by Aleron Kong
Increase Enchantment Potential: Increase the number of enchantment slots on the object you wish to enchant. Increases enchantment slots by 10%. Cost: 5 Talent Points.
You have unlocked the talent: Increase Enchantment Potential I.
You have: 5 Talent Points remaining.
Advancing the Talent increased the enchantment slots of whatever he worked on in the future by 10%. It also revealed five new spheres.
Synergy of Items: Allows for the possibility of item sets. The base items must have something in common for the enchantments to feed off of one another. Increase this Talent to allow for stronger and more extensive sets. Cost: 15 Talent Points.
False Description: Allows the enchanter to label an item with a false description even after being identified. Only a specialized spell can see through this. Cost: 10 Talent Points.
Cursed Items: Allows enchanter to pervert known enchantments to be detrimental to the wearer. Once a cursed item is donned, it cannot be removed without magical intervention. Cost: 10 Talent Points.
Increase Number of Enchantments: Allows for a second enchantment to be placed on one item. Attempting to create such an item greatly increases the chances of the enchantment failing to take hold in whatever object you are working upon. All enchantable objects are still bound by the same rules of enchantment size and slots. Cost: 50 Talent Points.
Identify Enchantments: Allows enchanters to identify unknown magical objects. An Enchanter with this Talent can even rival lore masters. Touching an unknown item will give a detailed description of most magical items. This is a passive action. It does not cost anything and the knowledge is absorbed instantaneously. Cost: 5 Talent Points.
Richter looked over the five new spheres and could see the utility of each. He made one purchase without even thinking. The lack of an identify spell had been a pain in his ass since arriving in The Land. He had to buy Identify Enchantments I. At five points, it was almost a gimme.
The next level of the Talent cost ten talent points and was even more impressive. It let him identify stronger magical objects, but more importantly, it allowed him to identify enchanted items from a distance. That meant when facing an opponent, he would be able to know what magical items they could bring to bear! He realized that this might prove to be his most valuable Talent over time.
He bought the Talent, or at least that was what he tried to do. Instead of the sphere lighting up further, he heard a sound like a ‘No’ buzzer and a prompt appeared that showed he was out of Talent Points. Richter realized it was time to use his conversion talent. Go big or go home, he thought. If the strategy was good enough for drunk sorority girls, it was good enough for him. He spent eight hundred eighty-nine thousand experience points and gained one hundred and twenty-seven talent points! After the transaction, he only had two thousand seven hundred and fourteen experience points left. Richter got back to his shopping spree and bought the talent.
You have unlocked the talent: Identify Enchantments I.
You have: 0 Talent Points remaining.
You have used Talent Point Conversion I. You now have: 127 Talent Points.
You have unlocked the talent: Identify Enchantments II.
You have: 117 Talent Points remaining.
Looking at the rest of talents in that section, he realized that he didn’t have any specific interest in cursed items or faking the description of items, but he did resolve to be careful about taking things at face value from then on. The Synergy of Items Talent was one that he couldn’t pass up, though. Of all the avatars he had met in the red desert, the Synergist had appealed to him the most after the Essence Enchanter. He purchased the blue sphere for fifteen points and then considered the last sphere. Increasing the number of enchantments in an item sounded great, but if he was reading it right, the enchantment slots for an item would be split between the two enchantments. Each would be half as strong as one could be. Maybe he would purchase the Talent in the future, but the fifty point cost made it easy to pass by now.
Three of the five spheres had revealed another talent. Synergy allowed access to a Talent that let Richter make individualized enchantments. False Description opened the way to a Talent that blocked identification of his enchanted items and his identification talent opened a very interesting option. The Talent made it much more difficult for others to deconstruct items that he created. The three talents were all interesting, but he decided to move on.
Richter bought the next Talent from the inner ring.
Increase Enchantment Success: Increase this Talent to improve the odds of an enchantment taking hold by 20%. Cost: 5 Talent Points.
You have unlocked the Talent: Synergy of Items I.
You have unlocked the Talent: Increase Enchantment Success I.
You have: 97 Talent Points remaining.
The sphere lit up and the fog peeled back revealing two more blue globes.
Faster Creation Time: The creation of magic books, scrolls and skill books is time consuming and laborious. Increase this Talent to increase the speed you finish these tasks by 10%. Cost: 10 Talent Points.
Fortify Health/Mana/Stamina: Increase this Talent to make Enchantments dealing with increasing health, mana and stamina more effective by 20%. Cost: 10 Talent Points.
Only one filament extended from the first sphere. Richter planned to make magic books sometime soon, so decided to invest the ten points. The words on the sphere changed to Faster Creation Time I and the cost to upgrade increased to twenty talent points. The next sphere revealed said Soul Bond Object. The title was self-explanatory and the description matched. It cost fifteen talent points, but Richter didn’t hesitate to buy it. One of the largest issues with his rebirth was the loss of items and armor. If he could soul bond his objects to him though, they would be there with him when he was reborn. Besides, there were two filaments extending off from it.
You have unlocked the talent: Faster Creation Time I.
You have unlocked the talent: Soul Bound Object I.
You have: 72 Talent Points remaining.
Two new spheres were revealed.
Break Soul Bond: Soul bonds can be broken in a number of ways, but almost all of these methods result in destruction of the items. This Talent allows you to sever a soul bond while preserving the object. Success is dependent on strength of the bond and power of the enchanted objects. Cost: 30 Talent Points.
More Powerful Soul Stones: Purchasing this Talent increases the level of soul stone that can be created from a material by +1. Cost: 40 Talent Points.
One more filament extended from the Talent dealing with more powerful stones. The sphere connected to it remained shrouded in shadow. Richter wanted to reveal the entire map, but he had to be realistic. So far he had spent forty-five of his precious talent points since converting his XP. He decided the last sphere would remained in shadow for now. Soul Bond Object II was also interesting because it would let him know the general direction he would have to go to find any lost soul bound objects. Definitely could be useful but it cost forty talent points though, so he didn’t buy it yet.
Richter looked at the two filaments leading away from the Fortify Health/Mana/Stamina talent and decided it was worth ten talent points to know what else might be revealed.
You have unlocked the talent: Fortify Health/Mana/Stamina I.
You have: 62 Talent Points remaining.
Fortify Characteristics: Increase this Talent to make Enchantments dealing with increasing Characteristics more effective by 20%. Cost: 20 Talent Points.
Fortify Physical Alterations: Increase this Talent to make Enchantments dealing with increasing physical alterations (running, jumping, swimming, etc.) more effective by 20%. Cost: 20 Talent Points.
One more filament came off of Fortify Characteristics, but Richter held off on purchasing the expensive Talent as there were not even any enchantments captured by the forge that could make use of it.
Except for the Talent coming off of More Powerful Soul Stones, the only spheres left to
reveal were the ones coming off of the Talents that made weapons, armor or items stronger. He bought each for ten points each. Though he was thirty points poorer he had unlocked the final branch of the Enchantment Profession. Coming off of the weapon Talent were two spheres.
You have unlocked the talent: Increase Weapon Enchantment I.
You have unlocked the talent: Increase Armor Enchantment I.
You have unlocked the talent: Increase Item Enchantment I.
You have: 32 Talent Points remaining.
Increase Secondary Effect Chance: Increase this Talent to make the secondary effect of an enchantment (ie Burning from Flame Enchantment) 20% more likely to trigger. Cost: 20 Talent Points.
Increase Secondary Effect Power: Increase this Talent to make the secondary effect of an enchantment (ie Burning from Flame Enchantment) 20% more powerful. Cost: 20 Talent Points.
A filament led off of each of these spheres. Again Richer decided to hold off on purchasing talents from the third generation stemming from the central “Enchanter” sphere.
A filament extended out from the armor talent, but it simply trailed into the mist, disappearing. He was confused at first as every other filament of a purchased sphere had ended in another talent, but he decided it must mean that the Talent it connected to must have another requirement that he had not met yet. Richter turned his gaze to the item Talent and the three talents purchasing it had revealed.
Common Materials: Increase this Talent to be able to make enchanted items from less rare materials. Cost: 20 Talent Points.
Material Potential: Item enchantment potential is determined both by the quality and the material. Increase this Talent to increase potential for a given medium. Cost: 20 Talent Points.
Alter Enchantment: Increase this Talent to alter an existing enchantment. This carries a risk of destroying the enchantment and/or object. Increase this Talent to allow for greater alterations with less risk. Cost: 30 Talent Points.
More filaments extended out from each of these last three spheres, but Richter’s curiosity was finally sated. Though there was still more to know, he could see almost the entire star map laid out before him. Richter felt secure in his choice of Profession. The talents allowed for truly powerful enchantments to be created! Though many of the blue spheres seemed to be calling his name, at that moment he just decided to invest in his Specialty.
Richter had thirty-two talent points left. He had paid a steep price to reveal his Profession map, but he decided you couldn’t put a price on information. Richter spent ten points unlocking Earth magic and another six to unlock the enchantment for Weak Sonic Wail. The last sixteen TPs, he saved. He closed his Profession page and dealt with another prompt that had appeared.
You have unlocked the enchantment for: Weak Sonic Wail. You are currently at 0/2700 for the mana cost to learn this enchantment.
You have: 16 Talent Points remaining.
Richter immediately allocated five hundred mana from his personal pool. The headache that struck him was horrible, but he had already decided that he needed to not only train his body. He also needed to train his mind and build his capacity to suffer pain. He watched his mana slowly refill and decided to do something impulsive.
Using magic had become a focal point of his fighting style. Something else that his grandpappy had always said was that with women or war, staying power was important. In a prolonged battle, he would need to be able to rally. Knowing it was the right decision, he dumped all eighteen of his free characteristic points into Wisdom, bringing it up to forty-five. Richter smiled as his mana began to refill much faster. He had been thinking about doing this for a while anyway. Not only could he benefit from the increased mana regen, but increasing his Wisdom also gave a bonus to magical resistance and mental fortitude. The eighteen points he invested might just save his mind when he used Deep Magic.
He stood up and clapped his hands. Richer made eye contact with Krom and said, “Let’s enchant some shit!”
CHAPTER 6 -- Day 111 -- Kuborn 1, 15368 EBG
“It be about bloody time!” Krom exclaimed. Richter fixed him with a glare until the dwarf added, “Yer lordship.”
“That’s better,” Richter said with a grin. “Like I said, let’s enchant some shit!”
“It actually do be a good time,” Krom said grudgingly, “Ay be about to forge this here sword.”
“Good,” Richter said. “So what do I do?”
Krom looked at him, confused, “How in the abyssal hells should ay know? Yer the enchanter.”
Richter shook his head at the dwarf in consternation, “I’ve been an enchanter for like two days, man! Help me out here!”
“Okay, okay. Do na whine and shimmy like a goblin! Ay will tell you what ay know. When ay enchanted with the elf before, all Gloran did was place his hand on the anvil while ay did the smithing.”
Richter figured it was worth a try. Richter placed his hand on the far end of the table-sized anvil. A prompt came up.
Greetings, Master of the Forge of Heavens. You have the ability to aid Smith Krom in enchanting his work through your Core building. For the duration of helping him, you will have access to any enchantment either of you know. Do you wish to enchant his work? Yes or No?
Finally, an ‘Easy’ button, Richter thought. Glad that he had found something that didn’t require him to jump through ten hoops first, he selected ‘Yes.’ As soon as the prompt disappeared, he experienced the strangest sensation of a darkened part of his mind lighting up. In the new corner of himself hovered a blue light and three smaller, white lights. Examining the large one, he found the Freeze enchantment that Krom had learned from the Forge. The smaller lights represented the original enchantments Krom had known before coming to the village: Extra Damage, Extra Protection and Durability. He mentally reached out for Freeze, but a prompt came up stating that it was not yet time to enchant. Richter smiled and said, “We’re good to go. How much longer do you need?”
Krom shrugged, “Probably na more than thirty minutes, yer lordship.” He started striking the axe he was working on again. As an experiment, Richter let go of the anvil and found that he was still able to see the enchantments in his mind. That was good because keeping his hand on an anvil when a dwarf was hitting hot metal as hard as he could seemed somehow both dangerous and monotonously boring. To see how long his tether was, Richter even walked around the Forge and found he was still able to maintain the ability to help Krom, but when he got close to leaving the building a prompt warned him that he would lose his connection. This basically meant that he had some time on his hands while Krom finished the axe.
Hopping onto another anvil to train his Smithing skill was an option, but the other dwarves were using them to make things for the village right now. It seemed a bit silly to kick them off just for a bit of skill training. Besides, he could help enchant their projects too and hopefully boost his Enchanting skill faster. He stopped at the other two anvils and accessed the prompt that let him help with enchanting. Each prompt limited him to only the enchantments that particular dwarf knew, but they both knew Increase Durability, which still served to let him practice his Profession. Richter resolved to start coming to the Forge when everyone else was asleep. With his Sustenance Belt, he only needed half as much food and rest as he would otherwise. That still left the question of what he should do while helping the smiths.
Richter decided to pester Krom and learn some of the technical details of what the smith was doing. Over the next few minutes, he peppered the dwarf with questions. He learned a bit, but more importantly he enjoyed the look of irritation on Krom’s face. Even Richter got bored with the game after a while though, so he checked the village mana pool. He saw that there were four hundred and thirty-three points available; the rest probably had been used to summon mist workers. The village had more than enough time to regenerate more before the upkeep was due at midnight, but Richter still decided to leave the pool alone. He had been dipping heavily into the village’s mana during his rece
nt battles, which had reduced village productivity since not as many mist workers could be summoned.
Richter thought for a moment, then asked, “Where is my armor, Krom?”
The dwarf looked up with a slightly annoyed look at being interrupted for the umpteenth time. He put his hammer down though and pulled a chain from under his shirt and over his neck. A steely blue key was on the end, “We put your armor and sword in the chest over there, yer lordship.” After he had handed the key over, he started pounding on the axe again.
Richter walked further back into the forge, stopping when he found the chest Krom had been speaking about. It was four feet tall and must have weighed hundreds of pounds. The entire thing was made of welded plates of high steel. Richter looked at the key in his hands and then smiled. He put the chain around his neck and pulled two lock picks out of his bag.
Scanning the chest, he saw none of the tell-tale red glow of traps. Not that he had expected the chest to be rigged, but it had become a habit for him to look for danger after encountering the deadly snares The Land had to offer. Richter went down on one knee and started rooting around in the lock. After only two minutes, the lock clicked open. He sucked his tongue in disapproval and disappointment. The damn thing may as well not even have been locked! There had to be a more secure way to lock up valuables in the forge. Richter had been planning to leave the ingots he had taken from the treasury here, but couldn’t if they were this poorly protected. Sighing, he put his hand on the lid to open it, but before he could lift the top, a prompt appeared.
Greetings, Master of the Forge of Heavens. Do you wish to add this chest to the structure of the Forge? This will cost 16 Alteration Points. Currently, there are 97/100 Alteration Points available in your Core building at level one. Yes or No?
Richter looked at the prompt. He didn’t really understand what adding ‘to the structure’ meant, but maybe it would anchor the chest to the floor. Not really seeing a downside, he chose ‘Yes.’
