Forge of Eternity: Alpha Testing, page 26
After a few hours Tack straightened, cracked his back, and told me to wait as he left the room without providing any further detail. I sat on the floor as far from the forge as I could get, enjoying the break from the heat. I took advantage of the downtime to check over my character sheet for any experience or new skills from the hours of working the forge. There weren’t any, which I must admit was extremely disappointing. Maybe I had to actually try it myself for the effort to count.
Still, I would have thought that I’d have at least earned the blacksmithing skill based on what I’d tried to retain from watching Tack work. Instead, I just had my unallocated stat and ability points from leveling earlier. Oh, and a hunger debuff.
Hunger, level 1 (debuff) - Reduced health regeneration time by 20%, all stats reduced by 5%. Effects can be resisted with a successful Constitution check every hour.
Successfully resisted the effects of Hunger, level 1 (43 minutes remaining).
I’d ask Tack if there was any food available when he got back since there wasn’t an immediate need to remove the debuff. While I did have rations from the apothecary, I’d rather save them if I had the option. There didn’t seem to be any sort of spoilage indicator in my inventory and they didn’t take up much weight or space. Plus, free food tastes better.
Looking back over my menus, I settled on my unallocated points from the most recent level up. That would give me something to do while waiting. I immediately put two points into strength and three points into constitution, bringing me up to 20 strength and 21 constitution. This left me with a single unspent stat point, and I was content to wait another level to use it. The ability point, however, was burning a hole in my pocket and going to require more consideration.
My current abilities gave me a decent emergency area defense and a way to mitigate incoming damage for a short period. Maybe I could find something with a lesser effect over a longer time, something a bit more potent than the 3% damage resistance from my “Like a Rock” racial ability. Or I could try to find some self-healing ability so I’m not as reliant on Gavin for healing. A bit of browsing and filtering narrowed the options down to three main choices.
—Geological Reinforcement - Slate
——Tapping into your elemental heritage allows you to temporarily shift the composition of your body’s rocky formations. Slate raises the physical damage reduction of “Like a Rock” to 10% and grants 10% fire damage reduction. This ability drains 5 stamina per second when active.
—Conjure Aegis (Class Unique)
——Once per day you can call upon the power of your class to conjure or enhance a shield. Only one copy of this effect may be active at a time.
——Conjured Aegis: A medium-sized, circular, convex, wooden shield. The Aegis’ level is equivalent to your level, the armor (35) and durability (50) will advance as you do. Shield image may be customized when conjured.
——Enhanced Aegis: Imbued shield retains existing size, weight, and level. All damage is repaired. Armor and durability are set to the higher of their current value +10% the values of your conjured Aegis, or the values of your conjured Aegis. Cosmetic modifications can be made, but they are lost if the effect is dispelled.
—Battle Healing
——Through conditioning and natural fortitude, your body has gained minor resistance to the strains of battle. Your health will continue to regenerate in battle at 25% of its normal speed. Taking damage suppresses this ability for five seconds.
The Geological Reinforcement ability had a handful of additional levels above the starting Slate option, all the way up to Diamond. The higher levels all had prerequisites including this entry-level ability. With the stamina cost, I could maintain it for almost a minute if I was actively fighting, and indefinitely if I was just standing still. Battle Healing fit the bill of a self-healing ability, with the added bonus of being completely passive so I didn’t have to think about it. It was also a very weak healing effect and required me to have some breathing room during the fight for it to work effectively.
Most interesting was the Conjure Aegis ability, and not just because I was missing a shield. All of my armor was degraded terribly after only a day or so of use. Granted, it was the starting armor and I’m pretty sure I took a bit more punishment than the average player, but anything that repaired a vital piece of gear daily with no cost was worth a second look. There were also a bunch of advanced abilities that tied into it, like further modifying the shield itself or granting area protection, so I saw some real potential. I was kicking myself a little for missing what was clearly a cornerstone ability for my class when I was first choosing my abilities.
I really wanted all three abilities, but I grit my teeth and selected Conjure Aegis from the list. The knowledge of how to activate and direct the ability was pushed into my brain, disconcerting for just a moment while I processed it. I closed my eyes, forming an image of the shield in my mind, and mentally pushed the image into existence. A second later I felt a slight increase of weight on my back as the shield formed and affixed itself at the ready to the sling. Opening my eyes, I saw a slightly confused-looking halfling holding a couple of bowls of food.
“Well, that was odd,” he said, setting a bowl down on the table in front of me. “You, uh, just magic stuff out of the air often?”
I snorted, scooping a large spoonful of thick stew. “Just learned it, all I can make is a single shield.”
“Ah, well, better than nothing I guess. Still, I figure you’ll be more useful to me if you took a look at this.”
Tack produced a small leather-bound book from a pouch at his side and slid it across the table. I grabbed it with my off-hand, looking over the cover as I ate. “Blacksmithing, an Apprenticeship in Printed Format” was stamped into the worn brown leather of the cover, with no other ornament or attribution.
“I appreciate you taking the time to help me out in the forge today,” Tack said through a mouthful of food. “I noticed that you actually seemed to care about what I was doing as I worked, but I couldn’t slow down to teach you anything. As a thank you for your help here and down in the mine, I figured I’d pass along the book that helped me out when I was getting started. Hopefully, you’ll be able to do more than man the bellows after reading it.”
I focused on the book now, pulling up the game data related to it. This book would not only grant me the blacksmithing skill but increase it to level five with a single use. After using it the book would be consumed either, though it would have its experienced drained. By imbuing the book with a set amount of experience, in this case a thousand points, I can reload it and allow the book to be used by another. That was a full level’s worth of experience at this point. Alternatively, if I didn’t offer my own experience, others could contribute experience points of their own to learn the skill and benefit from the increases.
“I’ll be honest, I was a little bummed I hadn’t learned anything yet, but this more than makes up for it,” I said, nodding at the halfling. “So what’s next?”
“First, I need you to read that so you’re useful to me,” Tack pointed at the book, “then we can talk about what we need. And what your group needs, I guess.”
Focusing on the book I selected the option to activate it, feeling a huge influx of information streaming into my head. The mild discomfort of learning how to activate a new ability was absolutely dwarfed by the feeling of suddenly understanding most of a decade’s worth of skill craft at metalworking. I managed to avoid spilling my food when my head hit the table, more out of dumb luck than any intentional course correction. After that, I spent several minutes teetering between insensate emptiness and agonizing migraine pains. Eventually, the extremes subsided into a sort of dull ache in my skull.
Blacksmithing, an Apprenticeship in Printed Format activated. Experience from item consumed.
You have unlocked the Blacksmithing skill!
Your Blacksmithing skill increased to level 5!
“So,” Tack started tentatively after I stopped gasping and whimpering, “you, uh, good to start training now, yeah?”
“Gimme a minute,” I said, slurring a bit with my face still pressed firmly into the counter. I groaned again and sat upright, fumbling a tin of herbs out of my pouch. The apothecary claimed they were a pain reliever, and I followed the instructions on the tin by placing a pinch of the harshly flavored herbs inside my lip against my gums. I closed my eyes and hoped that this actually worked like I was told and wasn’t just chewing tobacco or a hallucinogenic or something. A couple of minutes later and the pounding in my head subsided enough for me to participate in the world again.
“That was the worst feeling I’ve experienced all day, and I died in a fire,” I said, taking the herbs out of my lip while I finished my stew with quick, efficient bites. “Okay, I’ve eaten, my head is no longer actively trying to kill me, and I have some knowledge of how to make useful things. What’re we doing now?”
“Well, now I’d like to ask for a favor,” Tack motioned me over to a cluttered table at the far end of the room, “I had to get myself and the other miners outfitted first, but I don’t intend to die in an adventurers’ siege if I can avoid it. My best chances of survival are closely tied to how well your team does in a fight. You all handle the other adventurers, we take care of any help they might have. Right now, you’re all are wearing clothing barely one step up from standard townsfolk attire. That makes me nervous. Let’s go over your crafting materials and I’ll see what we can cobble together before nightfall. Assuming we survive the night, we can make more items tomorrow.”
I reviewed the materials on the large worktable, the contents visible as an inventory with a little bit of effort.
Crafting Materials:
4 x Massive Metallic Chitin Slab, Level 7
2 x Massive Fire Gland, Level 7
9 x Large Metallic Chitin Slab, Level 4
3 x Large Fire Gland, Level 4
4 x Stone Venison Chunks, Level 3
2 x Large Marble Antler, Level 3
20 x Small Metallic Chitin Slab, Level 2
9 x Small Fire Gland, Level 2
1 x Sturdy Spear, Level 1
1 x Cheap Leather Armor, Level 1
1 x Sturdy Spear, Level 1
1 x Cheap Leather Armor, Level 1
1 x Ruined Bear Pelt
27 x Silver ore
Tack let out a whistle and started sorting through the pile. “You adventurers just pick up anything you stumble across, don’t you? Well, I guess it makes sense if all you need to care about is the weight. The chitin is good, it’s a really strong alloy and easy to work with once you get it hot enough. I also see tattered leather armor scraps and that beat-up leather jerkin you’re wearing. These fire glands may be useful, but not for armor.”
“Can we repair my gear? Is that a thing?” I asked, struggling to phrase my question about game mechanics appropriately. “I mean, how do I restore durability to damaged equipment?”
“Sure, you can repair items if they aren’t completely destroyed. Or you can salvage them to make something better. You’ll need to go to the proper tradesman for the type of gear. I know a bit of blacksmithing and leatherworking, for example. I can fix metal items and gear, even if it’s slightly magical, but I won’t be able to do anything about your cloth pants. You’d need a tailor for that.”
“Can I repair it myself?”
“If you have the tools, materials, and skill. You could salvage the leather from this torn-up armor to fix your vest with minimal tradecraft knowledge, for example,” Tack shrugged, “I think making something new is going to be better though. We’re short on time, so I’m thinking we do some quick and dirty brigandine using some of the smaller chunks of chitin. Then we’ll do bracers and greaves from the larger pieces to get a little coverage on your arms and legs.”
I had some passing familiarity with various types of armor from games I’d played over the years, so the bracers and greaves I could picture easily from memory. The brigantine was a bit less defined in my mind, but as I thought about it the image sharpened in my mind and I could picture leather armor with metal plates riveted in place. The perfect clarity was distinctly different from how I thought about the bracers. On a hunch, I focused on the thought and tried to inspect the item in my head.
Locust Chitin Brigandine Vest, Level 4
Type: Medium Armor
Armor: 65
Weight: 25 lbs.
Durability: 50/50
2.5% Fire Resistance
You have unlocked the Mind Craft skill.
Mind Craft helps you apply custom crafting materials to known recipes and assume the results. Final results may deviate from estimates. Additional ranks allow for better predictions and a higher chance of success with rare materials.
Your Mind Craft skill increased to level 1.
Now that was a convenient skill; not only did it give me estimates for the items stats, but it also took into account the material I intended to use. I relaxed my focus on the design and my menus opened to a new crafting screen without my prompting. The recipe was highlighted in a nested list of weapons and armor. Apparently, that primer had a ton of basic items in it that I could now attempt to craft. I noticed some percentages next to certain recipes, indicating how likely it was that I could successfully craft the item. This was going to take some time to really dig into, so I dismissed the menu and promised myself I’d go through it in detail later.
“You back with me now?” Tack asked, loading the furnace and clearing a workspace. “You seemed far away so I figured I could get started to make use of the time we have left.”
“Yeah, sorry,” I tapped on my sword hilt as I planned out the crafting. “Just thinking. I’ll work on getting the plates shaped and designed for the vest. We have enough for four sets of bracers and greaves?”
Tack looked over the materials again, then nodded once. “Yeah, though we may not have time for all of it today.”
“We’d better get started then,” I said, excited to finally get hands-on with some crafting in the game.
Amalie - Back Channeling
I followed along as the foreman introduced us to other NPCs and started handing out tasks. Once I had an idea of the NPC’s capabilities and what I was expected to do, I begrudgingly set the game’s AI to guide my character autonomously and logged out. Letting the computer control my character’s actions still felt premature at this point. How could it know how I would react to a situation without my input after only a day? Pushing those thoughts aside, the sensations of the game world faded, leaving behind the less than thrilling weight of reality.
Shifting the visor and sensors off my face, I sat up in my bed and rubbed at my eyes. There was a tiny bit of soreness in my muscles like I’d been doing light exercise the day before. This was quickly overwhelmed by an urgent pressure in my bladder. After taking care of my body’s most time-sensitive physical needs, I made a note to set reminders for that sort of thing in the future. I shuddered to think of what may have happened if I’d spent another few hours in-game.
I stretched and wandered out of my bedroom into the apartment’s tiny kitchen. Not wanting to be out too long, I grabbed a microwaveable meal from the freezer. The microwave hummed as I considered my situation. I’d rather go through joining up with the faction and registering this find through their official channels, but that didn’t guarantee the response I needed. This dungeon was a major find, I could just feel it, and I needed to get resources to protect it, nepotism be damned. I clenched and unclenched my jaw, trying to find the best way to approach Jane. When my food was ready I groaned, deciding that if I didn’t have a good answer by the end of the meal I’d call her up and just wing it.
Staring at a clean plastic tray I cursed at how little time I’d spent eating, my mind detached and useless during the meal. The best I’d managed was a few half-composed text messages floating around in my mind, each seeming a bit too desperate or needy. With a sigh, I popped in a Bluetooth earbud and dialed my sister’s number from the voice control. It rang a couple of times, giving me the dim hope that she may not answer and I could push this off to the future. Then the call connected.
“Oh, hey there. I’m a bit busy, what’s up?” Jane answered, sounding distracted. I could hear the sounds of monstrous roars and high-pitched spell effects in the background. “Also, I’m on stream, so, y’know…”
Under normal circumstances, I hated talking to Jane if she was even the slightest bit distracted. It was even worse if she was streaming, it meant minutes of waiting just to repeat myself when she bothered to shift her attention back my way. In this case, however, it may end up working out in my favor.
“I won’t take up too much of your time here, don’t want to distract from dragon slaying or whatever,” I started, hearing her cursing at a teammate as I spoke. “But I kinda found a dungeon in Forge of Eternity. Like, big deal find. You have any guildies you can send my way to secure the claim before Ferventus steals it? It’s kinda near a town they own.”
“You need a bailout already?” Jane asked, her voice a little disappointed. “You just started, like, yesterday right?”
“Not a bailout,” I insisted, feeling my cheeks flush in frustration. “I found something worthwhile and need the resources to hold it. It’s a scaling dungeon, I’m sure of it. Super powerful, nearly killed us to find it, and it’s tainting the ore in a nearby mine. I have the mine owner on board with a profit-sharing setup. Standard NPC contract. I just need a party to help keep it secure while we build up.”
There were a few minutes of frustrated conversation with her teammates in whatever game she was on before she took the time to reply to me. I briefly considered pulling up her stream to get context, before deciding it would only make me more frustrated.
“What do you need from the faction again? We’re spread a little thin at the moment.”
