051

Erick practically locked himself into his mage tower, crafting rings. He stopped for the necessities, like eating, sleeping, raining at the farms, bathroom breaks, his daily [Familiar] attempt, but otherwise, he made diamonds, and then cut them to spheres, and then he enchanted them. For a full two days, he made Strength rings and Willpower rings. His Strength rings varied as high as 28 and as low as 24, while Willpower varied between 27 and 25. He was almost through his first shipment of 50 rings, in the process of making ring #48, when #48 turned revealed itself to be only 18 Willpower.

Something had gone wrong.

The 18 Willpower ring was done the same as all the rest. Erick had no idea what had happened; he was going to find out. But the enchanting textbooks gave little hints at how to diagnose a problem. Erick suspected he was supposed to have an enchanting teacher who knew how to troubleshoot these sorts of complications. He had no teacher, though, so he needed the next best thing: tools. In this case, a jeweler’s loupe. But…

“What do you mean there aren’t jeweler’s loupes?” Erick complained, “I know you guys didn’t have telescopes, but no loupes, either?”

Poi said, “I don’t know what you mean by any of that, sir.”

“[Ultrasight].” Rats said, “If you want to see better, use that.”

Erick frowned, then looked up [Ultrasight].

 

 

Erick dismissed the box, asking, “10 HP a minute?”

“It goes down to 1 HP at level 10, like [Swift Movement],” Rats said. “I have it on all the time.”

“… They put the only way to see better under an HP cost.” Erick frowned a bit. He said, “Makes sense, since the Script was made to control the abuses of the Old Wizards.” He added, “Whatever! I will teach you guys about the magic of lenses.”

Poi grinned. “We know what lenses are, sir.”

“Pah!” Erick asked, “Then why don’t you have loupes for looking at the imperfections of jewelry!?”

Rats said, “Because Ultrasight is right there. 1 point. Basic ability.”

Poi nodded, agreeing with Rats.

Erick thought back to one of the Mage Trio, probably Eduard, saying he linked [Ultrasight] to his [Familiar], and asked, “Can you combine the HP drain abilities with the MP cost spells and create tier 2 stuff that costs both?”

“No,” Rats said—

At the same time Poi said, “Yes.”

Rats turned to Poi. “It never turns out well.”

Poi frowned. “The answer to the question asked, was ‘yes’. The main problem of combining an HP ability and an MP spell is that the costs are multiplied significantly.”

Rats relented, “Yes. Fine. You’re right. The answer is ‘yes’.”

Well that was all interesting, but what Erick was thinking, was that maybe having a real [Familiar] gave it HP to use for stuff like [Ultrasight]. Or maybe he could just imbue HP and the HP cost stuff onto his [Conjure Force Elemental].

… Yet another thing to test!

Erick bought [Ultrasight], just to fix the problem in front of him; he’d work out jeweler’s loupes and telescopes and all that other stuff some other day.

Inside his mage tower, Erick turned on his new ability and felt his HP tick down. Erick had never needed glasses, but he’d helped enough people to know how they reacted to their first pair. ‘Trees have leaves!’ and ‘I can read the street signs!’ were not uncommon reactions. [Ultrasight] was like that. Erick could count the whorls in his fingerprints with his arms fully extended. He saw how wardlights reflected off diamond dust and moisture in the air. He gazed upon the pre-enchanted spherical diamonds sitting in front of him, on his workbench, and saw how this part wasn’t curved correctly, how that part was too flat to be part of a proper sphere.

After he carved away the outside platinum shell of his 18 Willpower ring, he saw the problem; the gem had cracked. A hairline fracture, barely visible even to Erick’s new [Ultrasight], ran through the gem, just off center. Because of that crack, the gem was leaking Ultramarine light in tiny sparks inside the gem’s clear interior; much too small to see without [Ultrasight]. The diamond probably would have exploded under normal crafting conditions; enchanting under water stabilized most of the process, but not all.

As to why people didn’t normally enchant underwater? Very simply: resonance absorbed into water, so while some of it was going into the gem, it was also coming out at the same rate; this was especially true for clear gems, like diamonds. Erick got around this quirk of enchanting by locking in that resonance with a layer of platinum.

The 18 Willpower ring was a waste; broken beyond repair. Erick relegated it to a big stone box of rejects, along with a vast majority of his fully-platinum diamonds. He’d get around to throwing them out some day, or maybe even finding a use for them, but for now they could sit there, looking pretty.

… And now that Erick was looking at the rest of his work under [Ultrasight], he realized that he might need to redo all of his rings, because all of them were not spherical, at all. Ovoids, peach-shaped, potato, and more; very few of them were actual spheres, once Erick could see them under [Ultrasight]. They were probably worse under their platinum exteriors.

Erick let [Ultrasight] lapse.

He blinked out tears as his eyes readjusted.

The world looked normal again. This was a good thing; [Ultrasight] was too much for him, but it was nice to see the world through a microscope, in small doses.

Erick told Poi, “The first shipment is going to be delayed. I need to remake all of them.”

Poi frowned, but said, “Yes, sir.”

“And I need to get some tools for gem shaping.”

“Teressa has done some research on lathes, like you requested.”

“Perfect.”

With Teressa’s help, a man from Portal delivered Erick’s items to Liquid, the quartermaster of Spur’s Army. From Liquid, Erick’s new tools came via Rats to the house. For 950 gold, a bit of time, and a bit of remodeling, Erick was the proud owner of a foot-operated jeweler’s lathe, a larger lathe meant for metalwork or woodwork, and a grinding wheel. All of them were foot-powered via a large, heavy rotary stone to maintain a constant speed, and a lot of tough metal cogs. The rad-powered ones cost three times as much as these plain models, and were completely unnecessary. Erick’s Handy Aura was better than any automatic power system.

With his new equipment, and a slight learning curve, Erick began zipping through the regrinds.

Enchanting turned out to be the easy part. After regrinding, all his rings were worth 29 to 31 Strength or Willpower. Properly spherical gems made a huge difference!

Over one more day, Erick finished crafting his first 50 rings, 25 each of Willpower and Strength. Rats took them to Liquid, who was given the task of distributing them however she saw fit. Erick wasn’t privy to that process; he didn’t need to be. The rings would get to whoever wanted, or needed one. Liquid’s response to the rings was a curt, ‘Thanks’. Her heart wasn’t in it, she didn’t know what she had been given; she was being forced to accept something that had a historic precedence of going wrong.

But Erick was feeling rather secure in the stability of his enchantments.

Before the first shipment was dropped in Liquid’s hands, Erick had taken off the 22 Strength ring and put on a 29 Willpower ring, and burned through 4100 mana, 35 times. The 29 Willpower ring only dropped by 1 point. Spherical, perfect carving, and flawless gems of the correct size, were essential to a proper Stat enchant. Erick briefly considered wearing both a Strength and Willpower ring at the same time, but that experiment caused extreme vertigo; he stuck to his 22 Strength ring.

When the next shipment of 50 rings was ready, six days after Planter was added to the Daydropper Kill Quest, and two days after Erick’s first shipment had gone to Liquid, Liquid showed at Erick’s house to pick up the rings, in person.

Erick met the matte grey dragonkin-shaped wrought at the door. “Hello! I don’t think we’ve formally met, yet, but you’re Liquid, right? The lathes worked out very well; thank you for speeding up that process. Come on in.” Erick stepped to the side.

“Hmm.” Liquid, who had a reputation for being harsh and acerbic, stepped three steps into the house. She stopped in the foyer, saying, “I wish to apologize for thinking and acting like your enchantments were shit. Stat enchants, especially by new enchanters, are never good, but I suppose someone had to go and prove that rule wrong; might as well have been you, Archmage Flatt.”

Erick smiled wide, asking, “Do you want to see the process?”

“I can’t stay. I just came for the next batch, to apologize, and to ask if you can add a few Focus and Vitality rings to the next shipment, which will be the last shipment for the foreseeable future.” Liquid said, “Your rings have already saved lives, but Killzone, Silverite, and I have decided to limit the influx of Stat rings into the general operations of the Army.”

Rats came into the foyer carrying the box of rings in his hands, which he handed to Erick.

Erick took the box, then handed it to Liquid, asking her, “Is everything okay?”

Liquid took the box, saying, “There are always problems when treasure is distributed. Nothing we can’t handle, but there is an adjustment period, and we don’t want people to start thinking they’re getting two of these things. Some people seem to be able to handle two, but most cannot, which of course leads to discord and the usual Strength-waving contests.” She lamented, “I will count myself blessed if I never have to see two young idiots try to outdo each other ever again.”

Erick smiled. “I can understand that.”

Liquid nodded.

“How is Jane, by the way?”

“She’s adjusting quite well; if I were the kind of person who believed in fate, I would say that she was born for this role. She’s rescued dozens of people from hard missions.”

Erick relaxed. “She said something about a hard mission last night; I’m glad to hear she’s doing well.”

“It was a difficult mission; some younglings decided to go after a Daydropper nest.”

“I heard Planter has trapped them all, but Jane would not elaborate.”

“Quite trapped; quite deadly. Three of the five adventurers died before they could be rescued. Jane and Kiri retrieved the remaining two from inside the stomachs of Changeling Vines.”

Erick had heard about those vines. They ate people then became those people, in order to eat more, in a cycle that only got worse as the vines got bigger. Many people considered Changling Vines a nastier version of the crystal mimic.

“How is Kiri? Jane keeps calling Kiri a spy, but I’d like to know your opinion on the matter.”

“Kiri is a spy, but only for herself, which is hard to fault when she uses that knowledge to defend those around her. She is doing well. She will be rejoining you under Poi’s command in 9 days. She is very eager to learn from you, and as far as we can tell, she is a capable, smart young mage.”

Erick sighed in relief. “I’m happy to hear that.”

Liquid nodded, hefting the ring box under her arm. “If you have any further questions, feel free to contact me directly, or through Poi.”

Before she could walk out the door, Erick asked, “Is there anything you would like, specifically? In the way of enchanted items, I mean.”

Liquid paused. She said, “Something that would increase the maturity of my subordinates.”

Erick laughed.

Liquid nodded, and then walked out of the house, carrying her second shipment of rings.

 

– – – –

 

Poi walked into Erick’s tower. “Sir! We have an unannounced guest of supreme importance!”

Erick laughed as he looked up from the jeweler’s lathe, blindsided by Poi’s remark. “What?”

“Champion Yetta, Chosen of Atunir, has graced us with her presence.”

Erick stopped what he was doing and took a moment to look at Poi. The sapphire dragonkin man was nervous; his posture was too straight, his gaze too darting. This was a serious event, apparently. Erick Handy Aura’d away his tools and set his workstation to rights. He dusted himself off, mussing his hair to get rid of some of the diamond flakes. His skin sparkled. He frowned.

He shrugged. He needed to cut his hair, and his beard, and he needed a bath, but none of that was going to happen right now, so he just [Cleanse]d himself, the diamond dust on his arms remaining, and said, “Let’s entertain some guests.” He asked, “Or is it just the one?”

“The Champion is accompanied by four stewards; two childhood friends, one prince of Odaali, and one mage of the Tower. Not an archmage, but connected, nonetheless. All of them at least level 65, according to our threat assessments.”

“Okay! That seems high.” Erick said, “Fun times.”

 

– – – –

 

Erick stepped to the top of the stairs and looked down upon his human guests, as they looked up at him.

Yetta was obvious; the very air around her crackled with divine fire. She held herself like Jane would; strong armed, hard faced, watching every entrance and exit and planning accordingly. Her skin was the color of dark wood, her hair curly, but short. She wore nice clothes, but not too nice; if she were a dragonkin, and not a human, she could have easily passed as a farmer in the fields of Spur, if her divine gift weren’t so completely obvious. Her entourage was much nicer dressed; with crisp white outfits on two of the men, while a woman wore metal armor, and the last man wore clothes much, much nicer than everyone else, with gold buttons and tessellated brocade.

“Hello.” Erick said, “Welcome to my house. Would you like some coftea, and some cookies? I always make sure to keep something available for guests.”

“Greetings, Archmage Flatt. I’m Yetta Wheat, Champion of Atunir.” Yetta gave a curt bow, while the other four did not. She said, “Thank you for your hospitality. I have come to speak to you of matters of utmost importance; I apologize for upsetting any schedule you might have had.”

Erick smiled, gently. He walked down the stairs, gesturing to his left, toward a conveniently placed Rats, saying, “Rats will escort you to the banquet hall, while I prepare the coftea—”

Poi’s mind touched Erick’s, ‘We can organize everything, sir.’

‘Uh? Okay. Sure. Thank you, Poi.’

Erick shifted gears, as he reached the bottom of the stairs. “Actually: I’ll escort you to— uh— the sun room? Over this way.”

Yetta nodded, saying, “As you wish, Archmage.”

The afternoon sun filled the sunroom like a lazy cat.

The only one who joined Erick in the room was Yetta.

As Erick sat down, and Yetta sat down across from him, he asked her, “Your friends? They don’t want to join us?”

Find this and other great novels on the author’s preferred platform. Support original creators!

“Not right now. This is a private conversation between you and I.” Yetta asked, “Do you know how they made the Daydropper?”

Erick answered, instantly, “I have an idea of how they made it, but I don’t know how they did it exactly.”

Yetta paused in thought as she stared at Erick.

Poi entered with platinum coftea and lemon scones. Erick almost complimented him on his speed, but this conversation seemed to be a serious one, so he waited for Yetta to break the silence. Erick picked up a lemon scone and sipped his coftea as Poi exited the room. Erick nibbled while he waited for Yetta to continue.

She looked to the dessert, and broke the silence with, “What are these delightful yellow breads?”

“Scones. These are made with the yellow-fruit lemon trees you might have seen out there. Lemons are useful in all sorts of foods.” Erick added, “Put some in cream to make sour cream, and though the name is unimaginative the product is amazing. Great on potatoes, for example.”

Yetta tasted the scone. She nodded. She set the scone down then picked up the platinum coftea, and took a sip. She nodded. She set the drink down.

Erick politely waited for her to organize her thoughts, but he was really hoping that she would have said something good about the platinum coftea. Everyone else seemed to love it.

When she said nothing, Erick realized that Yetta was playing the part of a guest, only putting up with her role long enough to get to what she came here to say. There was a certain clarity to Yetta’s personality that Erick liked, but she seemed completely out of place in the social setting Erick had prepared.

Eventually, Yetta said, “I want to rid the world of all Daydroppers. Can you help me with this goal?”

“Yes, I can and I will help you with this goal. But there are certain things I cannot do. One of these restrictions is that neither myself nor my magic can enter Ar’Kendrithyst. Archmages aren’t allowed in there.” Erick added, “I would like to kill every Shade, but I don’t believe I could without them retaliating in kind.”

Yetta nodded, once. “I have heard this restriction.” She asked, “Could you help us in the Republic, to take back Odaali and the surrounding lands?”

Erick paused. He wanted to say ‘yes’, but…

Yetta continued, “Since you are an Avowed Pacifist, I will not be asking you to help us against the Halls of the Dead. But the Corrupted City has turned back even our strongest magics and people. The Daydroppers that killed the city are much stronger than we feared. If a person is not under a [Cleanse Aura] within twenty kilometers of the Corrupted City, they will die, and their deaths will feed the growth of the Mother Vine. We suspect it’s already level 90.”