by Dakota Krout
Skill gained: Assisted Ritual Orb Usage (Exotic) (Upgradeable) (Novice VII). This skill dictates the ease of use for the weapon ‘Ritual Orbs’, as it is assisted by the armor ‘Control Cuff’. This is determined to be an exotic weapon. This skill is upgradeable. When you no longer require the Control Cuff to manage the orbs, a portion of this skill’s levels will be allocated to the newly upgraded skill. Each rank allows for skillful control of a single orb, with each additional orb making the orbs 50% more difficult to skillfully control.
“That’s a lot of modifiers…” Joe looked more closely at the skill, and more information appeared as he stared at the only thing he didn’t understand, the ‘exotic’ tag.
Exotic Weapons are powerful pieces of equipment that feature unique abilities. Please note that due to their singular benefits, only one Exotic Weapon may be equipped at any given time.
“Oh. Well, that’s pretty straightforward. Let’s try this out.” Joe pulled out a second orb, tossing it into the air next to the first. “That’s not harder to control? What was this skill going on about?”
“Boom. I got this in the bag.” He made the orbs dance around each other, spin, tap lightly. Joe repeated the commands he had done the first time, knee-height, swirling around him-
*Wump*.
Joe’s Exquisite Shell shimmered violently, and he was shoved a foot to the right as one orb hit his knee and the other thudded into the wall of a building. He grimaced at them in confusion as both spheres dropped to the ground and stayed there. “What happened? Did I poorly visualize what I needed to do there? No… they become erratic after leaving line of sight?”
“Hey!” Joe’s head whipped to the side as a furious Dwarf appeared, her mustache quivering. “Who’s slammin’ things into my wall? Thank you for this opportunity to teach you the rules of hospitality and personal conduct, Bro!”
The Dwarf scowled at the divot and stated a number. A single point of Reputation with the Dwarven Council vanished from Joe’s status sheet. The mustachioed Dwarf nodded at Joe and put a hand on his elbow. “Thank you for being so kind and understanding, as well as avoiding a larger fine by paying up right away, Bro. With this kind of reputation as payment? Feel free to play with your balls here anytime you like.”
Joe sighed as the Dwarf went back inside, then moved to a small window where she peeked out at him hopefully. He had no intention of damaging her walls again, much to her dismay. He pulled out his orbs, one by one, until all six were in front of him. When he could see them up close, all six were fairly easy to control and use. However, as soon as he needed them to take individual action or move out of his visual range, they would scatter and practically try to cause property damage. He ordered them to stay right next to his body, then swirled them around and stopped them as hard as he could. Joe stepped away, and studied their positions.
One was right by the window, almost touching it. The Dwarf was gaping at it in shock, but luckily Joe had stopped all of them in time. The others? All over the place. One had even gone straight up. Only one of the orbs remained where he had thought it should be, and even that… he couldn’t remember if this was the one that should be there.
“Whoo, boy. This is gonna take some doing.” Joe called all the orbs to him and stored them in his codpiece for easy access. “I’d ask Havoc for some help training this skill, but I want to learn, not get tortured into figuring it out.”
He started back toward Havoc’s estate in order to get back to work, but as if thinking about Havoc had triggered something, the training golem stretched out over his limbs between steps and wrestled him to the ground. It took almost five minutes just to get back on his feet, and Joe resigned himself to a slow, painful journey back.
Even so, he was grinning like a maniac. He had a weapon that would grow with him for the rest of his life. It was difficult to use right now, but Joe had all the time in the world to train his skill. He couldn’t wait to get started. To that end, even as he fought his limbs for movement, Joe pulled out two orbs and set them to spinning just at the edge of his vision.
“I’m gonna grind the abyss out of this skill.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
By the time Joe approached the Estate, he felt like a melted candle. In an effort to ‘see’ how hard it was to gain characteristic points with the golem restricting him, he had turned off Neutrality Aura. His fancy new clothes were slick with sweat, and he was stumbling with fatigue and dehydration.
A little over four hours at barely a walking pace down the ‘child’ portion of the road had brought him back, and Joe was ready to fall onto the ground and stay there. He grabbed the doorframe and heaved for breath. “How do people train at the higher levels?”
He swung open the door, and Havoc looked up at him. His face twisted in disgust, and he shouted at Joe, “Hey! Don’t come in here like that; you’re disgusting. You smell like cheese.”
“I can always trust that Havoc will tell me the truth of the matter.” Joe sighed as the door closed by itself, slamming hard enough that his shell shimmered and his shadow appeared to slap the door. He sat down, activated Neutrality Aura, and pulled up his notifications, then his status sheet.
Characteristic training complete! Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution +2!
Skill increase: Artisan Body (Beginner III).
Name: Joe ‘Tatum’s Chosen Legend’ Class: Reductionist
Profession I: Arcanologist (Max)
Profession II: Ritualistic Alchemist (1/20)
Profession III: None
Character Level: 20 Exp: 217,704 Exp to next level: 13,296
Rituarchitect Level: 10 Exp: 45,000 Exp debt: 9,600
Reductionist Level: 0 Exp: 476 Exp to next level: 524
Hit Points: 1,642/1,642
Mana: 2,301/3,152
Mana regen: 44.99/sec
Stamina: 341/1,381
Stamina regen: 6.36/sec
Characteristic: Raw score
Strength: 133
Dexterity: 133
Constitution: 129
Intelligence: 138
Wisdom: 118
Dark Charisma: 80
Perception: 123
Luck: 60
Karmic Luck: 3
“Hmm. Solid gains, but I need to do something about my mental stats. They’re stagnating hard.” Joe regarded the Artisan Body, confused as to why it had gone up a second time in two training sessions. “Is it because I trained two body stats? Three? Or because I did three twice each time? I’m not complaining, but I’d love more information… no pop-up. Abyss. At least it dropped the training time for individual training time to… divide that by four, multiply by skill level… just over thirty nine minutes? Nice.”
Joe glanced at the two orbs that he still had moving in front of him. He blinked, and by the time his eyes reopened, they were out of position again. He growled at them, but they didn't seem to mind. “No skill up for you, yet? I’ll just keep trying new things until I find something that works.”
“Weapon training increases at double speed while in combat.” Havoc’s voice blared next to Joe’s ear. He jerked his head away and looked around at the source of the sound. Somehow, the doorknob had grown a metallic mouth. “If you want to increase your skill with weapons, go kill some Elves or something.”
“Wouldn’t regular monsters work?” Joe prodded the… doorknob. It didn’t reply, making Joe wonder if Havoc was upset that he didn’t jump on board with going off to kill some Elves. He stood up and tried to go in, but the door didn’t budge. “Havoc? Let me in.”
“I’m working on replacing the entire house with golems. That’ll teach McPoundy to put a restraining order on his brother while said brother is staying in the family estate. Go away for a while, wouldja? Maybe my little brother will let you stay in the forge for a while, or maybe you can go kill some Elves!”
“Are you actually kicking me out right now because you’re jealous that your brother made me a weapon?” The doorknob shifted into a dagger as Joe r
eached for it, and only the fact that his shell was active at all times kept him from slicing his palm open. “Havoc! You are ridiculous! Fine! I needed raw materials anyway, I’m gonna go train in the wilderness! By myself!”
“I’ll know if you die. You’ll respawn at that fancy new temple that I didn’t want to exist. Otherwise, don’t come back till you’ve gained a level, have something important to talk about, or kill a hundred Elves! I got nothin’ for ya right now,” the doorknob ordered in Havoc’s voice.
Quest alert: Go Away For a While! Havoc is worried that he might accidentally kill you if he sees you again over the next few days. He hasn’t killed anything since the minor fort takeover, and he’s getting the itch. Better go do other things. Level gained: 0/1. Elves killed: 0/100. Important information gained: 0/1. Rewards: 100 personal reputation with Havoc. +10 personal reputation per Elf killed. Failure: Havoc kills you on sight.
“What do you consider ‘important’?” Joe yelled at the door, getting no answer even after waiting a short while. He inspected his character sheet and winced when he saw how far from the next level he was. “Wait… I can’t go off fighting like this. Havoc, you were supposed to give me armor after my quest with you!”
Thunder boomed as soon as Joe finished his sentence, and he peered up at the clear sky in concern. That sounded similar to the time the instant dungeon had been about to form back on Midgard. The roof opened, and Havoc’s voice blared at the sky, “Pipe down, you overexcited rock! Or is it the Administrator today? No clouds; I bet it is. Listen here, Sunshine, I did my duty. He just hasn’t picked his gear up! Is that my fault? No!”
The roof slammed shut, and a mail slot appeared in the door. A small envelope popped through, with an address and shop name on it. Joe opened the envelope and found a receipt for pickup inside. He looked at the door, then the sky somewhat guiltily, turned, and started on his way toward the shop’s address. “No rest today, it seems. Wouldn’t want a break after four hours of being squeezed by a golem, after all. Abyssal Dwarf, shouting at the sky.”
Joe grumbled the whole way to the shop, not even noticing how much attention he had gained in his exchange with Havoc. It had taken almost fifteen minutes for the city to get back to normal after the thunder and Havoc’s announcement that had followed. He stopped in front of the address that was on the paper, in front of what had to be the shabbiest shop in the District. “Odds and Ends? That was a franchise?”
He pushed the door open, surprised to be greeted by an older human lady who looked similar to the ancient woman that ran the shop down on Midgard. “Hello there, young man! Welcome to the Odds and Ends; are you browsing, or do you have a goal in mind?”
“I’m here for a pickup.” Joe held up the receipt, and it whisked out of his hand into hers. She read the paper and nodded serenely. Before she could say anything more, Joe had to ask, “By any chance, do you know the owner of the Odds and Ends on Midgard? You look very similar. I also didn’t realize there would be human shop owners here.”
She looked surprised for a moment, and then a smile washed over her face. “Just me, so far. Yes, I know her very well. She’s me, after all. Well… sort of. You can call me Minya, and let’s not get into the details too much. With enough reputation, you can own anything you want as a human, and the Bifrost has never held me back. I’m an Arcane Loot Lord, after all. As to this order… how well would you say you treat your enchanted gear?”
Joe met her level stare, and was pleased that he was able to use his knowledge of her from the previous Zone to get ahead in life here. Or, at least enough to avoid a serious blunder. “Well, it’s alive, so if it’s new, I treat it like I would a pet. Otherwise, if it’s older equipment, I try to treat it like a full-grown person.”
All of this was false; he had never treated his clothes as anything but clothes. Still, he resolved to try to do that going forward. Maybe if he met a ‘Minya’ in yet another Zone, she would be able to see if he was telling the truth. She clapped her hands a single time, and a wide smile appeared on her face. “Perfect! I was going to give you a warning, but it seems you had more than just a casual interaction with my… sister. She must have sold you something?”
“Repaired something!” Joe answered too fast, not technically lying. He didn’t want to try to explain that he had accidentally destroyed all of his previous enchanted gear.
“Is that so…? Well, this was a very odd order from sweet little Havoc, but there aren’t many cloth enchanters in the city. Or perhaps he thought you’d have an easier time with a human enchanter?” Minya looked at him sharply.
“Never even crossed my mind.” Joe’s brow furrowed as he tried to figure out what she was talking about. He didn’t even really dislike the Elves; he just needed to destroy them utterly and in every conceivable way. “Can I see what Havoc ordered? I need to get out and do some training as soon as possible.”
“Certainly.” She pulled out several boxes with a bright smile on her face. “Two rings, shirt, pants, socks, belt, gloves, and a facemask. It was a very… strange order. I’m happy to let you know that I was able to get all the requested options on them. Also, for this set, both socks count as a single item when worn together.”
“In what way was it strange?” Joe pulled the first box open and tried to look at what was inside, but Minya’s words caused him to curse Havoc out.
“First off, everything is a bright white. I thought that you might not want to be as visible in the wilderness, but Havoc told me that you needed to stop being so dark and… a word that means eight-grader syndrome? I forget the original word he used, but I remember the explanation.” She shook her head as Joe’s face flushed a bright red. “Then I asked, ‘why a facemask and not a hat’? Havoc insisted that the less often people could see your face, the better, so I assumed you were trying for a stealth build, but then we come back to the issue of it all being white…?”
Joe took a deep breath and resolved to attack Havoc the next time he saw the Dwarf. “It’s… fine. I actually can’t wear hats; I have a title that makes them burst into flames and destroys them. Can I look at the items real quick?”
She waved at him to go for it, so Joe opened the ring boxes first.
Illusion Breaker (Ring): adds a 20% chance every five seconds to break out of an illusion you are trapped in.
Exotic Ring (Ring): Adds 10% damage dealt when using an exotic weapon.
“He must have known that McPoundy wouldn’t just let me use a regular weapon, then?”Joe nodded excitedly as he put the rings on. They fit perfectly. Excited for what else the Dwarf had ordered, he pulled open the first clothing box and stared at the blindingly white shirt, then each piece in order as his teeth started to grind together.
Henley shirt of the Silkpants Mage. (Set Item). This fine shirt is intended to be worn as a set with other items. It is a custom build for ‘Joe the stupid Human that can’t do his own shopping’, and offers unique benefits when worn as a set. Please note: Only one set bonus is active at a time.
One set item (Worn by itself): Offers magic damage reduction (MR) of 20. Any spell that hits the wearer is reduced in damage by 20.
Two set items: Offers magic damage reduction (MR) of 20. There is a 5% chance every five seconds that an enemy looking at the wearer is blinded for three seconds if the wearer is bald.
Three set items: Offers magic damage reduction (MR) of 50. There is an 8% chance every five seconds that an enemy looking at the wearer is blinded for three seconds if the wearer is bald.
Four set items: Offers magic damage reduction (MR) of 50. There is an 8% chance every five seconds that an enemy looking at the wearer is blinded for three seconds if the wearer is bald. All equipped set items will automatically recover durability when supplied mana from the wearer.
Five set items: Offers magic damage reduction (MR) of 50. There is an 8% chance every five seconds that an enemy looking at the wearer is blinded for three seconds if the wearer is bald. All equipped set items will automatically recover du
rability when supplied mana from the wearer. Skill levels with spells increase 25% faster.
Six set items: Offers magic damage reduction (MR) of 50. There is an 8% chance every five seconds that an enemy looking at the wearer is blinded for three seconds if the wearer is bald. All equipped set items will automatically recover durability when supplied mana from the wearer. Skill levels with spells increase 25% faster. Spell stability increases by 10%. Charisma is 50% more effective with Dwarves.
Silk Pants of the Silkpants Mage. (Set Item). These fine pants are intended to be worn as a set with other items. It is a custom build for ‘Joe the stupid Human that can’t do his own shopping’, and offers unique benefits when worn as a set.
Joe didn’t bother to read the description again, as it was the same as the first piece. After the pants, he didn’t even bother reading the flavor text on the clothes. He simply took them into the changing room and put them on. He tried to put on the mask, but it had a special requirement.
Silk Socks of the Silkpants Mage.
Silk Belt of the Silkpants Mage
Silk Gloves of the Silkpants Mage
Silk Facemask of the Silkpants Mage. This item must be the sixth piece of the Silkpants Mage set to be equipped.
“Seriously? That means that the reason my charisma will be more effective on Dwarves is they can't see my face?” Joe pictured striking Havoc with lightning just to feel a little better. “If these weren’t so useful, I’d be furious, you annoying Dwarf.”
He pulled on the reflective clothing with a chuckle, throwing his Robe of Liquid Darkness over it to hide the brightness as best as he could. Joe stepped out of the changing room, unable to miss Minya’s wince as she looked him over. “Ouch. I think you might want to do your own shopping from now on.”