by Dakota Krout
By the time he got there, Joe was exhausted and getting sick of the rancid smell of unwashed bodies. Sometimes literally; he had seen several corpses in the crowd, people that had died either by being crushed in the press or attacked by someone else, and it had made him both ill and glad for his Exquisite Shell. As he got close to ‘Masterwork Metals’, his face became grim. It seemed that people had finally stopped caring if the area was well-guarded or not, this place was stuffed as well. Joe pushed his way to the door of the shop and got in, closing the heavy wood before people started getting shoved in.
“Customers only!” the smith bellowed as the door slammed shut. Joe looked down and noticed blood on the floor. Fresh blood. Apparently, people had been testing the area for greater elbow room.
“Hey there! Remember me? Please?” Joe’s smile was strained, but the smith put down the huge hammer he had been readying. “I need to buy several buckets of molten metal to pour into molded stone. Is that something that you can make happen?”
The Smith grunted and looked Joe up and down. “I hope you aren't planning to pour it on someone. Nasty way to go, that. What sort of item are you making? How resilient do you need the metal to be? Is it going to be used to channel magic at all?”
“Making components for a magic spell,” Joe confessed without worrying about the smith's reaction. “Big disks of metal. Expert-ranked item.”
“Huh.” The smith pulled out a booklet. “Far as I know, anything channeling lots of mana needs Rare-ranked material in order to hold up at all. In bulk… liquid form… I can get you High Steel at fifty gold per ingot. About five ingots to a bucket crucible, in case you are wondering. How much will you need?”
Joe did the math for the area and thickness he needed and was told that he would need three buckets at a minimum. Joe got three buckets and one ingot extra just in case but first had the smith melt an iron ingot to liquid. Joe thrust his hips at the bucket crucible, making the smith sputter as a sensitive area almost touched the molten metal. Then the crucible vanished, and Joe waited until the smith said it should be cool enough to touch. Joe then made the liquid come out of his codpiece, appearing at the tip of his finger as a red-hot stream.
“Excellent, it stays molten for at least long enough that I should be able to put it to use.” Joe gave the smith eight hundred gold worth of bank notes, wincing as he paid the equivalent of eight thousand dollars for three buckets full of metal. He really hoped this would work the way he had hypothesized. After another awkward and painful—for them—crowd hopping experience, he was back at the Pathfinder’s Hall.
Following his notes, Joe created the details of the first—smallest—ring. Ensuring that the details were correct when translating from notes to physical object was always a crapshoot. He measured everything twice, but since it was no longer a written thing, instead of being an item, well… his skill to see a written object’s ‘correctness’ didn't work anymore. He directed a thin stream of high steel over the ring, and as soon as it appeared even, he used his will to press the top ring down into the bottom. He kept the ring pressed down for fifteen minutes, unsure how long it would take to cool enough to remain stable.
After the time he allotted for it, he had portions of the room retract. What was left was a disk of still-hot High Steel. Joe inspected every inch of the inlay before he was satisfied, but when he was done… all he could do was smile. “Looks like we have a new way to create permanent ritual circles.”
The cost was prohibitive, but… if this worked as he needed it to, it would be worth every copper.
Chapter Thirty
“Tell me again why we are going back to the salt mines?” Poppy looked around at the much lower level people coming along and raised an eyebrow. “Also, why are they coming? Who are these people?”
“They’re coming along to help us with the ritual that I need to complete. The one that will let me have enough raw mana that we can potentially complete that timed quest we have?” Joe was in a foul mood; he had been running himself ragged to make this happen in time, and Poppy had been complaining since he joined them because he had a hangover Joe was refusing to cure for him. “Unless you want to help power the ritual instead of them?”
“No, I’m just not sure you need a full party in a cleared area,” Poppy grumbled a little more, but Joe just ignored him in favor of walking a little faster. “Why the salt mines?”
“Alright, new Coven members!” Joe spread a smile on his face with the ease of putting warm butter on toast. That charisma boost had really helped him hide his actual emotions, which he thought was a strange function. “We are almost in the testing location, and I want to let you know ahead of time that if we die, I’ll make it up to you.”
“Question!” Taka raised a hand. “Why the salt mines?”
“Good question, Taka!” Joe responded brightly. Poppy drew the first inch of his rapier at Joe’s gleeful reply. “I remember a history lesson where salt mines were used as nuclear testing facilities, and I’m hoping that if this goes wrong, I’ll be able to contain everything. Also, the guild hasn’t been able to start mining here, so there is little chance of someone getting hurt or accidentally stumbling on to us.”
The rest of the walk was completed in quiet concentration, and they reached the bottom of the salt mines within another fifteen minutes. Joe pulled out the rings, placing them in order and ensuring that they were properly aligned. The higher the rank of the ritual was, the more intricate the details on each ring became. Starting positions were important as well, since the sympathetic links connected to a space, not another ring. When it was as perfect as Joe could make it, he stepped out and started getting everyone into position.
“Now, here’s the thing.” Joe took a deep breath. “We should have a lot more people for this. A lot more, and more highly trained and skilled. We should be able to get away with this for only this ritual since we only need to supply mana to a certain point. Then the Core being converted should begin supplying the remaining mana. If it doesn't, we are going to die for sure. Let me explain something: novice rituals have a base cost of about two thousand mana. A good rule of thumb is that this increases by double for each rank.”
“Of course, that is without any additional things added, creating only one, single, very specific function. That should tell you that as an Expert-ranked ritual, this has a base cost of two thousand doubled six times. Also known as one hundred twenty-eight thousand mana.” Joe’s words made the others blanch, and a few even looked around for an exit. “Hold on. There is more. My bonuses bring down mana cost by eighty-five percent and component cost by seventy-five percent, dropping the cost to nineteen thousand two hundred. My bonus spell stability brings the mana cost down even further, by fifty-five percent.”
“So, the final mana cost is eight thousand six hundred and forty.” The group was breathing easier at this point, and Joe’s lips quirked up at the rapid changes. “Still, it is more than I can handle on my own, by far, but the five of us Coven members should be able to do it and maintain a nice, balanced positioning as well. Now, as far as I know, the ritual is still treated as having the original amount needed. I hope this explains why we are away from other people.”
“Hey, I just got the skill Ritual Lore!” Taka announced, followed by the others—including Joe’s actual party members—saying the same.
“Neat! I had to study rituals for a week to get that!” Joe motioned for everyone to get into position while he was setting out the components. He had two low-grade Cores for testing and one higher-grade for usage. He didn't know the actual names or rarity, as he had no way to appraise them. When everything was ready, he placed a low-grade Core in the center of the ritual, nodded, and took a deep breath. “Formam mutatio!”
A feeling like a static discharge almost made him stumble. Blue lightning arched from him to the Core, then out to each of the others taking part in the ritual. If the shock hadn't locked their muscles, there would have been people out of position right away. The
first ring—which had the Core placed in the empty space at the center—lifted into the air. The Core lifted as well, even though nothing was touching it. Then the second ring began to move, then all of them.
As this was the first time Joe had done this ritual, he had no idea what to expect. Would there be odd flying like with the Pathfinder’s Hall? No movement like Novice rituals? His question was answered as more lightning struck, somehow forcing the group to their knees instead of locking them in place. Then the ring slid out from under them. Joe almost panicked, but the ritual was continuing. This… was a part of the activation? Mana flooded out of him, and soon, his pool of nine hundred and fifty was approaching empty. He was okay with that, as his mana regenerated at about twenty-eight per second, and he could regen his entire mana pool in thirty-five seconds.
He was given twenty before the pull started on him again, and still, he didn't worry. If Joe needed to do so, between shocks, he would drink one of the three mana potions he had been able to ‘requisition’ from the guild for this project. By the time the draw switched away from him again, he had already contributed over sixteen hundred mana, a full quarter of what was needed. Joe gasped as his mana poured out of him. Unlike previous large draining situations, there was only exhaustion: no pain. Why was this different?
Then he remembered that his mana had suffused his body, no longer contained strictly in his center. Was that the secret? He didn't need to draw mana into his channels; they were always channeling? Interesting. The draw switched to him again, faster this time, and he realized that everyone else was only regening a tiny amount at once now. Lightning hit all of them at once, and the ritual did something Joe had never seen before. It started taking mana from all of them at once, not giving them a chance to individually regen. Uh-oh.
Two people went unconscious a few seconds later, then Taka, then… the ritual empowering completed. Joe stood a moment later, staring at the ankle-height, hovering rings. He watched as the other members either stood or woke up and stood. “Excellent, everyone. That didn't go exactly as expected, but as far as I know… not a single ritual works the same way as another. Even among some of the same type, well, I’ve seen lots of variance.”
“So that’s it? A light show, hovering disks, and knocking us out?” One them gestured at the rings in disgust.
Joe really needed to learn their names so that he could react more dramatically. “Not at all… Sport. I was simply waiting for everyone to wake up so I could do… this!”
You have created a ritual…
Joe skipped the text and mentally slapped ‘yes’ to get the ball rolling. The disks started to spin, slowly at first, then faster and faster. Then they moved higher and began to rotate on their axis. Soon, the accumulated mana of the Coven began to leech out of the dully-glowing rings and into the shining Core at the center of the ritual. The rings moved faster until it was like watching a flashlight through a fan. Wind was blowing away from the rings as they acted like fan blades, and Joe stood there with his robes fluttering. He lifted his arms, really feeling like he was a powerful mage at that moment.
*Clang*. After eight and a third minutes—or five hundred seconds—movement stopped in an instant. Even though there was nothing that the rings hit, the metal stopping created enough stress that they resounded like clashing swords. The High Steel that the rings were made of was hot, enough that they had been blowing superheated air. Joe was glad that the smith had told him he needed a certain quality of metal to channel mana, and he wondered how magical inks and paper managed to contain what they did if this was the result of metal creating the ritual.
When the rings were back to hovering at ankle height, Joe wrapped a ball of shadow around the Core at the center of the rings and pulled it to himself.
You have created an item! Mana Battery (Artificially Rare, actual Uncommon). This enchanted Core has been altered to contain and release mana! With the methods used to create it, this Core can hold up to 1,000 mana! It can be charged by either holding or wearing it. It can take mana directly, or you can set your mana regen to pour into the Battery. Stores mana at a rate of 10:1. Current charge: 0/1,000.
“That’s a lot of odd information…” Joe poured a hundred mana into the battery, feeling disgruntled as the charge ticked up to ‘10/1,000’. “Ten mana only makes one mana stored? Ugh. At least I don't need to do it actively…”
Joe walked around to the Coven members and handed them each five gold. It didn’t feel like much to him, but Jess had informed him that most quests paid copper. Not only that, but he, as a highly ranked guild officer in a Noble Guild, only brought in ten gold a day as salary. The Coven member’s eyes lit up, and Joe realized that Jess was worth her weight in the gold he didn't need to pay out. He had no idea what was average at this point; his sense of scale totally blown out of the water.
Payment complete, Joe walked over to the cooled rings and looked over them. There weren't any signs of cracking or melting, but Joe wasn't foolish enough to think that was impossible. It was likely that this ritual had a usage limit, and he certainly didn't want to go overboard with greed. Still, he needed to convert the other Cores. He put the higher-rarity Core into the center, which had a potential experience load of fifteen hundred experience.
Joe had decided to use this Core next instead of the other small one, just to make sure that he had the best chance of keeping the rings usable. The conversion of this Core would take fifteen hundred seconds, or twenty-five minutes. Joe knew that moving parts had a high need for replacement, and… he stopped himself from getting too worried. Circular logic? Bad!
The rings lifted again and started to spin, and Joe watched them with pure excitement. Soon, they would be out a’ quest-ing.
Chapter Thirty-one
“Are we all ready to go?” Joe looked around, wondering how different everyone was in only a week. Did they have storage devices that they were bringing their gear with? Did their skills improve? Joe himself had been forgetting to go out and do his characteristic training. He thought of it as going to the gym, something he should do, but he kept finding other things to do. Oops.
“Let’s do it!” Jaxon fist-pumped the air, and they started walking to the temple area of the Pathfinder’s Hall.
“Joe?” A runner caught up to them as they were walking to the temple. The others groaned as Joe stopped to listen. “Lord Mike is requesting that you bring up another building before you go.”
“He actually sent a proxy?” Joe chuckled and apologized to the others. “Where are we going? What is the building?”
“Another barracks, as far as I can tell.” The runner wiped the sweat off his face and walked with Joe. “Mike gave me some information that he thought you would ask for.”
“How high is his charisma? How predictable am I?” Joe muttered aloud.
“Ah… he didn't give me that information,” the runner continued. “Lord Mike told me that it is going opposite to the first barracks, on the other side of the guildhall. There will be two more that go up, to put one in each cardinal direction. Then a wall around all that to create not only housing but a final fallback point if needed.”
“Hmm. He really has me pegged.” Joe could only shake his head. “Listen, can you go find Taka and… um… yeah… they are hanging out at the tavern right now. Were supposed to be off, but tell them I need a hand.”
The runner ran off, and Joe walked to the guildhall, standing next to a pile of wood and nails. He used his grid to get the correct positioning and just finished everything up when his Coven members showed up. “Hey all, this should only take a minute or so. Sorry to bother you.”
“All good,” came the reply from the proven-to-be-resilient lady that had joined on.
“One more time, before we do this, can I get all your names? I’m terrible with names. Then tell me a little about yourselves,” Joe admitted with a light blush. He got the stink eye, but they responded.
“Taka. We talked.”
“Kirby,” the lady told
him. “I plan to be an evil overlord, but every time I try to be evil, it ends up helping a lot of people. Abyss, even my foreboding and clearly evil laugh! Instead of striking fear in the hearts of those unfortunate enough to cross my path, it buffs them! I’m getting frustrated, so I joined this group to see what I could do.”
Joe stared at her for a moment, drawing out his words as he spoke, “R~r~right.”
A man standing about six inches taller than Joe said, “Big_Mo. Also known as William. I’m a thief class and was looking to respec into Alchemist when I found you all. If I ever get a chance at race change, I want to be a Dark Elf. Drow. Whatever it’s called.”
“Hannah.” Joe did a double take; brown robes were really unflattering. Good thing he had asked.
“Robert. I’m a ranger, but I got a fractured class. I’m actually a necromancer now, but I can only summon a single skeleton. Luckily, our new class absorbed both of those, and now, I can switch between them at will. It was an issue for a while.”
“Can I call you ‘Bob’?” Joe asked the last.
“No. I hate how many people are called Bob. Bob is everywhere. I’m Robert.” He crossed his arms, and Joe decided not to push.
“Great.” Joe got them into position, and just under a minute later, a barracks was fully built, complete with shingles. The others got an ‘I owe you, so go bug Jess’, as Joe wasn't carrying any money. When they all split ways, he rejoined his party at the temple. A moment later, they were a half-day walk from the forest of Chlorophyll Chaos.
Luckily, they had planned well, and even though they had a small interruption in the form of Joe having to help create a structure, they arrived at the forest by midafternoon. Joe put on the watch, the beacon, and crossed the border of the forest. It was instantly obvious that the device was functional; the territory beyond was familiar. A Wolfman Scout carefully came into view, not wanting to be attacked by the jumpy humans.
“You return. I lose bet.” The Scout motioned for them to follow, and they walked through the deadly forest with relative ease. They paused at one point when a half dozen Imps flew through a clearing just ahead of them. They seemed to be going somewhere, not patrolling, and Joe really wondered what was different this week.