Other campers bustled around, preparing for the day: cleaning, gathering firewood, and mending clothing. It suddenly struck me just how much processing power calculating all these interactions must take, and I wondered at the devs being able to pull it off—because pull it off they had. It was obvious that these people weren’t just going about on set paths, performing the same interactions day after day. The sheer amount of detail involved would have made it impossible for developers to have designed each routine independently. The NPCs must be operating with incredibly advanced artificial intelligence.
I thought uncomfortably about the night before, resisting the inexorable logic that Mjorn’s attentions had simply been calculated responses. There hadn’t been any holes in the interactions, nothing to make me doubt the reality of it. Just the fact of an AI picking up on any body language at all, let alone the subtle body language of a kid who hadn’t even admitted to himself that he wanted what he wanted… Even a single fraction of what had happened would be completely beyond the bounds of anything I’d ever even heard of. How could they have done it?
And then Mjorn was there, stepping out of a simple covered wagon and shirted now under his vest. Seeing his face, his frame... My mind was unable to resist, and I was once again all-in on the reality of him. Of this. He strode to the fire, calling over campers as he walked. He took up position at the opposite side of the fire, then smiled at me and winked. My face flushed, and I beamed back at him.
“Attend!” he called to the gathered campers. “Our new friend Zenzuck has indicated that he is willing to aid us. Zenzuck.” His gaze focused on me. “My friends and I are transporting goods to Kalsip, but the goods we have to sell and the cost of our venture are not yet equal. Today we had hoped to gather food and furs from the surrounding forest to defray our expenses, but your arrival has changed that. Zenzuck is an enchanter!” he called to the others, who murmured excitedly. “What I need from each of you is to find the highest quality goods you are able today! Troll,” he addressed me, “will you enchant them for us?”
Expectantly, I examined my UI. Nothing indicated that I had been offered a quest. Still, Mjorn was waiting for a response, so I nodded my acceptance. He clapped his hands together. “Very well! Let us make haste!”
As the group dispersed, Mjorn crossed over to me. “Thank you, troll.” He clasped my shoulder. “Your help will be inestimable. My workers will spend the day in the woods. I had hoped you would spend the day with me, but there is so much that needs doing. Could you bring some meat back to camp?”
I smelled another quest opportunity. “What would you like me to get?”
“Either a passel of rabbits or something large, like a boar or a deer.” His eyes twinkled. “I’ll have a gift for you when you return.” Those bright eyes widened. “What's—why can I not give you this request?” he stammered, bewildered. “Are you…” he trailed off.
I smiled sadly, suspicions confirmed. “I don't think I can take quests. I think it's a bug. It’s okay, our agreement will stand. I'll come back with food, and then...” I gave him a devilish grin. “I’ll collect my reward.”
He shuffled his feet, unsure for a moment. “Very well,” he decided, finding a roguish smile for me. “Take a string and a sack for game. Would you like a weapon as well?”
“A dagger would be useful," I ventured. “Do you have any to spare?”
Chuckling, he produced one with a flourish, presenting me the handle. “One more thing before you go; I hear tell that if you are injured you might be able to return to us, but only should you have a focus. We have a cynosure here. Please, take my offer and bind yourself to it.” He met my gaze with green eyes full of sincerity and drew me close. “Come back to me!”
On my assent, he rummaged at his belt before withdrawing a small spear, almost a stake, topped with a large black gem. I assumed it was the “cynosure” he had mentioned, and something akin to a portable spawn point. He held it out and glanced at me expectantly.
“Just focus on this rock and intend to return to it," he directed, seeing my confusion. “I am told it will call to you from any distance.”
Well, I didn’t want to end up back at the meadow I’d started in…
You have bound yourself to a new cynosure.
Mjorn and I breakfasted together, and within the hour I was well-fed and out among the trees, having gathered my best wand—+3 to Mana Regen—and ready for the hunt. I was determined to impress this man I hoped to make my lover. Maybe if I fanned my feathers just right...
I hadn’t wanted to draw attention to myself at camp, and in pursuit of that I hadn’t cast Ether since meeting Mjorn. Now that I was in pursuit of something entirely different, I reactivated it and considered the best way to go about the hunt. The plan would be simple, given my two-tool toolbox. I would simply stun smaller animals like I had Mac’s attacker, and then finish them off with the dagger. The thought made me a bit queasy, but I reminded myself continually that these weren't real animals. It would be a merciful death regardless.
The first squirrel fell to the ground with a small thump, and after steeling my nerves I slit its throat. It never even struggled, for which I was glad. I hung it upside down by its tail and waited for the blood to drain, before tying its hind legs to the string and moving on. Between kills I continued the previous day’s practice of creating throwaway wands. I needed to keep draining my mana to allow my stats to grow. Any higher-quality branches were stuffed into the sack for enchanting later.
My string of game grew steadily, since seeing something was all it took to bag it. Squirrels, chipmunks, a rabbit, and even birds fell before my gaze, and it was less than an hour before the string was full. I could have returned to camp then, but I was resolved to bring something larger back to Mjorn. Unexpectedly, carrying the weight gave me first one, then two points of Strength, which made it marginally easier to haul.
It wasn't noon before I found acceptable quarry, and it turned out to be another boar, smaller than the first I’d encountered. Similar to the one prior, this boar ignored my attempts to incapacitate it. Things were going to get hairy, but fortunately I had time to take off my robes before engaging it. The robes were the only real thing of value I had, after all, and I didn’t want them ruined the day after I’d bought them.
My increased Strength and Mjorn’s weighty dagger meant the fight didn’t require too much of a struggle, and after doing my best to drain the corpse of blood, I shuffled the sack around it and slung that over my back as well.
That left nothing but wand creation and gathering as I staggered my way back to camp, glad that the map, at least, had no problem acting like part of a video game.
Chapter 13
Mjorn wasn’t in sight when I got back to camp, so I found someone to give the boar and the string of game to, and then set myself up by the fire with the branches I’d gathered. Extra Mana Points and Mana Regen was great, but in reality I didn’t need it. Since my Ether spell scaled with Intellect, and Intellect provided other benefits, that was what I was really after.
Hoping to find clues toward making an Intellect enchantment, I sorted the wands I had already made into piles by enchantment and began to examine the differences. With Ether at Rank 3, I could see the flows much more clearly than I had at first, but the differences were subtle. The enchantments giving regen tended to have more flows that were “open” toward the caster, shifting the balance of the flow and allowing mana to feed outward. The Mana Capacity wands were the opposite, serving as reservoirs for mana gathered from the caster. Choosing one of the latter wands, I set to work reversing the balance of the flows, and sure enough the stats moved from bonus mana to bonus regen.
Since regenerating mana had so far been the key to my leveling, I moved through each wand with bonus MP and converted them all, gaining an additional rank of Static Flow in the process.
After finishing, I considered just how to make a stat item. So far I had been able to manipulate mana, but I couldn’t see how that could
be modified to provide extra Int. I just didn’t know enough to even start.
So I moved on, and simply continued trying to make better regen wands. My best to date had been +4% and +3, regen-wise, but once I could make +10% I knew their value would start to pick up in a big way, especially for myself and other regen-focused characters. As I worked through my newly gathered sticks, the percentages rose but resisted breaking past +5%. The materials I was using just couldn’t handle the intensity of the required mana flow. Several split in complaint.
In the early afternoon, Mjorn returned, having gathered game of his own. I felt a little pride that he hadn’t bagged quite as much, even though I knew I hadn’t played fair. He unloaded his kills, and then came to the fire, settling himself beside me and setting my heart aflutter. I dismissed Ether so I could see his chiseled features clearly.
“An impressive set of trophies!” he congratulated me. “And so cleanly killed, save the hog. You must tell me how you did it!” He grinned. “But first, a gift for my troll! Would you prefer an item with Intellect or Wisdom?”
Happily, I asked for Intellect, excited both for the additional regen and for the opportunity to examine the enchantment. Mjorn smiled—I didn’t want him to ever stop smiling—and worked through a pouch at his side to produce a ring. He presented it to me with a bow.
“That looks like the reward for the mayor’s quest!” I exclaimed. Mjorn looked surprised, and then cast his eyes to the ground, swirling a finger through the dirt and playing at innocence. Mercy—even looking at those hands did things to me!
“I have taken the liberty of helping a few of the rings to ’see the world,’ you might say," he replied, faking contrition. “The mayor has so very many of them, after all.” Handing me the ring, he gave me a teasing smile. “Will you help this poor, lonely thing to see the world?”
I examined it.
The Mayor’s Ring — 25/25
The mayor of Kalsip has welcomed you to The Boundless and wishes you adventure, fame, and glory!
+5 Intellect
Plus 5! My heart sang. That would bump my Intellect up by 50%! Greedily, I put the ring on and watched my mana bar jump. My mind sharpened too, as if I’d just gotten a good eight hours of sleep in a single instant. I hadn’t had a large enough jump in stats to feel that much of a change before. Mjorn looked at me expectantly, and I leaned over to kiss him on impulse. My lips met his, and I embraced the warm buzz of excitement, though nothing could compare to those first few kisses. All too soon, he broke contact.
“Thank you! And thank you...” I teased, thanking him for the kiss as well.
“Anything for my troll,” he responded, casually toying with my ear. “Now, about the enchantments? I see you’ve been hard at work. Could you place one on these, perhaps? An increase to base character traits?”
He handed me a pair of leather gloves.
I looked at them, uncertain. ”I’ve been trying to figure that out, but haven’t had any examples. Let me look at this ring first and see what it can tell me.”
Activating Ether, I gave the ring a once-over, and immediately saw the problem. The mana flows embedded in the metal were fundamentally different from what I was used to. They had a scent—or was it a taste?—that was reminiscent of heat and smoke rather than energetic mist. It reminded me of watching Mac cast, but I had never seen this “flavor” of mana before.
The execution of the enchantment was simple, mostly, just more powerful and more compact than anything I could manage, and with a few additional knots I’d never seen before. The “polarity” of the flows was outward, leaving the ring to serve as an extension of the wearer. If only I had some idea how to create that certain flavor of mana. Could Mac do it? I wondered.
I worked through a few exercises, simply trying to will my mana into the type of flows I’d seen, but after exhausting every tactic I could guess at—as well as the majority of my mana—I took a break. I was pretty sure I already knew the problem regardless. I didn’t have a mana seed. It always seemed to come back to that.
“Did you learn anything?” Mjorn asked expectantly as I looked up from my work.
“A bit," I responded, abashed. “Though I’m not sure it’s enough to help. I’ll have to try again after some rest.”
His eyes widened in shock as I turned away from the ring to meet his gaze. “Your eyes! Are you… has your spell not completed?”
I raised my hands to my eyes instinctively before realizing what the problem was. I had never used Ether in front of him before. Instead, I had always been intent on preserving the view. Now, I could see the swirls of mana within him, including several bright spots that must have been enchanted items, one at his throat and a couple in his ears.
“It’s okay. It’s a passive effect. You’ve never seen this before?” I queried.
“Never," he breathed, though whether in wonder or fear, I couldn’t be sure. “And I have spent time with spellcasters of all types. What manner of spell is this?”
“I don’t know, honestly. Probably something that got screwed up during my login," I answered.
A look of pure incomprehension crossed his face. Of course he was confused; he had no idea what logging in meant! His expression warred between confusion, skepticism, and even fear, before he recovered his smile and redirected the conversation. Having released Ether upon his reaction, I was glad of it.
“So, enchantments! Which others do you know? Can you enchant an item with Charisma?” He looked so hopeful that it was crushing to disappoint him.
“Just the three you’ve seen, unfortunately," I replied. “Regen and Mana. I don’t know any attribute enchantments yet. Maybe if I could look at a few others I’d be able to figure something out?”
Mjorn hesitated a little, but then reached up to his own ear and removed one of his earrings. He had three of them I hadn’t noticed, all in his left ear, showing how much in need of sleep I had been the night before! He placed the tiny stud in my palm, and I examined its stats.
Simple Peg of Charm — 25/25
An attractive article that might rub off on you.
+1 Charisma
I looked at the stud—the one in my hand—through the lens of my Ether spell, turning away from Mjorn to spare him any discomfort. The flows there were different still. The multi-sensory sensation that had accompanied the ring was present, but this time it spoke of… I couldn’t even guess at the element that had created it. The flows were identically situated to the ring, though they didn’t shine quite as brightly or move as energetically.
“If you don’t mind, I will leave you to your spells," Mjorn announced. “There is ever work to be done.” He stood and cupped my cheek momentarily before walking to a wagon and disappearing inside.
I watched him go wistfully, but honestly, having him gone helped my concentration.
Throughout the afternoon, Mjorn’s people returned, bringing with them more game, as well as materials for me to enchant. I worked through the branches first, since I knew what to do with those. For the herbs, stones, bones, and furs, I didn’t have a clue. I wasn’t sure what most of them were, or what they might be used for, and none of them gave item descriptions. I didn't know if I could change that, honestly. After all, a wand is just a stick. I supposed I could do something with some of the bones but… When I asked Mjorn about it he just seemed confused. I asked if any of the others were crafters, and whether I could observe them at their crafts. He agreed, directing members of his party to make themselves available to me.
The first woman I worked with was a stout dwarven lady who seemed terrified of me. With only the absolute minimum of explanation, and as quickly as she could, she demonstrated how to skin, first the rabbits and then the other critters, giving me a rabbit and a knife of my own with which to emulate her. We skinned each of the animals and stripped off the fat and flesh still stuck to the skins before staking the larger pelts out to dry. We scraped the fur off the smaller pelts and placed them in a small barrel of salt water so the
y could be used for bowstrings and the like. Once finished, the dwarf woman bolted for the wagons. I called a thanks after her, but she didn’t pause her flight for a second.
A little weirded out, I checked the pelts, only to find that they still lacked item descriptions. I enchanted one regardless, and the enchantment seemed to hold, but there was still no tooltip.
Next, a goblin man showed me how to prepare some simple poultices and potions, which turned out to be much more interesting. As we ground and mixed the herbs, tiny sparks of mana would grow inside the concoctions bit by bit, until at last the entire solution was infused with energetic mana—at least, comparatively energetic mana. None of what we created was particularly powerful. They were items though. Once the spread of mana had worked its way through the majority of a solution, tooltips began to appear.
Unidentified Potion
???
The goblin man filled me in on the use of each potion and poultice as we made them, and as I learned, the tooltips were fleshed out with names and information. Petty Potion of Endurance. Petty Potion of Insight. Petty Poultice of Staunching. As I said, none of them were very powerful. Petty-ranked potions were the weakest. He managed to make a few Lesser-Quality versions of the mixtures, but it was apparent that Alchemy wasn’t something he practiced on a daily basis.
After spending nearly an hour poking and prodding the results of our alchemic labor with channeled mana, the most success I had was unravelling a potion or two. At some point I’d interfered too much and something inside the potion would shift, leading to a cascade that left me with an inert solution within seconds. The interactions that were going on between the herbs were just too minute and complex for me to manipulate. My teacher watched interestedly as I worked, but burst into laughter when I showed him what I’d done to the denatured creations. “There’s not always fire where there’s smoke, is there!” he said with a cackle, referring to my eyes. I was mildly insulted, but at least he hadn’t run away in a panic.
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