25 Astra 10,391 Day 4 of trip
The dark haired woman nodded at him. “Hey Six, I’m doing well thank you. What can I help you with?”
Six looked at the setup she had going. “Looking to get my glaive and spear repaired. I was looking for Gatbark but this looks promising.”
“Gatbark? The Meteor Dwarf soldier? He seemed more trader than soldier and more soldier than craftsman. I got a few projects but I can probably get to fixing your weapons right away. I won't be able to repair your armor until I get a proper forge set up though.”
Six remembered his armor and it had been taking a beating, dents and scratches were all over each piece. “Really? I don’t need any special treatment. I have other weapons.”
“No no, Franklin was talking about your kill on the Koatl shaman and if you’re protecting us with those weapons I’ll make that work a priority. I’m just fixing a pot right now. You still gotta pay though.”
“Perfect.” He pulled the stressed weapons from his spatial and handed them to her. “How much?”
She scratched her chin in thought. “Six gold.”
“That’s an awfully even number.”
“You’re an even number.”
A silence extended between them before Six shrugged and handed over six gold. “How long?” he asked.
“It all should be done by the morning.”
“That’s quick.”
She waved it away. “Unlike your armor the damage on these weapons can be fixed easily. Besides metal working I also mend clothing. I am actually an apprentice rank sewist. If you need anything fixed.” She pointed at the holes in his second hand clothing.
“Nah I’m good, maybe later. You sell clothes?”
“She nodded her head, “I have little material to make clothes, but I do have some.”
“Well, everyone is a bit busy right now, could I place a deposit and you hold onto enough cloth for multiple sets of the same thing? Like five sets? Doesn’t have to be fancy.”
She nodded. “Two and a half gold.”
“Cool, sewist eh? I thought you were a blacksmith to be honest.”
“I am a journeyman blacksmith, hopefully one day a master and classed Blacksmith too. I just do sewing as a hobby.”
“Why’d you pick Blacksmithing? Is that a rude question?”
She looked at him blankly for a bit before replying, “I've never really thought about it. I had access to my family's forge for one, and the rest is for the same reason I sew. I like the end result. I like making amazing things. I like the accolades of my customers. Does that make me vain?”
Six shrugged. “I dunno. I think the vast majority of us struggle with wanting recognition. I don’t know much about the other races but humans are not naturally solitary creatures. It’s pretty normal.”
“And you?” she asked.
“Me?”
“What class are you aiming for?”
“I hope to be an Enchanter but I’ll go with anything really.”
She made a face like that. “Aiming for a crafter class and you’re out there fighting like that?”
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“Ain’t a better way to get experience is there?”
She shook her head. “Experience returns from skill masteries are quite low comparatively.”
Six needed to know the specifics. “Do you know the breakdown of that?”
She looked at him like he was a fool and then nodded. “You receive 100 for reaching Apprentice rank in a skill, 500 for Journeyman, 1000 for Master, I’ve heard of people reaching Sage rank in the legends but I do not know of any myself. Hitting Journeyman brought me to level two.”
1000 for Master Rank was an extremely low return on time investment. Six had earned over 3000 EXP for the Koatl Shaman and had yet to reach apprentice in any of his skills. Granted the risk was much higher and there was a definitive loser in combat situations. Perhaps Denny was right, perhaps he should go for a combat class if he was to live out here?”
“Why Enchanter?” Ravna asked.
“Power, money.”
“Oh? Enchanting might bring you money but I doubt it will bring you power.”
Six smiled in acknowledgement. “Denny said much the same, we shall see. I’ll find you in the morning?” he asked.
Ravna nodded.
“See yah in the morning, Ravna.” She waved bye and he left, there was still time to practice enchanting.
He picked his way through the dense camp and found his tent, he sat before it and withdrew the first weapon he wished to enchant.
His last remaining spear.
This was practice, Six had not understood practice from a growth sense while he was a young man. Growth was a conscious thing and people were not inherently born with that knowledge, even when they understood that growth was active there was still the lack of understanding how to grow. Six had taken a few post-secondary classes, one of which was a strength and conditioning class. That class had taught him many techniques to train someone and much of that focused on how people learned physically.
Practice was an active conscious effort on one's part to perfect an unconscious action. The pursuit of perfection was an important part of practice, to practice unconsciously was to invite imperfections into the craftsmanship of the memory. Practice was not the unconscious state of performance.
He focused and visualized. Visualization was an aspect of practice many neglected. It wasn’t that he believed in self-actualization or manifestation or anything like that, but visualization was shown to improve performance. Most professional athletes practiced visualization and the transference of mana felt like exercising a muscle. He would treat it as such.
Six closed his eyes and created images within himself, a narrative he observed and internalized. He was confident as he approached the training before him, a resolute acceptance of yes. Then Six poured mana from within himself. It flowed from his hand to the weapon, filling the weapon and creating no ripples within. But there was a more stable flow… laminar… He did not understand the concepts that differentiated a laminar flow from a more turbulent flow but the imagery was better he felt. The teapots flow was laminar, undisturbed and serene.
The weapon was a cup and he filled it to perfection, the weapon’s mana would be filled to the brim. A visual of an overfilled cup, the liquid contained by surface tension, protruding past the rim of the cup ever so slightly.
He tried to lock these thoughts and feelings in. One time was not enough but this was the beginning of his journey in something he really cared about. He should really have taken this much attention with everything but he had not felt the need to perform with this level of craftsmanship.
He had practiced somewhat properly but that was only because he had practiced practicing before. The proper procedure had already been engrained and the result was acceptable given the disorienting change in environment.
But now he was laying down the foundation for something he wished to master. Not practicing his martial arts like this was stupidity, laziness, dishonesty. He had lied to himself about what life out here would be like.
The truth was he would fight until he was dead or powerful enough that nothing would challenge him.
So he would grow.
Skill gained: Meditation - Initiate - 1
Each level in Meditation allows an increase of 0.5% to both stamina and mana regen while in focused meditation.
He smiled. He felt his mind drawn to thinking about the nature of mediation and the practices he used before, but he needed to focus and practice so he pushed that mental tangent away.
He held the spear out before him and gathered pure mana, this time he tuned the resonance until it transformed into earth mana. He then fed a blip of that mana into the spear.
You are attempting to enchant a Common Mundane Iron Spear with a Minor Aura of Earth. This will require 100 mana and one Mundane Common Mana Core to complete. No suitable reagent detected. Would you like to begin this enchantment now? Yes/No?
Six selected yes and immediately pushed a flow of earth mana into the weapon. His mind focused on the two fundamental aspects of natural enchantment. The flow and the final magnitude.
He wanted to do it perfectly the first time, not waste any materials but he knew that was unrealistic. Mistakes were a necessary part of learning and while his Unbound Comprehension allowed for him to learn and retain information easily it did not remove his ability to make mistakes. Everyone made mistakes and Six was no more or less than anyone else. Perfection was not a state that was attainable, it was an ideal that Six pursued by a continual process of refinement. This spear would not be perfect but it was the second step in his pursuit of craftsmanship. His last enchantment would not be perfect, but it would be innumerable degrees closer than these he started with.
He held the flow as stable as he could, pushing it with his even breathing. His focus went back and forth, perfecting the pour and watching the rising mana. It was easier this time.
He stopped the flow of mana and held the weapon in his hand.
Enchantment Successful.
You have successfully enchanted a Common Mundane Iron Spear with a Minor Aura of Earth with an efficiency rating of 11% creating a,
- Iron Spear of Earth -
Rank: Mundane
Rarity: Unusual
Weight - 8 KG
Durability 129/129
Traits: 10% chance to apply +3 earth damage, 20/20 charges, one charge expended when effect activated
It was a fine start. He reviewed his second success. It was still an abject failure in efficiency but nevertheless he felt proud and confident. He knew he could do this, he knew he could succeed at enchantment and he felt the rush of endorphins hit him from the act of creation. Considering his lack of skill and knowledge this must be a shit enchantment but Six was still proud. It was better than no enchantment.
Any improvement to ability is to be grasped.
He stood and stretched, before sitting back down and closing his eyes. Visualizing himself exhibiting an ease and familiarity with the fundamentals of enchanting. His mana regenerated slowly and Meditation was, at this point, a one percent increase which was negligible but Six wanted to engrain his practice onto his memory, there was no better use of his time.
His mana filled and he began again, but this time he withdrew a longsword.
That too was a success and yet more efficient.
Skill increase: Enchantment - Initiate - 3
He practiced this way twice more before gaining another level in meditation and retiring for the night, his mind exhausted but elated.