When he opened his eyes, Vee was back in the forge of the ruby salamander, but found that things felt more…solid somehow. Taking the [Ghost Smith] upgrade had caused the shadows that had obscured some of the tools and stations in the forge during his first visit to disappear, and everything was brightly lit and looked freshly cleaned. It was possibility – or possibly possibilities – given physical form, and Vee stared at them with wonder while he wandered toward the faint scratching and scraping sounds coming from deeper within.
The giant ruby salamander sat on a stool that was probably twice as tall as Vee was though it looked small beneath his shimmering body. A pillar of ectoplasm was cradled against his shoulder and braced with his legs so that it looked like he was wrestling it, and his attention was focused on one of the pillar’s curved beads, which he was carefully cutting with a tool he pulled toward himself. Vee scratched his chin; he’d seen [Woodworkers] and [Carpenters] use a similar tool before but coudn’t remember the name. A shave…shaver? No, that wasn’t it. Or at least not all of it.
It was a something-shave. He’d probably want to memorize the real name sooner than later.
The salamander grunted with effort, his brow furrowed and a hungry gleam in his eyes. His apron was caked in ectoplasmic dust of many colors, and while he wasn’t singing like he had been on Vee’s first visit, he hummed with happy steadiness as he worked.
Vee, unsure of what exactly he was supposed to do in this ‘tutorial’, waited for the salamander to finish his task and notice that he was there.
Thankfully he didn’t have to wait long.
Straightening the pillar back up onto the ground and giving it a gentle spin to evaluate the quality of the curve he’d just cut, the salamander gave Vee a wide, welcoming smile.
“I see you decided to return,” he boomed, the walls shaking ever so slightly at the sound of his voice. “And you’ve joined our ranks as well. Good for you, youngling! Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Soleir, and I am the [Ghost Smith] Classmaker.”
He tilted his head forward politely. “I shall endeavor to forge you a solid foundation as you continue your journey on this new path.”
He raised his head with a smile, and there was a lighthearted, mischievous twist to it that elicited a smile back from Vee. “Goodness, what a stiff greeting that is. If Gawain wasn’t so obsessed with proper etiquette…well, then I suppose he wouldn’t be a god. Regardless, welcome. We have much to discuss. Follow me.”
Gesturing for Vee to follow, Soleir led the way deeper into the forge, stopping in front of a towering black furnace that radiated power into the ethereal. Every color of ectoplasm blazed inside its heart, and Soleir watched for a moment before reaching in and plucking out a vermillion nugget.
“This ectoplasm right here is the cornerstone of everything we do,” he said, his deep voice rumbling. “And the [Ghost Furnace], where we make it, is the foundational skill of the [Ghost Smith] class. Observe.”
[Congratulations! You can now use the Ghost Furnace skill!]
Closing his eyes, Vee accessed his soul’s mirror and consulted what the skill actually did.
[Ghost Furnace – Summon a reclaimable construct that continuously refines and stores ectoplasm for future smith work. Once summoned, this skill transforms into Lesser Ghost Furnace, which creates a weaker, temporary version when used.]
That sounded simple enough, and Vee reopened his eyes to Soleir pulling out a string of green ectoplasm that was longer than Vee was tall.
“This will do nicely for what’s next,” the salamander said, forming it into a plank and nodding once more for Vee to follow. The pair traveled deeper into the forge.
They stopped this time at a towering obsidian sphere, and once again Vee nearly stumbled at the strength of its pull in the ethereal. Sigils far more complex than any he’d ever seen swam across its face, imbuing the [Ghost Smith] with a gamut (not to be confused with a gambit) of emotions that ranged from profound calm to manic terror.
“This is an [Ectoplasmic Anvil]. It can serve as an anchor for your work and be used to imprint sigils into everything you make.”
Vee grinned. “Without having to draw them first?”
“Well, you have to draw them all the first time you use them, but after that you won’t need to do it again. The sigils will all be stored in the anvil. The process of using them to make ghosts is slightly different from what you were used to as a [Ghost Maestro], but you’ll pick it up in time. Allow me to demonstrate. Simply hold your hand out and say the sigil’s name like this…”
Soleir reached toward the orb, his claws barely pressing against it. “Ruhminiatelin…and it will appear.”
Sure enough, the sigil – a long snake of curved lines that made Vee slightly nauseous – appeared and Soleir pressed the green ectoplasm against it. He held it in place for a moment, and when he pulled it away, the sigil was clearly visible amidst the green. A wave of the salamander’s hand dismissed the sigil from the orb and it returned to its previous inky state.
“Now, you should know that your anvil will be much smaller than this to start with, but it’ll grow as you level, add more sigils, and make more things.”
[Congratulations! You can now use the Ectoplasmic Anvil skill and its related subskills!]
“And when the time comes to shape your work, your anvil can help you in all sorts of ways. Anvil, hold this please.”
He pressed the ectoplasmic plank against the side of the anvil, and a shadowy finger and thumb emerged to pinch the plank in place.
With a grin as big as a doorway, Soleir began to twist the plank until it looked like a corkscrew, then bent it into the shape of a fish hook. When he was done, he told the anvil to let it go and made sure it didn’t drop.
“Darned useful thing. I suggest you get nice and comfortable with your anvil, young man. You’re going to be spending a lot of time with it.”
From there, the tour continued, with Soleir pointing out other tools and devices that would be useful for Vee’s work as a [Ghost Smith]. There were chisels, pliers, tongs, and a surprisingly high number of hammers. Vee smiled at them as he passed, trying to commit their details to memory so that he could tell Alforde about them.
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“Am I going to get all of these with skills?” he asked, looking at a strange device with string and multiple arms whose purpose he could not ascertain.
Soleir laughed. “Of course not; where would the fun be in that? Like any good smith, you’ll invent your own tools and devices as you need them. It took me decades to make all of these, and I’m sure this isn’t even their final form. Solving problems and making the solutions more efficient over time. That’s fundamentally what it means to be a [Ghost Smith]. That said, there is one tool skill you’ll get to help you on your journey. No smith class is complete without a good hammer.”
Another notification appeared before Vee’s eyes.
[Congratulations! You can now use the skill Ghost Hammer!]
“Every smith’s hammer is different, because every smith is different,” Soleir said. “Their weight, their balance, the shape of their heads, the jobs they’re best at.”
The salamander’s eyes glinted. “Heck, some smiths even find that their hammers are best wielded by a bonded assistant who’s better suited for swinging them.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” said Vee. “I’m grateful for all the advice so far, but I still don’t really know how to start working as a [Ghost Smith]. Can you show me?”
“Of course, youngling. We’ll make something together.”
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Though Soleir insisted that there was no danger from Vee reaching into the furnace to grab a bit of ectoplasm, he was still wary as he set his hands into the gleaming heart. Thankfully, the light was cool to the touch, and Vee carefully drew out a bead of molten blue ectoplasm and started rolling it into a sphere as the salamander had instructed him.
“Blue is a good color to start a project with,” Soleir said. “It’s easy to shape, but doesn’t get as hard as red or green does. Nor does it have the innate beauty of yellow and purple ectoplasm or the boosting capacity of pink and orange. However, when it comes to flexibility it can’t be beaten and that’s probably for the best when you first start making something. You’ll find that the color of ectoplasm matters a lot more now than it ever did when you were just a [Ghost Maestro]. Now, a first project can set the tone of your class for a long time to come. Do you have any thoughts for what you’d like to make?”
Truth be told, Vee didn’t. He hadn’t really been thinking of any projects he wanted to pursue with his new class. Instead, he’d seen it only as a stepping stone toward the work he was doing to improve Crestheart, and so that was where his thoughts turned first. Could he create some sort of reusable armor for his minions? Maybe something that would regenerate when damaged? Or perhaps something that could temporarily deactivate a minion wearing it, protecting them from being completely destroyed?
That might be beyond him for a long while, but if his first project truly would shape his class in the levels to come it was a good goal to start working toward.
Fresh instinct guided his hand, and Vee splayed his fingers before summoning his [Ghost Hammer]. It was a little bigger than his [Ghost Baton] had been, but substantially heavier and he wondered how long it would take him to get used to wielding it.
“Made your decision?”
Vee nodded, and explained his ideas. The salamander listened dutifully, and nodded with genuine enthusiasm when Vee finished.
“I have a soft spot for armor. My greatest projects have all included it. If this is something you’re interested in, youngling, I can provide you with a skill path to make it possible as you level. By my best estimate, you’ll need to reach level twenty at a minimum to be able to craft regenerating ectoplasm, and likely level thirty before you can send a ghost into Stasis with a creation. However, there’s a nice and simple utility modifier you can learn right now that might be useful for your creation.”
“What’s that?”
Soleir tapped the head of Vee’s hammer.
“Thorns. The ability to reflect impact damage back toward its source.”
Vee’s entire arm started to tremble, and another notification appeared before his eyes.
[You can now modify your ectoplasm creations with :Thorns:!]
“We’ll begin with the basic form or an armor plate,” Soleir said, summoning a tiny hammer of his own. “Flatten your ectoplasm into a sheet like this.”
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After what felt like far too much hammering – seriously, how did Alforde not go crazy swinging as often as he did – Vee found himself staring down at a small, uneven rectangle of ectoplasm that was barely big enough to fit one of the dungeon’s smallest ghosts. He suspected that future practice and production would improve the quality of his work, but for now it was somewhat embarrassing.
“Worry not,” Soleir said. “It’ll look nicer once we put the other layers on. Go back to the furnace and fetch some red ectoplasm. Grab a similar amount that you did for the blue.”
Vee did as instructed, splitting it into two equal pieces at Soleir’s request. One he set aside, and the second was hammered into a smaller, thinner, slightly more even rectangle.
“Put it atop the blue plate,” Soleir said, “and then run your finger along the edge while thinking about the two pieces becoming one.”
About halfway through his task, Vee’s finger grew hot and its tip started to glow.
[Congratulations! You can now use the Weld Ectoplasm skill!]
The two sheets fused together – though their colors didn’t blend – and unlike the ghosts Vee had worked on before, nothing he could do would pry them apart.
“The red ectoplasm will harden substantially from here, giving the plate most of its strength,” Soleir said. “But before that happens, we’ll go ahead and add the thorns. Divide that second bit of red ectoplasm into ten rods of equal size, and then we’ll go ahead and attach them to the plate.”
This was much closer to the work Vee was used to, and it went fast. Once all the rods were attached, Vee touched each one in turn, modifying them so that they became :thorns: and watched as they melted into small barbs along the plate.
He picked the plate up, surprised to find that it was still so light, and looked over at Soleir.
The first of hopefully many projects to come,” the salamander said. “And with that, youngling, our time together comes to an end. I wish you well.”
“Thanks,” Vee said. “I’ll do my best.”
[Tutorial Complete!]
[You will be given the option of returning for further tutorials at higher levels!]
The forge grew hazy, and Vee’s body grew heavy. He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again he was back in the boarding house, his newest creation on the table beside him and an awful pain in the center of his skull.
Main Character Sheets (Unchanged from last chapter):
Vee Vales
Primary Class: Ghost Smith (Self), Level 8
Secondary Class: Dungeon Master (Oar’s Crest), Level 24
Tertiary Class: Guy-Who-Takes-Things-WAY-Too-Far (Self), Level 7
Might: 15
Wit: 41
Faith: 25
Adventurousness: 7
Ambition: 16
Plotting: 19
Charisma: 18
Devious Mind: 29
Leadership: 22
Guts: 15
Intimidating Presence: 11
Citizenship: 24
Public Relations: 8
Determination: 7
Persuasiveness: 6
Bargaining: 4
Patience: 3
Competitive Spirit: 1
Pragmatism: 1
<3<3 Infatuation <3<3
Alforde Armorsoul:
Primary Class: Hammer Specialist (Self), Level 6
Secondary Class: Right-hand man (Vee Vales), Level 18
Tertiary Class: Dungeon Champion (Oar’s Crest), Level 18
Additional Class: Glaciernaut (Sacha Silverblade), Level 11
Might: 59
Wit: 15
Faith: 28
Adventurousness (Bound – Vee Vales): 9
Endurance: 33
Intimidating Presence: 15
Heart of a Champion: 14
Citizenship (Bound – Vee Vales): 9
Vigilance: 11
Vanity: 2
Single-Mindedness: 1
Reginald:
Primary Class: Core Spirit (Unknown), Level ???
#$&Q#$)(@#$#@#$%!@#$##%#%()@#$**@@##
Secondary Class: Loudmouth (Self), Level 43
Tertiary Class: Majordomo (Vee Vales), Level 21
Additional Class: Announcer (Vee Vales), Level 14
Additional Class: Hyperthymesiac (Self), Level 5
Might: 2
Wit: 37
Faith: 17
Ambition: 28
Greed: 24
Deceptiveness: 27
Manipulativeness: 42
$#&*!@!!: !!!
Loyalty: 47 (+1)
Patience: 11
Irritability: 25
Remorsefulness: 17
Expository Prowess: 23
#%$Pragmatism*#$: @#61$5
Hop@#!! @#$@!@#
@#$@%%^
#4^5#*&_!+++#(@$#
Citizenship (Bound – Vee Vales): 9