by R. A. Mejia
Locate the Source
You have been tasked by Evanora Everwoods to find the source of the mutation of dungeon monsters.
Reward: 2,000 XP. Tier 2 spell or 10 gold.
I was amazed at the quest rewards. I knew how long it would take me to earn that much gold, even with my ability to refine precious metals. I did not know what a tier two spell was worth, but if it was being matched up against that much gold, it had to be powerful. But it was the XP that was the real prize. I needed as much as I could get if I was going to reach level 8 by the deadline given me.
“That’s amazing. Can everyone do that? Make their own quests and set the rewards?” I asked.
“Well, anyone can make a quest and offer up whatever rewards they want. But they have to have the resources to give. You can’t offer gold or XP you don’t have.”
“Wait, so the XP I get from quests is actually being taken from the quest giver?”
She smiled and answered, “Yes, where did you think it came from, thin air?”
“Then what stops people from forcing others to give them tons of quests and stealing their XP?”
“The World, or Gods if you prefer, will not let someone make a quest under duress. The rewards must be truly and freely offered.” I raised a finger to speak, but the witch continued, “Before you ask, yes there have been some unscrupulous people that have given gold in exchange for quests that drain experience points. But the practice is outlawed in most civilized nations with severe punishments for breaking the law.”
It was interesting to learn about a mechanic. My decades as a gamer had trained me to just accept the quest system without questioning it. I shrugged and turned my mind back to her request. Regardless of where it came from, I did need the gold and XP she offered. “I accept the quest. Though I’m not sure how I’ll find what you’re looking for.”
“You’ll find a way,” she said as she got up and began opening drawers and searching through the shelves of her home. “Ah, here it is,” she said as she plucked a palm-sized metallic square from behind a stack of dried herbs on a shelf. “This is a magical device that I used when I was an adventurer. Press the small red crystal in the center and it will let me know that you’ve found the source of the Infernal Crystals and lead me to you in the dungeon.”
I took the square of metal and used Inspect on it.
Magical Beacon
A magical homing beacon used by adventurers to find one another. Created in pairs, one emits a unique magical energy that can be detected by the matched pair.
“Well, thank you for this. I’ll be sure to use it when I’ve completed the quest. In the meantime, though, do I still get the spell you promised for the Infernal Crystal I brought you?”
“Of course, my good Metalman. Of course, you do.” She squinted at me as if examining me and said, “At your level, I can show you a spell to create water, purify food and drink, detect natural or primitive traps, make ghost-like sounds, and how to move very light objects with your thoughts. Or, if you are looking for another combat spell, I could teach you one that causes minor cold damage with a touch or creates a small globe of acid that you can throw.”
I thought about my choices. I discarded anything to do with eating or drinking as I did neither, and I felt fairly confident with my ability to spot a natural trap. I also already had a spell that I could use to make loud sounds. Which left the combat spells. “I’ll take the one that creates a globe of acid.”
She smiled and there was a twinkle in her eye. “Of course. That’s an excellent choice. Though, the acid globe doesn’t do as much damage as say, Firebolt, very few creatures have any resistance to it, and it will quickly damage durability, giving you a chance to break a weapon or armor.”
“Thanks. Let me just get set up to learn the spell,” I said. Then, just like when I’d learned Minor Regeneration from her, I activated Magic Spell Scanning. My vision turned red, and I focused my attention on the witch who was sitting next to me. “Target: Evanora Everwoods.” In my vision, the witch turned green and everything else returned to its normal color.
“Ok, I’m all set. Just perform the spell and I’ll take care of the rest,” I said.
The Everwoods Witch went through the hand gestures and incantations of the spell slowly, as if she wanted to make sure that I saw and heard everything. It was kind of her, although unneeded, as my ability would scan every move of her hands and fingers and each word she uttered so that it would copy the spell.
Spell scan complete.
Spell: Minor Acid Globe. Components: 0.12 lbs rusted metal. Minor Acid Globe schema recorded and added to the database.
The spell recorded I thanked Evanora, left her home, and went to make me some rusted metal to test out the spell.
Chapter 23- Realizations
It wasn’t hard to make rusted metal. It just took a little iron exposed to water overnight while I fabricated items and ammunition to earn XP. The next morning I was off bright and early from the Institute, eager to test out my new infusion and work towards my next level.
I went directly to the sixth level of the dungeon and with my Flintlock Rifle in hand looked for a monster. The forest was full of sound and life, though none of the monsters presented themselves as targets. I returned to the stream I’d visited the day before, hoping for another chance to take advantage of the antagonisms between groups of hunting monsters and grazers, but there were only a few foxes and birds at the water’s edge.
“Well, I only need one for target practice, don’t I?” I asked myself quietly. I called the command for the Minor Acid Globe, felt the mana and material component leave me, and a green glow surrounded my right hand as I applied it. I pointed my right hand, palm out, and called out the name of the spell. “Minor Acid Globe.” A green tennis-ball-sized green goop formed in front of my palm and then shot out like a baseball pitch. The globe arced a bit but landed behind the fox and the birds and broke apart upon impact. The green goop exploded and splashed everywhere hitting both the fox and the birds. I saw red 2s and 3s float away from the animals as they scattered. It was disappointing considering that Firebolt did about 5 or 6 damage for the same mana cost. I supposed the spell would be more effective if I could find a group of monsters that were more tightly packed together. I put the spell out of my mind as a specialty tool that would need the proper setup and continued into the forest to look for more monsters to kill.
The dense forest canopy made spotting anything challenging, but after a while, I heard snorting and rustling. I stopped, rifle raised and primed to fire, and listened. The sounds came again from my left, and I carefully pushed through the bushes to see what had made the sounds.
Below me, in a ragged depression between forested hills, there was a monstrous beast the size of a rottweiler with wide hips, thick black tufted fur, and white spines growing along its back. Inspect called it a Level 6 Razorback Badger, and it waddled through the forest undergrowth, shoving its nose into the ground and between the roots of the trees looking for food. I thought it would be an easy kill since it was alone and moved so slowly. I took aim with my Flintlock Rifle and fired, but instead of taking off a chunk of the monster's health, its thick fur absorbed the damage. The monster turned, bared its sharp teeth at me, and its entire body began glowing blue. It then rolled into a ball and sped toward me much faster than I had thought a creature its size would have been able to. I switched out rifles and took another shot, but I missed the moving target completely. And then the Razorback Badger rammed right into me. I was knocked back onto my iron-plated butt with the sharp spines from the creature’s fur-covered back scoring deeply into my armor plating. I managed to get back onto my feet, but I had to quickly back away as the beast was already swiping at me with its claws. I grabbed the Blacksmith Hammer from my internal inventory and went on the defensive, taking two claw attacks to my shin plates.
I raised the two-handed hammer over my head and brought it down on the monster again and again, but the creature’s low cent
er of gravity and its furry hide made it challenging to get a good hit. I changed my angle of attack and swung the hammer like it was a golf club, knocking the Badger back enough to give me some space. The creature wasn't nearly as agile outside its ball form, and I was able to keep just out of its reach while attacking with my weapon. It was hard to avoid all its fierce bites and slashes, and not only was my shin armor torn to shreds, but I'd lost 25 HP, almost two-thirds of my total health before I got the notification telling me that I’d won the fight.
The fight reminded me that, even with my new powerful weapon and iron plating, I wasn’t invincible. I needed to improve my combat skills and upgrade my ability to do more damage. Greebo was still leveling Manny and the other goblins so that we could get back to earning money. I could hire help from the Adventurer’s Guild, but there was no consistency there, and I needed someone that I could count on twenty-four hours a day. Which led me back down a progression path that I'd put off since I received the challenge from the Gnome Council: my mechanical companion.
I'd gotten the option to build one when I chose my Inventor specialty at level five, but I hadn't had the time or money to buy the components I needed to make it. Some of the parts were expensive, but with my improved skills in Metalworking, I could cut those costs down.
The more I thought about it, the more the idea appealed to me. I could create something like me, something mechanical that wouldn’t tire or get sick. Something that I could repair. It could keep up with my schedule to earn enough XP to level and fill in the gaps that I had in my skill set. The only question was: What kind of mechanical companion would I create? I knew that I needed to scan a monster or animal of medium or small size that would provide the core form for my companion.
So, I decided to gather as many scans as possible before making a decision.
“Command: Activate Companion Design Program.”
Program active. Please scan the animal or monster you wish to use as a template for your companion.
I tried to scan the corpse of the Razorback Badger I’d just killed.
Error. Animal or monster you wish to scan must be living.
That the creature had to be alive if I was going to get a scan was another problem. While I had the patience to wait until a monster came within scanning distance, I was still on a deadline to reach level 8.
I started with scans of the creatures on this level as I hoped that they'd be more powerful than the ones on the floors above. I used my deconstruction tool to dig a five-foot-deep hole and then made a lid out of branches tied together with some leather cord that I had in my pack and camouflaged it with leaves, sticks, and other bits of the forest floor. After, I laid out meat harvested from the Razorback Badger and waited in my camouflaged hole.
It took half an hour of patient waiting, but eventually, scavengers came. There was a three-foot-long red fox with a floating flame above its head, a quick, white-furred weasel, and a blue bird with a four-foot wingspan that crackled with electric energy. The animals didn't notice me since I could hold perfectly still and didn't breathe or make any sounds, and I was able to get several good scans.
Fire Fox
Level 1
HP 5/5
Lightning Condor
Level 1
HP 5/5
Wind Weasel
Level 1
HP 5/5
Even if the monster was of a higher level, the scans always returned the monster as a level 1 version. I knew that it would mean that I would have to level up my Mechanical Companion, but that also meant that I could choose how to upgrade it.
As I sat and watched, a large four-legged figure came out of the forest. It was the same kind of monster as the one that fought the Quartz Wapiti, but it was limping, which might have explained why it wasn't with a pack. Still, it came in and chased off the scavengers and ate most of the meat that was left, which allowed me the chance to pop up the lid of my hidey-hole enough to scan it.
Shadow Wolf
Level 1
HP 7/7
The higher initial HP of the Shadow Wolf likely reflected its higher starting stats, which meant that it was a contender as a choice for a Mechanical Companion. After I scanned the monster, I took aim with my Flintlock Rifle at the monster’s head and fired. The sound of the gunpowder explosion staggered me since it echoed in the hole, and the smoke obscured my vision. I fully expected to have to fend off the Shadow Wolf as I leapt out with my rifle held in two hands in front of me. But the already-injured beast lay on its side on the ground with a large portion of its skull blown away by the clean headshot. The monster still had a small amount of HP and squirmed and growled at me as I approached. A small part of me almost felt bad for the dying animal as I finished it off with a second shot. But a larger part saw the wolf as only so much XP that I needed.
Getting a scan of the elk-like Quartz Wapiti was easier. I dug another hole near the stream and waited for over an hour before a herd of the creatures came by to drink. There was no big fight with a pack of wolves this time--which I was grateful for, as I was only feet away from the creatures and would have been trampled.
Quartz Wapiti
Level 1
HP 9/9
It was unfortunate that they were considered large creatures since it meant that I wouldn't be able to craft a mechanical companion from their scan, and all thoughts of me riding through the dungeon on a mechanical mount fled my mind.
I repeated the procedure on each of the previous floors I'd completed, hiding in holes or somewhere else while collecting scans of every monster or creature that I'd come across in the dungeon. I still got plenty of kills in and kept up my XP gains until I got to the third floor where I stopped getting XP. Still, I kinda felt like a Pokémon trainer trying to catch 'em all and get scans of every monster.
Just call me Repair Catchem, cause I eventually did get scans of all of them too. The mudmen were the most challenging because they could sense me even without seeing me, and they didn’t roam around like most of the other monsters. I ended up killing the other monsters in a group just to isolate the individual mudmen I needed to scan. The side benefit to this was that I was finally able to test out Magic Spell Scanning on the Mudmage and get a schema for the Earth Grasp they used.
Earth Grasp - Creates a hand from the earth that grasps the legs or body of the target. Components: Miniature Clay Hand. Cost: 15 Mana
It was such an exciting new infusion that I immediately left the dungeon and went to the Crafter’s District to commission several small clay hands from a sculptor. They cost me a silver, but would be worth their weight if they worked as well as they did for the Mudmages.
I traveled to the fourth floor to test out the infusion and to get my scans of the creatures on the level. I quickly spotted a red Salamander skirting along the rock floor of the almost entirely underground level of the dungeon. I infused the Earth Grasp spell into my right hand and felt the loss of the 15 mana and the miniature clay hand disappeared from my internal inventory. I knew the infusion would last up to thirty minutes before it had to be cast, but I didn’t want to wait. I targeted the Salamander and whispered the name of the spell, “Earth Grasp.” The ground trembled beneath the monster, and the rock broke apart as a four-inch-tall hand made of earth reached up out of the ground and grabbed the Salamander’s left hind leg. The three-foot-tall monster snapped and clawed at the earthen hand that held it, and the creation slowly broke apart as it was damaged by tooth and claw.
I was a little underwhelmed since the Mudmage was able to create a large, person-sized hand that was capable of fully engulfing a grown man. Still, I did not want to waste this chance to get the scan I needed. I opened the Companion Design program and got the lower level 1 version of the monster scan I needed while it was trying to free itself.
Salamander
Level 1
HP 6/6
As soon as the scan showing a Salamander’s unleveled base stats was completed, the monster freed itself from the Earthen Gra
sp, turned toward me, and rushed forward with a hiss. I called the Flintlock Rifle from my internal inventory space, brought the butt of the gun to my shoulder, aimed and fired. But the monster evaded my rushed shot and closed the distance between us. It belched a gout of flame at me that singed my iron plating and the wooden shoulder stock of the rifle. I struck out with the stock and knocked the monster back a foot without doing any real damage. But the move wasn’t intended to hurt the creature as much as give me the moment I needed to send the rifle back into my internal inventory and call out my Iron Blacksmith Hammer. The six-pound tool was lighter than the rifle, but it was less balanced, and the weapon’s heavy head shifted my weight to the right before I changed my grip to compensate. The moment of distraction was all the Salamander needed as it snaked in and slashed at my legs with its long claws. There was a screech as the monster’s claws skidded off the iron plating, and I kicked out to give myself more room. The kick landed, and the monster was knocked backward. I lifted the Blacksmith Hammer above my head and swung down at the Salamander. The blow connected with a thud as the flat side of the weapon hit the monster’s back, knocking its breath out of it along with a burst of fire. My feet were singed by the flames, and I turned the hammer so that the wedge side was faced down and swung again. There was a burst of blood and guts as the wedge cut into the monster and severed its spine. It took two more swings of the hammer to finish off the crippled monster and get the XP from the kill.
