by Drew Cordell
“There has to be another way without Cadan. We could leverage the map fragment, find a buyer we can trust and use the money to get Gwen to safety. Maybe the fragment is worth more than whatever we’ll find in the Strexian temple. Maybe this is the best way.” I was grasping at straws, but the truth was that I did want to see this through to the end. But I didn’t know if I could relive my past and watch Cadan Graves ruin another person’s life when I had the power to prevent it. Only, I wasn’t sure I had that power this time—and I sure as hell didn’t have it the first time.
Fen didn’t like my answer. “Gwen is working against the full investigational capacity of Dalthaxia. The best thing she has going for her is the falsified background and identity she used for her conscription into the Dalthaxian Military and the fact that Eternity Online was built on top of anonymous infrastructure to protect the identities of all players. It still might not be enough.”
Brandon intervened. “Gwen will know best, she’ll log in as soon as she’s able to, and until then, we shouldn’t be making any big decisions. Talking options is great, but not if it’s all based on speculation. If she isn’t back within a week then we’ll need to have a different conversation.” He sat at one of the crafting stations next to Fen, unslinging his massive shotgun and placing it on the work surface. “Until then, we should work on boosting our crafting skills since it’s the only thing we can really train right now unless we run into trouble, but I’ve never been in space that felt as remote as this, and we’re actively blocking Ether Rogue’s transponder signal and external communications relay.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right, Brandon.” I didn’t like leaving the ship on autopilot, but the AI would alert us if anything was out of the ordinary. I was confident in my ability to take over and pilot the ship if something went wrong, but it was clear I was nowhere close to matching Gwen’s piloting prowess, given her background in racing some of the fastest and most dangerous real-world ships in existence.
I joined the others, sitting at one of the two empty workstations and preparing to interface. I hadn’t touched or even looked at my new Lore crafting profession, but since we had this downtime anyway, it was as good of a time as any to get started with it, and it would be good if something I crafted ended up being useful to our group.
Interfacing with the workstation was intuitive and natural, and once I had the connection, the station’s resources displayed in the corner of my AIVO. I opened the window for crafting, now seeing Lore as my primary profession despite the fact that I hadn’t done anything with any of the others and had yet to produce anything.
From what I’d read, I knew that players could learn basic crafting schematics from every non-class-exclusive crafting profession, intermediate schematics from two professions, and advanced/legendary schematics from only one profession unless otherwise noted in a player’s class. I also knew that basic schematics could only carry a player to level 5 in a profession that they didn’t know an intermediate schematic in, making it impossible to gain Artisan points from every crafting profession.
I opened my Lore crafting panel, connecting it with the supplies we had loaded into the crafting station. In addition to a 5% increase in XP gained from the workstation, it would also allow me to disassemble items, create certain things that weren’t possible otherwise, and have a higher chance of triggering the discovery mechanic and learning new schematics without having to visit a profession vendor or purchase a schematic encoding.
Lore (Class-Associated Crafting Profession)
Current Progression: Level 1 0/80 XP (100% XP remaining until next level.)
Current Artisan Points: 0
BP (Build Points) Until Next Guaranteed Discovery: 0/20 BP (100% to next discovery)
Discovery Rarity for Lore Level 1: 75% Common, 20% Uncommon, 4% Rare, 0.9% Mythic 0.1% ???
Boosts: (Workstation crafting) 5% increased experience gain, 1% increased chance to trigger the discovery mechanic and award bonus BP when crafting schematics.
Lore Crafting Schematics
Basic Schematics
Encode Rank 1 (100% XP remaining until next level.):
- Basic Quintessential Lore Schematic, 1 BP, 30-second craft time.
- Requires Lore Tablet. Limit 5 uses of Encode per day.
- Encode your memories to your Lore Tablet, transferring knowledge for future use. Higher ranks of Encode and greater Lore level will result in better quality and possible daily quantity of encodings.
Chronicler:
- Basic Quintessential Lore Schematic 10 BP, 20-minute craft time.
- Requires Workstation, Lore Tablet, 5 basic encodings, 2 basic metal, 2 basic electronics.
- Create a small portable device that will capture your memories in real time, creating up to 10 additional encodings per day. -50% chance to downgrade rarity tier when creating an encoding (to a minimum of basic). Higher ranks of Lore will improve this effect and increase the limit of encodings generated from this device.
Lore Tablet:
- Basic Quintessential Lore Schematic 10 BP, 25-minute craft time.
- Requires Workstation, 3 basic metal, 4 basic electronics, 1 basic data core, 1 basic biointerfacing module.
- Create a Lore Tablet that will serve as your primary crafting tool for your profession. This small portable device will serve to encode your memories, amplify your crafting potential, and aiding you in the creation of higher-level schematics through your profession. Higher ranks of Lore will increase the total amount of encodings you can store, and increase the quality of the items you create through this profession.
Intermediate Schematics
Advanced Schematics
Legendary Schematics
It was immediately apparent that I needed to create my Lore Tablet first to accomplish anything else. Fortunately, aside from rare crafting components, many raw resources were shared across the crafting profession spectrum, only differing in rarity. This simplified the economy and ease of access to entry-level crafting while maintaining the scarcity and value of high-end crafting materials. My Lore Tablet would take 25 minutes to craft, but a quick check of the workstation’s register showed we had everything I would need on hand in ample supply, and that the build didn’t require any materials above common rarity.
“What are you two working on?” I asked as I walked over to the supply bins to grab the parts I needed, taking only common-tier materials from our stash.
Brandon looked to be repetitively creating and disassembling low-level weapon mods. “Trying to proc the discovery mechanic and get new schematics to farm BP. My Weaponcrafting is at level five now and I’m trying to get it to ten for my first Artisan Point.”
Proc stood for programmed random occurrence, and although Brandon would be guaranteed a discovery every time he hit a BP threshold, he had a chance to trigger it every time he created something, though the chance was diminished the lower the item level and crafting requirements were.
Unlike Brandon’s mass volume strategy of crafting for quick XP and BP, Fen was taking her time on her current project, meticulously working on her rune. “I am working on my Master Rune. It takes one hundred hours of in-game time to craft, but once it is done I will be able to create lesser runes that modify its functions and abilities.”
“Wow,” I said. “I hope it works out for you, Fen. I’m sure you’ll get a ton of BP when that’s finished. Do you know how much?”
“It is worth 1,000 BP once I complete it.” Fen had already turned her attention back to her project, so I didn't bother asking what the Master Rune would do once she was done. The BP alone would probably carry her through several guaranteed discovery mechanic triggers. I was hoping Gwen would be back before she was done crafting it though.
With everything on hand and prepared, I was ready to start crafting my Lore Tablet at the workstation. The 10 build points from completing the schematic would push me halfway to my first guaranteed profession discovery, and I was excited to see how Lore could be a us
eful tool for my group in Eternity Online. Since it was the associated crafting profession with my Savant class, there could be the opportunity to learn class-exclusive Lore schematics along the way.
I opened the crafting interface at the workstation, pulling up the schematic and setting to work. The first step of the process was to cut the metal and build the base of my tablet. The schematic glowed to life on the work surface, telling me where to put the metal. I placed the small cubes of metal where they were requested, and the schematic guided me as I used a small plasma pen to cut the frame of my tablet, shaping and bending the metal to my specifications.
Crafting was a simplified process—you couldn’t mess anything up in basic crafting schematics as long as you put in the time and used the specified tool when and where it was requested. As you performed an action for the required time, the materials you worked on transformed into finished-looking parts. At least for the entry-levels of crafting, there was a lot of assistance through the process and very little manual skill was required—much less than say, shooting a blaster. Perhaps that would change later as I learned more complex crafting schematics.
Twenty-five minutes passed and I had my completed Lore Tablet in hand with the rudimentary software that I would need to encode my memories. Crafting the schematic had given me 10 BP, and 42 XP in Lore. With quick mental math, it appeared that the Lore Tablet had given me four times the base BP value as XP, and that the extra two XP points came from the 5% XP bonus from the crafting table. Those values might fluctuate with higher-level schematics, but I would know if they held up for basic schematic crafting soon.
Next, I spent the next two and a half minutes using the Encode schematic to create five basic encodings, stored as data on my Lore Tablet. Crafting them gave me 5 BP, 21 more XP in Lore, and 2% XP to the next rank of Encode. As far as an easy first level went, I was cruising through. I was already 63/80 XP to level 2 in my crafting profession, and I had yet to make my Chronicler that would aid me in profession progression even when I wasn't dedicating my time to crafting.
With my encodings ready to go and no new recipes learned through discovery, I started to work on my Chronicler, cutting the metal for the small geometric frame and inserting the electronics. I used my Lore Tablet to transfer the five basic encodings I had stored to power the device to life. When it was complete, I relished the sense of easy accomplishment as multiple prompts flashed across my AIVO.
Level Up! Lore Level 2
Congratulations! You have reached level 2 in Lore. Your next guaranteed discovery threshold and possible rarities for the discovery mechanic has been updated.
Current XP progression to level 3: 25/88 XP (72% XP remaining until next level.)
New Discovery! (Guaranteed Lore Discovery - Common)
Congratulations! You have hit the required BP threshold to discover your first Lore schematic of common rarity.
Shard of Knowledge Rank 1 (100% XP remaining until next rank.):
- Basic Lore Schematic, 1 BP, 30-second craft time.
- Requires Lore Tablet. 1 basic encoding, 1 basic data chit.
- Transfer an encoding to a data chit, creating a consumable item that grants a 1% increased experience gain buff that lasts 30 minutes. Shard of Knowledge cannot stack with itself, but consuming an additional Shard of Knowledge will refresh the duration of this buff.
Lore (Class-Associated Crafting Profession)
Current Progression: Level 2 25/88 XP (72% progression XP remaining until next level.)
Current Artisan Points: 0
BP (Build Points) Until Next Guaranteed Discovery: 5/22 BP (78% to next discovery)
Discovery Rarity for Lore Level 2: 74% Common, 21% Uncommon, 4% Rare, 0.9% Mythic, 0.1% ???
Boosts: (Workstation crafting) 5% increased experience gain, 1% increased chance to trigger the discovery mechanic and award bonus BP when crafting schematics.
The Shard of Knowledge would be a nice boost to XP for the party, but it would be expensive to maintain in terms of my resource economy with my current limitations. I would probably make a few of them to distribute to my friends, but I needed more discoveries to get a schematic that didn’t require encodings or gave me a better way to readily access them without such heavy restrictions. As of now, the best I could hope for was 15 per day, which would slow my crafting progression drastically.
Until my Chronicler could give me more encodings to work with for the day, I couldn’t progress further. Quintessential schematics like my Lore Tablet and Chronicler would go on a 24-hour cooldown if I destroyed my device to keep me from abusing the system and claiming the heavy XP and BP rewards from recrafting them. These restrictions were probably in place to keep me from making too much progress in my first day alone, though Brandon seemed to be having no trouble spamming his Weaponcrafting schematics at a much higher profession level than me.
“Kyle, give me your blaster, I’ll improve it,” Brandon said, pulling me out of my thoughts and plans.
I hadn’t even had the chance to use it yet, so I hesitated. “Is there any chance this backfires and my blaster becomes unusable? I don't want to have to go back to my old one, especially before I’ve had the chance to use this one.” I was still keeping my trusted EoeTech blaster in my inventory in case something went wrong with my new weapon. It couldn't hurt to have a backup blaster.
Brandon shrugged. “My crafting panel doesn't say anything about a chance for failure anywhere, and I haven't heard anything about that for anything less than advanced schematics. This is a basic schematic, and I'm going to install the new module I make directly into your blaster. I’ve done this same thing to my shotgun many times.”
“Ahh, well thanks, but my blaster doesn't have any more mod slots available, and I’d like to keep the ones I have now.”
Brandon grinned. “Doesn't take up a mod slot, that's the special property of Weaponsmith’s Oil. It’s the unique crafting mod I can make with my profession, I’m sure you'll have one with Lore that you’ll get when you hit level 5 in your profession. I just get extra XP if I do the install myself since this is my profession’s crafting mod. The oil is less effective the higher the rarity tier of the item it’s influencing, but it should cap out at 20% additional quality, which will translate to 20% increased stats for your blaster without any additional attribute requirements.”
“Oh wow, that’s incredible,” I remarked. 20% was significant, and any improvements we could make to our gear before arriving at the Strexian temple were welcomed. “It’s a Rare blaster, so what do you expect to spend?”
“Ten vials of oil. Rare items gain two percent quality with each Weaponsmith’s Oil spent. Mythics are one percent, and legendaries and prestige items are half a point. I can make up to twenty vials of oil a day, and I’m going to put five on your blaster now, five on Fen’s katana if she’ll let me, and the last ten on my shotgun.”
“Only if you are sure there is no chance you damage my weapons,” Fen said, sounding hesitant.
“None at all,” Brandon assured again.
Fen nodded. “Three on my katana and two on my tantō please,” she said, unfastening the cloth belts holding the blades. She passed the katana first, in its sheath, to Brandon before handing him the much shorter dagger-length blade. Both were elegant and regal, ornamented with the yōkai language—scrolling lines weaving together to form the beautiful, embellished characters. I was curious to see the item transcriptions for the weapons but didn’t want to intrude.
“Both are prestige quality, very nice,” Brandon remarked, taking five vials of the Weaponsmith’s Oil and applying them to the weapons per Fen’s request. He handed them back to Fen and she seemed happy with the improvements, thanking him before reattaching her blades to the light armor she wore under her robes and getting back to work on Runecrafting. “You’re up next Ky-Guy.”
I cringed but handed over my blaster anyway. “You know I hate it when you call me that.”
“Why else would I call you it?” he asked, app
lying all five vials of his Weaponsmith’s Oil to my blaster and handing it back to me. “Thanks for the extra profession XP.”
“I should have made you pay me for the privilege, especially with customer service like that,” I grumbled, checking my weapon’s new stats.
Retrodated Light Blaster Pistol (Rare)
Light Blaster Pistol. Retrodated.
+10% Quality.
- Requirements: Level 4, Tech 1.
- Overall Durability: 110/110 (10% increase from quality)
- Weight: 1.1 Standard Kg.
- Range: Short-range.
- Damage: 13-17(+1) plasma damage (+10% from quality)
Mods
- Pristine Barrel Break: +5% accuracy. +10% cooling power.
- Blackmarket Blaster Pistol Charge Pack: 100% charge remaining. +1 to weapon damage ceiling. Plasma Damage. Illegal.
- Micro-Targeting Sight: +8% accuracy.
Attributes
Retrodated
- The true manufacturing date and origin of this weapon cannot be traced through standard means. This can cause this weapon to be illegal in some galactic jurisdictions.
