Joe just stood there silently trying to gather his thoughts for a moment before nodding, “Yes, I suppose it's time. Although I'm not sure how to broach this subject. Tell me, what have you deduced so far?”
Ferric took a seat and started just saying whatever came to his mind. “As far as I know one can't fake the information in a Guidebook, so you really do count as 18, but maybe you had magic make you younger? I don't know, but you seem to have way too much life experience about some things, but then you're completely ignorant of a lot of other things. I thought people on the other continents also had Guidebooks, but maybe there's a land or two out there that doesn't and you're some kind of, I don't know, spy or something? Like you were sent here to find the mana diamond but I have no guess as to why you haven't taken it yet. Maybe you're still planning on it, but genuinely came to care for us while on this job and wanted to set things up like the lumber mill so we can still be successful after the diamond is taken away.”
Not confirming or denying anything Ferric said before this pause Joe simply asked, “Anything else?”
“Well, it's weird that you came up with the idea for us to train our combat classes. If the diamond was gone there would be no need for that as we would no longer have anything worth fighting us for. I briefly wondered whether that was some attempt to try to get us strong enough to lose to us when you finally made your move to steal the diamond, but let's be honest, even all together we can't stop you. If an adult dragon couldn't corner you to kill you, what chance do we have? You're even better now than back then.”
Ferric took a couple of calming breaths before continuing. “So, I guess I don't really know what you're doing. Nothing makes sense, there's no rhyme or reason to the things you've done unless you really are trying to make this town better, but then there's so many unexplained things.”
Joe waited to see if Ferric had anything else to add before he responded. “Well, you're right on a few points. First and foremost, I am trying to make this town better. Not because of some assignment, but because you all took me in when I had no idea what was happening to me and I want to repay that kindness in any way I can. It turns out that I am situated to be able to do a whole lot, which is why I'm doing all these things.”
Joe took a deep breath before continuing. “Your other theories aren't wholly inaccurate. I am from someplace that doesn't have Guidebooks and I am a lot older than eighteen. We don't have Guidebooks, monsters, magic, or even any intelligent races other than human. I was born a human on a planet known as Earth. Since we didn't have magic we used tools and technology to shape our world and make our lives better. Many of the arcane devices I've been making are an imitation of the pinnacle of the technological achievements of my world.
“So I had another life on Earth. I grew up, I pursued education in a field of technology I was good at, the flow of electrical energy which powered most of our technology. I fell in love, I got married, I had three children, they grew up themselves. Then I got sick. For all of our mastery of electricity, we are far behind when it comes to mastering medicine. We have no magical cures, no spells. My disease spread rapidly through my body and then it was too late to save me. I had enough time left to make peace with the end of my life. I got to say goodbye to my wife and sons, and then I died.
“Different cultures on our world have different theories about what happens after we die. Many had thought about reincarnation, but the reality of what happened to me isn't what our cultures had contemplated. From what I gathered, a soul is supposed to be made new again and then sent to another universe to inhabit the body of a newborn, with no memories of its former life. Something happened during my soul's transition and it never got made new again, so I kept all of my memories. I was also put into this body on the day I arrived. From what I could gather whomever this poor felinoid was before me, he had drowned in the river.
“When you explained the skill limits to me the next day I got a notice in my CGS that the reason I had no limit was due to the error that occurred during my reincarnation. In fact, I even had 2 levels of Reading when I woke up in this body, I assume it was a leftover from my previous life.
“So that's why I act older than I am, that's why things are so new to me. My ignorance is helpful, I guess. I'm not caught up in the kind of thinking that leads people to stop training their combat abilities. And I have ideas to improve this town further, if you'll let me.”
Ferric just stared ahead, his eyes unfocused. “That's- I don't even know.” He finally turned to look at Joe again. “The concept of a world without magic is so alien to me. It explains a lot, though. What kind of technology did you have in mind?”
“Since I gained the ability to cast Preservation it hasn't been a priority, but while I was traveling back from Trenos the first time I had an idea to create boxes that preserved our food and also could chill things as well. Back in my world, most beverages were either hot or chilled. A cold beer at the end of a long day was something most people in my world enjoyed.
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“We also enjoyed indoor plumbing, which is the flow of water through our homes and other buildings. Water would flow right into our kitchens and it could go through a heater so you could have hot or cold water. The flowing water also made bathing easier. Instead of baths we also had showers, where the water would come out above you and into separate streams like it was raining in a chamber in your home. Of course, the best part of indoor plumbing is toilets. It's like a privy, but a lot cleaner and less smelly.”
“That sounds great, Joe, but it also sounds like it would take a lot of time. It took you weeks to make the lumber mill. That's just one building but you want to renovate the entire town? Maybe plan it for the future when we get more people to take the load of labor while you design the things.”
“That's not a bad idea, but maybe we can make a bath house or something to have easily available hot baths year-round?” Joe suggested.
“Winter is almost over now, but yes, I definitely want one before next winter,” Ferric laughed.
With a more serious expression Ferric continued, “I want to apologize for the way I confronted you. Not only because I'm Mayor, but also because I truly love this town my ancestors have been a part of for generations I was scared. I was scared that you were here to do something bad to us. I'm glad to see my fears were based on ignorance.”
- - - - -
Back when Joe was having trouble facing the fire toads he had an idea to remake his Spell Knives to handle more power. Otto showed up and needed help before he could get around to actually doing that, but now was the time. The Spell Knives weren't created with regular enchanting methods or even his arcane magic pattern methods. Instead they were forged by just directly inputting mana powder into the knife while shaping it on the anvil. Joe could do much better now.
Instead of just powder from mana crystals, Joe wanted to put a piece of crystal itself into the knives. Joe didn't really know how to cut crystals into specific shapes, so he would try something different. Mana crystals are silica-based, so there's a chance he could melt them like quartz when he's making glass. Joe popped one of the mana crystals he had in his personal supply into the crucible in his glass furnace.
It required a higher temperature than normal for melting glass, but it still worked. While the mana glass, as Joe thought of it, was still hot, Joe used Transmute Material to turn an iron plate into wood so he could carve the shape he wanted and made 10 molds in the wood before it turned back into iron. As the mana glass cooled Joe saw it was still the bright blue of the mana crystals. If he ever used these knives in front of people not from Rust's Edge he didn't want the knowledge of their mana crystal source to get out.
Joe teleported to Trenos again and found a Glassblower. He paid for a red tumbler glass that would keep whatever liquid in it from getting warmer. That way he could watch the dwarf craftswoman cast Imbue Glass Object as well as Dye Glass and learn those spells in a couple of hours.
Imbue Glass Object (Level 1). This spell is used to permanently enchant an object made up of at least 50% glass with a magical effect. The spell must be used the during the entire creation of the object or it will fail. Breaks of no longer than 10 hours can be taken or the magical matrix formed by the spell will fail. Non-glass parts need not be created while this spell is active or even created by the caster, although the more the spell is active during the creation process, the stronger the result will be.
Stamina cost: 10 stamina per minute
Mana cost: The caster's entire mana pool, including everything that would refill while the spell is active.
Dye Glass (Level 1). Change the color on one object made of glass. This change is permanent.
Stamina cost: 50 stamina per casting
Apparently clear wasn't a color he could make the mana glass, so instead Joe made them all a dull yellow. He gave all the knives the same enchantment and the mana glass did its job in the place of the mana powder in the original ones.
Spell Knife of Extra Effort (Very Rare). This throwing knife allows the user to cast a touch-based spell into it to be delivered by the knife itself. The maximum spell level that can be cast into the knife is level 14. The knife will also do additional damage of 14 times the user's Agility.
Joe made ten Spell Knives with the 10 mana glass pieces he had made. He also made a wooden case with ten spaces to hold the Spell Knives and inscribed the Recall patterns he had developed for Ferrite's knife sheathes. Now for the real test. Joe attuned the case to the ten knives and then put the case with the knives into his armor's back storage. He could see the individual knives through his CGS HUD and could reach back to grab one out, even though it was inside the closed case when he put it in there.
Joe threw the knife at a target area, then tried to activate the Recall in the case even though it was in the Extra Storage space in his armor. The knife disappeared from the spot on the ground where he had thrown it and it showed up in his CGS HUD again. That was perfect. Now he may have to level up his Hidden Blade ability so he can bring them directly to his hand from his Extra Storage.
The next day Joe went off to an unpopulated area and spent time practicing some of his combat spells that didn't require living targets. Joe discovered that his Channel spells didn't work with his Launch spell, even when it was Launching a weapon like a throwing knife. Joe was making good progress with his training, though, so he kept at it for two more days. After the three days he had gained 3 levels in Hidden Blade, 2 in Lightning Jolt, 1 in Channel Fire, 3 in Launch, 2 each in Channel Lightning and Compress Time, and 1 in Sudden Wind.
Hidden Blade (Level 5). This spell allows the caster to move a one-handed bladed weapon from somewhere on their person to their hand instantly. A blade in the caster's hand can instantly be moved to another location on their body. At the current level only Rare or lower blades can be teleported in this manner.
Stamina cost: 15 Stamina
Another level of Hidden Blade and it should be able to handle his new Spell Knives.
His training also got him 1 level in Throwing and 2 in Spell Conduits for the Agility and Intelligence boosts, respectively.