“What happened?” Chase asked, his voice filled with resignation. He was so fucking tired by this point, he was ready to just lie down and sleep for a week.
“It…would be better if ya heard it inside,” Ricardo said hesitantly, glancing at both frek’idh. “Who are-”
“Hi, Two Leg! I’m Scout Trainee Diveca, of the Keron Pack. Here to commence official Two Leg Watching Duties!” Diveca said, her tail wagging back and forth at such a rate that she almost seemed to vibrate. Ricardo blinked a few times before looking at Chase, who just shook his head.
“It’s a long story. Let’s get inside, we can talk more there” he said, walking into the cabin, Diveca following after him while Dracht found a place to lay down outside.
Ricardo sighed, but followed him, shutting the door behind him. Chase settled into a chair, while Diveca jumped onto a stool, sitting at the counter, her eyes scanning the room. Her tail started up a rhythm as it beat against the side of the table, making Chase chuckle in amusement.
“So, what's the situation?” he asked, turning his attention back to the matter at hand.
Ricardo grimaced, looking at his feet for a moment, his hands clenched into fists.
“Well, I…it’s the other humans,” he said finally.
“You managed to make contact?” Chase asked, sitting up straight in his surprise. He’d honestly all but given up on making contact with more of humanity for the foreseeable future.
Ricardo shifted his head from left to right and wiggled his hand in a so-so gesture, “Not exactly. I managed to find a feature of the Network Interface that shows the location of any and all Network granted Home Bases within a set range, and it appears there are four within about one hundred seventy miles from here, most in the north west direction, one almost due east. From what I can tell, the range is about 200 miles or so. It has the potential to be extended further, but it's not possible for me to do so.”
Chase's brow furrowed in confusion, and Ricardo hurried to elaborate, “It’s the names of the Home Bases that has me worried: New Rome, Victor’s Slaughterhouse, Riniki’s Empire, and Eternal Sultanate.”
“Ah…” was all that Chase said in response. He’d already run into the leader of one of those four, two of which had a history of conquest, and the last one just sounded oh so pleasant.
“Yeah, I thought the same thing,” Ricardo sighed, looking at his friend with a weary expression. “And there's one other thing: the elves have spotted some scouting parties from the east, and they described them as, I quote, ‘human-like but not human.’”
“Probably the Uchmute,” Chase said, rubbing at his beard. Seeing the confusion on Ricardo’s face, he elaborated, “Think Planet of the Apes mixed with feudal Japan and the ability to use magic thrown in for good measure.”
He then proceeded to tell them everything that had occurred since he left the outpost, finishing with, “I have a feeling they're preparing for a full on assault. I want to grab the crafting interface, and I need you to take a look at the stuff in this bag and try to figure out what the stuff in it is used for, if you can.”
Handing the assassin ape's bag to Ricardo, Chase stood up and moved over to the Network Interface, his hand resting on it. He turned to look at the other man, saying, “We need to prepare, and we need to do it quickly. This is not going to be a simple battle, I have a feeling that things are going to get a lot harder in the coming weeks.”
“No kidding,” Ricardo agreed, moving to the table as he opened the bag and began to pull things out.
“Be careful with the darts, they’re almost certainly poisoned,” Chase said before delving into the Auction House to snatch up the crafting interface.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
Chase’s next hour was spent getting the hang of the new screen that was incorporated into his mind. His main focus was in making repairs to his turtle shell shield, it had served him so well for months, it felt wrong to abandon it. Fortunately, there was a menu that let him view his past projects and attempt to recreate them.
The crafting interface had three parts to it: a menu, a visual display, and the actual crafting area. The menu was where he could select from the various resources and designs, the display showing him exactly what the item would look like when completed, and the crafting area was a large, blank space.
When he selected a material and a design, the menu would shift to show him the materials he'd need. Once he finished choosing, the design would appear in the display, and he could drag the material into the crafting area. When he finished, the crafting process would start, the material disappearing and the item forming in its place. It took the act of crafting by hand and did most of it itself, but each item had a chance to fail, and the crafter would have to restart. More than that, it also ran off the crafter's own stamina.
The downside was that each failure would decrease the quality of the materials, and could cost quite a bit in terms of time, stamina, and effort. Still, the fact that the crafting process could be automated, and that the materials could be reused, meant that a good craftsman could produce many items with minimal effort.
It was an excellent system, and he could see the benefit of the Crafting Interface. He couldn't help but wonder how difficult it was to actually create something with it. So he decided to find out.
Starting with his turtle shell shield as a base, he included scraps of leather to repair and reinforce the grips on the back, various teeth and bones to repair the damage that had been done to it, a clump of beeswax to treat the surface, and – on a whim – included some of his blood to see if it would do anything. When the design was complete, he placed it in the crafting space and selected ‘Create.’
The materials rose into the air, swirling and floating about in a hypnotic dance as the bones turned into powder that flowed into the cracks in the shell, the teeth drifting towards the edges before snapping into place. The leather, wax, and blood formed into a gel, the latter two melting, and the former turning into strips of hardened material that wrapped around the whole, fusing together with the others.
When the materials disappeared, a fully restored turtle shell shield floated before him. He grinned, picking it up and inspecting it. The shield was now a dull blue, the leather grips were sturdier than before, and the surface was smooth, almost slick, with a small drop of red hovering in the center. A screen appeared in front of him, showing the results of his work.
Turtle Shell Shield (L)
Defense: 100
Offense: 70
Durability: 90
Magic Resistance: 200
Special Features: Blood-Bound, Spell Reflect (5% Cunning)
Chase’s eyes widened in shock at seeing the number for Magic Resistance. He assumed that two hundred was good, considering the fact that it was twice as much as the next highest number. Was it because of his Mystic Malediction curse? That was the only thing he could think of, assuming that Spell Reflect was tied to his Mirror ability.
Focusing on the Special Features, he started reading as the descriptions took up the screen.
Blood-Bound: In the hands of any but the one whose blood was used in its creation, this item is only as good as if it were made by basic, mundane materials by mortal hands.
Spell Reflect: This item repels some measure of magic, depending on the related Characteristic of the user.
Chase stared at the text in front of him, his brain slowly processing what had just happened. It had been the addition of his blood that had increased the Magic Resistance by so much. That meant he could add more things to his gear to increase their effects. But that wasn't his main focus.
He'd just created something.
It had taken him no more than five minutes to go from materials to completed product, and had done most of the work itself. He had a feeling that it wouldn't work if the craftsperson was incapable of understanding the concepts and goals behind the end result, but it had cut down the time it would have taken him to make it from several hours to just a few minutes. This opened so fucking many possibilities.
He could have entire suits of armor, weapons, shields, and maybe even vehicles. The biggest thing that had been holding him back until now had been the limitations of time and the materials that his Trophy Hunter class focused on, but now it seemed that those limitations were gone.
His mind was still blown at the potential he now held, and he was determined to put it to the test. He couldn't make things without materials, though, so that meant he needed to figure out where to get more those once his current stockpile ran out, and how to get them.
A throat clearing snapped Chase out of his daydreaming, and he turned to see the five dokkalfar he’d called for standing in the doorway, Sikadi in front and Dracht just barely visible behind them.
Right, war council now, go into a crafting frenzy later.