March 28, 2026 — 1:36 am

 

“What were you doing that was more important than watching your surroundings?” Tallheart asked, watching as Rain paced back and forth near the river.

 

“I was…looking at skills.”

 

“Humm. Did you level up then?”

 

“Yes, though…isn’t that question… rude? I don’t mind, but I thought…”

 

“Pfft.” Tallheart blew air out through his lips in a derisive snort. “Fel Sadanians. I have no <somethings> about such questions.”

 

“Fel Sadan… Oh, the people who live in the city? So it is just a local thing?”

 

“What is?”

 

“You know, the…rude asking thing. About skills. And levels. That is the word, right? Rude?”

 

“I will not say all humans are foolish, only most.”

 

“Oh. In that case…” Rain looked around for his notebook. Spotting it over by the rock, he walked over to pick it up. He almost fell when he bent down to retrieve it, his back spasming painfully.

 

Tallheart shook his head as he watched Rain flick through the pages. “I will answer one question, but you must come help me with the <something> in return.”

 

“Only one?” Rain asked. Tallheart’s face was stony as he stared back at him. “Fine, fine. I should probably move around anyway.”

 

“Come. Ask while we walk to the clearing.”

 

After grabbing his pack, Rain looked over the list of questions he had built up, trying to decide which one he wanted to be answered the most. He skipped over a few that he guessed Tallheart wouldn’t know the answer to. Finally, he settled on a question that wasn’t even on the list.

 

“Tallheart, I have a lot of clarity. Like, a lot, a lot. I want to be able to use my skills constantly. I am a…” Rain hesitated before continuing, reluctant to reveal his rare class. “I am a mage but my focus is low. I don’t have any other high attributes. I want to know… Is it good? To put all of your attributes into one thing? Or is it better to spread them out?”

 

“That is a long question.”

 

“Yeah, sorry.”

 

“You have seen my strength, yes?”

 

Rain nodded.

 

“There is your answer.”

 

“What? Sorry, I don’t understand.”

 

“My focus is strength. It serves my skills as a smith. Anything else is <something>.”

 

“But what about recovery? Or endurance? Don’t you need any defense?”

 

“I am not a warrior.”

 

“But something could still hurt you, kill you even.”

 

“If I die, I die.”

 

“What?! You don’t care if you die?”

 

“I care. I have my armor. If I spent points on defense, then I would not be as good of a smith as I could have been with more strength.”

 

“But surely you must have a few points in other things?”

 

“Some. I was young once, and foolish.”

 

“I think… I think I agree with you, but I really don’t wanna risk dying over it.”

 

“Then don’t.”

 

“Just like that?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“But how? If I put all my points in clarity, then…”

 

“Enough. I have answered your question. Focus on what you are good at, and work to correct your weaknesses in other ways. Take my advice, or do not. Now, help me with the <something>.” Tallheart gestured at a pile of rocks as they entered the clearing.

 

“<Something>? What is that? I don’t know that word.”

 

Suddenly, Rain heard a voice coming from the direction of the hut.

 

“Ah, there you are. I need to tell you, this has got to be the worst excuse for a house that I have ever seen.”

 

“Hello, Jamus,” Tallheart rumbled.

 

“Jamus! I thought you weren’t going to be back for a week,” Rain said, moving to greet him.

 

“It was a <something> job. I have the rest of the day free, so I decided to see how you two were doing.”

 

“We are fine,” Tallheart informed him. “I am building a <something>.”

 

“What? Tallheart, that is great news!” Jamus exclaimed. “Where is it? What are you going to use it to make?”

 

“I am making an anvil, first.”

 

“Tallheart, I could have gotten you an anvil, all you had to do was ask. Where did you find enough iron for an anvil anyway?”

 

“Rain found it for me.”

 

“Oh, did he?” Jamus leaned in to peer at Rain, eyeing him curiously. Rain pulled back. The man’s face was very close and it seemed he had been eating something with a lot of garlic in it.

 

“Yes. You told me to be useful, remember? You know that pick I found in the mine? By the broken wall? That was a skill. I used the same one to find metal for Tallheart.” Rain took another step back. “Sorry, your breath is really… here, let me just…”

 

He activated his purification aura, boosting it to maximum. He didn’t really need the power, but he was going to take every opportunity to train his metamagic skills. He was in the middle of a conversation, though, so he didn’t add aura focus into the mix this time.

 

Jamus was giving him a curious look as the waves of purification washed over him. “Rain, has Tallheart been teaching you? The language, I mean.”

 

“No, why?”

 

“Well, your speech has gotten much better in just the past few days. It is kind of scary how fast, actually.”

 

“Really? I don’t think that’s true. I don’t understand a lot of words still.”

 

“That is true. It is annoying,” Tallheart contributed. Rain shot him a look, watching as the light of the purification aura swirled around his antlers.

 

“Yes, yes. Of course there are words you don’t know, and your accent’s terrible. That isn’t what I mean,” Jamus continued. “Look, when we met, back in the guild, could you have spoken to me like this? Did you even use proper sentences?”

 

“No, I suppose not,” Rain admitted.

 

“And you don’t think that’s odd?”

 

“Well, I suppose. A little. It has been ages since then, though.”

 

“No, it hasn’t. You don’t just learn a language in a few weeks, Rain.”

 

“But I’ve been speaking it every day. I spoke a lot with Tallheart while you were gone.”

 

“That explains nothing. Tallheart barely speaks. No offense, Tallheart. Just two days ago, you sounded like a four-year-old. How did you do it? Were you <something> the whole time?”

 

“He said he has a lot of clarity,” Tallheart supplied, looking at Rain curiously.

 

What’s that got to do with anything?

 

Rain was about to reply when he was interrupted by a sudden piercing crack and a spike of pain from his hand. He yelled in alarm and canceled his purification aura.

 

“What the depths was that?!” Jamus cursed, stepping back warily.

 

“Peace, Jamus. Rain, let me see,” Tallheart said, extending his gauntleted hand.

 

Rain unclenched his hand and stared down at it. The pain was coming from the finger that had been host to the focus stat ring. The ring was nowhere to be seen, but the source of the pain was obvious. The skin of Rain’s finger was shiny and starting to redden, as if it had been dunked in scalding water. Rain clenched his teeth and hissed as Tallheart took his hand to inspect the damage.

 

“Humm. This is wrong.”

 

“Owww, hey, that hurts!” Rain pulled his hand back, clutching it to his chest. “Tallheart, what happened? Why did my ring… die in fire?”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

 

“I think you mean ‘explode’,” Jamus interjected.

 

“Sure, whatever. But why did it explode? You said it had a few days left, not that it was going to… ah, fuck this hurts.”

 

“It shouldn’t have. It had three days left, maybe four,” Tallheart said, scratching his chin.

 

Jamus had bent down and was searching the ground. He came up with the twisted remains of the ring in his hand. The metal looked melted and it had split into several pieces from the force of the detonation. “You are sure about that? What kind of ring was it? Focus? Clarity?” he asked, tossing the pieces away. He patted at the pockets of his robe, searching for something.

 

“Yes, focus. I’m going to kill that damn shopkeeper. He sold me a… broken ring. I…”

 

“No, he did not,” Tallheart interrupted. “It was a poor item, but it should not have failed like that. Unless…”

 

“Tallheart, you don’t think…” Jamus paused. “Rain, how much mana does that aura use? The purification one. I know it’s rude of me to ask, but…”

 

“I don’t mind telling you. It is something like 70 mana a minute, but closer to 400 when I boost it.”

 

“Wow, that is…insane.” Jamus looked taken aback.

 

“What? It does not sound so high to me.” Tallheart rumbled. “He could not have <somethinged> the ring with 400 mana.”

 

“No, that isn’t it, Tallheart. It isn’t how much mana the skill uses, it’s how often he uses it.”

 

“He has used it a few times. Not nearly enough to…”

 

Jamus cut in. “He came with me on a quest and he used that skill at least 50 times over a few days, and usually for longer than he just did. Perhaps if it was only 70 a minute…over four days… No, even then. Rain, what is your mana regeneration?”

 

“Hummm. I think you are right, Jamus,” Tallheart looked at Rain, considering.

 

So inquisitive was the look in the mage’s eyes that Rain didn’t see a way out of answering the question. He decided to just tell him. He gave Jamus his hand as he saw that he had retrieved a jar of ointment from one of the pockets in his robe. “Around 500, with my winter aura? Maybe closer to 550?”