“What’s got your panties in a bunch?” Vic yawned as he slid down from his hanging pin and into his goblin shape.
“Just trying to come to grips with this reality,” I said.
He rolled his eyes. “Don’t get your brain all scrambled again, Oren. You don’t want a repeat of what happened to you last time. You’re playing a clan chief; don’t get it mixed up with fatherly feelings.”
“That’s kinda cold, especially for someone who once tried to convince me all this was real,” I said accusingly.
“I still stand by what I said back then. This is a real world for us VIs and for anyone else who’s a permanent resident. But that’s not you anymore. You’re just a guest now; you have your own real world. It’s bad for your fragile meat-suit mind to mix up the two.”
“You always have my best interests at heart,” I said dryly.
“You know me, Boss.” Vic flashed me a grin. “I’m a humanitarian. And …” He transformed into his Vicloak shape, assuming his place around my shoulders. “I’ve got your back.”
I snorted, half-amused, half-annoyed. “Let’s go see if your brother cooled off.”
“I doubt it. He gets weird when he’s left alone for too long.” Vic paused for a moment. “Weirder.”
As was my custom lately, I walked through the budding village instead of teleporting directly to my destination, keeping an eye on the progress of my clan. I stopped by the inn for a quick bite, noticing that the players and their squads had grown even stronger. Their warriors were all level 6 now.
Finishing my meal, I headed toward the Dreamer’s Lodge, nodding to Zuban and Duladeen along the way.
The sound of melancholy singing welcomed me as I approached the enchanter's front door.
“Nobody knows the trouble I've been through,
“Nobody knows my sorrow,
“Nobody knows what it’s like to be a sphere,
“Immobile, stained, and queer.”
I entered the building and had to plug my ears at the high volume. Aidanriel ignored me as he continued his deafening singing.
I drew out one of the whistles I’d looted off the kobolds and blew it as hard as I could. Its loud, piercing sound cut through the singing. One of the building’s windows cracked, but at least I made Aidanriel stop singing.
“Oi, hey there, mate, didn’t see ya coming.”
I was about to reprimand the golem, but Vic beat me to it.
“Well, it’s not like I’m humping the metal struts,” Aidanriel said defensively. “I dare you to find one word that rhymes better with ‘sphere’–”
“Beer, smear, year, gear,” Vic said instantly.
The large pinkish sphere scoffed. “I said one.”
“I hope you learned your lesson,” I told the golem core.
“I certainly did, mate.”
“Good.”
“I think I can make a real career as a sad songwriter.”
Vic and I both groaned.
“What?”
“Just …” I made a shooing motion. “Roll to the side of the room, I need to work.”
“Are you finally going to make me a body?”
“I need to work on my own items first, then I need to test out this new rune and–”
“It’s no trouble, mate. I’ll just sit quietly here by myself, working on my new songs as loudly as possible.”
I stared at him. “On second thought, I’ll start working on your body.”
Aidanriel hummed smugly to himself as he rolled off.
The entire store of Viridium I’d purchased was kept inside the building. Hoker was already busily enchanting several items, but there was plenty of extra space at the worktable. I took out 10 Viridium spheres, placed them on the obsidian block, and opened the Runecraft Interface.
I’d already enchanted hundreds of similar spheres before, so it was a trivial matter to select the correct schema from the list of known ones. I poured in the required mana, feeling the building’s magic aiding me in the process. The Enchanter’s Gem glowed more brightly, easily replicating the enchantment. The entire process took a moment, and then, 10 fully enchanted golem beads stood on the table.
The beads rolled away on their own, moving to join with the golem core. I brought up another load of spheres and repeated the process.
The whole thing was finished in a matter of minutes.
Aidanriel’s core rose as the Viridium beads rolled under him, giving shape to an octopuslike body. Since I’d given him a weaker void crystal than last time, he was only level 150.
“Oi, this feels great, mate,” Aidanriel said cheerfully, bringing a bead-made tentacle closer to his core to examine it. Which was totally redundant, since he didn’t have eyes. Apparently satisfied with the results, the golem rose on three legs and crouched over the 50 remaining spheres. A small portal opened below him, and the remaining Viridium beads flew up into it.
I grinned. Vic’s description was apt.
Aidanriel, Viridium Bead Golem [Runecrafted]
Level: 150
HP: 1,875
Attributes: P:150
Skills: Multi-Slam 166, Lucky Bastard 7, Overdrive 8, [empty slot]
Traits: Golem (mind immunity, nonliving, +25% HP), Metal Body (Viridium, ignore 20 damage), Storage: 750 kg (42 spare spheres), Hurl
Resistances: Armor 30, Magic 55%, Fire 96%, Sonic 96%
Core: Base level 6. Mana capacitor 15,000/15,000. Mana regeneration: 2 MP per second.
Connected weapons: Fire Rod X 2 (convert MP to fire at a rate of 1:1)
Though he was only half his previous strength, the golem was a formidable foe. He had more HP than me and a Master-ranked combat skill to boot. His high armor and damage reduction made him nearly immune to physical damage from weaker foes, and his Overdrive skill allowed him to go on a mana-fueled rampage that could devastate a small town. Since I was planning on doing just that, the skill was going to be very useful.
I narrowed my eyes in concentration. And the golem’s beads lost cohesion, rolling away from the core all over the floor.
“Hey!” Aidanriel said indignantly. “Stop playing with my balls!”
“Sorry,” I said with a half-grin. The golem was indeed a formidable force; I had to make sure I could still take it over if needed. I couldn’t let myself forget that behind the ‘wheels’ sat a free-minded VI.
Aidanriel collected himself, rising back to his full height. “Well, I’ll be off before you feel like playing golem-bead soccer or something similarly uncomfortable.”
I waved him off. “Have a good time. Play nice with the rest of the grunts.”
“Sure will, mate.” He moved to the much-too-narrow door and reached with a tentacle. The beads comprising his body rolled over the limb as the golem poured itself outside.
“Alright, let’s do this,” I said and reached for the obsidian block again. Out of my entire equipped gear, only the Demon Staff and Pyrolith Scale Gambeson were Runecrafted. The Dread Totem armor set pieces were incompatible.
I put the staff on the table and examined it.
Demon Horn Staff [Runecrafted]
Description: The horn has maintained some of the demon’s infernal powers. It is exceptionally durable and can double as a spear. Three bloodstones and a single void crystal are embedded along the shaft. Mana-based spells may be channeled through the staff to increase their potency.
Type: Two-handed
Rank: Epic
Durability: 625/640
Damage: 95-105
Effect I: Mental +21 for determining mana regeneration rate.
Effect II: Store up to three magical charges. Instant casting. Stored spells are 15% stronger.
Effect III: Spells channeled through the staff are 25% stronger.
Effect IV: Castigation: De
liver all stored charges via physical attack; only possible when both wielder and target are below 50% health.
When I’d first enchanted it, the weapon’s rank jumped from Rare to Epic. I could feel the metadata behind the boxed information, and I knew the weapon was still lacking. I could make it better.
I opened the Runecraft Design Mode and for the first time attempted to modify one of my own enchantments.
The four runes I’d already scribed appeared through the staff’s holographic representation. A new indicator opened on my side view: ‘Failure chance: 0%.’
I started by trying to remove the strengthening rune and replacing it with the spatial rune, and the failure indicator jumped to 18 percent.
It seemed that modifying an existing rune wasn’t as simple as I’d first assumed. There were consequences for fiddling with powerful magic, and I didn’t want to discover what failure looked like.
I canceled the change, and the indicator went down to zero again. I looked at the existing schema with a critical eye. With my heightened skills, I could now see small imperfections in the runic lines. They weren’t as optimized as they could be. I started tweaking them, pushing a hair here, or pulling back by a millimeter there. I could feel the external effect of the Dreamer’s Lodge itself, enabling me to make finer adjustments than I should have been capable of doing on my own.
It took nearly an hour of delicate, cautious work before I was done. The runes connected seamlessly to one another and to the staff itself. The failure indicator stood at a low two percent. I could live with those odds.
I was ready to finalize the enchantment, but I hesitated. This could either be a great opportunity, or a grave mistake. But I decided to go with my instincts. I took out the pouch of webcrystal dust Guba had given me and sprinkled a pinch over the actual staff. On my holographic display, the enchantment grew brighter. I added a fistful of dust. The enchantment’s strength grew, and I sensed it could accept even more dust. I added half the pouch’s content before I felt the enchantment was as powerful as it could be. The failure indicator now stood at five percent, an acceptable risk.
I poured in the required mana, held my breath, and approved the enchantment.
Modify existing Runecraft schema … success.
I breathed in relief.
Calculating enchantment bonus strength:
Runecrafter Higher Skill Bonus: +5%
Dreamer’s Lodge Bonus: +10%
Webcrystal Dust: +6%
Total: +21%
Lady Luck has smiled on you!
Lucky Bastard Expert rank skill bonus triggered: enchantment strength increased by an additional 3%.
The Demon Staff shone brightly as a ribbon of swirling energy poured into it, realigning its runes and filling it with new power. Once the light show was done, I eagerly grabbed the weapon and inspected it closely.
Demon Horn Staff [Runecrafted]
Description: The horn has maintained some of the demon’s infernal powers. It is exceptionally durable and can double as a spear. Three bloodstones and a single void crystal are embedded along the shaft. Mana-based spells may be channeled through the staff to increase their potency.
Type: Two-handed
Rank: Epic
Durability: 750/775 (+135)
Damage: 115-127 (+20)
Effect I: Mental +25 (+4) for determining mana regeneration rate.
Effect II: Store up to three magical charges. Instant casting. Stored spells are 18% (+3) stronger.
Effect III: Spells channeled through the staff are 30% (+5) stronger.
Effect IV: Castigation: deliver all stored charges via physical attack; only possible when both wielder and target are below 60% (+10) health.
The staff’s rank hadn’t changed, but the power boost it received was incredible. Every spell I cast through it would be even more powerful than before, and with all the bonuses combined, stored spells would be nearly 50 percent stronger than I could cast on my own. Even the health requirement to activate Castigation improved. At this rate, when I became a Master-ranked Runecrafter, I might be able to make it work while in full health.
I also realized the webcrystal dust was incredibly potent. An extra six percent might not sound like much, but comparing it to the 10 percent offered by the Dreamer's Lodge, an Expert-raked building, it was a relatively inexpensive and effective way of producing stronger enchantments. I had to get more of the stuff. And I needed someone working at it yesterday.
I channeled my thoughts through my enchanted earring. Kaedric.
Recruit a worker to harvest webcrystal immediately.
Last I checked, I had over 10,000 of those. Do it. I want the Dreamer’s Lodge to be stocked with as much of the crystal dust as possible.
I instantly felt the information tendrils shift as the Breeder’s Den became active, consuming the food and spitting out a newly minted worker.
It was time to work on my armor.
I unequipped the Pyrolith Gambeson and placed it on the obsidian block.
Pyrolith Scale Gambeson [Runecrafted]
Description: This well-crafted armor is made of durable leather embedded with hardened demon scales and enchanted by a goblin Dread Totem. It offers excellent protection without hindering the wearer’s mobility and is naturally resistant to fire.
Runecraft Viability: 5 runes [2 used]
Type: Armor [torso]
Rank: Advanced
Durability: 115/155
Armor: 45
Resistance: Fire 50%
Unlike the staff, the armor’s rank was only Advanced, so I felt more at liberty to experiment. I started by adding more runes to the free slots. This action didn’t increase the failure indicator, but I realized the existing runes limited the range of rune combinations I could try. Three free runes simply didn’t give me enough room to come up with something really cool.
I swiped away the two existing runes off the armor, and the indicator jumped up to 20 percent. Now I had five whole rune slots to play with. It was a perfect opportunity to try out the new Shi rune of flux. I tried several combinations, eventually settling on one that suited me best.
Enchant Pyrolith Scale Gambeson [Enhanced Frame]? Yes/No
Pattern Efficiency: 100%
Mana Invested: 450/450
Effect I: +75 durability
Effect II: +15 armor
Effect III: Blur: 20% chance to avoid physical attacks
Failure Chance: 23%
I’d combined the Shi rune with the Tse triggering rune and the Mag rune of warding, which gave the armor the blurring effect. I then bound them all together with the connector rune and slapped in the rune of strength for some extra kick. The promised results were appealing.
I didn’t particularly care for the failure chance, which grew by an additional three percent once I dumped the remaining webcrystal dust on it, but I was a Lucky Bastard, goddammit. I could make it. I approved the prompt.
“Vic!” I said between clenched teeth. “Enough with the narration already! No one likes narrators.”
Enchantment attempt failed.
Penalty I: All magical effects were stripped (material-based bonuses unaffected).
Penalty II: Runecraft viability has been reduced to 0.
“Damn it!” I seethed. All the time I’d spent went down the drain along with a sizeable part of the armor’s strength.
Runecraf
t skill level increased to 69.
I picked up the significantly less aesthetic piece with a sigh and examined its new stats.
Pyrolith Scale Gambeson
Description: This once well-crafted armor of leather and hardened demon scales suffered an enchantment backlash. It offers mediocre protection without hindering the wearer’s mobility and is naturally resistant to fire.
Runecraft Viability: 0
Type: Armor [torso]
Rank: Advanced
Durability: 80/120
Armor: 35
Resistance: Fire 50%
Without the magical enhancement to its durability, the armor looked frayed on the sides. It wouldn’t last much longer. Items in NEO had a limited life expectancy determined by their durability; it could be extended but not fully repaired. That was a problem. I had an expert smith at my disposal, but as a caster, I couldn’t wear metal armor that would weigh me down, and I was already wearing the best armor Vrick, my resident leatherworker, could provide. I had to find a replacement, and soon. My future was full of battles.
I glanced at the internal clock. It was already midday. Time was running out. Tomorrow our forces would rally and march on Novenguard.
I glanced at the Dreamer’s Lodge Inventory Interface. Hoker wasn’t kidding when he said he was in over his head. There were hundreds of bows and leather armor to enchant, not to mention various weapons, shields, Ogre gear, and the new glassteel armor.
At least that was something I could do. I flexed my fingers and got to work.
The glassteel pieces were first. I promised the players I’d enchant it for them, and I was eager to see what I could do with the high-quality material. To my chagrin, I discovered that the magic repellent property of the material also made it ill-suited to hold runes. I could only scribe two runes on each armor set, and even that was only due to my high Runecraft skill. I decided on using KoTe, the basic Enhanced Frame enchantment, which was among the first I’d discovered. It allowed me to enhance an item’s existing properties.
Life Reset: Human Resource (New Era Online Book 4) Page 36
