by Dakota Krout
“Makes no difference to me. Heck, you can call me Tatum. Get away from your discomfort entirely.”
“Tatum?” Joe tried to hide a grin.
“Short for ‘Occultatum’, which is Latin for ‘Hidden’.” Tatum waved a hand to move the conversation along. “Listen, we’re running out of time, do you need answers to other questions?”
“Yes!” Joe was laser-focused once again. “How do I increase my skills faster, and which ones should I devote most of my time to?”
“You should focus on- *gack*.” Tatum choked again as he tried to give a direct answer. “Alright already! Ugh. Focus on what makes you unique. To increase your skills, you need to study them, practice them, and try everything you can think of. When you use them correctly in ways you haven’t before, you get new skills.”
Joe thought on his words, realizing where he had been going wrong. “Thank you. How do I earn more favor with you so I can earn more direct answers?”
The god beamed at this question. “Yes! I can give you a sigil! It is like a crest, or a tattoo for your clothing. In your character sheet, under equipped items, set this sigil to active, and it will appear on your clothes. Then when you gain experience, you will gain favor equal to two percent of that total! Not huge but noticeable!”
“Couldn’t tell me unless I asked, huh?” Joe archly challenged.
“Correct.” Tatum suddenly vanished, as did the mountaintop temple. Joe found himself back in the city temple, surrounded by shrines and statues once again. Looking down at the floor, it seemed that the flat tile had raised a bit, and the carvings were now slightly more intricate than stick figures.
“Thanks for the help. Hope I helped you too,” Joe muttered to the shrine. Before he forgot, he went to the tab in his status and equipped the sigil. A silvery, shimmering pattern appeared on his robe, abstract lines that morphed into a book when you understood what the drawing was supposed to be. “Neat. Alright, now I need to go study my character sheet for more stuff that is hidden away like this.” Joe walked out of the grand building, oblivious to the angry eyes that lingered on his sigil as he moved.
~ Chapter Seventeen ~
As Joe continued moving forward, he tried to deeply examine his understanding of skills. He was a combat medic, which meant that he had a good handle on triage and stabilizing wounds. Comparatively, his actual medical and biological knowledge was much lower. Was this reflected by his heal skill remaining in the beginner ranks when he utilized all of his ability? He could go to the library and read up on all the information he could find, but this felt like a less… effective use of his time.
Tatum had told him to focus on what made him unique, and while healing was rare among humans, there were rumors that other people were gaining the ability. In his character sheet, there were very few things that had the word ‘unique’ by them. In fact, there were only two. The classes of Jumplomancer and Ritualist. Of those two, only being a ritualist was something that no one else could get access to without first being trained by him. For multiple reasons, it would make perfect sense in this case to focus his training on the ritualist class and abilities. It was his real class after all, and though other people technically had access to rituals, he had the potential to make them so efficient and powerful that he could use them like typical spells. Joe, deep in thought, nodded to himself. It was time to dive headfirst into the mechanics of ritual magic.
There was only one thing more important that he had to do first. Walking around for a bit, he found a cafe and ordered some coffee. Perfect! All set to parse out the mysteries of the universe! Pulling out his book of beginner rituals, he began working to try and understand why they required certain components. Blood or hair was an easy one; it helped the ritual target a specific person or base itself off of their stats, like with the ‘Predator's territory’ ritual. Silver was a little less obvious to him. Knowing that it was conductive to electricity wasn’t very helpful since Joe was fairly certain that the ritual wasn’t battery operated. Perhaps it had something to do with the purity of silver?
Skill rank increased: Ritual magic (Novice II). Learn everything!
Well, that answered that question. Was it really so easy to gain ranks in skills? He supposed it was understandable, this was an academic study more than anything else. You gain skill with swords by swinging them and fighting, why not gain skill with magic by trying to understand it? Using it would have more impact in the higher levels, for sure, but simple study was the best way for now. Joe perked up as an idea struck him; it seemed that this game was based as closely to real life as possible, why not study things in real life and relate them to the game? If he was able to gain increases like that… then… he did have an internet connection to the outside world. Since he was in a cafe, he was able to open a screen and connect to Wikipedia. With so many theories of magic as well as real-world facts at his fingertips, he began to understand much more about the potential reasoning for the effects of components.
Hours flew by as he studied, his mind drinking in the ideas with an alacrity he had never found in high school or college. Was his intelligence score here helping him to become actually smart? This was his real body now, wasn’t it? His strength made him weak, so this would make sense, though it was a terrifying thought.
How far could he go? Joe grimly decided that he would do whatever it took to boost his stats. This was something that he needed to test. As his self-enforced study session ended, Joe looked at his notifications and had to put on a weary smile. He had made good progress today. Since Joe hadn’t looked every time a new message came in, he was able to see the final amount gained in each category.
Skill increased: Reading (Novice VII).
Skill increased: Ritual magic (Novice VIII). Ability score increased: Intelligence +2!
Spectacular! Five ranks in ritual magic and six in reading? The speedy gains were almost assuredly because of his complete lack of knowledge of rituals, but that didn’t dampen the achievement. He certainly felt that he now had a better understanding of why some components were used over others, but he also knew he couldn’t go around changing them or making his own versions at this point. It wasn’t far off though. Joe felt positive that the creation of rituals was something he’d be able to do at the higher levels. Also, he couldn’t discount the ritualist class bonus, which was to learn skills four times faster than other people. Yes, the Ritualist class had certainly been the correct choice. He was making progress and felt serious satisfaction from that simple fact.
A more immediate benefit was that ritual magic had reached level eight, so Joe now had a four percent reduction to the cost of rituals. He stood up, his back cracking joyfully when it was straightened. Walking toward the market, Joe noted that it was much later in the day than he had expected; it must be approaching dinner time already! With this thought in mind, he hustled to reach the stores he needed to visit before they closed. His purchases were fairly simple: more components for his rituals, a carving set so that he could have a ritual pattern ready before he needed it, and a standing order for monster Cores from the alchemist. The last was difficult, since the alchemist tried to pry into Joe’s reasons for needing so many Cores.
Mentally tired, Joe returned to the barracks. It had been a good day; he had learned quite a bit about himself, as well as set realistic goals for the future. Heh. What a shift ‘realistic’ had taken. His ‘realistic’ goals were about magic. Joe nearly fell over as a voice snapped him out of his self-appreciation. Aten was standing in front of him, looking a bit irritated. “Joe! You listening? Good. Tiona tells me that you might have a way to make an area safe from monster attacks?”
It took a second for Joe to nod. “Yes and no. It makes any monster under a certain level avoid the area, but any monster stronger than the repellant will be drawn to the area, avoiding anyone else. It is a… spell… called ‘Predator's territory’.”
A manic look came into Aten’s eyes. “Even better! So we will get to fight only the strongest? Th
at means that we will get the boss monsters and everyone else will only get the standard mob fight? This will be amazing for our reputation and levels! We can use that to recruit: ‘Only the strongest and the best come for The Wanderers!’”
Joe felt a bit sick to his stomach at that thought. So. Cheesy. “Yeah, but… the threshold is ten levels above the person whose blood is used in the spell. If we used my blood, we would only draw in a monster if it was level fourteen or higher. I can’t imagine what would happen if we pulled in a level twenty or something.”
“Levels is what would happen! Reputation! I can picture it now, The Wanderers versus a raid boss… in the center of the capital city!” Aten was unconsciously gripping his sword and slowly drawing it, bloodlust pouring off of him.
“But…” Joe tried to think of some way to reason with this battle-maniac, “if it gets to us here, it means it either got through the wall or can fly!”
Aten cocked his head to the side. “Hmm. Good call. I’ll make sure our archers are on duty tonight. Oh, and we even have a first level mage now! Congrats, you aren’t the only magical person in the guild anymore!”
“Really? How did he get the mage class?” Joe leaned in; he wanted to hear every detail since the details of the class were so sparse.
“She went through classes at the mage’s college. We sponsored her so that she could afford it, and I gotta tell you, I really hope her magic is going to be as useful as we need it to be. That place was not cheap.” Aten grumbled a bit about this fact. “Hopefully we can pay off the loan before the interest breaks us.”
“Speaking of costs, if you want me to run that spell every night I will need some components. Those aren’t cheap either.” Joe listed everything he needed, and Aten winced but nodded while he explained.
“Gotcha, I’ll get us a large stash of those. We won’t be able to use the spell every night, but when we see something interesting that we want to fight or if we need a break, I’ll ask you to set it up. That work for you? Since it is such a huge imposition, we can call this your guild dues instead of making you pay a percentage of your income.”
“Sounds good. Dues? You tax guild members?” Joe’s hand twitched toward his coin purse.
“Have to.” Aten waved a hand at the building they were staying in. “You think room and board is free? Nah. Plus we need to buy work contracts, then we get reimbursed and paid upon completion. Guild quests cost a couple hundred gold just to accept. That’s why the competition is so fierce.”
“Set it up for tonight then?” Joe was very interested in keeping his money in his own pocket.
“No, let’s wait and see what sort of trouble the city is in for tonight. I’ll see if we can get a box of Cores for the guild to use; a few craftsmen have already brought it up.” Aten waved goodbye and went off to attend to his other duties.
Joe decided to eat dinner, afterward sitting down and beginning to carve the patterns needed for various rituals. He didn’t need to make too many; this was the only component of the ritual that wasn’t consumed by activation so he could reuse successful carvings. Some of the symbols were very easy, such as the star enclosed by a circle, or the double circle needed for ‘Predator’s territory’. The issue arose as the rituals began to have more effects; the patterns became far more intricate than his dexterity allowed him to create.
Skill gained: Carving (Novice I). Are you either an artist, bored, or in your seventies? Then carving is the skill for you! Each skill level increases accuracy of carving by 1% as well as decreasing time to finish by 1%.
Joe looked at the pattern he had been trying to create in dismay. It had been intended as a pattern with graceful, swooping lines, but the final product was destined for the trash can. Perhaps kindling for a fire. The wood had chipped and splintered, the graceful lines instead consisted of hard angles, and it was overall poorly done. He sighed regretfully; perhaps it would be better to have an artist create these patterns for him. Joe’s perception was excellent, and although he was able to easily find the flaws in the work… his dexterity left him essentially childlike in his attempts at artistry. Yet another thing he would need to delegate until he was able to improve himself.
Perhaps it would be better to work with the rituals he was able to complete? For instance, Aten had wanted to have the area ready for the ritual tonight, if needed, though he said not to activate it. The ritual would need to encompass the entire barracks, which meant that he needed to get a double circle drawn around the entire structure. Seeing as they were in a temporary dwelling and the ground was stone, carving a double circle was impossible. Perhaps paint would be the best substance to use? Joe asked around but no one in the area had anywhere near the amount of paint that would be needed, and by now, the shops were closed.
Joe was about to throw his hands up and call it a night, perhaps go to bed in an attempt to no longer be frustrated, but then he noticed a group of children drawing on the cobblestones across the street. Light filled his eyes, and he went over and asked the kids if they had any spare chalk. The adult watching them seemed to be trying to stare through Joe’s skull but relaxed when all Joe did was accept a large chunk of chalk in return for a few coppers. Walking around the building, Joe tried to make lines every few feet so he could connect them and make a complete circle. After finishing the preliminary marks, he followed them around the building twice, enclosing the structure. Using his personal stock of ritual components, he placed them in the correct positions and began empowering the ritual.
Something felt different instantly; his mana started tearing out of him at a far greater pace than ever before. Joe gasped in pain and dropped to his knees while his energy was drained away. Attempting to cut off the flow didn’t work, and he watched with trepidation as his mana dropped below half full. His mana regen of a little over five per second was doing its best to keep him standing, but couldn’t keep up with the powerful drain. He fell forward as his mana dropped below a quarter and could hardly breathe as his power reserves fell to zero.
Agonizing pain tore through him then, and his health began to fall in place of his mana. The pain stopped and restarted every second as his mana regeneration kicked in and allowed a few extra points of energy to flow into the ritual. His health fell all the way to fifteen points before the ritual finally had enough mana to satisfy itself. As his pool of power began to slowly recover, Joe wheezed, coughing noisily as he sat up. With a trembling hand he pulled up and looked at the notifications which now appeared as a combat log.
Ritual: ‘Predator’s territory’ initiated. Caution! Missing component ‘blood’. Caution! Ritual size larger than recommended for a single person to perform! Caution! Ritual pattern is malformed! Calculating added requirements due to issues… +200 mana required! Mana drain increased. Insufficient mana, drawing from health pool. Blood added to ritual via damage to [Joe]! -100 mana required. Ritual complete! Activate ritual now? Yes / No
Joe selected ‘no’ with a sour expression. The chalk surrounding the building took on a red glow, which interested Joe enough that he tried to rub some of it away. It didn’t budge or scrape off, so Joe felt confident that it would remain until it was activated. Looking at the notifications, Joe snarled into the empty air, “So it starts pulling from your health pool unless you have enough mana? I never saw that mentioned anywhere! I won’t be forgetting this anytime soon, stupid never-explained magic.”
Wisdom +1!
Skill increase: Ritual magic (Novice IX).
He snorted at the new notification. “Now I feel like someone is just messing with me.” Ritual ready to go, body and mental power drained, Joe gave himself over to his exhaustion and went to bed.
~ Chapter Eighteen ~
Waking up the next morning without having to fight anything or have anything trying to kill him felt almost… anticlimactic. Joe stumbled out of the rock-hard bed he called his own and owlishly stared at anyone who came too close. Imagine his surprise when a pink-and-blue haired girl plopped down across from him an
d gave him a brilliant smile. “Hi there! I’m Terra. Are you the other magic user in the guild?”
“Mhmph,” Joe grunted as he tried to adjust his eyes to her eye-damaging color choices. She basically shimmered, and he hoped she was just wearing glitter and it wasn’t somehow part of her character. Her hair was pink with blue highlights, and her eyes were bright green. Joe–very used to the modest colors he normally wore–thought she looked a bit like a parrot.
“Awesome!” Her enthusiastic tone made everyone in the room who was not a morning person wince theatrically. “I just got back from an awesome ten-kay jog, and I was hoping to see someone else perform magic! You are a cleric, right? Like, how does healing magic work compared to elemental magic? Can I watch you do a few spells or something?”
Joe thought very hard but could not come up with any real reason to deny this request. He looked around the room until he saw someone holding their head in pain. Motioning them over, Joe used cleanse on them, curing their hangover and sending them on their way. He looked over at Terra expecting her to be excited, but she was just looking at him with her eyebrows raised disdainfully.
“Really? You don’t direct the mana or work to control it?” She looked at him up and down. “I didn’t think you were on a mental keyboard; you look like you are actually coffee deprived.”
“What are you talking about?” Joe was shocked into answering her. “Of course I controlled that spell, didn’t you just see me direct it through his entire body?”
“Yeah, sure, but I meant you didn’t control the way your mana left your body. I mean, seriously, if you already have the mana channels, why not use them?” Terra seemed confused by Joe’s non-reaction. “You don’t have them? Oh my gawd, using any amount of mana at all must, like, exhaust you! You can seriously hurt yourself like that.”
“I have no idea what you are talking about,” Joe informed her firmly. Her valley-girl way of speech was grating on his nerves, and he wanted her to either get to the point or go away.
