by Jez Cajiao
“Oracle bring a basic Alchemy book as well, and one on Herbalism. Fuck holding everything back until we need it; we need it now.”
“Ooookay, Jax… I’ll be there soon.”
I felt the annoyance Oracle didn’t bother to hide from me as she turned back and returned to the Hall of Memories. I didn’t think she’d gotten far from it; it was hard to tell at this distance, but I had no doubt I’d be paying for it in some way.
I shrugged and returned to my gear, examining each piece’s condition. What I found wasn’t bad; my mostly complete ‘Night’s Embrace’ set had dropped a bit on its durability, but the rest still in decent shape. I pulled up the stats for them, checking each over quickly:
Cuirass of Night’s Embrace
Further Description Yes/No
Details:
This chest armor is made of vertical strips of blackened Highsteel laid over toughened leather. It gives a bonus of +5 to stealth. All attacks made when undetected will do extra damage.
Rarity
Magical
Durability
Charge:
Rare
Yes
68/100
N/A
Greaves of Night’s Embrace
Further Description Yes/No
Details:
These greaves are made of vertical strips of blackened Highsteel laid over toughened leather. They give a bonus of +2 to stealth.
Rarity
Magical
Durability
Charge:
Rare
Yes
73/100
N/A
Pauldrons of Night’s Embrace
Further Description Yes/No
Details:
These pauldrons are made of vertical strips of blackened Highsteel laid over toughened leather. They give a bonus of +2 to stealth.
Rarity
Magical
Durability
Charge:
Rare
Yes
69/100
N/A
Boots of Night’s Embrace
Further Description Yes/No
Details:
These boots are made of vertical strips of blackened Highsteel laid over toughened leather. They give a bonus of +3 to stealth and reduce the sound of footsteps made when wearing them.
Rarity
Magical
Durability
Charge:
Rare
Yes
74/100
12/100
Dagger of Ripping
Further Description Yes/No
Details:
This dagger is enchanted to tear a wound wider than normal, ensuring the target bleeds heavily.
Rarity
Magical
Durability
Charge:
Rare
Yes
79/100
57/100
Ring of Infliction
Further Description Yes/No
Details:
This ring is enchanted to inflict 20% more pain on damage done by weapons held in this hand.
Rarity
Magical
Durability
Charge:
Rare
Yes
64/100
11/100
Naginata
Further Description Yes/No
Damage:
24-40 +17
Details:
This two-handed weapon was built from a combination of modern Earth techniques and traditional Japanese skills, creating a weapon that is truly deadly in the hands of a skilled user.
Enhanced; This weapon has been enhanced through Silverbright and has absorbed some of the souls of its victims. Current capacity: 17/100
Bonus ability: Magical infusion: Casting your spells through this weapon will infuse it with that ability for the duration of channeling and cause? x1 damage where? is equal to the damage done by the cast spell.
Rarity
Magical
Durability
Charge:
Unique
Yes
91/100
N/A
Dragon Shortsword
Further Description Yes/No
Damage:
12-17
Details:
This short sword is made of L6 ‘tool steel’ and is far stronger than its traditional counterparts, gaining a +6 to damage done with it. This sword will bend, not break, and has been engraved on one side with a dragon motif by its creator. This is part of a set of two but grants no bonuses at this time.
Rarity
Magical
Durability
Charge:
Very Rare
No
98/100
N/A
Phoenix Shortsword
Further Description Yes/No
Damage:
12-17
Details:
This short sword is made of L6 ‘tool steel’ and is far stronger than its traditional counterparts, gaining a +6 to damage done with it. This sword will bend, not break, and has been engraved on one side with a Phoenix motif by its creator. This is part of a set of two but grants no bonuses at this time.
Rarity
Magical
Durability
Charge:
Very Rare
No
98/100
N/A
Bracers
Further Description Yes/No
Details:
These bracers are made primarily from leather and have been reinforced with thin steel bands. Each bracer has a short punch dagger concealed within it.
Rarity
Magical
Durability
Charge:
Very Rare
No
72/100
N/A
Belt of Concealment
Further Description Yes/No
Details:
This sturdy leather belt is wider than commonly worn to allow for the loops of razorwire concealed within. Dual wooden toggles are artfully disguised as ornamental latches at the front, while in fact providing grips for the hidden wire.
Rarity
Magical
Durability
Charge:
Very Rare
No
86/100
N/A
Assassins Helm
Further Description Yes/No
Details:
This a black full-face helm with interwoven steel reinforcement. It provides basic protection while covering the face, leaving only the eyes uncovered. The lower face-concealing panels can be hinged back if desired.
Rarity
Magical
Durability
Charge:
Unusual
No
56/100
N/A
Basic Bag of Holding
Further Description Yes/No
Details:
This basic Bag of Holding reduces the weight of any item placed inside by 75%, has 24 slots, and enables multiple items to be stacked up to 99 times in a single slot. This item was created in a low mana location, and as such will deteriorate faster than a normal Bag of Holding.
Rarity
Magical
Durability
Charge:
Common
Yes
43/100
N/A
Bow of Piercing
Further Description Yes/No
Details:
This bow has been enchanted with a series of basic runes to enable a +3 damage against all targets.
Rarity
Magical
Durability
Charge:
Rare
Yes
39/100
57/100
Dagger
Further Description Yes/No
Details:
This dagger is made of L6 ‘Tool Steel’ and as such is far stronger than traditional counterparts, gaining a +4 to damage done with it.
Rarity
/> Magical
Durability
Charge:
Very Rare
No
98/100
N/A
I’d finally taken the time to check out my gear properly, something I’d not done in seemingly forever, and I found two things I should have looked at long since.
First was my naginata; it’d absorbed some of the souls from the goblins, thankfully not many, but some of their weak-ass souls had taken up slots in it, and I hated that. I thought about the fights and realized that it had also absorbed that asshole human’s soul, the mage slaver. It probably meant that it would only absorb souls if I were actively channeling into it when I killed something, but I’d need to be careful from now on to make sure that was the case, and that I didn’t waste any more slots.
The second thing that I’d rediscovered was Ora’s bow in my bag of holding. I’d completely forgotten about it, and it had a quiver of arrows with it, including some arrows clearly designed for hunting animals, while others were tipped with the heavy chisel tips of armor piercers. I looked the bow over quickly. I was no archer, after all, and while I’d been trained to use a bow, this would definitely be put to better use by someone that didn’t have magic as an option.
I lifted it closer, peering more carefully at the runes that covered the surface, seeing something that tickled at my memories. It made me think of the Spellbook I’d wasted with Oracle, ‘Airblade’. There was something…
Congratulations!
You have taken your first step toward a greater world of mystery. Basic Runes Skill has been learned. With this skill and your existing magical knowledge, you have a three (3) percent chance of understanding the meaning behind runes you encounter, provided you know the corresponding spellform.
I blinked, the notification’s appearance distracting me, and the moment of epiphany was lost. I growled in irritation; the fact that I’d allowed myself to be distracted by the flash of the notification, and that I’d then actually opened it and read it, had clearly cost me the chance to learn whatever the rune was.
I slammed the bow back down and stripped off, pulling cleanish boxers, jeans, socks, and a long-sleeved black undershirt on, as I resolved to find somewhere that I could clean my damn clothes soon. I pulled my armor on and settled my weapons, leaving the helm in my bag for now. It was cool looking, and it’d kept my skull intact a load of times so far. But the stitches Johan or Helena had put into it in between bouts in the arena were clear to see, and I didn’t think I needed it here.
A tentative knock reverberated the door to the captain’s cabin, and I quickly jerked it open to find a human woman standing there. I froze for a second, confused, as my mind had been elsewhere, then I grinned at her. It was Renna, the artist I’d given the magical infusion book to, standing and waiting with Ame, Flux standing not far away.
“Great to see you, Renna; come in please. Ame, Flux…you too,” I said, stepping back and making sure they closed the door once they were all inside.
“Did you study the book?” I asked Renna, and she nodded, a smile coming to her face. “And my request? Will it work?”
“It should; I’ll need to study a lot, though. For now, I only know the one Rune that Ame taught me.”
“That’s fine.” I bade them all sit, and I stripped my armor and top off again, showing all three of them the torn and damaged containment rune that the Baron had etched into my skin, seemingly so long ago.
“Wha…what is this?” Ame asked, stunned. She pushed Flux aside and struggled around the small table to sit close with me, the vibrations she emitted as she examined me setting my teeth on edge. I saw they were affecting Renna just as badly, but she was fascinated as she tried to look without getting in anyone’s way.
“Renna, you’re free to examine this as well,” I said, gesturing her forward. When the pair had looked it over, they finally took their seats again. Renna was already making drawings of it in a sketchbook she’d been given by Cai.
“No, see here, the lower Dantian linkage? It must be longer…” Ame said, quickly comparing my scarring to the drawing and correcting it. I gave them a few minutes to discuss it, before explaining what it was and why the Baron had given it to me. It immediately sparked a new discussion between Ame and Renna as to the magic that had been used, and why it had included a trap, a discussion which I suddenly had visions of raging out of control, until I put my foot down and stopped them.
“You can discuss this in your own time; for now, I need you to do as I asked, Renna. Ame and Flux, you’re here both to help with this, considering your skills, and your manapool, Ame, and to plan how we could use this to our advantage in the future, Flux.”
Renna gathered her gear together, and I sat in the middle of the room, directing her as to positioning, though I left the style to her. Ame looked over the drawing as she worked, instructing her, and guiding to make sure it was as well-made as possible. It took a few hours, but in a surprisingly short time, I was buttoning up my top, and Renna was staggering out of the door, exhausted.
“She will make an excellent Runecrafter.” Ame said, looking to me, and I nodded, wincing as my body shifted.
“Well, teach her, then.” I said, shrugging. “So, how long does it take to learn a new rune?” I asked, pulling the bow out of my Bag of Holding. I couldn’t help but grin at how cool it was to do that, but it wasn’t until Ame let out a pulse of surprise and snatched the bow from my hands that I saw any reaction. Clearly, the bag wasn’t anything special to them, but the bow?
“Where did you get this?!” Ame demanded, lifting the bow and examining it from multiple angles.
“I won it in a tournament; I take it that it’s good?” I said, grinning.
“It’s trash.” She replied, examining it closer and twisting it this way and that.
“Oh…right…” I said, a bit stunned by her dismissal, and the fact that she was still examining the bow so carefully. “So, why are you still looking at it?”
“The bow is of poor craftmanship; certain materials I don’t recognize were used, and the crafter’s skill is…disappointing. The runes are carved in perfectly consistent depth, and the material used to fill them is…clear."
"There are no blemishes in the material at all, but the skill of the Runecrafter is pathetic. I could do better while drunk! Look, see here?” She tapped on one of the lines of a symbol and I looked at it, seeing nothing different from the rest. “This is too short! And here…” She stroked another section, digging the tip of a nail into the wood and peeling a section up without effort.