by A F Kay
.
.
.
You have been struck by a Rod Spider (Level 1)
Pacifist’s Cloak shield has triggered!
You have taken 30 damage (((10 strike)+(5 leap))*2(back attack))
Pacifist’s Cloak shield absorbs 30 damage (70 HP remaining)
You have been struck by a Rod Spider (Level 1)
You have taken 36 damage (((15 strike)+(3 leap))*2(back attack))
Pacifist’s Cloak shield absorbs 36 damage (34 HP remaining)
You have been bitten by a Rod Spider (Level 1)
You have taken 15 damage
Pacifist’s Cloak shield absorbs 15 damage (19 HP remaining)
.
.
.
He stared at the log entries for a few seconds and then closed it. If he hadn’t taken that cloak, he’d be dead right now. He had also learned another lesson: don’t turn your back on anything that wants to kill you. Those Rod Spiders had doubled their damage because they had attacked him from behind. He needed to be more careful. Now he understood why people didn’t adventure or clear dungeons to level. The risk of dying was too high. Unfortunately, he didn’t have a choice.
He opened the notifications he’d ignored for the last hour.
Shing!
You have learned a new skill!
Skill: Dagger
Level: 1
Effect: Increase damage by 0.5%.
Another weapon skill. Ruwen needed to level these as fast as he could. He opened the next notification.
Shing!
You have advanced a skill!
Skill: Staff
Level: 2
Effect: Increase damage by 1.0%.
Closing the notifications, he smiled. He had grown. Made himself stronger. There was a long way to go, but he’d started. He glanced at his Profile, curious how close he was to level three. The two quests he’d completed, along with the eight Rod Spiders, had added one thousand three hundred ninety experience to his total. Level three required three thousand experience, and now he was only six hundred ten experience away. He’d make that tomorrow and would finally be able to get rid of his Foolish and Clumsy debuffs.
He opened his Void Band and removed the Worker textbook Tremine had given him. He still had to allocate his spells and abilities for reaching level two. The deal he made with Fluffy meant Ruwen needed to learn Scrub. Since he’d hit an even level, he had four spells, two for each Class, instead of the normal one per Class. Most people never reached level ten, and while he planned to level a lot, learning Scrub still felt like a waste. In fact, it made him a little sick. But the cloak he’d received today had already saved his life, so the lesson seemed clear; his gear was critical, and learning this spell would allow him to gear up faster.
He found the page that described Scrub and started reading. In moments his upset stomach was replaced by curiosity, and then interest. The spell was channeled like his Void Band and would drain Energy as long as it was in use. But to his surprise, the spell took a lot of knowledge to use.
If you were cleaning a stone floor, removing the organic material would be straight forward. But if the floor consisted of polished oak, scrubbing out organic material would ruin the wood. You couldn’t just wave your hand over a stain and make it disappear. The caster needed to understand what made up the stain, the surface it occupied, and how they differed. Tables detailed different substances along with recommended Energy consumption for each.
He set the book in his lap and stared at the ceiling. Once again, he realized how unfair he’d been to Workers. Granted, it wasn’t like crystalizing ice shards from the air or melting the armor on a warrior, but it also wasn’t as mindless and beneath him as he’d assumed. The complexity of the spell appealed to his mind. And it was dangerous. He looked at the book again and skipped to the last page. Warnings and cautions filled it entirely, but two jumped out at him.
Warning: Scrub can cause severe damage, scarring, and even death.
Warning: Channeling more than 10 Energy per second is highly dangerous.
Caution: Exfoliating before attaining Scrub (Level 3) is highly discouraged.
The warning made him wonder if he could use this to protect himself. He had a terrible habit of dropping his weapons. Having something he could do with just his hands might be useful. The caution made him realize how much control you could eventually attain. The exfoliation footnote in the textbook said to practice taking the skin off of pears before trying to make your employer’s face look younger.
Turning back to the beginning of the section, he stared at the image of the brush that represented Scrub. Crossing his arms over his chest, he prepared a prayer. He knew you could learn new things outside Uru’s area of influence, but he wasn’t sure the goddess could hear him in this place. Even if this wasn’t what he wanted, it was still magic, and he didn’t want to seem ungrateful.
“Thank you for this blessing, Uru. I pray everyone sees your purity through the actions of this spell,” Ruwen whispered.
He let his eyes unfocus, and the image seemed to lift off the page. His brain itched as the image vibrated in his mind, and then his whole body grew cold. He opened the new notification.
Bing!
You have learned the spell Scrub (Worker Level 1)
Spell: Scrub
Level: 1
Class: Worker
Effect: Use energy to break down and remove stains and odor.
Cost: 1-20 Energy per second
Type: Self
Casting Time: 1 second
Duration: Channeled
Closing the notification, he decided Scrub deserved some experimentation, and he’d try and do more with it than just clean clothes.
Turning his attention back to the textbook, he found the section on Abilities. He already felt tired and resisted the urge to look over all of them. Until the events in the basement, he’d planned to increase his Hey You ability to level two. But now he realized something to help him survive might be more practical. He turned to the detailed description for Hey You anyway, just to see what he could look forward to.
It appeared his level one ability gave him the vocabulary of a five-year-old, and level two gave him a firm grasp of the basics. At level three, he would be fluent, and at four, he would understand technical items. The last level, five, would allow him to understand and communicate on esoteric, arcane, and magical topics. He almost leveled the ability right then, but the memory of the Rod Spider latched to his head and trying to eat his face stopped him.
Reluctantly he turned back to the list of level one and two abilities and looked for anything that might help him. The two most obvious choices were Glow, which made his body do just that, and Owl Eyes, which magnified ambient light by 10%. Both would allow him to see better. If the lights had suddenly gone out down there, he would have been dead in seconds.
The problem with Glow is that it made him a target. In the dark, he would attract everything, and it would make hiding impossible. Owl Eyes would add 10% to the 15% the Jaga Wedding Band already gave him. 25% would be a considerable improvement, and as long as there was at least some sort of ambient light, he would be able to see. But there might not be any ambient light down there.
Why did the Worker abilities have to suck so bad? That wasn’t fair. They didn’t suck as much as they were incredibly practical. The Knots ability would be a real boon to anyone working near ships or caravans, and the Detect Temperature would make you a fantastic cook. But he wasn’t trying to eat anything down in the dungeon, he just wanted to see them. He imagined cooking a Rod Spider over his campfire, and his stomach turned. That was really gross.
He felt a cold pressure in his brain. This always happened when his subconscious had made a connection that his mind hadn’t seen yet. He knew from experience not to search for it. Information was the bait that usually revealed the link. He had been thinking about cooking, so he flipped to the detailed description of Detect Temperature and read
the short passage.
Detect Temperature: The Worker is sometimes called on to cook items they are unfamiliar with or to unusual specifications. This ability provides a visual indicator of the temperature of the food in relation to its surroundings. Higher levels will allow the Worker to gauge the external and internal temperature difference with greater accuracy.
He thought about the Rod Spiders and the fire he had created. He imagined the cold body being warmed by the fire as it slowly cooked. But the Rod Spiders hadn’t been cold when they were alive. Their blood had been warm as it flowed across his hands. The pressure in his head increased and became painful. Ruwen closed the book and let his thoughts lead him to the solution. A picture of a flaming Rod Spider appeared in his mind, burning brightly as it ran around the colder room, and he finally understood what his subconscious had figured out. The pressure in his mind subsided, leaving a dull headache behind.
The ability detected differences in temperature, so even though he had no intention of eating one of the Rod Spiders, this ability should allow him to see the difference in temperature between the creature and the room. And that should work well in the dark. Furniture and anything else that didn’t give off heat would still be invisible, but at least it would give him a chance to fight anything attacking him.
The symbol for Detect Temperature looked like a pan over a fire, and Ruwen got off his bed and kneeled. He didn’t have a statue of Uru, but there was a picture of her at the beginning of the textbook, and he focused on that.
“Uru, thank you for your blessings. I pray this helps me see the work you need me to do,” Ruwen whispered.
Just like he’d done with Hey You, he imagined the symbol on the book rising and entering his chest. A moment later, he felt a sharp pain in his eyes and immediately rubbed them. He opened the notification.
Ping!
You have learned the Ability Detect Temperature (Worker Level 1)
Ability: Detect Temperature
Level: 1
Class: Worker
Effect: The hotter the object, the redder it appears.
Type: Self
He closed the notification and noticed a small eye next to his Profile icon in the top-left of his vision. Focusing on it, the eye turned red, and his vision blurred for a heartbeat. He looked over at Sift and gasped.
Chapter 19
“What?” Sift asked.
“You’re really hot.”
“Well, thanks. I’m excited to meet some friendly women when Ky takes me to your world. Hopefully, they agree.”
Ruwen pushed himself off his knees and sat on the bed. “I mean your temperature.”
Sift glowed a dark red, and the things he touched like his pillow or Io, briefly glowed. Ruwen looked at his own hands and realized he glowed as well, but not nearly as much as Sift. The young man looked like a bonfire.
Sift touched his forehead. “I feel fine.”
“You mentioned earlier that you…sift, through the energy around you. Does some of it stay?”
“Shade’s first rule: curiosity is a hole in the bucket.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“Ky says it to me all the time. Usually when I’m asking about what’s on the other side of the Blood Gate. She says curiosity is a monster that’s never full, so you shouldn’t waste time feeding it.”
“Well, I kind of can’t help myself. Almost everything interests me.”
“Me, too. That’s why I like Io so much. He never runs out of stories.”
Ruwen focused on the eye again near his Profile, and it went from red to black. Sift looked normal now. There wasn’t anything visible that gave away the massive amount of energy burning in him.
Sift continued. “Energy is really interesting. Some of it is sticky and hard to get rid of, and some of it feels nice and I don’t want to let it go. That is the dangerous stuff Mom yells at me about. I’m still running hot from all the spells Ky hit me with. Shade magic is some of the sticky stuff I mentioned.”
“Ky used magic on you? I didn’t see anything.”
“Well, it wouldn’t be much use to a Shade if it was flashy.”
Ruwen felt dumb. “That’s true. What did she cast?”
“She tried to snare, paralyze, and blind me. She knows better than to try that on me. I think it’s just habit.”
“Wow, I had no idea all that was happening. She didn’t even move her hands or chant or anything.”
“That wouldn’t –”
“Right, that wouldn’t make much sense for a Shade. So, you just absorb it?”
“Yep.”
“Do you ever fill up?”
“Yeah. Ky’s been helping me find ways to quickly dump the energy I accumulate.”
“In the cave, you called Uru a false god. Did your god give you that sifting magic?”
“There are no gods. We are all just souls moving from one journey to the next.”
“So you haven’t Ascended? What happens if you die?”
“I die.”
“But you don’t come back.”
Sift pointed at his chest. “Not in this form. I will be reborn in another vessel and learn a new lesson until my soul is perfect.”
That sounded insane. Ruwen wanted to live as long as possible as himself, not come back after every death as someone different. Ascendancy didn’t give you eternal life. Eventually, you grew old, and when you died the body you revived with would reflect that since you were constantly being synched with Uru. An old body dies sooner, and the cycle continued to feed itself until the penalties and cost just didn’t make it worth reviving anymore. Even so, it wasn’t uncommon for people to live hundreds of years. He had even heard of some people reaching a thousand.
“What about your interface? How did you get your power?” Ruwen asked.
“I have the same interface we’re all born with. As far as magic goes, I learned it like everything else. Practice.”
Ruwen had heard of people like Sift. They lived outside the protection area. If you caused a lot of trouble before you Ascended a judge might send you out to live with those people. Denying you the chance at Ascension. And if you committed a crime and were found guilty, a judge might decree you to be non-revivable. Then when you died, you were dead for good. All of those options sounded horrible. He couldn't even imagine what it must be like living out in the wild without access to Classes and Specializations and revival.
“You can learn magic without Ascending?” Ruwen asked.
“Of course, how do you think people did it before your gods appeared?”
“I just assumed they’d always been here.”
“Shade’s first rule: assumptions lead to the temple tub.”
“You told me that one already.”
“It’s an important one. Here’s another: shortcuts always have a cost.”
“Are you saying I took a shortcut?”
“How many spells did you just learn?”
“A couple,” Ruwen said, not bothering to specify one was an ability.
Sift snapped his fingers. “And like that, you are more powerful.”
“That’s not true. I spent time earning the experience to unlock them.”
“A drop in the bucket. But you’re missing something bigger. In fact, your choice of words makes me think you suspect it, too.”
Ruwen grew defensive, but Sift spoke in a friendly manner, not accusing at all, and Ruwen forced himself to calm down. He liked philosophical discussions and never had them with anyone but Tremine. Knowledge and new perspectives shouldn’t be something he feared.
“I don’t suspect anything,” Ruwen said.
“Why did you use the word unlock, instead of learn?”
Why had he used that word? Probably because of the way it felt when he gained something new. It did feel a bit like a key opening a box in his mind. Plus, he was outside Uru’s area of influence, and it hadn’t felt like the knowledge had been beamed to him. It had felt like remembering something he already knew.<
br />
“You think when I Ascended more than a new interface was put in my head?” Ruwen asked.
Sift tapped his head. “Everything in the universe is already here. Maybe a better way of putting it is some knowledge was placed closer to your consciousness. It makes it easier for you to find.”
“Even if that is a shortcut, what you call a cost I consider a benefit. I want to spend hundreds of years becoming the best Mage in history, but a stupid accident might kill me before I’m twenty. The logical thing is to take the second, third, fourth, chance.”
“Shade’s first rule: nothing should be left to chance.”
“I’m really starting to hate these.”
Sift laughed. “I hate them, too. But I’ve never said so many to anyone, and I’m starting to understand why Ky likes saying them to me. Seeing your expression makes it fun.”
Ruwen laughed too.
Sift looked down at Io. “That’s true.” He looked up from the dagger and grew serious. “Io has a good point. Please don’t take my comments to mean I think less of you. We have chosen different paths, but that doesn’t mean we can’t travel together.”
“No offense taken. You’ve given me a lot to think about. Which I like.”
Sift nodded and then focused back on the Elder Dagger. Sift had told him some profound things, assuming the young man was correct. If that really was how the gods worked, did that mean he had access to every ability and spell? And what happened if he purposefully or accidentally activated something from another branch? Somehow he doubted the gods would allow a weakness to exist in their system. There was probably some type of terrible consequence. He would ask Uru the next time he saw her. Hopefully, that wouldn’t be for a very long time.
Ruwen replaced the Worker textbook in his Void Band and removed the Observer one. This one had a pair of eyes on it, the Observer symbol, and the binding was a dark green. While he had briefly toyed with the idea of becoming a Merchant because his Intelligence would be valued there, he had never considered being an Observer. Too many of their abilities and skills were centered on Dexterity, and he had never been very coordinated. Like Mages, many of them worked alone, but the difference was Observers were usually in very dangerous locations.
