by A F Kay
Hamma beamed.
“What did you do?” Sift asked.
“The ring holds one spell that I can cast instantly. The white gem means I have a spell loaded,” Hamma said, holding her hand out to admire the ring. “It also adds to my Wisdom and Charisma.”
“Wow, that is amazing. What about the necklace?” Ruwen asked.
Hamma pulled the necklace off her chest and looked down at it. “It’s a Mana sink and doubles my Mana pool. It also increases my Wisdom and Charisma.”
Ruwen did the simple math in his head. “Between the bracelet that halves your Mana cost for heals and the necklace that increases your Mana pool, you can cast four times the number of heals.”
“That might almost be enough to keep Ruwen alive,” Sift said with a grin.
Ruwen rolled his eyes at Sift. Hamma, probably because of the three Charisma items, glowed. She looked so happy it made Ruwen’s chest hurt, and he couldn’t help but smile as well.
“The jewelry looks great on you,” Ruwen said, his mouth suddenly dry.
Hamma hugged Ruwen. “Thank you for bringing me. My time here just keeps getting better and better.”
Ruwen returned the hug. Hamma felt like she was on fire, or maybe Ruwen burned. When he let her go, he’d found his voice had disappeared, so he just nodded.
“What, no hug for me?” Sift asked.
Hamma laughed and gave Sift a quick hug. “Thank you.”
Sift smiled. “I’m glad to have help. It takes two of us to keep him alive.”
“Mean and maybe true,” Ruwen said as he knelt next to his loot.
Ruwen picked up the bag and carefully dumped it on the ground. A tiny vial of clear liquid rolled in a circle as well as what looked like a carrot freshly pulled from the earth.
“I think Blapy is telling you to eat better,” Sift said.
Ruwen looked up at his friend. “Says the guy who literally soaks his pancakes in syrup.”
Sift nodded at his pile of treasure. “You see any veggies in my pile?”
“Are you –” Ruwen started.
Hamma cleared her throat and interrupted them. “What do they do?”
Ruwen looked up at her. “Sorry.”
“I’m getting used to it. You two are like walking distractions,” Hamma said.
“He really does need to work on his focus,” Sift said.
Ruwen gritted his teeth but didn’t take the bait. Instead, he picked up the carrot.
Tring!
The Black Pyramid has rewarded you…
Name: Cursed Carrot of Clear Sight
Quality: Fine
Durability: 9 of 9
Weight: 1.0 lbs.
Area of Effect: 100 feet
Activation: Point carrot in the direction of interest
Effect: Color intensity increases with proximity and value of item(s).
Effect (Curse): Color seeps into the holder’s skin. Color fades one shade per minute (max ten minutes).
Description: Not all valuables are kept in plain sight. This Cursed Carrot can sense item(s) that possess value to others. The more others value the items, the deeper orange the carrot becomes. Be warned that value is very subjective. This item is all carrot and no stick.
Ruwen stared at the carrot. The ability to find hidden treasure meant they could gear up even faster. But, why couldn’t it have been a silver rod, with an eye-shaped gem at the tip that opened and closed as you approached treasure? That would have been awesome. Instead, Ruwen felt like Blapy purposefully created items to make him uncomfortable or straight embarrass him. She had a terrible sense of humor.
“It’s a treasure locator,” Ruwen said.
“That’s clever. Carrots are good for your eyes. They help you see better,” Hamma said.
“It’s also cursed and turns your skin orange as you use it,” Ruwen said.
Hamma grimaced and Sift laughed.
“You really got on Blapy’s bad side,” Sift said.
Ruwen almost didn’t want to pick up the vial, afraid that it contained some terrible substance, but he finally did.
Tring!
The Black Pyramid has rewarded you…
Name: War Marshal Oil
Quality: Rare
Durability: 1 of 1
Weight: 0.25 lbs.
Activation: Spread on a single piece of armor.
Effect: Doubles all attributes (Physical, Active, and Passive), making item twice as effective.
Description: Viscous liquid distilled from White Dragon Venom. Its true value is measured in time.
Ruwen’s hand trembled, and he gently set the vial on the ground. His mind exploded with a hundred different options. Some of his gear, like his Hooded Pacifist’s Cloak of Wandering, were already fantastic pieces. Doubling its effectiveness would be incredible.
“Well?” Sift asked. “Is it Goblin spit?”
Ruwen looked up. “Close, it’s White Dragon Venom. It will improve a piece of my armor.”
“Well, that seems good,” Hamma said.
“It does. Which worries me. Blapy usually wants me to suffer in some way,” Ruwen said.
“Are you going to try the carrot?” Hamma asked.
Sift laughed, and Ruwen smiled. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt.”
Ruwen placed the vial in his Inventory and then picked up the carrot. He felt like an idiot pointing a vegetable around the room. Slowly turning in a circle, the carrot’s color intensified when he pointed at the throne.
“Is there something there?” Hamma asked.
Ruwen walked toward the roughly hewn rock. “The description said value means different things. The carrot could be doing this because Talker really valued the throne. It was the most important thing to him. I wouldn’t get your hopes up.”
Hamma nodded and followed Ruwen. When he reached the throne, he moved the carrot around the chair just in case. When he pointed at the seat, the carrot’s color deepened. Ruwen’s entire hand had absorbed the dark orange, and he put the carrot in his Inventory.
Ruwen knelt in front of the throne and studied the seat. “Since this is the literal seat of power for Talker, it is probably why the carrot did that.”
Hamma didn’t respond, and Ruwen continued to study the seat. He didn’t see anything that looked like a seam and certainly no compartments. Since the carrot had provided such a strong indication, he decided to push and pull on the stone. Grabbing the edge of the seat, he pulled.
The stone seat slid toward Ruwen, and he fell backward. He heard a choking sound behind him, and he looked up at his friends, embarrassed that he’d fallen on his butt. Hamma had covered her mouth with her hand, and Sift had tears streaming down his face.
Ruwen frowned. His fall wasn’t that funny.
“What?” Ruwen asked.
Between hysterical laughter, Sift got out two words. “Your…face.”
Ruwen glared at him. Hamma pulled a mirror from her Inventory and held it up. The carrot’s color hadn’t just seeped into his hand. It had covered his entire body. His face was orange.
“Uru help me, that looks terrible,” Ruwen whispered, running a hand over his face.
Hamma put the mirror away and helped Ruwen up.
“Let’s see if it was worth it,” Hamma said.
“Oh, it is already worth it,” Sift said, wiping tears from his cheeks.
Hamma knelt in front of the throne. She reached down and removed a small bag from the cavity under the throne’s seat.
“Open it,” Ruwen said.
Hamma poured the contents into her hand. There were three gold coins, some silver, and a bunch of coppers.
“Wow,” Hamma said. “That is a lot of money.”
Ruwen reached down and took one gold coin. “You keep the rest. I already know Sift won’t take any.”
“No, we need to split it evenly,” Hamma said.
“Look at us,” Ruwen said. “Who do you think should probably manage our money?”
Hamma bit her lip. “What do you
think, Sift?”
“I think we can put Ruwen in a tent and charge people a copper each to look at him. We would never need to work again,” Sift said.
“You don’t work now,” Ruwen replied.
“I do more than you do, Carrot Juice,” Sift said.
“You –” Ruwen started.
Hamma stepped between them. “Good idea. I’ll keep the money.”
A loud gong sounded, and Blapy walked out from behind the throne. She stared at Ruwen for a few seconds, her face serious.
“I took you for a winter, but fall colors look good on you,” Blapy said.
Hamma giggled.
“I don’t know what that means,” Ruwen said.
“I know,” Blapy said. The seven-year-old turned to Hamma. “Sister Hamma, if you have time, your presence is requested at a wedding ceremony below.”
Hamma nodded. “How deep? I’m not sure how far my mark lets me go.”
Blapy waved her hand. “You are all Custodians now. You are free to travel to any level.”
Hamma looked down at her wrist, and Ruwen did as well. Her mark had appeared, but it no longer looked like the Adventurer’s Mark she had before. Now the mark looked more like the picture on the front of the rule’s book Blapy had given him. A black dragon coiled in the shape of a pyramid. The middle of the pyramid had hands clasped in prayer.
Ruwen concentrated on his mark and looked at his wrist. His mark had changed as well and looked identical to Hamma’s, except a book sat in the center of his pyramid.
She turned and looked at Ruwen and Sift, her gaze questioning.
“Yes, of course, go,” Ruwen said. “We’ll wait for you to return before going any deeper in the dungeon.”
Hamma looked relieved.
Blapy turned to Sift. “Your parents are sparring in the rings on the first floor. They’re thrilled you agreed to be the Pyramid’s Sisen.”
Sift groaned.
Blapy faced Hamma and held up a white robe that had appeared out of nowhere. A black dragon coiled in the shape of a pyramid, almost identical to their new marks, adorned the chest.
“You’ll want to wear your official robe for the ceremony,” Blapy said.
“Am I going to actually perform the ceremony?” Hamma asked nervously.
“If you’re up to it. Everyone is excited that some Custodians are back. We can go over the details when we arrive, and you can decide,” Blapy said.
Hamma took the robe and nodded. A portal appeared in mid-air. Evidently, Blapy didn’t need a surface to create them for herself. She waved Hamma through, shook her head at Sift and Ruwen, and followed Hamma.
The portal disappeared, and Ruwen looked at the time: 6:23 AM. They didn’t need to leave until eleven that night. Plenty of time to get some things done.
“How do you feel about shelving books?” Ruwen asked Sift.
“How do you feel about getting punched?”
Ruwen tilted his head in thought. “I guess we could go to your place and hang out with your parents.”
Sift strode to the back of the throne, touched his wrist to the granite, and prepared to open a portal. “Library.”
Chapter 44
As Ruwen and Sift shelved the books scattered all over the library floor, Ruwen opened the notification he’d gotten when Talker died.
Ting!
You have completed the Quest – Dying Hats Red
You have received 3,000 experience!
You have received 25 Black Pyramid Tokens!
The next notification made him grin.
Ding!
Uru’s Blessings, Worker! You have reached level 6.
You have gained +1 to Strength!
You have gained +1 to Stamina!
You have 2 unassigned points.
Uru’s Blessings, Root! You have reached level 6.
You have 2 unassigned points.
New Spells and Abilities are available to you. Choose wisely.
Since this was an even level, he received four spell points and two ability points. The two automatically assigned attribute points brought his Strength and Stamina up to fourteen. He had four unassigned attribute points, and he immediately added one to Dexterity to help his Observer skills. With the Fastidious Dagger and the Fleeting tattoo each adding one point, it brought his Dexterity up to sixteen.
When Ruwen gave the Staff of Chimes to Hamma, he had lost one point of Wisdom, and it had a current value of eleven. If he, Uru save him, died again, he would wake up with a Foolish debuff. He didn’t want that, so he added a point to Wisdom to bring it up to twelve.
That left two attribute points. All the sour comments lately had made Ruwen self-conscious, and he thought about adding a point to Charisma, which stood at twelve. But he knew that was primarily vanity speaking and resisted the urge. He just had to remember to smile more and frown less.
The last possibility, Intelligence, had lost a point as well when Ruwen gave Hamma the staff. It had the highest value though at eighteen. It had helped them today, and he believed a point added there wouldn’t be wasted, but he decided to wait. He’d distributed the necessary points. Keeping two unassigned for the moment wouldn’t hurt.
Between the three thousand experience from the quest and the three thousand seven hundred fourteen experience for defeating the twenty Goblins and the Wraith, he had made some progress toward level seven. He looked in satisfaction at his experience total.
Experience:3,695/21,000
Ruwen closed all his views and glanced at Sift. His friend stood in front of a half-empty shelf, flipping through a book, and Ruwen didn’t disturb him. He knew how hard it was not to look in every book he touched.
He picked up another pile off the floor and moved them to the closest shelf. While he did, he thought about the War Marshal Oil. He already had some great equipment that would become outstanding with the addition of the oil. His Hooded Pacifist’s Cloak of Wandering for starters, or even his Feather Boots of Grasping.
Even though both items were quality armor, he realized it would be a waste to use the oil on them. Ruwen had only just reached level six. Who knew what incredible things he might find in the future? It would be foolish to use the oil on equipment at this level.
He smiled to himself, proud of the extra point he’d added to Wisdom. It was already paying off.
Something still bothered him, though, and he looked at the item’s description.
Name: War Marshal Oil
Effect: Doubles all attributes (Physical, Active, and Passive), making item twice as effective.
Description: Viscous liquid distilled from White Dragon Venom. Its true value is measured in time.
Blapy seemed to enjoy two things, poking fun and playing games. The last line of the description almost seemed like serious advice: Its true value is measured in time. Was she saying what he’d already concluded, that he should wait for the future and use the oil on a more valuable item than he currently possessed?
But that didn’t fit with Blapy’s previous actions. If the description was another word game, then what could that mean? Two items immediately came to mind. His Falcon Gloves of Training and his Suffocation Bracer. Both of those items sped up his advancement and saved him time. By using the oil on either, he would double his advancement with them.
If that were the case, the choice wasn’t clear. There were probably hundreds if not thousands of skills Ruwen could learn with his hands. The gloves would help with all of them, although the effectiveness wore off as the levels increased.
The bracer was brand new, and he hadn’t had a chance to use it. The brief experience while demonstrating the invisibility component had nearly choked him. If he couldn’t get used to that or manage it better, increasing the effectiveness of the bracer would literally choke him to death.
Now that he knew where to start with at least part of his Spirit training, he wanted to advance as quickly as possible. Sift had Fortified his heart to Jade, and it had stopped a crossbow bolt. Ruwen needed that
type of protection.
For now, he would experiment with the bracer. If he could manage to use it at its full power, he would consider increasing its effectiveness. Until then, he’d leave the oil unused.
Ruwen checked the shelving progress on his quest Don’t Judge a Job by Its Cover (Part 2 – A Fine Mess).
Reshelve at least forty percent of the library’s collection (any level) [UPPER LEVEL - 39%].
It had taken two of them over four hours to reach thirty-nine percent. Ruwen’s clock read 10:45 AM.
“The quest is almost done,” Ruwen said.
“And then Blapy shows up?” Sift asked, looking up from his book.
“Probably.”
Sift shelved the book in his hand. “Then, I need to go. You want to get something to eat?”
Ruwen still wasn’t hungry. “I just want to finish this. I really appreciate your help.”
Sift waved off the thanks. “Okay. I’m eating and then heading for my room.”
“Which one?”
Sift frowned. “I guess the one down here. That way, Hamma can find me. My parents are probably still there.”
“After all these hours?”
Sift shrugged. “It is like meditation to them. They can spar for days.”
Ruwen was shocked. Spar for days? That seemed impossible.
Sift stuck out his fist, and Ruwen covered it with his open palm.
“Good work today, Sijun,” Sift said. “You have made progress.”
“Thanks, I owe it all to you.”
“I know,” Sift said with a grin.
“Well, let’s not get crazy. I mean you helped, but without my brains –”
Sift waved his hands. “No, no. You already admitted it. You owe it all to me.”
Sift pressed his wrist against the shelves. “Kitchen.”
“That’s not exactly –”