It especially didn’t help when the girl admitted that a large number of voices in her tribe were already advocating to “butcher the impudent humans,” not for anything we had done but because one of the more popular hunters wanted to.
Even before Callen showed up I could feel the gnawing hunger that his presence induced. Now that I was aware of it, I could identify the feeling immediately. Callen seemed interested in the elf child, and they began talking extensively while I removed myself from the influence of his presence. Callia seemed eager to come with us, and eventually we settled down at the cliff. My head cleared gradually while I focused on Callia instead of my hunger. I didn’t intend to share much about myself with her, but I needed to build the influence to get her to follow me, so I vaguely listened as she talked about how her childhood growing up in Port Town was. Strangely enough, it was more relaxing than I would give credit for. On some level I enjoyed her presence, and the more I accepted that feeling, the more the hunger would fade.
Affinity Practice
Callia sat cross-legged, trying to hold back the impatience she felt by focusing on the task at hand. Affinities, according to Callen, likely all held some kind of internal spiritual connection to a space like his void affinity. The plan was to see if she could try accessing her other spaces. The result wasn’t quite what either expected. Callia did manage to pull herself into the affinity space but found a chaotic mix of growth and decay of what she only described as raw life. The epicenter of the decay was Dad’s branch. It was like the power of wither was in continuous conflict with life, forming a contrasting space of growth and decay.
Callia also felt she could only observe because of the void creating space for her mind to exist within the space. The barrier between her and the beyond was more akin to a filter that let the natural power flow into her body in a controlled manner. That was what enabled her passive skills, like regeneration, to function without consuming her mana. The strange connection between growth and decay in the spiritual realm was also what made pivoting between affinities when activating her skill so easy.
As an experiment, she tried to pull void energy into her regeneration skill but found that it wouldn’t connect at all, while growth and decay were universally compatible with all her skills that had been acquired through her former life affinity.
