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<Unable to Identify>

The giant was one hundred feet tall with massive stony arms and thick legs that ended with wide and round feet. Two long and curved ivory tusks thrusted out from the sides of his jaw, each as thick as tree trunks.

He had big floppy ears like an elephant. And he even had a prehensile tail that snapped about with a thunderous whip crack that could smash stone. Most of his stony body was covered in moss, short shrubbery, and other plant growth. He was an immense and intimidating thing to face, but at the very least, he was of neutral alignment.

The giant turned his gaze to Zarian, who floated in front of his face. The eyes were gray and held a spark of intelligence. Zarian wanted to assume that the giant was a male, but he could be wrong. Maybe giant anatomy worked differently at their immense sizes.

“I had a nice home!” The giant pointed at the massive crater behind him where Zarian’s enchanted super dark javelin had landed. “Then I woke up, and it was gone! Something destroyed my home!”

Zarian nodded along with a frown. He even gripped his chin with one hand and removed his hat with the other, placing it against his chest. He let the sunset light touch his face even if it bothered him a smidge. He wanted the giant to see that he was taking this unfortunate situation seriously.

“I’m sorry that happened to you. Whoever did this must’ve been a horrible, horrible person! In fact, I hate that person! I hope we can teach that person a lesson!” Zarian claimed.

“Yeah!” roared the giant, whose voice was louder than jet engines. It was so loud that Zarian struggled to keep from wincing or covering his ears. The giant kept yelling. “I want to meet the person who did this. I’ll turn their bones to dust. I’ll stomp on them again and again. I’ll make sure that horrible person pays!”

The stone giant heaved a heavy and stormy breath that nearly blew Zarian back. This creature was unfathomably powerful and even Zarian had his doubts of wanting to face the giant head on. After all, the giant survived his home being obliterated by one of Zarian’s strongest attacks.

There’s always a bigger fish.

“You know, I think I have a solution,” Zarian said, glancing down at Bianca.

She was tipping her feathery wizard hat down and hiding her face. The way her body kept shuddering, with her shoulders pinched together, almost made it seem like she was laughing.

Worse yet, the others were tapping into various spiders or into Zarian’s head to observe things up close. He could sense them all having a laugh through the network.

Laugh now, but watch me work my evil magic.

“You have a soul potion? I don’t need a soul potion,” the giant said.

“No, no, not soul potion, a solution. I have a way to fix your problem.”

Zarian added more thrust to the dark jets shooting from his feet and rose above the giant’s head. The Parasite Cloak fanned out wide with spines along the edges, making Zarian look both scary and majestic as he faced the setting suns.

“How?” asked the giant.

“Well, I’m an adventurer. And so are my friends. How about we fix your home? And if you want to pay us back and get your revenge, you can come with us for a short while.”

“Adventurers? Fix home? Pay back with revenge? I’m confused. Explain more.”

“You know what adventurers are, yes?”

“Well, yes. Adventurers always want to kill me. So I squash them and sprinkle their bones across the earth to make the plants grow.”

“Oh. Erm.” Zarian paused to think before finding a brilliant response. “You’ve met the bad adventurers. We’re the good adventurers, which has nothing to do with alignments. We’re just plain better.”

Bianca turned away completely and crouched down. Her body continued to shudder like she was trying not to break out into howling laughter. Somewhere in the distance, Gilbert was laughing like a loon.

“I hate bad adventurers!” roared the giant.

“Exactly, I do, too! So let me show you what good adventurers, regardless of alignments, can do for you. Then you can pay us back and get your revenge.”

“How do I pay you back and get my revenge?”

“It’s quite easy. The reason your home is destroyed … is because of the wolf dragons!”

“The wolf dragons?”

“Yes! The wolf dragons! They’re the ones to blame!”

“Grr!” The giant stomped his foot and rocked the earth. The impact was so heavy, Bianca was tossed off her feet. “I hate dragons! Now I hate the wolf dragons even more!”

“Exactly. We have a job to take care of the wolf dragons. But it doesn’t stop there.”

“It doesn’t?”

“No, my friend, no. The plot goes deeper. Don’t you know the Grimrock Warlock made an unfair rule. Such a rule that affects you, and is super unfair. Do you know what that rule is, my friend?”

The giant blinked slowly. “What did the Grimrock Warlock do?”

Zarian waited to add to the suspense before answering. “The Grimrock Warlock made a rule that giants can’t have nice homes! So the Grimrock Warlock sent the wolf dragons to destroy your home while you were asleep! It’s all their fault!”

“Grr!” The giant snarled and threw an overly large tantrum.

He stomped his heavy and wide feet, shaking up the earth beneath him. He waved his massive arms with so much power he conjured gale force winds.

Zarian could feel the Strength of the giant through his sheer movement. Zarian knew right away he wouldn’t want to get punched by this guy. At least not at his current level.

Then the giant calmed down and heaved a heavy breath. “Will you help me? Can you build me a new home? Take me to the wolf dragons? And then take me to see the Grimrock Warlock?”

“Wow, that’s asking for a lot.” Zarian sighed dramatically, playing as if the giant’s requests were a burden. “You really need a lot of help, huh?”

The giant smashed his hands together with so much force Zarian and Para had to course correct their hover. They kept their altitude above the giant’s head as the massive creature pleaded and shook his combined hands.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Oh, please help me! You’re the only good adventurer I got! I need a new home. And I need to teach the wolf dragons and the Grimrock Warlock a lesson! Giants deserve to have homes while we sleep!”

“You know what? I’m convinced! You’re right! Giants do deserve to have homes! Alright, pal, we’ll help you. My name’s Lord Zarian Darkrun. The girl at your feet is Princess Bianca Garcia. My friends are also lords and ladies, and one of them, Lady Hannah Townhouse, can fix you up with a new home in a jiffy.”

“Hooray! The good adventurers will help me!”

“Regardless of alignments,” Zarian added as the giant cheered and pumped his massive, stony fists into the air.

Moments later, Zarian and Bianca reunited with Naomi, Gilbert, Hannah, and Loner. The lead skeleton included himself in the huddle while the other skeletons kept watch around the caravan.

The caravan of humans were setting up camp for the night, with the soldiers sleeping on the ground and the acolytes sleeping in the wagons. It wouldn’t stay like that for long, especially once the new day arrived, but for tonight, Zarian let the acolytes have things easy.

More importantly, he had a big new friend to keep satisfied.

“So, Hannah,” Zarian said.

“You’re really pushing it,” Hannah replied with a small smirk.

“Is that the power of evil? Just hoodwinking a big poor fella? That’s just plain terrible, chief.” Gilbert shook his head while having another hearty chuckle. “I think I’m following the biggest trouble-making con man I’ve ever met.”

It was not yet time to throw the controversial witch sleepover at Gilbert, so Zarian smiled tightly and let Gilbert live unashamed for now. Instead, Zarian glanced over at Naomi. She was eyeing the distant giant fiercely.

“His name’s Stony, by the way,” Zarian said.

“Is he strong?” Naomi asked.

“Strong enough that I don’t want to fight him as I am now,” Zarian admitted.

“Mm, okay.” She still kept squinting at Stony, sizing the giant up, before looking away with a huff.

“So, we’re the GOOD adventurers, guys,” Bianca said with squeaky cheer. “And as the GOOD adventurers, we’re going to help our new friend and take him along for some of our next adventures. Won’t it be great? It has to be, since we’re all the GOOD adventurers!”

Bianca turned her beaming smile to Zarian.

The Madness Wizard pretended not to see it as he watched Hannah pull out a journal. She used a stencil to scribble quickly on two blank pages. In a minute’s time, she finished her sketch and showed everyone her draft.

“Oh, I didn’t think we’re in the business of giving giants the five-star hotel special.” Gilbert shifted from side-to-side, his hands on his hips. “When are we getting the same special treatment?”

“There is no special treatment. It’s mainly a stone dwelling with no furnishing,” Hannah explained. “I just figured if I’m going to do some construction, I might as well go all the way. In fact, I’ve just received a side quest, a rare one, too. I’ll get some good levels out of this for myself and for my cube maker skill.”

“Do you need any major help?” Zarian asked.

“Bianca’s ability to create hard light would be nice, since we’ll be working in the dark. I’m sorry if that’ll be a drain on you, Bianca.”

“That’s okay. It’ll be good practice to make light with my aura,” Bianca said.

“Is Stony safe to be around?” Naomi asked.

“He’s cool. Be nice. If you guys want to hang out and do some constructing, go for it. I’ll stay in camp and keep watch while studying my grimoires,” Zarian said.

“You know what? I’m going to take you up on that offer. It’s about time we do something a little different from the usual murdersome affair.” Gilbert sounded excited about the project and looked over Hannah’s sketch again. The others seemed just as enthusiastic.

“You think the giant will let me test my Strength on him?” Naomi asked.

“If you ask nicely. And do it safely,” Bianca said.

“I’m game.”

Zarian waved them off. “Go on, you reckless kids. Have fun building a castle for a giant in the dark. Oh, and don’t get crushed under step.”

They joked around for a little while longer before finally departing to build a castle for a giant. Hannah left the dungeon core in Para’s tendrils. Loner nodded before going back to patrol around the caravan and hold guard like the other skeletons.

Watching his party go, Zarian found it incredible that they had the right variation of classes to solve unique situations.

He could hardly believe he talked a giant into coming along on their adventure. They probably didn’t need Stony against the wolf dragons … but for the invasion of Castle Grimrock, who knew.

Thankfully, there was no stat for intellect. Only the Wonder stat provided some wisdom, but it was clear to Zarian that the giant focused mainly on Strength. Or maybe he didn’t have many options but to invest in Strength.

Could it be that as he grows the System would invest points into Stony’s Strength regardless of anything else?

That would make sense, which would mean certain creatures would have more or fewer points in various stats than others depending on their racial features. They would also have unique traits of their own, most likely. Hell, certain creatures might not even have free points.

“I should dig into a bestiary or something,” Zarian said. “But later. Tonight, I will study my grimoires while everyone else goofs off.”

Was Zarian a little sad that he couldn’t help make a giant home after he destroyed the first?

Yes.

There was a price to be paid for being a wizard. He needed some alone time to study while the others had fun doing something unique. At the very least, he could pat himself on the back for diverting disaster and setting up a more positive outcome.

Zarian picked a grassy spot near a wagon holding the youngest of acolytes. Coincidently, a group of the youngest soldiers was camping around a fire next to that wagon.

Para shapeshifted into a throne of bone spines and jagged teeth. He slouched back with his chin propped by his fist, the elbow on the armrest, while placing the ankle of one leg on his knee.

The acolytes and soldiers fell silent in his presence. They watched him like curious kittens and pups, many of which were too scared or shy to say anything. Then one girl clambered out of her wagon and walked over daintily.

Zarian recognized her. “Hey, Amabel, may I use Identify?”

“Go ahead, milord.”

<Amabel Quincey, Human, Level 6.>

“Well, look at that. You’re three levels higher than the first time I’ve seen you.” Zarian chuckled.

“It’s been quite the occasion these past few weeks. I’ve even had a side quest like other acolytes where we must do our best to pack up and be in a hurry.”

“The Star System is pretty useful when it doles out its side quests.”

“It is a blessing. And so are you and the others of your party, milord. Your presence has brought a whirlwind of change for us, and now we may achieve our classes much earlier than expected.”

Amabel sounded happy, though with a little restraint. Zarian waited to see if she had more to say, and indeed she did.

“Though, I must wonder what will you have us do that’ll make us more … prepared for life outside of the wall.” Amabel looked around queasily. “It’s so dark here. And when it’s not quiet, it can get loud and scary. I can’t believe there’s an entire giant all the way over there, and you’ve talked to it!”

Amabel pointed in the direction where Stony and Zarian’s party were making a house fit for a giant. Amabel’s mouth opened and closed, as if she could hardly still believe what was happening.

Then she found her wits about her and continued speaking her piece. “Milord, I don’t think I can ever be as incredible as you or Princess Bianca or Lady Naomi. I’m but a mere woman, no longer a flower to be picked, regardless of any paper saying I’m a noble. I don’t know if I’m fit for this.”

“You probably aren’t. But I’ll like to help you achieve some personal power so you have a fighting chance. You’re too much of a child as you are now. And it’s the job of an adult to guide children.”

“But I’ve been told I’m of age the moment I bled.”

“That may be so before leaving the wall. Now you get to have a soft reset. You’ll see tomorrow morning. By the time this week ends, you’ll curse my name along with the others. Maybe Lady Naomi’s more so.”

Amabel stumbled back in shock. “I’ll never!”

“Go on to bed. You’ll need the rest.”

Amabel did as she was told and left Zarian on his throne. He waited to see if anybody else wanted to come up and talk. He had expected Roland would, but the young man was keeping to his own counsel.

Zarian checked the perimeter through his Spectral Spider Network before he devoted part of his attention to studying. In his hands, he held the Grimoire of the Mad Voidling Exile, its metallic pages turned to the second spell, which would’ve been a mind-melting read.

The instructions and study material of the voidling grimoire weren’t based on grounded math and science. No, it wanted to bring Zarian deeper into non-euclidean dimensions and unwieldy theories of the void and what might exist and not exist at the same time.

Even with Lore Eater, the information Zarian had to ingest was almost off-putting, as it included the ramblings of a mad man who was once a prince before getting exiled and having to survive on his own until he found comrades. But in the void, the most important aspect wasn’t just being able to traverse, but being able to have dominion.

By the time a new morning arrived, Zarian achieved success in learning the next spell in the Grimoire of the Mad Voidling Exile. It wasn’t exactly something to get excited over, but at least it was a new step toward void wizardry.

<Void Authority (Epic): Cast this to override the authority of the void over another void caster or to reinforce your authority. Scales with Wonder.>