Chương 24: Mysteries of The Map.

"Take me there immediately. Nythera, wait here, check up on your stats, just drink. I'll go resolve this" Lance said, getting up. Wonder what's going on now, didn't we win the war already? Nythera turned back around and flicked up her stats. Aether Culverin (lvl 7>11) (2 tokens) Synchronized Thunder (lvl 3>8) (1 tokens) Artillery-Command (lvl 3>6) Flux Sight (lvl 4>6) (1 tokens) Giant-Slayer (lvl 3>5) (0 tokens) Aether Culverin and Synchronized Thunder… have completely transformed!

Aether Culverin is reaching the level cap! She had 70 free points to spend. Strength - 20 Dexterity - 22 Constitution - 31 Endurance - 27 Intelligence - 23 Wisdom - 62 Charisma - 21 Flow Quality - 127 Flux Control - 128 Resonance - 154 Attunement - 19 Authority - 129 Flux: 934/4, 466 It's time to drastically increase my flux output. Gotta keep the scaling even-ish though. She put 5 points in Flow Quality and 10 in Flux Control. And dumped the other 55 in resonance.

Flow Quality - 132 Flux Control - 138 Resonance - 209 Flux: 934/6, 061 Hyper-flux: 10/60 Hyper-flux takes so…. Long, how am I supposed to level this skill if I can't even use it? Well at least my base flux pool is gigantic now, I can use Aether Culverin dozens of times. Class Level Threshold Reached: 1 Upgrade Token Acquired This time, I think I'll save this one. She took a swig of beer.

"Miss lord, you did a darn fantastic job out there." A lanky farmer came up to the counter, and held out his hand. She shook it.

"Thanks, I guess."

"Without you we would have never won, you took the entire blockade and shredded it to bits with your mighty spell, really Miss lord, thank you kindly" He tried to bow.

"Y-You're welcome." she stuttered out. Another farmer came up and patted her on the back "Miss lord, you were fantastic, I've never seen such a skill before." He burst out laughing "I'll be tellin' my grandchildren about your cannon fire to the day I die".

"I ain't a lord. Though." She mumbled over her drink.

"Nonsense, nonsense. The miss, she's OUR LORD!" His voice picked up volume. Everyone raised their glass.

"Three cheers to the lord of Myrraval!"

"Cheer! Cheer! Cheer!" And they all drank together, Nythera as well. Lance burst through the doors "Nythera, come, now! War council at the town hall" and was already gone.

"Sorry, I gotta go." She followed Lance out the door.

"Good luck Miss Lord."

"you go get 'em!" was heard as she exited. Nythera hurried her way over to the townhall, guards lining the interior. She was ushered directly into the council room. Ollie, Felix, and Noah were all waiting there, with Lance and the Priest of Kronan. She took her seat at the table.

"Ok, we can start now, all are accounted for." Noah nodded at Lance. Lance began "Ralph, under pressure, revealed that this assault… was just the first wave, they expected to take Grandport and prepare it for Damien's formal arrival. The main fleet is actually still in production, a series of warships" Lance leaned in"Most of their mages and delvers are also still on Karaveth." he whispered. Ollie flinched.

"That was only the weak ones?" Ollie asked himself.

"We don't have any ships left at Amplewood, Reachman, the rat bastard, burned them all." Felix slammed his fist onto the table.

"Thats not all, he's got a whole contingent of burning men this time, over a dozen, made just for this war" Lance said dejectedly.

"That sniveling coward, corrupting others for his stupid war." Noah spat.

"Whats a burning man? I have never heard of it, is it connected to those massive craters around the city?" Nythera asked.

"Yes ma'am, that would be a burnin' man. Nasty things, Damien overloaded 'em with way too much hot gear and turned 'em crazy." Ollie answered.

"Overload with hot gear? Like my Cinder-tier cloak?" Nythera continued. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"Yup, that'll do it, put enough hot gear on and you will go crazy, same for cold gear, once your Ember-Frost scale goes too far in either direction, you lose your mind." Felix replied.

"Alright, lets focus, Damien's coming again… but by our calculations it'll be at least a month before the Kraken's Wrath dies down, once it does the path to Karaveth will be open, if we are lucky, it could extend maybe a week." Noah stared the ceiling, brows creased.

"Uh sorry to interrupt, the Kraken's Wrath is what exactly?" Nythera asked sheepishly.

"Kraken's Wrath is a permanent whirlpool located in the sea between Myrraval, Mistmere, and Karaveth, on occasion, the flux concentrates into a massive typhoon and dumps rain onto Mistmere. He'd have to go around it, which would almost certainly get him sunk by Anchorbreakers." Noah explained. I am going to need much faster ships if I ever want to explore the isles. What else do they have? Lava tornadoes?

"Now for the hard question." Noah said. Felix and Ollie groaned.

"What in Kronan's name do we do with Rustreach?" Noah asked.

"Traitors are traitors, we can't let em go, but we got no ships." Felix confessed.

"Aye, traitors are traitors, Reachman has got to go and Rustreach needs new management. Last thing we all want is him stabbing us in the back while Damien attacks." Ollie said.

"Aye." Noah, Felix, and Lance said in sync.

"Nythera needs training, levels, experience, as much as we can get her." Lance added.

"I propose we send her with a squad of Delvers to the quartz dungeon she found to train. The river can be navigated by boat, we checked." Lance said and leaned back to stretch.

"Ya know, that new dungeon, it aint far from Rustreach, maybe a days journey? The mountains will slow you down quite a bit, but I reckon if you can get through em, it'd bring your reach to Rustreach." Felix said, stroking his chin in thought.

"Hmmmm" Noah went.

"The people have started calling her by new names, Miss Lord, Lord, Little Miss Lord, if she can gain some more levels, and take out Reachman, even as part of the group, we could paint her as a true hero of the island." The Priest of Kronan spoke up. And then he stood up.

"Before they lock in her name as "Little Miss Lord" we could solidify her position with the islanders, the unity would help us bring all the townships together in this battle." He preached to the table.

"Sit your ass back down" Noah said, to which he complied. He seemed sad to sit down.

"Hey, that's a pretty good idea, I was going to suggest that Nythera needs to get familiar with the soldiers before the next battle, and the Delver's Legion can take her to the dungeon and then go to Rustreach after." Lance admitted.

"If we run the quartz dungeon once, go to take out Reachman, run it again, then have her return to do the Dungeon in Halsbury, we can probably pump her up to level sixty or so pretty fast, maybe higher." Lance finished his line of thought, a smile on his face. Hmmm that dungeon wasn't very fun, but with a whole squad? It should be easy, especially with the Culverin.

"I like your thinking Lance, I'll see if I can have the arcanists cook up any gear for our Little Miss Lord while she's away, something… defensive, if she goes down, we all do." Noah nodded in assent.

"Sirs" Nythera interjected.

"I have one more… request I would like you to hear." Nythera said, waiting for approval. Noah nodded.

"I want a place where I can research and practice artillery manufacturing. I have skills for it, but I need a workshop." She said. Ollie nodded "Aye, it can be done." Felix and Noah nodded in assent.

"Now about our food situations…" Noah started explaining the intricacies of farming around Grandport and how crop yields and food security would work during war time. Nythera completely zoned out. Lance coughed twice in the middle of a conversation about port logistics.

"I think we should let the Little Miss Lord go home, she's exhausted and had no time to rest." Lance nodded at her. Nythera got up, bowed drearily, and walked out the door. It's time to go home. She stumbled through the dark streets, following the flows of flux to guide her footing.

"Rest Child, for the real conflict is yet to come." Talvik said. Weirdly enough, there appeared to be a silver line of flux emitting from Talvik down the road. She followed it. Well that's a nifty trick. Before long she was before a familiar building, the three chimneys puffing out the smell of chemicals and the vault door sealed tight. She ran up and hauled the door open.

"I'm tired, bye" She said and ran upstairs past Shelly and Edwin. As she lay down in bed, a knock resounded on her door.

"Nythera, just a moment please." Shelly's voice called.

"What is it…" she grumbled back in reply.

"Edwin made a tonic for you, I'll come in and just place it on your dresser, drink it if you want to." The door opened a crack and Shelly slipped in and put the tonic down then left. Nythera grabbed it and drank the entire thing in one gulp then dozed off on the spot. …. She awoke to rays of sunshine piercing her curtains. Nythera climbed down the stairs in a daze, shuffled to the table and dug into a plate of scrambled eggs.

"That was for… nevermind, you seem to have slept well, here have some tea." Edwin the surprisingly good cook said.

"Mmmm" she mumbled in response.

"Nythera… we need to talk, Lance stopped by and said you were undergoing a new training regime in a few days and would be going away for a bit." Edwin sat down at the table with her.

"I heard tales that you would be given a workshop once you returned, they are currently preparing it for you… specifically a workshop to design artillery and ammunition." Edwin added.

"Yeah, I asked in the council meeting for a place to make stuff, I got some skills I haven't leveled at all, and I want shells that do more than just destroy everything around them." Nythera replied.

"About that… I might have a means of helping you, have you ever considered merging your shells with the work of an alchemist?" Edwin inquired.

"No… I was only thinking about how much blasting powder to put in a shell. Are you saying you could make me potions to put in the shells?" Nythera asked.

"Yes, well not potions, but alchemicals are something that we can consider filling shells with, you could get some very interesting effects. Of course they are not free, but I could give a discount for a friend." Edwin explained.

"Thanks Edwin, I'll keep it in mind when I come back from the trip." Nythera answered.

"Nyth, come on! We got work to do!." Shelly shouted from upstairs. Nythera waved to Edwin and headed up.

"What do you need, Shelly?" Nythera asked, looking over Shelly's parchment-covered domain.

"Come on, Little Miss Lord." Shelly smirked, "We are going on a trip to the interior, so I need to get my apprentice up to snuff before we go. Your mapping skills are terrible."

"You better watch it, my cannon has way more fire power now, I couldn't be faulted for a misfire." Nythera shot back. Nythera spent the day mapmaking with Shelly, she retraced the island of Myrraval until her hands were sore. Cartographer Lvl 2 > 3 Cartography (lvl 5 > 6) Shelly had sketched a massive map focused on just the area around the Quartz dungeon, attempting to fill in the many gaps in her knowledge with guesswork.

"There is no way that is even close to correct. Why don't you wait till you go see it yourself?" Nythera asked.

"Because" Shelly sighed, "This is a great way to gather skill experience and there's always an off-chance a Ley-insight will trigger… maybe." Shelly explained.

"Come on, I thought you told me that only happens when you ascend your profession?" Nythera nudged Shelly with her elbow.

"Look, I heard from my mentor that it's possible to get some without it, ok? I'm just trying, no harm in that." Shelly grumbled back. Nythera looked over Shelly's map, many intricate guesswork attempts scattered the yet unknown cliffsides and rolling mountains, as if she was begging for a system-guided insight. Talvik squawked and motioned with his beak from his perch.

"What do you want, dumb bird." Nythera looked over by Talvik.

"Hey, Shelly what is this?" Nythera mumbled, transfixed by what she found on Shelly's map, right under Talvik's perch.

"What? I just drew the mountains how I thought they would look based on reports, it's not gonna be accurate." She stumbled her way over to Nythera. A landmark was perfectly drawn into the mountainside, with Aurendorian runes labeling it. Stone doors embedded in the mountainside.

"Aetherite Mines"