by Dakota Krout
Joe reached into himself and began pulling mana out and shaping it into the strings that represented the Field Array. The size increased until it covered the entire area he would need for the ritual, settling into place after he strained for a few long minutes. Then his inscription tool was in his hand, a light blue which calmed his nerves. Journeyman aspects weren’t a thing, which was just lovely. That position was used for ‘Special’ aspects, meaning he was able to use Rare aspects for the outer ring… he hoped. He wasn’t entirely certain. It might mean he needed to use Expert aspects, and that would suck. “That’s what tests are for!”
He started drawing out the outermost ring, holding his breath as he completed it with Rare aspects. There was no reaction, which was unsurprising, as he hadn’t applied mana yet. Even so, if it had been done wrong… it might have exploded. Joe had died a lot during his time in this Zone, and he wasn’t eager to replicate the experience. The next ring went faster, the two rings costing a total of sixty-two Rare aspects. “Not terrible… please don’t explode?”
He swapped out his inscription tool, and the next three rings went fast. The moment of truth was upon him. Joe placed a Core in the center of the ritual, another to the side to activate it, and let his mana flow into the rings. “I have a fifty-eight percent bonus to spell stability, and I can easily make Expert ranked circles and below. Gotta believe in myself!”
The circle started up, and Joe relaxed as the familiar feeling of losing all his mana progressed. The ghostly circles lifted and started to swirl around the Core, an Uncommon one that should only take a short while to turn into a battery. The mana drain halted as the ritual became fully powered, actually giving Joe pause. “That was… I shouldn’t have been able to do that so easily.”
He opened his status, checking on his mana level. What he saw made him scream in excitement.
Current Mana: 402/6,347
“Tatum! Tatum’s free!” Joe practically slapped the menu over to his unread notifications. There was a quest complete! It had to be!
Quest complete: Paying a Great Debt. Your rights to casual interactions and bonuses from and with Ocultatum have been restored. Stop breaking things. Consider this a warning. Rewards: Ocultatum has been returned to his proper position in the pantheon. Exp gained: 10.
“Ten… ten experience gained?” Joe stared at the notification uncomprehendingly. “That’s it? I-”
The system would like to remind you that the main reward was the reason for the penalty. King Henry is currently alive on Midgard.
“Oh look, something I will never question again.” Joe nervously turned off the notifications and waited for the ritual to finish. He recalled that he now had a ton of mana to play with, so he let go of his protections and re-activated them. “That puts me at… over ten thousand effective health.”
Health: 1,642/1,642
Exquisite Shell: 8,822/8,822
“I forgot how much I like having absolutely unfair gobs of mana to toss at things.” He sighed happily. Just then, the ritual process completed, and Joe reached out to catch the newly-made mana battery. As he stored it away, motion caught his eye. He turned to stare at CleoCatra, who was perched imperiously on his nightstand; her paw nudged a large chipped mug of cold coffee that had been sitting there for… who knew how long.
“Cat… what are you doing?” Joe watched as the cat slid the cup closer to the edge. “Why are you doing that?”
He knew cats liked to knock things over, but this was an intelligent race. “I haven’t even seen you in days; leave the coffee alone. Oh, abyss. I haven’t seen you in days… I was supposed to feed you.”
The cat hissed at him, slapping the mug to the floor. Joe groaned and stood up to clean the mess as the cat flashed away and out of the room. “Hey! You can’t just-”
Joe’s gaze landed on the spreading coffee, fixating on a singular point just as the liquid coated the outermost ring of the ritual circles. He couldn’t even remember what happened after that, simply blinking blurrily as dust rained down on his blood-soaked face.
Health: 736/1,642
Exquisite Shell: 0/8,822
You are severely concussed! -42 intelligence until effect is healed!
Charisma has reached a new threshold! Current Charisma is: 100.
Skill gained: Message (Novice I). You are now able to talk to anyone on your friend list, anywhere within line of sight! Cost: 1 mana per word. Cooldown: none.
“Stupid. Cat. Stupid system, probably telling me that I look better injured than I do normally.” Joe slapped himself with a Lay on Hands, healing himself up and removing the debuff. He looked to the side, finding himself in a house where a Dwarven couple were frozen in the act of eating their dinner. “Hi there. I’m a… Candidate. Send the bill to the Legion.”
They nodded, and Joe stepped out of the hole he had created… only to fall two stories to the ground. Though he landed on his feet, it hurt. “Maybe I'm still concussed?”
“Is that message skill actually useful? Maybe in a party…? At higher levels, what then?” A thought crossed Joe’s mind. “Wait a moment… the cat told me that she was going to help me fail. Did she mean she was going to point out my mistakes? Was this an attack or a learning opportunity? The Elf destroyed my ritual so easily… so did Cleo. I need to find a way to shield my rituals from getting damaged? Is that the lesson to be learned?”
“Either way, I think I’m becoming more of a dog person.” He pondered on that as his Neutrality Aura cleaned the blood and dust from his clothes. Joe shook himself out of the fugue and started toward McPoundy’s, thinking about the mana battery he needed to replicate, and one other, very important lesson.
“Don’t forget to feed the cat.”
Chapter Forty-Nine
As pristine as ever, the human walked into the forge and smiled at all of the Dwarves that were eyeing him with ill intent even while smiling back at him. One of the bearded males walked forward, fairly beaming with hospitality. “Welcome back, Joe! I have been looking forward to the opportunity of explaining the importance of patience during personal growth. Just as the rest of us have worked hard to be able to study at this place, I am certain that learning to flex your patience muscle will-”
“Step aside,” Joe ordered frostily, even as his Dwarven-society-demanded happy smile stayed in place. “I am invoking the right of Candidacy to hire Grandmaster McPoundy.”
There was a collective inhalation of breath, and the angry undertones turned to pure glee as the people in the room started to laugh. The Dwarf that had stepped forward smiled happily, “I am sorry to inform you that you have just lost all chance at a high rank. You see, without being able to impact at least three major forts with the work you demand from a Grandmaster, there is no chance that the reputation you earn will ever balance against the cost you incur.”
Joe’s expression soured; that was information he hadn’t been given in advance. “I’ll-”
The Grandmaster stepped out of his private forge with flames in his eyes. Literally. It seemed as if he had a spell of some sort that allowed him to superheat things by staring at them. “Who dares invoke Candidacy on me? I’ll make sure you’re busted down to private! You… Joe.”
The Dwarf sighed and gestured for Joe to join him, much to the ‘hidden’ pleasure of the Dwarves in the forge. Joe stepped into the pocket of dilated space and closed the door behind him. McPoundy was already shaking his head, “Someone got you real good. There’s no way this won’t go on your record, Candidate. What do you need?”
Joe had never heard such displeasure in this Dwarf’s tone. It seemed he really didn’t like getting ordered around. The human pulled out his new mana battery and handed it over. “I can make these, all the way up to Expert Cores as the base, and automate the process. Takes a couple hours per battery. I even made a spare leaflet that I can hand over to you so that you can start getting enchanters to perfect the design and start making them, though that will take a lot longer than how I do it.”
McPoundy took the battery and inspected it, grunting a question at him after a long moment. “Why the abyss did you bother wasting all your time doing other things? If you would have started these when you became a Candidate, we’d already be upgrading the entire automaton corps. You make a reusable Core enchanter for each fort, just one each, and you’ll max out your Candidacy card. Abyssal fool.”
Joe felt his heart sink at those words. Had everything been a waste…? No. “If I knew that when we got started, I wouldn’t have found the invasion point at Gramma’s Shoe. I wouldn’t-”
“I don’t care about your harrowing adventures. Results are the only thing that matters in a Meritocracy.” McPoundy was clearly in a bad mood. “What do you need from me? I just spent the morning getting orders from the council, and I’ve been delegating those all day so I could do what I need to do.”
The Reductionist didn’t hesitate. “I need to get more of these made. That means I need to make permanent rings, and I also recently found that I need to start doing a better job of protecting the rituals I make. I need advice, training, and plans for making my rituals safe from interference.”
“No.”
“Then I’m going to need… no? What do you mean ‘no’?” Joe’s words sputtered to a stop as the smith shook his head. McPoundy put his hand on Joe’s shoulder, and started guiding him toward the exit.
“I have orders directly from the council. The edicts of the rulers of the nation supersede the request of a Candidate.” McPoundy stopped and hesitated, seeming to come to a decision. “I can offer you the services of a Journeyman; they will make for an excellent trainer at this stage of forging. I, however, am of far too great of use to the kingdom right now.”
“But… the Cores? Upgrading the Legion?” Joe sputtered, unable to process what was happening. Wasn’t this Candidate thing supposed to be an immutable law or something? “We had a deal that you would train me up till I was a Master!”
“I will train you, I can’t right now. As to the batteries, how long will it take to make one of these engravers? How long to engrave? How many can be done in the next few days, when the nation marches to war?” McPoundy’s voice was a hammer slamming down on Joe’s attempts to make rapid progress. “How will they recharge once they have lost their mana? That will take a specialized support unit, unless you have an option. Who will train them; how long will that take?”
Reading Joe’s crestfallen expression, McPoundy relented slightly. “It’s a good idea, but you are offering a long-term solution. We need something that can impact the war in only a few days. Let me introduce you to-”
“No…” Joe shook his head before McPoundy could offer one of his subordinates. “You’re right, this is too slow. There are a few things I can prepare to help with the war effort itself; I just need materials. On that note-”
“Most supplies, especially Cores, have a mandate on them right now. You couldn’t afford to go against that, and it has nothing to do with the value of the items.” McPoundy hesitated again. “Look, if you need stuff, you need to get the supplies yourself. Now, you already used your Candidacy on me. Your account has a mark on it, and I did nothing for you. So, after this battle, when you need something, come here and ask for me. We will call this ‘requisition’ a… raincheck.”
Joe could only nod and leave the spatial space of the private forge. He walked past the wall of smiling faces; the Dwarves were thrilled to see him be tossed out less than five minutes after entering. The human didn’t mind; his thoughts were whirling, and he was clutching at straws. “What can I do in the short term for this? I’m almost certain that I’m going to need to figure out a ritual that I can use, but… what? I have some foreknowledge of the area we will be attacking, and know a bit about the people that are there. Perhaps I could draw a map?”
He shook his head at that; the map wouldn’t be useful. The whole place was a giant empty cavern. Secret entrances? Zero knowledge. Joe didn’t know anything more than the fort’s layout. There might not even be an exterior entrance. Tunnel systems? See information on secret entrances. “Oh! Maybe I could set up a tunnel digger?”
With all the aimless thinking, as well as his rapid walking in a single direction, Joe was closing in on the gates to the city. He decided to get an outside perspective and approached a mustachioed Dwarven guard, asking her about the idea of making a tunnel digger. The reply was something he should have been expecting. She laughed in his face, “You think twiddling your fingers is going to make you better at tunnel construction than the Dwarven Oligarchy? Even the Boring Corporation got their ideas from the Dwarves!”
“You knew President Musk?” Joe gave her an intense stare; the vanishing of the President had sparked a massive conspiracy theory throughout the entire Zone of Midgard. No one could ever find the man, and many had looked, not all with good intentions.
“Who?” The Dwarf seemed confused, which made Joe groan in frustration. “What’s a president? Like a guild leader or something?”
“But you knew about the Boring-”
“Are you trying to distract my soldier, human?” A new Dwarf broke into the conversation, making Joe flinch. He had lost all track of his surroundings. “You, get back to work. You, human, stop interfering with our patrols, or I’ll hold you accountable for any crimes that occur on this route.”
Joe said nothing further, but he was happy to learn that the President might still be around, allied or at least known to the Dwarves. He’d always liked the guy, with his inventions that had all been about bettering mankind. Joe stepped under the portcullis and got a nasty shock once again, as the enchantments he crossed forcefully deactivated all his active effects. “Gah!”
A guard ran at him, weapons out. “Halt, under suspicion of-! Oh. You again. Didn’t we talk about this? I… hmmm. Might not have. It’s a crime to come through here with active effects unless you’re under orders. Do it again, and I’ll have to fine you. It costs Core energy every time the disenchantment effect is activated. Not something we can use frivolously, especially right now.”
“Oh. Got it. We’ve met?” Joe looked at the bearded, armored Dwarf, and realized that he could never pick this guy out of a crowd. “Were you the guard that sold me the map to the Caves of Solitude?”
“Might have been. Might not have been.” The guard shrugged evasively. “You all look the same to me. The hairlessness, single eyebrow, and white clothes are fairly eye-catching, I guess. Is that a popular look among your people?”
“No.” Joe’s deadpan answer made the guard chuckle. “Do you have a lot of infiltrators? This see a lot of use?”
“Not so much; not this deep into our territory, at least. Still, when you can’t see the enemy most of the time, it’s a great idea to keep an effect like this active.” Something the guard said set off a lightbulb in Joe’s head.
“Can’t… see them? They can go invisible?” Joe tried to clarify what he was hearing.
“Well, only the really powerful pointy-ears go fully invisible. Most of the time, it’s just really great camouflage, glamour, or illusions that kinda just make you… look away.” The guard waved at the swooping lines that Joe had walked over. “An enchantment like this is really the only way to see through them. Other methods are too expensive, or too… hmm… ‘Elven morality’ for us to feel good using them.”
“Need to break illusion, invisibility, not be morally corrupt, and cost-effective enough…” Joe’s eyes lit up, and he started digging through his spatial ring. “Please be in here and not in the giant block of broken stuff…! Got it! Yes!”
The Reductionist pulled open his practically untouched copy of the Grimoire of Annihilation. Dark miasma drifted from the table of contents as he searched for something he only half remembered. “Ritual of the Insomniac Stalker, no… Ritual of the Lonely Tree? Nah, too scorched-earthy, and Havoc already said no. Here it is! Ritual of Argus. Five willing creatures including yourself, an eye spawns on the back of your head. Each creature included in the rit
uals has dark vision, cannot be ambushed, and can see… yes! Invisible things!”
Joe looked up to see the Dwarf looking at the clearly dark book with serious concern. Right. Rituals were frowned upon in most places, and this particular book had been designed with a ‘this is probably evil’ vibe to it on purpose. The human smiled and moved past the guard into the open countryside, thinking exclusively about the ritual. “Sure,the main components were the organs of my own race, and some other… shady things… but I can bypass all that with aspects! Okay, let’s see… the main target of this ritual will also be able to mystically observe anyone attempting to see the target through mystic means. This lasts for seven days, or until dispelled by the caster.”
“If I get this on the leaders of the assault, we’ll be able to weed out any infiltrators before we leave. What materials do I need in order to make this happen?” He sat down next to the road and started translating the required goods into aspects and Core energy. “Looks like this is an Expert-ranked ritual… I’ll need Unique aspects. I need Cores first, though.”
Joe knew exactly where to go for that. He hurried down the road, running with a destination in mind. After a few minutes, he screeched to a halt. “No, wait. Havoc already gave me Cores that would be perfect for the ritual. Let’s just go back and…”
The unforgettable buzzsaw sound of a Hammer Beast closing in on him made Joe curse and start sprinting toward his high-ground rock. It wasn’t too far away, but by the time he spotted the large pillar of stone rising next to the road… there were almost a dozen Hammer beasts that he was needing to constantly dodge. Even so, Joe smiled, because all he could see as the spikey death balls hurtled at him was the small pile of Cores that he was going to turn them into.
His Ritual Orbs emerged and *cracked* into one of the attacking two-headed beasts at the same moment that he finally got into a good position to take down the beasts with minimal risk. His smile faltered, and he slammed his fist into the stone below him. “That is the last time I take a walk to get my thoughts in order! Dark room or a long shower from now on!”
