Soul Knight - Stubbing Book 2 9/7 Read NOW or lose it!

Fang whimpered as Nick brushed her tail’s fur, giving the girl sitting askew on his lap the after care she needed. He just had some sexy time first thing with Fang and Luna so they were just in their cute silk nightwear–panties and camisoles–but now it was nearly time for him to leave.

A few more days had passed since he found his Concept, and it was the day of their departure to Silverbrook.

She sighed, her eyes giving Nick wide, puppy-dog eyes. “I wanted to go too…”

Nick chuckled. “Nobody’s stopping you from going, except for you. I know I’m going to miss having my little buff fluff in Silverbrook.”

“I-I know. But Luna and the wolflings all need my help. Since you’ll be gone for up to a month, it’s important we train up all the monsterfolk. So they can become more, like us!”

Luna nodded, hugging the girl from the side and scratching her ears. “I’m sorry, Fang. It’s me that wanted to take care of the tribes. At least Jasmine will be with us for a while, too.”

Nick’s ladies planned on running various groups through the Path of Kings while Nick was gone. Lothar and Agatha would also lead groups, their levels limited for entry, and then Fang and Luna would do the same. Four groups in the first stratum could enter each week, and the further they could get inside, the faster they would grow.

The Ordeal’s difficulty had been decreased by them making tweaks, but that didn’t mean that it would be easy. There was also the Samurai Ordeal, which allowed a similar number of maximum climbers. The Samurai Ordeal was a lot more flexible, in that its total of forty climbers could enter as small groups or as a solo warrior with one supporter.

The Path of Kings would only allow four groups, for a maximum of forty climbers. This meant it was best to utilize the maximum party size whenever possible. It was also important to climb all the stratums as much as possible, in order to appease Orion.

If people weren’t consistently Testing themselves to become more, a Tribulation would come, and those would be a lot riskier and deadly.

“I appreciate you girls putting in the efforts to help my subordinates and hold down the fort here, and I’m proud of you for making this choice on your own. I need Sable for moving around in secret, or I bet she’d stay with you too.”

Fang beamed at his praise, and Sable stretched on the bed, her body covered by blankets now that Nick had left their cuddle pile. “I’ll help keep the Boss safe, along with Kaya. If Winny didn’t want to help shop and make deals for Frosthaven, she might have stayed, too.”

Eirwen was packing more clothes into her satchel, neatly folding items into it from the closet. “You’re right, I could benefit from spending some more time with Agatha, but I have plenty of things to practice while we’re away.”

She gave a pleased sigh as she placed another stack of clothes inside. “My new trait expands the spatial items I’m using, and it sure is nifty! In Silverbrook, I’ll make sure Hubby gets the best prices for things, and help organize the settlers–though I’m sure Becca and Marissa will help a lot in that.”

The two nuns were actually quite the merchants and organizers, Nick had learned. When the Bishop put a priority on earning more funds, justifying it as commerce being important for civilization, the two had actually been involved with much of the financial decisions for the city itself. It was in conjunction with the councillor–their Ordained Mayor–but he couldn’t do all the work himself, and for the trip, he would stay back in Frosthaven.

Nick planned to bring much of his treasury’s funds with him, minus what was necessary to pay the blood price of the bandits killed between Silverbrook and Shadowvale–just in case the merchant showed up.

He would procure–with the intent to later free–slaves, materials for crafting, and even more carriages and the like for transportation.

Frosthaven needed plenty of laborers to be transformed in a short period, and so he would entice settlers with no taxes for a period, and favorable pay.

He would go so far as making sure his offers were just short of sounding too good to be true. The rumors about Blackthorne owning his city would likely accomplish this to an extent, but even Shadowvale had numerous takers.

It turned out that despite the bandit lord indirectly owning it, the man had intentionally made it difficult for settlers to arrive there.

It was as if he were deliberately making things worse for Silverbrook. Nick wouldn’t be surprised if after he learned about Nick bringing so many people to Frosthaven, he would somehow discourage Nick–he was surprised he hadn’t already.

Perhaps if Nick only had the single Ordeal, increasing his number of residents by a number high enough to matter wouldn’t be a normal goal. After all, Zura and Nagduros both were much smaller communities, and the reason was in part due to essence density. Blackthorne would probably flip his lid when he learned Nick’s goal was to increase his residents by more than a thousand.

Among Nick’s goals in Silverbrook, meeting with merchants to get regular caravans heading his way was perhaps the most important of all. Silverbrook had roads leading to it from the Core Kingdoms, which Blackthorne’s bandits raided, making it less attractive for trade. But Nick had Lothar’s Raiders, which could heavily discourage bandits on the path, and also escort merchants that paid the price–either in duels or funds.

The biggest aspect that made Silverbrook the trading hub of the north was that it had an outlet to the ocean.

Boats could travel through a river, and eventually along the coasts, to arrive at cities to the East and South with relative safety.

Nick continued pampering Fang, the girl depressed with her ears flat on her head. She now sniffed all over his body and rubbed up against him, as if to bury herself in his scent.

He chuckled at her antics. “I’ll make sure to meet you two in a dream when I can, I promise. Then I’ll reward you for all the hard work you’ve been doing for me.”

Fang’s ears picked up, and her tail started to wag out of his grasp. “Oh yeah! That means you can visit nearly every night, right?”

Nick shook his head. “I’ll do my best. We’re going to be active at night sometimes, and I have other things I need to do in my dreams–training and pacts.” He had gotten a few more pacts created the previous nights, but he was still going for the low-hanging fruit for now.

The priests and bandits that had remorse for their actions were easier much easier to convince, and he was running out of them.

People like Brutus and Davon absolutely wouldn’t have much remorse for what they did, and Nick had the most to gain from them. They not only had the most darkness in their souls, but they also were much stronger. He had a plan for them too, but he wanted to be at his best when he confronted them.

Luna cleared her throat, and then pushed into Fang with her body, shoving her nearly out of his lap. “Aren’t you being a bit greedy? I’d like a bit of time with our mate too–they all need to get ready to go shortly.”

“O-Oh. I’m sorry, pack sister! Y-You’re right.” She stood up, her tail wagging as she psyched herself up. “Alright! I’m going to work hard, and train up our tribe!” Fang kissed Nick quickly before she bounded away, getting dressed and ready for the day.

Nick started brushing Luna’s tail, her sitting askew in his lap. She too made sure to engulf herself in his scent as he did so, sniffing and kissing his chest.

He knew this girl loved the rewards and tail brushing just as much as Fang, but was simply more patient and giving. Both Luna and Sable were happy to see Fang receive his affection, the hyperactive girl always eager for attention.

Nick made sure she got his loving attention, before Jasmine helped him get ready in his equipment, which included the finished robes–lovingly crafted by her. They were still his dark blue color with black trims, formal martial robes that were fit for a king. But now, the essence flowed through them better than ever.

She had made him the pants before, but now she completed the outfit, and they were styled and dyed.

The majority of the nuns and orcs on bikes had already left early yesterday, and Nick and his family would be riding on his special vehicle today.

Their plan was to actually go in three waves, both there and back. Nick’s people with their motorized carriages would arrive first, followed by those involved in the pilgrimage on bikes.

Nick’s group should pass those on bikes before arriving, and they’d both start the recruitment and compassion drive after setting up shop. Last would be the transport group. Each would have armed escorts, though they were pretty confident the forests were clear of the larger bands of roaming bandits for the moment.

They had their breakfast, and Nick couldn’t hold back his own excitement as they walked out the doors of their sanctum.

“Alright. Let’s go see what Lumos whipped up for us.”

***

Nick’s family and Rebecca arrived at the meetup point, which was near the Eastern gate. The three vehicles sat in a row, and the girls looked at them with excitement, and Lumos waved at them as they approached.

The vehicle was not at all what he had expected, and neither were the other two motorized carriages. They looked a lot like one of the larger, expensive golf carts or utility vehicles people might own.

Nick’s had three rows of seats with a fourth facing backwards, allowing him to pretty much bring all his wives along if he needed to.

Jasmine would take some special consideration, but that was a difficult problem to worry about.

The other two vehicles had trailers hooked up to them and were a little thicker, which would allow them to tow a significant number of goods. There was even a short seat on the roof of them, which would allow for a scout to have a better view with their Overwatch skill, and an ability to respond to threats with their bow.

For now, it appeared that the trailers were filled with just a few items, what looked like tents and some wood for a few small constructions where they set up their pilgrimage.

Nick arrived near Lumos, a little awed by what she had created. “What’s this, Lumos? It looks cool, but I thought we were going with the motorcycle or tricycle.”

“I know, Master, but then you brought me such good materials! I figured it was better to make three vehicles and make sure you had enough space for all your wives. This should make for a much more comfortable ride!”

“You made three of the special motors? How?”

“There were a few cores from the drakes slain for being able to generate heat. Then, you provided the cores perfect for coolant. It runs on a similar concept to the steam engine, just without coal. I used the Alpha Drake’s Core for Jasmine’s Nexus Core.”

Nick was impressed as he looked them over. He even noticed seat belts and several normal features he’d expect from cars on earth. “How fast can these things go?”

Lumos beamed. “Almost as fast as you can power the motor! But I think with the roads being what they are, and the draw on your mana, averaging around forty miles per hour is about the best you can expect even if you take turns driving. But in a pinch, as fast as a hundred should work. I would…advise against going that fast, though. Not every component can handle that sort of stress, and the roads are not good enough for that.”

They spent some time going over the maintenance and fuel, and how to handle problems when they came up. Overall, driving the vehicle would be little different from driving a car, or even a golf cart on Earth.

There was no gas pedal, speed was managed by merely supplying his mana through his hand into the steering wheel, and there was a foot pedal for the brake. It also had levers for most of the toggles such as the headlights and windshield wiper, much like he’d expect.

The transmission was automatic, only having a park, reverse, and drive functions on a lever on the steering wheel. In all, it would be an easy transition for him to learn to drive it.

Eirwen was handed various spare parts in the case of a problem, but Lumos assured them that the vehicle was reliable.

“This design is common on other shards, and you provided excellent materials. I’m confident in this.”

Nick narrowed his eyes on Lumos, suddenly, he felt way too weird about how useful this automaton was. “You are amazing, Lumos. How is it that nobody else on this shard has cars? Are there no XG-21’s besides you on this shard?”

“Nope! I am a one of a kind here. Why, bringing me to a frontier shard is prohibitively expensive!”

Nick arched his brow. “More than a forever five thousand gold a year fee? Why’s that?”

Lumos put a hand on her hip, and wagged her finger at him. “Bringing stuff here doesn’t cost merely gold. When a Frontier Shard is formed, Orion wants a level playing field to earn ownership over it–it’s part of how we can Test ourselves and become more. People can choose to be reborn and start over from scratch, in order to compete–in addition to paying a price. Every person, item and piece of knowledge has a cost in both essence and coin, as they give an unfair advantage. The cost even increases as a faction brings more and more people here.”

Rebecca frowned. “I know some of this, as many of these details are outlined in the different Path books. But why is that? Why would they choose rebirth over climbing higher in an Ordeal?”

Lumos answered, “When it comes down to it, the essence on every shard is limited. There can only be so many Ordeals. So many slots to Test one’s self in them. As the population grows and dominant families like Nick’s get entrenched, essence thins and, more often than not, favoritism and nepotism completely takes over. Eventually, there is no opportunity for most people to become more, and become an immortal, unless you are favored by one of these families. A shard can only grow so much.”

Nick thought this touched on a lot of what Lothar was feeling when he had left his family and started his raiders, conquering Nagduros. This shard had stagnated since the Path of Kings hadn’t been claimed, and because nobody could defeat his father and establish the Open Relay.

Things would be even worse with immortals ruling and handing down slots to their children, the rest just fighting over scraps of essence outside of the Ordeals in comparison. If those families didn’t progress higher in the Ordeals as the population increased, it meant the essence would thin or stagnate.

“I see. So becoming an immortal is some kind of special milestone that levels the playing field somehow? And allows others to come to this shard and compete for the established Ordeals in some way.”

“Yeah. Because immortals–” Lumos froze mid-sentence, and tilted her head. “Huh, that’s weird. It’s like I don’t know why, but I should.”

When Lumos didn’t continue, Eirwen said, “You mentioned the cost to come to a shard was based on a number of factors, and your knowledge seems quite extensive, and valuable. With your knowledge, you could easily get a major foothold on the economy of the entire shard here.”

“Yup! Why, someone could almost send an entire army instead of me, and attempt to claim this shard that way instead!”

“And Orion would let that happen?”

“It would if they paid the price! After all, it costs essence to form a new shard! It’s kind of Orion’s way of having Ordeal Owners pay for its own expansion.”

Nick frowned as he thought of the implications. Just how did the Bishop get something as special as Lumos, and at such a cheap price? Worried about the possible…collection agents, Nick had already paid the 5,000 Gold fee for the year. With what he just learned, he’d have paid more than double with a smile. Lumos was so powerful that Nick could more or less print gold.

Still, Nick wanted to know more about what brought Lumos here. “And the Bishop had special ordered you?”

“Mmm… I’m not privy to how I was obtained, but I do know that the bottled Concept and the artifact from Seraphara were special ordered by Brutus and Samuel, after I outlined what was required. How they got them into this shard is unknown. As powerful as Darkrock is, I don’t know if they really deal with things stolen from a goddess! As cold-hearted as they might seem, they are just merchants who want to make money. Angering a goddess is not good for the bottom line!”

Nick’s blood ran cold. That more or less meant that they had powerful backers outside the shard, people who invested heavily in the Bishop’s success, even risking the ire of a powerful goddess. Someone wanted to claim this Frontier Shard, and they paid heavily for these plots.

Looking at Eirwen and Rebecca who had grown quiet, it seemed they had put these details together as well.

That topic finished, Nick looked back at the cars again. He asked, “So these kinds of cars are common on other shards, huh?”

Lumos nodded. “They are, but flight is often the most common choice for travel. That or teleportation among those in the higher stratum.”

Nick was shocked. “Flight? Why didn’t you just build planes then? Seems like you ought to be able to do it.”

Lumos chuckled. “It’ll take me a bit of time, and I could use some additional resources. What you might not know, is that Orion has turbulent winds laced with dangerous essence higher in the sky. It takes sturdy materials and a decently powerful aura to protect the aircraft. I suppose your Frost Aura would help, but the people of Orion favor large airships over fragile winged aircraft, and for good reason.”

“It sounds like that’s a ways off then. Alright, thanks for your help, Lumos. If you ever need anything, please let me know–and I’ll make sure to make it happen.”

“As long as you keep developing your technology and focusing on allowing the professions to thrive, I am happy, Master! I am excited to see your special crafting rooms in your Heritage, so please get those as soon as you can! And Winny, there’s a catalog of marked important goods for me and the crafters in there.” Lumos pointed over to the spatial sack, where she had provided the spare parts and tools for emergencies, and went over to help the others.

Some orc warriors and scouts loaded up on the vehicles, and got used to the controls. Overall, driving the vehicle was not all that complicated. With their cars being the only ones on the roads, there was little to be worried about as long as they went slow.

Jasmine had helped them get loaded up, and now she looked at Nick with a smile. “I guess this is goodbye for now, Master. I intend to catch up to you in a week or two, once I’m ready, and consumed this.” She retrieved a small wooden box from the pouch in her chest, revealing the bottled Concept.

It was certainly a Concept related to light, as the energy was bright even with the sun high in the sky. But Nick could tell it was different from Jasmine. Most likely, she would merely use the light energy to fuel building up the essence of her own Concept, rather than skewing herself toward whatever was contained within.

Since she had already established her Concept, it was a part of her very own soul. However, she needed to build up the essence within her cores to spark it into existence once more, and that was a problem in her current body.

Jasmine beamed down at it. “This is a wonderful shortcut! Lumos is going to help prepare the Nexus Core in the Enlightenment Chamber, and I am going to…prepare myself, for it. We got really lucky with those dumb bandits!”

They really did, but on some level he understood. Wherever it came from, whether an Ordeal, Trial, or some merchant they robbed…they would not have many people compatible with such a Concept.

Among the people in Shadowvale, and likely many of Blackthorne’s allies, it was a polar opposite of their power, and it made sense to Nick that they would not have consumed it, and held it as a bargaining chip.

Not only that, but now that he knew she was using a Nexus Core like Brutus had, it made even more sense. It was a significant financial investment to even accomplish it–something like the Alpha Drake’s Core did not grow on trees.

He motioned for Jasmine to come down for a hug and a kiss, sharing his warmth and love with her before they left as he was engulfed in her large chest.

Jasmine gave a happy sigh. “I know Winny will take good care of you, but just think really hard that you want me with you, and I’ll come running!”

Nick knew that when she tried real hard, she could probably catch up rather quickly through the forest. He looked up at her, “You know I would like you by my side, but I’m glad you have some goals of your own. You’ll be helping with the monsterfolk too, right?”

“You bet! I’ll help run some more beetlefolk. They have a lot of trouble with the first floor in particular, and they don’t communicate as well with the orcs as the kobolds, snakefolk, and wolflings. I can handle helping them a bit better than Fang and Luna can.”

Luna and Fang bounded into him, and said their goodbyes. With promises that if they did a great job training their brethren, he would give them all the head pats and belly rubs they wanted, they dashed off to the Training Grounds with fierce determination.

The party loaded up and entered the vehicle. Nick sat in the driver’s seat, but would probably be taking turns with the girls. Winny sat in the passenger seat, with Kaya, Rebecca, and Sable in the middle row.

They took off out of the city at a decent pace, only a few people noticing the odd vehicles. The motor let out a quiet hum, and only bounced lightly as it drove down the dirt and gravel path. The orcs placed themselves a distance in front of and behind Nick’s party, the scouting women using their skills as they sat on top in a watch position.

Overall, Nick was impressed with how the odd vehicles were designed. Even if not very aerodynamic, they worked well as a troop transport in a dangerous environment.

Rebecca noted, “The ride is not as bumpy, and much more comfortable than I imagined. These wheels and that suspension you talked about work much better than the carriages we’re used to.”

“Who wants to drive next? I don’t need to take a break for quite a while at the orc’s pace, but you might enjoy it.”

Kaya gasped. “Oh, me! I wanna try it! Ever since that motorcycle ride, I’ve wanted to.”

“Alright. When the orcs switch in an hour or so, we’ll switch out. Make sure you watch what I’m doing.”

Kaya nodded with a smile, the girl’s hair whipping through the air as they drove down the trail as Nick started describing the different controls. It would be a day and a half or so, but their first family road trip was underway.