Kingdom Of The Weak

It was a Lightening Scroll. There were nine different Tiers of the same spell; the Tier 1 version reduced an object"s weight by a few kilograms, up to half its original weight, whichever was lesser. Therefore, if a stone weighed 100kg, the Tier 1 version would reduce it to 95-99 kg, depending on the scroll Inscriber"s and the scroll caster"s power. If used on a 2kg bag of flour, it would reduce the weight by half to 1kg.

The Tier 2 version would reduce weight by roughly 30kg (give or take up to 10kg) or half, whichever was lesser. While not entirely helpful with tons of logs, it enabled even children to cart level planks around by hand. Even considering how weak the scroll casters" powers were, anything below 50 kg would lose half its weight.

This was wind magic, like Charlie was trying to teach Remian and Mindy. He"d left behind a book for the basics, which Remian was of course likewise permitted to read. Still, the book itself only had a sample Inscribed Sigil of the Tier 1 version. It wasn"t until Remian studied the Lightening Rune on Joshu"s bow that he finally managed the Tier 2 version.

These days, Remian often Inscribed Lightening spells. The kids loved running around slapping these scrolls on just about anything and then lifting them up. Currently, their most popular target for testing these scrolls was Vigil…

But of course, they paid for the scrolls with points, and points had to be worked for. Consequently, most of them played around with only the Tier 1 versions. The Tier 2 versions were far too expensive. How expensive? Generally, the Guild treated the prices and prizes of different Tiers with a 10-times multiplication per difference. Buying the Tier 1 scroll cost 50 points; the Tier 2 version cost 500.

Actually, for the kids, 50 points was already a lot. 1 point could be traded for 3 meals worth of Tier 1 rations, which were mainly made from forage; shreds of Tier 1 meat, edible weeds and wild berries. 3 points could be traded for a meal"s worth of Tier 2 rations, which were cakes made out of cooked grain, Tier 2 meat, vegetables and fruit. 30 points could buy a whole Tier 3 meal, succulent meat cuts from Tier 3 Wilds marinated with honey, flavored with choice herbs, grilled to a nose-twitching deliciousness and served with garlic bread and wild mushroom soup…

It wasn"t too much to ask. 30 points was the average earnings of a single Tier 1 mission. Doing three of those in a day was relatively safe and easy. If they wanted, they could eat Tier 3 meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner just like that. Goodness knows, with all the dead Wilds from the last Beast Wave, they had more than enough Tier 3 meat…

But kids being kids, many of them would rather buy something they could play with for 50 points than a luxury meal for 30. The scroll would at least last several uses. The meal disappeared once you ate it.

Regardless of who bought them or what they were used for, Remian was making a fortune in points by Inscribing and contributing those scrolls. Actually, Mindy Inscribed most of the Tier 1 version scrolls. She could already cast the actual spell without scrolls, along with the Tier 1 Wind Blessing spell favored by archers.

Speaking of Wind Blessing, that was the other Scroll that Remian had been Inscribing these days. Joshu practically wiped out the entire stock at every given opportunity. Remian wondered if he should tell the guy that at next Beast Wave, he was planning to have the kids support the archers with those for free. Nah… better not. Besides, there were plenty of other things he could shoot at.

Remian wished he could learn and better yet, Inscribe the Tier 2 version. Charlie offered to buy that book for him (yes, a whole book for just one Tier 2 spell!) for 10,000 Lir. Charlie was such an opportunist!

At this point, he could do all sorts of Tier 1 Light, Fire and Wind magic. Most of them were near-useless, like forming rainbows in a basin or making candle flames dance and form shapes or literally just puffing wind about… but there were occasional useful spells like Light Orb, Smoke, Lightening, and Wind Blessing. These included the Tiny Flame which was good for candles, Gathering Light which magnified light, and Breeze, which they liked to use to cool themselves.

But Tier 2? Remian could do the Bonfire, the Light of Truth, and the Tier 2 Lightening. That was all. Did the Light Bolt and the Fire Stream count as spells? Or were they just modifications…? Remian wasn"t sure how he did those or how they worked, only that they did, before. He wasn"t even sure if he could do them again.

Charlie promised "something good" the next time he came by, for the price of 2000 Lir. He promised Remian it was worth the price, but it felt like he was really putting the squeeze on…

He was going to have to sell Tier 2 scrolls for Lir, now. A single Bonfire or Tier 2 Lightening Scroll took him a couple of hours to Inscribe, plus it was a lot more difficult. Remian could at most Inscribe three of those in a single day. This past week, all the Lightening Scrolls he"d made had already been contributed to the Guild and used for construction. Most of them had at least three casts, some even five, but all their power had been used up quickly. The cost made Remian grit his teeth, but in order for everyone to have time to train and rush both the tower and the farm with their limited manpower, he had gone all-out.

Now he was regretting the losses. Given that the airship would likely be back in a day or two, he"d only have a handful of Tier 2 scrolls ready for sale when it arrived. That would barely cover the cost of Charlie"s "something good". They"d also need farming equipment and weapons, but that should be bought by the Guild, not by himself. The Guild had a good chunk of funds from the sales of the Wilds parts, but their 25% of the airport construction costs drained their funds rapidly.

Buying Tier 3 weapons for everyone would cost thousands of Lir. Joshu"s bow alone cost 1000 with discounts. Sixteen kids and three ex-hunters still needed weapons. Where were they going to get 19,000 Lir?! Maybe they could opt for some non-runic versions of Tier 3 weapons. That should be cheaper, right? Did the Burning Steel Forge even make Tier 3 weapons without runes?

Otherwise, the majority of the Adventurers Guild would be near-useless by the next Beast Wave. Again.

"Maybe it"s not too late to build that Scorpion." Remian rubbed his forehead. "Or even the first floor and the Ballista."

They still had seven, maybe eight days before the next Beast Wave. The timing wasn"t too certain, but the attacks had been occurring roughly every two weeks for the last year, now. It had been that way since Shadowflash disappeared.

Maybe they could make a deal with the Burning Steel smiths? Maybe even steal a rune smith? That big bulky boss of theirs wasn"t the only smith in the forge. The bulky boss-man couldn"t do Lightening Runes. There was at least one other rune smith in there, the one who forged the Lightening Rune on Joshu"s bow. If he joined the Guild…

The possibilities were very alluring. Remian fantasized about having a whole bunch of people learn rune-crafting, about building a wall featuring ten Guard Towers filled with Ballistas and Scorpions Inscribed with Runes, selling heaps of runic weapons…

Except that was exactly what the Burning Steel forge already did. Would they tolerate somebody stealing a rune smith out from under their noses? Would they tolerate another seller taking away their customers and income?

Better not try. The Adventurers Guild was doing well so far, but the Burning Steel had been the strongest gang in Frontier Town Spoas for a long time now. Remian rolled back his ambitions all the way to simply making deals with Burning Steel. If he really wanted to gamble with them, he wouldn"t gamble with everyone"s lives; he"d just go to one of the gambling dens they"d taken over from the Blood Claw gang and gamble with lir.

Besides, it was fine to let them supply everyone"s weapons. They didn"t go overboard with their pricing, they held their own, and they didn"t cause any trouble. They weren"t like the Rose gang that attacked, killed and enslaved the Ravens, or like the Blood Claw that tried to do the same with Secret Waves and failed miserably. It was weird but come to think of it, they were fair. Their weapons might be a bit expensive, but they wouldn"t go around mugging people just for a few more coins.

With the Burning Steel on one side, the terribly weakened Secret Waves on the other, and the Iron Legion building an airport in between, Frontier Town found itself smack dab in an unprecedented era of peace. So long as they could keep Aunt Sara from raising another gang and starting another gang war, this peace might actually last.

Speaking of Aunt Sara… she had taken the brothel workers under her wing. Remian wondered how they were doing. Kage should know. He"d been watching out for them these days.

Meanwhile, George was making marvelous progress at the farm. For the price of all the barbecued meat they could eat every day, over the past week, the wolfcats had cleared enough s.p.a.ce for 100 trees, dragged hand-plows to completely prepare the crop-land, and were currently digging a large pond for Rainbow Jellyfish. Pretty soon, it would be time to bring over more of the Legion"s hydraulic mortar to finish the pond. After that, they simply had to make channels for water in from and out to the spring, fix up some fine steel mesh to prevent jellyfish from escaping and voila, they would be jellyfish-farmers.

Actually, come to think of it, they could very well do actual fish-farming. Most of the town"s fish supply came from the Secret Waves gang. Remian himself had seen how that old man caught fish in his open "well". Considering that the entire East Side was basically a jutting cliff, that "well" would lead straight down to the river below. While it was a pleasant way to just fish in the river from the comfort of one"s courtyard, the fish supply in town tended to be limited and thus, costly. But where else would they get fish? They would either need to brave the cliff and risk the ire of the Secret Waves gang, or travel 10km to the south through the wilderness. The dangers weren"t worth saving the price of buying a fish.

But they were going to need to raise their own fish now, if only to feed the jellyfish. They could either split the pond down the middle with steel mesh, or dig a second pond… they should discuss that.

Unlike Tim"s project, George"s project was not urgent. n.o.body would die if it took longer than expected.

Also, Mindy"s project should be just about done by now. Remian had seen her attach a man-sized basket to a canvas balloon last night. The whole thing looked too shabby to fly, but Mindy"s wind magic was improving day by day and Remian had no doubt that she would eventually get that thing flying.

After that, they would simply need to improve on her air balloon until it could carry cargo. Moving things around could become a whole lot easier if they could manage it.

As for Jane"s project… Remian hadn"t seen anything done about it. At all. It was almost like Jane had forgotten the whole thing entirely.