We hold the resulting silence for a while, not making eye contact, but studying each other.

I break it first: “The dream, I think, was part of the game. Designed to let us pick a ‘path’ to follow, which will influence our ‘Traits’. I didn’t cause it.”

Lauren studies me a moment longer before shrugging. -”I won’t turn down free… power.”

A sudden nagging pulls at my attention, directing me to look at the corner of the room where Kaythe is lying motionless. Panic rises in my chest, turning furiously to Lauren I start to yell, only to see her lift her hand. In it: a strange bottle with an equally strange liquid.

-”Give it a few drops.”

We share another glance. She knows I’ll destroy her if this doesn’t help. She knows it isn’t worth the trouble of putting me down.

It’s easier this way.

I try examining the liquid quickly, but the result is unhelpful as usual:

[A mysterious alchemical liquid. Ask an Alchemist to identify it!]

“What is it?” I ask, gently putting some on the shallow wound on Kaythe’s body.

-”Paralysis antidote. You probably need some too.”

I refrain, returning the bottle to her. I could use the healing practice anyway. Her eyebrows raise slightly, but she gives no other reaction.

I hold Kaythe in my arms, carefully channeling healing Energy into it. The Energy view I have for Kaythe is much more detailed than for Rav or Lauren. I can see Kaythe’s own Energy moving around. And, obviously, there was no resistance to me passing Energy in.

Actually, that begs an important question: why did Lauren not resist my Energy either time I used it on her? In the heat of the moment, when I was first healing her, I hadn’t even noticed. Probably chalked it up to her being unconscious or something. But just now? When I’d attacked her? That definitely should have provoked some kind of response. Yet, there had been nothing. No counter-attack.

Perhaps it has something to do with the Energy void?

Kaythe suddenly starts wiggling and clacking happily, bringing a smile to my face as it celebrates its regained movement. I quickly deal with the poisoned tissue in my neck and seal the wound on my neck. It was shallow, so it probably won’t even leave the usual scar. I’ll need more practice before I’ll be able to deal with poison while maintaining awareness. Great. Maybe Lauren will let me chug her poisons to practice.

No, she definitely would, but not for any other reason than because she would believe I’d die.

Lauren is focussed intensely on me when I emerge from my concentration. I raise an eyebrow, questioning.

-”The cut vanished.” Not shock, not awe, just a statement.

I nod.

-”While I was watching, it just… came together.” Still just stating things. Maybe she is a bit shocked.

“Yeah well… that’s what I do.” I murmur, awkwardly. Ugh, come on dude. She literally tried to kill you, you had a faceoff, and now you get awkward?

It doesn’t seem to bother her, as she just nods in return.

-”Uhh… it’s an Apprentice’s Stone.”

My turn to be confused. “What?”

-”Earlier, you asked about my Alchemy. The stuff came from my Apprentice’s Stone.”

“I… the beakers and bottles and shit came from a rock?” On the one hand, I’m incredibly skeptical. On the other, I have, in my pocket, a rock that holds mana and some flowers that can cause fires, so this would be far from the weirdest revelation today.

She nods, producing a small, intricately carved talisman. Before I can examine it more closely, she says -“Apprentice, alchemy.” and the stone pulses with a low, green light. As soon as she places the talisman on the ground, it shifts and grows until it becomes the same alchemy set I saw her working with earlier.

I’m floored. “That is fucking amazing. How does it work? Where can I get one? I was trying to figure out the basics just by eating random ingredients until I figured out what was good-”

-”You ate ingredients? That you didn’t know the properties of? Are you dense? Ha! Oh my fuck, you’re an idiot! You don’t even need me to kill you, you’ll just do the trick yourself, won’t you? Oh that is too much, please, my stomach still hurts, laughing just makes it worse!” The pain, of course, doesn’t stop her from having a fair amount of enjoyment at my expense. That’s what I get for being excited. Whatever tentative, mutual respect was there before has been thoroughly dashed. RIP me.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

To my surprise, once she gets over herself, she proceeds to explain how the stone works.

* It requires at least one level in the desired crafting skill before it will form particular equipment. For instance, Lauren needed to have at least one level in Alchemy before she could use the Apprentice’s Stone to create Alchemy equipment.

* The talisman reforms after the one who summoned it tells it to, or after a certain amount of time of not being used. Lauren had not experienced the time out, so she couldn’t say exactly how long.

* Once the stone reformed, it left behind some useful things like the glass vial she had handed me before. It only made a couple each time, so she was trying to grow her supply of potion carrying equipment by using the stone as frequently as possible.

* The stone requires being inert for an entire night before it can be used again. If you want to generate more peripheral equipment, use it during the day and let it sit at night.

* She had gotten the stone from the battlefield. That was all she would say, not which monster dropped it or where. Odd, but I’ll be sure to be on the lookout for one.

That was another interesting point: that monsters can drop things. Occasionally, as Lauren tells it, you’ll be notified when you kill a monster that the Power reward was reduced and an item was created. They’re usually fairly useful things, depending on the Power of the monster that drops it. More Power, more interesting item. One such item she got was a poultice specifically for repairing armor. Apply it, and it fixes any lost durability, closing holes and mending scratches.

I’d be really interested in figuring out how that works; the mechanisms probably use Power to create the replacement armor, but how does it know to mimic what’s already there?

Musings for later.

Lauren is a funny person. Once she starts talking, she isn’t quite as… terrible. Weird and broken, sure, but ‘we’re all mad down here’, in our own ways.

I quickly distribute the free Primary Skill points that I was going to deal with before I was so rudely interrupted.

For some reason -probably because it’s special- I can’t add to Will, but I opt to round out my Dex to 20, raise Int to 28, and raise Toughness and End by one each.

There’s some pain, popping and cracking joints, and the texture of my skin feels a little different all of a sudden, but nowhere near as disorienting as the +10 to all earlier.

With that done, time to see if Lauren is going to be a team player- but first: status.

Name: Amadeus (Anthony)

Power: 105

Fragments: 15

HP: 34/34

H Recovery: +6 / hour

Stamina: 33/33

S Recovery: +22 / min

Energy: 30/30

E Recovery: +3 / min

Mana: 0/1

M Recovery: 0 / min

Primary skills:

Dexterity 20 (+1)

Strength 22

Endurance 24

Toughness 24

Intelligence 28

Perception 25 (+2)

Will 3

Secondary Skills:

-Active

Transfuse Energy [Active] (8) Move Energy through physical contact into living objects.

Imbue Energy [Active] (3) - Move Energy through physical contact into non-living objects.

Energetic Attack [Active] (2) - Attempt to destroy the spirit of a target using your own.

Hide [Active] (1) - Utilize stamina to decrease your presence. Audio generated reduced. Light reflection reduced. Reduces effectivity of olfactory tracking used on you. Stamina usage increases with movement.

-Passive

Energy Manipulation [Passive] (6) Medium - general ability to move and understand Energy. Improves through use.

Combat Proficiency [Passive] (2) Hard - General combat ability. Improves through not using it in training/combat.

Cold Resistance [Passive] (2) Medium - General resistance to the effects of cold.

Tamer [Passive] (2) ??? - Rare skill. Tame and forge bonds with monsters.

Hand to Hand Proficiency (1) Hard - Unarmed competence. Improves through practice using the body as a weapon.

Traits:

[Basic Energy User (10/10): Increases efficiency of all Energy use by 1%/point. Bonus doubles once the trait is complete.]

[Novice Energy Healer (10/10): Speeds active healing effects by 10%/point. Reduces concentration required for active healing once the trait is complete.]

[The Selfless (5/5): Reward trait. Saving one of your own at great personal risk has gained you the interest of the Administrator. Gain one free Primary Skill for every point. Reduced cost of Ascending once the trait is complete.]

[Path of Denial (1/25): Does absolutely nothing. Effect doubles once the trait is complete.]

Trait points: 0/26

Peripherals:

Dominations - 30% Cathid(3 Energy rate/30%)

Exhaustions - 3

Status - Burned Channels: ---;

Inventory: Basic Clothing (cloth); stick; 4 of each flower (red, green, purple, white, orange, green(bud); 4 Bon nuts; small Mana battery; 10 copper coins; Worn satchel (broken strap); Crown (unidentified);