by A F Kay
He took a step, and the lights came back on. No one had come through the door, and he remained alone in the room. It must have been Blapy controlling the lights. Had she turned them off on purpose to help him find this book? Why would she do that? He turned off Detect Temperature and looked at the book in his hands.
The book had a plain brown cover with two clasped hands. The book title, A Worker’s Guide to Harvesting, made it sound like a book on farming. The clasped hands were the symbol for Uru’s Worker Class, but that might be a coincidence. Why would such a nondescript book be warm? What would even cause a book to get warm?
He tried to open it, but the cover wouldn’t budge. Turning the book, he looked at the edge, expecting to see decay or something that would cause the pages to be stuck together. But the page edges seemed clean. He used a little more pressure, scared of breaking the book, but wanting to at least try and open it. The book wouldn’t budge.
Moving to the table with the other books he wanted to borrow, he set this one next to them.
“Blapy, I’d like to borrow these four books,” Ruwen said.
Minimized notifications blinked, and he opened them.
Tring!
The Black Pyramid has loaned you…
Book Title:
Topic:
Author:
Book Id: 459204
Quality: Rare
Durability: 4 of 10
Weight: 1.1 lbs.
Loan Count: 4
Restriction: Black Pyramid mark required.
Description: Small red book with gold edges.
The next two, a medium blue book and a small black one, were similar to the red book. The last notification listed the book he’d found with Detect Temperature.
Tring!
The Black Pyramid has loaned you…
Book Title: A Worker’s Guide to Harvesting
Topic:
Author:
Book Id: 000003
Quality: Legendary
Durability: 10 of 10
Weight: 3.7 lbs.
Loan Count: 1
Restriction: Black Pyramid mark required.
Restriction: Class, Diety’s most common
Restriction: Harvesting Stage 10 (Minimum)
Description: Medium brown book with clasped hands. Warm to the touch.
Ruwen’s hand trembled as he reached out and touched the book again. He had dreamed of seeing a legendary item someday, perhaps even studying one at some point in his life. Actually holding one or, for that matter, taking it with him, had never entered his mind. They were so rare and powerful, Kingdoms had gone to war over them. They were items of immense power, and one had been laying on Blapy’s first floor.
But unless you met all the requirements, you probably couldn’t borrow it to see the item’s information. Which meant no one probably even knew this precious book existed except for the author, Blapy, and now Ruwen. And Blapy had just told him she wanted to kill him. She had to be the one who had turned off the lights. She had effectively led him to this book. Did that mean it was dangerous and would kill him?
The other three books he’d borrowed all had identification numbers around five hundred thousand. This book had an ID of three. Did that mean it was the third book Blapy accepted? How old did that make it? And now he had a burning desire to find the books with an ID of one and two. Were they legendary as well?
The restriction referencing Harvesting confused him. If this was some powerful magic that helped you grow food, what did the “stage” reference mean? The only stage he had ever seen was the one that had recently appeared on his Profile. But it was for Cultivating.
He carefully put all the books in his Void Band and walked to the wall near the door. His curiosity demanded he spend more time trying to open that book. But he needed to focus on surviving. That meant not fiddling with something Blapy had led him to until after he’d synched with Uru, and improved himself however he could to survive Blapy’s third level.
He’d already used both his level three ability points on Hey You when he wanted to understand Sift’s parents. But he still had his level three spells to pick. He needed every advantage he could get so he wouldn’t be Blapy’s next meal.
“Sift’s bedroom,” Ruwen said as he touched his wrist to the wall.
A portal opened, and he gave the library one last look. The real treasure Blapy held might not be buried deep underground. It might be in plain sight. It was just the kind of thing she would love. Adventurers walking over priceless artifacts on their way to likely death for lesser treasure. Yes, he needed to spend a lot more time in here.
Chapter 31
Ruwen laid on his back, hands behind his head, trying to ignore Sift’s snoring. For the tenth time, he studied the new spell choices available to him since leveling. He’d earned level four before he’d had a chance to allocate his level three spells, so now he could use those to pick a level four spell if he wanted and skip level three altogether.
He skimmed the level three and four Energy-based Worker spells again, ignoring the descriptions and casting information.
Spell: Kindling
Level: 3
Effect: Condense the air near your hand into a small blade.
Spell: Harden
Level: 3
Effect: Increase density.
Spell: Dash
Level: 4
Effect: Increase your top speed by 20%.
Spell: Dig
Level: 4
Effect: Remove material and place it nearby. The denser the material, or the faster the removal, the higher the energy cost.
His Observer Energy-based spells made the decision even harder.
Spell: Tight Rope
Level: 3
Effect: Walk safely on any surface 2 inches or greater in width. Falls cause 10% less damage.
Spell: Street Fight
Level: 3
Effect: Increase unarmed damage by 20% and Dexterity by 10%.
Spell: Obscure
Level: 4
Effect: Decrease signs of passage by 20%.
Spell: Feather Feet
Level: 4
Effect: Reduce the force of steps by 20%.
One more time, he scanned the Mana-based Worker spells.
Spell: Second Wind
Level: 3
Effect: Reduce food, water, and sleep requirements by 10%.
Spell: Grasp Crate
Level: 3
Effect: Increase the roughness of your hands by 10%.
Spell: Retrieve
Level: 4
Effect: Retrieve items less than 10 lbs. that are within 30 ft. of your location.
Spell: Jump
Level: 4
Effect: Increase the distance jumped by 20%.
Finally, the four Mana-based Observer spells.
Spell: Find Item
Level: 3
Effect: Sense the location of an item when holding an associated item. The more closely related the two items, the better the outcome.
Spell: Charge Item
Level: 3
Effect: Charge weapon with electricity, stunning the target for 1 to 3 seconds.
Spell: Pay Back
Level: 4
Effect: Spring to your feet and quickly strike, stunning the target for 1 to 3 seconds.
Spell: Backstab
Level: 4
Effect: Triple weapon damage when the target is struck from behind. Effect stacks with other modifiers.
Level three was an odd level so he’d only gotten two spells, one for each Class. The four spells he’d gained for reaching level four he planned on saving because Ky had wanted him to wait. So, with the two spells available, he could pick new ones, increase the spell level of earlier ones, or just save these two. There were just too many choices, and it overwhelmed him.
His focus was to survive today, closely followed by making it to level
five. That meant anything he chose had to support those two goals. Looking through them all again, he decided Backstab was a clear choice. Backstab would stack with his Bleed spell and do six times the damage he would normally do. Since his damage output was so weak, this would allow him to contribute in a meaningful way. He looked at the details of the spell and cringed at the Mana cost of fifty. It took a second to cast, and the recovery was thirty seconds.
Even though the Mana cost seemed excessive, it did triple his damage, and the long recovery made sense for such a powerful spell. He focused on the icon for Backstab. Fittingly, it looked like a figure with its arms thrown backward as a dagger struck them from behind. He had already discovered praying wasn’t necessary to advance an already learned ability, but he wondered if learning a new spell would be any different. Without any thought of Uru, he concentrated on the icon, and ten seconds later he felt the stab in his mind followed by the notification of his success.
He said a prayer of thanks to Uru, just in case. But he wondered what not having to pray meant. Did everyone have everything in their head already like Sift believed? Ruwen could see why you would want some information there. If someone left the area where their god could synch them, they would need to still be able to progress. He would have to think about that some more later.
For his last choice, a few spells would benefit him. He had started learning the Steps with Sift and Street Fight would make him more dangerous. He had just begun, though, and wasn’t any good yet. Plus, he didn’t want things getting that close to him.
His fear of heights would be manageable if he knew Tight Rope. He wouldn’t worry so much about falling. But again, he didn’t plan on being anywhere high right now. The idea of digging holes to escape or for safety sounded awesome, but seemed very situational.
Really, it came down to two: Pay Back and Retrieve. Ruwen ended up on the ground a lot, and it would be nice to have a way to quickly regain his feet. Not only that, but it allowed him to attack and stun his opponent. The spell was very powerful.
Embarrassingly, the thing he seemed to do the most was drop his weapons. He knew it was his lack of fighting experience and that it would get better, but it didn’t change the fact that his instinct seemed to be dropping whatever he held. A spell that allowed him to get his weapon back was a valid choice. Not having to leave his chair to grab a book from across the room didn’t have any bearing. None.
He looked at the details of the Retrieve spell. Another expensive spell costing fifty Mana. It was instant cast though, which was nice. The one-minute cool down for the recovery sucked but was understandable. He double-checked the weight of his staff to make sure it wasn’t over ten pounds and was relieved that it only weighed 4.2 pounds. He focused on the icon, which looked like a reaching hand, and, just like before, he learned a spell without following the normal process.
He sat up in bed and looked around the room. His Staff of Chimes leaned against the wall about ten feet from the end of his bed. He reached for it and pictured the icon for Retrieve in his mind. A fifty flashed on his Mana bar, and the staff flew toward him. He realized too late that where he focused on the staff mattered. Instead of looking at the middle of the weapon, he’d been looking toward the top, which now hurtled toward him like a spear.
He yelped and ducked as the staff flew past him. A crash sounded behind him, and he turned to find Sift standing in his underwear, crouched and ready to fight. Ruwen’s staff stuck out of the wall where it had embedded itself into the stone.
Sift looked at the weapon stuck in the wall, the stone-dust falling to the floor, and then at Ruwen.
Ruwen winced. “Sorry.”
“Even sleeping you throw your weapon.” Sift sat on his bed and rubbed his face. “We might as well get an early start.”
As guilty as Ruwen felt, he was anxious for the answer to a question that had bothered him. He removed the Worker textbook he’d gotten from Tremine and A Worker’s Guide to Harvesting that he’d just borrowed from Blapy and held them up.
“Can you read these titles?” Ruwen asked.
Sift pointed to the textbook. “Worker Basics – Levels 1 through 9.” He pointed to the other book. “I can’t read that. I’ll be right back. If I don’t use the bathroom right now, I’m going to wet myself.”
Ruwen put the books away. He had suspected his ability had allowed him to read the title, but he wasn’t sure until now. That meant in addition to the book’s stated restrictions, the reader needed to know the original language or have a method of translating it. Blapy had hinted as she’d left that only Uru had given her most common Class the ability to understand other languages. That meant the author of this book had likely written it specifically for one of Uru’s Workers. Ruwen still didn’t understand the ‘Harvest’ term. He started to look through the Worker spells for any that aided in harvesting crops.
Sift returned to the room.
“Have you ever heard of a Harvesting Stage?” Ruwen asked.
“No, but isn’t that in the Fall?”
“Never mind, it was just something I read.”
“Well, reading time is over. Let’s start with some meditation…” Sift’s voice trailed off, and he looked uncomfortable.
“It’s okay. Blapy made me try it outside. I’ve reached some sort of limit, and I can’t Cultivate anymore. I’m full or something. So, meditating is safe.”
Sift relaxed. “That’s good.” He pulled Ruwen’s staff out of the wall and tossed it to him.
Ruwen needed to use both hands, but he caught the staff. He looked it over, but it appeared undamaged, so he set it on the bed. Sift had already walked to the center of the room and sat cross-legged on the floor. Ruwen sat across from him.
“You really scared my parents,” Sift said.
“Really? They didn’t want any details from me when Blapy brought me back. They just wanted to know if I was okay. They acted like nothing had happened.”
“It’s the first time I’ve ever seen them agitated.”
“Do you think I did something wrong?”
“No, I think it’s more what you mean for the future. They’re worried what will happen because of you.”
“Because of me? What am I going to do?” Ruwen pointed to the new hole above Sift’s bed. “The only thing I pose a danger to are walls.”
They both laughed
“True. Maybe they’d be more relaxed if they’d seen you fight those chickens,” Sift said.
“They were fast!”
Sift smiled and closed his eyes. Ruwen closed his as well and evened out his breathing. As soon as his mind cleared, the large, terrifying ball of energy appeared. His heart rate increased as he dropped into the energy on the way to his center. He could still hear Sift’s breathing along with a hundred other small sounds. Leaving most of his focus at the surface of the ball, he brought a thread down with him to his center, like a lifeline to the surface. Sift’s breathing became a distant thing, but still there if he needed to find a way out, and the world quieted again.
Other than his brief experiment with Blapy, he hadn’t spent any time here. It didn’t take long before boredom caused him to start pushing and pulling on the energy surrounding him. One advantage of Cultivating his own mind had been the ease of focusing. Now, without being able to Cultivate and feed his center, he had nowhere to push his stray thoughts or fears. He wished Sift’s parents would help him. Being stuck at this level for the rest of his life would ruin meditation for him.
He pulled at the energy around him to make a small ball, one that he could bounce around inside his mind. The energy around him responded, and he packed some energy into a ball. As soon as he did, he felt power trickling into him to fill the small hole left when the energy condensed. For a moment, he had Cultivated again.
“Did you just do something?” Sift asked.
Ruwen immediately let the condensed ball go, but it stayed the way it was. Did this mean if he wanted to continue to Cultivate he needed to compress the energ
y around him?
“Not sure, why?” Ruwen asked.
“It got cold for a second, but it’s fine now. I’m probably just jumpy from before.”
“I think I’m done. It’s too hard to concentrate this morning,” Ruwen said.
“Yeah, I feel it too. Ky will be back today, and we travel tonight.”
Yes, assuming Ruwen didn’t die first. Out of curiosity, he checked his Spirit, but it still stood at three hundred fifty-two thousand one hundred sixty-four. That made sense since Blapy’s calculation had estimated 0.003 Spirit per foot per second. He had compressed such a tiny amount that his Cultivation to fill it wasn’t measurable. But if he could figure out a better way to condense the energy, that would change.
They both stood, and Sift squatted down like he was sitting in the air.
“This is the first Step, which I always found funny because you don’t actually move,” Sift said.
Ruwen mirrored Sift. If this was what learning the Steps would be like, he’d be a master in no time. Squatting? He could do that.
Sift stood, walked over, and straightened Ruwen’s back.
“You can rest your arms on your thighs for now. Eventually, we’ll be practicing punches, blocks, and weapons like this.”
“This seems kind of dumb,” Ruwen said. Then quickly added, “I don’t mean that in a bad way. It’s just I don’t see the purpose.”