Survival Quest (The Way of the Shaman: Book #1)

by Vasily Mahanenko

  Skill increase:

  +1 to Charisma. Total: 4

  +1 to Trade. Total: 5

  "All right, but it's still one gold per stone from you, Mahan," mumbled the Dwarf, annoyed. "That's not a whim of mine, that's the price set by our boss after you made that Rose."

  I left Rine to himself and headed for the pile. I needed just eight stones for my idea, but I did not want to take any chances and decided to have some backup. I turned each stone in my hand, trying to listen to myself, but didn't feel anything particularly supernatural. It might be that to start seeing the essence of things I'll have to walk around for two weeks with each stone, as I did with the Rose, to understand what it really is. So I picked twenty stones at random and went over to my Shaman's Spot. It was time to set my plan in motion.

  Chapter 7

  The Pryke Mine. First months. Part 3

  In the evening I witnessed a somewhat entertaining auction. A large crowd of prisoners were arguing amongst themselves over their turn for buying rings with a +2 stat bonus. At some point someone shouted that he's prepared to pay 5 and a half gold for a ring if he's served before the rest, the crowd went quiet for a few seconds and then all hell broke loose... In a couple of hours Kart brought me a list of the people in the queue, which made for quite a shock when I looked at it:

  Dirk. 4 Rings with +2 to Strength, 11 gold per ring.

  Grom. 4 Rings with +2 to Strength, 11 gold per ring.

  Alt...

  Altogether the list documented an order for 94 rings worth 800 gold in total. With my current level in Jewelcraft this meant four to five days of intense work. The opportunity for such profit was not to be missed.

  In the morning I spent a couple of hours on creating the Rose, reducing it three times in size and then trying to combine it with an existing ring. I then tried to repeat this with a ring as it was being created. Then I simply tried to screw the Rose on top of a ring, but all to little effect: the number of stats did not increase. The ring had +2 and the Rose had +3, but when I combined them it did not result in a +5. I only got +3 Intellect, whatever I tried to do. After a couple of hours of experiments I gave up. I had jumped the gun when I thought that the orc's quest was as good as done. Things turned out to be not that simple: the ring (my plan was to make a gem ring) just wasn't happening. Well, technically it was, but only with +3 Intellect. When I changed the Rose's Intellect to Strength in order to have something useful in the mine, the Rose turned to stone dust and the ring reverted to its +2 bonus. A pity. I spent a few more hours creating my third Rose, but making it in the original size this time, put it on the table, spread the metal sheets around it and then tried to think. But the thinking wasn't going too well and I just stared at the sheets like I was seeing them for the first time. Not a single thought appeared in my head. After a while I felt that there was someone else in the smithy aside from Kart and myself. I reconnected with reality and turned around.

  Alt stood by the table and looked at the sheets, mumbling something under his breath.

  "Mahan," he turned to me, when I came up to greet him and ask what he was doing here. "I came here to buy some paints off Rine and saw your sheets on the table. Tell me, have you already picked a pattern for your chain?"

  "My chain?" I asked in surprise.

  "Aren't you making the Regional Governor's Chain? Before my imprisonment I saw several pictures where town governors sported these chains, made up of connected shaped metal sheets, with the symbol of the city at the bottom. So if you see the Rose as the symbol of the province," said Alt and started to shift the sheets around the table, "and connect the rest of these, you'll end up with quite a nice-looking chain. But you'll have to cut something interesting out of these sheets, to go with the Rose, or it won't look right. That's the kind of chain regional Governors wear."

  'I need a present for the Regional Governor to confirm the status of my mine as one of the best.' I remembered the boss's words. Then I finally guessed that the orc knew what we had to do, but had left it to us to figure out the way! That's why Kart's task was to make the sheets. I'm such a blockhead! Why did I get all hung up on the rings? I can also make chains, I just completely forgot about it - because of the high demand for rings crafting chains didn't make a lot of sense. I would probably never have remembered if it hadn't been for Alt.

  "Alt, would you like to get a couple of rings with +2 Strength?" I asked Alt and, seeing his immediate interest, continued, "You’re entirely correct, I need some sort of a pattern that could be cut out from the sheets. I can cut it out, all right, but I can't draw it. You're the only one that can draw in the mine, so I need your help. On each sheet you'll draw a picture for cutting out and I'll give you two rings for the job. Deal?"

  Skill increase:

  +10% to Charisma. Total: 40%

  A rather pleased Alt headed off to do his drawings, while I spent several hours on making the rings and instructing Kart, who was having real difficulty with my request. Certain elements came out well, but problems arose when it came to combining them: Kart was short of another pair of hands: to support here, bang there or twist over here. But, swearing and cursing the day he ever agreed to do this thankless task, he did not give up. 'Promises have to be kept," repeated Kart under his breath after he ruined another set of crafting materials.

  Towards the end of the day I had more of a chance to do some work for myself. I leant on the smithy wall and took out one of the stones. I then closed my eyes and tried to feel what this stone wanted to be. I sat like that for a few minutes and understood that this stone just wanted to be a stone, since I wasn't getting anything else from it. But what if I tried a different approach?

  I closed my eyes again and tried to draw with my imagination the shape that I wanted to get. It was slow going at first, since the shape constantly blurred, first becoming a Rose, then a pick, a couple of times there was even a Rat looking at me out of my imagination, but I forced these visions away and started again. I knew the result I was going for and I just had to force my brain to picture it. At last the desired object made an appearance: I was looking at a 3D image of the item. Now came the interesting part. I imagined a piece of stone next to this image and tried to combine them, connect my image to the stone. At first the stone and the item repelled each other like two repelling magnets, but my insistence and obstinacy did the trick. The virtual shape connected with the virtual stone. Pleased with the result, I opened my eyes.

  Class ability "Change of essence" acquired: you are able to change the essence of a thing. Attention! This ability only works with inanimate objects and does not permit a change of essence in objects protected with spells of the 'Essence shield' level or higher. The level of the object whose essence can be changed depends on the character level.

  Only now could I feel the wrongness and falseness of the stone. And I knew why - I felt the essence of the stone, which now wanted to be the object whose essence I had just imprinted. Just think what this could mean for future crafting work! I quickly removed all the unwanted bits from the stone and looked at the message telling me that I created a new Jewelcraft recipe and a Precious Stone with a +1 to Stamina. I had also increased my Jewelcraft by 9%, but it was strange that the discovery of this recipe did not lead to an increase in Crafting. So, Crafting does not increase with items made using a known creation path, but only with truly unique objects. All right, something to remember for the future. The main thing is that I managed it without getting stuck for two days like last time. I had to create just seven items for my idea to come to life.

  All of the following day I used the newly created recipe to make things I had conceived out of the stones, although I destroyed almost half of the stones while I was at it. Changing the essence of some stones made them crumble to dust. They probably really didn't want to be what I suggested they should become. It was their choice and it was just as well that I had some extra stones. I gave the crafted objects to Kart, explaining their purpose, and then began to make the rings - the wai
ting list was still there and people were already asking when it was going to be their turn.

  Two days later Alt brought the sheets marked with the drawings. I spread them on the table and examined the designs. On one hand Alt certainly had talent - each sheet depicted some kind of a flower, many had intertwining leaves, some even had dewdrops and one flower sported an ant. On the other hand Alt was very far from getting the plan off the ground: when I asked him how on earth could any of this be cut out, he shrugged and said that his task was to come up with the concept and mine was to bring it to life.

  Arming myself with cutters, files and metal canvases, I began the crafting work, removing millimeter by millimeter from the sheet. The smithy was filled with such an unpleasant and irritating squeaking that Kart grumbled, suddenly remembering that he had many things to do in the barracks, and I soon found myself alone. At one point I lost my concentration and made a wrong move, and the sheet simply broke into several pieces. I looked at the other sheets in puzzlement. Does this mean that if I make a mistake the sheet will simply fall apart? On one hand this is understandable: 20 sheets were too high a number for the Chain; but on the other, if I had to proceed like a minesweeper, the speed of my work would be drastically reduced. And I only had five days ahead of me.

  I fastened the next sheet in a grip and began to work it with even greater care. I cut off the excess pieces by micrometers not millimeters this time, and then...

  "Mahan, how long are you going to be making that infernal noise?" Kart returned to the smithy, looking far from pleased. "You're disrupting everyone's work - the whole mine is echoing this awful sound you're making, it's enough to make your ears bleed."

  I jerked the canvas in surprise and once again was left with a pile of broken pieces.

  "Hey, why are you destroying the sheets?" asked Kart, surprised, when he saw me going through the shards. "That's not what I made them for. Look, that's the second one you've broken. Just can't get the hang of it?"

  I shook my head, took the sheet with one of the simplest drawings and went off for a think. I was doing something wrong, but what...

  I closed my eyes and created a sheet in my mind. I was surprised how easy that was: probably by now I was used to doing these things. The drawing on the sheet took a bit more effort, but in the end I also imagined it on the metal surface. I had a three dimensional model of the sheet that I could begin to work with. As I touched the sheet to cut out the pattern it curled into a ring. Right, this piece of metal contains the essence of a ring, but for some reason I'm not feeling it. I’m probably not high enough level for that. It means that if I start to cut out the drawing, this sheet will fall apart like the others. What a stumbling block.

  As soon as I unbent the ring back into a sheet, at the edge of my consciousness I heard a sharp sound of breaking metal and my virtual sheet broke into many pieces. I opened my eyes and saw the shards of the bent sheet in my hands. So if I'm crafting in my mind, the same thing is taking place for real? Which means that I created a ring out of the sheet and then broke it. It's quite convenient actually, the fact that I don't need to work with my hands, definitely something to look into. This didn't happen with rings made from wire: I built their model in my head or deformed them, but nothing happened outside my head. So why was it happening here? Was it because I was holding the primary material in my hands? I really must get to the bottom of this, as this ability will be very useful later in the game.

  With my mind rested I got back to work. I had 17 sheets left and I needed 15 for a decent chain. This meant that at the most I had two more attempts to get my head around the rules.

  Another sheet appeared in my mind.

  So, each sheet contains the essence of a ring. But what if we try to replace it with a different essence? I sketched out the drawing separately in my mind and tried to combine it with the sheet. Once again, this had an effect like repelling magnets, I applied a bit of pressure, there was a bang... and I was left with only 16 sheets - and just one more try. I could not ask Kart to make additional sheets - this could fail his quest, as he was clearly told to make no more than 20 sheets. If he made more, his quest would fail.

  The next sheet flew apart when I set aside virtual crafting and once again tried to cut it with normal tools. Right, now I really am like a minesweeper, no room for a mistake. I just had to decide whether to make it normally or by crafting it in my mind.

  I left the sheets alone for four days. I completed all the rings on the list, increased my reputation by 56 points with the help of the Rats, now I had 1629 points remaining until Respect. The time set aside for the quest was running out, but as soon as I thought of making the chain, I was seized with involuntary shaking. I was afraid that I would fail and because of me Kart might not gain his freedom. The less time remained the greater this fear grew. In the end I got myself into such a state that I began to doubt whether I would be able to complete the quest at all.

  Kart kept quiet, without hurrying or bothering me needlessly, since he saw the state I was in. Even the new people joining the queue for the rings started to come only at the end of the working day, not to get in the way of the 'mad Shaman'.

  Tomorrow I have to hand in the quest to the orc.

  "You know, Mahan," Kart said as he sat next to me. He looked at the sheets laid out on the table in the shape of a chain with the Rose at its head and continued: "I think that you should not stress so much over this. Even if you don't manage to get this done, the last month had shown me that it is possible to live in the mine not just by using other people, but by your own efforts. When I leave prison I plan to try my hand at blacksmithing. You wouldn't believe how much I came to enjoy swinging the hammer and seeing a result on the other end. Here at the mine we have a good chance to train ourselves up in this, so if we don't manage to complete the quest tomorrow, it's not the end of the world. Life will go on. You'll continue making the rings and when you reach the limit of your current professions, you'll start to level up in Smithing and Leatherworking. So you should not see being unable to complete the quest as losing. You have to look at the bigger picture and not just single out certain details, even the really painful ones.”

  Heaving a deep sigh, Kart supportively patted me on the back and went to the barracks. At that moment I sensed that Kart had given me an enormous clue, but what was it? I played back our conversation several times in my head and for a while could not understand what it was that struck me. Then it hit me: "You have to look at the bigger picture and not just single out certain details."

  I looked at the laid out sheets with the flower drawings on them and suddenly understood it all. Looking at the big picture! I sat myself down comfortably, closed my eyes and began to form one sheet after another in my mind. It was difficult and took a while, but I felt that I was on the right track. When the fifteen sheets presented themselves before my eyes, I added the Rose to them. Now I could begin. What I did before could not be called anything other than doing violence to the sheets - I bent them, forced some incorrect essences on them. It was all wrong. What I needed was to be found on a different plane.

  I mentally removed the flower drawn by Alt from each sheet and moved the sheets aside. They were only getting in the way. The main work had to be done with the drawing and not with the sheets. I took the first flower, once again admiring its beauty, and began to make it three dimensional. I looked at the resulting model from all sides, correcting it here and there, adding details that were not visible on the initial drawing. After some time instead of a flat projection of a flower I was looking at a beautiful 3D flower, surrounded from all sides with broad leaves, dew drops rolling down them. Yes, that's the result I needed. Such a flower would look amazing together with my Rose.

  I repeated this operation with the rest of the drawings and combined them into a chain, putting my rose at its head. The result was magnificent, but it was just a see-through projection. The main task still remained: to make the physical chain. I took the sheets that had I put aside, p
ut them in the same order as the chain and then slowly began to bring them closer together. If I had been able to close my eyes in this design mode, I'd have closed them for sure - my nerves were that tense. This was the moment of truth, a make or break. Now I could even lose my Rose.

  The chains combined instead of breaking and the sheets began to flow into the images of flowers, giving them physical form. Yes! I did it! I turned the resulting chain in front of me a few more times and opened my eyes. Although the daylight was fading, I was surrounded by light: a chain made of flowers shone brightly in my hands.

  Item created: Kameamia (item name given automatically). Intellect +6, Stamina +5. Item class: Unique. Minimum level: 10.

  Skill increase:

  +1 to Crafting. Total: 2

  +1 to primary profession of Jewelcraft. Total: 8

  Attention! This item cannot be repeated. There is no recipe.