Lucius walked through the bustling farmhouse. Mary was still patching up the survivors from the goblin village. Some of them had terribly infected wounds from living in such a filthy environment. On the plus side, she had learned a new talent from dealing with all the injuries and was now capable of something called Blessing of the Healer. It was a kind of aura that supercharged the healing speed and immune systems of everyone under her care. It worked just by being near her, which Lucius thought was quite a lucky thing. He had felt the miraculous effects of the talent himself when Mary stitched up the wound on his back for him. The wound he received while fighting the goblins had still been quite fresh and painful, but once Mary started to work on it the pain quickly vanished, and in only a few minutes it had visibly begun healing.
Behind Mary in the kitchen he saw that a few older women had gone out to the well and brought in some water; they were now stoking a fire in the wood stove and washing vegetables to prepare food for everyone. Wherever he walked, people would stop what they were doing and come up to him, thanking him for what he had done or just making small talk. It was something that Lucius was not accustomed to in the slightest. Just a few days ago, these people would have walked past him in the street without looking twice. If they had looked twice, it would have been out of disgust or pity.
Walking out of the kitchen, Lucius headed out the back door and toward a small building that had smoke coming from the chimney and loud clanging noises echoing from inside. As he walked through the doorway, he saw Paul and Jack huddled around an anvil. There was a large forge in the corner, radiating tremendous heat.
"Lucius, Paul knows how to work with a forge! He's going to teach me—maybe we can make some real equipment," Jack said excitedly as he looked up from the glowing red metal that Paul was hammering into shape.
The older man, Paul, looked up from his work and waved, "We're going to make some proper spears first, enough for each person to have at least one! That way, everyone can help if we get attacked again," He said. "I won't ever let those bastards capture me again, I will die fighting next time."
Jack was nodding along to Paul's word, "Patrick even offered to draw inscriptions on them to improve the sharpness of the blades!" said Jack.
Lucius felt it was lucky that this farmhouse had so many useful things. The woodstove, well, and forge would go a long way in helping them survive, there was even a large supply of firewood and metal. Unfortunately, the fields had already been harvested, so they would need to start some crops of their own if they wanted to grow food. Lucius suspected that there might be some fruit orchards in the area that hadn't been picked clean, but he would need to go scouting to find them.
Lucius waved to Paul and Jack as he made his way toward the barn, where James, along with one of the younger girls named Sarah, was brushing the pink and white fur of the spiders. They had taken the saddles off the creatures and lined them up on the shelves at the side of the barn.
"Are you sure it's safe to spend so much time with these spiders? They still give me the creeps," Lucius said as he watched James and Sarah happily brush the large creatures.
"Yes, it's definitely safe!" James replied.
"And how exactly do you know that?" Lucius asked, doubtful.
"Because I got my first magical talent!" James exclaimed joyfully. The boy had been obsessed with the various magical abilities of his companions since the day the Abyss Creatures arrived. Lucius shared the boy's happiness at finally having a talent of his own.
"Is that so? Let me guess—it has something to do with these spiders?" Lucius asked inquisitively.
"Yep, I got a talent called Beast Tamer! As soon as I unlocked it, I felt connected to the spiders. It's like I can feel what they are feeling!" James said excitedly. "I can even make them do stuff. Look!" James waved his hand at the spider he was brushing, and the beast took off running, climbed up the wall, across the ceiling, and back down the other side completing the loop, it stopped in exactly the same position it had started from. "Cool huh?" James grinned as he resumed grooming the creature.
"Very cool. I guess I don't have to worry that these things are going to hurt anyone with you around," Lucius said, obvious relief in his voice. It had been something he worried about since they took the spiders. "Keep up the good work."
Lucius walked back into the farmhouse and moved up the stairs toward the study, where he found Patrick sitting at a desk with papers containing various inscriptions spread out around him. "Ah, Lucius! Come here." Patrick waved him in the moment he saw the young man in the doorway. "Take a look at this—tell me what you think," he said as he handed Lucius a piece of paper with an intricate Latin word inscribed on it.
The word was exorcismus, and Lucius could feel a strange magical power imbued in the item. "This feels different from most magical energy I've felt before. What does it do?" Lucius asked, curiosity clear on his face.
"I had the idea to create that inscription when you told me about the ghostly creature that the hobgoblin leader summoned, specifically how the turtle's attacks couldn't damage it. I believe a weapon imbued with this inscription will be able to harm such a creature. I intend to add the inscription to some of the spears that Paul and Jack are making," Patrick explained.
"That's a good idea. Can you add it to this dagger?" Lucius pulled the dagger from his boot and handed it to Patrick.
"Of course! I'll do it immediately," Patrick replied, accepting the dagger from Lucius.
Patrick began arranging his work area. He laid the dagger down on the desk in front of him before mixing a new batch of magical blood and ink. Lucius watched as Patrick dipped his pen in the concoction, then carefully started to draw the inscription on the knife. The familiar golden fireflies of magical light moved through the air toward the blade. This time, the lights were more numerous and moved faster than the last time Lucius had watched Patrick work; most likely a result of Patrick's ability growing stronger. The magical lights began to take on the mysterious energy of the inscription as they gathered around the small blade. Once it was completely covered in shining lights, Patrick finished his work. This time, instead of simply disappearing, the lights gathered together and sank into the inscription Patrick had drawn before releasing a bright flash. When Lucius picked up the dagger, he could see that the inscription wasn't just drawn on the blade—it had been deeply engraved into the metal, as if someone had used a chisel to carve it out.
"That's new..." Lucius commented as he examined Patrick's handiwork.
"Yes, as soon as my talent reached level 5, the inscriptions began to meld themselves into whatever material they are imbued on," Patrick explained.
"Thank you for this. It feels good to know I have a way to fight back if I ever come face-to-face with that monster again," Lucius said. "I've decided to make myself useful and go out scouting in the area around us. Let the others know I'm gone. I don't know how long I'll take; if things go smoothly, it shouldn't be more than a day or two," he added.
"Very well. I intended to organize the others into guard shifts, so someone is keeping watch at all times, I will take the opportunity to do that while you are away. It's something we should have done already," Patrick admitted with a stern expression.
Lucius tucked the upgraded dagger into his boot and waved to Patrick as he left, heading back down the stairs. He moved to where he'd left his things and began gathering supplies for his mission. He strapped on his sheath and sword and stuffed a few meals' worth of food in his backpack, leaving it mostly empty since he intended to forage for supplies while he was out. He passed Mary on his way to the door, telling her what he'd told Patrick. The busy woman nodded along to his words before quickly waving goodbye and returning to cleaning the wounded leg of the young woman in front of her.
Lucius stepped out the front door of the farmhouse and looked around, trying to decide which direction to go. There was a tall grain silo at the edge of the farm that would offer a good view of the surrounding area, so Lucius made his way up the tall building. Looking out, Lucius could see various farmhouses like the one they'd chosen, as well as a pack of Abyss creatures roaming the countryside. The pack contained pig-like creatures that didn't look too dangerous; they were larger than humans but not nearly as big as the giant turtle creature he had slain.
"That's weird..." His attention was quickly drawn to a strange sight that Lucius could not identify. Off in the distance was something that should not exist—it appeared like a puddle of water was floating in the middle of a field, it rippled and swirled in a large circle as it floated in the same spot. As Lucius watched the bizarre anomaly with intrigue, he saw a large snake, like the one he had seen in the barn the previous night, slither out of it. "its a portal?" he guess as his deduction was quickly confirmed by the system.
Dimensional anomaly detected! Warning! Increasingly powerful Abyss Creatures will descend into your world from unsealed anomalies!