Life Reset

by Shemer Kuznits

  Now, I just need to figure out what workers to summon next. I had to think rationally. What type of worker would benefit the clan most? Builders would be ideal, to quicken the settlement expansion, but Zuban was already managing six Builders, which was his limit.

  I’d love to call a Stonemason next, but I couldn’t equip him with a pickaxe for his work. Another Constructor would be a nice addition, but they were considered Advanced workers, and Gandork was not yet skilled enough to cook the required Advanced food. The lack of Advanced food also prevented me from summoning a blacksmith, though once the Smithy is completed I’ll have to man it. Err… to goblin it? I wondered idly to myself.

  The problem was I lacked both tools and Advanced food, limiting my choices for the next worker. Once Gandork can produce higher quality food and the Smithy is completed, I’ll have plenty of both, but until then… At least Gandork doesn’t burn the fish he fails to cook properly, I consoled myself. The fish just became simple food.

  I finally decided the best course of action would be to increase the village food production. I set my goal on summoning two more gatherers and one fisherman. I reasoned that would be the most effective approach. Compared to the other food producers, the Gatherer's daily yield was relatively small, unless they were harvesting something, but at least they didn’t require any special tools. The new fisherman would have to use Cobie’s old fishing gear for now. Despite the severe penalty it imposed, he would still provide some fish and work on increasing his skill level. That way, when I could finally equip him with proper fishing gear, his productivity would double.

  As I was viewing the list, my eyes were drawn to a worker I hadn’t considered before; a Tanner. I noticed it in passing before, but there were other priorities back then.

  With the twins around hunting and completing quests and my current stock, I expected to soon be swimming in pelts. It might be a good idea to get ahead of things and start producing leather. I knew from past experience that tanners in the game could produce basic leather using only knives.

  I had a clear plan of action. Thanks to the Miner, all the food was loaded into the Breeder’s Den, so I selected and summoned four goblins. I used a simplistic view of Analyze on each as they emerged from the building.

  Goblin worker. Level 1; P:1, M:0, S:1; Skills: Haul 1, Fisherman 1

  Goblin worker. Level 1; P:1, M:0, S:1; Skills: Haul 1, Gatherer 1

  Goblin worker. Level 1; P:1, M:0, S:1; Skills: Haul 1, Gatherer 1

  Goblin worker. Level 1; P:1, M:0, S:1; Skills: Haul 1, Tanner 1

  The Tanner and one of the Gatherers were female. I now had five in my clan. I used 200 energy points to increase the new goblins to level 2, leaving only 52 EP in the pool, once again breaking my own pledge of maintaining a 200 minimum.

  “Welcome to the GreenPiece clan,” I greeted the newcomers. “We work at night and rest during the day. If you require anything, ask Guba. You can find some tools over there,” I pointed toward our large camp pile.

  I addressed the tanner, “We have quite a lot of pelts, skins, and furs. Start turning them into workable leather.”

  “Yes, Dork Totem,” the small goblin pipped. I closed my eyes feeling my blood pressure rising at the mispronunciation. Come on! Really!?

  I had summoned all the workforce I could reasonably justify to myself for now. As I still had a surplus of food, it was time to start thinking about increasing my combat readiness.

  Vrick currently commanded two warriors. With his Squad Leader skill, he could efficiently lead 6 warriors, so I decided to summon four more. I accessed the Interface again, and for the first time selected a goblin other than a worker. Warriors were more expensive than workers, each cost 50 Simple Food. I selected a warrior, and another menu opened. I could now select between the standard spear wielding warrior or one using different combat skills. There were axe wielders, bowmen, dual wielding daggers, shield bearer etc. I’d love to summon some bow wielding goblins, ranged attack always worked best when you have numbers on your side. But as always, equipment availability was a limiting factor. I had to go with warriors I could actually equip properly.

  We still had a couple of hand axes and several daggers, so I finally decided to summon two axe wielders and two dual wielders.

  The Miner hauled the food double time. 200 units of steaks and mushrooms later, the new recruits were summoned and stood before me.

  Goblin warrior. Level 1 (0%); 20hp; 10mp; P:2, M:0, S:-1; Skills: Brawling 1, Axes: 1

  Goblin warrior. Level 1 (0%); 20hp; 10mp; P:2, M:0, S:-1; Skills: Brawling 1, Axes: 1

  Goblin warrior. Level 1 (0%); 20hp; 10mp; P:2, M:0, S:-1; Skills: Brawling 1, Dual Wield: 1

  Goblin warrior. Level 1 (0%); 20hp; 10mp; P:2, M:0, S:-1; Skills: Brawling 1, Dual Wield: 1

  Because the goblins couldn’t get a second weapon skill to specialize in, the Dual Wield skill was less effective for them than for players. Still, in its basic form, the skill worked well with daggers.

  I equipped the warriors with our few remaining axes and daggers. “Alright, report to Vrick for training.”

  “Yes Dork Totem,” they replied in unison.

  I gnashed my teeth. Stupid goblins!

  I didn't have enough energy to increase their level right now, so I had to postpone it a few days.

  I now had 35 clan members, I was well on my way to reaching 50. Then I’d just need to build another advanced building to fill the prerequisite for becoming a tier 2 boss. That is provided I can somehow accumulate the 5,000 Energy Points needed to pay for the upgrade.

  Everyone was busy doing their work, and things seemed to be in order. I could finally leave micromanaging everything around here to explore my new enchanting skill in seclusion.

  I retrieved the last dagger and axe from the pile and went to my house.

  ***

  I sat on the floor with my legs crossed, holding the dagger I was going to attempt enchanting.

  I was almost giddy with excitement, I was about to unravel the secrets of the incredibly rare Runecraft skill.

  I took a few calming breaths, then activated the new skill by thinking runecraft.

  There was a flash, and then a transparent white interface appeared, filling my entire field of vision. A holographic copy of the dagger I held in my hand hovered in front of me. I was looking at some sort of design mode interface.

  I was surprised to realize I could see inside the dagger!

  The dagger depicted was hollow, with various parts in different colors, reminding me of a graphic design tool. The dagger was highlighted in a transparent blue color, it’s sharp edges were yellow, and the tip was bright gold. Looking through it, I could see misty brown spots. The handle was black.

  Above the image was written ‘Max runes (determined by item quality): 3.’

  To the right of the text was an empty mana bar, and to the left, three weird symbols. The runes themselves.

  I wasn’t sure what to do, this was very different from how crafting usually worked. If you were forging a sword, for example, you needed to manually handle the material; put it in a forge, strike it with a hammer, shape it properly. But this...this was something else entirely.

  I tried clicking on the rune symbols and a short description appeared for each of them.

  Ko - rune of strengthening

  Te - connector rune

  Ma - containment rune

  The purpose of the last two wasn’t clear, but ‘strengthening’ was pretty obvious. The rune looked like a large parenthesis and small parenthesis nested together, both facing one direction. There were lines that looked like channels, coming out of the “parenthesis” part of the rune, pointing away from the rune in both directions and ending in a funnel-like configuration.

  I tried to drag the strengthening rune onto the dagger, but nothing happened. Envisioning the runes on the dagger and tracing them with my finger proved just as ineffective.

  I looked in frustration at the dagger that filled most of the design vie
w. I was missing something here, how do you add a strength rune to an item? I racked my brain at the question. What was it called? Ko? As soon as the thought crossed my mind, a black rune appeared on the holographic dagger. It was the exact same pattern as the strength rune displayed on the left side. So…you simply have to think the name of the runes. Te, Ma, Ko. Two new runes appeared beside the first one. The dagger could only hold up to three runes.

  Each rune was colored black and appeared dormant as if it was lacking power. No prompts or description appeared to indicate the status of the enchantment. The connector rune, Te, looked like an equal sign, but with three parallel lines. The ends were a slightly lighter shade of black. Curiously, I tried probing the edge with my mind and the rune grew longer! I played with it a little more and found that I could make it twist and turn, tracing runic lines along the dagger’s spectral image. Every time I turned the runic line, it folded onto itself in a square, like the edge of an elaborate picture frame, and ended up deeper in the dagger. So it can be etched inside the item, I suddenly realized.

  Next, I grabbed the side of the connector rune closest to the strength rune and tried to move it. It touched the strength rune, wrapping it and seamlessly connected to the outstretched funnel lines.

  I waited, but again, no prompt appeared. Something was still missing.

  The only thing I hadn’t examined yet was the purpose of the mana bar. I tried pouring some of my mana into the dagger. That seemed to do the trick. The runes, now covering 40% of the dagger surface began to glow faintly as the mana bar filled by a tiny amount. I cut the mana flow after pouring 10 points, the mana bar was 3% full. At last, a prompt appeared

  Flawed sequence. New schema not discovered

  I dismissed the message, and all the runes disappeared from the dagger as well. It looked like I needed to discover specific sequence of runes in order to successfully enchant the item. There were only so many possible combinations, but the connector rune - Te - complicated things. It could be drawn freely, which potentially added hundreds of combinations. And I only have three runes now, I thought with alarm, Once I find more, the possible combinations will be in the thousands, or more.

  On the other hand, it explained why runecraft was such a diverse branch of enchantment, and why so few master runecrafter players existed. With enough different runes, you could essentially create any type of magical effect. It was a sort of magical programming language. It had its own internal logic and rules. All I had to do was discover them through trial and error.

  The strength and connector runes were obviously meant to fit together, so I decided to experiment only with them for now. I drew the strength rune first and added the connector rune to it. I mentally grabbed the end of the connector and moved it inside the dagger. I tried stretching it to one of the four murky-brown spots, but it was more difficult than I’d thought.

  The spots were at different depths inside the dagger, and the connector lines could only be drawn deeper by turning them. As I had no direct control over the depth, that made it more problematic. After a series of twists and turns, a third of the dagger was chock full of the three parallel runic lines, but I finally managed to connect the rune to a brown spot.

  I poured my mana into the construct again, watching the runes glow faintly.

  Weapon schema discovered: KoTe [Enhanced Frame]

  Runecraft Skill level increased to 2

  Enchant Iron Dagger [Enhanced Frame]? Yes/No

  Pattern efficiency: 25%

  Mana invested: 10/200.

  Effect: +0.125% durability (+1 point)

  Success. I figured it out!

  I selected No, and wiped the runes off the dagger template. I started from scratch again. First drawing Ko, the strength rune, followed by Te, the connector rune. I drew the lines across the inside of the blade, this time I had a better feel for it. The trick was to align the height by making turns before reaching your desired target. When I finally managed to connect all four brown spots, I poured my mana into the design. 10 points, 20 points, 50, 100… When I reached 200 MP, the mana bar on the right side was filled completely.

  Enchant Iron Dagger [Enhanced Frame]? Yes/No

  Pattern efficiency: 100%

  Mana invested: 200/200.

  Effect: +10.5% durability (+2 point)

  The amount of mana required was ridiculous. Each rune required a whopping 100 MP to fully activate. That meant a player had to have at least 10 levels for every rune used. So only high-level players could fully create powerful complex formulas. I had a decisive advantage here, seeing as my mana pool was quite high for my level.

  The durability bonus was insignificant, but it made sense - the dagger was low quality.

  I selected No and cleared all the runes. I placed the Ko rune again and drew the connector lines, this time trying to reach the yellow edge of the dagger. I could tell right away that it didn’t work. The line hadn’t grasped the edges as they did with the brown spots. Sure enough, when I tried empowering it with mana, I received another failed message.

  Flawed sequence. New schema not discovered

  That was disappointing. So Ko and Te could only be combined in one way that I could see. It was time to try to incorporate the third rune into the design, Ma, the containment rune.

  I tried adding the rune in various ways, and after several tries realized the only way to connect it was to add it as the first rune.

  Weapon schema discovered: MaKoTe [Ensourced Enhanced Frame]

  Runecraft Skill level increased to 3

  Enchant Iron Dagger [Ensourced Enhanced Frame]? Yes/No

  Pattern efficiency: 100%

  Mana invested:10/200.

  Effect: +0.55% durability (+0 point), socketed

  Finally, some progress. I had pinpointed the containment rune’s purpose, it literally created a container, a socket, in the dagger. Socketed items were highly sought after. The owners of such items could customize some of the item’s abilities by inserting different types of magical receptacle, simply called sources. You could socket a fire source to a weapon, adding fire damage, or a skill booster source that would increase your skill while you wielded the item. I didn’t have any magical sources yet, but knowing I could create enchanted sockets in items was very satisfying.

  I dismissed the notification and wiped the enchantment. No sense in putting a socket on a low-quality dagger. I took out my own trusty Sacrificial Bone Dagger.

  This time, when the Runecraft Interface opened, a list of discovered schemas also appeared. It was a convenient little addition, it ensured I wouldn’t forget the schemas I had invented or found.

  I selected MaKoTe, and the rune appeared on the dagger. I still had to draw the lines of the connector rune through the body of the dagger manually. This time, there were six brown spots to connect. I managed to connect the first five spots without any real difficulty, but the last spot was hard. By the time I reached it, the dagger was so full of lines there was no space left to move in the dagger. It was a puzzle game of sorts.

  Eventually, I found the right pattern and all the spots were connected. I moved to the next phase, pumping mana into the runes. I watched the mana bar slowly increase, as my own reserve was depleted. It took 300 MP to power all three runes, leaving me with only 75 MP in reserves.

  Enchant Sacrificial Bone Dagger [Ensourced Enhanced Frame]? Yes/No

  Pattern efficiency: 100%

  Mana invested:300/3000.

  Effect: +11.5% durability (+11 points), socketed

  It felt like hours, but I finally made it. I clicked Yes.

  Source required to finalize enchantment. Please select one

  - Opal of Healing (heals on contact)

  - Liquid Darkness (**skill level too low to identify**)

  That was a surprise. For some reason, the system required a source for the socket to complete the enchantment. Maybe I’m missing another type of rune to make it an open socket? I wondered to myself. I was even more surprised to find out I had options
to select. I had no idea inscribed opals would serve as foci, and I really didn’t expect the liquid darkness I got from the Shadow-Touched Mastiff to either.

  I didn’t see the point in adding a healing power to a weapon that was supposed to do the opposite, so without other options and out of curiosity, I selected the Liquid Darkness.

  Runecraft Skill level increased to 4

  The design interface closed, and the actual bone dagger remained suspended in the air. Runes began to appear on the blade, as if slowly being burned into it. As the runes spread toward the hilt, the vial of Liquid Darkness disappeared from my inventory and hovered in the air next to the dagger. The vial shattered and a swirling liquid darkness hung in the air. The liquid flowed through the air toward the dagger and seeped into it. The runes blazed in incandescent gold, while the entire dagger began to turn from bone-white to a darker hue as if it was sucking the inky substance into itself. In a few seconds, the process was complete, and the dagger remained hovering in front of me.

  The dagger was even more wicked looking now, completely black, with golden runes etched along its sides.

  Sacrificial Bone Dagger of Darkness [soul bound]