After Lesfo met with Ferric and later a few of the Kela's Landing transplants he was satisfied that the matter was resolved and assured Joe that he would report it back in Trenos. Joe asked Lesfo if anyone in Trenos had the ability to restore missing appendages, but Lesfo said there wasn't. Joe sent him back in another portal and promised to provide a better way to communicate in the near future.

There was still plenty of time left in the day, though, so Joe decided to go find an alligator in the swamps where he killed the frost dragon and then a giant hawk to collect new hearts for Belstak to consume. Joe used his new Siphon Energy spell on the first alligator he came across. The alligator immediately slowed its movement and seemed to lose its aggression as Joe had absorbed all of its stamina in one go. Joe cast Creature Status on it, which still only showed its hit point pool, but Joe easily drained all of that off as well with Siphon Energy.

Joe used a spell knife to see if Siphon Energy worked through it. After some experimentation he discovered that it immediately steals the energy, but it doesn't transfer it to Joe until he touches the knife again. That would make killing the giant hawks much easier than in the past.

After teleporting back to his home and Harvesting the alligators he had killed he sent a quick message to Belstak letting him know about the alligator heart and three skeletons sitting outside of his door and then he teleported back to the plains where the giant hawks love to hunt.

Joe knew hawks see movement well over long distances so he started moving at his normal pace, continuing with his spells to move normally. It wasn't long before his Listening picked up the subtle sound of a descending hawk. He cast Hidden Blade twice to summon a spell knife to each hand and then cast Siphon Energy into each of them and made two consecutive throws at the hawk trying to attack him. Backtrack moved him out of the direct path of the hawk before it could claw at him with its talons.

While it was close Joe cast Creature Status to see its hit points. The hawk was hurt, but it looked like it was only hurt from the knives hitting it, not from the Siphon Energy. Joe summoned another spell knife to his hand and cast Healing Touch into it and threw it at the hawk before it climbed back into the sky. Instead of trying to get away the hawk suddenly wheeled back towards Joe, now that it was no longer hurt.

Joe got two more spell knives in his hands and again used Siphon Energy to charge the knives before throwing them at the hawk. The first one took its remaining stamina but the second one took nearly all of its health. Joe cast Hidden Blade one more time and charged one more Siphon Energy into the knife before throwing it at the hawk, which lost its remaining hit points and died.

Joe recalled his knives using stamina, put them back away with additional castings of Hidden Blade, grabbed the hawk's body, and Backtracked to Rust's Edge where he found Belstak happily munching on the alligator heart even though it hadn't even been a minute yet.

“You got me a giant bird, too? I'm finally going to be able to fly, months before my own wings are strong enough. Thank you, Joe,” Belstak said between bites of his alligator heart.

“These hawks gave me quite the challenge when I was originally traveling to Trenos, so I figure they'd be a good form for you.”

Joe reviewed his notifications for the last few fights he'd been in and saw that he gained some spell levels. 1 level in Backtrack, Hidden Blade, Siphon Energy, and 1 in Healing Touch. He also gained a level in Throwing, Spell Conduits, and Stamina Regrowth.

Joe Harvested the hawk, putting the heart into a large crate where he cast Preservation over the next few hours. After that he dropped the bones outside for Belstak to snack on and gave Thagro the feathers for his arrows.

Joe had a little bit of time left before he wanted to get to sleep, so he Backtracked to a place far from settlements and found a rock face to practice firing his raygun at. He was able to fire the raygun while feeding it with mana, Meditating to restore that mana and also use Energy Conversion to transfer his other resources to his mana as he funneled it into the raygun. It took a lot of Focus to do it all at once, but that was one of the reasons he wanted to practice. That and the skill levels, of course.

He only gained one level of Ranged Weapons that evening, but he'd be repeating it for a while until he was able to do all those things simultaneously with more ease. He went to sleep earlier than usual because he wanted to get up and deal with his crops before dawn.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

After he cast Speed Plant Growth on his wheat, Thessal Leaves, and the steelwood trees and provided water to the wheat and leaves as well, he cast Invisibility and then used Backtrack to go to one of the libraries he'd visited in Trenos. Because of the distance between the cities, as well as the fact the sun rose in the west on this world, it was still a couple of hours before dawn in Trenos. Joe used his Listening skill to see if anyone was in the library, but it didn't appear like there was anyone around yet.

Joe started reading books in the mornings before the library opened and made it a regular part of his training. After two weeks he'd gained a number of levels in various spells and skills. For spells, he gained 3 levels in Levitaiton and Invisibility, 2 levels in Lightning Jolt, Deflection Field, Healing Touch, and Move Water, and 1 level in Karmic Bond, Stoke Fire, Illusory Rendering, Elemental Shield, Speed Plant Growth, Compress Time, and Sudden Wind.

Lightning Bolt (Level 15). This spell allows the caster to channel electrical energy into a target via touch, potentially damaging the target. The maximum amount of energy that can be channeled with this spell is determined by the caster's Intelligence score, multiplied by the spell's level. Multiple instances of this spell can be cast simultaneously at one or more targets based on what the caster is touching.

Alternatively a bolt of lightning can be targeted towards a single target within 5 meters of the caster.

For either version a diminished effect can arc to other chosen enemies within 5 meters of a primary target. Each casting can affect up to four additional targets via the arcing lightning.

Mana Cost: 6 per casting for touch or 60 per casting for a bolt

Invisibility (Level 5). This spell allows the caster to make himself undetectable to all visual senses. The spell can also be cast on one other creature within 2 meters of the caster. All creatures affected by the spell can still see each other. This spell lasts 1 minute per spell level.

Mana cost: 200 mana per casting

For his skills Joe gained 3 levels in Reading, Regeneration, Spell Conduits, Energy Conversion, and Ranged Weapons, 2 levels in Agriculture, Focus, and Stealth, and 1 level in Mana Channeling, Stamina Growth, and Meditation. His Night Eyes ability also ranked up to 5. Joe could see as well in the dark as he could with light.

Joe was reflecting on his Statistics and noticed his Toughness was lagging behind.

Name: Joseph Pinkerton

Age: 19

Race: Felinoid

Class: Mage 13

Profession: Arcane Gadgeteer 10

Hit Points: 1675/1764

Stamina: 2324/2324

Mana: 2690/2690

Strength: 560

Agility: 345

Vitality: 882

Toughness: 280

Intelligence: 1345

Wisdom: 670

Before Joe could adjust his training routine, though, something else finally happened. He regularly Backtracked to the mana cavern to check on his copper ingots and ore. They were clearly infused with the kind of manachlorian energy he wanted to work as stand-ins for magisteel in his arcane devices, but the description always said it was a temporary change. Finally, Joe found that they had been steeped in the energy of the mana diamond enough that the change was permanent.

Joe used this new resource as the base for a new communication device he would share with Trenos. He didn't want a real-time communicator quite like the SACT he had already invented, but rather he wanted something like a fax machine that could send messages in either direction. He didn't have the slightest clue how to make a printer, but he did have an idea of how to bypass the need for one.

What Joe ended up with was a dual scribe station, each side with an articulated mechanical arm holding onto a pen. As you used the pen on one station to write a message the corresponding pen on the companion device would move around with a Minor Levitation effect replicating the movements of the writer on the first device thereby producing a written message in the same handwriting.

Originally Joe was just going to have a single station on each device, but opted for the dual stations so real time communication was possible, which would be too easy to mess up if you were still holding onto the pen and the arm tried to move to copy what the other person was writing. He also included glass beads that would light up to alert the other station about a message received and note when the paper has been removed.

Joe was able to level up his Schematic Drafting by 1, his Miniaturization ability ranked up to Rank 3, and Imbue Metallic Object, Imbue Wooden Object, and Imbue Glass Object each leveled up by 1.

Imbue Wooden Object (Level 5). This spell is used to permanently enchant an object made up of at least 50% wood 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-wooden 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.

The caster can funnel their intent into creation process to try to shape an enchantment they are unfamiliar with.

Stamina cost: 10 stamina per minute

Mana cost: The caster's entire mana pool, including everything that would refill while the spell is active.

Joe put both stations into a chest of Extra Storage and went to Trenos to meet with Commander Lesfo. Fortunately the commander wasn't too busy so Joe was able to get in to see him without a long wait.

“Commander, so good to see you again,” Joe began as he sat in his office once again. “I finally finished crafting a device to allow us to communicate faster than using ravens.”

Lesfo looked quite impressed, “You say you finished such a device in just two weeks?”

Joe shook his head, “Not at all. I finished it in two days.”