“Magisteel is a special metal that enhances manachlorian flow. If incorporated in an enchanted item the enchantment is usually much more powerful that normal. It's also incredibly rare,” Tess answered.
“That's right,” Joe replied. “And where does it come from?”
After no one answered right away Eleanor spoke up, “Mana powder, which comes from mana crystals. They grow in environments of focused manachlorian flow, like the home of a powerful monster. That dragon you killed probably had mana crystals growing around her nest.”
“Joe,” Malcolm began hesitantly, “are you saying you're going to raise that dragon egg in your town so you can grow mana crystals?”
“No. Here, look at this,” Joe said as he removed his raygun from the holster and handed it to Malcolm. “Look at that metal plate on the grip you made. Look at the ring around the opening on the front.”
Malcolm's eyes opened wider as he blurted out, “Are these magisteel?”
Eleanor nodded sagely at Malcolm's revelation, “Yes, I supposed that reward you got for the bandit bounty would have been able to afford a small amount of magisteel.”
Joe shook his head and cast Illusory Rendering, making it larger, opening it up, and showing them all the internal components of his raygun.
“It's the same metal inside of it!” Gymmie shouted out.
“You brought magisteel to Trenos, didn't you?” Kerras finally deduced. “All the money we were given to buy supplies for your town was in platinum, which most people don't work with unless they're dealing with really large amounts of gold in the first place. You sold magisteel and then used a piece yourself to make your gun.”
“And that's the biggest secret of all. Your town has so much magisteel that it can just hand it out like it's no big deal.”
“Close,” Joe conceded. “We have all the ingredients to make magisteel, but hadn't made much yet when I was sent to get supplies. Before the Imperial War the town was large and thriving, with an iron mine that kept things going well. In the war most of the talented townspeople were drafted and died. Afterwards the town kept shrinking as there was nothing to offer to keep people there. We barely had enough to keep supplies for mining and smelting the ore just into iron, which let us break even.
“Then I wander into town, the day of my eighteenth birthday, fresh into my Mage class. They saw in me potential. Potential for me and potential for the town. They offered to train me to be stronger than other Mages who often end up dying quickly because they focus solely on their Intelligence. In exchange I offered the services of my Harvest spell, which gave them fresh meat, something they hadn't had in a while cause they had no means or knowledge to butcher anything they could kill, as well as goods from the animals to sell.
“I also had the ability to read the information they had about smithing and alchemy, something they couldn't do. I picked up the basics in Smithing and then felt some great power deeper in the mines. I found mana crystals in a safe environment, I researched how to turn it into magisteel. But of course, if we started selling magisteel out of our town people would know we have it and less scrupulous individuals or groups would take our city away from us because we were in no position to defend it.
“But that has changed. On this trip I have gained a lot of power as a Mage and even discovered new ways to make magic items using small amounts of magisteel. Magic items that can be used by most people, even. I'm still not strong enough to take on a force of people intent to take our mine away from us, but I think I'd have a much better shot.”
“I will help you if it ever comes to it,” Melanie vowed. “The kind of people who would attack the town just for its resources are no better than Glior and his men. That's the kind of people I'm training to be able to stop.”
“I don't have a class yet, but when I do, I will help you, too,” Kerras said.
“Thank you. As much as I appreciate it, I'm sure Ferric, the mayor, will appreciate it even more.”
- - - - -
Melanie was able to easily handle the oculasauruses that Joe fought on his solo journey months ago. Her armor made it so the sharp claws and teeth of the lizards weren't able to do much to her. He got a lot of samples of their eyes, and he got another one of his hats to learn the Keen Visions enchantment. He also learned how to make various potions related to sight: X-Ray Sight, Telescopic Sight, and Thermal Sight.
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About two days out from Rust's Edge while they were making camp for the evening, Melanie came rushing up to Joe, Guidebook in her hand. “Joe, look at what I discovered!”
Joe expected her to show him her Skills list showing that she had finally unlocked Meditation as her twelfth skill, but instead she flipped to the final page in her book. “What do you have there?”
Melanie held it up to him and he waited while she granted permission to read it and the writing slowly appeared. It was a single word with a question mark at the end.
Upgrade?
“Don't wait on my behalf, go for it,” Joe encouraged her.
Melanie tapped the word in the book, but then got a dejected look on her face. “It's not working, look.”
Insufficient power available for upgrade.
“Don't worry, I know how to solve that in a couple of days when we get to Rust's Edge. Do the rest of you have that in your Guidebooks?”
After a minute of looking it appears that the others did indeed all have the same option.
Joe reviewed the training he'd accomplished on this last stretch of the journey. His Night Eyes ability finally ranked up to 4. He practiced a lot of spells so Cold Snap and Backtrack got to level 9, Hidden Blade got to level 2, Karmic Bond and Stoke Fire both got to level 5, granting extra function to both, Channel Fire got to 3, Speed Boost to 4, and Boost Strength to 2. Joe practiced with Paralyze and Root Trap to hinder enemies and got both of those up to level 2, and used Shadow Cloak to practice his Stealth and got that spell to level 2 as well.
For his skills he improved Reading to 7 with a book about curing leather and making simple leather goods, all of his spell practice got his Mana Channeling to 18, his Focus to 17, and his Meditation to 15. The Shadow Cloak practice got his Stealth up to 9. Cooking meals each evening got his Cooking to 10. Sparring with Melanie got his Defense to 12 and his Bladed Weapons to 6, and he started using a longknife and unlocked Quick Weapons and got it to 2. She was strong enough and skilled enough that he wouldn't hurt her accidentally. His conversations with and care for the livestock and horses unlocked Animal Husbandry and got that to 2 as well. And of course, pulling the new wagon brought his Portering to 15.
Karmic Bond (Level 5). This spell allows you to link two creatures within 2 meters of one another at the time of casting. What happens to one happens to the other, and vice versa. If one gets harmed the other takes the same damage. If one is healed the other gets the same healing. This spell lasts for five minutes at its current level.
Instead of the neutral karma, the caster could apply negative karma to the second target of the spell. Negative karma would mean half of the damage done to the first target would be done to the second target instead. Half of the healing applied to the second target would benefit the first target instead.
Mana cost: 75 mana for neutral karma or 200 mana for negative karma
Stoke Fire (Level 5). This spell allows the caster to funnel oxygen into a fire to increase its heat at a stable level. The temperature maximum is the caster's Toughness multiplied by the spell level.
Only half of the fuel is consumed by the fire while under the effects of this spell. At the current level the new temperature can be maintained for ninety minutes.
Stamina cost: 25 stamina
As they got close to the river that ran next to the town it reminded Joe about his plans to grow Steelwood trees using the unique conditions of the water and soil there. He talked to Tess about it and she said that they'd have to plant them downstream from the mines, but that it sounded like the perfect environment. She didn't have any spells to assist in their growth, but hoped that Ferrite would.
Joe asked Melanie to take over pulling the extra wagon as he detached the steelwood handcart. “I'm going to go let them know you guys are coming, make sure Ferric has enough places to put you all up. Just follow the road across the river, you can't miss it.”
Joe was quite eager to see the townspeople again, so he grabbed onto his handcart and used Backtrack to get to just outside The Rusty Cup. Everything looked normal from the outside, and it wasn't a merchant day, so Joe grabbed the lockbox for the town's funds and entered the tavern. Ferric was preparing a meal that smelled like venison stew.
Ferric turned his head to the door opening and his tusked smile grew wide as he saw who entered. “Joe, you're back! I knew you'd make it there and back again safely. Did everything else go well?”
Joe set the lockbox down on the bar. “You know how we figured the magisteel would be worth about three or four thousand gold each ingot? Well, we were wrong. I got two thousand for each ingot.” Joe unlocked the box and opened it for Ferric to see its contents. “Two thousand platinum each.”
After buying the supplies from the list, the livestock, the wagons, six horses with gear, the feed for the animals plus extra sundries the others thought would be appreciated in town, he still had over 3,400 platinum left in the lockbox for Ferric.
Ferric was absolutely speechless for a few minutes as Joe handed him the key so he could continue to use the box himself. Finally he said, “Joe, this goes beyond my wildest dreams. So are the supplies and livestock outside?”
“No, they're still on their way here. They should be here in an hour or so. I wanted to make things ready for the your new residents.”
Ferric was tearing up as he pondered the change of Rust's Edge's fate with this new influx of cash and people. He quickly regained his composure and inquired, “But what of you, Joe, were you able to improve yourself on the journey?”
Joe opened his Statistics screen and shared it with Ferric.
Individual Statistics:
Name: Joseph Pinkerton
Age: 18
Race: Felinoid
Class: Mage Level 10
Profession: Arcane Gadgeteer Level 2
Hit Points: 614/614
Stamina: 934/934
Mana 920/920
Strength: 278
Agility: 143
Vitality: 307
Toughness: 160
Intelligence: 460
Wisdom: 211
“We can go over all the changes I've been through later. Now let's get things ready for the new six and a half residents on their way here,” Joe told Ferric.
“And a half?”
“Well, one is currently just an egg.”