AVARICE ONLINE: KEL'VAN RED HAND

by Titus Nettles

  “Before you begin cutting, picture the shape of the weapon you are forging inside of this bone, and then begin cutting. I can’t tell you how to do it, but as you cut, force your will through the crystal.” He tapped the sitting orc on the shoulder. “I’ll be cutting the head bone from two of the giant lizards we got yesterday for your uh…what did you call it?”

  “Tower shield,” grinned Kel’Van.

  “Yeah, that thing…It will be two containers for both the practice shield your gonna make and the tower shield + gauntlets, Deal?”

  “I can live with that Ulgo Longtooth,” smiled Kel’Van.

  “And don’t worry about honorifics in here, Longtooth be fine while we are all in this shop here. Just leave the payment on the shelf before we leave.”

  With that said, Longtooth left Kel’Van alone with a thighbone the size of a whole arm in a vise. Just waiting for Kel’Van to turn it into a weapon. He laid his left hand on the bone and tried to imagine the sword trapped inside of it. It needed to be freed with the shiny blade in his right hand. He slowly put his knife toward the bone and began cutting. At first, there wasn’t any give, but as soon as he concentrated his will into the blade, the shards of bone began to peel off with every stroke. He still wasn’t quite getting a feel for it, so the cuts were haphazard and tentative. He put the blade down.

  “This is not working...”

  He looked at the enormous bone again in the vice, frustration mounting in his chest. Kel’Van closed his eyes and pictured the sword once again within, trapped just waiting to be released. How do I get to the sword? He pushed his frustration at the object in his mind. Then almost unbidden, his mind placed a fire around the picture of the bone.

  “Of course,” he thought. He mentally said “burn” in his mind, and then he imagined himself cutting around the edges where the bone broke off from the heat of the flame. With a smile, he opened his eyes and laid the knife against the edge of its white surface. He pictured flame highlighting where he needed to cut with the blade. Confidence now brewing inside of him, he began to push his will through the crystal tool and began cutting while the image in his mind was superimposed over the bone, guiding his hand.

  Two hours passed as Kel’Van’s sword was laid bare in the vice. It was roughly made with the blade’s surface being rather bulky compared to what his own sword was. But its edge was very sharp from the constant slicing of the crystalline knife. Looking at the edge made him decide to put little serrated notches in the sword's sharp end so that it could cut better. It also reminded him briefly of how his own knives looked before…well before he came here. 40 minutes later, Kel’Van checked his inventory for armor as well as a jar of arachnid ichor. Slowly he heated the pot of ichor under his flamed hand till the ichor became an almost honey-like consistency. He took some loose armor from his inventory, then cut off a piece of leather from the pants leg. Kel’Van then slowly covered the underside of it with the ichor. Wrapping the ichor laden leather around the butt-end of the sword, he waited an hour for it to harden. Once he was satisfied it was dry, he picked up the first weapon he created. He twisted the sword to and fro. It wasn’t a work of art, but it would it will serve its purpose if needed. And to be honest, Kel’Van still felt proud of what he created with his own two hands.

  While holding the rough blade, he noticed a familiar green tint around the sword’s hilt. At first, he could not remember what that meant, but he knew it was important. He closely scanned the item to see what was so familiar about it and was rewarded with prompts on his D.S. screen.

  Congratulations! You have learned the Armor subskill: Weapons Level 1!

  Congratulations! You have learned the Armor subskill: Enchanting Level 1!

  Congratulations! You have created an uncommon item! Weapons skill Level 2!

  Congratulations! You are now Weapons Level 2!

  Congratulations! You are now Enchanting Level 2!

  “Holy shit!” stammered Kel’Van. The multitude of alerts on his screen staggered him initially. Then it hit him like a brick why the sword glowed green. It was enchanted…by him. He quickly looked up the item again to see its properties.

  Crafted uncommon crude short sword: attack power +2: chance to flame target 2%.

  “So, the level of the item is proportionate of the skill being used,” he whispered to himself. A smile played upon his face as he realized what he could do. “I’m an enchanter man!” He announced, just as a couple of apprentice orcs came to his table with startled looks on their faces.

  The furthest one in the back came forward and did a light bow before speaking. “Is everything well Ulgo Red-hand?”

  “Yes, thank you…I just got excited that I could enchant…sorry about the yelling guys,” Kel’Van said sheepishly with a grin.

  The Semi-worried faces of these orcs loosed up upon hearing these words. “It is understandable Ulgo Red-hand, we were all excited when we first enchanted a weapon as well. Though we usually do not use elemental crystals on items that are of umm…crude quality,” said the orc, obviously nervous about putting his foot in his mouth by disrespecting an Ulgo.

  Kel’Van picked up his knife and looked at it, turning the blade in his hand. “Ulgo Longtooth did not say there was anything remotely “elemental” about this knife.”

  The apprentice orcs looked at each other, while one covered his mouth in an attempt to stifle laughter. The one in front turned on that orc quickly, and the offending orc quickly regained his composure. After a long stare at the other orc, the leader of this group addressed Kel’Van once more.

  “My apologies Ulgo Red-hand, I did not properly explain myself. The crystalline knife is just a tool used to shape our weapons. An elemental crystal is a shard from a dead elemental or found in the wild”. He looked at the table in surprise. “Forgive my impetuousness Ulgo Red-hand but where is your elemental crystal?”

  “This is all I have…” said Kel’Van, who was now getting frustrated. “Okay, enough of this. Somebody get Ulgo Longtooth in here.”

  “Yes, Ulgo Red-hand.” The bold apprentice pointed at the orc who had been snickering earlier,” You! Go tell the Armor master that Ulgo Red-Hand needs his assistance!” He then bowed his head and returned to his table. The other apprentices followed his lead and did the same.

  Shortly, Ulgo Longtooth appeared. He looked put upon from the start.

  “Okay, what are you wanting my attention for?”

  Kel’Van showed him the crudely made short sword. Ulgo Longtooth was not impressed.

  “Well, ain’t that cute. I wasn’t going to teach anything about enchanting till we got you to level 10 in weapons. It’s just wasting valuable material otherwise. But hey, it’s your crystal, not mine,” the condescending orc replied.

  “The only crystal I used was the knife in my hand,” anger slowly threatening to the surface. He was getting rather tired of the people behaving like he was an idiot. He then tossed the knife next to the sword like throwing trash out and looked Longtooth in the eye. “Now how about you start explaining things like an adult, instead of treating me like some red-headed stepchild or your new armorer is going to start walking.”

  They watched each other, both of them not even blinking. Then Longtooth waved his hand dismissively at him.

  “Fair enough.”

  Ulgo Longtooth pulled up a seat from the other empty tables and sat down next to Kel’Van. “As I said earlier, ya don’t use crystals capable of enchanting items on “crude” items. That same crystal could be better used on a common or exquisite item. It’s like putting a dress on a male orc. Sure, the dress is cute, but it’s not going to shine as it would on a female orc, now is it?”

  Kel’Van nodded his agreement.

  “Now to the other thing. Shamans, even myself, can’t enchant items unless we have an elemental crystal. The fact that you did it solidifies that you’re exactly what Earth speaker said you were. An orc that’s at least half-elemental.”

  Kel’Van started to say something, but Lo
ngtooth raised his hand in defiance.

  “Don’t go telling me what ya ain’t, when I know what a crafter can and cannot do. How about you save your yappin for explaining just how you were able to perform this minor miracle, eh?”

  Kel’Van went through the process of what led to his creating the enchanted sword. Ulgo Longtooth nodded at certain places, and his eyes expressed surprise at others until he finished his tale.

  “Ha!” the armorer said while slapping the table. “Ain’t that something. It’s for sure a little different from how most people enchant items, but not by much. It’s just you’re your own elemental crystal is all,” grinned Ulgo Longtooth. “Here is what I want ya to do. Concentrate on making more of these short swords. It’ll help ya get closer to 5 in both enchanting and weapons. Till ya hit that magic number, everything you make is going to be low grade. Mark my words, everything, including your overall armoring skill will rank up. That’s when you start to see what ya can REALLY make!”

  The buoyant Head armorer got up from his seat with a smile and started back to his own office when Kel’Van laid a hand on his shoulder.

  “Hey, I apologize for how I spoke to you earlier. I could have said it a lot better than how it came out.”

  “Don’t fret over it Ulgo, I was treating ya like an idiot. But I do got something I almost forgot to tell ya about. When you start experimenting with the enchanting thing, see how much it costs in terms of mana to make things and such. You might be able to put a decent enchant on that practice shield.!” And with that, Longtooth lumbered his way out of the room.

  Kel’Van didn’t mind apologizing to people if he felt he was wrong, but he seemed to always catch an attitude quicker with civilians. Make no mistake, even with the title of Ulgo attached to Longtooth's name, that is what he was. A civilian. Someone who didn’t exactly fit in the chain of command. But prejudices aside, he was going to have to work for and with the orc. There was no reason to make an enemy of him if he didn’t need to.

  With Longtooth retreating back to his office space, Kel’Van set himself back to work on his crafting. An orc in training left some more extra bones in a pile next to his workstation. He practiced the shaping of his short swords using the same technique as before. Picturing a fire in his minds’ eye around the bone as he pushed his will through the crystal knife. He performed this for 5 hours. The late morning sun had given way to late day darkening as he finished his 7th sword. Kel’Van had raised his enchanting and weapon armor subskill to level 3. In fact, after looking at his D.S. and enlarging the subskill screen, he could actually see a progression bar showing how far along with levels he was after each crafting. What he also noticed with experimentation, was how quickly his mana bar depleted after each sword he made. He bottomed out after 4 creations. So, at his current level, each blade cost him about 80 mana. He had to wait 4 minutes after that to rebuild his spirit and mana reserves before he could begin again.

  Brushing his brow from the sweat dripping into his eyes, Kel’Van looked to the left of his desk. Leaning against his chair was a huge slab of bone. It looked like it belonged on the front portion of a triceratops head. He didn’t want to think about what being this bone belonged to. He picked it up and closed the clamp around the middle of the huge bone fragment that stood head and shoulders over him. He pictured Fer’shad height and nodded to himself.

  “This should be big enough.”

  Kel’Van had indeed taken Longtooth's advice to heart and experimented with his enchanting capabilities. The last two crude swords he created, he pictured a solid black rock encasing a stone sword inside it. As he chipped away at the stone around the sword in his mind, he superimposed it on the bone he had in clamps. Shortly, he read the prompts after completing his sword.

  Congratulations, you have created crude uncommon sword! attack +3 defense +3

  “Hmm, Well this weapon is useless,” he thought. At least compared to the swords made prior. These had defensive stats, while the other swords were offensive in nature. Was it the element he was channeling through the knife that made the difference? It definitely wasn’t the weapon that influenced the stats judging by the enchant on this one.

  “A question for another time.”

  What was important was that he could definitely use an earth-based enchant for Fer’shad’s shield.

  “Whew,” breathed Kel’Van.

  It had taken him over 2 hours to cut out the first half of the tower shield. And half-way through that, he had to stop to recuperate both mana and spirit. The other apprentices in the room did not seem to be having the same problems as he was. Most of them were able to go twice as long and as a consequence, had produced more items than he had. Some of them, looking at his project, curious of what he was making, seemed to notice as well. He would get a reassuring pat on the shoulder, like a teacher encouraging a slow student.

  Pity.

  Although a wave of slow anger began in the pit of his stomach, he mentally pushed it down. It was not their fault that they had vast amounts of spirit compared to himself. But at least he didn’t depend on outside sources to enchant. He had his own mana source plus the elemental power needed to do the job. He decided to look at his inability to craft as fast as the others as just Avarice’s way of balancing his character. He eyed the meter showing both his mana and spirit gauge and waited till it was full to begin again.

  It was dark by the time the tower shield was finished. He was sitting in his chair, exhausted with his head in his hands and a slight headache. Longtooth walked in and stood next to Kel’Van’s desk with a smile on his face bigger than the Cheshire cat.

  “So ya finished it, huh?” he said while eyeing the shield up close. Kel’Van simply returned the smile as he leaned back and waved at the labor of love he crafted.

  “Hmm…where is the sword ya made earlier?” he asked while rubbing his hand on the surface of the shield.

  Kel’Van lazily picked up one of the short swords piled on his left side and placed it on his desk. “I made this one right before I started on the shield.”

  Longtooth picked the sword up, looked at the tower shield, and eyed Kel’Van. “Ya mind?”

  What Kel’Van picked up from Long tooth’s stance is that he meant to use the sword on the shield.

  “Knock yourself out.”

  “Why would I want to do that?” said Longtooth with an incredulous look on his face.

  Kel’Van just smiled and was too tired to try to explain. “Go ahead and try out the sword.”

  Longtooth snorted in reply and began banging on the shield with the enchanted weapon. Around the 11th swing, a small blaze of fire erupted from the blade.

  “Whoa!!!” screamed Longtooth as he backed away from the shield. His reaction startled the weary orc out of his chair. The armorer held the sword at arm’s length and looked at Kel’Van from the corner of his eye.

  “Pray tell Red-hand, how exactly did ya enchant this sword? And don’t leave anything out!”

  Kel’Van went over the process he used, going over every minute detail.

  “Well, that explains a lot,” mused Longtooth.

  “What do you mean?”

  ”The way ya enchanted the sword. Ya basked the sword in explosive flames by the way ya described it, and that’s what effect came out of the blade.”

  Kel’Van faced started to darken, but he tried to keep his frustration way down below the surface. “Longtooth, you stood right in this very spot this morning and told me that I needed to experiment with my enchanting. Now you’re going to judge me on it?”

  “Calm yourself Ulgo.” He said sternly. “I’m not judging you, I’m just pointing out what ya did. Stop being so sensitive.”

  Although scathing, the barb actually calmed him down a bit and made him focus on what the orc was trying to tell him. He leaned back with an expecting look for the armorer’s explanation.

  “What’s the best way to put this?” the armorer wondered aloud. He stood up and walked in a semi-circle, looking at noth
ing in particular. “Hmm,” he said as he sat back down and eyed Kel’Van questioningly.

  “You’re familiar with the paintings in the temple, correct?”

  Kel’Van nodded his ascent. “I’ve seen them there.”

  “There are plenty of pictures in there. Good ones. But if ya sat all of them artists in a room and asked them to make a drawing of me, they would all look different. Granted, you would recognize the image as me, but none of them would look exactly the same. Some may draw my face a little lighter, others would use lighter strokes to make the lines in my face more pronounced. They are all using the same equipment, but the outcome is going to differ from orc to orc because they are artists who have their own innate way of getting to the same point. Do ya understand?” asked Longtooth.

  Kel’Van rested his chin in his right hand as he fully absorbed what Ulgo Longtooth was telling him. If he understood the orc correctly, enchanting was an art form. Not some automatic process like mass producing guns or can goods would be. Still, a nagging question persisted in his mind.

  “If it’s an art form and crafting depends on the individual, how are you supposed to help me improve? Or craft the right spell effects, for that matter? How do we even maintain a dependable standard for every enchant? ”

  “By what I’m doing now,” answered Longtooth. “I look at your work and questions, then guide ya with my own experience after letting you find your rhythm on enchanting. When I enchant a sword for example, I concentrate whatever element I’m using into the sword's edge when I want a desired effect to be made on contact. I would suggest finding a way of concentrating that fire enchant there. As for a standard for enchants, unless you get them from the same enchanter every time, there are none. There is a reason why some enchants cost more than others.”

  Kel’Van picked up the sword from the table and looked at it thoughtfully. Could he force the enchant into the edge as Longtooth has done? While he was pondering on that, the armorer was on one knee examining Fer’shad’s practice tower shield. He ran his hand over the surface of it and gave a short whistle.