Chapter 45

I looked at The Mountain in the distance as it stretched high into the air at the edge of the horizon, its west side glowing redly in the sunset. We had passed more and more towns as we traveled north up The Mountain Road as it stretched straight as far as the eye could see. Lately we would make our way through at least three villages a day if not more. According to the folk in the small towns we’d traveled through, it was still several days away, but it was already visible in the distance. I could feel the magic much more clearly as we progressively neared it. It was a beacon of magic drawing me closer and closer.

For the first time since we left Lake City, we hadn’t managed to pick a good stopping point at a town we were passing through and were camping out beside the road near a large copse of trees. I used my magic to comb all the stones out of a wide circle around a central hollow I’d formed to use as our firepit and sent tendrils of stone magic into the nearby trees to pull out a large enough quantity of deadwood to use for the night. If nothing else, being a high powered mage was crazy convenient.

Ara was preparing a simple rabbit stew with some vegetables she’d picked up in the last town along with a few rabbits I’d hit with my sling from the cart as we traveled. I missed having Dog along to fetch them for me and kept finding myself trying to hand him the animals’ guts when I cleaned them, only to find him missing. I looked across the fire to see Hammer and Knick sitting on one of the low stone benches I’d created, sharpening their sword and knife respectively as they waited for dinner. I flicked a finger down in the air in front of me and scrolled through my magic screen, as I had been doing obsessively over the past week or so since we’d left Lake City.

Magic:

Traveler Magic (Natural Affinity) (Passive/Active) - Translates all languages heard. Can speak any language heard.

Healing Magic (Passive/Active) (Effect of Golden Coin of the Traveler) - Average (One rank boost from Coin)

Sense Magic (Visual) - Advanced (One rank boost from Coin) (One rank boost from Demon)

Stone Magic (Demon) - Master

Stone Sense (Demon) - Master

Abilities:

Resistance to Pain - Master

Resistance to Hunger - Master

Sense Poison (Scent) - Expert

Throwing - Advanced

Resistance to Alcohol - Advanced

Knife - Expert

Sling - Master

Killing (Animals) - Master (One rank boost from Apex Predator)

Animal/Monster Anatomy/Disassembly - Advanced

Killing (Humans) - Master (One rank boost from Apex Predator)

Resistance to Infection - Advanced

Deception - Expert

Axe/Hatchet - Expert

Spear - Average

Sewing - Average

Magic Item Creation - Novice

Night Vision - Master (One rank boost (Maximum master) from death panther cloak)

Stealth - Master (Two rank boost (Maximum master) from death panther gear)

Imitation (Vocal) - Advanced

Drawing - Expert

Trap Construction/Spotting (Pit) - Master

Haggling - Average

Gambling - Expert (One rank boost from Deception) (One rank boost from Lucky)

Animal Training - Advanced (One rank boost from Apex Predator)

Sword - Advanced (One rank boost (Maximum master) from The Sword of Crud)

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Smithing - Novice

Resistance to Magic - Novice

Statue Construction (Magic) - Advanced (Two rank boost from Drawing)

Singing - Average (One rank boost from Imitation)

Assassination - Novice

Passive Effects:

Broken Soul

Lucky

Clever

Survivor

Apex Predator

Peak Physical Conditioning - Large increase to speed, stamina, strength, and health

Death Panther Cloak - One rank boost to night vision and stealth (To a maximum of master rank)

Death Pather Vest - Slight increase to stealth

Death Panther Gloves - Slight increase to stealth

Death Panther Pants - Slight increase to stealth

Death Panther Eye Patch - Slight increase to deception

Death Panther Claw Necklace - Slight increase to speed

High Quality Monster Wolf Leather Boots - Slight increase to speed

The Sword of Crud - One rank boost to Sword (To a maximum of master rank)

Steel Scale Mail - Large increase to defense

The ranks of my magic and skills seem to fall within five different ranks: novice, average, advanced, expert, and master. Demon, in our brief chats on the road, maintained that there is another level beyond master, but he couldn’t tell me what it would be since the ranking system I was working with was, according to him, specific to this magic screen which was effectively just a visual representation of my instinctual understanding of my abilities and their levels.

The magic and skills appeared to be listed more or less chronologically in the order I’d gotten them. Some of them obviously affect others. By and large, most of them are fairly self explanatory, but, as there is no way to select any of the skills on the screen to get a further breakdown or explanation as to what they indicate, I’m at a bit of a loss as to what some of them actually are. For all I know I may have been born with that apex predator passive effect, but it may also be something I got when I killed the death panther, or when I ate it. And what the hell does it mean by ‘broken soul’? It seems vaguely insulting if you ask me. It has no effect on any of my other skills or abilities so I have no hint as to what it could mean, and Demon was unhelpful when I asked. He just muttered, ‘it figures,’ and left it at that while seeming thoughtful.

We sat around the fire companionably and ate our stew as the night descended on us. When we finished, Ara cleaned up our dishes and the pot she’d used to cook with and stored them back in the cart. Goliath was hobbled and grazing nearby. We lay out our skins and blankets for bedding, and everyone but Knick laid down for the night. Knick was taking first watch. At which point a thought occurred to me.

“Hey, Knick, try this on for a minute,” I tossed him my cloak. He caught it neatly and looked askance at me. I just smiled and waited. He shrugged and slipped it around his shoulders.

“Oh,” said Knick. “Cool, so that’s how you do it.” I checked my magic screen and noticed that my night vision ability had dropped from master down to expert. My stealth ability was still at master though, guess I’ve maxed that one out or my other death panther gear was pushing me up from expert. I can check that later.

“To be fair,” I responded. “I think that’s just how I got started. That cloak pushes me up from expert night vision to master night vision. So, at this point, I think I’ve just spent so much time wandering around the southern forest at night that I built the ability up. That cloak is just the cherry on top nowadays.”

“What?” asked Hammer, sitting up from his oversized blanket. Knick took the cloak off and tossed it to Hammer.

“Try it on and see,” said Knick.

Hammer sat up curiously and put on the cloak that was obviously too small for him. He mostly just put the hood on and let it hang behind his back. “Whoa!” exclaimed Hammer. “Suddenly I can see in the dark like a cat!”

“Yeah,” I said as Hammer took off the cloak and tossed it back to me. “I’d noticed that I had a boost to my night vision ability from the cloak and wanted to know if it was transferable to someone else. I guess that probably makes this cloak the item I created that got me up to novice level in magic item creation.”

I offered it to Ara who briefly put on the hood and glanced around with wide eyes before handing it back to me. “Amazing as always, my lord,” she said, smiling at me. I took off my eyepatch for the night and gave her a wink of my golden eye as I shrugged back into my cloak.

“It struck me that if I line the interior of Hammer’s helmet with death panther fur it may give some similar effect. Worth a try anyways. You want me to try making you something too, Knick? I don’t have enough fur left to make another cloak, but I could probably cobble together a decent hat or something if you want one. I don’t have quite enough left to make another cloak or anything large though, so it would have to be fairly small unless another death panther tries to eat me on our way to the mountain. Although, in all fairness, I think I could handle one fairly easily with magic these days.” I said, feeling a bit indestructible.

“No thanks,” said Knick. “I prefer to keep my eyes and ears clear. Don’t even use the hoods on my current cloaks anyway.” I just nodded in acceptance and transferred my gaze to Hammer.

“A magic helmet,” Hammer seemed taken by the idea and was smiling dreamily as he stared off into the darkness. “Yes, please, Nameless!” He laughed out loud.

“Cool,” I responded with a nod. “Lend me your helmet as we travel this last bit to The Mountain, and I’ll figure out how to do it.” I paused for a few seconds as I gave Hammer’s helmet a considering look where it sat by his pillow. “Hmm, a lining would be a good start, but I bet I could rig some fur and leather scraps to go over the top of the helmet too, lining the spikes. That would look pretty neat I bet. Might even hide the spikes a bit so your enemy won’t realize that they’re about to die when you bash them in the face with a headbutt.” I lay back and put my hands behind my head, Ara lay beside me and snuggled up close. “Oh, and Hammer?” I looked over at him.

“Yeah?” Hammer asked as he lay back as well.

“That necklace you gave me for my birthday also has some magic properties. It gives me a slight boost to my speed. You may very well have the novice magic item creation ability yourself. Food for thought.”

As I closed my eyes I heard Hammer sigh exasperatedly before saying, “Gee, thanks, Nameless. How the hell am I supposed to sleep now?” I heard Knick chuckling at him as I smiled and began drifting off to sleep.