Quest Academy: Silvers, page 16
After about an hour or so, Sal looked down to see at least a dozen tabs on his tablet with various amounts of considerations he needed to make. With a sigh, he turned and activated the console to see the different options available to him. One of them was the internal store where he could use Q-Credit. A premium coffee cost two credit, a Sleeping Tiger drink cost twenty, and a module early-enrollment cost a hundred.
Thankfully, Sal had been picked for the Crafting class, so he wasn’t charged, and nobody wanted to do Administration, so he didn’t need to compete for seats on that course…but Analysis had cost him. Of his original six hundred Q-Credit, he was down to four hundred and ninety…and that was only after a few days at the university. Sal navigated through the store and found a list of categories. He scrolled down to find stuff for his room when another option caught his eye.
“Weaponry and Equipment?”
Sal turned around properly so he could study the screen in more detail. The listings were…extensive, and Sal, for the first time, was at a bit of a loss. He could see the pictures of the items, but his eyes didn’t tell him anything more than that. He was stuck reading the inventory listings that were woefully vague about details, and Sal wondered whether he just had high standards when it came to the qualities and details of a product.
“Let’s sort by…Crafted!” With his selection in place, Sal barely saw a dent in the list, revealing that most of the items for sale had been Crafted.
“Rare?” he asked as he ticked on the item quality, only to see a few dozen items on display. Some had set prices, which looked to be exorbitant, while others opted for the bidding war model. Sal saw a gray chest-plate that looked similar to their uniform. Sal clicked on it and was surprised to see that it was Crafted by a third-year.
Gray Guard!
Scale armor handmade by Rank #34 – Fabi Maccles
Each scale was carefully shaped by hand, with a total build time of two months. Made with refined cobalt-infused steel to give the gray a bluish hue upon activation. Gray Guard is impervious to direct blunt attacks, and is Prowler claw-resistant.
Starting Price: 300 Q-Credit.
Sal shook his head at the woeful Appraisal. If it was even a true Rare-grade item, then it would likely have more effects than what was listed. He had to re-read the cobalt-infused part, because it made zero sense to him. “Is it a real thing, or marketing bullshit?”
Sal was about to open another tab when he remembered why he had gone to the store in the first place. Sighing to himself, he navigated back to the main page and moved down to the dorm improvements section. He wanted to get a corkboard or something so he could write down his to-do lists, but the university once again surprised him.
“Complete renovation?” Sal looked at the price and shook his head. “Who the fuck would pay five thousand Q-Credit for this?”
He had sorted the list from high to low but accidentally double-clicked the console, showing him the most expensive option on offer. Sal clicked it and ended up staring at the screen: a luxurious penthouse apartment, with multiple rooms. Sal’s fingers nearly trembled as he clicked on each of the rooms, only to find a workshop equipped with the same machinery he had seen on the industrial floor. There were even Alchemy stations and rune benches. Another room contained various rolls of cloth and a cluster of mannequins. Most impressively, other than the hot tub, was what looked like a combat training room.
“Five thousand Q-Credit.” Sal breathed as he looked at the description. “A month!”
Clicking the price filter again, Sal was rewarded with a list of items that could be purchased for as little as five Q-Credit, and he felt much more at ease. He couldn’t help but wonder, though, if it really was possible to earn that kind of money. If that guy was selling Rare equipment at three hundred…why couldn’t he?
And with that, Sal started to make his shopping list. In the back of his head, the makings of his own little commercial empire started to take root.
Chapter 20:
Practicalities
Sal glanced at the timer beside him and grimaced. He had been working straight for close to five hours, and he needed to go to sleep soon if he was going to have any chance of surviving the next day.
“Or we could just buy premium coffee?” Sal muttered as he turned the timer to one side so it was out of view.
He turned back to his current project that was laid out in front of him. His lackluster gray uniform had transformed into something entirely new, but Sal was nowhere near done with it yet. With a resigned sigh, Sal tapped his tablet again to bring up a picture of the rune he wanted to engrave into the material. His eyes weren’t able to pick up anything from the static image, so he had to sketch it out by hand and hope that his eyes would understand what he was hoping to achieve.
“Come on…” Sal groaned as he finished the most recent arrangement. His eyes activated again and tried to send a portion of his power through the rune he had just Crafted, but it wasn’t responsive to his attempts. It had been like this for most of the night, and Sal was reaching his breaking point.
On the screen beside him, almost tauntingly, was a crash course in runes that cost fifty Q-Credit. It had been made by one of the third-years, and was a breakdown of class notes and helpful tips. Sal had read through the description a few times and knew that it was for panicking students coming close to exam periods, and not for students in their first week at the academy. Was he really desperate enough to throw credits at something he was going to learn eventually?
Gritting his teeth, Sal tried to push power through the engraving again, but nothing happened. His pitiful attempt at a crafted rune was so bad that his eyes couldn’t find a single way to Upgrade it or refine it. As far as his ability was concerned, Sal had just drawn a terrible picture and there was nothing that could be done to improve it.
“Fuck it.” Sal finally justified the purchase to himself and bought the crash course. The download was unexpectedly long, and Sal checked the files to see what was going on. He was surprised to see that the student had created daily diaries, weekly summaries, project breakdowns, and step-by-step tutorials. It was a lot more intensive than he had expected, and Sal sighed in relief as he navigated to a video that seemed to deal with the problem he was facing.
…and in between lines, make sure that your needle is always imbued with essence, otherwise the rune will be incomplete. As you know, I like to keep a straight and steady line for the entire thing, but others like to dip back into the essence to strengthen certain areas of the rune. Strengthening is only really important if you’re using multiple runes on a single piece of equipment. They’ll start competing for the same amount of energy, so strengthening is a great method to balance a weaker rune with a stronger one.
Sal paused the video and rooted through his box of tools until he found what looked like the needle from the video. It was like an old-school fountain pen with a triangular blade that narrowed into a fine needle-like point. He realized that he was skipping ahead and instead searched for videos that would explain how to imbue the needle. Sal was rewarded a half second later with another video that showed a pair of hands holding a less impressive version of the tool he held in his.
…contains a little fragment of a core. Common models run out of charge after a few days, and can be recharged for a fee, but the Uncommon and Rare sets have self-replenishing runes that allow the Crafter to use them around the clock! If you’re serious about becoming an engraver, you’ll want to invest in getting an Uncommon etcher as fast as possible. They are an absolute game-changer! Even though the etcher is fully charged, it’s not yet imbued with a magical signature, which is unique to you.
There are two ways to do this, and the first one requires a high degree of skill control, where you channel the power straight into the etcher. For those of you who can’t navigate power like that, don’t worry. The other solution is to prick your finger with the needle until it draws blood. It’ll be a little painful, but essence courses through your blood and it will create a signature for you. Until you can control your energy, this is a quick trick to make sure you don’t fall behind your classmates.
Over the next couple of hours, Sal watched at least a dozen videos from the alumni and learned a ridiculous amount that he didn’t know. Before he even realized it, the sun started to rise in the distance, and he knew he’d need to fall back onto his premium coffee plan to get through the day. Even though his body was tired, his brain was still firing on all cylinders and wanted to jump straight into Crafting to apply the tips and tricks he had been learning.
“Let’s start with this…” Sal muttered as he raised the etcher in his hand. With a flicker of his power, he brought forth one of his own tendrils of essence and imagined it connecting to the core shard in the pen. Not only did it work immediately, Sal could have sworn that the needle started to glow.
“And now, let’s see if you work.” Sal straightened his back and looked at the countless sketches of runes sprawled around the desk, all of them in shards of fabric. He didn’t want to try it on the gray uniform straight away and fuck it up. Even though he could Restore it, it was a silly waste of power.
“Please work,” Sal breathed as he started to draw the rune again, this time with the etcher fully powered and tied to his essence. He had stupidly been using one of the carving blades, because it had made sense to him at the time. The etcher left clear lines of pulsating energy, and Sal was amazed to feel no difference in his power levels. When he had placed the rune on the gauntlets, it was by bludgeoning it onto the metal with his power. Even though he knew he could make mistakes, Sal didn’t want to rely on his powers to fix everything. He wanted to be good at something in his own right.
“Come on…just a little more…” Sal said as he gently brought the line to completion by closing off the pattern. Much to his surprise, the pulsating energy that followed the needle continued through the line after the etcher left the surface. It shot around the lines as though it were a racetrack. There were areas where the power slowed down or seemed to struggle, so without thinking, he smoothed out those lines. The pace picked up and it got faster and faster until the entire drawing started to glow.
“Whoa.” Sal’s eyes widened as the rune activated. He had done it! His eyes were telling him that the rune in front of him was a minor protection rune, and he could already see new patterns emerging and upgrade routes to make it more advanced. Without wasting any time, Sal placed the completed rune to one side and brought his gray uniform front and center. He knew what he was doing now.
With a quick turn of the timer, Sal reset it and looked out the window to the rising sun. “Ah, slow down. We’re just getting started.”
He grinned as he brought up a series of runes that he wanted to engrave on his uniform. They were all basic ones, but they would act as a foundation for upgrades. The idea had come to him when he had sorted through the assortment of materials he had been given. He didn’t want to waste them on items that he’d sell to others, and instead wanted to find a way to use his skills efficiently and cheaply.
Sal couldn’t think of anything cheaper than applying runes to existing uniforms and then using his power to Upgrade them into stronger variants. Sure, there’d be some material and energy cost, but nothing in comparison to creating an entirely new piece from scratch.
He bit his lip and furrowed his brow as he concentrated on etching the different patterns. His eyes started to resonate with the drawings and offer suggestions on how they might complement each other. They weren’t really suggestions, but rather patterns that made sense to Sal.
Sal took a step back from the bench with a satisfied smile. Little beads of light were finally flowing through the pattern, but it was going to take a while before they navigated the course. The first rune that Sal had created was about the size of his palm, but this one combined five different runes that were connected by a sprawling labyrinth of lines. Each of them were drawn in a way that would best carry their respective magical charges. Sal didn’t know how, but he instinctively understood how to best place the runes alongside each other and how to connect them perfectly.
“What the…” Sal blinked as the sound of the timer registered for him. He turned it off and looked out the window to see the sun much higher in the sky. “Guess it’s a shower and then class?” He groaned audibly as he turned toward the bathroom. He couldn’t help but give the uniform a proud glance before he made his way to the bathroom, and he wondered whether he’d have time to Upgrade it before class started.
After his shower, he decided that he needed to try the upgrade. He wouldn’t be able to concentrate on anything else throughout the day, so Upgrading the uniform now…was kinda like an investment in his learning? His justifications were weak, but it didn’t matter because his mind was made up.
Taking a few silver ingots from his pile of materials, he wondered whether they’d integrate well with the gray color. He started the upgrade and poured his powers into the uniform. Unlike the gauntlets, which had exhausted him by pulling out buckets of his power, this experience was completely different. It was like he was slowly pouring water into a mold, filling each of the tiny grooves with both power and intent. He could have rushed the process or pushed his power at it, but that felt wrong, so he went at the pace set by the runes. There was no rush to complete the runes, and instead, Sal felt opportunities occurring naturally, where he could refine it in ways he hadn’t imagined.
When the gentle glow finally subsided, Sal was rooted to the spot. He still had most of his energy remaining, and he had only used a single ingot of silver…but somehow, he had managed to create a Rare-grade piece of equipment.
Name
Protective Shirt
Origin
Crafted
Age
New
Grade
Rare (Lower)
Dimensions
Chest 42 inches | Neck 17.5 inches
Materials
Cotton | Refined Mythcrafter Essence | Reinforced Wool
Attributes
Defiant: Shirt negates piercing and blunt damage. Chance to reflect damage.
Untouchable: Attempts by others to remove the shirt will cause Repel to activate.
Adrenaline: Shirt abilities are always active.
Abilities
Defiant | Untouchable | Adrenaline
Power Source
External Essence
Evolution
No
Quality
Good
Condition
100%
Value
Est. $12,000.00 – $16,000.00
What had once been a dull gray shirt was now completely silver and adorned with beautifully crafted runes made of metal. The pattern meshed all over the shirt and although it retained the flexibility of fabric, it offered the same protection as plate armor. Sal slipped it on and was surprised to feel it constrict around his form and improve his posture. He finished getting dressed and gave his bed an apologetic look before leaving the room. He had a full day ahead of him, but his mind focused on the coffee he would find just a few floors away.
Maybe it was because of how tired he was, but Sal didn’t register the reactions of the people around him until he had taken his first few sips of the premium coffee. He had essentially made his way to the lobby like a zombie and hadn’t interacted with a single person. He didn’t even know what class he had today or where it was going to be.
Clarity surged through him as the coffee worked its magic, and Sal suddenly realized that people were staring at him. He looked down at his chest with a smile and stopped when he saw the silver runes glowing against the gray material. His eyes traveled farther down, and he saw how much of a contrast the shirt was to his normal gray pants.
“Close enough.” Sal shrugged as he made his way to his next class.
Chapter 21:
Veritas
Sinclair sat in the lecture room with his feet up on the table. His fingers were linked behind his head, and he watched as the last of the group hurried in to take their seats. When the doors closed and the lights dimmed, he clicked a device in his hand, which started a presentation. It was a series of slides with questions written on them. With a groan, Sinclair turned in his seat, put his feet on the ground, and placed his elbows on the table. He looked weary, as though he were exhausted.
Sal related to the man at that moment.
Sinclair sighed as he gestured up at the screen. “I’m supposed to talk to you about our history. How many people used to be alive before the portals opened up, how much territory we lost that are now referred to as Red Zones…all the facts.” His expression was grim as he let the device in his hand drop to the table with a clatter. “Instead of going through numbers that don’t matter to you, I’ll tell you about the things that should.”
His eyes locked onto the group as he folded his arms and leaned forward. “Who here has heard of the Bastion?”
Although the tone was neutral, Sal could see the anger in his eyes.
More than a few hands went up, and Sinclair nodded.
“When everything started going to shit and it looked like we were going to be overrun completely, the Bastion program was announced. An exclusive get out-of-jail-free card for the ultra-wealthy.” Sinclair pointed his finger directly up. “Shot themselves into space where they’d be safe.”
