We have blades too, and though we prefer to keep them sheathed, never doubt that we know how to use them, you pig-faced fuck.

- [Duchess] Altianna Truss, speaking to [King] Viego Elswich. Commonly cited by historians as the cause of the War of the Maples

Winesap Moon Day 18

Week of the Gnome (Spells Cost 5 less mana)

Standing over a large fallen log with my gauntlet extended, I turned to Myral and asked, “Like this?”

The silver-haired [Champion] nodded. “This one is smaller than the rest that we’ve tried, so it should be easier to [Absorb]. Give it a shot whenever you’re ready.”

I sighed. It was my fourth day in Doolen, and though I’d originally been eager to test out the new skills Myral had taught me – [Absorb], [Blessed Sight], and [Manage City] – I found myself almost missing the woman’s lectures about proper [Champion] etiquette. While there’d been far too fucking many things for any reasonable person to keep track of, at least I’d understood the broad strokes of what was required of me.

That wasn’t the case here. All morning, I’d been struggling to get [Absorb] to work, but I had yet to find even a small measure of success. It was frustrating, but if there was one thing I’d learned since coming to Doolen, it was that Myral wouldn’t let me quit until I’d failed several more serious attempts.

Closing my eyes, I did my best to imagine the splintered bit of timber on the ground by my feet as an “abstract idea” of wood. Unfortunately, I still didn’t really know what that meant, so nothing happened when I tried to activate the skill. Feeling my temper flare, I opened my right eye and glared at my mentor.

“Why isn’t it working?”

She shrugged. “You expect too much too quickly. Most [Champions] spend years developing their skills and learning how to use them whenever they desire. You’ve only been at it for a few days, and already you can use [Blessed Sight] and [Manage City]. Be patient, Aster, and keep trying. You’ll get it eventually.”

I appreciated her confidence, but had a hard time mustering my own mirror of it. I couldn’t help but think that I was missing something. Perhaps I’d failed to obtain some portion of Davion’s blessing, and that was why [Absorb] refused to work.

“Remember, the wood is not Wood,” Myral said. “You won’t need to mill or shape it for it to serve your purpose. Just think about what you can do with it. How can it help you? Don’t worry about what it was, or where it came from. Focus only on its future: to be put to use as you see fit.”

Easier said than done, I thought. Still, flexing my fingers, I closed my eyes once more and tried to do as my mentor instructed. Truthfully, I didn’t particularly care for this way of looking at the world. It felt arrogant and callous to think of things only in terms of how I could bend them to my own advantage, but I understood that doing so was necessary if I was going to survive as a [Champion]. Ultimately, that was how they – we, I reminded myself – looked at everything.

“This is not a broken log of cedar,” I murmured. “This is just something I can collect and use to become stronger. This is something I can turn into structures, or pay to recruit other minions into my stack. This…is…not…wood. [Absorb].”

A tingle spread across my gauntleted palm, and when I dared open my eyes to peek down at the log, I saw that it was shimmering with sliver light. Progress. My mouth curled into a wolfish smile. I kept going, repeating one of the many things I’d heard from Myral over the past few days to help me stay focused.

“Wood is the simplest material for a [Champion] to work with. Across most of the world, it is plentiful and easy to find, but that abundance comes with a cost. Wood is not as strong as the other materials.”

As I spoke, the tingle spread and expanded to cover the rest of my gauntlet. It went all the way up to my shoulder, and the runes on the plates burned with silver light. I stayed as I was for some time, my brow furrowed with sweat, but eventually a third or so of the log disintegrated into tiny, glowing fragments that floated into my gauntlet. The sensation reminded me of the way the howler had joined my stack, and when I summoned the silver screen that was my display, I saw that I’d gained another five wood.

Myral was grinning too as she clapped my shoulder, but after a moment, she pointed to the rest.

“Excellent. See? What’d I tell you? Now that you’ve done it once, you can do it again. Try to recapture the same way you felt at the end there.”

What had I felt at the end? I wasn’t entirely sure. After a few more botched tries, though, I got the hang of it, and managed to [Absorb] the rest of the log. From there, Myral led me back to the larger trees I’d first failed on, and I [Absorbed] them too. By the time we finished, I’d added sixty wood to my materials.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Come along,” the [Concocter] said, pulling me back toward the village. “Collecting the materials is only half the task. You also need to learn how to spend them properly.”

She led me to a small section of the wall that’d been damaged in the previous night’s windstorm. A massive crack ran down one of the planks, and several small pieces had broken off the top.

“Here. Fix this.”

“How do I do that?”

“Use [Manage City] to examine the walls more closely, then find the damaged piece and repair it. Since this is pretty small as far as damage goes, it shouldn’t cost you too much wood. I would guess…probably less than thirty.”

I pulled up my display once again and activated [Manage City]. Much like what happened to me during the use of [Hexgrid Sphere], I found myself looking down at a simplified view of the village from the sky. Most of the buildings and roads were gone; I could only see the so-called production buildings – the stables, barracks, smithy, town center, and magic tower – and the walls. However, I could interact with all of them, and doing so brought up a list of possible upgrades I could buy for each one.

The stables, barracks, and magic tower also displayed a list of creatures I could [Recruit] as well, but they were all barren. Production buildings were locked to a fixed amount of creatures each week, and Myral had already added all of the inventory to her own stack before my arrival. Besides, while I doubted Myral would have minded, it was technically bad form to [Recruit] creatures from another [Champion]’s domain without their explicit permission.

I turned my attention back to my task. When I clicked on the walls, I saw that there weren’t any upgrades to be found. Instead, there was just a list of sections, and a condition rating for each of them. I examined them one by one, noticing the way each piece glowed as I did so, until I found the one I was looking for. Sure enough, instead of being designated “Perfect”, it was designated “Fair.”

Beneath that proclamation was a red twenty, as well as the symbol for wood. I clicked it, and there was a small chime as the material left my inventory.

The section of wall turned blue for a second, and then I felt Myral’s grip on my shoulder.“Good job, lad. You can’t even see where it was damaged. Take a look for yourself.”

I returned to my body – which was every bit as jarring as leaving [Hexgrid Sphere] had been – and looked up at my “handiwork.” Indeed, the cracks were gone and the missing pieces of wood had been replaced. Though it was too high up for me to see well, I was fairly certain that it looked the same as it had before the storm.

“Incredible,” I said quietly. “I could have never done such a thing by hand.”

I wasn’t sure how to feel about that, either. Though I was thrilled by the power of my new abilities – the capacity to literally reshape the world is attractive, after all – I also couldn’t shake the feeling that I’d cheated somehow. After all, I hadn’t really done anything, had I? My grandpa always said that it was good to take pride in a hard day’s work, but this didn’t feel like it qualified. Not in the slightest.

As if sensing my internal debate, Myral clapped her hands together and met my eyes.

“Don’t look so down. This is what it means to be one of the blessed. Best get used to it, lad.”

Nodding, I followed her back to the village entrance. The spearmen bowed as we passed.

“Well done, [Champion]! We’re grateful for your help!”

I looked at the speaker – their mustachioed leader – and saw the same reverence in his eyes that everyone back home had for Davion. For the first time, I truly felt the gulf between us. Unsure of how to answer, I responded with a glum nod.

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Winesap Moon Day 21

Week of the Sawyer (Daily Wood income +5)

Though I was enjoying my time in Doolen, my urge to move on grew stronger by the day. I’d come to the village to think about my next steps, and during my brief periods of quiet, I’d made my decision. In addition to protecting the people who couldn’t protect themselves, I wanted to see the world for myself. I wanted to have adventures, and see if other [Champions] were like Myral or Davion. While I didn’t mind the former, I’d decided I wouldn’t tolerate the latter. What’d that mean? I wasn’t sure, but I knew that I meant it.

I also needed to keep moving so as to avoid the [Astral Paladins] who undoubtedly sought my blessing, but admittedly I wasn’t as worried about that as I probably should have been.

Regardless, the reality of my situation was that it was time for me to leave, and the morning after the week rolled over, I decided the time was right. After gathering my supplies, I strapped my blade to my back and went to find Myral.

Interestingly, I noticed that all the village’s production buildings were surrounded by a faint aura of weakly pulsing blue light. What could that be? I looked around at the other villagers. If they noticed the glow, they showed no signs of it. Realization dawned on me. It was probably a [Blessed Sight] thing.

My mentor was sitting outside the magic tower with a solemn look on her face. She must have seen my intent through in my expression, because she flashed a wry smile and stood up as I approached.

“Ready to go, huh?”

I nodded.

“Good. I didn’t much fancy trying to hide you from the [Astral Paladins] whenever they show up. I’m too old for such nonsense.”

We were both silent for a moment, and the bevy of questions I’d been biting back about Myral’s past tried to burst through to the surface. But the moment passed, and the other [Champion] jerked her head toward her study. “Come on, I’ve got one last thing to give you before you go.”

Back beneath the emerald lights of the room where I’d first met her, Myral once again opened the hidden panel in the wall and opened her small chest. However, instead of grabbing ingredients for an arcane concoction this time, she drew out a small bracelet and handed it to me.

It was a simple thing, made of brass and adorned with a single blue gemstone I didn’t recognize.

“This is a {Bangle of Rejuvenation},” Myral said. “It’s not particularly impressive as far as artifacts go, but it’ll give your stack a two or three points of healing every turn during hexgrid battles. Should be extra useful to you since you only have the single avatar right now.”

I took the artifact and put it on. “Thank you, Myral. I’ll always be grateful for your help. I’m not a man who enjoys being indebted to others. How can I repay your kindness?”

“Stay alive,” she said, her voice strangely husky. “That’d be repayment enough.”

I nodded and gave her a small hug. She returned it, and I was once again surprised by her strength.

Then, after waving goodbye to the rest of the villagers, I left Doolen and headed out into the world.

What awaited me beyond those walls was a mystery, but I couldn’t keep myself from smiling as I made my way down the twisting path. The sun was bright in the sky and the air was pleasant.

Wherever my feet took me, it was sure to be an adventure.