I woke up the next morning and chose two topics for today: improving my Essential Cooking, and gaining more combat experience. The prior I would do by seeking out the local kitchen. The latter would be to join some drills the fighters are having. Either way, both also came after I gave Bozhidar my decision.
I made my way to camp and Bozhidar’s tent. Got to that just as he was leaving for breakfast and joined him for obvious reasons. Served in the center of camp, the improvised cafeteria was open air, with a large clay oven in the center and a ring of kitchen around it. Breakfast was some kind of bread that was soft and chewy.
As were eating, I informed the ratling mystic about having decided what magic to learn. “Healing magic and light magic. Light seems to be at a premium here, and healing magic is always useful.” Bozhidar nodded between bites of bread and sips of some flavored water. I moved on to my other matter, “I want to train today, and settled on learning how to handle a shield and how to cook better. Got any ideas for me?”
After swallowing a few more bites, Bozhidar set his food and drink aside. “Good choice for magics, although truly any magic is useful. It’s a matter of circumstance. I raised that oven, so we only need to carry around some heat-retaining bricks.” He briefly eyed his food again, but then shook his head. “As for training, the cooks could always use extra hands to make lunch. See Kiril the head cook about that. For shields, most instructors in the camp will do, but I can recommend Borko as the likely best.” He pointed both out as he named them.
As the breakfast wound down, I approached Kiril in the kitchen. “H-hey. Bozhidar said that you would appreciate some help in the kitchen and can help me improve my cooking. I’m more than happy to help…” I barely know how to cook, and selling myself to an expert is nerve racking.
He put his hand up to signal that he needs a moment, gave some commands to his crew, and turned back to me as he wiped his hands off on his apron. “Will be glad to have you, Traveler. The last one had a really interesting type of food to teach me about, and I’m counting on you too here.” He reached out his hand for a handshake. My own hand shook a bit as I extended it and grasped his in a flimsy hold.
Kiril sat me down at one of the tables and started on his own meal, now that breakfast was over. “Last Traveler taught me about… fries? Because we had an over-abundance of potatoes. So simple yet so effective. Obvious in hindsight. Have a look at what we have a lot of and tell me what you want us to do, yeah?”
I nodded and went with one of his staff to their stockpile. What immediately stood out was an abundance of vegetables, in various states of freshness. I was about to give up, thinking there’s nothing to innovate, when I saw that there were a lot of ripe tomatoes. I knew what to offer and got back to Kiril.
“Well, you seem raring to go. Out with it,” he said between bites.
“Have you ever used tomatoes on dough, Kiril? Or as a sauce?” I asked, hoping I figured it out.
“No, we have not. You have my attention.” Kiril grinned at my questions.
“If you’re taking my directions on good faith, we’re going to need as much leavened dough as you can muster and it might be tight.” I started explaining the process to make a pizza, or as best as I understood the process to be, some of it being a lot of guesswork.
2 hours were spent trying to create pizza sauce, from my guesswork and Kiril’s intuition as a cook. We managed something close, and the dough had just finished rising. I remembered seeing a video on how the original pizza had no cheese, which was fortunate as Kiril didn’t have much cheese to work with. Bozhidar and I got a cheese pizza, as well as the kitchen staff, before having a few to pass around to the camp.
The pizza wasn’t anything like the fast food fare I was used to, but perhaps that was for the better. It was very flavorful and light, due to having to stretch some ingredients thin. The camp really liked it and Kiril added it to possible future menus.
While testing out making pizza sauce, I got a notification about an hour in.
Essential Cooking has improved into Basic Cooking 1!
5 points acquired!
By the time we were done, I had amassed several notifications more.
Basic Cooking raised to level 2!
6 points acquired!
Basic Cooking raised to level 3!
7 points acquired!
Basic Cooking raised to level 4!
8 points acquired!
I saw how organic growth gave me points and that put me at ease. Looks like that at least to start with I can go a bit wild with my points and not suffer for it. I decided that when I got back to the hovel, I’d look at the Shop for something to enhance my life.
With lunch over, I also had to admit that reading the ratlings as people was significantly harder than the already hard humans. Any observation I made felt like more of a guess than usual. I had simply assumed everyone was friendly, following Bozhidar’s explanation of my status among them.
During lunch I looked around for Borko and made sure to see where he went when he was done. Once Kiril let me go, after some cleaning work, I headed in the direction Borko went and came up to him as I closed in on his instructing some warriors with a spear. “Borko, s-sir? Bozhidar said to come to you if I want to be trained in combat?”
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He didn’t look my way until the current drill his warriors were doing was done. “He’d be right to. I think my squad are the best trained here. What do you want to learn?”
I scrunched my face, unsure where to start, and decided to start with what I was certain about. “I’ve learned to fight with a quarterstaff, mainly defensively, but I haven’t learned to take a proper hit. Injuries shouldn’t be a problem for me, so I want to try defending against real weapons and actual attacks.”
Borko seemed to cock his eyebrow up and signaled to one of his squad members. “Go get Bozhidar. I can’t in good conscious attack an untrained person without a healer around.” Then we waited for Bozhidar to arrive, which didn’t take long. He also looked perplexed.
“Bozhidar, he insists injuries are not an issue. I have to test this, but couldn’t without a healer on hand. I hope you understand.” Borko explained to Bozhidar, the confusion on both seeming clear.
“I have it in me to cast some healing today, so you’re good to test it out” Bozhidar replied and stood off to the side.
Borko took a knife out of his belt and came up to me. He grabbed my wrist and turned my arm so the back of my forearm was exposed. “This will hurt. Any injury hurts. If you really aren’t injured by this, you have a boon like no other. Just that would put you heads and shoulders above anyone else. I pray to whatever god you do that you’re right.” With that, he made to slice my forearm with a shallow cut.
I braced for injury, not feeling certain what I read was correct or true. The blade passed over my skin, and I felt pain that was probably close to what I should have felt. But it and the blade passed and no injury appeared. That said, I lost 5 Health.
Borko’s eyes went wide, “Well, damn me. I can’t speak for any injury, but that certainly didn’t cut you. I’m willing to risk further tests with Bozhidar on standby. Are you fine with that?”
“Uh, yes, sure. What did you have in mind?” I replied.
Borko circled me a bit, then out of nowhere slashed at my arm, around the shoulder. I had no way or experience to react with, and the blade made hard contact. The pain was clearer, and I imagined the knife slicing into me. But it didn’t. Once more, it and the pain passed, and that cost me 10 Health. This left me more shocked, since I still had a worry that being ready for injury made it work.
Borko turned to Bozhidar, a grin on his face, “I think you can leave us. If that didn’t injure the Traveler, then I doubt anything can. Could you have your aide bring a few healing potions so we’d be on the safe side?” Turning back to me, Borko led me to a tent and had me sit down. “Your name is Sebastian, right? Mind if I call you Seb? Can’t train anyone you don’t treat with friendly respect, in my opinion.”
“Yeah, sure, I don’t mind. I have friends call me that.”
“Great. Tell me, Seb, what are you expecting to try out? Are you really not affected by physical harm?” Borko asked, seeming genuinely concerned and interested.
I hesitated, but decided to be specific, “I think I’m safe in telling you. I have a power which quantifies the harm I receive and delivers it as a clear measure. I feel pain and I know precisely how much closer I am to dying, but it doesn’t matter how I’m attacked.”
Borko nodded, “That’s the second question, then. What about your expectations?”
I thought for a moment and cautiously explained, “I want to get used to pain and the physical sensation of being hit. I think I would like to train with a shield, to see the difference, but primarily get used to how different weapons feel when they make contact.”
“That sounds reasonable,” Borko seemed to visibly relax, “and I think that can be easily facilitated. I’ll have my best warriors on each of the weapons we train with attack you without reservation. As for shield training, you can join our drills and see if you pick something up.” He got up and headed to the mouth of the tent, “Well, let’s get started.”
We started at what I assumed to be noon and kept going until the sun was pretty low but not gone. At that point, Borko sent me to go get some supper for later. In all, I got attacked with swords, knives, spears and axes. None had made any mark, but after drinking all the healing potions Bozhidar had sent I was still down to 30 Health. That said, I managed to acquire both Basic Pain Tolerance and Basic Shield Training, as well as get both to 2, so I consider this a day well spent.
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At the kitchen, Kiril gave me a selection of doughy snacks, as well as had me try a personal-sized and experimental pizza. It was weird, with a different sauce, but still tasty. I told Kiril and then headed to my hovel before night settled in.
At the hovel, I sat down on my bed and willed my Sheet into being. I think I’ll start just referring to it as a tablet from now on. I went straight for the Shop and looked what I had available. There were 5 categories I could access: System, Mastery, Skill, Technique and Basics. I chose to start with System.
Following the injury test earlier today, I was fairly certain my eyesight wasn’t going to get any worse from staring at a backlit screen in the dark, but it was definitely exhausting on a more essential level. Thinking about how no one seemed to respond to my tablet during the day, I figured I might be able to have it create some light.
It didn’t take me too long to find the right system, called Personal Lighting, which gave me several options for the cost of 40 points and the temporary loss of some Focus or Mana. I surprised at the costs, but figured it was trying its best to consolidate how things work.
The way it works is that I temporarily lower my maximum Focus or Mana, called dedicating, in order to conjure a light source. Focus provides light only I can see, while Mana allows others to see the light as well. A directional light, like a flashlight, require a dedication in multiples of 5. A light that shines like a lamp requires dedication in multiple of 10. In both cases, the sources are handheld.
It also has an option for independent lighting, which requires double the dedication but does not need to be held. It responds to mental commands to move and shift.
Finally, I can conjure and control one additional light source per level of the system.
To summarize: I can focus really hard or magic really hard to make effective lighting.
New system - Personal Light 1 - purchased!
I think that was a decent investment that would pay off soon enough. Immediately I tried it out and brought out an independent lamp. It looked like a ball of light contained by 2 bands of crisscrossing metal. The light it shed at the first level of intensity was akin to a light bulb and lit the room up well. I tried having it float up to the ceiling in the center of the room, which it did without problem. As the distance grew, I felt something start stretch in my mind. There was probably a maximum distance.
Despite picking up my own method of lighting, it was prohibitively expensive to use regularly right now. I remained wanting to see if light magic could offer cheaper alternatives.
I had my Character open and saw that my Focus was indeed limited to 90/90 instead of 110/110. I let the light wink out, placing the room in darkness, and saw the immediate change to my Focus to 90/110.
After a very active day, I turned in for the night.